[Let’s Talk] What are you playing? – January 2016
Let’s Talk #35: What are you playing? – January 2016
A new month is here! And a new year as well. So that means we want to know what you’ve been playing. Have you started up something entirely new for the month? Or maybe you’re continuing something you started a little while back? Whatever the case, let us know in the comments below!
Highlights from last week’s topic: Impressions of Xenoblade Chronicles X
Vigilante_blade
I played a ridiculous amount of this game. The story has a lot of interesting plot points, but they don’t really explore them enough. It has a lot of characters, and they can be interesting, but overall, they end to fall into very typical archetypes. On one hand, there is a lot of freedom, and exploring the world is fun. On the other hand, some might find that there is too much freedom and many quests are grindy, annoying to do because they actually do not give you adequate indications. The narrative is nowhere near as endearing as it was in Xenoblade Chronicles, and the silent protagonist has a lot to do with this. Everything from the voice actors, a fantastic protagonist and a sense of progression is lost to a more exploration-based experience. That experience was available in Xenoblade Chronicles, but it is emphasized more in Xenoblade Chronicles X.
The font size is incredibly small, which actually hurts my eyes. I skip on reading things at times to save myself the strain. It’s a shame because the writing is sometimes very clever.
Moving in a Skell feels great, but combat is more interesting on foot. However, a skell provides advantages that on foot combat doesn’t, and there is very little reason not to use a Skell save for the fear of breaking it and losing it. A good thing it does is that is a party member destroys it, he always evacuates early enough no matter what and you don’t lose your insurance on it (what lets you have it back for free a certain amount of time). It doesn’t punish you for the AI messing up.
The game’s difficulty is easy enough, but the game is not straightforward. By that I mean that if you know what you are doing, you should be fine most of the time. However, many things are not explained in game, very important things like how to zoom out your camera, how engage in battle, how to order party members, how to glide in a skell. I’m one of those people who hates being spoon fed, but it doesn’t even teach you certain essentials ans there is no real way to find out unless you check the manual. Once you understand it, it’s easy, but it will take much Googling.
The game can be played with a pro controller, but fast travel and probe management forced the gamepad on you. It is a bother as you must keep it plugged in at all times. and is not really suited for long hours of play. I use the pro controller and just tap when I have to fast travel. Not letting us press a button to bring up the map or probes section without the gamepad is a big miss, especially considering that in the original Xenoblade Chronicles, you could fast travel by simply bringing up an on screen map.
Side quests are easier to find and manage, but the ability to change your time of day at any time was a great feature in the original Xenoblade that is missing here. Keep in mind that there are less time-dependent things to worry about however. No quest can be missed, which is a good plus.
I enjoy the game, and there is much value in it, but you have to know that yes, there are mild annoyances here and there.
7/10 for me, which is a good score coming from me. (I consider 5 to be actual average, not bad).
Desiderio Lazaro
I feel you only get to fully understand the designers’ decisions after about 30h or so. It was really well thought and really lets the player to choose its own way of playing it.
And that for me is the most positive aspect of the game: it respects the player, its own motivation and ambition
I have a few problems with it though: no management of the party through the menu and no map on the menu. Small things though
Love this game
Burning Gravity
Thoughts: Fantastic design, way more enjoyable than the original in every way (note: I thought XC’s plot was kinda lame and I prefer the exploration/combat of Xenoblade to the story elements, so for me, having a simple but motivational story was way more enjoyable than the more typical JRPG story found in XC), super deep and rewarding gameplay.
Suffers from being too hard for people to really “get” because the combat and customization are deeper than Xenoblade and it doesnmt try to teach you much, instead taking the classic approach of “read the manual and experiment to figure it out yourself”–since it’s not 2005 but rather 2015, people can’t handle games that force them to put in real effort, which makes them end up not liking it. (People just want to beat stuff up and look cool doing it, which is why the Warriors series is about as popular if not more popular than Xenoblade, despite being simple gameplay-wise, lol)
The other main problem is the name. Since it has “Xeno” in it, people jumped to conclusions and expected a story-driven game, and no amount of effort from Monolith or Nintendo can stop people from being disappointed by their own expectations, just like how people were disappointed by the Smash ballot because they expected X or Y or more charaters or whatever.
Also, there are few waifus to fawn over and romance in-game, and the game was “censored”, so that instantly enraged a few vocal minorities. There’s no hero/heroine or other kind of dating-sim like romance in my game?! 0/10.
That’s pretty much 95% of the complaints I heard, and it’s super depressing lolol. First good JRPG I got in a long while and hardly anyone likes it because it’s too hard and not Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but rather a spiritual successor, lol. Thankfully I can enjoy the game on my own, but seeing hate for it everywhere I go is still sad, haha
Joe
For my personal tastes, it’s a masterpiece.
• Challenge – Full of hazards and mystery. I feel like I’m really an alien refugee stranded in an unknown place.
• Doesn’t spoon-feed – You have to work hard to learn how to play well and to get the best equipment.
• Story – It’s like a great book. I’m constantly surprised and want to know what’s next.
• Music / visuals – Excellent. A+
• Breadth with complexity – There is always new stuff everywhere in this immense game and at the same time details are carefully intact. Menus are deep, customization is deep, and unique paths are deep while the game seems endlessly expansive.
Masterpiece.
