Warning: There will be spoilers for the first few hours of the game. Oh
boy, where do I begin? Well, let’s have some backstory first. Xenoblade
Chronicles was an RPG for the Wii released in Japan on June 10, 2010. Though it
has no story relation to previous Xeno titles like Xenogears or Xenosaga, it’s
very clear that there are influences from both games in Xenoblade. The game was
originally called Monado: Beginning of the World, but was renamed to Xenoblade
to honor Tetsuya Takahashi, who had worked on the other Xeno titles. Xenogears
was a Square Enix game, and its team had also worked on Chrono Cross.
Afterwards, however, they left to form their own company, Monolith Soft. Namco
Bandai ended up picking them up, and they worked on Xenosaga. Xenosaga was
meant to have a massive story spread across 6 games. However, poor reception of
Xenosaga Episode 2 forced them to wrap things up in the third game. Around
2007, Nintendo bought Monolith Soft; it’s probably because of Monolith being
Nintendo’s first-party developer that Xenoblade even had a chance at being
represented in the newest Super Smash Bros.
Sometime
after Xenoblade’s Japanese release, a group of fans wanted Nintendo to localize
it. They ended up forming a group known as Operation Rainfall to persuade
Nintendo to bring Xenoblade as well as The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower over
to America. And goddamn were they right to pester Nintendo as much as they did
for these games. Though I haven’t played Pandora’s Tower, Xenoblade and The
Last Story are some of the best RPGs this generation, and are something the Wii
desperately needed.
Story
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| Round 1! Fight! |
The
world of Xenoblade is set on two gigantic titans known as the Bionis and the
Mechonis. As their names indicate, the Bionis is home to organic lifeforms such
as Homs, Nopon, and High Entia. Homs and High Entia are similar to humans, but
Homs require Ether (the Xenoblade universe’s equivalent to mana) to survive.
High Entia have much longer lifespans than the other races on the Bionis. The
Mechonis is home to robots called Mechon, whom the races of the Bionis are at
war with at the beginning of the story.
Eons
before the beginning of the plot, the two titans are locked in a duel with
each other. After an indefinite amount of time, the fight ends at a draw with
both the Bionis and Mechonis seemingly dead. At the beginning of the game, the
Homs find themselves fighting to defend their world from the Mechon. However, the Homs are no match for
the Mechon due the Mechon being far more advanced and powerful than Homs
weaponry. Only the mysterious blade known as the Monado can damage the Mechon.
And only Dunban, a high ranking soldier in the Colony 9 Defense Force, can
wield it. Thanks to his bravery (and recklessness), he is able to drive off the
Mechon and help the Defense Force win the battle. However, the energy backlash
from the Monado ends up crippling his right arm, leaving him unable to use it.
One
year after the battle, the story switches focus to Shulk, a young researcher
and engineer in Colony 9’s Defense Force. Shulk is seen going about his daily
life, researching the Monado to learn its secrets in hopes of warding off
future Mechon attacks. However, the Mechon soon launch another attack on Colony
9. In the ensuing chaos, many are killed. In another attempt to use the Monado,
Dunban cripples his arm even further, rendering it permanently paralyzed. In a
moment of desperation, Shulk picks up the Monado and finds that he is able to
wield it with none of the drawbacks that Dunban experienced. Furthermore, Shulk
gains the ability to get glimpses of the future, which he can adapt to
accordingly. Thanks to these visions, he gains a huge advantage in battle, and
sets off with his friends to take revenge on the Mechon for the attack on
Colony 9.
What
blew me away is that the plot began to evolve into something much, much larger
than a simple revenge story. Shulk’s journey takes him a very long trek through
the Bionis, and the characters that get involved get a lot of development.
Every party member you meet has a unique charm, and you’ll grow to care about
them as the game goes on. Even NPCs involved in sidequests get some
development, and there’s even a whole chart in the game that details the
relationships between various NPCs as well as party members.
Although
the characters here aren’t the best I’ve seen, their development is still some
of the best I’ve seen in an RPG. Everyone comes off as realistic, and they
aren’t “victims of circumstance” that are thrown together as the plot demands.
Your first few party members are already best friends with each other, and
everyone slowly gets to know each other as more characters join your team. The
voice acting only serves to enhance this further. None of the characters are
completely cliché, either. Everyone has unique traits and development that allows those
traits to manifest and shine.
Gameplay
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| Now it's Reyn time! |
Xenoblade’s
battle system appears to be simple, but is much deeper than it seems. While out
on the field, you can target and engage in battles with enemies seamlessly;
there are no battle transitions of any sort. In battle, all characters have a
basic auto-attack and 8 arts to choose from. Many arts have unique effects that
kick in depending on different factors, such as where you hit the enemy or what
art you used just prior. Unlike in other JRPGs, there isn’t an MP system of any
sort. After using an art, the art has a cooldown time before it can be used
again. Each character also comes with a “Talent Art”, which can only be used
when its gauge is filled. Talent Arts tend to be special, powerful arts. For
example Shulk’s Talent Art is to activate the Monado, letting him choose from 8
more arts, while Reyn’s Talent Art is a taunt used to draw attention to him and
away from the other party members. There are also a multitude of status effects
that can be inflicted, which adds another layer of depth to the battle system.
But
the most interesting feature of the battle system, however, is the visions.
Thanks to Shulk’s Monado, you’ll occasionally be shown a vision where an enemy
hits you with a powerful (and often fatal) attack. You’ll then be given a
limited amount of time to change the future; there are many different ways to
do this. For example, you can have a party member with higher HP and Defense
use an art that will draw the enemy’s attention away from its intended target,
allowing him or her to survive. Or, you can activate Shulk’s Monado and use an
art to negate the attack. The vision system is very innovative and helps to
keep the player on their toes in battle.
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| This is only a taste of the beautiful scenery to come... |
Outside
of battle, you can explore the land and complete sidequests. The sheer size of
the areas of this game and the amount of sidequests makes me wonder how they
had managed to fit this into a 4 GB Wii Disc (though non-Japanese versions of
the game are dual-layer due to dual audio). Unfortunately, a large amount of
these sidequests are simply fetch quests or requests to kill a certain amount
of a specific monster. On the bright side, this game takes great lengths to
reduce tedium; most sidequests grant you the reward immediately upon completion
and you won’t have to backtrack to the NPC who issued that quest. There are
other sidequests that have their own side-stories, and these can help increase
your affinity with a community. Increasing affinity between the party and towns
can open up new sidequests and new items to buy or trade for. You can also
increase affinity between party members, which opens up more skill slots so
they can share skills, as well as allow you to see special scenes called
“Heart-to-heart”; these scenes allow the characters to develop further.
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| A whole flowchart to keep track of relationships! |
Simply
put, there’s a ton of stuff to do in this game, and it will last you a very
long time. However, a new player may find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer
amount of content. Thankfully, the game provides tutorials for players when a
new feature is introduced; you’ll be able to adapt quickly. Xenoblade also
lacks a bestiary or item catalogue that keeps track of where you can find
certain items. There’s a collectopedia, but it’s not very detailed and won’t
tell you much beyond which area of the game you’ll find the item in. On top of
that, in order to register an item in the collectopedia, you need to use one
up.
Graphics
and Art Style
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| Still impresses me today. |
Graphically,
this game is rather subpar, even for Wii standards. It’s actually somewhat
jarring when you compare this side by side with absolutely stunning games such
as Super Mario Galaxies 1 and 2, Skyward Sword, and Sonic Colors. However,
Xenoblade more than makes up for it thanks to its art style and area design.
The combination of the two allows for breathtaking views all throughout the
game. There are numerous moments where I’d stop just to take in the scenery.
Even on repeat playthroughs, the environments still amaze me. Eryth Sea, Gaur
Plains, and Makna Forest are some of my favorite locations. However, character
models leave quite a bit to be desired. Facial detail is rather low, and lip
syncing isn’t always good.
Soundtrack
and Voice Acting
The
music in this game is absolutely amazing and can be emotionally powerful. Want
an example? Just sit at the title screen for a few minutes! Some of my favorite
tracks in the game are: Mechanical Rhythm, You Will Know Our Names, One Who
Gets in Our Way, Gaur Plains, Unfinished Battle, and so many more. Xenoblade
has what is possibly the best soundtrack in any RPG I’ve ever played. Yoko
Shimomura, ACE+, Manami Kiyota, and Yasunori Mitsuda, you’ve all done a
wonderful job with this game’s music.
Unlike
the majority of RPGs out there, this game’s voice acting was all dubbed in the
UK due to it being released in Europe before America. I HIGHLY prefer the dub over the original Japanese voices. I don’t
have anything against the Japanese voices; they’re just fine. But the British
dub adds a lot of charm, and is a refreshing change from just about every other
game out there. There are a lot of memorable lines in this game thanks to the
dub (“Now it’s Reyn time!” comes to mind), and I hope to hear these voice
actors in Xenoblade Chronicles X.
Length
Xenoblade
is LONG. Just the main story alone can take you up to around 60 to 70 hours.
Engaging in sidequests, fighting enemies, collecting gear and forging gems, as
well as just flat out exploring, can push the time well over 100 hours. This is
THE longest game I’ve played, and every hour was well worth it.
Verdict:
10/10
Pros
- Simple yet deep and innovative battle system
- Amazing story and characters
- Absolutely stellar British dub
- A beautiful soundtrack
- Art direction helps the game look amazing despite its subpar graphics
- HUGE and beautiful maps to explore
- A literal crap-ton of content that will last you a LONG time
Cons
- The extensive amount of stuff in this game can make you feel very overwhelmed at first, though this flaw is subjective and depends on the person playing the game
- Lots of quests are simply monster killing or fetch quests
- Lack of in-game bestiary to keep track of drops for quests
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| Holy shit, just look at these prices! |
To
sum it up, Xenoblade is an amazingly massive (and just plain amazing) game.
I’ve spent a huge chunk of a past summer on it, and I’m not exaggerating when I
say it’s the best RPG of the generation. Despite it being my favorite game of
all time (and thus one of the games I’ve spent the most time on) though, I’m
still finding out new things as I replay the game, which is a testament to just
how much content is in Xenoblade. If you can find it anywhere for a reasonable
price (cheapest seems to be 50 bucks at GameStop), GRAB IT ASAP. Or, you can
wait for the 3DS version, but it’s exclusive to the “New” 3DS due to its
stronger CPU, so you’ll still have to shell out a lot of cash. Still, you owe
it to yourself to try this gem out. Games like Xenoblade only come once in a
while!
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