message of "xenogears" director .....................
Message from Mar 12, 1999 (THE PLAYSTATION magazine). Translation by Gwendal and Infsen
It might be a bit banal, but first of all I want to send some words of gratitude to our fans.Thank you very much!
With the discontinuation of Hakozaki Elements [abreviated "Hakoere" - the readers corner of the weekly magazine THE PLAYSTATION], Kobayashi-san who was in charge of it* said that "On this occasion let the fans know something about your real feelings...", and since it's been more than a year since the release [of XG] already and I consider it to be past the "statute of limitations" by now, I shall tell you something different to what I said in all the interviews with various magazines until now. Let me tell you about my "truthful" and real feelings.
* [though Kobayashi may have been only one of a few or the one who communicated with Takahashi.. we do not know. I think "in charge" may be a bit too strong. Well, not that important in the end, I guess. -Infsen]
Frankly, I remember not having a very good feeling at the beginning of development. We were squeezed in between the two big titles Square were promoting heavily, Chocobo ['s Mysterious Dungeon] and Parasite [Eve], so like water flowing from a high place, the world's attention was totally focused on them.
In that situation, if we'd had an owner who showed the proper sensitivity, we might not have fallen into a mental state where we were liable to get everything from stomach ulcers and twisted intestines to hernias and spot baldness. But even if we hadn't been squeezed between those two games, the company's intentions were like that anyway, so it might not have made much of a difference in practice.
In addition, there was naturally a significant "divergence" between the direction Square was aiming to take with their exisiting games as represented by FF and the direction I wanted to go in. For example, you could say that if the former are people who grew up reading Screen Magazine and Roadshow Magazine, I would be those who grew up reading OUT and Animec, maybe...(laughs)*
* [I've never heard of any of those, but as far as I can tell from Google, the first two that he compares to Square are Japanese movie magazines, while Animec was an old anime shop company/publisher that went bankrupt and closed in the 80s. OUT is a magazine they published, I think. -Gwendal]
Of course that's nothing more than "a superficial comparison", but what I said about there being a divergence [between Square's aims and mine] is absolutely true, and for a company to push things to the extent that there's such a divergence isn't just reckless, I knew [about] that from the start---that is to say, I think they were aiming for that to a certain extent.
All that said, considering how it all ended up, while I honestly thought I might go bald, in the end I didn't lose any hair, and my health wasn't ruined. It might be a bit shameless for me to say so myself...what we did was admirable. (Laughs)
Joking aside, what I meant was that I'd say the work Xenogears was some kind of special [lit: Happy/blessed] game. Those negative feelings [I had] might have started changing to somewhat happy ones from the time the cherry blossoms started blooming. [No idea if this is some sort of metaphor/idiom or he just means the time of year in the literal sense]
When the reactions from the fans started coming in and we kept climbing on the user rankings in the game magazines, that became a big inspiration to me.
But the thing that made me happiest was being allowed to write regularly for this magazine in the column called Hakoere (Xenolith at the time). It gave me an opportunity to interact with the fans in a back-and-forth manner about a work that was originally [made as] a one-way process, and that made me extremely happy as a creator. I was taken aback many times by the correspondence and letters [fans] sent in.
It is a Xenogears that reflects [lit: captures] the various viewpoints of the fans. That's where Fei, Bart and the others lived, with various facial expressions and shining with [lit.: emitting] the color of a painter's heart. It's where the characters of my own work show facial expressions even I haven't seen before...
In some ways, it's also a bit embarrassing, but again, it was a fresh [perspective] that left a deep impression on me.
With everyone's encouragement, and I'm grateful to the other magazines for this [too], we were even able to take first place for software in the '98 fiscal year, which I'm very happy about.
I'd say that was a fairly good result, so I honestly feel this has been a year where I was vindicated [lit: supported] by the fans eventually. As of now, I don't have to put on a wig, and my head doesn't pound like a tumble-dryer, which is all thanks to the fans. (Laughs) Inspired by this, in the future I want to be even more active, and hope to be able to devote all my energy towards making new games.
So, you might be thinking about sequels when you hear that, but the situation as of today, right now (March 12) is that it's completely undecided what titles Square will release after the 2000 AD fiscal year. But speaking for myself in a personal capacity, I have a growing desire to make something.
That means that right now, as for Xenogears, what's needed might be encouragement from you as fans. Please keep cherishing Xenogears with your usual enthusiasm [lit: keep watching over Xenogears with warmth].
(See the original Japanese message here.)
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