Being able to visit Koei Tecmo recently we were lucky enough to have some time to ask a few questions to the mind behind Attack on Titan 2 :Final Battle Hideo Suzuki, to help shed some light on what this expansion adds to the game including storyline, replayability and even the new Anti-Personnel Battle Experience. Read on for the full interview!
Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle Interview with Producer Hideo Suzuki
FL: How does Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle help to expand on the story as there are different branching narratives and how does it expand on parts the anime doesn’t cover?
HS: In terms of story telling this time around we decided to tell the story from three different perspectives. Well simply because personally I felt that if we followed the anime and told the same story, it would be uninteresting for them…for people who played it. That’s why this time we have Scout Regiment, the 104th cadets and the warriors to depict the story a little differently. And then another thing is that in Attack on Titan 1 and 2 games, we took the liberty to add our own original story that were all very well received by the IP fans and it is something we take pride in. Naturally we did it again to kind of fill in the gaps, to tell some of the behind the scenes stories in the episode mode.
FL: The next question is about World Reclamation Mode, it really seems quite in-depth. How does one reach the 100% reclaim rate and what happens when that has been accomplished?
HS: Once the player retakes all territories in that mode there is an ending for that. But you are talking about 100% completion right?…A higher goal after reclaiming all territories, one would be to research the awesome weapons which would have some very difficult conditions to meet.
Secondly there are character interactions which amount to close to 100 for people to be able to complete. This is very time consuming because this would mean you would have to recruit the person (character)…[which] takes effort and you will need to fight many battles with them to develop the bond, and you have to switch between characters to see what you want to see, so those would be the higher goals.
FL: From what I’ve seen from the anti-personnel battle experience with the ODM (Omni-Directional Mobility) equipment many people are excited to be able to get their hands on this new experience. What can players expect from this type of battle?
HS: Actually the anti-personal ODM is one of the cornerstones of this Final Battle in terms of game design. At the very beginning the devs teams talked to the licencor about using anti-human guns on Titans and it was approved. The reasons for making such a request is because they felt players in Attack on Titan 1 and 2 are more than familiar with the blades and by now they probably crave more, a new game experience…[we] saw the perfect opportunity and successfully implemented it.
FL: The system is very impressive! What is the character episode mode, how does that work within Final Battle?
HS: Firstly I should mention there are three streams of storylines, you start with the Scout Regiment but at a certain point it unlocks other streams and it branches off etc. So you can decide to play one perspective the way through, or jump back and forth, and it branches off even more. That’s how it progresses.
FL: Final Battle has plenty of content, such as character stages, maps, gear and new mode. How many hours on average do you think players will spend on the Final Battle expansion?
HS: If you only want to go through the character episode mode as well the territory recovery mode, it probably will only take about 30 hours. But like you mentioned, if you want to go for more and try to complete everything then it easily takes more than 70 hours.
FL: That’s fantastic news for AOT fans. We already touched upon this, but what will players expect when it comes to replayability especially when it comes to extra content?
HS: First of all, you can find that mostly in the Territory Recover mode. It’s not only about beating all the missions but its also about unlocking all the capitals and through which you can discover what kind of interactions there are [available], you will have to find out these on your own…so the character events. The weapons we [already] touched upon which is to try and research all the weapons.
The one last thing that we were very conscious about is in the base game, the characters’ abilities, the characters’ skills were kind of preset for example there is a cap to physical prowess. The players really voiced that they really wanted to develop their characters and have their favourite character be omnipotent so we expanded/readjusted that. Players will be able to level up characters the way they want, so that’s another side to replayability, develop your own character.
FL: Obviously the game follows the anime quite closely, but when can we expect to hear on anything about Attack on Titan 3?
HS: [Hideo Suzuki laughs] Well first of all obviously there are no talks of [Attack on Titan] 3 as we are not done with Final Battle just yet but if there were to be a 3, it would be something quite different, not just following stories but to provide a new gaming experience, just like I said with the guns. Once I have enough ideas and can come up with enough game volume for a new gaming experience, then maybe I will title the next game 3, otherwise it would be unfitting.
Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle will release in North America/Europe on July 5th 2019 for Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC. It will release on July 4th in Japan.If you already own Attack on Titan 2, you can purchase the Final Battle as part of the Upgrade Pack DLC.
If you want to see find out what we thought of game you should check out our Attack on Titan 2 Final Battle Hands-On Preview.
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