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Xenoblade Chronicles 2


Rex Glacies
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Just chiming in for a brief moment.

I got the prequel delivered nearly a week ago now. Unfortunately it is still in the plastic wrap, like the original.

Reason one is the TV I'd play it on has had my Switch disconnected from it for the time being, until in a couple weeks it gets hung, and I want the big screen for what I'd imagine to be a visual masterpiece. 

Reason two is I can't delve too heavily into gaming right now b/c school (makes me wonder why I didn't save this game for a holiday gift). And to manage my time, I've decided to concentrate on SMTIV: Apocalypse, which with guilt I admit I've wasted too much time during this semester on so far, which I am heavily invested in. Just this morning, I dove through the penultimate dungeon and only have the last boss of it left to deal with, which sounds like a doozy and will require I go fusion-crazy to prepare, which I don't really like doing, but that'll take up some time. After that, it'll be a, so I hear, long and annoying final dungeon with a strong final foe.  The bonus dungeon of Twisted Tokyo I won't bother with for now at least. Should hopefully have it done in no more than two weeks' time.

Once these two things are out of the way, then I'll try to find time to fit in XC2: TtGC. Possibly alongside Octopath Traveler, which I haven't played in weeks, but is a good game. I don't mind backburning it so much, since I stopped only halfway through Chapter 1, and the simple individualized storylines are suited to pick up and play.

 

I'll be going into this game totally blind, no idea of anything in plot, nor anything save the bare basics in gameplay. I've been good and haven't read anything online about these games so far, I've avoided the ill temptation.

Of course once I play and get into things, resisting that temptation, or accidentally learning stuff when hopping online to look for advice/answer some gameplay questions, will be a greater challenge. Mayhaps this topic would be willing to answer those questions if I came to ask them? T'would be better I think than turning to my usual choice of GFAQs, less chance of accidentally seeing stuff I don't want to that way.

I've made in the back of my mind a slim mindset of when playing comparing this prequel in a sky to another one by Monolith, but I seriously don't intend to pay that much heed at all. The time difference between the prequels and their originals is quite significant ~20-18 years prior and 500 are far different, or so I would think. Not sure if it in practice it will be, since the box seems to show two characters I noticed in the trailers for the original.

 

Looking forward to this when I finally get the chance.;):

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8 minutes ago, omegaxis1 said:
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However, think about this. Zanza has always followed most of the things through the passage of fate in that he believes everything is set in stone. Shulk doesn't believe that and has proven that it wasn't always set in stone. The entire reason that Zanza began his attempt at genocide was because of how he could not see things in the future and feared that they grew beyond his ability to see, and thus would spell his own end. Even at the end, he's struggling with the idea of being unable to see everything despite having two Monados.

In all honesty, I felt the one that truly developed and grew a lot was Shulk, not Rex. Shulk started his entire journey as a quest on hatred. He experienced loss on the first Mechon fight, but after finding Fiora again, he began to change his quest, realizing how Shulk is not so different from the Mechon. Though Rex has lost Vandham and Haze, both characters appeared as new figures in Rex's life and thus didn't last long enough, whereas with Shulk, losing Fiora and the Emperor were things that happened in visions and Shulk has to deal with the fact that despite everything, and seeing it happen, he couldn't prevent it. 

This can just go down to personal preference, though I still do like Rex.

1

Another thing I realized.

  Reveal hidden contents

The fact that Addam's uncle is revealed to be alive at the end and likely became the ruler of Tantal, wouldn't this basically mean that Zeke actually IS a descendant of Addam, albeit an indirect one? 

Also, Addam having revealed to have a wife that's pregnant might give the implication that Rex is his descendant, and the thing is... anyone notice that Addam and Rex have the same colored eyes? Malos pointed it out, how Malos pointed out that Tornans have blue eyes, but Addam has golden eyes, hinting that Addam is an illegitimate child. So Rex having golden eyes means that he's likely Addam's descendant. 

 

That second bit really confuses me. It removes the main reason why the Tantal royal family is so scared of Indol. 

Spoiler

What's Amalthus gonna do? Reveal to the world that....they actually ARE related to the hero Addam? Sure they aren't Addams direct scions but they still share his blood. If being descended from a family member of a hero and sharing his blood isn't good enough then most royals in the real world would be out of a job since most are tied to branch families rather than directly to a founder. 

 

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4 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

That second bit really confuses me. It removes the main reason why the Tantal royal family is so scared of Indol. 

  Reveal hidden contents

What's Amalthus gonna do? Reveal to the world that....they actually ARE related to the hero Addam? Sure they aren't Addams direct scions but they still share his blood. If being descended from a family member of a hero and sharing his blood isn't good enough then most royals in the real world would be out of a job since most are tied to branch families rather than directly to a founder. 

 

To be fair

Spoiler

Addam is practically worshiped in Tantal (which he would be mortified to discover, in retrospect) and the royals' claim to the throne is based entirely on a false claim of being descended from him. Even if they are technically related to Addam, the lie being revealed would make them look like a bunch of frauds who stole a hero's good name to seize power.

But as an aside, can we take a moment to appreciate how Mythra's post-battle conversations (and most of them for that matter) are all gold? She sounds too much like a real person, which is helped by Skye Bennett's delivery making Mythra's brattiness entertaining/endearing rather than annoying (in addition to nobody taking her seriously).

Edited by Lightchao42
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30 minutes ago, Lightchao42 said:

To be fair

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Addam is practically worshiped in Tantal (which he would be mortified to discover, in retrospect) and the royals' claim to the throne is based entirely on a false claim of being descended from him. Even if they are technically related to Addam, the lie being revealed would make them look like a bunch of frauds who stole a hero's good name to seize power.

But as an aside, can we take a moment to appreciate how Mythra's post-battle conversations (and most of them for that matter) are all gold? She sounds too much like a real person, which is helped by Skye Bennett's delivery making Mythra's brattiness entertaining/endearing rather than annoying (in addition to nobody taking her seriously).

Spoiler

But they are descendants, only an indirect one. The same blood that flows through Addam has passed down and now flows through Zeke. There are no false claims to the throne at all if we're being honest. Maybe it would be a shame, but it honestly feels like it shouldn't be a big deal. 

In some way, this makes Zeke be somewhat similar to Marth, in how Marth isn't a direct descendant of the hero Anri, but an indirect one. But that doesn't change how he is regarded to be Anri's descendant. 

 

That is true. Mythra is just hilarious, but through the story, you can see how she was so ignorant. And I absolutely love how we are able to really understand the magnitude on how you cannot just unleash your full powers all the time here. Every time she suggests using her full powers, it's a dangerous thing to do.

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Spoiler

I just realized a major issue. Morag explained, along with Minoth's play showing, that the Aegis War resulted in THREE Titans sinking below the Cloud Sea. However, we only have TWO Titans that are confirmed to have sunk, being Coeia by Malos, and then Torna mostly by Mythra. 

So what was the third Titan that was sunk? 

 

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8 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Once these two things are out of the way, then I'll try to find time to fit in XC2: TtGC. Possibly alongside Octopath Traveler, which I haven't played in weeks, but is a good game. I don't mind backburning it so much, since I stopped only halfway through Chapter 1, and the simple individualized storylines are suited to pick up and play.

You'll probably end up beating Torna long before Octopath Traveller since Torna's story is like, 15-20 hours long. 12 hours if you rush through except don't because about half of the sidequests are mandatory (that sounds bad but the sidequests are actually really good and if you do them as you go, you'll reach Community Lv.4 in no time).

And yeah, this the best thread to come for advice.

3 hours ago, Lightchao42 said:

But as an aside, can we take a moment to appreciate how Mythra's post-battle conversations (and most of them for that matter) are all gold? She sounds too much like a real person, which is helped by Skye Bennett's delivery making Mythra's brattiness entertaining/endearing rather than annoying (in addition to nobody taking her seriously).

They are so good. The post-battle conversations in general are great. One of my favorites is when Lora's like "Hugo, could you be my instructor" and Addam is like "Lora no" and Hugo is like "sure by tomorow, i want you to read a philospher's book, a history volume and write an 100 page essay". Those aren't the exact words but you get the point.

8 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Malos: Malos once again steals the show. His voice actor was clearly having a lot of fun in the booth again so I had a lot of fun watching Malos.

Agreed. Honestly, i think Malos has legitmatly the best voice in all of Xenoblade. 

Like, Adam Howden as Shulk and David Menkin as Malos are the kings of Xenoblade voice acting but i gotta give the slightest edge to David because he's just really fun to listen to.

Edit: @omegaxis1

Spoiler

Probably Spessia, which was destroyed by Amalthus, and then he procceded to twist history that it was destroyed by the Aegis.

An NPC also mentions a Titan called Estham but that's probably just to make the world feel a bit bigger and wasn't actually destroyed in the war.

 

Edited by Armagon
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7 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Agreed. Honestly, i think Malos has legitmatly the best voice in all of Xenoblade. 

Like, Adam Howden as Shulk and David Menkin as Malos are the kings of Xenoblade voice acting but i gotta give the slightest edge to David because he's just really fun to listen to.

Agreed. I have to say that I always loved Malos' voice actor. He really sells it. The voice acting in XC2 was always hard to endure at times because they are either cringey or out of pace. Malos generally stayed consistent. 

8 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Edit: @omegaxis1

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Probably Spessia, which was destroyed by Amalthus, and then he procceded to twist history that it was destroyed by the Aegis.

An NPC also mentions a Titan called Estham but that's probably just to make the world feel a bit bigger and wasn't actually destroyed in the war.

 

4
Spoiler

I mean, did Amalthus  have the ability to cause enough damage to sink an entire Titan? 

 

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18 minutes ago, omegaxis1 said:

Agreed. I have to say that I always loved Malos' voice actor. He really sells it. The voice acting in XC2 was always hard to endure at times because they are either cringey or out of pace. Malos generally stayed consistent. 

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I mean, did Amalthus  have the ability to cause enough damage to sink an entire Titan? 

 

Spoiler

Depends on how big Spessia was. Could've been the size of Regideria, which was destroyed by that one monster in Dagas' quest. And if a monster can destroy a Titan large enough to contain a kingdom, then i don't see why Amalthus can't.

Who knows, maybe after the battle was done, he flew Indol over there and blasted Spessia to oblivion.

 

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I don't know if I just have low standards or something but I liked all of Xenoblade 2's voice acting. Giving characters different accents depending on their nation or whether or not they're a Blade was a brilliant decision, and everyone generally sounded like an actual person.

Spoiler

And unless Malos destroyed another Titan offscreen prior to TTGC, the third most likely was Spessia. Amalthus had enough influence to blame it on Mythra, and Pyra doesn't contest it because she developed a massive guilt complex after destroying Torna (so she would blame herself even if she wasn't directly responsible).

 

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9 hours ago, Armagon said:

Like, Adam Howden as Shulk and David Menkin as Malos are the kings of Xenoblade voice acting but i gotta give the slightest edge to David because he's just really fun to listen to.

I browsed through Menkin's IMDB page some times back and it made me a bit sad. Why on earth are that man's talents wasted in things like Thomas the tank engine or Bob the builder when he could go on to voice every villain ever?

9 hours ago, Lightchao42 said:

I don't know if I just have low standards or something but I liked all of Xenoblade 2's voice acting. Giving characters different accents depending on their nation or whether or not they're a Blade was a brilliant decision, and everyone generally sounded like an actual person.

I liked the voice acting as well. Its got some issues but I think we could all stand to lower our standards a little bit. Britain doesn't really have a strong voice acting industry like Japan or the states and they won't get one either if people tear them to shreds when they try.

I think the bad first impression of Rex's VA set a negative tone which is a real shame because Rex's acting went increasingly better the longer the game went on. At the start his screams were awful but this problem disappeared in the later chapters. 

Edited by Etrurian emperor
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So i've been tackling the Superbosses in Torna ~ The Golden Country and i gotta say, it's not fun. I've only been able to beat the weakest one and that was after changing the difficulty to Easy. See, what makes the Superbosses bullshit isn't actually the Superbosses themselves but Elemental Awakening. Everh Unique Monster in Torna has this but it shows how bad it is with the Superbosses. The issue with Elemental Awakening is that it's so inconsistent. Sometimes a Special triggers it, sometimes it doesn't. To make matters worse, Elemental Awakening and Enrage are two different buffs.....that stack. Elemental Awakening is also in the main game but only in Challenge Mode and Shulk is there to Purge it.

Now that i think about it, there's always something in each Xenoblade game that makes Superbosses not fun to fight.

Xenoblade 1: Equipment grindfest and the level penalties are really dumb.

Xenoblade X: An equipment grindfest.

Xenoblade 2: Superbosses are actually good in this. Challenging but not bullshit. Even the ones in Challenge Mode are fun.

Torna: Almost good but Elemental Awakening ruins it, since there's nothing you can do about it.

Edited by Armagon
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Finally through with Torna. My final thoughts:

Spoiler

The Final boss was leaps and bounds better than in the main game. The mechs fighting in the background and being included in the fight without breaking the entire game mechanics is amazing.
And good riddance the last story moments. It was pretty obvious what was coming but good god they killed a lot of people there and none of them were cheap. Mythra lashing out on Rex becomes much more understandable after her watching her breaking down like that.

That being said the Gort fight was ... eh? Like there is the whole creepy factor and putting Lora back to the spotlight but honestly why is this fight a thing? It should have happened before the final fight (between the 1st encounter with Malos and Lora's ceremony), now it seems like an afterthought.
Speaking of afterthoughts, Minoth has ... very little relevance. He saves the kids, gives some insight about Amalthus and ... nothing. There is little reason for him to be involved here, I wish there was more to him. They could have tied him with Gort, hunting him down in his mutated state and then staying with the party for the rest of the game. Something like that would give him more meat.

Overall I think Torna did its job as prequel very well. It gives you more insight on most key characters like Addam, Jin or Lora and it gives enough hints to let you connect the dots between this and the main game (like Zettar making a deal with Amalthus for the nation that will be known as Tantal or Addam being the founder of Fonsett Village).
On the other hand I kinda wish there was a bit more;  how Jin actually got the Monoceros (which was being built during the war) after Torna sank or Malos surviving the final confrontation. The "Titan Eaters" (the thing that Gort became) and the Indolian scientist are loopholes which aren't continued in the main game despite being present when Amalthus became Praetor.

 

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Something else about Malos from Torna and the main game.

Spoiler

In Torna, Malos takes a more philosophical approach about how humans desire their own destruction and such. How it's his duty to give them the push they need.

However, this was never Malos's own will here. This was what Amulthus wanted. Remember that it was revealed in the main game that Malos's desire for destruction stems from Amusthus's own desire for it and Malos only absorbed that trait into himself.

But in the main game, his words to them were how he watched Jin in complete despair, how Malos finds Jin to just be a shell of his former self and now just desires death, all because of the curse that Lora had placed on him of her fear of Jin forgetting her, that made him become a Flesh Eater. Malos ended up hating humans of his OWN will at that moment and cared for Jin. That hug Malos gave before they split shows how Malos did come to care for Jin. 

That's what Klaus meant when Malos asked him if everything Malos is doing is truly his own will. And Klaus says, "It was the decision you made together." 

Malos DID gain a will of his own and wanted the destruction of the world himself, and not just because Amulthus desired it.

 

 

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27 minutes ago, The Priest said:

Finally through with Torna. My final thoughts:

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The Final boss was leaps and bounds better than in the main game. The mechs fighting in the background and being included in the fight without breaking the entire game mechanics is amazing.
And good riddance the last story moments. It was pretty obvious what was coming but good god they killed a lot of people there and none of them were cheap. Mythra lashing out on Rex becomes much more understandable after her watching her breaking down like that.

That being said the Gort fight was ... eh? Like there is the whole creepy factor and putting Lora back to the spotlight but honestly why is this fight a thing? It should have happened before the final fight (between the 1st encounter with Malos and Lora's ceremony), now it seems like an afterthought.
Speaking of afterthoughts, Minoth has ... very little relevance. He saves the kids, gives some insight about Amalthus and ... nothing. There is little reason for him to be involved here, I wish there was more to him. They could have tied him with Gort, hunting him down in his mutated state and then staying with the party for the rest of the game. Something like that would give him more meat.

Overall I think Torna did its job as prequel very well. It gives you more insight on most key characters like Addam, Jin or Lora and it gives enough hints to let you connect the dots between this and the main game (like Zettar making a deal with Amalthus for the nation that will be known as Tantal or Addam being the founder of Fonsett Village).
On the other hand I kinda wish there was a bit more;  how Jin actually got the Monoceros (which was being built during the war) after Torna sank or Malos surviving the final confrontation. The "Titan Eaters" (the thing that Gort became) and the Indolian scientist are loopholes which aren't continued in the main game despite being present when Amalthus became Praetor.

 

My thoughts on your thoughts

Spoiler

It's rather depressing when you realize that Jin, Addam, Mythra, Minoth, and Mikhail are the only party members who are still alive by the end of the game.

I think the last Gort fight was after the last battle with Malos to give Lora some closure before she dies. She is the main character of this story, after all. I feel Minoth was included to give Addam a second Blade and because it was established that he participated in the Aegis War, so he isn't out of place or anything.

Something that surprised me is that (aside from maybe founding Tantal) nothing immediately came out of Zettar's jealously of Addam or him failing to awaken Mythra. I was expecting him to be Scar from The Lion King reincarnated as a human, but he actually does care for his brother and he never betrays Torna. Though his envy of Addam would explain why the Tantalese royals pretended to be descended from him.

 

9 minutes ago, omegaxis1 said:

Something else about Malos from Torna and the main game.

  Hide contents

In Torna, Malos takes a more philosophical approach about how humans desire their own destruction and such. How it's his duty to give them the push they need.

However, this was never Malos's own will here. This was what Amulthus wanted. Remember that it was revealed in the main game that Malos's desire for destruction stems from Amusthus's own desire for it and Malos only absorbed that trait into himself.

But in the main game, his words to them were how he watched Jin in complete despair, how Malos finds Jin to just be a shell of his former self and now just desires death, all because of the curse that Lora had placed on him of her fear of Jin forgetting her, that made him become a Flesh Eater. Malos ended up hating humans of his OWN will at that moment and cared for Jin. That hug Malos gave before they split shows how Malos did come to care for Jin. 

That's what Klaus meant when Malos asked him if everything Malos is doing is truly his own will. And Klaus says, "It was the decision you made together." 

Malos DID gain a will of his own and wanted the destruction of the world himself, and not just because Amulthus desired it.

 

 

That really is the whole crux of Malos's character arc.

Spoiler

After almost being killed by Mythra, Malos became more self-reflective on why he lost and his reasons for hating the world. Joining up with Jin and the rest of Torna was his way of gaining autonomy by hating the world for his own reason, not just because he inherited it from Amalthus.

By the end of the game though I think some part of Malos acknowledged that his presence was part of the world's (and Jin's) suffering so he wanted Rex and Pneuma to kill him. He doesn't seem too bothered by being defeated and some of his quotes can be interpreted as him challenging Rex's philosophy to see if he's really capable of changing the world and encouraging Rex to stop him. If Rex loses, then good; humanity is beyond saving and deserves to be destroyed. If Rex wins, then that's also good; it means Rex can change the world for the better and humanity is in good hands. It's interesting if you watch the final battle cutscenes with this interpretation in mind.

 

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28 minutes ago, Lightchao42 said:

My thoughts on your thoughts

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It's rather depressing when you realize that Jin, Addam, Mythra, Minoth, and Mikhail are the only party members who are still alive by the end of the game.

I think the last Gort fight was after the last battle with Malos to give Lora some closure before she dies. She is the main character of this story, after all. I feel Minoth was included to give Addam a second Blade and because it was established that he participated in the Aegis War, so he isn't out of place or anything.

Something that surprised me is that (aside from maybe founding Tantal) nothing immediately came out of Zettar's jealously of Addam or him failing to awaken Mythra. I was expecting him to be Scar from The Lion King reincarnated as a human, but he actually does care for his brother and he never betrays Torna. Though his envy of Addam would explain why the Tantalese royals pretended to be descended from him.

 

That really is the whole crux of Malos's character arc.

  Hide contents

After almost being killed by Mythra, Malos became more self-reflective on why he lost and his reasons for hating the world. Joining up with Jin and the rest of Torna was his way of gaining autonomy by hating the world for his own reason, not just because he inherited it from Amalthus.

By the end of the game though I think some part of Malos acknowledged that his presence was part of the world's (and Jin's) suffering so he wanted Rex and Pneuma to kill him. He doesn't seem too bothered by being defeated and some of his quotes can be interpreted as him challenging Rex's philosophy to see if he's really capable of changing the world and encouraging Rex to stop him. If Rex loses, then good; humanity is beyond saving and deserves to be destroyed. If Rex wins, then that's also good; it means Rex can change the world for the better and humanity is in good hands. It's interesting if you watch the final battle cutscenes with this interpretation in mind.

 

Spoiler

I agree. I was rather shocked to see that Zettar never went far on his envy. Yeah, he was being a bit of a dick and wanting to hold Addam accountable on something. But by the end of it, he tried to help his brother escape with him. It shows that he does love his brother. But when his brother shook his head no, I feel it hurt Zettar a lot. 

Some part of me thinks that if he was the one that pretended to be Addam's descendants, he did it partially because Addam was the son his brother was proud of, so the belief that they were of Addam's line would give them something to pride themselves over. It might seem noble and unlikely, but hey, gotta see the good in others if there is any.

And yeah, Malos wanting to test to see if Rex's ideals can work out and prevail is a neat idea. 

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So here's something interesting. When asked if future Xenoblade games would return to the more sci-fi style settings, Takahashi said that that is a possibilty but there may also be a new, third possibility.

Takahashi has expressed interest in making a violent and erotic game (not neccisarly for Xenoblade, just in general, he wants to make that sort of game) so the next Xenoblade could maybe be that. Though of course, it'll only he violent and erotic as far as rated T standards go because as much as Nintendo gives Monolith freedom (way more Namco ever did), i doubt they'd allow a rated M game.

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7 hours ago, Armagon said:

So here's something interesting. When asked if future Xenoblade games would return to the more sci-fi style settings, Takahashi said that that is a possibilty but there may also be a new, third possibility.

Takahashi has expressed interest in making a violent and erotic game (not neccisarly for Xenoblade, just in general, he wants to make that sort of game) so the next Xenoblade could maybe be that. Though of course, it'll only he violent and erotic as far as rated T standards go because as much as Nintendo gives Monolith freedom (way more Namco ever did), i doubt they'd allow a rated M game.

Well... that depends on how far they can push the T rating. There tends to be things that are touching the line without crossing it.

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Just finished Torna and man I had a blast. This is the kind of DLC companies should aim for. Overall I liked it more than the main game and I was impressed when I saw that Monolith soft listened to the criticism and improved on the combat and made a stronger story (not that the main game had a bad one).

Spoiler

The only two minor complaints I have is that the story felt sort of rushed at times and that side quests were req. to continue the main story at certain points. I would have preferred if we didn't meet Adam so soon and there were times when I wanted to hold off on side quests and just progress the main quest a little bit but these are really minor points so eh. At least the actual side quests are a lot more fun compared to the main game. Oh and the Gort boss at the end felt unnecessary. 

But aside from that this was a fantastic experience! The combat is just so much more fluid and I much prefer it to the main game were you can only switch blades, not play as them. I also liked the cast quite a lot and because of that the ending hit me quite hard. Hugo defending Adam without a second thought and thus sacrificing his own life, Mythra breakdown in the entire ending of the game, Lora's last moments and Rex showing up at the end were all fantastic moments.

 

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By week's end, if I'm in the mood I should be getting to Torna or some serious schoolwork/studying

 

Just came in to post this for those not aware:

http://www.siliconera.com/2018/10/01/xenoblade-chronicles-2-sales-exceeded-my-expectations-says-director-takahashi/

Good sales are good, good foreign sales are really good.

"In the vein of Xenoblade Chronicles X?" -Just give me a sequel! Or at the least draft a scenario for Monolith to flesh out while you're on vacation or something, checking in once awhile to avert any potential trainwrecks of course. I get the kind of person you are Takahashi, and I'm all open to this "third option", but don't leave us hanging forever!

Edited by Interdimensional Observer
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So even if Rex doesn't make it into Smash then its still very likely that some of Xenoblade's soundtrack will make it into Smash. Which songs would you guys like to see?

Counter attack and the Mor Ardain theme seems like pretty obvious bets. The song ''drifting souls'' is possible since it such a prominent one but its not exactly fighting music. 

The Torna battle theme is one I really like to see.

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3 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

So even if Rex doesn't make it into Smash then its still very likely that some of Xenoblade's soundtrack will make it into Smash. Which songs would you guys like to see?

Counter attack and the Mor Ardain theme seems like pretty obvious bets. The song ''drifting souls'' is possible since it such a prominent one but its not exactly fighting music. 

The Torna battle theme is one I really like to see.

I really hope "Song of Giga Rosa" gets in. A mecha anime OP-sounding song? Hell yeah, that should get in Smash.

Similarly, since it looks like X's lyrical music got into 2 with no issue, Uncontrollable and Wir Fliegen would be great, too.

 

plus xenosaga i's battle theme

and fatal fight from xenosaga ii

cmon namco you love xenosaga crossover stuff anyway

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4 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

So even if Rex doesn't make it into Smash then its still very likely that some of Xenoblade's soundtrack will make it into Smash. Which songs would you guys like to see?

Counter attack and the Mor Ardain theme seems like pretty obvious bets. The song ''drifting souls'' is possible since it such a prominent one but its not exactly fighting music. 

The Torna battle theme is one I really like to see.

Over Despair and Animus, Malos' battle theme from Torna is a must. It's one of my favorite boss themes ever.

Still, Move Forward wouls be great as well and i think the Tantal theme would be good.

From X, Melancholia needs more love. The Key We've Lost is an obvious choice.

33 minutes ago, NoirCore said:

plus xenosaga i's battle theme

and fatal fight from xenosaga ii

cmon namco you love xenosaga crossover stuff anyway

Don't forget Communication Breakdown from Xenosaga II and Godsibb from Xenosaga III.

At least have Godsibb. It is one of THE most badass and epic boss themes out there. The kind that sound like a final boss theme but aren't.

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Torna was much better than the main story in most aspects, the combat, the music, the characters (mostly), field skills aren't annoying and the side quests weren't a complete waste of my time. It was a fun experience and my only wish is that it could be longer, still was very much worth the wait and money 

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I've started to play this game now. It sounds like I'm about to leave the second place, I have what I assume is all three teams now. Although the absence of anyone with this Mining Field Ability I see I need for some instances, suggests perhaps another Blade for Addam coming in the future. 

So far, I'm enjoying the game. 

  • Everything but combat:
    • Music light and jazzy, not as good as XC1 so far, but good. 
    • The two places visited so far look nice, if a little basic and in need of more creativity.
    • Not being able to jump and climb
    • Run speed even before the little crafting bonuses is fairly fast. XCX had slow running, but that was because sprinting and Skells existed. The problem with sprinting (and Skell drive mode) though was it being assigned, with no ability to change it, to pressing down on the left control stick. I think the constant need to sprint was what ultimately forced me to buy a replacement control stick because the left one began having issues of moving left far too easily and right too resistantly due to becoming loose or something. If XCX gets ported, they best change that.
    • Too much of the clock seems to be hours of darkness, but that is only because I haven't toyed with time changing really right now. Used to it a lot in XC1, but XCX restrained that to specific locations, so I got used to not unless I really wanted to.
    • It feels like the map could use a few extra landmarks, and maybe I just need to spend more time adjusting to this one, but I think the old XC1 map system was better. The XCX one was interesting with it being on the Gamepad and being able to set probes and fill in every hex, but as a map for actually trying to read and navigate the terrain? It was bad and needed more place labels on it.
    • Collectibles now have a use as crafting materials and not just collectibles you fill a compendium with. Not like I'm doing much crafting though, don't want to waste materials I might need/better use elsewhere later.
    • Related to the above, the consolidation of collectibles into fewer spots that give multiple items was a good idea. Even if these are as plentiful as there are clouds in the sky, although it seems like you need a lot to get the rare mats for crafting.
    • Perhaps owed to the fact this is just a little prequel story to a bigger game where everything I imagine gets fleshed out more, and which normally a person would have played first, I feel the plot doesn't give much in the way of expose for the world. Although I am getting an idea of things, I'm not wholly lost. Blue evil religionists, humans, artificial intelligent constructs, multicolored mascot potatoes, and beastfolk. Not hard.
    • Although this plot seems to deal with something which upfront seems a like a world catastrophe from the opening sequence foretelling the coming conclusion of events- the lost of a floating continent. Yet the plot isn't getting too serious or focused besides the backroom villain scenes so far. The MaloMart menace is spoken of, but not felt yet. All the little things with the children feels filler to ease into the more serious stuff, which I hope is starting soon.
    • The characters seem likable enough so far. They all look okay to me (why'd they get Nomura though for Jin? Did he ask? What does having his name on here do for the game?). None has really shined as a character yet, and I question why they killed off Lora's mother right at the beginning and don't even show what she looks like in flashbacks, but this is just a nitpick.

 

  • Combat:
    • I do like the tag team setup, allows for a lot of characters on the field without it being too many attackers at once.
    • The replacement of temporal cooldowns with auto attack ones, effectively turning everything into XC1 Talent Arts, works for me. Hope there are auto attack accelerator accessories/cores eventually, even if they're rare.
    • Speaking of equipment, I like that it appears to be more horizontal (expansion of options/variety- no/minimal power increase) in some ways than vertical (increase in power, no/minimal increase of options/variety). Accessories and chips do get stronger, but there are a good deal of options for the limited accessory slots, and Driver weapons appear to be purely horizontal so far.
    • The passives learning of Blades is different, I like it. I can tell this system was tailored for a shorter game, as were those skill trees for the Drivers, but I don't mind.
    • Only having three arts per character while in the Vanguard, excluding the Talent Art and Specials, at first sounds quite small. THREE ATTACKS?! That is going to get so samey! -Except it isn't! 
      • The weaknesses of some other games with more:
        • Sure I might get like 30 spells/attacks for a Final Fantasy character in a given game, but is it really better? A bunch of those spells are just going to be vertical improvements on the old ones, which then I'll never use. Like Fira replacing Fire. Or Haste with Hastega. Even Tales can have this issue, not so much among the physical artes in those games, as among the spells.
        • Similarly, some of those spells are just going to be the same thing in power and cost, but targeting a different weakness. And provided a character gets both of those, like a Black Mage getting Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder, in practice they might as well be one spell.
        • Status ailments? Pffff! How useful are they? In a lot of RPGs, they just clutter the skills list.
        • I'm not denigrating these games too much. Bravely for instance does have real skill variety, I'm simply pointing out what may be an unnoticed fault of them.
      • The strengths of the XC2: TtGC system:
        • With the tag team system, you get effectively nine arts under your control at any time. Rearguard arts expand this somewhat (I wouldn't call it an outright addition of nine, since in a way they're "passive" with their significantly longer cooldowns), as does the Switch Arts, Talent Arts, and Specials.
        • Being real time, as opposed to turn-based, things are faster paced. Keeping track of the timing for when to pull off certain arts is tricky, for me at least, but the strategic benefits are good. In a sense, I see simple movesets more tolerable in a realtime JRPG as opposed to a turn-based one, since the addition of timing can make the simple less simple, or at least justifiable due to the need to also pay attention to timing, and more engaging.

This said, the combat is being a bit overwhelming to me, but I'm growing into it. I don't think I'll ever truly master the system due to the chaotic elements of it- the BTLS sequence will only rarely and with good fortune be executed in full.

My other major combat issue so far is Chain Attacks. Nothing lives long enough for the full assaults, and what does, and the few chances I've had to try, have typically ended with somebody dying just before I can really pull off the Chain's third stage.

Also, what are these 16 critical paths for Chain Attacks the game speaks of? It says one of them, but doesn't inform me of any other. Is it just expecting me to mash Specials together and hope for the best? Could I at least have a little log keeping track of which ones I have pulled off?

And the game speaks of elemental strengths and weaknesses. Are they fixed relationships? Or does it vary on an enemy by enemy basis? Is Earth always effective on Wind, or can one enemy that uses Wind be weak to Earth, and a different Wind enemy weak to Thunder?

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I've started to play this game now. It sounds like I'm about to leave the second place, I have what I assume is all three teams now. Although the absence of anyone with this Digging Field Ability I see I need for some instances, suggests perhaps another Blade for Addam coming in the future. 

So far, I'm enjoying the game. 

  • Everything but combat:
    • Music light and jazzy, not as good as XC1 so far, but good. 
    • The two places visited so far look nice, if a little basic and in need of more creativity.
    • Not being able to jump and climb
    • Run speed even before the little crafting bonuses is fairly fast. XCX had slow running, but that was because sprinting and Skells existed. The problem with sprinting (and Skell drive mode) though was it being assigned, with no ability to change it, to pressing down on the left control stick. I think the constant need to sprint was what ultimately forced me to buy a replacement control stick because the left one began having issues of moving left far too easily and right too resistantly due to becoming loose or something. If XCX gets ported, they best change that.
    • Too much of the clock seems to be hours of darkness, but that is only because I haven't toyed with time changing really right now. Used to it a lot in XC1, but XCX restrained that to specific locations, so I got used to not unless I really wanted to.
    • It feels like the map could use a few extra landmarks, and maybe I just need to spend more time adjusting to this one, but I think the old XC1 map system was better. The XCX one was interesting with it being on the Gamepad and being able to set probes and fill in every hex, but as a map for actually trying to read and navigate the terrain? It was bad and needed more place labels on it.
    • Collectibles now have a use as crafting materials and not just collectibles you fill a compendium with. Not like I'm doing much crafting though, don't want to waste materials I might need/better use elsewhere later.
    • Related to the above, the consolidation of collectibles into fewer spots that give multiple items was a good idea. Even if these are as plentiful as there are clouds in the sky, although it seems like you need a lot to get the rare mats for crafting.
    • Perhaps owed to the fact this is just a little prequel story to a bigger game where everything I imagine gets fleshed out more, and which normally a person would have played first, I feel the plot doesn't give much in the way of expose for the world. Although I am getting an idea of things, I'm not wholly lost. Blue evil religionists, humans, artificial intelligent constructs, multicolored mascot potatoes, and beastfolk. Not hard.
    • Although this plot seems to deal with something which upfront seems a like a world catastrophe from the opening sequence foretelling the coming conclusion of events- the lost of a floating continent. Yet the plot isn't getting too serious or focused besides the backroom villain scenes so far. The MaloMart menace is spoken of, but not felt yet. All the little things with the children feels filler to ease into the more serious stuff, which I hope is starting soon.
    • The characters seem likable enough so far. They all look okay to me (why'd they get Nomura though for Jin? Did he ask? What does having his name on here do for the game?). None has really shined as a character yet, and I question why they killed off Lora's mother right at the beginning and don't even show what she looks like in flashbacks, but this is just a nitpick.

 

  • Combat:
    • I do like the tag team setup, allows for a lot of characters on the field without it being too many attackers at once.
    • The replacement of temporal cooldowns with auto attack ones, effectively turning everything into XC1 Talent Arts, works for me. Hope there are auto attack accelerator accessories/cores eventually, even if they're rare.
    • Speaking of equipment, I like that it appears to be more horizontal (expansion of options/variety- no/minimal power increase) in some ways than vertical (increase in power, no/minimal increase of options/variety). Accessories and chips do get stronger, but there are a good deal of options for the limited accessory slots, and Driver weapons appear to be purely horizontal so far.
    • The passives learning of Blades is different, I like it. I can tell this system was tailored for a shorter game, as were those skill trees for the Drivers, but I don't mind.
    • Only having three arts per character while in the Vanguard, excluding the Talent Art and Specials, at first sounds quite small. THREE ATTACKS?! That is going to get so samey! -Except it isn't! 
      • The weaknesses of some other games with more:
        • Sure I might get like 30 spells/attacks for a Final Fantasy character in a given game, but is it really better? A bunch of those spells are just going to be vertical improvements on the old ones, which then I'll never use. Like Fira replacing Fire. Or Haste with Hastega. Even Tales can have this issue, not so much among the physical artes in those games, as among the spells.
        • Similarly, some of those spells are just going to be the same thing in power and cost, but targeting a different weakness. And provided a character gets both of those, like a Black Mage getting Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder, in practice they might as well be one spell.
        • Status ailments? Pffff! How useful are they? In a lot of RPGs, they just clutter the skills list.
        • I'm not denigrating these games too much. Bravely for instance does have real skill variety, I'm simply pointing out what may be an unnoticed fault of them.
      • The strengths of the XC2: TtGC system:
        • With the tag team system, you get effectively nine arts under your control at any time. Rearguard arts expand this somewhat (I wouldn't call it an outright addition of nine, since in a way they're "passive" with their significantly longer cooldowns), as does the Switch Arts, Talent Arts, and Specials.
        • Being real time, as opposed to turn-based, things are faster paced. Keeping track of the timing for when to pull off certain arts is tricky, for me at least, but the strategic benefits are good. In a sense, I see simple movesets more tolerable in a realtime JRPG as opposed to a turn-based one, since the addition of timing can make the simple less simple, or at least justifiable due to the need to also pay attention to timing, and more engaging.

This said, the combat is being a bit overwhelming to me, but I'm growing into it. I don't think I'll ever truly master the system due to the chaotic elements of it- the BTLS sequence will only rarely and with good fortune be executed in full.

My other major combat issue so far is Chain Attacks. Nothing lives long enough for the full assaults, and what does, and the few chances I've had to try, have typically ended with somebody dying just before I can really pull off the Chain's third stage.

Also, what are these 16 critical paths for Chain Attacks the game speaks of? It says one of them, but doesn't inform me of any other. Is it just expecting me to mash Specials together and hope for the best? Could I at least have a little log keeping track of which ones I have pulled off?

And the game speaks of elemental strengths and weaknesses. Are they fixed relationships? Or does it vary on an enemy by enemy basis? Is Earth always effective on Wind, or can one enemy that uses Wind be weak to Earth, and a different Wind enemy weak to Thunder?

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