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Nier and Drakengard maker Yoko Taro doesn't have many regrets when it comes to his games, but he also doesn't feel like he's ever created his so-called "perfect cube."
Taro himself made the analogy between game development and clay making in a chat with Archipel, explaining that both processes are about non-stop iteration. "I would say that building a story is like making a cube out of clay," Taro said. "You make it, but every time you look at it, you find a side that's crooked. Then you manipulate it again, just to realize that it's crooked somewhere else. That feeling keeps going on forever."
Of course, creatives don't have endless amounts of time to keep tinkering with their work. So, instead of this clay cube reaching its perfect state, eventually "the deadline finally hits and you need to stop." Rather than simply being content with the finished product or anxious about the "crooked parts" left untouched, Taro says "your feeling towards [the work] keeps evolving."
"I never had that feeling of having made the perfect cube or the perfect scenario," he continued. "After some time though, I could feel like I made the necessary efforts. So in the end I don’t feel regret towards something I should perhaps have done. If I had infinite time and resources, I'd keep working on that cube forever. There's a need to put a stop at some point. Then the time just comes. You don’t get to be fully satisfied, but it ultimately comes to an end. There's a bit of sadness when you can’t work on it anymore. However, I never feel the need to take over things I left out into something else. I always start again from scratch, aspiring to perfect that cube."
"Looking back, I don't really have any regrets. I'd actually say that I've never felt like I carried out anything completely. It feels more like a task."
