brandonh83
Banned
Yeah, that's it. It's named differently on the OST.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Xenoblade |OT| The Adventure Begins
- Thread starter Bebpo
- Start date
Some of the tracks are pretty nice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tmbvAKMl_4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tmbvAKMl_4
So what is everyone's team thus far or in the end? I find myself really liking to use Meria, then Dunban and Karna for my teammates. Meria's spells deal so much damage when she reaches full potential. But as mentioned earlier. Everyone is pretty damn good. Just got Riki and he packs a mean punch too. To note, I'm currently @ Makuna Forest now. So goddamned gorgeous.
On the music note. It's sad to say it's nothing so much as memorable as established composers. But it works extremely well in game. I await to see what kind of identity they'll form for themselves in future titles.
On the music note. It's sad to say it's nothing so much as memorable as established composers. But it works extremely well in game. I await to see what kind of identity they'll form for themselves in future titles.
The last few areas are sooo big :X I think I'm pretty much at the end of the game now, at the
Might just speedrun straight through it and see the ending then reload my save where I am and fully explore the last few places and finish up grinding quests. I think just going by the size of the all the areas combined, that this has to be one of the largest jrpgs ever.
machine god capital city
ah, ok. Well tbh I don't think there are many things left for me to do besides story at this point, so I might as well clear it all:
-grind the drops to get the last 2 colony 6 categories to lvl.4 (already did the first two tonight)
-move over all the residents who require lvl.4
-do all the new questlines at colony 6 opened up by these people
-do all the quests from the terminals at the capital city
I think that's all I have left in optional stuff. Can probably do it in <5 hours, so I guess I will before doing the rest of the story.
When do you get access to all those locked secret areas like the ones in the snow mountain area? After you beat the game? Or somewhere between the capital city and the ending?
-move over all the residents who require lvl.4
-do all the new questlines at colony 6 opened up by these people
-do all the quests from the terminals at the capital city
I think that's all I have left in optional stuff. Can probably do it in <5 hours, so I guess I will before doing the rest of the story.
When do you get access to all those locked secret areas like the ones in the snow mountain area? After you beat the game? Or somewhere between the capital city and the ending?
Got to the final endgame @ 95 hours now. Man, what a ride. Very cutscene-heavy towards the end. But story is good so it's quite enjoyable. Gonna check out all the new optional stuff that opened up and mess around with the bonus dungeon as much as I can before heading into the final dungeon.
desu said:
really? I mean the all have the same seal on them. I just assumed you get the power to open those sealed doors at some point before the ending. But you're saying each door is a separate quest? Or is there a quest that opens all of them?
I tried to mark down the ones I saw. Might've missed some but I found:
-B2 floor of the Haienter ruins
-Boodie hideout island in the elt sea
-2 sealed doors at snow mountain lower area
-the elevator in sadoru at the end
-the elevators in the prison island
all of those are locked with the same symbol
I tried to mark down the ones I saw. Might've missed some but I found:
-B2 floor of the Haienter ruins
-Boodie hideout island in the elt sea
-2 sealed doors at snow mountain lower area
-the elevator in sadoru at the end
-the elevators in the prison island
all of those are locked with the same symbol
Dwight Schrute
Member
Please, Nintendo, I beg you to localise this/release any info about localisation...
RPGCrazied
Member
JonStark said:
omfg, this! I don't care if it comes out next year, just announce it already! :X
Twilight Princess
Member
to the ppl that have finished the game, do you think xenoblade will make your top10 RPG list?
desu said:
k, thanks. I haven't started messing around with the post-machine world quests yet. I tried to do the first one in the Tefla Caves upper floor and lololol lv.96/97 gorillas blocking the door ^^; Not happening anytime soon! I'm lvl.72 now.
I think I'll do the remaining story dungeons to get my levels up to at least 80, and then try to do whatever new quests I can for quest xp to get higher level. And try to kill all those enemies in the early areas that are ~lvl.80. I don't have a whole lot of quests left because I did all the ones pre-machine world end already, so I only have the brand new ones that just opened up for quest xp.
I have a bunch of stuff like xp+30% gems to try to help me level. But maybe I'll need to do a new game+ after all
I think I'll do the remaining story dungeons to get my levels up to at least 80, and then try to do whatever new quests I can for quest xp to get higher level. And try to kill all those enemies in the early areas that are ~lvl.80. I don't have a whole lot of quests left because I did all the ones pre-machine world end already, so I only have the brand new ones that just opened up for quest xp.
I have a bunch of stuff like xp+30% gems to try to help me level. But maybe I'll need to do a new game+ after all
So having heard about how broken Melia is...(Spear Break+Starlight Knee) I just had to try it. Finally got Starlight Knee and ran into boss that was giving some major issues. Gave the combination a shot and with some rinse and repeat... man he got cheesed so badly. Melia is a goddess! 
I'm terrified this game won't release in the US (along with Last Story). TERRIFIED.
Do you guys think it will? 1up seems to be pretty confident. I REALLY want it. Omg PLEASE.
Do you guys think it will? 1up seems to be pretty confident. I REALLY want it. Omg PLEASE.
Dwight Schrute
Member
Pyrokai said:
A gaffer said that an anonymous source confirmed the game will be released stateside. (check out Last story trailer thread)
Believe
CryingWolf
Member
Pyrokai said:
Calm down, pal. I'm confident that we will see both games released here.
Bebpo said:game clock stops counting at 99:59
I want my money back
Whahaaa, you didn't know? Thought I told you already. I only spent 75h on the game but my gf broke the time limit long ago already. Obviously she was also complaining on how stupid you have to be to limit the time to 99.59 on game with this scale. My BIGGEST gripe with the game :lol .
Gamekult.com Import Review
To the question "What does it take to make a great japanese RPG? ", the answers are many. The last one, proposed by Monolith Software is called Xenoblade, a game-fleuve fed by several tributaries of the genre, but charting its own course before jumping into the video game ocean. Carried by a well built story and gameplay mechanics, meticulous graphics and soundtrack, the new baby of Tetsuya Takahashi simply calls to live a great adventure, with many greats moments, little low ones and an intoxicating sense of freedom we havent experienced since Dragon Quest VIII or Final Fantasy XII . An indispensable entry to the Wii catalog, and without any hesitation a new cornerstone to the RPG in general. Now, we have to rely on Nintendo to localize as best and as quickly as possible this major title, currently limited to the Japanese market.
+ very rich game system
+ catchy story
+ inspired music
+ good graphics
+ gigantic environments to explore
+ hundreds of side quests
+ not linear and smooth progress
+ Dunban's voice
- the limited inventory and its management
- the absence of bestiary
- too basic AI
- yelling battles
- some technical flaws
8/10
To the question "What does it take to make a great japanese RPG? ", the answers are many. The last one, proposed by Monolith Software is called Xenoblade, a game-fleuve fed by several tributaries of the genre, but charting its own course before jumping into the video game ocean. Carried by a well built story and gameplay mechanics, meticulous graphics and soundtrack, the new baby of Tetsuya Takahashi simply calls to live a great adventure, with many greats moments, little low ones and an intoxicating sense of freedom we havent experienced since Dragon Quest VIII or Final Fantasy XII . An indispensable entry to the Wii catalog, and without any hesitation a new cornerstone to the RPG in general. Now, we have to rely on Nintendo to localize as best and as quickly as possible this major title, currently limited to the Japanese market.
+ very rich game system
+ catchy story
+ inspired music
+ good graphics
+ gigantic environments to explore
+ hundreds of side quests
+ not linear and smooth progress
+ Dunban's voice
- the limited inventory and its management
- the absence of bestiary
- too basic AI
- yelling battles
- some technical flaws
8/10
desu said:
One thing I think is total bullshit in the game at endgame is how some enemies have aura ONLY WHEN KNOCKED DOWN. Like I'm taking out some big unique mob 4 levels above me and I have it down to <50% HP and I do a triple chain attack and knock it down and everyone hits it AND RECEIVES 2000 SPIKE DAMAGE EACH PER HIT and my party is dead in 5 seconds. Or when you knock an enemy down and they dizzy the entire party. For a game that's all about knocking enemies down, that's kind of laaame to throw in the last minute.
and that poison lake boss was ridiculously broken like you said. Not fun at all and very frustrating. Your guys keep getting knocked and stunned in the poison lake and it's a pain to get them back. Only time I've had real problems with the AI. Although when I fight high level elementals I have to play as Meria because her AI is too dumb to finish them before they self-explode.
Finished building Colony 6 but WTF just when you hit 100% restoration, the final mission to complete it is A LEVEL 99 KING DRAGON.
Gonna be a while, if ever before I see that at 100%, lol.I got to the final boss point of no return last night at lvl.81. Left and started doing the other stuff.
Got up to lvl.84. The capital city is a good place to level in the 80s. It's turned into a Telesia infested dungeon with lvl.87-89 enemies. Gonna try to get up to ~87/88 in there and then level at the Tefla caves. As long as I'm within 4-5 levels of an enemy I can beat it.
Was disappointed that the first Monado Replica upgrade didn't actually make it stronger (at least stat-wise). Shulk's attack power is kind of weak compared to the others :| I did the royal trial quest in Sadoru and got the item that unlocks those doors. Some treasures behind them but nothing special :X Got almost everyone's 5th skill line now. Just missing Rein (lvl.90 enemy drops needed) & Fiorne (lvl.98 enemy drops).
I have a question: For building Rein's final weapon in the 友人思い quest. You need 3 drops. I'm missing the チルキン族の百年髷. The wiki says チルキン：ヴァラク雪山 but I don't see any lvl.70+ churkin in the area and the normal ones don't drop that. You have any idea where the high level churkin are?
Was disappointed that the first Monado Replica upgrade didn't actually make it stronger (at least stat-wise). Shulk's attack power is kind of weak compared to the others :| I did the royal trial quest in Sadoru and got the item that unlocks those doors. Some treasures behind them but nothing special :X Got almost everyone's 5th skill line now. Just missing Rein (lvl.90 enemy drops needed) & Fiorne (lvl.98 enemy drops).
I have a question: For building Rein's final weapon in the 友人思い quest. You need 3 drops. I'm missing the チルキン族の百年髷. The wiki says チルキン：ヴァラク雪山 but I don't see any lvl.70+ churkin in the area and the normal ones don't drop that. You have any idea where the high level churkin are?
One thing I think is total bullshit in the game at endgame is how some enemies have aura ONLY WHEN KNOCKED DOWN. Like I'm taking out some big unique mob 4 levels above me and I have it down to <50% HP and I do a triple chain attack and knock it down and everyone hits it AND RECEIVES 2000 SPIKE DAMAGE EACH PER HIT and my party is dead in 5 seconds. Or when you knock an enemy down and they dizzy the entire party. For a game that's all about knocking enemies down, that's kind of laaame to throw in the last minute.
and that poison lake boss was ridiculously broken like you said. Not fun at all and very frustrating. Your guys keep getting knocked and stunned in the poison lake and it's a pain to get them back. Only time I've had real problems with the AI. Although when I fight high level elementals I have to play as Meria because her AI is too dumb to finish them before they self-explode.
Finished building Colony 6 but WTF just when you hit 100% restoration, the final mission to complete it is A LEVEL 99 KING DRAGON. Gonna be a while, if ever before I see that at 100%, lol.
I got to the final boss point of no return last night at lvl.81. That had to be one of the most insane final dungeons in a while. Non-stop high level unique mobs being thrown at you left and right in groups of tons of enemies at once and crazy auras and almost no fast travel landmarks. >__<.
I actually agree with all the points on both sides besides AI. Yeah it's basic, but you don't really need it to be much more outside a few annoying spots. You can work around the beastiary by using a wiki and limited inventory just means you gotta remember to sell stuff every 10 hours or so. Yelling battles is kind of funny because yeah it's very Tales-ish as in all you hear is yelling when you are fighting, lol.
And yeah, Dunban has an really good voice. He doesn't sound like any game character ever. It's very unique and awesome. Some of the others are good too, but Dunban comes off as an actor who comes from a background of stage plays.
and that poison lake boss was ridiculously broken like you said. Not fun at all and very frustrating. Your guys keep getting knocked and stunned in the poison lake and it's a pain to get them back. Only time I've had real problems with the AI. Although when I fight high level elementals I have to play as Meria because her AI is too dumb to finish them before they self-explode.
Finished building Colony 6 but WTF just when you hit 100% restoration, the final mission to complete it is A LEVEL 99 KING DRAGON.
Gonna be a while, if ever before I see that at 100%, lol.I got to the final boss point of no return last night at lvl.81. That had to be one of the most insane final dungeons in a while. Non-stop high level unique mobs being thrown at you left and right in groups of tons of enemies at once and crazy auras and almost no fast travel landmarks. >__<.
Got up to lvl.84. The capital city is a good place to level in the 80s. It's turned into a Telesia infested dungeon with lvl.87-89 enemies. Gonna try to get up to ~87/88 in there and then level at the Tefla caves. As long as I'm within 4-5 levels of an enemy I can beat it.
Was disappointed that the first Monado Replica upgrade didn't actually make it stronger (at least stat-wise). Shulk's attack power is kind of weak compared to the others :| I did the royal trial quest in Sadoru and got the item that unlocks those doors. Some treasures behind them but nothing special :X Got almost everyone's 5th skill line now. Just missing Rein (lvl.90 enemy drops needed) & Fiorne (lvl.98 enemy drops).
I have a question: For building Rein's final weapon in the 友人思い quest. You need 3 drops. I'm missing the チルキン族の百年髷. The wiki says チルキン：ヴァラク雪山 but I don't see any lvl.70+ churkin in the area and the normal ones don't drop that. You have any idea where the high level churkin are?
Was disappointed that the first Monado Replica upgrade didn't actually make it stronger (at least stat-wise). Shulk's attack power is kind of weak compared to the others :| I did the royal trial quest in Sadoru and got the item that unlocks those doors. Some treasures behind them but nothing special :X Got almost everyone's 5th skill line now. Just missing Rein (lvl.90 enemy drops needed) & Fiorne (lvl.98 enemy drops).
I have a question: For building Rein's final weapon in the 友人思い quest. You need 3 drops. I'm missing the チルキン族の百年髷. The wiki says チルキン：ヴァラク雪山 but I don't see any lvl.70+ churkin in the area and the normal ones don't drop that. You have any idea where the high level churkin are?
Shawn6661 said:
I actually agree with all the points on both sides besides AI. Yeah it's basic, but you don't really need it to be much more outside a few annoying spots. You can work around the beastiary by using a wiki and limited inventory just means you gotta remember to sell stuff every 10 hours or so. Yelling battles is kind of funny because yeah it's very Tales-ish as in all you hear is yelling when you are fighting, lol.
And yeah, Dunban has an really good voice. He doesn't sound like any game character ever. It's very unique and awesome. Some of the others are good too, but Dunban comes off as an actor who comes from a background of stage plays.
Question for those who've finished it:
Is there anything left for me to do in the game?
-Finished Tefla, killed all the uniques, did all the quests
-Restored colony 6, killed the lvl.99 dragon
-built all the monado replica's including Monado R Saga
-Opened all the secret locked areas and got their treasures including the one on top of the snow mountain where the lvl.100 unique is
-Got all the 5th skill lines
-Did all the quests I could find, all towns have been at 5 stars for a while
I know there's a lvl.120 super dragon boss hidden somewhere, but where is it? Also early in this thread someone spoiler tagged a secret boss like there's a cameo boss or something? And are there any other hidden dungeons? Tefla higher floors was actually really small once you got high enough level to fight the enemies.
Gonna go fight the boss now and watch the ending now I think. Don't see anything left to do.
-Finished Tefla, killed all the uniques, did all the quests
-Restored colony 6, killed the lvl.99 dragon
-built all the monado replica's including Monado R Saga
-Opened all the secret locked areas and got their treasures including the one on top of the snow mountain where the lvl.100 unique is
-Got all the 5th skill lines
-Did all the quests I could find, all towns have been at 5 stars for a while
I know there's a lvl.120 super dragon boss hidden somewhere, but where is it? Also early in this thread someone spoiler tagged a secret boss like there's a cameo boss or something? And are there any other hidden dungeons? Tefla higher floors was actually really small once you got high enough level to fight the enemies.
Gonna go fight the boss now and watch the ending now I think. Don't see anything left to do.
Just finished it. Took ~120 hours to do everything in the game in one playthrough. I can see how doing a 60 hour story playthrough and then a 30-50 hour new game+ "do everything" play might be more efficient. But most of these 400 quests I'd never want to do again I think if you're going to do a 2 run play, you need to decide pretty early on so you don't do a ton of questing that you'll have to repeat. But still I like that pretty much everything you can miss is warned in advance, so if you really want to just play it once you can do it all in one run. I feel bad I missed out on the final boss music because he died in like 10 seconds with myl lv.95 party :lol
Overall though, I do think it's the best game Monolith Soft has made so far. Compared to Xenogears though...story-wise it's less ambitious, gameplay-wise it's more ambitous (though flawed) and unlike XG, FFXII and quite a few rpgs, it doesn't feellike the game ran into any production problems. Instead it's consistent from start to finish which is a nice plus. It feels like Takahashi's first mainstream title in a Lord of the Rings big blockbuster way. But it still retains his style of storytelling and intelligent writing. Was it one of the best rpgs ever? Probably not, but it was very satisfying.
Gonna rest on it a bit and watch the ending at least one more time to make sure I got everything. Then will write up my more detailed thoughts.
I think if you're going to do a 2 run play, you need to decide pretty early on so you don't do a ton of questing that you'll have to repeat. But still I like that pretty much everything you can miss is warned in advance, so if you really want to just play it once you can do it all in one run. I feel bad I missed out on the final boss music because he died in like 10 seconds with myl lv.95 party :lolOverall though, I do think it's the best game Monolith Soft has made so far. Compared to Xenogears though...story-wise it's less ambitious, gameplay-wise it's more ambitous (though flawed) and unlike XG, FFXII and quite a few rpgs, it doesn't feellike the game ran into any production problems. Instead it's consistent from start to finish which is a nice plus. It feels like Takahashi's first mainstream title in a Lord of the Rings big blockbuster way. But it still retains his style of storytelling and intelligent writing. Was it one of the best rpgs ever? Probably not, but it was very satisfying.
Gonna rest on it a bit and watch the ending at least one more time to make sure I got everything. Then will write up my more detailed thoughts.
Bebpo said:One thing I think is total bullshit in the game at endgame is how some enemies have aura ONLY WHEN KNOCKED DOWN. Like I'm taking out some big unique mob 4 levels above me and I have it down to <50% HP and I do a triple chain attack and knock it down and everyone hits it AND RECEIVES 2000 SPIKE DAMAGE EACH PER HIT and my party is dead in 5 seconds. Or when you knock an enemy down and they dizzy the entire party. For a game that's all about knocking enemies down, that's kind of laaame to throw in the last minute.
and that poison lake boss was ridiculously broken like you said. Not fun at all and very frustrating. Your guys keep getting knocked and stunned in the poison lake and it's a pain to get them back. Only time I've had real problems with the AI. Although when I fight high level elementals I have to play as Meria because her AI is too dumb to finish them before they self-explode.
Finished building Colony 6 but WTF just when you hit 100% restoration, the final mission to complete it is A LEVEL 99 KING DRAGON.
I got to the final boss point of no return last night at lvl.81. Left and started doing the other stuff.Got up to lvl.84. The capital city is a good place to level in the 80s. It's turned into a Telesia infested dungeon with lvl.87-89 enemies. Gonna try to get up to ~87/88 in there and then level at the Tefla caves. As long as I'm within 4-5 levels of an enemy I can beat it.
Was disappointed that the first Monado Replica upgrade didn't actually make it stronger (at least stat-wise). Shulk's attack power is kind of weak compared to the others :| I did the royal trial quest in Sadoru and got the item that unlocks those doors. Some treasures behind them but nothing special :X Got almost everyone's 5th skill line now. Just missing Rein (lvl.90 enemy drops needed) & Fiorne (lvl.98 enemy drops).
I have a question: For building Rein's final weapon in the 友人思い quest. You need 3 drops. I'm missing the チルキン族の百年髷. The wiki says チルキン：ヴァラク雪山 but I don't see any lvl.70+ churkin in the area and the normal ones don't drop that. You have any idea where the high level churkin are?
Wasn't that a high level unique mob churkin in the last area of the valac mountains? I remember taking it on. It was the only unique mob I could fight. Stupid elementals burn/freeze me to death.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Crossed the 63 hour mark today. The game has reached a really epic level. Some great twists and turns in the story, too.
Riki is the best character ever. I am never taking him out of my party.
Riki is the best character ever. I am never taking him out of my party.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
My regular team is Riki, Shulk, Karna. I put in Dunban once in a while because he does maaaad damage, but Riki is such a tank.
Btw, I'm at
If I do reasonable amounts of questing (enough to be around the right level for subsequent dungeons), how much more do I have in the game?
Btw, I'm at
the fallen arm section of Kishin.
Dwight Schrute
Member
Bebpo said:
Just reading this looks so awesome !
My party for the endgame sidestuff and final boss was Shulk/Rein/Dunbane. Just 3 power hitters dealing crazy damage with great DEF and HP. No one can heal besides Shulks crappy little 2000HP light heal, but between using armor/shield monado buffs and having 3 party gauge all the time to get instant heal when necessary, it worked great. Just finish the enemies FAST. DEF DOWN on enemy, ATK UP, ARTS UP on your team and bam bam bam dead.
Also if you pick a trio that you are going to stick with, throwing XP+75% on one, XP+45% on another, and XP+25% on the last and then cycling them along with Riki's XP+20% at night & ATK+15% at night skills linked for everyone & Meria's ATK+15% at night skill makes them level quick as long as you keep it at night. It also means everyone else will end up 2-4 levels below your main three. But I was leveling everyone evenly the entire game and it took a while to gain levels, which is annoying for endgame. With a trio picked, I was gaining like 3 levels an hour (vs, less than 1 an hour normally), which was nice.
Also if you pick a trio that you are going to stick with, throwing XP+75% on one, XP+45% on another, and XP+25% on the last and then cycling them along with Riki's XP+20% at night & ATK+15% at night skills linked for everyone & Meria's ATK+15% at night skill makes them level quick as long as you keep it at night. It also means everyone else will end up 2-4 levels below your main three. But I was leveling everyone evenly the entire game and it took a while to gain levels, which is annoying for endgame. With a trio picked, I was gaining like 3 levels an hour (vs, less than 1 an hour normally), which was nice.
grandjedi6
Master of the Google Search
Technically, they already have.JonStark said:
At E3 2009 :x
Dunban = Vejita, btw.
Started playing this last night, really surpised at how good it was. I'm about 4 hours in and I just left Colony 9 with Line.
I can't be the only one who wants to call the main character "Shrek."
The combat is basically WoW, waiting for cool downs, semi real time. Really fun though.
My complaints so far are basically with the menu. They so could have made a button shortcut for inventory/equipment and I wish skill upgrades were done automatically for AI characters.
Started playing this last night, really surpised at how good it was. I'm about 4 hours in and I just left Colony 9 with Line.
I can't be the only one who wants to call the main character "Shrek."
The combat is basically WoW, waiting for cool downs, semi real time. Really fun though.
My complaints so far are basically with the menu. They so could have made a button shortcut for inventory/equipment and I wish skill upgrades were done automatically for AI characters.
Filmed the credit roll with my still camera. Not the best framing, but it's a pain to do movies with my camera. No spoilers, just credits for anyone interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pxtS0pLNxs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pxtS0pLNxs
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
sprsk said:
It only gets more awesome. I'm about 75 hours in now, and it's easily one of my favorite RPGs of this generation.
Your opinion of Dunban will probably change later (though I don't see the Vegita similarity in the first place...). Dunban to me is like the bait and switch "legendary hero". Love the way they do it in the game.
John Harker
Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
Better made/received/sold than the Baten Kaitos games?
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
John Harker said:
As much as I love BK, you can't really compare them. Xenoblade is a game with scale that will make even MMOs blush.
I'm still constantly floored by how well the game communicates to you where you are without overtly putting it in your face. When you go outside, you can see the giant god corpses, and seeing each one and where it is in relation to you gives you an amazing sense of where you've been, and where you're going.
The game is truly awesome.
brandonh83
Banned
Bebpo said:
Good god what's the name of the credits track on the OST?
nvm found it.
AzureNightmare
Banned
That is the first thing I noticed. I laughed three hours straight because Ryo just sounds so out of place in that role!sprsk said:
disappeared
Banned
This is looking more and more interesting. Shame we won't see it until next year sometime.
Alright. Played a little more last night and checked out new game+ a bit. Think I'm done with this for now until I do an inevitable replay (which will be very nice thanks to the new game+ feature). Here's my thoughts:
Battle system
+Fast
+In addition to the normal choosing of commands, positioning and party member interaction make it more interactive than FFXII and thus more fun.
+Chain attack system is great. Connecting the same color attack increases damage exponentially, while tumbling an enemy opens up opportunity. Interesting decision choices.
+Tumble, paralyze, aura systems are great and lead to a lot of interesting battles.
+Every character is totally unique. Exact opposite of FFXII. By endgame no character is even remotely alike. All have their uses. All are fun to main as.
+Over 100 optional boss battles. Some are quite challenging and require good strategies, others are pushovers. Some just depend on what level you are when you fight them. But there's enough of them throughout, that you'll always have exciting fights with good rewards.
+No punishment for death gives an incentive to push yourself and try to fight anything you think you can. If you die, you simply start at last warp point and don't lose anything.
-3 party feels too limiting. Especially since so few spell types crossover. Someone is hit with poison? If you don't have the 1 character with cure status, you just gotta wait it out which is annoying. At times you are basically required to keep Shulk in your party and then you're limited even further to only 2 open slots. 4 person party would've gone a long way.
-AI is not terrible and you do have some control over it, but at the end of the day your AI partners will not play their characters as efficiently as you would have, which can be a bit annoying.
-Always auto-attacking while in battle. This is built into the system and so defenses are built around it occasionally. But sometimes you just want to NOT ATTACK so you don't trigger the counters, but you can't. >_<
Field/Questing
+Great dungeon/field designs. Really intricate places with tons of secrets to reward those who explore. Lots of variety.
+Awesome weather effects. Every area has unique weather at random parts of the day.
+Gorgeous day/night cycle with music that fades nicely between night and day. Some areas become completely different during the night than they are during the day.
+One of the best endgames ever. As you go through your adventure you come across many monsters or places you can't fight or access. Endgame is going back and doing everything you couldn't during the main game. Very rewarding and pretty long.
+Quick travel and the ability to adjust time is awesome
+Save anywhere is fantastic and needs to be in more jrpgs
+400 optional quests. Some with neat stories. Some with great rewards
+Hundreds of unique named NPCs with their own stories that play out as you become more involved in the towns/cities by doing their quests
+Skill trees and borrowing skills from other trees is a good dynamic that provides lots and lots of passive skills. Some very good.
+Good amount of hidden things. Hidden skill trees, hidden attacks, hidden extensions of normal attacks, Ultimate weapons, Hidden areas, hidden npcs, etc...
+Gem crafting is neat and gems are very useful.
+Loot is alright. You get lots of it, but 75% of things in the game are useless
+Almost nothing important is missable. The few quests that are give you fair warning although they don't tell you when they expire.
+Character relation system is neat. Good rewards for building it up between characters.
-Some quests with rare drop grinds which are the worst thing ever invented. The only times I truly hated playing XB was spending 20-30 mins grinding an enemy for drops.
-Towns are sometimes too big with not enough quick travel landmarks. So when you're running quests there's a ton of in-town running back and forth to talk to people.
-Running speed is a bit slow for the size of the areas. Even with gems that boost running speed, it's capped at 125% for no reason. Should have at least uncapped it to 200% on new game+
-NPCs can be a pain to find without a guide of where everyone is at what time. Since every town has a day/night cycle you have to check the entire towns (which are huge) twice when looking for quests.
-Limited inventory SUCKS. Especially because you're constantly bombarded with items. Almost every time you kill an enemy (95%?) they leave a treasure with like 3-4 items each. Most of it junk. But just because it's fast (and because you can't compare it to your current equip) you click "take all" and move on. This means you fill up your inventories quick and often have to sell stuff to make room.
-Comparing equipment is really tedious. Especially if you ever think about buying from a shop.
-Character relation system between characters grows way to slowly. After 120 hours with everything done, you'll still only have about 50% of the relations maxed out. Growth needed to be at least twice as fast.
-Wish the game had field treasure chests as another way to reward players for exploring
-No beastiary. Inexcusable for a game like this that requires drops all the time.
-Because of no beastiary and the amount of named npcs you often have to find (and sometimes the unclear quest intructions), XB is a "wiki or die" game when trying to 100% it. Without some sort of a guide it'd be near impossible to do everything on the first run.
Story:
+Very interesting plot set in a very unique world.
+Great pacing, exciting cutscenes, mysteries, foreshadowing, twists
+Smart writing. You will not find a more intelligently written rpg this gen. The game avoids most cliches and stereotypes and at no point will you roll your eyes or have to deal with stupid characters acting idiotically. The characters (even the lead) are all intelligent people and act accordingly.
+Good length. Story size is probably about the size of two of the Xenosaga games combined. Smaller in scope and length than Xenogears though.
+Satisfying tale from start to finish. The story is great from the start and never dips even once before the end credits roll. A grand adventure.
+Good cast. Everyone is likeable, no one is generic game/anime stereotype. Character depth doesn't go as deep as something like Xenosaga.
+ or - depending on what you want. XB's story is great and cinematic, but it's not melodramatic like XG/XS/FF/KH. You will not get white room speeches with piano green grass playing. I think this is the biggest change from Takahashi's previous works. XB is not any more mainstream or less ambitious than XG/XS. The story is just as original and creative and well told, it's just that Takahashi has moved away from trying to pull the emotional strings of his audience and make melodrama. Instead it's simply a story where things happen and you enjoy them and watch the story unfold.
Graphics/Audio
+Gorgeous environments
+Good character design
+Visibile equipment is pretty varied and has some real cool designs
+Nice range of tunes that are incorporated very well into the gameplay and cutscene
+Great voice acting
-Wii image quality drags things down a bit
Other
+Large game; takes at least 60-70 hours first time. If you plan to do everything, you're looking at ~120 hours first time.
+New game+ is great. Almost everything carries over.
-Game clock stops at 99:59. Really dumb for a huge game like this
Overall
While there might be a decent amount of small negatives spread throughout the title, the fact of the matter is that in the face of the giant adventure that Xenoblade presents, they're all minor issues that only pick away at the greatness of the experience Xenoblade gives. Anyone willing to invest the time to explore the world of Xenoblade will find that it's populated with hundreds of creatures, quests, characters, bosses, and hidden tales. All which add to up to a truly satisfying console rpg experience unlike any other out there.
Without the budget/time issues that caused the 2nd disc of Xenogears, or the production issues that caused Xenosaga Ep2, Xenoblade feels like the first time Takahashi has been able to give the game experience he wanted from start to finish without resistance blocking his way. And if this is the kind of experience that Takahashi wants to give, then I can only look forward immensely to whatever he creates next.
The three years Monolith Soft spent creating Xenoblade feel truly justified by the end product. As the best game in their resume to date, and the best rpg on a Nintendo system since Chrono Trigger, Xenoblade stands as a proud example of how great rpgs are made.
A+
Battle system
+Fast
+In addition to the normal choosing of commands, positioning and party member interaction make it more interactive than FFXII and thus more fun.
+Chain attack system is great. Connecting the same color attack increases damage exponentially, while tumbling an enemy opens up opportunity. Interesting decision choices.
+Tumble, paralyze, aura systems are great and lead to a lot of interesting battles.
+Every character is totally unique. Exact opposite of FFXII. By endgame no character is even remotely alike. All have their uses. All are fun to main as.
+Over 100 optional boss battles. Some are quite challenging and require good strategies, others are pushovers. Some just depend on what level you are when you fight them. But there's enough of them throughout, that you'll always have exciting fights with good rewards.
+No punishment for death gives an incentive to push yourself and try to fight anything you think you can. If you die, you simply start at last warp point and don't lose anything.
-3 party feels too limiting. Especially since so few spell types crossover. Someone is hit with poison? If you don't have the 1 character with cure status, you just gotta wait it out which is annoying. At times you are basically required to keep Shulk in your party and then you're limited even further to only 2 open slots. 4 person party would've gone a long way.
-AI is not terrible and you do have some control over it, but at the end of the day your AI partners will not play their characters as efficiently as you would have, which can be a bit annoying.
-Always auto-attacking while in battle. This is built into the system and so defenses are built around it occasionally. But sometimes you just want to NOT ATTACK so you don't trigger the counters, but you can't. >_<
Field/Questing
+Great dungeon/field designs. Really intricate places with tons of secrets to reward those who explore. Lots of variety.
+Awesome weather effects. Every area has unique weather at random parts of the day.
+Gorgeous day/night cycle with music that fades nicely between night and day. Some areas become completely different during the night than they are during the day.
+One of the best endgames ever. As you go through your adventure you come across many monsters or places you can't fight or access. Endgame is going back and doing everything you couldn't during the main game. Very rewarding and pretty long.
+Quick travel and the ability to adjust time is awesome
+Save anywhere is fantastic and needs to be in more jrpgs
+400 optional quests. Some with neat stories. Some with great rewards
+Hundreds of unique named NPCs with their own stories that play out as you become more involved in the towns/cities by doing their quests
+Skill trees and borrowing skills from other trees is a good dynamic that provides lots and lots of passive skills. Some very good.
+Good amount of hidden things. Hidden skill trees, hidden attacks, hidden extensions of normal attacks, Ultimate weapons, Hidden areas, hidden npcs, etc...
+Gem crafting is neat and gems are very useful.
+Loot is alright. You get lots of it, but 75% of things in the game are useless
+Almost nothing important is missable. The few quests that are give you fair warning although they don't tell you when they expire.
+Character relation system is neat. Good rewards for building it up between characters.
-Some quests with rare drop grinds which are the worst thing ever invented. The only times I truly hated playing XB was spending 20-30 mins grinding an enemy for drops.
-Towns are sometimes too big with not enough quick travel landmarks. So when you're running quests there's a ton of in-town running back and forth to talk to people.
-Running speed is a bit slow for the size of the areas. Even with gems that boost running speed, it's capped at 125% for no reason. Should have at least uncapped it to 200% on new game+
-NPCs can be a pain to find without a guide of where everyone is at what time. Since every town has a day/night cycle you have to check the entire towns (which are huge) twice when looking for quests.
-Limited inventory SUCKS. Especially because you're constantly bombarded with items. Almost every time you kill an enemy (95%?) they leave a treasure with like 3-4 items each. Most of it junk. But just because it's fast (and because you can't compare it to your current equip) you click "take all" and move on. This means you fill up your inventories quick and often have to sell stuff to make room.
-Comparing equipment is really tedious. Especially if you ever think about buying from a shop.
-Character relation system between characters grows way to slowly. After 120 hours with everything done, you'll still only have about 50% of the relations maxed out. Growth needed to be at least twice as fast.
-Wish the game had field treasure chests as another way to reward players for exploring
-No beastiary. Inexcusable for a game like this that requires drops all the time.
-Because of no beastiary and the amount of named npcs you often have to find (and sometimes the unclear quest intructions), XB is a "wiki or die" game when trying to 100% it. Without some sort of a guide it'd be near impossible to do everything on the first run.
Story:
+Very interesting plot set in a very unique world.
+Great pacing, exciting cutscenes, mysteries, foreshadowing, twists
+Smart writing. You will not find a more intelligently written rpg this gen. The game avoids most cliches and stereotypes and at no point will you roll your eyes or have to deal with stupid characters acting idiotically. The characters (even the lead) are all intelligent people and act accordingly.
+Good length. Story size is probably about the size of two of the Xenosaga games combined. Smaller in scope and length than Xenogears though.
+Satisfying tale from start to finish. The story is great from the start and never dips even once before the end credits roll. A grand adventure.
+Good cast. Everyone is likeable, no one is generic game/anime stereotype. Character depth doesn't go as deep as something like Xenosaga.
+ or - depending on what you want. XB's story is great and cinematic, but it's not melodramatic like XG/XS/FF/KH. You will not get white room speeches with piano green grass playing. I think this is the biggest change from Takahashi's previous works. XB is not any more mainstream or less ambitious than XG/XS. The story is just as original and creative and well told, it's just that Takahashi has moved away from trying to pull the emotional strings of his audience and make melodrama. Instead it's simply a story where things happen and you enjoy them and watch the story unfold.
Graphics/Audio
+Gorgeous environments
+Good character design
+Visibile equipment is pretty varied and has some real cool designs
+Nice range of tunes that are incorporated very well into the gameplay and cutscene
+Great voice acting
-Wii image quality drags things down a bit
Other
+Large game; takes at least 60-70 hours first time. If you plan to do everything, you're looking at ~120 hours first time.
+New game+ is great. Almost everything carries over.
-Game clock stops at 99:59. Really dumb for a huge game like this
Overall
While there might be a decent amount of small negatives spread throughout the title, the fact of the matter is that in the face of the giant adventure that Xenoblade presents, they're all minor issues that only pick away at the greatness of the experience Xenoblade gives. Anyone willing to invest the time to explore the world of Xenoblade will find that it's populated with hundreds of creatures, quests, characters, bosses, and hidden tales. All which add to up to a truly satisfying console rpg experience unlike any other out there.
Without the budget/time issues that caused the 2nd disc of Xenogears, or the production issues that caused Xenosaga Ep2, Xenoblade feels like the first time Takahashi has been able to give the game experience he wanted from start to finish without resistance blocking his way. And if this is the kind of experience that Takahashi wants to give, then I can only look forward immensely to whatever he creates next.
The three years Monolith Soft spent creating Xenoblade feel truly justified by the end product. As the best game in their resume to date, and the best rpg on a Nintendo system since Chrono Trigger, Xenoblade stands as a proud example of how great rpgs are made.
A+