Changes in poses and expressions give life to the characters
Famitsu: In the official PV, we could see an amazing amount of sprites just in the reencounter with Arcueid.
Nasu: We have a ton. Just seeing the amount during the scripting process gave me a mental breakdown (laughs).
Takeuchi: At first, the production policy we decided upon was satisfying the player with quantity, and to overcome this challenge, we didn't limit ourselves to changes in facial expression. We made a lot of pose variations, with even slight head tilts becoming a different sprite, to expand all characters' body language. I believe our effort paid off. The characters are really expressive. So much so that Nasu had a lot of trouble working on the script to allocate all the sprites we made for him and I experienced hell in the data management (laughs).
Famitsu: So much volume that data management becomes difficult... That's huge.
Nasu: With that many sprites and the voice acting, Arcueid felt really alive. I was really surprised on my own playthrough. When I played the finished version, I couldn't believe that me, an old gamer with so many titles of experience, was falling in love with a 2D character... Seeing the many pictures in motion, it was all still analog, but the sheer variety made it amazingly violent.
Preserving the good in the original to create a remake the fans can accept
Famitsu: Did any specific point get greatly affected by the change in setting and the new characters?
Nasu: I understand the feelings of the people who just want to see the original, not new things. For that reason, Arcueid's route is mostly unchanged. Arcueid's route is formatted as the same Tsukihime everyone knows and loves.
Famitsu: "Arcueid's route is", huh. What does that mean for Ciel's route?
Nasu: We decided that since we were reproducing the old Tsukihime in Arcueid's route, the Ciel route after it should be something disconnected from everyone's memories. The core parts of the game are unchanged, and the key points of the story are the same, but other than that, we tried to display what the current Type-Moon can do when it uses its most lavish resources. Arcueid's route is the same recipe done with better ingredients, and Ciel's route is cooked with a slightly different recipe.
Takeuchi: But we have to admit the Tsukihime remake changed one major point, and the fans who are really attached to the old Tsukihime might be disappointed by it. Still, I want you to understand that every change has a meaning behind it.
Famitsu: You're saying that nothing was changed for no reason? That you are only using better ingredients to give Tsukihime a richer flavor?
Nasu: After we finished the work on Mahou Tsukai no Yoru and shortly before we started handling the Tsukihime remake, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone aired. I wasn't expecting anything at the time, but when I watched it, it turned out the first 60 minutes were an episode compilation, but each scene was powered up down to the last detail. That's all a remake needs to be amazing, but what came after that was also wonderful, wasn't it? When I got to the ending, it was like I experienced an entirely new anime. Watching that made me confident that what we were doing wasn't wrong. We did everything we wanted to, while keeping the old Tsukihime as a base model.
Famitsu: That means you only arrived at the decision to change the Tsukihime after you experienced something equivalent from a fan's perspective?
Nasu: I'm leaving the scenes the Tsukihime fans wanted to see where they were, of course. And on top of that, I fixed the parts that even Tsukihime lovers would consider unnecessary, so I believe you will enjoy this densely packed new Tsukihime.
Famitsu: How long is the whole story?
Takeuchi: Our test playthroughs generally ended in 40 hours on skimming, 60 if we played all the voiced lines.
Famitsu: 40 hours on skimming? That's pretty big for a visual novel.
Nasu: As I mentioned, I want the players to take their time to savor it. Don't beat Arcueid's route and go "I have work tomorrow, but I'll still play the Ciel route now". Enjoy the game at a comfortable pace.
Even on consoles, "that scene" still lives
Famitsu: The Tsukihime remake is rated 18+ on CERO. Why is it still 18+ without the sex scenes?
Takeuchi: We stopped making adult games a long time ago, but we decided that the brutal parts of Tsukihime had to stay as they were. With the console release, we considered softening up the presentation to fit the CERO ratings, but as expected, there was no way to make the most important scene milder.
Famitsu: It was a decision made not to lower the game's flavor?
Takeuchi: By making the game 18+, we avoid the risk of the console release changing the game into something milder. This Tsukihime is distilled to be delivered with 100% purity.
Nasu: The Near Tsukihime, we mean. There's at least one aspect of the Far that I feel like it won't roll with the regulations, and I honestly don't know what to do with it...
Famitsu: I'll wait for further news on that (laughs). Speaking of further news, Melty Blood: Type Lumina releases soon in September. Does it share lore with the Tsukihime remake?
Nasu: I shared the Tsukihime remake's script with our developers in French Bread so they could know how Tsukihime is like now while they developed their game. MB has its own separate group of hardcore fans, so I thought MB needed to be updated on its own unique way. We agreed that being consistent with the remake is important, but what matters the most is making a game that will satisfy the players who just want to play Melty Blood again. For that reason, our core concept was not to reproduce the remake's world one more time, but rather to bring the essentials of MB back in a format that fits with the remake.
Famitsu: I'm curious to see where this unique form of evolution will take MB. The remake's opening movie was produced by ufotable. Are you considering releasing Tsukihime adaptations in other forms of media?
Takeuchi: While not adaptations, but Eri Takanashi and Shounen Sasaki released manga reporting their playthroughs, and Ryuu Kibadori will release his one soon.
Nasu: To tell you the truth, Shounen Sasaki was my greatest rival when it came to the remake's production. Sasaki's Tsukihime skillfully fixed all the problems of Arcueid's route and added in the best parts of Ciel's and Akiha's routes. It was a most wonderful manga adaptation and I needed to surpass it somehow in the remake. Then, at the end of 2020, when the PC version was complete, I called him to playtest it. He rearranged his whole schedule to spend 6 whole days in the Type-Moon office playtesting the game. Later, his overjoyed review reassured me. If I could make Sasaki this emotional, then I had nothing to fear.
Famitsu: I'm sure what the game has in store will satisfy the Type-Moon fans, seeing you got acknowledged by your rival.
Takeuchi: I want to apologize once again for the long wait between the project announcement and the release. The old Tsukihime had 5 character stories, featuring Arcuied, Ciel, and Akiha as the main heroines, and Hisui and Kohaku as sub-heroines, but this time, in Tsukihime - a piece of blue glass moon, we are portraying the Near Side of the Moon, centered around the stories of Arcueid and Ciel. The Type-Moon brand gained its name during Tsukihime's creation process, and that's one of the many reasons that make this game so important to us. Tsukihime was made by a team of just 4 people, but Koyama, BLACK, and many others played it and joined the team, forming the current Type-Moon, which lead to Tsukihime's remake. We produced this aiming to let you rediscover our dear Tsukihime and play it as a brand new game. We made everything new, from the script to the OST to the visual effects to voice cast, so if you're interested, please give it a try.
Nasu: I'm very sorry and very grateful that you waited for us for this long. I, Kinoko Nasu, personally believe that every month waited only improved the game's quality. Visual novels are no longer mainstream in this day and age, but that doesn't make them any less enjoyable. I believed that when I made this game, and was proven right by it, so I believe this game can and will surpass your expectations when you play it. Nothing would make me happier than you enjoying the new Tsukihime like it was the first time.
