One year has passed since the release of FIGHTING EX LAYER on June 28th, 2018. In order to commemorate the 1st anniversary, Marina interviewed Mr. Akira Nishitani, Mr. Kato, and Mr. Takano.

The interview consists of 3 parts. This time, I will present FIGHTING EX LAYER 1st Anniversary Interview Part 1. I was able to hear many stories behind the development of Progressive Input, GOUGI, Balance Changes, etc. In Part 3, they answered questions asked by users and also talked about the interim result of the Character Popularity Poll, so please look forward to it!!

Marina：

One year has passed since the FEXL was released. How was the users’ reaction?

Takano：

We put in simple operations and systems to make it feel good even for beginners, but we feel we did not receive much acceptance. This world likes the “Classic Command”, don’t they? Personally, I don’t like being determined by the dexterity of inputting Shinku Hado Command accurately and quickly. haha

Marina：

Since there was an opinion like that, it led to putting Progressive Command in the game?

Kato：

It started from an opinion like, “Don’t you wanna stop using these difficult commands? Let’s make a simpler command and make something deeper.” We didn’t want to penalize by choosing the simple command. If Progressive and Classic can do the same thing and Progressive is easier, we thought everyone would accept it.

Marina：

Oh, I see.

Kato：

Although it was a positive point that Progressive was accepted by enthusiasts, we felt that there were a lot of beginners who wanted to play with the original familiar command like Hado Command and Shoryu Command.

Marina：

When first there was thinking of putting Progressive in, were there any argue?

Nishitani：

A lot!! LOL We discussed whether or not to put it in, and Kato even said, “Isn’t it good without Classic?”

Takano：

I really agreed with Kato’s opinion putting only Progressive in, to show that this game is such a game.

Marina：

How were you, Mr. Nishitani?

Nishitani：

It was very hard to make a decision. I thought there will be people who are hard to input. We also discussed which should be the default. Didn't we even argue with the name?

Kato：

Yes, we did. For example, like Beginner Mode or Easy Mode.

Nishitani：

I thought users will have a negative impression like, “What? It’s an easy mode?” Although it's a small thing, we discussed this too.

Kato：

I objected strongly that the name should be Progressive.

Nishitani：

There was such a clash of opinions like these.

• Shinku Hado Command: You have to input Hado command twice.
• Hado Command: The Special Attack originated in “Street FighterⅡ” and often referred to as a fireball command.
• Shoryu Command: One of the difficult Special Attack command to input.

▶GOUGI System – Trial and Error

Marina：

What kind of idea did GOUGI System come from?

Nishitani：

Originally, we were trying to do it on mobile and made the system like getting GOUGI by some means and cause a growth of it. However, when it started to make it with PS4 instead of mobile, thinking whether or not to use that idea; we thought it’s tough to buy or cause growth but this may bring out a new game element.

Marina：

Wow, I didn’t know that.

Nishitani：

I thought it would be interesting to bring the elements of a card game to a fighting game. Originally, there was an idea to build up the GOUGI deck by yourself, so the idea came from here.

Marina：

Was there a system you wanted to put it in but was rejected?

Takano：

Yes, a lot.

Nishitani：

Maybe it has decreased to about a third or a quarter.

Kato：

Since “all characters function under the same condition” is the root of GOUGI, we have cut those which only one character can use it specially.

Nishitani：

In the first stage, we still had those GOUGIs. For example, Kairi’s Shinki-Hatsudou gets stronger, or like Special Move will be added.

Marina：

That’s a very bold idea!

Kato：

There was a GOUGI which can input jump attack continuously in the air called “Mid-air Chain Combo” for a period of time, and I got a deep impression. Although I knew this was dangerous since the idea came out, I did my best to adjust. But even though I tried hard adjusting, the Infinite occurred. LOL

Nishitani：

It was originally going to be in “Sky Dancer”, right?

Kato：

Yes. Darun is large, so it’s easy to get hit when jumping.

Nishitani：

The small characters were fine though. Too bad.

Takano：

There are many GOUGIs that went back and forth between rejections and adoption. “Infinity” was about to disappear.

Marina：

Oh, really?

Kato：

Difficult to activate it first but once activated, the Super Combo could be used indefinitely. At first, the meter was never empty even for a moment, so it was full of Infinite. But it was interesting so I tried to adjust to establish the game element. However, I was not able to do anything and settled in the present form.

Marina：

Is there anything else?

Kato：

We always considered an implementation of the system that existed in ARIKA’ s old fighting games. For example, there was an opinion whether or not to put “Momentary Combo” which existed in “EX3” or “EXCEL” that was in “EX 2 PLUS”. But because of the size of the UI and the need for additional work, also the ease of understanding for the user, we couldn’t put in those.

• Momentary Combo: When you press the button one more time after the Special Attack at the very precise timing, another attack will come out.
• EXCEL: By pressing the different strengths of the punch button and the kick button simultaneously, it consumes one Super Meter and activates. Normal, Super, and Special can be freely canceled for a certain period of time.

▶Opinions Divided – Adjustment of Attack and GOUGI

Marina：

So I think this means that there were a lot of opinions, but did everyone conflict with each other?

Takano：

We did! A LOT! LOL

Marina：

Really!?

Nishitani：

We also discussed “Berserker”, didn’t we?

Takano：

Mm-hmm.

Nishitani：

There is a deck called “Berserker” that will reduce the health even though the opponent is guarding. Only later, it was discovered that Shadowgeist use 3 meters and reduce about 70% of opponent’s health! I said, “Omg. Is this all right?” but these two said “No big deal.” LOL

Takano：

Because it was a blockstring, even if you remove the stick once, the block will remain all the time so the health was reduced to half.

Nishitani：

No, it wasn’t 50%! 70%! LOL

Kato：

We sometimes had a different sense of values. Mr. Nishitani yielded to the discussion about Hayate’s “Kamaitachi” which the size of motion of swinging the sword is different in Heavy/Medium/Light. The light attack of Kamaitachi is quite fast, but at the time of release, it was much slower. We wanted Hayate to be more powerful so requested to Mr. Takano, but the next time we saw him, Kamaitachi was twice as fast as it used to be.

All：

LOL

Kato：

At first, we thought we could not agree to this, but it wasn't too bad when we tried it.

Nishitani：

He can’t attack much from himself, so it wasn’t that strong.

Kato：

Some of us feel that we made him a little too strong, but users say that Hayate is not that good character.

Nishitani：

Each spec is not bad at all, though.

Kato：

I feel he’s like a talented character. I strongly remember that our opinion was divided at these points.

【Hayate’s Kamaitachi】

Takano：

We discussed a lot the strength, weakness, and performance of attacks of each character. When I put the parameter of the character and show it to Mr. Kato, he says, “This is too strong so I can’t accept it.” But I feel, “It makes sense because of this strength.” LOL

Kato：

It would be more fun to make something that is out of a promise, but I told him I can’t accept those.

Takano：

Sometimes I did have a failure, but if you give up because it was not good, you only can make something flat and it won’t be interesting. Mr. Nishitani always says, “It’s okay if it’s not extreme but interesting.”

Nishitani：

haha

Kato：

But in fact, Mr. Takano nerfs quite quickly. LOL

Marina：

Uh-oh.LOL

Kato：

If it’s already released to the world, Mr. Nishitani and I basically think that it’s the right the user got, so we don’t need to change it. But Mr. Takano comes up to us saying, “After all, I think I’m going to nerf this.” So next, we two need to be the side stopping him.

Nishitani：

We were like, “What!? Againnn??”

All：

LOL

Marina：

When you nerfed Blair, I think the users were like “Woo-hoo!”

Takano：

Since there was a system of cross-up so we nerfed a little and after modifying the cross-up, we turned the offensive ability back, but it was difficult.

Kato：

I think that was the first adjustment, but at that time we didn’t know how often we should respond to the requests from users. We think nerf was necessary, but now there is a feeling of nerfing too much as a point of reflection. Especially D.Dark’s first nerf was too big.

Nishitani：

Maybe we should put him back…

All：

LOL

Kato：

It’s not that good to respond immediately to something that has risen to the topic for a while. After it’s settled down, I want to look until it looks like no one can try to compete with it. Those who are using them and making a profit have come to be recognized as strong as a result of their hard work, so I thought it’s not fun to pick up right away.

Nishitani：

We have to consider it when there is a big tournament. If it was patched before, the users have to practice again. We were so considerate toward this, weren't we?

Takano：

Yes.

Nishitani：

When the opportunity came, we were patching with a span that is neither too long nor too short.

• Nerf: To weaken or make less dangerous.
• Buff: To strengthen.

▶The Opinion From Designers

Marina：

Have you ever clash with designers or programmers?

Takano：

I don’t think so, in terms of game balance. We talked with designers and programmers about the appearance and moves, and if we thought what they are saying is correct, we made it that way.

Marina：

For example?

Kato：

At first, Sharon wasn’t a gun-focused character at all.

Marina：

Oh,really!?

Kato：

At the time of “EX2”, the attack using a gun was only a part of the motion. However, the designers have expressed their opinion to use more guns, so we, planner thought about gun-based attacks like this way; "It should be able to put it out in the air." “Let’s make one shot very strong instead of limiting the number of remaining bullets.” and requested them to make the motion.

【Sharon’s Super Combo / The effect of butterflies flying away.】

The designer has a brainstorming of the production and seems to decide the directionality of attributes such as flame attribute, lightning attribute, etc. for each character. In the case of Sharon, at the time of activating the Super Combo, an energy ball such as bullet wrapped in an aura and effects of roses and butterflies fly away. We had the programmer make the characters’ actions, so there was an exchange like, “With this action, maybe this capability fits more.”

Marina：

Thanks to designers for making Sharon more sexy and cool than before!

---

◆Marina’s Comment◆

At this Part 1, as one of FEXL fans, I was pleased to hear their honest impressions, and persistence and pains when producing, which had not been revealed until now. Personally speaking, I really like Sharon’s appearance and voice so want to say thank you to the designers. Even at Part 2, I asked questions that I could only ask here, so please look forward to it!

NEXT：Part 2 - The Impression FEXL Team Got / About the Future ARIKA Fighting Game