Xenoblade Chronicles: X catch all

The more I see from this game, the more it resembles what I envisioned RPG's of the future would be in my adolescent dreams. It's really breathtaking.

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farley3k wrote:

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Squueeeeeeee

New gameplay video showing a walk-through of various game systems narrated by some of the characters (source: Polygon):

danopian wrote:

New gameplay video showing a walk-through of various game systems narrated by some of the characters (source: Polygon):

It looks so cool but for some reason it pulls me out of the imersion to see normal looking city streets. So these space travelers packed up awnings? and patio tables/chairs? Along with enough glass to make all those store fronts? At least currently we don't waste any space on a rocket for anything not essential. They really deemed awnings as crucial to the survival of the human race?

I am not sure how they could work it into the story so it makes sense but I think I am just going to have to ignore that.

farley3k wrote:
danopian wrote:

New gameplay video showing a walk-through of various game systems narrated by some of the characters (source: Polygon):

It looks so cool but for some reason it pulls me out of the imersion to see normal looking city streets. So these space travelers packed up awnings? and patio tables/chairs? Along with enough glass to make all those store fronts? At least currently we don't waste any space on a rocket for anything not essential. They really deemed awnings as crucial to the survival of the human race?

I am not sure how they could work it into the story so it makes sense but I think I am just going to have to ignore that.

That struck me the same way. Maybe it was related to the big pod-city they packed up?

Just got the end of the video - saw an ad at the end for a "Xenoblade Special Soundtrack" becoming available? edit: Info. Not the full soundtrack; coming as a bonus for 3DS Xenoblade purchasers in Japan.

I am also constantly confused by what is in Japanese and what is in English is Japanese games. Obviously this is meant for a Japanese audience, it is in Japanese and the majority of writing is in Japanese but some words are in English - why? At around 8:57 there is the phrase "Field Action Succeeded." It is obviously in game and there is Japanese writing on the left side....so why is that phrase in English? I find it very confusing.

Do all Japanese games have many English words throughout?

Online multiplayer for up to four players. Not sure if this is co-op or a distinct mode, but it's there.

Also, Monolithsoft is recommending the download version (which is 23 GB) because "[the game] has a seamless world with no loading screens in between areas and streaming the game’s data would be smoother off a hard disk".

farley3k wrote:

Do all Japanese games have many English words throughout?

It's incredibly common, yes, particularly with games that are trying to be stylish or futuristic. Take a gander at the new Persona 5 trailer. Keep in mind that it's the Japanese version of the game, but there's English language writing everywhere. The short version is that English language education is compulsory in Japan, and it's considered kinda hip to use it.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
farley3k wrote:

Do all Japanese games have many English words throughout?

It's incredibly common, yes, particularly with games that are trying to be stylish or futuristic. Take a gander at the new Persona 5 trailer. Keep in mind that it's the Japanese version of the game, but there's English language writing everywhere. The short version is that English language education is compulsory in Japan, and it's considered kinda hip to use it.

Thank you so much for telling me. I guess it shows my ethnocentrism that I can't imagine a game having text in another language that the game designers expected me to be able to understand!

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Also, Monolithsoft is recommending the download version (which is 23 GB) because "the game] has a seamless world with no loading screens in between areas and streaming the game’s data would be smoother off a hard disk".

Looks like I'll be upgrading the external backup drive on my computer this year and moving the old 1 TB drive to the Wii U.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

It's incredibly common, yes, particularly with games that are trying to be stylish or futuristic. Take a gander at the new Persona 5 trailer. Keep in mind that it's the Japanese version of the game, but there's English language writing everywhere. The short version is that English language education is compulsory in Japan, and it's considered kinda hip to use it.

The main city is also New Los Angeles, so I would expect there to be a lot of English around too.

EDIT: Goodness. Between this and P5 I think I'm ok with every other upcoming JRPG getting delayed to 2016 or 2017.

And I just tried making a gif at IMGUR from the Youtube video. That is pretty slick!

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Now I just hope the huge world is actually populated with interesting things. If it is just huge for the sake of being huge it will be very dull.

shoptroll wrote:

The main city is also New Los Angeles, so I would expect there to be a lot of English around too.

Just to be clear, I agree complete for signs in the game world. It would be like going to China town in a game and having English - just silly. However the stuff I was talking about was game text that pops up when I player does something in the game.

If I had one issue/concern it was that I watch a 24 minute video and didn't see combat. I know that wasn't the point of this video but I have been burned by a gorgeous world with a terrible combat system before (I am looking at you Ni No Kuni!!) so I want to hear a lot more about that before I bite.

Gotcha, I haven't watched the video yet, so I didn't realize there was other text in English.

EDIT:

farley3k wrote:

If I had one issue/concern it was that I watch a 24 minute video and didn't see combat. I know that wasn't the point of this video but I have been burned by a gorgeous world with a terrible combat system before (I am looking at you Ni No Kuni!!) so I want to hear a lot more about that before I bite.

I think they've shown combat in previous videos. It looks very similar to the systems from Xenoblade Chronicles.

shoptroll wrote:
farley3k wrote:

If I had one issue/concern it was that I watch a 24 minute video and didn't see combat. I know that wasn't the point of this video but I have been burned by a gorgeous world with a terrible combat system before (I am looking at you Ni No Kuni!!) so I want to hear a lot more about that before I bite.

I think they've shown combat in previous videos. It looks very similar to the systems from Xenoblade Chronicles.

I'm sick atm, so I apologize if this comes off as snarky, but didn't you start this thread?!?!

The combat system is basically Xenoblade with guns. Full stop. It really is an evolution of that system. The 40 minute demonstration in the OP shows some of it. I expect we'll see more of it in the future as they get closer and closer to launch, which is what they said they're doing now that things are wrapping up.

Holy wow. I haven't looked at any images of this since the very first teaser, but these gifs have got me beyond excited. I guess I'm buying three games this year instead of just two...

garion333 wrote:

I'm sick atm, so I apologize if this comes off as snarky, but didn't you start this thread?!?!

The combat system is basically Xenoblade with guns. Full stop. It really is an evolution of that system. The 40 minute demonstration in the OP shows some of it. I expect we'll see more of it in the future as they get closer and closer to launch, which is what they said they're doing now that things are wrapping up.

Guilty as charged. Sorry.

Doesn't it ever happen to you that you don't remember if you posted a thought in a thread or just thought it? Or that you can't remember if you posted it on GWJ, GT, RPGfan, etc.? It happens to me more than I would like to admit.

So what do you think the combat will be like in the game?

Xenoblade Chronicles with guns.

Xenoblade Chronicles has a real-time action-based battle system, where the player manually moves the current lead character in real-time, and party members will "auto-attack" when enemies enter their attack radius,[19] most comparable to the system found in Final Fantasy XII[20] or many MMORPGs.[21] Manually input attacks, called "Arts", may also be performed by the player, but in a limited fashion. Battle Arts are only available after a "cool down" period that occurs after every use, while character specific "Talent Arts" only become available after enough auto-attacks are executed.[19] Both party members and enemies have a finite amount of health points, and attacks deplete this value. Combat is won when all enemies lose their HP, but the game is lost if all characters lose their HP. Health may be restored by the player by using healing Arts in battle, or the player may let characters' HP regenerate automatically outside of battle. Winning battles earns the player experience points, which allows the characters to grow stronger by leveling up and learning new Arts. Arts for each character must be set by the player on their respective set up, called a "Battle Palette", outside of battles.[22]

From here.

Ignore any mention of Shulk and the Monado seeing future attacks, add in guns and from everything they've said it's incredibly similar to the earlier Xenoblade game.

Positioning was the key to XC as was selection of the arts/attacks being used.

You can, I'll just quote myself over and over again.

Oh sure give a detailed good answer. Now how can I continue to ask every few weeks?

And I will be able to play it on my DS in April to figure it all out.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Online multiplayer for up to four players. Not sure if this is co-op or a distinct mode, but it's there.

Link! Link! Link!

There was more info at Siliconera:

Monolith Soft have made it so up to four players will be able to undertake quests together; however, they’ve also added a feature whereby up to 32 players will be able to exchange information and trade items with one another.

I am shocked we can play with other people, but I have a feeling only the host will be the one actually completing quests in their game.

Has anyone seen an English translation of the video from last week? I hope someone will do it since while it was pretty I have no idea what was going on in the game.

garion333 wrote:
Monolith Soft have made it so up to four players will be able to undertake quests together; however, they’ve also added a feature whereby up to 32 players will be able to exchange information and trade items with one another.

I am shocked we can play with other people, but I have a feeling only the host will be the one actually completing quests in their game.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's special encounters that are not on the main quest chain which can only be done co-op. I think I'm a lot more interested in trading items and information exchange than co-oping quests.

IGN talks about why they are exited about the game. Nothing revolutionary in what they say but it is worth watching if you are hyped for the game.

New battle mechanic demo video today. I'm watching it live. Lots of shooting, but also some blades as well. Creature design looks awesome.

farley3k wrote:

It looks so cool but for some reason it pulls me out of the imersion to see normal looking city streets. So these space travelers packed up awnings? and patio tables/chairs? Along with enough glass to make all those store fronts? At least currently we don't waste any space on a rocket for anything not essential. They really deemed awnings as crucial to the survival of the human race?

I am not sure how they could work it into the story so it makes sense but I think I am just going to have to ignore that.

Sounds like somebody hasn't seen Macross!

I think it's common for Japanese media, particularly with sci-fi, to try and combine everyday life tropes and concepts in with these big imaginative worlds. I don't really have scientific reasoning for that aside from seeing similar set-ups for space operas, particularly once you get to the "everyone is still in high school" realm of Japanese entertainment, but "realism" and other such concerns, well, aren't. So packing up a ship with all that stuff to start a new life on another planet is basically "business as usual" for a sci-fi story of this nature, I think.

Is that practical? Is that how we'd truly go about colonizing another world? Probably not, but I imagine most Japanese players also don't give a sh*t because that's not why they're playing the game.

shoptroll wrote:

EDIT: Goodness. Between this and P5 I think I'm ok with every other upcoming JRPG getting delayed to 2016 or 2017.

Last year I recall a lot of folks freaking out about all the Western RPG's releasing or coming up. This year we have two Final Fantasy games (unless XV gets pushed back), maybe Bravely Second, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a Tales game being announced as well.

Not to mention all the other smaller titles I'm unaware of, like the Atelier series.

Yeah, it's a busy year.

ccesarano wrote:
farley3k wrote:

It looks so cool but for some reason it pulls me out of the imersion to see normal looking city streets. So these space travelers packed up awnings? and patio tables/chairs? Along with enough glass to make all those store fronts? At least currently we don't waste any space on a rocket for anything not essential. They really deemed awnings as crucial to the survival of the human race?

I am not sure how they could work it into the story so it makes sense but I think I am just going to have to ignore that.

Sounds like somebody hasn't seen Macross!

I think it's common for Japanese media, particularly with sci-fi, to try and combine everyday life tropes and concepts in with these big imaginative worlds. I don't really have scientific reasoning for that aside from seeing similar set-ups for space operas, particularly once you get to the "everyone is still in high school" realm of Japanese entertainment, but "realism" and other such concerns, well, aren't. So packing up a ship with all that stuff to start a new life on another planet is basically "business as usual" for a sci-fi story of this nature, I think.

Is that practical? Is that how we'd truly go about colonizing another world? Probably not, but I imagine most Japanese players also don't give a sh*t because that's not why they're playing the game.

I like to think it's a bunch of rich people who can afford to fill up the space with their lounge chairs, while the rest of us schlubs are packed away with barely enough room to sleep. The poor schlubs are also the people who ended up dead when the ship crashed and not in the giant escape pod with lounge chairs.

You know, like the Titanic.

ccesarano wrote:

Last year I recall a lot of folks freaking out about all the Western RPG's releasing or coming up. This year we have two Final Fantasy games (unless XV gets pushed back), maybe Bravely Second, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a Tales game being announced as well.

Not to mention all the other smaller titles I'm unaware of, like the Atelier series.

There's a new Atelier game out in four days, and Tales of Zestiria has already been announced for summer.

Last I counted, and going only with things that have so far been formally announced for release in 2015, there are 27 JRPGs releasing between now and the end of the year. Some of them are ports and re-releases (Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, Final Fantasy X again) but about 20 of those haven't been released in North America in any capacity before.

garion333 wrote:

Xenoblade Chronicles with guns.

I missed this joke last month. Hilarious.

And also, apparently quite accurate.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Xenoblade Chronicles with guns.

I missed this joke last month. Hilarious.

And also, apparently quite accurate.

I was serious, but glad it was hilarious.