Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

@SKTTR
Whats your problem?

@Anti-Matter
Relax Antimatter. It was a joke. People were talking about how Xenoblade seems to be a game that would have used micro transactions had it been from another publisher. I was making a crack at how much I love this game. Jokingly saying I would have fallen prey to it. The game does NOT have microtransactions

@JaxonH

Just joining in on the fun from an opposite view.
Isn't it true that many people with an abundance of money rather pay 2 win? It's true in real life so the connection to videogames isn't farfetched. I'm not saying it's only the lazy rich. There are enough other groups embracing microtransactions: OCD patients, fanboys/girls, the easily addicted, EA/2K workers, the demon possessed - but all of them even moreso when they are lazy rich. ^^

Anyway, what's so great about the rng in this case? What is so fun about saving and reloading, reloading, reloading, reloading until you get the Blade you want? It takes me out of the flow of an otherwise neat (but already flawed) game and since this is the worst Xenoblade game (from what I played so far) (in my opinion) (still a very good game though) microtransactions would instantly kill off the rest of the appreciation I've left for this game.

@SKTTR
Well, to be clear: I myself am certainly not a defender of micro transactions nor do I embrace them by any means. I've spent 5 or 10 bucks on ultimate team before, so I know what they're about, but I typically take a stance of refusing to spend any money on micro transactions out of principle nowadays. But I'm not going to insult anyone who uses them. If someone wants to spend their money, well, that's their money and their business.

I'm not going to defend the RNG system for rare Blades. I haven't even gotten far enough in the game to really experience much of it yet. But a lot of people like systems like these. They like the thrill of getting something rare. And shady developers and publishers take advantage of that to profit. It's really interesting having a game with that system in place but that doesn't charge you for it.

I'm not really sure how I feel about it yet, but I am grateful that it doesn't have micro transactions in it. It seems like it was made for it, and yet it doesn't have them. Which is refreshing. At the same time, the fact that I probably actually would drop some cash on micro transactions if they were offered, maybe that speaks to the fact that I really don't like systems such as these? I just want my rare blades. But we'll see how it pans out. I think the thrill of finding a rare blade in a system like this is incredible. But I think you have to have a mindset where you roll with the punches, as opposed to setting your mind on one specific blade because the likelihood of you finding that one specific blade is probably going to be pretty low.

Other than the technical issues (drops to 368p in handheld mode... YIKES!), I'm really happy with the game. I'd prefer there not being a gacha system for finding new blades, but at least they're not using it as a way to milk customers.

@JaxonH
Thanks for those guides. This is my first Xenoblade game so I'm kind of struggling a bit getting used to all its different systems. Game throws a lot of stuff at you at once and then more on top of it. Getting a hold of the combat system though and really beginning to enjoy it a lot.

DF verdict http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2017-does-xe...
I’m happy enough with the mobile experience, but there are definitely better looking games in handheld mode. I was wrong about the docked resolution, but then my 4k screen upscales lower resolution images so well its harder to tell what res it is compared to when I was using s a 1080p screen.

@JaxonH You can also think of it as encouraging experimentation on multiple playthroughs, since you can't guarantee getting the same things that let you pull off the same tricks at a given point. Might also be why there is no New Game+...

@Hughesy
The game is already running at 720p, and I guessed the handheld to be about 600p which isn't too different (I wasn't that far off).

But it gets bad in the open areas. I didn't notice it at first but now I'm closing in on the 20 hour mark so I'm getting a much fuller picture of the experience. I fell into the clouds in that one city and it dropped so low it kinda shocked me.

But it looks good when you start out in the game. If it stayed that good it would be fine. But it doesn't, unfortunately. Thankfully it's not all all the time. I played 7 hours in tabletop yesterday at work and I had a blast, so it's still very much playable.

Hopefully they'll patch it up a bit.

@Gamer83
Wasn't sure if this was your type of game or not. Glad to see you're enjoying it... Xenoblade is by far my fave JRPG series of all time.

It is complex, but it's very rewarding and one of the coolest worlds you'll ever see in a video game. Soundtrack rocks too. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

Anybody that wants to cry about the RNG system because they dont get the blade they want can go cry to mommy..... This system is GREAT because its f*cking EXCELLENT for replayability.
I already cant wait to start a new game and have different party members at different points on each play through.

@JaxonH
I enjoy a wide variety of games, I've skipped the last two games due to choosing The Last Story back in 2012 and not having a Wii U when XCX came out but now seemed like an opportune time to jump on board.

@Gamer83
Once you've played at least one Xenoblade game, it makes it much easier to play the others.

Xenoblade X... that game is definitely my fave JRPG and one of the best games I played last generation. I really really hope they port that game to Switch. If they ever do, be sure to check it out. Especially having already exposed yourself to the Xeno formula with XC2

@JaxonH Thanks for clearing that up. Got a little confused there.

That doesn't seem to be correct, at least with the second Blade that you get, because the game didn't save before or after I used the core crystal. If that was the case I wouldn't have lost 7 hours of progress the day the game crashed on me: I lost my Blade and got a different one the second time.

Really? 368p? Weird number I haven't heard of before.
It's astrounding if that's true. Xenoblade X was running in 480p on the Wii U GamePad.
How come a Wii U game with better-looking graphics (even though they don't have the same advanced cloud and water effects as Xeno2) also has a higher resolution?
I just read the dynamic resolution changes between 368p, 432p and 552p. That's still two resolutions in handheld mode that are worse than what you get on the Wii U GamePad. I'm surprised that the plastic shell (Switch dock) is such a powerful hardware.

@SKTTR The Switch's dock does nothing. The Switch overclocks its GPU in docked mode. That's all.

Unless I'm mistaken, all the Switch dock is doing is providing a better power supply that allows the GPU and memory to operate at higher clock speeds.
Both are contained within the handheld part though. They're just not operating at max capability when in portable mode.
edit: Ah see someone beat me to it.

I think the solution is upping the clock speed of handheld mode by 25-50% for certain games. Not every game. But Xenoblade 2 in particular.

The issue only seems to stem from games that are 720p on console. Because then the game has nowhere to go but 500p and below.

The games which hit 900-1080p all seem to run in 720p in handheld. So. For those specific 720p console games, utilize a higher clock speed to maintain 600p in handheld without drops. That would be acceptable. 600p is fine... or even 574p or whatever it is. Provided there are no drops. The drops are what kills it.

@QwertyQwerty Wii U gamepad isnt 720p, it’s 480p.

@Ralizah Although technically the same, the dock doesn’t overclock anything. I’m docked mode it runs at its base clock, then in handheld mode it downclocks itself to save power.

@QwertyQwerty Uh no, the image streamed is 480p, that’s the way it was designed, doesn’t matter if a game is 720p or 1080p on a TV, it streams it at 480p. Same thing with PS4 streaming to Vita, it is streamed at the screens resolution, not the TV’s.

@QwertyQwerty No mate you’re wrong. Digital Foundry did an article about it ages ago, as follows below

In either of these games, gameplay projected to the HDTV is typically mirrored to the smaller screen, and the high level of clarity does heavily suggest that the controller is being sent a separate framebuffer to suit its native resolution, as opposed to having the HDTV's 1280x720 output downscaled

No, but it’s how the Wii U system was designed, anyway this is going a bit off topic so I’ll drop it now.

I can't stop playing Tiger Tiger. Got her energy level up to 600 and I'm using 595 out of it. I even unlocked both of the special enhancement slots and one of the skill upgrade slots (which cost 6,000 ether).

It feels like a call back to the skell customization of Xenoblade X. I love it. I can already see this is going to turn some people off but I love the depth of the customization. At some point I'm going to have to buckle down and play Tiger Tiger some more to get that second skill slot unlocked.

@Kingkasper

1 "Blind superfans" is all in your head. "Hype" never had anything to do with anything. People judge based on what they saw, and what they saw looked absolutely fine. It's as simple as that. It took at least 10 hours into the game before I myself actually started noticing substantial drops that were actually to the point I would consider it an issue

2 Nobody is denying any fault in the game. There are plenty of faults in the game. As there are with all games. But of course, because people played the game and said it looked good based on what they'd played, that now equates to "denying all fault with the game" whatsoever

3 People just want to play the game and enjoy it, not go on some crusade because the resolution is not to scratch in some open areas. If you want to start "helping the situation" by all means, more power to you, but I'm not sure exactly what you want from people here. Discussing the game as we play it in a forum is not going to help or hurt anything.

I don't know what you want man. Yeah, the resolution drops pretty low in the open areas which I have now myself seen with my own eyes. Yes, let's hope they fix it. Can we now move on and talk about the game? Or is this all you're going to talk about on here? If you have a petition or something you want people to sign, go ahead and link it, I'll be glad to sign it. But beyond that, I don't know what you want... aside from coming here and insulting people for their honest assessments given the amount of the game they played (because the game does look fine given the already low res on the TV... it's the drops that are the issue and the reason I myself didn't see a problem until yesterday). If you do want help from people, that's certainly not how you get it.