The first trailer for Tokitowa debuted during today's Imageepoch "JRPG Declaration 2012" event, giving us our first look at how the game manages to blend 3D backdrops with hand drawn character art.
Unfortunately, the trailer was mostly animation from Satelight. There were only a few seconds of in-game footage consisting of brief bits spliced together.
An official version of the trailer hasn't been released yet, but here are some still grabs:
Although the trailer didn't show much in-game footage, Mikage assured viewers once again that the game looks like moving anime. He joked that the older managers he showed footage to mistook it for anime.
Different from Imageepoch's 2010 press conference, a large Level-5 Vision style affair, this event was just a webcast featuring Imagepoch CEO Ryoei Mikage (recovering from a cold) and producer Kei Hirano (about to get married) speaking behind a desk. Outside for a few teases at the end, the broadcast was entirely about Tokitowa.
Mikage revealed that the game originated as a design document from long ago. He pulled it out one day and thought that it could at last be done on the PS3. He did end up rewriting much of it, though.
Mikage also discussed how the other key staff members got involved in the project. For composer Yuzo Koshiro, he revealed that he'd actually written the design doc while listening to Koshiro music. They played a sampling of Koshiro's music during the broadcast, but it was just a prototype.
Illustrator Vofan did not come in until midway through the project (between the second and third prototypes, said Mikage). The staff discussed who would be a good match for the characters and decided on Vofan.
The game's main voice staff, Tsubasa Yonaga as the main character and Kana Hanazawa as heroine Toki, delivered video messages. They noted that the main character is 18 and still hasn't had a kiss, so he's very pure. Toki has a major secret, they revealed. We'll have to play the game for ourselves to find out what it is, but the it's something that the main character does not know.
Nico Nico viewers were invited to ask questions. Unfortunately, they mostly asked questions that could not be answered. However, Mikage did share a few bits in his responses:
- The game is not a turn-based RPG. It's very close to an action RPG.
- The game has a mix of fixed and moving cameras.
- The game will be released this year -- 2012. Mikage said that it probably won't take all the way until Winter.
- The game will be ready in time for TGS (I believe Mikage is talking about it being shown at TGS rather than being released by then).
- The game will have download content.
- Mikage said that you can cheat on your wife and you can select your wife. It's possible he was joking.
- Asked to give a percentage completion, they said said around 20%. The basic program is done.
You may be disappointed if you were expecting a large press conference from Imageepoch today. This was actually just the first in a series of announcements events for the company. The next event is set for March and will see the announcement of a new command-based RPG, in addition to a new look at Tokitowa. We can also look forward to similar events in Fall and Winter, with Mikage promising major title announcements.
