This is the second part of the translations from the Xenosaga Episode I -Official Design Materials- book. You can find the first part here or use the jump links in the "CONTENTS" page to navigate around. Basic information can be found at the start of the first part.
[Last updated 2025.04.02]
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[Page 157]
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[Page 158 - Translated by Gwendal]
The Original Design [of Other People] ( Original designs of the townspeople ) The places where the people of the Kukai Foundation and the Dock Colony make their lives are the "towns" of this game, so to speak. Here's a collection of original designs for the people who inhabit these spaces. These designs are from an early stage before they were implemented into the actual game, but the characters' facial expressions and atmosphere came through clearly [once they were]. It is precisely because we had this kind of foundation that it was possible to depict them in such a realistic way in the game itself. Please go ahead and have a look at this additional detail we couldn't show on the game screen. From top right to left to right again on page 158: Hotel manager's daughter Hotel manager King Baker's daughter, Mina Cleaning shop lady's son Matron of the cleaning shop Master baker |
[Page 162]
The Original Design [of CG Map] ( Not translated ) Not translated. |
[Page 176 - Translated by Gwendal]
The Original Design [of Machine] ( Original designs of the spaceships and other machines ) Many spaceships and working machines appear in "Xenosaga", so considerable care was put into their designs as well. Since so much of the game takes place in space, there is a rich variety of spaceships in particular. Here, we've published a small sample of their original designs. There are many interesting aspects to the designs of the vehicles used inside spaceships and colonies, which might draw your attention. They surely feel like the vehicles of the future. We were also able to make the design of the Connection Gear one packed with features. Sketches: Galactic Federation cruiser Galactic Federation warship Working pod 1 Working pod 2 Working pod 3 |
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The Original Design [of A.G.W.S.(AG)] ( A.G.W.S. Original specifications designs ) There are two kinds of A.G.W.S. designs. The Vector-brand VX series and the Hyams Heavy Industries-brand AG series. The VX series is characterized by its slender lines, while the AG series has a more robust feel. It's clear that both series were designed with [the unit's] movements in mind, with attention to aspects such as the operation of the joints and how their armaments are equipped. The cockpits in particular were draw with [extra] attention to detail, making it a design that emphasizes "the pilot". By the way, the VX-1000000 is Vector's secret weapon. It doesn't appear in the game. |
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The Original Design [of Enemies] ( Enemy character original designs ) The Gnosis in particular were designed with ocean creatures as a motif for their appearance. We go into more detail about this in the interview that begins on p.222. Like the word "spaceship" suggests, space is often portrayed as similar to the ocean in sci-fi worlds. That's one more reason the ocean creature motif made sense. The designs for the machine enemies are splendid too. The bodies of the A.G.W.S., showing a single line [a little unsure about this phrase] clearly show off their high-performance abilities. |
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The Continuites [of the story] ( Storyboard ) To produce the lengthy movie [sequences] spanning roughly 7 and a half hours, the storyboard, based on director Takahashi's scenario and conveying it in visual form to each [member of] staff, was absolutely essential. It numbered hundreds, if not thousands of pages. Since it was impossible [for us] to publish all of it, we'll mainly show the most interesting parts of the Miltia scenes from inside the Encephalon, seen during the middle part of the game, along with some supporting screenshots. |
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Interview with the Developers Interview with Yasunori Mitsuda * Profile Yasunori Mitsuda: Born in 1972. A representative of Procyon Studio, Ltd.(*) In charge of totally producing the musical compositions, as well as anything related to sound. Founded the company in the middle of development. While fully realizing the difficulty of managing people's work, he was also blessed with members and able to be absorb himself in composing. At the end of these trials, he completed a composition for the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Able to enjoy the sounds of various lands in a studio full of many folk instruments and guitars, ranging from the kantele from Finland, to the angklung from Indonesia. Currently in the middle of producing a solo album. "Sleigh Bells" is the name of his label as well as his sales agency. (*) http://www.procyon-studio.com -------: How was your first full orchestra? Mitsuda: At first, I recorded an orchestra in Japan that I had planned to put in after the ending song, but it was a total failure. I felt so faint-hearted, like I couldn't do it anymore. But I can't just give up, so I studied everything about the orchestra from the beginning. Once I started doing that, it became more fascinating and I felt, "I don't care if I fail, I'm going to try one more time to do it myself." So, I requested the help of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and flew over there. When we did it, it went better than I had imagined. Somehow, that's when I gained confidence. In the end, I was able to do it all myself. Even so, I've never been as driven to a corner emotionally as I was with this work. It was truly terrifying. I hate it. I don't want to do it. (Laughs) -------: How did the first recording failure go, actually? Mitsuda: For instance, say there's a flute and oboe part. In that case, there's a theory that the oboe is not supposed to go over the flute. I just calmly ignored that. I realized painfully, that you have to know the orchestra's minimum standards. The score wasn't that great, but it's not something I'd want to show. -------: How did you study? Mitsuda: Books. That and actually listening to the music while looking at the score. I also tried to hear how each instrument sounded, and what kind of sounds you would get if you combined them in a certain way. With no teacher, that was the only way. I'm sure there's a proper way to study, but I don't know it. -------: Did you ask someone else to be the conductor? Mistuda: Yes. Say that I conducted. I would then have to follow the song while looking at the score and it would be hard to find the good takes. I think that I had good results from just listening to the performance and concentrating on finding the good takes. I have an interest in conducting, but controlling 80 people is impossible for me. I have to study from the beginning. Ten years down the road, I'd like to try it myself. -------: Why did you compose the character theme songs? Mistuda: The scale of the story was so big that I had no idea what kind of music to make. But then I realized that each person's connection was intimately portrayed, so I wanted to focus on that and on each character, and I thought about expressing those concepts. That's why with Shion, KOS-MOS, and Nephilim's theme songs, you can destroy their motifs and connect their phrases. If you listen to them normally, they sound like completely seperate songs, but for me, I created them as if they were intimately connected. I myself wrote a correlation map between the characters. I had about a year to do the music, but most of the stuff I finished in the final month. It took a long time for me to digest the world of this story. It's the most important thing. -------: What are the characteristics of the music? Mitsuda: For this game, there were a lot of so-called one-shot songs for the event scenes, and I had to keep in mind how much to add to each scene. Actually, there were a lot of cases where I had to give songs when there wasn't any video yet. So I had to picture the video in my head, and make a composition based on that. That's the reason I got a lot of very detailed design material. I tackled with the theme of trying to make music that didn't stray too far from the images this time. -------: Was there anything from your daily life that became a hint, and helped you come up with phrases? Mitsuda: It happens sometimes. Some sort of rhythm will just pop up. It's hard to come up with something when you're having fun or in the middle of an interesting conversation. On the other hand, when you're withered and tired... I guess I'm melancholic. (Laughs) -------: If that's true, then this music was... 
Mitsuda: It was easy to create! Especially the prologue and when the Gnosis first appear. There was no video yet, but I read the scenario and imagined how I thought it would look in my head, and I started getting many ideas. But actually, I thought that Gnosis was the name of a human organization. I had the image of a friendly spaceship, and then suddenly this organization's space fleet would suddenly appear. I never thought they would be so monstrous. (Laughs) I was surprised when I found out later. Then when Mr. Takashi told me that "KOS-MOS is like an autistic girl," I also mistakenly thought she was human. Later I heard she was a robot, and even though she's inorganic matter, I thought it would be good to portray something like a secret sadness within her. That type of image song is my hobby. By the way, when I was halfway through composing and listening to it, I found it painful, and had to take a rest and put aside some time so I could finish it.I keep in mind how to make that scene more exciting. -------: ++++++Were there any images that came to mind, or any heartfelt things?+++++ Mitsuda: Scenes where something is coming to attack or something's coming back to life, those are images. But the character theme is emotion. Relationships between people are also about emotion. They're completely different things, so the process of creating them is completely different. These two things are seperated precisely in my mind. -------: Composing while thinking about images. Did you study art? Mistuda: There was a time when I wanted to be an artist. I think I was influenced because my father drew art, +++++but for some reason I didn't want to do the same thing as my father.++++++ So I switched to music. When I'm composing, images appear in my head first, so sometimes I wonder if maybe I should have gone with art instead. (Laughs) -------: Making music seems so difficult. Mitsuda: I think anyone can do it. If you use an instrument to make a sound, that's already music. It's all the same, because it's a form of expression and probably anyone can do it. Because it has an image that it's difficult to do, people shrink back from it. When you're riding your bike, or sitting in your bath, you feel good and sing sometimes. Those are also great songs. -------: Even if one can't write notes? Mitsuda: Most musicians overseas can't read notes. Especially among folk musicians, I have yet to see one who can read notes. The female vocalist who helped with this project, Joanne Hoag, also couldn't read the notes. With those types of people, you play the song two or three times for them and they'll have remembered everything by ear. -------: What kind of song emotions do you like? Mitsuda: Without regard for genre, I like things that clearly show they're trying to express something. With songs there's the lyrics and melody line. With instrumentals, it's about whether you can see a clear image. Songs without these things, even if you listen to them, they tell you nothing and aren't interesting. I also like songs with a rural atmosphere. Like there in some elementary school gym, say there's someone practicing the piano and it's like the faint sound of the piano is coming through to you from far way. I like an atmopshere that invites that kind of nostalgia. -------: How about the computer as a source of sound? Mitsuda: It's a tool for sketching to a certain extent. Like pens and brushes when you're writing a score. That's why I think machines should be as simple as possible. I'm always asked, "How did you study computers?" But for me, I use them all the time, so it's natural. My job is making music, not remembering how to use machines. -------: You have a lot of guitars and folk instruments. Mitsuda: When I've inputted a program into the computer, it's for comparing with the real sound. Anyways, hearing the real sound is important. You can get the music's idea from the folk instruments. Actually, for this project, I used a lot of percussion. Also being reminded of the history behind each instrument's birth was fun. That sort of drama, there's one for every people. There's no end. -------: Have you always been interested in history since you were a student? Mitsuda: No, from elementary on to middle school, I always hated class. Remembering dates. I can't do that. I couldn't read a world map at all. But recently I've been studying things related to music. Like, how the blues came about, or how Irish music was born, or how the orchestra was developed. Investigating those kinds of things is fun. --------: That's what studying is. Mitsuda: I think that the way of teaching like, "It's going to be on the test, so remember it," is wrong. If you're not interested in it, you're not going to remember. If your interest is peaked, it doesn't matter if you say, "Don't do it," you're going to study. That's why I feel it's important to prepare an atmostphere that creates that kind of interest. -------: What do you think of Episode I? Mitsuda: The theme of the compositions was easy. My world view and the director, Mr. Takashi's world view were the same so it was very easy to produce the music. This game has a deep theme, so I'm very satisfied that I was able to produce a high quality score to accompany it. --------: What do you think of Mr. Takashi? Mitsuda: It's hard to put into words, but I really feel that there's a hidden anger inside him. Like, "Why the hell don't they realize this?!" That anger has been poured into this game, and people who resonate with it will be sucked in. My impression was that I sensed he was very similar to me. He's probably a dark person too, Mr. Takashi (Laughs) But he's diligent. |
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Interview with the Developers Junya Kuroda Masaaki Kaneko Miki Ito Sound Effects Staff interview * Profile Junya Kuroda (on the right in the picture) : Born in 1973. Affiliated with Procyon Studio. He was in charge of the sound effects in the game (field movement sounds, battle sound effects, and response sounds in the menus). He clearly remembers the sound effects [department] being understaffed. The PS2 has low quality sound circulation, which gave him a lot of trouble. Masaaki Kaneko (in the middle of the picture) : Born in 1973. Affiliated with Procyon Studio. He was in charge of all the event sound effects, as well as converting the sound data so it could be played back by the PS2. The excavation scene made an impression on him, just because it was his first job where he was valued as [part of the] staff. Miki Ito (on the left in the picture) : Born May 4. Affiliated with Procyon Studio. She was in charge of voice editing (matching the voices to the movies, as well as effects). "GreenSleeves", the song Shion used to sing as a child, made an impact on her. During the recording session, they were in a completely dark room, where the voice actress turned her back on her and sung with all her heart. It was a recording session with a very particular atmosphere. -------: What role does sound play in the story? Kuroda: It makes it more real. Even if you have beautiful images, if there's no sound, I don't think they can really leap off the screen. If you add some well-made sound effects, they bring a sense of realism with them that makes it easier to "feel" the story. I'd say that's a rather important factor. Kaneko: In this game, there are quite a few scary, painful and uncomfortable scenes. If we just look at how we portrayed these, there are fearful moments, painful moments and so on. They're stimulating in the same way as being pricked by a needle is. But I think the sound, instead of being the needle, is like being hit with something much bigger, like a headache, something that lingers. When you mix the images and music together, you get the impact of being hit with both the needle and the much larger object. This is the result we're trying to achieve. Or to use a boxing analogy, the images are like a punch to the jaw, while the sound feels more like a body blow. Ito: Its role is to give the same kind of impression you get from watching a movie, such as intervals, breathing [room], and sense of nature and so on. -------: What's the difference between [using] sounds that exist in real life, and those that don't? Kuroda: I think the ideal for sound effects is to play well in the background without getting in the way, rather than playing a leading role. Maybe it's because I haven't worked much with real sounds up until now, but it was hard to find a way to integrate the real sounds without them being obnoxious, and I was a bit unsure about how to proceed. With the [menu] response sound that serves as a hearing interface, I thought about how to make sure it wasn't painful to listen to, while also making sure there was a clear distinction between "cancel" and "confirm". Kaneko: For me, it's easy to imagine sounds from nature. On the other hand, I have more trouble with creating the right atmosphere using sound, such as fear, strangeness and so on. The sounds that play just before Albedo makes his appearance, the Gnosis, Cherenkov, those kinds of strange people are hard [to work with]. Ito: Voices that don't exist in reality. There's an otec/autec [?] voice that gives a warning during hyperspace travel, but... Kuroda: It has a strong impact. It's pleasantly absurd. Ito: That one was like, we have a new plugin, let's try using it, that'll be interesting, didn't that turn out well? -------: From your point of view creating sounds, what is "Xenosaga"? Kuroda: I'm left with the feeling that it was a difficult project. When we received the first images, there was very little time left until the official announcement. From that point onwards, we always kind of lived with an impending deadline hanging over us. It was a pretty harsh job. (Laughs) Kaneko: It was a job we really needed to put a lot of research into. We hadn't worked on these kinds of huge event scenes before, either. When we worked on the prologue excavation scene early on, I worried about what people would think about us, but when we were nearing the end I'd gotten so confident that I wondered "if anyone else would be able to do this". I'm definitely happy with what we accomplished. Ito: It was a completely different work environment from what we were used to, so it was tough until we managed to adjust. Towards the end, we were living under awful conditions...not being able to take a bath for four days, dreaming of running away, that kind of thing. (Laughs) -------: What's your approach and philosophy as sound creators? Also, what are your plans for the future? Kuroda: I have a theoretical idea, based on what I've seen with my own eyes. But sound is something that resonates directly with the heart. I'm happy if I'm able to tug on people's feelings a little bit. As for future plans, since I've only worked on RPGs until now, I'd like to do something like a racing game next. Kaneko: If you show various people a painting and ask them about their impressions of it, you'll get a variety of different responses. However, with sound, most people end up having the same impression. Sound has the power to carry shared images. And when someone is making a game and wants to convey something, I think sound is the most effective way to do it. In the future, I'd like to try creating sound that conveys a meaning, not just atmospheric sounds. Ito: When it comes to voices, the fundamental approach is the same for every project. But the tension is different. If that's off the mark, you can't add [can't figure out this word, sorry]. It's also crucial to match the position of the creators to the atmosphere of the work. In the future, I'd like to make something cute. Not a game, maybe something like an illustrated book on DVD. I want to try working with [a group of] girls only to make something small and cute. |
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Interview with the Developers Yasuyuki Honne Kou Arai Art/Map Team Interview * Profile Yasuyuki Honne (right in the picture): Born in 1971. He is a board member at Monolith Soft Ltd, where he serves as an Art Director. In that capacity, he was "commander" for the map creators, and conducted the initial allocation of personell to the map [creation] unit. In the future, he wants to try creating 3D objects and images outside the 2D framework. Not just the 3D inside the picture tube, but rather something more all-encompassing, suited for a [grand] exhibition. Kou Arai (left in the picture): Born in 1971. Affiliated with Monolith Soft Ltd. Using the scenario as a foundation, he was in charge of map planning, including how to fill them with [various] devices [and contraptions for the player to interact with]. He has an interest in maps that emphasize human psychology, and he wants to try making a game [based on] interactivity with the player's psyche. -------: Is there anything in particular you're extra focused on when creating maps? Honne: Making sure it's easy for the player to play the game. Arai: If running away from Gnosis, destroying things and all the other action that goes on in map makes the game hard to play, that's a big problem. With artists, too, there are some people who want to complete what they're working on as "a painting", and this emphasis on quality can make [the resulting work] hard to understand, rendering it pointless. I used to be in graphics myself, so I know that feeling well, and it's something you need to be careful about. Honne: To give the impression that "there's something down the next hallway too" when moving around the map, I think about map construction in terms of lighting and shadows. The position of the camera is probably what I'm [most] focused on. Arai: The camera, and the choice of how the player is going to see the game, become fundamental aspects. For example, when the player notices there's an object on the edge of the screen, without being able to reach it. We'll have the camera follow it in a way that's easy to see. Old games were very clear about those things. With "Xenosaga I", we're following those rules from the 2D era, while adding the essence of 3D. So we're making sure we keep those small "sparks" of 2D [feel] in the game. Honne: The most important thing is to allow the player to proceed without any discomfort. For example, I don't like very dark maps where it's hard to walk around. You have to make sure it's easy to distingush betweem hidden and visible areas, and to use shadows as a way to guide the player. Lighting and topography, in other words. Walkable and non-walkable areas. Having to search for those might be a regular part of gameplay in an action game, but that kind of thing has no place in an RPG with sprawling maps. Make the signs for switches, doors and so on easy to recognize. Our number one priority is to make a game for the sake of the player, not for the sake of realism. -------: So rather than emulating the real world, you're making stylized "maps" to allow the player to move in three dimensions within the game? Arai: That's something we have strong considerations towards, yes. I think you have to rein in [the part of your] ego that keeps thinking "this is how I want to make this". No matter if you're working with 2D, 3D or camera positions, I think that if you're playing around situations tailored around the things you want to make, [the designs] won't arise [naturally] from the camera or environments. [A little unsure about that last bit, sorry] -------: What's your thought process like when you're constructing maps? Arai: Basically, I build them in my mind [first]. Honne: After that, you have to consider the flow of the scenario, too. Arai: We write out a big flowchart, where we map out things like how we want to show [players] each location. We imagine how the player will actually walk down those routes using the controller, mapping out the distances. Should be make the distances shorter, or maybe a bit longer? Should we have a simple route, or one that would involve giving a lot of elaborate information to let players walk through? Those are the [kinds of] lines we're thinking along. With cases where we're sure about what we're trying to achieve with a map, I'll construct it, and then I'll leave the [actual] execution to Mr. Honne. On the other hand, when we don't really have any specific ideas and just want a good atmosphere, I leave it 100% up to Mr. Honne. Honne: There were also quite a few occasions where we received direct instructions from Mr. Takahashi. With the beach at the Foudation, for instance, he was very particular about specific details, up to and including what places the camera wouldn't [be able to] see. Arai: The parts of the game that spellbind the player and draws him or her in through feeling good and the parts that cooly disregard the player's psychology to bind all the routes together to work as a game are two completely different things. By separating them completely in our thinking, we were able to bring it all together [properly], like a work of embroidery. -------: What does "Episode 1" mean to the two of you? And what does it look like from a mapping point of view? Arai: I think it's a game that's thoroughly steeped in Mr. Takahashi's vision. Honne: I'd rather focus on the good parts, so I don't really go looking for things I'm dissatisfied with. [Not 100% sure about this one, sorry] Arai: I'm the same way myself. I can't know for sure [how it turned out], but if it's good and easy to play, I'm happy. It's no good if players get stuck in strange positions or things like that. -------: That comes down to how you make the locations, doesn't it? Arai: That's right. That's exactly how I feel about it. Honne: Yes, it's about making the locations in such a way that the player will want to keep playing all the way to the end. |
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Interview with the Developers Makoto Shimamoto Katsutoshi Yamamoto Battle System Team Interview * Profile Makoto Shimamoto (left in the picture): Born in 1968. Affiliated with Monolith Soft Ltd. He was in charge of battle planning and managing battle development. His hobby is slot machines. Even though they basically involve just spinning the reels and pushing a button, they have changed widely over the years, incorporating new elements. Sometimes, ideas for his planning work pop into his head while he's playing with them. He considers them similar to battle systems in games, since they keep using the same system while incorporating new features to adapt with the changing times. Katsutoshi Yamamoto (right in the picture): Born in 1965. Affiliated with Monolith Soft Ltd. He was in charge of planning battle scenes and their corresponding content management. Even when he's playing games in his spare time, he can't help using it as research for his programming. He makes guesses about how the data is loaded based on how the enemies appear, reads the underlying programming from the visible situation [on screen], and so on. In the past, he used to make video recordings and analyze them frame by frame to find out how the data was loaded. -------: What are you most focused on when you're trying to make the most interactive and "game-suited" battle system you possibly can? Shimamoto: If you make the battles [too] hard, you'll lose tempo, and it becomes a barrier that kills the story. So you have to craft them in a way that lets players figure out the way forward by using their heads. You could say "we want parts that take them [the player?] down a notch", but I think there's an inherent contradiction between those kinds of elements and a story-focused game. [I'm having a hard time with that expression. It seems to literally means "to corner or talk down someone", but that doesn't really work well here. So this one is open to interpretation] -------: How about your workflow? Shimamoto: We receive ideas from Mr. Takahashi, talk about them among the staff, air our opinions, and bring it all together including our own views. Then I hand that off to Mr. Yamamoto, and ask him what he thinks about it from a programming point of view. Then we interate on it further. Yamamoto: We'd settled on a system, but due to various circumstances we fundamentally changed it. After going through many rounds of ideas that didn't work, we settled on the system we have now. Shimamoto: The term "Boost" is a leftover from an earlier system. This is something I think about every time, how it's such an extremely tedious job for a single person to think up all the names for the attacks, items and spells. But if one person does it, the item names will remain consistent even if the game changes. We had a particularly hard time with these things this time around, since we couldn't go for a fantasy feel. And even though we made the skill names and the rest of it in English, the system screen couldn't show more than eight characters at once, so we had no choice but to go with kanji after all. -------: Some have also been saying the AGWS units were too much in the background. Shimamoto: We had a concept of humans and robots joining forces and fighting together [in some way]. But it turned out to be hard to balance it correctly. We tried making the robots equal to 100 humans, but they were far too powerful that way. We did a complete revision and made them about 2-3 times stronger than a human, but that was still too much, so we decided to make them a bit slower too to compensate. If you use your parts well, they can be used on about the same level [of effectiveness] as the characters. There's no information about how to do this in the game itself at all, so I think it becomes a matter of just having to brute-force your way through. So in the end, it's probably more effective to use the characters instead. Not the way we planned it. (Laughs) -------: What are the two of you most focused on in your work? Shimamoto: I'm very focused on the visual side of things. If players don't find it interesting in the beginning, they won't even play the game. So you really have to pay careful attention to the introductory parts. Of course, you can't just be fixated on how it looks. If that results in the tempo being bad once you actually play, you've got your priorities wrong. Yamamoto: My main focus is to program the game in a way that lets us achieve that good tempo. I put a lot of effort into the battle transition loading [times]. I spent about two weeks on every iteration doing trial and error, and managed to reduce them in various ways. It's also very important to prepare an environment that allows for the data to be retrieved accurately. Necessity leads to effective work, right? Fundamentally, the programmer is the one who keeps the whole thing standing. The support pillar the whole thing rests on, you might say. -------: What is "Episode I", from your point of view? Yamamoto: The work I did while building a relationship of trust with my friends, I'd say. Shimamoto: As an RPG, I think it's a work that wants to point the way towards the next step. Now that all these online games and the like are coming out, there aren't really any outstanding games appearing anymore. It's the same thing on the system side of things; we want to come up with a game suited for a new era. -------: Finally, I'd like to ask you if they're any particular challenges you want to tackle going forwards. Shimamoto: Now that I've spent so much time working on an RPG, I'd like to try my hand at an action game. Yeah, that'd be fun to try, considering all the things that's becoming possible now as the technology advances. I also like the direct feel of action games personally. Yamamoto: There were so many things we couldn't finish this time around, so I'd like to try tacking those. And maybe it's just because I'm not confident enough, but I'd also like to try making an RPG that's focused on systems instead of story. |
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Interview with the Developers Norihiro Takami Hideaki Takeda Hikaru Takami CG Character Team interview * Profile Norihiro Takami (center in the picture): Born in 1973. Affiliated with Monolith Soft Ltd. Managed CG character modelling and creation of CG movies. He had a hard time with Shion's outfit design. In the beginning, her throat was bare, then it had a choker, then a pendant. What stays with him is the sense of a work slowly coming together bit by bit. Hideaki Takeda (left in the picture): Born in 1974. Affiliated with Monolith Soft Ltd. He was in charge of character facial modelling, as well as facial expressions and lighting for event scenes. He considered to what extent he should be faithful to the original drawings, and tried to create something that even the core fans would readily accept. Since nine-tenths [of what he made] followed the original drawings, he wondered how he could express his own individuality. To do so, he focused particularly on the high[-detail] models' hair. Hikaru Takami (right in the picture): Born in 1977. Affiliated with Monolith Soft Ltd. She was mainly in charge of map movement for the high[-detail] models used in event scenes, and the exchange of medium models used in battles etc. She also worked on small objects and backgrounds for use in events. She enjoyed coming up with various unattractive [characters], following the director's instructions, as well as working on Allen. -------: What were you focused on with the characters' facial expressions? Takami: We wanted them to be at least as good as cell animation, and to make the characters feel alive. Still, that was quite hard to accomplish. Takeda: Even with unrealistically proportioned characters based on anime art, they still need to move in a realistic way. But since they have such large eyes, it's hard to get the balance right. Takami: But on the other hand, those super-deformed characters allow us to make much bolder facial expressions. If you have realistic characters making strange facial expressions, they might become hard to read. But with super-deformed characters, everyone will be able to understand them anyway, since they're used to watching anime and things like it. -------: So they're a kind of symbolic facial expressions, then? Takeda: MOMO is very striking here. Normally, we wouldn't give her such red cheeks. It's really kind of strange, but we can get away with it [lit.: could be allowed to do it]. The same goes for Cherenkov's manga-like presentation when he becomes small. Takami: Even though they're 3D characters, I think they [have a form] Japanese people have become accustomed to. We want to try various things in the future, until 3D characters are [more widely] accepted. What we're focusing on right now is real-time CG. With the rendering we've been using until now, the ways to create it have somehow been set in stone, but real-time CG has a more "aggressive" feel to it, which is interesting. Takeda: For example, if you don't have enough polygons in a movie, the best way to solve the problem is to add more. But with real-time rendering, you have to change the allocation of a limited number of polygons. "Let's keep this visible, let's get rid of this", that's the kind of balancing you have to get into. It's the science of cleanly cutting off things that aren't necessary. Takami (Hikaru): It was tough to figure out what we could do within the limitations we had to work with. KOS-MOS was the worst in that sense. She's got so many gimmicks. We had to create those using slightly fewer polygons than we had with the other characters, give it all a cohesive look, and she also had a more complicated form than the others. Takami: Her hands aren't symmetrical, she has long hair, and so on. Her arms can be replaced during battle, she has built-in weapons... Takeda: But her facial expressions were easy. KOS-MOS's [that is]. Shion was the hard one there. We had a list of facial expressions for all the main characters, and Shion had a lot more than the others. Surprisingly many. We worked hard to bring out all those small nuances between them. -------: What is "Episode I" to the three of you? Takami: Considering the pasts the characters are burdened with, this is a fairly heavy game. So instead of focusing on everything looking pretty, the modelling or anything like that, I'd like [players] to consider why the characters inhabit the kinds of roles they do. Ziggy, KOS-MOS, and chaos to an extent, have designs reflecting their pasts, I'd say. As for MOMO, she probably shows a strong influence from the interests of her creators. It was the director who decided on that uniform-like outfit for her. The director is very fixated on various details, so there were many things he [personally] made decisions on after an exchange of ideas with Mr. Tanaka and the costume designer. Takeda: Instead of making a game, it almost felt more like we were making an anime or a movie. We'd look at storyboards while working, trying to decide what kind of drama we'd go for and how the characters would move. Making anime characters with an emphasis on facial expressions was different from what we've done before, and in that way it felt more like a movie. Takami (Hikaru): This time, we didn't fill in the textures [not sure if this is the 100% correct term, but something along those lines] on purpose, to achieve the anime style. That was challenging. I'm not saying that everything becomes pretty if you just fill in the textures, but you need matching textures for the faces and the rest of the world [to give it a cohesive feeling]. If you use lots of realistic textures for those faces, they can become "floaty". But I think it's only in this game we have that problem with the edges of the textures as well. Takami: I think "Xenosaga Episode I" is a bit different from other games. In various ways. I want to continue developing games with that sense of being slightly different. |
[Page 222-223 - Translated by Gwendal]
Interview with the Developers Interview with Mr. Tsutomu Terada * Profile Tsutomu Terada: Born in 1972. Freelancer. Was in charge of monster designs, and contributed to development of the game as an artist. Based on his long experience in [game] development, he was focused on the design of structures that would break expecations, while constantly paying attention to whether features could be feasibly realized or not. He considers fundamentals to be very important, and likes using a method where progress comes from fundamental theories. He seeks designs that make sense instead of just being cool for the sake of it. He says he's a bit of a coward and therefore can't achieve anything without a clear point of reference, and relies on gathering documentation and his training in [having the right] mindset to get things done. -------: What were you focused on with the Gnosis designs? Terada: The image keywords Mr. Takahashi gave me were "spirits", "mysterious", "beautiful", "like living beings", and also a feel along the lines of "[bower/bois/bowa]". [Really not sure about that last one, seems to be some sort of foreign loanword, but I can't figure it out]. I couldn't look at all of it as a big whole, so I made them one by one, with this monster having two elements, this one having three [and so on]. In the beginning, I designed them in an exaggerated way. Kind of like geometry, or like a collection of blocks. -------: Cubism? Terada: That's right. Since having joints gives [the design] a sense of rigidity, I wanted to try making something outside of that box. But I feel like I definitely took that too far, so I reined it in a bit, and thought about the kinds of places the Gnosis would inhabit. [They would need] a body shape that would function in space. So I started thinking along the lines of "space = the ocean" and came up with the idea of sea creatures, and after that it was a straightforward decision. -------: [Not translated] Terada: [Not translated] -------: And apart from shapes and textures? Terada: I tried to avoid drawing eyes as much as possible. If they have eyes, they feel more sentient, and then they're not as scary anymore. You start feeling like they might help you if you could just find some way to talk things through with them. So making them entities it wouldn't be possible to reason with was one reason, but even without taking that into account, I might not have given them eyes anyway. If you have two eyes, you've also got one nose and one mouth. That kind of design is just like the animals we have around here [in real life]. It's not mysterious. So I tried to give them a slightly odd feel by drawing a mouth without eyes, or an eye without a mouth, and so on. -------: So those are the fundamentals of monster design? Terada: There's also what you might call the "easy way". In that case, you stick to the fundamental design, [and make] something that 100 people out of 100 would see and think "that's a goblin". [A bit unsure about this one, sorry] -------: You trace the symbols, then? Terada: That's right. When you're working with a standard, you consult the materials, and thoroughly stick to that standard. On the other hand, with more freedom, you can deviate much more. For example, if you suppose that "something long would be scary", snakes come to mind. You use that as a foundation. You can also use any number of insects, and so on. You go flying off in the direction of piercing heresy. -------: What's important when it comes to materials relating to [making] design standards? Terada: For example, even if we're both thinking about clothes, the outfits designed by me might be different from the ones designed by a fashion designer. But instead of becoming stubborn and just consider it by myself, I'd rather borrow the wisdom of those who have gone before and bring it all together going forwards. If I keep at it by myself, I'll just end up becoming biased. That's when I'll consult the materials to correct my course. There's a lot of good sense in that wisdom from our predecessors. There's a reason behind everything in the world. -------: What was the standard for the Gnosis in this game? Heresy? Terada: Their shapes are sharp heresy, but their exteriors came from the materials. I gave them a textures that would feel like something no one else could have thought up. That made them feel strangely "alive". -------: How about the designs for those Gnosis with "easy way" names like "Gremlin", "Goblin", "Golem" and so on? Terada: My plan with those was to make people who saw them mistake, say, something that would be gremlin from is appearance for a cyclops. Those were designs that would safeguard one special element, while letting the rest collapse. Everything but the general outline would crumble, and that's okay. Humans see objects in terms of outlines. With older hardware, we couldn't show much more than that. We're recognize things like a heavy person or an inverted triangle through their characteristic shapes, and so we picked up the habit of thinking in terms of outlines. A person is expressed through his or her boundary lines from others. 
[Untranslated quote]-------: [Not translated] Terada: [Not translated] -------: [Not translated] Terada: [Not translated] -------: [Not translated] Terada: [Not translated] -------: [Not translated] Terada: [Not translated] -------: [Not translated] Terada: [Not translated] -------: [Not translated] Terada: [Not translated] -------: [Not translated] Terada: [Not translated] -------: [Not translated] Terada: [Not translated] |
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Interview with the Developers Interview with Tetsuya Takahashi * Profile Tetsuya Takahashi: Born in 1966. Supervising vice president of Monolith Software. In charge of the script and direction. A genius that has the epic plot in his head. Created Xenosaga, a product whose full scope can't be seen as it's partway in development, with much difficulty along with founding of Monolith Software. In many ways you can think of it as an incomplete work. Has a strong interest in the areas of ideology, philosophy, religion, and indirectly cuts deep via entertainment aimed at problems facing individuals and society. As for forms of expression other than games, he desires to write novels. -------: There are countless things in Episode I that have a Christian motif. Was that intentional? Takahashi: As a child, in the middle of a meeting with the chief priest of a Buddhist temple near my home, I began having vague doubts myself on, "What is religion?" That's when I started having an interest in religion and I did research by reading various books. With religion there are many different denominations with many adherents. These people carry an ideological bias. The status quo is to ignore this bias, but ever since I was a student, I couldn't be satisfied with that response. I wanted to incorporate all those matters in this game. For this story I chose a large-scale motif of Christianity, the most ubiquitous religion. I thought that by choosing a Christian motif it would have historical weight and we would be able to mix in and blend anything associated with Christianity. -------: So with religion as a motif, that means the actual path of how religion came about is also a motif. Takahashi: I digested thoughts about those sorts of things and felt that I wanted to present those doubts I had as a child. I think there must be some young people who have the same kind of doubts, and this would be a part that they could respond to. -------: What do you think about the theme of life and death that flows through the foundation of Episode I? Takahashi: I think living in a certain way is a painful thing. First of all, establishing a compromise between the ego and alter ego is difficult. Accordingly, if there are people that are living, then there are people that choose death. Again, in contrast to a death that is vague...that is something you can only take at face value as a child, death gradually becomes something more familiar as you gain experience throughout life. Then the problem arises of how are you supposed to face that? I thought about it to myself, and wondered how others felt. I'm what you could call not very insistent regarding life, in that there's a part of me that doesn't care if I die. Especially when I was still single. Now, because I was able to start a family and have children, I can't just die anytime. Feelings about death can vary because of things like positions in society, individual ideologies, or your own surroundings. I thought it would be nice to give each character that part of "life and death" that exists in every person. -------: You're saying that each character is filled with one of your ideas about life and death. Takahashi: If there are people that are insistent about living, then starting from me, there are also people that will give up. I think there are different kinds of people, but I thought I should personify the characters with this. -------: Does that mean that the overall theme is how people compromise even while accepting death? Takahashi: It's certainly flowing through the game's foundation. -------: It can be said that if you understand reality then religion is a parody or a metaphor, but in the game if people who are familiar with movies and anime watch, they'll see it's laced with parodies. Was this an experiment under your direction? Takahashi: I, myself, put in religious parodies and metaphors that are difficult to see, and the parodies that you can see and understand I left to the staff. 
I wanted each character to have the sense of life and death.-------: I thought that you put in those visible parodies to let the player know that there are many metaphors in the game. Takahashi: No, if you do that too much, I think you'll actually get the opposite effect. There might be a message you want to get across, and I want to avoid having it hidden inside surface gameplay. That's something that my staff also understood about this project. -------: With this game, did you feel that there are any parts where your feelings come across to the player directly? Takahashi: On one hand, you can't always tell someone something just by saying it. You have to think about how the other person is feeling or else it won't come across. The many messages in the game are also reflections of my own life. Having said that, I am a selfish human being and when I'm creating I only say what I want to say. There's a part of me that detachedly watches myself and thinks, "Why do I always act like that?." With those thoughts of self-admonition in mind, I wrote the dialogue for the characters. Every day was a continuous succession of regrets. -------: In the game, there's a scene where Nephilim forces Shion to "look at herself," but in your actual life how do you look at yourself? Takahashi: The frankest way is to look back on your actions each and every day. Then you reflect on them. My daily emotional life is pretty intense. If you look at it a certain way it's a burden to be going to the office, working, and meeting with a lot people. There's a part of me I have to suppress. I will remember what happened today and confirm how I was supressing myself. Then, based on that, I'll think of how I'm going to handle it tomorrow. When you're doing this you're looking at yourself. -------: Do you write that stuff down and sort it out? Takahashi: No, it's all inside my head. I figure out what emotions I'm suppressing by looking at myself and coming to a conclusion. But usually, it's something you can't do in actual society. Even if it's something you can't do, you can always instead incorporate it into the story and the game. -------: Are there any characters that you think have an ideal compromise towards death? Takahashi: It depends on further story developments, but if I had to choose I think it would probably be Shion and Albedo. Albedo has thoughts about how to solve death and where one goes after death. They're emotions everyone has at one point. I hope people will have those thoughts again. I would be especially happy if younger players got that message. -------: What about Shion? Takahashi: With Shion, not everything has been revealed yet, but there is a part of her that tries too much. Perhaps later on, with the way she is, some sort of conclusion regarding her overdoing things will come about. Then the questions will be, how do the people around her react? Will she accept this conclusion? This is what I want to portray in the following games. -------: Will there be dramatic changes to the situations she's caught up in? Takahashi: At first glance, currently Shion's reasons for acting seem positive. But, they actually come from a very negative place. There's a reckless part of her that just continues on so that she can look away from reality and truth. I want to portray her looking back at herself doing this and wondering how she should live her life. -------: Seems like a lot of people will be able to relate. Takahashi: It's the same with me. I have this ideal of how carefree it would be to just ignore social matters and live like a child who doesn't think too deeply about things. I'm going to go off topic, but my family was always full of intense competitiveness. That's why I start to run away before I can realize it myself. Personally, I'm tired of running, but I'm always running before I know it. When I looked back at that, I realized there must be others thinking the same thing. So I wanted to put that into the game. I know that in real life, if Tetsuya Takahashi spoke directly to a bunch of young people they would never accept the message. So I use the story and the characters I've created to act as my spokespeople. -------: Do you think games are a good media to get those kinds of messages across? Takahashi: Being a sci-fi product exerts some influence, but there are things that even if you try to plan for you'll never be able to express. With games as a form of media, no matter where you set it you have to make towns and all the little accessories. With movies, for example, if it's based in present times you can just shoot on location. You end up doing annoying work with games. That's why I don't think it's a good medium for telling stories. I think it's better to call it a media for telling narrative things. Without a doubt, there are things you can't get across in a game. -------: What's the difference between a "story" and "narrative thing?" Takahashi: Take for instance, a novel. Even if there are 1500 pages of text, normally you will read it. However, if a game shows you 1500 pages of text, first of all, you wouldn't play it. With movies or visual mediums the audience is in a totally passive posture, right? A game is bidirectional so it's difficult to just show everything passively like a movie. So even as you're telling the story, there's a bare minimum of approaching it from the player's perspective. If you think about it like that, of course you have to call it a "narrative thing." 
It would be easier to make it 4000 years from now. What we're going to make is a question of what we'll make 4000 years from now (laughs).-------: So some kind of unidirectionality and consolidating things to a certain extent to communicate them is a necessary element of a "story"? Takahashi: That's right. But in the case of games, those are divided up, and you need a methodology for knowing how to deal with the player approaching each of those pieces in an active manner. -------: I see. Will you still be fixated on these [kinds of] things from now too? Takahashi: There are some things I'm fixated on, but I've also started thinking I want to gradually try doing things other than games. I have messages I want to convey, but I can't do that through games no matter how hard I try, and I regret that. To be able to convey those messages, there are various other media I can use instead of just sticking to games. -------: What kinds of media would you say are capable of presenting thoughts and ideas? Takahashi: Writing. Writing about something is the most effective way, I think. -------: What kind of writing would you want to do? Sci-fi, or something else? Takahashi: Hmm, what kind...well, some parts of it are sci-fi-like. So while I'd do various sci-fi-related things, I'd also like to do something completely different. To be honest, sci-fi is what I enjoy the most. It's something I have a natural interest in, so you might say I don't really need to worry about research. I'm very interested in history and the present day too, but if I write something strange about those, I'll naturally get called out on it. (Laughs) So that means I can't write anything strange, right? It's very important to research the period [you're writing about]. I've given this a lot of thought, and first of all I'd like to challenge myself by writing something like sci-fi or fiction. -------: You're also interested in historical fiction, right? Takahashi: Actually, I'm thinking I'd like to write a story set 1000 or 2000 years ago. But like I said earlier, it's something that'd be hard to present as a game. I did actually tell [my superiors] I wanted to do that once. But they said "Takahashi-san, would that sell?". I replied that I didn't think it'd sell either. (Laughs) If you make the setting something like that, [the game] becomes hard to approach. When I think about how to make people really get into an RPG with a story based in antiquity, [I have to admit it'd] probably be difficult. -------: So you're going to include those kinds of things in your personal writings, then? Takahashi: I want to do that, yes. -------: Writing a story set 1000 or 2000 years in the past would definitely be tough, considering your last work took place 4000 years into the future and all. (Laughs) Takahashi: I enjoy setting it 4000 years in the future too. Deciding what to make is probably going to be a story spanning 4000 years, too. (Laughs) -------: While we're on the subject, even if the setting is clearly in the future, the society [lit.: life environment] presented in the game, far from being a far-fetched fiction, gives me the impression of a strong link with the present day. Looking at it from the point of view of a vision of the future rooted in modern society [lit.: life environment], conceiving of a future that really feels like the future* must be quite hard, I'd think. *[Note: A little uncertain about this part, but it's a pretty complicated sentence and it uses a strange construction I haven't seen before.] Takahashi: When you look back at the last 2000 or 3000 years of human history, there has been an evolution in regards to technology and information, but the essence of humanity hasn't changed much at all. I feel it might have something to do with that. Perhaps the essence of humanity still won't have changed in the future, 1000 or 2000 years from now. -------: People never change (lit.: don't change). Takahashi: I suppose so. I'm also interested in what people would be like if they were in a situation where the fear of death has been swept away and they've been freed from having to live [just] to work. On the other hand, as long as it's not like that, I don't think people will change. -------: How do you think when you're depicting characters who have been freed from death? Takahashi: If we were freed from death, I think we'd be more concerned with things other than ourselves. Of course we'd also shift our attention to the outside compared to our inner selves. As a person who has trancended death, there are also cases where you'd want to approach what's outside [yourself]. [I know these sentences seem to say almost the same thing, so I'm probably misunderstanding some nuances, or maybe he just wants to emphasize it.] Some would probably be destructive, while others would be drawn towards altruism. Humans who were freed from death would have unlimited time. And I think they'd spend that time considering many things. However, while you consider things yourself, other people can't change. Among them, I think those who were freed from death would worry too. I think they'd worry about the relationship between themselves and the world too. -------: Is making works [of fiction] your own way of recording your compromise with death? Takahashi: Rather than a way of recording my compromise with death, I'd call it an apology to myself for the things I'm unable to do every day. After all, I'm not just doing the right things every day. Putting those parts [of myself] into my works is kind of a way for me to organize myself. 
Once I've created something, I move on to the next one straight away.-------: I think you're also [bound to be] leaving traces of yourself in them when you're creating works. And when some time has passed, you're probably also having regrets about your works. Do you have any thoughts on that? Takahashi: I think that's unavoidable, to an extent. In the beginning, I used to be a designer, and there were many occasions when I drew something one day and regretted it when I looked at it again the following day. Even though I felt it was satisfactory at the time I drew it. That applies to life in general as well. If you don't have any regrets, you can't move forwards. What I mean by that is that if I can look at what I'm writing now again in 10 or 20 years and see it in a new light, even if have regrets about it, I feel that'd be a good thing, to an extent. Looking back, if you can confirm that, you can't see it anymore. [That's what it looks like, but I'm unsure about this one since it doesn't make too much sense.] If you can find out what the bad parts are, that'd be good. If you're always being stubborn, you can't move forwards. That is to say, if you have a habit of speaking badly of others [lit.: bad speaking style], you won't get much affection. [Yeah, not really sure what that has to do with the topic, maybe I'm missing something.] I feel that once you make something, you should move on to the next project. -------: Over the coming years when you're going to be writing "Xenosaga", do you think there will be some situations you will be hung up on/have to stick to the past? Takahashi: As for things related to the story setting I will have to make confirmations by looking at the material... but what's personally embarrassing to me are the [in-game] messages, I mean the dialogue parts of couse. These are so embarrassing, you know... looking back, I can't even stand reading it. So I deliberately choose not to! -------: How will the story unfold from here? Takahashi: There will be a conclusion to the things that were left unclear in "Episode I", that kind of content. -------: Are you thinking that there are three [main] plot threads, that is, Wilhelm, Shion and chaos? Takahashi: Well, the plot this time is about the Shion thread, but it's also about the Federation and the U-TIC device. I think the Miltia incident will be central to the story from here on. To be honest, the problem [lit.: bottleneck] with RPGs is that it's very hard to depict such a large cast of characters. For example, in movies and TV dramas, you can tell a story from the viewpoint of many characters, right?* However, in the case of games, especially considering the methology of [making] RPGs, when characters unravel, so do the components of [their] growth. So they can't [be allowed to] unravel. For example, if there was a period where, say, Ziggy or MOMO were removed, people who were using them would wonder why they were gone all of a sudden. To ensure that doesn't happen, you have to impose quite a few restrictions on yourself. This is difficult not just from a storytelling perspective, but also from the perspective of direction. You have to be prepared for that. [Probably not 100% accurate, but something like that, lit.: "to harden against"]. *[Note: I'm a bit unsure about this sentence. Literally, it says something like "Telling a story from the viewpoint of many characters isn't possible, is it that way?" Obviously it's perfectly possible to tell a story with many viewpoints in movies and TV, so I guess the interpretation I went with is the only one that makes sense. But I might be missing something here...I'll see if I can get it clarified by a native speaker eventually.] -------: Even if you have a particular story [lit.: drama] in mind...? Takahashi: Honestly, I'd like to just tell the story in a vigorous, straightforward manner. You get better tempo that way too. On the other hand, if you're [too] rigid, you miss the things you need to see, and the tempo suffers. This is the curse of [making] games. Once you have a third-person story, there's no way to avoid it. For example, if this was a first-person game, there wouldn't be a problem at all. In the same way as in the difference between first-person and third person novels, by using [a] first-person [perspective] you can work from that character's viewpoint, and smoothly bring the user into the world. But when you have a third-person perspective, you get a sense of detachment from the characters [lit.: a separation is born]. That's something I find difficult, since it's the norm for RPGs to be third-person. -------: How about a first-person RPG? Takahashi: An RPG like that would probably be something like "Dragon Quest", I suppose. Outside of RPGs, it'd be something like "Metal Gear". I think they're structured like games, to an extent*. That's [one of the] disadvantages of a third-person story. That is to say, these days you need to keep adding resources as a way to keep the integrity of the story intact. As you add characters, the more times you use them, the more resources you need to add to compensate. However, that's not possible for us [ie. Monolith Soft]. This is bit of a dilemma for us. Unfortunately, I can't think of any way to resolve that right now. *[A bit unsure again here, sorry. Maybe he means that they were structured too much around the gameplay rather than the story.] -------: The next "Xenosaga" game will be an RPG too, right? Takahashi: Yes. For example, if we were to release the sequel [to Episode 1] as an adventure, and the users said they wanted that, it'd naturally be different. But it won't be a shooter [or anything like that]. The game is first and foremost for the users, so we want to release it in the form they'd be most happy with. -------: From your perspective as the director, what kind of game is "Episode I" [to you]? Takahashi: Both content-wise and organization-wise, it was a kind of rough project. Starting with 4 people, we gradually added more. That means that we were often helped out by some key personell. If a certain programmer wasn't there, we wouldn't be able to do anything, if a certain designer was unavailable, we couldn't proceed, and so on. Considering all that, I think we made a pretty good game. After all, our sitation was almost like walking a tightrope. -------: [Seems like] you were blessed with some great people [lit.: staff]. Takahashi: Yes, I probably was. |
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[Page 240 - Translated by Gwendal]
11 October 2002, First edition Publisher: Kouichi Hamamura Editor: Minoru Noda Chief Editor: Takeo Sakamoto Assistant Editor: Koumei* Suzuki Desk: Akemi* Miyazawa General Affairs Department: Oshiego Takahashi Printing: Dai Nippon Insatsu Publisher's address: Enterbrain inc. [Do we really need the street address transcribed?] Xenosaga EPISODE I Der Wille zur Macht -OFFICIAL DESIGN MATERIALS- PRODUCTION CREDITS Planning, editing: Makoto* Kawara (Famitsu books, editorial division) Planning, writing: Kenichi Shinshiro* General design supervision, format: Akiko Ishikawa (Famitsu books, editorial division) Design: Suuichi Ooshiro* Interview photography: Shuuichi Mito (Pacia limited) Editing assistance: Wataru Sano Provision of raw images: Orion Press/Rosetta Stone division Nature Production General supervision: Namco inc./Monolith Soft inc. [Comment: Here's the credits page. Unfortunately, names are notoriously tricky to read properly, even for the Japanese themselves (or so I hear). I used this site (http://kanji.reader.bz) to get readings for the names, but sometimes it offered up two or more for a particular set of kanji, which I've marked with an asterisk. In those cases I just went with the first reading it suggested. Below that is just the usual legal stuff. The first paragraph basically says not to copy anything from the book without permission, and the second says you're welcome to ask them questions as long as it's not about game information. In terms of actual information, it seems like no one from Monolith actually wrote the text in the book, just oversaw the writing process in some way. So even if it's canon and all, it's not directly from the developers/writers themselves. That's interesting to know.] |
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