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土屋です。いよいよほたる横丁町内会報も、あと残すところ２回となってしまいました！今回はゲームシステム、ゲーム企画のお話をしましょう。
アルトネリコの世界設定を産み出したのは２０００年のことです。その頃もやはりRPGの世界として設定して、実は本当にコンシューマー用RPGとして創っていたのですが、様々な事情により世に出ることは有りませんでした。そして２００４年から始まった今回の企画。世界観やコンセプトは殆ど同じですが、システムは完全に一新して再出発しました。それは、この４年間で得た経験からの変更でした。今回はこの辺を掘り下げてお話ししていきます。
２０００年の時も、今回も、その「核」にあるものは「魔法」です。私は学生の頃からファンタジーの魔法が大好きで、デーブルトークRPGなどもやっておりましたが、だいたい魔法使いをやっていたものです。しかしRPGにおいて魔法はいつも脇役。洋ゲーは更に酷く、魔法使いは常に激しい枷と弱い身体に悩まされていました。魔法はこんなにも格好良くて爽快で、変化に富んで楽しいモノなのに、どうしていつも脇役！？という頭から、「いつか自分がRPG作れるようになったら、絶対魔法メインのRPGを作るぞ」と決意していたモノでした。
そんなわけで、その１回目のチャンスが２０００年に有ったわけです。その時は今のアルトネリコと違い、魔法の「ベル」を「調合」で作り出すシステムのRPG でした。ベルはオルゴール盤の掛け合わせで産み出すのですが、計算で処理する仕様でしたので、それこそ無限のバリエーションが有り、大変難しいシステムだったのです。更には「売りは魔法」という直球勝負の企画でしたので、当時広報だった増田（今はイリスシリーズディレクター）に随分突っ込まれました。「魔法じゃありきたり過ぎて売りにならない」って。今思えば確かに納得なのですが、当時は随分と悩みました。
２００４年に再びチャンスが来たとき、システムは再構築すると決めてかかりました。テーマは「魔法を使うことの楽しさ、爽快感」で変わり有りません。しかし、その肉付けを全く違うモノにしました。レーヴァテイルという歌姫の設定を創り、更に世界観を深めたのも２００４年です。そして、レーヴァテイルしか使えないという希少性を持たせる変わりに、これでもか！というくらいの爽快感を味わえるシステムになるよう構想しました。「魔法」が売りなのだから、その魔法が戦闘の１システムとして埋もれるようではアウトです。「戦闘の中に魔法がある」のではなく「魔法が戦闘をリードする」システムがあって、初めて「魔法」を売りに出来るのですから。画面レイアウトもヒロインと魔法が目立つような構成にし、特徴的な絵になるように設計しました。こうして出来たのが今回の詩魔法による戦闘システムです。
魔法があまりに好きすぎて出来てしまった今回の戦闘システム。RPGの魔法は添え物、という観念に真っ向勝負しています。故に魔法好きな方や、剣が主体の戦闘にウンザリしている方には、是非プレイしてみて欲しいと思っています。
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Hello, Tsuchiya here. Looks like we even had two issues of the Firefly Alley Citizen's BBS stored and ready for publication! Well then, now we will talk about how the game systems were originally planned.
The world setting for Ar tonelico was actually planned from 2000. At the time, I had already made it as a world for an RPG, and while I actually had made it for a game that was supposed to be released, due to many circumstances, in the end the project never came to fruition. Then, in 2004, we began our current project. The world setting and concepts are mostly similar, but the game systems were completely overhauled. That is, I had to redesign them due to the experiences I had in that space of four years. Now, we will talk about these memories of the past I have excavated.
As you can see, both in the 2000 project and in the current one, there is the existence of [magic]. I always loved fantasy magic when I still was in college, where I made tabletop RPG based on this setting, but back then, these were typical magicians. However, in RPGs, magicians never play anything but supporting roles. Western-styled games are even worse, because they always torment them by severely restricting their powers and making them extremely weak. Why do they always have to be on the sidelines, since they are always such refreshing characters, and could be more fun to play as with just a few changes!? Due to these thoughts, I decided that [if I ever got to make an RPG, I would make one where magic would take the absolutely main spot].
And the first chance for this arose in 2000. That project was different from the current Ar tonelico in that it was an RPG where magic spells were called [Bels], and were made through [Synthesis]. While Bels were made through the mix of Orgel Discs, it was a very complicated system since it needed many calculations and had an infinite number of possible variations. Furthermore, due to the plan we had for adding a straight game system of [magic being the selling point], the then-PR Manager Masuda (current director of the Iris series) interfered and shot down the project. He said that [if magic is so incredibly common, the game won't sell]. While thinking it now I can agree with him, at the time that greatly worried me.
In 2004 I got another chance, and decided to restructure the systems. However, I didn't change the original concept, which was [giving a refreshing feeling to the fun of using magic]. However, the way for fleshing out this concept was completely different. For the 2004 project, we created the concept of the songstresses called Reyvateils, and made much deeper the world setting. Now you might be thinking: "All of that, and still you can't use magic without the Reyvateils, who are extremely scarce to begin with!?", but despite that, I planned many systems to give them a refreshing feeling. The [Magic] is still one of its selling points, but it actually comes out as one of the systems that were embedded in the battles. The system isn't that [you can use magic in battle], but actually that [magic has the lead in battle], so we were able to make the [magic] into a selling point for the first time. We structured the windows in a way in which the status readouts and Heroines stood out, making them pretty special among the games of the genre. And in this way, we were able to make the current battle system carried by the Song Magic you all know today.
Due to the great love I have for magic, I was able to make the current battle system. It all was due to how much I wanted to fight the common notion that magic only serves as a support in RPGs. So if you like magic and are fed up with swords being the center of the battles, certainly, try playing the game.
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