Xenoblade Chronicles is game-making at an Olympic scale, from its ever-deepening battle system to its grand alien expanses, inhabited by hundreds of creatures (including several the size of skyscrapers). Instead of level-clearing, where you work over an area then never come back, retreading is essential. But Xenoblade Chronicles makes it worth your while, slow-feeding its bonuses and mysteries and gameplay change-ups so that just when you’re bored with activity X, along comes diversion Y or undertaking Z. In that sense, it’s mastered a trick few games ever do: keeping you riveted while making that bid for your attention seem effortless.