Xenoblade Chronicles X

I think I've put around 50 hours into this and I can see it taking me over 150 hours easily - it's a hell of a game and one I can happily play on the gameplay whilst the Mrs watches TV. Text is a bit tight on the gamepad but I can just about deal with it.

Does look yummy on the TV though.

Going to last me till the summer I think this game.

You guys with skells - pics!!!!!!
 
mahius said:
And then I ran out of things to do just over 100 hours in and had to get a Skell.
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Had you done all normal/affinity missions too?. I guess more of them unlock after each story mission though.

I actually don't like the reward ticket system as it just seems like a shortcut/cheap way to craft the end game stuff. Basically you can acquire enemy specific materials without ever having to find and defeat said enemy at the cost of a grind. This kind of ruins the point for me so i'm avoiding the reward ticket system completely. If it becomes the case were I have to defeat the same enemies over and over then I may use it, but i want to make sure I can actually defeat them consistently first.

There is an affinity mission I cannot start without finding something quite unique first, and i have these obscure basic missions that give "???" rewards, and the objectives are riddles of which i have figured out and completed 5/9 so far.
I'm getting closer to being able to craft some cool stuff, but still have 0/x on some required materials. I have no idea were to get them, but I know as i explore and do more missions i'll probably figure it out.

That something I really like about this game, you are often presented with these objectives or targets which you have no idea were to start on, but they don't block progression and you still have a lot of freedom to go out and do other things in the meantime. The game has a great sense of discovery because of this and really impacts your impression on the massive scope of the world.

It's for these reasons that I recommend not using a guide or any outside help when playing this game, unless you are really are stuck and become frustrated.
 
The only guide I've ever used is the follow ball which even after 50 hours does come in handy here and there.

Yep - the fun is finding stuff your own way.
 
I'm really enjoying this but I'm not sure I'm playing it right. I got up to some boss dude, Glennan I think hes called. Ive nearly killed him once but then hes killed me 3 times so far. I have a feeling I might be under levelled.

Great game though.
 
Are you triggering the heals OK? (the 'B' QTE prompts). Outside of this you could try changing the Art setups of your party members, and leveling up Skills & Arts using your Battle Points if you haven't already.
 
Nah I've been a bit rubbish at hitting the b's. Do they trigger heals? I've levelled up my arts but think I'm just being a muppet. One fight I killed his minions and got him to about 10%. Other fights have been worse.

Will try again later and ensure I hit the qtes
 
Yup, landing them generates HP & TP for the party and can also trigger bonuses (the affects of soul voices).

Press B when the contracting circle is inside the white ring for a 'Perfect' (most effective heal).
If you trigger it in-between the ring and the center, you'll get a 'Good'. It will fail if you trigger it before the white ring or if you miss it.

I think generally if you can start a story mission then it should be possible, but might be a tough ride if you focus on getting through Story missions quickly.
 
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Yeah I think I've been rushing it a little. My perfect kinda game though. I love the scale of some of the creatures wandering the land.
 
Yep, there's many great things to see and experience - I'm still finding new areas and enemies. The world feels very natural and complete, the attention to detail in it's design is amazing in that it often makes you stop to interpret what you are seeing (great art direction).

I think this used go through my mind as a kid...
a cool game would be if you were like, on this big dangerous alien planet with like loads of different creatures running around and like you could pilot megazords mech robot things and fly around freely without any loading times and stuff

This is that game :cool:
 
oweneades said:
The lack of guidance in game early on is the only real criticism I have with XBC-X. There is so much to take in that a basic tutorial introducing Arts, Soul voices, Skills, Gear (specifically what half the stats actually mean) and classes would have been very welcome.

In a weird way though I feel that the lack of guidance is also why I enjoy the game so much (I am 40+ hours in and still have so much to learn/refine). It doesn't hold your hand or give you anything on a plate thus there really is a sense of accomplishment which can often go amiss in modern games.
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If you take a 2/3 months break you probably won't want to learn it all again, unfortunately that's what happened to me with xenoblades chronicles, so I didn't get around to finishing it.
 
megalomanic said:
Had you done all normal/affinity missions too?. I guess more of them unlock after each story mission though.
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When I meant I ran out of stuff to do on foot, I did mean everything up until that point (chapter 5 it was at the time). I complete every mission available before moving onto the next chapter. I had a few things I couldn't do cos I needed a Skell to do them. Fun fact: Skell's jump very high, Skell parkour is just as fun as regular parkour, even if more fiddly. Currently, the only outstanding thing is the Blood Lobster quest. I can't complete all objectives till chapter 9, since I'll need flight to get some Lobsters. Kinda annoying that the quest appears almost at the start of the game, yet it can't really be completed till much later.

I dislike the crafting system in this game, mainly due to the drop system and the crafting requirements. Some weapon/armour augments require 48 units of multiple materials (some of which might be uncommon/rare drops) to make one item. I've only ever seen MMOs be that grindy... not even Monster Hunter is that evil with crafting requirements.
 
I've had to call it quits, the time investment and grinding just isn't possible (or that much fun) when you only have ~5 hours of gaming time each week. 10 years ago I'd have loved it but I don't have the time :(

I stand by by previous comments that the game is terrible at explaining key mechanics, I lent the game to a friend and he was totally confused. It's a shame as he could have enjoyed it but even basics like TP, healing, etc are not covered.
 
Yep the game could certainly be better at explaining things to the user. However, the manual does cover all the important stuff (including Soul Voices, Healing, TP).
I think because I'm used to playing RPG's (including MMO's), I discovered things like healing by myself early on (e.g. I noticed HP going up whenever I landed a Soul Challenge). I found it fun learning the finer mechanics of the game too.

Crafting is mostly designed for the end game (content after completing the story). I think the only things I crafted before finishing the story were a bunch of Augments that I already had the materials for.

I can't play MMO's anymore mainly due to the grind and shallow quests, but as far getting through story missions goes, X never really felt like a grind for me (bar 1 of the story missions requirements related to affinity). Some of the post game is definitely grindy, especially if you focus on something specific, but at the same time I spend most of my time doing missions or just exploring tbh. I've not yet had to spend much time grinding for materials, in fact I don't think I've done that once yet.

TIP:
Don't bother focusing on Bounty or Gathering Missions. Check Gathering missions at the console for any you already have the collectibles for, and just grab all bounty missions for a region whenever you are heading to said region(then just abandon them after if you didn't run into the associated enemies).
 
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ricky1981 said:
I've had to call it quits, the time investment and grinding just isn't possible (or that much fun) when you only have ~5 hours of gaming time each week. 10 years ago I'd have loved it but I don't have the time :(

I stand by by previous comments that the game is terrible at explaining key mechanics, I lent the game to a friend and he was totally confused. It's a shame as he could have enjoyed it but even basics like TP, healing, etc are not covered.
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Must say, I am mightily disappointed with this, wish I had something positive to say but its just not in the same league as even dragon age: inquisition or fallout 4, and those are just 2 games it should be competing with.

Never played a decent JRPG for ages, Tales series are just getting old hat.
 
It actually plays like the previous game mashed up with Monster Hunter and borrows the time-consuming nature of the latter as well as the need to either read up in advance or be prepared for a lot of trial and error.

Personally, I preferred the first game as I just felt it was more fun even if the gameplay was a bit shallower. Either way, I've sold my copy now so hopefully whoever gets it next will get more from it :)
 
ricky1981 said:
need to either read up in advance or be prepared for a lot of trial and error.
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What would be an example of this?.
Maybe I've just forgotten what the game was like early on, but I feel if you understand the core mechanics you shouldn't need to do either of these things. I kinda want to start a new save file and see how quickly I can get through the game but... I probably won't do that :cool:.

The thing about X is that it's not a story driven RPG, it's instead driven and built around its exploration. The Story Missions are a main event, but this game is more like a collection of short stories that push you towards finding new locations and achieving sometimes vague mission objectives. It's refreshing that it doesn't just continuously point you to your next objective like most modern RPG's, it actually feels like a role-playing game, in that in order to easily complete tasks in this world you need to become familiar with it. If you don't truly enjoy exploration in videogames, then you probably won't enjoy X.

I think X and the Witcher 3 are the only open world RPG's I've truly enjoyed this generation so far, they have the best exploration and story/writing respectively by far imo. Fallout4 I find is too unfocused and the loot system (or the act of looting) I find monotonous.
 
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megalomanic said:
I think X and the Witcher 3 are the only open world RPG's I've truly enjoyed this generation so far, they have the best exploration and story/writing respectively by far imo. Fallout4 I find is too unfocused and the loot system (or the act of looting) I find monotonous.
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Opinion changed. You are right.
 
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So far i enjoy this game. I am 80 hours in and about to go on chapter 10.

I liked the exploration, and how big the game is. I loved the idea of the Skell and i just got my flying option so it felt like the first time I got the dreaded flying mount on World of Warcraft back when it was first introduced.

I was worried that i wouldnt like the fighting mechanism but i actually liked it.

I would like more main story quests though with full spoken script.

What i don't like is that i would like more tutorials! Nothing is explained I have to study the 50 page manual and look online what i am supposed to do for certain things. The loot system for me is weird. I am in the game for 80 hours yet Elma is still having most of her original things as i couldnt find something better. I would expect better loot as you progress the game. And what is up with the squad missions and nemesis system. Why should i be able to go fight the ultimate nemesis at lvl 1 up to 60. Lets not talk about the affinity system which i find the most annoying.

Oh well I don't regret my purchase i really enjoy it a lot more that Dragon Age Inquisition and i put aside a lot of games to play this. I am glad at least that i have the console this time that can play this as Ninty f'ed up with the first game re releasing it on the New 3ds when i have 2 XLs at home i was furious when that happened as i would love to have that game on the go. I am not too fussed in getting the wii version to play at home, not after having the X game anyway.
 
Whereas I LOVE that I don't have to be bogged down in boring drip-fed tutorials! I can easily read a manual in far less time than a tutorial takes, and get into the game proper :)

I also like games where you are not arbitrarily walled off from difficult regions due to level requirements. Makes you double check if you really want to go in that direction!
 
Bossk128 said:
Whereas I LOVE that I don't have to be bogged down in boring drip-fed tutorials! I can easily read a manual in far less time than a tutorial takes, and get into the game proper :)

I also like games where you are not arbitrarily walled off from difficult regions due to level requirements. Makes you double check if you really want to go in that direction!
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I can see your point there. There are some games out there that have a huge amount of tutorials which is also unnecessary. I just believe some things could be explained better. But missing these didnt make me feel that the game is broken and i cannot play it at all. I am used to checking forums online to find that extra info.
 
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