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Post by SirMouse on Jan 20, 2017 3:12:10 GMT -5
My friend has my physical copy of the game, but I'm in another country and have had a hankering to actually finish it, so I ended up downloading it on my Wii U (after the coupon I used it was only $14).
As I think I've mentioned before, I only ever reached the second Metal Face battle before I stopped making progress in my original playthrough, and it's been so long that I figured restarting entirely wouldn't be such a bad idea; that and I'm unable to transfer my saves to my Wii U, haha.
Anyway, I started the game again last night and man, I was hit with a mix of nostalgia, excitement, and guilt that I let myself get distracted from finishing this game in the first place.
Overall I'm pretty surprised to find myself so excited to get back into the game, considering the regrettable decision to let my friend spoil the ending and most major twists for me. But thankfully, the context surrounding what I know about will still be a fresh experience, even if the magic of the reveals are lost.
Plus Egil. That's the one character my friend - in all of his untamed excitement - didn't mention much of, even though the character seems to be lauded so highly by the fan base.
Anyway, I'll be making intermittent posts in regards to my playthrough, if anyone is interested.
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Post by DarknessLink7 on Jan 20, 2017 11:20:56 GMT -5
Glad to hear you're getting back into the game! Too bad you were spoiled on the twists, but if you don't know much about Egil I think you're still in for a treat! And playing it after you know some of the major twists is very exciting too, since you can look out for hints. Plus the game is just plain fun!
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Post by Wolfe on Jan 20, 2017 14:32:44 GMT -5
I've been waiting to do another playthrough of this once I reach 100% in XCX, and I'm relatively close to that goal now. With XC2 on the horizon I should move it up my to-do list. There were some things I missed the first time, and now that I've played ~95% of both XC1 and XCX, looking back, I don't think I gave XC1 enough credit...partly because I chomped through it pretty quickly to get it done about a month before XCX released. Both games do some things better than each other, and I'm looking forward to re-experiencing what makes XC1 special and watching for connections to XCX that I might not have caught yet. I'm also looking forward to seeing what you think as you delve into it, SirMouse. How's your Xenogears playthrough going, by the way? Last we heard, you were very nearly to the disc swap.
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Post by SirMouse on Jan 21, 2017 6:02:39 GMT -5
Glad to hear you're getting back into the game! Too bad you were spoiled on the twists, but if you don't know much about Egil I think you're still in for a treat! And playing it after you know some of the major twists is very exciting too, since you can look out for hints. Plus the game is just plain fun! Yeah, I find myself engaged by the story more than expected, especially since I'm thus far only watching scenes I've seen before. It's also pretty neat to catch the various hints and foreshadowing the game gives you early on. I've been waiting to do another playthrough of this once I reach 100% in XCX, and I'm relatively close to that goal now. With XC2 on the horizon I should move it up my to-do list. There were some things I missed the first time, and now that I've played ~95% of both XC1 and XCX, looking back, I don't think I gave XC1 enough credit...partly because I chomped through it pretty quickly to get it done about a month before XCX released. Both games do some things better than each other, and I'm looking forward to re-experiencing what makes XC1 special and watching for connections to XCX that I might not have caught yet. I'm also looking forward to seeing what you think as you delve into it, SirMouse. How's your Xenogears playthrough going, by the way? Last we heard, you were very nearly to the disc swap. As for my Gears playthrough, I'm still in pretty much the same spot I was in when I last posted about it. Headed home from a trip shortly after and now I'm away again, and the months in between that have been busy for me, so I haven't really given any time to the game. I haven't forgotten about it, though!
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Post by SirMouse on Jan 24, 2017 4:45:18 GMT -5
Just a quick update: I'm already past the point I reached in my original playthrough (didn't realize I played so little of it!) and am currently in Satorl Marsh. I'm also happy to note that there are already plot points and characters that I either forgot the details of or know very little about, which is making for a much more intriguing experience than anticipated.
(As an aside, this game has good cutscenes - both stylistically and in terms of direction. If XB2 can provide similarly memorable moments and overall cutscene quality, it's going to be a treat.)
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Socran
Fresh Recruit
Posts: 17
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Post by Socran on Jan 25, 2017 6:41:26 GMT -5
Just a quick update: I'm already past the point I reached in my original playthrough (didn't realize I played so little of it!) and am currently in Satorl Marsh. Oh geez, so you didn't make it to the second Metal Face battle, you made it to the second encounter. Yeah that's way earlier than your first post indicated. Which means you haven't seen that one scene yet, and it's still a long ways off... Gonna have to ask your impression once you do.
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Post by Wolfe on Jan 25, 2017 16:41:41 GMT -5
As an aside, this game has good cutscenes - both stylistically and in terms of direction. If XB2 can provide similarly memorable moments and overall cutscene quality, it's going to be a treat. I agree. Even though I liked XCX's characters, sidequests, and elements of the main story better than XC1, a lot of scenes were too basic, with the stock animations and all. Some of those were a drag, which was made worse by Monolith Soft dropping the ability to skip to the next line of dialogue. That feature will be a great benefit to me when I come back to XC1. I like being able to just read the dialogue and move along. It'll be nice if it returns for XC2.
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Post by SirMouse on Jan 26, 2017 8:43:27 GMT -5
Just a quick update: I'm already past the point I reached in my original playthrough (didn't realize I played so little of it!) and am currently in Satorl Marsh. Oh geez, so you didn't make it to the second Metal Face battle, you made it to the second encounter. Yeah that's way earlier than your first post indicated. Which means you haven't seen that one scene yet, and it's still a long ways off... Gonna have to ask your impression once you do. Heh, yeah, my original progress is pretty sad... As for "that one scene," I hope it isn't something that I already know about, but even if it is, it'll still be neat to see how it all plays out. One thing I know for sure is that there definitely has to be more to the scene the game keeps flashing forward via vision to, as there's no real point from a writing standpoint to "spoil" a pivotal scene like that unless it's purposely being done to throw off your expectations. I love it when games/shows/movies employ that storytelling tactic, though, as the reveal is often memorable. As an aside, this game has good cutscenes - both stylistically and in terms of direction. If XB2 can provide similarly memorable moments and overall cutscene quality, it's going to be a treat. I agree. Even though I liked XCX's characters, sidequests, and elements of the main story better than XC1, a lot of scenes were too basic, with the stock animations and all. Some of those were a drag, which was made worse by Monolith Soft dropping the ability to skip to the next line of dialogue. That feature will be a great benefit to me when I come back to XC1. I like being able to just read the dialogue and move along. It'll be nice if it returns for XC2. Ah, yeah, I like being able to skip through dialogue in non-tense scenes as well, and I definitely agree that X was really lacking in terms of "wow" moments with its cutscenes, which is a shame because when it DID make the effort, those moments were impressive. As it stands, I'm pretty sure Chronicles has already met or surpassed the number of memorable/impressive scenes that were in X, and I'm only at Makna Forest. Speaking of, I just officially met Alvis (I like him) and had Melia join my party; heading toward the Nopon camp next.
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Post by flameheadshero on Jan 26, 2017 21:03:02 GMT -5
Oh man, I can't do the think where you skip through text boxes while characters are talking. It just bothers me hearing the characters get cut off.
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Socran
Fresh Recruit
Posts: 17
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Post by Socran on Jan 28, 2017 21:50:13 GMT -5
As for "that one scene," I hope it isn't something that I already know about, but even if it is, it'll still be neat to see how it all plays out. One thing I know for sure is that there definitely has to be more to the scene the game keeps flashing forward via vision to, as there's no real point from a writing standpoint to "spoil" a pivotal scene like that unless it's purposely being done to throw off your expectations. I love it when games/shows/movies employ that storytelling tactic, though, as the reveal is often memorable. It's pretty likely to be one that you already know about, and even if you don't, I'm fairly sure you know enough to view it in a different context. But I was mostly talking about it in terms of the cutscene direction and other stuff you were talking about, which I'm pretty sure you couldn't get just from "knowing about it". The music is particularly underrated, and most people don't realize that another song is actually a remix of it.
I'm the same way. Except it's also really hard for me to read things while people are saying things that are different from what I'm trying to read. It's basically pulling the language section of my brain in two opposite directions. (Incidentally, a Japanese dub with English subtitles is pretty much out of the question for me, for both that and other reasons.)
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Post by SirMouse on Jan 29, 2017 5:34:36 GMT -5
Socran Ah, OK. I'm still looking forward to it - especially the music, as - for me - that's often the most memorable part of emotionally-charged scenes. As for current progress, I haven't made much in the past few days because /busy, but I'm currently leaving Frontier Village and heading toward my next destination. Speaking of, I didn't expect Frontier Village to be this massive. It's definitely impressive in terms of size and visuals, and texture-wise it's the nicest-looking area I've seen so far. Also, Riki's entrance was pretty great, and I like the "joke" aspect of his arts and skillset. His movement speed also seems slightly faster than other characters, which is pretty neat. I'm not sure if I'll keep him in my main party for major battles, but I'll have him stick around for now.
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Post by Primulus on Jan 29, 2017 14:46:16 GMT -5
Riki is a strange character in that he's actually one of the most effective characters in the game and works well in almost any party set up. Various characters have different synergies with others when you look deep into the game mechanics, but Riki is one of those few that pretty much fits snugly with almost anyone. He's also a very, very good tank/healer if you set him up proper!
Now that you're setting off from Frontier Village, you're also headed to one of my favorite and most memorable areas of the game. I definitely can't wait to see your proper responses to it.
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Post by SirMouse on Jan 31, 2017 8:42:11 GMT -5
(Good to know, Primulus - thanks!) Pressed for time at the moment, but I had the chance to play quite a bit over the weekend, and by quite a bit I mean I explored Eryth Sea a ton, have been to Alcamoth and Prison Island, and am now headed toward Valek Mountain next. Anyway, I wanted to share some quick thoughts/highlights, so here goes: - I had no idea what it'd look like, but I now understand why my one friend says Eryth Sea is among his favorite areas in the game; it's absolutely gorgeous and far larger than expected. - Alcamoth is pretty solid, if a bit tiresome to navigate due to the sheer size of it. I also love how so much effort was put into creating this whole area and nation along with the arc surrounding it, even though it isn't the main storyline. It just makes the game as a whole feel that much grander. - Reyn continues to add personality and balance to the game through his interactions with other characters. I also like the little moments party members have with one another in general, such as Sharla telling Melia she'll keep an eye on Shulk for her or the Reyn/Sharla banter in general. Stuff like that - however minor - adds a lot to the characters and helps them stand out as distinct rather than caricatures of generic character roles. Good writing. - In terms of surprises, I didn't realize the giant was Zanza, resulting in an "oh no" reaction when he said his name. Also, when Melia tried to stop Shulk, it kinda hurt to watch, knowing he should've listened. I didn't know Fiora was going to be in that Mechon, either. Prison Island cutscenes as a whole were great though, and I loved the use of the main theme as Shulk nearly lost it. - Was expecting something more drastic to happen to or because of Shulk, though I guess there's still time for crap to hit the fan once again - Oh, High Entia Tomb. Thought it was alright - interesting visually and atmospherically but a bit tedious to traverse due to near-constant enemy encounters. Ended up just rushing straight for the story marker because I ran out of crystal space and figured I'd just come back another time. - Alvis is another character I don't know much about, but regardless of what role he plays or where his true allegiance lies, I like him for the simple fact that he seems pretty well-written thus far. His English voice also sounds equal-parts trustworthy friend and ominous villain, which I give props to the VA for pulling off. I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff, but those are the main points on my mind for now.
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Socran
Fresh Recruit
Posts: 17
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Post by Socran on Jan 31, 2017 12:33:14 GMT -5
Prison Island was the scene I was talking about. The theme for the area in general is pretty much the perfect fit for your encounter with Zanza, and is probably one of my favorite "ominous temple" type songs in any game. It starts with a fairly generic piano bit saying "Hey look, we're in old ruins," but then it moves on to something more substantial that matches the kind of presence that Zanza gives off in this scene. A lot of people don't realize that there's actually a remix of the Prison Island song much, much later in the game. I don't blame them, since each song plays essentially once, with something like 50 hours in between them.
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Post by SirMouse on Jan 31, 2017 14:54:35 GMT -5
Prison Island was the scene I was talking about. The theme for the area in general is pretty much the perfect fit for your encounter with Zanza, and is probably one of my favorite "ominous temple" type songs in any game. It starts with a fairly generic piano bit saying "Hey look, we're in old ruins," but then it moves on to something more substantial that matches the kind of presence that Zanza gives off in this scene. A lot of people don't realize that there's actually a remix of the Prison Island song much, much later in the game. I don't blame them, since each song plays essentially once, with something like 50 hours in between them. Oh, yeah, the theme for Prison Island was also great! I knew some substantial reveals were coming, which made it feel all the more ominous (as an aside - and speaking of ominous - the "stock" ambient theme that plays during ominous/mysterious cutscenes also sets an excellent mood every time it's used) for me. I'll have to look up both songs on YouTube after the remix plays/I finish the story. But yeah, aside from being aware of a few character identities and the general ending of the game, there's actually a lot I'm realizing I don't know, and even for things I'm aware of, the finer details in regards to them are still new to me. Overall, this is a far more enthralling tale than I would've expected, knowing what I do.
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