Monolith Soft on the future of the Xenoblade series, continuing their relationship with Nintendo

A portion of a GameReactor interview with senior director and chief creative office Tetsuya Takahashi...

GR: After two big releases and the New Nintendo 3DS remake, Xenoblade has become a major Nintendo franchise. Where would you like to take the series next, and are there already plans to move it forward?

TT: While Xenoblade Chronicles was a true story-driven JRPG, we took a rather different approach with Xenoblade Chronicles X. You could say it doesn't really feel like a typical JRPG: what really sets it apart from other JRPGs is that the game world - the planet Mira - is really vast. I've heard that some Japanese users who played Xenoblade Chronicles X said they enjoyed a more story-driven type of game. So if we have the opportunity to make another game in the series, I'd like to made another typical JRPG-style game like Xenoblade Chronicles again.

GR: Considering the connection between Monolith and Nintendo, how would you like that relationship to continue?

TT: This is just my personal view, but I think that Monolith Soft should continue making the kind of games that can't be made within Nintendo. As you know, before we were Monolith Soft we worked at Square Enix, so Xenoblade Chronicles is the result of those Square Enix influences combining with influences from Nintendo. Just as human civilisation has developed through the intermingling of different peoples and cultures, I hope that Monolith Soft can continue to develop further through having various opportunities to work with Nintendo.