Chapter 2 and the silly characters and dialogue has really put me off the game.
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Xenoblade 2's Chapter 4 (which many dislike) was written by Yuichiro Takeda (and it's his favorite)
- Thread starter CGiRanger
- Start date
Chapter 2 and the silly characters and dialogue has really put me off the game.
Cool that you didn't get lost, but I'm not the only one. Nor is that the only spot people have gotten lost.
The latter two are at least. I'm just not a fan of the nopons in general.
Interesting. Was there also a writing split been known for past Xenoblade games? Like what chapters were done by whom? Yuichiro Takeda has written for all the Xenoblade games and Kazuho Hyodo wrote on X.
Then get facefucked by level 80 enemies you have to run through, which most would think is the wrong way.
I didn't get lost finding the factory, but it was definitely confusing suddenly being surrounded by aggro-fuelled level 70 enemies. I was all, "am I sure this is the right place?"
I think it says more about gamers than the game, though. We complain about handholding but people can't figure out that the way to the factory is the place where the people from the factory took the barrels to the factory. There are also multiple paths down beyond the most intended one, and it would be outside the exploratory spirit of the series to overdo it with the waypoints.
Sounds like you went the "secret way". If you take the path the game pushes you towards you avoid the high level mobs.
You dont start there. You start from the city again after the scene. So its not clear you were meant to go down there after the report.
Besides if you go down there, its not obvious where to go either. You either take the way completely down through lvl 80 mobs, or you manage to find out, that the room with the bats isnt a dead end like it seems to be. Or you manage to find the very hidden key to the lvl 80 area.
Either way, it seems you also brute forced your way, while the developer intended you to go the other way not completely down, but via the side of the bats room. So you basically confirmed its a odd decision to expect players to go there.
This was where my game crashed and I had to do the factory twice. I hate the nopons but Poppi at least makes Tora a bit bearable.
You don't have to go through the level 80 mobs. You fight a named monster and get a key, then go to another room and find another key that opens a door that takes you around those mobs. Though it is very easy to slip past those level 80 mobs if you want to do it that way. But basically those mobs are there guarding a shortcut.
I found the key in the secret area you go to for the Tranquility sidequest. After that I gave up and returned to the barrel area. I went down a few flights of stairs, then I jumped off to the ground and while I was still surrounded by enemies I was at least able to avoid them.
I honestly didn't know there was a third way until this thread, actually.
I got lost but it was fun to sneak around in places I clearly wasn't supposed to be yet.
I found a UM that just stood on the scaffold and did nothing, was kinda creepy so I knocked him off the ledge. I also liked jumping from pipe to pipe to lessen the fall damage and skip areas.
I found a UM that just stood on the scaffold and did nothing, was kinda creepy so I knocked him off the ledge. I also liked jumping from pipe to pipe to lessen the fall damage and skip areas.
I enjoyed chapter 4 a lot. Chapter 5 is weakest by far for me, feels like it's nothing more than walking and cutscenes and little to no interesting exploration to do or battles to fight.
I love that guy. I've seen a few complaints that having his fight on a catwalk is bullshit, but you're ever so clearly supposed to use a blowdown move on him from behind. It's great.
I had no idea there was another way. For the "intended path", that's pretty involved. Felt the level design was signaling to me to GTFO of the building quickly, especially after that level 80 spider spawns.
Chapter 4 definitely was the low point for me, like I can barely remember what happens in the beginning part of that chapter anyways.
OP
OP
I think for me my issue with Takeda is that he seems to be the driving force behind the Nopon race, at least, by his own words he calls it an infatuation. And I've never really found them that endearing as characters. Riki was so-so, Tatsu was godawful, Tora is "meh". I think my issue with them is how these characters are always ones that are "why are you a member of this group (following the player) again?"
The way I see it the 4 ways are:
Intended: enter the place where the barrels were delivered. Find the keys that unlock the 2 locked doors you come across. All of the enemies you face will be within your level.
Intended2: If you have the required field skills you can just bust down one door and skip the keys.
Shortcut: enter the place where the barrels were and instead of finding keys, just take the stairs all the way down and run past the 1 level 80 monster guarding the door to the outside staircase.
Secret: Find the well-hidden gate key to the locked gate in the starting area and run past a crazy amount of high-level mobs.
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I thought the plot of the chapter was fine, the boss was hilarious and I liked the story with Tora and Poppi. My issue with the chapter was gameplay-related, the pacing is kind of blah and the filler part with the bandits in the beginning was weird.
It is. You literally do not have to go through the level 80 monsters. You're not suppose to. If you did then hurray for games with flexibility.
You don't even have to do that either. There is another 2 paths besides that in the building lol. 1 you can get through with Field skills and another in a locked room you have to access from a break in the floor in an upper room.
Also found out about the correct path after the chapter, when i returned at a later point. Its easy to miss the way in the dead-end room because it all looks the same in the building and the map is awful.
As much as I'm not a fan of the characters, Tora is alright. Tora calling Rex aniki is kind of endearing as well as Poppi correcting or commenting on her master's ineptitude.
I'm still on chapter 5 but I liked chapter 4, personally. My only real gripe with it was the part where it cuts you down to two party members for a stretch of the dungeon since it didn't feel like the plot fully justified it.
I can get why people dislike it, though- Tora pretty clearly straddles the borderline between being a good or bad Fuzzy Mascot Character With Weird Speaking Quirk. How well the chapter works for you is going to be primarily dependent on which side of that line he's on for you, not just because of him but because how much you like Tora is going to strongly correlate how much you like the rest of what goes on there. Personally, I came to like Tora (mostly because of Poppi) and my reaction to the villains jumping down the chutes and entering the cockpit that turned out to be the headband of their giant chibi-proportioned maid robot was "FUCK YES THIS IS AMAZING," but I can see other people groaning at that bit.
Mythra slapping Rex in the face and him hitting the fourth wall which proceeded to shatter as part of a JRPG-style battle transition also made me laugh my fucking ass off.
I can get why people dislike it, though- Tora pretty clearly straddles the borderline between being a good or bad Fuzzy Mascot Character With Weird Speaking Quirk. How well the chapter works for you is going to be primarily dependent on which side of that line he's on for you, not just because of him but because how much you like Tora is going to strongly correlate how much you like the rest of what goes on there. Personally, I came to like Tora (mostly because of Poppi) and my reaction to the villains jumping down the chutes and entering the cockpit that turned out to be the headband of their giant chibi-proportioned maid robot was "FUCK YES THIS IS AMAZING," but I can see other people groaning at that bit.
Mythra slapping Rex in the face and him hitting the fourth wall which proceeded to shatter as part of a JRPG-style battle transition also made me laugh my fucking ass off.
Says a little bit about the game. Even if it wasn't (I don't remember) the barrels quest felt like a sidequest. I remember feeling like it was. Xenoblade's sidequests are the worst part of the series, imo.
I could have read the text of the barrels quest, but I didn't. The game has maps and markers which is the hand holding aspect and even that isn't good. They've even acknowledged needing to fix the maps.
Huh? Where are you getting at that I brute forced it? I found the keys and unlocked the doors. I was saying that it's possible you could slip past that monster, but I didn't go that way.
The decision was to have multiple ways down and not force the intended path on the player in the spirit of exploration. If they just made it all obvious with waypoints for every step then that would have made that part just tediously going through motions instead of exploring and finding the optimal path through my own actions.
Tora and Poppi are the best, so it makes sense.
Meh, meh meh meh,
I really need a Tora plushie.
The real loserpon is fucking Tatsu.
Piece of shit character
Meh, meh meh meh,
I really need a Tora plushie.
Nah, they are both great.
The real loserpon is fucking Tatsu.
Piece of shit character
See, did it actually do this? Because I kept having this exact problem throughout the game and went through several oddly difficult fights with a two-man team, only to discover later that I just hadn't been pressing 'x' to add a third member back in. I was... not amused to discover that.
I can't remember if Tora was actually gone for that stretch of the factory, though, or if it was due to the thing I just described.
Stick with it at least until the end of chapter 3. I do feel like most will drop it by chapter 2 because of it, tho
nope, tora was actually gone. doesnt come back until the Rosa fight
I had the same problem but yeah, in that specific case he actually leaves and the justification is that he appears with Poppi mid boss fight to help.
It did, but the plot did justify it:
Tora and Poppi stay behind to tend to the injured Lila. During this time Tora upgrades Poppi with Lila's ether furnace and upgrades her to Poppi QT
Going with lightheartedness after the levity of the Chapter 3 conclusion wasn't a bad idea. Chapter 4's real issues were the thief arc, which should have been jettisoned entirely, and the level design and waypoint mechanics of the two factory areas in the second half.
I mean, Maria's arc in Shevat always gives me tears, and it features a colossal pink hairball battling an evil mecha.
I mean, Maria's arc in Shevat always gives me tears, and it features a colossal pink hairball battling an evil mecha.
True, I couldn't stand Tatsu. :lol
Tora is my favorite Nopon character so far, or less annoying if you prefer. Yes, he definitely is pervy, but that gives us amazing moments and heart-to-heart talks. The game is pretty self aware, even about Mythra's design which gets criticized by Dromach and Gramps at some point in the game. :lol
As a self-contained segment of the game I thought it was ok. I don't like Tora at all but there was some humorous stuff there and I didn't mind the subplot.
I feel it could have flowed better with the game as a whole however. I feel the main payoff as why this chapter does matter to the broader story comes pretty late, the area itself is kinda boring visually, and it's definitely the biggest instance of the game's awful map and compass screwing over and confusing players.
I feel it could have flowed better with the game as a whole however. I feel the main payoff as why this chapter does matter to the broader story comes pretty late, the area itself is kinda boring visually, and it's definitely the biggest instance of the game's awful map and compass screwing over and confusing players.
Yeah, figured as much the second I hit post. How embarrassing! Thanks guys.
Lol, glad I'm not the only one.
Eh, the payoff is in Chapter 6, and it's strongly foreshadowed at the end of 4.