tonyh24613
Member
After you reach level 4,
there'll be a level 10 simple quest called "secret order"
-
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XenobladeX |Import OT| Discovery of Superb View: http://youtu.be/HgIXNOEv_40
- Thread starter TheMoon
- Start date
After you reach level 4,
I hate when this game does this...
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Man... Spent some time working on the Doll license quest and damn. Whoever did quest design in this game must be head over heels with old-school MMORPG design. Particularly stuff like EverQuest's "epic quests." The multitude of tasks involving mundane shit like picking up obscure items, killing X number of mobs in different locations with specific weapons, and camping rare spawn bosses really takes me back to those days. It also makes me realize I only enjoyed any of it because it was in the context of a big world shared with other players.
I go through phases of really enjoying all the normal/simple/kizuna quests and then there are times where I need 14 of a collection item or 1 of a rare monster drop and I'm just reloading a spot over and over for 20-30 mins grind and it makes me not enjoy the quests.
There's some legit good quests in there that tell neat little stories like the alien eggs at the water facility or
But there's a lot of bad filler quests for item grinds and the worst is when they're built into a good story quest that suddenly asks you to collect some dumb items to progress in the quest.
I do like, that like XB, there's tons of unlockables so many normal quests unlock some new thing in the NLA or change the world a little.
Game is sort of is the best and worst parts of Xenoblade 1. My opinion at 50 hours in, 50% story chapters, and 50% overall game completion is that it's a really ambitious game that doesn't always work. Some stuff works great and there are many moments that impress, yet some stuff sucks and is tedious, boring or frustrating. They could have streamlined and polished the game for a better overall experience, but instead they went for the "let's throw everything in and let the players enjoy what they enjoy". I'm fine with that, but it's like an 8/10 game overall because of it so far.
There's some legit good quests in there that tell neat little stories like the alien eggs at the water facility or
stuff involving meeting new alien races. Or Doctor B
I do like, that like XB, there's tons of unlockables so many normal quests unlock some new thing in the NLA or change the world a little.
Game is sort of is the best and worst parts of Xenoblade 1. My opinion at 50 hours in, 50% story chapters, and 50% overall game completion is that it's a really ambitious game that doesn't always work. Some stuff works great and there are many moments that impress, yet some stuff sucks and is tedious, boring or frustrating. They could have streamlined and polished the game for a better overall experience, but instead they went for the "let's throw everything in and let the players enjoy what they enjoy". I'm fine with that, but it's like an 8/10 game overall because of it so far.
Yeah just like all other open world games, I didn't enjoy almost 70% quests in games like GTA5 or Dragon Age.
I'm curious why you think a "streamlined" approach is necessarily better. As a fan of Dark Souls over Bloodborne (as a recent example) specifically because the latter is so much more "streamlined", I can't say I ever understood this mindset. While a "kitchen sink" approach will throw a bunch of stuff at you, it gives you more freedom to enjoy the game as you like. GTA, Skyrim, and a lot of other games with open world design go for the kitchen sink because it gives the player more freedom and, in such a world, freedom would be the underpinning design. Following my previous example, "streamlined" tends to die off very quickly for me as a player in terms of time spent playing because it limits creativity and gameplay freedom.
Its also in general what I've heard as the overwhelming positive of this over the first Xeno.
I'd be curious to know your opinion on Xenoblade, though, since everything you said is effectively applicable to Xeno's quest structures without the superior Kizuna quests. Xeno's best quests were far and few in between, most were chore quests.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Yes, it's absolutely terrible for that. I'm glad I got over it, but I was pretty pissed early on by how much I was being required to do a bunch of bullshit to progress the story. It's kind of annoying because the first three hours or so are very carefully structured to keep you moving through the story. Then, almost as if you just finished the solo intro bit of a typical modern MMORPG, you get dropped into the world and have to play it like an MMORPG even thought it isn't one.
Ya, that's the real forking point from Xenoblade, you could power-rush through the story rather efficiently though there are several regions where you can hit a level grind/collect-a-thon wall if you don't do the side-quests.
I don't like it neither because open world is never my thing, but yeah I will still try to play it because this world is so beautiful : )
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
The worst part is that I'm not even grinding, but by running around and fulfilling the requirements, I keep increasing the gap between my party's level and the required level for a story quest, making them easier and easier. Around chapter 3 I was maybe a level or two higher. By chapter 6 I was five or six levels higher. I imagine I'll be damn near ten levels higher than the requirement when I start chapter 7.
It's made the combat encounters extremely easy so far.
That'll remain true aside from some late-game Kizuna quests being higher level but the story doesn't get nearly as high in level requirements. (Though there are jumps, it will largely depend on how much time you spend in the world vs. pushing the story forward.)
That's actually a good point. You basically can't be balanced for the main story missions because unlike other games where "yeah, if you do the side stuff you'll get overpowered for the main story", the main story makes you do the other side stuff.
I never thought about that since I'm the kind of player that does all the side stuff and ends up blowing through the story missions 20 levels above them anyhow. But yeah, there's probably no way have an actual challenge in the main story.
This is similar to Star Ocean 2/3 (no other Star Oceans exist and you can't prove otherwise!). If you sit down to just do "other things" once the game opens up, you can completely break the pacing and difficulty of the story. Star Ocean 3, specifically, once you get to the "open world" universe, you can completely out-level (and out boot) everything in the main story game to the point where the final boss cannot deal you damage. Heck, even the railshooter that was FFXIII reaches this point once you get to Gran Pulse, you can cheese your way to absolute godhood with the Adamntoise farming. In this case, the world opens up from the immediate start and then completely opens with Dolls.
The only real alternative is to make the whole story/game world reactive to the character level but I have personal qualms with that as it basically begs the question, then, of why levels even exist.
Conversely, Xenoblade is conceptually linear and tiered, so it can present constant "challenges" on a story based focus.
By "streamlined" I just mean get rid of a bulk of the filler quests, get rid of the bad collection quests, have more unique locations, let you push a button to advance dialogue lines since some of the quest cutscenes are boring and you can't speed up the dialogue, have more story missions, etc...
XB X has plenty of great parts, but where it compounds Xenoblade's problems is mixed in with one of the problems of modern Japanese videogame culture. Since the PS3 was introduced, we've constantly seen Japanese rpg developers struggle with the fact that because of higher development costs, they can't have as many unique assets/locations/content, yet because of perceived game value in Japan each new game must be "bigger" and "longer" and have "more content" to seem like a good value. What this is means is that you get situations like XBX where you take a limited amount of true game content and you fill it up with tons of cheap filler.
If we cut through the bullshit PR spouting and fanboyism, the truth is that Xenoblade X is a much, much smaller game than Xenoblade. There's 5 areas. That's it. Now that I've been through them all there's just no comparison to Xenoblade. Yes, each area is MUCH LARGER, but you take a picture and you magnify it by 10x and it's still the same amount of picture. There's variety in XB X, but there was also variety within the locations in XB. The 2nd continent in XB X is the only continent that really feels like it's equivelant of multiple locations from XB, the rest feel like one area magnified x 10. At least 3 of the continents waste half the continent just being big open spaces. Only the 2nd continent and the 5th one has real good level design.
And that's ok. HD does cost more, and there's nothing wrong with having a smaller game with fewer unique locations. All the locations in XB X are great. But the problem is when you need "more content" and "more hours" for PR purposes and so you fill each area with 10x the amount of filler quests that each area had in the original XB.
In XB X you spend the entire game running around the same handful of places doing a million quests in them. It would be like if you were stuck to the first 5-8 locations in Xenoblade for 120 hours doing 10x the amount of quests in each location.
So by streamlining I mean I wish they hadn't filled it to the brim with so many worthless quests. I'm fine with a smaller game, smaller story than XB, but stick with that vision and have fewer quests, fewer hours than XB as well in that case. More = always better is probably the biggest failing of jrpgs imo.
As to my opinion on the original Xenoblade? Best rpg of the last generation by far. Yeah there were a lot of filler quests and that does take it down a notch, so maybe I'd give it a 9/10, but the world was fascinating, the locations were incredibly memorable and the story once it got started was very compelling and filled with Takahashi-ism like cloak & masked mysterious characters (Faces). The story kept you wanting to move forward and each time you did each new area blew you away with diversity and wonder. The scope was incredible and the areas were all richly designed and layered.
Now I'm not saying Xenoblade X doesn't have that. But yeah, the story is barely existent not particularly compelling so far (by this point halfway, Xenoblade's story was), there characters are paper thin and there's hardly any "real" characters because instead they give you 20 generic recruitable people who get like 1-2 hours of screen time the entire 100+ hour game each. Also no one can die or anything interesting happen to them because they all need to be available to do optional missions with them post game. The locations are nice but outside of the 2nd continent and a few other sections they don't have that same "wow" factor and I don't think much will be memorable. A big empty desert is never going to be as memorable as a swamp that comes to life at night and is filled with ruins of ancient lizard civilizations or a magical futuristic city floating above a gorgeous sea.
XBX also has way more filler, worse pacing, and even less balance.
However, the battle system and character customization is better in XBX, so is the multiplayer stuff, so are the mechs. For what Xenoblade X lacks in world design or story it makes up in other areas.
It sounds harsh, and that's not my intent. For all purposes, Xenoblade X is one of the best jrpgs since Xenoblade. The Kiseki series has been the only other series that's had better rpgs of the last few years off the top of my head. XBX is a good rpg that every rpg fan should play and enjoy. But it's got its flaws like most jrpgs and if you directly compare it to Xenoblade the flaws in comparison stick out. But that's because Xenoblade X is not Xenoblade 2 and shouldn't be directly compared. It's doing its own thing and it is its own game and it's a good game.
Now I'm not saying Xenoblade X doesn't have that. But yeah, the story is barely existent not particularly compelling so far (by this point halfway, Xenoblade's story was), there characters are paper thin and there's hardly any "real" characters because instead they give you 20 generic recruitable people who get like 1-2 hours of screen time the entire 100+ hour game each. Also no one can die or anything interesting happen to them because they all need to be available to do optional missions with them post game. The locations are nice but outside of the 2nd continent and a few other sections they don't have that same "wow" factor and I don't think much will be memorable. A big empty desert is never going to be as memorable as a swamp that comes to life at night and is filled with ruins of ancient lizard civilizations or a magical futuristic city floating above a gorgeous sea.
XBX also has way more filler, worse pacing, and even less balance.
However, the battle system and character customization is better in XBX, so is the multiplayer stuff, so are the mechs. For what Xenoblade X lacks in world design or story it makes up in other areas.
It sounds harsh, and that's not my intent. For all purposes, Xenoblade X is one of the best jrpgs since Xenoblade. The Kiseki series has been the only other series that's had better rpgs of the last few years off the top of my head. XBX is a good rpg that every rpg fan should play and enjoy. But it's got its flaws like most jrpgs and if you directly compare it to Xenoblade the flaws in comparison stick out. But that's because Xenoblade X is not Xenoblade 2 and shouldn't be directly compared. It's doing its own thing and it is its own game and it's a good game.
Hah, ya. Streamlining to me means something entirely different and has to do with "the streamlined HD game" of today, where everything is cut down to a knife's edge (for reasons you noted: higher budget and time costs). Sharp, very well done, but dull after you've used it a few times. =P
As to the rest, I think the crux of it, at the end of the day and why we get some polar (albeit ultimately positive) responses is that the two games are fundamentally different in their approaches even if Takahashi is still writing novels worth of text for them. Open-world vs. linear RPG, if you contrast these two aspects, you end up checking off a lot of the "issues in one, fine in the other" approach, including but not limited to the diversity of how many regions Xenoblade pushed you through vs. what Xenoblade X has to offer. Or balance. Or pacing. Or even the clutter, since a persistent world sort of begs for it (lest it be empty and its impossible to fill it with Kizuna quests everywhere) whereas a linear game is able to tier things out more (though Xeno still had, what, ten to twenty quests per "hub" of garbage...).
Sacrifices of one to achieve another, so to speak.
That said, I still don't know why people hold Kiseki so highly... >.>
I get the exact same feeling playing the game. It is heavily inspired by MMORPGs, a little too much quest-wise, and this is the part of the game that doesn't work because you are alone in the world as you said.
Now, as a huge Everquest player, I would also add that the epic quests in EQ or pretty much any quest that required camping or else came with an incredible reward that made it all so much worth it. My problem with some of the quests here are that the reward is just not valuable enough to justify the grind/camping.
Now, I enjoy this game A LOT and do think it's one of the best recent JRPGs, but it also has all of the worse of open world design imo as in huge areas without personality and filler quests everywhere made required to progress story.
Kiseki has its own share of pacing problems, but from the 2nd half of SC on, it's a great series
Kiseki has its own share of pacing problems, but from the 2nd half of SC on, it's a great series
I've played them, lol, I just never understood the strong impressions. First Chapter felt like a chore by the end of it and I never clicked with any of the characters, and then I ended up really disconnected from SC onwards lol. =P
I actually liked TC more because it moved away from the dumb duo. >.>
djplaeskool
Member
After some (typical) USPS delivery shenanigans, we in there.
TheMoon
Member
After some (typical) USPS delivery shenanigans, we in there.
Oh wow, you found a launch bundle!
Eh... sounds like us English-only gamers in for a great game, but not a defining game on the same level as the original Xenoblade. Thanks for the impressions.
InternHertz
Member
52.45% of the map completed, all data probes finally set!
Clock is at 89h36 for the moment, and tomorrow I'll begin my session with the second-to-last chapter of the story.
Clock is at 89h36 for the moment, and tomorrow I'll begin my session with the second-to-last chapter of the story.
Yep totally sounds like he made an offline MMORPG.
Considering I thought Xenoblade Chronicle's party was a little bloated at times, in how characters got neglected...
BlueSilver
Member
The Splatoon hype is helping me deal with the fact that this may be the big November game, though I'm really hoping it releases sooner.
In one of the Iwata Asks, they identified that "While Xenoblade was a game worthy of recognition, its reach left more to be desired." In other words, they took that Xenoblade was critically acclaimed, but perhaps it wasn't readily apparent to potential customers who saw it that it was a game they'd want to play. They also identified that it was nevertheless a game that was played and enjoyed by those who enjoyed HD RPGs with big worlds and realistic graphics. (Admittedly, I was one of them.) Putting two and two together, I think that they felt the way to extend the reach of the series (IE: get more people to buy it) is to incorporate even more aspects of those kinds of games into their own, while also retaining Japanese creativity.
That is a pretty ballsy thing to do, because then it may be evaluated in comparison to games such as Bethesda's RPGs, and games made by developers who already developed that expertise throughout last gen. For this particular product, it could be "unrefined" compared to those other open world RPGs that are made by developers who already perfected their skill in making those kinds of games. Then of course, there's, as Iwata said, limited time and budget, which may have contributed to a perceived deficiency in content (for example, there only being NLA as a population center, compared to other games with worlds covered in different villages/towns.) That "Japanese creativity", that daringness to give players mechs to explore a world, to have a story that has some moments of gentleness or emotion, is what alleviates direct comparisons to those kinds of games.
This is their first HD game and its such a daring thing to have made, and is probably the first step to even better things. How I'm expecting to take to the game, is not expecting a feel of perfection, but I want to see if they truly did make an open world that feels Japanese made, and is not "stoic" (to use the word that Takahashi used to describe the feel of western made open world RPGs). Something that I felt different with when playing Japanese made RPGs compared to Western made RPGs, was the way I could empathize with the world and characters, rather than plowing a bloody trail of carnage when exploring the world. Yet the western made games excelled in a feeling of having "malleable" worlds, where one's actions felt like they could connect with what was seen in the environment. I'm personally not concerned that this will be a "stoic world" but it's whether the world in this game is rigid or malleable, that is what I'm very interested in finding out. I've seen that there's malleability in the gameplay, there's customization aspects, there's even some quests that have visible results in the world. But I will need to find out for myself how it feels compared to what is offered in Western made RPGs, to feel that being proactive in their world yields a rewarding experience.
Exactly. Also, Takahashi listens to what the critics say. So I know for a fact that the next game will be even better.
Still really enjoying the game. I go through one or two kizuna quests, 2-4 normal quests, and about 5-10 simple quests a session. Haven't touched the story much for a few days. I really enjoy the stories in the sidestuff, moreso than the main story at this point. I feel like there is a lot of story in the game, but it's told differently and it's not the "main plot", you can tell Takahashi wrote a big design bible for this like his other games about the worldview, all the dozens of NPC characters and their lives, the nature cycles of the planet, the technologies, etc...because the bulk of the game story is told through all these little quests. You learn a lot about the characters and the world and it's just...fun. The game is definitely about the world and not the plot this time around. Very different for Takahashi from the way any of his previous game stories were told, but it's not bad; just a different style. My favorite quest so far is definitely
I do wish you could have playable Tatsu and
. I feel like limiting the playable cast to normal human sized/shaped characters because they have to fit into a generic job class and fit all the equipment for that job is a bit disappointing and takes out the uniqueness of your party because everyone just feels the same with a different skin. I miss my little noppon dude from Xenoblade. I think the generic-ness of the classes and playable characters is a bit of a miss; I don't really even feel like I'm getting anything great out of the job system as I master more and more jobs. A lot of the jobs seem to suck and since you max them out pretty quickly they don't have a lot of depth. Next game hopefully we go back to unique MC and support cast.
Doctor B and the Time Machine. Feels straight out of Xenosaga Ep1 with the professor building the El Kaiser super robot.
I do wish you could have playable Tatsu and
the mini alien race dudes
tonyh24613
Member
Really excited about the world building stuff! There better be a nice comprehensive art/design works book for this game coming out soon
Speaking of which, was there any new art in the bundled artbook at all or was it all just things we've seen before? Can't believe we haven't gotten a single piece of Tanaka art yet. Or have we?
Speaking of which, was there any new art in the bundled artbook at all or was it all just things we've seen before? Can't believe we haven't gotten a single piece of Tanaka art yet. Or have we?
Thanks for the impressions, Bebpo.
A lot of the critique and comparisons that you've done actually echo the sentiments that have been rolling around in my head ever since we got more footage and impressions come out. In general, the game is less of a "JRPG" in the sense that Xenoblade was trying to emulate and more of it's own thing - and any of us hoping for that particular style of game are probably bound to be a bit upset if that's what we go into this game, expecting it to be 'more of the same.'
I'm still going to pick up the game, but it certainly tempers my expectations.
A lot of the critique and comparisons that you've done actually echo the sentiments that have been rolling around in my head ever since we got more footage and impressions come out. In general, the game is less of a "JRPG" in the sense that Xenoblade was trying to emulate and more of it's own thing - and any of us hoping for that particular style of game are probably bound to be a bit upset if that's what we go into this game, expecting it to be 'more of the same.'
I'm still going to pick up the game, but it certainly tempers my expectations.
Finally got the game yesterday and managed to clock in an hour's worth of play. I feel like I'm doing myself a disservice by playing on only a 32" TV, but not much I can do there.
Definitely not used to the information overload on screen when you get into a battle. And the UI size (font in particular) is a bit too small for my liking, or maybe I'm just going blind.
Hopefully, I'm not too late to the party for coop play.
Definitely not used to the information overload on screen when you get into a battle. And the UI size (font in particular) is a bit too small for my liking, or maybe I'm just going blind.
Hopefully, I'm not too late to the party for coop play.
The UI is customizable, though most of the info is important. And you should really get a bigger TV xD
theSlacker
Member
Yeah, thanks for all the impressions Bebpo. It is disappointing seeing that my assessment on a few things may be correct, but it still looks like it will be a fun game. Since I'm one of the crazies that did and enjoyed every single quest in Xenoblade and loved how much they expanded on the world and story I'm sure I will have a lot of fun with the side quests in this.
Same here, I'm one of those OCD RPG players! I loved picking up dialogue from NPCs in Xenoblade. I wouldn't say I'm disappointed to see that this game is vastly different in structure from Xenoblade, since that opens up new opportunities for the game, but I have to realize that I'll be evaluating it through a different lens. In that sense, I'm curious about how I'll feel about it compared to other open world RPGs, how a Japanese made product will feel compared to those other RPGs.
I never ran into this problem in the original, as i dont recall any cllection item quest being higher than.... 6-7?
And i absolutely never played the reload game with 1 exception, and i only needed 2 of those.
99% of the time in the original there was an npc, that would trade the item. Id do a quick run through the area, pick up a couple things, and then trade for the rest and be done with it.
Does X have an equivilant system to trading?
So I'll have to temper my expectations. There are a few issues that are standing out.
The music is very hit or miss, nothing at all like the original's soundtrack in consistent quality. Wish you could turn off those horrendous vocals.
The quests seem to be similar to the original, but a lot more of them. My main concern is they're similar to Dragon Age Inquisition's utterly empty quests of ticking off the checkmarks on the list. My hope is the game's main narrative is more compelling than that game's however to keep me interested.
The game world itself seems a bit less creative and unique than Xenoblade's. Granted it was going to be hard to top the two-collossi worlds of the original, but I'm not sold so far on the new world.
And Lyn is still abominable.
The music is very hit or miss, nothing at all like the original's soundtrack in consistent quality. Wish you could turn off those horrendous vocals.
The quests seem to be similar to the original, but a lot more of them. My main concern is they're similar to Dragon Age Inquisition's utterly empty quests of ticking off the checkmarks on the list. My hope is the game's main narrative is more compelling than that game's however to keep me interested.
The game world itself seems a bit less creative and unique than Xenoblade's. Granted it was going to be hard to top the two-collossi worlds of the original, but I'm not sold so far on the new world.
And Lyn is still abominable.
GhostTrick
Banned
Greetings importing people.
Just one question for those waiting on European/US release...
What about the story ? I read or heard that the game feels like an offline MMORPG. What's your take on that ? Is the story that absent ?
Just one question for those waiting on European/US release...
What about the story ? I read or heard that the game feels like an offline MMORPG. What's your take on that ? Is the story that absent ?
tryagainlater
Member
Well this thread has made me regret buying a Wii U since this was the main game I was buying it for. Yea, there's other great games on the system but hearing the problems in X is incredibly disheartening. It was the only game I've been looking forward to lately.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
I wouldn't call it absent. I'm about to start chapter 8 and it's definitely been slow going, but it feels like there's going to be a big breakthrough or reveal very soon. It's been interesting so far, but this is definitely not a game that you can just power through the story. It simply doesn't let you. You need to do a lot of side stuff in order to unlock the next story bit.
A lot of the side quests are actually pretty interesting, but it can be disappointing how low the production values in them are (namely, no voice acting).
You get tickets by participating in Squad activities and those tickets can be exchanged for a huge range of items, including some quest stuff/collection items. Not sure if everything you would need is available, though.
djplaeskool
Member
Just a quick blurb from a few hours of playing, it certainly feels like MonolithSoft perhaps had bigger online-related ambitions with some of the infrastructure surrounding the design of this game. People stating that this feels like an MMO could literally could be built directly on top of it are right on in my book.
Not much of a negative to me. I'm really enjoying it so far. The one thing I think it really lacks (in the same vein as its predecessor) is combat feedback. more oomf to actions would have been a huge plus. Moving around and combat actions feel a little floaty and hollow.
Not much of a negative to me. I'm really enjoying it so far. The one thing I think it really lacks (in the same vein as its predecessor) is combat feedback. more oomf to actions would have been a huge plus. Moving around and combat actions feel a little floaty and hollow.
SoraanTribal
Member
Which problems are you referring to exactly?
Dr. Buni
Member
Thanks for the impressions, everyone. I was excited for this game because Xenoblade Chronicles was great, but a lot of things I have been reading here aren't what I want from a game. Plus, not a big fan of the kind of fanservice present in Xenocross. Though unlike a poster above, I am not regretting one bit buying a Wii U since I didn't buy it for Xenocross, but for Splatoon instead.
tryagainlater
Member
The areas being less unqiue and more copy and paste which I really worried about when I heard how big it was. Hearing that the characters are less unique too because they wanted to make Xenoblade even more of single player MMO for some reason also bothers me.
Sell you wiiu to those who need it~
That's not what I'm reading in the thread and other sources (except some minor things here and there like completely subjective and kinda unreasonable stuff like wanting it to be more creative and crazy that two giant gods). In fact just found this opinion in GameFAQs (and it's not the first one of that kind in game boards, import reviews and streaming sessions):
mysticmail said:
I get your point and I kinda agree that with those sizes, the maps can look "copy-and-paste" but it seems that the layout is well thought and varied enough to impress even after a hundred hours exploring them.
Anyway, I just bought a 2nd hand japanese Wii U so next week I'll be able to make my now impressions ^_^ /so excited (and dusting off my kanji dictionary)
And sorry again about my poor english skills lol... trying hard to improve
StreetsAhead
Member
I was a little down on the game 2 days ago, but I've swung right back around. Some of the quest design is blergh, but it's no worse than Xenoblade was (at least at this point). What turned me around was a quest involving a human who hates the other "aliens". It's a simple little story, really, but it's nice and really sells the concept of the game. There is a lot more world-building and character expanding done in the normal quests and affinity quests compared to Xenoblade. You actually do feel like you're having an effect on the world by clearing them.
Although, yes, it sucks that some playable characters don't feature so much into the main story (although their affinity quests sort of make up for it) and I still think that a Mass Effect Shepard-like main character would have worked better than a silent protagonist, it is still really fun.
I've also found some (more) interesting locations in the 3rd continent, but the 2nd one is still my favourite in terms of variety & level design.
Although, yes, it sucks that some playable characters don't feature so much into the main story (although their affinity quests sort of make up for it) and I still think that a Mass Effect Shepard-like main character would have worked better than a silent protagonist, it is still really fun.
I've also found some (more) interesting locations in the 3rd continent, but the 2nd one is still my favourite in terms of variety & level design.
There's also a silly little quest where you're helping a woman named Victoria make underwear for the Ma Non aliens and it's just...weirdly awkward.
HD development takes its toll. That said, the vistas are supposedly much better since the world isn't strategically tiered where you can't see much from the specific map you're in, which, of course, led to Xenoblade having much more detailed individual layers, so to speak. Any open world game in this day and age is going to suffer from this unless someone either opens up a twenty-thousand strong super studio, or there's a breakthrough in procedural (but logical) world generation in more than just terrain and trees.
That said, I don't know if what I've been told meshes so well with the idea that the characters are drastically less unique than the main players in Xenoblade. They are not all as fleshed out as the core of Xenoblade, though, for rather self-evident reasons. But this is something I will judge for myself when the time comes.