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Monolithsoft (Xenoblade) is recruiting action game staff for new project

Axass

Member
Man, this looks so much like Dark Souls lol

XenoSouls for me thanks.

I'm ready for xeno souls

bg-joblist.jpg

xeno souls?
People seeing Souls everywhere. This art has literally nothing hinting at a Souls-like, unless you think that castle=souls. I mean, even the colors aren't dark enough.

Anyway, I love those art pieces, I'm glad they're apparently trying to differentiate from their usual Xenostuff.
 

Waji

Member
Does this basically confirm that they're near the end of development on X2?
Xenoblade 2 is most certainly finished / in debug phase or at least not in full prod with the whole staff.

X should absolutely not be a point of comparison as it's the only game that took them that much time. Most of their other projects were 1 to 3 years.
2 years is plenty of time for a talented studio.

People seeing Souls everywhere. This art has literally nothing hinting at a Souls-like, unless you think that castle=souls. I mean, even the colors aren't dark enough.

Anyway, I love those art pieces, I'm glad they're apparently trying to differentiate from their usual Xenostuff.
I agree. I even saw people thinking Monolith might be asking for help from the souls team.
It makes no sense. But saying "Xenostuff" doesn't either so...
 

Mark1

Member
At this point there's no reason to believe the game will be delayed.
This would please me, it's certainly pointing to a holiday release now. Can't wait to pick this up on Switch, wasn't the biggest fan of XBX's approach to tutorials and story. Good game but couldn't stay in it for long in comparison to other big open world games like Zelda
 

Cpt Lmao

Member
People seeing Souls everywhere. This art has literally nothing hinting at a Souls-like, unless you think that castle=souls. I mean, even the colors aren't dark enough.

Anyway, I love those art pieces, I'm glad they're apparently trying to differentiate from their usual Xenostuff.

What?

It is incredibly souls like: religious imagery; atmospheric, dilapidated ruins; an ornately armoured medieval-style knight standing solemnly with a broadsword, bearing a tattered cape with an insignia.
 
Daaaang. Super good looking so far. Although, I make it a rule to never get hyped over concept art ever since Epic Mickey. This is harder to do, considering Monolithsoft is so good at what they do. The Zelda team went to them for help. That's a big confidence booster, right there.

If they wanna compete with Western RPGs, presentation is key, which is what they lack. No more bad looking character designs, and things have to feel, at least, somewhat realistic. No weird Xenoblade jumping physics, and things have to connect. Combat doesn't have to be good, judging by other WRPGs.

I'm kind of hoping they break some of those conventions, however. Japanese devs do some of their best when they try to emulate the west, but consciously fix the flaws western devs are too afraid to poke holes at. BoTW, MGS, and Souls are all excellent, because of this, IMO. I'm interested to see what direction they go in.
 

DJIzana

Member
Daaaang. Super good looking so far. Although, I make it a rule to never get hyped over concept art ever since Epic Mickey. This is harder to do, considering Monolithsoft is so good at what they do. The Zelda team went to them for help. That's a big confidence booster, right there.

If they wanna compete with Western RPGs, presentation is key, which is what they lack. No more bad looking character designs, and things have to feel, at least, somewhat realistic. No weird Xenoblade jumping physics, and things have to connect. Combat doesn't have to be good, judging by other WRPGs.

I'm kind of hoping they break some of those conventions, however. Japanese devs do some of their best when they try to emulate the west, but consciously fix the flaws western devs are too afraid to poke holes at. BoTW, MGS, and Souls are all excellent, because of this, IMO. I'm interested to see what direction they go in.

Good thing both types of games can exist then, right?

I happen to like those "weird jumping physics" in my Xenoblade X thank you very much! :p

At the same time, I agree, when it comes to this new IP. Appealing character designs need to happen.

I disagree regarding things need to be realistic. Look at Dark Souls 3... not the most realistic in all places but it works for the game quite well. (I HATE drawing a comparison to Souls btw since this is just concept art...) I also disagree with it not needing good combat. I think it should have it... especially if some form of multiplayer is involved.
 

Dragner

Member
I imagine it will use Breath of the Wild engine since they helped developing it. They have a good grasp with it, also the art gives a botw vibe.

Other than that waiting for the result, we are short on high fantasy RPGs so this is welcome.
 

DJIzana

Member
I imagine it will use Breath of the Wild engine since they helped developing it. They have a good grasp with it, also the art gives a botw vibe.

Other than that waiting for the result, we are short on high fantasy RPGs so this is welcome.

Could be wrong but thought I saw some postings ask for UE4 experience.

https://www.monolithsoft.co.jp/recruit/mid-career/

This posting, per Google translate at least. BotW engine uses Cryware, no?
 
I love Monolith's world design and world building but I can't stand the Xenoblade combat system, so this has me incredibly excited. I'm hoping it's much more on the action side of action RPG than Xenoblade is.
 

MomoQca

Member
I imagine it will use Breath of the Wild Xenoblade X engine since they helped developing it. They have a good grasp with it, also the art gives a botw vibe.

Other than that waiting for the result, we are short on high fantasy RPGs so this is welcome.

Fixed that for you!
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
Fuck Souls. I'd love to see someone else try to make a better/different Tales game. I think Monolith would be perfect for it.
 

Garlador

Member
What?

It is incredibly souls like: religious imagery; atmospheric, dilapidated ruins; an ornately armoured medieval-style knight standing solemnly with a broadsword, bearing a tattered cape with an insignia.
Or as it used to just be called, "medieval fantasy"!
 

ookami

Member
Or as it used to just be called, "medieval fantasy"!
Yeah it is as if people discovered dark fantasy with Dark Souls and though the game created the genre.

"Souls like" expression would fit more for some kind of rogue like gameplay with a strong narrative through scenery.
 

JCX

Member
This looks cool, but I really wanna get the cliffhanger at the end of XCX resolved. Hope they're working on that too.
 

llehuty

Member
The artwork looks amazing.

What?

It is incredibly souls like: religious imagery; atmospheric, dilapidated ruins; an ornately armoured medieval-style knight standing solemnly with a broadsword, bearing a tattered cape with an insignia.
People need to stop with the Dark Souls comparisons.

You can find this imagery in plenty of pieces of art with a mature fantasy or middle-age setting. Dark Souls didn't invent this look, or even brought it to mainstream recently (that would be The Lord of the rings).
 

Yazuka

Member
Souls, souls, souls, souls.
I do understand that people love those game, but come on.
Not every game has to be a souls game.

I'm very eager to see what MonolithSoft puts out, I've been in love with their stuff since Xenosaga. And those artworks are goddamn beautiful.
Whatever this might be, I'm there day one.
 
If we had to guess the type or theme of the game by these pieces of art, I would not jump to Souls like a lot of people seem to be doing (even though I'd love a Monolithsoft Souls-like), since we can see what appears to be a battlefield with flags and banners in the third piece in the OP which sorta goes against the Souls-like themes of ruin and isolation.

I'm more getting Fire Emblem vibes from it, though that doesn't really jive with action game all that much. I have a lot of faith in Monolithsoft to come up with great original titles after Baten Kaitos and the Xenoblade series so I'm sure whatever this winds up being will be great.

I just hope the combat agrees with me.
 

J-Skee

Member
It already looks a lot better than Xenoblade to me, so I'm excited.

(Not a fan of the aesthetic, please don't kill me.)
 

Luigiv

Member
Made this my new desktop background. Just a shame it's exactly 1920 columns wide but just shy of 1080 lines tall, so it doesn't quite fill the screens (and I don't want to ruin it by upscaling either).
 

llehuty

Member
I'm more getting Fire Emblem vibes from it, though that doesn't really jive with action game all that much. I have a lot of faith in Monolithsoft to come up with great original titles after Baten Kaitos and the Xenoblade series so I'm sure whatever this winds up being will be great.

I just hope the combat agrees with me.

WAIT, what if they are doing Fire Emblem Switch and reinterpreting the saga as an action adventure game? Sounds risky, since the traditional Fire Emblem (and the app game) are currently very popular, but I could see this working as a spin off.
 

LordKano

Member
WAIT, what if they are doing Fire Emblem Switch and reinterpreting the saga as an action adventure game? Sounds risky, since the traditional Fire Emblem (and the app game) are currently very popular, but I could see this working as a spin off.

Intelligent Systems is the one doing Fire Emblem Switch tho.
I think it's just a new IP from Monolith, nothing else.
 
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