Heir to the Monado. Shulk General Discussion/Social Thread

[Mr.Seven]

I never really posted in this thread, but I should have. Shulk is one of my most wanted for the new Smash.

 

[Banjodorf]

I somehow didn't know that existed! Following!

 

[SkittleE]

Uhhh...so if hypothetically Shulk is in, and we got to choose a second playable character, who would you want?

I'm all for Reyn, Dunban or Seven, personally.

I think Dunban or Melia would be a ton of fun to play as. I think Seven is way too big a spoiler, and really, I'm not that big a fan of them. I seriously doubt that a second Xenoblade rep would ever happen, though, so thinking about it seems a bit pointless.

Seriously, though, on the topic of Seven:

Spoiler

"The breeze feels sooo goo-" SHUT UP

 

[lami]

do you guys think that the "break -> topple" mechanic would be used in smash at all? I've only played up to colony 6 so far, so im not sure if there's any cooler mechanics that should be used for a final smash or in a moveset or whatnot, but toppling is pretty important from what I've seen. Like maybe Shulks final smash would be him inflicting break on everyone with Reyn swooping in to topple them, leaving them stunned for a few seconds to rack up damage/KO. (Loving the game btw.)

 

[Deleted member]

do you guys think that the "break -> topple" mechanic would be used in smash at all? I've only played up to colony 6 so far, so im not sure if there's any cooler mechanics that should be used for a final smash or in a moveset or whatnot, but toppling is pretty important from what I've seen. Like maybe Shulks final smash would be him inflicting break on everyone with Reyn swooping in to topple them, leaving them stunned for a few seconds to rack up damage/KO. (Loving the game btw.)

Amusingly, I've remarked topple and daze effects were already introduced in Smash before Xenoblade.

Yes yes, they only have different names : "tripping" for topple and "stun" for daze.

 

[lami]

Amusingly, I've remarked topple and daze effects were already introduced in Smash before Xenoblade.

Yes yes, they only have different names : "tripping" for topple and "stun" for daze.

Good point! That's reasons both for and against my idea right there. I'm sure there's way better ideas for his FS, I was just spitballing. (I'm also not at home right now and really want to play it...)

 

[Creo]

Without us to be able to give even Shulk, the main protagonist of Xenoblade Chronicles, a 100% chance to get in, any serious conversation of a second playable character would be egregious. . . I find that we all understand this, though, so us playing the additional "What if" scenario is still fairly interesting. That being said, aside from Shulk, I've found myself personally believing Reyn and Seven would be the second most appropriate candidates for a character. Every party character in their own right could easily be a good addition in terms of how they play, but preferences aside, Reyn and Seven would probably be the likeliest of choices, considering their relevancy to the story and Shulk overall being higher than the others. A toss-up, if you will, although, I don't believe a playable Shulk accompanied by an additional Assist Trophy is out of the conversation, either.

My previous post had some preferences of songs that I would like to see (Prologue A, Central Factory, etc.), but here is a list compiled of the seven (pun intended) songs I believe would be strongly viable to appear within SSB4:
- Time to Fight!
- Mechanical Rhythm
- Gaur Plains (day; night included only if it became a stage)
- Zanza / The God-Slaying Sword
- Satorl Marsh (night; day included only if it became a stage)
- Colony 9 (day; Colony 6 only if it became a stage)
- Unfinished Battle
Honestly, I feel as if this list is pretty sound. I'll admit that I feel very restricted to seven choices, but we really just don't know the amount of songs that will be available per stage in the Wii U iteration of SSB4 (though I'm certain all of us would agree that less does not in fact equal more in this scenario, ha ha). Let me also say that while I do enjoy songs such as "One Who Gets In Our Way" and "You Will Know Our Names" (both of which I did not list), I feel as if having too many 'general' battle songs brings about a lack of variety in the selection.

Some of the stages being considered here are interesting as well. Gaur Plains, Prison Island, my own Colony 6 suggestion, etc. Bluntly speaking, I think it would be fairly difficult to disappoint with any stage that they decide to go with from Xenoblade Chronicles, so I'm really down for whatever. As for Shulk's Final Smash, while a cinematic vision sequence / chain-attack came to my mind as the foremost options, I'm certainly not opposed to seeing him incorporate Doll usage if in fact they do pull anything from X (though I don't personally believe that will be the case).

I'm so excited for X, guys. I do of course want to see new SSB4 information at E3, particularly a Shulk (and King K. Rool) reveal, but I really want to to see more about X. Game play, minor story details (is it related to Xenoblade?), a title, etc. I could apply these feelings even more towards The Legend of Zelda Wii U, but that's a conversation for elsewhere. Ha. If not E3, I'd expect us to get a release date window on X (and possibly additional details on it and other games) come Gamescom, which is only two months post in August. I feel as if I may start my new game + in Xenoblade Chronicles around the time that X's release is announced (if I'm not too occupied with the Wii U I'll be purchasing in about a month or so).

 

[SkittleE]

do you guys think that the "break -> topple" mechanic would be used in smash at all? I've only played up to colony 6 so far, so im not sure if there's any cooler mechanics that should be used for a final smash or in a moveset or whatnot, but toppling is pretty important from what I've seen. Like maybe Shulks final smash would be him inflicting break on everyone with Reyn swooping in to topple them, leaving them stunned for a few seconds to rack up damage/KO. (Loving the game btw.)

That's an interesting idea that I hadn't really thought of for an FS, but my personal favorite idea for one is the vision idea. The one with people fighting on a blue tinted screen for about ten seconds, and then everything rewinds and everyone but Shulk is in slow motion and stuck using the same moves they had before while Shulk moves freely.

 

[Hype Train]

I'm cool with any FS we get so long as it's more interesting than just the Monado Buster. That should be his smash attack or maybe a special move, but definitely not his FS. It's too simple and lacks pizazz.

 

[lami]

That's an interesting idea that I hadn't really thought of for an FS, but my personal favorite idea for one is the vision idea. The one with people fighting on a blue tinted screen for about ten seconds, and then everything rewinds and everyone but Shulk is in slow motion and stuck using the same moves they had before while Shulk moves freely.

Really what we can gather from this is that Xenoblade is awesome and there's plenty potential for awesomeness should Shulk get in.

 

[DaDavid]

Nice to see a different batch of supporters in the last page or so.

 

[Big-Cat]

I just beat Xenoblade and let me just say that this game is a gem. I even managed to come up with something for Shulk. I was having a hard time what to think of as implementing the ability to see the future in a fighting game is flat out impossible. Then, I thought of what COULD be implemented - the Talent Gauge.

 

[Scoliosis Jones]

Gaur Plains theme, You Will Know Our Names, One Who Gets in Our Way...all great music that needs to be in Smash imo.

There was another one somebody else posted in here, but I forgot which one it was.

 

[Banjodorf]

I just beat Xenoblade and let me just say that this game is a gem. I even managed to come up with something for Shulk. I was having a hard time what to think of as implementing the ability to see the future in a fighting game is flat out impossible. Then, I thought of what COULD be implemented - the Talent Gauge.

Interesting... (Also glad you see you join the crew, Kuma!)

How would you implement the talent gauge? I definitely see it as something that could work really well, but I'm unsure how I would make it work. It could make Shulk an extremely combo-heavy character, which could be awesome!.

 

[Big-Cat]

Interesting... (Also glad you see you join the crew, Kuma!)

How would you implement the talent gauge? I definitely see it as something that could work really well, but I'm unsure how I would make it work. It could make Shulk an extremely combo-heavy character, which could be awesome!.

First off, let me get into his specials.

Up B: Air Slash - Shulk does a rising sword swing reminiscent of Marth. Not much else to say about this move.
Side B: Shaker Edge - A rather unusual move. Has slow startup and is whiff punishable. However, the move makesup for this by being an instant shield breaker and puts the opponent in a dizzy state even if they weren't shielding. A very situational move, this move is best used to distort the opponent's rhythm.
Down B: Battle Soul - This move will come into play with the Talent Gauge by filling it up a certain amount by sacrificing a certain amount of health.

B: Monado Arts:
This is what I'm getting to. As you all know, Shulk can only access his Monado Arts when his talent gauge is full which is filled up by either using Battle Soul or using Auto-Attack. So, Shulk will, in essence, have a meter of his own that is filled up by inflicting damage on the opponent or using Battle Soul in Smash.

When your Talent Gauge is full, press B to gain access to four Monado Arts: Shield, Speed, Purge, and Buster. When you press B to activate the Talent Gauge, you select from the D-Pad which of the four you want.

Down: Monado Shield - This grants you a passive reflector that's good for reflecting one projectile.
Left: Monado Speed - Grants you faster feet movement.
Right: Purge - Hit the opponent with this and they lose access to their special moves for five seconds.
Up: Monado Buster - Simply a very powerful, long ranged attack.

Now what's interesting to note is that like in Xenoblade, using these arts drain the talent gauge a defined amount like how it is in Xenoblade. Shield consumes only half while Buster empties the whole thing.

Your primary strategy is to fill up your Talent Gauge and have your Talent Gauge on standby.

What do you think?

 

[ZXMechonHunter]

First off, let me get into his specials.

Up B: Air Slash - Shulk does a rising sword swing reminiscent of Marth. Not much else to say about this move.
Side B: Shaker Edge - A rather unusual move. Has slow startup and is whiff punishable. However, the move makesup for this by being an instant shield breaker and puts the opponent in a dizzy state even if they weren't shielding. A very situational move, this move is best used to distort the opponent's rhythm.
Down B: Battle Soul - This move will come into play with the Talent Gauge by filling it up a certain amount by sacrificing a certain amount of health.

B: Monado Arts:
This is what I'm getting to. As you all know, Shulk can only access his Monado Arts when his talent gauge is full which is filled up by either using Battle Soul or using Auto-Attack. So, Shulk will, in essence, have a meter of his own that is filled up by inflicting damage on the opponent or using Battle Soul in Smash.

When your Talent Gauge is full, press B to gain access to four Monado Arts: Shield, Speed, Purge, and Buster. When you press B to activate the Talent Gauge, you select from the D-Pad which of the four you want.

Down: Monado Shield - This grants you a passive reflector that's good for reflecting one projectile.
Left: Monado Speed - Grants you faster feet movement.
Right: Purge - Hit the opponent with this and they lose access to their special moves for five seconds.
Up: Monado Buster - Simply a very powerful, long ranged attack.

Now what's interesting to note is that like in Xenoblade, using these arts drain the talent gauge a defined amount like how it is in Xenoblade. Shield consumes only half while Buster empties the whole thing.

Your primary strategy is to fill up your Talent Gauge and have your Talent Gauge on standby.

What do you think?

I was typing something very similar to this when you posted. I really hope the Monado is used this way instead of being the FS. It would better show the importance of the Monado and represent part of Xenoblade's battle system.

 

[YT123]

I think the Talent Gauge is a pretty good idea and we've seen Sakurai create something similar for Little Mac so I guess it's not impossible for him to add something like that for Shulk as well! And about the vision ability, I think they are probably going to use it in Smash but it would probably work like Lucario's Double Team or be Shulk's Final Smash.

 

[Big-Cat]

The vision thing is very iffy thing to implement. I think reducing it to a counter would not do it or its role in Xenoblade justice.

@ ZXMechonHunter
Show me what you got.

 

[Banjodorf]

Yeah...that, and the other idea which is to slow time just doesn't implement it well enough I think.

I still think the idea where the Mechonis pops up and swings its sword at the stage, and Shulk is the only one able to react to the vision (In a moveset on the first page) is the best way to implement it, because it gives the idea of how it works, without implementing game breaking, lackluster or overly complicated FS mechanics.

Also Kuma, I love your moveset. You and I actually had the exact same idea for Monado Purge, which would be an excellent unique addition to the game. Yours infact seems better, because it's more balanced, whereas my Monado moves were just his regular specials, and being able to spam that on the ledge to stop someone from doing their up-B seems broken.

However, since yours can't be spammed, it could use that idea, and still be perfectly viable. Awesome.

 

[ZXMechonHunter]

The vision thing is very iffy thing to implement. I think reducing it to a counter would not do it or its role in Xenoblade justice.

@ ZXMechonHunter
Show me what you got.

I was getting at a Zelda/Shiek thing where Down+B would switch between normal Arts and Monado Arts when the Talent Gauge was full. But once you switch, the gauge would reset and you couldn't switch again until it was full again. I like your idea more, because it better shows how it worked in Xenoblade. Shield using up half, Buster using up all of it, etc.

 

[Big-Cat]

Yeah...that, and the other idea which is to slow time just doesn't implement it well enough I think.

I still think the idea where the Mechonis pops up and swings its sword at the stage, and Shulk is the only one able to react to the vision (In a moveset on the first page) is the best way to implement it, because it gives the idea of how it works, without implementing game breaking, lackluster or overly complicated FS mechanics.

Reminds me a bit of She-Hulk's Sunday Drivers in MvC3. I like this idea for a Final Smash a lot. We're already seeing cutscene esque final smashes with Megaman's Backstreet's Back Final Smash.

 

[Hype Train]

Oh man, you guys have some amazing ideas. I'm getting hyped just reading some of your suggestions.

As for Shulk's Final Smash, while a cinematic vision sequence / chain-attack came to my mind as the foremost options, I'm certainly not opposed to seeing him incorporate Doll usage if in fact they do pull anything from X (though I don't personally believe that will be the case).

my personal favorite idea for one is the vision idea. The one with people fighting on a blue tinted screen for about ten seconds, and then everything rewinds and everyone but Shulk is in slow motion and stuck using the same moves they had before while Shulk moves freely.

Up B: Air Slash - Shulk does a rising sword swing reminiscent of Marth. Not much else to say about this move.
Side B: Shaker Edge - A rather unusual move. Has slow startup and is whiff punishable. However, the move makesup for this by being an instant shield breaker and puts the opponent in a dizzy state even if they weren't shielding. A very situational move, this move is best used to distort the opponent's rhythm.
Down B: Battle Soul - This move will come into play with the Talent Gauge by filling it up a certain amount by sacrificing a certain amount of health.

B: Monado Arts:
This is what I'm getting to. As you all know, Shulk can only access his Monado Arts when his talent gauge is full which is filled up by either using Battle Soul or using Auto-Attack. So, Shulk will, in essence, have a meter of his own that is filled up by inflicting damage on the opponent or using Battle Soul in Smash.

When your Talent Gauge is full, press B to gain access to four Monado Arts: Shield, Speed, Purge, and Buster. When you press B to activate the Talent Gauge, you select from the D-Pad which of the four you want.

I still think the idea where the Mechonis pops up and swings its sword at the stage, and Shulk is the only one able to react to the vision (In a moveset on the first page) is the best way to implement it, because it gives the idea of how it works, without implementing game breaking, lackluster or overly complicated FS mechanics.

And to think people are worried Shulk would be a "generic swordsman."

Spoiler

What a bunch of jokahs.

 

[Big-Cat]

Let's not lose our heads, though.

 

[DaDavid]

I wonder if Sakurai would consider art-switching too much like a transformation to implement it though. I mean, if we take him at face value and believe that wanting players to focus on a specific moveset is a prime motivator for why he axed them, adding a character that more or less revolves around having 2 movsets, AND has that advantage over other characters seems a bit contradictory.

 

[Big-Cat]

Art switching would be the same thing as a stance system. As long as its where neither stance is greatly more powerful than the other - UNLESS that's the plan - then it wouldn't be a problem.

 

[Banjodorf]

I dunno, it really depends on if he thinks switching specials for a limited time with the same character who presumably has the exact same moves outside of specials regardless of what state he's in.

Sheik and ZSS have completely, completely differtent builds, weights, and total movesets from their counterparts, so it just depends I'd say. Besides, Mac gets to change one move for a limited time, so it really just depends.

 

[SkittleE]

What a bunch of jokahs.

But we musn't be careless.

I like the Talent Gauge idea a lot, it allows the same kind of feel Xenoblade has with switching to Monado arts, and it can't be abused, as far as I can tell.

 

[Deleted member]

I like the Talent Gauge idea as it represents a part of Xenoblade. I just dunno if Sakurai would incorporate that into Smash; I have this feeling that all of Shulk's specials will be his Monado Arts while his other Arts will be a part of his standard attacks.

 

[Banjodorf]

That's basically my idea if he doesn't do something like Kuma's brilliance up there.

I still think Monado Purge needs to be there, and it needs to shut down specials. If it's not part of some "Activated Monado" speacial feature, then it needs to have a chargeup time to being fired.

Like, I'd say you need to charge it for like 5 seconds in order to launch it and shut off specials for 5 seconds. It just has too much ledge power if it's spammable. The only characters that wouldn't be at a sheer disadvantage are Yoshi and...uh...I don't know.

Little Mac is pretty much dead.

 

[The Curious Volnutt]

If there was a second Xenoblade rep it would be Seven. As shown by Sheik, Sakurai doesn't care about spoilers.

 

[CardiganBoy]

Let's just hope that Sakurai won't spoil Xenoblade when he puts Trophies of the characters in Xenoblade in Smash.

And also hope for Xenoblade to have a decent trophy collection.

 

[Banjodorf]

I'd expect at least the party members to get their own trophies. Along with Zanza, Egil and a few others.

Otharon and Juju or something. I mean we got frickin Iroquois Pliskin in Brawl.

 

[Deleted member]

And also hope for Xenoblade to have a decent trophy collection.

Hopefully it will. They can make some trophies of the party members and side characters. Perhaps they can make Trophies for some enemies.

I'd expect at least the party members to get their own trophies. Along with Zanza, Egil and a few others.

Otharon and Juju or something. I mean we got frickin Iroquois Pliskin in Brawl.

Oh yeah... I forgot that Sakurai spoiled MGS2...
Hopefully he won't spoil the story to Xenoblade TOO much so that players can experience the game for themselves.

 

[Banjodorf]

Still, now is the best time to play Xenoblade if you haven't! Get it to all your friends!

This is of course assuming Shulk is playable, but just in case...

 

[kikaru]

Still, now is the best time to play Xenoblade if you haven't!

Reyn Every time is the best time to play Xenoblade.

 

[Pega-pony Princess]

Reyn Every time is the best time to play Xenoblade.

If Reyn is an AT, there's no doubt he'll say that and "You can't make a rainbow without Reyn!" all the while he's kicking the enemies butt.

 

[CardiganBoy]

I can really see Reyn as an assist, saying "It's Reyn time!" then using Wild Down to make the opponents trip, then he says "Man, what a bunch of jokers" and dissapears.
But all the other main characters could be great assists too.

 

[Deleted member]

I can really see Reyn as an assist, saying "It's Reyn time!" then using Wild Down to make the opponents trip, then he says "Man, what a bunch of jokers" and dissapears.
But all the other main characters could be great assists too.

I want Reyn as an Assist Trophy purely because he will come out and say, "Now it's Reyn time!"
Though I wouldn't mind the Heropon be an Assist Trophy where he saves the sidekick that summoned him and I wouldn't mind "Born in the world of strife! Against the odds! We choose to fight! Blossom Dance!"

 

[CardiganBoy]

I want Reyn as an Assist Trophy purely because he will come out and say, "Now it's Reyn time!"
Though I wouldn't mind the Heropon be an Assist Trophy where he saves the sidekick that summoned him and I wouldn't mind "Born in the world of strife! Against the odds! We choose to fight! Blossom Dance!"

Don't forget the Healer of the High Entia, both with potential of being good assists.

 

[Neo Zero]

I want Reyn as an Assist Trophy purely because he will come out and say, "Now it's Reyn time!"
Though I wouldn't mind the Heropon be an Assist Trophy where he saves the sidekick that summoned him and I wouldn't mind "Born in the world of strife! Against the odds! We choose to fight! Blossom Dance!"

Alternatively, one of Shulk's taunts should involve Reyn coming out going "Now it's Reyn Time!"

Promptly to disappear to the place Ganondorf stashes his sword.