Nintendo has released a new trailer for its highly anticipated upcoming science fiction role-playing game "Xenoblade Chronicles X," giving fans a good idea of just how massive the game world will be.
Monolith Soft's "Xenoblade Chronicles X" is the spiritual successor to "Xenoblade Chronicles." As part of the six-part "Xeno" metaseries created by Monolith Soft co-founder and President Tetsuya Takahashi, the upcoming game does not build upon the storyline of the previous title. Instead, it contains elements, themes, and styles as the previous games, including the return of the mecha, or Dolls, which are obviously similar to the Gears in Xenogears.
The trailer, which was released on Wednesday during Nintendo's scheduled Nintendo Direct, does not say much about the gameplay. What it does, however, is give die-hard "Xenoblade" enthusiasts a stunning one-minute-and-a-half look into the uncharted world of Mira, where the game takes place.
While "Xenoblade Chronicles" is widely regarded as the best-looking game for the Wii U, its predecessor appears to be another graphical feat for Nintendo. The trailer begins with a short introduction about why humanity has found itself exploring the alien planet of Mira. The protagonist says two alien races battling each other near Earth have forced humans to evacuate the planet, eventually finding themselves in a world inhabited by a native wildlife composed of enormous dragonflies, giant worms, and other such creatures towering over the characters' heads.
The trailer then pans out to take a shot of the characters running across the vast geographies of Mira, exploring the strips of sandy white beach, sprawling meadows, and the shores of a bubbling lava lake. Monolith Soft took real pains to bring details to the vast, imaginative world in "Xenoblade Chronicles X," which indicates that gameplay will be much more varied than before.
The bad news is that Nintendo has yet to announce a specific date for the release of its most exciting new game for the Wii U. Although the game was first revealed during a Nintendo Direct in January 2013 and demonstrated at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2013 and 2014, an initial plan to release the game in 2014 was stalled for undisclosed reasons.
In November, Nintendo announced that "Xenoblade Chronicles X" will become available in Japan during the first half of 2015. The North American and European releases will follow during the second half of the year.
The game will use the Wii U GamePad as a "navigational device," but Nintendo has yet to announce if Off-TV Play, which lets users play on their controller's screen, will be supported.
