Topic: What do you prefer Monolith to be working on??

It's no mystery Monolith Soft are working on a new game, but I'm curious how many of us want it to be Xenoblade 3 or something entirely new.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive is probably one of my favourite games of all time, while having some issues with X and 2 I still think they're great games but I wonder what they could make if they decided to steer away from that series for the meantime. They hired a lot of new blood over the past couple of years and I'm wondering if they're experimenting with different gameplay styles and writing philosophies.

On a side note I want them to take a more active approach to side-quest storytelling next time around. There is a lot of side content in the Xenoblade games which is, lightly put, uninteresting. It adds to the overall time for completionists but adds little to the main story and world aside from a select few quests. If that aspect was polished up a bit in their next entry whatever it is, it could easily turn into a 10/10 experience. Monolith Soft is well known for building unique and thought-out, intricate worlds.

@Varkster I'd like a new game similar to Xenoblade X, with the originals battle system. I'm kinda ok with Nopon being wiped from existence.

If they do Mechs again, I hope they make them feel cooler. I want it to be like when you get in a vehicle in EDF.

The correct answer Baten Kaitos 3 of course.

@Magician If we're going niche why not go all out? Disaster: Day of Crisis 2 with Nopon added in for no good reason.

@Wargoose I think some of the things that bothered me in X, which was otherwise a very ambitious game and had many elements going in its favour are the unvoiced protagonist, even bigger emphasis on grinding than before and noticeably weaker character designs than the other 2 iterations. The environments and monsters as always looked unique and amazing and the world was interesting, but that's kind of Monolith Soft's biggest strength. That's why they help Nintendo out with more ambitious large scale worlds like Breath of the Wild.

Xenoblade 2 has a lot of great elements as well, unfortunately the two main protagonist voices sorta bothered me...Rex and Pyra aren't near the level of emotion you hear from any of the named protagonists in the original in my opinion, which is a shame. There are also a lot more of those trope-y "anime moments" in 2 than there ever was in the predecessors, which made me feel slightly sour about the full experience. Then again, without those moments you wouldnt have characters like Zeke getting a laugh out of me.

Honestly with the next entry I want them to try and take a more grounded approach to storytelling and design. Not every JRPG has to follow the same rules of growing from wooden swords to killing god. The studio clearly has some strong thematic storytelling so I thought maybe it would be interesting to see them create something much calmer.

Judging by how Future Connected ended it makes me wonder if it's somehow related to the next game they're making, since barely anything was explained about the main antagonist in that epilogue and it was being developed by the same team that's working on the next title.

Hopefully we can find out what that is soon enough, judging by their track record I wouldn't be surprised if the next game is announced between now and next year's E3 Direct.

@Varkster Love the question! In my ideal world... I'd love for there to be two teams. One is porting Xenoblade X to the Switch, or maybe that's outsourced. And the other's making a new Xenoblade game. They have a stunning game design philosophy, and they have a lot of fans thanks to the Xenoblade IP. I think strengthening this brand is important for now. But they've always had a knack for trying new things in every new game.

I loved X's open world design, and by extension the Skells, so seeing mechs in the game would be amazing. But I'd also agree with you that we don't need to end up killing a god. I'd also like them to tell a story without anime tropes or whatever. They tried it, they did alright, and let's move on.

Xenoblade DE's artstyle's a good one to build upon, because they have noses, the world looks lush, and the characters' expressions are easy to notice.

@CactusMan Who wouldn't? It's such a great game that deserves so much more than what it got. I've said it a few times already in the past but put the two Zelda games and Xenoblade X on the Switch and my use for my Wii U is officially gone!

New Animal Crossing games on Switch.

@CactusMan
The Sims 7 before The Sims 5 & 6 ? 😆

@Anti-Matter Sometimes you can be really confusing.

@TheJGG I think they've confirmed a long time ago in an article that their main team was working on Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition with the expansion as well as a brand new title. They've also released some concept art-looking things that look sort of medieval, which is new because a lot of their games so far have been very oriented on sci-fi. Then they've also hired new people with emphasis on 'action experience', but the Xenoblade Chronicles games are technically also considered action JRPGs so that doesn't say too much.

Mind you all this doesn't mean that the same team isn't now working on a port of X as well. Their team seemingly doubled in size over the past few years and either the staff from Definitive Edition started a completely different project once they finished that remake or they joined in with the rest of the team to make the next big game.

Knowing Monolith Soft I really doubt they would go for the typical medieval fantasy RPG, they would have their own strange twist on it.

I was also wondering if perhaps the Warriors team would have been interested in making a spin-off game for the Xenoblade series. There is already an armada of characters in those 3 games with unique weapons and abilities you could work into a game of that style along with many different factions and villains which could be used as fodder. It would fit nicely with the themes of those games as well, since time manipulation and dimensional rifts connecting worlds together isn't anything new to the series. The games have recently become quite popular worldwide thanks to Xenoblade 2 and Definitive Edition, it wouldn't be unheard of.

After Alpha Dream, I kinda don't want Nintendo developers to be stuck on one series forever again. Like Monolith Soft has already put out 3 original gigantic RPGs in this series, plus an expansion, plus both the 3DS and Switch version of the original. Considering they probably have an X port in their back pocket if needed, yeah, obviously do something new.

I honestly just want Xenoblade 3. Hoping that if they make it, it will be more like the original in terms of tone, and have better tutorials for it’s combat system.

I wonder if they'll ever make a xenoblade cronicles sequel that brings back the original characters? I wanna see the further adventures of Shulk and the gang!

I would much rather see a new game. That artwork of the girl, which looks to have a somewhat medieval vibe, seems promising to me. I'm kinda done with the Xenoblade aesthetic, personally.

@Zeldafan79 I would say no, simply due to Xenoblade having a very definitive ending and Melia's arc, which was probably the only arc with a tragic, unsatisfying end, was concluded in the expansion. A sequel would really mess with the themes of the first game as well. Sure, you could bring in other planets into the equation and such, but judging by the nature of the world it would be kind of jarring if there are races which are advanced enough to appear on Shulk's new planet within his lifespan.

It may be possible that they expand on the 'dimensional rift' idea from Melia's DLC but even then it's hard to imagine a satisfying story coming out of it when the characters have already concluded their story arcs. It won't be as interesting as meeting them all for the first time and learning about their lives and personalities.

Looking at the inferior FFIV: The After Years and FFX-2 to their original counterparts I will probably stand by that opinion until proven otherwise.

@VoidofLight Honestly Xenoblade 2's tutorials needed a lot of work, but their rough implementation was probably also due to just how much s*** you had to consider when in battle. The game starts much more simple than the other two games and by the middle point evolves to an extent where you feel like you need to do active algebraic equations in the middle of fights.

A good skill ceiling is never a bad thing but the huge amount of little mechanics to consider feels overdone and overwhelming.

I can't imagine people putting the game down for a few months then coming back to it. You'd feel extremely lost and most people would likely just put the controller down and move on at that point. This is all in a 100 hour JRPG where that stopping point could happen for any variety of reasons.

@kkslider5552000 I'm fairly sure Nintendo is quite good at giving most of their first party studios the freedom to choose what they want to work on next, especially when the company is doing really well (which seems to be the case with the Switch). I'm guessing that's why we saw a bunch of more obscure IPs in the recent Nintendo Direct.

I'd say the only companies which are forever doomed to make the same game series are the main studios behind Mario and Zelda games, and even then they often bring in people to assist from other studios and presumably do the same in return to get different opinions and levels of experience for their games.

This is all observation though, I'm no uncle that works at Nintendo.

To be frank, I don't care what they are working on. I love the studio's games and I would be just as excited over a new IP as I would a new Xenoblade game. So, I'm happy to be surprised with their next announcement.

Aren't they working on Botw 2? I hear they did help with development on the original so i assume they probably had something to do with the sequel.

I'd like to see another game like X or, failing that, a port of the original to the Switch with a few improvements and a new epilogue that makes some sense of the ending.

So far as their work on other Nintendo games goes, I believe the studio is organized into two production units. One of these has pretty much just made Xenoblade games full time, while the other provides development assistance for other Nintendo titles. As such, the fact that they've been working on Animal Crossing/Splatoon/Zelda doesn't preclude another Xenoblade game being in the pipeline.

Baten Kaitos is probably a bit of a stretch though.

As long as it is a big title like the Xenoblade games, I am fine with anything, be it Xenoblade 3 or a new IP.

I wouldn't mind an X port either as long as it doesn't push back the release of a new title, but if they do that they really need to conclude the story. The game ends extremely abruptly and feels quite rushed and unpolished in some situations towards the end. WiiU being such a huge flop probably forced them to cut the game short to restrict their budget (like it did with many other WiiU games I guess).