Quick Look: Xenoblade Chronicles

Fantastic Quick Look guys you explained and went into a lot more of this game than I had expected you to. But there is so much more to see, I was surprised you had only brushed on the affinity thing and not how expansive it is which side-story choices seeing how the lives of NPC's change... until you brought up your Affinity map and had almost no one on it - seriously Patrick this is a game where you are seriously rewarded for talking to people (in fact in some ways almost to the point of screwing you over if you don't lol).

Yeah it is a great game and I am so happy you Americans finall get to experience it.

So excited to see this!

I think the British actors make the game awesome.

I'm really tempted to try this game out. The other day I was at the store trying to decide whether I should buy this or Monster Hunter Tri. I ended up with Monster Hunter, which is fun and all, but it feels kinda claustrophobic. Might switch to Xenoblade before my 10 days are up. Hmmm.

@Kscorps: Seriously, I want nothing more than to listen to those dudes the whole game. They are SO BRITISH.

The game seems really deep. I don't remember the last time I played a a complex RPG. I would say maybe Tales of Vesperia or Persona 3 Portable, but they weren't as complex as this seems to be.

'Gets it'? What does that even mean?

This game looks like FFXII and that's not really a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

It's kinda depressing that I'm so used to American voice acting that British voice acting sounds off to me. Don't worry Brad I have no damn clue what accents any of you guys have so I don't think think your inability to recognise British accents is a failing. Although, our 'superfluous' U's are nowhere near as bad as the American love in with 'Z' :P

About the automatic quest completion; WoW has been done this for a bit as well since the last expansion, though very rarely.

Occasionally you'd kill an enemy or find and item and you'd get a quest. Fullfill it and you'd get an item/exp etc. They've especially been doing it in dungeons.

As far as I know it's only been done since Cataclysm and since this game came out in Japan over a year ago I'd say Xenoblade might indeed be the first.

@DonChipotle said:

@murisan said:

@DonChipotle: Disagree. It's better than I even was hoping for. Don't own a PSP, so can't comment on Trails, but this is the best JRPG since FF6 IMO. Better than FF7. Far better. The voices in Japanese are fine and there's that option in all versions.

Saying something is better than FF7 is not setting the bar high at all. Most FF games are better than FF7, so there's that.

Like which ones? FF6? Sure. FF4? Nope. FF8, 9, 10? Nope. See, the beauty of FF7 (and FF6) was that you didn't need to be a JRPG fanatic to play them. If you want to go crazy and do 250 hours in Xenoblade, you can. If you want a challenge, just keep going along the main quest and I GUARANTEE you a challenge and 80 hours.

Please buy this game, people.

Good news: Patrick and Brad won't be dismissive of this JRPG.

Bad news: they'll still be dismissive of all other JRPGs.

*leaves to pick up Xenoblade, ignores Quick Look entirely because of code of honor*

Also, after reading some of the other comments here I want to point out that

1. It isn't some saviour of the genre or the best JRPG of the last decade - no where near is that the case...
2. But that does not mean it is a bad game or that it somehow has lied and the game doesn't deserve praise - blame public hysteria and stupidity for overhyping it, don't blame the game for not delivering something it never aimed to do.
3. The story is weaker than other JRPG's (at least the pacing is) but it isn't bad by any stretch - while characters take some time forr life to come out of them that doesn't make them bad characters, nor is it badly written - it just isn't as good as other titles.
4. If you think this is the only JRPG to try new things and learn from the west - you are an idiot. Conversally, if you think that since other titles have done it before doesn't mean Xenoblade should be praised for it - you are also and idiot.

Seriously, put it into some perspective people. This game is fantastic, it also has problems. You can't ignore the problems and call it perfection just as much as you cannot use the fact it isn't perfect as an arguement that it is bad.

Seriously, fuck some of you people.

P.S. like I said in my previous comment, great QL guys - really well done under the time you had.

@murisan said:

@DonChipotle said:

@murisan said:

@DonChipotle: Disagree. It's better than I even was hoping for. Don't own a PSP, so can't comment on Trails, but this is the best JRPG since FF6 IMO. Better than FF7. Far better. The voices in Japanese are fine and there's that option in all versions.

Saying something is better than FF7 is not setting the bar high at all. Most FF games are better than FF7, so there's that.

Like which ones? FF6? Sure. FF4? Nope. FF8, 9, 10? Nope. See, the beauty of FF7 (and FF6) was that you didn't need to be a JRPG fanatic to play them. If you want to go crazy and do 250 hours in Xenoblade, you can. If you want a challenge, just keep going along the main quest and I GUARANTEE you a challenge and 80 hours.

Please buy this game, people.

Throwing in my two cents that 4 and 9 are the best FFs. IM OUT.

EDIT: To buy Xenoblade.

Single player MMO with male characters wearing belly tops... alright, I'll go play Tales of Graces F instead.

@murisan said:

@DonChipotle said:

@murisan said:

@DonChipotle: Disagree. It's better than I even was hoping for. Don't own a PSP, so can't comment on Trails, but this is the best JRPG since FF6 IMO. Better than FF7. Far better. The voices in Japanese are fine and there's that option in all versions.

Saying something is better than FF7 is not setting the bar high at all. Most FF games are better than FF7, so there's that.

Like which ones? FF6? Sure. FF4? Nope. FF8, 9, 10? Nope. See, the beauty of FF7 (and FF6) was that you didn't need to be a JRPG fanatic to play them. If you want to go crazy and do 250 hours in Xenoblade, you can. If you want a challenge, just keep going along the main quest and I GUARANTEE you a challenge and 80 hours.

Please buy this game, people.

4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 10-2, 13, 13-2, Tactics.

So yeah, most of them.

Annoyed with the Gamestop exclusivity, but ordered it anyway. Looking forward to digging in to it here soon in the big game gap coming up between now and October/November.

@Superfriend said:

Youtube won´t allow me to finish this video :(

It stops at around 22 minutes.. then again, Youtube has been acting all sorts of weird lately. It´s almost like back in 2004, when I had to wait for every single vid to load because streaming was so damn slow.

The problems are usually caused by an upload arror in a certain resolution, changing resolution will remove the problem and the video will play normally (you could even just skip over the error or change the resolution overlapping the error point and change it back afterwards).

Also Youtube didn't exist until 2005 so that last comment seems funny to me (even though you probably just meant using other sites videos at the time or just blanked on the date but it was still funny to me).

@mutha3 said:

@BigChief said:

Eh, there are more JRPGs that "get it" than people give credit for. Just got done playing Radiant Historia, that was a hell of a game. That said, I'm excited to start playing this one soon, it sounds great.

Highfive! That is a cool game that actually does some really neat stuff with its gameplay structure(and even its story, if you're into Crono Trigger). Xenoblade looks okay but its cut from the same cloth as stuff like FFXII/XIII and Monster Hunter. I guess I'm just not fond of single-player MMO-knock offs with an emphasis on grinding.

Heck yeah! Also had one of my favorite lead characters in a while. Love it when the main character is actually smart and competent. At any rate, the single player MMO combat in Xenoblade is giving me a bit of pause, but it looked pretty good in the video (and I haven't played FFXII/XIII, so I don't know how it worked there), so I hope this one is good too.

The soundtrack feels so much like Rogue Galaxy. I loved that game so much.

I have the strangest feeling that if this would have been released quietly without all the massive hype, the tone of this QL would be totally dismissive and everyone involved would be cynical and sound bored throughout the video.

But now this game totally being a JRPG is suddenly the most amazing thing ever, somehow.

@Ventilaator said:

I have the strangest feeling that if this game wasn't the massively hyped one that people have been crying for the release of for a long time, the tone of this QL would be totally dismissive and everyone involved would be cynical and sound bored throughout the video.

But now this game totally being a JRPG is suddenly the most amazing thing ever, somehow.

good point! but you gotta remember this is giantbomb, the opinions of the staff are very inconsistent and always changing, must be their job, turning them crazy.

@Brad: Star Trek Online doesn't make you run back to turn in quests. All you do is click the 'Hail Starfleet' button and you get your reward.

@Ventilaator said:

I have the strangest feeling that if this game wasn't the massively hyped one that people have been crying for the release of for a long time, the tone of this QL would be totally dismissive and everyone involved would be cynical and sound bored throughout the video.

But now this game totally being a JRPG is suddenly the most amazing thing ever, somehow.

Except that it's actually a quality game that's received mountains of praise and positive reviews almost universally.

My head: Game looks like fugly as hell.

Patrick: "This is a really good looking game."

LOL, oksure.

I'm itching for a good JRPG and this looks like it has an interesting story, but the combination of MMO combat, horrible graphics, and being on the Wii is a nono.

@Neurotic said:

'Gets it'? What does that even mean?

Just means that it does away with some of the annoying hangovers from the JRPGs of old such as not being able to save wherever you want, having to return to quest givers you can't for the life of you remember, not having the whiny self deprecating lead character, having characters that aren't invincible, having some actual fun personalities.

The british voice acting really really sets the game apart. Too often do you recognise 90% of a JRPGs voice cast from anime and other games. Not that it's a bad thing, they are great at what they do. But as soon as you hear troy baker or steve blum it takes you straight out of the game for that split second that you recognise the voice.

@Hailinel said:

@Ventilaator said:

I have the strangest feeling that if this game wasn't the massively hyped one that people have been crying for the release of for a long time, the tone of this QL would be totally dismissive and everyone involved would be cynical and sound bored throughout the video.

But now this game totally being a JRPG is suddenly the most amazing thing ever, somehow.

Except that it's actually a quality game.

I'm not saying it isn't!

This Quicklook would of been amazing with Ryan and his fake British accent.

Also yeah, it's really not doing anything amazingly new, you are just too busy avoiding JRPGs to know what is or isn't in them.

Too bad it's on the Wii

people still have wiis? poor fools
 
the voice acting sounded awful to.

@GunslingerPanda said:

My head: Game looks like fugly as hell.

Patrick: "This is a really good looking game."

LOL, oksure.

I'm itching for a good JRPG and this looks like it has an interesting story, but the combination of MMO combat, horrible graphics, and being on the Wii is a nono.

oO

You'll probably ignore what I'll say because my name is red but still, horrible graphics?!?!? Come one... aside from the character's faces and some blurry wall textures (if you get up close), the game looks pretty damn good.

@Benny said:

@Neurotic said:

'Gets it'? What does that even mean?

Just means that it does away with some of the annoying hangovers from the JRPGs of old such as not being able to save wherever you want, having to return to quest givers you can't for the life of you remember, not having the whiny self deprecating lead character, having characters that aren't invincible, having some actual fun personalities.

JRPG games have been doing all of those for a while though

The grinding was my only major complaint with the game. It's not so bad most of the time, but towards the end of the game the bosses' levels start shooting up dramatically and you end up having to spend hours bringing your own levels up to compensate.

Other than that it was mostly pretty great. A few of the gameplay choices weren't to my taste, and the game does seem to suffer from a very Japanese over-abundance of systems, but overall I would recommend it.

@Ventilaator said:

I have the strangest feeling that if this would have been released quietly without all the massive hype, the tone of this QL would be totally dismissive and everyone involved would be cynical and sound bored throughout the video.

But now this game totally being a JRPG is suddenly the most amazing thing ever, somehow.

I think that's partially true, but it's hard to tell when beyond Brad playing new Final Fantasy games there's no coverage of JRPGs on Giant Bomb, good or bad. More likely, if this didn't have massive hype, then there would be no QL at all.

Wait....this isn't a broken and buggy Bethesda game.

Why isn't Brad hating on it?

jRPG's have repetitive combat systems and Skyrim doesn't?

whatever you say brad :|

@DeF said:

@GunslingerPanda said:

My head: Game looks like fugly as hell.

Patrick: "This is a really good looking game."

LOL, oksure.

I'm itching for a good JRPG and this looks like it has an interesting story, but the combination of MMO combat, horrible graphics, and being on the Wii is a nono.

oO

You'll probably ignore what I'll say because my name is red but still, horrible graphics?!?!? Come one... aside from the character's faces and some blurry wall textures (if you get up close), the game looks pretty damn good.

So many jaggies, though. I hate jaggies. If I can't have AA and V-Sync in a game, I'm not playing it. I'll turn all the other settings down to low before I even consider turning them off. The faces and textures look fine, to be honest. I can't get past jaggies though; it's a personal problem. :(

Jesus Christ the main character's design is fucking horrible.

@Ventilaator said:

I have the strangest feeling that if this would have been released quietly without all the massive hype, the tone of this QL would be totally dismissive and everyone involved would be cynical and sound bored throughout the video.

But now this game totally being a JRPG is suddenly the most amazing thing ever, somehow.

I think that's partially true, but it's hard to tell when beyond Brad playing new Final Fantasy games there's no coverage of JRPGs on Giant Bomb, good or bad. More likely, if this didn't have massive hype, then there would be no QL at all.

Game itself looks good for the Wii & glad to see that the game opens up in a natural amount of time (couple hours & not a couple dozen hours). Definitely will send this to a few people who'd be more interested in another JRPG to dive into.

BTW Patrick should dive into some of the free MMOs (ie. Star Trek Online, Champions Online, Runes of Magic or even a trial of bigger named MMOs like WoW) just to get a better feel for the combat. There's so many of the MMOs out there, it's easy to pick one you might enjoy & just play over a weekend to see what you like/don't like about it, with it being a trial too it's easy to just say that you're happy with the time spent with the trial & get better at spotting things from western RPGs in game mechanics.

I'm so happy I know none of you. Xenoblade chronicles is amazing. It's an mmo In scale without the need to depend on others to play it.

Voice acting is a major turnoff. All I could imagine was that the two characters were Harry Potter and Ron Weasley stuck in a JRPG world.

Other than the annoying character costumes this is a really good looking game. Bring it to 3DS! (Because I don't have a Wii)

Super Edit!: You could bring this to the 3DS, right? I mean, I assumed that the Wii wasn't more powerful than the 3DS but maybe I'm wrong.

@Animasta: It still does do these things though.

Anybody know how the characters are in this game?

The way I see it, any JRPG lives or dies by the quality of it's characters, and to a lesser extent, it's combat.

So, are the characters any good, or are they just complete bollocks?

Forgot how awesome the soundtrack for this game is. The one in Macuna Woods at night omg! Sat there so many times just listening to it when the area turns dark.

Also The Monadooo!!

This needs to come out for the PS3 like now.

@I_am_Lono: yeah they should have one person just play and two just talk.

Good QL for a very good game. First JRPG in years I've legitimately loved. Although, Resonance of Fate and Valkyrie Profile were fun.

@ADAMWD said:

Voice acting is a major turnoff. All I could imagine was that the two characters were Harry Potter and Ron Weasley stuck in a JRPG world.

That sounds like the best thing ever!

@Vigorousjammer said:

Anybody know how the characters are in this game?

The way I see it, any JRPG lives or dies by the quality of it's characters, and to a lesser extent, it's combat.

So, are the characters any good, or are they just complete bollocks?

The party characters are all pretty good, with one horribly-voiced exception. Luckily he's mostly irrelevant to the story, so you can just skip past his lines whenever they come up.

Whining and arbitrary stupidity are generally kept to a minimum. I found myself liking everybody, which is quite a blessing in this sort of game.