Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition

@RR529

You don't need to guess. The original shoulder was imported into the game in Dolphin by modders. It's 90% identical to the version you see in Future Connected. The only major changes were the inside caves. And obviously the fact that it was originally intended to still be attached to the Bionis at the time you explore it. I'm still kinda bummed we never got to see that. I wanted to see that awesome view down across the Bionis, with the Mechonis in the distance.

@Dezzy I wish they put the Bionis' Shoulder in as a small chapter in the middle of the game, likely in between the Prison Island and Valak Mountain sequence, getting rid of the part (or just changing the story a bit) when the party travel through Makna Forest.

@theJGG

That was my thought exactly! Would've been a good point to have another slow relaxing lull in the story.

I mean we already knew there were at least 9 homs colonies, yet we only see 2 in the whole game. Where were the others? I think they did say that homs only lived around the lower parts of the Bionis, but they easily could've adjusted that so that one of the colonies had moved to the shoulder after the battle of sword valley. Would've been a nice addition to the world building and story.

I think the main reason they didn't is because they were worried of messing up the pacing of the story (and maybe the levels that enemies need to be at in the areas that followed).

Also, it's supposed to be the left shoulder of the bionis, and Valak mountain is the right arm. So they'd have to maybe mirror it and say it's the right shoulder to make the 2 connect. That does suggest maybe their original intention was to have it be on the way up the Bionis, rather than on the way down.

Just a heads up this video does have some spoilers in it.

I'm not sure if this was posted here already but has anybody tried this out? I didn't know this was a thing and man it looks super fun! I might do a third playthrough to give it a shot lmao.

Now that I'm done with Xenoblade DE I popped in XC2 to re-watch some of it's late game cutscenes to re-evalue it's connection to the first game, and while they definitely added on to the lore established in the first, it's still really cool to understand it more in depth.

Also forgot how gorgeous of a game it is (on TV at least). There's a lot more going on in the environments, with Gormott seemingly so much more lush than Bionis' Leg. Also, the moment to moment combat is sooo much more fun in the second game, and yes, I even still prefer the character designs.

I honestly kind of wish that Definitive Edition was a full on remake of the game, and that they changed a couple of scenes to make it fit in with the sequel, like changing the scene where the big plot twist was revealed.

@VoidofLight

There are like 7 or 8 plot twists!

Also, did you not see Alvis' necklace that was changed to fit in with the sequel?

@Dezzy I meant a certain scene at the very end of the game. The one where it's revealed that Klaus created a new universe and discarded the old one. Also yeah, I saw his necklace, but other than that they didn't really change many scenes in the game, not that they needed changing except for probably the one I mentioned.

@VoidofLight

What should they have done differently exactly? Just made it so half of his body split off into the new universe and the other half remained?

@Dezzy In the original game, the scene itself is entirely different from how it is in 2. The locations themselves are even pretty much different. I was expecting them to remake the scene from xenoblade 2 in the ending for Definitive edition, mainly to make the link the the two games stronger.

@VoidofLight

Oh you mean how it's an orbiting satellite type thing instead of the 'beanstalk' from Xenoblade 2. Yeah that's a breakdown in continuity. They probably just thought not enough people would notice the difference for it to be an issue.
I'd played XC1 nearly a decade before XC2, so I didn't notice differences like that to start with.

My EU Collectors Edition of this just arrived on Friday. Can’t wait to get knee deep into this game on Monday after work. Everything I’ve read makes me think I’ll enjoy this just as much as XC2 but the combat won’t be as robust. That’s fine by me.

@Varking Honestly, I'd say that the original game's combat is better than XC2, at least in my opinion. It's not as slow, and you can actually move while attacking.

Well than that’s even more exciting. I’ll be honest I had low expectations for XC2 coming from Breath of the Wild and not having played any of the previous Xeno games and I ended up falling in love with it and sinking in about 400 hours into it. I hope I enjoy this one as much. I’ve heard they may eventually port Xenoblade Chronicles X and apparently they have a new game in development as well that I am pretty hyped for.

@Varking Hope you enjoy it honestly! It's one of my favorite JRPG's.

I actually found the combat in XC2 to be faster than XC. Back when I originally played XC I stopped right before the end of the game. Once XC2 came out I beat it then immediately went back to finish up XC, and it was jarring how slow the combat felt in comparison. I think switching between 3 Blades in XC2 helped keep up the pace in combat.

@Cynas do you feel 2 was better than 1 overall? On reddit I see a lot of complaining that 2 had a weaker story but I still enjoyed it plenty.

@Cynas Huh. I didn't really like 2's system that much, and it just kind of felt sloggish. At least, from how I remember it.

@Varking I like them both pretty equally actually, it's hard to pick which one I prefer more. If I include the Torna expansion I'd probably go with XC2 though. I do think XC2 has a better post-game than XC. You can really sink your teeth into the blade system and create some fun combos to take down the superbosses.

I know a lot of people complain about XC2's story but I actually quite enjoyed it as well. It does have a lot of cliche moments but I think it has a lot of heart. XC's story has a much more serious tone to it throughout, so it feels pretty different than XC2, but it's a great one as well. I do think the pacing is a bit better in XC's story so I might give it the edge over XC2's story.