Xenoblade Chronicles X executive director on HD development and more
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 4 Comments
Xenoblade Chronicles X is finally coming to Japan next week. With the game’s release so close, Joshin Web was able to ask director Tetsuya Takahashi about the Wii U game. We’ve now translated a few notable quotes.
One question has Takahashi being asked about Xenoblade Chronicles X’s development. In turn, he discusses the challenges working on an HD title for the first time.
He said:
An open world is a single phrase, but it wasn’t a simple thing to realize. As you know, it was our first HD title. The environment for development was drastically different compared to anything we had done before when it comes to distributing resources or formulating workloads. You can’t expect things to get done in a day and it finally took form as a result of many adjustments. There were many hardships, but it was worth the trouble as the gameplay turned out to be pleasant, even if I say so myself!
Xenoblade talk – cut ideas, Shulk in Smash Bros., New 3DS porting difficulties, and more
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS, News, Wii, Wii U | 2 Comments
Game Informer was able to conduct an interview with Monolith Soft’s Tetsuya Takahashi, Nintendo, and Monster Games about Xenoblade Chronicles. Takahashi was able to speak about the original game while discussing cut ideas like wanting to have the ability to fly. He also revealed Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai wanted Shulk in the Wii U/3DS games, and had the idea for the bathing suit skin. Other than that, there’s some Xenoblade Chronicles 3D-specific comments from Monster Games.
We’ve rounded up all of the various quotes below. For those that are interested, you can find Game Informer’s original article here.
Takahashi would love to see an Xenoblade amiibo series
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 15 Comments
Tetsuya Takahashi posted a couple of additional tweets on the Japanese Xenoblade Chronicles X Twitter account today. However, rather than sharing more on the game, he instead spoke about another topic: amiibo.
Takahashi mentioned that he supervised the Shulk amiibo since its early prototype stages. He also expressed a desire for there to be an Xenoblade amiibo series in the future, though perhaps we shouldn’t read too much into it – at least not yet.
Below are Takahashi’s full comments:
It’s been about a month since I posted. The Shulk amiibo came out! I’ve been supervising this since the early prototype stages, but I’d like to say thanks to all the people who’ve worked very hard on the amiibo. I saw a production model at the start of this month and I was very impressed with the build quality. This time it’s a Smash Bros. figurine, but I’d love for there to be a Xenoblade [amiibo] series sometime in the future, too.
I know I’d buy a ton of Xenoblade amiibo. What about you folks?!
More: Amiibo, Tetsuya Takahashi
Xenoblade Chronicles X director on loading time, party size, online, music
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 28 Comments
Famitsu has a major feature on Xenoblade Chronicles X in this week’s issue. In addition to a new preview, the magazine shared an interview with director Tetsuya Takahashi.
One of the things Famitsu brings up is how Takahashi called the original Xenoblade “an orthodox RPG”, even though the field was huge and there were a number of different challenges. Takahashi says in response that the story of the original Xenoblade Chronicles “was one big thread so I think it was a linear game.” But in Xenoblade Chronicles X, “the story progresses in various directions as you finish quests which you get from different places.”
Famitsu next brings up the topic of loading. Takahashi confirms that players will be able to cross the huge world from one end to another without having to load data… for the most part anyway.
Takahashi insisted on having Hiroyuki Sawano handle Xenoblade Chronicles X’s music
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 7 Comments
Today’s Xenoblade Chronicles X Twitter update once again comes from director Tetsuya Takahashi. He (very) briefly touches on the game’s music – specifically composer Hiroyuki Sawano.
Here’s the latest from Takahashi:
“I was thinking of discussing a new topic today, but… Mr. Sawano, thank you for inviting me to your year-end party. I had a great time there.”
“And so, let me talk about the composer, Mr. Hiroyuki Sawano. I’ve long been a big fan of Mr. Sawano’s, and fervently suggested (almost insisted?) that we ask him to compose for this game no matter what.”
“He and Mr. [Yasushi] Horiguchi, from his company Legendoor, are both open-hearted and we were able to have a frank discussion regarding our requirements.”
“Of course, the compositions are wonderful and I’m very glad we asked Mr. Sawano [to come aboard]. As a fan, I look forward to the soundtrack CD that will eventually be released.”
Xenoblade Chronicles X – Hideyuki Matsumoto introduced, Kusanagi Company working on background design
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 3 Comments
The Xenoblade Chronicles X staff introductions continued today on the game’s Japanese Twitter account.
Director Tetsuya Takahashi posted the following about designer Hideyuki Matsumoto:
“The introduction of outside designers ends with Mr. Hideyuki Matsumoto. We both worked at the same company before and he helped out with Xenosaga, too. He’s very knowledgeable about things related to weaponry, so for this project I put him mainly in charge of designing the weapons the characters will use.”
Takahashi and Matsumoto worked together while at Squaresoft. Matsumoto has been involved with Front Mission 4 and 5, Project Sylpheed, At Tonelico, and Armored Core 3 as well as anime such as Zettai Karen Children.
Takahashi’s update also confirms that Kusanagi Company (Ni no Kuni DS, Persona 4 anime cut-scenes) handled background design for Xenoblade Chronicles X. “They’re a professional group used to creating 3D models based on drawings, so I can always leave things to them without worrying,” Takahashi noted.
Two new artists introduced for Xenoblade Chronicles X
Posted on 9 years ago by Kirara Koneko(@KiraraKoneko) in News, Wii U | 8 Comments
In his latest tweet, Tetsuya Takahashi introduces two new members of the Xenoblade Chronicles X development team.
Fumihiro Katagai and RARE Engine, are the latest artists to be introduced however no specifics are given as to what the two are working on.
Katagai is a mecha/conceptual designer who works on anime, and RARE Engine is an illustrator who mostly works on magazine illustrations and artwork for digital card games.
Takahashi goes on to ask for patience as he knows that continually introducing designers via twitter could get rather boring, he wants to make sure he can introduce as many artists as possible.
Takahashi feels that at this time the general direction of the game has been set ,therefore it makes it difficult for new people to join at this point so he is very grateful to those who have accepted to take part.
Xenoblade Chronicles X director talks more about the game’s Dolls
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 4 Comments
Today’s Xenoblade Chronicles X Twitter update, shared once again by director Tetsuya Takahashi, delves a bit more into the game’s “Dolls”. Basically, he explains how their size was determined.
Here’s the full update:
My apologies, but today I will depart from introducing the game’s designers to talk a little bit about the ‘Dolls’. Dolls are about 5 times larger than a tall human, at about 9~10 meters (Translator’s note: roughly 29″6′ ~ 32″9′) tall. We calculated this to be the optimal height for the robots when coexisting with humans while searching the map and battling. If we made the robots larger, the map would also have to be even larger, which is not just a problem of the game’s overall budget, but also searching the map would take an overly long time as a human. It’s been 15 years since Monolith Soft was founded and I finally feel like I have successfully created an RPG with humans and robots co-exist, a long held vision of mine.
Takahashi discusses the concept behind Xenoblade Chronicles X’s mechs
Posted on 9 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 19 Comments
Xenoblade Chronicles X director Tetsuya Takahashi has shared more about the game on the official Japanese Twitter account. He spoke about art designers Takayuki Yanase and Kouichi Mugitani as well as the title’s Dolls.
First, here’s Takahashi on Yanase:
“Mr. Yanase is a well-known designer that has worked on Gundam 00 among other things. The concept for the Dolls in this project was that one single convertible frame be able to transform into several vehicles, so I asked for his help, knowing that he would be able to realize that [concept]. If I recall correctly, I asked for his help around the time that Kotobukiya announced its new plastic model “Frame Arms Series.”
Another message from Xenoblade Chronicles X director Tetsuya Takahashi
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 4 Comments
Tetsuya Takahashi has once again taken to the Xenoblade Chronicles X Twitter account and has shared another message about the game.
There’s not too much new here, though Takahashi reiterates that Monolith Soft’s RPG is nearing the end of development. He also mentions that the team managed “to overcome several obstacles as far as game development goes.”
Here’s Takahashi’s message in full:
“This is a continuation of our my previous talk. The development [of Xenoblade Chronicles X] did have its twists and turns, but we were able to finish up (just a little more until it’s complete) Xenoblade Chronicles X in the sci-fi world we aimed for from the beginning in a seamless open-world with online play, and I feel that we were able to overcome several obstacles as far as game development goes.”
“With the vast world that was shown when Iwata-san introduced the game in the Nintendo Direct the other day, it would bring me great pleasure to have you folks get to thoroughly explore it.”
