Large Map
You'll be able to move seamlessly through the game's vast world. The only loading you'll find is when moving between the various body parts of the world. Those who like to explore will find secrets hidden in areas away from your target location.

3D Field Construction
The Xenoblade fields are not just vast, but have height as well. You'll be able to make your character jump as you move through the fields. You can also leap down from heights, although you may end up incurring damage.

Support
The game includes a variety of support features that assist as you move through the vast fields. These features include:

• Warp to previously visited landmarks by selecting them from your map
• Your target area is indicated by an arrow at the top of the screen
• You can freely change the in-game time
• You can save anywhere

It does seem that time will play a role in the game. A few of the time aspects are detailed in the World part of the site, which now has a section titled "City and Life". Xenoblade will have a full day cycle. The people of the Kyojin part of the world all have unique personalities, and make different movements depending on if its morning, noon, or night. You'll be able to listen to the worries and requests of NPCs in order to bring about changes to their lives, allowing you to delve into the game's deep story.

Some additional info about Xenoblade from retailer listings and the retailer meeting yesterday:
- Monolithsoft estimates the game to be 70-80 hours long, over 100 hours if you decide to enjoy all the optional content

- The entire world in Xenoblade is "seamless" and all areas flow naturally and continuously. But there are loading breaks when you travel between major areas. Major areas are defined as different body parts of the two gods. So travelling from the region of the lower leg up to the knee area, there will be loading.

- The battles are all in realtime and seamless as well. No transitions or break, and you can see enemies roaming on the fields. When you attack enemies normally, you use auto-attack which makes the character automatically attack the targeted enemy continuously with regular attacks. If you manage to move behind an enemy or to the enemy's sides, you can trigger special attacks called Arts.

- Xenoblade's soundtrack is composed by Yoko Shimomura, and she's the only one mentioned in relation to the pre-order "special soundtrack" bonus. If there are other composers involved, they haven't been mentioned, but it's clear she's the main composer.

The official website has been renewed and now has this trailer, a new music track, as well as a few new details: 

The World section offers a glimpse at the game's prologue, detailing the battle between two giant gods, the Kyojin and Kishin. Xenoblade is set on top of these two gods, who froze into corpses in mid battle stance.

Inactive subsections of the World part of the site include "Kyojin and People," "Kishin Army," "Shinken Monado" (literally "God Sword Monado"), "City and Life" and "Screenshots."

The names alone provide some hints about Xenoblade. It looks like the Monado name carries on in the name of a sword. Additionally, you can see how some of the previously detailed background story will work into the game. The protagonists reside atop the Kyojin god, which is presumably why there is a section detailing Kyojin and the people. They fight the residents of the Kishin god -- the Kishin army, it seems.

That was pretty underwhelming until the very end, I wish there was some gameplay footage though. This still makes the game look pretty story heavy, and done with Wii hardware instead of pretty CG. I suppose there was no reason to believe Takahashi would steer away from story completely...

Looks very interesting.  I've already sent a link of the video to a friend of mine who is very into the other Xeno-titles.  The fact that Takahashi is at the helm for this one made her interest go from Zero to DO WANT in a spit-second.

I am very interested.
 
Also:
 

Those are some sweet PSP graphics

The graphics are just poor, it looks really bad. There's nothing at all nothing wrong with the art design, just terrible execution, born from a console incapable of doing justice to such a grand project. The start of the trailer was so bad it was comical (especially in light of God of War 3 and other games on more powerful systems), I bet Nintendo's execs must be pretty disappointed with it also, I'm sure the scale model and story board looked far better than the clumsy crap shown in the trailer.
  
Sadly, the Wii wont be doing this project any real justice, if it was on PS3 it would look stunning. At the very least Wii owners can hope for a great RPG with good gameplay, despite being an eye sore. 

Both the very first, early E3 trailer and the Famitsu shots looked much better than that trailer, so I wouldn't necessarily use it to judge the game, especially since it only showed cutscenes.
 
However, I don't see what the fuzz is about. It's a JRPG and might not have outstanding graphics. Who the fuck cares.

I love everything being done on the game engine. It shows they actually care and makes it less of a movie.

" Those are some sweet PSP graphics "

" @Axxol said:

" Those are some sweet PSP graphics "

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurp. "

" However, I don't see what the fuzz is about. It's a JRPG and might not have outstanding graphics. Who the fuck cares. "

Is the "Xeno" thing just for marketing, or is it actually related to -gears and -saga?

" Is the "Xeno" thing just for marketing, or is it actually related to -gears and -saga? "

Honestly nobody doesn't contrived j-melodrama better than Takahashi and Kojima, from a presentation and "hoh look what we're doing now tweest" perspective. Im sure the spirit of Jesus, or the hebrew word for Satan, or some bullshit lives in the blade and is the key to unlocking oblivion if you reunite it with Signorney Weever the gatekeeper who by the way lives in some little psychic loli girl's teddybear. Can't wait for this.

" @Hailinel: Huh. I'd just as soon have it as a standalone, really. Xenogears was mind-fuckingly awesome when I was fourteen, but now I know enough about Judeo Christian text and philosophy to realize the allusions were even more vapid and empty than Evangelion, and Xenosaga was even worse...
 
Maybe it's wrong to hold that against this game, though. I should be the bigger man and let it go. "

" @Cornman89 said:

" @Hailinel: Huh. I'd just as soon have it as a standalone, really. Xenogears was mind-fuckingly awesome when I was fourteen, but now I know enough about Judeo Christian text and philosophy to realize the allusions were even more vapid and empty than Evangelion, and Xenosaga was even worse...
 
Maybe it's wrong to hold that against this game, though. I should be the bigger man and let it go. "

Is it really any worse than the foolish westerners that take concepts from eastern religions and misrepresent them in simplistic or inaccurate ways?  Frankly, I'm more fine with Xenogears/Xenosaga's use of Gnostic/Christian symbology than some Hollywood doof painting Buddhism as a boutique religion of peace and divine wonderment. "

"The World section offers a glimpse at the game's prologue, detailing the battle between two giant gods, the Kyojin and Kishin. Xenoblade is set on top of these two gods, who froze into corpses in mid battle stance.

Inactive subsections of the World part of the site include "Kyojin and People," "Kishin Army," "Shinken Monado" (literally "God Sword Monado"), "City and Life" and "Screenshots."

The names alone provide some hints about Xenoblade. It looks like the Monado name carries on in the name of a sword. Additionally, you can see how some of the previously detailed background story will work into the game. The protagonists reside atop the Kyojin god, which is presumably why there is a section detailing Kyojin and the people. They fight the residents of the Kishin god -- the Kishin army, it seems. "

" @Cornman89 said:

" Is the "Xeno" thing just for marketing, or is it actually related to -gears and -saga? "

It's not really known if there's meant to be any connection or not yet, as far as I know, "

"The world setting, story and other elements have no relation," explained Takahashi on connections to past Xeno games. "It's a completely new title."

If this is the main theme and reflects the game's themes, setting and feel, I'm half sold already. 
On the one hand, it is a very nice mixture of calm, uplifting and sad at the same time.
On the other hand, I can totally see it being the backdrop of incredible cheese.
 
Who is writing the story?

" Who is writing the story? "

That was an excellent theme.
 
I'm not a huge RPG fan but for some reason this really jumped up on my "Hype list" (note: not an actual list).

Am I the only one getting a serious Ultima Weapon vibe from these giant robot things?

 @Al3xand3r:
 
The start of that trailer looks like a bad Godzilla movie.  It's a shame the graphics don't look as pretty as the artwork does.

If it makes use of Wii motion controls to the fullest then the platform is kinda justified but if it's just a normal RPG then it could have been better suited for ps3 or xbox 360.

" If it makes use of Wii motion controls to the fullest then the platform is kinda justified but if it's just a normal RPG then it could have been better suited for ps3 or xbox 360. "

Oh look, its high-res shots of a Wii game. -_-
 
Awesome boxart, though.

" If it makes use of Wii motion controls to the fullest then the platform is kinda justified but if it's just a normal RPG then it could have been better suited for ps3 or xbox 360. "

Great color choices for the characters.

One of the best boxarts I've ever seen. Awesome.

I love the bottom left shot in the 1st page, it's the same area as seen before but the lighting seems improved too. I can't wait to explore a world with such vistas. "

Well, the character designs don't seem to be COMPLETE disasters. I'll keep my hopes up, though I have to see more to put it on my wishlist.

" @Al3xand3r said:

I love the bottom left shot in the 1st page, it's the same area as seen before but the lighting seems improved too. I can't wait to explore a world with such vistas. "

I don't think they changed the lighting from the last screenshot. They hinted at a time cycle in the last set of scans, hopefully they formally reveal on it soon. It looks like they're putting in a lot of effort to make the lighting look natural. "

" @jj984jj said:

" @Al3xand3r said:

I love the bottom left shot in the 1st page, it's the same area as seen before but the lighting seems improved too. I can't wait to explore a world with such vistas. "

I don't think they changed the lighting from the last screenshot. They hinted at a time cycle in the last set of scans, hopefully they formally reveal on it soon. It looks like they're putting in a lot of effort to make the lighting look natural. "

Cycle is evident given some shots are night shots... But that's not what I meant. Previously lighting looked more flat. It just looks better there and has bloom too. "

I thought it was a PSP game at first haha, and also thus far the main story seems kind of cliche I need something fresh

Shimomura and Mitsuda are both listed as composers for the 4-disc soundtrack. Sweet.

Performed by ACE+, Manami Kiyota.

Edit: new trailer. Wow.

The 2 gods are both in for the ost, is the world really ready for this? I think it's way too early and too much awesome for them to handle.

Fuck I hope they get Joanne Hogg to sing the theme songs.

HEY  the Wii is now a JRPG powerhouse.
 
this looks interesting.
 
is it a new IP? 

" HEY  the Wii is now a JRPG powerhouse. this looks interesting.  is it a new IP?  "

i am so excited for this game. hope a localisation for Europe doesn't take to long

• Warp to previously visited landmarks by selecting them from your map
• Your target area is indicated by an arrow at the top of the screen
• You can freely change the in-game time
• You can save anywhere

Sounds good, although I can't stand open-world-y RPGs.

2 page interview @ famitsu, mostly about the soundtrack. Andriasang translated it.

Mitsuda's involvement came far later in the project. Explained Takahashi, development was reaching a climax, and the staff had to select a final name from a set of candidate names. In the end, they chose to have "Xeno" symbolically appear in the name. Takahashi wanted to have some connections with the Xeno series, and because they had yet to make vocals for the end theme song, he decided to go with Mitsuda, who'd previously worked on Xenosaga's music.

So, although you'll find two of Japan's most cherished game music composers in the credits, Xenoblade's in-game music is headed up by Shimomura, with Mitsuda just heading up the ending theme vocals..

Shimomura didn't compose all the in-game music for herself, though. Monolith had to use a number of composers because the game has so much music. As an example of the abundance of music, the theme will actually change between day and night. Also, during battle, the music will change based off your party's status. In all, you'll find close to 90 tracks.

That looks good.
 
Looks like The Last Story has competition.