Xenoblade Chronicles

Xenoblade Chronicles (, Xenoblade) is a role-playing video game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo. It was released in 2010 in Japan, in 2011 in Europe and in 2012 in North America for the Wii. In 2015, the game was ported to the New Nintendo 3DS as Xenoblade Chronicles 3D. An enhanced remake of the game was also released in 2020 for the Nintendo Switch as Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition.

Long ago
The Bionis and the Mechonis, two giant titans, were fighting until their bodies would die off. Their bodies would serve as a place to live for many lifeforms.

Battle of Sword Valley
One year before the events of Xenoblade Chronicles, a battle between the Homs and the Mechon was fought in Sword Valley. Dunban was the only person who could control the Monado, a mysterious sword found fourteen years prior to the battle. Together with hist old friends Dickson and Mumkhar, they repelled the Mechon, but Mumkhar betrayed the Homs and Dunban lost control of the Monado and was badly injured.

Colony 9
One year after the Battle of Sword Valley, the Mechon attack the Homs settlement Colony 9 on the foot of the Bionis. Dunban tries to fight the Mechon with the Monado, but fails. Instead, Shulk, a scientist studying the Monado, takes control and not only is able to control it, but also sees Visions of the future. Together with Reyn, they fight the Mechon. However, a unique Mechon that is known as Metal Face appears and cannot be harmed even with the Monado. Fiora, Dunban's sister and Shulk's and Reyn's childhood friend, attemps to attack it and gets stabbed by Metal Face. After the Mechon retreat together with Fiora's body, Shulk and Reyn swore revenge on the Mechon and began their journey to the upper regions of the Bionis.

Bionis' Leg
When the party reaches the Bionis' Leg, they find a boy named Juju and save him from angry Arduns. He tells them that Colony 6 was attacked by the Mechon too and leads them to the Refugee Camp where they meet Sharla, Juju's big sister. She tells them that his fiancé Gadolt was taken by the Mechon. After they realize that Juju disappeared in the night, they go together to find him. They find him being attacked by Xord, another faced Mechon. The party was unable to kill him and he fled together with Juju.

Ether Mine
The party reached the Ether Mine below Colony 6 where they meet Otharon, a survivor of Colony 6. Shulk sees a vision that it seems that he is unable to save Juju and Otharom. On the bottom of the mine, they fight Xord and Otharon survived, sowing Shulk that he is able to change the future. They take the freight elevator up where they get attacked by Xord one more time. After he finally dies and reach the outside, they are surrounded by many faced Mechon including Metal Face. Dunban and Dickson come to help, but the Mechon only retreat when a Telethia showed up. Shulk gets a series of many visions where he sees Prison Island, making that his next destination.

Makna Forest
After Otharon, Dickson and Juju left the party in Satorl Marsh and going up through the Bionis' Interior, the party reaches Makna Forest. They find a girl named Melia unconscious after a battle with a Telethia. Sharla sends Shulk to a shore near the Great Makna Falls to find Ether Crystals. There, he meets Alvis who teaches him that Telethia has the ability to read people's minds. He takes the Monado and shows Shulk how to defeat a Telethia that attacks them. Shulk asks him who he is and why he is able to control the Monado, but when Reyn returns, Alvis disappears. When they return, Sharla manages to heal Melia and she leads them towards Eryth Sea. When they reach Frontier Village, a place inhabited by the Nopon, Melia asks Chief Dunga to take Shulk and the others to Eryth Sea. She explains that she has unfinished business with the Telethia that injured her and killer her companions. Shulk decides to help her and defeats it deep in the forest.

Alcamoth
The party reaches Eryth Sea. They find Alcamoth, the capital of the High Entia that Melia belongs to, floating in the sky above the sea, together with Prison Island. In Alcamoth, Melia goes ahead and the rest gets arrested by soldiers because of the Monado.

Gameplay

 * See also: Xenoblade Chronicles (series)

Battle
Up to three characters can be in the party at once. They periodically use s to deal and fill up the Talent Gauge. Filling it up allows the player to use their. Up to eight other s are available to the player at once. Once used, they enter a cooldown phase and the player has to wait until the art can be used again. Once the is full, a  can be started. The Party gauge is also used for reviving incapacitated party members. If the enemy is about to unleash a strong attack, a Vision may appear. This gives the player some time to react and prepare for the attack.

Field
Outside of battles, the player can accept s from s where enemies must be slain, items collected, or other NPCs talked to. Crystal Deposits that are located all over Bionis and Mechonis give Crystals that can be used to craft Gems. Collectables can be registered in the Collectopaedia or can be used together with s to reconstruct Colony 6. Talking to named NPCs might create or alter links on the.

Digital re-release
The original Wii version was digitally re-released via the Nintendo eShop on the Wii U console in August 2015 in Europe and Oceania, April 2016 in North America, and July 2016 in Japan. It has no differences from the original physical Wii disc release other than the convenience of playing the game on the Wii U without explicitly accessing Wii Mode, which the disc version requires to play on the Wii U console. The Wii U is backwards compatible with all Wii games.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3D
A port of the game was released in 2015 for the New Nintendo 3DS. It added a few features like the Jukebox.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
A remaster of the game was released on May 29th 2020 on the Nintendo Switch. It features many graphical improvements and most interestingly new story content in the form of Xenoblade Chronicles: Future Connected.

Trivia

 * Xenoblade Chronicles is one of only three downloadable Wii games on Wii U to support the Classic Controller (Pro), and therefore also the Wii U Gamepad, the other two games being Pandora's Tower and Sin & Punishment: Successor of the Skies/Star Successor.