Xenoblade Chronicles arrives in the US in 'April 2012' [update]

@Dalrint I hope so. British dubs are great. It's much harder to point out a bad or unnatural voice actor.

@Dalrint I'm fairly certain it's just going to be a straight port of the Euro version, which is better than nothing.

@Boomaga

Oh, I agree! I played and loved the european version through...means I cannot explain.

but it was great!

@Dalrint Here's hoping I can listen to the Japanese voices (since I speak the language pretty well). Like Star Ocean 4 on the PS3, Japanese voices can make annoying characters voices somewhat more tolerable (*cough* Lymle *cough*).

@therandomizer

Sometimes they can make them worse just depends what every person fins more annoying. But I can votch for Star Ocean 4 I needed to hold my hatred back so I didn't kill innocent little bunnies because of that girl.

@therandomizer
Japanese voices are available in Xenoblade Chronicles EU version (maybe you know that, just saying). You can switch any time from the options. Hopefully they will keep it in the US one, doesn't seem like any reason why not.

I didn't personally choose them on this occasion, because although I do prefer Japanese voices, the best thing about the voice acting in this game is characters shouting at each other in combat (they have loads of different lines, I think as their affinity increases it changes or something, and they respond to each other). There aren't any subtitles for this part, and I do know some Japanese but not enough to reliably pick up stupid retorts in the middle of a battle. :)

The English-language voice acting is... okay. Actually, the main character is pretty good - although you kind of get the impression the voice director said 'you saw Lord of the Rings, right? Do Frodo'. And the bad guy through the early part is great; in his case the voice director said 'do that "looks like meat's back on the menu" Orc'. :) Other than that, all the voices are distinctly average - which is to say, for a video game, they're great.

One of the female characters though... looks like an angel, acts like one, but *sounds* like she's about to go get totally wasted that evening at Time in Romford. Absolutely just my unfair stereotype! But it was a bit jarring to start with.

BTW, I think I'm done with the game now (seen end credits and done most of the optional stuff but might come back to it, there are still a few quest strands I haven't finished) - at 120 hours just for that game. Damn.

@jph89 Go eat cake, you'll be double happy.

@jph89
I would also like to note my jovial mood-shift as a result of this news. Comedy-wisey? Um... Let me try this one:

"PRE-ORDER NOW AT GAMESTOP™ FOR FREE WEARABLE BUCKLED STRAPS! Power to the Gamers(wallet)!"

How's that?

@Shadow Hog

That sums my feelings up perfectly.

@Shadow Hog http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LQ6t2kmWRQ&feature=related

@Shadow Hog

http://www.zeldainformer.com/images/articles/5678658637_e512993bc2.jpg

@Mr Khan I agree that this was handled very poorly by Nintendo. The interest for this game peaked months ago during the campaign, and when that appeared to have fails many blogs (including this one) detailed instructions on how to modify the Wii to play import games.

Nintendo continues to lose my respect, the way they've handled this being a prime example. Fans shouldn't have to beg and clamor for a noteworthy game to be released, especially when there are so few of them for the system (that do not contain the words "Mario" or "Zelda").

@Mr Khan

Aye, hands down NOA dropped the ball, when all that was required was a simple press release and a vague (first/second/etc) release window ..... several months ago.

@Mr Khan

Guaranteed that 3 months ago, this was not near a state where they confirm it coming out.

Nintendo dropped the ball, but they dropped the ball 8 months ago. They should have looked at their upcoming software lineup and seen the desert 2012 will be for the Wii. This, and the other Project Rainfall games, are games already slated for Europe and provide some much needed "goodwill" with hardcore fans as the Wii U approaches.

@Mr Khan

It's hard to say. Because of the whole fiasco Xenoblade received a lot more attention in the US market than it would have gotten normally.

At this point it may be more beneficial for fans to be so excited that they aren't going to miss out that they go buy the game despite their previous anger and disappointment. Nintendo still received money for all the people that imported the other versions, so its not like they lost out (unless some people illegally downloaded it).

@Mr Khan
If I remember correctly, Nintendo never said it was never going to happen, they just said the typical PR statement of "There are no plans at this time". That is so common by now that it should already be known that this means they're definitely considering it. It should've become even more obvious when Nintendo said "We'll be watching Europe's sales closely". Obviously the game did pretty well in Europe, and it should be known by now that Nintendo likes to make surprise announcements, Xenoblade was probably going to be a surprise.

Reggie's been hinting it a lot lately too with the statements saying "Wii still has support coming next year". Obviously, Nintendo is spacing out their titles to give the Wii extended life before the Wii U comes out. Yea, they could've said Xenoblade is coming out, but then they'd lose their primary focuses on currently releasing games.

You guys are saying Nintendo handled it poorly just because you weren't patient enough to give them the benefit of the doubt, despite that this type of thing happens in this industry ALL THE TIME.

@RickGhastly

But...Persona 4... can't be beat!

@RickGhastly Persona 4 is a brilliant better-late-than-never last generation game, no doubt.

I have a real soft spot for Lost Odyssey this generation though.

@ovoon
I love the entire SMT series but P3 and P4 were not that good. They were average RPGs with anime tones on them and a mild dating sim. The rest of the SMT series are all amazing, however.

@ovoon
Yeah, if I'm a blind fanboy for anything it's Megami Tensei and Dragon Quest. I only considered Persona 4 "last-gen" by the hardware rather than the release date.

@RickGhastly Some people don't consider it an RPG, but I'd say that Valkyria Chronicles is in the Top 5 games this console generation.

@RickGhastly

do not exceed Final Fantasy XIII but pretty close...

This game if its make iN HD for ps3 or xbox360 it could be the best rpg of this generation...

@jph89
I'm pretty sure you can use the classic controller since the European version has a bundle that comes with a red classic controller pro.

@iceveiled and then they made everyone bald space marines. IS THAT BETTER!?

@Androu1
That would actually be pretty humorous.

@wqerty

That would be The Last Story (for which hope of release has now been greatly heightened)

@wqerty

I read a story a while ago (that I cannot find) that Mistwalker (the guys behind Last Story) and Monolith Soft (the guys behind Xenoblade Chronicles) were given the same, brief design document from Nintendo.

Each game is an interpretation of the same basic idea, just one by a team of ex-Final Fantasy people and one by a team of ex-Chrono Cross and ex-Xenosaga people.

@wrongThinker This is the only one. Even the most consistent formulas eventually run into errant data.

@Calatia

WTF are you guys talking about? Xenoblade is published by Nintendo, it's a 1st-party game. Nintendo owns Monolith Soft (creators of the Xenogears/Xenosaga franchises).

@wrongThinker

Madworld, Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Tales of Symponia all say hi.

@wrongThinker

The Wii has a lot of quality titles from a variety of developers. Actually look at the library sometime. You'll be surprised at the quality and quantity.

@Foetoid Muramasa is a severely underrated game.

@(Unverified)

As underrated as Madworld was overrated.

@tendoboy1984 Touche. I find it ironic that I was downvoted because I said that there weren't very many quality 3rd part titles on the Wii, but the most up-voted response to me points out the very title I thought wasn't Nintendo was.

I wasn't trying to start a flame war or insinuate the quality of Wii titles was low.... but to all of you listing 3 to 5 titles to try and prove I'm wrong, one title by a 3rd party publisher every 12 months does not prove your point, it proves mine.

@wrongThinker I completely agree with you.

@wrongThinker
http://vsrecommendedgames.wikia.com/wiki/Wii

@wrongThinker True. In NA the Wii's had about 2 releases this entire year worth playing. The PS3 and 360 (even the PSP) have all had a steady stream of great titles coming in. It honestly feels like Nintendo's is killing the Wii a year before the release of their Wii U.