Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Interview – Talking a new twist on the series with producer Hisashi Fuji

With Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma set for release in just a couple of months, we had a chance to sit down with Marvelous game producer Hisashi Fuji for a bit of a chat about the conception and evolution of this new entry in the long-running RPG series, as well as some exciting new additions to farm life, the battle system, and character romance.

Advertisement. Keep scrolling for more

RPG Site: The Rune Factory series has been around for a while now, what made you want to bring it back for a new entry?

Hisashi Fuji: After Rune Factory 5 we wanted to go in a different direction, which is why we decided to have the setting be the eastern country of Azuma.

RPG Site: Was there anything specific that you wanted to focus on and evolve for Guardians of Azuma?

Hisashi Fuji: The biggest element in this game is the village building elements. The Rune Factory series has always been about action RPG elements and farming elements. And for this new entry, we wanted to take a leap into something new and also integrated into the game cycle, so that players are able to customize their own villages as much as they want.

RPG Site: With the village building elements, how expansive are they? Are they optional or are they required to progress within the main story?

Hisashi Fuji: At the beginning of the game, there are some places where you’ll need to do the village building in order to progress, but after that it’s not mandatory. Players have the freedom to choose if they want to do it or not. There are four villages in the game, and each has its own unique area that you can edit and add your own buildings. And so there are differences between the four villages and how much you can edit them. The biggest area you can edit is in the Autumn Village, and it’ll be really difficult to fill in all that, it’s so large.

RPG Site: With that customization in mind – the village building, farming, and RPG elements such as the combat system – do you feel like there’s been any limitations during development in terms of balancing all those features together?

Hisashi Fuji: The village building elements were something that we’d implemented for the first time with this game, and it was not easy for us. It was something that we definitely worked very hard on, and while we knew that we wanted to do it from the planning stages of the game, we didn’t know exactly how it was going to work until we started working on it. We tried several different things, and finally, we reached a place where we feel very confident in the balance.

RPG Site: Why did you decide to have two protagonists and not do something like a character creation system?

Hisashi Fuji: A big reason why there are two protagonists in the game is because we found that users really wanted to date the other version of the character in the previous games. Because of that, we weren’t able to put in a character creator, because it wouldn’t make sense if you could edit their appearance.

Advertisement. Keep scrolling for more

RPG Site: Can you tell me a little more about the philosophy behind the romance system? In the demo we can basically do whatever we want so I’m curious why you’ve gone that route.

Hisashi Fuji: In the past games in the Rune Factory series, you had to give gifts and greet other characters every day and that was pretty much how you advanced your relationship with them. And so in this game, we wanted to try and deepen that system, to give players different ways to advance the relationship in different directions. I think you saw in the demo you can take them out, you can invite them on a date or have different conversations with them, and that’s something that we really wanted to try with this game.

RPG Site: Who is your favorite character to romance with?

Hisashi Fuji: Among the male characters, it’s Kai, and then among the female characters it’s Matsuri. But of course, I like all the characters.

RPG Site: Was there any reason to continue to pursue a more action-style battle system?

Hisashi Fuji: The past games in the series were also the same style of gameplay, so this is more of a continuation of those titles.

RPG Site: What do you think is the biggest difference – the biggest thing you’ve evolved with Guardians of Azuma?

Hisashi Fuji: In the past games in the series you’re able to use magic and that has been replaced in this game by the Sacred Treasures. Using them is similar to how you used magic in past games, but they can be used outside of battle, in elements like farming. You can use them to purify the blight that’s all over the land, and also restore the earth. So for us, that’s the biggest development.

RPG Site: With a lot of modern games, one of the big things that developers have been focusing on is accessibility. How does that work with Guardians of Azuma?

Hisashi Fuji: One thing I can say is that you can completely reconfigure all of the controls in the game, so for example, if you’re not able to fully play with both hands, it’s possible to reconfigure them so you can use one hand.

RPG Site: You mentioned the village building being a challenge before, was there anything you thought was particularly challenging to pull off?

Hisashi Fuji: With romance there are 16 marriage candidates in the game, which is the most in the series. And both the main scenario and the romance scenarios are fully voiced for the first time. Just from a purely volume perspective, it’s very challenging for us to record and write that much.

Advertisement. Keep scrolling for more

RPG Site: As this isn’t the first Rune Factory game, are players going to be expected to have played the other games or is Guardians of Azuma a standalone title?

Hisashi Fuji: I think that new users will be able to enjoy it without previous experience. Of course, characters from Rune Factory 5 like Hina appear in the game, so if you’re familiar with that character then it will lend a kind of new experience. It’s not totally necessary to have played Rune Factory 5 to play Guardians of Azuma.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is set to release on May 30 for Nintendo Switch and PC (Steam).