Tag Archives: Famitsu

Yoko Taro’s Comments for 2023 by Famitsu

Posted on by
Reply
NieR series director and scenario writer. Released “Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden” in 2022.
The broadcast of the “NieR:Automata Ver.1.1a” anime will begin January 2023.

Famitsu published their annual New Years comments by various members in and around the gaming industry the other day, so this is my translation of Yoko’s comments:

  • Keyword: Old fart
  • Hopes for 2023: I was sick and practically on my death bed during the first half of 2022. It became routine to miss deadlines at work, and it was only a matter of time before I’d get kicked out of the industry. It’s probably time I hand the baton down to the next generation, and yet I vow to use my remaining time causing trouble for young folks like a real old fart.
  • Recent News: The stage play “Bakuken” I was in charge of the original work and script will be back on the stage at the end of February. If you check it out now, once it becomes a huge hit, you’ll be able to brag, “I knew about it from the very beginning!” (It’s hardly a hit yet, so please come to see it).
  • What things or works of entertainment are you looking forward to in 2023?
    → The death of war and COVID.

This Week’s Issue of Famitsu Magazine Will Feature 48 Pages of NieR Goodness!

Posted on by
Reply

On Monday, April 27, the Weekly Famitsu official Twitter account dropped a teaser for this week’s up-coming issue of Famitsu magazine, which will feature 48 pages worth of NieR related goodness, including interviews with Yoko Taro and Saito Yosuke.

The April 30th issue of Famitsu magazine will include 48 pages of NieR goodness! Both the front and back covers feature illustrations by Koda Kazuma.

Additionally, according to Ryokutya, the issue will discuss these points about the new version of NieR Replicant (my personal comments in red):

  • A considerable amount of work was put into this updated version of the game that it doesn’t really feel like a simple “remaster” but rather something more.
    This was already discussed during the March 29 NieR 10th Anniversary Livestream, in which they said that this will neither be a remaster nor a remake. For more on this, please read here.
  • Since the camera movements are pretty similar during event scenes, the game feels more like a remaster even though we’ve implemented many modifications.
  • All additional elements are brand-new, so we put a lot of effort into them.
  • There were some things in the original game that may have felt a bit clunky or unrefined, so if people thought we ought to update those areas, we wanted to do so. We wanted to be sure that fans of Automata could enjoy playing this as well.
  • Please look forward to hearing the voices of Ishikawa Yui (2B) and Hanae Natsuki (9S). We previously knew this from the March 29 NieR 10th Anniversary Livestream that the three main voice actors of 2B, 9S, and A2 will be returning in the new version of Replicant; however, they they will NOT be reprising their roles from Automata.

Additionally, here are some more Famitsu leaks about NieR Re[in]carnation from another Ryokutya post:

  • The girl in the trailer is NOT Kaine. I thought that was pretty much a given, but people always want to believe what isn’t there…
  • The ghost sort of character floating there is literally called “Mama”. It’s a sort of character that watches over the MC as a mother would.
  • Yoko: There are more than one MC.
    Saito: There are lots of them.
    This suggests to me that we will be seeing the Original Accord here. Please take a look at what we were recently discussing about Accord here. Additional hints were given during the March 29 NieR 10th Anniversary Livestream, which I discussed here.

Famitsu just posted a couple preview images of their article on twitter! Check it out!

Please stay tuned for more news and info regarding this release in the coming days! In the meantime, here are a couple of preview videos for you to enjoy and help you stay up-to-date with all things in the Yokoverse!

There also seems to be a bit of misinformation going around regarding these leaks originally stated by Ryokutya. Like a game of telephone, the information seems to be going through several different journalists, each time losing more and more of the original intent or meaning.

The original leak started with Ryokutya, traveled to Game’s Talk, and then over to Twitter. The thing is, Ryokutya often adds his own personal comment at the end of his posts of leaked information, so for anyone unfamiliar with this, they could misinterpret his personal comments for actual leaked information.

Let’s break this down to eliminate any misunderstanding, starting with Ryokutya’s personal comment (not part of the official Famitsu leaks):

Taura wanted to keep the same action feel of the original (since he was a fan of the original), but Saito, Yoko, and the development company (Toylogic) seem intent on changing the feel considerably.

But if Taura’s going to check on the work, then I guess there’s noooooooooooooo need to worry.

The only thing left to worry about is maybe changes to the somewhat taboo aspects of the game… [Ryokutya]

Then Game’s Talk picked up this bit and wrote it like this:

PlatinumGames’ Taura Takahisa, who worked on the game design for NieR:Automata, will be cooperating on the development by supervising the game’s action.

Taura, a fan of the original game, didn’t want to change the feel of the original, but it is said that Saito, Yoko, and the development company, Toylogic, intend on changing it considerably. [Game’s Talk]

And then other folks on Twitter picked up the information and rolled with it:

https://twitter.com/Nibellion/status/1255436979036213248

https://twitter.com/StormYorha/status/1255253748538060800 (Removed)

The majority of this “new” information is actually a month old, as it was originally announced during the 10-hour NieR 10th Anniversary Livestream on March 29, which I covered here.

I do recall them discussing on the same program that Taura would be “helping” with the new version of Replicant, but exactly how much or what his actual role would be, working with Toylogic, was not discussed.

So, looking at how the information gradually changed the further down the grapevine it got, it’s clear that we need to stick with official sources and to be careful what gets passed around. Even if the overall statement is accurate, the slightest inaccuracy could be passed around and taken at face value.

Edit: April 30

The one line of dialogue that we saw spoken by Mama says, “Wow! Sand is pouring down! What’s going on here?” What’s interesting with this is that Mama clearly uses “feminine” speech. Of course, we don’t know anything about the character to know if Mama is actually a living being, a machine, or what… but this sort of speech is really difficult to get across when it’s translated into English.

Famitsu Special Feature on Yoko Taro – Interview

Posted on by
Reply

The interview with Yoko Taro in the special feature this week covers four pages worth of interesting details about his past and much more! There’s a TON here, so I don’t think I will be translating it word for word but will be making notes about all the interesting things that I come across.

This post will be edited the further I progress into this section (I’ve only read half of it yet), so please expect the info on here to change over time. I’m also getting pretty exhausted right now, so the phrasing here might be rather lackluster. I’ll try to fix this up over the next couple of days. xP

Here we go!

  • First gaming experience was with the Cassette Vision in 1981. The game that impressed him the most was “Gradius” and it was this game that eventually got him interested in entering the gaming industry.
  • Both his mother and father worked, so his grandmother took care of him most of the time. He felt like he was mostly raised by his grandmother. She gave him considerable freedom as long as he studied, so he often could have whatever food he wanted, etc. and his grandmother would do it for him. He got a little chubby around this time in junior high where his grandfather was the principal at his school. He knew his grandmother loved him very much but says that she had the “soul of a demon” and referred to her as a “Spartan”. Apparently, she would tell other teachers in the school to favor her grandkid. She was also extremely overprotective of him, and he thinks that this lead way to the collapse of his personality. (His real-life grandmother sounds a lot like Kali, Kaine’s grandmother…)
  • In junior and senior high school, he didn’t exercise and a strange feeling aimed against those who are good at sports: “Stupid offline ppl!” His grandmother stopped checking to see if he was doing his homework since he entered junior high and so he never did it or studied. His grades plummeted. He even thought that he was becoming a real idiot and still he loved games and anime–they were fun. So, this is how he passed every day in folly.
  • His parents wanted him to join the kendo club at school but he was more interested in the ping pong club that was next door, so he eventually switched clubs. He never aimed to enter the national tournaments, so he merely had fun.
  • In high school, he joined the manga club but was sucked into the art club. He grew to hate the authority of “art”. With a spirit of malice, he thought things like “at some point you guys will be replaced by games and new media.” This is around the point where his flame of hatred is ignited. “The people around me who chastised me like that are bad, aren’t they?”
  • Ever since he graduated from high school, he lost contact with his old friends. He called out three of his friends to contact him at his twitter: Mutou and Ichikawa from Ogidai JH, and Teshima from HS.
  • His father is a cook and owns a small restaurant that has unique set meals every day. He never had anything negative to say about Yoko going into the gaming industry, even though it’s very distant from his own profession.
  • Yoko has a younger sister.
  • He was in the “science” path in high school even though his grades weren’t very good and he knew he wouldn’t be able to go to a science focused college. Since he liked to draw, he thought to aim for an art school and from the summer of his third year in high school he went to an art cram school. Just, he never told his teacher that he wanted to enter the gaming industry since he was embarrassed by it.
  • He wasn’t very good in English, so he looked for a school that didn’t require English, and he decided on Kobe Design University. He also chose this school because they offered a course in CG art, which was a pretty niche course given the technology at the time. He learned some computer programming, video editing, and a bunch of other related things– it was a fun time.
  • He didn’t really play many games during college, though. He has very few memories of the Super Nintendo because of this.
  • He met many of his current friends and business partners at this school in Kobe. Iwasaki Takuya (ILCA) is the same age as Yoko but was one year below him. Okabe Keiichi (MONACA) is one year older than Yoko but because he was learning to be a hair stylist before, he was in the same school year with Iwasaki. Yasui Akira (director of DOD2) was in Yoko’s same graduating class.
  • Yoko went to study in the UK for a year, so his graduation was thusly delayed a year. He had just been dumped by a girl and felt like he couldn’t bear to be in Japan. It was during that time that he saw a recruiting notice about a study abroad program. After he decided on the study abroad program, he still had about a half a year before leaving, and in that time he was again dumped by a girl. He throughly felt like there was nothing left for him in Japan. He thinks even to this day that should he have been even the slightest bit more popular among the girls or if he had more fun in life, he might not have ever entered the gaming industry. He felt some strange darkness pushing him toward the world of making things.

Famitsu Special Feature on Yoko Taro – Questionnaire

Posted on by
Reply

Today was the release of the 8/2 edition (Issue No.1546) of Famitsu magazine featuring a 22-page special on Yoko Taro. There is a massive amount of information in here that will take sometime to get to everything, but here’s a first look at the 2-page questionnaire segment.

What’s your favorite color?
Gray.

What’s your hobby?
Work is my hobby.

Which do you prefer, dubs or subs?
I like them both.

What alcoholic beverages do you like?
I like white wine, beer, and highball.

What food do you like/dislike?
Food I like→ Tenka Ippin, Yoshinoya
Food I dislike→ Bento boxes that have curry flavor pasta salad.

Have any fetishes?
I realized this somewhat recently, but I seem to like female characters that have their eyes closed slightly……

What sports do you like?
I like the 100 meter dash from the first “Track and Field”. I remember the skill that would vibrate a metal ruler when you used it being rather popular.

Had any part-time jobs?
I’ve been a cashier at a supermarket, worked for a moving company, dishwasher at a restaurant, and took photos at various events. It’s refreshing that I wasn’t very good at any of it.

Where did you go on your first date?
Where did I go…… Uh, this question isn’t necessary, is it?

Do you collect anything?
I collect the names of people who have crossed me, and I write them in a notebook. Once I’ve exacted my revenge on them, I cross out their names in black. I look forward to flipping through the pages everyday while having a nice drink.

What is the most fun thing you’ve done recently?
Playing with my nieces. But you know, your uncle~ is an avenger~.

What game are you currently interested in?
UBUSUNA (a shooter by the creator of Ikaruga, Iuchi Hiroshi). ……but not much information has been released about it recently, so I’m a little worried.

What country would you most like to visit?
Alefgard (the country in which Dragon Quest 1-3 take place).

Did you have any nicknames when you were a student?
I didn’t have any particular nickname……maybe because I didn’t have any friends. What a sorry kid I was.

Are you right or left-handed?
I’m right-handed.

What’s your favorite video game genre?
Side-scrolling shooters. I’d really like to make one someday……

What video game genre do you dislike or are bad at?
FPS. The older I get, the more 3D graphics give me motion sickness.

What’s your motto of mottos?
“Everything’s a lie.”

What movie, manga, or whatever else has left an impression on you recently?
The movie “The Greatest Showman“.

Out of all the titles you’ve worked on, which one has left the most impression on you?
I’m really forgetful, so the project I’m currently working on is on my mind the most, but since it’s still in development, I can’t really discuss it here. Sorry.

What would you want to do if you were an android?
I would want to do that pen trick from “Alien 2” but do it super fast.

If you didn’t become a game creator, what other profession would you have chosen?
I would like to do some sort of work that I could enjoy a lot of money through unearned income.

What game would you like to make? (ignoring budget)
Ignoring the budget, I wouldn’t make anything and would simply run away.

What’s your favorite video game character?
I’m getting really tired of answering all these questions…… Um, what were you asking? My favorite character? Hm, let’s see… Can I answer this by saying something like, “There are many characters that I like, so there’s really no way I can answer this~”?

Are you S or M?
If I say S, people would say, “He’s totally an M”, and I wouldn’t be able to wield the flag of either side at any sex appeal events thereafter.

What’s something from your dark history?
One must not speak of their true dark history.

Is there any game creator that you aim to be like or who’s maybe your rival? (this isn’t limited to only game creators)
I respect many creators, but since I don’t think I can ever reach their height, it’s a bit different than having a specific goal. If anything, in order to prevent young people from gaining skills and thus becoming a threat, I try to nip them in the bud as quickly as I can.

What do you think is the most important thing necessary to create video games?
Not deciding on anything.

If any of your products were made into a Hollywood film, who would you want to portray the characters?
Nier→Christopher Lambert in his heyday.
Kaine→Christopher Lambert in his heyday.
Zero→Christopher Lambert in his heyday.
2B→Christopher Lambert in his heyday.
9S→Christopher Lambert in his heyday.
A2→Christopher Lambert in his heyday.
Alice→Christopher Lambert in his heyday.

Do you have any special object that you MUST have in order to do your work?
I like English keyboards. Even the SGI (CG workstation) keyboard I used when I first started out had an English layout, so I’ve gotten used to it. But as I think about it now, maybe my life started taking a wrong turn at that point.

What are you good at cooking?
I heard you’d be popular among women if you say you’re good at cooking Acqua pazza, but is this true? Uh, no… It’s not like I’m good at cooking Acqua pazza or anything…

Looking back at your life, can you identify any points that caused a shift in your life?
I think I drank too much last night…… I’ll be sure to drink lots of water.

What was the biggest shock of your life?
I went to the bathroom….. There’s now a bleeding man who falls to the floor. I take a closer look around… Where am I……? A love hotel? Why am I in a place like this?

What is your idea of a professional?
Now’s not the time to think about that……

Do you have anything to say to Famitsu?
Oh, right. Famitsu…… Yeah, I remember everything now. Famitsu asked me for an interview. The last time I was drinking with Sugihara-san, the editor, and actually got really drunk as we were doing the interview. Then Sugihara asked me some rather sexually harassing questions and he started saying that he’d leak my true identity…that I’m actually……a girl. Then he took me to a hotel room. I picked up a glass object from inside the room and hit him on the head over and over again, eventually killing him. I couldn’t stay there for long; I had to get out of there. Just when I started to get somewhere with this career in the gaming industry; it would all be for nothing…… But, what career is this? What really deserves to be protected? Doesn’t this sound like it’s becoming the plot for a cheap suspense game? Yeah, I will make a game out of this someday. If you play it, you’ll surely understand. Everything written here is the plot of a game, fiction, I haven’t done anything wrong…… But if you don’t see it my way…… I’ll have to kill you. Now, as you’re reading this very sentence, you’ve just……

Credits:

  • Famitsu Magazine Issue No.1546
    • 7/19 (release date)
    • 8/2 (publication date)
  • Translation by Fire Sanctuary