Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

@MarioLover92 Yes, I have one, but I haven't posted anything about it since I really don't want it out there. I just don't want randoms adding me. If you want, I can add you, keep in mind my username is different there mostly because I use the same name I do on Steam.

I always do that, sometimes it's moments, or just something to share with friends. Usually because it gets sent to my computer, I don't worry too much about having pictures on cloud storage. It just gets sent to my PC anyway. Extras and not so great pics get deleted anyway.

Nope, got to the final boss and died, right before I got home too. Literally, I could have paused the game and finish once I got home. Cool, I didn't know that game had time travel in it.

@Tyranexx So I noticed the tagline on your profile says you're a programmer. If you don't mind me asking what do you do at your job? I'm just about to get my bachelors in computer science later this year so I've been applying to jobs a lot and all the interviewing makes me nervous 😂😂

@Sunsy Oh yeah I understand that completely, that was the whole reason I had to remove my friend code from my profile. Those random friend requests drove me nuts. If only Nintendo Life had private messages. I have my Steam profile on my NL profile page, you could send me a friend request there. Would be good since I have Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed and Team Sonic Racing, pretty sure you have those as well.

My Discord is (edited out). You may need to check your email account so you can see the most recent NL email that says I've mentioned you. That should have the original unedited post with my Discord. I plan on editing it out from this post after 7 minutes or so.

Ah, too bad then. The first time I beat SML1, it was on the 3DS. When I first had it as a kid, World 2-1 was the furthest I got.

@MarioLover92 Yeah, private messaging is something other forums I've been to had. Added you on Discord, I should have a Tails icon. I caught this right before going to cook dinner too.

Yeah, last moment the final boss defeated Mario, lol. Still was a fun bus ride. I think the furthest I got as a kid was 2-3, that underwater shmup level blew my mind back then because it was unexpected having played Super Mario World and Super Mario All-Stars.

@Sunsy I accepted your friend request - I was thinking it was you. Lucky coincidence, then!

That's cool. Can't blame you either, the game literally changes genres a few times, lol! Sonic Mania did the same thing, with that Puyo Puyo boss in Chemical Plant. I remember being quite surprised when I first got there. I enjoy shmups as well, I got Blazing Lazers from the Wii U eShop a while back and it's really good.

MaskedNintendobandit is an absolute legend.

@TheJGG I took time to listen to your other videos, and my god I love what you did with DDLC, It sounds soo good!

Trying to condense my response thread a bit; apologies as some of you deserve longer. My weekend and early part of this week are busy due to various goings-on. For one thing, both my parents have bdays around now lol.

@tekoii I'm sure I would have been better prepared had I tackled more side content, but most of the side quests in the Xenoblade entries outside of X tend to be generic and don't hold my attention for long. I was more interested in the story in this game anyway. I've finished the game since my last post. I'm creating a separate one with my thoughts that should go up hopefully later this evening or tomorrow evening.

@MarioLover92 I'd also argue some of the physical My Nintendo rewards are not as good as what Club Nintendo had, but they are improving.

I do use glass screen protectors on my Switch as well; I had difficulty with the first set I received, but the first one from the second set went on fine. They're VERY finicky lol. I recall there being a similar feature related to the Mega Man Battle Network and Star Force games; funny how Capcom used that method with the more traditional platformers too!

@TheJGG Funnily enough, I did notice the green/black flip from the red/white color scheme of Pyra/Mythra. Though not so no much the armor contrast...at least not in that way. I did notice Pneuma was more modest overall though! Many thanks for bringing up that fun tidbit.

Really like that Celeste cover you did by the way, though I confess it's a game I haven't played. I need to look up the soundtrack if it's just as divine as what I'm listening to now!

@Sunsy I admit it's been some time since I've messed with emulators, and not even with my own machines outside of ones that can run in a web browser. I've dabbled into Project 64 and MAME a little; one of my coworkers even built a MAME arcade cabinet and sold it to another several years ago. I need to research safe emulation; part of the reason I generally avoid it is due to the risks of downloading unknown files from the web.

@Vortexeo I work on the desktop side of a service management and route tracking app. Some of it is maintaining legacy content, but we do still add features as well as integrations with our mobile application and the occasional third party tool. I also do a lot of database work with Microsoft SQL Server. Some of our customers are involved in various service industries, but others are involved in the Amusement (industry term, basically what we call gaming, like pinball, crane machines, arcade shooters, etc.) and ATM industries. I primarily code in an environment you probably haven't heard of (PowerBuilder) but do plenty of work with SQL and occasionally touch C#.

Good luck! The interview process can be quite harrowing. Doubly so if you're like me and don't like being on the spot at all.

@MarioLover92 Yeah, I'm glad I caught it in time. I don't have e-mail notifications turned on here. I woke up from a nap this afternoon (was up later than usual last night), decided to check here before cooking dinner, and I saw it. I check the site periodically throughout the day, mostly for news.

That Puyo Puyo match wasn't just clever, it was a fun easter egg, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. The US Puyo Puyo releases were reskinned to Sonic and Kirby respectively. Cool, on Wii U, I actually bought Ghost Blade HD on release. Was a great shmup, I believe it got ported to Switch.

I also loved the Neo-Geo game Twinkle Star Sprites, which is a shmup, or rather a "cute 'em up," but has a similar element to a vs. puzzle game. Fun in multiplayer too, played it when my friend and I played a few LAN games in December. It's on Switch (Arcade Archives Neo-Geo), and on Steam and GOG (no crossplay for its online mode between the two services).

@Tyranexx Fair enough, the few times I needed to use an emulator on PC, the files I needed were included with the official PC version of a classic game. Especially DOS games, most classic games on GOG are officially sold with a DOS emulator.

Obligatory tagging of @TheJGG, @BruceCM, @tekoii, @Vortexeo, and @Snatcher for a delayed (and final!...Well, for the main game) XC2 update!

• After some Blade grinding, mainly for Mythra's sake, I entered the final boss room. At this point and within this cutscene, I genuinely felt sorry for Malos; this guy has no true purpose in his life and seems unsure if what drives him is his will or that of Amalthus. Interesting in a previous cutscene, how the Architect says that "They made this choice together"....Rex and Co. tried to talk some sense into this guy, but Malos is committed to his path now....
• Ironically, I Had an easier time with Artifice Aion than Amalthus, though it still took me a couple of attempts; somehow when I'd try to activate a chain attack + seal combos to give Aion a sound thrashing in phase 2, somehow I'd knock Pneuma back to Mythra when hitting the + button. THAT was irritating, but I finally brought him down.
• Defeating Aion causes the Artifice to eject Malos, shattering his core crystal in the process. As he dies (I found this somewhat touching too), Morag says that he may have finally found a purpose in his life. Elsewhere, it seems Shulk succeeded in the other world in defeating Zanza/Klaus's other half, ending him. But he has one final "gift" for his children.
• Due to the Conduit vanishing and no longer supporting Elysium and the World Tree, the tree starts to collapse on itself, signifying doom for Alrest. Pneuma lies to the party to get them to a bay of escape pods, then pilots Aion herself in order to use it to destroy the World Tree and avert disaster. Rex takes this very hard, especially when Poppi wouldn't help him because of her promise to Mythra. Before they leave, Pneuma gives Rex her core crystal.
• The group escapes the destruction, only for the escape pod to fully break up as they re-enter Alrest's atmosphere. Gramps/Azurda's true form activates (not sure if this was Pneuma or the Architect's doing), and he catches everyone on his back.
• It appears the Cloud Sea is parting, but the Architect's final "gift" was creating a new sort of "Elysium" by causing the Titan to combine into one single continent. This appears to be a restart for humanity and Blades on Alrest. I initially wasn't a huge fan of the ending, but we have...post-credits scenes! Pyra and Mythra's core crystal recharged as they all do, and Rex awakened the two again...and now they're separate! All in all, it was a good ending, though I hope XC3 explains some of this better.

Sooo....That's it! I reached the end credits! Thanks to all who read this journey as I experienced it and offered their commentary and input! Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a very good game, one of the better action RPGs I've played. HOWEVER...I think XC:DE beats it out a little. XC2 is great in the story and music department, but the three main things about it that bothered me (in no particular order):
1. The gacha Blade mechanics. The game gives you a few freebies, but this is honestly too random IMO.
2. Gating main story progress behind field skills. I'm fine with them when it comes to side content and so on, but I feel it really ruins the story's flow if I have to leave the main quest just to grind up a couple of skill trees on my Blades just to progress.
3. XC:DE really spoiled me with being able to auto-attack while moving. And with faster combat movement, I might add. I honestly felt like my party members were moving through cold gravy half the time when their weapons were drawn.

In the grand scheme of things, those complaints are somewhat minor. This is still a VERY good game in a series that sets a relatively high bar. Not sure when I'll get to Torna: The Golden Country just yet, but the plan is anytime between now and when XC3 launches. XD

@Sunsy That's good to know; I have yet to use GOG, though I'm a relatively recent Steam adopter if that tells you anything. I used to game on PC quite a bit several years ago, but less time + preferences = I mostly game on Nintendo systems these days lol. I've mentioned I want to build a PC, and that's still a looming project....WHEN is another question though.

@Tyranexx good job! I'm not there yet, but im close. I'm should be done with chapter 8 soon, and I'm ready for the finale. I agree with all your minor gripes, and I'm also in the same mindset that XC:DE is overall the better experience.

@NintendoByNature Thanks! You're getting close for sure! I felt that chapters 9 and 10 were shorter than 7 and 8. Both are very good chapters IMO with some crazy plot material. XC:DE had a more cohesive story that hooked me in sooner, whereas I feel that XC2 is more of a slow burn after the opening hours until part of the way through the game. Not too unlike my experience with Ys VIII's plot now that I think about it.

@Tyranexx Your whole playthrough really makes me want to jump on the game! This year i'm gonna play it!

@Tyranexx Your whole playthrough really makes me want to jump on the game! This year i'm gonna play it!

@Tyranexx Oh I agree for sure, My Nintendo's slowly getting better with the rewards. My favorites are the two sets of Mario pins. I'm still so happy I got them.

I only got one set of two. I screwed up the first one, but I had better luck with the second, thankfully. It's slightly off center, but it wasn't too bad in the long run, I didn't have any dust bubbles. Ah yeah I remember that Mega Man Star Force 1 had that feature, you'd plug in one of the Battle Network games to get the BN Blaster. I remember it had the highest rapid-fire.

@Sunsy Ah ok, didn't realize then. Would've been happy to try it again regardless, because I'm a nice guy, but yeah that's awesome you got it the first time.

Yeah it was a fun easter egg! I recognize the music from the 2-player vs. mode. That's cool you got it, I looked it up and looks like it's on the Switch as well.

I've heard of Twinkle Star Sprites, but never played it. Didn't play a whole lot of Neo Geo games myself, since it's mostly known for fighting games. Which I'm absolutely awful at. Only ones I played were the Metal Slug series. TSS sounds like fun, I may give it a shot sometime.

Pretty sure most of us would agree with your 2 biggest gripes, @Tyranexx .... But yeah, it's still a great game overall! Do tell us all about Torna whenever you get around to it, too & @NintendoByNature can keep us updated with his, please

@Tyranexx Hey that's pretty cool! I took an internship last year and I really enjoyed using SQL there! I would love to do database work of some kind moving forward! You are right though, I indeed haven't heard of PowerBuilder 😅. I've been trying to practice my coding to stay sharp, I'm expecting a lot of coding questions from some of these interviews.

As for your XC2 playthrough, I'm glad you managed to finish it! Your main complaints are pretty spot on. I made a wishlist of things I want from XC3 over in the Xenoblade 3 thread and some things I put on there were pretty in line with what you said. There is something that I wanted to ask you because I don't think I've ever seen you mention it. Did you ever figure out what the third aegis sword actually is?

@Tyranexx @BruceCM Come to think of it, I might actually be in chapter 9 lol. I can't recall as the last 10 or so hours of the game just feel blended. Ill know more later tonight when I jump in. But I'd like to cap this game off by the end of the week.

Hopefully, you will do so, then, @NintendoByNature ....