4Gamer has released an article showing all of the current gacha and event pieces in chronological order. The images aren't as high quality as you can find elsewhere but it also features nice quality images of the event/gacha logos, event/gacha story synopsis, and release dates.
See the article here: https://www.4gamer.net/games/700/G070077/20250221020/
Guilty Gear -Strive- (the fighting game) was released by ARC System Works on June 11th for PC/PS4/PS5/ARCADE. This is the latest work in the popular "Guilty Gear Series" of fighting games, which began with the original Guilty Gear in 1998.
Speaking of the Guilty Gear Series, it is a title that has been highly supported by Arcade Gamers for a long time as a fighting game where you can enjoy complex negotiation, but that is not the only degree of perfection by which a fighting game is evaluated. Video works with expressiveness that move in 3D graphics drawn in the style of 2D animation along with complex stories have been attracting a great deal of attention.
This time, 4Gamer asked the Production Staff including Mr. Daisuke Ishiwatari to tell the secret story of the development in the video portions such as the opening movie and story mode, aside from the "fighting game" parts of Guilty Gear -Strive-.
The Interview was divided in to two parts, the first concerning the opening movie with interviews from Art Directors Hidehiko Sakamura and Hiroshi Nagano, followed by the Story Mode itself with interview from Daisuke Ishiwatari and Hidehiko Sakamura.
In the Second Half, the Story Mode discussion tries to avoid spoilers as much as possible, but some discussion was included, so please be careful if you want to AVOID SPOILERS TO THE STORY MODE.
The Opening Featured in the Story as a Compilation of Works:
4Gamer [4G]: Thank you for your time today. In the first part, we will ask about the opening movie. It was released two days before the release date, but how was the response?
Hidehiko Sakamura [HS]: It was better than we imagined. Since the opening of the past series was only made according to the format of a fighting game, I think that the full animation like this time was fresh and more pleasing.
[4G]: The format of a fighting game is like introducing a full-body picture of a character and battle action. Why did you make it full animation this time?
[HS]: Nagano was particular about "I want to do full animation without including images of fighting games." I wanted to do the same thing myself, so I decided to adopt the full animation opening this time. All the videos are produced by Nagano alone.
Hiroshi "Ryo" Nagano [RN]: The story of the Guilty Gear Series is a popular title, and this time the story of Sol has come to an end, so the opening of the full animation featured the story as a culmination. I wanted to make it anyway.
[HS]: It's a big thing to break the story. I think I had a strong desire to take on the challenges that I had wanted to do but couldn't do, and to make a satisfactory break. Originally, all the staff like animation. It's true that there was something I longed for to make a video like this one, and I thought that the format of a fighting game (by itself) wouldn't look as good.
[4G]: It's an attempt you've never done before, but are there any parts that you were particular about in the overall composition of the opening?
[RN]: What I had in mind was the completeness of the story. I want to convey something like the connection between Sol and "That Man" from the Opening. I also think that Sol and Ky are the main characters in the series, so I was aware that the end of the video would emphasize Sol and Ky.
[HS]: As an Order from Ishiwatari, it doesn't have to be a fighting game, but there was an attractive cut for each character. After that, spoilers of the story were strictly prohibited, so I asked Nagano a lot of variations at the time of composition.
[RN]: There was also a point where I wanted you to make it closer to the image rather than making it a short movie that gathers the highlights of the story. Mr. Katano (Akira Katano), the Development Director, told me that there are a lot of non-playable characters involved (laughs).
[HS]: That was a difficult part (laughs). The fighting game part is the main part, but there are many characters that only appear in story mode.
[RN]: I really wanted to put out more, such as President Vernon (laughs). Also, in one particular part, the impression changes before and after watching Story Mode, I would like you to review the Opening after playing Story Mode!
[4G]: How long was the production schedule?
[RN]: It was about three months. Since I was left to myself, I couldn't do it, so I was very conscious of the parts I had to make in 3 months.
[4G]: Please tell us if you had any difficulties during production.
[RN]: I was always worried about whether I could make it within the period. I was so worried that I couldn't help until I could make about half of it.
[HS]: In a situation where I don't have time, I think it was quite reckless to leave it to one person to produce, but as for the animation part, quite a good number of things have come up from the beginning of production, so I myself was looking at it with a lot of peace of mind. I think Nagano had it hard.
[4G]: "Guilty Gear -Strive-" has been postponed once and changed from April 9th to June 11th. Which was the best time to make the opening movie?
[HS]: It was released in April. Composite* after video production. It also takes time, so we completed the video storyboard* at the beginning of the year and had it produced from January to March.
*Composite: Finishing multiple materials and clips in to one video.
*Video Storyboard: A moving storyboard. Script to check the flow of the entire video.
[4G]: Finally, please give a message to readers and players.
[Mr. Sakamura] Nagano has prepared the material in quite a few small parts, so I'd be happy if you could watch it while considering each cut.
[Mr. Nagano] As I mentioned earlier, the video has a different impression before and after watching the story mode, so I definitely want you to watch it again after playing. Actually, Ishiwatari's part also contains spoiler elements that are secret and difficult to understand, so please look for small spoilers after playing.
[The Reason for the Production of "GUILTY GEAR" was an encounter with "SFII".]
*Please note the following includes some spoilers in Story Mode.*
[4G]: Next is the part about Story Mode. From here, I would thank Mr. Ishiwatari and Mr. Sakamura. When I played all the way, I felt that there was a lot of volume. When did the development start?
Daisuke Ishiwatari [DI]: The first plot was published more than two years ago, so production started long ago. At that time, the content focused on more playable characters, but if it was left as it was, the content would be too bloated and the production would not be on time, so we decided to focus on the production.
[4G]: Were the playable characters decided when the first plot was released?
[DI]: It was almost solid, but some characters were fluid. The characters that were unofficially decided at that time may have been changed.
[4G]: Which production took longer, Story Mode or Fighting Game part?
[DI]: It takes time for each, but the fighting game part takes much more time. The story mode may be created by diverting the resources created for the fighting game.
Hidehiko Sakamura [HS]: I'm working on the back of the fighting game part little by little, but it's the end of the whole production that comes out. It feels like I'm working on a schedule at the very end.
[4G]: Is Mr. Ishiwatari in charge of the story part and the overall composition?
[DI]: Yes. First of all, I will put out a plot and check the volume and what material is needed by the staff. Not surprisingly, the plot stage is much larger than the retail version.
[HS]: As it is not the amount that can be produced as it is, it is the first job of the staff to ask Mr. Ishiwatari to cut it.
[4G]: Please tell us the story of the story part. What is the theme of the entire GUILTY GEAR Series?
[DI]: The Theme of "What is a Human being?" has remained unchanged since the time of the first GUILTY GEAR. From the GUILTY GEAR XRD Series, we are developing a story centered on Sol, but I was allowed to tell the outlook on life through the human eyes of Sol.
[4G]: The story of Sol is developed from GUILTY GEAR XRD, but in the GUILTY GEAR XX Series for Home use, a Story Mode was prepared for each character.
[DI]: Is it okay to say this? Actually, I haven't touched the GUILTY GEAR XX Series for home use at all. The company told me that they wanted to create a story mode when porting it to home use, but it was physically impossible to put the same story as what I had in mind, so I told them to stop.
[4G]: I didn't know that.
[DI]: However, the company asked me if I would like to have a port for home use... Then I told them that the story mode is good, but I'm not involved, so don't give a name.
[4G]: Then, was the story mode at that time lending only the (world) settings and letting them do the rest freely?
[DI]: No, I wasn't exposed to it at all. However, I dug it up (as reference) when developing the story from "GUILTY GEAR XRD". It's something that users play, and I thought it was dishonest to ignore the image and world view that got me here to continue as a continuation.
[4G]: The GUILTY GEAR XX Series was also a long-lived work, but wasn't there any talk about developing the story from Mr. Ishiwatari's thoughts at that time?
[DI] At that time, the main flow was to first develop an arcade version and then port it to home use, but behind the scenes of making home use, the development of the next arcade game is progressing. Was always the case. I didn't have enough time to develop the story.
[4G]: In this interview, I watch the story from "GUILTY GEAR XRD SIGN" to "GUILTY GEAR STRIVE" but I felt that the settings were well-crafted. When did the overall configuration and settings settle?
[DI]: The overall big flow hasn't changed since I first thought about it. However, the details are fluid, for example, it was decided that a character in the position of Ramlethal would appear, but it is different from saying that it was the current Ramlethal from the beginning.
[4G]: The whole "flow" was decided, and the rest was fleshed out.
[DI]: It was a little "too" fleshed out. Since the first generation, I had decided to make a trilogy, and at that time, Aliens were scheduled to appear at the End (laughs). As expected, it was outrageous, and the position of the "alien" changed to a character in the Backyard.
[4G]: That's an interesting change. In that case, wasn't there a Backyard Setting at that time?
[DI]: No, there was a Backyard setting itself. For the theorizing of Magic (as a concept). I needed to put out a character with a non-human perspective, and that was an "alien" at first.
[4G]: Are there any other major changes?
[DI]: Of course there are many things, but I can't talk about them. At least at the time of this work, the role and casting of each character has changed considerably. I have another (separate) character "do" what I tried to do with one character.
[4G]: For example, I think Axl is a very important character in the story, but was the role of Axl decided since the first generation?
[DI]: Axl Low hasn't changed since the very beginning. Also, in the early days, it was not decided that I-No would appear, but I was thinking of releasing a character with the same framework as Axl Low.
[4G]: Then when I-No first appeared in GUILTY GEAR XX, the settings had already been set.
[DI]: That's right.
[4G]: When I followed the story, I often found unexpected facts, and I wondered how far Mr. Ishiwatari was thinking from the beginning.
[DI]: There are quite a lot of retroactive settings, though. Especially the settings of the small parts have changed considerably. Jack-O' for example, wasn't initially supposed to be a "character."
[4G]: Jack-O'Valentine appeared in "GUILTY GEAR XRD REVELATOR" but when was the setting completed?
[DI]: I don't remember the detailed timing, but I think that the Backyard setting was fixed around when GUILTY GEAR 2 OVERTURE was produced.
[HS]: When I first saw Jack-O's design, I never thought it would be a heroine position character (laughs).
[4G]: In the first place, when did Mr. Ishiwatari think about setting up a game called GUILTY GEAR?
[DI] It was when I was still a professional student that I came up with the specific settings. I decided to make a fighting game because of my encounter with "Street Fighter II", but I think that about half the settings I thought about at that time were incorporated in to the original GUILTY GEAR.
[4G]: The opportunity was your encounter with "SFII".
[DI]: "Street Fighter II" was a revolutionary game for me. Speaking of which, "Ishiwatari Version Strike II" ("Ishiwatari-ban Suto II" the provisional name) is "GUILTY GEAR". At the time, I liked fantasy manga comics such as "BASTARD!!", and under the influence of them, I incorporated a story-like world view into the fighting game.
[Being able to Draw a Story becomes One Property]
4Gamer [4G]: In this work, the production side has been changed considerably compared to the story mode of the GUILTY GEAR XRD Series. What are the points you would like us to pay particular attention to?
Daisuke Ishiwatari [DI] First of all, in the case of GUILTY GEAR XRD, the big concept was to create a 3D image that looks like a 2D animation. This time it changed to make a movie-like image.
Mr. Sakamura [HS]: This is very difficult, so what makes a movie? What is the movie-likeness that Ishiwatari is looking for? At the beginning of the production, everything was groping.
[DI]: I didn't show the staff what it was like to be a movie. Therefore, at first I thought that I was quite stray, but one day I suddenly found the answer, and Sakamura awakened. From there, it was finished in a movie-like image all at once.
[4G]: Were any of the staff involved in filmmaking in the past?
[HS]: It wasn't there at all. In the first place, even with GUILTY GEAR XRD, I made something that looks like a 2D animation with 3D images, but no one was from the animation industry. We always imitate the appearance and continue to produce with a spirt of familiarity rather than learning.
[4G]: Just listening to the story tells you how difficult it is. By the way, why did you decide to pursue a movie-like character this time?
[DI]: I thought that if we evolved from GUILTY GEAR XRD, it would be similar to "DRAGON BALL FIGHTERZ" and "GRANBLUE FANTASY VERSUS". That may not give you a new surprise. Then it would be a movie.
[4G]: A Trailer that introduced a part of the story was released before the release, but at that time I heard a voice that it was like a movie.
[DI]: If you have been involved in production for a long time, you may not be able to judge for yourself whether you have something you want delivered to users, but I was relieved to hear such a voice. Also, I don't usually think so much, but this time when I completed and reviewed everything, I thought "I did my best", so I felt a response.
[4G]: Please tells us if you had any difficulties during production or small stories.
[DI]: I don't have a hard time talking (laughs).
[HS]: I think the hardest part was having to create a fighting game part and a story mode at the same time. Normally, I was able to focus on the fighting game part for arcade version first. Also, this time it was a culmination, so the latter half o the story was difficult with only action scenes.
[DI]: Certainly in GUILTY GEAR XRD (Sign), the focus was on conversational plays (talking heads dialogue), and at the end there was little action.
[4G]: This time it's set in the United States. Is there any reason for this?
[DI]: There is no deep reason, but first of all, Sol's birthplace is the United States. And sometimes I didn't want the stage to be the same every time. Also, it was decided at the time of the After Story of GUILTY GEAR XRD REV2 that the stage would be in the United States.
[4G]: It used to be a Western-style or Fantasy-Style world view, but I was surprised to see that it was suddenly become a modern American painting.
[DI]: At the beginning, there was an impressive scene in which the streets of the United States were drawn, but in reality, that scene was planned to draw a wider range. However, it was reduced because it was too heavy.
[4G]: Please tell us if you have any favorite scenes or productions.
[DI]: At the end, there is a scene where everyone fights with I-No. It's not a scene where I can cry, but when I first saw it, tears came out on their own. That's the one that left the most impression on me. I never felt like this when I'd been making games, but I've been trying my best to support everyone.
[HS]: I also have a great feeling for the last battle. In other scenes, there is a scene where Sol and Jack-O' run on a motorcycle at the beginning, but I think that Jack-O's cuteness at that time is considerable (laugh). It's also cute to sit in the sidecar.
[DI]: The only thing that left an impression on me was the action scene. I didn't know what kind of image it will be until it actually comes up, but I was surprised that the images that came up were beyond my imagination.
[HS]: We don't prepare storyboards* for production. I make it only with a script.
*Storyboards: A script for shooting movies and TV, instructions such as dialogue and actions are written for each cut.
[4G]: Conte has not been prepared since GUILTY GEAR XRD.
[HS]: In GUILTY GEAR XRD, we prepared only some cutscenes. I didn't prepare it at all after it became this work.
[DI]: We only get together and have meetings about important scenes.
[4G]: Do you have any favorite parts in terms of production?
[DI]: The goal was to make the conversation drama look like a movie as a whole. It feels like the conversation continues with a series of short words, rather than an explanation tone. I think I was able to create that kind of atmosphere overall in this work.
[4G]: This is the end of Sol's story. What kind of character is Sol for the production team?
[DI]: First of all, he's simply the main character. From the time I started making GUILTY GEAR, I decided to draw a humanity and outlook on life that can only be talked about by a free-spirited person named Sol. I feel that I am thankful for the time being because his thoughts have come to fruition in this work. Being able to face myself through the story was a very valuable experience.
[HS]: Sols' first image was a character that didn't reveal his emotions, but in the stories after GUILTY GEAR XRD, I think that humanity has come out very much, and I'm attached to it. He's a cute guy (laughs).
[4G]: Certainly, I feel that Sol's personality has changed considerably from the past.
[DI] It's not like a human being that the personality remains the same as the story and the times progress. As he interacts with various people, Sol also regains his humanity. I needed a background to answer the question, "What is a human being?"
[4G]: The story of GUILTY GEAR that started in 1998 has been completed. Finally, please tell us your current feelings.
[DI]: Anyway, I feel relieved for 20 years because I was able to draw the story to the end. Being able to finish what I started was very valuable to me and became a great asset. However, this time I focused too much on Sol. The challenge remained that we couldn't express what more users would have wanted to see.
[4G]: What are your thoughts on Future developments?
[DI]: Of course, I'm thinking about various things, but since I'm a good age, I may not be able to do it at the top of a project of the same scale in the future. Please look forward to the new style fo GUILTY GEAR and new IP.
Guilty Gear Strive desvela muchos nuevos detalles antes de su lanzamiento
Se ha lanzado una entrevista en 4Gamer respecto a Guilty Gear Strive que ha dejado varios detalles interesantes:
Seguirán actualizando el juego tras el lanzamiento oficial.
El juego fue retrasado para realizar ajustes acorde al feedback recibido.
A la hora de realizar ajustes en los personajes, el principal énfasis está en si es un cambio interesante o no para dicho personaje.
Han reducido la complejidad de algunos aspectos del combate (especialmente la parte del combate aéreo) para evitar que sea demasiado apabullante para los nuevos jugadores, pero insisten en que la simplificación de alguna mecánica difícil signifique que el juego sea más sencillo
Son conscientes de que en las betas se han dado ciertos errores de conexión (que ya han estado tratando), pero por lo general el feedback del rollback es muy bueno y están contentos con este nuevo sistema.
Ishiwatari piensa que cuantos más personajes, más divertido es el juego. Katano querría contar con todo el elenco de los personajes que han aparecido en la saga.
Sus personajes favoritos son Nagoriyuki (Katano) y Sol (Ishiwatari).
Debido a su papel como guardaespaldas del presidente, el diseño de Giovanna es bastante menos extravagante que el de los demás personajes, por lo que a Ishiwatari le sorprendió su gran popularidad en las encuestas.
El diseño de Nagoriyuki fue ideado incluso antes de concebir la historia del juego. También indican que su concepto deriva en parte del chiburi, movimiento con el que se sacudía la sangre de la katana.
En cuanto al diseño general de personajes, aclaran que según el caso, la estética puede preceder al o derivar del concepto de dicho personaje.
Los cinco personajes del Season Pass ya están decididos. Ishiwatari querría que al menos uno de ellos sea totalmente nuevo.
Sobre la música, como ya ocurría en pasadas entregas, Ishiwatari está al cargo de los temas de combate pero no de las melodías de fondo del modo historia. También indica que esta vez querría romper un poco con las prácticas habituales de los juegos anteriores respecto a la OST.
El tema favorito de Ishiwatari es el de Ramlethal, y el de Katano, el de Leo.
En cuanto a la historia, dan a entender que el arco de Sol llega a su final, pero no la saga, aunque seguramente pase bastante tiempo hasta la siguiente entrega.
En esta ocasión, más que de una novela visual, han intentado darle a la historia una sensación más cinemática.
Tienen planeado realizar eventos y torneos, que anunciarán más adelante.
Katano vuelve a insistir: aunque han dado especial atención a la accesibilidad para nuevos jugadores, también se han asegurado de que conserva la complejidad que caracteriza a los fightings. Ishiwatari añade al respecto que este juego fue concebido como un nuevo juego de lucha.
En términos de contenido posterior al lanzamiento, planean mostrar información antes del lanzamiento (la transmisión en directo el domingo)
Con la temporada 1, no quieren revelar nombres, pero planean dar una línea de tiempo de cuándo serán lanzados.
Saben que es menos divertido tener menos movimientos y opciones, pero cuando quieres rediseñar los personajes correctamente para un nuevo sistema, es bueno comenzar con un conjunto de movimientos minimizado, ver cómo funciona y continuar desde allí.
Saben que necesitarán hacer muchos más ajustes y cambios a lo largo del tiempo para lograr su visión de "divertirse y sentirse como Guilty Gear", pero necesitan llegar a ese punto desde una dirección diferente".
Primero están tratando de definir el estilo de juego único de cada personaje, y solo cuando lo hayan logrado, harán los cambios de equilibrio que respeten esta diversidad del elenco.
The Japanese game website 4Gamer has done a brief interview with Ueda as part of a large article where they ask many well-known Japanese developers their thoughts on the past year and the year to come. Here’s what he said (reading through Google translate):
- Asked to name one game he was impressed with this year, Ueda said Half-Life Alyx, apparently being a big fan of Half-Life 2 from way back when.
- Asked to name a memorable piece of entertainment aside from a game, he names several Korean Dramas: Crash Landing on You, Itaewon Class, When The Camellia Blooms, and Misaeng. I checked and these are actually all available on Netflix in the US. He also names season 2 of The Boys, with no comment on it.
- Asked to name a person he paid attention to this year, he names Keiichiro Toyama, creator of Silent Hill and Gravity Rush, who left Sony this year after a long career there. Ueda mentions that it’s been 10 years since he himself left Sony.
- His response to the final question, “What are your aspirations for 2021 and a message for 4Gamer readers?” actually translated fairly well so I can paste it here:
“This year, the unrealistic situation has been going on for a long time since early spring, but I want you to calm down and have a realistic life as soon as possible, and to have a good time with friends and rivals. Also, I want to go abroad (a trip that is not work).”
