關於 language challenge game ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

[What happens to network effects when they cross the border?]

It often seems that startups with solid network effects are nearly unstoppable. When a network reaches critical mass, it seems like an inevitability that the company will dominate as the ever-increasing value it provides is recognized by more and more users.

What happens when the company, growing exponentially, decides to dive into another market? In many cases, the market entry is not met with a big splash, but a small drop. The company receives no credit in the new market for their valuable network at home. Many startups acknowledge that they need to build up a local network, but they differ their approach in the new market. They attempt to build up the new network by simply creating awareness and throwing marketing dollars at the network. This differs from their original home market approach, where they identified a core group of users and focused on building out the network for this group.

But often, there’s no shortcut and the network often needs to be built up from scratch. Yes, the startup does have some advantages with product development and takes a lot of learnings to the new market, but the approach should not be to stand on the shoulders of the home market. They should build it up the old-fashioned way.

Not all network effects are created equal here. In forums, a network where content is key, the language will play a key role in how portable the network effect is. A Taiwan-based forum, with content in Chinese, will have an easier time expanding into Hong Kong than Japan. Unlike a Hong Kong user, a Japanese user will see nothing of value, so the company could focus on building up the Japanese network from scratch by starting out with one small, core group.

Airbnb, initially focused on the US, easily found hosts internationally who were eager to serve traveling Americans. As hosts came onto the platform in international markets, domestic travelers in those markets followed.

Clubhouse, of course, was able to simultaneously enter many markets by offering must-hear content like Elon Musk grilling Robinhood villain Vlad Tenev, which had global appeal, to their platform and maxing out FOMO. Long after Musk and other stars made their appearances, mere mortal users still remain to chat amongst themselves.

Facebook, initially full of English content and Americans, faced an uphill challenge to onboard networks in non-English speaking countries and foreign countries. The arrival of FarmVille, a game that spoke to users of every language, pulled new users onto the platform. Before long, there were plenty of non-English speaking friends on Facebook.

When network effects travel across the border, your mileage may vary. Some startups will have a much better time replicating their success in new markets. Others will find success only by being innovative or carefully selecting markets. And others still will find no shortcuts and methodically build from scratch. Which one are you?

🙏
永遠懷念

1. What people see on court is another side of me; it’s not me.
人們在球場上看到的我是另一個我，那不是我本人。

2. One thing you gotta know about me is I have absolutely no filter. I have no problem saying what the hell I think of someone.
關於我，你必須要知道的是我非常直接。我從來不怕把我對某人最真實的想法全部說出來

3. The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.
最重要的事就是去努力嘗試與激勵大家，使他們能夠在想做的事上大放異彩。

4. I focus on one thing and one thing only – that’s trying to win as many championships as I can.
我專注於一件事，而且只有這件事 –那就是盡我所能地贏到越多冠軍。

5. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. No matter what the injury – unless it’s completely debilitating – I’m going to be the same player I’ve always been. I’ll figure it out. I’ll make some tweaks, some changes, but I’m still coming.
我就在這，哪兒也不去，不管受了什麼傷 — 除非我完全衰弱 — 我還是會一直是像以前一樣的球員。我會看著辦，我會做出一些調整、一些改變，但我還是來了。

6. I have self-doubt. I have insecurity. I have fear of failure. I have nights when I show up at the arena and I’m like, “My back hurts, my feet hurt, my knees hurt. I don’t have it. I just want to chill.” We all have self-doubt. You don’t deny it, but you also don’t capitulate to it. You embrace it.
我會懷疑自己，我會缺乏安全感，我會恐懼失敗。我會在那幾個夜晚，在我喜歡的球場上現身時，想著「我的背很痛，我的腳受傷，我的膝蓋受傷。我沒有辦法了，我只想放鬆。」我們都曾自我懷疑，你不需要否認它，但你也不能夠向它屈服。你要做的是去擁抱它。

7. I’m playing against great players, playing against the best in the world. The competition – that’s what I’ve always wanted.
我正在跟偉大的球員們打球，和世界上最好的球員們競爭。這比賽 — 就是我一直想要的。

8. I’ve played with a broken hand, a sprained ankle, a torn shoulder, a fractured tooth, a severed lip, and a knee the size of a softball. I don’t miss 15 games because of a toe injury that everybody knows wasn’t that serious in the first place.
我打球曾經打到手斷、腳踝扭傷、肩膀脫臼、牙齒碎掉、嘴唇裂開、膝蓋腫成一個壘球大小。我不想因為腳趾受傷錯過15場比賽，因為大家都知道腳趾受傷並不嚴重。

9. The topic of leadership is a touchy one. A lot of leaders fail because they don’t have the bravery to touch that nerve or strike that chord. Throughout my years, I haven’t had that fear.
領導這件事是一個敏感的話題。很多領導者失敗，因為他們沒有足夠的勇氣去打破現狀、振奮人心。在我的生涯中，我從沒有這種擔憂。

10. I can’t relate to lazy people. We don’t speak the same language. I don’t understand you. I don’t want to understand you.
我無法了解懶惰的人，因為我們說的是不同的語言。我不了解懶惰的人，我也不想去了解。

11. I don’t want to be the next Michael Jordan, I only want to be Kobe Bryant.
我不想當下一個麥可喬丹，我只想當科比布萊恩。

12. I’m chasing perfection.
我追求完美。

13. Can I jump over two or three guys like I used to? No. Am I as fast as I used to be? No, but I still have the fundamentals and smarts. That’s what enables me to still be a dominant player. As a kid growing up, I never skipped steps. I always worked on fundamentals because I know athleticism is fleeting.
我還能像以前一樣跳躍時跳過兩三個人嗎？不，我不行。我還能像我以前跑得一樣快嗎？不，我不行。但我還保有我的基本功跟打球的智慧，這也是讓我能一直成為主要球員的原因。成長過程中，我從來沒有跳過任何一個步驟，一直按部就班，因為我知道，運動員的生涯是短暫的。

14. I’ll do whatever it takes to win games, whether it’s sitting on a bench waving a towel, handing a cup of water to a teammate, or hitting the game-winning shot.
我願意做任何能夠贏得比賽的事，即使只是坐在板凳上擰毛巾、遞茶水給隊員，或投出致勝一球。

15. Magic has five championships. I have five championships. I’m pretty sure we both know what we’re doing.
魔術強森有五個冠軍。我也有五個冠軍。我敢肯定，我們都知道我們在做什麼。

16. I draw from the crowd a lot.
我從人群學習、得到很多借鏡。

17. I love going one-on-one with someone. That’s what I do. I’ve never lost. It’s a whole different game, just to have them right in front of you and be able to do whatever you want.
我喜歡和某個人一對一，那正是我擅長的，我從來沒輸過。這是一個截然不同的比賽，只是要讓他們走在你前面然後你就可以做任何你想做的事。

18. I’m extremely willful to win, and I respond to challenges. Scoring titles and stuff like that… it sounds, well, I don’t care how it sounds – to me, scoring comes easy. It’s not a challenge to me to win the scoring title, because I know I can.
我非常恣意的贏了，回應了那些挑戰。得分王之類的頭銜……它們聽起來好像，嗯，我不在乎它們聽起來怎樣 — 對我來說，得分並不難。贏得得分王的頭銜對我來說並不算是個挑戰，因為我知道我可以。

19. Everything negative — pressure, challenges — is all an opportunity for me to rise.
每件負面的事 – 壓力、挑戰 – 都是一個讓我提升的機會。

20. These young guys are playing checkers. I’m out there playing chess.
當其他年輕人都在下西洋跳棋時，我已在下西洋象棋了。

21. My parents are my backbone. Still are. They’re the only group that will support you if you score zero or you score 40.
我的父母是我的支柱，現在仍然如此。無論你得的分數是多少，他們都會支持你。

22. If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail.
如果你害怕失敗，那你很有可能會失敗。

23. The most important thing is you must put everybody on notice that you’re here and you are for real. I’m not a player that is just going to come and go. I’m not a player that is going to make an All-Star team one time, two times. I’m here to be an all-time great. Once I made that commitment and said, ‘I want to be one of the greatest ever’, then the game became everything for me.
最重要的是，你必須讓身邊每一個人知道你是玩真的。我不是一個只是在這裡來來去去的球員，我不是一個只會入選全明星賽一兩次而已的球員，我來這裡，是要成為一個能夠跨時代的偉大球星，一旦我做了承諾，說「我想成為有史以來最偉大的」，那麼這場比賽就成為了我的一切。

24. There’s a choice that we have to make as people, as individuals. If you want to be great at something, there’s a choice you have to make. We all can be masters at our craft, but you have to make a choice. What I mean by that is, there are inherent sacrifices that come along with that. Family time, hanging out with friends, being a great friend, being a great son, nephew, whatever the case may be. There are sacrifices that come along with making that decision.
人生中有很多我們要選擇的事。如果你想精通某件事情，你必須做出一個選擇。我們都可以在我們的領域成為大師，但你必須做出選擇。我的意思是每一個我們的決定都會伴隨著犧牲。和家人相處、和朋友出去玩，身為一個好朋友，一個好兒子、侄子，依據情況而定。這些決定都會伴隨著其他事情的犧牲。

25. Are you willing to push the right buttons even if it means being perceived as the villain? … I’d rather be perceived as a winner than a good teammate. I wish they both went hand in hand all the time but that’s just not reality. … I have nothing in common with lazy people who blame others for their lack of success.
即使會被眾人當成惡棍，你還會做對的決定嗎?….我寧願被認為是一個贏家而非一個好隊友。我希望能同時兼顧兩者，但是這是不實際的…. 我和那些懶惰的人 ─ 那些只會將自己沒有成功的原因怪罪於他人的人─ 並沒有任何共同點。

"橫尾先生你傾向於在你的遊戲中有個悲傷的結局（除了《尼爾 自動人形》），這是為什麼呢？

橫尾：我想啊，玩家在遊戲中的旅程中殺了那麼多的敵人，但自己卻迎來了一個Happy Ending，這很奇怪，所以我之前遊戲的主角都有著不幸的結局，我覺得對他們來說有個Happy Ending是不對的。

不過對《尼爾 自動人形》來說，對2B和9S來說，從被給予生命，他們殺了很多人，但也被自己殺了很多，很多次，有著無數次的輪迴。我認為這已經把他們殺死敵人的罪給贖了，幸福結局對他們兩個來說更合適一些。"

【尼爾：自動人形】是好遊戲，2B很可愛～

Talking To Yoko Taro, PlatinumGames' Takahisa Taura, And Composer Keiichi Okabe About Life, Death, And Opportunity

This interview with《Nier: Automata》director Yoko Taro and PlatinumGames' designer Takahisa Taura was first conducted in March of this year. Square Enix then offered gameinformer another chance to talk with Taro again, this time with Keiichi Okabe to speak more about the game's creation, music, and design philosophies and we are taking this opportunity to combine both until-now unpublished interviews together.

At the start of the first interview, Taro Yoko, whose pen name is appropriately Yoko Taro, was surprisingly quiet. He took a gulp from a bottle of Diet Pepsi and looked me straight in the eye to say something. I myself looked to the translator, who laughed at whatever Yoko said. She began "Yoko-san wants you to write about how expensive the food and drinks are here, if you can. He says it's way too much."

[The following interview contains some spoilers for Nier: Automata, including the game's final ending.]

With Nier: Automata, you guys won a Game Developer Conference award. How do you feel about that?

Yoko: We heard it was a user's choice award where the players themselves select the winners, so I'm just really happy that the players have selected our game for winning the award.

How did PlatinumGames and Yoko-san first meet on Nier? Why did you decide on that project versus something like another Drakengard or a new IP as a whole?

Taura: I loved the previous Nier title, I was actually went to Square Enix saying "Please let us create a Nier sequel, because you haven't done anything with it for a long time." At the same time, there was coincidentally Saito-san, the producer for Nier: Automata, talking with Yoko-san that they wanted to do something together. It just so happened that it was the right time, right place and we met for the first time when we started this project.

When you started working on the Automata, did you know what it was going to be? Did you have an idea in your head of what a Nier sequel would look like after the first game?

Yoko: Not at all, I had no ideas for a sequel in mind. When I first heard that we might do a collaboration with PlatinumGames, the image I had of them is that they only create Sci-Fi action games. When I thought of that, I thought of what part of the Nier storyline might fit in with that Sci-Fi action gaming sequence, I selected the themes for Automata because I felt it just fits in with the PlatinumGames style.

PlatinumGames has a reputation for fast, often-challenging action games, but Nier: Automata is a lot easier. Was that intentional to keep it closer to the first Nier or perhaps a consequence of trying to make PlatinumGames action more mainstream?

Taura: That's actually exactly the reason why. Saito-san from Square Enix told us when the project started that, since the original Nier has a lot of female fans and a lot of non-action gamer fans, to make the game as fun and accessible as possible to people who aren't accustomed to playing difficult action games. We always thought of making the game into something that's fun to play for newcomers to the action game field, but also to the more experienced players as well.

One of the usual tropes of PlatinumGames is that, as the game goes on, it tends to escalate more and more to an explosive finale. Nier: Automata kind of messes with that formula a little bit by Ending A being a little bit more subdued and low-key and then goes up again and again until it finishes with endings D and E. Is that something you had to work with Yoko-san about, where the escalation and pacing would best fit the gameplay?

Taura: In terms of like a climax or increasing the difficulty level toward the end, it's not that different from our other titles, or at least we didn't feel like it was that different. The one major difference was that this was the first game that I've at least worked that had the leveling up element in it. So as long as you level up your character, the boss would be easier to defeat, but if you don't, then some of the enemies toward the end of the game would be very difficult. For me, the balancing between the difficulty level of stages and bosses versus the levels the player might be was the difficult part in creating this game.

One thing that we really had it easy with in this game is that Yoko-san's scenario and Okabe-san's music, once it's mixed into the battle, makes a really menial and indifferent battle sequence suddenly becomes this dramatic and grandiose battle with everything at stake, so I felt like that really helped elevate our battle sequences as well. We did have an easy time thanks to that!

With Automata, you started appearing at press conferences and as part of the marketing of the game, whereas previously you never did that. When you appear in public, you have been wearing a mask of Emil from the first Nier title. Why Emil specifically?

Yoko: Hmm. One of the answers I can give is that, and I do have a little more that I want to elaborate on, is that for one Emil in the previous title is just a strong character on its own, so it's more like an iconic image or character for Nier as a series. Another part of the answer is that Emil actually holds a great secret of the part of the Nier world and it's not all revealed with the games I've created so far. I'm not sure if I'll have an opportunity to disclose that secret, but if I do, I might one day create a game that delves more into why it's Emil and why I continue to wear Emil's mask.

I don't know if either of you can speak to this, but the trailers for Nier: Automata were a little misleading. They showed A2, who you play as late in the game, but with short hair, so she looked like 2B. Was that something you decided, to show those scenes but not make it clear who it was?

Yoko: There were trailers like that?

There was one specifically showing A2 fighting Hegel like that.

Yoko: Ahh, yeah. There's no reason! We weren't trying to hide A2 or mislead anyone, it just happened to work out that way.

Taura: We made so many trailers at some point we kind of didn't care what we showed.

Oh, wow, that's going to shock a lot of fans in the Nier community. People really believed in the theory that you were hiding A2 in plain sight the marketing.

Yoko: Haha, but it might not be the correct answer. Like Taura-san said, we made so many trailers that we can't remember them all, so I'm definitely happy to take the credit without remembering why.

Taura: Yeah, let's say we intentionally did that. For the fans. It might be true.

Yoko: But I can say, in one of the trailers is A2 fighting one of the Engels, one of the big robots. She actually has long hair in the trailer, but in the actual game, it's after she cut her, so she would have had shorter hair. That one was actually intentional, because we did not reveal before the game that A2 would cut her hair, so we actually made a scene specifically with long-haired A2 to take that trailer. So that's that shot was kind of a lie.

In the Automata DLC, the CEO of Square Enix Yosuke Matsuda, as well as PlatinumGames boss Kenichi Sato, are boss fights. Where did that idea come from and how did you get them to approve it? How did they react when you asked them?

Yoko: Haha, oh yeah.

Taura: The development team went to Square Enix and said "Please let us use him in our game!" Their reaction was initially saying "Uhm, are you sure you want to?"

We were thinking for a while of what we could do with the DLC, because we didn't have a lot of time to develop it, so we wanted to do something fun with it. When we were thinking about it, we saw that Final Fantasy XV used a character model of president Matsuda in one of their marketing assets. When Yoko-san saw that, he reached out and asked if maybe we could use that in the game at Platinum. We said that, if we get the character models, we could definitely use them for something in the game. We reached out to Square Enix and they gave us the model and we were able to use that character model for a boss fight.

If it was just that you were able to fight the CEO of Square Enix, then it would have just been the same as what Final Fantasy XV did, so we had to think of ways to spice that up even more. So we had PlatinumGames' CEO Sato-san appear in the fight as well. We also included background music that arranged their voices, we included their voices in the music, just to add a little bit more and beat out Final Fantasy XV. That BGM track is Matsuda-san and Sato-san's debut single. We didn't even get permission from them, so it's an unofficial debut single, and those are much rarer.

Speaking of crossovers, did you know that Nier fans have been trying get Katsuhiro Harada of Bandai Namco to put 2B in Tekken? Is that something you guys would want to do? [Note: This interview was conducted before 2B was announced as a Soulcalibur guest character.]

Yoko: For us, if we were asked, we would gladly say yes to anything for money. We're open to any kind of opportunities for anything, ever. Even if it's Candy Crush, if they want to use 2B, we will say yes, please go ahead and use her.

Actually, speaking of doing anything for money, you've never created a direct story sequel before, they've all been loosely tied together and many years apart. Saito-san has already said there will be another Nier game, if the characters are popular enough, would you create a direct sequel to Automata or would you change the characters and location again?

Yoko: I haven't thought about it once! Taura-san, where would you want to create a new game?

Taura: Actually, when I brought my concept document to Square Enix about a Nier sequel, I wanted to write a story about that prologue portion in the first Nier game. You know the beginning of the game, where you're kind of in Tokyo, in an area that's more modern? I kind of want to delve into that storyline a little bit more. So if I'm allowed to create a new Nier title, that's what I want to create. But that's just me speaking as a fan of the series, so I don't think that will actually happen officially.

Yoko: When I actually heard about that idea from Taura-san when we first started this project, I felt that it would be very difficult to make a modern recreation of Tokyo because it's the city that we constantly see every day. You just notice differences in the lies that we put in there, so I felt it would be very difficult to do to recreate a city that we know and see so much. But now that I know that PlatinumGames is such a good studio that they most likely will have that power and talent to be able to create that kind of video game world, I think that might be an option. Whether or not we'll do that is a different question, but it is a viable option.

One of the things you said before the release of Drakengard 3 was that you wanted to call it Drakengard 4 and just let people figure out what the theoretical Drakengard 3 was supposed to be. That's similar to what you did with Automata where the game takes place 10,000 years after Nier and people who played the first game were more confused than new players. Was that an intentional idea or something you've wanted to do for a while?

Yoko: It's not that I brought over that idea to Nier: Automata, the greatest reasoning why I did this is because I wanted players who haven't played the original title to enjoy Nier: Automata so you can enjoy the game without knowing anything about the previous game. That's the biggest reason why we took a storyline that's so far in the future that it really didn't have anything to do with the previous title.

A common through-line for Yoko-san's games is flowers: the lunar tear in the Nier series, the flower in Zero's eye in Drakengard 3, is that symbolizing anything in your games or is it just visual imagery you like?

Yoko: Well, I do like flowers in general, but yes, there is a greater meaning to it that I have with these flowers. It's the same as Emil like I talked about earlier, I just haven't revealed it anywhere. There is a meaning, which is why they keep on coming back in my games, but I haven't revealed it anywhere yet.

With the last Nier game, you had said that you built the game on the concept of people being okay with murdering people who are different. With Nier: Automata, the games actually became more fun to play and control and touch, do you think there's a danger in giving people that sense of ease in killing enemies in the narrative?

Yoko: In the previous title, I actually feel like I overdid that a bit. I did want to portray that enemies have a reason to live and a reason to fight on their own as well, but I feel like I forced that idea that I had in my mind a little bit too much on the players. So for Nier: Automata, I did not want to focus on it, I didn't want to impose my feelings and thoughts. I actually feel that it's fine if some people feel it's fun to kill in our games. If that's all that they feel from the game, then it's fine, because its their freedom to feel what they want from the game. To answer your question, I think that it's fine to have that happen.

Taura: I actually have the same answer, too. I feel like if it's fun to fight, that's great as a game designer. But if you feel bad to kill these cute little robots, that's fine with me as well. I feel like different people will have different reactions to the game and they will feel differently when they play the game, so I'm actually happy to create a game that creates those kind of differences within the players as well.

Yoko: That's a really good question for us, because if players felt that it was way too fun to kill these enemies that it started making them feel guilty, that's something we didn't really aim to do. Just as we mentioned earlier, I'm really happy that players were able to take it on their own and experience it on their own, then we didn't just provide something for people to take it as-is on face value. I feel like it's great that the players are now taking the game and experiencing it on their own and trying to figure things out on their own.

There was a time after 2B was revealed that people were asking you about her design on Twitter and you answered that you just like sexy ladies. That quote has become pretty famous and attached to you and a lot of people are reading into it. Is that a thing you still believe, would you ever take the quote back, or would you have ever changed 2B's design?

Yoko: [laughs] Don't straight men like cute girls? Isn't that common knowledge? I didn't realize that was a quote.

A lot of people use you as an example as a developer that just says what is on their mind.

Yoko: Before we released the game, on Twitter, because so many people were sending me 2B fan art, I said that "Send me a zip file of all your erotic fan art!" When I tweeted that out, my number of Twitter followers jump from 20,000 to 60,000 just with that one Tweet. I actually think it's because I did something that's more of a taboo in the western world where I talked about sexuality or gender that openly on Twitter, but that's actually...so, I do know that what I said did not just creative positive buzz and there's some negative buzz around it as well, but I feel like it kind of has to do with the Japanese culture where we're not too strict about gender and sexuality and being more open about talking about those things.

I think it's the same thing as reading manga as an adult, it's a little bit different when you think about it because in Japan that's more common, it's not considered something weird or something outlandish. With that kind of feedback that I get from fans, I just feel like it's the difference in culture between Japan and the rest of the world.

That is something you tend to tackle fairly often. Drakengard 3 was partly about sex and sexuality treated casually within the game's universe, is that something you feel doesn't translate across all regions?

Yoko: I actually don't think [translating across regions] has a lot to do with sexuality. I don't think it would have sold more copies of Drakengard 3 if I took away aspects of sexuality or added more in there. I feel that Nier: Automata sold well because we worked with PlatinumGames, so I don't think that has anything to do with a sexual nature.

For the original Nier, there was a lot of information on the periphery of the game like books with background information and short stories that answer questions raised in the game. Automata even had a stage play predating the game. Do you think it's harder for western fans to grasp the whole stories of these games when there's Japanese-exclusive media about it expanding the lore?

Yoko: Of course we can't localize everything because we have limitations in budget, so it's really difficult to do all of that, but I actually think there really isn't a need to know everything, either. The meaning I have behind Emil's mask or the flowers you asked about, like I said it's not revealed in the game at all or anywhere else yet, but no one really needs to know that to enjoy the game or enjoy the world or enjoy the game. More than gaining knowledge, I want players to cherish the experience they have when playing the game. It's more about that instead of the knowledge they could have for every question. Of course the theatrical stage play was more of like a YoRHa spinoff, but you don't need to know that to enjoy the game. Every piece, like the books and the stage play, is made in a way so that you can enjoy it by yourself, so you don't need that extra knowledge to enjoy it.

It may add a little bit depth to the knowledge that you have, but you don't necessarily need to have it. I do understand the otaku mentality that you want to know everything, you want to have everything answered, you want to collect everything, but I don't see the value in knowing everything. For example, just in real life, you might not know everything about the politics that surrounds the world or even in your own country, and there's really no point in knowing everything that happens in the world. Maybe a lot things, but not everything, right? What's more important is how you interact with people around you, immediately around you, and I think that's the same with video games. You don't really need to know everything that happens in the world to enjoy it.

Of course I do respect the freedom that the players feel as well, so if you do get mad that we can't localize everything in America, or America never gets everything, that's also something to be respected and I do understand the frustrations surrounding that as well.

When Nier: Automata released, it did so in a three-month timeframe that several other big Japanese games came out in the U.S., like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Yakuza 0. A lot of people started heralding those games as a return of Japanese development in the west. What do you think about going from fairly niche games to what some people consider the tip of the spear of modern Japanese development?

Yoko: First and foremost, just to speak about having so many good titles in that timeframe, my thought was "Are you people trying to kill me with this?!" In Japan, Horizon came out first, then it was Nier, then Zelda, and I think in the west, it was Horizon, Zelda, then Nier in North America. So we're literally sandwiched between those two with a two-week window in between each and they were all very similar to us in the futuristic setting. Especially for Zelda, it was one of the titles we copied in the first place, so I really felt like they were trying to kill us at the time.

Personally, not even thinking about Nier: Automata during that time frame, I was running around excited about all the fun-looking games coming as a gamer myself.

Hideki Kamiya [PlatinumGames] has once said that Nier: Automata saved Platinum. Is that something you agree with and how has the relationship been between PlatinumGames and Square Enix?

Yoko: Speaking from my perspective, of course Taura-san will likely know more about it internally at PlatinumGames...Kamiya-san, he's very laid back on Twitter, but when you actually really talk to him, he's a very serious person and very sincere. I guess Nier: Automata did generate sales for them, because I received a direct letter of gratitude from him saying "Thank you very much for creating a great game." I don't even know if we saved them or not in that sense, but just receiving that kind of message from was just very heartwarming and I was just really happy that I was able to provide such a game for them.

Taura: You could make the headline of your article "Yoko Taro Saved PlatinumGames" and that's definitely true.

Yoko: It's a very true headline.

Why do both of you think that Nier: Automata was more successful than Yoko-san's previous games or most other PlatinumGames titles?

Taura: Mainly because PlatinumGames' sensibilities were much better than Yoko Taro's.

Yoko: I actually think it's the Square Enix brand, the name Square Enix gives a more reliable feeling to an otaku type of title. PlatinumGames' strong name being known for making really good action games and I think the combination of the two really helped. This time with Nier: Automata, we sold about 2.5 million copies and the previous title we sold around 500,000. For the last game, we weren't really in the red, but it wasn't exactly a success either. We have these passionate fans that really supported the time from announcement and the series as a whole. Of course for Automata, too, we had a very passionate fan base including the media and including yourself that gave impressions and articles that helped make the game into a success, so I'm just really grateful for the fans and media alike that really supported the title and were passionate about it.

[The remainder of this interview took place a few weeks later with Taro Yoko and Nier: Automata composer Keiichi Okabe. Okabe is also known for his work on both Nier titles, Drakengard 3, Tekken, and contributing some tracks to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Before we started recording, Yoko said it will be okay if I asked Okabe most of the questions and I remarked that I wouldn’t want to make him jealous. He paused for a moment and then said it doesn’t matter because he would get paid either way.]

You two have been working together for a long time, I was curious how much the music composition is tied in with the writing. One of the city themes in Nier: Automata uses similar composition to a track in Nier. Does that come from the writing or the musical identity of the series?

Okabe: Since Yoko-san is I feel the type of person that doesn't want to do the same thing over and over again, even if he did receive praise for what he did previously, I kept that in mind while I was composing music for Nier: Automata. I also wanted to have some kind of connection that you would feel as a player between the previous title and this one, so I used similar tones from previous titles or from the previous game. It might not be exactly the same, but I used some similar types of music lines from the previous title so that you might feel that kind of connection.

But we do have tracks that are arrangements of previous tracks from older titles, but that was mostly for fan service.

I kind of wanted to drill down a little bit this time and get to the core of your philosophy of why and how you make games. If you had to pick a reason to hold up and say "This is why I make video games," what would that be?

Yoko: I feel that video games, amongst all the different entertainment mediums, have the most freedom in what you can do as a creator. For example, in a film, if you are able to control movement, then that's no longer a film in my eyes. In video games, you could have film-like cutscenes and videos, you could have them going on forever as much as you would like as a creator. That kind of freedom to do that is what I really wanted to do and I feel like video games are what provide me that option, even if I never do it.

Is there any kind of message you use games for that you want to convey to your audience or anything you want them to hear from you? Or do you prefer to let them take whatever interpretation they get from your games?

Yoko: It's the latter. I would want our players to freely interpret what I've created just on their own, to grasp something for their own. I feel that's one of the interesting aspects of video games is that you are able to freely interpret what's being shown to you. I also feel like the players make the game whole by playing it. The action of playing the game I feel has meaning in itself and because of that I want the players to find something from the game, feel something from the game, for themselves.

Nier: Automata won a number of awards, Okabe-san you won best music at The Game Awards, Automata won the audience award at GDC. Is there any pressure to appeal a more mainstream audience with your next game?

Okabe: For a popular title that will be played by many, it doesn't really matter what kind of genre you put out musically. I will still be interested to compose music for those if possible. I would have to take a different approaches to those kind of mainline titles, whereas for Nier, I felt that the music can be more geared toward a core audience where only those who would understand the music would play it. But at the same time, once you understand, I want you to be deeply affected by it. That's what I aim for with Nier. If I am to work on a way more mainstream title next time, I will have to change that mindset I have as a composer, but that would be something I'd like to challenge myself more. To answer your question, yes, I'd like to try that, but I'd also do whatever kind of jobs I'm assigned to.

Yoko: For me, my games I actually think are really niche. How Nier: Automata was so successful was actually just a coincidence. To make a successful game is something that I can't really aim to do, so I think that I'll probably return to my small and dark corner, my niche corner, with my successive titles.

Who would you both consider your inspirations for writing and composing?

Okabe: For me, it's obviously more of a composer than a writer, but I don't really focus on one person. I tend to just try to get music here and there and have a wide net. I am greatly affected by people who I've listened to in my youth, like Japanese composer Ryuchi Sakamoto, Ennio Morricone who creates film music, and also pop music like Michael Jackson and Madonna. I am affected by those as well.

Yoko: I have received inspiration from a lot of things, but I think personally expressions in film or any like visual production is something I'm deeply affected by. For example, Neon Genesis Evangelion by Hideaki Anno, that was really a strong influence on me. Also, the drama series 24, the way that they incorporate speedy and complicated constructions of storylines was something that was very new at the time. Just throughout the timeline of visual production, I think there's a sudden burst of evolution, and I think that "that" moment in a title that does that just greatly affects me and becomes an inspiration for me. But I feel that can be said for the rest of the world.

Lately, anything that Christopher Nolan creates I think is very intriguing where he tries to include deep knowledge and thoughtfulness into what he creates. I'm very interested in this new wave of evolution.

Last year, with the release of Animal Crossing on mobile, you talked on social media about how it was your favorite game of the year because you created a narrative where the characters were all unwillingly imprisoned in the camp. Do you often create your own narratives for games?

Yoko: I do that for some games and I don't for others. Off and on, I guess. It's a lot easier to create my own storyline per se for a more primitive game. For example, in Zelda: Wind Waker, you start off with a grandma and your sister living on an island and it's really happy and joyful and there's really no reason for Link to get out of there and fight Ganondorf because you're already living happily. You don't need to get out of that happiness. As a gamer, I felt the kind of sadness to have to leave that happy island life.

In Dragon Quest [V], you have to choose who you want to wed, and I felt that I couldn't really get into liking either of the characters. I also couldn't find the point of having to decide who I want to marry, so I just at that instant I turned off the game and said "My journey ends here!" My mind narrated "The three of them went on the journey and lived happily ever after, the end." That was my ending for Dragon Quest V.

Around the release of Drakengard 3, you spoke about how it's not possible in this industry to make a six-minute game and sell it for $60, no matter how good those six minutes are. Is this something you still think?

Yoko: That analogy was given to explain that, no matter how much you try to make a game really good, there's a limit to what you can do. If you are to create a six-minute game, because you can't go through a lot of different stages, you would have to create one stage. Which means that you could really refine the quality of that one stage without having to put in a lot of money into it and a lot of manpower into it. Also, because it's only six minutes, you can't really have too many characters in it, so you could focus on one or two characters at max. By doing that, you could refine the quality of those two characters. But because you're time-limited, no matter how much you refine the quality of the world around you or the characters, if you're limited to six minutes there's just so much you could do that the game won't become good at all. That was an example for me to say that there's a limit to what you can do in video games.

Okabe-san, in the music for a lot of Yoko-san's game, you use constructed or uncommon languages, is there a specific reason for that?

Okabe: [laughs] Yeah, for one, because it is Nier: Automata, Replicant, and Gestalt, they all take place in a unique world, even though they're in the timeline of our current world, it's so much in the future that it should feel kind of foreign. That's one of the reasons why I went for language we can't understand, but another is that, in games in the past, game directors actually got mad at many occasions for including vocals into the soundtrack. They were saying that it would become too distracting from the gameplay and would distract the player. It was considered more of a taboo, so for Nier, I included vocals in there without a language you could understand more for the sound that you get from the words. It wasn't to convey any meaning of what was being said, but more for a sound impact.

Yoko-san, you tend to have very sad endings in your games, with the exception of Nier: Automata which is as happy an ending as you can get with most characters dying. Why do you tend to write toward more sad endings and do you feel like Automata's happy ending fit the game better?

Yoko: The reason why I created endings that end on a death is because, until now I was creating games where you would kill a lot of enemies, but I've always felt that it doesn't feel right when the protagonist has a happy after they've killed so many enemies during the course of their journey. That's why in Replicant and Gestalt, or my previous titles, the protagonist pretty much ended up dying because I didn't feel like it was right for them to have a happy ending. But for Nier: Automata, 2B and 9S, from the time that they were given life, they've been killing a lot of enemies, but they've also been killed by them many, many times, and regenerated many times. They've actually been killing each other, which you find out at the very end, many, many times as well. So I felt that kind of cleansed them of their sins for killing so many enemies, which made me feel that a happy ending was more fitting for those two.

Do you feel like that cycle of violence and death and the consequences of that are human nature?

Yoko: I think the reasons why we kill in video games do kind of shine light on what's kind of broken within humanity or humans in general. We want peace in the world, but we also enjoy killing others in video games, like shooting guns in video games. I think that's karma in a sense for humans, the way that video games grasp the true essence of humanity, whether or not that's what they were aiming to do.

Is there a series that you know, like Persona or Yakuza or anything like that, that either of you would want to work on?

Yoko: A series or anything?

It can be anything.

Yoko: Personally, it's not a Japanese title. I'd actually love to see how western titles are developed, because I have no insight into how they're made. There was a moment in time where I felt that it might be fun join a western development to see how things run. Of course there's the language barrier that would make it difficult for me to do that, but generally speaking I feel that western storytelling follows kind of a similar route for all the stories that western mediums create. I would feel it fascinating to find out why western games use certain flows and storyline arcs.

Okabe: I'm kind of a fanboy myself, so there is a part of me that wants to work on major titles like Dragon Quest. I feel that if I do work on those titles, the pressure of working such a known title would be just too big and because there is a part of me that really loves that series, I feel like I would try to skew my music in a way that would fit into that series instead of trying to create music that I think is good. I don't feel like I would be able to bring out the best quality in my music if I worked on those big titles, because of that pressure and because of the image I have of those titles in my mind. Currently, my want to work on those major titles and the part of me that's telling me I shouldn't do it are about equal.

Were either of you surprised by Nier: Automata's success?

Yoko: [in English] Oh yes.

Okabe: For me, I live in Tokyo and developer PlatinumGames live in Osaka, so we did have quite a distance in-between, like literal physical distance between us. From the moment that I created the music to when I was able to see it next, there was a big gap in time, so when I was able to my music in the game for the first time, the game was pretty close to finished, they were almost done with development. At that moment, I thought "Maybe this one might sell?" But at the same time, I didn't think it would become this big of a success, I always thought it might do better than the previous titles, but it was like a hunch that I didn't feel until this time in Yoko-san's titles. I did have some kind of a gut feeling that it might do well.

The last song of Automata, Weight of the World, had a chorus with the entire game's development staff at PlatinumGames and Square Enix singing along to encourage the player. Why did you decide on that for the final song of the game?

Okabe: I didn't remember this, I actually forgot about it for a while, but Yoko-san actually came to me telling me that he wanted a chorus at the end of the game pretty early on in the development process. I apparently made disgruntled face at him and did not remember why I even made that face or even that I made that face. After a while, I actually remember why I had such a reaction with the disgruntled face, because there's a couple of different types of choirs, but Yoko-san likes the more classical choir, so when he requested that he wanted a choir, I thought he wanted that classical type of choir at the last part of the game. At that moment, I thought "Well, that doesn't really fit in with the game plan, I don't really want to do that," which is why I had that expression on my face. After we talked about it, Yoko-san mentioned that wasn't really what he was going for, he said that because that last scene is all about all these different people helping you, he wanted everyone to sing, he wanted it to feel like everyone is singing there with you as you play.

When I thought about doing that, and I actually agreed that might be a good idea, because in Nier: Automata all the choir vocals that you hear in the game, it's actually recorded by a small group of singers, I just overlapped their voice so it sounds like a big choir. Because that last part of the game is more about you playing amongst a lot of people, I felt that taking that approach again of overlapping voices again would not really work. So I reached out to the dev teams because they were working on that part and I thought it would be a good idea to have them put themselves in the game as well. I also thought that they don't need to have a good voice, it's just to give that feeling that you're playing with all these developers.

Development teams from Square Enix, PlatinumGames, and also some composers from my company who didn't work on Nier: Automata are singing in it as well. There's also children of PlatinumGames developers and their family actually singing in it as well. That was the reasoning behind why we decided to do that at the end.

Has there ever been, in all your games you've made, an idea you had that you had to be talked out of?

Yoko: For the first Drakengard, I had an idea of [Japanese pop-star] Ayumi Hamasaki, like her character model, wearing all-silver spandex, like a giant version of her descending from the sky and you would fight against her by music. Everyone else on the staff shut it down. It does still leave that kind of music game essence kind of in there, but the part Ayumi Hamasaki comes out in silver spandex has been taken out.

Isn't that kind of similar to Drakengard 3's actual ending?

Yoko: Similar, but I actually wanted to go for something funny, or shockingly stupid. But no one would let me.

Source：
https://www.gameinformer.com/…/talking-to-yoko-taro-platinu…

＃GarticPhone　#holoticphone　#ホロライブ
ruleは初めに説明してるのでわからない人は参考に！
英語は翻訳機を使ったので間違ってたらごめんね！


ID×JPの７人でやっていくよ～！！
国を超えて伝えられるのか挑戦！IKZ！！
We're going to do it with 7 members of ID×JP~!
Challenge to see if we can communicate across countries, IKZ!

▪member
-JP
@フブキCh。白上フブキ
@Towa Ch. 常闇トワ
@Luna Ch. 姫森ルーナ
@Roboco Ch. - ロボ子
-ID
@Anya Melfissa Ch. hololive-ID
@Kureiji Ollie Ch. hololive-ID
@Pavolia Reine Ch. hololive-ID


ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
"本ゲームはOnrizon Social Gamesに確認の上配信・収益化を行っております
Gartic Phone
https://gartic.com/garticphone"
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

🎂誕生日記念グッズ販売中🎂
イコモチ先生書き下ろしの抱き枕カバー!!
合わせてKU100収録のいちゃあま彼女添い寝風30分ASMR!!
そして待望の涙眼鏡眼鏡が販売中✨
度ありが欲しい方は眼鏡を持ち込みしてレンズを交換してもらってね！
全部セットも単品も買えるのでぜひチェックしてね❤
▼販売ページはこちら▼
http://hololive.booth.pm/items/2976943

🎂Birthday memorial goods now on sale🎂
A new pillow cover written by Ikomochi!
This is the first time I've had a chance to show off my KU100 collection of 30 minute ASMRs!
And the long-awaited tear-glasses glasses are now on sale✨!
If you want glasses with lenses, bring in your glasses and have the lenses replaced!
You can buy the whole set or individual items, so please check it out❤.
▼海外からのご購入はこちら▼
Purchase from overseas is here
https://www.geekjack.net/robocosan/language/en https://shop.geekjack.net/collections/roboco-san (mirror)

从海外购买就在这里
https://www.geekjack.net/robocosan/language/zh
------------------


🦐NEW
3周年記念ASMRボイス＆ぶるー先生(https://twitter.com/bgfb0321)描きおろしグッズ...​
https://hololive.booth.pm/items/2788428​

ループBGM投稿したよ！
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3jig...
*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:
▼バレンタインボイス販売開始！Link
https://hololive.booth.pm/items/2722499

はろ～ぼ！ホロライブ0期生、バーチャルロボットのロボ子さんです！
ゲームと歌が好きです！
ほぼ毎日配信！よくゲリラハイシンもするので、チャンネル登録・通知ONにして遊びに来てね

・Twitter https://twitter.com/robocosan
・Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDqI2jOz0weumE8s7paEk6g

▪ボクのメンバーになりませんか？🌟
プランは2つあります！主な違いはASMR配信です。
かわいいスタンプも沢山使えたり、バッジが付くので気になる人はぜひ入ってみてね💛

There are two plans! The main difference is ASMR delivery.
You can use a lot of cute stamps and badges are attached, so if you are interested, please come in 💛

★登録/Registration→ https://t.co/hcjxHtMqOy?amp=1
★限定アーカイブリスト/Limited archive list
→ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF54qiUa9cTuOKngczTOAniEU0QbVge5h

*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:

🎄NEW!!クリスマスボイス販売中🎄
クリスマスにボクとの待ち合わせ…
甘酸っぱい空間をいたずらっ娘のボクと堪能しませんか？
配信より距離が近いです💓
是非きいてください♡
→https://hololive.booth.pm/items/2619576

*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:

⚡約束⚡
・伝書鳩をしない、他の配信者さんに迷惑はかけちゃいけません
・話題に出ていない配信者の名前を出さない
・新規さんが困るので内輪ネタは控える
・スパムや荒らし行為はしない。反応しないでブロック通報で無視してください

みんなが楽しく配信を見れるように協力お願いします！

⚡ Promise ⚡
・ Don't bother other distributors who don't play homing pigeons.
・ Do not give the name of the distributor who is not mentioned
・ Because new people are in trouble, refrain from inner ring material
・ Do not spam or vandalize. Please do not respond and ignore it in the block report

Please cooperate so that everyone can enjoy watching the distribution!

*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:

⚡スーパーチャット⚡
スーパーチャットは配信中に名前を呼ぶことができない場合もあります。
配信の最後にスパチャ読みをします！いつもありがとう💛


⚡ Super Chat ⚡
Super Chat may not be able to call your name during delivery.
At the end of the delivery, we will read the spacha! Thank you always 💛


*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:

～歌枠コピペ用～
~For Copy paste use, please use the following stamps to join rooting me singing!~
🤖🔌充電中　®〰©　®️❣️©️
⚡🔋⚡🔋⚡🔋⚡🔋⚡
📡🌸📡🌸📡🌸📡🌸

*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:
💓thank you💓
・お部屋仕立て
えがきぐりこ(GurikoEgaki)
・OP/ED
Music:　たらこ(@tarakofever) /たいよー(@Taiyo_c)
Movie: rar(@rar_gs) / 大麦(@oomugi839)
・配信画面
ナナメ(@7name_)
*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:*:;:

ホロライブ公式YouTubeチャンネルでもオリジナルコンテンツ配信中！
▷https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJFZ...
ホロライブ公式Twitter▷ https://twitter.com/hololivetv
ホロライブ公式サイト▷ https://www.hololive.tv/

This week, our favourite couple #JUNARD is back with a fun twist to a classic party game - SOJU PONG!

This video was filmed before the revised Covid-19 regulations in Singapore. All Covid-19 regulations including safe distancing and temperature taking were observed during this filming.

Official Trevmonki Merch
teespring.com/stores/trevmonkistore

Trevmonki Official Social Media
Instagram @ http://instagram.com/Trevmonki
Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/trevmonki

Follow the crew NOW!

Leonard
http://instagram.com/leonardlyy
Vlogging Channel! https://goo.gl/9bss4A

Trev
http://instagram.com/trevtham
Vlogging Channel! https://goo.gl/RgT8aB
https://www.facebook.com/IAmTrevTham/

Juhi
https://www.instagram.com/juhinars/

My brother and I try to answer questions from the Sibling Tag in Afrikaans, French and English. (And some words from our own made up language!)
You might remember my brother from the Guess the Language challenge video we did here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE-x5TjHz-k

Timestamps:
0:00 Meet my brother
00:21 Who is the oldest? (Afrikaans)
00:43 Likes and dislikes about each other (English)
01:37 What do we have in common? (French)
02:33 Funniest memories (Afrikaans)
03:34 He embarrassed me in Japan
04:42 Fighting over bananas (English)
05:25 Mastermind - our favorite game (French)
06:44 He hurt my feelings :(
07:25 Dating each other's friends... (Afrikaans)
08:08 Made-up words & nicknames for each other
09:38 Embarrassing photos? (French)
10:37 Our hideous Boomer Selfie

[Filmed in February before travel restrictions]

———
?SOCIALS

Insta → https://www.instagram.com/lindiebotes/
Website & resources → http://lindiebotes.com/
Twitter → https://twitter.com/lindiebee
FB → https://www.facebook.com/lindiebotesvideos/
Ko-fi → https://ko-fi.com/lindiebotes#


✨GOODIES


$10 free italki credits (after first lesson) → https://go.italki.com/LindieBotes
10% off Du Chinese (my favorite app!) enter LINDIE10 at checkout → https://www.duchinese.net/
All discounts → http://lindiebotes.com/discounts
All language resources → https://lindiebotes.com/language-resources/
Merch → http://society6.com/lindiebotes


?ABOUT


Welcome to my channel! My name is Lindie and I share my love for languages through my polyglot progress and language learning tips here. South African by birth, I spent most of my life in France, Pakistan, the UAE and Japan. Now I work as a UI/UX designer in Singapore. I'm a Christian and strive to shine God’s light in all I do. May this channel inspire you to reach your language goals!

New here? Best videos → https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRCVN94KILKXGx45JKaVBSpPkrpXhrhRe
FAQ → https://lindiebotes.com/faq/


?BOOKS I USE

Practical Chinese Grammar → https://geni.us/PracticalChineseGram
Japanese for Busy People on Amazon → https://geni.us/JapaneseForBusy1
Advanced Japanese for Busy People → https://geni.us/JapaneseForBusy3
Korean Grammar in Use Intermediate → https://geni.us/KoreanGrammarUse
Korean TOPIK exam prep → https://geni.us/TOPIK2prep
Short Stories in Spanish → https://geni.us/spanishshortstories


?EQUIPMENT

Camera → https://geni.us/CanonPowerShotG7
Mic → https://geni.us/RodeSmartLavMicr
Tripod → https://geni.us/ManfrottoTravel

———
Some links are affiliate links, and a percentage goes towards supporting my channel.
Collabs & partnerships: hello@lindiebotes.com