Iblis Trigger - Game Design

Game Design

Motomu Toriyama is a supporter and advocate of the "Interactive Movie RPG" game design created by Yoshinori Kitase and used in Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XIII. Toriyama believes his strength is in directing games that are very story-driven. He also believes that it becomes very difficult to tell a compelling story when the player is given a huge amount of freedom to explore. According to him, the most important aspect of a Final Fantasy game is the characters. Toriyama has stated that the aim of the game design used in the first half of Final Fantasy XIII was to feel like watching a film. The reason was so the player could become absorbed with the story and characters and not get distracted or lost. Although he is mainly known for directing games that are very story-driven, he is also able to direct games that are more focused on gameplay, such as Final Fantasy X-2 and Final Fantasy XIII-2.

Toriyama highly values vibrant special effects being used in the battle system of the game he is directing; the main reason for Final Fantasy XIII not to have a seamless battle system was reportedly because it would not have been possible to have vibrant special effects in a seamless battle system due to the amount of memory and processing power needed. Toriyama is interested in using first-person shooter games for inspiration rather than other role-playing video games, as he believes they give a better sense of tension during battles.

The position in the story and role in battle of the female character depends on the game Toriyama is working on. He does not base heroines on real people as he always tries to make a unique world in a Final Fantasy game. However, he thinks that there is a constant challenge to make new characters not overlap with previous ones from the series. Toriyama has noted that seeing as making a main series Final Fantasy game takes several years, he would need to essentially fall in love at first sight with a character so he can really have the high morale and motivation to keep developing the game. He also said that when portraying a character in a game, he takes extreme care in their movements and voice. This begins with the motion-capture process, which he directs very intricately to prevent messing up the personification of the character. The voice acting comes last in this process, and the recorded voice essentially becomes the main image of the character and so the most delicate part of creating a character, according to him.