Isekai stories aren’t anything new for anime fans. Every season, there are a wide variety of Isekai stories about the world of Japanese Animation. But the fans didn’t see it coming when the latest PlayStation exclusive, Forspoken, developed by the renowned Final Fantasy creators, Square Enix, may be an Isekai story.
The word Isekai literally means, “different world” or “otherworld”. This Japanese genre of storytelling usually consists of a troubled protagonist who is an outcast, but by a miraculous stroke of luck, gets transported to a fantastical world, where their personality quirks help them prevail and become the best. Does this seem familiar?
The latest PlayStation Exclusive “Forspoken” carries the traits of an Isekai
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In Forespoken, Luminous Productions are building a magical land called Athia. This fantastical world is revealed to be filled with magical spectacles and unbelievable wildlife. The protagonist, Frey, an angsty young girl, will find herself in this spectacular magic world where she has to tame the wild magic to come out victorious.
The trailers so far have confirmed that “Forspoken” will be an Isekai story as Frey was a normal person struggling in the normal world until some grand incident teleported her to the magical world of Athia. The first trailer had given some glimpse into the game’s story, but it was also trolled a lot for its cheesy dialogue, “So, let me get this straight. I’m somewhere that’s not what I would call Earth… I’m seeing freaking dragons, and… oh yeah, I’m talking to a cuff! Yeah, okay, that is something I do now. I do magic, kill jacked-up beasts — I’ll probably fly next.”
But the second trailer carried much more serious tones and focused on the deep storytelling aspects of the game. It confirmed in its short span that the game will be a westernized Isekai story. The trailer also showcased that the game will have some inspiration from Squire Enix’s Final Fantasy franchise.
Head of the studio and Forspoken director Takeshi Aramaki said, “When we created Final Fantasy 15, I think we took a lot from the open world and how interesting and fun that felt; there was a lot that we could take from that,”. Aramaki Added, “But on the other hand, we also were sort of left with the impression that we can still learn a lot in terms of scenario writing, and really bringing that into the story. And so for Forspoken, we have worked with a collaboration of writers such as [Gary] Whitta, [Amy] Hennig and that’s something we brought into Forspoken’s development.”
Fan reactions to the new trailer:
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