so you guys know where i am so far..Have you gone to the top of frontier village at this point (outside) and looked up?? SO COOL!!

@Smerd Nope, hadn't seen it. Took a bit, but I got it.

Making progress. I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm level 55, 48 hours in. I'd say...I don't know, 60% through the game? I've finally spent a little bit of time on the Mechonis (I don't think that's a spoiler, no?).

I'm glad that the story has picked up again. It really hit a lull for me when we first stepped foot into Alcamoth, although I remember feeling fatigued even before that, through Makna Forest and Satori Marsh. I remember just wanting to get on with the story, so I feel like I skipped so much of both areas. I wound up wandering around Makna Forest doing some monster hunting and stuff, although I feel like I wasted a little bit of time. I leveled up a couple times, so I don't think it was a complete waste of time.

I'm glad to see a familiar Face (lol) return, and I'm more glad to now have more of a clear goal in mind. I guess Egil has kind of emerged as the game's major antagonist, so it's nice to finally have 'the face of my enemy', so to speak. I'm not sure if that will change, but I feel like I'm finally gunning for something again. The scene on the beach after the fortress was touching, so the game is hitting a lot of the right marks for me.

Still, some of the games flaws creep out here and there. It's like Zero said in chat - there are some very obvious flaws in this game, but I almost don't even care because of how ambitious and meaty it is. The fortress level was really cool to me, but at the same time...man, this game seems to fall apart in small, indoor environments. I'm really glad I feel like I know what I'm doing, because I really couldn't even see half of the battles in the fortress.

I feel like I'm at the right level, as I was fighting enemies either a couple levels below me or one above me. For the most part, I was kind of kicking ass for the past few hours of the game. Maybe it's by design, as they want to keep up the pacing? I feel like there are parts earlier in the game where I was at the right level, but was really struggling. Perhaps it's also that I have a better understanding of creating and equipping gems? I've gone through and tried to match gems with characters as best I can. Strength gems on Shulk, HP/Defense on Reyn, Agility on Dunban, and I've been putting Ether boosts on Sharla.


I also just, and I'm totally serious, tried the Collectipedia. I honestly didn't even know what it was, so I've been getting gems through that. I've probably sold a lot of the collectibles that I should've recorded, but it's mostly for stuff I'm way over leveled for anyway.

I've also been experimenting with my characters a bit. Riki has proven to be a pretty awesome support character, as he'll often topple enemies for me. I can't seem to get away from Sharla though. I feel like I absolutely need her in my party, or else my HP will just keep taking a hit. I've been swapping in Dunban a lot more, instead of Reyn (which I hate to say, because it's always Reyn Time for me). Dunban has proven to be pretty decent as well, especially when he's dodging a lot of attacks. Shulk's Monado Speed has been very helpful as well, especially if I don't want Sharla to get hit while she's healing us, or if I want Shulk to freely wail on enemies. It's been really nice to fight the Mechons again...because the Monado really just tears them apart.

I've been trying to pick up Arts manuals that I missed, so I've been looking them up. I THINK I have a better grasp on the Skill Link system as well, but I'm still mostly going "Circle goes with circle, Square goes with Square."

ONE question though - the sidequests - I've been reading that sidequests will open up once I've reached 2 Star Affinity with an area. Is there any way of knowing what to do, aside from either:

a.) Talking to everyone at all times of the day
or
b.) Looking up what to do online?

I just don't have the time or patience to do either of that, to be honest. Is it really worth it at all to go back and try to do sidequests, or should I just plow through the rest of the game?

I wouldn't try to do all of the sidequests. Although I probably did do most of them. But you almost certainly need to use a FAQ / guide if you want to attempt them in a serious manner without wasting tons of time.

So I thought I had gotten past the "side quest gap" when I got up to around level 80 or so and could do a few more sidequests, but now I'm stuck again... I'm at level 83 and every sidequest I have left involves fighting monsters that range from level 88 to the 90s and over 100 at times. I could probably do a hardcore leveling up session and get up to the point where I can take on the level 88 but... eh.

I think it's about time to stop delaying and just finish the game.

I do have to say though, it's so weird that the entire game there are always sidequests to do whatever level you are at, until the end when these big gaps appear.

@Zero

Maybe it's their way of discouraging you from getting to level 100 on your first play through and making the boss a total cream puff.

..

Well I beat it. 134hrs, most of the sidequests done and lv81. I'm glad I gave up on the rest of the sidequests and just beat the game, the final boss was not a huge challenge (Shulk/Sharla/Rikki - they all heal) and the ending was Grand... I'll go over to Roy's thread to spill out more thoughts..

By far the biggest game I've ever played, and one of the best gaming experiences I've had..ever. Quite happy with the end result..

S

@Zero I think it's because at this point you have lots of party, equipment, gems, skills, and other options at your disposal and they want to give you challenges to use it all on.

@Mop it up But there is literally nothing I can do right now with any combination of my stuff other than finish the game, or level up a ton. There might be some sidequest somewhere I missed opening but I dunno.

I don't think you missed anything... Xenoblade is an RPG after all it has to throw a little grinding in there

Alright I finished. 128 hours. DAMN. I sort of wish that the game let you continue on where you left off after finishing, because I would have liked to finish up the quests that I never got around to and maybe take on some uber level 99 enemies or something. Although storywise that wouldn't make much sense. But maybe it is for the best that I finally move on.

ELECTRIC NUTBUSTER

Good job!

I stopped at level 68 last night, after doing most of the quests in Agnaritha. Wise Gremory looked a little out of my league, and I don't really have patience to go try to get some anti-spike gems. If I ever have to do that for the story, I will, but for now, meh. The reward for the rest of the quests in Agnaritha are all just money, which I'm rolling in now, so I'm not crying over it. I must've spent 2 hours just running around that whole area doing all the quests. With most of them done, the monsters have just kind of become an annoyance. It was exciting kicking their buttholes earlier on, but I think I'm done with them now.

Sounds like things are going to get tough soon, but for the past 8 levels or so I've been ROLLING over enemies with Shulk, Dunban, and Melia.. I've seen some cool videos showing off Fiora's combat though...man. Super badass. I might need to use her more often.

I could listen to this ALL day.

@PogueSquadron

Yeah... I used the Xeno Wiki to complete some of those fetching quests in the area you are talking about.. I almost went completely looney but the completionist in me pushed on.. You get a 'neat' reward if you do complete everything but it's nothing you need to worry about as you (Hint:) can't take it with you.

S

You know I just figured this out during my second play through - I'm not sure if I will beat the game again but now I'm on the Bionis Kneecap and I was again admiring the fantastic view you get while you are there. You can even see the Fallen Arm if you look down..cool No music playing, just the sweet sound of wind and birds. I was looking at how crowded my screen was with icons etc and even though I knew you could switch the mini map and direction arrow/story note off in the options, I just figured out how to switch off the L R button icons on the right side of the screen.

They didn't bother me too much, heck, I played all the way through with them on but if you want them off just go to the options and turn off the "help" display. I didn't even know the L R icons were part of that group... oh well.

@PogueSquadron I think that WAS the part where things get tough. You didn't feel a jump there at all? Mind you, the game never really gets hard, and it is all relative to your level. Did you try to skip those sidequests and just power through first? That might have been tough.

I did all of the sidequests in that city, mostly without breaking a sweat. I've been a level or two above everything, mostly for the last 10 levels or so. The only times I had any trouble were where I wasn't paying attention and drew aggro from too many monsters. Other than that? I've been doing this:

I've pumped up Shulk's strength using gems. His strength is also buffed at day and night via Skill Linking. He's wearing heavy armor. Dunban has been good at drawing Aggro, and sometimes I find Dunban and Shulk turning monsters around. I always make sure that Dunban, Melia, and Shulk are attacking the same enemy. Melia's Summon Water regenerates us when our health is low. Melia and Dunban both have Machina weapons, so I don't have to use the Monado to let them attack. I often use Chain Attacks to finish off monsters, which gets our affinity up higher, and gives us a very small heal after using.

I try to let Dunban attack first. Shulk goes in from the side to lower the enemy's defense. He then hangs in the back for a Backslash, and then if possible, I try to inflict Break. If I can pull off Break, Dunban can usually Topple them, and then Shulk can Daze them. Many battles are over pretty quickly. I always take out the weaker enemies first and then go after the strongest, but lately, it hasn't really mattered.

I also can't remember, but Shulk might be getting more EXP during the daytime or something. Maybe I'm leveling up quicker? Whatever's happening, the Monado seems to be unstoppable against Mechon.

So no, I haven't really felt a jump at all. The Monado takes away a LOT of health from these guys with Backslash. If I can get a Chain Attack going, I can sometimes take over 100,000 HP from an enemy at a single go.

The only thing that gave me a problem is an enemy called Wise Gremory. He has a Spike aura, so whenever we attack him, we get hurt. I don't really seem to have many anti-spike gems, nor do I have the means to make more, so I'm skipping him.

Edit: Just took down Gadolt. Took me a couple tries but I finally got him. I put in Riki and Sharla to keep the heals and debuffs in. I have an Aggro IV on Riki, so he takes some of the punishment with his high HP. If I can heal, I try to keep him healthy so that he can keep tanking. Things were looking a little dicey towards the end, but a Mondao Buster finished Gadolt off. The nice part about having Riki is that sometimes he'll force Topple, and he even managed to Topple Gadolt so I could get some extra hits in. I didn't chain attack at all because Gadolt was dealing a lot of damage. Hoping to move on tonight. I'm at level 69, I think.

@Zero But I'm saying there are setups you could use, you just haven't thought of them yet. For example, increasing your agility allows you to more easily land blows on high-level enemies, making them a lot easier to fight. It's been a while since I last played so I can't say anything specific, but, there definitely are ways to defeat the enemies around you without level grinding.

I never did level grind, I'm just saying some people might have to if they're a bit low. Higher agility won't help much if you're dead in a handful of hits.

@Zero There are abilities, buffs, and heals that can help you with that!

True but at a certain point it's just not going to happen. I was successful against enemies 5 or 6 levels above me (6 is where they become super hard to hit.) I can see 7 or 8 being possible, beyond that... I dunno. Not with the stuff you get naturally in the game, anyway.