Xenoblade Chronicles Wii
  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Release Date: Apr 6, 2012
User Score
8.5 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 314 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 270 out of 314
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 314
  3. Negative: 33 out of 314

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  1. Tappuah
    Sep 9, 2012
    0
    I struggled, no struggled isn't the word, I went to war with myself to love this game because of the overwhelming positive reviews. While video games can be so subjective at times, this one blows my mind as how it gets such high scores overall. The things that are wrong with it aren't in areas that are subjective.
    The game is broken and unfinished. It is a complete technical mess and a vo    mit of disjointed and unnecessary time killing objectives. Lazy programming and the sense that someone wanted to make something really epic ended up with an okay and sometimes good story line, but a disconnected npc world and flimsy lore. That I could live with, and perhaps 10 years okay a game like this would have been passable even great by forgiveness of hardware limitations.
    It is 2012. There is just is no room for forgiveness anymore. Game like Skyrim, Mass Effect and kingdoms of Amalaur to name a few have shown you can make, albeit imperfect, sweepings epics that incorporate mmo structure, rpg elements and meaningful side quest/reward connections that don't feel like they are throwing sand traps at you.
    I get that it's running on a Wii, slow hardware you say, well here's the thing, you don't bring a minivan to a Daytona 500. We forgave AI limitations in 1999 when all the CPU could do was a throw an enemy at you in a suicidal guns blazing chicken run. I will repeat, this is 2012. There is no excuse and this game should have been told to pack up and go home
    Ill try to avoid the subjective things like story elements, pacing. Heck even the unrequired unconnected, repetitive side quests are fun for some people. I will say if you are going to make a game where you pick up thousands of random items off the ground, at least make then useful for something, anything. Sell them you say, well good luck on that because you have no idea when you need one of those, maybe 10 of 5000 different items will come in useful for doing a task that isnt't even useful. Do I need bunniv ears? I don't know, neither do they and maybe in the phase 3 of rebuilding the base, which there is no reason to do anyway, you might need 10 of the things. As I mentioned at the beginning of this review the game is broken, I will say first off, I knew what I was doing with playing the game, I knew how to use individual    … Expand
  2. GabCan47
    Apr 27, 2013
    3
    I can't believe this game got so many good reviews. I gave it a good 15 hours and I was very disappointed in the "EPIC, AMAZING, AWESOME JRPG". It's total trash. The battle system is excruciatingly boring and dumb. It's the same thing over and over and over. If I wanted a mindless button masher, I would have played God of War. The AI is useless. The quests are boring and dumb. The game...is boring and dumb. Maybe I just hate action rpg's but I just don't see it. It's mind blowing. I gave it a 3 for the soundtrack.… Expand
  3. kazam90
    Jun 14, 2012
    4
    It was OK. The gameplay is good: it has good voice acting, good battle system, the environments are nice and the soundtrack is great. Where the game completely drops the ball is the plot, and for an RPG that is a bad place to fail. The story is painfully cliched and overdone at worst and just plain boring at best. "Scenes," which are long and plenty, consist of spouting cheesy one-liners and talking over and over about nothing. The characters range from completely insufferable to boring to OK, the worst being the main lead Shulk, who is every annoying JRPG trope squished into one bland cliched package.… Expand
  4. AlexShatter
    Nov 20, 2012
    4
    A strikingly mediocre attempt at Final Fantasy XII.

    Sure, the story's flashy, but if you truly appreciate character customization, detailed equipment, and RPG-immersion, this is not the game for you. Expect no diversity of character or game-play; there are no "professions", absolutely no "magics" or "techniques" worth mentioning, and don't even think you will get to focus your character    s strengths -- everything, including the "skills", is preset. It's reception baffles me. Have RPG-s really been this diluted? If you're 12 years old, though, the repetitive, simplistic tools that they give you to achieve a goal might be enough to immerse you.… Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
92 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 59 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 58 out of 59
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 59
  3. Negative: 0 out of 59
  1. GameCritics
    May 24, 2012
    80
    Xenoblade may not be the greatest JRPG ever, but it's certainly one of the best games on the Nintendo Wii.
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  2. Quarter to Three
    Apr 19, 2012
    100
    There's a lot more to recommend Xenoblade Chronicles. The dialogue, the humor, the artwork, the prophecy system, the music, the variety of environments, the character progression, the crafting system, the crazy quest density, the quest quality, the memorable characters, the collectibles, the secrets, and so on. This is a landmark achievement in the genre. As of its release, you can no longer talk about great RPGs, or maybe even great games, without also talking about Xenoblade Chronicles.
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  3. G4 TV
    Apr 12, 2012
    90
    Xenoblade Chronicles is the sort of precious jRPG that this recent console generation has sorely lacked. Despite some missteps and over-complication, the game stands out as one of the best in recent years. Xenoblade creates a world simply begging to be explored.
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