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[TheOasis]

Weren't people losing their shit over only just the mechas? That it'd be GOTY?

Does the game lose that awe?

Trust me, these gifs do a fairly accurate job of conveying how great it feels to actually fly around in a Skell.

Also, I don't understand some of the comments in this thread that are of the opinion that having access to Skell traversal "ruins" the game. In fact, I think it's one of this game's biggest strengths as it allows the game world to reinvent itself over the course of the game: first on foot, then with a Skell that can transform into a vehicle but can only super jump, and then finally when you unlock the flight module so your skells can fly.

With each traversal upgrade the game's world expands itself to the player, it even gives you brand new parts of the world to traverse that are actually within the same areas you might have already explored and just couldn't reach before without a skell. Overall, it's refreshing to have the world so seamlessly expand itself to you in an 80 hour+ game.
Also, if you enjoy traversing on foot the game doesn't take that option away from you after you get access to the skell.

 

[Aostia]

Other than the soundtrack I like it more than the first Xenoblade.

Me too even if the two gods world was something special

 

[Qurupeke]

I loved it. Not a perfect game but it delivered where it mattered. Amazing mechas and huge world.

 

[Kayo Police]

Love the game, hated the soundtrack.

Also mechs were useless in combat as soon as you mastered Infinite Overdrive.

 

[Wagram]

Trust me, these gifs do a fairly accurate job of conveying how great it feels to actually fly around in a Skell.

Also, I don't understand some of the comments in this thread that are of the opinion that having access to Skell traversal "ruins" the game. In fact, I think it's one of this game's biggest strengths as it allows the game world to reinvent itself over the course of the game: first on foot, then with a Skell that can transform into a vehicle but can only super jump, and then finally when you unlock the flight module so your skells can fly.

With each traversal upgrade the game's world expands itself to the player, it even gives you brand new parts of the world to traverse that are actually within the same areas you might have already explored and just couldn't reach them before without a skell. Overall, it's refreshing to have the world so seamlessly expand itself to you in an 80 hour+ game.
Also, if you enjoy traversing on foot the game doesn't take that option away from you after you get access to the skell.

Combat with most enemies becomes trivialized. Even as much as I hate the bare bones, tab target, MMO rip off battle system, it's still much more in depth with the characters than the skells.

 

[TheOasis]

Combat with most enemies becomes trivialized. Even as much as I hate the bare bones, tab target, MMO rip off battle system, it's still much more in depth with the characters than the skells.

You cannot simply trivialize most enemies with skells unless your using end game ones like the Ares 90 in which the game makes you have to not only beat the game, but also engage in a ridiculous grind to obtain because of how strong they are.

Also, I feel that your doing the game a disservice by calling the battle system a bare bones, MMO rip off. Yes, it has a MMO-like simulation style of combat but that's not inherently a bad thing as that's exactly what Monolith were going for and I think they did a pretty decent job.

A more accurate description would be that it is a battle system that is almost solely designed around the pre-battle. It's about experimenting, finding advantageous interactions and synergy between the abundance of all the tools, items and options the game provides you in context of how the actual real-time combat plays out. This all applies to not only yourself but also your party as a whole and themselves individually, as well as the fact that you can customize even further to counter specific enemies types (which is required of you if you want to survive against and kill end game enemies unless, of course, you're abusing overdrive which is a huge balance flaw the designers made given how overpowered overdrive actually is in this game).

With the Skell combat I feel they doubled down on this kind of design even more so than the regular combat which is why I think a lot people didn't like it much
.

 

[III-V]

I hate the story, the characters, the switch from British dub to American dub, the switch from ACE+ to the Linkin Park rap rock rhythms of commercial-sounding Sawano music, the abundance of collectable quests (an absolute slog!), the switch from a defined protagonist to a blank slate avatar, the Saturday morning anime writing, the forgettable antagonists, Tatsu, Lao.

It's my least favourite Xeno game. I hope Takahashi really knocks it out of the park with his next game because another XCX & I'm ready to leave the Xeno (meta)series behind.

I hear you. I refused to purchase it and Xenoblade was one of my all time favorites.

 

[EVA UNIT 01]

OST single handedly destroyed the game for me.
now its just on my shelf never to be revisited.

 

[Piscus]

That's too bad, OP. I loved it.

 

[SpartanSlayer117]

I still haven't played through it entirely but what i played was pretty good. Honestly the story and characters seemed no less corny than most jrpg's, the music however goes from pretty good, to very bad. But that's just a matter of taste.

 

[GARlockSpiral]

I enjoyed it quite a bit.

The music and gameplay were all top-notch, IMO. But the story and especially the characters were just nowhere near any of the other Xeno-games.

It was my GOTY last year, but Xenoblade crushes it in comparison.

 

[casiopao]

Combat with most enemies becomes trivialized. Even as much as I hate the bare bones, tab target, MMO rip off battle system, it's still much more in depth with the characters than the skells.

But this happen with almost all Jrpg? When u finally get ur ultimate weapon or in FF final summon? I mean Knights of the Round makes Final boss in FF7 like nothing. Isn't that the same case here.

Hell, except for Ares series or highly customizes final series for other mechs.( which is only obtainable after u finish the game) U are almost impossible defeating any super tyrant with level 50 Skells here.

MMO rip off battle system? C'mon here.T_T

I hear you. I refused to purchase it and Xenoblade was one of my all time favorites.

Welp. U don't even play the game and u act like the game is the worst thing of all here.


Well on Tc though. With how he is ignoring most who likes the game and simply replying to those who supported his view, i feel no matter what we say, it is going to fall into deaf ears here lol.

 

[Alex]

I thought it was a significantly better game than the first, not perfect but def had it's head in a better spot and had some better system designs to back it all up, admittedly I don't care about the plotting in either, neither were passable but one had some cool robots and the other had some dweeby robots.

Biggest issue being the music, good lord was it ever painful... Oh and the really poor image quality was a bit of a let down, was expecting the game to look better.

 

[Mutagenic]

One of the few games I regret buying digitally.

 

[Zolbrod]

I hate the story, the characters, the switch from British dub to American dub, the switch from ACE+ to the Linkin Park rap rock rhythms of commercial-sounding Sawano music, the abundance of collectable quests (an absolute slog!), the switch from a defined protagonist to a blank slate avatar, the Saturday morning anime writing, the forgettable antagonists, Tatsu, Lao.

It's my least favourite Xeno game. I hope Takahashi really knocks it out of the park with his next game because another XCX & I'm ready to leave the Xeno (meta)series behind.

With you all the way, OP.

Huge disappointment.

 

[Rurunaki]

That reminds me.. I hve to finish the game..

 

[Thoraxes]

Probably one of the best games I've beaten over the past few months, it was a time-sucker like no other.

I'd blink and all of a sudden it'd be nighttime, and I'd been playing for 8 hours straight. The music, world, exploration, and satisfyingly deep gameplay systems were all what really got me for 80 hours.

When I get through my backlog I'm going to do all the post game stuff too!

 

[aravuus]

But this happen with almost all Jrpg? When u finally get ur ultimate weapon or in FF final summon? I mean Knights of the Round makes Final boss in FF7 like nothing. Isn't that the same case here.

This is a weird comparison, considering you're gonna have to do a lot of optional stuff to get ultimate weapons or KOTR or stuff like that in FF games. Skells you get during the course of the story.

One of the few games I regret buying digitally.

Same here, actually! Although for different reasons, I imagine. I had to move my WiiU's hard drive elsewhere so now I can't play the game any more.

Hope a Wii U emulator is a thing that's gonna happen some day in the future.

 

[Golnei]

Hope a Wii U emulator is a thing that's gonna happen some day in the future.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xCNCtJSlnb0

It's definitely a long way off being properly playable, but Cemu is making impressively fast progress.

 

[guek]

I like it, don't love it. I put in a few hours a week, still only scratching the surface and enjoying my time. I think trying to power through it would sour me on it though.

 

[timetokill]

I'm enjoying it a lot. Love the battle system, and it's crazy how many systems are packed in there. It's definitely got a different feel compared to Xenoblade, but I don't mind it. I like that they keep pushing to try new things.

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

I just realised i misread a point in the OP, DOH!
Yes, i preferred the more English dub on the original to XCX but i'm biased as i'm British. What i meant is that i set my Custom Voices to the most Mockney sounding accent i could find. I forgot that the other voice work is generic american. Yeah i preferred the more Euro-centric translation of XC to XCX but having a token brit in the mix makes me chuckle so it's not too bad.

 

[Lapidus' Beard]

That reminds me.. I hve to finish the game..

Same here. I'm at the final boss, but he was too strong for me. I had no desire grinding it out.
And now I'm reminded of it I still don't have the urge to finish it, the game was such a let down for me.

 

[TrueBlue]

Honestly, put the gameplay/traversal advancements of XBX together with the emphasis on story and presentation of XBC, and you're golden.

 

[skypunch]

And I ask again, why in heck would they have a British dub/English accents for citizens of New Los Angeles? That would make absolutely no sense.

Silent protagonist is a problem for some people, granted. That is a valid complaint but not one for me. Silent protagonist worked for me in XCX, it felt like "my" experience instead of me playing someone else's story.

Then it's just unfortunate that the game was set in "our" universe centered around an American military in a city modelled after LA. It's like they decided to pick the blandest, most generic setting they could think of. And then the director, Kojima, asked for a battle theme that sounds like "commercial American rap music". What the fuck were Monolith Soft thinking? Slapping in an American city & some dumb Linkin Park rap rock isn't going to all of a sudden make your game an even bigger hit in North America. Nobody even listens to nu-metal anymore! They traded all of the heart & warmth of the original for a more "American" & commercial product when people loved Xenoblade just fine. Compared to Xenoblade, the music sounds stock as fuck & the American voice acting & translation makes the game feel so generic. The game just feels... soulless & trying way to hard to be a big commercial hit.

And don't get me started on the characters. Lao, for instance, such a generic character: his stupid spandex pants, glam-rock hair, pouty face & "cool" facial hair, voiced by Matt Mercer. He looks ripped straight out of Bullet For My Valentine or some other shitty metal band. The cry-baby, childish antics he performs in response to his wife & daughter are so contrived & dressed in sickly anime melodrama. I really hate this game. It's not even disappointment, I straight up hate XCX. I used to be a big Takahashi fan, but lately I wonder what the hell is up with the guy.

 

[toastyToast]

There was still some fun to be had with it but it was not what I was looking forward to or expected.

Also the Skell combat stinks. Either you murder stuff in one hit or you wait around for long ass cooldowns. Ground combat is a billion times better.

 

[Silent_Ocarina]

This thread actually reminded me that I need to go back and finish the game. I do enjoy the original Xenoblade's style more, though. I like the singular plot and fantastical elements. The enemies and characters are way more interesting in the original game as well.

I appreciate Xenoblade X for what it is, though. Some of the better side quests definitely have that TV episode feel to them. As much hate as the music gets, I actually like quite a few of the tracks. The actual mixing and sound design of the music is the more egregious error, I think. World traversal is really fun, too. I love finding new areas in the game's regions. Sylvalum is just absolutely divine, and it's especially wonderful if you're lucky enough to get the Northern Lights or the pollen weather at night.

 

[TrueBlue]

The Normal missions are great. Slightly repetitive objectives aside, I feel they add a lot of meat to the world and story that the main marrative does not. They can range from the silly to the dramatic, and cover a wide range of themes: love, racism, religion, parenthood, culture etc.

It's really good stuff. I can only think of a couple of side quests in the original that are comparable, whereas XBX is full of these moments.

 

[True Fire]

I wasn't just disappointed with this game when I beat the Japanese version, I genuinely hated it. I never hated a game like that before, but I think I forced myself to play through it just because of its name. I tried warning you guys that it was a bad game, but people in the prerelease threads were too hyped up to listen.

I just finished Star Ocean 5 and it's even worse though. I'm glad I was able to borrow my friend's copy so I could cancel my English preorder. Not even worth bargain bin prices.

 

[Schlomo]

It was a good game despite all its flaws, with an awesome world, but it simply shouldn't have been called Xenoblade. That alone turned it into a disappointment for me too, because you constantly compare it to its "predecessor", which it has almost nothing to do with.

 

[Diffense]

The British voice acting (and the title!) was a happy accident due to the circumstances surrounding OG Xenoblade's release. Nonetheless there is a bit of fanservice in the X due to the inclusion of Shulk and Fiora's voices as options for the player character.

I think most of the fundamentals of Xenoblade X are better than Xenoblade. The graphics are a huge step up and the battle system is faster and gives the player more options. The music is a mostly matter of taste but it generally fits the setting (though there's a valid criticism that the audio levels of lyrics may be too high during cutscenes).

On the other hand, while the side missions in Xenoblade X are usually more fleshed out than those in Xenoblade, the main story definitely suffered. It almost felt like it was just getting started at the point when you beat it and the

Spoiler

cliffhanger

ending only reinforced that. Takahashi said that they had to make some sacrifices to get the game out so hopefully they'll be able to build on their previous efforts for the next game.

Anyway, I can't judge X too harshly because I was basically surprised at how good Xenoblade was and how much it captured the essence of 16 bit jrpgs like FFVI or Crono Trigger. OTOH, once I heard about Xenoblade X, I was expecting certain things so it was placed in a more difficult position from the get-go. This is likely true for everyone who played the first game on the Wii.

It was a good game despite all its flaws, with an awesome world, but it simply shouldn't have been called Xenoblade. That alone turned it into a disappointment for me too, because you constantly compare it to its "predecessor", which it has almost nothing to do with.

I don't have a problem with this actually. Mechanically, it really is very similar to Xenoblade though the story is unrelated. That wasn't really false advertising, so to speak. When we saw the first teaser in that direct and we guessed right away that it was Monolithsoft's game and even wondered whether the player character was Shulk. Fire Emblems and FFs also have unrelated stories most of the time too. Since the Xenoblade brand is somewhat recognizable now, I'm guessing that we'll see more of it.

 

[casiopao]

This is a weird comparison, considering you're gonna have to do a lot of optional stuff to get ultimate weapons or KOTR or stuff like that in FF games. Skells you get during the course of the story.



Same here, actually! Although for different reasons, I imagine. I had to move my WiiU's hard drive elsewhere so now I can't play the game any more.

Hope a Wii U emulator is a thing that's gonna happen some day in the future.

Huh? The first skell given to u is simply trash though? It is almost impossible using that first Skell to beat any powerful monster and for u to even gain level 50 Skell tons of grinding is surely needed so, i can't see the mention of Skell breaking the game any other than super summon or super weapon on other Jrpg here.

The Normal missions are great. Slightly repetitive objectives aside, I feel they add a lot of meat to the world and story that the main marrative does not. They can range from the silly to the dramatic, and cover a wide range of themes: love, racism, religion, parenthood, culture etc.

It's really good stuff. I can only think of a couple of side quests in the original that are comparable, whereas XBX is full of these moments.

Agree a lot. The quest about racism and culture is easily my favorite. Hell, the cross xenos races love relation is easily one of my favorite lol.^~^

I wasn't just disappointed with this game when I beat the Japanese version, I genuinely hated it. I never hated a game like that before, but I think I forced myself to play through it just because of its name. I tried warning you guys that it was a bad game, but people in the prerelease threads were too hyped up to listen.

I just finished Star Ocean 5 and it's even worse though. I'm glad I was able to borrow my friend's copy so I could cancel my English preorder. Not even worth bargain bin prices.

Taste my friend. And guess what, i am truly glad i never follow all the backlash responses from Japan import thread here. This game is easily me sci-fi and Mech/gundam fanboy wet dream. I got almost everything i wanted with exception of Moar Xenoblade Chronicle X here. The world, side story, characters, quest and using Skell is all GOTY material for me.

 

[LordOcidax]

I love the game, one of the best of 2015. Exploration is really great on XCX.. also the story was a lot better than expected. IMO.

 

[aravuus]

Huh? The first skell given to u is simply trash though? It is almost impossible using that first Skell to beat any powerful monster and for u to even gain level 50 Skell tons of grinding is surely needed so, i can't see the mention of Skell breaking the game any other than super summon or super weapon on other Jrpg here.

Well, the user you quoted never said anything about particularly powerful enemies, just "most enemies". Probably the majority of enemies you come across in the world are supposed to be fought on foot, so a skell trivializes those encounters. That's not the same as breaking the game.

 

[timetokill]

Actually, clarification, I'm disappointed that I lost like 2 hours of progress tonight because I hit - on a party invite and the game basically got stuck on the "want to join?" screen with no actual option to say yes or no 😞

 

[Skulldead]

Combat with most enemies becomes trivialized. Even as much as I hate the bare bones, tab target, MMO rip off battle system, it's still much more in depth with the characters than the skells.

This is actuality where i start to lost interest in the game, yes exploration with skull was fun, but after a few skell upgrade, it make the combat system becoming boring, and the sense of danger that we got in foot just disappear... i find the game to be challenging in foot, i was trying to kill bigger mob, and feel the satisfaction from doing it. But with skell, yes there are some challenging mob, but in general, not that many other then tyran.

 

[thebisonxrc]

Xenoblade Chronicles X is a fantastic game. I don't think I've played a game that is more enjoyable to just explore.

I haven't played the original XC, so I have nothing to compare it to, but it seems that most people who dislike XCX directly compare it to XC. I'm glad I don't look at it that way.

 

[ozfunghi]

I hate the story, the characters, the switch from British dub to American dub, the switch from ACE+ to the Linkin Park rap rock rhythms of commercial-sounding Sawano music, the abundance of collectable quests (an absolute slog!), the switch from a defined protagonist to a blank slate avatar, the Saturday morning anime writing, the forgettable antagonists, Tatsu, Lao.

It's my least favourite Xeno game. I hope Takahashi really knocks it out of the park with his next game because another XCX & I'm ready to leave the Xeno (meta)series behind.

ARE YOU ME?

Seriously, i agree 100%. Such a turn off. I took the game out of my WiiU a few sessions after i got my Skell license and had bought skells for every crew member. The game is just no fun, tedious, plain uninspiring characters, no story, DREADFUL music (seriously: WHAT... THE... FUCK is up with that New LA theme!), irritating catchfests...

They should just not have named it Xenoblade to begin with.

 

[AHindD]

Game was fucking awesome. The scope, combat, exploration, crafting, etc etc was awesome.

Didn't surpass the original Xenoblade in terms of characters and story, but I appreciate how they tried something different, and it paid off (imo).

 

[Thud]

It was a good game despite all its flaws, with an awesome world, but it simply shouldn't have been called Xenoblade. That alone turned it into a disappointment for me too, because you constantly compare it to its "predecessor", which it has almost nothing to do with.

Yep, calling it a bad game after I put so many hours into is something I can't do. Didn't beat the game due to that last chapter being so horrible.

Felt like a slap in my face.

 

[Brainiac 8]

I'm 140 hours into it and I'm still loving it. I loved slowly learning more and more about the inhabitants of NLA.

 

[casiopao]

Well, the user you quoted never said anything about particularly powerful enemies, just "most enemies". Probably the majority of enemies you come across in the world are supposed to be fought on foot, so a skell trivializes those encounters. That's not the same as breaking the game.

But it is still wrong though? Using the first skell, u are going to get murdered in Cauldros or Sylvalum. So i can't see how it is most enemies. Hell some of the enemy in Primodia, Oblivia and Noctilum is even unbeatable with first Skell. Farming for skell weapon is even a must if u want to survive in the Sylvalum or Cauldros using the first gain Skell.

I still stand that Skell is the summon in this game. Which is why they are OP.

 

[aravuus]

But it is still wrong though? Using the first skell, u are going to get murdered in Cauldros or Sylvalum. So i can't see how it is most enemies. Hell some of the enemy in Primodia, Oblivia and Noctilum is even unbeatable with first Skell. Farming for skell weapon is even a must if u want to survive in the Sylvalum or Cauldros using the first gain Skell.

I still stand that Skell is the summon in this game. Which is why they are OP.

Well, no, it's not. I had no problems getting an upgraded skell for everyone as soon as I got my license and I can't remember breaking a sweat with those fuckers once during normal gameplay. So, again, not comparable.

But clearly your experience with the skells is different from mine (or many others', apparently) so let's just agree to disagree. This is going nowhere.

 

[n0razi]

Its def one of those games that was way overhyped on gaf.

 

[Fraxin]

OP is just like me.
I still can't get over how bad FE Awakening is so I find every chance I can to complain about it (even now.

I'm in the same boat, I tried playing the same several times yet that script and those characters. Made me think the writers were drunk.

 

[Vincent Grayson]

I liked a lot of things about the game. The scale, the environments, the monsters, even the combat (though it did get pretty boring by the end, IMO).

But the music, the characters, the story...they all failed pretty hard for me, and in hindsight, I hate the way the game is paced. Having to go out and do specific things to advance the story would have worked fine had it been part of the narrative. But instead, it often felt like you'd finish a main story quest, and then to get the next one, you have to finish side quest X or Y, with no logical reason for that being the case.

This was not helped by the far-too-numerous character options, along with the game refusing to identify where characters were at any given time, or level them when not in use. I'm also not a fan of the blank slate main character.

I hope whatever they follow this game with goes in a new direction, focuses more on the story and characters, but keeps the amazing talent for world and monster design.

 

[BriareosGAF]

Put it aside permanently around 60hrs/chapter 9-ish/level 40-ish after realizing I was literally dreading playing it at night. The sense of scope and grandeur in the world is very well realized but against the constant misery of the story/characters/city music it just wasn't worth it.

 

[casiopao]

Well, no, it's not. I had no problems getting an upgraded skell for everyone as soon as I got my license and I can't remember breaking a sweat with those fuckers once during normal gameplay. So, again, not comparable.

But clearly your experience with the skells is different from mine (or many others', apparently) so let's just agree to disagree. This is going nowhere.

Well, i don't know what to said here. If u are able to provide your whole team at least 1.7 million G for skell, i can't said u did not grind here. You must at least had been doing tons of exploration here. As, if you only use the cheaper skell which is around 200k G, i can't see you even beating Aeviter which is everywhere in Sylvalum.

But maybe u just had the best set up so i can be wrong here. Lets had our own opinion here then.^~^

 

[opulent_lemon]

It's your typical JRPG setting and characters. No surprise there. I never care about or put much emphasis in story or characters in video games. I put emphasis on the gameplay which was great. It's by far the best open world experience I've ever had.

 

[sora87]

I was somewhat enjoying it but it just became too much of a slog to progress at one point and I've not gone back since. Having to grind to level up to meet a requirement to do the next story mission sucks.