Xenoblade Chronicles: Everything You Should Know

Xenoblade Chronicles: Everything You Should Know Many will consider this to be the Wii’s first and perhaps last epic Japanese RPG. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we’ll be exploring everything you need to know about Xenoblade Chronicles. Hailed as the first true evolution of Japanese Role-Playing games, this title redefines everything you would expect from the genre, overhauling and modernizing it, while keeping the basic elements that originally made it popular. Developed by Monolith Software, and published by Nintendo, Xenoblade Chronicles is centered on the journey of an orphaned young hero named Shulk, who is destined to save the world. To accomplish this, he must seek out companions and the Monado, an ancient weapon that allows its user to see the future. Thankfully, the story does not become predictable, and provides gamers with an unusually deep tale that lasts upwards of 50 hours, without ever feeling like much filler has been added. Perhaps the Wii game with the highest environmental detail to date, Xenoblade Chronicles takes place within two connected worlds. Remarkably, these happen to be the dormant bodies of a pair of titan-sized robots that were once locked in eternal battle. Specifically, your character’s home is the robot-turned planet Bionis, which had come to be colonized by humans long ago after turning into a fertile biosphere. The opposing world, “Mechonis” has become home to evil robots that have begun decimating human colonies, including the residents of your home, Colony 9. This RPG stands out for its refined combat system that merges the best of Eastern and western design. Basically, it excludes random battles, and combat unfolds as a hybrid of real-time and command-based strategy. Equal parts fighting and exploration game, you control one character in your three-person party and wield special moves called “Talents.” Your party can work together to gain the upper hand and unleash special “chain attacks”. For example, when you knock a monster off balance, a teammate will automatically jump in to help finish the job. In return, you can guide your allies to targets, help them tackle opponents, cut and run and instruct everyone to flee if a battle turns sour. Between battles, you explore the gorgeous environments at your leisure. This is a non-linear narrative filled with side-quests. Everywhere you go you will find something to do, discover new items, and find enemies that can be fought or ignored. Like other RPG’s, everything you do earns you experience points that are used to strengthen your team of heroes. Further reducing frustration and fatigue is the game’s fast travel system, and use of automatic saves. In Xenoblade Chronicles, death simply causes you to reappear at the last landmark you passed, with all of your items, stats and health restored to their previous levels. Of course, the real star of this game is the Monado blade. It plays a key role in both the combat and story. When engaged in combat, it allows you to see enemy attacks before they happen. This is done through the screen changing color, and the action unfolding in slow motion as a vision. You then have time to react and change the future before it happens. Don’t let this game’s colorful look fool you, Xenoblade Chronicles is filled with drama, violence and death. And while it will certainly thrill gamers of all walks, it can also be said that it suffers from poor English lip sink and the knowledge that it would have looked better on more advanced hardware. These aspects aside, it will draw you in with its astounding tale, high quality of game design, hour-long boss battles, massive story, and excellently written characters that become your family as this captivating adventure unfolds.