Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles Wii / 3DS / Definitive Edition

[TJ Spyke]

You don't need to be under warranty to get the dual-layer issue fixed: http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/repair/dld_repair_home.jsp?problem=DLDIMAGE&gameCode=SSBB

Brilliant!  This is easily the best-case scenario: get it fixed right at no cost.  Thanks for the link!

You will need to call Nintendo though. If you aren't under warranty, it gives you a number to call and says you will have to handle the repair that way. Kind of annoying, but I need to do it since I miss playing Smash Bros. (Metroid Prime Trilogy works fine though).

[Enner]

This game has triggered my horrible obsessive compulsions with MMORPGs or open-world games. I spent the first three hours of the game walking around Colony 9 and the surrounding area gathering collectibles and speaking to every named non-player character in the town. I think I've only completed about 3 story quests! The last thing I did was deliver a lunch and return home. And by "return home" I mean swim to the opposite shore, walk around an island, and get my party knocked out by a high level monster that suddenly appeared when night time set.

I'm loving this game.

[Mannypon]

This game has triggered my horrible obsessive compulsions with MMORPGs or open-world games. I spent the first three hours of the game walking around Colony 9 and the surrounding area gathering collectibles and speaking to every named non-player character in the town. I think I've only completed about 3 story quests! The last thing I did was deliver a lunch and return home. And by "return home" I mean swim to the opposite show, walk around an island, and get my party knocked out by a high level monster that suddenly appeared when night time set.

I'm loving this game.

Oh don't remind me lol.  Back when I played the game, my obsession started to become a problem near the end lol.  It was almost like I couldn't control myself.  Whenever I got to a new map, I HAD to check every nook and cranny.  It wasn't whether I wanted to or not, I HAD to do it.  It was pleasure and torture all at the same time.  You'll see as you get farther.  The world is just Fing HUGE. 

Anyway, the game is a classic through and through.  Oh, and you know a jrpg is the sh*t when the obligatory "cute" animal character is actually a bad ass.  In most jrpgs, these characters are of the teeth grinding kind, throw aways, the characters that you never have in your party and only see during cutscenes because you have to. 

You can see how much I loved said character just be looking at my screenname .

[ejamer]

This game has triggered my horrible obsessive compulsions with MMORPGs or open-world games. I spent the first three hours of the game walking around Colony 9 and the surrounding area gathering collectibles and speaking to every named non-player character in the town. I think I've only completed about 3 story quests! The last thing I did was deliver a lunch and return home. And by "return home" I mean swim to the opposite shore, walk around an island, and get my party knocked out by a high level monster that suddenly appeared when night time set.

I'm loving this game.

This sounds exactly like my first 3 hours playing.

[Fatty The Hutt]

This game has triggered my horrible obsessive compulsions with MMORPGs or open-world games. I spent the first three hours of the game walking around Colony 9 and the surrounding area gathering collectibles and speaking to every named non-player character in the town. I think I've only completed about 3 story quests! The last thing I did was deliver a lunch and return home. And by "return home" I mean swim to the opposite shore, walk around an island, and get my party knocked out by a high level monster that suddenly appeared when night time set.

I'm loving this game.

This sounds exactly like my first 3 hours playing.

Ha! This is exactly my experience so far. I'm now about 5.5 hours in and just about to enter a cave with three party members. I can actually find my way around colony 9 now and have done a LOT of swimming.
On the plus side, I am pretty comofortable with most of the game's systems now and can settle in more without going "wtf was that?" all the time. I am definitely hooked now but it did take awhile.
I am disappointed that only one of the heart-to-hearts has been unlocked so far. I find those to be one of the more "J" parts of the JRPG and I want more of them.

[gbuell]

I'm around 10 hours in I think, and loving it. Recently found a secret area called Believer's Paradise which I think offers the most impressive view I've ever seen in a game world, at least outside of a cutscene. (To be fair, I don't have an HD console or Skyrim )

[Mannypon]

I have hd consoles and nothing on there can touch some of the views you get later in the game.  It really drives me crazy how some reviews knock the graphics.  I think they were great during my play through especially with how big everything is and whats going on.

[gbuell]

Yeah, the graphics and art style are beautiful, outside of some of the character models in the cutscenes.


For some reason, I really fucking love gem crafting - at some point last night, I decided to go through the 6 pages of crystals and cylinders I had acquired and craft all of them I could, which took a silly amount of time. Loved it. It's like weapon fusion in Kid Icarus, which I also love.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Well my order was placed for it, I am getting really excited to play the game!

[BeautifulShy]

Well my order was placed for it, I am getting really excited to play the game!

Very nice. Glad that worked out for you.

Oh gonna sneak in here and mention if you preordered from Gamestop and they didn't have an art book when you went and picked up your game then you can do so now.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=940584&l=0e2f284fb1&id=212751422093743

Carry on.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Got the game today and played it for a couple of hours. So far I am impressed with the game, the battle system is actually fun and interactive, which I prefer to the more traditional battle systems in RPGs. Visuals seem to be a mixed bag, the character models are kind of hideous, but the scenery and art style already look promising.  Voice acting is pretty good and it has an interesting story. Like I said though, I'm not too far into it, but so far I like what I've seen.

[Oblivion]

It's hard to explain, but it feels like the character models get "better" the longer the game goes on. That may be me just getting used to it, however.


I've honestly never had this much fun with a game since Demon's and Dark Souls. And heck, before that, I haven't had that much fun with a game since Bioshock.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Looks like Xenoblade is now BACKORDERED on gamestop.com! Looks like people really put their money where their mouth was for this game.  Glad I managed to get my copy.

http://www.gamestop.com/wii/games/xenoblade-chronicles-gamestop-exclusive/98535

[Fatty The Hutt]

So, I have played a few hours more and I find I am having trouble with the battle system. Battles just seem to tick along and I don't seem to be fast enough to instinctively know which arts (or "special moves" or whatever they are called) are best to use at what time. I just sort of wing it and experiment a lot. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. There seems to be a lot to keep track of, what with arts guages filling and affinities and a party guage and and aggro and moving around the creature, checking if you can string attacks yet, etc. Lower level monsters just seem to take care of themselves, sometimes faster than I know what's happened. Higher level ones are hit and miss. There have been a few monsters I have tried to tackle multiple times without success. Maybe I am just not leveled high enough? But skill should play a role. The monsters I am thinking of were the same level as my party, or maybe one level higher. But they are "unique" monsters that seem to dish out more weird damage effects that I can't seem to keep track of in the heat of battle.
 
So far, I hav experimented with controlling Shulk sometimes and his pal, the "tank" guy (forget his name) at others. I get that they attack differently and all that so I use them differently. I just don't feel like I am mastering it all yet.
 
I am holding out hope that I may be using the wrong controller. Part of my confusin factor may have to do with the camera which is difficult to control at the best of times with the wii remote and nunchuk, and extra difficult during battles. I am going to try out the classic controller one of these days, but I don't relish re-learning the controls. I am hopeful the camera is easier to contol during battles with two sticks. Then maybe I can manouver around monsters better and set up attacks more strategically. Right now, i just seem to plow at them as best I can. If I stop to fart around with the camera, I can easily die in the time it takes.
 
Well, glad I got all that off my chest. If anyone has tips or suggestions, I'd be glad to read them.

[Caterkiller]

Yeah im with you to Fatty. Thought it wasn't until that big battle to save that kid did I know to enchant everyone elses weapons to hurt the mechons more. I don't know how I beat them all until that point.

I've understood break, and topple and all that. Or at least to make it happen which is always helpful, but only during team combo attacks, what ever they are called.

Still I am in the swamp trying to defeat some lizard man tribe leader, I can not kill his butt!

[Sarail]

Still I am in the swamp trying to defeat some lizard man tribe leader, I can not kill his butt!

Oooh! That fight was fun. Took me quite a few tries experimenting with various party members, but I finally smoked his arse. Felt awesome when I finally took him down, too. You'll get there. Keep partying!

[BeautifulShy]

Hmm from these impressions it seems there isn't one particular way to go about the fights in the game so I welcome that. It also seems that there is a bit of challenge to the game.

I should have my Wii back soon since it is being repaired right now.Nintendo has it right now.

[Evan_B]

The wonderful thing about the game is that, depending on how in-depth you want your RPG experience to be, you can level arts and change your party leader so that you can end up with a multitude of play styles. Shulk is obviously the easiest to control and possesses a number of battle techniques that make him very accessible. However, the other characters can be leveled in ways to make their abilities benefit the team far more. Sharla sucks when controlled by AI, but proper leveling of her abilities makes her an AMAZING character to lead the party.

I could play this game as each character.

[Mannypon]

Still I am in the swamp trying to defeat some lizard man tribe leader, I can not kill his butt!

Oooh! That fight was fun. Took me quite a few tries experimenting with various party members, but I finally smoked his arse. Felt awesome when I finally took him down, too. You'll get there. Keep partying!

oh man do I remember that bastard.  I eventually put him on my back burner and counted the days till I leveled up enough to come back and wipe the floor with him.  In the end, it felt great to come back decked out in new gear and smack the group up left and right.  I don't even remember what I  got for beating him but at that point it didn't even matter.  It was the ass wooping that mattered .

[gbuell]

I am holding out hope that I may be using the wrong controller. Part of my confusin factor may have to do with the camera which is difficult to control at the best of times with the wii remote and nunchuk, and extra difficult during battles. I am going to try out the classic controller one of these days, but I don't relish re-learning the controls. I am hopeful the camera is easier to contol during battles with two sticks. Then maybe I can manouver around monsters better and set up attacks more strategically. Right now, i just seem to plow at them as best I can. If I stop to fart around with the camera, I can easily die in the time it takes.

Oh Christ, you GOTTA use the classic controller. The camera controls with the Wiimote+nunchuk are a goddamn tragedy. Switch to the CC, you'll be so glad you did.

[Mop it up]

This has been the only game I've played since I got it, I don't think I've been this into an RPG since Chrono Trigger. I like the fast-paced combat, though it isn't as deep as it could be if you could control the other party members. There's lots to see and do in each area, exploring is fun even if there aren't any sidequests currently active. The graphics aren't great, but the only time they are distracting is in cutscenes when the camera zooms in way too close to the characters. I'd have taken a scale down of areas if it meant more visual clarity, though that may change the game... so instead, I'd have accepted fogging if it meant smoother graphics.

However, I'm not quite getting what makes this game revolutionary. I recall talk about it progressing or "modernizing" the genre, but I have yet to see anything of the sort. It's certainly a well-made game in most respects, and has nifty features like skipping to landmarks, but I don't see any new concepts here. Can someone explain to me what I'm missing?

[Oblivion]

Perhaps the affinity system?

[Fatty The Hutt]

You can save anywhere and checkpoints are generous. That's a huge plus for me. Grinding seems minimal (or is well masked by encouraging exploration?)

[Mop it up]

Perhaps the affinity system?

Tales of Symphonia has an affinity system so that's nothing new, although in that game I believe it was only with your party members and not with townsfolk. So far, the only thing I've noticed is that having more affinity to an area lets you trade for different items with the townsfolk, but I've still got a ways to go. Maybe it'll evolve into something less minor later on.

You can save anywhere and checkpoints are generous. That's a huge plus for me. Grinding seems minimal (or is well masked by encouraging exploration?)

While these are nice features, they've been in games before. And yeah, since I always explore areas and try to do most of the sidequests when I get them, I haven't needed to stop specifically for building up experience to get past a tough enemy. But, if someone were to try to follow the story and didn't do any of the side things, they may need to grind some.

[Fatty The Hutt]

Well, game set n' match. It ain't original or revolutionary.
But at least its fun