Xenoblade Chronicles X - It's Xenoblade Chronicles, but with GIANT ROBOTS

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Terper: Jun 26, 2012

Xenoblade Chronicles X breaks new ground, is actually manga, not anime.

# ? Feb 14, 2015 16:03

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# ? May 29, 2024 02:02

Motto: Aug 3, 2013

Better translation of the recent stream; also has translations for menus, ingame cutscene subtitles, and NPC dialogue.

http://youtu.be/kjTzuqyQZlc

# ? Feb 14, 2015 17:07

Shadow Ninja 64: May 21, 2007; "I stood there, wondering why the puck was getting bigger...

and then it hit me."

Terper posted:

Xenoblade Chronicles X breaks new ground, is actually manga, not anime.

The plot twist is the end up in Comix Zone.

# ? Feb 14, 2015 17:16

Butt Ghost: Nov 23, 2013

Everyone actually looks like American Comic Miku.

# ? Feb 14, 2015 19:02

Doc V: Mar 20, 2010

Eponymous posted:

Boy I wish there was more news stuff to talk about. Any translations of those magazine articles out there?

Anything is preferable to internet slapfights about anime, so I translated the whole goddamn Famitsu interview myself.

quote:

Monolith Soft's challenge, indicated by the X in the title

Famitsu: First, I'd like to ask you about the title: does Xenoblade X have some kind of a connection with the previous game on the Wii?
Tetsuya Takahashi: Though it carries on the legacy of Xenoblade, it's not a sequel as it handles different concepts than the first. As an RPG, Xenoblade was built in a very orthodox manner, whereas X is an RPG where you play in a vast open world.
F: You say the Xenoblade was "orthodox", but it had absurdly large zones and all kinds of optional achievements and diversions (laughs).
TT: The main story in Xenoblade had one single long path, so as a game I consider it to be linear. In Xenoblade X, by completing quests in different regions, the story unfolds in various directions.
F: One more thing, I was wondering about the X...
TT: If the game was a pure sequel, we'd have called it "2", but since we wanted to tackle different challenges than in the previous game, we called it "X (cross)".
F: And those challenges are?
TT: The inclusion of online elements, a first for Monolith Soft. The "X (cross)" contains the meaning of physically separated players playing together.
F: Online!? Doesn't that make it an MMORPG?
TT: I don't want to get into specifics at this point, but it's not an online game where you're constantly connected with other players. I think of it as a "loosely connected online game". The game is designed to bring a sense of solidarity without being aware of other players, so it's not based on an MMO-like playstyle.
F: I see. We'll be sure to ask about the online again later. Well then, changing the topic to development staff, Kunihiko Tanaka, who's worked the Xeno series before, is in charge of character designs.
TT: This will be Monolith Soft's first HD title. Though we were making something completely new, I thought I'd like to ask Tanaka to handle the character designs and offered him the job. Tanaka of course designed the party members and NPCs, but also the faces you can choose when making you own character.
F: The music is by Hiroyuki Sawano, who's worked a lot on soundtracks for movies and TV dramas. How did you end up offering him the job?
TT: I've liked Sawano's music for a long time and I own and listen to some of his soundtracks. Even when I was going around offering composers the job of composing for the original Xenoblade, I was using Sawano's songs to communicate to them the type of music I wanted.
F: It doesn't seem like Sawano has worked much on games...
TT: That's right. He's usually associated with anime like Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, Guilty Crown or Attack on Titan, but to me he's a TV drama composer, as he's also worked on things like Team Medical Dragon. I imagined that the use of music in Xenoblade X would be similar to a TV drama, so I asked him since I had nothing to lose. He gladly accepted.
F: He's really flexible, isn't he?
TT: Usually I hear "Why do games (RPGs) have to have so many tracks?" from composers who haven't worked on game music before, but Sawano's response was "Understood. Let me do all of it." instead (laughs). This time, we needed around 90 tracks, and I'd been hoping I could maybe get him to do a couple of them, so I was very happy.

Boasting 5 times the size of the previous game: the savage planet Mira

F: Planet Mira, the setting of this adventure, has a wide variety of areas, doesn't it?
TT: We've prepared a total of 5 continents. In addition to making our first HD and online title, we undertook the challenge of making a fully seamless world. You can move around the 400 square kilometer world, five times the size of the previous title, with no load times.
F: The previous game already felt vast enough, so why did you decide to make this one five times as large?
TT: The robots in this game, called "Dolls", are capable of flight once fitted with flight units. Considering the flight speed of Dolls, if we didn't make the world seamless and around five times as large as the last game, you'd reach your destination in the blink of an eye.
F: So we can travel from one end of this vast world to the other with no loading?
TT: Yes. Moving around the world is completely seamless. However, there's loading before cutscenes and such. To those concerned about the speed of loading from the disc, I recommend the download version. Of course, we are tuning everything we can to reduce the wait times on the disc version and we're also consulting Nintendo to see if we can insert a mechanism for loading essential data from the device itself.
F: When I hear that the world is five times as large as Xenoblade, I feel like the map screen is going to be a mess...
TT: We've made it so you can play comfortably by using the Wii U GamePad like a wireless terminal that allows you to browse essential information like game goals and map details. The map is divided into a set of hexagons and if you touch one of them, you can confirm details of quests in that area and instantly move there using fast travel.
F: I'd like to ask about the Dolls you mentioned earlier. What exactly are Dolls?
TT: They are robots humankind created to combat alien civilizations and the planet Mira's enormous native lifeforms. There's also the idea that, as Monolith Soft, which has worked with robot battle systems before, we wanted use Dolls to provide a definitive solution to having humans and mecha appear in the same work.
F: Would it be exaggeration to call this game a culmination of Monolith Soft's works?
TT: I believe we've provided the best solution so far. One that doesn't make characters and robots fighting in the same situation feel weird and allows them to coexist naturally. Initially, characters and Dolls had more or less the same strength, but we thought making Dolls stronger would be good as it would help differentiate them, so we made them stronger than the characters. Because of that, they aren't easily obtained, but I think that made the timing when they become available perfect.
F: What do you mean?
TT: Dolls expand the player's area of activity and become available just when moving on foot starts feeling like too much work. Afterwards, you'll be able to move around by walking, running and transforming with your Doll, but eventually you start getting fed up with moving on the ground - that's when you get the flight unit. Dolls aren't just for combat, they are also handy for map exploration, and when you get your Doll and flight unit the fun of exploring goes way up, too.
F: It seems you'll eventually get to fight with Dolls, but what's the main goal of the crash-landed player?
TT: At first, it's survival, of course. Eventually, after joining an organization called "Blade", your goals change to reflect the union you belong to. As you complete various duties the story progresses and the involved alien races make their appearances.

Speedy battles built entirely around offence

F: Next, I'd like to ask you about the battle system in Xenoblade X. The improved Arts Palette and seamless battles make it seem like it's following in the footsteps of the previous game.
TT: It is, but the sense of speed is entirely different. Actually, at the beginning of development, there were people who wanted to strengthen the game's action elements at Monolith. As I said before, we're taking on new challenges for Monolith Soft with this title, but because there was a risk of failure if we tried to stuff in too many new things at once, we decided to pile up a foundation from reliable elements. Thus, we settled on a plan to make the battle system an improved version of the one in the previous game, and the ideas of the staff members who wanted to create an action game were reflected in the game as faster-paced battles.
F: It seems you can fight both up close and at a distance.
TT: The setting of this game is an extension of the real world and the player is a member of a military organization, so we added firearms to complement close range weaponry and made it possible to switch out your weapons to fight at whichever range you prefer. Furthermore, this game has no healer role. Rather than making you play a set role, we want to stress the ability to customize your abilities through classes and equipment and come up with ways to defeat your enemies.
F: Having no healer is pretty novel.
TT: Initially we had a healer role and powerful healing arts, but when you are healing you can't be attacking, so it feels like you're wasting time. That being the case, we decided we'd rather remove healers completely and carry out healing with a system we call "Soul Voice". Soul Voice appears in reaction to your comrades when your plan of attack is proceeding well - hit a button with the correct timing and you get healed. Since you recover health even though you're attacking, the player can concentrate entirely on finding a way to defeat the enemy. As you don't spend time healing, it also makes battles feel faster than in the previous game.
F: How many people make up your party?
TT: Four. Considering the combinations of classes and builds, four-person parties have good balance. In battle, you control one of the four characters and the other three act according to their AI. As in the previous game, you can choose which character you control. About the AI, each character has their own personality and they may encourage you in a tough spot. We asked the voice actors to record unreasonably many lines, so the battles are just as lively as in the previous game.
F: I'm curious about Doll battles, how do they work?
TT: Dolls have powerful attacks, but they aren't capable of very precise attacks. In this game, you can weaken the enemies and obtain items by destroying specific parts of them, so no matter how powerful they may be, fighting with Dolls only is difficult. It's necessary to leave your Doll when the situation requires.

Not done after hundreds of hours - a plethora of challenges to do

F: I'd like to hear about the optional challenges in this game.
TT: It's kind of a trademark of Monolith Soft's works, so this game, too, is filled with plenty of challenges and achievements. For example, the unique monsters from the previous game are in this one too, and this time there's way more of them. Additionally, we've also put in difficult monsters that only Dolls are a match for. There are also powerful weapons and equipment that can be obtained by defeating unique monsters, so you should definitely challenge them. I myself spent over 300 hours when I replayed the game from start for my final inspection (laughs bitterly). Even then, there were some things I didn't fully complete, so I think you'll be able to play for a very long time.
F: Xenoblade 3D is launching on April 2nd, so we'll be able to gorge ourselces on Xeno in April (laughs).
TT: Thanks to the increased processing power in the New Nintendo 3DS, we were able to port Xenoblade without cutting a single piece of content from the Wii version. Of course, Xenoblade 3D also supports stereoscopic 3D. You probably won't be able to beat it by the time Xenoblade X comes out on April 29th, so I'd be glad if you played Xenoblade X on your Wii U while at home and Xenoblade 3D on your New Nintendo 3DS while out doing your Golden Week shopping.

# ? Feb 14, 2015 21:44

Calaveron: Aug 7, 2006

Son of a bitch I want this game already

# ? Feb 14, 2015 21:51

Terper: Jun 26, 2012

I think Lyn's and Tatsu's interactions are pretty funny.

# ? Feb 14, 2015 22:07

Evil Fluffy: Jul 13, 2009; Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

I know some people are iffy on the soundtrack but I have a hard time not having faith in the guy who did Attack on Titan's music. Gaur Plains, Satorl Marsh, and Zanza's theme (there's some XC newbie in the thread) are pretty amazing but I think this guy will do a solid job.

# ? Feb 14, 2015 22:13

Mak0rz: Aug 2, 2008; 😎🐗🚬

I finally watched the stream video and I just want to say that, at the expense of sounding like a giant nerd in this thread for an anime JRPG game, I am even more pumped now that I know there are wolf-like creatures whose designs appear to be inspired by my all-time favorite prehistoric marine badass: Dunkleosteus :black101:

# ? Feb 14, 2015 22:24

Silvain: May 19, 2006; I'm kinda awesome.

Evil Fluffy posted:

I know some people are iffy on the soundtrack but I have a hard time not having faith in the guy who did Attack on Titan's music. Gaur Plains, Satorl Marsh, and Zanza's theme (there's some XC newbie in the thread) are pretty amazing but I think this guy will do a solid job.

The works mentioned by Takahashi are all really good Sawano music. His works for TV are pretty good like the mentioned Team Medical Dragon, Marks no Yama and Taiyo no Uta. There's no doubt that he'll do a good job on the soundtrack, it's just that like Troy Baker, it's kind of tiring to hear him everywhere.

# ? Feb 14, 2015 23:14

Suaimhneas: Nov 19, 2005; That's how you get tinnitus

This is Monolith's first HD game, and they managed to create this huge expansive beautiful world that you can explore freely with no loading. drat, eat poo poo Square-Enix

# ? Feb 14, 2015 23:41

planetarial: Oct 19, 2012

Someone translated the short videos that were put up two days ago if anyone's interested too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To6VVmJA6Tw

# ? Feb 15, 2015 00:45

Sakurazuka: Jan 24, 2004; NANI?

Suaimhneas posted:

This is Monolith's first HD game, and they managed to create this huge expansive beautiful world that you can explore freely with no loading. drat, eat poo poo Square-Enix

At this point S-E's mismanagement over the past few years has been the stuff of legends, FFXV looks like it might be legit good though.

# ? Feb 15, 2015 01:07

Chronojam: Feb 20, 2006; This is me on vacation in Amsterdam
Never be afraid of being yourself!

quote:

To those concerned about the speed of loading from the disc, I recommend the download version. Of course, we are tuning everything we can to reduce the wait times on the disc version and we're also consulting Nintendo to see if we can insert a mechanism for loading essential data from the device itself.

So, could that be opening the door for "installations" of disc-based games on the Wii U?

# ? Feb 15, 2015 01:44

The_Frag_Man: Mar 26, 2005

Chronojam posted:

So, could that be opening the door for "installations" of disc-based games on the Wii U?

It's about time. I'd play a lot more Wii U in general if I didn't have to dig out the discs.

# ? Feb 15, 2015 04:26

Crabtree: Oct 17, 2012; ARRRGH! Get that wallet out!
Everybody: Lowtax in a Pickle!
Pickle! Pickle! Pickle! Pickle!; Dinosaur Gum

Sakurazuka posted:

At this point S-E's mismanagement over the past few years has been the stuff of legends, FFXV looks like it might be legit good though.

Only question is how much of a freak accident Men driving a Car the JRPG really is at this point. Is there any info on how long X took Monolith to make just to further rub it in the near 10 year mark 15 is around?

# ? Feb 15, 2015 04:45

Sakurazuka: Jan 24, 2004; NANI?

At the outside five years, assuming helping out on Skyward Sword and Project X-Zone didn't tie up too much of their resources. Like three if they only work on one project at a time.

# ? Feb 15, 2015 04:49

Upsidads: Jan 11, 2007; Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates

Sakurazuka posted:

At the outside five years, assuming helping out on Skyward Sword and Project X-Zone didn't tie up too much of their resources. Like three if they only work on one project at a time.

And supposedly its a unusually wonderful place to work at as well. Crunch is rare. You can come in on the weekends and just use the equipment to goof off and learn whatever you want. And your project isn't due in a year so pressure isn't nuts and you have a social life.

# ? Feb 15, 2015 06:04

The Black Stones: May 7, 2007; I POSTED WHAT NOW!?

Sakurazuka posted:

At the outside five years, assuming helping out on Skyward Sword and Project X-Zone didn't tie up too much of their resources. Like three if they only work on one project at a time.

They definitely have some different teams out there. Their DS/3DS stuff usually keeps getting pumped out while they make Wii/Wii U stuff. Those handheld teams probably aren't all that big though and I doubt they focus too hard on it because it's usually nowhere near the level of their console stuff. Except Soma Bringer, but that was Takahasi.

# ? Feb 15, 2015 06:11

Motto: Aug 3, 2013

The Black Stones posted:

They definitely have some different teams out there. Their DS/3DS stuff usually keeps getting pumped out while they make Wii/Wii U stuff. Those handheld teams probably aren't all that big though and I doubt they focus too hard on it because it's usually nowhere near the level of their console stuff. Except Soma Bringer, but that was Takahasi.

Yeah, they have multiple teams. Junkie Disease's post about working conditions is in reference to this article on Monolith Soft's Kyoto Office, which opened in 2011, is made up of about 30 members, and is comprised of mostly artists working on Monosoft titles as well as other Nintendo games.

http://www.siliconera.com/2013/07/05/monolith-softs-new-kyoto-studio-sounds-like-a-great-place-to-work/

edit:
Coincidentally, there's actually a section involving a former SE employee.

quote:

Background designer, Subaru Genbe, who had previously worked with Square Enix is one of the new members who joined Monolith Soft�s Kyoto office, last year. Genbe who has lived in Tokyo for a long while, has always been a fan of Monolith Soft and decided to change his job in order to be able to work with them and Nintendo.

�Playing and having fun is the most important part. It�s the key to bringing out the fun in graphics,� says Genbe, as he explains that those are the deep feelings they share at Nintendo, which he has learned since joining. According to the designer, he has also learned to put his time to better use, thanks to the results of the appointed weekly hours.

�When the work starts to overflow, the leader immediately reviews the schedule accordingly. I spend my weekends on hobbies and polishing my skills using ZBrush at home,� Genbe explains, addressing how the lenient schedule has been a great benefit, by providing him with free time to relax and brush up on his abilities as a designer.

edit 2:
Actually, come to think of it, Nintendo seems to be really good at giving teams direction and a good workflow in general. Apart from Monolith Soft, Retro Studios was also reportedly kind of a mess before they were acquired by Nintendo and turned into the dev that created the great Metroid Prime and new DKC games. Silicon Knights also produced a well-received game, Eternal Darkness, while working with Nintendo, but then fizzled when it came to later solo ventures.

Motto fucked around with this message at 06:41 on Feb 15, 2015

# ? Feb 15, 2015 06:31

Evil Fluffy: Jul 13, 2009; Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

Junkie Disease posted:

And supposedly its a unusually wonderful place to work at as well. Crunch is rare. You can come in on the weekends and just use the equipment to goof off and learn whatever you want. And your project isn't due in a year so pressure isn't nuts and you have a social life.

I hope it stays that way for them because crunch is terrible and has less chance of coming to an end than the industry has of unionizing (in the US anyways) and it literally ruins lives. Nintendo knows they had a good sleeper hit with XC and hopefully XCX moves even more units and secures Monolith a nice future where we get a new Xeno game every few years (or less) and doesn't end up a "GET THIS SHIP PUMPED OUT YEARLY GODDAMNIT" clusterfuck like Assassin's Creed and other series.

# ? Feb 15, 2015 06:51

Motto: Aug 3, 2013

To be fair, I don't know if there's really that much crunch when it comes to AC. Ubi has a ridiculous number of people working on those games to get them made as quickly as they are. Though considering how Unity released, who knows.

# ? Feb 15, 2015 07:05

Upsidads: Jan 11, 2007; Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates

Getting Silicon Knights to do anything is actually one of the greatest feats of Nintendo.
And yeah large teams on Assassins creed but look at the innovation. That games creativity is tethered by a short timetable and high turnover. Its assembly line games.

# ? Feb 15, 2015 10:04

RareAcumen: Dec 28, 2012

Junkie Disease posted:

Getting Silicon Knights to do anything is actually one of the greatest feats of Nintendo.
And yeah large teams on Assassins creed but look at the innovation. That games creativity is tethered by a short timetable and high turnover. Its assembly line games.

Other game series that _don't innovate mechanics on a regular basis: Dynasty Warriors, Madden, Fifa, NBA 2kXX

# ? Feb 15, 2015 10:19

Sakurazuka: Jan 24, 2004; NANI?

Weird that one of the few game studios with a reasonable sounding work ethic would be Japanese where mandatory overtime and 60+ hour weeks are considered normal.
Then again maybe that's just compared to the 100+ hour weeks everyone else does. :v:

# ? Feb 15, 2015 12:18

Upsidads: Jan 11, 2007; Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates

Weird or sad. As of game developers I personally know of way too many layoffs in America at the end of projects. I have no connnections in Japan but they seem to want to cultivate designers rather then use them and lose them.
When Nintendo lost a lot of money in their quarterly report a few years ago, they chose pay cuts at the top rather than lose their teams.
Squareenix doesn't count because they drive their people away rather then fire then

# ? Feb 15, 2015 16:38

evilalien: Jul 29, 2005; Knowledge is born from Curiosity.

The_Frag_Man posted:

It's about time. I'd play a lot more Wii U in general if I didn't have to dig out the discs.

Hate to break it to you, but you are still going to have to dig out your discs if they do this just like you do on the 360, XBone, and PS4.

# ? Feb 15, 2015 17:04

Butt Ghost: Nov 23, 2013

Otherwise you'd be able to just borrow or rent a disc, and play it without actually having to purchase it. The only way to not have to dig out a disc is to buy the game digitally.

# ? Feb 15, 2015 17:30

virtualboyCOLOR: Dec 22, 2004

Standard rule for video games:

1) Is it on PC? Buy Digital.

2) Console? Buy physical.

TBF, surprisingly only Nintendo has been good about carrying over your purchased items from older consoles. Games I purchased on the DSi carried over to my New 3DS XL without issue. Meanwhile Sony and MS wouldn't even carry over purchases from a single generation ago.

# ? Feb 15, 2015 18:39

MechaCrash: Jan 1, 2013

To be fair, the reason Sony and MS didn't carry over their previous-generation purchases is because the system architecture is so different that it doesn't have backwards compatibility.

# ? Feb 15, 2015 18:48

virtualboyCOLOR: Dec 22, 2004

As a consumer I don't care what the reason is. That sounds like a failure on the part of those companies. I purchased a product and want to play it on the next version. You can not trust Sony or MS to ensure digital content you purchase will be accessible in the future so you should not. Luckily Steam, GOG, iPhone, etc allow me to play games I purchased in 2008 on a device I purchased in 2015. The only console manufacturer that is up to 2015 digital standards is Nintendo (so far). Even still, I'd rather have a physical copy but I'm happy Nintendo has great customer service.

virtualboyCOLOR fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Feb 15, 2015

# ? Feb 15, 2015 18:58

Motto: Aug 3, 2013

I've heard of plenty of cases where iOS games are broken on current firmware.

# ? Feb 15, 2015 19:17

Doc V: Mar 20, 2010

Small tidbit from the official twitter: equipment slots are mostly the same as the previous game (head, torso, arms, legs and feet), except the arms slot has been split into left arm and right arm. Just like the previous game, the stuff you have equipped will appear in cutscenes.

# ? Feb 16, 2015 11:06

SatansBestBuddy: Sep 26, 2010; by FactsAreUseless

Doc V posted:

Just like the previous game, the stuff you have equipped will appear in cutscenes.

Do we also have feathery tribal gear and bathing suits? I need to know how silly I can make cutscenes.

# ? Feb 16, 2015 16:35

Evil Fluffy: Jul 13, 2009; Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

MechaCrash posted:

To be fair, the reason Sony and MS didn't carry over their previous-generation purchases is because the system architecture is so different that it doesn't have backwards compatibility.

It's also harder to get people to buy remakes of popular games if they can throw the original disc in their machine instead.

# ? Feb 16, 2015 17:46

Doc V: Mar 20, 2010

SatansBestBuddy posted:

Do we also have feathery tribal gear and bathing suits? I need to know how silly I can make cutscenes.

Swimsuits are already confirmed. I dunno about tribal gear in particular, but considering that you can dress up as a juggalo ninja, I'm guessing that you can make things very, very silly.

# ? Feb 16, 2015 18:00

I said come in!: Jun 22, 2004

# ? Feb 19, 2015 05:25

Butt Ghost: Nov 23, 2013

If that comes out in the US I'm gonna be so pissed for buying a *new* 3DS early.

# ? Feb 19, 2015 05:30

MorningMoon: Dec 29, 2013; He's been tapping into Aunt May's bank account!
Didn't I kill him with a HELICOPTER?

Apparently that's just faceplates for the New 3DS non-XL. If they made a special edition 3DS XL that looked like that I'd sell my soul right away, tho

# ? Feb 19, 2015 05:49

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# ? May 29, 2024 02:02

Evil Fluffy: Jul 13, 2009; Scholars are some of the most pompous and pedantic people I've ever had the joy of meeting.

Give me that on a Wii U bundle and the money is as good as spent. :retrogames:

# ? Feb 19, 2015 08:31

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Xenoblade Chronicles X - It's Xenoblade Chronicles, but with GIANT ROBOTS

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