Last week I made a joke review about Xenoblade Chronicles, I just finished the game and my hype levels were off the roof, but now that I have time I decided to make a real review this time around.
I suck at making reviews, so I will mention things that I liked and didn't like about the game…that sounds about right…
- The story is really really good…but there are some very cheesy moments. Without giving away spoilers, I'll just say that there's a love triangle late in the game which doesn't really lead to anything, this brings some..let's say…stupid moments, and like the most cliché of things, you will get the all well known speech of "the power inside and true strength" and blah blah blah. However, with the "mindblows" (especially at the end) and the overall setting, all those cheesy and cliché moments are overshadowed by the good and intense parts.
- This is mostly a nitpick because is something 90% of all big RPG (especially MMOs) "suffer" from, but I will mention it anyway because…why the hell not. All side quest involve same principles…kill x number of monsters, collect x number of this drop, talk to x guy, etc, etc. This can get very repetitive and boring to some (especially because grinding is required and doing side quest in the best way to get levels) Luckily, some side quest have interesting stories, for example, there's one where you have to find a guy who is selling drugs to people (in a Nintendo game!?) and put him to jail, which is actually kinda fun, but overall I feel like there needs to be more variety here, not just the same old story. I do like however how you can finish the quests without going back to talk to the quests givers, as soon as you complete the quest, you will get the rewards at the spot, no need to go back to town…thank god!
- The music is freaking amazing…instant classic…not much else to say.
- For anyone who has played the game or know a little about it know that the world is huge, with lots of freedom to explore the world, and that's awesome; in an era where JRPGs tend to involved on linearity, being able to explore the world at "your will" is awesome. Add to the fact that the landscape are gorgeous and you gave the most beautiful looking game on the Wii (as far as scenery goes, sadly characters look kind of weird). There is one area in particular I have problems with though…the city of Alcamoth…I feel like this place is unnecessarily large, even with landmarks (these are places where you can teleport in whenever you feel like) it takes a while to move across the city and there really isn't anything to do there aside from talking to people who give quests, but it's only one area in the entire game so no big deal.
- Gameplay is freaking amazing…yeah nothing more to say.
Now I will mention 2 things that I honestly hated…
1) Frame drops are sometimes an issue. I played on a normal Wii (well technically the Wii U's Wii mode), and when there are too many enemies on screen you can get some pretty bad drops. The same thing sometimes happens when enemies do very flashy attacks. This was annoying, is not extremely common (it is somewhat rare in fact), but when it happens it's baaad. I'm not a graphics whore at all, but I do hate frame drops, even if they are not common. I guess this isn't an problem if you played the game on Dolphin.
2) This was something I didn't noticed until after I completed the game, I decided to do some of the very late side quest (which involve killing very high level monsters) and I realized that killing enemies which are 6 levels or higher than you is tedious and painful without any reason other than level difference. For example, I was lvl 80 and I tried to fight a monster that was lvl 86, I tried to fight him and ALL my attacks missed…like literally 90% of my attacks…some of them were able to hit, but it was rare…so I grinded a little up to lvl 81 and I kicked the lvl 86 monster ass because now all my attacks were able to hit…that's so freaking stupid, if I can't defeat an enemy is because I lack skill, not because of lvl difference. Keep in mind however that it is possible to beat enemies that are 6 levels higher than you (I have done it), but it is insanely tedious because you are just spamming attacks until one finally hits. To put things in perspective… I was able to beat the lvl 86 monster at lvl 80 but it took me 6 minutes just hoping my attacks hit, on lvl 81 it took me 45 seconds (and yeah I counted it)
Did I missed something?
Anyway, all things considered this is one of the best JRPGs I have ever played, is it the best? I don't know, still need to think about it, there's a lot of competition, but it is definitely in my top 5. My complaints about it are pretty minor, except for those 2 last things I mentioned, and even then those 2 things don't take away the experience as a whole. I don't like giving scores to game, but if I have to it would be something like a 9.5
Nintendo and PC gamer
