XENOBLADE CHRONICLES X

I played it all day and it's pretty dope so far. Quite different than the Wii game in several ways.

You create your own (mostly) silent protagonist from a fairly limited character creator instead of there being a fully voiced character written by the developers. The new class system is a lot cooler than the skill category thinger from the last game. This time it branches out, splitting into three separate classes at each stage, which teaches your dudes different abilities based on what route you invest in, and there's a lot to choose from. A lot more stat diversity than the last game too, so there are more things to consider when outfitting your character. I haven't unlocked the mecha yet, so I'm looking forward to whenever that happens. A considerable portion of the story is told through its sidequests, of which there are shitloads of, and the game world is almost completely open to you right from the start--I've only run into like two artificial progression gates so far and the first one was in the intro. This makes it a much more open-ended, exploration-driven game than most JRPGs, which is always a nice change-of-pace from the norm.

I don't really have a lot to complain about yet except for a few things. The music is a lot different than the Wii game. I guess it fits the game well enough, but the original's soundtrack is too great to compare. It's still a Monolith Soft RPG, so all of the characters look like expression-less dolls, which I've never liked. If you didn't find it a problem in Xenosaga or Xenoblade, you probably won't mind it here, though. The UI is tiny. My living room is pretty large and I keep the floor open, so my couch is far away from the TV. I can't really read a lot of the things on the UI from that distance, so I've ended up tossing a bean bag up close and chilling on that. Like the Wii game, you still select your abilities using the d-pad and an action bar at the bottom of the screen. I think they missed an opportunity to put these commands on the tablet screen, which has been reserved for a mapping system that could've easily been suppressed during combat instead. By extension, they could've offloaded a lot of the UI onto the tablet during battle. Like Xenoblade before it, it's very cluttered when there's a lot going on. The monsters are awesome looking and I'd like to get a clearer look at them while filling them with bullets.

You underestimate the selling power of an LP, my friend. I've bought a lot of games after watching LPs of them - it's why game companies let people LP their games in the first place: free advertising that nets them sales.

That said, it does look like the kind of game that I'd rather watch an LP of than play, mainly because I'm unsure of the content and how it plays. I've never played any of the games in the series, despite hearing good things about the early ones, so it's something I'd rather watch someone else play first and then decide on whether I'd want to play it myself or not based on what I see.

As to the sexualisation stuff - I won't stop playing a game for something like that but it doesn't paint a great picture of a series where sexualised armour is something that is considered the norm. Fair enough if you've the one, but the idea of boob windows on womens' armours when the male versions don't have them is beyond stupid - not only from a protection pov, but also just makes me want to facepalm.

I wonder how long it will take for Japanese game companies to realise that maybe letting that shit into your game will be cutting out possible audiences instead of encouraging them. :/

Not saying it makes it a bad game, but it does make a potential purchaser wonder if it's worth the buy when ridiculous stuff like that was something the designers actually thought was a good idea to create. They'd have better nailed all the other parts of the game if they had the time to make with the sexies.

mawk - I wasn't talking about what was said at that point, but what would come. And has come. As soon as a young girl in a bikini was mentioned things played out pretty much like I expected. As it always does.

Yes, I meant adult as in all Mario games are stupidly easy. You've got lego games and skylanders and disney infinity and splatoon. It's all cutesy kid oriented. I'm sorry you think adult means porn but we don't all think like you. I mean, there is Mass Effect and Assassins Creed, but those aren't Wii U exclusives and I want more games like that.

This is why RMN sucks now. Literally NO conversation can happen without a certain set of issues becoming the focal point. A small comment is made. The same set of people show up to reiterate their outrage and the concept. The same set of other people will eventually show up to dispute something the first set of people said. And it gets into a heated discussion about social sensibilities.

Yes, social sensibilities affect everything but we don't need to talk about it every fucking time! We've already heard all possible arguments and opinions. There is no need to keep doing it over and over and over.

When those topics come up on purpose I try not to stick my nose in and say "You guys can't talk about this!" but when we are trying to talk about a fucking game and that kind of thing ends up dominating the conversation I still get the blowback from saying "please don't talk about this here". I'm labeled as someone who is trying to silence the conversation. mawk does his usual, create a status to express his outrage in two places at once. Bleeding that adversarial-ness throughout the site. I'm the bad guy because I wanted to have a simple discussion about a game without having the uncomfortable and predictable conversation about all the things wrong with society. I'm sick of it. Where is MY safe space.

You're all a bunch of PC principals.

holy shit

the robots have come to take over our machines with their music

I still can't find this game anywhere :( Nothing worse than anticipating for so long and not getting satisfaction!