Operation Akumajo interviews Koji Igarashi

Mana deserves a LOT of credit.  The interview is actually MUCH larger than what you see here.
She translated 23 questions for Igarashi, but you only see 14 of those questions in this interview. 

I was originally hoping to setup a real-time chat on Skype, but it was impossible to line up all of our schedules.  So when I was writing the interview questions, I deliberately setup a narrative approach where each question provides context for the next.  This interview was intended for my Facebook group, so I started off by addressing Igarashi's relationship with the fans.  Then I moved onto his departure from Konami, followed by the Kickstarter campaign --in both cases I focused on tying up loose ends from past interviews.  After the first 6 questions, I had the perfect setup for an in-depth Bloodstained discussion.

Please bear in mind that this interview was in the works long before Igarashi announced the delay.  Nobody expected the March 2007 release date to hold, and after Might No 9's repeated delays, I felt like this was a really important issue to clear up.  When I asked about meeting expectations, I was building up to the release date topic.  I didn't expect an answer necessarily, but I framed the question in such a way to reassure him --to let him know that we're a sympathetic and understanding fanbase but he needs to be open about it.   Igarashi's response was "No comment until further official announcement."  Then the official announcement came just a few weeks later.

The other Bloodstained questions focused primarily on the gameplay systems and bonus modes.  Unfortunately, most of those "meat and potato" questions came back "No comment until further official announcement."    I was pleasantly surprised to see him answer the special input and clock system questions.  I was bummed the daylight cycle had to be dropped, but the special inputs are a fair trade IMO.

Hey Mana would you mind if I share the "no comment" questions, or will raising these topics spoil future development updates?

Disappointing, but not clear to me. "players will not be able to equip two separate weapons." Is it possible to wield two of the same weapon as dual wielding? Could there be items that are a pair? Example: Onikiri and Ubadachi

"Weapons will only use one slot for both arms." States weapons. Are Shields in the game? Would they count as a weapon? Is the dream truly dead?! 
I loved punching weapons, mostly for the super close melee aspect. Kicks are basically the same thing, I have no problems with finding the perfect pair of heels to grind my enemies to dust!


I admit I have never played Aria of Sorrow. I hope utility isn't a predilection... I always choose utility over cool attacks. Restrictions like that seem silly to me.

GREAT NEWS!
  



But seriously, I don't think it will be a huge loss. . .

Overall this interview had a lot of positives, a few confusing points and a little mystery.

Thank you Cecil, Mana, and Iga!

I just updated my original post. All of  the outtakes are in the spoiler tab.

  Enjoy.  

No, i'm sure that is not going to happen at all. Let me explain why:

HOW ARIA OF SORROW AND DAWN OF SORROW WORKED REGARDING PROGRESSION ABILITIES

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Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow, the core from where Shard System is based, had a type called "Ability" for that (grey in collor). And the Ability type was nothing more than Relics with another name.

The three main types you needed to equip like the Shards we saw on Demo. But the Ability Type had a separate menu where you could turn them ON or OFF, using the same system as the Relics, you didn't need to equip them, since each one had a special input and you could use all fot them at the same time, like relics. They just made a glorified Relic System by adding the Ability Type Soul, to make all powers of the protagonist bound to the same system, for consinstency and plot reasons.

There is also another info that must be added here. Dawn of Sorrow, that used the same system with some adds, and Order of Ecclesia, that used a system based on the same idea, also added a very useful thing: the ability to create Sets. 

Dawn of Sororw had a Ability soul whose power gave Soma two Sets. So, you could choose Soma's equipment and Souls on two different Sets and change them on real time with a simple command. 
Order of Ecclesia had a Relic (the game has relics) whose ability was the same thing, adding three sets and Shanoa could change her powers over three sets on real time.


BLOODSTAINED: RITUAL OF THE NIGHT WILL HAVE SETS

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If you pay attention, you can see that, on the Demo, there is a reference to Sets:

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You can see, inside that red circle that i did with my impressive Paint abilities, that you havve a "Equipment Set 1". So, we are probably going to have Set 2, Set 3...and those sets will be able to be changed real-time, with sets for equipment and Shards.

HOW ABILITY SOULS ON ARIA OF SORROW AND DAWN OF SORROW WERE COLLECTED

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On Aria of Sorrow, most ability souls where on a specific item called "Soul Holder". A kind of a lamp post with a Soul locked on it, that you needed to break to get the Soul, as if the Demo from that Soul wasn't summoned on Castle, but his Soul was locked on a object for some unknown reason. You actually need to search those Soul Holders to get these Souls and some of them are protected by bosses.
Yeah, they just made Relics being Souls to link all Soma's powers to Souls for plot reasons.

On Dawn of Sorrow, they changed things around. Most ability souls now are on Bosses, so you actually need to kill bosses to get progression abilites.


WHAT I THINK THEY WILL DO ON BLOODSTAINED: RITUAL OF THE NIGHT

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Sets are already on the Demo, so, we can assume that will exist on the game. 
But i'm sure  they will add a sixth Shard Type, a "Ability Type" of sorts, where you collect Shards and they go to a separate Menu where you can turn them ON and OFF like the good old relics, like what Aria and Dawn of Sorrow did. 
There was some teasing that some Shards would be collected on other things and not only from enemies (someone said Chests or something) so, maybe the will pull out something like the Soul Holder from Aria of Sorrow. Maybe, there will be a Ability Shard Type, and some of those Ability Shards will be hidden at Crystalized pillars or chests or anything like that, that you need to break to collect.

A ADD ON INFORMATION: ARIA OF SORROW ABILITY SOULS

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Just as an additional information, here's what all Ability Souls where on Aria of Sorrow (i didn't add those from Dawn of Sorrow because the game that created this system was Aria).

Gravekeeper: Backdash by pressing Left Shoulder Button
Skeleton Blaze: Slide by pressiong DOWN + Jump Button
Malphas: Jump again on mid-jump (Double Jump).
Kicker Skeleton: Kick during a Double Jump by pressiing DOWN + Jump Button. (The only one you get from a enemy).
Hippogryph: perform a high-jump by pressing Left Shoulder Button in jump.
Galamoth: recognize places in wich time has been stopped. (No input). (Basically, you can walk over a single part of the game where there is a enemy that teleports you back all the time you try to enter, because that enemy stops time and rewinds you back to the beginning of the corridor).


I hope i was able to explain all that good enough!