The games of Tetsuya Takahashi and Soraya Saga (Xeno)

[Jumpin]

Hiku said:

Xenosaga Episode 2

This would be Soraya Saga and longtime character art director's exit from the team, both not having much influence on the final product. Most people who played this game, and the others, can recognize the lack of spirit infused into these games from the previous titles.

I was following the news and development of Xenosaga very closely, and I remember when this went down. And it pissed me off.
Soraya Saga wrote on her blog that she was fired by Namco, and that people from Namco decided to "save several of the stories" she meant to implement in Episode 2, for Episode 3 instead.
The result of that action really showed, and we ended up with a less interesting and fleshed out story. And as a result of the lowered sales, it was decided that there wouldn't be 6 Episodes anymore, but that they had to wrap things up in Episode 3.

I really hate when coorporate goons impose on the creativity of the original creators like this.

Episode 3 turned out really good though, but the wrapping up of the story felt rushed at parts.

I realized I forgot to mention the other person who was booted during this period, character designer Kunihiko Tanaka. He worked on Xenoblade Chronicles - I am not sure what his role was in that game, but in Xenoblade Chronicles X he returned as character designer - and in my opinion it brought both progress and nostalgia back to that game. 

Anyway, on the topic of Soraya Saga and Namco. I am not sure the full story that occurred, but it was during this game that Takahashi became very upset. Obviously Soraya Saga was more upset. I think out of professional courtousy, they held back what was really on their minds: that Namco were humongous assholes who wanted to exploit their reputation, and had no interest in the artist's vision. Of course, it could be that talks broke down and both sides had gone a little overboard - I recall that Namco had reported Soraya Saga being difficult. Either way, I don't think we got the best outcome for that franchise. At least the Xenoblades seem to be going very well. The team is also more mature and much more experienced now.

On a side note, Takahashi was supposedly the loudest and most charasmatic person working for Square by various reports.