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Oh look guys! It's a new "Xeno" game from the makers of Xenogears and Xenosaga. I can't wait! Oh wait, that looks a lot like that other game I saw at E3 last year. Wait... wasn't that called something else?
Yeah, the game was previously announced and shown last year at E3 as Monado: Beginning of The World. Now they're calling it "Xenoblade". Is this deception?
It's just a simple name change, right?
Brad disagrees. Why?
The developer Monolith Soft was founded by former members of Squaresoft (specifically much of the team that worked on Xenogears). With Namco, the studio made the Xenosaga franchise for Playstation 2; and, while not a direct sequel to Xenogears, it was very much a spiritual successor to the beloved Playstation 1 JRPG. Well, Nintendo now owns Monolith Soft, and while they have made quite a few other projects besides the "Xeno" games, Monado... err.. Xenoblade is their next big project for the Wii.
Now, I've played through Xenogears and the Xenosaga series, and after watching that "Xenoblade" trailer, I can safely say this game appears to have very little (if anything) in common with the "Xeno" universe. The "Xeno" games are traditional turned based RPGs with regular battles between your characters and baddies with the option of jumping into giant robots to fight battles versus larger enemies. Honestly, this game appears to better fit the Soma Bringer universe (but since they stupidly never localized that game, I'm sure Soma Blade wasn't an option). I get a Phantasy Star Online/Monster Hunter vibe from this trailer -- which is not surprising given that half of the Japanese development scene is desperately focused on making Monster Hunter clones.
So is there a problem with this? They made the game and they have the right to name their game whatever they want, sure. But when they attach a name (one previously synonymous with quality) to a new IP to increase sales, it seems a bit unfair. The "Xeno" games have always had a strong fan following and I'm sure this is the audience they are targeting.
This wouldn't be the first time something shady like this has happened. It's actually quite common. "Final Fantasy Adventure" and "Final Fantasy Legend" (released for the Gameboy in the states) were not "Final Fantasy" games at all. Final Fantasy Adventure was actually the first Seiken Densetsu (Secret of Mana is Seiken Desnsetsu 2) -- while Final Fantasy Legend was the first game in the SaGa series. The problem? Well, both games are very different from Final Fantasy games. Also, when you realize that many RPG fans consider the SaGa series to be pretty shitty, changing the name to Final Fantasy is extremely shady.
More recently we've seen this with "Casltevania": Lords of Shadow. In this case the game was first announced without the Castlevania name (much like Monado). It's hard to believe that this project (being developed by the Jericho team) honestly began as a Castlevania game for HD consoles when, after the initial announcement and before the name change, a real Castlevania project with Alucard (also for HD consoles) was revealed by Koji Igarashi's team. Accuse me a paranoia if you like, but imagine this scenario. Let's pretend Heavenly Sword was teased by Sony and named as such at a trade show. What if then we all saw a new God of War teaser (with Kratos and all) from a different studio within Sony the same year at another event. Now let's imagine we never heard about this God of War project ever again and suddenly it was revealed that Heavenly Sword was ACTUALLY God of War: Heavenly Sword all along? Do you really think anyone would buy that bullshit? Well, this is essentially what happened with this new "Castlevania".
As consumers, should we accept this deception from publishers who are clearly abusing a brand name to sell extra copies of a game?
Your thoughts?
Brad
Comments
14 years, 9 months ago
...I know... but... the longing for another Xeno RPG is hard to overcome Brad....
>_<
It kills me on the inside that I know this project has little/nothing to do with the Xeno-universe, yet at the same time I am filled with the hope that maybe, just maybe. Monado was nothing but a disguise to hide the truth that could be the next installment in the XenoRPG line...
I'm torn.
14 years, 9 months ago
I guess we'll call this one "XenoFake". I wanted more female robots and huge, flying mechas for this Xeno series, instead it was all a mirage...
14 years, 9 months ago
I feel like title changes have been more irregular and recent lately, and I've heard reasons from GoNintendo as to why the name change was made, saying "for it to have some sort of common point with the previous xeno installments", or to honor Tetsuya Takahashi for his efforts put into the game. So the reasons behind it seem fairly more believable in my eyes, but I'm not entirely sure the Xeno name will ensure more sales, I will admit it did grab my attention and fans of the xeno series but I don't think they would use the Xeno name to grab a whole bunch of sales.
Im guessing this will be more like what Xenosaga is/was to Xenogears? I guess I haven't done much research into whether or not this game will have some of its elements or none at all. I thought this might be some sort of new Matsuno project, havent looked into that yet either, however I did realise its looks A LOT likes its from the Soma Bringer team, the game I won't have the fortune of playing cause we didnt get the damn game.
I'm more along the lines of this name being chosen due to some sort of honor or hidden meaning b*llshit, but I don't know if I can put it against em' for choosing the Xeno name if it is for sales only. I mean since Monolith is now a first party developer, I think they are in a good place right now. But seriously...wii?
14 years, 9 months ago
At the end of the day, the name does not make the game. If they are doing this to boost sales for the niche style, then alright but as long as the game is fun in its own right, then thats all that matter.
And the castlevania game will be ok, not amazing, but ok................probably
14 years, 9 months ago
Man, that's kinda disappointing. I just watched that trailer and it's true, this game looks nothing like anything in the "Xeno" universe. I'm pretty sure most of the fans of the Xeno series would be able to see this as well. If this is a marketing ploy to try and draw people in, I don't think it's gonna work very well.
And why call it Xenoblade? It sounds so. Bleh. I can just see the cover for the game now. It's gonna have a picture of the main character holding that glowing sword with the words "Xenoblade" above it. At least the old title invoked some curiosity towards it and the possible lore the game might have.
14 years, 9 months ago
Probably because the sword's name will be like... R-Blade... or Blade of CosMos/KosMos... >_>
14 years, 9 months ago
I hope this happens with Other M. Seriously, change Samus to someone else and release it. I agree with Brad on his opinion: Metroid is about a feeling of loneliness. I like that they added in Adam in Fusion, but Adam should have been a more minor character. Maybe he'd appear less, maybe he'd only be in the ship and he'd be a hint system, I don't know. Then we have Samus suplexing enemies. The only time she's even gotten close to that was kicking things in Brawl, and that is not a part of her series.
But enough about that, I agree; this is not a Xeno game.
14 years, 9 months ago
This news saddens me, as it pretty much confirms that a true Xenosaga sequel will probably never come.
As for it having anything to do with the Xeno-universe, after reading about the game's premise I don't see how it possibly could. Xenogears was supposedly episode 5 of what was originally going to be a 6-part series, with the Xenosaga series being a re-imagining of what would have been episode 1. While they're not officially connected -most likely due to copyright reasons more than anything else- they do have a lot in common stylistically, share many similar themes and allusions, and the events of Xenosaga do fit pretty much with what was outlined conceptually in the Xenogears Perfect Works.
Xenoblade on the other hand sounds (and looks) to be completely different, with the only possibility of similarities being due to the fact that it's a product of the same mind. Judging by what I've seen of the game, if it weren't for the fact that it uses the "Xeno" name then I never would have caressed the thought of it being anything remotely Xeno-related. Takahashi already confirmed that it has nothing to do with the Xeno-series anyway, and it seems that using the "Xeno" name wasn't even his direct decision. As a result, I don't think it will pull in many Xeno fans, and on top of that, putting a hardcore rpg on the Wii? ...good lord. It's gonna make Xenosaga's sales look like that of a Final Fantasy game.
14 years, 9 months ago
Years ago I was a rabid Resident Evil fan, tank controls and all. I devoured RE1 and RE2, so when I was in the store one day and saw Resident Evil: Survivor on the shelf, I immediately purchased it.
That was my first experience with a publisher using a brand to take money out of my pocket and put horrible, horrible garbage in my hand, and ever since that day I have been very careful about blindly buy a game based on the name alone.
14 years, 9 months ago
What the fuck? Brad didn't write this...
This post has tags, Brad couldn't have put this up.
14 years, 9 months ago
I'm not sure if abusing a brand name to sell extra copies of the game holds water because the brand is dead. If anything, they are dooming the title.
NPD lifetime US sales as of Dec 07:
Xenosaga Ep.1: Der Wille Zur Macht - 513k
Xenosaga Ep.2: Jenseits von Gut und Bose - 268k
Xenosaga Ep.3: Also Sprach Zarathustra - 115k
14 years, 8 months ago
You're a moron, you know nothing about the game and judge it on an ancient trailer instead of the new media. What's with shitty knee jerk reactions like this? Moron. The themes of Xenoblade clearly resemble past Xeno games, with the gnosticism tendencies. So, yeah, maybe there won't be mechs, but there are still machines as well (even seen in the trailer, you just chose one screen from the variety of stuff seen to show and make a moronic point). And the whole WORLD of the game is made up of the bodies of two DEAD GODS. So, yeah, very Xeno all the way. Moron (yes all this was posted when this article went up, and yes, even without the scans, the art on the teaser site alone with the two Gods fighting it out is decidedly Xeno). Have some cake, moron.
http://wiieveryday.blogspot.com/
This isn't Xenogears, this isn't Xenosaga (which itself wasn't Xenogears), but it's Xeno. MORON.
14 years ago
god dam it, i liked xenosaga for it's unique scenes and storyline characte development was freaken one of the best, now if i look at xenoblade it looks like they're just trying to copy final fantasy. How i miss the xenosaga series...