Copio la traduzione che sta facendo Petrikov su twitter.
After so many people got to know the Extra characters from FGO, Niino felt it awkward to have them play the original given it was a PSP game and so declared he wanted to remake it on twitter, which later led to Takeuchi suggesting he try his hand at it.
Niino tried pitching at Square Enix, but got nowhere, so he eventually realized he might as well try and do it directly with TM.
He aims to remake it with the fans of the original in mind. Even so, he wants it to be something new that has value in being played all over again. He was always happy to hear that there were fans who got into Fate through Extra.
As to why it's been so long since we heard from Extra Record, Niino says it was harder to make the game than expected. He had basically at first envisioned a HD remaster, but it didn't feel right and after a lot of trial and error they got to the current version of the game.
The original Extra and CCC were not made in-house at TM like this one, but Niino doesn't feel like there was a big difference in how they were made. Nasu worked closely with them for both, tirelessly writing the script together with them as they worked on the game.
As for why Bandai Namco became involved, Niino describes Studio BB as still quite sparsely staffed and organizationally weak, something which Bandai Namco could help out with, especially in terms of publishing and organizational management. They also helped with assets at points.
Bandai Namco is known for selling their "anime-style" games overseas, something which their involvement will allow Record as well. Niino's ties with them is actually how they were able to make the little BB-themed Dig Dug game as well.
It's hard to estimate how much of the game is left to make, but Niino says that all the content of the game has basically been made, and they're right now just bug-fixing and making design adjustments. Exactly how long that will take is up in the air.
The new Saber introduction scene from the trailer was made without Nasu's oversight. Niino felt that the original was too much of a F/SN spinoff. He wants Record to feel like a TM main entry instead. Luckily Nasu loved it when he came in for playtesting.
There are a lot of new elements in the trailer, but the general gist of the story is the same. Even so, there were many times during the development of the original where they couldn't implement all of Nasu's ideas due to budget constraints. A lot of these have now been added.
When they started working on the story, Niino, Nasu and BB writer Tsukada Koya had a sleepover where they went over the original so they could beef it up. One major thing they removed is the infamous scene where Rin does a mana transfer with your Servant in the infirmary.
There are some new characters which can be seen in the trailer, and while they will have consequences on the plot, they won't change the story much. They are mostly there to provide a deeper sense of world building.
There are some strange locations and weird happenings in the trailer, but Niino cannot divulge details regarding this. But it is a remake, and he did want to make some big changes, at least visually.
Speaking of visuals, Niino wanted the game to feel more SF-like and had Wada draw the characters with a bit more "cool" to them than before, while still retaining the anime touch. They have tried to faithfully recreate these design in 3D, paying special attention to the MC.
The interviewer says he preferred how the female MC looked with thicker thighs, to which Niino says they prioritized a slimmer, androgynous, but still feminine look for her...
Other than character design, Wada also did supervision on the 3D models to make sure they were accurate, as well as drawing many of the facial expressions for the characters, of which there now are far more. She had a really big workload for this project.
In the arenas, Shinji is throwing bombs at you, there are boulders to deflect, etc. These elements were added as Niino felt the original was way too simple and lacked a lot of interaction with the opponent. Almost all of these elements are brand new.
Your Room still retains the furniture collection aspect of before, but now some of these can also be bought from the store, and these grant bonuses to your characters.
As for what's been changed, the game needed to be fit for a modern 2025 game, so they basically reworked from scratch every gameplay system they could. He knows the original was very (in)famous for having a good story with lacking gameplay and hopes that will change.
Saber has a different side to her in Extra compared to FGO. Of course, it's still the same character, but her circumstances and Master are different. At first, they too characterized her too close to how she is in FGO, but managed to course-correct and add more "cool" to her.
Archer, on the other hand, has the same kind of "sarcastic, but caring older brother" type vibes as in FGO. If you like him there, high chances you will like him in Record as well.
Caster plays herself up as the "wife" of the protagonist in FGO, and she does the same in Record. That said, the exact way in which she does this differs depending on the person. In a way, her relationship with you in this game is completely different.
In general, the characters of this game and FGO are basically the same, but their circumstances and relationships are entirely different. Niino hopes people will be able to enjoy these Extra-exclusive sides of them.
The addition of Arcueid in Record caused a bit of a stir among fans, given the crossover nature. The original also had Aoko and Touko as well, so could we expect something more like this? Niino only offers a brief "Ha-ha-ha..." as an answer.
When asked about his favorite character, Niino hesitates. Robin? Julius? Vlad? He likes a lot of the new characters too. Can't he just say the whole cast is his favorite? Wait, but Rani is pretty good too. Gatou is great in CCC as well...
----------- GAMEPLAY ----------------
The old system of Rock Paper Scissors has been replaced with a Slay the Spire inspired gameplay system. Niino explains that the old system was designed to make the exchange of blows between Servants feel more emphatic, with that sense of randomness making it suspenseful.
That said, he wanted a new direction and looked around for gameplay concepts that seemed good. He liked that the card draw system of Slay the Spire still had that randomness to it while being really tactical. Baten Kaitos was also a game he considered taking inspiration from.
STS ultimately won out given how much he personally likes it as well as how popular it is. He likes that the new system has a good tempo. It really makes you feel like a great Master when you're inputting new commands even as the Servant is still carrying out your old ones.
Niino made sure to differentiate gameplay-wise between mobs, mid-bosses and bosses. Even if the mobs are easy, the game ramps up as the bosses come into the picture, making you have to pay attention to your HP when doing even the easier parts.
Even if your deck get stronger and stronger as you progress through the game, Niino thinks that the main attribute you cultivate as you go along is your own strategy and skill, which is the most helpful aspect.
While fighting the mobs, the general strategy is to consider how to beat them as fast as possible so as to take as little damage as possible, while the bosses are about considering how to make sure your HP is greater than their at the end of the battle, even if by slim margins.
Code:cast still exists in the game and is still limited by MP. It can be used to provide boosts in a cinch, or even to redraw your hand if want you have is trash. Still a rather limited resource like in the original though.
There is a "Lv.#" displayed on the command cards, and as you can imagine, this means that you can boost the effectiveness of cards that you like.
It's generally more important to improve your deck rather than strengthening your cards. Especially as you get close to the card limit, you'll be able to chose to throw away cards in favor of others to improve your synergies.
The Servants all have their own playstyle. It's hard to describe, but Saber is "Charging... charging... booom!", Archer is "It's always my turn!" and Caster is "Sets traps into a series of explosions", but Caster is still being adjusted and may change in the future.
Unlike the original, where Saber was seen as easy mode, Archer as normal, and Caster as hard, Record is balanced around the same for all Servants. That said, the dev team seem to generally think that Archer is the best for beginners.
The new arenas are striking compared to the original, especially Alice's. Niino really wanted to emphasize these as they wanted to put stuff like this into the original but couldn't. They will provide both unique gimmicks and chances to interact with the opponent.
Outside of the Tiger Quests (which are still there and even more Tiger than ever), there are now other sub-quests. These generally try to expand on the world building as well as provide some leisure away from the main story.
In 2020, Niino said that he wanted the game to be fully voiced, and that's still the intention today. A lot of characters have already had their lines fully recorded. That said, who knows, maybe some really minor characters might not make it all in there... maybe...
Niino and Nasu were present at all the recordings. There are a lot of characters that overlap between many different games in Fate, so they had the usual people around for the recordings to make sure there weren't any inconsistencies.
The folks over at Bandai Namco were concerned with newer players, either people who haven't played the original or haven't played this type of deck-builder before, so the dev team has done a lot of testing with these sorts of people and adjusted as they see fit.
As for his feelings on development currently, Niino couldn't really say more than "man, I really do like Extra!" and hopes that this sort of feeling comes across the players as well when the time comes.
When asked to provide some last words for the interview, Niino wishes to apologize for taking such a long time. He hopes the trailer has made it clear they are still working hard on the game. The dev team is right now putting their all in to deliver the game.
With Bandai Namco onboard as publisher he thinks they'll gradually provide more info on the game all the way until release. Nasu told him that "there won't be a remake of a remake, so make sure you don't have any regrets with this one", which Niino still abides by.