An Interview With Kenta Sugano, Director of Dark Rose Valkyrie

An Interview With Kenta Sugano, Director of Dark Rose Valkyrie

Gamers Heroes: Dark Rose Valkyrie has a unique concept of a traitor being among your group. How did this idea come about?

Kenta Sugano: The concept of betrayal came from the idea of it being fun to find the liar out of a group. The concept was kind of born out of that.

Gamers Heroes: We also noticed that Dark Rose Valkyrie has a “tactical fluid battle system.” What went into its design?

Kenta Sugano: I wanted to create a system where you’re not just putting in a series of button presses and waiting. I wanted the player to be able to react between the wait time as well. I wanted to create a system that was a lot more action-oriented.

Gamers Heroes: There was an action we saw in the middle where you can integrate with another character, where they worked together. It looked really fun.

Kenta Sugano: Thank you very much!

Gamers Heroes: How did your previous work on other titles influence the development of Dark Rose Valkyrie?

Kenta Sugano: Previously I worked on Agarest no Senki [Record of Agarest War] and also Omega Quintet, and so both of those systems have a tactical battle system or some sort of tactical element to them, so I wanted to take that and improve upon it for Dark Rose Valkyrie.

Gamers Heroes: With the release of the PlayStation 4 Pro, have you thought about developing for that platform in the future? Maybe utilizing HDR support?

Kenta Sugano: Because the Pro is designed to give a good VR experience, if there is ever some sort of timing where VR becomes important, then I would definitely consider it.

Gamers Heroes: Could you tell us a little more about the localization process? Were there any major changes or challenges between the Japanese release and the upcoming English release? Have there been any funny translations?

Justina Lange: Things have actually gone pretty smooth and we really want to try and stay true to the story. Because there is a military aspect to it, there is a bit of looking up similar jargon. We feel like the core of it is something that anybody can really enjoy.

Gamers Heroes: What type of video game titles or developers have inspired you?

Kenta Sugano: I am a little bit on the old side. I tend to look at the old type games like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest titles. I look up to Square-Enix.

Gamers Heroes: Which Final Fantasy is your favorite?

Kenta Sugano: Around middle school, I was really into Final Fantasy III.

Gamers Heroes: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Kenta Sugano: I would like to take this opportunity to say that we’ve put a lot of strength behind this title and that a lot of these really great creators have gotten together to put a lot of work effort into the game. Fujishima has put so much effort into drawing the characters. The scenarios are great, and the story and characterizations are great. Since I worked on the battle system, I want everybody to enjoy it.

Gamers Heroes: We’re looking forward to it. Thank you very much.

Dark Rose Valkyrie will come out for the PlayStation 4 in spring of 2017.