Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition

Well this thread burnt to the ground. I'll be back in a few days, getting rather uncomfortable in here.

I only have one post in me for this, so its fine. I'm mostly just here to see people's first time thoughts on the game otherwise.

@Ryu_Niiyama I'm assuming the fight is still going? just ignore them til it blows over, that's what I'm doing.

Good news: My copy of XC: DE finally arrived in the mail today.
Bad news: It's not getting played until tomorrow.

Why am I an adult again? :thinking_face:

@Tyranexx yay!! Mine should arrive soon. I'll play tonight though 😊

That is if you think tiny, skin-tight shorts, and a just as tiny halter top exposing ample cleavage is "non-sexualized". lol

Anyway, I never said it ruined the game, because there are options for more modest clothing; I just said I had forgotten how limited those options really are.

Well this certainly stinks, so happy to get home and see that my copy arrived. Opened up the package, cellophane was ripped halfway off, case was mangled beyond belief. I dont want to fully take it out to test the cart and risk being charged for it so I set up a return....sigh.....i was so excited to play tonight. Guess I'll wait til Thursday, barring any further setbacks. Bioshock it is tonight then..

@NintendoByNature
Aw man, that sucks

I know exactly how you feel though. This happens to me all the time with all the games I order. Even happened just recently with Saint’s Row 4. I thought I owned it physically but it turns out I never bought it so I put in an order with Best Buy. It arrives, and is got those crinkles on the cover art along the spine, where the paper is wrinkled or has a slit in it (no idea why but it seems 50% of my Switch games arrive with that defect on the spine of the cover art). So I drive to Best Buy after work to return it and because of COVID-19 they run out to your car in the parking lot. I give them the game for an exchange and he runs back out 10 minutes later and drops off a new copy. Before I get out of the parking lot I realize it has the exact same defect but even worse.

So I said screw it and just ordered from Amazon, then returned the one from BestBuy under “damaged from manufacturer” to get sent back to Nintendo. It’s just aggravating.

When Yooka Laylee Impossible Lair released, I ended up buying and returning FIVE COPIES before I got one without that spine defect. Order one and it comes damaged, order another and it comes damaged, get fed up and order three at once. At least one has to be good, right? The lady at the Best Buy service counter knows me by name because I stop in there twice a week to return Switch games 😄

@NintendoByNature Man, that is a major bummer. Sounds like the game was either damaged during the shipping process, or else it got into a huge dogfight. I wonder what other game it clashed with.... :thinking_face:

@NintendoByNature That sucks... At least you have other games to play in the meantime, but I understand it's annoying when you're eager to play this game. Hope you'll get an intact copy soon!

17 hours in and I'm in Makna Forest, this dense and beautiful place, with dangers lurking everywhere.

@Dezzy We talked about how fantastic Bionis Leg is. What's your opinion on Makna Forest?

@link3710 how on God's Earth did you spend 120 hours in the game before getting Melia?! What were you doing?

@JaxonH yea i rarely complain or return, that's how bad this one was. Looked like someone chewed on half the case. Half the case won't even close it's so distorted. Oh Well, Thursday then lol.
@tyranexx its just my luck. Here I was celebrating it was coming in a day early too haha

@Quarth thanks, I appreciate it. I'll be fine, it's only a game after all lol.

@Quarth

I like Makna Forest as a general area, although I think its one of the areas that's received the smallest improvement in this version. Satorl Marsh at night was just spectacular in this version. A massive boost on the original. Bionis Leg was a big boost too. I'm on Makna at the moment though so can't comment on any of the areas after it!

Sharla's default outfit is no more "sexualized" than what most girls I know wear on the average summer day. It's also no more "sexualized" than Reyn's outfit is from a male perspective (showing off abs and arms). Both seem fine to me for a fantasy game (but might be inappropriate for a business meeting).

@Mountain_Man I can understand with questioning that aspect. You can go with the simple answer "sex sells" it's the same reason why male characters are almost always big muscular heroes too. Or why you have nerds who get super powers or why the main character is always a chosen one or something of that sort. It's the power trip fantasy. People don't generally read books, watch movies or play games for a slice of boring everyday life full of average Joes wearing the uniclo/Target brand clothes working 9-5 with nothing special going on. And writers/designers/companies tailor their products to what they think will appeal to a target audience.

I'll give you that different demographics don't get nearly as much media tailored to them and I agree with frustration in that regard - I think there should be options for different people.

But calling someone a "whore" simply based on how they dress is disgusting. If you want to call me "one of those people" fine, that's your right, just as it's my right to find your opinion disgusting. "whore" is a degrading and insulting word meant to demonize women based on their lifestyle. It's a means of controlling them to conform to someone else's morality. It's also especially inaccurate in this case as Sharla is a character who is very loyal to the person she loves.
And moving on after his death is something very difficult for her and a major plot point.
At no point does she remotely behave in that manner. Clothing is not relevant. The best argument for clothing could perhaps be a shirt with like "dick goes here" and an arrow pointed at her mouth or crotch. Then maybe you'd have a point. Never does she wear anything remotely like that. Nor do almost any women outside of a porno film.

But like I said, if you want to label her or anyone who dresses similar to her, in such a disgusting fashion, then I reserve my right to call it out as disgusting and gross too.

If you don't like that, you can always ignore me.

@Heavyarms55 ....Well. I completed every single sidequest up to that point for starters. It was my first 3D RPG save Baten Kaitos (which was... much smaller), so I spent a ton of time just exploring and enjoying the scenery. Plus, I think I went and hunted some of the rarer spawns that weren't quest related as well. And I'm pretty sure I managed to find every single hidden item.

Plus, that was 120 hours over the course of 10 years, so there was always a 'what the heck was I doing' whenever I booted the game back up, since I'd usually play for like, 5-10 hours every so often. That honestly probably accounted for a lot of it.

@link3710 Still though... That's an extreme amount of time! I mean, I'm the same way, hunting down all the side quests and finishing each page of the collectapedia but you spent nearly 6 times as long on the same section of the game! Nothing wrong with it, I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just utterly astounded!

@link3710
You played Baten Kaitos?

I wanna know. How good is it, compared to Xenoblade? I know the card-based battle system might not be for everyone but just, in your opinion, how much did you like it compared to how much you like Xenoblade?

And which one did you play? Origins or Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean? (or both)

@JaxonH Sorry to but in but when someone is talking about my jam, I click. Personally I really enjoyed the card battling system for BK and BKO (played and beat both back in the day) and it is my favorite monlolithsoft series (in part for the constellation focus cuz I'm a nerd).

BKO and BK have somewhat different battle systems and they have their strengths and weaknesses (I'm partial to BK but I think that is more "I played this first and got used to it" bias more than anything else)

In both games your cards can change due to real time evolutions (such as food cooking or spoiling) or due to your combo setups in game. Your teams are 3 at a time and you are manageing each of their decks in BK vs one card pool in BKO. BKO has sorta a poker feel to it as the cards are numbered by strength and matching them in pairs or straights ups your damage, that on top of the time you have to select your cards is based on your character's speed can add or decrease the feeling of stress and urgency depending on the person. The cards are also sorted by element too so you have to look at matchups when playing (and when picking characters as they have specialties- most characters can use all elements but your chances of FINDING said cards to stack their deck is where the strategy comes in) as well as update decks on the regular so you don't put yourself at a disadvantage...as the game will punish you for it. I enjoyed the story at the time, but I've only beaten it twice and the last time was about a decade ago. There is a nice twice midway through and it lays enough plot threads for BKO. The worlds are gorgeous and the music is fantastic...I still play the BK soundtrack in my current musical rotation. There are some simple puzzles in the dungeons and a fair amount of back tracking but not enough to make it annoying imo (I don't like to backtrack much in games). It has a plot mechanic that allows the game to break the fourth wall that I felt was inclusive (as in it didn't feel shoehorned in), and likely made me at the time more emotional although part of its creation was to handwave the audio quality of the compressed voice files at the time. It has a seemingly straight forward plot although there are some twists and character switching and a very nice thread that gets expounded upon in BKO.

BKO streamlines the card system to one central deck...which I still have mixed feelings about as it can be both easier and harder depending on the battle than to BK. But its less card management. Again I still chalk most of that up to nostalgia as I played these games as a teenager when I would have made more immovable opinions. I enjoyed the story of BK but BKO takes it up a notch. It really uncovers a lot of the darkness of the world and makes many of the twists and motivations of come of the characters in BK make more sense. The only issue I have with the story is it leaves a HUGE setup for BK3 which as of yet has not been paid off. I will say I enjoyed the majority of the characters in BK over BKO with the exception of two but as the game is a prequel-sequel the game takes place in the past and some characters from BK are not born yet or are kids. It is hilarious seeing some of the familiar faces return as the game does a good job of tying most of their personalities (as in that character that was a jerk? yeah still a jerk but now you know why...) I do feel that the colorful world of the BK series is delightfully deceptive as it is a bit of a crapsack world but its completely breath taking...even the Empire which is steampunk has a certain cathedral beauty to it.

I will say the BK series is a completionist nightmare though as it is easy to miss some one time cards without a guide and the game was decently long (I'd say 30-40 hours if you speed through) I think my last BK playthrough was in the 70s somewhere. Can't remember BKO's time but I remember I got through it faster.

Baten Kaitos is one of those games I dismissed entirely because after Kingdom Hearts:Chain of Memories and especially PSO Episode 3, I did not need another card based battle system in my RPGs.

In hindsight, this was probably a mistake. Xenoblade is one of those games that's so good, I feel almost obliged to give their other games a shot now.