Seiken Densetsu using HAVOK

[Wizard]

October 6, 2005 - The true nature of Square Enix's Seiken Densetsu 4 is coming to light -- slowly. We now know that this latest entry in the Mana series -- and the first numbered entry in 10 years -- will make use of the Havok physics engine. That's right, Square Enix is giving Mana real world physics, in addition to 3D visuals.

 

In speaking about the game in the latest issue of Famitsu, producer and series father Koichi Ishii reveals that both of these changes are a result of a goal he and his development team set forth for the series long ago. Back before a team was created to make Final Fantasy XI, Ishii recalls, he was thinking about creating a team to make Seiken Densetsu. At that time, his first objective was to create a goal for the series -- what he wanted to do with it. He came up with the idea of exploring how one goes about adding the feeling of touch to a game.

 

Legend of Mana ended up being a 2D game because Ishii felt that the PlayStation did not have the technology required to do a 3D version of the world that he had in his mind. He didn't want to use basic 3D to make his world. However, with current technology, he feels that he'll be able to offer the world that he's imagined. He seems to be imagining a real 3D space where you interact with the world through characters and objects. And not a flat world comprised of walls and floors, but a world with curved, natural surfaces.

 

Ishii states that this feeling of 3D space was achieved in part with Final Fantasy XI. However, he wants to take it one step further with Seiken Densetsu 4, and that's where real world physics comes into the picture. Half Life 2, which uses the Havok 2 physics engine, was Ishii's inspiration. After seeing the game at E3 2003, he felt that by using the game's physics engine, he could make his world. Ishii is hoping to create a world where players utilize a variety of actions to alter the world and the objects contained within.

 

This talk about real physics and changes to the world mirrors the interviews Mistwalker's Hironobu Sakaguchi has been giving regarding two of his projects, Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. While those two games are known to be next generation titles in development for the Xbox 360, the platform for Seiken Densetsu 4 has yet to be revealed, and is somewhat of a mystery. The use of a physics engine would suggest a next generation machine (although there have been a few examples of the original Havok engine on the current generation PlayStation 2). The few screenshots of Seiken Densetsu 4 that we've seen, however, look like current generation stuff, at the upper levels of PS2 visuals.

 

So, we're left with a general picture of what type of tricks we can expect from Seiken Densetsu 4, but no solid details on the game itself, and still no clarification on the game's platform. The World of Mana project has just kicked off, though, so we hope to find out more in the not-so-distant future.

>>PS2.IGN

 

 

Classic series revitilized.