Nintendo’s President and CEO Satoru Iwata unveiled brand new Wii U games in Nintendo’s latest Nintendo Direct. X or Xenoblade 2 is primed to be the Wii U’s first original game that takes full advantage of the hardware and gameplay functions, leaving current generation JRPGs in the dust.
Check out the trailer here if you missed it. Get the rest of the article below.
The Art, Graphics, and Scope are Impressive
We all knew Monolith Soft was working on a Wii U game, but we had no clue how it was going to look or play. That is, until now. Not only did Monolith Soft delivered on so many counts with the trailer. The Graphics in the game look like no other JRPG on consoles currently. The detail in the monsters, the scope and draw distance, the art. Everything just mended perfectly. The game makes Final Fantasy XIII look silly from gameplay to graphics. Many would say Final Fantasy XIII is the best looking JRPG on a technical level this generation (art wise is debatable). Final Fantasy Versus XIII is the only current JRPG that’s in Xenoblade 2′s league, but that game is in development hell, Square Enix is obviously having trouble putting the game on PS3. We might never see the game, or it could be moved to the PS4.
Final Fantasy XIII Gran Pulse Gameplay
The much more Impressive Final Fantasy Versus XIII Gameplay
The Gameplay is Innovative and Tactical
If you watch the trailer, and played Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii. It’s easy to tell this game is in the Xenoblade universe and could possibly be a sequel to the first game. The combat bar across the screen confirms that. The sword swinging animation 30 seconds into the trailer, is the same animation Xenoblade 1 characters make. There are awesome additions to the formula I spotted. You can now switch weapons freely. You can see one character switch from a gun to a sword mid-combat. This will probably be done on the Wii U Gamepad, as you’ll be able to set certain weapons to quick swaps via touchscreen. You can also tell there will be online cooperative multiplayer. About 40 seconds into the trailer, you can see in the top left hand corner of the screen reads: Player 1- Player 2 – Player 3, and below that seems to be some sort of chat log. The mech shown at the end of the trailer makes traversing these large landscapes faster. These mechs can also be used in battle. Hopefully, mech customization and leveling is included in the final package.
Xenoblade 2 will hold its own
The Xbox 720 and PS4 are bound to bring some nice looking games. Rumored next generation games like Watch Dogs and Star Wars 1313 look fantastic. There is some concern I have over how many JRPGs will be coming to these systems. We’ll still get the major franchises like Final Fantasy and Tales, but the vast majority of Japanese games brought over will be action or other genre’s to suit the US and European markets. The PS3 and Xbox 360 didn’t have many standout JRPGs. Ni No Kuni, Tales of Xillia, Tales of Graces, Lost Odyssey, and Star Ocean are good, but I think we can all agree good JRPGs were to few and far in-between this generation. With the rising costs of development, and Japan’s current financial situation in the console space. I’m not expecting many JRPGs to be released on the Xbox 720 and PS4. Lets hope i’m wrong though.
Here is some gameplay of Star Ocean The Last Hope, one of the better looking JRPGs on the PS3 and 360.
Nothing But Love for the all the Consoles
I don’t want to discredit or undermine what the PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, and Xbox 720 can and will do. The PS3 and Xbox 360 are fantastic systems and the PS4/Xbox 720 are bound to be powerhouses that can display incredible graphics. Monolith Soft is challenging the very essence of what makes a game innovative or ‘next gen’. When I first saw the trailer for Xenoblade 2, I was thinking this is ‘next gen’ something that’s not possible or available on current consoles. Xenoblade 2 looks to up the stakes to levels Nintendo has never been able to do before. The vast open worlds, mech combat, online multiplayer, and MMO style gameplay, is unlike Nintendo, but a welcomed edition. The Wii U is in its infancy, it’s a baby that needs time to mature. As the developers get more comfortable with the system, the games will start looking more impressive. This trailer is just the beginning though. We still have a lot more to learn about Xenoblade’s online, battle system, features, and more. Monolith Soft looks to be on the right track with Xenoblade 2. Nintendo has done a great job with these Nintendo Directs. More information on Xenoblade 2 can’t come soon enough. I’ll keep you guys posted on anything I can dig up!
What do you guys think? Agree? Disagree? Lets have a healthy conversation in the comment section below.
One More Thing Before you sign up and Comment!
Please remember to follow our site everyday. Playeressence does multiple updates of gaming news. Check out our original shows as well, where we discuss weeks hottest new and issue challenges when we get pissed off. We got Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter as well. Check out those pages to stay up to date on the latest posts and videos. And finally, check out the right sidebar for our Punchtab rewards program that gives you points for visiting the site, tweeting, commenting, and more. You can then use those points to get gift cards from Target, Starbucks, and other stores. Thank you guys for your continued support and dedication.
