Xenoblade Chronicles X Review - Stabbing Dinosaurs in the Butt

[JonB]

Xenoblade Chronicles X Review - Stabbing Dinosaurs in the Butt

A Wii U huge, sweeping sci-fi epic that wears its JRPG badge with pride, but sheds trappings that might get in the way of newer players.

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[remnant_phoenix]

Xenoblade Chronicles X Review - Stabbing Dinosaurs in the Butt

A Wii U huge, sweeping sci-fi epic that wears its JRPG badge with pride, but sheds trappings that might get in the way of newer players.

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Do I need to have played the first Xenoblade Chronicles to get into the story?

 

[Arcadian Legend]

Do I need to have played the first Xenoblade Chronicles to get into the story?

Nope. Seperate universe, characters and story.

 

[JonB]

Do I need to have played the first Xenoblade Chronicles to get into the story?

Nope. Seperate universe, characters and story.

This is correct. Completely standalone game that only saves some mechanics and little goofy touches ala Final Fantasy.

 

[superline51]

Well, I would like to play this, but there's no way I'm buying a failing console for one game.

 

[meiam]

Yeah sounds like a cool game (I mean the best open world of the last console generation was dragon dogma so I'm not surprised a Japanese dev made another great one) but it's stuck on the wii u and will disappear into obscurity because of that.

Oh talking about that, was a pretty long review so I might have missed it, but I didn't see any mention of touchscreen which just make it doubly sad. One of the main reason the wii u is dying is that touch screen and here come a great game exclusive to it and it's not using it in a significant enough way that a 4 page review even bother mentioning it. (no waggle control either I'm assuming). Nintendo, just get out of the gimmick market or stop making console and free your great IP, please.

 

[DarklordKyo]

Yeah sounds like a cool game (I mean the best open world of the last console generation was dragon dogma so I'm not surprised a Japanese dev made another great one) but it's stuck on the wii u and will disappear into obscurity because of that.

Oh talking about that, was a pretty long review so I might have missed it, but I didn't see any mention of touchscreen which just make it doubly sad. One of the main reason the wii u is dying is that touch screen and here come a great game exclusive to it and it's not using it in a significant enough way that a 4 page review even bother mentioning it. (no waggle control either I'm assuming). Nintendo, just get out of the gimmick market or stop making console and free your great IP, please.

From what I can tell, it's a map/radar/resource gather-inator.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

And I'll soon be playing this with unbridled glee. What really gets me is a ton of reviewers can't even FINISH it it's so damned big.

 

[shintakie10]

Yeah sounds like a cool game (I mean the best open world of the last console generation was dragon dogma so I'm not surprised a Japanese dev made another great one) but it's stuck on the wii u and will disappear into obscurity because of that.

Oh talking about that, was a pretty long review so I might have missed it, but I didn't see any mention of touchscreen which just make it doubly sad. One of the main reason the wii u is dying is that touch screen and here come a great game exclusive to it and it's not using it in a significant enough way that a 4 page review even bother mentioning it. (no waggle control either I'm assuming). Nintendo, just get out of the gimmick market or stop making console and free your great IP, please.

Its the usual inventory management/map thing.

Honestly the touch screen has rarely been overly useful in most games unless its specifically built around it. Fatal Frame had amazing uses for the gamepad. Zombieu had great uses for the gamepad. Bayonetta? Not so much. In most rpgs its a nice extra that takes junk off your main screen and allows you easier access to inventory stuff and menus, but its not really essential (which is both a plus and a minus).

Really the most useful feature of the gamepad is and will always be the offscreen play. Being able to play full games on the gamepad has been a wonderful treat for me, allowing me to play games while the SO watches Netflix. After using it for so long I have trouble going back to other systems (even my PC gave me troubles with that until I got a tablet).

 

[JonB]

Oh talking about that, was a pretty long review so I might have missed it, but I didn't see any mention of touchscreen which just make it doubly sad.

No worries, but you missed it - page 2:

Navigating the big world is handled more than adequately, with a decent minimap, the ability to launch an overhead camera, and a followable quest guide, but the real jewel is the big map on the Gamepad's screen. You use this to manage your probe network, fast travel, find mission locations, and keep track of which map segments you've found everything in. It can get crowded later on, but it's hard to complain about so useful a tool with so much information in it.

One of the best uses of the gamepad ever. You do some finnicky management on it and always have both your full map (on the gamepad) and your minimap (on the main screen) available to you.

 

[meiam]

But does that involve the touchscreen? It sounds just like a map, something you could easily summon by simply pressing a button like most video game do and it work fine.

 

[THM]

Jabbing dinos in the butt?

Sold!

 

[shintakie10]

But does that involve the touchscreen? It sounds just like a map, something you could easily summon by simply pressing a button like most video game do and it work fine.

The idea is that it doesn't clutter your screen with information.

Random example.

Windwaker allowed you to, on the fly, switch items through use of the touch screen. Yes you could handle it old school style and bring up a menu, but why would you want to do that when you can just switch to your bombs with the touch screen without having to stop playing?

Splatton is a good example too. It had the full map on the screen at all times and at any time you could hop to another player by clicking them on the touch screen. It also showed you who was alive and who wasn't without needing to take up valuable screen space on the main screen.

Its not somethin you can't live without obviously, but its always been a wonderful addition to WiiU games.

 

[Arcadian Legend]

So how good are the odds that the reviewer spent 3 hours playing the game and gave up afterwards?

The same could be said of you. as you noticably haven't read most of it.

 

[Guffe]

I a so HYPED about this game!
2 more days to go.
Haven't bought a new game, or played properly for that matter, in MONTHS!
Hope this will bring back soem of that feelgood gaming feeling I've been without recently.

 

[JonB]

So how good are the odds that the reviewer spent 3 hours playing the game and gave up afterwards?

I'll post a screenshot of my play hours for you later tonight.

Also, enjoy your warning, please read the rules.

 

[Quellist]

Well, I would like to play this, but there's no way I'm buying a failing console for one game.

What with this, Starfox Zero and the new Zelda maybe the Wii U wont fail quite yet...

Either way i've put a tenner a week away for the past six months so i can justify buying a console just for one game

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

So how good are the odds that the reviewer spent 3 hours playing the game and gave up afterwards?

Considering the review, it's safe to say he saw enough. Heck, the game is so big a lot of reviewers haven't been able to finish the main story.

 

[JonB]

So how good are the odds that the reviewer spent 3 hours playing the game and gave up afterwards?

I'll post a screenshot of my play hours for you later tonight.

Forgot to get this up, but better late than never:

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/JonBolds/status/673592533830602752]

Hope you can trust the review now.

The game is so big a lot of reviewers haven't been able to finish the main story.

I was unable to finish the main story. I would have, but playing Fallout 4 to be qualified to be editor on that review kept me from it Too many games in November!