I Am Setsuna

I Am Setsuna
Developer(s) Tokyo RPG Factory
Publisher(s) Square Enix
Director(s) Atsushi Hashimoto[1]
Producer(s) Kengo Urobuchi[1]
Artist(s) toi8[1]
Writer(s) Hirotaka Inaba
Makoto Goya
Composer(s) Tomoki Miyoshi[2]
Engine Unity[3]
Platform(s)

Release date(s)
Genre(s) Role-playing
Mode(s) Single-player

I Am Setsuna[lower-alpha 1] is a Japanese role-playing video game developed by Tokyo RPG Factory and published by Square Enix. It was released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in Japan in February 2016, and is scheduled for release in North America and Europe for PS4 and Microsoft Windows via Steam in July 2016. No English release has been announced for the Vita version, although Square Enix has stated a release on the platform is still possible if enough demand is present.

The story, set in a land gripped by perpetual winter, follows an unnamed mercenary and his charge, a maiden named Setsuna who must offer herself as a sacrifice at a sacred shrine to appease hostile demons. The story's central theme is sadness. The gameplay, which is deliberately designed to evoke role-playing games of the 1990s, uses an Active Time Battle system based on those used in early Final Fantasy games and Chrono Trigger.

Gameplay

A battle within I Am Setsuna: shown are the player party, their individual displays, the command menu, and their opponent.

I Am Setsuna is a role-playing video game in which players take control of a party of characters, navigating environments from an angled top-down perspective. Locations such as towns and dungeons are reached by navigating the game's overworld. In towns, the party can talk with villagers to reveal plot elements, and find treasure chests containing useful items. Various items such as healing potions or "Mistone" items for escaping from battle are sold in shops in towns and across the world.[7]

Enemies are represented by icons: contact with the icons initiates a battle. Battles take place in the environments where the enemy is encountered rather than shifting to a specific battle arena. Characters' health and magic meter are respectively represented by HP and MP. Characters fight using a version of the Active Time Battle System featured in games such as entries in the Final Fantasy series: after each action is taken by a character in battle, an ATB gauge must fill again before another action is taken. Actions by the party include attacking, using magic, or using an item. When all ATB gauges are full, the order of characters' actions can be selected.[7][8] Each time an action is taken, or the ATB gauge is allowed to fill a separate "Setsuna" gauge is filled: when full, actions are granted power boosts if using specifically timed actions when activating an ability. These boosts can be dealing multiple versions of the attack, recovering health, or dealing critical damage to an enemy.[8]

Premise

The game begins on a snow-bound island, which is regularly beset by angry demons. According to an ancient custom, a maiden is sacrificed to appease the demons. The demons grow restless once again, and the girl Setsuna is chosen as the sacrifice. Together with a nameless mercenary, a former traveler named Kuon, and a carefree veteran soldier named Yomi, Setsuna begins her journey to the ritual site on the edges of the known world where the sacrifice will take place.[8][9]

Development

I Am Setsuna is being developed by Tokyo RPG Factory, a studio created by Square Enix and staffed by external staff to produce role-playing video games.[9][10][11] It is being designed as a new IP, with its future developments to be decided after Square Enix reviews its post-launch reception and success.[11] The concept originated from plans to re-create a game similar to classic RPGs from the genre's golden age. The staff was made up of developers who agreed with this vision. In keeping with this, the battle system was adopted from role-playing games like early Final Fantasy titles and other games like Chrono Trigger. The game's playtime was designed to be similar to SNES games of the 90s, going against the prevalent trend of added content with the scale and power of gaming technology. One of the difficult elements was balancing the game's difficulty so it could be enjoyed by both casual and hardcore gamers.[9] The battle system was specifically based on the Active Time Battle system used in Chrono Trigger.[8][12] According to Hashimoto, Chrono Trigger was used as inspiration due to its popularity, it being a favorite of the assembled development team, and the fact that there were few spiritual successors to it on the market.[12] I Am Setsuna was developed using the Unity game engine.[3]

A key theme running through the game is "sadness". The story's setting, in a land covered by snow, and its general tone carried this theme, alongside evoking the emotional stories of classic role-playing games. The theme also extends to its title, which stems from the word "setsunasa": while it holds a variety of meanings in Japanese, the meaning used by the production team was sadness or sorrow.[9][11] Much of the effort in writing went into the game's language, with the team obsessing over how players would respond to different words. For this reason, they used katakana as little as possible, instead using native kanji expressions for terms like "monster". Despite lacking katakana, the setting used writing schemes akin to those from European literature, giving the world a unique feel.[1] The game's central themes, which focused on life and death as represented by Setsuna's sacrifice, was included as part of the callback to earlier role-playing games. One of the main features of the hero's design was his mask, which made it harder for players to fully empathize with him.[9] The character designs were done by toi8: he was brought in at an early stage, and his designs were likewise meant to reinforce the atmosphere.[1] The game's music was composed by Tomoki Miyoshi. Almost all tracks were performed on solo piano: the piano was played by Randy Kerber. The music incorporated the game's themes.[2]

The game was first announced at the 2015 Electronic Entertainment Expo as a game for the PlayStation 4 under the title Project Setsuna.[13] Its next showing was at that year's Tokyo Game Show, where its official Japanese title was revealed, alongside its release on the PlayStation Vita.[6] There are no differences in content between the two versions of the game, with the only exception being that the PlayStation 4 version looks better on a large screen due to resolution issues. They also wanted to enable players to have a portable version, accommodating different playstyles.[9] At the event, it was described by Square Enix as a "pure fantasy, true role-playing video game".[14] As of September 2015, development was reported as 60% complete.[15] In November of the same year, the game's Japanese release date was revealed to be February 18, 2016.[4] In March 2016, Square Enix announced details regarding the game's English release, including its English title, I Am Setsuna, and the fact that it would only be releasing on the PS4 and Microsoft Windows platforms, not on the Vita.[16] According to Hashimoto, this was due to a trend in Western gaming for full immersion in a gaming world. Another factor was the smaller Vita market in the West when compared to home consoles and PC gaming.[12] Despite this decision, he said that there was still a chance for a Western Vita release if there was enough demand.[17] The official Western release date was announced on April 22.[5]

Reception

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
Famitsu32/40[18]
Dengeki PlayStation75/90/75/85[19]

According to Media Create, the PS4 and Vita versions of I Am Setsuna debuted at #6 and #7 respectively. The PS4 version sold 33,629, while the Vita version sold 27,994, bringing total sales to roughly 66,000 units.[20] By the following week, the Vita version had dropped out of the top 20, while the PS4 version had sold a further 6,619 units.[21]

Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave both versions a score of 32 out of 40.[18] Positive comments were made on the overall atmosphere, its old-school design, "tasteful" graphics, somber story, and the piano score. Points that were criticized were the lack of novelty in its design, and frequent loading times when navigating town environments.[22] Dengeki PlayStation found the game worth its low cost, and commented positively on its serious story, character customization options, and the balance of "quality and quantity". The reviewers were less positive about other aspects, such as difficult-to-handle battle system, repetitive combat, and difficulties with buying and selling equipment.[19]

Notes

  1. ↑ Known in Japan as Ikenie to Yuki no Setsuna (Japanese: いけにえと雪のセツナ, lit. Setsuna of Sacrifice and Snow)[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 『いけにえと雪のセツナ』の魅力に迫る連載企画！ 旅の仲間たちの紹介に加え、ディレクター＆プロデューサーへのインタビューも掲載【特集第2回／電撃PS】. PlayStation Blog (in Japanese). PlayStation. 2016-02-05. Archived from the original on 2016-02-09. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
  2. 1 2 Kotowski, Don (2016-01-22). "Tomoki Miyoshi writes piano-focused soundtrack for new Square Enix RPG". Video Game Music Online. Video Game Music Online. Archived from the original on 2016-02-09. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
  3. 1 2 "Unity At GDC 30: Meet the Unity Community At GDC 2016". Unity Technologies. Unity Technologies. 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-04-22. Retrieved 2016-04-22.
  4. 1 2 "Ikenie to Yuki no Setsuna RPG Ships in Japan on February 18". Anime News Network. 2015-11-17. Archived from the original on 2015-11-17. Retrieved 2015-11-17.
  5. 1 2 McWhertor, Micheal (2016-04-22). "Square Enix's Chrono Trigger-inspired I Am Setsuna coming to PS4 and PC in July". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 2016-04-22. Retrieved 2016-04-22.
  6. 1 2 MacGregor, Kyle (2015-09-15). "Square Enix unveils Tokyo RPG Factory's Project Setsuna, and hot damn is it pretty". Destructoid. Destructoid. Archived from the original on 2015-12-10. Retrieved 2015-11-17.
  7. 1 2 Romano, Sal (2015-09-15). "Ikenie to Yuki no Setsuna TGS 2015 details, gameplay". Gematsu. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on 2015-10-03. Retrieved 2015-11-17.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Romano, Sal (2015-11-19). "Ikenie to Yuki no Setsuna details battle system, new characters Kuon and Yomi". Gematsu. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 とりもどそう、ぼくたちのRPG。スクエニ×TRFが『いけにえと雪のセツナ』を作った理由. Dengeki Online (in Japanese). ASCII Media Works. 2015-09-28. Archived from the original on 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2015-11-17. Translation
  10. ↑ S. Good, Owen (2015-06-16). "Square Enix creates new studio to handle new RPG: 'Project Setsuna'". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2015-09-16.
  11. 1 2 3 Te, Zorine (2015-07-21). "New Square Enix RPG Project Setsuna Will Be Themed Around Sadness". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 2015-11-17. Retrieved 2015-09-16.
  12. 1 2 3 Farokhmanesh, Megan (2016-03-15). "I Am Setsuna dev ditched Vita version in the US to focus on 'big screen' immersion". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 2016-03-15. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  13. ↑ Karmali, Luke (2015-06-16). "E3 2015: Square Enix Announces New Studio and RPG Project Setsuna". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 2015-09-26. Retrieved 2015-09-16.
  14. ↑ Romano, Sal (2015-09-15). "Tokyo RPG Factory announces Ikenie to Yuki no Setsuna for PS4, PS Vita". Gematsu. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on 2015-10-02. Retrieved 2015-09-15.
  15. ↑ Sato (2015-09-15). "Ikenie to Yuki no Setsuna Is Being Made To Bring Back Memories From '90s RPGs". Siliconera. Curse, Inc. Archived from the original on 2015-11-15. Retrieved 2015-11-17.
  16. ↑ Sato (2016-03-14). "I am Setsuna Is Releasing On PlayStation 4 And PC This Summer In The West". Siliconera. Curse, Inc. Archived from the original on 2016-03-14. Retrieved 2016-03-14.
  17. ↑ Bailey, Kat (2016-03-15). "I Am Setsuna Director: "We'd Consider the Vita Version for the U.S."". USGamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 2016-03-16. Retrieved 2016-03-16.
  18. 1 2 Romano, Sal (2016-02-09). "Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1419". Gematsu. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on 2016-02-28. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  19. 1 2 Dengeki Review: テイルズ オブ ゼスティリア (PS4/PSV). Dengeki PlayStation (in Japanese) (ASCII Media Works) (608). 2016-02-10. Transcript
  20. ↑ Romano, Sal (2016-02-24). "Media Create Sales: 2/15/16 – 2/21/16". Gematsu. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on 2016-02-25. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  21. ↑ Romano, Sal (2016-03-02). "Media Create Sales: 2/22/16 – 2/28/16". Gematsu. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  22. ↑ プレイステーション4/プレイステーション・ヴィータ - いけにえと雪のセツナ. Famitsu Weekly (in Japanese) (Enterbrain) (1419). 2016-02-11. Translation

External links

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