Xenoblade Chronicles

v • t • e
Xenoblade Chronicles
	; European box art
Developer	Monolith Soft
Publisher	Nintendo
Platform	Wii
Release date	2010-06-10; 2010-06-10; 2011-08-19; 2011-08-23; 2011-09-01; 2011-09-02; 2011-09-23; 2012-04-06

This article is about the first game in the series. For the series, see Xenoblade Chronicles (series).

Xenoblade Chronicles (ゼノブレイド, Xenoblade) is a role-playing video game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo. It was released in 2010 in Japan, in 2011 in Europe and in 2012 in North America for the Wii. In 2015, the game was ported to the New Nintendo 3DS as Xenoblade Chronicles 3D. An enhanced remake of the game was released in 2020 for the Nintendo Switch as Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition.

Playable characters[edit]

Main playable characters[edit]


Shulk	Reyn	Fiora	Dunban	Sharla	Melia	Riki

Guest characters[edit]


Dickson	Mumkhar	Alvis

Development[edit]

Clay model of the Titans

The game started development back in July 2006, around the same time Xenosaga Episode III was released. It started with a clay model of the Bionis and Mechonis by Yasuyuki Honne.^[3] Unlike the previous games in the Xeno series, the next game was meant to have a larger focus on being fun rather than story-telling due to criticism of the series leading to low morale in the team.^[4]

The game was revealed at E3 2009 under the working title Monado: Beginning of the World. The title was later changed to Xenoblade in Japan, a change publicly credited to honour Takahashi^[5], but may have also been in response to being unable to secure a trademark for the name.^[6] The Monado title remained as the planned name for North America, even after its release was officially cancelled.^[7] It was named Xenoblade Chronicles for its 2011 release in Europe for unclear reasons.

A fan campaign called Operation Rainfall allegedly led to Xenoblade Chronicles eventually launching in North America in 2012, along with The Last Story and Pandora's Tower, albeit the latter two titles were originally published for the North American market by Xseed Games rather than Nintendo. Nintendo of America released Xenoblade Chronicles using its European localisation without any apparent changes.

Music[edit]

Main article: Music of Xenoblade Chronicles

Executive Director Tetsuya Takahashi wanted the soundtrack for Xenoblade Chronicles to have an atmosphere different from his previous works. As a result he asked Yoko Shimomura to be a main contributor,^[8] along with Manami Kiyota and ACE+ (Tomori 'TOMOri' Kudo, Hiroyo "CHiCO" Yamanaka, and Kenji Hiramatsu), who were suggested by Dog Ear Records,^[9] and with Yasunori Mitsuda, who joined when the production was mostly complete.^[8]

Plot[edit]

Main article: Plot summary of Xenoblade Chronicles

Long ago on an endless sea, two great titans fought and died, with their bodies forming the world upon which life arose - the Homs on the Bionis, and the Mechon on the Mechonis. The war between the two forces continues, with the Homs attempting to repel the invading Mechon. After a year of peace, a new threat emerges, and it falls to Shulk to fight them off with the Monado - a legendary blade with many secrets.

Gameplay[edit]

See also: Xenoblade Chronicles (series)#Gameplay

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Battle[edit]

Up to three characters can be in the party at once. They periodically use Auto-attacks to deal damage and fill up the Talent Gauge. Filling it up allows the player to use their Talent Art. Up to eight other Battle Arts are available to the player at once. Once used, they enter a cooldown phase and the player has to wait until the art can be used again. Once the Party gauge is full, a Chain attack can be started. The Party gauge is also used for reviving incapacitated party members. If the enemy is about to unleash a strong attack, a Vision may appear. This gives the player some time to react and prepare for the attack.

Field[edit]

Outside of battles, the player can accept quests from NPCs where enemies must be slain, items collected, or other NPCs talked to. Crystal Deposits that are located all over Bionis and Mechonis give Crystals that can be used to craft Gems. Collectables can be registered in the Collectopaedia or can be used together with materials to reconstruct Colony 6. Talking to named NPCs might create or alter links on the Affinity Chart.

Other releases[edit]

Digital re-release[edit]

The original Wii version was digitally re-released via the Nintendo eShop on the Wii U console in August 2015 in Europe and Oceania, April 2016 in North America, and July 2016 in Japan. It has no differences from the original physical Wii disc release other than the convenience of playing the game on the Wii U without explicitly accessing Wii Mode, which the disc version requires playing on the Wii U console. The Wii U is backwards compatible with all Wii games.