Xenoblade Chronicles

[ZeroAX]

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!

Or you could say it's the smallest game you have ever played. You are just playing as an ant and you are climbing on top of someone's body


And to be frank, Xenoblade has waaaaaaaay more variety than the snow/mountain/castle/cave ect. that Skyrim had.

[Gamerforlife]

I just finished the second boss, but it doesn't really count since the game is still in tutorial mode. Nevertheless, I quite like this game when I'm working through the story. I think this is the most well crafted Xeno story I've seen and that's mostly because it's not so damn convoluted as those other games were. Kind of like going from Lost to Fringe, the latter being much easier to follow. The side quests suck though. It's typical jrpg BS that gets tedious, boring, and annoying. The only benefit of doing these quests aside from XP, items, etc. is getting to know the many interesting NPCs in the game and seeing the various relationships they form. The quests aren't fun to do though, and just feel like a means to an end. The rewards are worth it though, and I like getting to choose outcomes for some of them(which affects NPC character relationships)

The combat system is getting more interesting now with a cool addition, which I don't think I can say for spoiler purposes, but I will say it reminds me of certain combat elements from Grandia and Final Fantasy X (more so Grandia). That's a good thing. That boss theme is great. I might want to download an OST for this game at some point. I'm still not quite feeling that this game lives up to the hype, but I am enjoying it. The characters are so easy to like, and I've been switching back and forth between the english and Japanese voice tracks and they are both good(if you don't mind how super British the english voices are).

[Xeogred]

Eh, have you played the other Xeno games? I love this game to death and the story is top tier JRPG stuff (as cliche' as it is once you get further) but with great execution ... BUT all that said, it's nowhere near the level of Xenogears/Saga / Suikoden 2 for me.

You'll get over the side quests eventually as I did. Doesn't bother me in the back of my mind or anything now.

[equalsign]

I wouldn't worry too much about the sidequests if they're really getting to you. Although many are missable, most are not. You can still get 5 star reputation in all the areas even with quite a few sidequests incomplete/missed. The story has good momentum, and it can feel really good to ignore all the fluff and progress the plot for a while. I personally enjoy the sidequests, just because I enjoy being in the world.

[Gamerforlife]

It's just the completionist in me. That's why I'm doing so many sidequests. I've heard that it isn't possible to do them all, but I want to finish all the ones that I actually can. It's like when I play a Mass Effect game I do the same thing. I know you can't do every quest in those games either, but I always shoot for doing every one that is possible with my alignment (paragon)

This game is freaking huge indeed! I spent two hours last night just wandering around and discovering new location after new location

This game owes a huge debt of gratitude to Final Fantasy XII and XIII. The gameplay is set up pretty much exactly like FF XII, minus the gambit system, the lack of which makes combat more conventional than FF XII (though Xenoblade has its own unique twists on combat). I know some people hated FF XII. I can't see those same people liking this game. Xenoblade feels so familiar to me because I put a lot of time into FF XII. The large number of enemies you are sent to kill in the sidequests is the same approach both FF XII and FF XIII had. Maybe that's why I find a lot of those hunts boring. I'm sort of tired of monster hunting now after playing through FF XII and FF XIII

This game could easily have been called FF XII-2. In fact, the British sounding english dub even reminds me of Balthier from FF XII.

[Gamerforlife]

Shulk's special ability (trying not to be spoilerish) is well implemented into the non-linear structure of the game, as well as the combat. It's a cool idea, not groundbreaking or anything, but cool. Combatwise, it just reminds of, as I said in a previous post, Grandia and Final Fantasy X, which had a very similar element. It's was one of the things that made Grandia's combat system one of my two favorites of all time (along with FF XIII's combat system)

[Gamerforlife]

I wouldn't worry too much about the sidequests if they're really getting to you. Although many are missable, most are not. You can still get 5 star reputation in all the areas even with quite a few sidequests incomplete/missed. The story has good momentum, and it can feel really good to ignore all the fluff and progress the plot for a while. I personally enjoy the sidequests, just because I enjoy being in the world.

Actually, while I find many of them annoying to do as I'd said before, I think people are underselling what some of those side quests bring to the story.

Some of the ones with more than one outcome really have made me stop and think about the consequences of my actions. It's similar to the kinds of decisions you typically make in a Bioware game. The consequences are not as big a part of the gameplay as Bioware games of course, but it is very interesting seeing how your decisions affect the lives of the NPCs and their relationships with eachother. In that sense, they are more compelling than side quests I've seen in other Japanese rpgs.

One quest, gives you the option of getting some medicine for an old lady with a physical ailment. This will help her get better and also improve her relationship with a young child who she'll be healthy enough to take care of and watch over. However, ignoring her and completing another quest will instead improve that boy's relationship with a certain couple who seem to be treating him as a surrogate son, as well as bring the couple closer together. Poor old lady is left all alone though, and with her physical condition getting worse. It just leaves you wondering which matters more, improving the old woman's life and giving her something more to live for (taking care of the kid, which she can do if you help her get healthier) or bringing that couple closer together and creating a family unit for them and that kid.

[ZeroAX]

One quest, gives you the option of getting some medicine for an old lady with a physical ailment. This will help her get better and also improve her relationship with a young child who she'll be healthy enough to take care of and watch over. However, ignoring her and completing another quest will instead improve that boy's relationship with a certain couple who seem to be treating him as a surrogate son, as well as bring the couple closer together. Poor old lady is left all alone though, and with her physical condition getting worse. It just leaves you wondering which matters more, improving the old woman's life and giving her something more to live for (taking care of the kid, which she can do if you help her get healthier) or bringing that couple closer together and creating a family unit for them and that kid.

How much love and care was put into the creation of this game?

[Gamerforlife]

One quest, gives you the option of getting some medicine for an old lady with a physical ailment. This will help her get better and also improve her relationship with a young child who she'll be healthy enough to take care of and watch over. However, ignoring her and completing another quest will instead improve that boy's relationship with a certain couple who seem to be treating him as a surrogate son, as well as bring the couple closer together. Poor old lady is left all alone though, and with her physical condition getting worse. It just leaves you wondering which matters more, improving the old woman's life and giving her something more to live for (taking care of the kid, which she can do if you help her get healthier) or bringing that couple closer together and creating a family unit for them and that kid.

How much love and care was put into the creation of this game?

I've never played a Japanese rpg that placed so much emphasis on character relationships before. It permeates through all of the side quests and plays a very large role in combat. Certain status effects require you to actually walk over to your party member and help or encourage him, unlike other rpgs where you just select some item or spell from a menu and push X. Your parties overall effectiveness in combat is also affected by your ability to verbally encourage your party in combat. Too bad this is relegated to a rather annoying quick time event(hitting the B button at the right moment).

The game refers to all of this as character affinity and it's the big buzz word in this game. It essentially refers to how close every character in this game is to other characters in the game from playable characters to NPC characters.

[ZeroAX]

The game refers to all of this as character affinity and it's the big buzz word in this game. It essentially refers to how close every character in this game is to other characters in the game from playable characters to NPC characters.

haha yes mate I know, I've beaten this game . I just didn't remember that sidequest. There is also another sidequest like that in Colony 9. There is a love triangle between 2 men and a girl. If you get the girl to date/marry the asshole, he will cheat on her and treat her like shit (if I remember correctly, I did this quest almost a year ago). If you get her to go with the other guy she will be bored with him, but she will not be getting hurt.