that's exactly why I think it's more Good Smile than the companies like Monolith or TPC. especially TPC, there's nothing stopping them from a more wider audience-focused line of action figures featuring a more balanced roster. Bandai, Takara Tomy, Hasbro, Mattel, Jakks Pacific are all right there, they can have their cake and eat it
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StarTopic Xeno Series Community |ST|
- Thread starter Brewster123
- Start date
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Lanz and Reyn would both make for some majestic figurines.
maybe Reyn was that meatier thing Lanz was expecting
Momo
Octorok
I dunno. I think H.B. would make for an even better figurine.
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- She/Her
So in the wake of Xenoblade 3 blowing my mind, I'm sorta seeing the franchise with new eyes, and I'm considering jumping back into XC1 and giving it a second chance, but I'm afraid of "Xeno fatigue". Like, XC3 I could easily sink 100-150 hours into, but if starting XC1 again after that, would it take long to get "too much of the good"?
BradenAndEggs
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Since April, I played through XC1, Future Connected, XC2, and Torna and I never got burned out, but everyone's threshold for this sort of thing is different.
It helps that the gameplay is quite different between each entry and the stories, while having a consistent "meta" storyline, all have different tones. (This usually leads to mud-slinging amongst fans each entry, but different tones in the story for each game do keep a series playthrough fresh.)
I love all Xenoblade games so I'm not the most impartial.
Shit, so I’ve reached Sword Valley in Xeno 1, and I’ve kind of stalled 
Mainly cause I don’t know whether to buy the anti-Mechon weapons that Dickson is offering. They of course serve their purpose, but they’re also all less powerful than what My characters have right now.
Any tips? I’d love to finish this game in the next week or so, but this is bugging me
Mainly cause I don’t know whether to buy the anti-Mechon weapons that Dickson is offering. They of course serve their purpose, but they’re also all less powerful than what My characters have right now. Any tips? I’d love to finish this game in the next week or so, but this is bugging me
Neverx
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Buy the anti-mechon weapons, they do less damage but they are useful against fighting Mechon.Shit, so I’ve reached Sword Valley in Xeno 1, and I’ve kind of stalled
Any tips? I’d love to finish this game in the next week or so, but this is bugging me
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You're going to be fighting mostly Mechon quite a bit. Buy the weapons or you will be having a really rough go of it for the next few areas.Shit, so I’ve reached Sword Valley in Xeno 1, and I’ve kind of stalled
Any tips? I’d love to finish this game in the next week or so, but this is bugging me
Cool, thanks!
Also just done a “spring clean” of my inventory. Sold everything bar one piece of armour, and two weapons. Also gave everyone the same upgraded armour from that shop.
I know it’s not the optimum way to do that, but it sure is nice lol. Having tons of random crap clogging up your weapon and armour lists isn’t fun
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- She/Her
Thank you for your reply! You sure did quite the binge. Hm, I guess that if I sort of intersperse my playthrough with maybe something different, it would help me not being burnt out too much. I usually have high threshold for RPG's, so maybe I'll go for it.
So in Xeno 1 I've gotten to (Chapter 12) the Fallen Arm and got Fiora in my party. How long would you generally say I have left? Think I'm nearing the 65 hour mark in terms of playtime, and I'm trying to do most of the 'proper' side quests I come across. I'm not obsessing over getting all Affinity levels to the max (Party and World), and I won't be bothering with post-game superbosses and the like.
I'm also getting a tad overwhelmed in terms of how I want to make up my party now. A seventh party member so late into the game, one who seems to have quite a complicated build setup, has definitely triggered a bit of anxiety over how I want to do things going forward.
Thanks for any help
I'm also getting a tad overwhelmed in terms of how I want to make up my party now. A seventh party member so late into the game, one who seems to have quite a complicated build setup, has definitely triggered a bit of anxiety over how I want to do things going forward.
Thanks for any help
BradenAndEggs
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So in Xeno 1 I've gotten to (Chapter 12) the Fallen Arm and got Fiora in my party. How long would you generally say I have left? Think I'm nearing the 65 hour mark in terms of playtime, and I'm trying to do most of the 'proper' side quests I come across. I'm not obsessing over getting all Affinity levels to the max (Party and World), and I won't be bothering with post-game superbosses and the like.
I'm also getting a tad overwhelmed in terms of how I want to make up my party now. A seventh party member so late into the game, one who seems to have quite a complicated build setup, has definitely triggered a bit of anxiety over how I want to do things going forward.
Thanks for any help
Ehhhhh I would say you are like 60%ish through the game. My playtime was 80 hours for the main story so everyone's pace is different so it's tough to gauge how much time you have left. I barely did any non-story-relevant sidequests in XC1 so that might explain the different playtime progress.
Thanks! And oh wow, I thought I'd be at least nearing the finish line. Guess I'm looking at another week or two with the game lol
Then it's some shorter indies and narrative games (and likely Splat 3 at this point) before I move onto 2. Gonna keep Future Connected for when it happened in release order.
So, outside of the XP, Money, and the unlockable skill trees (which I can't unlock any more of yet anyway), is there any reason to do quests once you're at 5 star affinity with an area in Xenoblade: DE?
On a side not... fuuuuck me, this game is going on so long. I figured that once I started climbing up the Mechonis towards their capital city that I'd at least be in the last 10% of the game, but it seems like there's still a ton more left to do either way. I'm at nearly 80 hours and it's genuinely looking to be a 100+ hour game now lol
On a side not... fuuuuck me, this game is going on so long. I figured that once I started climbing up the Mechonis towards their capital city that I'd at least be in the last 10% of the game, but it seems like there's still a ton more left to do either way. I'm at nearly 80 hours and it's genuinely looking to be a 100+ hour game now lol
EtherPenguin
Koopa
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- He/Him
It's mostly whether the gems/armor/weapon reward interests. There are quests that unlock other branches to the characters' skill trees you can that usually require hitting 4 or 5 star affinity with the areas.
As for your earlier post about party make up:
I really like Fiora when you get her back. Shulk/Dunban/Fiora is my favorite team. She's not that hard to build up, she really excels as an auto-attack focused critical hit character. I recommend focusing on agility and crit rate with her. Haste and Double Attack gems are great on her (later she can get a skill that makes all double attacks critical hits).
Her agility armor is a little too horny for mine and most people's taste, but that's where DE's fashion equipment comes to the rescue. One of the speed armors available right away has haste on the torso piece which frees up your weapons slots which is really nice (as haste is usually a weapon only gem).
The skill in her Courage branch that boosts critical damage is a good one to focus on building toward while you wait to unlock her fourth branch.
Her best aura is Speed Shift which gives her haste. You probably need to level her up a little bit before she gets it. The major drawback to it is that the book to level it up requires leveling up Colony 6's commerce nearly to max.
As for her Talent Art, gun drones and sword drone are the best. Gun drones are better for taking on a lot of mobs at once while sword is better for bosses and uniques.
Her agility armor is a little too horny for mine and most people's taste, but that's where DE's fashion equipment comes to the rescue. One of the speed armors available right away has haste on the torso piece which frees up your weapons slots which is really nice (as haste is usually a weapon only gem).
The skill in her Courage branch that boosts critical damage is a good one to focus on building toward while you wait to unlock her fourth branch.
Her best aura is Speed Shift which gives her haste. You probably need to level her up a little bit before she gets it. The major drawback to it is that the book to level it up requires leveling up Colony 6's commerce nearly to max.
As for her Talent Art, gun drones and sword drone are the best. Gun drones are better for taking on a lot of mobs at once while sword is better for bosses and uniques.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
seconding the love for Shulk/Dunban/Fiora route. With the Naked Dunban superagility and Fiora's damage output, I would shred through mobs with that party.
Thanks for all the tips! I did know about the skill tree branch quests, but I'm the kind of person to research beforehand so I know I can't access all of them yet
And yeah, I fully relate to being happy with the transmog system for equipment. Though it does suck that for male characters it's a question of "which looks the best for them," and for female characters it's mostly a question of "which is the least horny." Sharla is just ridiculous on that front.
I didn't think I'd ever say this but, I'm kind of... looking forward to moving onto Xenoblade 2?
Seriously though; it's gonna be rough going back to a game that I know is filled with the kind of sexualised stuff I dislike, but I'm really excited to explore some more of these worlds and see what this supposedly great story actually is (though I have been spoiled in some ways).
Xenoblade 1 is continuing to impress. Some of the vistas are just breathtaking even in the late game. I honestly don't know how the hell they pulled this off on the Wii, let alone the (New) 3DS.
Here are some (very!!!) spoilery screenshots:
Seriously though; it's gonna be rough going back to a game that I know is filled with the kind of sexualised stuff I dislike, but I'm really excited to explore some more of these worlds and see what this supposedly great story actually is (though I have been spoiled in some ways).
Xenoblade 1 is continuing to impress. Some of the vistas are just breathtaking even in the late game. I honestly don't know how the hell they pulled this off on the Wii, let alone the (New) 3DS.
Here are some (very!!!) spoilery screenshots:
D
Deleted member 2
Guest
Thirded, I pretty much only play as
haste Fiora + naked Dunban
So, shit's just gotten real.
(LATE GAME XENO 1 SPOILERS!!!!!) Just gone through all the crazy shit after the Mechonis Core fight. Did not expect a second Shulk, or that Shulk was technically dead all along, or that the entire Mechonis would just... go away. Ya'll were right when you said this game had much more going on with it spoiler-wise than 'Metal Fiora.'
With that said... should I not be worried too much about Mechon fights anymore? Figured that with Mechonis gone, the only Mechon I'm gonna run into are in older areas. I want to know whether I can start looking into finally upgrading all my shit.
(LATE GAME XENO 1 SPOILERS!!!!!) Just gone through all the crazy shit after the Mechonis Core fight. Did not expect a second Shulk, or that Shulk was technically dead all along, or that the entire Mechonis would just... go away. Ya'll were right when you said this game had much more going on with it spoiler-wise than 'Metal Fiora.'
With that said... should I not be worried too much about Mechon fights anymore? Figured that with Mechonis gone, the only Mechon I'm gonna run into are in older areas. I want to know whether I can start looking into finally upgrading all my shit.
EtherPenguin
Koopa
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- He/Him
Yea, you can safely ditch the anti-mechon weapons now
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lol yeah, things are getting crazywelcome to the madness
also, upgrade your shit
I will upgrade everything when I start playing again. Though tbh I'm not sure whether I have the energy to do stuff like getting the 5th skill branches, getting 5 star affinities, getting to max affinity with party members, etc. That's not to mention the quests. From what I've heard the game doesn't have much post-game content so I'd really just be doing all that stuff to make the upcoming bosses even easier than they probably will already be. Though the new enemies roaming around do seem like they need a bit of grinding (and idk how people did this without expert mode + doing more-than-300 quests).
Still gonna finish constructing Colony 6 though. Slowly building up a town throughout the course of a game with visible changes in its appearance and layout is my gaming fetish.
You've basically reached the point where all the remaining side content has unlocked, including the post-game stuff. A fair amount of it is tougher than the final boss.
Dunban
Riki may well be the softest of all Nopon
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Welcome to the Xeno fandom.
Credits rolling now!
Overall, that was a really nice experience and I'm glad to have had it I'll eventually get around to Future Connected (I'm doing release order), but I don't know whether I'll be sticking around with the game to get to Level 99, do the super bosses, complete the Affinity Charts, etc. Nor do I know if I'll ever do NG+ (though I might to see the foreshadowing...). Either way, I'm gonna be taking a likely-short break from the series before moving onto 2. Thanks all for the help and for encouraging me to stick around with this!
That was really sweet. It wasn't the most incredible story in the world, but damn does it make you care for the characters and such by the end. I very, very nearly teared up in the final cutscene with Fiora meeting everyone. The massive length of the game may be a detriment to some, but it definitely felt like a true 'adventure' in the way few games genuinely do. I'm glad that I actually did go more into depth with things instead of simply rushing towards the final boss; it made the way things all changed throughout the game so much more impactful.
I had a 'slight' inkling that the story had something to do with Earth, but I had absolutely no idea how it was truly connected and it was incredible seeing how it did. The original title of 'Monado: Beginning of the World' definitely makes sense now lol. I'm hella interested to see how Xeno 2 and 3 connect things together. I know they are connected; you can get that from the trailers for 3 alone. But I really want to know how it all fits together.
Also, that final boss was really easy lol. Fighting a literal god and it's less difficult than the Level 30 serpent thing I fought back in Satorl Marsh. All three phases only lasted about a minute each, and my single down was because I fucked up the QTE before his massive super-attack (and even then only Dunban went down). Though I did get really lucky with an over 10-step long chain attack in the second phase.
I had a 'slight' inkling that the story had something to do with Earth, but I had absolutely no idea how it was truly connected and it was incredible seeing how it did. The original title of 'Monado: Beginning of the World' definitely makes sense now lol. I'm hella interested to see how Xeno 2 and 3 connect things together. I know they are connected; you can get that from the trailers for 3 alone. But I really want to know how it all fits together.
Also, that final boss was really easy lol. Fighting a literal god and it's less difficult than the Level 30 serpent thing I fought back in Satorl Marsh. All three phases only lasted about a minute each, and my single down was because I fucked up the QTE before his massive super-attack (and even then only Dunban went down). Though I did get really lucky with an over 10-step long chain attack in the second phase.
Overall, that was a really nice experience and I'm glad to have had it
I'll eventually get around to Future Connected (I'm doing release order), but I don't know whether I'll be sticking around with the game to get to Level 99, do the super bosses, complete the Affinity Charts, etc. Nor do I know if I'll ever do NG+ (though I might to see the foreshadowing...). Either way, I'm gonna be taking a likely-short break from the series before moving onto 2. Thanks all for the help and for encouraging me to stick around with this!
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- He/Him
Yup. This is the point at which the game broke my brain and I knew it'd be one of my favorites of all time. One of my favorite "holy shit" rug-pulls in all of gaming.
Believe Mushrooms
Fungus truster
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Xenoblade 3, my first Xenoblade, turned out to be one of my favorite games of all time. I spent 160 hours on it but it never outstayed its welcome.
There's a LOT of dialogue but it never spins its wheels or repeats itself, and the characters communicate a lot through body language and facial expressions. And there are so many quiet interactions of just characters thinking and talking about their thoughts and feelings, being given room to breathe and be people.
It also commits to the core cast being an ensemble and not a protagonist with hangers-on playing support. You get two-person scenes for every combination from the six leads, portraying all of their dynamics and how they change over time.
The writing takes into account parallel lines drawn between main and side content and how thoroughly the party is involved in even the most minor sidequest, making sure nothing exists in a bubble but seamlessly occurs alongside the beaten path or otherwise.
The bulk of the game's content is optional and it never got boring to put off the main quest and explore every last corner of the world. The geography and asymmetric wilderness are compelling on their own but it even throws you character quests and new faces to meet as rewards.
Aionios is a downright creepy setting drenched in death and melancholy on all sides, elements carried into everything up to the very structure of its environments. It's fascinating and I'll leave it at that.
Plus, Eunie's the buss.
There's a LOT of dialogue but it never spins its wheels or repeats itself, and the characters communicate a lot through body language and facial expressions. And there are so many quiet interactions of just characters thinking and talking about their thoughts and feelings, being given room to breathe and be people.
It also commits to the core cast being an ensemble and not a protagonist with hangers-on playing support. You get two-person scenes for every combination from the six leads, portraying all of their dynamics and how they change over time.
The writing takes into account parallel lines drawn between main and side content and how thoroughly the party is involved in even the most minor sidequest, making sure nothing exists in a bubble but seamlessly occurs alongside the beaten path or otherwise.
The bulk of the game's content is optional and it never got boring to put off the main quest and explore every last corner of the world. The geography and asymmetric wilderness are compelling on their own but it even throws you character quests and new faces to meet as rewards.
Aionios is a downright creepy setting drenched in death and melancholy on all sides, elements carried into everything up to the very structure of its environments. It's fascinating and I'll leave it at that.
Plus, Eunie's the buss.
So, in the context of the entire series, should I move straight onto 2, or play Future Connected first? I'm mainly worried that I'll be spoiled a little on 2 if I do play Future Connected before it, but ofc the games do seem fairly unrelated either way. Thanks in advance to any answers
Future Connected doesn’t spoil anything from Xenoblade 2.So, in the context of the entire series, should I move straight onto 2, or play Future Connected first? I'm mainly worried that I'll be spoiled a little on 2 if I do play Future Connected before it, but ofc the games do seem fairly unrelated either way. Thanks in advance to any answers
It’s also fairly short 6-8 hours if you do the story and a little bit of side content.
It suppose to connect a bit with Xenoblade 3. But I felt it didn’t add anything for Xenoblade 3 in the end lol.
Still. If you want to see Melia again. Play future connected right now for a ending for her Xenoblade 1 arc
BradenAndEggs
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Future Connected works fine before 2.So, in the context of the entire series, should I move straight onto 2, or play Future Connected first? I'm mainly worried that I'll be spoiled a little on 2 if I do play Future Connected before it, but ofc the games do seem fairly unrelated either way. Thanks in advance to any answers
Future Connected’s hints toward 3 only really matter if you’ve played 3 first lol it’s weird.
ScOULaris
13 Sentinels Evangelist
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Whoa, this is my kind of thread. Great work on the OP as well.
I'm on something of a Xeno kick right now, coming off of the high of completing Xenoblade 3 after 100 hours of playtime. Now I'm 22 hours into a fresh playthrough of Xeno 1 Definitive Edition, and I plan on actually completing it this time. When I played the Wii original back in 2010, I had to stop about 3/4 of the way through after hitting a nasty difficulty spike late into the game. The same thing happened with Xenoblade 2. Xenoblade 3 was the first one that I actually saw all the way through to the end because it was just so captivating and streamlined compared to its predecessors. The final two chapters kind of deflated my overall opinion of the game, but the first five were among the best in the genre IMO.
Once I finish Xeno 1: DE, I'll have played the following Xeno titles to completion:
Anyway, I feel that every Xeno game tends to be wildly ambitious while also having some nagging issues that are hard to ignore. The absurdly overstuffed nature and crazy ambition of Takahashi's games are certainly part of their charm, however, and Xenoblade 3 has once again reminded me of how much I appreciate them, warts and all.
I'm on something of a Xeno kick right now, coming off of the high of completing Xenoblade 3 after 100 hours of playtime. Now I'm 22 hours into a fresh playthrough of Xeno 1 Definitive Edition, and I plan on actually completing it this time. When I played the Wii original back in 2010, I had to stop about 3/4 of the way through after hitting a nasty difficulty spike late into the game. The same thing happened with Xenoblade 2. Xenoblade 3 was the first one that I actually saw all the way through to the end because it was just so captivating and streamlined compared to its predecessors. The final two chapters kind of deflated my overall opinion of the game, but the first five were among the best in the genre IMO.
Once I finish Xeno 1: DE, I'll have played the following Xeno titles to completion:
- Xenogears (played in on a retro handheld in 2020 for the first time and loved it)
- Xenoblade 1
- Xenoblade 3
Anyway, I feel that every Xeno game tends to be wildly ambitious while also having some nagging issues that are hard to ignore. The absurdly overstuffed nature and crazy ambition of Takahashi's games are certainly part of their charm, however, and Xenoblade 3 has once again reminded me of how much I appreciate them, warts and all.
Finished Future Connected. That was the definition of 'short and sweet.' Not a massive amount of major story content going on, but I didn't mind that at all. The gameplay really felt like a nice, compact 'DLC.' It wasn't too long, but still kept some form of decent progression in there. Exploring the Bionis' Shoulder was honestly better than exploring many of the areas from the base game; it was a tad 'weird' though, in that it felt rather cobbled together. I guess being a cut content map originally was the cause of that; though I'd never guess it if I didn't already know.
The two new party members basically just being Reyn/Sharla clones was disappointing, but I can't stay mad at them... Having 12 Nopon running around at all time was fun to see, but it was hard to gauge what they were actually doing at times, or whether they were helping more as time went on (this is perhaps cause I did everything ASAP, so I had most of them at all times). However... the little cutscenes for their chain attack equivalents were amazing, and just the right thing for a short piece of content like this.
As for the story:
I don't really have any idea what this means for 'the future of Xenoblade.' Only that, maybe, the Fog King came in via a portal from Xenoblade 3's world. That's not a spoiler; I legit don't know. Nor do I care too much. I came into this expecting a DLC-like epilogue that gave a nice cap-stone to the base game's story... and I got exactly that.
Overall it was just a really nice conclusion to Melia's arc from the base game, whilst still having enough time to introduce two new loveable companions and expand on Tyrea's role. Having heart-to-hearts be voiced, fully scripted, and not reliant on affinity grinding was a massive help in fleshing out the characters. If I had any gripes, it'd he obviously-evil smiling dude was a joke of a villain. I laughed when he just non-chalantly jumped off the edge of the world at the end of his quest-line. That and Shulk didn't really do much. Dude just stood there most of the time lol.
Here's some screenshots from both the final moments of this game, and Future Connected.
So... that ends my month-and-a-half long runthrough of Xenoblade Chronicles. I can't say it was a massively life-changing experience, but I genuinely enjoyed it, and I feel like I'll remember a lot about this game for a long time. For now, I'm going to move on to some smaller titles before hopefully moving onto the second game before the end of the year. A big thank you to anyone who's been reading my thoughts on it all!
The two new party members basically just being Reyn/Sharla clones was disappointing, but I can't stay mad at them... Having 12 Nopon running around at all time was fun to see, but it was hard to gauge what they were actually doing at times, or whether they were helping more as time went on (this is perhaps cause I did everything ASAP, so I had most of them at all times). However... the little cutscenes for their chain attack equivalents were amazing, and just the right thing for a short piece of content like this.
As for the story:
I don't really have any idea what this means for 'the future of Xenoblade.' Only that, maybe, the Fog King came in via a portal from Xenoblade 3's world. That's not a spoiler; I legit don't know. Nor do I care too much. I came into this expecting a DLC-like epilogue that gave a nice cap-stone to the base game's story... and I got exactly that.
Overall it was just a really nice conclusion to Melia's arc from the base game, whilst still having enough time to introduce two new loveable companions and expand on Tyrea's role. Having heart-to-hearts be voiced, fully scripted, and not reliant on affinity grinding was a massive help in fleshing out the characters. If I had any gripes, it'd he obviously-evil smiling dude was a joke of a villain. I laughed when he just non-chalantly jumped off the edge of the world at the end of his quest-line. That and Shulk didn't really do much. Dude just stood there most of the time lol.
Here's some screenshots from both the final moments of this game, and Future Connected.
So... that ends my month-and-a-half long runthrough of Xenoblade Chronicles. I can't say it was a massively life-changing experience, but I genuinely enjoyed it, and I feel like I'll remember a lot about this game for a long time. For now, I'm going to move on to some smaller titles before hopefully moving onto the second game before the end of the year. A big thank you to anyone who's been reading my thoughts on it all!
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The original version of the shoulder (which is actually still in the game files, because some cutscenes use it) was kind of just Bionis Leg 2: More Ruins Edition. I definitely appreciate the work they did to it to make the areas feel a bit more distinct.Finished Future Connected. That was the definition of 'short and sweet.' Not a massive amount of major story content going on, but I didn't mind that at all. The gameplay really felt like a nice, compact 'DLC.' It wasn't too long, but still kept some form of decent progression in there. Exploring the Bionis' Shoulder was honestly better than exploring many of the areas from the base game; it was a tad 'weird' though, in that it felt rather cobbled together. I guess being a cut content map originally was the cause of that; though I'd never guess it if I didn't already know.
The two new party members basically just being Reyn/Sharla clones was disappointing, but I can't stay mad at them... Having 12 Nopon running around at all time was fun to see, but it was hard to gauge what they were actually doing at times, or whether they were helping more as time went on (this is perhaps cause I did everything ASAP, so I had most of them at all times). However... the little cutscenes for their chain attack equivalents were amazing, and just the right thing for a short piece of content like this.
As for the story:
I don't really have any idea what this means for 'the future of Xenoblade.' Only that, maybe, the Fog King came in via a portal from Xenoblade 3's world. That's not a spoiler; I legit don't know. Nor do I care too much. I came into this expecting a DLC-like epilogue that gave a nice cap-stone to the base game's story... and I got exactly that.
Overall it was just a really nice conclusion to Melia's arc from the base game, whilst still having enough time to introduce two new loveable companions and expand on Tyrea's role. Having heart-to-hearts be voiced, fully scripted, and not reliant on affinity grinding was a massive help in fleshing out the characters. If I had any gripes, it'd he obviously-evil smiling dude was a joke of a villain. I laughed when he just non-chalantly jumped off the edge of the world at the end of his quest-line. That and Shulk didn't really do much. Dude just stood there most of the time lol.
Here's some screenshots from both the final moments of this game, and Future Connected.
So... that ends my month-and-a-half long runthrough of Xenoblade Chronicles. I can't say it was a massively life-changing experience, but I genuinely enjoyed it, and I feel like I'll remember a lot about this game for a long time. For now, I'm going to move on to some smaller titles before hopefully moving onto the second game before the end of the year. A big thank you to anyone who's been reading my thoughts on it all!
EtherPenguin
Koopa
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Something else to note about the Shoulder is that it isn't cut content as many believe but actually a test map:
Which explains a lot about its design. There are a number of tweaks to it, of course. The Forbidden Hushland did not exist, the two dungeon areas were generic winding caves, and Gran Dell was not dilapidated with a market area full of stands selling produce like Colony 9's commercial district.
Also in the Iwata Asks for the original Wii version, it was mentioned that they created a prototype map when Nintendo asked for a vertical slice. I think it's likely that this is the same Shoulder map.
www.nintendo.co.uk
source: https://www.usgamer.net/articles/xe...iew-postmortem-feature-monolith-soft-nintendo
Which explains a lot about its design. There are a number of tweaks to it, of course. The Forbidden Hushland did not exist, the two dungeon areas were generic winding caves, and Gran Dell was not dilapidated with a market area full of stands selling produce like Colony 9's commercial district.
Also in the Iwata Asks for the original Wii version, it was mentioned that they created a prototype map when Nintendo asked for a vertical slice. I think it's likely that this is the same Shoulder map.
Iwata Asks: Xenoblade Chronicles
Join Satoru Iwata as he meets with the people behind Monolith Soft, creators of the epic Wii RPG Xenoblade Chronicles, discussing the soundtrack, the story and much more!
www.nintendo.co.uk
They said it was just a test map, but that really doesn't seem to be the full story. Through a combination of random named locations, extra map geometry, the fact it does still make some cutscene appearances, and the general contrived-ness of how you get between Makna and Eryth in the final game, it is abundantly clear that the map was fully intended to be finished at some point. It probably was originally made as a test map, but things appear to have gotten a fair bit further than that before it was fully dropped as a playable area.Something else to note about the Shoulder is that it isn't cut content as many believe but actually a test map:
source: https://www.usgamer.net/articles/xe...iew-postmortem-feature-monolith-soft-nintendo
Which explains a lot about its design. There are a number of tweaks to it, of course. The Forbidden Hushland did not exist, the two dungeon areas were generic winding caves, and Gran Dell was not dilapidated with a market area full of stands selling produce like Colony 9's commercial district.
Also in the Iwata Asks for the original Wii version, it was mentioned that they created a prototype map when Nintendo asked for a vertical slice. I think it's likely that this is the same Shoulder map.
Iwata Asks: Xenoblade Chronicles
Join Satoru Iwata as he meets with the people behind Monolith Soft, creators of the epic Wii RPG Xenoblade Chronicles, discussing the soundtrack, the story and much more!
EtherPenguin
Koopa
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Its appearance in cutscenes is explained in the quote I posted. I'm not sure what you mean by random named locations and I'm not familiar with unused location names. I only know of one unused quest found called "JNL_quest0801" that's associated with the Shoulder. But most arguments for the Shoulder come down to people just didn't like the Frontier Village transport which really isn't a strong enough reason. While everyone takes issue with the transport, no one really thinks how a whole other huge area between Frontier Village and Eryth Sea would've affected story pacing.
Another thing brought up in the Iwata Asks is that Takahashi was considering cutting down the story as deadlines came up, but a producer from Nintendo gave them an extension and wanted Takahashi to see his vision through. I've always struggled to reconcile that with the idea that there was some huge piece of story content sliced from the game. Taking your word over the word of the guy who actually made the game is a difficult sell.
There's a random location out in the middle of nowhere in Eryth that's probably where the maps would have connected, and a bunch of extra geometry has been found in Makna around where it's suspected the connection would have been there.
Ultimately, I think the reason the map was cut is probably exactly the pacing issue that you point out, and not a lack of time or resources. The similarities to the leg probably also played a role, since the final maps are generally pretty good at not repeating themes outside of colony 9 and 6 not being super distinct from the surrounding areas. Takahashi executed his vision, the shoulder was probably just deemed to not really be contributing to that. Sometimes you just gotta cut stuff because it's not working. For what it's worth, I don't think the map made it super far past the test map phase, given certain elements like the random chests, but at the same time, it clearly made it far enough that it was always properly considered a location within the world.
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King Kingo
Cappy
What is going on. Is it some kind of sign
Saints Row is a Deep Silver property, a company owned by Embracer Group. Resident Alien is based on a comic published by Dark Horse Comics, a brand that is also owned by Embracer Group.
I can see two likely possibilities, either Bandai Namco is giving the remaster duties of the Xenosaga trilogy to an Embracer Group company to make the re-release multiplatform or Embracer Group has acquired the exclusive rights to remaster the Xenosaga trilogy from Bandai Namco.
Or somebody at both production studios are fans
OP
OP
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Resonant Arc, a youtube channel focused on reviewing and critically appreciating jrpgs, has started an analysis / book club series for Xenosaga! Their analysis series for Xenogears was great, and I have high expectations for this one. If anyone is looking for an opportunity to hop into Xenosaga, this may give you something to help structure your playthrough.
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Mitsuda-san found Turters
Apopheniac
Monolith Soft action game truther
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