It took quite some time, but yesterday I finally managed to beat Xenoblade Chronicles. How long did it take, you ask? A little over 80 hours of in-game time. So not the longest game I've ever played (I put around 120 hours into one play through of Fallout 3 (including most of the DLC) and a little over 100 into Skyrim), but for some reason Xenoblade just felt longer.

Which leads me to my biggest complaint with Xenoblade, the fact that the game is too "grind-y," for lack of a better word. To be more specific, the game doesn't have any sort of level scaling. Aside from (maybe) the final boss (which is shown in the game as being "Level ???"), enemies stay the same level. There's some variation in the random-ish enemies you find running around, but those never vary more than a few levels. Now, this is both a good and a bad thing. It's good because no matter how bad you are at the game, you know that a boss will always be the same level, so you can go grind for a bit and make the fight easier. The bad part is that shouldn't be a problem in the first place. If I was able to fight my way through a "dungeon" to get to a boss, then I shouldn't have to go and level up for a few hours to stand a chance against a boss, which happened to me near the end of the game.

Now, I freely admit that part of the problem is probably in my relative lack of skill at the game. Not that I'm bad, because in most cases I fair pretty well against monsters that are around my level, and in a lot of cases even against enemies that are a few levels above the characters in my team. I suppose this is really more of a problem I had with a specific boss being harder than it probably should have been, and forcing me to spend several hours traveling around the game looking for enemies in the level 70-80 range to fight for leveling (I got bored fighting the same three or four enemies in the area immediately around where the boss was).

Aside from that I don't really have any complaints with the game. Some of the story stuff got a little too ridiculous and crazy for me near the end (specifically a plot twist that I sort of saw coming, but didn't care for, especially when it flip-turned everything in the story upside-down. So in other words, it's a JRPG with a JRPG story. But then by the end it got even crazier, at which point I realized that I wouldn't want it any other way, and that it had been far too long since I played a game with a story this ridiculous (not counting Bayonetta, which I played a few months ago, but that was a 2010 game).

So, to sum it up, I really like the game. You can read my more detailed thoughts on the actual game play in a previous blog, to which I will add that I liked the combat even more near the end of the game, once I got better at the more strategic side of combat, which involves all sorts of status ailments, and doing attacks in a specific order to get the right effects, etc. If you have a Wii, and like RPGs, you should buy this game if you haven't already (and if those two things are true, you probably already have). Just be prepared for some grinding, and don't get discouraged if a tough fight ends up preventing you from advancing the story for a while until you partake in said grinding. The crazy (and borderline nonsensical) story is worth it. Maybe. It's weird.

Oh, and the game does feature a new game plus mode, which is nice. I might revisit the game again in a couple months. Probably not the play through the whole thing again (but I suspect that being so high level would make the game go much faster), but I'm interested to see what (if anything) changes beyond stuff carried over from my first playthrough.

The above image is the reversible cover art for the US version of the game. Aside from looking very nice, I like that it has a logo, unlike other reversible cover arts I've seen on other games. It's useful for keeping games organized.

But as much as I liked Xenoblade, I'd be lying if I didn't say I was trying to rush through the last few hours of the game so I could start playing The Witcher 2. Specifically "The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings: Enhanced Edition," for the Xbox 360 because, as you may or may not know, I still lack a PC capable of playing games, and the money needed to purchase such a PC.

However, before I start talking about my first few hours with the game, I want to talk about all the stuff that comes with the game. I got the game off Amazon (it was on sale for $45, and probably much cheaper if one were to buy the PC version), and when I got it, I was surprised at how heavy the package it. So much that I was a little worried that they sent me the wrong thing. I opened it, saw that it was indeed the 360 version of the game. The whole thing was plastic wrapped. Inside the plastic wrap was a cardboard sleeve (which I always think is a classy touch). Inside that was the game box (which itself was plastic wrapped) and a "Quest Handbook," which is a lengthy thing that has details about every quest and side quest in the game. It's a mini-guide that came with the game. I've been trying not to use it, because that kinda defeats the purpose of a game like this, but it's still a nice touch. Then, inside the game case was the game itself (which is on two discs), a proper instruction manual (that is lengthy, and explains a lot of stuff (but suffers from some typos), a color/two sided map, and my favorite bonus, the soundtrack on a CD.

I know CD Projekt Red is known for giving consumers all sorts of goodies in their games, but those are PC games that come in larger boxes. This is easily the most stuff I've seen come with a non-special edition version of a game (I know it's called the "Enhanced Edition," but there is no "Un-Enhanced Edition" available on 360, and it's normally priced at $60). In fact, this is more stuff than I've seen come with some special editions that were priced at $70. The craziest part is that this game was published and/or distributed by Warner Bros. (I don't know the specifics of the deal). This is the same publisher that put out two of the best games of last year (Mortal Kombat and Batman: Arkham City) without instruction manuals. I guess CD Projekt Red got the final say on what came with the game, because I'm sure that if WB had their way, none of this bonus stuff would come with the game. And I love CD Projekt Red for going the extra mile with this stuff.

But what about the actual game? Well, since the base game is largely the same as the game that came out about a year ago, you probably already know that it's about talking to people, getting quests, and fighting monsters. There's a lot more to it than that, but GB has plenty of coverage of both versions of the game, so if you have a burning desire for more, you know where to look.

What I will say is that, for the most part, I think this game is absolutely fantastic. Aside from a few things here and that, I love it, and the only thing keeping me from playing it right now is the knowledge that if I didn't write this blog close to the time when I beat Xenoblade, I'd probably never get around to it (like how I never gave Singularity the write-up it deserved). I think the combat is challenging, but not too challenging (playing on Normal, despite the tutorial suggesting I play on Hard), but more importantly, I think the combat is fun. It requires strategy in the sense of knowing when to move in an strike, and when to stay back and wait for the moment to strike. But it's very straightforward in terms of the actual combat mechanics. There are fast and strong attack buttons, but you can just mash on one of them and Geralt will just keep on combo-ing so long as no one sneaks up behind him and attacks him.

Aside from some pop-in here and there, the game looks great. No, not as good as the PC version, but I already established that isn't an option. There's a ton of detail in just about everything, but especially the characters. In a game where you spend a lot of time talking to people, getting the faces right is crucial, and they more or less nailed it. Geralt looks grizzled in all the right ways, as do a lot of the characters (the world of The Witcher 2 is a grizzled world). The facial animation is good, but not LA Noire good (but nothing is, sadly). Good enough that I don't think about how it could look better (usually).

But the game is not without its faults. The first issue I have is a minor one, and (I assume) also present in the PC version of the game, but Geralt doesn't seem to have actual analog movement control. He either walks slowly or runs. There's no run button (I hate run buttons), but it feels a little jarring to go from slow walk to full run with no graduation in the movement speed. Again, it's a minor issue, and one I've gotten used to, but it still feels a little wonky.

And there are a lot of load screens. They're fast (largely because I have the game installed), but I can't help but notice that just about every time there's a door, the game has to load. Going into and out of buildings always seems to be a load, and there are loads between the different areas of the town early in the game (Flotsam). Again, this isn't more than an annoyance, but it is a little weird when I'm walking along with a character as part of a quest, and this character is talking with Geralt, but then the character walks through a door, closes it on Geralt, Geralt walks through the door, and it goes to a loading screen. All the while they're still talking, and it definitely feels like this is one of the things they had to do to get the game running on the 360. There's also a lot of fog (I think more than the PC version), but I don't mind that, because I like fog. It's moody.

Speaking of "it's," this is probably my biggest complaint. Typos. I don't know how or where this game was translated and everything, but whoever did it does not understand the difference between "it's" and "its." Or, more accurately, the person/people didn't know that "its" is a word, because I've seen "it's" used as both "it is" and the possessive form in the game, and the manual. There's other inconsistencies as well. I saw the word "vampyre" in the subtitles for the tutorial in the game (which I believe was made for the Enhanced Edition), but the word "vampire" in the main game (both clearly referring to the same thing). While I appreciate the spelling "vampyre" for its "olde timey" charm, it seems kind janky. Language jank.

But as I've said, overall, these are all minor complaints, and all understandable given the history of this game. Overall I love what I've played, and can't wait to play more.

That's about all that's been going on. I'm probably going to try to get a new TV soon (to replace the 61" TV that broke earlier this year (or maybe it was late last year, I don't remember specifically)), but we don't have a ton of money, so waiting to find a good deal on something decent has taken longer than I thought. The main problem is that prices seem to jump a ton once you get past 60", so we may end up getting a 55". I know, this is a first world problem. Heaven forbid the HDTV be smaller than 60".

I'm still working away at my book. Now that the semester is over I should be able to get my friends to read through it so they can tell me if it's any good, but getting them to do anything in a timely manner is difficult, to say the least. And I know two of them are reading this right now, so why are you reading this instead of my book?

They'll get to it eventually. I really have to start looking into getting this published. I still haven't looked any further into literary agents or anything since when I wrote up that blog about writing this. But come hell or high water, I will get this book out to the people so they can read it, even if I have to self-publish it as an E-Book (which, as I've said before, is the last resort). Even if it's terrible, I will get it out one day. Now, I don't think it's terrible, I think it's pretty good, but of course I do. It came from my mind.

That's it. I'll write something up when I finish The Witcher 2, or get a new TV.