Thanks for the detailed impressions Bebpo. The game sounds amazingly good; really better than I had expected. To think I'd go from complete apathy when the game was revealed to my most anticipated title this gen was certainly unexpected, but given how much I enjoyed Xenosaga, Xenogears, and Soma Bringer, I guess it was inevitable. I finally get to jump into this game in a few weeks, and I can't wait!
I stopped playing this game at lv 4 as soon as I entered the first city. Not understanding anything was too painful. Oh the drudgery... need english version NAO ç_ç
Believe it or not, I actually found one once. It was inside a secret area and contained a very nice, seemingly unique piece of armor. I assume there's more than this one, but they seem to be extremely rare and well hidden.
Believe it or not, I actually found one once. It was inside a secret area and contained a very nice, seemingly unique piece of armor. I assume there's more than this one, but they seem to be extremely rare and well hidden.
Really? I was looking for field treasures as well (really missed them) but never found one. Only thing close to it were some eh tombs in the final area right before the end of the game.
Believe it or not, I actually found one once. It was inside a secret area and contained a very nice, seemingly unique piece of armor. I assume there's more than this one, but they seem to be extremely rare and well hidden.
There are about 8 total in the entire game. All in hidden locations that you need quests to get into except for the final dungeon where there's 4. Considering the size of the maps, I don't really count that as enough
desu said:
Really? I was looking for field treasures as well (really missed them) but never found one. Only thing close to it were some eh tombs in the final area right before the end of the game.
Hit 76 hours last night. I'm in 帝都アグニラータ.
Looks like I'm closing in on the end of the game. I never actually thought I'd finish the game, but I'm still having so much fun, I'm not rushing to the end.
I am trying to stay away from reading anything detailed about this game, but I look forward to the NA release. I assume it will have some minor changes and bug fixes (i.e. the timer limit).
I copied and pasted that and sent it out to a few non-gaffer work friends since we were discussing the title a bit last week. Now that I've gotten everyone around here hyped about it it had better come out in NA :lol .
Hit 76 hours last night. I'm in 帝都アグニラータ.
Looks like I'm closing in on the end of the game. I never actually thought I'd finish the game, but I'm still having so much fun, I'm not rushing to the end.
And that's if he doesn't try to fight all the endgame unique mobs, get the final art books, do the bonus dungeon, or go for the last skill trees
Although the final art books are basically impossible to get deliberately and not even that useful, so yeah...
Which actually reminds me,
-Bonus dungeon is way too small. Considering how huge the areas in the game are it would have been nice to have a giant 10+ floor bonus dungeon. Could have even started at lvl.80 and worked down to lvl.99 by the bottom.
-No cameo boss or hidden story boss. For a game with ROBOTS, it would have been so easy to make a Welltall ripoff or any of the XG/XS mechs as a hidden bonus boss.
+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 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.
So do you importers just know how to read Japanese or are you playing through blindly? I don't understand how people can import games like this....especially RPGs.
yeah, who thought, in this day and age, while a game might be very good, its strength is from its story telling.
thanks Bepop and everyone else for the impressions. Now hoping to come to the EU land.
Pyrokai said:
So do you importers just know how to read Japanese or are you playing through blindly? I don't understand how people can import games like this....especially RPGs.
So do you importers just know how to read Japanese or are you playing through blindly? I don't understand how people can import games like this....especially RPGs.
I recently got my capture card and is playing with it, here are some xenoblade videos I did, they are all at the end of the game since that's where my save file was.
Since it's the end of the game, need I say more it's spoiler? lol
I remastered the video so that it looks better than it will on your tv... they are all 720p hd, so watch it like that
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.
+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.
+ 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.
That is definitely a +++++ for me. I HATE it when they try to endow story with "emotion" using sappy love stories, and I don't have much patience for hopeless romantics. In other words, I'd care less about the protagonists girlfriend or whatnot. Glad they don't focus on it.
Nope... well, it is listed on NoA's website under the original name "Monado: Beginning of the World," with date TBD. But that is pretty old. There has been no word of it since its Japan release.
That is definitely a +++++ for me. I HATE it when they try to endow story with "emotion" using sappy love stories, and I don't have much patience for hopeless romantics. In other words, I'd care less about the protagonists girlfriend or whatnot. Glad they don't focus on it.
Well, I think there's good melodrama and bad melodrama and melodrama doesn't necessarily mean revolving around romance.
For instance KH BBS is full of melodrama, but it works well and the true final ending to that game is really powerful. Same with Crisis Core's where the end sequence is all MAN TEARS and powerful and it's totally pulled out for the emotional drama.
Well, I think there's good melodrama and bad melodrama and melodrama doesn't necessarily mean revolving around romance.
For instance KH BBS is full of melodrama, but it works well and the true final ending to that game is really powerful. Same with Crisis Core's where the end sequence is all MAN TEARS and powerful and it's totally pulled out for the emotional drama.
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.
So do you importers just know how to read Japanese or are you playing through blindly? I don't understand how people can import games like this....especially RPGs.
So do you importers just know how to read Japanese or are you playing through blindly? I don't understand how people can import games like this....especially RPGs.
Like with you guys, I'm really hoping this and Last Story get a EU/US release of some sort. It needs to happen. I don't want to play through blindly in Japanese
Working 12 hours a day these days and even on weekends so almost have no time to play... I've been stuck at the last boss of the Kishin world for over a week now. The guy is lv 72 and I'm only 67-68. Wanna close the gap a little more first before I try him again as he whopped my ass pretty bad the first time but since I've done most of the quests in that area I'm not sure how else I should gain lvs more efficiently rather than grinding...
Working 12 hours a day these days and even on weekends so almost have no time to play... I've been stuck at the last boss of the Kishin world for over a week now. The guy is lv 72 and I'm only 67-68. Wanna close the gap a little more first before I try him again as he whopped my ass pretty bad the first time but since I've done most of the quests in that area I'm not sure how else I should gain lvs more efficiently rather than grinding...
It's a hard fight, but what party are you using? Karna healing and putting DEF+ shields on people along with Shulk using Monado shield or Breaker if you have it along with some doing damage should be a good defensive party to keep your group alive.
If you want to gain levels, the best way is doing quests (even from older areas) and fighting unique mobs. You shouldn't really need to grind to beat a boss. Instead look at making some gems with HP up, DEF up, etc... so buff up your DEF for survival
But there's nothing actually "new" on 2nd playthrough or beyond. Just lets you do things you skipped/missed on the first run with high level characters. Considering how long the game is, especially if you do most of the optional content, one playthrough is probably enough for most people.
But I consider any game that's over 100 hours long to have a very high "content value" even if it's not "replay" value.
Been there, done that too. Picked up Valkyria Chronicles and Tales of Vesperia before I bought a PS3 Slim. I am going to start the game when I am back home, which should be on Tuesday.
Working 12 hours a day these days and even on weekends so almost have no time to play... I've been stuck at the last boss of the Kishin world for over a week now. The guy is lv 72 and I'm only 67-68. Wanna close the gap a little more first before I try him again as he whopped my ass pretty bad the first time but since I've done most of the quests in that area I'm not sure how else I should gain lvs more efficiently rather than grinding...
Are you talking about Green Face? I believe I beat him at 69. Your best option is to have shield ready to go at all times. I usually tend to use my monado powers as soon as they're available, but for this fight, i kept it charged and waited for him to launch major attacks like the laser or the air strike. Make sure to level up your monado powers (I only realized late in the game that you could do that at all), and have shield at around lvl 8.
I recommend having karuna in your party no matter what. I don't really see how this boss is manageable without a dedicated healer. You also want someone else tanking that isn't Shulk (I used Riki, because of his massive HP, though he has a hard time keeping hate. Line is a good option as well)
The good news is, if you die, any EXP you gain from killing the minions during the boss fight will stay with you. I leveled up over several different tries, making subsequent encounters easier.
SHIT! I just realized you're not talking about Green Face. Here's the best tip for the last boss of Kishin World.
I assume you understand that when the vision appears of
Kishin destroying Kyoshin
, you have to destroy the pillars before the timer runs out. You probably also notice that new creatures spawn every time you engage a pillar. My advice is to kill as many of those creatures as possible without running out of time. The boss becomes infinitely harder if you train all of them around the circle and back to the boss, intent on killing them all in one spot.
The biggest problem with that is that the walkway is small, and the enemies are so large that if someone falls in battle, you won't physically be able to walk over to them and raise them again. If this ends up being Karuna, you're basically fucked.
In the second phase of the boss, you're going to have to use shield and breaker a lot when appropriate, turning around to kill spawned mobs as fast as possible so you can return to beat up on the boss. I didn't have a ton of problem beating him (only took me 2 tries), but I remember it being slightly frustrating.
Pyrokai said:
So do you importers just know how to read Japanese or are you playing through blindly? I don't understand how people can import games like this....especially RPGs.
The capital city on the Kyoshin. You can't warp directly in there, so warp to Elt Sea landmark at the entrance. The enemies are 87-90.
But once you get to about 88, you should just go to the Tefla Caves new area. The starting spiders are ~lvl.89-93 and just exploring around there while killing all the enemies will give a lot of xp. Especially if you use xp gems.
