Core Magazine recently got the chance to speak with producer Kenji Shimizu concerning his upcoming PlayStation 2 game, Jade Cocoon II.

The interview focused a great deal on the development of the game. According to Shimizu-san, "there were two types of challenges [in development], one of the problems stemmed from working on a new platform, and the second from the size of the game, the volume of which we had never experienced before. Because of these reasons it took a long time to compile a library for the PlayStation 2 and judge its capabilities. As a result, when we think about the initial game system, control and method of expression, it took tremendous effort and energy. We also had to rewrite the entire scenario as it came close to completion. The result is a considerably longer game with incredible volume and depth to it."

Shimizu also gave gamers a short list of some of the improvements to be found in the sequel. "Jade Cocoon II is greatly improved in almost all areas of the game. There is full spoken dialogue throughout the game, which adds more impact to the title. An enhancement to the Battle system allows 8 vs. 8 group battle...In addition, breeding (mixing) involves aspects such as 'skill' and 'ability', adding a strategic element to the gameplay...In this version you can summon 3 minions out of 8 minions to participate in a battle simultaneously."

When asked to go into more detail about this new battle system, Shimizu happily obliged. "Jade Cocoon II features a turn-based battle system, where you assign Divine Beasts onto a Beast Amulet, wherein you can use up to 8 minions to battle. During battle, you rotate the Beast Amulet to decide what course of action the Divine Beast will perform. Even though its a simple system where you select four elements from four squares, it can be highly strategic. A maximum of 3 minions can participate in one turn, but the speed of each minion will affect the order of each minion's attack."

With an in-depth storyline and a total of 17 billion different patterns with which players can develop their monsters, Genki looks to have an exciting game in Jade Cocoon II which will be released in Japan later this week with a North American release to follow sometime this fall. To read the complete interview, check out Core Magazine here.