It’s quite rare to see multiple installments in a series appear practically one after another. But that’s exactly what happened with the Voice of Cards games. In the span of four months, two installments appeared. To help better understand how Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden, the second entry, came to be and what changed from the first game, Siliconera spoke with Executive Producer Yosuke Saito and Director Maasa Mimura about the game.
Jenni Lada: Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden is arriving four months after The Isle Dragon Roars. Were the two games in development at the same time? How difficult was it preparing the two in close succession?
Yosuke Saito: I was always conscious of wanting to turn it into a series. Though I kept that a secret. However, many of our staff were swamped with an inundation of tasks, so deciding on the order of prioritization for development was difficult.
Despite that, everyone at Alim and all our younger staff members worked hard to complete everything, which made me think, “Youth is power!” There wasn’t much of a need for this old man to jump in.
Given the brief gap between the two games, how did feedback affect Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden’s development? Was there anything in particular you changed after hearing from players?
Saito: In the previous game, we received feedback about the game’s progression, so for this title, we made it so that High Speed mode can be used from the start.
What were you able to do or accomplish with Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden that wasn’t possible with The Isle Dragon Roars? Were there any elements that shifted from one to the other during development?
Maasa Mimura: Given the constraints with regard to the development period, it was thanks to The Isle Dragon Roars existing already as a base that we were able to adjust details and expand upon how we portrayed elements in Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden.
Specifically, we were able to present adjustments to the world within the heart, as well as unique expressions for the Maiden and Maiden’s attendant. There are some details that we adjusted, but in terms of how the game is set up, the idea was to expand upon elements, so in that regard, I don’t think anything has shifted.
Now that you have the Voice of Cards framework in place, how long does it take to create new entries? How many Voice of Cards games would you like to make?
Saito: We’ll think about the future of the Voice of Cards series if The Isle Dragon Roars and The Forsaken Maiden sell well.
We get why all the NieR crossover material is showing up in the games, but when is Square Enix going to let you start slipping more Drakengard characters into things?
Saito: Our plans for the future are… a secret.
Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars and The Forsaken Maiden are both available on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PC.
