Xenoblade Chronicles Impressions: The first 10 hours...

[ryushe]

Aka the point where things get real saucy.

I've started playing Xenoblade a few months ago - the Pal version that is - but shortly stopped a few hours in upon hearing NoA was going to be bringing it over to the states. Within those first 4-5 hours I've played before I quit, I could vaguely see the makings of, what the majority of the internet seems to refer to it as, "The greatest JRPG this generation" but being someone who knows whether or not he'll love an RPG the first hour in, I couldn't see what everyone was talking about.

I do now.

First things first, Xenoblade takes a good long while to get really started. Like, a good 8-10 hours in before things begin to click. There are some points here and there that are really good and does a great job in engrossing you in its story, but they'll come few and very far between (There was actually a really good moment about 2 hours in that honestly shocked and surprised me, and being someone who doesn't get surprised by RPG's anymore, especially of the J variety, that's saying an awful lot), but that's not to say the ride up until the 10 hour mark was a rough one.

The thing is, though it takes -- by today's standards at least -- a very long time to get going, I honesty wasn't bored for a single moment while playing the game and at times even found myself playing for hours on end unaware of the time I've sunk in, and while the faint story beats intrigued me enough to continue on, I think what really drove the game home for me was mostly in part to what I think is Xenoblade's strongest aspect: The incredible overworld Monolith Soft has created.

Xenoblade might have the single best world in a JRPG I've ever played. It's huge and vast, with nooks and crannies everywhere begging to be explored. The only other world I've ever come across this grandiose was in FFXII. Basically, it takes place on one of the two giant beast that once inhabited the world. The scale and scope is so large, there are points where you're traveling a cave to find out it's the shin of said beast or the field you're going through in order to get to your next town is actually its kneecap. It's crazy.

Speaking of something reminding me of FFXII, the combat in this game basically plays like an offline MMORPG version of FFXII, but instead of a Gambit tree, you have an hotbar for all of your skills (<--The MMORPG part). Personally speaking, while a lot of people disliked it, I loved FFXII's combat system. Once you get into how deep the gambit system can be, it foregoes a lot of tedium you usually have to endure in multi-houred RPG's. While not my favorite battle system, it sits very high on the list for a different reason. That said it was a pretty big shock to find out I disliked the battle system in Xenoblade. The thing is, since I took it as an offline MMORPG, I played it as such for the first 8 or so hours and honestly was getting my *** kicked every chance I got, and if I wasn't getting constant game overs, I was always just barely winning each fight. It wasn't until it dawned on me that, this combat system is actually a lot more deeper than how, I would at least, normally play an MMORPG, where I would just sit there, select my skill, wait for it to cooldown and rinse and repeat. Things like positioning, setting up de-buffs for your party members to take advantage of, luring the leader of a mob group away so you can deal with him swiftly, etc, is all at play here and once you get into your head that this is the way the game has to be played (A good medic surely does help, too) the combat becomes immensely more enjoyable, especially when you gain the mechanic to see into the future, which can be annoying at times since it takes you out of the game (only when you're constantly about to die), but it's still a pretty awesome thing to have. The only knock against it however, is that unlike FFXII, the combat doesn't look quite as refined in Xenoblade. There are often times where combat just looks muddled and all over the place, especially when you're fighting a large group of enemies in a tight space. It might not be a problem for most, but I like being able to see each of my party members actions and animations.

Onto the presentation, I suppose. I've talked very briefly on how the game looks and I think this is a very attractive looking title -- Wii game or not -- the world and its art design just looks awesome to me. I'm not a fan of the ascetics of some of the armor in the game, especially given what I think it should look like in this world, but it's whatevs. The music so far is absolutely incredible. The overworld theme as you're running on a field, that just happens to be the leg of this giant, as you see its torso in the background, sounds just as epic as what is being shown on screen… oh, and the game has a variation of each theme given the cycle of day its on (That's been done in other games, but I always think its pretty cool). Unfortunately, the only poor aspect of its presentation has to do with its voice work.

I hate it. I absolutely hate it. I thought I'd love the British voices given I LOVED DQVIII's voice acting and how cheeky it made an otherwise generic story feel, but this game just draws all fun out of it with how drab it sounds all around. The main character sounds like he just doesn't care, which becomes even more apparent after a particular scene. His best friend sounds insufferable and the others characters doesn't fair any better. I'm just so very happy the game has a Japanese VO track. I'm not usually a fan of playing my RPG's with voice over's not of my own spoken language, but I had to make an exception for this, which honestly has turned out to be favorable in the long run.

Lets see, other things to hit on:

• Given how big this world is, loading is almost non-exsistant, which is quite a feat.
• Though the games world looks fantastic most times, the textures (on the characters faces, mostly) are pretty bad. I honestly remember FFXII looking a lot better than Xenoblade in that department... But then again, FFXII looks amazing, even today.
• You get experience for everything. And I mean EVERYTHING, which is cool.
• Given certain quest only happens at a certain time of the day, you have the option to change the time of day at any point of the game.
• Not being able to optimize your equipment is stupid and oftentimes, frustrating.
• Item management is also frustrating. Trying to switch between tabs is way more troubling than it should be.
• Selling your items at a shop leaves much to be desired. I forgot what game I played recently, but it has an option to sell all of your junk with the click of a button. It should've been in this game.
• Some of the dungeons are HUGE. There's a dungeon a few hours in so big, it makes the last dungeon in FFXII (Pharos at Ridorana) look like a child's sandbox in comparison. And if you've beaten FFXII, you know how crazy that is.
• Though I still don't fully understand it, the time mechanic in battle is pretty cool.
• The action scenes, so far, are really awesome. I can't remember last I played an RPG where I was actually excited for a cutscene.
• I think the game has too many mechanics going on under the hood. An achievement system, gem crafting, skill trees, affinity charts, Heart-to-hearts (think of that system they had in FFIX where you could see what another party member is doing at the same time. I forget its name), etc. It's not bad to have all of those systems in play, I just feel none is presented very well.
• You can warp to any location you've been too so long as you've been to its landmark, which is a GODSEND given how massive this world is.
• Yo, Mechs.
• Given the last cutscene I saw, I now have a feeling this games going to get mad Xenogears on me.
• It's games like this that makes me appreciate the DS/3DS so much more. Theres's just too much info on screen at a given moment. Sure you can take away a good number of the UI shown, but it still doesn't help the case.

Anyway, sorry I got a bit long winded with this, but its been 10 or so hours and I had a lot to say about this game. A lot of people are heralding Xenoblade as the savor of the JRPG genre and while I really do enjoy it so far, there are a lot of things that, while it does bring the genre forward in a few meaningful ways, there are also things and design choices that just shouldn't be there (there's no reason I cannot optimize to equip my equipment, especially given how much you get at such a frequent rate or even the fact that the main character's weapon is the only thing (so far) that is able to hurt the enemy mechs in the game, so I'm order for your party members to be useful in battle, you have to enchant their weapons before and during a fight - the problem? You have to do it each and every time you enter battle... which is absolutely ridiculous). Still though, I haven't been this engrossed with an RPG in a very long time, so I guess it's doing something right. I do think all the people who disliked FFXIII/XIII-2 because if how linear it was, would enjoy this game, though. The thing is, its like on the complete opposite side of the spectrum from that, so I'm not entirely sure Xenoblade is what people who said they disliked XIII because of its linearity might ultimately enjoy.

[Levon]

Yeah the game is amazing, it gets better as you play. I'm almost 70 hours into the game, its very long. Well if you take your time doing most/all of the quests anyway.

[Gaming_Bum]

I'm loving the battle system, but you're right when you're in a larger battle, things get muddled up real quick. It's like, WHY CAN'T I USE MY ARTS, WHO AM I LOCKED ON TO!

With that being said, I'm about 8 hours in. It's defiantly going to be up there as one of my favorite JRPG's.

[Ryvius]

Pretty much Wii buying worthy for this game alone.

If Tetsuya Takahashi made an anime it'd pretty much be the best anime ever.

[sfried]

So...many...quests. Was hasitating about leaving the marshes just to finish encampment quests in the Bionis leg.

[ryushe]

I actually dislike that about the game, only because it feels like it punishes you for not doing them and the rewards never feel substantial. However, I do like that once you met the requirements of said quest, it's done. No going back to the quest giver to report to them. No checking it off your list. Nothing. You just get conformation and results and your good to go. Its kind of impersonal, but I prefer it than its alternative.

Anyway, just reached the 20 hour mark and I honestly gotta say the fights are starting to get tedious where I'm at, only because I feel like I'm underleveled, which is another problem I have with this game. There's no flexibility to difficulty in combat. It's either you're under leveled or over. There's no middle ground here. Most times you lose in a fight, it's most likely because you're not at the right level, which could be just one level or two. Also, the story seems to have tapered off. Hopefully it gets as good as it hinted at 10 hours ago...

[seba_boi]

Gosh I was expecting more people to be into this game 'cuz it really is amazing... I pretty much love everything about Xenoblade... I'm also one of the few FFXII lovers out there and it blows my mind how one big honking map fits in one loading...

I agree with RYUSHE though about the annoying item management... perhaps because I was so used to whatever is the strongest item stay on the top not the most recent... (which I had to turn the tab on all the time)

But I think it's the battle system that really gets me to hunt, hunt, hunt... It's just that fun... That said, I friggin LOVE using Melia (the mage)... Her awesome spell buffing and ether throwing is really fun!... Riki (the debuffer) is also fun 'cuz he's kinda broken when using with Reyn (the tank) and Sharla (the medic)—it's like endless Chain Attacks with him as the leader while spamming Hero Time and Happy Happy... :-\

[Gaming_Bum]

For me my party level always seems to be just at the bare minimum requirement. So most of my battles are pretty intense and come down to the wire. I really should grind a little bit.

[seba_boi]

Don't you guys fight everything that's in your path?... haha!... 'Cuz that's what I do... At least random monsters you meet along ACTUALLY give you credible items like strong weapons and armors and gem crafting materials... I dunno about you guys but that damn gem crafting aspect is quite addictive... I've spent an hour sometimes just making gems and properly equipping my characters to make a healthy party for battle...

Oh and I haven't commented on the story yet... Can I say AWESOMELY EPIC?... The whole premise is very imaginative while not being too "out there" like FFXIII's... Although there was one big surprise that I saw a mile away, there was another that really caught me offguard... I was like, "whoah, didn't expect that coming"...

[old hat]

Originally Posted by Gaming_Bum

It's defiantly going to be up there as one of my favorite JRPG's.

Is this some sort of in-joke?

[ryushe]

Originally Posted by old hat

Is this some sort of in-joke?

Not exactly pertaining to Gaming_Bum's post, I'd honestly like to know this as well.

While the game is good; really good mind you, I'm not really understanding the accolades it's getting pertaining to how much of an evolution it is to the JRPG's genre we've all known and [some] have grown tired of. While it is forward-thinking in its core design and does some things marvelously, it still has most of the issues and problems that plague this genre (Flat characters, poor pacing, needing to grind, a trite script, etc.) and the battle system that everyone is praising it for is just the slightly more in-depth combat structure from a MMORPG that fundamentally plays itself... You know, the same thing everyone crapped on FFXIII about.

Don't get me wrong, like I said before this is a great game, it's just kind of perplexing for me to see this game come home and receive such a warm welcome and constant hospitality for its merits when its other siblings has been doing the same thing for years.

[ryushe]

So, did anyone get to Prison Island, yet?

[seba_boi]

I'm way past Prison Island, I'm already at the Mechonis... I'm about 75 hours to the game and I think I'm just past the half-way mark....

Sharla's backstory is making me teary...

[Soluzar]

Originally Posted by ryushe

While the game is good; really good mind you, I'm not really understanding the accolades it's getting pertaining to how much of an evolution it is to the JRPG's genre we've all known and [some] have grown tired of.

Every time I hear someone (I know it's not what you're doing spout this tired old crap about how the JRPG genre is growing stale, I assume they don't play enough JRPGs. There's enough variety out there to keep almost anyone happy. That is, as long as they are willing to play what will suit them regardless of console, vintage, and graphical refinement. If they aren't willing, then that would be a problem they have, not one that JRPGs have.

It's completely valid to dislike the genre - I don't pretend it can or should suit everyone. I just don't find it a compelling argument that it is a stagnant genre. What really happened was that interesting and different JRPGs came out, and were largely ignored. The reason? People don't actually want what they claim to want. What they really want is the latest and greatest Final Fantasy, or something very much like it. They want the incredible level of polished presentation that series has traditionally offered. They want the long, visually stunning cutscenes.

The fact that Square mentioned in a press release that FFXIII had sold over 6.2 million copies rather tends to confirm this. I wish I could find more real numbers, but I strongly suspect that no JRPG Atlus or Namco-Bandai have ever released has ever performed even remotely as well. In fact, the best numbers I can find for Tales of Vesperia suggest it hasn't sold even as much as 1/5th as many copies.

What lesson should we draw from this? I'm seeing two potential interpretations, but I hesitate to draw a conclusion as to which is correct.

A) Gamers continue to vote with their wallets in favour of 'more of the same'. Therefore it may be presumed that this is exactly what they want, and they don't really have much room to complain. I tend to believe this, and have written my post under the assumption that it is precisely true.

B) Other games might sell as well if they aspired to the same standard of presentation as Final Fantasy typically has done. I can almost believe this until I look at the estimated sales for Lost Odyssey - a game which did aspire to those same standards and succeeded to a substantial degree. It's a tiny fraction of the sales of ANY Final Fantasy game.

I do think the 'state of the art' continues to evolve. If you look at noteworthy games on a timeline you will see a more-or-less continuous trend to improved user interface, and more little technical touches to enhance the experience. Entirely aside from graphical refinement, of course. It is a simple fact that the typical NES RPG was unforgiving, obtuse and asked a great deal more from the player in return for progression. It's also a fact that the relaxation of technical restrictions which came with later consoles has permitted (among other things) more space for narrative and UI elements on screen and especially the inclusion of voiced dialogue, and the cutscene - love 'em or hate 'em.

That isn't what people are talking about of course, when they say that the genre is stagnant. I'm pretty sure they are speaking of elements of plot and characterization as well as perhaps elements of the battle system and character progression mechanic. Even there I can't agree - I'm avoiding naming any specific RPGs so that we don't get into the debate about which game is best, but I find there's a TON of variation out there.

Perhaps I just want to say this because in the last week I've been playing two very 'different' RPGs, and have a stack of others awaiting my time. I've yet to get to Xenoblade, but I don't expect it to revolutionize the world of the JRPG. Then again, very few games really do. It's not a linear progression, y'see. Each game goes off in one direction and you can't then build on that, because the next game might go another way entirely.

[Caster13]

This sounds interesting. I'll have to check this out some more.

Now when you guys say grinding, on what level is it?