Xenoblade or The Last Story: Which game did you enjoy more

Which game did you enjoy more? Which game had a better story? Which game had a better battle system?

I am very torn between the games.

I enjoyed Xenoblade alot for its gameplay, adventure and length, the only thing that dissapointed me was the story half way through (and it was going so well!).

The last story I enjoyed its story throughout and the gameplay, but it lacked the proper JRPG Epic feel, lack of adventure and small length (when compared to other JRPGS) hurt it for me.

If you take both elements from both games, I think you have an almost perfect game. But I have to say I reccomend both equally.

The Last Story by far. The atmosphere is better because it makes an attempt to go back the things we like about jrpgs. Like running around in a city, doing weird side quests. On the other hand, Xenoblade takes current-gen-route which is disgusting, the mmorpg-route. Last Story has a lesser amount of quests but they are amusing, they remind you off how side quests should be (PS1 final fantasy games, ps2 rpgs example) but Xenoblade does the exact opposite.

Xenoblade gives you hundred of npcs with bright yellow mark above their head saying "WE NEED HELP WITH A GENERIC TASK". You then walk up to the npc. then you plow through repeated dialogue between characters (Y U LOOKING SO SMUG HAHA) only to get to the problem which is not only mindnumbingly boring and dumb, the actual task is generic and boring as well. It's like:

Hi what is your problem - A
No look we dunt have timez dfor dis - A
now now I am sure we can spare a second - A
Ok ok maybe this time - A
So what is your problem? - A
My problem is that I am hungry but my leg is broken and I need ten acorns. (pretty much randomly generated when picking up blue orbs all over the world). A

"Oh here's another quest guy!!!"

Hi what is your problem - A
No look we dunt have timez dfor dis - A
now now I am sure we can spare a second - A
Ok ok maybe this time - A
So what is your problem? - A
When I was out in the forest last night I saw some wolves, now I am just too scared to leave the town!!! Kill five of them! . A

Hi what is your problem - A
No look we d-AAAA AA A A A A A A A A - .... ... *loads gun*

Xenoblade quests are so lame, I especially like how they sometimes shamelessly throw in like four~ "kill this monster" quests in a row. So you talk to this guy and tells you to kill 3 wolves, then you talk to him immediately after and he gives you another to kill 2 owls, then a third time with 2 lizards, then a fourth with "X" and so on.


AND APPARENTLY I am the only one disliking this because Xenoblade is just so ***** perfect, it's FLAWLESS!! JUST SO FLAWLESS!!!!I MEAN THERE ARE LIKE OVER 500 QUESTS OMG!!!!!

Also the main character Shulkuuuu, god, you just want to put a piano wire around his throat and just tell him to stop being so damn unlikable.

So if you haven't been able to tell from my raging rage already; I obviously prefer The Last Story... It may sound like I hate Xenoblade but I don't, it's still a great rpg but to me, it didn't come remotely close to being as enjoyable as the Last Story.

Lol, you realize the side quests are optional right..? WreckEm711

I actually prefer Xenoblade over Last Story. Story wise Xenoblade I reckon is better & seems longer too & there was a twist...Last Story is the typical FF style romance & betrayal ..there was no twist, to me the betrayal so freaking obvious...face palm.

The side quest in Xenoblade was better - you know where it was ..in Last Story you practically just have search to try to talk to everyone just get a quest. More exploration in Xenoblade - world is bigger more open like a massive football stadium ...Last Story - smaller size more like you're trap in 2 bedroom house, more closed.

Xenoblade has more of a traditional style rpg - weapon & armour equipping different pieces then there's gem to up the stats. The Last Story, more simplify you pretty much just pay to level up then at higher level you need to obtain certain items to level up, same as the weapon - as you level up weapon they will have added effects or bonus..if you've played FF13 then you know what Im talking about.

I enjoyed both Battle system. Levelling up is very easy on Last Story almost too easy - they have this summon circle where if you can summon enemy to level up as many times as you want. Levelling up in Xenoblade is more challenging - gotta look for harder opponents at different level.

The only thing that Last Story really have over Xenoblade imo is the graphics style..the characters model do look better.

Though in both games the armour design are very very shockingly feminish...Im like wtf, that's no male armour, that's what a tranvestite would wear. Unsure what is up with the design of male characters coming from Japan these days...maybe the myth eating too much tofu makes you become more feminine is true. :P

[QUOTE="WreckEm711"]Lol, you realize the side quests are optional right..? xWoW_Rougex

Side quests aren't anywhere near a core mechanic in JRPGs, lol. The side-quests in Xenoblade exist to send you to areas you may not have explored yet, and get youn needed experience or gear if you're struggling in the main story, which shouldn't be often given the games pacing. I agree that The Last Story's side-quests are much better, but given the trade off of a MUCH shorter straitforward main story and much smaller world.. I'll take the world and story, which are actually core mechanics.

thanks for the responses guys, I think I might go with The Last Story because I love a good story with interesting characters, but I think I will pick up Xenoblade later on though.

@WreckEm711: I just read your Xenoblade vs Last Story comparison review. Awesome review, very informative, it really did tell me the strengths and weaknesses for each game.

thanks for the responses guys, I think I might go with The Last Story because I love a good story with interesting characters, but I think I will pick up Xenoblade later on though.

@WreckEm711: I just read your Xenoblade vs Last Story comparison review. Awesome review, very informative, it really did tell me the strengths and weaknesses for each game.

Rising_Star89

Thanks :) Glad it could help ya out, you really can't go wrong with either game

Xenoblade. The Last Story had some annoying performance issues and wasn't nearly as impressive as Xenoblade (in scope and setting).

thanks for the responses guys, I think I might go with The Last Story because I love a good story with interesting characters, but I think I will pick up Xenoblade later on though.

@WreckEm711: I just read your Xenoblade vs Last Story comparison review. Awesome review, very informative, it really did tell me the strengths and weaknesses for each game.

Rising_Star89

Aren't both games being produced in limited quantities? If that's the case, pick it up sooner rather than later.

[QUOTE="xWoW_Rougex"]

[QUOTE="WreckEm711"]Lol, you realize the side quests are optional right..? WreckEm711

Side quests aren't anywhere near a core mechanic in JRPGs, lol. The side-quests in Xenoblade exist to send you to areas you may not have explored yet, and get youn needed experience or gear if you're struggling in the main story, which shouldn't be often given the games pacing. I agree that The Last Story's side-quests are much better, but given the trade off of a MUCH shorter straitforward main story and much smaller world.. I'll take the world and story, which are actually core mechanics.

[QUOTE="WreckEm711"]

[QUOTE="xWoW_Rougex"]

Yes but side quests are one of the core mechanics of rpgs, both wrpg and jrpg. It's important that they are enjoyable but in Xenoblade's case it was all about quantity over quality

GamerForca

Side quests aren't anywhere near a core mechanic in JRPGs, lol. The side-quests in Xenoblade exist to send you to areas you may not have explored yet, and get youn needed experience or gear if you're struggling in the main story, which shouldn't be often given the games pacing. I agree that The Last Story's side-quests are much better, but given the trade off of a MUCH shorter straitforward main story and much smaller world.. I'll take the world and story, which are actually core mechanics.

and I completely disagree. Exploration, towns, the "world", are all very important factors yet none of these can be very impressive without good side quests. All of these rely on proper side quests to make things interesting. Look at the grandest jrpgs such as Final Fantasy titles, do you think they would be as big if many of their npcs were like "go kill ten rats!". I'mma go with no. Good side quests is related to all these factors, fun side quests encourages exploring both world and towns, side quests make the world feel more alive and even mysterious in some cases. Side quests gives reason to explore the town's every nook and cranny.

When I am exploring the world and towns, I expect funny events to occur, side quests and gossiping npcs. I am not exploring only to find a random blue orb that gives me yet another "White califlower" or another npc that tells me to kill 3 bats. I can kill 3 bats without having a npc telling me to do it. Side quests and interesting npcs is what makes the world feel full of life, that makes it feel exciting and mysterious. The towns in Xenoblade felt more like the typical mmorpg quest-hub to me, it feels like a shopping list. Instead of thinking "Oh what secrets might you be carrying?!" it makes you go: "What an atmosphere, twenty more starving/scared/sick people that need more grinding! Weeh!". It gives a feeling of, hmm, it makes the world feel "artificial"... Plastic, lifeless!

Of course, Xenoblade with its relation-system do manage to spice up the npcs of course, this is still one of the best jrpgs this generation but the quests, they do suck.

(proper) Side quests make the world more interesting. A better atmosphere brings more joy. More joy makes a game better. So yes, I think it's crazy not to think that side quests are a core mechanic of jrpgs. They are part of the very soul of a rpg, including jrpgs.

Also by the way; to those who have gotten rather far into the game:
[spoiler] can you honestly say that you weren't disappointed when you found out that when you're gonna help out to rebuild that village, it meant farming/grinding for items? Weak? Honestly guys, you can't possibly defend this? [/spoiler]

I have not yet played my copy of Xenoblade and Last Story is not yet released in America. I'll probably ask for TLS for Christmas or something.

Xenoblade is AMAZING so far (15 hours in) Last story looks uninspired to me (from an artistic standpoint). To be honest Last story does not really even interest me from what I have seen so farm. (I love games with vast areas with explaration and I hear in Last story you do not even really go anywhere)

I was very disappointed with Last Story, for reasons that I really didn't see coming. I was still looking forward to it after Xenoblade, knowing that it would be different.

It might be somehow fixed in the US version, but Last Story is a mess in technical aspects. Constant framerate drops and slowdowns, I've never seen that on the Wii before. Some annoying mechanics, in particular something like a lite version of the scan sections in Other M, that are just obnoxious and ridiculously overused and several bosses need really annoying mechanics to be beaten. Could have used some puzzles or anything for variety, but that can also be said about Xeno though.

Also quite surprising: There's hardly any songs in there. Literally not a single dungeon theme, over half of the game is goddamn silent. What a letdown after Xenoblade, which obviously has a magnificent soundtrack. There's some really nice architecture and such, but without some musical score providing it, lots of atmosphere is just lost.

Best thing about Last Story is that it has one of the best hub worlds I've seen (including sidequests) and I love well made hubworlds.

Story isn't too hot in both games, but Xeno at least has a cool twist at the very end.

I was very disappointed with Last Story, for reasons that I really didn't see coming. I was still looking forward to it after Xenoblade, knowing that it would be different.

It might be somehow fixed in the US version, but Last Story is a mess in technical aspects. Constant framerate drops and slowdowns, I've never seen that on the Wii before. Some annoying mechanics, in particular something like a lite version of the scan sections in Other M, that are just obnoxious and ridiculously overused and several bosses need really annoying mechanics to be beaten. Could have used some puzzles or anything for variety, but that can also be said about Xeno though.

Also quite surprising: There's hardly any songs in there. Literally not a single dungeon theme, over half of the game is goddamn silent. What a letdown after Xenoblade, which obviously has a magnificent soundtrack. There's some really nice architecture and such, but without some musical score providing it, lots of atmosphere is just lost.

Best thing about Last Story is that it has one of the best hub worlds I've seen (including sidequests) and I love well made hubworlds.

Story isn't too hot in both games, but Xeno at least has a cool twist at the very end.

MangaPicture

I felt exactly the same way about TLS, except I wasn't expecting much so I was pleasantly surprised, its a fun game with great combat

Story isn't too hot in both games, but Xeno at least has a cool twist at the very end.

MangaPicture

Xeno's ending was beyond obvious.

[QUOTE="MangaPicture"]

Story isn't too hot in both games, but Xeno at least has a cool twist at the very end.

Philokalia

Xeno's ending was beyond obvious.

No it wasn't :?

[QUOTE="Philokalia"]

[QUOTE="MangaPicture"]

Story isn't too hot in both games, but Xeno at least has a cool twist at the very end.

WreckEm711

Xeno's ending was beyond obvious.

No it wasn't :?

I anticipated it from the very begining.

[QUOTE="WreckEm711"]

[QUOTE="Philokalia"]

Xeno's ending was beyond obvious.

Philokalia

No it wasn't :?

I anticipated it from the very begining.

Nice lucky guess then, given the fairly complex sequences of events that tie together at the end I have a hard time believing that, especially when you're the first I've seen complain about it :P