Xenoblade Chronicles (Aug 19th)

[marcel]

The trailer shows more of the characters then anything else, Monolith even though are the best RPG storytellers to ever exist suck at character designs, just look at all their games, Chrono Cross, Xenogears, Xenosaga, Baten Kaitos, Soma Bringer and Disaster Day Of Crises. All of these games are not really wow in character design. No what Monolith does is make the best battle systems around, best well told stories and fantastic level designs. Can't have it all eh

 

 

Depends what you mean in turn base, Chrono Cross and Baten Kaitos Origins has perhaps the best battle system in terms of turn base, it's smooth as which I love.

 

Other then that Dragon Quest and pokemon are the only games I really love the turn base because it's simple.

 

True Monolith has some of the best story's in RPG land(really loved baten kaitos 1 and 2(imported it, tnx to freeloader) and lets not forget Disaster day of crisis), That was one really good disision from nintendo to buy them.

 

And to get to the turned based arguement, I really hate SLOW ASS turned based systems like Lost odyssey, All the early Final fantasy games and blue dragon. The combat of those systems where so slow, if you didnt attack your enemys didnt attack eather. So you could potentially go shopping, and after an hour the game is still at the same point, in many ways its like chess and i hate that.

 

Turned based systems that i DO LIKE are the once from baten kaitos (1 and 2) and the recent Final fantasy 13. That mainly because its fast, you need to think and attack fast or else you will die. You cant wait 5 minutes to place an attack like in all the other turned based systems where you need to dive in 10 different menus.

Edited April 9, 2010 by marcel

[killer kirby]

True Monolith has some of the best story's in RPG land(really loved baten kaitos 1 and 2(imported it, tnx to freeloader) and lets not forget Disaster day of crisis), That was one really good disision from nintendo to buy them.

Iwata is a big RPG nut, he loves them, heck they funded Baten Kaitos Origins, not Namco, hence why the translation is top notch and the voice acting is a million times better then what the first one is.

 

 

And to get to the turned based arguement, I really hate SLOW ASS turned based systems like Lost odyssey

I can understand that aspect, it is slow dull and boring.

 

All the early Final fantasy games

I don't know, 1-6 final fantasy games were awesome in terms of being super fast, no loading right into battle and out of the battle, it was fast when it was just a normal battle.

 

and blue dragon.

Yeah understand that.

 

The combat of those systems where so slow, if you didnt attack your enemys didnt attack eather.

There is Quick time action where even looking for a spell the monsters attacked. Or if a beginner could let you have time making thinking of what spell you wanted to use without being attacked...I thought you knew they were in the older final fantasy games.

 

 

and the recent Final fantasy 13. That mainly because its fast, you need to think and attack fast or else you will die. You cant wait 5 minutes to place an attack like in all the other turned based systems where you need to dive in 10 different menus.

As much as they tried to make FFXIII battle system appealing, to me it was just a pile of shit with lots of flashy decoration put over it. Not once did I really feel like I was in control of the characters, all I had to do in that game was do auto-battle and the game would do it for me, not to mention the parigrom-ish whatever you call it shift. just change it when you were almost out of HP too heal yourself once done go back to attacking. I could mention the shitty AI of the characters in battle, but I would rather talk about that in the FFXIII thread.

[marcel]

Oh i didnt knew that BK origins was funded by nintendo. I loved both baten kaitos games, the music, the graphics the characters, the story it all makes sence.

 

I would LOVE nintendo if they would allow Monolith to make Baten Kaitos 3 for wii or as a launch title for the Wii2(RPG's are nowhere near impressive on a small ds screen than on a bigass tv). But im not completely sure who has the rights to the name(and all that stuff) of baten kaitos, is it nintendo(sinse they bought monolith), or namco/bandai?

 

And on FF13, at least they tried to mix up the combat instead of rehashing the last combat system like most developers would do.

 

Oh and BTW for spells i make the exception(with the if you didnt do anything the enemies also didnt do so)

[killer kirby]

Oh i didnt knew that BK origins was funded by nintendo. I loved both baten kaitos games, the music, the graphics the characters, the story it all makes sence.

Well originally Baten Kaitos was going to be a one off thing, until Nintendo asked Monolith through Namco to make another one with their help of funding. Even though the game sold like shit, Nintendo bought them, so obviously they wanted them for the talent that was there. Square handled them like shit, same with Namco, lets hope Nintendo can treat them a lot better.

 

I would LOVE nintendo if they would allow Monolith to make Baten Kaitos 3 for wii or as a launch title for the Wii2(RPG's are nowhere near impressive on a small ds screen than on a bigass tv). But im not completely sure who has the rights to the name(and all that stuff) of baten kaitos, is it nintendo(sinse they bought monolith), or namco/bandai?

Do not know But I would also love more of Baten Kaitos series. I am kind of surprised Nintendo didn't do a Zelda too Origins and make it a Wii release game. I think it would have sold a LOT more then it did. But ah well, perhaps for number 3 if they put it on the next system

 

And on FF13, at least they tried to mix up the combat instead of rehashing the last combat system like most developers would do.

But it didn't do anything, there was still a bar waiting for it to fill before attacking, still had to choose commands all the time. If any battle system I loves it was FFXII, it felt fresh, I really had full control of the character and the customization for the team party was fantastic.

 

Oh and BTW for spells i make the exception(with the if you didnt do anything the enemies also didnt do so)

 

Then I don't get it when you say the final fantasy games of the older ones, 4-6 were active but as you go into the magic section choosing magic there was no action but when out of it the enemies could always attack. I know FFI-III made you choose first and then went into a fighting faze.

[Dante]

Japan Boxart:

[Retro_Link]

That was already posted on the previous page... still, nice enough to see again!

[Dante]

New info:

 

Famitsu on characters:

Shulk

The main character. A fan of literature. He heads off on a journey with his friends to defeat the Kishin troops who attacked his village. Race: Homs, Age: 18, Height: 171cm, Voice: Shintaro Asanuma

 

Fiorun

The heroine. Childhood friend of Shulk and little sister of Dunban (below). Race: Homs, Age: 18, Height: 160cm, voice: Eri Nakao

 

Dunban

The shirtless guy from the trailer. Hero of the Homs people, he used the Monado sword and defeated many Kishin army troops. He was injured during a major confrontation 1 year back and is now healing. Race: Homs, Age: 30, Height 180cm, voice: Ryo Horikawa

 

Dickson

Dunban's war friend from a long time back. He watches over Shulk like a parent. Race: Homs, Age: 44, Height: 181cm, voice: Tsuyoshi Koyama

 

Mumuca

A traveling warrior. He once fought Dunban for the right to be the person who would use Monado. Race: Homs, Age: 30, Height: 195cm. Norio Wakamoto

 

 

Scans:

[STOOPIDDITTIES]

As much as I'd love to read everything Dante posts on this and Last Story, I just don't want to know.

 

Two games I'll get on day 1 and want to be completely surprised by. I'm hoping that's how everyone else feels considering the lack of posts. Which is understandable considering these two games are looking very, very special.

[ShadowV7]

As much as I'd love to read everything Dante posts on this and Last Story, I just don't want to know.

 

Two games I'll get on day 1 and want to be completely surprised by. I'm hoping that's how everyone else feels considering the lack of posts. Which is understandable considering these two games are looking very, very special.

 

That's what i'm doing, along with Galaxy 2. I know nothing about them so far, thought i'd randomly pop in the thread to see if there were any discussions/dates about the game.

[Retro_Link]

Yep same as me:

 

- I've watched the initial trailers for this, but that's it now, no more thanks!

- Metroid: Other M and Galaxy 2, I've seen last years E3 trailers... but that's it!

- I'll do the same with Zelda.

 

It's actually much easier than I thought to avoid stuff... though I imagine the internet will be flooded with Zelda info when it arises and may be more difficult to miss pictures/artwork etc...

[Dante]

Site has been update.

Wallpaper:

[pedrocasilva]

Iwata is a big RPG nut, he loves them, heck they funded Baten Kaitos Origins, not Namco, hence why the translation is top notch and the voice acting is a million times better then what the first one is.

That can also be attributed to 8-4 ltd being the company they subcontracted to do the localization. They really went the extra mile.

I would LOVE nintendo if they would allow Monolith to make Baten Kaitos 3 for wii or as a launch title for the Wii2(RPG's are nowhere near impressive on a small ds screen than on a bigass tv). But im not completely sure who has the rights to the name(and all that stuff) of baten kaitos, is it nintendo(sinse they bought monolith), or namco/bandai?

Probably Namco's, I know Xenosaga is, hence why I believe they can make cameos whenever they want.

 

But that's alright, Namco is still a shareholder for them, albeit small and they continue to work with them... Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans and Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier were developed by them after all... for Namco and after Nintendo being the biggest shareholder in there.

 

They obviously don't mind the Xeno in Xenoblade, for instance.

 

Monolith reps have said multiple times that they want to make a new baten kaitos, so who knows; they're probably quite busy with this one though.

 

Baten Kaitos DS was proposed at some point, so perhaps they should jump on the 3DS train now? I doubt Nintendo would mind it at all, a second party studio jumping with a huge RPG project onto their new portable? chances are it'll quite powerful seeing Nintendo made dealings to secure access to the nvidia tegra platform (and I assume we're talking about the Tegra 2 chipset)

[D_prOdigy]

'nother trailaaarrgh

 

[killer kirby]

Man with all these trailers and the sound of it being truly one of the greatest pieces of work (Monolith has yet to let me down in story telling) I feel like just going back through all their games again, Chrono Cross, Xenogears, Xenosaga I+III, Baten Kaitos/Origins gaaaaah so much epicness in all of those games xD

[Dante]

New scans:

 

Scans Details

 

The Xenoblade cast keeps on growing. Four additional characters made their debut in this week's Famitsu, including our first two representatives of the races besides Homs. Let's take a look.

 

Rein

Race: Homs, Gender: Male, Age: 18, Height: 190cm. A member of the Colony 9 Defense Force (Colony 9 is where the main characters live). He's a childhood friend of main character Shulk. While an optimist, he can show great anger.

Carna

Race: Homs, Gender: Female, Age: 21, Height: 168cm. A soldier in the Colony 6 Defense Force. She's good with projectile weapons.

Melia

Race: Hienter, Gender: Female, Age: ???, Height: 156cm. A young girl from the Hienter race. This race resides on the head area of the Kyojin part of the world and has an advanced civilization. She's skilled at using ethers for attacks.

Riki

Race: Nopon, Gender: Male, Age: ???, Height: 60cm. A hero of the Nopon merchant race who reside in the forests of the back area of the Kyojin part of the world? His words and movements are extremely childish, but in reality... !? (Note: I tried to replicate Famitsu's punctuation here.)

 

In case you're wondering about how all the races look, you can see the Homs races at the official site. The Hienter also look like humans. The Nopon, however, look like giant eggs, with wings and tiny feet.

 

The magazine also provided details on the mecha that were shown attacking Colony 9 in the previous trailer:

Black Face

Race: New Model Kishin Soldier, Head Height: 10.5m, Total Height: 15.5m. This type of soldier is capable of transforming into flying form. It uses its claws as weapons. Different from other Kishin soldiers, its head looks somewhat human-like. The Monado sword is apparently ineffective against this soldier.

Brown Face

Race: New Model Kishin Soldier, Head Height: 6m, Total Height: 7.5m. Like Black Face, Brown Face can transform into flying form. It wields a sickle-like weapon.

 

Also getting some space -- try a full page, or one-fourth of the article -- is the Monado Sword. The magazine summarizes what we're apparently supposed to already know about the sword. I use "apparently" because some of the info was new to me.

 

There are apparently three known properties about the sword:

1. It has the only power that can resist the Kishin troops.

2. It can't slash anything except Kishin troops.

3. Anyone can unleash Monado's power, but at present only the legendary hero Dunban can control it.

 

Point number 2 is of particular note. The magazine has a screenshot that shows Rein for some reason slashing heroine Fiorung with the Monado. However, the sword does not harm her.

 

Based off the screenshots, it looks like Monado is like a light saber -- the actual slicing part isn't metal, but rather a light beam. It's hard to see what's going on when Rein slashes at Fiorung, as the part of the sword that actually hits Fiorung is just a flash of light.

 

The central glass plate on the sword's head was previously revealed to have some mysterious properties. It seems to change color and text. Screens in the magazine show two textual images: "機" and "盾." The former could be machine -- it's the same character that starts off the name of the Kishin troops. The second is shield.

 

What do these mysterious characters mean? The "Monado" section of the official site has already been unlocked and contained no answers. Perhaps this is a mystery we'll have to figure out for ourselves once Xenoblade hits on June 24.

[Dante]

Soundtrack Info

 

 

Soundtrack listing is out (4 CDs) and both Shimomura and Mitsuda are listed as composers

 

Manami Kiyota and ACE+ also involved in the soundtrack

[killer kirby]

Soundtrack Info

 

Soundtrack listing is out (4 CDs) and both Shimomura and Mitsuda are listed as composers

 

both Shimomura and Mitsuda are listed as composers

 

Mitsuda are listed as composers

 

Mitsuda

 

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YES!!!!! :bouncy::bouncy:

 

Just listening to this song that will be in the game just makes more hyped then ever for this game xD

	Audio

Edited April 29, 2010 by killer kirby

[STOOPIDDITTIES]

Oh God that sounds amazinzginzg.

 

 

I want it now.

[Dante]

	Audio

	Audio

 

Site has updated:

 

The Xenoblade official site saw a mini update today, providing a glimpse at the four characters who were unveiled in Famitsu earlier in the week.

 

Visit the character page for a look at the characters. As always, you can select multiple character art and voice samples.

 

The four characters are:

 

Rein

 

Race: Homs, Gender: Male, Age: 18, Height: 190cm. A member of the Colony 9 Defense Force and childhood friend of main character Shulk. (In my Famitsu writeup, I mistranslated his description to say he has an angry side.)

 

In his quotes, he says something like: "Understood... I won't let Shulk get a single injury" and "If you're going to attack, bring it. I'll bust you up."

 

Carna

 

Race: Homs, Gender: Female, Age: 21, Height: 168cm. A soldier in the Colony 6 Defense Force. She always shows courage and is good with projectile attacks.

 

In her quotes, she says something like: "It's too early to loose hope!" and "I will not allow it! I will fight until you all fall!"

Melia

 

Race: Hienter, Gender: Female, Age: ???, Height: 156cm. A young girl from the Hienter race, which resides in the head area of the Kyojin part of the world and has an advanced civilization. She's skilled with using ethers for attacks.

 

In her quotes, she says something like: "If you realize the value of important things after you've lost them, it's too late."

Riki

 

Race: Nopon, Gender: Male, Age: ???, Height: 60cm. A hero of the Nopon merchant race who reside in the forests of the back area of the Kyojin part of the world. His words and movements are extremely childish, but it seems there's a different side to him.

 

In his quotes, he says says something like: "Hey friends, it's Riki, who was selected as this year's legendary hero." and "What's wrong with everyone. You're all acting strange. Totally strange! Maybe everyone is sad because they're hungry."

 

 

These four are all under the "player character" section, which presumably means they'll be a part of your party. There are no more "player character" slots at the site now, but the sub character section has six empty slots.

 

The site unfortunately does not have a look at the Black Face and Brown Face enemies which were also detailed in Famitsu. They were already shown in trailers, however. If you want background details, see this writeup from the Famitsu article.

[Dante]

Field Introduction

[Andyliini]

Just watched that trailer. Didn't care about this game much, but I decided to watch this trailer anyway. Wow, I almost can't believe my eyes. That looks just awesome, I just simply have to play that game. Never even tried Xeno-series before. Maybe I should?

[STOOPIDDITTIES]

Oh wow. At 2:08 I literally went "No way!!"

 

This game looks so open and the draw distance looks incredible. This is going to be one amazing experience.

[Nolan]

Oh wow. At 2:08 I literally went "No way!!"

 

I went "Holy shit." at 2:08.

[Solo]

Holy cow, why can't more Wii games look like this?!

 

I'm not familiar with the Xeno series. Are the battles real time or turn based?

[Nolan]

This is real time, Xenosaga and Xenogears (unrelated actually) I think are both turnbased. I believe that Xenoblade is also unrelated to Xenosaga besides perhaps some references and the Xeno name.