Xenoblade Chronicles

Wait, you didn't get the Wii Play Control of Pikmin 2? .-.

Wow, NOA really doesn't like non cash cow games o-o

Microsite now open!

I personally think it's kind of unfinished and amateurish as I had to mark the text to read most of it, and some of the videos don't work really well, but it reveals the rest of the english voice actors for the main characters in case no one knows already, and they provide voice samples for both the english and japanese voice actors on the character page. (If you can find it! =P) I've posted the english voice actors below:

English Voice Actors

• Adam Howden - Shulk
• Carina Reeves - Fiorung/Fiorun/Fiora (English Dub change)
• Rufus Jones - Dunban
• Jay Taylor - Reyn
• Kellie Bright - Sharla
• Jenna Louise Coleman - Melia
• Wayne Forester - Riki

So is the game going to be Dual Audio?

According to a Dutch Nintendo rep, apparently, yes.

edited 13th Aug '11 1:53:51 PM by Beorc

If you mean being able to choose between Japanese original and English dub then yes.

EDIT: Ninja'd

I'll be playing through the English dub during my first playthrough, then play the japanese original in the New Game Plus. Mostly because I think the english voice actors did a good job. And I didn't like the japanese voice for Riki.

edited 13th Aug '11 1:54:50 PM by Folt

Well I see Dual Audio as a safety net that doesn't take much time to implement...

Imagine Chaos Wars without Dual Audio...or if you want a scenario where a game has no Dual Audio and suffered MASSIVELY for it, look no further than Arc Rise Fantasia...perfect in every way an RPG can be, except for the less than stellar english dub...atleast in the first half of the game anyways.

It's so depressing that such a great game can fail so hard in just one area of it's gameplay, and as a result turn away such a huge disproportionate amount of potential customers.

Europeans! I demand you all to buy extra copies so the game does ultra good and convince tubby to bring that game over!

edited 13th Aug '11 1:59:24 PM by Signed

Can't say anything about Arc Rise Fantasia as it never came over to Europe.

And I've already preordered my copy of Xenoblade so...

Lucky. Any definitive release date for dat Xenoblade other than 2012? Personally, I can't wait for it, nor for The Last Story nor Pandora's Tower. It's just... HNNNGH I wanna play them! DX

If we're talking about the European release date, my preorder will be shipped at August 19th. But if we're talking about an American release, then I dunno.

Yeah, I meant European release.

I mean, I wish Reggie could be bro and help localize that here (less of a hastle than looking for European/PAL Games in them crappy game stores here that sell vidyia from different regions), but as long as it gets a release in a language I can understand... Yeah.

Apparently, No A is going to watch this game closely when it's on sale in Europe so who knows. It might get an American release after all. I wouldn't count on it, but there's still some hope left.

Hope so... =<

I mean, the Wii "dying" with Xenoblade, The Last Story, Pandora's Tower and T Lo Z: Skyward Sword would indeed be "going out with a blast".

To the mooooooooon!

edited 13th Aug '11 4:14:00 PM by CountLunaOrlok

Still less so than the GCN got, but OK

And Kirby: Return to Dreamland!

HNGH HOW DID I FORGOT KIRBY RETURNS TO DREAMLAND!?

This year. The games. So much want.

still less than the GCN.

It's alright. Calm down.

Personally, I'd love to see an Ultra version of Spark or Plasma Kirby, since electricity abilities and attacks are among my favorite abilities and attacks in video games.

In these dark times, we take what we get. Perhaps I can actually get through my backlog before the Wii U hits european shores.

edited 13th Aug '11 4:42:24 PM by Folt

Yeah. I know I won't get a Wii U anytime soon. Or if, at all. *Won his Wii a back in october 2010 at bingo, otherwise would had never gotten one*

So I get what I can, but I'm really interested in these three games. =o So... You said that day your Xenoblade ships... So is it, like, the release date, then?

GCN "core" releases in US: 2005 and 2006 * means exclusive

• Battalion Wars*
• Fire Emblem 9*
• Geist* (highly mixed reviews)
• From Russia with Love
• Gun
• killer7 (Former part of Capcom 5)
• Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness*
• Prince Of Persia: The Two Thrones (Above average mixed. Most negetive were of the vein that it was the same as the previous Po P games of the sub series)
• Resident Evil 4 (temporary exclusive)
• Star Fox: Assault *
• Super Mario Strikers/Smash Football *
• Time Splitters: Future Perfect
• Baten Kaitos Origins *
• Chibi Robo *

2011 and 2012 Wii core releases for US, all exclusive

• Lost in Shadows
• Kirby
• Zelda
• Rhytm Heaven
• Da Blob 2
• The Kore Gang

Plus the following possible but VERY unlikely for 2012

• Xenoblade
• The Last Story
• Pandora's Tower

edited 13th Aug '11 5:01:56 PM by deuxhero

Yes. It is.

And I'm fully aware of that. I just have faith.

There was also Lost in Shadow, which I believe got decent reviews, for what it's worth.

edited 13th Aug '11 4:59:50 PM by Beorc

I feel somewhat embarrassed now. I don't know why I did that. >___<

edited 13th Aug '11 7:08:15 PM by Izaak

...Okay.

So I picked up my pre-order (with a limited edition red Classic Controller Pro and a sweet box) yesterday, and have been playing about twelve hours now. what I think of it up to now:

• Good stuff:
• Very interesting setting.
• Good story that I actually want to know more about.
• Japanese voice track (if you are into that sort of thing. I know I am).
• Very expansive world, with a lot of inhabitants, side quests, secret places to discover and stuff to collect.
• Achievements (again, if you are into that sort of thing. Getting titles like 'Ninja Skillz' does bring a smile to my face, however)
• Cool battle system unlike anything I've seen in a JRPG until now and actually makes for some strategic fights.
• No Informed Equipment or No Cutscene Inventory Inertia.
• Interesting affinity system, that tracks your relationship between your partymembers and the local population.
• Good music, and great attention to detail all around.

• Bad stuff*
  ^{Relatively. It's always easier to see where it went wrong than where it went right}
  :
• Said expansive world can and will become a Quicksand Box as soon as you start caring about the side quests (and even if you don't, you will get lost a couple of times). Especially painful are the moments where the questgiver roams around town all day, and it takes hours (I had to look half an hour for the target, and another full hour for the giver) for you to find them again to report back unless you memorised their schedule. Protip: write down where and when you found every single named character you meet. Right now.
• Sometimes painfully wooden and clichéd dialogue, in both writing and acting.
• Said Japanese voicetrack comes with a Dub Title that doesn't even bother to correct for Dub Name Change
• Battle system takes some getting used to, and even then you might loose track of your character in the mayhem.
• Character customisation is rather complicated, leaving you with the feeling that you must be doing something wrong.
• Every single monster type will come with at least 5 different Underground Monkey variants, often not that much tougher then the weaker variants. You done killing those 5 stone crabbles for the quest? Now go kill 5 IRON crabbles.
• Pretty much all sidequests are variants of Fetch Quest or, even worse, 20 Bear Asses. Not quite as bad as the standard MMORPG, as the drops are quite common, and you will never need to kill more then 5 of a given species, but still annoying in it's frequency.
• There are more interesting side quests that actually seem to matter to the local population, but in order to access these, you need to build reputation. By doing boring quests.
• Sticks to the Back is in full effect, which one might find somewhat jarring.
• A very rageworthy case of So Long, and Thanks for All the Gear (yes, this early). Which, on second thought, doubles as a genius trolling of stat whores and perverts exploiting the lack of Informed Equipment.

Conclusion: An ambitious quality product, that might have benefit from more capable writers and some sheering in all the Padding. But what do I know after only 12 hours?

edited 19th Aug '11 2:20:13 PM by Kayeka

As having finished the Japanese one, you don't. And besides, you're going to get a lot of better gems later. Unless you have the rare Color Set◊ equipped. Can you explain what you meant by "character customisation is rather complicated" thing first?