Xenoblade Chronicles/YMMV


 * And the Fandom Rejoiced: When the game was confirmed for a Western release. Both the European and the American releases are worth mentioning. The former since it meant that the game would have an English version when the possibilities of that happening looked bleak at best, and because a major JRPG got to be released in Europe before any other non-Japanese territory when they usually are left for last (and worse). The latter, because of all the effort that the fandom made to try to convince Nintendo of America to bring the game despite its low sales prospects, including the now legendary Operation Rainfall.
 * Anticlimax Boss: Everyone makes a huge deal about how dangerous the rampaging Leone Telethia in Makna Forest is, even moreso due to it's spawn being annoying to fight already which says a lot about how bad the boss itself must be... until you fight it, that is. It's hardly easy, but it's nowhere near the threat it's hyped up to be. Hell its spawn are harder thanks to the fact that you're fighting three as Shulk with only Alvis backing you up!
 * As cool as the battle itself is, Egil... really isn't all that dangerous in any of his fights to be honest, even the last one . Jade Face, a minion of his is far more dangerous and powerful.
 * Awesome Music: We could easily say the entire soundtrack. But if we get specific:
 * The Main Theme. Wow! Just... WOW!
 * Time to Fight! deserves a special mention.
 * Field of the Machinae.
 * Prologue B.
 * Gaur Plains.
 * Those Who Bear Their Name.
 * Satorl, the Shimmering Marsh (Night).
 * Unfinished Battle.
 * Mechanical Rythm
 * Beyond the Sky.
 * One Who Gets In Our Way
 * ''Zanza
 * Bad Export for You: The North American localization isn't bad, but it shows lack of effort. It's pretty much just the UK version. For some things in the game, such as voice acting, this is a good thing--another Baten Kaitos won't occur. However, the format of the date and British spellings of certain words weren't touched. Not bad in any way, just not much effort was put into minor things. It's much preferable to nothing.
 * Even the copyright date on the title screen remains unchanged: something one would expect the lawyers to insist upon if anything of significance had been done at all.
 * In fact many reviewers have praised the British Voice Acting as it makes it stand out for the other JRP Gs.
 * It was either that or essentially wasting money to pay a localization team to go through the game's script and remove 'u's for basically no reason, especially considering that with all the British accents, you'd expect words to be spelled the British way.
 * Best Boss Ever: You've spent a good while unable to hurt Metal Face, the bastard who attacked Colony 9 and killed thanks to Faced Mechon being immune to the Monado... but this all changes when . Now the tables have turned and you get to beat the snot out of that son of a bitch while the awesome "You Will Know Our Names" blaring in the background. It feels good to finally put this asshole in his place, and this carries over to the rest of his fights as well.
 * Big Lipped Alligator Moment - Debateable, but at the end of her sidequest comes off as a bit jarring, since it hasn't been mentioned, demonstrated or hinted at that  serve as anything but decoration, they've got plenty of technology to  and the plot implies that they've been actively trying to mix their bloodline with the Homs for unrelated reasons which would also serve to breed this trait out as a side effect.
 * Actually one of the nameless NPCs in Alcamoth mentions that it's possible for a High Entia to fly using their headwings. But it requires a great amount of training and compares it to being able to wiggling ears.
 * Complete Monster -
 * Metal Face
 * for sure. This asshole ... ugh..
 * And let's not forget the gluttonous and hammy Xord either, after all he's the one who destroyed Colony 6 and . The fact that he revels in the destruction he causes and is constantly giggling when reminiscing will make you seriously want to smash his face in.
 * is pretty bad too, given that.
 * Demonic Spiders/BonusBosses: Unique Monsters. They're always much stronger than the other nearby monsters being usually five to thirty levels higher (or in some cases, SIXTY), and they are more than happy to help out weaker monsters you're fighting if they wander by the battlefield.
 * For specific examples there are the Kromars of Eryth Sea, which are absolutely irritating reptilian creatures that always fight in packs, can initiate brutal chain attacks, can shrug off a lot of your attacks like they're nothing, and worst of all can seal your arts if they're an ether-type variation.
 * Fortress Unit Mechon are always several levels higher than most of the Mechon in the areas that they appear in, and are absolutely enormous which makes getting behind them for attacks like Backslash or Sneaky Sneaky a chore to do. They also hit ridiculously hard, and generally take forever to kill.
 * Ear Worm: If you spent any time at all solving the Bionis' Leg quests, Gaur Plain will. not. leave. your. head. for. weeks.
 * 8.8: The game got glowing reviews in all of the continents it was released in... with the glaring exception of EGM's "review." Keep in mind, this is the post-Magazine Decay EGM, so it wasn't widely reported.
 * Evil Is Sexy:.
 * Executive Meddling - Not by Nintendo, rather, Nintendo of America.
 * And a positive example out of Game Stop, who apparently convinced Nintendo to sell Xenoblade from their stores.
 * Hate Dumb - Because of the situation listed just below, a lot of people seem to suddenly believe Europeans are lucky bastards that get all the good games and America is DOOMED. Of course, that nicely forgets how Europe suffers from No Export for You much worse than America has ever did, even to this date, and Xenoblade, Pandora's Tower and The Last Story are the exception, not the rule. In fact, as far the Xeno series goes, America still beats Europe 4 to 2!
 * With the announcement that Xenoblade is coming to America, they started quieting down about that game... then they started focusing on the latter two games.
 * With The Last Story heading to US soil, that leaves Pandoras Tower left... then people found out its quite average compared to the other games.
 * There are quite a number of people who refuse to play Xenoblade because it doesn't have HD graphics and is on the Wii (and this also leads to the further assumption that it is "for little kids"). As Operation Rainfall says, Don't Judge A Game By Its Console. It's also not rated M.
 * Hell Is That Noise: As awesome as the song titled "You Will Know Our Names" is, if you hear it out of nowhere you'll likely panic since it tends to play when Unique Monsters that are much higher leveled than you have you in their sights.
 * That fucking scream Shulk does when.
 * Hype Aversion: To be expected, since the game is already being called the "Best JRPG of this generation," even being ranked among the likes of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VII.
 * Internet Backdraft - The moment NOA said they may not bring the game to North America, specially after Nintendo of Europe confirmed they were going to bring it to the good Old Continent. The fact that reviews praised it as the best JRPG in an entire console generation didn't help either. The key word here though, is "may"...
 * "May" indeed. They have now confirmed that they "will" bring it over.
 * Like You Would Really Do It -
 * Love to Hate: Both Metal Face and Xord are completely without redeeming qualities to speak of, but they're so good at being unlikable bastards that it's hard not to like them in a twisted way. Their hamminess certainly helps as well.
 * Memetic Mutation - Reyn's English battle quotes surely clicked with the internet.
 * "Now it's Reyn Time!"
 * "Man! What a bunch of jokers!"
 * Moral Event Horizon - When he is revived,
 * Speaking of Egil, he's hardly innocent himself as he is the one responsible for the horrific attacks on Bionis, the, and is perfectly willing to . For a proper crossing of the MEH, there's when.
 * Xord crossed this when he.
 * Then there's the absolutely horrific moment when
 * First Consort Yumea comes off as merely a racist bitch towards Homs at first, but she undeniably crosses this when she tries to have her own stepdaughter assassinated for having the gall to be born with Homs blood in her veins.
 * And of course, let's not forget Metal Face/ attacking Colony 9 at the beginning and slaughtering many innocent Homs, including purely out of.
 * Most Annoying Sound - Some of the battle quotes are repeated WAAAAAAAY too often.
 * "FEELS LIKE A FLY BIT ME! FEELS LIKE A FLY BIT ME! FEELS LIKE A FLY BIT ME! FEELS LIKE A FLY BIT ME! FEELS LIKE A FLY BIT ME!" Xord, shut the fuck up.
 * Speaking of annoying boss quotes, there's the constant, endless metallic garbled screaming from Tyrea during her boss fight, which is made even worse because the fight takes forever thanks to her Telethia helper's high amount of health and her inability to be harmed by the Monado.
 * "You will pay for your insolence!" "This is for defying Lord !" will grate on your nerves during due to how long it takes even when you're not struggling against her.
 * The song it plays after there's been a vision cuts into the various awesome boss themes, which can really grate your nerves when it constantly plays during the harder boss fights.
 * During the stretch from to Agniratha, you have the Offensive and Defensive flying Mechon enemies and their stronger variations, who emit an absolutely irritating sound when they follow you.
 * Some of the character's jumping sounds are more amusing than others, but Fiora's are hard to listen to. She sounds like she's gagging and on the verge of vomiting, which can really hurt more sensitive ears.
 * Most Wonderful Sound - Several.
 * The shattering-glass sound when you change the party's fate during a battle.
 * Now it's time for a Chain Attack!
 * Nightmare Fuel - Some areas are not fun to run through for those with arachnophobia. Tephra Cave is a standout location since you get Reyn being swarmed by tons of ugly little Arachno with the Queen dead set on impaling him if Shulk doesn't save him in time.
 * The Mechon entirely.
 * And let's not forget the absolutely horrifying scream Shulk does when . Kudos to Adam Howden's vocal cords for creating such a scary noise.
 * After defeating Egil, there's the scene when.
 * Player Punch:
 * Scrappy Mechanic - Debateable, but Spike damage tends to edge towards this: basically, anything that has Spike aura automatically does a set amount of damage to anyone who attacks them, and naturally due to the enemies' vastly higher HP, the fact they end up getting hit a lot more often than your characters, your limited sources of healing and thus the need to rely more on evasion to keep your party alive, this tends to work far too much to their advantage. There are ways to counter it, but they're either temporary or require you to sacrifice far too many gem slots to defend against it, and you have no clue on what enemy has such defenses before you see the purple numbers popping out of your characters. Furthermore, the spike damage defense gems don't work on Spikes that cause status effects, which you naturally have no access to.
 * The above is mitigated somewhat with high-level gems that make you almost immune to spike damage and ones that protect you from all status effects, but until you get sufficiently high-leveled variations of them, you're still going to be crippled severely by it. Not to mention the fact that the few skills that you can use to nullify spike damage rely on not only being able to hit the enemy, but to be able to build enough party gauge for a chain attack as well to make the effect stick.
 * Shocking Swerve: Ho-leee Shit.
 * Tear Jerker:
 * That One Area: Satorl Marsh. It's filled with bird enemies that are very aggressive and tend to dog you as you try to evade them, and unlike the wide open beauty of the Gaur Plain before it, is rather confined and dull-looking, at least during the daytime(during the nighttime...). It also contains an aggravating fetch quest where you have to collect stones, and they are placed in the strangest places, including one across a poisonous lake. Have fun!
 * That One Boss: Disciple . Not only is she a Flunky Boss, but her flunkies will selfdestruct, and you're fighting on a tiny platform with ether surrounding it. Seeing how she's huge, she'll try to push you into it. It gets worse; she also has an unavoidable attack that will hit all party members for over 2000 damage. She has a ton of HP, and Shulk is useless for this fight. Melia is ideal, but her low HP means she's destroyed a few seconds into the battle. Oh, and at this point in the game, there's also really no place you can go to to get better armor or easily level grind either since you WILL be underleveled when the time comes to fight her.
 * The first battle with Xord in the Ether Mines sounds simple on paper: you need to topple him twice, beat on him a bit, and the battle is over. But thanks to his ludicrous damage output, level spike, swarms of lesser Mechon, and the screwy camera angle make this easier said than done. If he so much as kills Reyn or Shulk, you're likely to never get a proper chain attack pulled off since it takes one part of the gauge to revive a fallen partner.
 * Tyrea and her Telethia friend are just plain horrible. Tyrea can only be damaged slightly by the Monado, the Telethia has a massive amount of health, and they are capable of hitting hard and fast.
 * Jade Face/ is just awful, especially when you fight him in Agniratha. He has arts that deal ludicrous amounts of damage, he spams said arts endlessly, his best attack Laser Bullet has no reliable way to dodge and hits everyone for a horrific amount of damage, and to top it all off, HE SUMMONS ENEMIES THAT WILL FORCE YOU TO HIT THEM. And those enemies will take forever to kill, and God help you if he summons more right after you kill them. All in all, this battle is easily one of the hardest in the game, bar none.
 * The Scrappy: Most of the characters are pretty well-liked for the most part, yet there's still one semi-important character that is almost universally hated: Juju. Despite Sharla's constant warnings, he gets himself in danger no less than three times by deliberately disobeying her and running into dangerous situations without thinking about it whatsoever. Some people wish that Xord could have eaten him.
 * Visual Effects of Awesome: While the character models take a noticeable hit from this, the vast, thriving world you explore is well conceived design-wise and lavishly detailed, with its own ecosystem, weather effects and day/night cycle, with surprisingly good draw distance to boot. And this was all pulled off on an aging system that's only slightly more powerful than the original Xbox.
 * Notable examples include the Gaur Plain, a grassy field with huge cliffs and rock formations, and the Makna Forest, with a huge group of waterfalls that you can actually explore for yourself and filled with realistic flora and fauna.
 * WTH Costuming Department - A lot of people dislike most of the armors of the game so much that they refuse to put the characters anything but the standard outfits and maybe a one or two better-thought armors. Even if that means having worse stats. The worst offenders are the heavy armors, which are ridiculously bulky and over-ornamented.
 * The Woobie: Even with all of what the rest of the main cast has to endure, Melia gets hit hardest and most often. It begins even before Shulk's team meets her:
 * So to summarize, by the end of the game,
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: It's hard not to feel sympathetic for
 * Woolseyism: Although in British style. It was so good that the Edge Magazine gave Nintendo of Europe a special award for the best localisation of 2011. The other four translations were also really great.
 * WTH Costuming Department - A lot of people dislike most of the armors of the game so much that they refuse to put the characters anything but the standard outfits and maybe a one or two better-thought armors. Even if that means having worse stats. The worst offenders are the heavy armors, which are ridiculously bulky and over-ornamented.
 * The Woobie: Even with all of what the rest of the main cast has to endure, Melia gets hit hardest and most often. It begins even before Shulk's team meets her:
 * So to summarize, by the end of the game,
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: It's hard not to feel sympathetic for
 * Woolseyism: Although in British style. It was so good that the Edge Magazine gave Nintendo of Europe a special award for the best localisation of 2011. The other four translations were also really great.