jarrod said:
It's not RTS-like in terms of resource or unit management, no... that was probably a poor choice of words on my part. Tactical Action RPG would probably be more accurate, maybe more like Bladestorm or the KUF titles in some ways, only on the micro rather than macro. There's elements of Monster Hunter or PSO in there too, especially the structure and emphasis on team co-op (even though it's 1p). There also looks to be more to combat that simply hitting the attack button (or perhaps setting it to auto). There's a heavy emphasis on drawing enemy focus (so your casters can get spells off, for example), there's a cover system, stealth elements, environmental factors... I mean it's not rocket science but "basic" compared to what? Not the vast majority of JRPGs (Xenoblade included). There's a heavy amount of strategy in play compared to the rest of the genre. And yes, the game is mission based. You still have one (gigantic) city to run around in and explore, shop, accept quests and push the narrative, but the game structure is still mission by mission, with zero overworld traversal (you go direct to your chosen mission when you leave Ruli). Having town(s) to explore doesn't mean it's not mission based though, the Shining Force games had that and they're very much still old school mission based simulation RPGs. |
We agree with eachother about TLS being mission based, but it's definitely not like VC. IN VC you go from mission to mission, in TLS you have the town in between which makes the feel of the game entirely different. VC is like Zelda dungeons chosen from a menu instead of having a hub world where you can choose where to go. TLS also has a mostly linear structure of quests but at least you can dictate your own tempo and there are sidequests as well I believe.
