"This is our new colleague, Tatsuya Mizutani. Starting today, Mizutani will be the producer for the new project. Please give him a warm welcome."
After leaving Pokeni, Mizutani, who had been the lead planner, didn't immediately accept the offer from Blue-wings. Instead, he took a long, leisurely vacation and only officially joined the company a month later.
"Hello everyone, I'm Mizutani. I previously produced Path of Light and Dragon's Poem. I'm honored to be working with all of you at Blue-wings. It's a pleasure to meet you all."
In truth, Mizutani had already worked on several successful titles before joining Pokeni and was well-regarded in the industry. This is why Aoki Haruhi had initially hired him as the lead planner for the new project, intending to promote him to producer if the project succeeded. However, no one could have predicted the catastrophic failure of Heart of the Sword.
Mizutani made no mention of his previous works, as his time at Pokeni was not a happy memory.
Moreover, the Heart of the Sword debacle remained a stain on his career.
With fewer than 2,000 copies sold, Mizutani had never developed such a disastrous game. If Aoki Haruhi, who understood nothing about games, hadn't been involved, how could the result have been so dire?
"Mizutani, come here."
After the introductions, President Shigeru Kobayashi called Tatsuya Mizutani into his office.
"We've been eagerly awaiting your arrival at Blue-wings," President Kobayashi said, his face beaming with excitement, every wrinkle creasing with anticipation. "Now that you've joined, you need to make a big splash right away."
"Of course," Mizutani nodded with a smile. "That's precisely why you invited me, isn't it? I won't let you down."
The president stood up, patted Mizutani's shoulder with satisfaction, and walked over to the water cooler.
"Coffee or black tea?"
"Coffee, please," Mizutani replied without hesitation.
"So, do you have any plans for the kind of games we should develop in the future?" Kobayashi brewed the coffee and returned with two cups, placing one in front of him.
Plans?
Tatsuya Mizutani had been thinking about this a lot lately and had a fairly clear idea.
"It has to be RPGs, of course."
This decision was the result of Mizutani's comprehensive consideration of Blue-wings' actual situation.
Blue-wings had previously been in the pachinko business, the type of slot machines commonly found in arcades. Rather than being a true game company, it was primarily a pachinko company. President Shigeru Kobayashi understood human nature well but lacked experience in game development.
However, the structure of an RPG is far more complex.
If Mizutani had proposed developing a grand-scale wargame to President Kobayashi, the president might not have fully grasped its intricacies. But when he suggested an RPG, President Kobayashi immediately understood the concept.
As expected, after hearing Mizutani's analysis, President Kobayashi's eyes lit up.
"An RPG is essentially showing someone else's life to the player."
"Hmm, I made the right choice in picking you," President Kobayashi said, giving Mizutani a thumbs-up. "I'd been wondering how to create a strong draw for home consoles, and your explanation just opened my eyes."
Although Mizutani also wanted to make an RPG, his vision differed from Aoki Haruhi's.
"It's great to be able to experience someone else's life. Do you have any ideas for the theme?"
"Yes, I do."
Tatsuya Mizutani's idea was to use a historical setting similar to Pokeni's Onmyōji.
But the ending absolutely couldn't be tear-jerking.
Challenging players' vulnerabilities was an extremely dangerous thing.
If handled poorly, it could backfire spectacularly.
What a joke!
Just thinking of Aoki Haruhi's handsome face made Mizutani grind his teeth in frustration.
Arrogant and self-important. If Aoki Haruhi made the game, it would surely fail miserably.
"You're right!" Kobayashi, holding his coffee cup, tilted his head and smiled warmly at the young man before him.
He liked him more and more the more he looked.
"In that case, what are we waiting for? Let's start right away, shall we?"
"Yes, President!" Mizutani's smile widened in response.
May 28, 1990, Pokeni Corporation.
Development of the Onmyoji project was entering its final stages.
The rapid progress was due to a combination of factors: the team's fully tapped enthusiasm, the desperate, all-or-nothing atmosphere, and a crucial advantage: the entire combat and underlying architecture of Onmyoji was built upon the foundation of Heart of the Sword.
Although Heart of the Sword had been a previous failure for Pokeni, its program code was surprisingly sound.
This saved them a tremendous amount of development time.
With the core functions already perfected, the recent efforts had focused primarily on adding new features: CG interactions, optimizing performance to address issues caused by excessive memory usage, and overhauling the UI.
Even though it was still for the Red and White Machine, Aoki Haruhi could confidently say that their current game quality was undoubtedly the best in the world.
Knock, knock, knock.
"President."
A knock came from outside. Aoki Haruhi looked up to see Ayase Akane, the HR representative.
"What is it?"
"Shirakawa sent this over."
Ayase Akane, a petite HR representative, entered carrying a cardboard box.
"What's this?" Aoki Haruhi asked, puzzled.
He stood up and looked inside the box. It was neatly arranged with rows of cassette tapes—21 in total.
Each tape was carefully labeled with its name and purpose:
[ Battle Music 1 ]
[ Battle Music 2 ]
[ Victory Fanfare ]
[ Boss Battle ]
[ Cherry Blossom Snow ] - Immortal Spirit Island Scene BGM
[ Poem of Snow ] - Late-Game Scene BGM
**The Epilogue of *Spirit Feather***
Wow!
Aoki Haruhi was almost moved to tears.
Who could have imagined that Atsushi Shirakawa, though unable to attend Pokeni's event in person, had done such extraordinary things for the company?
Aoki Haruhi had already lost all hope.
"Where's Shirakawa?" he asked, looking up.
"He's already gone back. He has to work today."
I see.
Aoki Haruhi gritted his teeth, his heart filled with conflicting emotions.
What is this? Is he in Caesar's camp but thinking of Han?
Not quite.
"But Shirakawa asked me to give you a message."
"Hmm?" Aoki Haruhi's eyes suddenly lit up.
But the way Ayase Akane phrased that sounds a bit strange?
"He said to thank you for valuing him so much in the past, and he didn't want to disappoint you. If you use his music in the game and it's successful, he'll have no regrets."
Tsk.
Aoki Haruhi smacked his lips, momentarily speechless.
Despite some twists and turns along the way, by mid-June, Onmyoji was finally completed.