4Gamer Interview Summary

​Alright, we've got another interview courtesy of 4gamer, and as far as interviews with Japanese press go this one is pretty interesting. It touches on a lot of the same material, but the interviewer does ask about some things that were never touched on elsewhere.

• The game takes place at the same period as ACX, but the two aren’t connected in any meaningful way. Kono is insistent that this game is a continuation of AC04, AC5, and AC6 (but never mentions ACZ).
• Kono says that it's better to use VR with a control stick because it helps with motion sickness. At first blush this might sound like “Hey, buy our control stick,” but this is actually a well understood facet of VR. It helps with discomfort to have the motions of your real hands and your VR hands be as similar as possible.
• Of course there will be superplanes, and according to Kono, they will have new "gimmicks.” Kono takes this moment to remind us how difficult making new models in high res is, which may be a very Japanese way of saying “Now don’t expect too many.” Or it could mean nothing.
• We already knew this, but post stall maneuvers are a thing, and they aren't just "press X to kulbit." You can enter post stall by entering stall conditions in level flight and raising the nose and throttle slightly at the same time. However, Kono says that there probably won't be any real applications to this besides just being cool.
• There will be multiplayer, but Kono is tight lipped about it. My guess is they're not planning much, but we'll see.
• There is plane customization, but surprisingly, it's only a new game plus thing. They were worried about players playing the same mission over and over again the first time through the campaign just to grind for parts
• Kono reiterates all the things he said about clouds before, and clarifies that weather won’t significantly affect gameplay. It would distract too much from the core pillar of flying around and shooting things.
• That said, another design goal is to make the landscape seem alive as well. His example is that in the demo, if you descend below the clouds, you can see squalls over the tropic jungle, and if you fly low enough, you’ll see startled flamingoes taking flight.
• Kono acknowledges the problems with getting new people into flight action games and says their marketing strategy is to - as in the E3 trailer - sell it as a “jet fighter game full of drama.”
• He goes on to say that there are two stages to training players on Ace Combat: how to control the plane, and combat. If you make the first stage too simplified, you chase away all the previous players.
• He reiterates previous interviews, stating that the player’s development as an ace pilot is an experience most associated with RPGs, going on to say that Japanese fans should appreciate that aspect in particular.
• Kono promises that there are actual reasons for the Kestrel II’s appearance. He says this idea developed after consulting with Katabuchi, which raises all kinds of questions about his involvement. He makes it sound like it was he who came up with the idea to include a “Kestrel II” and Katabuchi’s job to make sense of it.

It would be very nice to find an interview with Katabuchi or the nominal game director Yuta Hamanka, but Katabuchi is busy doing the circuit for In This Corner of the World, and at any rate Kono seems to have either been anointed or anointed himself as the face of the franchise. I did find one recent interview with Katabuchi that brings up AC04 though, which could be the subject of another post.

For now though, if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or check out the discord.