XENOBLADE CHRONICLES DEFINITIVE EDITION

XENOBLADE REMASTERED.
REVIEW

I AM SO HAPPY

Top Whatever Games of 2018

I've been rolling around this list for a while, not out of laziness but in all honesty I wasn't too impressed with 2018. I was busy for most of it and found myself drifting back to games available through the Xbone's back compat offerings.

Sony: I bought games I already own just so I can play them comfortably on my nice television with nominally improved framerates. Please take note of this for your future consoles, thanks.

Truth be told, I wasn't even sure how many games I would actually rank; this list has jumped from top five to top nine and everything in between, but after careful consideration I decided to just bite the bullet and list what I played and why I didn't finish the games I wanted to. Spider-Man was my last holdout, but with all the incredible games coming out this year I just didn't feel like putting them off to finish stuff on this list.


Games Not Finished

Mega Man 11

I like Mega Man 11. The Gear system is a great way to introduce an element of accessibility to the game that never once feels mandatory. Series veterans will feel right at home with the level design while newcomers will find that the Gear system is lenient enough that you can safely fall back on it. The game has a plethora of difficulty options and never shies away from series tradition, despite the fact that it takes great strides toward updating the series. The new 3D graphics are decent, nothing too terrible but it doesn't take away from the charm of the game.

Why I didn't complete it: Short answer: too hard. I like to go back to MM11 every now and then to take a crack at a level or two, but I'm old and my crinkled gorilla hands and armadillo brain just can't keep up with Rock like it used to. I'll probably finish it one day. Probably.

Octopath Traveler

I really wanted to love Octopath Traveler. There's a ton of stuff to do and it feels endless, which doesn't help my waning interest. The story is dark and I appreciate the regional accents characters have, and the world feels nice and lived-in. Allowing the player to unlock secondary jobs over time gives the game a massive degree of customization, and having entire story arcs left as optional content is a great way to give players a sense of freedom. That said, not accounting for the player recruiting everybody means the cast never interacts much and it doesn't feel like building a team, more like controlling a function of a character who occasionally gets their own story arc at different points. Leveling up takes way too long as well, and a few of the characters are pretty boring. It's a well-made game and I look forward to finishing it, just not any time soon.

Why I didn't complete it: Recently I decided to go back and give it another shot, and the game does open up in the second chapter, but unlike JRPGs I truly enjoy the story of Octopath simply cannot keep my attention for more than an hour or two. All the flaws I found also drag the entire package down, and the idea that I have to find each secondary job separately makes me just not want to bother. As a spiritual successor to Bravely Default, it takes too many steps back from the modern conveniences of that game. I see the appeal of making a very classic JRPG, my favorite genre is probably the PS1 era of JRPGs, but obfuscation for the sake of it just leads to frustration. You can evolve the genre while not forcing it, which this game feels like it tries too hard to do.

Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise

This one hurts. Lost Paradise is a winning formula, a quality product in every way. Take the familiar gameplay and feel of Sega's incredible Yakuza games, drop it in the world-famous Fist of the North Star setting, and let the Ryu Ga Gotoku staff go nuts. The game feels like it's a story arc ripped straight out of the manga, with new characters alongside familiar faces and just enough backstory for any newcomer to jump right in. Play this game, it would have easily been top three on this list otherwise.

Why I didn't complete it: Yakuza 6 came out last year. These games are long and can take a hefty time investment; even those that are high quality like Lost Paradise needs some breathing room. And with Judgment coming later this year, I just don't know how I'll have the time.


The List


7b: Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate

I said before that so long as we get a Monster Hunter, it'll always be welcome on my game of the year list. Generations Ultimate improves upon its 3DS counterpart with new styles, new monsters, more abilities, and just more stuff to do in general. Plus, it's on the Switch, so now you can play a classic-style Monster Hunter like a human being rather than a buster scrub picking away at the stupid camera nub on a screen for a phone from two decades ago. Of course, since it's a re-release it can't take the official number seven spot, but it's so good that I had to give it some props. If you want the most pure taste of classic Monster Hunter, this game is as good as you're ever going to get.

7: Yakuza 6

Yakuza 6 is a very conflicted game, and were it not for all the unfinished games it would be much lower on this list. Yakuza 6 picks up directly from the end of Yakuza 5, placing Kiryu in a desperate situation with his adopted daughter Haruka by his side. Kiryu spends several years in prison, and when he gets out all hell has broken loose. The Tojo clan is on its last legs, the big figures of the Tokyo yakuza are nowhere to be seen, and the Chinese mafia has begun its slow takeover of Kamurocho. In the center of it all is Haruka, left heavily injured and comatose from a hit and run. To Kiryu's surprise, Haruka is the mother to a boy named Haruto, and the mystery of his parentage takes center stage. At the heart of it all, Yakuza 6 is about passing on the torch to a new generation and the sacrifices a parent must make for their child. The story is very touching and moves along at a brisk pace, and as a huge fan of the series I cannot be happier by their sendoff for series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu. That said, the new combat system takes some getting used to, and leveling the player's skills can be tedious and frustrating at times. The twists can be pretty stupid, and I intensely dislike that most of the new characters from Yakuza 4 and 5 are largely forgotten. It's worth playing for series vets and for that I respect it, but it is absolutely not a game for newcomers to the series.

6: Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna, the Golden Country

I considered this one for a long time, but as far as I'm concerned, Torna is long enough and distant from the original Xenoblade 2 that it can be considered its own game. Initially pitched as the actual Xenoblade 2, then reworked from a chapter of the main game, Torna is a compelling take on the events of Xenogears Episode 4 with plenty of callbacks to that game, providing a detailed look at an event referenced throughout Xenoblade 2 while fleshing out the backstories of many of its more mysterious characters. The gameplay has been way refined, ditching the random Jojo's Bizarre Adventure-Stand-style Blade system for one that more properly assigns characters to their Blade counterparts. Gone is the tedious grinding for high-level Blades, and with it the need to grind for skills to traverse the world. That's all still there, but it's much easier to explore the world without completely arbitrary roadblocks. A modified version of the beloved Affinity system from the original Xenoblade returns, which I wrote about extensively in my glowing review for that game, which greatly impacts player involvement in some of the more harrowing moments in the story. Torna is a great introduction to the world of Xenoblade 2 and can be played with or without the main game, and even though it's an expansion I consider it one of the finest games of the year. And check out the soundtrack, while you're at it.

5: Monster Hunter World

Following the reveal of Monster Hunter World, I was not one of the millions of people eager to try out the new redesign of the series. After reluctantly giving it a shot during a trial period, I finally saw just how wrong I was. Many of the obfuscated elements of Monster Hunter have been totally streamlined in World, leaving a game that focuses almost exclusively on the brutal fights between the player and the monster targeted for the hunt. Everything about the game flows smoother, the animations are top notch, and after a decade Monster Hunter finally feels like a game that wants to impress rather than be content to pump out iterative releases. Monster Hunter World is brilliant, and is well deserving of its twelve million lifetime sales. I just can't wait to get back to it so I can be prepared for Iceborne later in 2019.

4: Dragon Ball FighterZ

As a lifetime fan of Dragon Ball, I cannot stress enough just how much this game got right. More than that, it's an absolutely stellar fighter, built to be accessible to beginners and complex enough for hardcore fighting players. After the disaster of Marvel VS Capcom: Infinite, all this game had to be was good. Rather, Arcsys has developed one of the best 3v3 fighting games in recent memory, and even as season 2 picks up the pace with more characters the game still feels completely fresh. Arcsys, please, save JoJo's Bizarre Adventure from its endless hell of bad video games and give it the FighterZ treatment.

3: God of War

God of War has been a series that I've both enjoyed and despised. Greek mythology played with edgy cynicism over basic hack-and-slash gameplay gave the series a unique charm, but it never felt particularly deep and the main character, Kratos, had all the charm of a dry sponge. There is no way in any version of hell that the series could continue in its legacy form, but even still, never in my wildest dreams did I anticipate the reboot to come out so fantastic. While the gameplay is still not deep, the RPG mechanics give the player a great feeling of customization with options that open up the further the player gets into the game. Equipment adds a great feeling of progression while gems give the player bonuses to feel like each play style has unique elements. The story of Kratos taking his son on a meaningful journey suffers from cliche moments, but it's told well and has a satisfying conclusion. The fixed camera does not do the game any favors as it often leads to jarring or lazy story cuts, and some of the character turns come out of nowhere, but all in all it's a fine game with fun exploration and a gripping narrative.

2b: Yakuza Kiwami 2


Alright look, this game is just a remake and I normally wouldn't want to put a remake on a year's best list. That said, Yakuza 2 is one of my favorite games ever and this is a pretty faithful remake of that game. Some cuts had to be made, including a short area later on, and a few changes are disappointing. It's still a great, modern way to play a classic game, with new minigames and a brand new story segment to follow up on Yakuza 0's Majima story. The improvements to the Dragon Engine so close to Yakuza 6 make this game feel even better to play, and while that game left me questioning the future of the franchise with how busted and restricted it felt, Kiwami 2 brought back my hope in a big way. A tremendous game all around.

2: Marvel's Spider-Man

I really can't stand this comic book resurgence. I have completely checked out of the Marvel movie thing and I absolutely will not be playing that terrible Avengers game, but Spider-Man was always on my radar. I like the guy, he's a fun super hero and a lot of games in the franchise have been pretty great. Insomniac's involvement in this game is what really sold me on the premise. I like their games, and I seriously wish I had an Xbox the year Sunset Overdrive released so I could have sung its praises more highly. Spider-Man takes concepts from that game and cranks them up to their highest potential, creating a living world that actually feels like a fully fleshed-out Spider-Man adventure. The story is phenomenal and takes a turn darker than I've ever seen from the hero. The biggest downside to the game is the Batman: Arkham-style gameplay. I don't hate it and there are plenty of new twists on the formula, but it's exactly like you would expect. That aside, this is probably the best superhero game I've ever played, nudging out even the exceptional Batman: Arkham Asylum.

1: Red Dead Redemption 2

Every now and then I catch myself humming Willie Nelson's original song for this game, "Cruel Cruel World," and every time it makes me reminisce about what a transcendent experience Red Dead Redemption 2 truly is. It is faultless in every way, brimming with side activities while only expecting the bare minimum out of the player if the story is the main focus. You could spend hundreds of hours without watching a single cutscene, only exploring the world and getting into whatever shenanigans pop up. The story itself is so far beyond anything I've seen this year, easily since Nier: Automata, that I just feel like I wouldn't be doing it justice in trying to describe it. The gameplay is heavy, reflecting the larger-than-life stature of Arthur Morgan and, by extension, Dutch's gang. It'll hook you before you know it, and if you have a single manly tear in your body, it will take it out of you before the credits finally roll. I don't have to tell you to play this game, I just want you to know that it is in a class so far ahead of everything else that it goes beyond words.

Review: Xenoblade Chronicles

In 1998, Squaresoft released an instant classic: Xenogears. The game blended gorgeous 2D sprites with polygonal backgrounds, with turn-based battles occurring both on foot and in giant mechs. The game was a ton of fun, but the real star of the show was its ambitious, in-depth story spanning fifteen thousand years. Unfortunately, time and budgetary constraints limited the grand scale of the game and, while the main plot of Xenogears wraps up in a very complete ending, it still suffers from legendary cuts. Plans for spinoff games, novels and comic books, otherwise known as Project Noah, were effectively canned and Xenogears was quietly forgotten by Squaresoft.

The project leads for Xenogears, Tetsuya Takahashi and his wife, Soraya Saga, refused to allow the dream to die. The two left Square to form their own studio, Monolith Soft, with the intent to reboot the Xeno franchise. With Namco as their publisher, the studio began work on the now-infamous Xenosaga series. Envisioned as a six-part sci-fi epic, the franchise faced difficulties with the huge scope of the individual titles as well as increased scrutiny by the publisher. The first planned title was split into two games, the second of which sold poorly, and the five other planned games were mashed into the actually decent Xenosaga: Episode III. By this point the franchise was dead, and the team at Monolith Soft again faced a tough situation.

Luckily for them, Monolith worked on several properties for Nintendo between their Xenosaga entries, including a trimmed-down remake of the first two games on the Nintendo DS. Nintendo had developed a positive relationship with Monolith, and by the time Xenosaga ended, made the decision to work more closely on future projects. Despite their stated intent to avoid mergers and acquisitions, Nintendo bought a vast majority of Monolith's stakes and essentially told them to go nuts.

Free from the tight constraints of Namco and with all the time in the world, executive director and lead writer Tetsuya Takahashi envisioned a new title: Monado, Beginning of the World. The game was to be a first for Nintendo: a massive open world with a rich lore on a truly enormous scope. Despite several setbacks, the game launched in Japan in 2010, followed by Europe the next year. Out of respect for Takahashi's previous work, the game was now titled Xenoblade, with a Chronicles slapped at the end in the Western release.

Xenoblade was a massive success, both critically and financially. It filled two niches that nobody had realized were just waiting with bated breath: the ever-growing Xeno fanbase, as well as the open world Nintendo fans who had no access to bigger titles like Grand Theft Auto. That, and the game is just damn good. So good, in fact, that Nintendo flipped their tepid response to an American release in 2012, finally giving the entire world a chance to play the game. A good choice, too, given the most recent game in the series is one of Nintendo's best-selling games in recent years.

The civilization of Xenoblade developed on the back of two colossal entities: the Bionis, an organic being, and the Mechonis, its mechanical counterpart. Thousands of years before the story, the Bionis and Mechonis fought to a stand-still, killing each other with a final clash. After a period of silence, robotic monsters from the Mechonis begin a genocidal campaign against the races of the Bionis, culminating in a battle which pushed back the Mechon horde.

One year later, the Mechon return to seek vengeance on those responsible, the humanoid homs who wield a Mechon-destroying sword known as the Monado. After fighting back the Mechon swarm and witnessing the death of his childhood friend, the new heir to the Monado, Shulk, heads for the Mechonis to fulfill his revenge.

As the Bionis is a colossal being and Shulk is relatively young, the many cultures of Bionis are unknown to him. This creates one of the most important aspects of Xenoblade: the affinity chart. Each named NPC is added to the chart when they're spoken to, and each one is affiliated with at least one other NPC. Since many know two or more characters, this creates a branching relationship which the player can unlock during the entirety of the game. I say can because naturally, this mechanic is entirely optional.

Not only does the affinity system give players access to store discounts and side quests, the deepening relationship with each community gives the world a life that feels vibrant and diverse. Each character on the affinity chart has their own schedule and character traits, and most importantly, grow and develop over the course of the game. A character might have something entirely new to say after plot development, and in some cases, this involves that character interacting with another, growing the chart further. A few characters will even interact with others in different communities, giving the player a sense that their input is growing the community across the entire Bionis.

While Xenoblade does sport a distinct open world, statements that the game is seamless and without loading screens are patently false. That said, because each area represents a different "body part" of the Bionis, the maps can look wildly different while keeping a similar cohesive theme. Props need to be given to the art team, especially given how fully realized each area appears.

A basic gameplay routine develops early on, and while systems like boss fights and the affinity system grow over time the general flow remains the same. In the open world areas, players typically run across three to five generic quest-givers, alongside a shop or two and maybe one named NPC. Many of these first quests are generic, like killing monsters or picking up items, but due to the real-time nature of the game these quests feel more like background noise than filler. However, taking the short amount of time to complete these quests gives the player an advantage throughout the game.

Combat feels similar to real-time MMO games, such as World of Warcraft, in that the character automatically attacks while the player is given a basic palette of skills, or Arts, which fill back in over time. No resource management is required as the player's health restores after battle, though a reasonable level of character optimization is expected. Outside of the ability to customize which eight Arts the player brings into battle, each character is given a skill tree which increases passive abilities such as the ability to wear heavier armor and bonus to combat stats.

The skill tree ties into Xenoblade's affinity chart as well, as additional trees are unlocked by completing quests for the game's communities. The player characters literally grow stronger by interacting with towns and learning more about the world, but what really makes this special is that the same mechanic is applied to the party itself. As characters are used in the party together, they grow bonds which give access to more intimate heart-to-heart moments, which then further flesh out character backgrounds and motivations. These bonds also allow characters to add passive skills from other characters' skill trees, maximizing character potential beyond the standard skill trees and Arts.

The biggest flaw in this system is also its inherent strength, and will largely depend on the player's immersion in the world. The game is not balanced in such a way that players only interested in the story can focus entirely on the plot, and the game's multitude of sidequests and bonding events are not so shallow that a simple detour will be enough to make up for the game's later, difficult encounters. During my first playthrough I reached the penultimate boss before I realized I was underleveled and had horribly underutilized the game's crystal system, where pieces of armor can be adjusted using slot bonuses in a relatively intuitive crafting mechanic. I loaded up an earlier save to complete more side activities, but in doing so overwrote my original save file and found myself dozens of hours away from the end of the game.

Xenoblade's story is the high point for me, but investing in the world can be extremely rewarding for players who find an interest in that sort of game. Fans of traditional JRPGs will find a familiar tone and atmosphere in the narrative and there are plenty of twists and interesting ideas to keep most people motivated, but keep in mind this title can last several dozen hours even if you manage to avoid side content. I would not recommend this approach though, as it heavily undermines the technical achievement of Xenoblade.

The Wii was an extremely underpowered piece of hardware, as was the Wii U and Nintendo's current Switch console. The fact that such an enormous game with so many environments and mechanics turned out so well on the Wii is worthy of praise, not to mention how deeply connected all these mechanics can be. Xenoblade performs so admirably that to compare it to previous attempts by Takahashi and Saga truly shines a light on how underutilized their talents were in previous generations, and while I still hope to see a completed version of Xenogears one day, it's exciting to know that the team at Monolith are finally being given their due by Nintendo. And if reports on Monolith's current activities are any indication, it seems like Nintendo is fully aware that their ambitious little studio can pull through with proper time and care.

Xenoblade continues the tradition of Monolith's generations-spanning storytelling, weaving complex political intrigue with bombastic action and science fiction. A decade after its release, Xenoblade continues to be one of the most awe-inspiring games of all time. The game might expect you to put in a great deal of work to fully appreciate its scope, but give it enough time and you'll find yourself wrapped in a grand adventure unlike any other video game out today.