X-Change 2 - First thoughts

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#1

Hi all,

OK, finished playing X-Change 2 (XC2) and here are my thoughts. Notes before continuing:

1) Finished once and got ending #13
2) I will try to be as spoiler free as possible, but it will difficult as times.
3) There are 23 possible endings: 7 happy, and 16 bad and normal endings.

Other tidbits:

1) The game is in a DVD case, similar to Tokimeki Check-in. There are two CDs in it. The first CD is the game and the second CD, I think, has the CD audio track and extras. I haven’t verified that, yet.
2) Characters that appears in XC2 that were also in XC1: Takuya, Asuka and Kouji. References are made to Satou, but I don’t know if she shows up (she didn’t in my first run)


To say the least, XC2 is longer than XC1. The plot is exactly the same, that is, Takuya is back as a girl thanks to the new local mad genius (Chisato, sorry to call her that way!) and Takuya is trying to get back as a boy. In between, she has to participate in other school activities (like the drama club) and part-time jobs (like a tutor). Also, there are some mini-games, like a quiz game based on the plot of a play in the drama club and, the silliest of all, a Crowd quiz game! (Obviously, you can always cheat by saving first and trying again). The game play itself is the same as XC1. There are certain obvious check points, however, there are others that are not THAT obvious. Fortunately, on certain spots, the game is saved automatically. The graphics itself is good enough and it has voices for most characters (including Takuya-chan and Takuya-kun).

The good: it is finally out, and it is better than the original XC1
The bad: Unfortunately, there are some sex scenes which are basically pointless. Yes, the pervert bus is back…
The ugly: Not that I can think of right away. Well, other than they already used the plot already…

Priceless moment of the game: [SPOILER] When Sano-sensei finds out that Takuya-chan is/was a boy after having sex with her.

Oddities: Inside the case is the Peach Princess 2003-2004 catalogue, however, Little My Maid wasn’t listed, yet Doushin is.

So far, I don’t have any complaints about the game itself. I won’t compare it to G-Collection games as I haven’t played them. I guess my conclusion would be: if you like XC1, you will also like XC2.

[This message has been edited by fxho (edited 06-10-2003).]

#2

Was XC2 made before or after Tokimeki Check-in? While playing the game I noticed a TCI poster in one of the backgrounds, but the quality of the graphics seem a little inferior to TCI, as if it were made earlier.

Not that it really matters as I’m enjoying this game far more the three snazzy-looking G-Collections games I’ve played thus far

#3
quote:
Originally posted by Interzone:
Was XC2 made before or after Tokimeki Check-in? While playing the game I noticed a TCI poster in one of the backgrounds, but the quality of the graphics seem a little inferior to TCI, as if it were made earlier.

Not that it really matters as I'm enjoying this game far more the three snazzy-looking G-Collections games I've played thus far [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

X-change 2 was made after Tokimeki Check-=In, but they may have been developed at about the same time because I think tXC2 came only months after Tokimeki Check-In, which may explain why the two are in one artbook. Artbook has walkthroughs by the way ^_^

#4

Well my first thoughts… hmm… Well if I wasn’t spending most of my time on the floor laughing hysterically I could probably think of some…

Oh wait…

#5

I finally received my copy of XC2 and I think the graphics are well-refined and there is a bit more humor injected into the story. Takuya’s voice altering from male to female brought a more cinematic touch to the script.
My only complaint–and maybe it’s only because I’m on Windows XP–the voices seem to be drowned out by the CD-audio music and barely auible over the midi music.
Anyone else experiencing this?

At any rate, huzzah to Peach Princess and Crowd.

And hey…is PP no longer participating with the ESRB (Electronic Software Ratings Board)?

#6
quote:
Originally posted by rayearthknight:
--the voices seem to be drowned out by the CD-audio music and barely auible over the midi music. Anyone else experiencing this?


yes, i am experiencing this too but, for me, its a very minor point. i generally play xc2 without the music. a great, great game nonetheless.


#7

I found Xchange2 very graphically better than previous games. It is higher resolution and the response to the mouse clicks quicker than previous ones.

You stick the second CD if you want to hear the music via CD, otherwise it plays midi sounds. On a Windows XP box, you find the CD play is better since the changing of music is slightly faster than midi music. The music via CD is better.

I like the build-in ability to take screen shots. This mean any screen.

The saving features are good. You have 15 positions to save you game. However the game reserves events, special and ending. Once you reach one of these milestones, the game will save these points. So in theory these are kinda of “permanent” save points since you really don’t have direct control over this. You can lock these save points in the options. This is important since when you reach one of these points, your “points” with each character is different. So when you reload from these save points, it will affect the ending. Only endings you won’t care about points.

The graphics engine is more flexible. I think it can show unlimited characters on the screen. Most game in this, in english anyway, only have two or three characters on the screen. Xchange 2 allow multiple characters and they can overlap one another. It seems they can be placed anywhere on the screen. Most games released to date seem to have three positions: left, right andf centre. Also in some events they simulate the character moving closer to another which is humorous. This is seems new to the english genre to date.

The help system is nicer too. In most games it uses the default windows help system. Echange 2 is build into the game so no swapping between game and system to get help. Quite nice. I know no-one truely reads the manual or help until you need it. Thought I just mention it since it’s different to other games.

I only have one problem with voices and that’s with the male version of Takuya. It a bit too low most of the time. Sometimes, rarely, it play at the correct level.

I enjoying this game a lot so far, there are lots of choices in the game to do my head in. I gotten 7 ending all in the “normal” and “bad” section. I haven’t gotten a “good” ending yet. I still haven’t met some of the character either. Oh well, worth the money spent so far.

#8
quote:
Priceless moment of the game: [SPOILER] When Sano-sensei finds out that Takuya-chan is/was a boy after having sex with her.

ROFL! I loved that scene too! Sano-sensei just totally freaked out when he finds out that the girl he's been screwing is really a guy! I have the Japanese version, in which the lines for that scene go something like this:

Sano: You mean I've been pursuing a MAN?! I'm no good any more! (implying that he is "ruined" for women by this experience)

Takuya: You were no good to begin with! [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

My only nitpick with XC2 is that Crowd did not give Kouji a voice actor despite the fact that every single female character had one. Characters like Asuka's mother or the girls (other than Miyuki) in the drama club only had a couple of lines each in the whole game, but Kouji had more lines than any male character (if we count Takuya as a female character while in girl form). I really think that Kouji was an important enough character to deserve a voice actor.

#9

Always feel a little silly pulling up a thread that’s been quiet for a bit, but it’s the most appropriate.

Finally had a chance to play the game over the weekend. I think I’m having mixed feelings about this one. Love the graphics, the complexity of the storyline and even the little mini-games. (And I wonder if I should be vaguely worried I was able to answer all those Crowd questions…) However, I really could have lived without some of those scenes. (Yes, the bus comes to mind.) And I know it seems silly, but the fact I was able to get Asuka’s best ending in only 3 tries is bothering the heck out of me.

But all in all, I did enjoy it. I especially liked seeing the little links back to the original game. (Okay, except for Terada-sensei… )

#10

Well Asuka’s ending was pretty easy there was only a little hitch near the end that got me from getting the best ending on my first try for Asuka. On a side note anyone use a chararacter other than the paladin to win in that mini game?

#11

I know, it’s just that I’m so used to having trouble finding the best endings, it just bugged me to get it so readily. So far, I’ve gotten 2 best endings out of the 7 total endings I’ve gotten. (And I think I know where I went wrong for a third one, but I’ll have to see later tonight.) May take awhile to get all the ending though…

I was able to win using werecat. Actually, I havn’t used paladin at all. I did use the other character (sorry, name is slipping from me right now) but I wasn’t able to win.

#12

actually I tried all charas in the battle mini-game (in jap version of course), and I was able to beat the mini-game using any of the characters. Each one has a weakness (when you fight against them, that is) and you just have to find that out.

#13

I did win all of three battles games.

Werecat- easily beat. She fought so well.

Sage- pretty hard. I was so lucky to beat Werecat. Magic, then magic recharge, magic, magic, heal, magic recharge, magic recharge. I forgot…

Paladin- allright. I use normal attack, then healing.

#14
quote:
Originally posted by Lamuness:
actually I tried all charas in the battle mini-game (in jap version of course), and I was able to beat the mini-game using any of the characters. Each one has a weakness (when you fight against them, that is) and you just have to find that out.

Same here.

#15

I won all three battles as well.

#16

I finally won with Sage but I still seem to keep getting my butt kicked as Paladin. sigh I think I’ll amuse myself with a few other side games for awhile…

#17
quote:
Originally posted by ekylo:
I finally won with Sage but I still seem to keep getting my butt kicked as Paladin. *sigh* I think I'll amuse myself with a few other side games for awhile...

Since you already won the CROWD-Quiz, you are now heading for the Karaoke-box, right? Show these Ojii-sans, who's best! [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img]

#18

I’ve only just started the game, so I don’t have anything add there, but I did notice a problem with the html on the otaku portion of CD2. Some of the pages reference “.html” links, when the targets are named “.htm”. Some browsers may be able to account for this, but not IE6. It’s easy to work around once you figure out the problem, but it seems like this should have been caught pretty quickly in the QA process.

#19

Okay, finally did my first serious play at it; after about 5 tries of just looking around and whatnot. Ended up with Megumi which is pretty keen. Anyway, overall, a solid game. I’d give it an 8.5

I will say some of the scenes (like the bus and the bishounen teacher) irritated me, but… at least I could click through them quickly to get back to the story.

#20

Yeah the scenes you couldn’t avoid were the ones the bothered me the most. good thing I finished it a few times so now I can just click on skip As for the RPG mini game the paladin was the easiest to win for me but would probably take the longest. Since all I did was hack until I was low on hp then heal myself up pretty easy to beat the Sage like that.