Valkyria Revolution is now available in Japan for PS4 and PS Vita, and  Director Takeshi Ozawa and Producer Katsura Mikami answered a few questions on the game during an interview on 4Gamer.

In particular, they mentioned that the game has been created specifically for the Japanese market, without any focus on western audiences.

Ozawa-san mentioned that since the game is developed by a Japanese studio, the first goal is to "make a game loved in Japan." While he certainly recognizes that Valkyria Chronicles enjoys considerable support in the west, he isn't going to release a product that neglects Japan.

Mikami-san also weighed in, explaining that Valkyria Chronicles wasn't made with the western market in mind. He believes that one of the reasons while it was successful is that it was a game "With uniquely Japanese style, that absolutely could not be made in America." According to Mikami-san, if the team tried to make the game for the foreign market, there would have been elements of disturbance that would have prevented the creation of a style unique to Japan.

As an example, he brought up the fact that Vincent van Gogh was inspired by Japanese Ukiyo-e prints. Ukiyo-e was not created for van Gogh, but he still empathized with the unique sensibility of Japan. Ultimately, Mikami-san believes that if something is good it will be accepted, regardless of whether it'll come from the west or from the east.

As a bonus, we also hear why Character Designer Raita Honjou and composer Hitoshi Sakimoto did not return for Valkyria Revolution (Valkyria Revolution's character design is handled by Hiro Kiyohara and Takayama Toshiaki, while the soundtrack is composed by Yasunori Mitsuda).

According to Ozawa-san, they could be defined the faces of the Valkyria Chronicles series, so for Valkyria Revolution they apponted artists and a composer that were identified as the most suitable for the series, keeping in mind that it's a different game from Valkyria Chronicles.

While Ozawa-san did not explicitly mention it, this appears to be a hint (but keep in mind that this is just my personal speculation) that, when the Valkyria Chronicles series will return, it might come back with its original Character Designer and Composer. A few weeks ago he clarified that the original series isn't considered closed, and that the team is planning on continuing it, so there is definitely hope.

If you want to read more about Valkyria Revolution, you can find quite a lot of details about it in my previous articles about  story and characters,  the LeGION Battle System, the Vanargand Anti-Valkyria unit, and the mecha fighting for the Ruzhien Empire.

Valkyria Revolution is now available in Japan for PS4 and PS Vita, while a western release will come for PS4, PS Vita and Xbox One in the Spring.