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Kobayashi said the reason they scrapped the first versions of RE4 was because it was "too much Resident Evil". everybody was tired and used to it, gosh. 10 years later, we know where that lead us.
points:
1.he said they were not satisfied with graphics. REALLY? Lying for money.
2. he said El Gigante was mikami's idea. How creative.
3. he said over-the-shoulder camera was mikami's idea. maybe it was, but obviously not in this "totally brand new work".
4. GC version is not widescreen, neither progressive.
also, this impressive shot of the game:
obviously does not correspond to the feel of the final game.
IGNcube: Let's start with a two-part question. First, what is the storyline for Resident Evil 4? And second, is the footage of Leon Kennedy shown at Tokyo Game Show 2003 still in Resident Evil 4 or has it been scrapped?
Hiroyuki Kobayashi: Yes, that was also the footage we shown at the Electronics Entertainment Expo last year. What you saw today is the exclusive, first-time ever, totally brand new game. So forget what you saw at E3 and TGS.
Let me tell you a little bit more about the storyline. After Resident Evil 2 Leon becomes a US secret agent. The President's daughter is kidnapped by crazed organizations and Leon is assigned to go and rescue the daughter. This is why he's in that village, which is somewhere in Europe. Leon goes to this village and tries to gather information by talking to the local townspeople, but once he's in the village he finds out that the policeman are not really helping and that all of these village people are going crazy. He doesn't really know what's going on. And that's pretty much what I can reveal of the storyline. The rest is for the players to find out.
IGNcube: Why did you decide to scrap what you already had and take the game into a new direction?
Kobayashi: The footage that we all saw last year at E3 was pretty much the same Resident Evil that everybody has already played. We wanted to change the image of the franchise. We wanted to turn that all around. The footage you saw last year -- that would probably be totally acceptable with other software companies, especially with the graphics and everything. But it was not acceptable for R&D4 at Capcom. That is one of the many reasons why we wanted to throw away everything and instead come up with something totally new that we would be completely satisfied with.
IGNcube: What new gameplay dynamic were you hoping to achieve by allowing Leon to target and attack specific body parts on enemies?
Kobayashi: We developed the ability to shoot at different parts of the body to make the experience more realistic. In previous Resident Evil titles when you shot at zombies they only had maybe one reaction. This time the village people are a lot smarter than the previous characters. They think. And that's why we wanted to be more realistic with what we could do to them. Does that answer your question?
IGNcube: Almost. We're curious to know if this new ability opens up fundamental gameplay differences.
Kobayashi: We're basically using the same weapon engines. It wasn't that troublesome to implement these changes.
IGNcube: This is the most beautiful GameCube title we've seen yet. We were very impressed by the lighting effects shown in today's trailer -- especially during night scenes where lighting seems to cast over everything, from backgrounds to moving character models. Can you talk about the lighting engine you have in place for the game? On top of that, we noticed that the game appears to run in widescreen mode. Is this due to technical restraints?
Kobayashi: As previously done with Devil May Cry and Resident Evil remake, the person who is working on the lighting -- this is basically his effort. He will try to do lighting from a different angle and every time it seems like he doesn't like it so he will do it all over again. Basically, it's just that. He doesn't like it, he does it again, and a combination of that. So all of the lighting is taking two times the development time because he goes back and does it again.
As for widescreen, it's nothing technical related. But rather because the camera is shooting behind Leon so we wanted to give it a full widescreen display to give a clearer view of the environment.
IGNcube: Is it a true 16x9 widescreen mode -- as in, is it fully compatible with widescreen televisions?
Kobayashi: In our department we also have a widescreen television and we actually developed the game with it and always played on it. So [Shinji] Mikami said, "You know, why don't we just make the game widescreen?" So this time if you have a widescreen television it will run on it.
IGNcube: And does the game run in progressive scan, too?
Kobayashi: Yes.
IGNcube: What kind of an impact has Mikami, now director of RE4, had on the game?
Kobayashi: First of all, the behind-the-shoulder view was Mikami's idea. The widescreen mode was also his idea. Plus, this huge creature in the game -- only Mikami could come up with that kind of idea. But of course Mikami himself cannot do the entire game because he is involved with other games. So our R&D4 developers and Mikami have worked very, very closely together ever since we decided to redo the whole game again. It's collaboration between everyone all the way.
IGNcube: There is a false perception, at least in the US, that GameCube is a console for a younger audience. Has this had an impact on what you felt you could or couldn't do in Resident Evil 4?
Kobayashi: The kiddy image of the Nintendo GameCube is pretty much the same for us in Japan, too. People have the image of GameCube as a console for younger players. We knew that the game was going to be very violent so we went to Nintendo and they discussed this issue and asked for their approval -- if it would be all right to make such a game. Nintendo had no problem with that. So there was no restriction.
IGN: Can you control anybody other than Leon in Resident Evil 4?
Kobayashi: [Laughs] Take a wild guess from the previous Resident Evil. Was there only one character? [Smiles]
IGNcube: Will Resident Evil 4 ever appear on another console, such as PlayStation 2?
Kobayashi: Definitely not. Definitely not. It's a GameCube exclusive.
Hiroyuki Kobayashi: Yes, that was also the footage we shown at the Electronics Entertainment Expo last year. What you saw today is the exclusive, first-time ever, totally brand new game. So forget what you saw at E3 and TGS.
Let me tell you a little bit more about the storyline. After Resident Evil 2 Leon becomes a US secret agent. The President's daughter is kidnapped by crazed organizations and Leon is assigned to go and rescue the daughter. This is why he's in that village, which is somewhere in Europe. Leon goes to this village and tries to gather information by talking to the local townspeople, but once he's in the village he finds out that the policeman are not really helping and that all of these village people are going crazy. He doesn't really know what's going on. And that's pretty much what I can reveal of the storyline. The rest is for the players to find out.
IGNcube: Why did you decide to scrap what you already had and take the game into a new direction?
Kobayashi: The footage that we all saw last year at E3 was pretty much the same Resident Evil that everybody has already played. We wanted to change the image of the franchise. We wanted to turn that all around. The footage you saw last year -- that would probably be totally acceptable with other software companies, especially with the graphics and everything. But it was not acceptable for R&D4 at Capcom. That is one of the many reasons why we wanted to throw away everything and instead come up with something totally new that we would be completely satisfied with.
IGNcube: What new gameplay dynamic were you hoping to achieve by allowing Leon to target and attack specific body parts on enemies?
Kobayashi: We developed the ability to shoot at different parts of the body to make the experience more realistic. In previous Resident Evil titles when you shot at zombies they only had maybe one reaction. This time the village people are a lot smarter than the previous characters. They think. And that's why we wanted to be more realistic with what we could do to them. Does that answer your question?
IGNcube: Almost. We're curious to know if this new ability opens up fundamental gameplay differences.
Kobayashi: We're basically using the same weapon engines. It wasn't that troublesome to implement these changes.
IGNcube: This is the most beautiful GameCube title we've seen yet. We were very impressed by the lighting effects shown in today's trailer -- especially during night scenes where lighting seems to cast over everything, from backgrounds to moving character models. Can you talk about the lighting engine you have in place for the game? On top of that, we noticed that the game appears to run in widescreen mode. Is this due to technical restraints?
Kobayashi: As previously done with Devil May Cry and Resident Evil remake, the person who is working on the lighting -- this is basically his effort. He will try to do lighting from a different angle and every time it seems like he doesn't like it so he will do it all over again. Basically, it's just that. He doesn't like it, he does it again, and a combination of that. So all of the lighting is taking two times the development time because he goes back and does it again.
As for widescreen, it's nothing technical related. But rather because the camera is shooting behind Leon so we wanted to give it a full widescreen display to give a clearer view of the environment.
IGNcube: Is it a true 16x9 widescreen mode -- as in, is it fully compatible with widescreen televisions?
Kobayashi: In our department we also have a widescreen television and we actually developed the game with it and always played on it. So [Shinji] Mikami said, "You know, why don't we just make the game widescreen?" So this time if you have a widescreen television it will run on it.
IGNcube: And does the game run in progressive scan, too?
Kobayashi: Yes.
IGNcube: What kind of an impact has Mikami, now director of RE4, had on the game?
Kobayashi: First of all, the behind-the-shoulder view was Mikami's idea. The widescreen mode was also his idea. Plus, this huge creature in the game -- only Mikami could come up with that kind of idea. But of course Mikami himself cannot do the entire game because he is involved with other games. So our R&D4 developers and Mikami have worked very, very closely together ever since we decided to redo the whole game again. It's collaboration between everyone all the way.
IGNcube: There is a false perception, at least in the US, that GameCube is a console for a younger audience. Has this had an impact on what you felt you could or couldn't do in Resident Evil 4?
Kobayashi: The kiddy image of the Nintendo GameCube is pretty much the same for us in Japan, too. People have the image of GameCube as a console for younger players. We knew that the game was going to be very violent so we went to Nintendo and they discussed this issue and asked for their approval -- if it would be all right to make such a game. Nintendo had no problem with that. So there was no restriction.
IGN: Can you control anybody other than Leon in Resident Evil 4?
Kobayashi: [Laughs] Take a wild guess from the previous Resident Evil. Was there only one character? [Smiles]
IGNcube: Will Resident Evil 4 ever appear on another console, such as PlayStation 2?
Kobayashi: Definitely not. Definitely not. It's a GameCube exclusive.
Kobayashi said the reason they scrapped the first versions of RE4 was because it was "too much Resident Evil". everybody was tired and used to it, gosh. 10 years later, we know where that lead us.
points:
1.he said they were not satisfied with graphics. REALLY? Lying for money.
2. he said El Gigante was mikami's idea. How creative.
3. he said over-the-shoulder camera was mikami's idea. maybe it was, but obviously not in this "totally brand new work".
4. GC version is not widescreen, neither progressive.
also, this impressive shot of the game:
obviously does not correspond to the feel of the final game.
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