Wireframe
Member
Electra was my firstFinally got all rare blades... 297hours of playtime...That last Electra was a B**** to get
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Xenoblade Chronicles 2 |OT| On the backs of Titans we go!
- Thread starter Kimawolf
- Start date
Sakura
Member
Just started chapter 8.
Just thought I'd write my thoughts so far.
I never played the first Xenoblade. Only X and this one.
X was strongly lacking in the narrative side, which 2 has in spades. I'm really enjoying the story.
But aside from that I think X is the better 'game'.
I'm playing the game in Japanese and have no idea what things are called in the English version, so forgive me if the words I use are different.
Some of my problems:
There are way too many systems. I don't understand the point of them. They seem to exist just to give you more things to grind. Much of it isn't really meaningful.
You've got your blade arts, which can be levelled up, and are different for each weapon type, with each type requiring you to grind WP. But the level ups are slow and not very impactful. You go from say 120 to 150 to 180 from levels 1 to 3. And getting to level 3 alone just takes hours and hours in the game. The payout you get for the time you spend is way too low. You have very few arts to choose from anyway, making things kind of stale. If you are using Homura for most of the game, you've got like... 4 blade arts for the whole game.
Then of course you have the kizuna link system for each party member. Again, taking hours and hours just to grind enough points to unlock a new bonus. But the bonuses, of course, are not meaningful for the most part. Yay 200 more HP on top of the 5000+ you already have. 20 more strength or 10 percent more luck.
The blades themselves have their own kizuna link system too! Requiring you to grind affection to unlock new tiers (for most blades anyway). Then once you unlock a new tier, you need to do specific things in order to get the upgrades. But here too, the upgrades aren't too meaningful. Instead of say 45% damage increase on a downed enemy now you get 50%!
Then there are the assist cores, where simply acquiring a new assist core isn't enough, you need to use materials (another resource you have to go search for) in order to make an assist core usable.
But Hana can't use assist cores. So what do you have to do...? Grind another totally different resource in order to upgrade her!
The number of different things you have to grind to upgrade your party is just ridiculous, and the benefits are minimal.
At the end of the day, the game itself isn't challenging, and the combat doesn't have much depth to it. You can get away doing the bare minimum in terms of upgrades. All battles boil down to is chaining the special moves.
I guess that is sort of my main issue in the game. Progression just isn't fun. I don't feel any reason to explore the world. To upgrade things. There is no carrot on the end of the stick here. I think Xenoblade X was a lot better in this regard.
You start out in this huge strange world. There are just enormous monsters, where you think how could I possibly defeat that?
But then you get your doll and traverse the world much faster. You can customise your doll, and upgrading it was a lot of fun.
And then finally you get the ability to fly just cruising around the skies taking on these huge creatures.
You had costumes/outfits you could acquire for party members. Xenoblade 2 doesn't have any of this.
But the story in X was rubbish.
2 is fun to play for the story. But all the other stuff just isn't doing it for me.
Just thought I'd write my thoughts so far.
I never played the first Xenoblade. Only X and this one.
X was strongly lacking in the narrative side, which 2 has in spades. I'm really enjoying the story.
But aside from that I think X is the better 'game'.
I'm playing the game in Japanese and have no idea what things are called in the English version, so forgive me if the words I use are different.
Some of my problems:
There are way too many systems. I don't understand the point of them. They seem to exist just to give you more things to grind. Much of it isn't really meaningful.
You've got your blade arts, which can be levelled up, and are different for each weapon type, with each type requiring you to grind WP. But the level ups are slow and not very impactful. You go from say 120 to 150 to 180 from levels 1 to 3. And getting to level 3 alone just takes hours and hours in the game. The payout you get for the time you spend is way too low. You have very few arts to choose from anyway, making things kind of stale. If you are using Homura for most of the game, you've got like... 4 blade arts for the whole game.
Then of course you have the kizuna link system for each party member. Again, taking hours and hours just to grind enough points to unlock a new bonus. But the bonuses, of course, are not meaningful for the most part. Yay 200 more HP on top of the 5000+ you already have. 20 more strength or 10 percent more luck.
The blades themselves have their own kizuna link system too! Requiring you to grind affection to unlock new tiers (for most blades anyway). Then once you unlock a new tier, you need to do specific things in order to get the upgrades. But here too, the upgrades aren't too meaningful. Instead of say 45% damage increase on a downed enemy now you get 50%!
Then there are the assist cores, where simply acquiring a new assist core isn't enough, you need to use materials (another resource you have to go search for) in order to make an assist core usable.
But Hana can't use assist cores. So what do you have to do...? Grind another totally different resource in order to upgrade her!
The number of different things you have to grind to upgrade your party is just ridiculous, and the benefits are minimal.
At the end of the day, the game itself isn't challenging, and the combat doesn't have much depth to it. You can get away doing the bare minimum in terms of upgrades. All battles boil down to is chaining the special moves.
I guess that is sort of my main issue in the game. Progression just isn't fun. I don't feel any reason to explore the world. To upgrade things. There is no carrot on the end of the stick here. I think Xenoblade X was a lot better in this regard.
You start out in this huge strange world. There are just enormous monsters, where you think how could I possibly defeat that?
But then you get your doll and traverse the world much faster. You can customise your doll, and upgrading it was a lot of fun.
And then finally you get the ability to fly just cruising around the skies taking on these huge creatures.
You had costumes/outfits you could acquire for party members. Xenoblade 2 doesn't have any of this.
But the story in X was rubbish.
2 is fun to play for the story. But all the other stuff just isn't doing it for me.
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Turnip Truck
Member
Just bought this last night. Still slogging through the first Xenoblade on my 3DS, but despite the wince-factor that is Pyra's design I'm really hoping for a good game. If nothing else, I expect the music will be fantastic.
I'm about 102 hours in and probably halfway through chapter 8. I've played and beaten XC1 and XCX so I'm a old hand of sorts to these type of games. So far I'd rate it a 8/10, there are moments of excellence but there are many types of cancer which seek to ruin the fun. For me, it's unskippable audio segments (kinda fixed in new patch but overworld stuff still cannot be skipped), shoddy aggro system, and THE FACT THAT I KEEP PRESSING THE Y BUTTON INSTEAD OF THE + TO BRING UP THE MAIN MENU REEEEEEEE!!!
*ahem*
I like the combat and exploring and love most of the cut-scene for both story and sidequests. Rex is a little too cliche goody two shoes for my liking (in fact the blades have 100x more personality) but he is at least tolerable and not overly annoying. Gigantic anime titties aside, I find most of the character designs decent although they kinda clash with each other at times (bound to happen with all the designers and guest designers who worked on the game). Most NPCs look like they belong in a Xenoblade game but then you have the main hero and his crew who looked just stepped out of a recent Tales of ... game.
I bought the season pass so I'm all in with this game regardless and I'll support any more Xenoblade games which are made. Maybe one day we can get a game truly worthy of the Xeno name since Xenogears.
*ahem*
I like the combat and exploring and love most of the cut-scene for both story and sidequests. Rex is a little too cliche goody two shoes for my liking (in fact the blades have 100x more personality) but he is at least tolerable and not overly annoying. Gigantic anime titties aside, I find most of the character designs decent although they kinda clash with each other at times (bound to happen with all the designers and guest designers who worked on the game). Most NPCs look like they belong in a Xenoblade game but then you have the main hero and his crew who looked just stepped out of a recent Tales of ... game.
I bought the season pass so I'm all in with this game regardless and I'll support any more Xenoblade games which are made. Maybe one day we can get a game truly worthy of the Xeno name since Xenogears.
I've been playing it for the past two weeks and loving it so far... but one thing really pisses me off - random very high level monsters sprinkled around the lower level maps. Even on the first Titan my exploration was often cut short with a random attack from a flying level 80 or something that killed me in one shot.
But it got even worse. I'm now in
, travelling through there is required for a plot quest, but there's a ton of high level monsters. And I'm not talking few levels above me, I'm talking twice my level or more. There's a ton to explore there, but I'm unable to do it because of them. Even if I'm able to run away, which is pretty easy actually, I'm stuck in combat mode for a really long time, since monsters seem to lose aggro with distance only, and the place is really vertical so the linear distance is not that big. It doesn't matter that the monster is unable to reach me, standing still at the bottom of a set of stairs, while I'm at the top standing in front of a door I can't interact with since battle mode. The frustration is real.
But it got even worse. I'm now in
Mor Ardain, lower northern part
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
I played both XC1 and XCX and I personally like XC2 more that the two. I love that all Heart tot heart full voiced and I love that almost all rare blades have their own heart to heart and their own quest to bring their personality. I know the story is too "anime" to some I personally like it and most important part I absolutely love, LOVE the combat. I haven't been this much fun with combat since the Press turn system in Persona/SMT.
Sakura
Member
Finally finished the game.
Took me over 45 hours (which means I guess less than 50?) according to the Switch activity log (in game timer is borked).
Was kind of shorter than I was expecting considering the comments. And that's me spending numerous hours salvaging and shit for cores and money.
The gacha system honestly really pisses me off. Every epic core crystal I've opened has given me a common blade, with my highest luck character equipped with luck increasing accessories and using max boosters. Who thought this was good game design? I think the system is fine for common blades, but they should've made it so all the rare blades are obtained via quests or events, like some already are.
Took me over 45 hours (which means I guess less than 50?) according to the Switch activity log (in game timer is borked).
Was kind of shorter than I was expecting considering the comments. And that's me spending numerous hours salvaging and shit for cores and money.
The gacha system honestly really pisses me off. Every epic core crystal I've opened has given me a common blade, with my highest luck character equipped with luck increasing accessories and using max boosters. Who thought this was good game design? I think the system is fine for common blades, but they should've made it so all the rare blades are obtained via quests or events, like some already are.
Pejo
Member
Totally agree with the bolded. At the very least, rare blades should have been faction rewards for doing a bunch of quests for particular towns/NPCs instead of just random ass rewards. Farming cores is neither fun nor rewarding. This would also alleviate the chance of pulling a blade on a character that can't get the most out of it.
Andyliini
Member
The next update is coming mid-February, NoE tweeted. The update includes a free "second playthrough game mode", probably new game+ or something like that. That's all the information we have, but it's nice they are continuing their monthly updates for the game. I'm not sure if Season Pass stuff is added this time, altough Nintendo's official page says "Starting January 2018: New Quests Pack". I wonder if there could be even more DLC-quests included. Anyway, I'm still at chapter 8, and I'm loving the game so far, so more content is always a plus. I actually think that if I was still 10, this could be my Final Fantasy VII.
Turnip Truck
Member
So, I wasn't sure I was going to like this game. Boy was I wrong. I'm somewhere around 10-11 hours in and I don't think I've had this much fun playing a JRPG in many years. I like almost everything about this game. The music, the exploration, the characters, the great writing, excellent English voice acting, beautiful environments and the story thus far. The blade/battle system is ingenious, and while complex it is a lot easier for me to understand than XC1. The humor is the best I've seen in a game since Summon Night: Swordcraft Story, and I find myself genuinely laughing out loud a lot. I generally find cutesy comic relief sidekick type characters to be annoying at best, but Tora is bucking that trend and becoming possibly my favorite character. If I had to criticize any one thing it would be that the map system which can be a little confusing, but it is still workable. This was $60 well spent!
Nightstick10
Neo Member
I finally, finally, finally got Kos-mos. Jesus fucking christ. According to my game clock, it took me 295 hours (although the game does have some sort of strange bug that doesn't tabulate hours correctly.) Xenoblade 1 is one of the top three RPGs of all time for me so it was a tall order for Xenoblade 2 or X to surpass it, but this is one of the best ball systems of all time and I love the Driver/Blade dynamic. I am hoping they release some more super bosses though.
Problem with X is that i cant even get to the Doll... i feel like ive played the game 50 hours already and i cant take anymore. The quest... no... "chore"-line to unlock the Doll is too much on top of the slog i have already played.
At least you pointed out one key thing about the grind in XC2... its optional (at least that is how you make it sound). Sounds to me like i can ignore it and still finish the game. Big plus in my book.
Scopa
The Tribe Has Spoken
I feel like rare blades are allergic to Zeke. I’ve bonded with about 100 cores and got nada.
JORMBO
Darkness no more
That must be it. I’ve been using Zeke for my last 150 or so cores and have gotten nothing.
Sakura
Member
Are you using luck increasing items and boosters?
That seems crazy.
Andyliini
Member
Well, yeah, he seems to get less rares than Rex or Moraq. Altough when I first got Zeke in my party, the first common core crystal I used gave me a rare blade right away. And then during that session, I got another Rare blade from a rare core crystal. Still no Kos-Mos, though.
Scopa
The Tribe Has Spoken
In my case, I did every time and still no luck.
The only core I got to bond with him so far is a story given specific core, so she was forced to bond with him lol.
MrMorningMan
Neo Member
Just starting playing and I must say, this game has amazing combat. Pulling off a combo and seeing the huge damage splat on the screen after the cool attack animation is very satisfying. Regret selling all the crap I picked up on my travels though as I'm getting fetch quests asking for those exact items now. *sigh*
Scopa
The Tribe Has Spoken
My go to rule with RPGs is never sell anything as you’ll end up with enough money eventually anyway and you might need that item. Only time I sell stuff is when it is a weapon that has been superseded by another (in other RPGs).
MrMorningMan
Neo Member
Absolutely! I have certainly learned a lesson knowing I have to trek all over to collect from the gathering spots again. As long as I can keep the inventory tidy looking, all will be okay.
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JORMBO
Darkness no more
Yes. I have luck items equipped and have been using boosters. Must just be a long string of really bad luck. I'm still missing 12 rare blades too, so it's not like I am trying to get the last one or two either
JORMBO
Darkness no more
This was announced a few days ago. XBC2 passed one million in sales:
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/finance/software/index.html
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/finance/software/index.html
KevinKeene
Banned
As mentioned in the sales-topic: Fantastic news and so very deserved success.
Tbh I still cannot wrap my head around how this is possible. It's a JRPG that might reach 200k when all is said and done in Japan. But just in a month, the same game sold 800k units in Europe and the USA. That is astounding. And we're talking about a niche name that has little pull outside of its established fanbase. That also didn't receive any big marketing campaign like FF15 or P5 got. And still: over 1 million.
Above all, it really is proof for how vocal the minority is that kept trying to stigmatize this game, even by terrible people like Jason Schreier, who called it the 'anti-Nintendo game', which is just hateful after having experienced the game myself. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a fantastic game, and its attractive female characters added to the game, if anything. But no sane person pays attantion to Pyra's boobs after an hour or two anyway, so it's a total non-issue.
Can't wait to dig into new game+ later this month.
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Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
Me too, even though I already finished the game twice.
JORMBO
Darkness no more
Some spoilers -
Patch 1.3 details (arrives next week): https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/adena/production-notes/index.html#180209
Some notes from Reddit:
NG+ and QOL Improvements:
Patch 1.3 details (arrives next week): https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/adena/production-notes/index.html#180209
Some notes from Reddit:
NG+ and QOL Improvements:
Not only can you recruit Patrohka, Mikhail, and Akhos' blades, you can even recruit the three of them by themselves,and they will be available both as random core crystal drops or as rewards from quests, AND they appear to have unique weapons
you can now remove story blades, including pyra, even in the first run, and send them on missions
new driver affinity charts with even stronger bonuses
you can change level freely at inns, instead of just increasing
you can exchange bonus EXP for items that INCREASE THE NUMBER OF ACCESSORY SLOTS
a certain special blade now has a lv.4 special
And the features that are available right from the beginning:you can now lock blades, and they will be more visible and impossible to release
you can SKIP CORE CRYSTAL OPENING SEQUENCES
you can now customize the icons that appear on the in-game map overlay
new easy mode for the game proper just for shitters
presumably they added the ability to stack accessories and aux chips?
And finally, what you keep from game to game:levels
equipment
art levels
all your blades(!)
consumable items and gold
gold
dev level
merc level
event theater scenes
unique monster tombstones
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Andyliini
Member
Looks good. I'm still missing that last random blade (got Percival yesterday), but it looks like that the last random blade will be very hard to get. I'm not giving up yet though, I still have some sidequests to do, and still need to find a quest to acquire one rare blade (second-to-last from the book of blades). I love this game, even more that Mario, and about as much as Zelda. 120 hours into the game, and I'm just doing side things because I feel like I'm almost at the end. What a journey it has been.
KevinKeene
Banned
Fantastic update. And if all the new blades have a unique sidequest with voice acting, it'll be really juicy.
What's best: maybe the story dlc later this year won't be a lame flashback featuring Torna, because we could get that right now (not saying a Torna flashback story would be bad per se, but it'd definitely be the least interesting option).
Alright,let's see if I can get Kosmos on my 2nd playthrough!
What's best: maybe the story dlc later this year won't be a lame flashback featuring Torna, because we could get that right now (not saying a Torna flashback story would be bad per se, but it'd definitely be the least interesting option).
Alright,let's see if I can get Kosmos on my 2nd playthrough!
Gormless Noodle
Member
Oooooh that's all really fantastic. Even something as small as locking blades, that ads a whole lot if you have some favs and all that. Really good shit, looking forward to messing around on NG+
Andyliini
Member
Oh man, I was waiting for it. I just finished the game yesterday, and my heart almost broke while I watched the ending especially
This game is up there with Zelda for being the best game of 2017, no questions asked. Wonderfully crafted title.
I was waiting to try the new update, but now that it has been postponed, I'll probably move on for now, and return to Zelda to play the Champion's Ballad. Then return for Xenoblade later when more content has been released.
when the final chapter title appears after the post-credits scene. It felt like the whole game was summed up in a single sentence right there.
I was waiting to try the new update, but now that it has been postponed, I'll probably move on for now, and return to Zelda to play the Champion's Ballad. Then return for Xenoblade later when more content has been released.
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Excellent news, hopefully will mean an even better and more polished Xenoblade Chronicles 3 in the future.
KevinKeene
Banned
KevinKeene
Banned
Soraya Saga just announced the Mythra-figure on Twitter. I'm both salivating AND crying (wallet).
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
Do you think we might get figures for other rare blades? I would love to get a figure for Herald, I really love her design.
KevinKeene
Banned
My inner reason hopes there won't be. But who knows. It's thr best selling Xenoblade-title, its characters are immensely popular. And I want a 'Nia'-figure.
Realistically speaking, we might get a certain 3rd figure.
KevinKeene
Banned
My wallet is dead ...
Koala Driving a Ferrari
Member
This thread makes me want to buy a Switch just to play XC2!
KevinKeene
Banned
Ok, help needed (lol):
I have Pyra pre-ordered. Want to pre-order Mythra and Siren, too. I really don't have a lot of money. The money I have could go to much more useful things (like games! Or the inevitable Switch-successor). What do you even do with these figures, other than putting them up on display forever? But ... the thought of not getting them really hurts. I love the Xeno-franchise. But the thought of 'losing' so much money also hurts my head.
Halp :/
I have Pyra pre-ordered. Want to pre-order Mythra and Siren, too. I really don't have a lot of money. The money I have could go to much more useful things (like games! Or the inevitable Switch-successor). What do you even do with these figures, other than putting them up on display forever? But ... the thought of not getting them really hurts. I love the Xeno-franchise. But the thought of 'losing' so much money also hurts my head.
Halp :/
JORMBO
Darkness no more
These are the first two figures I am buying, so I am not a collector like others who may be buying these. I just bought a house recently. I am going to stick these on my gaming shelf and consider it "decorating costs". I wanted to get something gaming related to mix in with my decorating, since I don't have anything yet. These will do.
Pyra won't be out until the end of the year. Mythra later then that I am assuming. That gives some time to put money aside.
If you enjoy RPGs it is well worth it. There's a lot of other good stuff already out and coming out for the Switch too.
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KevinKeene
Banned
I expected a barrage of 'don't do it, if you're low on money you shouldn't waste it on figures', and here you make pre-ordering them sounds reasonable. XD
Zenaku
Member
Well Siren is a plamodel, so you'll at least be putting that together before displaying it forever.
JB2448
Member
We now have a clean, direct rip of all 124 tracks of the soundtrack for Xenoblade 2.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIpqsKgkQEvMUFbngp-GbW1JwDGXnxcm9
Clean and full “Drifting Soul”
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIpqsKgkQEvMUFbngp-GbW1JwDGXnxcm9
Clean and full “Drifting Soul”