Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition (29th May)

[Glen-i]

21 minutes ago, drahkon said:

So the story actually remains boring

I personally think the last three chapters are pretty entertaining. But whatever...

Spoiler

Forgot to mention that Alvis is actually the computer that Klaus was using when he accidently blew everything up.

 

[drahkon]

1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

I personally think the last three chapters are pretty entertaining. But whatever...

Yeah, I don't doubt that people can find it entertaining. Fair play to them.

However, reading your write-up I would've probably constantly sighed for the remainder of the game

 

[Sheikah]

So the story actually remains boring [emoji14]

I really enjoyed the story, was nice to read Glen's summary as there were bits I had forgotten. I remember about the "experiment" between the scientists which I always thought was a nice touch.

[Glen-i]

I just finished Future Connected.

Spoiler

I say "Plot Stuff", but there wasn't really much. I mean, it's nice that Melia gets the spotlight, but there wasn't much there really.

There also wasn't much there to do with Xenoblade 2. Which I was kind of expecting after seeing Shulk's new Monado REX. The Fog King looked a little like the Morytha mutant enemies... I think? Hard to tell.

Maybe it's setting up for a future Xenoblade entry? Who knows.

I'm also surprised that it expects you not just to have played the main game, but to have done 2 certain chains of sidequests in the main game that I imagine most people wouldn't even have seen.

Still, I enjoyed it. Took me around 20 hours to 100% it. You unlock the ability to level up arts to 12 in the main game as well as the option to change Shulk's weapon cosmetics. So you can enjoy every cutscene where the Monado does something and replace the Monado with that crappy sword Shulk has at the start. Could have a few giggles there.

Gonna jump straight into New Game Plus and go for 100% That's including every Unique Monster. Even Avalanche Abassy.

 

[Julius]

73 hours and 1 minute (darn that 1 minute for the sake of not keeping things clean!) after starting, I've seen credits on Xenoblade Chronicles. I could have finished about 10 hours earlier, but felt like grinding a bit to finish up all the higher level quests I possibly could (ended up completing 335 side quests, besides the mandatory 31 story quests). 

Overall, I really enjoyed it, but it's far from a flawless game, and that's okay. Definitely a couple of times where it dragged, the story loses its bearings a bit in some places, and boy does it go heavy on JRPG tropes. But hey, I'm not complaining.

I do feel like the sense of awe and wonder at the size of the world does come to an end at a certain point though, which I feel is quite detrimental to the enjoyment of the game if that's you'd been enjoying, and for me it actually happened around the 40 hour mark, so roughly at the same time investment as where I think @drahkon dropped it. Weird that. And even though I enjoyed the game, I can totally empathise with why you dropped it, drahkon. Reading through your post on the last page I certainly feel like our opinions on where the game didn't quite match up to that early promise might overlap in a couple of places. 

Going to take my time and sit on my opinions on this one for a bit, considering just how long it is, but I can't not talk about the soundtrack. Holy smokes what a wonderful score they put together for this game! Will have to keep my eyes out for a potential release of the rearranged OST for this version of the game. 

Don't plan on jumping into Future Connected just yet, considering that a certain game comes out on Friday and I feel like I need a bit of a breather, but I think I'll get around to it a bit later on in the summer, if not then by the end of the year. I was happy with how and where this game ended. I might have to consider picking up Xenoblade Chronicles 2 at some point, probably next year realistically. 

But yeah, in short, add me to the list of people who had a great time with Xenoblade Chronicles! 

[Glen-i]

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition  

  n-europe review 

[Glen-i]

A certain change to Definitive Edition has inadvertently made Reyn, a pretty outclassed character originally, suddenly the best and most broken character in the game.

(I've timestamped this in a way that shouldn't be spoileriffic, but just in case, skip to 13:38. Because there's pretty big Chapter 12-ish spoilers earlier in the video)

Spoiler

Level 1!? What!?

Basically put, thanks to the new Level 12 arts you can get from finishing Future Connected, the cooldown on arts is low enough that Reyn can actually do this now.
Even if you don't cheese it, his level 12 arts make Magnum Charge and Berserker utterly obscene in how much damage they can put out.

Reyn Time, indeed!

 

[Goron_3]

I'm currently in chapter 9 (in some fancy, royal city) and the pacing of the game has suddenly dropped off a cliff. I've loved the game up to this point but am not enjoying it atm.

I'm currently around level 40...roughly how far into the game am I?

[Glen-i]

3 minutes ago, Goron_3 said:

I'm currently in chapter 9 (in some fancy, royal city) and the pacing of the game has suddenly dropped off a cliff. I've loved the game up to this point but am not enjoying it atm.

I'm currently around level 40...roughly how far into the game am I?

Just past halfway.

[S.C.G]

2 minutes ago, Goron_3 said:

I'm currently in chapter 9 (in some fancy, royal city) and the pacing of the game has suddenly dropped off a cliff. I've loved the game up to this point but am not enjoying it atm.

I'm currently around level 40...roughly how far into the game am I?

I think that's similar to the point I was at in the game originally on the Wii when I stopped playing it for a decade.

You're probably at around the halfway point, or just past it...

Yep, @Glen-i confirmed!

[Tim B]

The story in this game so dull, especially if you compare it to Dragon Quest XI or even Octopath Traveler. I’m almost 35 hours in and the narrative has barely grabbed me at all.

However I do love the music, the environments, the battle system and overall gameplay, and so I will persevere with it.

Edited June 30, 2020 by Tim B

[darksnowman]

[darksnowman]

Recognising Dunbans house on the left, I was breaking out into a cold sweat as I entered Colony 9 knowing the amount of things I was about to be bombarded with. I'm taking it slowly, getting my bearings again, and hopefully I can get back to where I was on the Wii and power through.

The font was pretty unreadable for me on the Wii. At least for chest contents anyway. I'm glad to see everything is perfectly legible now in this non-SD era!

[Kounan]

I've played this game on the Wii U and I played about 95% of the game on the gamepad in during late nights. Took it slowly. Still give me great memories.

[darksnowman]

Wiped out twice in short order. Once when filling out the map and generally noseying around the Colony 9 shores, I tried to leg it past some higher-level wildlife (these aren't monsters, are they??) to nab the nearby pickups only for them to engage with, and one-shot me. Oops.  Then up in the Tephra Cave, I got taken out in close quarters by a group that I probably should have fled from when I saw how many of them had joined the fray. Think it's time to visit some NPCs to get some completed quests checked off and spend some dough on upgrades and talk to the materia man. Should maybe look at putting some points into a few artes too. 

Easy does it but I wanna be let loose on the Gaur Plains already. 

[darksnowman]

Wiped out again to a fish. Thought I was safe enough making it to land but got one-shotted anyway. Upgraded a few bits of gear, swung by the Gem guy (wasn't active yet), and headed back up to Tephra Cave where, upon returning to where I died before, found a few chests on the ground. Score! See, I went down swinging! This time I took out all the creatures in the vicinity just to prove to myself that I could before moving outside and onto chapters 2 and 3.

Chapters, eh? I'm gonna have to look into missables (and see if I've missed anything notable already).  

Well, the strike happened and the battles I engaged with were slow going affairs due to the need to land a break attack and sit and hope Reyn would follow up with a topple. Getting an affinity attack off helped speed things up which was good. Then Dunban came in with the Monado and was like: 

So, we've been called to action now and it's time to put Colony 9 to our backs and head out into the world. Except there's more !s on the map so I'll hang about and see to those, shall I? And the gem machine's up and running so might as well see what I can get out of it when I'm here. Listening to Shulk and Reyn on that is like the Chuckle brothers. To me, to you, to me, to you!

[darksnowman]

It might just be a Wii game with a lick of paint but it's still got its moments.  Satorl Marsh by night for one.  

[darksnowman]

Got the option of moving the refugees back to their colony now. I was looking forward to getting the ball rolling with that but all of a sudden I'm worried about what I might be locked out of by shifting them from their camp. In no way do I expect to do all the quests (or max out affinities, or see all the heart-to-hearts, and whatever else) but I'm in no mood to miss out on anything yet either. I'm sure later it will all feel like a chore and I'll want to make a beeline for the end.  

I've completed all the refugees' timed quests already, but that doesn't mean there aren't others I've not received. Argh. I'll check with them again during the day and night, and if no one asks for anything then they're moving.

[darksnowman]

Tales from Eryth Sea

Got the prompt/ notification about casual mode being available after a couple of losses to the boss in the tomb. They could have waited a few more failures before putting that onscreen. I was affronted!  It was the toughest battle for me so far (despite levels between my party and the boss being on par with each other) and I went through a few party permutations before settling back on the three I had to begin with. Probably should have dropped Shulk for someone that could do more damage in that particular battle but I got to work with his shield, agility up, piddly heal move, and settled in for a war of attrition. 

Don't remember that battle being a roadblock on the Wii. Speaking of, it won't be too long now before I surpass where I was in the original. At some point in that, I decided it would be a good idea to swim the length and breadth of the Eryth Sea to map it out and see what pickups are out there. Not surprisingly, it wasn't long before this brought on a "what am I doing?? " reality check and, wonderful as it was, I never went back to the game. At least now it tells you exactly where to go for quests so I can skip on the epic swim and go directly for what I need, when I need it. I already swam around the waterfalls in the previous area and that was a bit much. 

Next story stop will be the dark tower.  

No, hold on, it's just a dark tower at the head of the bionis, not THE Dark Tower that stands at the nexus of all worlds. No rush then, so I reckon I'll double-back to the Makna Forest for a spot of questing there to get some cash and exp as it might be time for upgrades and level-ups before progressing.

[Glen-i]

@darksnowman, try not to fall into the trap of falling back into a party of Shulk, Reyn, and Sharla. It's a very inefficient team at this point. Consider a party of Shulk, Dunban, and Riki instead.

Make some agility up gems and give them to Dunban, he'll dodge almost everything that's thrown at him, if you're at a decent level. Riki's "You can do it" is enough healing for the job, and his damage over time skills help put more damage out then Sharla ever could.

Melia, while an amazing ether powerhouse, is only really good when the player controls her. The AI sucks with her (And with Shulk). There's a boss right near the end of the game, that's a really infamous roadblock, but is actually quite simple to beat for a team of ether users. Problem is, most people don't use Melia, because she's a very technical character.

[darksnowman]

1 minute ago, Glen-i said:

@darksnowman, try not to fall into the trap of falling back into a party of Shulk, Reyn, and Sharla. It's a very inefficient team at this point. Consider a party of Shulk, Dunban, and Riki instead.

Already dropped Sharla in favour of the next character, then Reyn for the one after that. Not saying I haven't and won't return to them as it keeps things fresh and interesting if the party is in rotation. They're all pretty viable I think. 

I didn't warm to Heropon Riki on the Wii but there've been a few laugh out loud moments between him and Reyn so I'm enjoying his (and his stupid race's) inclusion a lot more this time around. 

Originally, I was firmly in team Fiora  but I've a newfound appreciation for Melia since she's voiced by Soufflé Girl from Doctor Who.  Dropped her straight in as the leader back in the previous zone.

BTW Alvis, he definitely auditioned for Kingdom Hearts.  Or had a role as a stunt double. 

 

[Hero-of-Time]

On February 24, 2022 at 6:31 AM, darksnowman said:

 

BTW Alvis, he definitely auditioned for Kingdom Hearts.  Or had a role as a stunt double. 

 

 

You were on this a fair bit over the weekend. I demand an update as to how far along you are!

[darksnowman]

Ha! Xenoblade also pulls a decoy ploy like in Spaceballs Episode I: Phantom Menace. LOL. 

Progress-wise, I'm on the verge of adding another party member, so right on the cusp of where I left off on the Wii. 

Like on the Wii, I don't feel like my levels are up to snuff (equipment seems to be okay) which is why I went back to investigate the Eryth Sea and sickened myself of the game in the process. Hoping to avoid that here but it's looking like I'm gonna have to zoom back somewhere (probably Valak Mountain) and quest/ explore for exp. Or drop the game to casual for bosses.  It's a fairly happy-go-lucky sort of RPG which is why being caught out by difficulty spikes stands out. I've been leading with Clara... Melia, I mean,  until the going gets tough, then falling back on a party of Shulk, Reyn and Dunban "I don't have time for small fry" but that's barely cutting it for me at this point--it feels like victories only come thanks to fortunate boss attack patterns after a few retries. Like, take the boss of Sword Valley, on the first attempt I took out its cronies and had it down to a third health without much bother before wiping out. I had nowhere near that level of success on subsequent attempts before eventually getting the win. Similar thing in Valak Mountain. I don't get what I'm doing wrong or what I'm doing right.  

I've been enjoying the game plenty (it's excellent) but now I'm closing in on the 60-hour mark, my body clock wants the end to be in sight. Thought I could break the back of it over the weekend but it's closer to inflicting break on me and leaving me open to topple.

I've Colony 9 at 4*, Colony 6 at 2*, Central Bionis at 5* and Upper Bionis at 4* so you can see from that that I've been trying to take my time, smell the roses, and knock out quests as I go. It cannot be understated how much quest targets now showing up on the map has aided with this. I've done heaps of quests with Melia and Sharla in the party to try and get their affinity up for something I've had pending in Colony 9 for donkeys. They're up to blue smile status but it still isn't enough to appease the quest giver. Madness! Unfortunately, as far as I can see, required items for Colony 6 development don't show on the map. Why!? I'd enough bits and pieces on me to level it up once but I can't see myself doing much more with it if I'm stuck using hints.  It's strange they streamlined so many aspects but not this. 

[Glen-i]

Yeah, Colony 6 is a right pain to do without a guide. And it's annoying even with one.

Seeing as you're trying to get area affinities up, I have to ask, how many skill trees has Shulk got currently?

[darksnowman]

Shulk, Reyn and Dunban have the three they started with, the other three with four (so +1 each).