To think that I put off playing this game for years... I'm really glad I finally got around to play it though, because Xenoblade Chronicles might be one of the best JRPGs I've ever played.

First of all, one of the things I liked the most about this game was its world. Xenoblade takes place in a world of endless ocean where the only pieces of land are two giant dead titans, one made of metal, Mechonis, and one made of biological material, Bionis, the latter being where our protagonists live. Other than finding that simply really cool, I also love how well it's integrated with the world design. When you walk around the game's world, you often can see and feel that you're standing on a absolutely gigantic being. This is also helped by the fact that, when exploring the Bionis, you can actually see the Mechonis in the distance as well as its sword piercing through the Bionis, which really puts everything into perspective. The world in itself is also really varied, I went through grassy plains, swamps, jungles, floating island and much more during my 60h journey (including the Future Connected DLC) and all of these zones were beautiful to look at and made the exploration that much better.

The story was also one of the main driving forces that kept me going forward during my playthrough. I thought the story was well paced all throughout and I was always looking forward to seeing would happen next. The main cast of characters also enhanced the story with how charming they all were. Even Riki, the comic relief character of the group had some sweet, wholesome and serious moments that fleshed out his character and relationship with the others in the group. I liked everyone from the main cast even though some, especially Sharla, got side lined during most of the story. The ending, without going into too much details was really good, epic and made me smile.

In terms of gameplay, after taking some time to get used to it, I had a lot of fun with Xenoblade Chronicles' combat. Having to position your character correctly do deal more dmg or inflict some special effect on an enemy made for a fun experience. It was also really satisfying to pull off devastating chain attacks. It can get pretty repetitive after a while, especially if you play the same character for most of the game, like me, but if it becomes a real problem, every party member is playable and seems to have a pretty different playstyle that can keep things fresh. I personally found myself trying out Melia during the future redeemed and had a pretty good time with her after figuring out how to use her mage-like abilities. I also appreciate how levels really matter and can drastically change how an encounter goes, since it really gave me a feeling of growth during my playthrough.

For the side quest, I'm a bit more mixed on the subject. While I didn't dislike them, per say, I also didn't find them that interesting. They were fine for the most part, but they were pretty much all fetch quests that needed me to kill a certain number of monsters or collecting a certain amount of materials. It was pretty fun to complete these quest while going to my next main mission objective, since most of them auto-complete without needing to go back to the quest giver. I appreciate the fact that you don't NEED to complete a large amount of these side quests to progress relatively easily through the game, but I feel like the absolutely HUGE quantity of them must be a nightmare for any completionist trying to 100% the game.

What made completing side quest more enjoyable, while also adding to the story and overall gameplay, was the music. Xenoblade Chronicles has an amazing soundtrack that really surprised me. Be it with a soft overworld music during the night time, or an absolute banger of a music theme like You will know our names, almost every track in the game got me bopping my head around with a smile.

In conclusion, I think that Xenoblade is gonna be one of those games that stay with me for a long time. I'm an absolute sucker for huge RPGs with expansive stories and world and Xenoblade Chronicles absolutely delivered on that front. I really look forward to playing the other games in the series !

gente como pode um jogo né... peguei esse jogo pra jogar de verdade dois anos depois de ter assistido gameplay e impressionante como mesmo já sabendo a conclusão da história a experiência de jogar por conta própria ainda foi incrível como se tudo fosse novidade. consegui ser pega de surpresa por coisas da história que não lembrava, ficar tensa com a cena final, me apegar a personagens que nem sequer conheci de verdade e sentir de novo tudo que senti da primeira vez. sempre que lembro desse jogo não consigo não pensar em como a vida dos três amigos foi arruinada por causa do egoísmo e da insensibilidade dos adultos a volta deles. in conclusion: foda demais.