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Xenoblade Thread. Done...and Dusted.
Xenogears of Bore
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Registered User regular
Xenoblade FAQ
What is Xenoblade?
A Nintendo JRPG, developed by Monolith Soft. A spiritual successor to both Xenogears and the Xenosaga franchises, though much better than either of those. Monolith Soft made all three Xenosaga games and was initially founded by square refugees who had worked on Xenogears and Chrono Cross. They were also responsible for both Baiten Kaitos titles. This game is better than any of those. Xenoblade was originally titled, Monado: The Beginning of the World, a title which makes a lot more sense but wouldn't have been able to cash in as well on its foundation.
How does it play?
A lot like a fun version of FF XIII or most MMORPGS. You control one character in real time and your abilities have a cool down, plus you auto attack when close enough to the enemy. When your party gauge is full, however, you can launch a chain attack and all your cooldowns disappear and you can assign actions for your party members while your enemy does jack nothing. By matching the color of your moves (Blue=Non offensive spells, Purple=Ether Attack Spells, Red=Offensive attacks, Pink=Break Attacks, Green=Topple Attacks, Yellow=Daze Attacks, Orange=Auras) you can multiply the effectiveness of attacks used. Chain attacks normally end at three, but sometimes the b button qte will come up, and if you successfully complete it you get another go around. Long chains can go into the high teens or low 20's.
Out of combat you run around completing (or ignoring) quests while going about the plot. The game is gigantic though. Remember the overworld that unlocks in FF XIII 30 hours in? The third zone in Xenoblade is bigger and has more to do, and its not even the biggest zone in the game. Tons of named monsters (Think WoW elites) roam the land, some at ridiculously high levels. Tons of hidden areas to be explored, tons of landmarks and waypoints for fast travel in each zone keep you from being overwhelmed.
What else does it feature?
Real time cutscenes, flash backs that remember what your character was wearing, visable armour in said cutscenes, all of which are skippable, though you really wouldn't want to. A fairly robust gem crafting and socketing system, skill trees which you can share pieces of with other characters, decent art selection (attack commands) which allow most characters to have at least two solid roles (Melee, Tank, Healer, Status user, AOE Magic, Single Target Magic) A decent british dub to go alongside the respectable original japanese audio, and subtitles in most European languages. Oh, also the best RPG soundtrack since Chrono Cross.
Also of note that the in game tutorial descriptions are really well done and a very useful tool.
How long is this game?
The fastest I've heard anyone beat it is around 65 hours. To do everything you're looking at closer to 200. I was at 70 hours around the half way point in the game. The quests for good or for ill are basically straight out of the friendliest MMO you could imagine with high drop rates and usually low amounts of said drops needed, but there are a few hundred of them.
How's the story?
Unlike the rest of the Xeno franchise, this one is actually comprehensible. Two giant robots, the Bionis and the Mechonis fought each other long ago seemingly to a standstill. These titans are home to different types of lifeforms, with the Bionis hosting all sorts of biological life, including the humanesque Homs and the Mechonis host to a race of cyborg/robot things. The game starts off with an attack on the Homs Colony 9 by said Mechons, and the aftermath of those events.
I'm American/Canadian, does this mean I have to import it?
It does. You'll have to mod your Wii or buy a PAL zone Wii as well. I won't provide instructions but it is not difficult, though it will void your warranty.
How about going over the various status effects?
Break: Represented by the color pink, break is what allows most topple attacks to work. Break lasts longer than most of the other status's, but is basically useless on its own.
Topple: Represented by the color green, topple is what allows normal weapons to effect the Mechon. When under the effects of topple you or the enemy cannot take any actions, but you can still be effect by spike damage. Almost everything outside of a few flying enemies are vulnerable to topple.
Daze: Represented by the color yellow, daze is (usually) an additional effect to those that are toppled. Think of it as a super topple as it even prevents spike damage from occuring. Note that most bosses are immune to daze.
Blaze/Chill/Poison: Damage over time effects. Depending on who is casting them some of these effects have additional added effects on top of them, but basically its just extra damage over a period of time.
Spike: When you hit something with a spikes value, you take that much damage in return. Usually not a problem, but some monsters have incredibly high spike values. Various skills and gems can eliminate this.
Sleep: Take no actions, are revived when struck physically. You also take extra damage from critical hits in this state.
Auras: Represented by the color orange (though Shulk has one that is blue and all of Melia's are technically Blue as well. These are your stat buffs. Use them wisely. The tanking ones in particular are fantastic for getting aggro onto your tank.
How does Gem Crafting work?
Gem Man's Stall in Colony 9 or the portable gem maker you can get from rebuilding Colony 6 to a degree and doing some quests. Gems are your customizable crafting bit of this single player MMO. Basically you get ether crystals from one of two sources, mining them up from deposits or getting them from monsters. Monster crystals are white while mined crystals are always a certain color depending on the deposit:
Fire-Red
Water=Dark Blue
Ice=Light Blue
Wind=Green
Earth=Orange
Electricity=Yellow
and each crystal will have 1-4 abilities on it at a certain percentage. Each crystal is also ranked I-V, and when you mine these they will be named accordingly. Small=I, Large=II, Pretty=III, Brilliant=IV, Rare=V. Deposits only have one rank of crystal in each and so does each individual monster. Deposits can sometimes give you two crystals for each pull, usually with higher percentages on each one. To make a gem out of crystals you need at least two crystals, and the game forces you to make one if you go over 100% in any one ability (100%=one guaranteed crystal of that level)
So here is an early example. I have two red strength up crystals at level one. One has 14%, the other 96, giving me a total of 110% If I had a third crystal at 44% I couldn't add it in now, but if I added it second I would only be at 58, allowing me to add the 96 to get to 154%. Why would you want to go over 100? At 200% you get into a state called Heat and the gem produced is ONE LEVEL HIGHER. At 300% you go into a state called MEGA HEAT and you get two PERFECT GEMS ONE LEVEL HIGHER.
How do you get those extra percents? Well, you match up two of your party members and based on their gem crafting strengths and special ability and level and affinity and some randomness, well, you'll see when you do it. Just know that because of their awesome starting affinity and decent abilities that Reyn/Shulk will be your goto guys for the early part of the game. If you want to break down crystals into their component parts and raise them up slowly, then you can't go wrong with NAME REDACTED and Riki, as they produce a lot of cylinders together. Cylinders are what you get when you do the gem crafting process but don't reach 100%. You might not always get to keep them all though so be careful. Much of the later "fun" of this game involves seperating out amazing high level crystals with stuff like Critical up 89% without hitting one hundred percent.
What is Xenoblade?
A Nintendo JRPG, developed by Monolith Soft. A spiritual successor to both Xenogears and the Xenosaga franchises, though much better than either of those. Monolith Soft made all three Xenosaga games and was initially founded by square refugees who had worked on Xenogears and Chrono Cross. They were also responsible for both Baiten Kaitos titles. This game is better than any of those. Xenoblade was originally titled, Monado: The Beginning of the World, a title which makes a lot more sense but wouldn't have been able to cash in as well on its foundation.
How does it play?
A lot like a fun version of FF XIII or most MMORPGS. You control one character in real time and your abilities have a cool down, plus you auto attack when close enough to the enemy. When your party gauge is full, however, you can launch a chain attack and all your cooldowns disappear and you can assign actions for your party members while your enemy does jack nothing. By matching the color of your moves (Blue=Non offensive spells, Purple=Ether Attack Spells, Red=Offensive attacks, Pink=Break Attacks, Green=Topple Attacks, Yellow=Daze Attacks, Orange=Auras) you can multiply the effectiveness of attacks used. Chain attacks normally end at three, but sometimes the b button qte will come up, and if you successfully complete it you get another go around. Long chains can go into the high teens or low 20's.
Out of combat you run around completing (or ignoring) quests while going about the plot. The game is gigantic though. Remember the overworld that unlocks in FF XIII 30 hours in? The third zone in Xenoblade is bigger and has more to do, and its not even the biggest zone in the game. Tons of named monsters (Think WoW elites) roam the land, some at ridiculously high levels. Tons of hidden areas to be explored, tons of landmarks and waypoints for fast travel in each zone keep you from being overwhelmed.
What else does it feature?
Real time cutscenes, flash backs that remember what your character was wearing, visable armour in said cutscenes, all of which are skippable, though you really wouldn't want to. A fairly robust gem crafting and socketing system, skill trees which you can share pieces of with other characters, decent art selection (attack commands) which allow most characters to have at least two solid roles (Melee, Tank, Healer, Status user, AOE Magic, Single Target Magic) A decent british dub to go alongside the respectable original japanese audio, and subtitles in most European languages. Oh, also the best RPG soundtrack since Chrono Cross.
Also of note that the in game tutorial descriptions are really well done and a very useful tool.
How long is this game?
The fastest I've heard anyone beat it is around 65 hours. To do everything you're looking at closer to 200. I was at 70 hours around the half way point in the game. The quests for good or for ill are basically straight out of the friendliest MMO you could imagine with high drop rates and usually low amounts of said drops needed, but there are a few hundred of them.
How's the story?
Unlike the rest of the Xeno franchise, this one is actually comprehensible. Two giant robots, the Bionis and the Mechonis fought each other long ago seemingly to a standstill. These titans are home to different types of lifeforms, with the Bionis hosting all sorts of biological life, including the humanesque Homs and the Mechonis host to a race of cyborg/robot things. The game starts off with an attack on the Homs Colony 9 by said Mechons, and the aftermath of those events.
I'm American/Canadian, does this mean I have to import it?
It does. You'll have to mod your Wii or buy a PAL zone Wii as well. I won't provide instructions but it is not difficult, though it will void your warranty.
How about going over the various status effects?
Break: Represented by the color pink, break is what allows most topple attacks to work. Break lasts longer than most of the other status's, but is basically useless on its own.
Topple: Represented by the color green, topple is what allows normal weapons to effect the Mechon. When under the effects of topple you or the enemy cannot take any actions, but you can still be effect by spike damage. Almost everything outside of a few flying enemies are vulnerable to topple.
Daze: Represented by the color yellow, daze is (usually) an additional effect to those that are toppled. Think of it as a super topple as it even prevents spike damage from occuring. Note that most bosses are immune to daze.
Blaze/Chill/Poison: Damage over time effects. Depending on who is casting them some of these effects have additional added effects on top of them, but basically its just extra damage over a period of time.
Spike: When you hit something with a spikes value, you take that much damage in return. Usually not a problem, but some monsters have incredibly high spike values. Various skills and gems can eliminate this.
Sleep: Take no actions, are revived when struck physically. You also take extra damage from critical hits in this state.
Auras: Represented by the color orange (though Shulk has one that is blue and all of Melia's are technically Blue as well. These are your stat buffs. Use them wisely. The tanking ones in particular are fantastic for getting aggro onto your tank.
How does Gem Crafting work?
Gem Man's Stall in Colony 9 or the portable gem maker you can get from rebuilding Colony 6 to a degree and doing some quests. Gems are your customizable crafting bit of this single player MMO. Basically you get ether crystals from one of two sources, mining them up from deposits or getting them from monsters. Monster crystals are white while mined crystals are always a certain color depending on the deposit:
Fire-Red
Water=Dark Blue
Ice=Light Blue
Wind=Green
Earth=Orange
Electricity=Yellow
and each crystal will have 1-4 abilities on it at a certain percentage. Each crystal is also ranked I-V, and when you mine these they will be named accordingly. Small=I, Large=II, Pretty=III, Brilliant=IV, Rare=V. Deposits only have one rank of crystal in each and so does each individual monster. Deposits can sometimes give you two crystals for each pull, usually with higher percentages on each one. To make a gem out of crystals you need at least two crystals, and the game forces you to make one if you go over 100% in any one ability (100%=one guaranteed crystal of that level)
So here is an early example. I have two red strength up crystals at level one. One has 14%, the other 96, giving me a total of 110% If I had a third crystal at 44% I couldn't add it in now, but if I added it second I would only be at 58, allowing me to add the 96 to get to 154%. Why would you want to go over 100? At 200% you get into a state called Heat and the gem produced is ONE LEVEL HIGHER. At 300% you go into a state called MEGA HEAT and you get two PERFECT GEMS ONE LEVEL HIGHER.
How do you get those extra percents? Well, you match up two of your party members and based on their gem crafting strengths and special ability and level and affinity and some randomness, well, you'll see when you do it. Just know that because of their awesome starting affinity and decent abilities that Reyn/Shulk will be your goto guys for the early part of the game. If you want to break down crystals into their component parts and raise them up slowly, then you can't go wrong with NAME REDACTED and Riki, as they produce a lot of cylinders together. Cylinders are what you get when you do the gem crafting process but don't reach 100%. You might not always get to keep them all though so be careful. Much of the later "fun" of this game involves seperating out amazing high level crystals with stuff like Critical up 89% without hitting one hundred percent.
3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
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Steam: pazython
This game is coming to America, I really wouldn't worry about it.
But the question is... is it any good?
Finally
edit: woo, yes! it is!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN9EC3Gy6Nk
Europe needs a national anthem, so I just picked the first one I could find on youtube.
Good question!
Basically the story as I have it is that people in that branches email list got an email saying the quoted text this morning. It could be an elaborate early April Fool's joke...but I'm guessing it is not.
But they've got a trailer up, at least. It doesn't really want to load for me, but it's there.
Dutch Nintendo Site
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN FROM THE GIANT ROBOT GOD.
USA did get Excitebots though which was totally mindblowingly radtacular.
E: That makes sense: Yasunori Mitsuda. One of my favorites!!
Well that's just great. What am I supposed to do with my stabbin' knife now? Well, I guess there's eBay.
Steam: pazython
From a review I googled.
One thing that struck me right from the start was the fact that while Yoko Shimomura was touted as the game’s composer, she was only responsible for about 15% of the music. As it turns out, Manami Kiyota, who is known for her lyrics and vocal performances on Final Fantasy Song Book [mahoroba] and The Black Mages III, handled about 50% of the music (who knew she was a composer?) and ACE+ (Tomori Kido and 10 Short Stories vocalist CHiCO + Kenji Hiramatsu) were responsible for the remainder. Quite an odd distribution of labor considering it was supposed to be Shimomura’s soundtrack, but I guess that really doesn’t matter in the end. The music here is all quality stuff.
Mitsuda did do the end theme though.
Jugding by that video, the gameplay consists of running around extremely large distances and jumping off tall things.
So, like a cross-country track version Mirror's Edge RPG or something?
Combat is more like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex40lN4RIvE
And yeah, E3 ought to confirm it for NA too, along with Last Story, I hope. If not then this is probably the easiest import decision in a long time.
It's not anywhere near close to working hours in Washington State so the game might even be announced today.
Wait, Balls as in ballin', or balls as in awful? BK was really bad but BK:O was really good, so it could go either way, right?
Nintendo funded BK's localization, Scamco was the one who actually did it via a fairly shoddy overseas english VA outfit.
BK:O was actually localized by Nintendo (I believe they hired 8-4 or their precursor for the actual work) and it has probably the best voice acting of any English game last generation.
This being a Nintendo product would more likely fit into the BKO sort of style.
The localization could be fantastic, but seeing it's in the end of the Wii's life span as the Wii2 is likely going to be announced at E3, shifting NOA and NOE's priorities, I remain cautiously optimistic!
FE: PoR had a great script and shitty, limited VA.
FE:RD had a great script, a decent narrator, and slightly less shitty VA.
MoM had spotty VA and a terrible script.
Does anyone know if it works with the Classic Controller Pro?
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
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NNID: carmofin
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Throw me a PM if you add me
If we can get this and Last Story, it will be a glorious year for console JRPGs.
Gamer Tag: LeeWay0
PSN: Leeway0
The biggest criticism I've seen is that the game has way too many quests. Most just skip them and move on with the main story.
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
Considering this is just that Monado: The End of the World game just rebranded, no. They only changed it to Xenoblade to increase sales.
NNID: Glenn565
Does it at least thematically feel like a Xeno game? I'm hoping it has as compelling a story and characters, only without losing its budget in the 2nd half.
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
Pokemon White Friend Code: 0046-2121-0723/White 2 Friend Code: 0519-5126-2990
"Did ya hear the one about the mussel that wanted to purchase Valve? Seems like the bivalve had a juicy offer on the table but the company flat-out refused and decided to immediately clam up!"