X is for Xenoblade! And...xylophone!

I got Xenoblade X Friday, but had to work all weekend so today was the first day I really got to play it and it's a lot of fun. I got up to the end of Chapter 5 and did the sidequests to let me re-customize my character. I can't change the voice though, I love Kate Higgins voice in this. It's like IF, but with the mentality of Neptune. That's where the title comes from, one of her victory quotes is, "V is for Victory! And...vaccuum!" I went with the Enforcer and then the Galactic Knight classes. Yay Lightsabers and Options. There's one attack, "Starlight Tackle" where she puts the Options in front of her and drills the enemy. Found out the hard way you can fling yourself off a cliff doing that.

So, anyone else got it? What are your first impressions?

Uh... Yeah, I'm gonna need to avoid this thread. Chronicles was my favorite game of all time. I can't let myself be accidentally spoiled before I get to play it.

I have it, but honestly I think at least the beginning of it is a bit underwhelming

You got to chapter 5 in one day!? Holy hell.

This is one of those games where it's like "Oh, I've only got 4 hours this evening. It's barely worth turning on the console."

I like the game. I like a lot of the systems in it. It's developed some things nicely from Xenoblade Chronicles and it has some nice characters and there's a huge amount of questing content - in many ways it's like an MMO without a lot of the problems of an MMO.

But that silent protagonist. Not only is it a dumb decision anyway, but it's implemented in the most horrible way. You know, how all the characters ask you a load of direct questions and your responses are things like "Nod" and "Look puzzled". Or how they even stop the music in a dramatic scene just so your damn 'dialogue choice' box can appear. I spend each scene desperately hoping they won't ask my character anything because it utterly breaks up the experience when it does. Shame they couldn't have just let Elma be the protagonist and be done with it, the game would be so much better if they did that.

But yeah, that baffling design decision aside, I'm having a lot of fun with it. It's generally a worthy successor to the previous game. I don't think they soundtrack is as strong, but it has its moments. When it's being all 'Kill la Kill' it's pretty damn good.

silent protagonist is dumb. Instead of the choice between 6 generic personality types of battle cries, I'd rather just have one voice actor for male and one for female, that also voiced some things the character actually said, and actually had a personality. if bioware can, why can't monolithsoft?

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Originally Posted by Mirage

silent protagonist is dumb. Instead of the choice between 6 generic personality types of battle cries, I'd rather just have one voice actor for male and one for female, that also voiced some things the character actually said, and actually had a personality. if bioware can, why can't monolithsoft?

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I fear that in their attempts to take some traits from "Western RPGS" they've gone and copied the Bethesda of 5 years ago. Which isn't a good place to be. I mean, Bethesda make and have made good games, don't get me wrong, but an interesting POV character has not been among their strengths. I think the director has already said that he probably won't do that again in the next game, as it's an aspect the Japanese audience really dislikes as well.

The protagonist isn't really silent in bethesda games from 5 years ago, though. They're not voiced, but they're not silent. They say dozens of sentences to other NPCs, and get lots of varied responses from them. They have dialogues, and that's quite different from "nods" and "shrugs".

Although enormous freedom in dialogues would probably be wasted on XCX, they could have benefited from a bioware-style wheel with 2-4 options per conversation they're involved in.

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Originally Posted by Mirage

The protagonist isn't really silent in bethesda games from 5 years ago, though. They're not voiced, but they're not silent. They say dozens of sentences to other NPCs, and get lots of varied responses from them. They have dialogues, and that's quite different from "nods" and "shrugs".

Although enormous freedom in dialogues would probably be wasted on XCX, they could have benefited from a bioware-style wheel with 2-4 options per conversation they're involved in.

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Good point! Yeah, I'm with you 100% on that. If they'd taken a 'Commander Shepard' approach it could have been brilliant.

Is X really for Xenoblade? Like Xenoblade Xenoblade?

I won't be able to play this game for a long time, but that's okay with me. But I would like to play it one day

I'm excited to play it when I get it, but I hear it's got mixed reviews for some of the things mentioned in this thread.

It's funny that one of the characters comments on your silence. But they get it out in combat, I don't know about the other voices, but the Joker-type doesn't shut up when she's fighting. I've played White Knight Chronicles before, so this wasn't that big of a shock. At least she does something during cut scenes. But yeah, Elma is the main character. And I feel like she's mine and Lin's babysitter. Because when given a choice, I go with the goofy answer. There was a choice of Protect Lin or Hide Behind Lin, naturally I took cover behind the 13 year old. She is the tank after all.

And the music is either hit or miss for me. Sometimes in the same song. Like the main battle theme; the music is great, but the lyrics are a little silly. And the New LA night theme is probably my least favorite track. But the tyrant battle theme on the other hand is awesome.

They all get noisy when they fight.

You know, the voice doesn't bug me at all. But do you know what does?

The game not explaining ANYTHING. I have to pause the game to open the manual to discover that there's an NPC you're supposed to visit EVERY TIME YOU INCREASE YOUR BLADE LEVEL in order to level up your Field Skills. The game? It tells you to keep your field skills up. It doesn't explain how (and I still have no clue where this NPC is).

I have quests to get Miranium. Does the game tell you how to actually acquire it? Nope.

For that matter, any "item gathering" quest is something you should avoid like the plague, because the most specific the game gets on this subject is "it's on this continent". But, y'know, it doesn't take you long to survey the continent. They're small.

Want to know how to change classes? Figure it out. Want to know how to swap out Arts from previous classes? So do I, because I have no clue, even though I was told you could. Want to know how to level up AMs? Yeah, too bad, the game won't explain that either.

This game doesn't explain ANYTHING. It's fun, it's well built, but you're going to need to spend about fifteen hours sorting through menus to figure anything out, then you'll need to reset and start over because you'll probably have screwed yourself over by then.

Also the text is too small, especially for 720p. The game could greatly have benefited from a 1080p UI resolution with the 3D graphics scaled up from 720p.

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Originally Posted by Skyblade

The game not explaining ANYTHING. I have to pause the game to open the manual to discover that there's an NPC you're supposed to visit EVERY TIME YOU INCREASE YOUR BLADE LEVEL in order to level up your Field Skills. The game? It tells you to keep your field skills up. It doesn't explain how (and I still have no clue where this NPC is).

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Yeah it would probably be wise to pass a written exam on the manual contents before jumping in on this one.

Those mechanics get explained when you do the side quests required to enter into the next story mission. :p

I really dislike that I can't fast travel or view the area/world map without using the padlet.

I hate the padlet. Like a lot.

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Originally Posted by Mirage

I really dislike that I can't fast travel or view the area/world map without using the padlet.

I hate the padlet. Like a lot.

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While I agree that having to use the padlet to have the functionality at all is a bummer, the actual fast travel functionality itself is really good. As second screen utilisation goes, this is about the best I've ever seen.

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Originally Posted by Fox

While I agree that having to use the padlet to have the functionality at all is a bummer, the actual fast travel functionality itself is really good. As second screen utilisation goes, this is about the best I've ever seen.

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Yep, it's the only game so far where that extra screen is essential for the purpose of just information viewing. My only complaint is that all of the equipment management and party/classes etc aren't also done on the second screen, in real time.

The actual functionality of the padlet for fast travel and FN management is good. It's just that I really don't like holding the controller for hours on end. It's too heavy, and the batteries don't last long enough, making it not a wireless controller. The shape of it isn't bad either, but the pro controller shape is unquestionably better. I'd have liked a map accessible from the main menu that I could fast travel and manage FN with, instead of having to reach over to the charging station of my padlet every few minutes and fiddle with it while putting the regular controller on the table or in my lap.

I'm also really worried about breaking it because a new one costs like 120 smurfing dollars, and just having a display makes it easier to break than any regular controller would be. Don't forget that a lot of crucial console functions are impossible to perform without the padlet. You won't be able to update your console with a new password if you have to change the wifi password, for example. In fact, you won't even be able to change to a different wifi at all without it, or change any of the other console configuration settings.

Because of that, I try to use it as little as possible just because I am a pretty clumsy person.


In other news, I used my capture box and photoshop skills to make a panorama screenshot. Enjoy.

I might make more when i find even prettier locations.

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Originally Posted by Mirage

Also the text is too small, especially for 720p. The game could greatly have benefited from a 1080p UI resolution with the 3D graphics scaled up from 720p.

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This x1000. I'm struggling to read text while wearing glasses unless I use the padlet to read stuff instead. It's kind of annoying to switch between the two.

Also I've spent most of my time exploring the city or being a goat (scaling cliffsides) x3 I actually really like walking around lost and exploring though. I haven't had nearly enough time to really get into the game yet.

Personally, I think I'm done with XCX. I find myself with opportunities to play it, but I keep making excuses to avoid it. Now I'm sitting here bored, and I still don't want to go play it. I legitimately would rather complain about it than play it.

I really WANT to like the game, but I can't. It has a ton of massive design flaws that just really kill the game for me.

First, it's too easy to miss stuff. The game is too damned open. I still have no clue if I've talked to everybody in New LA, nor is there any telling how many Affinity Chart updates or quests I've missed.

The inventory system is absolutely wretched. I seriously don't understand what moron thought this was a good idea. It's one of the worst inventory systems I've ever seen in a game. Every piece of gear is unique. I have no clue what any of it does. I have no clue what the stats do. I have no clue what the abilities do. The game doesn't explain anything. And every piece of gear is unique, so I never know what to keep and what to throw away. It's actually WORSE than the abominable system that the original Xenoblade Chronicles had.

The open world design sucks. It just sucks. Putting level 45 enemies in a starter zone is fine, but you then add in quests to go kill them that are available twenty minutes into the game (oh, and the quest difficulty rating is complete bollocks, as is the map difficulty suggestions). There is no flow to the quests, no proper difficulty scaling, no elegance to the design. It just dumps a crap load on you all at once, doesn't give you any way to sort them, nor any way to actually tell which ones you have a chance of taking on.

So, I'm stuck. I don't want to move on with the main story because I don't want to miss stuff, but I don't know what else I can do because the game doesn't explain anything. There's some NPC hiding under a rock that only shows his face when it's raining in Primordia while you're wearing a swimsuit and jump off the roof of the chapel or something that I'll miss if I progress the story. Or, at least, I'll miss their introduction, and their personal story and dialogue that changes as the game goes on.

And I'm still pissed that the game tracks how many times a mob has killed you. It's like it's sitting there going "this guy killed you ten times, HA HA". If I ever meet the designer who put that "feature" in, I'm going to punch him in the throat.

So, yeah. I think I'm done. I really enjoy the exploration, and I like the characters, but the game doesn't communicate anything to you, and I have no idea how much I CAN do in the game at this point. Honestly, if someone broke into my house and stole the game, I wouldn't try to replace it.

Well, I finally got back on this.

I'm agreeing with a lot of what Skyblade said above me. I like the exploration element. I like how the world feels like this really living thing with its own ecosystem. I hate how all that ties into the game mechanics. Like how I'm doing a Story mission where the required level was '1' (I'm about 15) but all the enemies are between 18 and 22. The power progression is just a mess. Oh and gear levels. Smurfing gear levels!!! I hate how pretty much every piece of gear I pick up in drops are either a) trout compared to current gear or b) good compared to current gear but I can't equip it for another 10 levels... at which point it'll be mediocre.

Oh and I just encountered a new alien species with the most horrendously annoying voice ever, because they gave them Chipmunk voices. I never thought anything could surpass the abomination that was Sarah in Star Ocean 4, but here we are. I'm helping these aliens with something and every time I talk to them I just want to set fire to their entire world.

I can't say I'm not enjoying it. I am still enjoying it. The Xenoblade heart underneath still beats strong and keeps me engaged.

But god damn it's fighting me every step of the way.

>>> The more I hear complains about this game the more I want to play it!
If I only had a wii-u :cry: :luca:

don't read if you're starletactually seriously let down by the ending.

also the mech combat is bad, and it doesn't look like you can do a whole lot of superbosses on foot, so I just dropped all of those too. I just don't find the combat any interesting in a mech.

Probably not gonna get the next game, at least not at full price. However, nintendo never cuts game prices so that means probably never.

I really enjoyed the exploration though, and the abundance of high level enemies all around me didn't bother me much.

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Originally Posted by Mirage

don't read if you're starletactually seriously let down by the ending.

also the mech combat is bad, and it doesn't look like you can do a whole lot of superbosses on foot, so I just dropped all of those too. I just don't find the combat any interesting in a mech.

Probably not gonna get the next game, at least not at full price. However, nintendo never cuts game prices so that means probably never.

I really enjoyed the exploration though, and the abundance of high level enemies all around me didn't bother me much.

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>>> Now I want to play it EVEN MORE!!!! :eager::eager::eager::luca:

Why exactly?

STOP TELLING ME TO NOT PRESS THE BIG RED BUTTON

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Originally Posted by Mirage

Why exactly?

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>>> Dunno, something tell me that I will just like it..:luca:

but i thought you said the game was going to be too easy because the physics weren't realistic...

>>> Yeah, with jumps like that the game will be hell easier :up: :luca:

Why? The developers wouldn't let you reach places you're not supposed to get to anyway.

Might as well say super mario is easier because he can jump further than humans can.

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Originally Posted by Mirage

Why? The developers wouldn't let you reach places you're not supposed to get to anyway.

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>>> Yeah, but you will cover areas/terrain more quickly that way. :luca:

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Originally Posted by Mirage

Might as well say super mario is easier because he can jump further than humans can.

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>>> Oh yeah it is, try to play a mario game with a mario that can only make normal human jumps (i bet you will be in trouble :jess:) :luca:

And you don't think a game where mario had normal jumps would also have shorter gaps to clear? Or do you think a mario game with normal jumps would be released with levels that are impossible to clear no matter how good the player are?

Making a level that is literally impossible to clear doesn't have anything to do with a game's difficulty. It's about as "difficult" as a game that didn't give you buttons to move your character would be.

The time it takes to get from one point to another doesn't have anything with difficulty to do either. Unless you think it is actually difficult to keep the gamepad stick in one direction for a certain amount of time. I think you're confusing difficulty with tedium. Would a game be harder for you if the game asked you to keep the X button pressed down for 100 seconds rather than 10 seconds?