[Playing…] Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii)

Wii was a console reviled by many. Without a doubt, this bad reputation is given by its lack of power for the consoles of that generation (it is practically at the level of PS2 and Xbox) and the huge number of garbage games that have been released for that console. But as far as I'm concerned, it has been the one that I have gotten the most out of having acquired a greater number of titles. It's not that it's very difficult either, since as a child the budget for video games was minimal, and when I acquired a console, it was about to go out of style. To this we must add that, despite all the rubbish there was, there were many other titles of unquestionable quality. Among all of them, in my top 3 is an RPG to which I have dedicated an almost incalculable amount of hours. I talk about Xenoblade Chronicles, one of the great gems of the genre.

I'm not going to go into much detail about the story, since in this section I focus on the gameplay, but since the plot is important in this genre, I will dedicate a few lines to it. Countless millennia ago, two titans They faced each other in a battle to the death. On one hand, Bionis, the organic giant. From another, Meconis, a robotic colossus. It is not possible to know exactly how long the fight lasted, but it culminated in the apparent death of both. In some way, their inert bodies served as a kind of continents for different forms of life, and also in a new battlefield, in this case between the Humas, inhabitants of Bionis, and the Mekon, the natives of Mekonis. The latter seem indestructible, but there is a weapon that seems to make a dent in them: Monado, a sword as destructive as it is difficult to handle, since only the brave Dunban seems to be able to wield it. Finally, the Humas are victorious at a high price, the disability of the hero of the battle. One year after the Battle of Sword Valley, it will be Shulk, a young engineer who tries to unravel the enigmas of this sword, on whom the story focuses.

Under this suggestive premise, we will immerse ourselves in an adventure as extensive as the settings where it takes place. We will find wide open spaces to be able to move as we please in order to explore every last inch of it and, from time to time, admire a spectacular artistic design which more than compensates for the console's shortcomings in graphical power. And if we are tired of walking from here to there, we can always use the markers to chop. Furthermore, all of this develops extremely fluidly with few loading screens which, furthermore, do not usually make us wait long.

The main incentive for exploration is the side quests, since most of them consist of find a special object (represented as a flaming red dot) hidden in a specific point of it, find other randomly distributed anywhere they can be located (a bright blue light), Defeat a certain number of monsters or kill a specific onel, which will normally make us sweat ink. It will also be necessary to talk to this or that character, give him a specific object, etc., which, in addition to improving our relations with the population in which it is located (measured by stars, and which will be useful in bartering, among other things) and between the members of the group themselves (reflected in more or less smiling faces, and which will unlock conversations available at certain points of the map), will allow us to know the existing relationships between some of its inhabitants and witness their evolution, without forgetting the cash rewards. and more powerful equipment. The bad thing is that they become extremely repetitive, since everything comes down to what has already been said, and, in the case of rare objects or those that are not correctly marked, our game will be reduced to going around endlessly if we want to successfully complete the mission.

My recommendation to start is Don't get too obsessed with the secondary missions and do the necessary ones to advance enough levels so as not to fall too far behind the enemies in the game. This will make us advance more quickly in our adventure and find more challenging final enemies. If we obsess over completing all or almost all of the secondary schools, we will find ourselves with tedious and boring games wandering around the stage indefinitely and we will find the bosses too easy, turning the main missions into little more than a walk. Of course, for those who have played it and want to squeeze out all the secrets it contains, this becomes a great inconvenience.

As always happens in the genre, they are the fighting those that act as a mortar for all the elements of the game, the link between the plot and the playable and, within this, between practically all the options that exist. The system that follows is based on automatic attacks alternating with special moves that require a certain charging time. We can fight with three characters at the same time while directly controlling one of them (either Shulk or any of his companions). For their part, enemies can detect us through sight or hearing, so if we want to attack by surprise, we must adapt to each situation. As always, statistics determine the success of our venture. These are physical defense, etheric defense, agility, strength and ether among others and they can be enhanced by weapons (of a specific type for each character), armor and gems, made in Colony 9 with the different crystals that we collect in veins or from fallen enemies.

This combat system is nothing new and, depending on how it is handled, it can be a bit monotonous, but that is not the case in Xenoblade. There are tres factores que vuelven las batallas considerablemente ágiles y dinámicas.

• Visiones del futuro. Cuando lleguemos a cierto punto de la trama, Shulk descubrirá que no sólo es capaz de blandir a Monado, sino que gracias a ella puede ver el futuro, lo que le permitirá anticiparse a los movimientos de los enemigos. Gracias a ello, sabremos qué enemigo atacará, qué personaje será dañado y cuáles serán los efectos del ataque, así como del tiempo que falta para su ejecución, indicado por una barra. Para cambiar el futuro, tendremos la opción de avisar a un personaje para que contrarreste el movimiento (protegiéndose a sí mismo o al compañero atacado, curándole si tiene habilidades para ello, distrayendo al enemigo, derribándole, etc.), o bien actuar por nuestra cuenta, para lo cual las artes de Monado serán sumamente útiles. Si nuestro enemigo va a lanzar un ataque físico, nada mejor que incrementar nuestra velocidad para esquivarlo. Si, por el contrario, el movimiento que usará será etérico, todo intento de esquivarlo será inútil, por lo que será mejor recurrir al escudo protector. Cambiar el futuro para mejor tendrá un gran efecto sobre la moral del grupo, que verá incrementado su ardor de batalla.La barra azul indica el tiempo restante que queda para que el futuro se haga realidad, y la parte roja de la barra del personaje, el daño que sufrirá si esto ocurre.
• Nivel de afinidad entre los personajes. Aunque progresa a ritmo muy lento, con la perseverancia suficiente lo iremos incrementando mediante el cumplimiento de misiones, de la entrega de regalos, conversaciones acertados y durante el transcurso de los propios combates (ayudando a que se pongan de pie, animándoles cuando su moral sea muy baja o haya esquivado un ataque enemigo o propinado un golpe crítico, siempre que pulsemos A en el momento adecuado). Sus principales efectos en la batalla son la posibilidad de realizar ataques en cadena de más de una ronda y la vinculación de habilidades del árbol de ídem, gracias al cual podremos disfrutar de determinadas ventajas de otros personajes junto con los que estemos combatiendo.A mayor afinidad, más habilidades pueden vincularse.
• Barra de moral. Se irá llenando conforme propinemos golpes críticos y ataques especiales, así como mediante los gritos de ánimo mencionados en el apartado anterior. Se compone de tres bloques, y gastaremos uno cuando reanimemos a un compañero caído, mientras que un ataque en cadena lo consumirá por completo. Cuanto más alto sea el ardor del grupo,más rápido crecerá.Las bandas rosas indican desprotección frente a un derribo, y la señal roja, desangrado (pérdida paulatina de energía).

Xenoblade Chorenicles es, de largo, mi juego favorito de Wii. Si en su momento hubiera tenido que hacer un análisis sobre dicho título, no hubiera dudado un instante en endosarle un 100 como una casa. Sus enormes escenarios, su asombroso diseño gráfico, su soberbia banda sonora, su dinámico sistema de combate y la gran cantidad de opciones de las que dispone el juego lo avalan. Por si fuera poco, su argumento sorprende y atrapa desde el primer momento, a lo cual ayuda unos personajes que, si bien no están exentos de tópicos, los lucen de una forma bastante más comedida que en otros productos similares (siempre pongo de ejemplo a Bravely Default de 3DS, cuyos personajes están tan estereotipados y lo demuestran de una forma tan descarada y extrema que resultan sumamente cargantes irritantes. Sus conversaciones, sumamente previsibles, se hacían muy cuesta arriba y toda inmersión en la historia quedaba lastrada por culpa de ello).

En cambio, desde mi actual punto de vista, y si bien todavía llevaría una nota muy alta, no le adjudicaría una nota perfecta debido a su punto más árido: las misiones secundarias, cuyo peso cual losa sólo sentí en el momento en el que me planteé seriamente completarlas todas. Misión imposible, al menos para mí, que ya no puedo perder tanto tiempo en videojuegos. En todo caso, sigue siendo una pequeña gran joya que encabeza mis recomendaciones del catálogo de Wii (también está disponible para New 3DS).

Antes de irme, os dejo con uno de mis temas favoritos.