[Xenoblade] Monado: Beginning of the World -- You want it

By RabbitSuit 06-28-2011 05:24 PM

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(I'm fairly certain the subtext says, "RPGs for the Wii can be Epic")

Monado Beginning of the World -- Pick Up Your Sword (Wii) otherwise known as Xenoblade Chronicles is a vast single player RPG for the Wii with elements similar to MMOs and Platformers. It’s a beautiful misfit mesh between Final Fantasy XII (PS2), Monster Hunter Tri (Wii), and Okami (Wii/PS2).

Xenoblade’s sequence of events are a little cliche. The main character, Shulk, starts out in the lush fields of Colony 9, stretching, yawning, and ya know, enjoyin’ your life. Oh, whoa! Check it out! Your cute childhood friend, Fiorung, made you lunch. Just can’t help thinking, “could it possibly get better?” and then the Colony’s defense systems target some falling objects in the sky. Suddenly;

Shit. Gets. Real.

Shulk ends up as the wielder of the legendary Monado -- the sword that was important enough to snag a name change for the game. And is charged with hunting down and defeating the Mechon, the mechanised force of Mechonis. The same foes the hero and previous wielder of Monado, Dunban (also the older brother of Fiorung which probably explains the slow progress, probably), defeated just one short year ago.

The game is vast... to put it lightly. Simply following the main story can net you at least 50 hours of gametime. Tacking on the ‘New Game+’ feature is overkill. The time frame quoted above was including all of the ‘time saving abilities’ packed into it. You can speed up your clock to make the in-game time any time you wish. So that stops the need to have to wait and come back to do events at certain times. Much like Lunar: Silver Star Story, you also have the ability to save anywhere! So if you accidentally run into a lvl 90+ mob that makes the final boss look like a pansy when exploring, no worries. Your hours of gameplay will still be intact.

The geniuses that created Monado Beginning of the World -- Pick Up Your Sword have a nifty reward system based on exploring the beautiful (and not just based on Wii standards) world they created. Finding landmarks will reward you with much desired EXP. Making exploring the game more than just a tip of the hat to the animators, designers and developers that created it.

The battle system takes a page from FFXII, creatures aren’t random encounters, you can walk up and instigate fights; get chased down by them or leave’em be. Although you’ll be controlling battle commands and movement of yourself in real-time. Character customization of weapons and armor is rendered throughout the game and will make appearances in cutscenes on all seven of the playable characters seen below

(Yes, there are seven of them. Look again.)

Which leads to possibly the only downside of this game. Cutscenes are well done and well voiced, but plentiful. You have to remember, the folks that made this were behind the Xenosaga Trilogy for the PS2. It can kinda take you out of ‘roleplaying’ and into more of the ‘spectating’, but development through cutscenes is far from bad.

This trailer is OLD, but displays showcases the goods well. Check out E3's (2009) trailer for the Japanese version of the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPI4WLEQ5as

Release Date:
JP - June 10, 2010
EU - September 2, 2011
NA - Unknown
Release Price: $59.99 USD

Note the "Unknown" for NA release. Fans were eagerly awaiting a mention at E3 2011 for a name and release date, but were left empty handed. Thus, the project "Operation Rainfall" was born. It's an internet petition to get Nintendo of America to bring over not only Monado: Beginning of the World, but two other titles The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower.

In a matter of hours, the preorder of Monado: Beginning of the World has shot up to Amazon's best selling video game! Surpassing the recent release of Ocarina of Time for the 3DS and the preorder for Skyward Sword on the Wii.

Yesterday, 6/27/2011, a statement was made quoting Nintendo "is aware of the 'Missing Wii Games'/Operation Rainfall movement and that it will have a statement on the matter. At the moment I don't have definitive word on when that statement will arrive" according to IGN.

We'll have to wait and see what Reggie has up his sleeve. But until then, you EU folks are lucky. Pick it up when you can!

Rabbitsuit Out.