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[skypunch]

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.

 

[Zalman]

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

 

[Fahzgoolin]

it looked pretty. that's all it had going for it.

it had no soul.

 

[Rebel Leader]

The soundtrack and story was the things I did not like.

The sidequests however, I liked.

 

[A Dead Diehard]

Funny, I felt Sawano's score was its once real saving grace.
Then again, I just mean his grander, symphonic tracks.

 

[BossDarkseid]

I havent played it because I sold my Wii U but didnt Takahashi say XcX was an experiment because they hadnt made an HD title before and what comes next would be more story heavy?

 

[JCX]

That's too bad I guess. Better than Xenoblade in every way save for story and OST. I like more of XCX's OST than XC's.

 

[-Horizon-]

I preferred it over the first game.

 

[phinious]

Yeah I bought this game based on the hype, but it is too much like a single player mmo for me. I forced myself to play for like 10 hrs. Now I'm done.

 

[Kyoufu]

I'm in the same boat. Such a big disappointment considering the Xeno games in general are usually pretty solid and they had a formula which worked really well last time. Not sure why they abandoned that.

 

[Cikay]

Ok but it's still a good game, though. At least it's more ambitious than every other recent J-RPG.

 

[Transistor]

I honestly got bored with it. The characters didn't interest me at all and it felt like a bunch of b-tier MMO quests.

Great music and an absolutely beautiful game, though.

 

[HawthorneKitty]

Has ACE or ACE+ done anything in recent years?

 

[ManeKast]

I loved it but HATED the soundtrack.

I found 1 to be boring and X to be captivating. I know of heaps of people who liked one and disliked the other.

 

[tryagainlater]

I can see how others would be disappointed in it but ultimately, I enjoyed it even if I liked the first one a lot more.

 

[theechrisfox]

I loved it, but I knew I didn't just want "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" from the jump.

 

[Eumi]

The abundance of collectables quests? That's something that put me off the first xenoblade, are you saying it's worse here or just still a problem?

 

[Hasemo]

I thought the original Xeno was a good JRPG with great cutscene direction, but really enjoyed X thanks to the extremely rewarding exploration.

 

[silva1991]

Same. it was so disappointing that I don't like to mention it when I talk about Nintendo's 2015 line up.

 

[alpha69]

I was really liking the story on the later parts....but then it ended. Loved the game, but the ending was just so unsatisfying. I need a sequel.

 

[-MB-]

Best JRPG this gen by far. I can't agree with you here at all.
I had my doubts at the OST myself as well, but it totally grew on me, even the ones with lyrics.

 

[Somnid]

God I love X so much. It's been about a decade since a game gave me such deep satisfaction.

 

[King_Moc]

A few nice vista's couldn't stop the all encompassing boredom, unfortunately. More structure, a better story and less fetch quests next time.

 

[Kyzer]

Same. It was just super boring and the music eas terribad, and it felt like a messy B -Tier RPG with a AAA amount of content

 

[supermetfreud]

I don't understand how you can make a game with such killer mechs and wold design this fucking terrible, but here I am thirty hours in and barely registering anything, buttoning past inane dialog and endless sequences of awful cutscenes.

 

[Zareka]

I feel the same way. It's been almost half a year and I still feel the same overwhelming disappointment whenever I think about it.

The soundtrack is alright though. Not as good as XBC's, but alright.

 

[sir_bumble_bee]

Ok but it's still a good game, though. At least it's more ambitious than every other recent J-RPG.

This, so much. Takahashi and Monolith Soft tried hard to deliver a unique experience among the subgenre and it seriously shows. Hate the game all you want, but give credit were credit is due.

 

[Newtype-001]

Its better than the first game in every way apart from Characters.

 

[skypunch]

Has ACE or ACE+ done anything in recent years?

I'm not sure, but they worked on an MMO before Xenoblade & the music is bloody amazing:

http://youtu.be/phVYgkCK6BE

http://youtu.be/_t6SXfdrerE

http://youtu.be/t1maTGGN5W8

http://youtu.be/Pk7ZHKhzVsI

http://youtu.be/9Tbd1p1p_Vs

http://youtu.be/Hlk5zZAyaKc

http://youtu.be/t77BG7a0ZWw

http://youtu.be/wWDHqzLiwXs

The vocals at the end of that last track give me chills.

I'm ready for Takahashi to just officially announce these guys as the sound of the Xenoblade series going forward, lol.

 

[lyrick]

The NPC driven sidestory arcs were amazeballs,

The only thing the game lacked was an extremely heavy handed Final Fantasy style narrative, which it was better for not having. That shit is tired.

 

[R00bot]

People's reactions to this game are always so mixed. I, for one, loved it. I got over the annoying music, and fell in love with the better tracks. I loved the gameplay to bits. The story was interesting if not great. The characters needed some development but were varied and fun. I feel like it was definitely one of the better games of 2015, but I know many people would disagree.

 

[StarStabbedMoon]

I havent played it because I sold my Wii U but didnt Takahashi say XcX was an experiment because they hadnt made an HD title before and what comes next would be more story heavy?

They say that about every game they make these days. They said the first Xenoblade was an experiment as well. And yes it's probably true to an extent.

 

[Kysen]

What about the rubbish mmo lite combat? Cooldown timers galore, while your character swings at the air.

 

[_DiGiTaL_]

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

I enjoyed it myself as well one of the best games I have played this generation. But the soundtrack I can agree on I liked some of it but a majority of the soundtrack I disliked.

 

[Orakio Rob]

Well, it seems like you really hate the game! At least you're not alone: since it's such a departure from the first game, many Xeno fans were disappointed.

I guess I was lucky. I love the first Xenoblade, but by the time Xeno X came out, I was tired of the way JRPGs presented their stories, so I really liked how sparsely the plot was presented in Xeno X.

Xenoblade OST might be my favorite OST ever, and that's exactly why I wanted something completely different for the sequel. I love how weird Xeno X OST is, and I can't get enough of the "Over the Rainbow" song, even though I've heard it countless times by now. It just fits the game really well.

The MMO-like elements are also great, I love soloing MMOs. Silent protagonist? Also great, I constantly quit JRPGs because the main character says dumb things or acts like a child.

250+ hours in, the only thing I dislike about Xeno X is the dialogue. I don't know if it's an issue with localization, but conversations go on forever and are really, really boring. Aside from that, it's one of my favorite games ever and I hope the next Xeno title will be an evolution, not a revolution.

I loved it, but I knew I didn't just want "Xenoblade Chronicles 2" from the jump.

Yeah, me too.

God I love X so much. It's been about a decade since a game gave me such deep satisfaction.

Me too!

 

[Shahed]

Honestly this just sounds like everything I feared. The first game was amazing and my favourite game on the Wii. The announcement of this game made me incredibly excited and I nearly bought the Wii U on impulse that very day. But all the news that slowly filtered out every since and the general changes to the mechanics and structure slowly made me uneasy. It seemed like they were making every choice for the worse, cutting out the stuff I really enjoyed (music, story, characters) and adding more of the stuff I hated such as the generic meaningless sidequests that have no purpose to them.

I've loved Takahashi's previous games as a big fan of the Xeno series. But from the outside this game looked strange and what little I played of it wasn't very inspiring.

 

[Golnei]

I'm one of those who preferred it to the first game overall - it's not without some glaring flaws, but I never saw Xenoblade as a perfect game either (despite still liking it a lot) - what X was trying to do just ended up being more interesting to me personally. There's still a lot of room to improve in a sequel, and hopefully they have the chance to explore that potential fully.

Has ACE or ACE+ done anything in recent years?

They've mainly been working as arrangers and performers rather than composers recently.

 

[Griss]

Couldn't agree more, OP. Never seen a bigger gap in quality between two consecutive games like that. I was massively disappointed.

The world makes the game worth playing for the first 20 hours or so but after that the games many issues swallow it.

Edit: I did force myself to beat it though. Flight module fucks the entire game up.

 

[keero16]

Yeah, it was really boring. I didn't feel compelled to explore a huge world just to explore the huge world. I needed a better reason than that, and the sidequests weren't interesting and I never felt like I wasn't being rewarded enough for my actions. I forced myself to beat the story and will probably not play it again.

Definitely prefer the first Xenoblade.

 

[Jolkien]

What a let down after the excellent Xenoblade Chronicles. So much misstep in my opinion. Skell combat is a let down, flying got old after the novelty of seeing every zone from the sky the first time wore off.

Terribly told story, silent protagonist. It's all a shame. I'm glad they already said if there's a Xenoblade 3 it won't be open world and it'll be more akin to the first game than the second. So I assume they learned from it.

 

[Mondrian]

I wanted to like it soooooo much, but just couldn't get myself to play more than 7 hours before giving up. The pop in, UI, combat, soundtrack, story, characters... all god awful.

 

[Barrel Cannon]

I've been sinking in a few hours whenever possible. I'm about 30 hours in and I'm having a blast. I can understand the story complaints but I still feel the game as a whole is better than XC.

 

[Chase17]

I've been working through it over the last few weeks. Just got to the point where you first get a skell. I don't really bother with getting anything of the mission board besides social missions and gathering quests I complete without trying so I've really been enjoying the side quests that I do (normal and affinity if that's considered a side quest).

While I like the narrative structure of Xenoblade 1 more, I think it's ok for them to experiment every now and then and have been enjoying the game.

And my man Tatsu got the short end of the stick. Not part of part, abundant cooling jokes, and he is directly at fault for the last two major missions I've done. I still like him though.

 

[Fandangox]

The exploration was very well done (although getting a mech sort of undermines that aspect)

I vastly prefer the combat in this one over the original too, and I liked it on Xenoblade. That said I wouldn't mind if they try a completely different combat style for the next game.

The main story, characters, and (most of) the music were a letdown however, even knowing what to expect beforehand. I do believe there's some potential in the world of Mira, but I don't know if they are going to continue that path for the next game.

I do appreciate the world-building through the Elder Scroll - Styled sidequests (I mean narrative-wise, not objective/gameplaywise) was a nice upgrade from the boring sidequests from the first game, its pretty much where the real "meat" of the game is too, although I can understand why that'd be a negative for a lot of people considering it was the inverse in the previous game.

 

[ECC]

I havent played it because I sold my Wii U but didnt Takahashi say XcX was an experiment because they hadnt made an HD title before and what comes next would be more story heavy?

As I recall it they simply emphasised making a game with less of a focus on the story in order to divert the development efforts to figure out how to make an HD RPG.

For the next game, I don't worry too much. The choice of music, divisive as it is is not inherently a Monolith soft unfixable flaw in their game design - simply a divisive choice. The problems with the story, lack thereof or allocation thereof seems to relate mostly to Monolith Soft prioritising making an HD engine and pipeline for AA game production.

 

[Rezae]

I quit around 15 hours in. Couldn't stand it compared to the first Xenoblade. If you liked it, great. I didn't.

 

[TheMoon]

What about the rubbish mmo lite combat? Cooldown timers galore, while your character swings at the air.

That was a) in the first game and b) anything but rubbish.

 

[dancrane212]

I thought some of the side-quests had some interesting moments and the environment/vehicle design is top notch but I'm in agreement with you. Outside of Tales of the Abyss XC:X has the worst characters and overall plot threads I've experienced in a modern RPG and also has some incredibly baffling decisions that manage to drag down the experience even more.

I'm not surprised that half the folk I know outside of GAF ended up ditching the game a couple days after it's release.

 

[Cheat Code]

GAF is the only place boring enough to think a game as dull as XCX is any good.

 

[Kyzer]

The battle system and amount of content was improved. But even then it didn't change that much, the first game was already largely the same.

So basically, in an RPG, when the battle system improves but the story sucks the game design sucks and the characters suck and the ambience sucks then is it really an improvement?

No.

No it's not.

I don't think it's a bad game but it's just too messy and the story too BLAH for it to break out of the niche RPG feeling.

They need Nintendo to help simplify the game design for the sake of fluidity and they need to focus on gavinf a decently presented story again. It's a damn RPG.