Support NeoGAF

[Seanspeed]

I don't remember ever having to collect Forget-You-Nots, but I know I was able to find the collectables I was missing by going to the places I was told they would appear. You might have to make a couple trips there I suppose, but I didn't find the "rare" collectibles to be too challenging. Keep trying (time of day counts too) and I'd imagine it shouldn't take you that long before you get them.

As for your issue with the area you are in, I thought that

Spoiler

the atmosphere of Mechonis was quite different from that of Bionis, which made it interesting

but I do agree that more types of Mechon (rather than just new nonsensical names for old models) would have been nice. I liked that area overall though, and recycled enemies (albeit with different names and colour schemes) was a trope that this game unfortunately didn't avoid all the time. You do still have

Spoiler

a couple areas to go through that are filled with Mechon

, but hopefully you can still enjoy them.

This is the first time I've had a hard time finding something this badly. I think I'm just getting very unlucky.

And like I said, I'm still enjoying this, definitely. Just relative to the other parts of the game, this feels like a slog, mainly cuz the area is just so big and it doesn't have quite the enemy variety of previous areas. I spent a good 3 hours playing today and while I spent time doing other stuff, I did make an effort to continue on with the story a bit and am still in the same area. Affinity between members is going up quick with all the fighting, though!

 

[Effect]

Hmm. The game has an annoying way of telling you which way to go at certain times.

Spoiler

Makna Forest

Let's go this way. Hmm a level 90....is that a t-rex!?. Let's go the other way. Damn it another one. I guess I have to back and then around what looked like the long way from the beginning. *shakes head*.

I guess I shouldn't be to annoyed. The whole bridge walkway did show what was on the ground in that area. There is one creature I did see that I did want to fight but I guess that'll have to wait till the end of the game and I'm at max level (if I get there). I wonder if that's the thinking I should have. If it looks like a short cut to the flag the map it's most likely a direction I should not go in.

Do these level 80+ creatures have a common aggro range? Or do I have to be within their line of sight?

This is actually the first area I don't really care for outside of the waterfall section. Then again I don't really care for areas like this general in other games. I could go back as far as Everquest 1 and being annoyed with the Greater and Lesser Faydark zones.

 

[Seanspeed]

Hmm. The game has an annoying way of telling you which way to go at certain times.

Spoiler

Makna Forest

Let's go this way. Hmm a level 90....is that a t-rex!?. Let's go the other way. Damn it another one. I guess I have to back and then around what looked like the long way from the beginning. *shakes head*.

Dont be afraid to venture off the path. You can often sneak around many of those high level monsters. And if it doesn't work out, there's no penalty for dying! There's a few places the game specifically closes off to you so if they want you to stay out of somewhere, they can do it better than sticking a high level monster or two in your way, ya know?

 

[Metroid Killer]

I'm at the same place as you Seanspeed, and I feel somwhat the same. Mechon are some of the most boring enemy groups to fight, and while the previous area(FA) was also filled with mechon, it was at least very unique. The redeeming part of the area is the music.

The story difintely also topped at the events of PI, and ever since then things haven't been that interesting, story-wise. I feel that I'm in for some great stuff soon.

 

[chaosblade]

Dont be afraid to venture off the path. You can often sneak around many of those high level monsters. And if it doesn't work out, there's no penalty for dying! There's a few places the game specifically closes off to you so if they want you to stay out of somewhere, they can do it better than sticking a high level monster or two in your way, ya know?

Actually there is one point where the game basically uses two monsters to prevent you from doing something, but it's post-game content.

Deinos Sauros shouldn't be too hard to get by, I don't think their aggro range is very big. There are only 2 or 3 of them, and if you stay in the trees on either side of them you should be able to run right by them.

I also didn't really mind fighting Mechon, they go down pretty easy and you can use a party of

Spoiler

Melia/Shulk/7th

and completely negate the need for enchant, without any anti-Mechon equipment. And by the time you reach

Spoiler

Agniratha

you'll probably have good enough anti-Mechon gear that you can switch back to using anyone you want and be fine. Some of the best 3 slot weapons tend to be kind of hard to get though.


Anyway, I've kind of lost interest in my low level NG+ playthrough already. There's not really any challenge in it - 90% or more of your defense seems to come from your armor so even level 80 enemies are survivable with 1500HP or so - and I really don't feel like grinding for bad equipment to make it a challenge. So I'm probably going to level up some more and continue rushing through the game, and just try to open up the post-game content at the lowest level possible, then tackle Abaasy. Again. My goal is 50. My expectation is closer to 60 though.

 

[PhoenixSFT]

Do these level 80+ creatures have a common aggro range? Or do I have to be within their line of sight?

Yeah, if you highlight them as if you're going to battle them, it'll show what they need to aggro. Some are because of ether attacks, some are because of noise, and some are line of sight. I think the Deinosaurus is through line of sight, so just avoid being in his range of vision, or run like hell if it sees you. I tend to explore the whole map as much as I can before I get to another hub area or (what seems like) a major plot point. It's fun dodging level 98 enemies and finding a secret area, and it makes it easier when the game says "Go here and collect this to advance."

 

[Effect]

Oh I know about the state the creatures will be in (sound, openly hostile, etc). What I mean by range is how close you'd have to be to trigger the hostile creatures. Along the lines of having to be right near or will it trigger on me from a distance and come racing towards me because they are so much larger and more powerful then your standard enemy. I guess I just expected them to act differently because they were unique.

Even though there is no penalty for dying (sometimes I forget this) I still dislike dying out in the field so I try to avoid it. I guess I should break myself of this habit with this game.

 

[Korosenai]

For some reason at the ether plant in eryth sea, there is a red exclamation point with nobody around. Is this a glitch or what?

I'll take a pic of it soon, to show whats going on.

 

[Splat]

For some reason at the ether plant in eryth sea, there is a red exclamation point with nobody around. Is this a glitch or what?

I'll take a pic of it soon, to show whats going on.

I assume you checked under the platform?

 

[Broken Arrow]

Finally my copy has arrived!

Can't wait to play the hell out of it this weekend!

 

[Exeunt]

I have six Art manuals outstanding at this point, five-star affinity with all the areas in the game, completed all the tasks for

Spoiler

Colony 6

and can't find a single quest in the spreadsheet that I haven't done yet. My characters are all either level 98 or 99, though I don't have enough AP to max out every Art yet and the seventh is lagging behind in terms of completed skill trees. Overall I've put just over 160 hours into the game at this point and not long from now I'm going to be pretty much done.

Apparently there are 157 unique monsters in the game and I have exactly 246 Affinity Coins on my highest-levelled characters, so I either have 9 or 10 beasties that I haven't fought yet (depending on whether you start the game with a single coin or none). This game could really use a bestiary to—at the very least—show you which unique monsters have given you Affinity Coins already; as it stands I don't really see the point in trying to track down the last of the

Spoiler

sub-level 100

monsters. I might've missed them in areas that are locked out now anyway, and I don't think the missing Affinity Coins or low-level fights will detract from my experience at all. So once I get the last of the Art books, I'll probably try my hand at the toughest monsters.

There is technically some more unfinished content that I have; there are achievements remaining that sound like I'm supposed to do something a hundred or so more times, so I probably won't end up getting those. I feel like achievements were more balanced and interesting when they were rather unexpected and gave experience helpful to your level; as it stands, the experience I get wouldn't matter and I don't necessarily feel like I have to get every single one anymore.

As it stands, I'm probably going to "finish" everything this weekend, and I'll probably post my "last" impressions of the game a little while after the E3 dust settles. The "post/end-game" content is a little weaker than I hoped it would be—especially near the end—but I still haven't tackled the toughest enemies in the game. I don't feel burnt out but at I think I'm nearing the part when it'll feel good to put the game down and come back to it for a new playthrough when it's fresh again. I certainly feel like I've experienced a huge amount of content and it's been a great game to play for the last month or so.

 

[Effect]

Finally made it to

Spoiler

Alcamoth

and things are starting to pick up it seems. This area so far like the Bionis Leg looks amazing. Glad to have the last area behind me. I like the Nopon but wish they were in a different area. The final fight though was pretty good and I'm really starting to like the characters

Spoiler

Riki and Melia

. I can see how the first could annoy people though.

On a different note I'm glad in the end I didn't cave on Dragon'a Dogma. If I had I'd be playing that instead of focusing on this. Game is simply extremely enjoyable, even the areas I don't really care for and that's partly because I like the other areas so much more and have a dislike of areas like that in general. It's the excellent use of color that really does it for me. I'm all for more games that try to model real world locations. That's fine but things alway send up looking so drab and depressing when in reality things actually are brighter then that. This goes in the opposite direction and I actually prefer that and will take that approach every time.

 

[carlo6529]

I've been playing this the past week. It is definately a solid game and man is it ever big. NOA took way too long to localize this.

 

[Effect]

I've been playing this the past week. It is definately a solid game and man is it ever big. NOA took way too long to localize this.

Bringing it over. NoA didn't have to localize anything. That was part of the issue people had with NoA regarding the game. They took a pass all together. NoE did all the localization work.

 

[Jarlaxle]

So I just finished

Spoiler

Prisoner's Island

last night. I'm currently level

Spoiler

42

and a little over

Spoiler

29

hours in. I've been using a party of

Spoiler

Shulk, Dunban, and Riki

. They've been working pretty well for me and I will probably use them through the rest of the game barring whether or not I like

Spoiler

the 7th character

or not.

Does that party make sense or should I be using a different character. How far am I to completion? Do I seem to be an appropriate level or am I underleveled?

I don't really actively seek out sidequests. I agree to each one I find though and usually try and kill everything in my path so I wind up completing a bunch of them but I'm not going out of my way. I'm liking the game but I have the hardest time with the gems. I've read the gem guide and looked at a gem faq but still have trouble with it but so far using crappy gems hasn't really held me back.

There's so much to like about the game but then there are some annoying things as well. I hate that if I go to a merchant to buy an art book, it doesn't get rid of the books I already have so I can just rebuy art books I don't need and then I have to resell the books. I don't like that when I'm changing equipment, it keeps the gems I had on the prior equipment unless I actively take them off. It's sometimes hard to tell the difference in equipment because of the gems I normally have equipped so I find myself taking off the gems on the current equipment, then looking at new equipment to compare and then reputting the gems back on. It's just kind of annoying and I find myself only looking at equipment every 7 or 8 hours or so, so I don't have to go through the trouble. Just fixing some little things like this would really help me. Loving the experience still so far. I just find myself smiling alot while playing it.

 

[chaosblade]

I wouldn't recommend trying to stick with a specific party. There is no "best" party for every situation (that's kind of a lie, but work with me here). You're better off switching up to improve affinity between characters, and some characters do better in some situations.

As long as you're similar in level to the enemies in whatever the most recent area is, you're fine. Might be a tad low for that point, don't remember exactly. The game tends to do a good job adjusting experience based on your level though. And that's roughly the halfway point of the game. Not exactly, it's probably slightly before it, but close enough.

Not sure what you're having issues with on gem crafting, the guide should cover everything. Basically it's just a matter of wanting to get as high of a percentage as possible. Means the best thing to do is to get the crystals/cylinders to as close to 99 as possible without going over, then craft them together. With higher affinity you can get more crafting turns and party member assists, and it gets easier to megaheat.

And an option to automatically transfer gems would have been really nice. I'm sure people would complain about it if it popped up and asked every time you changed armor, but it's still better than having to dig through your gems and re-equip.

 

[Tunic]

I am looking forward to getting back into my adventure in Xenoblade Chronicles today. As with other folks I was distracted with the release Diablo 3. It's Reyn time!

 

[Head of Vengarl]

So I finally arrived at the point of no return. Whew what a journey it's been! I was only level

Spoiler

76

when I got there so I've been doing some gem collecting and gold chest grinding in

Spoiler

the Bionis' Interior

and

Spoiler

Prison Island

. I also remembered that there were mobs around my level in earlier areas, like the

Spoiler

level ~77 Armus and Hoxes on Gaur Plain

, so I've been hunting those down as well. That's one of the many things I have really enjoyed in this game — going back and killing those damn high level monsters that I had to run away from before. It's really satisfying.

I maxed the affinity between all 3 of my main party members (Shulk, 7th & Dunban) so now I'm using my "gold farmer" party of Melia, Riki & Dunban, who all have the +3% gold chest droprate skill. I've gotten some great arts manuals so far; yesterday's highlights were Healing Energy, Wild Down, Freezinate, Stream Edge and Heal Round. I also got Monado

Spoiler

Eater

from that Frontier Village quest, but it's pretty underwhelming after getting

Spoiler

Armor

.

I'll keep messing around until I hit level

Spoiler

80

, and then I'll head for the final battle. I can't wait to see how it all goes down!

 

[raven777]

I think I got a new Battle theme music. I don't know if its temporary or this is the theme from now on, but I absolutely love it! A lot more than the first one. Does this mean I am past to 2nd half of the game?

Spoiler

I just fell with Firoa, and she got her memory back. Is she the 7th that everyone has been referring to?

 

[Wichu]

I think I got a new Battle theme music. I don't know if its temporary or this is the theme from now on, but I absolutely love it! A lot more than the first one. Does this mean I am past to 2nd half of the game?

Spoiler

I just fell with Firoa, and she got her memory back. Is she the 7th that everyone has been referring to?

It's the battle theme for the

Spoiler

Mechonis areas

. And yes, you're correct. Enjoy

 

[Korosenai]

I assume you checked under the platform?

Yep, lol. I checked under that thing ten times at least, and just now found him. I feel pretty dumb now

But anyways, does anyone know where the intermediate art books are for spear break and summon earth?

 

[The Awesomest]

Sooo I'm in Agniratha. Reflections and questions:

Spoiler

I took some time off to do sidequests and I got up to level 68. Had a nice time until I got to the main part of the city. I started to fight a mechon, then a Face runs downstairs out of nowhere and joins the fight. Freaked me out a little. Later on, we were at the stairs in a different part of the city and I used a chain attack to finish off a mechon, but before the chain attack is over my dudes run upstairs and start attacking a mechon I didn't even know was there! Crazy.
I fought two uniques, too. Both were right around my level, but I struggled with both of them. I got one, but as soon as I had the other one on the ropes, some random blue flying mechon comes in out of nowhere and the fight is over almost immediately. I guess I should start actually using gems, huh.

I was using Shulk/Riki/Dunban as my go-to team for hard stuff, because of Monado Shield and their healing moves and all that. But, I was thinking of maybe using Melia/Shulk/Riki for her ether craziness and to build affinity, but my only concern is that there isn't a tank in that party. Will that party see me safely through Agniratha? Does the CPU use Shulk well? I haven't tried it yet but I'm concerned he'll use his Monado arts more than I'd like, leaving it unavailable for when we really need it.

And an option to automatically transfer gems would have been really nice. I'm sure people would complain about it if it popped up and asked every time you changed armor, but it's still better than having to dig through your gems and re-equip.

Wait what? I thought it already did this.

 

[StAidan]

Yep, lol. I checked under that thing ten times at least, and just now found him. I feel pretty dumb now

I did exactly the same thing. Spent probably 20-30 minutes running around looking for the guy, and finally gave up and left. Went back a few days later and there he was, even though I'd swear he wasn't there before.

 

[Exeunt]

Spoiler

I was using Shulk/Riki/Dunban as my go-to team for hard stuff, because of Monado Shield and their healing moves and all that. But, I was thinking of maybe using Melia/Shulk/Riki for her ether craziness and to build affinity, but my only concern is that there isn't a tank in that party. Will that party see me safely through Agniratha? Does the CPU use Shulk well? I haven't tried it yet but I'm concerned he'll use his Monado arts more than I'd like, leaving it unavailable for when we really need it.

The party you're considering switching to is actually a favourite of mine which served me quite well through a lot of the game. The biggest problem—is like you mentioned—(not really spoilers but I'll tag it since you did)

Spoiler

the lack of a tank. Riki takes hits quite well thanks to his massive HP but since he's more of a supporter he won't draw aggro like Reyn or Dunban. If you use Melia's Arts a lot (which you should) there is also a good chance of drawing aggro, and with low HP that isn't the best scenario. Shulk is really good to have for his Monado Arts and he doesn't really use them too much in battle; I can't remember a single time when I wasn't able to warn him and put up a Shield for instance. This is a pain if you run into an enemy with Spike effects however. Riki and Shulk both seem to have good AI as far as I can tell, and Shulk uses Shaker Edge if you topple an enemy more often than not.

That party worked really well for me but different playstyles might mean you don't find it as good. That said, I doubt there's anything to lose by giving it a shot.

Right now I've defeated Final Marcus and Despotic Arsene, and thanks to the latter I now have all the Art manuals in the game. Ancient Daedala wiped me out before I was able to take it down; unfortunately I don't have Melia's skill which halves Spike damage yet, but I think there is one that raises Art accuracy. If I can use this to remove the resistance to

Spoiler

Monado Purge

then maybe it's possible I can take Daedala on without juggling gems around too much.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

I beat the game. Wow... that ending really, completely had my head spinning. I just sat there staring at the screen for like 10 minutes after the credits finished.

Spoiler

I was really thrown for a loop by that final stage: our solar system (which, by the way, looked absolutely beautiful). The entire game I was under the impression that this was set on some fantasy planet in some fantasy universe, completely detached from ours. Then you see that sequence with Klaus and Meyneth on the satellite orbiting Earth, and they are working on some kind of Big Bang experiment when Klaus goes full retard and implodes the entire universe. Holy shit lol. I really enjoyed it. Completely unexpected, and on a scale that I couldn't have imagined. I like how it's still left open for some interpretation. Like the whole Alvis thing. Is the whole universe of Xenoblade simply existing in a computer program (Alvis)? Or did Klaus' experiment actually wipe everything out, save for the computer he created (Alvis), who retained the memories/personalities/souls of Klaus and Meyneth, and made them the gods of the new universe?

My head is so full of fuck.

Spoiler

I really wanted Shulk to kiss Fiora at the end. But oh well. Maybe he'll end up tapping Melia instead. She's hotter anyways.

 

[Wichu]

Spoiler

Maybe he'll end up tapping Melia instead. She's hotter anyways.

She's

Spoiler

88

, you sick bastard.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

She's

Spoiler

88

, you sick bastard.

Even better man.

Spoiler

All the experience of an older woman, with the body of an 18-year-old.

Truly the best of both worlds.

 

[SecretMoblin]

What has this thread become...

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Lol. Just a little tangent, my friend. Anyway, back to my point. DAT ENDING.

Spoiler

Some people say they'd like to see a sequel. I disagree. The ending was perfect and the whole point is that they don't know what's going to happen, but they head toward the future in harmony. A prequel, on the other hand, could be really interesting. But there isn't much to work with, because if I understand the story correctly this is the first cycle of life in Zanza's world where his creations were given higher intelligence and free thought.

 

[The Awesomest]

Whoa... just got to the part most likely before the point of no return for timed sidequests...

Spoiler

They didn't tell me Mechonis would be unavailable now I can't get all those drops and collectibles, and I'll never defeat Wise Gremory ):< Also, seeing Mechonis moving around in the background is really, really freaky D:

 

[chaosblade]

Whoa... just got to the part most likely before the point of no return for timed sidequests...

Spoiler

They didn't tell me Mechonis would be unavailable now I can't get all those drops and collectibles, and I'll never defeat Wise Gremory ):< Also, seeing Mechonis moving around in the background is really, really freaky D:

The warning isn't specific, but you do get one

Spoiler

before Junks goes to Mechonis Core

. You can also revisit

Spoiler

Central Factory and Agniratha (yes, they forgot to block that off) from Mechonis Core

but I'm not sure you can do a whole lot there before they are closed off permanently.

 

[AlphaDragoon]

Even better man.

Spoiler

All the experience of an older woman, with the body of an 18-year-old.

Truly the best of both worlds.

Spoiler

Melia is best girl by far IMO, was sad that they did everything in their power to screw her over both in romance and in family.

 

[ThankeeSai]

Picked this up today.

Not really a great fan of other JRPG's, but after reading all the positive reviews and the impressions on here, I decided to broaden my horizons and give it a whirl.

It was a choice between this and Pandora's Tower...

Hope I made the right choice, GAF!

 

[Effect]

Picked this up today.

Not really a great fan of other JRPG's, but after reading all the positive reviews and the impressions on here, I decided to broaden my horizons and give it a whirl.

It was a choice between this and Pandora's Tower...

Hope I made the right choice, GAF!

Quick tip. When you get tutorials be sure to go into the tutorial menu itself after the initial pop up. There is sometimes an extra tutorial on the subject you were just shown going into more detail. You can also sort them and quest as well to make the list more manageable. Get in the habit of targeting everything as well. Travel at night can also be dangerous too. Not Dragon's Dogma I believe. There are actual stars and moonlight but dangerous all the same as different creatures come out.

 

[chaosblade]

Yeah, the game is honestly pretty simple once you get it all figured out, but there are a lot of mechanics and concepts to wrap your head around and it might be a bit more difficult if you don't play other JRPGs. So taking advantage of the tutorials will be worth your time.

Some other good tips in the OP. A lot of people play for a long time without taking proper advantage of quick travel for instance, and I don't see how. That would be really annoying.

Probably a good choice though, Pandora's Tower looks pretty mediocre to me and I'm not disappointed at all it's not announced for NA. If any console JRPG this generation is likely to resonate well with someone who doesn't play JRPGs, this is probably the best bet.

 

[ThankeeSai]

Thanks for the tips, guys. Will get a good sesh in on this tonight, I reckon.

 

[Zornica]

Probably a good choice though, Pandora's Tower looks pretty mediocre to me and I'm not disappointed at all it's not announced for NA. If any console JRPG this generation is likely to resonate well with someone who doesn't play JRPGs, this is probably the best bet.

It's not a mediocre game at all, and for someone who doesn't play jrpgs pandroa is the better choice from a genre point of view, xb ofc is the better game overall, but pandora ss probably the best 3d castlevania out there , and has a real nice feeling to it. But yeah... offtopic...

It has been a while since I last came in contact with anything xb related, until my random playlist chose to play "Prologue B" and damn... I can't complain enough about lazy game musicians today who think an "epic" orchestraded track is an excuse for a lack of ideas and boring melodies... but, I just can't say anything bad about this track, and I wonder why this one isn't brough up more and this games soundtrack discussions. Imho it's the best "boring" track there is
Somehow I really like how they fitted the main theme right in there but at the same time making it more exciting and striving.
It also reminds me of terranigma, which is always a good thing, and another good example of how a whole soundtrack can evolve around a single simple melody.

 

[chaosblade]

It's not a mediocre game at all, and for someone who doesn't play jrpgs pandroa is the better choice from a genre point of view, xb ofc is the better game overall, but pandora ss probably the best 3d castlevania out there , and has a real nice feeling to it. But yeah... offtopic...

It has been a while since I last came in contact with anything xb related, until my random playlist chose to play "Prologue B" and damn... I can't complain enough about lazy game musicians today who think an "epic" orchestraded track is an excuse for a lack of ideas and boring melodies... but, I just can't say anything bad about this track, and I wonder why this one isn't brough up more and this games soundtrack discussions. Imho it's the best "boring" track there is
Somehow I really like how they fitted the main theme right in there but at the same time making it more exciting and striving.
It also reminds me of terranigma, which is always a good thing, and another good example of how a whole soundtrack can evolve around a single simple melody.

I really like that track. It's actually one of my favorites for the whole game, doesn't get enough love.

And yeah, I didn't count Pandora's Tower as a JRPG anyway, it's much more of an action game based on everything I've seen. Calling it a "RPG" seems on par with calling Call of Duty a "RPG" because you gain experience and level things up.

 

[The Awesomest]

So, I'm trying to find the NPC Bozatrox

Spoiler

after the Mechonis reawakens. The Wikia says she's on Digit 2 but I can't find her

I need those hox daylight spurs!

 

[chaosblade]

So, I'm trying to find the NPC Bozatrox

Spoiler

after the Mechonis reawakens. The Wikia says she's on Digit 2 but I can't find her

I need those hox daylight spurs!

Did you do the quests involving that NPC? They might not remain available if you don't, not 100% sure.

But I think

Spoiler

she is on the "dock" area you have to climb down to.

 

[MetatronM]

So, I'm trying to find the NPC Bozatrox

Spoiler

after the Mechonis reawakens. The Wikia says she's on Digit 2 but I can't find her

I need those hox daylight spurs!

If I remember right,

Spoiler

there's a platform at sea level around there that she's on along with a few other people.

 

[cooljeanius]

So I'm up to the swanp area on the other side of Colony 6. I wish there were a built-in screenshot tool. I also wish the minimap was 3-D, like Metroid Prime's minimap. I also wish there was sort of medium-speed travel, so I could go somewhat quickly without having to miss out on the scenery like you do with the fast travel. Anyway, despite these things I wished the game had, I'm really liking it so far. The world is great to explore, and I'm liking the story so far, too. I'm playing with the voices in Japanese, and I'm surprised at how many words I'm recognizing, even though I don't speak Japanese. Although, that may be because they say each other's names a lot, and also throw in some English words occasionally...

 

[Seanspeed]

So I'm up to the swanp area on the other side of Colony 6. I wish there were a built-in screenshot tool. I also wish the minimap was 3-D, like Metroid Prime's minimap. I also wish there was sort of medium-speed travel, so I could go somewhat quickly without having to miss out on the scenery like you do with the fast travel. Anyway, despite these things I wished the game had, I'm really liking it so far. The world is great to explore, and I'm liking the story so far, too. I'm playing with the voices in Japanese, and I'm surprised at how many words I'm recognizing, even though I don't speak Japanese. Although, that may be because they say each other's names a lot, and also throw in some English words occasionally...

So you know English, dont know Japanese, yet you have it set to Japanese anyways.

Makes sense!

 

[Exeunt]

Well, my playtime now clocks in at 168 hours and 19 minutes, and all the highest-level unique monsters have fallen. I farmed some Debuff Resist crystals from Deinos Saurus, and in so doing, unlocked Melia's Spike-reduction skill. A couple links after that and Ancient Daedala went down much more easily; I defeated it twice in a row for the Night Vision cylinders without breaking too much of a sweat. After that point I switched the seventh out for Melia to beat the last two monsters with good old Shulk and Riki. Blizzard Belgazas bested me twice thanks to

Spoiler

Mountain Stamp

coming without a vision and probably just poor playing on the second failed attempt, but it too bit the dust.

Part of the reason I'll be pretty satisfied to put the game down at this point is how the Abaasy battle turned out. I thought it was all over when I accidentally selected

Spoiler

Monado Shield

instead of

Spoiler

Monado Armour

—I don't know if I got them mixed up in the heat of the moment or what—but I scraped my way past that mistake and a couple other tense moments along the way. At another point I accidentally triggered a battle with one of the level 99 enemies nearby but that turned out to be a non-issue despite my low HP; there were probably about three occasions on which I was really hoping that Riki would heal us which also turned out all right. The battle ended up going into the morning—ending my Night Vision bonus alongside all the night-based skill links—but the Party Gauge was high enough to weather the rest of the visions and Shulk dealt the final blow from behind. I was on edge for the whole battle but managed to take Abaasy down on the first attempt, which was a pretty high note to bring the "post-game" to a close.

The only thing left is to grind for achievements—which I might consider on a slow afternoon if I want to revisit the world—but the experience rewarded is meaningless now and I don't feel that compelled to fill the checklist. Part of me wishes there were more to do, yet at the same time I'm ready to end my current Xenoblade Chronicles adventure and come back to the game at some point in the future. Like I said earlier, I will write up my post-completion thoughts on the game after maybe a week or so when I have time to reflect on it. What I can say now is that I really enjoyed the game and I don't think I have ever poured this much time into a single non-Pokémon save file before. For anyone who's just starting now, I hope you give the game a chance and don't feel like you have to play at a certain pace or in a certain way. Hopefully the vast majority who pick up the title will find something great in it, and I highly recommend a purchase if you're on the fence.

 

[chaosblade]

So I'm up to the swanp area on the other side of Colony 6. I wish there were a built-in screenshot tool. I also wish the minimap was 3-D, like Metroid Prime's minimap. I also wish there was sort of medium-speed travel, so I could go somewhat quickly without having to miss out on the scenery like you do with the fast travel. Anyway, despite these things I wished the game had, I'm really liking it so far. The world is great to explore, and I'm liking the story so far, too. I'm playing with the voices in Japanese, and I'm surprised at how many words I'm recognizing, even though I don't speak Japanese. Although, that may be because they say each other's names a lot, and also throw in some English words occasionally...

The English VA is really good, and it kind of blows my mind when people talk about it being bad. I'd honestly recommend it over the Japanese, the English track has a lot more life to it than what I've heard of the Japanese track (Dickson and Dunban especially), and some of the post-battle banter between various parties is pretty good and worth hearing.

And a 3D minimap would have been extremely helpful in one particular area you're not at yet. It does okay most of the time with different colors representing the height of the area, but that one area, yeesh it was bad.

Well, my playtime now clocks in at 168 hours and 19 minutes, and all the highest-level unique monsters have fallen. I farmed some Debuff Resist crystals from Deinos Saurus, and in so doing, unlocked Melia's Spike-reduction skill. A couple links after that and Ancient Daedala went down much more easily; I defeated it twice in a row for the Night Vision cylinders without breaking too much of a sweat. After that point I switched the seventh out for Melia to beat the last two monsters with good old Shulk and Riki. Blizzard Belgazas bested me twice thanks to

Spoiler

Mountain Stamp

coming without a vision and probably just poor playing on the second failed attempt, but it too bit the dust.

Three? You missed one then (Despotic Arsene).

 

[Exeunt]

The English VA is really good, and it kind of blows my mind when people talk about it being bad. I'd honestly recommend it over the Japanese, the English track has a lot more life to it than what I've heard of the Japanese track (Dickson and Dunban especially), and some of the post-battle banter between various parties is pretty good and worth hearing.

And a 3D minimap would have been extremely helpful in one particular area you're not at yet. It does okay most of the time with different colors representing the height of the area, but that one area, yeesh it was bad.

I've grown much less tolerant of poor voice acting/acting over the last few years or so, but I really don't think that the English VA in the game was bad. There are a couple line-readings that sound a little off here and there and I think

Spoiler

Riki's

voice slips maybe one or two times (more if his trill isn't supposed to be inconsistent, but that doesn't seem to be the case). But the only time I didn't like the VA was for the (small spoilers beyond where you are)

Spoiler

Nopon from Frontier Village

. I thought the actors brought a lot to their respective characters, and I probably wouldn't like the characters or the battles as much if they had been of a lesser quality.

I do agree that a couple of areas could've used a 3D map, but I also didn't find it a huge detriment to the experience. I can think of maybe three areas off the top of my head that could've benefited a fair bit from such a thing&#8212;I'm guessing the one area you're referring to is the same one I called out for poor voice acting.

Three? You missed one then (Despotic Arsene).

I think I posted about defeating Despotic Arsene and Final Marcus on Thursday or Friday; in any case, I reset at Arsene's treasure chest for the last Art manual I needed. I know I missed some unique monsters thanks to my Affinity Coin total, but fortunately the

Spoiler

level 100+ ones

weren't among them. I guess my wording was a little awkward but I used a different party for Daedala (

Spoiler

Seventh, Shulk, and Riki

) than Belgazas and Abaasy after it.

 

[The Awesomest]

So I'm up to the swanp area on the other side of Colony 6. I wish there were a built-in screenshot tool. I also wish the minimap was 3-D, like Metroid Prime's minimap. I also wish there was sort of medium-speed travel, so I could go somewhat quickly without having to miss out on the scenery like you do with the fast travel. .

Quickstep gems are your friend. But you might not have any yet.

Did you do the quests involving that NPC? They might not remain available if you don't, not 100% sure.

But I think

Spoiler

she is on the "dock" area you have to climb down to.

no

Spoiler

I didn't see her on the dock. Her boyfriend was wondering if the was able to escape ):

 

[chaosblade]

I've grown much less tolerant of poor voice acting/acting over the last few years or so, but I really don't think that the English VA in the game was bad. There are a couple line-readings that sound a little off here and there and I think

Spoiler

Riki's

voice slips maybe one or two times (more if his trill isn't supposed to be inconsistent, but that doesn't seem to be the case). But the only time I didn't like the VA was for the (small spoilers beyond where you are)

Spoiler

Nopon from Frontier Village

. I thought the actors brought a lot to their respective characters, and I probably wouldn't like the characters or the battles as much if they had been of a lesser quality.

I do agree that a couple of areas could've used a 3D map, but I also didn't find it a huge detriment to the experience. I can think of maybe three areas off the top of my head that could've benefited a fair bit from such a thing—I'm guessing the one area you're referring to is the same one I called out for poor voice acting.

Actually, I was referring to

Spoiler

Valak Mountain

, particularly the western parts of the upper level. The map in some places doesn't seem to match your surroundings at all.

And yeah, that was the only stand out "bad" voice acting in the game. There were some other things here and there that weren't too great, but not "bad."

 

[Korosenai]

Just wondering, but are there any good websites that show good art movesets for all of the characters?

Im about 47 hours in, and i want to get some different opinions/insights into what other people are doing.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

Quickstep gems are your friend. But you might not have any yet.

The issue with quickstep gems is in all probability you'll spend more time forging and equipping them than you save from the movement boost they offer.