Xenoblade Chronicles

A whole lot of plot just happened on my end, and a certain number joined my ranks. A have to say, I really love the stuff that happens in this part of the story. The scenes after the party separates have so much heartwarming in them, and the reveal of the real people of the Mechonis turned my head upside down my first time playing through the game.

Also, that sweet rockin' battle theme.

edited 31st Jul '14 7:22:16 PM by Elbruno

Even now, whenever I hear Monolith, I think of the company that produced that old game Gruntz more than a decade ago, than of the people who made Xenoblade.

I like how right off the bat it showed Valak Mountain has a degree of Hailfire Peaks going on, though I assume that's only going to be deep within little caves upon the side paths. I say "assume" because I'm beginning the icy ascent tomorrow.

Speaking of, progress update! I predicted Fiora was both alive and a Face, and by extension what Faces were and why the Monado couldn't harm them. At this point I'm pretty sure Metal Face is Mumkhar, but I'm still going to call him Metal Face. Also, Metal Face was the first boss that killed me. Second fight was mostly a giant chain attack, though, and went much MUCH better.

I did not expect for Giants to become plot-relevant or especially to meet one. I figured they would be a posthumous race learned of via Quests. I also didn't expect Zanza to die right after meeting him, or at least become Ether. All that talk about Ether... I'm sure he's only physically dead. Speaking of, remember when I rambled about the Monado a little bit ago? Well... I think I was right in all three regards. It is indeed the blade Bionis slew Mechonis with, and it was also a construct of an ancient race (the Giants. I honestly expected it to be the High Entia of eons passed.) And since it is willed by the user, I'm fairly certain it could take the shape of an ice cream cone if Shulk unlocked the power to bend existence with it.

Even though I knew the big twist of Fiora being a Face was coming, it didn't make the reveal itself any less heart-wrenching due to how everyone reacted.

And finally, some WMG.

There's a series of quests, albeit timed, in Alcamoth revolving around creating a machine that can decipher ancient texts. I think that's going to be a Chekhov's Gun at some point, seeing as how I've found a number of Red Item Orbs giving me an item called "Ancient Document" and an ancient ruin area I couldn't enter due to the inscriptions upon the tablet out front being unintelligible.

Gotta love seeing the speculation of someone just experiencing the game, really

Regarding your WMG: If you haven't yet, raise your affinity with with Central Bionis a few and go talk with Lupa in Frontier Village's Archaeology Centre at night. She'll give you a few quests. Don't quote me on this, but I think you also need to check the bridge between the main forest and the road to Valak for this.

Also, a few words of advice:

• Hold on to any Ice Cabbages you get, they are the next Wool Rock.
• In the next big area, get at least two Red Frontiers (three if you wanna fill the collectopedia)
• In the one after that, get at least two Art Core Coils (or, again, three). One hidden area has orbs that spawn them 100%.

PS: Icy descent.

Alright, drafty descent it is!

I already fixed the bridge so required or not it's out of the way. Thanks for the heads up on the Icy Cabbages. Funnily enough, I think Wool Rocks are very frequent on the Sororal Statues in Satorl. Either that or I had good luck.

I assume Icy Cabbages won't be, though.

6% spawn rate in 7 orbs, at night only. Any of the other hundred-some orbs in Valak gives them a spawn rate of 2-3%.

In other words:

edited 1st Aug '14 10:15:27 PM by TheAirman

Just a little hint for Valak Mountain, there are one or two areas that are only reachable if you got a gem equipped that increases your movement speed. Not a story spoiler, but you might still want to find out by yourself.

And yes, it's really fun to follow your playthrough. :D

edited 2nd Aug '14 2:38:42 AM by Uchuujinsan

Nope, you can do it without the gems; it just takes some serious jump timing. RPG platforming!

edited 2nd Aug '14 7:50:03 AM by Elbruno

I think you can make that jump to the boss for the skill tree quest without gems, if you try a lot. But the one to Avalanche Abaasy? I only believe that when I see it. I tried that for around 1.5 hours and didn't really get close. Maybe with some kind of glitch.

edited 2nd Aug '14 11:12:22 AM by Uchuujinsan

Nope, I did that one in my first try during my current playthrough. I grabbed the wall barely over its bottom. The one for the skill tree boss gave me trouble though, but I also did it.

I got three Ice Cabbages within ten minutes, in addition to the first item orb in the area being one. And yet I can't for the life of me get those stupid Reef Nebulae to drop a Frost Element.I have weird luck.

Also, on Valak Mountain's boss: I had Dunban on my team (I felt it was his fight, although I prefer playing as Shulk,) so with some Monado Enchant and Monado Speed the worst part about Mumkhar was the attrition. He nearly killed Shulk and Dunban with a Physical Art at one point but that's about it. Also, I seem to find Sharla a lot more useful than most people, it seems...

I hate you so much right now. Those things are so hard to get.

edited 3rd Aug '14 3:17:38 PM by Marioguy128

i feel like i should not have been overtaken by a guy who started like 2 months after i did.

ah well. guess im just a slow player.

also obsessed with sidequests.

I would call you a lucky bastard, but I got two of those stupid cabbages in a row a while ago.

By the by, did you check north of the area where you fought the boss?

If you're talking the Landmark surrounded by a floor of ice, yes. I saw an obelisk and thought "Hmm. Maybe I should make a pit stop so I have somewhere to respawn at."

If you meant the pathway, no. I noticed it but I'm going to begin exploring Valak later. My focus in each area is story first, and once I've beaten the boss there I'll start exploring and doing quests.

If there's too many quests (Frontier Village, Alcamoth) I'll come back later.

Quick question pertaining to two quests in Frontier Village- Medical Advancements and Let's Make Fillings!.

I assume I can only do one and not the other (they are both timed and belong to two rival Nopon), so do either of them open up new Quests? Or does it only matter based on what prize I want?

As far as I saw both lead to the same quest involving those two Nopon, and it only changes what quest another Nopon in the main floor gives you.

So, quick question on the various Surprise Quests in Sword Valley. (Spoilers just in case.) When do those expire? Post-Galahad Fortress, maybe?

Yes.

Alright, thanks.

How many are there, in addition? I'm assuming only three, but there could be a few more tucked away somewhere...

After the boss fight at the end of Galahad Fortress both it and Sword Valley are locked off for the rest of the game.

I believe there's four. It's been about two years since I've done that part of the game though.

Unless you return to Galahad Fortress for another boss fight at some point after reaching Mechonis Field, no they aren't. Perhaps you mean after Mechonis Core?

And I can confirm there are four surprise quests in Sword Valley. The last one is at the Radio Tower, in the southernmost area of Sword Valley, southwest of the entrance to Galahad Fortress.

edited 7th Aug '14 1:40:31 PM by TheAirman

1)You can access the area after finishing the fortress, but I don't know if the quests expire or not.

2)There's a secret area that's not too hard to reach around.

3)Get those freaking Red Frontiers.

edited 7th Aug '14 2:21:33 PM by Elbruno

Extraordinary emphasis on that third bit. Those things are Ice Cabbage/Black Liver Bean/Rainbow Slug level of rarity, and you are screwed out of them entirely once the area is locked out. You can trade Red Frontiers with someone in another area, but you need 4 star affinity with that area IIRC.