This wasn't a minor stir—Rieko Kodama was no unknown in the Japanese industry. She was a core member of the team that developed Phantasy Star III, and anyone familiar with Sega's product line would recognize her name.
But in the context of E3, and today's lineup of male producers waiting to take the stage, the visual impact was undeniable.
A US journalist in the back nudged his colleague with an elbow. "She's the director?"
"Lead producer. It's basically the same thing at Sega."
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Rieko Kodama didn't waste time on pleasantries.
Her English wasn't quite up to Hideo Kojima's standards, so she simply stated, "Phantasy Star IV," and let the simultaneous translation handle the rest.
The big screen lit up.
A vast expanse of space.
The nebula's colors gradually shifted from deep purple to dark red, with the curved outline of a distant planet visible in the distance.
The camera angle dipped down, revealing a desert town.
The architectural style blended Arabic and Cyberpunk elements, and characters walking along the streets wore cloaks and carried glowing weapons at their waists.
The trailer was a mix of Computer Graphics (CG) and in-game footage.
The CG segments couldn't compare in detail to the FF7 sequence—not due to a lack of production quality, but because of the scale of resources invested.
However, the in-game footage was solid.
Characters moved smoothly through the town, and scene transitions showed no noticeable loading lag. The combat scenes were turn-based, but the pacing was noticeably faster than in previous games.
"The graphics haven't improved much," an EGM editor wrote, his pen moving slowly as he watched.
This statement was true.
Compared to the groundbreaking impact of MGS2, which was the first time the IP had been brought to a 3D platform, Phantasy Star IV felt more like a steady iteration.
Character models were more detailed, and lighting effects had improved, but it wasn't the kind of progress that would make anyone jump out of their seat.
But the editor from GameFan had a different perspective. He paused, staring at a cutscene on the screen for several seconds before speaking. "Did you notice? The cutscene uses manga panels."
Indeed.
As the story reached a critical point, the visuals adopted a layout reminiscent of Japanese manga storytelling.
Character portraits were embedded in separate panels, dialogue bubbles displayed their lines, and the sequence unfolded frame by frame in sync with the background music.
This technique occasionally appeared in Japanese Super Famicom and Mega Drive games, but achieving such polish on 32-bit platforms was still uncommon.
"This is clever. It saves on full-motion CG costs while actually improving narrative efficiency."
"It's similar to Kojima's earlier approach of using Yoji Shinkawa's hand-drawn portraits to compensate for 3D limitations."
"Has Sega developed a unified methodology?"
No one answered the question, but the fact that two different project teams independently adopted similar trade-off logic was worth noting.
The second half of the trailer provided glimpses of new characters and settings.
A silver-haired female character and a heavily armored, non-human race—perhaps a drow, or some kind of native inhabitant of this world—were showcased.
Several combat sequences demonstrated the new skill system, with synchronized group attacks accompanied by a rhythmically intense electronic soundtrack.
The Japanese press area reacted more enthusiastically than their American counterparts.
While the Phantasy Star series had a following in North America, its core audience remained in Japan.
A Famitsu editor watched the silver-haired female character's debut and tapped his pen twice on his notepad:
[ Still the same flavor. ]
This wasn't a criticism.
He was referring to the consistent world-building style that had run through the Phantasy Star series from its first installment to the present—a blend of science fiction and fantasy, where technological civilizations coexisted with swords and magic, and character designs prioritized distinctiveness over realism.
This unique style stood out among Japanese RPGs, setting it apart from the Final Fantasy series and making it completely different from Dragon Quest.
Fans who recognized this flavor would remain loyal, while those who didn't wouldn't suddenly become fans just because the game was moving to a new platform.
After the trailer ended, Rieko Kodama added a few remarks.
The simultaneous translation summarized that the game's world-building expanded upon the previous installment, while the storylines were independent, making it accessible even to players who hadn't experienced the first three games. However, veteran players would find Easter eggs and recycled elements from the original game hidden within the narrative.
The applause was significantly warmer than during Koei's presentation, but it still paled in comparison to the thunderous ovation when Hideo Kojima made his dramatic exit.
Rieko Kodama bowed and exited the stage with perfect poise, her posture ramrod straight and her steps measured, her face devoid of any unnecessary expression management.
"This producer is quite interesting," remarked an editor from NetGeneration, flipping through the press kit and skimming Rieko Kodama's bio. "Sega promoted an internal woman to lead their RPG product line. That's a significant signal in today's climate, definitely worth a mention."
"What angle are you planning to write from?" asked a colleague beside him.
"Just focus on the product," he replied, folding the bio page and tucking it into his interview notebook. "If the game itself isn't good, no amount of gender politics will save it. But if the game is solid, her career trajectory alone makes for a compelling story."
Rieko Kodama exited the stage. The lights in the auditorium went completely dark.
The big screen lit up, revealing a blue silhouette of a castle: Disney.
A small desk lamp hopped onto the screen, squashing the letter "I."
Pixar Animation Studios.
A murmur rippled through the audience.
Disney was no stranger to the gaming industry, having licensed countless side-scrolling games. But the name "Pixar" was still unfamiliar to most people.
Only a few journalists who closely followed Silicon Valley knew that it was a computer animation company backed by Steve Jobs.
Yuji Naka stepped onto the stage.
Like the previous producer, he dispensed with lengthy introductions and got straight to the point.
"This is the world's first full-length computer-animated movie, and it will be released simultaneously with our game this year." Yuji Naka delivered his lines in heavily accented English. "What we're doing is bringing the movie into Jupiter."
The big screen lit up again.
Toy Story.
The trailer employed a montage-style editing technique.
It opened with a rendered clip from the Pixar film, showing a cowboy-hatted toy sheriff and a plastic astronaut figure arguing in a room with a colorful carpet. The level of detail was astonishing: the high-gloss plastic shell, the texture of the fabric, and the diffuse reflection of light on the characters' surfaces. Though clearly toy-like, this aesthetic perfectly matched the film's setting.
Without warning, the scene abruptly transitioned into real-time gameplay footage. There was no fade-out, no transition effect.
Woody the cowboy sheriff leaped off the bed, and the camera angle lowered. The ordinary bedroom transformed into a miniature canyon constructed from giant building blocks, books, and lamps.
A reporter from NetGeneration leaned forward in his chair, staring at the watermark in the lower right corner of the screen.
"Real-time rendering."
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