Xenoblade Chronicles 2

[Bluie]

So, Xenoblade 2 came out yesterday. While I didn't end up finishing the first game (don't hurt me) and I was turned off at how 'anime' Xenoblade 2 looked in it's reveal trailer in January, I realized that as i'm a Switch only gamer right now, I've played most (not all) the big titles this year and decided to pick this game up regardless.

I'm not usually into the gameplay of these types of games (kinda like a MORPG?) but so far, i'm enjoying it a ton. I've just hit chapter 3 so no spoilers if anyone has played more! I'd have to say the game feels like i'm playing through an anime, which can be good or bad depending on who pick up the game. It's very expressive, the cutscenes are masterfully done, and the voice work (playing with the Japanese voices) is spot on.

Anywho, it's fun. My only complaints so far is that ive had it freeze once after a bossfight, and the RNG for getting Rare Blades (essentially new party members) hates me. 20+ cores and not one Rare blade yet orz.

Anyone else picking this up or looking into it?

[Kikki]

Weeeelll...because I ordered it from Amazon, I do not have it yet. :/ I won't have it until Dec. 5 to 7. (I wish Nintendo's big releases weren't always on a Friday...it always means I'll always have an extra two-day delay in getting the game if I am going with a physical copy rather than digital.) So rather than my impression of the game after playing, these are my feelings from everything I've seen so far while waiting for it. Proof of how wrong (or right) I was in a few days once I have my hands on it and my impressions are either confirmed or corrected.

I've played the first game through three times and the second game twice. Loved both a LOT. In fact, Xenoblade Chronicles is one of my all-time favourite games and if I meet a fellow gamer who didn't like it, that alone automatically leans me toward thinking I probably won't have a lot in common with them when it comes to our taste in entertainment, as the first Xenoblade almost encapsulates what I love in a game. As for X, I wouldn't have loved it if I had been like many others and had been expecting it to be more like the first game (some people even seemed to have thought Shulk would be in it!) but it looked totally different to me so I went into it already thinking it would be nothing like my adventure with Shulk and Co, so I didn't have any disappointment to try to look past as I played. Plus I didn't dislike the character art style.

Long story short: Me = Big Xenoblade Fan. So I do have lot of thoughts on what I know so far. Of course with me, it's always long, so...

Spoiler:

Obviously nothing I say at this point can be a spoiler. Since I don't have the game and all, lol. I have had it pre-ordered since May but I haven't been super hyped about it because...Rex. In general I don't feel like the characters look like they belong in the world. The world is beautiful, and a sort of watercolour/ink version of reality with fantasy concepts all over the place. It is NOT cartoony to me. And yet, the characters all looked like they were cut and paste into Alrest straight from an anime, and I find it jarring. To me they just don't blend. I like the way the characters look on their own...they'd make a fun anime...and I love the art of the settings, but...they just don't mesh, for me.

Also...the girls are too sexy for my taste. No...correction! It's more that...if the ladies of the game are going to be that hot, I want the men to be sexier, too. I feel like only people who like looking at women are getting any fan service in this game, but if they're going to get some, I want some, too! So many of the rare blades are attractive girls and women, but the male ones mostly look like monsters or lumpy, ugly brutes. And the men have every inch of skin covered for the most part and Pyra is 3/4 exposed along with many other female characters. I think she's adorable and don't mind looking at her at all, but I wanted more equality to the fan service, lol. It makes me feel like the developers don't care if I like the game, as long as their target market likes it. Like... "Well, okay, there's some leftovers so we'll let you play it, too. But we didn't make it for you, so don't expect to get any of the dozens of little extras we've put in for the players we DO care about."

But putting fan-service issues aside...

Rex looks 10...maybe 12 or so if you account for how huge they tend to make the eyes regardless of age. I mean, if he IS ten, then he looks great. Cute spunky little fella. But I don't enjoy playing with a child as my protagonist...I've never been able to get into that. I couldn't even get into Ni No Kuni, which otherwise would have been totally my thing, but...child protagonist. Little King's Story, Return to Popolocrois, others...all should have been to my taste but they had child protagonists and it just...shuts my interest off on the spot. I was barely able to identify with children when I WAS a child...I just don't seem able to connect to them emotionally.

So when I met Rex for the first time, I was very disappointed. I do love the world they're in, and the music is pretty great, as usual for Xenoblade, and the antagonists seem very interesting, so I'm still eager to see the game in action. But Rex was a huge bucket of cold water to my interest in the game. I'm hoping that I'll become fond of him in spite of all the things I've seen and disliked so far. The voice may be an issue, too. I would normally play with the English voices but I think in this one I may try the Japanese ones as so far I have found Rex's accent almost as jarring as his appearance (and JUST Rex's, so far...haven't yet come across any other voice that feels so wrong to me)...but I'm going to try the English first to see, since just seeing a few clips is not enough to judge on, imo. In the game it may all come together. But I need to feel connected to my protagonist to stay interested in the story...I have to want to help them get to their goals and develop their story...so I've definitely got my fingers crossed. Since it's Xenoblade I'm counting on the story to be too amazing for me to see any downsides as anything but minor.

So any of you guys who already have it, I hope you're loving it to bits. I am not willing to NOT love this game.

[Bluie]

I'm losing sleep over this game, I just want to keep playing.

Rex is the kind of character who grows on you. He has good chemistry with the party and I enjoy his genki/protective personality. I don't dislike anyone yet (the fandom seems to dislike Tora quite a bit) but I am still just running around chapter 3 doing whatever.

Also, I FINALLY got some rare blades. It took a lot of patience, but I got one for each Rex and Nia. I WANT MOAR.

[Kikki]

If a Xenoblade game DOES manage to catch your interest, it'll suck your life half out before you know it I put nearly 400 hours (maybe 500, not sure about my lost file) into the first game and over 300 into the second. I do not anticipate spending any less on XC2 unless it ends up not grabbing me after all, which would be sad. I'm the type who does EVERY QUEST POSSIBLE (and the first game had more than 400 side quests) and I'm sure I'll go after every last rare blade, too. (I mean, they're not just weapons, they're characters! I don't know if they have notable personalities or any backstory, but I'm still going to need to have every one of them.) So, as long as I like the game, it's going to eat my whole month and maybe January, too.

I'm happy to hear that Rex grows on you! I want him to grow on me, lol. I sincerely want to love the little fella and have my initial distaste for various aspects of him just melt away in the glow of everything else. I like that he's in a situation that probably makes him more grown-up than his years would suggest. I don't mind that simple shonen type in itself. I managed to stick with Naruto for 700+ chapters, after all. So the 'can't be corrupted, never loses his energy for more than a minute, charges right ahead and makes friends with allies and enemies alike' type is one I'm used to and can enjoy.

Oh, I'm fond of Nopon. A lot of people complained about Riki and Tatsu, too, so I think that's just a 'thing' people like to do...pick on whatever nopon character is primary in the game. Guess I'll see in another day or two. Congrats on your rare blades and happy to hear the game has gotten its claws into you.

I guess FOGU doesn't have a lot of Xenoblade fans? Or if it does, they're so busy playing that they don't have time to notice this thread.

[Bluie]

It's the buttend of the weekend, more people might come here in a day or so. When the announcement trailer dropped, we had a thread here that went on for a few pages.

How can people hate Nopons? They're freaking adorable. I guess their speech could be grating, but they just talk all cutesie in Japanese. I love the little kid ones and how they bounce around when they move is so freaking cute. Also, whoever did their eyes in this game needs a pat on the back. They're inky and shiny just like rodent eyes and every time a cutscene does a close up on a nopon's face, all I can think of is 'man, those eyes are rendered really nice'.

[Kikki]

It's the buttend of the weekend, more people might come here in a day or so. When the announcement trailer dropped, we had a thread here that went on for a few pages.

How can people hate Nopons? They're freaking adorable. I guess their speech could be grating, but they just talk all cutesie in Japanese. I love the little kid ones and how they bounce around when they move is so freaking cute. Also, whoever did their eyes in this game needs a pat on the back. They're inky and shiny just like rodent eyes and every time a cutscene does a close up on a nopon's face, all I can think of is 'man, those eyes are rendered really nice'.

Hmm...I did watch the Switch presentation in January where XC2 was announced for the first time, but I don't know if I was back on FOGU at that time or not. I don't think I took part in any XC2 discussion here before, so probably not...

I know it's not right to want to take a fellow person as a pet, but the Nopon really ARE terribly cute. I've almost made my mind up to try making myself a Nopon plushie. It'd be fairly simple, I think...just a plush egg with tiny sprouts for feet and arms and then long wing-like things from the back of the tip of the head, plus a tuft of hair, some eyes and a stitched mouth and you have a littlepon. (The adults usually wear clothing and I don't think my skills are up to making nopon clothes unless it's just a scarf or something.) I took screenshots of a nopon on my Wii U for reference. It's tempting, even though I hate to sew...

[RopeMaidenKirie]

I'm absolutely adoring this game! I'm 30 hours in and in chapter 4, and the story has really started to step up. Looking forward to seeing where it goes!

My only complaint so far is that the map system is awful. Other than that, I've had a really great time so far.

[Bluie]

My only complaint so far is that the map system is awful. Other than that, I've had a really great time so far.

Yes, yes it is. I didn't mention it in my first post as I hadn't had a problem with it yet, but holy « Puppy Doodoo », the wayfinder is so broken. I've almost started finding my way around bu just looking for the next place instead of following the wayfinder.

Game is still great though.

[Kikki]

Only been playing about an hour and a half, and I already like Rex. Actually all it took was one battle, to let him say 'aaouch!' just once, lol, and I liked him and his voice. His voice didn't sound quite as excessively mature as it did to me in clips, plus he is living the life of an adult in spite of his age, which was the one thing I was hoping would reconcile me both to playing with a child as my protagonist and to that voice. The character Nia, however...while I actually love her accent...she looks 12 or so (obviously they are a bit older since they were both scorning the idea of being 12...) and she sounds about 35! It's more the kind of voice I'd expect to to hear from a busty and slightly world-weary bartender or something, and she's this wee cute cat thing who appears to be a pre-teen, or perhaps 15 at the oldest. So I like both her looks and her voice and yet...in my head they just won't mesh! Well...maybe it'll just take hearing her say the right words. I like Dromarch, but they haven't been in the game much yet so my opinions are based on very small amounts of info.

The nopon are a little off in this game compared to others. Still adorable looking and I like the way they bounce, but the way they usually talk...speaking themselves in the third person, always calling you by your name or as 'friend' but never with 'you', and so on...it keeps slipping. Sometimes they say 'I' and 'you' but other times they speak the way they did in the other two Xenoblade games. Plus one of them that I've met so far has this high-falutin' upper-class accent and it sounds soooo weird to me when it is used to speak the typical Nopon toddler-talk.

But the accents are all really interesting and easy to understand so currently I have no desire to use the Japanese voices. It's a nice option to have, though, since I almost unanimously hear that the voices are a little too emotionless during cutscenes. Haven't gotten to anything of note yet to make a judgement on, though.

I'm too tired to keep playing right now (I really want to but if I do I'll miss half of what I see, I'm too dopey to pay attention) but my initial impressions are very good! I'm happy to actually like Rex a fair bit so far; I kind of want to make him a grilled-cheese sandwich and give him a big glass of chocolate milk and pat his head, cuz he's a good boy and all that. The waypoint marker is so far quite useful to me but I have only tried it while at the Argentum trading post or whatever that was called. Still have not left that area. And currently pretty bad at salvaging...I haven't gotten the hang of when to press the A to hit the ideal spot for getting the best treasure. But I'm sure I'll get better at that, since I was already used to pressing the B during battles for the burst affinity in the first two games.

For now I'm going to go sleep so I can play properly later on.

[Bluie]

I'll put this in spoilers just in case. I'm talking about battle mechanics but I mention two rare blade names.

Spoiler:

I've decided that I really want to make Rex into the healer. Right now, I have Nia as a Tank/Healer and she does really well. I have her teamed up with a Rare blade called Godfrey who is really good for combos along side Dromarch.

I have Rex as an Attacker/Tank and while I can get some good combos going, he is just not tank material. I'm using a rare blade called Perceval who is good at 'breaking' and if I switch to Pyra and topple an enemy with Anchor Shot, then big potions usually spawn, but most of the time, the aggro of being a tank kills Rex before said potions can be used.

I'm half tempted to just keep using all my cores on Rex until I get a good healing Rare Blade. I was using a common healing blade early game and enjoyed it a lot more than this LOL.

EDIT: HOOOLY. I just decided to do just that and on the second Rare Core, I got a healer Rare Blade. WELL, MY LUCK IS PROBS ALL GONE NOW.

[Kikki]

Congrats on getting just the blade you wanted!

I've played six or so hours now (been too exhausted to play more...so tired I can hardly chew, kind of a thing) and I like the game, but I don't love it and it so far is not turning into a 'favourite' level game for me. Which is disappointing for me since I count this as a favourite series...right in the top 3 for sure. But it's still very early (I'm only just into Chapter 3) and not much story has been revealed and the characters are not yet developed enough in their stories to be very interesting to me. I've also started to find the waypoint marker map system really confusing, now that I've left the relatively simple Argentum area behind. (It worked well for me there but it's been kind of confusing around the town in Gormott.)

Meanwhile I found a decent combat guide (I'm never good with in-game tutorials, I always find them confusing) and now I need to go out and fight some higher-level enemies so I can try combos and chain attacks now that it is possible. I have only fought as Rex so far. I tend to stick to one character all through the game because I find it hard enough to get used to ONE character, let alone 7, as in the first Xenoblade, and even more in 'X', with all their different attacks.

By the way, does anyone understand how levelling up via the Inns of the game works? Cuz I don't. Is it just to give a boost to those who hate to grind? Does how much you can level up depend on how much you've fought and levelled on your own or how much story you've seen?

Looking forward to getting into the meat of the story and to seeing new areas. Just like Colony 9 in the first game and Primordia in the second, I'm betting that the Gormott region is amongst the plainer areas in the game, being the starting section and all.

[Bluie]

I think the inn levels are accumulated through finding landmarks, doing quests, and battling monsters. I still gain levels on field, but I think it's extra EXP allocated just to the inn so you can gain extra levels. The tutorial did say that you can ignore the inn levels and 'play dangerously' if you want to.

Well, I got a ton of healing rare blades. Some have some interesting unique skills just to them that are really cool. I've decided to load them all on Nia and her title is now 'Master Healer' and she's got a ton of good Buffs. I gave Rex 2 healers beside Pyra and his class is 'Holy Cavalier'. We've got so many healing potions spawning, it's cray.

I took pictures of my party (except Tora, because we know why). I'm still in early chapter 4 rn, so I only took pictures of Rex and Nia.

Spoiler:

I got one of the more controversial blades. Her boob physics are Senran Kagura redonks.

[Kikki]

I've only logged 15 hours so far and am still in Chapter 3. I have no new rare blades, just some common ones, but Kogarashi's earth skill levels up easy and may give me access to a chest or two so he's useful that way, even if his weird 'ball' attack is hard for me to time my arts with.

Spoiler cut for length and excess caution (I mention a randomly-achieved rare blade in here, but no actual main story events.)

Spoiler:

The rare blade I currently want most, of those I know, is a random (not quest-related) one called Gorg. He's got an attack that will topple AND an attack that will launch, which I have not yet gotten into, though I think I may semi-accidentally have triggered one 2 or 3 times since at the end of a few larger battles with UMs and bosses, I press ZL for Tora and Poppi has let loose with a HUGE attack that did over 6,000 points of damage, which is pretty good since I don't yet have high stats. I think if I can get Gorg I might enjoy battle more when I'm having a difficult one; I'm fine with normal battles since I don't have any problem timing my arts with Pyra and that does enough damage, but...I think it's going to get pretty tricky for me at higher levels. But since Gorg is totally random it may be quiiiiiiiite a long time before I manage to find him in a crystal.

Especially since I'm quite bad at salvaging. I'm at the stage where the game feels way too complicated for me. I cannot think on the fly...surprises make my brain freeze up and stop working for a few seconds. Which means that the fact that which buttons you have to push and in which order changing at every salvage site makes it impossible for me to remember the order and so I basically screw up every dive. I have yet to get even one ideal dive result. I think I'm going to have to make a list of what order the buttons go in for each location, since they do at least seem to always be the same if you stay at the same spot.

Given how hard the game makes it for you to begin with, I really wish they had not made it impossible for the player to re-roll on crystals by automatically saving the results after you harmonize with one. :/

I have never been good at arcade-style games, so I'm also no good at Tiger! Tiger! so there are a loooot of mechanics of this game that are very frustrating and NOT FUN AT ALL for me. Which makes me sad, because I really want to just enjoy it, not struggle through it because I don't have the skills to get the better blades or to upgrade things.

I like the game more than I dislike it but I'm definitely finding it more of a slog than I was hoping. I'm hoping I eventually hit some magical turning point where I finally 'get' most of the mechanics and become passably good at more than just the very basics. Right now I spend half my time lost and confused.

[Bluie]

I finally reached the point yesterday where I understand the battle system completely. It was a very "OHHHH, WHAT THE HECK EXPLAIN IT BETTER NEXT TIME!" realization. It was mostly in regards to elemental orbs and how to get them to spawn, but I get it now and can usually get one in longer battles.

In regards to Tiger Tiger, I can give you a few tips. I was pretty bad at until I figured out some stuff. Said stuff is;

- Turtles can only be hit from the bottom while Jellyfish can only be hit from the top.
- The Red fish take two hits
- It's easier to just ignore the little crystals on the way down, most chests have 100+ clusters of ether making going out of your way for them not worth it
- The hitbox on the nopon is relatively small, try experimenting a bit to see how close you can get to things to get a general idea how big it is

And that's all I got. I'm still not super good at it, but I can manage an OK haul. Poppi has some affinity chart requirements that are scores in the game (20,000 and 50,000 iirc) and her entire build relies on the game, so, I might put her and Tora on the bench later once another party member stays. We'll have to see though.

And this is a personal thing, but i'm 100% ok with not being able to save scum the Core Crystals. If they were actual loot boxes that you had to pay actual money for, then yes, it'd suck that my army of generics grows while I only have a handful of the 30+ rare blades. To me, it wouldn't be any fun at all to reload the save over and over until I get the one I want. You really have to strategize in this game, what blades will give you the best combos? Who's affinity chart is better for this? Should I try to farm Core Crystals or just work with what the game has given me? And so on. Take out the strategy and the fun is gone for me.

I will say however, that the gatcha for blades is going to be a freaking nightmare for completionists. All the generics have several variants + all the rare blades. There are crystals late game that greatly increase your chances for rare pulls (and someone has already figured out how to farm them) but it's still a nightmare to go through 30+ cores and get nothing new.

Right now, I need Katana blades for a quest that leads into another quest. It won't stop giving me FIST BLADES. I HAVE LIKE, FIFTEEN OF THEM, STOP IT. I just need one more Katana blade, pls rngesus, be nice.

[Kikki]

In regards to Tiger Tiger, I can give you a few tips. I was pretty bad at until I figured out some stuff. Said stuff is;

- Turtles can only be hit from the bottom while Jellyfish can only be hit from the top.
- The Red fish take two hits
- It's easier to just ignore the little crystals on the way down, most chests have 100+ clusters of ether making going out of your way for them not worth it
- The hitbox on the nopon is relatively small, try experimenting a bit to see how close you can get to things to get a general idea how big it is

Thanks for the tips! I'll try them out. I didn't even realize that you could hit things in Tiger! Tiger!, lol, so that alone is big news. I thought it was just about navigating hazards while picking up gems and treasure boxes and those little other things that look like snowflakes or gears or something. I really am very bad at arcadey stuff. Still, hopefully now I can get more than 4000 points. That, sadly, is my record. -___-

I am now JUST starting Chapter 4 at Level 28 and 25 hours played. And I finally am getting driver combos fairly often (though I don't have any blade with a 'smash' ability yet) so I guess it was more of a time/region thing than me just not getting it. The same with chain attacks...they didn't seem to start happening until the game thrust a tutorial on me about it. I think maaaaaybe I'm not quite as bad at the combat as I thought? I can defeat UMs who are the same level as Rex, and I beat 2 that were actually one or two levels higher than me, so I guess that's adequate. Have been managing any boss battle in 1 or 2 tries, too...I guess I'm doing okay and don't need to fuss too much about all the complicated systems. I may have to fight longer battles because I'm not super-charged, but I'm getting through them.

I still only have about 30 common cores and 4 rare ones so not a lot in that area, but oh well...looks like it's about time in the story to start meeting a couple of quest-related rare blades so at least I'm guaranteed to have those ones, lol. It definitely got more interesting somewhere around the middle of chapter 3. And I found a core-crystal farming exploit I may try if I'm desperate for more. Turns out krabble types drop core crystals more frequently than any other type, from what I've gathered while looking around on the internet.

I wish the common blades had a little more variance. Even just colour. Instead of them all being black and grey with bits of blue-ish.

One common complaint about this game that I am NOT finding an issue is voice emotion. A lot of people think the English voices are too emotionless during cutscenes. I disagree entirely. I have found the voice acting to be excellent, very believable, and that on the rare case that the emotion in the voice and the expressions on the screen do not match, it's because the animation is hugely overblown, to a freakish level that suggests to me that the character is going insane or something. But then, I myself am low emotion, so that may just be my natural bias.

I don't like that they barred the option to reroll. I mean, anyone who does NOT want to do that can just not do it. It takes forever to do that kind of thing, so it's not an easy cheat or anything. But for those who are desperate enough to want to put in the long and boring slog, if they find they are no good at getting cores from salvaging or fighting or etc, I'd like the option to be there. It feels like the developers are saying "No, you have to be good at the game in the way we say you have to be good at it. No looking around to try to figure out a way that even you, who is naturally bad at all of our mechanics, can have what everybody else has! Git gud or go without." Though thankfully it turns out that salvaging, while useful, can be avoided if you're just really bad at it.

By the way, I found a decent simple guide on Tiger! Tiger!