Things you want to see in a future Xenoblade game

Xenogears/Xenosaga/Xenoblade Xenoblade Chronicles
1

After four main Xenoblade Chronicles games(I’m counting Torna), I think many of us who played them have a pretty good idea on what to expect from the series along with ways Monolith can improve on them. So How about we talk about the things we would like to see them to work on or include in a future game. It can be either gameplay or story-related.

For me, I want to see a bestiary. Xenoblade is one of the few games where I find myself actively wishing it had one. There were so many moments where I accepted a quest and it asked me to go find a specific monster and I had to google that monster’s name in order to figure out just what the heck it was. Definitive Edition makes this a bit easier thanks to the new markers but it would be nice if the game featured a bestiary you can consult showing you monsters you’ve encountered, drops, location, time of day they are available and even how many times you’ve fought them. They could even go the extra mile and turn the bestiary into it’s own Collectopaedia where you can get a special bonus for fighting every type of monster in an area.

2

In terms of gameplay, I want to see a clean readable UI, better equipment management, etc. I think if they just took the blade combo from the previous games and expanded on it, it would be really neat. Things I don’t want: Gatcha and field skills.

In terms of story I really want them to go back to Sci-Fi a bit harder, but I think for most people it’s a harder sell. I personally (even if I really want it) don’t even think Monolith needs to iterate on X, they could try something totally different.

3

I want the collectopedia back. I loved all the dumb item descriptions

4

Yes the collectopedia was sorely missed in Xenoblade 2 and Torna. It really made me motivated to run around and try and collect as much stuff as I could.

5

I definitely tried to complete it in XBX, but not really in 1. Honestly XBC1 was a bit empty for me world wise. I’m not really the kind of gamer to 100% stuff generally.

6

I’m a very simple person. All I want is Xenoblade X2. After beating X, there are more questions than answers. X felt like a prologue setting up for a much more grander story. It’s good that the developers have expressed their desires to go back to the X universe. X2 might not be the next game, but I’m fairly optimistic that it will happen one day.

7

There’s a lot they could still do with the MMO style of gameplay that they haven’t touched on yet. Obviously there is a limit (I mean XCX is basically a single player MMO) but there are some ideas they could implement. I for one would like to see implementation of buffs tied to moves that are actually useful (obviously we have things like Blade skills but I doubt the Blade system will return in the next game). Status effects have had great uses via things like damage over time and such, but the buffing part could allow them to make more optional challenges, and that’s always a good thing

Interestingly enough, revisiting XCX right after XCDE, I realized that 90% of the design decisions were direct responses to the realization that just making the systems in XC1 bigger through XCX does not make the game better. In fact, the further they took the XC1 design on some things (art palate, collectables, basic missions, more party members, etc) the more XCX seemed to suffer because bigger just wasn’t better in this case.

I think I want a superboss that is really challenging that isn’t tied to Challenge Mode. I think having some ungodly hard challenge could be a ton of fun.

One thing I want to back is I don’t want weapon augments tied to monster drops or collectibles. I love the crystal system so much in XC1, and while I don;t need a replica of it, something more dedicated to the augment/gem/AUX system so I don’t have to worry about losing items

One thing that Torna did was make the side quests absolutely amazing. They’re incredibly detailed and often develop the main party in addition. I want that quality of quest to be maintained in the next few games

One thing I am gonna be curious on is how they handle basic missions. Monolith has been struggling with this for a while. In XC1 they were given by quest givers. In XCX they were unlimited you accepted at the BLADE terminal. In XC2 they were tied to the Gatcha system via merc missions. They’re constantly trying to keep them in without being intrusive, and so I’m curious how its gonna be tackled.

Honestly, I think as long as the story is well thought out, I’d be satisfied with anything. Monolith is currently one of the best studios in the industry in both level design and story ideas, so I have faith in them

This might be unpopular, but I think there is a lot more potential left in the cel-shaded style. I feel like its naturally going to utilize it more in the future due to insane sales for XC2 and XCDE, but seeing as they have a dedicated character designer now, I wanna see what they can do.

Honestly, I think the gameplay loop they’ve already established is satisfying enough overall, if its a little grindy in the post game. I have trusted Monolith time and time again, and aside with some story stuff for XCX (which I knew going in but was still let down after I heard about this supposed lore Bible that exists) they have never failed me once.

8

I played games like FF XII and Xenoblade 1/X before I ever touched a real MMO. These games, while likened to MMOs, have very distinct advantages in a single player setting but also some disadvantages.

One of the advantages I think is that you don’t have to rely on really annoying technical things like server ticks or lag spikes and thank goodness for that. It’s really annoying to keep track of buffs and dot timers when the server can just randomly kill you sometimes if you get really unlucky and a heal doesn’t pop off right away.

One of the things I feel like Xenoblade can improve on is having some skills on a global cooldown. I feel like in all of the Xenoblade games it is way too easy to blow through all of your skills and then you kinda just have to stand there waiting for something to come back off cooldown. I definitely think the series would benefit from having some proper party control too.

9

So all the arts are tied to a universal cooldown meter of some kind? Honestly I really like this idea, but would have to be balanced so you can’t spam only the most powerful arts

10

Wait, did they really find a dedicated character artist?

11

FFXIV has combo skills tied to a global cooldown and more powerful “every once in a while” skills on their own separate timer that you press between the global cooldown. I really like this solution and I feel like Xenoblade could benefit a lot from it.

I don’t think anything regarding a new title has been announced at this time.

12

To respond to both [USER=5]@Aidan Uzuki[/USER] and [USER=30]@Full Metal Jaguar[/USER] (not gonna quote the entire thing since its the same topic), I wasn’t talking about a new title, just a new character designer. Kunihiko Tanaka seems to be done with the Xeno series, and I seem to recall Monolith putting out a hiring call for a new character designer (likely cause they don’t wanna keep hiring on a case by case basis for their games). I think they found one, but I don’t know if they worked on Definitive Edition or not. I would expect they worked at least a little on Future Connected

13

Ah yes. Takahashi was looking for a character designer who would become the face of Monolith Soft. I believe this was around late 2018 when they started recruiting for Takahashi’s new RPG. MS seems to have hired a bunch of new talented artists since then, based on some of the artwork they shared on their website.

14

Honestly I can’t really say what I want to see in future xenoblade games other than more mechs. I’m normally not a fan of non turn-based jrpgs but the xenoblade games seem to be the only ones I enjoy. So they can keep doing what theyre doing and I’ll probably like it.

15

I want to see more mechs as well. Xenoblade X had the right idea but it could have been implemented a little bit better and made more user friendly.

16

From a game play perspective I would love if they leaned harder into the MMO holy trinity. I love the pseudo MMO combat already, and digging in more on it would be really cool. Tank and healer blades in 2 paled next to damage blades due to not really being able to hold aggro for tanks and self healing set ups or stun locks making healers less useful. Maybe increase the party size to 4 for the next one to accommodate better.
From a story perspective, I really hope XC3 continues to defy our expectations more and give us new characters and places to fall in love with. Build off the universe more and throw new curveballs at us. I feel like a lot of people are expecting XC3 to be essentially a crossover of 1 and 2, and as much as I love those characters, I would love if 3 maybe was like those 2 worlds finally rejoining in some way, but far in the future of both games, and we get to see and hear of the first 2 games as great heroes of the past who shaped the world, and we see the fruits of their efforts, but with a new cast and threats. Maybe some kind of universal collapse is happening, and with Klaus gone for good, they need to find the 3 aegises to stop it and crossing it over in that way.

17

I’d like to see more connections to the previous xeno games. And in terms of gameplay less backtracking.