Welcome back to guest comic week, everybody! Here's part 2 of 3 of Nalem and Spanio's guest comic story. Seriously, this is a damn good-looking comic. You know what else is a damn good-looking comic? Their military fantasy drama comic Lighter Than Heir. YOU SHOULD GO READ IT.

So after 100 hours and four months of on-and-off playing, I've finally beaten Xenoblade Chronicles. And you know what? It was pretty good.

For my Christmas present, Leslie imported an international Wii version of the game from fucking Malaysia of all places. Nintendo of America was incredibly relunctant in bring the game over to the west, and when they finally caved in, they made it an incredibly limited, Gamestop-exclusive run that sold out instantly, making it a rare item to find for years after. It only recently got a 3DS-remake which I hear runs pretty solid but graphically looks like ass on a tiny handheld screen. I only bring this up because Nintendo of America's complete disregard for one of the best JRPGs ever is fucking criminal and I can't believe they didn't give this fantastic game the amount of support it deserved.

Xenoblade Chronicles is a unique blend of JRPG story-telling mixed with a western MMO-sense of open-world exploration and combat. Sound weird? You get used to it. Instead of turn-based actions and managing an inventory system of potions and mana-fillers, your combat happens in real-time, with your character automatically attacking while you select various skills running on timers. Positioning is a key factor. Attack an enemy from behind with backslash to score extra damage. Hit them on the side with air slash to slow them down. Hit them from the front with stream edge, have a teammate knock them over with a wild down, and smack them with a shaker edge to leave them dazed and defenseless. Even story elements play into the combat. As you probably know from Smash, main character Shulk has the ability to see what dangers await in the future. If an enemy is about to knock your ass out, Shulk will have a vision of it and it's up to you to prevent it, or at the very least steer it towards a more favorable outcome. Despite the fast-paced action, there's still plenty of tactical decisions to make in combat.

The story itself is your standard JRPG fair, but what sets it apart is the execution. The setting itself is probably the coolest goddamn thing I have ever seen in a video game ever, taking place entirely on the corpses of two titans, the Bionis and the Mechonis, who died battling it out on a planet of endless ocean. The body of the Bionis is huge, lush, and filled with scenic vistas that'll blow you away with their huge sense of scale. Like, seriously, I couldn't believe this shit was on the Wii. While it's not the most graphically impressive game on the console, the art direction and general hugeness of these areas just had me mesmerized. Shulk starts off in a huge, populated village on the shin of the Bionis and then travels his way through an enormous mountainous grassland on its leg, a (I can't believe I'm saying this) hauntingly beautiful swamp on its thigh, a gorgeous ocean filled with floating reefs on its back, and all sorts of shit you just don't really see in this genre. There's no place here in this game that feels "generic". And while you're running around these places, you'll listen to some fantastic music and watch all sorts of animals and monsters roaming the landscape, perfect for hunting or running for dear life from.

The character interaction is another one of my favorite elements of the game. Surprisingly, you can play as each and every one of them with their own unique abilities that set each other apart. Main character Shulk doesn't even have to be in your party. The game actually rewards you for experimenting with different party loadouts by giving the characters unique banter depending on who they're fighting alongside with. Partying with different members also builds relationships up between them, giving you bonus scenes where they talk amongst themselves and reveal little secret tidbits about their past, their hobbies, how they feel about the current situation, etc. The characters in general are all just really fun and play off each other well. Even the cute animal mascot character Riki was surprisingly endearing with a really fun twist on his character and some really heartfelt moments.

I know this is turning out to be a long-ass blog post, but there's so much to talk about with this game. It's huge in every way. I don't have enough time in the world to talk about the village affinity system (a huge chart that encompasses every named NPC in the game plus their relationship with other NPCs), the gem-crafting system, or even a massive sidequest involving you rebuilding an entire colony from scratch. I haven't talked nearly enough about the game's fucking amazing soundtrack that you've probably already heard without ever playing the game. I haven't talked about the story that piles interesting twists and revelations up sky-high, constantly raising the stakes to such an intimidating but exciting degree. Hell, I haven't even talked about how damn quotable this game is thanks to Nintendo of Europe's brilliant localization job, which will leave me and Leslie repeating battle phrases for years. There's so much to get into with this game, but I know you're probably getting tired of reading this so I'll wrap it up.

While exploring the huge worlds can get a little tiring and the game does get a bit grindy with its sidequests, I feel like this game is a classic in its genre and definitely should be on any JRPG fans list of must-play games. I put 100 hours into it and never felt tired of it. Hell, I'm still tempted to go back and get all the sidequests I missed even after beating the game and seeing that jaw-dropping ending (but I won't because I have shit to do). This kind of game IS a commitment, though, so it's hard to recommend to anyone but the most diehard JRPG fans with a lot of free-time on their hands. If you're one of those types, then import the Wii version, get the 3DS version, emulate it on dolphin, whatever. This is a game you have to try.

When I get on another JRPG kick, I'm gonna try Resonance of Fate next. Until then, time for Dark Souls 3.

SEE YOU ON FRIDAY FOR NALEM AND SPANIO'S GUEST COMIC FINALE. Also read Lighter Than Heir, dammit.