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[TurnipFritters]

I'm excited, but yeah the framerate problems are pretty noticeable and this is coming from someone who generally doesn't give two craps about framerate.

Spoiler

Maybe if they had stuck with three person parties instead of six

 

[Baroquemantic]

Are the stories connected in these, or are they like Final Fantasy? I doubt I'll ever play the previous two games, but if I get a Switch, I plan on getting this with it.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Looks really good, (still smells to Wii U port) just what I expect from a sequel, not that Xenoblade X...
But framerate needs lot of work and combat HUD is horrible.

Seriously...

Jesus christ.

What was wrong with the bar along the bottom that Xenoblade /X used?

Are the stories connected in these, or are they like Final Fantasy? I doubt I'll ever play the previous two games, but if I get a Switch, I plan on getting this with it.

As far as we are aware, there are no connections between 2 and the Wii and Wii U games.

There were definitely no connections between Xenoblade Wii and Xenoblade X, beyond little nods like one of the characters having a hairclip in the shape of the Monado (the main sword from Wii) at any rate.

 

[Zedark]

Are the stories connected in these, or are they like Final Fantasy? I doubt I'll ever play the previous two games, but if I get a Switch, I plan on getting this with it.

They're not connected.

 

[LordKano]

Are the stories connected in these, or are they like Final Fantasy? I doubt I'll ever play the previous two games, but if I get a Switch, I plan on getting this with it.

Unrelated games, so you're free to go.

 

[TurnipFritters]

Are the stories connected in these, or are they like Final Fantasy? I doubt I'll ever play the previous two games, but if I get a Switch, I plan on getting this with it.

As far as we know they're standalone.

Jesus christ.

What was wrong with the bar along the bottom that Xenoblade /X used?

According to all the people doing the demos, by mapping arts to specific buttons it saves time for the player

 

[Baroquemantic]

Cool, thanks!

 

[Aostia]

Graphic wise the e3 demo lacked in terms of frame rate and texture compared to Xeno x
It seems from this build that light effects and textures were better while frame rate still need to be worked out

The rest is done by art style

Xeno x was more "realistic and mature" while this is more fantasy and anime

Of course tastes are tastes but draw distance, polygons, scope, and so on are in line

Lights physics and texture seem even better than X

 

[EhoaVash]

Also that UI is fine, it's only for combat + seems each part aligns with a button . And it's waaaay easier to read that than XCX's small texts

 

[SilentRob]

For fuck's sake, just get a competent UI designer. This is the third of these games you make, how is the HUD still that bad?

 

[Hibiki Kurosawa]

Cool, cool. Yeah yeah yeah I'm sold on it, but when's it coming out?

 

[James Scott]

Are the stories connected in these, or are they like Final Fantasy? I doubt I'll ever play the previous two games, but if I get a Switch, I plan on getting this with it.

They're standalone so far, yes

 

[ThisIsMyDogKyle]

Looks really good, (still smells to Wii U port) just what I expect from a sequel, not that Xenoblade X...
But framerate needs lot of work and combat HUD is horrible.

Seriously...

If they just remove the text for the arts/weapons in the bottom left and right, at least make it an option, shrink the HUD elements in the top left and right and have the elemental arts prompt just take up a tiny bit of screen under the arts on the bottom right instead of taking up a huge amount of space on the bottom, left, and right it would be soooo much better.

 

[Spyder_Monkey]

I have a feeling this game is going to bomb critically and commercially even by niche JRPG standards.

 

[Astral Dog]

Damn what a visual downgrade from XCX where almost every corner of the map made my jaw drop



At least I'm still hyped for the music and story...

Can't say I'm. Happy with these visuals though

There were some parts that i thought looked beautiful on that video, of course graphics aren't everything u expect A LOT of awesome cutscenes to make up for it.

 

[TwilightPrincess]

This looks to me as being an inferior game to XCX graphics wise.

I wonder what other systems are in play here for the visual presentation not being as good. I was expecting even better than XCX.

Well the videoquality is total garbage, i wouldn't want to judge the game on that or compare to X.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Also that UI is fine, it's only for combat + seems each part aligns with a button . And it's waaaay easier to read that than XCX's small texts

No it isn't. Whoever decided that battle relevant information should be spread through the four corners of the screen is an idiot and should never be allowed to design a UI again. Having realised they can't use size 2 font since Xenoblade X isn't an excuse.

How are these getting worse with every game?

 

[Hitlersaurus Christ]

Looks cool but I'm still having trouble getting past the "looks like a titty anime" art style. I'm sure once I get into it things will stop bothering me as much.

 

[Opa-Pa]

I thought people were exaggerating about the UI but wow, haha, that looks like that parody shot of Bloodborne.

Everything else sounds pretty nice though. I think at this point the one thing that will decide whether I jump in or not is the tone of the writing and if it's tied to the art style and character designs.

 

[KHlover]

Looks really good, (still smells to Wii U port) just what I expect from a sequel, not that Xenoblade X...
But framerate needs lot of work and combat HUD is horrible.

Seriously...

Looks like an MMO, just like the other Xenoblades. May as well make one, they already got the UI down at least

 

[Aostia]

According to all the people doing the demos, by mapping arts to specific buttons it saves time for the player

It really does
With Joycon in ha do the game plays way smoother than X

I have a feeling this game is going to bomb critically and commercially even by niche JRPG standards.

We will see
So far hands on have been very positive, even with some issue in terms of rate rate or character design

The world(s) and the tidbits of story seen during presentation let foreseen also the usual Monolith deep storytelling glass (way more in line with Xeno than X)

 

[Mediking]

I have a feeling this game is going to bomb critically and commercially even by niche JRPG standards.

Um... NO. This isn't bombing.

 

[Ala Alba]

My major concern about the combat in this game is that your build-up seems to reset between battles, which means whenever you fight basic low-hp enemies, you're unlikely to be able to utilize much of the battle system.

This is in contrast to the first game, where you'd always start a battle with almost all resources available, making fights with weak enemies quick and painless.

 

[LordKano]

I have a feeling this game is going to bomb critically and commercially even by niche JRPG standards.

Even though every preview is quite positive ?

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

The Gamekult article is a pretty standard rundown of the game. The main thing I took away from it was at the beginning of the article, they admitted they were skeptical of the game when it was revealed in January. They thought the character design was generic, were concerned about technical performance, and were put off by the garish UI (which they admit was par for the course for the series). They were worried when they saw the 2017 date that they were getting it out to fill the Switch's software library as quickly as possible. That being said, by the end of the article, seeing it at E3 and now playing it at Gamescom, they feel pretty good about the game itself. Only complaints were technical issues that could be ironed out, still feeling iffy about the designs and UI. Noted the battle system is more complex than Xenoblade X's, positioning is key since you can't move while attacking, and even though all the characters have styles they personally lean towards, the fundamental rule of the game is your party members are all very flexible depending on your personal tastes.

 

[DMONKUMA]

Looks like an MMO, just like the other Xenoblades. May as well make one, they already got the UI down at least

Seems like their next game is an action fantasy rpg. So UI should definitely be different.

 

[Aostia]

My major concern about the combat in this game is that your build-up seems to reset between battles, which means whenever you fight basic low-hp enemies, you're unlikely to be able to utilize much of the battle system.

This is in contrast to the first game, where you'd always start a battle with almost all resources available, making fights with weak enemies quick and painless.

This is a fair complaint
We will see if this will change in the final build

 

[Cucurbitacée]

I'm quite surprised about so many people being adamant about this game not being related to the first one. I wouldn't rule that out if I were you.

 

[Neoleo2143]

I have a feeling this game is going to bomb critically and commercially even by niche JRPG standards.

I mean maybe Commercially. But Critically, the Xenoblade games in spite of Skepticism have done very well for themselves critically.

 

[Astral Dog]

Well the videoquality is total garbage, i wouldn't want to judge the game on that or compare to X.

And X wasn't that purty either, hideous character models, lots of pop in and long loading times

 

[Hitlersaurus Christ]

I'm quite surprised about so many people being adamant about this game not being related to the first one. I wouldn't rule that out if I were you.

It's been confirmed by the developers that it's unrelated.

 

[KingSnake]

Maybe if they would hide the pointless (from a visualisation point of view) blades in the battles they would have less troubles with the framerate and even improve the quality of the graphics overall. There's no reason to show them at all times. If they're needed for story reasons they can appear in the cutscenes.

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

I'm quite surprised about so many people being adamant about this game not being related to the first one. I wouldn't rule that out if I were you.

There'll definitely be nods and references but I think it'll be entirely possible you can enjoy the story without having played XB1, is the thing.

Like Nier: Automata, the story will have a lot more context if you played Nier 1, but you can still pretty comfortably call it self-contained.

 

[James Scott]

And X wasn't that purty either, hideous character models, lots of pop in and long loading times

Don't remember it having long loading times, at least when installed

Maybe if they would hide the pointless (from a visualisation point of view) blades in the battles they would have less troubles with the framerate and even improve the quality of the graphics overall. There's no reason to show them at all times. If they're needed for story reasons they can appear in the cutscenes.

XCX seemingly let you turn off everything one by one so I'd be surprised if they didn't bring that back

 

[MomoQca]

We now know the names of two Blades

Poppi α

Roc

Other interesting/new tidbits:
-The titan's name is Uraya
-The demonstrator alluded that certain sidequests will feature voice acting
-Multiple enemies from the original confirmed: Igna, Brog, Ansel, etc.

 

[Spyder_Monkey]

I mean maybe Commercially. But Critically, the Xenoblade games in spite of Skepticism have done very well for themselves critically.

The first one is one of the best JRPGs of all time. X was a step backwards in all respects besides size and scope and the reviews showed and now this one looks like a step backward even to that so unless Nintendo is going to surprise us I doubt this will even reach 1 or X.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

I really wish I didn't get such strong Tales vibes from this.

Tales is the one JRPG series I have negative feelings toward and those feelings are getting transferred to this.

It doesn't help that all the human party members except the main girl look 14 max. Not a fan of the look.

The youngest of the protagonists of the first game could pass for early 20's. XBX actually had most of its party members 25 and over refreshingly.

Also is it just me or are there framerate issues? Hopefully it's just optimization because XBX was actually applauded by Digital Foundry for how consistent the framerate was amd Switch is more powerful.

Still it's a Xenoblade game so presentation aside I'll definitely enjoy playing and exploring it.

Though once again the main character's pants look really, really bad. The fact it doesn't look like there's wearable gear anymore makes this all the more worse.

X was a step backwards in all respects besides size and scope and the reviews showed

XBX had very good reviews.

 

[TwilightPrincess]

And X wasn't that purty either, hideous character models, lots of pop in and long loading times

Yes, but here we can't judge it right know. Looking at the video in full screen mode the resolution looks worse than Xenoblade 1 on Wii and the game won't look like that

 

[aravuus]

Maybe if they would hide the pointless (from a visualisation point of view) blades in the battles they would have less troubles with the framerate and even improve the quality of the graphics overall. There's no reason to show them at all times. If they're needed for story reasons they can appear in the cutscenes.

Yeah, I can't think of a single good reason to have them be there at all times aside from "I want to look at them because they are very cool".

Gimme a toggle to hide them at all times, please. They're a distraction.

 

[Cucurbitacée]

It's been confirmed by the developers that it's unrelated.

That surprises me, I thought I followed the news about the game quite closely and can't remember getting this information; my bad.

But anyway, even it's obvious that this game is not a direct sequel from the first one and that it's unnecessary to have played the first one to fully the second, I wouldn't rule out any links between the two games.

 

[James Scott]

Performance should be fine. 5 or so month of optimization should be enough. Worst case it gets pushed back. The XC games perform pretty well despite their ambition and scale (most of the time)
I'd expect a resolution bump to at least 900p and a stable fps by its launch.

The first one is one of the best JRPGs of all time. X was a step backwards in all respects besides size and scope and the reviews showed and now this one looks like a step backward even to that so unless Nintendo is going to surprise us I doubt this will even reach 1 or X.

XCX focused on a big world and exploration so the structure and narrative suffered. So it was a "step back" in that regard despite the tech and gameplay improvements
XC2 is focusing more on story again

 

[PetrCobra]

Watched the demo and I'm now much more convinced about the combat system, from what I saw before I was just confused, now it seems pretty good.

Can't wait for the release. Hopefully they hammer out the framerate issues. I'm not bothered by the HUD at all but I'm sure they'll have some options in place to turn off parts of it for people who are.

 

[whyamihere]

The first one is one of the best JRPGs of all time. X was a step backwards in all respects besides size and scope and the reviews showed and now this one looks like a step backward even to that so unless Nintendo is going to surprise us I doubt this will even reach 1 or X.

I don't even know what this means.

 

[TurnipFritters]

Maybe if they would hide the pointless (from a visualisation point of view) blades in the battles they would have less troubles with the framerate and even improve the quality of the graphics overall. There's no reason to show them at all times. If they're needed for story reasons they can appear in the cutscenes.

It definitely feels like the "Blades are always there!" was born from them wanting Cute Anime Girl to follow the player around all the time and working from there.

Also, honestly, from what they've shown off so far, the Blade designs aren't all that great.

 

[guyssorry]

Looks incredible. I think the game's visuals will look fine, it's just that the streams are really not helping it out. Nevertheless, cannot wait to hear all of the new music and explore the world. Super hyped.

 

[Seik]

XCX focused on a big world and exploration so the structure and narrative suffered. So it was a "step back" in that regard despite the tech and gameplay improvements
XC2 is focusing more on story again

And a good soundtrack exempt of any lyrics, except maybe for one song in the whole OST.

 

[KingSnake]

It definitely feels like the "Blades are always there!" was born from them wanting Cute Anime Girl to follow the player around all the time and working from there.

Also, honestly, from what they've shown off so far, the Blade designs aren't all that great.

Yeah, I have the same impression, they just wanted to have the almost naked anime girl on the screen all the time.

 

[Dark Cloud]

Sounds great. I expect it to sell better than the first two Xenoblade games.

 

[MomoQca]

And a good soundtrack exempt of any lyrics, except maybe for one song in the whole OST.

Hah. There are at least two songs with lyrics, possibly more because one of the Anuna singers said that there are words.

 

[PetrCobra]

And a good soundtrack exempt of any lyrics, except maybe for one song in the whole OST.

And hopefully a good song this time as opposed to the one in XC1

I actually didn't see X as a step back, it was just different. The linear storyline was shorter but there were SO MANY sidequests that the overall story amount was massive.