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Let's begin with Xenosaga...
A couple years back Bamco claimed that a modern release of Xenosaga would not be profitable enough for them, a conclusion which probably took into account the recent success of Xenoblade 2. There was speculation about a possible disagreement between Harada and Nintendo since the former personally wanted Monolith Soft in charge of the project, while Nintendo would probably not be happy with their best developers working on a multiplatform release. Part of this seems to no longer be true as the Baten Kaitos duology releases in a few weeks and it seems to be Switch-exclusive, so it seems than Bamco is fine with releasing remasters of niche RPGs on a single platform.
It's also worth mentioning that despite a remaster of the Xenosaga trilogy being more expensive to make than Baten Kaitos (3 games vs 2), Xenosaga would probably benefit from Xenoblade's popularity and at the same time being more appealing to modern audiences IMHO.
I believe that a remaster of the trilogy with Monolith Soft involvement would be the most probable outcome here, as the games still look great for the most part and a remake or reimagining would be too expensive for Bamco.
Xenogears
Unlike Xenosaga, the Xenogears front has been very quiet for a long time. Xenosaga has had a modest presence in the last decade, with characters like KOS-MOS and T-elos appearing in a couple of Monolith Soft projects like Project X Zone and Xenoblade 2. Xenogears, on the other hand, has been untouched by their original creators for over 20 years, with its only presence being tacky cameos in random low-budget S-E titles. Between this and Harada wanting MS back in the series, it's easy to see why there is more hope for Xenosaga returning instead of Square-Enix bringing back Xenogears, however the idea of Square and Nintendo collaborating in an exclusive release might be more likely than we thought it was.
Just like Baten Kaitos, the Super Mario RPG remake releases this year, with both titles being considered unlikely to happen for a long time. Obviously Xenogears doesn't have the same appeal as SMRPG, but it's one of the most beloved titles in the Square-Enix back catalog and the company has recently shown interest in rereleasing cult classics like Live A Live.
There is of course the possibility that S-E releases a port of Xenogears without any input from MS, which sounds good on paper and the game being on more platforms is also a plus. What is worrisome about this is that S-E doesn't have a great record with its PSX rereleases. The Chrono Cross port last year didn't had a lot of enhancements to the point that you are not missing a lot if you play the original release. The HD version of Final Fantasy IX was shamelessly ported from mobile to PC and consoles, and I believe the PC version also had issues with the save files.
Xenogears being remade from scratch doesn't seem that unlikely considering that S-E has remade niche titles like the aforementioned Live A Live and Trials of Mana, but a hypothetical remake of the PSX classic would involve a bigger scope and bigger expectations that S-E might be afraid to tackle. The remake being handled by MS and Nintendo would be the best way to avoid a Secret of Mana situation, but I really think this is the least likely scenario.
So, what are you expecting from Xenogears and Xenosaga in the near future, and what are your hopes and dreams regarding these classics?
A couple years back Bamco claimed that a modern release of Xenosaga would not be profitable enough for them, a conclusion which probably took into account the recent success of Xenoblade 2. There was speculation about a possible disagreement between Harada and Nintendo since the former personally wanted Monolith Soft in charge of the project, while Nintendo would probably not be happy with their best developers working on a multiplatform release. Part of this seems to no longer be true as the Baten Kaitos duology releases in a few weeks and it seems to be Switch-exclusive, so it seems than Bamco is fine with releasing remasters of niche RPGs on a single platform.
It's also worth mentioning that despite a remaster of the Xenosaga trilogy being more expensive to make than Baten Kaitos (3 games vs 2), Xenosaga would probably benefit from Xenoblade's popularity and at the same time being more appealing to modern audiences IMHO.
I believe that a remaster of the trilogy with Monolith Soft involvement would be the most probable outcome here, as the games still look great for the most part and a remake or reimagining would be too expensive for Bamco.
Xenogears
Unlike Xenosaga, the Xenogears front has been very quiet for a long time. Xenosaga has had a modest presence in the last decade, with characters like KOS-MOS and T-elos appearing in a couple of Monolith Soft projects like Project X Zone and Xenoblade 2. Xenogears, on the other hand, has been untouched by their original creators for over 20 years, with its only presence being tacky cameos in random low-budget S-E titles. Between this and Harada wanting MS back in the series, it's easy to see why there is more hope for Xenosaga returning instead of Square-Enix bringing back Xenogears, however the idea of Square and Nintendo collaborating in an exclusive release might be more likely than we thought it was.
Just like Baten Kaitos, the Super Mario RPG remake releases this year, with both titles being considered unlikely to happen for a long time. Obviously Xenogears doesn't have the same appeal as SMRPG, but it's one of the most beloved titles in the Square-Enix back catalog and the company has recently shown interest in rereleasing cult classics like Live A Live.
There is of course the possibility that S-E releases a port of Xenogears without any input from MS, which sounds good on paper and the game being on more platforms is also a plus. What is worrisome about this is that S-E doesn't have a great record with its PSX rereleases. The Chrono Cross port last year didn't had a lot of enhancements to the point that you are not missing a lot if you play the original release. The HD version of Final Fantasy IX was shamelessly ported from mobile to PC and consoles, and I believe the PC version also had issues with the save files.
Xenogears being remade from scratch doesn't seem that unlikely considering that S-E has remade niche titles like the aforementioned Live A Live and Trials of Mana, but a hypothetical remake of the PSX classic would involve a bigger scope and bigger expectations that S-E might be afraid to tackle. The remake being handled by MS and Nintendo would be the best way to avoid a Secret of Mana situation, but I really think this is the least likely scenario.
So, what are you expecting from Xenogears and Xenosaga in the near future, and what are your hopes and dreams regarding these classics?