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Xenoblade Chronicles X - Nintendo Direct Footage 11.5.2014

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onilink88

Member
I knew Takeda had to be involved here. He proposed a silent protagonist for Xenoblade, and Takahashi, if I remember right, was very against it. I'm guessing he finally got his way (to my detriment).

The folder link you are trying to access is no longer available. This could be due to the following reasons:
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Odd. The old link just decided to die, for some reason.

https://mega.co.nz/#F!V4EwRYgZ!3bsG_LzcJORkOaISAYMpOQ

Try that.

It'd probably be a good idea to host these somewhere else, too, but I have no idea where, nor do I have the bandwidth left to do it. :(
 

Zero²

Member
I knew Takeda had to be involved here. He proposed a silent protagonist for Xenoblade, and Takahashi, if I remember right, was very against it. I'm guessing he finally got his way (to my detriment).
Well if that same interview mean something, having a silent protag now means we will probably have a less shounen'y character relationship. So it balances it out :p
 

onilink88

Member
Zero²;140337685 said:
Well if that same interview mean something, having a silent protag now means we will probably have a less shounen'y character relationship. So it balances it out :p

Takahashi likened Xenoblade to a shounen manga in that it had a lot of twists. That's it; he didn't refer to "shounen" as a genre or style. Since then, people have been taking that quote out of context and attributing meanings to it that've never existed (or are flat-out false). There was nothing about Xenoblade's characters or relationships that was "shounen-y" (not that that even means anything in that context).

Shulk was a solidly written and likable protagonist. The thing we're getting now is a worthless piece of cardboard that will, at best, nod and maybe display mild facial expressions every now and then. I'm not a fan of that trade-off.
 
Takahashi likened Xenoblade to a shounen manga in that it had a lot of twists. That's it; he didn't refer to "shounen" as a genre or style. Since then, people have been taking that quote out of context and attributed meanings to it that've never existed (or are flat-out false). There was nothing about Xenoblade's characters or relationships that was "shounen-y" (not that that even means anything in that context).

Shulk was a solidly written and likable protagonist. The thing we're getting now is a worthless piece of cardboard that will, at best, nod and maybe display mild facial expressions every now and then. I'm not a fan of that trade-off.


I agree about the silent protagonist. It sucks. But, lets give Takahashi the benefit of the doubt. I think he knows what he's doing.
 

Zero²

Member
Takahashi likened Xenoblade to a shounen manga in that it had a lot of twists. That's it; he didn't refer to "shounen" as a genre or style. Since then, people have been taking that quote out of context and attributing meanings to it that've never existed (or are flat-out false). There was nothing about Xenoblade's characters or relationships that was "shounen-y" (not that that even means anything in that context).

Shulk was a solidly written and likable protagonist. The thing we're getting now is a worthless piece of cardboard that will, at best, nod and maybe display mild facial expressions every now and then. I'm not a fan of that trade-off.
Nonono I'm talking about that part when they say that they wanted to make the main character likable to the audience, and the easiest way to do that was to make him silent since if he didnt utter a word it would be harder for people to dislike him. With shulk they had to make him as likable as possible, with no faults or misdeeds, and I'd call that the soul of a Shounen Hero.
Look at Chrono Trigger for example, just because Crono doesnt talk, it doesnt mean he is a "worthless piece of cardboard" like you said. We can very much get his character development from the interactions he makes with the other characters, we can actually develop him as we imagine, and not being forced to stick a personality that dont bond with us through all the course of the story.
 

onilink88

Member
Zero²;140354008 said:
Nonono I'm talking about that part when they say that they wanted to make the main character likable to the audience, and the easiest way to do that was to make him silent since if he didnt utter a word it would be harder for people to dislike him. With shulk they had to make him as likable as possible, with no faults or misdeeds, and I'd call that the soul of a Shounen Hero.

...Okay, shounen doesn't mean what a lot of you think it means. Shounen, in most contexts, means "young boy" in Japanese, and in the context of manga/anime, it refers to a young boy/teen male demographic. Nothing else. Fullmetal Alchimist, Naruto, Highschool of the Dead, and, uh, Death Note (for good measure) are shounen demographic manga, yet they're very different in terms of themes, narrative, etc.. As such, "Shounen hero" doesn't mean anything, and it's certainly not some kind of universal character trait that you can find in that particular demographic (even if the kind of character you're referring to is somewhat common in that area). Incorporating characteristics typical of an ideal hero into a character and making him/her likable is hardly a concept exclusive to manga aimed at the shounen demographic. That just means that, y'know, they wanted to write a likable hero.

Zero²;140354008 said:
Look at Chrono Trigger for example, just because Crono doesnt talk, it doesnt mean he is a "worthless piece of cardboard" like you said. We can very much get his character development from the interactions he makes with the other characters, we can actually develop him as we imagine, and not being forced to stick a personality that dont bond with us through all the course of the story.

I prefer a defined, tangible personality over a mostly sterile and blank slate, in most cases; the former I find wholly unsatisfying. If I'd seen X's MC do anything but stare blankly and dumbly into oblivion throughout the entirety of his/her interactions with Elma, I might be willing to be a little more accepting, but he/she didn't. My hopes are that Elma takes center stage in the plot, because there's absolutely no way I'm going to be able to appreciate the MC the way I do Fei, Shion, and Shulk. :/
 

Fandangox

Member
I wonder why they didn't do a customized character which also has a personality, lots of games do this, Nintendo themselves did with Robin (although the customization options for Robin were limited, specially compared to this)

I usually prefer a character with a set personality, although the positive trade off I get from silent protagonists is that its always fun to see around the web how everyone has different interpretations of their own MC thanks to the blank slate.
 

Akai

Member
I wonder why they didn't do a customized character which also has a personality, lots of games do this, Nintendo themselves did with Robin (although the customization options for Robin were limited, specially compared to this)

I usually prefer a character with a set personality, although the positive trade off I get from silent protagonists is that its always fun to see around the web how everyone has different interpretations of their own MC thanks to the blank slate.

I think their goal is a focus on the player's interactions with their environment and party members, not just having us watch the main character. After all, the MC is basically us.

It's too early to pass judgement on how this will positively or negatively affect the plot or character interactions, but losing one character of a total seven isn't really a huge loss in the grand scheme of things...
 

Fandangox

Member
I think their goal is a focus on the player's interactions with their environment and party members, not just having us watch the main character. After all, the MC is basically us.

It's too early to pass judgement on how this will positively or negatively affect the plot or character interactions, but losing one character of a total seven isn't really a huge loss in the grand scheme of things...

Is there seven party members confirmed? And I don't know, if the MC is completely silent that means the MC won't interact in battle with the other characters like in Xenolade, I loved the silly unique banter combination within all characters, even if they got repeated a lot sometimes.
 

Zero²

Member
...Okay, shounen doesn't mean what a lot of you think it means. Shounen, in most contexts, means "young boy" in Japanese, and in the context of manga/anime, it refers to a young boy/teen male demographic. Nothing else. Fullmetal Alchimist, Naruto, and, uh, Highschool of the Dead are shounen demographic manga, yet they're very different in terms of themes, narrative, etc.. As such, "Shounen hero" doesn't mean anything, and it's certainly not some kind of universal character trait that you can find in that particular demographic (even if the kind of character you're referring to is somewhat common in that area). Incorporating characteristics typical of an ideal hero into a character and making him/her likable is hardly a concept exclusive to manga aimed at the shounen demographic. That just means that, y'know, they wanted to write a likable hero.
Oh please dont be dense, if we start to go that route, Shounen means that the anime or manga is published in a teen focused demographic magazine or slot, they dont necessarily need to appeal only to that demographic or have a story or plot focused at them. But its clear as the sky what I meant by shounen hero, lets not be bound by definitions here. The heroes in that histories almost always have that pattern hidden somewhere, it's just fact, specially since the rise of the popular Shounen Jump mangas, and their motto, "Friendship, Effort, Victory".
 

Zero²

Member
I prefer a defined, tangible personality over a mostly sterile and blank slate, in most cases; the former I find wholly unsatisfying. If I'd seen X's MC do anything but stare blankly and dumbly into oblivion throughout the entirety of his/her interactions with Elma, I might be willing to be a little more accepting, but he/she didn't. My hopes are that Elma takes center stage in the plot, because there's absolutely no way I'm going to be able to appreciate the MC the way I do Fei, Shion, and Shulk. :/
Each to its own, but we dont even know much about how the plot will be unveiled, how we will go forward with the plot, and what we will actually control of it (multiple endings and such), so I think its too soon for you to dismiss the silent protagonist in its entirely.
I like Fei too and I get where you are coming from, but you got to realize there were people that didnt and couldnt keep playing because of that.
And having a silent protagonist makes the focus on the supporting roles much more intense, and that's something that I appreciate much more than just having one memorable main character or the whole plot focused on him.
 

onilink88

Member
Zero²;140370145 said:
Oh please dont be dense, if we start to go that route, Shounen means that the anime or manga is published in a teen focused demographic magazine or slot, they dont necessarily need to appeal only to that demographic or have a story or plot focused at them. But its clear as the sky what I meant by shounen hero, lets not be bound by definitions here. The heroes in that histories almost always have that pattern hidden somewhere, it's just fact, specially since the rise of the popular Shounen Jump mangas, and their motto, "Friendship, Effort, Victory".

I feel like you just ignored the most important part of my post. You are unnecessarily characterizing Shulk as a "shounen" hero. He's not a "shounen" hero; he's a plain, old hero. The concept of a brave, selfless, devoted, and strong hero existed long before the "battle" manga boom and does not exist exclusively within that domain (in fact, I happen to be reading a josei manga called Amatsuki featuring what you would refer to as a "shounen hero").

Look, whatever; I think I'm done here. You can continue characterizing Shulk as a "shounen hero", but the fact is, it's a meaningless and unnecessary qualifier.
 

Zero²

Member
I feel like you just ignored the most important part of my post. You are unnecessarily characterizing Shulk as a "shounen" hero. He's not a "shounen" hero; he's a plain, old hero. The concept of a brave, selfless, devoted, and strong hero existed long before the "battle" manga boom and does not exist exclusively within that domain (in fact, I happen to be reading a josei manga called Amatsuki featuring what you would refer to as a "shounen hero").

You can continue characterizing Shulk as a "shounen hero", but the fact is, it's a meaningless and unnecessary qualifier.
You said that I ignored your post, but then you just went and did the exact same thing to mine lol
It might have existed before the usual battle manga craze came along, but its one place that's certainly easier to point it out. This exact concept of a brave, selfless, devoted, hero that's its chosen because of some incredible power that only he can posses to defeat the ultimate evil!
 

onilink88

Member
Zero²;140375413 said:
You said that I ignored your post, but then you just went and did the exact same thing to mine lol

I didn't ignore anything.

Zero²;140375413 said:
It might have existed before the usual battle manga craze came along, but its one place that's certainly easier to point it out.

Dude, I pointed out that it was commonplace in that particular demographic.

onilink88 said:
(even if the kind of character you're referring to is somewhat common in that area).

My argument is that brave, selfless, devoted, and strong heroes aren't exclusive to that domain, making the "shounen" adjective entirely pointless. If I see a hero that conforms to that particular archetype in a movie, novel, comic, or manga (for girls or guys), should I call him/her a "shounen hero"? Ugh, I'm getting sick of typing shounen and hero, and this is a phenomenally silly waste of my time; I'm out for good. :)
 

Akai

Member
Is there seven party members confirmed? And I don't know, if the MC is completely silent that means the MC won't interact in battle with the other characters like in Xenolade, I loved the silly unique banter combination within all characters, even if they got repeated a lot sometimes.

I'm not sure if you've watched the Treehouse footage from E3, but your character does have battle banter. Also, seven characters is pretty much confirmed by the Kizuna Quest window in the most recent footage, which has 6 boxes displayed (for party members that need to be in or out of the party), two of which are taken up by Elma and Rin...
 

Fandangox

Member
I'm not sure if you've watched the Treehouse footage from E3, but your character does have battle banter. Also, seven characters is pretty much confirmed by the Kizuna Quest window in the most recent footage, which has 6 boxes displayed (for party members that need to be in or out of the party), two of which are taken up by Elma and Rin...

I saw the footage, but it was in Japanese, so I didn't understand it. I fear it will just generic banter and the characters yelling their arts now. Also didn't know about the 6 boxes.

So aside from the 4 confirmed, who are the other 3 likely suspects?
 

Akai

Member
So aside from the 4 confirmed, who are the other 3 likely suspects?

Obviously still assumptions, but I believe the blonde, short-haired woman and the horned, blue-haired alien seen in the Doll cockpit fly-by part of the E3 story trailer are the most likely candidates we've seen so far. That leaves the other two human males for the last spot (or perhaps neither of them get it)
 

Zenaku

Member
I'm not sure if you've watched the Treehouse footage from E3, but your character does have battle banter. Also, seven characters is pretty much confirmed by the Kizuna Quest window in the most recent footage, which has 6 boxes displayed (for party members that need to be in or out of the party), two of which are taken up by Elma and Rin...

Would it? There'd need to be 6 boxes even if there were only 5 characters, for quests where you take 1 and leave the other 3 behind.

If the 6 boxes did mean there needs to be 6 characters to fill them all, then that could mean that all Kizuna quests after getting the full team will involve 4 people (including the MC) and that seems a bit off to me, especially since the only one we've seen has 3 people.

Not saying it can't be 6, but it could still be 4 or 5 (or more if the box adds a scroll).
 

Akai

Member
Would it? There'd need to be 6 boxes even if there were only 5 characters, for quests where you take 1 and leave the other 3 behind.

If the 6 boxes did mean there needs to be 6 characters to fill them all, then that could mean that all Kizuna quests after getting the full team will involve 4 people (including the MC) and that seems a bit off to me, especially since the only one we've seen has 3 people.

Not saying it can't be 6, but it could still be 4 or 5 (or more if the box adds a scroll).

I doubt the game will allow you to have an "incomplete party," considering Xenoblade didn't allow that, so my guess is that for specific missions you'll have a "set" party member(s) and be able to fill in any remaining blocks with anyone you want. The only reason the one we've seen only shows two people is most likely because those are your only two party members by that point...
 
https://twitter.com/XenobladeJP/status/538296054416826368
[高橋]今作では田中久仁彦さん以外にも、たくさんの描き手の方々にデザインをしていただきました。もうなんとなく皆さんお気づきでしょうがこの作品には様々な異星人などが登場し、それぞれ特徴的な文化を形成しているという設定です。(つづく)

https://twitter.com/XenobladeJP/status/538296177293131776
[高橋](つづき)その、種族ごとの文化をゲームのグラフィックに反映させるために、それぞれ描き手を分けるという非常に豪華な手法を選択しました。(つづく)

https://twitter.com/XenobladeJP/status/538296232481804288
[高橋](つづき)相当なネタバレにはなりますが、HPもモノリスがフライングしてしまいましたし、ここでお一人づつご紹介していこうと思います。(つづく)

https://twitter.com/XenobladeJP/status/538296292787515393
[高橋](つづき)…と、その前に。脚本についてもうお一方ご紹介させてください。本作では竹田さんの他に兵頭一歩さんにもお力をお借りしました。(つづく)

https://twitter.com/XenobladeJP/status/538296354770919425
[高橋](つづき)実は本作、前作のXenobaldeより文字量が多いのです。全てを一人で書くのはとても大変ということで、竹田さんにご紹介いただきました。兵頭さんもSFに造詣の深い方なので安心してお任せすることができました。(つづく)

https://twitter.com/XenobladeJP/status/538296416024543233
[高橋](つづき)なんだか随分連投してしまいましたので、デザイナー陣のご紹介は勿体ぶって来週からにします。
 

random25

Member
Yes new info! Rough google translate suggests about the art style for this game. Hoping for a better translation from our knowledgeable resident translators :)
 

duckroll

Member
Today's update is at least more interesting than the previous ones where he just repeated the same stuff everyone already knew. Firstly he mentions that aside from Kunihiko Tanaka's designs, they have many other artists working on different types of designs. There are various alien races in the game, and he wants to really bring out the various unique characteristics in their cultures and so on. For the graphics in the game to be able to reflect the different cultures, they have different artists fleshing out the details in the design phase. He teases that we have already seen one of these unannounced races on the early teaser site for the game that Monolithsoft put up. (lol)

He goes on to talk about the writing in the game. He says the script isn't written by Yuichiro Takeda alone, because compared to Xenoblade, this time there's a lot more text to handle. They brought in Kazuho Hyodo (an anime script writer) to help with the workload, and since he has a lot of experience working on scifi works, Takahashi is not worried. Next week he's going to introduce some of the design staff. That should be interesting too.
 
This one?

jVAelR5l.jpg
 
Has Kazuho Hyodo done anything especially noteworthy? Just wondering what sort of stuff he's worked on.

EDIT: For races, we've seen the Herapon (?), goat-likes, feline-likes, the tall walking dudes, and the little guys outside of army pizza, off the top of my head. Any others?
 

JB2448

Member
Has Kazuho Hyodo done anything especially noteworthy? Just wondering what sort of stuff he's worked on.

Glancing through sites such as ANN, IMDB, and his official profile, he's done a lot of work on shows such as Mobile Suit Gundam AGE, Himegoto, and Robot Girls Z, so his writing repertoire is eclectic, to say the least. Maybe someone who's more familiar with these works (as well as the anime industry as a whole) has a better/more accurate take on this guy's typical writing style?
 
Really excited for this sci-fi plot. All the alien races are a marked difference from the Xenosaga games. We know of at least 5. The guy below, the masked car girl, the tentacle pilot, the large alien in the street screenshot and the small one in the same screenshot.

One which one is one of the probable two races that fought above Earth.

This one?

jVAelR5l.jpg

The different artists make sense as the aliens look pretty unique (and as a lot of people pointed out better) than the humans.


A lot of anime stuff. He's basically a writer for hire like most anime writers.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=31090

Only one of of those I've watched some of is GunxSword. Haven't decided if I'll ever finish that.
 

ika

Member
Well guys... so since we're actually getting at least two new Takahashi "multi-tweets" with information each week as promised, can we have an official thread for these updates? There are several open threads right now with different conversations about the game and it'd be nice if we only have to check one out until some major news, a new trailer or something else that deserves its own thread.

just an idea ^^

BTW thank you duckroll for your work translating the tweets :D (google translator is shit, as Soraya Saga said, sometimes it says the opposite translating japanese to english!)
 

foxuzamaki

Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
Zero²;140425018 said:
Underwater missions confimed? ;)

Today's update is at least more interesting than the previous ones where he just repeated the same stuff everyone already knew. Firstly he mentions that aside from Kunihiko Tanaka's designs, they have many other artists working on different types of designs. There are various alien races in the game, and he wants to really bring out the various unique characteristics in their cultures and so on. For the graphics in the game to be able to reflect the different cultures, they have different artists fleshing out the details in the design phase. He teases that we have already seen one of these unannounced races on the early teaser site for the game that Monolithsoft put up. (lol)

He goes on to talk about the writing in the game. He says the script isn't written by Yuichiro Takeda alone, because compared to Xenoblade, this time there's a lot more text to handle. They brought in Kazuho Hyodo (an anime script writer) to help with the workload, and since he has a lot of experience working on scifi works, Takahashi is not worried. Next week he's going to introduce some of the design staff. That should be interesting too.

This is all great to hear.
 

foxuzamaki

Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own

Vena

Member
Glancing through sites such as ANN, IMDB, and his official profile, he's done a lot of work on shows such as Mobile Suit Gundam AGE, Himegoto, and Robot Girls Z, so his writing repertoire is eclectic, to say the least. Maybe someone who's more familiar with these works (as well as the anime industry as a whole) has a better/more accurate take on this guy's typical writing style?

Assistant series composition on Gundam Age? Takahashi, what are you doing?

None of those shows really fill me with any confidence in his abilities, although sometimes you really can't polish a turd.

I can say at least from the episodes he was in charge of as screenplay writer, for Gundam AGE, these were some of the better to best episodes of that cluster**** of a show. Take that as you will.
 

jj984jj

He's a pretty swell guy in my books anyway.
There's a lot more text to handle compared to Xenoblade? What?! Just how big are they making this...
 

Werewolf Jones

Gold Member
There's a lot more text to handle compared to Xenoblade? What?! Just how big are they making this...

Well if the game was bigger than Xenoblade confirmed then this was pretty much a given.

Don't have much faith in the anime writer but that's only one staff member out of how many? So...
 

Zareka

Member
This game has character customisation, doesn't it? Big RPGS that let me create my own character are insta buys for me. Excited for this game.
 

jj984jj

He's a pretty swell guy in my books anyway.
Well if the game was bigger than Xenoblade confirmed then this was pretty much a given.

Don't have much faith in the anime writer but that's only one staff member out of how many? So...

They only confirmed it's bigger in size to match the new scale brought upon by the mechs. They haven't said anything about there being more content, this is the first hint at that.
 

Hiltz

Member
No wonder Nintendo said it is targeting 2015 for an overseas release of Xenoblade Chronicles X. This game's localization effort sounds huge.
 
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