Nintendo Direct Sept. 13th - Discussion and Reveals

[Sire]

1 minute ago, Armagon said:

Gamescom. Here's the Xenoblade 2 portion of the stream.

[Insert Video Here]

Yeah, I definitely did not see that. My detailed notes are in the spoiler below, but for immediate thoughts...

While I now understand the new mechanics, I am not a fan of the constant switching. Even in XCX, I just mained my Longsword and only used my Rifle (Ramjet Rifle) to gain SP and to use one or two Arts. In Guild Wars 2, I just swap weapons and (mostly) spam skills whenever they are off cooldown.

Maybe things will be different once I actually pick up and play the game, but right now I am still indifferent to its combat system. Constantly switching weapons and being locked in place to attack does not sound like fun. Right now I still prefer the traditional Arts Bar of XC and XCX. With proper organization and timing, scrolling through the bar and activating skills is easy and not a hassle at all.

Spoiler

So, if I got this right...

1. Auto Attacks are similar to the other Xenoblade Chronicles titles. However, one only attacks when "standing still," there are no moving slashes in XC2.
-- Positioning plays a very important role in XC2, more so than the other titles.
2. Auto Attacks in XC2 charge up Arts, similar to how arts could be charged up over time in XCX. (Difference is Auto Attacks vs Time)
3. Using Arts in XC2 charge up an "Elemental Art," which seems to be a super move for all intents and purposes. It can be charged up to Level 4.

4. Healing is done through "Healing Potions" which are "Knocked Out" of an enemy by using certain Arts. No Sharla Combat Medic or Healing Arts from XCX it seems.

5. Blades charge up over time. Changing out Blades will swap out the current available Arts, including the Elemental Art.
6. So, in essence, the player has access to 3 sets of 3 Normal Arts + 1 Elemental Art, for a total of 12 Arts (9 Normal, 3 Elemental)

7. Break -> Topple -> Launch -> Smash

8. By chaining Elemental Arts together, one can inflict a powerful ailment on the foe (such as Sealing Arts). However, doing so will add an "Elemental Orb" which will make the enemy be resistant to that type of element.

9. Chain Attack is still in the game, acts as it always did. However, if executed properly, it can break elemental orbs, allowing the enemy to take normal damage once again.

* * * * *

As an aside, I am going to miss the auto-collecting of just running over the collectable to get it. Now I have to press a button, wait for the loot to pop out, and then pick them up...

[Armagon]

18 minutes ago, Sire said:

Yeah, I definitely did not see that. My detailed notes are in the spoiler below, but for immediate thoughts...

While I now understand the new mechanics, I am not a fan of the constant switching. Even in XCX, I just mained my Longsword and only used my Rifle (Ramjet Rifle) to gain SP and to use one or two Arts. In Guild Wars 2, I just swap weapons and (mostly) spam skills whenever they are off cooldown.

Maybe things will be different once I actually pick up and play the game, but right now I am still indifferent to its combat system. Constantly switching weapons and being locked in place to attack does not sound like fun. Right now I still prefer the traditional Arts Bar of XC and XCX. With proper organization and timing, scrolling through the bar and activating skills is easy and not a hassle at all.

  Hide contents

So, if I got this right...

1. Auto Attacks are similar to the other Xenoblade Chronicles titles. However, one only attacks when "standing still," there are no moving slashes in XC2.
-- Positioning plays a very important role in XC2, more so than the other titles.
2. Auto Attacks in XC2 charge up Arts, similar to how arts could be charged up over time in XCX. (Difference is Auto Attacks vs Time)
3. Using Arts in XC2 charge up an "Elemental Art," which seems to be a super move for all intents and purposes. It can be charged up to Level 4.

4. Healing is done through "Healing Potions" which are "Knocked Out" of an enemy by using certain Arts. No Sharla Combat Medic or Healing Arts from XCX it seems.

5. Blades charge up over time. Changing out Blades will swap out the current available Arts, including the Elemental Art.
6. So, in essence, the player has access to 3 sets of 3 Normal Arts + 1 Elemental Art, for a total of 12 Arts (9 Normal, 3 Elemental)

7. Break -> Topple -> Launch -> Smash

8. By chaining Elemental Arts together, one can inflict a powerful ailment on the foe (such as Sealing Arts). However, doing so will add an "Elemental Orb" which will make the enemy be resistant to that type of element.

9. Chain Attack is still in the game, acts as it always did. However, if executed properly, it can break elemental orbs, allowing the enemy to take normal damage once again.

* * * * *

As an aside, I am going to miss the auto-collecting of just running over the collectable to get it. Now I have to press a button, wait for the loot to pop out, and then pick them up...

Yeah, you got your summary right. Though, regarding the constant switching, i think it was more of a case of demonstration purposes. I have no doubt that switching Blades will affect strategy but i'm seeing it more as an option that the player has rather than a necessity.  Also, there was one thing you missed but whenever you switch a Blade, the new Blade will have it's regular Arts charged up.

I also agree on not being able to auto-attack while moving being a bummer but i'm sure it's something that we'll get used to when we actually play about it. Even in the original, just watching the gameplay doesn't do it justice.

[bethany81707]

Also, I just did a vote on the Kirby poll they're doing... I think it may or may not have similar rules to the CYL.

Don't know how to feel.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Arcade archives looks great, but that and yesterday's news about the nes and snes classic now have me convinced virtual console is not coming back in a familiar form, these are the replacements. I'm not pleased with this. 

Xenoblade chronicles 2 made a joke that Rex is going through all this trouble to impress a girl. Can that please be his motivation?  I'm tired of Japanese games giving us protagonists with no sense of romance or sex drive. Totally unrelatable. I'd play a game about getting the player character laid, wouldn't you? Also you can go hand to hand with one of the blades, so I guess I have to be hype about this game now.

Doom is huge news. I'm just finishing my first play through on pc, so it's a pass for me. But I find this much more fitting on a Nintendo system than a dishonored or fallout port. Why do I get the suspicion a lot of you on this site have missed Doom 2016? Fix that. And I'll definitely pick up wolfenstein 2 for switch since I bet it will look better on that than on my pc. 

As usual Mario odyssey looks like a breakthrough and steals the show. Can't come fast enough.

[kingddd]

9 hours ago, Glennstavos said:

Arcade archives looks great, but that and yesterday's news about the nes and snes classic now have me convinced virtual console is not coming back in a familiar form, these are the replacements. I'm not pleased with this. 

Xenoblade chronicles 2 made a joke that Rex is going through all this trouble to impress a girl. Can that please be his motivation?  I'm tired of Japanese games giving us protagonists with no sense of romance or sex drive. Totally unrelatable. I'd play a game about getting the player character laid, wouldn't you? Also you can go hand to hand with one of the blades, so I guess I have to be hype about this game now.

Doom is huge news. I'm just finishing my first play through on pc, so it's a pass for me. But I find this much more fitting on a Nintendo system than a dishonored or fallout port. Why do I get the suspicion a lot of you on this site have missed Doom 2016? Fix that. And I'll definitely pick up wolfenstein 2 for switch since I bet it will look better on that than on my pc. 

As usual Mario odyssey looks like a breakthrough and steals the show. Can't come fast enough.

Yeah I'm looking forward to the Doom 2016 port for the Switch.  I would love to play it on my bed rather than on my PC which I already have.  It would be even cooler if there was an option for pointer/motion style controls to compliment with it too.  I'm really happy to hear that it's now easier for devs to port PC games to the switch thanks to the nvidia style graphical hardwares they put into the system.

As for Xenoblade 2, I'm very worried about the main plot being a heavy focus on the guy and girl relationship.  I never found the so called love triangle and romance thing they put into the original Xenoblade to be......good.  It was very shoehorned in and I personally thought it made the story worse.  It was unnecessary and very cliche to the point where I kept questioning myself, this was suppose to be the best written jrpg story game ever kind of deal?  Really?  Xenoblade Chronicles X's story, lore and plot at least completely removed any any cliche love triangle romance aspect to it and was more focused on the human relationships with their past, backstory and other xenos that it had none of that cliche trope into the plot and it was such a breath of fresh air especially for a jrpg.  So at this point for me Xenoblade 2's story is going be REALLY HEAVILY focused on the two's relationship to the point, where they really really want you to love these two to be together kind of deal.  Which would probably rub me the wrong way.  Like don't get me wrong though, I actually play the series for the exploration, lore and the actual gameplay rather than the actual story/plot itself.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

1 hour ago, kingddd said:

 

As for Xenoblade 2, I'm very worried about the main plot being a heavy focus on the guy and girl relationship.  I never found the so called love triangle and romance thing they put into the original Xenoblade to be......good.  It was very shoehorned in and I personally thought it made the story worse.  It was unnecessary and very cliche to the point where I kept questioning myself, this was suppose to be the best written jrpg story game ever kind of deal?  Really?  Xenoblade Chronicles X's story, lore and plot at least completely removed any any cliche love triangle romance aspect to it and was more focused on the human relationships with their past, backstory and other xenos that it had none of that cliche trope into the plot and it was such a breath of fresh air especially for a jrpg.  So at this point for me Xenoblade 2's story is going be REALLY HEAVILY focused on the two's relationship to the point, where they really really want you to love these two to be together kind of deal.  Which would probably rub me the wrong way.  Like don't get me wrong though, I actually play the series for the exploration, lore and the actual gameplay rather than the actual story/plot itself.

Whoa now, I don't know anything about love triangles and past xenos. I'm just making a joke about how incredibly rare it is for a male protagonist in a Japanese game to express any feelings of love before the end of a game. How those feelings are repressed or denied by that character as their party picks up more and more beautiful women. Then i took it off the rails and talked about sex. 

[Armagon]

1 hour ago, kingddd said:

I never found the so called love triangle and romance thing they put into the original Xenoblade to be......good.  It was very shoehorned in and I personally thought it made the story worse.

I have to disagree. I mean, for starters, there was no love triangle in the original Xenoblade. As for the romance, i never found it to be shoehorned. Like, the game made the romance obvious, yes, but it didn't really force it imo.

I do understand your concerns regarding Rex and Pyra but it should be fine as long as it's done good. I'm wondering if the game is gonna focus on the relationships between Driver and Blade as a whole. That would actually be pretty great. One of the things i loved about the original Xenoblade was the Heart-to-Heart conversations and i hope those come back for not just Driver and Driver, but Driver and Blade as well. Blades are sentient living beings after all.

[kingddd]

12 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I have to disagree. I mean, for starters, there was no love triangle in the original Xenoblade. As for the romance, i never found it to be shoehorned. Like, the game made the romance obvious, yes, but it didn't really force it imo.

 

Melia kept giving a certain character quite the look quite often in the later parts of the story.   And everytime she saw the two characters together it was kept being hammered in front of the audience.  It was there and it was unnecessarily shoehorned in.  It was also the typical, dense protagonist who can't analyze these things tropes scenarios too.  Which is a very cliche aspect.  Yes there is the heart to heart to let you know by near end game it was something she decided to not think about get it over with but the fact that it was shoehorned in was unnecessary and slapped it in your face in the cutscenes was a big indicator they really wanted to make it a big deal.  In the end, Melia's relationship with Sharla in her heart to heart was much better telling of her main struggles than how the main cutscenes were portraying her feelings to Shulk.

Keep in mind though, I love the first half of Xenoblade story a lot.  But I really did feel the 2nd half of the game's plot is where it started really tanking which is a strange perspective because I'm the few people who didn't like the 2nd half.

Edited September 14, 2017 by kingddd

[Armagon]

4 minutes ago, kingddd said:

 

  Hide contents

Melia kept giving a certain character quite the look quite often in the later parts of the story.   And everytime she saw the two characters together it was kept being hammered in front of the audience.  It was there and it was unnecessarily shoehorned in.  It was also the typical, dense protagonist who can't analyze these things tropes scenarios too.  Which is a very cliche aspect.  Yes there is the heart to heart to let you know by near end game it was something she decided to not think about get it over with but the fact that it was shoehorned in was unnecessary and slapped it in your face in the cutscenes was a big indicator they really wanted to make it a big deal.  In the end, Melia's relationship with Sharla in her heart to heart was much better telling of her main struggles than how the main cutscenes were portraying her feelings to Shulk.

 

Spoiler

Ok, i forgot about Melia, but i still disagree on it being shoehorned in. I've seen shoehorned romances and this ain't one of them. Main reason being that Shulk's relatioship with Fiora is established in the beginning of the game. It would've been different if Fiora was someone they met along the way, and even then, it depends on how it's done. And Shulk being dense, is it cliche? yes. Is it a bad cliche? Personally, no.

 

[henrymidfields]

Here's hoping that there would be more characters outside of Fates/Awakening in Warriors. I wonder if there would be more info on FE Switch too...

The rest, I don't give a damn.

Edited September 14, 2017 by henrymidfields

[kingddd]

2 minutes ago, Armagon said:

  Hide contents

Ok, i forgot about Melia, but i still disagree on it being shoehorned in. I've seen shoehorned romances and this ain't one of them. Main reason being that Shulk's relatioship with Fiora is established in the beginning of the game. It would've been different if Fiora was someone they met along the way, and even then, it depends on how it's done. And Shulk being dense, is it cliche? yes. Is it a bad cliche? Personally, no.

 

Oh don't get me wrong I definitely know that the romance between Shulk and Fiora was well established into the story in beginning.  I still feel the Melia love triangle aspect that was still outright shoehorned in and it was something that was completely bothering me quite frequently and it should have been resolved between the two.  The fact they never did is another cliche that has been done quite often in JRPG plots.  I've talked with many of my friends who played the original game and they really didn't like this part of the story and they thought that part of it was bad writing and it wasn't needed and they replayed the game more times than I ever did.

[DragonLord]

Highlights were DOOM, Wolfenstein II, and Project Octopath Traveler. Stopped caring about Warriors long ago, but I guess the inclusion of Lyn was neat anyway. Mario Odyssey looks awesome as expected. Surprised they didn't show off the BotW DLC, I'm guessing it'll have it's own Direct later on? All in all a solid direct, one that showcased that third parties are coming back to the system.

[Thane]

I played the Project Octopath Traveler demo and I rather liked it. There are quite a few minor changes I'd like to see, so hopefully the survey will give us a chance to pitch our ideas. Not being able to skip dialogue you've already heard, forcing you to mash the A button for a literal minute because you wiped on a boss battle, feels unnecessary.

[Armagon]

17 minutes ago, Thane said:

Not being able to skip dialogue you've already heard, forcing you to mash the A button for a literal minute because you wiped on a boss battle, feels unnecessary.

Agreed. And speaking of bosses, at least in in Primrose's tale, the boss had way too much health for a first boss. I had to stock up on a lot of healing items just to stand a chance. The boss wasn't particularly powerful, but it was a massive HP sponge.

[Thane]

1 minute ago, Armagon said:

Agreed. And speaking of bosses, at least in in Primrose's tale, the boss had way too much health for a first boss. I had to stock up on a lot of healing items just to stand a chance. The boss wasn't particularly powerful, but it was a massive HP sponge.

Yeah. I don't mind them being difficult, but when you have the Break pattern down, it just becomes a matter of time before they died, and it took a while.

[DragonLord]

On 9/14/2017 at 4:41 PM, Armagon said:

Agreed. And speaking of bosses, at least in in Primrose's tale, the boss had way too much health for a first boss. I had to stock up on a lot of healing items just to stand a chance. The boss wasn't particularly powerful, but it was a massive HP sponge.

Helps to upgrade her armor too, but yeah the boss had way too much HP.

[Zera]

Zera reacts to Nintendo Direct 9.13.2017

Pokémon Ultra Sun/Moon - As expected, GameFreak's insatiable greed prompts them to re-release the last generation of Pokemon. No number of Ultra Beasts will make it any better. Unless, of course, they made a game with nothing but Ultra Beasts; that'd be dope.
Kirby: Battle Royale - A top-down Kirby Fighters with online multiplayer! (http://kirby.nintendo.com/battle-royale/#kirby-25th) - Vote for a copy ability you want to see in the game. Mirror FTW!
Mario Party: The Top 100 - This is a cool idea, but I'm pretty sure there are at least 150-200 good minigames in the Mario Party series. Not only is Nintendo selling themselves short, but they missed an opportunity to let the fans themselves vote on minigames.
ATLUS RPGs - I heard Radiant Historia was good. The rest look generic and boring.
Snipperclips Plus - It's adorable. I need.
Arena of Valor - Haha, I literally cannot tell this apart from LoL or DotA. 
DOOM & Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus - Unexpected, but welcome ports.
Kirby Star Allies - *head explodes*

Overall, it was an okay Nintendo Direct. Kirby saved it from being completely mediocre.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

35 minutes ago, Zera said:

Zera reacts to Nintendo Direct 9.13.2017
Kirby: Battle Royale - A top-down Kirby Fighters with online multiplayer! (http://kirby.nintendo.com/battle-royale/#kirby-25th) - Vote for a copy ability you want to see in the game. Mirror FTW!
Mario Party: The Top 100 - This is a cool idea, but I'm pretty sure there are at least 150-200 good minigames in the Mario Party series. Not only is Nintendo selling themselves short, but they missed an opportunity to let the fans themselves vote on minigames.

Team Archer for me, they haven't confirmed very many powers. Not even some mainstays like Beam or Fire. As for Mario Party, a vote totally would have been cool. We also have no confirmation there are actual boards attached to the game. One board from each game could have been cool, with the last two boards understandably being played in a car format. But whatever the game is like, I'm totally disinterested in Mario Party on my 3DS, and would vastly prefer this type of game on Switch. Bring the Party to the party, this would be a slam dunk in marketing.

[Armagon]

1 hour ago, Zera said:

Mario Party: The Top 100 - This is a cool idea, but I'm pretty sure there are at least 150-200 good minigames in the Mario Party series. Not only is Nintendo selling themselves short, but they missed an opportunity to let the fans themselves vote on minigames.

The bigger missed opportunity here is that it's not on the Switch. Mario Party: The Top 100 would've been amazing on the Switch but Nintendo wants to keep supporting a dying console.

 

I love the 3DS and all but it's had it's run.

[Zera]

The 3DS has not "had it's run" until it stops getting good games. A new METROID was just released for it... With that being said, I'm certain that Mario Party: The Top 100 is only on 3DS to cut production costs (it does have a lot of minigames, after all).

[Moblin Major General]

11 hours ago, Zera said:

The 3DS has not "had it's run" until it stops getting good games.

Considering that the GBA ran from 2001 till 2010, the 3DS has at least another 6 months before developers decide to abandon it.

[Sentacotus]

Pretty hyped about the Switch at this point.  Nintendo seems to really be on their a game with it im pleasently surprised with the Bethesda support.

[DragonLord]

On 9/17/2017 at 7:25 PM, Zera said:

The 3DS has not "had it's run" until it stops getting good games. A new METROID was just released for it... With that being said, I'm certain that Mario Party: The Top 100 is only on 3DS to cut production costs (it does have a lot of minigames, after all).

You can already see the signs, especially since FE has moved on to Switch. This is major considering the fact that we haven't had a home console game since RD. Also the next Pokemon after Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon is a Switch game, same with Metroid with Metroid Prime 4, and more. The only 3DS games we know that are coming now are some smaller Japanese third parties, and smaller Nintendo first party titles. Games like the new Mario Party, and the Superstar Saga remake are hardly anything to hit home about. Metroid was the last major one, but that was just a remake/re-imagining. I suppose the Kirby games aren't small, but the next one after those is on the Switch as well. I think Nintendo will continue to support the 3DS with smaller titles in 2018, and will phase it out soon after.