Hail to thee, O Xenoblade!
The game we all hold dear
For thou art full of countless quests
And treasures, hopes and cheer

A game we all saw to the end
The story now complete
We sing your praises far and wide
You truly are elite.

Wait, did I say we have all beaten the game? *cough*
Well, I did pour around thirty hours into it. That's about the length of an average Zelda game, so I definitely got my money's worth, right? RIGHT?

The truth is, I love Xenoblade. I was one of the people who imported the game from Europe back before the rainfall operated on it, officially birthing it from Gamestop's North American womb.
Heck, I even possibly gave North America its first Reyn Time reference in the form of comic GOLD. A reference I knew would fall on deaf ears, yet one that was important to all of humanity.

GOLD, I tells ya!

Yes, I loved Xenoblade so much that I even championed it on the 22nd episode of the Negative World Podcast. I had nothing but wonderful things to say about the game. The huge, exploration-heavy Japanese RPG. The wonder of wonders. The miracle of miracles!

This is where the game is kept in my house.

Unfortunately, not long after my stellar performance on the Podcast, Shulk and company came across a humongous, vertical forest city populated by little bouncy anime mascots. That's when the sheer enormity of the game made my mind snap. That was when the Dark Times began. THAT was when I stopped playing Xenoblade Chronicles.

This photo was taken the exact instant I stopped playing.

Over the time that followed, I have often been reminded of my failure to continue the game. Due to this failure, I have secretly hoped that Monolith Soft's upcoming Wii U game, “X” isn't a direct sequel to Xenoblade! How awful is that?
Similarly, if you were to take a look at my 3DS Puzzle Swap collection, you will notice that the Xenoblade Puzzle hasn't been given much love. Yes, I gave more attention to the Concentration Training puzzle, and I have never touched that game in my life.

I still ended up with more pieces than I had hoped for. Seen here, with Prawn Mario.

This is my cry for help. A few days ago I attempted the impossible: To return to a giant JRPG after a two year respite. I now have no clue how the fighting mechanics work, though I once recall having mastery over all of its intricacies. Now I simply mash the buttons and hope for success. From mastery to mashery.

I must admit, I forgot some other things about the game...

What have I done? Has the sheer immensity of this game been its downfall in my eyes? That same immensity that once had me shouting from the rooftops?
I yearn to play this game again, and I'm willing to bet there are a few others in the same boat. I dare not start the game anew since I am still quite familiar with the story, and I don't have the time to devote to retreading old ground. I simply require a refresher course on the game's battle mechanics. I am ready for that course!

Who shall join me?

I pledge to beat you, Xenoblade!
I shall right an awful wrong
Two years of ignoring you
Is simply far too long.

I shall give your rightful due
This is an honest vow
Never before has it been
Such Reyn time as is now.

URL to share (right click and copy)

[ref=id=10839&pagenumber=5#385337]@DrFinkelstein[/ref
One good thing about RIki is he can take a lot of hits and being able to pile on debuffs onto enemies can prove useful. I personally loved my setup of Shulk, Dunban and Seven I was able to do lots of damage really quickly.

Posted by

Pokefreak911

on: 02/14/14, 03:00

@Pokefreak911
I like how you spoiler tagged "Seven." That's like, super-careful.

Posted by

ploot

on: 02/14/14, 04:11

The problem with Melia is her low HP, so she was no help to me that battle since she kept getting whacked. I just brute-forced it with the high-HP heavy hitters.

Posted by

Mop it up

on: 02/14/14, 04:24

@ploot

I'm trying to figure out if Seven is Fiora or not... does Seven relate to story stuff post the heart-battle I'm at?

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 02/14/14, 04:52

@DrFinkelstein
You have Seven already, yeah. Fiora is the seventh character.
Wheeee!

Posted by

ploot

on: 02/14/14, 04:54

@ploot

Thought so. But then why does anyone even call her Seven? I don't recall this being mentioned in the game so far.

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 02/14/14, 05:02

@DrFinkelstein
It seems to be a Xenoblade "community" creation to avoid spoilers. I was totally confused on it myself until recently.

Posted by

ploot

on: 02/14/14, 05:13

@DrFinkelstein Because she is the seventh playable character you get, and saying her name as someone who joins you is an obvious spoiler that she's still alive.

Posted by

Mop it up

on: 02/14/14, 05:15

@Mop it up

From reading FAQs and such I thought this whole time there was a story element to it. I figured the spoiler-aspect of it would be a convenient reason but until today I didn't know for sure. Nice to see the community being cautious.

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 02/14/14, 05:21

The first time I saw the term was on GameFAQs, which, at the time, didn't have spoiler tags for posts. So that's an easy way to hide the spoiler when tags aren't available.

Plus I think people probably just think the name sounds cool.

Posted by

Mop it up

on: 02/14/14, 05:30

Edited:

02/14/14, 05:32

So I posted about how much trouble I was having with Disciple Lorithia, and then I beat her right after. Used Melia, Reyn, and Sharla at level 75 with a primary focus on Melia's ether attacks like Ice, Aqua, Flame, etc but then the whole Spear Break + Topple thing worked wonders after removing the minions because I think Reyn kept Dazing her for me. Super easy at that point, lol.

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 02/15/14, 17:26

Edited:

02/15/14, 17:32

@DrFinkelstein
Woohoo!!! You're almost there!

Posted by

ploot

on: 02/15/14, 20:48

@ploot

I'm thinking I still might go back and do other stuff before finishing... but then again, what's the point? I mean, I dunno.... I know there's the New Game + but I don't know if that's worth it or fun or whatever.

What's it keep when you play that?

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 02/15/14, 21:16

@DrFinkelstein
The point is fun! If you're into that sort of thing. The biggest and most dangerous unique beasts in the game aren't necessary to beat or even encounter, so those who like the battles can spend a good chunk of time trying to take them down. There are also some sidequests that develop the named NPCs, for those who care about that. But yeah, if you don't feel like the gameplay itself is fun enough for you to want to go back and do random stuff, I suppose you shouldn't.

The New Game + let's you carry over:

Character Levels
Character Arts
Character Skills and Affinity Coins
Party Affinity
Gold
Items equipped when game is cleared are automatically carried over.
30 weapons you select are carried over
30 from each category of armour you select is carried over
60 materials you select are carried over
All other items (gems, collectibles, etc.) except key items are carried over without restriction
Achievement Records
Collectopaedia (destinations not reached will initially be hidden)
Monado III. Note, none of the Monados will carry over if the Monado III is not equiped or selected to carry over when you finish a game.
Tutorials (game will no longer pause to reintroduce a new tutorial)

It doesn't carry over:

Key Items
Achievement Trials
Affinity Chart
Heart-to-Heart Progress
Quests
Geography (Maps, geography, and landmarks)
Unique Monster progress

Copied and pasted from the Xenoblade wiki.

EDIT: Er, only one of those things should have been spoiler marked, shouldn't it? Oh well.

Posted by

r_hjort

on: 02/15/14, 21:31

Edited:

02/15/14, 21:33

Well, I've just beaten the Dragon King Alcar. Saved and quit for now. Still need to harvest Bolt Elements from the Solare Nebulas. Then I will need only a single Angel Engine X to complete Colony 6.

Once I do that, I'll probably go beat this son of a bitch game.

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 02/15/14, 23:47

I've finally started playing again in the last couple days. I'm only about 6 hours in though, so I have a long way to go. Maybe I'll get through it by the time X comes out.

Posted by

DeputyVanHalen

on: 02/16/14, 00:21

@DrFinkelstein
Have you been using Riki's ability to find rare chests? It helped me sooooo much when rebuilding Colony 6.

@DeputyVanHalen
You can doooooo iiiiiit!!!

Posted by

ploot

on: 02/16/14, 01:58

Edited:

02/16/14, 01:59

@DrFinkelstein There is nothing new in the New Game Plus, no new endings or items or anything. It's basically for if you want to replay the game with super overpowered characters and speed through it, perhaps to see the story again or something. If you want to do any side/optional stuff, best to do it on your original game.

Posted by

Mop it up

on: 02/16/14, 02:01

Dammit! Shilx is now in Colony 6 but he wont trade the last thing I need, one Angel Engine X because the affinity isn't up. So.... I just have to go around talking to EVERYONE in Colony 6 and seeing what happens? Do whatever Quests pop up? It's a shame because the Hidden Machina Village is a full five stars but since he moved it doesn't matter.

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 02/16/14, 05:11

@DrFinkelstein
I needed a "red something" that got locked out from Sword Valley. I ran around Colony 6 and found two of them within 10 minutes. I did have to save/reload but it seems colony 6 is a good spot for missed materials.

Posted by

ploot

on: 02/16/14, 07:17