It's Reyn Time!

Xenoblade Chronicles.

The blade is actually called he Monodo, which was the original title for this game.

If you don't know the harrowing story of how this game finally came to be released in North America, review the awesome story of Operation Rainfall here. It's a great story.

I'm not gonna talk about any of that, rather just this game that I've been playing for over 60 hours now. Plenty to talk about.

Xenoblade is JRPG with Westernern RPG highlights, and a MMORPG-like battle system. A little of everything. Let's go one at a time.

The story. The story is as Japanese as you can get. Seriously. You live and explore upon the massive bodies of 2 dead(?) gods called Bionis and Mechonis. One is home to Homs (humans) Entia (bird people), and the Nopon (little anime blobby things). Mechonis is home to the apply named Mechon (killer robots). I can't even begin to explain the whole story as it is, to but it kindly, batshit insane. Seriously, every few hours they add some other element to the story that just keeps getting bigger and weirder and more incomprehensible. Luckily, through all this, it actually does a very good job of at least making you care deeply about the characters (except Riki. Riki sucks.) The voice acting is decent if a little annoying during battles, and super britishy, which I like. The main crux of the story revolves around a sacred sword (more like a lightsaber than a traditional sword ) that is the most powerful weapon the Homs have against the invading Mechon, and Shulk, the young man destined to wield it. I told you, very Japanese.

Don't let his cute looks fool you, this guy is the Jar-Jar Binks of Xenoblade

Now the western RPG elements. The game actually controls in a third person adventure view, and one of the main focuses is on the huge explorable enviroments. When I say this games locations are vast and beautiful, I'm talking BIG. The coolest part is that everything you see is actually there, ready to be explored. See something at the base of that waterfall way in the distance? Go ahead and jump in and swim over. You get rewarded for discovering new locations and landmarks in the field with EXP and such, which actually makes exploring everything usefull and a much more interesting way to level up than simple grinding. While the game is on the Wii, and no the graphics aren't as good as Skyrim, they are amazing in the scope of the fields, draw distance and sheer size. Get up close to things and textures get rough, but stand on top Frontier Village and look out over the forest below and you will physically gasp at the sheer splendor of it all. Some of the best environmental and level design I've ever seen in a game.

Finally, the MMO inspired battle system. I actually think, this is where the game shines for me and has kept me playing for so long. Battles are real time, with a 3 man (or lady, or Nopon) team. Instead of mana and action points, you have cooldowns. Each skill can be used over and over, but each has it's own cooldown time. Skills range from attacks, to ether attacks (spells), heals, and Auras (buffs). Managing when to use skills and getting the timing down is what separates hacking and slashing from some real deep strategy. Example, early on you are faced with a foe who cannot be hurt unless they are knocked down. Using different skills, I can make Shulk inflict break on the foe by attacking from the side, which sets Reyn up to us a skill to topple the foe, and Sharla can blast away at the now helpless enemy. You actually only control the lead character yourself, while the other two are AI operated. This actually works very well, and you can tell the developers did a lot of work on the AI, because your comrades rarely seem to do anything stupid, and generally seem to understand your tactics.

 The large array of enemies themselves, are also one of the games many draws. While some enemies get the recycled and recolor treatment of most RPG's, there are some truly stand out and awe enspiring baddies to contend with. In particular are the Unique and sometimes HUGE monsters that simply roam the Bionis. Docile but very powerful, you can almost always choose if you want to try and fight your way through these behemoths or simply sneak around them, and maybe come back when you are strongers. It's not odd to encounter creatures 20-30 levels higher than you in any given location, making you hunger for the time when you can come back and slay them to collect whatever loot and EXP they have.

Notice this dude is level 90 while the group is only level 22

So the long and short is that there is a whole lot of stuff going on in Xenoblade. I haven't even touched on the never ending quests you can get from villagers, to the affinity system between your team and the different regions around the world. There is gem crafting ( giving weapons and armour little perks), treasure hunting, a city to rebuild (by finding material and money all over the worlds), hell even a psudo dating sim in the form of "Heart to Heart" conversations scattered everywhere.

I really just wanted to say one thing with the entry. If you have a Wii (95.9 million of you do), and you like video games, and you don't play this one, you should be punched. Seriously, right in bread basket.
I don't say a game is one of the best ever, everytime a new game comes out like some people on the internets, but Xenoblade Chronicles, is simply one of the finest pieces of software to come out on any console in the past 10 years. The overall world Monolith Soft made is vibrant and fluid, feeling like a real place just begging to be discovered. The Characters are all likeable and interesting (except Riki, Riki sucks) and the story, while crazy, is just engaging and fast moving enough to keep you wanting to see what other wackyness will be thrown your way next. Most importantly (always, in my book) is the gameplay. Never has this game seemed repetative or forced. If I don't feel like going forward with the story, there are tons of things to do, if I get tired of trying find that last piece of Hode Wood I need, I can go explore a vast lake or mountainside. Never does the game bottleneck and make you feel like you are going through the motions. Even the fact that they include a quick, menu based, warp/travel system, from the get go, means backtracking is part of the fun, not a chore. Simply put, I cannot reccomend this game highly enough.
Except Riki, Riki sucks.

Next blog, I actually plan on not talking about a game, but the new Spiderman movie. The Raimi?Maguire Spiderman is my all time favorite superhero movie, and this new one does not look like it will change that. But I'm gonna go see it with an open mind and a love for Spidey, and maybe it'll prove me wrong.
See ya true believers.