Xenoblade Chronicles

Xenoblade Chronicles is an action role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Wii. Initially released in Japan in 2010, it was later released in the PAL regions in 2011 and in North America in 2012. A port for the New Nintendo 3DS was released in 2015, and a remaster for the Nintendo Switch, titled Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, was released in May 2020. Xenoblade Chronicles is the first entry in the Xenoblade Chronicles series, a subseries which forms part of the larger Xeno metaseries.

Although it lacks direct narrative connections to previous Xeno games, like them, it incorporates aesthetic and narrative elements from both fantasy and science fiction. The game features navigation through an open world split into zones, side-quests tied to party members’ affinity, and a real-time action-based battle system which incorporates Shulk’s ability to see brief glimpses of the future. The game’s opening details events one year past, when Dickson, Dunban and Mumkhar were fighting a Mechon army and Mumkhar deserted them.

In the process of defeating the Mechon, the Monado paralyzed Dunban’s right arm. In the present, Shulk studies the Monado in Colony 9, where Dunban and Fiora live. A group of Mechon soon attack Colony 9 along with their leader, a special Faced Mechon called Metal Face. Dunban is injured when he attempts to use the Monado again, prompting Shulk to use it. He wields it with ease, and receives visions of the future from it. While the Mechon are driven back, Metal Face is immune to the Monado and seemingly kills Fiora before running out of energy and fleeing.

Shulk sets out with Reyn to seek revenge and kill Metal Face, and soon Sharla, Dunban, Riki, and Melia join the party. Xenoblade Chronicles is an action role-playing video game (RPG), where the player controls one character out of a party of three using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk or the Classic Controller. The game employs an open world design, where players can freely navigate seamlessly interconnected environments. The game has a day-and-night time cycle, which often affects in-game events, quests, enemy strength, and item availability: for instance, stronger enemy types appear at night.

While time flows automatically and a day cycle repeats about every ten minutes in real time, players can adjust the in-game clock to the desired time at any point. Additionally, while the game is about exploration, areas called “Landmarks” aid in traversing the land by serving as warp points that allow the player to instantly return to that point at any time. The game also supports a “save anywhere” feature, where players can save at any point outside of battle. The game has a New Game+ mode, which maintains much of the player’s progress from their initial playthrough into future playthroughs.