Author Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles X: Life on Mira.  (Read 125490 times)

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Offline Triforce Hermit

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People still care about religious references? Unless it is bashing a specific religion, who cares?


Oh yeah. And



What he said.
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I don't care about changes made during localization one way or the other, if I wanted to play the Japanese version of the game I would learn Japanese. American culture is just different than Japanese culture, some gamer's tend to forget that they do not speak for the majority of people.

That being said, I am still very interested in this game.
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Offline Evan_B

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Gamers don't speak for everyone, but let's be honest, everyone isn't going out of their way to buy Xenoblade Chronicles X. Gamers are.

And Japan hipster-izing Abrahamic religions is so old hat that no sensible JRPG player would bat an eyelash at it. But, to be frank, we know nothing about what these references really were. So we can't exactly gauge the offensiveness of them before actually having seen them.

Which... we never will...

...So... yeah.
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Offline ShyGuy

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I hear this game is big!

Offline Stratos

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How big is it, ShyGuy?!?
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Offline Khushrenada

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It's so big that even Dora couldn't explore it!
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Offline Enner

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Nintendo has streamed the 3rd episode of the survival guide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxO6qaXUcGc

This episode details the Skells in a similar whirlwind pace as to the previous episodes.

Because I couldn't help myself, I watched Polygon's 51 minute Xenoblade X video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM3k18G5_1g

Spoiler alert for the game's 8th (of 12) Story Chapter. It's the big siege of New Los Angeles that has made for very good trailer fodder. In actual play, Xenoblade X is showing a lot of stops, starts, and awkward pauses and transitions that inhibit the narrative gravitas. The player dialog choice system being the poster example. Also, it is absolutely jarring going from the stand-and-talk cut scene to the assault-by-menu of the player's battle.

At 18:52, the video switches to exploration hijinks with many funny and wonderful moments. Each of the five continents are shown as well as some nitty gritty menu time around New Los Angeles.

As Fallout 4 is released to high praise and Xenoblade Chronicles X is set to release alongside 2015's last big open-world game, Just Cause 3, my mind has once again set to mope on Xenoblade Chronicles X's English-language review prospects. With The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt setting the new high bar for narrative and a world full of life and history, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain blazing a new paradigm in how numerous systems and elements coalesce in to a vibrant action experience, Fallout 4 being a mess of systems and cleverness that hold together just enough to impress, and Just Cause 3 promising to explode continuously, I wonder grimly as to how Xenoblade Chronicles X will fit among its peers outside of being, "that Wii U game."

After watching the Giant Bomb Quick Look of Fallout 4 and hearing Jeff Gerstmann remark how Fallout 4 is still very much a Fallout game in the vein of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, it got me thinking of Xenoblade Chronicles X's legacy as a collection of systems and mechanics. While others have thought differently, to me Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles X take much from the MMORPG genre that has birthed games such as World of Warcraft, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn. Xenoblade Chronicles X is derived from a genre that is nearly exclusive to the PC platform. Adding to that, said genre has seemingly peaked and plateaued in terms of excitement and relevance. Other genres have mined MMORPG's best and most compulsive aspects for their own gain (e.g. Destiny), leaving behind the cruft that alienates more than it invites (possibly hot bar combat, menu labyrinths for character attribute and trait manipulation).

Adding to this, the possibility of Monolith Soft's and Nintendo's isolation from their peers leading to the game not following established best practices. (Personally, Xenoblade Chronicles played exactly how I wish a single-player version of an MMORPG would play, so I'm not expecting Xenoblade Chronicles X to drop the ball in this regard.)

I can't help but think that there will be more of a cool reception to Xenoblade Chronicles X, and that it will be criticized for being dated, perhaps anachronistic, and for being oddly put together.

Watching Polygon's 51 minute video had me... frothing with demand, to say the least. Rough spots considered, Xenoblade Chronicles X looks to be a dream game for me, more so than its wonderful predecessor. Maybe that makes me an oddity in today's console video game audience. And maybe that's okay.

Gamers don't speak for everyone, but let's be honest, everyone isn't going out of their way to buy Xenoblade Chronicles X. Gamers are.

And Japan hipster-izing Abrahamic religions is so old hat that no sensible JRPG player would bat an eyelash at it. But, to be frank, we know nothing about what these references really were. So we can't exactly gauge the offensiveness of them before actually having seen them.

Which... we never will...

...So... yeah.


Well let's try it this way, gamers don't buy Nintendo consoles, kids do, kids with parents that are sensitive right now due to a "war on religion" that they perceive to be coming from the media. It is in Nintendo's best interest to stay as far out of that cultural war as possible thus these changes do make sense from a business standpoint. True the target audience for this game might not care but with so few games on Wii U this game is going to stand out like a sore thumb, it is going to be noticed and Timmy is going to ask for it for Christmas and when he starts playing and suddenly grandma points out, because we all know grandma plays Nintendo now thank's to Wii, she is going to have a heart attack and go ballistic when she sees her sacred religious references banded about in what she sees as a satanic game. Remember how nuts the world went over Pokemon being satanic?
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Offline TOPHATANT123

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My frothing demand for this game increases by the day, although I recognise that it just doesn't have the marketing budget from Nintendo or the cachet of any of these other franchises to make a big impact. Xenoblade and all of it's systems are unapologetically an RPG first and foremost with the action part secondary, while not necessarily a bad thing it limits the games appeal to a wider audience. If X can recapture a portion of Chronicle's brilliance it'll be a great game regardless.

I am very glad Monolith Soft kept and improved upon the MMORPG elements in X since they worked so well in chronicles, although I'm not completely opposed to action. I think the rpg systems in the first mass effect are clunky and really not very fun, so I liked it when 2 stripped a lot of it away. Just Cause 2 is also a great action game and 3 looks incredible, but I don't play it for the same reason I would play a game like Xenoblade.
« Last Edit: November 10, 2015, 11:51:17 AM by TOPHATANT123 »

Offline Evan_B

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...No, I honestly don't, but I do remember a news story on it despite the claim being absurd. Considering Pokemon is still an extremely popular children's franchise and one of Nintendo's biggest cash cows, I'd say the accusations of satanism were not very effective. It's just the typical Western entitlement on display, which should apply even less to Xenoblade X because it's listed as a mature title, so parens should know what they are purchasing beforehand. The more dismissive we are of this ridiculous type of behavior the dumber the cases of it are going to become.

I don't honestly see how the Phantom Pain provided any sort of improvement on the action adventure genre since it's just a rehash of Peace Walker mechanics with a more disjointed story and the now-tedious open-world format.

I like exploring, and I like the combat system of the Xeno games as well as the flexibility of the characters. I don't care for MMOs because their story is usually an afterthought and the games boil down to raids and tedium while Xenoblade encourages discovery. I think, no matter what, Xenoblade X is going to be "that Wii U game" because it has no marketing push and the journalists who cover games like te Witcher and Fallout are going to be unimpressed by the visuals and the complexity of the systems, which is what modern open-world RPGs stray from as much as possible.
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I guess I should make my stance learn, I am not agreeing with the hysteria but I understand where it is coming from, I am Texan afterall. Just a year or so ago there was all sorts of noise over "gay couples" in a DS game so you can bet your ass Nintendo is well aware that the religious right in this country are pretty damn vocal. Also since when does having an M rating ever stopped them from complaining? Never heard of the backlash surrounding Mortal Kombat or GTA? I am not saying it ever makes sense but from a business standpoint a company such as Nintendo is already taking a big chance importing an M rated title, if that is true that would be odd for an RPG to be rated M in the first place but I guess whatever I don't follow the genre much.

Again it won't matter parents do not read the warning labels anyways.


Not that any of it matters, we are talking what a couple of names changed and a sprite that only perverts should care was changed? Yeah a bunch of noise over nothing. The game itself I am not at all sure on. I want to get it simply because there is so little on the console and the mech stuff looks cool. Being an open world RPG might turn me off though.
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Offline Evan_B

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Again, those games sell millions of copies. It's not hurting their business. Any publicity is good publicity.
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Offline Khushrenada

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Where is all this M rating for XCX coming from? It's rated Teen. I don't get that part of the conversation.
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Evan said it was a mature title, I assumed he meant Rated M.
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Offline broodwars

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I'm waiting for Christmas on this one. I just have too little time and money for s game of this scope, especially since I gave up on finishing the first game years ago.
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Offline Mop it up

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Personally, Xenoblade Chronicles played exactly how I wish a single-player version of an MMORPG would play, so I'm not expecting Xenoblade Chronicles X to drop the ball in this regard.
The problem with this is that it felt like the original game was designed for multiplayer, yet it had no such option. As such, I felt lonely when playing it, and really wanted another player(s) to be able to control the other character(s), especially since the AI was so terrible. When it was hinted that X would have an online mode, I was very excited at the possibilities. After learning about how limited the online stuff is, I'm once again disappointed, as it feels like such a huge wasted opportunity.

An even larger world will just make me feel even more lonely that I can't explore it with someone else.

Offline Ian Sane

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Personally, Xenoblade Chronicles played exactly how I wish a single-player version of an MMORPG would play, so I'm not expecting Xenoblade Chronicles X to drop the ball in this regard.
The problem with this is that it felt like the original game was designed for multiplayer, yet it had no such option. As such, I felt lonely when playing it, and really wanted another player(s) to be able to control the other character(s), especially since the AI was so terrible. When it was hinted that X would have an online mode, I was very excited at the possibilities. After learning about how limited the online stuff is, I'm once again disappointed, as it feels like such a huge wasted opportunity.

An even larger world will just make me feel even more lonely that I can't explore it with someone else.

That's an interesting take because for me the isolation of a single player game is the appeal.  I enjoy having some time to explore the game world at my own pace away from the numerous distractions in life.  It's like reading a book.  You don't usually books with someone else, it's the sort of thing you do when you have to time for yourself.  A good single player games is specifically for when I want some "me time".

I stopped playing the first game, not because I got bored, but just because life happened and I was unable to play it for a little while and the game is complex enough that I couldn't just pop back in as if nothing happened.  It took me a fair bit of time to wrap my head around how the game worked in the first place.  This will probably have the same problem where I'll have a good streak of free time going and then something will come up that just writes off videogames for like a month and then I never return because of the investment in re-learning what the hell I'm doing.  It's not the game's fault though that it doesn't fit my schedule.  If this existed when I was in high school it would have been perfect.

Offline ejamer

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Again, those games sell millions of copies. It's not hurting their business. Any publicity is good publicity.


Agree on this.
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Offline Mop it up

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That's an interesting take because for me the isolation of a single player game is the appeal.  I enjoy having some time to explore the game world at my own pace away from the numerous distractions in life.  It's like reading a book.  You don't usually books with someone else, it's the sort of thing you do when you have to time for yourself.  A good single player games is specifically for when I want some "me time".
Yes, but you see the point I was making is that Xenoblade felt as if it were designed for multiple people. Xenoblade felt more like the equivalent of a board game than it is a book, or maybe a playground, meant for many players. I'm fine with single player games that work well with one player, but I'm more of a social gamer so when something feels like it should be played with more than one player then that's what I want.

Offline Khushrenada

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I stopped playing the first game, not because I got bored, but just because life happened and I was unable to play it for a little while and the game is complex enough that I couldn't just pop back in as if nothing happened.  It took me a fair bit of time to wrap my head around how the game worked in the first place.  This will probably have the same problem where I'll have a good streak of free time going and then something will come up that just writes off videogames for like a month and then I never return because of the investment in re-learning what the hell I'm doing.  It's not the game's fault though that it doesn't fit my schedule.  If this existed when I was in high school it would have been perfect.

Take notes.

The second Zelda game I played was Wind Waker. I played it soon after my first Zelda game, A Link to the Past. Wind Waker was a lot larger with many more sidequests with maps and islands to explore. I often lost track of what I had done, what I hadn't explored and so looking up guides and faqs didn't help a lot. So, replaying it on the second quest, I took out a little note book and would make little notes of were I found heart pieces, maps I had discovered or received, islands I had explored and fully beaten/grabbed treasures and copied other maps like the giant Octos to then check off as I beat them. Then when I still needed something or looked up some guidance from a FAQ, I could easily find my answer and wasn't left having to endlessly backtrack over everything.

I think games like Xenoblade require a bit of that dedication. Jot down a couple notes of things you need to remember like side quest informations or certain abilities or strategies you want to remember in a way that makes sense for you. Then even if you stop playing for awhile, when you do come back, hopefully you won't have to struggle through remembering what you were doing, have to do and have done.

My pro-tip for the day.
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Offline Triforce Hermit

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Again, those games sell millions of copies. It's not hurting their business. Any publicity is good publicity.


Agree on this.
I'm sorry, but this isn't a good thing. Games are getting more bad publicity then good. And this is reasonable, bad publicity such as poor corporate practices and other stuff that screws the consumers. And gamers buy into this **** still. It's fucking sad and pathetic.
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Offline Soren

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Any publicity is good publicity assuming the game isn't a total piece of crap.

Mortal Kombat and GTA were not pieces of crap.
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Offline Dan Laser

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Wow less than a month until this game! Im thinking of picking up the strategy guide since the maps and quest info may be helpful. Or is there enough in-game tracking of quests and such to not need a guide? Are strategy guides even good these days?

I still need to finish Xenoblade.

The changes to the few of Lin's costumes are good.

Offline Evan_B

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I finished Xenoblade Chronicles earlier in the summer, completing Colony 6 because I heard there was a "perfect" ending for doing so (there isn't, but whatever, it was still fun). I think the strength of that game was truly the story and characters, which is why I'm so hesitant about the story in Xenoblade Chronicles X. Ultimately (and this is something I have lamented in the past), a gender-swappable main character who speaks for the player makes the interactions between your avatar and the characters of the game much less impactful, as there can't be a specific sort of gender subtext. It also means your character is generic despite how much effort you put into their appearance. The other characters in the game can be quirky, but you will only ever be a spectator to their hijinks and never have much input yourself.
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Offline Triforce Hermit

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Any publicity is good publicity assuming the game isn't a total piece of crap.

Mortal Kombat and GTA were not pieces of crap.
GTA V did launch as a piece of crap. Still the best selling game ever made still iirc.
These end-of-year AAA titles always have massive launch bugs. Which I will give Bethesda credit for making Fallout 4 launch with little to no problems.
« Last Edit: November 11, 2015, 09:52:49 AM by Triforce Hermit »
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