Xenoblade Series (Chronicles, X)

[Ceridran]

Hey, have you heard about Xenoblade Chronicles? It's a 2010 JRPG that was brought outside of Japan with the encouragement of Project Rainfall. It uses a non-turn based battle system, has beautiful landscapes and music, and tells a long story all the way through.

When it came to America, it was a Gamestop exclusive, and it quickly became rare. At one point called people for their copies to trade them in for another game. For those who gave in, their copies were resold for around $90. The Wii version of this game may be a pain to find at a good price.

Recently, a version of Xenoblade Chronicles for the New 3DS has been announced! For those who weren't able to experience it on the Wii, you should be able to finally pick up and play this game!

Also, a sequel that isn't quite a sequel, Xenoblade Chronicles X, was announced for the Wii U. Here's two trailers!

(click to show/hide)

[ZeStopper]

Gamestop, you ripp-offers, the game must be that good.
This is why I buy from Target.

[Ceridran]

I doubt you would at all find it at Target if that's what you want.

On the initial release, it was only sold at Gamestop, and that's probably the only option for returning the game that you would have. Any form of selling the game yourself was Amazon and eBay where it usually went for $120+.

And yes, it is a good game. It became rare.

[CDRom11_2007]

Just thought I should revive this topic because remake/new game, so yea. Anyone excited for Xenoblade Chronicles X?

[theanjo]

I'm hyped for Xenoblade Chronicles X. I'm pretty sure a Famitsu reviewer had put in over 300 hours into the game when he beat it. Honestly, that kinda makes the $60 launch price sounds like a deal considering the size of the adventure.

[Nostalgia]

Given how much fun I've had with Xenoblade, X looks pretty hype. It manages to make Xenoblade look small, which is pretty darn impressive. Vehicles look really fun and the combat and experience/ability systems are sure to get me completely sucked into the game for a really long time.

What about the other Xeno games, though? I, for one, really enjoy Xenogears (probably the best story in a PS1 game, with the soundtrack pretty high up there too) and have been wanting to play Xenosaga for a while.

[Nostalgia]

Slightly late (and necropost), but Xenoblade Chronicles X is finally out in the US! Who else here has got it?

As for me, I've only just started to sink my teeth in after 5 hours but I can tell that the game has a ton to offer and will keep me occupied for a good while.

[Kapus]

Xenoblade Chronicles is a Very Good Video Game

[MusashiAA]

Can we also talk about the other Xeno games (Xenogears, Xenosaga)?

Xenogears' music was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, the man behind games such as Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, and Graffiti Kingdom. I love the music in Xenogears. Just wanted to bring that up.

[Kapus]

Mitsuda also did the music for Mario Party 1, which has a very noticeably distinct soundtrack compared to the rest of the Mario Party games (sounding a bit more orchestral and dramatic). I think that's super neat.

[Nostalgia]

Yeah, Xenogears has pretty damn excellent music. This and this are probably my favorites, but it's easier to just name what I don't like instead of listing like 85% of the soundtrack. I could write a ton more on Mitsuda and why he's easily one of my favorite game composers, but honestly, just pull up anything from Chrono Trigger/Cross or Xenogears and that'll convince you better than I ever could. He did a couple Shadow Hearts: Covenant songs that are neat, as well.

I'm not too big on the gameplay, though. It feels more tedious than anything and also incomplete; I see what they were going for in terms of learning special moves on foot and managing fuel/resources when in gears, but I don't think they thought out the progression too well in terms of grindiness and player progression vs enemy progression. Thankfully, everything else about the game carried it for me, though.

[Kapus]

I'm nearing the end of the original Xenoblade Chronicles and the game has so far kept me hooked all the way. I can't think of the last time I've been so engrossed and invested in an rpg, or any video game at all really.

I haven't beaten the game yet, but I do have a question for those who have played this and its sequel. Is Xenoblade Chronicles X as good? Do you think I'd like it as much as the original Xenoblade?

[MusashiAA]

Xenogears is incomplete, and this was usually the fate of XenoRPG games: they are far too ambitious.

While I haven't played Xenogears myself, I've seen plenty of speedruns of it (17 hours, by the way), and it looks to be pretty damn cool and thrilling, though it is heavy on cutscenes. Xenogears really stops being fun when Disc 2 hits: the Chair of Exposition almost inmediately takes over, and you're just submitted to watch cutscene after cutscene after cutscene after cutscene with some little isolated dungeon/hallway walk/fight sprinkled inbetween. If you're invested in the story, then it's not so bad...but it virtually stops being a game for a really long while until a very, very late point in the story, where everything interesting has already happened and was shown in cutscenes only. This final progression of the game is speculated to have been chosen cuz Squaresoft at the time cut funds for Xenogears' development, which was taking a long time for just a one-off project, and diverted it all to Final Fantasy 8 since its predecessor was a huge success and raised the bar to surpass.

[Kapus]

xenoblade chronicles x tho