Wow, Xenoblade Chronicles...

[GTMippey]

How on earth did you fly under my radar for so long??

I picked up the 3DS port two days ago and holy hell, I've put more time in over the last couple of days than I care to admit...
I only heard about the game on the wii but never gave it a second glance. No one I know has it, and I never really see it mentioned on the Internet where I go, and if I have I never had any interest in reading about it.

But after picking it up on impulse I'm absolutely floored by the game so far. The sense of scope in the environments is nothing short of amazing, even on a small screen. The moment I climbed the mountain near the first city and looked out to the city in the distance and thought "I walked here with no loading screens" I knew I was in for a treat.
The story is interesting so far, and the voice actors deliver just the right amount of camp, enough to make me like the characters.
The combat system, while nothing new, is so fluid and polished just works so well.
In short, I love it so far. And I'm interested to see what other people think, mainly those who, like me, got their first taste on the 3DS version.

 

[tippy2k2]

I was very interested in it. I never had the Wii and I knew the game was supposed to be really really good. I got super excited when I saw that it was coming out for the 3DS and your hero tippy2k2 was ready to pre-order that sum'B the second I saw it.

Then....Elfgore had to ruin my day...

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.873728-Poll-Did-you-know-there-was-a-new-3DS

Thanks Nintendo!

So I once again slink back into the shadows, waiting for my moment to strike. Maybe I'll get the New 3DS at some point, maybe I'll just find a Wii in the dumpster somewhere, or maybe it'll just end up having to pass me by like so many other games that I want but won't buy a system for...

 

[MysticSlayer]

I got the game on the Wii around the time it came out. It was sort of an impulse buy actually. I was frustrated with the game I was currently playing, and Nintendo sent out their newsletter that day, which included an announcement that Xenoblade Chronicles had released. It looked interesting, and I was looking for a good game to really immerse myself in, and there just weren't a lot of options on the Wii. As you can probably tell from my avatar, I absolutely fell in love with the game.

Unfortunately, I don't have the money to get a New 3DS, but once I get the money, I'm upgrading just to get Xenoblade Chronicles so I have it with me wherever I am. I know that may sound sort of silly, but considering I rarely have access to my Wii anymore, and considering the time investment means I'd need to cram it in over a break and rush (something I'd never want to do), having a portable version would be nice, especially since I can use quick breaks in my schedule to handle a lot of the more mundane stuff that consisted of like 90% of my problems with the game simply because of how mundane they can be. That would probably make my more dedicated play sessions more enjoyable.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Im one of the few who picked up the Wii version on launch but I remember finding it hard to get any details about the game before it came out. I wasnt disappointed the game is amazing after Valkyria Chronicles (another game that was hard to find info on) it is my favourite game of last gen and I am glad I got the Wii purely for this game, Mario Galaxy and The Last Story.

I dont have a 3DS so wont be getting it on the handheld but im ok with that. Im sure it looks great on the handheld but I cant see how it can beat looking at the environments on the big screen, they are just stunning in scope and design if not in graphics.

 

[MetalShadowChaos]

I managed to get a Wii copy and powered through it near the end of last year. Phenomenal game. That said, if I ever feel like replaying it, I think I'll probably go back to my Wii version for NG+, rather than get the New3DS version. I have a new 3DS, but I also already own the game, so yeah.

I NEED a Shulk Amiibo though, for one reason and one reason alone: Xenoblade costumes in Xenoblade X.

 

[Auron225]

If you wanna make a drinking game out of it - take a sip every time somebody says "Monado".

All in all, I liked it. The environments are breathtaking and the OST is beautiful, combat is pretty fun and plot is intriguing but it is very slow paced.

Take it from me though - do NOT do every side quest that comes your way. Do enough that you can continue with the plot but you will grow extremely weary of them if you try to do them all like I did, unless you really can't get enough of MMO-style side quests (go here, kill X many enemies, collect Y many of this material, run back & forth like a carrier-pigeon between these 2 people). There are hundreds and hundreds of them, and if you do complete as many as possible wherever you are - you'll end up over-levelled for the main plot.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Yeah that one of the reasons why I loved the game (I played it on the Wii). If you see something at the distance, you CAN reach to it without any boundries or invisible walls and of all you can saved whenever and where ever you want (within reasons of cource like you can't save right in the middle of a battle) and not some crappy save points in some JRPG!

Also the OST in that game is amazing (just wait til you reach Mechonis, the other mech corpse)! Also I thought the battle was interesting but in saying so I don't played alot of JRPG and the weapons were interesting too like the medic player used a sniper rifle!

 

[Naraku578]

As someone who has played the entirety of this game 3 times (200+ hours in total), it's just the perfect JRPG.

I can only pray Xenoblade Chronicles X, can be half as good as this one.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

Kinda screwed up coz I thought this was XBC X which doesn't seem to be coming out on n3ds anyhow. I get the feeling there won't be character creation. :/ But despite buying it by mistake, I feel like Ill still enjoy it.

 

[Bellvedere]

The Wii release of Xenoblade Chronicles completely flew under my radar too (I never owned a Wii that's probably why), but I've been hearing so many good things about this game since the 3DS release.

I don't really have the spare cash to upgrade my 3DS at this point unfortunately. If it gets to the stage where there's a few things worth upgrading for I'll check it out. I'm kinda hoping that it will see a digital re-release on the WiiU eShop to coincide/promote Xenoblade Chronicles X coming out later, that would be the ideal solution for me.

 

[Guffe]

Yeah I played it on the Wii back when it was released.
I was one who signed up for OperationRainfall, Nintendo said they had 3 games they would publish in Japan only (Xenoblde Chronicles, The Last Story and Pandoras Tower). Operation Rainfall was a means to get them released in other regions as well and it succeeded, Pandoras Tower wasn't my cup of tea but the two others are very highly ranked in my JRPG games.
Good for you that you found it, you'll have a blast!

 

[Maximum Bert]

Take it from me though - do NOT do every side quest that comes your way. Do enough that you can continue with the plot but you will grow extremely weary of them if you try to do them all like I did, unless you really can't get enough of MMO-style side quests (go here, kill X many enemies, collect Y many of this material, run back & forth like a carrier-pigeon between these 2 people). There are hundreds and hundreds of them, and if you do complete as many as possible wherever you are - you'll end up over-levelled for the main plot.

I did them all lol well not all as in a few instances doing one locks you out of another but all that were possible to do I did and the chart showing peoples connections looked great at the end I do agree that a lot of them are not the greatest however. I just enjoyed the combat and the scenery enough that it did not bother me much although the Last Story still has my favourite combat of an RPG its the only one that I wanted to grind in.

I did still have to grind a bit to max level everyone and get the best equipment to take down some of the hardest optional bosses well to do it easily anyway. I suppose I could have done it before maybe.

Think I finished with a clear time of 119 hours played so a fair length for one run through think only FFX took me longer because maxing that sphere grid took ages.

 

[JayRPG]

I didn't see any complaining about it being a N3DS exclusive but if there is anyone wondering why it is a N3DS exclusive I think it just comes down to power.

For this to be released so quickly after the N3DS was announced it has obviously been in development for some time, and even on the N3DS (which has a more powerful processor than the old ones) the graphical quality is worse than the Wii version.

I have a feeling they have wanted to do this for some time, and may have even started work on it on the old 3DS but just couldn't get it to a level they were happy with. I think the level it is at now on N3DS is the absolute minimum for it to still be a very enjoyable experience, if you had to make more sacrifices I just don't think it would have went down all that well.

There's no official word on it but those are my thoughts on it; I always had a hard time believing they pulled it off on the Wii, let alone a handheld.

 

[major_chaos]

I picked up the Wii version when gamestop found a bunch of copies in a warehouse or something, causing the price to plummet from "goddamn insane" to merely absurd. Although I wish I had picked it up a launch, I think it was worth the elevated price. Xenoblade is one of the best games I have ever played and I can only really think of three things that significantly bothered me about it:

1. Combat starts off boring and takes a few too many hours to really get going
2. You can see where the game's amazing visual design strains against the limits of the pathetic hardware it's running on.
3. Some of the late game bosses are a tinny bit totally bullshit.