On12/27/2011, Dengeki announced that that The Legend of Heroes: Sora no Kiseki series will be coming to smartphones.
But since then, it has been wondered about the contents of the game. FamiApp has reached out to Aeria Games, the licensing team behind it, to get more details on this licensing. They spoke with Yohan Taka, the lead of the development support team in the entertainment division of their online business headquarters.
Taka said that as development was nearing completion on Sorcerian and they were preparing to put it out on sale, they started to consider the next game to bring to iOS. They went to speak to Falcom first, asking after the release of Sorcerian, what should they reach out for next, and Sora no Kiseki was what was decided on in Fall 2011.
For those wondering if it was Falcom’s suggestion- it was not. This was because they were coming on the tail end of the release of the most recent title of the Kiseki series. It would be a good thing to reach back to the beginning of the series at this point.
This will not be the same game as what was released on the Playstation Portable, as the iPhone and PSP are different platforms, you can’t treat them as the same. Going to a new platform, you will need a new and different experience. This will allow them to be able to fill in the gaps with the series world view.
From what I get on the article, it sounds like this will probably take place sometime after 3rd (the story between FC, SC, and 3rd is so tight-knit), and help tie together more elements of Zero no Kiseki.
The original article didn’t have any concrete information but said that this version would have social and online elements added to it. Examples that Taka included were special moves with friends, or giving/receiving items to and from friends. For social elements, having shops- selling weapons and armor sounds like a plausible plan. Then through the lobby, perhaps getting friends to join you on quests and the like.
They won’t be able to bring the graphics straight over from the PSP version, as the PSP has a smaller resolution than the iPhone and the graphics would either not fill the screen or would not look good. They have been considering how to handle it in horizontal or vertical modes.
Take was also asked on the expected release date, and he said that they are only just now announcing it. Such as with the Sorcerian game, they have only recently released it when it was announced back in October. They aren’t being rushed. Falcom has told them that they can take the time they need to make a good product. He was also asked about a price, but that too is difficult to determine at this point in the development.
Taka has also said that he believes that the smartphone version will be able to help draw in new fans to the series and please the old fans at the same time.
As of writing this article, I had not received a response from Aeria Games as to whether or not we will see this in North America.