Xenoblade Chronicles (video game)

A battle between Shulk (the player), Reyn, and Fiora against some hostile wildlife in Xenoblade Chronicles.

Xenoblade Chronicles has a real-time action-based battle system, where the player manually moves the current lead character in real-time, and party members will "auto-attack" when enemies enter their attack radius.[15] Manually input attacks, called "Arts", may also be performed by the player, but in a limited fashion. Battle Arts are only available after a "cool down" period that occurs after every use, while character specific "Talent Arts" only become available after enough auto-attacks are executed.[15] Both party members and enemies have a finite amount of health points, and attacks deplete this value. Combat is won when all enemies lose their HP, but the game is lost if the player's character loses all their HP and has no means of being revived. Health may be restored by the player by using healing Arts in battle, or the player may let characters' HP regenerate automatically outside of battle. Winning battles earns the player experience points, which allows the characters to grow stronger by leveling up and learning new Arts. Arts for each character must be set by the player on their respective set up, called a "Battle Palette", outside battles.[8][16]

Several other systems are present to affect the flow of battle. The "Party Gauge" slowly fills as party members successfully land hits on enemies, and filling the gauge allows the player to chain multiple attacks together, for extra damage.[16] All party members have an "aggro ring" around them as well; the more actions a character performs, the larger it grows. Larger aggro rings lead enemies to focus their efforts on that respective character, leading to a strategic aspect of luring and diverting attention of enemies.[15] Each character has a "Tension" gauge, which represents a character's morale: at its highest point, characters have a high probability of dealing a critical blow and less chance of missing an enemy.[8] The game's "Vision" system, where main character Shulk can see glimpses of enemies' future attacks, also factors into battles. With knowledge of an enemy's potentially dangerous attack, the player can prevent it from happening by alerting a teammate, allowing the player to activate one of their Arts, or by using an Art of their own to stop the attack.[17] The Vision system is tied to the "Party" gauge, which is filled by boosting team morale, using Arts with special effects, and avoiding or dealing critical hits. The three-tiered gauge gradually depletes outside of battle, and one tier is needed to either revive characters or alert a teammate to a vision. When all three tiers are full, the party can execute a chain attack.[8]

The setting of Xenoblade Chronicles originates in a world that was nothing but endless ocean until two titans, the Bionis and the Mechonis,[lower-alpha 5] came into existence and battled each other until only their frozen corpses remained. In the eons following their battle, they became the home of multiple forms of life. The Bionis is home to organic lifeforms, most prominently the humanoid Homs, who are virtually identical to humans both in appearance and biology; the diminutive and furry Nopon; and the avian humanoid High Entia, whose lives span centuries. Conversely, the Mechonis is home to the mechanical humanoid Machina, whose lifespans span several millennia.[9][18][19] A substance known as ether is given off by all life forms, and can be used both as a form of magic and as a method of fuel. The Monado – the namesake of Xenoblade – is a mystical ether-controlling sword used by the Homs in the battle against Mechonis, which grants visions of the future to its wielder when fully controlled.[18]

The game's main character is Shulk, a young Homs scientist who lives in Colony 9 on Bionis. During an attack by Machina warriors called Mechon, Shulk comes into possession of the Monado. During his journey, Shulk is joined by Reyn, one of Shulk's childhood friends and headstrong member of the Defence Force; Dunban, a former wielder of the Monado and the brother of Shulk's childhood friend and love interest Fiora, who also joins Shulk; Sharla, a medic and sniper from Colony 6; Melia Antiqua, princess of the High Entia and a High Entia-Homs hybrid; and Riki, a Nopon chosen as the hero of his village. Other important characters include Zanza, god of the Bionis and the game's main antagonist; Lady Meyneth, goddess of the Mechonis; Shulk's mentor Dickson; Mumkhar, a cowardly soldier who fought alongside Dunban and wished to wield the Monado for himself; Egil, self-proclaimed leader of the Machina; and Alvis, a mysterious man who aids Shulk on his journey.[20]

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition adds a new storyline, Future Connected, set one year after the events of the main story. Taking place on the Bionis's Shoulder, an area not explored in the original game, Future Connected follows Shulk, Melia, and Riki's daughter Nene and adopted son Kino as they seek to reclaim the High Entia city of Alcamoth. The story also prominently focuses on Melia's relationship with her half sister, Tyrea, who briefly appeared in the main story.

The game's opening details events one year past, when Dickson, Dunban and Mumkhar were fighting a Mechon army. Mumkhar deserts and, in the process of defeating the Mechon, the Monado paralyses Dunban's right arm. In the present, Shulk studies the Monado in Colony 9, where Dunban and Fiora live.[21] Colony 9 is soon attacked by a group of Mechon, led by 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.[22] While the Mechon are driven back, Metal Face proves immune to the Monado and appears to kill Fiora before running out of energy and fleeing. Motivated by revenge, Shulk sets out together with Reyn to pursue and kill Metal Face, and are soon joined by Sharla, Dunban, Riki, and Melia. Guided by a vision from Shulk, the group travel to the High Entia capital to gain entry to Prison Island. Shulk also meets Alvis, who is revealed to share Shulk's ability to wield the Monado. Gaining entry, they encounter Zanza, a giant being who created the Monado and who offers to improve it so that Shulk can destroy the Face Mechon, who are revealed to have Homs inside.[23] Shulk accepts and Zanza improves the Monado, but is then killed by Metal Face and another Mechon called Face Nemesis during an attack on the capital. During the ensuing battle, Face Nemesis is damaged to reveal an amnesiac Fiora controlling it.

Initially disheartened, Shulk is rallied by his comrades and sets out in pursuit of Metal Face and Fiora. During a peaceful encounter with Face Nemesis, Metal Face attacks the party, revealing himself to be Mumkhar. Egil, the leader of Mechonis, then intervenes, spiriting Fiora away.[24] On the way to the Mechonis, the party defeat Mumkhar, then face off against Egil and Face Nemesis. After the fight, Shulk and Fiora are separated from the group. During their time together, Shulk learns that Fiora had been fully awake inside Face Nemesis, but another being was controlling her actions.[25] Reuniting with the group, they meet up with a friendly Machina named Vanea. She reveals that the Bionis and Mechonis were initially at peace, before the Bionis' god Zanza launched an unprovoked attack, possessing a friend of Egil, the giant who was imprisoned on Prison Island and killed. Since the battle a year before, Egil had been working to infuse the Mechon with people from the Bionis in order to create Face units who would be impervious to the Monado.[26] Going to face Egil, Fiora is taken over by the other presence, the Machina goddess Meyneth. They reach Egil as he reactivates the Mechonis and begins an attack on the Bionis, seeking to prevent the Bionis from using its population as food and saving Mechonis from another attack.[27] Despite fighting him, Shulk manages to make him see that they both wish for a return to peace.[28] At this point, Dickson appears and shoots Shulk, who throughout the journey has been possessed by Zanza, Dickson's master. Zanza uses the Monado to destroy Mechonis, stealing Meyneth's own Monado from Fiora's body and killing Meyneth; the party narrowly escape with Shulk's body, with Egil sacrificing himself so they can escape.

In the aftermath of the Mechonis' destruction, pure-blooded High Entia begin transforming into Telethia, beings whose one purpose is to purge Bionis of life.[29] While the party is initially helpless before the Telethia, Shulk awakens and manages to defeat a Telethia raid on Colony 6, although Alvis is revealed to be a disciple of Zanza. Making their way to Prison Island, they defeat first a High Entia disciple, then Dickson. The party then travel to face Zanza, who declares the life of Bionis as simply his food and vessels, then offers Shulk the chance to become his disciple.[30] Shulk rejects the offer, and during the ensuing battle produces a new Monado; prompted by Alvis, the spirit of the Monado, Shulk kills Zanza.[31][32] Alvis then shows Shulk Zanza's origins: both Zanza and Meyneth were originally human scientists working to create a bubble universe from the Earth. The experiment ended in disaster, obliterating the universe and causing Zanza and Meyneth to be reborn as gods. Alvis was originally the artificial intelligence from the experiment station. After the new universe's birth, Zanza and Meyneth created life in their image, and Zanza created the cycle of Bionis out of fear that he would eventually fade from existence as his creations would forget him and seek life beyond Bionis.[33] With the current universe threatened with death, Alvis asks Shulk to remake the universe. Shulk wishes for a world without gods, where everyone can decide their own fates.[34] In the new universe, the survivors of Bionis and Mechonis build a new settlement and live peacefully together, Fiora is restored to her Homs form, and both her and Shulk look forward to Alvis' promise of endless worlds and races beyond their own world.[35]

The Definitive Edition epilogue scenario "Future Connected" picks up one year later. With the world's restoration underway, Shulk and Melia set out together to the remnant of Bionis's shoulder after reports that the High Entia capital Alcamoth has reappeared, and are accompanied by two young Nopon stowaways, Kino and Nene. Their ship is attacked by an energy beam from a black fog on Alcamoth, and learn from a local High Entia outpost that the land is being attacked by the Fog King, a being from outside the current reality. Shulk and Melia help resolve ethnic tensions between the garrison and a local township housing Machina, while Melia makes her peace with Tyrea who is in the area doing research on the Fog King. Shulk and Melia eventually find a way to weaken the Fog King, aided by surviving Telethia, and reclaim Alcamoth. The scenario ends with Melia being crowned as Empress of the High Entia.

The scenario was created by Takahashi, Yuichiro Takeda and Yurie Hattori. Takahashi was responsible for creating the main concept, but as he was going to be director and executive producer, he was unable to also take on full script-writing duties, so he asked Takeda to be his partner in creating the scenario. Takeda was a writer for anime who had previously collaborated with Takahashi on adaptations of the first Xenosaga game, in addition to writing the script for Xenosaga I & II, the Nintendo DS remake of Xenosaga and its sequel. Takahashi deliberately chose someone outside the video game industry as he wanted a different perspective on the story's pacing.[37] Hattori was brought in during the early development stages due to her experience with scenarios for Nintendo games, which enabled her to look at Takahashi and Takeda's scenario from an objective viewpoint.[36] A key element in the scenario was contrasting senses of scale, which Takahashi described as "contrasting the realms of the micro and the macro", while the main story themes were characters embarking on a great and evolving journey, and overcoming a predetermined future.[37][48] Despite multiple fantasy elements, Xenoblade Chronicles is based within a science fiction premise, although such elements were kept low-key during the first part of the game.[39][49]

Despite their earlier work together, it was the first time Takahashi and Takeda were so intimately involved in a project. Takeda found working on the project more difficult than he initially anticipated: his standard writing form was for the anime series format, which was limited to episodes of 20–25 minutes. With Xenoblade Chronicles, the volume of story and writing work was much larger and offered more freedom for dramatic expression. Conversely, his previous experience enabled Takahashi to easily plan the structure and scheduling for the game. During the initial writing stages, Takahashi did not give precise instructions to Takeda: he instead gave a rough outline that they worked on together, then they passed the developing script between themselves, along with producers Shingo Kawabata and Koh Kojima, to iron out rough elements. Takahashi compared it to playing a game of catch, something he was unused to doing for his game scenarios.[37] The ending underwent revisions: while Takahashi and Takeda felt they had created a fairly explanatory ending, Hattori still felt unsatisfied. After a second look, Takahashi and Takeda realized that it would appear perplexing for someone outside the writing process, so they rewrote it to be more player-friendly.[36] The final script contained a large amount of dialogue: the sheer volume, which included dialogue spoken in battle, made for a difficult experience while recording. Due to all the effort, Takahashi was emphatic that as much of it as possible be used, although he sometimes felt that there was too much. In the end, some dialogue needed to be cut as testers felt that the characters talked too much.[37] Takahashi's overall writing style was made deliberately more mature and subdued than other games within the genre.[50]

One of the elements that was of great concern to both Takahashi and Takeda was the main protagonist Shulk. Takahashi had noticed that, in the majority of RPGs, the main protagonist was all too easily disliked even if other characters became fan favorites. Consequently, one of the main priorities was to make Shulk as appealing as possible to players. During this process, it was suggested that Shulk be a silent protagonist, but there was a general wish from the staff for him to speak. In addition to this, Takahashi needed to confront the problem faced in any RPG with voiced characters, which was developing them suitably and writing appropriate dialogue between them. The companion character Riki was cited by Takeda as a favorite of his: on paper Riki sounded an unlikable character, but his voice and appearance acted as a counterbalance to his remarks.[37] One of the scenes where Hattori had input was a scene between Shulk and Fiora which showcased their connection: the original scene had Shulk touching Fiora's cheek, which Hattori felt would look "creepy" coming out of the blue. The scene was altered so Shulk touched her hand instead.[36] One of the early concepts Takeda suggested was that one of the main protagonist's party would betray them and become the final boss, but Takahashi rejected this idea as he felt it would run counter to player expectation.[37] During the course of its development, the story underwent so many revisions that Takahashi forgot what his original concept was, although the basic framework remained intact throughout.[40]

Yoko Shimomura, one of the game's many composers

The original score for Xenoblade Chronicles was composed by Manami Kiyota, ACE+ (a musical production group composed of Tomori Kudo, Hiroyo "CHiCO" Yamanaka, and Kenji Hiramatsu), and Yoko Shimomura.[51][52] As with other parts of development, Takahashi was deeply involved, constantly rejecting pieces due to what he felt was not fitting for the game. He admitted that this was due to early samples he had given the team for his vision for the music, which they had followed too faithfully for his liking. At Takahashi's request, Nobuo Uematsu's record label Dog Ear Records assisted with production.[42]

The music team was led by Shimomura, who was initially very confused by the odd naming of tracks, along with getting the opportunity of using sounds not normally used in compositions in her other projects, such as electric guitars.[51][52] Kiyota had only previously done superficial work on video game titles; she accepted Dog Ear Records' offer for her to compose music. ACE+ was recommended to Takahashi by Dog Ear Records. Kiyota handled environmental tracks, while ACE+ was in charge of battle tracks in addition to other musical pieces. The team's main goal was to create music that went beyond the typical sound of RPGs. In hindsight, Yamanaka attributed the harmony of the six composers' works to Takahashi's organization and overall direction.[42] The final score contained around ninety tracks. One of the hardest tracks for Shimomura was a nine-minute track that Takahashi requested to match with a movie scene. Later, he said the track needed to change midway through, essentially necessitating the creation of two conjoined themes.[52] The majority of the game's music was written by Kiyota and ACE+, with Shimomura writing eleven tracks. The music was recorded at Burnish Stone Recording Studios in Tokyo. The chorus work was provided by Yamanaka, Kiyota, and Masao Koori.[53]

Yasunori Mitsuda composed the game's ending theme, "Beyond the Sky"

The game's ending theme, "Beyond the Sky", was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda and performed in English by Australian singer Sarah Àlainn.[52][53][54][55] Mitsuda was brought in to the music team due to his previous experience with the soundtracks of Xenogears and the first Xenosaga game, and due to Takahashi's long working relationship with him. Takahashi himself personally wrote the original Japanese lyrics for the track, which were translated into English by Lisa Gomamoto.[42][53] When Mitsuda was contacted, the project was nearing completion, with very little development and composition work left. Despite this, before creating the main theme, Mitsuda asked if he could read the script, which was much larger than he anticipated.[42][51][52] The track caused much stress to Mitsuda, who was tasked to create the game's most important song, which needed to incorporate both the diversity of the entire rest of the soundtrack, and mesh with Takahashi's grand vision for the ending of the game.[42]

An official soundtrack album for the game, Xenoblade Original Soundtrack, was released by Dog Ear Records on 23 June 2010.[56] It entered the Oricon charts at #80, and remained in the charts for five weeks.[57] Upon release, the album received praise from critics: while multiple critics were surprised that Shimomura and Mitsuda's contributions were less substantial than originally thought, they found the majority of the music composed by Kiyota and ACE+ to be enjoyable. "Beyond the Sky" also received unanimous praise.[56][58][59]

A port for the New Nintendo 3DS, titled Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, was released worldwide in April 2015.[5][6][7] It features StreetPass functionality, as well as compatibility with the Shulk amiibo.[7] The port was originally announced in August 2014 alongside the New Nintendo 3DS.[75] The port was co-developed by Monster Games, a frequent collaborator with Nintendo on well-received ports. They were requested for the job by Nintendo as the staff at Monolith Soft were already working on the next Xenoblade title.[39][70] Development on the port started between Autumn and Winter 2013 initially for the original Nintendo 3DS, but initial testing showed that the original platform lacked the memory and power to effectively run the game, since the Wii's processing capabilities were greater than the regular 3DS. Hearing about the New 3DS, it was decided to use its increased processing power to realize the game's ambition.[70] Its increased power made the port possible, and its button layout, with the inclusion of the ZL and ZR shoulder buttons and the C-Stick, meant that the original Wii Classic Controller button layout could be used without adjustment. As part of the alterations made to the title, much of the on-screen information was moved down to the bottom Touch screen so as to de-clutter the top screen, while the layout was carefully arranged so as to maintain the feel of the original as much as possible.[76]

To maintain a steady frame rate and the seamless transitions between environments, unspecified "technical tricks" were used. They also worked hard to include 3D capacity despite the resultant technical difficulties.[76] The most difficult part of the development was getting the game's scale to work within the new hardware. This entailed the creation of a new graphics engine with a custom visibility culling and complex level of detail systems. All of the environments were rebuilt and optimized for the new system while keeping the original aesthetic intact.[48] The reason given for porting the game to the New 3DS rather than the Wii U home console was that the length of the game could be intimidating for the modern gamer, who was becoming more used to on-the-go, quick gaming sessions.

An expanded remaster of the original game, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, was announced in September 2019 during a Nintendo Direct presentation.[77][78] In addition to enhanced visuals, remastered music, an updated user interface, and other quality-of-life improvements, Definitive Edition also includes a new epilogue scenario titled Future Connected, which centers on the character Melia and is set one year after the main game's events. It was released worldwide for the Nintendo Switch on 29 May 2020.[79]

At the 2011 Japan Game Awards, Xenoblade Chronicles received the "Excellence" award.[142] In IGN's Best of 2012 awards, the game was named "Best Wii/Wii U Game" and awarded with "Best Wii/Wii U Story".[143][144] It was also nominated in the "Best Overall Role-playing Game" and "Best Overall Story" categories.[145][146] In RPGFan's "Game of the Year" awards that same year, it was named "Best Traditional RPG",[147] and was a runner-up for "Best Combat" and "Best RPG", losing both to Mass Effect 3.[148][149] It was also awarded the site's "Reader's Choice Best RPG" award, with 24% of readers' votes going to Xenoblade Chronicles, beating Persona 4 Golden to the award.[150] In RPGamer's "Best of 2012" awards, it was named as the year's best RPG, along with earning awards for "Best Story" and "Best Music".[151][152][153] At the 2012 Golden Joystick Awards, the game was nominated in the "Best RPG" category, although it lost to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.[154] Slant Magazine named it as "Game of the Year" in 2012.[155]

During its opening week, Xenoblade Chronicles reached the top of Japan's gaming charts, selling 80,000 units.[156] By the end of 2010, the game had sold over 161,000 copies, making it the eighth best-selling Wii game of the year, and eventually reached almost 200,000 units by the end of 2013.[157][158] In the UK charts, Xenoblade Chronicles debuted at #7, and reached #2 in the dedicated Wii charts despite stock shortages.[159][160] According to Gamasutra, it was the fourth best-selling game in the UK during its first week.[161] In the US gaming charts, the game was excluded from the NPD Group's monthly assessment due to it being a retailer exclusive.[162] Investment banking firm Piper Jaffray estimated it to be one of the best-selling games in the United States during the month of April 2012, along with Mass Effect 3 and Prototype 2.[163] In a later interview, it was stated that the game sold better in the West than in Japan.[39]

Xenoblade Chronicles 3D fared worse, selling 56,932 copies in its first week in Japan.[158] Roughly 78,000 Japanese copies had been sold by the end of June 2015.[164] In the UK charts, the game debuted at #27, becoming the third best-selling Nintendo product of that week.[165] According to NPD Group figures, the game sold under 75,000, failing to enter the top ten. However, Nintendo stated that the game was the fifth best-selling platform exclusive that week.[166][167]

As of December 2020, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition had sold 1.52 million copies.[168]

The 2022 CESA Games White Papers revealed that Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition had sold 1.68 million units, as of December 2021.[169]