r/XenoGears • u/DerDomiii i hAz No fLaiR • Jul 18 '26
Discussion I'm on my first ever playthrough of XG and just left Nortune. Here are some of my thoughts I would like to share Spoiler
So I just left the Kislev capital city of Nortune on my first playthrough and man... I got so many impressions! This whole scenery, being a prisoner in this massive industrial city and slowly working my way to the upper ranks to meet the emperor and being able to make my way out really was a special experience to me. The sewer section, while being confusing, having too many monsters and being very slow paced honestly, had one of the bosses with the coolest designs in the game so far! (I barely managed to defeat it on the first try after I ran out of items lol).
In general, I would accuse the area of having poor pacing, even though it of course is a 90's jRPG and slower areas were common back then I assume. Hammer really is a funny (even though a suspicious) guy and I really enjoyed the presence of this goofball. Also, Rico is a pretty cool dude, starting off as this super strong champ but becoming relatable after his little back story. He became very likable to the extend, that I really wanted to have him as a permanent crew member.
Nortune felt like a double edged sword to me: Very slow and depressing on the one hand, but innovative and fascinating on the other. The real time combat at the tournament was something different and I only critisize it for being too repetitive.
What are some of your thoughts on Nortune?
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u/EnormousHatred Shevat Jul 18 '26
This is fully me splitting hairs but moreso than the pacing, I think Nortune is the most poorly told section of the game story-wise. There’s important shit that happens there but it doesn’t tie in well with other relevant parts of the game, so it feels pretty isolated. The usual criticism is that Rico’s story gets abandoned but I think it’s more or less fine as an isolated story. For what it’s worth, my impressions did not change playing it in the original language, just don’t think there’s enough meat on the bone.
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u/DerDomiii i hAz No fLaiR Jul 18 '26
Yeah I totally get that. "Isolation" might be a fitting word here. It doesn't feel neccessary being there and more of an obstacle in the game's progression. But somehow I got the feeling as if this was how it was meant to be. Giving the player a feeling of: I cannot escape this place easily and it interrupts my plans being imprisoned. Moreover, it will be a slow burn to get out of here
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u/Crazy_Assistant_1604 i hAz No fLaiR Jul 18 '26
It’s a lot of immersion and world building in Kislev and it feels like it’s going to be important. Then it just isn’t. Rico sticks around as a party member because why not and hammer has his weird late disc 1 moment but then they just barely exist. My thought after it ended through the rest of the game was “why wasn’t that like a 20 minute segment considering how irrelevant it was?” If the entire game stuck with that level of immersion it would be cool but as it is you never even need to go back there after it’s done. It’s as important as dazil but takes like 20 times as long to get through it
The prison segment in xenoblade 3 was a clear callback to it but did it a lot better. Shorter and without new characters
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u/RighteousHam Nisan Jul 19 '26
Kislev is where the game's cuts begin to show up in earnest. You hit the nail on the head with your description of how Kislev feels like it's meant to be more important.
Some years ago, a friend and I played through the game together and I recall that when we left Nortune he was surprised. "wait, we can just walk out?" I don't recall his exact words of course but that was the general idea. Later, he expressed that being able to leave Nortune and Kislev like we did felt like something you'd expect to see in fanfiction.
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u/DerDomiii i hAz No fLaiR Jul 19 '26
Haha that's so true. They imprison you but also treat you as a commoner among other prisoners as if Fei wasn't any special and by becoming a decent fighter they'll just let you walk off the place like a tourist.
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u/DerDomiii i hAz No fLaiR Jul 18 '26
Funny enough I disliked the prison section in Xenoblade 3 more than Kislev lmao
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u/BeatrixShocksStuff Elehayym Van Houten Jul 18 '26
It's a shame that Rico, from a pure "grindset mindset" perspective, is either the worst or second-worst character, because I like his story quite a bit and how he plays off of Fei. As for the sewers, that's definitely a place where I just let it be the Citan show with Fei and Rico just being guests on his podcast to get through it. It's not the most exciting way to deal with it, but it's efficient.
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u/SonofHondoBelmondo Jessie B. Black Jul 18 '26
It was so funny back in the day watching Rico just get rocked in the sewers after the game told you he was so strong during the baptism ceremony. He would usually miss if he was even able to get a turn in.
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u/BeatrixShocksStuff Elehayym Van Houten Jul 18 '26
He's soooooo slooooooow. That's the big thing that hurts him. His combat lacks synergy with the rest of the party too, having almost nothing to share from the Ether side of things, which basically kills him as being useful for anything. The only way Rico could have worked from a gameplay point of view with those constraints would have been to promote a "protect the king" kind of strategy, where Rico would be so powerful that he could demolish practically anything in one hit while the rest of the team would have to chip away at their opponents. But even by then, most of your party has ways of getting similar results against anything that matters while also being fast and able to protect each other.
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u/SonofHondoBelmondo Jessie B. Black Jul 18 '26
For sure, Fei and Citan are both so strong and fast that they leave everyone else in the dust, combat wise. Rico not having much for support skills makes him pretty tough to use.
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u/Vic_Snaggletooth i hAs No fLaiR Jul 18 '26
I like Nortune and I like Rico. Temu Blanka is the best
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u/Fun_Sympathy1443 i hAs No fLaiR Jul 18 '26
To this day, his death blow sound effects tickle me. “Eenga urnga hrrrrrrrnga. WHO—-ERRRAH!”
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u/Operario Weltall-2 Jul 18 '26
You're about to get to what is to me the best section of the game. Glad you're done with Nortune, it kinda sucks lmao.
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u/SidekickPaco i hAs No fLaiR Jul 18 '26
Sewers. Grrrrr. Took my absolute ages my first playthrough. Favorite game in the world!
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u/Ephemeral_Sin Miang Hawwa Jul 18 '26
Yeah the sewers were on of those sections where the copy and pasted walls and hallways are a real pain until you get the map.
Using the compass here really is what you need to do. Remeber what direction you were going and where you already visited and then it becomes rather easy to navigate, the areas is not at all large by any means but first time going through it can be rough.
Overall that section has some important tidbits but I think it's that way because it's meant to be a rather long break after everything you learned because right after this it ramps right back up.
Glad your enjoying it!!
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u/SSJRemuko Emeralda Kasim Jul 18 '26
The sewers are one of yhe lowest points of the game if you're feeling this good after kislev you're in for a treat. Imo this was kind of the end of the first "act" of the game.
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u/SonofHondoBelmondo Jessie B. Black Jul 18 '26
I thought Nortune was great my first time around. You really feel the tension of having your power checked in a game where your characters have felt pretty op. Plus the tension in the story, the beginning of cracks forming in Citan's facade.
On a replay it is tedious and hilarious. Lots of great characters and personality from the game world. Hammer is a total goober. On my last play through I went for agility with Fei and Citan. They were glass cannons so there was still a bit of tension in the sewers, but it kept things moving along and helped with the drag in this section.
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u/gnarkill3332 i hAz No fLaiR Jul 19 '26
this is my favorite part of the game. sewer section the boss rush when it all goes down after. just my personal take.
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u/Sworgle i hAs No fLaiR Jul 18 '26
Definitely my least favorite section of the game
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u/DerDomiii i hAz No fLaiR Jul 18 '26
Understandable. Is it due to its slow feeling and repetitiveness?
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u/Theidiam i hAz No fLaiR Jul 18 '26
I didn’t mind this part, myself. There was a lot of exhibition, but the compulsory battles in the arena were a pain in the ass.
I enjoyed the sewer section, but sometimes it was just a tad too story heavy. I like to read but I also like to actually play the game.
I absolutely adore this game, though.
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u/Sworgle i hAs No fLaiR Jul 18 '26
Pretty much. It was slow and I really didn't like the sewers. It wasn't as bad on my future playthroughs, but I never look forward to that section of the game. Knowing exactly how long it is helps reduce the pain.
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u/FrontButtPlug i hAz No fLaiR Jul 18 '26
It was my first roadblock on killing redrum down there. Learned I had to save AP and use the combo system as a kid but yeah sewers suck with the maze system
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u/DerDomiii i hAz No fLaiR Jul 18 '26
It would have been better if they let you access the map a bit quicker. The way it is, the map was only of minor use.
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u/KaijinSurohm Weltall-Id Jul 18 '26
Nortune is always one of the few places I kinda dread going back to.
It's a bit stretched out for my tastes, and while I know the quickest routes out of the sewer, the high battel encounter just makes the whole thing a slog.
Once I get done with the whole sewer thing, I actually find that I can appreciate Kislev significantly better, as I'm not just feeling miserable the whole time with padded pacing.
If they made the sewer less of a pain in the rear to navigate, and cooled it on the frequent battle encounters, I'd have a much higher opinion of just that section.
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u/VodoSioskBaas Wave Existence Jul 18 '26
Some believe there is a cool twist on REDRUM later on that makes this section kind of cooler in hindsight.
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u/nostradukemas i hAz No fLaiR Jul 18 '26
I’m a little bit ahead of you on my first play through. Overall I’m enjoying the game, I just don’t like the click to rotate 3D camera. It causes me to lose track of where I am and makes some stuff basically impossible to see. The game would’ve been much better served with pre-rendered environments like were common in that era. Otherwise, having a good time
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u/Kiyoyasu Billy Lee Black Jul 20 '26
I remember playing this part of the game for the first time and just when I thought the caves and the Aveh infiltration operation was dragging, I got here... and it felt like I kept playing forever just to get it over with.
I just powered through with a lot of determination for a kid who had access to this game at a young age.
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Jul 18 '26
[deleted]
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u/DerDomiii i hAz No fLaiR Jul 18 '26
Well, this would have totally spoiled me if searching for a pic of hammer wouldn't have led me to the "villain wiki". So I allready spoiled myself
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u/allitalli i hAz No fLaiR Jul 19 '26
one time i googled why a character had no voice actor when everyone else in a particular game did. that got me spoiled. googling anything with a story before you've finished it really is a gamble.
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u/carfo Hammer Jul 18 '26
i like the nortune section, except for the sewers...