In celebration of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 being announced, I decided to revisit the Xenoblade Chronicles series once again.
Xenoblade Chronicles has such a phenomenal story. Every character feels like they got swept up in a conflict they didn't want to be in, but still fight for what they think is the right thing to do. The main draw of this however, is their motivations aren't so pure, as they're naturally flawed and controlled by their emotions, which makes them feel so realistic and allows you to relate to them so much more than you otherwise would. In addition, they do tend to fulfill a certain role that might be cliché feeling at first, but they take that mold and expand upon it, and subverting your expectations of the sort of "box" you think they're going to be confined into. The game also knows when to sprinkle in humor, that's entirely created from the amazing chemistry every character has, so it feels natural and once again just makes them even better.
Xenoblade Chronicles as a game however, is also quite genius. There's not a lot of moving parts here really, but it'll definitely take time to understand everything. Usually though, you'll have your basic arts that'll grant a de-buff to a monster, or gain bonus damage based on position. Your party composition is always only three characters, which isn't that limiting because you can really customize your characters down to the smaller details, which is great.
I will mention however that Xenoblade Chronicles can be very challenging or pathetically easy based on your knowledge and preferred strategies. There's one strategy called "Topple locking" which is such a busted and guaranteed way to get through any sort of challenging endeavor when fighting, I almost recommend not doing it. The idea is basically stun locking the enemy, and ensuring you can never miss an attack, and get bonus damage on top of that. But trust me when I say there's plenty of other strategies you can employ to overcome challenges, but I thought I'd mention the oversight anyways. Besides that, the combat is excellent, just fast paced enough to keep things interesting and intense, but also slow enough where you can make calculated and crucial decisions like a turn-based game, it truly is genius at how it's balanced out and practical even in the toughest fights in the game. You engage enemies out on the field and fight without any loading or anything, you just jump straight into fighting. Your character can be moved around and will auto-attack for you, but it's up to you to select what art to use, and when to use it. So you're always making small decisions that'll snowball into a huge advantage that'll allow you to decimate anything in your path. The game gives you plenty of great options to do this as well.
Outside of battling there's also a lot going on. Tons of menu's for equipment, leveling up your arts, unlocking new passive skills, and linking other characters skills to other characters, though limited. There's also a whole menu for character's affinity, party members and NPC's, and gem crafting. I won't go into huge detail into all of these, but I'll touch on them a bit. The equipment menu is good, and you can even change the look of your character to whatever you want once you have a piece of gear that has that specific look. Armor in this game though isn't of much importance however, so you won't need to think about it a lot. Leveling up and setting new arts for characters is really simple, and you can lay them out however you want as well for convenience or so you can combo them together easily. As you battle, you'll unlock new passive abilities for your characters as well. You can link specific abilities from other characters as well, however you have to build their trust by having them fight together a lot, which can be a pain, but you'll naturally progress that as you play. The only issue is linking skills requires these coins which you get by fighting "unique monsters" which are more stronger variations of the normal monsters you'll fight in a given area. There's also some super strong bosses you can test your luck against later on in the game to challenge yourself. But in order to link skills, defeat every single one you can possibly find. Last thing I'll go over is gem crafting. The system itself is hard to learn, but once you figure it out, you'll be making some super busted stat boosting items that'll really pack a punch and it's very rewarding to do as well. I wouldn't worry about gem crafting or optimizing your builds too much if you're just wanting to play through the story though, as my gems and gear were pretty bad and I progressed fine. But for some of the optional challenges, definitely consider getting the best of the best, you'll need it.
Music is absolutely insane. There's so many beautiful songs here that encapsulates every area, battle, boss, and cutscene this game has to offer. The range is also remarkable, from some intense guitar riffs, to soft piano, and beautiful harmonization is a lot of the songs as well, it all comes together to create that unique "Xeno" sound that's so distinct across all the games. There's also alternate tracks for a lot of areas if it's nighttime, which are more subdued and peaceful to their daytime counterparts which are louder, and more profound.
Graphics are subjective, let me just say this before delving into this portion. So in the original release of Xenoblade Chronicles, the graphics haven't aged the greatest. I am going to defend it however, because it was unique, and nothing like I've ever seen before. Lighting and character portraits specifically stick out to me from the original release. And while it may be dated, it's still got a lot of expression and everything is designed soundly enough to distinguish everything without any issues, at least for me.
Now with Definitive Edition, I have no qualms or complaints with. It's stunning, it essentially just heightened everything to the point of perfection. Now I understand if the more animated look might not appeal to you, because the character designs do differ quite a lot from their original counterparts. But at the same time, they still look and feel like them, and that's what's most important to me. If the Wii/3DS versions turned you off from the graphics, play Definitive Edition, it's honestly a treat for the eyes. Environments also got a huge update in Definitive Edition, much better lighting and so much more personality.
That's all I have to say! Xenoblade Chronicles is truly a masterpiece of a JRPG. Even the original on the Wii is an absolute gem and I strongly urge any JRPG fan to play this. I'll admit I was a very turn-based only RPG player for a long time, but it was this game that changed my mind and opened me eyes to how good they can actually be. You can get Xenoblade Chronicles on Wii, Wii U through eshop, and the New Nintendo 3DS specifically as a heads up, other 3DS models won't play it. You can also get the Definitive Edition (that this review was based on for the most part) on Nintendo Switch. I personally recommend the Definitive Edition as it fixes a lot of bugs and issues from the original version you can get on the other platforms.
Xenoblade Chronicles has such a phenomenal story. Every character feels like they got swept up in a conflict they didn't want to be in, but still fight for what they think is the right thing to do. The main draw of this however, is their motivations aren't so pure, as they're naturally flawed and controlled by their emotions, which makes them feel so realistic and allows you to relate to them so much more than you otherwise would. In addition, they do tend to fulfill a certain role that might be cliché feeling at first, but they take that mold and expand upon it, and subverting your expectations of the sort of "box" you think they're going to be confined into. The game also knows when to sprinkle in humor, that's entirely created from the amazing chemistry every character has, so it feels natural and once again just makes them even better.
Xenoblade Chronicles as a game however, is also quite genius. There's not a lot of moving parts here really, but it'll definitely take time to understand everything. Usually though, you'll have your basic arts that'll grant a de-buff to a monster, or gain bonus damage based on position. Your party composition is always only three characters, which isn't that limiting because you can really customize your characters down to the smaller details, which is great.
I will mention however that Xenoblade Chronicles can be very challenging or pathetically easy based on your knowledge and preferred strategies. There's one strategy called "Topple locking" which is such a busted and guaranteed way to get through any sort of challenging endeavor when fighting, I almost recommend not doing it. The idea is basically stun locking the enemy, and ensuring you can never miss an attack, and get bonus damage on top of that. But trust me when I say there's plenty of other strategies you can employ to overcome challenges, but I thought I'd mention the oversight anyways. Besides that, the combat is excellent, just fast paced enough to keep things interesting and intense, but also slow enough where you can make calculated and crucial decisions like a turn-based game, it truly is genius at how it's balanced out and practical even in the toughest fights in the game. You engage enemies out on the field and fight without any loading or anything, you just jump straight into fighting. Your character can be moved around and will auto-attack for you, but it's up to you to select what art to use, and when to use it. So you're always making small decisions that'll snowball into a huge advantage that'll allow you to decimate anything in your path. The game gives you plenty of great options to do this as well.
Outside of battling there's also a lot going on. Tons of menu's for equipment, leveling up your arts, unlocking new passive skills, and linking other characters skills to other characters, though limited. There's also a whole menu for character's affinity, party members and NPC's, and gem crafting. I won't go into huge detail into all of these, but I'll touch on them a bit. The equipment menu is good, and you can even change the look of your character to whatever you want once you have a piece of gear that has that specific look. Armor in this game though isn't of much importance however, so you won't need to think about it a lot. Leveling up and setting new arts for characters is really simple, and you can lay them out however you want as well for convenience or so you can combo them together easily. As you battle, you'll unlock new passive abilities for your characters as well. You can link specific abilities from other characters as well, however you have to build their trust by having them fight together a lot, which can be a pain, but you'll naturally progress that as you play. The only issue is linking skills requires these coins which you get by fighting "unique monsters" which are more stronger variations of the normal monsters you'll fight in a given area. There's also some super strong bosses you can test your luck against later on in the game to challenge yourself. But in order to link skills, defeat every single one you can possibly find. Last thing I'll go over is gem crafting. The system itself is hard to learn, but once you figure it out, you'll be making some super busted stat boosting items that'll really pack a punch and it's very rewarding to do as well. I wouldn't worry about gem crafting or optimizing your builds too much if you're just wanting to play through the story though, as my gems and gear were pretty bad and I progressed fine. But for some of the optional challenges, definitely consider getting the best of the best, you'll need it.
Music is absolutely insane. There's so many beautiful songs here that encapsulates every area, battle, boss, and cutscene this game has to offer. The range is also remarkable, from some intense guitar riffs, to soft piano, and beautiful harmonization is a lot of the songs as well, it all comes together to create that unique "Xeno" sound that's so distinct across all the games. There's also alternate tracks for a lot of areas if it's nighttime, which are more subdued and peaceful to their daytime counterparts which are louder, and more profound.
Graphics are subjective, let me just say this before delving into this portion. So in the original release of Xenoblade Chronicles, the graphics haven't aged the greatest. I am going to defend it however, because it was unique, and nothing like I've ever seen before. Lighting and character portraits specifically stick out to me from the original release. And while it may be dated, it's still got a lot of expression and everything is designed soundly enough to distinguish everything without any issues, at least for me.
Now with Definitive Edition, I have no qualms or complaints with. It's stunning, it essentially just heightened everything to the point of perfection. Now I understand if the more animated look might not appeal to you, because the character designs do differ quite a lot from their original counterparts. But at the same time, they still look and feel like them, and that's what's most important to me. If the Wii/3DS versions turned you off from the graphics, play Definitive Edition, it's honestly a treat for the eyes. Environments also got a huge update in Definitive Edition, much better lighting and so much more personality.
That's all I have to say! Xenoblade Chronicles is truly a masterpiece of a JRPG. Even the original on the Wii is an absolute gem and I strongly urge any JRPG fan to play this. I'll admit I was a very turn-based only RPG player for a long time, but it was this game that changed my mind and opened me eyes to how good they can actually be. You can get Xenoblade Chronicles on Wii, Wii U through eshop, and the New Nintendo 3DS specifically as a heads up, other 3DS models won't play it. You can also get the Definitive Edition (that this review was based on for the most part) on Nintendo Switch. I personally recommend the Definitive Edition as it fixes a lot of bugs and issues from the original version you can get on the other platforms.