In Japan last year, a Xenoblade Chronicles X art book released, featuring over 300 pages of art for characters, enemies, Dolls/Skells and more.
In one section of the book titled “Unidentified Material,” we get a look at some concepts that ultimately did not make it into the final product. Here’s a look at some of the pictures accompanied by translations. [Thanks, Nintendo Everything.]
Page 1
Protanonist (name undecided)
A rough sketch of a young man in his late twenties is found! He ended up as “protagonist” since the name was undecided, but the personality feels different from the avatar of Xenoblade Chronicles X. So that means this character is…!?
Page 2
Father
Just introduced as “Father”, this rough sketch of a mysterious character has rough facial hair. The title probably doesn’t mean age[*], so is he someone’s father?
[* The used Japanese word may mean a father or an old man in general]
Reina Sakuraba
This is a rough sketch of a beautiful character who has an aura of a heroine. One can imagine that she is related to Sakuraba Industries because of her surname…
Page 3
Dark Knight
The person of this design sketch wears black armor and holds a sword which looks like a Japanese katana. This character feels excessive different when compared to other characters. Notice that feet design. It feels like it was shown somewhere in a scene of Xenoblade Chronicles X…
Page 4
Neilnail
This alien character has the same name as a mysterious Doll in a certain quest. “Qlurian” is mentioned in an explanatory note, so is she Qlurian like Celica?
Emily
A design picture of a female character who is a daughter of the president of America. Speaking of the president, Director General Maurice was originally an aide of the president, so how is he related?
Page 5
Protagonist Doll (Ares)
A scheme picture of a Doll named Ares. The silhouette is just like the Ares in Xenoblade Chronicles X, but the appearance that exceeds a living being and glowing things that looks like exhaust vents (?) clearly makes you think that the technology is different from Earth-made Dolls.
Protagonist Doll (Ares burn state)
The meaning of burn state is unknown, but perhaps it is a form with installed armor and armaments.
Page 6
Cockpit of protagonist Doll (Ares)
It is written in explanatory notes that there was “an original pilot” in this frame. Does that mean the protagonist Doll was originally another person’s vehicle?
Transformation sequence of protagonist Doll (Ares)
This scheme picture explains the flow of protagonist Doll’s transformation, or rather shapeshifting. Protagonist Doll isn’t an usual machine, is there something that resembles a living being?
Page 7
Dark Knight’s Doll
A scheme picture of a mysterious Doll which can fly by transforming from human form to cruise form. It may be categorized as a Doll, but it seems like it has been built with more advanced technology than Earth-made Doll.
Page 8
N/A
Page 9
Dreadnought
A scheme picture of a battleship Dreadnought which has flight form and land form. You can guess from the name and appearance that it is a ship from the Earth side, but that role is unknown. Is it reasonable to think that this is a mother ship that the main character boards… ?
Xenoblade Chronicles X is available for the Wii U.
