Robert Steinman
Character Designer for Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem Speaks Out
"Everything I've drawn up until now has been low saturation, so this will be a challenge of colors!"
04.27.15 - 1:59 PM

I'm still trying to make sense of the Japanese title for Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem. For some reason, Illusory Revelations#FE just doesn't roll of the tongue quite as smoothly as I'd like. How does one pronounce "#," anyway?

We're learning more about the title in bits an pieces, though information is still a bit harder to come by than most fans would probably like. Thankfully, the character designer for Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem gave us a little bit of insight into the creation process. You may know toi8 from his work on .hack//The Movie and Chain Chronicle.

toi8 Shin Megumi Tensai X Fire Emblem Artwork

From the game's official blog:


Hello. I’m toi8, and I’ll be in charge of the main character designs for Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem. As for when we began talking about this title, it was around the time I finished working on a piece of light novel cover art. It was around the time that I was handling one-shot work, and asked myself “what should I do next?”

As part of the generation that grew up on Nintendo consoles such as the Famicom and Super Famicom, the name “Nintendo” has a very special meaning to me. I remember being very excited upon hearing about the [Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem] collaboration.

Years later, I’ve finally been able to see it take form right before my eyes, and I find myself filled with deep emotion.

Now, let’s quickly talk a little bit about the character designs. The stage of the game is set in Shibuya, and the background shows a gorgeous world, so the character design’s direction will go with a highly saturated, gorgeous look.

Everything I’ve drawn up until now has been low saturation, so this will be a challenge of colors!

I’ve received help from all kinds of people, and as a result we’ve achieved the characters and the backgrounds shown in trailer, which is something I haven’t been able to do up until now, and I’m proud of it.

As far as characters go, we have discussions such as “what should we do in terms of bust size?” with suggestions like “they could be large and have glasses to go with them,” and “no, glasses are no good,” and so on.

I think we're all still trying to understand the first real reveal trailer for Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem, so color me intrigued at this point! We'll bring you more as we get it.


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