Changing My Mind

Back during the original console wars, I was a Sega boy. This meant that I got to play Streets of Rage and Sonic the Hedgehog but it did also mean that I missed out on the classic role-playing games of the era. We got the Phantasy Star series and Shining Force but we didn't get Dragon Quest, or Breath of Fire, or the big one, the Final Fantasy series. It didn't help that even Nintendo owners only saw half of these games, if that, released in Europe.

With the release of the PlayStation and Final Fantasy VII Nintendo's dominance of the genre faded away, so it's somewhat ironic that the best rpg of recent years -- since Final Fantasy XII on the PS2, I'd say -- appeared on the Wii, which, as everyone knows isn't a proper console for proper gaming, no siree.

Monolith Soft and Nintendo delivered Xenoblade, a game that looked much better than Wii games are supposed to look and played much better than any rpg in years, despite some wonky menu navigation. It combined the best aspects of both online and offline rpgs and if it had come out on the other consoles too, it would be regarded as one of the best games -- rpg or not -- of the current console generation.

Yes, I do mean to suggest that it's better than Skyrim, and it looks like there's a follow-up on the way:



I wasn't going to get a WiiU, but Nintendo may have just changed my mind.

Xenobonus

I ordered the new Wii rpg Xenoblade Chronicles, but I decided I wouldn't start playing it until I'd cleared at least one game from my current backlog. I've been near the end of Final Fantasy XII for a while, but I've been reluctant to go for the final push until I'd mopped up some of the subquests and side missions. As of today, I've done that, so I cracked open the Xenoblade box.

Hang on, what's that little flash of blue there under the clip that holds the manual?

Well, that's unexpected:

It's not much, but giving away a little freebie like that is a nice touch. Well done, Nintendo.