Twilight Princess
Member
Completely agree. I'm going on media blackout now. Good or bad I'm in.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 previews
- Thread starter MomoQca
- Start date
MrSaturn99
Member
Xenoblade has always been overwhelming. The first game I got used to but I've been playing XCX over the past year and I'm still struggling to comprehend half the stuff going on in that game. Still great, but there's way too much going on.
Same.
Same.
TwilightPrincess
Member
I wouldn't even complain about the X look, i didn't complain about the deformed Xenoblade 1 faces in cutscenes either, the game was great. But i can understand why Monolithsoft went with the Xenoblade 2 artstyle that doesn't try to be realistic.
Dark Cloud
Member
Does anyone know if we can fly Airships around the titans? I think some people just want to see bigger areas and see from one titan to another to get that feel of scope and "aww".
Almond
Member
I'll also agree with this, except I'm still just as excited for Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
Like everyone else, I really wish they showed more stuff off, but I guess they're saving that for a Nintendo Direct or press event? But I don't have any complaints about anything so far. I know I'll love it.
I'm also really glad to see flashy Special Attack animations again like in the first Xenosaga games.
TwilightPrincess
Member
As far as i know you will travel on big Airships but you won't be able to fly around freely, but i'm not 100% sure about this.
I can respect that opinion for the most part. For me, I preferred the original Xenoblade over XCX but I thought both were good games. While I enjoy sci-fi settings, and lord knows I LOVE badass mechs, when it comes to JRPGs, I just enjoy more traditional fantasy settings. The Mechon in Xenoblade were the sci-fi element of the story, but it still had a pretty deep fantasy background.
Also XCX rubbed me the wrong way right from the get go with having the main protagonist be a player-created character. 95% of the time, I hate JRPGs that go with silent protagonists or player-created characters that never really feel truly integrated into the story. When I play JRPGs, I like to just step into the roles of already established characters & designs and watch their story play out. Would still be interested in an XCX 2 on Switch after Xenoblade 2 releases though.
Well, commercial airships (moved by very big animals, at least some of them) and military airships (with some sort of engine, I think) are definitely in the game are are actually the vehicles through which we move from one Titan to the other.
It's still not clear if we can have gameplay sections on board/flying around with those
I think we should wait for a dedicated Direct nearby the release
I think you may not be able to jump during battles. He got stuck in an uncomfortable position there for a sec
Mihael Mello Keehl
Banned
Ahh... the Xenoblade Cycle
I love every bit of footage I get for this game, but I will admit that Nintendo needs to give it a better showing. XCX had so much better footage by this point that showed the game off in the best light, while XC2 footage has been way too restricted and the streams of too low quality. I think the actual game will probably wow us more because of lowered expecatations though, not just in graphics but story and characters as well. Plus as someone who has just been playing through the Xenosaga games for the first time, Pyra's design really isn't worse than KOS-MOS or T-elos as far as being fan service-y.
My Xeno games ranking:
Xenogears = Xenoblade Chronicles > Xenoblade Chronicles X > Xenosaga Episode I = Xenosaga Episode II
With all of them being great games in their own way.
I am currently playing Xenosaga Episode III but think it will probably rank on the higher end, it really feels like it took everything Episode I did well and combined it with everything Episode II did well, and then did it better than either of them.
My Xeno games ranking:
Xenogears = Xenoblade Chronicles > Xenoblade Chronicles X > Xenosaga Episode I = Xenosaga Episode II
With all of them being great games in their own way.
I am currently playing Xenosaga Episode III but think it will probably rank on the higher end, it really feels like it took everything Episode I did well and combined it with everything Episode II did well, and then did it better than either of them.
DeuceGamer
Member
I thought the majority of GAF didn't like Xenoblade X? Surprised so many are saying they prefer it over 2.
Personally, I can't wait and will be picking it up day one. Hope we get a Collectors Edition with a full Soundtrack, but full soundtracks are unlikely
Personally, I can't wait and will be picking it up day one. Hope we get a Collectors Edition with a full Soundtrack, but full soundtracks are unlikely
TurnipFritters
Member
I think that interview with Takahashi in TIME said that you can't fly around freely, the airships just act as loading screens between Titans. Which is fine by me.
Mister Wolf
Member
They are the minority in the xeno fan base and that's a good thing.
Yeah, I believe he mentioned that they thought about allowing you to have control, but that just flying through fog would be boring.
Regarding the fantasy vs. sci-fi, I think the issue here is not only XC2 itself but that in general the fantasy RPGs tend to be more and more anime while the sci-fi RPGs tend to be more and more glorified FPS/TPS games. So if you're not too much into anime and you don't like every game you play to be FPS/TPS you're just looking at a huge void in front of you.
Now, XC2 is a very anime fantasy RPG and that of course can't be changed.
Now, XC2 is a very anime fantasy RPG and that of course can't be changed.
A few thoughts/impressions after watching the stream.
- This game looks a lot like an Open World Pokemon game. Just replace the word "Driver" with Trainer and "Blade" with Pokemon. That plus a Monolithsoft story and i'm very excited as their writing is always excelent.
- The more streamlined combat UI where everything is one button press away is a huge improvement from XC and XCX. Battles look to be much more engaging now you are more focused on the enemy and less focused on frantically hitting the dpad/left stick to get to the right art before it times out.
- I hope the tutorial is good because it seems like there will be a lot to learn with this combat system. Also hopefully the grinding wont be too bad as this many layers on top of each other can in many ways be grinding hell when you need to level up 8 different things with 5 types of experience plus RNG.
- They really should show more story. This game is a few months away and i haven't even seena fun/silly Sidequest. At the very least some "character" trailers that let you get to know your key party members would be great.
Edit:
XCX was a somewhat polarizing game, but if you liked the setting and took the time to do everything it was a game that was very easy to fall in love with.
If you wanted a JRPG Mass Effect game that retained the spirit of exploration from ME1 and the Loyalty Missions from ME2, then XCX was going to give you a 200+ Hour version of that.
- This game looks a lot like an Open World Pokemon game. Just replace the word "Driver" with Trainer and "Blade" with Pokemon. That plus a Monolithsoft story and i'm very excited as their writing is always excelent.
- The more streamlined combat UI where everything is one button press away is a huge improvement from XC and XCX. Battles look to be much more engaging now you are more focused on the enemy and less focused on frantically hitting the dpad/left stick to get to the right art before it times out.
- I hope the tutorial is good because it seems like there will be a lot to learn with this combat system. Also hopefully the grinding wont be too bad as this many layers on top of each other can in many ways be grinding hell when you need to level up 8 different things with 5 types of experience plus RNG.
- They really should show more story. This game is a few months away and i haven't even seena fun/silly Sidequest. At the very least some "character" trailers that let you get to know your key party members would be great.
Edit:
XCX was a somewhat polarizing game, but if you liked the setting and took the time to do everything it was a game that was very easy to fall in love with.
If you wanted a JRPG Mass Effect game that retained the spirit of exploration from ME1 and the Loyalty Missions from ME2, then XCX was going to give you a 200+ Hour version of that.
SatoAilDarko
Member
I'm also a huge fan of Sci-fi and not big on fantasy for media in general.
In RPG's though fantasy is represented much, much more than Sci-fi. Space exploration isn't a huge JRPG thing.
I can't really think of too many RPG's that take place in the future of our Earth history a la Mass Effect. In terms of JRPG's the one's that come to mind are Takahashi's Xenogears, Xenosaga and Xenoblade Chronicles X. The pilotable mechs are a bonus those settings.
That's not my problem with XB2 as I was fine with the original Xenoblade Chronicles. This game's plot and presentation are simply stuff I don't like.
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...
I don't know what UI is better this or Dissidia NT.
The game definitely doesn't look as shiny or as good as XCX when it was previewed, but I feel like that has more to do with the change in art style, as well as how many actors have to be onscreen at once.
With the Blade/Driver system, the game has to be able to render at least six participants in battle at any time BEFORE even considering enemies. That's nothing to sneeze at; comparatively, party size in XC was only 3 members and 4 in XCX.
This was my thought exactly when the first Treehouse gameplay trailer came out during e3. I'm not happy with it either, but I'd rather it be in this direction for visibility, as opposed to the inscrutable elements on the XCX UI, even when it was on a TV.
With the Blade/Driver system, the game has to be able to render at least six participants in battle at any time BEFORE even considering enemies. That's nothing to sneeze at; comparatively, party size in XC was only 3 members and 4 in XCX.
This was my thought exactly when the first Treehouse gameplay trailer came out during e3. I'm not happy with it either, but I'd rather it be in this direction for visibility, as opposed to the inscrutable elements on the XCX UI, even when it was on a TV.
I don't know, man. I couldn't finish the first game, the second one is so much better to me. I hope this one is good, though.
I prefer XCX over the first game, but it's not a matter of "wow, XCX is amazing and XC is a piece of shit." They're both very stunning achievements for their hardware, but I actually preferred the non-traditional "dig out the history of this planet and its inhabitants" angle to the story of XCX over the first game's more straightforward story. There is so much good stuff in the side content that I found it to be the game's real narrative hook over the main story line, which I will admit could have been a lot smoother in how it was told. It also helps that the approach was brilliantly integrated into the game's central premise of exploring an unknown world, so those two aspects went hand in hand about as well as you could hope for.
They both have their flaws, but the stuff that they do well, they do really, really, really well. I really do hope that X gets picked up again, though I admit not so much for following up on the cliffhanger, but to see if they do finally try to throw in a big online co-op element for free roaming through the world, since those little tastes you get in the co-op missions made me want that desperately.
Mediking
Member
XCX should come to Switch. Its just that simple.
TurnipFritters
Member
I wonder if having the blue shinies spawn from specific resource gathering spots is gonna speed things up or not. In 1 and X, I spent a lot of time swerving out of my way just to pick up a blue shiny even if I didn't need it, so that might cut down on travel time, but OTOH the resource gathering spots may be placed waaaay out of the way...
KLoWn
Member
The XCX haters are just the vocal minority, and most of 'em just spout nonsense instead of legitimate criticism. And this is from someone that liked XC better than XCX.
Mediking
Member
No. Each Driver (aka Character) has 3 blades, and each blade has 3 skills. So each character has 9 total skills all of which have 3 levels and can be used in combination with the skills of your 2 other party members to do combination damage.
Neoleo2143
Member
Each Blade has its own auto attack weapon and a set of 3 Skills and 1 Blade Art. A driver can equip 3 Blades at once. So it's actually 12 skills at a time (though Blade arts are a whole crazy combo subsystem) and 3 auto attacking weapons.
Don't worry, you actually have 9 at all times + a special elemental attack (so it's 12 total and 4 per Blade).
And since you can chose what Blade to equip, you obviously can get a much bigger pool to chose from.
Blades charge with time, Arts charge with Auto Attack and Blades special Arts charge with Arts. So it's a bit more technical.
I'm sure we'll get gems/skills to reduce the time/number of hits/Arts necessary to charge everything though, same for attack speed. Both Xenoblade games got ways to do so.
When you talk about "skill" you mean "Arts" ?
Because there also were skills (mostly passive stuff) and there will be some in Xenoblade 2 too.
killatopak
Member
looks worse than x.
JohnTinker
Limbaugh Parrot
That HUD is mortifying
Don't forget that you can apparently also use Blade Arts of the other party members
I did. I loved the world. If they released a port on Switch I would pay it all over again.
Thank you, even though I loved the original Xenoblade and have a switch I didn't follow this game much but will probably grab it down the line. One thing I loved about XC were the number or arts plus the monado powers. And yeah I meant arts and glad to hear the passive skills exist too, thanks for the info!
AquaWateria
Member
So glad this has a focused narrative like Xenoblade 1.
We might also add that it seems we should get story Blades + more random ones from any battle.
So every character will probably get at least 3 "main" Blades from the story, to at least fill the 3 slots (and/or maybe fromside quests) and lots of other randomized Blades here and there.
So each character as its own battle set, but can also get a wider range of Arts and Skills through random Blades I guess.
Don't take that as a 100% sure thing as it was said by a guy hosting a presentation and there's a tiny chance he might be wrong for some reason, but it seems highly likely if not a sure thing. Pretty logical actually.
So every character will probably get at least 3 "main" Blades from the story, to at least fill the 3 slots (and/or maybe fromside quests) and lots of other randomized Blades here and there.
So each character as its own battle set, but can also get a wider range of Arts and Skills through random Blades I guess.
Don't take that as a 100% sure thing as it was said by a guy hosting a presentation and there's a tiny chance he might be wrong for some reason, but it seems highly likely if not a sure thing. Pretty logical actually.
Neoleo2143
Member
It seems the Unique Monster Theme was changed from the E3 demo assuming the last enemy in the E3 demo was a unique monster. It sounds super rad though especially when you trigger a Blade Art in tune to the Music.
DoctorFling
Member
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...
This is the Arkham City GOTY of HUDs
-Pyromaniac-
Member
This looks amazing but I really hope the battle system is more simple but with some depth than super overwhelming.
I'm so excited for this. The marketing seems to be more original Xenoblade than X.
Truth be told this kind of games can only be judged by extensive hands on, and because of how the games are structured they don't particularly preview well.
I have complete faith in monolith though.
Truth be told this kind of games can only be judged by extensive hands on, and because of how the games are structured they don't particularly preview well.
I have complete faith in monolith though.
I mean, if you ever played a Xenoblade game, you know what you're into. It's not convoluted, it's complex, and yeah, don't expect to master everything in a few hours. It's a massive, deep game and you gotta invest a lot of hours to conquer it.
There's also the possibility of skills/gems/gear giving instant access to Arts at the begining of battles or at least accelerating the process.
The latter has been done in Xenoblade and X so it's hard to think there won't be ways to speed up that part.