Xenoblade Chronicles X Review (Wii U)

            Despite how amazing the original Xenoblade Chronicles was, the thought of a sequel or successor being created never crossed my mind since the game was so niche. Prior to Operation Rainfall’s attempts to get Xenoblade Chronicles localized in America and Europe, I had never even heard of Tetsuya Takahashi or his previous titles while working under Squaresoft or Namco. But in January of 2013, Monolith Soft revealed Xenoblade Chronicles X in that month’s Nintendo Direct, where it was only known as “X”. It’s been nearly three years since that initial reveal, but the long wait for the game’s release was well worth it.

Xenoblade Chronicles X: My First Impressions

            To start, I’m about 20 hours into the game, and I still have yet to unlock the Skells. I haven’t gotten very far into the story either, having done a lot of sidequesting and exploring. But so far, I firmly believe that Xenoblade Chronicles X is the best game to have come out this year.

My Impressions on Shulk in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U

            As expected of a Xenoblade fan like me, I immediately tried out Shulk as soon as I booted up Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. And I love what I’ve played; he’s one of my mains alongside Lucario and Megaman. Shulk is slow, but his attacks have good range. It’s best to play him somewhat defensively; stay at a mid-range and focus on using his excellent aerial attacks.

Xenoblade Chronicles Review (Wii)

            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.