As you guys probably know by now, the latest EDGE issue features a "Nintendo blowout", with looks at various upcoming Wii U titles. I got my hands on in for the Takahashi interview and thought I'd give you guys the gist of it. It's pretty anemic, and sheds light on stuff most of us have probably figured out by now.
Anyways, the first question is about how Monolith is transitioning into the world of HD development. Takahashi says since X is their first HD project, they don't want to set hard-to-achieve goals, and they'll work on steadily building up key skills. Their primary goal with X is to lay the groundwork for HD development, so as to make sure they don't overreach themselves and cause problems.
*Next, they ask why he's moving away from "a class-based system for player characters", and if he felt that his previous works were too restrictive in that regard.* He tells them that, unlike their previous games, the protagonist doesn't have a fixed personality and serves as the player's avatar, so naturally he/she wouldn't have a fixed class, gender, or personality. He says they felt that this was the best approach for this game.
After that, they inquire about the size of the world. Takahashi says that since the Dolls were five times the size of a person, they expanded the size of the world equally as to not marginalize the sense of scale we had in the first game. And while the game is actually bigger than five times Xenoblade's landmass, they've made sure that players will feel comfortable navigating it.
The next question asks how they're approaching the side quest system as to address some of the criticism its gotten in Xenoblade. He responds that objectives and relevant NPCs will be displayed on the map, and that they've added features to make questing more convenient.
Finally, they query as to the use of the gamepad. Takahashi says it'll be displaying important info relevant to the game's systems and your objectives on it, as well as serving as a navigation tool similar to what you'd see with tablet computers.
*I don't get this question. They're moving towards a class system in X, not away from it.*
And that's about it; really poor interview, if you ask me. Also, if the pic of Takahashi in the magazine is recent, he's looking pretty scruffy these days.
