![]() I can only hope fans are offered an updated Nintendo Switch port in the lead up to Xenoblade Chronicles 2, as the virtual console version’s graphics and control scheme have not aged well at all. Both options are less than appealing to say the least, and they offered abysmally small install bases for a deserving game that was struggling to find a second wind. These days Xenoblade Chronicles is more readily available through official Nintendo channels, but those channels are pretty awful themselves: Buy a n3DS and get the visually garbage, but feature enhanced, handheld port, or buy the long dead Wii U, with it’s awful storage capacity, and purchase the game on virtual console. Their mishandling of the game is why its physical release would sell for up to $200 secondhand, and was pirated over a million times. They eventually brought Xenoblade Chronicles stateside, but only as a limited release, exclusive to GameStop. ![]() The dying Wii’s last days were barren, and Nintendo of America refused to bring the game to North America, until fans united in a campaign to force its localization. Xenoblade Chronicles had all the necessary ingredients to become the next Final Fantasy, but it was cursed by Nintendo’s sloppy handling. The body of the Mechonis as seen from the knee of the Bionis. I don’t want to spoil any story content, so let it suffice to say that it’s an epic tale that escalates rapidly and tackles issues like xenophobia, what it means to be human, the concept of life, and the true nature of gods. The world’s scale was massive, and seeing one of these creatures’ skyscraper-sized fingers really puts things into perspective. The 75% fantasy, 25% sci-fi story played out in a world where the only landmasses were the corpses of two titanic creatures that felled one another in mortal combat. Xenoblade Chronicles’ combat system raised the bar for what should be expected of a JRPG, and no single mechanic will ever be as cool as Shulk’s ability to read the future in battle. Positioning and timing were emphasized, as well as chaining techniques properly to temporarily disorient opponents and beat them senseless. ![]() It bucked the genre’s trend of having menu based combat that would grow boring after so much time was put in, instead implementing what felt like a combination of Final Fantasy XI’s Real Time Battle and Final Fantasy XII’s Active Dimension Battle systems. The original Xenoblade Chronicles was a critically acclaimed hit, and I personally consider it one of the best JRPGs to date. Nintendo has also been very insistent that Xenoblade Chronicles 2 will be a 2017 release, calling more attention to the franchise than ever before. For starters, it’s the first entry of the franchise to be on a fresh new platform, the Nintendo Switch, instead of being part of a system’s death rattle. Nintendo has made a lot of very poor decisions with the Xenoblade franchise, but they may just get it right with Xenoblade Chronicles 2. ![]()
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