Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon—as I used to know it—has been on my mind recently. I'm not really quite sure why; maybe I've just sort of been in a melancholic mood and thought that its emotional tale and beautifully eerie environments would have been just the thing... if only I had it to play.

What I did have was a chance to inquire after the title with XSEED's Jimmy Soga, who has helped provide us (and by extension, you, dear readers) with an insightful window into the world of the games his company publishes more than once—most recently, with our conversation with Little King's Story's Yoshiro Kimura. This time, I just wanted to ask Jimmy himself a little bit about how Fragile was coming.

As it turned out, Fragile was on XSEED's mind as well. We got the news last week that it had been renamed Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, and got a peek at the first English shots of the game. To go with that news, read on for a little bit about the newly-christened Fragile Dreams.


I think most people who follow Wii releases are familiar with Fragile Dreams, but for those who aren't, could you introduce the game to them for us?
Jimmy Soga, Product Manager, XSEED:Fragile Dreams is the latest creation from Namco Bandai and tri-Crescendo, the development team behind Eternal Sonata that also co-developed the Baten Kaitos series. Players will explore a post-apocalyptic world with the aid of their Wii Remote that functions as a flashlight, looking for any other human survivors that may be out there. The game focuses on exploration and adventure with light RPG elements, and the highly cinematic presentation is meant to draw some real emotions from the player.

Yes, Baten Kaitos remains very near to my heart even today; it's one of the reasons I'm so interested in Fragile Dreams. Though, of course, it is a very different game.

Something I've picked up on following hands-ons and coverage is that Fragile Dreams is not really about the gameplay itself so much as it is about the experience. Could you elaborate on that?
Soga:Though Fragile Dreams plays like an action RPG, the action part is very light. However, the overall ambiance and story-telling is really well done. Throughout the whole game you will gain bits and pieces of information about what happened to the world as well as what people were going through in those final days of their lives. The cinematic presentation with the moody sound effects and haunting music is superb and adds so much more depth to the world.


What drew you to Fragile Dreams? Was it difficult to get from Namco?
Soga:It was simply the overall experience we had from the game. It was so immersive that none of us really wanted to stop playing. As for obtaining the North American publishing rights from Namco Bandai, it was certainly a long process but not a difficult one. The fact that we published Retro Game Challenge definitely helped the process go a lot smoother.