Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)

Xenoblade-Chronicles is one of those great games that (for some unfathomable reason) Nintendo had initially decided not to release outside Japan. Until recently that is. So, if you live in Europe, count yourself lucky because the best RPG on the Wii is finally available outside Japan, fully translated and reformatted for the European systems.

THE MUSIC WILL ENCHANT YOUR SOUL
This is the first thing that hits your senses. The music of Xenoblade reminded me of playing Final Fantasy VII years ago and being mesmerized by its music. The Prelude I can still remember. In Xenoblade, the music will range from atmospheric to epic rock, and all the shades and colors in between.
It will be a familiar companion while you travel and a strengthening presence when you do battle, greatly enhancing the overall experience. Every map has its own theme (most with day and night variations) and you will catch yourself humming them long after having turned your console off.
Sometimes the importance of the music in a game is underestimated and the focus remains on the graphics. Xenoblade is a perfect example of how essential music is in order to achieve a total immersive gaming experience.

LIVE AND BREATH IN A GORGEOUS ANIME WORLD
Now, all of us who decided to go with the Nintendo Wii, we knew that it was not the most graphically powerful console. Its strengths lie elsewhere. Having said that, Xenoblade is the most beautiful and graphically detailed game on the Wii. Ever.
Set on two ancient biomechanical Titans frozen in mid-battle centuries ago, the world is simply enormous. There are about 20 maps, almost every map is huge and it is all open to exploration. Because there are only few and short loading times, you are practically flowing from one into the next as in a continuous world. And exploring the endless and open Xenoblade world is not only fun to do but also very rewarding.
The grass moves around your feet, birds sweep over your head, clouds roll by day, the galaxy scintillates at night and the whole world comes alive around you. In the heat of the battle the hits and special moves will be accompanied by impressive anime graphical events. Up close the characters may not be that detailed but the characters, their weapons and the environments have all been designed with great artistry. When the limitations of the Wii are reached you probably will not notice it either. Xenoblade has far better graphics than all the other notable Wii JRPG, such as The Legend of Zelda, Okami or Rune Factory Frontier. My Wii had never produced such a visually advanced game!

THE STORY DRAWS YOU IN AND NEVER LETS GO
As any seasoned RPGer would tell you, the story is equally important to the graphics and the music, if not more so. And Xenoblade excels in this aspect as well. A tad clichéd at times, the story advances with beautifully made cinematic sequences and it manages to feel both reassuringly familiar and surprisingly fresh.
The human colonists (the Homs) are living on one of the frozen titans, Bionis, and are attacked by mechanical life-forms (the Mechons) who occupy the other. So, after the initial battle, it is up to Shulk, your hero, the young survivor from Colony 6 and the new bearer of Monado, together with (up to 3 of) his companions to save their world.
You bond with your companions by the choices you make - and this affects their abilities. Your choices also affect both the conversation options with Non-Playing Characters (NPCs) and the quests becoming available to you. In fact, everyone and their sister seems to have a quest for you. Conveniently, you do not have to go back to them once completed.
Xenoblade will enchant you with its sound vistas and ensnare you with its story.

WIELD THE BLADE THAT SEES INTO THE FUTURE
As with any true RPG, there is leveling up, looting, crafting, bartering and re-equipping your character as well as his companions. Interestingly, the custom appearance you chose for them will not be lost during the cinematic scenes. If you enjoy earning achievements, Xenoblade has you covered. The game allows you to save almost anywhere but it also autosaves at nicely spaced Landmarks - and dying will only take you back to the last one encountered (without any XP or loot penalties).
The battle system is real-time but both the distance to their enemy and your relative position are factored in (hint: for such an oversized sword, backstabbing strangely pays off). Monado has powers that are unleashed after building up normal attacks. The legendary sword also allows you to glimpse into the future in order to avert enemy blows. Moreover, your hero and his companions have special abilities, called Arts (that need to recharge before they can be reused).
The enemies, especially the bosses, will focus on the character inflicting the most damage to it - and this allows for flanking maneuvers by the rest of your party. Most battles are not that hard however some of the bosses will tax your understanding of the game mechanics.
Equally important is that is not a one-ride-pony. Once the game is completed you can restart the entire story with your high level character to complete and explore everything you missed the previous time around.

Xenoblade-Chronicles gives you the option to experience it either dubbed in (British accented and not lip-synched) English or in (partially) subtitled original Japanese. After I had clocked in about half a dozen hours in the game I decided to restart it and opted to keep the original Japanese instead. After all, this is a JRPG and it feels much more authentic.

A classic masterpiece, not to be missed.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Xenoblade Chronicles is pure gaming art and one of the best RPG's I have ever played. It's extremely hard to put into words how amazing and beautiful this game really is as it needs to be played to really experience it's rare beauty. The cinematics in this game are absolutely epic and literally gave me goosebumps everytime! The story is fantastic and also so is the voice acting. The music is gorgeous and really compliments the vast landscapes, i also loved how the music changed along with the day and night cycle, i couldn't help but sit back, relax and just listen to it. This is an RPG gem, a must-have, a buy it now, an amazing, AMAZING RPG!

Xenoblade will be remembered as a gaming classic for years and years to come, up there with Final Fantasy VII and Chrono Trigger, although in my opinion Xenoblade blows them both out of the water. I think Xenoblade deserves it's own pedestal.

Plenty of reviews on here already, and I have little to add, as I agree with the majority of them - Xenoblade is a real treat, and good value, providing over 100 hours of gameplay. That it does this by presenting hundreds of monster-slaying, widget-fetching and talking sidequests is a fair point, and it can feel a bit like an endless set of small tasks at times. But these quests do ensure that you get to explore every nook and cranny of the enormous, gorgeous maps that comprise the game. They also reward you with EXP points, which make your characters stronger - a much more enjoyable alternative to the standard "level grinding" (fighting the same beasts over and over) required in RPGs.

Numerous comparisons have been made to Final Fantasy games - I'll go out on a limb and say that this is actually more fun to play, if not quite as intricate or epic. Enemy encounters never interrupt the flow of the game, and are almost all avoidable, rather than randomly occuring every time you take a few steps. Losing a fight doesn't mean game over - you just go back to the last major landmark you visited, which is never more than a few minutes walk away, and you keep all your experience and loot. Travel is also very quick, as you can instantly warp to any visited landmark, and this feature is available right from the start of the game (although doing it all the time does feel a bit cheap, and earns you the "Lazybones" achievement).

The combat in Xenoblade has come in for some criticism. To be fair, it is a bizarre hybrid of direct control of the action (Zelda, Oblivion) and the classic turn-based RPG system (Final Fantasy), so anyone expecting either will be frustrated. If you're willing to give it a chance, you quickly get used to it. I experienced three types of fight in this game: either the enemies were pathetically easy and I didn't have to do anything; they were way too hard and I couldn't do anything (running away is almost always an option); or the sweet-spot where the battle system comes into its own and becomes frantic, knife-edge stuff. Here, your choices really can make a difference - your choice of characters, which one you're controlling (the other two are AI controlled, á la Mass Effect), and what items and special moves you have equipped. A cleverly executed selection of commands can leave foes on their backsides, leaking thousands of points of poison, burn and freeze damage simultaneously, and chain attacks can potentially rack up six figures. Knowing when to command your team-mates to stop attacking is also quite important to avoid drawing stronger, nearby foes into the fray. So my tip to new players - don't necessarily avoid the hard enemies with red or yellow nametags - unless they're over ten levels tougher than you.

Other things - the soundtrack is outstanding, with several memorable themes, and everything well-written to provide the atmosphere. Voice acting is good enough - the lack of lip sync is a bit annoying and some of the lines are beyond corny. It is annoying, given the quality of the music, that you can't turn down / off the voices, particuarly during battles when everyone starts yelling out the names of the moves they're executing, Street-Fighter style, and hollering compliments to each other. The graphics are obviously going to look dated as it's a Wii game but they've done a great job with the landscapes and colours. And the story is interesting enough (with a fair few plot twists) that you'll want to keep it moving along from time to time, once the quests are complete.

Why not five stars? Because it's not perfect - a bit glitchy in places, the jumping and platforming is clumsy and slippery, named NPCs can be very difficult to find, and some of the later item collection tasks are infuriating. But these are hardly dealbreakers given the outstanding presentation and content. This was, at times, as enjoyable and moving as what I'd regard the best game of its kind, Chrono Trigger. It turns out that a US release is imminent, which is great news as this game deserves to sell well. Fingers crossed for a sequel - or at least HD remake!