Changing the Future Beyond the Sky

After a lengthy 134 hours, I finish the story of Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii). The story gets a bit weird at the end but endearingly so. This game is worth all the wait and frustration to have it be released in North America.

The game's grand vistas and views are worth the frequent occurances of extremely straight geometry and muddy textures. The music is just as beautiful as the views and work with the various environments to set a unique for each new area. The combat system, reminiscent of MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft, is fast and exciting though some battles can be a bit too hectic or suffer a bad camera angle. The characters are all likable, if a bit flat, and are worth the extra effort to unlock the heart-to-heart dialog sequences.

Some of the grievenaces I have with the game are towards its quests. Some of the quests rely on items that are dropped at a low rate which is annoying. It doesn't help that the quests text and in-game hints sometimes don't give you good clues in where to go. Most maddening of all are the quests that require you to find a particular NPC. These NPCs move around during the time they are available and are not prominently marked on the minimap or main map.

Even though I have already put in 134 hours in to the game, there are still many quests left to finish, skills not found, and heart-to-hearts locked away. Already I am back in Xenoblade's wonderful world to see more of what it has to offer.