Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

Not sure is that unpopular but I profoundly Hate motion blur. It is something that if I cannot turn off as an option I just close the game and never look back...

I think shrines are a better parallel to dungeons than the Divine Beasts.

Also, it doesn't exactly reflect well on the Switch's first-party lineup when a rehash is in the running as one of the best games on the system.

@VoidofLight There's some areas I agree with but of course some disagreements. Rex... he really grew on me. He's a rash kid who lets his emotions get in the way so many times. But he matures considerably and becomes a really wise person by the end of the game. His voice acting is mixed for me; the screams aren't very good. But, this was Al Weaver's first videogame role so I'm very inclined to let him off for that, coupled with the fact that he was 36 when recording his lines. Adam Howden was a decade younger when he voiced Shulk, so age is important.

Nia is an interesting character, but for me it all fell away during Chapter 7. She as you said resembled Melia far too much. But Zeke... I love Zeke. He's so.. charismatic, and absolutely bumbling yet supremely talented and surprisingly mature. Yes, he's comic relief at times but I like it.

Tora's so boring. He's a pervy otaku. That's it. Mòrag is a really cool character but has no story significance at all. Her and Tora could have been one character; the stoic calm Flamebringer who in her spare time builds Artificial Blades, and has a perverted side. There, done!

Unpopular opinion? I finished Shadow the Hedgehog (GameCube), yesterday (all 11 endings) and really liked the game. It has really great levels.

I started with Sonic Adventures DX today and this one kinda feels dated. Don't like overworld sections. Kinda prefer the Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog approach.

While I don't like when people say "it gets good in 15 hours" for certain games, I do think for really long games, like certain JRPGs, you sometimes have to accept that they improve as you play them more. For various reasons, story, gameplay additions, just getting good at it in general. That's why I'm hesitant to say too much about 2 so far.

But at the same time, games should make you want to keep playing at or near the beginning. I love how the first Xenoblade did this, put you in the climax of a story, to give you an exciting, interesting start before actually starting the story focused on the actual protagonist. Because without that, Xenoblade 1 has a decent but not especially compelling first hour or two.

@kkslider5552000 I actually wonder if the people who say it's "Boring" or "Worse than 2".. played more than the first hour of the game. If they gave the full game a shot, then that's perfectly fine.. but it just seems weird that some people are adamant that the original game sucks, and that 2 is better.. when 2 has even more issues with it's story/characters.

I remember people saying Xenoblade gets good after 10-15 hours so when I got to 10ish hours in and found I wasn’t having fun I gave up. Luckily the price of the game actually increased when I sold it on.

Out of all the Operation Rainfall games I always liked Pandora’s Tower the most to be honest.

the one thing I don't really like is when someone's like "This game's bad!" to a JRPG, just because they got two hours into it, and it didn't grip them story-wise or gameplay wise, despite still being in the tutorial. If a JRPG doesn't grip you, it's not bad per say, but moreso it's because you don't like JRPG's. Now if the combat is terrible past the tutorial.. and the game is drawn out artificially, that's where I agree it's probably not a good game.

I disagree with that, it basically implies fans of JRPG should be happy playing any old rubbish just because it’s a JRPG.

@jump I'm not saying that, I'm saying that JRPG's all take a while to get actually good. Things like Persona 5 or Xenoblade 2 take more than 2 hours to get good.

10 hours is a decent amount of time to see if a game works for you or not, even for a game like Xenoblade.

And I don't agree that it takes that long to get good. Xenoblade is better as it goes on but the very beginning of it was great. The early, slow parts, even at worst, were ok. When things are happening and you have a decent enemy to fight, it is fun. So if someone isn't into that, they're not gonna magically love the game 50 hours in (well they might, but that's far from certain).

@kkslider5552000 Yeah, I'd say 10 hours is a fair amount of time to give a JRPG.

If an rpg doesnt have something compelling within 10 or 15 hours of gameplay I'd say that's more likely than not the fault of the design. By then there really should be something compelling.

Edit: I also think it's plausible to know whether or not you like an rpg within a couple hours. I knew pretty quickly Xeno 2 was not for me and I would've saved myself some time if I had just moved on then.

Well I played XC both on 3ds and switch to credits (and completed nearly all sidequests on switch where is much easier to navigate them).
In general I don't like the characters of the first game (apart from dumban that I feel it would be a much better main characters) with poor highlights on melia and shulk (one note character or the yelling one).
I understand the criticisms on XC2 (mostly on the pervy style but I watch anime occasionaly so nothing too strange on that regard and while is not something I am looking for I just don't care if it is there or not). I love Nia as a character and the voice actor (I was in absolute Joy when I found that Martha in bravely default 2 was her too) and yes the voice actor for Rex has some ups and downs but there are no moments in the first game like the cemitery one (and I could mention others too). I find the story much more compelling overall.
On gameplay and music I just cannot understand how can someone disagree though and I would even say the gameplay of the first one sucks (apart from the whole see the future thing but that grows old really fast)

Edit: I will add that I played XC2 first and that may give the edge of preference.

@Balta666 To me, the combat in 2 is the worst in the series, frankly because you can't move freely unless you want to die. The fights are extremely slow, and auto-attacks seem to take forever. The gacha itself is annoying, and I honestly just wish they focused on a few blades instead of forcing you to rely on what's basically "Free lootboxes". I vastly prefer the combat in Torna, and I think that Torna is what Xenoblade 2 honestly should've been.

Nia's voice actress is alright, and I like Zeke, but other than that.. I just felt pretty meh about the characters. To me, the original game's characters didn't really feel one-note at all, and I enjoyed them. I also enjoyed the serious nature of Xenoblade 1's story over the goofy nature of 2's.

With 2, I can't really get into it because one moment something serious happens, and then it gets ruined by a non-sensical gag. For example: part ways through 2, there's an assassination plot, where they find out that the Mor Ardain leader is being targeted. There ends up being this fight between a giant chibi maid robot and the party, with the maid killing the leader, and Nia having to revive him. I couldn't take that moment seriously for the life of me honestly.. it just felt like the scene wanted to do something serious, but failed mainly since the boss itself isn't serious at all.

The only actual part I liked was Chapter 10, aside from Pneuma's sacrifice not mattering in the end, as Rex still gets both girls anyways.

@VoidofLight I need to get the XB games.

@Snatcher They're pretty good honestly. I'd start with the first one though for.. obvious reasons, then 2, then Torna. X is stand alone, so you don't have to play it, but I heard it improves the original game's combat.

@VoidofLight Ok ok I might get 2 first tho since its harder to find but if I can't I will go with 1.

@VoidofLight I played XC1 for 60 hours or so. Didn't quite finish it, but I think I got a pretty good feel for it. Also plan on playing through XCDE in its entirety soon.

One of my issues with the game is that I found the plot and pacing to be weird. Like, the attack on your town was exciting, but then the plot progression just seems to slow to a crawl for a while. Tbh, the game doesn't really re-capture its original energy until the (excellent) prison island sequence. In general, I also find the revenge motivation behind Shulk's journey to be unengaging.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 does a better job of giving the rest of the cast more stuff to do throughout the game, in my experience.

Also, pretty much every location type in XC1 is done better in Chronicles 2. Both aesthetically and functionally. I also really liked how loot was contextually situated in XC2 instead of just... puked out across the map randomly like in the first game.

And some locations in XC1 are just awful. Satorl Marsh? Valak Mountain? Sword Valley? All range from excruciating to merely boring locations. I can't think of a comparably poorly designed environment in XC2.

As to the cast, I never really clicked with Shulk, Reyn, Dunban, Sharla, etc. Whereas I almost immediately liked Zeke, Morag, Nia, Pyra, Mythra, Brighid, Gramps, etc.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 also makes heart-to-heart encounters far more accessible and (resultantly) enjoyable. I've always hated how the first game gated those behind its obtuse affinity requirements.

I also tend to like XC2's more engaging, timing-based battle system, and how it gives you fuller control over chain attacks.

Which isn't to say the gacha crap and the way field skill deficits cockblock side-quest progression doesn't suck, but... in general, I found XC2 to be the far preferable experience.

I don't think the battles in Xenoblade 2 are necessarily that slow. It's just that combat tutorials in the game are really bad and don't tell you about very basic things that'd speed them up such as shuffling on the spot after an autoattack connects to launch another really quickly, and using dessert items to recharge your arts. If you're prepared to take a deeper delve into the game mechanics it's possible to come up with builds that'll melt through even the toughest superbosses relatively quickly.

The other games in the series - Torna included - do a much better job of explaining the basics.