Xenoblade Chronicles

[bellow]

Big plot twists all over the place, big reveals and and even bigger landscapes. I'm level 47 and far past where I managed to get on the Wii all those years ago. I'm still doing most of the side content which I've come to see as training for this world's main side distraction - those special 'named' monsters, who roam the landscape as though they own the place. 

 

Found myself in the obligatory snowy region and everyone is moaning about the chill, except me, because getting out of those fuzzy low res grass regions means I can actually keep track of Shulk in the battles. Still a bleeding sensory overload when the swords start to fly, mind.

[DisturbedSwan]

Put another 14 hours into this since my last post. I think I’m on Chapter 7, my party are all Level 39.
 

It’s safe to say I’m now having an absolute ball with it. Guar Plains and the Bionis Leg were such an amazing locale to explore but since then the locales have got even better, more exotic and wonderous, it’s gone from strength to strength.
 

Satorl Marsh is a little bit spooky but illuminated by these glorious glowing trees which really make the whole area memorable and the light really pop on the Switch’s small screen. It feels a bit like the whole area is lit up by Christmas lights or something, but other worldly, alien and obviously filled with your usual JRPG monsters. 
 

Then I get to Makna forest and things get even better. You have this truly gigantic forest that’s a little bit like Endor, it’s mysterious, beautiful and incredibly dense. Adjacent to this is a beautiful lake surrounded by Waterfalls reminiscent of the Brazilian Iguaçu Falls. It’s just a truly wondrous site to behind and makes for some fantastic vistas. 
 

I love a good JRPG town and Frontier Village really scratches that itch. Again reminiscent of Ewok villages of Star Wars, it’s just such a great place to explore. I had an absolute whale of a time just climbing up and up the inside of the trunk seeing how far I could go and seeing all the little Nopon houses and characters along the way. Such a beautiful place.
 

In terms of story I’ve done next to nothing really, I’ve had 

Spoiler

Dunban and Melia

join my party. The latter is quite a straightforward dude that was introduced at the beginning of the game but the latter is still very mysterious and uppity at the moment. 
 

Almost all my playtime has come from doing side quests. I’ve done pretty much every one I’ve come across and that has resulted in being pretty overlevelled already, most of the enemies are Level 33 around me and I’m quite a bit above that ? they’re incredibly mindless and the worst kind of cookie cutter shit but I just have to do them. 
 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[bellow]

Level 51 I think. Just had a major story moment in the bionis' sword region, and a major boss fight. With that in mind it might be an idea to take a bit of a break on this. I'm rather battle weary, and my eyes go funny after every session with the shady-as-fuck resolution. I'm not even kidding.

 

In the area I'm in at the moment it's set up for non-avoidable combat but there's just so many fights with multiple enemies blocking the path that it's starting to get a bit annoying. Plus, to get to a reasonable level, you have to put so much time into side quests, and they're basically combat missions too. Maybe it's just too much. 

 

It's still an amazing game all in all, though. But, feckin Nora, my eyes! I could have done with half as much combat and regions half the size. A pocket edition, if you will?

[Maf]

That’s how I was getting with it originally. It’s a cool game but there’s a lot of it and it’s very samey. It got to a point in the later portion of the game that I would enter really huge areas and instead of being like “Wow!” I was more like “Nah, fuck”

[bellow]

Yeah, it's definitely a bit oversized. They healed that with X because you had mad powers of traversal, and 2 just seemed a bit more reasonably paced.

[DisturbedSwan]

Just over 50 hours into this now. Up to Chapter 11.

 

Still really enjoying it but the last region (Valor Mountain) has been by far the worst to explore. Almost every region up to that had been filled with wonder and beauty but this is just a snowy mountain really. It can still look very pretty at night but I just found it rather boring and visually uninteresting to explore. 
 

Eryth Sea was by far my favourite region in the game so far. A huge sea with alien structures all around it, it was like something out of a Sci-Fi Novel or something, just so damn pretty and interesting to explore with all the floating islands and warp paths dotted about. I loved exploring every inch of it.

 

In terms of story, nothing much has happened still. I’ve no idea how far I’m in but it just hasn’t resonated with me yet, I keep thinking the real drama will start and the story will properly kickstart from there but it just keeps trudging along with loads of questions still lingering about whilst answering one or two. There’s been a couple of twists which I didn’t expect - which have been cool - but it’s still a huge guessing game as to what is actually going on and why. I keep going on to try to find out more expecting some huge revelation about everything and it still hasn’t happened.

 

But yeah, the areas - for the most part - have been distinct and fun to explore, I’ve loved doing the incredibly shite side quests too. There’s still something that’s not quite resonating there for me though, the characters and story are still not quite connecting as of yet but I’ll carry on. I’m only playing in small 2 hour segments every night which is a nice way to tackle the game, I doubt I’ll have it finished anytime before August though at this rate ?

 

Pics:

Spoiler

 

 

[Jimboxy]

Why are you wearing flippers? In the snow?

[DisturbedSwan]

11 hours ago, Jimbo Xiii said:

Why are you wearing flippers? In the snow?

I certainly am ? makes Shulk more aerodynamic.

[bellow]

What level are you @DisturbedSwan? I seem to be ahead of you in the game but way behind in terms of hours. Plus, I'm meeting bosses at just under their level, and handling most of what's thrown at me with a good amount of challenge. Not that that's my preferred playstyle in Jrpgs. I really like to get overlevelled and feel like a badass. But the opportunity doesn't seem to present itself in this game.  An excess of XP is hard to come by I feel.

 

On chapter 12, anyway. Moving rather slowly at the moment, because of my Seattle duties.

[Maf]

Remember the thing it told you at the beginning...

[bellow]

???

 

I don't, as it happens. Refresh my memory, young fella-me-lad.

[Maf]

I knew this would happen to you. 

[bellow]

I'm still winning. I have Ellie to consider, you know. That girl is a worry. And a psychopath.

[DisturbedSwan]

2 hours ago, bellow said:

What level are you @DisturbedSwan? I seem to be ahead of you in the game but way behind in terms of hours. Plus, I'm meeting bosses at just under their level, and handling most of what's thrown at me with a good amount of challenge. Not that that's my preferred playstyle in Jrpgs. I really like to get overlevelled and feel like a badass. But the opportunity doesn't seem to present itself in this game.  An excess of XP is hard to come by I feel.

 

On chapter 12, anyway. Moving rather slowly at the moment, because of my Seattle duties.

I’m now Level 55. 
 

Up until Valor Mountain I was quite over-levelled thanks to all the side quests I’ve done but since then enemies have been on my level or a little bit under. Now I’ve reached Galahad Fortress it’s a similar deal but some have been a few levels higher.

 

I’ve been playing 2 hours a night since it released without fail, making slow progress myself but yeah, I’ll get there eventually.

[bellow]

That's a good level for the fortress. I tried to take on all the special bosses in that area and I was 55 when I hit the end of it. I don't know what happens next but I could use some downtime on the game, some flower picking and side questing. It's been very intense of late.

[DisturbedSwan]

Yeah, since the fortress the enemies have given me a bit more hassle and I’ve died a lot more but still nothing much to worry about really. 
 

I’m up to Chapter 12 as well now, still making slow progress. 64 hours played.

 

Lots of shit happened in Chapter 11 with some great boss battles but I have to say I still don’t really care much about the characters or story. I want answers to the questions the game keeps asking and am satisfied when it throws me a bone every now and again whilst creating more questions but yeah I just don’t really care much for anyone. My whole party is cool, I like them but I don’t really love them, Fiora and Reyn are probably the two I’ve connected with the most and even then it’s not really enough.

 

I like exploring the new areas, going around, doing all the quests and talking to everyone, I really love this world and exploring it. I’m still enjoying the combat too but the rest of it just isn’t resonating with me.
 

I’d say from the 10 hour mark to the 40 hour mark the game was probably an 8 or 9 out of 10 for me but since it’s rarely risen above a 7. It still can’t hold a candle to the unforgettable characters and emotional story of XC2 for me either. 

[Maf]

I’m so opposite to you on this. I played maybe 40+ hours of Xenoblade 2 and I can’t even remember what it was about. 

[bellow]

Basically, Rex needs to guide Pyra to Elysium to meet the 'Architect,' for an emergency breast reduction, all the while fending off the soldiers of Torna, a mythical group of assassins, often referred to in the game as 'The dark brotherhood of the melons.'

[HandsomeDead]

I do think it's the case of what you played first with this series.  I couldn't get into XBC2 much either, even less than XBCX on the WiiU.  But this one was definitely the one I put loads of time into.  Its up there with FFVII and Persona 3 as my favourite JRPGs. 

[DisturbedSwan]

I definitely think that’s the case @HandsomeDead.
 

I like the world, the combat and characters in this but I don’t love the latter. I don’t think the former two are quite as good as XC2 either. 
 

I realised earlier I’m up to Chapter 13 and not 12 ? this game just keeps going on and on. I think I’ve only just hit the second half ?