In case you don't know, it is reviewing very, very well. I've read many reviews calling it the best JRPG of the generation, and one even called it the best JRPG since the 16-bit era.

Just curious to know how badly people here want it.

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@-JKR-

Yes it is sad we have no alternate reality machines. Otherwise I'd be able to head to the reality where Xenoblade released in the US and copy some quotes of you gushing about how great the game is and how Nintendo has done it again

@-JKR-@-JKR-

I guess that explains why that Tingle game reviewed so well.

@-JKR- But it got glowing reviews in Japan and surely the Japanese gaming media doesn't really care one way or the other about the plight of North American gamers (not to mention it released in Japan before this Rainfall stuff was huge.) Actually as Simba says, European reviewers probably don't care about the plight of North American gamers much either. There really isn't much basis for considering the game overrated.

...and even if it was overrated, you could drop 10 points off of its scores and it would still be scoring well.

I might buy it eventually. This is the only genre I feel this way about, but I'd rather play a remake of Final Fantasy IV for the billionth time than play a new, traditional JRPG. Weird.

@Zero

Shh. No. The truth is out there. I want to believe.

@Kal-El814

Exactly how is Xenoblade "traditional"?

I'm getting frustrated with the way all JRPGs are perceived by today's gamers just because FF sucks. Apparently rave reviews aren't enough. Guilty of being antiquated even after being proven innocent.

Actually one of the things I have read about Xenoblade Chronicles is that it is more open-ended and allows for tons of exploration like old school RPGs (or well, like many RPGs except FF XIII) but that they have totally modernized everything about it so it feels very "new". It kind of sounds (in reviews anyway) like it went in the direction JRPGs should have gone in instead of turning into linear cutscene fests instead.

Which sounds awesome to me.

@Guillaume

People do that for all pigeon-hole genres.

Just look at FPSs or something like Madden. There is some top shelf material in those genre/frachise, but some have convinced themselves that only mindless knuckle-draggers enjoy that "crap".

@Guillaume
I think it's crazy that JRPGs take continuous shit for never changing.

Almost every one that I try has multiple weird, obscure systems that are difficult to understand. FPS games have changed significantly in the long term, but how much do they change in the short term, really? Nobody may give enough of a shit about JRPGs to dig deeper (including me), but they're still exhibiting tons of evolution. Or mutation, at the very least. Even Final Fantasy games are radically different every time.

This was not an attack on Kal-El.

Jargon said:

@-JKR-

Yes it is sad we have no alternate reality machines. Otherwise I'd be able to head to the reality where Xenoblade released in the US and copy some quotes of you gushing about how great the game is and how Nintendo has done it again

Lol, I don't play RPGs. Boring as all get out to me. So no, can't say I'd be gushing about anything Xenoblade related, lol.

Lol.

I think The World Ends With You, the Mario & Luigi series, the Shin Megami series (Persona especially), and Half Minute Hero are all some very, very non-traditional JRPGs. But on some level I think some people just prefer WRPGs and anything that isn't turning JRPGs more WRPG is looked at as a step in the wrong direction.

@-JKR- Maybe this explains why you don't understand how monumental all of this Operation Rainfall stuff is.

@-JKR-

Fine. Just stop being obnoxious to fans of the genre. You don't have to click on these threads.

Guillaume said:

@-JKR-

Fine. Just stop being obnoxious to fans of the genre. You don't have to click on these threads.

Where was I obnoxious? Where did I say "RPGs are stupid, and anyone who likes them is an idiot, doi!"

I am an NA Wii owner, who this thread is geared towards. I came in and gave my opinion, and then 20 people jumped on me because I had a different opinion. So, excuse me for being attacked for not agreeing with you? For thinking the hype that's built around this game has skewed a ton of people's normally reasonable perspectives?

The funniest part is how some people say I blindly follow things and the moment I'm not with the latest blindly-following group I'm suddenly a horrible person. Why is it that you don't attack the folks who don't agree with you in other places? Just me?

It's kind of silly opinion though, I mean really, why would the Japanese and Europeans who have nothing to do with Rainfall overrate a game just because it isn't coming to North America? Maybe if you had backed it up with something, but then, I'm not sure how that can be backed up.

@-JKR-

I've always "attacked" people like you who, rather than just accept people have different tastes and interests, constantly try to find reasons to "explain" why others don't share their opinion and are, therefore, wrong. People who say things like "you only like this small release because you don't have all the AAA titles other consoles offer" or in this particular case, "you are only interested in this game because you can't have it", even "people aren't enjoying the game as much as they say they are, they're trying to convince themselves".

You aren't interested in Xenoblade, that's fine. But what you're implying about the people praising it isn't. Tastes are subjective, accept that and quit attacking everyone.

Yes. Attacking.

We live in more of a global community than ever before, and no one NO ONE in this thread is going to deny that the whole Operation Rainfall thing isn't big news in the industry right now, with a focus on one of the largest gaming companies operations in the largest market in the world. You think the people who would bother writing reviews have never touched a game before, or are so far removed from the industry that they've never heard of the huge hubbub you guys are making? Impossible. (Nothing is impossible, so by that I mean unlikely.)

Yesterday I went to see a movie called Page One. It's about the New York Times. At one point they detail how stories in the New York Times directly effect the opinions of anyone who comes into contact with them, simply because they are "from the New York Times." Very good film, I recommend it if it's playing near you. At any rate, it shows first hand how news, reporting, and media help to shape our very opinions. We begin to like or dislike something on outside factors all the time (I'm sure you yourself have disliked some group or band or team just because someone else did) and Operation Rainfall is a big, big story that in our global network of the web does NOT go unnoticed by anyone who would spend their time reviewing games.

But maybe your opinion is just silly, and I should write you off as you did me, hmm?

@-JKR- How come the Operation Rainfall news doesn't affect your perception of the game -- you're still indifferent -- but all the reviews are glowing because of it? By your logic you WOULD love it if you played it simply because it's big news.

@-JKR- So it's a huge global story that everyone in the media in Japan and Europe will care about, but it's also just a vocal minority of Internet people that don't really matter? I dunno man. If it's really huge enough to completely influence the reviews in another country entirely, Nintendo has like absolutely no reason for letting it continue instead of just releasing the damn games. But I don't think Europe really cares about us that much. And Japan especially, the game was released a year ago there back before Operation Rainfall existed and there wasn't much outcry yet because it still seemed likely that it was coming here eventually, I just don't see any feasible explanation for why they would overrate the game. And I remember a few importers back then who were praising the hell out of it as well, like bigtime, and this was long before Operation Rainfall. And now Europe is praising the hell out of it yet I guarantee The Last Story and Pandora won't be scoring all 9s and 10s.

You can believe whatever you want, but the logical conclusion is that it's simply a great game.

Guillaume said:

"you are only interested in this game because you can't have it"

I have NEVER made such a claim.

You are, however, MUCH more interested in this game because you can't have it. And that's not something I'm hoisting on my own shoulders or saying as a form of attacking you, that's human nature in regards to The Forbidden Fruit Theory coupled with society's (ESPECIALLY in America) constant breeding of those ideals. You can ignore what makes you tick, if you'd like to, or you can know that it happens to everyone including you. Or yes, you can even berate me and constantly try to find reasons to "explain" why what I'm saying is untrue and I am, therefore, wrong. (Your words, not mine.) I'm not attacking anyone or telling anyone what to do. You, though, have clearly told me to stay out of threads you don't want me in. So it's hard for me to see where you're fighting some good fight when you're the one telling me what I should and shouldn't do.

I have no doubt that many people would enjoy this game if released here. I likewise have no doubt that the desire they currently have is fueled further (not entirely, I never said that at all) by the Forbidden Fruit Theory, and that desire would never be as strong if the game had released here with zero fanfare or activist movements attached to it, just like all the games that came before it.

Zero said:

You can believe whatever you want, but the logical conclusion is that it's simply a great game.

And I never said it wasn't. I said that the people who have heard the outcry of Operation Rainfall are more likely to feel it's greater than they would otherwise. Just like everything in life.

If someone tells you a movie is great, and you go see it, you will have either a better or worse opinion of that movie because of the influence of that other person (depending on your natural tendency towards them). I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing. People keep assigning my word "good or bad" when I'm just telling you "it." How things are.

I never said it was or wasn't a good game. Ever.

-JKR- said:

You are, however, MUCH more interested in this game because you can't have it.

This is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about: you apparently know me better than I know myself. That's really obnoxious.

I've ALWAYS been really, really looking forward to Xenoblade. Always. Even back when it was supposed to come here.

You don't know shit about me, my tastes and my opinions.

Pretend that you do one more time, I fucking dare you.