^ 1 past that, the next world so to speak.
Xenoblade Chronicles FINALLY gets a US release
- Thread starter Bloody_Inferno
- Start date
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InfinityCollision
Well-Known Member
Eh... I don't know about that. Mediocre to downright bad party AI, minimal replay value, and it's far too easy to outlevel everything if you do any questing (you'll lack for AP, but it won't really matter). Character writing has some definite weak points and battle mechanics have some issues (a glitch with damage ranges, the rather broken nature of certain skill links, excessively steep level correction, etc). I enjoyed it, but I don't have much desire to revisit it. If quests didn't give EXP then I'd probably be more inclined to play it again since I could do quests in parallel with the story and postgame content that way rather than being forced to choose between doing quests as I encounter them and having any sort of challenge in battle content.
This should not be taken to mean that I didn't enjoy Xenoblade, mind you - I played the hell out of it, including solos of the postgame "superbosses" with various characters aside from that damn rabbit. I love the Xenoblade world, but there's still some hints of the old Xeno flaws. I just don't think it tops the list for an entire generation. Maybe if you just limit it to Wii games.
EDIT: Myghin, if you want to know about the damage glitch -
The damage range for any weapon can be no larger than [low, low+99]. Doesn't impact most weapons, but some weapons with large damage ranges that initially appear desirable are actually pretty bad as a result.
SirToastalot
Needs a better rig..
I'm a bit beyond your current spot, but still nowhere near to completing. It's been a bit on and off for me since August 2011!
Maybe I should have added a J to RPG! Perhaps there hasn't been much competition, especially with Square dropping the ball continuously.
Your points are very valid, it's still a great game despite those niggles. I'm enjoying it for what it is.
Ni No Kuni might steal some of the praise away though.
I've actually found Xenoblade to be quite difficult - maybe I'm not paying enough attention to the number crunching aspect.
Currently stuck on the first incarnation of Egil, despite having a five level advantage! Argh.
Out of curiousity, what do you think of this mysterious 'X' RPG?
InfinityCollision
Well-Known Member
Fair enough, there weren't a lot of great JRPGs this generation.
The face-off in the fortress? Those two fights can be pretty rough, though I was underleveled at the time... Egil was red to me but I pulled it off. Setup was probably Shulk/Dunban/Sharla, but I might've had Riki in there somewhere. Not sure about gear, never bothered staying up-to-date on it. Anything with gem slots works, really. Gems weren't anything special; max Agility, whatever Strength/HP/whatever I could throw in, some haste/double attack gems if I had them. Sharla probably had purely Ether and HP, maybe a hate down gem if I had those at the time.
Worth noting that a pretty powerful setup (skill links, gems, etc) opens up in the next area... There's a missable element though, and it isn't borderline auto-win like the two "true" gamebreakers. Most notable aspect of this particular option is that you'd never need a dedicated healer for a yellow or lower enemy again, aside from maybe enemies with spikes if you don't gem/link for that. Very high damage output and still pretty strong in terms of survivability. I can spill the beans on them but only if you want to know about it.
I will say I never really did any real number crunching aside from some testing to pin down the damage glitch - everything else I did was by intuition, no guides aside from some postgame questing/gear collection stuff, and I only figured out the damage glitch after beating the main story. Not a significant glitch really either, just limits the potential of certain weapons.
It might be more accurate to say that difficulty drops off as the game progresses. The earliest fights can be difficult due to lack of a dedicated healer unit (the spider fight can be hell if you're at all underleveled), and midgame still has some fights that can be difficult. After the point where you're at, I never lost a single story fight and only lost a couple of unique fights to gimmicks. Worth noting that I almost always played Shulk though - not playing as either him or Melia can really up the difficulty depending on your setup. For example, I did the tomb boss as Dunban/Shulk/Sharla and while I did win first try it took forever because Shulk was too stupid to use the right art. I went out of my way to avoid overleveling as much as possible; most bosses were yellow to me.
I'm interested, but I don't know if I'll end up playing it. That's more down to me spending very little time on video games these days than anything else though.
SirToastalot
Needs a better rig..
Wow, thanks for the excellent advice and offering to help. 
I am so lazy with RPG technique, but I'll slog it out for now.
Apparently your favourite Rabbit-y friend can be turned into an effective tank/healer hybrid.
Here's some fairly good analysis of the trailer from the fellas at GameXplain:
I am so lazy with RPG technique, but I'll slog it out for now.
Apparently your favourite Rabbit-y friend can be turned into an effective tank/healer hybrid.
Here's some fairly good analysis of the trailer from the fellas at GameXplain:
InfinityCollision
Well-Known Member
Riki's fucking awesome as both a character and a party unit and has great utility. My only complaint with him is that his AI doesn't like to use his AoE attacks unless you're fighting multiple enemies. I was actually referring to one of the superbosses though - near the end of the game a unique monster named Despotic Arsene spawns in the bunnits (bunnivs? I forget) near the exit to Satorl Marsh. It's not the highest level enemy in the game, but it's by far the most evasive and it does quite a bit of damage. Dunban might have the agility to pull a solo off with his accuracy/evasion aura + Jaws of Death for the talent art, but I think I recall him coming up short. None of the other melee units can get a high enough hitrate even at max tension and Melia/Riki lack the necessary defensive capabilities. Sharla could probably bore it to death given a day or two, but I'm not crazy enough to try that.
I can kill dragons and behemoths with a single character, but a rabbit? That takes three
EDIT: One thing I really love about the game that I've somehow not mentioned yet: the soundtrack is superb
SirToastalot
Needs a better rig..
Slight bump. Here is another teaser trailer for the mysterious 'X':
Robots, robots and more robots!
The draw distances are astounding - it's refreshing to see the Wii U's inferior hardware being pushed for once.
The only small downer here is the music. The vocals sound a bit shaky.
Apologies if I'm repeating content from a E3 2013 related thread.
Robots, robots and more robots!
The draw distances are astounding - it's refreshing to see the Wii U's inferior hardware being pushed for once.
The only small downer here is the music. The vocals sound a bit shaky.
Apologies if I'm repeating content from a E3 2013 related thread.
Don't worry. The more that trailer is posted the happier I am 
. That's honestly one of my most anticipated coming releases for the Wii U. It looks incredibly good. Contrastingly enough, one of my favorite things about it is the music . Matter of taste I suppose.
. That's honestly one of my most anticipated coming releases for the Wii U. It looks incredibly good. Contrastingly enough, one of my favorite things about it is the music . Matter of taste I suppose.
Bloody_Inferno
Silence is Violence
Slight bump. Here is another teaser trailer for the mysterious 'X':
Robots, robots and more robots!
The draw distances are astounding - it's refreshing to see the Wii U's inferior hardware being pushed for once.
The only small downer here is the music. The vocals sound a bit shaky.
Apologies if I'm repeating content from a E3 2013 related thread.
I loved everything about that trailer. I especially loved the transforming mecha
and the fact that storywise, it really doesn't reveal anything and open to speculation until it's release. I'm so getting this. As for the music, I've coincidentally accustomed myself to Hiroyuki Sawano's work on the Sengoku Basara and Gundam Unicorn animes and as much as I adore the Xenoblade soundtracks.. hell all Xeno soundtracks really... I'm curious what Sawano will come up with.
One thing I really love about the game that I've somehow not mentioned yet: the soundtrack is superb
I've been praising the soundtrack all over this forum.
Type "Xenoblade" on the search option and you'll see all my posts before Operation Rainfall even began. /hipster mode
SirToastalot
Needs a better rig..
Contrastingly enough, one of my favorite things about it is the music
As for the music, I've coincidentally accustomed myself to Hiroyuki Sawano's work on the Sengoku Basara and Gundam Unicorn animes and as much as I adore the Xenoblade soundtracks.. hell all Xeno soundtracks really... I'm curious what Sawano will come up with.
I've been praising the soundtrack all over this forum.
I really enjoyed the Xenoblade soundtrack as well. I listen to it when I need a relaxing break from the usual diet of technical death metal...
It's a shame that Yasunori Mitsuda and ACE+ don't seem to be involved in 'X'.
I'm not all that familiar with Hiroyuki Sawano's work, so I will definitely have to go in with an open mind.
Soraya Saga confirmed via some tweets that the two videos released so far are only teasers (duh) and that a future trailer will be the big reveal.
Hopefully we get something similar to the early Xenoblade trailers - long and very explanatory.
Bloody_Inferno
Silence is Violence
Mitsuda only wrote one songs for Xenoblade (Beyond The Sky). Yoko Shimomura, ACE+ and Manami Kyota wrote the rest. Would have loved them to return (particularly the latter 2) as they wrote the bulk of the soundtrack and some of the best songs to boot.
SirToastalot
Needs a better rig..
Bumping for a good reason; Nintendo and Monolith Soft have got a Definitive Version for the Switch lined up for a vague 2020 release:
I really hope that this game is enjoyed by a larger user base this time round; as its release on the Wii (in the West) wasn't well timed and there were availability problems. The 3DS version was very blurry in the graphics department and only ran on the 'New 3DS' variant of the handheld.
I really hope that this game is enjoyed by a larger user base this time round; as its release on the Wii (in the West) wasn't well timed and there were availability problems. The 3DS version was very blurry in the graphics department and only ran on the 'New 3DS' variant of the handheld.
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