10000
Banned
I have completed the game today after like 105 hours (haven't complete all the side quest yet), damn what a long (and joyful ride
15 days ago, I bought and boot this game without any expectation, knowing that I won't get xenogears level edgy story, and I haven't played the first game yet, so yeah..
let's talk about the gameplay first :
Two hours into the game I was overwhelmed by the complexity of the battle system, and it takes me 30 hours later to get used to it (maybe I am a slow learner here), for the first 25 hours the battles felt very boring, it's almost felt like an unfinished MMO games with every monster has this monster hunter's boss long health bar, but then after knowing how to use and set up the battle mechanics the whole monster slaying felt very satisfying and addicting, and the pneuma burst gave me further excitement to hunt the now 'accessible to kill' big ass dinosaurs and unique monsters, all over all I think the experiment that monolith soft made in this game battle system was a huge success.
The whole gacha mechanics in the game also overwhelmed me, collecting rare blades were exciting at first but get boring after awhile like MMORPG grinding level of boring after the RNG kicks in, the whole increasing trust mechanics also tedious and felt uneccessary additions, the redeeming part of collecting them is that every rare blades has each own personality and side quests with majority of them felt interesting and not feels like a filler content.
SIde quest in this game presented with great QOL in my book, minus the confusing map indicator. Majority of the side quest doesn't felt like a fetch quest and some rewards you access to beautiful secret location also new interesting blades. But that sheer number of sidequests doesn't motivate me to find and finish it all (I don't have enough time and still has many backlogs) but if I had more time to spare I'd like to finish it.
then the art direction:
damn the whole world is very beautiful, the settings in this game is inspiring and has this remarkable attention to details. I never felt bored to explore locations, every locations of this game has it's own characteristic and ambiences, but also felt coherent one to each others that it's exist in same game. The maps also doesn't felt like randomly generated places, all with it's own knacks and uniqueness. With many hidden locations and secrets coupled with interesting landmarks every seconds spend exploring doesn't felt like drag. Sure there is one or two uninspiring locations like the factory or the last dungeon the world tree but for the other, damn.... I really loved the kingdom of uraya with vibrant lake under the cavern like scenery that take place on some big ass monster stomach, or the sea-but-floating land leftheria, even gormott region that supposed to be another plains and waterfall is really fleshed out. Too bad that these majority of those special locations are just an explorable scenery, I find it is better if they could add specific treasure chest that doesn't felt randomly generated and house some special treasures for each special and hidden places, to make it more memorable.
About the character's artwork, one could says that it doesn't looks coherent, it is very noticeable with character like Jin, Mikhail, Petroka, Godfrey, Vess and other really felt it was drawn by different artist (and it was), and I was baffled with the main character that has this 38 size pair of boobs, sometimes turns me off but I think some people will appreciate this kinda thing.
the story:
It was like watching a long anime, but I love it.
The story is pretty cliché, sometimes felt cringey but enjoyable because of the interesting cast and melodramatic scenes, the whole story felt grand with many factions and location involved. What really made me appreciates this game a lot is because the chapter 8 when the whole fantasy JRPG genre turns into Sci-fi one bought to you by Tetsuya Takahashi , was mindblowing to me because I missed his human vs. creator and yes, it is zohar once again, but was named conduit now , I was forgetting that this was a Xeno title game in the very first place.
all of these wrapped with the beautiful music by yasunori mitsuda and ace
all in all, I really loved the games and will come back in 2 or 3 years later to finish the DLC and those side quests. This game cemented me to be a monolith soft supporter and really excited to pre order for xenoblade 1 remake (I rarely buy a newly released game). Thank you monolith soft for such an experience.
15 days ago, I bought and boot this game without any expectation, knowing that I won't get xenogears level edgy story, and I haven't played the first game yet, so yeah..
let's talk about the gameplay first :
Two hours into the game I was overwhelmed by the complexity of the battle system, and it takes me 30 hours later to get used to it (maybe I am a slow learner here), for the first 25 hours the battles felt very boring, it's almost felt like an unfinished MMO games with every monster has this monster hunter's boss long health bar, but then after knowing how to use and set up the battle mechanics the whole monster slaying felt very satisfying and addicting, and the pneuma burst gave me further excitement to hunt the now 'accessible to kill' big ass dinosaurs and unique monsters, all over all I think the experiment that monolith soft made in this game battle system was a huge success.
The whole gacha mechanics in the game also overwhelmed me, collecting rare blades were exciting at first but get boring after awhile like MMORPG grinding level of boring after the RNG kicks in, the whole increasing trust mechanics also tedious and felt uneccessary additions, the redeeming part of collecting them is that every rare blades has each own personality and side quests with majority of them felt interesting and not feels like a filler content.
SIde quest in this game presented with great QOL in my book, minus the confusing map indicator. Majority of the side quest doesn't felt like a fetch quest and some rewards you access to beautiful secret location also new interesting blades. But that sheer number of sidequests doesn't motivate me to find and finish it all (I don't have enough time and still has many backlogs) but if I had more time to spare I'd like to finish it.
then the art direction:
damn the whole world is very beautiful, the settings in this game is inspiring and has this remarkable attention to details. I never felt bored to explore locations, every locations of this game has it's own characteristic and ambiences, but also felt coherent one to each others that it's exist in same game. The maps also doesn't felt like randomly generated places, all with it's own knacks and uniqueness. With many hidden locations and secrets coupled with interesting landmarks every seconds spend exploring doesn't felt like drag. Sure there is one or two uninspiring locations like the factory or the last dungeon the world tree but for the other, damn.... I really loved the kingdom of uraya with vibrant lake under the cavern like scenery that take place on some big ass monster stomach, or the sea-but-floating land leftheria, even gormott region that supposed to be another plains and waterfall is really fleshed out. Too bad that these majority of those special locations are just an explorable scenery, I find it is better if they could add specific treasure chest that doesn't felt randomly generated and house some special treasures for each special and hidden places, to make it more memorable.
About the character's artwork, one could says that it doesn't looks coherent, it is very noticeable with character like Jin, Mikhail, Petroka, Godfrey, Vess and other really felt it was drawn by different artist (and it was), and I was baffled with the main character that has this 38 size pair of boobs, sometimes turns me off but I think some people will appreciate this kinda thing.
the story:
It was like watching a long anime, but I love it.
The story is pretty cliché, sometimes felt cringey but enjoyable because of the interesting cast and melodramatic scenes, the whole story felt grand with many factions and location involved. What really made me appreciates this game a lot is because the chapter 8 when the whole fantasy JRPG genre turns into Sci-fi one bought to you by Tetsuya Takahashi , was mindblowing to me because I missed his human vs. creator and yes, it is zohar once again, but was named conduit now , I was forgetting that this was a Xeno title game in the very first place.
all of these wrapped with the beautiful music by yasunori mitsuda and ace
all in all, I really loved the games and will come back in 2 or 3 years later to finish the DLC and those side quests. This game cemented me to be a monolith soft supporter and really excited to pre order for xenoblade 1 remake (I rarely buy a newly released game). Thank you monolith soft for such an experience.
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