" Xenoblade Chronicles truly stands out as "One of the Best RPGs ever" despite minor flaws".
- The scale of the game and the different environments never cease to amaze.
- The music is astonishing as it always adds to the feel of the environment or a cut scene.
- The characters are quite interesting and the voice acting is top notch.
- The battle system is fun and easy to use and controls very well.
- The story and lore is one of the best seen in the RPG genre.
- A very long game as it can take 60 or more hours to complete the main story.
- The wide variety of weapons and armor is impressive.
Negatives:
- The difficulty of the game can spike up at random, but isn't too intrusive.
- Lip syncing is terrible and ruins the immersion of the game (English only).
- Lag can happen in the heat of battle as many things may be happening at one time.
- Pop ups ruin the immersion of the world a tad bit.
- Most quests given in the game aren't worth it.
Deserving of the title "Savior of the JRPG", Xenoblade Chronicles truly shines out as a gem on the Wii, and destroys most video games that have been created. Xenoblade Chronicles, known as Xenoblade outside the U.S, was released much later in North America due to Nintendo of America assuming fans had a lack of interest in the game, but was "saved" by a movement called Project Rainfall. Usurping the chance to make money, Gamestop released of the game, however, as a store exclusive. Preordering and buying the game on day one, this is my review (first review ever) of the critically acclaimed game, Xenoblade Chronicles.
Upon starting the game the player is introduced to a red sword in the middle of a field as the title screen with calm serene music playing in the background. This was the first time I've encountered anything like this and sets the tone for the whole game. After creating a save file I'm introduced to the back-story of two giant golems, the Bionis and the Mechonis, who are locked in a battle to the death until the Bionis and the Mechonis deliver a fatal blow to one another causing them to fall dormant. 1000 years later, a war against the inhabitants of the Bionis called Homs (humans basically) and the inhabitants of the Mechonis called Mechon (robots) clash; causing the people of Bionis to stage a final attack at the Mechonis stronghold in Sword Valley. The battle wages on as the army of Homs begin to lose, but are quickly saved by Dunban, a soldier with the legendary red sword fable to have been used by the Bionis itself and can cut through Mechon with ease called the Monado; Dickson, a wondering traveler and scientist, and Momkar, a skilled soldier, who ultimately win the battle, but with Dunban injured by the Monado and Momkar dead due to his betrayal to the team.
A year after the Battle of Sword Valley, we're introduced to Shulk, a scientist studying the Monado, and his two friends, Reyn, a soldier in training and best friends to Shulk, and Fiora, Dunban's little sister and shows an interest in Shulk ever since they were children. After a series of events they go and retrieve fuel for their home called Colony 9, which is on the lower leg of the Bionis. Trouble abounds as the Mechon attack Colony 9, but with a new faced Mechon who acts as the general. The trio race to the colony to join the counterattack and in desperation Shulk uses the Monado to fend off the Mechon, but in the aftermath of it all, Fiora loses her life to the faced Mechon. Having sworn revenge, Shulk goes on an adventure to stop the Mechon with the Monado and is accompanied by Reyn and later Sharla, a medic and sniper of the destroyed Colony 6, which was caused by the Mechon, Dunban, who seeks revenge over the death of her sister, Riki, a Nopon who is praised as a hero to his people, and Melia, a High Entia princess who tags along to avenge the death of her father.
As far as story and lore go, Xenoblade Chronicle is top notch as the world is filled with interesting monuments. Discovering an ancient ruin or a cave feels rewarding as the Bionis seems to have nooks and crannies everywhere that follow to new areas; having gone down into detail such as the Bionis being depicted more as a living being with a heart, trachea, white blood cells, and blood. The further the story goes the more intriguing the new areas that the party comes across such as the forest on the back of the Bionis or the frozen wasteland that is the Bionis' right arm. The imagination and art style of the Bionis is creative and coupled with the music makes adventuring fun and exciting.
The music in Xenoblade Chronicles is incredible as it complements every area, battle, and cut scene amplifying it to the point where even the most dreaded places that people hate to go in video games become enjoyable. Xenoblade Chronicles even has a new track playing when the time of day changes as the cheery song used for the day turns into a somber, gentle song at night. The various sounds in the game add a nice touch to the world and combat. The voice acting, which is done by British voice actors is superb and bring a breath of fresh air and the only time when the character voice acting was annoying is whenever they say their battle dialogue for the 30th time.
The game play is done in real time as characters enter a battle and are able to move around to fight. Using a system similar to those of a MMORPG, characters always do basic attacks automatically, but can also use a special attack which can deal more damage, or do a special status aliment to lower defense, or stun the opponent. Other abilities can also help your team as you can boost your character's or party's attack, but whenever a special move is used it can't be used until a cool down time has ended which means that strategy is imperative to winning battles. There are just so many factors and abilities that it takes awhile to set all of them on each character and allows the game to be easily replayed for a second play through.
Xenoblade Chronicles ushers in a new standard in which role playing video games will be compared to in the future. The game play, music, dialogue, story, lore, and style are all top notch, but sadly due to the Wii's hardware limitations there were several glitches that allowed the game to be overall less immersive. To exploring the vast wilderness of the Gaur Plains to fighting enemies with two other characters, I would replay the game to experience it all again. In saying that, I personally recommend Xenoblade Chronicles as not only a title that every Wii owner should buy, but to anybody that enjoys video gaming as a hobby.