Well in the open envoirnments, the character models are just fine (which is like 90% of the game anyways)... it's only when you get a close up do you realize how muddy and clunky they are. Dunban is still a badass, regardless of that muddy Abe Lincoln beard.

Heh, yeah. The cutscenes can be a bit iffy in places, I suppose. There's one I remember in particular 60 hours in (so near the end), where the plot was revealed and cleared up. Sadly, I had removed Shulk's head armour by accident and replaced it with a Bionis' headpiece, so he had a massive horn, so the whole thing seemed ridiculous.

The cutscene lasted nearly half an hour with one fight in-between, and I had to do it again. But the scene was so brilliant I had no issues with that (and it made more sense the second time as well!).

I'm currently a couple of hours in and I'm really liking it! I feel like that's what White Knight Chronicles should have been and the atmosphere reminds me a little of Dark Cloud 2.

I'm nearly fifteen hours in now and I've spent most of that time doing sidequests and just filling in blank areas in the map. I probably spent ten hours dinking around before I got to the first major area. This game is just so freaking fun to explore. :D

It's true, the forest area is pretty dull... and it doesn't help that the area is so huge and yet dense at the same time. It's easy to get turned around over there.

But now I'm in the Capital City, and things (storywise) have heated up. I'm really enjoying myself right now. ^_^

Back up to 9/10.

I know, but many locations are off the beaten path to begin with. So no matter what, I think it's always a good idea to check out as much of the game world as I currently can.

I can't say it's worth the wait, but it is a pretty good action RPG.

It has far too many Japanese tropes. The gameplay is good, but the graphics are very last gen. I love the setting, but the plot isn't anything new. Overall it's slightly better than average.

It's worth picking up if all you have is a Wii or you really love Japanese style games. I think the whole "Operation Rainfall" thing may have blown things out of proportion. Granted Nintendo should never hold a game back when it's already been translated. But it's not like it's the killer app that many hoped it would be, unless you only have a Wii and you're dieing of game thirst in the vast desert between Wii releases.

Or you should buy it if you'd like an RPG with a world that is genuinely unique and exciting. And if you want a plot where the characters aren't angst-ridden idiot teenagers. And if you just want a JRPG that doesn't feel mired in previous-gen design concepts.

One thing that I'm not really impressed about is the voice over...I mean I don't know if it's the same in Japanese but the English voice over is very poorly done. I mean I like the voices themselves but the syncing with the character's mouth mouvements is absolutely off. Luckily it never bothered me before and it's no different with Xenoblade but I wonder if I should just play it in Japanese. Are the subtitles in English if I put the Japanese voice over?

That's because the lip-synching wasn't redone when the game was localized. If it really bothers you that much, you can play it with the original Japanese voice-overs and English subtitles.