Nintendo's Xenoblade Wii News Update

Nintendo has revealed various bits and pieces of information about the Monolith Soft-developed RPG Xenoblade on Wii and Cubed3 has pieced together all the drip-fed details into one handy story. The team over at Monolith Soft has estimated that the game will take players around 70-80 hours to complete in total, over even more than 100 hours if gamers decide to take their time and finish off all of the optional side-quests and extras included. For those that were under the impression that this would be a traditional turn-based RPG experience, that is certainly not the case, with the team stressing that it is a action RPG, with the entire world being seamless, with all areas flowing naturally throughout the adventure. The only time players will encounter interruptions are when the loading screen pops up infrequently when travelling from one major area to another (in other words, when going from one body part of an in-game to the other god will result in a small pause).

As with games such as Secret of Mana, The Legend of Zelda and the Tales RPGs, enemies will be visible on the playing field so that there is again no transitions to break the connection between player and gaming world. When the player approaches an enemy and chooses to use a standard form of attack, whichever one is currently targetted will be automatically attacked repeatedly, or if you end up behind them, special 'Arts' attacks can be pulled off. The soundtrack, as mentioned previously on Cubed3, is composed by Yoko Shimomura, the woman behind some magical pieces of music for Square Enix's Mana series in the past. The game will also run at a solid 30 frames per second, with combat being somewhat akin to Final Fantasy XII.

Famitsu magazine has also lifted the lid on some of the characters:

• Shulk - The main character is an 18-year-old, 171cm tall member of the Homs clan who is a fan of literature and heads off on a journey with his friends to defeat the Kishin troops who attacked his village and is voiced by Shintaro Asanuma;
• Fiorun - This is the main heroine of Xenoblade and a childhood friend of Shulk. She is another of the Homs race, is aged 18, stands 160cm tall and is being voiced by Eri Nakao;
• Dunban - The brother of Fiorun, this is the man seen in the recent trailer wearing no shirt who is classed as a hero amongst the Homs people since he was the one to use the Monado blade against the Kishin army. This 30-year-old was struck down a year ago and is currently in the process of healing. He is 180cm tall and voiced by Ryo Horikawa;
• Dickson - A war buddy of Dunban's from a long time ago, this 44-year-old, 181cm tall chap is someone who looks after Shulk as if he was one of his children. Dunban is being voiced by Tsuyoshi Koyama;
• Mumuca - A 30-year-old travelling warrior, whose height is 195cm, and once fought Dunban for the right to be the person who would use the Monado blade. This character is being handled by actor Norio Wakamoto.