WE DISCUSS VANA'DIEL
Season 2, Episode 4
Treasures of Aht Urhgan — Mihoko Kato, Kumiko Takahashi & Masatoshi Ishikawa

Today, I'd mainly like to talk about everyone's work on Treasures of Aht Urhgan's story, but can you first tell us about how you were assigned to the FFXI team?

After my work on the FFXI team as a trainee, I officially joined the company and was assigned to the FFXI team around the time that work on Treasures of Aht Urhgan kicked off.

Were you immediately assigned to the FFXI team at the start of your training period?

Yes. At the time, Square-Enix had an employee trainee program where you worked on multiple different projects over the course of three months, spending a month on each one. And the system was set up so that if you didn't pass the first month, you wouldn't be there for the second...

We were weeded out by the process of elimination.

It was like survival of the fittest...

There was always the possibility that the friends you made wouldn't be there the following month. (laughs wryly)

So one of the places you were assigned to for training was the FFXI team.

Yes, that's right. All three of us were trainees there.

Mr. Ishikawa was a 3rd term trainee, I was a 4th term, and Ms. Takahashi was a 5th term. So we all joined the company about six months apart.

It felt like we all joined the company at the same time since we entered the program within such close proximity of each other.

Were there a lot of trainees joining the FFXI team at the time?

I was told that the FFXI team was an excellent place to do your training. It was because FFXI was a project that was already live and it also received regular updates. So in other words, it allowed you to experience everything from planning to production, as well as the ability to implement everything in the game and then receive immediate feedback, all within a short period of time, which made it the perfect project to train new employees.

Thanks to the training program, the FFXI team was able to grow considerably in size too. Like what Mr. Komoto* mentioned before (see Season 2, Episode 1), there was a point when we were finally able to add more people to the team, and this trainee system was one of the ways that we did so.

So you were able to welcome many talented newcomers to the FFXI team.

Yes, exactly. As long as there weren't any issues with the plot, we didn't care that it was written by a trainee. We received support from Mr. Komoto, Mr. Saito*, and Ms. Sato* to implement it within the game.

FFXI featured a training course where you would outline a plan for the game, write a scenario for it, and then turn it into a script* so that you could test it in-game, all within the span of a single month. Naturally, a supervisor would be monitoring your progress every step of the way. That process made for good training though, as I was able to learn the basics of game development from it.

It's a great system because once it's implemented, you can receive feedback from players almost immediately.

Actually, some of the more popular quests in Treasures of Aht Urhgan were created by trainees in just a single month.

That's how the quests “A Taste of Honey” and “Not Meant to Be” were made too.

I think that most of the things we created during the training period were actually implemented within the game.

Did all of you complete the training period and then get assigned to the FFXI team?

Yes. I was still a student at the time, so I could only work about three days a week for the first six months.

After completing my training period on FFXI, I was assigned to the Kingdom Hearts II team. Once it was released, I joined the FFXI team. Timing-wise, I think it was just before the release of Treasures of Aht Urhgan.

Why were you placed on the FFXI team again?

I was actually playing FFXI even before I joined the company. FFXI features an elaborate setting, and the game aspects such as the job classes and battles are also quite nuanced. As such, I think that as someone who played the game and already possessed that familiarity, I was a perfect fit for the FFXI team.

It must be quite difficult to try and explain FFXI from scratch, and it would definitely take a considerable amount of time for someone to play the game and get caught up.

Shortly before the release of Treasures of Aht Urhgan, Mr. Komoto was trying to recruit increasingly large numbers of trainees from each team. That was because there were so many people leaving the FFXI team at the time, including Mr. Kigoshi*, Ms. Sato, and Mr. Komoto as well. I'm certain it was Mr. Komoto's intention to have Mr. Saito look after the trainees so that he could grow as a leader through teaching them, and to have the trainees grow their own skills by working hard on a new project.

I have always been impressed by Mr. Komoto's ability to build a team.

When did you join the FFXI team, Mr. Ishikawa?

It was right before Chains of Promathia. I was essentially brought in as a member of its development team. My first training assignment was to the FFXI team, but compared to Ms. Kato and Ms. Takahashi, I was working more on the game system elements.

What was your specific role on Chains of Promathia?

The first job I was given was to create the in-game systems for things like the manaclipper and the Carpenters' Landing barge. Aside from that, I also worked on some mini-games, such as the summer festival's Gauntlet Challenge.

I started my training right before the release of Chains of Promathia and I remember noticing later on that the Tavnazia quest that I created for it had been implemented in the game. Ms. Takahashi joined as a trainee right when we were making quests for Tavnazia, and we worked on the mannequin quests.

Ms. Kato, you also wrote the Adventuring Fellow scenarios, right?

Yes! And you created the fellowship system itself.

I also wrote the lines for the fellows' personalities.

The fellows have different tones depending on their personality, so Mr. Ishikawa and everyone on the team worked really hard to create so many different variations. Although, when the level cap was raised to level 99, they had to come up with all-new lines for each one of them, which must've been quite difficult. (laughs wryly)

Ms. Takahashi, you joined the team before Treasures of Aht Urhgan was released, but how far along in development was it at the time?

The game planning stage was pretty much finalized, and the release date had also been decided. At that point in time, however, work on the scenario had barely started, even though I think there was less than six months until the scheduled release date.

Seriously?

(laughs)

The maps and other graphical elements were finished, but work on the actual story content was just getting started. I was quite surprised at seeing the kind of schedule that online games were made under.

In the case of a standalone game, most of the content is complete and QA testing has already begun a half year before release.

Yeah, pretty much. That's what I thought too, so I remember being quite surprised at seeing how things worked with online games.

Over the course of Treasures of Aht Urhgan's development, Ms. Sato, who was the lead writer for Chains of Promathia, left the project temporarily. Were there any concerns regarding the story's creation?

Even after Ms. Sato was transferred, her desk was still there, and there were ongoing version upgrades for Chains of Promathia, so she often came to Mr. Saito's desk and spoke with him. Furthermore, I had been working with Ms. Sato a lot more when development on Treasures of Aht Urhgan started, so I wasn't even totally aware that she had been transferred. (laughs)

That reminds me, but when I joined the team, I remember Mr. Komoto saying, "There will be lots of changes within the team, but you can do whatever you like." He said, "I think it's easy for you to work on new things with FFXI because of everything you've accomplished so far, so you can work on whatever you want.'' So I was like, let's go! As a result, I never really felt that much anxiety or pressure while working on the project.

In regards to the setting, it seems it was decided early on that the map would be set in the "land of the Near East," but did the scenario team make any specific requests?

No, everything pretty much started with the map.

We were basically told, "There's a map and we've ordered two new characters. The rest is up to you."

Were those characters Aphmau and Luzaf?

Didn't you come up with Aphmau and Luzaf, Ms. Kato?

No, I remember that Mr. Iwao* had already ordered them. After I was put in charge of the scenario, I remember a request for final approval on their character designs coming from Mr. Aiba*.

So basically, the setting and characters were already created, and you were asked to write a story based on them?

Yes, although, early in development, Mr. Komoto said, "I have no intention of asking you to write a full-length story like Chains of Promathia had." The Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansion pack was intended to be centered on in-game content, so it was thought that the story should be about the same size as the introductory missions for the three countries.

If that was the case, then why did Treasures of Aht Urhgan end up having a full-length story?

It's because all of us wanted to make something great. Mr. Saito is the same way, but everyone involved was the type of person who was very particular about the visuals and production levels of the story event scenes.

I think that attention to detail was definitely noticed by the players.

To be more specific, we wrote the story's plot first. Next, we had Mr. Iwao check it and he would request some revisions. We would then make those changes and repeat the process a few times, which led to the story growing larger and larger with each iteration. Even when we tried to shorten it somewhat, we felt that the revisions made the story that much better, so we just decided to go with them.

You mean that the story's current volume was due to that cycle of creation and revision?

Definitely. The story's length as it exists now came about due to that process of trial and error, so to speak, every two to three months.

Then of course, we also created the cutscenes ourselves.

That's pretty much the case for everyone that is in charge of scenarios for FFXI.

At the time, the people in charge of the game's animations and effects would also come up with various ideas, such as, "How about taking the scenario in this particular direction?" That led to even grander ideas making their way into the game.

How was the flow of the overall story originally decided?

It partly came about because I hadn't really thought about writing a longer story, so early on, we had a kind of seminar along the lines of "Thoughts on the History of the Aht Urhgan Empire." Mr. Ogawa*, Mr. Saito, Mr. Iwao, and myself basically decided the history of the Aht Urhgan Empire, and then asked everyone to think of a story based on it.

I see... So you locked down the details of the country, such as its conflict with the Kingdom of Ephramad and also its aspirations as a nation.

We also decided on the appearance of the deities of darkness and light. I simply thought about the setting and how Odin and Alexander might be connected. So in the beginning of the process, the story's ending hadn't been decided yet.

Despite Treasures of Aht Urhgan's story having something of a comical twist, it also depicts more serious content, such as the empire's internal affairs and its diplomatic efforts with other countries, various characters parting ways, and also the conflict with the beastmen over the Astral Candescence. What were the theme and concept that you decided on?

Mr. Ogawa's original image for the setting was along the lines of, "It's a brand-new country, so I want it to be exciting, with heart-pounding adventures and filled with various treasures!" The map was created beforehand, so I think it was probably a case of thinking about how to make the area more appealing and also convey an atmosphere of excitement.

So there wasn't a specific theme like "conflict," "separation," "desire," or "love."

Well, for the main story, I wanted to depict Aphmau's determination to live as Nashmeira. When I came up with the scenario, I remember asking myself many questions: "What must a princess take on and also give up in order to become queen?", "What is it like to carry the burden of one's country on your shoulders?", and "What kind of things could Razfahd be unable to convey to the overly protected Aphmau?"

I felt that Aphmau made for a very strong third generation heroine in the game.

This is my own personal theory, but I believe that princesses in general are destined to live a life of loneliness, so I wanted Aphmau to have a distinct innocence to help counter that sense of isolation. She simply embraced her loneliness. I also wanted to express this concept by always including the two automatons by her side.

I see...

And because the Aht Urhgan Empire is a dangerous place due to being a country at war, numerous people die because of the foolishness caused by that innocence. Eventually, Aphmau is able to understand these things—even if not completely—and by the end, she is ready to take responsibility for everything and assume the throne. I wrote the plot and dialogue with that journey in mind for her. Hopefully, I was able to convey that in the story.

Ovjang and Mnejing were great characters.

At first, she was only accompanied by one automaton, but I requested that she have two. At the time, I still wasn't exactly sure where I wanted to go with it, so I just felt like, "I want to use everything I possibly can!"

How did the idea of the automatons speaking come about?

I simply decided that she should have automatons with her, and I think they simply started speaking as the production process went along. While coming up with the story, Mr. Iwao was completely on board with the way things were going, and said I could even make Ovjang's face into a monitor.

Another major feature of Treasures of Aht Urhgan is the comedic developments for President Naja and other unconventional characters.

The more serious story details are written by Mr. Iwao, and the more "comedic" ones were probably our doing. (laughs)

How was the character of President Naja decided?

The idea that she was the president of a mercenary group existed from the very beginning, but when I was reading another part of the story, it said that Trion became a mercenary. I felt that if she's the type of person that could make the prince into a mercenary, I had to give her a more forceful personality.

Now that you mention it, I think it was Mr. Saito who gave President Naja her morning star.

After I wrote the dialogue, Mr. Saito handled the storyboards and added the camera direction. That's how everything flowed, so Mr. Saito often brought interesting ideas to the process. You know, things like, "Wouldn't it be interesting if we gave this person such and such?" or "What if she stood like this?"

You mentioned earlier that the ending had yet to be decided during the early stages of the story's creation, but what about the character of Luzaf, who was one of the main characters?

The setting was that he was a prince from a kingdom that was annihilated by the Aht Urhgan Empire, and that he had been brought back to life. Although, there was not much else decided about him aside from those key points.

Treasures of Aht Urhgan features many unique and memorable NPCs, including the likes of the Five Serpent Generals, Gessho, and Abquhbah. Can you tell us how these characters came to be?

I distinctly remember Mr. Saito making Abquhbah that type of character.

Who came up with Gessho again? I feel like he was around from the beginning...

Yeah, Gessho was included in the character list from the start. I think his character setting was something along the lines of him being a "spy," but since I was fond of "talking animals," I wanted to introduce as many as I could. (laughs)

That reminds me that it was actually Ms. Kato who developed the Qiqirn language. So when it was decided that Chacharoon would appear in Seekers of Adoulin, I consulted with Ms. Kato about his lines.

What about the Five Serpent Generals?

The Five Serpent Generals were designed from the beginning as characters for the in-game content known as Besieged.

Yeah, they were NPCs made especially for the battle content.

The Five Serpent Generals quest came later, but that was an order from Mr. Tanaka*.

What?! From Mr. Tanaka?!

Mr. Ogawa told me that Mr. Tanaka said, "Since the Five Serpent Generals are popular, I want you to make a quest for them." (laughs) That was followed by, "So, who's free to work on it?" It just happened to be around the time my work on the corsair quests was finished, so I said, "Okay, I'll do it."

So you came up with the detailed backstory of the Five Serpent Generals?

I feel like Mr. Iwao came up with the original setting first, and then I added to it as I worked on the quest's scenario, while running the changes by him for approval. So topics like the revealing of Mihli Aliapoh's past during the quest were added in such a way.

What was the process behind adding Shantotto (Karababa) to the story? Let me guess... Was it because Shantotto was such a popular character?

There was a limit on how many unique character models we could request, so I think it was probably the result of asking ourselves how we could make use of preexisting assets in order to liven things up. By the way, there is a rule that if we want to use existing NPCs, the person responsible for them has to supervise the process, so I had to submit Karababa, Trion (Raillefal), and Cid to Mr. Iwao for his checks, and Ms. Sato, Mr. Kigoshi, and Mr. Komoto had to take a look as well.

In addition to the problem of limited resources, there is nowhere for the story to go in the future if we simply focus it on a country far removed from the previous setting and then bring it to an end. That is why we like to focus on stories that are merely an extension of the existing world or depict things like the relationships between countries and the overall situation in the world, so that we can add depth to the story that way.

Is there anything else from your work on Treasures of Aht Urhgan that made an impression on you?

For me personally, I think I would have to say the puppetmaster artifact quests. Initially, the story was focused on Ghatsad, but I decided to rewrite it during the production process and that's how it ended up in its current form. There was also an early proposal to have puppetmasters and the other jobs acquire relic armor through quests rather than Dynamis. As a result, I was told to write a story that would connect to the next quest (even after the artifact quests were complete).

What kind of story did you have in mind at the time?

There is a young Mithra girl (Kuh Polevhia) who adores automatons in the puppetmaster's artifact quests, and the plan was for her to eventually make clothes (relic armor) for the player. I was also thinking of a scenario where the girl returns to Al Zahbi and defeats all of the guild masters in battle. (laughs)

Ms. Takahashi, I heard that you were in charge of the corsair quests, but who was responsible for the blue mage ones?

It was Mr. Saito.

I remember Mr. Saito spoke to the effects team about having the blue mage's quest include a scene where the character regains consciousness and is able to see again, and he was super happy when he was told that they could do it.

Speaking of scene direction, the climactic event scene in Treasures of Aht Urhgan is also quite memorable.

What I remember most is the farewell scene with Razfahd. I wanted to create a space specifically for that scene, but it was too difficult due to the costs involved. I was worried about what to do with the scene when I heard that Ms. Hatae* was going to help me come up with something through the use of effects! When I actually saw the finished scene, I was amazed at how it turned out.

Whenever I'm in a jam, Ms. Hatae usually helps me get out of it too. (laughs)

And that's still the case today. (laughs) She's helped out a lot on The Voracious Resurgence as well.

In that particular scene, it's rather sad that Razfahd's voice isn't able to reach Aphmau.

Actually, in the initial stages, Mr. Iwao asked that the lines just be "..." from start to finish, so Razfahd's voice didn't even reach the players. (laughs) I basically had to tell Mr. Iwao, "We'll never be able to understand the meaning here! Can you please let me add some dialogue?" After that, I was able to add some lines to the scene.

The story then comes to its grand finale, but how was the ending decided?

We all consulted on it together. I'm glad that we were able to wrap it up in the end.

When I think of Treasures of Aht Urhgan, I am especially impressed by the unique game mechanisms in the promotion tests designed to boost your mercenary rank. Who was responsible for creating those?

I feel like we took turns creating them in order. I made a few of them myself.

It wasn't all of them, but I did create many of the mini-game elements, such as the push-ups that were featured in the Promotion: Sergeant Major test.

Some of the mini-games were pretty tough.

I think I might have overheard the in-house QA (quality assurance) testers saying they could never successfully complete them. (laughs wryly)

I personally thought I was being pretty lenient with the difficulty too...

In regards to that group of mini-games, I was always impressed that the team was able to use FFXI's scripting system to create something like that.

They featured numerous approaches and gameplay elements that were somewhat different from the rest of FFXI.

In FFXI, it was pretty much impossible to do anything in real time during an event scene.

Yeah, because you could only display dialogue lines during them.

That meant there was no system designed to create mini-games like these, so I thought it was amazing that they made it happen, even if they were essentially forced to fake it.

Whenever you can add something good to the scripting tools, you always want to try and find a way to work it into the game.

It all started when Mr. Kigoshi created the system for areas like the boss room and the seal battlefield. In FFXI, you can do a lot of things with scripts, which helped foster an environment where game planners could implement their ideas without the need of a programmer. Although, that ultimately meant that the planner had to also manage the layer system, which led to a lot of extra work. (laughs wryly)

That's the truth. I ended up creating all of the entrance mechanics for both Assault and Salvage by myself.

In closing, can you please share your feelings on what Treasures of Aht Urhgan means to you?

Treasures of Aht Urhgan was the first time I had ever written a full-length story, but with the help of people such as Mr. Ogawa, Mr. Iwao, and Mr. Saito, and also working alongside my fellow colleagues such as Ms. Takahashi and Mr. Ishikawa, I was able to experience what it means to work together as a team. Before this project, I had only been working within small groups, but this forced me to interact with numerous people all at once, which was an excellent way to gain experience.

I thought it was interesting that the story was set in a relatively uncommon location known as the Near East, and since it was my first time working on an online game, I was impressed with how the game received updates every two to three months. When combined with the fact that players were able to give me their feedback immediately—which was quite different from working on standalone games—I found the whole experience to be very encouraging and I learned a lot from it. I was very lucky to be placed in such an environment.

I feel proud that I was able to give my best in the main aspects of Treasures of Aht Urhgan, and I still have many memories of all the hard work I put into the project. The reception from the players was great, and I think it's safe to say that out of all the titles I have worked on, Treasures of Aht Urhgan is the one I feel they responded to the most.