Monolith Soft | |
Native name | 株式会社モノリスソフト |
Romanized name | Kabushiki gaisha Monorisu Sofuto |
Company type | |
Industry | Video games |
Genre | Video game developer |
Founded | 1 October 1999 in Tokyo, Japan |
Founders |
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Headquarters | Meguro, Tokyo , Japan |
Number of locations | 3 [a] (2022) |
Key people |
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Products | Games |
Brands |
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¥491 million (2020) | |
Number of employees | 264 (2023) |
Parent |
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Website | www |
Footnotes /references [1] [2] |
Monolith Software Inc., [b] trading as Monolith Soft, is a Japanese video game development studio originally owned by Namco (later Bandai Namco) until being bought out by Nintendo in 2007, best known for the Xenoblade Chronicles series of games. The company was founded in 1999 by Tetsuya Takahashi with the support and cooperation of Masaya Nakamura, the founder of Namco. Their first project was the Xenosaga series, a spiritual successor to the Square-developed Xenogears . Multiple Square staff would join Takahashi at Monolith Soft including Hirohide Sugiura and Yasuyuki Honne.
In addition to the Xenosaga series, Monolith Soft worked on other projects including Baten Kaitos and Namco × Capcom , the precursor to their later Project X Zone series, along with assisting on projects from other developers. While several of its games have released on the PlayStation 2, the majority of its games have released on Nintendo platforms following the acquisition.
As of 2022, Monolith Soft operates in three locations in Japan; its main office in Meguro, Tokyo and the secondary Osaki Studio similarly based in Tokyo, who produce the company's original video game properties; and a studio in Kyoto with mainly artists as its employees, which acts as an assisting developer for both Monolith Soft Tokyo and for some Nintendo internal franchises. According to an interview published on the website of the company in February 2022, Monolith Soft's Kyoto studio has over 30 employees, which would leave the Tokyo studios with roughly 230 staff in total. [3]
The design approaches of Monolith Soft have shifted over its lifetime, with early games such as Xenosaga and Baten Kaitos being distinguished by a narrative-heavy approach, while later games have focused more on gameplay. The company's stated goals are to create projects with wide creative freedom and to allow younger developers to contribute to these projects. The company is also notable for its focus on promoting a comfortable working environment with little to no overtime in contrast to the majority of other Japanese game developers, alongside collaborating with other studios and companies.
Monolith Soft was founded by Tetsuya Takahashi, a developer who had previously worked at Nihon Falcom and later at Square, in which the latter was merged into Enix in 2003 to form Square Enix. [4] [5] While at Square, he and his wife Kaori Tanaka (also known as Soraya Saga) would contribute to the development of multiple games including entries in the Final Fantasy series. [6] [7] Following their work on Final Fantasy VI , Takahashi and Tanaka created a proposal for Final Fantasy VII ; while deemed too dark for the Final Fantasy series, they were allowed to develop it as their own project titled Xenogears . [8] Takahashi's ambition and drive prompted Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, then Executive Vice President at Square, to appoint him as director. [6] [9] Takahashi also wrote the script with Tanaka. [7] [8] Following the release of Xenogears, Takahashi became dissatisfied with Square's business approach at the time, which prioritized their major intellectual properties including Final Fantasy. This left Takahashi with no funding or creative room to develop further independent projects or continue his planned Xenogears series. [10] [11] [12]
In 1999, Takahashi talked with Hirohide Sugiura, who had likewise worked at Square and was beginning to feel frustrated due to a lack of creative freedom. After discussing the matter, the two decided to create their own company and pursue projects they wanted to create. When planning their new company, Takahashi and Sugiura decided that they needed a publisher with substantial market presence to help them rather than being an independent studio. Takahashi and Sugiura approached multiple companies for support, but most of the companies they contacted outright rejected their offer as they believed that Monolith Soft should be an independent company. However, Namco were interested in investing into Monolith Soft as a dedicated subsidiary, whilst handling logistics and marketing so that the core staff could focus on game development. [10] An important supporter of Monolith Soft was Namco's founder Masaya Nakamura, who shared many of Takahashi and Sugiura's goals and ideals. [13] Monolith Soft is noted as being one of a group of video game companies—alongside Sacnoth, Love-de-Lic and Mistwalker—founded by Square staff who had worked on notable games produced during the 1990s. [14] The company was officially founded on 1 October 1999 by Takahashi, Sugiura, and Yasuyuki Honne, who had worked at Square on both the Chrono series and with Takahashi on Xenogears. [4] [10] [12] The company's offices were originally based in Yokohama. [15]
Monolith Soft's first project was Xenosaga Episode I , a role-playing game (RPG) for the PlayStation 2. Xenosaga was a spiritual successor to Xenogears; development began in 2000 when enough staff had been gathered, lasting approximately two years. [11] [16] [17] As with Xenogears, the game was scripted by Takahashi and Tanaka, who planned out the Xenosaga series as a hexalogy. [12] [18] In 2001, Namco producer Shinji Noguchi and Monolith Soft's Tadashi Nomura conceived a new IP for the GameCube unconnected to Xenosaga. Titled Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean , development began six months after the concept was formed, with Honne acting as director. [19] [20] [21] The game development staff of the company was now divided between the Xenosaga series and Baten Kaitos, the latter a project driven by the younger developers at Monolith Soft. [22] Baten Kaitos was co-developed with tri-Crescendo, which came about due to both submitting designs to Namco, which suggested they work together on the project. [21] [23] In 2003, Honne was approached by then-CEO of Nintendo Satoru Iwata about developing a new entry in the Mother series for GameCube. Honne created a pitch themed around a "felt-style recreation of 80s America", but the idea was firmly rejected by series creator Shigesato Itoi. [24]
Following the release of the first Xenosaga game, Takahashi and Sugiura reassessed the internal structure of Monolith Soft, determining that the current lead developers were too old, clashing with their intended goals for the company to foster young talent. With this mindset, Takahashi stepped down from his lead role in the Xenosaga series. He continued to work for the company in a supervisory role by providing the series' scenario drafts, while younger staff continued the series development. This move also allowed Takahashi a greater degree of creative freedom in a number of projects as opposed to being tied to a single series. [25] In May 2002, Monolith Soft moved from Yokohama to their current offices in Meguro, Tokyo. [4] [15] [26] The next entry in the Xenosaga series, Xenosaga Episode II , began development under a new team following the release of Episode I. While developing Episode II, the staff shifted their focus from the main series to help tell the story through multiple media. [22] [23] Among these additional projects was Xenosaga: Pied Piper , a spin-off title for mobile devices co-developed with Tom Create and Namco Mobile. [22] [27] [28] Pied Piper was Tanaka's last work on the Xenosaga series. [18] Beginning in 2003, Monolith Soft also developed Namco × Capcom , a PlayStation 2 crossover game featuring characters from various Namco and Capcom video games. The idea was proposed by Monolith Soft, with development lasting two years. [29] [30]
In 2006, Monolith Soft was involved in four released games; Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII , Xenosaga I & II , Xenosaga Episode III and Baten Kaitos Origins . [31] Dirge of Cerberus was primarily developed by Square Enix with Monolith Soft providing development support. [31] [32] Xenosaga I & II was an expanded re-imagining of the first two games for the Nintendo DS, and is notable for being Monolith Soft's first title for handheld game consoles. [33] [34] The game was co-developed by Tom Create in collaboration with multiple staff who had worked on the anime adaptation for the first Xenosaga. [28] [33] Xenosaga Episode III began development in 2004. While Xenosaga was planned as a hexalogy, the new team decided to restructure the series as a trilogy. Episode III was the last planned entry in the series, with further games depending on its commercial success. [22] [35] The mixed commercial and critical performance of the Xenosaga series left Monolith Soft's development staff in a state of low morale. [36] Baten Kaitos Origins, again co-developed with tri-Crescendo, was released late in the lifespan of the GameCube shortly before the release of Nintendo's new home console the Wii. [37] A Baten Kaitos game for the DS was also in development at Monolith Soft, but Namco, which by this point had merged with Bandai to become Namco Bandai, cancelled the project. [34] [37] A third Baten Kaitos game was in early development for "a long time" according to Honne, but was cancelled due to unspecified circumstances. Future efforts with the series depended upon both fan demand and the cooperation of IP owners Namco. [38]
According to Sugiura, Monolith Soft's relations with Namco had undergone a negative change after Nakamura retired as head of Namco in 2002, three years before the merger with Bandai. [13] [39] The company underwent changes and Monolith Soft felt they were being given less creative freedom, and the newly created Namco Bandai was less willing to take creative risks. The company then received consultation from Shinji Hatano, an executive director at Nintendo, who advised them to continue creating innovative projects. Spurred on by Hatano's supportive attitude, Monolith Soft decided to break away from Namco Bandai to become a Nintendo subsidiary; this provided Monolith Soft creative freedom in exchange for software development exclusivity for Nintendo platforms. [13] Nintendo's purchasing of the majority of Monolith Soft's shares from Namco Bandai Holdings was publicly announced in April 2007. Nintendo became the majority shareholder of Monolith Soft with 80% of shares, while Namco Bandai retained 16% and remained as a development partner. Namco Bandai stated that the exchange of Monolith Soft shares would strengthen their relationship with Nintendo. [40] The remaining shares were divided between Takahashi, Sugiura and Honne. [41] By the beginning of April 2011, Namco Bandai had sold its remaining 400 shares in Monolith Soft to Nintendo, getting Nintendo 96% of the shares. [41] [42] Nintendo's acquisition of Monolith Soft contrasted against the company's previous publicized approach of not taking part in mergers and acquisitions of other studios and companies. In a statement on the matter, Iwata said that the deal was initiated due to the positive relations between Sugiura and Nintendo, and the two companies' parallel design and development philosophies. [43]
Monolith Soft's first releases following its acquisition by Nintendo were Soma Bringer and Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier for the Nintendo DS and Disaster: Day of Crisis for the Wii, all released in 2008. [31] Soma Bringer was the company's first portable title to be developed entirely in-house, it was designed as an experience driven by gameplay rather than narrative. Multiple returning staff from the Xenosaga series including Takahashi and Tanaka contributed to the game. [7] [44] Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier, a crossover RPG, was co-developed with Namco Bandai and featured cameo appearances from Monolith Soft's Xenosaga series. [45] [46] Disaster: Day of Crisis, Monolith Soft's first and to-date only non-RPG game, was intended as a showcase for the capabilities of the Wii. Due to quality concerns and Monolith Soft's unfamiliarity with the Wii hardware, it was delayed from its planned 2006 release by two years. [31] [47] [48] Monolith Soft was also chosen to develop Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans due to their pedigree at developing RPGs. [49] During this period they assisted in the development of Super Smash Bros. Brawl . [31]
From mid 2006, Takahashi was working on a separate project; struck by an idea of rival civilizations emerging on the frozen bodies of two warring gods, he and Honne constructed a model of the two gods to better visualize the idea. After bringing their idea to Nintendo producer Hitoshi Yamagami, the team began development in 2007. Takahashi later stated that the game's development acted as a means of boosting company morale after the failure of the Xenosaga series. The director, Koh Kojima, started his directorial debut with this game, having previously written the scenario for Baten Kaitos Origins. This game also saw a shift away from the narrative-heavy approach of Monolith Soft''s earlier work, which Takahashi stated had been called out as old-fashioned. [26] [36] In contrast to many earlier Monolith Soft projects, the game was designed with an international release in mind. [50] The intended scale of the game caused problems, and Takahashi reluctantly went to Yamagami with a list of proposals to cut down the game to a suitable size as he was accustomed to doing for previous projects. Yamagami rejected all of Takahashi's suggestions, instead persuading Nintendo to keep supporting the project and allow the team to complete their work as envisioned. [6] Originally titled Monado: Beginning of the World, Iwata had the title changed to honor Takahashi's previous work on Xenogears and the Xenosaga franchise. The new title was Xenoblade Chronicles . [51]
Xenoblade Chronicles released in 2010 in Japan, and after multiple delays, also released worldwide to unexpected critical and commercial success. [50] Also released that year was Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier Exceed , a sequel to the original game co-developed with Namco Bandai Games that expanded upon the mechanics of the original and featured further Xenosaga cameos. [52] [53] [54] In 2011, Monolith Soft founded a new studio in Kyoto, closer to Nintendo's home base so the two companies could better interact with each other. Despite some initial reservations, the staff quickly settled into their new offices and the studio became a lauded place of work. [55] [56] Rather than original projects, the Kyoto branch acts as a supplementary studio, providing support for Monolith Soft and on Nintendo's in-house projects. The Kyoto branch has provided support for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011), Animal Crossing: New Leaf (2012), Pikmin 3 (2013), The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (2013), Splatoon , (2015), Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer (2015), Splatoon 2 (2017), and Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020). [31] [56] [57] [58] [59] [60]
The next game released from Monolith Soft, again in collaboration with Namco Bandai Games, was Project X Zone for the Nintendo 3DS. A successor to Namco × Capcom, the game received development support from and featured characters from franchises owned by Namco Bandai, Capcom and Sega. [61] [62] [63] Following the release of Xenoblade Chronicles, Monolith Soft was also working on a follow-up titled Xenoblade Chronicles X for the Wii U. A spiritual successor to the first game, and the company's first high-definition video game title, Xenoblade Chronicles X shifted from a story-driven to an open world gameplay-driven structure. [58] [64] The incorporation of an extensive multiplayer element resulted in its release being delayed and the narrative being substantially altered. [65] [66] Monolith Soft also developed a sequel to Project X Zone, Project X Zone 2 . In addition to changing the character roster selected from Sega, Capcom and Bandai Namco, the game introduced characters from the Nintendo franchise Fire Emblem in addition to characters from Xenoblade Chronicles. [67] [68] [69]
During the last development stages of Xenoblade Chronicles X, Monolith Soft began work on a new Xenoblade title for the Nintendo Switch. Titled Xenoblade Chronicles 2 , the game returned to the story-driven structure of Xenoblade Chronicles while building upon the gameplay and technology of Xenoblade Chronicles X. [66] [70] [71] One of the game's story prototypes was later turned into an expansion titled Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country , released in 2018. [72] In addition to this, Monolith Soft also began development of an action game, hiring new staff for the project. [73] The company opened new studios in Nakameguro and Iidabashi during 2017 and 2018. [74] [75] The 1st Production team, known for their work on the Xenoblade Chronicles series, started hiring staff for development of a new RPG project in October 2018. [76] [77] In March 2019, the 2nd Production team started hiring staff for a new project in The Legend of Zelda franchise. [78] [79] Between 2018 and 2019, the Iidabashi studio closed. [74] [80] In April 2019, in the wake of high revenue during the 2018–2019 fiscal period, the company opened a new studio in Ōsaki, Tokyo. [81]
In 2020 Monolith Soft released Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition for the Nintendo Switch, a remaster to the original title released in 2010. In 2022 Monolith Soft released Xenoblade Chronicles 3 , another sequel to the Xenoblade Chronicles franchise following Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and the title ending the original trilogy of the series. Monolith Soft also provided development support to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023).
Nintendo acquired full control of Monolith Soft by December 2024. [82]
Monolith Soft currently has 3 different buildings in Japan dedicated to development, with 2 being located in Tokyo and 1 in Kyoto. The company has shared the organization of its divisions over the years, being organized as the following:
This list is for games to which Monolith Soft contributed substantially, being either a major co-developer or the main developer.
This list is for titles where a studio of Monolith Soft acted in a lesser supporting role to the main developer. Refers to development organization for more information about the groups responsible for support development.
Year | Title | Platform | Publisher | Additional Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2006 | Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII [co 5] | PlayStation 2 | Square Enix | [87] | |
2008 | Super Smash Bros. Brawl [co 6] | Wii | Nintendo | ||
2011 | The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword [co 7] | Monolith Soft Tokyo | [89] | ||
2012 | Animal Crossing: New Leaf [co 7] | Nintendo 3DS | Monolith Soft Kyoto | ||
2013 | Pikmin 3 [co 7] | Wii U | |||
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds [co 7] | Nintendo 3DS | ||||
2015 | Splatoon [co 7] | Wii U | |||
Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer [co 7] | Nintendo 3DS | ||||
2017 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild [co 8] | Nintendo Switch | Monolith Soft Tokyo 2nd Production Team | ||
Wii U | |||||
Splatoon 2 [co 8] | Nintendo Switch | Monolith Soft Kyoto | [60] | ||
2020 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons [co 8] | ||||
2022 | Splatoon 3 [co 8] | ||||
2023 | The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom [co 8] | Monolith Soft Tokyo 2nd Production Team |
From the company's inception, Takahashi and Sugiura wanted to give creative freedom to pursue projects outside genre standards, in addition to hiring young staff. [10] [22] An early aim was to encourage younger developers to make their mark in the industry, which at the time was dominated by people in the late 30s and up. This outlook was the reason why younger staff were given charge of the Xenosaga series. [25] Kojima stated that younger developers were preferred as they could bring interesting ideas to a project. [90] According to Sugiura, a major element during the period in which Monolith Soft was under Namco was the focus on creativity. They wanted to balance this with the financial logistics of game design rather than having budgetary concerns stifle the creative flare of the staff. [22] When talking about their Wii U projects in 2012, Monolith Soft staff member Michihiko Inaba stated that the company wanted to show that Japan could keep up with the Western market in terms of ambitious games that pushed the industry forward, comparing Monolith Soft to Bethesda Softworks in this desire. [91]
Speaking about the move from Namco Bandai to Nintendo, Sugiura commented that it was a challenge to only be developing games for a single group of consoles. Nintendo endorsed the challenge to Monolith Soft with incentives such as making a particular game within given hardware specifications, providing the company time and resources to accomplish that. Another factor that changed within Monolith Soft's development process was Nintendo's increased quality control, which would moot any project that did not have the desired quality for their systems. [13] This sense of challenge was also echoed by Takahashi, who described both Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles X as being defined by self-imposed challenges to the development team when creating the environments on limited gaming hardware. [6] Monolith Soft's scope and goals are often attributed to Takahashi's drive and ambition. [6] [36] While commonly associated with Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs), Monolith Soft focuses more on making role-playing games for a worldwide audience. [92]
Rather than a fixed development structure, Monolith Soft chooses to freely assign staff based on the direction a project takes, in addition to believing in collaborations with other companies on projects rather than developing entirely in-house. [4] According to a 2012 interview with Takahashi, a prerequisite for working at Monolith Soft is a deep passion for games in addition to general knowledge outside the field. [90] As opposed to many other Japanese and Western studios which have come under criticism for excessive overtime and poor working conditions, Monolith Soft strives for a friendly working environment and reasonable hours for its staff. Overtime is also negotiated with the management and receives payment, a rarity in Japanese business. Speaking in relation to this approach, Honne recited the company's motto; "Zero overtime and creative work allowed". [93] Despite the gaming industry's workforce being dominated by men, Monolith Soft has a notably high proportion of female developers working at the company, with more than a quarter of its workforce in total. [4] [93]
Xenosaga is a role-playing video game series developed by Monolith Soft and primarily published by Namco. Forming part of the wider Xeno metaseries, Xenosaga is set in a science fiction universe and follows a group of characters as they face both a hostile alien race called the Gnosis and human factions fighting for control of the Zohar, an artifact connected to a god-like energy called U-DO. Gameplay across the series is similar, with the characters being guided through a linear narrative and fighting enemies using a turn-based combat system. The party fights both on foot and in a variety of mechs.
KOS-MOS is a fictional character from the Xenosaga role-playing video game series by Monolith Soft and Bandai Namco Entertainment. KOS-MOS also appears as a major character in the anime Xenosaga: The Animation and in several crossover video games.
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean is a role-playing video game developed by Monolith Soft and tri-Crescendo and published by Namco for the GameCube. In it, the player assume the role of a "guardian spirit" – an unseen player avatar – who guides protagonist Kalas and his party of companions in an adventure across an aerial floating island-based kingdom in the clouds. The game is focused around the concept of "Magnus" – magical cards that capture the "essence" of items found in the in-game world. The concept is used as a plot device, for in-game item management, and as a basis for the card-themed battle system. The game was noted for its unique battle system, which included aspects of turn-based and action-based battle systems, collectible card games, and poker.
Tetsuya Takahashi is a Japanese video game designer, writer and director. Takahashi worked at Square in the 90s as a graphic designer and graphic director, participating on some of their most well-received titles such as Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger, before directing and co-writing Xenogears. He left Square in 1999 to co-found Monolith Soft, where he would develop the Xenosaga and Xenoblade Chronicles series with Namco and Nintendo respectively, being the executive director of Xenoblade since the first entry in the series.
Xenosaga I & II is a 2006 role-playing video game co-developed by Monolith Soft and Tom Create, and published by Namco for the Nintendo DS. A spin-off of the Xenosaga trilogy and forming part of the Xeno metaseries, Xenosaga I & II retells the events of Xenosaga Episode I and Xenosaga Episode II while expanding on its characters and narrative. Displayed from an angled two-dimensional perspective, Xenosaga I & II makes use of a turn-based battle system with elements carried over from the main Xenosaga games.
Namco × Capcom is a tactical role-playing (RPG) crossover video game developed by Monolith Soft for the PlayStation 2 and published by Namco in 2005. The gameplay combines tactical RPG and action sequences during battles, featuring characters from video game series owned by Namco and Capcom. The narrative sees original characters Reiji Arisu and Xiaomu, operatives for paranormal investigative group Shinra, confront distortions bringing characters from other realities into their own.
Baten Kaitos Origins, released in Japan as Baten Kaitos II, is a 2006 role-playing video game developed by Monolith Soft and Tri-Crescendo for the GameCube. It is a prequel to Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (2003). Similar to the first entry, the player assume the role of a "guardian spirit" – an unseen player avatar – who guides protagonist Sagi and his party of companions in an adventure across an aerial floating island-based kingdom in the clouds. The game retains the original's focus around the concept of "Magnus" – magical cards that capture the "essence" of items found in the in-game world, where the concept is still used as a plot device, for in-game item management, and as a basis for the card-themed battle system, albeit with minor tweaks.
Xenosaga: Pied Piper is a 2004 role-playing video game co-developed by Monolith Soft, Namco, and Tom Create. The game was published by Namco in 2004 for mobile devices. A spin-off of the Xenosaga trilogy and forming part of the Xeno metaseries, the storyline follows the human life of cyborg Ziggurat 8—a key character in the Xenosaga trilogy—a century before the events of Xenosaga Episode I. Gameplay follows a similar system to the mainline Xenosaga games but adjusted for mobile devices.
Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht is a role-playing video game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2; the game was released in 2002 in Japan and 2003 in North America. It was never released in Europe. It is the first entry in the Xenosaga trilogy and forms part of the wider Xeno metaseries. Gameplay features exploration of environments through a linear narrative, while battles use turn-based combat with the player characters fighting both on foot and piloting large mecha dubbed A.G.W.S.; combat in turn features a system of button combinations for attack types, and multiple leveling systems.
Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse is a 2004 role-playing video game developed by Monolith Soft for the PlayStation 2. It was published in Japan (2004) and North America (2005) by Namco, and in Europe by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (2005). It is the second entry in the Xenosaga trilogy, and forms part of the wider Xeno metaseries. Continuing directly from the events of Xenosaga Episode I, Xenosaga Episode II sees protagonists Shion Uzuki and Jr. continuing to combat the plots of the U-TIC Organization and the insane Albedo Piazzolla. Gameplay is carried over from the first game, featuring exploration of environments through a linear narrative, while battles follow a turn-based system featuring a system of button combinations, multiple leveling systems, and combat featuring both the characters on foot and piloting large mecha called "E.S.".
Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra is a role-playing video game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Namco Bandai Games for the PlayStation 2 in 2006. It is the final entry in both the Xenosaga trilogy and the larger Xenosaga series, which forms part of the Xeno franchise. Concluding the narrative of Xenosaga Episode I and Episode II, Episode III sees Shion Uzuki and the battle android KOS-MOS search out the origins of the hostile alien Gnosis while being hunted by Shion's former employers and four powerful humans called the Testaments. Gameplay is carried over from the first two games, featuring exploration of environments through a linear narrative, while battles follow a turn-based system featuring multiple leveling systems and combat with both a human party and mecha.
Yasuyuki Honne is a video game artist, director and producer. He was employed by Square from 1993 to 1999 and is now working at Monolith Soft. He is known for his work on the Chrono series, Xeno games and Baten Kaitos series.
Xenoblade Chronicles is an action role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Wii. Initially released in Japan in 2010, it was later released in the PAL regions in 2011 and in North America in 2012. A port for the New Nintendo 3DS was released in 2015, and a remaster for the Nintendo Switch, titled Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, was released in May 2020. Xenoblade Chronicles is the first entry in the Xenoblade Chronicles series, a subseries which forms part of the larger Xeno metaseries. Although it lacks direct narrative connections to previous Xeno games, like them, it incorporates aesthetic and narrative elements from both fantasy and science fiction. The game features navigation through an open world split into zones, side-quests tied to party members' affinity, and a real-time action-based battle system which incorporates Shulk's ability to see brief glimpses of the future.
Xeno is a Japanese science fantasy video game franchise created by Tetsuya Takahashi. The first entry was developed by SquareSoft, and subsequent entries have been developed by Monolith Soft, a company founded by Takahashi after he left Square in 1999. While the various games have no direct story connections, they have common thematic links and all sport the "Xeno" prefix, which Takahashi has variously described as a means of identifying his games and a symbolic representation of the series. All the games in the Xeno meta series take place within a science fiction setting with some fantasy elements, with its stories frequently featuring psychological, philosophical, and religious themes.
Xenoblade Chronicles X is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Wii U. The game is part of the Xenoblade Chronicles series, itself forming part of the wider Xeno metaseries. An expanded remaster, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, will be released in 2025 for the Nintendo Switch.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a 2017 action role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the third installment in the Xenoblade Chronicles series and the sixth main entry in the Xeno series, and was released on December 1. Plans for the game began shortly before the launch of Xenoblade Chronicles X in 2014. Key developers from previous games returned, including franchise creator Tetsuya Takahashi and directors Koh Kojima and Genki Yokota. The team wanted to develop a story-driven game in the style of the original Xenoblade Chronicles. The game was announced in 2017 and was released worldwide the same year. As with Xenoblade Chronicles, the game was localized by Nintendo of Europe.
Xenoblade Chronicles is a series of action role-playing games developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo. The series began with the original Xenoblade Chronicles game, published for the Wii in 2010 in Japan, and released in Europe and Oceania the following year. Nintendo originally had no plans for a North American release, but after a fan campaign named Operation Rainfall showed sufficient interest, the game was eventually released in the region in 2012. The original game became a critical and commercial success, spawning multiple sequels. The series has since sold more than 8.74 million copies worldwide. Xenoblade Chronicles has been well-received for its world design, music, stories, and themes. The series has been represented in other gaming franchises, including the Super Smash Bros. and Project X Zone series. It is loosely a part of the Xeno metaseries, for which it receives its namesake, co-created and directed by Tetsuya Takahashi.
Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier Exceed is a crossover role-playing video game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Namco Bandai Games for the Nintendo DS (DS) in 2010. Forming part of the Super Robot Wars series, Endless Frontier Exceed is a sequel to the 2008 DS game Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier, carrying over its gameplay elements.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a 2022 action role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is an installment in the open-world Xenoblade Chronicles series, itself a part of the larger Xeno franchise. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 depicts the futures of the worlds featured in Xenoblade Chronicles (2010) and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (2017) and concludes the trilogy's narrative.
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