ARM Backup/Ar Portal translation/Telemo Plaza/Issue 17

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こんにちは、土屋です。
いよいよ夏真っ盛りになってきましたね。まだ夜は涼しい日々ですが、あと数日 もすれば熱帯夜となる事でしょう。。毎年ながら大変な季節です。
さて、今回の振り返りは「レプレキア」についてです。以前この「テレモのある 広場」でお話させていただいた、「レプレキアシステム」制作の想いに対する皆 さんの御意見をまとめてみました。
レプレキアシステムには、収集するための「I.P.D.保護＞セラピ＞親衛隊加入」 のシステムと、戦闘中の超技「レプレキア」の２種類があります。
前者は、ヤリコミ要素として集めるなら可愛いものの方がいい、集めていて楽し いものがいい、といった想いから、単に収集するだけでなく、性格付けや対話な どの要素も含めて制作しました。また、パーティーメンバーが協力して成し遂げ る、という事を表現したかったため、クロアたち（I.P.D.保護）＞ルカ（セラピ） ＞クローシェ（レプレキア）という役割の流れを創ってみたシステムでした。
これに関しては、皆さんの意見をまとめると概ね同じような意見になっています。 「１００人分個性があって面白い」「プロフィールを見ていて楽しい」といった キャラクター性の部分をご評価いただけるコメントが多い反面、「システムとし てはまだ練り込める」「大変すぎて探す気にならない」など、システム面として の単調さや捜し辛さなどがストレスになっている、といった感じです。また「ア ルトネリコらしいシステム」というコメントもたくさん頂きました。総じて、キャ ラクター的な描写やコンセプトは面白いが、システムはもう少し練り込むべき、 といった御意見が多く見受けられた感じです。
後者の戦闘内「レプレキア」は、とにかく爽快感と達成感を感じて欲しい、とい う想いで設計しています。「達成感」というのは、自らが集めて親衛隊に参加さ せてきた努力を、戦闘中に成果として実る、という、言わばピアノのレッスンみ たいなものでしょうか（笑）。頑張れば頑張るほど派手でスッキリ爽快な戦闘を 楽しめるようなコンセプトで制作してみたのです。
皆さんからの御意見はというと「使わないと勝てないような敵がいなくて残念」 「強化したレプレキアを存分に使える相手がいない」といった、バランス面での 不満が傾向として現れていました。良い点として「派手な演出で盛り上がる」 「詩（レプレキア）がいい」「演出の大切さを感じた」など、レプレキア自体の 盛り上がりについて評価していただけている事から、レプレキアを見据えたバラ ンスを心がけた制作をすることで、結構印象が変わったのかも…とも感じました。 戦闘のバランスは合わせ所が難しく、恐らくレプレキア合わせのバランスは戦闘 が苦手な人には辛いでしょうし、かといって易しくすればヤリコミの成果が上手 く発揮できない、といったジレンマがあります。公式アンケートでも「難易度設 定にHARDが欲しい」という方が圧倒的に多かったことからも、様々なプレイスタ イルのニーズに応える為にも、難易度設定の幅と吟味は今後の課題ではないかと 感じています。
今回は反響の大きかった回でもありまして、たくさんの御意見を頂いていました。 その中でもちょっと変わった御意見を何名かの方から頂いていましたので、それ を番外編として最後に紹介させていただきます。
今回の御意見の中にインフェルに対する意見がいくつか含まれていました。レプ レキアの話題ですからインフェルは直接的には関係ないのですが、それでも数名 の方から同じような意見があり、ビックリしつつも嬉しく思いました。代表で１ 名の方の御意見を抜粋させていただきます。「人々に裏切られ、最愛の者を亡く して、遂には希望の種子を兵器に変える詩を謳う彼女が不憫でなりません。」 他の方も同様なニュアンスのコメントでした。世界内設定的に、レプレキアはメ タファリカの通過点として生み出された技術です。インフェル・ピラは人々を希 望に導く施設として創られ、そこにはインフェルの想いもたくさん詰まっていま す。４００年前、インフェルが辛い想いの中必死で撃ったレプレキア。その戦略 は成功しましたが、結果的にレプレキアは彼女を救うことはできませんでした。 そういった背景も込みで、戦闘やゲームを楽しんでいただけている想いがぐっと 伝わってきた、とても嬉し涙が出るコメントでした。本当に、深く深く、アルト ネリコの世界を好きになってくれてありがとうございます。
今回はこの辺でおいとまさせていただきます。
それでは、また！	
Hello, everybody. It's Tsuchiya.
Looks like we're finally in the midst of summer, huh? While there are still nights when the weather gets pretty cold, most likely they'll be turning sultry in few more days. This season is a real headache every single year.
Well then, today we'll be turning our attention toward [Replekia]. Just like I said in the previous [Telemo Plaza] issue, I tried collecting all the opinions you all had about the feelings I had when I created the [Replekia System].
The Replekia System has two sides to it: on one hand it is the system that covers the [IPD Containment -> Therapy -> Fan Club Recruitment] process, and on the other it is the super attack [Replekia] that can be used during battle.
For the former, I thought that if we were going to challenge players to gather something, it would be best if it was cute characters, and that we should make it fun to bring them together. So simply put, I didn't just make a collection system, but I also included into it additional components like individual personalities and dialogue for these characters. Besides, because I wanted this series of systems to also be a demonstration of the characters working with each other, I tried making the system in a way that each characters was given a role to play in it. Therefore, it has this flow: [Croix and the other vanguards (IPD Containment) -> Luca (Therapy) -> Cloche (Replekia).
About all of this, the opinions you all sent me are generally very similar to each other. We got several opinions stating that [gathering a hundred different people was interesting] and [it was fun to check their profiles] when it came to the character part, but on the other hand there were also many opinions saying [it still has some wrinkles that needed working out] and [it's too troublesome, so I don't care about searching for them], which pretty much expressed that the system was stressful due to being monotone or the IPDs being hard to find. I also got many comments stating it was an [Ar tonelico-ish system]. So generally speaking, the larger number of the opinions I received said that character-wise the profiles and concept were interesting, but system-wise there were several things we must improve upon.
For the latter, I had planned [Replekia] to be something that would let you all feel a sense of accomplishment and an exhilarating sensation. The [sense of accomplishment] being something similar to taking piano lessons for example, as by having all the fan club members you recruited lend their full power to you, you see your efforts giving fruit in battle. Therefore, I wanted to create it under the concept that you would be able to enjoy more refreshing and showy battles the more effort you put into it. There were some opinions among you that also expressed displeasure about how we balanced the game, which said things such as [it's too bad there weren't any enemies that forced you to use Replekia to win], [there aren't any enemies where you can use a powered-up Replekia as you wish]. These opinions also brought up as good points [that it creates an exciting and showy production], [the Song (Replekia) is great], [it allowed me to feel the production's pain], so from the many opinions you all had about Replekia itself making everything exciting, I felt... that maybe the image for it could have changed greatly if we had put more heart into balancing the game with it as the focus. So it's a dilemma: had we made the battles harder, perhaps by rebalancing Replekia, we might have made the battles too difficult for the players who aren't good with them, while on the other hand, making them easier would make it impossible for those who seek challenges to display the results of their efforts. Of course, we also received an overwhelming amount of opinions, even in the official questionnaire, stating that they [want a Hard Mode], so I feel that we may have to take more care with the width and tests of the difficulty levels in order to cater to more diverse playstyles.
This was another issue for which we got a large number of responses and opinions. And given we received several opinions that have nothing to do with today's topic, I'll make an exception and respond to them to close off this issue.
There was an enormous number of opinions about Infel for this issue. Given that the topic is Replekia, it isn't directly related to Infel, but I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people expressing similar opinions about her. So now I'll show you all the most representative of these opinions: [After being betrayed by the people and the death of her lover, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her after she finally sang the Song that transformed the Seed of Hope into a weapon]. And there were several comments that had similar nuances to it. Now, speaking from the setting's viewpoint, Replekia was just technology that was produced as a waypoint for Metafalica. Infel Phira was created as a facility that would lead the people to their hope, and therefore Infel put a lot of feelings into its creation. And 400 years before, Infel desperately shot Replekia while she was still in the midst of suffering through some truly painful emotions. So while her war strategies were successful, ultimately Replekia wasn't capable of saving her lover. That's the sort of background I put into Replekia, so having read these comments showing that these feelings were transmitted to you all as you enjoyed the game and its battles, it all made me happy enough to start crying. Truly, thank you very much for having come to love Ar tonelico's world so, so deeply.
Well then, that's it for this issue, as I'll be going home now.
See you all next issue!