They did such a fantastic job of designing the world in this game! Sometimes its just fun to explore the world and get the collectibles.

I'll buy this in Christmas.

@40 h in and i feel like i have only started. If you like JRPG's there is absolutely no way around this game, don't even think about not getting it!

When I play games with large rosters like Xenoblade, I find I always stick with the core characters right through to the end. I'm a bit relieved that secondary characters level up at the same time, because in some cases, you are required to play as a certain team. In fact, I've always played as Shulk.

In that respect, when I finish this game, I look forward to trying it again with a different core team, and maybe, predominantly as a different character.

I've removed the spoiler now.
@edhe I'm like that too, I always only play as the main character in actio-rpgs with large rosters the first time round and then give the other characters a go when I next play it. Although, I do still mix my team around from time to time in most rpgs with large rosters.

You know that spoiler is still there in the quote right?

Been playing about 40 hours, and gotta say that i'm awe-struck. For now this feels like the best RPG i've played ever. Story, music, gameplay... it just seems to do everything right. We'll see if something can top this before the year is over (Skyward Sword or Skyrim), but i'm starting to doubt it. Also, i really hope that they release this in USA too.

This is currently equalling Dark Chronicle/Dark Cloud 2 in the 'best RPG ever' stakes for me.

I'm not as far as you but I can already see why people have been calling this the rpg of the generation. I think it might even be have a chance of beating, equalling or at least coming very close to one of those to Tales of Symphonia as my fave rpg ever and if you've been here a while you might have seen how much I love that game.

The yellow arrow guiding you to story events disappeared in my copy of the game, is there a way to get it back? Also, I went back to colony 9 and beat the lake magdalena monster but the quest isn't complete so I thought that I had to go and speak to that same defence force soldier again but I don't know where to find him. The worst thing about this game for me is how badly it works on my wii. It can't read the disc at first nearly every time I try to play game and sometimes it works after I blow into the middle of the disc and into the wii wiping it on some soft material but often it doesn't work until I rub the disc with a damp cloth in the way that is instructed on NOE's support section of their website. Its so frustrating having to do this almost every time I play it.

Now my wii won't read the disc at all, I am really pissed off with this now! I was hoping to beat this by the end of the year and I wasn't sure I would be able to because of how long it it but now my chances of doing that are even less likely. Is there any shops that sell the wii disc cleaners? I really don't have to wait long to get back to this fantastic game even with Amazon's quick service. BTW sorry for the triple post but I wasn't sure if this would get noticed if I just edited it into my last comment and there might be someone who can answer my question.

Have you sent your Wii out to Nintendo yet? When I got my Wii, it was second hand, and thus had an old drive.

When I was having trouble with Smash Brothers Brawl, I sent it out, and they did something or other, and when it came back to me, it was fine. I also ordered a cleaning kit from Amazon, but it took about a month to get to me. I don't know why.

I've never had to use it myself, but I suspect they may have tinkered with the drive because I have never had a disc read error since. On the other hand, it says on the official website that you can send it to them (for free), and they will clean it, and send it back to you. All your data should be safe (unless they accidentally drop it on the floor).

I suggest you send it out to Nintendo, and in the meantime order a cleaning kit from amazon to keep it in a clean condition. I might give mine a clean too - I've been noticing strange pop-up in Xenoblade where people appear 2 meters in front of me...

As for my progress, I think I'm nearing the end. And this games has an interesting story.

I really didn't want to have to send my wii off but by the sounds of things, the cleaning kit might take longer so I guess I might have to. It surprises me that Amazon took so long to send you the cleaning kit as it normally takes 2-4 days to receive products from them for me. I hope Nintendo don't take long with the wii as they may not have been long when I sent MKW and SSBB because their game discs couldn't be read but I sent LKS to them two months ago for the same problem and it still isn't back! Also, I'm far from the end but I did get the game later than you and I've just started college so I won't have as much time on it but at least I'm only in college three days a week. I'm going to hate having to send my wii off for this, I was enjoying this game so much and I really wanted to beat it before the end of the year.
@edhe How long did it take for your wii to come back after you sent it off?

For anyone who was having trouble downloading the Club Nintendo soundtrack, I've finally managed it. My favourite is Gaur Plains.

I'm dissapointed not to see the theme to one of the characters included (it comes with a strange guitar sound), but I'm sure I'll have to buy the full soundtrack for that...

I love this game to bits.
I'm about 45 hours into it (actually haven't played it today for a change).
The only problem I have with it is it tends to give me a headache if I play for too long due a lot of the text being pretty small and such... But that's a problem with my crappy TV (which I'm planning to replace) rather than the game.
I highly recommend this game to anyone who has the opportunity to get it.

This is it!
This is exactly the game I imagined Final Fantasy XIII to be in the first palce.
It is really a fresh interpretation of a classic formula.
I'm playing this game for about 30 hours now and I must say that this one of my absolutly heartfelt favorite games in the last years!
I think that I haven't progressed the story that far, because I'm keeping voluntarly backtracking all the time. I wanna see the beautiful landscapes & surroundings. I adore the stuff collecting & leveling. I enjoy the battles & love the music.
Thank you, Monolith!
Pick up "Baten Kaitos" for the GameCube by the way. It was at the time of it's release (and kinda is still today) equally beautiful & addicting.
<3

i want to play it ;__;

Admittedly I still haven't finished the game (about 30 hours in), but while it's good, and fun, and a JRPG. That's all it is, really.

I've got 20 odd good fun JRPGs on the PS3. I feel that this game gets more attention/ praise than its due because it's relatively unique on the Wii.

Still, if you only have a Wii, then welcome to the next-gen JRPG party.

@Waltzelf Look at its metacritic, its been getting the same high level of praise from critics that don't exclusively cover games on Nintendo consoles too and some of the reviews that are highest up on the list of reviews for XBC on metacritic are from reviewers that don't exclusively cover games on Nintendo consoles.

Scores are meaningless in themselves, and I can't be bothered reading each and every review. The reviews I've read though suggest the critics fell in love more with the fact the game actually got a release in English, and the novelty that the Wii managed to play the game.

Once again: this is a standard JRPG with a combat system that isn't even that unique. I can reel off five JRPGs that are better and more innovative on the PS3, and another five that are as good as this one.