Space, the final frontier

We venture up to the top of the tower to ring the dragon bell. The dragon flutters down obediently to be culled. The dragon's eye opens up another transporter and Dunban asks if I'm sure I want to progress. I choose not to so I can go after some more plunder.

Warping back to Satorl Marsh I find some Ferises and Quadwings to plunder. I now have the right parts for Replica Monado 1 so I head to Vanea for the weapon. It's a monado with marginally better attack power range; almost worth the effort.

Having reached level 79 and made sure all my team's equipment was up to scratch I headed to the transporter. Everything goes a bit surreal.

Running through space we have to kill off a few spirit faced Mechon. They are not a significant challenge. Finally we reach Zanza.

I charge in with my trusty team of Shulk, Sharla & Dunban. We seem to be able to do decent amounts of damage so his level of ??? can't be all that high! I get plenty of useful visions (which now require a B push to activate) so am able to defend his worst attacks. There are a couple of extra guardians which spooked me at first but in the end I simply ignored them to focus on the prize.

The battle splits into 3 rounds with the option to reconfigure the party in between each, I decline the offer. Zanza looks more impressive with each round but his attacks are still preventable with the help of more visions.

Eventually he is defeated and we discover the truth. Cheesy ending rolls.

Level: 80
Duration: 78h 40m
Story: Complete

The new game start where you have to select the 200 or so items you want to take with you is very slow and annoying. I'm sure they could have done that better.

Return to Prison Island

We appear on (the not very prison-like) Prison Island. Riki remarks that Dickson must be at the top. We head for the top.

Various new monsters (and old ones with a new paint-job) to kill.

After a bit of exploration Dickson drops a few mini-bosses on us. They all look quite impressive but are nowhere near the difficulty of Lorithia. Unfortunately it was the other wandering monsters that caused me problems. I particularly liked the ones that cause topple when you attack them while they're toppled. Very sneaky.

Near the top I have to find a thing to put in a hole. Onwards.

Level: 78
Duration: 75h 50m

Lorithia

Shulk was dead, now he's not. There was some plot in there somewhere but I doubt it made much sense.

Next were several telethia to fight, which seemed scary but they turned out to be fairly straightforward battles.

Then it was off to the Bionis Interior. It's much bigger this time (well, technically there's much more accessible). Some new creatures and several higher level enemies that killed me once or twice.

Once I made it to the heart I met Disciple Lorithia who turned out to be very tough indeed. She was rated at level 75 and for my initial attempt I was just level 71. I got flattened quickly without doing much damage so I went for a levelling up excursion.

I now have side-quests for 5 improved Monados. Each requiring three items from tough monsters. I've started to collect a few but some of the creatures are level 90+.

Also along the way I discovered Tyrea who set me up with a surprise quest and a level 80 telethia to beat. This one turned out to be her mother.

I managed to reach level 76 mostly by killing hoxes and gogols on Bionis' Leg. I almost beat Lorithia at level 75 but 76 proved to be enough to win. Now I have a new black warp to step into...

Egil

I made it to Mechonis Core where Egil had revived Mechonis and was giving Bionis a good bashing. I defeated him and it was all happy ending until Zanza popped up. Now Shulk's dead and I need to lead with someone else. Uh-oh.

Level 69
Duration 66h 34m

Building Bombs

Next step in Central Factory was to build a bomb to blow open a vent. Handily there where some Mechon around who just happened to have some bomb parts on their person. Also handily, the massive level 65 thing wasn't one of these Mechon. I skirted around him but will return in a few levels time, probably.

Once I had the parts I warped back to the Mechon hanger to use the handy weapon creating machine. The generic faces around the room did not activate and attack me, much to my surprise.

Level 63
Duration 58h 3m

Round up

Since my last post I've progressed through Galahad Fortress, Fallen Arm, Mechonis Field and I'm now in Mechonis Central Factory. I also went back to complete the surprise quests in Sword valley, once I'd levelled up a bit.

The interior of Mechonis is all starting to look a little similar. I miss all the creatures I could battle out on the Bionis.

Well, onwards and upwards.

Level 62
Duration 56h 54m
Party: Shulk, Reyn, Dunban, Sharla, Riki, Melia, Fiora

Sword Valley

After my stinging defeat by Mumkhar I went back to gain some experience. I did a few quests in the earlier areas but there just weren't enough experience points available. Some more exploring and questing in Eryth Sea and Valak Mountain gained me the levels I needed. I'd managed to avoid visiting a lot of locations it seems. At level 47 I was able to defeat Mumkhar easily.

Onward to Sword Valley where Dickson turned up and sold me some rather weak anti-mechon weapons. I have so far spurned them in favour of Enchant.

It's good to be back fighting Mechon again. However, they do seem to be somewhat disinterested that I'm wandering about waving the Monado at them.

Level: 50
Duration: 43h 32m
Location: Sword Valley

A little less conversation, a little more action please

The Emporer didn't know what he was doing but the giant did. Now I have Monado II (bigger, better special effects but the story just isn't as good) and made short work of Metal Face.

Lots of conversation and a trip to the place I was discovered with the Monado, at the bottom of Valak Mountain. It turns out Silver Face is Fiora and Metal Face is Mumkhar. A brief battle with level 48 Mumkhar and we're all dead. Maybe I need to level up a bit, it's time to do some exploration.




Level: 44
Duration: 36h ?m
Location: Valak Mountain

Ooh, a giant.

We finally made it to prison island. To get here we had to activate a couple of seals surrounded by various nasty things.

The Emperor meets a giant. I hope he knows what he's doing.

I've now started to run out of space for materials, so I'm discarding them semi-randomly. What if I need something later? That's not fair.

Level: 41
Duration: 32h 05m
Location: Prison Island

Telethia 2

I've made a chunk of progress since my last post. Travelling about Eryth Sea involves a lot of teleporters, and running past some rather nasty monsters. This is the first time since the Mechon on the Bionis Leg that the wandering monsters have hindered my progress.

So, the plot, as much as I remember, and probably not in chronological order. We arrive and some High Entia escort Melia away and put us in rather swanky prison dining room. Melia is selected to be the new Empress but has to prove herself by navigating the High Entia Tomb. Evil Stepmother has plans to stop her.

The remainder of our party have to rescue a missing repairman. And we get attacked by a team of Bionite ninjas. They are from an order who want to revive the Bionis, says Alvis.

Shulk has a vision that Melia is in danger so we head to the Tomb too. The Tomb seems to be run by a computer who is happy with Melia's bloodline - that is, she's half Homs. Inside the Tomb we climb a lot of walls and have to defeat a second, more powerful Telethia who is assisted by Tyrea. Tyrea appears to be immune from Monado damage making the battle very tricky.

The Emperor won't let us go to Prison Island, but he knows something of similar significance to the Monado is there. The Mechon attack and he decides to go there himself. Shulk has a vision that the Emperor will be killed by a faced Mechon.

Meanwhile, Alvis appears to be in league with Evil Stepmother...


This was a trickier area and I died in battle more than once. The Telethia boss was strong and I had to focus on it before tackling Tyrea. I was hoping to get to Level 40 by the 30 hour mark but a large amount of cut-scene and chat put a stop to that.

There were sections where I was in charge of Melia alone, but they mostly involved running about. It did force me to try out her arts which are interesting in the way they provide buffs and debuffs until you use them to attack.

I still find the Shulk, Reyn, Sharla combo the most effective, or perhaps just easiest.


Level: 39
Duration: 30h 14m
Party: Shulk, Reyn, Sharla, Dunban, Riki

Telethia

Riki is upset to discover a dead part of the forest. The Telethia has been draining the ether. We knuckle down to fight the three-headed dinobeast.

I used Shulk, Melia and Sharla. Presumably Melia was a good choice as we defeated the creature fairly smartly. I made copious use of Purge and Melia did whatever she does. We only managed one chain attack and it was fairly useless as I didn't have any topple arts. I thought we weren't going to need to entirely kill it when a cutscene triggered, but that turned out to be just to let it regenerate. Harsh.

After that I warped back to Raguel Bridge killed off the Hoxes (tougher than a Telethia, due to their numbers). Then asked Juju to move back to Colony 6 which opens up a whole new sub-quest - building the Colony.


I built a few things in the Colony, it's amazing what a couple of collectables and a bit of gold will do. The people all seem very happy with their new home in a bomb site.


Then we travel to Eryth Sea and some beautiful floating cities. 

Everyone wants to come to my party

A short walk through the Bionis brings us to Makna Forest.

In cutscenes we see Lady Melia assembling a faced Mechon and battling Telethia. We then discover her unconcious and in need of ether so Shulk decides wandering off alone is a good idea. He meets Alvis and learns a new art for fighting Telethia spawn.


Once Melia is revived she takes us to Frontier Village, where the Nopon live inside a tree.

This game is truly huge. The list of places I need to go back to and explore is growing rapidly. Frontier Village is lovely and I gain about half a level just discovering all its locations.

After a bit more chat we add Riki to our party and set out to kill the Telethia.

Hang on, what? The Telethia that saved us from certain death at the hands of the Faced Mechon? I can think of several reasons why attacking it is a dumb idea...

Duration 22h 39m
Level: 34
Location: Makna Forest
Party: Shulk, Reyn, Sharla, Dunban, Melia, Riki

Satorl Marsh

After sending Xord into the ether river we wander back to the Central Pit. We find the freight elevator and discover it wasn't quite that simple. Xord returns for an encore but this time weaker and apparently lacking any arts. Once despatched we head outside.

Metal Face is back with a squad of Xord-model Mechon. It looks like we're done for but then Dunban and Dickson arrive to save the day. Only they're not all that good and it looks like we're done for again. Then a bird saves the day and Metal Face makes a run for it. Dunban officially joins the party, but doesn't seem all that useful.

We head for the Bionis waist and the Satorl Marsh. It's very pretty at night. We meet some Nopon merchants for some trade goodness.

At the end of Satorl Marsh is a tower in a lake. At this point all the minor characters scarper, with a hint that all might not be as we're being told.

In order to progress we need to recover 4 Radiants. Strangely each of these Radiants are situated next to some tough creatures. Once the Radiants are safely gathered the Satorl Guardian needs to be despatched. It's like this was a test or something.

We climb the tower (because the lift is broken) and enter the Bionis.


Duration: 19h 30m
Level: 30
Party: Shulk, Reyn, Sharla, Dunban
Location: Inside the Bionis

Xordfighting

At the bottom of the pit we meet Xord and an awesome boss battle. It took 4 attempts to beat him. Nice to finally have a battle where the party guage and chain attacks were vital. It was disappointing but relieving that it only needed one successful chain to knock off enough hp to trigger the cutscene.

We can change the future, together.

Duration: 14h 42m
Level: 26
Location: Ether Mine

This is the Pits

Wow. A long stroll down the Central Pit, taking out a lot of Mechon on the way. Those two M84s looked scarier than they turned out to be. Great fun.

Before that I had to navigate the mine tunnels. That was harder as I ran into too many enemies all at once, and was overwhelmed.

The Pit is very impressive in its sheer size. Killing an airborne Mechon then finding the resultant treasure chest a few floors down was nice, proving the whole area was one whole.

I've collected a lot of ether now but not got anything all that useful from gemcrafting. I have plenty of gems already.

I have completed my Ether Mine collectopaedia page, which is nice.

Duration 14h 1m
Level 26
Location Central Pit, Ether Mine

Ether mine or yours

I descended the lift and worked my way along the splintered path, then entered the drainage tunnel.

Inside there were a few Mechon, then a handy merchant. I bought my first Arts manuals but then found I couldn't level up any arts due to a lack of AP.

Next, a minor event battle to rescue a guy whose name I forget. He doesn't hang around long, so it's off into the ether mine I go.

Duration: 11h 27m
Level: 23
Location: Ether mine, Colony 6

Are you Tirkin to me?

Another hour's questing. Made some people happy. Cleared out the Tirkin camp. Then ventured to Colony 6 for a brief look inside - it's all quiet.

Why are there all these Heart to Heart spots if it won't even tell me how I can qualify for them?

Level: 21
Duration: 10h 34m
Location: Colony 6 (just)

M71

Had a short wander to kill some stuff and complete some quests then returned to challenge the M71. It was a lot easier this time, maybe Sharla just did her medic job better. I only used the new Monado 'Speed' art once, 'Shield' and 'Enchant' seem to be more effective. Predictably, Juju still needs rescuing.

After this I went to find Earnest's infinite ether deposit and was jumped by a flock of vangs. This almost killed me, I was down to just Reyn at one point but he managed to revive me (Shulk) and we finished them off. I think I completed about 3 quests with that battle and levelled up; very handy.

Is it too early to suggest the obvious future plot reveal that the faced Mechon are using Homs-extract to protect themselves from the Monado?

Level: 19
Duration: 9h 28m
Location: Bionis' Leg

How do you like your ponio neck meat?

At the Bionis' Leg. I've done a lot of running around engaging the local wildlife in combat. Tougher battles than before but more interesting. There are a few level 60+ things around here so I'll give them a wide berth for now.

I rescue Juju from something or other so he takes us to the refugee camp. Colony 6 is pretty much dead by the sound of it. Then Juju runs off again, how many times do I have to save this kid? Sharla tags along, making battles that much easier with three.

Now it starts to get tricky. There are Mechon all over the place and those scouts are nasty, pulling all the Mechon into combat with me. I had to run for it a couple of times.

Then we catch up to Juju and the M71 and its tentacles. And we all go splat. Maybe next time...

Level: 18
Party: Shulk, Reyn, Sharla
Duration 8h 30m
Location: Bionis' Leg

Saving Private Reyn

After a bit of pootling about with some quests I continued on with the plot. These Colony 9 soldiers are a bit cowardly, getting me to kill all their monsters for them. I despatched a few nasty spiders and found some dead traders. Then Reyn gets a bit too close to some Alien® egg sacks and I have to go and save him.

So quickly learn about seeing the future with the Monado before taking on the Arachno Queen. It took me a few attempts to realise I had to save my Monado powers in order to use Shield when necessary. Running around trying to find Reyn to revive him was tricky with the stuck-to-the-floor camera angle but ultimately unnecessary once I performed better at defence. An enjoyable boss encounter anyway.

Lastly, I spent some time upgrading my party's arts. I think I could have done that earlier but I wasn't paying attention.

Off to the Bionis' Knee... (I guess eventually we'll reach the Bionis' Armpit)

Level: 13
Party: Shulk, Reyn (briefly just Shulk)
Duration: 6h ?m
Location: Spider nest thingy (what was that called?)

"Dunban! Woah, yeah!" - Reyn

Well, that was an eventful 45 minutes.

A quick little break-topple fight with some mini-mechon before Dunban turns up with the Monado. Then I get a fun romp through the colony slicing up Mechon and gaining some EXP.

I was playing as Reyn but now that Shulk has the Monado I've switched to him. I'd just worked out how to chain arts when the tutorial popped up telling me that I needed to chain to defeat Metal-Face. So that worked out well.

Oh, and Fiora died.

Then the Mechon leave and the Colony is back to mormal, with people still worrying about lost wedding rings and the like, and nobody important died. I played around with some gem-crafting before I finished playing.

Plot hole: If the Mechon have such good ranged weapons why is the Monado a problem?

First Session

I started playing Xenoblade Chronicles last night. The friend I borrowed it from wanted to know how I was getting on so suggested I blog my progress.

I intended to play an hour or so, thinking I might need up to 2 hours to really get started. I ended after 2h 59m!

I don't have all that much experience with RPGs so I wasn't sure what I would make of Xenoblade Chronicles. So far I've been bombarded with tutorials - and as my wife pointed out "You seem to have spent most of the game in the menus". But I seem to be getting the hang of it never the less.

I like that you don't have to engage in combat if you don't want to (most of the time) and that you don't lose progress if you lose a battle.


Duration: 2h 59m
Party: Shulk, Reyn, Fiora
Level: 9
Location: Colony 9 - Military District
Story: Mechon have attacked Colony 9, Dunban is AWOL, Lab entrance is blocked by debris.