Aksys Games talk about Hoshigami Remix

Seeing Hoshigami return is a surprise, but what is “remixed” from the PS1 game? Gail Salamanca from Aksys shares what’s new and what’s the same.

Congrats on picking up Hoshigami! I know our readers are pretty excited about it. So you’re working on a new translation for Hoshigami Remix? What has changed in it?

Gail Salamanca: The overall storyline and core themes are definitely the same, so you¹ll see similar dialogue between the two versions. However, since different people were involved in the localization process for Hoshigami Remix, they definitely have a different way of interpreting the language in terms of word usage and sentence structure which will present itself in the dialogue as well as the characters. Our main goals for the project were to stay true to the original Japanese script while giving it a medieval/fantasy flavor as well as making the dialogue flow as if it were a normal conversation.

For people that are not familiar with the story can you share a little about the Fazz and how he is involved in the Valaim / Nightweld conflict?

Fazz is a mercenary who is hired by Nightweld to defend the Tower of Wind from the Valaimian Empire. Fazz later finds out that he is part of an ancient prophecy that could bring about the destruction of Mardias and it¹s up to him to stop it.

Can you tell us anything about the new mysterious character that joins up with Fazz?

Kasha, is a treasure hunter that the main character encounters while in a Valaimian prison.  Since she has no love for the Valaimian Empire she joins your band of mercenaries, but has other ambitions outside of fighting the war.

What about the new missions? Are these story based?

The new missions revolve around Kasha’s storyline and reveal her backstory as well as how she gets involved in the war against Valaim.

How does Hoshigami Remix use the touch screen interface for issuing battle commands?

The touch screen can be used to highlight and confirm your menu choices, navigate the battle screen as well as target enemies.  We feel that the stylus control in combination with the traditional method with the control pad and buttons gives the user the most flexibility in how they want to control the game.

Something I remember that was kind of frustrating in the PS1 release was confirming everything through menus. Is this cleaned up in Hoshigami Remix?

Yes, this has definitely been addressed as it¹s been much more streamlined as far as issuing commands is concerned.

In Hoshigami Remix there are three different difficulty levels, what is different between them?

EASY

– Enemy levels are predetermined depending on the stage

– Characters are automatically resurrected after battle

– Main character starts off with a revive coinfeigm

– Change equipment and restore HP between continuous battles

– Increased EXP given in battle

– Characters have a better hit% and inflict more damage

NORMAL

– Enemy levels are predetermined depending on the stage

– Main character starts off with a revive coinfeigm

– Perma death for characters

– Increased EXP given in battle

– Change equipment and restore HP between continuous battles

– Special ending graphic

HARD

– Enemy characters are at the same level as your highest level character.

– Perma death for characters

– Special ending graphic

ALL MODES:

– More damage and better equipment given in 1 or 2 Attack Sessions

– Suspend save available for continuous battles.

– Continue where you left off in the Tower of Trials

How many endings are there in Hoshigami Remix?

There are 6 main endings and 13 individual character endings.

I like what I’m hearing about Hoshigami Remix so far. Fixing the interface is a definite plus, I loathed confirming every action, multiple times in the PS1 release. Also the “normal” difficulty sounds much more accessible than the solitary difficulty level where you had to search for the revive coinfeigm. For the hardcore crowd you can pick hard mode if you want a real SRPG challenge. It’s just a little while longer until Hoshigami Remix arrives in North America this summer.