Board 8 > Playing Xenoblade for the first time

(+) Yeah! (+)

Sorozone posted...

Because it is boring in comparison to the rest of the game.

From the point after the Mechonis attacks until like Satorl Marsh it is by far the most boring part of the game. It kinda slogs for a few hours after the stellar opening. This isn't a insult to the game, it takes a while to get your party going and to unlock arts.

Outside of the initial 3 hours, the opening isn't nearly as good as the rest of the game.

Can confirm, i put the game down last summer after getting through a bit of the really big field, it stopped being interesting to me and I haven't bothered going back to it.

But those first few hours were a lot of fun!

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Got Sharla now, and we're off to look for her very annoying kid brother. Gaur Plains, hey I know that name from Smash! Varying weather and tons of tough monsters around, this place reminds me of Archylte Steppe from FF13-2. Wonder if FF took inspiration from this.

I continue to really like Shulk, and twice in 5 minutes I have thought 'I wish somebody would just say this' and then Reyn has done immediately that- having a go at Juju and then asking Sharla if he's a substitute Gadolt.

The music is also really, really good. Each time I turn it on I sit on the main menu for a couple mins before starting.

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I really wasn't expecting XB2 to beat out XB1's field music... but then it did, strongly imho

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Are you listening to the original or the arrange tracks? Honestly I really like both so I would switch between them as I played.

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Uraya was pure Hisaishi

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Grand Kirby posted...

Are you listening to the original or the arrange tracks? Honestly I really like both so I would switch between them as I played.

Whatever the default is, probably arranged. I didn't know they redid the OST!

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Metal Face: Silent, creepy, ominous, bloodstained claws, why does it have a human face carved onto a metal body? Why is it the only one of its kind to look this way? What does it want? Instantly intriguing.

'Mysterious' Face: OI MONADO BOI

OK on the one hand confirming the Mechon as sentient beings is interesting, and there's the intrigue of what is causing the red lines to fade and why does that make him leave. But they are much less intimidating now!

Something I've noticed wandering around the plains doing the timed sidequests because I don't know when they'll expire: I like how the monsters interact with each other, with the player, and with the environment. A spider thing crawls up over a wall as I approach an item, some Tirkins guard a tunnel to their hideout and run to inform the others when we're spotted, families of monsters of different levels wander the plains together, I run past some high level monsters and discover a secret observation point only to have a giant bird swoop down out of nowhere to attack. It's all good.


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Music is so good.

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Have you encountered the Territorial Rotbart yet?

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Grand Kirby posted...

Have you encountered the Territorial Rotbart yet?

Yes, I was fighting some Ponios and it came behind me without me noticing and scared the life out of me, insta-killing Shulk. I stay away from that region now.

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I prefer Gentle Rodriguez just outside colony 9

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watch out for mah boi Immovable Gonzalez

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andylt posted...

A spider thing crawls up over a wall as I approach an item

https://i.imgur.com/n9TSFw5.gif

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Even on the tiny 3DS screen that spider gave me a jump scare.

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Flabbergasted Jerome till I die

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Lol glad I'm not the only one who was caught off guard by the spider. Also super weird to see how the game looked on Wii.

Chapter 5 done! The game successfully baited me with Otharon's death, I thought for sure that would be Shulk learning he can't always change the future. I'm not feeling the personalities of the face Mechons, they're very generically evil in that sense, but the implications of something deeper going on with them intrigue me greatly. Xord not always being like that, and not thinking of his name as his own etc, my current working theory is that people aren't being eaten at all but being converted into Mechon, Dr Who Cybermen style. But I'm sure it'll go much deeper than that. Will we eventually be exploring Mechonis? Gotta wait and see I guess.

The Monado is basically a spoiler alert lol, Shulk getting a ton of flashforwards of stuff to come (RIP Emperor Whoever I guess!). This is really a fascinating way of telling a story, having the game sorta spoil itself. Excited to see how it pulls that off.

Not a clue what to make of the little Kingdom Hearts looking kid or his weird pet. And we have Dunban now! I'm just now learning that you can put the guest characters into your actual party too. Shulk's VA continues to be really great, his screams charging at Metal Face were top notch. Music also top tier.

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andylt posted...

Shulk's VA continues to be really great, his screams charging at Metal Face were top notch.

Adam Howden really is fantastic in the role, yeah.

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Hey, that's Dunban over there!

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Ah, you've reached the point where Sharla will never see playtime again.

VERY GOOD

Oh, and I recommend leveling Shulk's Monado Shield ability to 3 if it isn't already there.

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CaptainOfCrush posted...

Ah, you've reached the point where Sharla will never see playtime again.

VERY GOOD

Oh, and I recommend leveling Shulk's Monado Shield ability to 3 if it isn't already there.

You never know, he may be one of those filthy casuals who play the whole game as Shulk with Reyn and Sharla!

*shudders*

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true gamers main sharla the rest of the game

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I only used Sharla for bosses because all of the other healing in the game sucks.

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I used her only for the final boss because I rushed the last part of the game and was under leveled so I needed to win by attrition

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my last playthrough I actually controlled Sharla for a good chunk and it actually wasn't bad

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I played Shulk 95% of the time

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Use Sharla to snipe bird enemies sometimes.

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I kept Sharla in my party for a decent bit just because she's the best healer by a lot. Didn't like actually playing as her though.

Thankfully you just got the most fun party member in the game so that point's moot

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Initially, I kept Sharla in my lineup for a while because I had grown reliant on healing, but a good Shulk/Reyn/Dunban setup can nuke most enemies before healing becomes an issue.

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I was planning on keeping Sharla around purely for the healing, but I'll mix it up and see how it goes. I didn't realise she was so unliked! I find it refreshing that the Healer Lady isn't the typical pure saintly white mage archetype that we so often get.

Shulk has been my lead most of the time but I've tried both others, Sharla was handy as lead when I was hunting Glowing Wisps and they just wouldn't drop their item for ages.

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Healing is just not as important in this game.

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In most cases I found myself using healers against bosses, but that was because I was mostly under leveled. Final boss I was painfully under leveled and like with what foolmo said earlier it was more of a battle of attrition that I had to figure out, because my last save...yeah I wasn't going back to my last save to grind for more levels.

Most common battles you don't need to heal.

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Yeah, I think the only time I swapped Sharla in last year was when I was farming flying mobs.

She's not disliked as a character, but she's just the least fun in gameplay and the least useful for Chain Attacks. She might give you a better chance in tough battles through sheer attrition, but she'll also lengthen (what should be) quick battles with her pitiful DPS.

Contrast with Dunban, who helps end fights quickly and is a Chain Attack monster.

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As you get further in the game, Riki should be all the healing you need.

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Shulk's heal really is all you need but he's not the only non-Sharla aka non-dedicated healer character with heals so if you need more you can eventually have another mid-healer in the future

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I think if you understand the game mechanics very well, Sharla is not needed as much, since you can find ways around her healing and she does the least damage. If you haven't figured everything out, though or are underlevelled, she helps a lot as her healing is the best. You can put me in the camp of not understanding the mechanics that well, as I used her a good bit and she helped a lot.

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Satorl Marsh is beautiful at night. The wispy ether flowing around (very FFX!), haunting music, and most importantly the enemies are all at such a high level that they don't bother fighting me on sight. Lovely place.

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Oh yeah, I wanted to recommend entering the Marsh at midday so you could see the day/night transition organically. It's definitely one of my favorite regions - glad you're enjoying it!

Also, you've probably reached a Nopon camp/merchant near the entrance. He sells intermediate level books for many of Dunban's arts - I recommend buying at least Peerless, Gale Slash, and Worldly Slash.

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Is Xenoblade the same thing as Xenoblade Chronicles?
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Yes.
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Speaking of, I kind of hated that shulk was basically required in every party.

Not a top complaint, but there are at least 4 characters I would rather have in my party at all times that I felt I couldnt

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He's really not. He's good as the lead so you can take advantage of the timing and positioning skills, but if you're using another lead then it's ok to leave him out.

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masterplum posted...

Speaking of, I kind of hated that shulk was basically required in every party.

Not a top complaint, but there are at least 4 characters I would rather have in my party at all times that I felt I couldnt

I was joking earlier about maining Sharla but I actually did not have Shulk in my party very much and had zero problems.

I guess you're talking about Mechon battles but there are ways to win without Monado enchant.

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Mechon battles mostly, and yeah. There are ways without the monado to do it but they always fellt hassely


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Most JRPGs don't even let you take the lead out of your party, I think this game is pretty great with the freedom to do that. I also like that everybody gets experience even if they're not in the party, so there's no level disparity. I do sometimes wish I could switch the party lead mid-battle though.

CaptainOfCrush posted...

Also, you've probably reached a Nopon camp/merchant near the entrance. He sells intermediate level books for many of Dunban's arts - I recommend buying at least Peerless, Gale Slash, and Worldly Slash.

They looked pretty expensive so I didn't buy them at the time, I'll make sure I go back thanks! I went back to all previous shops before the Marsh and bought all the other skill upgrades I could.

I still needed Sharla for the tougher unique battles in Satorl Marsh, I feel a bit underleveled tbh. I could skip up a few levels with expert mode EXP but that feels like cheating. Still I'm getting through! I also went back to Colony 9 and did all the sidequests I could. Some little girl sent me to get devoured by 'Gentle' Rodriguez smh. I tossed the broken light thing into the water, that was an interesting one. Honestly I don't think it'd be too harmful or weak to let people have some light in their life but the game was framing it as a looking back vs moving on kinda thing so I chose the move on option.

A couple of kids were arguing over whether Shulk or Reyn is sexier lol (with Dunban stood right there being unacknowledged, poor guy), and they inadvertently spoiled that I'd get another female party member at some point. Guessing it's this Melia we keep seeing in the flashforwards (I think that's the curly haired lady). The fireworks were nice.

Shulk asking permission from Dunban to borrow the Monado, he's so precious. Through the Marsh we go into the Bionis' third lung. This is the first time it really feels like you're on/in a giant creature, this section is brief but very cool and a bit creepy (also noticeably no enemies) so I look forward to more of this. And Shulk mentions that it doesn't feel dead, which could be terrifying going forward. Are we like cells to this thing, it probably isn't even aware of our presence.

Then comes a big intrigue scene that I believe is the first in the game that's not from the POV of Shulk's party. Lots of interesting things here, my first thought is the blonde lady is Fiora- I mean who else would it be, and why hide her face if it's some rando- but I do doubt myself a bit as the monologuing lady makes it clear this is a very important thing happening, and Fiora is just some random girl, no? And I don't recall her body being taken by Metal Face, but I may be misremembering. We shall see. Interesting turn of events, for sure.

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andylt posted...

A couple of kids were arguing over whether Shulk or Reyn is sexier lol (with Dunban stood right there being unacknowledged, poor guy)

Dunban is considered an "old man" in anime standards lol

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tfw you're way closer to Dickson's age than Shulk's

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80% of my dislike of Xenoblade is Dickson's character design

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I love Dickson's design. You can really tell some 45 yr old Japanese artist who loves American motorcycle culture drew him.

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I just think "Kmart brand Johnny Depp" whenever I see him

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I like hearing the name "Dickson" in a British accent.

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