Review
Where to begin? I’m not the biggest RPG fan in the world, I barely touch the genre, usually only by playing the Zelda series; and let’s be honest, in recent years Zelda has strayed further and further from being classed as an RPG. My only other ventures into the world of role playing have been Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles and Quest 64: Holy Magic Century! I’ve never been a fan of the over-complicated controls, the turn-based strategy and the immense amount of text. This is why I found Ocarina of Time, my first Zelda, a revelation and became absorbed by the rich storyline.
I purchased Xenoblade under the impression that I may not enjoy the title and give up a short distance in, but I believed in Operation Rainfall; the more purchases there are in Europe the greater the chance the game has of being localised for the American Audience. I may not always vote in general elections, but voting by purchasing games on Nintendo platforms to me seems more worthwhile!
At time of writing this review I am a little over 10 hours in and I consider my mind blown. I am completely absorbed into the world of the Homs, and can not recommend this game highly enough (to those lucky enough to have the opportunity to buy it!). Not since Metroid Prime 3 or the original Ocarina of Time have I felt so into a game that I play it until the early hours of the morning, and then get up before work to play it again!
The game opens with a movie of an epic battle between two gods known as the Bionis and the Mechonis, eventually both perish. These become the game world the character’s adventure takes place upon. The intro then continues into a war set one year before the actual game begins between the Homs and the Mechon. Eventually you take control of the action controlling Dunban, considered a Hero by all on the Bionis. Prolonged use of the Monado during the war means he is losing the ability to use his right arm, after a quick battle with a Mechon the movie continues to the present time where Dunban is still recovering. You play as Shulk who at the start of the game is researching the Monado, the red blade which becomes your weapon of choice. During an attack on Colony 9 by the Mechon Shulk loses a friend and vows to take revenge by destroying the Mechon! He then sets out on his adventure with his childhood friend Reyn.
Xenoblade features an action-based battle system, where you have an automatic attack that strikes enemies at intervals. Movement however stays manual, so you have to avoid enemies attacks, and approach them from different angles to make different attacks. You also choose from a series of attacks known as ‘Art’s, you learn new ones and upgrade them throughout the game. Arts have cool-down timers so you can’t use the same one over and over. When Shulk has the Monado, this has its own subset of attacks and powers from shields for your party and powerful attacks for use against the Mechon. Xenoblade also features a ‘vision’ feature where Shulk has flash forwards from the future, in battles this can give you the upper hand to switch targets, warn friends, to change destiny and avoid a potentially fatal attack.
Affinity is a large part of the game where all the characters including NPCs have inter-connected relationships, through the game you with be given quests which can build relationships between not just you and your team mates, but NPCs and other NPCs! You can build affinity during battle via encouraging team mates, but also during regular game-play such as questing. Quests are given to you throughout the game, and can be story developing, or simply side quests. Rewards for completing quests vary.
There are several different enemy types, some won’t attack unless you attack them first, some will attack you if they see you, some will attack if they hear you! The AI is great as some enemies chose to help their friends by joining the battle, some don’t, you never know what will happen. I’ve seen the odd enemy attack another enemy without even becoming involved! Luckily if you’re unsure on attacking you can lure enemies away from groups. There’s an option in the settings menu where you can turn on icons than appear above enemies heads to let you know what type they are. They also all have different levels and strengths which are marked by colours.
Once you have defeated an enemy you are rewarded with ether which you can turn into gems to add to clothing and weapons and upgrade HP and other stats. Treasure chests also appear where you receive parts of enemies or clothing you can either equip or sell. Throughout the game there are merchants where you can buy more goods or sell the dozens you’ve already collected. When you go into the equipment menu stats are highlighted in blue if that upgrade would be beneficial or red if not, which is really helpful for an RPG novice. It makes balancing all of the details you need to make decisions on that much easier.
There are many time-saving features such as a clock you can alter time at any point, and once you’ve discovered a new area, via landmarks, you can fast-wrap to any location. Luckily the designers also implemented a save-anywhere feature, which I’m grateful for! If you die without saving you will respawn at the last landmark you visited.
This truly is an epic game, not just in level design but in game-play. I was still having tutorials about the basic game-play elements 6 hours in. The learning curve for the game is beautifully gradual which is probably why most RPGs turn me off. The level design is so beautifully abstract, the draw distance is incredible, and except the odd texture being a bit blurry or a small amount of pop-up this game is graphically one of the Wii’s strongest titles to date. This game has broadened my horizon, and I will definitely be checking out The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower when they release in Europe in 2012.
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