INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTORS FILE No.1: Y. Murayama - Director of "Suikoden".

March 28, 1997

Webmaster: 

"Is Suikoden your first RPG game to direct?"



Murayama:

Yes, this is my first RPG game and also the first game which I 

was involved.



Webmaster: :

"Wow! That's unbelievable!

 I cannot imagine that you directed such a great RPG game

 at your first try!

 And why did you choose RPG as your first game development 

 as a director? I think you had more easy choice.



Murayama:

"Well, the reason is simple to me. RPG was the most strong genre

 in Japan at that moment. So I thought it's challenging and 

 exciting as well to do RPG.    

 And I'm very happy that Suikoden received good reaction from 

 US RPG fans! I didn't expect this kind of reaction from US to 

 be honest.



Webmaster: :

"Now I understand. It's very logical (and brave too).

 And now let's talk about the characters in Suikoden.

 Who is your most favorite character in Suikoden and Why?



Murayama:

"Well, that's a difficult question.... Hmmmm....

 Okay, my choice is Viktor and Valeria.

 Viktor is very positive and never get negative.

 And Valeria is simply my type :-)



Webmaster: :

"My favorite character is Gremio. But I too like Viktor as well.

 These guys are so nice to the Hero.

 And I wonder, do you have a character that you hate....?"



Murayama:

"Ahhhh, Yes, Yes I have a character that I dislike. 

 It's Kannan. 

 You know the reason.., :-)"



Webmaster: :

"Yes! Kannan. And people who have played Suikoden maybe 

 share the same feeling to him. I believe it was quite tough 

 work to make 108 characters. Was it tough?



Murayama:

"Very much!

 Also, because it was my first RPG, we had to work from zero.

 So basically everything we did on Suikoden was very tough.

 But still, thinking the name for 108 characters was the hardest 

 part you know :-).



Webmaster: :

"Okay. Now let me make a serious question.

 What is your goal as a creator?"



Murayama:

"As a entertainment, videogame is still young and I want to

 keep exploring the possibility of videogame and make it 

 more major.

 And as a by-product of that, I want to be a hit maker."



Webmaster: :

Great. And it's time to finish this session.

Do you have any message to the Suikoden fans overseas?



Murayama:

I hope all RPG fans did and will enjoy the world of Suikoden!

Also it'll be nice if you can send us your thoughts on Suikoden

to kcet-info@konami.co.jp.