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Xenoblade Chronicles X "Direct" on Feb. 6 [info in OP]

T

threelights

Member
Kissenkopf said:
Wow the game looks great! The enviroment AND the characters. Some people here just jump the train and don't even have their own opininon when they say that they a) don't like the character design and b) hate sawano...
Click to expand...
Character designs are fine, their models are awful.

Opinions are my own, thank you.

Z3M0G said:
I assume the first Xenoblade was fetch quest heavy too?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately... But there was plenty of good ones too. They were just locked away behind the afinity system (that required you to complete fetch quests).

I hope they don't lock sidequests like that at least. Then I can just accept everything and then decide which ones are worth completing.

slayn said:
Have they talked much about cutscenes and story?

What I loved about Xenoblade was the characters and story more than anything. Shulk was a fantastic main character and the whole adventure was incredible. I usually tell people that playing Xenoblade was like getting to watch the original Star Wars trilogy again for the first time.

But everything I've seen about X is the world and going on missions and customizable (silent?) protagonist. That makes me mildly nervous because I think silent protagonists make for much weaker narrative and the side quests and such in Xenoblade were *terrible.* The side quests were literally a poison contained within the game where doing them sapped your will to continue playing.
Click to expand...

Nah, don't worry about the story man. The MC will be no Shulk, but that's about it, the rest of the cast and the story itself will be amazing. This is Takahashi we're talking about.
 
J

Jobbs

Banned
Been looking forward to this game for a long time, but damned if the characters don't only look hideous, but creepy too. Almost like creepy muppets or something on their faces. Wow. Animation quality is also pretty bad.
 
T

TheGreatLugia

Banned
I think whether or not there are additional zones depends on the sizes of the 5 we know of.

If those 5 zones take up the entire game and the game really is 5 times the size of Xenoblade like Takahashi's been saying, then each individual zone would be the size of Xenoblade's entire world.

The zones definitely look larger than the ones in Xenoblade, but I'm not sure if any individual one is the same size as the entire world of the first game.
 
R

random25

Member
For those who worry about the story, we're talking about Takahashi here. All of the games I played under his direction have freaking long narratives.

For those who worry about the combat system, you might as well go back to previous gameplay footages. The reveal trailer in 2013 even showed it the first time before the exploration. And wait for the upcoming videos too as they're hinting at covering the battle system next.

As for the quests, it's not even that bad in Xenoblade. If you're exploring the maps more, you'll even complete them effortlessly and even finish them before even starting. I think this time with trading items and info online with people as well as revamped mapping system quests won't really be a pain especially the fetxh quests.
 
E

El Odio

Banned
Verger said:
Finally watched the direct, here are my thoughts.

PROS:

  • Huge and uniquely creative world that looks filled with so many things to explore.
  • Flora and Fauna design is seriously stunning.
  • Environment art in general looks like the best on the Wii U technically, and aesthetically some of the best in current gaming
  • Quest system looks very deep and lots of things to do
  • Exploration and Discovery are emphasized heavily and seems there is some Lore and Codex's to fill in which is great.
  • Mechs look fun to ride
  • Non-human/Alien character designs look cool

CONS:

  • Human character designs are mostly atrocious, especially the absurdly anime-faces (if there was ever a scale of "anime-ish", these are on the extreme end of that spectrum).
  • The named NPC's and Companions so far are not coming off well. Elma is robotic with the personality of mud, Lyn is abhorrent and shouldn't even exist and my god her voice. Tatsu also has a godawful annoying voice. Seems like a big step down so far from the great Dunban, Reyn and Melia of Xenoblade.
  • As stated, the voices are atrocious. I can only hope that somehow the Localization teams do a good job. But I'll miss the British VA's from Xenoblade :(
  • While it is a huge world, one has to of course be wary of the "filler" that may be in it. Xenoblade had it in spades, and hopefully they'll streamline the process of sidequests.
    [*]They've been shying away from showing the Combat and one has to wonder why.
  • Will Open-World experience detract from the main Narrative and Story?
  • The music is so divisive which seems to be Sawano's specialty. His non-vocal pieces sound great. But his vocal arrangements are just bad. I personally cannot stand JPOP-to-Engrish translations and vocals because if you actually listen to the lyrics they are laughably bad. I definitely am worried this OST will not be anywhere near as good as the original Xenoblade.
Click to expand...
This was an overworld rundown, it said that at the start of the stream. Another one for combat is coming later.
Deku Tree said:
I hope all the music in the NA version is instrumental and has no lyrics at all.
Click to expand...
I kind of doubt this but it would be nie if the tracks all had instrumental versions and you were able to choose which versions to play throughout the game
 
T

threelights

Member
TheGreatLugia said:
I think whether or not there are additional zones depends on the sizes of the 5 we know of.

If those 5 zones take up the entire game and the game really is 5 times the size of Xenoblade like Takahashi's been saying, then each individual zone would be the size of Xenoblade's entire world.

The zones definitely look larger than the ones in Xenoblade, but I'm not sure if any individual one is the same size as the entire world of the first game.
Click to expand...

Maybe they will pull an 'inverted castle' on us and in that map there are actually other regions that you only find out towards the "end' of the game (which then it stops being the end and becomes the middle =P)

random25 said:
As for the quests, it's not even that bad in Xenoblade. If you're exploring the maps more, you'll even complete them effortlessly and even finish them before even starting. I think this time with trading items and info online with people as well as revamped mapping system quests won't really be a pain especially the fetxh quests.
Click to expand...
Not true, I had to constantly get out of my way to complete generic quests.
 
S

Shiggy

Member
The city reminds me a bit of Disaster: Day of Crisis from the quality of art assets or style. Not really sure, but now I want a new Disaster game.
 
S

slayn

needs to show more effort.
random25 said:
For those who worry about the story, we're talking about Takahashi here. All of the games I played under his direction have freaking long narratives
Click to expand...
But he's also never done silent protag/open world right? I don't think the concern is completely unfounded. I'm not pessimistic, just nervous. Like if open world makes him turn his story focus to, say, lore rather than plot then... blech.

Plus Xillia 2 recently reminded me how much I hate silent protags for story focused games :(
 
T

TheGreatLugia

Banned
threelights said:
Maybe they will pull an 'inverted castle' on us and in that map there are actually other regions that you only find out towards the "end' of the game (which then it stops being the end and becomes the middle =P)
Click to expand...
Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if there are at least a handful of additional zones being kept hidden that become available after reaching a specific point in the game.
 
FalsettoVibe

FalsettoVibe

Member
Verger said:
Finally watched the direct, here are my thoughts.

PROS:

  • Huge and uniquely creative world that looks filled with so many things to explore.
  • Flora and Fauna design is seriously stunning.
  • Environment art in general looks like the best on the Wii U technically, and aesthetically some of the best in current gaming
  • Quest system looks very deep and lots of things to do
  • Exploration and Discovery are emphasized heavily and seems there is some Lore and Codex's to fill in which is great.
  • Mechs look fun to ride
  • Non-human/Alien character designs look cool

CONS:

  • Human character designs are mostly atrocious, especially the absurdly anime-faces (if there was ever a scale of "anime-ish", these are on the extreme end of that spectrum).
  • The named NPC's and Companions so far are not coming off well. Elma is robotic with the personality of mud, Lyn is abhorrent and shouldn't even exist and my god her voice. Tatsu also has a godawful annoying voice. Seems like a big step down so far from the great Dunban, Reyn and Melia of Xenoblade.
  • As stated, the voices are atrocious. I can only hope that somehow the Localization teams do a good job. But I'll miss the British VA's from Xenoblade :(
  • While it is a huge world, one has to of course be wary of the "filler" that may be in it. Xenoblade had it in spades, and hopefully they'll streamline the process of sidequests.
  • They've been shying away from showing the Combat and one has to wonder why.
  • Will Open-World experience detract from the main Narrative and Story?
  • The music is so divisive which seems to be Sawano's specialty. His non-vocal pieces sound great. But his vocal arrangements are just bad. I personally cannot stand JPOP-to-Engrish translations and vocals because if you actually listen to the lyrics they are laughably bad. I definitely am worried this OST will not be anywhere near as good as the original Xenoblade.
Click to expand...

This is my main concern.Turned me off from the first game.
 
R

random25

Member
threelights said:
Not true, I had to constantly get out of my way to complete generic quests.
Click to expand...

I dunno, but after getting out of Colony 9 generic quests have been like auto-complete to me. Asking to collect items? Done after accepting them. Beating generic monsters? I'm not even looking for them and all of a sudden I have beaten enough to complete them. The only real bummer generic quest is beating unique monsters because you'll have to accept the first before beating them to complete, and respawning them can take quite a few reloads. Basically, just exploring the map makes me complete generic quests even without remembering that I have them on my to-do list.
 
Twilight Princess

Twilight Princess

Member
I'm thinking....This time maybe you are a
Zanza type of character, you create(or encounter) an avatar and inhabit him/her like Zanza did Shulk...
 
V

Verger

Banned
Dizastah said:
This is my main concern.Turned me off from the first game.
Click to expand...
It is funny because it never became "annoying" for me to play through all those sidequests. I still do not know why, but it never became a hindrance to the game. Maybe its because the world was so unique that it was fun to explore every nook and cranny. Also the main narrative was still holding up even after taking time to go exploring and OCD sidequest finishing.

Also I still believe this new world is connected to the ending of Xenoblade
 
S

SoraanTribal

Member
I was just rewatching the enemy design showcase in the Direct again.. and jeez, they are SO awesome looking! Can't wait to fight them. :) Are there any good gifs of the enemies yet?
 
S

slayn

needs to show more effort.
evanmisha said:
Wait... people don't like the music? Huh?
Click to expand...
I don't hate it by any means but the music for Xenoblade blew me away and this isn't. So I imagine most of the hate comes more from comparing it to the insane quality that was the first game.
 
R

random25

Member
slayn said:
But he's also never done silent protag/open world right? I don't think the concern is completely unfounded. I'm not pessimistic, just nervous. Like if open world makes him turn his story focus to, say, lore rather than plot then... blech.

Plus Xillia 2 recently reminded me how much I hate silent protags for story focused games :(
Click to expand...

Not all are bad. Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross have silent protagonists. Breath of Fire games have silent Ryus. Mother games have silent protagonists. All of them are great RPGs. It is all about how the storyteller handles the character development of each and every personality in the game.

Also, the E3 trailer of 2014 did show bits of the story. We'll learn more as the game nears its debut in the Japanese video game stores.
 
A

Akai

Member
Verger said:
It is funny because it never became "annoying" for me to play through all those sidequests. I still do not know why, but it never became a hindrance to the game. Maybe its because the world was so unique that it was fun to explore every nook and cranny. Also the main narrative was still holding up even after taking time to go exploring and OCD sidequest finishing.
Click to expand...

What's interesting is that the side quests felt designed to not annoy people who were already doing lots of exploring. Like many others, I ended up completing a majority of quests either as soon as I got them due to already having all the items, or while exploring. Only for a small percentage of the quests did I feel like I was going specifically to do something (some of the rarer item drops come to mind)...

Now for people that like skipping a lot of the fluff in games I can see it being an issue...
 
V

Vilix

Unconfirmed Member
Verger said:
Finally watched the direct, here are my thoughts.

PROS:

  • Huge and uniquely creative world that looks filled with so many things to explore.
  • Flora and Fauna design is seriously stunning.
  • Environment art in general looks like the best on the Wii U technically, and aesthetically some of the best in current gaming
  • Quest system looks very deep and lots of things to do
  • Exploration and Discovery are emphasized heavily and seems there is some Lore and Codex's to fill in which is great.
  • Mechs look fun to ride
  • Non-human/Alien character designs look cool

CONS:
Click to expand...

Where's the 'Quests for four player online coop'? That's like UBER PRO!
 
S

SniperHunter

Banned
The only problem with this game is that it looks too good.


I am so buying a Wii U for this! I really hope Xenoblade I comes to Wii U as well.
 
V

Verger

Banned
Vilix said:
Where's the 'Quests for four player online coop'? That's like UBER PRO!
Click to expand...
I don't play co-op or multiplayer. I've never been a fan of it even in games like Demon/Dark Souls.

I also forgot to add the "Silent Protagonist" to the list of Cons for me, I edited it in. I'm very concerned about this since so far the companions are not coming off very well.
 
D

De_Legend

Banned
It looks like an MMO imo, I hope there is a good story at least. And the cast for now looks awful.

I must be the only one who thinks that...
 
T

TruSpindash

Member
Just watched the presentation, and man am I ever bit as impressed as the first time I saw it. And although some might not be fans of it I really like the lyrical songs, but hopefully their is some kind of toggle for those that aren't.
 
D

Diffense

Member
The named NPC's and Companions so far are not coming off well. Elma is robotic with the personality of mud, Lyn is abhorrent and shouldn't even exist and my god her voice. Tatsu also has a godawful annoying voice. Seems like a big step down so far from the great Dunban, Reyn and Melia of Xenoblade.
Click to expand...

IMO, we have to play the game before judging the characters. It seems to me that Elma is a similar type of "calm and reserved" character as Melia. I'm not sure if Melia would have come across as exciting while narrating an explanation of the game systems in Japanese. Elma is the very first character the player meets and she joins your party right away so I wouldn't be surprised if most players end up liking her by the end of the game.
 
Voidwolf

Voidwolf

Member
It's a beautiful looking game but I just couldn't get this out of my head while watching the presentation.


AHInDRj.jpg
 
RoadHazard

RoadHazard

Gold Member
I might buy a Wii U for this game. Was gonna get one for Zelda either way, but this sure is tempting.

Is it a direct sequel to the Wii game? Do you need to have played it to understand what's going on? Or is it like FF, a separate story set in the same universe?
 
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