Xenoblade Chronicles: Remade Remake Edition

I walked smack into that one.

Nah, really though, I'm enjoying it a lot. It has a lot of little enhancements that are much appreciated, like making quest directives a bit easier to find on maps, and cues telling you when moves will be effective (e.g. when you're at the right angle for a move targeting the foe's side). I've just reached Nopon Village and have not long met Melia, but haven't encountered Riki yet.

Still don't really understand how skill links work though.

Moyles told me that it also highlights the necessary glowy things for side-quests? That's a big plus if so, it was one of my most hated parts of the game.

Yep, it does. When you see them in the field, if they're part of a fetch quest you've already activated, they have a little exclamation mark over them - as do monsters you've been asked to take out.

I think I understand skill links now (ish) and did a little skim of a guide yesterday to better understand each character's role in battle. Have got Melia and Riki in the team now, and spent far too long yesterday dicking around trying to find items for restoring Colony 6. Couldn't find them, just decided to go back and continue the story a bit more instead.

I never bothered with any part of Colony 6. Find a bunch more blue crystal things is it? No tah.

I think I'm approaching the point I got to when I played it the first time around - Galahad Fortress.

One thing I like is the occasionally completely incongruous names of the blue glowy things. Wandering around an ancient tomb designed to be a trial for potential leaders of the royal family, finding plenty of Tasty Sausages.

Sausages are the food of kings, no doubt about that!

Thank goodness they weren't Nasty Sausages. That's probably what the servants got.

Plenty of servants would have received my nasty sausage, were I an ancient noble.

I walked into that one.

Much like a servant walking into Buska's nasty sausage.

So in my absence from the good ship GNamer, I ended up putting close to a hundred hours into this between the main campaign and the new epilogue chapter. I bloody loved it! Despite having watched a Let's Play of the game years back, I'd forgotten pretty much all the main story beats, so I was invested in all the twists and turns. The characters all grew on me and I'll definitely look back on my time with the gang fondly.

The combat was initially a bit fiddly for me, but it really came alive in the endgame fighting some of the tougher unique monsters. There was more strategy in the combat system than was first clear. It actually reminded me a lot of an MMORPG in many ways, with aggro and skill cooldown being a big deal.

I do think the whopper environments, whilst stunning upon your first time exploring each zone, grew to be a bit of a drag when revisiting them for sidequests and collectables. It would have been nice to have a faster mode of transport after "clearing" each zone, so to speak.

But aye, quality adventure. I'm glad I waited to play this version rather than persevering with the 3DS version.

Glad you enjoyed it Moyles! I'd be tempted to pick it up myself, with the rectification of the crystals and whatnot, were it not for the fact that I really don't have time to play 100h of a game I've already rinsed. (There's no curing Agniratha, sadly.)

Onto XC2 with you now! Er, please?

I almost bought this on Wii a few days ago for my collection, but I don't know when if I'll ever play, and it's not like Galaxy 2 which still looks great on Wii.

Balladeer wrote:

Onto XC2 with you now!  Er, please?

I need a JRPG breather, give me time.

masofdas wrote:

I almost bought this on Wii a few days ago for my collection, but I don't know when if I'll ever play, and it's not like Galaxy 2 which still looks great on Wii.

If you do plan to actually play it rather than just buying it for the collection, the Definitive Edition is the way to go for sure. I honestly think the storytelling is better by virtue of being able to see the characters emote and for them not to look like hideous Muppet offspring.

That's what I should have said back when it came out and not about the sandwich.

JayMoyles wrote:

The combat was initially a bit fiddly for me, but it really came alive in the endgame fighting some of the tougher unique monsters. There was more strategy in the combat system than was first clear. It actually reminded me a lot of an MMORPG in many ways, with aggro and skill cooldown being a big deal.

Interesting you should say that actually - I do like the combat system, and balancing each character's skills (Dunban or Reyn are always in my team as aggro sinks, but I pretty much never have them together, for example) but by the time I got to the late game I've been getting a bit fatigued with the battle system. So from about the point of Agniratha I switched to Casual mode so that fights didn't feel like as much of a slog and I could appreciate the buildup of the end of the story. Otherwise there's a strong chance I wouldn't have persevered.

I haven't quite finished the main game yet but I'm very nearly there, and then I'm going to play Future Connected, so I'll save my main thoughts for a deeper dive on the game once I've finished it all.

masofdas wrote:

That's what I should have said back when it came out and not about the sandwich.

Bad news though Mas... the sandwich remains unfixed.

Rum wrote:

JayMoyles wrote:

The combat was initially a bit fiddly for me, but it really came alive in the endgame fighting some of the tougher unique monsters. There was more strategy in the combat system than was first clear. It actually reminded me a lot of an MMORPG in many ways, with aggro and skill cooldown being a big deal.

Interesting you should say that actually - I do like the combat system, and balancing each character's skills (Dunban or Reyn are always in my team as aggro sinks, but I pretty much never have them together, for example) but by the time I got to the late game I've been getting a bit fatigued with the battle system. So from about the point of Agniratha I switched to Casual mode so that fights didn't feel like as much of a slog and I could appreciate the buildup of the end of the story. Otherwise there's a strong chance I wouldn't have persevered.

I can definitely see where you're coming from in regards to fatigue setting in later in the game. I recall the fights not exactly being tough around that part of the game, so combat definitely began to drag. But, the endgame side content really opened up the combat for me again, so maybe you'll have a similar experience? I did use Casual Mode for a few fights I just could not be arsed with though, I must admit.

I know the Definitive Edition has some new content called Future Connect? Is it a prequel, sequel, some side thing happening at the same time?

Sequel to the original, I believe. Basically, what happened to one of the fan-favourite characters (voiced by Jenna-Louise Coleman of Doctor Who fame) afterwards? Also: here, have two of the most annoying species in the game. I'm unsure about it to be honest.

That said, I'm leaning towards getting this in some form this year. Less so for Future Connected, and more to see whether XC1 can become one of my favourite games again when the 'collect x glowy things' sub-quests are made easier.

Ahh that's good to know, for whenever I do get to this, when that will be whole knows (basically was have Quest 2 sat on shelve or Switch games) though.

Will also ask, how much do XC1 and XC2 connect, now we know XC3 will bring those futures together (Could that make XC3 a prequel?) as do I need to play XC1 first as something appears in XC2 or it doesn't matter?

That's biiiiiiig spoilers for both games, and seeing as you haven't played them I don't feel comfortable saying right now? If it gets to the launch of XC3 and you haven't got around to it (yes I realise that's quite likely), ask me again and I'll give you the abridged version.

That said, I didn't even realise that they connected at first until I read up on it. I get the impression that it's not going to be a big deal for XC3, therefore. See comments to Buska in the XC3 thread.

Yeah, didn't think it would be a big deal, especially as the interview about XC3 mentioned new players welcome.

Why mentioned elsewhere my play order might be very odd as XC3 is a game I'm very much excited about this year, based on the trailer and Torna.

I found Future Connected wholly unmemorable if I'm honest. Nice little bonus though.

I quite liked Future Connected actually. It was a nice epilogue of sorts for the game and whilst it didn't reach the storytelling heights of the main game, it was a cosy playthrough.

I own all three versions of the original XC, plus X, 2 and Torna.

So far I haven't played any of them.

Definitely finally getting the itch to play the first in the series though with the hype over 3.