Xenoblade Chronicles X

[Blu]

This really feels like a Phantasy Star Online game. The space exploration, the planet being destroyed, hunting monsters. I really cannot wait. I don't have an external hard drive with its own power source, am I better off just using the internal memory then?

[Reprise]

So, um, kinda embarrassing, and maybe it's because I'm more into simpler, pick up and play games nowadays and I don't play a lot of RPGs anymore, but is it just me or is Xenoblade Chronicles X ridiculously complicated?

I haven't got a clue what I'm doing anymore. I was fine until the end of Chapter 3. There's just so many mission types and fuck, I don't even know. At first, I thought I'd do Chapter 4 first and then try some side quests or side missions, but nope, it won't let me until I do some other crap. So I pick up some other misson "bring 1,200 of random shit to random person". Joy a fetch quest. I don't even know what that random stuff I'm supposed to collect is.

I don't even entirely get the battle system. I mean, I kinda get it, because it's similar to the last Xenoblade Chronicles game, but I mean, how do you heal? How do you revive characters? Why are there random QTEs in there? God, I miss the days of turn-based battles.

And man, the gamepad stuff and maps are confusing aa hell. It took me ages just to work out how to fast travel.

I have tried reading a few tips online. But it's all a little daunting for me. I did see online someone saying you must read the manual, so maybe I'll try that. I always forget they're there now they're digital/electronic...

[Exhuminator]

Wow that sounds like a lot of not fun.

Have you even got a Skell yet?

[jmbarnes101]

I'm excited to start playing this since I just picked it up today though I want to figure out how I want to download the data packs first, plus the above sounds complicated. Without removing a bunch of stuff I don't have room for it on my hard drive. I wish they'd have made the hard drive significantly bigger.

[Reprise]

Wow that sounds like a lot of not fun.

Have you even got a Skell yet?

No, not yet. I think you get them a bit later into the game.

Although, to be honest, the game has me feeling a little bit fatigued and I'm not sure when I'll return to it.

[Blu]

I can hear what you're saying, Reprise. There's a lot to do and there's no hand holding. None. Nada. Nothing.

I went and bought the guide, I think I read the same post/guide on reddit about needing to read the manual before you did anything. The combat is fairly non intuitive and in the moment it's hard to gain some positional requirements and attack. Some attacks do more damage from behind or from the side, and you have to do both that and arrow over to the move. Meanwhile your teammates might yell out a Soul Voice, negating your plan all along.

I think there are some very interesting nuances to the combat system, like letting your arts charge up to their full potential (the green ring around the UI), then using them when a soul voice calls for that type of attack. I am getting the hang of the positional requirements, and I haven't ever felt panicked that I just needed to burst a monster down.

The UI is tiny. There's not much clarity on how you get better gear or where you get probes from. There's some fetch quests involved too. But overall, it feels like the scope of an MMO in a singlish-player RPG.
---

For me, this might be one of the best RPG's I've played in a while. The dialogue and story aren't amazing, but it's got that J-RPG feel and weirdness. Why is this flying anthropomorphized potato now my sidekick? Japan, you so crazy!

Beyond that, the sheer scale of this game is amazing. I'm in sheer awe of running around the world trying not to aggravate the big fearsome creatures, while also having Jurassic Park moments running around and looking up at skyscraper sized indigens.

There's a lot to explore. To the level that you might start feeling overwhelmed. But I've started to learn just to focus on what your immediate goal is, and stick to that. Just like in an MMO like WoW, there's so much that you can go off and do. I think Xenoblade Chronicles X does guide you in the right direction through the story. The game also establishes some clear pre-requisites before you advance the story. Where I faltered was looking at the game pad, seeing all of the exploration and things I hadn't done yet, and then getting bogged down in all of the information overload of the possibilities.

TL;DR: The combat takes some getting used to. The UI at times is too small. The game DOES NOT hold your hand, read the manual, read some FAQ's, read the subreddit. Go out and explore, but have an objective in mind, because there's so much you can go do.

[Exhuminator]

So how do you guys think XCX compares to the original Xenoblade?

[Sarge]

I haven't put in enough time to really make a good judgment. Less than an hour, in fact. I'm still swamped by Dragon Age: Inquisition, which is apparently another game that can overwhelm you if you don't just go and try to focus on your immediate task, and do stuff along the way. The quests that require a bit of work will get taken care of eventually.

My only complaint to this point is that some of the UI text is tiny. To the point where if I wanted to play gamepad-only, it'd be a struggle. It's readable... but certainly not ideal.

[Blu]

I'd like to throw some clarity into this. The draw distance on the scenary is something magical. It makes me giddy thinking about what this game would be if it was a Zelda game. It would make everything right in the world with a Zelda with a true Overworld.

[Xeogred]

Wow that sounds like a lot of not fun.

Have you even got a Skell yet?

No, not yet. I think you get them a bit later into the game.

Although, to be honest, the game has me feeling a little bit fatigued and I'm not sure when I'll return to it.

All that hype really died down quickly for you... lol.

I thought Xenoblade was pretty sluggish at first and took a few hours to get into though.