ARM Backup/Ar Portal translation/Firefly Alley Citizen's BBS/Issue 13

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アルトネリコをプレイしていただいた皆様へ 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　土屋　暁

To everyone who played through Ar tonelico, By Akira Tsuchiya

アルトネリコ発売から1ヶ月弱が経ちました。その間に買ってプレイしていただいた皆様、本当にありがとうございました。また、これから遊んでみよう、と思われている皆様も、どうぞよろしくお願いします。 ほたる町内会報は前回で終了だったのですが、今回アルトネリコを応援して頂いている皆さんにどうしてもお礼をしたいと思いまして、再び書かせて頂いております。沢山の暖かい応援、本当にありがとうございます！

Little more than a month has passed since Ar tonelico was first released, so now, I want to thank everyone who has bought and played through it in that span of time. Of course, there will be many more people playing and trying it in days to come, so I hope you all will like it. While the Firefly Alley Citizen BBS was originally planned to end in the previous issue, I'll return to writing in it for a little longer as a way of showing my gratitude to everyone who has supported us by buying and playing Ar tonelico. Truly, thank you very much for all the warm support you've given us!

インターネットが普及し、プレイされた皆様と私たち開発者がダイレクトに感じたことを伝え合える時代になりました。そんな時代にゲーム制作に関われる事を嬉しく思います。皆さんの個人ブログやコミュニティなどを拝見させて頂いておりますと、本当にこの ゲームを好きでいてくれる方がとても多いと感じています。 楽しんで頂けた方の感想はもちろん、駄目な部分を正直にしっかり書いて頂いている方も大勢いらっしゃっいます。特に、駄目だと思っている部分を正直に言える、それを受けとめることが出来る環境というのは本当に良い環境だと思います。 そんな環境にありながら、皆さんの御意見を一方的に見せていただいているだけというのも勿体ない気がします。そこで、私の方からも特に感じたことを幾つか皆さんにお伝えしていこうと思います。

With the diffusion of the internet, the time has come for us developers to be able to keep direct contact with all the players and communicate with each other, and I'm glad we can also use this as an influence for our work in future games. By just showing me the many blogs and communities in which you all write, I can see how many of you truly like our games. Of course we have received a lot of impressions of those who actually had fun with our games, but we also have received quite a lot that honestly thought they weren't good at all. Especially the latter ones, as the fact that we could receive such replies tells us that actually the current gaming environment is an excellent one. As long as such an environment exists, I feel that we'll never get any one-sided impressions from everyone out there, which would be quite absurd if I say it myself. Well then, there are few things I have to tell everyone too about my personal feelings in the matter:

１つ目は詩と音楽。詩、BGM共に、本当に沢山の皆様に愛され大感謝です。そして星詠、月奏などは、一時期生産が追いつかず、皆様に多大なるご迷惑をお掛けしましたこともお詫び申し上げます。何はともあれ今回の音楽、プレイして頂いた皆様に本当に 喜んで頂けているのを見る度に、最後まで諦めないで創って良かったと思います。12曲という詩曲は、ゲームを創りながらCDアルバムを1枚創るようなものでした。更には重ね録り60回以上が当たり前のような楽曲ばかりで、これだけでも半年、 一年かかるだろうと言われるような代物です。それでも「本当に妥協せずに自分の納得いく基準で作ったものは、必ず買ってくれた人も一緒に幸せになれる…」という想いを持って作り続けました。同じ想いで関わってくれた歌い手さん達、作詞作曲家さん達 とも逢う度に、この楽曲達が皆さんに愛されていることを一緒に喜んでいます。想いのこもった「いい音楽」は、100年経っても色あせないと信じています。ゲームソフト、サントラ、月奏、星詠…これらの楽曲達が、何年経っても皆さんの心の中に居続けていたな ら、これほど幸せなことはありません。本当に好きになってくれてありがとうございます。

First, about the Songs and music. I am truly grateful that so many people out there ended up liking the BGMs. And as for "Hoshiyomi" and "Tsukikanade", I have to give my apologies to everyone involved, given how much trouble I gave them, so the production of the albums wouldn't overtake that of the game. In any case, the more I saw how truly glad everyone was to play the game, the more happy I felt that I didn't give up while working on this project, even at the very end. We made both of the CDs and their twelve songs at the same time we were working on the game. I would say that it took us from six months to a full year, and over 60 re-recordings before all of these songs reached their current form. But still, I continued working because my feelings on this matter were "I won't give up on this until these songs reach my quality standards, because I want to feel the same happiness as the ones who buy and listen to them...". The singers had the same exact feelings on this, as also did the composers and arrangers, so they wanted to feel the same happiness upon knowing that everyone was loving their songs. In fact, we believed that as long as our melodies "were good songs", filled to the brim with feelings, they wouldn't ever grow stale or boring. The game itself, the soundtrack, Hoshiyomi and Tsukikanade... If these songs can continue touching your hearts, no matter how many years pass, nothing will ever make me any happier. Truly, thanks for having liked these songs.

２つ目は、ストーリー展開について。賛否色々ありますが、ガッカリされていた方も見受けられました。そんな方の御意見を読ませて頂きますと「確かにごもっとも…」と思う事も多々ありました。せっかく買ってプレイしていただいたのに、気持ち悪いものを残して しまっていると思うと、申し訳ない気持ちで一杯になります。本当に伝えたかったこと「本当に愛するということ」が、表現不足、技量不足により、沢山の方に上手く伝えられていないことを反省しております。今回皆さんから頂きました厳しい御意見は本当に 貴重なものでした。そして、そこまで言ってくださる皆様に、本当にこの作品を、キャラ達を愛してくれてありがとう、という事を伝えたいと思っていました。本当に愛想を尽かしていたら、そんな意見すら書いてもらえない筈ですから。好きだから怒りも出る、 やるせなさも出るものです。ですから、厳しい事が書かれていても最後まで真摯に読ませていただいております。 また、ストーリーを良かったと評価していただける方にも、本当に心から感謝しています。今回の物語で伝えたかったことをそのまま受け取ってくれた方もいらっしゃいまして、読んでいて涙が出るほどに嬉しかった事もありました。 アルトネリコは、寝る間も惜しんで妥協せずに作らせて頂いた作品です。しかし、それと皆さんの期待に添えることはまた別。今回の皆さんの御意見ご感想を糧に、次はもっと満足してもらえるものを制作できるよう、今後もそんな想いで 更なる努力をしていきます。こうして道標が決まるのも、皆さんの声有ってのことです。一人や開発内だけでは気づけないことも、こうして皆さんの意見から気づけるという事に感謝しています。

Second, about the plot developments. While we had several positive and negative reactions to it, I saw that there were several disappointed reactions. Upon reading these opinions, I felt that "Maybe they are actually right about it..." in a lot of them. I can't do anything but offer a lot of apologies for those that awaited so much to play the game, but that it only left them with bitter feelings. I'll have to seriously reconsider my work, as what I actually tried to convey was "what love truly is", but it looks like either because of a deficient representation, or my own lack of abilities, I wasn't capable of conveying said theme to a lot of people. I really appreciate all the criticisms I receive, even the most severe ones. But also, I want to truly thank everyone who told us about how much they ended up loving the game itself and its characters. If they really had gotten disgusted, they wouldn't have written such enthusiastic opinions about them. No matter if you liked them or made you mad, please send your opinions. I'll honestly continue reading them, no matter how severe they might be. Also, for the ones that liked the story, I want to give you my thanks from the bottom of my heart. Whenever I read the opinions of the people who actually got the themes I tried to represent on this story, I seriously got so happy that I even cried. After all, Ar tonelico is something into which I spent several sleepless nights working. However, it was also accompanied by all the expectations you all had on it. Once again, thank you everyone for all the opinions you have sent me, and I'll do my best to take them in consideration from now on, so my next work fulfills all your expectations. And so we can decide the direction we'll take next, we need your voices. There are several things I can't notice when I am by myself or among the development team, so I'll always be grateful whenever you send me opinions and make me realize something I missed.

３つ目は不具合について。発売後に発覚しました幾つかの不具合におきまして、楽しんでいただいている皆様に多大なるご迷惑をお掛けしましたことを、慎んでお詫び申し上げます。今後このような事が無いよう、更に万全な開発、デバッグ体制で望んで 行きます。

Third, about the bugs. After the game was released, several bugs were brought to our attention, and I am very sorry they have hampered your enjoyment of it so much. From now on, we will do our best for our development and debugging work to become flawless, so such a thing will never be repeated.

以上３点、皆さんの感想などの中から特に感じていることを正直に書かせていただきました。

Finally, there are a few particular things I got from the feelings you all sent alongside your honest opinions.

良いことはともかく、自らの非をわざわざ書いて謝るってどうなの？と思われる方もいらっしゃるかと思います。私の回答は「常に正直であれ」「常に皆さんと同じ目線であれ」という２点です。私は応援してくれる皆さんと一緒にゲームを盛り上げていきたい、 傲慢になることもなく、皆さんの意見を真摯に受けとめていきたいと思っています。自分が思った事は正直に伝える、皆さんの意見も真剣に聴く。こういう所から、皆さんと開発が１つになって、本当に望んでいるものが作られていくのではないかと考えているからです。

First is this one: "Why are you always apologizing about your own mistakes when you write, and acknowledging you failed?" My answers to this would be "To be honest with you all", and "To put myself into the same perspective as everyone else". I've always wanted to make a game with everyone else, but so my pride didn't inflate too much and become a hindrance, I decided to honestly receive the opinions everyone sends me. And like I decided, I've honestly read all the opinions I've been sent, and replied to them in that same way. In this way, both we, the developers and everyone else can be on equal footing, and I truly wish we can someday make something under these conditions.

「制作者はユーザーに弱いところを見せるな、非を認めるな」という意見もあります。いや、現在はそれが殆どです。それももちろん有りです。ただ、私は皆さんと共に歩んでいきたい。だからこそ、感謝も、自分の非も、感じたことは正直に皆さんに 開いていこうと思っています。これからもずっとです。せっかく皆さんの本気の意見を見る機会があって、（この場のように）それに応える場所もあるのに、それをしないなんて勿体ない。 前代未聞かもしれませんが、世の中に一人くらいこんなディレクターがいても良いんじゃないでしょうか？

I've also gotten opinions like: "Developers shouldn't allow users to see their weak sides, don't write about your mistakes". No, currently I'm still receiving a lot of them. Well, this was to be expected. However, I want to walk on the same road as everyone else. Therefore, I'm honestly opening my thoughts to everyone else, so they can see both my gratitude to them and my faults. And I'll continue doing this as long as I live. Having the opportunity to see the honest opinions of everyone, and also replying to them (like I'm doing at the moment) is something that shouldn't be seen as absurd. This might be something no one else has done before, so would I be a lousy Director for doing such things?

皆さんの意見を真剣に捉え、それを踏まえた上で、皆さんが考えもしないことを次の企画の核に据えてアッと驚かす、楽しませる。これが私の在りたい姿です。だからこそ、今開催しているアンケートに本気の意見をぶつけて欲しいと思っています。感動 したなら感動した！と、怒りを覚えたら怒ってる！と。そういった真剣な想いが、次の作品をいいものにしていきます。 どうぞ、よろしくお願いします。

I've honestly perceived everyone's opinions and, based on them, I'll be building the nucleus for our next project, which will surely surprise and amuse everyone out there. Therefore, I'll be opening soon a development questionnaire in which I wish that everyone can give me their honest opinions. If it moved you to tears, then say so! And if it made you angry, say it too! Such sincere feelings are what we will actually consider for our next project. So I'll be counting on you all.

まだ至らない点もあると思いますが、今後もずっと共に歩んで頂けたら嬉しいです。長文、最後まで読んで頂いて本当にありがとうございました。

While I may commit mistakes again, nothing will make me happier than walking alongside you all. If you have read this long rambling to its very end, then I can only sincerely thank you for your attention.