If you do plan on buying it, act fast. For real. It's a GameStop/Nintendo.com exclusive RPG being released extremely close to the end of the Wii's lifespan - the game's value seems pretty much guaranteed to rise.
But okay, yeah, the game rules. It's developed by Monolith Soft.
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Originally Posted by wikipedia
Monolith Soft is usually associated with the Xenosaga series, a series of role-playing video games on PlayStation 2. Some of MLSI's staff are former employees of Square Co., who transferred to the new company after the creation of Chrono Cross. They were previously involved with the creation of Xenogears, from which the Xenosaga series is derived. |
What I like most about this game is that for some reason I keep on getting flashbacks to my favorite 16-bit rpg titles, despite this game being in the more modern 3d graphical styling. It really looks beautiful too, especially for the Wii.
It's more than just the Secret of Mana-esque alternative cover art (the game's insert is reversible)/art book cover that makes me feel that way. This game gets me just as excited about RPGS as I was back in the early 90's when I used to play them on my cousin's SNES. I haven't had a new game in the genre make me feel that way in a very long while.
The game features this really neat monster system - where some monsters are friendly, others are hostile; and it even goes as far as to differentiate the way monsters detect your party, via visually, sonically, etc.
It really reminds me of the first time in Chrono Trigger, you see those little green goblin dudes rolling around on balls; having fun in their environment, until they run into and surround you.
But the combat is a little more Secret of Mana-ish, I find it to be akin to a much deeper version of the one found in Contact (DS), or hell probably very similar to Xenogears (which I only played a bit of as a kid; probably didn't get very far). Needless to say, this is an action RPG... kinda.
When approaching a monster you can either choose to pass it (friendly monsters leave you alone; hostile ones do not), attack it, or lure it (which has proven useful so far) and then attack it.
Once in battle, your character (whichever member of your party you have selected as the lead) is able to run around wherever you wish. You automatically attack if you're close enough to a monster, but can select different 'arts' (stronger attacks, healing skills) to use when you can. There are different commands you can give to your AI-controlled party members.
There's a bit more to it, but I'm just starting to fully understand things myself. The game does however, do a very good job at gradually introducing you to its combat system.
Weapon/Equipment upgrading is really neat because you can actually see every single piece of gear your characters equip. This is something I find neat in any game, and it is done especially well in Xenoblade Chronicles.
I could rant on and on about how much I like the game already, and why so - but it's probably best to play it yourself. The story is pretty cool, there's a strong rural-Sci Fi-anime- fantasy feel to it. The opening reminded me of some sort of medieval Halo actually, haha. Pretty cool stuff.
The game retains all the charms of the genre's better days, with some convenient innovations, and puts them on a console that can deliver the adventure in a more realistic fashion than its predecessors. The world feels very much-so alive.