Possible new details on Monolith Soft's next game have emerged

[Armagon]

So around July(?) 2017, it was revealed that Monolith Soft (the guys behind the Xeno series), were looking to hire people for a new project and there were three images they had shown for that

So recently, Monolith Soft's website has updated and while they are still recruiting, it seems that we may have a better idea of what they have in store for us in the future. Here's what we know now

Quote

MANAGEMENT/SUPPORT
Manager
Duties: Progress and management of game production

System Administrator
Duties: Maintenance, management, and introduction of in-house systems such as server troubleshooting, introduction of new servers, PC trouble correspondence, equipment management, order management, etc.

Web Designer
Duties: Perform site creation in general and update work such as updating the company site and creating pages for PR of each titles (planning, composition, designing to coding)

Business Staff
Duties: General support, accounting, etc.

PROGRAMMER
Network Programmer
Duties: Client-side implementation, adjustment with the game side, formulation of communication with host and exchanging by P2P communication

Character Control Programmer (Action Part)
Duties: Implementation with an emphasis on response. Adjustments with planners and designers. Implementation of NPCs, enemy AI behavior, ???implementation of the mechanism on the map???
Remarks: Those who can pursue fun times in the game, knowledge of Maya (3D computer modeling and animation software). They will give preferential treatments to people who are familiar with physical behaviors as well as those who are experienced in developing action games.

UI Programmer
Duties: Implementation that emphasizes operation feeling and user experience, and adjustment with planner and designer for that
Remarks: They will give referential treatment to those who are experienced with localizations and cultural know-how.

System/Framework Programmer
Duties: Hardware, platform SDK abstraction
Creation of drawing engine, effect engine, etc.
Middleware evaluation and incorporation
Remarks: They will give preferential treatment to people with optimization know-how in multicore and knowledge of shaders.

Tools/Environment Maintenance Programmer
Duties: Support creation of useful tools for development
Data flow optimization
Building environment for automatic testing and debugging information collection.
Assistance for analysis of collected data

Technical Director
Duties: Grasp the progress of the entire programmer of the team
Directionality of implementation contents and determination of priority
Adjustment work between sections

PLANNER
Battle Planner
Duties:
· Preparation of proposal and specification sheet
· Planning, design and construction of battle system
· Planning, design and construction of character growth system
Under the above specification, AI setting of character and enemy
Qualification requirements: Those who can understand and understand specifications and progress of other sections, and can plan, design and build battle contents

Map Planner (Level Designer)
Duties:
· Preparation of proposal and specification sheet
· Design of game direction, world view, field map according to contents, dungeon map

UI/UX Planner
Duties: Preparation of proposal and specification sheet
Visually and efficient transition design of UI using Flash etc.
Creating a purchase order to a designer based on specifications

Scenario Planner
Duties: View of the world, set characters and write scenarios
Writing literary settings such as culture, language and industry in the game world
Remarks: Those familiar with movies and dramas, able to write concise and visual sentences
Those with extensive knowledge not bound by genre
We welcome those who can visualize the scenario in the head thinking about the scenario.

Event Planner
Duties: Preparation of proposal and specification sheet
Design of resident in town and design of quest according to scenario contents
Implementation of the quest designed above

Planner (Action part)
Duties: Creating specifications for characters and actions
Battle, planning rules, designing, building
Qualification requirements
Experience developing an action game
Remarks: Those who have plenty of online game knowledge
Medieval and fantasy knowledgeable people
Those who have abundant knowledge of foreign trends, popular culture and entertainment

DESIGNERS
Main Character Designer
Duties: Game character design
Art Direction
Qualification requirements: Person who is passionate about character design and game production
Those who can produce attractive characters that will be the face of the work, taking into account the planning intention of the game
Those who can give art directions of the whole game while centering on character design

Character Modeler
Duties: Game character modeling work
(Characters, Mecha, Creatures, Accessories, etc.)

Map Modeler
Duties: Making map data of game (display model, collision model)
Asset placement work in house tools

In-game Animator
Duties: Game animation data production
Creating animation transitions using in-house tools

Game Effect Designer
Duties: In-game effects creation
Qualification requirements: Gaming effect creation experience
CG movie production experience
Those who are interested in VFX such as movies and have a deep knowledge

Character Designer
Duties: Setting picture creation work for making game character data
(Character, costume, creature, mecha, weapon, accessory etc)

Concept Art Designer
Duties: Concept art in building map data, setting picture of building etc etc, creation work
Qualification requirements: Those who can create conceptual art by imagining the view of the world of the game
Who can draw setting pictures necessary for raising buildings etc. to game data

Event Animator
Duties: Camera layout of game event scenes and character animation preparation work

Event Production Staff
Duties:
· Direction of the whole game event
· Contents supervision, voice supervision, sound supervision, supervision of promotion picture
Supervision of connection with playable
· Event section creation progress management work
· Schedule management, in-game flag management, etc.
Qualification requirements:
People who passionate about video production of games
Direction of video, people with experience of drawing storyboards
Experience in using video editing tool
Those familiar with the production of movies and animation

UI/UX Designer
Duties: Game software UI, UX, menu design & design work

Event Effect Designer
Duties: Real time event effect creation
Effect creation, compositing, editing work of movies

Technical Artist
Duties: Tools development work for belonging projects
Tool development & support service used throughout the company

One part caught my attention but i'm honestly not surprised

Quote

Character Designer
Duties: Setting picture creation work for making game character data
(Character, costume, creature, mecha, weapon, accessory etc)

Yep. Of course. Even when it's medieval fantasy-themed, Monolith Soft will still find a way to have their mechas. 

Another interesting thing to note is that they are looking for a scenario planner despite Tetsuya Takahashi being that for all three Xenoblade games (and Xeno in general). We still don't know if the man himself is a part of the project or if he's just supervising. But given that they are looking for people who can design mechas, i got a feeling that Takahashi is directly involved in this and while it may not be a new Xenoblade game, it's gonna be a new Xeno game.

Anyway, all of this is speculation because despite this new bit of info, we still know nothing about this new game and that artwork could just be placeholders. But it's fun to speculate regardless. What do you think?

[Slumber]

I want them to go a more grounded style like Xenogears and the original Xenoblade(No Pons, please, please don't make that the mascot for the series, please God please). The over the top anime styles of Xenoblade X, 2 and parts of the Saga games really, really turn me off. 

The promotional images give me hope.

I do hope there's a new combat system. I don't hold the original Xenoblade in high regards because of it, and never really bothered with the others because of it. The Xenos tend to switch combat styles each time they add a new suffix, so that's why I am also hoping this isn't really a -blade game. 

Edited April 27, 2018 by Slumber

[Kazuya]

It's probably not any sort of Xeno game. New IPs are very important and I think Monolith needs to step away and try something new, which is pretty evident with their listing.

[Slumber]

35 minutes ago, Kazuya said:

It's probably not any sort of Xeno game. New IPs are very important and I think Monolith needs to step away and try something new, which is pretty evident with their listing.

I mean, there are really only two things that make Xeno games "Xeno games":

1. Mechs(Which we already know is part of this project)
2. Varying degrees of Judeo-Christian allegories/teardowns

After that it's pretty much free love when it comes to how they make it.

Xeno is a recognized name at this point, and I doubt Nintendo's going to go "NO! This completely new game that has no direct connections to any others you have made CAN'T have the Xeno name! Change it to "God and Mechs" or something!" if they want to get away from Xenoblade and work on a new idea with the same connecting themes of the Xeno games.

Edited April 27, 2018 by Slumber

[eclipse]

Y'all need more Baten Kaitos in your life.

I'll fangirl squeal IRL if these images are for a new game in that series.  One can dream!

[Slumber]

37 minutes ago, eclipse said:

Y'all need more Baten Kaitos in your life.

I'll fangirl squeal IRL if these images are for a new game in that series.  One can dream!

Specifying designers for mecha doesn't scream "Baten Kaitos" to me. 

[eclipse]

6 minutes ago, Slumber said:

Specifying designers for mecha doesn't scream "Baten Kaitos" to me. 

Guess who had a mechanical wing?

Given the direction that the original Baten Kaitos went in, I think anything's possible with that series.  But I'm probably wrong.

[Armagon]

8 hours ago, Slumber said:

I want them to go a more grounded style like Xenogears and the original Xenoblade(No Pons, please, please don't make that the mascot for the series, please God please). The over the top anime styles of Xenoblade X, 2 and parts of the Saga games really, really turn me off. 

I mean, the Nopon have technically been the series' mascot since Chu-Chu (she was direct inspiration for them), it just took 7 games for them to actually get character development (hello Tora). I don't mind them. I think they're cute. Except for Tatsu, he can go die in a massive fire.

Even if the Nopon aren't in this, i'm still expecting some sort of fuzzball mascot.

The images above may not be definitive of the artstyle, as Xenoblade 2 had similar concept art -

- I would like for them to stick to the artstyle that the concept art has shown us. As long as the character models don't have textures for faces (XC1) or look like lifeless dolls (XCX), i'll be fine.

8 hours ago, Slumber said:

I do hope there's a new combat system. I don't hold the original Xenoblade in high regards because of it, and never really bothered with the others because of it. The Xenos tend to switch combat styles each time they add a new suffix, so that's why I am also hoping this isn't really a -blade game. 

There's speculation that it's gonna be an Action RPG as opposed to the MMO-style of combat that Blade has and i can totally see that.

Was Saga really that different from Gears combat-wise though? I haven't played Saga so i wouldn't know.

3 hours ago, eclipse said:

Y'all need more Baten Kaitos in your life.

I'll fangirl squeal IRL if these images are for a new game in that series.  One can dream!

Speaking of, does Monolith own the rights to that? Monolith Soft did make Baten Kaitos but they also made Xenosaga and yet Namco owns the rights to that. Baten Kaitos music is in Smash 4, but Namco was involved with Smash as well.

But yeah, a new Baten Kaitos game would be cool. I myself haven't played them yet (i want to) and if Monolith Soft revives it, they can have two JRPG franchises to their name again.

Edited April 27, 2018 by Armagon

[Slumber]

8 hours ago, Armagon said:

I mean, the Nopon have technically been the series' mascot since Chu-Chu (she was direct inspiration for them), it just took 7 games for them to actually get character development (hello Tora). I don't mind them. I think they're cute. Except for Tatsu, he can go die in a massive fire.

Even if the Nopon aren't in this, i'm still expecting some sort of fuzzball mascot.

The images above may not be definitive of the artstyle, as Xenoblade 2 had similar concept art -

- I would like for them to stick to the artstyle that the concept art has shown us. As long as the character models don't have textures for faces (XC1) or look like lifeless dolls (XCX), i'll be fine.

There's speculation that it's gonna be an Action RPG as opposed to the MMO-style of combat that Blade has and i can totally see that.

Was Saga really that different from Gears combat-wise though? I haven't played Saga so i wouldn't know.

Speaking of, does Monolith own the rights to that? Monolith Soft did make Baten Kaitos but they also made Xenosaga and yet Namco owns the rights to that. Baten Kaitos music is in Smash 4, but Namco was involved with Smash as well.

But yeah, a new Baten Kaitos game would be cool. I myself haven't played them yet (i want to) and if Monolith Soft revives it, they can have two JRPG franchises to their name again.

Saga is more of a traditional, menu-based JRPG than Gears, which obviously had more of an "active" battle system ala Legaia. 

Also, Chu was less invasive than the Nopons. At least she shut up and was hardly involved in any cutscenes beyond a small handful. And we got to see her nailed to a cross. 

Edited April 27, 2018 by Slumber

[Armagon]

32 minutes ago, Slumber said:

And we got to see her nailed to a cross

Which, as hilarious as that was, did take away from the seriousness of the moment. Which is probably why i don't like her that much. Riki and Tora (especially the latter) at least knew when it was time to be serious (by that, i mean i could still take them seriously). But at least Chu-Chu isn't Tatsu. But yeah, i get why you don't like the Nopon. It's totally their speech patterns that ruined them for you, wasn't it?

[Slumber]

19 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Which, as hilarious as that was, did take away from the seriousness of the moment. Which is probably why i don't like her that much. Riki and Tora (especially the latter) at least knew when it was time to be serious (by that, i mean i could still take them seriously). But at least Chu-Chu isn't Tatsu. But yeah, i get why you don't like the Nopon. It's totally their speech patterns that ruined them for you, wasn't it?

Their speech pattern and the fact that there was a whole race of them. Just kind of... Killed the vibe of the game to a certain degree, where you just run into a tree village full of goofy talking Tribbles. It didn't ruin the tone of the game as much as a much later plot point did, but I did not enjoy the town of talking testicles.

[NoirCore]

On 4/27/2018 at 3:34 PM, Slumber said:

Their speech pattern and the fact that there was a whole race of them. Just kind of... Killed the vibe of the game to a certain degree, where you just run into a tree village full of goofy talking Tribbles. It didn't ruin the tone of the game as much as a much later plot point did, but I did not enjoy the town of talking testicles.

...talking testicles? That's the last thing I'd think of when it comes to Nopon.

I honestly have no issue of the Nopon being a race, or that they look like adorable fluffballs. I honestly think the cartoonish aspect of them isn't really that jarring. Maybe the "stupidity" of them seems too played up (especially in X, where no Nopon spoke normally compared to the few in 1 or 2), but I think they're fine creatures.

[Slumber]

3 minutes ago, NoirCore said:

...talking testicles? That's the last thing I'd think of when it comes to Nopon.

I honestly have no issue of the Nopon being a race, or that they look like adorable fluffballs. I honestly think the cartoonish aspect of them isn't really that jarring. Maybe the "stupidity" of them seems too played up (especially in X, where no Nopon spoke normally compared to the few in 1 or 2), but I think they're fine creatures.

Look, I was going tor alliteration, and my first thought for "What's small, round, starts with a T and is generally overly hairy when in comedic situations" was... well, pretty obvious.

The easiest way to get me to tune and nope the fuck out of a fantasy setting is when there's an entire race of obnoxiously cute and stupid creatures that talk with annoying voices. This happens constantly with anime-inspired JRPGs for some reason. Moogles got away with it because they're rarely ever stupid, they pre-date voice acting and their voices range from "Alright" to "Please god, stop" with the FFXIII games. It's not always "Please god, stop". Slimes get away with it because Dragon Quest is tonally never at odds with Slimes. Even the darkest Dragon Quest game, a Slime or any other cute monster never feels out of place.

Nopons don't hit any of the exceptions. They're an obnoxiously cute and stupid race with annoying voices that are pretty at-odds with the worlds they exist in, at least with XBC1.

[The DanMan]

So this just furthers the impression that they're working on something with a lot more online and action elements than what they've done in the past; in some ways, that's a natural evolution from what X tried to do.

Definitely got my interest piqued a bit (granted, it would've regardless due to it being Monolith Soft).

[NoirCore]

3 minutes ago, Slumber said:

Look, I was going tor alliteration, and my first thought for "What's small, round, starts with a T and is generally overly hairy when in comedic situations" was... well, pretty obvious.

The easiest way to get me to tune and nope the fuck out of a fantasy setting is when there's an entire race of obnoxiously cute and stupid creatures that talk with annoying voices. This happens constantly with anime-inspired JRPGs for some reason. Moogles got away with it because they're rarely ever stupid, they pre-date voice acting and their voices range from "Alright" to "Please god, stop" with the FFXIII games. It's not always "Please god, stop". Slimes get away with it because Dragon Quest is tonally never at odds with Slimes. Even the darkest Dragon Quest game, a Slime or any other cute monster never feels out of place.

Nopons don't hit any of the exceptions. They're an obnoxiously cute and stupid race with annoying voices that are pretty at-odds with the worlds they exist in, at least with XBC1.

I honestly don't get that obnoxious vibe much to the point of irritation. The Xenoblade worlds are obviously anime-like, and from what I've seen, cartoonish-looking beings in anime is pretty normal (Pokemon being a notable and strong example among others); I've believe I've grown accustomed to the "silly, derpy people" inhabiting beautiful, exotic lands thing, especially in anime in general, and I think the audience that likes the games don't mind them either for the most part. That's why the Nopon keep showing up.

Guess you just have a lower tolerance, I guess? Not that I'd judge you for it. Just your personal preference.

[Slumber]

2 minutes ago, NoirCore said:

I honestly don't get that obnoxious vibe much to the point of irritation. The Xenoblade worlds are obviously anime-like, and from what I've seen, cartoonish-looking beings in anime is pretty normal (Pokemon being a notable and strong example among others); I've believe I've grown accustomed to the "silly, derpy people" inhabiting beautiful, exotic lands thing, especially in anime in general, and I think the audience that likes the games don't mind them either for the most part. That's why the Nopon keep showing up.

Guess you just have a lower tolerance, I guess? Not that I'd judge you for it. Just your personal preference.

Again, they weren't enough to ruin Xenoblade or anything. I just did not enjoy their inclusion, and I'd prefer not to see them again.

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, The DanMan said:

So this just furthers the impression that they're working on something with a lot more online and action elements than what they've done in the past; in some ways, that's a natural evolution from what X tried to do.

Definitely got my interest piqued a bit (granted, it would've regardless due to it being Monolith Soft).

The online functionality that this project seems to be going for is making me wonder if they'll be following in the footsteps of X, as in, it's more about the gameplay, sidequests and exploration than the main story. While i still doubt that it's a Blade game, i remember the interview where Takahashi said that there would be to types of Xenoblade games: normal and X, the former being more story-focused while the latter being more gameplay and exploration-focused. X was what it was partially because of the online (originally, there was no plans for online and X was going to be more story-focused).

I would hope that, even if this new game follows in X's footsteps, that at least it's main story be as somewhat underdeveloped like X's main story was.

[Interdimensional Observer]

On 4/27/2018 at 4:04 AM, eclipse said:

Y'all need more Baten Kaitos in your life.

I'll fangirl squeal IRL if these images are for a new game in that series.  One can dream!

Another Baten Kaitos fan! I love the visuals and soundtracks of both games, the Magnus-based gameplay was fun (I prefer Origins to Eternal Wings, but both are good, just different), and BKO had a neat plot and good characters. Admittedly I do realize the games have faults, I've written a critique of the flaws with BKO, but I do acknowledge these issues out of love.

BKO, when you consider the end results of Eternal Wings, might have left it open that evil still exists in the world at the end of Eternal Wings:

Spoiler

In Eternal, you kill Malpercio for all time. Origins reveals Malpercio is the creation of the Dark Brethren. The Dark Brethren are never seen in BKO or Eternal, except maybe for the one boss in Zaurak Keep that looks like one of the monsters in Cor Hydrae. Therefore, it is possible that although you've slain Malpercio their pawn, the Dark Brethren from the world in some other dimension could return some day seeking revenge or something.

Eternal via Rampulus the parasitic interdimensional creature that preys on Lyude's psyche, as well as the two prior bosses that Rampulus is a variant on, and Mira as whole with particular regard for Nekton: the Shrine of Spirits, and Guardian Spirits, makes it apparent that the BK world is open to otherworldly interferences beyond the Dark Brethren. Not to forget that Wiseman in no way looks human and for what little we know could be another being from another dimension.

 

On 4/27/2018 at 4:42 AM, Slumber said:

Specifying designers for mecha doesn't scream "Baten Kaitos" to me. 

Alfard was all about machines and machina. There were primitive robots in Eternal, an airship, and those tank-like Iron Beetles. And BKO had more sophisticated machines, culminating in things like Valara's Machina Arma, which is a mecha.

 

On 4/27/2018 at 6:28 AM, Armagon said:

Except for Tatsu, he can go die in a massive fire.

*Sacrifices as bait when I aggro some Ganglion/Xenos far above my level* 

I wish.

 

On 4/29/2018 at 5:38 PM, Slumber said:

Nopons don't hit any of the exceptions. They're an obnoxiously cute and stupid race with annoying voices that are pretty at-odds with the worlds they exist in, at least with XBC1.

I'd say they're even more out of place in XCX, since that game is more pure and realistic sci-fi. Most Nopon stuff is restrained to Frontier Village/Makna Forest in XC, with Riki much more bearable in the narrative than Tatsu, who isn't even playable (and Riki is good) to compensate.

The Manon are perfectly capable of being everything the Nopon are in XCX, they're intelligent, peaceful, a little lazy, quirky with a pizza obsession (to the point of causing a woman to suicide from the nonstop orders) and aren't the slightest totes adorbs/KAWAII!. They blend in with the humans, with L, with the Ganglion, the Prone, Celica and Rock, the Mil'saadi, the Definians, the Zaruboggans, the Wrothians, and the Orphe; the Nopon do not (although another XC carryover, the lone Telethia, does). The only issue is that the Manon aren't native to Mira while the Nopon are, but why does Mira need native intelligent life? And why can't be they be of L's species so he isn't the only one of them?

Given you also dislike XC combat, a fair criticism though I don't mind it (though XCX sans Infinite Overdrive looks like a chore after I learned how to OD), I can see how the Nopon critique would be sharpened by the dislike of the gameplay. For XC, I'd say the beginning is the worst part, as more arts are learned, they level, and you get more characters, the pace picks up. Not that I'm trying to persuade you or anything.

 

On 4/27/2018 at 2:33 PM, Slumber said:

Saga is more of a traditional, menu-based JRPG than Gears, which obviously had more of an "active" battle system ala Legaia. 

You had to bring up another classic PS1 JRPG. In this day where surprise fighting game additions are commonplace, what I'd do to have Vahn, Noa, and Gala in one of them. Even more than the XG crew, they could be adapted to a fighting game no problem. 

 

On 4/29/2018 at 8:32 PM, Armagon said:

I would hope that, even if this new game follows in X's footsteps, that at least it's main story be as somewhat underdeveloped like X's main story was.

You mean isn't underdeveloped?

Since you bring up X being made more an online game than originally planned, I hope that just maybe by venting the need to make an online game with this project, XCX2 would be free to be more story-driven and hence be the space opera it has the potential to be. The XCX ending was a cliffhanger, but it holds promise for something amazing.

[Slumber]

23 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Given you also dislike XC combat, a fair criticism though I don't mind it (though XCX sans Infinite Overdrive looks like a chore after I learned how to OD), I can see how the Nopon critique would be sharpened by the dislike of the gameplay. For XC, I'd say the beginning is the worst part, as more arts are learned, they level, and you get more characters, the pace picks up. Not that I'm trying to persuade you or anything.

I quit the game because of the Lorithia fight, so it's not because I didn't play enough to see the system open up.

[Armagon]

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

You mean isn't underdeveloped?

All this time and i didn't realize i missed a word. Oops. But yeah, since they are planning to have online from the start, i do hope that it doesn't affect the story in a negative way.

 

[Wanderer-Of-Fates]

These images are really awesome! I love the art style that they have going, and the locales are really cool too, I hope that they make the towns huge to explore like in the art (but it is monolith, so they probably will be)- that makes me excited.

[The DanMan]

http://www.siliconera.com/2018/05/16/monolith-soft-urgently-recruiting-developers-action-game-experience/
Further confirmation that they're looking at something action focused rather than RPG.

[TheGoodHoms]

By the looks of things I lean towards the idea that this is a non-Xeno-game that leans more into fantasy than Sci-fi. Which is a good thing since looking back the Xenoblade games came out pretty quickly all things considered and it would be pretty unfortunate if the series entered a state of burn out too soon.

[Armagon]

18 minutes ago, TheGoodHoms said:

By the looks of things I lean towards the idea that this is a non-Xeno-game that leans more into fantasy than Sci-fi. Which is a good thing since looking back the Xenoblade games came out pretty quickly all things considered and it would be pretty unfortunate if the series entered a state of burn out too soon.

I mean, even if it was a Xeno game, this game is at least 3-4 years away so we probably aren't any getting any new games in the series for a while, barring the really likely possibility of Xenoblade X on Nintendo Switch.

[The DanMan]

47 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I mean, even if it was a Xeno game, this game is at least 3-4 years away so we probably aren't any getting any new games in the series for a while, barring the really likely possibility of Xenoblade X on Nintendo Switch.

They seem to have had at least the basic concept hammered out last summer, when the listings popped up. Also, the dev team (to our knowledge) is no longer split in half; and if they keep using the same engine, that's a fair bit of dev time saved. I don't think late 2019 is completely out of the question, though I do think 2020 sounds more realistic.