Nintendo New Xenoblade 3 Chronicles Direct announced for June 22

[crispy4000]

28 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

I rate XCX's combat higher because I had to do less of it throughout the game and I liked the music more. Other than that I found it to be the same bland mechanics mush as the first game. 

 

There’s only less combat because there’s more high level monsters out there that snipe you, lol.  Otherwise, it’s even more of a grind.

 

As far as I see it, X trades in Melia and Shulk’s abilities for slow Skell combat.  Not a good trade off, IMO.  The late game suffers for it.  You can’t go anywhere in that final zone without being forced to engage with it.

[Paperclyp]

10 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

As someone who couldn't make it through the first game. I recently watched someone play through all three and it was just as bad if not worse than I remembered.

I don’t think I actually beat the first one, but I liked it. I kinda doubt they’ll every release these, but if they do they need to make the cut scenes pause-able. There were like 40 minute or longer cut scenes in that game iirc. 

[Paperclyp]

8 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

 

I wouldn't recommend anyone power through these games to jump on the bandwagon for a sequel, if that's what you mean.  If it's just the prospect of playing long JRPGs these days, even just one, you can also avoid.

That said, Xenoblade 1's greatest barrier to entry (Wii visuals) is now gone with the remake.  If you're curious about the series at all, that's an the easy recommendation.  It's still the one to play.  There's no dangling threads if you finish it either, it's as self contained as FF.

Later entries (2 and Torna) improved combat and quest structures a bit, but the original still has more endearing characters and better pacing. 

That’s interesting. Are 2-3 also self contained stories then?

[crispy4000]

9 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

That’s interesting. Are 2-3 also self contained stories then?

 

 

2 is, for the most part.  You can play it without playing the first.  There’s some references at the very end you’ll get much more out of if you played XB1 to completion.  It also kind of spoils the ending of the first.

 

3 is supposed to be similar.  But is literally built off the remnants of the first two games.

 

[BloodyHell]

Today i got the joycon switch I needed to dump my switch roms on to Steamdeck. I never again need to use my switch, and this is the first game that will benefit!

[Xbob42]

2 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

 

There’s only less combat because there’s more high level monsters out there that snipe you, lol.  Otherwise, it’s even more of a grind.

 

As far as I see it, X trades in Melia and Shulk’s abilities for slow Skell combat.  Not a good trade off, IMO.  The late game suffers for it.  You can’t go anywhere in that final zone without being forced to engage with it.

I don't remember anything in particular about the end, but I also didn't grind any endgame stuff past the main story. I found the Skell combat to be just as tedious as the rest. The problem is when you think the combat in general to be awful, one being slightly more awful doesn't even register because I'm likely paying as little attention as possible to begin with. I remember distracting myself with podcasts many times to slog through both games. 2 definitely got me to pay more attention, but Torna is the first time I was like 'Wow, they fixed a ton of problems and now this is actually pretty fun!'

[crispy4000]

1 hour ago, Xbob42 said:

I don't remember anything in particular about the end, but I also didn't grind any endgame stuff past the main story. I found the Skell combat to be just as tedious as the rest. The problem is when you think the combat in general to be awful, one being slightly more awful doesn't even register because I'm likely paying as little attention as possible to begin with. I remember distracting myself with podcasts many times to slog through both games. 2 definitely got me to pay more attention, but Torna is the first time I was like 'Wow, they fixed a ton of problems and now this is actually pretty fun!'

 

The windup for animations to start in skells, especially with arts, is stupidly long.  Completely at odds with how zippy movement is with them outside of combat.  It’s a very different feel from on foot combat as a result.  Hulking slow things hitting slow.  It’s the anti-Torna.

 

The last area is chalk full of flying mechs surrounding a fortress.  You can’t fly more than a few seconds without one of them initiating combat, until you’ve grinded to level far enough past them.

 

In the other zones you can be careful enough to avoid tougher foes, but that last area is just a minefield.

[HardAct]

  Reading through this thread it seems like your all subliminally telling me this is going to be awful don't do it! Me being me will do it despite of course and thus the wheel spins. 

[crispy4000]

1 hour ago, HardAct said:

  Reading through this thread it seems like your all subliminally telling me this is going to be awful don't do it! Me being me will do it despite of course and thus the wheel spins. 

If you’ve played and enjoyed earlier entries, go for it.  No reason to think 3 won’t be a great game.

 

If you haven’t played 1 yet, go with that instead, and forget that sequels exist for now.

The harder choice is for those that stopped 2 before finishing it.  There’s some pretty crucial nature-of-the-world stuff I’d expect will play into 3 somehow.  It might be worth experiencing it in 2 first.  Plus the callbacks we already know the game is going for.

[EternallDarkness]

4 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

 

The harder choice is for those that stopped 2 before finishing it.  There’s some pretty crucial nature-of-the-world stuff I’d expect will play into 3 somehow.  It might be worth experiencing it in 2 first.  Plus the callbacks we already know the game is going for.

 

perhaps perhaps not...and yet I can't remember the story from any of the games so it doesn't matter  

[Xbob42]

1 hour ago, EternallDarkness said:

 

perhaps perhaps not...and yet I can't remember the story from any of the games so it doesn't matter  

Okay so

Spoiler

there's basically two old men who got split in half, one's a mean asshole, the other's a nice asshole, both are idiots. So the Monado is basically their dick split in half, and when you shoot lasers from it they feel a lot of pleasure. But Shulk, who if you recall correctly was actually a zombie, kills the old man in one dimension, which kills the man in the other dimension, since technically they're the same being. This causes the dick to shrivel and both dimensions to... well, it doesn't change much to be honest. There's more land or something in XC2 and in XC1... same thing? Basically they have a new world where they don't have to live like fleas on a giant anymore?

Also all this came about because some generic mad scientist wanted to shoot big weapon or something, which tore a hole in reality, and the Monado fucks the hole? Look I don't really remember the details but I remember if you kill god you get new land.

 

[crispy4000]

@Xbob42 LOL at your colorful explanation.  Anyways:
 

Spoiler

Xenoblade 2's ending raises bigger questions than the first about where they end up.  Did they travel to a different dimension, or just a different part of the planet (ie: "it was here all along")?  The former would easier explain some kind of merger.  The latter makes it a lot messier, and more interesting.

 

[Xbob42]

I still want to know what happened after the end of XCX, what a fuckin' cliffhanger. 

[Brick]

2 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

I still want to know what happened after the end of XCX, what a fuckin' cliffhanger. 

 

Yeah that was a piss off. Just a convoluted mess of a story of "but actually", and then just ends. Not even sure if making a Xenoblade Chronicles X 2 is worth it, just make a smaller Torna-esque expansion, or somehow integrate the rest of the story into a proper numbered Xenoblade Chronicles sequel, although that might be weird when X was supposed to be set in our future. 

[BloodyHell]

16 hours ago, HardAct said:

  Reading through this thread it seems like your all subliminally telling me this is going to be awful don't do it! Me being me will do it despite of course and thus the wheel spins. 

Its not going to be awful at all, but you should play the others first,  because they have plenty to do with this one. They are both readily available.

[crispy4000]

9 hours ago, Brick said:

 

Yeah that was a piss off. Just a convoluted mess of a story of "but actually", and then just ends. Not even sure if making a Xenoblade Chronicles X 2 is worth it, just make a smaller Torna-esque expansion, or somehow integrate the rest of the story into a proper numbered Xenoblade Chronicles sequel, although that might be weird when X was supposed to be set in our future. 

 

Spoilers for Xenoblade 2:
 

Spoiler

Xenoblade 2 is also set in our future.  The planet below is Earth.  The place you visit is supposedly a U.S. Goverment facility near Houston, TX.

 

Spoilers for Xenoblade 1 if you'd rather:
 

Spoiler

The solar system 'memory space' where you fight Klaus also implies he came from Earth, and the event happened in a space station above it.

 

How easy it would be to pull in XBX's plot threads depends more on where exactly XB2 left off.