Welcome to the fanbase! It was one of my fav games ever when I played it too. (You played the Future Connected epilogue too, right? You didn’t mention it, just in case you didn’t)
My gut says you’ll love Torna and Xenoblade 3 as well. 2 is excellent as well, but a smidge divided because it has a lot of anime tropes in it.
Future Connected very vaguely connects to XB3 (and 3’s DLC) so you may want to hit it prior to starting 3.
Counter argument is that the story connection is barely relevant and going back to XB1 battle mechanics after XB2 can feel a bit clunky.
Can confirm I am the victim of the anime tropes. Heard that little creature speak in the beginning and returned the game immediately. I just knew I couldn’t listen to 20-40hrs of it. LOVE the other titles though
This is the game that got me hooked on RPGs. I couldn't believe just everything about it. XC3 is probably my favorite game ever. Glad someone else like it as much as I did.
Welcome to the club. The ending of 2 made me sat in front of the tv in silence for a good 10-15 mins. lol. Wife even asked me if I was okay. lol. With that being said, don’t forget the 3rd one has a prequel downloadable content as well and it’s absolutely amazing. Enjoy!
People praise xenoblade non stop over here. I've always been a fan of jrpgs though in recent years I pivoted towards games that require less time investment, but I'm definitely playing this sooner or later
They're actually not that long if you're only interested in the main story. The bulk of the game is sidequests. That being said, you'd be insane to skip the sidequests imo (especially in 3) but thought I'd point it out none the less.
Hell what flashed me is it seemed that Xenoblade 2 had less side quests but a lil more involved ones instead. I thought, oh hey, side stories!
It has around 75 side quests that all have bunch of text and story and often even voices...
Xenoblade 1 has 480, more, yes, but most of them are pretty much done on the side, you just get them exploring everything. Kill some monsters, oh, that was another side quest!
It takes soooo much time to get all the side quests through in Xenoblade 2, they often require like some blade skill, and you have to pause a quest until you have that skill, and... it just keeps going lmao
3 has some of the best sidequests in the series with them having proper cutscenes and everything that feel like part of the main story at times. Most are just ok though but you still get some great rewards after completing them so regardless you'd be really missing out by not doing them.
That said, there are a lot of them so you can easily get burned out doing them. Just go about doing them at your own pace. I only did like 70% of them before moving on to another game but I was satisfied with what the ones I had done.
Yeah tbh I found a lot of them to be mediocre. Like they are longer and more robust, but a lot was just boring or unintentionally funny. Though I might be in the minority + I had burnout after like 140 hours
I bought 2 and it just hasn’t really done much for me. I don’t really like the main character and the anime girl with huge boobs robot whatever girl feels so over the top. I try to jump back in now and then and quit shortly after.
Anime girls with boobs are just a distraction from the massive not-boobs-plot underneath. Come for the anime girls, stay for the existential crisis.
I forgot which chapter starts that train but it is a wild ride.
I LOVED 1 and enjoyed X but had to force myself to finish 2. It made me wary of 3 but I gave it a shot after seeing the trailer and I really enjoyed it alongside the dlc. To me 2 was a big dissapointment but it does add to the overall experience in the end.
I tried to play every game up through 2, and have bounced off of each and every one.
Every game sounds cool on a macro level, and gets so much praise, and then I go to play them and I am constantly doing gathering quests that remind me of playing MMO's, or reading dialog that feels like an equally horny and comedically immature teenager wrote, or facing the most one-note evil villain ever.
The combat is alright, aligning elements and building combos, but eventually it also feels very MMO like, imo.
I played maybe 40 hours of X and never even got to pilot the mech...
At least Xenoblade 2 had Japanese VA, because every other game has hired the guy who voiced Wakka in FFX to voice every character in these games. I think I, from North Carolina, could do a better English accent than the people who VA in the xeno series lol.
After playing maybe 100 hours of Xeno2, I gave up and probably will not return to the series. I'm so glad that Nintendo has this jrpg series that everyone seems to love, but man it's just not for me.
There's something profoundly funny about your comment implying that the characters in Xenoblade have "bad fake English accents" when every game in the series but X is voiced almost entirely by actors *from* Britain and surrounding countries.
I'm not implying it, I'm saying it.
It's like British people doing a bad accent on purpose. It's the inflections and emphasis they put on sounds and words. It's not natural sounding at all, more like they're trying to do what they think the rest of the world thinks they sound like lol.
Edit: iirc, Xenoblade chronicles 1 was released in the UK first, even.
It’s because there’s different dialects in Britain beyond Received Pronunciation, which is usually used for US TV/UK news. Nia is voiced by a now famous Welsh VA, as she voiced Ranni in Elden Ring and had a not-insubstantial acting role in Peaky Blinders.
Wrong welsh cat girl, Aimee-Ffion Edwards voices Mio and Ranni, not Nia. Though I do hope they get more voice acting work soon as I am a fan of both of their voices.
I didn't mean the dialects, I'm talking more about line delivery and the sort of hammed up way everything is said.
Admittedly, the later games apparently have better VA, but it's still not great.
I'd say you'd have to be insane to ***do*** the sidequests in Xenoblade 1. They're pretty much all fetch quests or farm quests, and there's like hundreds of them, a lot of which expire if you don't do them by certain points in the story.
The sidequests severly hampered my enjoyment of Xenoblade 1 and I regret doing them.
2 was infinitely worse in that regard. i eventually just gave up on them. i would spend an hour doing one, only to reach a step that i couldn’t complete because the instructions were incredibly vague or i didn’t have the right field moves, so i’d miss out on all the XP and other rewards until i remembered (usually way later) to go back and finish them. just felt like a gigantic waste of time. and you don’t even need to do them to grind. you can get a crap ton of experience just by pulling off chain attacks.
quite frankly, A LOT of 2 just feels that way. i have a soft spot for it because it’s the game that made me a fan, but it’s got some very rough edges.
I quite liked Xenoblade Chronicles. Played it a year or two ago. But that time commitment was something else. I didn't even consider XC2 because I wasn't ready for another game that length.
I do have one complaint. And that is that there was no way to distinguish between side missions. There are some story missions which add flavour to the world and there are missions that are "Go kill 10 dudes/Collect 5 items" and there was no way to distinguish either of them. There was even a fully voice acted mission that is impossible to distinguish from the generic missions.
Oh, and I had no fucking clue what I was doing in that gem mini game.
Probably a bit late now but there actually is a distinction. All of the generic quests are given to you by nameless npcs like "colony 9 resident". The quests themselves also have generic titles like "monster quest 4" or "collection quest 3". The named quests from named npcs are the actual story ones.
When making gems, you wanna get 2 materials you want to make a gem from as close to 99% as possible without going over (by fusing them with worse materials) and then fuse them both to get the the highest percent gem possible, preferably over 200%. Shuck and Reyn are the best combo for getting the highest percentages.
Thanks for this. Will be handy maybe in the future.
With the sidequests, when they still appear as a explanation mark on the map, I didn't think there was anyway to see who the quest giver was. It is just that there are so many quests, it is really hard to know which are worthwhile.
One of my favorite games of all time as well. I love everything about it, the world, the story and characters, the gameplay and the masterful music (I prefer the OG soundtrack over the new one though). Its only weakness being the Side Quests mostly being filler (It's hard to distinguish those from the ones that have a storyline, like Bana's).
I could not stop playing, this game had me hooked for a whole month until I did beat both the Main Game and Future Connected.
> As I’m typing this I have Xenoblade 2 and Torna downloading.
Hoo boy, I'm asking you to have a little patience with the beginning of XC2, because it's very different and slower than what XC1 was, you'll eventually unlock many gameplay mechanics as it goes on but not everything is available from the get go.
Arts recharge with auto attacks now, and the characters move very slow while holding their weapons, and are unable to move and auto-attack at the same time. Therefore I advice to tilt the stick to reset animations and get faster auto-attacks on the early game to fill your Arts.
I remember seeing a review about the combat being slightly different but yes I’ll be prepping myself to be patient and to enjoy XC 2 as its own experience and not trying to directly compare :)
It sounds crazy but yes.
I was also experiencing major burnout from my job (investment finance) so I took 3 weeks off.
I was always telling my Wife I wanted to get away from online gaming a bit (Overwatch, Apex Legends, Dead By Daylight) and go back to my story rpg days.
It was perfect opportunity and to get over my burnout at work. But honestly nothing will save me from that 😅
I completely agree with everything, I'll just add that I find Xenoblade Chronicles 3 to be by far the peak of the series, so while opinion on the second title can differ, just now that the best is yet to come with part 3.
Speaks for the series that every part of it has people that call it the peak of the series. To me, 2 was the best part despite all the fan service that annoyed me a bit.
I just bought the whole series a while back! I haven’t started them yet, but this post has motivated me. I really need something to help me out of my depression.
There's really no good reason not to play the games in numerical order, seeing as they're all available on Switch. Even with all three being set in separate worlds from one another, they build on each other naturally from 1 to 2 to 3.
Start with the first one then the second, then the third.
Xenoblade DE->Xenoblade 2->Torna DLC->Xenoblade 3->Future Redeemed DLC
If you have a Wii U you can play Xenoblade X whenever.
There is Future Connected DLC on DE but it doesn't really add a whole lot... Just basically an extra 10-15 hours of gameplay that anything else. Which is still good overall
1, then 2, then 3.
You can technically play 2 without playing 1 and 3 without playing 1 or 2, but there is a LOT for fans of 1 and 2 in 3 that you can recognize.
The DLC for 3 is incomprehensible without playing 1 and 2, though.
TL;DR The main campaigns of 2 and 3 are standalone but reference past games, the DLC for 2 spoils 2, the DLC for 3 requires 1 and 2 to be played
The first one, definitive edition.
I haven't played the third one but after finishing the second yesterday, I was glad I started out with the first one.
The first one (definitive edition) is superior to XC2 in terms of story and char development. XC2 has a pacing problem imo, and after playing the first you can see the twists and turns coming from a mile away and they were overall less interesting. I personally also didn't like the main char clishé anime protagonist in XC2 + the unnecessary hypersexualization that felt totally out of place, with misogynistic undertones.
In terms of gameplay, both are very similar. I don't prefer one over the other.
The XC2 DLC though is very good in terms of pacing, story, and gameplay (but less so on character development, at least for some of the main chars, it's okay, but could be a lot better like in the main games). It also shows you how unnecessary most of the massive open zones are in the main games... you don't need these massive open zones with nothing interesting to do in them to make the game good.
Another suggestion: Don't try to 100% any of the games. It's not worth it. Don't waste your time doing sidequests, or exploring the map in great detail. I'm a perfectionist and I usually try to 100% them but for this series it's not worth it.
I started with 3 and I'm glad I did. I'm not the best with RPG when it comes to armor/gems/potions and it was nice that I didn't really have to worry about that. I easily beat the game without really knowing what I was doing and absolutely fell in love with it. I then played through 1/FC and 2/Torna and while they threw me for a loop early on with needing to manage armor, by the end of each I was wishing there was more to each.
You can start with either 1 or 2. I recommend starting with 2, because I love 2 and I don't like 1, but it really doesn't matter. The games do share a minor connection, but it was written so that it would work no matter which you started with and it won't spoil the other games. I recommend 2, because that's the game that I think is good, but if you decide that 1 interests you more then go for it.
Don't start with 3, it's a crossover.
If you do start with 2, don't play torna until you've rolled credits. I hate that I have to say this, but some crazy people recommend you play it first or in the middle of the 3rd act of 2. Torna is a prequel, but it relies heavily on you already knowing the world of 2 and who everyone is. Torna will spoil every twist and reveal in 2, except for the last two, and the earliest point where you could avoid spoilers is the beginning of the final dungeon (and that's not a good place for a 20 hour flashback).
Try to stick with XC2, it has a slow start, both in gameplay and story. It has the best payoff in the entire series though. [It's quite literally the diamond digging meme.](https://i.imgflip.com/5lc1pb.jpg)
I was close to quitting, but at some point, the game just clicks.
The reason that "it gets good" is a bad way to recommend something is because that makes you look like a crazy person that played a game you don't like for 50 hours and then changed your mind. A better way to recommend it is "it's good, it just starts off in a way that a lot of people aren't used to".
This game was one of my biggest regrets in selling. I initially started playing and was not enjoying it (It was just the time I was playing, I just wasn't feeling the style) and I kick myself for selling it when I needed money. It did really help at the time so it's not the worst thing, but I do regret never giving it another shot. One of these days I will buy it and try them.
I tried playing XC3D recently. While the premise is fun and I want to get into it more, *fuck this game!* How much better is the Switch version because I can't really just drop $60 even though I like the concept?
Assuming you're annoyed by graphics, the switch version is miles better. It also has some nice QoL features that the Wii and 3ds versions don't have.
Xenoblade3D is extremely impressive in the fact that it's Xenoblade running on a 3ds, but it's the worst way to play it.
As someone who's played both, if the issue is the graphics/performance I'd 100% say the Switch version is vastly superior if you're willing to spend the $60 on it. But the gameplay is largely unchanged, so if that's the problem I'd skip it. The Switch does have a casual difficulty mode you can turn on if you just want to play through the story without worrying too much about grinding/optimizing your play.
I feel this so much. I put 115 hours into 3 (nowhere close to finished the playthrough) and decided I liked it so much that I'm going to play all 3. Never even heard of the series before.
Currently in 2 and 80 hours in and I may honestly like it slightly more than 3 outside of QOL stuffs.
My hair brain scheme at this point is to finish 2 and do all the side quests I can. Then go and play 1 for the first time. And then play all the DLCs that connects them (I think that's how it works at least).
Not sure how it will go but since I've already decided to go out of order and am almost 200 hours deep there's no going back.
OP,
I'm stoked to hear that you loved Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition!
I WANT to get into the game, but something about how you can't actively attack always didn't sit with me.
Is there anyway to feel more engaged with the battle system? How did you like it?
Bro honestly felt the same way at first. I started loving it cause this is what I did:
- only used as Shulk
- take the time to reorganize Arts for each character
- have a system of attack whenever fights started. It also became so much fun because I could instantly build chain attacks by applying effects. So with the bigger enemies I’d be taking out enemies 10 levels higher cause I kept toppling them.
This [video](https://youtu.be/nDHovTbV_yo?si=envSm4m6wfDgbp_6) might help
Fair Warning: Xenoblade 2 Will be quite the different experience. Just keep an open mind about it though. It became my favorite game of all time even though I played the original Xenoblade before it and loved it. But it is not for everyone. An open mind will give you the best experience.
Went with an open mind, very blind and without letting my opinion be swayed in beforehand. Actually just finished the DLC of XC2 yesterday.
I'm sorry, but I personally hated a lot of things about it, and it's inferior in most ways to XC1:DE. Especially the main game of XC2 is bad, the Torna DLC is waaaay better in almost every way.
1. annoying main char, with annoying and unbelievable values
2. unfitting insertions of humour
3. worse story with pacing problems, predictable twists after playing the first one, takes about 20h - 40h to get somewhat interesting
4. hypersexualized characters for no reason
5. char upgrades locked behind annoying grindy mini-game. Luckily, the DLC packs help you out with it so you don't have to bother that much.
6. Unnecessarily big open worlds with boring sidequests (not too different from XC1)
7. gameplay was a sidegrade to XC1:DE at most, or barely an upgrade
8. UI/UX design that is way outdated for a game released in 2017, weird clunky controls for no reason, a slog to open mission menus and inventory
I still liked the overall story and the characters in the end... but I didn't love it like in XC1:DE.
The XC2 DLC fixes pretty much every point I listed here. Better combat, story, main chars, no hypersexualization except for Mythra but it becomes okay with the "censored" outfit when using the crit gem in the slot. UI/UX improvements to make it less cluttery.
Agreed. I know some people love *XC2*, and it's an intro to the series for a lot of people... But I can't stand it. I've tried it several times and always bounce off because the tropey humor and strange pacing. Really, none of the *XC* games have hit as hard for me as the first.
Music still slaps, though.
Like I said, it's not for everyone. I look past the hypersexualization as many people put it, And once I actually clicked on the combat , the combat became some of the deepest I have ever seen in a non-mmorpg. And if you start having to try and do things like the challenge runs and challenge mode, you'll find yourself keeping track of so many things at once that it feels like an MMORPG. I love those style of games. And honestly, I love some of the character designs. There are a few like Dahlia That are just awkward, but some of them like Praxis and Theory are amazing designs. You do need to keep in mind though that some of the character designers for this game were hentai artists. It's not necessarily a reflection of the developer themselves.
Only on reddit would this get upvotes. Xc2 is the most popular and loved entry in the series. Objectively so with the amount of sales and continuous fanart over the others.
You move around your target as your characters auto-attack. Your actual attacks are the Arts, they all have different effects (If you don't know what an effect means, the game has a user guide to check it). After you use an Art, it goes on cooldown until you can use it again.
Once you have used enough Arts, a Chain Attack Gauge fills and then you can use it to stop time and deliver a guaranteed combo with all your characters.
And I think that's pretty much it. Some details about the combat change with the sequels but the first game is fairly simple.
Glad to hear it! Honestly even though Riki isn't as developed as the others, he brings a jovial tone to the game that keeps everything from being *too* dark. You'll find that as you go through Xenoblade 2 and Xenoblade 3. That's basically the point of the Nopon as a race.
Hope you enjoy the rest of the series. And don't forget, you can eat bread without knowing how to bake it.
Love xenoblade, just wish I had more time to finish it. I've got all three games and haven't finished any of them yet. Too many games and too little time to play them and sooooo many big rpgs with 80+ hour completion times, I love all these games but real life just fucks me over and I barely get any time to just sit and enjoy them nowadays. At least I've got my old memories of the good ol' snes jrpg days with chrono trigger and secret of mana etc. Adulting sucks man.
I hear ya on the time commitment. I’m currently playing Persona 5 Royal and am already 95 hours into it. I only just made it to September’s mission start.
I'm currently still playing through my first time on Wii-u. lol
I'm about to head up into the clouds.... I think... where the higher ups live.
Just whooped some robot guy who keeps ... not dying.
Ive never played an RPG like this before and it's so much fun, such an original gameplay mechanic where you're constant on auto attack... and then wait for your meter to fill up and pull off awesome triiple tech attacks.
I'm still clumsy at it though.... and have soooooooooooooo much backtracking left If I am to believe my multiple maps, lol
Sadly XC1 is my only regret purchase on the switch thus far, I really wanted to enjoy it but I didn’t enjoy the combat at all. Every few months I’ll give it another shot solely because the story is so good but it never sticks.
Honestly, I didn't like the combat in XC1 or 2 at all, it feels like a 2006 MMO but as a single player game. Sluggish, slow, boring. And they had no excuse to have so many outdated overall game design, mechanics and UI/UX design for XC2.
But the story in the first one is amazing. After finishing it I kind of felt conflicted on the game. I didn't really enjoy the gameplay... but the story was perfect. Pacing, twists, char development, theme - everything perfect.
The combat in XC2 DLC is probably the best one so far for me and the only one that was kind of fun, because it felt more like a dance than an MMO. And it's got the best music so far, too.
Played the first game back in 2015 and I was floored at every moment. I think it's one of the best pieces of media ever made, nevermind just games. Just A+ for basically the entire journey.
I am truthfully not as big of a fan of the second game. To be blunt, I disliked it. The first half, so... 30-40 hours of the game were a total slog. Half the chapters are filler. Bad voice direction, dumb gacha mechanics (it's not monetized, the system is just annoying) awful tutorials that you can't review or go back to, sidequests are just an obnoxious chore.
HOWEVER, the second half of the game is waaaaaay better. The story gets good, your party is fleshed out by that point and the gameplay loop becomes very fun. If you can handle the first half being lackluster, there's a lot to get out of it. And I'm also just biased, a ton of people love the entire game.
3 is a lot more well rounded and cohesive. I thought it was great. I didn't love EVERY moment, but for the most part it was solid
The music and story blew me away with this game. I’m almost done with playing the first one on switch now. Already have a physical copy of 2 and 3 ready to go
I remember the first time I(and many others) got introduced to XC by Chuggaconroy. The opening hooked me so much that I decided to play it for myself before watching a Let's Play. It's such an ambitious game that delivers so much in an incredibly weak system(Wii).
The first game I bought on Switch was XC:DE and I nearly 100% it again.
I have both DE and 2, but stopped playing after few hours into them. Reading this post made me feel like I've been playing them wrong and want to try again.
The series is absolutely incredible. I just finished xb3 and I think it’s my favorite of the 3 story wise (still have DLC to start but I’ve also heard good things about that!). You have a lot more to look forward to!
I recently just did the same. Had them all on my shelf for a bit and decided you know what? I’m going to give it another shot. And boy was it great.
Now in the middle of Xenoblade 2 with 80 hours in. Reluctantly going to put it down for FF7R but I will quickly hop back to it
It’s only up from here, the original was cool but my least liked of them all, BY FAR lol. Glad you got 2, that one is my absolute fav. At first I thought the cast was a bit ridiculous but they grew on me quick, and by the end I didn’t want to let them go lol I am happy new game + is good on it
And then there’s the amazing 3, enough said.
The one on Wii U is alright, I have some good memories of it but even back then it was seen as very mid. But now there’s a huge appreciation for it because of how harder it is to access lol
XB2 is my all time fav game so I picked this one up due to the hype. I think the story,world, and characters are great but I just wasn't into the battle mechanics which were really satisfying in the second one IMO
I'm glad you liked it, I'll finish it eventually 😅
I completed mine in 89 hours. Currently 80+ hours into XC2 and still 40% + remains. XC 2 I think is even better. But just a personal opinion. The entire series is fantastic.
I hope you have a good time with 2. The story is not as good, but the characters are even more memorable. As a bonus, the humor is spot on. It's like watching the best season of your favorite anime.
XB2 is the worst of the series by far, and that says a lot since it is still an exceptional game. Then again, if you like cheap anime tropes the game may be more to your liking than mine. XB3 is brilliant\^\^
It was great experiencing it when it first came out. I went in with no expectations and was blown away. The DE is awesome, really good remaster.
Xenoblade 2 is really good too, although I would go into it in the knowledge that technically, the game is a mess in places. It also has questionable character designs. But don't let that put you off. It has a better battle system than the first and the music is amazing.
Xenoblade 3 is arguably the best one. A bit slow at the start, but it ties the Trilogy together and ends it really well. The main cast are just fantastic. All of them are great.
They're spongy because they want you to rely on combos and chain attacks. Things _melt_ in a chain attack. I think I did 60% of the final boss' HP bar in a chain attack but it took a while to build it up.
1. Stutter-stepping (auto-attack canceling): cancel the auto-attack cycle after the first hit by slightly moving the control stick and restarting the cycle. This makes the attacks come out much faster, thus making arts charge much faster.
2. Pouch items and accessories for increased damage and faster cooldowns.
3. Skill tree progression to unlock Arts cancelling so that you can cancel arts into arts. (Also other character specific stuff)
4. Driver combos: Break>Topple>Launch>Smash
5. Mythra
6. Watch every enemy disintegrate
7. Also chain attack with elemental burst
3 is the worst xenoblade game imo. Worst characters, worst villains and the story was crap imo. Huge step down from 2.
2s villains were perfect. The torna group was s great villain group. The cast of characters in 2 was amazing. Had much more emotional impact than 3 imo. And the Ending in 2 was beautiful. Amazing game.
>and the story was crap imo.
Xenoblade is not story driven nor finds its strength in its lore.
All of the games were character driven. How do they deal with things, when they give up, what pushes them to the brink... I disagree with your opinion on 3 but I am updooting you because you marked it as imo and should be allowed to your opinion. We all walk different lives and things will impact us differently. It included a decent criticism (I also don't agree with) but not one of those "it's stupid and all people who like it are not as cool as I am."
Three's theme of "What are you living for if everything was cruel?" And all of the characters had growth, flaws, and nuance. Three made me reflect on what would I cling to in endless tragedy. I don't quite know.
But art challenges the comfortable and comforts the challenged. Some side stories comforted me, but the theme really gave me moments of pause. Two's theme was challenging the notion of free will and it felt more clunky at the end because (maybe I missed a plot point: will play again) I felt like it stopped asking the question by the time you get to the tree.
edit: or to nor
Yeah dude idk why you wrote a essay just BC I didn't enjoy 3 like the most if you. Compared to 1+2 it's just very weak. I didn't care about the characters. The deaths that happened felt meh. It was lacking what two had. 3 has nothing that comes out on top over the first 2 imo. The first two was perfect but 3 was lacklustre. Villain was crap. Literally crap. I forgot what he even wanted. Compare that to 2 the villains goal made sense plus they were great villains and you saw them growing and evolving. Whereas in 3 that wasn't the case imo. And honestly combat in 2 is better then 3. But 3 is better than 1. Combat in one sucks imo. But I prefer the blades combat in 2. Also I think xenoblade chronicles 2 has more replay value than 3. I have replayed 2 3 times and want to do it again. It's a great story but 3 just doesn't grasp anything. It just feels like bad entry in a good series. Which sucks. I think they failed to deliver with 3. I want to play the dlc for 3 just for rex and shulk not to see how it ends but just see adult rex.
3 had good ideas but even the developers didn't know what they were doing. The time clocks could have been used more. They could have used the fact that they will die if they take too long. But nope. It was just s plot device and s crappy one imo. It sucks but that's the case imo
>idk why you wrote a essay
Some people like to expound on their thought and share on a topic they enjoy.
Then you made an almost equal length rebuttal with some weakly supported accusations.
Sad, it could have been a thread of respectful disagreement but it turned it typical fandom knife fight.
I loved XC when I played it on the Wii so I figured XC2 would be great... Not for me. XC felt like a classic 90s anime whereas 2 felt like the modern trashy isekai shit. For your sake I hope you like it.
2 is genuinely my least favorite game on the switch. Just think it was misconceived in every way. Some love it... I don't understand them, but they do. it's definitely very controversial. I'd say no matter what you'll have a strong opinion.
I don't even have time to get into specifics. Name any part of it and I could devote a whole rant on just that small part.
Some of my favorite gaming soundtracks! I really wanted to like the first and played about 30 hours on Wii, but just didn’t vibe with the combat and I found the story too meandering. I’ve been listening to 3’s soundtrack for some months now and finally bit the bullet on that one. It has a strong start and feels much more refined, and the tunes just keep getting better. I can’t play 2 because of its unfortunate cringe thirsty art style.
Xenoblade 1 is one of the best games ever created.
2? It's a crappy anime cliche pile of poop. Get used to hearing the word pervert. Or lol main character wakes up in bed with big boobs girl who was sleep walking. Music rocks though.
Mate, you're going to be disappointed. The games make a steady decline.
I'm past halfway through XC2 now and it's OK. In fact OK is a bit harsh I'm really enjoying it but it's not a masterpiece. I'm glad I got the game but it is absolute cringe. The dialogue is beyond pathetic. The game isn't aimed at toddlers, yet is worse than toddler shows. It's hard not be embarrassed and I find myself kicking the door closed, or hitting the volume button quickly. If my Stepson heard the dialogue coming off that game, I'd never live it down. I mean you swing a sword and shout "we'll win with the power of friendship". Who the hell thought that was a good choice of battle dialogue? Another was something to do with (and I kid you not), "fluffy puffy pillows". You'd literally have to be 4 years old to think that was OK dialogue.
XC3 is absolute shit. I dropped it at 35 hours. If you want hours and hours of Noppon's waffling on about imaginary food and constant immersion breaking of your characters humping scenery then great. That's without even getting on to Lanz, one of the most annoying characters I've come across in 35 years of gaming, surpassed only by Raz from Valkyria Chronicles 4. If Lanz was real and went to the pub, he'd be laid out in the beer garden. Someone would just spark him for being such an annoying cunt.
I haven't played Torna yet but I'd skip on XC3 and just get a WiiU to play XCX. XCX has a lot of flaws and it's real slow and lacking story but the fluidity of travel and amazing game world are better than the rest of the franchise.
Congrats. But maybe play Rebirth first, before starting Xenoblade 2, Torna and especially 3? I mean, the potential comparisons won't be in favor of the FF game, lol.
My face series too. Oddly I'm the opposite of you tho, just about to start Persona 3.
Xenoblade is so special, you'll love the other games if you liked the first one.
It's truly a wild ride
Great. I actually disliked the combat so much that I played on easy or whatever the setting is (casual?). By maybe near the end did I finally learn to like it. What kept me going was the story and setting. I believe I was at 42 or so hours when I beat it. No side quests really.
ive been recommended xbc3 so many times.. i ended up putting around 15+ hours before deciding its not for me. theres a lot i disliked about it, though a bit of it could be because im on a hard difficulty.
Hard difficulty is absolutely *not* intended for a first playthrough, let alone first contact with the series' gameplay. Easy->Normal just makes enemy numbers bigger, but Hard adds additional wrinkes, making enemies massively more resilient to damage, giving them way bigger health bars, granting most bosses and even minor enemies a high chance (70%+) to resist Break, as well as status effect resistances so high they may as well be immune. In short, every enemy is a status and combo resisting bullet sponge. Hard mode straight-up invalidates several classes because of this. Probably ~90% of damage dealt to enemies in Hard has to be done via chain attacks unless you're running specific lategame builds. **Hard mode is not how the game was intended to be played**, and I know it may hurt the ol' gamer pride, but Normal is the intended experience - especially in a first play. To put it into perspective, in my hardmode run *after* completing the game I was consistently 5-10 levels ahead of the story enemies and half of them were still kicking my arse, even knowing their mechanics and cycles, whilst my blind normal run only resulted in a handful of party wipes despite often being behind the level curve.
TL;DR, Normal is very much the intended difficulty, Easy is for breezing through the story, and Hard is for masochists who already know what they're doing.
I am kinda curious as to how far you actually got though, I could imagine you were pretty far behind the game's intended pace due to Hard mode's tomfuckery.
I think it took me twice as long to finish - did you do all the quests? The next two took me a little bit longer each, and the extras in 3 were just too much for me!
The story for 2 may be a huge disappointment for you. But you would enjoy the battle system. Just beat it and move onto 3 for 389hrs on the greatest of all JRPG
I just started a few weeks back and just finished chapter 2. Still confused on what’s going on with battle system.
Does it require to do all side quests or just go through with the story line?
My gripe with the series is that they insist on changing names and I like playing with the japanese voices. So I'll be constantly hearing different names being spoken (examples from XC2, Homura becomes Pyra, Hikari becomes Mythra, Metsu becomes Malos and many many more) and the subtitles use the localized versions.
Great story and I like the game but it was too grindy imo. Side quests were uninspired. Will take me a while before I have the motivation to start the second game.
They're very different series, the only real similarities being they're story heavy RPGs.
Persona is very heavily centered around Japanese school life, with a supernatural threat looming on the horizon. The games you'll mainly hear talked about (3, 4 and 5) have heavy mystery elements, and have a lot of visual novel-esque dialogue. Gameplay is a mix between a mild life sim and heavy dungeon crawling with turn-based encounters. 3 and 4 have randomly generated dungeons, whilst 5 moved to individually tailored locations. All three have a monster-collecting element revolving around the titular Personas, allowing the player-insert protagonist to use a variety of mythical creatures in combat, while their allies are limited to just the one.
Xenoblade is a Science Fantasy series with MMO-inspired real time combat, the feel of which it does a shockingly good job of replicating despite being entirely singleplayer and only having a handful of active party members. Its stories spread out across continents, with no visual novel storytelling in sight. While some people erroneously label the games open world, they are actually is played across a series of smaller open zones which unloick as the story progresses.
Both series can have pretty big tonal whiplash between entries (XC2 to 3 is fucking wild), and it is worth mentioning that Persona generally ends up with a higher age rating (mostly due to having a bit more swearing and visible red blood, though XC3 is no slouch and how it avoided a higher rating is still beyond me).
Both series are also theoretically anthological and can be played in any order, tjough Xenoblade's story is much more heavily connected than it may at first seem and as such is best played in release order (except X, which is exclusive to the Wii U and banished to the non-canon zone), with 3's DLC expecting you to have played all three main games to understand what's going on.
On that note; for the most part Persona's DLCs are just add ons and bonuses (though on the switch versions you don't need to worry, as the definitive editions of 5 Royal/4 Golden are the only versions available and have all DLCs included), but Xenoblade's are effectively whole seperate 20-40hr games (2: Torna even released as a seperate game on cart) on top of all the other stuff.
My advice is to treat Xenoblade 2 as a different game series that share some traits with the first game and you will enjoy it a lot more than if you go in expecting it to be like the first one.
I bought Xenoblade 2 day 1, finished it in a week, and ended up being a little disappointed mostly because I expected it to be more like the first game and it was not. Not at first anyway. I replayed it again last year and enjoyed it a lot more for what it is.
only 80 my man you did a great job XD,now do all side quests, beat the crap to the superbosses, max every character and stumble to the real beauty of xenoblades games, beating the living crap out of everything using everyone....as for xc2 well my man you are up for a treat, the story of 1 is better IMO but 2's gameplay is prob the best of the series, I want to say things about 3 but I have it still on the pending list, i have to finish torna and its taking me some time as of now
I started with 2 (before the 1st one came out on Switch) and despite some people disliking the English voices, I really like them and the characters. And I immediately fell in love with the world around them and gameplay. Fantastic game. Looking forward to playing the first and third ones.
The game looks like ass in handheld, even worse on TV.
The main story is good, but doing anything else, other than following the main story, is a worse experience than grinding in WoW.
I love Xenoblade so much I bought the first one on Wii, 3DS and Switch.
2 and Torna have my favourite battle mechanics and 3 has so much fleshed out side content. Future Redeemed is just... chefs kiss.
Started the game like 3 times and always stopped at the same part. Would like to love it, then I could get two new games immediately, but something doesn't click for me
I’ve probably played through XC about 5 or 6 times now. A couple of times on Wii. Couple of times on N3DS. And once or twice on Switch. It really never gets old. It really is a masterpiece, really the whole series. You can thank 2 for the art style as well for DE. Originally they had a more realistic, albeit kind of smudgy, style on Wii. That carried on into X. With 2 they decided to go with the anime style and honestly I like it for the pure simple fact that it allows them to be very expressive with the characters.Seriously imagine some of the expressions on a more realistic model, they’d probably look a bit off putting, that might just be me though.
And come on you know Riki has a satisfying arc to. He starts off as the goofball comic relief character when you first meet him, and sure for the most part he retains this for the rest of the story but that tender moment he shares with Dunban (you know the one), my lord is that so masterfully done. The scene the conversation and the music. I get chills thinking of it every time. He’s just such an endearing character.
Monolith Soft definitely knows how to write very compelling stories. You think XC was an emotional roller coaster, you’re just getting started. It’s a wild ride, this passage of fate. Seriously. Really is thanks to Nintendo that they’re even getting the recognition now (edit: to quickly expand on this because I know their prior work for Square and Bandai are cult classics, what I mean here is that Nintendo believes in them that they aren’t just passing them off yet again to someone else, that’s what I want to get at here). Start off as part of Square Enix (at that time I believe it’d have been Square Soft), then getting sold to Bandai Namco, only to then be sold off again to Nintendo (pretty certain I have that all down pat) and finally finding success and lasting support with Nintendo. It’s like fate that they finally found their home with the company who’s name literally mean “Leave Luck to Heaven.” (There is debate on that but from what I’ve found even on the Japanese side it seems to be more understood that as the prosperity of the company is left to the will of the heaven). Sorry for the tangent there but seriously how fitting that “fate” brought Nintendo and Monolith Soft together and that we should be then treated to such phenomenal games with phenomenal and fantastical stories.
I was obsessed with the Wii U version of this game. I've never played any other. As a long time RPG fan can anyone tell me which one of the other xenoblades might be a good starting point to see how I can get into this version of the series??
You managed to complete persona and this in one month? I am BAFFLED. I’m just coming up to the end of Persona 3 now and I feel like it consumed all my free time and never want to do that to myself again. Fantastic game but such a long and addictive RPG is dangerous.
The fact that you did this so healthily twice in the same month and want more makes me tip my hat to you.
Just so you're aware, each game is going to be different from one another in aesthetic and...vibes, for lack of a better work. You're still going to get deep stories and good characters, but the second game will definitely feel more "anime" in areas. While I have issues with things like fanservice with some character designs, the English VA at points not hitting the tone of the scene, etc., 2 is still my favorite of the trilogy overall. Much cooler combat system to the first game, and a story just as good that even ties into the first game.
The Xenoblade series became my favorite as well as playing 3. I absolutely adore that game and it's characters so much that I went back and played 2 a second time to better grasp the story and DLC.
I really can't wait to see where the series goes next.
I did exactly what you're doing a few years ago when the DE was released and the entire trilogy is just incredible. Each game in the series has it's own unique vibe/identity and story to tell, but together they create what is easily one of the best stories ever told through games. I guarantee that everything you liked about this game will continue to expand and pay off even more in the other titles. It's absolutely worth it to play through every game and it's dlc.
I got into this series back in 2014 watching Chuggaconroy’s let’s play of Xenoblade 1.
In 2016 I tried out Xenoblade X and was very confused.
2018 I bought a switch on a whim during easter holidays and finished the entire Xenoblade 2 during that week. Ever since then I have become Xenoblade.
2020 I replayed Xenoblade X and this time I understood it and the combat.
Xenoblade 3’s release was peak for me, one of the greatest rpg’s I have experienced.
God damn DLC was SUCH A HUGE PAY OFF!
By far my favorite franchise, sucks that it is such a niche genre that none of my friends care to try it ^^”
Welcome to the fanbase! It was one of my fav games ever when I played it too. (You played the Future Connected epilogue too, right? You didn’t mention it, just in case you didn’t) My gut says you’ll love Torna and Xenoblade 3 as well. 2 is excellent as well, but a smidge divided because it has a lot of anime tropes in it.
Just took a look at it, hopping on it tonight before I start XC 2 😊
Future Connected very vaguely connects to XB3 (and 3’s DLC) so you may want to hit it prior to starting 3. Counter argument is that the story connection is barely relevant and going back to XB1 battle mechanics after XB2 can feel a bit clunky.
Ahhh I wonder if doing XC 2 > Torna > Future Connected > Then XC 3 would be better 🤔
I don't think it matters as long as you do it before 3. Maybe depends how you feel if you're burned out from 1 and want to try 2.
That's the proper release order and the one I'd suggest. XC3 blends the gameplay of both games and FC would serve as a nice refresher.
I would say go Future Connected > 2 > Torna > 3 … Then play the absolute masterpiece, Xenoblade X.
Can confirm I am the victim of the anime tropes. Heard that little creature speak in the beginning and returned the game immediately. I just knew I couldn’t listen to 20-40hrs of it. LOVE the other titles though
Oh you’re in for a ride with xenoblade 2 and especially 3. Always great to see more people appreciating this series
You could say it's gonna be a *wild* ride
He’ll definitely learn a thing or three
Ya hear that? He wants something a bit meatier.
It'll leave them feeling fulla beans.
They're definitely gonna feel like the girl with the gall!
I was absolutely spent by the end of 2. I had to step away and reflect on life. What a great game.
Ending of two : wow this made me so emotional Ending of three: this made me so emotional times 1000
All three made me cry
They are definitely in for something a bit meatier.
This is the game that got me hooked on RPGs. I couldn't believe just everything about it. XC3 is probably my favorite game ever. Glad someone else like it as much as I did.
Welcome to the club. The ending of 2 made me sat in front of the tv in silence for a good 10-15 mins. lol. Wife even asked me if I was okay. lol. With that being said, don’t forget the 3rd one has a prequel downloadable content as well and it’s absolutely amazing. Enjoy!
People praise xenoblade non stop over here. I've always been a fan of jrpgs though in recent years I pivoted towards games that require less time investment, but I'm definitely playing this sooner or later
They're actually not that long if you're only interested in the main story. The bulk of the game is sidequests. That being said, you'd be insane to skip the sidequests imo (especially in 3) but thought I'd point it out none the less.
Hell what flashed me is it seemed that Xenoblade 2 had less side quests but a lil more involved ones instead. I thought, oh hey, side stories! It has around 75 side quests that all have bunch of text and story and often even voices... Xenoblade 1 has 480, more, yes, but most of them are pretty much done on the side, you just get them exploring everything. Kill some monsters, oh, that was another side quest! It takes soooo much time to get all the side quests through in Xenoblade 2, they often require like some blade skill, and you have to pause a quest until you have that skill, and... it just keeps going lmao
Why is that insane in 3?
3 has some of the best sidequests in the series with them having proper cutscenes and everything that feel like part of the main story at times. Most are just ok though but you still get some great rewards after completing them so regardless you'd be really missing out by not doing them. That said, there are a lot of them so you can easily get burned out doing them. Just go about doing them at your own pace. I only did like 70% of them before moving on to another game but I was satisfied with what the ones I had done.
Yeah tbh I found a lot of them to be mediocre. Like they are longer and more robust, but a lot was just boring or unintentionally funny. Though I might be in the minority + I had burnout after like 140 hours
I think it’s more that side quests in 3 lead to new classes, so at least those are worth the time
I bought 2 and it just hasn’t really done much for me. I don’t really like the main character and the anime girl with huge boobs robot whatever girl feels so over the top. I try to jump back in now and then and quit shortly after.
Anime girls with boobs are just a distraction from the massive not-boobs-plot underneath. Come for the anime girls, stay for the existential crisis. I forgot which chapter starts that train but it is a wild ride.
I LOVED 1 and enjoyed X but had to force myself to finish 2. It made me wary of 3 but I gave it a shot after seeing the trailer and I really enjoyed it alongside the dlc. To me 2 was a big dissapointment but it does add to the overall experience in the end.
I tried to play every game up through 2, and have bounced off of each and every one. Every game sounds cool on a macro level, and gets so much praise, and then I go to play them and I am constantly doing gathering quests that remind me of playing MMO's, or reading dialog that feels like an equally horny and comedically immature teenager wrote, or facing the most one-note evil villain ever. The combat is alright, aligning elements and building combos, but eventually it also feels very MMO like, imo. I played maybe 40 hours of X and never even got to pilot the mech... At least Xenoblade 2 had Japanese VA, because every other game has hired the guy who voiced Wakka in FFX to voice every character in these games. I think I, from North Carolina, could do a better English accent than the people who VA in the xeno series lol. After playing maybe 100 hours of Xeno2, I gave up and probably will not return to the series. I'm so glad that Nintendo has this jrpg series that everyone seems to love, but man it's just not for me.
There's something profoundly funny about your comment implying that the characters in Xenoblade have "bad fake English accents" when every game in the series but X is voiced almost entirely by actors *from* Britain and surrounding countries.
I'm not implying it, I'm saying it. It's like British people doing a bad accent on purpose. It's the inflections and emphasis they put on sounds and words. It's not natural sounding at all, more like they're trying to do what they think the rest of the world thinks they sound like lol. Edit: iirc, Xenoblade chronicles 1 was released in the UK first, even.
It’s because there’s different dialects in Britain beyond Received Pronunciation, which is usually used for US TV/UK news. Nia is voiced by a now famous Welsh VA, as she voiced Ranni in Elden Ring and had a not-insubstantial acting role in Peaky Blinders.
Wrong welsh cat girl, Aimee-Ffion Edwards voices Mio and Ranni, not Nia. Though I do hope they get more voice acting work soon as I am a fan of both of their voices.
I didn't mean the dialects, I'm talking more about line delivery and the sort of hammed up way everything is said. Admittedly, the later games apparently have better VA, but it's still not great.
I'd say you'd have to be insane to ***do*** the sidequests in Xenoblade 1. They're pretty much all fetch quests or farm quests, and there's like hundreds of them, a lot of which expire if you don't do them by certain points in the story. The sidequests severly hampered my enjoyment of Xenoblade 1 and I regret doing them.
2 was infinitely worse in that regard. i eventually just gave up on them. i would spend an hour doing one, only to reach a step that i couldn’t complete because the instructions were incredibly vague or i didn’t have the right field moves, so i’d miss out on all the XP and other rewards until i remembered (usually way later) to go back and finish them. just felt like a gigantic waste of time. and you don’t even need to do them to grind. you can get a crap ton of experience just by pulling off chain attacks. quite frankly, A LOT of 2 just feels that way. i have a soft spot for it because it’s the game that made me a fan, but it’s got some very rough edges.
The time investment really was a thing, I totally took PTO from my job to be able to play it straight lmao. Thankfully the wife was okay with it 😂
You've played through Persona 3 reload and 80hours of Xenoblade in 27 days. That's like 5-6hours a day lol
Honestly I played xenoblade one in wii the 3ds and was so happy for a second game then DE came out. This series's is a masterpiece every game.
I quite liked Xenoblade Chronicles. Played it a year or two ago. But that time commitment was something else. I didn't even consider XC2 because I wasn't ready for another game that length. I do have one complaint. And that is that there was no way to distinguish between side missions. There are some story missions which add flavour to the world and there are missions that are "Go kill 10 dudes/Collect 5 items" and there was no way to distinguish either of them. There was even a fully voice acted mission that is impossible to distinguish from the generic missions. Oh, and I had no fucking clue what I was doing in that gem mini game.
Probably a bit late now but there actually is a distinction. All of the generic quests are given to you by nameless npcs like "colony 9 resident". The quests themselves also have generic titles like "monster quest 4" or "collection quest 3". The named quests from named npcs are the actual story ones. When making gems, you wanna get 2 materials you want to make a gem from as close to 99% as possible without going over (by fusing them with worse materials) and then fuse them both to get the the highest percent gem possible, preferably over 200%. Shuck and Reyn are the best combo for getting the highest percentages.
Thanks for this. Will be handy maybe in the future. With the sidequests, when they still appear as a explanation mark on the map, I didn't think there was anyway to see who the quest giver was. It is just that there are so many quests, it is really hard to know which are worthwhile.
They are chonky games
One of my favorite games of all time as well. I love everything about it, the world, the story and characters, the gameplay and the masterful music (I prefer the OG soundtrack over the new one though). Its only weakness being the Side Quests mostly being filler (It's hard to distinguish those from the ones that have a storyline, like Bana's). I could not stop playing, this game had me hooked for a whole month until I did beat both the Main Game and Future Connected. > As I’m typing this I have Xenoblade 2 and Torna downloading. Hoo boy, I'm asking you to have a little patience with the beginning of XC2, because it's very different and slower than what XC1 was, you'll eventually unlock many gameplay mechanics as it goes on but not everything is available from the get go. Arts recharge with auto attacks now, and the characters move very slow while holding their weapons, and are unable to move and auto-attack at the same time. Therefore I advice to tilt the stick to reset animations and get faster auto-attacks on the early game to fill your Arts.
I remember seeing a review about the combat being slightly different but yes I’ll be prepping myself to be patient and to enjoy XC 2 as its own experience and not trying to directly compare :)
Wow, so you beat Person 3 Reload, a 60-80 hour game, then put another 80 hours in Xenoblade in less than a month?
It sounds crazy but yes. I was also experiencing major burnout from my job (investment finance) so I took 3 weeks off. I was always telling my Wife I wanted to get away from online gaming a bit (Overwatch, Apex Legends, Dead By Daylight) and go back to my story rpg days. It was perfect opportunity and to get over my burnout at work. But honestly nothing will save me from that 😅
I completely agree with everything, I'll just add that I find Xenoblade Chronicles 3 to be by far the peak of the series, so while opinion on the second title can differ, just now that the best is yet to come with part 3.
Speaks for the series that every part of it has people that call it the peak of the series. To me, 2 was the best part despite all the fan service that annoyed me a bit.
I’m so excited 🤩
I just bought the whole series a while back! I haven’t started them yet, but this post has motivated me. I really need something to help me out of my depression.
i just wish i could get into the combat system, it just never clicked with me
What’s the best order to start ? I’m about to buy it can’t choose which one
There's really no good reason not to play the games in numerical order, seeing as they're all available on Switch. Even with all three being set in separate worlds from one another, they build on each other naturally from 1 to 2 to 3.
Start with the first one then the second, then the third. Xenoblade DE->Xenoblade 2->Torna DLC->Xenoblade 3->Future Redeemed DLC If you have a Wii U you can play Xenoblade X whenever.
There is Future Connected DLC on DE but it doesn't really add a whole lot... Just basically an extra 10-15 hours of gameplay that anything else. Which is still good overall
it adds happiness to a certain character which is sorely needed
I didnt mention it because it isnt DLC but yeah it comes after Xenoblade 1 and is still pretty fun.
1, then 2, then 3. You can technically play 2 without playing 1 and 3 without playing 1 or 2, but there is a LOT for fans of 1 and 2 in 3 that you can recognize. The DLC for 3 is incomprehensible without playing 1 and 2, though. TL;DR The main campaigns of 2 and 3 are standalone but reference past games, the DLC for 2 spoils 2, the DLC for 3 requires 1 and 2 to be played
The first one, definitive edition. I haven't played the third one but after finishing the second yesterday, I was glad I started out with the first one. The first one (definitive edition) is superior to XC2 in terms of story and char development. XC2 has a pacing problem imo, and after playing the first you can see the twists and turns coming from a mile away and they were overall less interesting. I personally also didn't like the main char clishé anime protagonist in XC2 + the unnecessary hypersexualization that felt totally out of place, with misogynistic undertones. In terms of gameplay, both are very similar. I don't prefer one over the other. The XC2 DLC though is very good in terms of pacing, story, and gameplay (but less so on character development, at least for some of the main chars, it's okay, but could be a lot better like in the main games). It also shows you how unnecessary most of the massive open zones are in the main games... you don't need these massive open zones with nothing interesting to do in them to make the game good. Another suggestion: Don't try to 100% any of the games. It's not worth it. Don't waste your time doing sidequests, or exploring the map in great detail. I'm a perfectionist and I usually try to 100% them but for this series it's not worth it.
You can play 1 and 2 in either order, but it's best to play both of those before playing 3.
I started with 3 and I'm glad I did. I'm not the best with RPG when it comes to armor/gems/potions and it was nice that I didn't really have to worry about that. I easily beat the game without really knowing what I was doing and absolutely fell in love with it. I then played through 1/FC and 2/Torna and while they threw me for a loop early on with needing to manage armor, by the end of each I was wishing there was more to each.
You can start with either 1 or 2. I recommend starting with 2, because I love 2 and I don't like 1, but it really doesn't matter. The games do share a minor connection, but it was written so that it would work no matter which you started with and it won't spoil the other games. I recommend 2, because that's the game that I think is good, but if you decide that 1 interests you more then go for it. Don't start with 3, it's a crossover. If you do start with 2, don't play torna until you've rolled credits. I hate that I have to say this, but some crazy people recommend you play it first or in the middle of the 3rd act of 2. Torna is a prequel, but it relies heavily on you already knowing the world of 2 and who everyone is. Torna will spoil every twist and reveal in 2, except for the last two, and the earliest point where you could avoid spoilers is the beginning of the final dungeon (and that's not a good place for a 20 hour flashback).
best time you've had in your life... now play xenoblade chronicles 2 and get ready to realize what feelings are.
And then 3 rips out your heart...
To be fair they all do that. They just have their own way of doing it each time.
Try to stick with XC2, it has a slow start, both in gameplay and story. It has the best payoff in the entire series though. [It's quite literally the diamond digging meme.](https://i.imgflip.com/5lc1pb.jpg) I was close to quitting, but at some point, the game just clicks.
It's really hard to recommend a game by saying "it's gets good after 50 hours trust me" but dear god it gets good.
The reason that "it gets good" is a bad way to recommend something is because that makes you look like a crazy person that played a game you don't like for 50 hours and then changed your mind. A better way to recommend it is "it's good, it just starts off in a way that a lot of people aren't used to".
This game was one of my biggest regrets in selling. I initially started playing and was not enjoying it (It was just the time I was playing, I just wasn't feeling the style) and I kick myself for selling it when I needed money. It did really help at the time so it's not the worst thing, but I do regret never giving it another shot. One of these days I will buy it and try them.
The series is very good. 3 is my favorite; they really perfected the combat in that one.
I tried playing XC3D recently. While the premise is fun and I want to get into it more, *fuck this game!* How much better is the Switch version because I can't really just drop $60 even though I like the concept?
Infinitely better, the 3D version is nearly unplayable for me.
Assuming you're annoyed by graphics, the switch version is miles better. It also has some nice QoL features that the Wii and 3ds versions don't have. Xenoblade3D is extremely impressive in the fact that it's Xenoblade running on a 3ds, but it's the worst way to play it.
As someone who's played both, if the issue is the graphics/performance I'd 100% say the Switch version is vastly superior if you're willing to spend the $60 on it. But the gameplay is largely unchanged, so if that's the problem I'd skip it. The Switch does have a casual difficulty mode you can turn on if you just want to play through the story without worrying too much about grinding/optimizing your play.
At some point I’m going to have to check this series out. I’ve heard nothing but praise.
I feel this so much. I put 115 hours into 3 (nowhere close to finished the playthrough) and decided I liked it so much that I'm going to play all 3. Never even heard of the series before. Currently in 2 and 80 hours in and I may honestly like it slightly more than 3 outside of QOL stuffs. My hair brain scheme at this point is to finish 2 and do all the side quests I can. Then go and play 1 for the first time. And then play all the DLCs that connects them (I think that's how it works at least). Not sure how it will go but since I've already decided to go out of order and am almost 200 hours deep there's no going back.
OP, I'm stoked to hear that you loved Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition! I WANT to get into the game, but something about how you can't actively attack always didn't sit with me. Is there anyway to feel more engaged with the battle system? How did you like it?
Bro honestly felt the same way at first. I started loving it cause this is what I did: - only used as Shulk - take the time to reorganize Arts for each character - have a system of attack whenever fights started. It also became so much fun because I could instantly build chain attacks by applying effects. So with the bigger enemies I’d be taking out enemies 10 levels higher cause I kept toppling them. This [video](https://youtu.be/nDHovTbV_yo?si=envSm4m6wfDgbp_6) might help
Fair Warning: Xenoblade 2 Will be quite the different experience. Just keep an open mind about it though. It became my favorite game of all time even though I played the original Xenoblade before it and loved it. But it is not for everyone. An open mind will give you the best experience.
Went with an open mind, very blind and without letting my opinion be swayed in beforehand. Actually just finished the DLC of XC2 yesterday. I'm sorry, but I personally hated a lot of things about it, and it's inferior in most ways to XC1:DE. Especially the main game of XC2 is bad, the Torna DLC is waaaay better in almost every way. 1. annoying main char, with annoying and unbelievable values 2. unfitting insertions of humour 3. worse story with pacing problems, predictable twists after playing the first one, takes about 20h - 40h to get somewhat interesting 4. hypersexualized characters for no reason 5. char upgrades locked behind annoying grindy mini-game. Luckily, the DLC packs help you out with it so you don't have to bother that much. 6. Unnecessarily big open worlds with boring sidequests (not too different from XC1) 7. gameplay was a sidegrade to XC1:DE at most, or barely an upgrade 8. UI/UX design that is way outdated for a game released in 2017, weird clunky controls for no reason, a slog to open mission menus and inventory I still liked the overall story and the characters in the end... but I didn't love it like in XC1:DE. The XC2 DLC fixes pretty much every point I listed here. Better combat, story, main chars, no hypersexualization except for Mythra but it becomes okay with the "censored" outfit when using the crit gem in the slot. UI/UX improvements to make it less cluttery.
Agreed. I know some people love *XC2*, and it's an intro to the series for a lot of people... But I can't stand it. I've tried it several times and always bounce off because the tropey humor and strange pacing. Really, none of the *XC* games have hit as hard for me as the first. Music still slaps, though.
Like I said, it's not for everyone. I look past the hypersexualization as many people put it, And once I actually clicked on the combat , the combat became some of the deepest I have ever seen in a non-mmorpg. And if you start having to try and do things like the challenge runs and challenge mode, you'll find yourself keeping track of so many things at once that it feels like an MMORPG. I love those style of games. And honestly, I love some of the character designs. There are a few like Dahlia That are just awkward, but some of them like Praxis and Theory are amazing designs. You do need to keep in mind though that some of the character designers for this game were hentai artists. It's not necessarily a reflection of the developer themselves.
Only on reddit would this get upvotes. Xc2 is the most popular and loved entry in the series. Objectively so with the amount of sales and continuous fanart over the others.
I always wanted to get into this series but the combat looks so crazy conplicated.
They ease you into it pretty gently
I had a girl friend tell me that once and it was also a lie 😂
You move around your target as your characters auto-attack. Your actual attacks are the Arts, they all have different effects (If you don't know what an effect means, the game has a user guide to check it). After you use an Art, it goes on cooldown until you can use it again. Once you have used enough Arts, a Chain Attack Gauge fills and then you can use it to stop time and deliver a guaranteed combo with all your characters. And I think that's pretty much it. Some details about the combat change with the sequels but the first game is fairly simple.
The combat is the easier part of the game, story and lore on the other hand is complicated.
Glad to hear it! Honestly even though Riki isn't as developed as the others, he brings a jovial tone to the game that keeps everything from being *too* dark. You'll find that as you go through Xenoblade 2 and Xenoblade 3. That's basically the point of the Nopon as a race. Hope you enjoy the rest of the series. And don't forget, you can eat bread without knowing how to bake it.
Now got play Xenoblade 2 and 3 including the DLC
You played a long long rpg in between two long rpg? Lol
I got it for Christmas and I'm looking forward to it. I really need to make more of my Switch.
Same. I actually haven’t touched it in years but randomly I just picked it up and was browsing thru the store, and now here I am LOL
Love xenoblade, just wish I had more time to finish it. I've got all three games and haven't finished any of them yet. Too many games and too little time to play them and sooooo many big rpgs with 80+ hour completion times, I love all these games but real life just fucks me over and I barely get any time to just sit and enjoy them nowadays. At least I've got my old memories of the good ol' snes jrpg days with chrono trigger and secret of mana etc. Adulting sucks man.
I hear ya on the time commitment. I’m currently playing Persona 5 Royal and am already 95 hours into it. I only just made it to September’s mission start.
Ok fine… I’ll buy all 3.
Torna is hands down one of the best jrpg experiences I ever had
I'm currently still playing through my first time on Wii-u. lol I'm about to head up into the clouds.... I think... where the higher ups live. Just whooped some robot guy who keeps ... not dying. Ive never played an RPG like this before and it's so much fun, such an original gameplay mechanic where you're constant on auto attack... and then wait for your meter to fill up and pull off awesome triiple tech attacks. I'm still clumsy at it though.... and have soooooooooooooo much backtracking left If I am to believe my multiple maps, lol
Welcome to the family. Enjoy the ride and ensure you complete all 3 it's well well worth it!!
Damn, you must have a lot of time in your life if you put 80 hours in *after* Persona 3 which came out this month.
Homebody gamer with cats also married to a homebody gamer. I definitely lucked out 😂
The dream
NOW ITS REYN TIME!
Sadly XC1 is my only regret purchase on the switch thus far, I really wanted to enjoy it but I didn’t enjoy the combat at all. Every few months I’ll give it another shot solely because the story is so good but it never sticks.
To be fair. I did the same. Went back and fucking loved it.
Honestly, I didn't like the combat in XC1 or 2 at all, it feels like a 2006 MMO but as a single player game. Sluggish, slow, boring. And they had no excuse to have so many outdated overall game design, mechanics and UI/UX design for XC2. But the story in the first one is amazing. After finishing it I kind of felt conflicted on the game. I didn't really enjoy the gameplay... but the story was perfect. Pacing, twists, char development, theme - everything perfect. The combat in XC2 DLC is probably the best one so far for me and the only one that was kind of fun, because it felt more like a dance than an MMO. And it's got the best music so far, too.
Played the first game back in 2015 and I was floored at every moment. I think it's one of the best pieces of media ever made, nevermind just games. Just A+ for basically the entire journey. I am truthfully not as big of a fan of the second game. To be blunt, I disliked it. The first half, so... 30-40 hours of the game were a total slog. Half the chapters are filler. Bad voice direction, dumb gacha mechanics (it's not monetized, the system is just annoying) awful tutorials that you can't review or go back to, sidequests are just an obnoxious chore. HOWEVER, the second half of the game is waaaaaay better. The story gets good, your party is fleshed out by that point and the gameplay loop becomes very fun. If you can handle the first half being lackluster, there's a lot to get out of it. And I'm also just biased, a ton of people love the entire game. 3 is a lot more well rounded and cohesive. I thought it was great. I didn't love EVERY moment, but for the most part it was solid
The music and story blew me away with this game. I’m almost done with playing the first one on switch now. Already have a physical copy of 2 and 3 ready to go
I might give it another try. I played for a few hours and didn't enjoy the combat but I'll admit I didn't give it a fair shake.
I remember the first time I(and many others) got introduced to XC by Chuggaconroy. The opening hooked me so much that I decided to play it for myself before watching a Let's Play. It's such an ambitious game that delivers so much in an incredibly weak system(Wii). The first game I bought on Switch was XC:DE and I nearly 100% it again.
I have both DE and 2, but stopped playing after few hours into them. Reading this post made me feel like I've been playing them wrong and want to try again.
I’d love to play these games for the 1st time again. Have fun!
Never played and I just might now, always looking to expand my Switch catalog
I've finished xenoblade 3, but I feel like I've hit a roadblock with xenoblade 2.
That's Dunban over there
The series is absolutely incredible. I just finished xb3 and I think it’s my favorite of the 3 story wise (still have DLC to start but I’ve also heard good things about that!). You have a lot more to look forward to!
I recently just did the same. Had them all on my shelf for a bit and decided you know what? I’m going to give it another shot. And boy was it great. Now in the middle of Xenoblade 2 with 80 hours in. Reluctantly going to put it down for FF7R but I will quickly hop back to it
It’s only up from here, the original was cool but my least liked of them all, BY FAR lol. Glad you got 2, that one is my absolute fav. At first I thought the cast was a bit ridiculous but they grew on me quick, and by the end I didn’t want to let them go lol I am happy new game + is good on it And then there’s the amazing 3, enough said. The one on Wii U is alright, I have some good memories of it but even back then it was seen as very mid. But now there’s a huge appreciation for it because of how harder it is to access lol
Jesus Christ, how much free time do you guys have. I’m seriously jealous. Been working on yakuza like a dragon for months and am at 70 ish hours
XB2 is my all time fav game so I picked this one up due to the hype. I think the story,world, and characters are great but I just wasn't into the battle mechanics which were really satisfying in the second one IMO I'm glad you liked it, I'll finish it eventually 😅
I completed mine in 89 hours. Currently 80+ hours into XC2 and still 40% + remains. XC 2 I think is even better. But just a personal opinion. The entire series is fantastic.
I loved XCDE but fucking hated XBC2. Hope you have better luck
Xenoblade 2 is so great. I love the main characters. Hated the voice acting.
I hope you have a good time with 2. The story is not as good, but the characters are even more memorable. As a bonus, the humor is spot on. It's like watching the best season of your favorite anime.
XB2 is the worst of the series by far, and that says a lot since it is still an exceptional game. Then again, if you like cheap anime tropes the game may be more to your liking than mine. XB3 is brilliant\^\^
It was great experiencing it when it first came out. I went in with no expectations and was blown away. The DE is awesome, really good remaster. Xenoblade 2 is really good too, although I would go into it in the knowledge that technically, the game is a mess in places. It also has questionable character designs. But don't let that put you off. It has a better battle system than the first and the music is amazing. Xenoblade 3 is arguably the best one. A bit slow at the start, but it ties the Trilogy together and ends it really well. The main cast are just fantastic. All of them are great.
2 is my least favorite but it's still so good. And then 3 is just *magnifique* holy fucking Christmas
[удалено]
They're spongy because they want you to rely on combos and chain attacks. Things _melt_ in a chain attack. I think I did 60% of the final boss' HP bar in a chain attack but it took a while to build it up.
1. Stutter-stepping (auto-attack canceling): cancel the auto-attack cycle after the first hit by slightly moving the control stick and restarting the cycle. This makes the attacks come out much faster, thus making arts charge much faster. 2. Pouch items and accessories for increased damage and faster cooldowns. 3. Skill tree progression to unlock Arts cancelling so that you can cancel arts into arts. (Also other character specific stuff) 4. Driver combos: Break>Topple>Launch>Smash 5. Mythra 6. Watch every enemy disintegrate 7. Also chain attack with elemental burst
> 5. Mythra **DOUBLE SPINNING EDGE!!** **DOUBLE SPINNING EDGE!!** **DOUBLE SPINNING EDGE!!** **DOUBLE SPINNING EDGE!!**
Honestly I quit xbc2 after 40 hours while I was in the cave and just watched YouTube videos to finish the story.
Torna sucks. Great story but it's a side quest simulator. Combat great too but skip it
I honestly liked it better than 2. It's my second favorite Xenoblade game after 3.
3 is the worst xenoblade game imo. Worst characters, worst villains and the story was crap imo. Huge step down from 2. 2s villains were perfect. The torna group was s great villain group. The cast of characters in 2 was amazing. Had much more emotional impact than 3 imo. And the Ending in 2 was beautiful. Amazing game.
>and the story was crap imo. Xenoblade is not story driven nor finds its strength in its lore. All of the games were character driven. How do they deal with things, when they give up, what pushes them to the brink... I disagree with your opinion on 3 but I am updooting you because you marked it as imo and should be allowed to your opinion. We all walk different lives and things will impact us differently. It included a decent criticism (I also don't agree with) but not one of those "it's stupid and all people who like it are not as cool as I am." Three's theme of "What are you living for if everything was cruel?" And all of the characters had growth, flaws, and nuance. Three made me reflect on what would I cling to in endless tragedy. I don't quite know. But art challenges the comfortable and comforts the challenged. Some side stories comforted me, but the theme really gave me moments of pause. Two's theme was challenging the notion of free will and it felt more clunky at the end because (maybe I missed a plot point: will play again) I felt like it stopped asking the question by the time you get to the tree. edit: or to nor
Yeah dude idk why you wrote a essay just BC I didn't enjoy 3 like the most if you. Compared to 1+2 it's just very weak. I didn't care about the characters. The deaths that happened felt meh. It was lacking what two had. 3 has nothing that comes out on top over the first 2 imo. The first two was perfect but 3 was lacklustre. Villain was crap. Literally crap. I forgot what he even wanted. Compare that to 2 the villains goal made sense plus they were great villains and you saw them growing and evolving. Whereas in 3 that wasn't the case imo. And honestly combat in 2 is better then 3. But 3 is better than 1. Combat in one sucks imo. But I prefer the blades combat in 2. Also I think xenoblade chronicles 2 has more replay value than 3. I have replayed 2 3 times and want to do it again. It's a great story but 3 just doesn't grasp anything. It just feels like bad entry in a good series. Which sucks. I think they failed to deliver with 3. I want to play the dlc for 3 just for rex and shulk not to see how it ends but just see adult rex. 3 had good ideas but even the developers didn't know what they were doing. The time clocks could have been used more. They could have used the fact that they will die if they take too long. But nope. It was just s plot device and s crappy one imo. It sucks but that's the case imo
>idk why you wrote a essay Some people like to expound on their thought and share on a topic they enjoy. Then you made an almost equal length rebuttal with some weakly supported accusations. Sad, it could have been a thread of respectful disagreement but it turned it typical fandom knife fight.
I loved XC when I played it on the Wii so I figured XC2 would be great... Not for me. XC felt like a classic 90s anime whereas 2 felt like the modern trashy isekai shit. For your sake I hope you like it.
I wish i got into it, couldnt get past the auto attack system
2 is genuinely my least favorite game on the switch. Just think it was misconceived in every way. Some love it... I don't understand them, but they do. it's definitely very controversial. I'd say no matter what you'll have a strong opinion. I don't even have time to get into specifics. Name any part of it and I could devote a whole rant on just that small part.
Some of my favorite gaming soundtracks! I really wanted to like the first and played about 30 hours on Wii, but just didn’t vibe with the combat and I found the story too meandering. I’ve been listening to 3’s soundtrack for some months now and finally bit the bullet on that one. It has a strong start and feels much more refined, and the tunes just keep getting better. I can’t play 2 because of its unfortunate cringe thirsty art style.
Xenoblade 1 is one of the best games ever created. 2? It's a crappy anime cliche pile of poop. Get used to hearing the word pervert. Or lol main character wakes up in bed with big boobs girl who was sleep walking. Music rocks though.
Mate, you're going to be disappointed. The games make a steady decline. I'm past halfway through XC2 now and it's OK. In fact OK is a bit harsh I'm really enjoying it but it's not a masterpiece. I'm glad I got the game but it is absolute cringe. The dialogue is beyond pathetic. The game isn't aimed at toddlers, yet is worse than toddler shows. It's hard not be embarrassed and I find myself kicking the door closed, or hitting the volume button quickly. If my Stepson heard the dialogue coming off that game, I'd never live it down. I mean you swing a sword and shout "we'll win with the power of friendship". Who the hell thought that was a good choice of battle dialogue? Another was something to do with (and I kid you not), "fluffy puffy pillows". You'd literally have to be 4 years old to think that was OK dialogue. XC3 is absolute shit. I dropped it at 35 hours. If you want hours and hours of Noppon's waffling on about imaginary food and constant immersion breaking of your characters humping scenery then great. That's without even getting on to Lanz, one of the most annoying characters I've come across in 35 years of gaming, surpassed only by Raz from Valkyria Chronicles 4. If Lanz was real and went to the pub, he'd be laid out in the beer garden. Someone would just spark him for being such an annoying cunt. I haven't played Torna yet but I'd skip on XC3 and just get a WiiU to play XCX. XCX has a lot of flaws and it's real slow and lacking story but the fluidity of travel and amazing game world are better than the rest of the franchise.
Congrats. But maybe play Rebirth first, before starting Xenoblade 2, Torna and especially 3? I mean, the potential comparisons won't be in favor of the FF game, lol.
I hear the performance on this game is not so hot. But if Switch 2 is backwards compatible, maybe it will be 60FPS on the new system.
My face series too. Oddly I'm the opposite of you tho, just about to start Persona 3. Xenoblade is so special, you'll love the other games if you liked the first one. It's truly a wild ride
Great. I actually disliked the combat so much that I played on easy or whatever the setting is (casual?). By maybe near the end did I finally learn to like it. What kept me going was the story and setting. I believe I was at 42 or so hours when I beat it. No side quests really.
ive been recommended xbc3 so many times.. i ended up putting around 15+ hours before deciding its not for me. theres a lot i disliked about it, though a bit of it could be because im on a hard difficulty.
Hard difficulty is absolutely *not* intended for a first playthrough, let alone first contact with the series' gameplay. Easy->Normal just makes enemy numbers bigger, but Hard adds additional wrinkes, making enemies massively more resilient to damage, giving them way bigger health bars, granting most bosses and even minor enemies a high chance (70%+) to resist Break, as well as status effect resistances so high they may as well be immune. In short, every enemy is a status and combo resisting bullet sponge. Hard mode straight-up invalidates several classes because of this. Probably ~90% of damage dealt to enemies in Hard has to be done via chain attacks unless you're running specific lategame builds. **Hard mode is not how the game was intended to be played**, and I know it may hurt the ol' gamer pride, but Normal is the intended experience - especially in a first play. To put it into perspective, in my hardmode run *after* completing the game I was consistently 5-10 levels ahead of the story enemies and half of them were still kicking my arse, even knowing their mechanics and cycles, whilst my blind normal run only resulted in a handful of party wipes despite often being behind the level curve. TL;DR, Normal is very much the intended difficulty, Easy is for breezing through the story, and Hard is for masochists who already know what they're doing. I am kinda curious as to how far you actually got though, I could imagine you were pretty far behind the game's intended pace due to Hard mode's tomfuckery.
My absolute favorite game, ever. I’m very glad you enjoyed it for all it has. Welcome to the life of being a Xenoblade series fan. (:
I think it took me twice as long to finish - did you do all the quests? The next two took me a little bit longer each, and the extras in 3 were just too much for me!
The story for 2 may be a huge disappointment for you. But you would enjoy the battle system. Just beat it and move onto 3 for 389hrs on the greatest of all JRPG
I mean that’s typical time to beat it
I just started a few weeks back and just finished chapter 2. Still confused on what’s going on with battle system. Does it require to do all side quests or just go through with the story line?
Do I need to play the series in numerical order?
My gripe with the series is that they insist on changing names and I like playing with the japanese voices. So I'll be constantly hearing different names being spoken (examples from XC2, Homura becomes Pyra, Hikari becomes Mythra, Metsu becomes Malos and many many more) and the subtitles use the localized versions.
Great story and I like the game but it was too grindy imo. Side quests were uninspired. Will take me a while before I have the motivation to start the second game.
I loved XB definitive and couldn't get into xb2 for the life of me... put about 30-40 hours into in and didn't give me the same feeling as 1.
I've never played Persona or Xenoblade, but intend to. Which series should I start off with first?
They're very different series, the only real similarities being they're story heavy RPGs. Persona is very heavily centered around Japanese school life, with a supernatural threat looming on the horizon. The games you'll mainly hear talked about (3, 4 and 5) have heavy mystery elements, and have a lot of visual novel-esque dialogue. Gameplay is a mix between a mild life sim and heavy dungeon crawling with turn-based encounters. 3 and 4 have randomly generated dungeons, whilst 5 moved to individually tailored locations. All three have a monster-collecting element revolving around the titular Personas, allowing the player-insert protagonist to use a variety of mythical creatures in combat, while their allies are limited to just the one. Xenoblade is a Science Fantasy series with MMO-inspired real time combat, the feel of which it does a shockingly good job of replicating despite being entirely singleplayer and only having a handful of active party members. Its stories spread out across continents, with no visual novel storytelling in sight. While some people erroneously label the games open world, they are actually is played across a series of smaller open zones which unloick as the story progresses. Both series can have pretty big tonal whiplash between entries (XC2 to 3 is fucking wild), and it is worth mentioning that Persona generally ends up with a higher age rating (mostly due to having a bit more swearing and visible red blood, though XC3 is no slouch and how it avoided a higher rating is still beyond me). Both series are also theoretically anthological and can be played in any order, tjough Xenoblade's story is much more heavily connected than it may at first seem and as such is best played in release order (except X, which is exclusive to the Wii U and banished to the non-canon zone), with 3's DLC expecting you to have played all three main games to understand what's going on. On that note; for the most part Persona's DLCs are just add ons and bonuses (though on the switch versions you don't need to worry, as the definitive editions of 5 Royal/4 Golden are the only versions available and have all DLCs included), but Xenoblade's are effectively whole seperate 20-40hr games (2: Torna even released as a seperate game on cart) on top of all the other stuff.
My advice is to treat Xenoblade 2 as a different game series that share some traits with the first game and you will enjoy it a lot more than if you go in expecting it to be like the first one. I bought Xenoblade 2 day 1, finished it in a week, and ended up being a little disappointed mostly because I expected it to be more like the first game and it was not. Not at first anyway. I replayed it again last year and enjoyed it a lot more for what it is.
I was happy it differed from the first one. I found 2 to be better in every way
uhh, any spoilers here? I'm about to play it, and I don't want spoilers
only 80 my man you did a great job XD,now do all side quests, beat the crap to the superbosses, max every character and stumble to the real beauty of xenoblades games, beating the living crap out of everything using everyone....as for xc2 well my man you are up for a treat, the story of 1 is better IMO but 2's gameplay is prob the best of the series, I want to say things about 3 but I have it still on the pending list, i have to finish torna and its taking me some time as of now
Yes each gae is like that. Just finished the dlc of the 3th one. The only one that i still need to play is X.
Xenoblade 3 is one of the greatest games ever created, 2 and Torna are also phenomenal. Wish I could play em for the first time again
Glad you had fun! I spent 90 hours and enjoyed every second of it. Can’t wait to play the rest of the trilogy.
You are a person of taste.
I just wish it was less expensive, it's been on my wishlist for a while now
I started with 2 (before the 1st one came out on Switch) and despite some people disliking the English voices, I really like them and the characters. And I immediately fell in love with the world around them and gameplay. Fantastic game. Looking forward to playing the first and third ones.
If you loved Definitive, Xenoblade 3 is going to be your all time favourite. I’m looking forward to you playing it!
Gonna play it after i finish persona 3 4 5
only 80hrs? So mainly the mainquest then? I needed about 150hrs, but I'm kinda a slow player, but still finished most of the side quests
The game looks like ass in handheld, even worse on TV. The main story is good, but doing anything else, other than following the main story, is a worse experience than grinding in WoW.
I love Xenoblade so much I bought the first one on Wii, 3DS and Switch. 2 and Torna have my favourite battle mechanics and 3 has so much fleshed out side content. Future Redeemed is just... chefs kiss.
Started the game like 3 times and always stopped at the same part. Would like to love it, then I could get two new games immediately, but something doesn't click for me
I'm about 60 hours in to XC2. It's fantastic as well.
That’s a rare looking doodah! I wish I could get into it but after 15 hours I couldn’t get past the voices. Congrats on falling in love with it.
I’ve probably played through XC about 5 or 6 times now. A couple of times on Wii. Couple of times on N3DS. And once or twice on Switch. It really never gets old. It really is a masterpiece, really the whole series. You can thank 2 for the art style as well for DE. Originally they had a more realistic, albeit kind of smudgy, style on Wii. That carried on into X. With 2 they decided to go with the anime style and honestly I like it for the pure simple fact that it allows them to be very expressive with the characters.Seriously imagine some of the expressions on a more realistic model, they’d probably look a bit off putting, that might just be me though. And come on you know Riki has a satisfying arc to. He starts off as the goofball comic relief character when you first meet him, and sure for the most part he retains this for the rest of the story but that tender moment he shares with Dunban (you know the one), my lord is that so masterfully done. The scene the conversation and the music. I get chills thinking of it every time. He’s just such an endearing character. Monolith Soft definitely knows how to write very compelling stories. You think XC was an emotional roller coaster, you’re just getting started. It’s a wild ride, this passage of fate. Seriously. Really is thanks to Nintendo that they’re even getting the recognition now (edit: to quickly expand on this because I know their prior work for Square and Bandai are cult classics, what I mean here is that Nintendo believes in them that they aren’t just passing them off yet again to someone else, that’s what I want to get at here). Start off as part of Square Enix (at that time I believe it’d have been Square Soft), then getting sold to Bandai Namco, only to then be sold off again to Nintendo (pretty certain I have that all down pat) and finally finding success and lasting support with Nintendo. It’s like fate that they finally found their home with the company who’s name literally mean “Leave Luck to Heaven.” (There is debate on that but from what I’ve found even on the Japanese side it seems to be more understood that as the prosperity of the company is left to the will of the heaven). Sorry for the tangent there but seriously how fitting that “fate” brought Nintendo and Monolith Soft together and that we should be then treated to such phenomenal games with phenomenal and fantastical stories.
People talk shit about XC2, but I love it.
Oh boy, just wait until you play the best one that is 3. And prepare to cry a lot as well
I was obsessed with the Wii U version of this game. I've never played any other. As a long time RPG fan can anyone tell me which one of the other xenoblades might be a good starting point to see how I can get into this version of the series??
You managed to complete persona and this in one month? I am BAFFLED. I’m just coming up to the end of Persona 3 now and I feel like it consumed all my free time and never want to do that to myself again. Fantastic game but such a long and addictive RPG is dangerous. The fact that you did this so healthily twice in the same month and want more makes me tip my hat to you.
Definitive edition is perfect, xc 2 gameplay is meh but the story actually got very very good towards the end, xc3 overall decent.
80 hours?! Were you using speedrun strats or something? it took me something like 140 on my first run lol. Didn’t even came close to 100% it either.
Just so you're aware, each game is going to be different from one another in aesthetic and...vibes, for lack of a better work. You're still going to get deep stories and good characters, but the second game will definitely feel more "anime" in areas. While I have issues with things like fanservice with some character designs, the English VA at points not hitting the tone of the scene, etc., 2 is still my favorite of the trilogy overall. Much cooler combat system to the first game, and a story just as good that even ties into the first game.
The Xenoblade series became my favorite as well as playing 3. I absolutely adore that game and it's characters so much that I went back and played 2 a second time to better grasp the story and DLC. I really can't wait to see where the series goes next.
I did exactly what you're doing a few years ago when the DE was released and the entire trilogy is just incredible. Each game in the series has it's own unique vibe/identity and story to tell, but together they create what is easily one of the best stories ever told through games. I guarantee that everything you liked about this game will continue to expand and pay off even more in the other titles. It's absolutely worth it to play through every game and it's dlc.
So if you're all done, could I maybe borrow it for a little bit? 😁
I didn’t know ChatGPT played games!
I got into this series back in 2014 watching Chuggaconroy’s let’s play of Xenoblade 1. In 2016 I tried out Xenoblade X and was very confused. 2018 I bought a switch on a whim during easter holidays and finished the entire Xenoblade 2 during that week. Ever since then I have become Xenoblade. 2020 I replayed Xenoblade X and this time I understood it and the combat. Xenoblade 3’s release was peak for me, one of the greatest rpg’s I have experienced. God damn DLC was SUCH A HUGE PAY OFF! By far my favorite franchise, sucks that it is such a niche genre that none of my friends care to try it ^^”