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Japan Expo 2015: Interview with Nakajima and Koinuma

Anniversaries are always something special. Even with big companies. To celebrate the tenth visit of Bandai Namco Entertainment to the Japan Expo 2015 in Paris, we were invited to play a lot of games, witness a great show and, of course, interview some important people. We sent our reporter Rygdea to meet the developers of three upcoming games, that many people can not wait to play.

First ones in line were Koji Nakajima and Hisashi Koinuma, both producers of the popular One Piece: Pirate Warriors-series. The strawhats third adventure on the relevant PlayStation-plattforms and on PC will be released on the 28th of August. If you ever wondered what part Eiichiro Oda, the mastermind behind One Piece, plays in the developent and if there were any difficulties with this game, then check out our interview!

DBZ HPU

JPGames: How is your personal relationship with One Piece and how did you first get in touch with it?

Nakajima: When I was in junior high school One Piece started in the Weekly Shonen Jump. That’s when I first got in touch with it. But the real passion started after I joined Bandai Namco Games, now Bandai Namco Entertainment, when I became a producer of the game series.

one_piece_pirate_warriors_32682208Koinuma: Well, I was a reader of the Weekly Shonen Jump since I was ten and I am still really enjoying it. So I was very happy when I started with the first Pirate Warriors game as a producer.

JPGames: What do you think, are the most important aspects of both the game and manga series?

Nakajima: Talking about the game, it is the method of how we reproduce the iconic characters and stories from the manga. And the combination of the dynatsy warriors style of 1 vs 1,000 and the deep characters, I believe, is the most important point. And also we try our best not to harm the image of this great series in any way while developing the games. We are focusing on the reproduction of the main storyline from the mangas in One Piece Pirate Warriors 3, so we want to make sure this bond between Ruffy and his crew mates and the emotional highlights are represented in the correct way.

JPGames: In which way is the author of the One Piece franchise, Eiichiro Oda, included in the development?

Nakajima: Well, he is not directly involved in the development, but however, we are communicating through our licenser like Shueisha or Toei Animation and in this sense we make sure that our worldview is consistent with his. And of course, sometimes we get feedback from him, so we can get the game closer to his vision. This is very important to us.

One-Piece-Pirate-Warriors-3_2014_12-19-14_008JPGames: One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 hits the shelves in the western market for many platforms. One of them is PlayStation Vita. There was also a PlayStation Vita version of Pirate Warriors 2. Could you tell us, why this version never made it to the western markets?

Nakajima: Our approach to the third installment is, to make this game playable for as many people as possible. So in addition to the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 version there will be the PlayStation Vita and a PC version. But about the decision for Pirate Warriors 2 we cannot make any comment.

JPGames: What is the biggest difference between the third installment of the Pirate Warriors series and its two predecessors?

Nakajima: We implemented the new Kizuna system and we also did further polish to the existing gameplay elements and characters. Those two points would be the biggest difference.

JPGames: While developing a Pirate Warriors game are there any recurring problems in development?

Nakajima: As you may know the third game is covering the story from the very beginning to the latest episode and this arc was not completed when the game was released in Japan. So the question is how to manage the Oda elements that we implement and those that come with new chapters.

One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 (6)For example while we were developing the game we came to know, that there are new special moves and characters in the manga. So we have to control this and stay flexible until the very end of the development. So we have to stay in contact with many people to let the whole project grow naturally.

JPGames: Are there any characters you wanted in the game who did not make it?

Nakajima: Honestly speaking, we do want to implement every single character from the manga and anime. But this is obviously not possible, so we wait for fan-feedback and discuss which characters would be the most fitting. And another thing to consider, is again the image of the manga. If there are characters who are not involved in any battles, we do not want to change that, so we won’t let them fight as well.

JPGames: Which are your favorite characters and arcs to play with in Pirate Warriors 3?

Nakajima: My favorite is the Ennies Lobby arc. It has so many emotional highlights and I really love feeling that.

NakajimaKoinuma: I like almost every arc, but in the manga there is a single scene that i really like. It is the battle-scene between Mihawk and Zorro. Personal growth is a very important factor in this scene and it is really strong.

JPGames: Now to the last question: can we expect more Pirate Warriors games or maybe even completely new One Piece games?

Nakajima: At this moment, there are no specific plans for a new franchise, but as you know the story continues in the manga and we are very looking forward to work with the upcoming story elements and characters if we get the chance to.

JPGames: Thank you very much.

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