Xenoblade Chronicles 2

[The DanMan]

Just getting around to the Gamespot footage:

"Our friend's execution draws near! Make haste."

The IGN footage had Nia alongside Rex and they fought a few soldiers before Brigghid made a surprise experience on her own, resulting in a boss fight of sorts. And then they skipped the following cutscene and Rex was on his own. Seems like the IGN demo happened shortly before the Gamespot one.

[Armagon]

Commercials for the game have begun airing in Japan

It's mostly stuff you would expect from commercials. However, the last commercial shows a scene where Vandham is fighting Malos in the same place where Pyra transforms into Mythra for the first time.

[Etrurian emperor]

I'm really rooting for the British voice acting to pull through. Everything being so British gave Xenoblade its own sense of identity, especially with the villains. It would be a shame if this would be lost due to them not being able to replicate the quality of the original voice acting.

First impression of it aren't that good but they also weren't with Kid Icarus which then went on to have consistently excellent voice acting the entire game. So I'l remain rooting for them.

[The DanMan]

@Armagon 0:40 in the linked video:

There are two new characters being attacked by red and blue flames. Red flames is obviously Pyra, so they're probably Torna or some other faction. But the only Blade we've seen use blue flames is Brigghid... so this just furthers the theory that Morag and Brigghid are the final party members.

[Armagon]

14 minutes ago, The DanMan said:

@Armagon 0:40 in the linked video:

 

  Hide contents

There are two new characters being attacked by red and blue flames. Red flames is obviously Pyra, so they're probably Torna or some other faction. But the only Blade we've seen use blue flames is Brigghid... so this just furthers the theory that Morag and Brigghid are the final party members.

 

Spoiler

Didn't even notice that but yeah, i'm fully expecting Morag and Brigghid to join the party. And if we go by that wallpaper and chart, then Vandham and Roc would be joining as well. You did mention that certain UI elements allowed for 6 party members to be displayed, right?

 

[The DanMan]

3 minutes ago, Armagon said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Didn't even notice that but yeah, i'm fully expecting Morag and Brigghid to join the party. And if we go by that wallpaper and chart, then Vandham and Roc would be joining as well. You did mention that certain UI elements allowed for 6 party members to be displayed, right?

 

I saw people saying that. However, Rex has also been seen with Vandham's Blade, so I have no idea what it means.

But yeah, Morag seems like a lock at this point.

[Armagon]

There was an interview with Gameinformer and Monolith Soft about XC2. It's pretty recent released the same day as the Direct.

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/xenoblade_chronicles_2/b/switch/archive/2017/11/07/xenoblade-chronicles-2-hands-on-feature.aspx?&PostPageIndex=1

I skimmed through most of it but here's some interesting things i learned

• You can buy boosters which increase your chances of getting a Blade of a certain elements.
• The Merc Missions take about 30 in-game minutes.
• Like Xenoblade Chronicles X, the game's story is told in chapters. There are 10 chapters. According to the interview, Ch.4 takes place at about the 45-hour mark. And i'm assuming that those first 45-hours were just going through the story and ignoring the sidequests and exploration.

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

6 hours ago, Armagon said:

• Like Xenoblade Chronicles X, the game's story is told in chapters. There are 10 chapters. According to the interview, Ch.4 takes place at about the 45-hour mark. And i'm assuming that those first 45-hours were just going through the story and ignoring the sidequests and exploration.

 

Either this game is extremely long, or the latter chapters go by quickly (hopefully that doesn't mean rushed). And hopefully this doesn't drag out the earlier chapters either. XC has been criticized somewhat for the Satorl Marsh-High Entia Tomb stretch. 

 

XCX did take a long time to complete the plot if you didn't intentionally rush it with something like Brainjack-Servant Sacrifice on some Millesaurs. But the chapters themselves were very short, you spend a lot of time between chapters leveling, sidequesting, and exploring. 

Edited November 10, 2017 by Interdimensional Observer

[Armagon]

10 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Either this game is extremely long, or the latter chapters go by quickly (hopefully that doesn't mean rushed). And hopefully this doesn't drag out the earlier chapters either. XC has been criticized somewhat for the Satorl Marsh-High Entia Tomb stretch. 

According to that same interview

Quote

 "As you may or may not have expected, the playtime required to beat this game is a little on the high side," Takahashi says. "If you just play the mainline story, there's still enough to probably be comparable to Xenoblade 1, but like in past Xeno series, if you are just playing the main story, there might be times where you encounter a boss or an enemy that's actually a little bit too tough or very tough for you to beat. I strongly recommend taking side roads, taking the time to explore different areas, defeating monsters, picking up items, leveling your character up, [and] doing quests."

 

Xenoblade Chronicles didn't have any chapters so it's kinda hard to compare it's 45-hour mark with Xenoblade Chronicles 2's 45-hour mark. I'm assuming for both that no sidequests or exploration were done. 

Then there's also the fact that we don't know how long it takes to complete each chapter in XC2. They mentioned Ch.4 happens at around the 45-hour mark, yes, but without context, we don't know if there was any chapters that were dragged out or not.

I do remember that it took me about a month to beat Xenoblade Chronicles and it totally wasn't because i spent like a week or two trying to beat Lorithia and Dragon King Alcar so i'm expecting Xenoblade Chronicles 2 to give me a similar amount of playtime. That said, due to how many quality-of-life improvements they made to the sidequests in XC2, i'm expecting to be doing quests more often than i did in XC1 so it's very likely that beating XC2 will take me more than a month.

[Quintessence]

14 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Either this game is extremely long, or the latter chapters go by quickly (hopefully that doesn't mean rushed). And hopefully this doesn't drag out the earlier chapters either. XC has been criticized somewhat for the Satorl Marsh-High Entia Tomb stretch. 

 

XCX did take a long time to complete the plot if you didn't intentionally rush it with something like Brainjack-Servant Sacrifice on some Millesaurs. But the chapters themselves were very short, you spend a lot of time between chapters leveling, sidequesting, and exploring. 

This doesn't bug me at all, as Xenoblade's charm isn't rushing through the main content, in my opinion. Going through side quests, exploration and diving through its visuals is what captivated me.

If it serves as reference, I'm doing my first file on XC 3D and I'm just going to Valak Mountain for first time at the 75hr mark, with side quests and "optimization" included. I may think that 45hr mark was just when I was in Satohrl Marsh. That said, my Wii version file was completed in 272 hrs. Or 172? :/

Edited November 11, 2017 by Quintessence

[Konnor97]

On 11/10/2017 at 7:14 PM, Armagon said:

According to that same interview

Xenoblade Chronicles didn't have any chapters so it's kinda hard to compare it's 45-hour mark with Xenoblade Chronicles 2's 45-hour mark. I'm assuming for both that no sidequests or exploration were done.

Technically it did, they just weren't explicitly shown. According to Xenoblade: The Complete Guide (strategy guide only released in Japan), there are 17 chapters plus the prologue. The chapters seem to be split up by the times when you are prompted to save after certain cutscenes.

[Armagon]

I found this neat little video pointing out Xenogears references in Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

 

[Armagon]

Chuggaconroy has given his thoughts on the game (or the first 25 hours of it at least) and hearing all of this come from one of the biggest Xenoblade experts out there pretty much erases any doubt i may have had with the game. December 1st needs to hurry up.

[The DanMan]

Welp, everybody besides Gamespot seems to be super positive about the game.

I was going to get the game regardless, but I'm glad to see that it'll be getting 8s and 9s from everyone (besides Gamespot).

[Armagon]

And the OST has been leaked. The battle themes sound amazing, both of them. And the Gormott Province day theme was the song that was used in the first trailer. Overall, i'm already feeling that this game's OST is better than the original's. I remember hearing about the composer of the OST saying he wanted this game's OST to be better than the original's and honestly, i think he succeeded.

5 hours ago, The DanMan said:

Welp, everybody besides Gamespot seems to be super positive about the game.

I was going to get the game regardless, but I'm glad to see that it'll be getting 8s and 9s from everyone (besides Gamespot).

I did some looking in to it, and honestly, i wouldn't take Gamespot's review that seriously. The same guy who's reviewing XC2 is apparently the same guy who said Persona 5's voice acting was bad. Now, i've never heard the Persona 5 VAs but considering the fact that the game's being considered for GOTY, i'm pretty sure that Persona 5's voice acting is considered good.

But yeah, it's nice to see that the game is getting almost universal praise.

Edited November 16, 2017 by Armagon

[LuxSpes]

Finally pre-ordered the game today since it's been confirmed I'll have a Switch to play it come Christmas. 

I'll probably force myself to stop looking at previews from now on since it just increases my urge to play the game and I'll most likely will have to wait till the 25th before playing the game.

And staying away from XC2 gameplay vid might be a wise decision since I've seen a comment on Twitter stating that the final boss fight has been uploaded to youtube. I wasn't able to find any other confirmations (probably because most people don't want to risk being spoiled), but it might be best to be cautious. 

Aside from that, I'll have to take the time to listen to all the leaked OSTs, but from what I've heard, the main battle theme, Gormott's theme and Uraya's theme are all amazing. 

 

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, LuxSpes said:

And staying away from XC2 gameplay vid might be a wise decision since I've seen a comment on Twitter stating that the final boss fight has been uploaded to youtube. I wasn't able to find any other confirmations (probably because most people don't want to risk being spoiled), but it might be best to be cautious. 

The final boss video has been taken down since but it's a sign that story spoilers are gonna start popping up soon and it's time to start locking down. I've also exited out of the Xenoblade Wiki temporarily to avoid spoilers as well.

If you watch YouTube on Google Chrome, you can turn also off thumbnails by going into Settings (on Chrome), then Advanced, and then Content Settings, which is located under Privacy and Security. After that, click on images and where it says "Block" click "Add" and type "www.YouTube.com" and all images on YouTube will be blocked. This includes profile pics, not that profile pics matter that much.

So you'll be able to browse YouTube without spoilery thumbnails. It won't do anything about spoiler titles though, unfortunately.

2 hours ago, LuxSpes said:

the main battle theme, Gormott's theme and Uraya's theme are all amazing.

They really are. Uraya's theme sounds so calming; it's like the new Satorl Marsh (Night).

I saw some preview footage of Mor Ardain, and the Mor Ardain theme sounds really amazing. It was also heard in the Direct.

The Mor Ardain theme hasn't leaked yet and i'm waiting for it to be leaked. Once it does though, that's the last song i'm downloading until the game releases.

[LuxSpes]

20 minutes ago, Armagon said:

The final boss video has been taken down since but it's a sign that story spoilers are gonna start popping up soon and it's time to start locking down. I've also exited out of the Xenoblade Wiki temporarily to avoid spoilers as well.

If you watch YouTube on Google Chrome, you can turn also off thumbnails by going into Settings (on Chrome), then Advanced, and then Content Settings, which is located under Privacy and Security. After that, click on images and where it says "Block" click "Add" and type "www.YouTube.com" and all images on YouTube will be blocked. This includes profile pics, not that profile pics matter that much.

So you'll be able to browse YouTube without spoilery thumbnails. It won't do anything about spoiler titles though, unfortunately.

They really are. Uraya's theme sounds so calming; it's like the new Satorl Marsh (Night).

I saw some preview footage of Mor Ardain, and the Mor Ardain theme sounds really amazing. It was also heard in the Direct.

The Mor Ardain theme hasn't leaked yet and i'm waiting for it to be leaked. Once it does though, that's the last song i'm downloading until the game releases.

That's good to hear. The final boss shouldn't be spoiled more than 2 weeks before the release. But I might actually turn off the thumbnails for youtube till I get far enough into the game. I got a big plot moment from Birthright spoiled by thumbnails.

Makes me wonder if there will be area in XC2 where the "main" version of the theme is the night theme, like Satorl Marsh and Sylvalum. Uraya could have been it judging by it's appearance, but the day theme is the one with more flourish. 

And I'm waiting to hear the Mor Ardain theme as well. 

[Omegaprism]

So this game coming soon finally pushed me to stop putting it off and beat Xenoblade Chronicle X. I love that game, and I don't know why I stopped playing it in the first place. That said, I am mildly annoyed that all of the lvl 60 skells and the coolest weapons only unlock after you beat the story.

Now I've got the slightly more daunting task of finishing Xenoblade 1's story. I only made it to sword valley.

I envy the lot of you who can play Xenoblade 2 on December 1st. I promised my wife I would stop buying myself videogames until after Christmas, because I keep ruining her shopping plans. I want it soooooo bad!

[Armagon]

13 hours ago, LuxSpes said:

And I'm waiting to hear the Mor Ardain theme as well. 

Well, we won't be hearing it for a while because the Xenoblade 2 OST got copyright striked. You could still listen to them by converting them to MP3 files using a certain converter that i don't have access to because school wifi blocked it but i doubt that the guy who uploaded them will be uploading any new songs now. 

I pretty much expected the strike after the final boss leaked.

That said, i was able to download some of the songs yesterday. I've put them on a SoundCloud playlist.

11 hours ago, Omegaprism said:

Now I've got the slightly more daunting task of finishing Xenoblade 1's story. I only made it to sword valley.

Yeah, you've still got a long way to go. You are already past the halfway point (the halfway point is Prison Island) but your journey is far from over. That said, from Sword Valley and onwards, the game's story does progress at a faster rate than before, though it's still pretty lengthy if you do any sidequests.

11 hours ago, Omegaprism said:

I envy the lot of you who can play Xenoblade 2 on December 1st. I promised my wife I would stop buying myself videogames until after Christmas, because I keep ruining her shopping plans. I want it soooooo bad!

Hang in there, buddy. After 12/1, Nintendo won't be there to stop spoilers from leaking so you'll have to lockdown to avoid any spoilers. I do recommend turning off YouTube thumbnails (you can see how in my previous post when i replied to LuxSpes). If you have a Twitter, i also recommend to mute any words that are associated with Xenoblade Chronicles 2. So mute words like "Xenoblade Chronicles 2", "Rex", "Pyra", "Nia", "Blade", etc.

Edited November 17, 2017 by Armagon

[Armagon]

This was from another thread

On 11/7/2017 at 8:17 PM, LuxSpes said:

However, something that I noticed in the direct and in gameplay footage afterwards is that it seems that there is an announcer during fights. Maybe it was first shown before, but it's the first time I've heard it and I'm really hoping that I can turn it off. It takes me out of the game and I just find it grating. I watched a clip where the party performed a Chain Attack and he was screaming "AMAZING!" every single time a character completed an attack. If I can't turn it off, I'm afraid it'll be irritating enough for me to mute the game during battle, which is not something I want to be doing in a Xenoblade game.

And i'm happy to confirm that yes, you can turn the announcer off. In fact, you can change the volume for the SFX, music, and voice acting for both cutscenes and gameplay separately.

Here are the sources

 

 

 

 

[LuxSpes]

15 hours ago, Armagon said:

Well, we won't be hearing it for a while because the Xenoblade 2 OST got copyright striked. You could still listen to them by converting them to MP3 files using a certain converter that i don't have access to because school wifi blocked it but i doubt that the guy who uploaded them will be uploading any new songs now. 

I pretty much expected the strike after the final boss leaked.

That said, i was able to download some of the songs yesterday. I've put them on a SoundCloud playlist.

Well you can still hear more of it in this gameplay footage where they're walking around a section of Mor Ardain. 

And thank you for that SoundCloud playlist. I was itching to listen to Uraya's theme again and thought it wouldn't be possible before the game came out. 

 

9 hours ago, Armagon said:

This was from another thread

And i'm happy to confirm that yes, you can turn the announcer off. In fact, you can change the volume for the SFX, music, and voice acting for both cutscenes and gameplay separately.

Here are the sources

This is great to hear. I had also noticed that the music was pretty loud in cutscenes, so to have so much control on music setting is great after suffering through super loud music in XCX's cutscenes. Probably will turn off the in-battle narrator even with the Englsih dub. 

[Armagon]

I'm just gonna leave this here

Hearing about what kind of personality Rex has has me even more excited for the game now. 

Yes, this is a spoiler-free Q&A.

Edited November 18, 2017 by Armagon

[The DanMan]

Welp, Nintendo's own press screens more or less leaked a playable character:

To the surprise of who, exactly?

[Armagon]

1 hour ago, The DanMan said:

Welp, Nintendo's own press screens more or less leaked a playable character:

  Hide contents

To the surprise of who, exactly?

 

Spoiler

More like two playable characters. I saw this coming from miles away.

Now the real question is, what was Roc doing in Rex's inventory? Reviewers have confirmed that the Special Blades (such as Pyra) are locked to their Driver. So you can't have Rex use Dromarch, for example. But if Roc is Vandham's Blade, then what was he doing with Rex.

Nintendo's own press also leaked two new Torna guys, and i think it's the same ones seen in the Japanese commercial. Please note that i have absolutely no idea what they're names are. I just know they are Torna because they are drawn in Tetsuya's artstyle.

Spoiler

 

 

Edited November 18, 2017 by Armagon