gamingeek said:

I didn't realise they made a Panza Dragoon rpg?

Omg, you know nothing.

I must know nothing. The only PD game I played was Orta on the Xbox, I liked some of it but it never really hooked me. Sin and Punishment 1 and 2 don't do it for me either.

Panzer Dragoon Zwei > Sin & Punishment > Panzer Dragoon Orta tbh.

And Panzer Dragoon Saga > all, and especially you who are reading this!

Metro reviews Xenoblade Chronicles 9/10

Metro said:

There is very little about Xenoblade Chronicles which makes sense. That isn't a jab at the typically overwrought plot, but the fact that Nintendo has been so reluctant to release it in the West. As far as Nintendo of America is concerned it's not coming out at all across the pond, despite a high profile campaign by fans to ensure just that.



Admittedly Japanese role-players are rarely big sellers but this is such an accomplished game it seems as if Nintendo has once again succumbed to a kind of corporate self-harm.



What's also peculiar about Xenoblade is that it comes from little known developer Monolith Soft (not to be confused with F.E.A.R. creators Monolith Productions), who Nintendo quietly acquired in 2007 and whose only Wii game since has been the flawed but ambitious Disaster: Day Of Crisis - which Nintendo of America also refused to release.



The team is perhaps best known for the Xenosaga series, although the connections here are largely only thematic. The story in Xenoblade concerns a peaceful tribe of humans (and others) living on the decaying body of one of two techno-organic gods - who died in combat aeons ago. The story begins following a war with a robot army called the Mechon, which was won only because of the use of a mysterious sword called the Monado.



The previous wielder of the sword has lost the use of his arm though and so youngster Shulk attempts to take up his mantle. Not necessarily inspiring stuff but these clichés are used and inverted by the game in some surprising ways. The characters are similar in that they're standard tropes (the androgynous young lead, the grizzled veteran that looks barely out of his teens) but experience considerable growth over the course of the game.


It's better than average, but storytelling is not where Xenoblade's real strengths lie. Instead it's the sheer scope and depth of the game - and the fact that it finally does exactly what Western fans have been demanding of the genre for decades. It abandons antique concepts such as random battles and line dance style combat in favour of game systems that are dedicated towards rewarding players not punishing them.



You control characters directly at all times (there's even some light platforming when exploring) and that includes battles. However, attacks are automatic and dictated by both your position and distance to an enemy, as well as a series of selectable special moves for each character. This results in a style of combat that is reminiscent of Final Fantasy XII, but with direct hands-on control.



The basics are simple but there's an unending range of complications for those that want to delve deeper, with the concept of aggro being particularly important. This is the idea that a monster will focus its attack on whoever's dealing it the most damage - allowing the others to outflank it. The power of the Monado to see into the future is also used cleverly in combat.



Level-grinding isn't an entirely absent concept but cruel and unusual punishment for dying is. As you explore areas you uncover 'landmarks' on your map. When you die all that happens is that you're whisked back to the last one you visited. You can also save at almost any time. This is typical of the game's desire to get you back into the action as quickly as possible and not having you worry about busy work and housekeeping.



For example, get injured in combat and your health will recharge automatically afterwards. You'll often have half-a-dozen quests and sub-quests underway at any time but you rarely have to go back to the quest giver to complete them. Many activities depend on the time of day and yet you can instantly wind the clock to whenever you want.


The game is far more accessible than the norm for the genre, but it does still throw an awful lot at you in the first hours. The various system and mechanics are explained well but many don't become important until several hours later, by which time you've forgotten the specifics and have to look them up again. The more involved elements such as gem-crafting and character customisation are sensibly left till later though.


The game's other great accomplishment is how much it pushes the Wii (except in terms of motion control, which it doesn't use at all). The game world is enormous and the fact that you're wandering around on the back of a long dead god creates some unusual but fascinating landscapes. The more natural areas call to mind Monster Hunter, especially as there are always critters of various sizes wandering around, but here the game world isn't divided into small linked areas - it's all one massive open environment.


Increase the resolution and improve a few of the textures and you could be looking at an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 game. Special mention should also go to the superb soundtrack, again one of the best for years and at least on par with the graphics. All of which makes us extremely curious to know what Monolith Soft are preparing for the Wii U, especially as they've apparently just opened another new studio in Japan…


Because this is a Nintendo of Europe production all the voiceovers are by British actors and although none are offensively bad they do all sound like rejects from some BBC children's television show. You can opt to use the Japanese voice track but subtitles aren't provided for minor comments in battle, which can be disconcerting. As usual Nintendo of Europe's translators aren't as sharp as their counterparts in the States and so again the dialogue is functional rather than inspiring.



But despite these minor disappointments this remains a hugely impressive effort and one of the most important milestones for the genre in years. Xenoblade Chronicles isn't just 'good for a Wii game' or even 'good for a Japanese role-player', it's a great game in its own right and an adventure that deserves to be experienced by everyone.


In Short: The best Japanese role-player of the current generation and a big step forwards for the genre in terms of accessibility and ambition.



Pros: Huge adventure and game world that's a pleasure to play and explore. Deep but accessible combat system and customisation. Superb graphics and music.



Cons: Dialogue and voice-acting is mediocre (and probably would've been better if Nintendo of America were involved). Steep learning curve.

Score: 9/10

N-Europe reviews Xenoblade

Monolith provides the biggest and most ambitious game on Wii by a long-shot. Xenoblade Chronicles reignites the JRPG and adventure genres in one classy swoop; that this grandiose spectacle is under the banner of Nintendo is the cherry on top.

10/10

Fuck yeah Europeans, thank you NOE:

Xenoblade Chronicles:soundtrack offer

Nintendo UK said:

16th August 2011 – With the launch of Xenoblade Chronicles for Wii just a few days away, fans of the epic RPG have plenty to get excited about as Nintendo launches new Let’s Play episodes on the game’s YouTube Channel, and Club Nintendo members who register the game can look forward to downloading the official soundtrack.



Anyone eager to explore more of the expansive world of Xenoblade Chronicles will be glad to find out that new episodes in the Let’s Play series are launching on the Xenoblade Chronicles YouTube Channel this week. Episode 3 takes viewers deep into the Ether Mine to explore the empowering benefits of crafting gems from ether crystals, while Episode 4 will show how the player’s efforts in helping to rebuild the ruined Colony 6 can have significant impact on the way the game develops, later this week.

Club Nintendo members are also in for a treat, as those who register their copy of the game before 30th September will for a limited time be able to download the game’s official soundtrack from the Treasures section of their Club Nintendo account. One of the Iwata Asks interviews about Xenoblade Chronicles provides an in-depth look into the creation of the game’s soundtrack, with plenty of audio clips to get into the mood.



As the game’s launch date of 19th August approaches, the wait for Xenoblade Chronicles is nearly over, and fans of engrossing adventure games will soon have the chance to immerse themselves in everything this epic RPG for Wii has to offer.

robio said:

Clearly no one in America would want to play this game.

You see, if more peeps had bought Little Kings Story, none of this would be happening. Present company excepted.  

by the way I would have really liked that red classic controller but I never found that special edition of it.  The soundtrack news is good, though i wish is was a CD in box as they did with Baten Kaitos

I got Xenoblade and have played several hours of it.

When to begin, ah the combat looks complicated with all the menus on screen in the videos, but is pleasently simple and accesible to use. You choose your target and choose fight. Your character auto attacks whilst all you do is move him about with the c-stick to position him in good attack or defence positions. Then with the d-pad you can just select all sorts of special moves.

When you play the game in 16:9 it's full screen, if you play on a 4:3 set you get large top and bottom borders.

Voice acting is a mix of good and bad but the bad is kind of endearing and it's never terrible. Graphics swing from low poly, low resolution blurriness to staggeringly overwhelmingly huge, grand and beautiful backdrops - running at a good clip too. Menus are easy enough to navigate but there are tons and tons and tons of customising options and different things you can do should you choose too. You RPG nuts will be in stat heaven, to me it's feels sort of bewildering yet I haven't been stuck in the game get because I haven't been tinkering.

The map isn't bad, not good though, you can't zoom into it and text is rather small in the whole game aside from speech bubble text. It's sort of like those HD games when you play on an SDTV and you have to lean forward to read it.

The camera is bothersome playing with just the remote and chuk. You have to hold down the C button before moving it, I may change to the classic controller just so I can move the camera more easily and that is what you will want to do - to get breathtaking views of the landscape. Characterisation seems good so far, nothing original or great, but fun and likebable.

Music is gorgeous, that reminds me, I have to download the free soundtrack.

Damn the environments in Xenoblade are so big, you have to push the camera over and above the edge of the screen to see the top peaks of canyons. Have any of you guys ever seem one of the wonders of the natural world like the Grand Canyon?

Same sort of feeling here.



Also because the game scale is so big much of the environment is meant to be viewed at a certain distance, you may never come face up to a texture on some of the backdrops. It means that artistically they've gone to town on them. Remember RE4, some of the rock textures looked awesome until you jammed your face up to them? Same idea here.



Unfortunately the close up visuals, especially in the cutscenes is a little assy, there is some sub-Dreamcast looking stuff but you have to forgive it because that allows for this super scaled world.



I don't like playing as Shulk purely because of his character model, it's a little small and meek so I choose Rein as my party lead with a hulking sword on his back. But Shulk has the Monado sword.... damnit, which should I choose?

BTW the Dunban voice actor is lame.



Okay, one thing I don't like about the town Colony 9 in Xenoblade is that you can't go through doors and look inside buildings. There are some buildings where you can walk inside but very few and you can never actually open a door and rummage about inside like in a Zelda game. I love doing that in these rpg like games, just investigating the town in detail.

Played more Xenoblade, tried out the classic controller - it's useless. Well, it's good for the camera as you can freely rotate but you still have to hold down a button and then press A and B to zoom in and out. But it has a fatal flaw in the combat stakes.

In the game you use the analogue stick to move your character about and avoid attacks and move in to attack. When you are using the chuk and mote, you can freely use the d-pad on the remote to select special moves and healing and still move your character at the same time. With the classic controller to use the d-pad to select special moves in a realtime battle you have to take your thumb off the left stick so are rooted to the spot. Unless you can change the movement to the right stick and camera to left stick on the CC - it's no good. And frankly the regular CC I have (not the pro) isn't very comfortable anyway.

I toyed around with item selection, it's easy because it tells you on the stats page when an item is benefitting you or if it will lower your stats with simple red for bad, blue for good colours. And the "arts" essentially special moves or healing abilities all have a bar which represents how much you have upgraded them so it's all very easy to keep track of and to use action points to improve the arts skill level.

On the graphics front the art is great and the scale incredible. If they make a similar game for Wii U it will look eye melting good - I can see them doing this for real.

They did say that they had been experimenting with HD hardware for quite some time now