Category Archives: Interviews

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.

YoRHa Musical Ver.1.2 Recap and Exclusive Interviews from the Cast and Crew

Posted on by
Reply

It’s been almost exactly two months since the performances of the YoRHa Musical by now, but I am finally able to share my officially endorsed article and recap of the dress rehearsal, which includes several exclusive interviews from the cast and crew!

Read the Article Here!

As a quick overview, you can find personal comments and interviews from the following members:

  • The Cast
    Ishikawa Yui (No2)
    Takana Reina (No4)
    Mochida Chihira (No16)
    Hanana Mio (No21)
  • The Music Team
    Emi Evans (vocal)
    Goto Takanori (guitar)
    Kawaji Emi (piano)
  • Extended Interview with Tanaka Reina

I may write an afterward eventually detailing my first experience as official press.

“Mecha Ude” Article by Famitsu

Posted on by
2

This is my translation of a recent article from the Famitsu website discussing the fundraiser campaign for a new anime TV series “Mecha Ude” aka “Mechanical Arms” supervised by CC2.

▶︎ Listen to some key people behind the birth of “Mecha Ude” as they discuss why they’ve teamed up with CC2, future development, and more.

Continue reading →

Interview with Yosuke Saito from Taipei Game Show (Corrections)

Posted on by
2

The last post that I made regarding this interview with Yosuke Saito and also Ishikawa Yui was a complete mess that was not entirely my fault. The translation there stemmed from Japanese answers being translated into Chinese (most likely on the fly). I then took that Chinese text, used an online translation page to translate it into Japanese from which I translated once more into English.

Phew! I’m tired just trying to get that straight!

Suffice it to say, a completely Japanese source, Game Watch, has posted this interview in Japanese to help clear up a couple important points that seemed like they came right out of left field. I’ll highlight the most important points.

* * * * * * * * * *

ーThe demo received positive marks in Japan, but what sort of feedback did you get from the players?

Saito: Our goal for the demo was to give players a hands-on experience, to witness firsthand how fluid the action is, and to show them what to expect from the final product. We released a demo because it’s difficult to explain in words what a game will be like—it’s better to show you the game and let you experience it for yourself. I’m extremely pleased with all the positive feedback the demo has been receiving. Even though it is an Action RPG, we really want to save the RPG elements for the final release of the game, things like the story, various forms of level progression, and buying and selling items.

ーYou’re not able to use the lock-on function in Hard or Very Hard. Will this stay the same in the final release?

S: There are many settings at work including the lock-on function, but it won’t be accessible in Hard or Very Hard, unfortunately. For Easy and Normal modes, you can equip a Plug-in chip to turn on this ability, but you are also free to remove it to further personalize your own difficulty level. If you’re not good at action games, you can equip every chip to help you on Easy mode so all you need to do is move the joystick. On Normal, you are also welcome to equip or unequip the lock-on chip as you like. I think the player will be able to customize the game around their own gameplay preferences.

ーWe were able to see a few new weapons in the demo that included background illustrations and corresponding weapon stories. I’m sure there will be many more in the final release of the game. Can we expect to see these illustrations change as you level up your weapon?

S: I can’t say much about this, but… (haha) Even though the background illustrations won’t change as you level up the weapons, the corresponding weapon story will. The weapon itself will also change its appearance.

ーIn the demo, we saw the 3D screen change to a 2D side-scroller. Was there any particular reason you designed stages like that?

S: The previous NieR also implemented similar 2D side-scrolling and top-down views. It’s one of the many things that make a “NieR” gameーa fun action gameーso we wanted to throw in a little homage to retro games and what made them so good. It was all the brainchild of Director Yoko Taro, especially since he loves retro 2D games. Simply put, Platinum Games is handling all aspects of the action, so these stage designs are their way of respecting the previous NieR.

ーThis is a question for Ishikawa-san. Do you have any interesting stories to tell us from your recording sessions?

Ishikawa: Right, I don’t have any funny stories to tell, but when we first began recording, but back then character illustrations were still in development. We had very little to work from. Now we have things like images of 2B and we can actually see how characters robots move, but in the beginning, all we had was a video of real actors performing a particular scene. That was a first for me. It was really interesting to see how that would eventually become part of the actual game.

ーThe ending of the demo was so shocking; how does that connect to the finished game? Or was is purely a separate story only meant for the demo?

S: Hmm… What do you think, Ishikawa-san?

I: You’re passing this to me? (haha) Well, I’ve played the demo and, of course, I know the story, but I thought the ending was a huge cliffhanger.

S: It actually caused a bit of a controversy in Japan. People were wondering things like, “Could this actually be the ending of the game!?” (haha) First of all, it’s not a separate story made specifically for the demo. Although it doesn’t depict the very beginning of the game, it still takes place roughly during the beginning. I hope you look forward to the official release of the game to see the resolution of this cliffhanger!

ーSo, will there be multiple endings this time around?

S: Yes, there will be multiple endings, but exactly how many is a secret.

ーAnother question for Ishikawa-san. Without spoiling anything, can you tell us what do you think of 2B?

I: (hahaha) Okay. First of all, the story itself is shocking in a multitude of ways—I’m really scared I might accidentally blurt something out. 2B isn’t allowed to express emotion, but in small places, here and there, you can see her treating 9S with gentle care. Since she isn’t overly flamboyant, she may be holding back her feelings, although they tend to unintentionally show in the heat of the moment or in slight subtleties of the heart. I recorded so many lines while thinking how it would be nice if she could express how she really feels.

S: I won’t spoil anything, but listening to you just now almost made me cry. (haha)

I: The release can’t come sooner! I want to get rid of this antsy feelingーlike I MUST play this game right now!!

ーPS4 Pro Support?

S: We talked about this with Platinum Games, and of course you can play おn a 4K TV, but when 4K is actually supported, it spoils the 60fps action. At any rate, when we set our minds on it, we were able to make it work. We entirely intend to preserve Full HD 4K/60fps so you can get every ounce out of NieR:Automata. We’re very particular with the motion blur, shadows, and other fine details. After that, we need to maintain the overall performance stability, I suppose. For example, the action cannot lag when a ton of enemies appear on screen.

ーIn your demonstration, when you ran from place to place, we got a feel for how big the stages will be. Will we be mostly walking or running between locations?

S: You can also fly in the sky and ride on animals. In the presentation, we literally ran through some of those areas because half of it is filled with story elements. Just past where we stopped at the front gates of the Amusement Park, it opens up to an entirely new area for you to explore. I hope we were able to tease that a little for you!

ーBefore the presentation began, we saw multiple characters in a trailer. How many playable characters will there be?

S: So far, we’ve only stated that 2B and 9S will be playable. There’s also A2, but whether she’s playable or not is a secret, so look forward to that reveal! Maybe she won’t be a playable character. (haha)

ーIs this game somehow connected to the previous NieR title? Does it have anything to do with Drakengard?

S: I could talk all night about how things are connected, but to answer you briefly, there is no need to play any of the previous games to enjoy Automata’s multiple endings. Simply, if you have played them, I think you’ll really get a kick out of seeing Emil again. As it turns out, though, Hanae-kun (voice of 9S) went back and played them ALL again to refresh his memory. (haha)

ーNow that you mention Hanae-san, didn’t he manage to clear Very Hard?!      Can you share anything more about that?

S: Yeah, he wrote to me on LINE and said, “I’m at the last boss now, but I have to work in the morning, so I need to sleep.” I wrote back and told him, “Go to bed!” About an hour later, I saw he wrote on Twitter that he beat Very Hard. I tried to tell him that he should sleep since he had to appear on the “Oha Suta” TV program the following morning. (haha)

Source: Game Watch

Interview from Taipei Game Show 2017!

Posted on by
7

According to an interview by A9VG, we’ve learned a couple new things regarding the game and what’s in store for us…

Please note that I’m going from a very round-about way to translate this. I know *nothing* of Chinese but I do understand Japanese. I used an online translation site to first translate this into Japanese and then I attempted to translate that into English. ^^;

First of all, the Chinese version of the game has been confirmed for this spring.

—Will there be any changes from the demo leading into the actual release of the game?
Saito: We released the demo version with the intention of gaining some important feedback from players. The main purpose was to allow players to experience the action part of the game and let them tell us what they thought.

—In the Hard and Very Hard modes, the player is not able to use the lock-on function. Will this still be true for the official release of the game?
Saito: Yes, the lock-on function is not accessible in the harder difficulty levels, but in Normal and Easy modes, the player can select whether or not they want to use this function.

—In the demo, we’re only able to explore the area on foot. Will there be other modes of transportation in the official release?
Saito: In the official version there will be aerial vehicles and also animals that you can ride on.

—In the demo, we could see that weapons have their own stories with illustrations. Will the official release have more of this, additional illustrations, for example?
Saito: As you level up your weapons, you can gradually unlock additional portions of the Weapon Stories. The background image that’s used for the Weapon Stories won’t change, but the actual appearance of the weapons will.

—Ishikawa-san, do you have any interesting stories for us?
Ishikawa: Perhaps when I started working on this game. At the time, even the character designs were not yet complete. Since the dubbing was done along with the development of the game, I could really get an inside look on its production.

—What significance does the content in the demo have to do with the official release?
Saito: In Japan, it was discussed whether or not the demo depicted the ending of the game. We can reveal here that what you see in the demo occurs roughly at the half-way point of the game. We selected that part so you can get a nice chunk of the game to experience. The story in the demo is not an independent story from the rest of the game.

—Ishikawa-san, how do you feel about your role as 2B?
Ishikawa: There are so many emotional moments in the story. As for 2B, she isn’t allowed to express her own feelings. Although she doesn’t sound like it, I think she’s a really gentle person. She’s also very concerned about 9S.

—What can we expect from the PRO?
Saito: We initially discussed using 4K with the PRO, but as an action game, we needed to be sure we had at least 1080p/60fps. So, the movement in the PRO version should feel more fluid with better lighting and shadows.

—How many different characters can we expect to play?
Saito: Right now we can confirm that 2B and 9S will be playable.

—We know there’s a connection between NieR and the Drakengard series. Should people play the previous games to prepare for this one?
Saito: There is a connection between them all, but there’s absolutely no problem if you haven’t played them. Simply, if you are familiar with the other titles, you may notice some interesting things. For example, the voice actor for 9S, Hanae-san, has played all of the previous games.

Source: A9VG

* * * * * * * * * *

According to other Japanese-Chinese translations, not just mine, it appears as though the events that we see in the demo may not actually take place at the *beginning* of the game, but rather a bit further in. It’s described as the “mid-way” point or half-way through the game, but the DOD/NieR series always use multiple playthroughs… so perhaps this could be towards the end of the first run through, “Branch A”.

There are several points that create confusion with this statement, one is my own translation of some of the storyboards and scripts from the Character Introduction video that was originally shown at the NieR Music Concert & Talk Live. Plus, it appears as though 2B and 9S had never met–so would that mean that 2B is alone for the whole first playthrough? Or perhaps there’s an entirely different story gimmick in play that we have no clue about yet?

We don’t have much to go on here, so it may be better to give our brains a rest and just wait until the game is finally released. We’ve only got a month left to go here in Japan… <3