Import Time: Xenoblade Chronicles

You might have to jump through some serious hurdles to obtain a copy of Xenoblade Chronicles, but trust me when I say it's worth it. Hell, being beaten with flaming tree branches would be acceptable if the end result was being able to play a game of this calibre.

If you're unsure of the backstory, here's how the release of Xenoblade Chronicles has been bungled. Nintendo of Japan announced a new, epic role-playing game under the direction of second-party developer Monolith Soft that would reinvigorate flatlining Wii sales in Japan. The game promised gigantic landscapes and thoughtful game design that hearkened back to the fundamentals of the genre that director Tetsuya Takahashi himself helped to create (as a member of the development team for Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana, and as director of the similarly-titled Xenogears and Xenosaga) while focusing on areas of game design that this generation of JRPG has been largely content to ignore: freedom, unpretentious storytelling, and most importantly, the supremacy of gameplay in the design equation.

Unsurprisingly, gamers across the world were excited by this announcement. Xenoblade Chronicles appeared to represent a sort of renaissance for the beleaguered Japanese Role-Playing genre, and exactly the kind of epic-lengthed and epically-scoped game that most developers, and much less Nintendo, didn't seem to attempt with any frequency. A year passed, and Xenoblade Chronicles released to wide acclaim in Japan. Encouragingly, Nintendo of Europe announced that they were going to localize the game. Surely this meant something for North American gamers, no?

No.

With Nintendo of America seemingly content to let a localized (and brilliant) game sit on the shelf, it now falls to gamers to find their own methods of playing Xenoblade Chronicles, and also probably void the warranty on their Wiis. First, you have to find a copy, likely through eBay. Then, you have to crack open your Wii using some unsavoury means, as all Wiis are region-locked. And finally, when you've accomplished all of that, you're finally greeted with the game's transcendant beauty.

Those first few moments are worth all of the trouble. Xenoblade Chronicles is a gorgeous game, and not just in terms of visuals. This is a game that has clearly had a lot of love put into it. From the operatic score from Yoko Shimamura (of Kingdom Hearts fame) and Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger), to the care put into the game's brilliantly British localization, to the slickness of every menu and interactive element of the game, this is a game that oozes refinement from every aspect of its being, a complete and resounding statement of intent from a genre too often foundering in the face of innovation.

If all that Xenoblade Chronicles did was create the greatest digital geography yet seen in video games, it would be a worthwhile experience. Despite the game's odd setting (the entire game takes place on the bodies of giant robots that died in combat, with lush foliage growing over their expired husks), Xenoblade Chronicles succeeds in offering a scope and grandeur that's unparalleled in all of video gaming. The first moment when you emerge from a canyon, only to see vast mountains and an epic landscape in front of you, is a sublime experience in the truest sense. It literally sent shivers up my spine, and it's something that happens over and over again in Xenoblade Chronicles. That experience never gets old.

It's really that exploration of 3D space that sets Xenoblade Chronicles apart from its JRPG brethren. Even a game that I love like Final Fantasy VII had nearly no reason to be in 3D, but Xenoblade Chronicles makes a statement of intent about the necessity of 3D to convey this sense of grandeur. It also makes the world feel real and alive, while also being fantastic enough to justify its game treatment. Whereas a game like Metroid Prime that attempted a similar approach to world-building would have its myriad fauna specimens set to attack you at every turn, Xenoblade Chronicles is the absolute pinnacle at creating the seemingly-impossible video game ecology. Sure, some species will attack you if you enter their territory, but many are content to simply go about their routines, only attacking when attacked by you. It gives the game a living quality that is next to impossible to find elsewhere.

If I'm talking about the world to an excessive degree, it's because it's absolutely the most superlative element of the game. That's not to say, however, that the other elements of Xenoblade Chronicles aren't worth talking about, because this is a game that basically doesn't set a single foot wrong. The plot is fantastic, and I wish I could talk about it at length, but Takahashi has created a script that is, outside of the initial setup, made almost entirely of spoilers. Let us say this: the game tells the story of Shulk, who unlike most JRPG heroes or heroines, is a thoughtful and not-at-all flamboyant character, and someone where it actually makes sense that he is the main character. In the early going, Shulk is doing research on the Monado, a giant blade that is the only weapon that humans have against the machines that invaded and tried to conquer them a year previously. Along with his friend Reyn, they set out to stop the mechanical invaders from destroying their homeland, all while learning about the Monado and its strange ability to allow its user to see a short distance into the future.

The setup is somewhat cliche, but the execution absolutely is not. For one, this is a JRPG with something to say about the world we live in, as the game is essentially an examination of terrorism and xenophobia. And the other is that this is a game that is often so shocking in its plot twists that no aspect of your perception ever feels entirely safe. Indeed, a main character flat-out dies in the first hour of the game, instantly setting up the premise and the need to plow through the game's ever spiraling web of danger and desperation.

Taking on the Mekonis is never an arduous task, because even though Xenoblade Chronicles is content to take elements of successful game design that have worked in the past (a little bit of Final Fantasy XII's real-time battle system here, a little bit of World of Warcraft-style questing there), this is one of the most forward-thinking traditional games ever. Every element has been streamlined: the experience system so often used in JRPGs has been expanded to not only account for your experience in battle, but your experience simply in being in the world, as you're rewarded for discovering new points of interest as well as for managing the ever-increasingly difficult battles. The menu system allows for endless customization that never feels particularly overwhelming, and a real, tactile pleasure can be found in upgrading your characters' armour and weapons, as the game actually represents changes to their character in the gameplay and in cutscenes. And while you never are unsure of where to go thanks to intuitive wayfinders, you're never obliged to follow them like the too-didactic "breadcrumb trail" in the Fable games. Indeed, exploration is grafted into every element of the game, both for its own sake and for the sake of the game's narrative.

Most impressively, there isn't the divide between gameplay and story that exists so often in games of this nature. A rather significant example is the aforementioned future-seeing. That doesn't just happen in cutscenes – Shulk's prescience is a fundamental part of the game's battling system, as he will see moves that enemies are about to use that will cause significant damage to him or his compatriots, and the game leaves it in your hands as to how to change the future that has been laid in front of you. This isn't even the only example – despite the many cutscenes in the game, this is a game where you're always in control and you get to choose what to do.

Oddly enough, it also feels like something that could really only be accomplished on the Wii. The engine underpinning the whole game is incredibly versatile, able to handle claustrophobic caves with the same aplomb as its wide-open spaces. Maybe the game occasionally looks last-generation, but it's clear that some details had to be sacrificed for scope, and scope is something that the intricately-detailed HD systems wouldn't be able to handle or wouldn't be interested in handling. The technical shortcomings of the Wii have allowed Monolith Soft to focus on aspects of game design that the HD systems have striven to undo: player-centric gameplay, exploration, and a complete world that is completely untethered from developments in the world of cinema. Xenoblade Chronicles is a game that could only exist as a game, and in that way, it deserves to be considered in the same echelon of Nintendo classics like Zelda.

So maybe you have to work to get Xenoblade Chronicles, but that work is worth it. The first time you hear a giant, hulking robot taunting you with a cockney accent, you'll be hooked; and it's the confidence of the game, the clear and focused game design, that will put this game in the same pantheon of classics to which Chrono Trigger or Secret of Mana belong. Xenoblade Chronicles, then, is everything that Nintendo of America isn't: confident, and assured of its own success.