Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (2017)

[Blade]

@Hero-of-Time

[Blade]

Is this game as good as the first one?

[MindFreak]

10 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I'll leave it in sleep mode while I make some breakkie and see if the patch has fixed it.

Awesome.

Does this also show in the Parental Controls App?

[Hero-of-Time]

3 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

Awesome.

Does this also show in the Parental Controls App?

Not sure as I don't use the app.

7 minutes ago, Blade said:

Is this game as good as the first one?

I'm enjoying the story more than the first one. As I said in my initial impressions, the story beats happen early and are frequent enough to keep the player engaged. The music so far has been top tier and the world seems to be just as open as the first game. I was running around it what seemed to be in Gaur Plains equivalent earlier. The art style/direction is much more suited to my tastes, as well.

[Hero-of-Time]

@MindFreak the patch seems to have fixed the clock issue.

[ArtMediocre]

Hope to find this today in the store, but most likely I'll have to wait until tomorrow :(. I've been really hyped these last few days. Thank god the game has gotten some better PR than the first, boring directs. When do the review embargo lift?

[MindFreak]

1 minute ago, ArtMediocre said:

 When do the review embargo lift?

I believe it's 2 o'clock CET.

[Ashley]

Here is @Kaepora_Gaebora's review:

Quote

The longevity of this game is, as always, what you make of it. The main quest that provides the thread line through the game is meaty enough, yet in sub-quests and levelling up characters the game takes on a whole new dimension. You could easily lose hundreds of hours into Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and still not see everything. 

http://n-europe.com/reviews/xenoblade-chronicles-2-review

[Hero-of-Time]

@Kaepora_Gaebora how long is the games main story? I'm curious to know roughly how many hours it takes to reach the end credits.

[martinist]

Was hoping my copy would arrive today but no luck. Mail man just skiped my house entirely.

Should turn up tomorrow, just have to watch all the reviews untill then.

 

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

55 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

@Kaepora_Gaebora how long is the games main story? I'm curious to know roughly how many hours it takes to reach the end credits.

You're probably looking at about 70 odd hours

[Hero-of-Time]

5 minutes ago, Kaepora_Gaebora said:

You're probably looking at about 70 odd hours

Good stuff. I was hoping it would be a lengthy game. 

Nice to see my Nia line made the review despite me not reviewing the game.  

I'm currently level 23 and just reached Garfont Village. Vandham is a great character. I'm loving his accent. 

I also just realised I've been running around without any chips equipped. My damage output has now went from the teens to the 60-70 range. That should makes things somewhat easier.  

 

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

7 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Good stuff. I was hoping it would be a lengthy game. 

Nice to see my Nia line made the review despite me not reviewing the game.  

I'm currently level 23 and just reached Garfont Village. Vandham is a great character. I'm loving his accent. 

I also just realised I've been running around without any chips equipped. My damage output has now went from the teens to the 60-70 range. That should makes things somewhat easier.  

 

Haha would you believe I'd already written it as it's something that had made me laugh , so when I saw you had referenced it I had to keep it in!

[Hero-of-Time]

2 minutes ago, Kaepora_Gaebora said:

Haha would you believe I'd already written it as it's something that had made me laugh , so when I saw you had referenced it I had to keep it in!

She has another line if you get defeated where she says something along the lines of that she'll come back and give the enemy a good pummeling. Her character is great!  

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

Just now, Hero-of-Time said:

She has another line if you get defeated where she says something along the lines of that she'll come back and give the enemy a good pummeling. Her character is great!  

Haha as I said it's definitely a fine line between bad and so bad it's good, I do enjoy some of the cheesier stuff

The down side to reviewing is you almost have to blitz through the game without being able to enjoy some of the finer moments, so I'm looking forward to restarting this and playing it at more of my own pace

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, Kaepora_Gaebora said:

The down side to reviewing is you almost have to blitz through the game without being able to enjoy some of the finer moments, so I'm looking forward to restarting this and playing it at more of my own pace

That should never be the case.

I mentioned this recently in another thread about how I love how Easy Allies do their reviews. They actually finish the games before reviewing them and post the video/review when it's ready and not as soon as the embargo drops. That way the guys have enough time to enjoy the game, have time to think about what they've played and then post a the review. If they get this fine before the deadline then great but if not then it's no big deal. I love that approach and it's one many in the industry should adopt.

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

20 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

That should never be the case.

I mentioned this recently in another thread about how I love how Easy Allies do their reviews. They actually finish the games before reviewing them and post the video/review when it's ready and not as soon as the embargo drops. That way the guys have enough time to enjoy the game, have time to think about what they've played and then post a the review. If they get this fine before the deadline then great but if not then it's no big deal. I love that approach and it's one many in the industry should adopt.

Don't get me wrong, no one has put any pressure on me apart from telling me the embargo date; I just feel a sense of duty to this site and to myself to get it done in time! 

My son's learnt how to make his own fun over the last few weeks, mind

[martinist]

Went into the bedroom to get my phone charger, looked over at my front door and there was a package hanging from the letterbox.

Time to play some Xenoblade 2

[Sméagol]

I'm a bit surprised the E-shop lets me download the voice pack, de DLC, and the day 1 update in preparation of me receiving the collector's edition tomorrow! Looks like I can simply put the cartridge in and play!

9 hours ago, Kaepora_Gaebora said:

My son's learnt how to make his own fun over the last few weeks, mind

They grow up so fast..

Edited December 1, 2017 by Sméagol

[Hero-of-Time]

Man, some of the cutscenes in the game are tremendous.

Spoiler

The battle for Pyra was outstanding. I was gutted when Vandham fell.   When Pyra awakens though...hell yeah! 

I'm only 20 hours in and it's already better than the first Xenoblade game.

[ArtMediocre]

Bah, I really want this game, but I already have a  backlog on my Switch with Steamworld Dig 2 and Nights of Azure.... And let's not talk about my PC backlog. I still need to finish The Witcher, for one. But even so I still really, really crave this game :P.

[Sméagol]

The post office is making me wait another day.

[Hero-of-Time]

I absolutely love the Merc Missions option. It's great being able to send your Blades out and about to net you some exp and items. It kinda reminds me of Monster Hunter and how you could send out hunters  to gather goods for you. I've just unlocked the ability to do multiple missions at a time so even more exp and items will be rolling in from now on.

I've started learning to cancel my attacks which makes for a much swifter battle. Randomly bashing buttons isn't going to cut it if you want to progress at a decent pace. Learning to cancel and pressing the Blade Arts button at the right time to maximize the speed in which your special gauge fills is very satisfying.

[Hero-of-Time]

I absolutely love Zeke. He has a Team Rocket kind of charm to him. The dude has me in stitches all the time.

There's some great adult humour in chapter 4 involving Nia and Zeke. I completely lost it at one point. @Kaepora_Gaebora please tell me you enjoyed THAT scene.  

[Hero-of-Time]

I reached chapter 5 this morning. My team is in the mid 30 level range but I have yet to sleep at an inn so i'm sitting on a stack of exp that will upgrade them all to at least the early 40s. Methinks I will just hang on to that exp and keep adding to it until the time comes when I may need an extra boost. If I can make it to the end of the game without needing it that would be even better. I'll probably be able to blitz the final fight if I use all of the exp in one go just before it.

I was out and about this morning and seen that GAME had one of the collectors editions left in stock. I actually cancelled mine from Nintendo UK when I seen Simply Games were shipping the normal version early. I'm enjoying the game so much that I decided to pick it up. I had £130 on my GAME card anyway. The thing is HUGE!

I've been taking a few shots here and there in the game, just to highlight some of the prettier bits of scenery.

I also took a couple of shots of how rough the game can look at times.These were taken when I was playing in undocked mode

Finally, the game is getting a lot of flak off people for the outfits that the female characters wear and the size of the breasts of some of them. I think it's great and think people need to chill out and get over themselves.