Xenoblade Chronicles 2

[kamikazekeeg]

Anyone still playing or got back into it with Torna? I haven't even touched Torna yet as I want to get the main game stuff more done as I basically didn't do any of the expansion pass content till just recently.  I have three crystal based Blades to get and the Xenoblade characters to earn through challenge mode.  Is it just me or is the challenge mode incredibly challenging? Like it has levels for certain ones, but after  the first three, they get ridiculous.  They don't understand what "waves" are and they'll just swarm you with enemies.  Its abit annoying as the only way to earn these last blades and gets the outfits for everyone is to play a ton of this challenge mode.

[kashell]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is weird because it's hardly fun, like at all, but there's still something about it that draws me to it. It's weird. With what I heard about The Golden Country, it sounds like things are more streamlined so it doesn't sound as bad.

I'm a glutton for punishment, so I plan on getting it at some point.

[kamikazekeeg]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is weird because it's hardly fun, like at all, but there's still something about it that draws me to it. It's weird. With what I heard about The Golden Country, it sounds like things are more streamlined so it doesn't sound as bad.

I'm a glutton for punishment, so I plan on getting it at some point.

It's a very grindy game for sure, but it's also very chill.  Unfortunately a bunch of this final stuff I got to do seems like it requires me to be to be at basically 99, which in turn will have Blades maxed out affinity wise to finish up quests and that ridiculous challenge mode.  Might have to look up some easy grinding methods for leveling.

I did hear the same for Torna being abit more streamlined, as I don't think you have to specifically combo the elemental moves in specific orders now.  You can do those if you remember them, but I think they just build up automatically now with each one which will be handy for building up chain attacks faster.

[kashell]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is weird because it's hardly fun, like at all, but there's still something about it that draws me to it. It's weird. With what I heard about The Golden Country, it sounds like things are more streamlined so it doesn't sound as bad.

I'm a glutton for punishment, so I plan on getting it at some point.

It's a very grindy game for sure, but it's also very chill.  Unfortunately a bunch of this final stuff I got to do seems like it requires me to be to be at basically 99, which in turn will have Blades maxed out affinity wise to finish up quests and that ridiculous challenge mode.  Might have to look up some easy grinding methods for leveling.

I did hear the same for Torna being abit more streamlined, as I don't think you have to specifically combo the elemental moves in specific orders now.  You can do those if you remember them, but I think they just build up automatically now with each one which will be handy for building up chain attacks faster.

I didn't do much grinding unless it was for a Blade with a story I actually enjoyed. I'll just point to this so I can share my problems with it instead of writing a wall o' text.

http://kashelltriumph.com/how-many-hoops-will-you-jump-through-before-you-reach-elysium/

I'm not familiar with challenge mode. Is it like a gauntlet of bosses? An arena? Combat did have some fun moments. Actually, I liked the combat when I finally understood what was going on.

[kamikazekeeg]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is weird because it's hardly fun, like at all, but there's still something about it that draws me to it. It's weird. With what I heard about The Golden Country, it sounds like things are more streamlined so it doesn't sound as bad.

I'm a glutton for punishment, so I plan on getting it at some point.

It's a very grindy game for sure, but it's also very chill.  Unfortunately a bunch of this final stuff I got to do seems like it requires me to be to be at basically 99, which in turn will have Blades maxed out affinity wise to finish up quests and that ridiculous challenge mode.  Might have to look up some easy grinding methods for leveling.

I did hear the same for Torna being abit more streamlined, as I don't think you have to specifically combo the elemental moves in specific orders now.  You can do those if you remember them, but I think they just build up automatically now with each one which will be handy for building up chain attacks faster.

I didn't do much grinding unless it was for a Blade with a story I actually enjoyed. I'll just point to this so I can share my problems with it instead of writing a wall o' text.

http://kashelltriumph.com/how-many-hoops-will-you-jump-through-before-you-reach-elysium/

I'm not familiar with challenge mode. Is it like a gauntlet of bosses? An arena? Combat did have some fun moments. Actually, I liked the combat when I finally understood what was going on.

Basically it's a way to earn Shulk and Fiora and Elma from the previous Xenoblade games I believe, and some alternate colors/outfits for the main cast.  Generally the challenges are wave battles, or some have a specific target to take out, or one had me whittling down the health of monsters that only attacked if one of the others was killed, so it was almost a puzzle to figure out how it worked as if you just focused down one, the other two would wipe you out almost instantly upon its death.  There's a variety of different fights and they are really tough.  Beating them earns gems for the outfits and I think beating specific challenges lets you take Shulk, Fiora, and Elma into the main game as otherwise they are only playable in this challenge mode dimension.

[masamune]

For those that played both, how does Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2 stand up against each other gameplay and story wise?

[kamikazekeeg]

For those that played both, how does Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2 stand up against each other gameplay and story wise?

I only played a short bit of Chronicles 1 on the awful 3DS port, but it's relatively similar between them all, done with auto-attacks, position based special moves, thought I don't know if Chronicles 1 had the big elemental combo strikes or the big burst attack stuff for crazy damage since I didn't play it for too long. 

Story wise, Xenoblade Chronicles is very anime, with Rex being kinda like a generic young shounen protag, and the characters being much more stylized with a handful of fanservicy elements.  I've heard from some fans that the story isn't as great in 2, but it's honestly a fine story.  Like I said, very anime, lots of big end of the world nonsense with increasing power and abilities.  The standard JRPG fare really, but if you get it into it with the characters and setting, it's enjoyable, though it kinda takes till like Chapter 4 to really take off story wise.  That's a very common thing in JRPG's, and I hate kinda hate that it happens, but if you expect it, that might help out some more.

If you get it, make sure to get the Japanese audio bonus content.  The English dub is a very mixed bag, ranging from serviceable, to good, to awful (Rex got it bad).

[masamune]

I still haven't played the first one on Wii. I've got some catching up to do!

[desocietas]

I still haven't played the first one on Wii. I've got some catching up to do!

I'm playing through it right now! Still early on... hopefully I make it to XC2, haha.