How is Touko received in the Japanese Despiria fandom?
I tried searching for any semblance of a fandom while translating the game, but never found it. it is a very niche game, even in japan.
a japanese speed runner played the game some time after I finished translating it and it bought some attention to the game, but still, outside of the comments in their videos and some tweets about this speed run, there isn't much to find.
doens't help that nowadays it is so hard to search for anything and find any sort of result. even on twitter I used to search for the game and some times it showed zero results.
Did you save the fan made Despiria animation from Nico? It got taken down and I really enjoyed it!
there was a longer version, that got taken down a long time ago and there is a shorter version that was still up when I last talked about it.
unfortunately I didn't download the longer version, but I do have a recording of the shorter one. it doesn't feel right to me to reupload it though without asking for the creator's consent, since they might have their own reasons for taking it down.
thank you so much for all of your efforts translating despiria and so much of its related content ^_^ i've long been interested but my japanese is not so strong. i hope that you managed to enjoy the process and that you're doing well. if you're okay answering a question, do you have any advice for prospective japanese learners? i'd also love to know if you have a favourite despiria moment or character too. i'm partial to mihal / michal and allure herself.
thank you so much for reaching me out, it makes me extremely happy to hear how others feel about the game and to be asked my opinion on it.
my favorite character, as standard as an answer it can, is Allure. I see a lot of myself in her so I feel a special connection to her struggles and her development in the game. but aside from her I really like vi, it was partially due to me using a particular image of his as a reaction image regularly that I made it impossible for my own self to just forget and let go of the game. I also think he is very interesting in his multitude, crudeness and can even serve as vision of the pitfall Allure could have fallen had she not gained empathy throughout the game. design wise I really like Jiei and Joachim.
and my favorite moment has to be Allure's final words in the game's epilogue. since you watched my videos I assume you remember I was very sick while translating the game, so her speech touched me deeply. the feeling that you are parting away from this world, and that you have made peace with it, but still want to remain in people's thoughts is so... human. so selfish but so tender. and it isn't a type of feeling I see expressed often in media.
as for an advice, I am not so sure I can help because I myself feel like I have hit a wall a long time ago and I don't know how to cross it over. I also have reached other learners and they all have said to me I was already doing practically almost everything they would recommend someone to do. but! I will say this, when I started translating the game my japanese was much less developed than it is now.
after learning all the grammatical rules of a language all you have left to do it to study vocabulary, and this might be the biggest hurdle and bridge you have to cross to go from textbook knowledge to being able to apply it in real life situations. and unfortunately the only way I have found to do this is to brute force it. I used anki for years to memorize kanjis but it doesn't compare to actually having to read and understand full sentences, not to mention a whole story. after all words have different meanings depending on context and only with practice and continuous exposure you will be able train your brain to give meaning to words.
there were moments were I was absolutely miserable translating the game. I had dictionaries and machine translation tools to assist me and even then at times it felt too difficult of a task, many days I felt like a failure for not being able to instantly be able to read and convey with right words what was being said with the ease I felt like I should have the handle by then. but after finishing the translation I took the nouryoku shiken, for the first time. I started by the N3 already and the test felt so easy to me, I passed with great marks. so sometimes you can feel you are stuck but as long you keep putting the effort you will improve, maybe not at the speed or level you want but studying at all will always bear its fruits eventually.
so my recommendation is for you to pick something that you really like and brute force yourself into understanding it, even if you have to search what is being said word by word. eventually you will improve and things will become easier. one great thing about the japanese side of youtube is that many creators already put subtitles, in japanese, in their videos. this has helped me greatly to keep using my japanese without the threatening feeling of having nothing to hold on to.
I hope this helps! or that at least my answers were an interesting read. good luck with your journey!
Hello, really enjoyed Despiria thanks to you! Only thing that was a bit disappointing though, was the lack of romance elements- I guess it's understandable but as a supreme romance enjoyer I cant help it -_- Would you say that Raven was sort of the closest thing though? Because I kind of got that vibe from him and Allure..
Allure only manages to attain empathy and compassion due to the events of the game, she finds the concept of love foreigner so I honestly don't think so.
but that shouldn't impede you to see them as a couple, if you felt that there is a connection between them like that.
hello, I am unsure why you sent me this link, I am going to assume it was so I would translate it.
this is just a page describing the characters in the game, this one specially the characters from chapter 2. All information in regards to this can either be found in my character logs video or the chapters themselves, since the entries in this wiki are a mixture of descriptions plus something said by the character in the game.
The writer must have used the manual as basis to write this because there are some plot points that are only found in there.
Believe it or not, I never came across this article before and I have searched about the game countless times. Had I found this before there is a chance that I wouldn't feel so complied to translate the game, since the reason I did was because I couldn't find a good summary that explained what the game was about.
Interview given by the creators of deSPIRIA, published by the Dreamcast magazine in 2000-06-09.
The interview is located at pages 44 and 45 in this pdf.
Many thanks for the person who archived this issue!
You can see other deSPIRIA articles in here, but this is the only entry that has an interview, the other JPN ones are game guides.
Translation done by rio 🧬🦠🧬
Title in page 42: STAFF INTERVIEW The up-and-coming
Text on the first photo: How was 「deSPIRIA」 unique system and setting made? We will now chat with the staff of Dennou Eizou Seisakusho and a producer from Atlus to better understand the development of this piece of work.
Text under the second photo: Dennou Eizou Seisakusho, a company based in Osaka, situated right next to Higashiyodogawa. It has approximately 20 staff members, the game 「deSPIRIA」 has been developed in a garage modded into a production room. The scenery in this room is very different when compared to most game companies.
Profiles:
行澤星人 ・ Seito YUKUZAWA
Dennou Eizou Seisakusho (limited). Managing director
President and CEO of Dennou Eizou Seisakusho and deSpiria's art director. His most prevalent work is the PS game 「Dark messiah」 [Hellnight] (published by Atlus).
[Please get lost in the peculiar setting os this game]
藤本裕 ・ Yutaka FUJIMOTO
Dennou Eizou Seisakusho (limited). Planner
DeSPIRIA's director. He was responsible for the script, setting and such. His body of work includes RPG computer games and 「Dark messiah」 [Hellnight].
[Please have fun in this peculiar cybernetic world]
上田清隆 ・ Kiyotaka UEDA
Dennou Eizou Seisakusho (limited). Planner
DeSPIRIA's director. He has been involved in works such as 「Last bible」and 「ぐるぐるガラクターズ」(published by Atlus).
[Please pay attention to this dark script]
田中裕之 ・ Hiroyuki TANAKA
Atlus (incorporated). Producer
DeSPIRIA's producer. His body of works include 「Princess crown」 and 「Growlanser」.
[Please get absolutely hooked on this game's world]
- I want to know how did Dennou Eizou Seisakusho and Atlus get involved with each other.
Tanaka We have been associated with them since the release of the PS title 「Dark messiah」. Yukuzawa went to study CG in america, we started talking to each other about how I knew that there are people like this out there but how I had never met any one them. We talked a lot and as a result I got interested in this company Dennou Eizou Seisakusho that Yukuzawa and company created and asked them to proceed with the development of 「Dark messiah」.
- What is the reason for the company to be established in Osaka?
Yukuzawa Three years ago when we made 「Dark messiah」 and whatever location was fine for us really, but I was born and raised in Osaka and by pure coincidence the garage of a company building happened to be vacant. We didn't have any money we could borrow for the company, "so let's set it here" and that was it.
-What occasion caused the creation of deSPIRIA?
Yuzuzawa When we finished working on 「Dark messiah」 and we started talking about what we should make next, and made 「Dark messiah」 is also like this but, our scenario planner Fujimoto said he wanted to create a setting with an even stronger appeal and that is what kickstarted this project.
Ueda And then while thinking about the components in this dark world, we were shaping to this idea of making it a traditional RPG but then we thought "what if we make a system where we are able to read the opponent's true feeling without speaking to them" and then we fleshed it out.
Fujimoto 「Dark messiah」 is a horror adventure game set in Tokyo, but this time we wanted to produce a chaotic city based in Osaka, Hong Kong and such other places. But at that time we didn't plan for it to be a dark work. But then we incorporated the idea that Ueda mentioned and it resulted in a darkly cool Osakan setting that you can see in its visuals, script and such.
-Is there any building that was used as reference?
Ueda While talking with Fujimoto about creating a fictitious city based in Osaka, we talked about things like Naniwa and joked around about a tsūtenkaku robot, takoyaki missiles and making a game with an image like that, but we wanted to try creating a more serious game. We wanted to make a motif with a significance similar to the image of 「Black rain」 but not overly so. This is Fujimoto's own unique setting.
-What does this reinstated Osaka look like?
Yukuzawa Setting wise rather than a parallel world, it is like a possible future. It has the feel of a place that has the remains of the once destroyed city, but also has things that are completely different. It has areas that feel incredibly realistic with a setting that is completely different. It has many things that will make a resident of Osaka go "Ah, it is that thing".
-What is the theme of this piece of work?
Fujimoto The theme is "dread". This expression also means fear, but it is a type of fear that originates from internalized feelings, like desolation. Many other horror games have things like monsters and other things that are scary to look at, but we wanted to express through the dialogue a type of internalized fear that stems from the ambience and such.
-To express such a theme, the team also had to represent things that are taboo in the game industry though
Tanaka We worked on the game while being conscious of those restrictions, but once the game was finished, we looked back and saw that at some point it became a half-assed effort. It was something we wanted to avoid the most, but while trying to create this new setting while imposing those restrictions, that world ended up disintegrating mid-air. So we decided to adopt a creation style where we create whatever we wanted to create and fix any portions that were troublesome later.
Title in page 43: The staff's goal is...?
-How did the MIND system come to be?
Fujimoto As we mentioned before, the general idea stemmed from being able to read people's minds. To create a game in the RPG genre means you can't leave battles out, right. The MIND system was created by applying our concept into the battle format. That system has 3 functions: listening, absorbing and peeping into people's minds. The materialized shape of these beings is similar to that of a monster. Since they aren't proper living beings nor monsters, they were shaped in such a way that their function can be easily understood. Since there is no way for them to actually have a body we actually didn't want them to be shown.
-So MIND battles became a sort of combat that happens in the mind, is that right?
Fujimoto Yes. But, it is not a fight that happens completely inside the mind, or the subspace so to speak. It is simply the protagonist's point of view which changes. There are enemies who aren't MIND users after all.
-Was there anything referenced for the creation of MINDs?
Yukuzawa We didn't reference anything in particular. The designers came with a bunch of ideas and then we decided amongst those ideas. Rather than looking like a monster, an animal or anything of the sorts, we wanted something with the impression of something that lives inside a human, so we set on this depiction of a parasitic insectoid.
-How many MINDs are in the game?
Ueda We have planned more than 60 of them.
-Are the battles planned encounters or random encounters?
Ueda There are both event battles and encounter battles.
-Is there a set amount for the number of MINDs the protagonist is able to release?
Ueda In the battle field it is 2, 3 if you include her. But there is an outer layer of consciousness where she can hold the 2 MIND previously mentioned plus 4 others, making it 6 in total. There is also a deeper level of consciousness, if you go to a special facility you can access those MINDs in the deeper recesses of the mind and interchange their places.
-How did the explorational spheric system come to be?
Yukuzawa There was a feature in QuickTime movie where you could see a static image with a 360 degree view, right. I think it came around 7 or 8 years ago, but it gives the images such an incredibly realistic feel to them and since it is basically a flat image it can look incredibly pretty even without any rendering. Thanks to it we were able to display the environments seamlessly.
-The idea for the messages in the mind diving sequences to be displayed in movement is really innovative.
Ueda From the start we wanted it to be a type of expression method that was done through a message rather than something graphic. We reached the feel of it by wanting to show a message in a representational manner, so the emotions can be felt around through how they are displayed. Actually, it would have been fine to present the information all at once using something graphic, but we set out from the place of wanting to show that by seeing how the words are displayed in the other party's consciousness the feeling they are experiencing can be understood. By the way they move I believe it is possible to form an image of how they are feeling.
-How many patterns are of this display?
Ueda It changes according to the other party's condition, circumstances and such. If it is a peaceful moment, if it is a violent moment. Since there are also cases in which the main point is hidden in between the text, in such times the sentence stops and forms in a way in which it can be readen. There is no standardization at all. The movement of the messages are manually created.
-What are the circumstances surrounding the conception of Allure, the protagonist?
Fujimoto It started with this image of her being raised by the sisters in the church. In the process of incorporation of the MIND user setting, she became this character who was born without a heart, who was raised in the sterile environment of the church, she kills those who interfere with the church, heretic leaders and such. She doesn't speak to other people and is solely focused on her duty. She herself does so without questioning the morality of it and behaves only according to the success or failure of her mission.
Since she is this emotionless human being who gradually acquires these emotions through the choices she makes, one of the reasons why we chose a girl protagonist was so this change could be easily understood.
-What is the origin of this work's title?
Fujimoto It is a made up word, but in this game's world 「SPIRIA」 while mainly referred to as a memory solution, it is also the name of the process of the materialization of a human's memory, so we wanted to name the game by expanding upon this word. We thought that 「SPIRIA」 by itself felt weak, so we added 「デス」 [read as desu, but it also reads as death] so it would have more of an impact.
-Lastly, please pitch this work to us.
Ueda I want the players to see this profound setting, with a world that is a little off. It is a bit text heavy, so please take your time and play it without haste.
Yukuzawa I want the players who play this game to get lost in this peculiar world that cannot be found in any other game. I want them to have a first hand experience of wandering in this world through the eyes of the protagonist.
Ueda I want people to play through the dark scenario in the game while deliberately reflecting upon its contents. I also think that the cyberpunk setting is another point of interest.
Fujimoto I think that an unprecedented setting has been made. I want people to enjoy this peculiar cybernetic world.
this piece has been in the making, concept wise.
christmas is a very important date to me, even more so because it is one of my character's, nöel, birthday. I knew for a long time I wanted to try sewing dolls this year, but I didn't know what else to do for the background. I genuinely love liminal spaces and pieces that evoke a feeling of wrongness, but I wanted to make something more genuine, like opening a window to my heart so everyone could take a peek inside. my small christmas tree has been inside my closet through this whole year, and I thought, this is very much akin to how I picture my feelings inside of me.
these characters mean everything to me, without them I probably would have lost my mind and my drive to create. to me they are like saint figures one prays daily, to plea and to show thankfulness.
my overwhelming feelings are all crammed in this small space inside my closet. so many memories and feelings are contained in every single item, every little thing has a piece of someone else in them and also of my past self. gifts people gave me, many pieces I rummaged from old forgotten objects, even the tree itself, had I not bought a small tree last year this piece could not have been made. And it made me feel like the past had its purpose and me being here now has meaning.
thank you for watching over me. Happy birthday nöel and merry christmas 🎄🎁
