Xenoblade Chronicles (series)

Future of the series

In October 2018, the 1st production division of Monolith Soft, led by series creator Tetsuya Takahashi, started hiring for a new RPG project in the style of previous Xenoblade Chronicles titles.^[6][7] Takahashi said that while a continuation to Xenoblade Chronicles X is possible, the next game may go in a different direction as he often gets bored with the last project.^[8] In addition to pursuing a new direction for the series, series producer Koh Kojima expressed an interest in making Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Xenoblade Chronicles X2.^[9]

Gameplay

The gameplay within the Xenoblade Chronicles series uses a real-time action-based battle system, where the player manually moves the current lead character in real-time, and party members will "auto-attack" when enemies enter their attack radius,^[10] most comparable to the system found in Final Fantasy XII or many MMORPGs.^[11] Manually input attacks, called "Arts", may also be performed by the player, but in a limited fashion. Battle Arts are only available after a "cool down" period that occurs after every use, while character specific "Talent Arts" only become available after enough auto-attacks are executed.^[10] Both party members and enemies have a finite amount of health points, and attacks deplete this value. Combat is won when all enemies lose their HP, but the game is lost if the player's character loses all their HP and has no means of being revived. Health may be restored by the player by using healing Arts in battle, or the player may let characters' HP regenerate automatically outside of battle. Winning battles earns the player experience points, which allows the characters to grow stronger by leveling up and learning new Arts. Arts for each character must be set by the player on their respective set up, called a "Battle Palette", outside of battles.^[12]

Exploring large environments is a defining aspect of the series.^{[13][14][13][15]}

Settings

While the games within the entire Xenoblade series do not share any direct connections, it is heavily implied that the universes are somehow linked. The two colossal titans known as the Bionis and the Mechonis serve as the setting for Xenoblade Chronicles. Xenoblade Chronicles X takes place on an alien planet known as Mira. In Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country, the world of Alrest contains several titans which houses many different nations.

Themes

A recurring element of the series is the concept of "blade". In Xenoblade Chronicles, it is represented in the form of a powerful sacred sword known as the Monado. The "blade" suffix in Xenoblade Chronicles X is represented by a private military organization known as BLADE. For the world of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, "Blades" are beings that grant their powers to their Drivers.

Origin

The staff at Monolith Soft was left in a state of low morale after the commercial failure of the Xenosaga series which ultimately led to its premature end.^[16] In July 2006, Tetsuya Takahashi was struck by the idea of people living on top of enormous titans, so he wrote the concept down and turned it into a 3D model.^[17] The project was initially called Monado: Beginning of the World, but was changed to Xenoblade in Japan to honor Tetsuya Takahashi's previous work on the Xeno series and for his hard work on the game.^[18] Nintendo of Europe announced that they were publishing the game, adding Chronicles to Xenoblade.^[19] Due to no plans to release the title in North America, the fans launched a fan-campaign known as Operation Rainfall to convince Nintendo to bring Xenoblade Chronicles to North America along with The Last Story and Pandora's Tower.^[20] After months of silence, Nintendo of America confirmed that the title was headed for North America in April 2012.^[21]

Monolith Soft began development of Xenoblade Chronicles, an action role-playing game for the Nintendo Wii that was released in Japan on June 10, 2010.^[22][23] The game was later localized by Nintendo of Europe and was released in Europe and Australia on August 19, 2011 and September 1, 2011 respectively.^[24][25] It was then brought over to North America as a GameStop exclusive on April 6, 2012.^[26][27] Some time after its initial reveal as Monado: The Beginning of the World, then-Nintendo president Satoru Iwata changed the title to Xenoblade to honor Tetsuya Takahashi's previous work on the Xeno series.^[28] Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, a port handled by Monster Games, was released worldwide in April 2015 for the New Nintendo 3DS.^[29]