According to NieR: Automata director Yoko Taro, the upcoming Stellar Blade is “superior” to his own game.
Comparisons between the two titles have been made again and again since Stellar Blade was announced IGN Japan has now interviewed Taro and Stellar Blades Creative Director Hyung-Tae Kim together.
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These are the reasons
According to Taro, this is due, among other things, to the “next-gen quality of the graphics” and the “cute female characters”.
“Stellar Blade is a really great game,” says Taro. “I would say it's a lot better than NieR:Automata.”
Further news about Stellar Blade:
“The graphics are absolutely next-gen quality and the character design is amazing. The cool male characters and cute female characters typical of Mr. Kim's style are really appealing. Shops in RPGs often have a close-up of the shopkeeper who “I don't like it because I think it looks unnatural. There's an attitude like that in Stellar Blade too, but the shopkeeper was so cute that I didn't mind her cuteness over any design choices.”
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“Actually, I kind of knew that Stellar Blade would be compared to NieR: Automata, and I told Mr. Kim when we first met. When you actually play it, you immediately realize that it's a completely different game, but a delicate female character pulling off cool action moves is bound to draw comparisons. If Stellar Blade had been the same game with a macho male character, people certainly wouldn't have pointed out the similarities. There just aren't many games that have one have a similar style.”
Taro describes the gameplay in Stellar Blade as “very deep” and admits that he didn't get past the first boss.
“When it comes to how difficult a game should be, I don't think there is a right answer,” says Kim. “It's true that due to the popularity of Soulsborne games, there are more and more difficult games, and I've been inspired by this genre myself. But since such games usually don't have difficulty settings, it's extremely difficult to find the perfect one Finding balance. With Stellar Blade we wanted a game that would satisfy both players who want a challenge and players who want to focus on the story. We did our best to find the right balance.”
“If you look at the Soulsborne games from a business perspective, you can see that FromSoftware invented the idea of selling difficulty as a product. Up until then, the trend was to make things more casual and stress-free, but they have the stress made into a product in itself. However, since this is an invention of Hidetaka Miyazaki, I see no reason to copy this. I would rather create something else.”
Kim previously stated that Battle Angel Alita and Blade Runner were inspirations for Stellar Blade. Both also stated that they were inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Stellar Blade will be released on March 29, 2024 for the PlayStation 5.