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Post by inquisitor on Nov 30, 2017 23:31:20 GMT -5
f*** You, Bessy
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Post by DarknessLink7 on Dec 1, 2017 15:30:59 GMT -5
I find it amusing that all the story discussion topics have around 10 views except this one, the one with the most spoilers, which has 25 views. People are too curious for their own good.
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Post by ancientrune on Dec 4, 2017 11:29:29 GMT -5
game is directly related to Xenoblade 1. It is not a Final Fantasy situation
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Post by NullNoMore on Jan 15, 2018 11:02:58 GMT -5
And done. I was surprised I didn't drop to floor like a hibernating core crystal.
Myself, I would have been more okay without a happy ending, because the game's end felt a little like "let's fix the sad but believable thing". It's a good thing, however, for all the people that would have been really sad over it. Hey, games don't need to be the truest thing ever, so I can't kick over it. Really can't kick because Poppi's reaction was just too precious and believable for this world, while everyone else stands there with open mouths. Go Poppi, sorry you will never be upgraded because I am dreadful at Tiger Tiger. (And I notice I STILL am in tell-no-spoiler mode, even in this safe space. He he he.)
Of what I've played, not my favorite of the three (XCX for life), not the one that I'll recommend without hesitation (XC). Glad I'm through it.
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Post by Wolfe on Jan 15, 2018 17:12:32 GMT -5
The end was pretty indulgent, but I give them credit for having Malos foreshadow it. And yeah, Poppi is the best.
XC2 for me is the best game, which says something because I didn't expect it would be, upon seeing the shift in style and tone and gameplay. I wasn't very hyped for most of last year, merely trusting Monolith Soft that it would still be a great game anyway. But as much as I love XCX, I admit it was flawed, and XC2 is confidently a better-realized game.
Whether that makes XC2 my favorite is tougher, if that makes sense. I prefer XCX's open-ended roleplaying nature and having Skells to play with. If Monolith Soft flips back to that kind of game for the next one, man, the potential is off the charts!
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Post by inquisitor on Jan 15, 2018 23:39:10 GMT -5
And I am the opposite. Easily my least favorite Xenoblade. I hated the gameplay from the start, and while I loved the story at first, that changed when I took a closer look at it. At first I thought it was a solid narrative, but then I realized it was held together by masking tape in quite a few places (Example: Rex and Nia's backstories).
I feel like they could have used another month or two to work on this, it just felt rushed. Numerous QoL issues in the gameplay, poorly paced story, etc.
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Post by Wolfe on Jan 16, 2018 4:29:18 GMT -5
inquisitor -- The few little QoL things are strange missteps; like, why didn't the X button pull up where you are in the first place, like it does now? And the game still needs a revision to the core crystal probabilities and a skip for the first part of bonding with a crystal. The game's relatively brief development does show a bit, at least in things like that, but it's nothing compared to the faults and compromises of all the past games, IMO. By all indications it's the first game Takahashi has directed that was actually completed as planned. I hope Nintendo is pleased enough to keep it up.
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Post by NullNoMore on Jan 16, 2018 21:51:32 GMT -5
I'm working on why there is a disconnect between me and XC2. Let's consider Klaus. Yes, it was a scream at the screen moment for me and Eldest Child, whooo, did you just go there, etc. But the emotion was born from playing XC, not from playing XC2. All that emotion and excitement was because I had played another game and loved its story, not because I was invested in XC2's cast and world.
If the Architect had been just another guy from a technologically advanced past, it wouldn't have given me the same kind of emotional rush. How that affects the experience of people who didn't play XC I can't speak to, but in a way, I feel like it was a bit of a cheat. An amusing and enjoyable cheat, so again, I am conflicted. But shouldn't I be all in for the story of THIS game, and not because it happens to kinda/sorta/eventually reference XC?
Again, the story, the characters & design choices, the tee-hee-they're-swearing humor, the way the gameplay dripped into completion, it all made me feel too old, too impatient, too female for this kind of thing. I think that I am not the audience that the game wants to serve. I'll be really sad if that continues to be the audience Monolith Soft targets, but that is their decision. Eldest dumped the game at Ch. 2 and may not return for any future games. I'll probably get just as gooey and hyped for XenowhateverNext, because I had a good chunk of fun despite my simmering grumbles.
Ahhhh, I am so conflicted about this game. How can I love so much of it (and played so much of it) and still feel this disappointed? How much of it is because of negative qualities of XC2, how much is normal variance with otherwise valid design choices (example: platformers -- they can be awesome, I don't enjoy them, neither statement is wrong), how much is due to my own personal whiney mindscape? Sigh.
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Post by Wolfe on Jan 16, 2018 23:42:19 GMT -5
I'm working on why there is a disconnect between me and XC2. Let's consider Klaus. Yes, it was a scream at the screen moment for me and Eldest Child, whooo, did you just go there, etc. But the emotion was born from playing XC, not from playing XC2. All that emotion and excitement was because I had played another game and loved its story, not because I was invested in XC2's cast and world. If the Architect had been just another guy from a technologically advanced past, it wouldn't have given me the same kind of emotional rush. How that affects the experience of people who didn't play XC I can't speak to, but in a way, I feel like it was a bit of a cheat. An amusing and enjoyable cheat, so again, I am conflicted. But shouldn't I be all in for the story of THIS game, and not because it happens to kinda/sorta/eventually reference XC? You have a point. Watching my wife reach the Architect, I could tell it did not pay off for her like it did for me, having played XC1, exactly as you say. I tried to fill in the blanks as gracefully as I could without going all fanboy on her. She still tells me it's her all-time favorite game, though! She enjoyed but didn't care to finish XC1 or XCX. To be fair, the game is called Xenoblade 2, but then Takahashi deliberately misled everyone into assuming the series will be like Final Fantasy. It makes recommending the game to someone who hasn't played XC1 just a bit awkward. Then there are the commonalities with other past titles, and how that impacted my reaction to things like the Land of Morytha. How much would I have enjoyed the story without appreciating the callbacks spanning Takahashi's career as director? I'll never know. Again, the story, the characters & design choices, the tee-hee-they're-swearing humor, the way the gameplay dripped into completion, it all made me feel too old, too impatient, too female for this kind of thing. I think that I am not the audience that the game wants to serve. I'll be really sad if that continues to be the audience Monolith Soft targets, but that is their decision. I perceive XC2 as pretty much a quintessential Takahashi/Monolith game -- story, characters, designs, and humor -- though a bit more tailored for today's Japanese audience. Was XC1 your initiation to the meta-franchise? I ask without judgment; just curious. That also goes for the platforming; I'm one of the weirdos who wasn't put off by climbing Babel Tower in Xenogears.
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Post by NullNoMore on Jan 17, 2018 0:57:03 GMT -5
I didn't play the games before XC1 -- I came late and old to gaming, Nintendo only, and XC was one of my first exposures to this type of game. I was persuaded to pre order XC blind (along with Pandora's Tower and Last Story), and wow, it hit hard. Then XCX hit even harder, because I liked the build-your-own-story and exploration and workplace drama and let's be honest Irina/Elma/Alexa/Hope, grrrrrrls with pants! XCX gave me something I'd never been given before, and if it is the outlier of Xeno games, at least I know the shape of the game I really like, and I will try to be grateful.
I've heard about the earlier games, but never experienced them (let's plays aren't a thing I care for, shrug). Interesting that you got even more emotions as an experienced player -- Morytha was just a place for me, as was the space port. Interesting urban/industrial designs, neat music (Orbital station, mMMMMMmmmm), and functioning as tunnels leading to the next cutscene + battle.
I enjoyed the gameplay of XC2 pretty well, by the time everything was unlocked and after the update (mmmmmmaps). I'm looking forward to playing a good dozen hours (coughanother100cough), mopping up sidequests. I am one of those people that enjoys grinding, very soothing, and I am just stubborn enough to get all the blades. It could happen.
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Post by Wolfe on Jan 17, 2018 6:20:14 GMT -5
NullNoMore -- XCX is a clear outlier for its open-ended format (which I liked too), but in other ways it resembles the older games. Same character artist, even -- Kunihiko Tanaka. Something I've been wondering is how much of XC2 could possibly reflect what they scrapped when they pivoted XCX halfway through development. The Indoline people and L'cirufe? Celica/Rock and Nia/Dromarch? Only superficial? I wonder because a cross between XCX and XC2 could come awfully close to a "Xenogears 3.0", IMHO.* As it is, yeah, Morytha was like the Klaus reveal, but a bigger eye-opener. I surmised that XC2 would be connected to XC1 in the end (XC1's ending leaves the door open, doesn't it?). I never would have guessed how XC2 riffs on XG and conveniently links XC1 and XC2 to the older games with the Conduit. So...the game is more of a "cheat" than you thought, as you put it. Perhaps knowing this can help you settle your dilemma? * -- To briefly summarize in case you're not familiar, Xenogears had originally been planned as one of six episodes, which didn't happen, and Xenosaga was basically a second attempt of that plan. In one of the Iwata Asks interviews, Takahashi explained those failures led him to step back and reassess their whole approach to making an RPG. XC1 (née "Monado: Beginning of the World") was the outcome of that self-reflection.
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