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Post by Nester the Lark on Feb 21, 2021 19:46:52 GMT -5
Being a big fan of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and hoping that a character from it would eventually get representation in Smash, I'm pretty excited about Pyra & Mythra, so I'm starting a thread to discuss it and archive some things. First, the reveal trailer: I got a kick out of this trailer. It was pretty easy to figure out it was a character reveal for Smash, but it was fun that they made it seem all dramatic, as if they were teasing a new Xenoblade. We got to see Rex and the other characters again, and I also liked hearing new voicework from Al Weaver and Skye Bennett. (Although, I'm not convinced that was Adam Howden at the end. He sounds a little off.) Here's the official renders: Official artwork from Masatsugu Saito: And fan art from Soraya Saga: Personal thoughts:The thing is, I'm not a huge fan of two-in-one transformation characters. Back when Zelda and Sheik were the same character, I almost never transformed into Sheik, and pretty much just used Zelda exclusively. (Ironically, I started using Sheik a lot more when they made her a separate character.) I guess I just like to focus on one character's move set rather than think about whether I should be using one or the other. That being said, it looks like it's an instantaneous transformation, and does not require cooldown after using (just like in Xenoblade Chronicles 2). It seems it can also act as a dodge (at 3:18 in the trailer, Link's sword whiffs when he tries to attack her while she transforms), so it does provide some incentive to use it. Aside from that, they do look fun to use. I look forward to Sakurai's usual in-depth presentation sometime in the next few weeks. With regards to Rex, I did favor him to be the XC2 rep, not just because he is the main player character, but because I feel he's unfairly disliked by a lot of people. I genuinely like Rex, and I wanted to see him get another chance to shine in the spotlight. But that's not to say I'm disappointed with Pyra & Mythra being chosen instead. For one thing, it's two characters in one. Mythra appears in both the base game and Torna ~ The Golden Country, so she can represent both games. And of course, there's also the extra female representation. Not to mention, I love both of their characters. Plus, Rex still appears in their final smashes and taunts, so he still gets to be there. So... does this mean I'm going to actually buy the game now? Not sure, but I always thought to myself that I would strongly consider getting Smash Ultimate if they did add a Xenoblade 2 character, and, well, here we are. So, uh... did you guys have any thoughts?  |
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Post by nocturnal YL on Feb 22, 2021 9:17:39 GMT -5
Reveal trailer:
It's pretty obvious from the very beginning. Nintendo said the Direct would contain Smash news, so it's either at the start or the end. When they showed Xenoblade Chronicles 2, I almost immediately thought of Smash because yet another Xenoblade 2 spinoff doesn't sound likely to me, and because this game has a very real chance of seeing Smash DLC, with it being a prime example of a game missing the boat for the base game and we already see ARMS.
The particular character choice is also very obvious. "One day, Pyra just disappeared" immediately led me to the conclusion that it's because she's in Smash.
2-in-1 fighter:
Not a fan of those. They have one fewer special moves. Charizard lost Rock Smash and I'll keep complaining about it.
Transformation used as a means to get invincibility has been a thing since Melee. It's more prominent in Brawl, since that game had awfully long loading times. I don't think that's very practical, though.
Fighter choice:
I'm not sure if standalone, Blade-less Rex will be interesting. I don't play Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (or any other entry), so I have no idea. Assuming the tag team idea many fans have wouldn't work, I guess Pyra makes more sense in terms of being an interesting fighter.
Fighter presentation:
I wonder when will that be. Seeing that the fighter DLC itself is coming in March, I guess the presentation is also in March? They haven't shown any of the colour variations and we don't have the full BGM list, which are things I look forward to.
I don't think this will happen, but I think they should throw in some Xenoblade Chronicles X music tracks as well. The base game has none, which is a huge waste of opportunity.
What about me?
Nothing to say regarding to the Fighter Passes overall until I see everything. For now, it's a no. I do have quite something to say regarding Smash DLC overall, but that's not for this thread.
Is Smash Ultimate worth getting?
In terms of contents, we already know what Smash Ultimate has. Gameplay-wise, I'd say as a casual player that while it feels different from Smash Wii U, it's not the same as the kind of change felt between Melee and Brawl or between Brawl and 3DS/Wii U.
I genuinely like Smash Wii U better, but maybe that's more of because I don't like the current direction of Smash.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Feb 22, 2021 10:28:12 GMT -5
Fighter choice:I'm not sure if standalone, Blade-less Rex will be interesting. I don't play Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (or any other entry), so I have no idea. Assuming the tag team idea many fans have wouldn't work, I guess Pyra makes more sense in terms of being an interesting fighter. I suppose one way Rex would have been theorized to work is that he would be on the plane of battle while Pyra/Mythra would be in the background (a la Pokémon Trainer), and he could switch between them, which would change his set of special moves (making him a de facto two-in-one character). To me, that would be the most obvious adaptation of how it works in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Is Smash Ultimate worth getting?In terms of contents, we already know what Smash Ultimate has. Gameplay-wise, I'd say as a casual player that while it feels different from Smash Wii U, it's not the same as the kind of change felt between Melee and Brawl or between Brawl and 3DS/Wii U. I genuinely like Smash Wii U better, but maybe that's more of because I don't like the current direction of Smash. I do have a few questions about Smash Ultimate: 1) Will playing it make my joy-cons wear out faster? 2) Is everything unlocked from the start, or do I have to fulfill requirements to unlock characters/stages like in older Smash games? 3) I assume I would need to download all DLC whether I purchase it or not so that it's available when playing online. Does it take up a lot of room on the Switch's memory? Also, there's something I didn't talk about in my initial post: the stage. Although, I don't actually have a lot to say about it. It looks rather small. But I like the changing day/night cycle, and that you can see the World Tree and the other titans in the background. Also, there's the obligatory appearances by other XC2 characters. I do wonder if Gramps/Azurda will speak and make comments during the battle. I don't have any comments on musical selection since we don't know it yet, but I would like to have selections from both the base game and Torna. XCX would be a nice bonus. I vastly prefer remixes to straight rips, but I imagine we'll only get one of those. |
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Post by nocturnal YL on Feb 22, 2021 13:10:55 GMT -5
1) Will playing it make my joy-cons wear out faster? Short answer, yes. I have experienced two faulty left Joy-Cons, both times with a drifting L stick and unresponsive SL and SR buttons. Both started showing symptoms after roughly the same amount of time, but the earlier one, back when I played more games that used the L stick, had the drifting problem happen way more frequently. 2) Is everything unlocked from the start, or do I have to fulfill requirements to unlock characters/stages like in older Smash games? Stages don't need to be unlocked. Fighters do, and require a lot of work, involving either playing through Classic modes, playing World of Light or playing for a certain amount of time. It's very tedious. 3) I assume I would need to download all DLC whether I purchase it or not so that it's available when playing online. Does it take up a lot of room on the Switch's memory? The way Smash (and all online fighting games with DLC) work is that the new data come with regular updates and the DLC are just unlock keys, so that those with DLC and those without can play together online. I have only updated Smash Ultimate to version 4.0 (it's currently at 10.1), and the update data used up 1.4 GB of space. I've tried searching online for the newest space requirement, but found nothing. |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Feb 22, 2021 16:35:18 GMT -5
The way Smash (and all online fighting games with DLC) work is that the new data come with regular updates and the DLC are just unlock keys, so that those with DLC and those without can play together online. This is what I was referring to. I suppose my follow up question (which you may not know the answer to) would be, would more recent physical prints include some of the update data directly on the game card? Like the whole first expansion pass? |
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Post by nocturnal YL on Feb 22, 2021 20:46:40 GMT -5
I don't know if it'd be different for high-profile, Nintendo-published games like Smash (I got all such games near launch), but everything else I have start at version 1.0. I suspect this is because they don't bother with messing with manufacturng lines, given the current proliferation of the Internet. It's not like most people getting the 1.0 game cards will be stuck at the old version.
Depending on the kind of games you play, a microSDXC card may be worth getting. I'd recommend getting one at 64GB or 128 GB (I have a 128 GB card) for storing both updates and screenshots, especially if you hve many games (or, in my case, getting 8 GB updates for certain titles).
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Post by Nester the Lark on Feb 23, 2021 9:39:41 GMT -5
Having a memory card for my Switch would be the smart thing to do.
It's not that downloading the extra data is a problem. I usually just delete stuff I'm not using to make room for other stuff. It would just be a little annoying if it's really large.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Mar 4, 2021 11:11:40 GMT -5
I'm waiting for Nintendo to edit the raw video of the presentation before I embed it. I'll update this post later.
EDIT:
Well, so far, I haven't been able to convince myself to buy Smash Ultimate. I think I'm just not in the mood for Smash right now. I'm still happy these characters are in the game, though. They look really cool, and I'm happy Rex still gets to be there to some degree. And this could just be an excuse for me to replay Xenoblade Chronicles 2 again, right? I was surprised that Sakurai specifically mentioned Pneuma when he showed the alternate colors. That seemed like a spoiler, although he does censor the actual artwork later on. (Side note: It's really cool that they made official artwork for that character specifically for this game.) But I guess without context, it doesn't mean much. There are 16 music tracks, including three new arrangements. And of all the tracks to arrange, why Tiger Tiger? Seems so random. We didn't get to see the amiibo for these characters yet. I wonder if they'll make an amiibo for each of them, or try to squeeze both Pyra and Mythra onto one amiibo. Or maybe just make an amiibo out of only one of them. I don't really have much else to say, really. |
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Post by nocturnal YL on Mar 4, 2021 12:04:44 GMT -5
Smash rarely cares about spoilers, as seen in the past when it happily told everyone Sheik is Zelda, "Marth" is actually Lucina, the ending of FFVII and more.
No music from Xenoblade Chronicles X, which is pretty much expected. No Mii Fighter costumes either. X barely exists as far as Smash is concerned.
No Mii Fighter costumes from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 either. And speaking of that, I'm now under the impression that the Smash team planned these DLC fighters rather early on, at least before the base game was out. Having Nia as the sole costume is pretty strange, suggesting that the more "primary" characters were held up for other capacities (DLC costume, DLC fighters).
Sakurai left out Classic Mode. If he did show that, there'd be little left to find out after the release.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Mar 5, 2021 9:54:56 GMT -5
Smash rarely cares about spoilers, as seen in the past when it happily told everyone Sheik is Zelda, "Marth" is actually Lucina, the ending of FFVII and more. Also, Fiora was added to Shulk's final smash. Anyway, here's the Smash version of the Tiger Tiger track. The original song is a chiptune that plays during an optional minigame that's meant to resemble an old arcade game. The new arrangement was done by Yuzo Koshiro, and he made it sound exactly like it came straight out of a Gradius arcade game. It's quite strange, and I'm still not sure why this song was chosen to be rearranged, but it's pretty awesome, nonetheless. |
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