For me it was the 13th of Jan, morning at 1:30 am. I had just gotten off work and was talking to some friends in the parking lot, when I looked online on my phone to see if anything cool was shown at Nintendo's new console reveal.
What I expected was a new Bayo teaser, or a new Metroid. Heck, even Beyond Good and Evil was practically a given being we have already been pretty much told it was happening, so I get on youtube and my jaw hit the floor!
No, not by having any of those games mentioned being there, but something I only kind of half suspected and hoped would be true given Soraya Saga had been hinting something. I figured a Xeno X port, but what I seen was a new title. "HOLY SHIT!" I thought to myself, as my favorite series of all time had a video on youtube, and it looked like a sequel to the first. "Xenoblade Chronicles 2!!!" I shouted out loud as my friend looked at me not knowing what the hell I was talking about. I told him I had to go and left quickly to go back to my work building to make sure I could watch the video with my undivided attention.
And then I saw...... What the heck was that..... Are you serious? I thought to myself as the once unique stylings of Xenoblade had appeared to be tossed out the window for..... the dime a dozen anime cell shaded style. Trust me, I will be the first to admit some things needed ironing out from Xenoblade Chronicles and X. But I always felt time and tech would see things through to a style that was great to look at and uniquely them, like Xenosaga for example. But that was just visuals. They can be different and I'm fine with that, so what else did I notice about the trailer. I wanted to view it a few more times to make sure I didn't rush to a kneejerk reaction. I mean, it's typically the world and story that Takahashi knocks out of the park, right?
So what did I notice? Mechs? No, but their were mounts and airships..... Well that's not very Xeno..... Well what about story? Cheeky protag droning on about making it to some place called Elysium for "her" (I'm guessing the red girl), and not allowing anyone to stop "her".... Strange yet again as Xenoblade has always been more about the continued survival of man in general. Not to say this one won't, but it seems to be taking the back seat to the staple anime guy escorting girl from place to place and won't let anyone get in the way of him achieving that.... Well okay, that seems a bit cliche, but whatever. Let's cut out all the other series and look deep into what made Xenoblade so awesome as a standalone series, customization. Nothing shown huh.... No change of outfits or anything huh?....
And that's when I realised that I didn't like what I seen. I mean a Xenoblade that I didn't immediately go nuts over.... Me... In fact, I thought the trailer kind of sucked....
Don't get me wrong, I will pick this game up (special edition at that if it has one) and give it its fair chance. I have all the other Xeno titles. I wouldn't even really have minded it being different, if it being different didn't mean being like a ton of jrpgs on the market. I'm just saying my first reaction to the first trailer was a lot like Arlo's reaction to Color Splash.
So have you ever had a similar experience?
