Author Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles - Impressions (Read 41765 times)

mr_lakitu · « **on:** August 19, 2011, 03:56:01 PM »

Hope its ok for a new thread for actual gameplay impressions..?

Mine turned up today

I immediately turned the sleeve and it's lovely. Only two hours in (obviously barely anything) but I have to say it's better than I was expecting. The world is large but not bare. There is plenty to find and monsters to grind with. The voice acting is.. It's ok.. It's kinda nice to hear different british dialects at least. I imagine americans usually notice differences in most games with american actors too but as a brit you all sound the same

There's an overwhelming amount of things to see, do and collect. I can imagine the side missions alone will take me to the Wii U launch. For someone not used to playing or liking this kind of rpg it can be dizzying but the ease of the fighting system keeps me happy to stroll along at my own amateurs pace.

Mannypon · « **Reply #1 on:** August 20, 2011, 09:12:50 PM »

I'll be sure to add to this thread as soon as my copy comes in the mail in a week or two. I can't wait though lol. Are there any Euro gamers on here who have a copy of this game?

KDR_11k · « **Reply #2 on:** August 21, 2011, 10:10:10 AM »

So, I'm at the Gaur Plains now (with 6 hours on the ingame clock). Can't say I have really adjusted to the combat system that well, it feels like I'm only helping out a bit by making a few more attacks count (I've only just got the attack prediction ability so that might change more and more) but a lot of it is out of my hands (in part because the ally characters are out of my hands). Also healing forever like in other RPGs is pretty much impossible at this stage, I've got a minor healing spell that can be used rarely and I can revive allies with a sliver of health because that's how the system works but it won't prolong the fight much once my characters start dying.

I like sneaking up to enemies and killing them with one backstab attack though I think you can get a stat boost by initiating the combat without an attack and hitting the timed button prompt to unleash a war cry.

Oblivion · « **Reply #3 on:** August 21, 2011, 11:40:29 AM »

ahh jealousy

KDR_11k · « **Reply #4 on:** August 21, 2011, 04:45:38 PM »

Man, dealing with all the upgrade stuff is overwhelming, the game constantly throws gear at you that you have to arduously compare with what you have to see if it's better. Especially since the magic and physical defense stats are separate and you often get one stat better and one worse which gets really hard to compare as the game doesn't say "defense up by 3", it just marks it blue, you'll even have to hit a button to see an item's raw values instead of merely the ones your character gets out of it. Then you have skill and technique screens which use different progression points. Characters also have affinity stats towards each other that are affected by your ability to hit timed button presses in combat. And all that with several seconds load time for each menu screen you open (selecting the screens is done before any screen opens so you only have to wait once you selected what you want to see but still...). I often find myself not managing all of those screens and ending up with e.g. underpowered techs in combat since I was supposed to upgrade them a few times already.

NWR_Neal · « **Reply #5 on:** August 21, 2011, 09:23:59 PM »

I hope to be joining the discussion here soon. Finally caved and placed an order, though it might take a while to get here...

Mannypon · « **Reply #6 on:** August 21, 2011, 11:37:12 PM »

Same here, I can't wait for this game to get in. From what I've read and seen, it looks like this game took the jrpg formula and added all that I love about wester rpgs (huge open-ended worlds and loot drops aplenty). This is going to be a delight lol.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #7 on:** August 22, 2011, 05:01:24 AM »

I don't get why I have to hold C to move the camera, the Dpad does nothing when no menu is open so it could just as well move the camera when it has nothing better to do.

Anyway, the game has a very good flow to it, never makes you feel "yeah, that's it, I'm stopping now".

KDR_11k · « **Reply #8 on:** August 22, 2011, 11:13:54 AM »

Yeah, I just wasted 3 hours in previous areas doing some sidequests and getting that whole NPC relationship grid built up. While initially you only get handed quests of the type "find X items" without much story there's a lot more development to some of the quests.

mr_lakitu · « **Reply #9 on:** August 22, 2011, 02:32:41 PM »

Quote from: KDR_11k on August 22, 2011, 05:01:24 AM

I don't get why I have to hold C to move the camera, the Dpad does nothing when no menu is open so it could just as well move the camera when it has nothing better to do.

Anyway, the game has a very good flow to it, never makes you feel "yeah, that's it, I'm stopping now".

I was too lazy to get my classic controller pro out at first but now I have and have I've never looked back. It's far FAR better than remote and nun chuck.

I'm 10hrs in now and I just got onto the thingies leg. My jaw dropped. It's one huge area without load times, countless enemies of many variaties. One of which is around 100ft tall and level 80. I stayed clear of that thing. This is amazing and worth the wait.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #10 on:** August 22, 2011, 02:45:24 PM »

There's a lot of level 70+ enemies strewn around that map, the windy valley is entirely filled with the things. Hell, there are level 70s in the first area (Colony 9) if you walk into the wrong corner.

Oblivion · « **Reply #11 on:** August 22, 2011, 04:49:03 PM »

Two questions for you Americans who bought the game. How much in total USD was the process to import the game? And what homebrew region-free loader did you use?

mr_lakitu · « **Reply #12 on:** August 22, 2011, 07:10:57 PM »

Quote from: Oblivion on August 22, 2011, 04:49:03 PM

Two questions for you Americans who bought the game. How much in total USD was the process to import the game? And what homebrew region-free loader did you use?

Look in the other thread

*tries not to be a nazi*

Oblivion · « **Reply #13 on:** August 22, 2011, 07:23:16 PM »

Quote from: mr_lakitu on August 22, 2011, 07:10:57 PM

Quote from: Oblivion on August 22, 2011, 04:49:03 PM
Two questions for you Americans who bought the game. How much in total USD was the process to import the game? And what homebrew region-free loader did you use?

Look in the other thread *tries not to be a nazi*

No thanks. I'm fine here.

Anyone care to answer my question?

KDR_11k · « **Reply #14 on:** August 23, 2011, 06:12:47 AM »

I've got a fourth party member now (Dunban) and I can't think of a way to fit him into my party. Shulk and Reyn synergize well with Reyn's tanking skills drawing attacks towards him, letting Shulk use his various direction-based attacks. Sharla is the only character with major healing spells I have which is a massive boon for any prolonged fight so I don't really want to replace her either outside maybe of piss-easy fights.

Also the premonition system is strange, when a character is low on health it warns you about every piddly attack going their way but I just got hit by a named enemy's special attack that killed one of my guys and left the others at 20% health and knocked to the ground and there was no warning at all. That's the kind of massive attack I'd want a warning about!

Second answer: Use Gecko OS as part of the Homebrew Channel. That's how I've been getting my imports since... dunno, 2008? Especially nice is that the HBC has an autoupdater so you can update it to dodge the latest firmware anti-HBC measures before updating. Once it's installed you can keep it forever.

Oblivion · « **Reply #15 on:** August 23, 2011, 10:15:19 AM »

Okay, cool. And how much moo-la did you spend on the game? Because since I'm not the guy who has a heck of a whole lot, I need to budget myself accordingly.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #16 on:** August 23, 2011, 10:56:30 AM »

45€. I hear the damn Brits get everything cheaper though.

Oblivion · « **Reply #17 on:** August 23, 2011, 11:35:02 AM »

I have no idea how much that is. XD

KDR_11k · « **Reply #18 on:** August 23, 2011, 11:43:06 AM »

Well, this is the game impressions thread, not the money debate thread. If you need answers about good UK sellers you should look in the other Xenoblade thread.

Throwing Dunban into my main party along with Shulk and Reyn made me murder enemies much faster but the lack of health recovery will probably suck badly in longer fights. And now I've got a fifth character...

Ceric · « **Reply #19 on:** August 23, 2011, 12:06:05 PM »

How does the character level work? Mainly when a character is not in the active party do they still grow?
Its sounding like your developing a Trash group and a Boss group.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #20 on:** August 23, 2011, 01:25:56 PM »

Honestly no idea, it only shows the XP gain of the characters you have in your party but I think the inactive ones get XP too (at least their levels don't diverge much from the active ones) and I heard in forum discussions that they do. What the inactive ones definitely DON'T get is affinity points for the various in-battle assists and quest conversation triggers.

EDIT: Just checked, inactive PCs gain XP from battles. BTW, so do dead ones (so no "I was the only one alive when we beat that boss and now I'm three levels ahead").

Oblivion · « **Reply #21 on:** August 23, 2011, 01:41:27 PM »

How is the movement controls? Judging from the videos I've seen the characters move kinda...odd. I can't explain it.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #22 on:** August 23, 2011, 04:38:52 PM »

Well, it's analog movement, only weird parts are the jumping (your hitbox seems to extend further down than your legs) and the climbing (the slightest off-axis tilt makes you climb 45° diagonally). I don't know what you mean with odd, maybe it's faster than natural to handle the sometimes huge distances?

Oblivion · « **Reply #23 on:** August 23, 2011, 04:53:57 PM »

Yeah, that's what it is. Faster. It just seemed less fluid than say, FFXIII in Gran Pulse.

KDR_11k · « **Reply #24 on:** August 24, 2011, 02:57:27 AM »

I guess that was a gameplay decision, Xenoblade has areas that put the original Hyrule Field to shame but it doesn't feel like you're taking forever to get anywhere.

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Author Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles - Impressions (Read 41765 times)