Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
To me thats not negative at all, I LOVE anime and I love how expressive the characters are and let's be honest here Switch is not powerful system for realistic character models without looking really ugly.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition | Hype Thread | We're Really Feeling It
Touch fuzZy. get BizZay
Member
The big-eyed, colourful characters are more big-eyed and more colourful than before. They are irrefutably more anime now than they ever were.
And the game looks great.
Final verdict when I play it, but so far so good.
Last edited:
Touch fuzZy. get BizZay
Member
From what I can tell there are no difficulty settings, sorry
Dr. Claus
Banned
The series was always anime, just stylized a bit differently for a short while. It was never realistic.
Smiles and Cries
Member
Guys one thing that drew me to the early Xeno games meaning Saga and Gears was the iris of the eyes on some of the characters (much more in Saga than Gears). I never played those games because I never owned Playstation back then but I saw the media and videos in stores and the eyes stood out and it was not because of the anime reason.
The eyes had a design language that could be carried over from digital form to anime 2D no matter the style be it realistic or chibi you could kinda tell it was a Xeno game from the eyes in the art. They did not always carry it over to every character but you can tell they tried to stay consistent if they could. On the Wii they failed to do that.
The change in the eyes here is not really trying to be more anime but it is bringing back those eyes from the early game characters in Saga. Gears was round too but closer to round late 90s anime eyes this Xeno eyes design really started in Saga. This eye is part of the series since it was carried over into XCX and XB2, they tried in failed in the Wii game.
Kos Mos has those eyes, Elma has those eyes, Nia has those eyes, Pyra has eyes closer to Gears but still that Xeno eye.
When you create your character in XCX you can see many of the different types of Xeno like eyes from robotic to more human ones but still a Xeno series style.
The changes you see in XCDE is just a continued theme they could not pull off on the Wii for some reason, maybe the designer sucked or whatever but they are just going back to that design language. You need sharp lines to pull off the eyes.
If you want to call it anime it is anime because those artists are the same, they created Manga and Anime with their styles those character creators are the same people so the style is what it should be. But the language between series is different, fans can tell Naruto style is different from Dragon Ball, Bleach is different from One Piece. All manga and anime but you don't just say Naruto is an anime game if you are a manga fan. Manga fans don't see it oh my manga is so anime! It would be stupid to say that.
I find westerners calling something anime to be kinda clueless, do we call western games dudebro style games or something? It is a wierd thing, just because it has big eyes?
These changes bring the style of the remaser closer to the Saga and Gears, making it a Xeno game. The eyes is the easiest thing to carry over between platform and format changes.
So it is not just Big-Eyed it is the way the black circle outlines the iris. So this design language has less to do with 'Anime Style' but it is a true Xeno series signature eye type.
The eyes had a design language that could be carried over from digital form to anime 2D no matter the style be it realistic or chibi you could kinda tell it was a Xeno game from the eyes in the art. They did not always carry it over to every character but you can tell they tried to stay consistent if they could. On the Wii they failed to do that.
The change in the eyes here is not really trying to be more anime but it is bringing back those eyes from the early game characters in Saga. Gears was round too but closer to round late 90s anime eyes this Xeno eyes design really started in Saga. This eye is part of the series since it was carried over into XCX and XB2, they tried in failed in the Wii game.
Kos Mos has those eyes, Elma has those eyes, Nia has those eyes, Pyra has eyes closer to Gears but still that Xeno eye.
When you create your character in XCX you can see many of the different types of Xeno like eyes from robotic to more human ones but still a Xeno series style.
The changes you see in XCDE is just a continued theme they could not pull off on the Wii for some reason, maybe the designer sucked or whatever but they are just going back to that design language. You need sharp lines to pull off the eyes.
If you want to call it anime it is anime because those artists are the same, they created Manga and Anime with their styles those character creators are the same people so the style is what it should be. But the language between series is different, fans can tell Naruto style is different from Dragon Ball, Bleach is different from One Piece. All manga and anime but you don't just say Naruto is an anime game if you are a manga fan. Manga fans don't see it oh my manga is so anime! It would be stupid to say that.
I find westerners calling something anime to be kinda clueless, do we call western games dudebro style games or something? It is a wierd thing, just because it has big eyes?
These changes bring the style of the remaser closer to the Saga and Gears, making it a Xeno game. The eyes is the easiest thing to carry over between platform and format changes.
The big-eyed, colourful characters are more big-eyed and more colourful than before. They are irrefutably more anime now than they ever were.
And the game looks great.
Final verdict when I play it, but so far so good.
So it is not just Big-Eyed it is the way the black circle outlines the iris. So this design language has less to do with 'Anime Style' but it is a true Xeno series signature eye type.
Touch fuzZy. get BizZay
Member
Day 10
Within the depths of Makna Forest is Frontier Village, where the nopon make their home inside an enormous tree
Within the depths of Makna Forest is Frontier Village, where the nopon make their home inside an enormous tree
Touch fuzZy. get BizZay
Member
Oh, and here's the relaxing, chilled out music of the nopon village:
#nopongreaterthanmoogles
#nopongreaterthanmoogles
Smiles and Cries
Member
uh uh, I can't listen to that music it makes the wait harder nope nopon nope
Touch fuzZy. get BizZay
Member
These days seem to be getting longer don't they? The wait is getting tougher
Touch fuzZy. get BizZay
Member
As much as I love Xenoblade Chronicles X, the main nopon, Tatsu, is pretty lame. Rikki is way better.
It was also a missed opportunity to have a tiny little nopon pilot a huge mech, that would have been awesome!
It was also a missed opportunity to have a tiny little nopon pilot a huge mech, that would have been awesome!
I'm pretty sure that the switch is at least as powerful as the ps3/360 era and I wouldn't generally call the character models from that gen ugly.
dottme
Member
It’s fine. Not everyone like everything.
I’m slowly playing XC2 and I’m loving it.
jshackles
Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Same here, I started it about 6 months ago and gave up right around the 20 hour mark. After the initial flurry of quests and such, the game turns into a massive grind. I realized I'd be playing the game for nearly 20 hours just to get to the next "chapter" of story content. The map was massive but I became immediately aware that everything went to major choke points that were full of high level enemies that made it less open world than it actually was and prevented me from just flat out exploring like I wanted to.
By the time I gave up, I had more than enough in-game money to buy the most expensive mech but the game wouldn't let me because I hadn't unlocked enough of the story yet to get a license.
Great game with massively fun combat system that (for me) was ruined by an overinflation of side quests and grinding that massively messed up the story pacing.
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
If I have to choose I take anime artstyle over realistic one any day, especially for a game like Xenoblade, so I’m definitely very happy with new visuals.
Zog
Banned
It must be much easier to make anime graphics since so many Japanese developers do it.
I feel like I'm bashing the game even though it is a day one game for me. Last issue I have with the style is this. When you look at the cell shaded anime looking characters they no longer match up with the world now. I don't know what style you would call the original version but that older version seems to be simply cleaned up to look nice at a higher resolution and then they transformed the characters into a whole different style.
Last edited:
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
I definitely disagree on that...
Like I said before, I love the new artstyle especially compare to that blurry character models in original game.
ValiantTraveler
Member
I only played Xenoblade. The story is very good by JRPG standards and very satisfying all the way through. But Gears and Saga are on a league of their own when it comes to the richness of concepts, themes and characterization. Xenoblade is a much simpler story but it has its share of plot twists and memorable moments.
Last edited:
A breathtaking screenshot with the characters really tiny in the picture.
edit: I feel like I'm attacking a game too much in a thread meant to hype folks up for it so I'm going to step away.
Last edited:
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
I honestly don’t see how characters stand out badly from environments in Definitive Edition?
Also more importantly question why the hell I want “realistic” character models in games like Xenoblade?
You can see it during that first fight on the bridge when the main character is using his special ability to dodge the enemy in the trailer . The two styles really pop out then.
I've got several reasons for the somewhat more realistic character models but I'm burnt out on this.
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
Then lets agree to disagree, we just going around circle, I personally like the new style so I’m definitely more happy about this.
Spukc
always chasing the next thrill
easy to show this off you can't see their faces. the surroundings look beautiful. Now post a screen shot with his animu face covering 70% of the picture XDI definitely disagree on that...
Like I said before, I love the new artstyle especially compare to that blurry character models in original game.
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
I have no issue with their faces, again Wii version and 3DS version still exist if you prefer more blurry character models.
The battle system of XC2 is heavily based on Blades which can’t work on original game.
Last edited:
Phalk
Neo Member
I have no issue with their faces, again Wii version and 3DS version still exist if prefer more blurry character models.
The battle system of XC2 is heavily based on Blades which can’t work on original game.
You could easily adapt XBC1 battle to XBC2 system.
It just annoys the hell of me to select the moves (sometimes you have to press the button several times to just find the skill you want to use) instead of just pressing a button.
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
So you are mostly talking about Arts layouts? I think in XC2 is set up like that because of cancel attack mechanics.
Last edited:
Phalk
Neo Member
This is the most annoying part for me, yeah.
But not the only thing. There are so many complex sub systems in the battle system and the tutorials aren't enough since some of the mechanics aren't intuitive. If you miss a word in a battle tutorial you could end up with an unbeatable boss battle out of nowhere.
Also, I doubt anyone really likes the Monado Enchantment system to attack Mechon. Goddammit that was the epytome of annoying.
I understand some people like this kind of complexity but for me, it just gets in the way. XBC2 nails it between complexity and fun for me.
Phalk
Neo Member
Some more:
I understand XBC2 also has some very complex mechanics that are hard to understand. But the game doesn't force us to understand it if we don't want to. You could finish the game without knowing the battle system deeply. I remember I only really understood the elemental orbs system in the final quarter of the game.
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
Phalk
Neo Member
Phalk But you need to understand in XC2 you can only equip 3 Arts in battles but thats okay for that game because of Blade switch system which each Blade has it own set of Arts. XC1 doesn't have Blade system, so they cant have same type of Art layout as XC2 in that game.
You could use the blade ability button with another art.
Implement something like a L and R modifier for more arts and we're good to go.
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
Mmmmm....this just me but at that point, it would be just easier select the arts like you did in original XC.
Touch fuzZy. get BizZay
Member
Having not played 2 yet, I'm surprised how complicated and confusing it looks to me, who has beaten every hidden boss in XC1 and XCX. I'm sure I'll be fine. But I've seen videos where there's combat hud data in all 4 corners of the screen, plus the top and the bottom center, with data appearing briefly on the center left and center right of the screen as well, along with the usual numbers appearing over enemies after attacks. It looks totally crazy to me at a glance even compared to other Xenoblades, so I'm glad to hear some people find the combat more accessible. And I expect I'll love it anyway, since it has Elma and overdrive.
But I'm quite attached to the battle interface of XC1 and XCX, the arts palette. It's true that you sometimes have to press a direction 4 times to choose a move, but that doesn't bother me personally - it just seems cleaner and simpler with my big coloured orbs and their cooldowns. You're certainly right that the simple interface belies and lot of complexity and depth that just isn't explained that clearly. That's how it is. Some people are gonna get deep into playing around and figuring things out, some are gonna feel frustrated and confused, and others like me are gonna watch experts explain the nuances of the combat on youtube and be like "ohhh, now I get it."
I hope more people will give the game a try, having only played XC1 and XCX, XC1 looks like the easiest place to learn Xenoblade combat from my perspective.
One thing I'm really excited about trying now, after having gotten my head around the overdrive system in Xenoblade Chronicles X, is playing Definitive Edition and using the chain attack system in a more "overdrivey" way than I did before. To people who haven't played, the chain attack is kind of your limit break, your ultimate move where your party all take turns laying into the enemy. I've used it to great effect before, although I was usually just trying to topple the enemy and then go for whatever quick damage I could. One thing I didn't focus on was the "chain multiplier" aspect of chain attack, which will increase your damage output in a very overdrive like way.
For people who haven't played, all the arts have different colours based on what type of effect they have, as you can see in Danjin's picture. Red arts are pure damage, and blue arts are healing and buffs, etcetera. Every time you use the same colour art sequentially in a chain attack, you increase the chain multiplier, boosting your party's damage output up to a maximum of 700% when you've done 5 arts of the same colour in a row. But that's a bit tricky so I didn't bother to explore it before. You can't use the same art twice, and a well rounded party with support or magic characters would have mostly different coloured arts from the fighters in the party, so it's hard to get 5 arts of the same colour without a very specific setup. But just like we've been saying, the game doesn't explain things super clearly, so I didn't understand back when I played Xenoblade that each character's unique talent art counts as any colour. Everyone has a personal super art called a talent, like Reyn's mad taunt or Dunban's blossom dance, and they don't just count as any colour, they count as any colour in both directions. So I could start a chain attack with 2 blue buffs that increase my power and give me a x2 chain, use a talent to reach x3, and then switch to doing red battle arts twice to get to x5 and 700% max damage, then obliterate the big monster I'm fighting with my most powerful art for my 6th move.
Knowing this type of thing now, I'm really hype to play XCDE and I can't wait to see what kind of damage I can do even in the early and mid-game. But I imagine I will need some agility gems to hit enemies that are higher level than me and I will need to work on affinity between party members early to increase the chance of extending chain attacks.
Last edited:
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition has Nopon Rangers.
www.siliconera.com
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Introduces the Ponspectors
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition will feature the Nopon Rangers, a group of Nopon who are surveying the Bionis' Shoulder.
www.siliconera.com
Last edited:
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
JareBear: Remastered
Banned
Last edited:
jshackles
Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Sounds pretty similar in length (maybe a bit shorter) to Torna then. Excellent.
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
I loved Torna but remember in that game we needed to side quests to progress the story because of community system, which made the game longer.