Title: Firefighter’s Proof II: Ring of Blaze/Blaze Squad II: Ring of Fire
Developer: Zukaya Development Team No. 3
Publisher: Zukaya Games (JP), Zukaya Games USA (NA), Clairesin (EU)
System: Phonos FunSystem
Release Date:
JP: September 2, 2000
NA: March 31, 2001
EU: January 12, 2002

Hayao Nakamura’s contract with Zukaya to produce a tactical role-playing RPG to rival the Ice Sigil series he had once worked on was not the smash success either had hoped for. While Nakamura’s pacifist tactical game had sold reasonably well, it had not been a monster hit, and Zukaya was keen to follow it up with something more traditional. Nakamura refused, insisting that he needed to stick to his original vision. Eventually, the two worked out a compromise that would see Firefighter’s Proof II: Ring of Blaze (Blaze Squad II: Ring of Fire in the USA and PAL) released two years later.

Zukaya was able to convince Nakamura that evil spirits and yokai were not a violation of his pacifism, so long as they were otherworldly demons and not the restless spirits of the deceased. As such, Firefighter’s Proof II retconned the events of the first game as the machinations of the Fire Count, a malevolent being from a dormant volcano that wished to reduce the world to ash. In addition to the different types of fire from the first game, a variety of fiery demons were introduced as well, requiring new weapons and strategies to defeat.

The new game toned down many of the sim management features of the first in favor of more focus on a smaller group of core characters, most of them veterans of the firehouse from the first game transferred and promoted to the larger provincial city of Ezodo.

Rather than being penalized for failing to fight fires well, Firefighter’s Proof II rewarded players for fighting well with bonus fire points, or FP. These could, in turn, be used to upgrade the firehouse, various vehicles, and character weapons, while the characters themselves gained traditional experience points.

While Nakamura was disappointed in the game’s plot, which he felt was tropey and insincere, he found its focus on defeating fire demons increasingly troubling as violence and murder adjacent, and insisted on having Zukaya insert several passages in the game and in the manual clarifying that the demons were banished, not destroyed. Despite this, his collaborators at Zukaya took on an increased share of the development and the game was completed on time and under budget. It was a success, doubling the sales of its predecessor and becoming a fan-favorite entry in the series for both Japanese and international fans. For his part Nakamura’s involvement would gradually decline over subsequent sequels until he eventually left Zukaya altogether.

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