According to AUTOMATON China, Akihiro Nobekawa, Co-Director and Battle Director of "Hundred Days Journey: Final Defense Academy," recently gave an interview analyzing why SRPGs are difficult to greenlight. He believes that high learning curves, slow-paced battles, and the inherent impression of high difficulty hinder the genre from reaching more players.
Akihiro Nobekawa stated that SRPGs require players to understand multiple rules, including units, terrain, range, and HP, with battles often lasting over 30 minutes. Many players may give up due to the perception of complexity and difficulty before experiencing the joy of tactical command. This perception also influences internal project evaluations, making SRPGs more likely to be viewed as niche projects.
In his view, SRPGs lack benchmark titles that allow casual players to quickly grasp their appeal, making it difficult to steadily expand the genre's audience. A decline in players, difficulty in getting projects approved, and a decrease in the number of releases further limit new players' exposure to SRPGs, creating a vicious cycle.
Akihiro Nobekawa believes that one future direction is to shorten the time it takes for players to experience fun, while preserving the strategic core of SRPGs. Character development, storytelling, and school-themed settings can also help attract casual players. He also pointed out that adopting a stage-based structure in SRPGs reduces the need for assets like towns, dungeons, and connecting maps, allowing the story to progress through adventure-game-style segments and enabling development within a limited budget.
The battle system in "Hundred Days Journey: Final Defense Academy" is designed around this concept. The team introduced "Desperate Measures" and "VOLTAGE" as core mechanics: characters on the brink of death can sacrifice their HP to unleash powerful skills, and character deaths accumulate VOLTAGE, which can be used to strengthen other characters or trigger ultimate abilities. Character deaths in battle do not alter the story's direction.
To reduce cognitive load, this game lowers the HP of both allies and enemies, with standard enemies having just 1 HP. It also minimizes elements that require repeated comparisons, such as hit rates and defense buffs. Elite enemies serve as clear guides; defeating them grants additional Action Points, providing more opportunities for action.
Akihiro Nobekawa expressed his intention to continue challenging himself with SRPGs in the future and hopes the genre will explore more lightweight design approaches. "Hundred Days Journey: Final Defense Academy" is currently available on PC (Steam) and Nintendo Switch.