Official Xenoblade thread- Opinions, thoughts and questions inside! Can it hit 1mil in sales next year? Sequel coming for Wii U???

[Conegamer]

KylieDog said:

Conegamer said:

KylieDog said:
The more I play this the more I think this game is overrated.

Before people jump down my throat let me say it is a very good game and I am enjoying it a lot, it reminds me very much of Final Fantasy XII, a game which is my all time fav JRPG by a clear mile. However FFXII released 5-6 years ago and had much more freedom to the battle system (control all) and class building (build members how you like).

Xenoblade is great compared to other JRPGs this gen, which have been pretty crap all round and vastly worse than last gen, but it hasn't advanced JRPGs at all. Seems to get special praise just for being up to last gen JRPG standards.

That's cool. However, may I just ask where you've reached?

For example, walking out onto Bionis' Leg is just under the 10% mark of the game, and JRPG's don't really get going until the 15-20% mark (in this case, just in the Ether Mine, even if the area is meh, the story progression at the end is when the game really got going for me).

I agree it's slow, monotonous and droll at the start. But most JRPG's are. Don't write the game off just yet. The further in you get, the more you see it develops the genre in small ways (quick-travel, spike, Arts, skill links, open areas, quests, gems, Colony 6 etc.)

The game should not, in my opinion, be seen as a defining point in the genre because it advances the genre. It takes small, yet significant steps, towards modernisation. The game should be enjoyed because what it does, it does right.

 

That's my opinion anyway. Feel free to disagree, and I'm very glad you enjoy it. I suppose when I played it though a year ago, I didn't have all the expectations.

I've just defeated Xord, permantly.  Plus done the battle outside the mines. Kinda of annoying you have so many boss fights and they all end early until that battle and you don't even need deplete the health bars, then in the final battle with him you don't even need do what was required to hurt him in the previous ones, he is permanently open to all damage.

I done almost all side quests up to just before entering the mines, decided to stop because I seem to be outleveling monsters and finding little challenge.  Are the side quests important to story at all?  I may just skip them all.

Yeah, that fight, and the cutscenes, were where the game really 'starts' IMO. But fortunately, the vast majority of bosses now you do HAVE to kill, and they'll never be another fight like Xord, due to story events.

The sidequests are non-essential. I'd highly reccomend skipping anything which has no name (i.e. just 'Monster Quest' etc.), but to do most of the ones from NPC's with names, and appear on the affinity chart (e.g. 'A Young Captain's Trust'). They give you extra affinity, exp., and add to the backstory.