Xenoblade Chronicles 2

[Interdimensional Observer]

On 9/24/2017 at 1:43 AM, Sire said:

* XC: At final boss, want to finish up the sidequests first. I hear this trivializes the final fight, but I rather "complete" the game in one go instead of doing another playthrough.

You could copy the data pre-final battle pre-sidequest grind. Kill the FB on one file, and then do the sidequests on the other (and perhaps attempt the superbosses, you have only a couple unlike XCX- Final Marcus, Ancient Daedala, some Bunnit, Blizzard Bezelgas, and Avalanche Abassy).

[Armagon]

So we got official artwork of the little pet thing that rides in Rex's helmet.

Spoiler

His name is Jitchan (which translates to grandma in Japanese.....Rex calls Azurda "gramps".......I have several questions).  which translates to grandpa, which, given that Rex calls Azurda "gramps", further signifies that these two are the same.....somehow.

This guy's cute tho (and is it me, or does he look like a Pokemon?)

 

Edited September 26, 2017 by Armagon
Making a correction

[Water Mage]

12 minutes ago, Armagon said:

So we got official artwork of the little pet thing that rides in Rex's helmet.

  Reveal hidden contents

His name is Jitchan (which translates to grandma in Japanese.....Rex calls Azurda "gramps".......I have several questions).

This guy's cute tho (and is it me, or does he look like a Pokemon?)

 

But wait, isn't it the same being as the titan he lives on? This is his compact form?

Edited September 26, 2017 by Water Mage

[The Geek]

32 minutes ago, Armagon said:

So we got official artwork of the little pet thing that rides in Rex's helmet.

  Hide contents

His name is Jitchan (which translates to grandma in Japanese.....Rex calls Azurda "gramps".......I have several questions).

This guy's cute tho (and is it me, or does he look like a Pokemon?)

 

Actually, it's Jii-chan, which is an affectionate way to address your grandfather.  Grandma would be "Baa-chan"

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, Water Mage said:

But wait, isn't it the same being as the titan he lives on? This is his compact form?

Huh. He is. Well then, looks like the Wiki needs some fixing to do. 

Anyway, i did some research and it looks like the wording was a bit strange. When Azura was introduced, the game's official Twitter account referred to him by his real name but when "Jitchan" was revealed, the Twitter referred to him by his nickname, which i guess caused some confusion over at the Wiki.  Speaking of artwork released from the official Twitter account, we have Nia's and Dromarch's official artwork as well

Spoiler

 

I was wondering where all this new official artwork was coming from.

Edit:

Quote

Actually, it's Jii-chan, which is an affectionate way to address your grandfather.  Grandma would be "Baa-chan"

Thanks for the correction @The Geek

Edited September 26, 2017 by Armagon

[Interdimensional Observer]

7 hours ago, Armagon said:

This guy's cute tho (and is it me, or does he look like a Pokemon?)

Looks like an FF Moogle to me, one with an attitude. Reminds me a little of Gouto too from the Raidou Kuzunoha games in the SMT franchise with the visage of seriousness. I guess the expression is appropriate for a grumpy old grandpa.

As for Nia and Dromarch, cat lovers will rejoice with this game I guess.

Edited September 26, 2017 by Interdimensional Observer

[vanguard333]

I'm looking forward to this game.

One thing I noticed: all the forms of transport in the trailers seem to depend on Titans (or at least smaller, similar buildings), except in the case of Torna. Uruya is stated to rely on bio-tech and a ship attached to what looks like a giant fish can be seen in the background. Mor Ardain use technology to control their animals, and both their tanks and their ships are built around animals. In the previous trailers, we saw similar animal-ships being used by the imperial province of Gormott, and the Indoline Praetorium. The province's ships could be Mor Ardain ships, but the Praetorium ships are definitely that of the praetorium as they are white pterodactyl-like creatures, much like their Titan. But, they seem at least coated in metal, and may even be artificial like the blades. The Argentum Trade Guild uses those giant pufferfish-like creatures as balloons for their blimps. And yet, from what we see of (presumably) Torna ships, they seem entirely mechanical. No signs whatsoever of being attached to or built around any animals. I wonder why?

EDIT: Another thing I just thought of: apparently there's a type of jellyfish that, instead of dying of old age, reverts to its infantile state and restarts its life all over again. If that's the case with the titans as well, that could explain why "gramps" ends up as that tiny creature.

Edited September 26, 2017 by vanguard333

[Armagon]

15 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

EDIT: Another thing I just thought of: apparently there's a type of jellyfish that, instead of dying of old age, reverts to its infantile state and restarts its life all over again. If that's the case with the titans as well, that could explain why "gramps" ends up as that tiny creature.

I don't think so. It's specifically mentioned that the Titans are dying. We don't know the full connection between Azurda and "Jitchan" yet either but given how vastly different they are, i doubt it's a case of reverse aging.

"Jitchan" is show to have a blue core on his chest. All Blades shown so far have cores on their chest (though not necessarily blue). Rex has a core on his chest as well, which may signnify the connections between Drivers and Blades. Which means.......could "Jitchan" be Azurda's Blade. Specifically, a Special Blade that isn't used for combat, but rather, on that Azurda psychically inhabits to go on land?

It's just speculation and it's pretty out there but it's fun to speculate.

[PersonWithTime]

On 9/24/2017 at 11:48 AM, kingddd said:

Well currently, Xenoblade 1 is on Wii U as eshop 20 dollar title, it also got a physical restock recently at gamestop (well I saw some new copies in my local area) for the Wii so you can check that out there too.  The new3DS version is also an option if you ever plan to.

However keep in mind that Xenoblade is following as two seperate series now, Takahashi the director and creator has stated that this is the kind of direction they're going for now.  Xenoblade would be your traditional JRPG adventure game with a slight medieval final fantasy like story telling focused game.  While Xenoblade X is a scifi space opera drama with open world exploration and all about allowing the player to have fun and go out on your own adventure kind of game.

Okay, that's all great information! It's so weird though, Wii titles have just been completely dead at EB Games (cause I'm from the Great White North) but I just checked their website and they have Xenoblade Chronicles and a ton of different locations! So that's totally something for me to get. Also okay, so that's the difference between the two and when this new one is called 2. I think I can get behind both.

On 9/24/2017 at 0:15 PM, Armagon said:

As mentioned by the person above, you can get the original off of the Wii U eShop for 20 dollars and a restock is coming soon (though it's the first time i've heard of that). The New 3DS version is inferior to the original (less resolution) however, it's portable. On of the biggest reasons why i'm looking forward to XC2 is because it's on the Switch, so it's portable, meaning i can play it on the go. The New 3DS version of the original game also benefits from being portable. It's a long game after all, so having more chances to play it is always a good thing.

Yeah, I've looked at a side-by-side of the Wii and 3DS version and the Wii version looks much more appealing to me. Plus I need more games for my Wii anyway and a deep game with tons of content is something I feel like the Wii in general lacks, so it'll look great in my library! And yeah, I'm a sucker for cases so while 20 bucks on the Wii U is tempting, I wanna get it for my Wii! Damn, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on the Switch must be perfect for you though, great resolution on the go, sounds like a match made in heaven.

[vanguard333]

10 hours ago, Armagon said:

I don't think so. It's specifically mentioned that the Titans are dying. We don't know the full connection between Azurda and "Jitchan" yet either but given how vastly different they are, i doubt it's a case of reverse aging.

"Jitchan" is show to have a blue core on his chest. All Blades shown so far have cores on their chest (though not necessarily blue). Rex has a core on his chest as well, which may signnify the connections between Drivers and Blades. Which means.......could "Jitchan" be Azurda's Blade. Specifically, a Special Blade that isn't used for combat, but rather, on that Azurda psychically inhabits to go on land?

It's just speculation and it's pretty out there but it's fun to speculate.

Interesting. Or perhaps Azurda 'dies', and transfers his consciousness to "Jitchan" out of necessity. As you said; it's all speculation. Though the Titans dying might also explain why Torna seem to be the only ones who don't use the titans for their transportation. Perhaps they want to bring about a world that doesn't rely on the titans, like Emperor Rudolph in SoV? Or perhaps they don't have any because theirs were the first to die? 

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, PersonWithTime said:

Yeah, I've looked at a side-by-side of the Wii and 3DS version and the Wii version looks much more appealing to me.

On a side note, the Wii version also has dual audio, so if you ever feel the need to switch to Japanese voice acting, you can. The New 3DS version lacks dual audio. That said, i find the English voice acting to be superior to the Japanese voice acting. This is because the Xenoblade games' voice acting has European voice acting, particularly British (though there are other English accents present). It adds variety to the voice acting, which is something the Japanese voice acting lacks. Not that the Japanese VAs are bad, but this is one of those games that must be played in English.

That's also another reason why i'm looking forward to Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Because the European voice acting adds more variety and it fits perfectly with 2's world of having different nations depending on the Titan.

2 hours ago, PersonWithTime said:

Damn, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on the Switch must be perfect for you though, great resolution on the go, sounds like a match made in heaven.

It really is. My only worry is that the text may be a bit to small to read in handheld mode. One of the issues people had with Xenoblade Chronicles X was that the text was too small to read, though i personally never saw it as that big of an issue. I mean, X is a Wii U game, which you would most likely be playing on the big screen that is the TV.

So while the issue may not be present in Xenoblade 2 when played on the TV, it may become a bit of an issue on handheld mode. Still, that won't be enough to stop me.

 

 

1 hour ago, vanguard333 said:

Though the Titans dying might also explain why Torna seem to be the only ones who don't use the titans for their transportation. Perhaps they want to bring about a world that doesn't rely on the titans, like Emperor Rudolph in SoV? Or perhaps they don't have any because theirs were the first to die? 

Torna's Titan being the first to die is what i speculated as well. As for wanting to bring about a world without Titans, that could be a motive. Though i don't know how they'll accomplish it. But, now that i've learned it's Japanese name, it's possible that Torna may be behind the Titans' demise. If you look back at the previous page, i was talking with @Rex Glaciesabout how each of the Titans' nations' Japanese names (and by extension, the Japanese names of the Titans themselves) are named after the Seven Deadly Sins in Latin. And today, i've found Torna's Japanese name: Ira. Ira is Latin for Wrath. If these names are any indication of how these nations will act, it's possible that Torna may be the most aggressive of them all, maybe even behind the Titan's approaching demise.

And with that, that is our sixth Deadly Sin. The only one we're missing now is Lust, and none of the currently reveled Titans and organisations match up with it.

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

27 minutes ago, Armagon said:

The only one we're missing now is Lust, and none of the currently reveled Titans and organisations match up with it.

Let's hope they don't go down the dark route of fanservice with this one. Make the lust lusty if one must, but not overdone. Given the child friendly aesthetic, I don't think they will.

 

27 minutes ago, Armagon said:

It really is. My only worry is that the text may be a bit to small to read in handheld mode. One of the issues people had with Xenoblade Chronicles X was that the text was too small to read, though i personally never saw it as that big of an issue. I mean, X is a Wii U game, which you would most likely be playing on the big screen that is the TV.

So while the issue may not be present in Xenoblade 2 when played on the TV, it may become a bit of an issue on handheld mode. Still, that won't be enough to stop me.

Actually, I originally played XCX in Standard Definition, it was awful for the text and I had to play on the Gamepad much of the time because it made the text easier to read. Once I upgraded to a HD connection on a new TV of about the same size as the old one, maybe a little bigger, things were so much easier to read and I never had to squint or swap to the small screen again.

[Rex Glacies]

21 minutes ago, Armagon said:

And with that, that is our sixth Deadly Sin. The only one we're missing now is Lust, and none of the currently reveled Titans and organisations match up with it.

Oh! So we do have wrath. The original trailer showed eight flags in the beginning, so that leaves us with Luxuria (lust) and one other nation.

I like the Torna-responsible-for-the-Titans-death theory. It would explain what they're doing under the Cloud Sea - might there be something under there with the power to kill gods?

3 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Let's hope they don't go down the dark route of fanservice with this one. Make the lust lusty if one must, but not overdone. Given the child friendly aesthetic, I don't think they will.

Geez, I hope this doesn't happen. Fortunately, Monolith Soft is quite intelligent, so I hope they realize lust isn't just... fanservice... but simply a burning desire for something.

And something recently occurred to me. In the E3 trailer, Rex mentions that in the far past, humans lived in Elysium with the "Architect." Knowing the Gnostic themes of these games, I'm going to assume that Elysium is analogous to the Garden of Eden - both are paradises that are linked to the afterlife. My only question now is whether the "Architect" is meant to be the Gnostic "God" akin to Alvis, or the "Demiurge" akin to Zanza.

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 minute ago, Rex Glacies said:

And something recently occurred to me. In the E3 trailer, Rex mentions that in the far past, humans lived in Elysium with the "Architect." Knowing the Gnostic themes of these games, I'm going to assume that Elysium is analogous to the Garden of Eden - both are paradises that are linked to the afterlife. My only question now is whether the "Architect" is meant to be the Gnostic "God" akin to Alvis, or the "Demiurge" akin to Zanza.

That is going to be hard to predict. Takahashi, despite my theorycrafting, did place a blatant Gnostic trinty of Monad-Sophia-Demiurge in XCX, so he might be attempting to move away from it. Pyra as the Sophia or somehow related to it might be a safe bet for now.

Elysium was intended only for the virtuous and extraordinary, the masses ended up on the Asphodel Meadows, which is pretty bleak, and the worst of humanity goes to hellish Tartarus. Of course, this doesn't make it sound any easier to determine whether the Demiurge or Monad made it. I'd think the Monad, but who knows how deceptive the Demiurge is in its efforts to lead humanity away from divine insight. Architect sounds pretty god-ish, and the obvious god is generally the Demiurge I think. The Monad should be harder to discover (virtually nobody thought the Monado itself was a sentient god despite its name until the end lets face it).

 

9 minutes ago, Rex Glacies said:

Geez, I hope this doesn't happen. Fortunately, Monolith Soft is quite intelligent, so I hope they realize lust isn't just... fanservice... but simply a burning desire for something.

I was thinking that too, but wasn't quite sure how to word it. Bloodlust is lust, and as our friendly SS Valter makes clearly, one needn't be Wrathful to be wanting of bloodshed. If Bravely Second could get away with this (skip to about 32:50, the relevant segment ends at 37:50) despite having a rather kid friendly aesthetic, XC2 could get away with a nice bit of bloodlust. Though there are other forms of lust too.

[Armagon]

11 hours ago, Rex Glacies said:

Oh! So we do have wrath. The original trailer showed eight flags in the beginning, so that leaves us with Luxuria (lust) and one other nation.

 

My question is, if there are Seven Deadly Sins, why were eight flags shown? Is there something that also relates to the Seven Deadly Sins?

11 hours ago, Rex Glacies said:

I like the Torna-responsible-for-the-Titans-death theory. It would explain what they're doing under the Cloud Sea - might there be something under there with the power to kill gods?

Well, i don't think the Titans are Gods. The Architect is most definitely a God but i think the Titans are just really big animals. My evidence for this is how the Empire of Mor Ardain takes control over the smaller Titans via mechanical means.

That said, there's no doubt that the people of Alrest worship the Titans as if they were Gods.

But Torna going under the Cloud Sea in order to kill the Titans does sound plausible. Although i wonder how they'd kill the Titans that are floating above the Cloud Sea, those being Uraya, Argentum, and Indol.

 

13 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Let's hope they don't go down the dark route of fanservice with this one. Make the lust lusty if one must, but not overdone. Given the child friendly aesthetic, I don't think they will.

13 hours ago, Rex Glacies said:

Geez, I hope this doesn't happen. Fortunately, Monolith Soft is quite intelligent, so I hope they realize lust isn't just... fanservice... but simply a burning desire for something.

Yeah, i don't think they'd go down the dark route of fanservice. While the Xenoblade games do have fanservice, it's not super blown out proportion. They could've  totally fanservice-ied Nia if they wanted to but they didn't. Even Pyra's design isn't too fanservicey. We've basically already seen it before with some of Mecha-Fiora's outfits.

 

Regarding the Nation of Luxuria (we know it'll be called Luxuria in the Japanese version because of the theming), even it does end up fanservicy, i feel like Monolith Soft will provide a legitimate reason in-game as to why the people of Luxuria are like that, as opposed to it just being fanservice for the sake of being fanservice.

But yeah, you're also right in that lust simply means a burning desire for something.

 

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

5 hours ago, Armagon said:

My question is, if there are Seven Deadly Sins, why were eight flags shown? Is there something that also relates to the Seven Deadly Sins?

Well typical JRPG logic is telling me that either its something more powerful than sin, but which is like sin (a super evil). Or, it'll be the antithesis of sin, possibly also very powerful- a group representing the Seven Heavenly Virtues perhaps?

 

19 hours ago, Rex Glacies said:

I like the Torna-responsible-for-the-Titans-death theory. It would explain what they're doing under the Cloud Sea - might there be something under there with the power to kill gods?

This isn't the first time Monolith worked on a game in the sky. The Baten Kaitos duology is also set in the sky (Namco and Tri-Crescendo were the co-developers). Perhaps it'll give a slight clue at what Monolith is trying this time.

The explanation, not at all a spoiler for the games, is that long ago, the Wicked God Malpercio was fought and slain. Malpercio contaminated the Earth, and so to keep humanity alive, pieces still free of pollution were lifted into the sky. A few humans who were the descendants of the people who slew Malpercio, the Children of the Earth, remained on the contaminated Earth. The Earth itself became surrounded in clouds, the clouds would absorb in the poison Malpercio left behind, becoming the deadly toxic Taintclouds, but over centuries the poison would pulled out the Earth and harmlessly diffused gradually into the sky, thus purifying the planet and making an eventual return to the Earth possible.

One bit of folklore spoken once in the game before the heroes get a chance to go beneath the Taintclouds, calls them the physical boundary between life and the afterlife.

Also, although Malpercio was slain on the Earth and ruined the planet, its power was sealed in the Sky. The 5 major nations (once called Whales) floating in the Sky in Baten Kaitos: Sadal Suud, Diadem, Anuenue, Mira (no, not THAT Mira), and Alfard, are floating only because a major fragment of Malpercio's power, the End Magnus, were placed in each of them. It's that power, contained such that there is no corrupting from it, which makes Sadal Suud so fertile, Diadem so cloudy, Anuenue's Celestial Tree so gigantic and flowery, Alfard so rich in metals that it can be an empire, and an incident involving the End Magnus of Mira made it dimensionally unstable.

P.S. If the Switch gets GC VC, and the Baten Kaitos duo are available on it and you haven't tried them, I recommend it! Just turn off the VAs for the original and avoid being spoiled.

[Armagon]

15 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Well typical JRPG logic is telling me that either its something more powerful than sin, but which is like sin (a super evil). Or, it'll be the antithesis of sin, possibly also very powerful- a group representing the Seven Heavenly Virtues perhaps?

Speaking of heavenly, Elysium's Japanese name is Eden. Do you think it's possible that the eight flag is represents the nation of Elysium?

And i'm just remembering this, but in the E3 trailer, Rex mentions that people originally lived on the World Tree, with the Architect. But now, people live on the Titans, which are each named after the Seven Deadly Sins (in the Japanese version). With Elysium being called Eden in the Japanese version, do you think it's possible that the original people of Elysium were exiled to live on the Titans because they did something bad, just like how Adam and Eve were exiled from the Garden of Eden by God for eating from the Forbidden Tree?

[PersonWithTime]

On 9/27/2017 at 10:11 PM, Armagon said:

i find the English voice acting to be superior to the Japanese voice acting. This is because the Xenoblade games' voice acting has European voice acting, particularly British (though there are other English accents present). It adds variety to the voice acting, which is something the Japanese voice acting lacks. Not that the Japanese VAs are bad, but this is one of those games that must be played in English.

 

Yeah, just from Smash Bros alone I felt the same way, (I also think Smash Bros English cast is near perfect because the voices of the characters have so much more variety then the Japanese equivalent. I just wish they could have gotten Female Robin, Mewtwo and Cloud's voice actors but whatever!) But yeah, I felt that Shulk and Bayonetta made the game feel more international.

But anyways, that tip about the first Xenoblade Chronicles being in store was an amazing tip. In Canada still, so yeah I got EB Games, but I checked online and almost every store in Canada had a copy. When I went there they said they had it, it was considered recycled but it was brand new and sealed so... great tip! I know it's a long game though so I think I'm gonna wait until I beat Super Mario Odyssey to get into it. I hate being interrupted. I was in a Pikmin 3 groove until Breath of the Wild came out, still haven't beaten Pikmin 3 because of it. I'll probably still buy Xenoblade Chronicles 2 when it comes out though, I'm taking a pass on Fire Emblem Warriors so Xenoblade will be my November game!

[Armagon]

So they revealed a new Blade

Spoiler

Her name is Hotaru, and she's a Rare Blade. Her element is wind and her corresponding weapon is......a ball. You can even see it here:

Since her weapon is a ball, i suppose that means that there will be Blades with more out-there weapons. Hotaru was designed by Taiki.

Also, God damn, this shot of the Kingdom of Uraya is beautiful.

 

[vanguard333]

8 hours ago, Armagon said:

So they revealed a new Blade

  Hide contents

Her name is Hotaru, and she's a Rare Blade. Her element is wind and her corresponding weapon is......a ball. You can even see it here:

Since her weapon is a ball, i suppose that means that there will be Blades with more out-there weapons. Hotaru was designed by Taiki.

Also, God damn, this shot of the Kingdom of Uraya is beautiful.

 

Huh. I agree; that picture of the kingdom of Uraya is beautiful. By the way, you can see what appears to be a long staircase leading up to a large building, and towers overlooking both sides of the stairs. I must say, if those are stairs, it looks like quite a climb to get to the building. 

As for the Blade, interesting that it uses a ball as a weapon, though we did see one of the not-unique Blades seemingly kick a soccer ball as a weapon in the third trailer. Out of the unique Blades that they've shown, why are all the humanoid ones female? Not a complaint; just asking. At least this one is mostly clothed. 

[Armagon]

3 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

By the way, you can see what appears to be a long staircase leading up to a large building, and towers overlooking both sides of the stairs. I must say, if those are stairs, it looks like quite a climb to get to the building.

That was actually shown off in the Gamescom stream. The large building is actually a castle town (with the large building obviously being the castle itself). The stairs surprisingly aren't the main entrance. They lead deep underground (and there's a lake surrounding the underground entrance.....there's a Lv70 fish there iirc). The stream ended when they reached the castle town; they explored a bit but ended it there.

5 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

Out of the unique Blades that they've shown, why are all the humanoid ones female?

Vasara isn't

Spoiler

 

Though i wouldn't be surprised if most Special and Rare humanoid Blades turn out to be female.

[vanguard333]

12 hours ago, Armagon said:

Vasara isn't

  Hide contents

 

Though i wouldn't be surprised if most Special and Rare humanoid Blades turn out to be female.

Oh yeah; I forgot about that one. Though it would be cool to see a male one that isn't... for lack of a better word, creepy. I don't know; maybe one that vaguely resembles a knight, perhaps?

12 hours ago, Armagon said:

That was actually shown off in the Gamescom stream. The large building is actually a castle town (with the large building obviously being the castle itself). The stairs surprisingly aren't the main entrance. They lead deep underground (and there's a lake surrounding the underground entrance.....there's a Lv70 fish there iirc). The stream ended when they reached the castle town; they explored a bit but ended it there.

Huh; cool. I didn't see that stream. Good to know those stairs are not the main entrance; if it were anything like real life, the protagonist would probably end up running out of breath by the time he got to the top. 

[Armagon]

Voice acting during combat feels hit or miss but everything else looks amazing. Visuals, gameplay, music. I really need a clean rip of that battle theme, Nintendo pls.

[Konnor97]

Holy crap the cockney (I think) accent on Rex.

[Lightchao42]

It looks like there will be a dedicated Xenoblade 2 Direct on November 7.

(Despite what the tweet says, November 7 is a Tuesday)

Edited November 6, 2017 by Lightchao42