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.
My friend is already finding this game addictive. It involves near-limitless exploration, great background music, avoiding combat, and working out a strategy to defeat tougher enemies.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry too much about the tutorials. They'll soon become infrequent and later tutorials will appear in the menu without appearing on the screen.
The menus are arguably an intricate part of the game:
There's a handy skip function in the maps page allowing you to avoid backtracking - unless you enjoy doing that.
The arts levels can be increased by finding arts books in shops or in treasure chests. They need Arts Points to reach the new level, sometimes tens of thousands, so start saving now.
Skills can be learned (and I regretted not setting this up for a third of the game) and need affinity coins to link them - something that appears every now and then.
The party screen allows you to change your outfit and weapon and can make a huge change to the amount of defence and attack your characters have. Also, your party can have any three characters. If you don't like Shulk, you can shun him and play as Fiora instead.
The act of gem crafting still makes no sense to me, but adding gems to the weapons and outfits improves your chances of surviving higher-enemy combat.
Using the wind/electric/water/fire/earth/ice ore to make gems in the first third of the game allows you the room to collect more in the middle of the game - again something I didn't do.
At the start of the game I started next to a heart-to-heart and I thought 'I am going to watch all of these'. 92 hours in and I've managed to watch half a dozen. Sometimes I unlock them but cannot find the unlocked ones.
Happy chronicling.