X is for Xenoblade! And...xylophone!

[Vermachtnis]

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?

[Fynn]

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.

[Mirage]

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

[Fox]

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.

[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?

[Fox]

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?

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.

[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.

[Fox]

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.

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

[Pumpkin]

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

[Del Murder]

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.

[Vermachtnis]

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.

[Mirage]

They all get noisy when they fight.

[Skyblade]

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.

[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.

[Fox]

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).

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