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GAF, is Xenoblade getting snubbed?

Alex

Alex

Member
M_Night said:
It's on the Wii.

Too standard definition and Japanese for western games media.
Click to expand...

Xenoblade's... Japanese-ness is pretty tame, in all honesty. The narrative and presentation is very 90s and inoffensive and the gameplay is very basic, very western drawn fare.

I'd say it's a mixture of a defunct platform and a botched release schedule, not some anti-Japan/anti-Nintendo nonsense. Same way Bully got absolutely trampled in 2006 despite being one of the best games that year.
 
A

Atomski

Member
None nintendo franchise getting no attention on the Wii? Nah..

Plus the system was pretty much dead this year, that didnt help much.
 
D

doniewhalberg

Member
Xenoblade was fine. It came at a time where there wasn't much for the wii and a gen of few great rpgs so it had its moment and shined, but I wouldn't say outside of that context it's fantastic. I liked the soundtrack, visuals were nice and kudos on the huuuuge maps, but very very repetitive gameplay that wasn't engaging enough to be fun repetitive (kind of felt like a single player mmo I guess). Also story wasn't engaging for me at all either, so it didn't hook me in that way either. I played about half way through though, and as I said, it was good. Just not above that. So I wouldn't say it was amazing enough that it not winning whatever awards it hasn't won is snubbing it, but it was good. I'd rather the witcher 2 had got in on those awards with the 360 release than this so haha.
 
S

SaintMadeOfPlaster

Member
Alex said:
I would have liked this game so much more if the questing system and what it did to game balance wasn't so terrible, we're talking clunk that would have made FFXIV 1.0 blush. Still very good stuff though, if you just plowed right through it with a little exploration on the side. Still I'm more interested in a hopeful sequel/successor revising my issues with it than dwelling on how it was robbed. Just a little too flawed, in my opinion, for that.

Also, while Xcom is absolutely fantastic ... why would it be up for RPG of the year, I wouldn't even classify it as an SRPG.



It has shiny visuals for it's platform and it most certainly does try to be a epic, cinematic game. I certainly don't see how you'd say it isn't trying to be the latter.
Click to expand...

Key words being "for its platform" and "try."

When comparing the two games at face value, Mass Effect does both things way better. Games journalism is incredibly shallow, so it's no wonder Mass Effect is taking the awards.
 
Y

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
I'm not so sure the "almost no one played it" defense works. The games media most certainly has. I don't think any major sites are out there that don't have reviews...

I just think there wasn't enough Mountain Dew.
 
T

Toki767

Member
Y2Kev said:
I'm not so sure the "almost no one played it" defense works. The games media most certainly has. I don't think any major sites are out there that don't have reviews...

I just think there wasn't enough Mountain Dew.
Click to expand...

But was there an adequate amount of Doritos at least?
 
Alex

Alex

Member
SaintMadeOfPlaster said:
Key words being "for its platform" and "try."

When comparing the two games at face value, Mass Effect does both things way better. Games journalism is incredibly shallow, so it's no wonder Mass Effect is taking the awards.
Click to expand...

If you're going for depth, you're not playing Xenoblade either. It's not one ounce more nuanced than whatever mass market PS3/360/PC RPG you're going to try and rant at, so you should pick another argument, in my opinion.
 
S

Striek

Member
I'm 80hrs+ into Xenoblade (
climbing the Mechonis' thigh
) and loving a lot about it, but it has a metric fuck-ton of issues too that prevent it from being a truly great game. Then again, I've only played a little D3 (didn't like it) and though I finished TL1 and enjoyed it somewhat, I can't imagine TL2 being worthy of being on an RPG of the year shortlist from what I've seen of it... the other titles I haven't played yet.

So Xenoblade might be the most worthy in a fairly ho-hum year for RPGs for all I know.
 
I

I NEED SCISSORS

Banned
SLQJc.gif
 
D

Darryl

Banned
leng jai said:
It's a third party game on the Wii.
Click to expand...

it's funny how many people think this, i must've heard it a dozen times this year

Pie and Beans said:
Xenoblade is perhaps the number one contender for most overhyped game on GAF. It seems to be fairly competent jRPG with trite tropey characters I immediately took a disliking to (big no no) but you'd think it was the second coming of christ from a certain game-starved subset of the console family tree.
Click to expand...

you could call most things in the film/book/media world "tropey", but you shouldn't. it says very little and it's just another terrible way for you to say that you dislike something
 
A

anddo0

Member
Pie and Beans said:
Xenoblade is perhaps the number one contender for most overhyped game on GAF. It seems to be fairly competent jRPG with trite tropey characters I immediately took a disliking to (big no no) but you'd think it was the second coming of christ from a certain game-starved subset of the console family tree.

I'd rather take issue with Dragon's Dogma being missing from any RPG lists since Xenoblade had its 2011 shot. Any game where you can accidentally end up eternally betrothed to the gruff inn-keeper is surely role playing gaming of the highest order.
Click to expand...

"It's Reyn time!"
I'm about to switch over to Japanese voice acting. Those voice actors are killing me.

I'm making my way through it now. It hasn't really clicked with me yet.
 
blu

blu

Wants the largest console games publisher to avoid Nintendo's platforms.
AniHawk said:
mass effect 3 was supposed to be the culmination of 3 games, where the decisions made in each one has an effect on the final outcome of the game. mass effect 3 did not deliver on its largest and most important promise.
Click to expand...
In another newsflash: santa ain't real either.
 
S

SaintMadeOfPlaster

Member
Alex said:
If you're going for depth, you're not playing Xenoblade either. It's not one ounce more nuanced than whatever mass market PS3/360/PC RPG you're going to try and rant at, so you should pick another argument, in my opinion.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying Mass Effect doesn't have depth, and I'm not saying Xenoblade has lots of depth. I'm just saying that Mass Effect has that "Hollywood" appeal. It's shiny, it's the culmination of a trilogy, and it's a massive AAA game. Xenoblade is a far more humble game, simply on virtue of it being on far inferior hardware, from a company that many in the industry have simply abandoned.

It should've been obvious who would win more awards.
 
S

Sojgat

Member
At least it got nominated. Isn't it just lucky to be mentioned in the same breath as Mass Effect 3? Do they even have Mountain Dew in Japan? I mean, Maybe you'll find it periodically in the drink machines around Tokyo, but Xenoblade just isn't in the same league.
 
J

Juken

Member
It has some fantastic high points but plenty of problems as well. The combat system, enemy and friendly ai, boring quest structure and poor quest tracking/gem interfaces were all problems. The story/characters weren't exactly fantastic either. I loved it solely for an incredible world to explore and great music.

It's one of my favourite games of the generation, but I'm not surprised if people don't find it to their tastes.
 
Go_Ly_Dow

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
man, if only we could replace the drinks on that gif with mountain dew and doritos............

it would be beyond perfection.
 
B

B.K.

Member
It's not getting awards because the game isn't the seconding coming of the JRPG, like GAF likes to build it up as being. It's really a very mediocre game. If it hadn't been for the fight to get Nintendo to release it in America, most of GAF wouldn't even know of the game.
 
B

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
SaintMadeOfPlaster said:
I'm not saying Mass Effect doesn't have depth, and I'm not saying Xenoblade has lots of depth. I'm just saying that Mass Effect has that "Hollywood" appeal. It's shiny, it's the culmination of a trilogy, and it's a massive AAA game. Xenoblade is a far more humble game, simply on virtue of it being on far inferior hardware, from a company that many in the industry have simply abandoned.

It should've been obvious who would win more awards.
Click to expand...

I think this guy said it all.

Xenoblade looking like a PS2 game probably didn't help either.

I loved the game and played it for 100 hours, but it looks really bad technical wise. The art is pretty great though(if we ignore the horrible character armor).
 
S

SaintMadeOfPlaster

Member
B.K. said:
It's not getting awards because the game isn't the seconding coming of the JRPG, like GAF likes to build it up as being. It's really a very mediocre game. If it hadn't been for the fight to get Nintendo to release it in America, most of GAF wouldn't even know of the game.
Click to expand...

Get out.

I do think you're right about that last sentence, though
 
C

cosmicblizzard

Banned
Alex said:
Xenoblade's... Japanese-ness is pretty tame, in all honesty. The narrative and presentation is very 90s and inoffensive and the gameplay is very basic, very western drawn fare.

I'd say it's a mixture of a defunct platform and a botched release schedule, not some anti-Japan/anti-Nintendo nonsense. Same way Bully got absolutely trampled in 2006 despite being one of the best games that year.
Click to expand...

It's still pretty Japanese.
 
T

Tony Redgrave

Member
I get the feeling ME3 is like The LOTR: The Return of the King andt the media are all awarding the culmination of the entire series so to speak.

Anyway ME3 is a very good game ending aside, not perfect by a long shot but I don't think anyone should be shocked it's winning these awards, disappointing=/=bad.
 
G

Goldenroad

Member
Maybe some people think Mass Effect 3 is a better game.

That's not snubbing, it's just having an opinion. A nomination is the exact opposite of a snub actually.
 
Q

Quadrangulum

Banned
Xenoblade enjoyed an incredible outpouring of adulation from both gamers and journalists alike for over two years now. Because of this, Monolithsoft is more confident, has a higher stature within Nintendo, and their next RPG will probably be easily fast tracked for localization. There is no reason to be preoccupied with games awards, especially when they are assigned by a body so transparently compromised.
 
B

BruceLeeRoy

Banned
doniewhalberg said:
Xenoblade was fine. It came at a time where there wasn't much for the wii and a gen of few great rpgs so it had its moment and shined, but I wouldn't say outside of that context it's fantastic. I liked the soundtrack, visuals were nice and kudos on the huuuuge maps, but very very repetitive gameplay that wasn't engaging enough to be fun repetitive (kind of felt like a single player mmo I guess). Also story wasn't engaging for me at all either, so it didn't hook me in that way either. I played about half way through though, and as I said, it was good. Just not above that. So I wouldn't say it was amazing enough that it not winning whatever awards it hasn't won is snubbing it, but it was good. I'd rather the witcher 2 had got in on those awards with the 360 release than this so haha.
Click to expand...

Yeah this is how I felt. Game was good and the world really could be quite beautiful but overall I never got the whimsical love of the game some on gaf were experiencing.(sidenote I only got 20 hours into the game) I thought maybe I was just done with JRPG's but then PS4 Golden came out and blew my mind. Still its leagues better than ME3 which is the only ME I couldn't even finish.
 
L

Loonz

Member
Japanese game on the Wii VS American game on the 360... the American VG media will pick the second one over the first any time. American media obtain more scoops and news and interviews and ad-space from American developers, so there's that.

Really, it's that simple. Also, Nintendo America fucked up launching the game later than the rest of the world.

The thing is, why people who read GAF would really care about those lists?...


EDIT: the Japanese do the same with their games.
 
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