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XenobladeX |Import OT| Discovery of Superb View: http://youtu.be/HgIXNOEv_40

Hasemo

(;・∀・)ハッ?
So, let's say you want to fight the first multiplayer World Boss (level 35)...
Be sure to get 4 people, it might get messy if you have less than that. If squad members are reluctant to join, you can try writing reports saying that you're looking for people.
Worked for me, because at first no one seemed to be interested.

The fight isn't very hard, and you'll be using your Dolls for the whole time, so feel free to join once you get a lv 30 one.

Don't bring too many Beam Weapons. When the boss has ~30% (maybe more/less) it starts reflecting all beam attacks. My party lost because of this, so learn from our mistakes.

When the boss has a few % left it will begin charging. I have no idea what happens after that, because we lost (we all beam-countered our dolls to death).
 

Bebpo

Banned
???
It seems you may be reaching here. Most comments he has made about the game make it seem like he believes it to be his best game yet. It seems just as personal as always, if not more given the apparently massive amount of writing he has done on the game (reportedly more than for any other game). He said the game was a "crystallization of the staff's blood and tears" or something to that effect, and remarked about how he had "finally made a JRPG where humans and robots could co-exist". I think you may be worrying yourself too much over nothing. Even if it doesn't feel stereotypically "Takahashi/Xeno"-esque enough, it doesn't mean it isn't the guy's style, people change.

Researching what I could from the Iwata Asks and staff credits, Takahashi didn't write anything directly for the game. He wrote the original story concept, and in the Iwata Asks they say it was almost a novel worth of content.

Then Yuichiro Takeda, who did the anime adaptation of Xenosaga and wrote with Takahashi on the original Xenoblade adapted what Takahashi had written into the game script. So yeah it's Takahashi's story, but Takahashi didn't actually write the scenes and the dialogue in the game, that's Takeda and Hyodo. They wrote all the dialogue, scenes and quests.

I feel this is because Takahashi was taking a more studio management position as Monolithsoft gets larger under Nintendo (or he's just getting old and doesn't want to write 11,000 lines of voiced dialogue in game format) so instead of directly writing lines for the game he wrote the concept and gave it to people he liked and let them write the game and Koh Kojima direct the game. Definitely feels like the Suda51 approach imo and you almost never see a game auteur who goes into management come back to hands on direct/write games ever again, so that's why I think this is the beginning of Takahashi stepping away from game development.
 
Researching what I could from the Iwata Asks and staff credits, Takahashi didn't write anything directly for the game. He wrote the original story concept, and in the Iwata Asks they say it was almost a novel worth of content.

Then Yuichiro Takeda, who did the anime adaptation of Xenosaga and wrote with Takahashi on the original Xenoblade adapted what Takahashi had written into the game script. So yeah it's Takahashi's story, but Takahashi didn't actually write the scenes and the dialogue in the game, that's Takeda and Hyodo. They wrote all the dialogue, scenes and quests.

I feel this is because Takahashi was taking a more studio management position as Monolithsoft gets larger under Nintendo (or he's just getting old and doesn't want to write 11,000 lines of voiced dialogue in game format) so instead of directly writing lines for the game he wrote the concept and gave it to people he liked and let them write the game and Koh Kojima direct the game. Definitely feels like the Suda51 approach imo and you almost never see a game auteur who goes into management come back to hands on direct/write games ever again, so that's why I think this is the beginning of Takahashi stepping away from game development.

Going by the reveal teaser and the Iwata Asks, Takahashi and Kojima have the same positions in X that they did in Xenoblade. Takhashi is credited as "executive director" while Kojima is credited as "director" (general gameplay director).
 

random25

Member
So, let's say you want to fight the first multiplayer World Boss (level 35)...
Be sure to get 4 people, it might get messy if you have less than that. If squad members are reluctant to join, you can try writing reports saying that you're looking for people.
Worked for me, because at first no one seemed to be interested.

The fight isn't very hard, and you'll be using your Dolls for the whole time, so feel free to join once you get a lv 30 one.

Don't bring too many Beam Weapons. When the boss has ~30% (maybe more/less) it starts reflecting all beam attacks. My party lost because of this, so learn from our mistakes.

When the boss has a few % left it will begin charging. I have no idea what happens after that, because we lost (we all beam-countered our dolls to death).

That's interesting. I like that it forces you to balance your doll weaponry to take on all kinds of anti-doll tactics.
 

duckroll

Member
Going by the reveal teaser and the Iwata Asks, Takahashi and Kojima have the same positions in X that they did in Xenoblade. Takhashi is credited as "executive director" while Kojima is credited as "director" (general gameplay director).

For Xenoblade, Takahashi was credited as Executive Director and for Original Concept, Planning, Script, and Ending Theme Lyrics. He shared the script credit with Takeda and Hattori. For Xenoblade X so far based on the official site it's just Takeda and Hyodo credited for script, but it might be different in the ending credits, I dunno.

I agree with the general point though, Takahashi's contribution to Xenoblade X is probably similar to whatever he did for Xenoblade. The world, characters, story outline, major scenes, etc are probably all his work. Even when he is not credited for script, he has a strong influence. Soma Bringer's script was credited exclusively to his wife, but she has mentioned that he wrote many of dialogue scenes as well.
 
For Xenoblade, Takahashi was credited as Executive Director and for Original Concept, Planning, Script, and Ending Theme Lyrics. He shared the script credit with Takeda and Hattori. For Xenoblade X so far based on the official site it's just Takeda and Hyodo credited for script, but it might be different in the ending credits, I dunno.

I agree with the general point though, Takahashi's contribution to Xenoblade X is probably similar to whatever he did for Xenoblade. The world, characters, story outline, major scenes, etc are probably all his work. Even when he is not credited for script, he has a strong influence. Soma Bringer's script was credited exclusively to his wife, but she has mentioned that he wrote many of dialogue scenes as well.

Ah, I didn't know about the script mention since in the English credits it's listed as "scenario" and how it seems like Takahashi would get a mention for X's general scenario going by how much he initially wrote for the game.

This is slightly off topic but it reminds me that I never found Soraya Saga listed in the credits for Xenogears under either name she goes by even though she had a huge role in writing the story.
 

duckroll

Member
Ah, I didn't know about the script mention since in the English credits it's listed as "scenario" and it definitely seems like Takahashi would get a mention for X's general scenario going by how much he initially wrote for the game.

This is lightly off topic but it reminds me that I never found Soraya Saga listed in the credits for Xenogears under either name she goes by even though she had a huge role in writing the story.

She is credited in Xenogears as Kaori Tanaka. That's her real name.
 
Yoo I want to hear it too. Quoting this wall of text so it won't be lost in midst of all the pics.

I mean, this is still kind of fascinating stuff, even though I said a bit otherwise. But it was 6am, I was on my phone, I couldn't sleep and I was pissed the fuck off because of it.
Yeah, I understand that you felt like you were being condescended towards. I think discussion is always best, so I'm glad that it appears the dust has somewhat settled and Overside has spent the time to provide such an amazing explanation of Blade's depth. Speaking of...
That was the sound of my head exploding. I had mostly just interpreted (reminder, NOT Xenoblade X spoilers, just spoilers for the Wii game)
the monad as being Alvis, the origin as the second article mentions, and that ether could be seen as all originated from Alvis/Monado, which is why it can control, divide, and otherwise observe all in the new world. I hadn't yet looked into the Monad programming side of things. I have to admit that I'll have to take some time to fully process this, especially the part about "pythogorean mathematics/religion". Are you saying that Meyneth represents Pythagoreanism, and Zanza represents Gnosticism? And that just as Zanza is the demiurge and his world is a false creation, both interpretations of the world are incorrect, and rather the true makings of Blade's universe is through monads as expressed in monadic philosophy, but carried out through a literal "programming" of the universe in a reference to monad programming?
"The monado 3, which shulk used to slay Zanza, is the monad bind operator >>= repeated and layered." I just looked this up, and its a little beyond me, but would a simple way to say it be that ">>=" is equivalent to a programming command that shuts down the program no matter what? Wikipedia says: "The bind binary operator (>>=) chains the results of one computation that could fail, into a function that chooses another computation that could fail." so by "repeated and layered" do you mean that the final blow is really a universe re-program that basically puts everything into an infinite exit loop until nothing is left, allowing all matter/ether/monads to then be re-made into another universe? Like exiting a program, to free a computer's random access memory to be used for other purposes??? On another note, would you say that since Alvis is the monad, there is no truth to the commentary on the death of the author? Even if Klaus is not the "creator" in this case, but rather Alvis/Monado is, couldn't the analysis still work for the most part. Just also replace the "game systems" with the ether originating from Alvis/Monado and it'd still work, right? One last thing, I understand the explanation of the Monado being aware of and capable of controlling of everything originating from it (ether), and this is where the vision breaking system works as commentary through gameplay and story by representing the presentation of possible outcomes, but do you mind explaining this comic? Like, I get that it as a sequence of possible events, but, the guy cuts through them? Is the concept of cutting through these events common, or was this directly referencing Blade... *_* So confused, but that's what makes it interesting to discuss, right?
Maybe I'm going pretty off base from what you are saying, but I'm glad you shared this interpretation. It definitely opens up some interesting avenues of analysis I think, did you discover this mostly by yourself, or was it influenced by any outside sources? It will be interesting if Xenoblade X has similarly layered philosophy. I recall you making some posts analyzing the meaning of B.L.A.D.E, as a reference to surpassing our limits/restrictions imposed by creation/a creator. Interesting stuff, and I hope you'll be willing to share your thoughts once you play the game.
 

random25

Member
So far, the only song I've analyzed for the lyrics is Melancholia (only the female voice part and not the rap in the middle). Dunno if this is accurate but if someone can make corrections, feel free. And yeah, this is an NLA song, so... :p

With this life, I'm exhausted.
They are frozen, people's eyes.
Kind of close to endless mental slavery.
Always look up to the sky.
Is this what I'm living for?
How can I spin this world better?
Every place I used to live.
All the news we used to hear.
All the things we heard from you
Are almost making fun of me.
Every day we work so hard.
Every thing will never change. (Every thing will never change.)

All of my life's begun to change you, 'til the end.
Someone's death means
An indication of the new world.
They hope won't be the same.

There's a chance for me to find my way of life.
Anyway I know some nervous strain of time.
You cheer me, reminds me
There is a sun rise.
You told me to save me from hell on earth.
All of the world's begun to take me to the sun.
Hiding people getting out from crumbling shelter.
Now the time has come today.
 
So I don't want to read through this thread to avoid spoilers. However I want to know, how does this game compare to Xenoblade so far?

Does it live up to the hype?
 
"The monado 3, which shulk used to slay Zanza, is the monad bind operator >>= repeated and layered." I just looked this up, and its a little beyond me, but would a simple way to say it be that ">>=" is equivalent to a programming command that shuts down the program no matter what? Wikipedia says: "The bind binary operator (>>=) chains the results of one computation that could fail, into a function that chooses another computation that could fail."
(about monads)
The meaning of (>>=) is quite abstract. The concrete meaning depends on which monad we're talking about. In case of the I/O monad, it simply sequences I/O actions and it'd be similar to the role of the semicolon in languages like C and C++. In case of the List monad, (>>=) is sometimes specifically called flatMap. If you know the map function from functional programming, you know that map applies a transformation to each single element in a list. For example, map(addOne, [1,2,3]) would be equivalent to [2,3,4]. But what if the transformation we want to apply a single element results in a list, e.g., map(countTo, [1,2,3]) == [[1], [1,2], [1,2,3]]? What if we don't want to have this nested structure of list of lists? This is where flatMap (or monadic bind) comes in: flatMap(countTo, [1,2,3]) == [1,1,2,1,2,3]. As you can see, what bind concretely means can be quite varied.

(Although abstractly, they all have a type signature that is isomorphic to (a -> b) -> (M<a> -> M<b>))

Anyway, regarding the Monado 3, I'd say that the repeated >>= pattern is just there for aesthetics.
 
So far, the only song I've analyzed for the lyrics is Melancholia (only the female voice part and not the rap in the middle). Dunno if this is accurate but if someone can make corrections, feel free. And yeah, this is an NLA song, so... :p

yeah, I did find that one from youtube comments though, largely because it's a really old song

thanks anyway :p
 

Thoraxes

Member
For Xenoblade, Takahashi was credited as Executive Director and for Original Concept, Planning, Script, and Ending Theme Lyrics. He shared the script credit with Takeda and Hattori. For Xenoblade X so far based on the official site it's just Takeda and Hyodo credited for script, but it might be different in the ending credits, I dunno.

I agree with the general point though, Takahashi's contribution to Xenoblade X is probably similar to whatever he did for Xenoblade. The world, characters, story outline, major scenes, etc are probably all his work. Even when he is not credited for script, he has a strong influence. Soma Bringer's script was credited exclusively to his wife, but she has mentioned that he wrote many of dialogue scenes as well.

The Iwata Asks further outlines his contributions in these areas (you are correct).
 

Schlomo

Member
Is it possible to back up the save game to internal memory?

I'm kind of nervous about my USB stick. I never used it with the Wii U, but this time I had to because the 8GB Wii U doesn't even have room for the basic data install if you delete everything else. :-/
 

sprsk

force push the doodoo rock
I CANT HEAR YEW, I CANT SEE YEW
I CANT HEAR YEW, I CANT SEE YEW
I CANT HEAR YEW, I CANT SEE YEW
I CANT HEAR YEW, I CANT SEE YEW
I CANT HEAR YEW, I CANT SEE YEW
I CANT HEAR YEW, I CANT SEE YEW
 

Bebpo

Banned
I'm still pretty confused at how the segment map works after messing around with it for a while tonight. It's super confusing the way it's implemented. If I want to 100% each continent, I gotta figure this out. Right now I feel like getting my completion % up in each continent is like a guessing game, which isn't good since completion % is linked to the story missions.


Data probe segments = Easy, you find the probe and activate it. Just gotta make sure you have a high enough mechanical level.

The sparkly icon segment = I think this means you need to find a specific chest in the area to get it checked off? Or does it mean you need to get ALL the chests in the area to check it off?

The quest icon segment = This either means you find a quest here or you complete a quest here. I think it's the former because that's how kizuna quests work.

Kizuna quest icon segment = This means you find a kizuna quest here.

O-Bard/Overed/Whatever the hell the big monsters are called icon segment = This means there's a monster with a purple circle over it in the area. Killing should let you check the box off on the segment map?

Then there's the weird "information" that relates to segments that you hear about in the city. I'm not sure if you first need the information before you can do the segment event to check it off? Or if you can just go and do it and check it off?

Also can't tell if Landmarks and every single yellow chest add a little to your overall completion percentage. I think maybe they do.


The other system I'm still a little confused about is the Soul Voice commands. I get the Soul Voice system and I get that your partners will at random times shout out to do a certain type of attack and if you do it, you'll get a Soul Voice "B" button prompt. But in the Soul Voice equip screen there's sooooo many commands I don't even know where to began messing around with all of them. Like are you setting what attack they'll do when they shout out "hey, hit him with a physical attack"? Or something?

Game really needs a paper manual!
 
I'm still pretty confused at how the segment map works after messing around with it for a while tonight. It's super confusing the way it's implemented. If I want to 100% each continent, I gotta figure this out. Right now I feel like getting my completion % up in each continent is like a guessing game, which isn't good since completion % is linked to the story missions.


Data probe segments = Easy, you find the probe and activate it. Just gotta make sure you have a high enough mechanical level.

The sparkly icon segment = I think this means you need to find a specific chest in the area to get it checked off? Or does it mean you need to get ALL the chests in the area to check it off?

The quest icon segment = This either means you find a quest here or you complete a quest here. I think it's the former because that's how kizuna quests work.

Kizuna quest icon segment = This means you find a kizuna quest here.

O-Bard/Overed/Whatever the hell the big monsters are called icon segment = This means there's a monster with a purple circle over it in the area. Killing should let you check the box off on the segment map?

Then there's the weird "information" that relates to segments that you hear about in the city. I'm not sure if you first need the information before you can do the segment event to check it off? Or if you can just go and do it and check it off?

Also can't tell if Landmarks and every single yellow chest add a little to your overall completion percentage. I think maybe they do.


The other system I'm still a little confused about is the Soul Voice commands. I get the Soul Voice system and I get that your partners will at random times shout out to do a certain type of attack and if you do it, you'll get a Soul Voice "B" button prompt. But in the Soul Voice equip screen there's sooooo many commands I don't even know where to began messing around with all of them. Like are you setting what attack they'll do when they shout out "hey, hit him with a physical attack"? Or something?

Game really needs a paper manual!

the digital manual doesn't help with this stuff?
 

Bebpo

Banned
It helps, but it's nice to have a physical manual to reference while playing. Using the main website now and if I'm reading it (http://xenobladex.jp/field/field03.html) right it's saying this:

If you have no icon on a segment = you have no info on that area
If you have any of the icons besides data probe on the segment = you have minimal info of what's in the segment
If you have a check on the icon = you have more detailed information on the segment
If you have a GOLD STAR SHIELD on the segment = you completed the segment.

So it seems like anything other than a gold star means you're not finished. And each layer of info just helps you find the exact little thing you need to do in the giant space to gold star that segment. Hmm, ok.
 

Renewed

Member
For Soul Voice (example taken from iYakku's video with Gessenkou/CAAAAAW's translation) you have this:

G7olJlD.png

From what I understand, what you're actually selecting are activation conditions and the corresponding type of Art that will complete the Soul Voice. So to make the most use of this you select a Soul Voice to accentuate what you're prepared for, then have you and your allies with Arts to complete the Soul Voice.
 
stuff about things
You don't need to hear about the segment topic to be able to complete it. I found a few chests before even reaching NLA, and they were gold shields as soon as I got the map. Setting data probes(and maybe continuing the story/raising kizuna with party members) will turn light blue gossip into gold, which then turns empty/dark blue after you've heard it, and adds the details for a certain segment's topic. Sparkles=treasure=specific chest you have to open. Monster=Overed=specific Overed you have to kill. Paper/Kizuna icon=Normal/Kizuna quests that are either taken there, or completed there. I don't know if landmarks/areas/secretthings count towards completion rate though, haven't really paid close attention to the numbers while exploring. Then there's kizuna talks(hearttohearts)/changes in NLA, which don't have an icon.

For the Soul Voice conditions, I have them all+the three effects for the MC here. The personality doesn't change anything, as far as I'm aware, and nonMCs can't change their voice conditions/effects.
 
I'm at ~36 hours in now and between chapters 6 and 7. Done all kizuna quests I've discovered and can access, so now I'm focusing on normal quests, I have a ton of them to do.

If I find that some of them are a bit over my level, I may wait for the end of chapter 7 to go back. We'll see.

Recently got my free doll, but I'm afraid to use it so it doesn't lose fuel or otherwise break if I encounter sudden over leveled enemies D:
 

Mik2121

Member
Finally started playing this game since yesterday I spent most of my free time actually downloading and installing all the extra data packs.

I just got to the main field and man this is HUGE! I guess this is only part of the whole open world, right? God this is pretty cool, even if I'm not the biggest fan of this kind of scifi design and whatnot, but still so cool!
 

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
How large are the data packs? Still have an old white Wii-U.

It's in the OP:
Basic Data Pack (2 GB) – Effect: Large
A data pack containing terrain data that will allow faster loading while in the city and the game’s various fields. This data pack is required for other Data Packs to work.
Enemy Data Pack (2.7 GB) – Effect: Medium
Installs enemy data to the HDD, If the Basic Data Pack is also downloaded, it further speed up load times while out in the field.
Player Data Pack (3.6 GB) – Effect: Medium
Will install data regarding the armor and graphics of the player. If the Basic Data Pack is also downloaded, it will speed up loading in the city and when equipping changes in the shops in New Los Angeles.
Doll Data Pack (1.7 GB) – Effect: Medium
Will install data regarding the Doll mechs. If the Basic Data Pack is also downloaded, it will speed up read times when Dolls appear. You will get faster loading times while in the city and in the fields.

You can install only one/some of them.
 

Schlomo

Member
Are you sure about that? There should still be around 5 GB available for a Basic with no digital games.

Sadly, I only have about 4 GB free on my JP Basic model. I'll try again tonight in case I missed something, but I had to connect a USB stick to install any data packs.

Incidentally, do you know if save games can be moved/backed up to the internal system memory?
 

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
Sadly, I only have about 4 GB free on my JP Basic model. I'll try again tonight in case I missed something, but I had to connect a USB stick to install any data packs.

Incidentally, do you know if save games can be moved/backed up to the internal system memory?

You should be able to move/copy all the game data to a USB stick (so including save games).
 

Schlomo

Member
You should be able to move/copy all the game data to a USB stick (so including save games).

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I have install data and save game on the USB stick currently, but I wonder if I can copy or back up just the save game to internal memory (because I heard USB sticks aren't really safe for Wii U data).

Since there is no option for individual files I guess I'd have to delete the installed files first in order to make it fit, but I'm not sure if it's not locked anyway (i.e. can only be moved but not backed up).
 

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
Sorry, I should have been clearer. I have install data and save game on the USB stick currently, but I wonder if I can copy or back up just the save game to internal memory (because I heard USB sticks aren't really safe for Wii U data).

Since there is no option for individual files I guess I'd have to delete the installed files first in order to make it fit, but I'm not sure if it's not locked anyway (i.e. can only be moved but not backed up).

No, you can't move just the save file unfortunately. I don't remember exactly if you can duplicate the data, I will check when I go home from work.
 

levious

That throwing stick stunt of yours has boomeranged on us.
Is the co op mode worth getting into or is it just a small side option?
 

Hasemo

(;・∀・)ハッ?
2 screenshots from the last continent:
1, 2.

Spent most of the day clearing out Normal Quests and exploring. Got all my companies to lv 5 (maximum) etc.

Speaking of post-game stuff, does anyone know:
- How to unlock lv. 5 of field skills? I'm guessing there will be a quest for that when you reach level 4 for all of them (I'm currently at 4/3/3).
- Does anyone know how to unlock lv. 60 Doll frames? According to the wiki they should be unlocked after finishing the game, but I don't see any higher than lv. 50.

Is the co op mode worth getting into or is it just a small side option?
A small side option, quests don't take more than 3-5 minutes and sometimes there are only world bosses available, no normal quests.
 
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