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[foxuzamaki]

The concept of this world is just too cool and actually reminded me that while I was playing Xenoblade Chronicles I was wondering if the other colonies ever thought what could happen if they digged too much into Bionis.

There were 5 areas and like 2 of them were so dense that you could very well divide them into 2 areas (Noctilum and Cauldros)

If this game promises more areas that are as dense as Noctilum... my heart.

While it was more expensive that Xenoblade Chronicles, Takahashi also stated on other interviews that XenoX was not as expensive as other modern AAA games... and it kind of shows a lot of the time =P

I love that its presented not entirely as a mystery, these titan animals are alive and (some) well, its just the way of life there and I love that.

 

[foxuzamaki]

Looking forward to the game quite a bit but...



... this totally sounds like Rex is going to have some super obvious revelation that is supposed to be mind blowing but falls flat. Like, he'll learn not to judge a book by its cover 3/4 of the way through or something.

Although, I guess later in the interview it says he is supposed to be more mature than most kids. Not holding my breath though.

He's probably not even a kid, probably Shulk's age, an young adult, but still discovering things about the world.

 

[Mihael Mello Keehl]

Isn't this pretty much every JRPG ever made?

This probably bout to be about the titans and how some must go or something including all the people living on them.

 

[Eliseo]

Xenosaga was planned to be 6 chapters long. Would you like to come back to the series to finish it one day if the opportunity presented itself ?

If someone financed it, certainly (laughs).

Don't play with my emotions like this, Takahashi..... talking about my favourite series here.

Spoiler

KOS-MOS LIVES

I can see it happening, HD remaster then continue with the story, but we will have tons of threads about why it's not on ps4 or why is it a Nintendo exclusive.

 

[Muras]

BOTW paid for XCX, itself, and then some. I think XB2 will do well but BOTW will have probably paid for that too if it doesn't. Also, Monolith Soft is quite profitable actually. Not sure how that works considering they are owned entirely by Nintendo, though.

I feel that Xenoblade X's costs were completely justified even in a scenario where it didn't somehow break even. I consider Xenoblade X necessary research, and an experiment for Nintendo, since nobody within Nintendo had made a game of that scale before and virtually the entirety of Nintendo were still transitioning to HD graphics at the time.

Some may disagree, but I think Breath of the Wild wouldn't have been as good as it was without Xenoblade X. MonolithSoft helped with the development of the game, and I feel it's pretty easy to see where their influence is having played both games. And with Xenoblade 2's shorter development cycle, I think Xenoblade X's investment will continue to pay off in the future to come.

 

[Kwame120]

The objective of Rex and his party is to go to Elysium, a sort of paradise. Those who live there know it is a legendary land, where everything seems to be perfect. Of course, the discovery of this place will be the driving force behind the main quest.

From this info about Elysium, I'm fully expecting Elysium to be utterly hellish, or some faux utopian dystopia. All in all, the more I learn, the more interested I become - from world, to music to plot.

 

[KratosEnergyDrink]

At last some more Info for the game. Loved the first two but was a bit on the edge for this one.

But X2 seems to be fine. Love the "giants" scenario.

 

[whyamihere]

The cloud sky is also very Baten Kaitos. I'll take what I can get.

But we deserved more. The future refused to change.

😞

 

[TheGreatLugia]

The cloud sky is also very Baten Kaitos. I'll take what I can get.

But we deserved more. The future refused to change.

��

From the Gamekult interview:

Do you know what happened to the Baten Kaitos DS project, that appeared briefly on Bandai Namco's plannings when the handheld was announced ?

A DS project ? I'm not sure... At least, I would like to play Baten Kaitos again, but for that you should speak to M. Honne (Baten Kaitos creator) at Monolith and ask him directly (laughs).

 

[whyamihere]

From the Gamekult interview:

Nah the whole thing is a cluster fuck with Namco. And Kyoto is just a support studio. It's not happening.

 

[Vital Tundra]

Excuse me? Bigger than X? I hope they bring back the Mechs in some way.

 

[Dark Cloud]

From the Gamekult interview:

I'm confused. I didn't know there were other creators and directors at Monolith. How come they don't make games too? I thought Takahashi made everything like Disaster Day of Crisis and Baten Kaitos.

 

[TheGreatLugia]

Nah the whole thing is a cluster fuck with Namco. And Kyoto is just a support studio. It's not happening.

Yeah, I know Namco owns the IP and Honne seems to be working at the support studio now.

Still, it seems like the first time in ages someone at Monolith Soft acknowledged the series exits.

 

[Harpoon]

Huh, I'd been under the impression for a while that Nintendo owned Baten Katios. Probably because they published the second game, and Namco didn't really have anything to do with it.

 

[TheGreatLugia]

I'm confused. I didn't know there were other creators and directors at Monolith. How come they don't make games too? I thought Takahashi made everything like Disaster Day of Crisis and Baten Kaitos.

Yasuyuki Honne directed the Baten Kaitos games and now works at Monolith Soft's Kyoto studio, which is a support studio for other projects.

I want to say the director of Disaster left the company a few years ago.

The director of Project X Zone also left Monolith Soft a few months ago.

 

[jdstorm]

That was a great interview. I'm reading way too much into it and my brain is exploding with posibilities. There are so many hints at how the game is structured and the story that its telling is completely relevant to modern society.

1. Dying Titans in a giant sea is a clear paralell to global warming.

2. Rex as a blue collar slightly older then he appears salvage diver sounds very reminiscent of your typical western adventure hero like a Han Solo or more recently Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman. (Or many a Final Fantasy supporting character like Locke in Final Fantasy 6)

3. This Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) analogue seems more appropriate after seeing Pyra who is clearly a special Woman. She's clearly someone important and of great power who is on the run (possibly with a somewhat negative past)

I really appreciate how good the writing in Monolith Soft games is. Its approachable but still has big ideas and doesn't pull any punches.

 

[DJIzana]

Xenoblade Chronicles X is the ONLY game I've played where I feel exploration is done extremely well. Breath of the Wild has a lot of exploration too but the way it's delivered is so perfect... I remember finding a underwater cave in Noctilum and upon going further in, all these. Purple glowing flowers with a superboss at the end. It was majestic. This is how exploration should be. Rewarded with visually stunning looking areas.

I imagine we'll get more areas but probably not as big as Xenoblade Chronicles X's areas. I'm fine with that. I rather have variety.

Lastly, I still do hope they continue with the X series. I really like the world of Mira and how many mysteries are still left to uncover.

 

[Kanann]

Info about game series that make me scream like a little girl

1. DQ
2: Megaten
3. Xeno after blade


brb go screaming outside.

 

[JeffZero]

Pretty awesome read, thanks OP. Went ahead and linked your topic on another board. <3

 

[Ninferno]

My body and my Switch are ready for XC2, but for an interview with Monolith Soft people, my most pressing question would still be "XCX2 when?"

 

[DrLazy]

Those 13 year old looking characters dressed like a hooker certainly are more expressive

 

[Fireblend]

I really like what I'm reading in those interviews - the world sounds very interesting, the focus on storytelling like the original, the idea behind resource-based conflicts, etc. Xenoblade Chronicles was already very close to what a "perfect JRPG" would be for me, and Takahashi sounds like someone who knows exactly how to tackle a new project by bringing what he learned and what worked from past ones and adding things that will complement and enhance that vision.

Just hook it to my veins already.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Isn't this pretty much every JRPG ever made?

Yes but Takahashi is a better jrpg writer than the norm. The equivalent would be like saying Hunter x Hunter is just a typical shounen manga.

 

[Yarbskoo]

Exploration will be even more important in Xenoblade 2.

That's all I need to know.

 

[Fireblend]

Also gotta say I love what he's done with the world's structure by taking the "floating islands and airships" cliche and turning it into something new by mixing it with the giant titans concept from the first one. It also gives them a freedom to design environments that don't necessarily have to "connect" with each other by virtue of them being individual "bodies" in a sea of clouds.

 

[Folstern]

Can he please stop spiraling deeper into this Tales of anime shit and go back to his roots?

 

[Harpoon]

Can he please stop spiraling deeper into this Tales of anime shit and go back to his roots?

He's explicitly said he wants to do something different with this game from his other ones, so nope.

 

[Forward]

He's probably not even a kid, probably Shulk's age, an young adult, but still discovering things about the world.

Like how to dress himself.

 

[Folstern]

He's explicitly said he wants to do something different with this game from his other ones, so nope.

Different for him, the same rehashed garbage tropes from the past 20 years of JRPGs. Sweet.

 

[sanstesy]

Cool interview!

 

[Mister Wolf]

Like how to dress himself.

The outfit is work equipment note the diving helmet and anchor/crossbow on his arm.

 

[Forward]

The outfit is work equipment note the diving helmet and anchor/crossbow on his arm.

That explains the helmet and the anchor. Now explain the rest.

 

[foxuzamaki]

Different for him, the same rehashed garbage tropes from the past 20 years of JRPGs. Sweet.

It's always about the execution, tales of have multiple games centering around the concept of religion by the way.

Every story has been told, and takahashi usually writes better stories in these fields than other people, which is why people fell in love with xenoblade's story despite how "shonen" it was.

 

[Mister Wolf]

That explains the helmet and the anchor. Now explain the rest.

 

[Dark Cloud]

Man who else doesn't care about "tropes"? I feel like I see this word constantly thrown around lol. How's the world? How's the gameplay? How's the music? How's it put together?

 

[Forward]

That... looks a lot different that X2 dude's pants and whatnot. That actually looks kind of cool.

 

[RampagingSoul]

Really good interviews as always. Love Takahashi interviews (why I loved his Iwata Asks for Xenoblade and the one for Xenoblade X so much). Can't wait for this game!

 

[Almond]

The more I hear the more excited I get. I was a little worried about the direction this one might be taking but I'm less worried now.

That explains the helmet and the anchor. Now explain the rest.

I still remain confused as to what issues people have with Rex's outfit. It's clearly meant to be a fantasy version of a diving suit. Mixed with modern day wetsuits...

and old fashioned diving suits...

and maybe throw in some fishing waders....

and BAM.

 

[Exentryk]

Having lots of varied locations to explore sounds amazing! Linear gated areas (but each area being really large) is perfect!

Btw, you can adjust the camera:

 

[Dark Cloud]

I just want to see multiple towns.

 

[Dark_castle]

God yes. We need more power of friendship in JRPG.

 

[KingSnake]

Diving suit? Lol. I hope Rex dives into deep waters with that suit in the first chapter or so.

 

[Sn4ke_911]

Diving suit? Lol. I hope Rex dives into deep waters with that suit in the first chapter or so.

Well they confirmed a water themed titan on the treehouse stream so yeah that would be pretty awesome.

Edit: but honestly to me that helmet doesn't really look like a helmet you could use to breathe underwater, more like something to dig holes in caves.

 

[Exentryk]

 

[Sn4ke_911]

Man the characters Nomura designed look so much better than Rex and Pyra.....

Now im curious what his main chars would have looked like.

 

[Waji]

and no matter how much neogaf seems to despise anime, the character design here is much better than any in the franchise so far even though thats not saying much.

You're confusing character design with 3D models and animation. But that's a detail.

I think that is underplaying the titans size a little bit. I don't expect the to each be the size of a full bionis or mechonis, but I expect to total culmination of titans to be somewhere close to X's size since they are using the same engine. Satorl marsh and or Bionis' leg would be a little too small for individual titans and judging from the first titan we've seen so far their should be a whole lot more their.

I mean look at the neck of this titan, their should be a ton of veritcallity here and a whole lot more than any one zone in Chronicles to explore.

There just going to be several areas on one beast I think. As if the first one was Colony 9 + tephra cave (but bigger) for example.
If each beast can be explored seamlessly and be that big though, it's going to be impressive.

I'll have to avoid an upcoming "see most areas"-trailer.

Man the characters Nomura designed look so much better than Rex and Pyra.....

Not especially. They just look older.
And the other characters look the same as Nomura's. It's actially good to have the hero as a "kid"than having a tales of-kid as a party member later. Heroes always have less room to be the best characters so he could actually shine being a kid if he's well done enough.

 

[Eusis]

Hmm, appears so.

I was wondering if you got him confused with Rumiko Takahashi.

Going from Ranma 1/2 to Xenogears would be some pretty crazy whiplash. But given her library of work it might not be the craziest thing.

 

[Waji]

Good thing we don't have to wait as much as for X.

Yes but Takahashi is a better jrpg writer than the norm. The equivalent would be like saying Hunter x Hunter is just a typical shounen manga.

GREAT answer !

 

[Sn4ke_911]

Not especially. They just look older.
And the other characters look the same as Nomura's. It's actially good to have the hero as a "kid"than having a tales of-kid as a party member later. Heroes always have less room to be the best characters so he could actually shine being a kid if he's well done enough.

I'm not talking about Rex being a kid, it's the clothes design i hate.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Saito's art style translates better to 3D models than any Xeno artist before him. He was a perfect pick for Xenoblade 2.