After seeing just a single piece of concept art, Monolith Soft's mysterious 3DS title is now at the top of my 'day one perch' list

Of course, that's assuming that the illustration below, published late last week on Monolith Soft's Facebook page in an attempt to attract designers, is a piece of concept art from the company's known-to-be-in-the-works 3DS title.



Quite a few people think seem to think that's exactly what it is, though, and, well, that's enough for me at the moment.

The reason some folks think that, by the way, is that the artist responsible for the illustration above is Yasuyuki Honne, who is a member of Monolith Soft's Kyoto-based team that has long been said to be working on a title for the 3DS.

Curiously, someone calling himself (or herself) Instro shared the following illustration on NeoGAF yesterday. It's also the work of Honne and, as such, more than a few people believe it may be related to the image above--and to Monolith Soft's mysterious 3DS game, too.



Although I hope both pieces have something to do with the company's latest portable offering (their last was Project X Zone), I'm especially enthralled by the first one thanks to its trippy, Wizard of Oz-esque overtones.

How about you ladies and gents? Do you also like these illustrations and, if so, do you hope they're indicative of a forthcoming 3DS title?

A few thoughts on this morning's Nintendo Direct

As any long-suffering Nintendo fan knows, the company's "Nintendo Direct" broadcasts tend to be hit-or-miss affairs. Although some of them have produced bonafide megatons (like when Bayonetta 2 was announced), just as many others have been utter snoozefests.

Given that, I wasn't at all sure what to expect from this morning's trio of Wii U-focused Nintendo Directs (one for Europe, one for Japan and one for North America). I had a feeling at least a few bombs would be dropped thanks to the rather ho-hum launch of company's latest console, but would they be "we're working on a sequel to Wii Party" bombs or would they be "Bayonetta 2 will hit store shelves in May" bombs?

Interestingly enough, Nintendo is working on a sequel (of sorts) to Wii Party. That was about the least interesting of all of the announcements that were part of this Nintendo Direct, though, so I think it's safe to say that this particular broadcast was far more "hit" than "miss."

Specifically, here are what I considered to be the high points of this morning's address:

* The look inside Platinum Games' office, where the company's staffers seem to be hard at work on Bayonetta 2, was all sorts of awesome. Sure, we didn't get to see any actual gameplay footage, but we were given enough glimpses of in-the-works enemies and environments to know the final product probably is going to rock our respective worlds.

* OK, so it wasn't all that surprising to hear that new 3D Mario and Mario Kart games are being prepped for Wii U. To hear that both games will be shown in playable form at E3 2013, though, was pretty shocking--as was Satoru Iwata's utterance that we'll finally get to see some screens of the next Smash Bros. title at the same event.

* Considering it's been rumored for a while now, I doubt many people fainted or felt heart palpitations after Iwata revealed that the Wii U will receive a Yoshi-focused platformer in the near future. My own heart certainly starting racing, though, when I heard that it's being developed by the geniuses at Good-Feel and saw that it's going to look more than a bit like that group's Kirby's Epic Yarn.

* So, let me make sure I'm understanding this correctly: Atlus is working with Nintendo to produce a Wii U game that brings together the characters and settings of the Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem series? If so, uh, I'm not sure what to think, to tell you the truth. I mean, it certainly sounds interesting, and I'm sure the resulting game will be stellar, but I can't quite picture it yet, you know?

* What I can picture: making my way through Monolith Soft's next game--which looks a lot like their last one (that being Xenoblade Chronicles), actually, but about a million times better--with a humungous grin on my face. You know, because of the gorgeous visuals. And the huge environments. Oh, and the transforming mechas.

Five things I don't love about Xenoblade Chronicles (thus far)

So, yesterday I yammered on about the five things that make me clap like a seal (that's a good thing, for those of you who aren't schooled in the ways of these fin-footed mammals) whenever I play Xenoblade Chronicles. Today, as promised, I'm going to yammer on about five aspects of this game that make me a sad panda. (Don't worry, that's the last of my zoologically-themed bon mots--in this post, at least.)

1. Too much information--And by "too much information," I don't mean that I'm finding myself turned off by Shulk's constant comments about that time he mistook Sharla's soup pot for a bedpan (or was it the other way around?). No, what I mean is that, at the moment anyway, this game is throwing way too details in my general direction. There are "arts," gems, quests, maps, floating blue orbs ... ack!  Granted, some of this is sure to be less stress-inducing after I've spent a bit more time with the game, but right now I'm feeling overwhelmed.



2. Just say no to wonky cameras--Xenoblade Chronicles' camera is fine--more than fine, really--while you're sneaking through Tephra Cave or skipping (if only!) amongst the tall grass that covers Gaur Plain. Engage in battle with a number of monsters--or even a single one, if it's large enough--though, and you'll see why I'm calling it "wonky." Thankfully, it's only mildly irritated--and inconvenienced--me thus far. And who knows? Maybe I'll eventually become so adept at the game's controls that readjusting the camera during especially heated moments won't be such a challenge.



3. Why does it look like everyone's melting?--Anyone who has heard anything about this game likely has heard that, at times, it is a sight to behold. Sadly, those times do not extend to Xenoblade Chronicles' cut scenes. That's because the folks at Monolith Soft often choose to zoom in on their in-game models during said cut scenes--and, well, let's just say that the models in question, which look fine from afar, shouldn't plan on winning any beauty pageants.

Five things I love about Xenoblade Chronicles (thus far)

Now that I've spent some time--not as much as I'd have liked, mind you, but surely more than enough--with Xenoblade Chronicles, I thought I'd share a few thoughts about my experiences with this long-in-coming Wii release thus far.

Sp, in this post, as I'm sure you've already gathered from the headline above, I'll talk about the five things I'm currently loving about this Monolith Soft-developed RPG. Tomorrow's post, on the other hand, will detail five things I'm not loving about the game at the moment.

With that said, here are the things that have me grinning ear to ear like the Cheshire Cat whenever I play Xenoblade Chronicles:

1. Its vast, open world--Of all the things that Xenoblade Chronicles' makers promised to gamers, this is the one that excited me the most before I got my hands on a copy. And now that I've not only accomplished that task but taken the game for a spin, so to speak, as well? I'm even more excited--mainly because there's so much to explore.



2. Being able to jump, instantly, to any place you've visited before--Sure, such a feature isn't the most realistic--especially in a game that doesn't try to explain it away with some made-up, sci-fi mumbo jumbo--but, boy, is it ever appreciated by yours truly. I mean, I love running through Xenoblade Chronicles' fields and ruins as much as the next guy or gal, but sometimes I just want to twitch my nose like Samantha on Bewitched and magically appear at my intended destination, you know? Thank you, folks at Monolith Soft, for making that happen in this game.



3. The seemingly-never-ending number of side quests--You can't take a step in Xenoblade Chronicles without someone asking you to find or fetch something for them. Such "fetch quests" usually involve killing a specific beast, or a specific set of beasts, but not always. (Some simply require you to nab a few of those floating blue orbs that are seemingly everywhere.) I'm guessing that annoys some gamers, but I adore it. It helps, of course, that each completed quest earns you some sort of swag, but I'd probably do a lot of them even if that weren't the case.

Hello, Xenoblade Chronicles; goodbye, free time

Please note: I wrote the header above shortly after my copy of Xenoblade Chronicles arrived on our doorstep a couple of weeks ago.

At the time, I planned on spending a good portion of the following weekend playing this open-world, Wii-based RPG. The hubs threw a bit of a wrench into the works, though, when he suggested we leave town for an impromptu vacation (to Las Vegas and Tucson).

As I'm sure you can imagine, that last-minute getaway kept me from diving into this Monolith Soft-developed game. This weekend, though? No plans whatsoever. Well, other than playing Xenoblade Chronicles as much as possible, of course.


                       I have no idea where this location exists within Xenoblade Chronicle's 
                                            world, but I can't wait to experience it.

I played it for a few hours last night, by the way, and already I can tell I'm going to like it. The one aspect of Xenoblade Chronicles that I'm not yet sure about is its real-time battle system. It's a bit irksome, for instance, that your character automatically attacks enemies once you've engaged them in combat. Thankfully, the manually-activated special attacks (called "Arts") inject these events with just enough involvement and strategy to keep them from feeling like the game is playing itself.

I'll do my best to post more impressions of this title sometime next week. In the meantime, are any of you currently playing Xenoblade Chronicles? If so, what do you think of it?

See also: Previous Xenoblade Chronicles posts

Acquisition #127: Xenoblade Chronicles

It could be said that I've been looking forward to getting my grubby little hands on Xenoblade/Xenoblade Chronicles for some time. In fact, I've been looking forward to it since at least June 9 of 2010, when I published this post about how it's possible to strip characters down to their skivvies.

As some of you may remember, I should have added the European version of this open-world RPG, made by the more-than-able folks at Monolith Soft, to my collection as far back as September of last year. Sadly, the copy that I pre-ordered from sendit.com either was never shipped or was lost while crossing the ocean. Thankfully, Nintendo of America announced its intention of releasing Xenoblade Chronicles in the US shortly after I gave up on ever receiving said copy.

I know this is becoming commonplace in these "Acquisition #123" posts, but I have yet to play my just-acquired (late last week, to be more specific) copy of this game. Oh, I've unwrapped it and spent more time than I should have gazing at its disc (which, I must say, is quite pretty) and manual, but I haven't popped the darn thing into my Wii yet.

I plan on doing just that this weekend, though, so expect a slew of (hopefully positive) Xenoblade Chronicles-centric pots in the coming days and weeks. In the meantime, why don't those of you who also added this game to your collections tell me what you think about it?

See also: Previous 'Acquisition #123' posts

So, did you pre-order a copy of Xenoblade Chronicles?

I don't know if you realize, but Monday was Dec. 19--the date Nintendo of America started taking Xenoblade Chronicles pre-orders through its online store.

Did you nab yourself a copy? I did, and I'm very much looking forward to arriving on my doorstep sometime next April.



In the meantime, I think I'll watch and then re-watch this Wii game's official trailer (which can be viewed here) and/or waste my time daydreaming about running through the location shown in the screenshot above.

See also: 'Coming to America after all: Xenoblade Chronicles'

Let's Play: 'Which Box Art is Better?' (Xenoblade Chronicles edition)

The folks at Nintendo of America revealed Xenoblade Chronicles' box art yesterday afternoon (via the company's Facebook page). Unsurprisingly, said box art doesn't differ much from the box art created for this Wii game's Australian, European and Japanese counterparts.

Don't believe me? Well, here's the art that graced the cover of the Japanese version of the game, released as Xenoblade in June 2010:

Nintendo's crack team of designers zoomed in--just a bit--on the illustration and added the word "Chronicles" to the cover before releasing the game in Australia and throughout Europe a few months ago, as the image below makes abundantly clear:

So, how have they changed up Xenoblade Chronicles' box art in anticipation of this open-world RPG's North American release next April? (Read about it here.) They went back to the original, zoomed-out version of the illustration that appeared on the Japanese version's cover, for starters. After that, they added in a subtitle that's so subtle it's almost nonexistent.

Personally, I like the European and Japanese covers more than the North American one. Honestly, I'm surprised Nintendo of America's designers didn't just go with the more-than-fine Euro art, since all they had to do to it was replace the PEGI rating with an ESRB one. I guess they wanted to earn their paycheck.

Anyway, that's my opinion this time around. Which one do all of you prefer?

See also: Previous 'Which Box Art is Better?' posts

Coming to America after all: Xenoblade Chronicles

Oh, Nintendo of America. You are a conundrum, aren't you?

After suggesting again and again over the last few months that you had no plans to bring the much-ballyhooed Xenoblade Chronicles to the States, you rather non-chalantly send out a press release this morning revealing that the Monolith Soft-developed RPG will hit store shelves across the good ol' US of A this coming April.



Strangely, said press release also revealed that this open-world RPG will be sold, for $49.99, exclusively through GameStop stores and Nintendo's website. (Although GameStop's already taking pre-orders for the title, Nintendo won't be taking them until Dec. 19.)

So, how many of you are planning, as I am, to jump on the Xenoblade Chronicles bandwagon as soon as it hits the streets?

See also: Previous Xenoblade Chronicles posts

Le sigh: It seems my copy of Xenoblade Chronicles got lost while crossing the ocean

Shortly after I wrote and published this post, I contacted the folks at sendit.com and asked if they thought my copy of Xenoblade Chronicles (which I ordered on July 6 and which was shipped, or "despatched," on Aug. 16) was still making its way across the ocean to my doorstep or if they thought it had gotten lost somewhere along the way.

Sadly, their response suggested that the latter option is more likely than the former. They even had me fill out a form that asked how I'd like them to proceed--i.e., should they send another copy of the game or give me a refund? I chose "give me a refund," so hopefully they'll do just that in the next few days.

Will I ever see this title screen on my TV?

As soon as I receive said refund, I'll order another copy of Xenoblade Chronicles from a different retailer. I've heard good things about game.co.uk, which is selling the game (here) for just £29.99--£34.99, or about $55, if you include shipping to the States--right now, so I'll likely go with them when all is said and done. Here's hoping things go a little more smoothly the second time around...

See also: 'My copy of Xenoblade Chronicles has been despatched' and 'I just pre-ordered Xenoblade'

Xenoblade just moved up a few spots on my 'most wanted' list

You've heard of Xenoblade, right? Don't be embarrassed if you haven't--although the folks at Nintendo surreptitiously unveiled this Monolith Soft-developed RPG during last year's E3 event (it was called Monado: Beginning of the World at that point), they didn't say much about it until a few months ago.

So, why has it moved up a few spots on my "most wanted" list? I think I'd rather show you than tell you.



Yep, the image above shows two of Xenoblade's main characters in their underwear (or are those supposed to be swimsuits?). (If you prefer the ladies to the gents, here's a pair of screenshots that show two of the game's female characters in their skivvies.)

Now, I'd be lying if I told you those images turn me on, but I wouldn't be lying if I told you I'd get a kick out of controlling a half-naked character (or two) in an open-world RPG.

(Via NeoGAF)