Illustration of Takumi Miyajima, the scenario writer for SCARLET NEXUS and Tales of Arise.

Since its launch in the summer of 2021, SCARLET NEXUS has built a passionate fan base of millions of gamers, spawned a popular anime series, and was nominated for Best RPG at The Game Awards 2021.

Not to be outdone, Tales of Arise launched in September of 2021, and built a huge following for its equally compelling story and game play – and won the Best RPG at The Game Awards 2021.

In this special interview, we meet with Takumi Miyajima, the scenario writer for SCARLET NEXUS and Tales of Arise, to get a behind-the-scenes look at how Miyajima-san creates the worlds that millions of fans love. And you'll learn how you can play the new story demo for free!

Could you please tell us what inspired the concepts and themes of "connecting brains" and "creating weapons with human brains" in SCARLET NEXUS?

Miyajima: It's because I have been interested in "brains" since I was a child and felt the potential of using it as a theme for this title.

Since childhood, I have been interested in "brains" as many books stated the not-yet understood elements and hypotheses regarding the hidden potential of "brains," which significantly increased my interest. 

I still remember one book expressing that "the brain is like a computer, " which left a strong impression on me. Many anime and manga titles have "brains" as the theme for their fictional world, which further fueled my thoughts on the brain's potential.
 
In the modern world, not only do we connect to our computers and smartphones, but we also connect to electrical appliances and technological devices to make our lives more convenient and closer to a person's reach. From this fact, I thought: Why not create a fictional world where people connect their brains and make new powers and new usages of the brain that in the modern world we don't have? That's where the idea for SCARLET NEXUS' "brain-connecting" theme came from.

In your story writing, it seems like you create the world's background and pre-stories that are never presented to players, before getting into the main story. What are the intentions of this way of story-writing?

Miyajima: I take a slice out of the long history of the story's universe and create it into the story our players see now. That ensures *all* characters' words and actions correctly and strictly reflect the past of that universe.

Rationally speaking, the history before the start of SCARLET NEXUS that our players see is very influential to the main story itself and acts as an anchor for future story creation. By letting myself and the devs know beforehand what happened in the history of the SCARLET NEXUS universe, we can construct a more consistent and error-free scenario for players to immerse in. This is usually how I build the stories I am handling.

For example, in SCARLET NEXUS, there is a line: "An Other alert? But today's Other forecast said that there was no threat in this part of Suoh!" There definitely is a base setting element leading to this line, such as the Others' existence being a regular occurrence, and humans in this world have already developed scientific ways to predict their appearance, etc. These base settings are further strengthened by the conversations and actions of characters in-game.  

I always do my story-writing in this style, and some story settings are even hidden from the game devs. However, I do not create story settings all cut and dried so that players can use their imaginations while enjoying the game as well.

Nowadays, it is not typical for a single scenario writer to write the entirety of a scenario during a game's production. Because of this, we want to make sure that all staff working on stories and scenarios know the fundamental world perspective. This ensures the whole story will have a higher accuracy to the established history in the universe.

In other titles I have worked on, there had to be "pre-stories" that are not told in the world settings or the main story. There are even hidden story settings that are not shared with the dev team. The reason for that is not to affect the game's production as they are not essential. However, I personally create these settings for fun and to expand the world. For example, I was thinking about characters that don't even have names attached to them or imagining unimportant things that happen in that world.

I try not to make everything sound cut-and-dry, but rather, I create gaps in the story where imagination from players can take place. In the case of a game, players are always actively controlling the main character, so I think it is more interesting and fun if there is room for players to imagine. 

You said that you basically always create the story by expanding from enemy characters first. For SCARLET NEXUS how was the story constructed?

Miyajima: SCARLET NEXUS has a double protagonist element, so unlike the usual "enemy" approach, I started creating the story from the protagonists.

I start from enemy characters because protagonists of a game need to have a goal, and to achieve that goal, there is always an opponent they need to defeat. With that, the story is imagined and created from the axis of the "protagonist" and the "final boss" typically.

For SCARLET NEXUS, there are two protagonists, and we want the fights and hostility between them to be an obstacle to their goals above, so I started with the protagonists in this game.

Upon that, I set the protagonist's ultimate goal to be "keeping the peace of the world," and rationally, it becomes the extermination of the Others by turning the gears and inner-workings of the game's universe. Upon that, I construct what will be the "final boss" that poses a threat obstructing this goal.

In the pre-stories, I concluded that I didn't want the "final boss" to be one of the Others, so I searched for another potential enemy that could pose the above threat to the protagonist.

The storyline of SCARLET NEXUS players see in-game is between the constructed "past history" and  "future" of its world. The stage and characters, everything setting-related, are considered my "world perspective" for SCARLET NEXUS.

Once you have a rough idea of the protagonist and enemies, the next step is to create a rough overall world perspective as the game's core. Then, to incorporate the game elements, such as psionic battles, defeating Others, and the fundamental purpose of the battles, the world was constructed starting from the "past."

In addition, I had a rough idea of what the future might look like after the game is cleared and constructed the entire world to lead to that. Please think of it as me slicing out a piece from the universe's long history and using that particular piece as the story enjoyed by our players.

So, I am often asked questions like "where I started" and "how did I create it, " but actually, they're tough to answer. I try to create the main character, the final boss, and the world perspective, including "past history" and "future," all simultaneously, based on the particular orders I received at that time. Sometimes I am asked to create them separately, but since the setting of the characters and the setting of the world in which they take place are all related to the "world perspective" to me, I end up creating them all together.

The protagonists and characters have very unique personalities and characteristics. What was the process of their creation?

Miyajima: I create all characters based on their balance in the player's party and their relationships with other characters as well.

For the ally characters, I used an overlooking approach by looking at the whole party as one and deciding how each should be balanced and made interesting to the player. After determining their personalities lightly, I decide on their relationships with other characters and the protagonists.

So rather than building up the characters by themselves only, I often place a character who is a counterpart or closely related to the character and create the setting in the context of their relationship with other characters.

For example, in the case of Kyoka, if I think of the setting of "she not being good at cooking," what actually makes the episode interesting is the reaction of the person when she serves the dish to someone else, so it becomes necessary to think about the person who reacts to the dish as well. In this way, the relationship with the other person is considered a set of essential factors in the character creation process.

Fundamentally, no characters are specially treated and the "world perspective" is created in a way so that every one of them actually has the potential to becoming the protagonist in SCARLET NEXUS.

In my case, I basically make it so that the story can be told by whoever is the protagonist in that world.

I think I can make episodes with party members other than Yuito and Kasane as protagonists if I want to do so. Whether or not it is currently reflected and seen in the game, from the start I have a rough idea of what every character has in mind and what their emotions are, and how they end up during the end of the scenario.

Just as in the creation of 3D graphics in game production, there are parts of the game that are "invisible or not shown to the public," and it just so happens that Yuito, Kasane, and Karen were the main characters featured in the main storyline in a way that they are clearly visible to players.

How were the protagonists, Yuito and Kasane created?

Miyajima: Yuito was created to be more emotional and resonate with most players. On the other hand, Kasane was created to be more eccentric and be less empathic by the player.

As for Yuito and Kasane, I created them with the intention of dividing them into two types: the type that resonates close to the player emotionally, and the eccentric type, so the player cannot understand or sympathize with them easily, respectively.

Yuito's team is created to have a leader with a sincere personality and ally characters who have good feelings towards him to keep the gameplay from being similar between the two teams. Kasane's team is created to have an eccentric leader and very distinct ally characters. Although different, the common point they have is that they can make the best use of their power when they cooperate.

The game devs had specified the psionic ability specifically for each party member, so I first created each character in accordance with their power lightly. Then, I considered how the personalities would fit in with the protagonists and their relationships. Later I added and adjusted in detail their personalities while considering their powers' characteristics, personalities, and synergies.

Taking Gemma as an example, we came up with a personality like "firm and mature male with a strong sense of protecting his friends" based on his defensive Sclerokinesis power, so he ended up on Yuito's team.

Can you please tell us what was considered about Karen's position and balance with respect to the two protogonists?

Miyajima: I think the fact that there were two main characters strengthened Karen's presence as a result. The way Episode Karen's story was delivered through cutscenes was so good; I am now quite embarrassed to say that I cried out of emotions even though it was my own written story...!

I was conscious of the fact that Karen would be a key person and an obstacle to what the protagonists wanted to accomplish. While doing so, I ensured that Karen would have some connection beforehand, rather than appearing suddenly at some point in the scenario.

As mentioned earlier, for SCARLET NEXUS, it is not simply the opposition between the protagonist and the last boss but also between the two protagonists themselves. By thinking of the positions and balances of all of them, I think Karen kind of ended up being a heavy and important existence in the story.

Also, on a personal note, I really enjoyed the game's cutscene presentation, especially for Episode Karen (from DLC Pack 3 - Brain Eater Pack). Even though I knew everything about the story, I always feel like I'm watching the heart-touching scenarios from a third-party perspective. I am a little embarrassed to admit that I cried during one particular scene towards the end (giggles). I didn't expect it to be so beautifully done, and I'm really very happy and grateful about it.

Can you tell us the similarities and differences between "SCARLET NEXUS" and the "Tales of" series scenarios that you were in charge of?

Miyajima: Although you can draw similarities in the mood and themes for both games, we built the story of SCARLET NEXUS intending to portray the life and deaths of people in the story seriously. The consequences feel heavier because it takes place in a world constructed similarly to our modern reality.

As I write both scenarios, the style might be similar for both. However, the realities for both titles are definitely different. There is more space for me to deform the world in worlds where magic and swords are used.

However, for SCARLET NEXUS, the world is closer to our modern world and reality, making revenge and "good vs. evil" scenarios challenging to portray. That level of reality determines what I create in the world of the title, and how realistic and suitable it is to that title. With that, the story is more readily accepted by the audience.

With this, I didn't want to deform too much of the world of SCARLET NEXUS so that issues related to characters' life and death are more seriously and heavily portrayed.

Can you tell us about the highlights of the first parts of the story, and the scenario as a whole?

Miyajima: I hope players could enjoy the story of "ordinary everyday life broken and scattered" in the first parts of SCARLET NEXUS, leading to the grand story later.

Players can play until the end of Phase 2 in the new and free SCARLET NEXUS Story Demo, and that part of the story features the "broken and scattered ordinary everyday life." By ordinary everyday life, I mean the everyday routines and daily lives of OSF members fighting off Others and protecting the world. However, things are not as simple as they look and this ordinary life scatter is one of the points of interest in the first parts of the story.  

Overall, I hope players could enjoy their own emotions towards the choices taken by the protagonists throughout the game.

Many new challenges and suffering keep pouring down on Yuito and Kasane after Phase 2, and how they try to overcome them and what future they choose are important points we want our players to pay attention to and enjoy. The first-hand emotional responses towards the protagonists' choices are also what we wanted to trigger and have players enjoy alongside the story.

The "loneliness" in Yuito and Kasane and the value of "bonds with others" are also important points we want our players to experience in the game.

I thought that for humans, just by leaning on someone else without being independent by themselves, no "bond" in-between would be born. I believe that "bonds" are created when people reach out to one another and cooperate from a state of "isolation," where everyone thinks and acts independently without relying entirely on anyone else.

Also, the "bonds" portrayed are not only characters simply helping each other out because they are allies. It is because they are all in some form isolated and lonely that their "individualities" are developed, so they see what they and their allies are lacking. To make up for that, they join hands and ask to borrow each other's strengths. That is also reflected in the "bond system" in-game. A burden is not placed on either side while borrowing powers, but rather, it is as if both parties are using the same power, so a "bond" is created.

For example, in Yuito's story, Yuito has built a bond with his friends based on his independence and his support to his allies, so that when he is weakened, the power relationship turns, and his allies reach out to help him out. Any one-direction reliance on others does not lead to strong "bonds."

Both Yuito and Kasane and their friends have "loneliness" somewhere in themselves and are "isolated." That is why the "bond" formed is precious and strong. I hope you can experience both perspectives throughout the scenario.

Do you have any messages for those who are interested in, or are going to play SCARLET NEXUS?

Miyajima: There are expressions, portrayals, and perspectives that can only be seen in the respective routes of Yuito and Kasane, so please do try clearing the story for both protagonists and see for yourself!

Play the New Story Demo Today!

Visit Xbox, Playstation or Steam to download and play the new SCARLET NEXUS story demo today!