Xenoblade Chronicles 2

[Interdimensional Observer]

19 hours ago, LuxSpes said:

This is great to hear. I had also noticed that the music was pretty loud in cutscenes, so to have so much control on music setting is great after suffering through super loud music in XCX's cutscenes. Probably will turn off the in-battle narrator even with the Englsih dub. 

The bigger problem for me was too much shouting over Xenoblade Chronicles wonderful battle soundtrack. Battle shouts get repetitive faster than music does.

These little things are always appreciated, and it hurts when they don't exist. Like losing the ability to jump once you get the flight module in XCX. And every time you go airborne post-flight module, the area's theme resets when you land instead of doing the much better thing of picking up where it left off.

[LuxSpes]

@The DanMan@Armagon 

Spoiler

Considering this doesn't seem to be a in-game picture, I wouldn't take it as Morag or Vandham being 100% confirmed playable, but it does makes it seem more likely. Though the fact that Rex was seen using Roc makes me think that while Vandham may help the party at some point, he'll perhaps end up dying. 

 

15 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The bigger problem for me was too much shouting over Xenoblade Chronicles wonderful battle soundtrack. Battle shouts get repetitive faster than music does.

These little things are always appreciated, and it hurts when they don't exist. Like losing the ability to jump once you get the flight module in XCX. And every time you go airborne post-flight module, the area's theme resets when you land instead of doing the much better thing of picking up where it left off.

The in-battle banter personally never bothered me in either XC or XCX, but it's indeed nice that give us so much control. And the music resetting every time you jumped with the flight module in XCX was indeed really annoying. 

[Armagon]

1 minute ago, LuxSpes said:

@The DanMan@Armagon 

  Hide contents

Considering this doesn't seem to be a in-game picture, I wouldn't take it as Morag or Vandham being 100% confirmed playable, but it does makes it seem more likely. Though the fact that Rex was seen using Roc makes me think that while Vandham may help the party at some point, he'll perhaps end up dying. 

 

Spoiler

Interesting thing about Rex using Roc though is that it was seen in the Gamescom footage. The demo takes place in Uraya about 20 hours into the game. Then there's those Japanese commercials. In one scene from those commercials, Rex is shown fighting two enemies (who are likely Torna members) with flames.

The red flames are obviously Pyra but the Torna members were also attacked with blue flames. Who wields blue flames? Brighid. Who is Brighid's Driver? Morag.

Another Japanese commercial shows Vandham fighting Malos. Here's the interesting part though: it's in the same location where Pyra transforms into Mythra for the first time. And that happens in Uraya. How do i know? Because on the official North American website for the game, this is one of the screenshots associated with Uraya

It's the same location where Pyra transforms into Mythra. Malos is there, along with Ahkos. Who else shows up to the battle, according to the Japanese commercial? Vandham.

You can see Uraya's tail fin in both images.

Now, it could be that Vandham dies here but this battle is most likely taking place at the end of the Uraya chapter (let's assume each chapter takes place on it's own Titan). So why would Rex have Roc earlier?

I have three theories:

1. Rex Driving Roc was just a demo thing and not something that's present in the final game.
2. Vandham temporarily gives Rex Roc.
3. The Roc that Rex is seen Driving is actually a different Blade altogether that just has a similar appearance to Vandham's Roc.

I feel like theory #1 is the most likely, tbh.

 

Of course, all of this could also mean that Morag and Vandham don't actually join the party but they still become allies of the protagonists. However, the menu does have slots for 5 characters

The fourth slot is for Zeke. We know for a fact he joins. The fifth slot could either be for Morag or Vandham. Morag is more likely. Of course, it is possible that the character slot could be scrolled to the right to allow a sixth slot for Zeke.

 

[Hardin]

Kozaki still killing it with his design work. 

[Interdimensional Observer]

9 minutes ago, Hardin said:

Kozaki still killing it with his design work. 

Crossover with FE when? Thats one nice Swordmaster and... War Cleric?

[Kivan]

I know the environments and music are in excellent hands, but the playable characters thus far do not really resonate with me

[Armagon]

13 hours ago, Hardin said:

Kozaki still killing it with his design work. 

12 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Thats one nice Swordmaster and... War Cleric?

Yeah, they were definitely inspired by Kozaki's own work on the Swordmaster and War Cleric classes. Agate (the War Cleric) also reminds me of Face Nemesis. I didn't actually realize Agate had a human face until i saw her in action. Wadatsumi (the Swordmaster) looks really cool as well though i wish Kozaki used different colors for him. Wadatsumi shares the same color scheme as the Common Blades, so when i first saw him, i thought he was a Common Blade.

5 hours ago, Kivan said:

I know the environments and music are in excellent hands, but the playable characters thus far do not really resonate with me

Considering Takahashi is writing the playable characters (actually, he's writing every character in this game), i'd argue that the characters are in excellent hands as well. And after hearing good things about the characters from people who've received review copies of the game, any doubts that i may have had about the characters have been erased.

For example, to quote Chuggaconroy from his Q&A with GameXplain (this isn't a spoiler but i'm marking it as one anyways in case you want to go in completely blind)

Spoiler

"He [Rex] is really sassy....he's made me laugh out loud a few times.....I think that he's kind of a good converse to Shulk in that he's younger but he's still intelligent but he's a lot more hot-blooded than Shulk was"

Chugga has also said good things about some of the other characters, such as Pyra and Poppi, but he didn't go into detail that much. He did say that Poppi was really funny though, so i'm looking forward to that.

 

[vanguard333]

18 hours ago, Hardin said:

Kozaki still killing it with his design work. 

Well; a samurai-like blade with a katana was almost inevitable, and the design is fairly cool.

Wow; that second blade has to be the most modestly-designed of all the female humanoid blades, if modestly-designed is the right way to describe it (words are not my strong point). If not the most, then certainly one of the most, or, at the very least, more modest then Pyra or Mythra (though that's not saying much).

The first one clearly is clearly water-based. But the second one... ether, perhaps?

Edited November 22, 2017 by vanguard333

[Jedi]

19 hours ago, Hardin said:

Kozaki still killing it with his design work. 

I love the girls design, its like a Cyberpunk Witch and I adore that.

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

The first one clearly is clearly water-based. But the second one... ether, perhaps?

Earth, most likely. Ether is still in the game and it still functions as the magic stat but to my knowledge, there is no ether element.

[The DanMan]

Well, somebody on Gamefaqs who's got a bit of a leaking record claims to have beaten the main story. I'll post the big things he said; take with a grain of salt, but I personally believe in their validity:

Party Members

Party members: Rex, Nia, Tora, Morag (temporarily around 20 hours in, then permanent after 30-ish ours), Jin temporarily around the halfway point

Vandham sacrifices himself and uses a special item/technique to erase the shared bond and memories between him and Roc to give to Rex (which is how you acquire enemy rare blades; said item has been mentioned in previews and it lets you transfer blades between party members)

Story stuff

>The blue Torna girl is Lithra, and Jin's blade in disguise, and is controlling him

>Elysium is a world computer, with Blades as its sensors to understand the world; hence why they all eventually want to return to it

>Torna acquired that knowledge through Lithra (who's gone renegade/become fully self-aware) and hope to prevent Elysium from gaining too much information about the world, less it decide to reset everything/pull a Zanza and grab the energy from all life forms. The Titans slowly dying is due to Elysium already testing this out and to try and speed up the blades' return to it

>Pyra/Mithra acquried too much information and went unhinged in the past; Torna is interested in her to try and stop Elysium

>Core crystals are "unopened applications"

>The term Driver comes for Elysium needing them to "drive" its hardware-- the Blades

>Elysium uses the Driver/Blade connection to gather data. The blades provide "organic" lifeforms with new ways to tackle their environment and the Drivers interpret the data through their emotions-- which Elysium lacks but tries to emulate through his Blades

>The more information a Blade has acquired, the better they are at mimicking organic life. Hence why rare blades generally look more organic and generic blades are clearly robots.

>Pyra acquiring too much information resulted in a personality split that brought about Mithra

>Lithra also acquired too much information-- hence her decision to side with organic lifeforms and go rogue

>Jin was originally a scientist like Shulk. He encountered Lithra while injured and she took over his body to try and heal his wounds-- while also unintentionally taking over his body

>Elysium finally takes notice of Lithra's rebellion mid-game, weakening her and temporarily freeing Jin form her influence

>She doesn't want Pyra to re-connect with Elysium, believing nothing good can come of it

>Titans were originally there to provide support/sustenance for organic life, but Elysium also has limited energy (Ether) and has gotten more stringent on how he distributes it due to information gathering taking too long, resulting in Titans drowning in the sea of clouds

>The sea of clouds is just the exhaust fumes of Elysium. There's a bottom

>A big twist is where Pyra/Mithra discover their emotions are nothing but a mimicry. Pyra goes into depression and becomes unusable in gameplay, leaving you with the "sassy and determined" Mithra

>Through Lithra's revelation that its possible fore a Blade to develop a will of its own by rebelling against Elysium, Pyra regains confidence-- finding meaning for her existence, coming out again, joining hands with Mithra and fully unleashing their potential as a Blade

>Final boss has three stages: Elysium -> Elysium controlling Jin after deactivating Lithra ->Elysium on its last legs using all ether in the world

[Sire]

7 hours ago, The DanMan said:

Well, somebody on Gamefaqs who's got a bit of a leaking record claims to have beaten the main story. I'll post the big things he said; take with a grain of salt, but I personally believe in their validity:

Party Members

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Party members: Rex, Nia, Tora, Morag (temporarily around 20 hours in, then permanent after 30-ish ours), Jin temporarily around the halfway point

Vandham sacrifices himself and uses a special item/technique to erase the shared bond and memories between him and Roc to give to Rex (which is how you acquire enemy rare blades; said item has been mentioned in previews and it lets you transfer blades between party members)

Story stuff

  Hide contents

 

>The blue Torna girl is Lithra, and Jin's blade in disguise, and is controlling him

>Elysium is a world computer, with Blades as its sensors to understand the world; hence why they all eventually want to return to it

>Torna acquired that knowledge through Lithra (who's gone renegade/become fully self-aware) and hope to prevent Elysium from gaining too much information about the world, less it decide to reset everything/pull a Zanza and grab the energy from all life forms. The Titans slowly dying is due to Elysium already testing this out and to try and speed up the blades' return to it

>Pyra/Mithra acquried too much information and went unhinged in the past; Torna is interested in her to try and stop Elysium

>Core crystals are "unopened applications"

>The term Driver comes for Elysium needing them to "drive" its hardware-- the Blades

>Elysium uses the Driver/Blade connection to gather data. The blades provide "organic" lifeforms with new ways to tackle their environment and the Drivers interpret the data through their emotions-- which Elysium lacks but tries to emulate through his Blades

>The more information a Blade has acquired, the better they are at mimicking organic life. Hence why rare blades generally look more organic and generic blades are clearly robots.

>Pyra acquiring too much information resulted in a personality split that brought about Mithra

>Lithra also acquired too much information-- hence her decision to side with organic lifeforms and go rogue

>Jin was originally a scientist like Shulk. He encountered Lithra while injured and she took over his body to try and heal his wounds-- while also unintentionally taking over his body

>Elysium finally takes notice of Lithra's rebellion mid-game, weakening her and temporarily freeing Jin form her influence

>She doesn't want Pyra to re-connect with Elysium, believing nothing good can come of it

>Titans were originally there to provide support/sustenance for organic life, but Elysium also has limited energy (Ether) and has gotten more stringent on how he distributes it due to information gathering taking too long, resulting in Titans drowning in the sea of clouds

>The sea of clouds is just the exhaust fumes of Elysium. There's a bottom

>A big twist is where Pyra/Mithra discover their emotions are nothing but a mimicry. Pyra goes into depression and becomes unusable in gameplay, leaving you with the "sassy and determined" Mithra

>Through Lithra's revelation that its possible fore a Blade to develop a will of its own by rebelling against Elysium, Pyra regains confidence-- finding meaning for her existence, coming out again, joining hands with Mithra and fully unleashing their potential as a Blade

>Final boss has three stages: Elysium -> Elysium controlling Jin after deactivating Lithra ->Elysium on its last legs using all ether in the world

 

 

 

So, regarding the leak, I have one question...

Spoiler

Q: Is Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in any way related to the original Xenoblade Chronicles aside from name?

[Armagon]

@The DanMan I don't actually want to open that spoiler tab but i do have a question regarding the playable characters. Of course, i don't want any spoilers so just anwser with a yes or no.

Spoiler

Were we right about Morag being playable? Again, just anwser with a yes or no.

 

[The DanMan]

2 hours ago, Sire said:

So, regarding the leak, I have one question...

  Hide contents

Q: Is Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in any way related to the original Xenoblade Chronicles aside from name?

As was confirmed pre-release, no connection whatsoever beyond name and base gameplay mechanics.

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

@The DanMan I don't actually want to open that spoiler tab but i do have a question regarding the playable characters. Of course, i don't want any spoilers so just anwser with a yes or no.

  Hide contents

Were we right about Morag being playable? Again, just anwser with a yes or no.

 

Yup.

Also, we'll find out if the leak is 100% reliable soon enough...

...because Taiwan just broke the street date.

[Sire]

13 minutes ago, The DanMan said:

2 hours ago, Sire said:

So, regarding the leak, I have one question...

  Hide contents

Q: Is Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in any way related to the original Xenoblade Chronicles aside from name?

 

  Hide contents

As was confirmed pre-release, no connection whatsoever beyond name and base gameplay mechanics.

Reply in spoiler (just in case).

Spoiler

Ah. I guess I missed that part then. Thanks for the answer!

[Thane]

I feel like digging into a meaty RPG again over the holidays, but as shallow as it is, the voice acting and character designs have put me off quite a bit. Do you guys think the story and gameplay will be any good? I've got no experience with the series.

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, Thane said:

I feel like digging into a meaty RPG again over the holidays, but as shallow as it is, the voice acting and character designs have put me off quite a bit. Do you guys think the story and gameplay will be any good? I've got no experience with the series.

Considering Takahashi's past works (which include Xenosgears and of course, Xenoblade Chronicles and X), i have no doubt that the story and characters will be good, and the reception from people who already have the game has been overwhelmingly positive. I'm not really gonna argue over the character designs, but i will just say that Rex's outfit has functional context. As for voice acting, there is a Japanese voice pack coming to the game as free DLC starting on Dec.1. As for the gameplay, well, Xenoblade gameplay isn't for everyone. It's not bad in gameplay (otherwise, Xenoblade Chronicles wouldn't have been regarded as one of the greatest JRPGs of all time) but it requires commitment. Across all three Xenoblade games, battles are real-time and positioning is key. You auto-attack automatically, however, you have Arts that you can use. Some Arts are stronger if used in a certain position (for example, Shulk's Back Slash or Rex's Sword Bash does more damage when attacking the enemy from behind). Arts can't be used repeatedly though, and this is one of the differences between XC1 and XCX, and XC2.

• In Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles X, the cool-down is time-based. Each Art takes a certain amount of time before it can be used again, and this process can be sped up by leveling those Arts up.
• In Xenoblade Chronicles 2, unlike the previous games, you don't start battles with your Arts charged (with some exceptions). Instead, you must use your auto-attacks to charge up Arts. This doesn't take long and Arts can be leveled-up like in the previous games. Auto-attacks are more important here than in previous games. Unlike previous games, you can't auto-attack while moving. However, what you can do is chain together your auto-attacks with your Arts. At the end of each auto-attack combo, using an Art immediately after that combo ends will increase it's damage. Sonds complicated (and admittedly, Xenoblade combat always looks complicated to an outsider) but from what i hear, Xenoblade 2 does a great job of explaining everything. I suggest watching the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Direct if you want to learn more about the gameplay.

It's also worth noting that each Xenoblade has a gameplay element that is exclusive to it. Xenoblade Chronicles 1 had Visions, which let's you see into the future to predict an enemy's attack, and Talent Arts, which includes Shulk's signature Monado Arts. Xenoblade Chronicles X has Skells, which are basically mechs, Soul Voice, TP, and Overdrive. I have absolutely no idea how Soul Voice, TP, and Overdrive work though. I've unfortunately never played X. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has the Blades, living weapons in which a Driver can equip up to three. Blades determine the Driver's Arts and class and during battle, a Driver can switch between any of the three Blades it has equipped. There's more to the combat than just this but it'll take too long to explain everything.

Outside of combat, one of the things that make Xenoblade what it is are the worlds. The world in each Xenoblade game is massive and encourage exploration. You'll find Landmarks, which not only reward you with EXP and other things, but also provide a skip travel point. For this reason, Xenoblade games don't punish you at all if you lose in battle. You simply get returned to the last Landmark you visited. This is especially useful when you happen to run into high level monsters in a low level area (i'm looking at you, Territorial Rotbart). In terms of world size, from smallest to biggest, it goes: Xenoblade Chronicles > Xenoblade Chronicles 2 > Xenoblade Chronicles X. This evidenced by the original's 8 GB, 2's 13 GB and X's whopping 22 GB.

There's also sidequests, as to be expected from a JRPG. And there are a lot. If you've played any JRPG, then you already know how this part works. Help out people, increase the affinity between NPCs, watch your reputation with the town grow, etc. Higher reputation unlocks new sidequests with better rewards and, in Xenoblade 2's case, expand the inventory of shops, as well as discounts.

Speaking of affinity, there are these things called Heart-to-Hearts, which are similar to Fire Emblem's Support conversations except better written you can actually lower a party member's affinity with another by choosing the wrong anwser. Of course, choosing the right anwser increases affinity, which is why it's recommended to save before doing one of these. You can find Heart-to-Heart locations in places around the world and it'll tell you the requirements for unlocking one if you don't have the requirements already.

Now, for story. It doesn't really matter whether you start with Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenoblade Chronicles X, or Xenoblade Chronicles 2. All three stories are independent from each other, but X and 2 just have small nods to the original. Xenoblade Chronicles is available for purchase via the Wii U eShop for $20. There's also the New 3DS port but that takes a noticeable hit in resolution, a sacrifice needed to make the game portable. On a side note, all three games have an amazing soundtrack, and i'm a firm believer that Xenoblade Chronicles, as a series, has the best soundtrack out of any Nintendo franchise.

I hope i explained things well. I feel pretty confident in my knowledge with the series (at least regarding the original). Feel free to ask if you have any more questions. I'll also link to a spoiler-free GameXplain Q&A, where Xenoblade expert Chuggaconroy may anwser some questions you may have about Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

I do want to apologize for the big of wall of text. You did say you had no experience with the series, so i thought it was best to explain things in more detail, especially since Xenoblade Chronicles 2 does play a bit differently than the original and X.

[Thane]

@Armagon Thanks for the write-up! Seems like you're quite the fan of the game. 

A lot of it sounds nice to be sure, but I can't say that it seems very impressive as an observer. Still, yours and many others' passion shows that I'm most likely the one who's mistaken in that regard, or it might just not be the game for me.

Quote

As for voice acting, there is a Japanese voice pack coming to the game as free DLC starting on Dec.1.

I actually heard about that today. However, I didn't like the Japanese audio either, as I rarely do with these animoo-like titles. I think I'd get less of a headache from playing the English version.

I will say that I like the premise. I've got a fondness for massive, otherworldly beasts, and the locales seem interesting. I also like the idea of several competing factions. I'm less keen on my first impressions of the cast and the open world.

[Armagon]

8 hours ago, Thane said:

A lot of it sounds nice to be sure, but I can't say that it seems very impressive as an observer.

I was once the same way back when i saw footage of the New 3DS port of the original and i think a lot of people were rather confused by the gameplay when they first saw it. I remember seeing footage of the original and being like "what is going on". But once you play the games and understand how they work, it becomes pretty fun. Of course, i mentioned before that the gameplay isn't for everyone, which is why i wish these games had demos. You could always buy Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and just refund it if you end up not liking. If you just want to get a general feel of the series' gameplay, there's also the cheaper option, which is buying the original Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii U eShop, since it's only $20 on that.

I will say that if you do feel overwhelmed by the open world, it does help that the worlds of Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 are linear. They are still massive, with tons of exploring to do, but progression is still linear and there are some places you just can't access no matter what. It's what i like to call "open world-lite". Xenoblade Chronicles X, however, that game is truly open world. It's got a lengthy tutorial, but once it sets you free from it, you're free to go anywhere you wish (though some places can only be accessed via Skells).

[vanguard333]

On ‎2017‎-‎11‎-‎22 at 6:39 PM, Armagon said:

Earth, most likely. Ether is still in the game and it still functions as the magic stat but to my knowledge, there is no ether element.

Yeah; earth makes a lot more sense. I didn't know it was in the game. Also, thanks for clarifying that bit about ether in Xenoblade. I never played the original; only X.

Edited November 25, 2017 by vanguard333

[Interdimensional Observer]

14 hours ago, Thane said:

I feel like digging into a meaty RPG again over the holidays, but as shallow as it is, the voice acting and character designs have put me off quite a bit. Do you guys think the story and gameplay will be any good? I've got no experience with the series.

There are plenty who don't like Xenoblade gameplay on claims of being button mashy, or slow. I can understand their criticisms, auto attacks are automatic so all you do is move around and use arts. But once you level the arts and can use them more, things become a bit more exciting. Full HP restore after every fight removes a bit of normal RPG tedium, and no MP means you can go all out in every fight too. Each game has mechanics that if you know them can make the game quite easy- but that is true of many RPGs.

For the Xenoblade franchise as a whole:

Xenoblade Chronicles:

Spoiler

• Aspects
  • Xenoblade Chronicles Xenogears lite in terms of plot- much less convoluted, but not as nuanced either. It has its highs and lows and follows some JRPG tropes, but the plot was never intended to be the most important thing in the game's development. Takahashi's goal was to invent a good style of gameplay with this game, a good plot could come later in a sequel- he's a little overly ambitious.
  • The characters range from typical (Reyn as the hotheaded bro), to weak, to rather appreciable (well at least I think Melia is). The plot's focus is on Shulk, with Riki being nonexistent in the plot, and everyone else playable falls on a spectrum in between. Heart to Hearts between characters offer a chance to develop them a little more. It's just like FE supports, reach a certain Affinity level (earned by fighting, sidequesting, and gifting Collectibles to each other) between two characters and they can talk in a particular location. The conversations have dialogue two branches each, with one wrong choice and a right choice (sometimes the wrong gives a little factoid the right doesn't though), you ultimately get more Affinity out of every HtH though.
  • The world is simply beautiful, the first couple areas share a green highlands theme, but then you start getting more exotic venues- like Satorl Marsh- grey and dull in the day, it blossoms at night. Things do eventually get a little samey again for a brief time, but then they end once more diverse.
  • Quick travel accessible by bringing up the area's map, or hopping deeper in the menu and accessing another region's map, means you can warp from any of the many Landmarks scattered across them to another with fairly minimal load time. You can warp from the top of the Bionis to it's lower leg in a blink of an eye. Menus overall are fairly user friendly, you can save anytime, and game overs just reloads you to the last Landmark you passed by.
  • The sidequests that are fairly good in their little stories- but don't do too many at once because they give EXP and being overleveled in the first Xenoblade kills the difficulty. There is also a minor issue of keeping track of all the NPCs and their locations to complete these quests.
  • The characters in gameplay have fixed roles- Sharla is a healer and Reyn a tank for clear cut examples. But each has some flexibility in what they do. Reyn can use the Berserker aura, Magnum Charge, and Sword Drive for a more offensive build. Shulk deals damage much of the time, but also gets some very powerful buffs. Each character except Shulk has 16 Arts, of which you can only equip 8 for battle, plus a Talent Art which is either a burden, minor boost, or serious gameplay element. Shulk's Talent Art lets him use his Monado Arts, of which he has 8 (two are optional from sidequests, the rest mandatory) plus 8 regular Arts. Skill trees provide passive boosts, and using refundable Affinity Coins and by building Affinity between the PCs, you can borrow some skills from different characters. Two skill trees per character are locked behind sidequests, the first optional for everyone being available around the midgame, the other near the endgame.
  • The soundtrack has several composers- the once great Yasunori Mitsuda did an okay ending piece, the famed Yoko Shimomura did several solid numbers, a nobody named Manami Kiyota who did some pretty good tracks, and ACE+, three composers working together who made the majority of the game's amazing soundtrack. The battle tunes are wicked, the field music atmospheric, the event music can be quite touching.
• Tips:
  • Your AI-controlled Party Members aren't terrible, but they are bad with certain arts which you should leave off their palettes. Using the "Focus Attacks" command every so often also makes the AI better.
  • Melia and Shulk have the worst AIs of the team- so try to control them, and learn Melia because one fight is much easier if you can work her. Just summon two elements you want the stat buffs from, and keep summoning and discharging elements in the third element spot for damage.
  • Ditch Sharla when you get the chance, she isn't bad, but for normal fights, as long as you don't pick on too many strong baddies at once, you don't need the heals. And skipping her lets you pick someone with more offensive potential to fill her spot (aka everyone else).
  • Pay attention to the tutorial slides, they're quite informative.

Xenoblade Chronicles X:

Spoiler

• Aspects:
  • The plot is all over the place, and has a hard time separating the serious from the comical (jokes should not be cracked during the final chapter- but they are). It does have dramatic moments, with wonderful HD cinematics- which was something this game was made to test- Monolith Soft's abilities with HD graphics. And the end is a little philosophical. The idea of surviving stuck on another planet with humanity on the verge of extinction is good, but the narrative just doesn't live up to it all time; it also makes clear room for a sequel, which hopefully will finally be the perfected space opera Takahashi has always wanted to write since Xenogears.
  • Plot criticisms stated the sidequests have improved from Xenoblade, if still having a few faults amid them all. They do a splendid job at building the world and showing humanity and later various xenoforms try to live stuck on Mira.
  • The world isn't as diverse in venues as Xenoblade Chronicles, consisting of but five big regions. But there is still beauty to be found- Sylvalum being particularly unique and Noctilum divisible into distinct subregions within its jungle theme. The HD graphics help.
  • The characters, there are like 16 PCs, are generally of some stereotype. Some are likable, but none are real standouts. The Heart to Hearts and Affinity Missions help, but some of the Affinity Missions are duds sadly. Only Elma and Lin appear in the plot besides the unimportant Avatar. Of them, Elma is much more important, Lin I wish they could replace with someone else much of the time. 
  • The music, Hiroyuki Sawano's modern sounding English lyrics soundtrack is a mixed bag. Some like it, others loathe it.
  • Character customization is strong for the Avatar- with 8 melee weapons and 8 ranged ones, you must use one of each. For the main game, you'll be stuck in a class having to use its weapon types, but once you master one of the 8 ultimate classes, you permanently can use its two weapons in any other class, and then blend the weapon types- like using a Full Metal Jaguar's Dual Swords with a Mastermind's Raygun. Each weapon gets its own set of arts.
    • The other PCs are weaker, stuck with two fixed weapons types and their own set of arts and skills. The AI is inferior to the first game's, but with Overdrive mastery, you can ignore them. Building Affinity with them however unlocks more Arts for the Avatar once you complete the Affinity Missions.
  • Skell combat is simpler than ground combat. It's more powerful at first, but a perfected ground game outdoes Skells. And you will need ground combat to the end of the story.
  • Online is pretty dead now, not that it was really necessary for anything but post-plot grinding for ultimate gear, Skells, and augments. It was more a bonus to a meaty single player game.
• Tips:
  • Overdrive is intimidating at first, but learn to master this gameplay technique and you can destroy things easily. It puts your character in heightened state of awareness, as you deal hits to enemies, the Overdrive Count raises. The a higher count gives gameplay bonuses, including accelerated Arts cooldown. Overdrive also unlocks Tertiary Cooldown for stronger Arts.
  • Read the e-manual sometimes, it helps to make things more understandable.
  • Expect to take a long break between story chapters, complete sidequests, explore, build affinity and Blade Level, level a bit- you'll need it. Never save during an Affinity Mission or story chapter by the way. You won't be able to back out as the game warns you.
  • Save frequently when you are using Skells. If you fail the QTE when one gets destroyed, you lose Skell Insurance and you can't buy more. Sell a 0 Insurance Skell since they cost a lot to repair. Skells aren't cheap to buy- hence the need to save if you want to avoid accidentally burning through your Insurance.

Lastly, Xenogears, the first Xeno-game, released on the PS1, is a flawed masterpiece. It visually hasn't held up, the combat was never great, the translation is not as good as it needed to be for the detailed story it was telling, and the plot's presentation tripped over a nuclear bomb trigger in Disc 2. But the music is nice, and the core plot, once you can understand its sheer complexity, is great sci-fi writing with a sometimes superficial and sometimes deeper mixture of psychology, philosophy, and religion.

I haven't played Xenosaga, but it is supposed to be a reimagining of Xenogears with better gameplay. Episode 2 flopped however and the plan for 6 episodes got truncated to 3.

[Zera]

@ThaneAlthough I didn't finish Xenoblade Chronicles, I got far enough to kill Metal Face. My thoughts on it...

Spoiler

The plot is gripping.
The art is wonderful.
The music is fantastic.

But, I found the gameplay tedious. Getting around requires long periods of "holding the stick in a direction", because the world is effing huge and they never give you a motorcycle. Most of the things you walk toward are Useless Junk (collectibles) and quests that are all basically the same. You'll spend a lot of time in menus min-maxing between battles, but 75% of it could've been automated and there's no pointer controls to speed things up. The combat is cooldown buttons, seldom surpassing Simon Says levels of depth.

So... The aesthetics are amazing, but the gameplay is more of a time sink than anything else. $20 on the eShop isn't bad, but if you're impatient, enter with caution.

 

[kingddd]

On 11/24/2017 at 3:54 AM, Thane said:

I feel like digging into a meaty RPG again over the holidays, but as shallow as it is, the voice acting and character designs have put me off quite a bit. Do you guys think the story and gameplay will be any good? I've got no experience with the series.

Here are my general thoughts of the series.  I would say gameplay wise Xenoblade X wins immensely whereas Xenoblade 1 is where the plot and story wins.  This is the general consensus from the community.  But personally I prefer the plot, the world and the story behind Xenoblade X a lot more than Xenoblade 1.  Mostly for personal reasons.  Not to mention I am more of a gameplay guy over story or plot anyday.    Xenoblade 2 is more akin to Xenoblade 1 but I do find it seems like they're going for a more Tales of route in terms of character designs now.

Takahashi the director has stated that they want to go with two different directions for this series.  Xenoblade will be more your standard traditional adventure JRPG with a more teenageresque story plot and heavy cutscene style game.  Xenoblade X is more your open world rpg where you're given a world to explore, find things on your own and doesn't handhold you after giving you the basics.  It also have a more adult theme where it does many famous callbacks to popular Sci Fi themes like Blade Runner and human space colonization.  Takahashi has stated X will be more focused on gameplay over the story and plot.  So keep this in mind as they are going for two different design philosophies for this series.

The things I do like about Xenoblade 1:

• It's a good introduction for letting you get used to the combat system
• Decent enough adventure style story plot
• Each party member is unique enough that everyone is different
• The world can be overwhelmingly big and are eyecandies

The things I didn't like about Xenoblade 1:

• battles can feel very automated if you're up to level
• there is an artificial punishment system where if you're a few levels under, they penalize your hit rate regardless of your current stats (this was removed in Xenoblade X).  This was an issue because after one level up you could be completely demolishing the enemy.  So this game is very level based.
• the 2nd half of the game, the level design really dips and become more giant linear hallways
• the pacing can be pretty weak and I know many were turned off by the first 10 hours of the game
• a lot of sidequests are boring and don't influence anything at all.  There are maybe 1 or 2 that are plot or world building relevant but majority of them are pointless.  At the same time, there are many pickup items from the ground sidequest that you may not know where it is unless you look up a guide.
• Newgame+ is pointless and doesn't do much other than make you a powerhouse with little differences in gameplay

-----------------------------

The things I do love about Xenoblade X:

• Battles require more thought, timing and learning the enemies regardless of your level.  It's more geared towards your gears, stats and your proper arts
• Avatar customization is great and gives you some nice options to your looks and battle customization
• Sidequests are the best parts of the game as they give you a significant amount of world building, conflicts and issues that the casts face in land of mira
• Your choices in dialogue in the sidequests actually matter and influence the outcome of it.  You can have a moment where you think a good choice would help but it may lead to the demise of many NPCs.  Keep in mind 80% of Xenoblade X is all about sidequests. 20% of the game is the main story
• Post game content is huge and there are a lot of things you can do after you beat the main story.
• There are so much to explore.  This is the main thing I love.  Exploration is the key aspect of this game and they nailed it really well in here.

The things I didn't like about Xenoblade X:

• There are some QoL issues like sound mixing regardless of the language version you play.  Even the Japanese version suffers from it during cutscenes.  You're best to have subtitles on the first time you play the game.
• Like the original Xenoblade, some sidequests suffer from collecting pickup items where you don't know where it is unless you look up a guide
• The amount of things you can do may overwhelm new players significantly and I know I was the first time but you'll get used to the system by time.

Overall though I think Xenoblade X is still the superior game.  It improves everything I had an issue with the original and fixes it up significantly and actually makes the worlds fun to explore and discover and gives you tons of freedom to play how you like.  However I can see why many who came from Xenoblade didn't like Xenoblade X's story because the story direction has been changed significantly.  But I think X's world works for what it is.  Because of this I have a very hard time to go back to the original game because of the gameplay mechanics are so much better and I have already put in over 1000 hours and I am still playing it to this day.  Whereas the original there isn't much replay value after you beat the main game.  But this is generally my thoughts of the series as a whole and personally I'm more waiting for Xenoblade X2 over Xenoblade 2.

Edited November 25, 2017 by kingddd

[Armagon]

A few months ago, Yasunori Mitsuda, the composer for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (also known for composing the songs of Chrono Trigger), stated that one of the songs in the game, preformed by the Irish choral ensemble Anúna, brought him to tears because of how good it was. This is that song.

 

There are no spoilers in the video, it's just the song preformed live. It sounds pretty good and i can't wait to see where it plays in the game.

Edited November 27, 2017 by Armagon

[LuxSpes]

8 hours ago, Armagon said:

A few months ago, Yasunori Mitsuda, the composer for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (also known for composing the songs of Chrono Trigger), stated that one of the songs in the game, preformed by the Irish choral ensemble Anúna, brought him to tears because of how good it was. This is that song.

 

There are no spoilers in the video, it's just the song preformed live. It sounds pretty good and i can't wait to see where it plays in the game.

Some production notes by Yasunori Mitsuda were released on the Japanese website. A reddit user made a summary of the notes, which  I'll spoiler just in case :

EDIT: Nintendo UK's website just posted a full translation of those production notes. I'll add some of the new details I gathered from it to the spoiler. I might add that the only details are the number of songs performed by ANÚNA and where "Shadow of the Lowlands" plays in the game. If it's not something you care being spoiled about, I'd recommend reading the full thing. 

Spoiler

 

It's stated that ANÚNA also performed 3 other songs for the game, so we still have yet to hear the particular song Yasunori Mitsuda was talking about.

He also stated that this is the town theme for the Kingdom of Tantal. I can't wait to experience that in game. The song does sounds really fitting for a cold, snowy city.

EDIT: The official translation specifies that all four of the songs performed by ANÚNA are town theme. 

 

Edited November 27, 2017 by LuxSpes