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Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Switch) is on the NA Press Site, PR and HQ screens in OP 2017

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wrowa

Member
I wish they would just give us an X port this year. I know X2 ain't coming this year so I want a port of X at 1080p (assuming the Switch is capable). As well as some gameplay changes and UI (!!!) changes.

Xenoblade 2 seems to be running in 720p (if the screenshots are an indication) while seemingly not looking all that much better than X. Framerate doesn't seem to be smooth yet, either. What I'm trying to say is, I don't see how Xenoblade X would be able to run at 1080p if this is nowhere close to that mark.

But who knows, maybe Xenoblade 2 does look more impressive than this trailer makes us believe (we haven't really seen any vistas yet, after all).

It's not even that. Er, not just that. It's more so that that kind of thing lends its self to so many (annoying) tropes, especially since these are actual characters unlike Fi. I hope they don't go overboard.

Yeah, I kinda worry that they are hoping to boost the game's appeal by going more in the anime direction and pandering to certain audiences. But even then, I'm confident that Takahashi will still be able to pull of some cool stuff even if said cool stuff is hidden behind a whole bunch of annoying tropes.
 

Oregano

Member
Xenoblade 2 seems to be running in 720p (if the screenshots are an indication) while seemingly not looking all that much better than X. Framerate doesn't seem to be smooth yet, either.

What I'm trying to say is, I don't see how Xenoblade X would be able to run at 1080p if this is nowhere close to that mark.

But who knows, maybe Xenoblade 2 does look more impressive than this trailer makes us believe (we haven't really seen any vistas yet, after all).

The guy from Digital Foundry brought up a good point in the video discussing Breath of the Wild; the developers might not have optimised the docked builds for further off games yet so it's essentially the undocked mode being displayed. We shall see but hopefully that's the case.
 

DemWalls

Member
Yeah, it's just so many people are thinking that she is literally the sword, as in physically, when it's probably more her soul inhabits it or something.

And that's exactly what I was referring to. See her literally become the sword, ready to be wielded by the protagonist, like in many other manga/anime.


If you have finished the first xenoblade you can see how they can take some tropes and turn them on their heads, I will reserve judgement on the story till after I've finished it

Oh, I'm not judging, no reason to. Clichés are not inherently bad.
 

Mokujin

Member
Hopefully they still have time to improve the character models a bit? They changed Shulk's face a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVW0wzbDPjY

Man, I remember thinking Xenoblade looked awful in that first trailer. Not in a million years I would have guessed that game would turn out to be my favorite JRPG ever.

Ha! I was thinking about this the other day, it would be cool since the main character of XB2 is the only thing I don't like about the trailer.

The guy from Digital Foundry brought up a good point in the video discussing Breath of the Wild; the developers might not have optimised the docked builds for further off games yet so it's essentially the undocked mode being displayed. We shall see but hopefully that's the case.

The video got me thinking as well about that, mainly because Mario Kart runs better on handheld and full 1080 docked but the other games area mixed bag, we'll see how it goes.
 

rhandino

Banned
I am not really worried about the characters tbh

I mean, people freaked out about Lin and pre-release I remember people getting messy with the scene in which she tells Lao that she was "13, inside and out" and then she ended up being the 2nd best character in the game.

... having said that I expect Homura to wear questionable clothes/armor because Monolith does not give a f*ck, lol

Hb8e4wZ.jpg


QfZNGHN.jpg
 
we had a more unique artist in Tanaka and people complained because they seem to fudge the translation to 3D

Looking at this new guy's work, I'm betting the reason Monolith chose him was because he has such good experience with CG models. Hopefully they'll be able to get some good pointers from XB2 and can implement Tanaka's work better in the future.
 

Neifirst

Member
Anyone else worried this game isn't listed on the North American Nintendo site? I want to believe in a 2017 release, but I know I'll just setting up myself for disappointment.
 

duckroll

Member
Yeah, I kinda worry that they are hoping to boost the game's appeal by going more in the anime direction and pandering to certain audiences. But even then, I'm confident that Takahashi will still be able to pull of some cool stuff even if said cool stuff is hidden behind a whole bunch of annoying tropes.

You mean the anime direction where Xenogears was basically a love letter to a ton of 90s and late 80s anime, with kung fu robots like G-Gundam, psychological mindfuck like Evangelion, combiners like various super robot shows, etc. Or maybe the anime direction where Xenosaga was every popular anime trends of the 00s like the robot girlfriend, lesbian overtones, and Yuki Kajiura soundtracks?
 
Having the girl be the sword seems kind of nonsensical. Why would you whack monsters and junk with the thing that you're supposed to be protecting?
I really hope people draw fanart of the guy fighting while holding a plank'd girl
 
Having the girl be the sword seems kind of nonsensical. Why would you whack monsters and junk with the thing that you're supposed to be protecting?
I really hope people draw fanart of the guy fighting while holding a plank'd girl

The weapons in bleach and soul eater like fighting!
 
Yeah, I kinda worry that they are hoping to boost the game's appeal by going more in the anime direction and pandering to certain audiences. But even then, I'm confident that Takahashi will still be able to pull of some cool stuff even if said cool stuff is hidden behind a whole bunch of annoying tropes.

You mean the anime direction where Xenogears was basically a love letter to a ton of 90s and late 80s anime, with kung fu robots like G-Gundam, psychological mindfuck like Evangelion, combiners like various super robot shows, etc. Or maybe the anime direction where Xenosaga was every popular anime trends of the 00s like the robot girlfriend, lesbian overtones, and Yuki Kajiura soundtracks?

Regarding the original Xenoblade:
Tetsuya Takahashi: We wanted the game to be like a boys’ manga where a classic storyline is loaded with twists. This is what boys’ manga are known for.

Koh Kojima: For instance, the game starts with a boy getting the Monado sword, and this changes the world. So the story is pretty far-fetched right away, like something from an anime. Japanese animation has certain defining characteristics, such as tempo. Besides that… well, maybe people should experience these characteristics for themselves in the game (laughs). We started out hoping that people overseas would play it too. With this in mind, we incorporated these traits of Japanimation as much as we could so that users everywhere could experience them.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNp3fIuxSHs
 

duckroll

Member
I also want to remind people. We're talking about the sequel (spiritual or otherwise) to the game where your childhood sweetheart literally turned into a sexy robot.
 
Nah he is. But she's invincible as long as he doesn't wreck the Zohar and he himself doesn't die. The ultimate weapon.

I see. Given that Homura & Hikari's name reference Flame and Light, I wonder if other elements will be represented by more Monado-people.
Hopefully some of them will be male because Husbanado rolls off the tongue better than Waifunado, lol.
 

duckroll

Member
I see. Given that Homura & Hikari's name reference Flame and Light, I wonder if other elements will be represented by more Monado-people.
Hopefully some of them will be male because Husbanado rolls off the tongue better than Waifunado, lol.

Only Homura and Hikari are from Japan. The other Blades will be from other countries. Aqua, Terra, and Ventus are from Kingdom Hearts Country, while Shadow will be from Sonic Land.
 

Thoraxes

Member
I'm pretty sure she literally transforms into the sword. There'll probably be an elaborate henshin sequence. Maybe there'll be some nudity too, as her armor breaks apart and she morphs into the core that the armor reforms around, creating the sword.

We Soul Eater Chronicles 2 now.

Also, with Saitom as the character designer, it's gun b gud.
 

wmlk

Member
So, I searched up the artist for the first time. I have no idea who this person is, and I thought duckroll was joking the entire time...

Yeah, I'm out. Xenoblade 2 is probably gonna head in a direction that I'll abhor.
 

skypunch

Banned
The trailer has reached over a million views!

Can anyone remember how long it took for the X teaser to reach a million?
 

walei

Member
Not really into mechs so skipped the series on Wii and WiiU.

BUT THAT TRAILER MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gonna borrow my brother's 3DS vers of the first game and give it a try.
 

Fantastical

Death Prophet
Xenoblade 2 seems to be running in 720p (if the screenshots are an indication) while seemingly not looking all that much better than X. Framerate doesn't seem to be smooth yet, either. What I'm trying to say is, I don't see how Xenoblade X would be able to run at 1080p if this is nowhere close to that mark.

But who knows, maybe Xenoblade 2 does look more impressive than this trailer makes us believe (we haven't really seen any vistas yet, after all).
Yeah that's a good point. I'm not worried about frame rate of X2 (yet) because I think it's pretty early. But at this point my confidence in Switch running X at 1080p isn't great. If they could do something to make it worth it and get it to 900p it might be worth it. I never finished it, actually wouldn't mind starting over again.

Also, I'm a little surprised at the direction of this game. The Xenoblade series seemed to be a crossing of East and West styles. This seems heavily Japan-focused.
 
You mean the anime direction where Xenogears was basically a love letter to a ton of 90s and late 80s anime, with kung fu robots like G-Gundam, psychological mindfuck like Evangelion, combiners like various super robot shows, etc. Or maybe the anime direction where Xenosaga was every popular anime trends of the 00s like the robot girlfriend, lesbian overtones, and Yuki Kajiura soundtracks?
Or the Xenoblade direction where the wise robot woman you meet that teaches you how the other side is not all evil has huge mostly-exposed tits.
 

rhandino

Banned
So, I searched up the artist for the first time. I have no idea who this person is, and I thought duckroll was joking the entire time...

Yeah, I'm out. Xenoblade 2 is probably gonna head in a direction that I'll abhor.

So, you are telling me that you were Ok with this, this and THIS before but now is just too much?

DZUDJOp.gif
 

wmlk

Member
So, you are telling me that you were Ok with this, this and THIS before but now is just too much?

My favourite is Xenogears, which is less reliant on those things, and I'm not a fan of endgame Fiora either. My tolerance to stuff like this is getting lower as I get older, and I expect Xenoblade 2 to go even more skeeve by the end of the game than any other Xeno- game.

Have not played any of the Xenosaga games.
 

Ridley327

Member
I tried to play XCX, but I lost interest at about 20hrs once the grind started kicking in, and I realized that I didn't have it in me to continue playing it for another 100 hours. Is Xenoblade better about this? Everyone stating that X is p dissimilar to the original makes me curious if I should play that before this is released on the Switch.

Sort of? There's no real gear crafting component outside of gems, but there's still a pretty big grind for the skill trees (both for the trees themselves and coins that allow characters to share skills with each other), and the quests are largely generic "kill/gather X amount of Y enemies/collectibles" that don't have any bearing on the story other than maybe pointing you in the direction of an area that you may not have explored for an enemy or collectible. Truthfully speaking, though, most of the quests exist largely to boost your levels and are largely not going to be necessary to the main storyline, leaving them more for completionists and those that want to try on the endgame superbosses.
 

duckroll

Member
I don't know what's ironic here. :p

Nothing. I'm just saying, it's not the games that have changed, your taste has just changed. Takahashi games have always been like this. They're made for teenagers who like popular anime of the day and he likes working with popular talent of that generation.

Xenogears is the game that ended with an anime FMV where all the characters are naked, and one of them grows wings and flies away. Just... saying.
 

Champion

Member
Yeah, I kinda worry that they are hoping to boost the game's appeal by going more in the anime direction and pandering to certain audiences. But even then, I'm confident that Takahashi will still be able to pull of some cool stuff even if said cool stuff is hidden behind a whole bunch of annoying tropes.
The 'too anime' look and tropes people are complaining about have been present in Xeno games since Day 1. Takahashi and others who have worked on these games have been very vocal and clear about where the inspiration and influences behind these games come from.
 

wmlk

Member
Nothing. I'm just saying, it's not the games that have changed, your taste has just changed. Takahashi games have always been like this. They're made for teenagers who like popular anime of the day and he likes working with popular talent of that generation.

Xenogears is the game that ended with an anime FMV where all the characters are naked, and one of them grows wings and flies away. Just... saying.

Deus was so shitty and the worst part of the game that I didn't even finish it. Load times were obnoxious. I still love the game for having played 99% of it. Maybe i'll see the ending FMV one day. If I had to bet, it sounds like everyone got naked at the end? lol.

I mean, this was your party in gears.

83708ea21395378fa2186d6ece614129.jpg


FMV sequences were probably skeevy, if that. And there weren't many of them. Elly/Miang never felt like fanservice since their stories are fleshed out over 60 hours until you get to that kind of stuff, and there's backstory in stuff like Zeboim that flesh out Fei and Elly's relationship to be pretty strong. And I'm sure you'll agree that Xenogears was better in this regard compared to the other games. I could be totally wrong though and be looking at Xenogears through a favourable lens.

EDIT: The image left out Chu-Chu, but whatever.
 

random25

Member
Deus was so shitty and the worst part of the game that I didn't even finish it. Load times were obnoxious. I still love the game for having played 99% of it. Maybe i'll see the ending FMV one day. If I had to bet, it sounds like everyone got naked at the end? lol.

Teehee!
 

Masked Man

I said wow
Haven't played any of the xenoblade games, so please excuse my ignorance, but why isn't XCX considered as XC2?

Not sure yet, but conceptually, XCX is a departure from what XC was. In that sense, XCX was more of a "spiritual successor" than a true sequel, whereas the naming of XC2 implies it has a stronger connection to the original game.
 

rhandino

Banned
Haven't played any of the xenoblade games, so please excuse my ignorance, but why isn't XCX considered as XC2?
Xenoblade X is very different to Chronicles in structure, plot and objectives.

If Xenoblade X is an anime series of survival + slice of life in space then Chronicles would be an OVA series about a journey trough whimsical landscapes... or something like that =P
 
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