dickgumshoe
Member
I don't know how I should feel about the differences between this and Xenoblade. In the end I will forgive a lot if the soundtrack is that great as Xenoblade's, but I'm not too happy about the songs so far.
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Xenoblade Chronicles X: new info from Famitsu (map size, battle system, characters)
- Thread starter L~A
- Start date
paolo11
Member
Mechs are awesome. People who don't like mechs can simply not play a mech game. Dealwithit, etc. Go play Skyrim or Crackdown or something.
Mechs are definitely going to be a huge part of Xenoblade X. Takahashi himself said that he has always wanted to make a game like this where there exploration is seamless between humans and mechs. There'll definitely be places you cannot get to on foot, or are simply scaled such where it doesn't make sense to explore on foot. That's all good. Mechs are amazing. If you don't like mechs, who cares about you.
You made me smile on this post. Thank you.
I love mechs. I was born to love mechs. From Voltes V to the Gundams. Games should have more mechs like these..
Now an open world with mechs and they can fly or transform too?? THIS IS MY DREAM GAME!!!! Best part is that it is heavily emphasized that it is mech focused like Xenogears.
I wish they are air combat fights as well. Like a super huge boss and your team is flying with your mechs to beat it. WOOOSH!!!
In the first or second trailer, they show you flying around a giant monster with what looks like lava coming out of it mouth so there is a good chance that it will happen.
While it might not be 100% I'm sure its pretty damn close aka 300 hours isn't going to be a regular playthrough length
I'll admit I'm a bit scared about the game being more nonlinear and quest-based, at least that's what I gathered from the comments. What I loved about the first XB was how you had this huge world to explore with tons of sidequests and things to do, but at the same time had a complex and interesting linear storyline.
LegendofLex
Member
Let me clarify: the original Xenoblade was not a game where your character controlled a mech. It was a fantasy RPG that happened to have a robotic civilization as a major antagonist.
TheXfactor
Member
i do not think this game will do that at all, nintendo is really advertising it this time, and its not a gamestop exclusive
It is true that in Xenoblade you never controlled a mech. However, mechs were abundant in the game. Most of the bosses and antagonists were actually mechs for all intent and purpose. There were even mechs in the game that homs controlled though they weren't heavily featured.
Let me just say that I wasn't really into the mechs at first, but, after giving it some thought it certainly makes sense that in the next Xeoblade game mechs would actually be able to be used by the player. It seems like a natural progression. Personally if it were up to me I would rather there not be mech but this game looks pretty damn fantastic, mechs and all, just how it is.
Yeah, exploration hasn't really been a focus in past Xeno games to begin with, so it only makes sense that this wouldn't change when riding a mech. However, due to that being inside of a mech just didn't do much for me in past Xeno games. When I'm controlling a mech I want to get the feeling that I'm stronger and that I've got new opportunities, but instead I just felt like a supersized human. In the end that's neither something bad nor something good in my book, just something that felt like kind of a lost opportunity to me.
The scale was pretty cool, though. Being a tiny sprite next to your mech was pretty cool in Xenogears.
Inconsequential might have been the wrong word to use there. I was mostly referring to Xenosaga Ep 1 with that and the circumstance that you can pretty much play through it without ever using a mech (my mind is a little foggy on that, but I don't think that there was a single battle that required you to control one). It makes sense when you take the story of the whole trilogy into account*, but just looking at that one game mech combat felt weirdly unimportant to me.
However, the biggest reason why I'm not too fond of the mech mechanics in past Xeno games is really that I never liked the mech battles very much. Using Xenogears as an example, mech combat always felt more limiting to me than normal combat due to the way the combo system and fuel worked and that's pretty much the opposite of what I'm looking for in mech combat. I want to feel less limited in my actions and not more so. I always preferred to fight on foot.
*I actually always end up looking at the individual games instead of the trilogy as a whole. I think Episode 2 being so weird is at fault for that. Due to everything looking so different, I always get the feeling that I'm playing something entirely different. Also, I still can't forgive them for messing up Shion's design in Ep 2.
I agree that this game will be more accessible to purchase compared to Xenoblade due to getting a simultaneous WW release and not being exclusive to any retailer but Nintendo has been doing limited prints for niche games lately.
e.g Pikmin 3 (which came out a year and half ago) is already hard to find from what I've read.
So games like this one, Yoshi Woolly World, Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem (if it ever sees the light of day) Devil's Third and many more will reach rare status sooner rather than later.
Elfforkusu
Member
Running around expansive vistas on foot with fast travel == Xenoblade.
We already have that game. It owns. But now it's time for mechs!
We already have that game. It owns. But now it's time for mechs!
Yeah, I am a bit concerned about this as well, but I'm willing to give Monolith Soft the benefit of the doubt. This game is gradually revealing some surprises we didn't expect.
Elfforkusu
Member
I will say that I'm terrified of the notion that the worst part of the last game (stupid sidequests) might ostensibly be the centerpiece of this game.
But there's no sense being negative about it. At the very worst this game will be the greatest hiking/jumping simulator of the year.
But there's no sense being negative about it. At the very worst this game will be the greatest hiking/jumping simulator of the year.
paolo11
Member
I remember that. I was awestruck.
Yeah... I really never got bored doing quests and exploring the world in Xenoblade since I liked the world, battle system and all that but I could see how people where put off when they see the massive amounts of quests that open even in Colony 9 and how open and massive the game feels.
The game does indeed drag a little after
Agniratha
Mechs are awesome. People who don't like mechs can simply not play a mech game. Dealwithit, etc. Go play Skyrim or Crackdown or something.
Mechs are definitely going to be a huge part of Xenoblade X. Takahashi himself said that he has always wanted to make a game like this where there exploration is seamless between humans and mechs. There'll definitely be places you cannot get to on foot, or are simply scaled such where it doesn't make sense to explore on foot. That's all good. Mechs are amazing. If you don't like mechs, who cares about you.
I share the concerns about the "non-linear" nature of the game as it expands into a more open world RPG concept. The majority of the optional side quests in Xenoblade were really awful, and had very little thought put into designing them. But at the same time, I think there are optimistic signs that they are aware of some of those flaws and are looking to mitigate them.
One of my biggest issues with the way quests were designed in Xenoblade was that there were actually some pretty interesting non-generic quests available in the towns, but they were gated behind a dozen terrible filler quests. Having to raise your affinity in each community before you could take on quests which actually had interactions with NPCs and provided humorous or just interesting details about the people living in the town and how they live their lives meant that most people who got sick of doing the terrible quests would just never see these.
What I'm personally hoping for is that Xenoblade X redirects all the mundane filler quests (those where all you are meant to do is to kill a number of generic enemies on the field, or collect generic materials on the field, etc without anything unique or interesting) into the Union categories. The way they're divided already seems to indicate this. So if a player actually feels like going around killing [x] enemies, they can take on quests from the Avalanche union, if they want to clear maps and find waypoints they can take on Path Finder union quests, if they want to collect [x] materials on the field mindlessly they can take on requests from Land Bank, etc.
If they do this well, then they can still use the affinity system in towns to provide more interesting quests right off the bat, allowing players to form a closer connection with the NPCs in areas without being resentful of how everyone initially has garbage quests.
Based on what they've said about the game, I feel it's still likely that unfortunately story elements will be gated off based on player progression in Unions. So players might be forced to do mundane crap before a story event happens, just to create a sense that time has been progressing. But hey, at least there should be a wider choice of garbage missions.... right?
One of my biggest issues with the way quests were designed in Xenoblade was that there were actually some pretty interesting non-generic quests available in the towns, but they were gated behind a dozen terrible filler quests. Having to raise your affinity in each community before you could take on quests which actually had interactions with NPCs and provided humorous or just interesting details about the people living in the town and how they live their lives meant that most people who got sick of doing the terrible quests would just never see these.
What I'm personally hoping for is that Xenoblade X redirects all the mundane filler quests (those where all you are meant to do is to kill a number of generic enemies on the field, or collect generic materials on the field, etc without anything unique or interesting) into the Union categories. The way they're divided already seems to indicate this. So if a player actually feels like going around killing [x] enemies, they can take on quests from the Avalanche union, if they want to clear maps and find waypoints they can take on Path Finder union quests, if they want to collect [x] materials on the field mindlessly they can take on requests from Land Bank, etc.
If they do this well, then they can still use the affinity system in towns to provide more interesting quests right off the bat, allowing players to form a closer connection with the NPCs in areas without being resentful of how everyone initially has garbage quests.
Based on what they've said about the game, I feel it's still likely that unfortunately story elements will be gated off based on player progression in Unions. So players might be forced to do mundane crap before a story event happens, just to create a sense that time has been progressing. But hey, at least there should be a wider choice of garbage missions.... right?
Smiles and Cries
Member
tempted to buy a Japanese WiiU for this and DQX
why wait longer?
hold me back GAF
why wait longer?
hold me back GAF
Do you know Japanese? if not don't buy one.
Martylepiaf
Member
Well, if I knew Japanese I would do it.
It seems as if a number of gameplay elements that were optional or peripheral in Xenoblade will be more central to this game. In Xenoblade you could rebuild Colony 6 if you wanted but rebuilding Neo LA will probably be central to progression in X. Like duckroll, I suspect that you'll need to do quests to progress the story. But I think that organic progression of the story through completion of apparently mundane quests can be done well. We got a taste of this in Xenoblade with some interesting quest lines that spanned across multiple areas. I imagine that in X you'll have multiple interesting storyline branches to investigate and pending quests that will extend each of them. Whenever you get deep enough into some quest lines, you'll find the game's antagonists there and that might trigger events that you have to handle immediately.
I feel like the quest lines that lead to advancements in the story will span Union categories. Picking your favorite Union early in the game when you're at the base of all the quest lines/trees makes sense. You'll gain experience and learn the gameplay systems while doing something you like such as slaying monsters, exploring, or finding cats. But I feel that you'll eventually advance to a point in interesting quest lines that force you to switch unions to continue them. However, the continuations will be among the more interesting quests in that category because they would be deeper quests unlocked from another Union category. They could easily make it so you can get to any of the "urgent" quests by exclusively doing certain kinds of low level quests in any Union but the urgents reside in a variety of categories. For example an alien boss could appear by completing a certain string of monster slaying quests or a certain string of gather quests but the quest to defeat it will always be an "Avalanche" quest regardless of how you unlocked it. So you'd be able to pick the low-level quests that you like and ignore others but the quests that you must complete to get to the finale would still have variety.
I think X will have an interesting story but it will obviously unfold differently if the game is non-linear. IMO, it'll be a refreshing change. Sometimes I found Xenoblade's linearity and dynamism at odds with the large number of quests available at each area.
was most depressing because it was huge and given the fate of the
most quests were timed. You're often torn between progressing the story and finishing quests that you will not be able to do later. Hopefully X will better integrate the quests into the game's overall framework.
I feel like the quest lines that lead to advancements in the story will span Union categories. Picking your favorite Union early in the game when you're at the base of all the quest lines/trees makes sense. You'll gain experience and learn the gameplay systems while doing something you like such as slaying monsters, exploring, or finding cats. But I feel that you'll eventually advance to a point in interesting quest lines that force you to switch unions to continue them. However, the continuations will be among the more interesting quests in that category because they would be deeper quests unlocked from another Union category. They could easily make it so you can get to any of the "urgent" quests by exclusively doing certain kinds of low level quests in any Union but the urgents reside in a variety of categories. For example an alien boss could appear by completing a certain string of monster slaying quests or a certain string of gather quests but the quest to defeat it will always be an "Avalanche" quest regardless of how you unlocked it. So you'd be able to pick the low-level quests that you like and ignore others but the quests that you must complete to get to the finale would still have variety.
I think X will have an interesting story but it will obviously unfold differently if the game is non-linear. IMO, it'll be a refreshing change. Sometimes I found Xenoblade's linearity and dynamism at odds with the large number of quests available at each area.
Alcamoth
High Entia
Some Nobody
Junior Member
People are complaining about mechs? WTF. I'm sitting here hoping that there are enough mechs. I'll be depressed if the three we know of are the only ones in the game, even.
lol
TheMoon
Member
You know you can't play DQX outside of Japan without using a proxy server, right? Don't make dumb decisions based on hype! Be rational.
TheMoon
Member
Xenoblade wasn't a mech game.
lol I intended to write 600 but the excitement got the best of me
Gonna be blasting Touch the Sky during multiplayer missions with friends.
lol
It had a tonne of mechs in it.
Sure, you dont control any - but one of the central plotlines of the story is basically about
people being put into
Haha yeah
Werewolf Jones
Gold Member
You're technically living on a giant mech, so....
Oh yeah
Played through the game so many times now that didn't even occur to me
Actually, you aren't. The population of Agniritha were on Mechonis, but no one on Bionis is. Bionis is a living being.
Werewolf Jones
Gold Member
So are the EVAs in Evangelion on a technical level, still a mech to a degree IMO.
I guess it could be classed that way, especially considering how
zanza
StarStabbedMoon
Member
lol
You fight mechon.
There are two robots, the bionis and the mechonis.
You wear mechon armour.
Your first weapon is made of mechon parts.
TheMoon
Member
So? It's still not a mech game lol. Don't know why this is so hard to see.
dont know if anybody posted yet, but gamexplain is at it again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xsbHEuDSJU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xsbHEuDSJU
TheMoon
Member
dont know if anybody posted yet, but gamexplain is at it again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xsbHEuDSJU
posted it in the relevant thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=150078209#post150078209
it's just a discussion, though. no analysis (there's nothing to really analyze anyway). nothing we haven't talked about here yet.
YES! thank you going to watch it now! It still needs an analysis tho
I share the concerns about the "non-linear" nature of the game as it expands into a more open world RPG concept. The majority of the optional side quests in Xenoblade were really awful, and had very little thought put into designing them. But at the same time, I think there are optimistic signs that they are aware of some of those flaws and are looking to mitigate them.
One of my biggest issues with the way quests were designed in Xenoblade was that there were actually some pretty interesting non-generic quests available in the towns, but they were gated behind a dozen terrible filler quests. Having to raise your affinity in each community before you could take on quests which actually had interactions with NPCs and provided humorous or just interesting details about the people living in the town and how they live their lives meant that most people who got sick of doing the terrible quests would just never see these.
What I'm personally hoping for is that Xenoblade X redirects all the mundane filler quests (those where all you are meant to do is to kill a number of generic enemies on the field, or collect generic materials on the field, etc without anything unique or interesting) into the Union categories. The way they're divided already seems to indicate this. So if a player actually feels like going around killing [x] enemies, they can take on quests from the Avalanche union, if they want to clear maps and find waypoints they can take on Path Finder union quests, if they want to collect [x] materials on the field mindlessly they can take on requests from Land Bank, etc.
If they do this well, then they can still use the affinity system in towns to provide more interesting quests right off the bat, allowing players to form a closer connection with the NPCs in areas without being resentful of how everyone initially has garbage quests.
Based on what they've said about the game, I feel it's still likely that unfortunately story elements will be gated off based on player progression in Unions. So players might be forced to do mundane crap before a story event happens, just to create a sense that time has been progressing. But hey, at least there should be a wider choice of garbage missions.... right?
My main gripe was the lack of cool, unique, useful rewards for completing them.
If I'm going to go out of my way to kill a tough as nails unique enemy, then I would love to have a Liquid Metal Sword, or a Timbrel of Tension drop.
Hell, go crazy, and make it a Horn of Fireballs *Elma only*, or some such.
I share the concerns about the "non-linear" nature of the game as it expands into a more open world RPG concept. The majority of the optional side quests in Xenoblade were really awful, and had very little thought put into designing them. But at the same time, I think there are optimistic signs that they are aware of some of those flaws and are looking to mitigate them.
One of my biggest issues with the way quests were designed in Xenoblade was that there were actually some pretty interesting non-generic quests available in the towns, but they were gated behind a dozen terrible filler quests. Having to raise your affinity in each community before you could take on quests which actually had interactions with NPCs and provided humorous or just interesting details about the people living in the town and how they live their lives meant that most people who got sick of doing the terrible quests would just never see these.
What I'm personally hoping for is that Xenoblade X redirects all the mundane filler quests (those where all you are meant to do is to kill a number of generic enemies on the field, or collect generic materials on the field, etc without anything unique or interesting) into the Union categories. The way they're divided already seems to indicate this. So if a player actually feels like going around killing [x] enemies, they can take on quests from the Avalanche union, if they want to clear maps and find waypoints they can take on Path Finder union quests, if they want to collect [x] materials on the field mindlessly they can take on requests from Land Bank, etc.
If they do this well, then they can still use the affinity system in towns to provide more interesting quests right off the bat, allowing players to form a closer connection with the NPCs in areas without being resentful of how everyone initially has garbage quests.
Based on what they've said about the game, I feel it's still likely that unfortunately story elements will be gated off based on player progression in Unions. So players might be forced to do mundane crap before a story event happens, just to create a sense that time has been progressing. But hey, at least there should be a wider choice of garbage missions.... right?
I agree one of my favorite sidequests was the
drug smuggling of the Nopon with the Hi Entia
I don't think Unions will be all that plot-related, but actually more related to the side content, it sounds to me like the Union's overall purpose is to strengthen, rebuilt, and Mira, similar to Colony 6. Maybe since there are Unions each with a specific goal in mind, sidequests can be better designed to follow this specific goals and feel less of the general "Go talk to x npc player" or "Kill x number of things" But maybe I am being hopeful.