I beat Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii last night. This game very quickly became one of my favorites of all time. Game play is very smooth and doesn't take long to adapt. Enemies will keep you on your toes and you can only hang back on enemies you are well leveled above. Graphics (this is a Wii only game remember) are IMO on par with many of the recent FPS. The areas and worlds are massive and fun to explore. (but learn to use map-jumping, because otherwise you will take a VERY long time to get from place to place).

The games real strengths lie in the musical score, the storyline, and the characters. I am listening to the soundtrack (really fought to wait until I beat the game to do so) and it is one of the best overall tracks I have listened to. And it really draws you in emotionally as the battle scores, the cut scene tracks, and such are absolutely perfect for the events at hand. The storyline is improved compared to most other RPG's where the storyline advancement rarely has a long stretch with little to nothing happening. There are lots of side quests to keep you busy. But I found few points in the game that get 'boring' when all you can do is explore and traverse a huge area to get to the next moment in the game. And the characters are some of the best in RPG's I've played. In most RPG's there's always a character or two that seems to be put aside in terms of development and never really get a good look. Here every character except perhaps one could have their own primary story within the game. The voice acting is also one of the best I've seen.

WITHOUT getting everything, but doing a good portion of the sidequests, I finished the game in 90 hours. That is pretty well tied with Final Fantasy XII for the longest game I have played. But unlike FFXII which is a long game, the story is deeper and stronger. I could easily spend another 50 some hours on this game, but I needed to wrap it up so I can focus on other things (a problem when you hyperfocus). This is a MUST-GET for any Wii owner and it may be worth getting a Wii just for this game (and Zelda: Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword while at it). I am excited about the next time I play this one.

By my experience (at least up to FF X) the Final Fantasy series peaked at VII and went into a slow but steady descent in terms of enjoyability. I really enjoyed VIII but IX was pretty weak. FF X was downright atrocious, bordering on being a war crime. The infamous "laughing" scene makes water boarding look as cute as a kitten wrestling a sock puppet. I gave up after that since Square seemed to have gone weird-O in terms of story and (shivers) voice acting. *trembles at the memory of the laughing scene*

Is XII the online one? or was it XI? All I remember for sure is seeing promos of it on TV and thinking one of the main characters looked like the offspring of a rabbit, a woman, and a bikini. Thanks Square.

In the meantime I've been running through Fallout 3 again, and surprisingly still finding spots I'd never investigated before. Wifester and I have also resumed playing World of Warcraft...the Mists of Pandaria expansion is fun so far...it sure takes a lot more time to level up!

FF XI is the on-line one. I've not played it. FF XII does have a "vyiera" which is a woman with long, tall, rabbit ears and interesting clothing selection. She wasn't a favorite character. Overall, when Squaresoft turned to Square Enix, they went downhill. The overall best game that Square Enix came up with that I have played is the Kingdom Heart series (and KH 1 is with Squaresoft). FF XII I enjoyed, but I wouldn't call it the best in the series. I've only played part of FF VIII and that's because my 2nd disc doesn't want to read properly. But I found FF VII and IX to be my personal favorites.

That being said, based on my impression of first run throughs, Xenoblade Chronicles tops the FF series. Of the seven main characters in Xenoblade, only one doesn't have a strong back-story and arch. All the other six are just as deep as many game's primary characters. I think Chrono Trigger is the only other game I can think of where the whole party has a solid story that develops throughout the game like Xenoblade Chronicles does. And the musical score to Xenoblade is one of the best I have heard. Pure awesome.

I've been so busy! I finally finished playing all the Assassin's Creed games right in time for Assassin's Creed 3! Very excited for it, a little over two weeks to go before it comes out!

Assassin's Creed 3

Both Assassin's Creed 3 and Lord of the Rings Lego come out on the same day, and LittleBigPlanet: Karting comes out the following week, so I will have plenty of games to play for a while.

The Lord of the Rings LEGO

The developers said that it would take the player 30 or 40 hours to completely finish the game. I can't wait!

Lego Lord of the Rings is going to be great.... I believe that I saw it will have even more playable characters then previous Lego games. Should feature everyone from Elrond to Tom Bombadil! My brother has been trying to complete Lego Star Wars 3 recently, and I've been helping him on occasion... it's a fun game, so I really can't wait to see how this one plays. Expectations are high!

I'm finding Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood a bit samey (not that I'm very far into it) but I've heard good things about Revelations and Assassin's Creed 3 looks great!

I'm finding Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood a bit samey (not that I'm very far into it) but I've heard good things about Revelations and Assassin's Creed 3 looks great!

I agree that Brotherhood is a lot like AC2, I enjoyed both of them though. Revelations is great, but they are definitely refreshing the series with AC3!
I love the American Revolution era, I'm really excited to learn about Conner, and to see how they end Desmond's story.

I've seen the Assassin's Creed 3 previews on TV and I like what I see so far. If I had a PS3, I'd likely be very interested in playing this game. The atmosphere of it all looks awesome, and I'm a huge fan of the Revolutionary War time period, so that's a major plus. I also love the outfit of the main character—the assassin, I assume. The hooded jacket, the arrows, the gloves... it's so unique and creates an awesome vibe that can't quite be described as fantasy. It's a blend of a bunch of different things that I've never seen before, and I really like it. Overall, it looks like an awesome game, one that I might want to play if I get a PS3 someday.

As a disclaimer, I know absolutely nothing about this game aside from the previews and promo shots I've seen. So hopefully this post came across at least somewhat intelligent and I don't sound like a total noob.

@MountainFireflower: I've been seeing the TV spots as well on tv, only two more weeks!
Me and my sister were talking about Conner's costume the other day, we agree that it's one of are favorite of all the Assassin's Creed games.
I love how they mixed the military jacket with the traditional assassin's creed hood.

Altair (Assassin's Creed)

Ezio (Assassin's Creed 2)

Ezio (Assassin's Creed:Brotherhood)

Ezio (Assassin's Creed: Revelations)

Conner (Assassin's Creed 3)

If you have a PC you can play it on the computer as well, but as always I highly recommend the PS3 If you ever plan on purchasing a game console!

*squees with great joy, excitement, and anticipation*

Oh goodness, I CANNOT wait. I never did play the first Starcraft series, but I did play Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty and loved it. Been waiting three years for this one.

And I sure wish that Blizzard would get their act together and finish up their Warcraft movie and start in on a Starcraft movie.

Does anyone here play Dota 2? If so, go ahead and add me on Steam.

Steam ID: themagpiesbanter
Older Steam ID: PhelanVelvel (My friend has been playing on this one, but it's still mine.)

I also have like, five Dota 2 invitations. If anyone is interested in getting into the best game ever, just let me know.

StarCraft looks great! I remember playing the original a bit back in the day but I was more of a WarCraft 2 player at the time. I've never played StarCraft 2 though, probably should.

I finally get to play wind waker more than five minuets at a shop. It is coming to wii u in spring/autumn(depends where you live). spring for australia anyway. I honestly can't wait.

If any of you ever want to meet up on Battlenet for a friendly game of StarCraft I, I'm game.

I've been thinking about playing Assassin's Creed, I was told that it's really, big, as in, you can walk all around with no borders or such. Sounds like fun.
And I've been meaning to re-play Quantum of Solace for an age, but I haven't gotten around to it yet...good game though. All Bond games are good...

Can anyone tell me why there's no Hobbit game? I know that with the Lord of the Rings, they didn't publish a game until the Two Towers, but then that included the story of both FOTR and TT. So maybe they're waiting until The Desolation of Smaug?