MolarAm🔵
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Bad at games
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on May 30, 2022 4:29:13 GMT
Should we start a separate thread for this
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Post by Vandelay on May 30, 2022 7:31:38 GMT
Finally went back Xenoblade Chronicles last night. Forgotten just how pretty the art direction is for that game. I was particularly impressed by a short trip through the third lung of bionis following the marsh area, as well as the lovely lush area right afterwards.
I still find the combat a bit meh though and has strong whiff of MMO to it. It is okay at first, but I feel like fights just have me spamming abilities until they end. A bit of repositioning to get the most out of the abilities, but not much more than that. Perhaps there is a more efficient way of doing things, but I've found just going into a fight using the low agro/boost arts ability, followed by lowering enemy defence, followed by slow, followed by break, followed by repeating over to work for pretty much all the random encounters. It doesn't really matter what I fight, this seems to get me through without much difficulty. Bigger enemies and Mechon fights need the Monado mixed in sometimes, but don't really change things up that much. It was fine for the time I spent on it last night, but I can see why I drifted away from the game.
Do the sequels follow much the same formula for the combat or do they mix it up to be a bit more interesting? I was thinking of getting 2 ahead of 3 coming out (or, more accurately, me getting around to 3), but not sure I would want another 50 hours or so if the combat is basically the same.
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Post by JuniorFE on May 30, 2022 7:55:36 GMT
Finally went back Xenoblade Chronicles last night. Forgotten just how pretty the art direction is for that game. I was particularly impressed by a short trip through the third lung of bionis following the marsh area, as well as the lovely lush area right afterwards. I still find the combat a bit meh though and has strong whiff of MMO to it. It is okay at first, but I feel like fights just have me spamming abilities until they end. A bit of repositioning to get the most out of the abilities, but not much more than that. Perhaps there is a more efficient way of doing things, but I've found just going into a fight using the low agro/boost arts ability, followed by lowering enemy defence, followed by slow, followed by break, followed by repeating over to work for pretty much all the random encounters. It doesn't really matter what I fight, this seems to get me through without much difficulty. Bigger enemies and Mechon fights need the Monado mixed in sometimes, but don't really change things up that much. It was fine for the time I spent on it last night, but I can see why I drifted away from the game. Do the sequels follow much the same formula for the combat or do they mix it up to be a bit more interesting? I was thinking of getting 2 ahead of 3 coming out (or, more accurately, me getting around to 3), but not sure I would want another 50 hours or so if the combat is basically the same. 2's combat adds and tweaks a lot of systems (there's no longer an armour system but you've got a few accessories per character and per Blade that fulfill that role, art cooldown now depends on your auto attacks, there's a big element system both for enemy weaknesses and for enhancing chain attacks, the Blade system is very expansive and so on) but at their core all Xenoblade games depend on chaining arts and debuffs to an extent, so... I will say that with how many Blades there are in 2, both unique and generic, there's a lot more variety in what you can do in battle (once you can start getting Blades reliably, at least), however you could just as easily find the whole thing overwhelming and obtuse, especially considering the mechanics are introduced much more gradually. I'd suggest watching a few early game gameplay videos (unfortunately I can't suggest specific non-spoiler ones) to get an idea of the basics, explaining it in text would pretty much be me copy-pasting the wiki FWIW, depending on how far you are in Makna Forest you're missing at least one party member, and you might like their playstyles more. There are also quite a few enemies later on that should make you change up your strategies a bit. That being said, Topple-locking does remain a very viable strategy throughout if you can pull it off properly (also, as an aside, Break alone doesn't do anything besides make enemies able to be Toppled, so if you're not working with Reyn and/or Dunban you don't have to worry about that. You probably already knew that, just making sure )
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Post by JuniorFE on May 30, 2022 7:59:40 GMT
Oh, and Xenoblade X is potentially even more MMO-y with its Art systems (I think it was in this thread that I posted a video of someone soloing a superboss and it's a frenzy of art use) but it also doesn't seem to tie in with the other games' stories (yet, who knows what 3 might do) so it's probably the most skippable.
It's still a great game, mind, it's just probably less your cup of tea than the others.
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Post by snackplissken on May 30, 2022 8:03:22 GMT
You forgot to mention the screaming of Dunnnbaannnnnnnn every 5 minutes.
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Post by JuniorFE on May 30, 2022 8:09:00 GMT
Don't you mean Duncan and Rain? (it wasn't that bad, was it? The (minor story spoilers) various FIOORAAAA screams are much more prominent in my memory ) For the record, the English dub voice acting in 1 is among my favourites in any videogame, I actually enjoy it more than the Japanese dub in places (2 had a few more issues with its voice direction but it was still pretty great imo)
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Post by Vandelay on May 30, 2022 8:15:42 GMT
Thanks. Good to hear that they do add some more enemies to mix things up a bit more. As with most JRPGs, I expected it would be a dripfeed of more interesting things and I just had to wait. I dropped Persona 5 and then found out that I was only about an hour or two away from it finally opening up, so I have a habit of stopping at just the wrong time with these games.
I've literally just added that character you mention to my party, so I'll see how that goes.
I think it very much is MMO style combat that puts me slightly off, so worth hearing that X goes a bit more into that style. I'll probably avoid that. I much prefer actual turn based combat, either in the style of Fire Emblem/Divinity Original Sin or traditional Final Fantasy, or go full action RPG, rather than this sort of in-between style.
I do like everything else about the game though.
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Post by JuniorFE on May 30, 2022 8:24:12 GMT
I can't go into much detail because spoilers, but in an odd way, Shulk in the party becomes both more and less necessary as the game progresses, it's weird All I'll say is that checking any shops that open up is very important, both for Art books and weapons. And if you haven't been completing sidequests with a clock icon on their names, you should try to, they become unavailable after certain story events and they'll start appearing more often as you progress in the game. Again you probably already knew that, but just in case.
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Post by Vandelay on May 30, 2022 8:41:43 GMT
The reminders are worth having, as it was a very long time ago that I put the game down. I'll check my quest list for anything worth doing it. I have a very long list...
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Post by JuniorFE on May 30, 2022 9:31:09 GMT
In that case I should probably also point out that revisiting old areas every so often and switching the time around between day, dusk and night can lead to quite a few new sidequests, and the more sidequests you complete in a given area the more your affinity with that area builds, revealing new sidequests, and the high-affinity sidequests have the best rewards...Really, even putting mutually exclusive sidequests aside it's pretty much impossible to grab every one without a guide.
I'd actually highly suggest Chuggaaconroy's Let's Play as a guide, he's got a very pleasant commentary style (imo, at least, but you can mute it and catch the important parts in graphs in the video itself) and with Xenoblade being such a loved game of his he spent years preparing it and went incredibly in depth with showing off everything. It's as much a Let's Play as it is an outright video guide and he even shows off alternative quest and Heart-to-Heart paths at the end of the videos. I haven't gotten around to watching his Let's Play of 2 (don't even know why) but I can only assume he did much the same.
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Post by JuniorFE on Jun 2, 2022 10:24:33 GMT
New Pokémon Scarlet/Violet trailer dropped yesterday, for anyone interested: You know, after Sword/Shield kind of soured me (it was good, but flawed) and the Diamond/Pearl remakes actually pissed me off with some design choices... Between Legends Arceus and this I'm, dare I say it, kind of hyped again They've had enough games by now to learn how to work on the platform, the co-op looks interesting (if probably not something I'll use) and if they can refine the open world gameplay started in Sw/Sh and expanded in Arceus, this could actually be great!
(on the other hand, if they still can't figure it out... probably nothing's going to happen anyway but I'll tut-tut quite loudly I assure you)
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Worlds
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Asda Smartprice Spokesperson
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Post by Worlds on Jun 5, 2022 22:28:15 GMT
Anyone played Moonlighter?
I’m finding absolutely random games on my Switch. Stuff I’d never normally try. Used to have a stigma against these kind of old school indie type games, but it turns out some of them are class.
Used to love pretending to run a shop when I was a kid so maybe this scratches that itch 😂 haha.
So fucking good though.
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Post by neilch on Jun 5, 2022 23:28:34 GMT
Anyone played Moonlighter? I’m finding absolutely random games on my Switch. Stuff I’d never normally try. Used to have a stigma against these kind of old school indie type games, but it turns out some of them are class. Used to love pretending to run a shop when I was a kid so maybe this scratches that itch 😂 haha. So fucking good though. Yes! Not a for a while though. Think I’m on the third dungeon with an assistant in the shop Why the stigma? I find indie games usually have some quirk or twist that makes them interesting and fun to play.
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Post by damagedinc on Jun 6, 2022 8:26:48 GMT
I'm playing horace at the moment, normally goes for a couple of quid in sales. It's utterly bonkers and great fun.
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dmukgr
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Post by dmukgr on Jun 6, 2022 8:59:38 GMT
I'm playing horace at the moment, normally goes for a couple of quid in sales. It's utterly bonkers and great fun. I loved it at first but then it became a slog.
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dmukgr
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Post by dmukgr on Jun 6, 2022 9:05:00 GMT
Lumo is worth picking up cheap for retro vibes btw
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mrpon
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Post by mrpon on Jun 6, 2022 9:21:17 GMT
Lumo is worth picking up cheap for retro vibes btw I loved it at first but then it became a slog Got to a slippy slidy room and just bailed.
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Post by damagedinc on Jun 6, 2022 10:27:33 GMT
I'm playing horace at the moment, normally goes for a couple of quid in sales. It's utterly bonkers and great fun. I loved it at first but then it became a slog. Ah thats a shame. I'm only chapter 4 at the moment. Wouldn't have thought it would be that long?
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Post by Red_Bool on Jun 6, 2022 18:20:55 GMT
Lumo is worth picking up cheap for retro vibes btw I loved it at first but then it became a slog Got to a slippy slidy room and just bailed. Quiter!
Overall I really enjoyed it, but indeed some parts are really hard as nails. Not enough to push me away though.
Plus I had to finish it because of PIGWHIP
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mrpon
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Post by mrpon on Jun 7, 2022 8:04:53 GMT
Ha! Not a quitter, just a pauser! I'll be back.
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Post by Wizzard_Ook on Jun 7, 2022 8:12:39 GMT
Always get tempted by Lumo when it’s on sale, but never taken the plunge.
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Post by snackplissken on Jun 7, 2022 8:19:21 GMT
After all the chit chat on Xenoblade last week I've made my way back. On chapter 10 and enjoying it again.
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mrpon
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Post by mrpon on Jun 7, 2022 8:24:08 GMT
Always get tempted by Lumo when it’s on sale, but never taken the plunge. It's a modern day Knight Lore/Head Over Heels/Alien 8 etc..
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Post by Aunt Alison on Jun 7, 2022 11:02:50 GMT
Head Over Hills was a pretty big deal when I was a kid. Only ever really got as far as where you go to the different worlds though because it was too hard after that. It always seemed so mysterious and elusive
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Post by snackplissken on Jun 8, 2022 9:23:08 GMT
I've enjoyed reading comments on EG about people boycotting Nintendo over the prison sentence.
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Post by Vandelay on Jun 8, 2022 9:55:22 GMT
After all the chit chat on Xenoblade last week I've made my way back. On chapter 10 and enjoying it again. To update on my own experience, I'm enjoying it too. There are times when I'm clearing up some side quests that I wonder why I'm doing them, as they are mostly uninteresting "collect X items", "kill X beasties" or "deliver this thing to that person". The environments have actually surprised me as being more interesting to explore than I initially thought though, so I don't mind running around them too much. Enjoying the main story quite a bit though and the combat has become a bit more interesting now that I'm mixing up the characters a little more and not just sticking with Shulk as the lead. At chapter 11 now just fought Mumkhar , with just under 40 hours on the clock.
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Post by rhaegyr on Jun 8, 2022 11:03:56 GMT
I loved it at first but then it became a slog. Ah thats a shame. I'm only chapter 4 at the moment. Wouldn't have thought it would be that long? Another one who loved for quite a bit too but it's just so bloody long - I think I dropped it after about 15 hours. It's a shame as the storytelling was really good and quite different to anything I've played recently.
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Post by damagedinc on Jun 8, 2022 11:20:55 GMT
15 hours! Bloody hell
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Post by JuniorFE on Jun 8, 2022 11:33:21 GMT
After all the chit chat on Xenoblade last week I've made my way back. On chapter 10 and enjoying it again. To update on my own experience, I'm enjoying it too. There are times when I'm clearing up some side quests that I wonder why I'm doing them, as they are mostly uninteresting "collect X items", "kill X beasties" or "deliver this thing to that person". The environments have actually surprised me as being more interesting to explore than I initially thought though, so I don't mind running around them too much. Enjoying the main story quite a bit though and the combat has become a bit more interesting now that I'm mixing up the characters a little more and not just sticking with Shulk as the lead. At chapter 11 now just fought Mumkhar , with just under 40 hours on the clock. It does take a bit of building affinity with the various areas for the meatier sidequests to start popping up, but once they do you'll like them more I bet. There's plenty of longer quest chains to sink your teeth into eventually (including a really big one that starts pretty early and is progress sensitive, so keep an eye on your clock icons). Plus the rewards get really good as you go, powerful unique equipment, access to otherwise inaccessible areas, art books for levelling up your techniques, something a bit spoilery so I won't elaborate, even some story and lore you otherwise wouldn't see. The area affinity system is actually a really nice way to integrate the gameplay into the world imo. At first you're relatively unknown to the various areas (even in Colony 9 Shulk's basically the nice guy tech whiz rather than a badass like Dunban), so the NPC's only bother giving you odd jobs and chores, but you gradually start making a name for yourself and people open up to you more, with more personal requests and important tasks. I'm not sure if that was the actual idea behind the system (rather than just "We don't want every sidequest available from the start") but it helps flesh out the world a bit more. Glad to hear you're enjoying the combat more, too
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Post by rhaegyr on Jun 8, 2022 13:38:23 GMT
Reviews for Mario Strikers have dropped and....it's the same story with every Mario sports game on the Switch; gameplay is good but there's minimal content.
I've been really disappointed with Mario Tennis and Mario Golf on the Switch; I loved the Gamecube iterations but since then they've been slowly sliding downhill.
Bah.
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