Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition

@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.

@Cynas The Torna combat system was so refreshingly fast paced that I generally enjoyed that one over the full battle system from Xenoblade 2, and sometimes even the combat from Xenoblade X. Thing with X's combat is that there had to be a massive disparity between combat on foot and combat in the Skells, that would most times make it more viable to use the Skell. Especially because of the way larger enemies are presented in combat; high level; with a massive amount of health, and large attack power.

I prefer Xenoblade 1's storyline overall personally, because it had the most ends tied up, it had a bit more heart, and the world was so believable. The music is incredible and whenever a good song plays in a cutscene it amplifies the meaning and the impact of the story beat. I agree about pacing, because things escalate unusually quickly between chapters seven and eight in Xenoblade 2. In 1 everything feels like it's building up, and while it's strange that one entire chapter is just a massive cutscene and one small battle, it didn't feel like the most ridiculous thing.

Thing with episodic formats in video games in general is that some are bound to be larger than others, but if there's one supermassive episode (like Episode 3: Fragile in Death Stranding (PS4), which took me a month to beat, but I beat the remaining 11 episodes in three weeks) it really messes up the pacing. Xenoblade games don't seem to have this issue, at least not in a dramatic way.

@TheJGG I think that was my main problem with Xenoblade Chronicles X, I found myself relying on the Skells way too much towards the end of the game. Which is unfortunate, because that game had a ton of customization for the on-foot combat, but I never felt the need to invest in my characters. I ended up rushing my way to the end of the game while blasting away everything in my Skell. If the game ever gets a Switch port I'll give it another go and play it a bit differently.

@Cynas There's tons of videos where the main character basically destroys Telethia the Endbringer on foot, and I've never quite figured out how to do that. And yes, on-foot gameplay becomes obsolete as soon as you get the Skell, except for two instances between getting it, and the end of the game. The first is when you fight the Wrothians in Chapter 9, and they don't allow you to use the Skells for the first phase. And the second is when you infiltrate the Ganglion Base in Chapter 11, and can't use them either. Both times I was reminded just how little I used on-foot gameplay after getting the Skell, which implies there's little incentive to do anything without one. You can trample small enemies, traverse the world easier, and even fly. If there were more instances where combat on the ground was either mandated, or the only option possible, then it would have been a more fascinating balance of gameplay.

On foot is a perfectly viable strategy for most of the enemies in X. Being able to maintain overdrive indefinitely, to both increase your damage output and spam an evasion art such as Ghostwalker, is the basic strategy that'll see you through the story missions at the very least. From there you just finesse things against particular enemies so you can counter the attacks that might break through your evasion and maximize your damage output.

Telethia is only really a problem because of the difficulties getting aggro and keeping in range; have a Skell handy just to do that, if not for the actual combat. Oh, and you need a ton of ether reflect/resist.

I thought XC2's story overall was pretty great, but it had a lot of cheezy nonsense, and bad pacing at various points. Whereas XC1 is almost flawless. I think the only bad part with its story is the fact that it drags on for a bit at the end. It really should've just ended when you reach the Mechonis head. That would feel like a more natural ending.

They could've easily written the same XC2 story with a more serious tone though. I hope they do for their next game, cos I prefer that.

@Dezzy I disagree, I think it never should have ended at the Mechonis Core. Story wise I doubt the story could have ended just by defeating Egil. If it did end at the Core we wouldn't have gotten what IMO is one of the coolest plot twists for anything... ever. It could have introduced an actual new area for diversity's sake but ending the game in space, walking by the various planets, was absolutely haunting. And besides, it never had a final vibe. Prison Island? THAT had a final vibe. It was just awesome.

@TheJGG

Well yeah I didn't mean the whole story should've ended at the Egil fight. I meant that they should have fit the rest of that in earlier, so that maybe you fight Egil around that big factory area in Mechonis, then you could fight Dickson and Zanza at the head. They should've just aligned the story with your progress through the world, so that you didn't need to go and retrace your steps in various ways.

I just think that story was so tied into the experience of journeying through the world, that it started to feel a bit aimless once that part had finished. I don't think anyone really cared about going through the Bionis heart and guts for example.

My daughter and I got home late and cleared to chapter 3 so far. Definitely hard to believe this game was once on the Wii. It all looks really good. I’ll have to watch a combat video to learn it but so far it’s been fun and I like the story.

@Varking It's even harder to believe that this isn't even a full on remake, but rather just a simple remaster of the game. All they really did was upgrade textures, add HD lighting, and fix the character models up a bit.

@VoidofLight @Varking Sometimes I can't believe how simple a process it was, to make such a polished game even better. Redoing textures and models, and the music, and bam, one of the best games of all time with only one main weakness, is now perfect. I don't think I've replayed a game that much, and have found consistently high enjoyment from it all the time.

Quite a lot of the environment models were improved too. Go and look at the massive rock pillars that hold up the cliffs on the Bionis Leg. They are noticeably different between versions.

@Dezzy Oh neat, I didn’t notice that.

@Dezzy Oh neat, I didn’t notice that.

I’m in Chapter 6 now. So far I’d say I still prefer the XC2 combat over this one but I think that might be because I understand the ins and outs of it where in this one I’m not fully there with it yet. However, this story seems a bit more fluid than 2. It’s an excellent game so far. The only thing slowing me down is that I’m not using any guides and I’m trying to max out all abilities for each chapter before I move on and 100% all collectibles on each map.

I’ve also not sold anything yet or socketed any gems so far since I haven’t read up on what’s best or how much stats affect different things. There’s a lot to learn but this game has been a blast.

I wrote this in Luxin's YouTube video but may as well share here as well. I named the Xenoblade chapters, giving them titles that have strong significance to the story.

I'm not sure about other countries, but Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition on sale right now on Amazon.ca for $55 CAD, regularly $75 CAD. Definitely worth it if you're on the fence deciding whether to buy it or not.

Is it normal for enemies to just run away from a fight after a while? I was fighting a unique monster and I'd almost defeated it but then it got bored and wandered off, so it was back to full health straight away. Bit annoying.

@Dogorilla Never happened to me, so I have no idea honestly.