Meta:Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer Q&A
This Q&A was posted to the website ds.gamespy.com by Patrick Joynt on February 7, 2008.[1][2]
Questions and Answers
We talk with the producer of Shiren as it makes its jump from history to the DS.
Mystery Dungeon is a long-running and popular Japanese series, and US gamers will be treated to one of its earliest installments very soon in the form of Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer. Shiren the Wanderer will release on the DS this March, so we chatted with the game's producer, Keith Dwyer, about this new version of Shiren, the advantages and disadvantages of licensed characters, and how a man can go about getting a talking weasel.
GameSpy: Shiren the Wanderer is a DS remake of the Super NES game. What changes are we going to see?
Keith Dwyer, Producer: Due to the platform change, the developers thought long and hard about the game and what changes could be made to make the game better. Over the last ten years the technology has improved such that the DS can show more colors and over a larger area; and overall allow more be done visually for a game. For gameplay though, monsters actually evolve into a fourth "type" as they level up. There are new dungeons with some great tweaks to gameplay (like the all-trap dungeon), and the mechanics of the previous dungeons have been tweaked so that it's not just a carbon copy of the SNES version.
GameSpy: Why an original character instead of a license-focused game?
Keith Dwyer: As a designer, with a licensed character, you're limited by the constraints of what that character is normally capable of or how that character or world works. With an original character you're free to come up with new definitions.
GameSpy: What can fans of the games look forward to in Shiren?
Keith Dwyer: They'll find all the great little quirks and idiosyncrasies of the Shiren series with some new little twists on how everything is tied together. Overall, it's challenging with a neat storyline.
GameSpy: Tell us about Shiren and his pet weasel Koppa.
Keith Dwyer: Shiren is the hero of the story. With his trademark bamboo hat, a keepsake from a long-lost friend, he travels the land as a well-known Wanderer. It's said that Shiren has been on the road since he was a young boy, and is blessed by Kron, God of Wind and Travelers.
Koppa is Shiren's partner, an incredibly rare talking weasel. He understands human speech but tends to have a sharp tongue himself. He met Shiren about six months before setting out on their journey to the Land of the Golden Condor, quickly picking up on his skill as a Wanderer, and convinced him to head to Kobami Valley.
GameSpy: What is the strength of Shiren the Wanderer compared to other SNES-era RPGs?
Keith Dwyer: Shiren stands out for its original storyline and its rogue-like system of gameplay. I think the game is a lot more challenging than a lot of other SNES-era games.
GameSpy: How will the game make use of the dual screens of the DS?
Keith Dwyer: The action primarily takes place on the lower screen but the interface is highly customizable and you can choose whatever information you find convenient in the upper screen. A player can have the dungeon map overlaid in the lower screen or put it up all by itself in the upper screen if they want.
GameSpy: What are some of the team's favorite parts of the game?
Keith Dwyer: It's obvious that the team put a lot of thought and effort into the scripted interactions with the various npcs. The bungee jump scene, for example, is pretty clever.