Xenoblade Chronicles: The Future Waits
Xenoblade was one of those Nintendo series, alongside Fire Emblem, Mother/Earthbound and F-Zero that I only knew from Smash Brothers as a kid. I didn't know jack about Xenoblade, except recognizing Shulk as "that one blond anime twink" from Smash Bros. I previously tried out Xenoblade Chronicles 2 back around early 2018, I don't remember anything about that game because I sucked at RPG's at the time. For real, I never was able to beat a Paper Mario or Mario & Luigi game, Pokemon was the only RPG that held my hand as a kid that I was able to beat. I sold my physical copy of Xenoblade 2, which I regret now cause physical copies are hard to find for Xenoblade 2 (or at least here in the U.S).
I've had Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edtion in my back for some years, I had as a Christmas present alongside Final Fantasy VII Remake. Like a lot of my games in my backlog, I'm only getting to it now after letting it sit on my shelf catching dust, and after beating Xenoblade Chronicles, all I have to say is. "Why didn't I play this sooner!?" I am in love with the Xenoblade series thanks to this game. The characters are so lovable, and each one of them are wonderful, the gameplay is rewarding if you put time into learning its mechanics, and the universe... the wider lore of this game's universe has been the reason why I added Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and 3 into my backlog. After I was done with this game, I wanted MORE. I haven't been hooked onto a JRPG series like this since Persona, and I'm just ready to dive deeper into this Xenoblade rabbit hole!
The battle system in Xenoblade Chronicles was pretty confusing for me to understand at first. One thing I felt Xenoblade Chronicles did poorly in was its tutorials. The tutorials don't explain the main gameplay elements like Arts in a digestible way to understand. It was much easier for me to go on YouTube and find someone to explain it better than the game did. But even with the hiccups of the tutorials, Xenoblade Chronicles has a rewarding combat system that treats you right if you give it the right amount of time to learn all the ins and outs. The characters I mainly used throughout my playthrough were Shulk, Reyn, Dunban, and Riki. I mostly controlled Shulk, cause his moveset is the most friendly, but I did swap between controlling Shulk with Reyn and Dunban.
The way to level up with experience points in Xenoblade Chronicles is to do side quests surprisingly, which I really enjoyed. A lot of the time in most other RPGs, if you need to level up, you have to do some farming by killing enemies to earn exp. I love how Xenoblade Chronicles makes side quests more of an incentive to complete them. I like the side quests in Xenoblade Chronicles for being simple, just do enough to expand the world of Bionis and the Mechonis. However, I wish traditional farming for exp by killing enemies was still as helpful to earn exp. This might just be from my playthrough, but I feel that killing enemies in Xenoblade Chronicles doesn't reward as much exp as it should. It's not too bad of an issue, but a bit annoying near the end of the game, when a lot the side quests get limited and not too interesting, but nothing too big for me.
One thing I have to praise Xenoblade Chronicles for, is for it's world. Each section I explored throughout my playthrough felt unique each type I went to a new area. I know this is a remaster of a Wii game, but the visuals look pretty great for a Switch game. Moonliftsoft is probably the best Nintendo studio to use Nintendo hardware for what they have. The original Xenoblade Chronicles on Wii looks amazing for a Wii game, and I was blown away when I found out that Xenoblade Chronicles X, for as massive as that game is, runs only using 1GB of RAM. The team at Moonliftsoft deserves all of their flowers for being game development wizards, due to the magic they use to make these massive games! The Wii version looks good for what it is, and I could see some people would like that version of the game more. But you gotta be lying if you think it looks better than the Switch version. Some people don't like the overhaul they did in the games art style, which makes it more close in line to Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and 3, but this may be my bias talking for only playing the Switch version, but I like the different art style. The OG style is great for what it is, but to be honest, it looks a bit too much like a Final Fantasy game. At least Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and 3 have some unique-looking cel animation to make it stand out a bit more from the endless sea of anime games.
As for the story, I truly enjoyed the story, despite having one plot detail spoiled by a friend years ago about how [REDACTED] gets sent back to the lobby during the beginning parts of the game. The story was shorter than I expected, but each moment throughout was memorable thanks to the cast. Shulk is a loveable, and amazing protagonist to play as. He has some wholesome charisma about him, and it just made him one of the characters I cared for. Reyn, Dunban, and some of the other characters provide some depth to making the main cast of Xenoblade Chronicles feel diverse in their own way. The music feels amazing, whether it's the easy-going music playing while exploring, or the guitar-heavy battle music that plays during encounters, it's one of the memorable parts of Xenoblade Chronicles, and the composers just knew to make every track a banger.
The main plotline, with the Bionis and the Mechonis, was intriguing, it was a unique world, and I wanted to keep learning more about this world as I kept playing. After completing the main story, my interest in the world of Xenoblade Chronicles only grew. I was entrapped with not the world, but the universe of Xenoblade Chronicles. Finding out what gave birth to the world with the Bionis and Mechonis grabbed my interest for Xenoblade way more than I previously expected. It made me commit the sin of adding more games to my backlog, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and 3 were added shortly after I completed Xenoblade 1, and I do wish to play Xenogears and the Xenosaga trilogy, either with emulation or hope to God I find a physical copy for cheap.
Overall, I loved my time with Xenoblade Chronicles, it was one of the most memorable experiences I've had with a this year so far. I look back to where I was with Xenoblade Chronicles when I started, and where I ended my playthrough fondly. It's funny for me to think how I wasn't too used to the battle system when I started, but now I've grown acquainted with battle system well enough. The story, and journey throughout felt like a road trip, with new destinations to check out, with side quests and main quests. The cast is amazing, their all loveable, and Xenoblade Chronicles is just a very memorable game. I highly recommend starting with this game if your new to Xenoblade like how I was, the combat system takes a bit to get used too, but Xenoblade 2 and 3 make it more complex from what I've heard. I already completed Future Connected, I thought it was a decent little piece of content, and I look forward to what Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has in store!
Stats:
The 17th game I've completed in 2024
Played on Nintendo Switch
Hours into Game: 51 Hours
Score: 10/10 (5/5)
Last Statement: "i'M rEaLlY fEeLiNg It!"
Xenoblade was one of those Nintendo series, alongside Fire Emblem, Mother/Earthbound and F-Zero that I only knew from Smash Brothers as a kid. I didn't know jack about Xenoblade, except recognizing Shulk as "that one blond anime twink" from Smash Bros. I previously tried out Xenoblade Chronicles 2 back around early 2018, I don't remember anything about that game because I sucked at RPG's at the time. For real, I never was able to beat a Paper Mario or Mario & Luigi game, Pokemon was the only RPG that held my hand as a kid that I was able to beat. I sold my physical copy of Xenoblade 2, which I regret now cause physical copies are hard to find for Xenoblade 2 (or at least here in the U.S).
I've had Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edtion in my back for some years, I had as a Christmas present alongside Final Fantasy VII Remake. Like a lot of my games in my backlog, I'm only getting to it now after letting it sit on my shelf catching dust, and after beating Xenoblade Chronicles, all I have to say is. "Why didn't I play this sooner!?" I am in love with the Xenoblade series thanks to this game. The characters are so lovable, and each one of them are wonderful, the gameplay is rewarding if you put time into learning its mechanics, and the universe... the wider lore of this game's universe has been the reason why I added Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and 3 into my backlog. After I was done with this game, I wanted MORE. I haven't been hooked onto a JRPG series like this since Persona, and I'm just ready to dive deeper into this Xenoblade rabbit hole!
The battle system in Xenoblade Chronicles was pretty confusing for me to understand at first. One thing I felt Xenoblade Chronicles did poorly in was its tutorials. The tutorials don't explain the main gameplay elements like Arts in a digestible way to understand. It was much easier for me to go on YouTube and find someone to explain it better than the game did. But even with the hiccups of the tutorials, Xenoblade Chronicles has a rewarding combat system that treats you right if you give it the right amount of time to learn all the ins and outs. The characters I mainly used throughout my playthrough were Shulk, Reyn, Dunban, and Riki. I mostly controlled Shulk, cause his moveset is the most friendly, but I did swap between controlling Shulk with Reyn and Dunban.
The way to level up with experience points in Xenoblade Chronicles is to do side quests surprisingly, which I really enjoyed. A lot of the time in most other RPGs, if you need to level up, you have to do some farming by killing enemies to earn exp. I love how Xenoblade Chronicles makes side quests more of an incentive to complete them. I like the side quests in Xenoblade Chronicles for being simple, just do enough to expand the world of Bionis and the Mechonis. However, I wish traditional farming for exp by killing enemies was still as helpful to earn exp. This might just be from my playthrough, but I feel that killing enemies in Xenoblade Chronicles doesn't reward as much exp as it should. It's not too bad of an issue, but a bit annoying near the end of the game, when a lot the side quests get limited and not too interesting, but nothing too big for me.
One thing I have to praise Xenoblade Chronicles for, is for it's world. Each section I explored throughout my playthrough felt unique each type I went to a new area. I know this is a remaster of a Wii game, but the visuals look pretty great for a Switch game. Moonliftsoft is probably the best Nintendo studio to use Nintendo hardware for what they have. The original Xenoblade Chronicles on Wii looks amazing for a Wii game, and I was blown away when I found out that Xenoblade Chronicles X, for as massive as that game is, runs only using 1GB of RAM. The team at Moonliftsoft deserves all of their flowers for being game development wizards, due to the magic they use to make these massive games! The Wii version looks good for what it is, and I could see some people would like that version of the game more. But you gotta be lying if you think it looks better than the Switch version. Some people don't like the overhaul they did in the games art style, which makes it more close in line to Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and 3, but this may be my bias talking for only playing the Switch version, but I like the different art style. The OG style is great for what it is, but to be honest, it looks a bit too much like a Final Fantasy game. At least Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and 3 have some unique-looking cel animation to make it stand out a bit more from the endless sea of anime games.
As for the story, I truly enjoyed the story, despite having one plot detail spoiled by a friend years ago about how [REDACTED] gets sent back to the lobby during the beginning parts of the game. The story was shorter than I expected, but each moment throughout was memorable thanks to the cast. Shulk is a loveable, and amazing protagonist to play as. He has some wholesome charisma about him, and it just made him one of the characters I cared for. Reyn, Dunban, and some of the other characters provide some depth to making the main cast of Xenoblade Chronicles feel diverse in their own way. The music feels amazing, whether it's the easy-going music playing while exploring, or the guitar-heavy battle music that plays during encounters, it's one of the memorable parts of Xenoblade Chronicles, and the composers just knew to make every track a banger.
The main plotline, with the Bionis and the Mechonis, was intriguing, it was a unique world, and I wanted to keep learning more about this world as I kept playing. After completing the main story, my interest in the world of Xenoblade Chronicles only grew. I was entrapped with not the world, but the universe of Xenoblade Chronicles. Finding out what gave birth to the world with the Bionis and Mechonis grabbed my interest for Xenoblade way more than I previously expected. It made me commit the sin of adding more games to my backlog, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and 3 were added shortly after I completed Xenoblade 1, and I do wish to play Xenogears and the Xenosaga trilogy, either with emulation or hope to God I find a physical copy for cheap.
Overall, I loved my time with Xenoblade Chronicles, it was one of the most memorable experiences I've had with a this year so far. I look back to where I was with Xenoblade Chronicles when I started, and where I ended my playthrough fondly. It's funny for me to think how I wasn't too used to the battle system when I started, but now I've grown acquainted with battle system well enough. The story, and journey throughout felt like a road trip, with new destinations to check out, with side quests and main quests. The cast is amazing, their all loveable, and Xenoblade Chronicles is just a very memorable game. I highly recommend starting with this game if your new to Xenoblade like how I was, the combat system takes a bit to get used too, but Xenoblade 2 and 3 make it more complex from what I've heard. I already completed Future Connected, I thought it was a decent little piece of content, and I look forward to what Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has in store!
Stats:
The 17th game I've completed in 2024
Played on Nintendo Switch
Hours into Game: 51 Hours
Score: 10/10 (5/5)
Last Statement: "i'M rEaLlY fEeLiNg It!"