Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[tryrar]

Did a quick search and was surprised that there wasn't a topic on this yet! I just got my copy today and am currently just leaving Colony 9 for Colony 6. I can already say this is the best Wii game ever, as well as being one of the best RPGs ever as well!

[Baijiu]

Totally agree. I've sunk about 30 hours into the game already. So far, my only regret is starting on and using my wii to play because I found out that the Dolphin emulator on the PC basically allows you to play the game in HD.

It's already the best looking wii game, but if you use an emulator, it easily looks like a PS3/360 game.

[timferius]

For us uninitiated, can you summarize the game? When I here "Best" and "wii game" in the same sentence, please forgive me for being a bit skepticle. I've enjoyed maybe 4 games on the wii since I bought it on launch day, and half of those were zelda games

[Empty]

The setup is like a single player mmo (It reminded me a lot of the .hack games)
AT the core it's an rpg with no random battles and a world that's effing huge. It's really really huge.

The only annoying part is finding people (and their quests. Darn you different time zones) and timed quests.

[Girlinhat]

OP: "I didn't see a thread for this" followed by how they enjoy the game with no description whatsoever of what the game is.
0/5 - post harder.

[tryrar]

well excuse me for posting just before going to bed

As for a descriptions, I don't do descriptions since I utterly suck at those

[Scelly9]

At least give a link.

[Bluerobin]

Alrighty, let's dig up some info. Xenoblade Chronicles (the full name), released in the US in April 6, 2012 (June 10, 2010 in Japan and sometime in between in the EU and Australia) is a Wii JRPG released to very high praise in Japan that raised a lot of attention in various RPG communities in the US and EU after its release. After it was said that there were no plans to release it outside of Japan, there were a bunch of petitions and a huge (for JRPG-gamer communities, anyway) outcry for the game to be localized. It actually got the the point where relatively large US distributers started importing small numbers for sale in the US. The game has no actual link to the other Xeno games (Xenogears/saga), it was renamed in tribute to Tetsuya Takahashi, a guy who put a ton of work into this and the other Xeno games.

Overall, reviews have been quite good (average 9/10 professional reviews and lower, but still high, for word-of-mouth/customer ratings) and there were reddit posts all over the place reminding people when it came out, so people seems excited overall. I haven't played it myself, but it's on my short list of games to get/play next.

Wikipedia article
Metacritic (for what it's worth)
r/rpg_gamers short reviews
Nintendo store page
Little LP playlist with highlights of the game (haven't watched all of these, but they seem decent for an overview?)

[SeaBee]

Things I like to see a new thread discussing a game:

• A quick description
• A screenshot, or link to screenshots (if applicable)
• A personal quick-take on the game (why does it interest you)
• Links to video(s) (like trailers, let's plays, gameplay first-looks or whatever)

In short, most of the Bay 12 forumites just want you to put a couple minutes of effort into making your post. Why do you like the game? Let's say I've never heard of it before, why should I be interested?

I'm not trying to be antagonistic or anything. I love reading about new games as much as any other regular in this part of Bay 12, but you'll get a much better response if you add some details to the OP.

You say you suck at descriptions ... that's okay. Copy and paste a short description from the game's website or something. Right now, you're asking us to read your post, then search for the game on our own, then come back and comment on it. We're very lazy. If the OP doesn't entice us much, we probably won't bother looking any further.

Sorry for being That Guy. But hey, I'm just words on the Internet. Hope I'm not coming across as a condescending prick, because I'm no better than you or anyone else. Just trying to help.

FAKE EDIT: Thanks Bluerobin!

[Bluerobin]

Yeah, I'm not sure about pictures/video that are actually relevant since I haven't played it, but hopefully that's helpful.

[nenjin]

Expend more energy making the OP than people reading the thread are going to exercise. Otherwise known as the Forum Effort Quotient. (FEQ)

[Bluerobin]

It's funny, I've seen this game pop up in a lot of places. People seem excited about the character customization, rebuilding a colony, the story, and the sheer size of the game among other things. I've seen a little bit of complaining about the ending, but I'm not sure how much of that is actually worth worrying about. There was a fair amount of hype built up in some communities which I think drew in some people who typically don't play a lot of JRPGS (plus the MMO parallels, which I imagine did the same), so that might have been some of the issue? The most amusing comments may have been on r/gaymers, where some of the guys were sad that one of the male characters made a really good tank, but only if you put him in armor that covered him up more. Oh I guess that's another positive point if equipment actually shows up on your characters in battle.

[Baijiu]

Since Xenoblade looks 100x better on PC, here's two videos. Some random Youtube video and the Intro Video for y'all. You'll need a modern-ish PC to emulate the game though, so if you have a dino-PC it might be easier to just buy a wii.

Not related to the video:One thing that really stuck out for me was the voice acting. Usually, when they bring a japanese game over they use the voice actors with the blandest accents and everyone sounds the same, but Xenoblade has a nice diversity of (english) accents. It allows you to get a feel for the "social class" of characters and in the case of one certain party member, sets them apart.

[Moogie]

I really enjoyed playing Xenoblade. I didn't get very far through the game (maybe 20-30 hours in) but I was very impressed by it. Some people hate all the British accents, but I found it pretty refreshing after the initial 'shock' of not hearing badly dubbed American voice actors in this quite Japanese game (as is sadly the norm).

One of my favourite features of the game is the relationships. Every named NPC in the world - of which there are thousands - are linked together in an intricate web of social relationships. By talking to them and helping them out, you can manipulate these relationships, fix family problems, stop feuds, or alternatively, make people hate each other. This system also extends to your player characters, and everyone in your party is linked. Cultivating strong relationships between player characters unlocks special cutscenes you can find throughout the world and gives certain other rewards, such as increased crafting success if you use two characters who like each other to craft with.

The world's also full of gatherable items. Player characters enjoy receiving certain gifts. You can have one character give a gift to another to raise or lower their relationship with each other. Shulke, for example, tends to like techy-things like gears and chains. Reyn... I forget. Probably certain foods.

Another GREAT thing about this game, IMO, is that equipment makes visible changes to your characters! Often that's not the case with JRPGs, so I was pleasantly suprised that every piece of armour updates the look of your guys (and gals... and 'others').

I ran the game using the Dolphin emulator and it looked absolutely beautiful. Here's some screens:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

P.S. Those environments you see are fully explorable. See those waterfalls? I swam right under them. There was nothing there, but I just could.

[Bluerobin]

Hmm, I was super excited to finally get my Wii out for something other than My Life as a King, but everyone's recommending an emulator. Oh well, sorry little boxy buddy, you're relegated to gathering a little more dust.