Released 2 months ago as a game stop exclusive in North America, Xenoblade Chronicles has been acclaimed by critics and gamers alike. The praise is deserved in my eyes and is due in large part to the games ability to invoke a nostalgic feel of a gaming era gone by. The familiar Japanese RPG trappings are all present. Some, I could do without. Namely the overly cheesy dialogue where characters say each other’s names much too often, and the annoying, one liners during battle. But most are a welcome, subtle, effective play on my love for SNES and PS1 RPGs, like the young boy thrust into a quest to save the world, and the huge mystical locations found there in.
Many have compared this game to Final Fantasy XII, and while it is reminiscent of that wonderful game in its exploration, (unique monsters, higher level enemies in early stages of the game, single player MMO experience, large open world with almost no boundaries to explore) I feel the battle system is more of a hybrid between Dragon Age and Tales of Symphonia. There is less micro managing of AI than in FFXII, a lack of MP, and your party is relegated to the 3 chosen when heading into a battle, as opposed to all 6 members being able to swap in and out at will. There is a balance that needs to be struck between auto attacking and spamming skills. The skills require correct positioning (much like the back stab or cone spells in Dragon Age) to gain secondary effects, and a balance must be struck between auto attacking and their use (akin to the sword skills in the Tales game). As your skills with the Monodo (the weapon of your main character which propels the narrative) grow, new elements are introduced into the battle system, which deepen the strategy required. There is no real penalty for dying either, as you simply re-spawn at the most recent check point, with experience and loot still intact. This allows you to take on that challenging enemy before you probably should and keeps the pacing of the game moving rapidly.
The battle system is fluid and satisfying and has yet to feel like a grind. After each encounter enemies drop treasure chests, which slow the game down somewhat as you have to open each one after battle as opposed to simply picking the loot up. The loot system is extensive and while the game drops hints on what items to keep for later quests, I find it a bit hard to discern what is actually needed and what is sellable. A minor problem as money is not particularly hard to come by and strong equipment is often dropped from monsters as opposed to being purchased at shops.
Xenoblade excels in the gameplay department with complexity and speed. The amount of quests is staggering and the need to not return to each quest giver makes completing them a breeze. The ability to warp to any past location further expedites the experience and staves off a feeling of stagnation. If you want to venture down that lengthy river to look for secret locations and tougher monsters, you can do so without having to track all the way back to the starting point. And believe me, you are going to want to explore the wonderful environments of the immensely imaginative world of the Bionis. While the English voice acting isn’t bad, I feel the game takes a more serious, less cheesy, tone when the dialogue is read and the original Japanese dialogue is left on. I find this to be true of most anime in general. For Wii owners who grew up loving JRPGs, this is a must play experience. Xenoblade Chronicles does so much right for a genre in decline and excels on many gameplay levels.