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 NO SPOILERS.  Xenoblade Chronicles is a game that defied the odds to rise up to greater heights than anyone could have fathomed. Released in 2010 in Japan and developed by MonolithSoft as the latest in Tetsuya Takahashi's collection of RPGs with the Xeno- prefix, this game was the culmination of years of experience and lessons learned from the other Xeno- games. The game launched on the Wii and was one of the first big name RPGs to be released after Final Fantasy XIII famously eschewed traditional exploration for a more streamlined experience, and Xenoblade was a sign that big sprawling adventures could still be made. The game stars Shulk, a young engineer who sets out on a journey to eradicate the Mechon, a robotic army that laid seige to his hometown, armed with the Monado, a mysterious sword that's the only hope the Homs have to stand a fighting chance against the Mechon. The game was a modest success in Japan, but it seemed that it would see the same fate as Mother 3, as Nintendo of America opted not to localize the title, expecting poor returns for the high investment that they would have had to make to produce the game. Nintendo of Europe took on the title in NoA's stead, but despite this, the game was still denied release on American shores. It took a massive fan-petition, Operation Rainfall, along with an exclusivity deal with GameStop, for NoA to relent and finally release the game stateside. The game enjoyed a lot of positive buzz from very passionate fans and enthusiasts, but the exclusivity deal with GameStop was a striking blow to the game's overall availability; the game released in 2012, about half a year before the Wii U would launch, and GameStop had free reign to sell all of their copies as used with a higher price. Despite everything riding against it, Xenoblade seemed to be a smashing success in the states, enough so that Nintendo would continue to invest in more Xenoblade titles to build a franchise. The game was successful enough to warrant its main protagonist, Shulk, joining the roster of Super Smash Brothers for Wii U and 3DS! Then, in 2015, Nintendo was gearing up to launch the newest iteration of their 3DS line of handhelds, the New 3DS, which touted better specs, head-tracking 3D, a full compliment of four shoulder buttons and a C-nub thing to be used as a second stick for games that warranted it. Alongside the announcement of the New 3DS, Nintendo unveiled Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, a port of the Wii original to the smaller handheld. Developed by Monster Games, who had also done the Donkey Kong Country Returns port to 3DS, XBC3D was a game that could punch well above its weight class in bringing the grand console adventure to the smaller handheld. Monster Games had to create a new graphics engine and rebuild all of the environments to ensure the game ran smoothly, but the game ran far better than it had any right to and was an amazing technical success. Unfortunately, as the headliner for a mid-generation console upgrade, it did not do as well as it could have. The next release would be the original Wii version on the Wii U eShop, which should speak for itself. Which brings us to the Switch release, the Definitive Edition; Nintendo had tapped Monolith to assist with the development of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, having helped out with the original BotW's development years before. Not wanting the staff that wasn't assisting BotW's development to sit around doing nothing, the rest of Monolith began a smaller-scale project to bring the original Xenoblade to life in HD. Built on the engine created for Xenoblade Chronicles 2, XBC: DE boasts enhanced visuals, an updated artstyle, remastered music, a streamlined user interface and many quality-of-life improvements across the board, making this the best way to experience this game. In addition to the enhanced original game, there's a new epilogue chapter, Future Connected, that teases future developments for the series and wraps up some character arcs in the original story.  This will be an informative LP where I show off the main story and as much content as I can manage. I'm joined by my usual co-commentator, Jobbo_Fett, who's going in blind. We're also joined by Artix, who has played about half of this game, and Nine Gear Crow, who has completed this game and is able to serve as a secondary source of knowledge in case I drop the ball on anything. Videos will hopefully go out Mondays and Thursdays, but no promises. I will reiterate, Jobbo is going in blind, so no spoilers. None. Anything seen in updates is fair game, but none of that wink-wink-nudge-nudge stuff going on.  Chapter 01       Chapter 02   Chapter 03     Chapter 04     Chapter 05         Chapter 06        Chapter 07            Chapter 08         Chapter 09     Chapter 10           Chapter 11         Chapter 12     Chapter 13          Chapter 14           Chapter 15     Chapter 16   Chapter 17                         Future Connected                              
ChaosArgate fucked around with this message at 17:34 on Jun 17, 2021 |
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Jul 27, 2020 17:52
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Reserved
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Jul 27, 2020 17:52
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I really love this game. Hope you can show of everything
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Jul 27, 2020 20:11
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If Chaos doesn't show everything he has to surrender his youtube channel to me.
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Jul 27, 2020 20:42
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Good luck OP! It'll only take you like 5 years cause this game's long as poo poo!
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Jul 27, 2020 21:16
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Yay! I love this game! I adore it! I picked it up back when it released stateside on the Wii, thanks to the relentless amount of hype it got right here on the forums. I went out and pre-ordered a copy from Gamestop and gleefully fired it up the day it released! I have it on Wii, 3DS, Wii U... and I also have the DE. I have played this game probably more than is healthy. But who cares? It's great! I will be following with interest.
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Jul 27, 2020 21:30
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I find it endlessly amusing when Americans complain about the "weird" accents in Xenoblade, as for me, a native Brit, I'm just pleased to hear actual British regional accents in a game. Pretty much all the of the minor voices have popped up in children's cartoons over here, and that just makes it even funnier for me.
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Jul 27, 2020 22:00
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Between the two times that I've played it (Wii, Switch), I guess I've put about 320 or so hours into this game. The music is amazing, and is in my top 10 game OSTs. The improvements are much appreciated, and while there are a few things I wish they had changed, the package itself is still great and worth a play even today. Edit: 100%ing this game would be a nightmare, let alone for a let's play. Prowler fucked around with this message at 22:55 on Jul 27, 2020 |
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Jul 27, 2020 22:48
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Judge Tesla posted:I find it endlessly amusing when Americans complain about the "weird" accents in Xenoblade, as for me, a native Brit, I'm just pleased to hear actual British regional accents in a game. I thought they were Australian at first.... 
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Jul 27, 2020 23:53
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Judge Tesla posted:I find it endlessly amusing when Americans complain about the "weird" accents in Xenoblade, as for me, a native Brit, I'm just pleased to hear actual British regional accents in a game.  It also helps that a lot of the VAs in the game are trained actors and can deliver really good voicework when they need to. Its a huge breath of fresh air in the normally US dominated game VA. Another good one in the same vein was Last Story. I love Xenoblade Chronicles and Ill be following this LP intently. Rigged Death Trap fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Jul 28, 2020 |
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Jul 28, 2020 03:05
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The English cast is so good. I watched some of the scenes in Japanese, but it didn't hit me the same way.
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Jul 28, 2020 04:11
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I love this game so much. I hope this is the LP that finally breaks the curse and gets finished.
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Jul 28, 2020 04:29
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Accents aren't cockney enough
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Jul 28, 2020 18:47
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Nissin Cup Nudist posted:Accents aren't cockney enough The Most Cockney Accent Ever is coming. Be patient.
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Jul 28, 2020 18:49
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animeluva1 posted:The English cast is so good. I watched some of the scenes in Japanese, but it didn't hit me the same way. There's a character we'll meet much later (who happens to be the best character), and wow, you're absolutely right in that the English VA plays the role much better.
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Jul 29, 2020 03:44
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ChaosArgate posted:I will reiterate, Jobbo is going in blind, so no spoilers. None. Anything seen in updates is fair game, but none of that wink-wink-nudge-nudge stuff going on. yeah, just to signal boost this, i will probe anyone doing wink-wink-nudge-nudge stuff... and also jobbo just to make sure their experience remains pure and untainted.
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Jul 29, 2020 04:53
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Seriously, I've never seen this game be played. Or seen this game.
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Jul 29, 2020 12:00
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what game?
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Jul 29, 2020 15:33
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This is my favorite JRPG of all time and alone justified buying a Wii even as it came out in the 11th hour of its lifespan. It set a standard for game worlds that I still haven't seen equaled.
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Jul 29, 2020 15:49
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Sally posted:what game? I don't know, I only ever Wompa Stompa'd so I couldn't find out.
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Jul 29, 2020 16:28
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How does this game compare to the other Xenoblade games?
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Jul 29, 2020 23:10
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it's the first one!
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Jul 29, 2020 23:17
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Mraagvpeine posted:How does this game compare to the other Xenoblade games? Pretty good, its sequel xenoblade 2 ups the Britishness a bunch with welsh and Scottish party members. Although the anime level is extensively cranked up as well, so it might not be to your taste. Xenoblade 2 tries to build on the first games combat system with mixed results. Oh, and the initial release was very rough because it turns out half the dev team was removed to work on breath of the wild, so there were a lot of updates to streamline and fix menus and UI. I personally enjoyed it a lot, but there are a lot of issues that you might find significant or minor depending on your taste.
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Jul 30, 2020 04:41
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Mraagvpeine posted:How does this game compare to the other Xenoblade games? I've scant experience with 2, but from what I've seen of the three games the original is the best. Xenoblade Chronicles X had a really killer concept, but tumbled down an Empire State Building's worth of stairs trying to execute it. It made the sames mistakes that White Knight Chronicles did in that it tried to force itself into being a quasi MMORPG when it was clearly not suited to being one, nor on a system (or with a company really) that could handle that kind of online infrastructure, so it sacrificed an actual story on that altar. And the story is what people tend to play Xeno games for. And because it didn't have one of the key draws of a typical Xeno game and because it came out on the backfire of a system that was the Wii U, X is generally known as the forgotten Xeno game. And it kind of deserves to stay buried. It had a great bright spark of an idea that blew itself out in its first three-ish hours, not unlike Mass Effect: Andromeda did.
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Jul 30, 2020 04:48
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legit Xenoblade seems to me to be the final successful execution of the game/story they tried and failed to tell with Xenogears and Xenosaga. lots of cool ideas and sparks of brilliance but oh so many fumbles. Xenoblade 1 was pure excellence. the sequels are "whats the point" imo.
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Jul 30, 2020 04:54
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Sally posted:legit Xenoblade seems to me to be the final successful execution of the game/story they tried and failed to tell with Xenogears and Xenosaga. lots of cool ideas and sparks of brilliance but oh so many fumbles. Xenoblade 1 was pure excellence. the sequels are "whats the point" imo. This is my exact take and I think I even say that in about as many words in one of the upcoming commentaries. Literally just "You got it right the first time. Why are you taking a mulligan on a hole-in-one?  "
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Jul 30, 2020 05:32
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Check out this old british lady going trough her experience with the xenoblade series. She might mention some some spoilers but most of seems really charming things about the game that is not spoilers. The artbook section at the end of the video contains most of the spoilers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VpkwEGLm6s fadderman fucked around with this message at 10:34 on Jul 30, 2020 |
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Jul 30, 2020 10:20
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fadderman posted:Check out this old british lady going trough her experience with the xenoblade series. Minor thing but i'm pretty sure (based on her history videos) she's german, she just lives in new zealand now I think? Also if you like JRPG's and anime games, she's really lovely.
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Jul 30, 2020 10:24
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Stormgale posted:Minor thing but i'm pretty sure (based on her history videos) she's german, she just lives in new zealand now I think? Also if you like JRPG's and anime games, she's really lovely. At first i thought she was just speaking a weird formal british accent, but the more i heard it seems be a very formal aussie/kiwi accent
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Jul 30, 2020 10:36
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animeluva1 posted:The English cast is so good. I watched some of the scenes in Japanese, but it didn't hit me the same way. Yeah somehow the shonen-anime styled in-battle shouting is done really well by the english cast, which adds another layer to keeping the battle system fresh. I'M REALLY FEELING IT
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Jul 30, 2020 16:03
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Vangarre is leaving lots of artifacts with his arm movement. Is that Youtube being Youtube?
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Jul 30, 2020 16:04
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Scalding Coffee posted:Vangarre is leaving lots of artifacts with his arm movement. Is that Youtube being Youtube? Surprisingly, no! I went and checked my raw footage just in case, but I think the game's graphics engine does some culling of background elements that you shouldn't be able to see, such as when a character is standing in the foreground, but its not quite fast enough to respond seamlessly to characters moving. I noticed something to that effect when I was moving the camera around while the party was standing in front of a waterfall or lake or something when recording the epilogue. sudonim posted:Yeah somehow the shonen-anime styled in-battle shouting is done really well by the english cast, which adds another layer to keeping the battle system fresh. Count me as one of the people who are in love with the English dub to the point where the original Japanese dub just doesn't sound as good. Mraagvpeine posted:How does this game compare to the other Xenoblade games? I think this game has the tightest focus for its writing, provided an excellent foundation for world exploration and general gameplay that the other two games built off of; not to say that this game's exploration and gameplay is lacking compared to X or 2, but I think overall, 1 has the strongest overall experience of the three. ChaosArgate fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Jul 30, 2020 |
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Jul 30, 2020 16:48
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ChaosArgate posted:Count me as one of the people who are in love with the English dub to the point where the original Japanese dub just doesn't sound as good. Yeah go British or go home! Same with XBC2. I do like how you can control anybody in this game, and they characters are all (mostly) all fun to play as. It adds nice variety. Fiora is my personal favorite to control but I like playing as most of them.
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Jul 30, 2020 17:48
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Wait. They have HUGE laser cannons against debris from the sky, but can't build a weapon against the resident evil robots? What are those even made of ?
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Jul 30, 2020 19:19
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High end mechon-metal, of course. Besides, 'our death-rays don't miniaturize that far' is pretty reasonable as an explanation for not using infantry scale versions of the anti-air batteries.
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Jul 30, 2020 20:13
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Oh nice, I actually played this on the Wii, and the idea of an extra post-game section is interesting.
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Jul 30, 2020 21:38
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Oh wow I've followed the two last attempts to lp this and I've gotta keep an eye on this one too. It's a great game!
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Jul 30, 2020 21:54
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OutofSight posted:Wait. Of course there are plenty of flight capable Mechon as well that make this situation pretty untenable. Which is why, as we'll see in the game, Hom-manity hasn't exactly spread across and conquered the Bionis. Folks are pretty cloistered. EDIT: Watching the video now, I just remembered that I didn't realize you could change your party leader until probably the 60% point in the game, which was exactly the point where playing as Shulk started to get boring for me. So nice work there Xenoblade, I guess. Strange Matter fucked around with this message at 19:24 on Jul 31, 2020 |
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Jul 31, 2020 19:20
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Whenever you reach a new location which gets a big title screen, its location on the titan is pinpointed, with a bright dot surrounded by a ring. In this case, Colony 9 is on the lower right (?) leg of the Bionis just above the ankle. EDIT: An embarassing amount of typos for such a small post. Stabbey_the_Clown fucked around with this message at 04:23 on Aug 1, 2020 |
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Aug 1, 2020 00:26
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 01:27 |
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Whenever you reach a new location which gets a big title screen, it's location on the titan is pinpointed, with a bright dot surrounded by a ring In this case, Colony 9 is on the lower right (?) leg of the Bionis just above the ankle.
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Aug 1, 2020 03:33
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