Anyone else playing this for the first time as their Christmas Day game?
I've put about 3/4 hours into it, and man, I can already tell that I'm going to love this game. The first hour was absolutely joyous, it had me giggling with anticipation. I can also tell that it's going to be quite flawed, but I'll live with that.
Some of my initial thoughts:
Hour 1:
-The opening cutscene is very strong. Quickly and clearly establishes the setting for the game and makes it interesting. Sets up the threat to humanity and your character's origin story quickly as well.
-Then the opening with Elma finding you is good as well, because you're quickly into battle and then into the ludicrously spectacular world. I mean, the world design here is un-fucking-believable. Running back to NLA was a joy, one of my favourite moments in all of gaming this year. Just stunned at what I was seeing coming out of the Wii U. That entire hour to begin with was so, so good.
-Some flaws were already apparent though. Having a mute mannequin at the heart of the story sucks from moment 1. Elma's voice actress speaks so slowly, and close to monotonously. The charm of the story and British voices from Xenoblade 1 just isn't there. Luckily I was aware of this going in, but it's still disappointing.
-On the other hand, I was prepared to hate the soundtrack, but I have to eat some crow here, it's bombastic and awesome. Very surprised.
Hour 2:
-Hour 2 was really weak, as the clever pacing of the opening devolves into an endless tour of NLA that could have been four times as short as it was. It's funny to me that the game explains almost nothing about the battle system, but makes absofucking-lutely sure you know where the shop is. Whatever, though, it's a complicated game, it's bound to have some down time.
-Lin is nothing like the character I expected she'd be. That's actually not a bad thing. I was expecting a 'Am I kawaii UGUU' monstrosity.
-Holy SHIT the music, can I regurgitate the crow I tasted earlier? Because the NLA themes are horrible. Not only that, but they're intrusive and even play over some dialogue.
-The mute main character appears to be a worse decision with every meeting he blankly stares his way though.
-NLA itself is spectacular. I like the way all the important stuff is clustered around the East Gate for quick access. No doubt that will be important.
Hour 3:
-Finally back out exploring the fields, and placing my first probe. This is glorious. The battle system seems to have gotten a bunch of improvements from Xenoblade (which was ultimately too simplistic for me), I'm loving it at the moment.
-The animal design is out of this world.
-I'm noticing the poor resolution more than I thought I would. The game is so beautiful it feels like a tragedy that it's not in 1080p. Then again, even in 720p it's about 100 times better looking than Fallout 4 so I won't complain.
-The UI is a bit of a nightmare. It's over-busy, much of it is unexplained, and gives you a really small 'viewport' that isn't obstructed by UI. I wish different parts of it could be toggled.
-The more I play the game, the more I wish I could switch to Japanese voices. The American ones aren't terrible, but... something feels off, from the pacing of conversations to the lip-syncing. 1080p remaster with dual audio and custom UI when?!?
-I am getting my ass kicked repeatedly. Part of that is becuase it's just so much fun to see a big, higher level indigen and say 'Eff it, let's give this a shot', but also because there are a ton of systems left unexplained here, like the topple system or skills. This is possibly bad game design (in a vacuum), but I'm going to enjoy unpacking all that the game has to offer and love the fact that the game appears to be so deep so it's a bonus rather than a negative to me.
-The fact that the gamepad doesn't output audio unless you have it as off-TV play is disappointing.
Going to get back to it now. So far I love it to bits, while ackowledging that a bunch of the negatives I was expecting to be there are in fact there. But a game like this where you explore a massive alien world is basically made to measure for me, so the gamepad would have to squirt sulfuric acid into my eyes or something to make me stop enjoying this one.