Mewbot

storied franchises..... 

After watching last Wednesday's Nintendo Direct, I was completely stunned at the improvements of Xenoblade Chronicles X!  MonolithSoft have done an excellent job on the improvements including the game play mechanics, etc.  Now that it has a new logo, I've created a fan-made case art of Xenoblade Chronicles X.  Let me know what all of you think of my creation...

My thoughts so far: Right off the bat I was impressed with the control in terms of the added precision of the sword swiping. Even just Link holding the sword the same way/angle you're holding the Wii-mote was novel and neat. To me, being able to run and step jump up walls gives a ever slightly more freeing experience than previous 3D Zeldas w/o going overboard. I remember playing TP a month ago and was underwhelmed with the control (though just at the beginning). I was pretty surprised with how fairly story heavy the beginning was. It was a nice change having a completely different opening relationship with Zelda. Thankfully the art style saves it from looking terribly dated as well.

But since leaving Skyloft... meh. (Not a fan of the Kikiwis).

Saved and quit for now just outside the first temple. Will pick up again soon.

Oh yes indeed!

Thanks, that was thorough!

Update (*SPOILERS BELOW*)

So I believe I’m not too far from the end. It's not my favorite Zelda game but I really appreciate that it did a lot of things differently. Mainly the story: How you actually grew up with Zelda and who she becomes. Even though it wasn't that hard to see coming it was fun to roll along with and the whole scene where she revealed who she remembered she actually was, Goddess sacrifice, etc. was captivating. The story from the beginning has been pretty engaging for me and I'm looking forward to the conclusion.

Motion controls... I fully believe Nintendo pushed Wiimote motion control capability to its limit for the game and at the beginning I was really surprised at the precision and novelty of the sword swiping vs. Twilight Princess. It was as good as it could possibly get. But throughout the game I think it was more so an annoyance more times than it was fun. Sometimes it just wouldn't swing the way I wanted it to on multiple tries and made some fights/tasks needlessly difficult. Honestly though for the most part it could have been my fault as most of the time I probably wasn't sitting with the ideal Wiimote swiping posture (slouching on the couch) but If Nintendo never uses this Wiimote motion control style of game play for Zelda again I won't be disappointed.

"WTF! No Boomerang?? No compasses??" I'm sure the game being different probably irked a lot of people with a few minor things and less locales (sorta) but it doesn't feel like THAT short a game to me really. I guess it was with all the running around back and forth between the same locations (but with new areas). Personally, I like my Master Swords pulled out of the ground Excalibur style rather than having your sword evolve into it... Like I said though I appreciate that it was different.

Overall though I think I liked Twilight Princess better. I just remember being so much more impressed with the boss battles, content and the game overall.

Hoping to finish this soon so I can crack open HW. My goal was to catch up on and finish a couple of major Zelda titles before playing it.

LAST UPDATE:

Just finished the game with 50+ hours and story-wise everything from what I thought was close to the end leading up to and the final battle/ending itself was magnificent. I dare say this was the most rewarding 3D Zelda game I've ever played.

I thought I liked Twilight Princess more but I don't know now. SS was just so unique and different but just as epic as any other Zelda title (but maybe the best at story telling imo).

This was NOT a short game and I'll finally crack open Hyrule Warriors now but I'm going to miss SS (running and diving into sky and landing on your Loftwing's back mid-flight never got old).

(I was planning on starting a real plot for this, but then I got lazy and decided that I didn't care enough)

While listening to his Jazz album, Sorceror thought he heard a small noise. He closed his laptop, took off his headphones and started listening intently, trying to see if he could catch the sound again. It didn't take long before he noticed the small, repetitive clank coming from the window of his room. Driven by curiosity and a slight fear that his wife would be woken up by it, he carefully started walking towards the window, making sure he didn't step on any of the children toys scattered around the room. One small mistake and his wife would be woken by an annoying high-pitched squeal, a signature of this kind of toy. Scolding his kids for not picking up their toys early in the morning was almost a ritual for Sorceror by now, but the truth is he secretly enjoyed the small thrill that came from avoiding the many toys scattered all over the floor like traps. A childish activity some would say, but he was beyond caring about such frivolous details. He quickly traversed the sea of land-mines with outstanding skill and reached the window without stepping on a single toy. Sorceror turned his back to the window, gave an exaggerated bow and silently thanked the empty room. Surely in some alternate reality a great audience was applauding his achievement, and he couldn't bare the thought of giving the cold shoulder to such a formidable crowd. After completing his small ceremony, he gave a quick inspection to the window and determined that it was, indeed, a window. Satisfied with his detective work, he turned to walk back to his laptop and continue listening to his music. Or at least that was the plan, until he heard the mysterious noise again and remembered why he'd walked to the window in the first place: to stop said sound.

'But how do I achieve that?' Sorceror grabbed his chin while he pondered on a possible answer for this conundrum. The gears in his brain were turning so hard that his expression started to resemble the one worn by a severely constipated person. Any more of this and even I, the narrator, an entity strictly detached from the narrative, was planning on stopping him. Fortunately for a certain numbered wall, his expression softened before we came to such extremes. Judging by the smile on his face, it appears he's reached a breakthrough in his investigation: if he wants to stop the noise, he must first find out what the source of the noise is.

How will Sorceror find the source of this mysterious sound? Or will he find it at all? Find out in the next issue that will undoubtedly be far less wordier than this one!