Tetsuya Takahashi

Overview

Tetsuya Takahashi is a Japanese game designer that began his career as a graphics designer, first at Nihon Falcom where he worked on games such as, Star Trader, Dinosaur, and Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes, . He was later hired by Squaresoft, where he worked on a number of Final Fantasy titles including Final Fantasy IV, V, and VI. He also contributed to the development of Front Mission and Chrono Trigger. It was also at Squaresoft that he met Soraya Saga, whom he would eventually marry and work with as a collaborator.

Xenogears

Takahashi served as the director and scenario writer of the classic PlayStation RPG Xenogears. Production of the game was met with some trouble, as the development staff were new and it was difficult for the team to complete the game on time leading to an "unfinished" Disc 2. Following the release of Xenogears, Takahashi left Square after the company declined the idea of green-lighting a sequel to the game due to a lack of sufficient sales figures.

Monolith Software

After leaving Square, Takahashi founded Monolith Software Inc. and partnered with Namco, which became part-owner of the studio. Takahashi then created the Xenosaga series, which was considered a spiritual successor to Xenogears. Though originally planned to have six episodes, it was eventually reduced to a trilogy. All three entries in the Xenosaga series were produced for the PlayStation 2, with a compilation retelling of Xenosaga I+II also made for the DS.

Nintendo

In 2007, Namco sold its stake in Monolith Software to Nintendo. Takahashi's first project following the transfer of ownership was the action RPG Soma Bringer on the DS. He then began the Xenoblade series, with Xenoblade Chronicles, a project that was originally titled Monado: Beginning of a the World.

Currently in 2018, the Xenoblade series is composed of Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and the DLC expansion for Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Torna the Golden Country