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Xenoblade Chronicles 2 previews

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
But what if you like both?

I still prefer the original over X, but in both games I've put over 100 hours in and it was great, even fantastic at times. I'll reserve judgement until I get to play XB 2.


Xeno was a blast on the Wii
I loved the bionis and mechonis world structure, the exploration, the story and the combat system
And the scope was incredible

X was similar but also different
The mech, the combat, the beasts, the graphics were amazing
I actually really liked also the story, but clearly was managed in a bad way and too sparse
And I hated the cliffhanger
But the scope...was even better than the original

This seems once again a similar but different approach

I already like it a lot

I just hope we can flight from titan to titan because that would be the wow factor missing so far
 
this doesnt look like Xenoblade Chronicles at all, it only sounds like it :(
what was wrong with the original combat system, it looked clean, was intuitive and offered some complex chain attacks too
now this thing however, idk...sometimes less is more
 
this doesnt look like Xenoblade Chronicles at all, it only sounds like it :(
what was wrong with the original combat system, it looked clean, was intuitive and offered some complex chain attacks too
now this thing however, idk...sometimes less is more
This doesn't look like Xenoblade now? This topic just keeps giving and giving...
 
this doesnt look like Xenoblade Chronicles at all, it only sounds like it :(
what was wrong with the original combat system, it looked clean, was intuitive and offered some complex chain attacks too
now this thing however, idk...sometimes less is more

I hated the original combat system, one of the hardest things to get into about the game. There were a few good combos so you'd spend most of the battle just waiting on cool downs and watching auto attack animations barely chip away at the enemy health. And every battle was such a slog...no thanks.
 

Sanctuary

Member
I hated the original combat system, one of the hardest things to get into about the game. There were a few good combos so you'd spend most of the battle just waiting on cool downs and watching auto attack animations barely chip away at the enemy health. And every battle was such a slog...no thanks.

Dunno who your group consisted of, but that's really not how it was for me at all outside of boss fights.
 

jwillenn

Member
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzrNLkCd8WA

At about 40:11, the long fall results in a loss of HP (990) that is fully auto restored over time. So I wonder can there be a situation where you don't have the HP to cover a fall and does that result in going into a battle with a weakened character (perhaps one even needing reviving), unless of course you manually heal before then?
 
I hated the original combat system, one of the hardest things to get into about the game. There were a few good combos so you'd spend most of the battle just waiting on cool downs and watching auto attack animations barely chip away at the enemy health. And every battle was such a slog...no thanks.

how far were you in Xenoblade?? You don't have to wait much for cool downs further into the game with higher level and more artes available.
 

Dyle

Member
Looking back at the Gamescom footage, I've realized that I don't particularly care at this point about learning about the battle system. I'm sure I'll get into it once I'm playing it, but it doesn't sell me on the game in the same way that some info about the world or story would. I would not have been as interested in XBX if they spent its prime display time focusing on the battle system. They went over all the crazy specifics of BLADE and battle in a special direct, which was great, but here it seems like they're focusing on battle mechanics over story/setting despite the game having had very little time to show itself off. I want to be excited for this game and to be part of the hype train like I am for so many other Nintendo titles, but the way XB2 has been unveiled so far has really dampened the hype.

Do we know how many titans in total there are in XB2? Like, a ballpark number? Is it going to be like 5-6, or more like 10-12?
I'm betting there will be 2-4 large titans, near XBX continent sized with cities on them, and 6-8 smaller ones that act more or less as dungeons. The titans have to have cute little (though still relatively gigantic) babies!

Wait, is this game actually able to come out by this year 0_o?

That's what Nintendo still says... but given the series' history of delays and the lack of a solid date, who knows?
 
I hated the original combat system, one of the hardest things to get into about the game. There were a few good combos so you'd spend most of the battle just waiting on cool downs and watching auto attack animations barely chip away at the enemy health. And every battle was such a slog...no thanks.

thats why the game allowed you to level your attack skills to reduce the cooldown or to increase their damage
if done right and you went for a good variety of equipped movesets your first skill was already ready by the time you activated your last
now when synced well this increased your parties battle bar and you chain-attacked the opponent 24/7 to keep them stun-locked on the ground which even allowed to to beat bosses 20 levels above you

sure the game also allows you to just spam your skills and go for auto attacks, but imo the progressing tutorial in the game does a pretty good job in teaching you to play it in a more clever way
 

JThird

Member
This is the theme of the final battle :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APWTJMyM4qg
And it fits perfect.

Are you saying that the character models in XCX aren't ugly?
Way better than XB2 trash models:
141iiu41.png

183plu7t.png

187kjucc.png

2155wulu.png

219gcu2z.png

2597cuic.png

272f1uqv.png

273wfu5c.png

311wkoe3.png


XB2:
rexjxpkv.jpg

10jseg.png
 

Sanctuary

Member
Too bad that's not how they look in game at all.

What are you talking about? You can clearly see how the in game models were based off of that art. Even if it's not identical (for obvious reasons), it's reasonably close, and even better with the HD texture packs on Dolphin.
 

Shiggy

Member
Too bad that's not how they look in game at all.

Given the Wii's technical limitations, they look close enough.


A little reminder of how they actually looked in-game :


And, before you say that it's on the hardware, the same year this released :


Monolith Soft was just never really good with character models.

Completely different games: one with a huge open world, the other with smaller environments and in return more detailed models.
 

LordKano

Member
Given the Wii's technical limitations, they look close enough.




Completely different games: one with a huge open world, the other with smaller environments and in return more detailed models.

All I'm saying is that if people want to bash Xenoblade 2 character design compared to the original games, they should then compare with the actual models, not the artworks.
 

Shiggy

Member
All I'm saying is that if people want to bash Xenoblade 2 character design compared to the original games, they should then compare with the actual models, not the artworks.

Why exactly? It doesn't change anything. The anime look of the XC2 characters looks bad compared to both the in-game characters and the character art of the original. They just want to appeal to Japanese gamers with the waifu look.
 

LordKano

Member
Why exactly? It doesn't change anything.

It does. There's no point in having the greatest character artworks if the end result is crap. The same happened with Xenoblade X.

The anime look of the XC2 characters looks bad compared to both the in-game characters and the character art of the original. They just want to appeal to Japanese gamers with the waifu look.

You can't say that they look bad compared to XC1 models, that's just not true.
 
Why exactly? It doesn't change anything. The anime look of the XC2 characters looks bad compared to both the in-game characters and the character art of the original.

Chiming in:

The XC2 characters look better than XC1 and XCX's in game models.

XC1 had GREAT concept art.
 

Sanctuary

Member
A little reminder of how they actually looked in-game :


And, before you say that it's on the hardware, the same year this released :


Monolith Soft was just never really good with character models.

Don't really need a reminder how they looked. They kind of looked like shit on the Wii, but that was mostly hardware related. They looked a lot better on Dolphin, even moreso after the HD texture packs were introduced (which of course wasn't from Monolith, but they were still based off of the original designs).

I think the point is that they've simply gotten progressively worse for no real good reason. Also, it's not exactly an apples to apples comparison when you compare a mostly open world game to one that's about as open as Gears of War.
 
This game looks like it will be very good, but Nintendo is absolutely failing to sell it properly and do it justice in its appearances. What's the premise? I know that the game takes place on giant sky whales and that people in the world are connected in some way, with Blades and Drivers, but what is going on? Prior to Xenoblade X we had a clear premise, that humans escaped Earth during an alien attack and crash landed on hostile foreign planet. That sounds awesome and gives me a good sense of what to expect in the game, while not at all spoiling the core world building elements, mims/all the different alien races. I've watched everything and still don't have an idea of what is happening in the world of Xenoblade 2 and why I should care. At this point I feel like Nintendo is holding their cards to close to the chest and in doing so are making the game less appealing than it would be with better pr.

Honestly i don't need any pr anymore, i am sold because it's a Takahashi rpg. And i hope they won't spoiler the game like they did with their Xenoblade trailers shortly before release. But yes, i do hope they will release better footage and good trailers in the future, the showing of the game was a mess.


I summed up what i know about the game from memory, when people don't want to know, stop reading:

We do know that Rex wants to bring Pyra to Elysium which is some kind of holy and privileged place in this world. We know that in this world different races and cultures are living on Titans in a big sea of clouds and that the titans are dying/ending, so the people will lose their homes/will die in the sea of clouds when it comes to this.

We do know that there is some kind of bad organisation that probably stands in your way. And one can assume that the people of the titans don't want to end like that, there probably will be war about ressources/Elysium (which seems to be the only place to go).

Rex is some kind of mercenary, older than he looks and worked in the world of adults. And i remember him talking about a divine creator.

There is certainly much more to the story, but i want to learn that in the game.


edit: People should stop discussing X in this thread....that is not about X
 

Shiggy

Member
It does. There's no point in having the greatest character artworks if the end result is crap. The same happened with Xenoblade X.



You can't say that they look bad compared to XC1 models, that's just not true.

When the character art already is crap, then the actual models are also crap. And imo the character art is bad when the focus is just on big boobs and anime faces.
 

shingi70

Banned
What is excatly wrong with the Xenoblade 2 models. I get they're full tilt anime with dumb eyes, but how many other JRPGs have similar art styles.

Why is it such a problem here and not for any other games. Considering that the Xenoseries is being pushed like Final Fantasy I'm glad that every game goes for a different look and art style.
 

Shiggy

Member
What is excatly wrong with the Xenoblade 2 models. I get they're full tilt anime with dumb eyes, but how many other JRPGs have similar art styles.

Why is it such a problem here and not for any other games. Considering that the Xenoseries is being pushed like Final Fantasy I'm glad that every game goes for a different look and art style.

I'd argue that in Fire Emblem it's also just as unnecessary and off-putting:
6aa.gif
 

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
The reality is that Monolith Soft is very poor at creating characters in their games.

For XC2 they are the closest yet with the in game models compared to the character art, but the character art for XC2 is the worst for the Xenoblade series yet in my opinion.
 

LordKano

Member
One of the issues with XCX (and XC1 to a certain extent) character models is that they were completely unexpressive and showed no emotions. Here at least their anime face allow them to have some actual expressions.
 

shingi70

Banned
I'd argue that in Fire Emblem it's also just as unnecessary and off-putting:
6aa.gif


True, I'm actually glad the developers has said that the next game will take alot from FEE more reasonable designs. Countless other rpgs have shown you can do fanservice without going full on anime. Tharja was pure fanservice and looks tame compared to how cartoonishly that chicks bust is.
 
What is excatly wrong with the Xenoblade 2 models. I get they're full tilt anime with dumb eyes, but how many other JRPGs have similar art styles.

Why is it such a problem here and not for any other games. Considering that the Xenoseries is being pushed like Final Fantasy I'm glad that every game goes for a different look and art style.

People want to complain. Wait for the western fantasy RPG, people will complain that it's not like X or even the now unloved Xenoblade 2 lol.

I don't get it either, the style is pretty normal anime style and the game should be judged on it's world, story, writing more, not the cup size of some characters.

I will leave those toxic Xenoblade 2 threads on Neogaf now, it's unnerving. I hope the game gets a new fanbase.
 
People don't like Xenoblade Chronicles' characters because of their look. In fact, I still remember how the character design was often described as bland / weak / ugly before the game came out. And after the release, many people got worked up (rightfully so) about some of the ridiculous and/or questionable armor designs as well.

Xenoblade Chronicles' characters are remembered fondly and in spite of how they look because of a combination of the following factors:

a) They — at least your first four or so party members — are quickly established as very straightforward and easily relatable "everyman" types. The game has a welcome lack of conceited JRPG protagonists of the Squall Leonhardt variety and that alone does wonders.

b) The voice acting is idiosyncratic, but in a good and very likeable way. Those Reyn Time memes don't just happen out of nowhere.

c) The storytelling. Really, it's mainly about that. The game gets the ball rolling very early. It sets out very clearly what is at stake and doesn't let up for the entirety of the first act. The concise intro and the Colony 9 attack in particular are very strong establishing moments for the major characters. If, by the time Dunban joins the party and you've had your first confrontation with the voiced version of Metal Face (another very effective scene), you have not taken them all to your heart, you are a cold and soulless person.

For whatever reason, Monolith decided to throw all of these elements overboard for XCX. This is why I'm very happy that they're returning to XC's approach with XC2. I don't really like the look of the new characters myself, but that's not what will count ultimately, if the original XC is any indicator. We'll only find out when the game is actually out.
 

Lutherian

Member
A little reminder of how they actually looked in-game :


And, before you say that it's on the hardware, the same year this released :


Monolith Soft was just never really good with character models.

Nope, they just do with the hardware limitations. Xeno was much more demanding than The Last Story.

Also :
"Gnah, Xeno2's character design is awful lol look at this (fake) picture of Rex ! Pff, I wish Monolith would use XenoX's character design because it was so great !"

Said. No. One. Ever on this friggin' website.

I mean guys, don't you remember how every fucking discussion about XenoX was hijacked by people complaning about the terrible faces ?! It was a giant pain in the ass to talk about this game without assholes spamming "Dat face tho".

And now people are liking it ? Give me a break.
 
Nah, Monolith Soft really is bad at making human character model based on the character art. In both XB and XBX non-human models are all better than main characters.
 

Z3M0G

Member
Looks like a Xenoblade hud for a Xenoblade battle system in a Xenoblade game.

If you've played one you probably already know what you're in for.

Then Bloat it will be... like in XCX why have a system where you pump points into your skills to level them up... shit like that is bloat for bloat's sake.
 
My god that trailer is one of the best ever.

Sawano jfuhdyjdrjb. Ugh destroy me KING OF MUSIC.

And the game definitely lived up to the expectations in terms of monster designs, exploration and mechas, which is what they wanted to achieve (story was always a second thought with X but it still had a nice plot especially at the end).

The downgrade is real.

Monolith please. Take notes!

And please port X to Switch and release a sequel to tie the knots.
 
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