Tetsuya Takahashi

Tetsuya Takahashi (高橋 哲哉, Takahashi Tetsuya) (born November 18, 1966 in Shizuoka Prefecture) is currently the head of his own game development company Monolith Soft, Inc. In the past, Takahashi has worked at Square (now Square Enix), participating on such games as Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger. His most notable works are those within the Xenogears (Square), Xenosaga (Monolith Soft/Namco) and Xenoblade Chronicles (Monolith Soft/Nintendo) series. He is married to Soraya Saga, who also worked with him at Square Enix, as well as on Xenogears, Xenosaga, and Soma Bringer. He is the co-founder and director of Monolith Soft.

Not to be confused with Tetsuya Takahashi (composer).
Tetsuya Takahashi
高橋 哲哉
Born (1966-11-18) November 18, 1966
Shizuoka Prefecture
NationalityJapanese
OccupationVideo game director, Chairman, CCO, President and Director of Monolith Soft
EmployerNihon Falcom (1988–1990)
Square (1990–1999)
Monolith Soft (1999–present)
Spouse(s)Soraya Saga

Biography

Takahashi was born on November 18, 1966 in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. He began his career in video games in the 1980s working with Nihon Falcom.

Squaresoft

Takahashi worked on Final Fantasy VI, including the design of the Magitek armor from the opening scene of the game.[1] He also was the graphics director on Chrono Trigger.[2]

In 1995 he married his Squaresoft coworker Kaori Tanaka, better known by her pen name Soraya Saga.

Xenogears

Originally submitted as a potential plot for Final Fantasy VII, it was made into its own project after being judged too dark and complicated for a fantasy game by others at Squaresoft.[3]

Monolith Soft

While at Squaresoft, Takahashi realized that the company intended to focus on the Final Fantasy series, and that sequels to the Xenogears series were becoming unlikely.[4] He then decided to leave and start his own software development company.[4] In October 1999 he left Squaresoft to start a new company, Monolith Soft, together with Hirohide Sugiura.

Xenoblade Chronicles

Following a meeting about the game Soma Bringer, Takahashi imagined what a game would be like where the world was actually the body of a "giant god".[5] Takahashi attempted a more "mature" writing style for the game, and said he expects to continue in the same vein in the future.[6] The game references both Japanese and Western RPG styles, referring to the western style in some cases "without thinking about it".[7] In this way, the game is designed to appeal to fans of "text-based" JRPGs and western RPGs at the same time.[8] Minor localizations were made for the American and European release, as well as bug fixes and game balancing.[7] Originally Takahashi tried a more traditional turned based combat system, but he later incorporated a battle system where the protagonist can see into the future[9] as a gameplay mechanic.

Xenoblade Chronicles X

Takahashi and Monolith Soft were revealed to be working on a new game for the Wii U in September 2012.[10] It was later revealed in the January 2013 Nintendo Direct under the tentative title X, and shown further at E3 2013. For E3 2014, it was announced with the title Xenoblade Chronicles X.[11]

Gameography

References
  1. "Reunion After Eight Years". Nintendo. 2007-01-01. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  2. "Six Musicians Together". Nintendo. 2011-01-01. Archived from the original on 2013-04-21. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  3. Spencer (2010-06-11). "Soraya Saga On Xenogears And Xenosaga". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 2013-11-16. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  4. Ike Sato (2001-11-08). "Xenosaga Interview". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2013-04-11. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  5. Anoop Gantayat (2010-02-17). "First Details: Xenoblade". andriasang. Archived from the original on 2012-10-25. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  6. Joe Juba (2012-03-06). "Five Questions With Xenoblade Chronicles' Executive Director". Game Informer. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  7. Ben Gilbert (2012-04-06). "Xenoblade Chronicles director naturally influenced by Western design; details changes for NA/EU version". Joystiq. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  8. "Xenoblade designed to appeal to Japanese and western RPG fans - Video". 2011-08-16. Archived from the original on 2013-04-21. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  9. Spencer (2012-04-07). "Monolith Soft Tried Using A Turn Based Battle System For Xenoblade Chronicles". Siliconera. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  10. Brian Ashcraft (2012-09-13). "The Folks Behind Xenoblade Are Making a Wii U Game". Kotaku. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
  11. Dyer, Mitch. "E3 2014: XENOBLADE CHRONICLES X COMING IN 2015". IGN. Retrieved 2014-06-10.
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