It is approaching a year since we first explored Alrest in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and, with the Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country prologue content now available, Monolith Soft executive producer Tetsuya Takahashi has had a chance to reflect on his time working on the Nintendo Switch exclusive.
In an interview with Nintendo Life, the conversation soon turned to talk about the ending to Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
For those that need a quick recap, the concluding events to the game saw Pyra (and Mythra) sacrifice herself to save the world. However, in a post-credits cutscene, her core crystal restored and soon saw Pyra and Mythra appear separately to be reunited Rex. Takahashi was asked about the events had transpired to make this happen.
“[Laughter] Originally we envisioned the ending sort of in an Inception-style where you would see a cutscene with Rex’s core crystal glowing, and that would be the end of the game. But, while making the final scenes of the game, I really thought we should give players a clearer sense of closure, and I really started to come around to the feeling of ending the game on a happier note.
“The players have been through this incredibly long, trying the experience of completing the game, so why not give them a happier note to finish on? So we thought, ‘Well, okay, we’ll bring back Pyra or Mythra, which one should we use? Or maybe we’ll bring back—what’s her name? The green-haired one.’
“In any case, we thought about ending the game with one of these female characters joining Rex again, but I decided to roll with the feeling of a happy ending of sorts and thought as a bonus why not bring both Pyra and Mythra back as a bonus for the player at the end of the game?”
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is now available exclusively for Nintendo Switch worldwide.
