One concern I have about X is that, while I haven't played Xenoblade, it has a pretty unique look to it and I'm told subverts a lot of the standards JRPG trappings, which I find really interesting
What I've seen of X looks pretty generic, or at least just looks like Xenosaga and Xenogears
Like I hear now you just create a player character and they're a silent protagonist which is laaaaaaaaaame
I didn't have much investment in Shulk at all so the create-a-protag won't really bother me unless they foul up the writing with other characters. Or maybe if the hair options suck. Every game needs Destiny quality hair options.
I am worried about the world uniqueness though. It doesn't exactly look generic, but they are clearly going for a more realistic style and I hope it isn't at the cost of creative vision. Xenoblade is one of the most creative games in years.
I'm not really sure how creative Xenoblade is. I like the idea of the setting, but they don't really go beyond skin deep with it. Sure you're living on a giant, which is weird...but they never explain how gravity works, or whether the caves you go into are inside the thing or all the rock is layered on top of it. I want to know how it all works, but it's just window dressing for your standard plains, forests, caves, etc. The monsters are just standard wolves and goblins with fancy skins over them. You're a teen with no family in sight that gets a magic sword and goes on a quest with his friends to help his home town by fighting monsters. There's even cute mascot characters (Nopon, Moogles, Prinny, etc.) and I think they just introduced this world's elves. I think I called the main plot 'twist' about five hours into the game. (Edit: I think they didn't explain anything about magic/ether or gems or anything either, it's just there.)
I think them trying to make the original game in any way realistic would be a drastically terrible mistake.
They didnt really go too skin deep, but they did realize a spectacularly massive world that exists on a millennium old fully stationary bipedal organism. An internally and externally consistent world that also has a huge variety of different environments.
That is monstrously creative. I wish I had come up with something that cool. In the face of that, I personally just can't even be distracted by things like how gravity works or the impossible logistics. Different strokes, I suppose.
The plot, yeah, is fairly standard jrpg. No question. But the setting and characters really take it to some excellent places by the end.
Being a pilot who's tasked with staying behind to shoot aliens and missiles attacking humanity's surviving escape ship, right before the earth's detonation, must suuuuuuuck.
There are lots of fantasy stories about a world being on top of a giant or a giant creature...
From the opening and the way it looks in game I thought it was going to be more of a sci fi take on it, but it's just magic apparently, which is what was so disappointing.
I'm not really sure how creative Xenoblade is. I like the idea of the setting, but they don't really go beyond skin deep with it. Sure you're living on a giant, which is weird...but they never explain how gravity works, or whether the caves you go into are inside the thing or all the rock is layered on top of it. I want to know how it all works, but it's just window dressing for your standard plains, forests, caves, etc. The monsters are just standard wolves and goblins with fancy skins over them. You're a teen with no family in sight that gets a magic sword and goes on a quest with his friends to help his home town by fighting monsters. There's even cute mascot characters (Nopon, Moogles, Prinny, etc.) and I think they just introduced this world's elves. I think I called the main plot 'twist' about five hours into the game. (Edit: I think they didn't explain anything about magic/ether or gems or anything either, it's just there.)
I dunno man, the plot twists, then you go a bit further and it keeps twisting. And then it keeps twisting. And then it twists some more, so much that you think the whole thing's just going to snap. By the end of the game it's hanging on by a string, what with all the twisting. Or, I dunno, maybe if you watch a lot of anime it's all really obvious, but I absolutely did not expect some of the stuff that happened in that game.
Also if you're not feeling the lack of exposition, there'll be more as you go. They don't explain everything but there's a lot of history and lore to uncover as you go. They just (quite wisely, in my opinion) didn't front-load the game with it.
+1
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turtleantGunpla Dadis the best.Registered Userregular
There are lots of fantasy stories about a world being on top of a giant or a giant creature...
From the opening and the way it looks in game I thought it was going to be more of a sci fi take on it, but it's just magic apparently, which is what was so disappointing.
I mean,
The primary antagonists are a race of giant robots.
Your main character has a huge laser sword, and one of your party members fights with a laser rifle as big as she is.
Theirs a ton of technology around, especially farther in the game.
It's got plenty of sci-fi elements.
+2
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turtleantGunpla Dadis the best.Registered Userregular
Also I distinctly remember the game explaining ether, where it comes from, and its uses.
I really dislike end-heavy games, personally. Like when I got 35 hours in to Persona 3 and was told the story really picks up around hour 50. I'd rather have the crazy stuff spread out a bit...it's not going to help me if the last 1/4 of Xenoblade is great when the first 3/4 is walking back and forth across this one giant area doing quests.
I really dislike end-heavy games, personally. Like when I got 35 hours in to Persona 3 and was told the story really picks up around hour 50. I'd rather have the crazy stuff spread out a bit...it's not going to help me if the last 1/4 of Xenoblade is great when the first 3/4 is walking back and forth across this one giant area doing quests.
That said, you can burn a ton of time doing quests. It's generally recommended to not do that. You'll definitely burn out if you try to do all of them.
There are lots of fantasy stories about a world being on top of a giant or a giant creature...
From the opening and the way it looks in game I thought it was going to be more of a sci fi take on it, but it's just magic apparently, which is what was so disappointing.
I mean,
The primary antagonists are a race of giant robots.
Your main character has a huge laser sword, and one of your party members fights with a laser rifle as big as she is.
Theirs a ton of technology around, especially farther in the game.
It's got plenty of sci-fi elements.
Also I distinctly remember the game explaining ether, where it comes from, and its uses.
They're not sci fi robots, though. They're just the same Final Fantasy magic robots as in almost every JRPG.
The main character has a magic sword...it doesn't do anything particularly lasery. It can't cut half the robots for magical reasons, not science reasons. They don't get new parts or find a bigger battery for it, he goes on quests and has visions to power it up. She does have a laser rifle, she has a magical ether gun that shoots healing magic bullets.
If they explained ether I must have missed it or it wasn't a big enough reveal to have me remember it. I'm like 20-25 hours in.
I really dislike end-heavy games, personally. Like when I got 35 hours in to Persona 3 and was told the story really picks up around hour 50. I'd rather have the crazy stuff spread out a bit...it's not going to help me if the last 1/4 of Xenoblade is great when the first 3/4 is walking back and forth across this one giant area doing quests.
That isn't really what Xenoblade is
Its pacing is one of the better things about it
I just spent 10 hours in one giant zone. Then opened up a new giant zone I need to walk across while doing quests...
Xenoblade is one of those games that just straight up isn't for everyone but for the people it is for it clicks so deeply that it's hard to realize how narrow its appeal is
There is almost absolutely no science in the Xenoblade world, science in the strict sense. It does things when it wants to, and doesn't really rely on any absurd pretenses of reality. Which is actually a pretty big differentiating factor from most jrpgs with sci fi elements. They always want to tie in some bullshit reality nonsense.
Xenoblade doesn't care. It does impossible things just because it is a story and it can. That's really refreshing to me, but if you are looking for any ties to reality in the game you're not going to like it. It does fiction many many times more than science.
There are lots of fantasy stories about a world being on top of a giant or a giant creature...
From the opening and the way it looks in game I thought it was going to be more of a sci fi take on it, but it's just magic apparently, which is what was so disappointing.
I mean,
The primary antagonists are a race of giant robots.
Your main character has a huge laser sword, and one of your party members fights with a laser rifle as big as she is.
Theirs a ton of technology around, especially farther in the game.
It's got plenty of sci-fi elements.
Also I distinctly remember the game explaining ether, where it comes from, and its uses.
They're not sci fi robots, though. They're just the same Final Fantasy magic robots as in almost every JRPG.
The main character has a magic sword...it doesn't do anything particularly lasery. It can't cut half the robots for magical reasons, not science reasons. They don't get new parts or find a bigger battery for it, he goes on quests and has visions to power it up. She does have a laser rifle, she has a magical ether gun that shoots healing magic bullets.
If they explained ether I must have missed it or it wasn't a big enough reveal to have me remember it. I'm like 20-25 hours in.
For 95% of most science fiction I've experienced, the "science" is every bit as realistic as what you're calling "magic" here. The only difference is they make it sound more realistic with technobabble. I feel like you're drawing a really arbitrary distinction here.
That said, if it's not clicking for you by now, it's probably not going to suddenly do so later. Sounds like there's a lot about the aesthetics you aren't into and the aesthetics are the heart of the game.
Coming back to it this second time, I'm just really unsure about the combat system. It doesn't seem like there's really much for me to do beyond cycle through abilities. Everything that's not level 80 dies incredibly easily, even bosses.
And it feels odd to be expected to just run past a million of said level 80 enemies to get across this giant swamp to hit the next cutscene flag. Not sure what will happen next, but I'm going to assume it wants me to teleport around to all the checkpoints I just unlocked like before, doing quests.
I don't love the combat. The ability line is clunky and awkward and seems primarily based on mmo combat without realizing that the key factor there is you have a keyboard in an mmo.
For 95% of most science fiction I've experienced, the "science" is every bit as realistic as what you're calling "magic" here. The only difference is they make it sound more realistic with technobabble. I feel like you're drawing a really arbitrary distinction here.
That said, if it's not clicking for you by now, it's probably not going to suddenly do so later. Sounds like there's a lot about the aesthetics you aren't into and the aesthetics are the heart of the game.
I basically want it to be Phantasy Star IV or PSO. In that, magic exists but only a few people do it, but everyone can use Techniques and they're presented as science. Robots have to attach new upgrades to get new moves, you drive around in tanks and hovercraft, ride spaceships and use teleporters. They talk about why each planet is different, what the rotation or distance from the sun means, travel to space stations and dodge asteroid belts.
I really like the character designs except for the faces which are horrible, blurry, flat images laid on top of their heads, apparently. In battle when you can't see their face it is fine.
I also really like how far away you can see, especially when you can see another area or the other giant in the background. I really liked that stuff in Dark Souls, too.
Xenoblade is one of those games that just straight up isn't for everyone but for the people it is for it clicks so deeply that it's hard to realize how narrow its appeal is
See also: dark souls, dota, monster hunter
The interesting thing about Xenoblade to me is that I like the game, but I really don't get what some people go crazy for.
Like, I found the writing to be fine (mostly), but not particularly great. And in some spots it get aggressively melodramatic and cliche in a way that irritates me, especially at the end.
And more often than not I found the gigantic maps to be more a detriment to my enjoyment.
I have a sudden and random desire to play Path of Radience sometime
yessss
good uh, random instinct
I think it's because PL vs. PW is so light and breezy that I feel I can commit to the billionty hours PoR would take me.
I know that NA 'Easy' mode doesn't exist in the Japanese version, and that NA 'Normal' is Japanese 'Easy'. Does that make NA 'Hard' a Normal Fire Emblem difficulty?
I have a sudden and random desire to play Path of Radience sometime
yessss
good uh, random instinct
I think it's because PL vs. PW is so light and breezy that I feel I can commit to the billionty hours PoR would take me.
I know that NA 'Easy' mode doesn't exist in the Japanese version, and that NA 'Normal' is Japanese 'Easy'. Does that make NA 'Hard' a Normal Fire Emblem difficulty?
oh, lord
I could be wrong on this but I think NA Normal and Hard are roughly equivalent to Japanese Normal and Hard, and the only difficulty change was that they scrubbed Lunatic mode in favor of Easy for the west? So it's just Hard, but that's kind of a flexible term in the grand spectrum of Fire Emblems.
Path is one of the easier games, and I don't remember anything being really tough even on Hard (since Ike is a monster and can't die). But there's not really a reward or anything for beating Hard mode. There's one minor story change in the endgame and that's it.
Ash Ketchum nard actually survives long enough to harness the medallion's power a little bit, and after you kill him he comes roarin' back for round 2 all gross and corpse-y looking
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That doesnt even fit the look of Majoras Mask
?
What I've seen of X looks pretty generic, or at least just looks like Xenosaga and Xenogears
Like I hear now you just create a player character and they're a silent protagonist which is laaaaaaaaaame
I am worried about the world uniqueness though. It doesn't exactly look generic, but they are clearly going for a more realistic style and I hope it isn't at the cost of creative vision. Xenoblade is one of the most creative games in years.
That sandworm alone
I haven't really seen any of that, all I've seen is "I dunno, mechs and space shit and a city?"
I can't watch the Direct tomorrow but I'm hoping to see some cool stuff when I can get around to it
They didnt really go too skin deep, but they did realize a spectacularly massive world that exists on a millennium old fully stationary bipedal organism. An internally and externally consistent world that also has a huge variety of different environments.
That is monstrously creative. I wish I had come up with something that cool. In the face of that, I personally just can't even be distracted by things like how gravity works or the impossible logistics. Different strokes, I suppose.
The plot, yeah, is fairly standard jrpg. No question. But the setting and characters really take it to some excellent places by the end.
From the opening and the way it looks in game I thought it was going to be more of a sci fi take on it, but it's just magic apparently, which is what was so disappointing.
I dunno man, the plot twists, then you go a bit further and it keeps twisting. And then it keeps twisting. And then it twists some more, so much that you think the whole thing's just going to snap. By the end of the game it's hanging on by a string, what with all the twisting. Or, I dunno, maybe if you watch a lot of anime it's all really obvious, but I absolutely did not expect some of the stuff that happened in that game.
Also if you're not feeling the lack of exposition, there'll be more as you go. They don't explain everything but there's a lot of history and lore to uncover as you go. They just (quite wisely, in my opinion) didn't front-load the game with it.
I mean,
The primary antagonists are a race of giant robots.
Your main character has a huge laser sword, and one of your party members fights with a laser rifle as big as she is.
Theirs a ton of technology around, especially farther in the game.
It's got plenty of sci-fi elements.
That isn't really what Xenoblade is
Its pacing is one of the better things about it
Switch: SW-7603-3284-4227
My ACNH Wishlists | My ACNH Catalog
They're not sci fi robots, though. They're just the same Final Fantasy magic robots as in almost every JRPG.
The main character has a magic sword...it doesn't do anything particularly lasery. It can't cut half the robots for magical reasons, not science reasons. They don't get new parts or find a bigger battery for it, he goes on quests and has visions to power it up. She does have a laser rifle, she has a magical ether gun that shoots healing magic bullets.
If they explained ether I must have missed it or it wasn't a big enough reveal to have me remember it. I'm like 20-25 hours in.
I just spent 10 hours in one giant zone. Then opened up a new giant zone I need to walk across while doing quests...
They're not necessary and the payout is not high
Your enjoyment of the game will double or triple if you skip out on sidequests for a while, at least until the game has its hooks in you
See also: dark souls, dota, monster hunter
http://www.audioentropy.com/
I like certain things about it but the core driving mechanics are just too simplistic for me to get super invested in it
http://www.audioentropy.com/
Xenoblade doesn't care. It does impossible things just because it is a story and it can. That's really refreshing to me, but if you are looking for any ties to reality in the game you're not going to like it. It does fiction many many times more than science.
For 95% of most science fiction I've experienced, the "science" is every bit as realistic as what you're calling "magic" here. The only difference is they make it sound more realistic with technobabble. I feel like you're drawing a really arbitrary distinction here.
That said, if it's not clicking for you by now, it's probably not going to suddenly do so later. Sounds like there's a lot about the aesthetics you aren't into and the aesthetics are the heart of the game.
And it feels odd to be expected to just run past a million of said level 80 enemies to get across this giant swamp to hit the next cutscene flag. Not sure what will happen next, but I'm going to assume it wants me to teleport around to all the checkpoints I just unlocked like before, doing quests.
star wars is science fantasy!
yessss
good uh, random instinct
I basically want it to be Phantasy Star IV or PSO. In that, magic exists but only a few people do it, but everyone can use Techniques and they're presented as science. Robots have to attach new upgrades to get new moves, you drive around in tanks and hovercraft, ride spaceships and use teleporters. They talk about why each planet is different, what the rotation or distance from the sun means, travel to space stations and dodge asteroid belts.
I really like the character designs except for the faces which are horrible, blurry, flat images laid on top of their heads, apparently. In battle when you can't see their face it is fine.
I also really like how far away you can see, especially when you can see another area or the other giant in the background. I really liked that stuff in Dark Souls, too.
The interesting thing about Xenoblade to me is that I like the game, but I really don't get what some people go crazy for.
Like, I found the writing to be fine (mostly), but not particularly great. And in some spots it get aggressively melodramatic and cliche in a way that irritates me, especially at the end.
And more often than not I found the gigantic maps to be more a detriment to my enjoyment.
I think it's because PL vs. PW is so light and breezy that I feel I can commit to the billionty hours PoR would take me.
I know that NA 'Easy' mode doesn't exist in the Japanese version, and that NA 'Normal' is Japanese 'Easy'. Does that make NA 'Hard' a Normal Fire Emblem difficulty?
Switch: SW-7603-3284-4227
My ACNH Wishlists | My ACNH Catalog
oh, lord
I could be wrong on this but I think NA Normal and Hard are roughly equivalent to Japanese Normal and Hard, and the only difficulty change was that they scrubbed Lunatic mode in favor of Easy for the west? So it's just Hard, but that's kind of a flexible term in the grand spectrum of Fire Emblems.
Path is one of the easier games, and I don't remember anything being really tough even on Hard (since Ike is a monster and can't die). But there's not really a reward or anything for beating Hard mode. There's one minor story change in the endgame and that's it.
this is a good term for it
I think like 99% of science fiction japanese RPGs fall into this category, and star wars