Xenoblade Chronicles 2 comes out on the Switch today or tomorrow, depending on where you live. For those of you who are excited on the game like me, Masatsugu Saito, the game's lead character designer, gives us a preview on how the main characters in the game were designed.
In a post by Nintendo, Saito takes us behind the scenes on his thought process when he designed the main character Rex, and company. He mentioned that he first read the plot written by the game’s director, Tetsuya Takahashi and participated in screenplay conferences where Saito began drawing the characters. To make them express more emotions, he put great emphasis on the character’s eyes, which for me is a classic Japanese design technique. Saito said that he concentrated on their eyes so that his characters can easily convey emotion during cutscenes, making them more relatable to the player.
“Putting emphasis on their eyes allows a variety of emotions to be expressed during cut scenes," Saito said. “It makes it easier to see the character’s expressions, even when they are far away.”
Saito also revealed that when it comes to the character’s armor, he assigned each character a specific color to distinguish them from each other making them easier to locate from afar. Lastly, in terms of movement, Saito requested the animators to have the character’s unique personality show in the way they walk.
“One request that I made was that each character have their personality reflected on how they walk.” Saito continues, “The other characters also have slight differences in how they walk and run, which is something I’d like you to look our for while you play"
For me personally, I appreciate the detail that these developers put into their games. Not many players will notice these details, but it’s a great show of their craftsmanship and dedication to the game they are making. The Switch has definitely had great success with RPG’s during its initial run, and no doubt that when Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is released, it will join the hype and success that The Legend Of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Super Mario Odyssey achieved.
What are your thoughts? Are you gonna purchase the game when it’s released? Or will you wait for an official review before you buy?
