The following interview is featured in the Dirge of Cerberus Official Complete Guide and was translated from Japanese by Souya. The guide was published on February 17, 2006.
Dirge of Cerberus Interview Part 1 – The Birth of DC
Yoshinori Kitase – Producer
Takayoshi Nakazato – Director
Tetsuya Nomura – Illustrator/Character Designer
Hiroki Chiba – Scenario
Please tell us what is involved through the course of making Vincent the main character in this game.
Kitase: I really like the original characters of FF7, and his name always made a presence in my mind. And this time, since we were thinking about wanting to make a gun action game, we decided on Vincent, who uses guns as his weapon of choice.
Nomura: I heard it from Kitase that he wanted to make a FPS (First Person Shooting) game, and that he wanted to use characters from the past FF series. And though within those characters in the past FF series, there were many suitable candidates; I have in mind that Vincent is the most suitable out of all of them, so I suggested it as well. There were others like Yuna, Barret, Irvine, basically, we’ve thought about all the past FF characters who used guns as their weapon of choice. However, with the release timing of AC and BC, as well as the mass depth and mysteries that are being covered [in AC and BC], it would be great if we can use Vincent as a way to smoothen [elaborate] the plot; and that’s what we thought about and it came true.
The genre that is called FPS, is not a really common thing [system] to the Japanese gamers. So during the development of this game, are there any uncertainties that are in mind?
Nakazato: When we made our press conference during the Square-Enix party, people who got to come into contact with this product were shocked. We realized [have in mind] that there were people who mainly play KH type genre of RPG, and the way they finish off an enemy is by approaching them up front to attack. However, in FPS, you can’t just run up to the enemy and assault them. So bearing in mind this experience, we realized the concept of FPS is not very well instilled in most gamers’ mind. Since we have this issue, we figured that we should include a Easy mode for people who just play pure RPG to understand and manage through this game.
Kitase: And to balance it out with the issue mentioned [by Nakazato], there was a dispute in terms of where the focal point should be, until the very end [of the production]. We didn’t want to make it into a first person POV, so we decided that at least we have to see Vincent from waist above, and able to see somewhere from his shoulders when the camera rotates. Though it is better if we want to make it like a real FPS and have the camera set around the height of the shoulders, there are still people who are new to the whole FPS concept and it is better to give them a full character view so that they can control the character easier. Moreover, when and how characters should be seen, and how it must not be seen on the screen, in certain instances, is quite difficult to manipulate.
[Basically, he is saying how hard it is to go from one view to another view without making the players having confusions as to exactly which one they should stick to, so they spent a lot of time debating and disputing this issue.]
Nakazato: Yes, to obtain a balance in that area was hard. Especially we don’t even know who is standing next to Vincent, and with considerable trouble [effort] about Vincent moving around, we have to make him look fascinating. And because we wanted to see it, so we added visual effects along with the mantle.
[He is saying how it is hard to present Vincent when he is in full view on the screen.]
This is about Vincent’s mantle. It seems that it’s the same mantle that is seen on Grimoire. What is the origin/concept of this mantle?
Kitase: Oh right. So when I was talking to Nomura about the design, I said, “Make something that people could see on the first sight that they are father and son.” From then on, it became a discussion about whether or not using the mantle is a good idea. Grimoire’s scarf somehow became Vincent’s turban [the hairband], it’s basically the same thing, but it’s worn in a different way. And that’s why we think that if we put something that can relate those two together, when people see it, they will go, “Oh! This is the father!”
Nomura: When I was asked to make a conceptual drawing about Grimoire Valentine, I was only then told on the spot that he is the father of Vincent, which made me quite shocked and surprised *laughs*. However, I am not exactly the person who is responsible for the making of Grimore Valentine [/I don't have the final call]. Instead, it was Nakaaki, the sub character and mechanic designer who drew the general appearance of Grimoire; but since [we have different styles] the look [on the face] is far different than Vincent’s, so Grimoire’s facial detail had to be redrawn by me. About his clothing, it’s basically what Kitase have said [so I won’t repeat the same speech again].
The gun that Vincent uses is quite impressive and striking. Are there any specific designs or origins about Vincent’s gun, Cerberus?
Nakazato: Oh, there aren’t any bases. When Nomura who is responsible for character design brought me the conceptual drawings, Vincent is already seen with the gun. I saw it and said, “Oh, so this time it’s this type of gun.” *laughs*
Kitase: After all, since this is a Gun Action game, the gun he’s holding must be special in a way. Bearing that in mind, we decided that it should be somewhat different than the previous productions.
Nomura: If Cloud has his Buster Sword modified, and this time, it’s Vincent who is being the main character, I want to give him some sort of weapon to show this significance. Vincent used to be one of the Turks, and Turks are said to be Shinra’s dogs… However, Vincent is no longer [a personnel] working for Shinra, instead he is bound by his past, so it came to me that he has an image of being chained in some form. Also, with regards to Vincent’s diabolic image, while we are talking about the hell hound, Cerberus, we think that it is quite suitable for him. So when that image became concrete in my mind, I drew it out with 3 barrels to imply the idea of the 3 heads Cerberus has, and everything started to take its place. And what is left is the revolver [bullet chamber], there are three of them too. Even though it is said that in most occasion there can only a limited number of bullets coming out, in this game, I worked with an interesting idea, “If there are 3 barrels, there must be three revolvers.”
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