Definitive Edition. The latest revolutionary JRPG – review

The JRPG genre is very conservative, and in many ways this served as the key to its decline. Classic step-by-step role-playing games could not compete on the AAA field with spectacular and dynamic western blockbusters, so in the middle of the zero they finally went out of fashion.

The last game, which decided on something similar, was released ten years ago. Xenoblade chronicles.

The best of two worlds

Many called Final Fantasy XII an offline MMO – although this, of course, is not the case. After all, FFXII combined the conditional open world and real-time battles with the classic turn-based combat of the series. But Xenoblade Chronicles is a real offline MMO, where the combat system is very different from all the JRPGs that came out before. The game does not have a concept of move, MP, and items that could be used in battle. Characters attack automatically – the player needs to activate their skills in time.

The animations of the abilities are long, and at that time auto-attacks do not pass: the local summoner-caster has no time to be distracted by them

Like the different classes in MMORPG, each Xenoblade hero has unique skills and his own fighting style. One “tanks” and relies on a combination of attacks, the other poisons groups of opponents, and the third, for maximum effectiveness, needs to alternate attacks from the side and from the back. And the fourth one, for example, powerfully heals, but it should be cooled periodically. In a word, all these archetypes are probably familiar to MMO lovers.

Xenoblade has many other features that are characteristic of online role-playing. Huge open locations with fast movement between key points, cool unique monsters for the killing of which a significant reward is expected, hundreds of NPCs with hundreds of optional quests. And with all this, the game remains a real JRPG – with bright characters, many cutscenes, a rich storyline and an exciting adventure for many tens of hours.

big Adventure

In the middle of the endless sea, there are two titans, who from time immemorial hit each other to death. Biological life has blossomed on the body of one of them, Bionis; in another, Mekhonis, cars live. They continue the war begun by their ancestors: people and other races living on Bionis desperately restrain the onslaught of mechanical hordes.

The protagonist of the game is Shulk, a young man living in a settlement on the lower leg of Bionis. To protect his native lands from the attack of machines, he takes in his hands Monado – a sword with whose legendary power only a few can control. The artifact gives the hero the opportunity to see the future, and he rebuffs the aggressors – but it does not work to save all the loved ones. Guided by a thirst for revenge, Shulk goes in search of those who do not allow the war to end.

And his path will be difficult: through the spacious fields on the foot and the swamps on the lower back of Bionis – to the dense jungle on the back and the huge sea on the neck. Baboutthe biggest part of Xenoblade – one continuous road trip along outlandish edges

It’s worth saying bluntly: the plot in Xenoblade is a typical anime. In some places he is trying too hard to be dramatic, in some places he throws really good plot twists in the spirit of Xenogears, but he does not even get close to her greatness. The story here is holistic and logical, but its main merit is in the dynamics: something constantly happens around, and the heroes always have a global and local goal.

Tactics and Convenience

At the center of the gameplay are two things: exploration of the world and battles with representatives of the local fauna (or evil robotic aggressors). All this happens as organically as possible, without transitions to individual screens and downloads. They saw the enemy, took out weapons and rushed into battle, and after that they gathered loot and went on for a walk. There are a lot of spacious locations in Xenoblade, so if you want, you can just run past the monsters; enemies six levels weaker than themselves will try to bypass you, so you won’t have to stumble over completely unnecessary fights.

The fights themselves are fleeting. Ordinary opponents can be dealt with in a matter of seconds, even bosses and unique monsters are unlikely to take more than 5-10 minutes. In the event of a defeat, you lose nothing, and you will have to run a maximum of one and a half minutes from the nearest control point. Therefore, in Xenoblade it’s not shameful to die: death gives a chance to rebuild tactics (choose other heroes or skill sets) for a specific battle and try again.

Three characters from the group participate in the battle, but only one can be controlled. Alas, you can’t switch between them in the manner of Final Fantasy VII Remake, although it would be very useful here

Also in battles, it is important to monitor the morale of the wards. Critical hits increase him, misses and (especially) fallen comrades – lower him. If things go wrong, you should always go to a friend and cheer him up – or give him a compliment by pressing the button in QTE on time. This fills a special scale, which can be spent on the resurrection of partners, or on powerful joint attacks. If you skillfully manage resources, then these combos can control even the most powerful enemies.

Xenoblade – the game is very flexible in terms of tactical capabilities. There are no useless characters, the scope for customization is wide. The main thing you can complain about is the too much influence of the level of pumping. It’s easy to fight with monsters of about your level, and if you get involved in a battle with someone who is too tough for you, the heroes will often miss. However, closer to the end of the game this can be corrected if the passive skills and equipment are selected correctly.

The enemy is two dozen levels higher? No problem!

By the way, Xenoblade, unlike many other JRPGs, where dialogs, battles and walks on locations exist in separate worlds, perfectly intertwines the plot and gameplay. Take, for example, Monado. The miraculous sword sends Shulka a vision not only in plot scenes, but also in side quests, and even periodically tells which of the items just received will be useful in the future. And in battle, he directly warns the player about deadly attacks and gives a few seconds to find a way out.

This detail greatly affects the gameplay and gives the battles an element of crisis management. How to save your skin? Playing as Shulka, you can use the defensive power of Monado based on the type of enemy attack. For the tank – try to divert the attention of the enemy from a frail comrade to yourself. For the healer – try to cure the victim to the fullest and apply some kind of buff. And for a piece of the scale, you can turn to a friend for help and order him any attack, even if it is recharged.

If your decisions have changed the future, this will immediately affect the “forecast” in a convenient window – this is always nice to see. So Xenoblade intertwines the plot and gameplay, giving us the opportunity to prevent tragedy not only in cutscenes, but also in every difficult battle.

Megaton of Content

Even those elements of Xenoblade in which she did not make a revolution are still performed at a decent level – at least above average. NPC characters are limited to a couple of personality traits, but each has its own home, daily routine, and relationships with other people. They do not exist in a vacuum. The quests they give out are pretty commonplace for the most part: collect such and such items, kill such and such enemies. If desired, these instructions can be safely ignored, but without them, the expanses of Bionis and Mekhonis would remain only scenery, a backdrop for a race from one story event to another. With them, the player has dozens of small goals that give motivation to explore the world and pay attention to details that otherwise might not be found. Xenoblade encourages initiative with experience, loot, money, unique dialogs, and simple accomplishments.

The synergy of plot and gameplay works here. Communicating with NPCs in the city, you expand your network of acquaintances and find out how people relate to each other. The more acquaintances, the more side tasks – and, by completing them, you increase your reputation among the inhabitants of the location. If you trust the locals, they will be ready to trade increasingly rare items.

Relationship map of all NPCs in the game

The heroes themselves also communicate with others and with each other. And in battles they constantly cheer each other up – so the relationship between them improves. The friendlier the comrades, the more passive skills they can borrow from each other and the more successful their joint crafting. In addition, the friends of the heroes are waiting for optional scenes in which they unfold deeper.

The Definitive Edition has the ability to separately customize the appearance of the characters. If desired, you can dilute the gravity of the plot scenes with a beach outfit

The best game – the best edition

All of the above applies to previous versions of the game: the original, released on Wii in 2011, and the port on New 3DS 2015. The graphics in them were, of course, simple, but from a technological point of view they were still a miracle. Is it a joke: multi-kilometer locations populated by dozens of NPCs and monsters, and all this – without noticeable loads!

Teleporting from here to the foot of that mountain in the distance takes a second and a half

In the Definitive Edition, the visual is much prettier. The game runs in a fairly high resolution (like XC2), the interface no longer occupies a split-screen, key characters have facial expressions, and cutscenes look especially nice. They did not rewrite the voice acting, but it’s even good – the English dubbing from 2011 is magnificent. If you wish, you can choose the original Japanese voices, but I would not advise: among other things, by replicas in battle, you can understand what AI partners do.

In addition, several small but insanely enjoyable improvements have appeared in the reprint. For example, auto racing is very important for a game where you need to travel so much. Convenient markers for side quests, notifications that tell you where it is best to get up to use the skill most effectively. “Casual” mode, which makes it possible to simply enjoy the plot, and the “expert” mode, where you can manually lower the level of wards. So that even the pumped-over group still fights with interesting opponents more or less on equal terms.

Also in the Definitive Edition is an additional Future Connected scenario: a separate episode that tells about the events a year after the end of the game. This location was still found in the files of the original Wii game, but then it was never used. And for the Definitive Edition it was completed and replenished with content for another 12 hours – for those who want additives after the Xenoblade finale. Nothing special, but still not bad – it’s like a solid DLC for an outstanding game.

So the first Xenoblade is still relevant. And its Definitive Edition is a truly ultimatum edition.

Pleased

• Wonderful setting;
• Extremely addictive gameplay;
• Amazing harmony of all elements of the game;
• Definitive Edition made the game both more beautiful and more convenient.

Afflicted

• Strict attempts by the scenes to be dramatic;
• AI-driven mates are stupid;
• Almost all sidequests are commonplace fillers;
• Level plays too big a role.

How we played

What: key purchased by the author.

On what: Switch

How many: 86 hours (main story + almost all the side effects), another 12 hours for the Future Connected script.

Editors Achievement

“No Grind”

Fundamentally, do not beat enemies who do not attack themselves and are not needed for quests.

Verdict

Xenoblade Chronicles is a titanium of the level of Final Fantasy VII Remake or Persona 5 Royal; if you missed the original on Wii or New 3DS, now is the best time to catch up. And if you are familiar with the original, then you probably already play Definitive Edition. Still, JRPGs of this caliber come out infrequently.