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[Neoleo2143]

https://nintendotreehouse.tumblr.co...ike-a-finely-layered-onionor-is-it-onions/amp

Xenoblade 2 Treehouse Blog. Hilariously, they detail the combat again (like is that the only thing they want to talk about?), organizing it into 6 different layers.

 

[CGiRanger]

As I was re-watching one of the videos, I noticed this screen. I think it's the background for the main menu. But it got me wondering, if it is also the "World Map"?

I mean, you can see Titans on it of course, and since Takahashi has said that there's not going to be any open-flying between Titans, I wonder if we're going to end up selecting Titans to go to from this screen?

I tried to identify the Titans:

But there's already three here that haven't been seen at all.

Seriously, this game is going to be pretty big, and then there's the possibility of areas under the Clouds or above the Tree.

 

[foxuzamaki]

These Blade reveals are probably my favorite so far. Not familiar with the artist, but really cool designs.

I like making simple gifs, but that's all I can really do.

No problem. Here's the rest for whoever wants to do whatever with them.

Doing Zanza's work

 

[CGiRanger]

https://nintendotreehouse.tumblr.co...ike-a-finely-layered-onionor-is-it-onions/amp

Xenoblade 2 Treehouse Blog. Hilariously, they detail the combat again (like is that the only thing they want to talk about?), organizing it into 6 different layers.

Well, it's probably the only thing they can talk about without any restrictions or such. I would venture a guess that there's strict control over what can be talked about with regards to anything like the story and world and any new info of that can only come straight out of Japan. Where as the battle system has already been covered as you say in the videos, and they can going over it without issue.

And, it seems like the Battle System has a lot more complexities and layers than both previous games combined. They probably want to really get this info out for users to start to understand how it works so they won't be too overwhelmed by maybe expecting just another X.

 

[VariantX]

As I was re-watching one of the videos, I noticed this screen. I think it's the background for the main menu. But it got me wondering, if it is also the "World Map"?

I mean, you can see Titans on it of course, and since Takahashi has said that there's not going to be any open-flying between Titans, I wonder if we're going to end up selecting Titans to go to from this screen?

I tried to identify the Titans:

But there's already three here that haven't been seen at all.

Seriously, this game is going to be pretty big, and then there's the possibility of areas under the Clouds or above the Tree.

Betting that tree will likely be a playable space too.

 

[Harpoon]

As I was re-watching one of the videos, I noticed this screen. I think it's the background for the main menu. But it got me wondering, if it is also the "World Map"?

I mean, you can see Titans on it of course, and since Takahashi has said that there's not going to be any open-flying between Titans, I wonder if we're going to end up selecting Titans to go to from this screen?

I tried to identify the Titans:

But there's already three here that haven't been seen at all.

Seriously, this game is going to be pretty big, and then there's the possibility of areas under the Clouds or above the Tree.

The ram-looking Titan is Gormott, not Mor Ardain. The humanoid Titan seems to be, judging by the Direct, Mor Ardain's primary Titan.

 

[CGiRanger]

The ram-looking Titan is Gormott, not Mor Ardain. The humanoid Titan seems to be, judging by the Direct, Mor Ardain's primary Titan.

Hmm, I guess I was confused as it looked like a humanoid titan as well with a leg. But you're right that the horns don't seem to match.

Though Gormott has a very long neck which I don't see, but then again the map is cut off too. But it does make sense as it'd be odd for Gormott, what is likely to be the first main area to be absent from easy view in the map screen.

Alright then, fixed:

 

[tonyh24613]

https://nintendotreehouse.tumblr.co...ike-a-finely-layered-onionor-is-it-onions/amp

Xenoblade 2 Treehouse Blog. Hilariously, they detail the combat again (like is that the only thing they want to talk about?), organizing it into 6 different layers.

So chain attack is activated by + button, weird decision.

 

[Ridley327]

So chain attack is activated by + button, weird decision.

Since there's no arts palette anymore, I'm not sure where else they'd be able to stick it.

Not only that, but I do have to admit that anything that leads to less combat disengagements is a good thing. I think everyone managed to accidentally leave combat in Xenoblade at least once when they meant to start a chain attack.

 

[random25]

So chain attack is activated by + button, weird decision.

I think it's because all the buttons are pretty much used up in battle.

Face buttons for arts.
D-pad for blade swap.
Left stick for movement.
Right stick for camera control.
2 Shoulder buttons for zoom in/out.
2 Shoulder buttons for teammate arts control.

The only buttons I think were not used so far are stick buttons.

 

[Dark Cloud]

As I was re-watching one of the videos, I noticed this screen. I think it's the background for the main menu. But it got me wondering, if it is also the "World Map"?

I mean, you can see Titans on it of course, and since Takahashi has said that there's not going to be any open-flying between Titans, I wonder if we're going to end up selecting Titans to go to from this screen?

I tried to identify the Titans:

But there's already three here that haven't been seen at all.

Seriously, this game is going to be pretty big, and then there's the possibility of areas under the Clouds or above the Tree.

I can't wait!! This game is going to be amazing. 100+ hours of a great adventure.

 

[TheMoon]

Well, it's probably the only thing they can talk about without any restrictions or such. I would venture a guess that there's strict control over what can be talked about with regards to anything like the story and world and any new info of that can only come straight out of Japan. Where as the battle system has already been covered as you say in the videos, and they can going over it without issue.

And, it seems like the Battle System has a lot more complexities and layers than both previous games combined. They probably want to really get this info out for users to start to understand how it works so they won't be too overwhelmed by maybe expecting just another X.

but but they dumbed it down because it's no longer a bar now and reasons!!11

 

[tonyh24613]

Really curious about canceling system, maybe it's about breaking more than 3 elements during chain attack?

 

[patchday]

New tweet:

yeah that looks great

 

[Neoleo2143]

but but they dumbed it down because it's no longer a bar now and reasons!!11

It's a very different approach for sure. The options at the player's disposal at a moment are probably overall greater than previous games. There's overall an obvious progression to combat but there's also some built-in conflictions to encourage some dynamism like limiting the player to a subsect of their moveset at a given moment and making changing to another set of arts a bigger commitment and increasing the enemy's resistance to elements when using combos so that they can't be spammed redundantly (and thus avoid the consequence of being able to keep the strong status effect around without thinking a bit).

It looks like an overall more dynamic set of systems than before while also being more streamlined in terms of clarity.

Really curious about canceling system, maybe it's about breaking more than 3 elements during chain attack?

It might have something to do with how you chain arts and switching blades off of auto attacks to greatly increase the Special art gauge. But he seemed to imply that there was more to it.

There's something that bothers me, he says that it takes 3 hits to break an orb but in the Gamescom build when there were two orbs, neither were broken after the first round which implies that it's not that obvious. Not only that, but using certain elements can be better to burst certain other elements. I also imagine using other blades to increase the gauge is also important in some way. Plus there's the matter of different specials being used based on the special level which rises each round that the chain attack is extended (I'm really glad that this isn't random chance anymore) and the enemy's various weaknesses.

 

[Neiteio]

I haven't read the blog post on the combat, but from what I gathered in the direct, it looks like the battles should play a bit more smoothly since the arts are much more intelligently organized and quickly accessible.

Essentially, you switch between three support characters, or Blades, which are each assigned to directions on the d-pad. Each of the Blades has three arts, which are each assigned to a different face button. Blades come in three types: Attack, Defense, Support (or something to that effect). So if you want to go on the offensive, switch to your Attack Blade and you'll have three Attack arts to use. To use an art, just press its corresponding button... No scrolling necessary. If you want to go on the defensive, switch to your Defense Blade. Etc.

This seems like a much more elegant approach than having to frantically scroll back and forth along a massive taskbar at the bottom of the screen, which could be overly hectic at times and would frankly be more difficult to see when playing on the Switch in handheld mode.

Combined with all of the different Blades you can find and equip — not only for the Driver you're currently controlling, but for the other Drivers in your party as well — and it seems like there could be an addictive "gotta catch' em all" quality to the proceedings as well.

 

[tonyh24613]

It might have something to do with how you chain arts and switching blades off of auto attacks to greatly increase the Special art gauge. But he seemed to imply that there was more to it.

Yeah, this sounds more reasonable. Then he shouldn't say it's 7th layer, that't more like layer 3.5. lol

There's something that bothers me, he says that it takes 3 hits to break an orb but in the Gamescom build when there were two orbs, neither were broken after the first round which implies that it's not that obvious. Not only that, but using certain elements can be better to burst certain other elements. I also imagine using other blades to increase the gauge is also important in some way. Plus there's the matter of different specials being used based on the special level which rises each round that the chain attack is extended (I'm really glad that this isn't random chance anymore) and the enemy's various weaknesses.

It's like pokemon and other RPGs, some element is super effective against some elements. In gamescon stream Rex used ice special to hit the wind orb, that actually count as 2 hits, you can see the wind orb glowing before he used the special. And how the wind orb looks more broken than the earth orb, which is hit once by Tora. I guess you can't choose which orb to hit unless you have special that's super effective. That's why in gamescon the streamer said it doesn't matter which special Nia use, it's just 50/50 chance to hit the wind orb. That also makes things harder and more rewarding when there's multiple orbs.

 

[boo]

Just some quick thoughts based on the pictures of the five blades.

It looks like the five unique blades seen so far can be divided into two groups based on their appearance.

Two are green, with feather or featherlike birdlike features on body or clothes.

The three others have a mysterius sinister royal purple and blue smoke surrounding them. One of them have an eye with a similar colour, another have those colours on his sword.

Therefore, maybe each Titan has a set of uniqe blades, with a unique theme for each set of blades.

Three of the blades looks not to be trifled with, which makes me wonder if you may have to be above a certain level before you can summon some of them.

The green girl (or boy) had that comment about the owner looking easy to control.

-Are the blades being controlled or do they allow themselves to be controlled (I let this idiot use me until I have reached my goal and then bwahaha....)?

-What happens if a blade decide that its owner isnt to the blades liking, e.g. not a strong enough warrior ( I see you summoned me, but I deem you weak, now you must die)?

The more I think about this game the further down the rabbit hole I go.

 

[Soriku]

Did they say how you get new Blades?

They're kind of reminding me of Einherjar from Valkyrie Profile.

 

[Philippo]

Did they say how you get new Blades?

They're kind of reminding me of Einherjar from Valkyrie Profile.

loot boxes

Spoiler

/jk

Spoiler

only half joking actually

 

[Harpoon]

Just some quick thoughts based on the pictures of the five blades.

It looks like the five unique blades seen so far can be divided into two groups based on their appearance.

Two are green, with feather or featherlike birdlike features on body or clothes.

The three others have a mysterius sinister royal purple and blue smoke surrounding them. One of them have an eye with a similar colour, another have those colours on his sword.

Therefore, maybe each Titan has a set of uniqe blades, with a unique theme for each set of blades.

I'm pretty sure the latter three's designs are more a result of them all being the same type; we know darkness is one of the Blade types, and all three look like they'd belong to that.

I also think Finch and Hotaru both having green colour schemes is just the result of their respective artists both independently going for those colours more than anything else.

Did they say how you get new Blades?

They're kind of reminding me of Einherjar from Valkyrie Profile.

There are different types of core crystals (common, rare, etc.) that you get from shops and enemy drops. The Blade that each crystal gives you is randomized.

 

[Smasher89]

loot boxes

Spoiler

/jk

Spoiler

only half joking actually

Most likely reason to feature it that way would be dlc, really hope im wrong though since we got the xenoblade X dlc for free over here last time (and it wasnt stuff to pay money for either since it was grindstuff for postgame).

 

[jorgejjvr]

https://nintendotreehouse.tumblr.co...ike-a-finely-layered-onionor-is-it-onions/amp

Xenoblade 2 Treehouse Blog. Hilariously, they detail the combat again (like is that the only thing they want to talk about?), organizing it into 6 different layers.

That's fine

Don't tell me the story please

 

[CGiRanger]

I notice that a lot of the seemingly non-unique Blades have the same aesthetic look going for them, with their dark blue skin and alien faces:

I wonder if this is because of the Indoline Praetorium and that these are mass-produced Blades (as was hinted at in the trailer that Indoline controls Core Crystal production, which is what makes Blades).

Also, it seems the Mor Ardain ruler has his own personal bodyguard Blade, but does that make him a Driver?

 

[Rmagnus]

Why else would there be a heart on her butt if not to draw attention to it? This is getting more and more ridiculous. Beautiful landscape, though.

Fantastic design can't wait

 

[Joegrine_TT]

 

[tonyh24613]

I watched the Nintendo direct footage again and notice this.

So Nopon-made Blade is a general Nopon technology, not exclusive to Tora?

 

[foxuzamaki]

Gorgous

 

[random25]

I watched the Nintendo direct footage again and notice this.



So Nopon-made Blade is a general Nopon technology, not exclusive to Tora?

Maybe Nopon race does not have an inherent capability to be blade drivers, that's why they go artificial.

 

[Mister Wolf]

I watched the Nintendo direct footage again and notice this.



So Nopon-made Blade is a general Nopon technology, not exclusive to Tora?

I wonder if we will get a situation with a kind Blade attached to a wicked master that we eventually have to destroy.

 

[RoseBell69]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 |OT| Skies of

Spoiler

Arcadia Legends

this time with Titans
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 |OT| Titans, Give Me Strength!

 

[Mory Dunz]

where was this posted?

It's not in game, but it looks nice.

 

[anaron]

Just like a PS1 era promotional art. <3

 

[trezac]

where was this posted?

It's not in game, but it looks nice.

it's from dualshockers :

https://www.dualshockers.com/xenoblade-chronicles-2-screenshots-special-edition-pro-controller/

 

[SatoAilDarko]

As I was re-watching one of the videos, I noticed this screen. I think it's the background for the main menu. But it got me wondering, if it is also the "World Map"?

I mean, you can see Titans on it of course, and since Takahashi has said that there's not going to be any open-flying between Titans, I wonder if we're going to end up selecting Titans to go to from this screen?

I tried to identify the Titans:

But there's already three here that haven't been seen at all.

Seriously, this game is going to be pretty big, and then there's the possibility of areas under the Clouds or above the Tree.

Am I really the first one to bring up the Baten Kaitos series in regards to this?

This is the map from the prequel but it's the exact same (down to the same side art) with you visiting 80% of the same Sky Islands.

You travel to each island by selecting it when you can and then your air ship takes you there. I'm sure it'll be the same here.

Also you do indeed

Spoiler

go under the clouds

in both Baten Kaitos games. Not a late-game spoiler but more of a second-half one.

 

[Dark Cloud]

Wow the inspiration from Baten Kaitos.

 

[CGiRanger]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 |OT| Skies of

Spoiler

Arcadia Legends

this time with Titans

I like the way you think!

This game really feels like a spiritual successor of Skies of Arcadia to me. The way the game looks and feels just give off that vibe.

You have a protagonist who's described as a "really helpful guy" (Vyse -> Rex)

You have a mysterious girl being pursued from unknown origins (Fina -> Pyra)

The world exists in the Sky on floating continents above the clouds (Islands -> Titans)

An enemy nation is pursuing the girl and subjugating other continents (Valua -> Mor Ardain)

There is a mystery beneath the Clouds, and above the Sky.

Oh, and of course, there's Airships. Though true, no airship battles this time of course, or exploring the Sky itself, though it seems there will be some hazards that appear when venturing from Titan to Titan:

And there's definitely going to be more surprises than exist on the world map. Dunno what the hell this thing is. A new type of Telethia? (I'm going to assume they'll make an appearance since one was even in X)

Am I really the first one to bring up the Baten Kaitos series in regards to this?

....

.

Ok yeah, the parallels to Baten Kaitos are stronger. Same studio after all. Would be nice if there were some callbacks to those games in this one somehow. Sadly I guess Namco owns everything regarding that IP

 

[Harpoon]

And there's definitely going to be more surprises than exist on the world map. Dunno what the hell this thing is. A new type of Telethia? (I'm going to assume they'll make an appearance since one was even in X)

That's the Indoline Titan. The head just looks a little different because it's from a different angle.

 

[CGiRanger]

That's the Indoline Titan. The head just looks a little different because it's from a different angle.

Huh, go figure, it really did look a lot different at that angle.

 

[foxuzamaki]

The baiten kaitos callbacks give hope

 

[hellishimp]

Is there any news about dual audio? I am still debating whether to buy the JP or EN version and that may play a big role in it.

 

[anaron]

Am I really the first one to bring up the Baten Kaitos series in regards to this?

This is the map from the prequel but it's the exact same (down to the same side art) with you visiting 80% of the same Sky Islands.

You travel to each island by selecting it when you can and then your air ship takes you there. I'm sure it'll be the same here.

Also you do indeed

Spoiler

go under the clouds

in both Baten Kaitos games. Not a late-game spoiler but more of a second-half one.

I keep thinking someone had already brought it up but YES! The world map image is straight out of BK.

 

[Yam's]

Is there any news about dual audio? I am still debating whether to buy the JP or EN version and that may play a big role in it.

From what I've been told in this thread, there won't be dual audio. I still hope they add it as dlc same way they did for Zelda though.

 

[foxuzamaki]

From what I've been told in this thread, there won't be dual audio. I still hope they add it as dlc same way they did for Zelda though.

Thatd just the guy repeating something that was only shown in the EU direct and have no relation to us and stuff because the game is being translated in multiple languages

 

[CGiRanger]

I watched the Nintendo direct footage again and notice this.

So Nopon-made Blade is a general Nopon technology, not exclusive to Tora?

It definitely is an interesting note. Blade's are synthetic lifeforms at their core, so I suppose the Nopon just have created their own synths to use, though it begs the question why they cannot use normal Blades.

In battle Tora has the same line that connects him to his Blade as Rex has to Pyra, so clearly they have they have replicated that core function.

From what I've been told in this thread, there won't be dual audio. I still hope they add it as dlc same way they did for Zelda though.

The main reasons Dual Audio is not suspected is because it wasn't included in X, and given the size of the game and the dialogue, it'd likely take up a lot of space to put it on the game cartridge.

 

[Sinh_Magnus]

I like the way you think!

This game really feels like a spiritual successor of Skies of Arcadia to me. The way the game looks and feels just give off that vibe.

You have a protagonist who's described as a "really helpful guy" (Vyse -> Rex)

You have a mysterious girl being pursued from unknown origins (Fina -> Pyra)

The world exists in the Sky on floating continents above the clouds (Islands -> Titans)

An enemy nation is pursuing the girl and subjugating other continents (Valua -> Mor Ardain)

There is a mystery beneath the Clouds, and above the Sky...

Even if the parallels are stronger for Baten Kaitos, it does indeed resembles Skies of Arcadia, which is great news to people like me who consider it one of the best games ever played. That's not to say I dislike Baten Kaitos, but I only got to play the first one (and that was many years ago, I barely remember much from it) and Origins is still high on my pending list.

I got my switch last week with Splatoon 2, but Xenoblade 2 was defenitely one of the reasons that encouraged me to finally make the jump. Ironically, I haven't seen compelling trailers or gameplay this time around compared to Xeno X, but on the other hand, two months before X release I had lost interest in that game, after all it came out in Japan months before the western release and by the time it took to localize the game I already had a good idea of the game strong and weak points.

 

[Perfo]

I haven't played the previous Xenoblades but I loved the religious themes touched by Xenogears and Xenosaga. Is there any chance to find something of that in this game?

 

[Akai]

I haven't played the previous Xenoblades but I loved the religious themes touched by Xenogears and Xenosaga. Is there any chance to find something of that in this game?

It's a Xeno game, so of course.

 

[random25]

I haven't played the previous Xenoblades but I loved the religious themes touched by Xenogears and Xenosaga. Is there any chance to find something of that in this game?

The Xenoblade series has religious concepts too, just not as blatantly obvious as Xenogears. It takes more of a gnostic approach rather than direct reference to a religion.

 

[CGiRanger]

I haven't played the previous Xenoblades but I loved the religious themes touched by Xenogears and Xenosaga. Is there any chance to find something of that in this game?

The Indoline Preatorium is a theocracy which controls the Blades. Then of course there's the whole thing with "Elysium" and whatever that could mean.

Xenoblade 1 had it's own share of religious themes though not to the extent of the previous Xeno games. They were pretty much absent from my recollection in X entirely. (though I guess the metaphors would be the Ganglion worship/fear of Samaar)

Even if the parallels are stronger for Baten Kaitos, it does indeed resembles Skies of Arcadia, which is great news to people like me who consider it one of the best games ever played. That's not to say I dislike Baten Kaitos, but I only got to play the first one (and that was many years ago, I barely remember much from it) and Origins is still high on my pending list.

I got my switch last week with Splatoon 2, but Xenoblade 2 was defenitely one of the reasons that encouraged me to finally make the jump. Ironically, I haven't seen compelling trailers or gameplay this time around compared to Xeno X, but on the other hand, two months before X release I had lost interest in that game, after all it came out in Japan months before the western release and by the time it took to localize the game I already had a good idea of the game strong and weak points.

Yeah, I played Skies of Arcadia back on the Dreamcast and it was one of the true hallmarks of that console, and a shame it didn't reach a wide audience (I don't think even its Gamecube re-release got much traction). Baten Kaitos was a good game, but the original was let down by some very bad voice acting and mixing. I think origins fixed that a bit.

Even though it's not the same composer, it would be nice if we could get something crazy musical like the Chaotic Dance themes from those games:

Chaotic Dance 1
Chaotic Dance 2