I'm about 35 hours into Xenoblade Chronicles, around the 45-50% mark (location spoiler:
). I wanted to wait until I finished the game before I did a LTTP, but since I'll be busy the next few days, and since I want to talk about the game
right now, I figured I might as well go ahead and post my thoughts. Maybe it'll encourage someone else to check out Shulk's game before Smash Bros. arrives in the West next month.
Going into Xenoblade Chronicles, I knew the general consensus is it's the best JRPG of the last decade, one of the best JRPGs of all time, and one of Nintendo's best games. High praise all around, with a 92/100 on Metacritic.
And so far, the praise is VERY well-deserved.
I must've been "really feeling" Shulk's reveal trailer for Smash Bros., because it compelled me to go out and buy the Wii game rather than waiting for the N3DS remake. I got it pre-owned from Gamestop for about $50, but it seems brand-new; I think they literally took the second printing of the game and simply removed the shrink-wrap. The disk, case, booklet, adverts and Club Nintendo flier are all in pristine condition.
Smash-GAF made me do it:
PRESENTATION:
To my delight, this game looks AMAZING on a 47-inch HDTV. I'm playing through the WiiU's HDMI cable. Soft-looking title screen aside, I quickly forgot I was playing a standard-def game from last gen. The depiction of nature here is so verdant and lush, from steamy prehistoric jungles and coastal regions with golden grass and pink coral, to marshlands that glow with a haunting bioluminescence at night. When you emerge from the narrow canyon on the Bionis Leg and behold Gaur Plains for the first time, with its incredible draw distance spanning the horizon and its jagged foothills rising skyward, it's overwhelming in scope, transporting me back to when I was in sixth-grade and entered OoT's Hyrule Field for the first time. Only unlike that game, there's plenty to see and do in this vast grassland, and it's merely one of many massive locations in the game. The scale is simply
enormous. The game is set on the bodies of two corpse gods locked in combat, after all! Trust me, I've played other huge and deeply immersive games -- the game I finished prior to this was GTAV, which I had backlogged while I replaced my PS3 -- and while I'm sure this is technically smaller, it sure doesn't seem that way, and a lot of that has to do with immersion.
These landscapes are also teeming with life, a veritable Jurassic Park's worth of creatures. You come across new creatures at every turn, including absolutely massive ones many times your level. It's almost unfathomable that you could ever defeat such creatures, early on in the game, which just goes to show how much you have to grow. And the creature design is impeccable, especially your main foe, the Mechon, with their angular silhouettes and black-and-gold motifs. So many encounters had me saying, "That's
awesome."
Another thing that really impressed me about the presentation is the writing, voice acting and cutscene direction. All are top-notch. I'd put this right up there with Kid Icarus Uprising as one of Nintendo's best where storytelling and characterization are concerned. Shulk is a genuinely likeable protagonist who never comes across as whiny or self-pitying. And the friendship he has with Reyn, Dunban and the others is very real and authentic. These are people who trust each other and love each other deeply. They feel like family, and their emotions are always on point. It feels... natural. I grew really tense during some scenes, and laughed out loud at others. If there is a moment that falls flat, I don't remember it, or I haven't seen it yet. Superbly entertaining so far.
PACING:
So we have this huge world, full of breathtaking vistas and incredible creatures. It's a massive adventure, where I hear it's common to log 100+ hours, and that's
before you get to New Game Plus.
These days, I'm very busy and find long games daunting. Thankfully, this game moves along at a quick pace. You have a marker telling you which way to go, and a mini-map that tracks your position and time of day. Individual HUD elements can be toggled on/off, as you wish. You can fast-travel, warping to any landmark you've discovered at any time. You can check a log to see when certain NPCs are active (the game has a system like the Bomber's Notebook in Majora's Mask, where NPCs run on a schedule), and you can adjust the in-game clock to skip to that time and meet that character. You can accept many side-quests, all optional. Most have nice but unnecessary rewards (I.E. gold). These side-quests are recorded in your log, and when you complete them, you usually receive the reward right away -- no need to return to the NPC who gave the quest. You also heal automatically after battle, so no worries about visiting an inn or stockpiling healing items. Your characters all level up together, too, regardless of whether they participated in battle. Everyone earns EXP, Art Points (used to level up abilities), and Skill Points (used to unlock passive bonuses), so everyone in your party is always viable.
All of this is super-convenient. It encourages you to experiment with the many systems in place. You can directly control any member in your party. You can also choose another two members to follow you in the field and fight alongside you in battle, which are all real-time, and seamlessly integrated with no transitions. By performing certain feats, you deepen the Affinity between your active characters, which allows you to perform Skill Links that share passive bonuses between two characters on the Skill Tree. Affinity also allows two characters to have special conversations at certain points on the map marked with a handshake icon, and to perform ever-increasing Chain Attacks where everyone attacks together. And since everyone in your party is always around the same level, it's easy to try out new characters in combat and on the field. And that's great, because all of the characters are wonderful.
GAMEPLAY LOOP:
Exploration, combat and optimization are at the core of the game. You explore to discover new landmarks, which earn you EXP and allow for fast travel. Along the way, you find many items in the field, which you'll want to horde rather than sell, since so many of them will automatically complete side-quests (I.E. "find me X of this or Y of that"). You encounter new creatures at every turn, which you can lock onto to see their name and level. You can then attack them by walking within range. In addition, you can lure enemies from afar so you can fight them one at a time, similar to how you handle clusters of tough enemies in Dark Souls.
And you'll want to attack everything you see, since the combat in this game is so fun and rewarding. Once you've locked onto an enemy, you auto-attack by pushing toward them. You also have Arts -- abilities available in a series of icons along the bottom of the screen. Arts can take the form of physical attacks, ether attacks (magic), spells that heal and enhance, and other moves, I.E. increasing an enemy's agro, etc. Every time you use an Art, there is a recharge period before you can use it again. By investing AP to level up an Art, you can reduce its recharge period and increase its power.
Some moves are context-sensitive, dealing more damage from the side or behind, so you'll have to circle-strafe around the enemy while it's distracted by your allies. Other moves inflict Break, at which point the enemy can be briefly incapacitated by a move that inflicts Topple, and then further incapacitated by a move that inflicts Daze, in that order, giving you the opportunity to get in more hits.
You can fight multiple enemies at once, switching between targets and telling your partners where to focus their efforts. New enemies join the fray if they're alerted to your presence. Once defeated, each enemy drops a chest full of loot. This can include crystals, which can also be mined from ether deposits throughout the world. These crystals, in turn, can be forged into gems that can be slotted into holes on your armor and weapons, powering up your character.
Along with mixing and matching new equipment, leveling up your Arts and Skills, linking Skills between characters on the Skill Tree, and buying books to increase the number of times you can level up your Arts, the game offers character growth that's easy to follow and continually rewarding.
Altogether, the gameplay loop of exploration, combat and optimization creates a satisfying rhythm of multitasking, where you always feel like you're making meaningful progress, whether it's the overall story, the myriad side-quests, or your party's overall power. I haven't even touched on all of the systems -- for example, you can also improve Affinity with NPCs, leading to new trades and new quests -- but the loop I described is what makes the game so addictive. And rest assured, everything is well-explained in succinct and clearly illustrated tutorials you can revisit at any time.
OVERALL EFFECT:
Man, this game really hits the spot. Again, I was initially daunted by 1) the alleged length of the game, said to exceed 100 hours, and 2) the fact it's a last-gen Wii game and I'd be playing on an HDTV. But like I said, it looks and sounds fantastic via the WiiU's HDMI cable. And the pacing so far is impeccable, so that there hasn't been a dull moment. The game effortlessly walks a fine line, where the world is huge but navigable, where you can pursue dozens of quests at a time but you naturally complete many of them simply by venturing off the beaten path while following the main story. You're always making progress, you're always growing stronger, you're always discovering new strategies, you're always seeing new places and new creatures and new characters.
And there's nothing jaded or cynical about this game. It truly feels like you're going on an adventure with friends. If that's the appeal of a JRPG, this game has it in spades. And I can't wait to dive back in at the next available opportunity.
