Xenoblade Chronicles X director on company workload, western JRPG interest, possible sequels

Coming from a GameSpot interview with director Tetsuya Takahashi...

"When I think about how it feels to work at Monolith, it's something that's probably changed quite a bit over time. In the very beginning of Monolith, right after I'd left Square, there were certainly a lot of times when we were working very late into the night. We were still building up the company so there were not that many people involved.

We still have some of the early core members with us now like [director Koh] Kojima and [art director Norihiro] Takami who were there from the beginning. Certainly things have changed quite a bit over time, but I think it's not quite as grueling as it was in the very beginning. Working with Nintendo has changed our approach to [making games] and given us a little more freedom in terms of how we schedule things out. We don't have to necessarily drive people in the traditional overtime way that you would see at a lot of Japanese companies."

Mr. Takahashi also discussed the Western reaction to JRPGs, specifically Xenoblade Chronicles...

"We do take into consideration the needs and the reactions of western audiences when designing games. After the success of Xenoblade Chronicles on Wii--I believe it had better sales overall abroad than it did in Japan--I was very interested in following along with the reactions that I was seeing outside of Japan. That's definitely something that I will continue to consider going forward, but I also, of course, have to balance that with the needs of the Japanese market as well. Though that balance may shift from project to project, depending on how people's' tastes and reactions are changing."

Finally, Takahashi teased the idea of more Xeno games down the road...

"The opportunity presents itself. Usually I need to start with an interesting idea or direction that I feel it's going to have some compatibility here but if that presented itself, I would consider doing so."