Peak. plain and simple

In all seriousness, if you're willing to get past the not-so-outdated-but-still-sort-of-outdated gameplay (it's actually not) and janky Wii models you'll greet yourself to one of, if not the best game ever made. Peak story and world-building, a strong cast of characters, an amazing soundtrack that never grows old, engaging gameplay (yes sir), and every area in the game is beautifully crafted. The voice work is also some of the best in any game, whether it's in Japanese or in English.

It truly is one of those games.

Born in a world of Strives
Against the Odds
We chose to fight!
BLOSSOM DANCE!

The 10/10 game for Wii. This game is perfect. Literally Perfect. I like everything about it. From the characters, the music (Yoko Shimomura, Ace and Mitsuda composed HEAVENLY soundtracks) and the gameplay. I'm really feeling it!

mais um rpg colossal que eu canso lá pelas 30 e poucas horas. a história de xenogears é melhor mas a gameplay de xenoblade é estratosfericamente superior. cansei de xenogears por conta da gameplay e cansei desse pq a história não me prendeu o suficiente. sigo na luta de encontrar um jogo nessa proporção de horas que ambas categorias me façam chegar até o final sem dar um tempo e voltar depois ou apenas dropar. enquanto isso não acontece, continuo juntando evidências de que o tempo médio máximo que essas obras conseguem segurar o jogador é por aí mesmo, umas 30/40 horas. o resto é você querendo muito ver o final ou pensando "ah, já joguei até aqui mesmo".

mas deixando isso tudo de lado, cara, eu NÃO CONSIGO imaginar como deve ter sido os jogadores de Wii Sports jogando essa bomba AEHUAEUHAEUH. na primeira grande área que você chega, eu tava 50% aquele gif do gatinho fazendo headbang com a trilha sonora e 50% pensando "eiTA PORRA". esse jogo não pode existir no wii. isso não faz o menor sentido.

To this day, I think this is the best Xenoblade. Everything about it was just so unique, from the premise of two long-dead titans hosting all the worlds lifeforms on top of their carcasses, to the fantastic soundtrack by ACE+, the stunning world that I could barely believe was somehow being rendered on my Wii without it exploding.

The cutscenes felt like watching a really well presented 3D anime at times. And this was before we knew of sequels, so the game felt wholly complete on its own.

I considered it an incredible story, blew my mind at several occasions, and perfectly wrapped up in the end. I like this game so much that I 100%'d it twice.

i love this game and everything it stands for.

this is what all xenoblade games should strive to be.

remake is even better but i'm too lazy to find it so i do it here!

Xenoblade Chronicles stands alongside Persona 5 and Dragon Quest XI as one of the greatest, most regarded JRPGs of the 2010s, and for a good reason. At a time the sub-genre was suffering due to market shifts, Xenoblade bursted out with one of the prettiest settings ever depicted in games, and featured countless ambitious ideas that for the most part worked.

But does it still live up to its legendary status?
Hmmm, mostly?

Lemme preface with stating that I played Xenoblade 1 only after first playing Xenoblade 2, so my expectations for the franchise were already altered and partly-formed when I finally picked up Xenoblade 1. And yes, ultimately I do find myself preferring the sequel over the original, but all things considered, the first game still stands the test of time. Beautifully, too.

The standout feature of Xenoblade is its world. Two giant gods standing still and housing countless ecosystems on their backs. In typical RPG fashion you got your jungle area, cave area, mountain area, snow area, industrial area and a mix-up of desert and tropical areas. But what sets them apart from the competition is their outstanding, one-of-a-kind art direction. The various open zones visited all look positively lifelike, mixing some realistic texturing and biomes with the more alien structures, lifeforms and landmarks more associated with fantasy and science fiction. I shouldn't mince words here any further, Xenoblade looks great. It's a beautiful-looking epic brimming with creative imagery.

The same goes to the soundtrack, which always feels like it was composed on nukes. There's so much variety on this front, from the more soothing main theme, to the pleasant and relaxing tunes that play depending in which zone you are, to the absolutely explosive fighting themes that set the hype in whether you fight a regular enemy or a boss.

But even underneath its visual and aural assets, Xenoblade harbors something special. There is something about the open world Monolith crafted that keeps enticing exploration even dozens of hours in. The promise of one day toppling the strongest monsters of the region. The magic of accidentally finding secret zones as you dig deeper. A myriad of quests continuing to open up the longer Shulk's quest goes. A good open world game rewards exploration and curiosity after all, and Xenoblade is successful at that.

I also really like the affinity chart system. I originally didn't pay much attention to it when I started playing but the further I got the more invested I became in some of those NPCs. It's a nice little way to feel like you're actually helping the different communities on the Bionis and Mechonis, and their little stories help conveying the feeling of bonds and loss that is also present in the main story.

As for the story and characters, they're... fine. With the exceptions of Melia and Dunban I don't find the core party THAT interesting. There are some cool twists surrounding Shulk and Fiora, but overall they're fairly vanilla. Same goes for MOST of the villains except Egil. Egil is great. He's menacing. He's philosophical and intelligent. He's LAYERED. He is the centerpiece of one of the best scenes in the whole SERIES (that I played so far). Just for Egil I give the cast a whole two points.

The combat system is serviceable. Its attempts to mix real-time and turn-based combat are great when they work, frustrating when they get tedious. And some characters are inevitably much better to use than others, especially because the ally AI is about as reliable as the Switch's battery life on a road trip.

But it's fun when you get the hang of it. There's a lot of depth and variety if you dig deep into what every character can offer, and you can cook some fantastic combos. one thing I don't like tho, especially early on, is that the Mechon require either Shulk or unique weapons to deal with them. It's no fun to have the need to have Shulk spam his unique ability to hurt Mechon every fight with them during the first half, and then to have the rest of the characters be armed with specific weapons to bypass that.

So overall, that's Xenoblade. It gets a recommendation from me, but be sure to have the free time to really dig into what this game can offer. It's a long, long journey, and it's far from perfect both narratively and mechanically, but it's certainly a worthwhile one regardless of its flaws.