NeoArkadiaFamitsu interviewd 松村 Matsumura-san, the director for "Yu-Gi-Oh! Tag Force GX" at Konami Digital Entertainment
■ Matsumura admits he's a bit nervous as it's been 18 years since Tag Force 3 and curious about people's thoughts.
■ Matsumura is one of those who grew up watching Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, and explains they decided to make the game to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Tag Force (released in 2006)
■ They decided on a remake of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force 3 since it was the conclusion of the GX games. He did consider wanting to combine 1, 2 and 3, but noted it would have made the game way too large and unweildly.
■ The story Gallery for Tag Force 1 and 2's stories was a way for fans to view the stories of the first two games but not make the game far too massive to realistically complete.
■ Matsumura explains he was still just playing the game and didn't have any involvement with the original games, he was still playing the physical game, and regularly crushed by "Lightsworn"
■ Concerning the approximately 200 new cards being added, the general criteria was including cards used in the anime, but hadn't been released yet in the Official Card Game, such as "Cyber Angel" and "Fossil". Matsumura basically cites that while you could Duel with characters from the anime, you couldn't properly use the cards those characters used. So the goal was to allow players to enjoy Duels that felt more authentic to the show. Also, they added cards that they figured would feel nice to have.
■ Cards that got Real Life versions have been replaced with the Real Life version.
■ Cards still unreleased in real life remain, and cards like the Trap Cards related to "Arcana Force" remain.
■ The game uses Rules from circa 2006 and Matsumura wanted to stick to the game being strictly a remake of "Tag Force 3", and notes that certain things are better left to GX's rule set, rather than blindly updating everything to the latest rules. Also, Matsumura cites since the game uses Tag Duels and includes original cards, there are aspects diferent from the current OCG & TCG, so it's best to give Tag Force its own metagame.
■ The Forbidden & Limited List has been fiddled with. Black Rose Dragon was Unlimited in 3, but Tag Force GX has Limited it.
■ Also, some cards have be toned down to avoid being too strong. Basically, Jim should be able to use "Fossil Fusion", as that's his signature way of Dueling, and it wouldn't feel like Jim if he didn't use Fossil Fusion.
■ They've cleaned up dialogue and scenario inconsistencies, and changed dialogue and presentation and behavior that were acceptable in 2006 but would be extremely problematic in 2027.
■ The game original characters have been slightly adjusted to help better convey their charm and appeal.
■ The game has over 100 characters and all have been rendered into full 3D. The game had to recreate all the assets from scratch. Since it's a Yu-Gi-Oh! game, many of the characters have unique hairstyles, so it was a challenge to render those.
■ Matsumura notes they've done their best to ensure the game runs smoothly at 60 fps.
■ Matsumura notes he wanted to make sure the game was a game nostalgic fans could easily pick up, and show they put in the effort to make sure this was a high quality remake.
■ Anime characters reuse the voice dialogue they had from back in Tag Force 3, while the game original characters got newly recorded lines since they didn't have enough voice lines. And Matsumura wanted to ensure the game original characters' charm was properly conveyed.
■ The endings have been updated to use the original still as a basis, but the characters move with their 3D Models.
■ The character AI has been updated to use more modern Konami Duel AI. Matsumura wanted to ensure characters seemed good at Dueling and Dueled in such a way that someone Dueling in Yu-Gi-Oh! for the first time (or a long time) could easily look to their CPU partners or opponents as role models.
■ The game has a Casual difficulty added for those introduced or returning to Yu-Gi-Oh!. It makes sure overly powerful cards are replaced with much less difficult to use cards. Basically cards like "Heavy Storm" or "Mirror Force" can massively shift the game's tempo too far for a casual player. But they've made sure that the Casual versions of the Decks retain the personality of the character's Decks.
■ Matsumura explains they made sure to update the Duel UI to incorporate the best features of Duel Links (monsters popping out from cards) and Master Duel's Layout. They also took notes from the Summoning and Attack animations from Duel Links to ensure they look good but don't drag too much.
■ Matsumura cites his favorite animations are Yubel and Rainbow Dragon.
■ Mini-games have been adjusted. Quizzes and Tests have been left more-or-less as-is. However, games such as the Dungeon Crawler have been reworked. The Dungeon Crawler lets you take your partner and two other characters into a dungeon, and you can either run or fight.
■ You can either do Tag Duels in Room Match, which is 4 human players, while Free Match is two human players partnered with an AI assist tag partner. You can also play 1-on-1. There is no chat function. Players can Duel against people from across the world.
■ Matsumura won't say if they're doing anything with 5D's, as Tag Force GX was specifically made for the 20th anniversary of GX.
Source: Famitsu
■ Matsumura admits he's a bit nervous as it's been 18 years since Tag Force 3 and curious about people's thoughts.
■ Matsumura is one of those who grew up watching Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, and explains they decided to make the game to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Tag Force (released in 2006)
■ They decided on a remake of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force 3 since it was the conclusion of the GX games. He did consider wanting to combine 1, 2 and 3, but noted it would have made the game way too large and unweildly.
■ The story Gallery for Tag Force 1 and 2's stories was a way for fans to view the stories of the first two games but not make the game far too massive to realistically complete.
■ Matsumura explains he was still just playing the game and didn't have any involvement with the original games, he was still playing the physical game, and regularly crushed by "Lightsworn"
■ Concerning the approximately 200 new cards being added, the general criteria was including cards used in the anime, but hadn't been released yet in the Official Card Game, such as "Cyber Angel" and "Fossil". Matsumura basically cites that while you could Duel with characters from the anime, you couldn't properly use the cards those characters used. So the goal was to allow players to enjoy Duels that felt more authentic to the show. Also, they added cards that they figured would feel nice to have.
■ Cards that got Real Life versions have been replaced with the Real Life version.
■ Cards still unreleased in real life remain, and cards like the Trap Cards related to "Arcana Force" remain.
■ The game uses Rules from circa 2006 and Matsumura wanted to stick to the game being strictly a remake of "Tag Force 3", and notes that certain things are better left to GX's rule set, rather than blindly updating everything to the latest rules. Also, Matsumura cites since the game uses Tag Duels and includes original cards, there are aspects diferent from the current OCG & TCG, so it's best to give Tag Force its own metagame.
■ The Forbidden & Limited List has been fiddled with. Black Rose Dragon was Unlimited in 3, but Tag Force GX has Limited it.
■ Also, some cards have be toned down to avoid being too strong. Basically, Jim should be able to use "Fossil Fusion", as that's his signature way of Dueling, and it wouldn't feel like Jim if he didn't use Fossil Fusion.
■ They've cleaned up dialogue and scenario inconsistencies, and changed dialogue and presentation and behavior that were acceptable in 2006 but would be extremely problematic in 2027.
■ The game original characters have been slightly adjusted to help better convey their charm and appeal.
■ The game has over 100 characters and all have been rendered into full 3D. The game had to recreate all the assets from scratch. Since it's a Yu-Gi-Oh! game, many of the characters have unique hairstyles, so it was a challenge to render those.
■ Matsumura notes they've done their best to ensure the game runs smoothly at 60 fps.
■ Matsumura notes he wanted to make sure the game was a game nostalgic fans could easily pick up, and show they put in the effort to make sure this was a high quality remake.
■ Anime characters reuse the voice dialogue they had from back in Tag Force 3, while the game original characters got newly recorded lines since they didn't have enough voice lines. And Matsumura wanted to ensure the game original characters' charm was properly conveyed.
■ The endings have been updated to use the original still as a basis, but the characters move with their 3D Models.
■ The character AI has been updated to use more modern Konami Duel AI. Matsumura wanted to ensure characters seemed good at Dueling and Dueled in such a way that someone Dueling in Yu-Gi-Oh! for the first time (or a long time) could easily look to their CPU partners or opponents as role models.
■ The game has a Casual difficulty added for those introduced or returning to Yu-Gi-Oh!. It makes sure overly powerful cards are replaced with much less difficult to use cards. Basically cards like "Heavy Storm" or "Mirror Force" can massively shift the game's tempo too far for a casual player. But they've made sure that the Casual versions of the Decks retain the personality of the character's Decks.
■ Matsumura explains they made sure to update the Duel UI to incorporate the best features of Duel Links (monsters popping out from cards) and Master Duel's Layout. They also took notes from the Summoning and Attack animations from Duel Links to ensure they look good but don't drag too much.
■ Matsumura cites his favorite animations are Yubel and Rainbow Dragon.
■ Mini-games have been adjusted. Quizzes and Tests have been left more-or-less as-is. However, games such as the Dungeon Crawler have been reworked. The Dungeon Crawler lets you take your partner and two other characters into a dungeon, and you can either run or fight.
■ You can either do Tag Duels in Room Match, which is 4 human players, while Free Match is two human players partnered with an AI assist tag partner. You can also play 1-on-1. There is no chat function. Players can Duel against people from across the world.
■ Matsumura won't say if they're doing anything with 5D's, as Tag Force GX was specifically made for the 20th anniversary of GX.
Source: Famitsu