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Xenoblade Chronicles X (4th Dec)

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Starting to feel bad for not playing 'Chronicles.

 

You can't even comprehend how bad it feels til you actually taste how good it is and you realise how heinous the gaming crime you've committed is.

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Xenoblade Chronicles X Director Says The Game Is Almost Complete

 

Xenoblade Chronicles X Executive Director Tetsuya Takahashi of Monolith Soft recently spoke more about the upcoming Wii U title on Twitter, about how he wanted to create something a little more sci-fi using Xenoblade as a base. Today, he updated with a few more tidbits about the game’s current status.

 

“This is a continuation of our my previous talk,” Takahashi noted.

 

He continued: “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.”

 

Xenoblade Chronicles X will release in Japan in Spring 2015, and sometime in 2015 for North America and Europe for Wii U.

 

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/11/20/xenoblade-chronicles-x-director-says-game-almost-complete/

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Xenoblade Chronicles X Will Have A “Deep” Sci-Fi Story

 

Xenoblade Chronicles writer Yuichiro Takeda is also the main script writer behind Xenoblade Chronicles X, director Tetsuya Takahashi revealed via Twitter today. Prior to Xenoblade, Takeda had worked with Takahashi on the anime adaptation of Xenosaga.

 

“After the ‘basic’ fantasy story for [Xenoblade], we’re having him write a deep sci-fi story this time around,” Takahashi tweeted.

 

Takahashi then went on to remind fans that composer Hiroyuki Sawano (Attack on Titan) is in charge of sound, while Kunihiko Tanaka (Xenogears, Xenosaga, Xenoblade) is in charge of character designs.

 

Regarding Tanaka, Takahashi stated: “I’ve known Mr. Tanaka for a long time, but this time I asked for his cooperation to bring out the Xeno-ness in the art.”

 

Xenoblade Chronicles X will be released for Wii U in Japan this Spring. Nintendo are targeting a 2015 release window for North America and Europe as well.

 

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/11/25/xenoblade-chronicles-x-will-deep-sci-fi-story/

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Hmmm. I thought the story in Xenoblade was crackingly done, so I'm hoping they manage to capture that essence again with this. It wasn't so much the plot/story itself but the pacing seemed great at creating an interest and suspense for me.

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I loved the ending in Xenoblade

 

That the entire world was the result of a lab experiment gone wrong. Brilliant.

 

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Xenoblade Chronicles X director shares an update on the game’s artists, alien races, script

 

A few new tweets were added to the Japanese Xenoblade Chronicles X Twitter account earlier today. Director Tetsuya Takahashi shared an update on the game’s artists (which extends to the alien races) and script. For the new information, take a look at the summary below.

 

  • Aside from Kunihiko Tanaka’s designs, the team has many other artists working on different types of designs
  • Different alien races in the game
  • Wants to really bring out the various unique characteristics in their cultures
  • For the graphics in the game to be able to reflect the different cultures, they have different artists fleshing out the details in the design phase
  • We’ve apparently seen one of the unannounced races on the early tease site from Monolith Soft
  • The script isn’t written by Yuichiro Takeda alone
  • Compared to Xenoblade, this time there’s a lot more text to handle
  • Kazuho Hyodo (an anime script writer) was brought in to help with the workload
  • Since he has much experience with sci-fi works, Takahashi is not worried
  • Some design staff will be introduced next week

 

http://nintendoeverything.com/xenoblade-chronicles-x-director-shares-an-update-on-the-games-artists-alien-races-script/

Edited by Wii

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Metal Gear Rising’s Mechanical Designer Created Mechs For Xenoblade Chronicles X

 

Just as he promised last week, Xenoblade Chronicles X executive director Tetsuya Takahashi introduced a couple of the artists working on the game today.

 

“First up, Mr. Takayuki Yanase,” Takahashi tweeted. “He always manages to give shape to the exact image I communicate, so I have faith in him. For this game, too, he’s created some very cool Dolls (robots).”

 

Other projects that Yanase has worked on include: Ghost in the Shell: Arise, Tenkai Knights, and Metal Gear Rising, for which he did mechanical designs. You can access his website here.

 

“Then there’s Mr. Kouichi Mugitani,” Takahashi continued. “Xeno fans already know him, though. Naturally, I’ve asked for his help as a core member of the staff.”

 

Mugitani worked as a production designer on Xenosaga I and Xenosaga II. He served in the same role for Xenosaga III, and is also credited with providing character illustrations for that game. His website can be accessed here.

 

Xenoblade Chronicles X is in development for the Wii U.

 

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/12/01/metal-gear-risings-mechanical-designer-created-mechs-xenoblade-chronicles-x/

 

I can't wait for this game. This and Zelda are all I want in 2015. The rest I don't care for putting it mildly.

Edited by Wii

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Xenoblade Chronicles X Director On The Concept Behind The Game’s Mechs

 

Tetsuya Takahashi tweeted a few more tidbits about Xenoblade Chronicles X today, this time speaking a little more about Takayuki Yanase and Kouichi Mugitani, two of the art designers working on the game.

 

“Mr. Yanase is a well-known designer that has worked on Gundam 00 among other things,” Takahashi tweeted. “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’.”

 

The bit about a single frame being able to transform into multiple vehicles is interesting. It would suggest that a single mech in Xenoblade X might be capable of transforming into more than one kind of vehicle, but so far this has not been confirmed, so don’t get overly excited just yet.

 

As an aside, the image you see to the right is one of the Frame Arms models designed by Yanase. You can check out Kotobukiya’s line-up of Frame Arms mech models at their online store.

 

o0600067212369523154.jpg

 

Takahashi then moved on to discussing Kouichi Mugitani, an artist that has worked on previous Xeno titles as well. Takahashi stated that, the design line of a “certain power” within the game could only be realized by Mugitani, which is why Takahashi wanted his assistance by any means possible. By “certain power,” Takahashi presumably means one of the various factions in the game.

 

“I remember when the [Xenoblade Chronicles X] project was launched, the first meeting [with Mugitani] took place at a café in Tachikawa,” Takahashi said. “With each meeting, he would present extremely detailed designs, and was a great help. And as an important employee for sexy-type battle suits as well. (lol) Look forward to those, too!”

 

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/12/02/xenoblade-chronicles-x-director-concept-behind-games-mechs/

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Xenoblade Chronicles X Director Says He’s Finally Made The Game He Always Wanted To

 

doll.jpg

 

Today’s Xenoblade Chronicles X tweets by director Tetsuya Takahashi once again touched upon the mechs (called “Dolls”) in the game. Takahashi set aside talk of the game’s art staff to speak a little bit about the Dolls this morning.

 

“The Dolls’ height is about five times that of an adult, making them around 9-10 metres high,” Takahashi said. “This was calculated as the best [human-to-robot] ratio when taking fights or field exploration with both Dolls and humans present into consideration.”

 

“If the Dolls were bigger than that, the map would also need to be bigger, so we decided upon this size not due to budget constraints, but because it would lead to much slower exploration in human form.”

 

You may recall that, in an interview with Edge magazine a few months ago, Takahashi stated that the map in Xenoblade Chronicles X is over five times larger than that of Xenoblade.

 

In his final tweet for the day, Takahashi said: “15 years have passed since Monolith was founded, and I believe that with this game I have finally met the challenge I had within me, of creating an RPG in which humans and robots can co-exist.”

 

Monolith Soft was formed in October 1999. The company was founded by Hirohide Sugiura and Tetsuya Takahashi after the pair left the employ of Squaresoft and accepted an investment from Namco. Until 2007, Monolith produced games like Baten Kaitos and Xenosaga as part of Namco, after which the studio was acquired by Nintendo and went on to create Disaster: Day of Crisis, Soma Bringer and Xenoblade.

 

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/12/04/xenoblade-chronicles-x-director-says-hes-finally-made-game-always-wanted/

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Sin & Punishment 2 Art Director Designed Enemies For Xenoblade Chronicles X

 

After a break of a couple of days, Xenoblade Chronicles X director Tetsuya Takahashi returned to tweeting about the game today. This time, Takahashi once again touched upon some of the other staff members working on the RPG.

 

“Returning to the original subject, today I’ll present Mr. Yasushi Suzuki,” Takahashi tweeted. “His skills are top-notch, be it for character, mecha or landscape design. I’d meant to work with him one day and this wish has finally come true with this project.”

 

“For this project, he’s mainly in charge of enemy mechs. The huge mech that appears in the last cut of the previously released [promotional video] was also designed by him!”

 

Does the name Yasushi Suzuki sound familiar? It should. Suzuki served as character and effects designer on Sin & Punishment for the N64, and as art director on Sin & Punishment: Star Successor for the Wii. The promo video Takahashi is referring to is likely the trailer Nintendo released at E3 2013, where the mech designed by Suzuki appears at the very end. You can see it in the screengrab above and find Suzuki’s website here.

 

“Next up is Mr. Raita Kazama,” Takahashi tweeted. “I believe some people already know him, as he’s also drawn beautiful images*for the previous Xenoblade.”

 

“For this project, I’ve mainly asked him to design the alien NPCs and the primitive lifeforms inhabiting the planet. Despite being an illustrator*with a delicate touch, he himself is the macho bodybuilder type, lol.”

 

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/12/08/sin-punishment-2-art-director-designed-enemies-xenoblade-chronicles-x/

 

Xenoblade Chronicles X Director Introduces More Artists Working On The Game

 

There’s a fair bit of sci-fi talent working on Xenoblade Chronicles X, but today, executive director Tetsuya Takahashi introduced another of the artists working on the game, emphasizing that her involvement should convey that the game won’t be built expressly on sci-fi elements.

 

“Today, I present Ms. Yoko Tsukamoto,” Takahashi tweeted. “I believe that by hearing her name, you’ll understand that the Xenoblade Chronicles X world isn’t built only upon sci-fi elements.”

 

Tsukamoto has served as an illustrator on games like Half-Minute Hero, Lord of Vermilion, and also provided artwork for the first Xenoblade. You can find her website here. The image to the right is one of her illustrations, but it isn’t from Xenoblade Chronicles X.

 

 

tsukamoto.jpg

 

 

“Then there’s Mr. Takashi Kojo,” Takahashi continued. “His solemn landscapes are fantastic, but this time around I’ve mainly put him in charge of enemy designs. His designs for large enemies are particularly great, and the strongest unique enemy [in the game] is also his creation. The Growth Soldiers which you’ll probably see the most throughout the game (and crush, lol) were also designed by him.”

 

Kojo’s website is accessible here. His past credits include Gravity Rush, Sol Trigger, 7th Dragon 2020-II, Senran Kagura and more.

 

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/12/11/xenoblade-chronicles-x-director-introduces-artists-working-game/

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Good to hear.

 

I enjoyed bits of the story in Xenoblade, especially the epic moments, but far too much of it was cliche and easy to predict.

 

I get that feeling a lot with a lot of things, and whilst I've not actually finished Xenoblade, I absolutely found it to be contrary to what I often expected(not always, but more often than not) - I think that's what really made it as a game for me too(in addition to all its other awesomeness too).

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Gyrozetter Mech Designer Fumihiro Katagai Working On Xenoblade Chronicles X

 

In today’s set of Xenoblade Chronicles X tweets, executive director Tetsuya Takahashi continued to introduce more of the art talent working on the game.

 

“As the introduction of artists will continue for some more time, [my] tweets might feel a little monotonous, but I wish to present as many of them as possible, so please bear with me,” Takahashi said.

 

“Today, I present Mr. Fumihiro Katagai and RARE ENGINE,” he continued. “During the development of Xenoblade Chronicles X, we end up thinking, ‘Oh, if we had this, it would be even more interesting’ in the case of many things. I think getting people to join in after the direction of the game has already been decided for the most part is difficult, but I’m very grateful that they accepted the invitation.”

 

RARE ENGINE has worked on games like Sega’s Sengoku Taisen and on illustrations for Square Enix’s LORD of VERMILION Ⅲ ~Ver.3.0 Illustrations GUREN~ art book, among other projects. You can find his blog here, although it hasn’t been updated in a while.

 

Meanwhile, Fumihiro Katagai is an anime mecha designer that has worked on Gyrozetter, Space Dandy, Chaika: The Coffin Princess, and Code Geass: Akito the Exiled. You can find his Twitter here, and check out some of his work for Gyrozetter below.

 

 

[TWEET]528503146201350144[/TWEET]

 

 

[TWEET]528505230158090240[/TWEET]

 

 

[TWEET]528508723916836865[/TWEET]

 

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/12/15/gyrozetter-mech-designer-fumihiro-katagai-working-xenoblade-chronicles-x/

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Hideyuki Matsumoto Worked On Weapon Design For Xenoblade Chronicles X

 

Today, Xenoblade Chronicles X director Tetsuya Takahashi introduced the last of the external artists that Monolith Soft are collaborating with to create the look of the game.

 

“The introduction of outside designers ends with Mr. Hideyuki Matsumoto,” Takahashi said on Twitter. “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.”

 

When Takahashi says he and Matsumoto used to work at the same company, he’s referring to their time together at Squaresoft. Matsumoto has worked on a number of games, including Front Mission 4 and 5, Project Sylpheed, At Tonelico, and Armored Core 3. He’s also worked on anime, such as Zettai Karen Children. You can find his website here[/url.] The weapon design on the right (not from Xenoblade) is one of his.

 

matsumoto.jpg

 

*Meanwhile, Takahashi says, background design for Xenoblade Chronicles X was handled by a firm named the Kusanagi Company.

 

“They’re a professional group used to creating 3D models based on drawings, so I can always leave things to them without worrying,” Takahashi said. The Kusanagi Company’s website can be found here. In the past, they’ve worked on the Nintendo DS version of Ni no Kuni, backgrounds for the anime cutscenes in Persona 4, and more.

 

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/12/18/hideyuki-matsumoto-worked-on-weapon-design-for-xenoblade-chronicles-x/

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Xenoblade Chronicles X - full version of the E3 2013 trailer music

 

 

Awesome piece of music. Another example of why this is my most anticipated game of next year.

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A small update was posted to the Japanese Xenoblade Chronicles X Twitter account yesterday and translated below:

 

  • the team are in high spirits
  • the game is approaching the final stages of development now
  • we can expect an increase of information from this month on regarding the game

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/XenobladeJP

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Man I cannot wait for this!

 

Also, thanks for the regular updates @Wii, I'd not know as much if it wasn't for your posting!

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No problem. I do it because I can't wait for this game. It's the game I've been looking forward to the most since it was first announced. Only Zelda probably rivals it for anticipation which shows the esteem I hold it in. It has the potential to be Wii U's best game which is saying something and not just the best but blow the competition out of the water. I hope it delivers and I think it definitely will. Monolith Soft are amazing.

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Xenoblade Chronicles X Executive Director Insisted On Hiroyuki Sawano For Music

 

Xenoblade Chronicles X’s music is being composed by Hiroyuki Sawano, who is known for his work on Guilty Crown, Attack on Titan, and Kill la Kill. Today, executive director Tetsuya Takahashi said a few brief words about Sawano via the game’s official Twitter.

 

“I was thinking of discussing a new topic today, but… Mr. Sawano, thank you for inviting me to your year-end party,” Takahashi tweeted. “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,” Takahashi continues, “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.”

 

http://www.siliconera.com/2015/01/08/xenoblade-chronicles-x-executive-director-insisted-on-hiroyuki-sawano-for-music/

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As if there was any doubt but a Tweet from Soraya Saga should all but confirm some news on Xenoblade Chronicle X tomorrow.

 

[TWEET]554959574831484928[/TWEET]

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Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U)

 

 

 

Also, the game has a confirmed release date of April 29 in Japan.

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