– Visiting Your Origins – #1 Interview to MST-san

This post is also available in: 日本語 (Japanese)

Have you ever played a game and thought,
“Seriously, what kind of brain fuel leads someone to come up with this idea?”

This interview series, “Visiting Your Origins,” is all about stepping—just a little—into the root of those ideas that indie game creators turn into their works.

For our very first guest, I reached out to MST-san, whose game I previously featured in IndieGame100 #2.

– Well then, may I begin the interview?

Certainly! Please feel free to begin whenever you wish.

– Thank you so much! I really appreciate your time!

Alright then, let’s start off with something light—just a little warm-up question!

Q1. First, could you give us a short self-introduction?
And also—just for fun—what was the last oden ingredient you ate?

My name is MST.

I’m an old-school gamer with a particular fondness for fighting games—firmly on the SNK side, of course.

As for the last oden I had…
If I recall correctly, it was daikon from a convenience store. I put some miso on it and enjoyed it that way.

– Thank you!

You mention being into fighting games right there on your X profile as well, don’t you?

And hearing that you’ve been eating something warm like oden honestly makes me relieved!

I mean, based purely on my extremely biased impression from playing STRANGER SAGA, I had this image of you living like some ascetic monk who “washes down chicken tenderloins with protein shakes” or something… (laughs)

But in reality—are you actually more on the stoic, disciplined side?
Or is it more like, “Nah, I’m actually pretty fun-oriented,” kind of vibe?

Hmm, I wonder…

I suppose the gap between what I’m particular about and what I’m relaxed about is rather extreme.
And to make things worse, the things I do get particular about tend to be the kinds of areas that people around me don’t quite understand. (laughs)

– Ahh, now that you say it, that actually does match my impression perfectly.

With that in mind, I’d like to dive right into the main topic.

Q2. If you had to describe “STRANGER SAGA -Stranger Bach and Iskiyeld’s Ambition” in just one sentence, what kind of game would you say it is?

If I were to sum up STRANGER SAGA in just one line… I suppose it would be “the SRPG I personally wanted to play.”

These days, SRPGs that lead with heavy worldbuilding, intricate systems, and a deeply layered narrative seem to be the mainstream. And on the surface, it almost feels as though such elements are essential in order to produce a compelling SRPG.

However, I’ve always believed that there is still plenty of potential in crafting a game that adheres to the original, straightforward rule set of SRPGs. Reading a lengthy story or deciphering complex mechanics consumes a fair bit of cognitive energy, and I understand many players enjoy that—but I also thought there must be a form of SRPG that allows people to have fun without paying that particular “cost of entry.”

That was the kind of game I wanted to play myself, yet no one seemed to be making it. So I had little choice but to create it on my own—and that is how STRANGER SAGA came to be. During development, test play gave me enough confidence that the game worked, and so the remaining question was whether such an approach would be accepted by the world. That led me to release it.

That said, I did consider the possibility that perhaps—truly—I alone wanted to play something like this, and that I would receive no understanding from anyone else (laughs).
So I am genuinely relieved to have received numerous kind and positive comments since its release.

— Oh wow — “the SRPG you wanted to play,” huh! When I was playing STRANGER SAGA I really got the feeling it casually skips over certain tropes and then throws down a challenge like, “Alright then — think you can clear this stage?”

So now I’d like to dig a little deeper.

First up: the game’s minimalist design.
I felt you committed to some pretty bold design choices, so I have a question.

Q3. During development, were there any moments where you felt tempted to make it more like a typical title—like adding broader story branches, or making the systems more complex?
Something along the lines of, “Maybe I should expand this a bit and make it more mainstream…”—did that thought ever cross your mind?

That would be the set of individual dialogue lines for each allied unit in the final stage.

Throughout STRANGER SAGA, I intentionally kept the overall text volume low, so that narrative segments would never interfere with the gameplay itself.

If I were to adhere strictly to a simple and minimalistic design philosophy, then those lines in the final stage should not exist.

But I included them simply because I wanted to include them.

Since I held back in all other areas, I thought—perhaps just this once, people might forgive me. (laughs)

— Ah, you mean those small dialogue lines that appear when you move each unit!

Now that you mention it, you’re right—if the game were committed to absolute simplicity, those wouldn’t be there. Maybe that’s exactly why they had that “final-stage festival” feel to them; it was surprising to see that particular trope appear only at the end.

From here, I’d like to ask you about something that sits right at the crossroads of your minimalist approach and your desire to expand the game world—a slightly different angle on that tension, if you will.

Q4. As a creator, do you personally feel that your work leans more toward a light, understated flavor or a dense, heavy one?

Actually, I’m currently reading Evil Revenger from the link on your X profile
—right now I’m at the part where Chento is learning swordsmanship from Nemo.

And… look, I have to say it—this hits absolutely dead-center for me.
A dark fantasy overflowing with tangled affection and hatred is exactly my kind of story, but aside from that… it’s just incredibly good!!!

Of course, it’s compelling as a story in its own right.
But speaking from the perspective of a reviewer-in-training, I became very intrigued by how STRANGER SAGA and Evil Revenger clearly share motifs and structural similarities on a foundational level—yet the overall tone of each work is almost 180 degrees apart.

Where STRANGER SAGA feels sharp and brisk,
Evil Revenger is this thick, heavy, full-throttle revenge narrative.

So my question is essentially this:

“Is MST’s primary creative stance more like a clean, light vegetable tanmen… or a rich, punchy back-fat seafood tonkotsu?”

Where would you say you fall between those two extremes?

I never expected you would actually be reading Evil Revenger! Thank you so much!

As for my creative stance, I think it can be summed up as:
“I create my own answers to the things I personally find dissatisfying as a user.”

In that sense, STRANGER SAGA and Evil Revenger were both made from exactly the same stance.
What differs between them is simply the kind of “answer” I wanted from a game, and the kind of “answer” I wanted from a story.

Regarding their tastes in stories, and why the story in STRANGER SAGA is kept light:

My preferences in narrative are rather biased —let’s just say I have very strong likes and dislikes.
Going into detail about what kinds of stories I do like would drift away from the STRANGER SAGA topic (though if anyone is curious, please read Evil Revenger), but in short: because my taste is narrow, there are many works that don’t suit me.
And there are quite a few cases where the game itself is genuinely fun, yet I cannot fully immerse myself simply because I don’t like its story.

In RPGs and SRPGs particularly, the narrative occupies a meaningful and unavoidable portion of the experience.
So when STRANGER SAGA was conceived as “a game I want people to enjoy purely as a game,” I wanted to eliminate the situation of:

“The gameplay is good, but the story doesn’t suit me, so I can’t enjoy the game.”

To avoid that, I deliberately made it so that even if the story doesn’t resonate with someone, they can skim through it and immediately jump into gameplay.

When writing a novel, of course, the story is the core itself—so it would be meaningless if that part were left minimal.
In that case, I simply poured in as much of my personal taste as possible and built the kind of narrative I wanted to read.

Why the system in STRANGER SAGA is simple

The biggest reason I kept the system simple was
“to let players enjoy civilian training to the fullest.”

For that to work, the moment you change a civilian into a particular class, you must clearly feel the difference.

When you turn them into a Knight,
when you make them an Archer,
when you change them into a Barbarian—
their performance changes drastically,
and the tactics you can employ change just as drastically.

And precisely because of that, when your chosen tactic lands perfectly and produces results, you get that rewarding experience of:

“Ah, I’m glad I chose this class.”

That moment feels genuinely fun.

Which then leads you to seriously debate what class to choose for the next civilian—and that contemplation itself becomes enjoyable.

I believe that when you start adding more and more mechanics, effects like this become diluted and scattered.

For example, imagine a game packed with multiple strengthening elements such as:

• Class changes
• Skill trees
• Weapon upgrades
• Adjacent-unit support effects
• Buffs and debuffs

In such a game, true max strength is only reached when all of those elements are fully utilized.
Which also means that if you neglect one of them—even entirely—it’s often not fatal, because you can compensate by mastering the remaining four.

Seen positively, that approach allows recovery even if you make poor choices.
But the downside is undeniable:

It devalues the significance of agonizing over which class to choose.

If class change choices can be shrugged off by optimizing the four remaining systems, then that key choice stops being special.

For STRANGER SAGA, I wanted players to agonize deeply over how to train civilians,
to reflect on the consequences of each path,
and to savor the joy of constructing their own personal platoon.

To support that, stripping away additional power-growth systems was simply the best option.

That is how the game arrived at its current simple form.

— Ahh, I see!
So by adding more systems, the joy of “seriously agonizing over class changes” would get diluted.

The idea of concentrating a single core concept until it’s reduced to its purest form—that’s really what comes through.
And I think that’s exactly why, when I played STRANGER SAGA, it felt refreshingly light to touch, yet the play experience itself was surprisingly dense.

Alright then—
I’d like to descend into the theme of this interview series:

the origins—your personal landscape of formative influences.

Could you share three “unforgettable games,” along with the memories that make them unforgettable for you?

I actually love fighting games, but since that would take us way off topic for this interview… let me leave those out for now (laughs).

Fire Emblem Gaiden (Famicom)

Anyone who has played it would instantly realize how heavily STRANGER SAGA was influenced by this title (laughs).

In Gaiden, you can freely class-change villagers and enjoy building your own army.
It was my very first Fire Emblem, and on my first playthrough I turned every single villager into a Baron—the ultimate heavy-armored class—and proudly declared:

“Nothing can hurt them! They’re invincible! Strongest army ever!!”

Of course, with proper knowledge, you eventually find out that going full Baron isn’t actually optimal at all—but what mattered was that I believed in that choice, pursued it, and achieved results. That feeling was incredibly fun.

In STRANGER SAGA, I wanted players to experience that same joy.

Romancing SaGa 2 (Super Famicom)

I honestly think there might not be a better RPG than this.

I played the original, the remaster, and even the remake—probably countless playthroughs at this point.
At this stage, yes, I’m just a devoted believer (laughs).

There’s so much I could talk about that I don’t even know where to begin, but if I had to pick a personal memory, it would be this:

On my very first run, I forcefully broke through the gate at the Canal Fortress—without knowing that you’re not meant to do that.

Normally, people avoid fighting the gatekeeper because he’s absurdly strong, and they infiltrate through another route.
But with no guide or knowledge, I just grinded and buffed my party until I could beat him head-on—
and my friend who watched me do this was absolutely shocked.

Situations like that only happen because of Romancing SaGa’s free-scenario structure.

(And yes— I also defeated the Sea King without making peace. Many questionable decisions were made.)

But that raw, uninformed, trial-and-error experience is exactly what makes it special.

Of course, this is only a tiny fraction of Romancing SaGa 2’s appeal—its strengths are endless.
If you haven’t played it yet, I cannot recommend it enough.

Original, remaster, remake—all of them are fantastic.

Simulation RPG Tsukūru (PlayStation 1)　(*one title of RPG Maker*)

This might be stretching the definition of “game,” but since we’re talking about unforgettable titles, I want to include it.

It’s the SRPG edition of the Tsukūru series, and honestly, the PS1 version is not very well-regarded among players.

But this was the first tool that allowed me to actually complete a full game on my own.

Even though it was clunky, restrictive, and difficult to work with, I still managed to finish a game, have my friends play it, and they actually enjoyed it.
That made me realize:

“Creating games is unbelievably fun.”

I even submitted it to the magazine Dengeki PlayStation-D, and it was included on one of their bonus CDs.

Looking back now, the game I made definitely has rough edges… but I still feel it was genuinely entertaining.

Later, when I learned that this tool had a rather poor reputation, I started to think:

“Wait—if I made something decent with such a poorly-rated tool… maybe I’m actually kind of amazing?”

(laughs)

— Thank you so much!
“Dengeki PlayStation-D” — that’s the magazine that came with demo discs, reader-submitted original games, and those strangely catchy songs, right? I used to buy every issue for a period of time.

Honestly, I really want to go off on a tangent and just talk about the titles you mentioned… but as an interviewer, I guess I shouldn’t be the one derailing the conversation, so I’ll stick to asking questions (laughs).

I’d like to ask a bit more about Simulation RPG Tsukūru, which you listed as the third title.

Q6. When you completed your very first game using Simulation RPG Tsukūru, what experience or lesson from that time has continued to influence your work today?

When I think about my experience with Simulation RPG Tsukūru, it actually extends to the console-era RPG Maker series as a whole.

Back in the Super Famicom through PlayStation era, there were no scripts, no plugins—none of the conveniences we have now. Everything had strict limitations, and you couldn’t simply add the exact system you envisioned.

Having to experiment within those constraints—trying to make something genuinely fun using only what was available—definitely carries over into my work today.

One major influence is that I now have zero hesitation about simplifying everything outside the main core of a game. I have a strong confidence of, “Even in a simple state, I can still make it fun.”

That feeling exists precisely because I spent time developing games under tight limitations back then.

— Thank you so much for your answer!

The idea that “having made something with limited tools gave you the conviction that simplicity can still be fun”—
that kind of confidence backed by real experience feels really powerful.

Now, I’d like to shift the focus just a bit and ask about influences in your creative input.

When you class-change into Barbarian, the achievement name feels a lot like a reference to a certain red, hex-faced robot who gets guided by cosmic rays… And in one of the pre-stage dialogue scenes, there are characters whose conversation reminds me of a certain trio of black, star-shaped individuals…

So I have to ask:

Q7. Are you perhaps pretty fond of robot anime?

When it comes to anime, I wouldn’t say my tastes are limited to robot shows specifically.

In Gundam, I especially like the original Mobile Suit Gundam and 0080.
In Super Robot Wars, my go-to units were The Big O and Dai-Guard.
And my all-time favorite anime is s.CRY.ed.
That pretty much sums me up.

That said—these days I tend to rewatch old shows rather than actively seek out new ones.
As someone who creates things, I do feel a bit guilty about neglecting new sources of input like that.

– Thank you so much! Even your anime picks are wonderfully niche in the best way.

And hearing you speak so self-reflectively about your own input habits… that really feels very “MST-like,” if I may say so.

Well then—this is bittersweet, but here comes the final question!

Q8. Do you currently have plans or concepts for your next project?
Or, if you were to create something in a completely different genre or direction, what kind of work would it be?
Lastly, please share a message for your players and fans!

I’m considering working on a sequel to STRANGER SAGA at some point, but first, I plan to release something in a different genre—an RPG.

Even if the genre changes, I believe the same principle will remain: focusing completely on the part of the experience that I want players to enjoy, and trimming everything else down as far as possible. That emphasis on simplicity will stay unchanged.

My goal is to deliver an RPG that’s every bit as compelling as Stranger Saga—different, yet comparable in depth and enjoyment.
I hope you’ll look forward to what comes next!

If you have not yet had the chance to play STRANGER SAGA, we also offer a demo version with save-data transfer functionality. Please feel free to give it a try if you are interested.
I will continue doing our very best to create experiences you can truly enjoy.
Thank you once again, and we hope you will look forward to what comes next.

Well then, until next time.

－ Thank you so much!
Not in the role of a reviewer, but simply as a fellow gamer—I’m genuinely looking forward to your next work!!

That concludes all my questions.
Thank you again for taking the time to speak with me, especially during your busy schedule!!

Let’s check MST-san’s X!!!

Closing Thoughts

How was it?

I hope readers were able to experience—even just a little—MST’s formative landscapes and creative origins.

As a side note… I had literally never conducted an interview before this.
So when I reached out to MST-san for the first time, I was honestly trembling inside. He graciously accepted, patiently put up with my fumbling (thank you so much!), and somehow, we managed to bring this feature all the way to publication.

As we kept talking, we both got more and more fired up—if even a fraction of that on-the-spot energy reached you, I’d be thrilled.

Going forward, in Visiting Your Origins, I hope to continue interviewing indie game creators.

If you happen to be an indie developer thinking, “Hmm, maybe I’d be interested,” please feel free to contact me via the inquiry form.

With that—enjoy your gaming life!!
Thank you so much for reading to the very end!!!