Cblogs of 12/5/15 - Sci-Friday! Xenoblade Chronicles X & Star Wars: Battlefront!

As a sort of stupid recurring joke to myself, I decided to call last Friday "Sci-Friday" because I went to Best Buy to get two videogames: Xenoblade Chronicles X and Star Wars: Battlefront. Both titles are pretty heavy on the sci-fi elements, and I've been dying to play them both, so I geeked out a bit and hyped myself up with the made-up holiday. I even made myself a side of french fries. You see what I did there? U C IT!? :3

Before I talk about either games though, I want to mention that I ran into an Nintendo employee while I went to pick up Xenoblade Chronicles X. At first, I just thought it was an old lady working at Best Buy taking inventory, but when she saw that I was picking up the game, she told me that she worked for Nintendo as something kind of like store surveyor: she checks in and see how sales are doing, how stock is displayed, and whether they needed more games and amiibo. We chat for a bit about what she does (I'm curious like that) and she wanted to take a picture of me buying the game. I'm technically not a shy person so I said "alright", but I wasn't "feeling" (don't start :3) how I looked that day so maybe I should've declined. Also, I forgot to ask where she was going to post it. >^<

Also, they apparently sell Splatoon "hats" that gives you the orange hair tentacles like the female Inklings have. If I buy one of those (I was broke at the time!), I might do a selfie (I HATE that term) to see if I look adorable in it.

Anyway, let's start with Xenoblade Chronicles X. I only played it for about three hours, and one of them was replaying the intro over and over again. I absolutely HATE the way my character looks: I don't like how "intense" his face looks, and it's so hard to go for a "innocent" look. It's hard to pretend that character is me when he looks like he could murder someone with his bare hands, and it doesn't help that I gave him the "Joker" voice, which is more high pitched in tone. He doesn't look that bad in the screenshot, but his eyes are more... darker in dark areas.

Also, the game is somewhat boring so far. The opening is fucking baller, with Skells fucking up aliens in VERY fast-paced cutscenes, but then the game slows into an almost unbearable crawl. I haven't really played a Monolith Soft game before (only Project X Zone, so no Xenosaga) so I don't know if I should have faith in this title, ESPECIALLY after hearing how utterly amazing the story for Xenoblade Chronicles was.

I will say this though. I'm enjoying the combat a lot more than I thought I would. I didn't think I'd like the whole "auto-attack" MMO-styled combat stystem, but with the Soul Voice system, it's actually a lot more engaging than I initially gave it credit for. Being on cue and doing what your teammates say makes fights feel tactical, even this early in the game. I'm very curious to see what later fights would be like... but someone PLEASE tell me the story gets a lot more kickass so I don't drop the game before then.

At the moment, Star Wars: Battlefront is the game that really captures my attention. Now, I'm not a huge fan of the series, but as someone who loved watching the VHS tapes when I was a child, I have some attachment to it. Being able to participate in the Battle of Hoth and the Battle of Endor in either Walker Assault or Supremacy is really a sight to behold though. The graphics are amazing, and the intensity of pitting 20 players against 20 more just makes the war feel chaotic, especially on Endor. Seeing trees blow up, enemies peeking around trunks, and being able to actually LOSE enemies by running into thickets is just fun.

The shooting is very arcadey, which is fine for me, but the title is clearly unbalanced. However, since I never really play to win, I don't really care about all that stuff about K/D. I do try to get kills when I can, and I'm not running in to die just for the hell of it, but when it happens... hey, it happens! One annoyance though, is that ranking up is a grind so far. I get that it's what keeps people playing for the long haul, but I just want my damn Cycler Rifle. I know it got nerfed hard in the main game, but I'm willing to learn how to use it. Hell, I played Destiny's Crucible mode with No Land Beyond, which is a traditional bolt-action rifle in a sci-fi world.

Don't forget your boy has a PS4! TraitortoHeaven's the name, fucking up Stormtroopers's the game!

A - Yesterday's PlayStation Experience conference started with a video about an old-timer and how video games have changed for the better, but JDelwynn wasn't impressed by what Sony had to show.

A - KingSigy isn't getting jiggy with Sony's decision to re-release PS2 games on the PS4. Why? Because he believes backwards compatibility should be a thing in all consoles, and the Xbox One is doing it right.

P - It may not be the first thing that comes to mind when I see the number 34, but PStoid returns for another episode, starring your hosts Nanashi, Strider, and Mike as they discuss the finer things in life, like Fallout 4!

It actually wasn't THAT bad of a watch... but a lot of jokes did make me cringe. Maybe I'll talk about it next week.

R - While n0signal may not be a fan of fighting games, he can still follow the story of the Investigation Team with Persona 4: Dancing All Night! Does it keep the party going, or does it leave you feeling tuckered out?

F - RadicalAjax Entertainment wants to take a look at some of the reasons why movies such as Furious 7 and Avengers: Age of Ultron were watched by many people, as well as his thoughts on the industry.

C - I don't like to fail things, but my recap should never be longer than your post. I don't know anything about what the video is about, nor why should I play it. Come on, Zer0t0nin! You're better than that!

C - While this post does have some — but not a lot of — meat on its bones, it's still pretty devoid of information. Mike Wallace knows about the legend of Krampus, but instead of explaining who it is, he tells you to go look it up and leaves a Venture Bros. clip.

- Dreamweaver

FPotD