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[ShaneB]

I love when new players come into the thread. It reminds me of all the excitement a few months ago.

I was going to make a thread about the idea of being late to the party and missing the frantic chaos a thread has when a game is released, but it's nice to at least be able to follow a thread when things have calmed down. Also I understand the comment because it's always fun reading others 'first experience' with a game knowing how it felt, and wishing you could do it all over again.

This game is addicting as hell. It's definitely got that 'one more quest' feeling, and it's got my hooks when it comes to the story, so I want to know what the heck is going on as well, and the combat is just so damn fun I just want to keep fighting stuff as well.

As for the comments about how good it looks, when I was running around the Gaur Plains, I was in awe of how gorgeous it looked. Certainly not on a polygon count level, but just the design, the vista, the sheer expanse of it just made it feel so alive and I was sucked right into it. Sure there are those times when you see a horrible looking texture and it brings you back down, but everything else is so good, it just doesn't really matter.

 

[Takuan]

Are you guys using Wii Component cables to play or regular AV? Does component make that much of a big difference?

I'm using $3 component cables from Monoprice and experienced a significant increase in clarity. On an HDTV, it makes the jaggies really pop. I imagine things look much better on an SDTV.

 

[Oxx]

No Zelda today. Time to swallow down some more Xenoblade.

 

[Cheska]

Thanks for all the responses! Sounds like I need to hunt down some official component cables.

 

[Oxx]

Looks like I am at the point of no return.

I'll make another save at this point, but we'll see how it goes.

If Gaf goes down before I get closure, see you on the other side.

 

[chaosblade]

Looks like I am at the point of no return.

I'll make another save at this point, but we'll see how it goes.

If Gaf goes down before I get closure, see you on the other side.

For you and others, definitely keep a save at that point of no return. If you make a save after the final boss, absolutely do it in a second slot because you cannot continue that file otherwise, and there is still plenty of optional stuff you might want to come back to after the final boss.

 

[Oxx]

Endgame spoilers:

Spoiler

Lost in space! Where do I go? Invisible walls everywhere. I killed ghostly Mumkhar and now I'm stuck

 

[wsippel]

Endgame spoilers:

Spoiler

Lost in space! Where do I go? Invisible walls everywhere. I killed ghostly Mumkhar and now I'm stuck

Look at the "floor", there should be a faint line if I remember correctly.

 

[chaosblade]

Endgame spoilers:

Spoiler

Lost in space! Where do I go? Invisible walls everywhere. I killed ghostly Mumkhar and now I'm stuck

Spoiler

Should be a green glow that you run toward.

And what wsippel said too.

 

[Zwei]

Look at the "floor", there should be a faint line if I remember correctly.

Go towards the

Spoiler

GREEN LIGHT!

Just like the Great Gatsby.

Edit : Beaten!

 

[Oxx]

Ha, how was I supposed to know that the

Spoiler

green blobs were transporters lol.

 

[B.K.]

I'm about seven hours into the game now. I really wish that the camera would lock on to whatever monster you're targeting. It's annoying when there are multiple mobs attacking you and it takes a few seconds to find what you're locked on to after the one you've been attacking dies and you auto target a new monster.

 

[wakajawaka]

I played the game on a plasma with composite cables, I noticed some artifacts (small dots randomly placed usually around the center) occasionaly. Never happened to me in other games or normal tv/movies, Did anyone else notice something similar?

Aside from that the game looked really good.

 

[B.K.]

Isn't that a sign that your system's GPU is failing?

 

[chaosblade]

I played the game on a plasma with composite cables, I noticed some artifacts (small dots randomly placed usually around the center) occasionaly. Never happened to me in other games or normal tv/movies, Did anyone else notice something similar?

Aside from that the game looked really good.

Sounds like your Wii GPU might be dying, I'd test it on some other games and see if you get the same thing.

Edit: It's not always very visible though, some games make it more obvious than others. I recall it being pretty easy to see on that Mario Strikers game.

 

[wakajawaka]

I'm playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 and PES at the moment and no signs of it, it was only some times in Xenoblade; anyway, I'll keep an eye on it.

I hope my wii doesn't die now that Zelda is out ;_; Is there a post or more info about this issue?

 

[Oxx]

Aaaaand done like Dunban.

Damn.

 

[Sadist]

Man the OST is godlike. With the exceptcion of NMH and the Zelda 25th anniversary, I don't listen to gamemusic that much. I'll glady make an exception for Xenoblade.

Mechanical Rhythm _O_

 

[Oxx]

I managed to finish before Gaf downtime and Zelda's arrival. I am a god.

 

[Seik]

Man the OST is godlike. With the exceptcion of NMH and the Zelda 25th anniversary, I don't listen to gamemusic that much. I'll glady make an exception for Xenoblade.

Mechanical Rhythm _O_

Yeah this one is the best battle theme evah. First time I heard it I was like ''FUCKIN FINALLY!''

 

[Oxx]

Fuuuuuu-

Finish time was 100:08.

If it wasn't for the NG+ equipment carry-over I would have been exactly 100 hours.

 

[Zwei]

I am a god.

Not unless you

Spoiler

wield a Monado

 

[Clevinger]

I'm on

Spoiler

Mechonis

Field now and it's hilarious how all the armor in there is leaving my party naked.

 

[Oxx]

Now I can read back through the entire thread and highlight all the spoilers.

Wasn't there a separate spoiler thread as well?

 

[chaosblade]

Now I can read back through the entire thread and highlight all the spoilers.

Wasn't there a separate spoiler thread as well?

I know there was a LTTP thread even though the game is still pretty new with an active OT, but I don't remember a spoiler thread.

 

[Oxx]

Spoiler Thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=441778

It only ran for 29 posts, though.

 

[SecretMoblin]

Congrats on beating the game, Oxx.

 

[Oxx]

Zelda has still not arrived. Maybe I should beat Xenoblade again!

What's the best place to level from ~80 to ~90?

 

[ShaneB]

My MMO history (well WoW..) is kicking in, having a hard time moving past any area until all the quests are complete. I'll never finish!

 

[SecretMoblin]

Zelda has still not arrived. Maybe I should beat Xenoblade again!

What's the best place to level from ~80 to ~90?

Run through

Spoiler

Tephra Cave

a few times. That can get you to 99 if you're doing the quests there as well.

My MMO history (well WoW..) is kicking in, having a hard time moving past any area until all the quests are complete. I'll never finish!

You'll get through it eventually. The quests are front-loaded, so they become much less frequent once you reach the halfway point. Just remember that you'll be way overleveled if you do every quest, so if you want a steady challenge through the main storyline you should put off the non-time-limited quests.

 

[chaosblade]

Zelda has still not arrived. Maybe I should beat Xenoblade again!

What's the best place to level from ~80 to ~90?

Spoiler

Alcamoth, fight the Telethia since they offer great experience.

Take out the level 85 groups to start, then as you level up you can start taking out the stronger ones once they are in your level range. The further you go into the area the higher level enemies you'll run into, the highest being around 90 or so. Easy to get a ton of experience there, and once you've leveled sufficiently you can hit up

Spoiler

Tephra Cave

.

You'll want Shulk to fight those though for the occasional shield and purge arts.

 

[ShaneB]

You'll get through it eventually. The quests are front-loaded, so they become much less frequent once you reach the halfway point. Just remember that you'll be way overleveled if you do every quest, so if you want a steady challenge through the main storyline you should put off the non-time-limited quests.

Sounds good. I'm doing the refugee camp quests and I know those are timed, so I'll finish those off and keep that in mind, it definitely does feel like I'm slightly overleveled already.

 

[Oxx]

Spoiler

Alcamoth, fight the Telethia since they offer great experience.

Take out the level 85 groups to start, then as you level up you can start taking out the stronger ones once they are in your level range. The further you go into the area the higher level enemies you'll run into, the highest being around 90 or so. Easy to get a ton of experience there, and once you've leveled sufficiently you can hit up

Spoiler

Tephra Cave

.

You'll want Shulk to fight those though for the occasional shield and purge arts.

Thanks.

As I was preparing for the end-game I actually gained a ton of experience in

Spoiler

Tephra Cave

just by running away from all the red enemies and discovering the secret locations. It should be fun to go back and exterminate them all. And find out what's in

Spoiler

that tomb.

 

[SecretMoblin]

And find out what's in

Spoiler

that tomb.

Ooooh, I really enjoyed that questline. It was just so bizarre, seeing a random girl standing around in that place giving you quests. I was hoping she was a monster in disguise, but alas.

 

[Sgt.Pepper]

Spoiler

No wonder every single quest in Alcamoth was timed, I did every one, but still only got to 4 stars. I suppose it will stay there.

Spoiler

Now I've no idea where I should go, I'm just looking for all the High Entias that escaped. New zones all have higher level monster than I am (lvl 73), and the all kill me horribly.

 

[Man God]

There are about 30 end game Alcamoth quests, more than enough to make it to five stars.

 

[flyover]

Look at the "floor", there should be a faint line if I remember correctly.

That part drove me crazy, because I'm color blind and didn't even see it at first. I just ran around aimlessly, until my wife told me to give her the controller. I asked her, "How the hell do you know where to go all the time?" She said she was just following the line. When I asked "What line?" she pointed it out, and then I finally could see it, just barely.

 

[Jarmel]

Really can't wait to play this when I get back to the states.

 

[polg]

I made it to hour 90... sorted out the 4 mainline quest of

Spoiler

Agniratha

and I'm level 69

This section of the games was VERY tedious I think I while go ahead without finishing all the side quests here, I can't be bothered fighting those enemies over and over just to get through the area.

 

[Oxx]

Assorted thoughts upon finishing the game. No necessarily end-game related, but pretty spoilerific:

Spoiler

The game certainly went places.

I was happy when the game was just Shulk, Reyn, and Sharla running around huge, open lush environments bashing robots.

I wasn't expecting Dunban to play a role. Or Fiora. I wasn't even expecting other playable characters.

I was expecting Gadolt to reappear considering how the game wouldn't let me sell or discard his rifle. I guess that could be explained by Sharla's sentimentality, but to be honest, she was gagging for some Reyn Time as soon as they met, so she couldn't have cared that much.

But that all seems so long ago considering where the game ended. I thought the last third of the game could have done with a few cuts. The return to Prison Island was a bit of a waste of time, and Agniratha - although a nice location - was just too combat-heavy.

The end of games like this are always bittersweet given the amount of time invested in the characters and story, but in the case of Xenoblade it does really feel like the end. There's no real place for a direct sequel to jump-off from and I have to imagine that making a game that long and dense in HD would be beyond Monolithsoft (especially if it would sell 200k worldwide).

 

[SecretMoblin]

Spoiler

I was happy when the game was just Shulk, Reyn, and Sharla running around huge, open lush environments bashing robots.

I really enjoyed that, too. For me, the latter third of the game just didn't live up to the wonder of the first several hours. Perhaps my expectation that the locations would get even bigger and more incredible was a bit misguided, but I was genuinely disappointed when you leave the

Spoiler

Fallen Arm

and see

Spoiler

machinery

for the entire rest of the game. It didn't help that those were 20-25 solid hours of

Spoiler

corridors-and-cutscenes gameplay; you ran along some pipes or a catwalk, saw a cutscene, maybe fought a boss, and did it all over again.

I really want a full game that is as open and mind-blowing as

Spoiler

the Bionis' Leg, the Eryth Sea, Colony 9, or Makna Forest.

I said it earlier in the thread, but I really love height in video games, and it's rare that a video game allows me to climb around and soak in the world from a great height without the pressure of time limits or enemies. The insane draw distance made an otherwise great game truly fantastic, and I wish other games would put as much emphasis on the scenery and the setting.

 

[Oxx]

I liked the sense of height in

Spoiler

Mechonis Field

, but it also felt more claustrophobic than the earlier areas. Good music, though.

Spoiler

Sword Valley and Prison Island

were the only locations that did nothing for me.

 

[anaron]

ENDING SPOILERS:

Spoiler

Being transported into our solar system, approaching Earth with each planetary landmark, has certainly got to be one of the most surreal, - for lack of a better phrase - mindfucking gaming segments in a looong time. Absolutely loved it. I have to give it to Takahashi for creating an ending which provides an even richer anchor for the world's history. (Sci-fi prequel starring Meyneth and Zanza for Wii-U plzkthx.)

Enough has been said about the many positives Xenoblade achieves, so to save you all from regurgitating those comments, I'll list things I didn't like.

-Exposition is typically awful for the majority of the game and the constant "uplifting" friendship monologues were so goddamn grating.

- Most of the game's cast are horribly underused, being essentially mute throughout the game's story segments and lacking anything resembling an arc. Their personalities came through quite strongly in battle, which made it even more disappointing to see them dissapear otherwise.

-The UI is far too cluttered and NPC questing was atrociously annoying due to the game not providing their exact locations and a more fluid tracking system.


However, these shortcomings do not take away from Xenoblade providing an otherwise excellent blend of Western and Japanese RPG design; and creating something incredibly unique and immersive in its own right.

The shear amount of things to do and ways to do them - whether it be exploring to secret areas on mountainous peaks in a thunderstorm

Spoiler

or re-building entire cities

- in its lively world full of stunning art direction and music, ties into the very core of what makes gaming so special.

 

[Andiie]

My copy come in today, I put about 20 minutes into it just to see what it was like. Really impressed so far. I liked the start, I thought it was genuinely interesting and well put together. Characters seemed fun and I enjoyed there attitudes and personalities. I also like that there's no awkward pauses (conversations) like some other jrpgs. Combat seemed fun, I had some trouble with the controls but only 'cause I'm not used to the wii.
Looking forward to putting some more time into it to see how the story holds up and seeing what other mechanics they have.

 

[Oxx]

It's so weird playing on a big HDTV after hundreds of hours on a small SD screen.

 

[walking fiend]

My batch of new Wii games will arrive in two days, and Xenoblade is also included. Should I go and get a classic controller for this? (I will also use the CC for MH3 as well)

 

[SecretMoblin]

My batch of new Wii games will arrive in two days, and Xenoblade is also included. Should I go and get a classic controller for this? (I will also use the CC for MH3 as well)

If you're planning on spending serious time with MH3 and think you would like playing with the CC, you should absolutely get it. It's worth the cost. It's largely a matter of preference when it comes to control schemes and you should experiment with both for a while, but I absolutely loved the CCPro with Xenoblade. It has the added benefit of draining the Wii Remote's battery v e r r r r r y s l o w l y.

 

[iamaustrian]

I finished the game 2 weeks ago after 200+ hours to finaly get back my social life.
well...Now I'm already 20+hours in my second run. I didn't stop at all.
fuck that

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

My batch of new Wii games will arrive in two days, and Xenoblade is also included. Should I go and get a classic controller for this? (I will also use the CC for MH3 as well)

MH3 Tri is made for the CCPro, but I greatly prefer the Wiimote & Nunchuck for Xenoblade. The Wiimote + Chuck allows you to access the menu while moving (which is a god send in this game!), while this is nigh on impossible to do with the CCPro.

 

[Killer Yakuza B]

I'm playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 and PES at the moment and no signs of it, it was only some times in Xenoblade; anyway, I'll keep an eye on it.
I hope my wii doesn't die now that Zelda is out ;_; Is there a post or more info about this issue?

Your GPU seems to be overheating but it doesn't sound like it's that far along and it can probably be fixed. It happened to my Wii and it's been working perfectly for more than a year now, no signs of black pixels or anything weird at all anymore. Basically, you just need to make sure it doesn't get hot, disconnect the power, make sure the air vents aren't covered and don't cover the Wii with anything while it's still hot, if you have it inside a cabinet or next to the TV or a DVD player that could get hot as well then move it somewhere else, put in in the horizontal position so the lower/right vent works better, etc. I hear turning Wii Connect 24 off helps too but I never had it on in the first place and unplugging the ac adapter is better. Also, and this is what helped mine the most, turn on the air conditioner in the room or point a fan directly at the Wii while it's on.

The black pixels thing is much more noticeable in games where there's a lot of cloud/fog effects and the likes, like the New Super Mario Bros. desert stages or even the title screen. I imagine they would show all over the place in Skyward Sword. When left alone, they will start to show up even in the Wii Menu (look around blue colored channels), and I hear some people even get neon green pixels. That sounds scary as hell.

So, in short, cool the Wii down and it should get better. I know other people who have also "fixed" theirs, so mine isn't an isolated case. There's hope for your Wii!

Back on topic:
I finally got Xenoblade after years of waiting and like 50 hours in the Japanese version, but I'm gonna have to wait until I'm done with Skyward Sword to really sink my teeth into it... Maaan, it just had to arrive on the same day as Zelda... Not that I'm complaining, though! I'm one happy feller.