Xenoblade X devs – wanted to evolve JRPGs, Xeno name, game is a culmination of ideas

GameSpot sat down with a pair of developers behind Xenoblade Chronicles X. The site chatted with executive director Tetsuya Takahashi as well as art director Norihiro Takami. During the discussion, Takahashi and Takami commented on the complex nature of Xenoblade Chronicles X, the Xeno name, how the Wii U game is a culmination of ideas held onto for a very long time, and more.

We’ve rounded up a number of Takahashi and Takami’s statements below. Additional comments can be found in GameSpot’s piece here. Some concept art is also in the gallery below.

On Xenoblade Chronicles X’s high entry barrier, and how creating something complex was their goal…

“There’s quite a lot to do on such a large map. With elements and lots of different categories like this, we need to figure out how to present all of that information to the player in a way that they can understand. Given that there are so many different elements to track in the game, and we’re trying to do it all with someone who’s using one controller as an input device, and presenting all of this information in a UI that they can follow, I feel like we did quite well. I feel like we came away with something that isn’t too hard to understand.”

“Since we’re aiming for the next evolution in JRPGs, I have to admit that our original goal was not to aim for simplicity. We were looking for new directions and so that means adding new elements to an existing structure that people might have an innate understanding of. As such, I have to be honest, there is going to be some complexity that comes in, but I feel that we’ve created a really compelling experience from that.” – Takahashi

On how X’s story quests are gated (need a certain level/complete certain objectives unrelated to the plot) to limit players…

“The way that we think about an open world game is that there is so much space and so much to do that if there were no limitations, it would be very easy for the user to get lost or to not know which objective they need to pursue next. From a designer perspective, we think about what steps can we add that will act as limitations to ease people into the experience of this large world. We ease the player into varying objectives and limit their access to certain parts of the map. Certainly there are a lot of different approaches to open world games of this type, and I think one of the big distinctions between us and [others] is that we’re trying to consider the needs of the Japanese market as well where, I think, most players are not necessarily as familiar with that kind of approach to open world games. The experience that works the best in our market is to have these steps by which the player becomes stronger, and that in turn opens up new areas for them. There definitely was some thought and some sensitivity going around the needs of our market as well, considering what Japanese players like to do and how to give them the best experience.” – Takahashi

On the Xeno name…

“I guess for me, the idea of Xeno doesn’t necessarily carry one deep meaning that is consistent throughout all of these titles, but rather, they are a helpful way of communicating to people that these are all games that we here at Monolith have worked on. I will say that the Xeno that you would find on each of these titles might refer to something different in each of these games each time. That’s something that I really want players to discover.” – Takahashi

On how designing Mira’s wildlife was a challenge because the team had to take combat situations into account…

“Because we have some really big structures that are parts of the land here, we wanted to match that scenery by having some really large enemies wandering around them as well. At the same time you need to offer something that has a relatable scale to the size of the player so you need smaller enemies that can swarm around them and match their scale. At the same time, all of it has to feel like it belongs on Mira. You look for ways to unify the design as well. It’s a little bit tricky because you will find on Mira even some life forms that are not native to that planet. We did have to take into consideration this key idea in the design of all of these, which is that we wanted to aim for silhouettes that would be slightly familiar in some ways but distorted and warped just enough to feel both familiar and exotic at the same time in a way that hopefully is a little bit unsettling.” – Takami

On the Skell design…

“First, on the idea of using a near-future setting with technology that’s out of reach but is something that might be attainable, I feel like in terms of story advantages this gives you something that can feel really relatable. It also makes you use your imagination to think about how humanity might have reached this point in what might not have even been a really long time from where we are now. Engaging the imagination of the player in that way, it’s something that I feel ultimately aids in immersion. As for why we used mechanized suits in the first place, that’s something that might actually have some culturally specific origins as I feel that in Japan, we have this very romanticized notion to them, a lot of positive attachment to the idea of a mechanized suit that you can climb into. That’s a very appealing version of the future for us. I’m not really sure what might be the equivalent of that for Americans. For us, it definitely taps into a deep well of feeling around that.” – Takami

On how Xenoblade Chronicles X represents a culmination of game ideas they’ve wanted to try for a very long time…

“The way I feel about taking fantasy as the basis for our story means you can really do absolutely anything with no limitations whatsoever. Sci-fi, as a world, has a little bit more strict definitions to it. You have to try and think of the scientific basis for things, for example. For several decades I’ve dreamed of building a game where you could have player characters on foot and in large mechanized suits in the same field. You might remember in previous games, we got around that by having entirely different stage design, whether you are on foot or in a mechanized suit. That was something that I always really wanted to create.” – Takahashi