Xenoblade Chronicles Review [Nintendo Enthusiast]

Nintendo Enthusiast:

"...Personally I spent over 200 hours, completing over 400 sidequests before deciding to beat the game, and even so I’ve still got a few quests and a handful of other challenges waiting for me when I come back. What’s more, during all this time I never felt – not even for a second – that the content offered was any less than stellar. Few games come close to providing this kind of value."

[3dawg]

this game is worth playing im hooked. if you have a wii and you like jrpgs do your self a favor and buy this game worth every penny. if you don't have a wii buy one, borrow one from a friend or rent one its up to you. try not to miss out on a great game.

[TBM]

i traded in my wii earlier this year, if the wii-u in B/C i'll pick up a copy of this, last story and buy a wii-u a few months after release to play these.

[Titanz]

"Any" rpg fan, would definitely appreciate this title.

[Indigo123]

Your review had so much promise and it was actually really good but you fell trap to the generalizing pitfall.......

"In a time where Japanese RPGs largely have become formulaic and lost much of their former glory"

I could argue every single genre is formulaic............ But at least japanese rpgs continue to innovate and really are the most diverse type of game you can buy.........

"Not only do they flirt with Western RPGs in the process"

There is not a single thing even remotely similar

"a chosen one representing a new hope for an otherwise stagnating genre."

So was inazuma eleven, knights in the knightmare, golden sun 3, disgaea 4, devil survivor stagnating? really?

If anything I find japanese rpgs really different and refreshing compared to the same kind of shooter, the same kind of sports game, the same kind of racer, the same kind of action game, and the same kind of western rpg, you know the one, its always with its action based system

[Hicken]

It's the new thing, you know: rag on JRPGS. Been going on for a few months now. It's pretty sad, but I don't think there's anything we can do about it.

It makes as much sense as all the articles jumping on the "OMG!! Next-gen systems won't play used games!!" bandwagon. It's something sensational to say to get hits to their website. Just like Tom Chick and his 2/5 for all the big release, critically acclaimed games like Journey.

I mean, there weren't a lot of similarities between FFXIII, Disgaea, Valkyria Chronicles, Lost Odyssey, White Knight Chronicles, Ar Tonelico, Tales of Graces, and Atelier Rorona. All very different styles of game, yet all JRPGS. No other genre can boast that type of variety.

But that doesn't make for good headlines.

Edit: I'm not saying the game is bad. I'm certain it's worth the high praise it's been getting(not reading any reviews so I don't spoil it for myself). And I agree that we've gotten/will get a lot of games this year that in previous years wouldn't have left Japan.

I was simply commenting on the gaming media's love for sensational headlines or article language.

[Indigo123]

There is something we can do about it and thats bring it up and tell the truth....

But dont get me wrong, aside from a few sentences, its a great review to me.

I mean this game is just 1 game in a very good year for japanese rpgs worldwide

suikoden psp, shining blade, beyond the L, god eater 2, legend of heroes nayuta, fire emblem, kingdom hearts, bravely default, dragon quest X, amongst other things

And in the US its basically the best localization year ever considering its the end of the gen

class of heroes 2, REXX, for the dungeon crawlers

gungir, pokemon conquest, growlanser, devil survivor 2, agarest 2, fire emblem for the strategy nuts

kingdom hearts, last story, xenoblade, tales of graces F, ninokuni, 13-2 for everyone else.......

its really quite spectacular and I am leaving games out

[Baka-akaB]

Give it up i say ...

Repeating over and over that jrpgs are dead while failing to even try half of them , is the new mantra of the media .

There has been like 3-6 name worth mentioning the past two years , among wrpgs , half of those being famous established franchise , but apparently it's jrpg on the brink of extinction .

Sure those few name are selling big and quite popular , but nonetheless widely intimidating to many western studios and publishers .

Not that many will actually dare compete against bioware , Cd projekt , Blizzard and Bethesda in the wrpg field . They are very few , sparse , and quite concentrated around the same periods .

Meanwhile there are most likely as many good and great titles , most even localized (something rare till now) , for EACH subgenre of jrpg , whatever the platform , available .

The media simply classify a genre's wealth and well being over what's popular right now and sells .

It's no coincidence the big media outlets "stopped caring" ("" because they never cared , we got 15 years of shoddy review filled with crap and errors for most jrpgs ever since ff7 got released , and only a few were truly massive success overseas) the moment they fell out f love with FF , cause well that's pretty much all they truly followed

[Indigo123]

i dont want to give up being positive.

Hell even on the IOS many deem infinite blade to be the best rpg on the system but thats just wrong

the zenonia games, chaos rings series, and other japanese support on ios is far and away the best

[Baka-akaB]

And i'm not telling you to stop being positive .

I'm just beyond caring that much about the opinion of worthless medias who never had but a very shallow and time limited interest in the genre to begin with .

It's pointless to deal with them . Skyrim and oblivion , while awesome , are the latest update of a long standing wrpg franchise most of them couldnt give a crap about , till those two specific titles . And yet it's not as if they went through drastic changes , they streamlined what they had and felt they needed to .

Such media are just following trends .

[Menashe]

There may be many JRPGs that have found a place for themselves and even provided exceptional quality but there's no doubt that the Western market has lost its love for the JRPG. The biggest name in RPGs at one point in time, Final Fantasy, has been struggling with figuring out an identity for itself in the current market climate. And traditional RPG fans haven't been happy with the results. So, while you name many excellent JRPGs, there's no doubt that the JRPG is becoming more of a niche genre, which is something quite disheartening for RPG fans. So, what is so incredible about Xenoblade Chronicles is that it somehow manages to find a balance between JRPG sensibilities and characteristics that can make it appealing to a Western market it as well. That's why so many fans carry much hope in the vision that XB suggests for the JRPG genre, in general.

I too loved many of this generation's JRPGs, especially on my DS, so I have nothing to complain about for my own personal satsifaction. But, I do wish the genre would not have fallen so much out of favor with the broad gaming industry.

[EvilTwin]

^
Indeed. And if you aren't a handheld gamer, you haven't exactly been in luck, too. On the niche-ization of JRPGs, I mean...if it weren't the case, there never would have been a dispute about getting the OpRainfall games here in North America. Nintendo didn't think these games would sell.

[southernbanana]

It is definitely a must have title for any fan of the Japanese RPG. I am not sure if it is a ten yet, but definitely up there from what I have seen. Although I have only played it for several hours, I can tell I will be hooked for many hours to come!

[aDDicteD]

it deserved a 10/10 score

[sknygy]

I agree, this is fully deserving of 10/10

Monolith FTW

[ignorantsonsof_]

This is already one of my favorite games of all time and I'm only 40 hours into it. I haven't been this blown away by a game world since Ocarina of Time.