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Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Started by Shay Chaise, December 01, 2017, 05:29:09 PM

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DocDaneeka

I really like it, I think it's mainly my stupid lizard brain wanting to level up all the Blades and do that little next thing that keep popping up.

The main story is kind of stupid and the "emotional" moments are undercut by half your team having boob windows or looking like teddybears but a lot of the side missions are quite funny and there are a lot of stupid jokes throughout the whole thing which make it worthwhile.

Consignia

Damnit, still haven't been able to put this game to bed. I'm actually finding there are aspects of the game that are really fun, such as the blade side quests which knock the main story into a cocked hat. The combat system has comes into's own when pull off really long combos, and absolutely shit the enemies to nothing. It's still painful actually getting all blades from the stupid gatcha system. If they could just do something about that, I'd be a lot happier. At least the upcoming update will allow you to skip the tedious cutscene before bonding.

I'll probably crack on with the story at some point, but it's just so dull.

Shay Chaise

I really enjoyed this as a Christmas kinda game, lazy days and a few late drunken nights after my missus had gone to bed. I just reached some gorgeous looking town after a long section kind of underground, big stretch of water, not too far into the game at all, probably chapter 4/5. I just unlocked Merc stuff and then...I just couldn't be arsed any more. The combat added an extra layer of complexity with the element orbs or something, I didn't understand the tutorial and suddenly the enjoyable grinding became a little less enjoyable. I never enjoy Merc type stuff where you send off characters to do farming missions or whatever. Would you like to micromanage some crap? No.

I really enjoyed the green open world bit and the first town and taking baby steps into the world. It's got a gorgeous soundtrack. It's tonally so cheerful. I like the basic combat stuff. Imagine bored talking about it.

Consignia

Yeah, the tutorials are really shit. It wasn't until relatively recently I actually understood what the hell the orbs where all about, because it was explained once, I didn't pay attention, and they aren't really needed until a lot later in the game.

I get you with the Mercenary stuff, but it's mercifully optional for the most part unless you want to max out certain blades.

brat-sampson

I'm on a break waiting for the new patch, then I can get cracking opening all these cores w/o feeling like I'm wasting my life watching a flashy cut-scene 20 times. I still love most of the game, but there are some baffling dungeon-like sections that are just a slog. Regular enemies don't feel worth fighting thanks to how long it can take or when the story demands your party be reduced/incapacitated for some time and it's straight-up bad design. Then I get back to a free area and I'm doing side-quests or just exploring or some of the more doable blade quests and making everyone better and it's great again.

Consignia

Yeah, I empathise with that. When I say I enjoy the fights, I mostly mean against boss like creatures, the unique monsters. Traversing the world, I avoid battling.

It feels like it could done with a little more development time to iron out some of the kinks in the game. I guess they rushed to get it out in the Switch's first year. What they got out what was really impressive, it's expansive and detailed. But it's a hodge-podge of ideas that need a little more cooking.

Consignia

Ah, finished it. 3 rare blade off a full set, but I don't know if I have the energy to grind to get cores needed. One left has a maximum chance of getting of 0.7%, which is just disheartening. In the end, the game did grow on me, even though I really give a shit about the main plot. Might give it another whizz after the update, to get the new blades.

brat-sampson

Plus the update'll bring in NG+, if that's your bag.

Timothy

I love (J)RPG's, I hated this. Ugly graphics, slow combat, uninteresting storyline and characters. Shame because I was looking forward to it.

Shay Chaise

One thing I'm surprised about (or ignorant about) is that it looks so ropey. It's odd. The art direction and stuff is gorgeous, I love the scale, colours, tone and blah blah blah but texturally, it looks like a PS2 game at times. Now, weirdly, I don't even mind that, it almost adds to the charm in an apologistic way and you certainly get used to it very quickly but still, every time I load it up, I'm surprised by how dated it looks. I feel like XCX looked better but I accept that might be a false memory and I flogged my Wii U, so I can't check.

I think it's seeing the likes of MK8D and ARMS and Splatoon and thinking they're every bit as gorgeous and smooth as most PS4 games and then XC2 is like rewinding five years.

falafel

No, it definitely looks pretty rough. I never played XCX but the graphics alone tempted me. This one looks like arse not only in a contemporary context but in comparison videos too - I had to check because I thought it couldn't be right.

Shay Chaise

Huh, interesting, I'll definitely check out some vids then. I don't even feel it's on a grander scale - far from it, in fact. Leaving the base in XCX you saw this massive world sprawling in every direction. In XC2, everywhere feels like a self-contained area and the sense of scale is therefore diminished in some way. Maybe as Consignia said a few times, it's just been rushed.

Kelvin

This game is my biggest disappoint with Switch so far. I still haven't bought it, even after all these months, and even though I'm desperate for a big, open world time sink. I just can't get over how how boring the combat looks.

As someone who consider Xenoblade Chronicles X to be one of his favorite games of the last 5 or so years, I'm just gutted to hear such negative reports, and see such uninspired gameplay.   

Timothy

I couldn't get over the textures. Normally I don't care much about graphics but coming from Mario and Zelda it annoyed me to no end.

Consignia

Unfortunately, it's a game that you really have to let good on you, and it really doesn't do a lot to earn it in the first place. It took me until chapter eight to really click, which is far more than a reasonable person should give. I only persisted because the switch makes it so easy to jump in for short periods.

Consignia

New game plus out now, threating my completion mind set by adding six new blades. CAN'T PUT IT DOWN!

Just seen I've clocked over 100 hours on this. I'll give it value for money, that's more than I've spent on Mario and Zelda together! Although I was more engaged with them.

Kelvin

Finally bought this last week, after umming and ahhing since it came out. First impressions are that it looks pretty good when docked and that the combat system isn't as bad as I had expected. However, the voice acting, lip syncing and character animation are out of this world bad. You move around like you're on roller skates and jump like you're in fast motion. Sometimes you can jump on a box, but not jump on a smaller box above it. It's bizarre.

Anyway, on balance, I'm enjoying it so far and looking forward to seeing more of that posh tiger with three animations.

Kelvin

Oh, and fuck me, the music is amazing!

Kelvin

How is this a cutscene in a 2017 game?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5AakPEtyGE

Other than that kind of stuff, I'm enjoying the game more than I expected, despite the fact that every single aspect is riddled with flaws. The combat is actually quite satisfying, despite being overly complicated and, for later techniques, very badly explained. The story is actually pretty engrossing, despite being incredibly melodramatic and badly written. The art direction is beautiful, despite it having a terrible frame rate and awful, ugly textures. The leads are mostly pretty likeable (well, Rex and Nia), despite their awful voice acting.

It's just this huge bucket of ideas that's been chucked at you, in the hope that some of it sticks. Ultimately it needed polish, and more time in development. Nintendo were wrong to push this out, if they're the ones who made that decision.

Consignia

Quote from: Kelvin on March 13, 2018, 10:55:15 PM
How is this a cutscene in a 2017 gam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5AakPEtyGE


Ha, that scene probably translates really poorly into English, but it's pretty a cliched lift direct from maid cafe tropes. It's not I wouldn't expect it in a 2017 game, just not in a headline Nintendo game. I do remember thinking it was a bit too otaku when I watched. It really isn't the only instance of that type of stuff either, but it's probably the worst.

I *STILL* haven't put it down yet. But whilst grinding for cores, I am doing Blade quests and finding loads of really neat places. The first big open land has loads of places of lovely hidden places that you just don't find if you strictly stick to the story. As I've said it really lacks polish and could have done with another few months of development.

Kelvin

Quote from: Consignia on March 13, 2018, 11:26:15 PM
Ha, that scene probably translates really poorly into English, but it's pretty a cliched lift direct from maid cafe tropes. It's not I wouldn't expect it in a 2017 game, just not in a headline Nintendo game. I do remember thinking it was a bit too otaku when I watched. It really isn't the only instance of that type of stuff either, but it's probably the worst.

I don't know what any of that means, I'm afraid. Otaku? Maid Cafes?

It just comes across as this little, furry rapist-in-waiting telling women how to behave if they want to please their man (literally getting them to call men "sir"!). Then another girl rolls her eyes, so it's alright, they're not sexist!

I do understand that the whole game isn't like that, but it's really fucking unpleasant to watch those moments.

QuoteI *STILL* haven't put it down yet. But whilst grinding for cores, I am doing Blade quests and finding loads of really neat places. The first big open land has loads of places of lovely hidden places that you just don't find if you strictly stick to the story. As I've said it really lacks polish and could have done with another few months of development.

I'm about 17 hours in, I think. Just arrived at the bigger city in chapter 3. As with Xenobalde X, I actually think the story and in-game politics is genuinely interesting. Lot's of mysteries, lots of competing, interlocking factions, and a likable central cast. It's currently more linear and easy to progress than Xenoblade X, too, which means I've done less grinding, and side quests up until this point.

It's a very mixed bag, but now I'm over the initial trifecta of voice acting, slippery movement and bad animation, I have come to increasingly enjoy the game.   

colacentral

What he's saying is it's Japanese.

Consignia

Ha, sorry, I knew I should picked a better word than otaku*, I do try to avoid insular terms, although I thought the idea of maid cafes was at least more universally known.

*a kind of Japanese term for nerd

Kelvin

Quote from: colacentral on March 14, 2018, 07:05:00 AM
What he's saying is it's Japanese.

Well, then, they need to buck their ideas up.

Quote from: Consignia on March 14, 2018, 08:30:29 AM
Ha, sorry, I knew I should picked a better word than otaku*, I do try to avoid insular terms, although I thought the idea of maid cafes was at least more universally known.

I'm genuinely curious to know what a "maid cafe" is, even though I suspect it will make me shudder.

I've hit a huge spike in difficulty with the Chapter 3 Malos/Akhos double team. Even after looking online for hints, I'm still struggling. I assume this kind of stuff makes way more sense to someone who plays lots of JRPG's, but as someone whose only played a few, I've never really been very good at knowing exactly what certain buffs, elements, and other effects do. I'm going to copy the exact instructions of some threads about the fight and if that fails, drop the difficulty, at least temporarily. Life's too short.

Kelvin

Managed to beat those two arseholes in the end. Used a bunch of buffs, aggro drawing items, and put everyone in more powerful clothing. which seemed to make a big difference.

I really like the plot in this game, even if the writing and voice acting it terrible. Rex is great. Love how optimistic and sincere he is.   

Kelvin

#55
I've ended up really enjoying this game, in spite of it's many problems. I think it helps that a lot of those issues, like the voice acting, frame rate and awful animations, you just sort of get used to after a while, and although I still think the combat is poorly explained and overly-complicated, it's actually a lot of fun now that I've been on youtube/reddit and have a much better idea of how the combos/elemental bursts, etc work. Once you're over that steep learning curve, the game really is a lot of fun, and very well paced. Even 35 hours in (I think), I've almost never needed to grind, bar a few side quests for half an hour.

Glad I bought it in the end. The game looked awful in videos, but there's a lot to love about this game, once you crack the surface.

Shay Chaise

Glad you're enjoying it. There's so many things you said beforehand that I simply couldn't disagree with but it does have a lot of heart and atmosphere and the combat becomes a lot of fun. That said, I've not touched it really since Christmas, I got to a section in a new town when I was in a cinema and I just felt a bit overwhelmed by options and couldn't be arsed any more.

Kelvin

Quote from: Shay Chaise on March 17, 2018, 09:03:12 AM
Glad you're enjoying it. There's so many things you said beforehand that I simply couldn't disagree with but it does have a lot of heart and atmosphere and the combat becomes a lot of fun. That said, I've not touched it really since Christmas, I got to a section in a new town when I was in a cinema and I just felt a bit overwhelmed by options and couldn't be arsed any more.

Yeah, there's no way I'd have finished this game pre-internet. It's probably an issue for all RPG noobs in general, but I just have no idea how I'm meant to know what buffs I need for what boss. If I hadn't looked it up online, I'd have never known to buy "Spike buffs" to stop the chapter 5 boss one shotting my team, or whatever it was I need for the chapter 3 bosses. It's just got a very steep learning curve, and doesn't do a good job of explaining (let alone making sure you understood) how the combat works.

Now, I've watched a bunch of videos and read a bunch of reddit threads, i have a much better grasp of it all, and have really started to love some of the madder ideas; like elemental orbs and burst combos. They work really well, and are insanely satisfying, once you know what you're doing. It's just stupid that it took 30 hours or more to fully get the hang of them.

If there's one thing I really love, though, it's the story. I cannot put the game down, because I just have to know what's coming next; the ideas, themes and politics are genuinely engrossing, and it does an excellent job of keeping the twists and revelations coming, while rarely feeling cliched. I don't understand how the story can be so well told and thoughtfully structured, with so much stuff subtlety set up early on and paid off later, yet the writing itself can be so bad ("If she's really strong, and she's really strong, then together they must be like "ultra strong""). Maybe it's an overly literal translation, or maybe it's intentionally melodramatic, but it feels really at odds with the intelligence of the story-telling.

I am on the verge of saying I love it, though. Which is mad considering the weight of issues the game has, and how many ways it could be improved. It just has it's nails in me at this point. There's something about the story and characters that has me constantly thinking about the game and wanting to play for "just one more hour."

Music's wonderful, too. There's a Vatican City-style location in the game, where this music plays as you walk around the pristine streets, past refugees camps and anti-war protests:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYzhsm0qv8c

With a male variation at night:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3s4fO_2dbE

Consignia

Quote from: Kelvin on March 17, 2018, 12:16:19 PM
Yeah, there's no way I'd have finished this game pre-internet. It's probably an issue for all RPG noobs in general, but I just have no idea how I'm meant to know what buffs I need for what boss. If I hadn't looked it up online, I'd have never known to buy "Spike buffs" to stop the chapter 5 boss one shotting my team, or whatever it was I need for the chapter 3 bosses. It's just got a very steep learning curve, and doesn't do a good job of explaining (let alone making sure you understood) how the combat works.

Now, I've watched a bunch of videos and read a bunch of reddit threads, i have a much better grasp of it all, and have really started to love some of the madder ideas; like elemental orbs and burst combos. They work really well, and are insanely satisfying, once you know what you're doing. It's just stupid that it took 30 hours or more to fully get the hang of them.


Yeah, the instructions in game are awful, you get a quick tutorial for most aspects, which aren't particularly relevant when you get told them. I didn't read any guides, just the game got ridiculously difficult because I was plowing ahead using basic techniques and I started noticing things like orbs and chain combos stacking up the damage.

It's just a flawed gem, the environments are brilliant but the map really makes it difficult to enjoy them, since it's such a mess.

I'm tailing it off at the moment, but I'm still playing little bits here and there. I'd love to get the last few blades, but the luck based system and grinding on to of it really takes the energy out of it.

Kelvin

Quote from: Consignia on March 17, 2018, 12:41:04 PM
I'm tailing it off at the moment, but I'm still playing little bits here and there. I'd love to get the last few blades, but the luck based system and grinding on to of it really takes the energy out of it.

Maybe play it through on the new game plus mode at some point in the future. It apparently carries all your blades, levels and affinity trees over, so you could have a much easier run, and would have a chance of naturally unlocking the last few blades, without grinding. That's my plan; another pass in a year or two.