Despite the age, the game is still great. The basis of Xenoblade is a gameplay with a strong adventure component. Shulka and his friends are waiting for an interesting journey through the bodies of giants, which are represented by a series of luxurious and very large-scale locations.
Almost every zone looks like a huge sandbox with a complex three-dimensional structure, which is interesting to study. Moreover, this is not just picturesque mountains, gloomy valleys, green hills, lakes, forests, but a multilayer surface on the body of titanium, available for free exploration.
Gigantomania and epic landscapes are at the forefront of everything. You can start exploring the clearing by climbing uphill slopes and see the starting point of your journey, flocks of wild animals and level 70 bosses flying in the air, which seem very tiny against the background of the vast ocean and clouds. And in the distance you see the second dead titan – and it does not fit into the frame.
If you raise the camera up, you can see the “ceiling” in the form of a huge sword with which the enemy pierced Bionis thousands of years ago, and after dozens of hours – to be on this sword to understand that it is a huge valley with cybernetic fortresses and rivers of acid that glows in in the dark!
At locations, the weather and time of day change, other animals appear, trees that seem to be dead bloom in silver-blue, and sunsets against the backdrop of large-scale and very unusual scenery look just great. In terms of design, Xenoblade Chronicles is one of the most amazing games in the last 10 years.
Moreover, the study is not complicated by corridors and restrictions. The characters are very mobile and run fast. You can jump down a cliff and fly hundreds of meters to fall into a huge lake, find there a secret cave with a boss, rare materials and a chest with a unique loot. Or find a merchant, or a character who asks you to complete a mission.
The developers in every way motivate you to explore the territory over which all kinds of objects, unique monsters, points of interest and lighthouses of fast teleportation are scattered.
Some of the things you can spend on completing collectopedia, which is rewarded with high-level crystals, which, when inlaid into equipment, greatly increase characteristics and bonus indicators. Crystals can also be created by joint efforts on a special machine, which depends on the level of relations between the characters.
Of course, unlike the Xenoblade X with Wii U, which had a completely seamless planet, each huge area of the first part is connected to another point on the body of Bionis through loading in very rare places of the junction, but the world itself is so competently built that you are really immersed in This is a very complex biome.
You feel like an adventurer and a cartographer who has fallen into an amazing new world. Each discovery is accompanied by gaining experience, which subsequently helps in the fight against story bosses and optional enemies.
Xenoblade Chronicles has an amazing side quest system. Secondary quests themselves are simple – usually you are asked to find items, kill certain enemies, a unique boss, collect materials, talk with someone, raise relationships (there is a system of growing reputation between characters) and so on. But they are designed to support research. You simply type quests and head off to explore the world, and these optional missions are carried out on their own.
Moreover, sometimes you don’t even have to talk to anyone. The plot feature of the project (a hero who can see the future) is reflected in the gameplay. Studying the farthest corners of locations, you find objects and they trigger visions. So you understand that certain NPCs will ask you to find these things in the future. The game marks them with quests, and you do not have to look for them later. You just teleport (or run down) to the settlement that you saw in the prediction, find the character and pass him the quest.
Another find is automatic surrender of side sides and receiving rewards. Most of the Xenoblade Chronicles side effects do not even require you to return to the quest giver – the game instantly rewards your activity. You increase the level of the heroes, get new equipment and enthusiastically run further to explore the world on the bodies of dead titans.
One of the most significant innovations of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition regarding the Wii version was a new very convenient mission tracking system. Now you don’t even need to memorize the places of falling or collecting objects or habitats of certain opponents. Finally, in the series, normal markers are implemented that will show the location of the desired object (even monsters from which with a certain degree of probability the desired object can drop out) if it appears on the map.
Of course, in the original, with its optional side missions, this did not stop moving along the story, but now fans who close the games 100% (and finally pump Colony 6 to the limit) will be able to do this in the most comfortable conditions for themselves – without the need for a dumb grind and search guides on the Internet. And, of course, this approach will largely correct the situation with Xenoblade X for Wii U and its obscure mandatory quests, if a remaster is ever announced.
Other updates include a redesigned interface and menus that no longer occupy half the screen. Moreover, in battles, the game began to give convenient tips on skills that should be applied at a given time. For example, if the enemy has his back to you, then the ability of the hero to deliver a critical attack from behind is highlighted by an exclamation mark. That is, it has become easier to understand when it is better to activate positional skills, and not focus only on animation in the midst of battle.
Another bonus is additional tasks in the arena, access to which is given by orange portals. Usually this is a series of waves of enemies, which must be completed as quickly as possible and get a high rating. This opens you gifts in the form of new equipment.
