Help me pick an adventure game: Xenoblade 2 or Skyrim

[cybercylon]

Some of which may or may not come in handy fighting Ganon. I'm doing it backwards. First Ex2, get the cycle and faster recharges, which will likely help me on the Master sword quest, and no telling how much loads of power the Master Sword will have once it's fully recharged. People have already told me that the final Ganon fight will be a pushover with lvl 3 guardian armor, 20 hearts, and a maxxed stamina wheel. I guess I procrastinate a bit much when there's so many side quests left to do. Adhd kicks in. On my way from point A to point B, I've slain enemies, talked to npcs, initiated two new side quests while totally forgetting why I came to point B in the first place. Why I love non-linear gaming, which Zelda botw has in spades!

 

Well, if you want something nonlinear, then Skyrim once time opens up. Don't think you will go wrong with either game though.

[Andromeda Stardust]

You have to defeat Ganon before the Champions' Ballad quests are unlocked, don't you?

You must defeat all divine beasts prior to starting the champion's ballad, which I did. You must have collected the Master Sword (obviously) before starting the trial of the word. I collected the master sword as early as possible. I actually had 8 hearts and two stamina wheels, talked to the demented fairy and exchanged my extra wheel for 5 hearts, then talked to the her once again and got my stamina wheel back. Maxed out hearts and stamina is not possible afaik, with the base game you get 120 spirit orbs (30 stamina vessels and/or heart containers) plus 4 heart contauners from the divine beasts. You start the game with three hearts and one full stamina wheel. You can add 27 heart containers to max health at 30, and 10 stamina vessels to max stamina at three wheels. That's 37 upgrades total, with 34 in the game. So completing all shrines and divine beasts gives you 27 hearts and 3 stamina wheels, or 30 hearts and 2.4 stamina wheels. With dlc content you can get more. Champion of the Ballad adds four shrines to the Great Plateau (+4 spirit orbs which adds to +1 heart or stamina vessel), and currently I'm not sure if taming the 5th divine beast nets you an extra upgrade or not. Ditto for completing the trial of the sword. If both of those ex quests added an extra heart or stamina at completion, then with +3 extra, it would be possible to fully 100% max both hearts and stamina. If not, then perhaps future expansion content may net the missing upgrades. I've already collected the extra heart container for completion of the obliterator shrines, and four triple pillars appeared in the world (one for each divine beast region), each with three quests to complete. So the DLC ex2 is really far more expansive than I initially predicted. I can't wait to shred around on that bike. Perhaps it is usable within the trial of the sword since it uses a rune to summon? Like I said, doing these out of order. I also tracked down the ancient horse armor. Too bad I can't use it with Epona. Grants additional stamina and I can now summon my horse anywhere, even on the plateau!

[Asaki]

Like I said, doing these out of order.

There isn't really an order. I feel like, at some point, judging by the memory videos, Nintendo may have had a sort of "suggested" order planned, but I certainly didn't follow it.

 

I sure as heck didn't follow it when I explored the entire Hyrule Castle ASAP.

 

Grants additional stamina and I can now summon my horse anywhere, even on the plateau!

Yeah, as pointless as I think the "quality of life" DLC stuff is, I actually have been using that ugly horse gear a lot. I always hated areas like the road North of Rito Village, where there's a cliff in the way, so you either have to abandon your horse, or go all the way around the other way >_<

 

So, much like in every other Zelda game, I didn't ride my horse much. Plus, it's harder to find secrets/Koroks/etc. when you're speeding by so fast.

Edited January 2, 2018 by Asaki

[Flojomojo]

There isn't really an order. I feel like, at some point, judging by the memory videos, Nintendo may have had a sort of "suggested" order planned, but I certainly didn't follow it.

 

I sure as heck didn't follow it when I explored the entire Hyrule Castle ASAP.

 

Heh, I did that too. It was a stealth survival game because one touch of anything could kill me at that level. I'm having trouble fitting in Switch time but this is a game I want to come back to.

[Andromeda Stardust]

That horse armor is not an abomination, in fact it matches perfectly my recently upgraded level 4 ancient tech armor. I kinda like the aesthetic. My only regret is I can't use it with Epona, my best horse. So I put it on chocolate, my brown steed (4 star strength, 3 star speed, 4 star stamina - upgraded to six with the gear, wild). But on Blueberry, (identical stats to Chocolate) it looks but ugly, so depends on the horse. I've always had a burning desire to ride horses on the great plateau, and now my wish is fulfilled.

[Asaki]

That horse armor is not an abomination, in fact it matches perfectly my recently upgraded level 4 ancient tech armor. I kinda like the aesthetic.

I think it's ugly. I think the armor is ugly too, I only wear it when I'm fighting Guardians. I played the game "naked" for a long time, until I obtained the set that lets you climb faster (and then the set that lets you run faster at night, and the set that lets you swim faster). One QoL feature I wish they had was a way to "quick change" into one full suit of clothing. It gets annoying to swap all three so often.

 

I usually ride Zelda's horse, with her proper Hylian gear (or whatever it was called). Well, now her long, beautiful mane is hidden under that creep helmet

[Silverfleet]

I'd finish Zelda first, but when you are done, try Skyrim.

 

I have a few hours into Zelda, and it's heavily influenced by Skyrim. The exploration, cooking, foraging for materials, lost ancient technology, and other elements are very similar to what you find Skyrim. I had over 100 hours into a Skyrim save on my 360 before a hard drive crash took it, but those were some of the most entertaining hours of gameplay I've experienced.

 

The map may be smaller, but there's so much to do! You can follow the main story, roam the countryside looking for dragons to take down, explore caves and grottos for loot (just like the shrines, but with more fighting), get involved in helping out townsfolk, and much more. For example, I found myself in a town called Winterhold and got sucked into a side quest that turned into hours and hours of gameplay. There's a mage school there, and I wanted to learn some new spells. That turned into me ending up as the dean of the whole school and hours of content!

 

I cannot speak to Xenosaga, but I know that if you like the BotW, you'll probably like Skyrim nearly as much.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I'd finish Zelda first, but when you are done, try Skyrim.

 

I cannot speak to Xenosaga, but I know that if you like the BotW, you'll probably like Skyrim nearly as much.

 

Thanks, I'll keep it in mind when/if it gets a price drop. Don't really have time now to invest in a new quest though.

[Mephitblue]

It will likely want to stay away from Xenoblades chronicles 2 if your time is limited. My semi leisurely play through of Xenoblades took over 140 hours. I enjoyed the game, but it is a huge time sink.

[Asaki]

I cannot speak to Xenosaga, but I know that if you like the BotW, you'll probably like Skyrim nearly as much.

Not necessarily =) I've tried quite a few Elder Scrolls games, and couldn't get into any of them. I feel like BotW took a brief look at the Skyrim formula, and then decided to show people how it should be done.

 

I actually hope that a lot of devs learn some good lessons from it, but time will tell.

[Flojomojo]

Not necessarily =) I've tried quite a few Elder Scrolls games, and couldn't get into any of them. I feel like BotW took a brief look at the Skyrim formula, and then decided to show people how it should be done.

 

I actually hope that a lot of devs learn some good lessons from it, but time will tell.

I think that's true. Not sure if I've shared this story here, but at least one other person feels the same way:

https://www.avclub.com/open-world-games-are-broken-and-nintendo-spent-2017-tr-1820333889

[Silverfleet]

I should rephrase what I said. If you like open world games and the exploration aspects of them, Skyrim is a great one and I highly recommend it. Story-wise, it's just ok.

 

I'm playing BotW right now, and it's fantastic. I am not too far in, and I'm already considering it to be one of my favorite games of all time. The one thing Nintendo nailed was keeping the story relevant while allowing for the player to also go off from time to time doing whatever they want. As a player, you WANT to go back to the story. That's extremely hard to pull off in a game like this.

 

Like I said in my previous post, I found myself going off in Skyrim for hours upon hours just messing with sidequests (see what I said about Winterhold). I had no desire to go back to the main story other than to get more shouts and abilities. Things are so open-ended that the gameplay itself becomes just that. It's both good and bad.

 

In Zelda, I want to find out what happens next in the story. A big part of this is being indoctrinated in Zelda lore, though. While the Elder Scrolls games do have a good amount of backstory, the Zelda games are on another level entirely. There are so many things to see and do, and you'll want to compare the way things are in BotW to how things were in previous games.

[Asaki]

I should rephrase what I said. If you like open world games and the exploration aspects of them, Skyrim is a great one and I highly recommend it.

I like the concept of sandbox/open world, and I love exploring, but in ES games I would get to a town, and there would be tons of empty cookie cutter houses with NPCs who had nothing to say. As big as the worlds are, it doesn't feel to me like there's a reason or reward for exploring.

 

I know Zelda has a much bigger dev team, though, they can afford to fill every nook and cranny with collectables and wacky characters (even if it's just another Yiga Clan attack, or someone who's a failure at cooking).