Xenoblade | Definitive Edition (NSW)

[Ratatapa]

You can switch between ENG and JP while playing. I've done it many times, often I play in battle with english voices for a while just to see what they're saying then switch back to JP once I get a grasp on what they're saying. Most cut scenes I play in JP and a few predictable boss battles in ENG.

The voice acting is average, you can listen to it but when you have the option of switching whenever it isn't really an issue.

You change it in game or before loading the game^

[Elcura]

You change it in game or before loading the game^

Yeah...? I know.

[Ratatapa]

I mean when i start xenoblade and i click config (before clicking load game) I change language to JPN and it says language will apply only on a new game. If i load the game, the voices are still English

So unless i miss a part

[Elcura]

I dunno what to tell you man, I'm doing it right now. Back and forth. No problems. Are you applying the changes? Cause... that's all I can think of.

[hey]

anyone who thinks the voice acting is bad needs to listen to Baten Kaitos, whose voice acting I have affectionately labeled "robots-through-a-cardboard-tube"-level bad. I still have nightmares of the voices in that game.

It could theoretically be worse, yes. It's still really bad though.

It's ok though, since they left the original voices in tact.

[Insanecyclone]

[Mugmug]

My body is ready for this game. I hope it lives up to the hype. I made sure to avoid as much press as possible to judge the game for myself.

[Doombear]

It will Worldshaker, it will. Best Wii game I have played so far.

[Insanecyclone]

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/06/xe...by-western-de/


Xenoblade Chronicles director naturally influenced by Western design; details changes for NA/EU version

Xenoblade Chronicles executive director Tetsuya Takahashi should probably have a lot to say given his latest project's tumultuous journey to worldwide launch, but his extremely concise interview answers to us indicate otherwise. When we asked Takahashi how Xenoblade Chronicles' development scaled comparatively with past projects, he simply told us, "There's no doubt that the scale of this project was large compared to past projects." O ... okay then!

He got a bit more verbose on other subjects, however. How different is the NA/EU version of Xenoblade Chronicles from the original Japanese release last year, for instance? "We made some minor bug adjustments and revised some of the written content for localization. There were also some places where we made minor adjustments to the game balance, but none of the changes resulted in significant differences from the original (Japanese) version," Takahashi said.

Takahashi also spoke to his approach to development of modern RPGs. "I like Western game design a lot, so there were places where I referred to it without thinking about it." But that's not to say Xenoblade Chronicles is a product of a Japanese dev looking solely at Western design philosophy. "Xenoblade is not just influenced by Western game design; it has also undeniably inherited the DNA of Japanese RPGs." Find out for yourself just how that plays out when Xenoblade Chronicles arrives on US retail shelves tomorrow.

Can't wait to pick it up today.

[Insanecyclone]

The reversible cover art looks nice.

[Doombear]

Oh Kotaku...

The important thing to know about Xenoblade is that it's basically a single-player MMO. Developer Monolith Soft has taken a great deal of inspiration from massively multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft, particularly when crafting Xenoblade's real-time, automated combat system, which only occasionally requires you to have hands.

I exaggerate. Though you don't need them for standard attacks, you'll be mashing the A and B buttons quite a bit during Xenoblade's many, many battles. B lets you revive and boost your allies, while A selects through your lead character's special abilities, each of which has a damage or healing effect and a cooldown. You'll also have to use the powers of your main character's sword, the Monado, to weaken and eliminate the giant robots that serve as this game's Big Bads. Like in many MMOs, your characters will attack automatically; you just add a dash of garnish in the form of what Xenoblade calls Arts.

But while battle strategy in an MMO largely revolves around teamwork and timing, Xenoblade's fights will only challenge your patience. Combat feels like one long script that you're destined to follow. If you're not the right level for a given challenge or boss, it doesn't really matter what you do. You will lose. You'll pop up at a nearby checkpoint and you can always try again, but you'll just continue to lose until you go out and grind a level or two. You will then win.

You'll eventually find yourself falling into the same patterns every time you fight. This is not exactly unpleasant if you get into it, much like washing the dishes or brushing your teeth. It might not be as productive, but the music is better.

I disagree with so much of this. Anyone else that has also played Xenoblade find a lot of this to be wrong, almost as if they barely played the game? Button mashing? Don't really need hands? One thing I really like about this game is the positional bonuses to skills. There are skills that don't have their bonus effect 'proc' unless you are in the right position (side of enemy, behind enemy, enemy is dazed, etc.) so it never feels mindless.

As far as it only challenging your patience, I would disagree as well. If you do even half of each area's sidequests you will be almost perfectly leveled for each boss battle to pose a respectable (but not patience challenging) hurdle. I like that. Comparatively, The Last Story has felt super easy...

The 'same patterns' you may fall into? I suppose there is a certain recurring strategy involved. Stagger, Daze, Stumble... sure. But to get there some mobs take some thought. Weaknesses, etc. I find this game FAR more enjoyable than washing the dishes.

I will agree with one thing. Ok two. 1) the music is phenomenal. 2) inventory management can get tedious.

Its strong points are so strong that they make its weak points look even worse,

I disagree here also. I feel like the strong points in this game are so strong that the few complaints I have are almost instantly forgotten. I really want more of you to pick this up and put 5 hours into it and let me know if you agree.

[Insanecyclone]

It's Kotaku you're talking about. They don't know shit just like Gamespot does for certain things.

GS's review is better
<<url removed because of new policy/copyright issues>>

[Doombear]

True enough. I just find it sad that they get the kind of eyeballs they do with those reviews. Then something like Siliconera's wonderful writeup (that I think you posted earlier yes?) will get so much less traffic.

Happy to see that GS's is indeed better like you said.

[arioch]

i've beaten this game.
Used cheats though, main cheats i used was getting level V gems for armor and being able to put whatever gem i wanted on armor. and speed cheat.

i have to say as one of the posters above me said, if you aren't the right level for some things you will just keep failing regardless this is true. However i did absolutely no EXP grinding i focused mainly on finishing every quest in the game as best i could and for what information was available i think i did accomplish completing them all. just by staying current with quests tho i was able to stay within the correct level range for storyline progression with little frustration. I also did some grinding for a few pieces of gear towards the end and trying to pop random rare monsters when i was running around progressing through the story. if i didn't do any quests or not all of them like i did…i have to say i probably would have needed to do a lot of EXP grinding the cheats for being able to use w/e gem i wanted didn't make things easier at all lol, really only made things go faster~ (i focused on haste V gem, double attack V HP V, AGL V) nothing all amazing. there were a lot of moment in the game where i had to strategize for some fights but they were pretty far apart and only bosses.

as i said at the beginning i used a speed cheat to run faster…. i beat this game at exactly 100 hours….if i didn't i believe it would have takin 200 hours… while i did complete all quests i have to tell you the areas are EXPANSIVE traveling through them with normal speed will become monotonous especially when certain quests requiring you run from 1 part of the zone all the way to the other end, many zones do have landmarks to make traveling less painful but some have the landmarks very far apart and most times the area you need to go to is between 2 and is a good deal away from both. i also spent a hell of a lot of time with the affinity chart and trying to make every connection i could which took hours in itself easily lol, having to run around talking to every NPC after completing a quest in a area at 3 different points of the day (morning, afternoon, night) NPC will have about 5 chancees to have different dialogue:

When they are traveling to the point the are going to stand
Awhile after they arrive there
Sometime in-between when they get to there spot and are going to walk back home
Slightly before they walk home
And while they are heading home

Timing it right is hard, but small connections on the affinity chart can be made (between NPC mentioned or involved in the quest) if you talking to them at all those moments after completing quests that mentioned or involved multiple NPCs you'll make the connection eventually, sometimes you have to talk to them 2-4 times in a row at those times to make the connection.

Voice acting isn't amazing but its ok
it isn't bad enough to ruin the games awesome script which is all that matters in the end i believe.

Edit: XD completely forgot to add, this game is most definitely worth purchasing if you've been waiting around for a good RPG this will settle that craving. i have to say a normal play through without trying to do all quest, you'll easily get a satisfying 70ish hours . Do not judge this game by the first 5 hours (however by the first 5 you should be slightly hooked to want to know more/play more :D) it is very long it gets very good towards the middle and the end is the best. hope my review helps some debating if the game is worth a try

[Insanecyclone]

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/06/xe...w-a-cut-above/


Xenoblade Chronicles review: A cut above

I'll confess, I wasn't terribly excited for Xenoblade Chronicles at first. My experience with other "Xeno" titles (Xenogears, Xenosaga) could perhaps best be described as contemptuous. To me, those titles paraded the worst elements of Japanese role-playing games in front of a spotlight, gleefully showcasing the genre's biggest flaws to the world for excruciatingly painful stretches. Going into the nitty-gritty of why I find those games awful is another article entirely, but suffice it to say that another Xeno-game wasn't exactly high on my want-to-play list -- until I started hearing nothing but praise for Xenoblade from like-minded JRPG genre fans. Imagine my surprise at popping the disc into my Wii to discover a game nothing like Xenos past -- a game that, instead of stubbornly shoving the worst parts of JRPGs in your face, makes substantial advancements to the genre.

Xenoblade Chronicles is intriguing from the get-go. The introduction describes a world literally built on the back of two massive dueling deities. Organic life, including the humanoid Homs and the birdlike Nopon, live on the stilled, mountainous Bionis titan. They are continually under threat from the ruthless, robot-like Mechons, who devour them as food. A battle occurred one year prior to the story's outset, during which a Hom soldier named Dunban drove back the Mechon hordes with a strangely powerful blade called the Monado -- seemingly the only weapon that could cause harm to Mechon armor. The battle left him severely injured, but peace had come at long last. As in most JRPGs, however, that peace won't last. The Mechon soon stir again, and it's up to young researcher Shulk, his bromantic interest Reyn, and an assortment of varied and interesting party members to decipher the mysteries behind the threat.

One of the first things that strikes you about Xenoblade is how rich and expansive the world feels. Huge, sprawling landscapes and vistas are showcased immediately, and battles occur seamlessly on the overworld itself à la Final Fantasy XII. This world is alive and active: towns are filled with citizens going about their daily routines, fields are flush with flora and fauna, and various collectible baubles can be found all over the landscape, not just in hidden nooks and crannies. Townspeople have names and relationships, which are actually charted and built as the game flows onward. The in-game clock and the various changes it brings along as time passes augment the feeling of an organic, living world -- but thankfully, for the sake of gameplay convenience, the game also allows you to freely manipulate time should you so please.

You'll be doing a lot of two things in the expansive environments of Xenoblade: fighting and exploring, often both at once. If you aren't moving along to progress the story, then you're likely working to finish a quest. Xenoblade has myriad quests to take on with varied rewards, and while most of them are sadly of the bog-standard "find X macguffins" or "kill x beasties" variety, they are very efficiently streamlined. In most cases, simply fulfilling the primary objective will finish the quest and deliver the reward, saving the time and effort of most games, which require players to return to the quest-giver. It's such a simple and obvious timesaver that you'll wonder why so many other titles have yet to adopt it, and just one example of Xenoblade's willingness to eschew tradition in order to deliver a better overall experience.

The ease, immersion and organic nature of Xenoblade extends to initiating and engaging in combat as well. Creatures crawl the fields, and you can engage them directly in many different ways: attacking them outright, luring them away from a pack to pick them off individually, or sneaking up from the back or side with an attack that grants bonuses based on positioning. You're not always going to get the jump on enemies, though. While many creatures in Xenoblade aren't hostile unless attacked first, there are other, more territorial foes that will attack if you cross their line of sight or make too much noise in their vicinity. You're not going to survive long if you simply attack everything that moves. Picking your battles is a very important skill in Xenoblade, as even early in the adventure there are powerful foes that will not hesitate to trounce you if you look at them the wrong way.

When you do enter battle, though, you'll find a combat system with some very novel twists. The use of auto-attacks and special skills with cooldown times is very much inspired by MMOs and Western RPGs, but positioning also plays a key role. Certain skills are more effective or offer additional benefits when executed from specific positions. You can also run around the field to assist friends in need. Many status ailments your CPU-controlled allies suffer can be cured by simply moving your character over to them and pressing B to help them snap out of it. When critical hits or other decisive strikes are scored, you have the opportunity to press B with the right timing to cheer on your teammates, sending their fighting spirits aflame and filling up a "party gauge" used for chain attacks, reviving incapacitated teammates, and more. A particularly unique element is added once the Monado falls into Shulk's hands: when an enemy is about to execute a particularly powerful attack or one that will KO a party member, a brief vision illustrates what the enemy is about to do, allowing you a brief window to protect against or interrupt the oncoming onslaught. It's not always easy to completely foil the enemy's plans, but when you succeed, it's immensely satisfying.

I could go on and on about some of the other brilliant features of Xenoblade -- the intuitive and easily manageable skill levels and ability trees that let you develop characters as you see fit, the relationship-building systems between party members both in and out of combat or the stat-boosting crafting come to mind -- but perhaps the only truly lackluster element shouldn't be glossed over. Though the game's art design is magnificent, it's held back -- through no fault of its own -- by the Wii's increasingly apparent graphical limitations. As beautiful as the lush, expansive vistas are, it's hard to turn a blind eye to the muddy textures and low-detail models that pepper the land. The whole time I played Xenoblade, I kept wishing that I could play an RPG this expansive and awesome in current-generation high-definition graphics. Admittedly, perhaps I've been spoiled by the HD experience of other consoles, and it wouldn't bother me so much if this were, say, a 3DS or PSP title. But nowadays, when I buckle down to have an epic console experience on a nice, big HDTV, I go in with certain visual expectations that the Wii's hardware simply cannot meet, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

But considering that aging hardware is just about the only complaint keeping Xenoblade away from absolute JRPG glory, it's a no-brainer of a recommendation. Yes, the story still has its share of silliness and deus ex machinas -- it is a JRPG, after all -- and sometimes the unending chattiness of the violently British voice actors during battle can be a little bit annoying. But these are miniscule flaws when looking at the big picture Xenoblade presents: a charming cast of characters that interact constantly, a uniquely designed and fascinating setting, forward-thinking gameplay systems that combine the best of East and West, and the exhilarating feeling that comes from taking part in an adventure that feels truly epic. Xenoblade more than atones for the sins of its fathers and shouldn't be missed by anyone who appreciates role-playing games of any shade.

5 out of 5 stars

[Mugmug]

A few hours in and I'm enjoying it. I just wish every JRPG didn't use some blonde haired pre pubescent kid as the main character.

I'll post more tomorrow!

[Raldo]

Did anyone who ordered this directly from Nintendo's website get theirs today? Nothing on my doorstep I guess it's ok since I'm still playing Tales of Graces f.

[Correction]

Did anyone who ordered this directly from Nintendo's website get theirs today? Nothing on my doorstep I guess it's ok since I'm still playing Tales of Graces f.

I only just got my shipping notification this afternoon. Guess it'll reach me by next tuesday

[Insanecyclone]

IT'S REYN TIME

[Insanecyclone]

I hate the Central Pit area. Fighting enemies that can knock you off the damn thing and kill you is annoying.