Xenoblade Chronicles 2 devs on the art style, past series relations, world size, gameplay length, what’s next
Game Informer recently went hands-on with Xenoblade Chronicles 2. As part of that, the site spoke with a couple of developers. Executive director Tetsuya Takahashi and producer Koh Kojima both had some rather interesting things to say about the big RPG and more. The two discussed Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s change in art style, teases pertaining to relations to past Xeno games, the size of the world, how long it’ll be, and Monolith Soft’s future.
You can read Takahashi and Kojima’s comments about these topics below. Game Informer has more with the developers and an in-depth preview of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 here.
On the art style…
“We felt that in Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and X, the facial expressions [were] kind of a little bit hard, a little bit stiff. We really wanted to put a little bit more focus on creating facial expressions and for the characters to be more expressive, and so that’s why we went with the direction we did, which I guess you could say is a little bit leaning toward something like Japanese animation.” – Takahashi
On how this game relates to the original Xenoblade Chronicles / Xenogears / Xenosaga…
“It’s completely different in terms of place, time, and space. Obviously I can’t divulge all the details, but if you play the game, I think you’ll get why this is called Xenoblade Chronicles 2.”
“There’s a lot that I can’t talk about yet [that] hasn’t been revealed, but it will be hopefully soon. I think there’s content in there where longtime fans of the series will have a pleasant surprise.” – Takahashi
On the size of the world…
“Because this game is story-driven, I don’t think that an open world is necessarily appropriate. And I feel that we were able to make a game [with a world] that’s really appropriate and really supports the story-driven aspect of this game. For example, if you compare it to Xenoblade 1, there’s plenty of places [and worlds] to explore; but when you look at simple surface area, it might be a little bit smaller than Xenoblade Chronicles X. Like I mentioned, I don’t think that such a vast space is necessary, so instead of focusing on increasing the raw surface area, we thought it was more important to increase the density and pack in as much variety in design [as possible], and for people to be able to enjoy the changing landscape as they traverse and explore this world.” – Takahashi
On the length…
– Game has 10 chapters
– At chapter 4 Game Informer was around the 45-hour mark
“As you may or may not have expected, the playtime required to beat this game is a little on the high side. If you just play the mainline story, there’s still enough to probably be comparable to Xenoblade 1, but like in past Xeno series, if you are just playing the main story, there might be times where you encounter a boss or an enemy that’s actually a little bit too tough or very tough for you to beat. I strongly recommend taking side roads, taking the time to explore different areas, defeating monsters, picking up items, leveling your character up, [and] doing quests.” – Takahashi
On the future…
“Moving forward, if we do another story-driven Xenoblade game, I was thinking I’d like to keep the numbering going.” – Takahashi
“Now that we’ve gone through the process of development, we’re in a spot now where I’m beginning to think about what we want to do next. We’ll really be keeping our ears to the ground to see what fans are wanting, what they’re looking forward to. We’ve enjoyed this collaboration with Nintendo so far. We really are thinking about where to go next, and that’s where I’m at right now.” – Kojima
