Xenoblade Chronicles 3D Review

Bigger is sometimes better.

Xenoblade Chronicles is a game that relies on scale like no other. The world and locales that Shulk and company run through during the games massive campaign are built to impress, with a breadth of vision and scope that blew people away when the game first hit Wii consoles. Now, years later, after the original has exploded into popularity and importance, Nintendo have ported the excellent JRPG to their New 3DS system as a flagship title. But having committed another serious stretch of my life exploring the massive, vibrant worlds, I’m not overly convinced they belong on the go.

Storyline:

Eons ago, gargantuan Gods were locked in a timeless battle. The Bionis and the Mechonis, two titanic mech-like beasts, dealt killing blows to each other at the same time and they perished. Their corpses, however, spawned new life, and their lifeless bodies became the world of Xenoblade. The human-like Homs reside on the Bionis and the mechanic Mechons live on the Mechonis.

At the beginning of the game, we find the Mechons invading the Bionis, killing the defending Homs and taking their land for their own. Shulk – a young man from Colony 9 – sees his town razed to the ground by the Mechons and his friends murdered. On a quest for revenge and to push the Mechon forces back, Shulk takes the Monado, a mystical sword with the ability to see bursts of the future, and a group of survivors to stop the invasion once and for all.

The story is excellently told over the eighty or so hours it will take to see it through to the end, and it’s peopled with some really human characters. JRPGs have long been plagued by clichés, and whilst Xenoblade doesn’t entirely sidestep some of these pitfalls, the real heart and love the characters display throughout the journey more than make up for the melodrama.

This remake doesn’t mess with anything you’ll remember and this is a good thing. Everything worked the first time round and it continues to be worth investing in upon second viewing. The most impressive thing on display here however is the world building; I love the idea of these giant bodies inhabited by pockets of Homs and Mechons, and the huge amounts of beasts, animals and monsters roaming the wilds in between. The world feels like a living, breathing place, and not all of it revolves – or even responds – to Shulk and his friends. I truly felt I was in a different world with Xenoblade Chronicles, and that’s an incredible thing.

Gameplay:

As Shulk and his group of friends explore the world, slowly figuring out the powers of the Monado and the motivation behind the Mechon’s invasion, they explore the massive world on offer in Xenoblade. Their journey takes them all over the titan’s bodies, and up against some seriously impressive enemies.

As a JRPG, you should have a fairly good understanding of what to expect from the gameplay. Levelling up, getting better gear and fighting bigger and badder enemies lie at the heart of Xenoblade’s systems. But aside from these staples, Xenoblade actually breaks the mould in pretty serious ways.

More akin to Final Fantasy XII, Xenoblade’s battle system is a somewhat simple approach to combat. You log actions on a command list and watch the battle play out, interjecting every now and then to give another order or mix up your strategy on the fly. Whilst it seems like this might be dull it never is, and the battles can feel pretty intense despite the simplicity of the systems. I never felt hampered by them or unable to do what I wanted, and whilst out and about with the New 3DS I felt even more appreciative of this fairly hands-off approach. It becomes more and more complex as new skills and abilities are offered to you, and by the end of the game I had loads of things to do and keep track of, though the smart HUD made sure I was never overwhelmed.

Where Xenoblade lets itself down is its myriad of side quests. There are hundreds of the things, and whilst some of them are genuinely interesting and exciting, more often than not they are tiresome and dull. Thankfully Xenoblade doesn’t ask you hand these sidequests back in to the original quest giver, instead rewarding you as soon as you finish the demands, but even this smart choice doesn’t help them from feeling like boring filler.

If there was ninety-percent less sidequests that were ninety-percent more interesting, this would strike a perfect balance. Unfortunately this is not the case. Thankfully I knew this going into Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, remembering all too well how I felt about them the first time through, and ignored them with minimal setbacks.

Presentation:

Blasting through the game again I was constantly in awe of this sense of scope that Xenoblade pulls off so well. When setting out from towns you instantly feel a bit lost, with a hundred different directions to explore. Xenoblade makes liberal use of the vertical axis as well, with pathways leading up and over or down and below the main plane you’re travelling across. There’s always a feeling of ascending these massive dead gods you’re living atop of. Look up and you can see their bodies and faces above you, look down and you might see their legs or swords. It’s definitely awe inspiring, but this sense of scope is hampered severely by the move to handheld.

As impressive as the tech is powering Xenoblade on the New 3DS, it’s just not enough. Even the Wii struggled to accurately portray the beauty and art direction that are worked into Xenoblade. This new version struggles to even capture the modest visuals of the original, with blander textures and cramped text boxes and menus. The small screens and compromised visuals just don’t stand up to Xenoblade’s vision and I wish instead this remake had been on the Wii U rather than the New 3DS. Still, it’s impressive it runs at all on a handheld, the new second stick does an admirable job with the camera and I really did enjoy the ability to play on the go. Just because it can run on the system, however, doesn’t mean it should.

 

Conclusion:

Xenoblade Chronicles is considered one of, if not the best, JRPG of the last fifteen years. I can’t argue with that – it’s a phenomenal game that is still as fun as it ever was. It does a lot to reinvent aspects of the genre that had become stale whilst still retaining that character-driven heart JRPGs always enjoy. For the most part, the 3DS remake is no different. The storyline is still epic and engaging, the characters fun, the battle system smart and the amount to do simply overwhelming. Unfortunately, Xenoblade’s ridiculous sense of scale and beauty doesn’t translate well to the handheld, and I mourn the fact that this remake wasn’t looking better than ever on the Wii U. Still, if you haven’t played it and don’t want to pay the ludicrous prices for the Wii original, the 3DS isn’t a bad compromise at all.