Board 8 > Xenoblade Chronicles (unmarked spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Huh, can't remember a last time a game let me customize my character's vertical screen placement on the fly like this.

Big tip: use arts recharge backpack items.

It speeds the combat up significantly.

I miss my yellow brick road pathing :(

Tutorial man you are being way too friendly with me, we are not buds.

Why does this Nopon have bitches??

UshiromiyaEva posted...

The thing that is the most shocking out the gate is that you don't auto attack while moving.

aw yeah auto-attack cancelling

I know a lot of people didn't like it and I guess it takes development but I definitely prefer XB2 combat, likewise there's a Battle Challenge mode that I had an absolute blast going through but I won't go into detail since obv there's a lot of mechanics to unlock (smashin' orbs for dayzzzzz)

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Huh, can't remember a last time a game let me customize my character's vertical screen placement on the fly like this.

Pretty sure Xenoblade 1 did this as well

OK I have a problem.

There is no dropped item absorption.

I have already on multiple occasions had enemy loot either fall into the ses or get trapped in the environment.

Yeah that does happen pretty often when you're fighting near cliffs. Your teammates also have a habit of jumping to their doom if you're fighting near a cliff.

You get skills later that let you start fights with fully charged artes which helps a lot.

Chapter 1 finished.

WELL.

That's certainly a lot.

Also I love Nia.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Also I love Nia.

best

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Also I love Nia.

Yes, correct.

Let's show 'em a thing or three!

KamikazePotato posted...

It might actually be the last time a video game ever felt like a truly 'epic' experience to me, which is a little sad now that I think about it.

Well I felt this way for a few years and then The Witcher 3, Breath of the Wild, and Red Dead Redemption 2 came out in a span of just over three years from each other and all of those redefine epic-scale open world adventures just like Xenoblade Chronicles 1 did before them. It is just a part of continuing progress in the genre that has been built upon since.

In terms of epic feeling that is actually the thing that X does better than 1. Its sense of scale and open world design has really only been passed by the three I mentioned.

Wow you really blitzed through Xenoblade 1. And you're already on 2, this pace is too fast for me to keep up with! Time for me to leave this topic as I haven't played 2, but make sure you don't forget about Future Connected. Especially if you want more Melia content!

UshiromiyaEva posted...

I thought Lorithia was the weakest part of the entire plot...except for Melia's mom who literally just dissappears from the game. I swear there must have been some conflict behind the scenes regarding the overall plot.

Fight was fine, though!

Looks like you missed the easily missable sidequest that resolved that plotline, lol

Lightning Strikes posted...

Well I felt this way for a few years and then The Witcher 3, Breath of the Wild, and Red Dead Redemption 2 came out in a span of just over three years from each other and all of those redefine epic-scale open world adventures just like Xenoblade Chronicles 1 did before them. It is just a part of continuing progress in the genre that has been built upon since.

Ya see I don't ACTUALLY like open world games and all 3 of these do nothing me me all. Xenoblade's world has grand presentation but the true scale isn't "open world", which is why it works for me.

by the end of this LtM is gonna be all about Dahlia's 28 Double J's

If I roll that blade I'm going to release it.

I'm not even kidding.

Lightning Strikes posted...

Well I felt this way for a few years and then The Witcher 3, Breath of the Wild, and Red Dead Redemption 2 came out in a span of just over three years from each other and all of those redefine epic-scale open world adventures just like Xenoblade Chronicles 1 did before them. It is just a part of continuing progress in the genre that has been built upon since.

In terms of epic feeling that is actually the thing that X does better than 1. Its sense of scale and open world design has really only been passed by the three I mentioned.

I don't think we're operating under the same definition of 'epic' here. Epic isn't just about having a technically proficient world - it's about imparting an experience that feels grandiose. Breath of the World is an amazing world to explore but it has very little story. Xenoblade X's world is beautiful, but its story is awful. Witcher and Red Dead Redemption have extremely well-realized worlds, but their tones are also very serious and their worlds aren't fantasy/sci-fi craziness like Xenoblade.

While not perfect, Xenoblade 1 is basically the only modern game that's re-captured the feelings of awe that the JRPG genre instilled in me when I was 12 years old and everything was inherently exciting. Nothing else has a vista as mindblowing as the peak of the Fallen Arm, and an anime-ass story that tugs my heartstrings while not being TOO anime, in the same game. It was basically tailor-made to my preferences.

Also typing that out made me realize that god damn is the world a lesser place for never releasing Skies of Arcadia 2.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

If I roll that blade I'm going to release it.

I'm not even kidding.

don't mess with texas

You asked about catgirls and I didn't know why it was spoilers so I refrained from telling you you get one right away.

Nia is amazing. I think party member 4 is also one of the best.

As far as the gacha system goes, feel free to dip your toes in, but by endgame, you will likely use only 1 or 2 blades from the gacha system if even, so don't let that part really stick you.

As said before, I think this game has a better soundtrack, and the combat does pick up eventually. Might take a hot minute, but by the time you have a full party with blades, it's go time.

I knew about Nia, I was just curious as to why Xenoblade 1 didn't have any! Makes sense now though since the world was sundered.

The thing is, if you like Xenoblade despite having been in the anti-camp for years, a game like The Witcher 3 is only slightly more in the open world direction than it so its a good transition. From there BOTW and RDR2 make sense. It is a sliding scale of openness but it very much sits on it.

My sincere hope is that this topic leads to LtM declaring RDR2 the greatest game of all time despite his fear of cowboys.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

I knew about Nia, I was just curious as to why Xenoblade 1 didn't have any! Makes sense now though since the world was sundered.

yeah I wasn't sure if XB2 being in Alrest could be considered a spoiler so I just left it simple

Lightning Strikes posted...

The thing is, if you like Xenoblade despite having been in the anti-camp for years, a game like The Witcher 3 is only slightly more in the open world direction than it so its a good transition. From there BOTW and RDR2 make sense. It is a sliding scale of openness but it very much sits on it.

My sincere hope is that this topic leads to LtM declaring RDR2 the greatest game of all time despite his fear of cowboys.

I tried Witcher 3 for a few hours and stopped because I just hated walking around and swinging the sword. It's wild because I actually like Witcher 2!

I can promise you on my life RDR2 isn't happening though. The cowboy hate is just a meme I have 0 interest in the game on any level.

Lol wanted poster scene.

This is the kind of stuff Xenoblade 1 was missing, the casual side scenes and moments. It was pretty much just plot progression start to finish. This is more akin to my Tales DNA.

Audio mixing could be a little better in this scene...

Yeah XC2 has some good cast moments and it also helps that the cast is pretty big since you have all of the PCs and all of their blades too.

The blade quests are pretty good too once you start unlocking those.

Also not really a spoiler but try not to open too many blades on Rex. Once you get a few good blades for him just open them on other characters. Not that it really matters because the combat is pretty easy but it'll save some hassle later.

skullbone posted...

Also not really a spoiler but try not to open too many blades on Rex. Once you get a few good blades for him just open them on other characters. Not that it really matters because the combat is pretty easy but it'll save some hassle later.

Oh, the gacha is attached on a character basis? Wierd. I guess they'll explain that when I get there.

There are Overdrive Protocols to switch Blades over to other Drivers buuuut it's not like a common resource

Yeah they're tied to the characters. Here's a few other tips about the gacha system that I wish I knew when I started.

There's an endless amount of randomly generated common-rare blades that all look basically identical except there's a girl, boy, dog, strong guy, etc. Then there are legendary blades that actually have names, unique designs, and quests. Reassigning blades from 1 character to another is a finite resource (I believe) so don't go wasting it on common blades immediately like I did.

Each character has a limit on the amount of blades they can hold but it's pretty large. You probably won't hit the limit for a while but a general rule of thumb will be to keep 2 blades of each type (fire, water, ice, dark, etc) per character. This will save you from headaches later in the game when you need 2 fire blades to burn down a tree or something but you released them all.

Not finite actually, one of the ways they can be obtained is by releasing 4* generic blades with maxed out affinity charts

Now that you've said this, and just to prepare for then, are there particular characters that are best to put the DLC blades on?

A tip to help make combat smoother: try to prioritize unlocking the Arts Chain node on the driver affinity charts. The ones that let you start battle with arts already charged are also good, of course.

Also don't hesitate to ask questions about combat or other mechanics, because the game's tutorials are often garbage.

mnkboy907 posted...

because the game's tutorials are often garbage.

They sure seem proud of them!

The three DLC blades are basically 1 Tank, 1 Healer, 1 Damage IIRC. So I would just put them on the character that matches their role but honestly I wouldn't stress about it too much.

You'll end up opening so many random legendary blades on each character that part of the fun is building team comps and trying to make things work with the random blades you open.

As I mentioned the combat is also super easy once you get the whole party so you don't really need to worry unless you're looking at post game content.

skullbone posted...

You'll end up opening so many random legendary blades on each character that part of the fun is building team comps and trying to make things work with the random blades you open.

Yeap there's not really much to worry about matching blades or anything, just so long as you're spreading the wealth of blades around

Yeah one of the biggest actual problems with Xenoblade 2 is that the tutorials are actually some of the worst tutorials in anything, like, ever.

They even outright lie to you in a few spots.

colliding posted...

I feel like this happens in every playthrough topic, but should we not tell people who are playing through games for the first time that "it gets bad from here"?

I can see it that way but I also think it's fine to set expectations low up front. It doesn't really hurt anything.

I usually feel it's best to warn someone when a part of a game is bad if you feel the rest of it is good.

The intent can feel different depending on the circumstances, though. If it's the back part of a game it's usually not going to be as crucial. I feel like the ultimate example of this for a latter half is Tales of Zesteria, which probably has the biggest drop off of any game I've ever played (though I guess some people didn't like the first half either, I thought it was fine). If I had known that ahead of time my reaction may have been less....viceral? I was breaking down in that playthrough topic.

However I think it's a fandoms duty to tell someone if a game opens poorly or mid if they truly feel like the overall product more than makes up for it. The most extreme and obvious candidate for this is FFXIV. You can't even glance at a post of people asking if they should jump in without 5 people telling them to just get past ARR. 100+ hours is a big commitment to get to the good part!

I stalled off at literally the last mission of ARR and haven't yet return whoops

one day

Is ARR even bad?

redrocket posted...

Is ARR even bad?

It's really not, in a vaccum. I was totally fine going through it even though it was my first MMO. It's not GREAT, though, and the reputation of XIV is so high at this point that there's a real danger of people thinking "this is it?" if they don't go in with at least some lowered expectations.

The vitriol toward it within the community is most based purely around the rather insane jump in quality between it an the modern release. Compared to last few expansions, ARR IS in fact that bad. The game doesn't even resemble ARR now. However you can't skip it, because the last two expansions are still critically tied to it for story purposes.

For me my OCD just went overload into an unreasonable degree that kept my overall progression at a snails pace. I was enjoying it although as far as ARR content goes I can't say I cared about the plot/characters at all. Okay, Tataru Taru.

Been playing FFXI last few months though and its archaic systems makes keeping track of quests next to impossible anyhow so I've no choice but to ignore my OCD urges... also the way it handles expansions as accessible from the start have given me little tastes of intrigue from the get-go (although the good content starts at Chains of Promathia for sure)

GuessMyUserName posted...

Okay, Tataru Taru.

https://youtu.be/ZGWUkDk8eWo

https://youtu.be/AO8WEDjn3pc

Relevant

Yeah, it's okay to just burn spheres on opening like blades on the characters for burning down bushes and shit, and you'll probably get named blades from that

Even still, I mostly used story/quest blades.

I also looked up some combos for characters because I didn't care to test things, though it is worth testing different blade weapons on Rex to see how much you're not going to use them.