Atlus USA talks Baroque: localization, gameplay, market positioning

Atlus USA recently provided an exciting and in-depth interview about upcoming Nintendo Wii video game Baroque (also on PS2). This is rather important as the title was only released before in Japan on the Sega Saturn platform.

The interview covered the localization process, gameplay mechanics, and most important of all, Baroque‘s positioning in Nintendo’s approach to casual gamers. The full interview after the jump!

  

The different officials of Atlus USA directly related to the development of PS2 and Nintendo Wii video game Baroque recently provided an interview that shed some light into the current status of the game and its place on Nintendo’s line-up.

Those who know Baroque from its original Japanese release will probably remember that this is one of t he more hardcore games in terms of gameplay. With that said, it’s kind of hard to imagine how this will fit into Nintendo’s strategy of attracting the casual gamers.

Assistant Manager of Public Relations and Sales Aram Jabbari picked up that very topic and commented that despite the overwhelming number of casual Wii gamers, we also have to consider the hardcore ones that have been disappointed by other titles.

“Baroque presents the type of challenging experience we believe many of these players have been waiting for and which other Wii games fail to offer. Baroque is a pure hardcore RPG experience and doesn’t apologize for being so,” added Jabbari.

In terms of localization, Editor Clayton Chan said that their team have had previous experience in localizing complex titles so turning Baroque into an English game was never really a problem. The official added, however, that this particular game was different:

It was Baroque‘s story that I had problems with, specifically because of the way the story is told. The game is very careful to give out as little information as possible so that you, the player, are unraveling the mystery of Baroque yourself…

In Baroque, however, there are many things that are intentionally left vague or are deliberately worded unusually, so I couldn’t touch them.

Aside from that, Atlus USA didn’t mention anymore other problems encountered in the development process. Lastly, QA Specialist and Customer Service Rob Stone provided the following information regarding gameplay:

Motion controls will be used in the Wii version of Baroque. We’re pleased to say that the game’s developer, Sting, has taken special care to implement motion controls in a subtle manner that won’t be annoying or tiring to use.

In addition, there will also be 16:9 widescreen and progressive scan support.

Via OMG Nintendo