At the Japanese event The Tenth Mosaic, held on September 22 and 23, a meeting took place between Yoko Taro, creator of the NieR and Drakengard series, and Keisuke Okabe, game director of Ender Lilies and Ender Magnolia. During the conversation, the developers discussed their approaches to game creation, the future of the Japanese gaming industry, and their own plans.
Okabe said that in the future he would like to develop a full-fledged JRPG. According to him, he is particularly interested in creating a game in 3D, but he is also considering an option with 2D graphics, as he has worked with this visual style for most of his career.
At the same time, the developer believes that now might be an especially suitable time to create a new 2D JRPG. Okabe noted that after Undertale, in his opinion, no new truly genre-defining game of this type has appeared on the market.
Yoko Taro, on the contrary, stated that he currently has no specific dream or project that he absolutely wants to implement. According to the developer, even while working on the first Drakengard, he had the opportunity to do almost everything he wanted within the framework of game creation. Therefore, everything that happened after that, Taro perceives more as his “remaining days.”
The developer also admitted that from a financial point of view, he is already approaching the moment when he can fully support himself with savings and pension payments, without working.
Therefore, if we speak only from an emotional point of view — it's all over. I'm done working, I don't want to do it anymore.
Nevertheless, he found a rather unusual reason to continue developing games. Taro called work a kind of dementia prevention. He said that he had heard stories about people who, after retirement, suddenly faced dementia, because before that they were used to constantly working.
Therefore, even stress and annoying situations related to development, Taro tries to perceive positively.
Even now, many unpleasant things happen in my work, but when they happen, I overcome them by telling myself: 'This is good for dementia prevention.'
Given Yoko Taro's known penchant for eccentric statements and jokes, this statement should not be taken too literally, of course.