Xenoblade X Eurogamer Preview: Maybe 2015's Most Impressive Open World

Kensuke said:
I did turn off the controls on-screen, because the screen is busy enough without it. I didn't know it showed different controls during fights. The manual explains a lot, but leaves behind some of the finer details. Do you know, for example, what stacking staggers does exactly? Is using an attribute the enemy is weak against just more damaging or is there more? That kind of stuff. Tales of Zestiria is a recent example of a game with an in-game encyclopedia that explains every last detail of the mechanics.

How do you turn off the asynchronous achievement stuff?
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Your post implied it was more obtuse than Dark Souls mechanics, which I simply don't agree with. Maybe it doesn't say specifically what stacking staggers does, but for the most part I feel it is relatively easy to understand.

As for asynchronous achievement stuff. Go to options, social setting, then scroll down to showing awards, under information. You can set it to show for just you, or off completely.

I'd argue the question mark quests are basically the same as affinity quests. You have to talk to someone or collect something and then you get some dialogue or a cutscene. It's just tied to an NPC instead of a recruitable character. I don't mind the board quests. The problem is that the affinity quests are pretty much the same in terms of gameplay as those board quests. It's especially annoying when they ask you to get a rare drop from a monster that only appears at certain times.
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I say they are different because they don't have voice acting, or party/affinity requirements (or at least I don't remember them requiring that).
At the end of the day though, yes they are kinda boring and I pretty much ignored all of them because the rewards aren't really worth it.

I'd like to illustrate why I think it's bad with an example. (Chapter 6 sidequest spoilers)
After the intelligent chipmunk race joins New LA you can do a quest in the commercial district that concerns a racial conflict. It's about a shopkeeper not wanting to let a Xeno in because she thinks their race is disgusting. This instantly caught my attention, because there are a lot of interesting things that can be done with this.

The shopkeeper is convinced other people in New LA feel the same way. So you end up running around town and asking other people for their opinions. They give you some simple two-line responses that boil down to them being happy with the new Xenos. You tell the shopkeeper and then she just says she has seen the light and that she'll let the Xenos in her shop. This is bizarre, because just moments before she was saying some really terrible stuff about them.

In the end it all comes off as a joke, just like most sidequest. Maybe it's a little unfair to compare, but when you look at similar quests in games like Dragon Age and Witcher the difference is staggering. Not only in depth, but the dialogue choices in those games do end up changing the result. All the dialogue options you get in Xenoblade don't matter, the result is the same. Dialogue options only affect the little hearts that appear above the heads of your party members.
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I'm not going to say all the sidequests are good. Some are hit and miss. There are certainly some goofy parts. It's why I pretty much ignored anything that wasn't an affinity or main story quest. But there are around 40~ affinity quests and then the main story ones too, and I liked what I played of those, so I feel like there is still plenty even if you ignore the generic quests or infinite board quests.
Just in regards to the main story itself, I enjoyed it, and I enjoyed the characters. Though the story is largely centred around Elma and Lyn, so if you are not a fan of those characters, there isn't much else to fall back on.
 
ShockingAlberto said:
The thing with Riki is you were supposed to think he was this joke character comic relief and he was actually a father who has lived a long life and knows his shit, he just doesn't show his hand very often.

Also he could be real useful in battle, especially against UMs.
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He was the real main character of Xenoblade.
 
Bigger than Fallout 4, Skyrim and the Witcher 3 combined..? Fucking hell!!! :Oo

Going to be getting my Mum to get it for me for my Christmas pressie!
 
Ala Alba said:
Yeah, in terms of square kilometers it's roughly twice as big as the three combined.

I don't know how much of the 400 km^2 in XCX is water, though, but I hear that W3 also has a significant amount of water.
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Water can be traveled, sailed and deep swam in TW3. Can you swim in XCX?

Either way the world is fucking huge
 
ViciousDS said:
Oooooo are there any collectables under the water As well?
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There's probably collectables and enemies in the water, but I don't think you can dive. You can fly around in your mech and explore floating islands, don't know if the TW3 has an aspect like that.
 
Malus said:
There's probably collectables and enemies in the water, but I don't think you can dive. You can fly around in your mech and explore floating islands, don't know if the TW3 has an aspect like that.
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Nah just sailing.....save the flying for cdprojects cyberpunk game lol.

This game either way will have me running to every corner of the map....hhnnngggg so ready. Black Friday couldn't come sooner so I can buy my wiiu
 
Their video wouldn't load for me on the website (probably the ad block), and I've been on video blackout so I kinda skipped it, but here's a preview video from gamespot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t6NTXAh0nk

DrWong said:
French preview: http://www.millenium.org/xenoblade/...de-role-japonais-nintendo-monolith-mtj-137021

Can't translate right now but very positive.
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Yeah there are some previews in other languages out there I've been hoping some nice gaffers would look into.
 
So I ordered the Special Edition version of the game. Is there anyway to preinstall the data packs or will I have to do that once I get the physical copy of the game?
 
Phaezyk said:
I appreciate you taking time to put your thoughts out there; our tastes seem like they differ and so there are some things you've said that actually sound somewhat pleasing to me like needing to pay attention to and discover the little intricacies of the battle system versus having it all laid out before you and the brevity of character dialogue.

As to the quote above, though, I personally think it really is a bit unfair to claim this as a negative toward the game when there has been no push by the developers or publisher to point out the dialogue choices as meaningful decisions that change the course of gameplay like the Dragon Age or Witcher games might. As such, my take is that the dialogue options are just there for fun, a little bonus of a different cutscene depending on your assessment of the situation. I mean if you really think about it those choices do tend to produce different results, they're just immediate and fleeting rather than deep and meaningful in the long run. However, for me, deep meaningful choices are not why I'm really into this game and those will work as intended -- a neat little bonus.

I just wanted to put this out there, because I know these criticisms help manage expectations of those who probably just came off of playing big titles like Witcher 3 and possibly having the bar raised in certain aspects of an RPG such as impact of choices.

*rocks back and forth in a corner* just.... 19 more days...
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I have no real problems with the battle system itself, it's great. It's more about just not explaining some of the small finer details. There is no real way to find out either, unless you're planning to write down numbers to calculate DPS and time how long topples last. I'm sure someone will do it eventually. Right now it's just hard to know how to best maximize DPS. I have the same issues with the different Skell parts. Maximizing DPS is not a huge concern of course, just a little niggle.

Regarding choices and other story stuff, it's not only that choices don't matter. The stilted cutscenes, bad lip-syncing, clichéd characters, unfunny jokes and just the predictable way all non-main story quests play out create a disappointing package.

Having said that, the main story quests are decent and they do have some intriguing twists and turns. Xenoblade X also definitely has strengths that Dragon Age and Witcher don't have. They focus on different things and both are fun. Doesn't excuse some of the poor side-quests in Xenoblade though.

Looking forward to reading what you think once you get the game in a few weeks. ;)

Sakura said:
As for asynchronous achievement stuff. Go to options, social setting, then scroll down to showing awards, under information. You can set it to show for just you, or off completely.
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Thanks. If you feel like trying out some of those online quests you're free to add me on Wii U. Same username as here on GAF.
 
The impression I'm getting is that this game is incredible in scope, and in so being, both the good and the bad within are amplified. There's something very compelling there, as well as something rough. It's exciting, but clearly won't appeal to everyone.

I fully expect it to end up being relatively divisive. Sometimes the most interesting games are.
 
I've been thinking about what version to get. I have the special edition pre ordered, but that's like 80 bucks and I'm short enough on cash as is.
I have enough money in eshop credit to buy it there. I heard performance is even better when installed on the system too...not sure what to do here.
Phaezyk said:
Well... I'm not Nintendo, but you asked for it:

https://youtu.be/NypZUkFqy3I

(I may have had plans to do this since April and made the song edit already...)
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That's amazing. Did you edit the clips to match the music or does it just work miraculously?
 
James Scott said:
I've been thinking about what version to get. I have the special edition pre ordered, but that's like 80 bucks and I'm short enough on cash as is.
I have enough money in eshop credit to buy it there. I heard performance is even better when installed on the system too...not sure what to do here.

That's amazing. Did you edit the clips to match the music or does it just work miraculously?
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The first 35 seconds lined up pretty much perfectly with the song edit I cut months ago, but a lot of the other stuff was edited in from other footage. The base video is the 2015 E3 trailer. Just always saw a trailer in my mind for this whenever I heard that song.

God, the next few weeks are going to hard to get through. I'm also trying to compile a class and art visual guide from all the footage I've been able to find of the localized version. I've got quite a bit already: http://pastebin.com/HfnTwTib
 
Nice to see positive previews. Kinda lost hype with the huge delay since the japanese release, but I'm still excited in the end.

Small question : is it possible to recreate your character? That's one of the most frustrating thing with those custom MC. Being stuck with the same avatar for dozens of hours is a pain.
 
saturnine said:
Nice to see positive previews. Kinda lost hype with the huge delay since the japanese release, but I'm still excited in the end.

Small question : is it possible to recreate your character? That's one of the most frustrating thing with those custom MC. Being stuck with the same avatar for dozens of hours is a pain.
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I think you can make edits, but the option doesn't appear until later on in the game. I'm not sure how much later, though.
 
saturnine said:
Small question : is it possible to recreate your character? That's one of the most frustrating thing with those custom MC. Being stuck with the same avatar for dozens of hours is a pain.
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There will be an option for that after a certain point in the game.
 
Phaezyk said:
The first 35 seconds lined up pretty much perfectly with the song edit I cut months ago, but a lot of the other stuff was edited in from other footage. The base video is the 2015 E3 trailer. Just always saw a trailer in my mind for this whenever I heard that song.

God, the next few weeks are going to hard to get through. I'm also trying to compile a class and art visual guide from all the footage I've been able to find of the localized version. I've got quite a bit already: http://pastebin.com/HfnTwTib
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I appreciate the extra effort. It's ace
 
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