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StarTopic Monolith Soft Development and Speculation |ST|

TheGreatLugia

TheGreatLugia

Tektite
Monolith_Soft_Recruitment_Image_June_2021.jpg



A Brief History

Founded on October 1st, 1999 by former Square staff Tetsuya Takahashi, Yasuyuki Honne, and Hiroyuki Sugiura with the support of Namco founder Masaya Nakamura, Monolith Soft began its life as a Namco subsidiary best known for the Xenosaga series on the PlayStation 2 and the Baten Kaitos series on the Nintendo GameCube.

In April 2007, Nintendo became the majority shareholder for Monolith Soft at 80% while the now merged Bandai Namco retained 16% of the shares. Some of Monolith Soft's earliest titles following this change were Soma Bringer on the Nintendo DS and Disaster: Day of Crisis on the Nintendo Wii.

On June 10, 2010 in Japan, Monolith Soft released Xenoblade Chronicles on the Nintendo Wii. What might have seemed like another standalone project from Monolith Soft at the time eventually went on to become the studio's signature franchise during their era at Nintendo. In 2011, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword released. This was the first entry in the Legend of Zelda series that Monolith Soft assisted on, which has continued in the years since. Monolith Soft's Kyoto studio also opened in 2011.

By early 2012, Nintendo had purchased Namco's remaining shares at Monolith Soft, though until 2016 Monolith Soft occasionally worked on Namco published projects like the Project X Zone series for the Nintendo 3DS.

In October 2018, it became publicly known that Monolith Soft's Tokyo studio had been officially split into multiple production divisions when a mass-recruitment page for Production Division 1 went live. The recruitment page was removed in February 2022 but some information from the page is still available on Gematsu and XenoMira. In March 2019, a mass-recruitment page for Production Division 2 went live.

As of December 2022, Monolith Soft has 264 staff in total. According to an interview published on the website in February 2022, Monolith Soft's Kyoto studio has over 30 employees, which would leave the Tokyo studio with roughly 240 staff in total.


Monolith-Soft-New-RPG_10-04-18.jpg



Monolith Soft Tokyo - Production Division 1

Production Division 1 is headed by Tetsuya Takahashi. Its members consist of the Monolith Soft Tokyo staff that have worked on Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Staff in this group previously worked on Xenoblade Chronicles X, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and Xenoblade Chronicles. Takahashi stated in a 2020 Famitsu interview that Production Division 1 began work on both Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (referred to as a new project) and Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition after the completion of Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country.

The staff of Production Division 1 has worked on:
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed (Nintendo Switch, 2023)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Nintendo Switch, 2022)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (Nintendo Switch, 2020)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country (Nintendo Switch, 2018)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Nintendo Switch, 2017)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles X (Nintendo Wii U, 2015)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Nintendo Wii, 2011)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles (Nintendo Wii, 2010)

According to Gematsu's translation, the list of positions when the October 2018 recruitment page for Production Division 1 went live was the following:

Programmers
  • Graphics Programmer
  • Character Control Programmer
  • AI Programmer

Planners
  • Level Designer

Technical Artists
  • Modeling TA
  • Animation TA
  • Effects TA

Designers
  • Map Modeler
  • In-Game Animator
  • Character Modeler
  • Character Designer (Artwork Staff)
  • Script Event Creator

Management and Support Staff
  • Production Assistant
  • Event Production Management
Click to expand...


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Monolith Soft Tokyo - Production Division 2

Production Division 2 has less public information at the moment, but its core members likely consist of the Monolith Soft Tokyo staff that assisted on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Staff in this group previously worked on Xenoblade Chronicles X, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and Xenoblade Chronicles. The division likely also consists of newer staff that were recruited following the completion of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

The staff of Production Division 2 has likely worked on:
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo Switch, 2023)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Expansion Pass (Nintendo Switch, 2017)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo Switch, 2017)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles X (Nintendo Wii U, 2015)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Nintendo Wii, 2011)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles (Nintendo Wii, 2010)

According to Gematsu's translation, the list of positions when the March 2019 recruitment page for Production Division 2 went live includes technical artists, programmers, planners, designers, and a project manager.


Monolith_Soft_Kyoto.jpg



Monolith Soft Kyoto

Founded in 2011, Monolith Soft's Kyoto studio has assisted in projects worked on by the Tokyo studio like the Xenoblade Chronicles series, as well as internal Nintendo projects the Tokyo studio was not involved with such as the Splatoon series, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, and recent entries in the Animal Crossing series. The staff at the Kyoto Studio is mainly focused on artwork and asset creation. Though unconfirmed, they are likely assisting on the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Expansion Pass, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and updates to Splatoon 3. The Kyoto studio has over 30 employees going by a comment in a February 2022 interview.

In addition to working on Monolith Soft Tokyo projects, the staff of Monolith Soft Kyoto has worked on:
  • Splatoon 3 (Nintendo Switch, 2022)
  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 (Nintendo Switch, 2021)
  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo Switch, 2020)
  • Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion (Nintendo Switch, 2018)
  • Splatoon 2 (Nintendo Switch, 2017)
  • Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome Amiibo (Nintendo 3DS, 2016)
  • Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer (Nintendo 3DS, 2015)
  • Splatoon (Nintendo Wii U, 2015)
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (Nintendo 3DS, 2013)
  • Pikmin 3 (Nintendo Wii U, 2013)
  • Animal Crossing: New Leaf (Nintendo 3DS, 2012)


Monolith-Soft_08-20-17_001.jpg



The Mysterious Recruitment Page - What We Know

In August 2017, Monolith Soft posted a mass-recruitment page for their Tokyo studio. According to Gematsu's translation, Monolith Soft was looking for designers, programmers, planners, and management support. In particular, they were seeking staff who had experience with action games. When the recruitment page first went live, the positions were said to be for “an ambitious project different from the brand image of Monolith Soft.” This line was removed from the recruitment page later on, but the rest of the recruitment page is still up on Monolith Soft's website. The recruitment page predates any official mention of Production Divsion 1 or Production Division 2. It only mentioned that the positions were for Monolith Soft's Tokyo studio.

According to Gematsu's translation, the list of positions when the recruitment page went live is as follows:

Designers
  • Character Modeler
  • Map Modeler
  • In-Game Animator
  • Technical Artist
  • Main Character Designer
  • Concept Art Designer

Programmers
  • Character Control Programmer (Action Part)
  • System / Framework Programmer

Planners
  • Planner (Action Part)

Management Support
  • Project Manager
Click to expand...


Monolith_Soft_20th_Anniversary_Image_1_Revision_Horizontal.jpg



Legacy

This is the full history of completed projects Monolith Soft has worked on:

2023:
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Support Developer - Nintendo Switch)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed (Primary Developer - Nintendo Switch)

2022:
  • Splatoon 3 (Support Developer – Nintendo Switch)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Primary Developer - Nintendo Switch)

2021:
  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0 (Support Developer - Nintendo Switch)

2020:
  • Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition (Primary Developer - Nintendo Switch)
  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Support Developer - Nintendo Switch)

2018:
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country (Primary Developer - Nintendo Switch)
  • Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion (Support Developer - Nintendo Switch)

2017:
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Expansion Pass (Support Developer - Nintendo Switch)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Primary Developer - Nintendo Switch)
  • Splatoon 2 (Support Developer - Nintendo Switch)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Support Developer - Nintendo Switch)

2015:
  • Project X Zone 2 (Primary Developer - Nintendo 3DS)
  • Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer (Support Developer - Nintendo 3DS)
  • Splatoon (Support Developer - Nintendo Wii U)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles X (Primary Developer - Nintendo Wii U)

2013:
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (Support Developer - Nintendo 3DS)
  • Pikmin 3 (Support Developer - Nintendo Wii U)
2012:
  • Animal Crossing: New Leaf (Support Developer - Nintendo 3DS)
  • Project X Zone (Primary Developer - Nintendo 3DS)

2011:
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Support Developer - Nintendo Wii)

2010:
  • Xenoblade Chronicles (Primary Developer - Nintendo Wii)
  • Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier Exceed (Primary Developer - Nintendo DS)

2009:
  • Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans (Primary Developer - Nintendo DS)

2008:
  • Disaster: Day of Crisis (Primary Developer - Nintendo Wii)
  • Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier (Primary Developer - Nintendo DS)
  • Soma Bringer (Primary Developer - Nintendo DS)
  • Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Support Developer - Nintendo Wii)

2006:
  • Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra (Primary Developer - PlayStation 2)
  • Xenosaga I & II (Primary Developer - Nintendo DS)
  • Baten Kaitos Origins (Primary Developer - Nintendo GameCube)
  • Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (Support Developer - PlayStation 2)

2005:
  • Namco x Capcom (Primary Developer - PlayStation 2)

2004:
  • Xenosaga: Pied Piper (Primary Developer - Mobile)
  • Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse (Primary Developer - PlayStation 2)
  • Xenosaga Freaks (Primary Developer - Playstation 2)

2003:
  • Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Primary Developer - Nintendo GameCube)
  • Xenosaga Episode I: Reloaded (Primary Developer - Playstation 2)

2002:
  • Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht (Primary Developer - Playstation 2)
 
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Oh HELL yeah I am here for this. Been wondering when we'd get the Monolith thread started. Thanks for taking care of that.

Gotta say whatever Monolith announces next will take the spot of my #1 most anticipated game, without a doubt.
 
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It's kind of incredible how indispensable those folks have become to Nintendo. You have the body of high profile work in the SP but then you you have their asset house that has contributed to Splatoon and Animal Crossing. Amazing. Really hope Future Connected was a good idea of where they're going next. I enjoyed xbc2 through the first time but stuff like the gacha elements have put me off going back.
 
Donnie said:
It's kind of incredible how indispensable those folks have become to Nintendo. You have the body of high profile work in the SP but then you you have their asset house that has contributed to Splatoon and Animal Crossing. Amazing. Really hope Future Connected was a good idea of where they're going next. I enjoyed xbc2 through the first time but stuff like the gacha elements have put me off going back.
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Personally I think Torna would work a bit better than Future Connected as a blueprint of sorts for the next Monolith RPG (Community gating aside). I like Future Connected, but I think it feels more like a bonus chapter. In comparison, I'd say Torna feels more like a small-scale game of its own despite it being developed as DLC for a larger game.
 
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Torna is my favorite Xenoblade experience. Absolute beautiful game from top to bottom.
 
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Torna was great! Definitely would not argue against Torna lol I think Future Connected is the best the combat has ever been for me in one of these games but Torna was awesome and generally fixed everything I didn't love in xbc2. I had actually forgotten about it when I posted lol 😳
 
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Oh, you beat me to it. Lol!

Coincidentally, today is the 22nd anniversary since Monolith Soft was founded. It’s crazy to see how far they’ve come.
 
Holy shit, happy 22nd birthday Monolithsoft! Lol
 
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I really appreciate the fact that both expansions (Torna and Futures Connected) made tweaks and changes to the systems. It shows that the teams are always working to improve how the game plays and toy with new ideas.

I think early next year announcment to an end of year release is possible and would love to see it, but even 2023 would be fine because I just want more Xenoblade!
 
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So great to see this thread here. And really hoping we get Xenoblade 3 next year.
 
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to think I was expecting Xeno 3 at the September Direct....

can't wait for it, whenever they decide to show it!
 
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I remember a few years back, there was a post looking for an artist to be the main artist for the Xenoblade series, did anything came up from that?
 
New Monolith Soft thread, new forum, new month, no employee count update, some things change, some stay the same.
 
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I've finished Xenogears, Xenosaga Episode I and Episode II, Xenoblade, Xenoblade X and Xenoblade 2 (plus Torna). Also finished Disaster Day of Crisis, which I enjoyed a ton, even if it's just a super silly game from start to finish, but it's absolutely worth at least a single play through for those that have the possibility. I'm hoping to be able to finish Xenosaga Episode III before the announcement of whatever is next in the pipeline, but I'm really looking forward to it. Best case scenario I'll be able to pull off Baten Kaitos and Baten Kaitos Origins as well before that time, but time will tell.
 
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I hope we see their new game fairly soon.

I'm confident that we shall be seeing it at the next general Direct (Q1 2022) at the latest.

I also would not rule out a TGA reveal, personally.
 
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TGA will be hella weird for Nintendo, I hope people keep their expectations in check because I feel like several games have similar odds of being the Nintendo announcement for that event and there's no way we get more than one of these: BotW 2, Bayo 3, Xeno3 and an unannounced Capcom game that was leaked that shall not be named feel like the most likely candidates to me. I think BotW 2 has the highest odds because it's already announced and Nintendo's lineup is already stacked, so they might want to save any actual reveals for 2022 on top of having a longer gap between the E3 2021 trailer and this event, it might be too short of a gap to have Bayonetta 3 at TGA when it was also showcased in the latest Direct 2 and a half months earlier.
 
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I'd love for a February Direct reveal and a June launch for Xenoblade 3. Hope that's what we see.
 
Quoted by: ika
1
There's still more I want to add to the OP when I get the chance, but I think it's starting to come together at least.
Colocho said:
I remember a few years back, there was a post looking for an artist to be the main artist for the Xenoblade series, did anything came up from that?
Click to expand...
A few years ago Takahashi mentioned wanting to recruit staff that could potentially become a signature character designer for Monolith Soft in the future. The only project that Takahashi's division has released since then in Xenoblade Definitive Edition, so we likely won't know if they made any progress on that front until the division's next game is revealed.
 
I think we get Xenoblade Chronicles 3 in 2022, but I wouldn't be shocked if it came Q1 2023.

I still have XCX and XC2 in the backlog.
 
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JB2448 said:
I'd love for a February Direct reveal and a June launch for Xenoblade 3. Hope that's what we see.
Click to expand...
That'd be my guess, too. I really wanted to see it in the last Direct with all the speculation, leaks, tweets and so on but oh well, Bayonetta 3 was overdue so I will give them it.
 
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TheGreatLugia said:
There's still more I want to add to the OP when I get the chance, but I think it's starting to come together at least.

A few years ago Takahashi mentioned wanting to recruit staff that could potentially become a signature character designer for Monolith Soft in the future. The only project that Takahashi's division has released since then in Xenoblade Definitive Edition, so we likely won't know if they made any progress on that front until the division's next game is revealed.
Click to expand...
Thanks! I think my biggest wish for this franchise if for them to find a good defining art style, they have mastered everything else.
 
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That's a nice OT, congrats!

And it's fine if we don't get X2 yet, it'll only look better on a future console. It'd be nice to see them tackle something non-Xeno sometime soon, though, even in a different genre.
 
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I just finished making some additional updates to the OP. I couldn't find a full English list of positions from the Production Division 2 recruitment page, so I included Gematsu's summary of the positions instead.

There's an additional section or two I've been thinking of adding to the OP, but I'm on the fence for now about whether they should be included. I think the current OP makes for a decent baseline for this thread, though.
 
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Considering their pedigree lineage from their Squaresoft beginnings, I just hope they rein in their character designs and go for something more reserved.
I've yet to see anything from them that gives away that Squaresoft background.

And tbh, I hope they're working on two games simultaneously, because the Xeno sensibilities are not what I want from jrpgs.
A classic medieval setting jrpg, with a brilliant but unconvuluted battle system would be the dream. Something like Grandia, tbh.
 
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Only thing I want is less sexualization. Otherwise, I can't wait to see which world concept they chose for XC3.
 
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I still think we will see Xenoblade Chronicles X ported to Switch towards the end of its lifecycle, the reason being to fill in scheduling gaps and when XC3 inevitably continues the trend of growing the Xeno franchise.

Really, it’s only a matter of time.
 
Rowsdower said:
I still think we will see Xenoblade Chronicles X ported to Switch towards the end of its lifecycle, the reason being to fill in scheduling gaps and when XC3 inevitably continues the trend of growing the Xeno franchise.

Really, it’s only a matter of time.
Click to expand...
To be fair, If I controlled Nintendo studios, I'd ask them to pivot if they can't do multiple games at once, because at this point, the returns just aren't there with the Xeno series.
Splatoon came out, hit almost 5 million first game and then did hit 12 million on the second, doing almost 20 million in two entries.
Ringfit is pass 10 million first outing.
Pokemon does it asleep at the wheel(and I know Pokemon isn't your average series) but if in 3 outings they've yet to hit 5 million sold, I don't think there's a sizeable audience there. Hitting the horse still ain't it, chief.
 
Uniomni said:
To be fair, If I controlled Nintendo studios, I'd ask them to pivot if they can't do multiple games at once, because at this point, the returns just aren't there with the Xeno series.
Splatoon came out, hit almost 5 million first game and then did hit 12 million on the second, doing almost 20 million in two entries.
Ringfit is pass 10 million first outing.
Pokemon does it asleep at the wheel(and I know Pokemon isn't your average series) but if in 3 outings they've yet to hit 5 million sold, I don't think there's a sizeable audience there. Hitting the horse still ain't it, chief.
Click to expand...
I think a closer point of comparison in terms of sales is the Fire Emblem series. The large boost we've been seeing with Fire Emblem's popularity in recent years stems from Fire Emblem Awakening. Before that point, none of the entries in the series had sold a million copies. Fire Emblem Awakening went on to sell 2.31 million copies in its lifetime. The current best selling entry is Fire Emblem: Three Houses at 3.02 million copies as of June 2020.

Xenoblade Chronicles on Wii and Xenoblade Chronicles X both sold under a million copies, while Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has sold 2.05 million copies as of June 2020. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is the first game led by Monolith Soft to sell 2 million copies in the studio's history, and it was also the first game led by Monolith Soft to sell a million copies since Xenosaga Episode I. In addition, Xenoblade Chronicles 2's sales numbers are beginning to approach Fire Emblem Awakening's lifetime sales.

Additionally, Tetsuya Takahashi said this about the game's sales in an October 2018 interview with USgamer:
"From a sales perspective, I have to say Xenoblade Chronicles 2 exceeded my expectations. We really saw more people pick the game up and experience it in the North American and European territories than we thought would do so."
Click to expand...

Meanwhile, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition sold 1.52 million copies as of March 2021. I don't expect it to reach 2 million, but I think it's still a solid number considering it's the third retail release of the original Xenoblade Chronicles, with neither of the previous releases passing a million copies.

It's also worth remembering that according to Masahiro Sakurai, Nintendo decided on which franchises would have DLC fighters for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This means giving Super Smash Bros. Ultimate a fighter from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was Nintendo's decision. I doubt Nintendo would make this suggestion if they didn't see value in continuing to push the series.

For one additional point of note: It's worth remembering that even if Xenoblade is the one series Monolith Soft is currently leading development on, they are also involved in assisting other Nintendo series. Half of Monolith's Tokyo studio assisted on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Monolith's Kyoto studio has assisted on projects like Splatoon 2 and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Even if Nintendo was not satisfied with Xenoblade's sales numbers in the Switch era (despite evidence to the contrary), Nintendo likely sees value in Monolith providing assistance on various huge franchises.
 
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TheGreatLugia said:
I think a closer point of comparison in terms of sales is the Fire Emblem series. The large boost we've been seeing with Fire Emblem's popularity in recent years stems from Fire Emblem Awakening. Before that point, none of the entries in the series had sold a million copies. Fire Emblem Awakening went on to sell 2.31 million copies in its lifetime. The current best selling entry is Fire Emblem: Three Houses at 3.02 million copies as of June 2020.

Xenoblade Chronicles on Wii and Xenoblade Chronicles X both sold under a million copies, while Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has sold 2.05 million copies as of June 2020. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 the first game led by Monolith Soft to sell 2 million copies in the studio's history, and it was also the first game led by Monolith Soft to sell a million copies since Xenosaga Episode I. In addition, Xenoblade Chronicles 2's sales numbers are beginning to approach Fire Emblem Awakening's lifetime sales.

Additionally, Tetsuya Takahashi said this about the game's sales in an October 2018 interview with USgamer:


Meanwhile, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition sold 1.52 million copies as of March 2021. I don't expect it to reach 2 million, but I think it's still a solid number considering it's the third retail release of the original Xenoblade Chronicles, with neither of the previous releases passing a million copies.

It's also worth remembering that according to Masahiro Sakurai, Nintendo decided on which series have DLC fighters for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This means giving Super Smash Bros. Ultimate a fighter from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was Nintendo's decision. I doubt Nintendo would make this suggestion if they didn't see value in continuing to push the series.

For one additional point of note: It's worth remembering that even if Xenoblade is the series Monolith Soft is currently leading development on, they are also involved in assisting other Nintendo series. Half of Monolith's Tokyo studio assisted on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Monolith's Kyoto studio has assisted on projects like Splatoon 2 and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
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Somehow, I just knew Fire Emblem was going to be referenced as a counterpoint. Let me address it then.
I sincerely feel Fire Emblem's age and legacy is largely why it was still being made, even at the GameCube and Wii low points.
I know internally it was on the block, before Awakening exceeded expectations but imo, that was understandable.
Correct me if I'm wrong but it basically did create the srpg genre, yes? I know Matsuno largely codified the framework that many associate with the genre, but Fire Emblem is the pioneering series, iirc.
That alone, would keep me making them, but if Fire Emblem was just a new series in an already old genre and it was dropping duds, at least in comparison to the rest of my first party titans, after three tries and no big response, I'd try something else.
I'm not saying Xenoblade should sell 10-15 million easy, but if by the third game on a 3rd party exclusive starved userbase, the response is still tepid, back to the drawing board we go. Keep making them, surely but not as priority 1 imo.
 
And I do acknowledge the utility of Monolithsoft, in regards to aiding other big games development processes.
 
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Rowsdower said:
I still think we will see Xenoblade Chronicles X ported to Switch towards the end of its lifecycle, the reason being to fill in scheduling gaps and when XC3 inevitably continues the trend of growing the Xeno franchise.

Really, it’s only a matter of time.
Click to expand...
I really hope so. I've played XCDE recently and it's now one of my favorite games ever. Xeno 2 has been good so far, with some issues. After Xeno 3 comes out, i'll be waiting for a XCX port, the game looks amazing and it can happen once Monolithsoft wraps up their work on Xeno 3.
 
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Uniomni said:
Somehow, I just knew Fire Emblem was going to be referenced as a counterpoint. Let me address it then.
I sincerely feel Fire Emblem's age and legacy is largely why it was still being made, even at the GameCube and Wii low points.
I know internally it was on the block, before Awakening exceeded expectations but imo, that was understandable.
Correct me if I'm wrong but it basically did create the srpg genre, yes? I know Matsuno largely codified the framework that many associate with the genre, but Fire Emblem is the pioneering series, iirc.
That alone, would keep me making them, but if Fire Emblem was just a new series in an already old genre and it was dropping duds, at least in comparison to the rest of my first party titans, after three tries and no big response, I'd try something else.
I'm not saying Xenoblade should sell 10-15 million easy, but if by the third game on a 3rd party exclusive starved userbase, the response is still tepid, back to the drawing board we go. Keep making them, surely but not as priority 1 imo.
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For the record I'd be fine with Monolith Soft working on both a new IP and the Xenoblade series. My only concern would be whether Monolith Soft has enough staff to handle both projects while also assisting on Zelda and other Nintendo series.

Regarding Fire Emblem: I don't believe the first entry was the birth of the turn-based strategy RPG, but I believe it might have popularized the genre.

In general though, I think it makes more sense to compare Xenoblade's sales numbers to other RPG series. For context, 5 million copies are the sorts of numbers Final Fantasy VII Remake hit a couple of months after launch. A single entry selling as "little" as 5 million copies lifetime would be considered ridiculous for a JRPG that didn't have AAA level budget and marketing behind it. The only time I can remember it happening is with Nier: Automata and even then, Nier Replicant 1.5 "only" sold a million copies in its first 1-2 months on the market this year despite following up on Automata and its ridiculous sales numbers.

In general though, I don't really think there's any indication Monolith or Nintendo aren't satisfied with how the series is selling on Switch.
 
Can't believe it's been 22 years for them. They sure made their mark on Nintendo history, it's kinda amazing how quickly they rose from a new acquisition that might make some small RPG's for Nintendo to what is basically a pillar of their development pipeline. Many people have said it before, but this is one of the industry acquisitions that I think turned out best and worked out for both parties involved, hope that Next Level can have a similar trajectory.

Very interested to see what they have in store for the future and while I am very excited at the prospect of Xenoblade 3, I also hope they have something else original in the pipeline as well. If only to see them experiment with a different type of combat system and gameplay loop, as I feel the Xeno series is already pretty fluid with elements like story and setting.

Finally what do we have to do to summon the return of the Baten Kaitos series, still some of the most beautiful world design( those amazing per-rendered backgrounds ) I've encountered in RPG's and a pretty fantastic scenario/story as well. Maybe we can all band together an use reverse psychology on Bandai Namco, since they don't seem too interested in the Switch.
 
CJ_arcadian said:
Finally what do we have to do to summon the return of the Baten Kaitos series, still some of the most beautiful world design( those amazing per-rendered backgrounds ) I've encountered in RPG's and a pretty fantastic scenario/story as well. Maybe we can all band together an use reverse psychology on Bandai Namco, since they don't seem too interested in the Switch.
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Perhaps we should offer to redesign their logo in return for Baten Kaitos and Xenosaga on Switch?
 
chocolate_supra said:
Perhaps we should offer to redesign their logo in return for Baten Kaitos and Xenosaga on Switch?
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I don't think I would be able to help myself from trying to rename them something to the effect of Baten Kaitos & Ridge Racer Co. or maybe something classier like
Baten Racer & associates. In an effort to force their hand to working on these two series forever. But we could definitely design them a better logo as long as they gave us like 20 minutes to prepare and allowed us the use of our eyes.

Well Bamco if your reading this, the ball's in your court now.
 
Hi everyone! New to the forum, soooo excited to see what Monolith Soft is cooking. I love making high quality GIFs so you'll occasionally see me posting them. For example, I couldn't find a high quality GIF of their logo for hype moments and anticipation, so I made one!

T408u8p.gif


Also a GIF of Torna the Golden Country:


94o7mUG.gif
 
Procheno said:
Hi everyone! New to the forum, soooo excited to see what Monolith Soft is cooking. I love making high quality GIFs so you'll occasionally see me posting them. For example, I couldn't find a high quality GIF of their logo for hype moments and anticipation, so I made one!

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good lord their motion logo gives me ᴇᴍᴏᴛɪᴏɴs
 
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WHERE IS MY XENOBLADE X PORT WITH A NON BLUE BALLING EPILOGUE!!!!

its slightly sad Xenoblade X still like the last WiiU game not ported to Switch ;____;
 
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Please let Yasuyuki Honne make another game with those beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds. It doesn't have to be Baten Kaitos. He has expressed interest in doing something original with their Kyoto studio in 2018 and they'd be perfect for a spiritual successor to BK.
 
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Dunban said:
Please let Yasuyuki Honne make another game with those beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds. It doesn't have to be Baten Kaitos. He has expressed interest in on doing something original with their Kyoto studio in 2018 and they'd be perfect for a spiritual successor to BK.
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Or diorama backgrounds like Fantasian. ❤️
 
With all the Nintendo news since the September direct, my only disappointment is not seeing Xenoblade 3.

I can forgive it, though, as I know in my heart that it'll be ready for a spring release. It has to be.

Here's hoping it'll continue the trajectory of 2's sales and will bring the series to Persona popularity.

Also, I am convinced Xenoblade X will get a port, the only question in my mind is if they'll port it to the Switch after Xeno 3, or if they'll make a Definitive Edition for the successor.

Imagine Mira in 4k...
 
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