Joystiq- If you want to know where Xenoblade Chronicles came from, you need only look toward two sources. There's Monster Hunter, which is the inspiration for seemingly every modern JRPG from Dragon Quest IX to more blatant knockoffs like God Eater. And there are MMORPGs, which have come to exercise a great deal of influence over Japanese gaming culture as a whole.
Xenoblade Chronicles, and Monster Hunter too, are like this for a reason. Work and school start early and end late in Japan, and any time at home is usually either devoted to the family, or sleeping. Many gamers have migrated to manga cafes, which have been dominated by MMORPGs like Lineage for about a decade now. MMOs have in turn influenced loot-centric cooperative handheld games like Monster Hunter, which serve as the other alternative for busy students and salarymen.
This trend presents a dilemma for Japanese developers. Japan simply can't get enough Monster Hunter and its ilk, which is all the more reason for developers to keep cranking them out. Global audiences, however, have been slow to embrace co-op RPGs. That's where Xenoblade Chronicles comes in – an RPG with all the trappings of an MMO or a Monster Hunter, but wrapped in a traditional, single-player JRPG.
Xenoblade Chronicles composer Kenji Hiramatsu reflects on his work and feels that it's "time for a fresh start."
There is no together at the top. There is only one top jrpg series. Xenoblade Chronicles series is alone at the top
I like the Xenoblades series but my ‘top’ series would be either the Trails series or Persona series. Just too many good games for me to just pick one series though, so I say play them all lol.
I'm not huge into JRPGs, but my favorite is easily the Persona series. It's all opinion though. Xenoblade is a great series.
Tetsuya Takahashi has revealed his plan to make the next Xenoblade vastly different from previous games.
I liked the Xenoblade X formula. It takes awhile, but opening up Mechs was amazing. Especially once you can fly them, and use them in battle. You have to put some time into the game to do it, but it's worth it!
Also, the graphics were more realistic than the other games. Still looks good today, just a lot more pop-in than is acceptable today, hell even too much for back then. It wasn't game breaking though.
Xenoblade 1-3 and X are so great. That said, I'm ready for them to do a big change up.
Some of the best Switch JRPG games out there include the epic Xenoblade Chronicles to the hard-as-nails Dark Souls Remastered.
Me being a Playstation guy and a huge JRPG fan, I can say that the only franchises I actually miss that are on Switch are The Fire Emblem series and The Xenoblade Chronicles series. I've played neither but I've heard good things. I've seen people play Xenoblade Chronicles games on youtube, and it seems like they think it's a big deal so I'm curious.
As someone who doesnt like jrpg’s that much these days I went into Xenoblade Chronicles blind and had a blast. Reminded me of that golden age of 16-bit and 32-bit jrpgs. If thats the era you liked then it should hit the spot.
I only have a Switch for the games that don’t come on PlayStation . There aren’t a ton but there are some good ones.
I agree with top 1, for me xenoblade chronicles 3(and 2) is one of the greatest jrpg to date. It's like the feeling of playing ff7 on ps1 for the first time again. Imagine if XC3 was done with ps5 graphics, that will be magical. I might get the xc remaster before the year ends or after I got the platinum trophy of GoW ragnarok.
I didn’t care for 2 as much . It’s good but 3 is sooo much better than so is the first one imo .
"It's not every day, after all, that a JRPG garners near universal acclaim and strong word of mouth outside of Japan"
First of all basically yeah it is, secondly universal acclaim is impossible, people dont like the same things PERIOD. I saw a 6 review for xenoblades, just like i saw a 6 for skyrim or anything else.
You know what the global stage is?
Its making whatever the hell kind of game you want to
Is monster hunter popular in japan - YES
Is that the only kind of rpg made in japan these days? HELL NO
Dragon Quest IX WAS NOT A MONSTER HUNTER INSPIRED GAME.
Was it action based? no
Was the world filled with generic characters? no
Was the story bare bones? no
God eater is more similar
thats about it and squares lord of arcana series
She really is a dumbo. I hate to say it but its true
"Xenoblade Chronicles comes in – an RPG with all the trappings of an MMO or a Monster Hunter, but wrapped in a traditional, single-player JRPG."
THERE IS NOTHING MONSTER HUNTER IN XENOBLADE..................... ...HOW CAN YOU EVEN MENTION WHERE ITS COMING FROM WITHOUT EVEN MENTIONING ONCE FF 12
This is a rant. I know it is. I just hate her articles every week
Congrats to the hardcore wii audience seems you have a solid title in Xenoblade.
Xenoblade is great, I've made a drinking game where I take a shot every time I hear, "It's Reyn Time!".
Seriously though, best JRPG I've played since Persona 4.
one of the best games this gen!!! wii had awesome games, a lot of quality games!!