Do you agree that Xenoblade looks cheaply made?

I recently started playing Xenoblade and I know it's gotten a lot of appreciation. I understand because the gameplay is good, BUT there are a lot of things that take away from the experience for me. First of all, the characters look aboslutely terrible. Their fingers look like rectangles like something from an N64 game, and their eyeballs look like blurry blobs.

When the characters run, it looks like their legs are moving in slow-motion while they are travelling at a much faster rate. It just doesn't make sense. It looks like no effort was put into this; you just tap the control stick and they've already started moving at lighting speed. It just looks bad. And don't get me started on the jumping. It's as if they're on the moon; they hover for way too long and way too far, considering the huge weapon they are carrying it just doesn't make sense.

My final complaint is some of the cheap voice acting. When the characters jump they use the same super-annoying scream over and over. When they're battling they have to keep saying the same cheesy, repetitive lines over and over, can they just fight without all the yapping?! The dialogue doesn't match the movements of their mouths very often, and I understand that it's probably because it was directly translated from the Japanese version. Still, many things in this game seemed rushed, and while a lot of effort was put into certain things, I feel that they should've put equal effort into stuff like this. Anyway I'm not trying to bash the game, I understand the appeal, but for a game that gets so much appreciation I feel that these things shouldv'e been touched up. What do you think?

I disagree. While the character models can be shoddy (they obviously sacrificed visual fidelity in this area to make the environments as big as they are) and the jumping animation is goofy, Xenoblade is more lovingly crafted than any other JRPG I've played this gen. The environments are breathtaking, the battle system is extremely well thought out, and the game is expertly designed and exquisitely-paced.

Despite some awkward moments that have more to do with the script than anything, the voice acting is actually pretty good.

I'd say Xenoblade has some rough edges, but it doesn't seem cheaply made at all.

I disagree. While the character models can be shoddy (they obviously sacrificed visual fidelity in this area to make the environments as big as they are) and the jumping animation is goofy, Xenoblade is more lovingly crafted than any other JRPG I've played this gen. The environments are breathtaking, the battle system is extremely well thought out, and the game is expertly designed and exquisitely-paced.

Despite some awkward moments that have more to do with the script than anything, the voice acting is actually pretty good.

I'd say Xenoblade has some rough edges, but it doesn't seem cheaply made at all.

GreySeal9

Weak character models don't equal cheaply made, Xenoblade is one of the most highly polished games I've played, which given the scale and length is nothing short of amazingWreckEm711

[QUOTE="WreckEm711"]Weak character models don't equal cheaply made, Xenoblade is one of the most highly polished games I've played, which given the scale and length is nothing short of amazingrubber-chicken

Something had to give, game is huge with little to no loading screens at all with a massive draw distance, that in itself hasn't been possible on the Wii before, much less with everything else thats in the game.

They wanted large, open areas with minimal loading screens, and since the Wii has extremely old hardware, some stuff had to be sacrificed.
Textures and character models would have obviously been better if this game had small, linear worlds with many loading screens. Just look at Monster Hunter Tri or The Last Story.

I don't really mind the running animation, but I can agree that jumping looks awkward. The jumping animation is necessary for an open world game like Xenoblade. It makes exploration easier since some areas can not be accessed unless you jump a few fences or do some platforming.

An option to turn off voice acting during battle would have been nice, but I honestly got used to it. Switching up your party members and discovering new battle cries and conversations can be entertaining, IMO.

[QUOTE="rubber-chicken"][QUOTE="WreckEm711"]Weak character models don't equal cheaply made, Xenoblade is one of the most highly polished games I've played, which given the scale and length is nothing short of amazingWreckEm711

Something had to give, game is huge with little to no loading screens at all with a massive draw distance, that in itself hasn't been possible on the Wii before, much less with everything else thats in the game.

I do not agree. Considering the limited hardware of the wii, the developers did darn-diddly-good job with the visuals. I was recently at the part with a floating city above a lake and found myself impressed by how atmospheric it was when star fragments began raining down all around the character's party.

Nope, you seem to forget the big open world...some sacrifices had to be made..this is why I want to see the team who made Xenoblade Chronicles - make either Xenoblade 2 or a new RPG for Wii U.

Xenoblade should have never been released on the Wii.

The hardware is too weak to give the game the kind of production quality it needed.

That style game just can't run well on older hardware. If it was going to be a Nintendo only game it should have been a Wii U game.

The character models, yeah. Everything else I'd have to disagree. The environments are stellar, the effects are crisp, and the monsters look pretty good as well.

Xenoblade should have never been released on the Wii.

The hardware is too weak to give the game the kind of production quality it needed.

That style game just can't run well on older hardware. If it was going to be a Nintendo only game it should have been a Wii U game.

Jaysonguy

This statement is pretty ridiculous considering the game was praised by critics and the gaming community.

I disagree. While it may look bad up close, the huge scale they accomplished on the limited Wii hardware is very impressive. It's the most polished open-world game I've played in a long time. It's not full of lengthy load screens and game-breaking glitches like Skyrim.

It's also crammed with content. I finished it in 80 hours and I barely touched the sidequests.

[QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

Xenoblade should have never been released on the Wii.

The hardware is too weak to give the game the kind of production quality it needed.

That style game just can't run well on older hardware. If it was going to be a Nintendo only game it should have been a Wii U game.

GreySeal9

This statement is pretty ridiculous considering the game was praised by critics and the gaming community.

[QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

Xenoblade should have never been released on the Wii.

The hardware is too weak to give the game the kind of production quality it needed.

That style game just can't run well on older hardware. If it was going to be a Nintendo only game it should have been a Wii U game.

GreySeal9

This statement is pretty ridiculous considering the game was praised by critics and the gaming community.

Really?

You know of reviews where pop ins and deserted streets were praised?

Feel like posting them when you get the chance?

[QUOTE="GreySeal9"]

[QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

Xenoblade should have never been released on the Wii.

The hardware is too weak to give the game the kind of production quality it needed.

That style game just can't run well on older hardware. If it was going to be a Nintendo only game it should have been a Wii U game.

Jaysonguy

This statement is pretty ridiculous considering the game was praised by critics and the gaming community.

Really?

You know of reviews where pop ins and deserted streets were praised?

Feel like posting them when you get the chance?

Putting it on more powerful hardware would have increased the dev costs beyond what Monolith Soft would be capable of investing into something at that scale though, especially since they were initially just looking at a japan only market

Xenoblade should have never been released on the Wii.

The hardware is too weak to give the game the kind of production quality it needed.

That style game just can't run well on older hardware. If it was going to be a Nintendo only game it should have been a Wii U game.

Jaysonguy

[QUOTE="GreySeal9"]

[QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

Xenoblade should have never been released on the Wii.

The hardware is too weak to give the game the kind of production quality it needed.

That style game just can't run well on older hardware. If it was going to be a Nintendo only game it should have been a Wii U game.

Jaysonguy

This statement is pretty ridiculous considering the game was praised by critics and the gaming community.

Really?

You know of reviews where pop ins and deserted streets were praised?

Feel like posting them when you get the chance?

So pop-up means it shouldn't have been released on Wii? :lol:

The critics and the gaming community praised the game overall and that alone justifies its existence on the Wii.If gamers and critics loved it in its current state, then why should it not have been released?

In short, you're being incredibly silly.

I think calling a game that big and ambitious cheaply made due to jumping animations, character model details and repetitive battle dialogue - which is indeed very annoying - is not looking at the big picture and admiring how incredible the sum of the its parts are.

Lol,it's amazingly made,considering it's for the WII!

It's for the Wii,dude...to make it that big,and with awesome draw distance,they had to sacrifice abit of graphical detail.

[QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

Xenoblade should have never been released on the Wii.

The hardware is too weak to give the game the kind of production quality it needed.

That style game just can't run well on older hardware. If it was going to be a Nintendo only game it should have been a Wii U game.

enrique_marrodz

[QUOTE="enrique_marrodz"][QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

Xenoblade should have never been released on the Wii.

The hardware is too weak to give the game the kind of production quality it needed.

That style game just can't run well on older hardware. If it was going to be a Nintendo only game it should have been a Wii U game.

rubber-chicken

The N64 was also the strongest console in its gen, your objectivity on perspective sucks lol.

[QUOTE="enrique_marrodz"][QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

Xenoblade should have never been released on the Wii.

The hardware is too weak to give the game the kind of production quality it needed.

That style game just can't run well on older hardware. If it was going to be a Nintendo only game it should have been a Wii U game.

rubber-chicken

[QUOTE="rubber-chicken"][QUOTE="enrique_marrodz"] Again, you're so wrong. Xenoblade is a "this generation" game which must execute their foundation steps now. Next generation will see the evolution of all this new concepts. You don't seem to perceive how great could have Metroid Prime look if they just have waited for the Wii U instead the crappy GC hardware. O r even better if they would have wait to release Ocarina of Time until all of the TVs in the world are 3D... Sarcasm aside, you are talking about a game from more than 2 years ago. Putting it into the freezer just for you to have "awesome" graphics is no sense Regardsenrique_marrodz

Err, no, OoT was definitely praised as well for its large open areas and visuals for its time. EVERY N64 game had blocky characters and low res textures, that was the norm back then.

Everything you mentioned is there for a reason, like so many other people have said. Those were design choices, not to save time or resources, but to improve the overall product.

And along those same lines, the annoying in-battle chatter also serves a purpose. They're not chattering at all... they're just yelling out the attacks that they're performing. Since so much of the strategy in battle revolves around stringing together different types of attacks, you need to know what your teammates are doing in order to chain together effective combos. There are visual cues, too, but the auditory cues are just another layer to assist with strategy.

Cheaply made? If anything Xenobalde is ambitious.

No, I don't think it's cheaply made, but I understand where you're coming from. The voice acting is pretty bad, mostly due to the voice actor's delivery. Some of the dialog in seems out of place, too. It was probably directly translated without any alteration. The battle-banter is completely unnecessary and I wish there was an option to turn it off.

Aside from a few rough edges, the game manages some technical wizardry with the Wii hardware. The draw distance is possibly the best you'll find on the Wii, gameplay is fun and there are tons of quests, lots of different types of armor and weapons, and despite the poor voice acting, the story is actually interesting.

The reason the models look so poor is because the game is absolutely massive. And, honestly, I'd rather have them sacrifice something in order to have the game have the same scope and size. One of the best games this gen, period. And that's what counts. Xenoblade udnerstands the concept of having graphics that do their job. sure the models look bad. But that doesn't stop the game from being one of the best console games of this generation.

Xenoblade should have never been released on the Wii.

The hardware is too weak to give the game the kind of production quality it needed.

That style game just can't run well on older hardware. If it was going to be a Nintendo only game it should have been a Wii U game.

Jaysonguy

You couldn't be more wrong.

First things first, the game plays rgeat. I've experienced almost no slowdown (aside from huge battles) and there are very rarely glitches. Can we say the same thing about other games on consoles that are considered hgue? For Christ's sake, look at skyrim on PS3. I say that it's astounding that the game runs as well as it does on a system as limited as the Wii. But the sheer size of the world and the amount of stuff to do is an amazing feat for the system, but the game runs pretty smoothly overall. How cdan you seriously sit there and say the game doesn't run well? It runs great, better than alot of games on other consoles.

So, as it is, Xenoblade is still a great game and, really, the fact that the graphical capabilities are present on Wii actually made it better. They couldn't rely on graphics and visual flare to make the game great.

the dialogue is something awful and the voice acting isnt much either. its hard to say which hurt the game more, but my money is on the dialogue.

still, once the environments and systems do their talking, the game had more of a sense of grandeur than cheapness for me.

look at skyrim on PS3.

turtlethetaffer

The fact you said this makes me doubt you're able to have a conversation about this subject.

If you think that...

1. Those games are anywhere close to scale

and

2. A game developed on a different platform and ported over is anything like a game developed with one platform in mind

Then I don't know what else there is to say

[QUOTE="turtlethetaffer"]

look at skyrim on PS3.

Jaysonguy

The fact you said this makes me doubt you're able to have a conversation about this subject.

If you think that...

1. Those games are anywhere close to scale

and

2. A game developed on a different platform and ported over is anything like a game developed with one platform in mind

Then I don't know what else there is to say

The point I was trying to make is that you are worng about XB not being able to run well on the Wii. It runs smooth as can be.

[QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

[QUOTE="turtlethetaffer"]

look at skyrim on PS3.

turtlethetaffer

The fact you said this makes me doubt you're able to have a conversation about this subject.

If you think that...

1. Those games are anywhere close to scale

and

2. A game developed on a different platform and ported over is anything like a game developed with one platform in mind

Then I don't know what else there is to say

The point I was trying to make is that you are worng about XB not being able to run well on the Wii. It runs smooth as can be.

No it doesn't, the fact that it can't even keep all the people visible on the screen shows that it doesn't run well.

[QUOTE="turtlethetaffer"]

[QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

The fact you said this makes me doubt you're able to have a conversation about this subject.

If you think that...

1. Those games are anywhere close to scale

and

2. A game developed on a different platform and ported over is anything like a game developed with one platform in mind

Then I don't know what else there is to say

Jaysonguy

The point I was trying to make is that you are worng about XB not being able to run well on the Wii. It runs smooth as can be.

No it doesn't, the fact that it can't even keep all the people visible on the screen shows that it doesn't run well.

So you're just ignoring the short load times, consistent framerate and lack of glitches?

[QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

[QUOTE="turtlethetaffer"]

The point I was trying to make is that you are worng about XB not being able to run well on the Wii. It runs smooth as can be.

turtlethetaffer

No it doesn't, the fact that it can't even keep all the people visible on the screen shows that it doesn't run well.

So you're just ignoring the short load times, consistent framerate and lack of glitches?

The thing is that Ocarina of Time looked good for the N64 generation. I think that Xenoblade had very high aspirations and it honestly could not be met with the Wii. There should be balance with the graphics, size of the world, etc. as opposed to making one thing great and another thing bad. I mean the water in this game looks terrible, the edges of the water are made of completely straight lines, and the characters move as if they're light as a feather.rubber-chicken

For the love of god if you think like this about XB don't play Skyward sword.

At least XB had content in it's open world maps.

I still don't think that the size and detail of the game justifies the bad graphics. "The graphics aren't the best, but that's because the game is so huge, without loading screens, etc." It doesn't make sense to sacrifice something like that to make something else great. Hey, I bet if they made the graphics even worse, they could make the game even bigger. Then it would still be justified because the game is that much bigger. I say that this game had very high aspirations that could not be met on the Wii, and so sacrifices had to be made. While the gameplay is great, the characters look terrible and while environments looks nice from a distance, they're jaggedy and square. The characters' hair looks like a sheet of paper wrapped over their heads. Their eyeballs look cottonballs. I don't think that the fact that this game is huge justifies this, if it can't be huge and look nice (and I'm talking "nice" on the Wii's standards), something's wrong.rubber-chicken

I honestly think you should stick to PC gaming. Consoles will always be hindered by tech.

[QUOTE="turtlethetaffer"]

[QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

No it doesn't, the fact that it can't even keep all the people visible on the screen shows that it doesn't run well.

meetroid8

So you're just ignoring the short load times, consistent framerate and lack of glitches?

The only time I ever noticed it was during huge battles with a ton of enemies. Other than that I had no problems. Maybe it varies from game to game.

I still don't think that the size and detail of the game justifies the bad graphics. "The graphics aren't the best, but that's because the game is so huge, without loading screens, etc." It doesn't make sense to sacrifice something like that to make something else great. Hey, I bet if they made the graphics even worse, they could make the game even bigger. Then it would still be justified because the game is that much bigger. I say that this game had very high aspirations that could not be met on the Wii, and so sacrifices had to be made. While the gameplay is great, the characters look terrible and while environments looks nice from a distance, they're jaggedy and square. The characters' hair looks like a sheet of paper wrapped over their heads. Their eyeballs look cottonballs. I don't think that the fact that this game is huge justifies this, if it can't be huge and look nice (and I'm talking "nice" on the Wii's standards), something's wrong.rubber-chicken

In the end it came down to what they thought was acceptable, & even with the characters' visual sacrifice..it still had slowdowns..& yes sure they could have sacrifice more to eliminate the slowdowns..but it might have degraded the overall look that the makers aren't willing to do. All games has sacrifices even Monster Hunter Tri - monster looks better than character.

If they had chosen a cartoony art style maybe it might have looked better, but hey they worked with the art style they picked. Imo it turns out pretty good for the hardware its running on.

If you're into pretty just hope the same people bring out Xenoblade Chronicles 2 or a new rpg title (same big world to explore) on Wii U (Im hoping for this). :)

[QUOTE="rubber-chicken"]I still don't think that the size and detail of the game justifies the bad graphics. "The graphics aren't the best, but that's because the game is so huge, without loading screens, etc." It doesn't make sense to sacrifice something like that to make something else great. Hey, I bet if they made the graphics even worse, they could make the game even bigger. Then it would still be justified because the game is that much bigger. I say that this game had very high aspirations that could not be met on the Wii, and so sacrifices had to be made. While the gameplay is great, the characters look terrible and while environments looks nice from a distance, they're jaggedy and square. The characters' hair looks like a sheet of paper wrapped over their heads. Their eyeballs look cottonballs. I don't think that the fact that this game is huge justifies this, if it can't be huge and look nice (and I'm talking "nice" on the Wii's standards), something's wrong.superbuuman

In the end it came down to what they thought was acceptable, & even with the characters' visual sacrifice..it still had slowdowns..& yes sure they could have sacrifice more to eliminate the slowdowns..but it might have degraded the overall look that the makers aren't willing to do. All games has sacrifices even Monster Hunter Tri - monster looks better than character.

If they had chosen a cartoony art style maybe it might have looked better, but hey they worked with the art style they picked. Imo it turns out pretty good for the hardware its running on.

If you're into pretty just hope the same people bring out Xenoblade Chronicles 2 or a new rpg title (same big world to explore) on Wii U (Im hoping for this). :)

I doubt they'd release a direct sequel to XB, as the ending was pretty well wrapped up with no loose ends. They'd probably just make another Xeno title.