Xenoblade Chronicles

NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Wii
Gamerforlife
Next-Gen
Posts: 10184
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2007 5:15 pm
Location: Florida

Re: Xenoblade Chronicles

Post by Gamerforlife »

pepharytheworm wrote:
Gamerforlife wrote:I also really hate the 3 slot save system. Real easy to realize there is a part of the game that you need to get back to and not be able to because of the limited numbers of saves the game gives you.
This is a real easy fix. Right before you get to any of the points progressing the story, you know, the distance number counting down and the arrow, save. That way you will never make a mistake. Anything you can't get back to you will know right away.
Yeah, I guess, but it still seems so odd for a Japanese rpg to limit your saves like that. This is really the only genre where I'll typically have boat loads of save files

Xeogred wrote:The comparisons are definitely there, but at least it's way more fun than FFXII to me. Even if I would've loved to have seen a Gambit system here to control the AI... I'm just happy that I don't go ~10 hours without progressing the story in this game and that like I was saying way earlier in the thread, this game still feels very traditional and linear in a sense but instead of a lot of dungeons, you're just running around on this massive overworld that keeps evolving. I liked FFXII despite a lot of others myself, but it was a real drag at times and didn't hold me to the end, Xenoblade is doing a much better job at that.

Really thinking about it lately, even when the story evolves into much more, it still is arguably very cliche' to the core. However, it's all about the execution here I'd say... and Xenoblade just has amazing characters (better than some other Xeno characters I'd say), and the story is just delivered really well, and believable, so it's not totally over the top and goofy. It's no Xenogears or Xenosaga in my book, but pretty much right under them. Which is funny or sad, I dunno, but yeah this is still one of the best stories I've seen delivered in a JRPG. This game isn't revolutionizing anything to me, but damn good stuff and one of the best JRPG's I've played in years.

Personally I don't think JRPG's ever need to change anyways. Just wish they'd be more mainstream again so we got big hitters on the consoles once again. But oh well.
Yeah, they don't necessarily need to change, just need to be refined. I just expected Xenoblade to be something totally different based on everything I had heard, but I like it regardless. It does refine some things, but also shows some of the typical flaws of the genre as well. The seeming randomness of sidequests, making you feel like you need a guide to get them all. Jrpgs always have something or another that screams for a guide or faq. Plus, the incessant chatter during combat is just another one of those odd things that you see in Japanese games, including fighting games. Sometimes I just want to yell at my TV, "SHUT UP PEOPLE!" These are just typical quirks of the genre

I really like the story so far. I just played through the series of events that occur after you go into the first cave of the game for the Ether cylinders. Really epic stuff, and a moment involving one character that I didn't see coming. That whole sequence of events was done really, really well. Thus far, I really, really like the characters and that's the most important part of telling any story. I've barely scratched the surface of the game's story and it already feels way better than Final Fantasy XIII's story.

Speaking of which, I have to get my hands on FF XIII-2. Seeing as how I have both my Wii and PS3 set up, I could actually alternate between playing that and Xenoblade
RyaNtheSlayA wrote:
Seriously. Screw you Shao Kahn I'm gonna play Animal Crossing.
User avatar
equalsign
Next-Gen
Posts: 1119
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2008 4:34 am

Re: Xenoblade Chronicles

Post by equalsign »

Gamerforlife wrote:The seeming randomness of sidequests, making you feel like you need a guide to get them all.
You need a guide to get them all.
User avatar
equalsign
Next-Gen
Posts: 1119
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2008 4:34 am

Re: Xenoblade Chronicles

Post by equalsign »

Melia is AMAZING. Geez. I mean, I knew she was strong, but still. I've been playing as her and she can take out enemies more than 10 levels higher than her if you can keep the aggro off. Her spell accuracy is through the roof.

Also, Rikki's heal is super good.

PS: This site is useful for finding unique monsters-link. DO NOT CLICK unless you are far in the game. It has the names of all the locations.
User avatar
Xeogred
Next-Gen
Posts: 14387
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 7:49 pm
Location: KC

Re: Xenoblade Chronicles

Post by Xeogred »

@equalsign
Got "Party Member 7"! Haha... nice. I had a feeling after awhile, although for a bit there I thought maybe Alvis would join you (since he was helping out Shulk in one battle earlier). But then it kind of became obvious that he's probably not good or something.

I still need to try using Melia a bit myself. How many summons do you usually pile up? I wonder if there's a limit. But yeah her lightning summon attack is like the hardest hitting thing for me.

Fiora seems awesome to play with, but dang yet another cool member to use to mix up with these parties. I feel bad for never using Riki much, lol.

Is the Mechonis Field massive? It seems like it with all the floors. That's where I left off today. But I'm glad that's the area with the best theme in the game... heh, one huge place.

And I keep saying it in this thread but man I definitely like Melia more than Fiora character wise, haha. I thought about it today... and kind of realized I don't know if there's ever been a JRPG where I liked the female that gets paired up with the lead over the others, I always seem to like the other females more. Kind of funny. I wonder how this will develop... I have a feeling I'm going to feel pretty bad for Melia, lol. But the game is heavily suggesting this conflict will come about at some point.
Image
HLTB | PSN Trophies | RFG (WIP)
User avatar
ZeroAX
Next-Gen
Posts: 7469
Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 9:20 am
Location: Current: Amsterdam. From Greece
Contact:

Re: Xenoblade Chronicles

Post by ZeroAX »

Gamerforlife wrote: The seeming randomness of sidequests, making you feel like you need a guide to get them all. Jrpgs always have something or another that screams for a guide or faq.

Plus, the incessant chatter during combat is just another one of those odd things that you see in Japanese games, including fighting games. Sometimes I just want to yell at my TV, "SHUT UP PEOPLE!" These are just typical quirks of the genre
I wouldn't say that is a bad thing.That stuff isn't mandatory to beat the game and it only exists for the people who want to complete the game. And the internet has ruined that aspect of gaming. Suddenly no one has the patience to explore in games. The game is structured around a vast BEAUTIFUL world which calls you to explore it and find every one of its secrets. If you are impatient with it and just want to get it over with, you are being disrespectful to the game experience Monolith Soft built for you. (not saying that about you, I am talking in general).

The game gives you enough in game hints most of the time, and a huge ! on the map to get to quests. I saw this problem 100000 worse in WoW. Players complained when a quest made them read the quest log to learn how to finish it. It's stupid really.


Hahahaha. Have you ever played any military shooters? Then again it's their main demographic's fault for that.
Image
BoneSnapDeez wrote:The success of a console is determined by how much I enjoy it.
User avatar
alienjesus
Next-Gen
Posts: 8875
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:10 pm
Location: London, UK.

Re: Xenoblade Chronicles

Post by alienjesus »

equalsign wrote:Melia is AMAZING. Geez. I mean, I knew she was strong, but still. I've been playing as her and she can take out enemies more than 10 levels higher than her if you can keep the aggro off. Her spell accuracy is through the roof.

Also, Rikki's heal is super good.

PS: This site is useful for finding unique monsters-link. DO NOT CLICK unless you are far in the game. It has the names of all the locations.

And now you see why my boss killing team was Melia, Riki and Sharla. It's helpful if you can get some Aggro up gems for Riki, as well as some to improve how much health he recovers. Then just spam hero time and repeatedly poison, burn, freeze and bleed enemies. What REEEEAAAALLLYY helps though, is to constantly keep two earth spells up on Melia so that your party takes like half the damage from much higher levelled monsters.


As for teammate #7, they're pretty handy in battle, but be sure not to use them on enemies with spike, as their rapid attacks cause them to take silly amounts of spike damage very quickly. If you can whack some double attack gems on them though, pair them up with dunban's critical = healing skill and get them their own double attack = critical skill, they're surprisingly survivable, even when you focus them on speed. They are an aggro magnet though.
Image
User avatar
D.D.D.
Next-Gen
Posts: 3326
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:33 am
Location: of the Estrecho de Gibraltar is where now?
Contact:

Re: Xenoblade Chronicles

Post by D.D.D. »

Gamerforlife wrote:
pepharytheworm wrote:
Gamerforlife wrote:I also really hate the 3 slot save system. Real easy to realize there is a part of the game that you need to get back to and not be able to because of the limited numbers of saves the game gives you.
This is a real easy fix. Right before you get to any of the points progressing the story, you know, the distance number counting down and the arrow, save. That way you will never make a mistake. Anything you can't get back to you will know right away.
Yeah, I guess, but it still seems so odd for a Japanese rpg to limit your saves like that. This is really the only genre where I'll typically have boat loads of save files
Don't worry about it. Other than the "points of no return" that the game more than obviously warns you about, don't worry about your saves. I know it's a little hard to do that but really, don't worry. Even if you go to a boss and you're too low leveled, you die, you'll get thrown back to a point before the boss fight and you can go grind or do something else. There's very little in this game where you'll actually be punished for "screwing up".
 (FC, AVFC, NES, SFC x2, SNES, N64, GC x2, Wii x2)*(G&W x7, GB, GBpocket, GBASP, DS-L x2)
(GEN, SS x3, DC x3)*(PCE-Duo)*(Xbox:500GB)*(NGCDZ, NGPC)*(PS1, PStwo, PS3:160GB, PSP.3K)
User avatar
ZeroAX
Next-Gen
Posts: 7469
Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 9:20 am
Location: Current: Amsterdam. From Greece
Contact:

Re: Xenoblade Chronicles

Post by ZeroAX »

D.D.D. wrote:
Don't worry about it. Other than the "points of no return" that the game more than obviously warns you about, don't worry about your saves. I know it's a little hard to do that but really, don't worry. Even if you go to a boss and you're too low leveled, you die, you'll get thrown back to a point before the boss fight and you can go grind or do something else. There's very little in this game where you'll actually be punished for "screwing up".
Haha. I just remembered. The game lets you keep any experience you gained before you died, so I was at the last boss which had multiple forms (wow...spoilers), and I could beat his first form but not his second, cause I was a couple of levels low. So I kept using his first form to grind xD (though I think I only did it 2 times at most, cause I was able to find out how to beat his second form without needing to be a higher level than him)

EDIT

Wow. I just checked my Nintendo channel stats. Xenoblade Chronicles is my second most played game. I played this game 45 times for 100 hours and 4 minutes :shock: :shock: :shock:

My first most played is Mario Kart Wii, at 113 hours and 40 minutes, but I've had this game since 2008 and as my favorite Wii multiplayer game it sees a lot of use.

Xenoblade truly WAS huge.
Image
BoneSnapDeez wrote:The success of a console is determined by how much I enjoy it.
User avatar
D.D.D.
Next-Gen
Posts: 3326
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:33 am
Location: of the Estrecho de Gibraltar is where now?
Contact:

Re: Xenoblade Chronicles

Post by D.D.D. »

ZeroAX wrote:Xenoblade truly WAS huge.
Yup. I think it's my favorite RPG since Chrono Trigger. :D
 (FC, AVFC, NES, SFC x2, SNES, N64, GC x2, Wii x2)*(G&W x7, GB, GBpocket, GBASP, DS-L x2)
(GEN, SS x3, DC x3)*(PCE-Duo)*(Xbox:500GB)*(NGCDZ, NGPC)*(PS1, PStwo, PS3:160GB, PSP.3K)
User avatar
Xeogred
Next-Gen
Posts: 14387
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 7:49 pm
Location: KC

Re: Xenoblade Chronicles

Post by Xeogred »

In a sense it's bigger than Skyrim. Skyrim was a big continent (or country? can't remember), but Xenoblade presents a whole new WORLD!
Image
HLTB | PSN Trophies | RFG (WIP)
Post Reply