Xenoblade Chronicles

 is a series of action role-playing games developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo. It is a part of the "Xeno" metaseries created by Tetsuya Takahashi, but was formed after Nintendo's acquisition of Monolith Soft in 2007. The series began with the original "Xenoblade Chronicles" game, published for the Nintendo Wii in 2010; it was a critical success and spawned sequels.
The series has been both commercially and critically successful. "Xenoblade Chronicles" was well-received for its world design, music, and stories. The series has been represented in other gaming franchises, including the "Super Smash Bros." and "Project X Zone" series.
Common elements.
Gameplay.
The gameplay within the "Xenoblade Chronicles" series uses a real-time action-based battle system, where the player manually moves a character in real-time, and party members will "auto-attack" when enemies enter their attack radius. Manually input attacks, called "Arts", may also be performed, but in a limited fashion. Battle Arts are only available after a "cool down" period that occurs after every use, while character specific "Talent Arts" only become available after enough auto-attacks are executed. Both party members and enemies have a finite amount of health points, and attacks deplete this value. Combat is won when all enemies lose their HP, but the game is lost if the player's character loses all their HP and has no means of being revived. Health may be restored by the player by using healing Arts in battle, or the player may let characters' HP regenerate automatically outside of battle. Winning battles earns the player experience points, which allows the characters to grow stronger by leveling up and learning new Arts. Arts for each character must be set by the player on their respective set up, called a "Battle Palette", outside of battles.
Exploring large environments is a defining aspect of the series.
Setting.
While the "Xenoblade" games do not share any setting directly, its universes are directly linked, except for the case of "Xenoblade Chronicles X" which is regarded as a spiritual successor. Two colossal titans known as the Bionis and the Mechonis serve as the setting for "Xenoblade Chronicles"; while only the Bionis's shoulder in the case of its epilogue titled "Future Connected". "Xenoblade Chronicles X" takes place on an alien planet known as Mira. In "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" and its prequel "Torna - The Golden Country", the world of Alrest contains several titans which house many different nations.
Fictional chronology.
In the series's fictional chronology, "Xenoblade Chronicles" is the first game to take place. Its epilogue, "Xenoblade Chronicles: Future Connected" is set one year after the events of the first game. "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" takes place in a parallel universe, occurring simultaneously to the events of "Xenoblade Chronicles". Its prequel, "Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country" is set 500 years before the events of the game.
Shortly following the announcement of "Xenoblade Chronicles X", the developers confirmed that it is not a direct sequel to the first game and is instead considered a spiritual successor, sharing many of philosophical concepts as its predecessor.
Characters.
A race of small furry creatures known as the Nopon have appeared in every title in the series. In contrast to their appearances, the Nopon race, in general, tend to be greedy and selfish by nature. In every game, the names of Nopon non-player characters have been carried over to the next installment as the main Nopon character: Satata (Tatsu in Japan) from "Xenoblade Chronicles" appears in "Xenoblade Chronicles X". Coincidentally, the "Xenoblade Chronicles X" incarnation of Tatsu has a major rival known as Tora, who also appears in "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" as a playable Nopon character. Much like the "Van-" characters of the series, the Nopon characters do not share any similarities other than their names.
Games.
There are three main games under the "Xenoblade Chronicles" series. Each game depicts a single episode within the flow of a larger time and space. Despite the loose connections between each entry, they each feature their own cast of characters, setting, and story.
Future.
In May 2018, series creator Tetsuya Takahashi pitched a new game concept to Nintendo. The first production group, known for their work on the ‘’Xenoblade Chronicles’’ series, started development on a new project in August 2018 after "" went gold. In October 2018, the 1st production division of Monolith Soft, led by Tetsuya Takahashi, started hiring for a new role-playing game project in the style of previous "Xenoblade Chronicles" titles. As of 2020, the Production Group is currently focused on strengthening the "Xenoblade Chronicles" brand for the foreseeable future, leaving no room for a smaller-scale game outside of the series. Takahashi said that while a continuation to "Xenoblade Chronicles X" is possible, the next game may go in a different direction as he often gets bored with the last project. In addition to pursuing a new direction for the series, series director Koh Kojima expressed an interest in making "Xenoblade Chronicles 3" and "Xenoblade Chronicles X2".
Development.
Origin.
The staff at Monolith Soft was left in a state of low morale after the commercial failure of the Xenosaga series which ultimately led to its premature end. In July 2006, Tetsuya Takahashi was struck by the idea of people living on top of enormous titans, so he wrote the concept down and turned it into a 3D model. The project was initially called "Monado: Beginning of the World", but was changed to "Xenoblade" in Japan to honor Tetsuya Takahashi's previous work on the "Xeno" series and for his hard work on the game. Nintendo of Europe announced that they were publishing the game, adding "Chronicles" to "Xenoblade". Due to no plans to release the title in North America, the fans launched a fan-campaign known as Operation Rainfall to convince Nintendo to bring "Xenoblade Chronicles" to North America along with "The Last Story" and "Pandora's Tower". After months of silence, Nintendo of America confirmed that the title was headed for North America in April 2012.
Monolith Soft began development of "Xenoblade Chronicles", an action role-playing game for the Nintendo Wii that was released in Japan on June 10, 2010. The game was later localized by Nintendo of Europe and was released in Europe and Australia on August 19, 2011 and September 1, 2011 respectively. It was then brought over to North America as a GameStop exclusive on April 6, 2012. Some time after its initial reveal as "Monado: The Beginning of the World", then-Nintendo president Satoru Iwata changed the title to "Xenoblade" to honor Tetsuya Takahashi's previous work on the "Xeno" series. "Xenoblade Chronicles 3D", a port handled by Monster Games, was released worldwide in April 2015 for the New Nintendo 3DS.
In other media.
The "Xenoblade Chronicles" series has been represented in different mediums. Shulk has appeared as a playable fighter in "Super Smash Bros. 4" and "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate". Pyra and Mythra also appear as a dual character as downloadable content for "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate." In addition to Shulk, Dunban from the original "Xenoblade Chronicles" as well as Rex and Nia from "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" appear as Mii Fighter costumes in "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate". A Shulk amiibo figure was released in February 2015. The amiibo figure has allowed Shulk to appear as a costume in Yoshi's Woolly World and Super Mario Maker. Fiora from the original "Xenoblade Chronicles" appears as a playable character in "Project X Zone 2". ' features the outfit worn by Rex from "Xenoblade Chronicles 2". Good Smile Company has released a figure of Pyra and Mythra from "Xenoblade Chronicles 2". The company plans to release a figma of "Xenoblade Chronicles 2s version of KOS-MOS and Melia from the epilogue story of "".
Reception.
"Xenoblade Chronicles" sold nearly 200,000 units in Japan by the end of 2013. In a later interview, the game sold better in the west than it did in Japan. As of December 2015, "Xenoblade Chronicles X" sold roughly 377,000 units between Japan, France, and the United States. "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" sold 1.42 million copies as of June 2018, which became the best-selling title ever developed by Monolith Soft. Its sales performance exceeded the company's expectations in western territories. "Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country" was also noted for surpassing their sales expectations in Japan as well.