Kenichiro Yuji, director of My Life as a King (FINAL FANTASY Crystal Chronicles), talks to SQUARE ENIX MEMBERS about his fascination with bread, curry houses and penguin’s.

This interview can be found on Square Enix Members website, but for those of you whom don’t have an account heres the full questions and answers to the final part; part 3 of the interview. The first part of the interview can be read by clicking here. The second part can be read here.

- How did you become involved in this project?

Kenichiro Yuji: I think that I was given the offer since I had previously worked on FRONT MISSION ONLINE with [Fumiaki] Shiraishi, the creator of the original My Life as a King design documents, and [senior producer Toshirou] Tsuchida. I also personally wanted to work on a game like this, so I accepted.

- How do you come up with stories or gameplay ideas? Is there anything in particular that you do to keep your mind creative?

Kenichiro Yuji: The story was not my doing, as that was handled by the scenario writers. As for gameplay ideas, I usually ask myself two questions: “what do I want the player to do” and “how do I want the player to enjoy the game.” Then I try my best to define the answers to these questions. This is definitely the hardest part. Once I’m satisfied with the answers, I try to devise a game system that fit within the applicable parameters, using my past game design experience. All that’s left to do is create the actual game. Experience and good research are your two assets in this phase for creating a high-quality final product, as time is a factor.

When it comes to keeping my mind creative… I play a lot of games. Just playing them, though, isn’t enough. I try to keep an eye out for elements within those games that answer the two questions I’ve mentioned above. The greater the variety of ideas you have, the more you can reference when you are in game production.

- Who do you look up to, or do you have anyone who has influenced your life?

Kenichiro Yuji: My greatest influence is the people I’ve worked with. I believe that I am who I am now because I’ve emulated the work ethics and techniques of my colleagues. Of course, Tsuchida has also been a great influence to me.

I don’t think I could quote any famous words of or words of wisdom spoken by historical figures that truly influenced me.

- What do you like to do when you are not working? What’s your hidden talent and/or hobby?

Kenichiro Yuji: Board games are my hobby. Not electronic games, but ones that use wooden pieces and cardboard play mats. I have nearly 400 games and I can’t fit them all in my house so I keep a lot of them at the office.

In my free time I like to prepare new board/card games for play by cutting out or assembling play pieces, reading instruction manuals, putting cards in sleeves, etc. This takes around 50 percent of my free time.

If I’m not doing those things I’ll usually watch anime, dramas, or movies that I’ve recorded during the week. I also like reading science fiction novels and books about science or history.

- If you hadn’t become involved in the gaming industry, what other profession do you think you would have pursued?

Kenichiro Yuji: I have a Japanese history teaching permit, so I may have been a teacher. I majored in feudal Japan history in university.

- If you could be an adventurer in the game, what race and job would you choose to be?

Kenichiro Yuji: In all honesty, I like summoners most of all. I like the idea of letting my minions fight while I take a rest. If a game has summoner as one of the options for the main character, I would choose it without question.

However, since this game doesn’t have summoners, I would pick black mage out of the four jobs. If magic were to exist, it’d be an exciting job for me to be. White mage would be fine as well, but I don’t think that a job that requires you to care for and rely on others would suit me too well.

To be frank, I would rather play a bad guy. If I didn’t have to be a hero, I would pick the Dark Lord instead.

- Do you think penguins are really stubborn and short-tempered?

Kenichiro Yuji: Do you mean real penguins? I think that they’re cute. I don’t think that they’re stubborn at all. They do seem to trip and fall down a lot, so they may be grumpy.

- Do you have an acute fascination with bread?

Kenichiro Yuji: I personally love curry and wanted to make curry shops instead of bakeries, but… I may have a biased opinion since I’ve never left Japan, but I believe and often hear that Japanese curry is a delicacy, and I wanted to spread my love for it. However, curry shops didn’t really fit the FFCC world, so they didn’t make it into the game. We were going to replace it them with sundries or general goods shops, but we chose to make bakeries instead, since in the end, eating food truly does make you happy and satisfied.

Source: http://member.square-enix.com/na/

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