HomeFeaturesParanormasight: The Seven Mysteries Of Honjo
Paranormasight’s director says making a visual novel is always “messy work"Takaya Ishiyama is pleased to see his game is going down well outside Japan
Takaya Ishiyama is pleased to see his game is going down well outside Japan
At the outset, though, Paranormasight loks like it is your average visual novel, with the player working away to prevent curses from claiming the lives of Tokyo citizens. Writer and director Takaya Ishiyama explains this was actually the starting point for Paranormasight’s inception. “I first decided what the final goal of the game would be, and from there I began to plot out the broad elements I needed to include, such as the Seven Mysteries,” he explains.
PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo | Launch TrailerWatch on YouTube
PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo | Launch Trailer
Paranormasight is divided up into five ‘routes’, with a different character spearheading each path and providing a different viewpoint on the events around Tokyo, as characters work to reclaim deadly curse stones and prevent murders. Aligning the five plot paths was a process of trial and error for Ishiyama, as the stories would at times become “misaligned” from their end goal, requiring he go back and smooth things out. “I always start out thinking I’m going to create a beautifully organised plot, but it never goes that way,” Ishiyama says. “It always ends up being messy work, trying to make each and every scene connect in a way that’s interesting.” With a handful of lead characters and a wide supporting cast to pace throughout Paranormasight, it’s a minor miracle the game’s plot unfolds so smoothly.
Apart from all of that, Paranormasight is a surprising milestone for Ishiyama - it’s his first game to receive a Western localisation. Ishiyama might’ve been at Square Enix since 2005, working onFinal Fantasy 12: Revenant Wing and Blood Of Bahamut among other projects, but Paranormasight marks his first ever English language release. That’s the director’s main impression from Paranormasight’s public reception - that a game of his has finally been “well-received outside of Japan”. “I’m really grateful to everyone who worked on the localisation for doing such wonderful work,” Ishiyama says, and also adds that Square Enix is “very pleased” with how Paranormasight has sold so far. It seems this brilliant, subversive visual novel has found the audience it deserves around the world.
