I don't enjoy developing console games, nor mobile games. "But because the game has been successful, the story hasn't come to the ending yet, so I feel a little frustrated. "Many mobile games did not have an ending, so I started with writing an ending," he says. In writing its story, it's something Yoko took especially to heart. SinoAlice, with a star-studded creative team behind it, is vying to set itself apart from the typical gacha mobile game. "I'm not sure why fairy tales from the West are popular in Japan, but I have a feeling that a certain mouse with a high-pitched voice has to do with it," says Yoko. Accordingly, the characters selected for the gruesome gacha RPG were chosen in accordance to their popularity in Japan, despite largely being European in origin. For years, it seemed like it would never cross seas, as fans utilized VPNs to play it as they do with other Japan-exclusives. Initially, SinoAlice wasn't even planned by the developers to have a release beyond Japan. "Instead of everyone having to endure my lazy scenario, I made an infinitely generous consideration so you could skip the story and play comfortably.!!!" "I made a strict order to the SinoAlice dev team-that the scenario should be skippable with one tap," he says. Yet for Yoko, it was important to make SinoAlice's story purely optional. The gacha screen, Maeda points out, has "a comical effect and comical music." Perhaps it's to lighten the mood for when players get the "feelings of frustration from not being able to pull the characters they want from the gacha," as Yoko puts how he wants players of SinoAlice to feel.īoth Maeda and Fujimoto sing praise for Yoko's creative vision in shaping SinoAlice. It's on a whole different level that an average person like me could never think of."įor how dour SinoAlice looks on the surface, it still has touches of humor that Yoko's work ( and his interviews with press) have come to be known for.
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Hansel and Gretel and others tell stories of abandoning children from back when famine was widespread, and in one variant of Snow White, the twelve dwarfs have a vote to decide which step sister to fry in the frying pan, very invoking of Netflix shows. On the subject of his personal favorite stories, he points to the darker tellings of classics.
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What I mean is, I chose the fairy tales from a business standpoint," says Yoko. They go to see them because they've heard of them. Famous fairy tales, famous brands, famous YouTubers. "People are drawn to things they've heard of. Cinderella is literally touting a gun in her character art. While the names are the same, it's readily clear that these aren't the characters we grew up reading and watching: They must "kill to live," and in their macabre pursuit, resurrect their long dead authors. However, the true stars of SinoAlice's journey are its exquisitely sketched heroes, who are familiar fairy tale characters like Alice from Alice in Wonderland and Little Red Riding Hood. | Square EnixĪ gacha-style RPG, SinoAlice is focused on collecting unique weapons, which all have their own story, according to Maeda. These are the core of the game." From left to right, pictured: Pokelabo Producer Shogo Maeda, Creative Director Taro Yoko, Square Enix Producer Yoshinari Fujimoto. "Yoko-san has created the settings and 'flavor,' Jino-san has designed the characters, and Okabe-san has composed the music that surpasses the mobile genre. "In any market, SINoALICE is a title that provides a uniquely unmatched experience," says Fujimoto. Yoko, Square Enix Producer Yoshinari Fujimoto, and Pokelabo Producer Shogo Maeda fill USgamer in over email on what to expect from the worldwide release of SinoAlice, which is styled as SINoALICE. Most recently, he collaborated with the Final Fantasy 14 team for a special Nier-themed raid, YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse.
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In that same year, Yoko released SinoAlice in Japan. In 2017, it was followed up by the critically acclaimed Nier: Automata- a game that nearly beat out Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for our own Game of the Year. The latter was the only one to ship westward, but became a cult hit on the PlayStation 3 nonetheless. He rose to prominence in 2003 with the inception of the Drakengard series, which was followed up by 2010's Nier: Replicant and Nier: Gestalt. Yoko has been a long time figure in the games industry. SinoAlice may be a mobile RPG, but it clearly revels in that playful Yoko vibe. But wait, just kidding-they're actually about love.Or hold up, maybe not. They're about "the effect of society's cognitive dissonance on human nature," Yoko says. Today marks the worldwide launch of SinoAlice, a mobile RPG from Pokelabo and Square Enix, directed by Taro Yoko of Nier and Drakengard fame.