Xenoblade Chronicles

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***Xenoblade Chronicles*** is an open world action role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Wii as well as John's favorite game. Initially released in Japan in 2010, it was later released in the PAL regions in 2011 and then in North America in 2012. A port for the New Nintendo 3DS was released in 2015, and a high-definition remaster for the Nintendo Switch was released in May 2020. *Xenoblade Chronicles* is the first entry in the *Xenoblade Chronicles* series, a subseries which forms part of the larger *Xeno* metaseries. Although no direct narrative connections exist to previous *Xeno* games, it incorporates aesthetic and narrative elements from both fantasy and science fiction. The game features navigation through an open world split into zones, side-quests tied to party members' affinity, and a real-time action-based battle system which incorporates the main character's ability to see brief glimpses of the future.

*Xenoblade Chronicles* plays as an action role-playing video game (RPG), where the player controls one character out of a party of three using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk or the Classic Controller. The game employs an open world design, with players able to freely navigate seamlessly interconnected environments. A day-and-night time cycle exists in the game, with the time of day often affecting in-game events, quests, enemy strengths, and item availability: for instance, stronger enemy types appear at night. While time flows automatically and a day cycle repeats about every ten minutes in real time, players can adjust the in-game clock to the desired time at any point. Additionally, while the game is about exploration, many areas, called "Landmarks" aid in traversing the land by serving as warp points, allowing the player to instantly return to that point at any time. The game also supports a "save anywhere" feature, where players can save at any point outside battle. The game also contains a New Game+ mode, which pulls over much of the player's progress from their first playthrough into future playthroughs.

Exploration, quest completion, and item collection are large parts of the gameplay. The player is encouraged to explore the large environments, which generally allow the player to visit whatever can be seen in the horizon. While exploring, the player may choose to take on side quests from various non-player characters that inhabit the game's world, as they commonly involve locating certain items or killing a certain number of enemy characters. When the necessary requirements are fulfilled, some of the quests are completed automatically without the player needing to manually notify in-game characters of its completion. Item collection plays a role in the game in the form of the game's "Collectopaedia". Scattered across the game are glowing blue orbs, and upon coming into contact with the orb, the player is awarded a random item that they can add to the Collectopaedia; when a certain number are collected, the player is rewarded with new items. Aside from the Collectopaedia, there are also ether crystals to be found from fallen enemies or ether crystal deposits, which give the player access to a multifaceted "Gem Crafting" mini-game, allowing for the creation of gems that may increase battle stats when equipped.

Many in-game systems affect the general flow of gameplay. The "Affinity" system tracks the relationships between characters and locations in the game. "Location Affinity" tracks the interpersonal relationships between all of the game's named characters, depicting to which degree they get along with one another, and a town's general perception of the player's controllable party. Completing quests can alter perception of the characters, and open up additional story sequences. There is also "Party Affinity", which is strictly the level of affection between each party member, ranging from indifference to love. These affinities can be raised by having characters participate in battle together, giving gifts, or using the "Heart-to-Heart" system. These "Heart-to-Hearts" are intimate moments between two characters that can show more of a character's personality, history, or thoughts, and can be initiated by having a certain level of Affinity between them. The Affinity system ties into how efficient characters work together in battle and gem crafting. The game also has an extensive customization system, which includes changing the characters' outfits and weapons. These changes are directly reflected in the game, appearing in the field and even during scripted cutscenes.

### Battle system[edit]

A battle between Shulk (the player), Reyn, and Fiora against some hostile wildlife in *Xenoblade Chronicles*.

*Xenoblade Chronicles* has a real-time action-based battle system, where the player manually moves the current lead character in real-time, and party members will "auto-attack" when enemies enter their attack radius. Manually input attacks, called "Arts", may also be performed by the player, but in a limited fashion. Battle Arts are only available after a "cool down" period that occurs after every use, while character specific "Talent Arts" only become available after enough auto-attacks are executed. Both party members and enemies have a finite amount of health points, and attacks deplete this value. Combat is won when all enemies lose their HP, but the game is lost if the player's character loses all their HP and has no means of being revived. Health may be restored by the player by using healing Arts in battle, or the player may let characters' HP regenerate automatically outside of battle. Winning battles earns the player experience points, which allows the characters to grow stronger by leveling up and learning new Arts. Arts for each character must be set by the player on their respective set up, called a "Battle Palette", outside battles.

Several other systems are present to affect the flow of battle. The "Party Gauge" slowly fills as party members successfully land hits on the enemy players, and filling the gauge allows the player to chain multiple attacks together, for extra damage. All party members have an "aggro ring" around them as well; the more actions a character performs, the larger it grows. Larger aggro rings lead enemies to focus their efforts on that respective character, leading to a strategic aspect of luring and diverting attention of enemies. Each character has a "Tension" gauge, which represents a character's morale: at its highest point, characters have a high probability of dealing a critical blow and less chance of missing an enemy. The game's "Vision" system, where main character Shulk can see glimpses of enemies' future attacks, also factors into battles. With knowledge of an enemy's potentially dangerous attack, the player can prevent it from happening by alerting a teammate, allowing the player to activate one of their Arts, or by using an Art of their own to stop the attack. The Vision system is tied to the "Party" gauge, which is filled by boosting team morale, using Arts with special effects, and avoiding or dealing critical hits. The three-tiered gauge gradually depletes outside of battle, and one tier is needed to either revive characters or alert a teammate to a vision. When all three tiers are full, the party can execute a chain attack.