Category: Game Releases

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Main character design – part 1

Hi, everyone. My name is Masatsugu Saito. I am in charge of main character design for Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I have been given the opportunity to write about main character design, and would like to discuss the thought process that went into these characters, broken down across a few posts.

I first heard about plans for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 around February 2015. First, I structured an outline of the characters by reading director Tetsuya Takahashi’s plot. Then I participated in screenplay conferences with Tetsuya Takahashi, Yuichiro Takeda, and Kazuho Hyodo to start expanding on my character drawings. Rex and the other characters seemed very lively in the screenplay and plot. Their emotions were very clear, and every word they said was very moving.

It was at this point that I decided the characters should be modeled simply and clearly. One way of doing this was with a design that emphasized their eyes. Putting emphasis on their eyes allows a variety of emotions to be expressed during cut scenes, and makes it easier to see the character’s expressions, even when they are far away.

I also gave the characters some obvious color coding to make them easy to locate from afar in fields that are packed with detail. Rex is blue, for example, while Pyra is red, and so on.

The development team requested that the characters each have something that would blow in the wind (e.g., a cape or scarf) to express the atmosphere of the field. I wasn’t able to do this for a few of the characters (including Rex, Dromarch, and Tora). For these characters, the subtle movement of their hair or other features helps give a sense of the air around them.

One request that I made was that each character have their personality reflected in how they walk. I think their personalities come through quite well. Especially Poppi, who you can easily tell is artificial. The other characters also have some slight differences in how they walk and run, which is something I’d like you to look out for while you play.

Next time I will go into more detail about designing Rex and the other main characters.

For more information about Xenoblade Chronicles 2, visit the official site.

Game Rated:

Language
Suggestive Themes
Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
Violence

Fire Emblem Heroes: a whole new story + more events in the latest update

To celebrate the 2.0.0 update for the Fire Emblem™ Heroes game, from 11/27/17 at 11:00 pm to 12/12/17 at 10:59pm PT, you can get Orbs up to 10 times from a Log-In Bonus! These Orbs can be obtained from your Present List.

That’s not all. A double EXP and SP event will also take place from 11/27/17 at 11:00pm to 12/4/17 at 10:59pm PT!

Key features of version 2.0.0:

Book II of the Main Story Has Begun

The saga of the Fire Emblem Heroes game moves on to the next chapter. Meet Fjorm: Princess of Ice and learn more about her special abilities. Then, get her to join your team as an ally by clearing Chapter 1: Part 5 of Book II.

Legendary Heroes and Blessings Have Been Added

Legendary Heroes – Heroes with new abilities – have been added. Fjorm: Princess of Ice is one of them, but you’ll have the chance to obtain others, too!

Legendary Heroes have one of four legendary elements, including Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire, that resonate with the corresponding Blessing to give Heroes strength. Blessings can give a variety of stat bonuses, depending upon the element.

Read the in-game messages for more information.

Level Up Your Skills with the Weapon Refinery

Strengthen the weapon skills of your Heroes!

After clearing Chapter 13, Diabolical Bloodline, in the main story and then clearing the Intermission chapter The Rite of Blades, Weapon Refinery can be found under Advanced Growth.

Existing weapon skills can now be refined into high-level weapon skills, and some weapons can even be strengthened with special effects, like increasing a Hero’s stats or other abilities.

Other Changes

• High-level Skills for Staves
• Cooldown Lowered on Some Special Skills
• Barracks Get Bigger
• Arena Scores Have Been Adjusted
• Arena Assault Rankings Have Been Adjusted
• My Nintendo Rewards Have Been Added
• Various Other Improvements

Learn more about these updates and events, and more about the game at the official site.

Game Rated:

Fantasy Violence
Suggestive Themes
Partial Nudity
Digital Purchases

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Behind Yasunori Mitsuda’s music

Hello, I’m Yasunori Mitsuda. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was the biggest and most challenging project I have ever worked on. It consisted of a number of processes, including composing (needless to say), acting as a coordinator (for recording sessions), a producer (managing budgets) and working as a sound director, managing schedules, proofreading every composer’s scores, finaliziing/brushing up the scores and printing them all out, looking at the sound controls for Nintendo Switch, etc. I was careful especially in choosing the musicians, and in being efficient in recording sessions as much as possible. Another point to highlight was that musicians from all over the world were involved, such as a chorus from Slovakia, an orchestra from Japan, vocal songs sung by Ms. Jen Bird, who came all the way from England, and finally the Irish chorus group ANÚNA. One of ANÚNA’s performances is featured in this music video.

All kinds of genres of music were made, so I am sure that the game will not bore you no matter how long you play it.

I was invited by the director [Tetsuya] Takahashi (Taka-san) to be involved in the project of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 back on December 9th 2014, which I was very excited about. Three months later, we held a meeting to discuss the direction of the music, and the sound that Taka-san required. Then after a few more months – when the direction and the amount of music were all set – we held another meeting including ACE and [Kenji] Hiramatsu-san to decide who would write for what. Although generally we divided the music equally, I think the decision was made rather smoothly, considering that we wanted the fans to be satisfied, and we did not want to ruin the image that was already set by the first Xenoblade Chronicles. Each composer was in touch directly with Taka-san to communicate about the music they were working on. For some of the demos, I had phone calls from Taka-san, asking for my opinion on the music in question. Then we’d usually have the same thought and agree on something like, “Yeah, maybe that’s not right.” When Taka-san turns down a demo, he tells the composer exactly what is required in a clear way. He does so by putting himself into the composer’s position, and choosing the words he uses wisely, which makes it easy to make any necessary amendments. Another thing is, when I work with Taka-san I always want to bring in some new musicians or music on board, and for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 I wanted to work with the Irish chorus group ANÚNA. I thought that with ANÚNA, having their distinctive sound, it would be possible to express the mystical and majestic sound which fits well with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 . Surprisingly, ANÚNA were planning on coming to Japan for a different project, so I soon asked for their schedule for a recording session. This was an absolute miracle! The vocal pieces, which ANÚNA sings, are all important town songs, where the lyrics are written by Taka-san himself. Perhaps you may understand the game fully once you understand the meaning of the words…

The first time that I came across the Irish chorus group ANÚNA was from one of their albums released in 1996, called “Deep Dead Blue”. Back then I was totally into the music of Northern Europe, including Finland, Ireland, Scotland and the Mediterranean region. Usually world music consists of a land’s distinctive instruments, whereas ANÚNA found their way of expression through the human voice, which can be considered the original musical instrument. The album “Deep Dead Blue” really gave me a huge impression, as the chorus wasn’t like a classical one, nor Gregorian, or Bulgarian… I felt that ANÚNA was a new type of chorus that I’d never heard before. My attention was drawn to the lead singer, Michael McGlynn, and I dreamt about making music with ANÚNA one day. After 20 years, my dream came true through the making of the game Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

We have recorded four pieces in total, one of which will be released with a beautiful music video featuring ANÚNA. The piece is called “Shadow of the Lowlands”, and it played in the Kingdom of Tantal in the game. I am sure that it will give you a strange, mysterious sensation whilst walking around the Kingdom of Tantal. Please enjoy playing the game, as I am sure it will give you a totally new feeling that you have never felt before.

For more information about Xenoblade Chronicles 2, visit the official site.

Game Rated:

Language
Suggestive Themes
Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
Violence

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Behind the story development

Hi everyone, nice to meet you! Or perhaps I should be saying thank you for your continued support!

I’m Yuichiro Takeda. I worked as a screenwriter for Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles X, and continued in that role for Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

If I were to introduce Xenoblade Chronicles 2 from my perspective as part of the scenario team, I would say that this story has the most Director Tetsuya Takahashi flair to date.

For this script, Director Takahashi provided us with a rich plot right from the start, and Kazuho Hyodo and I split the writing in half. I worked on the even numbered chapters while Mr. Hyodo worked on the odd numbered chapters. At the same time, Director Takahashi was writing the whole story himself. Then, the three of us all came together when we had our scripts. We built the script by leveraging our unique personalities and adding in corrections and revisions from Director Takahashi. This is very similar to the screenplay technique used for movies.

I think that the story of this game will be the ultimate experience for fans of Director Takahashi. But that’s not to say that I was cutting corners on my end! While writing the screenplay, I was able to dive into the world of Alrest thanks to Saito Masatsugu, who kept designing more and more interesting characters.

My personal favorite is the story about Tora and Poppi in chapter 4. I love robots and I feel like this story fully reflects my infatuation with the Nopon. I hope that you all like it too.

Though this is always the case, the screenplay is completed years before the software is released, so by the time I actually get to play it, I embark on the adventure just like every other fan. I can’t wait to explore Alrest with all of you very soon!

For more information about Xenoblade Chronicles 2, visit the official site.

Game Rated:

Language
Suggestive Themes
Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
Violence