Xenoblade Chronicles 2: TV Commercials (Japan), interviews

This week, we got plenty of details and footage for Xenoblade Chronicles 2, thanks to the Nintendo Direct that was livestreamed, which shared plenty of details about the game (including the Expansion Pass and DLC). There’s also the official website, that was updated right after the presentation and provided us with plenty of details and footage (click here if you haven’t checked this out yet!).

If you want more details about the game, then make sure to check out Game Informer’s preview, which includes many quotes from Monolith Soft. (Tetsuya Takahashi and Koh Kojima). Here’s one about the size of the world:

Because this game is story-driven, I don’t think that an open world is necessarily appropriate. And I feel that we were able to make a game [with a world] that’s really appropriate and really supports the story-driven aspect of this game. For example, if you compare it to Xenoblade 1, there’s plenty of places [and worlds] to explore; but when you look at simple surface area, it might be a little bit smaller than Xenoblade Chronicles X. Like I mentioned, I don’t think that such a vast space is necessary, so instead of focusing on increasing the raw surface area, we thought it was more important to increase the density and pack in as much variety in design [as possible], and for people to be able to enjoy the changing landscape as they traverse and explore this world.”

Click here to check out the preview, which is filled with pretty juicy details!

Next, we have a set of three TV Commercials for the game, straight from Japan. They do feature a fair bit of brand new footage, and the second one even gives us a nice preview of the main theme (composed by Yasunori Mitsuda).

Here’s the commercials:

Speaking of Yasunori Mitsuda, VGMO published an interview with him earlier this week. The interview itself isn’t strictly about Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but it’s one of the main topics. It makes for a pretty interesting read, especially if you’re interested in Yasunori Mitsuda’s work in general.

Here’s an excerpt, about his work on Xenoblade Chronicles 2:

Anyways, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was a ton of work. In my role as a producer, I handled proofreading (checking all the scores), managing the budget, sound checks, and the sound program. It was an impossible amount of work for one person. The biggest challenge was that, since the other composers didn’t have much experience recording with orchestras, I was handling controls, identifying issues in the written music, and gently relaying the director’s requests to the team—all work that required a lot of attention. Of course, since I also had to write my own music, it was a pretty rough one and a half years.

Click here to check out the interview in full!