History Headscratchers / Xenoblade

* So there's Colony 9 and Colony 6, where are all the other colonies then? (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ect...)

*** I interpreted this one as "Shulk took the stuff that was Bionis and Mechonis and incorporated that into the new planet". Hence why Colony 9 appears almost identical to how it appeared on Bionis, and perhaps more importantly, allowing the people living on Bionis to keep their homes and scientific materials, which helps with the whole "Explore this vast new universe!" idea.

** 3. [[spoiler:After Shulk recreated the universe, there were once again planets and land outside the Bionis, so everybody got off the Bionis and built a new Colony away from it.]]

* At the end of the game,[[spoiler:we see how the Bionis and Mechonis are created. Klaus wanted to turn all humans into gods but then did a Apocalypse Unversial Class 4 which just left Zanza and Meyneth as Gods (along with Alvis) and forms the Titans in the endless ocean where the game takes place. I find some problems with that back story. First, how does the party still see an Earth-like planet before fighting Zanza when the reformation was clearly on Earth? Second, who decided on Klaus's, Meyneth's, and Alvis's fate in this world? Is there a greater god in all of this? Finally, what in the world happened with the ending? The Titans are now destroyed but how is Colony 9 still present and how did the other races make it to Colony 9 when there it is usually a dangerous and long path?]]

* At the end of the game,[[spoiler:we see how the Bionis and Mechonis are created. Klaus wanted to turn all humans into gods but than did a Apocalypse Unversial Class 4 which just left Zanza and Meyntheth as Gods (along with Alvis) and forms the Titans in the endless ocean where the game takes place. I find some problems with that back story. First, how does the party still see an Earth-like planet before fighting Zanza when the reformation was clearly on Earth. Second, who decided on Klaus's, Meyntheth's, and Alvis's fate in this world. Is there a greater god in all of this?]]

** Chances are any kind of attachment he had to Shulk meant jack to him once Shulk started to go against the plans of his powerful long-standing master. After all, he's only known Shulk for what is essentially a passing second compared to his who knows how many years of immortality.

* So in Satorl Marsh, Dickson has a line about how he feels bad about deceiving Shulk and co. Yet as soon as he makes his treachery known, he immediately switches to his true persona of a smug, unrepentant JerkAss of near CardCarryingVillain levels who flat-out gloats about deceiving the heroes, making that line seem rather out of character in hindsight. So... What was the point? Was it just a narrative cheat to make Dickson seem like he might not be that bad despite obviously being up to something? Or an attempt at HiddenDepths that was ultimately left unexplored?

** Well, it's established that there used to be more Homs settlements before the war with the Mechon. Could be that some of the old colonies that were destroyed were closer to High Entia lands.

* If some High Entia have been interbreeding with Homs up to the present day, but most Homs speak of them as though they were long extinct or a fairy tale, is there an explanation for this that doesn't involve kidnapping?

**** (Original Poster) Fair point. That said, since Vanea was the one who originally put together the Fiora/Meyneth/Face Nemesis combo platter, she would probably have been the one most qualified to put together a stopgap system to keep the one remaining piece (Fiora) from terminally powering down. Also, while Gadolt doesn't survive long enough for this to matter, would all pilots of Face units, separated from their respective mecha, eventually succumb to cardiovascular failure, or is Fiora's problem entirely unique? I seem to recall that even with Meyneth on board, early on you still needed to scavenge parts from a wrecked Mechon (piezoelectrical unit, if memory serves) to prevent a complete system failure of Fiora immediately following your arrival at Junks. Then again, Fiora '''did''' suffer some rather critical... system damage in the process of getting taken in the first place (ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice - not good for one's internal organs), and Linada did express some surprise to find that most of Fiora's innards simply weren't there anymore. So it could well be that her imminent shutdown (and lack of necessity to eat) was more a function of "Metal Face stabbed me with claws as long as I am tall" than "Meyneth isn't providing me limitless free energy". I know that Vanea eventually points out that some modification has to be done to a Homs to make a Face unit work, but maybe Fiora's modifications were a bit more extreme out of necessity, rather than simply to make her invincible to standard Monado damage.

*** I can accept that the replicas weren't as powerful as the real deals, but at their base they at least had to have some means of either storing or converting ether energy out of the air to provide the energy blade the weapon used. As to Fiora's architecture, take this into account - on first meeting her, Linada, the machina doctor, mistook this strange robotic woman for one of her people, not realizing that she was a Face unit until the party actually mentions it. While their problems weren't identical (Neonik was dying from being damn near 10000 years old, Fiora is dying because Meyneth isn't powering her heart and lungs anymore), they boiled down to something very similar - their power systems were failing, and a shot of energy from an old Machina unit was enough to repower Neonik for another 20 years. Of course, if Fiora's power really couldn't be restored, it makes the usage of Final Cross REALLY irresponsible post-Mechonis Core, since the whole thing shakes out to "Massive blast of Monado power hits stuff".
**** Sure, but given that no other Machina have Monados powering them, it's quite possible that Fiora's power system is a unique technology and incompatible with other power sources.

*** I can accept that the replicas weren't as powerful as the real deals, but at their base they at least had to have some means of either storing or converting ether energy out of the air to provide the energy blade the weapon used. As to Fiora's architecture, take this into account - on first meeting her, Linada, the machina doctor, mistook this strange robotic woman for one of her people, not realizing that she was a Face unit until the party actually mentions it. While their problems weren't identical (Neonik was dying from being damn near 10000 years old, Fiora is dying because Meyneth isn't powering her heart and lungs anymore), they boiled down to something very similar - their power systems were failing, and a shot of energy from an old Machina unit was enough to repower Neonik for another 20 years. Of course, if Fiora's power really couldn't be restored, it makes the usage of Final Cross REALLY irresponsible post-Mechonis Core, since the whole thing shakes out to "Massive blast of Monado power hits stuff".

** It's possible that none of these would have worked. The Replica Monados might not have been able to supply the same energy that the genuine ones can, and Fiora's condition, and possibly her architecture, are considerably different from Neonik's.

* After the Mechonis Core, there is a very real concern about Fiora running out of power and dying before the quest's end, as her cardiopulmonary systems were being provided power by Meyneth's Monado. The first thing we see after Junks lands at Colony 6 is Fiora presenting the first Replica Monado to a comatose Shulk. Would it have been so unreasonable to say to Vanea, "Hey, think you could make me one of those? Sorta triangular, about, say, this size?" I know that the problem is solved by the epilogue, but as a quick fix to take some of the stress off of Fiora's, Dunban's, Melia's and... well, everyone else who spotted the issue with her body straight away's mind. Additionally, as the issue at hand would have been her machina body running out of power, couldn't you conceivably have used one of the two potential solutions to extend Neonik's life for Fiora?

* Not so much a complaint as an observation- does anyone else see the symbol of [[XenoSaga the Testaments]] on the back of Alvis's jacket? I can't shake the feeling that it's the exact same symbol, but heck if I can make any connection between Alvis and the Testaments- even speaking as someone who believes all the Xeno games are on the same timeline.

** Both it seems.

* Why did [[spoiler: Dickson shoot Shulk?]] I understand all the god stuff but why did he do this? Was it necessary to trigger the transformation? Or was it purely an asshole move based on the decision Shulk was coming to?

** Because they're beings made in the image of a human, and humans have breasts.

** Looking at the sunset from an open area, like the Fallen Hand, reveals that the sun doesn't go down the horizon, it ''vanishes'' before reaching it. One of the heart-to-hearts reveals that the "stars" in the night sky are actually just ether; who's to say the Sun and the Moon aren't just ether that looks like the real deal too? [[spoiler:This would especially make sense when the true nature of Zanza and Meyneth is taken into account. They made it so day and night looked like what it was back on Earth, but without the "other celestial bodies out there" part]].

* Why do the [[spoiler:Machina]] have breasts? And [[{{Gainaxing}} why do they]] ''[[JigglePhysics bounce]]''? What sort of metal does that?

** Looking at the sunset from an open area, like the Fallen Hand, reveals that the sun doesn't go down the horizon, it ''vanishes'' before reaching it. One of the heart-to-hearts reveals that the "stars" in the night sky are actually just ether; who's to say the Sun and the Moon aren't just ether that looks like the real deal too? [[spoiler:This would especially make sense when the true nature of Zanza and Meyneth is taken into account. They made it so day and night looked like what it was back on Earth, but without the "other celestial bodies out there" part]].

** I don't think it's infinitely large, just that Mechonis and Bionis are the only land--it's probably a regular, spherical planet, just without any land outside of those two. Or maybe there is land, just not on that side of the planet.
*** Not likely, given that [[spoiler: the ending emphasizes the shallow ocean before the change and the entire conventional galaxy after]]. On the other hand, it is possible, given the god-reliant nature of the universe, it is conceivable that the ocean isn't infinite and its a {{Discworld}} style finite flat world with a sun and moon that dip below at night.
*** Alternatively, they just go into the ocean at night. New universe, new rules, so no rule saying the Sun operates by principles that would make water affect it or make it too big for the ocean we could see.
**** Bionis and Mechonis are standing in the ocean, and the Fallen Arm rests in the ocean's surface. That means there is a solid floor under the water, and it's not very deep. Are there holes in the floor for the sun to go through? Wouldn't the water be draining out then?
***** Unless the arm is floating, or the solid floor is only in the immediate environs of the Two. Alternatively, as for where the water comes from to not drain out, [[Literature/{{Discworld}} arrangements are made]].

***** Unless the arm is floating, or the solid floor is only in the immediate environs of the Two. Alternatively, as for where the water comes from to not drain out, [[Literature/{{Discworld}} arrangements are made]].

**** Bionis and Mechonis are standing in the ocean, and the Fallen Arm rests in the ocean's surface. That means there is a solid floor under the water, and it's not very deep. Are there holes in the floor for the sun to go through? Wouldn't the water be draining out then?

*** Alternatively, they just go into the ocean at night. New universe, new rules, so no rule saying the Sun operates by principles that would make water affect it or make it too big for the ocean we could see.

** I don't think it's infinitely large, just that Mechonis and Bionis are the only land--it's probably a regular, spherical planet, just without any land outside of those two. Or maybe there is land, just not on that side of the planet.

* The Bionis and Mechonis are standing in an infinitely large ocean. The sun still rises and sets. Where does the sun go at night?