Alright, so . . . .

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/sx4j/index.html

(still don't know how to do the blue hyperlink text deal)

The font on the site looks vaguely familiar. I'm hoping against hope this'll be related to my beloved Xenogears, but something is telling me not to hold my breath. Nice music, too . . . .

What say you all? I don't suppose anyone has any info?

The cynical side of me is assuming this has nothing to do with Xeno series at all, as this game was previously called Monado which basically looked like Soma Bringer, or frankly, the pale imitation of FFXII. I guess this game got the prefix of Xeno simply for a promotional reason, and if any, there will only few connections, but it's just my guess. I'm curious who's the composer. The piano track is not personalized enough to verify the style. Soma Bringer was copyrighted by Procyon Studio so Mitsuda and co.'s involvements were anticipated at an earlier stage. One of the Monado trailers sounded like Shimomura.

I confess; why I'm posting here is this game used to be seen as Matsuno's next project

Yes, this was Monado. But the "Xeno" prefix might be more than just to hook gears/saga fans. We can only hope, though.

If it was Tetsuya Takahashi + Matsuno in one giant project, and it turns out to NOT suck, that would be all kinds of awesome.

Xenoblade Official Site

Do a "Quote" reply, and take a gander at the format.

Thanks, Angie. That official music really is nice

Both the original trailer and the music on the website sound an awful lot like Shimomura to me.

Also, Gonintendo is reporting that apparently the renaming is purely a marketing thing.  That said, the new official art that showed up online DOES show two giant mechs.  It'd be funny if this ended up being a weird "is it or isn't it related" thing like Xenosaga was to Xenogears.  Hint: stop changing publishers if you want to keep the IP steady...

If this is truly the next entry in the Xeno series, please let that be Mitsuda composing so the series can get back on track.  By the way, RPG Land has a few screenshots up.

And wow.. two new RPGs by legendary developers (and possibly composers), both announced on the same day, and both for the Wii.  Awesome!

I don't think changing puplishers is what keeps the IP unstable, all you need is one crappy game... *cough* Xenosaga 2 *cough*

Other than that title screen, those screen shots were all at E3 when they revealed it first as Monado.

Recent screenshots of the characters certainly look like Akihiko Yoshida's work; aren't Matsuno and Yoshida frequently paired together?

There still is the possibility that the game could be related to the Xeonsaga series, as Xenosaga I was code named Noah's Ark.  Either way the music sounds great.

David

Yoshida is still at Square Enix to do the art direction of FFXIV.

Supposedly, the newest Famitsu magazine has a Q&A with a bunch of game composers and in the profile for Shimomura, it says she is working on Last Ranker and Xenoblade currently. As I don't speak Japanese nor read Famitsu, I guess a scan would be needed to confirm 100%. I thought it was her from the start, given the music from the montage trailer back in 2009 as Monado sounded just like her.

Awesome, it's good to see some new Shimomura for a game that doesn't have Mickey Mouse in it.  And wow, either her work on Final Fantasy Versus XIII is done or she's turning into the female version of the multi-game-composing master Hitoshi Sakimoto.  2010: the year of Shimomura's comeback?  Please do another Mana game and Parasite Eve 3 next, kthx.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_3rd_Birthday

If this is true, she already did compose for Parasite Eve 3.

Edit: Okay Capcom, with SE bringing this cell phone title to the PSP. you need to bring Rockman DASH: Great Adventure on 5 Islands over.

However, we all know that SCEA would cancel such a release because it isn't a cash cow like those SE re-releases.

Have you actually heard Birth by Sleep yet?
It's pretty fantastic actually.

Soundtrack has been announced.  It's being published by Uematsu's company, Dog Ear Records.. interesting.  But what's even cooler is that it's four discs!  Four CDs full of new Shimomura music??  I think I can speak for all Shimomura fans when I say YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://vgmdb.net/album/18946

According to Amazon, artists also include Manami Kiyota and Yasunori Mitsuda. I'm sure someone at VGMdb will confirm though...

!

Uematsu, Mitsuda, and Shimomura.. mmmm.  The return of Squaresoft?

Amazon also lists some artist called "ACE+" and my favorite artist of all time "game music" for this soundtrack.  Any idea who this ACE+ is?  Maybe this duo?  They lack the + though.

Yeah, it's probably CHiCO from that group, at the very least. Dog Ear Records and Chico are very friendly with one another.

When the promo album was announced, it was reported something from the past Xeno series was also there, so I guess Mitsuda's name is just there for reprises, but who knows how it will turn out. However, I assume Mitsuda was the first candidate of this project and Shimomura was eventually introduced to this project by Mitsuda (because he did the same thing for Breath of Fire V or Luminous Arc 2) so he can still have some roles like sound producer or such.

EDIT: I was wrong. It appears Mitsuda composes something new...

I have to say, while I'm not really interested in the Wii, this game kind of has my interest. If anything, one can hope nothing compromises it's development. I mean really, "Xeno" is not exactly the luckiest prefix in the gaming world.

The soundtrack is now available for pre-order at Cd Japan.

David

Is there any hope for anything approaching the great moments of Xenogears? Most I've seen of this game has been large fields, would those even work with the kind of music Mitsuda composed for Gears?

Nah, Mitsuda was only called at the latest stage of the development for publicity and only wrote an ending theme. The rest is by Shimomura and some more composers whose names won't be released until somebody checks the staff credit.  Personally, I think the strength of Xenogears (which is my very favorite score of him) was mostly the event themes, and I really don't recall field themes so much (but I guess there were at least several noteworthy tracks.

Music "samples" here.

Played about an hour of the game yesterday, and it's looking very promising.
Nice graphics, good music, loads of stuff to do and collect.
It's got a kind of built-in "achievement" system, like Crystal Bearers, which is nice too.

Can't say I recognized any composers yet though.

Looking forward to hearing your rip, Mike -- all six and a half hours of it.  (Like, wow. )  Thanks!

I'm liking the very pretty Mitsuda/Sarah Àlainn vocal song, Beyond The Sky.   Its tone feels closest to Xenosaga Episode I's Pain, yet I can't help but be reminded of John Williams' Jurassic Park Main Theme when I hear some of these melodic strains.  It's gotta just be me.

That vocal theme is the best one I've ever heard from Mitsuda.

So uhh... has there been ANY mention of this on any lists Nintendo has put out during E3, or can we assume that it's not escaping Japan like EVERYTHING ELSE that's not mainstream that Nintendo of Japan has published this generation?

Gone, unfortunately :-(

Oh well, soundtrack is out soon. I absolutely LOVE that ending theme (the singer's voice as a part of it).