Katsura Hashino shared his thoughts on turn based gameplay in video games in a new interview with Japanese outlet Denfamicogamer.
Hashino is director of Atlus’ Persona series, having taken a direct hand in the development of Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5. Those are three of the most popular and successful Japanese RPGs in the past two decades, With Persona 5’s Joker joining the case of Super Smash Bros Ultimate, there is no question that he is one of the most important Japanese developers today.
Hashino’s thoughts about turn-based gameplay are of particular interest in context of the Japanese game industry. Square Enix made the decision to drop the long established Active Time Battle system in Final Fantasy and turn Final Fantasy XVI into a full action RPG.
In a recent panel, Final Fantasy XVI director Naoki Yoshida defended the move as Square Enix’s developers challenging themselves to try something new. As Hashino explains, though, there is a lot that goes in to making Persona’s turn based gameplay appealing to modern audiences.
This is how Hashino puts it:
“In the history of RPGs until now, there have been many examples of games that have used turn-based battles that were eventually replaced by active action scenes to give the player an improved sense of immersion. However, I personally believe that turn-based battles will not become an archaic system if they can be implemented in a way that fits as “part of a cutscene’s composition.”
Show the scenes that need to be, and don’t show the scenes that don’t need to be… In short, if we think of the cut-and-paste method used in anime and manga scenes as a method that can be brought into game battles, I believe that turn-based battles in RPGs will continue to evolve in the future. This is why, when we created Persona 5, we didn’t hesitate to adopt a turn-based battle system.
That being said, we’re aware that the “turn-based” system halts the tempo of battles as a whole, so we were conscious of the gameplay in Persona 5 in order to not spoil that sense of immersion as much as possible. For example, players can immediately attack or summon a persona with a single button press. We spent a good amount of time thinking about that.”
So Hashino believes that turn-based gameplay interrupts the tempo of battles. As a result, the Persona games are deliberately designed to keep that from happening.
Hashino explains how they achieve this:
“In Persona 5‘s case, players have to take distance from enemies that appear on the map, reveal the enemy’s identity and face the enemy in a battle with a party. What kind of enemies will you be fighting now, and how will you fight them? The setup to the fight needs to be convincing. For example, in an action movie, when a powerful enemy or a rival appears, the cut and the flow of time changes, doesn’t it? This creates a moment where you have to face the opponent with caution.
By incorporating these cuts and the moments when the flow of time changes into an RPG, we try to make the visuals convincing in terms fo a turn-based battle. Then, we add the dialogue between characters during the battle and the story before and after the battle starts. And when the battle is over and the tension is released, the player returns to the map, where he or she can move freely.
We are conscious when it comes to creating a sense of tension throughout the game. Not only during combat, but also before and after the battle, and building a story and context through turn-based battles.”
When I had clarified that Hashino’s thoughts are of particular interest to Japanese gaming, that’s because the Western game studios have developed their own ideas and solutions to how to implement turn-based gameplay.
Without even elaborating on this, consider that recent and upcoming Western game releases include the likes of Company of Heroes 3, Homeworld 3, and Baldur’s Gate 3. Each of these have a different idea of how to use turn based game play from Persona, and each other, but each have been successful in their own way.
