There's been plenty of hype and excitement surrounding Xenoblade Chronicles X. Its predecessor, Xenoblade Chronicles, was critically acclaimed as an excellent RPG on Wii, also bringing new ideas to the JRPG genre. The sequel has a lot to live up to, but as more information emerges it becomes clear that it may just live up to the Xenoblade name.
Popular Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu's next issue includes a ten page spread about the Xenoblade series - including an interview with Tetsuya Takahashi, the series' director - and is due out tomorrow; it brings to light some details previously unknown about Xenoblade Chronicles X (known simply as Xenoblade X in Japan). For starters, the map will be five times the size of the original Xenoblade Chronicles equivalent; keep in mind that the original map was roughly the same size (in relative gaming terms) as the entirety of the Japanese archipelago. The story will be about surviving on the wild planet, Mira - unlike Xenoblade Chronicles' largely linear storytelling, the story will unfold in numerous directions, opening up the possibility of multiple endings. Not far into the story players will choose to become part of one of eight unions, though union affiliation can be switched later. The unions are as follows (via Gematsu):
- Pathfinder: Oversee data probe installation
- Interceptor: Oversee exterminating protists
- Avalanche: Oversee hunting down dangerous creatures
- Testament: Oversee recovery of wreckage from the ship as well as dropped items in the battlefield
- Corepedian: Oversee investigating new areas and collecting materials
- Land Bank: Oversee securing resources and collecting minerals
- Arms: Assist the Arms Company in building and arming Dolls (Dolls are what the mechs are called)
- Companion: Jack of all trades, from breaking up fights to finding stray cats
Additionally, the online aspect is aiming to have players loosely connected, giving a sense of 'solidarity' without a constant awareness of other players. The map will be on the GamePad, unsurprisingly, and will be interactive, with players able to set waypoints and fast travel to locations. Battle speed is also set to be increased, allowing players to switch between long and short range attacks freely; in addition there'll be no healers. These will be replaced by a new system called “Soul Voice", which will be activated - with properly timed button presses - between party members (of which there are four) who string attacks together, providing the opportunity to heal while still attacking.
Meanwhile, Dolls (mechs) will be powerful but unwieldy, and some fights will necessitate the player disembarking a Doll in order to attack a specific part of a monster. Playtime could exceed three hundred hours, with some parts effectively continuing endlessly, and the 90 song+ soundtrack will be worked on by Hiroyuki Sawano
Xenoblade Chronicles X is shaping up to be a sizeable adventure, and could certainly deliver on the expectations surrounding it. Does any of this new information have you hyped? What are you most looking forward to in this game?
[source gematsu.com, via neogaf.com]
Comments 94
Unless they really, really, REALLY drop the ball, there's no way this won't be better than Xenoblade.
I'm hoping for an August release, I've got a bunch of holiday days to use up and sinking them into spending time in Mira sounds peachy to me. I want to know so much more about the game and world, but I also want to go in fresh with only my knowledge from Xenoblade Chronicles' systems to help me.
For this, I safely believe this will be my favorite game of all time.
This game looks like it'll be bigger and better than Xenoblade in just about every way. I can't wait.
This game keeps sounding more impressive every time I learn more information about it. It's gonna blow my mind. I just know it.
Can't wait.
What am I most looking forward to? Everything. I want to SEE this new world... explore every inch (or try to) of it... hear the music and just live in that world, haha. I can't wait! I'm really interested in the story though... and seeing how it connects with Xenoblade Chronicles.
Aw man I can't wait to help some old lady find her lost cat. This game has EVERYTHING.
The original was insanely huge as it is. Five times larger? Holy mac. Multiple endings? The original pretended to end five times over before you finally learned who you were and what everything was about.
This is huge.
300 hours for one playthrough? And I thought Xenoblade Chronicles was insane.
It will be many, many hard months ahead waiting for European release day of this but it will surely be worth it.
Sounds great. However, I will never have 300 hours to spend on a game. Thats insane. That would basically take a year IF you put almost an hour a day into it.
WOW, this game sounds massive. Maybe I could get a N3DS and Xenoblade 3D to prepare me for this...
Question: when people say Xenoblade Chronicles is a 100+ hour adventure, does that mean just the main story excluding side quests? I find it hard to believe that just the main story line could be greater than 100 hours or in X's case, 300 hours.
Still...It's not impossible. Afterall, I've put almost 420 hours into Fire Emblem Awakening...Yes, I know I'm crazy, but who cares.
300 hours?! If all I purchased this year were Monster Hunter 4 and Xenoblade Chronicles X, I would be set! Not that I'm going to only buy 2 games this year.... But my point is still valid! Haha
Final Fantasy what? Move on over, there's a new king in town!!
Darn whenever I see that X, I except to finally get some news on smt X fe ... :-/ Still, X itself is nothing to sneeze at
Aww man I'm going to have to take a few days off for this game now.
Wow, that's big, certainly looking forward to this.
Been a day 1 since the news of a new xenoblade.
Multiple endings? Nooo.... Whenever there's multiple endings, I feel obligated to get them all... With the 300+ hours they teased, I'll never be able to leave my house. I just hope there's one ending that's easily the best for the characters involved so I don't have to get them all.
I simply can't wait for this game. After playing XBC, this may be my most anticipated game of the year. It's right up there with Zelda U.
But if we're going by the previous game in the series (XBC vs Skyward Sword) Xenoblade by 100x.
<grammarnazi>Sentence two should say "predecessor," not "successor," unless you're figured out some serious prequel mojo you're not telling us about.</grammarnazi>
I'm... not really sure how to feel about that job, I mean class, I mean union system. I guess there've been plenty of games that have done character classes very successfully, but... dunno. I guess I'm getting FFXIV vibes from some of the unions being combat-oriented ("Oversee exterminating protists") and some sounding more gathering-oriented ("Oversee securing resources and collecting minerals") or crafting-oriented ("Assist the Arms Company in building and arming Dolls"), and borrowing mechanics from MMORPGs is a recipe for compulsive gaming, not compelling gaming. I'm probably reading way too much into that though.
Also amusing how this news comes the same day your sister site Push Square posts a talking point on "Are Bigger Open Worlds Really Better?" I share the trepidation other commenters have on trying to scrape together the time to properly explore a world THIS huge!
I'm sure it'll still be an outstanding game, though.
It's shaping up to be an awesome game.
The only downside is that the music is composed by Sawano. I can't see him making good music. But it seems the world will make up for it.
@Giygas_95 I ended up spending about 150 hours by the time I was done, including side quests and maxing everything out. Of that, I didn't see the main quest ending until about 100 hours in. You could go through quicker, but the world is so engrossing, and the side quests cleverly layered alongside, you'll want to take your time getting there, so I'd say 100 hours for the main game is about right. I'm also not one to usually worry about 100 percenting games, but even after those 100 hours I wanted more. Needless to say, I'm very excited for X.
Less screen shots and just give us a release date!!!
Sounds all really impressive. I'm looking forward to the reviews first though. See what's hype and what's real. "Playtime could exceed 300 hours" is also true for Tetris (or any game, actually), so that doesn't mean anything.
I am very excited for this game.
300 hours?Wow
I'll choose Arms. I wannna work with the Dolls.
I look forward to this, as should any Wii U owner.
Though I am still saddened by the fact Melia will be alone forever
@TheLilK98
Monolith is one of the FEW devs who actually makes their games better with each game in a series based on criticism and fan response (one of the reasons they're one of my favorites). Just look at how they responsed and improved the Xenosaga series between episode II and III. And it's like they listened and fixed EVERYTHING wrong (besides anime tropes) with Baiten Kaitos in the next game.
@SupremeAllah
...is it strange that I always imagined her and Dunban getting together? I just figured they were both too classy for on-screen romance
Hope we get an awesome special edition release in the UK
I certainly hope the story will be even stronger than xenoblade no X
I need to finish xenoblade.
@Spoony_Tech
Youre very right. But sadly, thats not hard to do these days. Final Fantasy is one of the most tragic game series deaths of all gamedom. Went from being the best of the best to the gayest crap ever.
@invictus4000
That's why there's some hope with bravely default as long as it doesn't reuse the story over again
"Its successor, Xenoblade Chronicles, was critically acclaimed as an excellent RPG on Wii, also bringing new ideas to the JRPG genre"
It should be predecessor, not successor. Xenoblade Chronicles X is the successor
The 300 hours is definitely referring to side quests, multiple endings, etc. I put in a solid 120 into Xenoblade and I had a lot of exploration and I did a pretty big percentage of the side quests, which ended up being necessary. I still struggled pretty heavily in that final battle even though I was overleveled pretty much through the entire game up until that last section. I am hoping they fix that pacing issue, but otherwise I can't complain about anything Xenoblade had to offer really. Everything I've heard would fix any other things I could possibly complain about.
@RIC616 Sounds great! Thanks for the response.
@R_Champ
They are both classy people. But then again, Melia was about to have her way with an unconscious Shulk. I can't see Dunban doing that
@CapnPancakes Keep in mind that it took the creator of the game 300 hours to finish it, imagine how long it'll take us to finish it.
@TheLilK98 I'd say the fact that the development team is happy with how this turned out shows that it is quite impossible for them to have dropped the ball with this game.
@King47 You are kidding, right? I reeeeally hope you're joking.
It's successor? Who proofreads this poopitypoop anymore?
@triforcepower73
I'm not kidding. Sawano isn't that great of a composer. His music loses its novelty pretty quickly. For a game that is huge and long, the music will become annoying fairly quickly. Also, he hasn't composed anything good in years. All of his music sounds exactly the same as AoT music, which isn't all that glamorous of music. Call it fatigue, if you may.
Besides, his music doesn't work very well as BGM, so that wont be fun. The music is by all accounts a step down from the first Xenoblade.
Yeah, but this must all be lies because everybody knows Nintendo doesn't make any "hardcore" games. If they really wanted to make this hardcore, it would be first person and there would be lots of blood and zombie strippers.
Seriously though, the length and depth of gameplay experiences expected on Nintendo platforms this year is pretty phenomenal. Monster Hunter 4, Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, Zelda U, Xenoblade Chronicles X... That alone is probably more than I can actually play in a whole year. I almost hope they make Star Fox shorter and more arcade-style just so I don't feel like I need to sink 100+ hours.
Personally I prefer linear storytelling, but this still sounds like it's shaping up to be an amazing game. Between this, Star Fox, and the games I'm still playing through, I may already be all set for 2015.
The original Xenoblade is my favorite game of all time, and this is certainly shaping up to be a worthy successor. I've been excited since day one, and now my excitement's probably exceeded Smash Bros levels! I can't even describe just how excited I am for this! I'm ready to explore Planet Mira!
A few reasons why Ninty should never go 3rd party. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjOZMo_PTZo
This game is going to be my life, oh my god.
I'm going to have to message all my friends when this comes out and tell them they may not hear from me in a few months...
@SphericalCrusher Well, the only connections it has to Xenoblade are using the battle system as the basis of the new one, and Monado hairclips. And Nopon. Maybe a few more easter eggs like the hairclips, but they aren't connected by story at all. Confirmed.
I've had a WiiU since launch day and this has been number 1 on my most-wanted list. Even more than Zelda. 'Nuff said.
The fact this game mentions Earth sort of hammers home the point that the games aren't connected at all. This is without spoiling it for those who haven't finished the first game yet.
@King47 The whole OST most likely isn't being composed by just him. It said he's worked on all the tracks, not that he composed them, meaning he probably wrote a good chunk of the songs, and that all of it is produced by him. Even if his music arguably sounds all the same(if you dig deep into his lesser known stuff, you'll find he actually has quite a lot of variety), you can't deny that it sounds good. He writes good melodies, he has much better production values than ACE+ or any of the other XC composers, and his stuff generally gets the job done(50% of AoT's epicness was due to the soundtrack, and one of the biggest reasons Aldnoah Zero is worth watching is the soundtrack).
When you accuse his music of sounding exactly the same, you're showing you haven't listened to most of his works. And by the way, that accusation is kind of flawed at its base. Accusing a composer of having his own style that he sticks to is stupid. A style is what makes a composer distinguishable. Nobody accuses John Williams of having too many epic fanfares in all his soundtracks, or Hans Zimmer for having similar sounding string parts with underlying profound chords. That's because a composer's style is what makes their work separate from the rest.
Anyway, the only thing a composer can write, is what the producer or director of the show/movie/video game asks him to write. Most likely, because Sawano's recent soundtracks have blown up in popularity ever since Gundam Unicorn, the directors and producers have just told him "write something like what you did on Gundam Unicorn or Guilty Crown." So hopefully Takahashi will bring the most variety out of Sawano. I personally think he is a very talented composer and that there is a lot of potential for variety in him that just needs to be tapped into by Takahashi. Judging from the astounding amount of variety that Takahashi demanded from the composers of XC's OST, I predict that he won't take a step back from his demand for a great, varied soundtrack in XCX.
300 hours?! Multiple endings?! As a completionist this is quite exciting and worrying at the same time. Meh, who needs social life anyways
Multiple endings! In a game of this gargantuan size! They're really pushing my OCD button there! sweats nervously
@Jamester0722
My thoughts exactly. Xenoblade for 300 hours, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate for a good 600 hours lol. All of 2015 wrapped up in two games- one for Wii U and one for 3DS!
The reason you can sink so many hours into games like these is because they're SO flippin good. Games that you just can't put down at night. Gotta get to bed, I've got work in just 5 hours. Just a little longer, just gotta finish this up real quick. Next thing you know, the alarm is going off and you're still goin at it!
my only concern with this game are the character's faces. god, those faces! hope they do something to make them less creepy doll like.
I want to get Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, but I sort of want to skip it and go straight for X to save time and money, dunno though.
@flashboy I didn't really think they were that great, but I watched that exploration trailer some more and now think the faces are fine.
At least the one big-budget RPG on the Wii U looks to shaping up to be a classic. Can't wait to play this.
Still playing the first one and loving it!! Whoa with the new Xenoblade and a Fire Emblem coming out....................nooooooooooo!!!!! haha
You had me at Xenoblade Chronicles, WITH MECHS. Seriously, I already pre-ordered, I don't need more reasons!
I actually bought a Wii U for this game. The other games I've since bought are just bonuses!
I put over 90 hours into the original, so I'm a bit worried. I also would prefer a more linear storyline; hopefully one will evolve depending on the stream. Exploration appeals to me.
What level were you lot when you got to the end of the game,for the ones who have completed xc
Any improvements to the battle system are most welcome. I'm currently playing Xenoblade Chronicles and the battle system is holding me back some what. Fantastic game though.
Can't wait for this game. Definitely will be getting this game day one.
@triforcepower73
Wow, take it easy buddy, no need to get offended. Also, lessen the use of the word accuse.
Regardless, yes, his music suffers from being the same. In the anime community many people are getting sick of his uninspired, rehashed music. Just because it worked for AoT and Unicorn and many other shows, doesn't mean he shouldn't mix it up. It's called fatigue by the way.
And he doesn't reuse melodies, he uses the same music.
Soul Link and Ao no Exorcist (which I really like) are the only different ones. Even AnE sounds somewhat similar, but different enough.
If Kondo composed the exact same music for all Zelda games, then the music would get boring after a while. But they mix old and new, Sawano doesn't.
Aldnoah's music isn't even that good. The music feels like it wants to be epic, that doesn't make it good, and being derivative doesn't help. Look at Hisaishi, Kohei Tanaka, Yoshihisa Hirano, among others, for actually good music. They reuse some melodies, but they don't rehash shamelessly. And ACE+, who I only know through Xenoblade, seem to have better production values.
And finally, the music in the trailers sounds absolutely no different than the rest of his music.
if this has a god online coop free roam and do what you want this will be one of the greatest games of all time!
I'm so hyped! I sure hope it releases in the west sooner rather than later. As in, not Christmas.
@Ugslick I know what's been announced, but the fact that neither of us have played it means neither of us know much more than that. They mentioned at E3 of the game having more connections to Xenoblade Chronicles... so I just want to see what they are. And at this time, neither of us know. lol
It's too bad it's gonna have to compete with Final Fantasy XV which is surely going to get all the hype and buzz while Xenoblade will be forgotten, being a Wii U exclusive of a lesser known franchise. But us Nintendo fans all know what the best RPG of the year is gonna be!
@King47 Um I don't know what to say to someone who denies that Sawano has better production values than ACE+. A simple way to put a damper in that argument is that ACE+ doesn't always use live strings/orchestra/band to record their compositions while Sawano always uses live instruments or at least really top-of-the-line MIDI to make it sound identical to a live orchestra. Also Aldnoah Zero's music doesn't try to be epic. It is epic.
Anyway, I don't think I'll change your opinion anytime soon because you seem to be pretty firmly set against Sawano's music. Maybe XCX will change your perception of him. And you won't be changing my opinion of him anytime soon because I'm pretty firmly set for Sawano. But here's one last bit of food for thought. Takahashi knows who to get for good music. Every single one of his past games has had at least a good soundtrack, if not, really great. Why do you think he would have hired Sawano if he didn't see something in him that he liked, and known that he could get a good soundtrack out of him. Takahashi takes the OSTs of his games very seriously-well he takes everything seriously, but you get my point. So obviously he chose Sawano for a reason, and while some people like you are skeptical of that reason, even cynical, people like me already know why he hired the man for the job. Just wait and see. Maybe you'll be surprised.
I think Xenoblade actually surpassed Zelda as my most anticipated game of the year in the last few weeks. It looks absolutely incredible.
I love my Zelda series and old school SNES era RPG's.... Would I like this? Looks incredible! Is it fairly complicated and hard to get into?
@Lukey64000 Yes.
This might be the game that makes me buy a Wii U
Still hoping for a sweet collector's edition to go along with this game.
@Lukey64000 it's the old-school SNES RPG you could only have dreamed of back in the '90s.
I normally hate RPG's but this game sounds awesome I may give it a shot anyway...
@Lukey64000
Xenoblade was a lot less linear than any Zelda game or an old-school SNES RPG. This plays closer to a kind of combination of modern Fallout and Dragon Age. Battles use menus, but are active and lively--much more intense than a battle in say, Final Fantasy III (VI) from the SNES.
Xenoblade was hailed as a kind of revival of the JRPG when it released, but the reason it was so well received was that it dumped a lot of traditional JRPG tropes. It wasn't linear, the battles weren't a dull slog of menu selections, the leveling system was far more complex, the exploration was player-driven, and the world was much, much bigger. It succeeded by being more WRPG than JRPG, but combining elements of both.
It's quite nothing at all like a Zelda game, and quite far removed from old-school SNES RPG's. It is a completely unique experience.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
@Quorthon So just.... Amazingly sold! Off to pre-order! Cheers all! 😊😊😊
@Lukey64000
I'll also add that for the bulk of the last generation, I spent most of my time on the Xbox 360 as it featured the games I wanted to play. Xenoblade Chronicles pulled me away from there for a wonderful 115 hours. The ending got a little long-winded (I thought I was near the end at about 95 hours--boy, was I wrong about that).
They'll have a tough time making a more catchy tune than Colony 9's music
I'm a little bit skeptical about this game. Whenever people making a sequel say it is going to be "biggerer and betterer" than the previous one I'm always a little cautious. Because what it can often mean is the creators miss what made the first one so great and forge on to create something unwieldy and a little out of touch with its own series.
Could exceed 300 hours? Gosh I hope that's a very liberal estimate just being thrown out for marketing. I don't have time to spend 300 hours on something like a video game. And I'm sure plenty of other people don't either.
A map 5 TIMES THE SIZE?! OVER 300 HOURS?! Yes!! 😄
I mean, I was sold from the first trailer, and even now I can't see how this can get any better. I recently read an article that the ff XV developers were aiming to make their game a 50 hour experience, and can I just say, 50 hours is LAME compared to the 300 glorious hours I will spend in this experience.
Making video games longer and longer and longer is a huge mistake. A large portion of the audience who buys console video games are now adults. And wouldn't you guess, but adults don't have time to spend 300 hours on one game. Longer is not automatically better.
@King47
Wow, you're one obnoxious kid.
Your first mistake is criticizing someone who is without a doubt infinitely more talented than yourself. Sure, you're a consumer, and it's your right to criticize that which you consume. That doesn't change the fact that you'll come off as extremely obnoxious.
Second, you mistake opinion for fact. What you're saying is clearly just your own personal opinion. It's perfectly fine to express your opinion, but not the way you do it. You present your opinion as though it was fact, and refuse to listen to triforcepower when he calls you out on it (and you will just roll your eyes when you read this).
When you use the sentence "In the anime community this and that", it's obvious that you're exaggerating anecdotal occurrences to support your own case. Such an argument has no ground. It's a popular argumentation style, but it's not a valid one. It's ambiguous and overly generalized, making it basically impossible for someone to disprove it. A lot of people use these kinds of arguments because they can get away with it. But the only message you're sending is that you don't have any real arguments up your sleeves.
I may come off as harsh, but I really think you should rethink the way you conduct yourself. I might be blowing this out of proportion, but it gets on my nerves when people don't use proper reasoning.
On topic: What does this even mean?
"the online aspect is aiming to have players loosely connected, giving a sense of 'solidarity' without a constant awareness of other players"
How does online play without awareness of other players even work? This throws my whole understanding of the game in whack. If I can't do quests with my friends, I'll be utterly disappointed.
@Fazermint My guess is that it'll just have a few other players spawn into your world, while you're simultaneously spawning in theirs. Think Destiny, but with less people around.
Tap here to load 94 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...