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These post-Xenoblade X comments from Takahashi get me hyped for Monolith's next RPG

S

skypunch

Banned
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...the-man-behind-xenoblades-breathtaking-worlds
"My goals still lie ahead of me," Takahashi says, defiantly. "I feel like now that Xenoblade Chronicles X is done I'm finally standing on the start line."
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http://time.com/4149809/xenoblade-chronicles-x-director-tetsuya-takahashi/
“We deliberately distanced ourselves from having philosophical themes intertwined with the core of the story. Given that we at Monolith Soft had no experience with developing HD titles, our goal with this project [Xenoblade Chronicles X] was to experiment with and implement the assorted tech skills we needed for HD game development. We decided that trying to balance that with an epic theme-laden story would pose difficulties. Our hope is that we can start by creating the core system, then expand on the story and thematic elements in our future project."
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http://m.uk.ign.com/articles/2015/12/04/next-xenoblade-would-focus-more-on-story-like-original-game
"I've heard that some Japanese users who played Xenoblade Chronicles X said they enjoyed a more story-driven type of game. So if we have the opportunity to make another game in the series, I'd like to make another typical JRPG-style game like Xenoblade Chronicles again."
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"The Xenoblade series has always had a different genre for each game, with the previous game being fantasy, and now turning to science fiction. I hope we will be able to continue the series like this, exploring lots of different settings, rather than being confined to a specific genre."
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And Takahashi's response to Japanese players feedback on XCX:

"Thank you for your precious ideas, dear players! I totally agree with you. A more heated and exceptional story, an easy to use interface, refined combats; all these points identified always stick in my head. When developing a HD game later than most other developers, with the structure that was Monolith, I understood that there were compromises to be made. In order to go to the next step, we couldn't avoid it. We will continue on the track born from this experience that is Xenoblade X but this time I want to create a game with an exceptional scenario."
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It seems even Takahashi himself agrees that XCXs story was a bit lacklustre! All is forgiven though as there are legitimate reasons for why it was. It's probably still way too early to start the Xeno hype train, but YOLO.
 
Jawmuncher

Jawmuncher

Member
Knowing that they basically want to squish XenoC and XenoX into one game sounds good to me. I like the ideas of XenoX but not with the sacrifices they made.
 
S

Steejee

Member
I loved XCX but it certainly had the flaws he noted..

XCX came out a year ago in Japan, so he'd be well into whatever's next at this point.
 
G

Golnei

Member
I'm in two minds about his intentions. X was undoubtedly a flawed game, but something about it made me love it more than the first Xenoblade - I'd hope that in the move to a more linear and structured narrative; further entries in the series wouldn't lose that fantastic interwoven web of sidequests and optional subplots, or the sense of unrestricted exploration; despite being lukewarm about how their characterisation and interpersonal dynamics were handled, I'd even miss the extended ensemble playable cast. In any case, I just hope they keep experimenting.
 
balgajo

balgajo

Member
Man, I was so hyped about XCX first but after the avalanche of bad news and gameplay videos I didn't buy it in the end. I'll probably play it one day, but for now I'm fine.

Please Takashi, use OG Xenoblade Chronicles as inspiration, that's what you need.
 
W

Wagram

Member
As long as it has the story presentation of any other Xeno game other than X I don't care.

P.S. enough of the endless sidequests and trash rap music.
 
V

varkuriru

Member
Just finished chapter 7 in XCX and I am ok with story even if it is lacking somewhat. Exploration is ace and I enjoy the battle system. If the next game is more linear then that would be ok too. Hopefully mechs are in the next game too!
 
I

ika

Member
That's really promising. I can't wait to see what's next. Sadly it's been just a year since they finished XCX so I don't think they'll show us the next game anytime soon... :(
 
M

MrT-Tar

Member
I actually didnt' mind the story in XCX, but what let it down imo was the lackluster "side" characters (ie all playable characters outside of mc, Elma and Linly). The game's story would've seemed much better imo had the likes of Lao been as good as Dunban and Sharla.
 
G

Golnei

Member
MrT-Tar said:
I actually didnt' mind the story in XCX, but what let it down imo was the lackluster "side" characters (ie all playable characters outside of mc, Elma and Linly). The game's story would've seemed much better imo had the likes of Lao been as good as Dunban and Sharla.
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I liked most of the party, but 'like' is all they gave us room to do. It wouldn't have been feasible on their budget, but it really was a massive blow to the game to not provide sufficient opportunities to let characters interact with each other and have meaningful presence and development outside of their affinity missions. If they want to continue with a similarly-sized cast in future games, that's something they absolutely have to address.
 
T

theechrisfox

Member
I much preferred the minimalist story in XCX compared to all the forced twists and turns through the plot in XC. Regardless, stoked for any future output from Monolithsoft. They are getting better all the time.
 
J

jj984jj

He's a pretty swell guy in my books anyway.
I wonder what happened during the development of X to make things turn out the way they did. Quests were more like a extras in Xenoblade, and really helped with progression because the quantity of them just made exploring and leveling easier. In X they became the focus where even the story became a series of missions, and while they were better than the quests in Xenoblade they were still largely based on the quantity over quality mentality. Even the party became an issue of quantity over quality and what made it worse was having 3/4 of the party slots occupied for the vast majority of the game. Honestly there was no real reason X had to be that way, so I hope that by saying they'll make a more story focused game he means that they will focus on the requirements to do missions for these characters. X would have easily be an overall improvement on Xenoblade if they did, there was no need for a "linear" or more story focused game to deliver that. Takahashi seems to have the right ideas, so I hope that next time they think more about the design decisions and how they effect the overall structure.
 
S

skypunch

Banned
Spieler Eins said:
Drop that pseudo-MMO shit. Especially the battle system.
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Got a feeling the combat in the next game will be more action-based. That seems to be what Monolith are moving towards.

I'd love an action combat system that incorporates the combos from Xenogears in some way.
 
S

Sammy Samusu

Member
It seems even Takahashi himself agrees that XCXs story was a bit lacklustre!
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Let's all be real for a moment.

The story of X is far more interesting than the story of Xenoblade.

Xenoblade is your usual JRPG garbage about gods and some shitty final boss fight on a floating platform (including milky way background). How many times must we go through this?
kP0rkud.gif


I won't develop too much on the story of X because spoilers, but if you have played the game, you know the ending was crazy good (it gave me Lost teas), and there are A LOT of stuff for Takahashi to address in the sequel. It's all setup for a great story.
 
S

skypunch

Banned
Sammy Samusu said:
Let's all be real for a moment.

The story of X is far more interesting than the story of Xenoblade.

Xenoblade is your usual JRPG garbage about gods and some shitty final boss fight on a floating platform (including milky way background). How many times must we go through this?
kP0rkud.gif


I won't develop too much on the story of X because spoilers, but if you have played the game, you know the ending was crazy good (it gave me Lost teas), and there's A LOT of stuff for Takahashi to address in the sequel.
Click to expand...

But the story in Xenoblade was multi-layered and the antagonists actually had backstories and had substantial character development & weren't just pantomime villains killed off without knowing anything about them, so neeeerrrrrrrrrr ;)
 
E

EhoaVash

Member
Monolith nailed the open world exploration of x and the combat , hope they stick with that but expand in the story with xenoblade'1 way of telling it, making it a larger role. Also pls bring back the composers for xenoblade'1 !!
 
R

Rodin

Member
People who actually finished Xenoblade X should know that the next game will have a more present, bigger and important story even without Takahashi saying it. X was basically them building the setting and the background in place for the start of the real plot in its sequel. Now maybe the story in the original project wasn't meant to play this role, but then Takahashi decided to follow a certain direction in the development of the game and they had to readjust some things because (like he said) the budget just wasn't enough to have both. I'm perfectly fine with this, because X ended up being possibly one of the best games i've ever played, thanks to the fact that it perfectly accomplished all of its main goals. But it's clear that for a Monolith game this is something that can only work once, and for the reasons above. The next project needs to have a big, deep, "Takahashi/Soraya-like" story.

EhoaVash said:
Monolith nailed the open world exploration of x and the combat , hope they stick with that but expand in the story with xenoblade'1 way of telling it, making it a larger role. Also pls bring back the composers for xenoblade'1 !!
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At this point just give me Yoko Shimomura and have Sawano back for the ending theme. He actually did a great job in X, but if they change something about the formula having a different composer could be a good idea and Yoko is always a great choice. They just need to make sure that the sound mix isn't all over the place like in X.
 
N

NZerker12

Member
As long as they keep the combat, Skells, Mira and open world from X, they can go all out. X was my first Xenoblade which I enjoyed immensly and I am currently playing XC. If they can combine what I said above with a better story like XC, the next game could potentially be the best Xenoblade yet
 
G

Golnei

Member
Munba said:
Call Mitsuda for the next project please.
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If he's only going to give us another Beyond the Sky, I'd prefer he stay at a safe distance. Even some of Sawano's vocal pieces were better than that - So nah, so fern in particular (even if I preferred the instrumental).
 
J

Jackano

Member
I'm not. XCX proved to be a good open-world, but if they don't do one next, how can Nintendo improve or hope for another open-world game?
Zelda U/NX will be Aonuma's team first try. I hope for more Nintendo open worlds, but Monolith seemingly going back to the old formula is a step backward.

Sure they can do a good story in an open-world, but that's a bit too much to ask IMO, I don't believe they'll be able to do the perfect Xenoblade story - XCX world mix.

I'll be OK in any case if at least they do a XCX Director's Cut or something on NX. So much work on Mira should get another chance on another system than the Wii U.
 
G

Griss

Member
Glad he knows what made it such a mediocre game. Shame he couldn't have figured it out at the time.

It really did feel like a tech demo a lot of the time rather than a fully thought out game, so what he's saying about figuring out HD development makes sense.

For the next one:
-Properly voiced protag
-Better battle system (ie. challenging enemies)
-Less systems, systems that are there are more important
-No flying; less fast travelling
-Less bullshit fetch / collection quests (seriously, X had so much content it didn't even need these)
-Keep the same sense of scale

Silvard said:
Guys, guys...

Don't worry about the future it's alright...
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Ah, fuck you. Going to be hours with that shite in my head now.

FreedomFighter said:
What am I missing here?

In the XCX OT, the OP asks for no Sawano whining. What am I missing?

I think XCX has a great score. Why do people hate Sawano?
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Because a lot of people (like myself) hated the X score. I'd never heard of him before that.
 
M

Mr. Nice_Guy

Member
I loved Chonicles a lot more than X, so they could ditch everything from X and I wouldn't mind too much. As long as they give me a story and characters on par with Chronicles though, then I really don't care where it takes place.

Also more Sawano is fine; just don't let him use lyrics, at all, ever.
 
O

Orakio Rob

Member
It's hard for me to choose between XenoC and XenoX. If Takahashi manages to fit both into a single game, my marriage is ruined.
 
-shadow-

-shadow-

Member
FreedomFighter said:
What am I missing here?

In the XCX OT, the OP asks for no Sawano whining. What am I missing?

I think XCX has a great score. Why do people hate Sawano?
Click to expand...

I think they don't hate the guy on a whole, but the soundtrack is really all over the place for X.

But I'm looking forward to whatever Monolith will be doing from here on out again. Just imagine what it can look like on the NX!
 
R

Rodin

Member
Golnei said:
If he's only going to give us another Beyond the Sky, I'd prefer he stay at a safe distance. Even some of Sawano's vocal pieces were better than that - So nah, so fern in particular (even if I preferred the instrumental).
Click to expand...
Every single vocal track in X is better than Beyond the Sky, i'm sorry to say this because i'm a huge Mitsuda fan but it's the truth.

Mr. Nice_Guy said:
I loved Chonicles a lot more than X, so they could ditch everything from X and I wouldn't mind too much. As long as they give me a story and characters on par with Chronicles though, then I really don't care where it takes place.
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You say that like if Chronicles story was that great. It was decent, and with some pretty good parts, but it's subpar for a Takahashi game. What X prepared is way, way, way more interesting than the entire XB story.
 
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