1-Up Mushroom for...
Stunning visuals, huge environments to explore, stellar orchestral soundtrack, rich and engaging battle system, likeable protagonists.
Poison Mushroom for...
Menu navigation is a little frustrating at times, voice-acting can be grating during battle, takes time to fully grasp the more advanced game mechanics.
#xenobladechronicles
Xenoblade Chronicles is out in English right now, but Nintendo of America doesn't seem keen to let North American's play it, so they can't. Not unless they import a copy from Europe and follow Joystiq's guide for soft modding Nintendo's Wii to play imports. More »
The Good
Excellent sense of pacing Combat is fantastic, in-depth, and fun Locations are vast and beautiful Huge game with loads of interesting things to do Thoroughly modernises the genre while respecting tradition.
The Bad
Occasionally difficult to find where to go.
Although the developers have done a terrific job of incorporating daunting detail with intuitive controls, this title is still best suited to gamers with the experience, diligence and passion to see it through. For them, this is an experience that must not be missed.
We American RPG fans can do nothing but grit our teeth this week as we watch Europeans tear open their brand new copies of Xenoblade Chronicles, which Nintendo released for Wii in PAL territories today.
The Japanese role-playing game has received impressive critical acclaim in the European press, garnering a solid 91 on Metacritic. This should be fantastic for everyone involved -- except Nintendo won't bring it to America.
Despite outcries from both fans and media -- and the Wii's dismal software lineup for 2011 -- Nintendo of America has remained stubborn, insisting that it has "no plans" to release Xenoblade in the United States. The same goes for The Last Story and Pandora's Tower, two other hardcore Wii titles that have both been lined up for Europe. By the way, we reached out to Nintendo of America once more, who had no comment as of publishing time.
Xenoblade, developed by the minds at Monolith Soft (also responsible for Xenogears and the Xenosaga trilogy), may join the ranks of Mother 3, The Last Window and Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland as a game that Nintendo refuses to bring here no matter what anyone says. But don't worry, Yanks. There are other options out there.
Since the game is available in English, all you have to do is get your hands on a European copy. Problem is, Nintendo region-locked the Wii. If you have an American Wii, you can only use it to play American games -- until you hack it.
It should be noted (and we can't stress this enough) that you should not use your hacked Wii to illegally download or pirate games. That said, we want everyone to be able to play fantastic games like Xenoblade, no matter where they live. So here's how you can import European Wii games and play them on your American Wii.
#thelaststory
The games some American Wii owners have been pleading with Nintendo to release in the United States are finally being translated to English and released... in Europe. More »
Xenoblade Chronicles is the best Japanese RPG of this generation. The fact that it looks like it's from the last generation is its only drawback, but its technical limitations are offset by imaginative artistic direction, innovative and compelling combat, and thoughtful design. It's a throwback to the glory days of the genre, proof that there are always new ways to tell a story. If you've ever felt neglected by the lack of in-depth gaming epics on the Wii, you owe it to yourself to buy this.
It's always possible to innovate within a comfortable and well-established template. Nintendo is traditionally the master of this art, secreting gems of novelty within game designs that are often a decade or two old, perfected through years of iteration. Just because a game conforms in many respects to the conventions of its genre, that doesn't mean it can't do anything new, and it certainly doesn't mean that it can't be wonderful...
Pros: Huge adventure and game world that's a pleasure to play and explore. Deep but accessible combat system and customisation. Superb graphics and music.
Cons: Dialogue and voice-acting is mediocre (and probably would've been better if Nintendo of America were involved). Steep learning curve.
Beautiful, feature-packed and brimming with creative remedies for the ails of a stagnating genre, that NOA should overlook such a shining example of what a JRPG can be paints a very different company to the Nintendo that went out at E3 with a call to arms for the hardcore.
...it's the Monado's power that really spices up combat and narrative. During skirmishes it can be used to predict the enemy's next move; as a plot device, it provides several instances of gripping emotional drama. Saving a dear friend from certain death – to the strains of a sumptuous soundtrack – has the power to induce goosebumps, just one of many moments in this splendid, expansive epic.
Operation Rainfall, the fan-driven initiative to promote North American releases of Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower, begins its "phase 2" today. This phase is meant to coincide with, and take advantage of, the August 19 launch of Xenoblade Chronicles in Europe.
"To all residents in the regions of Europe and Oceania," the organizers say, "we encourage you to pre-order and purchase it at your earliest convenience. In the Americas, we encourage you to promote awareness of these titles. Good sales abroad will be a strong indicator for the title making it to American shores."
The initiative also includes a rally of letters to Nintendo of America, to be mailed from August 13 to August 17 in order to arrive at roughly the same time. The group also posted an open letter to Satoru Iwata urging him to greenlight the games for North America, and promising to help promote them.
Finally, "phase 2" includes one (hopefully) attention-getting stunt timed for August 19. As a show of interest in RPGs, the initiative encourages people to purchase Final Fantasy on Virtual Console that day -- if you already have it, you can gift it to someone else or donate to Child's Play through a widget on the site. Can the Virtual Console's servers even handle multiple people buying a game at once? Has that ever been tested?
Nintendo of America, the last we heard, had "no plans" to localize Xenoblade or any of the other titles for which "Operation Rainfall" is campaigning. But plans, or lack thereof, can always change in the face of enough money.
NOA president Reggie Fils-Aime told IGN that the company would be paying attention to next week's European launch of Xenoblade Chronicles. "We will be watching very closely what happens in Europe," he said. "Certainly if there are business opportunities and positive consumer uptake from some of those titles, that will be great data for us to consider as we look at what to do with these titles."
That's certainly not a confirmation of a North American release, but neither is it the sort of stubborn denial we've come to expect regarding these games. So that's something. If you want the opportunity to buy a copy of Xenoblade Chronicles, go buy a copy of Xenoblade Chronicles ... from Europe!
