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Xenoblade Chronicles 2 |OT| On the backs of Titans we go!

nowhat

Member
Only problem is the taunts and after battle banter isn't translated into subtitles so I have no idea if anyone is dropping shit as cool as its 'its reyn time!' or whatever
I'm "that guy", in that I prefer original audio in JRPGs if available, but the above is rather annoying. Am I missing anything vital?
 
Can you hide any of the UI? It looks so large, I get it because of handheld mode, but on TV probably seems it gets in the way.

I actually like the size of the ui elements, makes everything easier and more pleasant to read. Before playing the game, this had me worried, too, now it's no problem.


Btw I love the character design in this game almost everyone has such charisma and could be straight from a good anime. I also think the hate from some against Pyra is ignorant in two ways: for one it ignores that women like her exist. Not in droves probably, but still. I wonder how such women feel when they read all this antipathy on certain online forums. Secou, she's not in any way a 'dumb busty girl'. She's smart, confident and pretty much the one setting everyone's agenda. She's a great character.

Poppi is best, though.
 

RPGCrazied

Member
I actually like the size of the ui elements, makes everything easier and more pleasant to read. Before playing the game, this had me worried, too, now it's no problem.

Does any of it hide when not fighting? Kinda like XC did so you could appreciate the environments better.
 
Does any of it hide when not fighting? Kinda like XC did so you could appreciate the environments better.

Screen is pretty much empty when exploring. There's time/weather/location in the top right corner. Then an almost invisible compass at the center top. And two commands left and right bottom corner. It's really nothing.
 

RPGCrazied

Member
Screen is pretty much empty when exploring. There's time/weather/location in the top right corner. Then an almost invisible compass at the center top. And two commands left and right bottom corner. It's really nothing.

Sounds great.

Anyone else getting the game next week? So wanted it on Friday but Amazon never put up the SE in time, I had to go with gamestop, and they didn't have release day shipping.
 

Zenaku

Member
This game looks awful on my 4k tv. I mean worse than in portable mode. It's like there is some kinda sharpening filter on the game that really makes the game look gritty. I kinda wish they'd let us turn that off. I'd rather the image be soft than look like a compressed FMV from a sega cd.
Game looks amazing on my C7, although I calibrated to the settings on rtings.com. Game doesnt have any sharpness to it at all for me, check your tv settings for that hdmi port.

Even if you've calibrated it once, my C7 used different settings for each source initially, so definitely double check it.
 
I really love the character designs in XC2. I wasn't completely convinced that the anime style was the right artistic direction to take initially but after watching GameXplain's post- review video discussion on it, I'm completely sold. I definitely have to pick up a Switch sooner rather than later. Tracking down a copy of the CE now is going to bankrupt me 😅.
 

sublimit

Banned
I really love the character designs in XC2. I wasn't completely convinced that the anime style was the right artistic direction to take initially but after watching GameXplain's post- review video discussion on it, I'm completely sold. I definitely have to pick up a Switch sooner rather than later. Tracking down a copy of the CE now is going to bankrupt me ��.

I loved the character designs of XC2 ever since the first reveal. But then again i also liked the character art styles of both the first game and XBX when almost everyone hated them. :p

And yes this is the title that makes me want a Switch the most.
 
I've made it about 3 hours in, really grateful for the NoE localisation. We got a good variety of actors and accents, haven't run into any dumb memes. I also appreciate the little asterisk they add to the name boxes above characters that indicate when they have new dialogue, more games should do that.
 

Vitacat

Member
Just popping in to say how happy I am with this game. I was slightly worried by some of the more critical reviews, but after playing through the intro and chapter one, I love this game. I also don't get some of the negativity I've seen toward the designs. I love the characters, the VA, the style, the story, the music (well, no one has criticized the music), and so far I think the gameplay feels like an improvement over previous games in some ways. Not saying the game is flawless, it's not, but for me this is probably a 9/10 title, and a must-buy for anyone who likes JRPG's like XB or SOA.

I do get some of the technical criticism, I.e. It looks "last gen." But, for people like me it's inconsequential as long as the art direction and gameplay grab me.
 

royox

Member
Only problem is the taunts and after battle banter isn't translated into subtitles so I have no idea if anyone is dropping shit as cool as its 'its reyn time!' or whatever

And that's why I will play this game twice. First with Jap audio to enjoy the story and second with horrible english voices for the party banter and to do things RIGHT (blades, optimization, etc)
 

Big0Bear

Member
I’m enjoying the game so far playing in Japanese the translating group did some strange things while translating. Hella characters names are different in English and Japanese
 

Soriku

Junior Member
Can you hide any of the UI? It looks so large, I get it because of handheld mode, but on TV probably seems it gets in the way.

You can hide the minimap and in battle hide some boxes by pressing L3 (whatever the equivalent is on Switch).
 

Dev1lXYZ

Member
XC2 is the best JRPG that I have played in years. Monolith Soft made a fantastic game as usual. The systems get more and more complex as the game goes on, which to me adds to the experience. I prefer playing it in handheld mode. The graphics look really great on that small screen.
 

ajim

Member
Might be a stupid question to ask seeing as I'm 10hours in, but how the hell do I recover hp during battles?
 

FightTest

Member
I'm trying really hard to like this game but there are so many incredibly stupid encounter flaws that frustrate me to no end.

I remember playing Everquest back in the day and there was a random gryphon that would fly around a lower level area and just murder people. But he flew slowly and you could see him coming and plan your fights around him. Here there's the big dickhead outside the first town. Which isn't a problem except..

I don't know who the hell decided packs of mobs should have an ability to spawn more packs of mobs that can spawn more packs of mobs that can spawn more packs of mobs etc.. Can I kill this pack of wolves before the big dickhead runs by? Yes. Can I kill this pack of wolves and the four more packs that they summon before he runs by? No.

Fighting a level 18 named mob and he does a Warning Cry that calls.. a level 22 mob. Why? Why is this dickhead mob he summons 4 levels higher than him and 5 levels higher than my party?

Why do I have to run through a field of mobs that agro and summon their billion friends if I dare try to fight them?

It feels like someone played EQ back in the day and loved the wildy varying mob levels/call for help mechanics more than anything and designed an entire game around it.

Also died in a main quest mission one time and, despite my save, it put me back a long ways. Which isn't a big deal but the entire rooms of people I had killed before were now respawned and I had to do it again. Not terribly difficult but very tedious.

Like a lot of the game but some of the things they've chosen to do really drag it down from feeling like a great game.
 

royox

Member
I'm trying really hard to like this game but there are so many incredibly stupid encounter flaws that frustrate me to no end.

I remember playing Everquest back in the day and there was a random gryphon that would fly around a lower level area and just murder people. But he flew slowly and you could see him coming and plan your fights around him. Here there's the big dickhead outside the first town. Which isn't a problem except..

I don't know who the hell decided packs of mobs should have an ability to spawn more packs of mobs that can spawn more packs of mobs that can spawn more packs of mobs etc.. Can I kill this pack of wolves before the big dickhead runs by? Yes. Can I kill this pack of wolves and the four more packs that they summon before he runs by? No.

Fighting a level 18 named mob and he does a Warning Cry that calls.. a level 22 mob. Why? Why is this dickhead mob he summons 4 levels higher than him and 5 levels higher than my party?

Why do I have to run through a field of mobs that agro and summon their billion friends if I dare try to fight them?

It feels like someone played EQ back in the day and loved the wildy varying mob levels/call for help mechanics more than anything and designed an entire game around it.

Also died in a main quest mission one time and, despite my save, it put me back a long ways. Which isn't a big deal but the entire rooms of people I had killed before were now respawned and I had to do it again. Not terribly difficult but very tedious.

Like a lot of the game but some of the things they've chosen to do really drag it down from feeling like a great game.

Wellcome to Xenoblade :3

For the named mob, unique monsters in Xenoblade games usually have this sort of stuff, they are supposed to be hard to beat like Open World Bossed and most of them have this sort of bullshit like calling for help, doing an incredibly big damage aoe, running away etc when they reach certain hp level.

Heh, you would have enjoyed Xenoblade X, the game forced you to run in areas filled by lvl40 monsters while being like lvl15 and a lot of those unique enemies would pop out of nowhere and kill you in an instant (that fucking one in the lake with golden crown THE DAY OF RELEASE XD)
 
Game looks amazing on my C7, although I calibrated to the settings on rtings.com. Game doesnt have any sharpness to it at all for me, check your tv settings for that hdmi port.

Even if you've calibrated it once, my C7 used different settings for each source initially, so definitely double check it.

Portable mode does legit have a sharpening filter applied too it. I haven't noticed it on TV mode though.
 
Played this for a bit this weekend. I’m just starting to enjoy it after hours of being frustrated and sometimes bored, which is how I usually experience the Xeno games. Still, this kind of feels like a low point in the series for me.

Not sure if it’s in my head, but this legitimately seems to run worse than XCX in a lot of ways. This could have used an extra 6 months of polish.
 

Ma-Yuan

Member
13h in and finding quest locations on the second and third titan to proceed with the main story drive/drove me nuts . . . This game is amazing if they would have kept the guide ball from XCX . . . Other then that it only looks amazing in handheld mode on my 55" Screen its a blurry mess . . . I can't recall XCX looking this blurry on the same screen back in 2015 :-/
 

Nere

Member
There is something that is really annoying me in this game. It happened once when I fought my first major boss and it happened now again. I am talking about the fact that you fight a boss win the fight and the cutscene after shows zero result and most times the cutscene shows the boss overpowering rex and the party. What the fuck is the point of fighting a boss fight if he comes on top no matter if you lose or win? I have never felt this in another rpg, if you beat a boss can't they shown him physically weaker or something? Why does it feel like nothing happened?
 
There is something that is really annoying me in this game. It happened once when I fought my first major boss and it happened now again. I am talking about the fact that you fight a boss win the fight and the cutscene after shows zero result and most times the cutscene shows the boss overpowering rex and the party. What the fuck is the point of fighting a boss fight if he comes on top no matter if you lose or win? I have never felt this in another rpg, if you beat a boss can't they shown him physically weaker or something? Why does it feel like nothing happened?

Haha, this true. Makes those boss fights feel like gamey 'checkpoints' rather than ... well, boss fights. It's a bit lame as it allows for a looser narrative.
 
There is something that is really annoying me in this game. It happened once when I fought my first major boss and it happened now again. I am talking about the fact that you fight a boss win the fight and the cutscene after shows zero result and most times the cutscene shows the boss overpowering rex and the party. What the fuck is the point of fighting a boss fight if he comes on top no matter if you lose or win? I have never felt this in another rpg, if you beat a boss can't they shown him physically weaker or something? Why does it feel like nothing happened?

Agreed 100%. Moreover, most of the cutscenes make me think “wow, wish I could actually have done that in the game.”
 
I'd love to ask Takahashi if at some early point in the game's development it was planned to have Rex' anchor shot/hook shot as an active gameplay element.

It seems sooo obvious how awesome it would have been to traverse the world vertically by climbing any wall via pointing the hook shot at it, then pulling yourself upwards. This seems even more likely when taking into consideration that MonolithSoft helped with BotW.

Hm ...
 

Vitacat

Member
Haven't started this one yet, but boy is THIS disappointing.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...-chronicles-2-push-switch-mobile-mode-too-far

As low as 368p portable? At what point is the Nintendo Switch no longer a hybrid and just a thing to be plugged in?

When games only work plugged in?

Seems Mononlith rushed this game a bit to make the holidays. Maybe some patches can improve performance in the future. But the game is still pretty great IMO, and it's not like you can't play it handheld, it just doesn't look as good. Kinda like XBC on 3DS, but better.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
When games only work plugged in?

Seems Mononlith rushed this game a bit to make the holidays. Maybe some patches can improve performance in the future. But the game is still pretty great IMO, and it's not like you can't play it handheld, it just doesn't look as good. Kinda like XBC on 3DS, but better.

To me the handheld mode is more than playable and still look great, especially considering the scale.
 

Vitacat

Member
To me the handheld mode is more than playable and still look great, especially considering the scale.

Good to hear. I've only played on TV so far, but will try handheld soon. I'm very tolerant of technical issues, and care far more about gameplay, story, and art direction than graphical prowess. Heck, even 368p is still better than 3DS, and I loved tons of games on 3DS. :p
 

RPGCrazied

Member
Finally got it. Played a couple hours. Music is great, graphics are great, but lip sync is bad.

And I just got to the first big open field area and the framerate doesn't seem very good here. Is it every big area?
 
Alright, I'm not trying to start a war about character designs. That being said, Nintendo stock is being hammered today in Japan.

Mostly due to the slow start of Animal Crossing mobile, but so you think Nintendo will patch in a changed version of certain characters to avoid any negative comments from non-gaming media that Xenoblade will undoubtedly pick up at some point?

I have wondered this for a few days, especially since they showed a photo of an upskirt shot of one of the blades.
 

ubiblu

Member
To me the handheld mode is more than playable and still look great, especially considering the scale.

The game may be subjectively 'playable' to some, but there is no getting around just how shithouse it looks in action. I was personally turned off enough to only play docked, and even then entering Garanti Plain was atrocious with the PS2-level background textures.

I'm doing my very best to ignore the woeful visual quality and performance hiccups, but man this sends the wrong message about the Switch's capabilities.

You know what the worst part is? The actual game is a few fixable flaws away from being a real classic, even in a year where Dragon Quest XI dominated the JRPG world.
 

ajim

Member
I noticed in handheld mode that sometimes when I go to a new area or fast travel, the game begins playing before loading up all textures and geometry. It's a really unique thing to see everything being drawn in as you run around lol
 
How to raise Affinity and purchasing skills for Blades? My current bond color during battle is light blue with my blade, how can I raise it to the gold color? Is this even possible?

Second, I purchase skills for my characters using something called points. I see no option to purchase skills for my blades? They are unlocked but I can't purchase them.
 

chechi

Member
How to raise Affinity and purchasing skills for Blades? My current bond color during battle is light blue with my blade, how can I raise it to the gold color? Is this even possible?

Second, I purchase skills for my characters using something called points. I see no option to purchase skills for my blades? They are unlocked but I can't purchase them.

1. As I understand it: Stand close to your blade and the bond color changes (not immediately to gold)
2. Blade skills unlock by using it but the unlocks are not active until you check the update in the menu (I dont really get this as well tbh....).
 

Zenaku

Member
thank you... so what about the trust level? how do i increase that?
If your bond reaches gold during battle you'll get 10 points towards the trust level. Completing side quests with them in your team will get trust points too. There are some rare blades that rank up via side quests or other actions though, and don't require trust points.
 
Regarding rare blades: do you have to use those strengthening items or are those just for raising chances? I mean those justice/courage/etc items that you *can* choose before using a core crystal.

Also: Are blades forever tied to the character who summmons them? Or will there be a way to switch them to another driver?
 

Zenaku

Member
Regarding rare blades: do you have to use those strengthening items or are those just for raising chances? I mean those justice/courage/etc items that you *can* choose before using a core crystal.

Also: Are blades forever tied to the character who summmons them? Or will there be a way to switch them to another driver?

I think in my Japanese version its called the ideogram, or something, not sure if that's what the localized version calls it. But anyway, each character has a level for courage/justice/etc, and they raise as you unlock skills on their blades, or you can increase them temporarily using those items when you use a core crystal.

The items themselves correspond to elements (courage being fire and water, justice is light and dark), and I believe they have a direct effect on the % chance of getting a rare blade, and the element they end up being. The higher your ideogram levels, the higher your chance of getting rare blades.

I need to look up on some Japanese wikis to see if there's any ideas on what the chances are, but I've gotten rare blades from common cores with no items, and I've gotten common blades from rare cores with 5 items used, so at the end of the day it's all down to rng.

For giving blades to other characters, there are items called "overdrive", found in chests (and possibly available to buy at some point). You can use them by selecting a blade in the blade option on the main menu, and they'll let you move a blade to another character. I haven't used one yet, so I don't know if it completely swaps the driver, or if it lets multiple drivers use the same blade.
 

Z3M0G

Member
Haven't started this one yet, but boy is THIS disappointing.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...-chronicles-2-push-switch-mobile-mode-too-far

As low as 368p portable? At what point is the Nintendo Switch no longer a hybrid and just a thing to be plugged in?

Looks like a non-issue to me... unless that somehow looks worst on the small screen, but I suspect the problems aren't as apparent on the smaller screen.

This is simply a form of gaming accessibility I've always wanted... I'd be happy to have this option at all.
 
10-12hrs in so far, and while battle is fun, and the world beautiful, the music amazing and the VA better than I had been led to believe, the character designs are really ruining my enthusiasm for the game. Some characters don't even feel like they belong in the same game from an art design perspective. I love taking screenshots and drinking in these worlds, but it's ruined by the little dumb boy and his weird kink gear. The lack of gear customization is also a bummer.

Do things ever stop feeling so kid oriented? The humor (other than the maid outfit joke) feels like it belongs in a kids show so far.

And for those that are wondering, you're not missing any banter when playing in JP. It's thing like "you can do this!", "Look what I found!", "It's morning already", etc. I've yet to hear anything I'd care that I missed.
 
Just finished chapter
4
, what a fantastic presentation that was. I've never played or seen another JRPG that so masterfully captures the essence of a quality adventure anime. It truly feels as if the anime fall season got another series - not sure if Houseki no Kuni and Inuyasha can stay atop. ;)

I've played for about 16 hours now. Really excited that there's still so much coming when so much story has already taken place.

@graphics: i agree that the low res is disappointing (and I'd be less forgiving if it wasn't onr of my most wanted games),but any comparisons to PS2 are pure hyperbole. Outside of the resolution, Xenoblade 2 is beautiful and a modern game. I had to stop and take screenshots when I got to Uraya because it was so beautiful that it hurt, lol.

And the character designs really fit the game. My favorite character so far is
Akhos
. :)
 

RPGCrazied

Member
10 hours in and still in Torigoth, lol

And loving the game, music especially but do hope they do a performance patch to help with the framerate in places. Other then that its great.
 

Dunki

Member
So watching thsi game quite a bit I can not understand the high praise from journalists because it basically everything Polygon and co despise. Its sexualization of female characters and a real waifu collection loot game XD

Also man this game is Anime as fuck. Just yesterday I have seen a blade who is sitting on a bathtub XD

This game actually wants me to buy a switch because its so crazy it needs to be supported^^
 

thedan001

Member
thank you... so what about the trust level? how do i increase that?

We can raise trust fast by spamming pouch items, (just use new item repeatedly, ignore the timers).

This is good if you want to spend some money buying food.

I think it is 9 trust per. Maybe it only works on types of food that the blade likes, not 100% sure yet.
 
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