Gaming Xenoblade Chronicles [1, X, 2 & 3]

I wouldn't say "hell", since it is a feasible thing to overcome. It's more annoying because, clearly, they thought people, by this point in the game, would have already done, or begun to explore, all these items and subsystems on their own.

It's definitely annoying- and a particular pet-peeve of mine when it comes to a lot of RPG's (and even the GBA-and-beyond Castlevania games). And that, simply, is that those items and subsystems really don't matter much at all to playing the game until you hit these points where the game forces you to use them. Nothing makes my eyes glaze over more than when an RPG expects you care about a thousand different items that you're either never going to use or may only use for extensive crafting.

Their presence is also contradictory, in that the only players who are really going to use those items are the expert RPG players that are trying to min/max everything or who are doing multiple playthroughs. They're using items to advance faster against higher level enemies in ways that, essentially, require you to already be such an advance player to begin with, so they don't really need it. Meanwhile, the more casual players who probably do need the bump against higher level enemies probably aren't going to be able to use the items in a way that will give them any significant advantage.

I get that it's sometimes a customization thing and other times meant to be quest items and other times battle assists, but, in the end, it all just blurs together when you give the player too many choices to keep track of.

The Poppi upgrade system's presence is a neat thing, though (and makes story sense given her and Tora's unique nature compared to the others)- and probably more straight forward than the skill trees, auxiliary cores, etc that everyone else uses. It just hasn't been highlighted or explained yet.

 

So far, it does seem less essential than her normal skill tree upgrades. Which is probably a good thing, otherwise it would mean playing a lot of that arcade game. And, I mean, that arcade game is actually pretty fun and challenging (though I do easy mode because not being able to touch any rocks/ground is a crap rule that I would have only accepted 30 years ago ), I just wouldn't want to make it part of the normal game loop and grind.

It doesn't seem that confusing (ether crystals are your resource to craft upgrades with, and the upgrades you equip use Poppi's energy meter to limit what upgrades you can combine/equip at the same time). It's just surprising to find such a system "hidden" within the exsting Blade and Character submenus,

 

Ok, so, it turns out, things weren't as bad as I thought when it comes to Poppi and this item usage being needed for her to upgrade her strength to the level I need to progress in the main quest. What I didn't know is that you do not need to wait for each item to expire in order to add the next one into the pouch- you can use the items immediately, not worry about using any of their effects or the timer finishing, replace it right away with the next one and so on and they will count towards the 4x usage requirement.

With the item counter seemingly recycling continuously after countdown (which probably means there is yet another system re: items I have yet to disocver ), I had no idea what I was going to do until I tried this- phew!

 

Was visiting a friend over the weekend and someone else visiting turned out to be a massive XC fan, so I had the opportunity to get some additional, hands-on tutorial and Q&A to explain some of the XC2 systems I hadn't figured out or had had explained in the game yet.

It took about 45 minutes of questions on my part but, now, 45 hours of play in, it seems like I, finally, almost understand how to play this game . The game's UI and tutorials really could have conveyed all of this stuff significantly better.

But now I mostly understand what the blade combo charts in the upper right hand corner during battle mean, and that you can navigate/control them via the elemental identity of the blades you use. And that that system is, essentially, beyond the combo damage bonuses and such, a way to encourage you swap blades more frequently and use their lower-tier special attacks instead of always banking towards their level 4 special attacks (and, along those lines, the orbiting dots around the other characters portraits that pop up indicate what level they've banked up to). And that system, furthermore, exists to create elemental weaknesses in enemies (via orb icons) during chain attacks that give you the opportunity to "extend the chain" and cycle through your roster with multiple attack chances instead of the default one-attack-per-driver chain.

Also learned that the merc missions are more than just a means to keep unused blades levels on par with the rest of your party, since apparently their added afinity can help out your other characters somehow, in addition to the extra items they bring in.

Them: "Have you not been summoning your blades?"
Me: "Well, I'm guessing if you are asking that, the answer is likely no."

Also Me: (realizing the summoning is a gatcha mode as I use some of my 50+ common core crystals to pull 3 or 4 apparently-rare blades)
Them: "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"
Me: "The trick is to not play the game right at all so that it takes pity on you by giving you good stuff."

First I got Wulfric (after his showy, Satan-like awakening sequence I had to make sure his audition was rewarded with an X-Force-like "You're on the team."), then Dagas (giving me the honor being his driver, apparently), Gorg (Sharkboy from Sharkboy & Lavagirl), Dahlia (disturbing character that is 15% bunny, 15% lady and 70% breasts) & Boreas (a bunny driving a mech that is half Baymax, half Pac-Man).

I was able to make it through a valley of death (flying from above, emerging from the cloud sea below and slithering upon the land around me) and make it to next step in the Mor Adain story (where the theatrical eyepatch guy and his lightbulb blade show up again). I feel bad for that blade- her past life was probably with a warrior scholar or something, and now she's forced to take on the personality traits and behavior of an idiot .

 

I'm going to make one of my pet projects be designing a better XC2 battle system UI. These systems are all steps building upon steps that it should be far simpler to convey than what is shown. As it is, there are, like, four or five different UI systems being smooshed together. There is zero reason to excuse the chain attack meter not being another track around the existing special attacks main diamond (much as the regular special attack diamonds charge up the leveled special attack diamond inside the main diamond), since they are what primarily power it up. And, thus, conveying it's function.

And having the elemental selections and data being at the bottom of the screen while the chain combo paths they are navigating are in the top right corner conveys no association at all and is just sloppy (sure, they may have the elemental icons, but the way it's spread out, paired with the ZL and ZR pop-ups and the way the bottom center, at first glance, repeats/labels the function of the leveled special attack meter, one can easily just assume they are separate and/or redundant information).

 

If it helps any- I've gotten at least a 3rd or more of the way through this game not knowing or understanding any of the stuff I just learned yesterday. And the stuff I learned isn't insurmountable to figure out- it's just not conveyed well or provided in either of the tutorials (or, if they were, they weren't done so in a way that left an impression). There is a point relatively early on where the basic systems do click for the player- it's the more advanced stuff that gets really muddy in places.

The story and characters (questionable designs aside because, Japan) are still fun regardless, as are the absolutely gorgeous environments.

 

So, XC3 has been moved up to July. And the Special Edition has been revealed, but it'll be exclusive to the My Nintendo Store. So, basically, once its available it'll crash their systems and your cart will never work .



Apparently, for once, the European version will also be the same and not face-slappingly more awesome.

They're also sharing some info about the battle system. Seems it will involve pairs within your 6-person team being able to merge into mech forms.