ARM Backup/Ar Portal translation/Firefly Alley Citizen's BBS/Issue 22

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こんにちは、土屋です。いよいよ6月も中旬ですね～。梅雨に入ってジメジメして来てますし、ダレ気味の方もいらっしゃるかと思います。そんな方も、そうでない方も、ちょっと朗報をまず１つ。 ここしばらく、アルトネリコは町民会報しか活動していないように見えるかもしれませんが、決してそんなことはありません。ちょっとビックリするようなモノを裏でやってたりします。まだまだアルトネリコは終わりませんよ？いや、これからもガンガン関連商品が出ます！既にドラマCDは公開されていますが、それとは別に、何とボーカルメインの語りCDも出たり、オリカやミシャの事が更に分かってしまうあんなモノや、更には他にも色々色々色々色々色々色々… とにかく、アルトネリコはまだ終わりません！ファンの皆さんのために頑張り続けます！皆さんが支持し続けてくれる限り、私たちは皆さんと共に走り続けます！ 公式サイトの７月以降の動きに、大いにご期待ください！

Hello everyone, Tsuchiya here. We're at least in the middle of June~. It has gotten all humid and gloomy due to the coming of the rainy season, but I think there might be some out there that like this kind of weather. And for those that don't, I have a good new for you all. While for a while we might have seem like didn't give any signs that Ar tonelico was being worked on anywhere besides the Citizen's BBS, that wasn't the case at all. In fact, so we could surprise you all, we continued working on it in secret. Ar tonelico isn't finished yet? Not at all, as we'll be releasing a lot of related merchandising from now on! We have already announced a Drama CD, but aside of it, a new story CD with emphasis on vocals has also been released, which should make you able to further understand Aurica and Misha, and various, various, various, various, various other things... Anyway, Ar tonelico hasn't ended yet, and we'll continue doing our best for our fans! As long as you all continue supporting us, we'll continue running alongside you all! And please, greatly look forward to the developments that will take place on the official site from July onwards!

というわけで、今回の本題に入ります。 アルトネリコ、セカンドアンケート結果発表最終回は「テーマである愛や絆の表現に反している部分は何か？」という設問に対する結果発表です。結果は前回の「感じられた部分」に比べ、非常に分かりやすい、まとまった結果となりました。 ▼大勢の方が回答されていた御意見 ・ライナーが「ミシャ、謳ってくれ」と言うシーン ・ライナーが3人のヒロイン全てと恋愛沙汰になる。浮気すぎ。 ・精神世界で、全員がLv9を迎えられること。 ・ミシャの過去を思い出せないこと。

And that said, let's begin with the main topic for this issue. The final issue for the results report of the Ar tonelico second enquete is about the report for the answers to this question: "Which parts went against the representation of the themes of love and bonds?". In comparison to the "parts I felt" from the last issue, I've collected to results in the following way in order to make them much more easier to understand. ▼The Opinions Shared by Most of the Users ・The scene where Lyner says: "Misha, won't you sing?" ・That Lyner can be lovey-dovey with all three heroines at once. It goes beyond infidelity. ・That it's possible to reach Lv. 9 in the Soulspace of all heroines at once. ・That Lyner doesn't remember about his past with Misha.

▼その他少数意見 ・エピローグイベントでの選択肢 ・ライナーが鈍感すぎる ・天覇のレーヴァテイルに対する仕打ち ・各所のえろいセリフ

▼Other Minority Opinions ・The choice in the epilogue events. ・Lyner being beyond dense. ・Tenba's mistreatment of the Reyvateils. ・The double entendre lines in several parts.

多くの方が予想されていた結果ではないかと思います。これらの結果をゲーム発売直後から聞き続け、そしてずっと「どうしてこのような結果を生み出したのか」という事を止まって見たとき、１つの共通する問題点に達しました。これらをお伝えすることは非常に勇気が要ることですし、もしかしたら皆さんに不快を与えてしまいかねない事です。ですが、今後同じ過ちを繰り返さないためにもここに記します。最後までお読みいただければ幸いです。

I wonder if a large part of our users were expecting to see these results. I continued hearing similar things since right after the release of the game, and I always stopped and looked back wondering "Why are results like these appearing?", but I've finally reached the conclusion of this being due to springing from a common problem. As saying these things requires a lot of courage, maybe this will cause you all a great deal of discomfort. However, in order to not repeat such a mistake, please tell me why on your comments. And if you managed to read what I have to say to the end, I'll be very happy.

まずは１つめです。 今作のゲームコンセプト「愛」や「絆」を盛り込むために、私はかなりの部分をわかりやすく、記号化することをしてきました。それが結果として、ライナーというキャラクターを無知にしてしまう結果となりました。例えば「本当に護るという事は、身体が傷つかないように護るのではなく、本当に相手の事を想い、その全てを相手と共にいること」をゲーム中で伝えるために、敢えてライナーがそういうことを知らないヤツと定義してスタートし、それを体験を通じて学んでいくというシチュエーションを創っています。そういった「愛ってこういうもの」というシチュエーションを１つ伝えたい度に、ライナーは１つ知らない子になっていき、結果的に「常軌を逸した愛を何も知らないヤツ」を創り出す結果となりました。 創ってる当時は「（愛や絆の）要素を表現すること」をにばかり目が行っており、また、ヒロイン視点からヒロインの感情を最優先することを第一としていました。それが結果として主人公を落とし込み、ゲームとしての印象を下げているということに気づくことが出来なかったのです。

Now, let's start with the first point. To incorporate the concepts of "bonds" and "love" in this game, I had to encode various parts in order to make them easier to understand. As a result, the character of Lyner ended up becoming quite ignorant. To give an example, because he had to be told in the middle of the game "that to protect someone isn't just keeping them safe from bodily harm, but it's also truly caring for your partner and always being at their side", he was defined at the beginning as someone who didn't know such basic things, which also allowed us to make the situations where he learns about them from experience. Basically, the more situations we needed for conveying one aspect of "love being like this", the further Lyner became ignorant, with the final result being that he became "an aberrant guy who knows nothing about love". I had my eyes fixed only on the idea of "representing the elements (of love and bonds)" while we were creating the game, so I had first and foremost on my mind representing the viewpoints of the heroines and their feelings, and this in the end caused us to not concentrate as much on the protagonist, which in turn caused negative impressions in the game without me being able to realize it at the time.

ミシャに謳ってくれと言うシーンにも、上記事項の影響が少なからずあります。このシーンで表現したかったことは色々あります。まず、極限の状況下における究極の選択に対し揺れる心の表現、そしてミシャからのフィードバックで成長するライナーという点。ここで表現したかったことは「自分がシュレリア様を再起動してその後ミュールを倒す（この時点では「倒す」です）。そしてもうミシャが謳わなくて住む世界を創り出すから、共に闘ってくれ」という事でした。ここでいう「共に闘う」とは、ライナーはミュールを倒すという過酷な決断をする、その間、信頼しているミシャには詩によるバックアップを頼む、という意味です。しばらく離ればなれになるけど、これはミシャにしかできない、ミシャを信頼していなければ出来ない事で、かつミシャがいなければ為し得ないこと。だから、ミシャが辛いのを承知の上で「俺を信頼して一時的に命（＝自由）を預けてくれ。一緒に行動は出来ないけど、共に闘ってくれ」という想いを込めていました。 その後の展開で、ライナーの言葉足らずを指摘するために「シュレリア様の十分の一でも心配して欲しかった」とミシャが誤解するシーンを差し込みました。ライナーの想いは全世界が丸く収まることだけに集中している。でもライナーの言葉が足りないために、ミシャにはライナーがシュレリア様の事しか考えていないように感じた。だからミシャは飛び出していきました。ここで伝えたかったことは、ライナーとミシャ、信頼し合う二人の間にも誤解があり、想いを伝えるには言葉にすることは大切です…という事だったのですが… 今思うこのシーン最大の過ちは、その後のライナーでした。即ち、これら全てを 解決する言葉を「どうして、誰かが幸せになるために誰かが苦しまなければならないのだろう」という一言で済ませてしまった事です。この一文に込められた想いは「互いの幸せのために互いが犠牲になる世界なんておかしい！俺がそんな宿命ぶちこわして、二人とも自由に生きられる世界を創る！」という、ミシャとシュレリアの不憫さに対する憤りでした。その中には「ミシャを不幸にする宿命なんて絶対に許せない」という想いもありました。しかし、当時冗長になることを恐れ、それをダイレクトに表現しなかった。それが最大の過ちでした。 またこの一文は、結果的にミュールを助けるきっかけとなる一文でもあります。複数の想いが重なったこの文章が、制作中誰に対する想いなのかを曖昧にしてしまったという事も、過ちだったのだと思います。 とにかく、これらの事から自ら思うことは、愛や絆という純粋な想いを表現するのに、様々な「見せるための不自然」や「他の要素と絡めるために歪めてしまった部分」を生み出してしまったという事、そして非常に言葉が足りなかったことです。愛や絆というものを表現する上で決してやってはいけないことを、沢山やってしまいました。正直、今見れば最低です。だから今改めて、不快感を与えてしまった皆様に慎んでお詫び申し上げます。本当に申し訳ございませんでした。

This even had a considerable impact on the scene where he tells Misha to sing. I actually wanted to represent several things with this scene: first, a heart that was shaking at the prospect of having to take extraordinary choices due to extreme circumstances, alongside Lyner's growth due to the feedback he received from Misha due to this. In fact, what I wanted to represent here was "I'll reboot Lady Shurelia and defeat (it was still "defeat" at this point in time) Mir after doing it. And so I can make a world in which you can live without needing to sing anymore, I need you to fight with me, Misha". And by "fight with me", I mean that Lyner has severely decided to defeat Mir and in the meantime, he asks Misha to back them up with her Song because he trusts so much in her. That's what this scene means. While this means that they will be away from each other for a time, this is something that only Misha can do, and she wouldn't be able to do it if Lyner didn't trust her, so if Misha wasn't there, this would be impossible. Therefore, while being intentionally hard to Misha, it's packed with the feelings of "Please believe on me, and entrust your life (freedom) to me for a while. Please fight with me, even if we won't be able to act together for now." But as the scene progressed, another scene showing that Misha misinterpreted him due to his lack of ability with words and told him "I wish you showed me even one tenth of the concern you have for Lady Shurelia" was inserted. Lyner's feelings are concentrated solely in finding a peaceful solution for the entirety of the world. However, since he didn't convey them in an appropriate way, Misha ended up thinking that Lyner was only thinking about Lady Shurelia, which is why she ran off. What I wanted to convey with this was that misunderstandings exist even between two people that trust so much in each other like Lyner and Misha, and that we have to be very careful with the words we use to convey our feelings. That's all I wanted to convey... Now I look back on this, my largest mistake here was what Lyner did afterwards. That is, finishing the scene with these final words "Why always someone must suffer for someone else to be happy?". The feelings I put in that sentence was "A world where someone has to sacrifice themselves for others to be happy is ridiculous! I'll destroy that kind of fate and make a world where both can live freely!", showing Lyner's indignation toward the pathos both Misha and Shurelia carried, which also implicitly carries the feelings "I'll never forgive a destiny that makes Misha unhappy". However, since at the time I feared this would get too tedious for the players, I didn't express it in a more direct way. That is my greatest mistake. Additionally, that very line was also what in the end served to save Mir. So I think the mistake was that while we put so many feelings on that line, who should be the receiver for the feelings ended becoming quite vague as we worked in the game. Anyway, since I began pondering about these things, despite representing pure feelings such as love and bonds, this also brought forth all sorts of thoughts such "it would feel unnatural just to show this" and "these parts were distorted because they got mixed together with other elements", so in the end it's because I wasn't good enough with words. I didn't want to give anything else a representation priority higher than that of the one I had given to love and bonds, yet I still did it several times. Honestly, now I look back on this, it was quite terrible on my part. Therefore, I'll apologize once again to you all for having caused you discomfort. I'm truly sorry about it.

制作期間中には制作期間中の１２０％全力で臨んでいて、これからもそれは変わりません。今回の事で様々な事を学び、御意見を頂いた皆様にはそのきっかけを頂いたことに大変感謝しております。こうして沢山の想いのこもった意見を聴くことは自分の成長にもなり、それは必ず私の次の作品に繋がっていきます。 続編か別ゲームかはわかりませんが、次の作品はこれらのことは決して行わないことを決め、そのその証人として皆さんに存在してもらうために、また自分にも改めて言い聞かせるために、今回の文章を書かせていただきました。実際は今回に限らず、セカンドアンケートの結果を皆さんにお伝えしていること全てが、次作以降へのコミットメント（約束）を含んでいます。 この記事を毎回読んでいただいているファンの皆さんと、これからも「よりよいモノを創り出していく仲間」として歩んでいくために、様々な努力をしていきます。そして、それに応えられる良作を創ることを、日々決めて生きていきます。今回ダメだった部分で見切らないで、今後も共にお付き合いいただければ、私としてはこの上ない幸せです。今後ともどうか、よろしくお願いします！

Every time I'm working on something I always try to put on it a 120% of my energies, and that won't ever change in the future. Making this game allowed me to learn about several things, as also did receiving these opinions from you all, so I'd like to give you all a great thank you for doing it. Listening to a large amount of opinions like this also allows me to grow, which will also be connected to how my next work will turn out. I don't know yet if it'll be a sequel or an unrelated game, but I'm set on not repeating these same mistakes for my next work, and so I can count on you all to be my witnesses to this, I'm writing these lines right now, so I can tell me myself in the future what I must do. And this isn't limited just to this issue: everything I've told you all alongside the results of this second enquete all contain my commitment to my next works. So I can walk alongside you all, the fans that have read this column every time a new issue was published, as "companions focused in creating great things" from now on, I'll make my best efforts. And I've also decided to live my days creating great works in order to meet your expectations. I won't give up precisely because this game had parts that didn't live up to expectations, and if we can always continue interacting the way we've always had, nothing could make me any happier. I hope to continue working alongside you all from now on!

さて、この「ほたる町民会報」は、次回で最終回とさせていただきます。ただし！ これはアルトネリコの終わりを告げるモノではありません。言うならば、蝶になるためのサナギの期間だと思っていただければ幸いです。 というわけで次回、ほたる町民会報怒濤の最終回は『アルトネリコ今後の展開のこと』をお送りします。お楽しみに！！ それでは、また！

Well then, the next issue will also be the last one for the "Firefly Citizen's BBS". However, that doesn't mean that it's the end for Ar tonelico! If I had to say what it'd be for it, it'd be like it has entered the state of becoming a cocoon that will turn into a butterfly, so if you can think of it in this way, I'll be very happy. In short, the next and surging final issue for the Firefly Citizen's BBS will be "About the Plans for Developments After Ar tonelico". Be sure to look forward to it!! Well then, see you all later!