Xenoblade Chronicles Message Board older than one year ago

Xenoblade Chronicles™
Format: Wii™
Launch Date: Spring 2012
ESRB: T (Teen): Blood, Mild Language, Partial Nudity, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence
Game Type: Role-playing game
Players: 1
Developer: Monolith Soft
Website: xenoblade.nintendo.com


An epic clash between man and machine
Available exclusively for the Wii™ system, the Xenoblade Chronicles™ game combines science fiction and fantasy into an unforgettable open-world adventure. Players will discover expansive environments and deep character customization options as they delve into an epic conflict between the Homs (humans) and Mechons (robots) and uncover the secret of the ancient Monado blade. With richly detailed role-playing elements, Xenoblade Chronicles offers an extraordinary experience for veteran gamers and genre newcomers alike.

FEATURES:

Xenoblade Chronicles invites players to explore a truly vast open-world universe. In addition to the game's main quest, they can also take on side quests, seek out special items and uncover hidden areas.

Players can customize their characters by choosing from a wide array of weapons, armor, equipment and accessories. Each item not only enhances characters' abilities, but also affects the appearance of different characters in distinctive ways.

A unique upgrade system lets players improve their characters' performance throughout the game. They can earn upgrades during battle, trade with townspeople or collect and purchase items. Players can also use magical gems in enhance the abilities of their existing equipment.

The game also incorporates a unique relationship-building system called Affinity. Different characters will have distinct Affinity levels in relation to one another, which can influence their interactions and affect their progress through the game.

A sophisticated battle system in Xenoblade Chronicles includes special Chain Attacks
– combo attacks involving all members of the questing party – as well as an Arts system that lets characters perform specialized actions and spells.

Nintendo PR

#xenobladechronicles Never before has that little T for Teen ESRB rating box been such a welcome sight as it is on the North American box art for Wii RPG Xenoblade Chronicles. Is it April yet? More »

Nearly one million copies of Xenoblade were acquired in 2011. That Nintendo's epic, deep RPG is seeing that much interest from gamers on a decidedly casual-centric system is remarkable. It proves Nintendo of America shouldn't have been so timid in determining a release date, or publicly declaring it...

#gamemusic2011 We've already recognized a whole bunch of the best game soundtracks of 2011. But of course, there are only so many hours in the day—only so much time to play games, and one can only write about so many game soundtracks. More »

The reality of Xenoblade Chronicles actually being released in America is getting just a bit easier to absorb into our still-surprised consciousness today, as Nintendo of America has just shared the official North American box art for the highly demanded title. Here it is, as posted on NOA's Wii fan...

#xenoblade It took Nintendo of America more than a year to commit to releasing Xenoblade Chronicles, a year probably spent analyzing the reaction to the game's June 2010 release in Japan, a year weighing the costs of releasing the role-playing game in America... and, of course, a year spent making sure the Wii library was properly stocked with other games that fans of Xenoblade might enjoy. More »

#xenobladechronicles Are you ready to help Shulk and friends combat the mechanical Mechon using the power of the Monado blade? Perhaps this official trailer will help you prepare for the North American release of Xenoblade Chronicles this April. More »

Update: Nintendo of America has since confirmed that the game is in fact coming to North America in April 2012, though the company did not give out a specific launch date.

Despite Nintendo's many attempts to dissuade your unshakeable confidence that, yes, eventually, Xenoblade Chronicles would arrive on North American Nintendo Wiis, it seems strong will may pay off. An image posted on gaming forum Neogaf shows what appears to be a listing from GameStop's internal point of sale system with an April 3, 2012 launch date attached.

Strangely -- and further confirming the listing's legitimacy -- is a little note next to the listing which says it'll be, "GS [GameStop] Exclusive." Could the game be arriving only at GameStop locations in North America and eschewing other retailers? Is this just a retailer-specific version? It's unfortunately unclear. More bizarrely, Nintendo's Facebook account seems to be hinting at a forthcoming announcement, with the sudden addition of new artwork from the game.

Much ballyhoo was made earlier this year by Wii-owning RPG enthusiasts when Nintendo of America initially indicated the title wouldn't be released in North America, eventually inciting a series of events ("Project Rainfall") meant to get NoA's attention about the outcry. The other two games that fans requested from Nintendo in that campaign, The Last Story and Pandora's Tower, remain without launch windows in North America.

We've contacted Nintendo and GameStop for comment, but expect we won't hear anything until one of the two decides to make this listing more official.

[Image credit: Neogaf]

After this morning's accidental retail reveal of Xenoblade Chronicles coming to North America, Nintendo has made the game's launch official, pinning an "April 2012" release date to the much hyped Wii RPG. Nintendo teased the reveal earlier today with a new gallery of Xenoblade artwork that mysteriously popped up on Facebook, though at the time there was no news attached to said tease.

So, after this, now all the Operation Rainfall folks need to do is get those other two Wii RPGs to come out in the US, and we'll be all set! We'll get right back to helping with that just as soon as we get through Skyward Sword and Xenoblade Chronicles. In, like, 120 hours, give or take.

Finally, after months of fan petitions, angry emails, and at least one article outright endorsing hacking the Wii for the sake of just getting to play one single, measly video game, Nintendo has finally thrown its hands up in prostration and acquiesced to the demands of its fans: Xenoblade: Chronicles will, in fact, be coming to North America.

Get ready to finally don this sweet techno vest and slay some stuff in 2012.

The release was announced officially via Nintendo's Facebook page, initially teased with a few images of the Japanese role-playing game's central characters, followed by an actual, honest-to-god announcement of an April, 2012 release date. Earlier rumors of the game being a GameStop exclusive have yet to be confirmed, but one way or another, Xenoblade is headed to the States.

This marks at least a partial end to the Operation Rainfall saga. Rainfall, for those unaware, is a dedicated group of Wii owners bent on bringing Xenoblade, alongside RPGs The Last Story and Pandora's Tower, to North American consoles. However, Xenoblade always seemed to be the top priority here, with numerous intense pleas for an official North American release seemingly falling on deaf ears at Nintendo.

Nintendo's reluctance to bring these titles out in America was never anything short of baffling. Given the exceedingly paltry Wii lineup this year, an extra critically-acclaimed RPG or two might have helped pad the coffers a bit, especially given that Xenoblade had already been localized for the English language upon its release in Europe, thus negating those extra costs.

Bizarre timing aside, at least Wii owners can rest easy knowing that once they finish Skyward Sword, they now have at least one more excuse to keep their Wii plugged into their TV for the next four months, before eventually retiring the thing to the plastic storage container that contains all their other discarded consoles of yesteryear. Sort of like a retirement home for consoles, really, except with more tangled wires and less of that old people diaper smell.

#nintendo I have asked Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime about a video game called Mother 3 so many times that, in recent years, he would bring it up before I did. More »

Despite Nintendo's many attempts to dissuade your unshakeable confidence that, yes, eventually, Xenoblade Chronicles would arrive on North American Nintendo Wiis, it seems strong will may pay off. An image posted on gaming forum Neogaf shows what appears to be a listing from GameStop's internal point of sale system with an April 3, 2012 launch date attached.

Strangely -- and further confirming the listing's legitimacy -- is a little note next to the listing which says it'll be, "GS [GameStop] Exclusive." Could the game be arriving only at GameStop locations in North America and eschewing other retailers? Is this just a retailer-specific version? It's unfortunately unclear. More bizarrely, Nintendo's Facebook account seems to be hinting at a forthcoming announcement, with the sudden addition of new artwork from the game.

Much ballyhoo was made earlier this year by Wii-owning RPG enthusiasts when Nintendo of America initially indicated the title wouldn't be released in North America, eventually inciting a series of events ("Project Rainfall") meant to get NoA's attention about the outcry. The other two games that fans requested from Nintendo in that campaign, The Last Story and Pandora's Tower, remain without launch windows in North America.

We've contacted Nintendo and GameStop for comment, but expect we won't hear anything until one of the two decides to make this listing more official.

[Image credit: Neogaf]

#xenobladechronicles Despite heavy fan demand for Monolith Soft's role-playing masterpiece, Nintendo of America still has no plans to bring Xenoblade Chronicles to North America. Who will step in and save U.S. role-players from missing out on what is arguable one of the best RPGs of this console generation? Would you believe GameStop? More »

A portion of an NWR review...

I could easily go into greater detail on any of the above points, but there’s not much to say beyond the following: If you don't have the game, go out and get it, even if that means having to bug Nintendo to release it in your region.

Full review here

Portion of a Bit Beacon review:

To give you an idea of how long the game is, my first play-through took me nearly 78 hours. However, it never started to drag on or get boring. If anything the excitement and anticipation ramp up and then explode at the end. It got to the point when I began to ignore many of the later side-quests and instead focused exclusively on the games main plot quests only because I knew I was getting so close to the end. My final play session lasted eleven hours. I could not put the controller down, not even for food. I’ll admit it got a bit unhealthy there but I could not help myself. The battles became so intense near the end that I would shout “YES!” when I would win after fighting a boss for nearly forty minutes straight.

This brings up difficulty. While I would say about 80% of the game is moderately challenging, most of the truly difficult content comes from optional mini-bosses and the end of the game. I’ll admit that things got a bit out of hand near the end, but they never got frustrating, just incredibly challenging. But with incredible challenge comes the feeling of incredible reward and some pretty nice loot to boot.

Source: BitBeacon

A portion of a GamePro review...

Despite its overseas exclusivity, Xenoblade Chronicles is an outstanding role-playing experience that will hopefully get the international exposure it so deserves.

Full review here

Some people over in Europe have been having issues with downloading the Xenoblade Chronicles soundtrack sampler that Nintendo made available, but just recently it seems that the issues were cleared up. If you were wondering, here are the tracks included in the download.

1. Main Theme - Yoko Shimomura
2. Colony 9 - Yoko Shimomura
3. Time to fight! - Yoko Shimomura
4. Gaur Plain - ACE+(TOMORI KUDO,CHiCO,Kenji Hiramatsu)
5. Memories - Manami Kiyota
6. Forest of Nopon - Manami Kiyota
7. You will know our names - ACE+(TOMORI KUDO,CHiCO,Kenji Hiramatsu)
8. Mechonis Field - ACE+(TOMORI KUDO,CHiCO,Kenji Hiramatsu)
9. Engage the enemy - ACE+(TOMORI KUDO,CHiCO,Kenji Hiramatsu)
10. Bionis' Awakening - Manami Kiyota
11. Once we part ways - ACE+(TOMORI KUDO,CHiCO,Kenji Hiramatsu)
12. Ending Theme - Beyond the sky - Song:Yasunori Mitsuda; Word:Tetsuya Takahashi; Vo: Sarah Lim

Thanks to Zephyrflare for the heads up!

No more waiting. Xenoblade is in my hands, imported from Europe alongside a European Wii. Though I have plenty of local releases to worry about, I've been dying to check out this game, which my UK counterpart called "Xenoblade Chronicles is the best Japanese RPG of this generation." What I'm goi...