I've played the first 20 or so hour so of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 so far, figured it's time for some impressions:

Overall I'm enjoying this game much more than XCX.  I didn't like the graphical style of XCX, where everything looked overly shiny and detailed, but where animations were seriously lacking.  Animations haven't improved much, but it grates less with this new style that is much closer to anime.  Thematically we're back into the classic midieval steam-punk territory of the first game.  I don't care much either way, I didn't mind the more straight scifi of XCX.  Gameplay wise Monolith Soft clearly listened to feedback from XCX.  The battles feel more engaging than they were in XCX, with a multitude of timers and cooldowns to consider, along with strategical ponderings of what targets to tackle first and where to position yourself on the battlefield.  It's a nice touch that your role in battle (healer, attack, tank) can be switched on the fly by changing between the 2 blades (andromorphic weapons) you can equip to most characters at any time, although in practice it doesn't seem to make much of a difference, as the most important role (tank) is locked to one character for a large part of the game, to which point I don't think I'll ever switch things around much.

As for the setting, the multiple titans aren't really doing much for me.  The original XC was awesome in this regard, in so far that you only ever had to look up in the sky to know where you were on the titan, and whole area's would be shaped in correlation to the humanoid form of the titans and what bodypart you were currently on.  However, here the titans aren't humanoid, so the instant recognizability is gone.  The titans are also smaller, so it's harder to get a bearing for where you are exactly by looking at your relative position on them.  In general there's much less readability or thematicall coherence, with area's being smaller, or winding, or lacking clear views, which results in many area's just kind of blending into one and other.  This isn't only more boring, but also rather frustrating, as the map is horrible and mission markers act as a compas, only pointing you in the direction, but not telling you where you actually need to go.  Add to that the fact that the mission details will often state where you need to be, but often refer to places you have not been to yet, making the description utterly useless.

All in all I'm enjoying the ride, but I'm disappointed in the level design.  Returning to the titans gave hope for a game with as awesome as a landscape to explore as the original XC, but as it stands I'm not sure what we have here is any better than what we saw in XCX.

robio said:

Nice impressions. On that note, maybe I need to give the original Xenoblade Chronicles a try again. I gave it a couple hours, but I couldn't pull off a time based move that you needed to do in order to progress, and ultimately quit.

It's really a great game, with hours upon hours of content.  I can't recall how often I figured 'surely, now I must be near the end of the game?', and not in a bad way because it wasn't enjoyable, but because it just kept on giving.  Once you get a hang of the time based chaining of combo's, it also isn't all that hard.  That said, I do believe that XC2 is more accessible, as the UI in battle is more easily readable.  That said that said, I also don't recall the finer details about how the system in the original worked, so maybe it wasn't any more obscure than what we have now on Switch.

edit: also, just consider it as a rythm game.  The on-screen action really isn't all that important.  All you need to keep an eye of is your relative position to the enemy you're targeting for maximal damage, and the rest is just about watching timers, healthbars and meters fill and deplete.

Yeah I found the combat to be much more accessible in XC2 then the previous games as well.

robio said:

Wait a second, "rhythm game?" Fuck it, I am out. I am rhythmically challenged and at this stage of my life, it's something I never going to be able to change.

"Unknowingly prevented Robio from enjoying a great game" will be writ in large on my tombstone.

My point was that the battles boil down to little more than managing cooldowns, and that the action on screen really isn't what you should be focusing most of your attention on.

Foolz said:

Sure, here it is in all its glory.

Damn, after checking it over it seems I didn't participate that year. Odd. And there's a ton of cats in this 2011 list who don't do it anymore. Makes me sad.

XCX is better.

Xeno 2 lacks some polish and there are a few things I don't understand about its systems and mechanics.

It could have done with a higher resolution too, as it can seem blurry in places. The map is dogshit, after XCX its like a gut punch.

It's still a fun game and very likable though. I need to get back to it, but the handheld resolution is so low I can't even play it like that.

gamingeek said:

It's still a fun game and very likable though. I need to get back to it, but the handheld resolution is so low I can't even play it like that.

I really don't have a problem with the resolution in handheld mode. Yeah, it's pretty low, but the last RPG I played was Bravely Second. Compared to the 3ds's puny resolution, XC2 is positively crisp in handheld mode.

SupremeAC said:

I really don't have a problem with the resolution in handheld mode. Yeah, it's pretty low, but the last RPG I played was Bravely Second. Compared to the 3ds's puny resolution, XC2 is positively crisp in handheld mode.

In no way is it acceptable for it to look worse on the Switch screen than XCX looks on the Wii U gamepad.

I also think that all around all three Xeno games battle systems are pretty much the same thing, presented slightly differently. I personally think X1 was the best, then XCX, then Xeno 2. Only reason is that they simplified it a little too much and it looks just a touch too chaotic.

SupremeAC said:

I was browsing Eurogamer the other day and came across an advert for 'Chuwi'.  It seemed to show a Surface Tablet and a Macbook.  Now usually I glance over any adverts without even reading them, but as somewhat of a surface Pro afficionado, this caught my eye.  I ended up googling the brand, and it turns out to be a Chinese brand that makes hardware in the good old Chinese tradition of heavily 'inspired' designs.

Here's the Chuwi 'Surbook'

and here we have the latest surface Pro

Note the similar details, such as the ventilation holes that run in a rim across the side of the tablet and down to the ornithological background.  There are also familiar pens and magnetically attachable typecovers available.  Their 'Lapbook' is equally inspired by the Macbook Air.

Now I don't know how taxes work on this thing, but at a current selling price of €235, I'm actually tempted to order me the SurBook mini to see how it holds up.  The intel processor inside is clearly weaker than what you'd find in a Surface Pro, but it should still be very capable.  Price of the accessories are also laughably low, with €12 for the pen and less than €50 for the typecover.  Techradar heven has a review, and apparently it's pretty decent.

All in all a fascinating brand, and since you lot are the only people who might be faintly interested in my hardware ramblings, thanks for reading.

You don't remember when I was considering a Chuwei? They get really good reviews and cost a fraction of the price of a MS or other brand. Only problem is that if there is a problem with it you have to ship it back to China to get fixed.

I must give credit where its due; absolutely fantastic wit in the updates today Geek.

Smash!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!! Agahsvsgsvshjx!!!

Simon Belmont!!!! Draculas castle!!! Every castlevania boss!! Dracula boss fight!! 34 music tracks from CV!!!!!

103 stages!!!! 900 music tracks!!!!! Squad mode!!!! Morphing levels!!!! Hidden game mode!!!! Final smash meter!!!

K Rool! Dark Samus! Greatest game ever!!!!!!!!!