Xenoblade (Wii)

[Sketcz]

Thinking of picking this up and playing it on Dolphin. Only thing is i have no wii controllers whatsoever, just wondering does it use the wii pointer at all? If not i can just use my wired 360 controller.

No pointer needed, just pure controller. A 360 or PS3 pad on PC would be perfect. I'd like to use Dolphin myself, but my PC I don't think has enough GHZ under its hood.

Also, good luck trying to get your drive to recognise Wii DVDs, none of mine do. I'm wondering if I can hook my Wii USB HDD to my PC? Anyone?

Kind of a shame the outfits persist in cutscenes. A dramatic early cutscene was kinda spoilt a bit by having my main character in big black armour to go with this large purple slippers...

Nah, this is super awesome. I had Fiora in kinky black bikini with stockings for cutscenes early on. On a more serious note, it gives a sense of the characters changing and adapting to their world. Now that I'm out on the plains, they've slowly shifted to clothes suitable for the area.

Rogue Galaxy did this, but the game sucked in my opinion, bogged down by a lot of nonsense.

The only grip with Xenoblade is that when selling or buying gear, it's not easy to see how it relates to what people are wearing, especially you have crystals equipped. I periodically have to remove all crystals and systematically go through each piece of gear, putting on the best, then selling every item which is not equipped. Same when buying new stuff. Although a new item may drop my stats, that's only because there's no crystal in the slot. Until I realised this, I was actually passing up really great armour, simply because my crappy armour had like a 20 point bonus stat.

Many a times I've just stopped, panned the camera and looked at the distance and just thought "I've just been there".

Same here. Despite not being HD, the sense of wonderment is really strong. Reaching the field and seeing the lake with the towers, or overhanging cliffs above, left me just staring at the screen for a while. Really beautiful and lots of fun just finding stuff.

[Cornflakes]

Also, good luck trying to get your drive to recognise Wii DVDs, none of mine do. I'm wondering if I can hook my Wii USB HDD to my PC? Anyone?

Depends how your drive was formatted, if it is fat32/ntfs, you can access it directly. If it is using the old file-system(wbfs), when usbloader started off, then you can either mount it in linux using a modified version of fuse or a filesystem manager in windows. As for the tool you have to duckduckgo it for yourself. Alternatively just dump it again on a SD card/USB stick.

The only problems i have with the game, is the map and inventory system. It seems that my bags are always full, especially annoying if you don't know if some materials are used for later quests.

->Open Spoiler<-

you need items to rebuild colony 6, which i was not aware off

[Sketcz]

You can actually fill your bags?! Never happened to me, yet...

[Ryall]

Going to pick this up after reading this thread. Is the controller box set available anywhere on the high street or is an ebay job now?

Game still have it in stock online. I'm half tempted to order it, despite not actually needing the controller. The normal version seems to be out of stock everywhere.

I wonder if they'll release more copies of this, given that it seems to have sold way above expectations.

[Cornflakes]

You can actually fill your bags?! Never happened to me, yet...

Yeah, there is a limit of how much you can carry with you. Think crystals/elements are limited to 10 pages, materials to 4 pages aso. However i just got a new character joining me, and it seems that my carrying capacity has increased, but i need to check this later to be sure.

[abigsmurf]

Do only certain moves fill the chain bar? I'm struggling to get it filled.

Also, the future mode thingy confuses me, As Shulk I have to use one of Reyn's skills to protect him? Guessing Reyn's shield ability is enough to protect himself.

[Sketcz]

Critical hits fill the bar, as do evading the enemy's attack I believe. Maybe try using crystals to boost their stats for critical attacks and evasion/dodges? Even then it feels slow for me - most boss enemies are dead by the time I get 3 bars for a chain attack.

[Golgo]

Gonna get cracking on this soon. Any advantages/disadvantages to playing it with original Japanese voice track? I read somewhere that some in-battle dialogue doesn't get subtitled so was wondering if this might be a problem. Ta.

[jimtendo]

Do only certain moves fill the chain bar? I'm struggling to get it filled.

Also, the future mode thingy confuses me, As Shulk I have to use one of Reyn's skills to protect him? Guessing Reyn's shield ability is enough to protect himself.

This is not a sure fire way, but:

White bar/ Enemy talent = Use Shulks Monado shield skill (though has to be the same level or above)
Red bar/ Physical = If aimed at Shulk try to get Reyn or

->Open Spoiler<-

Dunban

to cast Aggro. Though if the target is someone else, try cast a shield (not Monado) or heal them up as much as possible.
Blue bar/ Ether = I think the only way to fully escape this is to cast Shulks' Monado speed option.

Make sure you warn them (at the cost of 1x combo bar) so they can take some sort of action.

Again, I'm still trying to work it out myself as to the best ways to tackle these events.

[yesteryeargames]

Sorry if the wrong thread to ask,does anyone know where i can buy this please , solus edition ?

[MrKirov]

Weird, everyone keeps saying it's sold out and going to be uber rare, but I saw a fair few copies in Cwmbran gamestation and game
today!

[cavalcade]

Cwmbran is the spiritual home of the JRPG as well, surprising.

I've played this. It's OK, it's not the second coming of gaming Jesus that it's being billed as though.

[MrKirov]

It is very good, hasn't gripped me yet though, only spent 5 hours on it so far...

Cwmbran is full of nothing but Old people, no wonder there's so many still there haha!

[Golgo]

OAPSs of Cwmbran got their pre-orders in for MW3, that's why!

[Sketcz]

20 hours in and I beg to differ. There's only a handful of JRPGs better than this one, based on what I've seen. Wait until you're roaming around the Bionis Knee and reach Colony 6.

So far it's looking likely to receive a golden spot in my all-time top 10 JRPG list. I actually started making a list of JRPGs I've played, and was stunned by the results. There must be around 30 I've put heavy time in to (if not actually clocked), and this is way up there alongside Skies of Arcadia and Panzer Dragoon Saga.

For those who feel it doesn't live up to the hype, fair enough, but which JRPGs overshadow it in that case? I'd like to know so I can play them.