1. No obvious connection to the Xeno-Universe - I know it was already blatantly stated that there is not a connection between this game and Xenogears or Xenosaga. It was stated that Xenosaga was not connected to Xenogears at first as well... Although it looks like this time the statement is true. The only thing I can possibly see happening to connect the story is that the Zohar is created in this period, at the beginning of the Universe.

2. Oversized environments - This is the largest problem with RPGs lately, that they have these HUGE and sparsely populated environments that are incredibly tedious to navigate. This looks to be very true for Xenoblade based on the latest video which shows players navigating very very large environments that look to be only populated with monsters.

3. Character Model quality - This has dropped considerably from the Xenosaga series, which was on a system that had about 1/3rd the capabilities of the Wii. It is very disappointing to see character models that suffer from looking very plain, and with graphical issues that shouldn't exist (ie, lobster hands).

4. Story is supposed to be less dense than previous Xeno-titles - This was always Takahashi's strongest point, the incredible depth of stories filled with pop-culture, historical, artistic, religious, and literary references. This was ultimately the aspect of the series which left the lasting afterglow.

The title I was hoping for from Takahashi was a true, Nintendo backed, Xeno-series title. Xenoblade doesn't look like it will be. It might be that the true Xenoseries is is dead. Sadly. I am expecting to have similar feelings about this one as I did about Chrono Cross. I still maintain some hope though, that perhaps what has been shown is very inaccurate to what the final product will ultimately be.

Cool... you played & finished the game.. can I have your copy.. please.. i'll give it back when I finish it..

Seriously...

my only wry is huge environments. th othr rg tis year to have tht was a POS, tht being white knight chronicles. horrible game, hd big envirntments bt they gt annoyng to get around & gt boring. I wnt them to hev amssive places to explore, bt make them interesting, not monotonous & dull, keep them to the point.

but op the xeno team makes this so we knw stry will be amzing no matter what, because of tht the game will deliver dnt worry.

1 and 2, are actually things I liked. After playing certain games I feel number 2 is really important.

3. Doesn't bother me at all.

Finally 4. might be an issue, but truly until I play the game I won't know.

I think the main problem will come with localization.

Oh no, the storyline will definitely be Xeno. Why you ask? Because the original name of Xenoblade was Monado (which is also the name of the sword) and Monad is a vital aspect used in Gnosticism (in which Xenosaga's storyline was built heavily on). This pretty much prove that Gnosticism will play a heavy role within Xenoblade's storyline (like the sword which is also named Monado).

Nice review.

No, the game is not released yet. There are interviews and videos which confirm all the facts which I am basing my post off of.

Calling the game "Xenoblade" could be their biggest mistake, as other people will conclude it must be related to Xenogears or Xenosaga. The problem is that Namco owns the other Xeno games and the IPs, while this is Nintendo's baby. It is by the same developer, so there may be stylistic elements shared between the games, but they will not connect to each other; this game should be treated as its own entity, and not an offshoot.