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Xenoblade Question

Holammer

Holammer

Member
Been curious about the Xenoblade series so I finally poked and prodded it a little and #2's first three hours was legit magic.
Question is, should I skip X? I gave it three hours and it puked rap music and boring amateur hour exposition everywhere. Will playing it get better and enhance/setup narrative payoffs in XB1-3?
 
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Canonically it has nothing to do with the games in the main series

They added some trash shoehorn bullshit to the "new" story content in the remaster, but as Nopons say: meh meh meh
 
Xenoblade X is incredible but it's really one of those games that doesn't get good for like 10 or more hours. I loved it but I understand the criticisms. Something changes at a point in the game and everything opens up.

I do think XB2 is better tho and probably my favorite of the series.
 
Holammer said:
Been curious about the Xenoblade series so I finally poked and prodded it a little and #2's first three hours was legit magic.
Question is, should I skip X? I gave it three hours and it puked rap music and boring amateur hour exposition everywhere. Will playing it get better and enhance/setup narrative payoffs in XB1-3?
Click to expand...
If you want the full story, you also need to add X Ch2 - Torna The Golden Country to your list.
 
XBC2 is amazing but don't discount the other games even X. X is actually a part of the series many of us would not trade away. "boring amateur hour exposition" is a genre trope found in nearly every jrpg ad nauseam.

They are all great. I wouldn't skip them but 2 is absolute magic to this day. If you can only play one of them, play 2. If you can play them all you will find greatness in each. This is one of the best jrpg series ever so play them however you find them.
 
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You don't need to play X to enjoy or understand the trilogy story, X story is independent and share the same mythology with the trilogy.

Or you can watch the story recap on youtube or daily motion. The trilogy themselves will be very lengthy, perhaps you will spend more than 300 hours.

Regardless, enjoy. One of the best jrpg from nintendo.
 
Play them in this order: 1/DE -> Future Connected -> 2 -> Torna -> 3 -> Future Redeemed. While they are mostly standalone, Takahashi has a certain vision when it comes to these games that they are better experienced when played in this order. Some might argue that Future Connected should be played after Torna to follow the release order, but it's a bit hard to go back to Future Connected after you've played Torna imho.

You can play X at any point you want from what I know (I haven't played it myself, waiting for that sweet 60 FPS patch).

EDIT: And yes, XB2 + Torna are the best by far.
 
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I'm with you op, that said, it has some really nice music like this one (which i consider the best one until 2:38, the other stuff is just extra less important :
 
mèx said:
Play them in this order: 1/DE -> Future Connected -> 2 -> Torna -> 3 -> Future Redeemed. While they are mostly standalone, Takahashi has a certain vision when it comes to these games that they are better experienced when played in this order. Some might argue that Future Connected should be played after Torna to follow the release order, but it's a bit hard to go back to Future Connected after you've played Torna imho.

You can play X at any point you want from what I know (I haven't played it myself, waiting for that sweet 60 FPS patch).

EDIT: And yes, XB2 + Torna are the best by far.
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Is Torna and Future Connected separate campaigns or additional content in the regular game?
 
Love the Xenoblade series and all the games. The music in them all is some of the best in the business. Didn't mind the changes in x at all. I say play them all and give x a chance. Its still an awesome game.
 
Holammer said:
Is Torna and Future Connected separate campaigns or additional content in the regular game?
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Torna is essentially a separate standalone DLC, which is so large that it was sold separately on a card.
She's damn important in the context of the second part. (I don't want to go into spoilers)
do-you-torna-works-better-if-you-play-it-between-chapters-v0-7yfq7jvous4d1.jpeg


Honestly, they could have done the same for Future Redeemed, but it wasn't meant to be...
 
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Holammer said:
Been curious about the Xenoblade series so I finally poked and prodded it a little and #2's first three hours was legit magic.
Question is, should I skip X? I gave it three hours and it puked rap music and boring amateur hour exposition everywhere. Will playing it get better and enhance/setup narrative payoffs in XB1-3?
Click to expand...
X is the best one in the series.
 
You don't actually play X for the story, you play it because it has the best gear grind (endgame), build variety and character customization out of any Xenoblade game. They also put gameplay first, so traversal feels very fun, be it on foot or mech.

If you love grinding for gear, then X is for you.
 
delishcaek said:
You don't actually play X for the story, you play it because it has the best gear grind (endgame), build variety and character customization out of any Xenoblade game. They also put gameplay first, so traversal feels very fun, be it on foot or mech.

If you love grinding for gear, then X is for you.
Click to expand...
X felt like an MMO once you got outside the city, with named bosses.
 
X is awesome, just different. It opened up for me after about 40 hours in and that was such an amazing event. Loved it. The scope, the soundtrack, everything connected. I also did not know what was going to happen and yeah, I saw the boxart 🤣
 
Holammer said:
Is Torna and Future Connected separate campaigns or additional content in the regular game?
Click to expand...
They are separate campaigns that should be played after completing the corresponding base game. Future Connected after 1, Torna after 2 and Future Redeemed after 3.

If I remember correctly Torna and Future Redeemed are part of the season pass. Each season pass contains some additional minor content for the base game, like new Blades in 2 and new Heroes in 3.
 
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Playing X now, unbelievably great. My favourite in the series (and pretty much any other series). Gets better and better, particularly after the chapter 6 + skell flight combo.
 
Holammer said:
Question is, should I skip X?
Click to expand...
That's actually the only game I would recommend lol.

X is like a real world you can explore freely with a tons of systems in place to try and build a credible society. And a story unfolds in this world.
 
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I personally bigger fan of Xenoblade 1-3 but X has the BEST open world in ANY JRPG.

I recommend playing it.
 
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X is not really part of the core story in any meaningful way, if you're not feeling it, skip it. Xenoblade 1-3 and the DLCs are must plays though.
 
Beat it after you beat the other 3, specificly in order (including at least future redeemed and connected, Torna isnt as important but its nice and the shortest experience anyway so might as well play that too), atleast don't start the new content for the new version until you do that. People that says its skippable didnt beat the new version fully.

Do note that X has some online components so you would want to play it while its still semi active (funnily enough on wii u just the final month before that online shut down it had plenty active players), online overall reduces material grinding in alot of ways.

I do agree the start is a ton of tutorial, it gets more free later, i think it was chapter 4 and you can almost go anywere, take that oppoturnity to really explore if you want, the game really excels on that! Scouts are also better than they seem.

They also excells in different way, story in 1, gameplay/combat in 2 onc e you get into the small tricks, 3 the tie ins together(especially in future redeemed) and X exploration
 
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Holammer said:
Been curious about the Xenoblade series so I finally poked and prodded it a little and #2's first three hours was legit magic.
Question is, should I skip X?
Click to expand...
X is IMO the best game because it's a gamer's game. If you just want Anime story along the lines of 1-3 then skip it.

If you also want to save yourself the headache of YO WHAT'S POPPING also skip it.
 
corgiix3 said:
What makes xeno 2 better than 3? I thought people preferred 3?
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I wouldn't compare them at all, they're quite different. And each is good in its own way. It's more a matter of taste and preference. Without spoiling anything, I personally prefer the world and its exploration in the X2, characters especially the villains, and the blade system — I found it fun and interesting to play with. Plus, the soundtrack in X2 is simply fantastic...
 
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Holammer said:
should I skip X? I gave it three hours and it puked rap music and boring amateur hour exposition everywhere. Will playing it get better and enhance/setup narrative payoffs in XB1-3?
Click to expand...
X is not as (main) story focused as the numbered Xenoblade games. It's much more "MMO-like" in that regard. However, the world exploration and traversal in X is far superior to any of the other Xenoblade games. Especially when you get to pilot your Skell. The side quests do have some neat stories in them, imho. With X Definitive Edition, there is a clearer link to the other Xenoblade games, so who knows what will happen in future entries. I would look at Xenoblade X as a "gaiden" game.
 
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DonkeyPunchJr said:
It's got some amazing tunes. But you spend like 1/4 of the game listening to the same 2 crappy songs in New LA.
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Odd. A majority of my time was out in the world. NLA accounts for maybe 8-10 hours out of around 200-300.

You'll be surveying, exploring and playing with map nodes a good majority.

It only really feels like the whole game is the city until it's not.
 
I'd say it's definitely both.

Ultimately it averages out to be an incredible OST, but the amount of questing, talking, upgrading etc done in town means you are listening to the "experimental" NLA theme a disproportionate amount compared to the many unassailably brilliant songs in the game.

You bet yo ass I gave XCX DE soundtrack of the year in the goty thread though
 
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corgiix3 said:
What makes xeno 2 better than 3? I thought people preferred 3?
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I think 3 has probably the weakest cast and music in the series. But it has the best gameplay. The battle system is awesome, and it has a cool job system with so many interesting possibilities.

The whole series has so much bloat and time-wasting bullshit, and 2 was the worst in this regard by far, but they did patch in a few QoL improvements that helped a bit. It's definitely a better game now than it was at launch.
 
V2Tommy said:
So why did you play them all? Enough redeeming features?
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Yeah. They have really cool worlds to explore, interesting story and characters, fun battle systems, fun character progression/build customization/etc, god tier OST. There's nothing else like them really.

It's definitely a love/hate relationship for me. And I think anybody who loves this series can also rattle off a list of criticisms for every game (unless they're the fanboyish sort who feels the need to defend and damage control literally anything)
 
corgiix3 said:
What makes xeno 2 better than 3? I thought people preferred 3?
Click to expand...

I like the story and combat better in 2.
The story in 3 is engaging at first but falls apart towards the end IMO, specially after a certain climatic moment around two thirds into the game. 2 on the other hand had a fun and engaging story all the way through.

The combat is good in both but I like the one in 2 a bit better. Combat in 3 can feel a bit chaotic because you have a ton of active party members, I also liked the idea behind the "blades" in 2 better than the job system in 3.

The biggest problem with 2, IMO, is that outside of combat the blade system sucks. They are annoying to level up and there's a completely unnecessary gacha system involved in getting them.

Overall I'd rank them
Story: 1 > 2 > 3
Gameplay: 2 > 3 >>>>>> 1
 
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