Inelegant and tedious, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is the anti-Nintendo game. In a year full of triumphs for the plucky Switch, this massive role-playing game is a disappointment.
Well now I am confused. So if Kotaku can be trusted then what about 84 on metacritic? All of them licking N's ass with those 100 and 90s or what?
Today I didn't even need to use my AK. I gotta say it was a good day. (c) - Ice Cube
Yea the RPG reviewers that count, like Rpgamer and Rpgfan both rated the game above X and equal or close to the first game. Koraku and Polygon always follow an agenda.
Umm ignoring all the character preferences and comments from mr Reviewer, I think what's important in his review is that he wanted to say that Xeno2 turned out to be very JRPGish for a casual player, while Switch was a very casual so far. So a 'normal' western player enchanted by the beautiful trailer will expect another Zelda and be slammed in the face by the otherwise standard JRPG complexity, repetitiveness ad tediousness.
So all reviewers that give it 80-100 praise a JRPG on it's own, not a Switch experience for a normal non-hardcore JRPG fan.
Today I didn't even need to use my AK. I gotta say it was a good day. (c) - Ice Cube
Yea the RPG reviewers that count, like Rpgamer and Rpgfan both rated the game above X and equal or close to the first game. Koraku and Polygon always follow an agenda.
They might have an agenda, but that doesn't mean the rest can't be trusted. They say the combat systems are a bit advanced and the tutorials are shit, and it's terrible that you can't reread the tutorials. This is in line with the typical jrpg tbh and it wouldn't surprise me if it's true. Point is that outside agenda issues (like gender and racial stuff) i'm fairly sure we can trust what they say.
Umm ignoring all the character preferences and comments from mr Reviewer, I think what's important in his review is that he wanted to say that Xeno2 turned out to be very JRPGish for a casual player, while Switch was a very casual so far. So a 'normal' western player enchanted by the beautiful trailer will expect another Zelda and be slammed in the face by the otherwise standard JRPG complexity, repetitiveness ad tediousness.
So all reviewers that give it 80-100 praise a JRPG on it's own, not a Switch experience for a normal non-hardcore JRPG fan.
And that would be an incredibly stupid point to make considering both Wii and WiiU both had complex JRPGs so this really is nothing new. If the argument is that Xenoblade Chronicles is anti-switch because it's not casual, then that's the same thing with Wii and WiiU. Hell, I could make the same pointless stupid argument about Call of Duty being anti-PC because PCs have historically had very hardcore and/or complex games (S.T.A.L.K.E.R for instance). But I wouldn't do that since neither the PC nor the Switch is made purely for hardcore or casual gamers.
And even more than that is the irrelevance of his false flawed point to the review. What does it not being casual have to do with the quality of the game itself? It's like giving Cuphead a lower score because it's not as easy as some other casual 2D platformer game. It's a shit review made by a corrupt pretend-journalist working for a politically extremist echo chamber company.
What kind of a stupid asshole reviews games based on what platform it's on rather than the merits of the game itself? A corrupt pretend-journalist is what.
No matter how bad his review sounds, it still is very important for me. At fourty with tons of work and family and stuff I barely have time to play so deliberately investing time into a tedious experience even if it's true to the genre is not for me really.
I remember X1 - one week away from it and you've forgotten all the mechanics. Really need to dedicate yourself and your time.
Today I didn't even need to use my AK. I gotta say it was a good day. (c) - Ice Cube
I'm not saying i believe them as i agree on you with Kotaku in general, i'm simply not stupid enough to get my opinion on stuff skewed because of public opinion one way or another, i make up my own mind.
I just can relate about the tutorial stuff. I've not been one for jrpg games until the last few years, and boy did it take time to get stuff to sink in. Super lengthy cutscenes and then when you finally get to play, you're assaulted by a multitude of lengthy text boxes. It's easy to just skim through and not get all, and while you can blame me or others for not reading carefully enough, i'm gonna blame the developer for their presentation of tutorials.
Unfortunately I'm probably going to return my copy of the game. The poor image quality from the dynamic resolution is a deal-breaker for me. It's especially bad on handheld and even in docked mode the resolution can drop below 720p. There's also noticeable framerate drops at times. I'll probably wait for either a patch or a Switch emulator (in a few years) to play the game.
Edit: according to DF, looks like docked resolution doesn't actually go below 720p, but it's still noticeably blurry.
There is a big twist story-wise at the end of the game that you miss if you haven't played the first one, otherwise you will experience the twist if you play the first game afterwards, so it's ok.
Oh and play the expansion after the main game, it is a prequel but full of spoilers.
I had enough octopath travelers after a few hours. It was getting more nad more grinding getting into random battles and then it's time to put it down. While i like the stories the characters seem to tell, the game itself is utter shite. Utter.. Shite..
Yeah, it's not that great. Also why bother having you go through other party member's stories when they don't really interact in game apart from that replay commentary thing.
That is another disappointment. Why not just make it like SaGa Frontier 1 where only certain party members can join you for a certain character and they'd have their own separate events / stories from their own main story. Save the main character story for when you play as them.
So my Switch was a waste of money. My excuse is that I was depressed and it was the empty void telling me to get it.
I just really want another SaGa game.
Well there is Scarlet Grace coming to the west soon I hope.
I'm currently playing this and I've gotta say it's really quite good. There are some silly things, typical japanesse game design, but the thing is, the game really evokes in me that lost feeling of playing an actual jRPG. It reminds me of games from the PSX/PS2 era, like Final Fantasy VII-IX, Chrono Chross, Xenogears etc. Except it's evolved, and in precisely the way I wanted the genre to evolve all those years ago too (side missions, actual 3D world instead of an overland map and so on). Great stuff.
Unfortunately I'm probably going to return my copy of the game. The poor image quality from the dynamic resolution is a deal-breaker for me. It's especially bad on handheld and even in docked mode the resolution can drop below 720p. There's also noticeable framerate drops at times. I'll probably wait for either a patch or a Switch emulator (in a few years) to play the game.
Edit: according to DF, looks like docked resolution doesn't actually go below 720p, but it's still noticeably blurry.
I've been playing this for a few hours, it's a great jRPG. I'm a bit confused about WTF is going on, but I assume it comes together later. Japanese devs seem to hate innovation though, I'm seeing things out of jRPGs from 20 years ago While I love a good jRPG, it's unbelieveable how much they trail behind a proper RPG these days.
Does this game run like shit on the Switch? It feels like it's constantly dropping resolution and framerate.
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