Xenoblade Chronicles... reason enough to keep the Wii?

One of my top 3 single player games on the wii. I am a fan of zelda games but they have been so linear to me. Xenoblade gives u the chance to explore and do many sidequest ( which really enjoy). Unfortunately I dont ever give myself time to play so I am only about 20 hours in. THere are huge open areas and everything that you see in the distance, you can go to. The graphics are great for a wii game, and there is a lot of customization of weapons and progression. I was a big fan of final fantasy on the playstion and PS2 and this game reminds me of them.

My advice... keep the wii, buy xenoblade chronicles, enjoy.

I recently came upon an outstanding reason to keep the Wii....

What's your reasons for getting rid of the Wii? That's the question I'd ask.

They're not exactly valuable these days so it's not like you have a lot of money tied up in it that could be put to use elsewhere (Even if you have a decent sized library of games). Seems like it would be worth more keeping around for potential future use such as with this game, perhaps revisting things like Mario Kart, and maybe more games in the future that you're unaware of at the moment (I bet there's no shortage of excellent games that you've not bothered with yet on the Wii but just don't know about or never paid attention to). And there's the entire GameCube back catalog if you never bothered with that. Some really nice games there that stand up well to the test of time (The two Rogue Squadron games put most of the Wii library to shame).

I've seen more than a few people that sort of moved away from this hobby (Even completely for a generation or more) only to have the bug strike again.

But with the WiiU having Wii compatibility and your interest, when you do play games, residing with mostly contemporary games, I suppose there isn't much point hanging on to it.

I'm not sure what you have but if it includes 4 or 5 popular 1st party games that haven't yet been rereleased as Nintendo Selects titles (Mario Kart Wii and Skyward Sword are $50 games when new, for instance), parting it out on Ebay might be worth the hassle rather than unloading it as a lot somewhere. Don't trade it into GameStop since I believe they don't pay cash.

Be sure to advertise that your Wii has some Virtual Console games. Might make it slightly more desirable.

I've suckered myself into buying a wii 3 times and selling it twice. The first, was at launch and I got caught up in the hysteria. Played it for roughly 15 minutes and never touched it again.

The next was the following xmas and once again got caught up in the hype. Found one, bought it, and it lasted a little longer before boring me to tears.

The last time, i wanted one for my daughter. She loved it, but quickly got bored with it. I've thought about selling it, but am going to keep it just for Xenoblade. If nothing else, I see that game becoming very valuable over the next couple of years in the US since its a gamestop exclusive and will probably be limited to pre orders.

I believe it will also be sold at Nintendo's online store.

Most GameStop exclusives are just exclusive at launch and usually find their way to other retailers like Amazon. I bet that will be the case here, especially if the fans that cried for it actually support it by purchasing it and making it semi successful.

I wish it was Fatal Frame 4 though.

I wonder if I'm getting overhyped on this game. For anyone who's actually played it, what exactly makes Xenoblade Chronicles so good?

I dont think we have overhyped it. Its a fun game, I like it a lot better than skyward sword, but I have always loved final fantasy type games. The game has multiple players to choose from to use as the lead and to give or decide their actions. Really good cut scenes that dont dominate the game but add to it. Lots of sidequests to help with leveling up but can be hard to figure out because of big areas. No random encounters, u can see and avoid enemies, or fight them. There are level 60 enemies not far from where u start that will destroy you if u try them.
The weapon customization can be a little confusing and making gems? or something like that. I think im about 17 hours in and havent played in a long time (no time) but there is so much to do i find myself just exploring a lot. There are some giant enemies that are high levels that make you feel like running away even though they dont go after you as long as u stay away.
Its a really fun game that can also be quite difficult if you dont attack enemies in the proper way.
To me the graphics are as good as any game on the wii. If you see something in the background, you can go to it. Im not far enough in to even give a really good review, but one of the first main characters gets killed early (spoiler?).

Basically good graphics, good story, good sidequest which can feel a little like grinding, but is also exlploring. Tough enemies and bosses which require the proper strategy or u could lose. To me its like older final fantasy games which were just fun and not all cut scenes and bs. You can also "warp" to areas u have already been so u dont have to spend forever moving from one place to another.
I'll buy it when its released!

BTW, Im 17 hours in and feel like I havent done **** and am only level 30. Im curious to how long this game will take.

I pre-ordered my copy as GS and will be tempted to open it, but thinking keeping it sealed might be best...

So buy two then.

Took advantage of the 50% trade-in deal going on at Gamestop this week and sold some stuff to pay for a Xenoblade Chronicles preorder. (Almost $30 for Arkham City, not bad.) Considering it made me step into that godforsaken store, this better be good!

So am I the only one picking this up tomorrow or what.

Where are you picking it up? I thought it was only available from Nintendo, so I ordered mine from them. The automated e-mail I received after the order said they expected to ship by the end of April.

Doug

Well, as Gamestop told me, it's a "Gamestop exclusive," other than ordering from Nintendo themselves I guess. I hear Canadian Gamestops are actually releasing it today.

I sort of have low expectations (I haven't really enjoyed a JRPG since Tales of Symphonia, or Valkyria Chronicles on PS3 if you count that) but I figure this game will be fairly scarce in the US so I'll take a chance.

Yup....Picking it up at Gamestop tomorrow. "Had to" pre-order. Local store only expecting 5 copies for the general buying public.

I hope that playing this on the Wii doesn't ruin the experience for me. I'm excited to play a new Xeno game, but my god does the Wii look old these days. I guess I'll find out tonight how I feel about playing it. On one hand I think it's too bad that this is the last good game that will be released for the system. On the other hand, I'm glad that I can now retire the Wii in anticipation of the Wii U.

Picked up my copy this morning. My local GS looked to have about a dozen copies in...and I have a hard time imagining all of those are preorders. I didn't get an artbook with my preorder, but I wouldn't have any use for it anyway.

I'm about 3 hours in so far, and like what I've seen. The battle system is intimidating at first because there's a billion icons and indicators flying around the screen, and it's in real time so you have to constantly manage your positioning, arts deployment, cooldowns, HP, and various special attacks. Thankfully, they do a good job of gradually introducing you to the intricacies of the combat and give you a brief tutorial whenever a new mechanic comes into play.

Graphics are strictly PS2-with-draw-distance level, though at least the world is interesting to look at. You know, I've never been a big graphics guy but boy is the Wii showing its age. On the flip side, the music so far is fantastic. From the title screen on, it's big and swelling and orchestral, if at times overly dramatic. I'm also enjoying the voice acting thus far, if only because it is super, super Britishy, which is at least something different. Gives the game a slightly different feel, and as a bonus I don't have to play "When's Steve Blum showing up?"

Anyway, this seems like a pretty damn meaty RPG, and the first one to grab me in years. I've already seen a few sensibly streamlining innovations that take some of the tedious ******** out of the genre, like not requiring you to return to the person that gave you a quest to finish the quest. Which seems like an especially good idea since already there's been a ton of quests.

I do wish the character design was a little less overly anime-y. I have limited tolerance for this stuff anymore. I don't know who in Japan decided that dudes wearing intricate armor that exposes their midriff is super-badass, but I wish they'd stop. I mean, the main character appears to be wearing a striped turtleneck sweater under a half-vest over board shorts, and knee braces. Doesn't help that the main three characters so far vaguely call to mind the main three from Final Fantasy X, either.

Dont forget The Last Story.

I was going to pick it up tomorrow morning, but Gamefly actually shipped it out. Too bad there is no keep option at the moment...

Why did Gamestop have to lock in this game as an exclusive? I hate buying from them.

I don't really care about Last Story. It's not Monolithsoft.

An hour in to the game? This is a great way to send out the Wii. Do yourselves a favor though and play it with the Classic Controller. The Wiimote controls are convoluted, but the Classic controls are sensible. Kind of fitting that the last good game for the system pretty much says "Waggle? Meh."

The audio is fantastic in this title. The texturing is varied, but at the expense of being very low resolution. They seem to have used the available ram for a whole bunch of 128x128 textures, instead of fewer, sharper, 256x256 textures. Fair enough trade off. As for the PS2 comparison? No way. The game is showing off far fancier rendering techniques than the PS2 ever displayed outside of Shadow Of The Colossus and Xenosaga III, but at a far better framerate than either of those titles.

I give this a thumbs up with a tentative "Too bad it's only 480p". Maybe we'll be lucky enough to see it re-released as a 720p Wii U remaster down the road, in the model that Sony has fallen in love with moving their PS2 titles to PS3.

Further thoughts: The "single player MMO" game type is executed upon well here, as it also is in Kingdom of Amalamalurmalum. So far though, it is very much a single player MMO. It has a lot more in common with WOW than with Xenosaga or Dragon Quest.

Picked this up yesterday without a pre-order. Someone in line in front of me also was there to get a copy. Good to see interest.

I'm sure others are in the same boat, but this is the first time I've turned on my Wii since sometime in 2010. No joke.

Anyway, a few hours in and really liking it. I don't understand how other studios in Japan can't get the same flavor into their RPGs. This hits all the right notes in terms of story and combat. Reminds me a lot of FFXII (my favorite Final Fantasy game post-FFVI). Can't believe we've had to wait this long for a good JRPG.

Seriously? Monster Hunter...

The only time I play something other than Monster Hunter is when I have guests over. I haven't even opened up Skyward Sword or Mario Galaxy 2 because I just play Monster Hunter.

I actually played Monster Hunter Tri a bunch. But it came out in spring 2010. And Mario Galaxy 2 came out in May 2010. And I have yet to play Skyward Sword (because I don't have a Motion Plus controller, and I refuse to pay for a new controller/adapter for a system on its last legs).

Regardless, point stands. This is the first time I've used my Wii since 2010. And the important part of all of this is that Xenoblade Chronicles is truly amazing.

I'm only in the first five hours, but this is feeling like it could be one of the best RPGs in recent memory. It's all the small things that they get right in terms of design and user interface. Tweaks that have needed to be made to the genre for years. It stands alongside Skyrim and Dark Souls, as far as I'm concerned.

I didn't plan on it, but I was in a mall yesterday and picked up a copy, too. When I answered "no" to the preorder question, I thought he'd tell me he couldn't sell me one, but he reached in a drawer and pulled one out for me. He kept asking if I was sure I didn't preorder, and showed me the book that comes w/ the preorders, but I wasn't interested in the book, and just told the truth.

Doug

You should have taken the book. He wasn't encouraging you to be dishonest. He was being nice.

Also, you were lucky. Apparently that stupid preorder art book is in short supply, even for those who preordered. I don't think Nintendo of America expected sales to be so strong. Not only did they seriously hinder the game's distribution (only available through GS and Nintendo directly), but they almost didn't even bother to release it here in the States. It's like these big companies want the JRPG genre to die. When really, the reason sales of the genre have been so low this generation is because the quality has been so low.

So when an amazing game like this comes around, the industry execs all expect sales to be ******. It's a self-fulfilling cycle that ensures that even good JRPGs will have a hard time in the marketplace. Dummies.

Man, exploring in this game is so fun. I find myself delaying story progression just to fill out the map and see what I can find. So far my favorite exploration moment by far was in Bionis Leg, following a narrow path and ending up in a ruins area, empty except for a few minor spider enemies of little note. I go up to the central altar right by the cliff edge, thinking the whole area was just fun scenery...


It was pretty awesome.