I am Setsuna
I am Setsuna is a 2016 role-playing video game developed by Tokyo RPG Factory and published by Square Enix for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Microsoft Windows. A version for the Nintendo Switch was released in 2017 as a console launch title. The storyline, set in a snow-bound world plagued by monsters, follows silent protagonist Endir as he becomes the guardian of Setsuna, a young woman destined to be a sacrifice for pacifying the world's monsters. The gameplay, designed to emulate titles from the genre's "golden age", uses an Active Time Battle system.
The debut project of Tokyo RPG Factory, I am Setsuna began development in 2014 with a short production schedule. In keeping with the studio's goal, the team took mechanical inspiration from Chrono Trigger. Using the visual theme of snow, the narrative was written to explore the theme of sadness. The music, composed by Tomoki Miyoshi, was performed on piano by Randy Kerber. Due to its weak market presence, the Vita version was not localized. The game released to strong sales and was positively received by critics. Praise went to its atmosphere, soundtrack, and combat, though several faulted the lack of aesthetic variety and low difficulty. Tokyo RPG Factory went on to produce two more titles before closing in 2024: Lost Sphear and Oninaki.
Gameplay
I am Setsuna is a role-playing video game in which players take control of a party of characters, navigating environments from a fixed top-down perspective. Locations, such as towns and areas outdoors and in dungeons where enemy encounters take place, are reached by navigating the game's overworld. In towns, the party can talk with villagers to reveal plot elements. Items such as potions or stones used to escape battles are sold in shops in towns. There are a small number of side quests tied to each of the playable characters, unlocked when all characters are recruited and triggered by having that character in the current party.Enemies are represented on the field by icons: contact with the icons initiates a battle. Battles take place in the environments where the enemy is encountered, rather than shifting to a specific battle arena. Characters' health and magic meter are respectively represented by HP and MP. Characters fight using a version of the turn based Active Time Battle system: after each action is taken by a character in battle, an ATB gauge must fill again before another action is taken. Available actions include attacking with weapons; using special combat abilities or magic, which are lumped together as "Techs"; or using an item. If more than one character's ATB gauges are full, they will perform actions in the order in which instructions are issued to them.
Each character may equip talismans which house interchangeable Spritnite crystals, which unlock Techs. Some Techs can synergize together into a new ability. If one of these "Double Techs" is available, the "Techs" menu will change to "Combo". Each time an action is taken or a character's ATB gauge is allowed to remain full, a separate "Setsuna" gauge begins to fill. When full, it grants a "Momentum" charge which may be expended at the player's discretion to grant power boosts to the character's actions. These boosts can include dealing multiple versions of the attack, recovering health, or dealing critical damage to an enemy. After combat, defeated enemies grant experience points which raise a character's health and magic points, with other statistical elements only changing using weapons. They also drop items and materials, which are influenced by the way enemies are killed and can be sold for in-game currency.
Synopsis
I am Setsuna is set in a snow-bound land regularly attacked by monsters. According to an ancient custom, a maiden is sacrificed in the distant Last Lands to appease monsters. The story begins with the mercenary Endir accepting a mission to assassinate Setsuna, the next chosen sacrifice. Upon arriving, Setsuna persuades him to accompany her as a guardian alongside her childhood friend Aeterna. On their journey, they meet and are joined by Nidr, the guard of the earlier sacrifice and Setsuna's illegitimate father; Kir, a member of a magically gifted tribe with truncated lifespans; and Julienne, a descendant of the ancient kingdom once occupying the Last Lands. They are attacked several times by a figure called the Reaper, who is driven by a power that seeks Setsuna's death; he is eventually killed when they arrive in the Last Lands. The growing party also comes across signs of the monsters' continued attacks, undermining the morale of surviving human settlements.At the heart of the Last Lands, the group is met by a woman called the Time Judge, who reveals that the sacrifices are offered to sustain a barrier that imprisons the Dark Samsara, with Aeterna being a clone that can be active beyond the Last Lands. Once a magically-gifted boy a millennium before, the Dark Samsara was experimented on by Julienne's ancestors when magic started dying out, the aim being to create an eternal source of magic. The boy lost his consciousness and became a being driven by rage, destroying the kingdom that occupied the Last Lands and birthing the monsters. The previous sacrifice, Setsuna's mother, told the Time Judge of Setsuna's potential as one who might defeat the Dark Samsara. Whenever Setsuna instead followed through with the sacrifice, the Time Judge rewound time to repeat the cycle, though in this cycle Endir has been influencing events. The Time Judge resurrects the Reaper, who takes the name Fides, to aid them before fading away, leaving no means of rewinding time if the Dark Samsara wins.
The group fights and seemingly defeats the Dark Samsara, but it flees back through time to escape. To follow it, Endir and Setsuna use the traces left by their memories—the save points scattered through the world that only they can see—and follow the Dark Samsara after the others give up their magical energy to empower them. Travelling back to Setsuna's home on the day her mother left as a sacrifice, Endir defeats the Dark Samsara in its humanoid form. Setsuna then absorbs him into herself, granting the Dark Samsara access to her feelings and companionship, before asking Endir to destroy her body. The ending shows Aeterna vanishing with her mission completed, and the other party members go their separate ways. A post-credits scene shows Endir walking past a broadleaf tree in leaf, with Setsuna's spirit watching over him.
Development
I am Setsuna was developed by Tokyo RPG Factory, a studio created by Square Enix and staffed by external staff to produce role-playing video games. At the event, it was described by Square Enix as a "pure fantasy, true role-playing video game". The game was designed as a new intellectual property, with its future developments to be decided after Square Enix reviewed its post-launch reception and success. The concept for I am Setsuna was written in September 2014, with development beginning the following month. The alpha build was completed by August 2015. Atsushi Hashimoto acted as director, and Kengo Uchibori as producer. The production schedule was noted as being fairly short. The concept originated from plans to re-create a game similar to classic RPGs from the genre's "golden age". The staff was made up of developers who agreed with this vision. I am Setsuna was developed using the Unity game engine.In keeping with the team goals, the battle system was adopted from role-playing games like early Final Fantasy titles and other games like Chrono Trigger. According to Hashimoto, Chrono Trigger was used as inspiration due to its popularity, it being a favorite of the assembled development team, and the fact that there were few spiritual successors to it on the market. They also drew influence from Dragon Quest, The Legend of Zelda, the SaGa and Mother series, and Xenogears. The playtime was designed to be similar to RPGs of the 90s, going against the prevalent trend of added content with the scale and power of gaming technology. The traditional battle system gave the development team a "sense of security" when faced with the challenges of developing the game. One of the difficult elements was balancing the game's difficulty so it could be enjoyed by both casual and hardcore gamers. The battle system was specifically based on the Active Time Battle system used in Chrono Trigger. The lack of established RPG elements, such as inns for resting and a world map, were influenced by the harsh setting and a wish to have players think about where to go.
A key theme running through the game is "sadness". The story's setting, a land covered by snow, and its general tone carried this theme, evoking the emotional stories of classic role-playing games. The theme also extends to its title, which stems from the word "setsunasa": while it holds a variety of meanings in Japanese, the meaning used by the production team was sadness or sorrow. "Setsuna" also translated as "a moment in time", which is tied into the game's SP battle mechanic. Much of the effort in writing went into the game's language, with the team obsessing over how players would respond to different words. For this reason, they used katakana as little as possible, instead using native kanji expressions for terms like "monster". Despite lacking katakana, the setting used writing schemes akin to those from European literature, giving the world a unique feel.
The scenario was co-written by Hirotaka Inaba and Makoto Goya. The game's central themes, which focused on life and death as represented by Setsuna's sacrifice, were included as part of the callback to earlier role-playing games. One of the main features of the hero's design was his mask, which made it harder for players to fully empathize with him. During early production, Hashimoto was putting relatively little effort in the scenario, expecting it not to change. The development team disliked how the scenario was developing and insisted on a rewrite that changed half the script despite the production's time constraints. The scenario's ending was not determined from the outset, with the writing team instead writing the script as if they were on the journey themselves based on the established theme. While the team wanted to continue producing games based on gameplay and thematic concepts, they considered I am Setsuna to be a standalone project without any need for a sequel. No CGI scenes were included, and some elements of the story were left up to interpretation as had been done in earlier titles.
From its foundation, Tokyo RPG Factory had drawn inspiration from the Japanese phrase setsugekka when choosing the visual themes for each planned game; I am Setsuna used the theme of snow. The snowy environment was chosen to emphasize the melancholy tone of the narrative. The character designs were done by Toi8; he was brought in at an early stage, and his designs were likewise meant to reinforce the atmosphere. When translating the design into the game's 3D models, the team shortened them and gave them a distinctive appearance by removing their feet. This was possible due to the snowy environment in most areas, which would theoretically hide the feet. The art director was Jun Suzuki.