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[Verger]

All my fears have been realized with this game. Why did they go this route? This all sounds terrible.

I knew when they announced that it was going to have a silent protagonist that that was a bad sign. I don't. I don't want an offline MMO. Much less a passive online one. No, I want an actual story focused JRPG. The big environments, mmo combat, and shallow side quests of the original did'nt take away from that. This though? This sounds like it does. Now we have something that hardly has a main character. I hate silent protags when they really are just a player avatar. It always means there's going to be a lack of story. I knew that's what would happen here and well it sounds like it has.

I knew when we hardly saw party members that there was going to be some kind of Dragon's Dogma pawn system. Which I don't want. I wan actual party members who are characters.

I wanted the game to feel like a huge journey like the first one. Not a mission structured MMO.

I wanted them to actually have meaningful side quests. Not cheapen out and say "fuck it" to the flaw of the first one.

The game sounds very disappointing.

I share your concerns. Deeply so as I've already endured one single player MMO in Dragon Age Inquisition that I'd care not to repeat, as that game was the epitome of "a whole lot of nothing" with its worthless quests and time-killing filler.

Of course we can't deny that the original Xenoblade also had a mission-based quest structure, though perhaps not as blatant as this new game. The Doll/Skell system at least here looks to help in terms of getting around the world.

Even so, I am cautiously approaching this game now opposed to being more excited. The gameplay structure in addition to the heavy heavy push into super Anime territory this game is flaunting (yes, the original Xenoblade had influences, but not as blatant, in-your-face, as this game and it's designs) have tempered my expectations greatly.

The music is definitely the biggest disappointment to me so far. The vocal songs are pure ugh. The soundtrack is Anime, which is to be expected given Sawano is an Anime composer. If you like that stuff I guess you're good. But I personally don't feel anime music makes great game music.

 

[Lilo_D]

All my fears have been realized with this game. Why did they go this route? This all sounds terrible.

I knew when they announced that it was going to have a silent protagonist that that was a bad sign. I don't. I don't want an offline MMO. Much less a passive online one. No, I want an actual story focused JRPG. The big environments, mmo combat, and shallow side quests of the original did'nt take away from that. This though? This sounds like it does. Now we have something that hardly has a main character. I hate silent protags when they really are just a player avatar. It always means there's going to be a lack of story. I knew that's what would happen here and well it sounds like it has.

I knew when we hardly saw party members that there was going to be some kind of Dragon's Dogma pawn system. Which I don't want. I wan actual party members who are characters.

I wanted the game to feel like a huge journey like the first one. Not a mission structured MMO.

I wanted them to actually have meaningful side quests. Not cheapen out and say "fuck it" to the flaw of the first one.

The game sounds very disappointing.

Sad to see but you can enjoy other jrpg this year

 

[Bebpo]

All my fears have been realized with this game. Why did they go this route? This all sounds terrible.

I knew when they announced that it was going to have a silent protagonist that that was a bad sign. I don't. I don't want an offline MMO. Much less a passive online one. No, I want an actual story focused JRPG. The big environments, mmo combat, and shallow side quests of the original did'nt take away from that. This though? This sounds like it does. Now we have something that hardly has a main character. I hate silent protags when they really are just a player avatar. It always means there's going to be a lack of story. I knew that's what would happen here and well it sounds like it has.

I knew when we hardly saw party members that there was going to be some kind of Dragon's Dogma pawn system. Which I don't want. I wan actual party members who are characters.

I wanted the game to feel like a huge journey like the first one. Not a mission structured MMO.

I wanted them to actually have meaningful side quests. Not cheapen out and say "fuck it" to the flaw of the first one.

The game sounds very disappointing.

The Kizuna quests are pretty good full voiced meaningful side quests that develop the characters. And there's a bunch of them. Normal quests are ok; Simple quests are junk but you can have 20 in your pocket at any time so you get to see quest markers on certain monsters and get quest complete on grabbing certain collection items so it's a nice little non-required bonus.

Main story missions are solid. Exploration is a little less meaningful imo on foot as there's a lot of empty space with nothing to do and that all looks the same, but maybe when I get dolls and move faster that'll feel better.

 

[Kyoufu]

There's a really cool, awesome scene that happens in chapter 5 which highlights how terrible silent protagonists can be. This aspect of the game is very disappointing. I wish JRPGs would stop doing this.

 

[TheGreatLugia]

All my fears have been realized with this game. Why did they go this route? This all sounds terrible.

I knew when they announced that it was going to have a silent protagonist that that was a bad sign. I don't. I don't want an offline MMO. Much less a passive online one. No, I want an actual story focused JRPG. The big environments, mmo combat, and shallow side quests of the original did'nt take away from that. This though? This sounds like it does. Now we have something that hardly has a main character. I hate silent protags when they really are just a player avatar. It always means there's going to be a lack of story. I knew that's what would happen here and well it sounds like it has.

I knew when we hardly saw party members that there was going to be some kind of Dragon's Dogma pawn system. Which I don't want. I wan actual party members who are characters.

I wanted the game to feel like a huge journey like the first one. Not a mission structured MMO.

I wanted them to actually have meaningful side quests. Not cheapen out and say "fuck it" to the flaw of the first one.

The game sounds very disappointing.

How closely have you been following the game in the last few weeks exactly? The structure it's presented in might be a bit different, but it's been known for a while now that the game has a large story emphasis. Two of the famitsu reviewers even said that the game has too many long cutscenes.

The game also does have a full party of characters. At the very least there's Elma, Lyn, Irina, Guin, Lao, Douglas, Ruu, and a few others I can't remember the names of off the top of my head.

 

[Bebpo]

There's a really cool, awesome scene that happens in chapter 5 which highlights how terrible silent protagonists can be. This aspect of the game is very disappointing. I wish JRPGs would stop doing this.

Well going by the Iwata Asks, they probably wrote that scene originally with the real MC who spoke and was a character. Then halfway they decided to do the online portion and the MC got sacrificed, which is a shame.

The way the story cutscenes keep pausing so you can nod affirmative or negative is kind of ._. and does not at all make up for not having a Shulk or a Shion or a Fei.

I'm fine with the online integration, but I wish it didn't have to negatively impact the story by killing off the MC they had created.

 

[Aaronrules380]

Reading all the impressions has gotten me even more excited. Hope it comes out in NA soon

 

[threelights]

I wanted them to actually have meaningful side quests. Not cheapen out and say "fuck it" to the flaw of the first one.

This was my reaction but for the battle system rather than the sidequests.

Either way, I'm not playing the game, but I've read pretty much everything on the main story and I can definitely say that the game has a damn good story. It's not Xenogears-level, but it's still amazing. So on that front they delivered.

As for the sidequests, people are actually saying that despite there being generic ones there are also many quests that are way better than the first game. So unless they did the same mistake of locking the good sidequests behind the generic ones, I think you're fine only doing the good stuff.

Man, I didn't realize Xenoblade came out almost this time of year in 2010 in Japan. Those 5 years went by fast. Felt like it just came out a few years ago. Thought it was more like 3.

I hope the development period isn't so long for their next game. Especially if they build off this one.

If the new Nintendo console is indeed coming sooner than expected, I doubt they can reuse much stuff... And these games are really packed on content, so a 4-5 year dev cycle is pretty common. I don't doubt we'll have to wait that long at all =X

Unless MonolithSoft has another team making another game right now to cover the gap a bit.

 

[Aaronrules380]

This was my reaction but for the battle system rather than the sidequests.

Either way, I'm not playing the game, but I've read pretty much everything on the main story and I can definitely say that the game has a damn good story. It's not Xenogears-level, but it's still amazing. So on that front they delivered.

As for the sidequests, people are actually saying that despite there being generic ones there are also many quests that are way better than the first game. So unless they did the same mistake of locking the good sidequests behind the generic ones, I think you're fine only doing the good stuff.


If the new Nintendo console is indeed coming sooner than expected, I doubt they can reuse much stuff... And these games are really packed on content, so a 4-5 year dev cycle is pretty common. I don't doubt we'll have to wait that long at all =X

Unless MonolithSoft has another team making another game right now to cover the gap a bit.

I liked Xenoblade's battle system. I feel like people just complain because it's not an action game, but it's not meant to be

 

[Bilollipop]

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.

If you have two usbs, you can copy the entire file to one usb, delete only the game data from the internal and copy the save data to another. You have to redownload the game, or copy it from the other usb. I did that for Mario Kart when my USB started having errors and I needed to format it.

 

[ivysaur12]

I wanted them to actually have meaningful side quests. Not cheapen out and say "fuck it" to the flaw of the first one.

I'm not playing the game, where are you getting this from? Almost everything about the Affinity Quests has been the exact opposite.

 

[Bebpo]

Unless MonolithSoft has another team making another game right now to cover the gap a bit.

Baten Kaitos 3 in the mean time on 3DS successor would be the best. Really want another BK.

 

[Kyoufu]

Well going by the Iwata Asks, they probably wrote that scene originally with the real MC who spoke and was a character. Then halfway they decided to do the online portion and the MC got sacrificed, which is a shame.

The way the story cutscenes keep pausing so you can nod affirmative or negative is kind of ._. and does not at all make up for not having a Shulk or a Shion or a Fei.

I'm fine with the online integration, but I wish it didn't have to negatively impact the story by killing off the MC they had created.

Well, now I'm even more bummed knowing that they killed the most important character just for online elements in a JRPG. Dammit, Monolith!

 

[threelights]

I liked Xenoblade's battle system. I feel like people just complain because it's not an action game, but it's not meant to be

The customization is indeed fantastic. But when a battle actually starts it's really really bad.

I don't want it to be an action game, I've said before, a turn based system would work so much better and be so much more fun than this pseudo-MMO thing they did. Action, turn-based, ATB, or whatever other system they wanted to implement would probably work better than what they have...

Of course, I'm not judging XCX here, just XC. But I honestly doubt that in XCX the battle system got THAT much better...

Baten Kaitos 3 in the mean time on 3DS successor would be the best. Really want another BK.

And now I want a new Baten Kaitos.

 

[Verger]

I'll be generally satisfied as long as the Quests are overall better than those in Dragon Age

 

[Kyoufu]

I'll be generally satisfied as long as the Quests are overall better than those in Dragon Age

So far, they aren't.

 

[Bebpo]

The customization is indeed fantastic. But when a battle actually starts it's really really bad.

I don't want it to be an action game, I've said before, a turn based system would work so much better and be so much more fun than this pseudo-MMO thing they did. Action, turn-based, ATB, or whatever other system they wanted to implement would probably work better than what they have...

Of course, I'm not judging XCX here, just XC. But I honestly doubt that in XCX the battle system got THAT much better...

The in-battle stuff isn't much different so far (haven't got the mechs yet), but the customization pre-battle has even more depth and battle build out options to fine tune your strategies. I think that's fine tbh, rpg combat should be mostly about using the right strategies and adapting based on what happens battle. The depth should be the strategy building pre-battle.

So far, they aren't.

I haven't played DA yet, but you don't think the Kizuna quests are pretty good?

 

[Otakumegane]

I wonder if the "real mc" they talk about was the guy in the 1st trailer.

 

[Verger]

I'll be generally satisfied as long as the Quests are overall better than those in Dragon Age Inquisition

So far, they aren't.

Aaaaaand......crunk...

well that just blew my expectations down to dirt. Might end up passing on this. Such a shame after the original game was so good.

 

[Vena]

Its like some people want to be disappointed, reading be damned.

Aaaaaand......crunk...

well that just blew my expectations down to dirt. Might end up passing on this. Such a shame after the original game was so good.

And we have plenty of people who disagree with that ascertion. But screw it.

 

[MilkBeard]

On the flipside, I was pretty disappointed in Xenobade Chronicles, so something a little bit different is welcome (in my opinion).

 

[TheGreatLugia]

I wonder if the "real mc" they talk about was the guy in the 1st trailer.

The reveal teaser showed a chat window so Monolith had already decided on adding the online component by then.

 

[threelights]

The in-battle stuff isn't much different so far (haven't got the mechs yet), but the customization pre-battle has even more depth and battle build out options to fine tune your strategies. I think that's fine tbh, rpg combat should be mostly about using the right strategies and adapting based on what happens battle. The depth should be the strategy building pre-battle.

The pre battle in Xenoblade was already fantastic. I had a guess that it would be this much better once they started showing all the new stuff (one single extra slot for the equipment made me go super happy because I knew how much just that would add. And then they revealed even more stuff as trailers/Directs went on, all of that on top of Dolls and I was/am very hyped for this).

As to the actual battle itself, I'll disagree, honestly. JRPGs have shown us time and again that a battle system can be fun, action or not. It's imo one of the main advantages JRPGs have over WRPGs.

 

[Kyoufu]

I haven't played DA yet, but you don't think the Kizuna quests are pretty good?

I've only done the ones that have been available so far, and while they're not bad they haven't blown my mind or anything. The rewards (usually special Arts) are definitely worth doing for though.

I'll reserve final judgement until I've done them all.

 

[Bebpo]

I've only done the ones that have been available so far, and while they're not bad they haven't blown my mind or anything. The rewards (usually special Arts) are definitely worth doing for though.

I'll reserve final judgement until I've done them all.

Yeah, I mean they're not amazing, but I think they're good sidequests that have some actual story and develop the characters. The production values are about on par with the main story missions.

 

[ivysaur12]

Baten Kaitos 3 in the mean time on 3DS successor would be the best. Really want another BK.

stop hurting me.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Gameplay. Maybe it's just me but there's a lot of stuff to learn and understand.

It's not just you. The game has a boat load of systems and it more or less just leaves it up to you whether you explore them or not. The person who reviewed it for game.watch mentioned that even at 30 hours played, he probably had only mastered 20% or so of those systems. Sounds about right to me. I'm at around 16 hours played and my party is around level 20, but there's still a lot that I have zero clue about.

I'll be generally satisfied as long as the Quests are overall better than those in Dragon Age

Wait, which Dragon Age?

 

[Bebpo]

It's not just you. The game has a boat load of systems and it more or less just leaves it up to you whether you explore them or not. The person who reviewed it for game.watch mentioned that even at 30 hours played, he probably had only mastered 20% or so of those systems. Sounds about right to me. I'm at around 16 hours played and my party is around level 20, but there's still a lot that I have zero clue about.

Game reminds me of End of Eternity/Resonance of Fate in that respect.

 

[Vena]

It's not just you. The game has a boat load of systems and it more or less just leaves it up to you whether you explore them or not. The person who reviewed it for game.watch mentioned that even at 30 hours played, he probably had only mastered 20% or so of those systems. Sounds about right to me. I'm at around 16 hours played and my party is around level 20, but there's still a lot that I have zero clue about.



Wait, which Dragon Age?

What was the jist of their review?

 

[Kyoufu]

It's not just you. The game has a boat load of systems and it more or less just leaves it up to you whether you explore them or not. The person who reviewed it for game.watch mentioned that even at 30 hours played, he probably had only mastered 20% or so of those systems. Sounds about right to me. I'm at around 16 hours played and my party is around level 20, but there's still a lot that I have zero clue about.

Well here's me thinking the problem was with me. Feels like they crammed too much into the game with very little explanation. I don't think any of the gameplay systems are bad, but it feels like there's two or three games' worth of stuff to learn and master :x

 

[Verger]

Wait, which Dragon Age?

Inquisition.

 

[StreetsAhead]

Yeah, I mean they're not amazing, but I think they're good sidequests that have some actual story and develop the characters. The production values are about on par with the main story missions.

I realized last night that the production values/voice acting is probably why the DLC characters are relatively expensive, since they come with three Kizuna Quests each.

It's not just you. The game has a boat load of systems and it more or less just leaves it up to you whether you explore them or not. The person who reviewed it for game.watch mentioned that even at 30 hours played, he probably had only mastered 20% or so of those systems. Sounds about right to me. I'm at around 16 hours played and my party is around level 20, but there's still a lot that I have zero clue about.

Yeah, me too. It can feel overwhelming. I've barely touched on company management, device creation, gear strengthening, or any of the online stuff. Just last night I discovered that you can trade tickets for enemy drop materials (including rare ones) in BLADE home, which would have saved me some time during the 'Day in the Life of BLADE' Kizuna Quest.

 

[Red Devil]

Its like some people want to be disappointed, reading be damned.



And we have plenty of people who disagree with that ascertion. But screw it.

Indeed, it's getting a little tiresome. I'm starting to think that people bummed with this game either didn't play or didn't like the first one but just saw the graphics of this one.

 

[threelights]

Could you guys actually do a quick list of the systems the game presents you? I'm actually intrigued by just how many there are.

 

[Omega Kirby]

Framerates, for the love of god tell me its good.

 

[Diffense]

So the Famitsu review wasn't completely off the mark about the number of systems and how some aren't explained in detail. I feel OK with optional systems to experiment with if they aren't critical to success.

 

[alvis.exe]

Man I must have some really low expectations for video games 'cause all I want from this game is tons of places to explore and a somewhat interesting story. Sounds like the game more than meets those two expectations so I'm good. Excited to hear that it's complex actually. Loved figuring out how things worked in XC through trial and error and I can't wait to dive into this. Gonna have tons of Aha! moments!

Anyways, I've been doing all I can to avoid story spoilers so no spoilers thread for me but I have to know just one little thing.

Assuming there are religious allusions and symbolism in the game, does anyone know if it's more on the lines of Xenoblade where it was more subdued or more like Xenosaga with outright blatant imagery and allusions?

 

[Bebpo]

So the Famitsu review wasn't completely off the mark about the number of systems and how some aren't explained in detail. I feel OK with optional systems to experiment with if they aren't critical to success.

Which is sort of funny sine the first hour or two of the game is tutorial and you're like STOP WITH THE TUTORIALS I JUST WANT TO PLAY.

And then there's still two dozen unexplained systems haha. It's cool though, I like my rpgs as complex as possible.

 

[Kyoufu]

Could you guys actually do a quick list of the systems the game presents you? I'm actually intrigued by just how many there are.

No such thing as a "quick list" of the systems in this game. I wish I was kidding.

I don't even know where to begin. The combat alone has:

Targeting various enemy parts
Arts + upgrades
Recast
Tension (TP)
Soul voice
Combo
Overclock Gear (OCG)
Positioning
Enemy part destruction

And that's on foot. There's also Dolls too. Then there' a billion other things to learn like what Unions do, Squad Quests, Kizuna Quests, Data Probes, etc etc.

 

[Bebpo]

Company Management
----------------------------------
Can be leveled naturally through ??? or by money, creates new equipment for purchase at the store

Device making (ability gems basically, like Attack Accuracy + 10%, HP+10%)
----------------------------------
Device affixing (putting the gems on equipment)

Unions
------------
Union daily Salary
Team passive missions
Team active missions
Has some support attributes I think
You get xp/gold and stuff when other people do certain things in their games

Information
-----------------
White Markers - 2 options to talk to every named NPC who is on Kizuna web
Green markers - passive info
Blue markers - not ready to understand info
Gold markers - segment update info

G-probe System - affects surrounding zone
-----------------------
Can install different mods for different zone effects
Can link mods

Simple Quest
--------------------
Can hold up to 20, "collect X amount of collectible resources", "defeat X amount of certain enemy", "Go talk to person and give them X amount of money"

Normal Quest
-------------------
Stories and do stuff

Kizuna Quest
------------------
Higher production quests
Have level and party member requirements

Main Quests
------------------
Have requirements (need to have finished X sidequest, need X continent completion %), normal and kizuna missions can have requirements too.

Party Members
-----------------
Need to find them in town to change them into party
Can recruit other online players who are just standing around the map

Support Characters
-----------------
Can have non-party members online characters be support characters; I don't know what this does

Just throwing out some systems.

 

[Bebpo]

No such thing as a "quick list" of the systems in this game. I wish I was kidding.

I don't even know where to begin. The combat alone has:

Targeting various enemy parts
Arts + upgrades
Recast
Tension (TP)
Soul voice
Combo
Overclock Gear (OCG)
Positioning
Enemy part destruction

And that's on foot. There's also Dolls too. Then there' a billion other things to learn like what Unions do, Squad Quests, Kizuna Quests, Data Probes, etc etc.

Don't forget in battle there's also:

Job Systems this time
--------------------------------
Each job has different artes; characters you recruit are stuck in one job, MC can change jobs freely; each job uses different weapons.

Basically an MMO job.

and yeah

Upgrading Artes is a big deal in this one
------------------------------
Your Artes suck initially and standard attacks suck even more.
You use BP (battle points) to level up your Artes which increases their stats and upgrades their status effects they affect

BP
-----------------------------
Get it when you level I think
Also get it for filling in collectipedia

Collectipedia
---------------------------
Give 1 of every item in the game to fill it all up, get BP for certain items

Soul Voice
--------------------------
Way too complicated to write how this works

 

[bigjig]

Company Management
----------------------------------
Can be leveled naturally through ??? or by money, creates new equipment for purchase at the store

Device making (ability gems basically, like Attack Accuracy + 10%, HP+10%)
----------------------------------
Device affixing (putting the gems on equipment)

Unions
------------
Union daily Salary
Team passive missions
Team active missions
Has some support attributes I think
You get xp/gold and stuff when other people do certain things in their games

Information
-----------------
White Markers - 2 options to talk to every named NPC who is on Kizuna web
Green markers - passive info
Blue markers - not ready to understand info
Gold markers - segment update info

G-probe System - affects surrounding zone
-----------------------
Can install different mods for different zone effects
Can link mods

Simple Quest
--------------------
Can hold up to 20, "collect X amount of collectible resources", "defeat X amount of certain enemy", "Go talk to person and give them X amount of money"

Normal Quest
-------------------
Stories and do stuff

Kizuna Quest
------------------
Higher production quests
Have level and party member requirements

Main Quests
------------------
Have requirements (need to have finished X sidequest, need X continent completion %), normal and kizuna missions can have requirements too.

Party Members
-----------------
Need to find them in town to change them into party
Can recruit other online players who are just standing around the map

Support Characters
-----------------
Can have non-party members online characters be support characters; I don't know what this does

Just throwing out some systems.

I might put this game on the back burner once Golden Week ends and The Witcher 3 is out. I don't even know how to collect my union salary lol. Fun game, but trying to learn all these systems feels like a second job. :/

 

[Deleted member 17706]

What was the jist of their review?

It goes into a lot of detail and the guy still hadn't completed the game, but I'll quickly translate the final summary bit for you:

嘘はつけない。いや、嘘をつく必要はないのだ。「XenobladeX」は正真正銘のRPGを愛する人達へ捧げられた、初心者に容赦しない本格的なRPGだ。適当にショップに寄って、武器を強化して次のボスを倒す為に目的地に向かうという単純な作業の繰り返しで成り立っているゲームではない。1つの未知の惑星を開拓する覚悟が必要なのだ。すぐ理解できる要素は1つもない。豊富に用意された要素を深く理解する必要があり、大切なステップを無視して無理矢理進もうとすると、あとで大変なことになる、というようなゲームだ。

　本作はじっくり時間をかけて、じっくりあらゆる仕組みを理解して、じっくりマスターしていくゲームなのだ。今回のプレイでは30時間ぐらい遊んだ。その時間は長く感じられるが、実際はまだゲームシステムの20パーセントしかマスターしていないレベルだと、自分は思う。いや、それ以下かもしれない。正直に言って、諦めようと思ったときが何度かあった。開拓せずにさっさとストーリーを進めたいとも思った。データプローブの設置はどうでもいい、早く次のロケーションに行きたいとも感じた。

　しかし、その考えは間違っていた。少しずつブレイド組織の一員としての存在意義を実感してきたら、危険が多い惑星ミラに移住した人類の為に頑張れる気持ちが自然と沸き上がるのだ。だから、新たな資源を回収する為に惑星ミラをだんだん開拓したくなっていく。データプローブ設置の大切さもわかってくるし、目的はストーリーだけではい、「人類を守ることだよ」、という大きな使命の大切さが心に伝わってくる。

　その大切な思いがあれば、どんなに難しいシステムでもマスターしたくなる気持ちが芽生える。最初の自分はストーリーだけを進めたがるわがままな子供ゲーマーだが、ゲームの進行と共に大人ゲーマーへと成長していく。本作は非常に複雑で難易度が高いが、時間をかけて最初のハードルを乗り越える価値は絶対ある。決して初心者向けではないが、はっきり言って初心者にも、人類の新らたな未来を作るために、惑星ミラで頑張って欲しい。

I can't lie. Actually, I don't need to lie. Xenoblade X is a serious RPG made especially for people who love serious RPGs. There's no mercy to be found for newcomers here. It's not a game in which you simply repeat the same old process of visiting a few shops, upgrading some gear and then heading off to the next destination in order to defeat whatever boss might be there. You need to go into this game with the idea that you're going to be a pioneer on an unexplored planet. There isn't a single element in this game that will make sense right away. It's a game in which you need to gain a deep understanding of each of its many components before moving on. If you try to skip over an important step and proceed anyway, it will come back to bite you later on.

This is the kind of game where you need to spend a lot of time carefully learning all of the systems and slowly mastering them. Before writing this, I played the game for about 30 hours. It feels like a long time, but I don't think I have mastered more than maybe 20% of the game systems. Maybe even less than that. Honestly, I felt like giving up on more than one occasion. There were times when I didn't feel like doing any of the pioneering stuff and just wanted to get on with the story. I didn't care about setting up another data probe. I just wanted to go to the next location.

That was the wrong way to approach the game. As you gradually realize the significance of being a member of BLADE, you'll naturally start to feel motivated to fight for humanity on this new and dangerous planet. Because of that, you will want to work on cultivating Mira in order to gather new resources. You will come to understand the importance of placing data probes. The goal isn't just to see the story, it's to protect humanity, and the importance of this mission will become clear to you as you play.

As long as you approach the game in this way, the motivation to master all of the systems, no matter how complicated, will come naturally. You start the game as a selfish child gamer who just wants to play through the story, but as the game progresses, you will grow into an adult gamer. Xenoblade X is an extremely complicated and difficult game, but it is absolutely worth taking the time to get over that first hurdle. It is certainly not a game aimed at newcomers to the genre, but I hope that even newcomers will give it a try and help create a new future for humanity on planet Mira.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

No such thing as a "quick list" of the systems in this game. I wish I was kidding.

I don't even know where to begin. The combat alone has:

Targeting various enemy parts
Arts + upgrades
Recast
Tension (TP)
Soul voice
Combo
Overclock Gear (OCG)
Positioning
Enemy part destruction

And that's on foot. There's also Dolls too. Then there' a billion other things to learn like what Unions do, Squad Quests, Kizuna Quests, Data Probes, etc etc.

Don't forget the big differences between ranged and melee weapons (and that the various damage Arts are tied to these different weapons) and how you will often have to switch between them on the fly in any given battle.

You can also give a variety of orders to your party and customize what Arts they have available at any given time (pretty much set up their hotbar in MMO terms). Oh, and there are skills, which are basically "talents" that give passive bonuses and can also be leveled up using the same resource that you use to level up Arts.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton.

Which is sort of funny sine the first hour or two of the game is tutorial and you're like STOP WITH THE TUTORIALS I JUST WANT TO PLAY.

And then there's still two dozen unexplained systems haha. It's cool though, I like my rpgs as complex as possible.

Yeah, it's funny how they seemingly just say "fuck it" and drop the heavy handed tutorial stuff a couple hours in, despite having only explained maybe a quarter of the systems at most.

I guess they figured that they needed to make at least a minimal effort to explain the most basic of systems.

 

[threelights]

*list1*

*list2*

*list3*

Some of these I didn't know about (I don't think they talked about all of these during Directs and updates). Also amusing how you don't know some of that stuff =P

But yeah, thanks for the write up. I can understand the difficulty in keeping up with all of this.

Things like the Company Management actually sounds fun. And nice to see that they are differentiating the quests.

Every time I see all the systems my hype shoots back up.

 

[Bebpo]

Don't forget the big differences between ranged and melee weapons (and that the various damage Arts are tied to these different weapons) and how you will often have to switch between them on the fly in any given battle.

You can also give a variety of orders to your party and customize what Arts they have available at any given time (pretty much set up their hotbar in MMO terms). Oh, and there are skills, which are basically "talents" that give passive bonuses and can also be leveled up using the same resource that you use to level up Arts.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton.

One thing (of many) that's confusing is sometimes you get a new weapon and it ups the "general physical attack" but lowers the "dps physical attack" stat which I guess is because it's stronger but slower so you're actually doing less damage.

But then since artes and their damages are tied to the general physical attack, you do more damage with the slower and lower DPS weapon. So I think ideally you do want to focus more on the general stat and not the DPS attack since your standard second by second non-arte attack isn't a big part of your damage attacking.

Does that seem right?

 

[StreetsAhead]

BP
-----------------------------
Get it when you level I think
Also get it for filling in collectipedia

You can also get some occaisionally from opening Treasure Boxes in the overworld.

On top of your list, there's upgrading field skills, managing your data probes, BLADE Home customization, all the online stuff (squad missions, trading, reporting, squad quests, world enemies, scouting, etc). There's a lot to do and be done.

 

[Kyoufu]

My puny brain cannot handle this game. :lol

If you love complex games then this will feel like Christmas and Birthday rolled into one.

 

[Kenai]

It goes into a lot of detail and the guy still hadn't completed the game, but I'll quickly translate the final summary bit for you:



I can't lie. Actually, I don't need to lie. Xenoblade X is a serious RPG made especially for people who love serious RPGs. There's no mercy to be found for newcomers here. It's not a game in which you simply repeat the same old process of visiting a few shops, upgrading some gear and then heading off to the next destination in order to defeat whatever boss might be there. You need to go into this game with the idea that you're going to be a pioneer on an unexplored planet. There isn't a single element in this game that will make sense right away. It's a game in which you need to gain a deep understanding of each of its many components before moving on. If you try to skip over an important step and proceed anyway, it will come back to bite you later on.

This is the kind of game where you need to spend a lot of time carefully learning all of the systems and slowly mastering them. Before writing this, I played the game for about 30 hours. It feels like a long time, but I don't think I have mastered more than maybe 20% of the game systems. Maybe even less than that. Honestly, I felt like giving up on more than one occasion. There were times when I didn't feel like doing any of the pioneering stuff and just wanted to get on with the story. I didn't care about setting up another data probe. I just wanted to go to the next location.

That was the wrong way to approach the game. As you gradually realize the significance of being a member of BLADE, you'll naturally start to feel motivated to fight for humanity on this new and dangerous planet. Because of that, you will want to work on cultivating Mira in order to gather new resources. You will come to understand the importance of placing data probes. The goal isn't just to see the story, it's to protect humanity, and the importance of this mission will become clear to you as you play.

As long as you approach the game in this way, the motivation to master all of the systems, no matter how complicated, will come naturally. You start the game as a selfish child gamer who just wants to play through the story, but as the game progresses, you will grow into an adult gamer. Xenoblade X is an extremely complicated and difficult game, but it is absolutely worth taking the time to get over that first hurdle. It is certainly not a game aimed at newcomers to the genre, but I hope that even newcomers will give it a try and help create a new future for humanity on planet Mira.

So Xenoblade meets Dragon's Dogma with a dash of Mass Effect and EVE Online? DELICIOUS.

Cannot. Wait.

 

[EhoaVash]

I found everything in the final fantasy 13 series of games to be overly complicated//confusing //boring

..I'm a bit worried about all the different systems/mechanics in this game being also confusing ..