A young geniusUconVoice: Tone KentarouVoice: Minase InoriThe producer Mr. Shimokawa explains
Characters
The protagonists of the next generation, brought to life by Amadzuyu Tatsuki & Mitsumi MisatoA noble, fair-minded, masked manOne of the travelers in Ucon's party, he calls himself a "courtly scholar". His flashy clothing and thick makeup remind one of an aristocrat's appearance, and his style of speech is also rather unique, bringing to mind the nobility.Voice: Kakuma AiNeconeVoice: ???The producer Mr. Shimokawa explains
Battle
The important scenes which bring the stories together are acted out as 3D battlesA heroic type who Haku &co. meet at an inn. A dauntless man with a wealth of chin hair, he is currently transporting an offering to the imperial capital along with his many followers. He is also Necone's elder brother.An elegant courtly scholarCharacter sprite motions are refined to the extremeOscietlThose Who Explain FurtherMarorThere's something about his appearance...The last princess of the country of Kujuuri, vassal state to the Yamato empire. Her station is of the highest, but she has a somehow timid impression. She is currently traveling as an envoy in charge of transporting an offering to the imperial capital. She has a pet Hororon bird called Kokopo.The world of "Utawarerumono", where a unique sense of "Japaneseness" is created based on a motif of Ainu culture. The character designs in this world are done by the director Mr. Amadzuyu Tatsuki and his close collaborator Ms. Mitsumi Misato. Aquaplus fans surely need no explanation of this golden combo -- we hope you will feel the life in the new characters they have created.LultieA lovely last princessVoice: Sugiyama OokiHis appearance resembles that of the previous game's protagonist, Hakuoro. The keyword "mask" ["kamen"] also appears in the title of the game, so he seems like he might hold the secrets to this story.A gallant defender of the weakHer appearance is that of a young child, but she's the youngest person in history to have passed the highest level bureaucratic examination, and is a genius of great learning. She is also Ucon's younger sister. Her hobby is researching the history of the ancients, and she speaks in a literate style of keigo that doesn't seem to fit her. Her favorite foods are sweet snacks, and she's very fond of her brother.Great pains taken to select the perfect voice actors who will breathe life into the charactersHardware selection that won't betray the users
It's been 4 years since the original announcement, and the hardware environment has changed. We wanted to make sure that all the fans who have been awaiting this game are able to play it, so we are announcing support for three platforms. We see the probability of PS4 dominating the coming generation to be high, and we wanted to build our experience developing for PS4, so that's one. We will target PS3 as well, since in the previous announcement we specifically promised PS3 support. And we'll target the PS Vita because of its convenient portability.
High quality music mastering
Starting with the theme song, the songs that Suara sings had their strings recorded at the famous studio in England, "Abbey Road Studios". Though unfortunately we couldn't record all the BGM there since that would cost several hundred million yen (lol) [several million US dollars]. We went considerably overboard making sure that the opening and ending songs, etc. were of an unmatched high quality that could remain popular for the next five years or so. Please do expect great things from the first time one of Suara's songs plays!
Promotions that everyone can enjoy together
On the official website, we've held such events as a voice actor quiz, a rock-breaking minigame, which also serve as PR for us as a game company. We've planned fun things for us to enjoy along with all the fans. And if you follow me on Twitter, well, it might be once a month, or even once every couple months, but I'll definitely be "leaking" a couple important things, so bring on the followers! Thank you!
Keep your eyes on Aquaplus in 2015!
On the eve of our 20th anniversary, we want to gain the energy to fight through the coming 20 more years from our fans, so we're going all out this year. We'll be making this year the Year of Utawarerumono, the Year of Aquaplus for you!All voice acting roles were auditioned, and we chose the actors who we thought best fit the characters' images. On the official website, we're currently holding a quiz for voice actors, and we're considering first and foremost the people who can best make the game a lively experience. We had great trouble deciding on the voice for the protagonist, and after deliberation within the company, we all decided to choose someone with great experience and strong skills, who could give a strong "core" to the game. The person who best satisfied these criteria was Fujiwara Keiji with his "cool voice that's loved by the people", and we asked him to come on board.At its most fundamental, "Utawarerumono" is a game which tells the player a story, so we won't make it so difficult that you'd give up partway through. For those who want something tougher to chew on, we are thinking of providing a "hard mode", or something like that. In any case, it would be pointless if the battle scenes were boring, so we're putting a lot of effort into making the characters' depictions and motions look cute, so that you will feel that it's fun even just moving the characters around. Also, we're making sure to tie together impactful scenes from the adventure part [i.e. the VN-like part] of the game into the animations in battle, so that for example you'll see a character swing their sword a certain way in battle and immediately remember the scene where they were doing that same move in the story part. Please look forward to it!A general of the imperial guard in the Yamato Empire. Skilled in both letters and war, his fair and noble-minded actions have earned him the deep trust of both the people and the emperor. He is always wearing a mask, and his true face is a mystery.
