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[RulkezX]

Well I bought it, can't wait to jump in but fucking boo at the WiiU download speeds.

 

[Kadin]

Stupid question I know but as long as you're able to select a melee art with an enemy targeted, it means that it will land right? I mean, accuracy aside but it's not like you'll swing and just hit air correct? Same thing for ranged, as soon as the art is able to be used, it means you're in proper range?

 

[Squishy3]

What are those many things?

All I can think of is better tutorials and perhaps story pacing.

Yeah I can't think of anything it does better than the tutorials and story pacing.

The combat in X is leagues above Xenoblade, even without future vision. The Soul Voice system is great, and I'm looking forward to delving into true Skell combat when I get my party fully decked out. Need to buy weapons for mine first though, since I only have one Art for my Skell. :lol Not very threatening when it has just one art and auto-attacks the rest of the time.


To compare it to another open-world game (MGSV) they did a much more impressive job, but that might also have something to do with working with a company that actually respects them and let them take the time that they needed.

 

[Dad]

What are those many things?

All I can think of is better tutorials and perhaps story pacing.

Party management, hands down.

 

[Palculator]

Stupid question I know but as long as you're able to select a melee art with an enemy targeted, it means that it will land right? I mean, accuracy aside but it's not like you'll swing and just hit air correct? Same thing for ranged, as soon as the art is able to be used, it means you're in proper range?

As I understand it, yes. It can fail if the enemy has high evasion or you have low accuracy, but it will display a "MISS" instead of a damage number then.

 

[ShinNoNoir]

It feels so good when you pick up a quest from an NPC and you have already collected all the required materials.

 

[Squishy3]

Party management, hands down.

That's another one, but the only downsides to that I see is letting non-active members get reduced exp gain, and the system for switching them in/out at anytime. Granted, the way it works in X may be a prompt for you to actually want to explore around NLA and pick up the yellow info blurbs. At least non-active party members get battle points.

 

[Raide]

It feels so good when you pick up a quest from an NPC and you have already collected all the required materials.

Yes, it does give a good reason to wander the world and grind a bit.

 

[Kadin]

As I understand it, yes. It can fail if the enemy has high evasion or you have low accuracy, but it will display a "MISS" instead of a damage number then.

Okay then that works. For some reason it seemed to me that I've selected a melee attack due to a Soul Voice request from ranged distance and it didn't do anything. I'll have to try again later when I can play but since that happened I've been running like mad to get close before using it. Playing sniper atm so trying to stay a ways away when I can.

 

[Dad]

That's another one, but the only downsides to that I see is letting non-active members get reduced exp gain, and the system for switching them in/out at anytime. Granted, the way it works in X may be a prompt for you to actually want to explore around NLA and pick up the yellow info blurbs. At least non-active party members get battle points.

The arbitrary party restrictions for missions is probably my biggest complaint with the game. Having Elma and Lin essentially stapled to you at all times really limits how you can set up your party, and moments where I'm forcefully saddled with some level 15 dude I never use are infuriating

 

[Chastten]

Anyone know what the items you get are that says (male) or (female) after the item name? It's not gear as far as I can tell.

 

[Squishy3]

Anyone know what the items you get are that says (male) or (female) after the item name? It's not gear as far as I can tell.

Holofigures.

 

[Parfait]

I can't understand the like for Xenoblade over this. It's so much, much better than Xenoblade that it's not funny.

I even think the music is mostly better. The only music i've disliked in XCX so far is the sudden battle music when you're spotted by an enemy, and it only lasts like a minute.

 

[B-Dubs]

The arbitrary party restrictions for missions is probably my biggest complaint with the game. Having Elma and Lin essentially stapled to you at all times really limits how you can set up your party, and moments where I'm forcefully saddled with some level 15 dude I never use are infuriating

If the other party members leveled along with the core team it wouldn't be much of an issue. I feel like that was a huge oversight and should probably be patched in at some point.

 

[Qurupeke]

I was expecting a happy "social" quest near the lake, so I decide to wear the bikini. The quest is about a zombie-mutant like breakout... And here I am, fighting these things with a bikini. I love this game.

 

[Neoweee]

If the other party members leveled along with the core team it wouldn't be much of an issue. I feel like that was a huge oversight and should probably be patched in at some point.

The bigger problem is Affinity gains. You are essentially locked out of a bunch of the game's story via a giant, horrible grind if you play the game "normally".

 

[Rootbeer]

have some time to dig into xeno finally. only a few hours though, until the weekend.

first thing I want to say though:

Sprint Swim? Where you been all my life.

 

[Not_Mario]

I've taken so many screenshots

 

[mindsale]

I could not love exploration and mastering weapons and the music any more.

Also I could not hate the bad jokes, joke characters, main quests and the music any more.

 

[Soul Lab]

short question:

what is triggering ranged combo?
Is it triggered when I use a ranged arte and then I use any arte right after it?

 

[Whizkid7]

Ideally, they'd just have had everyone go hang out in BLADE HQ after they joined you.

Definitely would have been preferable.

Unless you use other members, you'll never have enough Affinity to do their Affinity Missions.

That's what grinding is for!

 

[Raide]

I think the game would have progressed much better if you had small affinity stories with all of the main/side characters. Splitting story and then grinding some affinity quest so you can move on is just artificially lengthening the game.

Elma finds you, so it starts well and the affinity between her and the player is logical but it quickly forces you to party up and run affinity quests just to move on.

There are layers and layers of really interesting and deep mechanics etc but the game is so-so about explaining it. Even with the manual.

I doubt we will see any patches to address text size and other issues but the game does pick up once the Smells arrive. Still a solid 8/10 in my book and its nearly 40 hours.

 

[R.D.Blax]

I think I just found the most fun way to level up

Just going around kicking stuff with my skell, I don't even have to fight

 

[oakenhild]

If the other party members leveled along with the core team it wouldn't be much of an issue. I feel like that was a huge oversight and should probably be patched in at some point.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling we won't be getting any patches anytime soon. This has been out in Japan for like 8 months. The dev team has most likely moved onto their next project.

 

[Raide]

I think I just found the most fun way to level up



Just going around kicking stuff with my skell, I don't even have to fight

There should be some dropkick or ground stomp button. Hah.

 

[Golnei]

I even think the music is mostly better. The only music i've disliked in XCX so far is the sudden battle music when you're spotted by an enemy, and it only lasts like a minute.

I actually have the exact opposite opinion - despite generally preferring the first game's soundtrack, I prefer how the alternate battle music was implemented here. The 'vision react' theme got old quickly, and the low morale / ambushed battle theme transitioned awkwardly into the main one - the Bionis one being even weaker than the already bland Time to Fight didn't help either. With the approach X took, having the ambush theme as an intro for the regular battle theme, it helps things flow far more naturally - as well as delaying the onset of the lyrics, which is always a positive.

 

[Palculator]

I don't know if this is something more hardcore fans of the franchise than me have concluded ages ago, but is the Lifehold design pretty much directly referencing the Zohar?

 

[Dad]

The bigger problem is Affinity gains. You are essentially locked out of a bunch of the game's story via a giant, horrible grind if you play the game "normally".

I wouldn't mind if it was just the Heart-to-Heart stuff locked behind affinity like in XB. When you relegate a lot of the story and characterization to sidequests, walling them off behind grindy bullshit is not fun. I don't like that I have to spend hours doing throwaway missions with generic dudes before they show anything resembling a discernible personality.

I'm still enjoying the game, but the weird design choices are really beginning to irritate me

 

[aravuus]

That's what grinding is for!

Affinity grinding sucks dick, though

I shouldn't HAVE to grind so much just to unlock important missions.

e: what Dad said above. I'm most likely going to be skipping a bunch of affinity quests just because I really can't bother grinding affinity for hours to unlock them, it's fucking stupid.

 

[Astral Dog]

I don't think it's that surprising honestly, it's their first HD game, but most importantly, their first open world game. They're experimenting with the open world mechanics, and as a whole it's a rather impressive effort, but there are chinks and oversights which they didn't consider, that other developers with open world/MMO experience know about. They missed on some of those. They also tried to balance the open world with story progression, along with stuffing considerable amounts of story into sidequests. I think overall, all things considered they did a pretty respectable job, let's just hope they learn from these small issues (maybe we should write them mails with all our support, positives and negatives?), and their next game is completely on fleek, whether linearly structured or open world.

In terms of actual game mechanics, I think they improved almost everything from Xenoblade, they added so many convenient touches to exploration, tons of further depth to battle, tons of customizability in the game itself (not the character creator though... lol). The only issues I can really think of are ones that stem from structure and the consequences of going with an open world approach as opposed to linear, such as pacing, locking into quest lines and quest management (which is still tons better than XenoWii), and party management.

? i thought Xenoblade 1 had a good "open world" obviously not on the typical meaning, but enough to feel like its huge, with tons of exploration, and that was on the Wii.

Xenoblade U adds many systems poorly explained, its certainly more complex, but complex is not always better.

Although overall the combat seems a bit improved, thats very important.

 

[etking]

This game has huge story progression issues. Affinity issues will prevent you from continuing with the story and you cannot abandon them until completed.

But without a guide it is impossible to complete some of them since you get almost no information what you need to do exactly. One of the worst examples is the very first affinity mission very early in the game called 'The repair job' with 3 tasks and zero information.

99% of the non-hardcore players will quit playing this game here. Nobody tells you that the first item can only be found by placing a mining data probe on one of 3 very hard to reach mining spots and waiting for several real time hours until the rare item is mined. Nobody tells you where to find the second and 3rd item either, they are hidden somewhere in this extremely huge world and you do not get any information at all. Nobody tells you that you can cheat here by using reward tickets or that you should collect your division spoils daily, especially for free Skell repair without insurance.

The side quest and affinity quest design can be extremely bad sometimes and destroy all the fun because you are forced to complete them (which can take up to 6 long and bad hours per mission) in order to continue with the story.

 

[theprodigy]

e: what Dad said above

#NeoGAFNoContext

 

[anaron]

I don't know if this is something more hardcore fans of the franchise than me have concluded ages ago, but is the Lifehold design pretty much directly referencing the Zohar?

yup, people were discussing this ages ago.

 

[Not_Mario]

I don't know if this is something more hardcore fans of the franchise than me have concluded ages ago, but is the Lifehold design pretty much directly referencing the Zohar?

Yeah I think so.

On a completely random note, I really like the font they chose for the localized version. It's really pleasing to me for some reason and I feel like I've never seen a font like this in a game.

 

[Ostinatto]

Wheres Yelv?

 

[Wyndstryker]

Wheres Yelv?

Commercial district. In some alleyway

 

[Reveirg]

Still can't find info about the color code for equipment rarity. Anyone knows?

 

[AndrewDean84xX]

What class do you find yourself enjoying the most?

 

[SoraanTribal]

Is the "New Rival?" quest in NLA a DLC character?

Still can't find info about the color code for equipment rarity. Anyone knows?

I saw it in the manual, but not sure where.

What class do you find yourself enjoying the most?

Galaxy Knight is a blast. I'm basically a Jedi.

 

[jasminlovesyoux]

There's something so gratifying about using the large AOE chain guns that the Skells can equip and mowing down groups of enemies taking them all out in one shot. Fuck yeah

 

[Soul Lab]

lol I can't start Foggy Dilemma. It's buggy.
It says Accept "Backup Request" I did that and tried it again. Still declined.
"Backup Request" guided me to another affinity quest. I did that quest.
Now Backup Request is done and I'm sitting here with unfinished Foggy Dilemma

yes I'm pissed

 

[aravuus]

Are all oc-servs supposed to drop elemental clusters? I've been killing Thallium Oc-servs in Sylvalum for like 30 minutes now, and I haven't gotten a single goddamn cluster

e: LITERALLY THE NEXT ONE DROPPED IT

FUCK YOU RNGODS

 

[Neoweee]

So has anyone beaten the game yet?

Is this the longest it has taken GAF to beat a major release?


Oh, and how do I see my % complete?

Is the "New Rival?" quest in NLA a DLC character?

Yes.

Most of the Affinity Missions without party member requirements and a max size of 3 are DLC character unlock missions.

The Mad Monk and Hope ones are traps. Don't do them too early.

 

[Palculator]

yup, people were discussing this ages ago.

Yeah I think so.

On a completely random note, I really like the font they chose for the localized version. It's really pleasing to me for some reason and I feel like I've never seen a font like this in a game.

Ah ok, I see. I must admit I didn't follow a lot of the early hype since I mainly get interested close to the release of games.

 

[Mupod]

This game has huge story progression issues. Affinity issues will prevent you from continuing with the story and you cannot abandon them until completed.

But without a guide it is impossible to complete some of them since you get almost no information what you need to do exactly. One of the worst examples is the very first affinity mission very early in the game called 'The repair job' with 3 tasks and zero information.

99% of the non-hardcore players will quit playing this game here. Nobody tells you that the first item can only be found by placing a mining data probe on one of 3 very hard to reach mining spots and waiting for several real time hours until the rare item is mined. Nobody tells you where to find the second and 3rd item either, they are hidden somewhere in this extremely huge world and you do not get any information at all. Nobody tells you that you can cheat here by using reward tickets or that you should collect your division spoils daily, especially for free Skell repair without insurance.

The side quest and affinity quest design can be extremely bad sometimes and destroy all the fun because you are forced to complete them (which can take up to 6 long and bad hours per mission) in order to continue with the story.

the thing that makes no sense to me is that they DID implement an ''MMO quest helper' kind of system where it highlights the area to search in when looking for quest-objective enemies, items, Tyrants etc. And they don't use it half the time leaving you to scour the globe for rare drop ground items that only appear in the early morning or rain in one single area of the world. Something like that won't dissuade me (although I hated doing it in the previous game) but yeah I get what you mean.

If the mission text, NPC dialogue, item/enemy compendiums gave hints as to locations then that'd be fine too. But in that repair quest in Noctilum all you get is a 'go north and find the giant's nail'. But it's WAY more north than they suggest and not even AT the giant's nail.

I just bought the damn guide. Even that's not enough sometimes, but good for finding ground drops when I'm exasperated. Fuck you, beagflea squashes.

 

[Alrus]

So just to make sure I'm playing my Galactic Knight correctly, it's meant to be heavily melee focused right? I usually tried to keep a good balance between ranged and melee abilities but it seems the ranged ones from that class are pretty meh and I'm hesitating just removing them to add Astral Heal/Purge and the aura that makes them party-wide.

It's a super fun class though, fully charged combos deal so much damage.

 

[Astral Dog]

This game has huge story progression issues. Affinity issues will prevent you from continuing with the story and you cannot abandon them until completed.

But without a guide it is impossible to complete some of them since you get almost no information what you need to do exactly. One of the worst examples is the very first affinity mission very early in the game called 'The repair job' with 3 tasks and zero information.

99% of the non-hardcore players will quit playing this game here. Nobody tells you that the first item can only be found by placing a mining data probe on one of 3 very hard to reach mining spots and waiting for several real time hours until the rare item is mined. Nobody tells you where to find the second and 3rd item either, they are hidden somewhere in this extremely huge world and you do not get any information at all. Nobody tells you that you can cheat here by using reward tickets or that you should collect your division spoils daily, especially for free Skell repair without insurance.

The side quest and affinity quest design can be extremely bad sometimes and destroy all the fun because you are forced to complete them (which can take up to 6 long and bad hours per mission) in order to continue with the story.

Reward tickets? division spoils, what are those :O

 

[FlyinJ]

Yes.

Most of the Affinity Missions without party member requirements and a max size of 3 are DLC character unlock missions.

The Mad Monk and Hope ones are traps. Don't do them too early.

What happens if you do a DLC character affinity quest without the DLC? I assume you need to pay for the DLC? Is it out?

And what do you mean by traps? Will I be stuck in the mission with no way out? When should I do these two missions?

 

[Gala]

Where is River Isle in Oblivia? I need to kill some soil tectinculae there, but I have no clue where it is.

 

[Raide]

Anyone else try to play a ranged only character?