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July 6, 2015   Wii U   28 Comments

The Wii Lacking HD Ultimately Hurt Monolith Soft with Xenoblade Chronicles X

Xenoblade Chronicles X 4

While Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles X are both fine titles. The lack of the Wii being HD ultimately hurt Xenoblade Chronicles X’s development, due to Monolith Soft “being several years behind others in the development of an HD title”. This was in response to users leaving feedback about Xenoblade Chronicles X. However, Takahashi feels as this was a necessary step. The experience will ready him for his next title, where he plans to focus more on story.

Here is a list of feedback users left for Monolith Soft:

  • - A richer, more passionate story
  • - UI was difficult to use
  • - Battle system was a bit too complex
  • – Letters are too small
    – Inviting other party members was tedious
    – It would be cool to be able to go into out-space
    – Fans more lively online features in Monolith Soft’s next title

Takahashi concluded his thoughts below:

“Being several years behind others in the development of an HD title and taking into account Monolith Soft’s company size, there are just some thing that we could not achieve, which couldn’t be helped, but in order to move on towards the next step, there was no avoiding this. And that is the truth.”

Source: Siliconera

Author: Francis@PE (18964 Posts)


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  • Kris Godwin

    It’ll be interesting to see how Western gamers will respond to the game - considering the different tastes from the Japanese.

    Either way, I CAN’T WAIT to play this :)

  • fitmclaren

    http://playeressence.com/xenoblade-chronicles-x-is-laying-the-groundwork-for-hd-development-at-monolith-soft/?relatedposts_hit=1&relatedposts_origin=94900&relatedposts_position=0

    From that article, a jump to HD was difficult, so Monolift Soft decided to take it easy because they didn’t want to put too much stress on themselves. Nintendo, as a company, struggled to adjust to HD development, since they been making SD games for over a decade(started with the Gamecube). SD games takes a lot less resources, money, and work hours than an HD game. Fully adapting to HD takes time.

    From that being said, Xenoblade Chronicles X is still a fantastic game. Just because Monolift Soft struggle a little bit because of HD development, doesn’t mean that XC X is a bad game. No game is perfect. A few small issues should not deem XC X unworthy of being a great title. I am beginning to see that people are really trying to find ways to bash Nintendo every chance they get, even for something very small and insignificant.

    • TheFoxshot

      Great comment, you said everything that was in my mind.

      Xenoblade Chronicles X is going to be an incredible game. But I understand what fans meant by wanting a “richer and more passionate story.” They’re basically asking for a Xenogears/Xenosaga level of story telling like Takahasi used to do a long time ago.

      The story in Xenogears and Xenosaga were deep and crazy packed full of emotional scenarios and epic moments. However, it came at a price, the game’s overall content.

      Xenogears got hit with a severe budget limit and time crunch, causing the second half of the game to feel rushed. Xenosaga suffered the same situation but was worse: it was meant to be 6 episodes instead of 3 episodes.

      Xenogears and Xenosaga’s gameplay were fun, traditonal style turnbase combat full of arts, tech, magic, and combos. But the games original length in content suffered considering how ambitious the stories were.

      So far, the Xenoblade series are the only Xeno games Takahasi actually completed in terms of both story and overall content satisfaction of the JRPG. Now if Takahasi could combine the level of content and gameplay from the Xenoblade series with the level of depth and complexity of the Xenogears/Xenosaga series, then we will have a damn good JRPG in our hands. But that already sounds too ambitious, which is perfect for Monolithsoft.

  • Travis Touchdown

    No…? All of Nintendo had problems adapting to HD. No… EVERYONE had problems adapting to HD. It simply wasn’t an easy jump to make for anyone. There’s a reason why so many studios closed last gen.

    There was absolutely nothing wrong with the Wii not being HD.

    • ex_mp4

      the problem is for developer they were late for adaptation, late for learning the hd because there is no device that can be used for experiment, it the same problem with retro, they are still learning, so if the competitor has already experience on HD, and the dev from nintendo not experience, it could be a problem with the development of the game, such as too long to produce/bug etc, dev need to evolved, but when the device is not support it then it will stuck in there

    • Kris Godwin

      I agree. So many studios went bankrupt last gen, because of the sudden huge expenses of the (then) new HD format.

      Nintendo was smart to delay HD development, until the cost went down a bit.

  • Frankie4Fingers1983

    So x isn’t a good game now?

    • ex_mp4

      still good in story, but maybe a little down from previous xeno, this is why im afraid the late of the localization, people will get a lot of spoiler, and judge the game was not good

      • Frankie4Fingers1983

        It just amazes me to see that ever since e3 Nintendo has been dumped on. This game was being heralded as a master achievement and now ppl are acting like it’s so so.

        This game looks amazing still

    • Kris Godwin

      From what I’ve read, it’s an amazing game - but the actual story is de-emphasised in favour of actually exploring the world, which is fine by me!

  • uPadWatcher

    Let’s hope that Monolith Soft will focus on making a sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles X for Nintendo’s new generation system (“NX”). After watching the Treehouse Live game play last month, I was completely hooked at this JRPG presented for the first time in full English. Definitely gonna purchase this game and an external hard drive. Directors Takahashi and Kojima can have all of our cash come December 4th.

  • Siu Leung

    I wouldn’t mind Nintendo making Monolith Soft bigger to make up for the additional resources that comes along with being in HD.

    • Siu Leung

      And while we are at it…Nintendo also needs to give the team responsible for Splatoon a bigger budget!

      • http://playeressence.com/ PlayerEssence

        The way Splatoon is selling, Nintendo is probably already making a sequel for NX.
        This is Nintendo’s biggest new franchise since Pikmin or Animal Crossing.

        • uPadWatcher

          The sad part is that I haven’t gotten Splatoon yet, Francis… but you’ve deliberately hit the bull’s eye on that one. Over 1 million sold globally and STILL kicking butt!

        • Guidosaur

          Man I really hope there’s a Pikmin 4 soon

          • http://playeressence.com/ PlayerEssence

            I’ll be honest…. I don’t think that’s best for NX. Pikmin 3 launched on Wii U and didn’t do much to sell systems outside of Japan.

          • Guidosaur

            I don’t really mean to sell systems, I just wanna play another Pikmin game lol

          • http://playeressence.com/ PlayerEssence

            But the NX needs to be successful if you want more games. Nintendo shouldn’t risk it with another Pikmin game early in the NX’s life. They did that with Wii U and it didn’t work.

            But I completely understand that a lot of people like Pikmin and want another one, I just don’t think Nintendo should count on it early like they did with Wii U.

          • Guidosaur

            Yeah I don’t mean it should be a launch game meant to push units because I’m sure it wouldn’t. As a niche series I really look forward to a sequel at some point though. One good thing about the Wii U being pretty lackluster is that I tried games I’d have never played without a drought lol.

          • CapableTie

            They should get the ball rolling with their big guns, then bring out Pikmin 4. On Wii U wasn’t it their first exclusive outside of launch? They shouldn’t make that mistake again.

          • http://playeressence.com/ PlayerEssence

            Yeah, Pikmin 3 didn’t improve console sales outside of Japan much. I personally think they should spend that money on a console Golden Sun or open World RPG to get people excited.

          • Travis Touchdown

            Gee, it’s not like Pikmin 4 could come out for the Wii U or anything.

          • http://playeressence.com/ PlayerEssence

            I doubt it based on what Miyamoto is currently working on and how long a quality Pikmin title could take to make. Not to mention Pikmin 3 sales have stalled greatly, I doubt Nintendo would approve the budget for another game on Wii U. But I guess its a possibility.

      • Hardin Twentyfive

        Hell yeah

  • Dark Shidara

    Meaning Nintendo needs to Git Gud and Give not only Monolith Soft but we the Gamers a more Powerful Console.

  • Dark Shidara

    Meaning Nintendo needs to Git Gud and Give not only Monolith Soft but we the Gamers a more Powerful Console.

  • Jet Hammer

    “It would be cool to be able to go into out-space” is implying a sequel in the same universe.