關於 model control cycle ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

Why does domestic violence happen?

• All About Control

There are varying theories about what makes batterers use abuse with those closest to them. One view is that batterers are hardened criminals who commit their crimes in a conscious, calculated manner to achieve the dominance they believe men are entitled to. Others believe abuse is the product of deep psychological and developmental scars, which are not gender-specific.

Experts have reached a consensus on several common characteristics among batterers—they are controlling, manipulative, often see themselves as victims and believe that men have a pre-ordained right to be in charge of all aspects of a relationship.

One study found that in many cases acts of domestic violence are mate retention behaviors, that is, actions taken by one partner to try to preserve and maintain their relationship with the other partner.

• Mate Retention Behaviors

For some abusers, violence is a tool to keep their intimate partner from leaving the relationship or keeping them from being unfaithful, even if it means physically forcing them to stay.

One batterer who has now gone through treatment, says "the beatings, the verbal abuse, and the intimidation were all about control. It was like having a new toy," he said. "I had the buttons and I could make her do whatever I wanted. I was trying to intimidate her. I wanted to control her for the simple reason that I knew I could do it. It made me feel powerful."

• The Abuse Cycle

According to the Women's Issues and Social Empowerment (WISE) of Australia, the issues of power and control are essential to an understanding of Domestic Violence. "Domestic Abuse occurs in relationships where conflict is the continuous result of power inequality between the partners and one partner is afraid of and harmed by the other," they say.

Although it can vary from case to case, and doesn't take into account other forms of domestic abuse, WISE uses the "Cycle of Violence" as a model for understanding violent behavior. A simplified version of the cycle is online, but briefly, the phases are:

Build-Up Phase - The tension builds.
Stand-Over Phase - Verbal attacks increase.
Explosion Phase - A violent outburst occurs.
Remorse Phase - You shouldn't have pushed me, it was your fault!
Pursuit Phase - It will never happen again, I promise.
Honeymoon Phase - See, we don't have any problems!
This cycle concerns actual physical abuse. It does not take into account other forms of domestic abuse that are used to control, such as sexual abuse, verbal abuse, psychological and emotional abuse, spiritual abuse, economic abuse, and social abuse.

(Why Domestic Abuse Happens
It's All About Control
By Buddy T)

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2019/11/05/doctor-allegedly-assaulted-girlfriend-after-she-refused-to-have-sex-causing-facial-fractures

[不是正在進修，就是在邁向下一次進修的路上]之
Chronic depletion課程紀錄

---文---長---預---警---：）---

「慢性耗損（疲勞）」是現代的文明病，這樣的疲勞現象是個案長時間暴露在壓力源，使得體力與心神都逐漸耗盡能量，進而無法配合運動訓練改善自身的問題，也無法執行生活功能或甚至正常的和朋友，甚至同事相處。」——節錄自2019年台灣物理治療學會CST and Working with Chronic Depletion課程簡章。簡介中清楚說明了這次課程的主軸，但是我認為，真的要親身體驗，才能更加體會簡章每一個用字的力度。

本次的課程講師是Eric Moya，來自美國，是融合心理諮商與顱薦椎療法的身體工作者，也是Upledger Institute總部的主要教官之一。Chronic Depletion是一門目前由Eric單獨教授的課程，從課程問世至今是第四年，雖然發展時間不常，但感受得出是為一集大成之作。

雖然對心理諮商的方式不是很瞭解，但感覺得出來課程當中應該是整合了蠻多相關的概念。亮點在於，許多由講師問出來，自己本身隱隱約約覺得好像有問題，但也不太清楚問題到底在哪裡的問題，並獲得了很不一樣的答案。其中一個最令人受到衝擊的，就是翻轉所謂primary restriction的概念。

舉動作控制概念為例，如果身體有某一個部位活動度是受限的（restriction），為了能繼續執行日常生活功能或工作，其他部位需要產生代償(compensation)，也就是貢獻出比原本更多的活動度。但相對犧牲的，可能是這個代償部位的穩定度，因此容易產生一些失控的動作軌跡，進而對周邊組織產生過多夾擠或撕扯的壓力，造成傷害與疼痛，甚至結構上的變化。

所以疼痛的部位，很多時候不是最初或首要的(primary)的問題部位，疼痛只是一個身體發生的警訊(alarm sign)，單純處理疼痛但是沒有找到背後的原因(cause)，我們叫做無效治療，健保體制下的物理治療被詬病的其中一個背景就是如此，「止痛-找原因並訓練-次級預防」應該是三位一體的，療程止步於「止痛」這個階段，或鬼打牆卡在這個階段，是很匪夷所思的。

於是物理治療師們開始希望白手起家一個烏托邦，不再像生產線一樣幫流水的病人上下儀器，做行屍走肉般的無效治療，而是有足夠的時間去評估疼痛背後真正的restriction。

我到現在也不認為這樣的思考邏輯有什麼錯誤，只是說，這樣的思考邏輯在處理一些新鮮的損傷是蠻夠用的，因為還未受傷太久的身體，還留有尚明顯的線索。而如果損傷是已經慢性，那身體已經把這些損傷融入並產生各式各樣的適應，或無法適應而產生的次級代償，屬於整體系統運行的變化，最初的傷口可能已經癒合，但經由這個傷害引起的蝴蝶效應已經無法預測，甚至代償到最後甚至耗盡繼續適應的能力。

因此，在面對慢性損傷的狀況，很多情況restriction是找不完的。以往大家比較認同的方法，是可以從自己比較拿手的方式去做介入，例如動作的訓練、各家各派徒手的治療等等，先打破惡性循環，再觀察下一步的變化。

老實說，這是一個很花時間的過程，而且每個restriction對於身體的影響比重，有時也不好評估。而從顱薦椎或內臟筋膜鬆動術的訓練中，我們開始有了可以去找所謂的primary restriction的技術。再度老實說，那時非常的振奮，因為我覺得一些讓人丈二金剛摸不著頭腦的狀況，我的手上終於有了不一樣的工具。

但是實際情況總是沒有那麼理想，因為發現在處理「primary restriction」的過程中，就算處理的非常乾淨，但就像剝洋蔥，剝了一層還有一層，或有些時候個案的自癒力就是不好啟動，還是會產生兩難，到底堅持下去，是盲目還是自信。

而chronic depletion的概念，為我再度解套。

當一個人有足夠的適應能力，才有辦法在彈性resilience與耗損depletion兩極之間震盪。我們可以先來理解一下，depletion耗損，和resilience彈性，是一體兩面的，就像有陰才有陽，有死才有生，無法分割，也沒有必要分割。人本來就會在depletion和resilience兩極間震盪，我們可以理解這是一種自然的生物循環bio-cycle。問題會出在當震盪到太depleted的時候，這個階段，相當於身體的inner wisdom內在智慧被一塊黑布覆蓋，不願意溝通。而基本上在CST或SER的技巧，都是需要以跟inner wisdom建立連結為第一步。當連這第一步都無法建立，自然整個療程就無法順利開展。

這不就跟kinetic control的中心思想是一樣的嗎，動作本身沒有對錯，而執行人體的功能性活動時，如果能有更多不同的動作選擇，就越不會有僵化的動作模式，越不會耗損身體，造成受傷或復發。身體狀況至少比較具體一些，而心理上，面對壓力，情緒，人際，經驗等等，不用說當然也是這樣的，問題是莫衷一是的做法。莫衷一是不代表就沒有這個問題，只是背著這個問題暫時還可以生活下去，就像溫水煮青蛙。
Chronic depletion有點類似kinetic control裡面講到的neurosensitization神經過度敏感的概念，特別又更接近於central sensitization中樞神經的過度敏感狀況：簡單來說，疼痛或身體不適的感覺已經深深的刻入腦海，改變了神經系統的運作結構，造成神經系統過度敏感化，對於任何微小的刺激都會判斷是危險的、疼痛的，沒有辦法找到一個比較舒服的姿勢，而且對於一般針對消炎止痛的藥物反應不佳，需要使用到中樞神經抑制劑才有辦法暫時抑制疼痛或身體不適的感覺。

因此，覺得累不一定就是chronic depletion慢性耗損。Chronic depletion慢性耗損者有一些特色：一，使用一般的顱薦椎CST手法，身體的restriction（限制）release（解除）的效率不佳，甚至不怎麼有release(解除)的感覺；二，身體的自癒能量幾乎消失；三，失去再繼續代償的能力；四，inner wisdom內在智慧或inner physician內在醫師因為已經無法處理目前的狀況而「斷線」了；五，呈現不合理的治療反應，例如很輕微的治療，但是反應卻很大，或是同樣的治療，前一天毫無反應，而後一天卻反應劇烈。

再者，我們可以從mentally精神、emotionally情緒、physically身體、spiritually靈性的各種面向來理解。通常慢性耗損的人，會處在這些面向的兩個極端，例如在mentally精神上，有些人可能是無法集中注意力、記憶力下降等，有些人則是控制狂。emotionally情緒上，有些人易怒、易鬱，有些人則可能是情緒缺失，對周遭變化毫不關心。physically身體上，有些人可能是常常喘不過氣、心悸、痛覺放大，有人則可能是麻木、感覺不到疼痛。spiritually靈性面，有人可能是變得太過迷信，有些人可能是失去了信仰，或如果平常有在練習靜坐或冥想的話，會失去其連結的能力(disconnected)。

而對於顱薦椎治療師來說，可以利用評估under quality來判斷。在craniosacral rhythm, CSR顱薦椎的韻律評估中，有SQAR四個面向-是否symmetry對稱、quality品質如何、amplitude幅度、以及rate速度。針對quality的部分，在這個會動的CSR之下，其實還有一層under quality，我們可以用血糖來比喻，一般空腹血糖是偏向當下或短期的狀況，而糖化血色素則是看過去三個月以來受測者的血糖變化均值，是屬於比較長期的血糖指標。空腹血糖就像是CSR的upper quality，糖化血色素則是CSR的under quality，是一個人長期的適應能力的代表，通常會需要幾週或甚至幾個月才會有變化。

我們又可以把upper quality(Q)與under quality(UQ)的排列組合分成四個象限，高Q/高UQ，低Q/高UQ，高Q/低UQ，低Q/低UQ，第一種狀況當然是好棒棒，如果是第二種狀況代表本錢還在，可能只是暫時經歷一個很困難的階段，整體上還是有適應能力的，第三種則像迴光返照，第四種就是chronic depletion了。那什麼叫做「低」的程度呢？我們會以1-5分來看，通常5分的quality會是一種充盈的感覺，而3分以下，基本上都會比較偏向chronic depletion了。

Chronic depletion的形成，會有很多不同面向的攪拌牽和，會需要從心理、社會、環境、生物、生活型態以及靈性方面去理解，這個模式我們把它叫做Bio-psycho-social model。同時也帶出系統複雜性的理論。所謂的system與complexity，有以下特色：emergence自發呈現、irreducibility不可約、connectedness互相連結、interdependence互相依賴。文化、口音、行為或自然界萬物的運行，皆是自發呈現的現象。而不可約，代表如果要切成一塊一塊來解釋，就會隨即失去事物本身的意義，例如所有人類的「經驗」，例如「愛」，是無法用單純生物結構或神經系統運作來說明，只有愛過的人才能理解愛。互相連結舉例來說，辦公室有一位同事買了雙很漂亮的鞋子，那其他人看到了，也可能會想買鞋子。互相依賴則像是，當我買了新鞋，我搭配了怎麼樣的穿搭，而別人看了會怎麼想？

所以系統複雜性是一個有機的、不斷變動、打破平衡又找到新的平衡的狀態，可以很強大，也可以很快潰散（有點像奈米獵殺）。Eric很聰明的用mobile來比喻，mobile反正就是一組掛飾，有許多細細的桿子橫向連結，往下有細細的線連著大小不一的擺件，當我們拍動其一，整組掛飾都會飄來彈去，然後又恢復到平衡。我們是沒有辦法把這些擺件梳理排列到一個理想或所謂整齊的狀態的。

而身體的restriction，不論是fascia筋膜, dura硬膜, energy cyst異常能量, facilitated segment紛亂的神經….都像是一個一個的擺件，當我們自以爲找到所謂primary restriction並且去處理時，可以想像是一群小孩子吵架，其中哭得最大聲、最吸引人注目的那一個，給他糖吃也許他不吵了，但是，安靜的小孩也許也很受傷很需要關心。這群小孩的互動關係沒有被注意，而再下一次的爆發也許更不好處理。

大家應該也可能有聽過以下的比喻，把restriction的部位想像成衣服被拳頭攢著，如果有很多restriction，當一個拳頭放開，反而衣服會越往另一些拳頭拉的合力方向過去。就像大力的拉住再將擺件彈開，的確restriction的處理，是會影響到整體系統的，但是要處理到哪個程度？我們有自信找到所有的restriction嗎？每一次的處理會不會造成下一次反彈的力道越大？

但當我們退開一步，我們的眼裡仍然有restriction，但不再是要把它release掉，而是重組，讓它們得以再度融合進入整個複雜的系統呢？

記得一體兩面的概念嗎？depletion與resilience是，而restriction與release也是。通常越執著於清除，就越沒有辦法，因為它們都是身體的一部分。重組rearrangement與整合integrate，從今而後我們要觸碰的，更可以是所有這些之間的關係，因為系統因為複雜，因為當我們想要約減的那一刻，可能就已經失去這個事物的真貌了。

這很哲學，但不管逃避與否，真的是這樣。

好啦，那到底具體怎麼做呢？

再讓我們拿出那個掛飾。觸碰這組掛飾最一開始的分支的那個點，基本上是最有效率影響整組吊飾相互「關係」與互動「模式」的關鍵，這個點我們把它叫做Global Epicenter，有global當然也有regional，但再講下去要破五千字所以算了。總之呢，就是先去碰碰epicenter，讓整個pattern產生變化，再去觀察到底哪個restriction還硬卡著不放，去把它跟epicenter的關係處理好，最後再去呼呼那個restriction一下。還是有處理到restriction，但是處理的目的不再是restriction本身，而是為了讓整個系統的「pattern」、「relationship」產生變化。而如此的做法，相對也減少很多嘗試錯誤的時間。

也因為我們不是本著因果關係的想法去處理的，所以手法的重點是反覆性的微調，像吉他弦調音，通常從第六弦調到第一弦後，第六弦又會走調一些，要反覆個幾次才會趨近完成；以及適時的退開觀察，才不會調整的速度快過身體系統適應的程度。

好啦，我盡力了，因為系統複雜，再解釋下去會失去這個CST with chronic depletion的真貌，如果大家很有興趣，如果你是專業人士，歡迎從CST12開始慢慢接觸～或你單純想體驗的話，就直接來預約我吧XD

"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…

The 2018 Accord takes an entirely new approach to performance by featuring three advanced new powerplants – two turbocharged 4-cylinder engines and the third generation of Honda's two-motor hybrid powertrain technology. A new Honda-developed 10-speed automatic transmission (10AT), the first of its kind for a front-wheel-drive car, is paired with the new 2.0-liter engine, and a short-throw 6-speed manual transmission is available for both turbocharged engines in Sport trim.

The new 1.5-liter, 16-valve DOHC direct-injected turbo with dual Variable Timing Control (dual VTC) and VTEC produces a peak of 192 horsepower (SAE net) at 5,500 rpm and 192 lb.-ft. of torque (SAE net) from 1,600 to 5,000 rpm, up from 185 HP (SAE net) at 6,400 rpm and 181 lb.-ft. (SAE net) at 3,900 rpm on the existing normally-aspirated 2.4-liter model. The new 1.5-liter turbo is mated to a Honda continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT), or in Sport trim to a CVT or a 6-speed manual transmission (6MT).

The Accord can also be equipped with a new 2.0-liter 16-valve DOHC direct-injected turbo with VTEC® valvetrain and dual VTC, paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission or, in Sport trim, to the 10AT or an available 6-speed manual. The new 2.0-liter turbo, sharing much of its design with the 2017 Civic Type R, produces 252 HP (SAE net) at 6,500 rpm and 273 lb.-ft. of torque (SAE Net) from 1,500 to 4,000 rpm, compared to 278 HP (SAE net) at 6,200 rpm and 252 lb.-ft. (SAE net) at 4,900 rpm for the 3.5-liter V6 that it replaces.

The new Accord Hybrid is powered by the 3rd-generation of Honda's two-motor hybrid technology featuring a 2.0-liter 16-valve DOHC Atkinson cycle engine with greater than 40 percent thermal efficiency, the highest for any mass-produced Honda engine, paired with two electric motors. As before, the Accord two-motor system operates without the need for a conventional automatic transmission. Additionally, a new, more compact intelligent power unit (IPU), containing the hybrid battery pack and its control systems, is now mounted under the rear floor instead of in the trunk, preserving both cargo space (16.7 cu.-ft.) and the flexibility of a 60/40-split and folding rear seat, standard on all Hybrid models and trims.

Accord Models and Trims
With the application of Honda Sensing™ as standard equipment, the 2018 Accord model and trim lineup is made simpler than before, while also offering customers more choice with the addition of a Touring trim for the 1.5-liter model and a Sport trim for the 2.0-liter model, as well as a new, more affordable base Hybrid trim as well as a new EX trim for the Hybrid.

The 2018 Accord with 1.5-liter turbocharged engine is available in six trims: LX, Sport, EX, EX-L, EX-L Navi and Touring. The 2018 Accord with the 2.0-liter VTEC turbo comes in four trims: Sport, EX-L, EX-L Navi and Touring. The new Accord Hybrid has five trims: Hybrid, EX, EX-L, EX-L Navi and Touring.

HONDA　QR50を無料で戴きました、
ありがとうございます、

今日は、ライダーズカフェMACHⅢ横にある
（仮称）ライダーズハウスMACHⅢ予定場所に保管しております、
一階にトイレ、
階段を上がって歓談室及び、男性ルーム、
そして奥には壁を隔てて女性ルーム、
出来たらいいのですが、
内装も何も出来てません、
関西に来るライダーの観光拠点となればいいなぁ

夢が、かなえばいいのですが、

October 15, 1993
Coloring of car "HONDA XR100R" only for running in the off-road that demonstrates running that to excel in unleveled land, lightness, and compact two-wheel introductory car "HONDA QR50" is changed and sale HONDA MOTOR CO.,LTD. installs air cooling, four cycles, and single cylinder engines tenaciously handled easily. Light, compact two-wheel introductory car "HONDA QR50" is put on the market again on October 29, and coloring is changed and put on the market respectively on November 4 the sale of car "HONDA XR100R" only for running in the off-road that demonstrates running that to excel in unleveled land.

Beginner..take..endure..size..dry weight..seat..light..air cooling..engine..light..rigidity..diamond..frame..professional..link..suspension..real..equipment..off-road..run..enjoy..become.The image of coloring is a logo of the seat of red, the side cover of blue, and "XR". overflow boldly the throb feeling such as treated the fuel tanks the keynote of Shastahowait
QR50 is a model who installs an unnecessary output control mechanism and gear-change and throttle/dashing out prevention mechanism to operate the clutch in a compact light (The dry weight: 35kg), body after the sale in 1982, and receives a fevoreble reception as a two-wheeled vehicle for the introduction that can be used in the limited place. The fuel tank, the frame, and the wheel, etc. that distribute the logo of vivid "QR" are assumed to be white, and coloring is assumed to be real refreshing together Motocrossarimage the subject color red this time.
49cc air cooling two-cycle engine is installed in a compact body of 35kg in dry weight and high 49.5cm in the seat in QR50 with a super-light, small two-wheel car of real Motocrossarimage developed as an educational two-wheel car that can be used in the limited place.
These four models cannot run in the place etc. supplied a general public road and for public.