Game Info
GAME NAME: Xenoblade Chronicles
DEVELOPER(S): Monolith Software
PUBLISHER(S): Nintendo
PLATFORM(S): Nintendo Wii
GENRE(S): RPG
RELEASE DATE(S): April 6, 2012
When Project Rainfall first began its fight to bring Xenoblade Chronicles stateside, many people had the same reaction: “It’s too bad Nintendo doesn’t want to bring their more Japanese-centric games to the USA, but is it really such a good game? Is it worth all the fuss?” Well, the great news is that the people who formed the group had good intuition after all; Xenoblade Chronicles not only met my expectations for a great Japanese Role Playing Game experience, but it exceeded them in almost every way possible.
With no attachments to Monolith Software’s previous works of a similar titles, Xenogears and Xenosaga, Xenoblade Chronicles features a fairly standard story of a peppy group of conventional anime characters who are attacked by mechanical beings called the Mechon, and go off on a grand adventure to save the day. It’s acceptable, if not inspired, but the dialogue between characters is fairly well written, and the voice acting saves the day here. The European voice cast is exceptional, understanding the nuances needed to make the characters feel unique and underplaying dialogue that in any other JRPG would come across as cheesy and would have been overacted. This is one of the only JRPGs I’ve ever played in which I was able to take the performances seriously throughout the whole experience, with the exception of the slightly overacted villains, who thankfully don’t appear too frequently.
The combat of Xenoblade Chronicles, though, is the meat and potatoes of the game, and it’s exceptional. Playing out in real time and with no random encounters, Xenoblade is built for ease of use without sacrificing depth. There are a multitude of ways to build your characters, and this will impact your combat strategies. Everything feels streamlined, from the ability to fast travel at any time to any location in the game, to not having to return to quest givers after completing them, to your party’s autohealing abilities at the end of every level. It feels like Monolith Software was actively aware of the issues that many have had with the Japanese development strategy over the last decade and addressed every one of them. It should be noted that while the Wiimote is serviceable as a controller for Xenobalde Chronicles, I highly recommend picking yourself up a classic controller. The Wiimote makes it much more difficult to adjust the camera, something that I couldn’t handle. It’s more than worth the investment for this game.
What this results in is a game that retains the Japanese tradition of telling a linear story, while allowing the player to explore a wonderful world, but scraps many of the laurels that the genre has rested on for far too long. And it is a truly wonderful world, breathtakingly expansive and with sidequests everywhere. The world of Xenoblade Chronicles takes place on the bodies of two titans who are frozen in place, locked in battle. One is mechanical and one biological, and the worlds that you travel across reflect this on various parts of their bodies. The inspired and intricately detailed world is what makes up for the uninteresting story, as you’ll always want to progress to see what extraordinary vistas await you.
And the funny thing is, this is a Wii game. I’m really not sure how Monolith Software managed to cram these breathtaking vistas and a draw distance that extends a full mile around onto the visually impaired system, but they did, and it goes a long way toward making it the most visually impressive game on the system. It hurts, in a way, because it makes me want to see what the game could have looked like had it been developed for, say, the Playstation 3, but if we have to live with the Wii’s visuals then this is the best way to do it. Characters look great from a distance, with a huge variety of customizable armor, but when the camera moves in during cutscenes their blurry bodies and goldfish mouths do hurt the presentation a bit. Still, during most of the game you’ll be exploring the game’s expansive and impressive environments, so it’s easy to overlook the game’s visual shortcomings. The game’s score is epic and memorable, tying the whole package together.
Xenoblade Chronicles is a great game, and it bodes well for the future of the genre. Hopefully more Japanese developers will have a look at what Monolith Software has managed to pull off. I think that a lot of Japanese developers have seen a decline in sales in the West but have misinterpreted them as a sign that American gamers just want games with big, burly dudes with huge guns. That’s not what it is at all; it’s just that games like Mass Effect and Skyrim have improved upon the core foundations of prior games and as a result we have received games that are easy to enjoy while retaining a sense of satisfaction. Japanese games, meanwhile, have stalled, and as a result we haven’t seen any games offering up anything new for quite some time. Xenoblade Chronicles does just that, and for that reason it is a must-buy. Support this forward-thinking Japanese RPG and enjoy all the splendor that it has to offer, because game’s like these are few and far in-between nowadays.
A copy of the game was purchased by PixelJumpers’ staff for reviewing purposes.
To find out more about the PixelJumpers Rating Guide Click Here.
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“I think that a lot of Japanese developers have seen a decline in sales in the West but have misinterpreted them as a sign that American gamers just want games with big, burly dudes with huge guns. ”
What you think is incorrect, most japanese rpgs series actually had an increase in sales.
And so what? lets sales actually did decrease, who cares? The real rpg fans are still enjoying the rpgs japan puts out
“games like Mass Effect and Skyrim have improved upon the core foundations of prior games and as a result we have received games that are easy to enjoy while retaining a sense of satisfaction”
What? most rpg fans hated mass effect 3 and skyrim, for being dumbed down broken messes
“Japanese games, meanwhile, have stalled, and as a result we haven’t seen any games offering up anything new for quite some time.”
Is that why most people say bethesda hasnt made anything new in 15 years? Your bias is showing man
“Xenoblade Chronicles does just that, and for that reason it is a must-buy. Support this forward-thinking Japanese RPG and enjoy all the splendor that it has to offer, because game’s like these are few and far in-between nowadays.”
FF 12 did it first man, its not forward thinking.
Review writer, I hope you read this because your notion of rpgs is backwards
did you play 13-2 this year?
did you play devil survivor 2?
did you play suikoden psp?
did you play shining blade?
did you play srw z2 part 2?
did you play tales of graces?
did you plauy chaos rings 2?
We have so many great japanese rpgs coming worldwide, it really shows how badly the west is keeping up
“I think that a lot of Japanese developers have seen a decline in sales in the West but have misinterpreted them as a sign that American gamers just want games with big, burly dudes with huge guns. ”
What you think is incorrect, most japanese rpgs series actually had an increase in sales.
And so what? lets sales actually did decrease, who cares? The real rpg fans are still enjoying the rpgs japan puts out
“games like Mass Effect and Skyrim have improved upon the core foundations of prior games and as a result we have received games that are easy to enjoy while retaining a sense of satisfaction”
What? most rpg fans hated mass effect 3 and skyrim, for being dumbed down broken messes
“Japanese games, meanwhile, have stalled, and as a result we haven’t seen any games offering up anything new for quite some time.”
Is that why most people say bethesda hasnt made anything new in 15 years? Your bias is showing man
“Xenoblade Chronicles does just that, and for that reason it is a must-buy. Support this forward-thinking Japanese RPG and enjoy all the splendor that it has to offer, because game’s like these are few and far in-between nowadays.”
FF 12 did it first man, its not forward thinking.
Review writer, I hope you read this because your notion of rpgs is backwards
did you play 13-2 this year?
did you play devil survivor 2?
did you play suikoden psp?
did you play shining blade?
did you play srw z2 part 2?
did you play tales of graces?
did you plauy chaos rings 2?
We have so many great japanese rpgs coming worldwide, it really shows how badly the west is keeping up
“I think that a lot of Japanese developers have seen a decline in sales in the West but have misinterpreted them as a sign that American gamers just want games with big, burly dudes with huge guns. ”
What you think is incorrect, most japanese rpgs series actually had an increase in sales.
And so what? lets sales actually did decrease, who cares? The real rpg fans are still enjoying the rpgs japan puts out
“games like Mass Effect and Skyrim have improved upon the core foundations of prior games and as a result we have received games that are easy to enjoy while retaining a sense of satisfaction”
What? most rpg fans hated mass effect 3 and skyrim, for being dumbed down broken messes
“Japanese games, meanwhile, have stalled, and as a result we haven’t seen any games offering up anything new for quite some time.”
Is that why most people say bethesda hasnt made anything new in 15 years? Your bias is showing man
“Xenoblade Chronicles does just that, and for that reason it is a must-buy. Support this forward-thinking Japanese RPG and enjoy all the splendor that it has to offer, because game’s like these are few and far in-between nowadays.”
FF 12 did it first man, its not forward thinking.
Review writer, I hope you read this because your notion of rpgs is backwards
did you play 13-2 this year?
did you play devil survivor 2?
did you play suikoden psp?
did you play shining blade?
did you play srw z2 part 2?
did you play tales of graces?
did you plauy chaos rings 2?
We have so many great japanese rpgs coming worldwide, it really shows how badly the west is keeping up
not to mention xenoblade is just 1 of the amazing rpgs they did this gen, soma bringer is also great
I want to preface everything i said, by saying i do love this site, i just think this review was not accurate like i said
Tanto, thank you for the critique.
I have in fact played Devil Survivor 2, Shining Blade and Tales of Graces. They were excellent. I would also say that the Persona games are my all time favorite JRPG series. I was not trying to argue that there hasn’t been a GOOD JRPG release in years, so I apologize if that’s how you took it. However, two things that all the games I listed above have in common are: 1. They did not sell well in the US, and 2. They continue to use systems that are outdated and inconvenient, such as a lack of fast travel over their vast worlds and fetch quests that require trekking back and forth. My point was that Xenoblade does away with these.
As for my first point, the simple fact is that Japanese games are hurting right now. Keiji Inafune is saying it, Kouji Taguchi is saying it, and the industry specs are saying it. In January, it was reported that the Japanese game industry fell over 13 percent in revenue in the last year, and that’s including sales in Japan itself. Obviously something is wrong, but what is it?
My point regarding Japan’s thoughts that it’s that American gamers’ tastes are bad (that we just play Gears of War and Call of Duty) stems from more Japanese releases we have seen recently (Binary Domain is a good example, which actually turned out great) that attempt to ‘ape’ the Western style, and we are seeing less and less Japanese seeing a stateside release. That’s why I want to push Xenoblade to sell; hopefully it will convince others to buy it, and that will send Japan a message. Here’s the thing, mate; we can both love JRPGs all we want, but the fact is that right now, we are the minority. And I know that you will buy this game, and I know that I will buy this game. I’m writing this review for the majority of people who weren’t already pre ordering it, and that majority is tired of what Japan has put out over the last decade. The sales speak for themselves.
There is your mistake, japanese rpg sales in the US in “general” have never been higher
“They continue to use systems that are outdated and inconvenient, such as a lack of fast travel over their vast worlds and fetch quests that require trekking back and forth. My point was that Xenoblade does away with these.”
Oh so skyrim didnt have fetch quests? really? your being bias man
“he simple fact is that Japanese games are hurting right now. Keiji Inafune is saying it, Kouji Taguchi is saying it, and the industry specs are saying it.”
1) inafune is considered a joke, and most articles disprove everything he says, the other guy doesnt say it and industry specs arent saying it
2) If anything the western industry is in far more trouble
“In January, it was reported that the Japanese game industry fell over 13 percent in revenue in the last year, and that’s including sales in Japan itself. Obviously something is wrong, but what is it?:”
And in january the US game industry HIT ALL TIME LOWS, do you really want to go there?
” we are seeing less and less Japanese seeing a stateside release.”
Actually more japanese rpgs have been localized this gen than any other, thats a fact
thats what I am seeing from you, lack of fact and research
You are right, the sales speak for themselves, and nintendo has made more money of rpgs this gen than any other
And please, the next time you post, just review the game, dont give me the generalizations, the sensationalism and the lies, please, because i did enjoy it when you actually talked about the game
But lets be real about xenoblade, it was a fantastic game but its one of over 10 great rpgs nintendo had a hand in this gen.
Lets look at 13-2, it sold more than kindgoms of A did in the west
xenoblade sold more than witcher 2
and both graces F, devil survivor 2 sold more than risen 2 did in the west….
so please, before you write another piece condeming japan. Please think about that
And when Peter M, who just left microsoft because he said the company, a western company , lacked drive and innovation, take that about as seriously as you do inafune, who says nonsense and is generally ignored