Thursday 18 June 2015

#001: Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii) Part 1

FatePlaysGames #001 Xenoblade Chronicles Part 1 - Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants

Summary: We see glimpses of a fight between titans from ages past and meet an unexpected wielder of the Monado who is under attack from robots.

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Location: Unknown.

Giant Mecha Battle!

Awesome titan battle to start, This gets better and better.

Sounds like a creation story. Sky and sea, then came the Bionis and the Mechonis. Whichever one is wielding the shining sword (with the glowing circle at the cross-guard) is suggestive of the sword in the opening menu screen.

"The titans were locked in a timeless battle. Until at last... only their lifeless corpses remained." Corpses. So do they still exist? Can we go look for them?

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Location: Battleground outside Colony 6.

"Eons have passed. Now our world, ... the remains of the Bionis, is under attack from ... known as the Mechon." Wait, we're living on the corpses of the long dead titans? They must be huge.

Infantry and a gun turret face down the enemy forces.

And this is more sci-fi than I was expecting the game to be. Ah, here comes someone running against the tide of fleeing forces with that red sword. Is that Shulk? I thought he was blond.

"Soulless machines." The Mechon forces aren't alive. Or they (the Homs/Humans) don't think they're alive. Oh now I get the titan's names: Bionis = biological, Mechonis = mechanical.

Ah, this guy isn't Shulk, he's Dunban, and they've been told to retreat to Colony 6. Very Hunger Games/FFVII naming vibe going on here. Have to see if that's significant later.

Dunban, centre: We may die if we take a stand here.

Dunban: "But staying gives us the chance to change our destinies." Dunban seems... quite optimistic.

Ah okay, so this sword is the Monado. From the way Dunban talks it doesn't seem like he named it, hopefully we'll find out why it's called that later.

A futuristic sword made from a red metal of some kind.

The Monado.

Bandana Guy (Dickson): "Your body can't take any more of the Monado."

The Monado is harming Dunban in some way? It's powered by his life energy maybe? Now talking about needing control. Does it have a will (of sorts) of it's own that he has to overpower?

Dickson calls Dunban a beast (again), and while it comes off as a term of endearment (he's not going to let Dunban fight alone) it's still seems a rather negative word to use.

The other guy, who is wielding Zhang He's claws from the Dynasty Warriors games, is trying to convince us to retreat. I'm supposed to side with Dunban, but with so little to go on Zhang He seems to have the right idea.

Mumkhar: I'll have to use Dunban as a decoy. That should give me the time to escape.

Don't ruin it like that! Now I have to support Dunban.

Nice, we're straight into a battle. Looks like a lot going on on-screen right now, looking forward to this becoming second nature.

So, we've got the Battle Palette (seems like a fancy name for the menu) for auto-attacks and arts. It plays a little like [Final Fantasy] gjryir jvgubhg gur tnzovgf. I'm not really having to do a lot right now, but then this is a tutorial battle.

Typical battle screen. Status on the left, battle palette on the bottom and map on the upper right.

That was only the first wave, and we're quickly being overwhelmed. Dickson takes a hit for Dunban while the Monado causes him to convulse in pain.

Mumkhar (Zhang He) takes this opportunity to flee, claiming that the Mechon forces are here only for the Monado. It seems powerful yes, but to cross from one titan to another for it? There's clearly much more to learn about this sword.

Mumkhar's respectability continues to fall as he callously abandons his comrades, remarking that he'll take the Monado for himself after the battle. Can anyone wield it? This sort of thing in games (and books/TV/film too I guess) tends to very much be 'only the chosen may wield' kinda deals.

Mumkhar, targeted by many laser sights: Oh no! Please!.

That's a lot of targeting lasers.

And Zhang He dies for his cowardice. I really don't feel sorry for him. We're now treated to a epic camera pull-back (through many landscapes) from the battle as Dunban and the remaining Homs forces make what is presumably a last stand.

Long dead titans still locked in battle. The battleground glows at the centre?

We are on the titans, which is cool, but there's something that makes it seem to me that when the titans are on-screen they simply aren't big enough to carry a vast society on their surfaces.

And that glow, is that the location of the battle we're in? The glow could be a super-powered attack from the Monado I guess. Also kinda surprised the titans are still standing and locked in battle after their death and not collapsed on the ground.

Next time: One Year Later.