The developer of the Xenosaga and Baten Kaitos games, that is, not the mostly PC developer Monolith bought by ... erm, Vivendi or something? several years ago. Oh well... I only knew about the latter one by name, so seeing the headline was kind of confusing since IGN just said "Monolith", not "Monolith Soft". Stupid IGN. :)
http://wii.ign.com/articles/784/784029p1.html
Anyway, before, Namco owned 96% of the studio. Now, Nintendo owns 80% and Namco 16%, and the other 4% is with whoever else.
Xenosaga was disappointing, but I've heard good things about Baten Kaitos.
I didn't like Baten Kaitos much, really... it's not bad I guess (well, the voice acting is some of the worst ever, and I don't mean that in the "so bad it's funny" way.), but it just wasn't interesting at all. All of the characters are awful and unlikable (particularly the main character...). The gameplay is unique, but not really that fun, I found. It does some things different, but in many ways it's a very typical JRPG, and I got quite bored, pretty fast. I didn't get that far before quitting and not going back.
Supposedly Baten Kaitos Origins is better though, but I didn't play it...
Baiten Kaitos was pretty good; I haven't played Origins though, but it's supposedly even better.
However, as we all know, Nintendo's touch can turn even a rag-tag group of developers into skilled artisans.
As far as I understand, doesn't this have to do with that survival horror game called Disaster: Day of Crises which being made by Monolith?
This could be another Retro Studios; another strong western developer for Nintendo.
Unfortunately, I dont think i've seen a single bit of real time footage of DDC.
Monolithsoft isn't a Western developer, it's firmly planted in Japan.
This is the company that made Xenosaga and Baiten Kaitos, not the company that made F.E.A.R. and Condemned: Criminal Origins.
Interesting. I thought Nintendo had no interest in buying out more developers.
I thought Xenosaga was excellent. Convoluted, but presented in good fashion anyway. I hope they keep on the RPG route because Nintendo could use a few.
I did not like Xenosaga, and after what Monolith did to the franchise born from my absolute, all-time favorite game ever, they should be stuck developing Mario Party games until the end of time or even later if possible.
lazy there are actually two Monoliths, one in American and the other in Japan. Yes, they can apparently "do that".
Ryan Wrote:I did not like Xenosaga, and after what Monolith did to the franchise born from my absolute, all-time favorite game ever, they should be stuck developing Mario Party games until the end of time or even later if possible.
If there's anyone you should be mad at it's Tetsuya Takahashi, the man that directed Xenosaga AND Xenogears.
Yeah but its the company that's making Disaster Day of Crises, so I think Nintendo's been so impressed by that game that they decided to buy them up. Similar to Retro, except for the whole Japanese based company thing.
I remember reading alot of reviews of Xenosaga that said 'Good RPG, but not Xenogears' so maybe they learned their lesson?
Well, Nintendo actually bought Retro because things were terrible and they didn't want their investment to go down the tubes. So, they bought out the rest of the stock and then sent in Miyamoto to straighten things out.
Yeah, which is awesome ;D but Retro is (was?) mostly comprised of the Turok 1 and 2 teams who are all incredible designers, especially with mechanical design. So they saw massive potential (just had to shave off Dyack or whatever his name was who made 'The Guy Game').
Kotaku also agrees with my idea that DDC should be shown soon with pretty nice-nice and yummy holy shits.
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Nintendo have bought up Monolith, previous owners Bandai Namco allowing them to stroll right in and buy 80% of the developer (BN are hanging onto 16%). You may know Monolith from such games as Xenosaga and Baten Kaitos, as well as the intriguing-yet-mysterious Disaster: Day of Crisis that we saw once at last year's E3 then never ever saw again.
Little surprising, yes? Methinks Disaster: Day of Crisis might have been kept quiet for a reason, and the next time we see it, might not look a thing like it did last time we saw it. Or something. Or I could be totally wrong! Luke Plunkett
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Also, Rtangs have you played Xenosaga 3? apparently its the bees knees.
Wasn't Retro formed from the beginning as a Nintendo subsidiary, or Nintendo-led studio, though? That's different from here.
Quote:Monolithsoft isn't a Western developer, it's firmly planted in Japan.
This is the company that made Xenosaga and Baiten Kaitos, not the company that made F.E.A.R. and Condemned: Criminal Origins.
Yeah, as I said, that confused me at first too... but yes, Monolith Soft is the one making Disaster.
Quote:lazy there are actually two Monoliths, one in American and the other in Japan. Yes, they can apparently "do that".
The difference is, the US Monolith's games are quite popular among many Western gamers. Monolith Soft... well, Baten Kaitos and Xenosaga aren't quite on that level... :)
But yes, it is true that Nintendo makes any studio it works with better. Just see Left Field -- with Nintendo they made the amazingly good Excitebike 64. Since then? They made some utterly average game and then disappeared.
The American Monolith also made Claw, a platformer with a pirate cat. They made Gruntz, some crazy overhead adventure/puzzle that kinda reminded me of lemmings, but with clay monster people. Also, they made the all American Shogo: Mobile Armor Division. That one was a game about angsty teenage kids killing things with giant robots. You know, "I can't take all this fighting!".
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And here's the intro movie. Yes, I swear, it WAS made entirely in America, by Americans.
Hey, Shogo is a pretty good FPS... it is trying hard to seem Japanese, but still, it's good. But anyway, Monolith has made lot of good games. Some of their other stuff includes Blood (gory FPS), Blood 2: The Chosen (its sequel), Get Medieval (Gauntlet-style game), etc.
Kid: How did I get caught up in all this? I can't take it! AAAAHHH!
Experienced Guy: Snap out of it kid! I know this is all very big and scary and stuff but you need to have the GUTS to take it ALL THE WAY TO THE END. I know you can do this kid, we're counting on you!
*sceeene transiiiisioooon*
Enemy guy with smooooooth voice: Hmmm. Hmm.... Hm hm... Hmmmm...
Subordinate: Sir! They're breaking through, at this rate we'll...
Enemy dude: This is for "The Greater Good". We must do what we can to stop these rebels/overthrow these imperialists, even if we all lose our lives. Activate the stereotypical horrific super weapon! You've all served me well, which I say to show the "bad guys" are just misunderstood. I do this for you, random love interest.
END OF WAR: Main character kid and love interest fly off in giant robot and weird music plays.
That's the plot of a standard giant robot war anime, all of them. EVERY SINGLE ONE.
Bah, if there weren't stereotypical plots, television wouldn't have any content on it you know... :)
... and have you played Shogo? I own it (got it cheap last year) and started it, but didn't get far really... I don't know if it really does follow those stereotypes. I do know that despite the fact that it's an American game it has a Japanese song running during the opening credits though, if I remember correctly. :)