A red sword stuck with the tip down in a green field with a blue sky behind. Text says: A short intro to Xenoblade by MonolithSoft. 'Xenoblade' and 'MonolithSoft' are spelled using their logos.

Xenoblade Chronicles (1). there’s the original Wii version, a 3DS version and the Definitive Edition for the Switch

-all that exists in the universe is an endless ocean and the two Titans standing there. Living on the Titan ’Bionis’ are Homs, Nopon, High Entia. They are under attack by evil Mechon from the other Titan, ’Mechonis’

-only one thing can harm Mechon. The divine sword ’Monado’, which also harms its wielder and usually tries to control them. Only few can make any use of the Monado, and at a cost. Shulk, a young researcher, tries to unlock its secrets. However, after an attack on his home Shulk loses a dear friend. Armed with the Monado, which strangely seems to let itself be wielded by Shulk and also lets him see visions of the future, Shulk sets out with his best friend Reyn to avenge their other best friend...

BUT THEN, EVERYTHING THEY THOUGHT THEY KNEW WAS CALLED INTO QUESTION


Meet the cast (some of them):


The face of Shulk from Xenoblade. He is a young man with short fluffy blond hair and blue eyes, wearing a turtle-neck sweater and a red jacket.
Shulk, a young engineer studying the Monado that his guardian brought to the Colony along with Shulk himself when Shulk was just a little boy
 The face of Reyn from Xenoblade. He is a young man with short red hair, sideburns and brown eyes. He is wearing an orange and gray croptop.
Reyn, Shulk’s best friend since childhood and soldier in the Colony’s defense force. The Tank to Shulk’s Damager
 The face of Fiora from Xenoblade. She is a young woman with strawberry blond hair half-way tied up in the back, and with green eyes. She is wearing a necklace with a red gemstone.
Fiora, Shulk and Reyn’s cheerful childhood friend who, like Reyn, worries over Shulk and wants to protect him
The face of Sharla from Xenoblade. She is a woman with long black hair, brown eyes and a mole next to her mouth. She has a pair of goggles around her neck.
Sharla, a medic from Colony 6 who Shulk and Reyn run into after leaving their own Colony, who wants revenge for her fiancé
 The face of Dunban from Xenoblade. He is a man with long dark brown hair and brown eyes, with stubble on his chin and a determined expression.
Dunban, the older brother of Fiora and a war hero who previously wielded the Monado and thus is recovering from a major injury, join Shulk and Reyn later on
 The face of Dickson from Xenoblade. He is a man with long blond hair tied back in a braid, a red bandana around his head and a mustache. He is baring his teeth.
Dickson, Shulk’s guardian and old war buddy of Dunban’s, briefly joins the party at various points through their journey
The face of Riki from Xenoblade. He is a round fluffy yellow creature with two wings and two arms, wearing a blue and purple vest. His eyes are large and brown, his mouth open in a toothy grin, and crowning his head is a huge tuft of orange fluff.
Riki, a Nopon and father of at least eleven who hails from Frontier Village and has been selected as ”this year’s Heropon” to work off his crippling debt
 The face of Melia from Xenoblade. She is a young woman with silver eyes, and long silver hair arranged into two huge curls in front of her. She is wearing a blue and purple headdress matching her dress, and has two small white wings extending from behind the hat.
Melia, a mysterious mage who the party meets in Makna forest who eventually brings them to her home city, the capital Alcamoth of the High Entia empire
 The face of Alvis from Xenoblade. He is a person with silver hair down to his shoulders wearing a fur-lined blue coat and a choker with a red cross-shaped crystal on it.
Alvis, a cryptic stranger who Shulk briefly meets in Makna and who seems to know a lot about the Monado

Recommendation

PROS & CONS

+ many consider this game to have the best plot out of the Xenoblade games, with its wild twists and turns

- however, how the game handles female characters leave something to be desired, with all the girls in the party having romance subplots, some of them taking over almost the entirety of their arcs, dialogue, etc

+ there are several versions, so that's fun! if you like crunchier graphics there's the original, and if you don't, there's the Definitive Edition for the Switch

- this game is undeniably long. I suppose it's all personal taste, how much grinding/side-questing/cutscene-watching a person can enjoy - but this game, as the first Xenoblade, definitely has the emptiest maps and largest amount of pointless dime-a-dozen side-quests

+ neat features! you can collect items and add them into a Collectopaedia where you get funny little descriptions of each one! there's an affinity system which includes e.g. giving gifts to your party members and looking at optional dialogue with them where you get to pick the speech options. you can dress the party up in silly outfits! customize your weapons with a little crafting system!

I won't write spoilers, which makes it really difficult to discuss what makes this game good! Some sections can drag, while others are just twists upon twists. This is one of those games where replaying it after having finished it really adds to the experience, and it's easy to sink hours into the game.