Xeno Emission E2

by Choco (Mugitani Koichi)
Translated by Gwendal

P r e f a c e Thank you very much for purchasing "Xeno Emission E2". This book shows the design work done by Koichi Mugitani since 2004 as one of the designers on the PS2 RPG "Xenosaga EPISODE II Jenseits von Gut und Böse", the mobile phone RPG "Xenosaga Pied Piper", as well as the web series "Xenosaga: A Missing Year". The concept for this book is to explain those graphical designs and the intentions I had in mind when I created them. There are also some parts that are different from what was actually used in the games, so please understand that these are not official materials. "Xenosaga" has become a huge, singular story as the series has progressed. For that reason, product-wise the series has been divided into five episodes, but from a design point of view, I wasn't necessarily working with precise episode divisions. Since [this] "Xeno Emission" follows the episode order as experienced by the players, there are differences between the actual order the work took place in and the order it is shown in this book, and there are cases where things like designs and number of revisions might differ. If this book can foster a deeper understanding of the games and a desire to create in its readers, I would be very happy.          Mugitani Koichi/CHOCO [Page 22] I had the chance to participate as product designer on the first game, "Xenosaga Episode I", (EPI from here on) and to continue on to the second game, "Episode II" (EPII from here on). With the first game, Monolith Soft itself had just gotten off the ground, so we didn't have many staff, and more importantly, the image of the work was something entirely new we were creating completely from scratch. So naturally, we were working by fumbling around in the dark. When it comes to the visual side of things, instead of having a single art director with a clear vision controlling everything, we had a style with a few skilled people in each unit coming up with the visual [style] as they saw fit and taking responsibility for making "good things". Everyone would bring what they'd created and show it to the others, saying "let's go!". That's the kind of miraculous collaboration that gave birth to the work we call "EPI". The sequel, EP2 was definitely going to have the atmosphere and look of a "Xenosaga" game, so on the development side we were constrained by what we had created ourselves and couldn't just work freely anymore. Also, if there's a hole in the presentation of the game, we have created an expectation strong enough that it could almost be called a form of fundamentalism in the mind of the consumer that it should be filled in the same style. That grows with time to become a virtual rival game [we're competing against] that represents "my expecations from the sequel I'm personally waiting for". On the development side, we end up having to fight against the previous game we created ourselves. This is why it's usually so difficult to create your second work compared to the first one. I was strict about ensuring that the design work for EP2 wouldn't end up as something to be compared to the first game in this way. [Page 24-25] A marketing-based design For the EP1 KOS-MOS design, I was inspired by the rough sketches of the head parts done by Mr. Kunihiko Tanaka and designed the whole thing accordingly. Mr. Tanaka cleaned up some more things to give birth to the final visual. Thanks to his efforts, she was able to become fairly popular among the characters who appear in the game. However, the EP1 KOS-MOS design had a lot of rough patches, and if evaluated on its own, there's no getting around the fact that it was an inexperienced design. For that reason, I've definitely wanted to do a redesign ever since we finished the first game. Since EP2 KOS-MOS served as the key visual for Xenosaga for the first time, we had a strong request from marketing to redesign her. Since we added robots called ES as a key visual in this game, they decided to use KOS-MOS for this challenging visual, as something that had already established the brand and had the power to entice consumers, as a safe choice to give a conservative visual to the ES. Actually, even after consulting with Monolith Soft, they didn't have any especially strong orders about KOS-MOS other than to keep her sexiness, but I think there was an awareness of a strong [something].* [*This one is hard to figure out. It's literally the word for "tile" (as in mahjong tile), but I can't find any references to it being used metaphorically this way. So I guess it's some kind of idiom I'm not getting.] From a story perspective, there weren't too many requests [about her], so I wanted to make sure her designed flowed naturally from the setting. That ended up being my responsibility. The concept for the reborn KOS-MOS I started by thinking about what KOS-MOS' final, evolved form would look like. KOS-MOS is a weapon, not a human being. When I really started looking into the concept of the rationality of a machine and the minimum of a human silhouette, I thought that something similar to Dural from "Virtua Fighter" might not be a bad idea, and in the process of getting there, I considered what kind of form she should take. I also think there was a common view that "if you take her clothes off, there's a coquettish body underneath. But it's classy", as can also be seen from the many doujinshis where EP1 KOS-MOS gets undressed. However, in addition to not seeing KOS-MOS' true qualities, this becomes an obstacle towards doing so. So we want her to have a visual that's sexy without being pornographic. Specifically, we decided to give her a body that's incapable of sex and incapable of being cosplayed. The challenge was that KOS-MOS might end up not being herself anymore [during this process], so I consulted with Mr. Takahashi about what her new identity should be, and we decided to keep the following: ()Lace decorations ()Hilbert Effect equipment ()The silhouette of her shoulder pads and hips ()Her hairstyle ()The beam [cannon] in her abdomen As an example of a game-focused idea, we also thought about expanding on the transmission equipment on EP1 KOS-MOS' right arm, to change it to a visual where she would be able to rapidly switch out her armaments or [aspects of] her body to suit the circumstances. It would be an ultra-light body resembling plain bone (illustration 2). The heavy equipment frames wouldn't be part of the robot itself, but would rather be [able to be] swapped out with the robot's limb modules (illustration 3). The core module with the transmission equipment applied to both hands and legs (illustration 4). The body that would be used (for example) while with the party, with a minimum output suitable for being near humans (illustration 1). [Yes, these two last sentences feel a bit disjointed from the rest, but as far as I can see they were written that way] We also thought about the Vessel of Anima-like core parts that would be like KOS-MOS' black box when installed. LEFT-HAND BOX What's "SEASHELL"? "Ver.2" is something we've started calling her redesign after the announcement of Episode 3. During development, we just said "EP2 KOS-MOS", but since there wasn't in-story term to distinguish her [from the old version], we gave her [new version] a name. Since no one ever actually uses it, I'm the only one who calls her that. By the way, "seashell" is one type within the cosmos of flowers. LEFT-HAND IMAGE CAPTION KOS-MOS wearing Vector uniform [Page 26] The birth of the semi-transparent body I had an idea for EP1 KOS-MOS where she'd take off the glove on her right hand and a weapon would come out, but since there were so many limitations with the game engine [lit.: inside the game], it turned into a visual where the replacement would happen in a flash of light instead. I thought that the parts connecting the transmission module to the main body would be greatly damaged from all that assembly and re-assembly unless they were made from a flexible material. So I added semi-transparent gelantinous parts made from a new, mysterious, cutting-edge material to the transmission device. Therefore, these gleatinous parts and the visual of the super-lightweight body came into being along with the Dural concept, ending in the semi-transparent gelatinous body. I was excited when I came up with the design lined up here, since it manages to kill four birds with one stone. It has a striking, high-impact visual and a fresh [feel to the] design, while allowing all of KOS-MOS' identites to co-exist and putting the sexiness of the entire female body on full display. But when I presented it at a meeting with Monolith, no one agreed with my assertion of "don't you think this transparent body is sexy!?". Whaat? I draw the female form all the time for a living, and what we had here was something far from the ordinary. That aside, there were also problems with not having enough polygons to display a semi-transparent body. Since we were moving to a more realistic style for the faces with this game, there were fewer polygons left for the body, making it harder to show both the inside and the outside at the same time. And the low-poly battle models ended up just look shiny instead of being transparent due to the environment mapping. [The last sentence cuts off halfway through, so I'll include it with the next page instead] Top caption: (Illustration 1) A design showing the almost-finalized form Bottom caption: (Illustration 2) The concept for the body - there's a cooling fan beneath the wig Box: I envisaged the idea of the gelatinous parts like this: "for a constructed body, super-lightweight bones would probably be sufficient, but to utilize the empty spaces more effectively, they would be aggregations of nanomachines made of a material that could also serve as a condenser". After the DS game, they became officially known as Anti-G Gel. [Page 27] To make sure the image would match up with the high-poly model, I reduced the degree of transparency by quite a bit compared to what I initially had in mind. (Illustration 1) shows the design just before I had the final form, but there weren't enough polygons for the slightly protruding parts and the waist since they were too complicated, so I made some improvements as seen in (illustration 3). During EP1, I didn't really have to worry about polygon counts all that much, but for EP2 I often had to change the designs themselves due to that problem. The character design change As you all know, there was a drastic change in character design concept for EP2, and along with the faces, head to body proportions also became more realistic. Since the female characters who had had a head to body ratio of 6.5 in EP1 no longer had their manga-style body shape and ended up with a ratio as high as 8, [there were problems like] their necks becoming fat or their torsos becoming stretched. Since KOS-MOS would still be using a design made for a manga-like body style which didn't fit at all with a 8 head to body ratio and the resulting proprotions, I tried to apply clever techniques such as giving her a choker to make her neck look thinner, or adding details to hide her silly-looking flanks. I would imagine that all the players reading this book have many thoughts about character design problems like these, but the truth is that it was a strategy that failed to achieve its intended result. Maybe you'll get to hear a better explanation [a bit unsure about this part], but I have to write this down clearly. I was opposed to the character design for EP2. However, when you're working in product design, following your client's orders is the most important thing, and your personal desires have to come second. It's also very important when working in a group to preserve your relationship of trust with the client and not to lose sight of the goal. For a series of character design changes, I had specific objections I tried to voice. My opinion is that they made these changes not because they were changing the game to their own liking, but rather because they thought they were improving its value as a product. In response to this, Monolith said it would be good this way. Once I had a clear answer, the correct thing for me to do as an outside designer in this situation would not be to insist on having my own way, but rather to trust my client and work to understand their values, and contribute towards increasing the commercial value of the project as a whole. Image caption: The design of the choker. It's not a centipede. It's the cosmos. [Page 28] The design of KOS-MOs' peripherals []Large machine gun A weapon made to be used during an important scene in the story. I [originally] had an order for a shotgun, and made two suggestions as seen in (illustration 1). But since they changed the scene to feature rapid firing instead, I ended up changing it into a machine gun, as shown in the illustrations below. I'd been arguing for using realistic caseless guns ever since the EP1 days, but [when I actually tried it] it didn't look good at all, so I didn't go for it after all. []Transmission cannon It's a huge R-canon [sic]. When they decided not to use it, I thought I'd redesign it so it could make an appearance in EP3 instead. []Blade These are proposals for various types of R-blades. I had many chances this time to play around by suggesting many different models [of things] for them to choose from. I quite liked the type seen in (illustration 4), but it turned out there weren't enough polygons available, so in the end I had to settle for a simpler final version. []Drill and small handgun As seen in (illustration 3), the drill somehow ended up becoming more reminiscent of Jashugan [think he's referring to this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jashugan]. Since she didn't have a holster for her handgun on her leg, I designed a small object for it on her chest, but they didn't use it. Weren't they aware that the combined resin unit would come apart? The Great Japanese Techical Research Institute's Mr.T [Yeah, there's some kind of joke here I'm not quite getting...] []Dragon's teeth An upgraded version of the dragon's skull. It looks like it's made from cardboard (ry [sic] Image caption: (Illustration 1) Two shotgun suggestions [Page 30-34] The concept for the new ES robots Instead of the small model power suits AGWS that appeared in Episode 1, we will have the ES series, robots a bit smaller than mobile suits, more like Patlabor robots [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patlabor]. Per the instructions, the particulars of the design should be a dual cockpit and be equipped with an Anima Vessel reactor. Other than that, the order left the rest up to me. So I worried about not knowing the characteristics of the Anima Vessels and having to make an unspecified design. As I've mentioned before, it was decided that the ES [series] should have a safe design from a marketing standpoint. As I've explained in an earlier issue of this publication, "Xeno emission E1", the design of the AGWS VX series tended too far towards the minimal and innovative, and keeping that failure in mind, I wanted to strive towards making [the new design] an item that would increase the commercial value of Xenosaga as a product. In contrast to the VX series, my design philosophy consisted of going more back to my roots and shifting to a conservative, classical, exciting decorative style, while still trying to include as much of my own identity as I could without alienating casual users. I didn't take it lightly. I approached it as a craftsman. I decided on a design with the guideline of making it easy for casual users to understand, like "Champ Road"* or "Strike Gundam". The order was for four robots, so the first thing I did was to make clearly distinct silhouettes and come up with design keywords for four individual concepts (Illustration 1). Based on these initial materials, I was able to proceed effectively with the design to the end without losing sight of the initial concept. Really, the silhouettes were almost identical to the end result. The Vessel of Anima Smoothly integrating the cockpit I'd added onto the organic Anima was interesting, and I had ideas such as giving it bars like the chords of a harp (illustration 2). I worried about it for a while, but I was able to do it when I finally got the keyword "spine" from Mr. Takahashi. I decided on the visually characteristic cockpit environment of the ES series by attaching two seats to the spine. (Illustration 3) A multi-part transforming robot However, KOS-MOS' personal machine Dinah was different from this approach. That was because I got an order for a multi-part transforming robot. The order was for something that would incorporate these three phases: spaceship--robot--KOS-MOS. The idea we had when we designed KOS-MOS' main body, of a body frame capable of supporting heavy equipment, was key to the development of KOS-MOS' final combined form. As for the facial parts of the humanoid robot, they would be equipped on KOS-MOS like a shellfish in its shell, and I used a design (illustration 4) based on the "dendrobium methodology" (as I call it) that made it possible for even an avant-garde installation [of the equipment] to be accepted without opposition, instead of just doing it the expected way. However, this was again a very eccentric style, it was too complicated, and we didn't have enough polygons, so it was scrapped due to these problems. Then I had the idea of having glass covers for KOS-MOS' compartments (illustration 5, next page), but fundamentally, we weren't able to implement it in accordance with the "dendrobium methodology" mentioned above. And since the only thing left was meaningless complexity, I decided to omit that entire phase of the transformation. I judged that there was no way I could smoothly integrate the spaceship, the robot's transformation mechanism and the style, both artistically and time-wise, so I integrated the robot into a separate cruiser unit using the "Re-GZ" method*, making it work with both the style and the transformation [method]. (Part of being a professional is speaking out and stating that something can't be done when you know it can't.) I originally planned that this cruiser would be summoned as a special attack. To elaborate, the ES units are supposed to be enormously strong weapons that are capable of taking on entire army divisions, as if possessed by a god. But if we give them conventional armaments, they're restricted to conventional attack strength. So with that problem in mind, we equipped each ES unit with a "cruiser unit" as an item capable of freely utilizing all that energy, which = "capable of creating a simple warp using that huge output" = "a weapon that can be summoned by releasing energy". The one equipped on Dinah was the only one that was actually used during the story, so I was happy to have the chance to show all this theory playing out in practice during an event. [*Apparently a Gundam reference of some kind.] The daffodil flower The keyword for the Dinah's design is the daffodil (narcissus). The main body of the Dinah is characterized by carrying a big backpack, but when you consider the Mobile Suit-like main body and the large backpack separately, you might get a sense that they don't balance each other very well. However, this robot will be on display on the game screen, so it has a different purpose for its existence in the first place compared to something like a Gundam action figure standing on your desk, where you can easily appreciate its details.You won't see the close-ups of the faces of these robots during the game, so it becomes a matter of designing them with the purpose of conveying a general impression of the whole, to the extent of being "OO-ish". [Think this refers to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Suit_Gundam_00] If I can convey the impression of "a beautiful, floating mass that's like a flower" to the player when he or she sees the Dinah during the game, I've succeeded. Incidentally, the name "Dinah" that is used during the game wasn't set when I first got the order [to design it]. Whenever I'm assigning a name to something, no matter what, it becomes an ongoing design process to make that entity come to life. As you can see from the concept art [I think, but a bit unsure about this word], we initially gave it the code name "A-1", but I personally called it "Narcissus", after its design keyword. The details of the complete Dinah model Even if I said the big picture is more important than the details, [the design] loses its persuasive power as a product if you neglect them too much. To make sure the detail [lit.: volume of information] doesn't overshadow the big picture, it's important to have a reason in mind when creating things. Technically, KOS-MOS is the name of the entire system, not just the main body, and Dinah is one more module in this system. For that reason, the anti-omega mark the head shares with EP1 KOS-MOS also says "KOS-MOS" rather than "Dinah". For the upper cockpit, by incorporating the glass covered cockpit idea from page 32 for the forehead parts and making the Vessel of Anima itself and the complicated light it emits visible, I tried to create the impression of something resembling the eyes of a shojou manga heroine. The belt-shaped parts on the shoulders were inspired by Fuujin-sama's robe of feathers, and their purpose is to give the feeling of a seamless transition between the body and the backpack. There are also some parts on the lower part of the thighs, below the knee joint, that are flattened against the shins when [the machine is] standing upright. When the knee bends, those parts fold out and give the machine a more interesting silhouette. I have a fondness for making robot designs without ankles, so I always advocate eliminating the ankle joint when I work. But since I got a specific order to include it this time, I restrained myself and tried to give it a pair of small shoes instead. Since they're black, they become almost invisible when [the machine] is flying through outer space, so it almost looks like it's specially designed for space flight? Something resembling a spinal pad can be seen on the back, and this is the exposed, armored Vessel of Anima. In my original harp concept, the Vessel of Anima would protrude from the body to showcase the unique characteristic of the E.S. units, but for the final form I ended up with something a bit more restrained. This spinal visual has already been used by Motörhead, the Orbital Frames [from Zone of the Enders] and others, so it's not particularly original, but it was an inevitable design based on the features [needed]. The tandem cockpit in the neck is still a characteristic feature of the E.S. Since I wanted to prioritize the beauty of a the seamless line from the chest to the head, I omitted any joints. And since the neck had to be able to turn duing gameplay, it actually twists like rubber to rotate the head. It's too small to make out clearly when playing the game, but I shudder to think about what it must be like to be inside that cockpit. [Page 36] The secrets of Pairudaon [this is apparently some kind of aircraft that attaches to the titular robot in Mazinger Z, but I can't find out what it's called in English] Since I had an order from the beginning that the Tub Bike should be like Pairudaon and combine well with KOS-MOS and Dinah, so I designed them as a set. But when I was bringing various aspects of it together, it didn't really mesh well. Mainly on points of scale. Honestly, the Tub Bike was too big and wouldn't fit inside Dinah's head, [so I had to use] tricks as seen in (illustration 2). [The word used literally means "lie", but I assume he means "trick" here] Unlike in anime, it's harder to do this kind of trickery with polygon models, but I was given the chance to carry on the bluff uisng logically constructed peripherals and the power of the story. Thank you very much for that, Monolith staff. Since Dinah also has earpieces with the same design as those worn by KOS-MOS, she has the impression of a scaled-up MOS-MOS. The ES shared cockpit The Vector-brand ES units are equipped with tandem seats inside the transforming triangular prism glass area. [Page 37] Since I went with a monitor showing the entire sky and linear seats, it was okay in terms of [camera, in-game] direction to just leave the cockpit seats in the background. However, it became hard to make out the border between outside and inside this way, so I placed a roller bar in the middle to suggest the existence of the front glass cover. But during the game, the camera was completely outside the roller bar, so... The control column slides above the rail of the control arm, in a way that ensures both MOMO and Ziggy with their widely differing height would fit inside. Also, to make it clear which machine they're riding in even during cockpit interior scenes, each part has glowing lights that flash in different colors. [Page 38] Dinah's armaments Dinah's built-in weapons consist of a rocket punch and a beam saber. To be honest, the rocket punch was something I was ordered to add when the design was already completed, so it somehow felt out of place and like a part forcibly cut off from the rest. Since I didn't like the kind of super robot-like direction where only the arms can move around freely, I tried adding the wire. But in the game, the flashly light effects made it hard to tell what was really going on. For the beam saber, my initial plan was to have the blade extend out from the elbow. But that resulted in an angle that would make the sword hard to use, so I took some parts that seemed like they might work and repurposed them for the beam saber in hindsight. [Slightly unsure about the last part, but should be along those lines] Unexpectedly, the opening for the beam ended up facing exactly to the front side of the spaceship form too, so I hoped to see them take advantage of that fact in the game. [Page 39] The transformation and combination sequence In the story, Dinah and KOS-MOS' combination scene is very important and is supposed to surprise the player, so it was necessary to hide the fact that Dinah is actually a humanoid robot (though honestly, there was plenty of information hinting at it before that scene). Consequently, I tried to pay attention to two points; a transformation sequence where her humanoid form would be minimally visible, and that the cockpit wouldn't be in an impossible place even when she was in spaceship form. The idea of making the two waist binders and the loincloth-like parts join in a straight line was actually something I added afterwards, and it hit me the same way as the theory of continental drift did Wegener when I looked at the design drawings and thought, "these parts would fit perfectly together, wouldn't they!?" To be honest, I didn't have too much confidence that the parts I'd rendered by freehand would fit together like I planned, so I'm very grateful to the staff who joined it all together magnificently. [Page 40] Vessel of Anima The Vessels of Anima are essential items, even being depicted on the back of the logo. I designed their details alongside those of the Zohar. Their most charming feature is the ears. To the left are the custom cases for the Vessels of Anima. Since I didn't get any particular orders for them and I could designed them however I liked, I [something] modelled them.* I like close-fitting cases in real life, too. Gun cases, camera cases, blister packs and so on. [*Sorry about that one, but I couldn't find that particular expression anywhere ([][][][]/pabuyouni). Would really appreciate it if some of you guys who know Japanese could help me out here.] [Page 41] Tub Bike The maintenance tank KOS-MOS sleeps in appeared in EP1, but this time I received an order that it should [be able to] transform into a bike as well. Seriously? "Please don't order absurd things like that, Mr. Takahashi"...those were my thoughts. I basically added tires to the tank's design, but since they got in the way, I quickly decided on a one-wheel concept. I thought that since there would have to be joints all over it now to enable it to transform, the construction wouldn't be robust enough. So I came up with a transformation mechanism for the final design where it'd move in reverse along the roof rail and close a cover (illustration 2). To make sure the player would understand that it had the same features as the maintenance tank from EP1, I kept the impressive details on top of the bonnet and the rear antenna. I also suggested that the coloring should match with Dinah's white and the old maintenance tank's grey. As for sleeping above the tandem seats, I came up with it to make the person sleeping there visible. But it looks a bit painful, so I'm not sure how comfortable it'd be to sleep there. Box: []What does "Thyrsos" mean? I freely came up with the name, thinking, "let's give some life to the tub bike too!". It reads as "tyurusosu" [in katakana]. It's the name of a staff held by Dionysus, the god of drink in Greek mythology. There's a lot of terms taken from the Bible rather than mythology in the Xeno series, so something from a slightly different language and roots stands out a little. I tried making the model number feel like something from a [real] bike too. [Such as] Ducati, maybe. [Page 42] Transformation mechanism It was hard to do any kind of trickery with the Tub Bike's transformation mechanism, and hard to inspect it, so I bravely tried modelling it myself in Shade to get a good look at it. Since I spent the time and effort to do that, I was able to fit the right parts together properly. While it looks like the parts fit together beautifully when it's in maintenance tank mode, there's actually a lot of gaps if you look at it from below. So if you were to turn over in your sleep inside, you'd probably fall out. Since I did the modelling, I was able to kill three birds in one stone; I could convey the animation for the complex transformation mechanism to Monolith, make a template for the proper passes for the specifications clean-up, and more. Details on the bike As someone who is [sorry, but I can't find this word for some reason] myself, I tried adding realistic details to the bike, but it seems like there was some big-shot at Monolith who was absurdly fixated on having more of them for the Tub Bike model shown on the game packaging. It was crammed full of details you'd see on a real bike, such as the interior of the brake pods, high-mounted braking ramps that weren't in the specifications, a properly opening trunk and more. [Page 43] For the limited edition packaging, I had the chance to have it stand upright, and that was a fortunate design, since it led to people at anime conventions abroad making 1/1-sized [models]. But in the game itself it hardly moved along the ground at all, and when it appeared it was suddenly flying around in space. I might have been the one person in the world who was most surprised by that scene. ...why even make it a bike in the first place? Mechs doing bike< >robot transformations have a long history in the Japanese anime and manga scene, and when you look at pioneering products such as Megazone 23 and Ganferon with their very tall transforming machines, it becomes clear that I still have a long way to go, still struggling on the maintenance tank< >bike transformation level. YAMATO's Garland was released the other day, and I was really moved by its design along the same lines. Also, the Tub Bike is very similar to Jun the Swan's bike from the OVA Gatchaman (1994). I thought I'd come up with a very fresh design, so it was a shock to find out I was completely wrong. Box: The roof rail [Page 44] Spacecraft These are parts to give Dinah the option to become a large cruiser by combining with the "Re-GZ" system. By omitting a complicated transformation mechanism, I had the chance to produce a design with a focus on a styling and a high degree of freedom. The name "Monophyllus" was also derived from the name of a flower. The design concept is that it looks like a flower in full bloom when it combines with Dinah. In terms of game direction, there was an intention to hide the fact that Dinah is a humanoid robot, but it might not be so hard to find out when you view it from below. I really only had a rough approximation for how the firing mechanism for the phase transition cannon would work when it combined with Dinah when she was back in humanoid form, so I was very happy to see it make an actual reappearance in the game and looking good. Even if it was just the one time. [Page 46] A risk-free design Asher is the first ES unit I designed. The design of this machine strongly reflects the demands of marketing, rather than the demands of the [game] setting. I also wrote about this in my comments for Dinah, but the ES series had a conservative design with a mission to make sure they would be received well by the market. And since he's the one who appears in the beginning [of the game], Asher had to take on the role of carrying the pliers. [Yeah, not sure about that last part...maybe some kind of idiom?] Top caption: (Illustration 1) Initial sketch Bottom caption: (Illustration 2) Two horns idea [Page 47] Since Jr. would be the main pilot, my initial concepts were "boy" and "Bambi". Thin arms and legs with elongated ends, sharp lines radiating outwards [a little unsure about this part], it's all a huge heaping of ketchup to achieve the kind of taste a child would appreciate. Since it was the kind of design where I tried not to be [too] adventurous, the final form can already be seen from the initial sketch (illustration 1). However, I felt like I had to include at least some of my personal identity in the design, so I reused some details from the VX-7000 [series] that appeared in EP1 (illustration 1). That legacy can be seen in the shoulders, knees, heels and head parts. Those head parts were a bit too similar to ES Judah, though, so I scrapped them. I named this mech "Antler", and on hearing that, they suggested an idea on the Monolith side, saying "Well, how about giving it two horns?". And so the characteristic head [design] with horns was born. There are probably some of you who've figured this out already, but the ES Judah that appeared in EP3 was actually designed before Asher. By the way, there aren't any illustrations of Asher on the color pages in this book, and that's because the coloring was handled by Monolith staff. [Page 48] Asher's armaments Asher's main bombardment combat body has gun mounts on every part, so even if he doesn't have any weapons in his hands, he's still equipped with half-embedded ones. It wasn't used in the game, but he's also got an arm that can extend from his thigh, functioning as a weapon mount[ing platform]. []Beam rifle Asher's default equipment, called "A.B.R." in the game. Honestly, I only drew a rough sketch of it (illustration 3). I'm very thankful to the modellers for modelling it and cleaning it up beautifully. The lack of bullets in the introductory scene was realistic. []Lancer shield I received an order for "a shield that could also become a lancer [guess he means 'lance'?]". I drew up a design for it even though I was unable to bring out that feature [properly] from such an uncooperative form, but it looks like they used it as his default equipment [anyway]. I [mistakenly] made a specifications illustration where he had the machine gun that was supposed to go in his right hand in his left, and the shield that was supposed to go in his left hand in his right, and for some reason they just implemented it like that. []Large rifle Because of the cruiser units that were designed as suitable weapons to be called in by the ES, it looked [too] big next to the Naglfar cannon, so it was downsized for the game and became one of the special attacks instead. Since they were [supposed to function as] cruisers, the cruiser units were also equipped with rear logical drives. Left caption: (Illustration 1) Forearm weapon mounts Right caption: (Illustration 2) Shoulder weapon mounts. The large rifle goes here. [Page 50] Maintenance cage This is a maintenance cage I envisioned would be used on the assault landing craft and in the Elsa's hangar. The plates holding the mechs in place attach themselves to each machine and fix them in place like a transforming blister pack. Well, actually, it's enough that the polygons making up the plates mesh into the mechs, so I created a design I thought they might enjoy [at Monolith], since it wouldn't have a very high modelling cost. There weren't any scenes taking place inside the Elsa's hangar, but the cage was used during the initial construction scene. For Asher's construction scene, I was once again pressured into adding details that weren't in the specifications illustration. I managed to give him a distinct feeling from the usual mech [design] by giving him an organic, white, bone-like endoskeleton, so it turned out well. [Page 51] A conservative design with a particular flavor This is the third ES unit I designed. It was part of the premise that the ES series were supposed to be conservative, but since Asher took care of [much of] that role, I could spread my wings a little more with Zebulun. I received an order along those lines from Monolith. So without restraint, I... Following from this, I proposed a lolita concept to suit MOMO as the main pilot. This could also be called a conservative design, depending on the person who sees it. Each of the three units in the ES series are designed to appeal to a different set of existing values, so opinion will be divided based on the viewer over which one he or she prefers. I designed them with the assumption that few people would like all of them, and that this would be the correct reaction. (Illustration 2) shows a doll in the likeness of a young girl, which I used as a template. I aimed at turning her into a robot. That character ended up with a beautiful, well-proportioned female form, but Zebulun didn't turn out so well in that regard. [I think that's about it, but it looks like there's some sort of tricky idiom pair in use here again, so I could be wrong] I also had some plans for the kind of distinctive silhouette seen in (illustration 3), but there should be some limits to speading one's wings after all, so I scrapped it. Box caption: (Illustration 2) Little Miss Template Bottom caption: (Illustration 3) Bulbous bow style [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulbous_bow] [Page 53] Zebulun's armaments Zebulun uses a long-range combat style based on Aerods, but since I received an order that they wanted me to add some kind of blades to his feet for close combat purposes, I attached the type of knives seen in (illustration 1). He's designed without arms, a call-back to Crescens, designed by Mr. Ishigaki. However, since the position of the hands growing out of the Aerods is the same as the one the arms would be in, I envisioned that this would make him seem familiar at first glance, when the viewer doesn't notice [the lack of arms at first]. But since he had to move during the game, it seems like he wasn't treated very well. [Yeah, not too sure about this one...maybe he thinks Zebulun got too little screentime or something?] Special attack: great shuriken Did you feel Zebulun had a thin waistline? The plan was to have a great Aerod cruiser unit attached there, but it was omitted in the game. It was changed to a shuriken shape, which would be thrown with high power. By the way, Zebulun's code name, "SUMIZOME", is one of the brand of Sakura goods. [No idea what he's referring to here, sorry] [Page 54, SHION UZUKI] Clothing design? My job was supposed to be mech design, but for some reason I also received a request to design her outfit. I was given the task of [designing outfits for] the three characters Shion, MOMO and Jr. The image of a strong woman While Shion's outfit in EP1 was a uniform, it was rather coquettish, or rather gave her a sexiness that men would enjoy looking at, almost to the point of sexual harassment. On the other hand, for EP2 I received an order for an outfit that would emphasize her confidence and independence as a strong woman, rather than serving the purpose of titillating men. I initially submitted a design emphasizing only Shion as a hand-to-hand fighter (illustration 1), but that appearance went completely in the wrong direction. By looking at a concrete example such as Figaro Japan, the concept became easy to understand. Figaro actually tends not to titillate men, and since the kind of hot-blooded young men I'd imagine would make up a large part of the player base [of the Xenosaga games] wouldn't find it interesting at all even if they were to read it, I don't think they'd be able to relate much to Shion's EP2 outfit. Box caption: (Illustration 1) Shion the street fighter [Page 55] Fluttering outfit Since the image for the model was Milla Jovovich['s look] at the time, I received an order that it'd be okay to include lots of flutterng parts for her outfit. This lead to doing it in a competition style again, where I'd submit many different concepts. From A,B,C,D on the left page, they kept A and B, and I developed each image on the right page. I didn't really know what the fluttering parts were intended for, so just included a lot of them. Since I didn't know about the character design change yet at that time, I based Shion's head to body proportion on EP1, and also included her glasses. [Page 56] Final design Which is to say, a clean-up of the design that survived [the competition]. The fluttering parts on her back really weren't needed at all, so I did some corrections after what's shown here. The coloring was decided on the Monolith side, but I personally imagine a black leather jacket with a beige tank top. Something a little bit earthy, right? Instinctively, it's hard for me to work in the fall, since it doesn't really agree with me [lit.: is incapable of sharing my values]. (Illustration 2) shows the construction of the flutterng jacket. The construction near the elbows is actually a little different from what was used in the game. It might have been difficult to make it reappear due to the polygons [or something]? I remember thinking that I wanted to brush up the design a little more and adjust it more to take the character design change into account. It seems like Monolith designed the hairstyle with a lot of barrettes to go with her outfit. Box caption: (Illustration 2) Fluttering [parts] composition sketch [Page 57] Shion's weapon This is an upgraded version of the MWS, which had a quite striking form in EP1. I designed it fit to the back of her hand to allow for a smarter way to carry it around. I also made some concepts with a small arms-style design, like (illustration 2). To make it as convenient a weapon as possible, I had the idea of giving it the capability to swap in and out various weapon modules. But it was hard to make this work technically in the game, so we settled on giving it the external appearance of the sword module. (Illustration 3) is a concept image for Shion's outfit. Figaro is French. [The] Alfa [Romeo] is Italian. [The last bit is some kind of slang I'm not sure about, maybe something like "which one is better/do you like more?"] Box caption: (Illustration 3) [Shion] with an Alfa Romeo [Page 58, MOMO] The principals of "that flavor" Unlike with Shion, those it were meant to appeal to would easily be able to relate to MOMO's outfit, so it was easy to design. For MOMO, there wasn't any story reason for her to change her clothes, so it became a design informed only by the demands of marketing. On the other hand, since I didn't have anyone to discuss the design with, I tried making a lot of [concepts]. The one single order I received was to try to avoid the panty shots that had been a problem in EP1. Following from this, I considered various types of clothing that would help prevent panty shots, such as women's work pants, culottes and drawers. At the time, I [or "they?"] hadn't thought about MOMO turning into an "attack form" yet, so I came up with things like a violin-shaped accessory (illustration 1). From the initial group of potential designs, the one with the women's work pants made it through. I ended up bringing back concept B to reuse for EP3. [Page 59] Correcting the visual sense of the head-to-body ratio I designed MOMO's outfit after learning about the character design change. I had no choice to increase her head-to-body ration to match the other characters, but since there was such a big gap between this and her EP1 image, I came up with the idea of giving her a cap to mask the discrepancy. It was a visual correction to make her head volume seem bigger and her head-to-body ration seem smaller. I also wanted to get rid of the hair decorations from her EP1 incarnation that no longer worked, but after seeing the introduction of EP2, I thought this idea [with the cap] might be effective on its own. Regarding her outfit, the Mizrahi Laboratory uniform she wore in EP1 somehow ended up becoming more flashy. The twisting hems near her stomach and the white, fluttery parts near her waist are part of a visual correction to emphasize her high waist and gloss over her head-to-body ratio. About her work pants, the line from her crotch to her buttocks stands out even more than with a tight skirt, which I thought would be a sexy idea for those who could see it. But it seems like it was so easy to pick up on that there were many people who sought stimulus [through it]. Huh? Did I take it too far again? [Page 60] MOMO's final design I did what I could. That's my opinion on it. [I designed] her ornaments to match Mr. Tanaka's organic style. Her mantle grew out of the big collar she had in EP1. I divided it into two parts, and the slit was included to make it easier to move on the polygon model. I made two concepts, one with over-knee stockings where the skin on her legs would be showing, and one with panty stockings where it wouldn't be. They [or "I", a bit hard to tell] ended up with the former. After I had MOMO wear them in the final design, I was very happy to discover that stockings with lace actually exist in real life, and that young women used to wear them in the past. I wanted to make use of that fact some day. [Page 61] Compound bow This is the weapon MOMO uses in her attack style. I was a complete novice when it came to archery, so I vigorously immersed myself in study. There's apparently a publication called "Archery Monthly", but at the time I couldn't get hold of it. After doing some research, I discovered a compound bow that could be handled easily even by a physically weak young girl. I also found its complex form quite stimulating, so I based my design on this. I wanted to include more stabilizers and so on, but I held myself in check since it looked like I might lose sight of the goal of the design. The firing stance illustration shown below was used unchanged for a publicity 3D CG shot. That kind of response makes me happy as a designer. [Page 63] Clothes for a rich man's pastime The order for jr.'s clothes itself was "cowboy". Apart from that, I also suggested the image of an actor in a bitter movie. [Think this is some kind of cultural term I'm not getting properly] Consequently, I decided on a concept of "a wealthy feel" and "the feeling of wearing those clothes". I thought it'd be good if I could just bring out the feeling of "a rich man's pastime". I probably played around too much with the first image, ending up with a regular gag, so I scrapped it. Again, I tried drawing and suggesting various concepts. I did a bit more research into cowboy clothing, and it seems like Wrangler blue jeans, chaps, a belt with a big buckle and tapering tip-toe boots are indispensable. I thought a SAA would be the natural gun for a cowboy to use it, but it seems like the government decided on their guns. Then there was the long coat I had an order to include. I gave it a big collar to make him seem taller, being a child, and my intention was to make it feel a bit like the wrong size. But it seems like they corrected it to make it fit him properly in the game. I tried to make the gun belt on his right side slightly reminiscent of a Baltic eye patch. The pattern on the coat The parts on the middle of his back were a fight between plain and wealthy waged through the material. Or that's what I wanted to do, but since that didn't work [lit.: had no meaning] on the game screen, I tried inserting a design with a copy of the Durandal's wings instead. I think it's cute in an impish sort of way. [Page 66, Cryfish] Assault landing craft You might not even remember this ship, but it was Asher's mothership that came warping in during the beginning of EP2. Even if I completed the design in a fairly short period of time, I still spent time on it, and it had a rather brief appearance in the game. Since it's Vector-brand, it's in the same style as things like the Woglinde. It's a state-of-the-art ship from 14 years ago, equipped with both a common engine and the logical drive propulsion device they started using at that time. The center of the ship has a hangar to house mobile [lit.: actived] weapons, and both side of the ship are equipped with laser cannons. Since it's also an assault landing craft capable of atmospheric flight, it's equipped with a heat-resistant underside and a canard. For some reason or another there was a lot of diagonally connecting parts, and since I did that job myself, I regretted that [decision] while I was rendering it. I left the interior of the hangar to the Monolith staff. "CRYFISH" means "crayfish". I came up with that name from their appearance. [Page 68] Second Miltia fleet This is the "Second Miltia fleet", the illusionary fleet probably remembered by even fewer people than the Cryfish. We catch a glimpse of them during the scene early in EP2 where the Elsa docks at the spaceport. Apart from that, I can only remember a few clips of a few seconds myself. I spent days doing design work just for the sake of those few seconds. This is the kind of dilligent work that's necessary to make a good product. Maybe. The original design for the fleet was done by Mr. SH a RP [that's what it says], and I did the clean-up work. Since they were made by Vector in the story, I did them in the same sequence as the Cryfish and Woglinde. But since they were old models that would been in use more than 14 years ago, I made sure to give them common (reaction) engines instead of logical drives (illustration 1). Since these engines are units with a common scale, it becomes easy to judge the scale for large and small ships by embedding lots of them in the rear of the ships. Again, with the bridges and things like that, I tried to give them a non-stylish feel to make them look like old models. [Page 73, A Missing Year: KOS-MOS] KOS-MOS local combat systems This is the local combat system KOS-MOS deployed on the occasion of the Gnosis terrorism incident. Regarding how EP1 KOS-MOS used her body meant for simulated combat just as it was, this was an example of her local combat systems functioning how they were supposed to, by allowing her to arm herself to suit the parameters of the mission. The concept was "Solid Snake in plain view", with equipment to allow her to enter enemy territory alone and carry out her mission in situations where external supplies of weapons and other resources would be cut off. For that purpose, she's equipped with things she normally wouldn't be, such as spare ammunition, a knife, body armor and other items to give her [gear] a higher degree of redundancy. Her waist is also equipped with a propulsion device to allow her to perform a rapid dash. The sensors I added to her headgear allows remote observation of KOS-MOS' activities. It also has a self-detonation feature to preserve classified information by destroying KOS-MOS' black box, in case she becomes incapacitated or hacked by the enemy. As for "A Missing Year", the content itself turned out to be slightly smaller in scope than I'd expected, so there's a lot of designs [I did] that never saw the light of day in the actual story. [Page 78, A Missing Year: Dinah] ES Dinah aerial combat systems This is a design for Dinah's aerial combat systems, which wasn't used in "A Missing Year". Dinah originally had a large flight unit, but I decided to equip her with a flight unit [designed to] achieve greater maneuverability during atmospheric flight and a longer operational time [instead]. Unlike Asher, Reuben and the others, who needed to have flight units added to them, Dinah would be able to mobilize for a mission simply by swapping out some parts. The changes I made compared to the EP2 Dinah was in her shoulder units and waist binders. Her waist binders are [now] equipped with missile launchers. Her new armament, the 60mm3 Vulcan Cannon, was used in EP3 during the game. [Page 80, ES REUBEN PROTOTYPE] ES Reuben Prototype This is a machine Jin was given to use by the Contact Subcomittee following the Gnosis terrorism incident. In terms of the design work itself, I made the EP3 version of Reuben first. But in the sequence of the games, this one comes first, so that's why I'll introduce it [here first]. [At least I think that's what he means, but it's a bit ambiguous] The concept for the machine in terms of the story was a general-purpose mech with heavy armor, or in other words, a machine that would be able to do anything on its own. However, a machine based on this kind of idea often ends up not being able to do anything very well. Learning from this machine, Jin stripped away the heavy armor completely and ended up creating a much more offensively-minded one in EP3. Flight unit This is flight unit I added on, of the same type as the one used by Asher. To allow such a heavy machine to fly, I gave it an even bigger propulsion unit than the one used by Asher, but it folds up and becomes small after landing so mission activities can continue. Caption: (Illustration 1) Initial concept [Page 81, AMWS ANGELINA] Doctus' personal machine This is the personal robot for Doctus, affiliated to Scientia. Since I'd already come up with a design for Doctus herself, I used that image as a starting point for [the robot's] design. The order was for a robot that could go toe to toe with an ES unit even though it was just an AMWS, so it can match ES units and their high output through technique and speed. I decided on a concept suggestive of an athlete with slender, finely-honed muscles. I wanted the detailing on each part to have an organic feel to it, with each joint being driven by artificial, sinewy muscles. If you were to touch the surface [of the robot], it would feel like soft rubber. In the game, this robot doesn't have a name, but personally I call it "Angelina", since I imagned Angelina Jolie as the model for its appearance. I was inspired by Raijin for the characteristic silhouette with the flying unit strapped to its back. Somehow, this robot ended up making its appearance during the beginning of EP3 instead of in A missing year. [Page 82, AMWS ANGELINA CONTD.] I envisioned the Angelina to have a head cockpit with space for a single passenger, but since Canaan also needed to ride in it during EP3, I copied the cockpits from the Vector ES units instead. [Page 85, PIED PIPER] My services weren't requested. The only thing I worked on for Pied Piper was the logo. Nothing more. Before it was decided that this story would be made into a style suited for mobile phone content, I was allowed to read the scenario and its story about Ziggy while he was alive, and could freely imagine what the policeman Jan Sauer would look like. The rough sketch on the right-hand page is my interpretation of Jan encased in his fast module on his way to a crime scene. I also had fun playing around imagining various power suits, vehicles and other things used by the police. Logo design Here are the six patterns I made for what I was actually asked to design, the logo. The problem was that the instruction of using Voyager, the cloaked man, really wasn't more than that one sentence: "a man in a cloak". That means that the Voyager depcited in the logo art is "my interpretation of a cloaked man". [He seems to spell "Voyager" two different ways in this sentence, "Boijaa" vs "Uoijaa". Probably doesn't make much difference, but still a bit curious] In the beginning of the game, there's a visual of a man in a white cloak (I thought it was supposed to be black, so that's how I drew it!), so I was allowed to go back and revise the logo I drew so it would match up. In any case, I apologize... It might be a bit hard to make out, but the pattern I drew in the middle of the letters spelling out "Xenosaga" is supposed to be a window with raindrops flowing across it. I think only those who've played the game will really grasp the true meaning behind that. [Page 90, ANOTHER EMISSION] These are [just] some scribbles. These don't appear in the game, or rather, they have no relation to this book, but are just some derivative things I came up with while working. []Right-hand illustration Since some Mobile Suit-like enemy mechs appeared in EP1, I thought the [development] staff might rather like something like this, so I gave it a try and drew it on my own. I showed it to Monolith before I started design work for EP2, and used it to get confirmation that "this is the kind of mech design you want from me, right?". A number of EP2 mech designs resulted from this. []Below illustration Various guns In EP1, all the combat Realians used scaled-down guns designed for AGWS units, rather than ones made for humans. So, how about trying that yourself, if you [Shion] don't mind? That's what I tried to draw. [A little unsure about the last bit, but I guess it should be something like that] [Page 91] []Left-hand illustration An AG I thought up This one ended up with slightly fat extremities and a silhoutte a child would probably enjoy. It's like a toy. When I saw the charming lines of the protruding stomach of the AG-03 that appeared in EP3, I thought "now this is the true appeal of the AG [series]". []Right-hand illustration Just a little more, more...moore... [Page 92, LOGMARK] Logo design I was allowed to handle the title logo design for "EPISODE I Reloaded", "EPISODE Xenosaga II" [sic.] and "Piedpiper". The unbranded logo for EP1 was a bitmap image using gradation, and it looks like it was hard to use it for publicity. (For example, the background had to be white) I kept that in mind and made something for EP2 and Reloaded that would be easy to use for publicity in magazines and the like. In placing the basic letters, I thought about the logo for EP3 that would be developed later, and tried to make a design for the whole series that would feel cohesive and universal. Compared to the letter placement on the unbranded EP1 [logo], I increased the letter spacing for EP2. I made this adjusment to give it a more mature, calmer look. I wonder how everyone felt about it? The back has the Zohar and a Vessel of Anima, all of it done by in Bezier through Illustrator. The Zohar illustration is actually an unfinished piece I showed them partway through to confirm the layout, asking "is this ok?", but they just took it and used it as it was. They did the same thing with the EP2 logo, [using] something that was [still] in an unfinished state, and that one really doesn't make sense to me even now. Xenosaga Freaks I actually received a request to create a logo for Freaks as well, so I came up with a design like the one seen to the right. However, I lost the competition and they used the logo prepared by Namco instead. I planned on putting icons of the characters' faces in the area sticking out below [the text]. [Page 94, LIMITED OPTIMUM DINAH] Caution! Please read "Miss L.O. Dinah" from the opposite side. []Here's "Miss L.O. Dinah"! Dinah was originally supposed to be a machine with a feminine body shape, so when the battlefield made me weird [some kind of idiom, I guess?], I personified that and gave birth to this 80s-chick character. That's Miss Dinah. When I sent it to Monolith, it seems like it was able to enrich the hearts of some of the gentlemen there. I would be happy if it could brighten your heart for a short time too. Oh, and Miss Dinah has no relation to any existing persons or organizations, including Monolith Soft, Bandam Namco, and also G.rev.