Xenoblade Chronicles

[Maf]

I just want you guys to finish it and see your reactions to the ending. 
 

Although it took @bellow 15 years to finish Spyro 1 so I guess we’re going to be here for a while 

[DisturbedSwan]

I’m still a ways off @Maf but I’ll let you know when I get there ?
 

Just reached Agriratha tonight. Now in Chapter 14, 72 hours played.

 

The game has been weirdly linear since Chapter 12 ended. All I’ve seemed to be doing is making my way further and further up a gigantic industrial structure for the past 6 hours at least. It’s definitely jarring going from the huge open world areas of the first half of the game to this, I’m not sure if I like it or not. On one hand it’s a different change of pace but on the other I’m disappointed I can’t really explore these small-ish places and instead have to now go where the game dictates most of the time.

 

Still not loving it though. It might actually be going down more in my estimations as it goes on. A lot of my questions about the world have now been answered, we’ve got a clear Antagonist and I can see roughly how things will play out but yeah it’s still not making me care a lot particularly. 
 

Pics:

 

Spoiler

 

[DisturbedSwan]

Since the delightful open area above the game has gone incredibly linear since. There's still some big spaces to explore in there but most of it I've been gradually making my way up a structure down a load of industrial brown corridors which isn't ideal.

 

The further it goes on the less and less interested I become. The story has got a bit more interesting now at least with a few twists I didn't see coming in the last couple of hours but unfortunately the games biggest strength - its huge open world areas - has been tossed to the wayside. It was sitting at a 7 for me but the last few hours have put it down to a 6 and it may go lower by the end. 

 

I got stuck on a boss in the 'Core' last night. The boss itself wasn't too difficult but it was one of those annoying bosses where he keeps spawning waves of enemies which then managed to take me out every damn time. After about 20 attempts I'd had enough and put the difficulty down to Casual difficulty, even then I only managed it on my second try as the spawning enemies wiped most of my team and the one remaining member couldn't get to me or the other party member to revive us. I just couldn't be arsed to keep hitting my head up against a wall on the normal difficulty. I will put it back up to Normal tomorrow though because the rest of the game has been a breeze but yeah, that boss can get fucked. 

 

Up to Chapter 15 now so I don't think I've got too much longer left thankfully. I really don't know if I can be arsed to play Future Connected afterwards or not at this point.

[Maf]

Yeah, the end game bosses are tough. If I recall there are 3 of them that are really hard. In case people want to figure it out for them selves I’ll just spoiler a helpful hint for the rest of the game below

 

Spoiler

Not sure if it applies to every boss but definitely the last one. Shulk has a power that creates a shield around him and his allies that if levelled up enough effectively nullifies big magic attacks from enemies. The last boss has an almost OHKO move that killed me over and over and was very frustrating. When using the shield his OHKO move did like 10% damage. 
 

Not sure if this move will work for the other bosses because I’m not sure what they do. But I didn’t figure it out until the last one and I think - not sure - think it might be applicable to the others as well and should make it a lot more manageable.

 

This is what I was saying weeks ago where that mechanic is taught to you right at the beginning of the game and you never need it until right at the end where players have probably forgot all about it because they never needed it. Well, that’s what happened to me anyway.

 

[DisturbedSwan]

Cheers @Maf I might've been doing that already without realising it, I'll try it properly tomorrow if 

Spoiler

I get Shulk back in my party. ?

 

I'm up to Chapter 16 now. Everything went properly bonkers last night with the 

Spoiler

High Entia turning into Telethia and all the shenanigans with Dickson turning out to be Zanza's disciple. I really had no idea any of that shit would happen, I knew Dickson was up to no good based on little comments here and there but I had no idea he'd play such a key role in the game and cause Shulk's demise (at the moment at least). It's crazy about Zanza inhabiting Shulk's body ever since he was a kid growing up in Colony 9 as well.

 

So yeah, the story's got a little better. Think I'm really close to the end now. 

[DisturbedSwan]

Up to Chapter 17 now, inside the Bionis.

 

Hopefully I'll finish it either tonight or over the weekend.