A month had passed since the conclusion of Laon's first-anniversary event. A new ga shop, managed directly by Mantra, sprung up on the third floor of the terminal plaza connected to Yongsan Station.
Soyeon sent pictures of the newly opened store through international mail. Among them, I spotted several Mantra employees; seeing them again in pictures brought a wave of nostalgia.
Similar to Japan's Pentagon Shop, the Mantra Shop here was styled similarly, and being its opening day, it was bustling with countless custors. Could the vibrant atmosphere of that day be felt vividly through just photos?
Due to the relatively small market size in Korea for a Laon-exclusive shop, Mantra operated a multi-shop dedicated to gaming titles, including PC gas. (Though it primarily focused on officially released dostic titles)
As I flipped through the photos Soyeon sent, a smile naturally ford on my lips.
That's when Hayashi approached . "Are these pictures from Korea? You seem in high spirits."
"With so many good encounters, I can't help it."
"They say there are many beauties in Korea, and Yuki's mother is Korean too. I thought I'd tag along with the President when he went to Korea, but now I regret not doing it."
At that mont, Morita, seated at the opposite desk, interjected with a smirk, asking Hayashi, "Is everything going well with Kaori from the design team?"
"Kaori feels more like a younger sister to ... Well..."
"I haven't had an older brother figure like our team leader before~"
Kawori, from the design team, barged into the room without a knock, ignoring Hayashi, and gave a subtle smile. Then, Hayashi's voice followed from behind her.
"Are we in a scene from 'The Six-Hundred-Million-Dollar Man'? Is our office's soundproofing this weak?"
"I have pretty good hearing. Manager Kang Junhyuk, it's ti for the eting."
"Oh, has the ti flown already? But why is Kaori here?"
"Well... President Kawaguchi included and a few mbers of the Tamago Monster team for the new monster design in the upcoming project."
"Is that so?"
"It seems the new installnt of the Final Frontier series that the President is planning might be sowhat special."
The anticipatory tone in Kaori's voice piqued the interest of the second developnt team mbers.
&
What she referred to as the new Final Frontier series wasn't about the upcoming 5th installnt. In fact, the story revolves around the release of Final Frontier 4, which was launched simultaneously with Laon last year. During the planning phase of Final Frontier 4, there had been conflicting opinions within the first developnt team.
At that ti, opinions clashed between maintaining the RPG format characteristic of Final Frontier and embracing a completely new approach to fit the new generation's release.
Director Kawaguchi intervened in the conventional JRPG gaplay of Final Frontier, birthing Final Frontier 4, which told the tale of the Knight of Courage.
But, considering they went to the extent of holding a eting, it seed that the new Final Frontier's planning might have been quite disappointing.
"Today's eting concerns the derivative works of the Final Frontier series, as previously ntioned."
The attendees in the eting room, including from the first developnt team, were the initial employees who proposed the agenda.
Kawaguchi briefly t my gaze before switching on the projector, displaying the project plan on the blank screen.
"This agenda is based on the project proposal from last year for the new Final Frontier. At that ti, Director Nomura, a mber of the first developnt team, had presented an action RPG proposal where characters move and battle on the field. It was one of the works that garnered contrasting opinions due to supposedly undermining the atmosphere unique to Final Frontier. However, if we disregard the title Final Frontier, Nomura's ga design presents a unique style of gaplay. It felt a bit regrettable to leave it as is."
I spread open the ga's new proposal laid out on the table. Glancing at the title on the first page, I couldn't help but chuckle.
"Perhaps I suspected it, but was it really this?"
The series I thoroughly enjoyed in the past, alongside Final Frontier, was indeed the Legend of the Divine Sword.
"For now, since we can't continue using the tentative title Final Frontier, we've given it a separate title. The new project will be titled 'Legend of the Divine Sword 2 - Secret of Mana.'"
At that, Kaori, seated beside , raised her hand, "Huh? 2? Then, what about the first one, sir?"
"Well, Kaori, we've actually developed an action RPG ga at Pentagon."
"Really? Was it released through Laon?"
"You're referring to the Legend of the Divine Sword, designed for MinTendo's portable Ga Boy."
"Yes, that's right. It was one of the moderately successful IPs in a portable Ga Boy with a shortage of RPGs. Ironically, that work was also derived from the initial proposal of the first Final Frontier. So, there's a connection to this new ga, and hence, we decided on the title 'Legend of the Divine Sword 2' for the new ga."
The expressions of the people gathered in the eting room froze simultaneously at Kawaguchi's detailed explanation.
Recently, there had been subtle shifts in Japan's RPG ga market.
New RPG gas integrating action, unlike the traditional RPGs such as Dragon Warrior or Final Frontier, had risen in the expectation rankings.
Among them, the foremost was a ga called 'Tales of Illusion' developed by Triforce.
After an extraordinary response at NEGA's production announcent, this ga, which was in developnt for the NEGA Drive platform, had recently announced its cancellation.
Officially, the reason for the cancellation was stated as NEGA Drive's insufficient performance to achieve additional graphic enhancents. However, it was clearly seen as a re excuse by everyone.
Despite a significant increase in NEGA Drive's penetration into the console market since last Christmas, it didn't naturally translate into purchases of NEGA CDs.
Struggling due to NEGA CD's advancent beyond its ti, NEGA was facing tough tis despite briefly joining the profit-making console market.
However, this incident prompted MinTendo's President Kamauichi, a staunch advocate for cartridge systems, to assert that the cartridge system was the most suitable dium for ho consoles.
Well, from MinTendo's perspective, there was no reason to give up cartridge production. The royalties they were receiving were imnse.
Anyway, Triforce had departed from NEGA and had returned with the currently unreleased model codenad 'Undecided'. Rumors had it that discussions were ongoing between MinTendo and Sony, considering the device's distribution rates and sales.
The current trend in RPG gaming was clear: 'An RPG with enjoyable combat.'
Amidst this flood of RPGs, PENTAGON couldn't afford to just sit and watch. But here was one curious thing:
'Why am I here?'
Since the new IP, Legend of the Divine Sword, wasn't sothing I was supposed to be involved with as the head of the second developnt team.
However, my curiosity was quickly quashed by a single statent from Kawaguchi.
"I wanted to attempt sothing a bit different with this new action RPG. And to do
that, I needed the strength of the second developnt team."
As if being entranced by the words, I stared at the project proposal in front of .
Legend of the Divine Sword 2 - Secret of Mana was an action RPG adventure ga, focusing on a journey to save the world from peril by seeking the lost power of Mana. The gaplay heavily emphasized cooperative multiplayer elents, where up to three players could join forces to tackle dungeons and bosses together.
It seed they were aiming for a unique gaplay experience different from the popular action RPGs like Tales of Illusion.
However, in addition to the single-player campaign mode, they planned a cooperative mode allowing players to connect with others through MinTendo's then-upcoming networking service.
The unique chanic allowed players to switch characters between the three heroes mid-battle, enabling strategic maneuvering and powerful combo attacks. The visuals and the story aid for a modern and imrsive experience, featuring stunning graphics and a captivating narrative.
With this ga design, Kawaguchi intended to blend the excitent of real-ti combat with the storytelling and world-building characteristic of the RPG genre.
It was a bit unusual for an action RPG to focus so heavily on cooperative multiplayer and character-switching chanics, but if anyone could pull off sothing groundbreaking, it was President Kawaguchi and the team at PENTAGON.
The project briefing continued, outlining the tasks for both the first and second developnt teams. The eting concluded with a sense of renewed enthusiasm and determination to create sothing extraordinary.
>
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