When considering the broad range of gaming experiences to be found, a common topic can be Japanese releases full of potential and promise that never get localised. The costs and logistical challenges often require that Japanese and Western companies team up, especially in the case of download games, in order to share these games with a global audience.
It goes both ways, and Intergrow is a publisher that has assisted a number of companies in publishing titles to the eShop in Japan - the likes of SteamWorld Dig and Mighty Switch Force! are examples. The route to release is now being reversed, as Intergrow is teaming up with Rising Star Games to bring Sadame to the 3DS eShop in North America and Europe. An action RPG with multiple characters and an exaggerated portrayal of historical Japanese military commanders, it's certainly eyecatching.
Thanks to Rising Star Games we had the opportunity to pose some questions to the game's designer and writer, Kazunori Watabe, to learn more about the imminent eShop release.
First of all, can you please introduce yourself?
Hi, my name is Kazunori Watabe and I'm the original designer and scenario writer for Sadame.
Sadame translates as 'fate' and the plot references Nobunaga - can you give us some detail on the storyline of this game?
The title of Sadame, as you mentioned, means fate that you can't escape from but in this game we used the kanji characters that is read as "Shukugo", which is a Buddhist word.
The concept was based on a world view of reincarnation. Personally I'm not sure if reincarnation exists or not, but the concept for a game where you retry the same stage again is a perfect match for the Diablo style of treasure hunting.
The combat system is designed to be easy to get into but gradually expands as you progress through the game.
Looking at the gameplay, how is the hack 'n slash action aspect designed - is the combat system easy to learn?
I'm a big fan of the XBand roguelike games and Diablo-like hack & slash games, so I realised that there wasn't anything similar to this in the Sengoku period (Japanese Warring States, Japanese history, approx. 1467-1568). The combat system is designed to be easy to get into but gradually expands as you progress through the game.
With four classes included there's incentive to play the game multiple times. First of all, can you talk about the four classes and their distinctive abilities?
Samurai is the standard fighter with excellent defence and close combat skills.
Ninja on the other hand is good at attacking from father away, but is not as good as the Samurai and protecting himself.
Monk is a warrior priest with a short range, magic-like powerful attack that consumes ki, making him the so-called 'Nuke character'.
Rogue has good melee and long distance attacks, as well as tricks or status effect attacks. This makes her good at fighting with the boss enemies.
Do you envisage players completing the game fully before trying a second character, or to have multiple save profiles underway at one time?
When you start the game with one character you'll acquire unique items that can be used to strengthen the other characters, so I would imagine that players will progress with multiple characters at once.
Also, if you play with multiple characters your other save data characters can join you as an Ally, which makes the battles a little easier. This Ally data can also be exchanged with others using Street Pass.
Which is your favourite character to use, personally?
I like Rogue!
If you play with multiple characters your other save data characters can join you as an Ally, which makes the battles a little easier.
Can you tell us a little more about the RPG elements, namely levelling up characters, earning new equipment and collecting loot?
It's very much a traditional RPG game system whereby you earn experience points to level up your characters by defeating enemies. As you level up you'll receive points that can be used to learn new special abilities. Defeating enemies and smashing crates and other objects lying around will get you various objects created from an automatic generation system. This is a system where a prefix + base item + suffix are combined to create a new poetic-like name, such as "Dragon Chatter". There are of course items with traditional names too.
How important is it for players to closely manage and focus on levelling up and improving equipment, for example, in order to tackle the increasing challenge of the game?
Of course it is very important that you continue to improve and strengthen your characters with better items to make good progress.
With over 20 boss fights in the game, can you talk a little about their designs and sources of inspiration?
We wanted to give the game a unique look and feel so we created huge bosses that would startle the player. Although huge, the bosses are loosely based on Japanese civil war military commanders. We exaggerated them greatly from each episode and made them into fictional monster characters. For example, the source of inspiration for the shrimp-like boss was an episode where a shrimp fisherman's speciality was a traditional dance routine.
What attracted you to the 3DS eShop when developing this game?
When we were thinking about the platform the Nintendo 3DS eShop looked like it was the place with the most fans interested in this kind of game.
I'm a big fan of European history and have put in many thousands of hours playing games such as Paradox's Crusader Kings and Europe Universalis series.
Are you confident that a Western audience - through Rising Star Games publishing the title - will be excited by and embrace Sadame?
It's difficult for me to gauge how well the game will be received outside of Japan. I'm a big fan of European history and have put in many thousands of hours playing games such as Paradox's Crusader Kings and Europe Universalis series etc. I'm quite curious to know how many American and European players have an interest in Japanese history.
That said, Sadame is not a realistic portrayal of history and was designed to be an exciting, fun action game for gamers to enjoy, so it doesn't really matter if you're interested in Japanese history or not.
Does Intergrow plan to bring more of its games to the West in the future?
I can't say which games at this time, but we would definitely like to release future games outside of Japan too.
We'd like to thank Kazunori Watabe for his time - Sadame is out this week (25th February) on the 3DS eShop in Europe and North America.
Comments 28
Definitely want to try this game. It looks so unique from the normal jrpg. Not sure how much I'll get into it but this Most likely will be day one. If nothing else support this kinda effort on the shop.
Looks too rad for words. Been hoping for a game like this on 3DS and the slick sprite work is the cherry on top. Can't wait.
Ooooooh a turn-based JRPG! YES! This is a day one purchase for me. EASILY. I love games like this, always have. Always will.
Looks interesting indeed
Looks very very interesting!
SOLD.
@Spoony_Tech how big IS your backlog??
@TheHeroOfTime333 It's not turn-based. And I'd hardly call it a JRPG.
@KeeperBvK Oh? I just sort of skimmed the article. Either way it looks like something I'd enjoy.
@MERG Big enough but it's getting smaller. I've found the focus I need to actually beat games. It's called don't buy any new ones till the old ones are beat lol. Let's put it this way, normally I would buy Paper Jam and FE Fates day one and start both only to never finish either. Now I won't buy either of those till I beat Awakening and Dream Team. I have beat about 8 to 9 games in the last 9 months. For instance I've beat Majoras Mask, Radiant Historia, Persona Q, and Stella Glow to name a few. Yeah Stella was new but I wanted it and stuck with it till the end. Right now I'm about a 3rd of the way through Dream Team.
@Spoony_Tech I hear ya. I was going to buy fates but decided to finish steam world heist first. Patience is the key!
Love this kind of game.
@MERG Heist is great. That's one of the games I beat and actually beat it twice both on normal and hard.
@Spoony_Tech twice? Seriously? I'm stuck on the queen.
Sadame definitely looks like a game I'm interested in and for the record, I'm in the US. It has a huge Mana series vibe to me, which is a great thing. Day one purchase, even if I won't be able to play it right away. This is the kind of game I'll support no matter what.
I'm getting a huge Muramasa vibe from this. Hopefully, this gets a Vita release someday. I hate playing action games with the terrible circle pad
Can't wait for this to come out! Just wish we had a price for NA.
I'll be getting this day one! And for the record this is one westerner who is very interested in Japanese history 😀
I really want to try this out, just need to be able to set down Fates and MH4U down for a bit XD
Ooh, I love it when I find out a fun-looking game is coming to my consoles!
@Spoony_Tech I wish I had your self discipline when it comes to buckling down and finishing games. I'm stuck in the middle of Tales of Phantasia for GBA and Paper Mario on N64, and I tell myself every day that I'm going to sit down and make some progress on them, then I get home and settle for a few online battles in Pokemon or SSB, or play a game in NBA 2K13 before calling it a day. At this point, there is a 2 1/2 year wait from the time I purchase a game to the time I actually play it...
@iamDTS Wasn't there an NA price announced? How odd. In Europe it's €15, so you can expect it to be $15.
This game looks so sweet, but I'm afraid I'm getting too carried away by the beautiful artstyle, so I hope NL and some other outlets will post a review. With €15 it isn't so much that I'm afraid of losing my money, but with so many great games out I'm actually afraid of spending my time wrong.
I hope you can fight giant enemy crabs...
@burninmylight I use to be like that just less then a year ago actually. It all started with Majoras Mask then continued from there. I told myself when Iwata died I was going to finally play MM and dedicate me finishing it to him. I've owned that game 3 different times over the course of the last 15 years and never beat it. Since then it gave me the focus I need to finish games. Now I just pick a game and it doesn't leave my system till I beat it. I probably still have no less then 40 games I really want to beat on my backlog. At least that's down from just under 50.
I still get new games here and there but I beat the one I'm playing before it gets touched.
Sadame HD for wii u
Great interview. I didnt realize this was releasing tomorrow, day1 buy for me. I love games that explore the folklore and history of different countries, Japan especially. Nevermind that it's a fun looking hack-n-slash in the vein of Diablo :]
We need more games like this. Maybe a Super Slash Brothers heheh
Is it up yet? I'm not seeing it in the e-shop.
Can't wait to grab this!
I really want to try this out.
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