Xenoblade Chronicles 2

[Kikki]

Oooooo.

Those are all excellent changes! They must have been listening to exactly the things everyone has been frustrated with...that's going to be a great update. So much added functionality that takes away several hair-pulling annoyances.

But speaking of hair-pulling...I was playing again today. I reached the first area that I absolutely HATE. It is ugly (all one colour with barely any distinguishing marks in the landscape) and I can't remember the name...some underground place...but I got to near where I suspect the next quest marker must be just beyond the entrance to the lowest level...and I saved the game before making a jump downward to see if I could land on the area below.

Turns out I could not. Rex died because it was too long a drop for him to survive the damage. So exited the game and reloaded, as planned.

Turns out, I had not saved. I was still at the spot I had saved before that, right before first going into the underground. The 4 missions I had finished...gone. The travel markers I had found...gone. All the enemies I had to defeat just to get where I got to...have to be done over. And I still don't know exactly what went wrong. Obviously I pressed something other than save and just thought I had but my memory is not getting jogged...but I had to quit again because that was too frustrating and I can't face that horrible area again right now. I think that's what you call a "rage quit" but it's more like an exhausted-and-depressed quit, imo. I mean it's only 2 hours of gameplay but it was 2 hours that I really hated doing the first time because I detest this area. Mehhhh...

*siiiigh* I'll probably play tomorrow instead and do all the sidequests I have left along with more salvaging and level up to 55 or so, instead of going straight back in, so that I can just walk past a good portion of the enemies in there to make it faster and easier. I'm not slogging through that the same way again.

But your update news is awesome, Kirie...I will be thrilled with...well, pretty much everything on that list. I'm very happy to learn that this game will not only have the 'endless post-game' set up but also an NG+ feature, from what it sounds like. (I love to replay great games, more than I like to play the same file forever.)

[Genie9]

Thank you so much Kikki! I really appreciate the help!

I decided to do some side quests for the beginning of Chapter 3, but I think I'll progress onward with the story.

I'm also happy to hear that they are fixing the mini map, and I am also glad that I am not the only one who has had issues with it. The other changes look promising!

[Bluie]

I'm sorry for your loss of progress Kiki ;( that sucks.

I'm glad we're getting some improvement updates. A part of me wants to buy the season pass, but it's $40+ after taxes in my eshop. Ima' sit on it for awhile and see how I feel after I beat the game. I like that New Game+ is going to be a thing. One of my favorite things with a game I enjoy is playing it again down the line leisurely, still having my levels and other stuff. I kinda with BoTW had done something this.

[RopeMaidenKirie]

That sucks Kikki I know that feel, I lost around 3 hours of progress because I had forgotten to save and the game ended up crashing on me in Mor Ardain while I was doing a long quest chain.

That area you are at is awful so I don't blame you for being so disheartened over it. I rushed through it myself lol

I finally finished up getting all the rare blades!! I sure hope they carry over because I'm not going to do that grind again, lol. At the end there trying to get the last 2 took me forever krabble grinding, but I perfected it to a science since I would get about 3-4 cores per krabble by that point, so opening the cores took longer than actually farming them.

[Kikki]

Thanks Bluie and Kirie I'm going to stay way from the main story for a bit and level up region development and make some money and try to finish as many side quests as I can (this 'truth' chain where you have to find mysterious parts A, B and etc...that is taking FOREVER and I don't have everything I need to finish it) and then I'll go back to that underground spot and continue the story. I know where to go now, anyway, so at least there's that. (Though it was so frustrating that it almost hurts to force myself to look on the positive side, lol...I just want to be grumpy about it!) It was only two hours or so, it just FELT so much longer.

I love every single item mentioned in the update and what will be added to the expansion pass, as well, so at least that was a pick-me-up. The map functionality has been frustrating, and for me so has Tiger! Tiger! since I'm naturally bad at arcade-style games, so better map function and an easy mode are great. The extra stuff added to the expansion pass will go to good use, too...nice to know I'll have 3 more overdrives guaranteed. Oh plus the ether for upgrading...that's extra nice, too. It all sounds really good, like they've been paying attention to what people are saying.

EDIT: Congrats on finishing up your roster of rare blades, Kirie

NEXT DAY EDIT: I think I am at the end of Chapter 7, and I have really hated this chapter. Can I just say...I haaaaaaaaaaaate field skills! I already had to spend a lot of time moving things around in the menu to get through this game, but with the now constant need to juggle blades to have different field skills on hand, it feels like the devs really want us to spend half the game in the menu rather than actually playing and I'm finding that monstrously un-fun.

[Genie9]

Could not agree with you more Kikki. I love the game, but damn is that menu not user friendly.

Also, kind of getting sick of targeting one enemy, and then having a whole mob come attack me at once. It's not like I am under leveled, but what should be a 5 minute side quest turns into 15 when a truckload of those damn birds just fly over Rex and crew and decides to join. I even try to be sneaky about it, and target the one enemy needed, and it's as if the game built that mechanic for no reason. The birds just circle around and join. So my crew gets destroyed.

Also, why on earth do potions fly everywhere? I swear, potions land miles away from where I am standing every single time. It gets so frustrating. Sometimes, other party members run for it, but often times they just sit attacking. So I have to stop my combos to grab them. Another time, one of my party members died on a part of the map that would require me to jump to save them, but guess what you can't do in battle? Press any button other than attack. I tried sheathing my blade too, but Rex would just pull it out as a mob of enemies came in on me.

I have to agree with Kikki, I'm not a huge fan of exploration in this one. Side quests are enough map time for me.

Sorry for the rant, I do sincerely love the game, and cannot put it down. But it does suffer from a lack of finesse that boggles my mind.

Also, some minor spoilers in my rant. I am mid way through Chapter 3, but this is one aspect of the game that has rubbed me the wrong way..

Spoiler:

Also, have to get this off my chest. The whole "driver" and "blade" relationship is overtly sexual, and in a rather uncomfortable way at times. I understand it's a JRPG, and I am no stranger to these tropes, but it's pretty intense. The whole "you drive the blade", "your her master" and things of that nature make me sort of uncomfortable. Tora makes me especially uncomfortable with his rather misogynistic portrayal of how Pyra should treat Rex in one of the earlier heart to hearts.
Not to mention the fact that these rare blades from what I have seen are women with a lick of clothing. Just as Kikki said.
if there were male blades that were half naked, I'd be fine. But the fact that the whole driver and blade relationship is layered on top of these rather sexual characters is sort of off putting.

[Kikki]

A friend of mine said it rather well, to me...that he feels like the development team just had too many ideas and got overly ambitious and stuck them ALL into the game rather than streamlining it, and the result is that you'll spend at least as much time fiddling around in your menu...checking what you need from field skills, seeing what requirements you have to upgrade those skills, increasing your arts, trying to scan the skip travel map for where the heck you're going since the waymarker is often more confusing than helpful...as you will actually playing.

I hear it from everyone, pretty nearly. They really like the game, but they find it frustrating...and not in a good way. Not like the enthusiasm you get from people who finally beat the boss after lots of trying because it was a challenge (though that does happen too...met a battle like that in the middle of Ch 7) but a frustration with a million little game mechanics that just waste time and make the game as much about navigating the menu as about exploring the world and the story.

I find it a little disappointing that this has turned out to be the type of game that so many people love despite all the things wrong with it. As my favourite series, I wanted it to just be a game I loved. And I know that's possible, because it's what I got from the first two, even though they were so different from each other. X was super complicated, yet I did not spend much time in the menu. I miss that.

Spoiler:

They have definitely overly-sexualized the female characters. I'm a woman and don't mind looking at cute girls, but in this game it feels unfair and too pointed. I mean, I don't need a cutscene giving me a screen full of Pyra's butt continually. I don't actually mind the driver-blade thing, that hasn't bothered me, but if this is going to be the type of game that tries to offer that sort of fanservice, I am only okay with that if it is equal fanservice. I mostly shrug it off at this point but I do still feel that this game only treats the female characters like « Chicken Hugging » objects and the male ones all get to be people. I mean, it's a fact of life, that people enjoy looking at attractive people of the gender that appeals to them. But why did they ONLY over-sexualize the women if they were going to go with this kind of fan-service? It makes me feel like Monolith Soft couldn't give a hoot about the majority of female customers. If we buy the game we're just an added bonus, not the customers they actually care about. Also, there seem to be plenty of guys who think it's too much, too, and feel that a cutscene spent listening to Pyra's butt talk detracts from the impact of the story. I just feel like they went overboard in this aspect and have turned it into a bit of a farce.

[RopeMaidenKirie]

It's interesting to hear opinions because I don't really get anything sexual at all from the blade/driver situation at all really.

Spoiler:

Tora definitely has a bit of a maid fetish going on but I'm in chapter 8 and I haven't really seen egregious on it. Poppi is full of sass and always puts him in his place. I feel like Tora is the butt of more jokes than Poppi ever is. And some of the women also comment on Tora's maid thing later on with disdain too, so I guess it just doesn't bother me much.

Tora reminds me of an awkward brilliant teenager who took too much direction from his father and grandfather in his particular 'tastes'.

To be honest, I have issues less with the fanservice-y outfits (there are also quite a few rare blades that aren't fanservice!) and more issues with how the camera work has been done in the game. The camera angles definitely end up in some rather unsavory angles which is super misfortunate and definitely takes me out of the experience with a "really, guys?" anytime it happens. But honestly all in all I think the characterization of the women characters has been great, at least in my opinion.

[Ehppy]

I have a quick question if anyone wouldn't mind answering, sorry it's not on the current subject!

I've played the original Xenoblade Chronicles but I admittedly didn't get very far in. I plan to return to it at some point.
Does this game have any connections to the first? Would I spoil the first game for myself if I played this one before I go back?Are there references and things that I would be missing out on having not finished the first game before playing this one?

I'd really like to pick this game up sometime, but if it in any way would spoil the first game for me then I'll probably avoid it for now. Little references and things aren't a big deal, but I wouldn't want any major plotpoints ruined.
Thanks for taking the time to read, and thanks in advance for any responses!

[RopeMaidenKirie]

I have a quick question if anyone wouldn't mind answering, sorry it's not on the current subject!

I've played the original Xenoblade Chronicles but I admittedly didn't get very far in. I plan to return to it at some point.
Does this game have any connections to the first? Would I spoil the first game for myself if I played this one before I go back?Are there references and things that I would be missing out on having not finished the first game before playing this one?

I'd really like to pick this game up sometime, but if it in any way would spoil the first game for me then I'll probably avoid it for now. Little references and things aren't a big deal, but I wouldn't want any major plotpoints ruined.
Thanks for taking the time to read, and thanks in advance for any responses!

Nope! You can play this with no knowledge of the first game. It's kind of like the Final Fantasy series in a way, that there might be easter eggs or small throwbacks to a previous title, but each game has its own contained story, world and characters.

[Kikki]

There is NO connection between this game and the first game except some reused names and so on. They're not connected in the slightest, unless some parallel is drawn after chapter 8 (I'm at about the end of chapter 8 now, myself.) I mean, some people like to theorize and invent a connection, but that's basically just dreaming up fan fiction If you look really hard and know what you're looking for, you'll see tiny references. For example in 'X', the character Lin wears barettes shaped like the Monado from the first game. And that's about the depth of connection you might see here, too. I think one of the characters has a battle cry the same as someone's from the first game. That kind of thing. Nothing important at all.

Now I have a question of my own. I believe I have a game error/glitch/bug. It's about a sidequest. You can receive the sidequest fairly early in the game though you cannot complete it before chapter 8. If you think you may know anything, please check the spoiler...I really don't know what to do. I definitely appear to have an error but I don't know what to do about it. The quest is not possible to complete.

Spoiler:

It's the Uncover The Truth/Riddle on the Wall chain of quests. If you don't know what that means, please stop reading now...I go into a fair bit of detail, here.

I have gone to every riddle location. I even have screenshots of them just to prove it to myself and to others, if necessary. Once you read a riddle, it no longer has the (...) mark on it to let you read it, and I've got back multiple times to check all the riddles and I've read them all. So that then unlocks the location of each of the treasures.

I have gone and gotten them all. I have screenshots of that, too...of the empty chests and so on. The only one I do not have is Mysterious Item D. But IT ISN'T THERE. I have a screenshot of that, too, lol. The prompt to dig it up does not exist where it is supposed to, and as my other screenshots prove, I've already read the riddle that unlocks it, so...why?

The only thing I can think of is that that riddle did not appear in its original location for me. It never existed on the walls of the Refugee area in the Indoline region...it just wasn't there. So I knew it was supposed to shift to being available near Corinne's house after you get to a certain point in Chapter 8, so I had no choice but to keep playing. Sure enough, there it was. But it showed that I had already read it, and the excavation spot did not unlock and I simply can't get that part.

Which means I also can't get Part E from that guy in Gormott, so I'm permanently missing 2 parts with no way to get them. I have not seen this reported as a glitch and it's hard to believe I'd be the only one who has it. (Though it's early for much glitch reporting, I guess.)

I'm baffled.

[RopeMaidenKirie]

There is NO connection between this game and the first game except some reused names and so on. They're not connected in the slightest, unless some parallel is drawn after chapter 8 (I'm at about the end of chapter 8 now, myself.) I mean, some people like to theorize and invent a connection, but that's basically just dreaming up fan fiction

Now I have a question of my own. I believe I have a game error/glitch/bug. It's about a sidequest. You can receive the sidequest fairly early in the game though you cannot complete it before chapter 8. If you think you may know anything, please check the spoiler...I really don't know what to do. I definitely appear to have an error but I don't know what to do about it. The quest is not possible to complete.

Spoiler:

It's the Uncover The Truth/Riddle on the Wall chain of quests. If you don't know what that means, please stop reading now...I go into a fair bit of detail, here.

I have gone to every riddle location. I even have screenshots of them just to prove it to myself and to others, if necessary. Once you read a riddle, it no longer has the (...) mark on it to let you read it, and I've got back multiple times to check all the riddles and I've read them all. So that then unlocks the location of each of the treasures.

I have gone and gotten them all. I have screenshots of that, too...of the empty chests and so on. The only one I do not have is Mysterious Item D. But IT ISN'T THERE. I have a screenshot of that, too, lol. The prompt to dig it up does not exist where it is supposed to, and as my other screenshots prove, I've already read the riddle that unlocks it, so...why?

The only thing I can think of is that that riddle did not appear in its original location for me. It never existed on the walls of the Refugee area in the Indoline region...it just wasn't there. So I knew it was supposed to shift to being available near Corinne's house after you get to a certain point in Chapter 8, so I had no choice but to keep playing. Sure enough, there it was. But it showed that I had already read it, and the excavation spot did not unlock and I simply can't get that part.

Which means I also can't get Part E from that guy in Gormott, so I'm permanently missing 2 parts with no way to get them. I have not seen this reported as a glitch and it's hard to believe I'd be the only one who has it. (Though it's early for much glitch reporting, I guess.)

I'm baffled.

It's definitely an oversight, and there have been a handful of reddit posts on it. Hopefully the patch next week will fix it. D:

The only reason it didn't happen to me is because I read a thread warning about it thankfully before I did either of them

https://www.reddit.com/r/Xenoblade_Chro ... all_quest/

[Kikki]

Thanks, Kirie Well at least I know I can just stop trying, then. I hope the update fixes it, too...that quest has a lot of EXP (when you add both together) and I want it, lol. (Plus it's a huge pain in the keister to complete.) Guess I'll go back and do some other quests instead.

[RopeMaidenKirie]

Hah, yeah the first part of Uncover The Truth took me like an hour to find thanks to the map leading me in a billion directions. Thanks map

[Ehppy]

Thank you Kirie and Kikki!
That's good to hear. I was afraid this was going to be another 60+ hour RPG for my backlog. I might be able to play it sooner now. Some of the screens I've seen from the game just look so amazing, I'm really excited to get into this world. @_@