Xenoblade X Eurogamer Preview: Maybe 2015's Most Impressive Open World

Very helpful, thanks! So it looks like about a 10 second difference on initial loading and when fast traveling. That's within tolerable ranges for me. Definitely getting this now.

You will also have way more pop in most likely since streaming asset from the disk only is quite slower than reading it on the hard drive.
 
Isn't Baten Kaitos a Namco IP?

Don't think Nintendo will ever have main team Monolith Soft work on someone else's IP when they could make an original IP.

Besides Baten Kaitos was an excellent two game series.
 
No there is not dual soundtrack in the game. I dont think you can just bee Line the story but someone will quickly correct me if I'm wrong you can certainly cut down the amount of questing to a minimum but I can't tell you how that would affect your experience.

Yes, you can (you will just have just a minimum of sidequests as requirements, main story is like 20+ hours of gameplay) but like Fantasy Life (3DS) the core of the game is outside of the main story. If you want to play a game on the Wii U just for the story, play Bayonneta or Wonderfull 101 or Fatal Frame instead.

Just doing the main story usually made testers (from Japan import thread) bitter.

If you hated Xenoblade you most likely won't like this game. You can pretty much ignore all side-content, but to advance certain story missions you need to have portion of the map explored, and done some "Kizuna" quests, which are quests that raise the affinity between you and your party members.
thank you guys :) I regret not having bought a wii u in japan ..
 
Jose Otero talked a bit about Xeno X in the latest edition of Nintendo Voice Chat, it starts around 29 minutes:

http://www.ign.com/videos/2015/11/21/nintendo-voice-chat-holiday-blues

Based on his comments, I guess the game will probably get an 8 from IGN. The issues he pointed out probably won't be a problem for many of us, die-hard Xeno fans, but as usual his criticism makes a lot of sense and people on the fence about the game will probably be very enlightened by his review.
 
Isn't Monolith developing Project X Zone 2, and also did the first?

Monolith has to studios (Tokyo and Kyoto) and three teams. One is headed by Takahashi and developes, obviously, the Xenoblade games, the other one works with Namco on stuff like Project X Zone and the Kyoto studio, headed by Baten Kaitos director Yasuyuki Honne, is a Nintendo outsourcing team (assistance on Zelda, Pikmin, Splatoon, …).
 
Jose Otero talked a bit about Xeno X in the latest edition of Nintendo Voice Chat, it starts around 29 minutes:

http://www.ign.com/videos/2015/11/21/nintendo-voice-chat-holiday-blues

Based on his comments, I guess the game will probably get an 8 from IGN. The issues he pointed out probably won't be a problem for many of us, die-hard Xeno fans, but as usual his criticism makes a lot of sense and people on the fence about the game will probably be very enlightened by his review.

Check the previous page lol.

And hey, maybe some of those people on the fence are die-hard Xeno fans too. They just don't know it yet. :)

Are we expecting these pre-load data packs in Europe? Or are we just hoping we get them at all, at this point?

There's no way you guys won't get them.

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I was kinda disappointed with the ost's size when I saw it had 55 tracks on youtube. The original had 90ish. Now I know that Sawano fuses his tracks together and in reality the ost is similar in size to the original. Really glad for that.
 
Just started the game. Some obvious issues so far (last gen collision detection and physics, TERRIBLE, ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE character models, music is definitely not my taste, some awful sfx as well), but I'm slowly getting sucked in the world.

Just hope you would get the mech earlier, at least I wouldn't have to look at my character...
 
Monolith has to studios (Tokyo and Kyoto) and three teams. One is headed by Takahashi and developes, obviously, the Xenoblade games, the other one works with Namco on stuff like Project X Zone and the Kyoto studio, headed by Baten Kaitos director Yasuyuki Honne, is a Nintendo outsourcing team (assistance on Zelda, Pikmin, Splatoon, …).

According to Wiki and Monolithsoft's website, they have about 123 developers. I thought I heard that the Kyoto studio has about 30 employees. Do you know if the remaining 90 or so developers are divided between the two Tokyo teams? Or does the second MS Tokyo team comprise of only a few directors, planners, and producers, but development is actually done by Bandai Namco?
 
Xenoblade Chronicles X Discussion - Impressions w/ Chuggaaconroy & MasaeAnela

Probably the last main thing we'll get from GX before the Review.

Nice.

Pretty interesting contrast between GX's impressions and IGN's. Where Jose said that the world felt static, GX is gushing about how everything feels very much alive. GX directly contradicts the notion that enemies don't interact with each other.

They really like the characters, the graphics, the exploration, the enemies, the music, etc.

Character switching is inconvenient, and gathering missions are too open ended.

I'll probably just use a guide/ask around for the tougher items to find like I did with the original. Plus it's pretty cool that your party members have their own places in the game's world. Stuff like Riki's house and Dunban's house in the original were neat, but they felt uninhabited.
 
Nice.

Pretty interesting contrast between GX's impressions and IGN's. Where Jose said that the world felt static, GX is gushing about how everything feels very much alive. GX directly contradicts the notion that enemies don't interact with each other.

Which makes me wonder how much hours did Mr. Otero Actually played. But its an opinion case so it is what it is.
 
Did we ever get a confirmation on if the game is playable with headphones in the Wii U GamePad and audio only coming from there? That soundtrack is already going to be causing complaints, and headphones would definitely mitigate that!
 
Did we ever get a confirmation on if the game is playable with headphones in the Wii U GamePad and audio only coming from there? That soundtrack is already going to be causing complaints, and headphones would definitely mitigate that!

Pretty sure you can't do that.

I really wish that was a universal feature for all their games. When I plug my headphones into a DS4 I get the sound regardless of what game I'm playing or what I'm doing.
 
Pretty sure you can't do that.

I really wish that was a universal feature for all their games. When I plug my headphones into a DS4 I get the sound regardless of what game I'm playing or what I'm doing.
Yeah I have no idea why it doesn't work for all games. So dumb. I was really disappointed when I got my Wii U and found that out.
 
Isn't Baten Kaitos a Namco IP?

Don't think Nintendo will ever have main team Monolith Soft work on someone else's IP when they could make an original IP.

Besides Baten Kaitos was an excellent two game series.

Namco (probably) still owns the Baten Kaitos IP, but that also wouldn't stop a situation similar to Project X Zone if the demand is there.

Sadly, I don't know if the demand is there :-\
 
Namco (probably) still owns the Baten Kaitos IP, but that also wouldn't stop a situation similar to Project X Zone if the demand is there.

Sadly, I don't know if the demand is there :-\

I'm fairly certain the BK IP was included in the deal for Monolithsoft when Nintendo bought them from Namco. I could be mistaken but I believe Baten Kaitos Origins had nothing to do with Namco at all and Nintendo published it in all regions.
 
So how is the difficulty on this game? Harder or easier than the first game?

I'd say it's pretty similar, but maybe slightly harder since healing and aggro management are much more unreliable than the original game.

It's easy to get in over your head in certain areas of the game, and the story missions will be a challenge if you're not doing a lot of the side content.
 
I'm fairly certain the BK IP was included in the deal for Monolithsoft when Nintendo bought them from Namco. I could be mistaken but I believe Baten Kaitos Origins had nothing to do with Namco at all and Nintendo published it in all regions.

It was published by Namco in Japan. I don't think there was any confirmation one way or the other what happened to the Baten Kaitos IP in the MonolithSoft deal.
 
Still waiting on news regarding the awful combat music. I was so hyped for this game until they revealed many of the main character models, but was still planning on getting it. Then the various gameplay videos with the hideous combat music started pouring in...
 
It was published by Namco in Japan. I don't think there was any confirmation one way or the other what happened to the Baten Kaitos IP in the MonolithSoft deal.

I'm fairly certain Nintendo published BKO in both Japan and NA. And it never came out in Europe.
 

Yeah, that's what I thought -- but it was also pre-MonolithSoft sale. I would guess that Namco still has the rights, though.

I'm fairly certain Nintendo published BKO in both Japan and NA. And it never came out in Europe.

Ah, you're right, sorry, I was looking at the wrong thing.

Also, BKO sold poorly. I think it only did something like 50k its first month in NA, and then it debuted with 15k in Japan for its first week. Yes, the Gamecube was literally a dead system walking, but I just don't think the ecosystem and demand is right for another Baten Kaitos game.
 
Gamespot did a pre-review and it seems positive so far...just that it can be overwhelming and reading the manual is kind of required

Just started the game. Some obvious issues so far (last gen collision detection and physics, TERRIBLE, ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE character models, music is definitely not my taste, some awful sfx as well), but I'm slowly getting sucked in the world.

Just hope you would get the mech earlier, at least I wouldn't have to look at my character...

1. find helmet armor
2. put helmet on character
3. ???
4. profit
 
Yeah, that's what I thought -- but it was also pre-MonolithSoft sale. I would guess that Namco still has the rights, though.

I can't imagine a scenario where a company would sell a developer and not want to keep onto their IPs just in case unless it had something to do with bankruptcy proceedings. Nobody wants to be the asshole that let the next big thing get away.
 
I'd say it's pretty similar, but maybe slightly harder since healing and aggro management are much more unreliable than the original game.

It's easy to get in over your head in certain areas of the game, and the story missions will be a challenge if you're not doing a lot of the side content.
Thanks
 
I can't imagine a scenario where a company would sell a developer and not want to keep onto their IPs just in case unless it had something to do with bankruptcy proceedings. Nobody wants to be the asshole that let the next big thing get away.

Yeah, exactly.

However, I don't think that would necessarily mean another Baten Kaitos game couldn't be made, in theory.
 
I'm hoping some new information about online co-op surfaces soon, such as the number of quests and whether or not your character from single player is used. That could make selecting a class a more important decision.
 
I'm fairly certain the BK IP was included in the deal for Monolithsoft when Nintendo bought them from Namco. I could be mistaken but I believe Baten Kaitos Origins had nothing to do with Namco at all and Nintendo published it in all regions.

That doesn't mean Nintendo owns the IP, it means they licensed it for Monolith to use. Just like Bayonetta is a Sega IP and Nintendo licensed it to take over publishing and funding of Bayonetta 2.

I'm pretty sure no IPs were transferred in the sale of Monolith, that's why Namco continues to put KOS-MOS references in whatever they wish to (even outside Soichiro Morizumi's games).
 
Still waiting on news regarding the awful combat music. I was so hyped for this game until they revealed many of the main character models, but was still planning on getting it. Then the various gameplay videos with the hideous combat music started pouring in...

I don't know what news you're waiting for. The combat music is in the game, and...that's all there is to it lol.

Isn't this from last week?

Yup.
 
Yeah, exactly.

However, I don't think that would necessarily mean another Baten Kaitos game couldn't be made, in theory.

I can't imagine why it wouldn't. Bamco seems to be fine with co-owning the Chibi-Robo IP with Nintendo, and if any third party is super happy with collaborating with Nintendo on anything, it's certainly them. Iwata went above and beyond to keep them happy for all these years, even if it was partially due to being unable to snap up Bandai back when it was realistic.
 
I can't imagine why it wouldn't. Bamco seems to be fine with co-owning the Chibi-Robo IP with Nintendo, and if any third party is super happy with collaborating with Nintendo on anything, it's certainly them. Iwata went above and beyond to keep them happy for all these years, even if it was partially due to being unable to snap up Bandai back when it was realistic.

I don't think that was the same situation. That IP wouldn't have existed if Nintendo didn't pick it up. I don't think Bandai has anything to do with it as a result, since they never had to release anything.
 
Regardless, Nintendo published Baten Kaitos Origins and they have a rather healthy relationship at the moment with Bandai Namco, so I don't see that being the issue for why there wouldn't be a third Baten Kaitos game.

I think the issue is -- sadly -- no one would buy it. :-(
 
Regardless, Nintendo published Baten Kaitos Origins and they have a rather healthy relationship at the moment with Bandai Namco, so I don't see that being the issue for why there wouldn't be a third Baten Kaitos game.

I think the issue is -- sadly -- no one would buy it. :-(

It'd be nice to see them give it another shot when Gamecube VC happens, just to see where the appetite is at. I don't think they need to be quite as bullish as they were the last time something like that made a difference (SEND EVERYONE ALL OF THE COPIES OF SIN & PUNISHMENT 2!!!), but it would be a nice gesture all the same. At worst, there's two more games that RPG fans may have missed the first time that they don't need to track down expensive second-hand copies to be able to play.
 
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