Monolith Soft boss on appealing to Japan/the west, “mass” hiring clarified, more Xeno games

GameSpot has posted another feature with Monolith Soft head Tetsuya Takahashi. In today’s interview, Takahashi commented on things like making games that will appeal to both Japan and the west, the “mass” hiring the studio had in October (which carries a rather interesting response), the possibility of additional Xeno games, and more.

Continue on below to read up on Takashi’s comments. You should also give GameSpot’s original piece a look here.

On how Monolith Soft has changed over the years…

“When I think about how it feels to work at Monolith, it’s something that’s probably changed quite a bit over time. In the very beginning of Monolith, right after I’d left Square, there were certainly a lot of times when we were working very late into the night. We were still building up the company so there were not that many people involved. We still have some of the early core members with us now like [director Koh] Kojima and [art director Norihiro] Takami who were there from the beginning. Certainly things have changed quite a bit over time, but I think it’s not quite as grueling as it was in the very beginning. Working with Nintendo has changed our approach to [making games] and given us a little more freedom in terms of how we schedule things out. We don’t have to necessarily drive people in the traditional overtime way that you would see at a lot of Japanese companies.”

– Takahashi finds it the most important to preserve work ethic and productivity while trying to be “very careful” about falling into similar traps of “very traditional Japanese companies”
– He encourages employees to prioritize life outside of work when they need to, and makes sure they have the time to look after themselves and see their families
– There are times when he has to push people out the door to make sure they take care of themselves

“It’s difficult to convey to people because I’ll have these conversations with Takami, who is working so hard. I can tell that even from his own point of view it’s hard for him to go home because he feels such a sense of responsibility and he wants to continue working on a thing. I try to urge people in that situation to make sure that they’re seeing to the needs of all of their life at that point and not just work. That’s something that’s very important to me.”

On how Takahashi plays the games of his western counterparts…

“I play a number of western games, sometimes for fun, sometimes for research. I’m sure there was some influence that I would pick from them. For me personally, I prefer JRPGs, but I will always pick up and play a little bit of each Grand Theft Auto that comes out. And I’m the sort of person who will probably never clear the main story, but I’ll usually play a little bit of the Fallout games when they come out as well. BioWare games are also something that I’ll play out of interest as well. Something that has impressed me recently was Grand Theft Auto V. They managed to marry the gameplay and story, and showcased the story in such a way that you really did feel like you were the main character in a movie. That was handled exceptionally well.”

– Takahashi wonders why JRPGs aren’t more popular
– He’s curious as to why only certain series gain critical acclaim and widespread popularity
– Takahashi wants to crack that code and apply it to designing Monolith’s next games

“We do take into consideration the needs and the reactions of western audiences when designing games. After the success of Xenoblade Chronicles on Wii–I believe it had better sales overall abroad than it did in Japan–I was very interested in following along with the reactions that I was seeing outside of Japan. That’s definitely something that I will continue to consider going forward, but I also, of course, have to balance that with the needs of the Japanese market as well. Though that balance may shift from project to project, depending on how people’s’ tastes and reactions are changing.”

On world building…

“World building is something that’s really important to me in creating games, and it’s something that on the player’s side and takes some time. In order for you to feel like you’re almost living in this world, you have to spend some 20 to 30 hours there. If immersion and a deep sense of detail in the world is my goal, then I need to use a design that will allow people to spend that much time in it, because it’s an essential element. When I say it takes perhaps somewhere about 30 hours to feel like you’re actually immersed in a role and living there, what keeps people coming back to these games is that they want to live in roles like this in these games.”

– The “mass hiring” notice Monolith Soft posted in October was for support roles
– Monolith is currently supporting a handful of other Nintendo projects
– Worked on Super Smash Bros. Brawl and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, both new Animal Crossing 3DS games and Splatoon
– This includes projects needing map design and “interesting adventure elements”

On the possibility of more Xeno games in the future…

“The opportunity presents itself. Usually I need to start with an interesting idea or direction that I feel it’s going to have some compatibility here but if that presented itself, I would consider doing so.”