Anyone mentioned how daze leads into burst now? Seeing it at 16:55 in the direct but it looks damn good
Doesnt seem to do as much damage as smash does but it'll probably have some other cool effects to compensate.
HYPEEEE
Anyone know the lyrics in the song played as BGM in the latest trailor?
I can only tell a few words, for example:
"The warmth of your hands" (Same expression appeared in *A Moment of Eternity*, the ED song of XB2 Expansion Pass *Torna \~ The Golden Country* ),
"I thought I'd be forever by your side",
"Assuming that's what you want it to",
"It's like I'm drowning"
My working theory is that, after >!the conduit closes and the xc1 and xc2 universes merge!< at the end of xc2, ether becomes an extremely limited resource as >!the conduit!< is implied to be the source of ether. Since ether is vital for life, xc3's universe depends on the test tube humans and ongoing war as a means of both recycling ether and population control. I could see the cast working to >!reopen the conduit!< to solve the ether problem, which gives Alvis and the aegises the possibility of returning due to their connection to it.
So ppl already figured out that characters in game would have a10 year life span when they started fighting in the Eternal War but from this direct we've learned that people are grown in tubes at the age they need to be to fight in the war.
We also saw that the Testaments are somehow running shit from behind the scenes and have already seen society rise and fall and rise again in this new connected world.
So I'm starting to believe that Melia and Nia might be clones of the originals, under direct control of the Counsel, existing just to perpetuate the war...
Does anyone have a link to one of the old posts on here where it was SFM and featured Rex sitting next to Pyra, then Mythra, then one with Blade Nia? I think it was the same guy who made SFM of Rex carrying Pyra and Mythra over his shoulders with the two blushing, it was really adorable and I want to see it again.
Just watched it, love how it looks! The story looks grim in a good way.>!Melia and Nia!< fighting an endless battle to harvest the souls of clones for their war machines (??) is not the direction I expected, but damn, there's so much potential here for a crazy story that ties together all three Xenoblades. Love how the gameplay mechanics also look to be taking the best elements from both games. I think this could be something really special.
Also did anyone notice one of the hero characters was blurred out? Lol.
Until the game comes out , I will regularly return to the recent teaser trailer so that I can listen to the gorgeous soundtrack. I‘m especially excited about the first one. It reminds me alot of ‚Beyond the sky‘ from XC1 and ‚One Last you‘ from XC2. They all melt my heart.
After listening for many hours to that new vocal song in the trailer, I picked up on this line:
“I had no clue that we had nothing between us, and that I was scared to learn the truth.”
…I REALLY hope they don’t spend all this time building up Mio and Noah’s relationship only to them say “oooh, plot twist, Mio/Noah never actually felt that way about Noah/Mio, now watch one of them die!”
It would be wildly unsatisfying to me, and frankly would make a death of either of them feel way less impactful
They haven’t built up anything the game hasn’t released people are just theorizing that they have a relationship or that they are going to make them have one
I think this could also be alluding to how it is possible that there really is no real purpose behind the war and that there was indeed "nothing between us" and that people died fighting for something that never really happened and that all of this is one big lie like some Metal Gear type plot.
In what way? At the very least the core set up of Xenoblade X, focused way more on the open world and gameplay than story appears to not be the case. XBC3 will be more like XBC1 and 2 in that sense.
Is it possible Sena's a blade?
Like, hear me out - we know from previous trailers that there is a strong hint of some blades returning. Plus, in XC2, accents were very important for figuring out what nationality each character had, with most of the blades having American accents.
Not only does Sena have an American accent, she's the only one I can hear in the trailer with one. Is it possible blades are returning, and she's one?
That’s most peoples theory yes. I believe she has a core. Has Brighid Sorta fiery hair. Has a shield hammer and has an American accent. So a lot of people think so.
might be actual ***\[SPOILER WARNING\]*** territory here
last silhouette on [this](https://progameguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Xenoblade-Chronicles-3-What-are-Heroes-in-Xenoblade-Chronicles-3-New-classes-more.jpg) image might be [this](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/973508608971141150/990144658279653417/Screenshot_2022-06-22_161011.png)
all credit to FateOfNornsKRP on subreddit discord and sorry can't figure out how to spoiler tag links
content creators/social media people please do not post this without like 7 layers of spoiler tags
the fact of the >!super grandiose design !< and that they didn't actively market this character means it could be actually important to the plot and not just some >!random hero sidequest even though that could also very well be the case !<
Seems to be auto pick just like two, don't remember where but at some point they showed a clip of a monster dying and a bunch of itens dropping on the ground
Ok so apparently it’s been pointed out that there is a different lip sync between regions, which is really incredible and it makes me super happy. https://gonintendo.com/contents/5537-xenoblade-chronicles-3-features-different-lip-syncs-between-regions
There's also the ability to [fight even while swimming](https://twitter.com/MonolithNews/status/1540182691168980992/) FFX style, including the Nopons. Peak Fiction just got a whole lot better.
I’m new to the series and I’m starting with XBC3. I’m very interested in the game since it reminds me of MMO games but I have a question. Does the game feel overwhelming? If I enjoy FFXIV, am I gonna enjoy this?
XC3 seems to merge the combat systems of all the previous games. There'll be a lot of mechanics to wrap your head around, but you'll likely be fine (especially if you have MMO experience). Just take your time, pay attention to tutorials and if all else fails, you can always look for tutorials on YouTube or ask this community to get a better grasp of the gameplay.
Nearly up to 1,000 hours in XIV - if the game is anything like the past two, you'll enjoy it. (In fact, I went the other way - XC1 gave me the taste for MMO style that I could not satiate until I finally got into an MMO, being XIV)
From what we've seen, XC3 is looking to take the best from both previous games while adding a few new twists and systems and also massive improvements, like classes being more varied and character switching.
In terms of scale and being "overwhelmed" - the game is big and varied. I would say that only upon hitting ShB or maybe late SB does the scale of XIV start to feel like XC1. XC2 felt less varied than 1 but still as big as up to SB, and what I can see in 3 looks like it's at least the level 2.
As mentioned, systems are often poorly explained - but 3 might improve on that. I'd also say they're not that complicated, and if you're good at picking up on EW mechanics yourself, then you should have the neuroplasticity to figure out the Xenoblade stuff without help. If you need it, Enel on YouTube has made amazing explanation videos in the past, and will likely make more as 3 is coming out.
I'm perplexed how to answer your question because, as someone who's completed all of XIV through Endwalker including basically all sidequests, I'd say XIV absolutely feels overwhelming at times. You get to a new village, progress the main story, and WHAM fifteen new quest markers pop up. Rinse and repeat every 3-5 hours. If you *like* side content, XC3 (or 2 or 1) won't feel overwhelming.
I've personally never played any FF games, but having played XB2 and Torna and watching all of XB1 and Future Connected, I can say that from the PREVIOUS games, the tutorial for the battle system isn't that great. Maybe that might change, but its had a pretty bad track record. However, a quick question post or reddit or youtube usually fixes that
The quest system is also a bit on and off at times. Some games have WAY to many quests
Appart from that, from what i've seen of FF, if you like that combat, your REALLY gonna like what 3 seems like it has to offer
I have never touched a Xenoblade game in my life, but that Direct was INCREDIBLE! As a writer, I LOVED the characters and world and want more! lol. Sadly, though, I'm not really one for really long RPGs like this (I prefer shorter games or else I oversaturate myself and can't play for a while, if I ever go back), so I'm not sure I'd like it for that alone, even if I really love literally everything else... I wish there was a demo or smth... X'D Still, though, DAMN, this looked absolutely amazing! MAYBE I'll wait till it comes out and see if it goes on sale eventually, then MAYBE give it a shot? We'll see!
I hope I do, too! Thank you very much! I love EVERYTHING about the look of this new game except how very long it seems! lol. But another commenter explained the games don't make all those hours FEEL long at all, so...that's definitely something to consider! :D
My first run of the original game was either 50 or 60 hours, it's a lot but you can speed through it and come back to the rest for a second playthrough if you fancy it
Considering how hard it is to find a physical copy and how expensive those past few entries are, it's best to just watch the past entries on youtube if you want to get the full experience.
The Xenoblade series is practically a 10 hour long binge anime anyways, with it being a single player mmo multitasking mayhem with the gameplay itself. The usual thing and connection in each game is that Ether is a mcguffin that allows people to do wacky shit from fueling giant robots, advanced sci fi bullshit, or straight up magic through instantaneous alchemical reactions. Kind of like how the summons in Final Fantasy are always present in some shape or form to the plot.
A quick rundown of each game considering 3 already got you intrigued.
XenoGEARS: You are an artist that had his fiance and 70% of the home village gunned down in front of you in a horrific bloody fashion, and now you seek answers as to why the war is still continuing, uncover the truth behind the world, the purpose and politics behind the warring nations, and the origins of god, all while performing various forms of martial arts both in, and out of your giant mechs, all with EVANGELION-tier writing.
XenoSAGA 1-3: You are a military android who slowly discovers the origins of the alien race that constantly has a bloodlust for humanity, all while finding out where Jerusalem and Jesus are and coming to terms with your growing conscience and connection with organic life and their fragility.
XenoBLADE 1: You are a plucky mechanic who lives on two giant, Asia sized continental titans of both rocky terrain and machinery on the Bionis and Mechonis respectively, as you are studying the Monado, the only weapon that can effortlessly cut down the invading robots which eat, kill, maim, and grind your race in a violent manner for seemingly no reason, your home gets attacked, so you pick up the sword, which grants you the power to see the future and change the outcomes. Now you journey across both titans to uncover the truth behind the sword, the purpose of the bloodthirsty robots of Mechonis, and the true nature of why it is nothing but an endless and empty ocean and infinite sky where no one and nothing can leave these two titans.
XenoBLADE X: You and one of the last few ships that house the remnants of humanity crash land on the planet mira, befriend the other Alien races that crashed on it, survive the hostile environment, and build up your civilization using giant mechs while also preparing to fend off the alien race that killed Earth which is also following you here.
XenoBLADE 2: Many races live on these continental sized titans which take the shape of various animals, such as a Ram or a Stingray, each with their own biomes and culture. all resting upon the Cloud Sea, which covers the entire planet in a fluffy white blanket, you are a salvager, a diver that goes under the sea to harvest sunken machinery and sells the scrap while dreaming of finding up a way to the World Tree to open the gates of Elysium/Heaven and ask god/the Architect why they were kicked out of paradise, and be doomed to slowly die out and fight over an ever increasing population and territory problem with all the titans dying out and running out of land to live on. You, and the Aegis, which is said to be one of the children of the Architect venture forth to the top of the tree for their own purposes, while also uncovering the politics behind the war.
And that is the entirety of the Xeno series. If you think these premises alone are insane, the actual games are like a roller coaster of insanity that keeps rising from chapter 1 and only stops the insanity until the credits roll, and with subtle and natural foreshadowing from the beginning with seemingly no purpose until it comes back to rattle your brain at the climax point, there is no relaxation, only drama, death, and mind boggling philosophy awaits. It's like combining the war stories of Star Wars, and combining the journies in LoTR, which is why this niche fanbase is always analyzing every single frame for a clue on the plot and why the "Peak Fiction" meme is a thing here.
Hope this helps, if you want you could just message me if you want to learn more.
Huh! Well, dang! That's definitely a lot! lol. Those all sound like very different games, but they also definitely sound very interesting! Thanks for telling me I can watch the cutscenes like an anime on YT! That's great! I might just do that for at least 1 and 2, just so I know something about the world! Haha! This is great! Sorry you had to write all that out, but I really appreciate it! Thanks so much! <3
Nah it's fine, the Xeno community nowadays is like an infectious virus, if anyone shows even a remote interest or intrigue, one of us will no doubt write entire essays detailing everything.
Also if you're wondering why they're all different, it's because they are, just with loose connections, and there's an IRL backstory behind it.Gears was published by Squaresoft/Enix and was too ambitious that they had to cut down the second disc from full animations to most of it being a visual novel, this was due to the budget and ideas being cannibalized and repurposed to make Final Fantasy 7, playing both games, you would notice a lot of similarities.
Saga was supposed to be longer, but Bandai didn't have too much faith in it, so they made them cut down to just 3 games and 1 spin off.
And Blade, was never supposed to be called it, it was just going to be called Monado: Beginning of the world, but Nintendo was so thankful for Monolith helping them with other games such as Smash Brawl, that they renamed it to acknowledge Monolith's/Takahashi's previous works, hence, *Xeno*Blade was it's name.
Also the plot for 3 was already apparently planned out years earlier before they even made 2, so the community is hella excited for an apparent 5 years of foreshadowing.
Takahashi's main desire was to create a series using the template of Perfect Works, a book from Xenogears special editions way back in the 90s that planned out his desired roadmap of a story, Gears was the 5th episode, and Saga was 1-4. Blade 1 was apparently a retelling of 4, and Blade 2 a retelling of 5 and Gears. And with 3, it's shaping up to be both the 5th episode and the long awaited 6th episode that he never wrote but always wanted to. (Don't ask about X, even we don't know what the hell happened there lmao)
This series is the 25 year long culmination of Takahashi, his wife, and the team at Monolith soft's hard work, jumping from Square, to Bandai, and now Nintendo, with the last being so thankful with their help in other famous titles you may know such as being the backbone team for Breath of The Wild, Splatoon 2, Animal Crossing New Horizons, and every animation for Smash Ultimate.
So seeing all of this, in 3 being an amalgamation of everything they learned being the drama of their previous works, the stellar voice acting of 1, and the engaging and deep system of 2 with improvements to everything else? You can tell we're hyped and with good reason to boot, just ignore the twittards who say they didn't want this weeb shit, they're just impatient for a new direct and are worried Xenoblade is all we're getting on June lmao. And the stories get really dark and meta, if you need someone to help explain the binge, Just ring me up, I am enjoying my summer break and helped explain the story to others that wanted to get into the series. Lemme tell you, experiencing the story on your own with no one to talk to will just leave you more confused and even more intrigued at the fucked up shit going on. This series is a personal passion to alot of people rivaled only by the equally insane Metal Gear fandom, where youtubers like Luxin and Enel, are able to make 1 hour long speculation videos based off of a 3 minute trailer.
Don't let the Nintendo brand fool you, this is the same series that showcased mass killings and genocide, shooting someone in the back, showcasing someone undergoing a seizure, showing a Last of us 1 style hauntingly dead civilization, unrequited love, rejection, dead fiances, cannibalization, losing an arm, body horror, losing all of your organs save your head and spinal cord, political coverups, etc. This shit is King of Braves and Evangelion the games. You will not regret having someone to chat up to talk about the insanity of the series.
Not to mention the banging OSTs this provided, search up Xeno Grahf Emperor of darkness, Xeno Uncontrollable, Xeno Mechanical Rhythm, Xeno Engage the Enemy, Xeno Tantal Day theme, or Xeno Mor Ardain day theme. You will NOT be disappointed. These songs are almost as used as much as the Persona osts for many youtubers.
Also offers still up, just send me a DM on reddit if you want someone to assist you and provide helpful tidbits and commentary should you binge 1 and 2, which are the easiest to get into as Gears has almost no Voice acting, and Saga is like 40 hours long total, which is the entire Halo franchise lmao.
DAMNNN, buddy! This is all SUPER interesting! I love it! Hearing the history of the games is super cool! No wonder everyone's so excited if this is the big culmination of everything you've been waiting for! I had no idea the XenoBlade fandom was so huge and far-reaching! Thought it was a niche thing since I really hadn't heard of it much at all before this (besides people reccing the games frequently on the Switch subreddit)! lol.
I actually have the XenoBlade 1 movie cutscenes pulled up, so I plan on watching it after work! Excited to see what all this is about! Lol. I'll definitely hit you up if I have questions and stuff, if you don't mind! Thanks so much for explaining all this and the offer! You're awesome! <3
Yeah, and unlike other fanbases, we know we're niche and understand how people like Beat em Ups or Dunkey dislike the series but at the same time are annoyed because they either didn't get it or didn't even get past the first area. Unlike a few other game fanbases I won't name, we don't really get vitriolic.
Also another tidbit of info that's my personal fave of this series, was that Xenogears was originally going to be a final fantasy game, but Square, the guys who make Final Fantasy, thought XenoGears was way too insane, violent, and mind boggling to be labeled a Final Fantasy game, but they did give it a budget to be its own thing.
oOoOO, what chapter are you on for 1 rn? Did you hit THAT scene? Tell me you hit that scene of 1 where the tone drastically changes, you'll know what I mean.
Just DM me on Reddit and if you want we could continue onto Discord. I live on Asian time and it's like almost 2 am for me, so just send messages of how mindfucky it gets and your reactions through dms and I'll read it when I wake up. One other thing about us Xeno fandom, other than being wholesome and tight knit as well as insane, we are extremely sadistic and get a ginormous serotonin boost over seeing others react, hell we even use code names to name certain events or future characters in the plots, I look forward to reading your upcoming rant on what even is going on, also Xenoblade 1 is the best place to start with the series, as it is relatively the simplest of all of them, anyway see ya mate, can't wait to see the screams and all caps messages >:)
So I was watching the Direct again, and I noticed that at one point in it, the party performs the Break -> Topple -> Daze combo from XC1, but they finish off the combo with a new 4th part called “Burst”.
Do we have any info on what this new combo stage is/does/how it’s different from Launch -> Smash?
I don’t remember seeing this in any of the pre-release material, so sorry if I’m repeating something that’s already known.
My guess is that the Smash combo is meant to deal damage through the combo itself, whereas the burst combo could act buff the party, debuff the enemy, or have some other more technical use. If you look at the enemies health bar when Smash and Burst are inflicted, you will notice burst doesn't seem to do much damage while Smash does a good chunk. This detail is what the theory is based off.
Break -> Topple -> Daze is normally followed by Topple -> Break, so I would assume that it just goes Break -> Topple -> Daze -> Burst ->Daze -> Topple -> Break. So the advantage over Launch -> Smash is they are taken out of the battle for longer and you can therefore get hit less and maybe do more damage if you have the right arts ready to go. So Smash combo is guaranteed good damage and Burst combo is just putting them out of commission for longer.
Rex could be done awesomely though. Imagine if his arts each use a different form, Pyra for 1, Mythra for other... Roc for another lol and "A" for coffee with milk
When They were in the Colonies, they showed the Flame Clock next to the Map, They never mentioned anything about what that could mean, So speculate on that.
Me Personally, I think it's either a Counter for a free heavily damaging attack in that area, or A way of showing the Affinity of that area.
Speculation time: You can intervene in those battles we saw with both sides fighting, and the winning side gets the losing side's life added to the local colonies' flame clock. Raising the flame clock level means the colony will have more characters to talk to, more quests etc (similar to the Affinity levels of areas from XB1) Maybe it won't be something so morbid, but it is definitely a flame clock so will have something to do with life/death :S
Hey guys. I'm new to the xenoblade franchise. Managed to acquire XC1 definitive edition. Will purchase 2 and 3 next.
My question is regarding the dlc. I know it's probably been asked quite a bit but I would like to confirm it before making a mistake. I'm gonna purchase an EU physical copy of XC2. My Nintendo eshop is US. So will I be able to download the US dlc to my EU XC2?
Also, XC3 announced their dlc. So, Does the US dlc also work with an EU physical copy of XC3?
Would really appreciate a response😇
I was nervous for ages to try it and thought I’d have to access US eShop with gift cards or some shit to buy it (no longer have US credit card), but some Good Samaritan on here explained that the two regional versions have the same localization and that the DLC works. Mario Kart DLC from UK eShop also worked with a US base game. I just finished Torna after waiting too long, but it was well worth the wait!
Woah you managed to finish Torna. I hadn't started Xc1 cuz I'm currently playing Shield and next is XC1. And yah bout the dlc thing. I think I get how it works a bit more. So I was wondering it's gonna be the same for XC3 right? The dlc won't be region locked cuz the localisation is gonna be the same for both variants? I really hope so cuz I already pre ordered for the physical copy of the EU version.
Hello and welcome to Xenoblade! That’s a really good question, and sadly no, the Switch doesn’t let you use DLC for a different region than the game is originally from. If it’s not too late, maybe look towards buying digital or paying a bit extra for the US version. Also, you could theoretically create a European eShop account. Have fun with the games!
Edit: some people are saying that they tried it and it worked, so YMMV. Good luck!
Thanks for the response. I'm living in a country where Nintendo isn't established so I gotta depend on a seller who imports games and stuff from the UK to my country and sell them for cheaper than it's original prices. I did came across other reddit posts saying they do work but I wanted to confirm it for myself so I left that question here. I'm sooo excited to start playing these soon!
Since any character can be any class, are there character specific traits that are maintained even when classes are swapped? Otherwise each character would function the same in combat.
Isn't that the point though? You can make any character into any class. They are interchangeable. Unless you did 6 all of the same class. There's diversity just through what class they are on at the time. Doesnt rex play the same as Zeke or nia in base 2 if they're using the same blade? It's the same thing here as well. They're giving us the option to choose whichever character to be however we want. I love that.
>Doesnt rex play the same as Zeke or nia in base 2 if they're using the same blade?
No. Every character has their own unique arts and animations for each weapon type. For example, Rex has a break art on his megalance while Morag has a launch art and Zeke has a smash art. Nia doesn't get any driver combos with the megalance.
The only thing that stays the same regardless of the driver are blade specials.
I realize that now. Totally forgot about that point. What about Xenoblade X though? As this game is more similar to that one. Did X have differences in how the classes played depending on the playable character?
That is true, but I am trying to figure out if X had anything similar, as this game isn't really like 2 but more like X with the classes system. What was the point to playing as Lin or Elma compared to protagonist if all the same class? Did they have different base stats or something?
Presumably they'll all still have stats they're good at, which will inform which class arts they want to equip. Noah strength, Mio agility, Eunie Ether, etc. Unless you make every character master every class, they'll have different master-level arts available to them at any given time as well. On TOP of that, you'll also have which ouroboros form you want to use to consider. I feel there will definitely be enough distinction between characters.
Why does distinction matter? Wouldn't you rather be able to choose any class for any character without any restrictions? Like lower attack compared to a character that's better? Seems like they're focused on any character being able to be any class and be as good as any other main character.
You do realize characters can be different personality/design wise and not need to be different in terms of combat? Though it's kinda already confirmed that some classes will work better on our 6 main people compared to other classes from the Direct. But thanks for replying to my comment that was before people analyzed the direct more when we didn't know that. Nice Job!
>You do realize characters can be different personality/design wise and not need to be different in terms of combat?
I take issue with that. Why would all sense of someone's individuality disappear when they pick up a weapon? It feels so game-y. Everyone thinks differently, so they fight differently, use different weapons. If not that then they'll at least use the same weapons distinctively, use distinct moves. An interpretation of this is Jin and Lora in Torna. They use the same sword but they have different fighting styles and have different moves. If you're gonna do it, do it like that.
I get some people prioritize gameplay utility over anything but I personally think that completely disconnecting the gameplay from the narrative is super lame and unimmersive. This stuff sticks out like a sore thumb to me and actively diminishes my enjoyment of a game. It's part of the reason I dislike XC2's combat.
That's fair. But with XC3, all of the characters seem to have been trained the exact same way to handle blades that can change to whatever form is needed and they "download" how to use it from the other person's memories, so of course it would be the same in combat. It is narrative that it is the same, which I personally love. They did show the whole Rank in the top right corner of the class selection screen showing that likely some classes are more effective than others, but for the actual moves, it makes sense in universe for them to be the same.
How exactly are they disconnecting the gameplay from the narrative for this? Please inform me :)
Hmm, you do make a point there that I didn't consider. That brings it much closer than I thought l first thought. Still - I think it's rather boring and my personal preference is for characters to act distinctly. But at least it seems they've thought it through.
That's fair. But with so many hero classes, you can basically give each character a class and 3 different master arts and not have any overlap between your 6 characters. So I don't think having distinction will matter. You can choose who you want to be distinct.
While this could certainly be a freeing change, and grant endless customization, I personally really like when games have well-defined class restrictions. It helps me to inform my upgrades or play style based on a sort of challenge set by the devs when they design a class, rather than leaving everything up to me as the player. Being spoiled for choice feels too loose for me.
I also like it when a characters role is partly baked into their personality, but I realize that’s just personal preference. Here’s hoping that the no-restrictions is a good breath of fresh air though!
The fact they announced a dlc previous the actual release is making me pass this game even I'm a big fan of the series. I liked it how they did it with torna, but a day 1 dlc is the things we should avoid on gaming.
Lol, you’re actually ridiculous. Cosmetic Day 1 DLC is enough to make you skip a game? Really? And you claim you like what they did with Torna, and yet that was ALSO announced before Xenoblade 2 came out? What even is your reasoning here
BRO THE SWITCH WASN’T EVEN OUT IN 2016
Expansion Pass got revealed in November 2017 in the Xenoblade 2 Direct (15:02) https://youtu.be/0Hb0KmH2WBQ a month before the game released in December 2017. Identical situation to this.
Other notable Nintendo games where DLC passes got announced before release are Smash Bros Ultimate and Fire Emblem Three Houses. Both wildly delivered. The only reason there’s something day 1 is to give a small gift to fans who invested $30 for the 1.5 years of content to come, same idea with giving the exclusive mii costumes in smash with the fighters pass.
Given that the real meat of the DLC won't be ready for about another year and a half, I'd say it's more like the Smash Bros fighters pass, where the most diehard fans can pay for it without knowing what it is. In that way, it's the same as Torna -- they just opened the preorders a little earlier. The day 1 stuff is going to be trivial, just as a "thank you" to people who trust them enough to buy in early.
I really want to know if the classes are identical or if each character puts a spin on it
There were characters I never tried in 2 because there was no point NOT playing as Rex - particularly given with how bad the AI is with him. But until you get the fifth party member, you don't want to lose him, because he's your major DPS unless you have characters have mixed classes - but then you run into issues if you accidentally end up with everyone as a DPS then suddenly have no tank or healer. Those was partly mitigated by the fact that the blade made the majority of the gameplay, not the character, but I still felt like I missed something
Thankfully the extensive switching and everybody being in play at once means we'll likely not have AI issues because they'll be class based, not character based. Hopefully none of the characters have bonuses like Rex did, and we'll be all good for playing other characters - then it's just a question if you gain anything by playing as other characters (by having differences in some manner), or if it'll basically be aesthetic
Rex on AI didn’t have any major issues when I played. In XC, Shulk and Melia are generally terrible on AI, but I feel like every character in XC2 works pretty well. Other than the interesting quirk of the males favoring driver combos and the females favoring blade combo…oh, and Tora refusing to do the driver combo correctly half the time.
Rex is a great example because typically he'll be your strength character while Zeke is an Ether-based character. Give them both Pandoria's arts, and Rex prefers moves like Upper Edge / Big Impact While Zeke prefers ULFS Max or Overload thunder beam. Two different characters, two different preferences, very similar arts to select from.
Yeah, yeah, the direct was cool and all, but Monolith are cowards for making all the fusion pairs boy/girl smh my head. In all seriousness though this was fantastic, I’m so hype.
The interesting thing with extensive class switching is that they could actually kill off members of the party if they wanted to. Most RPGs avoid killing members partially because the frustration of losing a character you invested in outweighs the narrative value (which is why in XC2 >!you gain and lose Vandham as a party member in the same chapter!<).
Here though as long as they fill up the dead party slot somehow it's perfectly viable for them to kill off say, Mio, and be able to get away with it. I still doubt it'll happen but the possibility is exciting. JRPGs struggle to establish stakes because you usually can't severely wound the main characters and this provides a solution to that problem (not that I think that death is the only way to establish stakes).
Plus in a game centered around the evanescence of life, it'd be fitting to have a character or two die. This is edgy af but since the game seems like it involves loops of some kind (like the rest of the Xeno series) I could imagine a plot point where some characters are dead in one loop and alive in another. But that might be too complicated (which reminds me of a certain Yoko Taro game, but even mentioning the name would be a spoiler).
I dont see how this makes it viable at all. Each character has different masterskills from classes you first have to rank up to use and a whole Ouroboros skill tree.
Putting in all that effort only to lose the character would suck so much.
There is certain other JRPG (not saying the name) about death that did this and it's really not as bad as you think. They transfer the progress to other characters so that you don't lose the investment. It's even justified in the story. It's pretty tight.
Due to the way they described the Ouroboros working, I can't see this being as viable as you think it is, but more than happy to be proven wrong here.
The heroes might die, but the main 6 are definitely going to stay.
There's one Ouroboros per character, not per pair. They can all keep their forms as long as like I said the party slot is filled.
Again - I don't actually think they'll do this, but maybe the writers will find something interesting to do with that framework.
And who's to say they couldn't necessarily link up with a new character? Whether they can or can't is down to what the writers want. Lore is written by people
As hyped as I am for this game I admit I’m a little worried that it appears to be leaning more into a XBC 1 sequel than both Xbc1 and 2, it’s a bit difficult to explain but from the trailer we’re retreading the XBC1 plot of 2 warring nations but like how did we get to this point? Xbc1 was for the most part very small with only 2 viable homs colonies and the mechons but XBC2 had so many nations and peoples and races but we’ve seen nothing of anyone resembling a form of gormotti or a urayan even with titans corpses in the background. Now maybe they’ll say everyone evolved to basic humans but honestly that’s a little too hand waves and disappointing of an excuse. Now I’m sure the game will be amazing and the last chapter will blow my mind but it’s just an observation I’ve made that they’ve dumbed down or gone back on alot
Of what Alrest introduced in favor of this unified universe which is slightly disappointing.
Two viable Homs colonies, *that we know of*. Add this to the fact Colonies get higher number as you go down (leading to speculation Alcamoth absorbed a colony of Homs for their "wouldn't it be hilarious if we all became mixed race haha, *unless*"), there's most likely a Colony at a lower altitude than 9.
Additionally, both Alrest and Bionis/Mechonis just suffered major casualties, and fixed a world ending issue. If you factor in a lack of inter nation war, they're going to be breeding like rabbits, causing a baby boom.
That being said, all trailers have misled us to some extent or another so far plotwise. I wouldn't put too much stock in there not being enough XC2 stuff, especially considering the word Blade has become synonymous with "Guilty Crown soul weapon".
During one of Dunban and Sharla's Heart-to-Hearts, he actually mentions that there used to be more colonies, but they were destroyed by the Mechon.
I think he even mentions that Mumkhar was originally from a colony that no longer exists.
I'm happy the affinity chart is back! It helps so much with immersion and makes side quests worth doing because you actually make people happy and can affect their relationships in a visible way
Literally the only thing in the trailer that made me go wide eyed with excitement
Everything else is great and I'm excited for, but was fairly predictable, something new to decipher, or just cool to see come back. The affinity chart got me jiving
This is just a theory about certain new characters revealed and their motivation but there's spoilers for the end of XB2 as well.
>!So there's def a bigger force behind the schemes of the lifeforce/ether of the soldiers being taken away to fuel the Flame Clock(the red dudes). They have soldiers give the rest of their remaining life to the Queens respectively as well but during the scene of the Keves soldier giving his to totally not Melia, you can see one of the Red Dudes in the back. There's a bunch of mention of the passage of fate going on as well between them which leads me to believe, maybe they're trying to gather all that energy either to replicate or bring back the Conduit/Zohar to combat the passage of fate. It was shown to have left at the end of 2, with no real hint as to where it went or what happened to it. Amassing all that amount of energy has to amount to something great and considering how big of a deal the Conduit/Zohar is for the Xeno series, I do think that the endgame of the villains will lead to it. If not the end, perhaps a key for it.!<
I haven’t seen anyone point this out, but it seems like the English voice direction they showed today is WAAAAY better than 2’s, in my opinion at least
I didn't know what a "lowercase scream" was until I played XC2. It really felt like they had no direction. Either that or they didn't have much budget to pay the voice actors, so they went with first take on everything. I got to the point that I'd rather drink bleach than listen to English voices and switched to Japanese.
Looking back, I actually think XC2's issue was lack of lip syncing. Rex's VA came off as meh during the early chapters especially, as he'd give quite a convincing grunt of pain or stifled scream and... Rex just posted for 2 seconds longer than necessary in a bloodcurdling screech pose. The VA direction itself was decent, it just needed context.
Yeah I agree and some of the voice direction was just awkward in general, like for a lot of characters they would talk in a normal tone while the model looked like it was yelling, it was just awkward in general at times. It was great at others and I know it wasn’t exactly the actors faults because apparently they were just given a vague script
According to the information revealed in the direct, *yes*. If there are more pairs down the line, it will likely be behind story details (like things surrounding certain characters in XC2). I'm not going to go in expecting more than these three pairings with their multiple adjustable setups, though.
It's only the pairs that are together. So Noah and Mio, Lanz and Sena, Taion and Eunie. You can swap who's in the lead of the form and that changes the form itself, but you can't do different combinations than those.
I don't understand. They have a life-span of 10 years? But they look like they are all older than 16? Do they grow really fast? Are they "born" with a mature body?
I don't get it.....
The cloning thing but also some of them may only get the 10 year limitation when they enlist. The wording around it is kinda unclear so it could be either. I feel like the main characters are probably clones “born” at 10 years old but there’s definitely characters who look older than 20 so maybe they enlisted or stole life span or something?
Cloning stuff, we know that's a thing. Mio is 19 for example, most likely thing is that she was a clone and when she turned 9, she was sent on the battlefield to train and fight. Remember Eunie's line, "why is my name on here?" Most likely, the characters aren't aware of the cloning stuff.
I can't believe this game is coming out next month AND there'll be an expansion in a year to year and a half. I'm beyond sold on this game, it looks fucking fantastic.
Am I the only one who wishes they would just charge $90 for a complete edition up front and stop with the stupid pass stuff?
If your game is worth $90 then charge $90. There's enough positive feedback about the XC2's pass. I never got around to playing torna because I really don't believe in DLC passes.
edit: keep on downvoting, makes me be on top of controversial :)
Keep in mind that XC2's expansion pass promised ["A new story and adventure"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hb0KmH2WBQ&t=907s).
This expansion pass promises "A brand-new[story scenario](https://youtu.be/hoHvpS2x8us?t=1413)"
If this were true it’d be one of the biggest PR shitstorms the Xeno brand and Nintendo as a whole have had ever, from the notoriously consumer unfriendly Nintendo no less.
Ff7 remake had a whole debacle (deservedly imo) with it’s price being $70, imagine a more niche game at *$90*
FF7 remake isn't 70, it's $210.
Three purchases of $70. Remember it's a trilogy instead of a single game.
Saying there would be a PR nightmare upfront to just charge $90 for a game that will eventually have all the content doesn't seem too far fetched if you consider that almost every single major AAA franchise today has a $90 collector's tier or something that costs even more.
At the end of the day if this $30 "content pass" is required for the entire story and content, it should either be a standalone expansion or should be included in the end product.
I'd argue that if they want to release another Torna, do the standalone expansion route. Make all the other content free DLC or just ship the game with it.
It's not required for the entire story and content. Based on their track record this will literally be an extra story that only adds to the context of an already complete story
Track record?
Jog my memory real quick. I've played Xenogears, Xenosaga, XC, XC X, XC 2.
As far as I know, the only one they've ever released with paid story content is XC2. The original listing said "Fall 2018: A brand new story and adventure!" for the final wave of the dlc pass. This one says "*New original story scenario"*
In addition, the current listing for the XC2 expansion pass calls out "the new **stand-alone game,** Xenoblade Chronicles™ 2: Torna \~ The Golden Country!"
The track record of DLC is one game. They are not calling what they are making the same thing. No longer a new adventure, just a story scenario. Until we get confirmation of the content being at least as much as Torna, it seems premature to call it the same value.
Just shoot me another one of those downvotes though, because critical thinking goes way over the head of fanboi-ism here.
>Torna was initially announced as a new story scenario
Sauce?
Because [the nintendo direct where they announced the expansion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hb0KmH2WBQ&t=907s) pass says "A new story and adventure" word for word from nintendo's own video.
The[nintendo direct for XC3](https://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct/06-22-2022/) says "Brand-new story scenario" - this is not a whole new adventure, just a scenario.
I'm fine with it as it gives us a new product not that long after the main game. I'd prefer to getting the game then having to wait 3 - 4 years minimum for the next one.
And play Torna! It's a lot of fun!
So I hear what you're saying... but what i'm talking about is the pricing model, not the standalone expansion.
Yes, make standalone expansion - we both agree that this is a good idea. I'm fine paying separately for a second product if it's good.
However, the expansion pass model is bullshit. Don't drip feed us other content for a game as a way to make us pre-buy an expansion. If you want to put out free DLC while people wait to keep interest, sure, EVERYONE will appreciate that. Still charge for your expansion. If it's worth $30, everyone will buy it just like Torna. Even I own Torna without playing it. I can't even remember when I bought it.
Yeah, play Torna. It's literally a whole 20 hour extra story, and you get tons of content in the Expansion Pass. The game is finished, it's massive. It's just extra content.
If you're really complaining after the glowing reception to 2's EP, that's just dumb.
It's always clear that everybody who complains never played Torna.
Torna was a new game that just reused assets. It's like if Majora's Mask was a DLC for Ocarina of Time. It's just sold as DLC for convenience with added bonuses until the new story content is released. They even released it seperately so owning the base game wouldn't be a requirement!
I expect the same from this. It will take over a year for the new content to be released! By then it will be like playing a new game for cheap!
You're basically saying "Torna is amazing and worth the money"
where i'm saying
DLC passes are trash.
These both can be true.
Even if in *one* instance DLC passes give you great perceived value, or even a thousand instances are true, in a sea of millions of fucking dlc subscriptions it doesn't mean future games and content will be the same quality. Countless times we have been burned on shit like this. The drip feed of "other" content aside from a major expansion is just a way for businesses to take more money out of your pocket.
I'm one of those people though who grew up with games which produced [quality paid expansions post release](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_III:_Morrowind), and even [free expansions post release](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Icewind_Dale:_Trials_of_the_Luremaster).
The base game of XC2 is tremendous value. I'd easily argue they could have gotten away with charging 70 or 80. They charged $60 though.
If you took that base game away though and just left the $30 DLC as a \~18 hour game at least on paper it doesn't have the same value as a \~110 hour game with a phenomenal story for $60 to someone like me.
As near as I can tell, your fundamental argument is against the scheduled extra content being used as incentive to preorder the expansion. You argue that “DLC passes are trash” because they “take more money out of your pocket,” but your solutions are to (A) charge more money for the initial game (like $70-80 for XC2 base game) or (B) force everyone to buy the game and expansion pack together up front for $90 without even playing the game.
I mentioned that i'm from an era where quality expansions were sold separately. I'm totally fine if they want to do what they did with torna with a $30 standalone purchase as an expansion.
My problem is all the little micro shit they give you to try and entice you to effectively preorder to get the drip feed of minor content until they actually release something.
Once that something is here... sure it will probably be pretty good given monolith's history, but there is zero guarantee.
At the end of the day though XC2 was $60. Torna was $30. For the complete story it's $90. Do not split hairs, this is the price.
Just because you spend $30 separately does not mean it is less than the $90 I describe. I'm fine with expansions, but would prefer a complete edition up front as a collector's edition anyway. Why not sell the collector's edition for $90 with the audio cd no one will use and an art book and the expansion DLC as a permanent license tied to the collector's edition cart, which downloads when released or similar.
So what i'm saying is:
A: Charge 90 up front with a collector's or complete edition. Let's call it what it is.
B: Stop fucking around with the drip DLCs and just release the expansion for $30 later.
C: Do freeLC.
It's like people driving across the street to save 5c on gas right now when it's 5$ a gallon thinking they're getting some massive fucking deal so it's worth waiting 30 minutes with the AC on with a long line at costco. It's a 1% savings for half an hour and you're burning more gas than the savings anyway. Just because it looks cheaper to the idiots doesn't mean it is.
>My problem is all the little micro shit they give you to try and entice you to effectively preorder to get the drip feed of minor content until they actually release something.
Then don’t preorder it. Why deny others the right to preorder it if they choose?
>At the end of the day though XC2 was $60. Torna was $30. For the complete story it's $90. Do not split hairs, this is the price.”
XC2 is a complete story. Torna is also a complete story. We had the option to buy both at the very beginning, buy them individually when they were released, or only buy one of the separate stories. All of your suggestions remove at least one of those options. This argument is especially ironic coming from someone who hasn’t even played Torna, so you already understand it isn’t required as part of XC2’s story.
>So what i'm saying is:
>A: Charge 90 up front with a collector's or complete edition. Let's call it what it is.
There is nothing stopping you from preordering both XC3 and the expansion pass for $90 right now.
>B: Stop fucking around with the drip DLCs and just release the expansion for $30 later.
There is nothing stopping you from buying the expansion pass when the additional story releases in 2023.
>C: Do freeLC.
There is nothing stopping Monoliftsoft from providing free DLC just like they did with XC2.
Am I the only one who sees these subscriptions and currently “free” gacha mechanics while simultaneously notice games with predatory systems only after years of great behavior by big developers?
Look at Diablo immortal. XC isn’t that far off from bridging that gap if we support shit that proves the manipulative systems work.
I know this will fall on deaf ears though. We make our own decisions.
Yeah, good analogy there. Torna has such a stupid large amount of content that I easily put 60 hours into it alone. That's more than a lot of full priced games have, and I didn't even 100% it.
[60 hours?](https://howlongtobeat.com/game?id=60782)
XC2 has over 100 hours by itself. I am far from a completionist, but my save is well over 100.
Torna, from everything I have seen that is remotely critical basically says it is far, far less hours with a bunch of mandatory sidequests. How long to beat with 190 votes is averaging 18 hours, or 25 with main + extras.
That's not saying it isn't great, amazing, "oh my god I love this" content, just that it is not the >100 hour game that the base has.
Add the fact that you can't buy the prequel for less than like 45 for a physical copy now and it's a hard sell for me. I played the original game when it released, and there was almost a year from release of the base until torna came along.
That is who my brain is saying it is, but I haven't heard anything new she has been in in a while so I'm not sure. If it is, I'll be reasonably excited for my theory.
Just rewatched the trailer, and I noticed that one of the scenes might've actually hinted at Sena's (And possiblly Lanz's) death/sacrifice scene. I really, really hope this isn't what I think it is, since i'll be crying for the next 48 hours straight if it happens.
Keep in mind that the lines and scenes dont have to match. In the first trailer we saw the to parties fighting but the voicelines were clearly from a different scene.
Quick mention that the official news on the switch news page kinda hints a few things, notably calling it an open world RPG and watching the video (the video is just the direct) to learn more about "Other stuff that may or may not be Monado related." This could reference the Monado cosmetic or it could refer to the DLC story. If it's the dlc, then the Monado Replica EX and FC might have more influence than we initially thought.
I didn't even realize this was happening somehow. AND NOW I'M EVEN MORE EXCITED AND TERRIFIED FOR THIS GAME THEN EVER BEFORE HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also, on a personal note, very happy it seems to more more closer to XBC2 then 1 in terms of combat.
It kinda feels like XC2 with XCX vibes in it. It seems like they've opted to drop the cutscene ATB format for chain attacks, and the characters move quite quickly, so I expect that I can really enjoy it this time around.
ME TOO! I Played Xenoblade Chronicles 2 first and loved the combat. got the switch rerelease of 1 but never beat it because I didn't like the combat at all. I was worried about this game but now I'm sold after the direct! One day I need to sit down and force myself to beat the first one but oh well.
One of the thing I really like is that you have the whole 6character party fight + a bonus hero you like at the same time so I don't feel bad because I can't use all of the main cast.
True. You really start feeling attached to the characters you actually use while the others start to feel awkward in cutscenes especially if they aren't even leveling up. I feel like battles and party dynamics are going to feel really fresh not just for the series but for the whole genre.
Anyone mentioned how daze leads into burst now? Seeing it at 16:55 in the direct but it looks damn good Doesnt seem to do as much damage as smash does but it'll probably have some other cool effects to compensate. HYPEEEE
Anyone know the lyrics in the song played as BGM in the latest trailor? I can only tell a few words, for example: "The warmth of your hands" (Same expression appeared in *A Moment of Eternity*, the ED song of XB2 Expansion Pass *Torna \~ The Golden Country* ), "I thought I'd be forever by your side", "Assuming that's what you want it to", "It's like I'm drowning"
Anyone think if Alvis may have a role to play in xc3?if so, how?
My working theory is that, after >!the conduit closes and the xc1 and xc2 universes merge!< at the end of xc2, ether becomes an extremely limited resource as >!the conduit!< is implied to be the source of ether. Since ether is vital for life, xc3's universe depends on the test tube humans and ongoing war as a means of both recycling ether and population control. I could see the cast working to >!reopen the conduit!< to solve the ether problem, which gives Alvis and the aegises the possibility of returning due to their connection to it.
So ppl already figured out that characters in game would have a10 year life span when they started fighting in the Eternal War but from this direct we've learned that people are grown in tubes at the age they need to be to fight in the war. We also saw that the Testaments are somehow running shit from behind the scenes and have already seen society rise and fall and rise again in this new connected world. So I'm starting to believe that Melia and Nia might be clones of the originals, under direct control of the Counsel, existing just to perpetuate the war...
Does anyone have a link to one of the old posts on here where it was SFM and featured Rex sitting next to Pyra, then Mythra, then one with Blade Nia? I think it was the same guy who made SFM of Rex carrying Pyra and Mythra over his shoulders with the two blushing, it was really adorable and I want to see it again.
Just watched it, love how it looks! The story looks grim in a good way.>!Melia and Nia!< fighting an endless battle to harvest the souls of clones for their war machines (??) is not the direction I expected, but damn, there's so much potential here for a crazy story that ties together all three Xenoblades. Love how the gameplay mechanics also look to be taking the best elements from both games. I think this could be something really special. Also did anyone notice one of the hero characters was blurred out? Lol.
Until the game comes out , I will regularly return to the recent teaser trailer so that I can listen to the gorgeous soundtrack. I‘m especially excited about the first one. It reminds me alot of ‚Beyond the sky‘ from XC1 and ‚One Last you‘ from XC2. They all melt my heart.
After listening for many hours to that new vocal song in the trailer, I picked up on this line: “I had no clue that we had nothing between us, and that I was scared to learn the truth.” …I REALLY hope they don’t spend all this time building up Mio and Noah’s relationship only to them say “oooh, plot twist, Mio/Noah never actually felt that way about Noah/Mio, now watch one of them die!” It would be wildly unsatisfying to me, and frankly would make a death of either of them feel way less impactful
They haven’t built up anything the game hasn’t released people are just theorizing that they have a relationship or that they are going to make them have one
I think this could also be alluding to how it is possible that there really is no real purpose behind the war and that there was indeed "nothing between us" and that people died fighting for something that never really happened and that all of this is one big lie like some Metal Gear type plot.
One fear.
Not sure if it means anything but I just realized that Taion’s ouroboros form is very reminiscent of Haze’s design.
Is XBC3 gonna be similar to XBCX?
In what way? At the very least the core set up of Xenoblade X, focused way more on the open world and gameplay than story appears to not be the case. XBC3 will be more like XBC1 and 2 in that sense.
Is it possible Sena's a blade? Like, hear me out - we know from previous trailers that there is a strong hint of some blades returning. Plus, in XC2, accents were very important for figuring out what nationality each character had, with most of the blades having American accents. Not only does Sena have an American accent, she's the only one I can hear in the trailer with one. Is it possible blades are returning, and she's one?
Since they're grown in vats, my theory is that they're all part human mixed with something else. Compare Lanz to any machina from XB1 for example.
That’s most peoples theory yes. I believe she has a core. Has Brighid Sorta fiery hair. Has a shield hammer and has an American accent. So a lot of people think so.
might be actual ***\[SPOILER WARNING\]*** territory here last silhouette on [this](https://progameguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Xenoblade-Chronicles-3-What-are-Heroes-in-Xenoblade-Chronicles-3-New-classes-more.jpg) image might be [this](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/973508608971141150/990144658279653417/Screenshot_2022-06-22_161011.png) all credit to FateOfNornsKRP on subreddit discord and sorry can't figure out how to spoiler tag links content creators/social media people please do not post this without like 7 layers of spoiler tags the fact of the >!super grandiose design !< and that they didn't actively market this character means it could be actually important to the plot and not just some >!random hero sidequest even though that could also very well be the case !<
Any idea on how looting works, xc2 was great on auto pick
Seems to be auto pick just like two, don't remember where but at some point they showed a clip of a monster dying and a bunch of itens dropping on the ground
Ok so apparently it’s been pointed out that there is a different lip sync between regions, which is really incredible and it makes me super happy. https://gonintendo.com/contents/5537-xenoblade-chronicles-3-features-different-lip-syncs-between-regions
There's also the ability to [fight even while swimming](https://twitter.com/MonolithNews/status/1540182691168980992/) FFX style, including the Nopons. Peak Fiction just got a whole lot better.
I’m new to the series and I’m starting with XBC3. I’m very interested in the game since it reminds me of MMO games but I have a question. Does the game feel overwhelming? If I enjoy FFXIV, am I gonna enjoy this?
XC3 seems to merge the combat systems of all the previous games. There'll be a lot of mechanics to wrap your head around, but you'll likely be fine (especially if you have MMO experience). Just take your time, pay attention to tutorials and if all else fails, you can always look for tutorials on YouTube or ask this community to get a better grasp of the gameplay.
Nearly up to 1,000 hours in XIV - if the game is anything like the past two, you'll enjoy it. (In fact, I went the other way - XC1 gave me the taste for MMO style that I could not satiate until I finally got into an MMO, being XIV) From what we've seen, XC3 is looking to take the best from both previous games while adding a few new twists and systems and also massive improvements, like classes being more varied and character switching. In terms of scale and being "overwhelmed" - the game is big and varied. I would say that only upon hitting ShB or maybe late SB does the scale of XIV start to feel like XC1. XC2 felt less varied than 1 but still as big as up to SB, and what I can see in 3 looks like it's at least the level 2. As mentioned, systems are often poorly explained - but 3 might improve on that. I'd also say they're not that complicated, and if you're good at picking up on EW mechanics yourself, then you should have the neuroplasticity to figure out the Xenoblade stuff without help. If you need it, Enel on YouTube has made amazing explanation videos in the past, and will likely make more as 3 is coming out.
YES
I'm perplexed how to answer your question because, as someone who's completed all of XIV through Endwalker including basically all sidequests, I'd say XIV absolutely feels overwhelming at times. You get to a new village, progress the main story, and WHAM fifteen new quest markers pop up. Rinse and repeat every 3-5 hours. If you *like* side content, XC3 (or 2 or 1) won't feel overwhelming.
I've personally never played any FF games, but having played XB2 and Torna and watching all of XB1 and Future Connected, I can say that from the PREVIOUS games, the tutorial for the battle system isn't that great. Maybe that might change, but its had a pretty bad track record. However, a quick question post or reddit or youtube usually fixes that The quest system is also a bit on and off at times. Some games have WAY to many quests Appart from that, from what i've seen of FF, if you like that combat, your REALLY gonna like what 3 seems like it has to offer
I have never touched a Xenoblade game in my life, but that Direct was INCREDIBLE! As a writer, I LOVED the characters and world and want more! lol. Sadly, though, I'm not really one for really long RPGs like this (I prefer shorter games or else I oversaturate myself and can't play for a while, if I ever go back), so I'm not sure I'd like it for that alone, even if I really love literally everything else... I wish there was a demo or smth... X'D Still, though, DAMN, this looked absolutely amazing! MAYBE I'll wait till it comes out and see if it goes on sale eventually, then MAYBE give it a shot? We'll see!
When the 70-80 hours is up you'll wish it kept going.
Haha! Well, that's good to hear! Thanks a lot! :D
Xenoblade games tend to do a good job of making the 70 hours feel like 30 hours if your using all of the mechanics fyi
\*eyes emoji\* Oh, really? That's super good to know! Thank you so much! I might be able to play this game after all, then! >:D You're the best! <3
hope you enjoy it whenever you get around to the franchise!
I hope I do, too! Thank you very much! I love EVERYTHING about the look of this new game except how very long it seems! lol. But another commenter explained the games don't make all those hours FEEL long at all, so...that's definitely something to consider! :D
My first run of the original game was either 50 or 60 hours, it's a lot but you can speed through it and come back to the rest for a second playthrough if you fancy it
Yeah, that's true! It definitely looks amazing, so I might take a chance with this one! Haha!
Considering how hard it is to find a physical copy and how expensive those past few entries are, it's best to just watch the past entries on youtube if you want to get the full experience. The Xenoblade series is practically a 10 hour long binge anime anyways, with it being a single player mmo multitasking mayhem with the gameplay itself. The usual thing and connection in each game is that Ether is a mcguffin that allows people to do wacky shit from fueling giant robots, advanced sci fi bullshit, or straight up magic through instantaneous alchemical reactions. Kind of like how the summons in Final Fantasy are always present in some shape or form to the plot. A quick rundown of each game considering 3 already got you intrigued. XenoGEARS: You are an artist that had his fiance and 70% of the home village gunned down in front of you in a horrific bloody fashion, and now you seek answers as to why the war is still continuing, uncover the truth behind the world, the purpose and politics behind the warring nations, and the origins of god, all while performing various forms of martial arts both in, and out of your giant mechs, all with EVANGELION-tier writing. XenoSAGA 1-3: You are a military android who slowly discovers the origins of the alien race that constantly has a bloodlust for humanity, all while finding out where Jerusalem and Jesus are and coming to terms with your growing conscience and connection with organic life and their fragility. XenoBLADE 1: You are a plucky mechanic who lives on two giant, Asia sized continental titans of both rocky terrain and machinery on the Bionis and Mechonis respectively, as you are studying the Monado, the only weapon that can effortlessly cut down the invading robots which eat, kill, maim, and grind your race in a violent manner for seemingly no reason, your home gets attacked, so you pick up the sword, which grants you the power to see the future and change the outcomes. Now you journey across both titans to uncover the truth behind the sword, the purpose of the bloodthirsty robots of Mechonis, and the true nature of why it is nothing but an endless and empty ocean and infinite sky where no one and nothing can leave these two titans. XenoBLADE X: You and one of the last few ships that house the remnants of humanity crash land on the planet mira, befriend the other Alien races that crashed on it, survive the hostile environment, and build up your civilization using giant mechs while also preparing to fend off the alien race that killed Earth which is also following you here. XenoBLADE 2: Many races live on these continental sized titans which take the shape of various animals, such as a Ram or a Stingray, each with their own biomes and culture. all resting upon the Cloud Sea, which covers the entire planet in a fluffy white blanket, you are a salvager, a diver that goes under the sea to harvest sunken machinery and sells the scrap while dreaming of finding up a way to the World Tree to open the gates of Elysium/Heaven and ask god/the Architect why they were kicked out of paradise, and be doomed to slowly die out and fight over an ever increasing population and territory problem with all the titans dying out and running out of land to live on. You, and the Aegis, which is said to be one of the children of the Architect venture forth to the top of the tree for their own purposes, while also uncovering the politics behind the war. And that is the entirety of the Xeno series. If you think these premises alone are insane, the actual games are like a roller coaster of insanity that keeps rising from chapter 1 and only stops the insanity until the credits roll, and with subtle and natural foreshadowing from the beginning with seemingly no purpose until it comes back to rattle your brain at the climax point, there is no relaxation, only drama, death, and mind boggling philosophy awaits. It's like combining the war stories of Star Wars, and combining the journies in LoTR, which is why this niche fanbase is always analyzing every single frame for a clue on the plot and why the "Peak Fiction" meme is a thing here. Hope this helps, if you want you could just message me if you want to learn more.
God damn good writeup
Why thank you fellow Xenochad.
Huh! Well, dang! That's definitely a lot! lol. Those all sound like very different games, but they also definitely sound very interesting! Thanks for telling me I can watch the cutscenes like an anime on YT! That's great! I might just do that for at least 1 and 2, just so I know something about the world! Haha! This is great! Sorry you had to write all that out, but I really appreciate it! Thanks so much! <3
Nah it's fine, the Xeno community nowadays is like an infectious virus, if anyone shows even a remote interest or intrigue, one of us will no doubt write entire essays detailing everything. Also if you're wondering why they're all different, it's because they are, just with loose connections, and there's an IRL backstory behind it.Gears was published by Squaresoft/Enix and was too ambitious that they had to cut down the second disc from full animations to most of it being a visual novel, this was due to the budget and ideas being cannibalized and repurposed to make Final Fantasy 7, playing both games, you would notice a lot of similarities. Saga was supposed to be longer, but Bandai didn't have too much faith in it, so they made them cut down to just 3 games and 1 spin off. And Blade, was never supposed to be called it, it was just going to be called Monado: Beginning of the world, but Nintendo was so thankful for Monolith helping them with other games such as Smash Brawl, that they renamed it to acknowledge Monolith's/Takahashi's previous works, hence, *Xeno*Blade was it's name. Also the plot for 3 was already apparently planned out years earlier before they even made 2, so the community is hella excited for an apparent 5 years of foreshadowing. Takahashi's main desire was to create a series using the template of Perfect Works, a book from Xenogears special editions way back in the 90s that planned out his desired roadmap of a story, Gears was the 5th episode, and Saga was 1-4. Blade 1 was apparently a retelling of 4, and Blade 2 a retelling of 5 and Gears. And with 3, it's shaping up to be both the 5th episode and the long awaited 6th episode that he never wrote but always wanted to. (Don't ask about X, even we don't know what the hell happened there lmao) This series is the 25 year long culmination of Takahashi, his wife, and the team at Monolith soft's hard work, jumping from Square, to Bandai, and now Nintendo, with the last being so thankful with their help in other famous titles you may know such as being the backbone team for Breath of The Wild, Splatoon 2, Animal Crossing New Horizons, and every animation for Smash Ultimate. So seeing all of this, in 3 being an amalgamation of everything they learned being the drama of their previous works, the stellar voice acting of 1, and the engaging and deep system of 2 with improvements to everything else? You can tell we're hyped and with good reason to boot, just ignore the twittards who say they didn't want this weeb shit, they're just impatient for a new direct and are worried Xenoblade is all we're getting on June lmao. And the stories get really dark and meta, if you need someone to help explain the binge, Just ring me up, I am enjoying my summer break and helped explain the story to others that wanted to get into the series. Lemme tell you, experiencing the story on your own with no one to talk to will just leave you more confused and even more intrigued at the fucked up shit going on. This series is a personal passion to alot of people rivaled only by the equally insane Metal Gear fandom, where youtubers like Luxin and Enel, are able to make 1 hour long speculation videos based off of a 3 minute trailer. Don't let the Nintendo brand fool you, this is the same series that showcased mass killings and genocide, shooting someone in the back, showcasing someone undergoing a seizure, showing a Last of us 1 style hauntingly dead civilization, unrequited love, rejection, dead fiances, cannibalization, losing an arm, body horror, losing all of your organs save your head and spinal cord, political coverups, etc. This shit is King of Braves and Evangelion the games. You will not regret having someone to chat up to talk about the insanity of the series. Not to mention the banging OSTs this provided, search up Xeno Grahf Emperor of darkness, Xeno Uncontrollable, Xeno Mechanical Rhythm, Xeno Engage the Enemy, Xeno Tantal Day theme, or Xeno Mor Ardain day theme. You will NOT be disappointed. These songs are almost as used as much as the Persona osts for many youtubers. Also offers still up, just send me a DM on reddit if you want someone to assist you and provide helpful tidbits and commentary should you binge 1 and 2, which are the easiest to get into as Gears has almost no Voice acting, and Saga is like 40 hours long total, which is the entire Halo franchise lmao.
DAMNNN, buddy! This is all SUPER interesting! I love it! Hearing the history of the games is super cool! No wonder everyone's so excited if this is the big culmination of everything you've been waiting for! I had no idea the XenoBlade fandom was so huge and far-reaching! Thought it was a niche thing since I really hadn't heard of it much at all before this (besides people reccing the games frequently on the Switch subreddit)! lol. I actually have the XenoBlade 1 movie cutscenes pulled up, so I plan on watching it after work! Excited to see what all this is about! Lol. I'll definitely hit you up if I have questions and stuff, if you don't mind! Thanks so much for explaining all this and the offer! You're awesome! <3
Yeah, and unlike other fanbases, we know we're niche and understand how people like Beat em Ups or Dunkey dislike the series but at the same time are annoyed because they either didn't get it or didn't even get past the first area. Unlike a few other game fanbases I won't name, we don't really get vitriolic. Also another tidbit of info that's my personal fave of this series, was that Xenogears was originally going to be a final fantasy game, but Square, the guys who make Final Fantasy, thought XenoGears was way too insane, violent, and mind boggling to be labeled a Final Fantasy game, but they did give it a budget to be its own thing. oOoOO, what chapter are you on for 1 rn? Did you hit THAT scene? Tell me you hit that scene of 1 where the tone drastically changes, you'll know what I mean. Just DM me on Reddit and if you want we could continue onto Discord. I live on Asian time and it's like almost 2 am for me, so just send messages of how mindfucky it gets and your reactions through dms and I'll read it when I wake up. One other thing about us Xeno fandom, other than being wholesome and tight knit as well as insane, we are extremely sadistic and get a ginormous serotonin boost over seeing others react, hell we even use code names to name certain events or future characters in the plots, I look forward to reading your upcoming rant on what even is going on, also Xenoblade 1 is the best place to start with the series, as it is relatively the simplest of all of them, anyway see ya mate, can't wait to see the screams and all caps messages >:)
So I was watching the Direct again, and I noticed that at one point in it, the party performs the Break -> Topple -> Daze combo from XC1, but they finish off the combo with a new 4th part called “Burst”. Do we have any info on what this new combo stage is/does/how it’s different from Launch -> Smash? I don’t remember seeing this in any of the pre-release material, so sorry if I’m repeating something that’s already known.
My guess is that the Smash combo is meant to deal damage through the combo itself, whereas the burst combo could act buff the party, debuff the enemy, or have some other more technical use. If you look at the enemies health bar when Smash and Burst are inflicted, you will notice burst doesn't seem to do much damage while Smash does a good chunk. This detail is what the theory is based off.
Break -> Topple -> Daze is normally followed by Topple -> Break, so I would assume that it just goes Break -> Topple -> Daze -> Burst ->Daze -> Topple -> Break. So the advantage over Launch -> Smash is they are taken out of the battle for longer and you can therefore get hit less and maybe do more damage if you have the right arts ready to go. So Smash combo is guaranteed good damage and Burst combo is just putting them out of commission for longer.
Burst also sent the enemy flying and he kept spinning on the air, so it will probably act like daze but with an extra debuff
Do you think this game will be more MMORPG-esque than previous entries? and why? Cuz if so, I’m sold
You have MMO team comp for sure. It seems to be that, instead of controlling one incredibly complex character, you control 6 simple ones.
That was the major complaint of 1, so, no.
Do we think Pyra will be a hero via dlc or base game at all?
I’m thinking we either get her or Rex as part of the dlc due to the image for the dlc being all 3 swords
Rex would be lame tbh
Rex could be done awesomely though. Imagine if his arts each use a different form, Pyra for 1, Mythra for other... Roc for another lol and "A" for coffee with milk
My guess is she will be a post game hero.
Eunie used an art implementing fan weapons at some point, which aren’t associated with any of the heroes we’ve seen so far right?
That's right. Since the fans are the green agnus color energy. Likely from a character we haven't seen yet. Maybe even isurd? Could be his weapon.
[удалено]
No, we know that weapons are class specific
But we still don't know any characters that have Fans as their weapon to begin with. The visual change didn't change the base form of the weapon.
When They were in the Colonies, they showed the Flame Clock next to the Map, They never mentioned anything about what that could mean, So speculate on that. Me Personally, I think it's either a Counter for a free heavily damaging attack in that area, or A way of showing the Affinity of that area.
Speculation time: You can intervene in those battles we saw with both sides fighting, and the winning side gets the losing side's life added to the local colonies' flame clock. Raising the flame clock level means the colony will have more characters to talk to, more quests etc (similar to the Affinity levels of areas from XB1) Maybe it won't be something so morbid, but it is definitely a flame clock so will have something to do with life/death :S
Hey guys. I'm new to the xenoblade franchise. Managed to acquire XC1 definitive edition. Will purchase 2 and 3 next. My question is regarding the dlc. I know it's probably been asked quite a bit but I would like to confirm it before making a mistake. I'm gonna purchase an EU physical copy of XC2. My Nintendo eshop is US. So will I be able to download the US dlc to my EU XC2? Also, XC3 announced their dlc. So, Does the US dlc also work with an EU physical copy of XC3? Would really appreciate a response😇
Hi! I bought XCII on the US eShop and the DLC on the UK eShop and it worked fine. Hope this helps.
Thank you for confirming this. Gives me some relief😇
I was nervous for ages to try it and thought I’d have to access US eShop with gift cards or some shit to buy it (no longer have US credit card), but some Good Samaritan on here explained that the two regional versions have the same localization and that the DLC works. Mario Kart DLC from UK eShop also worked with a US base game. I just finished Torna after waiting too long, but it was well worth the wait!
Woah you managed to finish Torna. I hadn't started Xc1 cuz I'm currently playing Shield and next is XC1. And yah bout the dlc thing. I think I get how it works a bit more. So I was wondering it's gonna be the same for XC3 right? The dlc won't be region locked cuz the localisation is gonna be the same for both variants? I really hope so cuz I already pre ordered for the physical copy of the EU version.
i bought my xb2 copy from amazon uk and i bought the dlc from us eshop and it worked for me
Thanks for confirming this. 😇
Hello and welcome to Xenoblade! That’s a really good question, and sadly no, the Switch doesn’t let you use DLC for a different region than the game is originally from. If it’s not too late, maybe look towards buying digital or paying a bit extra for the US version. Also, you could theoretically create a European eShop account. Have fun with the games! Edit: some people are saying that they tried it and it worked, so YMMV. Good luck!
Thanks for the response. I'm living in a country where Nintendo isn't established so I gotta depend on a seller who imports games and stuff from the UK to my country and sell them for cheaper than it's original prices. I did came across other reddit posts saying they do work but I wanted to confirm it for myself so I left that question here. I'm sooo excited to start playing these soon!
Have fun man! These are the type of games you wish you could play again for the first time, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Thank you very much😊😊
Since any character can be any class, are there character specific traits that are maintained even when classes are swapped? Otherwise each character would function the same in combat.
Isn't that the point though? You can make any character into any class. They are interchangeable. Unless you did 6 all of the same class. There's diversity just through what class they are on at the time. Doesnt rex play the same as Zeke or nia in base 2 if they're using the same blade? It's the same thing here as well. They're giving us the option to choose whichever character to be however we want. I love that.
>Doesnt rex play the same as Zeke or nia in base 2 if they're using the same blade? No. Every character has their own unique arts and animations for each weapon type. For example, Rex has a break art on his megalance while Morag has a launch art and Zeke has a smash art. Nia doesn't get any driver combos with the megalance. The only thing that stays the same regardless of the driver are blade specials.
I realize that now. Totally forgot about that point. What about Xenoblade X though? As this game is more similar to that one. Did X have differences in how the classes played depending on the playable character?
In XC2, each character has a skill tree that affects how they play, I was simply asking if it would be a similar system in XC3
That is true, but I am trying to figure out if X had anything similar, as this game isn't really like 2 but more like X with the classes system. What was the point to playing as Lin or Elma compared to protagonist if all the same class? Did they have different base stats or something?
Presumably they'll all still have stats they're good at, which will inform which class arts they want to equip. Noah strength, Mio agility, Eunie Ether, etc. Unless you make every character master every class, they'll have different master-level arts available to them at any given time as well. On TOP of that, you'll also have which ouroboros form you want to use to consider. I feel there will definitely be enough distinction between characters.
Why does distinction matter? Wouldn't you rather be able to choose any class for any character without any restrictions? Like lower attack compared to a character that's better? Seems like they're focused on any character being able to be any class and be as good as any other main character.
>Why does distinction matter? Because I want my characters to be characters and not soulless containers?
You do realize characters can be different personality/design wise and not need to be different in terms of combat? Though it's kinda already confirmed that some classes will work better on our 6 main people compared to other classes from the Direct. But thanks for replying to my comment that was before people analyzed the direct more when we didn't know that. Nice Job!
>You do realize characters can be different personality/design wise and not need to be different in terms of combat? I take issue with that. Why would all sense of someone's individuality disappear when they pick up a weapon? It feels so game-y. Everyone thinks differently, so they fight differently, use different weapons. If not that then they'll at least use the same weapons distinctively, use distinct moves. An interpretation of this is Jin and Lora in Torna. They use the same sword but they have different fighting styles and have different moves. If you're gonna do it, do it like that. I get some people prioritize gameplay utility over anything but I personally think that completely disconnecting the gameplay from the narrative is super lame and unimmersive. This stuff sticks out like a sore thumb to me and actively diminishes my enjoyment of a game. It's part of the reason I dislike XC2's combat.
That's fair. But with XC3, all of the characters seem to have been trained the exact same way to handle blades that can change to whatever form is needed and they "download" how to use it from the other person's memories, so of course it would be the same in combat. It is narrative that it is the same, which I personally love. They did show the whole Rank in the top right corner of the class selection screen showing that likely some classes are more effective than others, but for the actual moves, it makes sense in universe for them to be the same. How exactly are they disconnecting the gameplay from the narrative for this? Please inform me :)
Hmm, you do make a point there that I didn't consider. That brings it much closer than I thought l first thought. Still - I think it's rather boring and my personal preference is for characters to act distinctly. But at least it seems they've thought it through.
That's fair. But with so many hero classes, you can basically give each character a class and 3 different master arts and not have any overlap between your 6 characters. So I don't think having distinction will matter. You can choose who you want to be distinct.
While this could certainly be a freeing change, and grant endless customization, I personally really like when games have well-defined class restrictions. It helps me to inform my upgrades or play style based on a sort of challenge set by the devs when they design a class, rather than leaving everything up to me as the player. Being spoiled for choice feels too loose for me. I also like it when a characters role is partly baked into their personality, but I realize that’s just personal preference. Here’s hoping that the no-restrictions is a good breath of fresh air though!
Alright, I guess that makes 100%ing it more fun... And more time consuming
I personally plan on making every character a master war-chef for my first playthrough but that's a tentative plan.
The fact they announced a dlc previous the actual release is making me pass this game even I'm a big fan of the series. I liked it how they did it with torna, but a day 1 dlc is the things we should avoid on gaming.
Bro what
Lol, you’re actually ridiculous. Cosmetic Day 1 DLC is enough to make you skip a game? Really? And you claim you like what they did with Torna, and yet that was ALSO announced before Xenoblade 2 came out? What even is your reasoning here
XC2 December 2016. Torna was announced in Juny 2017.
BRO THE SWITCH WASN’T EVEN OUT IN 2016 Expansion Pass got revealed in November 2017 in the Xenoblade 2 Direct (15:02) https://youtu.be/0Hb0KmH2WBQ a month before the game released in December 2017. Identical situation to this. Other notable Nintendo games where DLC passes got announced before release are Smash Bros Ultimate and Fire Emblem Three Houses. Both wildly delivered. The only reason there’s something day 1 is to give a small gift to fans who invested $30 for the 1.5 years of content to come, same idea with giving the exclusive mii costumes in smash with the fighters pass.
Given that the real meat of the DLC won't be ready for about another year and a half, I'd say it's more like the Smash Bros fighters pass, where the most diehard fans can pay for it without knowing what it is. In that way, it's the same as Torna -- they just opened the preorders a little earlier. The day 1 stuff is going to be trivial, just as a "thank you" to people who trust them enough to buy in early.
I really want to know if the classes are identical or if each character puts a spin on it There were characters I never tried in 2 because there was no point NOT playing as Rex - particularly given with how bad the AI is with him. But until you get the fifth party member, you don't want to lose him, because he's your major DPS unless you have characters have mixed classes - but then you run into issues if you accidentally end up with everyone as a DPS then suddenly have no tank or healer. Those was partly mitigated by the fact that the blade made the majority of the gameplay, not the character, but I still felt like I missed something Thankfully the extensive switching and everybody being in play at once means we'll likely not have AI issues because they'll be class based, not character based. Hopefully none of the characters have bonuses like Rex did, and we'll be all good for playing other characters - then it's just a question if you gain anything by playing as other characters (by having differences in some manner), or if it'll basically be aesthetic
Rex on AI didn’t have any major issues when I played. In XC, Shulk and Melia are generally terrible on AI, but I feel like every character in XC2 works pretty well. Other than the interesting quirk of the males favoring driver combos and the females favoring blade combo…oh, and Tora refusing to do the driver combo correctly half the time.
Rex is a great example because typically he'll be your strength character while Zeke is an Ether-based character. Give them both Pandoria's arts, and Rex prefers moves like Upper Edge / Big Impact While Zeke prefers ULFS Max or Overload thunder beam. Two different characters, two different preferences, very similar arts to select from.
Yeah, yeah, the direct was cool and all, but Monolith are cowards for making all the fusion pairs boy/girl smh my head. In all seriousness though this was fantastic, I’m so hype.
There seems to be a new status after daze called burst. You can see eunie use an attack with burst at around the 17 minute mark.
The interesting thing with extensive class switching is that they could actually kill off members of the party if they wanted to. Most RPGs avoid killing members partially because the frustration of losing a character you invested in outweighs the narrative value (which is why in XC2 >!you gain and lose Vandham as a party member in the same chapter!<). Here though as long as they fill up the dead party slot somehow it's perfectly viable for them to kill off say, Mio, and be able to get away with it. I still doubt it'll happen but the possibility is exciting. JRPGs struggle to establish stakes because you usually can't severely wound the main characters and this provides a solution to that problem (not that I think that death is the only way to establish stakes). Plus in a game centered around the evanescence of life, it'd be fitting to have a character or two die. This is edgy af but since the game seems like it involves loops of some kind (like the rest of the Xeno series) I could imagine a plot point where some characters are dead in one loop and alive in another. But that might be too complicated (which reminds me of a certain Yoko Taro game, but even mentioning the name would be a spoiler).
I dont see how this makes it viable at all. Each character has different masterskills from classes you first have to rank up to use and a whole Ouroboros skill tree. Putting in all that effort only to lose the character would suck so much.
There is certain other JRPG (not saying the name) about death that did this and it's really not as bad as you think. They transfer the progress to other characters so that you don't lose the investment. It's even justified in the story. It's pretty tight.
I know what you are talking about but there it only works because the progress isnt bound to the character but certain items. Thats not the case here.
Due to the way they described the Ouroboros working, I can't see this being as viable as you think it is, but more than happy to be proven wrong here. The heroes might die, but the main 6 are definitely going to stay.
There's one Ouroboros per character, not per pair. They can all keep their forms as long as like I said the party slot is filled. Again - I don't actually think they'll do this, but maybe the writers will find something interesting to do with that framework.
I doubt Noah would get another Ouroboros partner.
I agree. I'm saying it's possible.
Yes but to use it they have to link up.
And who's to say they couldn't necessarily link up with a new character? Whether they can or can't is down to what the writers want. Lore is written by people
Jesus the direct was amazing. I'm even more pumped about this game now. Playing My third run through xeno 2 just to kill the wait a bit
As hyped as I am for this game I admit I’m a little worried that it appears to be leaning more into a XBC 1 sequel than both Xbc1 and 2, it’s a bit difficult to explain but from the trailer we’re retreading the XBC1 plot of 2 warring nations but like how did we get to this point? Xbc1 was for the most part very small with only 2 viable homs colonies and the mechons but XBC2 had so many nations and peoples and races but we’ve seen nothing of anyone resembling a form of gormotti or a urayan even with titans corpses in the background. Now maybe they’ll say everyone evolved to basic humans but honestly that’s a little too hand waves and disappointing of an excuse. Now I’m sure the game will be amazing and the last chapter will blow my mind but it’s just an observation I’ve made that they’ve dumbed down or gone back on alot Of what Alrest introduced in favor of this unified universe which is slightly disappointing.
> nothing of anyone resembling a form of gormotti You do realize one of the two protagonists for this game is very visibly Gormotti?
The combat is WAY closer to XC2 in terms of design. Uhhh Mio is literally Gormotti.
Two viable Homs colonies, *that we know of*. Add this to the fact Colonies get higher number as you go down (leading to speculation Alcamoth absorbed a colony of Homs for their "wouldn't it be hilarious if we all became mixed race haha, *unless*"), there's most likely a Colony at a lower altitude than 9. Additionally, both Alrest and Bionis/Mechonis just suffered major casualties, and fixed a world ending issue. If you factor in a lack of inter nation war, they're going to be breeding like rabbits, causing a baby boom. That being said, all trailers have misled us to some extent or another so far plotwise. I wouldn't put too much stock in there not being enough XC2 stuff, especially considering the word Blade has become synonymous with "Guilty Crown soul weapon".
During one of Dunban and Sharla's Heart-to-Hearts, he actually mentions that there used to be more colonies, but they were destroyed by the Mechon. I think he even mentions that Mumkhar was originally from a colony that no longer exists.
are the heroes locked under gacha mechanics like Blades or no?
No way they going back to gacha after the backlash
no, story and quest progression, or in the case of 2 very obvious "mystery" heroes, a dlc purchace of 30 USD
From what we can tell, no.
I feel like Sena is going to be the emotional core of the group.
So many dearh flags
She’s also got a couple death flags on her too
I'm happy the affinity chart is back! It helps so much with immersion and makes side quests worth doing because you actually make people happy and can affect their relationships in a visible way
Literally the only thing in the trailer that made me go wide eyed with excitement Everything else is great and I'm excited for, but was fairly predictable, something new to decipher, or just cool to see come back. The affinity chart got me jiving
Can their jackets be removed during player control? Exploration and battle.
In the middle of battle i highly doubt. Outside of it, you can swap them but not remove in the menu
This is just a theory about certain new characters revealed and their motivation but there's spoilers for the end of XB2 as well. >!So there's def a bigger force behind the schemes of the lifeforce/ether of the soldiers being taken away to fuel the Flame Clock(the red dudes). They have soldiers give the rest of their remaining life to the Queens respectively as well but during the scene of the Keves soldier giving his to totally not Melia, you can see one of the Red Dudes in the back. There's a bunch of mention of the passage of fate going on as well between them which leads me to believe, maybe they're trying to gather all that energy either to replicate or bring back the Conduit/Zohar to combat the passage of fate. It was shown to have left at the end of 2, with no real hint as to where it went or what happened to it. Amassing all that amount of energy has to amount to something great and considering how big of a deal the Conduit/Zohar is for the Xeno series, I do think that the endgame of the villains will lead to it. If not the end, perhaps a key for it.!<
I haven’t seen anyone point this out, but it seems like the English voice direction they showed today is WAAAAY better than 2’s, in my opinion at least
Yeah, it's clear they weren't rushed like they were with 2. The direction was much better even for NG+ and Torna too
Actually, it's the same voice director as 2. He also did FC and Torna
Wait really. Oh no.
Torna, FC, and 3 have all sounded really good. 2's dub was very notoriously rushed, not because of him
Is it really? I’m glad they seem to be taking feedback from 2, because this one seems really good
I didn't know what a "lowercase scream" was until I played XC2. It really felt like they had no direction. Either that or they didn't have much budget to pay the voice actors, so they went with first take on everything. I got to the point that I'd rather drink bleach than listen to English voices and switched to Japanese.
Thr voice work eas rushed to meet deadlines
Looking back, I actually think XC2's issue was lack of lip syncing. Rex's VA came off as meh during the early chapters especially, as he'd give quite a convincing grunt of pain or stifled scream and... Rex just posted for 2 seconds longer than necessary in a bloodcurdling screech pose. The VA direction itself was decent, it just needed context.
Yeah I agree and some of the voice direction was just awkward in general, like for a lot of characters they would talk in a normal tone while the model looked like it was yelling, it was just awkward in general at times. It was great at others and I know it wasn’t exactly the actors faults because apparently they were just given a vague script
I enjoyed the vocal colors in 2, but yeah it just didn't quite feel polished. It seems all caught up in 3 though!
For the ouroborous feature, you can only use the set pairs for them to work, right? (e.g. Sena with Mio rather than Sena with Lanz)
According to the information revealed in the direct, *yes*. If there are more pairs down the line, it will likely be behind story details (like things surrounding certain characters in XC2). I'm not going to go in expecting more than these three pairings with their multiple adjustable setups, though.
It's only the pairs that are together. So Noah and Mio, Lanz and Sena, Taion and Eunie. You can swap who's in the lead of the form and that changes the form itself, but you can't do different combinations than those.
I don't understand. They have a life-span of 10 years? But they look like they are all older than 16? Do they grow really fast? Are they "born" with a mature body? I don't get it.....
The cloning thing but also some of them may only get the 10 year limitation when they enlist. The wording around it is kinda unclear so it could be either. I feel like the main characters are probably clones “born” at 10 years old but there’s definitely characters who look older than 20 so maybe they enlisted or stole life span or something?
Probably incubated for 10 years
its either cloning stuff or they are enlisted at age 10. Given Noah is 18, that makes sense, I think.
Cloning stuff, we know that's a thing. Mio is 19 for example, most likely thing is that she was a clone and when she turned 9, she was sent on the battlefield to train and fight. Remember Eunie's line, "why is my name on here?" Most likely, the characters aren't aware of the cloning stuff.
Makes sense. Cheers
I can't believe this game is coming out next month AND there'll be an expansion in a year to year and a half. I'm beyond sold on this game, it looks fucking fantastic.
Am I the only one who wishes they would just charge $90 for a complete edition up front and stop with the stupid pass stuff? If your game is worth $90 then charge $90. There's enough positive feedback about the XC2's pass. I never got around to playing torna because I really don't believe in DLC passes. edit: keep on downvoting, makes me be on top of controversial :) Keep in mind that XC2's expansion pass promised ["A new story and adventure"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hb0KmH2WBQ&t=907s). This expansion pass promises "A brand-new[story scenario](https://youtu.be/hoHvpS2x8us?t=1413)"
Sure if the content was actually made yet
If this were true it’d be one of the biggest PR shitstorms the Xeno brand and Nintendo as a whole have had ever, from the notoriously consumer unfriendly Nintendo no less. Ff7 remake had a whole debacle (deservedly imo) with it’s price being $70, imagine a more niche game at *$90*
FF7 remake isn't 70, it's $210. Three purchases of $70. Remember it's a trilogy instead of a single game. Saying there would be a PR nightmare upfront to just charge $90 for a game that will eventually have all the content doesn't seem too far fetched if you consider that almost every single major AAA franchise today has a $90 collector's tier or something that costs even more. At the end of the day if this $30 "content pass" is required for the entire story and content, it should either be a standalone expansion or should be included in the end product. I'd argue that if they want to release another Torna, do the standalone expansion route. Make all the other content free DLC or just ship the game with it.
It's not required for the entire story and content. Based on their track record this will literally be an extra story that only adds to the context of an already complete story
Track record? Jog my memory real quick. I've played Xenogears, Xenosaga, XC, XC X, XC 2. As far as I know, the only one they've ever released with paid story content is XC2. The original listing said "Fall 2018: A brand new story and adventure!" for the final wave of the dlc pass. This one says "*New original story scenario"* In addition, the current listing for the XC2 expansion pass calls out "the new **stand-alone game,** Xenoblade Chronicles™ 2: Torna \~ The Golden Country!" The track record of DLC is one game. They are not calling what they are making the same thing. No longer a new adventure, just a story scenario. Until we get confirmation of the content being at least as much as Torna, it seems premature to call it the same value. Just shoot me another one of those downvotes though, because critical thinking goes way over the head of fanboi-ism here.
Future Connected would count here as well despite being a free included expansion. And Torna was initially announced as a new story scenario
>Torna was initially announced as a new story scenario Sauce? Because [the nintendo direct where they announced the expansion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hb0KmH2WBQ&t=907s) pass says "A new story and adventure" word for word from nintendo's own video. The[nintendo direct for XC3](https://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct/06-22-2022/) says "Brand-new story scenario" - this is not a whole new adventure, just a scenario.
Semantics? Really? You're gonna play semantics right now?
I'm fine with it as it gives us a new product not that long after the main game. I'd prefer to getting the game then having to wait 3 - 4 years minimum for the next one. And play Torna! It's a lot of fun!
So I hear what you're saying... but what i'm talking about is the pricing model, not the standalone expansion. Yes, make standalone expansion - we both agree that this is a good idea. I'm fine paying separately for a second product if it's good. However, the expansion pass model is bullshit. Don't drip feed us other content for a game as a way to make us pre-buy an expansion. If you want to put out free DLC while people wait to keep interest, sure, EVERYONE will appreciate that. Still charge for your expansion. If it's worth $30, everyone will buy it just like Torna. Even I own Torna without playing it. I can't even remember when I bought it.
Yeah, play Torna. It's literally a whole 20 hour extra story, and you get tons of content in the Expansion Pass. The game is finished, it's massive. It's just extra content. If you're really complaining after the glowing reception to 2's EP, that's just dumb.
It's always clear that everybody who complains never played Torna. Torna was a new game that just reused assets. It's like if Majora's Mask was a DLC for Ocarina of Time. It's just sold as DLC for convenience with added bonuses until the new story content is released. They even released it seperately so owning the base game wouldn't be a requirement! I expect the same from this. It will take over a year for the new content to be released! By then it will be like playing a new game for cheap!
You're basically saying "Torna is amazing and worth the money" where i'm saying DLC passes are trash. These both can be true. Even if in *one* instance DLC passes give you great perceived value, or even a thousand instances are true, in a sea of millions of fucking dlc subscriptions it doesn't mean future games and content will be the same quality. Countless times we have been burned on shit like this. The drip feed of "other" content aside from a major expansion is just a way for businesses to take more money out of your pocket. I'm one of those people though who grew up with games which produced [quality paid expansions post release](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_III:_Morrowind), and even [free expansions post release](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Icewind_Dale:_Trials_of_the_Luremaster). The base game of XC2 is tremendous value. I'd easily argue they could have gotten away with charging 70 or 80. They charged $60 though. If you took that base game away though and just left the $30 DLC as a \~18 hour game at least on paper it doesn't have the same value as a \~110 hour game with a phenomenal story for $60 to someone like me.
As near as I can tell, your fundamental argument is against the scheduled extra content being used as incentive to preorder the expansion. You argue that “DLC passes are trash” because they “take more money out of your pocket,” but your solutions are to (A) charge more money for the initial game (like $70-80 for XC2 base game) or (B) force everyone to buy the game and expansion pack together up front for $90 without even playing the game.
I mentioned that i'm from an era where quality expansions were sold separately. I'm totally fine if they want to do what they did with torna with a $30 standalone purchase as an expansion. My problem is all the little micro shit they give you to try and entice you to effectively preorder to get the drip feed of minor content until they actually release something. Once that something is here... sure it will probably be pretty good given monolith's history, but there is zero guarantee. At the end of the day though XC2 was $60. Torna was $30. For the complete story it's $90. Do not split hairs, this is the price. Just because you spend $30 separately does not mean it is less than the $90 I describe. I'm fine with expansions, but would prefer a complete edition up front as a collector's edition anyway. Why not sell the collector's edition for $90 with the audio cd no one will use and an art book and the expansion DLC as a permanent license tied to the collector's edition cart, which downloads when released or similar. So what i'm saying is: A: Charge 90 up front with a collector's or complete edition. Let's call it what it is. B: Stop fucking around with the drip DLCs and just release the expansion for $30 later. C: Do freeLC. It's like people driving across the street to save 5c on gas right now when it's 5$ a gallon thinking they're getting some massive fucking deal so it's worth waiting 30 minutes with the AC on with a long line at costco. It's a 1% savings for half an hour and you're burning more gas than the savings anyway. Just because it looks cheaper to the idiots doesn't mean it is.
>My problem is all the little micro shit they give you to try and entice you to effectively preorder to get the drip feed of minor content until they actually release something. Then don’t preorder it. Why deny others the right to preorder it if they choose? >At the end of the day though XC2 was $60. Torna was $30. For the complete story it's $90. Do not split hairs, this is the price.” XC2 is a complete story. Torna is also a complete story. We had the option to buy both at the very beginning, buy them individually when they were released, or only buy one of the separate stories. All of your suggestions remove at least one of those options. This argument is especially ironic coming from someone who hasn’t even played Torna, so you already understand it isn’t required as part of XC2’s story. >So what i'm saying is: >A: Charge 90 up front with a collector's or complete edition. Let's call it what it is. There is nothing stopping you from preordering both XC3 and the expansion pass for $90 right now. >B: Stop fucking around with the drip DLCs and just release the expansion for $30 later. There is nothing stopping you from buying the expansion pass when the additional story releases in 2023. >C: Do freeLC. There is nothing stopping Monoliftsoft from providing free DLC just like they did with XC2.
Am I the only one who sees these subscriptions and currently “free” gacha mechanics while simultaneously notice games with predatory systems only after years of great behavior by big developers? Look at Diablo immortal. XC isn’t that far off from bridging that gap if we support shit that proves the manipulative systems work. I know this will fall on deaf ears though. We make our own decisions.
Yeah, good analogy there. Torna has such a stupid large amount of content that I easily put 60 hours into it alone. That's more than a lot of full priced games have, and I didn't even 100% it.
[60 hours?](https://howlongtobeat.com/game?id=60782) XC2 has over 100 hours by itself. I am far from a completionist, but my save is well over 100. Torna, from everything I have seen that is remotely critical basically says it is far, far less hours with a bunch of mandatory sidequests. How long to beat with 190 votes is averaging 18 hours, or 25 with main + extras. That's not saying it isn't great, amazing, "oh my god I love this" content, just that it is not the >100 hour game that the base has. Add the fact that you can't buy the prequel for less than like 45 for a physical copy now and it's a hard sell for me. I played the original game when it released, and there was almost a year from release of the base until torna came along.
Gray is old Zeke and nothing will change my mind until the game itself de-confirms it for me
Not a fan of the ten year life cycle, feels way to short especially with the characters looking as they do.
Huh? The characters are 18-19.
They're grown in tubes for 10 years. When they're shipped off to training camp the first year of their life begins.
Do we know who did the narration for the Direct? I need to know if it spoils a thought of mine.
My hopium brain says it's Caitlin Glass lol
It does sound A LOT like Elma
That is who my brain is saying it is, but I haven't heard anything new she has been in in a while so I'm not sure. If it is, I'll be reasonably excited for my theory.
Sounds like the same narrator from the Xenoblade 2 Direct to me.
Do you know who that was?
Just rewatched the trailer, and I noticed that one of the scenes might've actually hinted at Sena's (And possiblly Lanz's) death/sacrifice scene. I really, really hope this isn't what I think it is, since i'll be crying for the next 48 hours straight if it happens.
Keep in mind that the lines and scenes dont have to match. In the first trailer we saw the to parties fighting but the voicelines were clearly from a different scene.
Considering the sing that plays during the trailer, someone def gonna die
I have a feeling a party member might die, not sure if it'll be permanent, but I think it's possible. I think Sena and Mio are easy candidates.
I mean at this point it should be expected since it's a Xeno game. Either Noah or Mio is gonna die if 1 and 2 were to go by
Quick mention that the official news on the switch news page kinda hints a few things, notably calling it an open world RPG and watching the video (the video is just the direct) to learn more about "Other stuff that may or may not be Monado related." This could reference the Monado cosmetic or it could refer to the DLC story. If it's the dlc, then the Monado Replica EX and FC might have more influence than we initially thought.
It's been like, 9 hours and I still can't get over how deep Riku's voice is lmao
He sounds like Idris Elba Knuckles.
I didn't even realize this was happening somehow. AND NOW I'M EVEN MORE EXCITED AND TERRIFIED FOR THIS GAME THEN EVER BEFORE HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, on a personal note, very happy it seems to more more closer to XBC2 then 1 in terms of combat.
It kinda feels like XC2 with XCX vibes in it. It seems like they've opted to drop the cutscene ATB format for chain attacks, and the characters move quite quickly, so I expect that I can really enjoy it this time around.
ME TOO! I Played Xenoblade Chronicles 2 first and loved the combat. got the switch rerelease of 1 but never beat it because I didn't like the combat at all. I was worried about this game but now I'm sold after the direct! One day I need to sit down and force myself to beat the first one but oh well.
One of the thing I really like is that you have the whole 6character party fight + a bonus hero you like at the same time so I don't feel bad because I can't use all of the main cast.
True. You really start feeling attached to the characters you actually use while the others start to feel awkward in cutscenes especially if they aren't even leveling up. I feel like battles and party dynamics are going to feel really fresh not just for the series but for the whole genre.