Nintendo to Release Xenoblade Chronicles in North America in 2012

[Talon87]

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/inte...merica-in-2012

Looks like Nintendo's going to release it over here after all. Time to see if Americans'll put their money where their mouths were. Nintendo's daring to bank on "yes." I'm a little less optimistic. Nintendo waited too long and the most die-hard people probably already went and imported the European release. Guess we'll just have to wait and see whether those same die-hards are die-hard enough to be willing to re-purchase a game they already own just so that they can be sure they're sending the Big N the right message.

[deoxys]

I saw that. I have a feeling this is Nintendo going "this will prove exactly why we don't release this kind of thing", or it's them doing it because of that huge loss they took this year and are willing to do whatever they can now to make a slight profit.

Would've been happier if it had been Mother 3.

Either way, I watched the trailer for this and man, it looks really fun. Looks like shit, but the gameplay looks great!

[Kindrindra]

Will get this if I ever get any money ever again.

[tau]

Oh definitely BUY THIS GAME. Like, no, seriously. Just buy it. Pre-order it. Purchase it with your money.

At the risk of being accused of hyperbole, this is without doubt the best RPG (and one of the best games, period) I've played on the Wii. I heard about it in a Let's Play thread on Something Awful, passed that thread on to a friend, who imported the game from Europe and sweet merciful Poseidon is it fun.

This game needs to do well here. There are plenty of good games on the Wii- Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Twilight Princess, blah blah blah- but another solid title like this one definitely is, selling well, could just open the gates to future gaming goodness from Nintendo and 3rd party devs.

Oh lord I'm excited for this.

[Amras.MG]

It is good compared to Wii games, or good compared to good RPGs?

[tau]

Originally Posted by Amras.MG

It is good compared to Wii games, or good compared to good RPGs?

That's the thing, it's both. It really does hold up, and... see. I know I'm not eloquent enough to actually influence anyone's decision on whether or not they should buy it, BUT I will do the next best thing.

I shall let the game speak for itself.

---> Click Here for Xenoblade Gameplay <---

The video itself is a bit long, but if you skip ahead to about 11:30, you'll get a good sense of how combat mechanics work.

[Amras.MG]

Compared to Xbox360 or PS3 graphics, those graphics suuuuuuuck. They're barely better than PS2.

The battle system is real time... ugh. I wish I could try this out without laying down $40 for a game I won't ever play because I have no reflexes.

[tau]

Originally Posted by Amras.MG

Compared to Xbox360 or PS3 graphics, those graphics suuuuuuuck. They're barely better than PS2.

The battle system is real time... ugh. I wish I could try this out without laying down $40 for a game I won't ever play because I have no reflexes.

Those are fair points, I prolly should have been a bit more descriptive. In all honesty, just like ANY game, it's gonna come down to the players preferences. The graphics aren't great, but the game world is still pretty beautiful and... just... it feels alive. The music is excellent, in my opinion, and there's an honest sense of atmosphere.

On the narrative side, the story can be a bit formulaic and predictable, but there are a few moments which are kind of shocking or honestly touching. I... see, I would almost recommend finding a way to rent it first- Gamefly or something.

[Tyranidos]

Originally Posted by Amras.MG

Compared to Xbox360 or PS3 graphics, those graphics suuuuuuuck. They're barely better than PS2.

[Amras.MG]

I only brought it up because one of the major things I heard about Xenoblade was that its graphics weren't complete shit =p

Also alas for not having Gamefly ;;

[Tyranidos]

Originally Posted by Amras.MG

I only brought it up because one of the major things I heard about Xenoblade was that its graphics weren't complete shit =p

They aren't for a Wii game. I was just trying to say that it's not a fair comparison.

[Amras.MG]

See the thing is that it should be a fair comparison... because Xenoblade is competing against all of the other console RPGs as well as the Wii RPGs. Apparently it has the Wii side down pat, but in a more objective picture, I'm not really getting the feeling that this game is actually superb, like how I was led to believe. It seems more like it's "good considering its platform".

[Loki]

Xenoblade Chronicle's graphics are on-par with the end of PS2-era games like FF12. Unfortunately, it is the third generation of the Playstation we currently play at, so take that as you will. It's still mighty impressive for the Wii.

The game itself is rather fun, but can get challenging. The game uses a real-time combat system that also takes advantage of things like positioning and aggro. The controls are a bit clumsy, but the game is still very playable. It's only during panicked moments does the game get a bit troubling.

The game is very similar to FF12 in many ways. You lead a part of up to three character (I think the cap is three...) and you see them all run around the overworld with you. When you wish to attack a monster, you find it wandering on the overworld and engage it. Some may choose to attack you based on either visual or audio tracking and even use of magic can cause them to attack. This makes sneaking around an option over outright random encounters. In addition, some monsters may only appear during the day and others appear only at night. This makes hunting for a specific monster for a quest or something require specific times to find said monster. This is also true for NPCs.

In actual combat, your companions fill different roles in a typical combat party. One of your first companions is your tank. He has several abilities which increase a monster's aggression towards him. He also has abilities to keep it on him. The AI is rather well done in this sense as I've played MMOs where Human players were worse at keeping aggro than this Wii powered character.

Meanwhile, your MC has many abilities which take advantage of the fact that your tank has the monster facing him (thus, turned their back to you). There are several "Backstab" skills which do increased damage while striking their rear. There is also a few attacks which benefit from striking the side of the enemy.

This becomes a very important tactic as the damage is insanely higher and ends battles much quicker. As damage also generates aggro, it can sometimes be important not to overdo it.

In addition, some enemies can only be killed in specific ways, otherwise they resist the damage from your weapons and such. For example, some of the main villains of the series must be toppled down to the ground before your weapons do anything substantial. Without doing this, battles become rather impossible.

There are also a few cool tricks in game, but I've not really mastered them yet. This includes visions of the future and various ways to avoid a grim fate or unfortunate outcome. All of these need timing and good control to get optimal results.

The story is rather interesting, especially how the world is. I won't go into too many details, but it's pretty unique. The landscape is also very pretty as the overall scope of an area is very large. You can literally stand on one end and see all the way into the horizon and probably won't change zones until you reach there, making these areas larger than anything the PS2 ever did and probably about as large as a zone in an MMO.

Quests can be a bit overwhelming. In the first town before the first major plot point, there are over 80 sidequests you can do! OVER EIGHTY! Many amount to just money or gear and are either a fetch quest or a hunt monster/boss quest. Not sure how important doing them all are, but there's a lot to do.

[Itzatrap]

Still have this game sealed, was waiting to buy a Classic Controller Pro to play it and completely forgot I have the game while waiting to buy the controller. ^^;