User blog:SlyCooperFan1/Famitsu 10-Dec-2015 Translation

This article contains the English translated text of Famitsu's interview with Ace Combat 7 producer Kazutoki Kono, as provided on Reddit.

Interview
Famitsu: First of all, please tell us about the concept.

Kono: The concept is to identify what would be the important point in a numbered title, and make it a better "Numbered Ace Combat". I'm thinking we want to finish a game that users who have been supporting us are wishing for. By the way, for the First PV, it's not pre-rendered. The movements of humans and planes, and flow of clouds etc, they're all portrayed from the actual (in-game) engine.

In this game we aim to pursue three axes, and one of them is the Representation of Sky which begins from drawing solid clouds. Up until now, the usual method to represent clouds was to place them like drawing a picture of clouds on a board. In this game, we create three-dimensional clouds, where if you fly towards a certain cloud, that cloud actually exists in that location, and we constructed it as "Map Composition with 2 layers of Land and Sky".

The other axis is to pursue the fun of "Playacting a Plane". These are things like special weapons and special maneuvers.

Famitsu: When speaking of Maneuvers, do you mean techniques like Cobra and Kulbit will become possible?

Kono: Yes. What I'm discussing with the Director right now is, a direction that is not like Finisher Attacks that anyone can easily do with pressing one button, but rather skilled people making full use of the controls and make it real.

And the third axis is, "Improving strategic aspects against enemies". The Campaign Mode will pursue those three things.

'''Famitsu: We're looking forward to that! By the way, Assault Horizon and Infinity took place in the real world, but what about this game?'''

Kono: It will take place in the fictional world of the numbered titles. However, more than 10 years have passed since the PlayStation 2 era, so we want to make it enjoyable too to newcomers who have never touched the past series before.

Famitsu: The Orbital Elevator has an impact, hasn't it?

Kono: It's like the Symbol of this game. It doesn't exist yet (in the real world), but there's a Japanese construction company who's actually planning for it, and we've actually talked with them for making this game.

'''Famitsu: So you're planning to make it a symbol that wouldn't look so weird if it existed in reality. The place for bungee-jumping in the PV doesn't seem like it's the top level, but how high would it be?'''

Kono: The human in the PV is wearing a suit similar to a spacesuit, and at that height she wouldn't be able to endure without it. By the way, it's not really "height of a building", but the height distance from surface to the farthest part reaches 100 thousand kilometers.

'''Famitsu: Without a doubt, that's the biggest building of the series. For the part near the surface, do you think we could pass through it, like the Tokyo Tower...!?'''

Kono: It's being designed based on the nature of the Flight Shooting game genre.

Famitsu: We also wonder about the large aircraft, so how does this thing exist?

Kono: It's a fictional aircraft called "FAS" by the development team, and it patrols around the Orbital Elevator while protecting it. It launches UAVs. These designs are handled by Kanno-kun.

'''Famitsu: I see. The design reminded me of Arkbird which appeared in AC5 indeed. We're changing topic here, about the compatibility with PlayStation VR, I'm expecting to be able to look around the cockpit to the detailed parts.'''

Kono: By making it compatible with PlayStation VR, we want many people to feel the want to play it intuitively, and it fits really well with the game's contents of freely flying in the sky, and it's catchy. It has a lot of advantages so we immediately decided to implement it. However, there are also many technological problems, so from hereafter we're on the steps to focus on developing [VR].

'''Famitsu: I'm expecting it. Finally, since it's confirmed to be released domestically, please leave a message for the fans in Japan.'''

Kono: We are proud that "Ace Combat" is a Japanese-made IP that's well-known in the world. Please wait and look forward to it!