 Since part of the reason this site exists is as a repository for Japanese language Ace Combat material, Zaku’s letting me use the blog to post translation-related stuff about AC7. First up, a translation of the interview segment of this Famitsu article. The writeup on the first page is pretty much just a walkthrough of the demo, which we’ve all seen for ourselves, and will eventually get to experience for ourselves anyway. The interview with Kazutoki “key man” Kono following it is much more revealing. A rabid obsession with the sky A new PV and playable campaign mode demo for the project were exhibited at E3 2017. What were the contents of the PV and playable demo like? Being curious we put a few questions to the key man behind the project, Mr. Kazutoki Kono. What goes into bringing “innovation in the skies” ——The release date has been pushed back to 2018. To start off, could you tell us a bit about why? Kono: I would like to offer my sincere apologies to all our fans for making them wait. We are continuing development around the concept of “innovation in the skies.” We released a build for E3, and things are taking longer than expected due to brush up work and concept implementation. We believed it would show ingratitude towards all the fans who have supported us for so long to push ourselves to get it out the door unpolished in 2017, so we decided to push back the release date. ——Are partial PS VR support and attempting so many series firsts some of the reasons why? Kono: PS VR support is a challenging aspect, but this project is not VR exclusive content. In order to further raise the quality of the main part, there are so many things we have to adjust, and… For instance, what kind of tactics will arise when an enemy enters a cloud? How should being in a cloud effect missiles and radar and stuff? Introducing just one element increases the amount of stuff you’ve got to think about like crazy. I can take a practical tact towards the game and do away with some things too, but bringing the idea of “innovation in the skies” home is eating up development time like you wouldn’t believe. ——But I think that the defining characteristic of the Ace Combat series isn’t the pursuit of realism, but rather its accessibility as a game. Are you worried about that as well? Kono: If we were to pursue simulator elements and physics 100%, the game would become entirely too difficult, and it wouldn’t feel right. It’s necessary to find an Ace Combat-like balance - an entertaining lie. Bringing home the experience of how great it feels to be immersed in a story within this balance and becoming an ace pilot is what we’re pursuing in development. ——I played the version exhibited at E3, and I noticed a few things which have evolved. In particular, the water droplets on the canopy moved. Kono: The representation of water droplets was very popular with the developmental staff too. Water droplets form on your canopy and then freeze when you enter a cloud, which besides being very pretty and immersive, gives you a sense of the temperature and texture on the inside of the cloud, which is something we’re very proud of. ——I got the feeling of the cloud’s thickness and temperature. Kono: This is just my personal obsession, but my rule for this game is not to merely represent things with objects, but for you to be able to grasp the situation just by looking around. If you’re able to judge a cloud’s qualities by looking at it - like that if you’ll run away into a cloud you’ll be safe, or on the other hand if the clouds are thin it’ll be dangerous - you’ll be able to turn this into fighter tactics. If we represented “this cloud’s thickness is 70%” with a gauge, it’ll become a game about minding your status instead of keeping awareness of your surroundings, so I made this a goal for the game besides visual realism. ——The way the radar went blurry and giant shadows appeared when the Arsenal Bird entered a cloud was impressive. Kono: How things will ultimately be represented, even including whether the radar will go blurry or not, is still in the midst of brushup work. Should the effect on radar when you enter a cloud be to go blurry? Does that work? Does it stand up to my rule? I’m always thinking about this stuff. I said this before, but with every single thing we implement, I have to follow the same thought pattern: what will its impact be on the game? On tactics? On my rule? Like, “what happens when a stealth plane enters a cloud?” Can you handle both with blurriness? When making adjustments, and when we’re in a situation where we’re wondering which would look best to our customers, we have a conviction to find what’s most intuitive by reference to the rule. ——UAVs (unmanned aircraft) figure in this project in a serious way, so do you have similar convictions about UAVs? Kono: UAVs also figured in Infinity, but if I can speak in due candor, we have a ways to go with “UAV-ness.” We’re delving pretty deep with this project. We’re still figuring out how to represent it, but they can fly in ways manned aircraft can’t, they sacrifice themselves to defend their target…I tell my staff “Think how an AI would feel! What would you do if you were an AI?,” which is really just an inscrutable thing to say. To the game, everything is an AI. (laughs) Furthermore there’s an element of contrast in the story between the UAVs and the F-104, once said to be “the last of the manned fighters.” This isn’t limited to Ace Combat, but I’m of the opinion that there’s a lot to think about in that contrast, so that’s something you can look forward to. Clarifications about some of the story and characters!? ——What are the highlights of the trailer first shown at E3? Kono: There’s new information in the E3 trailer. It touches on story elements and character names which have been hazy up till now. Like the Erusean Princess Cosette. We included scenes like that one and the appearance of the aircraft carrier “Kestrel II” that would put a smile on the faces of series fans. Besides that, a place named Farbanti from 04 was in there as well. We coined the term “Strangereal World” when we were making the world of 04 using improper English grammar, but coin it we did. From that point on, for whatever reason, it’s become established to users around the world as “Strangereal.” For that reason, “True Strangereal” (laughs) is what we call the world based on 04 from which the numbered titles have stemmed. Of course, the strength of that backbone is a tool to give birth to drama, so we’re making it such that newcomers can go “I want to immerse myself in the sky’s beauty,” and experience the intricate drama of the story and go “this is really meaningful,” even if they’ve never played Ace Combat before, so by all means you should check it out. ——The scene of the two countries fighting around the orbital elevator was impressive. Kono: Erusea has occupied the orbital elevator in the current trailer. However, soon afterwards Erusea issues a claim with Princess Cosette’s saying “Osea’s attacks are indiscriminate.” One of the themes of this project’s story are the Ocean and Erusean claims and how they contrast. It’s the same war, but if you change what side you view it from, your interpretation changes as well. I look forward to hearing how people feel about the story of this one, listening to each country’s messages. The truths of all the main characters are as a mirror reflecting your own appearance. The truth is that contrast is a theme we’ve already done, so the core theme of this one is “reflection.” This is the theme which the PV sets up. ——The theme seems to be hidden in the project’s subtitle too… Kono: “Skies Unknown” huh. Of course it reflects the story and themes, but simply put, it’s a more evocative image to have it as “Skies Unknown” and not “Unknown Skies.” There’s other meaning in it, but I can’t talk about it. (coy smile) ——I look forward to a followup report! Will there be an opportunity for Japanese fans to try it for themselves in the future? Kono: I can’t announce anything concrete, but I’d like to hold an event where Japanese fans can experience it. We’d talked about it a bit earlier, but we’re designing it so even inexperienced people can fully enjoy it. Stay tuned for more info. We’ll explain details of the story and other deeper part later. Furthermore, there will be an article in June 29 2017 issue of Weekly Famitsu (release date 6/15) as well, so check it out. We are lucky that Kono is the kind of guy that rambles off on his own without the interviewer prompting him. He doesn’t have the kind of immunity from his superiors a famous auteur like Hideo Kojima has, but the degree to which he’ll talk about production problems and philosophy is greater than you usually see from a Japanese developer giving a promotional interview.
Anyway, there are a few lines in the E3 2017 trailer which have sparked discussion. I’m not about to go casting aspersions on the localization team, but I think it’s safe to say some elements of the localization are…curious…and deserve clarification. “…and the Kestrel II warship.” From 00:33 in the trailer, a news anchor says that the Oseans launched an attack from “their aircraft carrier and the Kestrel II warship.” Or maybe they say “in the Kestrel II warship.” Either way, it’s a strange line. In their version of the trailer, the Japanese subtitles read “Naval aircraft from the Osean Navy carrier Kestrel II have commenced attacks against the capital city Farbanti.” If I had to speculate, I would say that this was a voice actor ad-libbing to fit the lip synch, but that would presume things about the state of the production which we can’t know. "…remorsefully injured…” Princess Cosette tells us in English that the Osean attacks have “remorsefully injured countless innocents,” but regrettably, the Japanese speaking Oseans feel no such remorse. The Japanese subtitles for that line (00:52) read “This is Princess Rosa Cosette d’Elisse. The Osean attacks have indiscriminately brought harm to many civilians.” I leave it to the reader to decide whether this is an esoteric but canonical use of the word “remorseful,” or whether the voice actor simply stumbled over their line and they kept it. “Who cares?” At 01:01, a man says “who cares” about who started the conflict. This is a fair sentiment, but his Japanese counterpart is more reserved, merely stating that “it’s unclear.” We may not know who this character is, but the localization is already changing his personality. There are a few other more nitpicky items - “Erusean forces” are occupying the space elevator, not specifically the air force - but those are chaff. These are the three lines someone looking askance at the localization should care about. We'll see how all this bears out as the game matures. If we learn anything else, you'll read about it here.
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