關於 everyone can make a difference quote ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

【國立臺灣大學 109學年度畢業典禮 貴賓致詞】
Commencement Address, National Taiwan University Commencement 2021

.
巨大集團 羅祥安前執行長
Giant Group Former CEO Anthony Lo

管校長，羅副校長，各位貴賓，畢業生的家長跟朋友們，還有今天最重要的2021年臺大的畢業生，大家早安、大家好！

首先恭喜你們，今天從全世界最優秀大學之一的臺灣大學畢業了！
在過去幾年，在管校長，以「大學教改」和「國際化」的理念，率領全體師生的努力之下，臺大在全世界的能見度，和各項排名，都有顯著的進步，也讓身為校友的我們倍感光榮。

是不是我們大家一起鼓掌，給自己鼓勵一下好不好！

你們今天剛剛畢業，但是你們已經創造了臺大一項新的紀錄：第一次，沒有傳統畢業典禮的畢業生。這將是你們人生一個非常特別的回憶，也預表了你們未來將會有與眾不同的表現，和非凡的成就。

現在的世界，局勢是在東方跟西方的勢力，彼此對抗而動盪不安。而全世界的經濟活動，也因為科技的突破性創新，而受到很大的影響。不盡理想的、不盡公平的全球化，也將逐漸地變成 全球在地化。而COVID-19肆虐全球的結果，使得臺灣跟全世界，大家的生活型態、社會的結構、經濟活動的節奏都被打亂了，而必須要加以全面的整理跟重新的架構。這當然是一個危機，但是更是一個絕好的機會。所以，將你們迎面而來的，是無數的創新的機會，以及冒險卻令人興奮的全新挑戰。

因為臺灣，這是第一次跟全世界各個國家，同步的站在一個嶄新的共同起跑點上面。所以我要恭喜你們，你們躬逢其會，將要進入一個充滿希望、嶄新的時代。

我是1969年從臺大畢業的，所以我想今天就以我畢業之後的50多年，人生的一些學習和體會，來跟諸位分享，給諸位作個參考。

當我大學畢業的時候，我滿懷抱負，迫不及待地想要大展身手，我當時進入臺灣最大的貿易公司工作，但是我發現我所學的很多東西，只有一些國際貿易的實務跟英文有用，至於其他我所學習到的經營管理的很多知識，恐怕都要等到10年、20年之後，如果我有幸當上高級主管才能派上用場。

更諷刺的是，我是商學系畢業的，但是工作兩年後，我發現我真的不喜歡做商人，我也不喜歡做生意，我有興趣的是做事業。

後來，幸好我有聆聽我心裡面的微弱的聲音，決定踏進自行車業，放棄掉台北最好的貿易公司的金飯碗，而去參加在大甲一個只有38個人的小公司，來追求我的夢想。

那時候許多人認為我腦筋有問題，頭殼壞去，但現在回顧回來，我當時是做了人生一個非常好的決定。

創業的過程飽受艱辛，但是我也學到了很多寶貴的經驗：我首先學到的，是在做事之前，必須要先學做人。

人必須要誠信踏實，不能自私自利，而要利他共好。

要隨時心存感恩，尊重、關切別人。要熱愛這個世界，並且要了解到一個人的能力是有限的，而必須要去建立互信、互助的人際關係；要融入群體、要發揮團隊的精神。

在做事方面，一定要以正面積極的態度，認真努力去工作。 而且不要怕失敗，要勇於接受新的挑戰。因為如果有失敗了，那只是代表說你又更靠近成功一步了。要作中學，學中作，要虛心好奇的終身學習，開拓挑戰、追求卓越。

在這裡，我想要送給大家一個很特別的畢業禮物，就是兩個「成功的錦囊」。
第一個錦囊：不管你做什麼工作，不論你職務的高低，永遠都要站在顧客的立場，來為他們設想，還能做什麼，讓他們能夠得到更多的創新價值。

第二個錦囊：無論作什麼工作，不管你職務的高低，永遠都要站在經營者的角度來為公司設想，要做什麼，才能讓公司更健康，永續經營跟發展。

既使你們把我後面講的很多東西都忘記了，沒關係，但是這個畢業禮物你們一定要記得帶回去，因為這些「同理心」的兩個錦囊，在未來會給你們帶來意想不到的祝福！

其次我體會到，名跟利都是副產品。正產品是你成為什麼樣的人，成就什麼樣的事。當正產品是對的時候，名跟利都自然會來。

所以我鼓勵大家在找工作的時候，不要太計較開始的薪水和待遇。因為事實上，一個新人，在前面三年是很難有大的貢獻的，反過來只是公司發薪水來給你培訓而已。所以選擇一個有意義的行業，找一家你可以學習進步的好公司，這才是重要的。

第三，我學習到 知識不等於智慧。諸位都學有專精，有很多寶貴的知識，但這些知識必須要實際去做才能夠產生經驗，而累積的時候會有不同經驗的反省、學習、跟體會，尤其是從那些失敗的經 驗，才能夠漸漸地凝結成有用的智慧。
我的成長過程分成三段，開始我是一個「I」型的人，我擁有一些經營管理的基本的能力。後來因為工作的需要和我的好奇心，我漸漸地學習到技術開發、製造生產、品牌推廣、全球經營、以及行銷、服務等等寶貴的經驗，這樣漸漸地，我就形成一個「T」型的一個跨界的人才。但是到了我真正找到公司未來的使命跟方向，並且把它跟我的人生目標結合在一起，熱情的、積極去推動的時候，那時候我終於成為一個「十字架」型的一個領導者。

當公司發展得比較穩定之後，我就面臨要如何來替公司規劃願景、使命、定位，跟長期策略。在這個階段，我有一些新的體會：首先，你必須要能夠畫出一個「黃金正三角形」，正三角形是最穩定的，上面是戰略，中間是戰術，下面是戰鬥。先要有正確的戰略，才能衍伸出有效的戰術，再根據這個戰術去貫徹戰鬥的執行。換言之，戰略就是做對的事情，戰術就是對的方法，戰鬥就是用對的方法去把事情做對做好，並且不斷地去持續改善。

想要能夠思考出長期的戰略，就必須要有洞察力。

我很喜歡看地球儀，就是那種在一個架子上面，有一個可以轉動的地球模型。當你把地球轉動的時候，你看到上面每一個地方、每一個國家，它的地理位置、它的自然生態，以及你思考它的歷史的演變跟它的發展，這樣子你就能夠得出一個整體的，跟全方位的一個概念。

在思考長期戰略的時候，很不容易得出一個有突破性的一個創見，它的原因往往是因為「當局者迷」的關係。

所以當我考慮長期戰略的時候，我會把自己設想，好像從一個人造衛星上面，來觀看一個轉動的地球。以宇宙格局的高度，以全球視野的廣度，以歷史演進的長度，這樣子你就能夠以一個「旁觀者清」的姿態和角度，來正面、反面深入思考，這樣子你就可能得到一個突破性的一個解答。「世界的捷安特」跟「全球在地化」的品牌經營—這樣子的策略、願景就是這樣產生的。

另外一種洞察力，是如何推出給人們有創新價值的產品跟服務。這就要時時地站在人文跟科技的十字路口，仔細觀察它們的變化，然後活用科技的進步，為人文潛在的需求，適時地提供最佳的解決方案。捷安特的Cycling世界，就是用這種方法，不斷的推出創新價值的產品。

我們在經營上也有發展出一個特別的理念，那就是「不求第一，要作惟一」。全世界的人這麼多，但沒有兩個人的指紋是一樣的， 所以每一個人都是獨一無二、都是惟一的。可見當上帝造每一個人的時候，祂都有衪特別的計劃，而且也把成功所需要的能力跟要素，已經放在你的心中，等待你取用。所以每一個人不應該只是模仿別人，或者是按照別人的期望來生活，而應該要找出並且發揮自己的天賦，真正做自己，成為惟一，才能夠活出精采的生命。

企業也是一樣，不能隨波逐流，必須要找出什麼才是對的，什麼是合適你的，什麼才是有意義、對這個世界有貢獻的，這個才是惟一。當你精益求精，努力的想要成為惟一的時侯，你才能夠找到真正正確的目標，以及永續生存的價值。如果事事都想為第一，那麼你可能去追求很多不切實際的目標，而被你無法承受的巨大壓力所摧毀。或者，因為不擇手段，最後走上一些錯誤的道路。
在長期追求惟一的過程當中，我也得到兩個重要的體會：當你決心做一件對的事情，而且不屈不撓，勇敢堅持奮鬥的時候，全宇宙的力量都會起來幫助你。另外，把一件有意義的事情，用生命的力量把它作好，你就有可能改變這個世界！

我鼓勵你們，聆聽你們內心深處的微小的聲音，讓它引導你們，去尋找到你們的天賦，了解你們的命定。

不求第一，要作惟一。做你真正的自己，成為惟一。活出你精彩的生命，享受你幸福的人生！

很多人說，生長在臺灣的人，一輩子裡面一定要完成三項挑戰：登玉山、泳渡日月潭、還有騎自行車環島。我覺得這非常有道理。所以我建議大家在畢業以後，在去當兵、就業之前，不妨參加一個自行車環島的旅行團，用九天的時間，仔細的去體會、欣賞寶島臺灣的美好，用自行車的輪胎去親吻，這塊生你長你的美麗大地，就當作是送給你自己的一個畢業禮物吧！

那教授們跟家長們，可能會想說，啊！太可惜了，我畢業的時候沒有騎自行車環島，我現在已經五六十歲了。沒關係，你這個年紀正好來從事人生的壯遊。
我們臺大的校長－管校長，在今年的一月份，就勇敢的完成他夢寐以求的自行車環島的壯遊。我們給管爺一個掌聲好不好？

有人認為臺灣很小、沒有前途，真的是這樣嗎？世界經濟論壇每年都要把全世界的國家的實力做一個調查跟排名。讓我們來看一下臺灣的排名。全世界有235個國家，就面積來講，我們排名第137；就人口來講，第57；就經濟體來講，第21；就整體競爭力來講，排名第11；而創新力，臺灣排名第4。沒錯，臺灣的確不大，但是我們很強，我們可以很有前途！

可預見的，未來的世界將會成為美、歐、亞三區鼎力的這個新局面。就像三個圓圈，各自都以自己的利益為優先，並且彼此長期的競爭、對抗和抵制，但是同時又不得不相互的維持一些必要的連結。而在每一個圈裡面，它將持續的有很多劇烈的改變，就像一個暴風圈一樣。而這三個暴風圈連結在一起，就形成一個所謂完全風暴PERFECT STORM。

最近經濟學人雜誌，把臺灣當作封面，稱臺灣為地球上最危險的地方，但同時又是科技業最關鍵的地方。我個人倒認為，未來臺灣可能是處在一個最有利的地位，就在那三個暴風圈中間的那個颱風眼，也就是這三個圈圈彼此連結交會的中心點。這個地方看起來好像危險，其實是最安全、最有利、又是最關鍵的地方。

當三個暴風圈無可避免的，參與在一個長期的競爭、對抗、跟抵制－這樣一個零和的賽局裡面。那臺灣並不屬於任何一個圈圈，也不需要去參與這些競爭、對抗跟抵制。而可以去想說，我可以在這個關鍵的中心點，替這個世界來提供什麼樣子的創新價值的貢獻。

臺灣過去50年的努力累積了很多技術開發、製造管理、金融資本，社會資源，以及民主法治體制，這些稀有而寶貴的實力。而且如果以全世界作為舞台，那麼，能夠精通中文跟英文、能夠深切的了解東方西方的文化；有專業，又能跨界，謙卑而不自卑，自信而不自大的臺灣人，可能是全世界最優秀的人才。

未來無法被預測，但是可以被創造！30年前，有誰能夠預測到說臺灣會產生世界級的台積電跟捷安特？

台積電秉持著作惟一的理念，以全球晶圓代工的戰略，厚植實力，打造了優質高效的供應鏈，把臺灣變成一個科技島。以臺灣為核心，轉動引領全世界的半導體市場。

捷安特也秉持著作惟一的理念，以世界的捷安特，全球在地化的品牌戰略，帶領A-Team把臺灣變成全世界高級車的中心，又積極的推動Cycling的新文化，把臺灣發展成一個自行車島，以臺灣為核心，轉動引領全世界自行車的市場。
在這裡我也期許我們臺大，也能夠以作惟一這樣子的理念，轉動引領世界，變成全世界最優秀人才培養的最佳搖籃。

未來的50年，臺灣將迎來前所未有最大的機運！所以臺灣是不是應該要脫離過去單純競爭的心態，而來積極的謀求長期的未來生存之道，或者更進一步要問自己：臺灣可以為世界貢獻些什麼？臺灣不應該只是消極的「根留臺灣」，而應該更主動積極的「放眼全球、立足亞太、深根臺灣」。

臺灣過去的50年，那是一個非常艱辛跟特別的階段。很慶幸的，臺灣在那個階段裡面，是屬於勝利的這一組。

現在是應該到了必須要了解過去、深入現在、策劃未來，這個重要關鍵的時刻。要如何的以宇宙格局的高度、以全球視野的廣度、以及歷史演進的長度，衡外情，量己力，來為臺灣重新的定位，重新畫一個正確的戰略、戰術、戰鬥的黃金三角形。讓臺灣能夠真正發揮自己的長處，能夠打造創新價值的優勢，成為惟一、做Only One！要能夠創造一個更安全、更廣闊、更興盛－全新的藍海。臺灣必須要成為世界的好公民，繼續的為全世界做更多、更好的貢獻！
2021的畢業生們，在你們當中有未來國家的領導人、有全球企業的創造者、有在社會各行各業、方方面面的核心人才，所以臺灣未來50年的未來，就掌握在你們手中了。

最後，我想用一位著名科學家的名言來作結尾： Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving. 人生就像騎自行車，要保持你平衡最好的方法，就是繼續不斷地向前進。

你知道這是誰的名言嗎？ 沒錯，就是愛因斯坦！

2021的畢業生們，請你騎上你人生的自行車，勇敢的向前邁進，去開創你獨一無二、精彩無比的新生命跟未來。再一次，恭喜你們，並且祝福你們每一位，將來都能夠有健康、幸福、精彩跟有意義的人生！
謝謝！

.
==============================

.
President Kuan, Executive Vice President Luo, Distinguished guests, family, friends, and most importantly, the graduating class of 2021, good morning!

First of all, congratulations! Today, you are graduating from one of the best universities in the world – National Taiwan University!

Over the last few years, President Kuan led the university forward with his vision of “educational reform” and internationalization”. Together with all the faculty and students, NTU has made significant progress in both ranking and global visibility, making us, alumni, extremely proud.

I think we deserve to give ourselves a round of applause!

You are the graduating class of 2021 and already, you have set a new record for NTU: For the first time, there will not be a traditional graduation ceremony. Let this be a very special memory of your life and a sign of the difference you will make in your future with extraordinary achievements.

The world is now in a volatile state where the East and the West are confronting each other. The world’s economic activities are also greatly affected by the breakthrough and innovations in technology. The less-than-ideal and less-than fair globalization will gradually become global localization. And as a result of COVID-19, Taiwan and the rest of the world’s lifestyle, social structure, and economy have been disrupted, and must be comprehensively reorganized and restructured. This is certainly a crisis, but in the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity. So, what lies before you are countless opportunities for innovation, and exciting new challenges.

Because, for the first time, Taiwan is standing with the rest of the world on a new race-track. Therefore, I would like to congratulate you, you are entering a new era full of hope.

I graduated from NTU in 1969. It has been more than 50 years and today, I would like to share some of my life experiences and insights.

When I graduated from college, I was filled with ambition. I couldn’t wait to make my mark. I joined one of the largest trading companies in Taiwan, where I quickly realized the only materials I learned in school that came in handy are a little bit of international trade practices and English. Much of what I had learned about business management would only be relevant 10 or 20 years down the road, if I was lucky enough to become a senior executive.

What’s even more ironic is that I graduated with a degree in business, but after working for 2 years, I realize I really don’t like being a businessman, and I don’t like doing business. What I am actually interested in is building an enterprise.

Fortunately, I chose to listen to the faint voice in my heart and decided to enter the bicycle industry. I left my position at the best trading company in Taipei to join a small company with only 38 employees in Dajia to pursue my dream.

At the time, many people thought I must’ve broken my skull and gone crazy, but looking back, I have made a great decision in my life.

The process of starting my own enterprise has been very difficult, but I have learned many valuable lessons. The first thing I learned is that before you can do anything else, you have to learn to be a person of good character.

We must be honest, down to earth, selfless, self-serving, and altruistic for the common good.

Be grateful, respectful and caring at all times. To love the world and to understand that one person’s ability is limited and that is necessary to build interpersonal relationships of mutual trust and support; to be part of a group and to play as a team.

When it comes to work, you must work hard with a positive attitude. And don’t be afraid to fail, be brave enough to accept new challenges. Because every time you fail, it just means you are one step closer to success. Learning is an active process. We learn by doing. We must stay open-minded and curious, aspiring to lifelong learning; to explore challenges and pursue excellence.

Here I would like to give everyone a special graduation gift, which are my two tips for success:
First, always put yourself in the customer’s shoes, regardless of what you’re doing or what kind of job title you hold. Think for them, think about what else you can do to create more value for the customers.

Second, regardless of what you’re doing or what kind of job title you hold, always think about the company from the proprietor’s point of view; what can we do to build a healthier company that’s sustainable.

Even if you are going to forget everything I say later, that’ ok. Just remember to take your graduation gift at heart, because these two tips on “empathy “are sure to bring you unexpected blessings in the future!

Later on, I realized that fame and money are merely byproducts. The real product is you, what kind of person you have become and what have you achieved. When the real product is identified, fame and money will come naturally.

So I encourage you, when you look for a job, don’t be too concerned about the starting salary and benefits. Because as a matter of fact, as a newcomer, it is very difficult to make a big contribution in the first three years, so really the company is paying to give you training instead. So choose a meaningful industry and find a good company where you can improve and grow, that’s what’s important.

Thirdly, I learned that knowledge is not the same as wisdom. All of you have learned a lot and have a lot of valuable knowledge, but this knowledge must be practiced in order to produce experience, and in the process of accumulation, there will be different experiences of reflection, learning and empathy, especially from failure, slowly and surely all these experiences will be condensed into useful wisdom.

My personal development can be divided into three stages. I began as a I-shaped person with some basic skills in business management. Later on, due to my job and curiosity, I gained respected experience in technology development, manufacturing, branding, global marketing, and service and thus gradually becoming a T-shape multidisciplinary professional.

However, when I combined the future mission and direction of the company with my life goals, promoting it enthusiastically and actively, that is when I finally became a X-shape transdisciplinary leader.

Once the company became more stable, I was faced with the challenge of planning the vision, mission, positioning, and long-term strategy for the company. At this stage, I had some new insights.

First, you must be able to draw a “golden triangle”, an equilateral triangle is the most stable shape with strategy on top, tactics in the middle, and operations at the bottom. In other words, the strategy is to do the right thing, the tactics is the using the right methods, and operations is using the right methods to excel on doing the right things while constantly improving them.

To develop long-term strategies, it is necessary to have insight.

I enjoy looking at the globe, yes, the spherical model of Earth that sits on a stand and can be rotated. When you rotate the globe, you can see every place and country on it, its geographical location, its natural ecology, and you can think about its historical evolution and development, so that you can come up with an overall comprehensive concept.

When thinking about long-term strategy, it is not easy to come up with a groundbreaking idea, because “men are often blind in their own cause”

Therefore, when I think about long-term strategy, I imagine myself as if I were looking at a rotating Earth from a man-made satellite. With the height of the universe, the breadth of global vision and the length of historical evolution, you will be able think about it from the perspective of an observer, and then you may have a breakthrough. This is how the strategy and vision of “GIANT for the World” and “glocalization” brand management came about.

Another kind of insight is how to introduce the products and services to create additional value to people. This requires standing at the crossroads of humanity and technology, observing their changes carefully, and then using technological advances to provide the best solutions for the potential needs of humanity in a timely manner. This is how GIANT’s Cycling World continues to introduce innovative values to its products.

We have also developed a special philosophy in our business, which is “don’t be the first one, be the only one”. There are so many people in the world, but no two people share the same fingerprints, making each person unique and one of a kind. God created each person with purpose and has gifted us with the abilities and elements needed for success. All of which is in your heart, waiting for you to take them. Therefore, we should not just follow each other’s footstep or live under the expectations of someone else. Instead, we should find and give reigns to our talents, to truly be ourselves, to become the only one and live a brilliant life.

The same applies to businesses, you can’t just go with the flow, we must find what is right and suitable and what is meaningful and contributive to the world, this is what it means to be the only one. When you strive for excellence and strive to be the only one, you will find the right goals and the value of sustainability. If you try to be first in everything, you may pursue many unrealistic goals and either be destroyed by unbearable pressure or resort to doing whatever it takes, and end up on the wrong path.

I have learned two important lessons in my long quest to be the “only one”. When you are determined to do the right thing and you are unyielding and persistent in your struggle, the power of the universe will rise up and help you. In addition, if you do something meaningful and do it well with the power of life, you may change the world.

I urge you to listen to the small voice deep within you and let it guide you to find your talents and understand your destiny.

Do not seek to be the first but to be the only. Be true to yourself and be the only one. Live your life to the fullest and enjoy your life to the fullest!

Many people say that growing up in Taiwan, you must complete three challenges in your lifetime: climb to the top of Jade Mountain, swim across Sun Moon Lake, and ride a bike around the island. I think this is very true. Therefore, I suggest that after graduation, before you go to the military or get a job, you might as well join a bicycle tour around the island and spend nine days to carefully experience and appreciate the beauty of Taiwan. As a graduation gift to yourself, let the tires kiss the beautiful land where you were born and raised.

All the professors and parents must be thinking in regret, “Ah! Too bad! I didn’t ride my bike around the island when I graduated and now I’m already in my 50s and 60s…” But that’s okay! You are actually at the perfect age to start your adventurous life.

Our President of NTU, President Kuan bravely completed his dream bike tour around the island in January this year. Let’s give President Kuan a round of applause!

Some people think that Taiwan is small and has no future. Every year, the World Economic Forum conducts a survey and ranking of the strength of countries around the world. Let’s take a look at Taiwan’s ranking. There are 235 countries in the world and we rank 137th in terms of landmass, 57th in terms of population, 21st in terms of economy, 11th in terms of overall competitiveness, and 4th in terms of innovation. It’s true that Taiwan is not big, but we are strong and we have a promising future.

In the foreseeable future there will become a new situation in which the United States, Europe and Asia will be the three focal regions. Just like three circles, each of which prioritizes its own interests and is in long-term competition, confrontation and resistance, but at the same time has to maintain some necessary links with each other. And in each circle, drastic changes will be endless, just like a storm circle. These three storm circles are linked together to form a so-called PERFECT STORM.

The Economist magazine recently featured Taiwan on its cover, calling it the most dangerous place on earth, but at the same time the most critical place for the technology industry. Personally, I think that Taiwan may be in the most favorable position in the future, right in the middle of the three storm circles, the eye of the typhoon, which is the center point where these three circles are connected. This place seems dangerous, but in fact it is the safest, most favorable, and most critical place.

When the three storm circles are inevitably involved in a long-term competition, confrontation, and boycott - a zero-sum game. Taiwan does not belong to any of these circles, nor does it need to participate in these competitions, confrontations, and boycotts. Instead, situated in this critical position, I should begin to think about what kind of innovative value I can provide to the world.

Taiwan's efforts over the past 50 years have accumulated many rare and valuable strengths in technology development, manufacturing management, financial capital, social resources, and the democratic rule of law system. If the world is our stage, Taiwanese people who are proficient in Chinese and English, who have a deep understanding of Eastern and Western cultures, who are professional, who can cross borders, who are humble but not inferior, and who are confident but not arrogant, may be the best talents in the world.

The future cannot be predicted, but it can be created! 30 years ago, who could have predicted that Taiwan would produce globally renowned TSMC and GIANT?
TSMC is committed to the concept of being the only one, and has built up its strengths with its global foundry strategy, creating a high-quality and efficient supply chain and turning Taiwan into a technology island. With Taiwan as the core, TSMC is leading the worldwide semiconductor market.

GIANT also upholds the concept of "Be the only one" and leads the A-Team to turn Taiwan into the center of the world's premium bikes with the brand strategy of globalization and localization, and actively promotes the new culture of cycling, developing Taiwan into a cycling island and leading the world's cycling market with Taiwan as the core.

Here I also hope that we, NTU, can also lead the world with the concept of being the only one, and become the best cradle for the cultivation of the best talents in the world.

In the next 50 years, Taiwan will have the greatest opportunity ever! Therefore, Taiwan should get rid of the simple competitive mentality of the past and actively seek the long-term survival of the future, or go even further and ask itself: What can Taiwan contribute to the world? Taiwan should not just "secure Taiwan" in a conservative way, but should be more proactive with global outlook and establish a foothold in the Asia Pacific.

The last 50 years, for Taiwan, has been very difficult and significant. Fortunately, Taiwan pulled through and came out as one of the winners.

Now is the crucial moment to understand the past, delve into the present, and plan for the future. We must take the height of the universe, the breadth of our global vision, and the length of historical evolution, weigh the external situation, and measure our own strengths to reposition Taiwan and draw the golden triangle of strategy, tactics, and operations. Taiwan should be able to give full play to its strengths, create innovative value, and become the only one! Taiwan must become a good citizen of the world and continue to make more and better contributions to the world!

Graduates of 2021, among you are the future leaders of the country, the creators of global enterprises, and the core talents in all walks of life, the future is in your hands.
Finally, I would like to conclude with a quote from a famous scientist: Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.

Do you know who this quote belongs to? That's right, Einstein!

Graduates of 2021, please get ready for your life adventure, get on your bikes and peddle courageously forward to create your own unique and exciting future. Again, congratulations and best wishes to each and every one of you for a healthy, happy, and meaningful life!

Thank you!

詳見：
https://www.facebook.com/NTUCommencement/posts/2718162161807541

.
#臺灣大學 #畢業典禮 #NTUCommencement2021 #貴賓致詞 #羅祥安

I wasn’t always the “Dan Lok” you see today.

I was never talented.

I failed English twice. I failed at 13 businesses. I almost went bankrupt twice.

But through the choices I made everyday, I became more skilled.

And that made all the difference

That’s why I love this quote.

Because people think you need superpowers to be a hero.

No.

You are not a hero because of your powers or talents. You become a hero because of the choices you make every day.

And you have that choice right now.

To be ordinary and like everyone else - or to make the choice and become a hero.

If you found this helpful and want to become a hero of your own life, I recommend you get a copy of my latest book “Unlock It!”.

Link is right here.

http://unlockitnow.danlok.link

And you’ll discover which choices you can make every day to become your own hero.

Now - if you liked this post, tag someone below that you know will succeed against all odds.

"橫尾先生你傾向於在你的遊戲中有個悲傷的結局（除了《尼爾 自動人形》），這是為什麼呢？

橫尾：我想啊，玩家在遊戲中的旅程中殺了那麼多的敵人，但自己卻迎來了一個Happy Ending，這很奇怪，所以我之前遊戲的主角都有著不幸的結局，我覺得對他們來說有個Happy Ending是不對的。

不過對《尼爾 自動人形》來說，對2B和9S來說，從被給予生命，他們殺了很多人，但也被自己殺了很多，很多次，有著無數次的輪迴。我認為這已經把他們殺死敵人的罪給贖了，幸福結局對他們兩個來說更合適一些。"

【尼爾：自動人形】是好遊戲，2B很可愛～

Talking To Yoko Taro, PlatinumGames' Takahisa Taura, And Composer Keiichi Okabe About Life, Death, And Opportunity

This interview with《Nier: Automata》director Yoko Taro and PlatinumGames' designer Takahisa Taura was first conducted in March of this year. Square Enix then offered gameinformer another chance to talk with Taro again, this time with Keiichi Okabe to speak more about the game's creation, music, and design philosophies and we are taking this opportunity to combine both until-now unpublished interviews together.

At the start of the first interview, Taro Yoko, whose pen name is appropriately Yoko Taro, was surprisingly quiet. He took a gulp from a bottle of Diet Pepsi and looked me straight in the eye to say something. I myself looked to the translator, who laughed at whatever Yoko said. She began "Yoko-san wants you to write about how expensive the food and drinks are here, if you can. He says it's way too much."

[The following interview contains some spoilers for Nier: Automata, including the game's final ending.]

With Nier: Automata, you guys won a Game Developer Conference award. How do you feel about that?

Yoko: We heard it was a user's choice award where the players themselves select the winners, so I'm just really happy that the players have selected our game for winning the award.

How did PlatinumGames and Yoko-san first meet on Nier? Why did you decide on that project versus something like another Drakengard or a new IP as a whole?

Taura: I loved the previous Nier title, I was actually went to Square Enix saying "Please let us create a Nier sequel, because you haven't done anything with it for a long time." At the same time, there was coincidentally Saito-san, the producer for Nier: Automata, talking with Yoko-san that they wanted to do something together. It just so happened that it was the right time, right place and we met for the first time when we started this project.

When you started working on the Automata, did you know what it was going to be? Did you have an idea in your head of what a Nier sequel would look like after the first game?

Yoko: Not at all, I had no ideas for a sequel in mind. When I first heard that we might do a collaboration with PlatinumGames, the image I had of them is that they only create Sci-Fi action games. When I thought of that, I thought of what part of the Nier storyline might fit in with that Sci-Fi action gaming sequence, I selected the themes for Automata because I felt it just fits in with the PlatinumGames style.

PlatinumGames has a reputation for fast, often-challenging action games, but Nier: Automata is a lot easier. Was that intentional to keep it closer to the first Nier or perhaps a consequence of trying to make PlatinumGames action more mainstream?

Taura: That's actually exactly the reason why. Saito-san from Square Enix told us when the project started that, since the original Nier has a lot of female fans and a lot of non-action gamer fans, to make the game as fun and accessible as possible to people who aren't accustomed to playing difficult action games. We always thought of making the game into something that's fun to play for newcomers to the action game field, but also to the more experienced players as well.

One of the usual tropes of PlatinumGames is that, as the game goes on, it tends to escalate more and more to an explosive finale. Nier: Automata kind of messes with that formula a little bit by Ending A being a little bit more subdued and low-key and then goes up again and again until it finishes with endings D and E. Is that something you had to work with Yoko-san about, where the escalation and pacing would best fit the gameplay?

Taura: In terms of like a climax or increasing the difficulty level toward the end, it's not that different from our other titles, or at least we didn't feel like it was that different. The one major difference was that this was the first game that I've at least worked that had the leveling up element in it. So as long as you level up your character, the boss would be easier to defeat, but if you don't, then some of the enemies toward the end of the game would be very difficult. For me, the balancing between the difficulty level of stages and bosses versus the levels the player might be was the difficult part in creating this game.

One thing that we really had it easy with in this game is that Yoko-san's scenario and Okabe-san's music, once it's mixed into the battle, makes a really menial and indifferent battle sequence suddenly becomes this dramatic and grandiose battle with everything at stake, so I felt like that really helped elevate our battle sequences as well. We did have an easy time thanks to that!

With Automata, you started appearing at press conferences and as part of the marketing of the game, whereas previously you never did that. When you appear in public, you have been wearing a mask of Emil from the first Nier title. Why Emil specifically?

Yoko: Hmm. One of the answers I can give is that, and I do have a little more that I want to elaborate on, is that for one Emil in the previous title is just a strong character on its own, so it's more like an iconic image or character for Nier as a series. Another part of the answer is that Emil actually holds a great secret of the part of the Nier world and it's not all revealed with the games I've created so far. I'm not sure if I'll have an opportunity to disclose that secret, but if I do, I might one day create a game that delves more into why it's Emil and why I continue to wear Emil's mask.

I don't know if either of you can speak to this, but the trailers for Nier: Automata were a little misleading. They showed A2, who you play as late in the game, but with short hair, so she looked like 2B. Was that something you decided, to show those scenes but not make it clear who it was?

Yoko: There were trailers like that?

There was one specifically showing A2 fighting Hegel like that.

Yoko: Ahh, yeah. There's no reason! We weren't trying to hide A2 or mislead anyone, it just happened to work out that way.

Taura: We made so many trailers at some point we kind of didn't care what we showed.

Oh, wow, that's going to shock a lot of fans in the Nier community. People really believed in the theory that you were hiding A2 in plain sight the marketing.

Yoko: Haha, but it might not be the correct answer. Like Taura-san said, we made so many trailers that we can't remember them all, so I'm definitely happy to take the credit without remembering why.

Taura: Yeah, let's say we intentionally did that. For the fans. It might be true.

Yoko: But I can say, in one of the trailers is A2 fighting one of the Engels, one of the big robots. She actually has long hair in the trailer, but in the actual game, it's after she cut her, so she would have had shorter hair. That one was actually intentional, because we did not reveal before the game that A2 would cut her hair, so we actually made a scene specifically with long-haired A2 to take that trailer. So that's that shot was kind of a lie.

In the Automata DLC, the CEO of Square Enix Yosuke Matsuda, as well as PlatinumGames boss Kenichi Sato, are boss fights. Where did that idea come from and how did you get them to approve it? How did they react when you asked them?

Yoko: Haha, oh yeah.

Taura: The development team went to Square Enix and said "Please let us use him in our game!" Their reaction was initially saying "Uhm, are you sure you want to?"

We were thinking for a while of what we could do with the DLC, because we didn't have a lot of time to develop it, so we wanted to do something fun with it. When we were thinking about it, we saw that Final Fantasy XV used a character model of president Matsuda in one of their marketing assets. When Yoko-san saw that, he reached out and asked if maybe we could use that in the game at Platinum. We said that, if we get the character models, we could definitely use them for something in the game. We reached out to Square Enix and they gave us the model and we were able to use that character model for a boss fight.

If it was just that you were able to fight the CEO of Square Enix, then it would have just been the same as what Final Fantasy XV did, so we had to think of ways to spice that up even more. So we had PlatinumGames' CEO Sato-san appear in the fight as well. We also included background music that arranged their voices, we included their voices in the music, just to add a little bit more and beat out Final Fantasy XV. That BGM track is Matsuda-san and Sato-san's debut single. We didn't even get permission from them, so it's an unofficial debut single, and those are much rarer.

Speaking of crossovers, did you know that Nier fans have been trying get Katsuhiro Harada of Bandai Namco to put 2B in Tekken? Is that something you guys would want to do? [Note: This interview was conducted before 2B was announced as a Soulcalibur guest character.]

Yoko: For us, if we were asked, we would gladly say yes to anything for money. We're open to any kind of opportunities for anything, ever. Even if it's Candy Crush, if they want to use 2B, we will say yes, please go ahead and use her.

Actually, speaking of doing anything for money, you've never created a direct story sequel before, they've all been loosely tied together and many years apart. Saito-san has already said there will be another Nier game, if the characters are popular enough, would you create a direct sequel to Automata or would you change the characters and location again?

Yoko: I haven't thought about it once! Taura-san, where would you want to create a new game?

Taura: Actually, when I brought my concept document to Square Enix about a Nier sequel, I wanted to write a story about that prologue portion in the first Nier game. You know the beginning of the game, where you're kind of in Tokyo, in an area that's more modern? I kind of want to delve into that storyline a little bit more. So if I'm allowed to create a new Nier title, that's what I want to create. But that's just me speaking as a fan of the series, so I don't think that will actually happen officially.

Yoko: When I actually heard about that idea from Taura-san when we first started this project, I felt that it would be very difficult to make a modern recreation of Tokyo because it's the city that we constantly see every day. You just notice differences in the lies that we put in there, so I felt it would be very difficult to do to recreate a city that we know and see so much. But now that I know that PlatinumGames is such a good studio that they most likely will have that power and talent to be able to create that kind of video game world, I think that might be an option. Whether or not we'll do that is a different question, but it is a viable option.

One of the things you said before the release of Drakengard 3 was that you wanted to call it Drakengard 4 and just let people figure out what the theoretical Drakengard 3 was supposed to be. That's similar to what you did with Automata where the game takes place 10,000 years after Nier and people who played the first game were more confused than new players. Was that an intentional idea or something you've wanted to do for a while?

Yoko: It's not that I brought over that idea to Nier: Automata, the greatest reasoning why I did this is because I wanted players who haven't played the original title to enjoy Nier: Automata so you can enjoy the game without knowing anything about the previous game. That's the biggest reason why we took a storyline that's so far in the future that it really didn't have anything to do with the previous title.

A common through-line for Yoko-san's games is flowers: the lunar tear in the Nier series, the flower in Zero's eye in Drakengard 3, is that symbolizing anything in your games or is it just visual imagery you like?

Yoko: Well, I do like flowers in general, but yes, there is a greater meaning to it that I have with these flowers. It's the same as Emil like I talked about earlier, I just haven't revealed it anywhere. There is a meaning, which is why they keep on coming back in my games, but I haven't revealed it anywhere yet.

With the last Nier game, you had said that you built the game on the concept of people being okay with murdering people who are different. With Nier: Automata, the games actually became more fun to play and control and touch, do you think there's a danger in giving people that sense of ease in killing enemies in the narrative?

Yoko: In the previous title, I actually feel like I overdid that a bit. I did want to portray that enemies have a reason to live and a reason to fight on their own as well, but I feel like I forced that idea that I had in my mind a little bit too much on the players. So for Nier: Automata, I did not want to focus on it, I didn't want to impose my feelings and thoughts. I actually feel that it's fine if some people feel it's fun to kill in our games. If that's all that they feel from the game, then it's fine, because its their freedom to feel what they want from the game. To answer your question, I think that it's fine to have that happen.

Taura: I actually have the same answer, too. I feel like if it's fun to fight, that's great as a game designer. But if you feel bad to kill these cute little robots, that's fine with me as well. I feel like different people will have different reactions to the game and they will feel differently when they play the game, so I'm actually happy to create a game that creates those kind of differences within the players as well.

Yoko: That's a really good question for us, because if players felt that it was way too fun to kill these enemies that it started making them feel guilty, that's something we didn't really aim to do. Just as we mentioned earlier, I'm really happy that players were able to take it on their own and experience it on their own, then we didn't just provide something for people to take it as-is on face value. I feel like it's great that the players are now taking the game and experiencing it on their own and trying to figure things out on their own.

There was a time after 2B was revealed that people were asking you about her design on Twitter and you answered that you just like sexy ladies. That quote has become pretty famous and attached to you and a lot of people are reading into it. Is that a thing you still believe, would you ever take the quote back, or would you have ever changed 2B's design?

Yoko: [laughs] Don't straight men like cute girls? Isn't that common knowledge? I didn't realize that was a quote.

A lot of people use you as an example as a developer that just says what is on their mind.

Yoko: Before we released the game, on Twitter, because so many people were sending me 2B fan art, I said that "Send me a zip file of all your erotic fan art!" When I tweeted that out, my number of Twitter followers jump from 20,000 to 60,000 just with that one Tweet. I actually think it's because I did something that's more of a taboo in the western world where I talked about sexuality or gender that openly on Twitter, but that's actually...so, I do know that what I said did not just creative positive buzz and there's some negative buzz around it as well, but I feel like it kind of has to do with the Japanese culture where we're not too strict about gender and sexuality and being more open about talking about those things.

I think it's the same thing as reading manga as an adult, it's a little bit different when you think about it because in Japan that's more common, it's not considered something weird or something outlandish. With that kind of feedback that I get from fans, I just feel like it's the difference in culture between Japan and the rest of the world.

That is something you tend to tackle fairly often. Drakengard 3 was partly about sex and sexuality treated casually within the game's universe, is that something you feel doesn't translate across all regions?

Yoko: I actually don't think [translating across regions] has a lot to do with sexuality. I don't think it would have sold more copies of Drakengard 3 if I took away aspects of sexuality or added more in there. I feel that Nier: Automata sold well because we worked with PlatinumGames, so I don't think that has anything to do with a sexual nature.

For the original Nier, there was a lot of information on the periphery of the game like books with background information and short stories that answer questions raised in the game. Automata even had a stage play predating the game. Do you think it's harder for western fans to grasp the whole stories of these games when there's Japanese-exclusive media about it expanding the lore?

Yoko: Of course we can't localize everything because we have limitations in budget, so it's really difficult to do all of that, but I actually think there really isn't a need to know everything, either. The meaning I have behind Emil's mask or the flowers you asked about, like I said it's not revealed in the game at all or anywhere else yet, but no one really needs to know that to enjoy the game or enjoy the world or enjoy the game. More than gaining knowledge, I want players to cherish the experience they have when playing the game. It's more about that instead of the knowledge they could have for every question. Of course the theatrical stage play was more of like a YoRHa spinoff, but you don't need to know that to enjoy the game. Every piece, like the books and the stage play, is made in a way so that you can enjoy it by yourself, so you don't need that extra knowledge to enjoy it.

It may add a little bit depth to the knowledge that you have, but you don't necessarily need to have it. I do understand the otaku mentality that you want to know everything, you want to have everything answered, you want to collect everything, but I don't see the value in knowing everything. For example, just in real life, you might not know everything about the politics that surrounds the world or even in your own country, and there's really no point in knowing everything that happens in the world. Maybe a lot things, but not everything, right? What's more important is how you interact with people around you, immediately around you, and I think that's the same with video games. You don't really need to know everything that happens in the world to enjoy it.

Of course I do respect the freedom that the players feel as well, so if you do get mad that we can't localize everything in America, or America never gets everything, that's also something to be respected and I do understand the frustrations surrounding that as well.

When Nier: Automata released, it did so in a three-month timeframe that several other big Japanese games came out in the U.S., like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Yakuza 0. A lot of people started heralding those games as a return of Japanese development in the west. What do you think about going from fairly niche games to what some people consider the tip of the spear of modern Japanese development?

Yoko: First and foremost, just to speak about having so many good titles in that timeframe, my thought was "Are you people trying to kill me with this?!" In Japan, Horizon came out first, then it was Nier, then Zelda, and I think in the west, it was Horizon, Zelda, then Nier in North America. So we're literally sandwiched between those two with a two-week window in between each and they were all very similar to us in the futuristic setting. Especially for Zelda, it was one of the titles we copied in the first place, so I really felt like they were trying to kill us at the time.

Personally, not even thinking about Nier: Automata during that time frame, I was running around excited about all the fun-looking games coming as a gamer myself.

Hideki Kamiya [PlatinumGames] has once said that Nier: Automata saved Platinum. Is that something you agree with and how has the relationship been between PlatinumGames and Square Enix?

Yoko: Speaking from my perspective, of course Taura-san will likely know more about it internally at PlatinumGames...Kamiya-san, he's very laid back on Twitter, but when you actually really talk to him, he's a very serious person and very sincere. I guess Nier: Automata did generate sales for them, because I received a direct letter of gratitude from him saying "Thank you very much for creating a great game." I don't even know if we saved them or not in that sense, but just receiving that kind of message from was just very heartwarming and I was just really happy that I was able to provide such a game for them.

Taura: You could make the headline of your article "Yoko Taro Saved PlatinumGames" and that's definitely true.

Yoko: It's a very true headline.

Why do both of you think that Nier: Automata was more successful than Yoko-san's previous games or most other PlatinumGames titles?

Taura: Mainly because PlatinumGames' sensibilities were much better than Yoko Taro's.

Yoko: I actually think it's the Square Enix brand, the name Square Enix gives a more reliable feeling to an otaku type of title. PlatinumGames' strong name being known for making really good action games and I think the combination of the two really helped. This time with Nier: Automata, we sold about 2.5 million copies and the previous title we sold around 500,000. For the last game, we weren't really in the red, but it wasn't exactly a success either. We have these passionate fans that really supported the time from announcement and the series as a whole. Of course for Automata, too, we had a very passionate fan base including the media and including yourself that gave impressions and articles that helped make the game into a success, so I'm just really grateful for the fans and media alike that really supported the title and were passionate about it.

[The remainder of this interview took place a few weeks later with Taro Yoko and Nier: Automata composer Keiichi Okabe. Okabe is also known for his work on both Nier titles, Drakengard 3, Tekken, and contributing some tracks to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Before we started recording, Yoko said it will be okay if I asked Okabe most of the questions and I remarked that I wouldn’t want to make him jealous. He paused for a moment and then said it doesn’t matter because he would get paid either way.]

You two have been working together for a long time, I was curious how much the music composition is tied in with the writing. One of the city themes in Nier: Automata uses similar composition to a track in Nier. Does that come from the writing or the musical identity of the series?

Okabe: Since Yoko-san is I feel the type of person that doesn't want to do the same thing over and over again, even if he did receive praise for what he did previously, I kept that in mind while I was composing music for Nier: Automata. I also wanted to have some kind of connection that you would feel as a player between the previous title and this one, so I used similar tones from previous titles or from the previous game. It might not be exactly the same, but I used some similar types of music lines from the previous title so that you might feel that kind of connection.

But we do have tracks that are arrangements of previous tracks from older titles, but that was mostly for fan service.

I kind of wanted to drill down a little bit this time and get to the core of your philosophy of why and how you make games. If you had to pick a reason to hold up and say "This is why I make video games," what would that be?

Yoko: I feel that video games, amongst all the different entertainment mediums, have the most freedom in what you can do as a creator. For example, in a film, if you are able to control movement, then that's no longer a film in my eyes. In video games, you could have film-like cutscenes and videos, you could have them going on forever as much as you would like as a creator. That kind of freedom to do that is what I really wanted to do and I feel like video games are what provide me that option, even if I never do it.

Is there any kind of message you use games for that you want to convey to your audience or anything you want them to hear from you? Or do you prefer to let them take whatever interpretation they get from your games?

Yoko: It's the latter. I would want our players to freely interpret what I've created just on their own, to grasp something for their own. I feel that's one of the interesting aspects of video games is that you are able to freely interpret what's being shown to you. I also feel like the players make the game whole by playing it. The action of playing the game I feel has meaning in itself and because of that I want the players to find something from the game, feel something from the game, for themselves.

Nier: Automata won a number of awards, Okabe-san you won best music at The Game Awards, Automata won the audience award at GDC. Is there any pressure to appeal a more mainstream audience with your next game?

Okabe: For a popular title that will be played by many, it doesn't really matter what kind of genre you put out musically. I will still be interested to compose music for those if possible. I would have to take a different approaches to those kind of mainline titles, whereas for Nier, I felt that the music can be more geared toward a core audience where only those who would understand the music would play it. But at the same time, once you understand, I want you to be deeply affected by it. That's what I aim for with Nier. If I am to work on a way more mainstream title next time, I will have to change that mindset I have as a composer, but that would be something I'd like to challenge myself more. To answer your question, yes, I'd like to try that, but I'd also do whatever kind of jobs I'm assigned to.

Yoko: For me, my games I actually think are really niche. How Nier: Automata was so successful was actually just a coincidence. To make a successful game is something that I can't really aim to do, so I think that I'll probably return to my small and dark corner, my niche corner, with my successive titles.

Who would you both consider your inspirations for writing and composing?

Okabe: For me, it's obviously more of a composer than a writer, but I don't really focus on one person. I tend to just try to get music here and there and have a wide net. I am greatly affected by people who I've listened to in my youth, like Japanese composer Ryuchi Sakamoto, Ennio Morricone who creates film music, and also pop music like Michael Jackson and Madonna. I am affected by those as well.

Yoko: I have received inspiration from a lot of things, but I think personally expressions in film or any like visual production is something I'm deeply affected by. For example, Neon Genesis Evangelion by Hideaki Anno, that was really a strong influence on me. Also, the drama series 24, the way that they incorporate speedy and complicated constructions of storylines was something that was very new at the time. Just throughout the timeline of visual production, I think there's a sudden burst of evolution, and I think that "that" moment in a title that does that just greatly affects me and becomes an inspiration for me. But I feel that can be said for the rest of the world.

Lately, anything that Christopher Nolan creates I think is very intriguing where he tries to include deep knowledge and thoughtfulness into what he creates. I'm very interested in this new wave of evolution.

Last year, with the release of Animal Crossing on mobile, you talked on social media about how it was your favorite game of the year because you created a narrative where the characters were all unwillingly imprisoned in the camp. Do you often create your own narratives for games?

Yoko: I do that for some games and I don't for others. Off and on, I guess. It's a lot easier to create my own storyline per se for a more primitive game. For example, in Zelda: Wind Waker, you start off with a grandma and your sister living on an island and it's really happy and joyful and there's really no reason for Link to get out of there and fight Ganondorf because you're already living happily. You don't need to get out of that happiness. As a gamer, I felt the kind of sadness to have to leave that happy island life.

In Dragon Quest [V], you have to choose who you want to wed, and I felt that I couldn't really get into liking either of the characters. I also couldn't find the point of having to decide who I want to marry, so I just at that instant I turned off the game and said "My journey ends here!" My mind narrated "The three of them went on the journey and lived happily ever after, the end." That was my ending for Dragon Quest V.

Around the release of Drakengard 3, you spoke about how it's not possible in this industry to make a six-minute game and sell it for $60, no matter how good those six minutes are. Is this something you still think?

Yoko: That analogy was given to explain that, no matter how much you try to make a game really good, there's a limit to what you can do. If you are to create a six-minute game, because you can't go through a lot of different stages, you would have to create one stage. Which means that you could really refine the quality of that one stage without having to put in a lot of money into it and a lot of manpower into it. Also, because it's only six minutes, you can't really have too many characters in it, so you could focus on one or two characters at max. By doing that, you could refine the quality of those two characters. But because you're time-limited, no matter how much you refine the quality of the world around you or the characters, if you're limited to six minutes there's just so much you could do that the game won't become good at all. That was an example for me to say that there's a limit to what you can do in video games.

Okabe-san, in the music for a lot of Yoko-san's game, you use constructed or uncommon languages, is there a specific reason for that?

Okabe: [laughs] Yeah, for one, because it is Nier: Automata, Replicant, and Gestalt, they all take place in a unique world, even though they're in the timeline of our current world, it's so much in the future that it should feel kind of foreign. That's one of the reasons why I went for language we can't understand, but another is that, in games in the past, game directors actually got mad at many occasions for including vocals into the soundtrack. They were saying that it would become too distracting from the gameplay and would distract the player. It was considered more of a taboo, so for Nier, I included vocals in there without a language you could understand more for the sound that you get from the words. It wasn't to convey any meaning of what was being said, but more for a sound impact.

Yoko-san, you tend to have very sad endings in your games, with the exception of Nier: Automata which is as happy an ending as you can get with most characters dying. Why do you tend to write toward more sad endings and do you feel like Automata's happy ending fit the game better?

Yoko: The reason why I created endings that end on a death is because, until now I was creating games where you would kill a lot of enemies, but I've always felt that it doesn't feel right when the protagonist has a happy after they've killed so many enemies during the course of their journey. That's why in Replicant and Gestalt, or my previous titles, the protagonist pretty much ended up dying because I didn't feel like it was right for them to have a happy ending. But for Nier: Automata, 2B and 9S, from the time that they were given life, they've been killing a lot of enemies, but they've also been killed by them many, many times, and regenerated many times. They've actually been killing each other, which you find out at the very end, many, many times as well. So I felt that kind of cleansed them of their sins for killing so many enemies, which made me feel that a happy ending was more fitting for those two.

Do you feel like that cycle of violence and death and the consequences of that are human nature?

Yoko: I think the reasons why we kill in video games do kind of shine light on what's kind of broken within humanity or humans in general. We want peace in the world, but we also enjoy killing others in video games, like shooting guns in video games. I think that's karma in a sense for humans, the way that video games grasp the true essence of humanity, whether or not that's what they were aiming to do.

Is there a series that you know, like Persona or Yakuza or anything like that, that either of you would want to work on?

Yoko: A series or anything?

It can be anything.

Yoko: Personally, it's not a Japanese title. I'd actually love to see how western titles are developed, because I have no insight into how they're made. There was a moment in time where I felt that it might be fun join a western development to see how things run. Of course there's the language barrier that would make it difficult for me to do that, but generally speaking I feel that western storytelling follows kind of a similar route for all the stories that western mediums create. I would feel it fascinating to find out why western games use certain flows and storyline arcs.

Okabe: I'm kind of a fanboy myself, so there is a part of me that wants to work on major titles like Dragon Quest. I feel that if I do work on those titles, the pressure of working such a known title would be just too big and because there is a part of me that really loves that series, I feel like I would try to skew my music in a way that would fit into that series instead of trying to create music that I think is good. I don't feel like I would be able to bring out the best quality in my music if I worked on those big titles, because of that pressure and because of the image I have of those titles in my mind. Currently, my want to work on those major titles and the part of me that's telling me I shouldn't do it are about equal.

Were either of you surprised by Nier: Automata's success?

Yoko: [in English] Oh yes.

Okabe: For me, I live in Tokyo and developer PlatinumGames live in Osaka, so we did have quite a distance in-between, like literal physical distance between us. From the moment that I created the music to when I was able to see it next, there was a big gap in time, so when I was able to my music in the game for the first time, the game was pretty close to finished, they were almost done with development. At that moment, I thought "Maybe this one might sell?" But at the same time, I didn't think it would become this big of a success, I always thought it might do better than the previous titles, but it was like a hunch that I didn't feel until this time in Yoko-san's titles. I did have some kind of a gut feeling that it might do well.

The last song of Automata, Weight of the World, had a chorus with the entire game's development staff at PlatinumGames and Square Enix singing along to encourage the player. Why did you decide on that for the final song of the game?

Okabe: I didn't remember this, I actually forgot about it for a while, but Yoko-san actually came to me telling me that he wanted a chorus at the end of the game pretty early on in the development process. I apparently made disgruntled face at him and did not remember why I even made that face or even that I made that face. After a while, I actually remember why I had such a reaction with the disgruntled face, because there's a couple of different types of choirs, but Yoko-san likes the more classical choir, so when he requested that he wanted a choir, I thought he wanted that classical type of choir at the last part of the game. At that moment, I thought "Well, that doesn't really fit in with the game plan, I don't really want to do that," which is why I had that expression on my face. After we talked about it, Yoko-san mentioned that wasn't really what he was going for, he said that because that last scene is all about all these different people helping you, he wanted everyone to sing, he wanted it to feel like everyone is singing there with you as you play.

When I thought about doing that, and I actually agreed that might be a good idea, because in Nier: Automata all the choir vocals that you hear in the game, it's actually recorded by a small group of singers, I just overlapped their voice so it sounds like a big choir. Because that last part of the game is more about you playing amongst a lot of people, I felt that taking that approach again of overlapping voices again would not really work. So I reached out to the dev teams because they were working on that part and I thought it would be a good idea to have them put themselves in the game as well. I also thought that they don't need to have a good voice, it's just to give that feeling that you're playing with all these developers.

Development teams from Square Enix, PlatinumGames, and also some composers from my company who didn't work on Nier: Automata are singing in it as well. There's also children of PlatinumGames developers and their family actually singing in it as well. That was the reasoning behind why we decided to do that at the end.

Has there ever been, in all your games you've made, an idea you had that you had to be talked out of?

Yoko: For the first Drakengard, I had an idea of [Japanese pop-star] Ayumi Hamasaki, like her character model, wearing all-silver spandex, like a giant version of her descending from the sky and you would fight against her by music. Everyone else on the staff shut it down. It does still leave that kind of music game essence kind of in there, but the part Ayumi Hamasaki comes out in silver spandex has been taken out.

Isn't that kind of similar to Drakengard 3's actual ending?

Yoko: Similar, but I actually wanted to go for something funny, or shockingly stupid. But no one would let me.

Source：
https://www.gameinformer.com/…/talking-to-yoko-taro-platinu…