Question 1

playing on my mind meaning文茜的世界周報 Sisy's World News 在Facebook 的評價

Accepted Answer

《我的幸福5/2 週末》*週日下午兩點誠品信義書店「廿世紀典範人物」新書分享會，我下午二時開始演講，離上次在台灣大學公開演説。快半年了！分享會報名一小時預告已額滿，但TVBS電視台慷慨的支持。派出SNG車，屆時TVBS文茜的世界周報YouTube 及世界周報Facebook 都將同步直播。*新書分享會後我將直奔高雄衛武營，參加劉孟捷（李斯特巡禮之年）鋼琴獨奏會。這是劉孟捷回台，最重要的一場音樂會，我目睹他用盡了一切心力。過去即使21歲時在費城代打缺席大師的音樂會，劉孟捷都未曾如此緊張。他此次回台，手術前為了沒有遺憾，共舉行三場音樂會：其中4/17與5/30皆是與國家交響樂團NSO合作：530那一場指揮是呂紹嘉。但他告訴我，某些曲目對他而言，是Piece of Cake ：惟獨衞武營這一場，曲目由他自己決定，現場錄影，並且找了金曲獎錄音師同步錄音。5/2衛武營-劉孟捷鋼琴獨奏會《李斯特巡禮之年》購票連結https://www.opentix.life/event/1384752689074294784劉夢捷明白他即將面對一個大手術，手術風險之外，他的免疫系統疾病，將使他的康復之路更長。沒有人可以預知未來，為了圓他的夢，醫院每天都要求他早上、晚上量血壓，報告直接傳給院長。振興醫院院長魏崢雖然是亞洲第一把心臟外科醫師，但也不敢大意。畢竟這個人的生命那麼脆弱，他的心臟主動脈剝離，那是實質的「心碎」了：但他仍有詩，仍有音樂夢。在生命的交接處，在白日與黑夜的交义口，劉孟捷想為他的音樂生涯，留下最美好的紀錄。他選擇了李斯特。在這場音樂會前，他甚至以英文寫下了自己與音樂、疾病的半生回顧：如李斯特的巡禮，有仰望，有沉思，有失落，有幽微的疼痛。他以詩篇般的演奏模式，傾訴，詠嘆。他曾得到天賦，也走過死蔭的幽谷。命運是一層又一層的黑影逼近，老天爺隨時想帶走他。而他已不再流淚，不再沉浸於悲愴告別：因為對他而言活著並不容易，他要讓自己更深刻的抓住每一分時光之美。如果時間和空間，正如哲人們所形容的都是不實際存在的東西：那從不感到衰敗的太陽，也不會比我們了不起多少！他如艾略特的詩句中所形容的：我們為什麼要如此貪心總在祈禱，想活上整整一個世紀？蝴蝶雖僅活了一天，已經歷了永恆。當他的身軀如露水還在藤蔓顫抖時，他送給我們一場「完全浪漫又超技的李斯特」。等音樂會結束了，至少有一張CD，一段YouTube 影像：不論孟捷代表生命的那朵鮮花是否枯萎，他彈奏如天使的音聲不會飛離，它會停留在那夜，繼續釋放芬芳。這是盡生命之力、之情獨奏的音樂會。劉孟捷説：這樣當他走進手術室時，會少一點悲傷。或許快樂的日子本來就不多，但讓這場「完全李斯特．完全劉孟捷」的獨奏會放出神聖的光彩吧！我必將赴會，不會錯過！我知道此刻的獨奏會，很難複製，因為它綜合了太多的情感、愛念，釋放與生命的抒情。*劉孟捷為此次獨奏會寫下的文字：This past year has seen some unprecedented changes in the world. Many lives have been lost and many have changed. The world has changed while many of us confront the uncertainty of the future. For most musicians, life has changed. For months, we have been conducting our lessons online, and concerts have mostly stopped or become an online experience as well. More time has been spent learning how to improve the online teaching experience than one could have imagined. While I have felt the duty to continue teaching, the format the pandemic requires for teaching leaves me unwilling to spend more time than I have to. And truly, I have had other things to deal with. When the pandemic started to worry the American public in March, I was in the middle of a tour with the String Quartet-in-Residence at Curtis, the Vera Quartet. However, our concerts were canceled, and everything came to a sudden halt. I felt the universe had sent me an unexpected gift, as I had also just received some terrible news concerning my worsening aortic arches and a diagnosis of kidney cancer. The sudden halt in my professional schedule seemed perfect in its timing. I was able to settle into a monastic existence, to simply practice and attempt to heal. I see many musicians itching to be concertizing again, and many stepped into new territory, performing on the internet. Many took time to develop new podcasts, and to write new materials for their art. Sadly, many have struggled as they have fallen into desperation without any concert incomes. Altogether the music industry seems to be in peril, and many worry about  how music and musicians will survive. However, I had my own survival to think about. Having been through many difficult experiences in my life, I knew this might be the most difficult I would encounter. My Doctors describe me as a walking time bomb. My condition could be lethal at any moment if my blood pressure gets out of control. So while others wrestle with the fate of the music industry, I’ve needed to face my own fate and mortality. Playing concerts can mean many things to people. At different times throughout my life, I’ve felt the need to express different aspects of myself. When I was young, I wanted to embody the spirit of romanticism, playing lots of Chopin and Schumann. Then there was a period of time when I wanted to challenge myself by showing off pyrotechnics. I had a brooding period where I turned to the pathos of Rachmaninoff, and then felt the need to return to the purity of Schubert and nobility of Brahms. Throughout this pandemic, I wanted to play Bach. Through Bach’s music I found a kind of spiritual sanctuary. In considering the program for this concert, I felt again the urge to play music that reflects my current feelings and state of mind. The title of today’s recital, “Years of Pilgrimage” seems to fit exactly what I am experiencing. Liszt wrote several volumes of “Années de pèlerinage” throughout his life to reflect on thoughts he had during his travels. He links his philosophical thoughts to the scenery which inspired them.  “Au Bord d’un Source” describes feelings of rejuvenation while standing next to a clear stream of water, a symbol and source of life and energy. It seems to say, when the stream is so pure, life can be so full of joy. In the Les jeux deaux à la Villa dEste (The Fountains of the Villa dEste), the water has a magical and supernatural quality, as Liszt himself wrote in the inscription: But the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up into eternal life,( from the Gospel of John.) For me, I have never felt more connected to Liszt than when he looked upon the valley of Obermann and questioned the meaning of existence. At this moment in my life, I often find myself reflecting my experiences of what I see and read into philosophical musings. Perhaps many people come to a time when this is so. In all this I have felt gratitude for the love stories and sonnets that one can romantically indulge in, and for storms so violent that they threaten to destroy one’s spirit, even the hell-bound journey which brings up questions about the purpose of life… On this journey, I felt full and alive as a human being. Looking back on this journey, I am grateful for everything, whether happy or sad, to have made an impact, found and imparted meaning to this life. The unusual time of this pandemic has marked a milestone for me. I have journeyed back home, and as it happened, this is the first time I have spent so much time in my hometown Kaohsiung in over 35 years. It’s particularly nostalgic to play these pieces as some of them were significant in my early musical career. Vallée d’Obermann was the piece I played in my first competition at the junior high school level, in which I won first prize on the national level, which allowed me to be qualified to apply for a special permission to study abroad. This meant my dream to be educated as a musician could be continued in an environment where I could develop fully. In the following year when I was 13, I won the first Asia-Pacific Youth PIano Competition with the Dante Sonata. The competition catapulted me into national attention as I was headlined in several newspapers, and especially since it was held in Kaohsiung, I became a local hero as well. During the same event, I had a fateful meeting with one of the important influences in my life, Mr. Gary Graffman, who then mentored me throughout not only the years when I was studying at Curtis, but throughout my illness and recovery as a pianist. Right before I departed to study in Philadelphia, I played my first solo recital throughout Taiwan, and along with the Dante Sonata, I also performed the three sonnets. It’s perfect that now, back in Kaohsiung, all these memories have flooded back into my head. I feel so lucky to have been born here, and to have met my first teacher, Chin-Li Lee, who inspired me on the path to become a musician. Prof. Alexander Sung filled me with dreams of becoming an artist. I am grateful for his belief in my talent, when he chose to give a 12 year old such philosophical pieces to play. Having once again spent some months in Kaohsiung, I can freshly appreciate the source of inspiration it once was for me. I have returned to the source to heal. Having already glimpsed hell’s gate several times, battered and weathered by the storms of life, I know there is a reason life is this way, and it all will be alright.  Meng-Chieh LiuApril, 2021 *劉孟捷衛武營《李斯特巡禮之年》演奏會中，包括李斯特以佩脫拉克三首情詩譜寫的鋼琴琴詩：這三首情詩是從大詩人佩脫拉克一百多首情詩挑出來的，詩本身就很優美，依此激發李斯特的浪漫主義創作靈感，成為琴藝上最困難演奏，但也特別細膩溫柔的琴詩。這三首分別是：〈佩脫拉克第47號十四行詩〉〈佩脫拉克第104號十四行詩〉及〈佩脫拉克第123號十四行詩〉。Franz Liszt（1811-1886）: Sonetto 47 del Petrarca, Sonetto 104 del Petrarca, Sonetto 123 del Petrarca, from Années de pèlerinage, Deuxième année: Italie李斯特於1846年先出版藝術歌曲《三首佩脫拉克十四行詩》（Tre sonetti del Petrarca），再改成鋼琴獨奏版。三首佩脫拉克十四行詩中譯：焦元溥（元溥也是友情贊助，特別準備音樂資料，周日南下，聆賞劉孟捷的樂曲，並且陪同他盯著錄音共三天）〈第47〉祝福每天、每月、每年，             所有片刻與鐘點、時間與季節，       在那美麗的原野，                     我為一雙眼眸魂縈夢牽。              祝福初遇時的甜，                   與愛同在、受苦不停歇，             如弓箭刺穿令我淌血，               傷口永留感動在我心間。             祝福一切我發出的聲音，             當呼喚著我深愛的女郎，             渴望、嘆息、淚濕滿襟。             祝福我寫下的文字遠揚，             歌頌她的芳名，萬古長新。              我心永屬於她，無人能闖。           〈第104〉我找不到和平，也無意打仗，                   我恐懼、我期望，燃燒又冰透。                 我向天飛升，卻躺在地上，                     我一無所有，卻又擁抱整個宇宙。                 我身陷囹圄，監牢又開敞；                     我不受囚禁，卻銬著鎖頭。                     愛情不讓我死，也不讓我飛翔；                 不要我活，也不准我逃離悲愁。                  欲看卻無眼，啞口還在發言，                     我甘心殞滅，卻仍高聲呼救，                    我痛恨自己，但仍愛著他人。                    憂傷滋潤我，淚水伴隨笑臉，                     生命不足惜，死亡也不煩憂；                    我淪落至此，都是妳啊，我的愛人！              〈第123〉我在塵世見到仙子的美，    她天堂般優雅無與倫比。                想起她讓我悲傷又歡喜，                所見如幻夢迷霧與幽黑。                 妳的可愛眼睛使我落淚，                多少次讓太陽也要妒忌。                我還聽到四周發出嘆息，                移動了山嶽停止了河水。                愛情智慧憐憫憂傷財富，                在淚水中形成甜美聲響，                奇妙和諧世上未曾目睹。                天堂追隨著音樂的流淌，                雖然枝上樹葉並未飛舞，                空氣與風息卻充滿芬芳。5/2衛武營-劉孟捷鋼琴獨奏會《李斯特巡禮之年》購票連結https://www.opentix.life/event/1384752689074294784

Question 2

playing on my mind meaningMilton Goh Blog and Sermon Notes 在Facebook 的評價

Accepted Answer

Turn “Need to” Into “Want to”“Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope: and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans‬ ‭5:3-5‬ ‭WEB‬‬)In life, many things happen to us, and how events affect us is how we view and attach meaning to them. The apostle Paul had this revelation, and he taught the church to view suffering in a new light—to rejoice in suffering because it produces perseverance, proven character, and hope. He knew how to reframe the undesirable things in life to become something that he wanted. Suffering produces pain, but Paul reframed it to mean the training of his perseverance, character, and hope. Something bad became something precious and valuable. We can apply this mindset to anything in life so that our trust is always in God and not in our self-efforts.For example, if you see yourself putting on weight, your flesh may cause you to think, “I must go on a diet and exercise more so that I can lose weight.” This way of viewing the situation makes you reactive—on the defensive posture instead of wholeheartedly choosing to do something because you love it. When something is viewed as a burdensome chore, you will struggle with it.Instead, why not detach your goal from the activity and just focus on the enjoyment of the beneficial action? You are not trying to exercise to lose weight—you are already young, healthy, slim, fit, and strong. Jesus paid for you to freely receive health and healing by faith.When you exercise, there doesn’t have to be a goal. You can reframe your mindset and exercise just because you find it fun and enjoyable. “I like to run and feel my body challenging its limits. At the same time, I get time to enjoy the beautiful scenery that God has made, and listen to the Holy Spirit speaking to me.” Wow, just like that, exercise without needing to gain anything from it becomes something desirable, just like the enjoyable activity of playing games for fun. Guess what, you will still reap the fitness benefits of exercise when you do it. This method of refraining things is important because we don’t want to fall into the deception of getting things done by self-effort. Whatever is done by the flesh apart from God’s blessing has to be tiresomely maintained by the flesh. If you’re struggling financially, and you’re always thinking, “I need to work so that I can earn money,” you’ll be perpetually stressed out, your performance at work will de-prove, and the self-reliance hinders God’s gracious provision and favor that must be received by faith. No, you’re not working to earn money. You are a child of the wealthiest King of Heaven and earth—money is not something worth worrying about. You are always well-supplied and never lacking. God’s blessing makes you truly wealthy in all ways and He adds no sorrow nor trouble to it. “Yahweh’s blessing brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.” (Proverbs‬ ‭10:22‬ ‭WEB‬‬)Instead of feeling forced to work, work because you enjoy it, and because the people you deal with at work will benefit greatly from having Jesus as Lord. You would love to show them His glory through your words and deeds. When you think this way, you detach the goal of earning money from the action of working, and it just becomes an activity that you enjoy and look forward to—it becomes something very meaningful that you can be passionate about. When you do your best at work to shine brightly for God, to showcase Christ in you, you will still be paid, and very likely, your job performance will improve. The state of mind will change from one that’s dragging your feet to work, to one that runs in, excited to embark on the next task for Jesus’ sake so that more may glorify our Father in Heaven. Many times, God’s word says “repent”, and I agree that we can change our mind about all the ways we think negatively. Reacting by the flesh, we will always try to compensate for some lacking area by doing hard work, choosing man’s way instead of God’s way. To see a positive transformation, all it takes is a little reframing according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We don’t have to act like homeless orphans fending for themselves on the streets. We have a Father, and we are His beloved children. When your flesh tells you that you “need to” do something, reframe the whole thing by seeing it through Jesus’ finished work at the cross and what that sacrifice has accomplished for you. See how you can proactively “want to” do the task. Rest from fleshly self-efforts, and actively receive the supply of grace for every need! Satan the serpent wants you to be stressed out, defeated, and distracted from the things of God so that you are no threat to his kingdom. Discover the powerful spiritual weapons you have been equipped with, and how to always emerge victorious in spiritual warfare: https://www.miltongoh.net/store/p25/Silencing_the_Serpent%3A_How_Christians_Can_Be_Victorious_in_Spiritual_Warfare.html

Question 3

playing on my mind meaning半瓶醋 在Facebook 的評價

Accepted Answer

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 games 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 its way too much. [The following interview contains some spoilers for Nier: Automata, including the games 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 users choice award where the players themselves select the winners, so Im 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 havent 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: Thats 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 arent accustomed to playing difficult action games. We always thought of making the game into something thats 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, its not that different from our other titles, or at least we didnt feel like it was that different. The one major difference was that this was the first game that Ive 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 dont, 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-sans scenario and Okabe-sans music, once its 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 its 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 its not all revealed with the games Ive created so far. Im not sure if Ill have an opportunity to disclose that secret, but if I do, I might one day create a game that delves more into why its Emil and why I continue to wear Emils mask. I dont 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. Theres no reason! We werent 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 didnt care what we showed. Oh, wow, thats 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 cant remember them all, so Im definitely happy to take the credit without remembering why. Taura: Yeah, lets 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, its 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 thats 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 didnt 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-sans debut single. We didnt even get permission from them, so its 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. Were open to any kind of opportunities for anything, ever. Even if its 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, youve never created a direct story sequel before, theyve 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 havent 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 youre kind of in Tokyo, in an area thats more modern? I kind of want to delve into that storyline a little bit more. So if Im allowed to create a new Nier title, thats what I want to create. But thats just me speaking as a fan of the series, so I dont 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 its 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 well 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. Thats 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 youve wanted to do for a while? Yoko: Its not that I brought over that idea to Nier: Automata, the greatest reasoning why I did this is because I wanted players who havent played the original title to enjoy Nier: Automata so you can enjoy the game without knowing anything about the previous game. Thats the biggest reason why we took a storyline thats so far in the future that it really didnt have anything to do with the previous title. A common through-line for Yoko-sans games is flowers: the lunar tear in the Nier series, the flower in Zeros 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. Its the same as Emil like I talked about earlier, I just havent revealed it anywhere. There is a meaning, which is why they keep on coming back in my games, but I havent 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 theres 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 didnt want to impose my feelings and thoughts. I actually feel that its fine if some people feel its fun to kill in our games. If thats all that they feel from the game, then its fine, because its their freedom to feel what they want from the game. To answer your question, I think that its fine to have that happen. Taura: I actually have the same answer, too. I feel like if its fun to fight, thats great as a game designer. But if you feel bad to kill these cute little robots, thats 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 Im actually happy to create a game that creates those kind of differences within the players as well. Yoko: Thats 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, thats something we didnt really aim to do. Just as we mentioned earlier, Im really happy that players were able to take it on their own and experience it on their own, then we didnt just provide something for people to take it as-is on face value. I feel like its 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 2Bs design? Yoko: [laughs] Dont straight men like cute girls? Isnt that common knowledge? I didnt 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 its because I did something thats more of a taboo in the western world where I talked about sexuality or gender that openly on Twitter, but thats actually...so, I do know that what I said did not just creative positive buzz and theres some negative buzz around it as well, but I feel like it kind of has to do with the Japanese culture where were not too strict about gender and sexuality and being more open about talking about those things. I think its the same thing as reading manga as an adult, its a little bit different when you think about it because in Japan thats more common, its not considered something weird or something outlandish. With that kind of feedback that I get from fans, I just feel like its 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 games universe, is that something you feel doesnt translate across all regions? Yoko: I actually dont think [translating across regions] has a lot to do with sexuality. I dont 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 dont 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 its harder for western fans to grasp the whole stories of these games when theres Japanese-exclusive media about it expanding the lore? Yoko: Of course we cant localize everything because we have limitations in budget, so its really difficult to do all of that, but I actually think there really isnt a need to know everything, either. The meaning I have behind Emils mask or the flowers you asked about, like I said its 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. Its 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 dont 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 dont need that extra knowledge to enjoy it. It may add a little bit depth to the knowledge that you have, but you dont 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 dont 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 theres really no point in knowing everything that happens in the world. Maybe a lot things, but not everything, right? Whats more important is how you interact with people around you, immediately around you, and I think thats the same with video games. You dont 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 cant localize everything in America, or America never gets everything, thats 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 were 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, hes very laid back on Twitter, but when you actually really talk to him, hes 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 dont 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 thats definitely true. Yoko: Its a very true headline. Why do both of you think that Nier: Automata was more successful than Yoko-sans previous games or most other PlatinumGames titles? Taura: Mainly because PlatinumGames sensibilities were much better than Yoko Taros. Yoko: I actually think its 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 werent really in the red, but it wasnt 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 Im 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 doesnt 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 thats 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: Its the latter. I would want our players to freely interpret what Ive created just on their own, to grasp something for their own. I feel thats one of the interesting aspects of video games is that you are able to freely interpret whats 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 doesnt 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. Thats 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 Id like to challenge myself more. To answer your question, yes, Id like to try that, but Id also do whatever kind of jobs Im 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 cant really aim to do, so I think that Ill 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, its obviously more of a composer than a writer, but I dont 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 Ive 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 Im 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 theres 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. Im 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 dont for others. Off and on, I guess. Its 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 its really happy and joyful and theres really no reason for Link to get out of there and fight Ganondorf because youre already living happily. You dont 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 couldnt really get into liking either of the characters. I also couldnt 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 its 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, theres a limit to what you can do. If you are to create a six-minute game, because you cant 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 its only six minutes, you cant 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 youre time-limited, no matter how much you refine the quality of the world around you or the characters, if youre limited to six minutes theres just so much you could do that the game wont become good at all. That was an example for me to say that theres a limit to what you can do in video games. Okabe-san, in the music for a lot of Yoko-sans 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 theyre in the timeline of our current world, its so much in the future that it should feel kind of foreign. Thats one of the reasons why I went for language we cant 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 wasnt 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 Automatas 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 Ive always felt that it doesnt feel right when the protagonist has a happy after theyve killed so many enemies during the course of their journey. Thats why in Replicant and Gestalt, or my previous titles, the protagonist pretty much ended up dying because I didnt 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, theyve been killing a lot of enemies, but theyve also been killed by them many, many times, and regenerated many times. Theyve 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 whats 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 thats karma in a sense for humans, the way that video games grasp the true essence of humanity, whether or not thats 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, its not a Japanese title. Id actually love to see how western titles are developed, because I have no insight into how theyre 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 theres 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: Im 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 dont 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 thats telling me I shouldnt do it are about equal. Were either of you surprised by Nier: Automatas 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 didnt 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 didnt feel until this time in Yoko-sans 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 games 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 didnt 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 theres 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 doesnt really fit in with the game plan, I dont really want to do that, which is why I had that expression on my face. After we talked about it, Yoko-san mentioned that wasnt 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, its 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 dont need to have a good voice, its just to give that feeling that youre playing with all these developers. Development teams from Square Enix, PlatinumGames, and also some composers from my company who didnt work on Nier: Automata are singing in it as well. Theres 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 youve 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. Isnt that kind of similar to Drakengard 3s 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…

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