Xenoblade and The Last Story in the US?

[quote name='Dead of Knight']I didn't have any problems running Xenoblade. TLS just has very severe technical problems.[/QUOTE]

I actually found that shocking, that Xenoblade ran so damn well given the scale of the game. I guess this game is more detail heavy and uses more lighting/special effects but it definitely wasn't as refined as Xenoblade was with respects to technical standards.
 
[quote name='Vinny']I actually found that shocking, that Xenoblade ran so damn well given the scale of the game. I guess this game is more detail heavy and uses more lighting/special effects but it definitely wasn't as refined as Xenoblade was with respects to technical standards.[/QUOTE]

A lot of Xenoblade was stunning IMO, especially the environments. The game is a technical marvel. TLS is just embarrassing compared to it.

I beat the final boss last night, and then saved my game to watch the ending
and play the epilogue
tonight. The #1 thing I like about this game is the fast, easy grinding at the summon circles. Zael gained over 10 levels in under 10 minutes with that shit. Awesome.
 
Whelp, just finished it for good. I'll discuss more later but right now I need to go to sleep as I'm dead tired and got work tomorrow. If anyone is interested in a regular edition PAL copy, send me a PM with an offer.
 
Completely forgot about this thread. I had to install to a flash drive, because even the tutorial movies were slowing it down. Now our Wii sounds like the drive is going to break soon. Sigh.

I'm only on chapter 15, but yea, the story is cliche. Some parts of it reminds me of many of the FFs too. So far, it's insanely easy. Mini-bosses sometimes die when I think the fight is half over.

There's way too much of the zoom mode too, most of which is unnecessary.

I had higher expectations for this one. It's not horrible, but it's not far above average. Will probably try to finish it this weekend, since I have tomorrow off.
 
Yes. Xenoblade Chronicles is the better game easily. (I just prefer the battle system in The Last Story)

But, speaking as someone who suffered through Skyrim on PS3, when people like Dead of Knight are experiencing awful framerate issues it sucks big-time. (Skyrim pissed me off so much that I'm done with Bethesda as a company but that was zero frames per second so...;))
Click to expand...
 
I'm on chapter 26 now and I think I now understand why DoK was complaining about the framerate. During some of these fights, I'd say it's fallen as low as 10 fps.

But I kinda feel like the story is going to pick up a bit, even if it's somewhat cliched.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']I didn't have any problems running Xenoblade. TLS just has very severe technical problems.[/QUOTE]

She's right, the game even with dolphin chugs badly, was doing research into seeing how I could test it out just to see how it was and kept reading about FPS issues left and right and was like **OUCH**, ehh oh well won't get to play it till I can get back to my Wii anyway, so no big loss.

On the upside Pandora's Tower comes out next month, (put my pre-order in for it tonight), not even going to bother waiting for a US release announcement at this point in the way things have been going, would be nice to hear that NOE is localizing Earth Seeker, but I won't keep my hopes up.
 
^^ I still don't know whether or not to pre-order Pandora's Tower or hope it gets localized or if I even want to play it. Even before Operation Rainfall, TLS was the more anticipated game of the 3 and though it's a good game, I was hoping for something better considering the names behind it. I won't lie, I don't know jack about Pandora's Tower...

I'm nearing the end I believe (Chapter 40) and it has gotten better but it's also gotten much weirder. Some scenes/events seem so out of place and/or completely random.
 
Just finished TLS. Still think it's too easy. Doubt I'll play New Game+, but I haven't ruled it out. Credits rolled at about 25 hours, and I did a lot of side quests.
About 22.5hr to beat final boss.

The story is meh. A lot of it reminds me of FF7/8, including a lot of specific scenes. Not saying the stories are the same, but there are tons of parts where I was like, "Didn't I see this before?"

The gameplay isn't bad, but the controls and AI are sometimes infuriating. You tell a member to retreat, because either you want them out of the water, or not cast magic, then they'll do it anyways. Sometimes you suddenly run up the wall, slash instead of switch, hide instead of roll, etc. all because they're all the same button. The crappy part about the Wii. Left thumb stick also sucks, especially when you have to jiggle the stick.

Even installed on a flash drive, it lags. It was so much worse when I was running it from a disk. There's slowdowns in fights, and just traveling. It's pretty ridiculous. It's going to cause it to be hit hard on the ratings department here, I'm anticipating.

It has some nice CGs occasionally, but most of it still look like a last gen game.

tl;dr: 7.5/10 installed, probably
 
[quote name='Fell Open Ian']Yes. Xenoblade Chronicles is the better game easily. (I just prefer the battle system in The Last Story)

But, speaking as someone who suffered through Skyrim on PS3, when people like Dead of Knight are experiencing awful framerate issues it sucks big-time. (Skyrim pissed me off so much that I'm done with Bethesda as a company but that was zero frames per second so...;))
Click to expand...

[quote name='Dead of Knight']I don't think anyone complained about Xenoblade in this thread.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the replies...that is what I thought but read a couple posts that were a little vague, so thought I'd ask...

Pre-ordered Xenoblade yesterday...
 
Xenoblade is just plain fantastic... gotta be one of my favorite games of all time. As Vinny alluded to, I had over 160 hours on the clock and didn't even 100% the game. :lol: Probably at least 20 hours of that was idling, but still... and Vinny I believe finished it in 55 even without doing much quests.

I still don't know about Pandora's Tower. It's not even an RPG, it's an action game. I honestly don't know if I'd even like it. I do like the story/premise, but I dunno. I haven't heard much in the way of impressions about it.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']Xenoblade is just plain fantastic... gotta be one of my favorite games of all time. As Vinny alluded to, I had over 160 hours on the clock and didn't even 100% the game. :lol: Probably at least 20 hours of that was idling, but still...[/QUOTE]
I guess you never noticed hitting the Home button stops the clock?
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']Xenoblade is just plain fantastic... gotta be one of my favorite games of all time. As Vinny alluded to, I had over 160 hours on the clock and didn't even 100% the game. :lol: Probably at least 20 hours of that was idling, but still... and Vinny I believe finished it in 55 even without doing much quests.

I still don't know about Pandora's Tower. It's not even an RPG, it's an action game. I honestly don't know if I'd even like it. I do like the story/premise, but I dunno. I haven't heard much in the way of impressions about it.[/QUOTE]

Took me 63 hours, doing probably 10-15% of the sidequests. I didn't know PT wasn't an RPG, just figured it was since the other two games in Rainfall were. I guess I better read up on it on some/watch videos.
 
[quote name='Vinny']Took me 63 hours, doing probably 10-15% of the sidequests. I didn't know PT wasn't an RPG, just figured it was since the other two games in Rainfall were. I guess I better read up on it on some/watch videos.[/QUOTE]

Funny how no one knows about Pandora's Tower. I know nothing about it either.

I wanted TLS more than Xenoblades because I've actually never liked any of the Xeno games. I'll give Xenoblades a try, of course. Already have it on preorder.

Pandora's Tower is action role-playing, apparently. It's not necessarily a bad thing, since one of my favorite RPGs is still Secret of Mana. But I don't like most ARPGs.... So I haven't jumped on ordering PT yet, and I'm not sure I will.
 
[quote name='pete5883']I guess you never noticed hitting the Home button stops the clock?[/QUOTE]

Yeah it does, but sometimes I was too lazy to even do that. :lol:

One of the more bullshit things in TLS is that the Home button is disabled during cutscenes, and there is no other way to pause the game. If you need to get up and do something during a cutscene, you're shit outta luck. fuck you Sakaguchi, what was the point of that?
 
[quote name='elessar123']
I wanted TLS more than Xenoblades because I've actually never liked any of the Xeno games. I'll give Xenoblades a try, of course. Already have it on preorder.
[/QUOTE]

Wait... you didn't like Xenogears? That game's a fucking masterpiece even after Square forced them botch up the second half. Oh, how I would love for the other arcs of that series get finish.

Xenosaga 3 was also a fantastic game if you can force yourself to go through the first two games, which are unreasonably archaic and clusterfucked.

[quote name='Dead of Knight']Yeah it does, but sometimes I was too lazy to even do that. :lol:

One of the more bullshit things in TLS is that the Home button is disabled during cutscenes, and there is no other way to pause the game. If you need to get up and do something during a cutscene, you're shit outta luck. fuck you Sakaguchi, what was the point of that?[/QUOTE]

Actually... there is a way. If you unplug the Nunchuck or Classic Controller from the Remote, it'll stop everything and show you an error message (even during cut-scenes/FMVs). To un-pause, you have to plug the Nunchuck/CC back in.:p


Anyway, I just beat the game. I really did think the final quarter of the game rinsed itself of the cookie-cutter RPG aspects and told a pretty compelling finale. One thing I will say is that I love the characters, especially all the interactions during the battles/dungeons.

Is there anything to do worthwhile in the Epilogue?
 
[quote name='Vinny']Wait... you didn't like Xenogears? That game's a fucking masterpiece even after Square forced them botch up the second half. Oh, how I would love for the other arcs of that series get finish.

Xenosaga 3 was also a fantastic game if you can force yourself to go through the first two games, which are unreasonably archaic and clusterfucked.



Actually... there is a way. If you unplug the Nunchuck or Classic Controller from the Remote, it'll stop everything and show you an error message (even during cut-scenes/FMVs). To un-pause, you have to plug the Nunchuck/CC back in.:p


Anyway, I just beat the game. I really did think the final quarter of the game rinsed itself of the cookie-cutter RPG aspects and told a pretty compelling finale. One thing I will say is that I love the characters, especially all the interactions during the battles/dungeons.

Is there anything to do worthwhile in the Epilogue?[/QUOTE]

Yeah, Xenogears is just a classic. Though, I replayed Xenosaga 3 recently and it turns out that that game is also shit with some redeeming points. God Shion is the worst protagonist ever.

Also, Xenoblade has absolutely nothing to do with Xenogears/saga and it was only renamed that for name recognition.

Vinny, there are a couple of worthwhile things in the epilogue. It ties up some loose ends. The epilogue is seriously only a couple hours long and it's not hard, so you have nothing to lose.
 
[quote name='Vinny']One thing I will say is that I love the characters, especially all the interactions during the battles/dungeons.[/QUOTE]

I didn't like Callista very much. She was missing from so much of the game, so she was pretty two-dimensional to me. I started out not liking Mirania, but she ended up being my favorite character, and her skills were great.
 
[quote name='Vinny']Actually... there is a way. If you unplug the Nunchuck or Classic Controller from the Remote, it'll stop everything and show you an error message (even during cut-scenes/FMVs). To un-pause, you have to plug the Nunchuck/CC back in.:p[/QUOTE]
Thanks, I will definitely end up needing to do this.
 
My copy of TLS finally sold on Amazon.... yay.

I think I might actually get Pandora's Tower, just because there really is nothing coming out at all for the next few months. May as well give it a shot.
 
Got my copy of Xenoblade today, and played it for roughly 90 minutes.

+/- The game is very involved. Characters to talk to give you Affinity/Quests/XP up the ying yang. You could really get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of content IN THE FIRST TOWN.
+ Pretty Good Voice Acting Thus Far
+/- The game looks very pretty for a 2009 game. Some parts however, do not. It's like...a much less jaggy Final Fantasy XII
+ Really Good Music
+ Day/Night cycle that I can change the time on at any time is good; not to mention that content changes based on the time of day.
+ Combat is similar to FFXII in terms of play style, but has a better interface
+ Tutorials are simple and easy to follow

Pick it up, folks. Pick it up. I mean, I'd say it's put most JRPG's I've played this gen to shame only after 90 minutes. It's even put Skyward Sword to shame in some parts.
 
I love the British accents on the voice acting. I know they kept the voice acting from the European release to save money but it adds a little bit of uniqueness because we never get foreign accents in games it seems like.

I'm about 45 minutes in and it does feel a bit overwhelming to me as well but its definitely got its hooks to keep me playing.
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']I love the British accents on the voice acting. I know they kept the voice acting from the European release to save money but it adds a little bit of uniqueness because we never get foreign accents in games it seems like.

I'm about 45 minutes in and it does feel a bit overwhelming to me as well but its definitely got its hooks to keep me playing.[/QUOTE]

I'm assuming there's still the Japanese voice option?

Picked mine up, not opening or playing it. Put it in a drawer. I put 160 hours into this game a few months ago, not touching it again for a while. :lol:
 
[quote name='KingBroly']
+/- The game is very involved. Characters to talk to give you Affinity/Quests/XP up the ying yang. You could really get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of content IN THE FIRST TOWN.
[/QUOTE]

What I did was basically talk to everyone and accept every quest. Many of them you'll complete simply by killing monsters/wandering around in the world.

Building good relations with allies helps during the later parts of the game (during combat). It can be a bit frustrating later in the game though as with newer characters, you'll have less time to developer them (unless you do sidquests).

Also, don't forget to make use of your quick travel (not the shortcut from the quick menu, the real one from the regular menu). You can literally travel from the very last point in the game to the very first... assuming you've discovered the landmarks.
 
I forgot to mention that you can only get certain quests are certain times of the day. So you literally have to cover the town three times over to get all of the Quests/Affinities, minimum.

I'm 5.5 hours in now, by the way, and it's getting better. I still haven't fully uncovered the first area of the map.
 
I preordered it at GS and picked it up Friday afternoon. Very impressed with it so far. It feels like an old school JRPG with some Western and MMO mechanics thrown into the mix. I love the music so far too. This is probably the best JRPG I've played since FFX.
 
Really impressed with the game so far. I keep thinking back to last year when Nintendo said they had no plans to publish it, and now I can't believe I'm playing it!
 
I wonder how long it takes to get from one end of
Bionis' Leg
to the other. It must take 15 minutes. I've gone over this area for like an hour and I'm still not halfway done filling in the map :S

Oh, and the game decided to throw in weather effects as well.
 
[quote name='KingBroly']I wonder how long it takes to get from one end of
Bionis' Leg
to the other. It must take 15 minutes. I've gone over this area for like an hour and I'm still not halfway done filling in the map :S

Oh, and the game decided to throw in weather effects as well.[/QUOTE]

You can't really determine the actual scale of each part. Some areas are significantly larger but easy to navigate while others are smaller (though differences are marginal) but more complex, with lots of routes/hidden paths.
 
I'm about 20 hours in now, and I'm really liking the game, but I have a few questions.

The items you get from the little orbs, are they used for anything other than side quests? I've been keeping 5 of each in inventory and selling anything beyond that. Seems to be pretty effective so far with completing a lot of side quests instantly, but I don't know if I should hold on to more for anything later in the game.

Is there any reason to keep gems that I craft and don't really use? I sold a TON of the level I gems that I made to help buy all the books for opening up the skill trees and now I'm wondering if that was a mistake. Should I keep them from now on? Do you get any skills later in the game that let you use them like, combining 5 level I to make them into a level II gem or something?

Are side quests the only way to raise affinity with party members? I've done a bunch of side quests, but I've only been able to see one of those hand hold markers other than the tutorial one. Also does affinity affect the gem crafting, because I noticed when Reyn's went up, at the same time I now get more crafting turns with him and Shulk as partners.

Lastly, does the gear selection ever really open up? I'm at Bionis'
swamp ass
right now, and I've looked at every merchant along the way and I've had gear on some of my party members that has been better than anything available to buy for like 10+ hours. Even though I saved up and bought the best stuff in the earlier towns, I expected it to be outclassed by something by now.
 
[quote name='blindinglights']I'm about 20 hours in now, and I'm really liking the game, but I have a few questions.

The items you get from the little orbs, are they used for anything other than side quests? I've been keeping 5 of each in inventory and selling anything beyond that. Seems to be pretty effective so far with completing a lot of side quests instantly, but I don't know if I should hold on to more for anything later in the game.

Is there any reason to keep gems that I craft and don't really use? I sold a TON of the level I gems that I made to help buy all the books for opening up the skill trees and now I'm wondering if that was a mistake. Should I keep them from now on? Do you get any skills later in the game that let you use them like, combining 5 level I to make them into a level II gem or something?

Are side quests the only way to raise affinity with party members? I've done a bunch of side quests, but I've only been able to see one of those hand hold markers other than the tutorial one. Also does affinity affect the gem crafting, because I noticed when Reyn's went up, at the same time I now get more crafting turns with him and Shulk as partners.

Lastly, does the gear selection ever really open up? I'm at Bionis'
swamp ass
right now, and I've looked at every merchant along the way and I've had gear on some of my party members that has been better than anything available to buy for like 10+ hours. Even though I saved up and bought the best stuff in the earlier towns, I expected it to be outclassed by something by now.[/QUOTE]

1. Don't sell them. You can use them to raise affinity by gifting them. Certain people like certain things.

2. Just sell em.

3. No. Like I said, gifting the collectibles is one way to do it. Also fighting with them in battle is another way to do it. Switch your party up frequently to get affinity spread between party members. Yes affinity does affect gem crafting.

4. Generally the best shit is going to be found.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']

3. No. Like I said, gifting the collectibles is one way to do it. Also fighting with them in battle is another way to do it. Switch your party up frequently to get affinity spread between party members. Yes affinity does affect gem crafting.

4. Generally the best shit is going to be found.[/QUOTE]

You can... gift items to members? Seriously...? I must have missed that completely when I played.:whistle2:k

Also for suggestion 4, it's worth noting that gem forging (or whatever it was called) is also a very key part of the equipment. If you have strong affinity between two characters, you can forge some good gems.
 
Thanks for the tips DoK. I stopped selling the collectibles and used a guide to gift them and raised the affinity a good bit between party members. Now I've been able to easily craft III's from the II level stuff I have. Does affinity have any other importance besides the heart to hearts and gem crafting?
 
[quote name='blindinglights']Thanks for the tips DoK. I stopped selling the collectibles and used a guide to gift them and raised the affinity a good bit between party members. Now I've been able to easily craft III's from the II level stuff I have. Does affinity have any other importance besides the heart to hearts and gem crafting?[/QUOTE]

It does for chain attacks. The highest I got was 15... which was kinda crazy. Most of the heart-to-heart conversations also require a specific affinity level in order for you to see them though it doesn't impact how the conversations go (but your answers could result in affinity going down).
 
[quote name='RabbitSuit']Something new Operation Rainfall is trying out.
[/QUOTE]

Hmmm.

I wouldn't even bother with Atlus or NIS. Really I'd scratch Ignition off the list as well. XSEED is the most obvious bet, and then I wouldn't know who to put next in line. Rising Star is fairly new, yeah? They might be willing to prove themselves if they thought the game would be a hit.

I do like the idea of a trilogy box holding all three games. It will set them off properly in a way.
 
[quote name='Strell']

I do like the idea of a trilogy box holding all three games. It will set them off properly in a way.[/QUOTE]

I pretty much want to donate $10 simply for that slipbox. But I get the feeling that this will get shut down as it has the names/logos of all 3 games without authorization.

[quote name='Dead of Knight']I think I'd want to play the game first before I donate any money. TLS didn't deserve a release here, I hope Pandora's Tower is better.[/QUOTE]

I'm just glad I was able to dump my TLS LE (without the Steelbook, which I kept) for $40 after all fees, but it was still a loss of $26 as it cost me $66 originally. I didn't think the game was bad but definitely not worth more than $30.

I've got Pandora's Tower LE coming... but I only ordered it for the trilogy artbook/box (I'm a sucker for swag), though it's unlikely I'll get the bonuses. I missed the pre-order period completely, and ordered when they re-listed it, at which time the bonus being included wasn't clearly mentioned.:whistle2:/
 
I ended up dumping my TLS for $30 plus fees, but it was the regular edition. The game didn't have shortages like Xenoblade and I guess word got around quick that the game sucks ass.

In the Deals thread on Pandora's Tower, there's a mention that the trilogy box is a flimsy piece of shit. Glad I didn't get the LE for that.
 
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