Any Xenoblade Chronicles lovers out there?

[DisobeyedCargo]

1 hour ago, kingddd said:

My relationship with Xenoblade Chronicles was a strange one.

I knew about Xenoblade Chronicles way before smash bros.  I got the game quite a number of years back and have played it for about 30 hours and while I enjoyed it....I just...stopped...I don't know.  Something about it felt off for me.  But I will give it that the atmosphere, the adventure and the game is a lot of fun and I did enjoy the game once I did get into the momentum and it took me about 4 years to finally beat the game.  The areas are pretty unique to look at the dialogues are great and there are lots of things that I love about the game.

However I still have a lot of problems with the original.  Part of the problem I have with the original game was the game was level dependant.  It's not stat dependant as the stats in your screen was kind of a lie.  For example, if you're 5 levels under you can't hit anything at all but once you're 4 levels under the setup and strategies you can apply into combat becomes really easy.  Which personally I find it one of the biggest design flaws of the game.  Yes there are 30 under level runthroughs but they aren't something that I have the time to research or invest.  The sidequests majority of them were either boring, not worth the investment or was just there.  There are a few that give some nice little rewards and hints but overall, the structure was kind of placed there.  The beginning of the game's map design was great but as time went on, the map really started feeling really half assed and just plain linear boring.  It definitely felt like the developer ran out of the time and just made everything a hallway at about the 50% mark of the game.  something I didn't like all too well

The characters, I know I'm getting a flak for this but I really did not care for any of the main casts.  Dunban was the only one of the group that I really liked and loved for the majority of the game.  However Shulk while I thought was great in the beginning as the story progressed, I started not liking him more and more.  I really don't know why....I really wanted to love these characters but the majority of them did not do anything for me.  It's also the reason why I probably didn't enjoy the story as much as everyone says they did.  I actually legitimately tried my best to keep awake but majority of the time I was half asleep.  I'm not saying the story is bad but it was definitely not to my personal taste.  DIdn't help the fact I was constantly looking at the time and noticing it's been past 20 mins in some cases when a cutscene ran.

I do like the game but it wasn't something I would consider the greatest JRPG to ever grasp that I always hear everyone talked about.

Xenoblade Chronicles X though was a completely different beast for me and I've became a crazed fanboy of the game it was kind of insane.  I don't know why but I really really really loved this game over XC.

I loved the sidequest, I loved the story, I loved the lore, I loved the characters and I especially loved the world of Mira.  Every moment I wanted to explore one specific area to another and I continously wanted to keep going that I played the game almost every single day.  Open world design has always been my favourite part of games and XCX honestly surpassed my expectations way more than the original game.

The big thing that I loved was the sidequests in the game.  The sidequests are the main attraction of the game. There are so many nice events, lots of lore explained and the amount of characters you interact with each Xenos are just wonderful.  I loved the game so much I actually 100% the dang thing.  The gameplay is just so much fun from explorations, to combat, the amount of options and the amount of things to were great that I never gotten bored throughout my 200 hour adventure.

The characters are the most relateable to me because they deal with a lot of their inner demons and special party members get their own sidequests when you use them enough and that's something I really appreciate.  For example if you build affinity with Hope you learn that she has a certain demon inside her that she's only doing the nice things because she wants attention and she feels that people will judge her for doing all this.  There are a lot of nice themes that each character deals with and the choices you make in the sidequests and some cutscenes affect a lot of the outcomes.  One example, is that you'll see Elma is your usual calm, collective and laidback colonel but when Irina gets into a fist fight and you chose not intervene, the Elma you thought where she would try and stop a fight is willing to get into a street fight for her friends.  It's those small details that I really love and enjoy.

Are there flaws?  Yeah..most of them are stuff like fetch quests and the grind can be a bit of a nuisance.  Skell combat could use a bit of tweaks and the online system was kind of half assed.  But overall, I loved Xenoblade Chronicles X and I look forward to a sequel of it.

 

The reason that enemies are nearly impossible to hit at 5 levels above you is because they recive a hidden agility boost, making it much harder to hit them. It's a form of a balancing mechanic, your stats still definitely matter. Throuougjt my time playing it I managed to stay evenly leveld the entire time.

 

It's still nice to hear differing opinions about this game and it's spiritual successor though. I'm glad if you did find some joy in it and if you didn't, then that's fine. We don't all like the same games, that would be boring. You definitely raised some valid points I welcome your critique.

[DisobeyedCargo]

5 hours ago, TheEnd said:

I just wanted to say Satorl Marsh is magical

There, you can carry on with your lives now

Satorl marsh at night, almost nothing better, almost. Nothing beats Makna Falls.

[kingddd]

Just now, DisobeyedCargo said:

The reason that enemies are nearly impossible to hit at 5 levels above you is because they recive a hidden agility boost, making it much harder to hit them. It's a form of a balancing mechanic, your stats still definitely matter. Throuougjt my time playing it I managed to stay evenly leveld the entire time.

 

It's still nice to hear differing opinions about this game and it's spiritual successor though. I'm glad if you did find some joy in it and if you didn't, then that's fine. We don't all like the same games, that would be boring. You definitely raised some valid points I welcome your critique.

Yeah I am aware of the artificial level scaling system which imo is something that should not be hidden to you.  X fixed that issue for me that levels are no longer a factor but your current setup, stats and your build matters the most now.  Don't get me wrong though, I still enjoyed the game but I definitely do not hold it up to the pedestal.

[DisobeyedCargo]

1 minute ago, kingddd said:

Yeah I am aware of the artificial level scaling system which imo is something that should not be hidden to you.  X fixed that issue for me that levels are no longer a factor but your current setup, stats and your build matters the most now.  Don't get me wrong though, I still enjoyed the game but I definitely do not hold it up to the pedestal.

And that's perfectly fine if it's not your favorite game, it may be my favorite game, but I still recognize it's flaws, no game is without them. It's good to hear what others think of this game I hold in such high regards. It's also nice to hear X getting some love. I don't know if this is just my bad luck but I see X getting trashed a lot on places like GameFaq's, correct me if I'm wrong though.

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, kingddd said:

The beginning of the game's map design was great but as time went on, the map really started feeling really half assed and just plain linear boring.  It definitely felt like the developer ran out of the time and just made everything a hallway at about the 50% mark of the game.  something I didn't like all too well

The characters, I know I'm getting a flak for this but I really did not care for any of the main casts.  Dunban was the only one of the group that I really liked and loved for the majority of the game.  However Shulk while I thought was great in the beginning as the story progressed, I started not liking him more and more.  I really don't know why....I really wanted to love these characters but the majority of them did not do anything for me.  It's also the reason why I probably didn't enjoy the story as much as everyone says they did.  I actually legitimately tried my best to keep awake but majority of the time I was half asleep.  I'm not saying the story is bad but it was definitely not to my personal taste.  DIdn't help the fact I was constantly looking at the time and noticing it's been past 20 mins in some cases when a cutscene ran.

I get these criticisms. Around Sword Valley things do start feeling more linear, although the Fallen Arm and Agniratha do mitigate this feeling somewhat. And I admit that the Ether Mines and Galahad Fortress are both on the mediocre side. And there are filler issues, namely Satorl Marsh and the Central Factory, where almost nothing of value happens (Satorl is mostly a rest after the epic events of Bionis's Leg/Ether Mines/Colony 6, with a slight introduction to the High Entia, the Central Factory isn't even this nor as pretty as Satorl).

On the characters side, Sharla (and that other person) are weak. Reyn is just your usual bro pal for the male protag- nothing more. Riki is a mascot character (albeit better than Tatsu- I didn't need him blabbing with Lin right in the middle of the final chapter). Seven, well their mere existence is itself arguably a bad thing. Shulk, I can see some clear grounds for not liking him- the Ether Mines stuff and the Sword Valley thing are the biggest criticisms I can see. Dunban establishes himself as a complete badass early on, and then transitions fairly well to veteran warrior, only Sword Valley blights him. Melia though I have a harder time seeing someone not like her, or at least pity due to everything that happens to her over the course of the game.

 

And I too am looking forward to a potential XCX2 later down the line. The ending cliffhangers must simply be resolved! And then we have the unaddressed issue of the "Ghost" xenoforms- the enigmatic non-Ganglion aliens who also attacked the Earth and then attacked the White Whale crashing it into Mira. For some reason the Ghosts are conspicuously absent, despite their apparent desire to destroy humanity. Are the Ghosts agents of the mysterious planet Mira (or whoever is using Mira), or is the inability of the Ganglion to escape Mira due to an inexplicable force a byproduct of some form of protection which Mira is exerting to protect humanity and its xenoform allies from the Ghosts?

Edited May 26, 2017 by Interdimensional Observer

[DisobeyedCargo]

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I get these criticisms. Around Sword Valley things do start feeling more linear, although the Fallen Arm and Agniratha do mitigate this feeling somewhat. And I admit that the Ether Mines and Galahad Fortress are both on the mediocre side. And there are filler issues, namely Satorl Marsh and the Central Factory, where almost nothing of value happens (Satorl is mostly a rest after the epic events of Bionis's Leg/Ether Mines/Colony 6, with a slight introduction to the High Entia, the Central Factory isn't even this nor as pretty as Satorl).

On the characters side, Sharla (and that other person) are weak. Reyn is just your usual bro pal for the male protag- nothing more. Riki is a mascot character (albeit better than Tatsu- I didn't need him blabbing with Lin right in the middle of the final chapter). Seven, well their mere existence is itself arguably a bad thing. Shulk, I can see some clear grounds for not liking him- the Ether Mines stuff and the Sword Valley thing are the biggest criticisms I can see. Dunban establishes himself as a complete badass early on, and then transitions fairly well to veteran warrior, only Sword Valley blights him. Melia though I have a harder time seeing someone not like her, or at least pity due to everything that happens to her over the course of the game.

 

And I too am looking forward to a potential XCX2 later down the line. The ending cliffhangers must simply be resolved! And then we have the unaddressed issue of the "Ghost" xenoforms- the enigmatic non-Ganglion aliens who also attacked the Earth and then attacked the White Whale crashing it into Mira. For some reason the Ghosts are conspicuously absent, despite their apparent desire to destroy humanity. Are the Ghosts agents of the mysterious planet Mira (or whoever is using Mira), or is the inability of the Ganglion to escape Mira due to an inexplicable force a byproduct of some form of protection which Mira is exerting to protect humanity and its xenoform allies from the Ghosts?

I do feel you on the characters definitely having some form of an archetype they fit into. I personally love them still, but I still see where they are flawed.

 

some areas do feel like filler, but a lot of them still look and feel nice IMHO. The parts in Mechonis that start to feel more linear I felt was done for a reason, because you are basically in a giant factory. There were some branching paths but it all fit together nice and neatly, all in a linear fashion, and I like that game design choice. I can still definitely see why someone wouldn't though. You have been going through most of the game exploring every single are possible, and when you get to most areas of Meconis, it does kinda disappear, and that bothers some players a lot.

 

that being said, Mehanical Rhythm is BY FAR the better battle theme than Time To Fight in my opinion 

[Armagon]

So after playing Xenoblade Chronicles on the New 3DS, the series basically became my second favorite video game series of all time. I loved pretty much every part about Xenoblade Chronicles. The story, the characters, the God-tier music. No lie, the Xenoblade Chronicles series has the best music out of any Nintendo franchise.

I haven't played X but that's more of just me not having a Wii U. Still, i hear it's good. Not as good as the original but X is different enough from the original where it's hard to compare. X's OST also isn't as strong from what i've heard from it but there are still plenty of amazing tracks there.

I have much hype for Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I'm a bit skeptical on that 2017 release date but this game is still a day one buy for me. If it ends up coming out at the same time as Super Mario Odyssey, well, sorry Mario. Xenoblade takes priority.

[DisobeyedCargo]

6 minutes ago, Armagon said:

So after playing Xenoblade Chronicles on the New 3DS, the series basically became my second favorite video game series of all time. I loved pretty much every part about Xenoblade Chronicles. The story, the characters, the God-tier music. No lie, the Xenoblade Chronicles series has the best music out of any Nintendo franchise.

I haven't played X but that's more of just me not having a Wii U. Still, i hear it's good. Not as good as the original but X is different enough from the original where it's hard to compare. X's OST also isn't as strong from what i've heard from it but there are still plenty of amazing tracks there.

I have much hype for Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I'm a bit skeptical on that 2017 release date but this game is still a day one buy for me. If it ends up coming out at the same time as Super Mario Odyssey, well, sorry Mario. Xenoblade takes priority.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it! If you can, try looking into the other games in the Xeno series. Xeno gears and the Xenosaga games I've heard are really good and XC references them at some points.

Im hyped for XC2, but one thing I wonder is what that sword is the main character is holding. It is very reminiscent of the Monado, but it's clearly not. It's not a Monado at all, they are all gone, and why would their be traces of them left. My though was that the replica Monados still existed and the citizens of the new world figured out a way to manipulate the ether and its frequency in a way that makes it very closely resemble the powers of the Monado, Similar to the Apocrypha generator. 

[Armagon]

4 minutes ago, DisobeyedCargo said:

Im hyped for XC2, but one thing I wonder is what that sword is the main character is holding. It is very reminiscent of the Monado, but it's clearly not. It's not a Monado at all, they are all gone, and why would their be traces of them left. My though was that the replica Monados still existed and the citizens of the new world figured out a way to manipulate the ether and its frequency in a way that makes it very closely resemble the powers of the Monado, Similar to the Apocrypha generator. 

Regarding XC2, i think it's only connected to the original in name only (not counting stuff such as the Nopon). They are basically going the Fire Emblem/Final Fanatsy/Tales route here, where not every game is necessarily connected to each other, story-wise. People theorize that the sword the main character (who we know is called Rex) is holding is actually a form the red-haired girl (named Homura). It'll be easier to explain if i just link to the analysis GameXplain made.

 

Edited May 26, 2017 by Armagon

[DisobeyedCargo]

1 minute ago, Armagon said:

Regarding XC2, i think it's only connected to the original in name only (not counting stuff such as the Nopon). They are basically going the Fire Emblem/Final Fanatsy/Tales route here, where not every game is necessarily connected to each other, story-wise. People theorize that the sword the main character (who we know is called Rex) is holding is actually a form the red-haired girl (named Homura). It'll be easier to explain if i just link to the analysis GameXplain made.

 

I'll make sure to check the video out later, kinda watching a movie so can't now lol. 

I guess it depends on if it is a spiritual successor, I don't think that has been confirmed yet though. 

It woudnt really make sense to continue from Shulk's world though, as there is literally no struggle left in Shulk's world, that story is over.

on another note, music composers Yasunori Mitsuda, ACE, Kenji Hiramatsu, and Manami Kiyota are RETURNING from XC1 to compose the games soundtrack, and creator of the Xeno series himself Tetsuya Takahashi will return as EXCUTIVE DIRECTOR! I have VERY high hopes for this game!

[DisobeyedCargo]

3 hours ago, DisobeyedCargo said:

I'll make sure to check the video out later, kinda watching a movie so can't now lol. 

I guess it depends on if it is a spiritual successor, I don't think that has been confirmed yet though. 

It woudnt really make sense to continue from Shulk's world though, as there is literally no struggle left in Shulk's world, that story is over.

on another note, music composers Yasunori Mitsuda, ACE, Kenji Hiramatsu, and Manami Kiyota are RETURNING from XC1 to compose the games soundtrack, and creator of the Xeno series himself Tetsuya Takahashi will return as EXCUTIVE DIRECTOR! I have VERY high hopes for this game!

Well I checked out the video, and I wanted to say that CHUGGA's best!

 

but seriously, I think thy had some very good ideas about where this game is going. I especially liked when they talked about new forms of exploration, especially swimming, I think we can all appreciate that after having swim all the way to agora shore like 20 times to do all side quests in Xenoblade Chronicles.

[Zera]

My friends had a good laugh when I said, "Xenoblade Chronicles is the most technically impressive 5/10 I have ever played." I'm not really into walking simulators, but the world design and music were amazing.

[DisobeyedCargo]

29 minutes ago, Zera said:

My friends had a good laugh when I said, "Xenoblade Chronicles is the most technically impressive 5/10 I have ever played." I'm not really into walking simulators, but the world design and music were amazing.

Man that does sound like a great joke...

But you raise a valid point. they could have given you more options for moving to other ares. I personally never saw an issue due to the quick travel mechanic, but different modes of transportation would have made it more unique 

[Rex Glacies]

Well, there clearly seems to be a lot of Xenoblade lovers on this site.

I first got interested either when people started wishing for Shulk to be in Smash 4, or right after the game was leaked and Shulk was confirmed for the game. I'm not certain which. Either way, I was wanting to know who he was, and why I had never heard of Xenoblade Chronicles before.

So, I watched Chuggaconroy's Let's Play of the game, as I didn't have the money to get it nor the willingness to invest in a game I though I might not enjoy. And I was immediately hooked. I watched his walkthrough, and when he had medical problems and couldn't upload anymore, I watched another Let's Play, and came back to his after he started uploading again. Then, I watched the cutscenes numerous times... and needless to say, I basically have seen the plot 4+ times through. The game is now officially within my top 3 favorite stories of all time.

Spoiler

One reason it has stuck with me so much is the large ethical dilemma I faced when I finished the story. I consider myself a strong Christian, and so the final plot arc, where Shulk and the gang go on to defeat Zanza- their creator and god- certainly seems to be anti-Christian in nature. And so, I had long philosophical debates in my head about this, and whether there could ever be a justification for killing one's own god. I did eventually come to a conclusion after realizing that the game was basically a large allegory of Gnosticism, but not before this game enhanced my mind and made me interested in philosophy.

So, that was all even before I bought the game. I did eventually get it when it came on the Wii U virtual console, though I'm only at Sword Valley (so about halfway through. Man this game is long.). I also have Xenoblade Chronicles X, of which the story was largely unexplained by the end, though the gameplay is fun (once I figured it out). And while Xenoblade Chronicles 2 looks good, and I'm excited to see more of it (likely at E3), I probably won't get it for a long while, as I don't have the Switch.

[DisobeyedCargo]

6 minutes ago, Rex Glacies said:

Well, there clearly seems to be a lot of Xenoblade lovers on this site.

I first got interested either when people started wishing for Shulk to be in Smash 4, or right after the game was leaked and Shulk was confirmed for the game. I'm not certain which. Either way, I was wanting to know who he was, and why I had never heard of Xenoblade Chronicles before.

So, I watched Chuggaconroy's Let's Play of the game, as I didn't have the money to get it nor the willingness to invest in a game I though I might not enjoy. And I was immediately hooked. I watched his walkthrough, and when he had medical problems and couldn't upload anymore, I watched another Let's Play, and came back to his after he started uploading again. Then, I watched the cutscenes numerous times... and needless to say, I basically have seen the plot 4+ times through. The game is now officially within my top 3 favorite stories of all time.

  Reveal hidden contents

One reason it has stuck with me so much is the large ethical dilemma I faced when I finished the story. I consider myself a strong Christian, and so the final plot arc, where Shulk and the gang go on to defeat Zanza- their creator and god- certainly seems to be anti-Christian in nature. And so, I had long philosophical debates in my head about this, and whether there could ever be a justification for killing one's own god. I did eventually come to a conclusion after realizing that the game was basically a large allegory of Gnosticism, but not before this game enhanced my mind and made me interested in philosophy.

So, that was all even before I bought the game. I did eventually get it when it came on the Wii U virtual console, though I'm only at Sword Valley (so about halfway through. Man this game is long.). I also have Xenoblade Chronicles X, of which the story was largely unexplained by the end, though the gameplay is fun (once I figured it out). And while Xenoblade Chronicles 2 looks good, and I'm excited to see more of it (likely at E3), I probably won't get it for a long while, as I don't have the Switch.

First of all, glad to see we have another Chugga fan here.

Funny you should metion how you  heard of it. I first thought Shulk was a FIRE EMBLEM character, since I knew nothing about either series save for the fact that fire emblem has a lot of sword fighters in smash. I ended up buying the game completely on a whim since I got a new 3ds, I never imagined that it would become my favorite game of all time. 

 

and that whole debate about wether it's okay to kill your god, I feel you on that. I also consider myself a Christian, so this was definitely a strange experience for me, but as you can probably guess, I was fine with it.

 

So who is in your current party, I like seeing what other people did for a team. I personally always switched out a lot because they keep your whole team on level, and it just feels wrong to not let all of them fight. But once you enter Galahad fortress, be ready to hear some of the best music this game has to offer

 

[Locke087]

I am one those people that like X better then the Original. But ya I like both games I picked up the Original when it released for Wii as I needed something to play during the summer. I ended up enjoying it but the constant cliffhangers soured my experience a little as they force me to play it a little faster then I would have liked (as I like to take my time with games for the most part). This plus the more open nature of X is why I enjoy X more the Original. Regardless I love both and am looking forward to 2.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Locke087

[DisobeyedCargo]

2 hours ago, Locke087 said:

I am one those people that like X better then the Original. But ya I like both games I picked up the Original when it released for Wii as I needed something to play during the summer. I ended up enjoying it but the constant cliffhangers soured my experience a little as they force me to play it a little faster then I would have liked (as I like to take my time with games for the most part). This plus the more open nature of X is why I enjoy X more the Original. Regardless I love both and am looking forward to 2.

I have heard hat X is pretty good, I would play one but I don't have a Wii U.

as for the cliffhangers, I didn't really mind it. When I sit down to play a big RPG, I usually make sure I have at least a few hours to dedicate to the game, that way if the story gets to a post like that, I can continue to play without fear of interruption. I also like a game that makes you want to keep going, but that's just my personal preference. 

What do you think was your favorite part of each game. Try to remain spoiler free about X since when I do get it, I want to go into it blind

[TheGoodHoms]

I absolutely love the Xenoblade games! Though I have an odd opinion about them. The first game was fresh and different with a cast of lovable characters, Reyn in particular is my favorite video game character of all time, in fact for a while it was even my favorite video game of all time, but that all changed when I played Xenoblade Chronicles X. The story and characters were not as strong, but the gameplay was made so much better that I couldn't decide which one I liked more. So after a long time of pondering the question I finally decided that Xenoblade X was the better game since gameplay is what separates games from other storytelling media. So yeah, Xenoblade X became my favorite game of all time over the original and remains there to this day.

[DisobeyedCargo]

11 minutes ago, TheGoodHoms said:

I absolutely love the Xenoblade games! Though I have an odd opinion about them. The first game was fresh and different with a cast of lovable characters, Reyn in particular is my favorite video game character of all time, in fact for a while it was even my favorite video game of all time, but that all changed when I played Xenoblade Chronicles X. The story and characters were not as strong, but the gameplay was made so much better that I couldn't decide which one I liked more. So after a long time of pondering the question I finally decided that Xenoblade X was the better game since gameplay is what separates games from other storytelling media. So yeah, Xenoblade X became my favorite game of all time over the original and remains there to this day.

Gameplay is definitly an important aspect of what makes a game good, but to me, the number one criteria of a good game is if it can keep me immersed in its world, because of you can't keep mine into this world oh have made, then why bother playing? Xenoblade Chronicles keep me immersed the entire time. The entire story just kept me hungry for more and more, I was so interested in the lore and theories and everything about this game. If you can make a game that keeps you immersed in its world from start to finish, you have done something right, and Monolith Soft did exactly that. It does seem that X has more fleshed out gameplay, but I look to story and immersion first in a RPG. If I were to play X, in sure I would enjoy it, but XC would still come out on top. 

BTW MECHANICAL RYTHYM BEST BATTLE THEME EVER!

Edited May 28, 2017 by DisobeyedCargo
Spelling and grammar

[kingddd]

33 minutes ago, DisobeyedCargo said:

Gameplay is definitly an important aspect of what makes a game good, but to me, the number one criteria of a good game is if it can keep me immersed in its world, because of you can't keep mine into this world oh have made, then why bother playing? Xenoblade Chronicles keep me immersed the entire time. The entire story just kept me hungry for more and more, I was so interested in the lore and theories and everything about this game. If you can make a game that keeps you immersed in its world from start to finish, you have done something right, and Monolith Soft did exactly that. It does seem that X has more fleshed out gameplay, but I look to story and immersion first in a RPG. If I were to play X, in sure I would enjoy it, but XC would still come out on top. 

BTW MECHANICAL RYTHYM BEST BATTLE THEME EVER!

X's narrative, story and lore are mostly in the sidequests of the game.  Not from the main story.  The main story of Xenoblade X is literally only 20% of the game.  80% of X story is all about the sidequests and I personally feel too many people skipped out on these missions and don't realize just how much lore and story that is explained in these sidequests. They go into a lot of depths of certain explanations that aren't shown in the main story like the origins of some of the characters, the personality depth of each party members, the struggle each side character is going through, the rocky relationships between the ma-non and the humans and the Orphean race and other Xenos.  There is a lot that happens in X that unfortunately many people only watched cutscenes and story and call it a day when in fact all the best stuff in X are in the sidequests because that's where majority of the narrative is.

The premise of the idea behind Xenoblade X is that they want you to work for these rewards by encouraging for you to explore and figure out things on your own and they encourage you to do these sidequests in order to offer you more of the world, the planet itself and each character's personality through these and I personally think this is the better way because I don't have to sit on my couch watching 20 mins of cutscenes explaining it and not have to do anything about it.  For example, one of the party members that you recruit if you build enough affinity with them you learn about their species origins and how they also have similiar cultures that humans have.  It's a small reward but those small details offer a lot of expositions.  There is a lot small details in it that helps build the world of Mira and it's why I personally prefer this method of gameplay and story telling over watching mins and mins and mins of cutscene and then stopped by another cutscene while walking 5 mins later.

Here's how X works, you do one sidequest, your reward is recruiting Nopons into the city, when you recruit Nopons to the city, you open up new sidequests, as you do more sidequests, one of the city governments will tell you that they want to recruit more xenos and then you recruit the orpheans, the prones and the wrothians and they all open up more sidequests and they all have some pretty hilarious, serious and downright disturbing narrative stories that are contained within each of their sidequest stories.  It's a chain of events structure and in my opinion it works out for the better because I got learn about each of the Xeno's stories and their reasoning for being in Mira and that adds a lot of immersion to the world of that you are in.

I am always in the mentality of never judge a game by someone's playthrough or watching cutscenes.  The best part of Xenoblade X is the sidequests. 

Edited May 28, 2017 by kingddd

[DisobeyedCargo]

18 minutes ago, kingddd said:

X's narrative, story and lore are mostly in the sidequests of the game.  Not from the main story.  The main story of Xenoblade X is literally only 20% of the game.  80% of X story is all about the sidequests and I personally feel too many people skipped out on these missions and don't realize just how much lore and story that is explained in these sidequests. They go into a lot of depths of certain explanations that aren't shown in the main story like the origins of some of the characters, the personality depth of each party members, the struggle each side character is going through, the rocky relationships between the ma-non and the humans and the Orphean race and other Xenos.  There is a lot that happens in X that unfortunately many people only watched cutscenes and story and call it a day when in fact all the best stuff in X are in the sidequests because that's where majority of the narrative is.

The premise of the idea behind Xenoblade X is that they want you to work for these rewards by encouraging for you to explore and figure out things on your own and they encourage you to do these sidequests in order to offer you more of the world, the planet itself and each character's personality through these and I personally think this is the better way because I don't have to sit on my couch watching 20 mins of cutscenes explaining it and not have to do anything about it.  For example, one of the party members that you recruit if you build enough affinity with them you learn about their species origins and how they also have similiar cultures that humans have.  It's a small reward but those small details offer a lot of expositions.  There is a lot small details in it that helps build the world of Mira and it's why I personally prefer this method of gameplay and story telling over watching mins and mins and mins of cutscene and then stopped by another cutscene while walking 5 mins later.

Here's how X works, you do one sidequest, your reward is recruiting Nopons into the city, when you recruit Nopons to the city, you open up new sidequests, as you do more sidequests, one of the city governments will tell you that they want to recruit more xenos and then you recruit the orpheans, the prones and the wrothians and they all open up more sidequests and they all have some pretty hilarious, serious and downright disturbing narrative stories that are contained within each of their sidequest stories.  It's a chain of events structure and in my opinion it works out for the better because I got learn about each of the Xeno's stories and their reasoning for being in Mira and that adds a lot of immersion to the world of that you are in.

I am always in the mentality of never judge a game by someone's playthrough or watching cutscenes.  The best part of Xenoblade X is the sidequests. 

XC was definitly weaker in side quests and it can sometimes get a bit tedious doing get X amount of material Y amount 20 time so like I did to 100% the game like I did without little to no additional story. XC did have the red pollen orb cartel, the ones to unlock the hidden skill trees, but nothing that made a huge overall impact on the story (maybe the ones with giants and white spiders). and that is a very good way of storytelling, putting many secrets of your world in those side quests makes people want to play them because of the lore and how unique they are. and I agree with your mentality on judging games. I reserve judgment until I actually play the game. If I ever do get a Wii U, I will play X. 

I will still say this:

Nothing will ever beat Mechanical Rythym in terms of best battle theme ever (except maybe ZANZA the Divine)!

[Locke087]

20 hours ago, DisobeyedCargo said:

I have heard hat X is pretty good, I would play one but I don't have a Wii U.

as for the cliffhangers, I didn't really mind it. When I sit down to play a big RPG, I usually make sure I have at least a few hours to dedicate to the game, that way if the story gets to a post like that, I can continue to play without fear of interruption. I also like a game that makes you want to keep going, but that's just my personal preference. 

What do you think was your favorite part of each game. Try to remain spoiler free about X since when I do get it, I want to go into it blind

My Favorite thing in the OG game is Melia I love her character and using her combat is tons of fun. Her race in gerenal is pretty cool as too. 

For X I love (I don't think it is a spoiler since its on the front cover of the game) the Flying Mech it is the seriously the cooling thing ever....

[DisobeyedCargo]

32 minutes ago, Locke087 said:

My Favorite thing in the OG game is Melia I love her character and using her combat is tons of fun. Her race in gerenal is pretty cool as too. 

For X I love (I don't think it is a spoiler since its on the front cover of the game) the Flying Mech it is the seriously the cooling thing ever....

I assume that the mech is a form of transportation in X.

as for XC, my favorite thing was the affinity chart for the NPC characters, it made talking to the NPC's much more interesting because you can see the connections between them evolve over time. It makes the game feel more like an actual world to me. If they have that in X, then that's even more of a reason to get it, music was also amazing, but I think everyone in this topic knows that already.

[Locke087]

6 minutes ago, DisobeyedCargo said:

I assume that the mech is a form of transportation in X.

as for XC, my favorite thing was the affinity chart for the NPC characters, it made talking to the NPC's much more interesting because you can see the connections between them evolve over time. It makes the game feel more like an actual world to me. If they have that in X, then that's even more of a reason to get it, music was also amazing, but I think everyone in this topic knows that already.

Yes the Flying Mech is.

the Affinity chart is in X it is a little different (if memory serves me right) but I did think that was a cool feature in both games.

[kingddd]

X is also on sale for about 20 bucks right now.  This price is a steal considering I paid almost 90 CDN for it.

http://www.gamestop.com/wii-u/games/xenoblade-chronicles-x/122854?utm_source=linkshare&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=deeplink&cid=afl_10000087&affID=77777&sourceID=HiuZOO_9InU-GImBBxNtBO2QI2sLvugbUg