關於 show showed shown ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

[時事英文] 封鎖時期的美術館

我想念可以步行到美術館欣賞藝術品的時光，但藝術其實也可以在生活中偶遇。本貼文我附上的作品圖片是來自畫家曾日昇畫室 。上週我在老婆大人SHOPPING時，我看到了他的作品，這讓我忘卻壓力，放鬆身心。非常感謝他幫助我度過了這段艱難的時光。

★★★★★★★★★★★★

經濟學人報導：

Some of the joys of viewing art are hard to replicate on-screen

觀看藝術的樂趣很難在螢幕上複製

Art Basel Hong Kong, Asia’s biggest contemporary-art fair, was cancelled because of COVID-19, but anyone who had planned to visit last week could enjoy an experimental alternative: the viewing room. At the click of a keyboard, you could enter a panoramic but private visual salon, without having to brave the airless Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

1、contemporary-art fair 當代藝術博覽會
2、experimental alternative 實驗性的替代選擇
3、panoramic 全景
4、private visual salon 私人視覺沙龍
5、Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre 香港會議展覽中心
6、brave (v.) 勇敢面對；冒（風險）

亞洲最大的當代藝術博覽會——香港巴塞爾藝術展因COVID-19而被取消，但任何上周計畫參觀的人都可以享受實驗性的替代方案：放映間。只需點擊鍵盤，你就可以進入一個全景但私密的視覺沙龍，而不必穿梭在空氣不流通的香港會議展覽中心裡。

★★★★★★★★★★★★

Participating galleries were told that, for a quarter of the original fee, they could have a slot in the online fair. Over 90% of the line-up—231galleries—gave it a whirl, offering more than 2,000 works worth $270m in total. The viewing room was a telling indication of how art might be shown (and sold) in the future, in a pandemic-stricken era or if travel is otherwise restricted. It offered encouragement—and some lessons on digital engagement.

7、gallery 美術館
8、have a slot in 佔有一席之地
9、give sth a whirl （常指初次）嘗試做
10、a pandemic-stricken era 病毒肆虐的時代
11、offer encouragement 提供鼓勵
12、digital engagement 數位參與

參展的美術館被告知，只需原費用的四分之一，便可在網路展覽會上佔有一席之地。超過90%的美術館—231家美術館—決定嘗試，共提供2000多件價值2.7億美元的作品。放映間做為一個生動地展示，提供在未來，在一個病毒肆虐的時代，或者在旅行受到限制的情況下，藝術品如何展示(和出售)。他提供了數位參與的鼓勵和經驗。

★★★★★★★★★★★★

There, on one webpage, was Jeff Koons riffing on Botticelli’s “Primavera” in a tribute to the history of painting at David Zwirner Gallery. Ota Fine Arts offered one collector the chance to acquire an “infinity room”, one of the most Instagrammed artworks of recent years—the creation of the psychedelic, nonagenarian Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama. White Cube presented an array of international works by Andreas Gursky (German), Theaster Gates (American) and Beatriz Milhazes (Brazilian).

13、riff (v.) on 翻唱
14、in a tribute to… 為紀念…而做
15、infinity 無限
16、psychedelic 迷幻的
17、nonagenarian 九十多歲的人
18、an array of 一系列

在其中一個網頁上，傑夫·昆斯在大衛·茲沃納美術館為紀念繪畫史而翻唱波提切利的《春》。大田秀則美術館為一位收藏家提供獲得一個“無限鏡屋”的機會，這是近年來在instagram上最受歡迎的藝術品之一。這是那位九十多歲、具迷幻色彩的日本藝術家草間彌生的作品。白立方美術館也展示了安德莉亞斯·古爾斯基(德國)、西斯特·蓋茨(美國)和貝亞特裡斯·米拉塞斯(巴西)的一系列國際作品。

★★★★★★★★★★★★

But not every artist, gallery and form showed to equal advantage in this alternative fair. Not surprisingly, simple two-dimensional works in bright colours came across best. No sculpture or conceptual art was included. Subtle pieces, such as Lucas Arruda’s impressionistic desert-scapes, which seem as much a mood or a state of mind as a physical depiction when you see them in real life, had little impact when viewed remotely.

19、show to equal advantage 表現同等優勢
20、two-dimensional works 2D平面作品
21、came across 表現得，讓人覺得，給人以…印象
22、sculpture or conceptual art 雕塑或概念藝術
23、subtle pieces 微妙的作品
24、impressionistic desert-scapes 印象主義沙漠風景
25、physical depiction 物理描繪

但並非所有藝術家、美術館和形式都能這這個替代的展覽會上表現出同等優勢。雕塑或概念藝術並不包括在內。一些微妙的作品，比如盧卡斯·阿魯達的印象主義沙漠風景，當你在現實生活中看到它們時，它們似乎是一種情緒或一種精神狀態，而當你從遠處看它們時，幾乎沒有影響。

★★★★★★★★★★★★

Besides depth and texture, there are aspects of gallery-hopping that a website is unlikely to replicate. One is serendipity— the sense of wandering between artworks and encountering the unexpected. Another is sociability. Art is a communion between artist and viewer, but galleries and fairs are also places to swap opinions and share enthusiasms.

26、gallery-hopping 逛美術館
27、replicate 複製
28、serendipity 意想不到
29、sociability 社交力
30、a communion between …之間的交流
31、swap opinions and share enthusiasms 交換意見和分享熱情

除了深度和質感之外，逛美術館的一些方面是網站不太可能複製。一種是“意外之喜”，即在藝術品之間徘徊，遇到意想不到的東西。另一種是社交力。藝術是藝術家和觀眾之間的交流，但美術館和博覽會也是交換意見和分享熱情的地方。

★★★★★★★★★★★★

There are ways to compensate for these inevitable deficiencies. As they shut their physical doors, some of the world’s finest galleries and museums are offering whizzy interactive visits, 360-degree videos and walk-around tours of their collections, all without queues and high ticket prices. One of the best is laid on by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; its tour allows visitors to view its Vermeers and Rembrandts, including the magnificent “Night Watch”, far more closely than would normally be possible. Another standout offering is from the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, which has an even broader collection. On its virtual platform, its paintings, spanning 700 years, appear to be hanging in an open-plan space, seemingly suspended on glass panels, or “crystal easels” as the museum calls them, ideal for close-up inspection.

32、compensate 彌補
33、inevitable deficiency 不可避免的缺陷
34、whizzy interactive visits 令人眼花繚亂的互動參觀
35、walk-around tours 藏品巡展
36、standout 引人注目的
37、virtual platform虛擬平臺
38、span 700 years橫跨700年
39、suspend on glass panels 懸掛在玻璃板上
40、crystal easels 水晶畫架
41、close-up inspection 近距離觀察

有的方法可以彌補這些不可避免的缺陷。一些世界上最棒的美術館和博物館在關閉實體館的同時，還提供了令人眼花繚亂的互動參觀、360度全景影片和藏品巡展，所有這些都不用排隊，也不用支付高昂的門票。其中最好的是阿姆斯特丹國立博物館舉辦的；遊客們可以近距離觀賞維米爾和倫勃朗的作品，包括宏偉的《守夜人》。另一件引人注目的展品來自聖保羅藝術博物館，那裡的藏品甚至更多。在虛擬平臺上，跨越700年的畫作似乎懸掛在一個開放的空間裡，似乎懸掛在博物館稱之為“水晶畫架”的玻璃板上，非常適合近距離觀察。

★★★★★★★★★★★★

But such wizardry may be beyond most galleries and artists. For Art Basel, Tracey Emin, a British artist at White Cube, exhibited a heartfelt demand spelled out in icyblue neon: “Move me”. At a distance, that is hard.

42、wizardry 魔力
43、a heartfelt demand 一個發自內心的要求
44、neon light 霓虹燈

但這種魔力可能超出了大多數美術館和藝術家的能力。在巴塞爾藝術展上，白立方的英國藝術家特蕾西·埃明用冰藍色的霓虹燈表達了一個發自內心的要求：“移動我”在線上展覽則難以呈現。

★★★★★★★★★★★★

Art and culture are the silent victims of social crises. While digital devices have provided alternative modes of communication between art providers and audiences, can virtual tours replace physical visits? How can digital galleries develop to fully engage their audiences? After coronavirus pandemic, what are the challenges for both online and physical exhibitions?

藝術與文化在面臨社會危機時常首當其衝。在數位時代中，遠程科技的運用為藝術提供者與閱聽人提供了不一樣的管道來交流。然而，虛擬的體驗是否真的能替代實際的走訪？虛擬的體驗還能如何發展來更貼近完善閱聽人的體驗？在疫情過後，線上展覽與實體參觀各會面臨怎樣的挑戰？

★★★★★★★★★★★★

完整報導: https://econ.st/2K5Rxc5

★★★★★★★★★★★★

曾日昇畫室IG: https://www.instagram.com/artzeng

想看更多畫，就快去加他的IG!

曾日昇畫室Blog:
https://examplewordpresscom91556.wordpress.com/author/zengsunrise/

#藝術時事英文

這些才是真正的香港人💪🏻 ❤️
加油啊！💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻
😭好感動🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

「雲海突發消息」
繼琴晚有三百幾個公務員EO向政府公開聲明之後，簡直陸續有嚟！今朝到我出手啦！話說琴晚深夜有在職公務員主動聯絡我，表示佢哋聯繫左超過44個部門同事、超過230位公務員、不單只EO而是跨職級，由文書助理到行政主任AO等等，向現在香港政府及林鄭特首發出嚴厲聲明，不滿現在特區政府處理事件手法及態度，強烈要求特首回應市民！佢哋希望我代表佢哋發放呢封信件以及向香港外國傳媒發放呢個信件！我當然應承啦！因為我覺得整件事好有「象徵意義　」，非常symbolic!一個過去20幾年專門對付政府專門投訴政府部門嘅投訴達人，今時今日竟然我哋係企埋同一陣線，由我代佢哋轉達及公開發放呢封信件！簡直就係香港歷史破天荒！以下係其中相關資料：
「聯署經核實為44個決策局/部門/單位, 共235位政府人員職員身份證明」
以下係這封235位公務員嘅聯署中英文聲明信：
「致特別行政區首長林鄭月娥女士公開信
致香港特別行政區首長林鄭月娥女士、行政會議成員、各位司長、局長及立法會議員
作為香港公務員的一份子，我們一直默默耕耘，為社會及香港市民提供優質服務，並堅守一貫的中立態 度，支持著政府各部門的良好運作，這是我們一直引以自豪的工作，亦是身為香港人的一份驕傲。 過 去的兩個月，香港人參與了一連串反對修例的遊行集會，數以百萬計的市民站出來表達訴求，守護香 港，體現對香港的愛護和關心。可惜，政府一直依然故我，拒絕耹聽大眾的聲音，違背服務市民的承 諾。
7月21日晚上在元朗有大批白衣暴徒襲擊市民，以武器攻擊路經群眾甚至記者，令無辜市民受傷，令人 髮指。雖然當晚有大批市民報警求助，但警方未有及時派員到場保護市民及捉拿暴徒，令人對警方執法 能力存疑，有負市民期望。其做法令人懷疑政黑勾結，除了令市民對警隊信心盡失外，亦令公務員質疑 政府機構並非為民服務，更甚者令公務員成為社會撕裂的幫兇。
當社會上大多數人認為政府決策出現問題，我們身為公僕理應適切回應人民訴求。我們今天決定打破沉 默，站出來強烈要求政府直接面對民意。
我們強烈要求政府回應民間的五大訴求，即(一)完全撤回逃犯條例修訂、(二)追究警察開槍鎮壓、 (三)不檢控和釋放反對逃犯條例修訂的示威者、(四)撤銷定性6月12日集會為暴動、(五)促請林 鄭月娥、鄭若驊、李家超及盧偉聰等官員問責下台，並要求成立由大法官主持，有廣泛公信力的獨立調 查委員會，調查警方處理自6月9日以來的衝突手法及盡快履行基本法所賦予香港市民的雙普選權利，使 香港成為一個真正自由、民主的社會。
我們以七月二十四日拍攝的職員證明文件為憑， 收集了覆蓋政府大部分不同部門的員工強而有力的控 訴， 強烈要求當權者直接面對民意。
如政府繼續漠視民意，我們將籌備具體工業行動，謙卑地與廣大香港的市民同行，克盡我們服務市民的 「公僕」身份。
一群來自以下不同部門的公務員敬上
漁農自然護理署
建築署
屋宇署
民眾安全服務隊
民航處
公司註冊處
香港海關
衛生署
律政司
渠務署
教育局
機電工程署
環境保護署
香港消防處
食物及環境衛生署

食物及衛生局 香港司機職工總會 政府產業署 路政署 民政事務局 民政事務處 香港房屋委員會 警務處(文職) 香港郵政 入境事務處 稅務局 創新科技署 知識產權署 司法機構
勞工處
土地註冊處
地政總署 康樂及文化事務署 通訊事務管理局辦公室 政府資訊科技總監辦公室 公共衛生檢測中心 (衛生署) 香港電台
差餉物業估價署
選舉事務處
社會福利署
工業貿易署
庫務署
水務署
在職家庭及學生資助事務處
(共44個決策局/部門/單位, 共235位政府人員職員身份證明) (鳴謝 BeWater HK, 翻譯組)
25/07/2019 ####### (English version)
Dear Chief Executive of the HKSAR Mrs Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, members of the Executive Committee, Secretaries of Departments and Bureaux and Members of Legislative Council,
As members of the civil servants of Hong Kong, we have been working incessantly over the years to offer our citizens with quality service and take a neutral stance that supports the government departments for their smooth operations. We are always proud of our jobs and being citizens of Hong Kong.

For the past two months, Hong Kong people have participated in a series of marches and rallies. Millions of citizens have expressed their demands, showed their concern and caring for protecting their beloved Hong Kong. Unfortunately, the Government has refused to listen to the public and remained its own way of act, violating its compromise to serve the citizens.
In the evening of 21 of July, there was a large group of rioters in white shirt attacking citizens in Yuen Long; they used weapons to attack protestors returning home, journalists, and even bystanders, causing innocent citizens injured, making one's hair stand up in anger. Although many calls were made to the police, they had not sent force in time to protect those citizens and arrested the rioters in time, which made people have doubts whether the police had the ability to enforce the law. Their failure in enforcing the law had disappointed citizens and people worldwide. The police’s lack of response
on July 21 had made people suspect the government colluding with triads. This had not only caused citizens to lose confidence in the police, but also made civil servants suspect that the government departments are not aimed to serve citizens faithfully and are making civil servants accomplices tearing apart the society.
When the majority in the society disagrees with the policy made by our government, being civil servants, we should respond to public’s demands reasonably. Today we decided to break our silence, to strongly urge the government to respond to those demands.
We strongly demand the Government to respond to the five major appeals of the society, i.e., (1) withdraw completely the Extradition Law Amendment Bill, (2) pursue the responsibility of the Police Force for firing armaments and their suppression, (3) stop all prosecutions and release the protestors, (4) retract the characterization of the assembly on 12 June as a riot, (5) step down and fulfill the pledge of accountability by government officials including Chief Executive Carrie Lam, Secretary of Justice Teresa Cheng, Secretary of Security John Lee, Commissioner of Police Stephen Lo. Furthermore, we demand the establishment of highly credible Independent Probe held by chief judges, to investigate into the way the police dealt with the clashes with protestors since 9 of June and to honour the commitment of the Basic Law to grant all citizens of Hong Kong the right to dual universal suffrage, so to make Hong Kong become truly free and democratic society.
The evidence we shown here are photos taken on 24/7. They show different staff ID cards collected from most of the departments under the Hong Kong government, representing their request to the potentate: "Response to the will of the people directly”.
If the Government continues to ignore public opinion, we will organise concrete industrial actions, so that we could humbly join hands with the community at large and fulfill our responsibility as servants of our fellow citizens.
Yours truly,
A group of civil servants from the following departments and bureaux:
Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Architectural Services Department
Buildings Department
Civil Aid Service
Civil Aviation Department Companies Registry

Customs and Excise Department Department of Health Department of Justice Drainage Service Department Education Bureau
Electrical and Mechanical Service Department Environmental Protection Department
Fire Service Department
Food and Environmental Hygiene Department Food and Health Bureau
Government Drivers Union Government Property Agency Highways Department
Home Affairs Bureau
Home Affairs Department
Hong Kong Housing Authority
Hong Kong Police Force (Civilian Staff)
Hongkong Post
Immigration Department
Inland Revenue Department
Innovation and Technology Commission
Intellectual Property Department
Judiciary
Labour Department
Land Registry
Lands Department
Leisure and Cultural Services Department
Office of the Communications Authority
Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Public Health Laboratory Centre (Department of Health) Radio Television Hong Kong
Rating and Valuation Department
Registration and Electoral Office
Social Welfare Department
Trade and Industry Department
Treasury
Water Supplies Department
Working Family and Student Financial Assistance Agency
25/7/2019
(Totally 44 Bureau/Departments/Units，235 numbers of proof of identity as Government staff) (Credits to BeWater HK, Translation Unit)

Last modified: 9:05 am」
Ps若果有網媒想轉述，無任歡迎！想搵呢次聲明信件相關公務員訪問可私底下聯絡我！
公務員加油！we connect this time!

"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…