Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles

[K-man]

I know Cobra sort of touched on this game in an earlier thread, but I felt like it deserved its own topic.  Originally a Japan-only title, the game released to rave reviews in the UK this past week.  It is being considered the best J-RPG of this generation (which admittedly is a very short bar considering what I've played).  I hadn't been paying a ton of attention to the game but began looking at some stuff in the past few days.

First of all, I knew right away that Yasunori Mitsuda had a hand in the soundtrack when I watched this trailer.  Game looks great, at least for a Wii title. 

But NoA won't release it stateside, at least not right now.  I'm hoping the critical reception the game is getting in the UK will convince them to do a NoA release.  There's a grassroots campaign to get NoA to release the game, but Nintendo has yet to budge.  How idiotic to not release a game that people are clamoring for.  It's not like localizing the game would cost that much.

[Cobra951]

I know Cobra sort of touched on this game in an earlier thread, but I felt like it deserved its own topic.  Originally a Japan-only title, the game released to rave reviews in the UK this past week.  It is being considered the best J-RPG of this generation (which admittedly is a very short bar considering what I've played).  I hadn't been paying a ton of attention to the game but began looking at some stuff in the past few days.

First of all, I knew right away that Yasunori Mitsuda had a hand in the soundtrack when I watched this trailer.  Game looks great, at least for a Wii title. 

But NoA won't release it stateside, at least not right now.  I'm hoping the critical reception the game is getting in the UK will convince them to do a NoA release.  There's a grassroots campaign to get NoA to release the game, but Nintendo has yet to budge.  How idiotic to not release a game that people are clamoring for.  It's not like localizing the game would cost that much.

Holy cow!  No wonder joystiq got pissed enough to publish detailed hacking instructions.  How could Nintendo not release this here?  It's idiotic beyond measure.  The game is already translated!  What, we can't handle British localization (er, localisation)?  They're leaving money on the table, and incurring the wrath of American Wii players, not to mention the gaming press.

This footage shows some actual gameplay.  After seeing the jaw-dropping Wii visuals above, I wanted to make sure they were getting handled in real time.

[Quemaqua]

Damn it, that looks all kinds of awesome. Why did I watch those? I hate myself.

[Xessive]

Gamespot Review 9/10!

Sorry, Que

[TheOtherBelmont]

I've been really wanting to play this since I saw some videos for it a few months ago.  If I end up getting a Wii in the next few months I will probably hack it just to play this.

[K-man]

I read some comments from Reggie stating that NoA is looking really hard at how the game does in the UK, so that's promising at least.

[Quemaqua]

Maybe I'll have to write to my ex-wife and ask for the Wii back. *cough*

[K-man]

A day later and North America still doesn't have this game.

I am not amused.

[Quemaqua]

Fuck.

[K-man]

Don't worry.  It'll happen.

It may be for the WiiU, but it'll happen

[Quemaqua]

Yeah, but I don't have a Wii anymore.

[idolminds]

So This will be released in the US in April. Sold exclusively at Gamestop stores and Nintendo.com.

A weird way to go about it, but at least you dont have to hack your Wii now.

[K-man]

Preordered today!

[TheOtherBelmont]

So This will be released in the US in April. Sold exclusively at Gamestop stores and Nintendo.com.

A weird way to go about it, but at least you dont have to hack your Wii now.

So happy to hear this news, I will be getting a Wii with my tax return to prepare for the game's release.  It's nice knowing I won't have to hack my Wii in order to play this now.

[gpw11]

So, I just messed around with this a bit tonight *cough*hacked wii*cough*. A word of warning:  Good luck playing this on an SDTV. For some reason, when doing so, the writing is very small and hard to read - I have no idea why, considering it's a non HD Wii game. It seems many have been having this problem and without a certain setting on your tv (or a large tv, I guess) you're screwed.

The good news?  Dolphin, the Wii/Gamecube emulator, runs a lot better now and is to the point where I can pretty much play it that way. My Core2Duo is kinda slow for it (Even at 25fps euro-style, I'll slow down in some cutscenes), and there still are problems (sound popping at parts, very occasional freezing), but it looks really, really good and someone has even created custom textures so that all the button prompts come through as xbox360 controller buttons for your gamepad.  Sweet.

[Cobra951]

The Wii may not be HD, but it is progressive, which doubles the number of lines that go onscreen every refresh, compared to interlaced SDTV.  Interlace jitter plus old-tube blur.  That I don't miss at all.  Still miss the contrast range, though.

[gpw11]

That makes sense.  I was really curious as to why there'd be such a design flaw on a system like the wii, but I guess most are playing on hdtv in progressive mode anyways.

[Cobra951]

Yeah, and you need the 3 RGB component leads for that too, which makes for a purer signal anyway.  If you're using composite, i.e., the single yellow RCA plug that combines chrominance (C) and luminance (Y), an old TV with a crappy comb filter won't do a good job of separating the two, leading to further fuzzies.  If that TV accepts S-Video (which brings Y & C in separately) it would be a big help.

[gpw11]

Sadly, no s-video.  Looks like I'm going to have to roll through Dolphin or an upscaler.  The latter would be pretty sweet.

[gpw11]

Okay, this game is pretty amazing.  The graphics themselves aren't great (specifically the textures and actual models) by today's standard, but the visual design is just awe-inspiring.  The outdoor environments are just great and you can waste a lot of time (and get experience) by exploring once it opens up a bit.  But the thing is, you don't have to - this game manages to cut all the typical jrpg bullshit. 

Fast travel opens up the second you hit a landmark, so after the first time you go to a place on foot, you never really have to again.  Beyond that, when you die...well, you don't actually die.  Lose a battle and you're just sent back to the last landmark you passed - with all your goods and experience intact.  Also, you can save anywhere at pretty much any time.   These are pretty much all things that annoyed the hell out of me with previous RPGS, and they do so much of it right with this.

The battle system is pretty fun, and the gameplay has a MMORPG kinda feel to it - much like FF12.


Really, the whole game seems pretty sweet.

[Quemaqua]

You shut your mouth.

SHUT IT.



... damn it. I want it. It's too late.

[gpw11]

I'm sorry - I really am.  Hell, I've been thinking about upgrading the pc lately to handle it a bit better.  I kind of wish I never started.

[TheOtherBelmont]

My copy just shipped.  Hopefully I get it tomorrow with no problems!  Hooray!  Can't wait to play this for 3 days straight.

[TheOtherBelmont]

I just finished playing my first 5 hours with the game and I am loving it.  There is so much to do, even at the beginning of the game!  I've only done a small section of the story, most of my time was spent exploring the first area you start in and its huge!  I can't wait to get outside of this area and see more.  Monolith Soft has taken out all of the slightly annoying aspects of the JRPG and worked upon the aspects that makes them good.  Being able to save anywhere is great and dying is of no huge consequence.  When you die you start off at the last landmark you were at, but you don't lose any items, EXP, or progress at all, the most you have to do is backtrack to where you were heading which isn't that big of deal since there is a fast travel system on the map!  Looking forward into playing way too much of this over the weekend.

[gpw11]

I just finished playing my first 5 hours with the game and I am loving it.  There is so much to do, even at the beginning of the game!  I've only done a small section of the story, most of my time was spent exploring the first area you start in and its huge!  I can't wait to get outside of this area and see more.  Monolith Soft has taken out all of the slightly annoying aspects of the JRPG and worked upon the aspects that makes them good.  Being able to save anywhere is great and dying is of no huge consequence.  When you die you start off at the last landmark you were at, but you don't lose any items, EXP, or progress at all, the most you have to do is backtrack to where you were heading which isn't that big of deal since there is a fast travel system on the map!  Looking forward into playing way too much of this over the weekend.

Have you been doing all the side quests?  It seems like there are thousands of them, and I've pretty much given up on trying to complete them.  I mean, I'll accept them, but there are already probably 40 incomplete quests in my book, so I'm not going out of my way here - if I happen to finish them by accident on my adventure, sweet.  Otherwise, eh.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Have you been doing all the side quests?  It seems like there are thousands of them, and I've pretty much given up on trying to complete them.  I mean, I'll accept them, but there are already probably 40 incomplete quests in my book, so I'm not going out of my way here - if I happen to finish them by accident on my adventure, sweet.  Otherwise, eh.

I actually looked up the number, there are 425 sidequests in all.  I have been trying to do as many as I can and I want to do all of them (I've done at least 30 of them so far). I end up doing all that I can until I feel I've hit a brick wall and the progress with the story and go back and do the ones I can.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Holy shit, someone help me, I just hit the 23 hour mark and I am now just going to bed.  This game is too damn good.  I had a dream last night that I was playing this.  Anyone who has Wii has to get this.

[Quemaqua]

God damn it, shut up! SHUT UP.

* Quemaqua emails ex-wife about giving back Wii.

[gpw11]

Wow, you must have blown right past me there.  It is really amazing how good this game is though.  Well, except for the fact it still retains a fair am mount of shitty jrpg-ness.

[gpw11]

I played this a bit more today.  Japanese RPGs in general haven't aged well.  Well, this one has really kept up to date and/or innovated according to game mechanics, but it's still kind of tainted by (what I consider to be) lame-ass JRPG character development and story telling.  It's hard to put my finger on, but it's just kind of ...dull.  Also, annoying like an anime.

I mean, I want to keep going because the environmental design is just amazing, but I'm having a hard time putting up with everything else that goes along with the genre.

[K-man]

I've put a few hours into the game.  Like you said, it's definitely a JRPG.  And you have to just accept that some things are going to come with that fact.

I'm just happy that I'm playing what (hopefully) is a good JRPG that doesn't reek of Final Fantasy

[gpw11]

I haven't played the latest FF, but did play 12 for about 3/4 of the game.  This definitely feels different and is a pretty good game if you can overlook the jrpg-ness of it all*.  I couldn't and stopped playing.


*Strangely enough, some of my fondest gaming memories are from jrpgs: Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, and Xenogears.

[Cobra951]

How's the control on this thing?  Do they put the Wiimote/nunchuk to good use?  Any waggle pains?

[TheOtherBelmont]

How's the control on this thing?  Do they put the Wiimote/nunchuk to good use?  Any waggle pains?

I'm using a Classic Controller Pro which is a lot better than using the Wiimote and nunchuk.  I tried it out with the Wiimote and nunchuk, and it is playable, but it was a little awkward for me with the way the battle system works.  On the various message boards, most people playing this seem to agree with this as well.  Nintendo even went as far as offering a bundle you can order on their site that comes with the Classic Controller and the game.

[K-man]

Yeah I just hooked up the classic controller from the getgo

[gpw11]

How's the control on this thing?  Do they put the Wiimote/nunchuk to good use?  Any waggle pains?

Yeah, it doesn't seem like there were any motion controls at all.  I was playing on the PC through Dolphin, and I actually downloaded a texture pack that replaced all the button prompts with xbox360 ones to correspond with my gamepad. Beyond that, I didn't have to do anything weird, so I guess there are zero motion controls at all.

[Cobra951]

Thanks.  That puts me in the same pickle I'm in with the new Zelda, which I really want to play.  I have to buy the game at retail price and a piece of new hardware, making the total cost more than I want to pay.

Went and looked before posting.  Amazon is selling Zelda SS and a motionplus attachment for $60.  That's not bad.  Xenoblade, though, is firmly planted at $50 all by its lonesome.

[TheOtherBelmont]

For Cobra or anyone else who is interested, Nintendo has the Classic Controller bundled with the game for $64.99 which is not a bad deal.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Damn, its been almost 2 months since I made that last post.  151 hours later and I finally finished up Xenoblade.  It was amazing.  Monolith Soft did an excellent job of trying to push the JRPG genre forward and experiment with some new things but not have the game be completely alien to the genre.  The praises this game has gotten from the reviewers and community is well deserved.  I don't want to just gush about the game constantly but its really fucking hard not to.  This is one of the best JRPGs and best games I have ever played and I hope Monolith Soft keeps building upon the lessons they have learned from this game for any future titles they do.  To anyone on the fence about getting this or to anyone who even remotely enjoys playing games of this genre, you have to get this.  Yes, there are some JRPG tropes that some people are not going to like, but those tropes do not hurt the game enough to not play this.

[gpw11]

It's been fun reading this old thread again.  I bought Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive on the Switch on a whim and am loving it.  I was hesitant because I remember falling off the first time I played here, and reading this thread again I have a lot of the same feelings but the whole game just feels a lot more well put together this time.  I think maybe just because I have a better understanding of the sidequest system going in and that didn't get to me nearly as much.

The waypoint system (which I think is new) fast travel, time change, etc is just so well done that it makes exploring the world and knocking out the sidequests a blast.