Xenoblade Chronicles 2Beat it! Making a post because I have thoughts and this is one of the series I like having and typing thoughts for.
Segmented since I'm sure only some points are more interesting than others.
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Amalthus Fuck this guy, his character burns up and fizzles out so damn fast. I did like the idea that his fucked up mind could be what's screwing up Malos' generally negative spin on life (I wish the plot looked at this more!). He goes from benevolent religious overseer, to maniac, to some eldritch abomination within a REALLY small timeframe ... Then seeing Amalthus get his commpenpance from Jin freezing him is.... sorta underwhelming for such a high-up plot villain. Shame, I really liked Amalthus acting more of a darkly im/moral figure, but he became a joke villain yelling about power and destruction.
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Torna Their Nomura-faces were always distracting to me haha. xD They really made the girl have a creepy doll face, the glasses one is annoying, and Riku---- I mean Jin's evil shadow outfit looked hilarious. They weren't my least favourite batch of villains. Malos and Jin are at least a pretty great dynamic (it was usually hard to tell who the 'leader' was), but the other three idiots were just three different obnoxious personalities (smarmy, angry, and cocky) being noisy in every scene they were in. I think we knew the plot would kill them off at one point, so having repeated non-fights with them was annoying ("Team Torna is blasting off again!").
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Elysium being a giant wasteland was sort of a boring spoiler -- I think we all knew the perfect paradise wouldn't be there by the first first cutscene that introduced it. Was it really supposed to be something?? Like maybe an evacuation zone (in the same vein as New LA might have been?). Seems odd to have that one pocket already be dead and I'm not sure what it was all supposed to be for...
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Arch. The Architect was awesome. A really cool throwback to the first game and I do like they expanded the events of Klaus's version of the "new big bang" he caused. I love when a series' can work in a returning villain, and thought a 'Good Klaus' (with a unique connection to an out-of-dimension Zanza). I like his cynicism and stoicism; i find it interesting he doesn't raise a hand to help or hurt anyone (creating a universe will sorta just do that on its own, right? :P )...he works better than way than as his more typically-villain counterpart Zanza did and avoids giving this series a "go kill god" plot that happens in this series a bunch of time.
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Blades -
I feel a lot of the Blade questions don't really get solved other than Rex's optimistic "We'll do better!". It was a dark question to ask in the story and it sorta gets dropped for the even BIGGER question of who/what is god and creation and purpose and xeno-zohar-spacegod-mumbo-jumbo that typically pops up in this series. x)
Another minor complaint is that most spoilers involved some character secretly being a Blade (like at least 4 times) and Flesh Eaters are a pretty huge plot macguffin into the system.
I did really love the TItan's turning into landmass. This isn't the first time Monolith has had some terra-forming endgame (BK ends about the same), but it's a fitting conclusion and a bit more elegant that how Xenoblade wrapped up a similar idea.
Beautifully done. I'd love a X3 taking place across giant Titan-made land masses :O Stupid idea, but I always get stars in my eyes when I see pretty endings, haha
To have a game that works in messages of freedom/slavery, having a large portion of the female cast wearing incredibly revealing outfits adds an unintended creepiness to the designs. Ah well, otherwise I loved everyone looking like fantasy-Tron characters. Morag, Brighid, Pandoria, Mythra, and Space-Rex were my favourite outfits. Izami, Perceval, Wilfrid, Adenine were some of my favorite blades (also the NPC blades look pretty cool in their own right). Pyra your outfit not only is terrible but you were also a pretty below-average Blade and the blonde version of you is significantly better in design and in combat.
Besides the pants (or lack thereof lol), Nia's other outfit is really nice too.
Poppi Mk I is delightful looking; but the weird fetish angle they took with QT and Pi were....ew. The game adorably creates characters far too innocent to realize why it has somewhat problematic characters designs. Having Rex be 'too young to drink' yet have two giant-breasted women vying for his affections is just plain bizarre and the fact so many girls in these sacrifice their own personalities to waste time infatuated with a dorky-do-gooder is a bit eye-rolling (again, I like Rex, it's just that I've seen this stuff so much before).
Also since everyone's outfits in this game is so bombastic, it was weird saying how underwhelmed I was by mega-Mythra's third form; but the two girls before it set such a high fashion bar to behind with... Over time I did like it (the unicorn headband is a bit much since it already had about 20 other eye-grabbing features haha).
- I loved this! Really cool way to factor in Rex's line of work into gameplay. One thing I didn't like is that it's the same few locations that produce the best item to trade in just about every town. Mostly a criticism because I liked the system so much.
Tiger! Tiger! - What the fuck were they thinking? I like that Poppi is totally OP if you put the time in, but that's the problem -- this is the most boring and annoying way to put the time in and it's basically required for ALL upgrades. Terrible. I benched Tora... which isn't really the worst thing (Riki >>>>>> Tora)
... Tora >>>>>>>>> Tatsu.
Worlds - For as ugly as it is, I think Mor Ardain has the most personality! The rockin tunes (Alba Cavanich has just the 'right amount' of electric guitar). Uraya is obviously the prettiest (though I do hope their future game can try something other than glowing swampland though). But even for an intentionally drab locations, I thought Tempertania the Morytha locations sucked. Tantal wasn't that much fun (seriously, the middle pillar makes me miss running stairs in XC1's Nopon Village). Argentum, Gormott, and Leftheria were delightful (I'll be honest though, Gormott being an obvious expy of bionis is kinda sad).
"Enraged" - I kinda hated this. This game feels great to kick-ass in, but it's really all-or-nothing gameplay. A lot of enemies lose their shit when they're less than half HP which means you have to hammer into it with every single combo format you can otherwise it has a change to pull off a supermove to wreck your party. A lot of enemies have this pattern, and in some ways the battle feels almost 'timed' since you basically won't win unless you start firing off chain attacks. If you're not doing that you're basically doing BARELY any damage unless you're super over-levelled.
Blades - I do think the game does an alright job making all blades and attacks pretty okay and balanced. I mean, not really, it's still a complicated system; but I like that most characters are fine substitutes with the amount of randomization and switching around there is. Since there is so much micromanaging, I like things are more about utilizing gameplay > strongest character.
....the Gacha blade system is terrible --- BUT I'd be willing to compromise if pulling new Blades happened faster.
But no, a slow camera needs to pan out and shoot magical sparkles three times ---
every time. I bet they wanted to charge money to draw but removed it last minute when EA was getting into shit for Battlefront II (kidding). :P
The game takes up a lot of time with not fun things. The Blade gacha and Merc Missions and affinity quotes requiring you to listen to *every*single*line-reading was so annoying and honestly kept me from doing Mercenary Missions since I'd have to click and listen through a bunch of boring upgrades.
The micromanaging, for how much you DO micromanage could have been better and I'm surprised it wasn't. Switching Blade/Driver menus was also annoying. It's amazingly still better than XC1 and X though and I loved the bright look and giant menu artwork <3
Gameplay: On that, I love that a lot of gameplay elements tie nicely into each other; it's easy to stay busy and active in multiple ways because the game essentially 'multi-tasks' every gameplay mechanic. You salvage parts, which helps gains abilities, which can help you find better items, which can power up blades, that let you fight harder enemies, which can get you better items, which can be sold for more at shops, which can help you develop quest lines and get better equipment.
It's weird I can't EXACTLY say that I like travelling Alrest more than XC1's world.... One weird simple reason: Having field actions tied up to ONLY the current equipped Blades was
really annoying and wastes a lot of time. Nia riding Dromarch was disappointing, and a lot of faster running is locked out by store deeds that can take a lot of time to access. The game should have offered a faster way to explore the field than tailoring Blades necessary for even small field actions. Field Actions are as annoying as Pokemon HMs were.
I also still think the Bionis Leg is the best designed field in these games and nothing had topped that place yet. But I did love how many more nooks and crannies the XB2 world had to investigate.
Surprising favourite gameplay element: Informants. A lot of this game works on a discovery-basis; I like that it's not all spoon-fed to you and I like that informants usually reveal useful tips to a lot of the game's gameplay adjuncts. It's interesting to discover secret locations on titans AND secret gameplay mechanics!!
Compared to Xenoblade:> This OST is incredible. Except for Temptania's theme, jesus christ that song always sounds like someone's chasing me around with a knife.
> I thought the Mechonis was a way better set-piece and a little more unique than some of the end-game location in XC2 (the Mechonis almost felt like it had its own culture and wider story context; XC2 endgame was mostly dead-land or kinda dry looking. But I admire and respect that the game wouldn't do the same thing twice.
> I loved XC1's cast a bit more. Rex is a great enough character, but he's such a typical boy hero it was easy to guess his dialogue. "Fighting? Naw I just want everyone to get along! I fight for me and everyone! I love Pyra--- and everyone!"
I did think Al Weaver's carefree English accent adds a way better melody to his character than I think a North American could. It was fun hearing him say 'arse' too. ....I also think I have some small angst about every JRPG using the same pool of VAs that I'm even kinda 'tired' of really talented VAs.
> Gameplay-wise XB2 is a lot stronger on most fronts. My only issue of course being the micro-managing and constant menu-work that I think really harms an incredible amount of gameplay mechanics. So with that I sadly like that XC1 has way more streamlined elements a LITTLE more. :/
XB2 is totally better, but just a little more annoying haha~!
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Xenoblade X does better: Travelling is way better in X. I get they treat exploration differently, but I loved running, faster running, and moon-jumping around... XB1/2 is so clunky. I'd actually love to see an RPG introduce, admittedly minor, platforming elements. Not enough to be obnoxious, but a lot of these games make jumping feel to awkward.
Alright I think that's it.
Not sure which game I love more; even with Xeno X thrown in.
I love them all differently.That said, I look forward to story DLC! Curious what it'll be, but I'm basically sold on whatever it is.
Also...I want me HD XB1 and XCX ported. Pronto.
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