Monolith Software
Xenoblade Chronicles

There are moments of pure poetry in this Xenoblade that convey emotions hard to describe using "simple" words. Like the profound synergy created by the stunning dynamic soundtrack combined with some locations that calling "inspired" would be an understatement; such as those in an area called Valak Mountains: snow-covered mountains by day whose crystals emit - at dusk - a soft light that illuminates the area and rises to the sky, while the musical theme becomes more and more rarefied, giving way to a sweet, minimal, delicate accompaniment, with few piano chords intended to enhance the moment.
Or again, losing oneself in a boundless plain, teeming with life, consisting of the leg of a long-dead giant, Bionis, pierced by its own nemesis, Mechanis.
And feeling lost, disoriented in the enormity of the game environment, while we watch a herd of anthropomorphic beings resembling turkeys migrate eastward, as we stand there in disbelief watching their silhouettes fade away until an evocative sunset warns us that night has fallen and very soon these will make way for much fiercer beings.

There is poetry in this Xenoblade Chronicles comparable to the never-too-lamented poetry of the great JRPG productions of the 16-bit era.
Characters with a Jap-centric design that - perhaps - do not yet stand out like the various Cloud and Squall but have not fallen into the Loli patheticism of many contemporary productions.

An engaging, epic, metaphysical plot (and the Xeno prefix says a lot) that finds its "MacGuffin" in the invasion of machine-like beings, the Mechans - coming from Mechanis - of one of the countless colonies of Homs (the counterpart to humans in the world of Xenoblade) settled along the body of Bionis. From there will begin the long journey of our alter-ego, Shulk, who, with the help of numerous companions, will decide to travel the entire body of Bionis until reaching its nemesis, Mechanis with the aim of putting an end to the primeval hatred experienced by these beastly machines toward any living being present on Bionis. A journey accompanied by the revelation of numerous mysteries:
some strange abilities developed by Shulk such as his mysterious foresight, the function of some strange technological artifacts belonging to ancient civilizations (the Monado which originally gave the title its name) and - why not? - the understanding of the genesis of the entire world.
The long journey on Bionis, as we have come to understand, does not spare numerous plot twists, some of which are quite substantial which benefit the game's story, allowing for a narrative structure that never seems predictable or trivial and, above all, encourages the player in the challenging (and demanding) task of completing his enormous and boundless pilgrimage across the expanses made up of the body parts of the two dormant giants.

The actual game thus consists of a painstaking wandering of the player across immense game maps (huge but closed areas) that make up the various parts of the bodies of the two giants: their legs, arms,
their heads that in fact form the game world. Completely and freely explorable areas also subject to a dynamic time system that further enhances the sense of exploration by changing events based on in-game time (so no corridors like in Final Fantasy XIII, to be clear) where the player will be able to engage in optional activities such as solving some subquests based on finding a certain number of objects or defeating certain types of particularly resilient monsters.
Each activity will guarantee the player the acquisition of a certain number of experience points that will correspond to level advancement and will allow the acquisition of special abilities that will be very useful in battle.

And indeed, battles are another strength of Monolith Software's production: firstly, enemies will be perfectly visible on the map so we can say goodbye to the loved-hated random encounters and the fight will take place on the game field, in a similar way to the battles of FFXII, indeed the same battle system of Xenoblade can be considered a revised and corrected version of the battle system of Squareenix production.
Thanks to Shulk’s foresight ability, it will be possible to foresee a potential attack that the opponent will implement shortly, and we will also be shown the number of turns remaining and the amount of damage constituted by that attack. This brilliant insight gives the entire combat dynamic enormous strategic potential, it will be necessary in a short time to implement a preventive strategy capable of "altering" the future to avoid thus the unfortunate fate. Every time the future is altered, a particular bar will also be charged, which will allow a particular type of group special attack capable of inflicting a harmful status on the opponent, making it more vulnerable to your attacks (an essential component given the high defense of some enemies such as the Mechans) or immobilizing the enemy for a certain number of turns.

Finally, speaking about longevity, it’s hard not to praise this title, we’re talking about almost 80 hours of gameplay just to reach the finale, gameplay hours that increase dramatically if one intends to uncover all the secrets in the game, complete all subquests, or finish all the relational diagrams.
What do we mean? Every particular colony we encounter on Bionis will boast a certain number of inhabitants who can present us with some particular tasks, giving us insights into the particular relationships they establish with other inhabitants of that colony. Only by solving these various quests will we be able to establish relationships with the various inhabitants and allow them to entertain various relationships among themselves, which in turn will enable additional subquests to be unlocked and so on.

Xenoblade Chronicles is a JRPG of enormous, almost limitless proportions, but not for that a perfect game: there are some shadows that obscure the brilliance of the entire production.
The general problem unfortunately undermining the experience at its base is found in its structure that proves excessively similar to an MMORPG. Although the quests are numerous and all with a differentiated background, unfortunately, they always boil down to the same three or four types, such as finding objects, defeating monsters, or finding a particular character hidden in the immense game areas.
Even the "inhabited" areas, the so-called Colonies, seem excessively empty, bare (perhaps also due to the outdated hardware the title runs on) and poorly characterized.
In short, in the long run, there is the impression of wandering rather than in living game environments in immense arenas in which to complete subquests, a situation fortunately compensated for by the beauty and artistic care presented in them, but the feeling of repetitiveness becomes strong halfway through the adventure especially due to the gargantuan length of the title.

However, despite its excessive and heavy near-Massive RPG Offline nature, Xenoblade Chronicles is a title that no lover of JRPGs should miss for various reasons: primarily for the superb action battle system, perhaps the best ever seen in a JRPG, for the truly valid and engaging plot, full of entirely unexpected twists, but above all for the immense artistic care of every setting and enemy, for the excellent soundtrack, and, ultimately, for all the elements that essentially made the JRPGs of the 16 and 32 bit era great and that unfortunately have been lost in the era of high definition and AAA productions.