News: Xenoblade Back in Stock in UK

Posted by Aaron Clegg - Sep 18th 2011 18:30

Nintendo UK makes good on its word, with many major retailers now listing Xenoblade Chronicles as back in stock...

Critically-acclaimed Wii RPG Xenoblade Chronicles is back in stock in the UK, days after Nintendo pledged to act on reported shortages.

Major online retailers including Play.com and Zavvi list the game as in stock and ready to dispatch within 24 hours. Amazon lists the game as in stock, but is currently selling through a third-party merchandiser. GAME and GameStation both cite "2-3 days" before dispatch, while ShopTo is still seemingly out of stock.

While Xenoblade's initial shipment was modest, the game did perform beyond expectations, breaking into the UK top 10 on its debut week, and has held firm in the top 40 since its release a month ago.

And although collectors may be bummed out to hear of more copies available, anyone tempted to jump into the world of Xenoblade should do so as soon as they can, because there's no guarantee Nintendo will replenish stock again.



[More on Xenoblade Chronicles]

Share

Comments

Nkarafo Says:
September 18th, 2011 at 20:41 || Total Comments: 29
Good news indeed.
Darkflame Says:
September 18th, 2011 at 21:16 || Total Comments: 1757
Xenogears is one of those games that prooves nicely that fantastic artwork and enviroment trumps high tech shaders and high graphical power.
Yes, it might be better a tiny bit sharper or higher res - but it still looks better then 90% of PS3 or Xbox games imho.
CSP Says:
September 18th, 2011 at 22:01 || Total Comments: 1046
well to be fair, the mechonis parts look boring compared to the bionis fields and those could have benefited from an HD output. The game is not perfect with below average animation on the numerous cut scenes (characters move their arms like they got parkinon's disease - Jesus this is near N64 levels), dialogue is too drawn out (I could cut down 20-30% of the dialogue without sacrificing anything content wise) and the "HALOified" battle system is not as deep as people think.

but the story holds well (Fragile has a FAR better plot mind you but that story is just exceptional) and the environments are just amazing.

But I blame Nintendo on this. This was a game that needed a lot more money than they spent on the game. More fluid and natural animation, a reworked and more condensed script, certain camera problems ironed out (that thing is too damn manual) configurable party AI and minor changes on the battle system, we could end up with one of the best JRPGs in a very long time.

as always, my two cents from having played this over 60H (no not finished it yet)
Kagato Says:
September 18th, 2011 at 22:39 || Total Comments: 1106
Really loving this game, unfortunatley my compulsive nature has me trying to finish every single side quest before i move onto the next part of the story so nearly 30 hours in and im only just seeing the world open up properly lol. If you are even thinking of buying this then you owe it to yourself to play it, and stick with it too, a lot of information gets thrown at you at once but you will start making sense of it relatively quickly.
Tealovertoma Says:
September 19th, 2011 at 06:06 || Total Comments: 582
"I could cut down 20-30% of the dialogue without sacrificing anything content wise"

Welcome to JRPGs
Mr_bogus Says:
September 19th, 2011 at 09:19 || Total Comments: 355
Ordered from play.com :)
Dark dragonic Says:
September 19th, 2011 at 10:06 || Total Comments: 141
I rented this from Lovefilm, and it was quite good. Didn't do it justice and play it all the way through, but i enjoyed what i played. There are FAR better games out there - i prefer playing Torchlight on my 360, for example - and my Wii is in the front room, where someone is almost always watching TV, so wii play time is severely limited. But i must disagree with @Darkflame, it looks WORSE than 90% of 360 or PS3 games, and the battle system is awkward as hell. I almost gave up 4 minutes into the game because A - It was horrible to look at the opening scene just before the first battle, and B - the battle system was pretty awkward to get used to (i don't have a classic controller pro, just wiimote/nunchuck)
Morphorino Says:
September 19th, 2011 at 11:35 || Total Comments: 368
I have put in around 30 hrs so far and disagree with a lot of what has been said:
the battle system is excelent, a little bit hectic at first but after that becomes second nature (i would like a bit more control over the other members in the party, but its a small quibble)

For a wii game the graphics are fantastic, its a bit pointless comparing it to hd systems but it is certainly better looking than some games ive seen, the animations can be a bit jerky at times and sometimes dont match the dialogue properly, but i will put that down to being lost in translation a bit and also the power of the wii. Its certainly not a big issue for me.

I like the story length, i havent felt so far thats been too long or drawn out, imo its just right enough to give you an atatchment to the characters, you need the dialogue levels between them to put the story and the relationships over. Also its a rare occassion where the balance between game time and cut scenes is just right imo.

I have only really had camera trouble once in the game and it was in the battle vs xord other than its fine for me

I used to be a massive jrpg fan and this game puts me in mind of grandia 2 one of my favourite ever games. Its probably been a good 8yrs or so since ive invested myself in a game of this genre and I knew it would take something special to getme playing again, this game has done the job, its absolutely fantastic


I have only really had camera trouble once and it was against
Darkflame Says:
September 19th, 2011 at 11:57 || Total Comments: 1757
"h @Darkflame, it looks WORSE than 90% of 360 or PS3 games, "

No, it really doesnt. Go on, pick 10 games at random and have a good look. (preferably ones with large, seemless comparable enviroments)

But just to be clear; It looks better then 99.99% of Wii games, and I'm discounting the starting cutscene which was awefull no question there.

But the grassy fields and imagination in their layout? hell yeah. The dynamic grass alone is done better then most games (even on PC), the subtleness of the fadein specificly better then a lot of stuff.

Also, the battle system is great once your used too it, and I play purely with a nunchuck/wiimote. I hate standard controllers by comparison, far less comfortable.

Sounds like you just need to play more, as the battle system did take me awhile to get used too, but its not harder or more akward once you are.

"but the story holds well (Fragile has a FAR better plot mind you)"

Xenoblades plot cant be that awefull.
Fragile had better dialogue and atmosphere,but the overall plot was stupid in the extream. I'm sure it was supposed to go elsewhere but they rushed the ending after there budget ran out.


Do agree on the script being possible to trim down though - but its no where near as bad as, say, Another Code Wii in that spec.
Toots Says:
September 19th, 2011 at 14:28 || Total Comments: 313
I have to agree with Darkflame on all points.

Nuff said :)
RawkingRawlings Says:
September 19th, 2011 at 16:37 || Total Comments: 562
@CSP

I think you're being a little harsh with regards to the cut scenes. Whilst the smaller ones do resemble Resident Evil, from the PS1 ages, the larger, cinematic ones are astounding. The animation is fluid and even the voice acting improves (oddly).

I've yet to reach Mechonis (please no spoilers), but i can't really fault this game in any way....well, maybe Riki .... >_>
Rattustherat Says:
September 20th, 2011 at 11:31 || Total Comments: 129
I'm 6 hours in and I am now on the way to Tephra Cave (2nd mission)! Just walking around and exploring Colony 9 (hugest town I've ever seen in a jRPG), talking and trading with NPCs, quests etc all this time. So addictive! So far I like the battle system, it reminds me of Chrono Trigger. As in simple but action-packed and fun. I'm not sure if I can call it deep yet, maybe once I get the Monado it'll get deeper. I'm having fun though. This is the Wii's 2nd best game. 1st is NSMB Wii. 3rd is Mario Kart Wii.

Yeah I said it!
CSP Says:
September 20th, 2011 at 16:08 || Total Comments: 1046
"Welcome to JRPGs"

ehm mind you I have watched anime series that spanned hundreds of episodes and played quite a few JRPGs, heck even the metal gear games did not bother me, this is the first JRPG that felt TOO drawn out, to the point of characters looking stupid. I mean EVERY time the guy has a vision, EVERYONE is astounded. Too much dialogue, apparently written to stress the dramatic tone, ends up being entirely pointless and this looks like no one revised the script at all.

As for the battle system, major flaw is the party gauge because it does too many things at the same time. Reviving requires 1/3 of the party gauge and all 3 parts for a combo which in bosses, it is far more dangerous since after the combo, you got no way to revive anyone who faints. Also I can't remember how many times I used heal just after a member of the party healed me. Not being able to control those arts, makes the battle system too loose and heavily dependent on what you do. It's not as deep people, you keep pressing any art that becomes available with very little strategy whatsoever (and the gem crafting "game" is simply ridiculous)

Some ideas work, some not so much, areas become inaccessible losing quests at certain timepoints without prior notice (check the guide on gamefaqs for this, I lost sword valley without realizing) and overall, more time had to be spent on this game, OR it had to be split into two BIG games (one for each giant) making it far more manageable for monolith.

As for Fragile, I am not surprised you did not get it DarkFlame, one needs to understand existentialism before comprehending what that experiment was truly about and how the end of the world was achieved. The ending is EXACTLY what the team envisioned but the problem is that unlike the End of Evangelion, a movie which had a booklet given to the audience explaining the entire plot fully, Fragile does not come with a compendium. The game dared to do what Shin Megami Tensei never attempted and both the plot and the way it unfolds is so exceptional, that is on a league of its own.
CSP Says:
September 20th, 2011 at 16:17 || Total Comments: 1046
oh and FYI, the game is not lip synched for the japanese audio track either (and this is 2011...)

We are sorry but comments are temporarily disabled.
Please visit our N-Europe News Forum to discuss this article.

 Xenoblade Chronicles - Click to see game details
Xenoblade Chronicles

System:
Wii

Genre:
RPG

Developer:
Monolith Soft

Publisher:
Nintendo

Release Dates:
Out now
2012
Out now
Out now

Memorycard:
N/A

Multiplayer:
No MP

Last updated on:
Aug 13th 2011