When we spoke last, two years ago, the game was not done. You were still figuring things out. How has your vision of the game changed since then?

At the time I asked, "If one of your villagers dies, do you have to explain to the kid where his dad went"? Is that still where you're going?

YK: So, [we don't offer] much of an explanation, but there are some deep, sad parts about it. For example, if there's a family that's only one adult and one child, and if that adult for some reason dies, at the funeral, there will only be that one kid going for the parent.

So, for example, if the group still travels together, they have this strong relationship with each other. So, if that person dies, everybody comes to that funeral. But if that one character doesn't have that many friends, if you go to the funeral, there's only a few guys mourning for him.

It sort of sounds like you still have the same kind of message that you want to send people -- it was a similar "We should get along with each other," gather friends kind of message, correct?

YK: It's more of a message of, like, "We, as a group," but it's more like there's a leader, which is the king -- or in real life it could be a president. And each citizen will have their own life going within a world.

But if the king says, "Okay, I want to go to battle," and just yank them out of their everyday life, they will complain about bit, but at the same time, at the end of the day, it's what the king wants. So, it's how you want to bring them into it together.

Throughout the story, there's a game system, but it's really about co-existing with each other. For example, there's a leader and his subordinates. And all the subordinates are looking up to you, and they want to follow you because you're the leader -- the king.

But if you progress through the story, there are different kingdoms and different kings, and they have that same aspect. People are looking up to them because that's their mindset, and they think that's the strongest king.

Later on, you'll be fighting those kings to say who's the more noble, who's the better king. But throughout the whole game, there's the question of, "What is noble? What is to be more important? What does it mean to be the best in those kinds of aspects?"

  In Kimura's game concept, the wolf guard is meant to be scary, but he's old -- so he's in a wheelchair. However, it allows him to move quickly, and makes scary noises. As the young prisoner, all you can do is run and hide.