5. "X"
The Japanese Role-Playing Game (JRPG) came across some tough times in the seventh generation of console gaming. The mighty JRPG, which flourished so strongly on consoles such as the Super Nintendo, Playstation, and Playstation 2, has found itself something of an odd man out in the era of the PS3 and Xbox 360. While a number of fine JRPG's found homes on the portable Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable (PSP), it was the Western-style RPG's, with their emphasis on player choice, world-building, and real-time combat, that have dominated the RPG landscape of the seventh generation. There has been lots of talk, including from several prominent figures in the Japanese video game industry, that Japanese developers have fallen behind the times. Whether this is directly correlated to the decreased stature of the JRPG is debatable, but there is no question that this once-mighty genre, responsible for converting so many Westerners to the joys of video game RPG's, isn't what it once was. Once place where a handful of wonderful JRPG's were able to find something of an oasis during the seventh generation was on Nintendo's Wii console. Several of these games, strangely enough, were initially not deemed important enough to bring to Western audiences, and if it weren't for the efforts of passionate fans such as those in Operation Rainfall, it's debatable whether they would have ever reached North America at all. One of the finest of these games was Xenoblade Chronicles, the product of the legendary Tetsuya Takahashi and his incredibly talented team at Monolith Soft. Xenoblade Chronicles was a sweeping, stunning RPG that was absolutely epic in every way. Showcasing a powerful, gripping story, an absolutely huge, beautiful, wonderfully-imaginative game world, and a deep set of intertwined game mechanics that eventually come together to form a brilliant whole, Xenoblade Chronicles was a revelation. For this author, it was easily the best JRPG of the generation, and a game that holds its own with anything to come out of the West. It is because of this that the announcement of Monolith Soft's upcoming Wii U project, tentatively titled "X", caused a wave of excitement when it was announced earlier this year via a Nintendo Direct video. Apart from a new gameplay trailer (see above) that was shown during the E3 Nintendo Direct presentation, it is still unknown whether "X" is a direct sequel to a previous Monolith Soft work, or something new all together. The trailers show a vast open-world design that bears a slight resemblance to the world of Xenoblade Chronicles. The player's ability to pilot huge mechs, as well as take them into battle, resembles another Takahashi masterpiece, the classic Xenogears, released way back in 1998 on the original Playstation console. Whether "X" is a sequel to a previous game, or something that stands on its own in the "Xeno" tradition, it is already looking like something truly special. The idea of flying mechs across a huge, seamlessly-connected open world brought to life by the Wii U's more advanced hardware, and immersing yourself in another epic adventure from this talented, one-of-a-kind development team, is absolutely mouth-watering. "X" is sure to be a strong reason to finally pick up Nintendo's new console if you haven't already.