Xenoblade Chronicles

[GamePunk429]

So I have this game now, and let me tell you that Nintendo is stupid for not releasing this in the US and promoting the hell out of it. This game is incredible, that's about the best way to put it. I am about 10 hours in now, and I have been enjoying the hell out of it.

Graphics are gorgeous, the best I have seen on the Wii.
Gameplay is awesome, battle system is fun and intuitive. IMO the best real-time battle system I have played.
Story so far has been pretty standard but definitely interesting.
Characters are likable.
Voice acting is actually pretty good, and the score is amazing.

I have to say whichever means you have to take to get and play this game I highly recommend doing it. It was a pain in the ass to hack my Wii to play PAL games, but definitely well worth it in the end. Has anyone else played this game? What do you think?

Monolith Soft is by far my favorite developer now. After Xenosaga, Baten Kaitos, and now Xenoblade. They are the best RPG developer IMO.

[hisak]

Get hype.

[GamePunk429]

Get hype.

Is there a possibility of getting some background on this picture? Where is it from? What is it of?

If this is a possibility of a US release it doesn't surprise me honestly, after getting halfway through the game I can honestly say that if they didn't release this in the states it would go down as one of the biggest blunders by Nintendo ever. The game is seriously that good. I have not been absorbed by a game like this since Baten Kaitos, and even then I didn't play as consistently as I have this game.

Monolith Soft. will be the premier JRPG developer of the future (was Square once was), if Nintendo continues to give them the financial and creative freedom they had with Xenoblade. This was the first project they had complete freedom in developing (budget and time constraints with Xenogears/saga, and budget constraints with Baten Kaitos I believe). And their creativity and talent has been shown in this game 10 fold. I am looking forward to hopefully seeing them continue both this series and Baten Kaitos series in the future.

[hisak]

Is there a possibility of getting some background on this picture? Where is it from? What is it of?

It's reportedly a GameStop release schedule. The release date and GameStop exclusivity can't be confirmed, but NoA just posted official art from the game on their Facebook page. This game is definitely coming to North America.

Let's celebrate.

[JordAnime]

I feel like GS exclusive might just refer to the "edition" it's getting or something, I don't think Nintendo's ever limited the sale of a game to one retailer, except with like Electroplankton's "online only" thing.

I'm actually a lot more interested in The Last Story, but I'll definately pick up Xenoblade when it comes out.

[GamePunk429]

I feel like GS exclusive might just refer to the "edition" it's getting or something, I don't think Nintendo's ever limited the sale of a game to one retailer, except with like Electroplankton's "online only" thing.

I'm actually a lot more interested in The Last Story, but I'll definately pick up Xenoblade when it comes out.

I understand as I am excited about The Last Story as well, but I can't honestly see how it can be better than Xenoblade. Xenoblade is seriously just that good.

[hisak]

Press release confirming it is out. Available from GameStop and Nintendo.com. But.

No word on Canada yet. Obviously it's not as big of a deal as it was before since they're in the same region, but still a bummer for our friends to the north.

I feel like GS exclusive might just refer to the "edition" it's getting or something, I don't think Nintendo's ever limited the sale of a game to one retailer, except with like Electroplankton's "online only" thing.

Chibi-Robo Park Patrol was only sold at Walmart.

[hupla]

I have family in the US so ill probably get them to pick it up for me, really excited to play this.

[hisak]

Trailer on Nintendo.com. Looks (and sounds) like it was put together in five minutes, but it's pretty cool. The game already has an ESRB rating so it seems like it's been planned for release for a while now.

[GamePunk429]

Trailer on Nintendo.com. Looks (and sounds) like it was put together in five minutes, but it's pretty cool. The game already has an ESRB rating so it seems like it's been planned for release for a while now.

That trailer wasn't really that bad, and is actually a pretty good representation of the game from what I can tell. It shows that they have not redone the voices from the UK release, which I am extremely OK with because in my opinion the voice acting was extremely well done and really goes with the feel of the game. I especially love Dunbans voice acting, the person who portrayed his acting did an excellent job.

If this is just a straight port with no redone voice acting or added stuff then I am really disappointed in Nintendo now launching it sooner. But either way the US should be rejoicing as they are about to get the best JRPG in probably the last decade at least.

[Hyruleansoldier]

Xenoblade confirmed for the US in April.

I might have to go get that Wii back

Lol, yes.

I still haven't played it, but it looks like I'll have to by March / April so we can all enjoy it together.  There's too many other great games at the moment.

[GamePunk429]

I finally beat it... holy crap did it take a long time but I finally conquered this mammoth of a game. Total time put in would be 68 hours, which I believe is the most time I have ever put into one video game play through.

I am at work no but I will write up a full review of the game tonight. Then it looks like I'm heading onto the Skyward Sword.

[Hyruleansoldier]

That is a lot - and that means I'll be putting in even more hours!   Where to find all that time...

Hey GP, where's that full review you promised, hmm?

I usually write stuff down somewhere when it's still fresh so it's easier to "get it all out" when you wanna sit down and post a worthy post.

It doesn't look like I'll be playing this game anytime soon.  After Chrono Trigger and still being in the middle of Pokémon Black and Lufia II, I'll need a break from RPG's for sure.  There's still Super Mario 3D Land to enjoy and a dozen other games I got off eBay =D

[hisak]

Game's out in North America in a week. Anyone else planning on picking it up?

Here's a GameTrailers review (9.3).

[GamePunk429]

That is a lot - and that means I'll be putting in even more hours!   Where to find all that time...

Hey GP, where's that full review you promised, hmm?

I usually write stuff down somewhere when it's still fresh so it's easier to "get it all out" when you wanna sit down and post a worthy post.

It doesn't look like I'll be playing this game anytime soon.  After Chrono Trigger and still being in the middle of Pokémon Black and Lufia II, I'll need a break from RPG's for sure.  There's still Super Mario 3D Land to enjoy and a dozen other games I got off eBay =D

Haha forgot about that, yeah I will write up a quick review.

Gameplay:

This is where the game really shines. For starters the game is massive, and this is something that you will notice right at the beginning. The first area alone is huge and could take hours to explore. Then you realize that it is small fraction of the world that is ahead of you. This is helped by the inclusion of checkpoints that are conveniently located throughout the world that you can instantly travel to at any time. This is also the same with time, since there are missions that require a certain time of the day you can instantly change the time of day.

The battle system is where the game truly shines, kind of like Final Fantasy XIIs battle system on steroids. There are no random battles as all enemies are randomly roaming the world. You can lock onto the enemy and engage them, your two party members of choice will be controlled by the computer. You have skills that you can use that take time to regenerate after using them (no magic points). The AI controlled characters normally do a good job though sometimes they fall off the stage which can be annoying. But overall I would say this is my favorite battle system of all time, along with Tales of Symphonia, Baten Kaitos, and Final Fantasy X.

5/5

Graphics:

The graphics are some of the best you will see on the Wii, though nothing amazing as compared to many visuals you will see today on other consoles. Character models look good, and move fluently. The art direction though is phenomenal, and what will impress you is the huge landscapes due to the just massive size of the world (Yes it really is that big). Really some of the areas you go to will take your breath away. Like since you are on the bodies of two giants you can look up and see other parts of the body (on the leg you will see it's arm, or the other giant).

Definitely one of the best looking games on the Wii, and all runs extremely smooth for the most part.

4/5

Story

The story is very interesting and unique for the most part, but also does carry the generic JRPG cliches at some points. But I really enjoyed the story, and the cinematics and way they told the story was absolutely fantastic. There are twists and turns and it definitely gets really interesting at the end while sometimes a bit confusing. It does a good job explaining most things but there are a few plot holes. The ending is a bit disappointing, but it does cap of a very entertaining story nicely.

4/5

Sound

The music in this game is gorgeous, and each music (different for night and day) in each area I found normally really set the mood well. I would say the composer did a top notch job on the sound. The voice acting is well done as well, none of the voice actors really got on my nerves (even the joke character on the team who does has a somewhat annoying voice). Some of the battle shouts do get overly repetitive and you will get tired of hearing them. But nothing that really detracted from my experience. Dunbans voice actor did an exceptional good job, and he is now one of my favorite characters from an RPG.

Length:

I decided to put this section in because this game is just massive. I can't even imagine putting in the time to try and accomplish every mission in the game. It took me about 72 hours to beat the game (this included my rushing through at the end), and there was easily double maybe triple that amount of time in side quests to do. There's the massive side quest to rebuild and entire town which I didn't even attempt, due to the fact as I don't have too much time to put into video games and I really wanted to complete the game. But from what I have read is that it is a really enjoyable experience and very rewarding so I may go back one day and do those quests. But the length is also a detractor for players like myself sometimes as towards the end it started to drag the story on, and there were times when I thought I was at the end and I wasn't even close. It would be fine if there were more to the story to explain but towards the end everything is revealed and it seems almost like the developers weren't ready to let the experience end. But if you are a person who likes longs adventures and don't mind grinding then this is the game for you.

Overall score: 4.7/5

[Hyruleansoldier]

Thanks!  It does sound all-round awesome and fun to play from start till end.

That's many hours of gameplay, too, especially since there was more to do still!    I'll probably add another dozen hours.  Exploring a large and detailed overworld is lots of fun.  It's one of the things I really love about MMORPG's... but there's always other people there to bust your groove.

I assume most enemies refresh when you re-enter the area?  And what about items and such - are there many / does it have a forging/ upgrading system / do you rely on items in general a lot or really not much at all, etc. etc.

It's hard to get good intel - it seems it's mostly Americans writing decent FAQs, reviews and walkthroughs since it's still pretty dry out there.

One day when I have LOTS of time I'll enjoy the heck out of this game.

[hisak]

Picked it up today, but it might be a week or two before I can properly sit down with it. Thanks for the review, GamePunk.

[GamePunk429]

Thanks!  It does sound all-round awesome and fun to play from start till end.

That's many hours of gameplay, too, especially since there was more to do still!    I'll probably add another dozen hours.  Exploring a large and detailed overworld is lots of fun.  It's one of the things I really love about MMORPG's... but there's always other people there to bust your groove.

I assume most enemies refresh when you re-enter the area?  And what about items and such - are there many / does it have a forging/ upgrading system / do you rely on items in general a lot or really not much at all, etc. etc.

It's hard to get good intel - it seems it's mostly Americans writing decent FAQs, reviews and walkthroughs since it's still pretty dry out there.

One day when I have LOTS of time I'll enjoy the heck out of this game.

This game really does a good job of having a semi-MMO feel to it. The way that you get quests is very similar to that of WoW, and you can have dozens of them going on at once. The world is definitely big enough to make you think you're in an MMO. It does have a gem crafting system that allows you to craft gems to power up your weapons and armor. It seems very deep but I'm not going to lie I only spent minimal time with it. I'm sure if you wanted to spend a lot of time with it you could create some powerful gems.

Enemies refresh when you leave and enter areas that is correct, plus I believe they refresh after you get so far away or for so long. Not completely positive on this one though. As for items, you don't really ever use items. Healing and everything is done by skills, which don't use magic points they just have a cooldown time. If one of your party members is KOd you can revive them as long as you have a link in your chain gauge full (3 links total before you can mass a chain attack). So it's a bit of a strategy trade off, should you use a powerful chain attack against an enemy, or save your links in case one of your characters is KOd. It's a pretty cool concept.

[hisak]

As I expected, schoolwork kept me away from this game for a while, but I finally got to sit down with it for a little under two hours tonight. This is my first non-turn-based RPG (unless you count Monster Hunter, which I don't), so I don't have anything to compare the battle system to, but I find that it works well. I appreciate how it takes the events that would occur in a turn-based system and streamlines them into a much faster real-time system, though I'm sure other modern RPGs have done this as well. Just reached the game's first (minor, from the looks of it) dungeon, so it seems like the length hasn't been exaggerated at all. Hopefully I'll be getting to meatier parts of the game soon.

[hisak]

You guys, this thing is so good. I'm starting to experience withdrawal whenever I'm not playing. Only a third of the way through the game so far, but it's already in my Top 5 Wii games. If you haven't played it you're making a mistake.