ARM Backup/Ar Portal translation/Telemo Plaza/Issue 15

Direct Link
こんにちは、土屋です。
昨日まで肌寒くて長袖だったのに、今日は暑くて汗かきまくりです。長野は１日 の気温の上がり下がりが凄くて大変。。いきなり真夏日になってしまいました。 風邪引きも増えていますので、皆さんもうたた寝して風邪など引かないように気 をつけて下さいね。
さて、今回は皆さんから頂きました「アルトネリコ２制作時の想い」への回答に 対する回答第２回目、「戦闘システムに関する想い」についてお返事したいと思 います。
戦闘システムはRPGの要であり、アルトネリコを特徴付ける場所の１つでもあり ます。それ故に皆さんにとっても関心が高いところだと思いますし、反響もまた 大変大きい所でもありました。数十行は下らない熱い文章を送っていただいた方 も沢山いらっしゃいまして、改めて関心の高さを感じとりました。内容に関して も、皆さん良かった点と不満点を書いていただいている方が多く、制作側として もとても励みになっています。御意見いただきました皆様、本当にありがとうご ざいました！
さて、内容に関してですが、良かった点と残念だった点に分けてご紹介したいと 思います。
まずは良かった点として多かった意見。
前作アルトネリコ１もプレイしていただいた多くの方から「今作の戦闘は面白く なった」という評価を頂きました。理由としては「ちゃんと護っている感じがす る」「戦闘に刺激があって飽きない」といったものが多数意見でした。アルトネ リコ１を制作した後、反省点として上がっていたのが「戦闘がすぐに飽きる」 「パターンが読めてしまい後半が作業になる」といった点でした。それを改善す べく、２ではリアルタイムにボタンを押して護る、という要素を主軸としたシス テムを構築しました。その結果として、このような御意見を頂けたことは、大変 嬉しく思います。また、「戦闘中のヒロインの音声に励まされた」や「しっかり 護っていると実感でき、護ることでモチベーションが上がった」などの意見も頂 いています。そして一番嬉しかったのが「文章でない部分で絆を感じ取ることが 出来た」という御意見でした。アルトネリコシリーズのコンセプトは、シナリオ 面では物語で、そしてシステム面ではプレイヤーが実際にとる行動から、絆を感 じられるものを創るというものです。それを感じ取ってくれた方がいらっしゃっ た事が、とても嬉しく思います。
また、残念だった点も色々といただきました。最も多かったのが「処理落ちが発 生してタイミングが取れなくなる」「ゲージが揺れなければいつもパーフェクト が狙えるのに」といった部分でした。この部分に関しては、大いに改善すべき点 だと考えております。中にはゲージが見えなくなってしまう戦闘もあり、今後も し同じようなシステムを構築する際には、そういった点に関しても１戦闘ずつ、 細かくチェックをしていかなければならないと改めて感じました。他には「出す つもりのない必殺技が出てしまい、魔法が撃てないで終わってしまう」「仲間や 敵キャラに個性が無く、みんな同じに見える」などといった御意見も頂きました。 今作は必殺技やレプレキア、ハーモメイションなど、様々な大技を取り入れまし たが、それらが競合してしまい、本当に出したい大技を他の大技がさらっていっ てしまう、といった事が有ったかと思います。その辺りも今作の課題の一つであっ たと認識しています。
これらの御意見を頂きますときに、何名かの方から色々な案も頂きまして、大変 参考になっております。その中でも特に「これは名案」と思ったものをいくつか 紹介したいと思います。上にも出ていますが、必殺技が勝手に発動してしまう件 に関して「レプレキアの時にアナウンスが出るように『クロア必殺技使用可能』 などと表示して、ユーザーが使うか否かを選択できたらいいのでは」という御意 見を頂きました。確かにそうすれば、自分が使いたい大技を選択できますから、 戦略的な戦闘を行うことが出来ます。また、更によくする点としまして「護ると きのゲージのPERFECTなどの範囲が敵によって違ったら面白かった」という案が ありました。例えば「BADかPERFECTしか出ない敵」がいたらとてもスリルが有り ますし、たまにバーの移動速度が速い敵などがいたら、それだけで緊迫した戦闘 を楽しめます。この意見が開発中に出ていたら、採用していたかもしれません。 また「レーヴァテイルの詩魔法をそのまま敵にぶつけるのではなく、前衛にぶつ けてその力を受け取った前衛が必殺技を強化する」などの御意見も頂き、これも とても面白そうでしたので、興味深く読ませていただきました。
今回の御意見を読ませていただき、本当に皆さんが戦闘に対して関心が高く、今 作の戦闘を熱心にプレイしてくれたことを感じ取ることが出来て本当に嬉しく思 います。また、多数の方から「こうしたらもっと良くなるのではないか」との案 も頂きまして、皆さんと一緒に創っているゲームなんだ、という事も感じ取るこ とが出来、同時に感謝の気持ちで一杯になりました。戦闘はRPGの要です。今後 の作品でも、ゲームの方向性にマッチした、そして中毒性が高い戦闘システムを 構築していけるように日々頑張っていきますので、よろしくお願いします！
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.
While the weather had been chilly enough for wearing long-sleeved clothes, today it got hot enough to make me sweat. These sudden drops and spikes in Nagano's temperature that happened in a single day have caused us all sorts of trouble... it's just as if summer had come out of nowhere. This also makes a lot easier catching a cold, so everyone, please make sure to get plenty of sleep so you won't get sick from this.
Well then, this will be the second issue in which I'll respond to the opinions you all sent me regarding the [feelings I had when I was creating Ar tonelico 2], and this time, I want to respond to the opinions regarding the [feelings about the battle system].
The battle system is an essential component to all RPGs, and Ar tonelico's battle systems have a certain characteristic to them. Therefore, I thought this would be a topic you all would be greatly interested in, and the responses I got about it had some great points to them. As most of the responses I got were at the least several ten lines in length, I was able to feel just how much you all are interested on the battle system. As for what the responses themselves said, there were many stating the points you liked as well as there were many others that had points you were dissatisfied with, both of which serve as encouragement to me as a creator. Truly, thank you very much for having told me your opinions!
Okay then, I'll divide now the opinions I got in those that liked the battle system and those who thought it wasn't good enough.
First, let's start with the many stating the points they liked.
I got several opinions from people who had played Ar tonelico 1 stating that [this game's battle system was much more fun]. Several of these responses stated as their reasons for saying this that [they could feel they were actually protecting the heroines] and [that battles were exciting enough to never become boring]. After we finished Ar tonelico 1, some of the points we reflected upon were that [battles become boring too quickly] and [you get the patterns down so quickly that the second half of the game is just going through the motions and it becomes a chore to play through]. So knowing we ought to improve on what the previous game did, we constructed the system for 2 around one main element: protecting the heroines through real-time button presses. Therefore, I'm quite happy that we got such responses from you all as a result of it. Additionally, we got similar opinions stating things such as [the heroines' voices in battle really encouraged me] and [as I could feel I was actually protecting them, doing so increased my motivation]. And the opinion that brought me the greatest joy was [I was able to feel the bonds in a component of the game that has no dialogue]. The concept for the Ar tonelico series is that we create these games so you can feel the existence of bonds in all their aspects: from the scenario and story, to the systems and the actions the player actually carries out. That you were able to feel them in such a way makes more happy than you can imagine.
Okay then, now we'll go into the opinions stating the points they found lacking. From what I read, the most common points of complaint were [I couldn't get the timing down due to the in-game lag] and [I'd have always gotten Perfects if the gauges didn't shake with the animations]. I think these are indeed points where we should make large improvements. Among them there were also complaints about battles where it wasn't possible to see the gauges, so I feel that whenever we construct another battle system like this one, we ought to check in detail every single battle. Other complaints I got were [battles ending without even being able to fire my magic because the Supermoves came out without me intending to use them] and [party members and enemies not having any individuality to them, making them seem exactly the same]. While we introduced all sorts of bold moves for this game, like the Supermoves, Replekia or the Harmomations, they ended up becoming points of contention, so I'm thinking that maybe, some of them could have swept away the moves I actually wanted everyone to see. I acknowledge that it is one of the problems present in this game.
When I received these opinions, at the same time several people proposed many ideas to me which I intend to use as future references. Among those, there are a few I want to show you all that I deemed as [great ideas]. The one that appeared the most frequently was allowing players to use the Supermoves whenever they wanted after fulfilling a specific condition, saying [you could display an announcement like "Croix can use his Supermove now" similarly to how it's done with Replekia, and also allow the player the choice to use it or not]. It's true that if we done it this way, that would have allowed players to use the bold moves they preferred, and would have given the battles a more strategic approach. Another point that got raised very frequently was that [it'd have been more fun if the Perfect and such thresholds for the guarding gauges varied depending on the enmies]. For example, it would have been more thrilling to have [enemies where you could only get Bads or Perfects], or have enemies who acted faster than the bar indicator, both of which would have raised the tension in battle and made them more fun. If there ever comes the chance in which I can apply these ideas to our development, I might actually use them. We also got several other opinions like [the Reyvateils' magic shouldn't just hit the enemies as-is: it should also affect some of vanguards, strengthening their Supermoves], and as they sounded as very fun proposals, it was quite interesting for me to read through them.
I'm truly glad I could get to read your opinions for this issue, as this allowed me to feel how enthusiastic you all were in playing the battles for this game and how much interest they truly held for you all. At the same time, I feel greatly thankful to you all for having sent me ideas of the sort [Wouldn't the game be better if we did this?], as that's what I think should allow everyone feel that we're making these games alongside you all. After all, battles are an essential component to RPGs. For my next work, I'll keep doing my best day after to day to construct a battle system that will be greatly addictive to you all and that will also match the general trends seen in its corresponding game, so until that day, I hope we can keep counting on each other.
Well then, that's it for today, as I'll be going home now.
See you all later!