Xenoblade Chronicles Coming to America

[Elyxard]

As someone who has imported and played this game to completion, I urge everyone with a Wii to get it. If you've been severely disappointed with JRPGs in the last ten years, Xenoblade will help make up for it; it's much better than anything SE has produced in such a long time and I say with 99% confidence that it's the best game on the Wii itself hands down.

Now I don't want to make it sound like the best thing since sliced bread, it certainly has a few annoying design decisions (questionable sidequest system, flimsy dialogue here and there, some JRPG tropes involved), but it's by far the most complete and least flawed JRPG in quite a long long time. It's quite beautiful too (if you don't look too closely at textures) and it's got a soundtrack that easily rivals or surpasses the original Xenogears. The gameplay and exploration is similar to FFXII, except actually more refined and fun to play around in (no offense if you liked FFXII, I enjoyed it too until endgame).

I try to spread the word as much as I can, I guarantee you'll get your money's worth.

 

[weirdee]

So, are they just doing this skeptically (let's make this highly anticipated port exclusive to Gamestop for a limited amount of time instead of a more normal and practical release method because they'll love us for it!) because they still don't believe the potential sales numbers despite proof screaming them in the face in the tongues of dragons, or because Gamestop had a stranglehold deal scheduled in the first place, or just because they really hate their fans but don't want to make it too obvious?...

I mean, of course gamers should be thankful for the "gods gracing them with their presence", but I don't think it really needed to be this much trouble in the first place.

The sad part is, Operation Rainfail will probably try to take credit for this, even though they didn't really do a damn thing that was useful. I mean, really, I'm sure Square Enix appreciates all the money they got from those guys buying copies of Final Fantasy, but how they thought that would convince Nintendo to do anything, I have no idea. But it's quite clear to me that Operation Rainfail had nothing to do with this decision.

Also, I wonder how many people are going to actually buy it now. All anyone ever said about this game is that they were mad that they couldn't buy it. This very article is the first time I've ever heard anyone mention more than that. I can easily see many of the people raging about not getting this game not actually buying it once it hits US shelves. Sure, I know some will buy it, but I bet others were in it just to have something to rage at.

I've read some studies about how people's initial decisions and subsequent actions (like mailing a physical letter) influence their principles to the point where you can actually get somebody to do something if you guide them through the process by making them change their own self-image in subtle ways.

Going by this logic, if they've made the effort to go beyond just posting on a message board, they will most likely follow through on their perceived "promise".

 

[Siege_TF]

I am reminded of the first season episode of the Simpsons where Bart tries to jump the Springfield Gorge on his skateboard. Specifically the bit at the start where the daredevil, whatever his name is, fills a tank with sharks, electric eels, and a lion, then adds a drop of his own blood.

Except the blood is Xenoblade, and we're the ones filling the tank.

 

[KDR_11k]

I'll wait until The Last Story. Monolith Soft made me spend all my patience having to tolerate the indulgent Xenosaga series. Unfortunately I get the feeling that a lot of people who insisted on it getting released will chicken out.

Xenoblade is probably the least patience-demanding JRPG in years. It's extremely streamlined, working hard to never give you a reason to stop playing. Instead of backtracking long distances you can just quick travel at any time, if you die you just respawn at the last landmark (i.e. no "damn, forgot to save" frustration), most throwaway sidequests are completed instantly when you find the items/kill the monsters (no need to talk to the questgiver), areas are filled with landmarks and stuff to find (including pretty sights, the tech may not be the greatest but the art direction and world design are great), monsters that are much weaker than you won't even bother attacking, etc. There's almost no downtime in the game and with the huge, open environments and various towns you can return to at any time it feels almost like a sandbox game. If you get tired of one thing there's always ten other things you can choose to do.

Honestly I think Last Story is getting overvalued by people who played neither just because it has a big name guy attached to it. Xenoblade is extremely fun and I'm not sure Last Story will actually be able to top that.