Tag Archives: Yoshinori Yamagishi

Wed, Mar 11, 2009 | 17:16 GMT

Star Ocean producer originally wanted to make erotic games

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Square’s Star Ocean producer Yoshinori Yamagishi was keen on making erotic games at one time.

Yamagishi explained to Videogamer:

“This is actually a quotation from a conversation I had when I was still talking with Enix before the company merged with top management people,” he said. “I said yes, maybe one day I would like to try something more adult content. That’s true!

“But that’s not to say that we wanted to create something erotic and ended up with Star Ocean: the Last Hope. That’s not the case.”

Right then.

Yamagishi mentioned that the Star Ocean engine makes it possible to do a DS, PSP, or a PS3 version–but that’s just not as interesting.

Fri, Mar 06, 2009 | 08:10 GMT

Square: Game storytelling can surpass film

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Star Ocean: The Last Hope producer Yoshinori Yamagishi has told CVG that games as storytelling media are still far from their full potential.

“As opposed to films, books and TV, as a medium it is more of a challenge to produce a game in order to tell a story,” he said.

“In TV, film and theatre, the creator has control over how he gives the story to the viewer – it’s easier to control the emotions and feelings expected from the viewer.

“But in [a game developer's] case we always have to think about how players might react to each depiction of a character or storyline, and that’s the part we can’t predict. Nevertheless we have to make these predictions to a certain degree, and incorporate this into our work. So it’s more of a challenge.

“But if we manage to get over this hurdle, then I regard videogames as a greater medium to provide people with deep emotional and exciting experiences.”

There’s a full interview here.