35. Xenoblade Chronicles (Nintendo Wii)
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Xenoblade Chronicles is about two giant robots and the people who live on them. On the one, we have the human type people called Homs (and some cute puffball type people called Nopon) and on the other you have the Mechon, these machine type monsters who come over and attack and destroy. But there is one weapon, the Monado, which can damage the Mechon in ways that normal weapons can't.

This is I think an action RPG. You control one character of your choice in a party of three. I'm trying to give details but the gameplay took a while for me to pick up on and I haven't played it in months so I've forgotten some of it. You auto-attack I think until you select a skill. The skill icon will then start to “refill” before you can use it again, and each character has different skills. You can also customize your characters to a certain degree. Also, character outfits change with equipment, which is pretty cool.


General impressions:
I will say this game unfortunately did not interest me at all at first. We got it because it was expensive but had gone down in price and was starting to get hard to find. So we picked it up while we could. Sharky decided to play it first, at the first parts I saw did not catch my attention. It was like 2 giant robots fighting (not my deal) followed by some dudes with British accents fighting some robots (still not my deal) with a gameplay style that was slightly confusing, in some dark environment (doesn't interest me). Plus, I'm sorry to say this, the character faces creep me the heck out, I really hate them. Their faces look like melty and sunken and it's just... it's just weird. Anyways, point is I'm glad I decided to play it anyways because past that point the game is pretty awesome. It's got a great story, typical for a Xeno game, and the world is absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful, large, free to explore. Overall to me it is a very strong game with a weak beginning.

Story:
Like I said, this is a Xeno game, so the story is awesome. Plot twists galore. Some of them were slightly predictable, but a lot of it came out of nowhere and really had me surprised. That does add some replay value as well because you can go back and play it again and see things differently. But yeah the game had me on the edge of my seat, wanting so much to know what would happen next.


Gameplay:
The gameplay is good, but wasn't great for me. The best part was just the sheer amount of sidequests, which was awesome if you wanted a break from the main storyline and it gave you something to do while grinding. But the game was hard near the beginning. That one boss that gave me so much trouble, can't remember his name. It does get a bit easier, but not as easy as I would have liked, and the gameplay did have me confused at first. I did get the hang of it and got pretty good at it, but it isn't a game I can go back and just play like I'd never left, I'd have to relearn the battle system. Another problem that was really a personal thing was how big some enemies were, which I found to be very intimidating. But that wasn't a fault in the game, just personal preference.


World:
Best part of this game, hands down, and one of the best of any game I've ever played. So many beautiful and gorgeous areas, very explorable. You can spend hours just going around and finding stuff and seeing the sights. There was not one location I disliked and a lot I absolutely loved. Some areas were literally breathtaking and I would just stand and stare at them. I'd always heard it it had an awesome game world, and that was no exaggeration. It is stunning. I don't have enough pictures in this review to show you all the great locations, so google some if you'd like

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You can explore all of that

Characters:
Kind of a weak point for me, otherwise this game would have ranked probably a good 10 spots higher. The character designs, like I said, creep me the heck out. Although it's neat to see them in their current armor in the scenes. I didn't have anything against the characters per se, but none of them really grabbed me in a way that made me care as much as I could. Not to say they were poorly written because a lot of them had good story and development, just that none of them meshed with me that much. Also, they yell way too much during battle. “IT'S REYN TIME!!!!!!!”

Favourite character: Melia JWGkvRi.jpg
Honourable mention: Shulk Xy7r1C5.jpg

I like Melia because I found her very sweet and awkward. She seems kind of snobbish but doing some sidequests and stuff you can see that she really does care, she just isn't always sure of herself or how she should act. I put Shulk as second simply for his development and writing.

Overall this is a very strong game with amazing writing, interesting gameplay, and one of the most gorgeous video game worlds I've ever experienced. It's a great adventure and RPG so I'd recommend it to fans of the genre.


Also, please let me know if the images are working~ Was acting a bit weird