I’ve gushed about NieR: Automata on this website plenty both in audio and written form, and for good reason. PlatinumGames and director Yoko Taro managed to create a beautiful game that pushes the boundaries of the medium as a whole. It’s a game that I’ve thought about on a pretty constant basis ever since it came out last year, and now just a little over a year after release, I got the chance to speak with both director Yoko Taro and composer Keiichi Okabe about their masterpiece.
Topics discussed include Instagram (obviously), why developers shouldn’t strive for perfection, and one of the hottest issues in gaming at the moment: how games handle violence. Check out the full transcription of our hour-long discussion below! Tyler Treese: Before I ask you about game design, I wanted to touch on your Instagram account. You have these great photos of dogs waiting without their owners. Can you tell me why you created such an account, and if you have any pets or if you have a favorite breed of dog"
Yoko Taro: I guess I’ll go backwards in my answers. My favorite type of breed is Akita. It’s a native Japanese dog. I also don’t have any pets.
The reason why I have that instagram account is because I’ve been collecting these pictures of dogs waiting for their owners outside of the store for about 10 years. So, I do have a lot of pictures that I’ve accumulated over the years. I thought that it was finally time that I would ...