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Yoko Taro

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In thisJapanese name,thesurnameisYoko.
Yoko Taro
Hoành đuôi quá lang
Yoko wearing his familiar mask in 2018
Born(1970-06-06)June 6, 1970(age 54)
Nagoya,Aichi,Japan
NationalityJapanese
Alma materKobe Design University
Occupation(s)Video game director,writer
Years active1994–present
Notable work
TitlePresidentandCEOof Bukkoro
SpouseYoko Yukiko[1]
Websitebukkoro

Yoko Taro(Hoành đuôi quá lang,Yokoo Tarō,born June 6, 1970)is a Japanesevideo gamedirectorandscenario writer.Starting his career at the now defunct game developerCavia,his best-known work is on theaction role-playing video gameseriesDrakengard,and itsspin-offs,NierandNier: Automata.Yoko was born inNagoya,Aichi,and studied at theKobe Design Universityin the 1990s. While he did not initially intend to pursue a career in video games, after working at Namco and Sony, he joined Cavia and became the director and scenario writer for the firstDrakengardgame. He has since worked extensively on every game in the series (exceptDrakengard 2), and on mobile titles after becoming a freelancer following Cavia's absorption intoAQ Interactive.

Critics have noted Yoko's unconventional game design and writing style. One of the main aspects of his work is exploring the darker aspects of humanity, such as why they are motivated to kill each other, although he typically does not share a common opinion on his story's dark natures. His writing technique, described as "backwards scriptwriting", involves outlining the ending of the story first and building the narrative backward from that point. Due to his disdain for being photographed, he generally wears a mask when giving interviews or presenting games.

Early life and education

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Yoko Taro was born inNagoya,Aichi,on June 6, 1970.[2]Taro's parents were often absent from home due to their jobs, so he was mostly raised by his grandmother, who left a strong impression on him.[3]During his youth, he heard about an incident that would influence his later work as a scenario writer: while an acquaintance was in a shopping street with a group of friends, one of them who was walking along a high building roof slipped and died from the fall. The scene as Yoko heard it was initially "horrifying", but included a humorous element as well.[4]He studied atKobe Design Universityand graduated in March 1994.[2][5]He is married to Yukiko Yoko, an illustrator who worked onTaiko no Tatsujinseries and also did work onDrakengard 3.[1][2]

Career

[edit]

Initially not intending to pursue a career in video games, his first job a month after graduating was as a 3D CGI designer forNamco.[2][6][7]In 1999, he joined Sugar & Rockets Inc., a now-defunct in-house developer owned bySony Computer Entertainment.In 2001, a year after Sugar & Rockets' consolidation by Sony, Yoko got a job atCavia.[2]While working at Cavia, he became involved in the creation ofDrakengard.While the game's co-producer Takuya Iwasaki intended to take the director's role, he was busy with other projects, so Yoko was asked to take up director's duties.[8]He also helped create the scenario and characters, as well as co-writing the script with Sawako Natori.[9][10][11]During its production, Yoko was unhappy with the amount of changes asked for by the game's advisory board. It got to the point where he decided he would not work on anotherDrakengard.[12]He was later involved in the production ofDrakengard 2,being credited as a video editor while also remaining as one of the game's creative staff.[2][13]Mostly tied up with another project during production, his original concept for the game as an arcade-style game with dragons in space was vetoed and he had creative clashes with the game's new director Akira Yasui.[13]

AfterDrakengard 2was completed, Yoko started work on a third entry in the series. As the game developed, the initial concept was developed to the point where the game was rebranded asNier,a spin-off from the series. Despite this, Yoko continued to consider it the third entry in the series.[14]AfterNierwas released and Cavia was absorbed intoAQ Interactive,Yoko left the company and pursued an independent career.[15]During this period, he took an unknown role in the development of Square Enix's social gameMonster × Dragon.[16]The majority of his freelancer work involved social mobile games.[17]Many years later, Yoko teamed back up with multiple staff from the production ofDrakengardandNierto create a true second sequel toDrakengard,determining through questionnaires that the main appeal to the fanbase was the dark stories.[14]After the completion ofDrakengard 3,Yoko "went back into unemployment".[18]After that, he began writing a short-term special column forFamitsutitled "Taro Yoko's Circle of No Good Thinking".[19]In 2015, Yoko announced that he had started his own company called Bukkoro, staffed by Yoko, his wife Yukiko, and Hana Kikuchi, novelist and scenario writer forNierandDrakengard 3.[1]His other works include the 2023animetelevision series based onNier: AutomatatitledNier: Automata Ver1.1a,co-writing the script with the anime's director Ryouji Masuyama.[20]

Yoko has stated his intense dislike of interviews. His reason, according to hisFamitsucolumn, was that he feels video game developers are not entertainers or commentators on their work and that he thinks the subjects they talk about in interviews would be overly boring to those reading or listening.[21]When he does give interviews, he prefers to wear a mask to avoid being photographed, and in a video interview concerningDrakengard 3,he used aglove puppet.[22]He has also stated that he likes to be blunt when stating his opinions, as he feels that video game fans deserve truth and honesty.[11]

Writing

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Yoko is noted for creating games with a dark, disturbing or unusual atmosphere. This was stated as the main reason he was brought in to work onMonster × Dragon.[16]His writing method, which he has not seen in other works of fiction, is called "backwards scriptwriting".[7]He described it as starting with the ending first, then working backwards from there.[7]He then creates central plot points that form emotional peaks in the narrative, adds details, then scatters them through the narrative so the player can build a suitable emotional connection.[7]He uses a secondary method called "photo thinking" in conjunction with his scriptwriting method.[23]Yoko describes it as a method of visualizing and keeping in order events and emotional peaks throughout the story.[23]He cited his inspiration for this method asThe Memory Palace of Matteo RiccibyJonathan Spence.[23]He is keen in experimenting with the video game format, feeling that many conventions of the video game market inhibit developers' creative freedom.[7][22]Many of his games reflect his own feelings about death and hissocratic questioningof the concept.[4]Yoko also considers food an important tool in creating a game, stating that he thinks that types of food from across the world can help him get a feel for the people the game is being aimed at.[24]

Yoko was influenced in his style for theDrakengardseries by many games of the day: a commonality he noted was that the player got gradings for their performance after killing dozens or hundreds of enemy units in a "gloating" manner.[22]Because the concept of enjoying killing seemed insane to him, he designed the first game's main protagonists to be insane. He also wished to explore what drove people to kill each other.[22]Later, forNierandDrakengard 3,Yoko explored the idea of a terrible event where both sides believed they were doing the right thing. ForNier,he took direct inspiration from theSeptember 11 attacksand theWar on Terror.[22][25]Another direct influence onNierwas of the gameplay of theGod of Warseries, which both he and the game's producer Yosuke Saito admired.[26]He has stated his dislike for the "plain and forgettable" type of female video game character: he demonstrated his dislike for this and the stereotypical role-playing video game romance in Furiae, an important character inDrakengard.[8]Another character he has been greatly involved in creating isZero,Drakengard 3's protagonist: while creating her, he felt it would be interesting to create a character who was formerly a prostitute as it was a character type that was fairly rare in video games.[27]In general, Yoko does not consider his writing to be as dark as others see it, while admitting that he deliberately incorporates dark elements.[4][28]A notable influence on the gameplay of his titles was the classicshoot 'em upIkaruga;it directly inspired the dragon flight sequences ofDrakengardand bullet hell sections inNier;and informed Yoko on the synchronization of gameplay with the music.[29]A biography of him drawnKeiji Yoshidaand based on Yoko Taro's own words was released in theGame Creators of Biographyweb manga series, under the title"ヨコオタロウ biên"("Yokoo Tarō-hen"). It was published byCygameson its Cycomi platform, starting from February 21, 2021.[30]

Works

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Video games

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Year Title Role
1996 Alpine Racer 2 Background designer
1998 Time Crisis II
2000 Chase the Express Planner
2001 Phase Paradox Game designer, visual design
2003 Drakengard Director, scenario writer
2005 Drakengard 2[2] Video editor
2010 Nier[7][31] Director, scenario writer
2011 Monster × Dragon[32] Scenario supervisor
2012 Demons' Score[33][34] Support planner
2013 Drakengard 3 Creative director, scenario writer
2017 Nier: Automata[35][36] Director, scenario writer
SINoALICE[37] Creative director
2019 Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers[38] YoRHa: Dark Apocalypsescenario writer
2021 Nier Reincarnation[39] Creative director, scenario writer
Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139...
Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars
2022 Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden
Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden[40]
2023 404 Game Re:set[41]

Books and manga

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Year Title Role
2013 Drag-on Dragoon: Utahime Five Supervisor
Drag-on Dragoon: Shi ni Itaru Aka[42]
2014 Drag-on Dragoon 3: Story Side[43]
Thou Shalt Not Die[44] Creator, writer
2017 NieR:Automata: Short Story Long Writer
2018 NieR:Automata - YoRHa Boys Supervisor
2020 YoRHa: Pearl Harbor Descent record – A NieR:Automata Story[45] Writer
2021 Nier Replicant Ver 1.22474487139… Project Gestalt Recollections –File01
Nier Replicant Ver 1.22474487139… Project Gestalt Recollections –File02
Game Creators of Biography(Yoko Taro-hen)[30] Writer, himself

Television

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Year Title Role
2023 Nier: Automata Ver1.1a Creator, writer[20]
KamiErabi God.app Creator, planner[46]

Stage plays

[edit]
Year Title Role
2014 YoRHa Stage Play, Ver. 1.0 Creator, writer
2015 YoRHa Stage Play, Ver. 1.1[47] Writer
2016 Thou Shalt Not Die Zero[48] Creator
2018 YoRHa Musical Ver. 1.2 Writer
YoRHa Boys Ver. 1.0
2019 Thou Shalt Not Die Zero_KAI
YoRHa Ver. 1.3a
2020 YoRHa Ver. 1.3aa
YoRHa Girls Ver. 1.1a
2021 Bakuken

Music videos

[edit]
Year Title Artist Role Notes
2023 "Antinomy" Amazarashi Writer Ending theme ofNier: Automata Ver1.1a[49]

Further reading

[edit]
  • Taro, Yoko (2021). "Yoko Taro-hen".Game Creators of Biography(in Japanese). Tokyo:Cycomi.
  • Turcev, Nicolas (2019).The Strange Works of Taro Yoko: From Drakengard to Nier: Automata.Foreword by Yoko Taro. Toulouse:Third Éditions.ISBN978-23-7784-048-9.

References

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  1. ^abcSato (June 28, 2015)."Nier Creator Taro Yoko Started His Own Company".Siliconera.Archivedfrom the original on June 29, 2015.RetrievedJune 29,2015.
  2. ^abcdefg"BUKKORO / ABOUT".Bukkoro.Archivedfrom the original on July 26, 2014.RetrievedJuly 26,2014.
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  4. ^abc"“Thấy えない vách tường” に lấy り囲まれたゲーム nghiệp giới へ の tưởng い. ヨコオタロウ thị が “ドラッグ オン ドラグーン3” やゲーム の tương lai を ngữ ったインタビューを yết tái ".4Gamer. February 28, 2014.Archivedfrom the original on March 15, 2014.RetrievedJuly 25,2014.
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  8. ^ab"『ドラッグ オン ドラグーン』シリーズ toạ đàm sẽ でヨコオタロウから phi び ra す qua đi làm の hướng kích thật thật…『DOD1』 の アレは thần dạng じゃない!?".Dengeki Online.April 18, 2013.RetrievedMarch 20,2014.
  9. ^"ドラッグ オン ドラグーン』シリーズ Izakaya toạ đàm sẽ with ヨコオタロウ on phật diệt. Thánh địa ・ tân túc で ngữ られる『DOD』ぶっちゃけトーク".Dengeki Online.April 15, 2013.RetrievedNovember 11,2013.
  10. ^"『DOD3』ジョシカイ, khai mạc. Nữ tính coi điểm ( ánh đảo × danh lấy × bạch bổn ×サガコ ) で ngữ られる『ドラッグ オン ドラグーン3』 の cuồng khí の vực sâu とは? 【 điện kích DOD3】".Dengeki Online.December 27, 2013.RetrievedFebruary 28,2014.
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  13. ^ab"『ドラッグ オン ドラグーン』シリーズ toạ đàm sẽ, cảnh đẹp へ. ヨコオタロウが bạo く『DOD2』 an giếng ディレクター の tâm の ám ＆『ニーア』 tỉnh lại lời nói".Dengeki Online.April 22, 2013.RetrievedMarch 9,2014.
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  16. ^abSpencer, Yip (December 12, 2011)."Nier Director Yoko Taro Steps Out Of Retirement To Help Square Enix Social Game".Siliconera.RetrievedJuly 25,2014.
  17. ^Yoko, Taro (April 2, 2013)."【 sĩ sự 】モンスター×ドラゴン の lời nói.".Diary of Taro Yoko (blog).RetrievedDecember 30,2012.
  18. ^Ashcraft, Brian (January 6, 2014)."Drakengard 3's Director Is Keen for Drakengard 4".Kotaku.RetrievedMay 25,2014.
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  20. ^abRomano, Sal (September 24, 2022)."NieR: Automata Ver1.1a TV anime to begin airing in January 2023; 2B and 9S teaser trailers".Gematsu.RetrievedOctober 25,2022.
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  28. ^『NieR』 の tân tác は trước làm を du んだファンほど hỗn loạn する!? ヨコオタロウ thị ら khai phát スタッフに thẳng kích インタビュー(in Japanese).Dengeki Online.June 19, 2015.Archivedfrom the original on June 19, 2015.RetrievedJune 19,2015.
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  30. ^abCygames[@cycomi] (February 16, 2021)."Hi đại の ゲームクリエイター “ヨコオタロウ” の nhân sinh がマンガ hóa!! Ngày 21 tháng 2 より, thật nói ゲームクリエイター vân tân chương “ヨコオタロウ biên” còn tiếp bắt đầu!! "(Tweet) (in Japanese). Retweeted by Yoko Taro.RetrievedApril 19,2022– viaTwitter.
  31. ^『ドラッグ オン ドラグーン』 の スタッフが lại tập kết! PS3とXbox360で dị なる nhân vật chính を miêu いた『ニーア レプリカント／ニーア ゲシュタルト』に bách る(in Japanese). Inside Games. May 18, 2010.Archivedfrom the original on July 13, 2011.RetrievedJuly 12,2011.
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  33. ^【GDC 2014】ヨコオタロウ thị が ngữ るゲームシナリオ の thư き phương. 変わった người の ため の 変わったゲーム.GameBusiness.jp. March 27, 2014. Archived fromthe originalon April 27, 2015.RetrievedJune 22,2015.
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  38. ^Final Fantasy XIV Twitter (February 2, 2019)."Presenting the next alliance raid series: YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse–from the minds of renowned NieR creators YOSUKE SAITO and YOKO TARO!".Square-Enix.Archivedfrom the original on February 11, 2019.RetrievedFebruary 2,2019.{{cite web}}:|author=has generic name (help)
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  40. ^Romano, Sal (September 1, 2022)."Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden announced for PS4, Switch, and PC".Gematsu.RetrievedSeptember 1,2022.
  41. ^Romano, Sal (February 5, 2023)."SEGA and Yoko Taro to announce RPG 404 GAME RE:SET for iOS, Android on February 10".Gematsu.
  42. ^Yoko, Taro (March 2, 2013)."【 sĩ sự 】コミック “ドラッグ オンドラグーン chết ニ đến ル xích” の giam tu "[Supervision work of the comic Shi ni Itaru Aka]. Diary of Tarō Yoko (blog).RetrievedMarch 16,2014.
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  46. ^Cardine, Kyle."Fuji TV Reveals New Upcoming Anime Metallic Rouge, Undead Murder Farce and More".Crunchyroll.RetrievedMarch 22,2023.Airdate: October 2023
  47. ^"ヨルハ"[Yorha Official Site]. Archived fromthe originalon February 26, 2017.RetrievedFebruary 14,2017.
  48. ^"Quân chết ニタマフ sự ナカレ linh"[Thou Shalt Not Die Zero Official Site]. Archived fromthe originalon August 19, 2019.RetrievedFebruary 25,2017.
  49. ^Egan, Toussaint (February 3, 2023)."Nier: Automata's Yoko Taro made a new 15-minute music video based on the game".Polygon.
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