https://x.com/PIROSHI_CC2/status/2078739948585533926
>【Those Days with "Tail Concerto"】
>When we exhibit at events overseas or hold signing sessions, dedicated fans bring out old game discs and ask me to "sign the package."
>I'm truly happy from the bottom of my heart that everyone has kept them so preciously, and as a developer, it fulfills me deeply.
>However, with the European version of "Tail Concerto" alone, a different emotion surges up first.
>In my mind, I keep repeating "I'm sorry" over and over.
>I don't let it show on my face.
>But a whirl of sadness and regret keeps swirling inside me endlessly.
>"Tail Concerto" is a game software we developed back when we were still CyberConnect Co., Ltd., a limited company.
>The staff numbered only 14.
>It was released in Japan in 1998, and the North American and European versions followed the next year, in 1999.
>However, the truth is, we didn't develop the North American or European versions ourselves.
>With only 14 people in the company at the time, we had to immediately dive into developing the next title, "Silent Bomber," or our finances would have been in dire straits.
>So, we couldn't handle the localization development (translating and optimizing for the North American and European versions) ourselves, and had no choice but to entrust it to Bandai.
>Bandai didn't have its own development pipeline, so naturally, they outsourced the localization development to another development company—not ours—by handing over the source code.
>And when we finally received the European version of "Tail Concerto" from Bandai after its 1999 release and tested it on actual hardware, we were utterly appalled.
>At the time, the PAL standard was prevalent across Europe, which, simply put, differed from Japanese TVs in resolution and frame rate.
>Not 60 frames, but 50 frames.
>However, the development company Bandai had outsourced it to had done a shoddy porting job, and Bandai's quality checks were so lax that the game ended up launching in an absolutely abysmal state.
>The screen was stretched vertically, and with no frame rate optimization, the movements felt heavy like being underwater, turning into something like slow motion.
>It was utterly unrecognizable as an action game, and I was furious that it had been released in such a condition.
>However, the person in charge back then (the producer) was no longer around, and since the product had already shipped, it couldn't be recalled; I was told that if I wanted to curse anyone, I should curse ourselves for not handling the porting ourselves.
>Even now, I haven't forgiven it, but what I can't forgive most of all is that we failed to deliver our own work properly to our customers with our own hands—and that we foolishly let it slip away, using the busyness of developing the next title as an excuse.
>No matter what methods we used, no matter what work style we adopted, we should never have let it go.
>That was 27 years ago.
>And even now, when people bring the European version of "Tail Concerto" package and ask me to "sign it, please," I smile and sign it for them, while crying inside.
>Out of frustration, sadness, shame, and deep regret.
>And that's how CyberConnect2, this vengeful spirit, was born.
>My driving force even now is fueled by the anger from that time.
>I still can't forgive myself.
