Xenoblade Chronicles Official Thread

Not surprised there, it's been first for a long time.

I'm going to play XenoBlade Chronicles at MCM today, so I'll probably write a short preview for it.

Actually got hold of the JP version and given it a little whirl. Very pretty so far. Nice sense of freedom almost from the off. Plays smoothly. Almost feels like a cross of FF9 and 12 to me for some reason. Loads of events you can undertake already for various NPCs. Almost in a Majora's Mask bombers' notebook fashion. Don't understand most of what's going on but wanted to give it a go regardless.

I think most of you guys will be pleased with this game.

Loads of events to do somewhat similar to Majora's Mask? My hype for this game just increased tenfold.

Well this is based on my first 30-60 minutes of the game. You get given these optional sidequests when you speak with NPCs. Gets recorded in your menu, or notebook. It's probably more expansive than MM's notebook as I've already accumulated a few tasks in my short playtime. But haven't completed any yet and can't really share much else :/ But based on how early in the game they start ploughing you with them, I'm guessing it's a major feature in which you'll get the best treasures out of it. But completing them also apparently affects your bonds with your party members and in turn, affects battles. Also allows you to see additional cutscenes with these characters and change how you are perceived in towns.

So yeah, it already seems quite non-linear.

The graphics look lovely and work well to create this expansive, freedom-type of world, but it's very PS2/GameCube at the same time. I can only imagine what a next-gen version would look like. However, this probably works in the game's favour because it's so smooth and flowing. Haven't experienced any slowdown yet.

It would indeed be very weird if they gave you a lot of sidequests to do at the very beginning but stopped throughout the rest of the game, especially considering the ambitious rewards and effects they have.

I suppose that having such a huge world with graphics like Monster Hunter Tri would be very hard/impossible to achieve on the Wii without making the game unplayable, so I'm happy the way it is because the artstyle still makes those areas look amazing.

I'm also barely resisting the urge to listen to some of its music after hearing some tiny bits. Wonder if I can resist till the end of the year.

I played the game, and like Azuardo said, it's very lovely and plays really smoothly. I'm just really glad they've included the option to keep the Japanese voices, seriously, the English voice acting is nigh on terrible.

Stulaw? how have you played the game with english dubs? It's not out yet and there aren't any videos out... right?

Sherwiinator said:
Stulaw? how have you played the game with english dubs? It's not out yet and there aren't any videos out... right?

Read his previous messages, he tried it at MCM.

My bad guys

Stulaw, could you tell me whats bad about the english dub? (im just curious that's all)

Would it affect me ...I watch alot of anime but generally find the english dubs to range from ok to excellent (as a standalone piece and with no reference to japanese dubs).

I don't tend to watch japanese dubs because I dislike reading the subs + dont understand much japanese

Oh right, you'll probably find the voice acting OK if you like the English Dubs, there's an over-emphasis on the "British" accent with some characters, and others sound completely out of place. There's nothing wrong with the actual translation but Fior (the female character) really sounds generic and forced, especially after battle with a "Yay, we did it", it really doesn't sound right.

I'll write a preview which should be up in a week or so.

Fior (the female character) really sounds generic and forced, especially after battle with a "Yay, we did it", it really doesn't sound right.

Perhaps such a trivial thing to rant about, but sometimes I want to be able to connect even more to my characters. If you're gonna give them voices, at least make them believable.

Any updates from Nintendo about the EU release??? I'm getting a little frustrated with the lack of communication from them

No official word yet but some comments a while back from people working on the localisation hinted September which seems plausible. Maybe we'll get a short notice announcement at Gamescom in August since it's in Europe?

Bunch of French screens.
Looks nice.

@ Azuardo - nice screens.

Tho how about this - 20 minutes of sweeping vistas and landscape footage from the game with epic music

http://kotaku.com/5813497/enjoy-twenty-minutes-of-xenoblade-chronicles-sweeping-vistas

Yeah, I had a look at that earlier today actually. Didn't watch all of it of course but looks very expansive and free.

Marketing Director of Nintendo France, Mathieu Minel, let slip that the game wasn't shown at E3 because it simply isn't coming for them.

He also let slip that the game should come out in a bundle with a classic controller (pro ?) in a collector package akin to what Monster Hunter Tri had (except here the pad would have a xenoblade colour scheme or sorts).

http://www.nintendo-master.com/xtnews/news-27382_xenoblade_chronicles_en_bundle_collector.htm

Sucks for North Americans. Thanks for the info, Kafei.

This is coming out the end of August now, I heard. I think I'd have time to play it too considering Skyward and Uncharted don't come out till later. I shall see.

Wow, that's just stupid. They already have English translations (even dubs!) but refuse to give the game to North Americans? Simply insane. I wonder if those rumours I heard were true, that Reggie doesn't like Monolith Soft and therefore it's not coming out in the US.

I'm really glad that I'm living in Europe for a change. Where is the "end of August" release date coming from btw? All I know is that it's been hinted for September several times by different people working on it. September is awesome but end of August would be absolutely amazing because I'll still have at the very least one more week of holidays.

Guess we'll know at Gamescom for sure. Though, for a late August release that would be really short notice.

PS: Even though I already have one CC Pro from MH Tri, a special Xenoblade CC Pro sounds very interesting. Can't go wrong with having two of those anyway, with the Wii U still supporting them.

Unconfirmed NOE release dates have it down for 26 August, but of course, it has been announced for September already. But in the same list, they had SF64 as 9 September, which turned out to be true. So you never know.

Also worth sharing, Mario Kart 3DS is listed as October, Skyward Sword is listed as November, and Super Mario 3DS as December.

Full list:

August
26 - Xenoblade Chronicles

September
09 - StarFox 64 3D
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2

October
Kirby Mass Attack
Mario Kart 3DS
Professor Layton

November
Kirby Wii
Zelda Skyword Sword
Super Fossil Fighters

December
Super Mario 3DS

2012
Mario Party 9
Paper Mario 3DS
Luigi's Mansion 2
Animal Crossing 3DS
Kid Icarus
Lego City Stories
The Last Story

If that list is accurate, then from August on I'll have at least one game per month that I want to buy for the rest of the year and that's from Nintendo only. Looking good! (bad for my wallet though)

It's also reassuring to see The Last Story listed for 2012. Kid Icarus in 2012 is total BS though. Why would they do that with a major Nintendo title again after Kirby's Epic Yarn this year?

FUCKING HELL... YESS.... I cant wait to pre-order and play this game.

It also looks like we might get Last story and Pandora's tower too . if that the case, Hats off to NOE!! for a change we europeans get treated well

Also - has anyone seen/heard of Earth seeker?

PS - I hear that reggie does not like monolith soft games. If so, it's just adds to my opinion that he should be fired and fed a poison mushroom

Yeah his comments on Disaster Day of Crisis were pretty harsh at the time when the game came out in Europe. I enjoyed that game a lot though . Wasn't a tripe A game, but a decent one at the very least.

I just saw something Xenoblade related and thought it's worth mentioning here especially for American C3 readers. There's a campaign called Operation Rainfall which plans to get NoA to release Xenoblade, The Last Story and Pandora's Tower in the US. That includes flooding them with letters, pre-ordering Xenoblade (called Monado, which is currently 3rd in the Top 100 charts) on Amazon.com, e-mails, calling them and liking/following them on Facebook/Twitter. If you live in the US and want one of those games to come out there, join them and help spread the word!

( Edited 25.06.2011 21:01 by SirLink )

Kafei - I agree. DDOR was a fun game! I'd like to see a sequel and improves on it.

If reggie slates his own company's games - then to me thats utter arrogance. I seriously think he has no idea about games and what gamers want. He pisses me off and should leave Nintendo.