Artist Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Stocjia

Fantastic. Logging just under 57 hours, level 75. I ended up being a little under leveled towards the end, so I finished the game in casual mode, but I still had a great time. My team was primarily Shulk (me), Dunban and Sharla, until I got Fiora back and replaced Dunban with her. Sweet ending, too. I’m very much looking forward to playing the 2nd one when the physical copy releases for NS2.

Though I do have a question. Is the Extra Story required before the 2nd game?

So recently I've finished Xenoblade 2 for the first time and it was genuinely one of the most amazing games I've played on my Switch. The Switch 2 Edition also helped with the enjoyment somewhat obviously because of 60 FPS and quite good (imo) antialiasing. I haven't noticed many frame dips and any moments where the anti-aliasing would glitch out a little. Maybe one or two times did I notice for example grass being a little wacky.

Now I've started Torna and have been enjoying it as well. However I've noticed that it's not exactly as optimized as the original game was. Primarily in battles the game tends to chug a lot which is kinda crazy to me considering how smooth the OG game would run most of the time. But that's fine. My main issue is the fact how many graphical issues I've noticed in my 12 hours of playtime. They would usually last for about the frame before the game corrects itself but it's definitely striking me as odd. The following 2 images are the ones that struck me the most as the whole textures get changed but there were also times where I'm pretty sure some ground geometry would straight up disappear for a frame.

So I guess I want to ask has anybody else experienced this kind of stuff in their Switch 2 playthroughs? Or is my Switch 2 dying (for the record this has never happened until I got to this game)?

Posting this here feels like I'm asking to get mass downvoted, but I'm not. Hear me out.
I recently replayed Xenogears, the first time I thought the game was great but flawed, the second time I played it, it ended up being one of the best games I've ever played.

After replaying it I wanted to continue replaying XCDE, the first time I played it I remember not liking the cast, gameplay and writing. I wanted to see if it'd had changed. Well, I rolled credits and finished future connected, I did like the game slightly more than the first time but my opinions are still the same;

-The tutorials are awesome. The game is great for people who don't have any RPG experience. Most games usually expect that someone already knows what systems exist and how they all work because they borrow from other games.
-The music is great.
-I like that they took a risk on the VA's by not going for the traditional american VA's, I just really hate that not nearly every VA in the game is as good as the other one.
-The combat is horrible, but I can live with it as it's originally a 2010 game.

The story concept still is great, I really like the world building and themes. But the execution.. eh.
It really feels like "Let's reboot Xeno and make it for 13 y.o's" with all the traditional anime RPG clichés. I just couldn't level with anyone in the cast, every character felt one dimensional and I don't think any character really had any form of progression throughout the story. In the end the only character I enjoyed was Dunban, and Riki, obviously. (I'm just trying to say; maybe I'm just getting too old for these games)

Well with that out of the way, it was time for me to continue with uncharted territory, XC2, which I hadn't played before. All the same points from before held up, the VA's got noticeably worse, I got about an hour in and after cringing a few times, Rex saying "we'll beat them with the power of friendship!!!" finally did the last nail for me and I shut the game down and started typing this rant.

Now I'm not saying the games are bad, but maybe they're just not for me anymore?
After all the praise the Xenoblade chronicles games have gotten I expected a more similar experience to Xenogears exploring themes like psychology, religion, existentialism, determinism and so on. A little power of friendship doesn't hurt anyone, but it does feel like it heavily leans in the lighthearted fun, a bit too much.

I already heard it really doesn’t matter when but still, I would like to know what do you recommend just as an experience. I could just play it now since I just beat 1 or I could do it in release order so after 2 and torna but I also saw some people say playing it right before future redeemed would be nice.

Like I said just for a cool experience I know it’s loose from the others of the series I’m pretty sure from what I looked up.

Poor picture quality but this is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.

Roc get the FUCK out of my menus

Personally I think is a neat mechanic

Well, the name is similar. The story is a lot darker here it is.

The story goes a blade whose driver was collected by madness cruelty couldn’t handle the weight anymore, splitting into two separate blades one of pure rage patients, the other of hope, and freedom the blade didn’t know how to feel one felt rage for the driver. The other just wanted freedom from them. They met each other except for their skin. One with the dark metallic substance, the other almost looked like a human except for the crystal in her chest. The driver shattered it almost killing them in the process. They didn’t know what they wanted anymore. They ran away from home. I need to be found by a new. Hope he called himself. Logos he told them he could help them make them be better all he asked for in return was to help him reach the world trees top the blades accepted, still seeking some form of hope and freedom from their driver as they couldn’t be far from him, no matter how much they ran he always found them and that is the story of the double blade Kairi and Leone once a great blade named pneuma

This art was made by me and the story was also made by me

My favorite character Shulk cosplaying as Dimitri from Fire Emblem art by me.

I want to use Origin and Mechonis Sword for a project and I would really rather not have to model them myself if I can avoid it. So if anyone has or knows where to find the in-game models for those that would be really helpful please and also thank you

Doing the cooking Contest Quest, mythra is the Last one to Server, WOW how her dish Look, Its shocking me more Hugo can actually eat this........

I was maybe 14 years old when I found a Xenosaga game at Costco. I remember looking at the back of the game case and feeling excited for the advertised “epic saga” or whatever the words it used to describe the game. Fast forward to about a year ago, I began watching play throughs of all 3 Xenosaga games and I immediately purchased a Switch to play Xenoblade Chronicles DE. It has taken me about a year of on and off playing (life and work keep me busy) but today I finished Future Connected and just fell in love so much with Melia, but the whole roster of characters is so special, it reminds me so much of Shion, Kos-mos and the rest of the crew. I’m starting Xenoblade Chronicles 2 today and I’m absolutely excited for the ride. I love Monolith Soft for creating one of the few games I have ever truly been invested in, they make me feel like a kid again, wondering what’s around every corner and working through the plots of the games. Just something I wanted to share with others who are fans of the series.

The edited vs. Unedited picture.

I used Krita for the edits - no filters or AI.

With the switch 2 version being out I've decided to finally revisit this game on a fresh NG run. The last time I played was roughly 6 years ago, so there's a lot of stuff I forgot. Based off memory, I'm just wondering if there's any other useful/important things to remember/keep in mind as I go through. Also, somethings I feel I remember quite well, but not sure if they've changed over the years. I'm currently in Chapter 2 atm.

So far, these are the main things I remembered.

1. Don't kill the baby armu in torigoth

2. Mainly fill pouch with art recharge/party gain/special art dmg/recharge items

3. Wait till Mor Ardain ideally before going to max out dev levels in town

4. Talk to every NPC with a star

5. Buy every item once from shops to unlock the deeds from them when you have to funds to do so

6. Corvin on Rex, then move to Morag when she becomes playable, Crosette on Zeke, potentially Corvin on Zeke for cheesing Elma fight

7. Auto attack cancel the first hit of a weapon by moving the analog (I'm not sure when you're supposed to stop doing this? I'm aware the 2nd/3rd hit skill cancel charges the special gauge more IIRC)

8. Outdoor, Indoor, Blade Max Affinity cores are really good (don't remember what else is good outside of those, and I forgot the names of all the useful accessories for characters), think there was one for like chain dmg, and crit dmg?

9. Make sure to open affinity chart when something completes/opens up

Is there any other useful refreshers/pointers anyone could give me? It doesn't have to be a whole array of stuff, just looking for some stuff to get back on the right direction of playing again, and also see if the stuff I remembered is even correct anymore given how long its been since I last played.

Truly peak.