History VideoGame / Xenoblade

%%
%%
%% This page is SPOILERS OFF due to the sheer volume of spoilers. PLEASE DO NOT ADD ANY TEXT IN SPOILER BRACKETS.
%%
%% Please follow Example Indentation when adding examples!
%%
%%

! This page contains unmarked spoilers for both ''Xenoblade Chronicles'' and ''Future Connected''. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xeno5_372.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"I don't know what the future holds. But that means... I can imagine all the possibilities."'']]

->''Long ago, the world was nothing more than an endless sea cloaked in a boundless sky, reaching as far as could possibly be imagined. Then two great titans came into existence: the Bionis and the Mechonis. The titans were locked in a timeless battle, until at last...only their lifeless corpses remained. Eons have passed. Now, our world, this vast land stretching across the remains of the Bionis, is under attack from a relentless force known as the Mechon.''
-->-- '''Shulk, in the opening narration'''

''Xenoblade Chronicles'' (simply ''Xenoblade'' [[MarketBasedTitle in Japan]]) is an [[ActionRPG action]] [[EasternRPG Japanese role playing game]] for the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} console, developed by Creator/MonolithSoft and published and produced by Creator/{{Nintendo}}. While Takahashi orignally did not intend the game to be related to his previous creations, beginning its life as a totally unrelated story called ''Monado: Beginning of the World'', it became the SpiritualSuccessor to the ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' series of Eastern [=RPGs=] for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, which itself was a spiritual successor to Creator/SquareSoft's ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', after Creator/SatoruIwata suggested the Xeno title be added late into production to [[TroubledProduction honor Tetsuya Takahashi's history and struggles in the industry]]. After the game's success, more traditional Xeno elements would be retroactively added into the sequels, [[WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants seemingly ressurecting the Perfect Works storyline from Xenogears and Xenosaga in a form even its creator couldn't have predicted]].

Two continent-sized gods called the Bionis and the Mechonis fought until only their lifeless corpses remained. Life arose on the surface of these titans, organic life on the Bionis and the [[MechanicalMonster Mechon]] on Mechonis. For as long as the human-like Homs can remember, the Mechon have been intent on wiping out all life upon Bionis. With the power of the legendary [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement Monado]], sword of the Bionis itself, the invaders are decisively defeated... until one year later when they return with new, stronger forms. [[ScienceHero One of the Homs researchers]], Shulk [[TheChosenOne discovers he is the Monado's destined wielder]] when he takes up the sword and [[{{Seer}} starts to see]] [[CombatClairvoyance visions of the future]]. When the Mechon retreat, [[TheLostLenore Shulk swears to get revenge for what they've done]] and leaves to pursue them.

[[Creator/MonolithSoft Needless to say]], things get ''much'' more complicated than that.

It was released in Japan on June 10th, 2010, after Nintendo had delayed the game to allow Monolith to [[EarnYourHappyEnding finally deliver a game close to their original vision after their]] ''[[EarnYourHappyEnding long]]'' [[EarnYourHappyEnding history of problems]]. This game saw Takahashi adopt a style of directing and writing that matched what most modern game developers view as the optimal strategy when in a game is in preproduction of creating mechanics then writing a story around them instead of the other way around as had been the case in ''Xenogears'' and ''Xenosaga'', aka visions in this case, that is seen in his future projects resulting in vastly different narrative experiences from his older works. After much fighting from the fans, it was released in Europe on August 19th, 2011, and translated to English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. After much fan demand, the game reached American grounds in April of 2012. Unfortunately, due to the game's highly limited run, the original release became [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes incredibly hard to find]], making it hard for fans late to the game to own the whole "set" of Wii {{Role Playing Game}}s, made up of this, ''VideoGame/TheLastStory'', and ''VideoGame/PandorasTower''.

On August 29th, 2014, a port for the New UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS system was announced, after Shulk's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUTU4OZrjzY reveal trailer]] for the [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU fourth]] ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' game. It was released April 10th, 2015. A Shulk Toys/{{amiibo}} was released in the Wave 3 of ''Super Smash Bros.'' amiibo and unlocks [[AndYourRewardIsClothes bonus costumes]] in specific games[[note]]more specifically ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker'', ''VideoGame/YoshisWoollyWorld'', and ''VideoGame/ChibiRobo! Zip Lash''. Using it in ''VideoGame/KirbyPlanetRobobot'' gives the [[PsychicPowers ESP ability]] to Kirby. It can also be used to train a "Figure Player" in ''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U'' and gives coins for the [[GottaCatchThemAll collectibles shop]] in ''Xenoblade Chronicles 3DS''[[/note]]. The original Wii version also came out on the Wii U Virtual Console in Europe on August 5, 2015, and later in North America on April 28, 2016. Also, Fiora appeared as a Nintendo GuestFighter in the crossover video game ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone 2'' alongside her SpiritualPredecessor KOS-MOS from ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}''; several Mechon, including the dreaded Metal Face, also appear as enemy units.

A [[ThematicSeries spin-off]], ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'', was released for the UsefulNotes/WiiU in 2015, and in 2017 a more direct sequel, ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'', released for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch. A [[VideoGameRemake remake]] using the sequel's graphics engine called ''Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition'' was announced for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, which was released on May 29, 2020. ''Definitive Edition'' features a brand new epilogue story called ''Future Connected'', set one year after the main game and starring Shulk and Melia.

'''Please move any character tropes to the proper [[Characters/{{Xenoblade}} character page]].'''

----
!!I'm really feelin' these tropes!

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Tropes A to C]]
* AbnormalAmmo: Ether rifles can, alongside normal rounds, fire ether rounds that have unusual effects. Sharla makes use of healing rounds, support rounds, electric rounds, and so on.
* AchievementMockery: The game awards the player an achievement for:
** Having a Heart-to-Heart go as badly as possible.
** Suffering a TotalPartyKill for the first time.
** Suffering a TotalPartyKill fifty times.
** Dying of fall damage.
** Missing 100 attacks.
** [[WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing Winning a battle without actually doing anything]].
* AchievementSystem: The game has a large variety of internal achievements that grant NonCombatEXP when completed. They're split in 2 categories, Trials and Records, with the former largely relating to the various sidequests and latter being mostly combat based. Only the latter carry over to NewGamePlus, possibly because the former are more tied to the overall story progress and the latter generally have further stretching goals.
* ActionCommands: Burst affinity. Occasionally in battle the player gets the opportunity to press a button to increase the team's tension and affinity, without major consequences besides a minor tension loss should the player fail. The same mechanic is also used in Dunban's "Blossom Dance" attack, and also to extend [[CombinationAttack chain attacks]], and for triggering the visions in the final battle against Zanza.
* ActionGirl: Sharla with her [[SmallGirlBigGun big gun]], Fiora with her [[KnifeNut knives]], and Melia with her [[LadyOfBlackMagic magic]].
* ActionPrologue: The game starts off with Dunban's stand against the Mechon approximately one year before the events of the game.
* AdvancedAncientAcropolis: Alcamoth, the home of the High Entia, is a floating city full of advanced technology.
* AerithAndBob: Most of the names are pretty fantastical like Shulk and Dunban, but then you get random [=NPCs=] named things like Dorothy, and even Sharla is a real name.
* AffectionateNickname: Riki is fond of these, with him dubbing Melia "Melly" and Dunban "Dundun." Neither mind at all, given their particular closeness to him.
* AllianceMeter: A very simple one, but still counts. The more {{Side Quest}}s are completed in each area, the higher the citizens' trust becomes. Higher trust allows trading for better items with the [=NPCs=] and unlocks more sidequests, some of which are necessary to unlock 2 extra skill trees for each character.
* AllThereInTheManual: For most, Fiora's restoration from cyborg to Homs seems to come out of [[DeusExMachina left field]], but it is detailed in the [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] short story, ''Monado: The Secret Files''. Luckily, someone translated it to English, which is posted [[http://dilly-shilly.blogspot.ca/2010/12/xenobade-episode-at-home.html here]].
* AndManGrewProud: The races living on Bionis and Mechonis thrived after the two titans killed each other in battle. Although it is later revealed that civilizations existed on the titans even before they waged battle.
* AndYourRewardIsClothes: Many quests will reward you with equipment, some of which has a unique appearance that can't be obtained any other way.
* AngstComa: Sharla sinks into unconsciousness after her younger brother Juju is kidnapped by Xord. She remains out cold for four hours, and is even haunted by a nightmare right before waking up.
* AnimationBump: During the majority of the dialogue cut scenes, the game uses pre-recorded animations and the lip movement is reduced to open-close-mouth. The characters' faces are rather motionless, the camera angles are pretty simple, and the shots are a little static. However, in the more dramatic and spectacular ones, the characters become more expressive, both in face animations and body language, the lip movement is animated accordingly to the spoken lines (at least with the Japanese dub), and the shots become way more dynamic.
* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
** Most of the collectables are available via trades, which is great as some areas are unavailable after certain points, and a few collectables are hard to get due to randomness. Some enemy drops are also available via trades. Finding out who can trade for them when and where [[GuideDangIt can be a chore]], though.
** Fast travel and time changing. Easily saves dozens of hours of pointless wandering, and even with them, HundredPercentCompletion still takes well in excess of 100 hours. Now if only they'd allow to change the ''weather'' too... and even that just takes a few time changes or fast travels.
** Unlike most {{Eastern RPG}}s, there are no consumable healing items. Outside of battle, party members recover HP automatically, and during battle, all abilities (including healing) are tied to a cooldown instead of a mana system, so they can be used as long as you're willing to wait for them to recharge. This means the party will almost always be at full strength going into most fights, reducing the need to backtrack to a town to rest and restock on items.
** Although the game is loaded with MMO-like quests to fetch items and kill monsters, many of them don't require you to return to the quest-giver to receive the reward, as it is given immediately upon fulfilling the objectives in most cases.
** Shulk has no access to any weapons outside the Monado until the last few hours of the game. To compensate for this, the Monado's power scales to Shulk's level.
** The Hidden Machina Village has the fewest amount of [=NPCs=] associated with it as well as the fewest quests. Their quests give out the most reputation out of all the other areas of the game in order to compensate for this fact.
** If you visit every location and landmark on a given map, the rest of the map will automatically fill in.
** In the Definitive Edition if you're playing Expert Mode and level down a character, they'll keep any Arts that they learn even if they're below the level they learned it.
** The ''Future Connected'' epilogue can be played from the very beginning instead of having to complete the entire game first.
** ''Definitive Edition'' highlights when arts have a special kind of interaction - such as any of Shulk or Riki's positional abilities, any of Reyn or Dunban's topple abilities, or Sharla's Head Shot. This is ''very'' helpful, ''especially'' for Shulk or Riki because it's a tad difficult to see when you're to the side or ''behind'' an enemy thanks to HitboxDissonance.
** Compared to the Wii and 3DS versions, smaller enemies in the ''Definitive Edition'' can rotate ''very'' fast. If you fire off something such as Shulk's Back Slash or Riki's Sneaky before the animation fully finishes while enemies are rotating to face someone else, the game may still count these as if you hit them from behind even if it appears that they hit it from the side.
** The new map system in ''Definitive Edition'' allows you to add markers to the map for future reference, prioritizes certain quests, and indicates whether the random collectibles on the field are quest-related.
** The Noponstones obtained in ''Definitive Edition's'' Land of Challenge can be used to purchase a variety of items, such as cosmetic gear, equipment gems, and monster materials and collectible items. The last one in particular can help mitigate the grind for finding them in the field and relying solely on luck (slightly; the ones found in endgame areas cost quite the fortune in Noponstones).
** In the original game, if an enemy is defeated while it's over a bottomless pit, the treasure chest it drops will fall into the abyss and become inaccessible. In ''Definitive Edition'', enemies defeated in situations like this will instead have their chests spawn right on top of the lead character on solid ground.
** The minimap added a tracking path, so you can always see how to get to the main quest objective.
** Quests for orb drops are highlighted with an ! in the definitive edition, thus reducing some of the randomness hunting for them.
** Any sidequest that is [[PermanentlyMissableContent Permanently Missable]] will have a stopwatch icon next to it, letting you know which ones to prioritize.
* AntiGrinding: Enemies with levels much lower than your party's give significantly reduced EXP, AP, and SP.
* ApocalypseHow: A freaking [[ApocalypseHow/ClassX4 Universal Class 4]]! Klaus tried to get an experiment that would turn human beings into gods and he ended up destroying the entire universe except himself, Meyneth, and the computer AI's consciousness. After that, they create the universe of the game. Klaus, now calling himself Zanza, is turned into Bionis, Meyneth into Mechonis, and the computer's AI into the Monado's spirit, which can take the Homs form of Alvis.
* ApeShallNotKillApe: Shulk refuses to let Dunban kill Metal Face due to him actually being a Homs. He dies after trying to kill Shulk, being impaled and falling to his death.
* AppliedPhlebotinum: The Fallen Arm is surrounded by the ocean, and has no constructed borders that serve as zone boundaries. To prevent the player from wandering too far out, they will start to take damage as if swimming in poison water. An NPC mentions that the currents have high concentrations of Ether flowing through them.
* ArborealAbode: Frontier Village takes it to an extreme, being a 9-level borderline LayeredMetropolis inside a gigantic hollow tree.
* ArcWords: ''"Seize our destiny."'' It starts as a sort of CatchPhrase for Dunban, but later becomes synonymous with the party's struggle to change the future.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Shulk stops Dunban from killing Mumkar, not wanting Homs to kill other Homs. Dunban only relents after Shulk asks him what if he has to do the same to Fiora, giving him serious pause.
* ArtificialBrilliance:
** Some enemies actually have counters to being knocked down that inflict damage back on you. The party member AI knows this - and they even [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard cheat]] in ''your'' favour, too! There is no way for ''you'' to know an enemy will inflict spike damage unless you inflict topple on an enemy. But if they ''do'' have a spike damage, your party members will not use their Break-Topple combos despite that they shouldn't know, InUniverse. Similarly, they won't attack (not even with auto-attacks) if the enemy does spike damage and the party member's health is too low to survive suffering from Spike damage. Also, Reyn and Dunban are actually quite quick to use Topple on Mechon, as this is the only way to damage them reliably without Enchant.
** Sharla's AI is pretty smart with [[OneHitKO Head Shot]] -- her AI is normally focused almost entirely on healing, which makes her a pretty effective healer, but the AI knows to usually reserve Head Shot for dazed enemies. Additionally, some of her abilities are more effective on flying enemies, yet also don't deal ScratchDamage to Mechon because they're ether-based.
** Reyn's AI is pretty good at tanking. And one reason people almost always use Riki is because Riki's AI does a ''very'' good job of keeping status debuffs on - his entire playstysle actually ''relies'' around this!
** Fiora also has a few arts that rely on taking advantage of enemies that're suffering from conditions like Topple. Naturally, her AI is actually pretty good at saving these arts.
** While Melia is considered to be the ''stupidest'' character in the game due to her playstyle being too complex for an AI to really handle, there's still Mind Blast. Her AI seems to know when she's fighting a Telethia and will try to enter Element Burst as ''fast'' as possible then instantly use Mind Blast. She's also somewhat smart with using Reflection, but most people think it's not worth putting on since it only works if she already has Aggro, which Melia simply should ''not'' have.
* ArtificialStupidity: That said, the AI still has a ''lot'' of issues...
** The AI does not handle positional abilities well. This leads to the AIs of Riki, Fiora, and Shulk (who all have abilities that are stronger if they're to the side or behind enemies) misusing their attacks when they're facing enemies or never making the effort to try flanking them. Usually they rely a ''lot'' on Reyn or Dunban to pull them off properly. It's one reason to ditch such arts for Riki and Fiora in favor of other arts their AI might be more effective with (Shulk is more or less stuck with the same palette of arts for the entire game).
** Melia's AI is generally a bit too hard for a simple AI to handle. She almost always summons elementals for the status buffs - which is good, but what isn't good is when she walks right up to the enemy and summons them, despite being a SquishyWizard. Moreover, while a player can notice (and use) the fact that you can summon one/two buffs, then continuously use the third buff as an attack, the AI will summon three in any random order before discharging them.
** One reason why Shulk is pretty much ''always'' the player character is because many battles for a ''huge'' portion of the game are borderline impossible without the Monado... and Shulk's AI is too stupid to properly enchant[[note]]Mechon-type enemies NoSell physical attacks and take half-damage from ether attacks, but Monado Enchant will allow your party to deal full damage. However, there are also Anti-Mechon weapons, which effectively have Enchant built in, but Shulk's AI refuses to check whether party members have these weapons before using Enchant.[[/note]] or shield[[note]]Shield will [[NoSell nullify]] a single Talent Art used by an enemy, as long as Monado Shield is the same rank or higher, but it only blocks Talent arts. However, Shulk may use Shield for attacks that aren't Talent Arts, use Armor (reduces damage from all sources instead of nullifying an attack) instead of Shield for talent arts, use Shield for an art that's a higher level, or use a Monado Art too early and be unprepared when a vision appears[[/note]].
** Riki simultaneously falls into this and brilliance - Riki is good at keeping on Poison, Chill, and Bleed, which are reliable [[DamageOverTime DoTs]], but he also has access to Burn, which damages even ''faster'' (and sometimes even ''harder'') than Poison or Bleed. The problem? His Burn attack target groups of enemies, but his AI doesn't seem to realize that it's just as effective against single targets, meaning he has to be ''ordered'' to use Burninate against bulkier opponents in a Chain Attack.
** Dunban seems to be adverse to using Blinding Blossom on Fiora in order to draw aggro away from her, even if she isn't using any sort of Tank equipment. He usually doesn't have much of a problem using it on other characters who happen to have uncomfortably high attention from monster attacks.
** In the field, the AI can sometimes walk off edges and fall to their doom[[note]][[VideoGameCrueltyPotential or you can push them off]][[/note]]... thankfully they respawn next to you within seconds.
* ArtShift: The art style for the Definitive Edition leans more toward the anime aesthetic seen more prominently in the sequel. Best seen with both Shulk and Fiora, whose designs here are much closer to their [[GuestFighter appearances as Blades]] in ''Xenoblade Chronicles 2''.
* AsLethalAsItNeedsToBe: The Monado is incapable of cutting sentient beings born from the Bionis, which severely cripples Shulk in a couple of battles. This restriction is no more once the Monado is unshackled.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Spike Damage gems and Spike aura on the playable characters. On one hand, it can be rather cathartic to use one of the more hated enemy mechanics against the enemies and have a free damage increase for the party. On the other hand, it requires having your character take damage from the enemy; and in the late game and ''especially'' against the [[BonusBoss Bonus Bosses]], that's a sign you're doing something wrong.
* AwfulTruth: Shulk surely [[HeroicBSOD doesn't take well]] to the fact that Dickson, one of his mentor figures, was EvilAllAlong. Not to mention that '''he himself''' was DeadAllAlong. For 14 years, no less.
* BackFromTheDead:
** Four characters that were killed by Mechon (Xord, Mumkhar, Gadolt, and Fiora) are revealed to have been resurrected as core units that serve as pilots for the Faced Mechon.
** Shulk had this ''twice''. First he came back after Zanza started using his body as a vessel; and later, after Zanza leaves his body, making him die again, he comes back for good.
* BackStab: Several characters have at least one move that deals more damage struck from behind the enemy (for example, Shulk's Back Slash). It is possible to sneak behind enemies and start the fight with these attacks, giving a great advantage, or even a OneHitKill.
* BadassAdorable: Don't let Riki's adorable Nopon looks and child-like attitude fool you, he's just as capable of a fighter as his "sidekicks". He can stack up some impressive status-effect damage as a GradualGrinder, and he has the second-most HP out of all the party, only beaten by Reyn by just a few hundred at level 99.
* BadassBookworm: Shulk, who is a mid-ranking member of Colony 9's Defense Force's engineering division. He already knew how to handle weapons before taking the Monado full-time.
* BadassCrew: The playable characters, of course. Even the Nopon party member kicks some serious ass.
* BareYourMidriff: Many characters have outfits that show navel, such as Fiora's and Sharla's default outfits.
* BattleCouple: Shulk and Fiora; long-time childhood friends with romantic tones that are hell-bent on protecting each other in battle.
* BeakAttack: The Ansels are big flying birds with long and sharp-looking beaks. Their attack animation show them diving at the character, and their "Skewer" ability is rather self-explanatory.
* BeautifulDreamer: Twice. First, Shulk watches Fiora sleep when the Machina are about to fix her Mechon body. Later in the game, the roles are exchanged and Fiora is the one who watches over Shulk. Although this time, she's waiting for him to come BackFromTheDead. In both cases, all characters have unique dialogue regarding them.
* TheBeautifulElite: Rather downplayed. Shulk, Fiora, Sharla, and Melia would be top model material in the real world (especially in a swimsuit). But Dunban, while still physically attractive, is within levels reachable by the average person; and Reyn would be unthinkable in most Japanese fantasy media. The [=NPCs=]' attractiveness varies a lot throughout the game, too.
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: The good Faced-Mechon, Fiora, has good looks, has a general color scheme of white and gold, and has a design reminiscent of [[VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}} KOS-MOS]]. Mumkhar, the evil Faced-Mechon that pilots Metal Face has a generally-black color scheme, looks like a gonk, and is designed to look like a robotic assassin. Gadolt splits the difference. While his Face-Mechon follows Metal Face's design philosophy, bears a dark green color scheme and bears a single red eye on his actual face, he still maintains his good looks and seems to borrow a few elements from Face Nemesis as well.
* BehemothBattle: The opening cutscene features a titanic clash between the the god-like entities Mechonis and Bionis. They are so big that after said battle, their still-standing corpses form the entire world in which the normal-sized characters live on.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: You would think Shulk, being a modest engineering student and nice guy, would not harm a fly. Or Fiora, a sweet girl and loving younger sister that takes care of her HandicappedBadass older brother, wouldn't be able to hurt anyone, right? WRONG!
* BeyondTheImpossible: Shulk's still able to have visions even when the Bionis Monado was taken away from him, electing this response from Disciple Dickson. It is later revealed it's because he had a third Monado tucked away in his heart which he eventually managed to manifest during the fight against Zanza, effectively making him a god as well.
* BigBad: It changes through the story. At first the main conflict is with the murderous Metal Face. Then it changes to the WellIntentionedExtremist Egil. And finally, the EvilGod Zanza shows himself as the real evil menace.
* BigBadFriend: The true antagonist of the Black Market sidequest chain is Bana, one of Gadada's closest friends and the giver of one of the chain's prerequisite quests.
* BigCreepyCrawlies:
** The Arachno/Antol and Caterpile enemies are the major ones. Wisp, Apis, and Fliers being a tad big but not even close to the size of the the Archnids and Caterpiles. Wisp and Fliers also tend to not be violent unlike the spider based enemies.
** The giant Fortress-class Mechons are a robotic version, looking like a cross between a praying mantis and some kind of wacky Victorian exercise machine.
* BigDamnHeroes:
** Fiora pulls off one of these during the Mechon attack to Colony 9, involving driving a freaking MiniMecha and fighiting single-handed against Metal Face, saving Shulk and co at the cost of her life.
** When the party is surrounded by Metal Face and several Mechon, Dunban and Dickson show up to lend them a hand. When they are overwhelmed, a Telethia sent by Alvis makes a swift appearance, attacking the Mechon and making them retreat.
** The party sans Melia infiltrates the High Entia Tomb just in time to save Melia from an assassin.
** Reyn and Sharla get one on the Fallen Arm, showing up just in time to help Shulk defend a still-recovering Fiora from a Mechon patrol.
** Shulk gets one at the last stand against the Telethia at Colony 6 after coming back from the dead.
** Fiora has a couple of these with Meyneth, the most of which involve saving the party from a mobile Mechonis temporarily.
* BigEater: Nopon as a species have very little self-control when it comes to indulging in food and drink. One sidequest reveals all the residents of Frontier Village take their meals and snacks at exact, predetermined times, otherwise they'd all gorge themselves to ''economic and societal collapse''.
* BigGood: Lady Meyneth, the benevolent goddess of Mechonis, the one looking for a way to put an end to the source of the conflict between the Bionis and the Mechonis. Interestingly enough, this big good was indirectly assumed to be ''the enemy'' at first.
* BigNo: Shows up a few times, the earliest one being Shulk's reaction at Fiora's death.
* {{BFG}}: Ether rifles can be BIG. Sharla is no small girl, but she's dwarfed by some of her guns.
* {{BFS}}: The Monado itself. It starts out almost as tall as Shulk is, and can grow to three times its normal size for special attacks. Dunban also has some [=BFSs=] of his own, which he wields [[OneHandedZweihander one-handed]].
* BilingualBonus: The characters that appear on the Monado's glass pane remain unchanged from the Japanese version - "machine", symbolizing that the blade will take apart Mechon, "person", given by Zanza at Prison Island, and finally "god", at the start of the ending sequence. Naturally, the characters don't know Japanese and thus can't exactly read them either; except Zanza, who audibly ''freaks'' when he sees the final kanji appear on the blade pointed against him.
* BirdPoopGag: Frontier Village is a giant tree with Nopon-ridden Pterixes (large Pterodactyls) constantly flying around it. When the player speaks to the unnamed Nopon npc's who walk on the outdoor balconies, several of them will mention that falling Pterix poo is just a fact of life in the village. One of them even stops mid-sentence, apparently having caught a dropping directly in the face as they were speaking to the player. Another mentions that he hears that Colony 9 has the same problem, but with 'Bionis' poo; likely referring to the falling debris that the AA canons shoot out of the sky regularly.
* BittersweetEnding: Highly sweet, mind you. Zanza is defeated, leaving the two gods finally at peace but destroyed, along with the world of Bionis and Mechonis. However, the universe is rebuilt, all the races of both the Bionis and Mechonis are saved from another destruction, Fiora gets her body back, and Shulk is finally at peace. However, many people, especially Machina and High Entia, lost their lives in the process.
* BlackMagicianGirl: Melia, a SquishyWizard with some serious offensive ether arts on her arsenal.
* BladeLock:
** Dunban and Shulk of all people get into one during a cutscene. Shulk does not want Dunban to kill a fellow Homs, even if it is one he hates from the bottom of his heart.
** The Bionis and Mechonis get into one after Zanza's reawakening, which ends with the latter's sword being broken.
* BodyguardingABadass:
** When Melia is introduced, she has a contingent of {{Mook}} bodyguards to help her track down a monster she's hunting. They all die in the fight, but she manages to beat it off and injure it with one big ether attack.
** Likewise, much of Reyn's character development deals with him trying to keep his promise to protect Shulk, even as Shulk grows far more powerful than him. It gets even more building when Gadolt leaves Sharla in his capable hands before dying.
* BodySurf: Zanza and Meyneth may have physical forms, but they still tend to take the bodies of others to show themselves.
* BonusBoss:
** The game includes 5 bonus bosses whose levels are above the player's cap of 99. They are Final Marcus at 100, Ancient Daedala at 105, Despotic Arsene at 108, Blizzard Belgazas at 114, and Avalanche Abaasy at 120. The last one is especially nasty because he only spawns in snowstorms, meaning that in addition to being strong enough to rip apart even a maxed out party and being able to counter attacks with instant death if you don't use Monado Purge or certain gems, nightvision gems are a must to have any expectation of even touching him. To make things even worse, Avalanche Abaasy spawns in the same area as Final Marcus. If you're fighting Marcus and it suddenly changes to blizzard weather, you are likely in for a nasty turn of events.
** A long sidequest chain leads to a boss battle against Bana, the Nopon kingpin; the only battle outside of the main story under the tune of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCHt8Eaesyo Tragic Decision]]". Though it's not an overleved battle, it takes quite some effort to reach it, since the quests that lead to it cover almost half of the game and are {{Permanently Missable|Content}}.
** A special sidequest focusing on a mid-game boss climaxes in a battle against a Telethia who used to be First Consort Yumea.
** Getting Colony 6 fixed up to 95% results in a bonus boss fight against a level 99 Demon King Dragonia, one of the three fightable dragons[[note]]the strongest monster type[[/note]] in the entire game.
* BossInMookClothing:
** Unique Monsters are super powered versions of otherwise regular monsters wandering around the world. They are usually, but not always, bigger than their counterparts, and are distinguishable by their fancy name tag and by [[NominalImportance their unique names]]. Fights against them can be even tougher than bosses.
** Fortress-class Mechon are massive house-sized behemoths of a robot. Even in their non-unique forms, they can be even more powerful than Unique Monsters of the same level. And let's not even start with their unique varieties.
** Many areas hold otherwise regular monsters that are several levels above the one of the usual monsters. Thankfully, most of them are usually found in some out-of-the-way areas, or don't attack unless provoked.
** The Face clones, which are mass-produced versions of Xord. The unique monster variation in Central Factory is quite powerful, as it has topple spike damage unlike the regular Mass Produced Faces and it hits hard with its arts.
** Dragons are also this; they're gigantic, most have spike damage, and some have Instant Death Attacks. Demon King Dragonia is fairly hard for a normal enemy, having more HP than a Unique Monster at the same level (Around 656,000), really powerful arts that can hit the entire party, and an Instant Death attack. It also gives the second best EXP out of any enemy, only beaten out by the Avalanche Abaasy, [[BonusBoss which is the strongest enemy in the entire game]].
** The Deinos Sauros within Makna Forest. They're the highest level monsters you can encounter pre-Mechonis Core event at level 98, meaning unless you're something like level 93, you'd have a tough time hitting it. Even so, it has only two different attacks: A powerful physical art that topples anyone who gets in its way and a level 10 talent art that guarantees instant death unless you either have debuff resistance[[note]]even then, the attack's quite deadly[[/note]] or used Monado Shield. Also, the mere fact that the level cap's 99 means that the Deinos Sauros can never be below white when it comes to danger levels. Thus, it's impossible to fight it with its stats reduced to compensate for you being overleveled. They, therefore, give the most EXP, AP, and SP out of all the monsters in the game pre-Mechonis Core event. And let's not even get started on the Unique version, which is level 99, has a spike that topples you and it has over 2,000 attack power.
* BraggingRightsReward: The Monado Dogma requires you to defeat either Avalance Abassy or Demon King Dragonia for one of its components. It's not much better than the other Monado Replicas you can obtain and it's strictly inferior to the Monado III, which you gain by simply finishing the main game and starting over on NewGamePlus.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Gadolt is one of the first Face Mechon to have their memories wiped in order to obey orders. He speaks Egil's words without resistance because of this.
* BridalCarry: Seen very briefly after Shulk wakes up on the Fallen Arm. Approaching the wreck of Face Nemesis, he extracts Fiora from the Mechon's chest cavity and carries her to shore, leading into one of the most heartwarming scenes in the game.
* BrickJoke: During the Nopon Black Market side quest chain, you have to give some writing to a certain NPC. At first, he thought it was an ancient Nopon dialect, until you give him some more writing from the writer of the previous writing. Then, he realizes that it's just bad writing.
* BrokenPedestal: Dickson becomes one to Shulk over the course of the game. Ever since Dickson found him at Valak Mountain, Shulk has looked up to him as his ParentalSubstitute. However, the pedestal is eventually shattered when Dickson shoots Shulk in the back and reveals himself as Zanza's disciple.
* BrotherSisterTeam:
** Dunban and Fiora. It takes a while before they finally manage to join forces in the battlefield though.
** Egil and Vanea on Mechonis' side. Though in this case, Vanea is much more reluctant, eventually doing what she can to stop him.
* BugWar: Several sidequests eventually reveal that one had happened between the Spiders and Giants. The Giants originally won the war and kept the powerful white spiders under control thanks to their Soothesayer. Eventually he died and the Spiders began to grow in power once again with no way to stop them. The Giants then resorted to [[HumanSacrifice Giant Sacrifice]] in order to keep them under control. Which worked [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard until their numbers dwindled]] to the point that nothing they do could stop them. It's suggested that the Spiders might have caused their extinction. There's also a war between the Chilkin and the Antols on Valak Mountain which keeps both sides in check.
* CallingYourAttacks: Paired with LargeHam, all over the place during battles.
* CameraScrew: When using the Wiimote + Nunchuk and in combat, the camera will always face you toward your target. This becomes a big issue when fighting {{Giant Mook}}s or trying to speed through narrow spaces. Using the Classic Controller allows you to control the camera manually, but you still have to deal with CameraScrew in small, confined spaces.
* CardCarryingVillain: The BonusBoss of [[SidequestSidestory a long sidequest chain]]. The Nopon Bana can almost he seen twirling his non-existent mustache before confronting him in battle in the "Find the Kingpin" sidequest.
* CartographySidequest: Bonus EXP is obtained for discovering out-of-the-way locations and landmarks in the world.
* CastFromHitPoints: Shulk's Battle Soul, Dunban's Final Flicker (both fill some of their talent gauge at the cost of half of their HP), and Melia's Healing Gift (which sacrifices some HP to heal another party member).
* CatchAndReturn: When Egil throws a ball of energy towards Zanza while he is still inside Shulk's body, Zanza merely throws it back at Egil, severely damaging him.
* ChainmailBikini: All characters, male and female, have access to equipment that are basically them in their underwear (or swimsuits). They can have some surprisingly high stats.
* ChekhovsGun: From the beginning of the game, two soldiers get scolded for crashing a mobile artillery unit in the Residential District. That MiniMecha later plays a huge role in the first battle against Metal Face.
* ChekhovsLecture: In Agniratha, Vanea explains to the party that the Monado isn't just a sword. It's the light within everyone, the will to survive no matter what. This light manifests itself as the True Monado during the final battle against Zanza.
* ChewingTheScenery: Everyone gets their share of impressive movement at some point. The Nopon take the cake though; a lot of them jumping or dancing as they talk to the party.
* ChildhoodFriends: Shulk, Reyn, and Fiora have spent a great part of their childhood together, [[ThreeAmigos and are very close because of this]].
* ChildOfTwoWorlds: Discussed. When plans for an alliance between the three races of the Bionis surface, Melia proposes herself as a potential ambassador, since she has the privileged position of being both regent of the High Entia and of half-Homs heritage. She doesn't take the position, though, and instead continues to be part of the PartyOfRepresentatives.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Pretty mandatory in a world with such a huge amount of sidequests that can be done pretty much at any time.
* CleavageWindow: A lot of the women's armor closes at the neck, making them this.
* ClimaxBoss: Several bosses in the course of the game mark a climax event or revelation; some of them even reveal further {{Big Bad}}s. The ones that reveal the bad guys are Xord, Metal Face, and Egil.
* ClippedWingAngel: After Xord is defeated and thrown into the ether river on the Ether Plant, he jumps back into action while the party is on the mine's elevator. This time he's rusted from the direct exposure to the ether, and unlike the first time around, he can be damaged just fine by the Monado.
* CollectionSidequest: Filling the collectopedia of each area nets some nice rewards. As well, there are quests that involve collecting a certain number of different elements.
* ColossusClimb: A weird sort, in that the entire game takes place on the bodies of two godlike behemoths the size of a pair of small moons.
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience:
** Battle arts have all different colors that represent different kinds of abilities. This makes it easier for the player to set up strategies to use against enemies.
*** Red arts are all physical, and often have a bonus effect if done a certain way (i.e. from behind).
*** Purple arts are all ether based, and affect the enemy in some way. (i.e. sleep, burn, chill, etc.).
*** Blue arts are healing or supportive.
*** Orange arts are auras, which grant multiple forms of buffs to different characters for a limited time.
*** Pink arts inflict break on an enemy.
*** Green arts inflict topple in some way, mainly when an enemy suffers from break.
*** Yellow arts inflict [[CirclingBirdies daze]], usually when an enemy is under topple.
*** Finally, [[LimitBreak Talent Arts]] are gray, and work as a wild card during Chain Attacks.
** Each different Monado Art illuminates the blade with a different color, but these colors don't correlate with the colors of "equivalent" Battle Arts save for Armour (Orange).
* CombatClairvoyance: What the Monado does in gameplay, often showing lethal attacks aimed at the team several seconds before they actually occur.
* CombatMedic: Sharla has a wide arsenal of healing and support arts, while still having some offensive potential with her gun arts (one of which, if set properly, is a OneHitKill).
* CombinationAttack: Called "Chain Attacks" in this game. It allows the three members to perform a special attack each, even if it's currently affected by cooldown, and that attack will be far more likely to inflict its status effect on the enemy unless they are 100% immune to it. The higher the affinity between the members, the more attacks they will be able to execute before the Chain Attack ends, and the more Arts of the same color are performed in a row (with Talent Arts acting as a wild card that allows to change colors in the middle), the higher the damage multiplier.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: The monsters [[FanNickname the fans call]] the "Superbosses" are all over level 100, compared to the level cap for this game which is level 99. They make up for this by having lower agility than what their level would suggest ([[AntiFrustrationFeatures just so that you can hit them]]).
* ControlFreak: Zanza wants to keep total control over his creations, knowing full well that if they leave the Bionis, he will die.
* CoolOldGuy: Dickson and Otharon. The former is a member of Colony 9's military force, and the latter the leader of Colony 6's military force. Both of them show several moments of badassery.
* CoolDown:
** One of the main combat mechanics. Most powerful attacks have long cooldown periods to prevent them from being used more than once per battle and ending combat instantly makes them useable in the next battle, with the [[CombinationAttack Chain Attacks]] resetting their timers for its duration, allowing the use of all attacks.
** Sharla has another form of cooldown. Her abilities overheat her gun, increasing the effectiveness of her offensive attacks and reducing the effectiveness of her healing. Not venting the extra heat before her gun overheats completely forces her into an automatic heat venting animation that takes much longer than doing it manually. In either case, Sharla can't move or attack during the animation, which is really bad if she's got high aggro. The former can be reduced by leveling up said attacks, and the latter can be reduced with the right gems and skills.
* CosmeticAward: In the New 3DS version, managing to level up all your characters to level 99 results in the game giving you 99 free tokens to spend on in-game models and music for the jukebox collection.
* CoupDeGraceCutscene:
** Alvis finishes a Telethia off in the cutscene where Purge is learnt.
** Shulk finishes Zanza during the start of the final cutscene after the FinalBattle.
* CrypticConversation: Of course, this being part of Monolith's AuthorAppeal. Alvis would be the worst offender, remaining very ambiguous through the course of the game.
* CurbstompBattle: The final battle turns into this after Shulk gets his True Monado. It's pretty much this in gameplay terms as Zanza remains the same, but now Shulk has the best weapon in the game.
* CutscenePowerToTheMax:
** It is not rare to see the characters being agile in cutscenes, but not being able to lift their feet off the ground in battles. The worst offender for this would be Meyneth controlling Fiora right after the HopelessBossFight with a revealed Zanza. The fight has them flying around the area exchanging blows.
** The cutscene in which Shulk unlocks the Monado Speed art shows him casting it over himself, Dunban and Sharla simultaneously. When the player uses it in battle, it can only grant buffs to a single party member at a time.
* CycleOfRevenge: Shulk swears revenge on Mechonis and the Mechon after they attack Colony 9 and kill Fiora. It turns out the Mechon attack was instigated by Egil as revenge for Zanza and the Bionis massacring the people of Mechonis thousands of years ago. Shulk manages to shake himself out of this mentality and stop the cycle before he kills Egil, but unfortunately Zanza isn't having any of that and Dickson ends up shooting Shulk in the back.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tropes D to F]]
* DamagerHealerTank: Can be done as long as Sharla is the healer and Reyn is the tank. Most other characters fall more or less under the GlassCannon type, so they would be the damage.
* DeadAllAlong: Shulk, who died 14 years ago next to the Monado. Zanza used his body as a vessel. When Zanza leaves Shulk's body, he dies again. He comes back later to kick his ass.
* DeadpanSnarker:
** Of all things, the game text! Specifically during the quest "Désirée's Future." The game's quest text is normally very straightforward and neutral in its instructions, but it takes some potshots at poor Désirée for some reason as this particular quest goes on:
--->"Listen to Désirée's long story."\\
"Challenge yourself to listen to Désirée's long and boring story."\\
"Try not to fall asleep while listening to Désirée's story."\\
"Make it look like you enjoy listening to Désirée's long story."
** Adding to the young woman's humiliation, the party members start going into their usual post-quest congratulations BEFORE Shulk has even helped her make a decision! Désirée actually has to cut them short with with an outraged "Do you mind?!" to get Shulk back on track. (If one assumes the quest text is from Shulk's perspective, then he can be seen as a DeadpanSnarker to Désirée during this whole conversation.)
* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Dying in gameplay just forces a return to the last landmark visited, and any loot dropped by killed monsters is not lost. This is especially true if you slipped off a high point and fell to your death.
* DeclarationOfProtection:
** Shulk and Fiora. Each one always presents the idea of protecting the other. Which is funny later in the game, when both of them are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.
** Reyn promises he will protect Shulk during their journey. This becomes part of his CharacterDevelopment later on, when he realises that Shulk has grown far more powerful than him.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: Completing "A Big Brother's Fight" would not only resolve in side characters Jiroque and Zuzaku to make up, it would also cause them to become "close brothers". However, if you complete the quest's mutual opposite, "A Little Brother's Fight", you'd have to do another side quest in order for them to come "close brothers", but once you do, you'd also cause Marcia to forgive Zuzaku when she had previously hated him. (Their feuding still stops, however).
* DemonicPossession:
** The only reason Shulk was alive these last 14 years is because Zanza was using him as his vessel.
** Whoever holds a Monado can be taken over by the soul of a god that rests within, like the giant Arglas, who became Zanza's puppet when he grabbed the respective Monado. Although the Demonic part is pretty non-existant on [[GodIsGood Meyneth's side]].
* DeadHandShot: [[GoryDiscretionShot The only thing we see of]] Fiora's corpse is the arm, before the tank she was riding in is tossed away by Metal Face.
* DecoyProtagonist: The prologue gives the impresion that Dunban is the main character. He in fact is a playable character, but the main character seat belongs to Shulk.
* DeusEstMachina:
** Mechonis and Meyneth, on virtue of being MechanicalLifeforms.
** Taken to even greater levels with Alvis, Monado itself, who used to be a computer AI in the previous universe before it was destroyed.
* DevelopersForesight:
** Overlevel a character outside of the NewGamePlus before a playable character joins your party, and that character would be around the same level as your other characters when they join. In ''Definitive Edition'', this is zigzagged a bit with Expert Mode, as the new party member will join at a level based off what level your party members currently are rather than what level they could be if you used all of their stored experience, making it preferable to raise them to their maximum level just before a new member joins.
** Initiating a Chain Attack while an enemy's busy performing an attack that will incapacitate one of your player characters, and he or she will shrug it off just so that they could join in on the Chain Attack. Conversely, a character will also survive with 1HP should the conditions within the Chain Attack would normally incapacitate them (ie, when they're hit with enough spike damage to normally be knocked out).
** The Machina Swords are programmed to not be in their active state during cutscenes that are supposed to portray Dunban as wielding the Monado, just so that the "Monado's blade" (and circle) would look like it's coming from said sword.
** During the one cutscene where Fiora uses her drones to attack, it will use the right Talent Art depending upon what type of drones she actually has equipped. Said Talent Art may even [[CutscenePowerToTheMax briefly change in behavior]] depending on its nature.
** Even if you manage to beat an insanely high leveled enemy somehow early on, there's a max EXP and AP cap in place in relation to your level to prevent cheesing the game with power grinding. In fact, the cap actually becomes a cliff beyond a certain point: the cap (1.5x EXP) applies to enemies who are 7-21 levels above you, but against enemies who are 22+ levels above you, you actually receive 'less' EXP the 'lower' your level is!
** If you revisit Galahad Fortress after reaching the Fallen Arm, go to the level where you fought Fiora in Face Nemesis and Egil in Yaldabaoth and jump off the edge that the party fell off, you'll end up on the exact same beach where Shulk and Fiora reunite.
** The game adjusts cutscene animations accordingly should Shulk be using a Monado other than the one he should have at that point (which is guaranteed to happen on a NewGamePlus). This is more obvious when on the Fallen Arm. If Shulk's using the Monado III (the only Monado whose inactive state doesn't involve its blade disappearing) up to this point, the Monado III is embedded downwards into the ground in a logical way during the cutscene that involves Shulk resting with Fiora.
** If you wait until after Seven joins the party before doing the "biscuits for a grandson" sidequest, the only sidequest that pre-mechon Fiora has a unique comment on, Mechon Fiora will still have that unique comment, even though it is highly unlikely for the player to save such a small sidequest until that late, unless they are deliberately testing whether or not it will happen.
** Even though the game encourages you to do the "Sunrise in the Park" Heart-to-Heart during your first visit to Outlook Park, you are not forced to do so. If you skip it and don't do it before the Mechon attack, the icon for it completely disappears, and if you had it in your Heart-to-Heart as unread, it will also disappear. However, after the events of Galahad Fortress the Heart-to-Heart will reappear in your log and you can take Shulk and Mechon-Fiora back to the park to view it. Interestingly, though, two lines of dialogue do change slightly without changing the meaning. Instead of saying "You had a big falling out..." Shulk instead says "You had that Fight and fell out with one another" and instead of thinking "Like I wanted to get married?" Fiora instead thinks "Like... I wanted to marry him?!"
** In NewGamePlus, Fiora in her Homs form inherits her party affinity and skill tree progress from her Mechon self.
** In ''Definitive Edition's'' NewGamePlus, the cutscenes where Dunban uses the Monado re-uses the Monado rather than using Dunban's currently equipped sword, though he reverts to his standard playstyle in battle.
** Flashbacks featuring party members, such as the one in the Ether Mines, display them with the gear that they were wearing at the time.
* DialogueTree: They appear in some sidequests and are a key feature in the Affinity Dialogues. In sidequests, taking different options might do something as small as changing affinity between some [=NPCs=], to completely changing future quests.
* DictionaryOpening: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5xuRbkXcZ8 The trailer for the 3DS remake]].
-->The Monado - a divine sword capable of disturbing the very fabric of existance.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: The party defeats Zanza, one of the creators of the New Universe.
* DifficultyByAcceleration: A more subtle example than most. Higher-level enemies have their arts cool down faster than their lower-level counterparts, so they pull them out more often and therefore need to be countered more frequently. Fortunately, the same is true of the player, so their own cooldowns don't screw up the dynamic.
* DiscOneFinalDungeon: The first visit to Prison Island is greatly built up, but it serves as the source of a WhamEpisode. Later on, Mechonis Core takes this spot.
* DiskOneNuke:
** Using an exploit, it's possible to get into the post-Mechonis Core section of Tephra Cave on the first pass through, which doesn't have its enemies or map loaded but ''does'' have its lategame Ether deposits and two secret areas accessible, whose combined experience rewards will easily push the party to around level 50. ''Definitive Edition'' fixes the original exploit, but introduces a new one.
** Once you get Melia and have her sleep and Spear Break talent arts, it's possible to use her to push the Gogols, an exceedingly high-leveled late-game enemy on Bionis Leg, off of cliffs for a OneHitKill. While the team [[DevelopersForesight thought of that and put a max EXP and AP cap in relation to your level, regardless of what level the enemy is at]], it's still possible to get some really good equipment, Art Books, and level V / VI strength up gems from them, which helps makes the game up to the Mechonis proper a breeze.
* DisneyVillainDeath: A strange case, as the victim Metal Face falls to his death all the way from Sword Valley, but not before being ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice by his own actions. Also taking a spin on the trope, the protagonists can eventually come across the end result of the fall. Messy.
* DisproportionateRetribution: The quests that involve slaying the Orluga of Makna forest all come from a Nopon boy who wants the protagonists to slay them for ticking him off in relatively trivial ways.
* DivergentCharacterEvolution: Inverted with Dunban and Reyn gameplay-wise. They both start out as varieties of aggro-drawing tank, but with plenty of noticeable and meaningful differences. But they later learn arts that are quite similar to each other's. For example:
** Dunban starts with Electric Gutbuster and Worldly Slash, which have added effects when used after Gale Slash. Later, Reyn learns Dive Sobat, which has an added effect when used after Bone Upper.
** Reyn learns Last Stand, which revives him if he dies while it's active. Much later, Dunban learns Jaws of Death, which does exactly the same thing.
* DoomedHometown:
** Colony 9 is brought to chaos after the attack by the Mechon. Although it manages to recover pretty fast.
** Colony 6 is completely destroyed before Shulk and Reyn arrive. Reconstructing it forms part of a huge sidequest.
** Agniratha, the Mechonis capital. A former bustling metropolis attacked by Telethia and the Bionis millennia before the game's events. Now a lifeless Mechon-infested ghost of what it used to be.
** Alcamoth, after Zanza transforms all pure blood High Entia into Telethia.
* DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent: Alvis. Through the course of the story, it's impossible to tell which side he's on. At one point he's a mysterious helper, then he's acting shady with a group of shady characters, then he's back again on Shulk's side. It continues to grow from there, and it's not until the very ending that his motivations become clear.
* TheDragon: Dickson is Zanza's closest disciple, working directly for him and leading events towards Zanza's goals.
* DragonsAreDemonic: ''Xenoblade Chronicles'' has only three dragons, but they're the strongest group of monsters in the game, with the latter two dragons even dropping [[{{Hellfire}} Demonic Everflames]] once defeated:
** Dragon King Alcar is the antepenultimate boss of the story, guarding the way to the roof of Prison Island, serving as almost a literal example of TheDragon due to it blocking the way to the BigBad's realm.
** Demon King Dragonia attacks Colony 6's ether planters once it reaching 90% completion and must be defeated as a result.
** Avalanche Abassy is one of the [[BonusBoss superbosses]], appears at night on Valak Mountain during a raging blizzard, and is ''the'' most powerful enemy in the game.
* DrillSergeantNasty: Colonel Vangarre of Colony 9 militia (also known as "Square-tache"). His behavior is suspiciously similar to [[{{Expy}} Vanderkam]] in ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'', who was himself an even more direct {{Expy}} of Vanderkaum in ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''.
* DualBoss: When the party comes to confront Melia's would-be assassin, she brings with her a Telethia.
* DualWielding:
** Fiora with ReverseGrip [[KnifeNut knives]], no less. Which change to DualWielding weird-looking swords after her transformation. Straight grip this time.
** Zanza does this with both his and Meyneth's Monado once he gets his hands on the latter.
* DubNameChange:
** Fiorung is called "Fiora" in the European localizations. At the same time, Carna is called "Sharla", which is more difficult to justify, unless it was because of copyright issues or because it sounded too close to "Carnal" for Nintendo's liking.
** Kyoshin and Kishin, on the other hand, were more rightly localized as Bionis and Mechonis respectively. Mechonis kept the pun in Kishin, which contains the kanji for "machine", while Bionis is a full departure from Kyoshin, which means "huge god"; "Bionis" contains "Bio", the Greek word for "life", [[MeaningfulName playing up the organic-mechanical dichotomy between it and Mechonis]].
** Metal Face was originally called "BlackFace" (黒いフェイス), which has no meaning beyond sounding cool in Japanese, but for fairly obvious reasons wasn't going to fly in western countries, ''especially'' America. "Metal Face" does end up being a bit of a non-sequitur of a name, since all of the Faced Mechon have "metal faces" (when inside their frames, anyway) but it's really just a nickname that Shulk and crew give him since he was the first Faced Mechon they encountered.
* DudeShesLikeInAComa: Implied with Melia in an optional series of interactions with Shulk while he is comatose. She quickly calls herself out for it.
* DummiedOut:
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l86GCaqZuxY Bionis' Shoulder.]] Appeared in several screenshots and a grand total of one cutscene. However, it later became the main setting for the ''Future Connected'' epilogue, available only in the ''Definitive Edition''.
** The "Gadolt's Cannon" weapon for Sharla and the "Gadolt's Turret" material are both programmed into the game, but never used. Presumably, they would be obtainable as soon as you've defeated Gadolt within his Faced Mechon form.
* DynamicLoading: Although it's impressive how much visual data the game is capable of loading at once. We only get to see a LoadingScreen before a big CutScene or when going from one big area to another.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
** The Nopon in this game don't say [[VerbalTic "Meh!"]] all that much unlike in later Xenoblade games; they don't even say it in audible cutscenes, only in text-based dialogue in sidequests. For that matter, this is the one game where the resident Nopon party member (or travelling companion) joins relatively late. The goofy leitmotif usually associated with Nopon (Riki the Legendary Hero) only plays ''twice'' in the entire story, compared to the more liberal use of its counterparts in future games.
** Each major territory in the game has a variety of sidequests given by a nameless character that doesn't need to be handed in upon completion, and mostly involve killing certain types of monsters, gathering certain collectible/material items, and killing certain unique monsters. Such sidequests would be relegated to bulletin boards or affinity chart tasks in future games in a more streamlined fashion.
** The named [=NPCs=] in this game have the most elaborate NPCScheduling in the franchise by far, going from place to place at different times of the day, which makes it problematic when doing certain quests. ''Videogame/XenobladeChroniclesX'' kept such characters stationary and tend to only appear in one half of the day, and ''Videogame/XenobladeChronicles2'' practically removed the depths of [=NPCs=] and their importance entirely.
** The mundane human stand-ins are called "Homs" in the world of Bionis & Mechonis. Though ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'' would take place in a futuristic, but Earth-centric timeline, the humans playing their own role would make sense, ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' would simply refer to all mortal humanoid races as humans as well despite taking place in another fantasy universe.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: The party goes through a lot in the story; a lot of revelations and tragic events happen across the board. But after all of it, it all manages to end on a high note.
* EasterEgg: You can get Mumkhar's Razor by overtrading (ie. trading with an NPC so that the item they get is noticeably more valuable than the one they give you, which makes them give you a preset extra item) with Kurralth when he's stranded at Valak Mountain as a part of his sidequest: since this is the only way to get one in the game, it's not used for any quest or Colony 6 rebuilding, it's an overtrade-exclusive item, talking to him normally before trading with him means you lose the opportunity to get it, and this is the area where you fight Mumkhar for the first time, it's probably meant to be an easter egg.
** There are an astounding amount of generic, unnamed NPCs with their own storylines that advance as the main story progresses, which serve as small rewards for players who try to talk to 'everybody'. For example, there is a Nopon girl in Frontier Village who talks about wanting to open her own shop, and later starts practicing her "shopkeeper voice"; eventually she opens a shop in Colony 6. Players will only notice this if they talk to her multiple times in Frontier Village (there is no in-game reason to do so), talk to her again in Colony 6 (she sells nothing to the player, so there is, again, no in-game reason to do so) and recognize her distinctive speech patterns.
* EasyExp: Finding new areas nets some generous experience; even more so if they are hidden areas.
* ElaborateEqualsEffective: The armors are bigger and bulkier the heavier they are. Though this doesn't necesarily translate into better armor.
* EleventhHourSuperpower: The Monado III, which Shulk creates right before the final battle with Zanza. As a bonus, it becomes usable in the NewGamePlus.
* EndOfTheWorldSpecial: At the end of the game, Alvis gives Shulk full control over the Monado to create a new universe. He resolves most of the issues of the old one by avoiding what Zanza and Meyneth did by becoming a god: he allows everyone the freedom to expand to the stars.
* TheEpic: Guaranteed to last 80 hours with the main storyline, 100+ with quests, ''including'' the AntiFrustrationFeatures. Interface hints dictate that the plot spans over 10,000 years of history, detailing the backgrounds of every race and the reasons why they were created. With that, there are three major plotlines, each having multiple sides detailing how [[GambitPileup every major character is screwing each other over]] while [[GreyAndGreyMorality still having their own sets of idealism]].
* EpicTrackingShot: The ActionPrologue ends with a tacking shot that goes from Sword Valley to Eryth Sea, then to Makna Forest, and finally a complete shot of Bionis and Mechonis. The whole scene gives a good idea of the huge scope of the game world.
* EternalEngine:
** The heart of Colony 6's ether mine is one huge machine in constant movement.
** The entirety of Mechonis is constantly moving machinery. Central Factory in particular is the most noticeable.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Shulk and Fiora, of course. Especially [[ShipperOnDeck Dunban is quite active in putting them together]]. Although to be fair, it's mostly because of a TwiceShy problem, and even with that, they seem to be a few inches away from a RelationshipUpgrade. And they actually upgrade it, eventually. But things got to go to hell before it happened, including Fiora [[BackFromTheDead literally coming back from the dead]] in a [[RobotGirl robot body]]. Not that [[{{Robosexual}} Shulk minds it]], though.
* EventFlag: Pointed in the maps with actual flag icons, they mark points where cutscenes and plot happens.
* EvilAllAlong: Dickson, who was one of Zanza's disciples.
* EvolutionaryStasis: An ExploitedTrope in ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}''. The BigBad Zanza hid the DNA of the Telethia, draconic monsters that serve as macroscopic digestive bacteria for his true body, the Bionis, inside of the [[OurElvesAreDifferent High Entia]], a sentient, technologically-advanced species created specifically for the role. By hiding them inside beings who rely on technology rather than adapting to their environment, the Telethia genes would be protected from the ravages of natural selection in order to prevent them from changing too much to be usable before Zanza was ready to consume all life en masse. Fortunately this didn't work 100%, as the High Entia royal family somehow learned the truth and set up a BreedingCult using intermarriages with Homs to try and breed out the Telethia genes.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Fiora gets her hair cut along with her UnwillingRoboticisation. She decides to keep it like that after she recovers her body.
* {{Expy}}: For a game that was [[DolledUpInstallment originally meant to be standalone and not part of the Xeno series]], Xenoblade is ''crawling'' with lookalikes from both ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}''. See the character page for details.
* FetchQuest: Many quests involve taking or finding items and delivering them to someone. Lots of them don't require one to go find the quest giver later, making them easier.
* FirstGirlWins: Fiora ends up beating Melia in winning Shulk's affections. No surprise, since the whole first half of the game was him avenging her supposed death.
* {{Fanservice}}: Party members can be stripped down to their underwear. So you have fanservice in spades for both genders. In Dunban's case, he even gets a buff (pun not intended) for wearing no clothes, a skill that can be shared with other characters. CovertPervert much?
* FantasticDrug: The red pollen orbs the Nopon manufacture. If they are processed correctly, they can have some good potential uses; if not, they are very addictive and dangerous for your health. There's a group of Nopon that have been selling these variety illegally to Alcamoth citizens, and a huge sidequest arc involves finding who and where they are and putting a stop to their business.
* FantasticLightSource: The Nopon's pollen orbs, which they manufacture and use as light sources and food.
* FantasticRacism: Some side quests hint that some High Entia consider the Homs and Nopon to be inferior beings; and those tend to not have a high opinion on half-Homs High Entia either, especially the Bionite Order, that pretty much hates anything that isn't a pure High Entia. That said, there are many High Entia, both named [=NPCs=] and regular [=NPCs=], that accept and want to live in harmony with the other races.
* FastForwardMechanic: An option in the menu allows the player to skip to any time in-game. This greatly helps to find the non-player characters that show up at specific times for the loads and loads of sidequests.
* FightingClown: Riki may be a RidiculouslyCuteCritter with a cheerful attitude and attacks with silly names to go along with the Nopon theme, but he's just as capable of a fighter as his Hom Hom partners, having the highest HP, a steal ability, the best healing ability besides Sharla's, [[GradualGrinder and several enemy debuffs]] at his disposal.
* FinalDungeonPreview: The endgame features two successive dungeons which both have been visited earlier in the story on separate occasions.
** The [[WombLevel Bionis' Interior]]. The party passes briefly through it to make their way from Satorl Marsh to Makna Forest, with the location having seemingly little significance. However, the fact that it has a page in the Collectopaedia despite the apparent lack of available collectables as well as the presence of inaccessible Heart-to-Hearts and Ether Crystals on the map [[InterfaceSpoiler indicate]] that this is not the last time you will visit the place. Indeed, while making your second journey to Prison Island much later, you are finally able to explore the rest of the dungeon, which now contains collectables and enemies as a result of the Bionis' body returning to life.
** [[OminousFloatingCastle Prison Island]], which on the first visit is where Shulk upgrades the Monado and [[ClimaxBoss fights Metal Face for the second time]]. Despite being the backdrop for [[WhamEpisode several pivotal events]], the dungeon itself has few enemies, is devoid of collectables and only a few of its many floors are accessible; this changes once you return to confront the final villains of the game once and for all.
* FirstEpisodeTwist: Of course. Fiora's death during the Mechon attack to [[DoomedHometown Colony 9]].
* FirstKiss: Shulk gives it to mechon-Fiora while trying to give her water [[IntimateHealing via mouth-to-mouth.]]
* FloatingContinent: The floating islands above Eryth Sea, which include Alcamoth and Prison Island.
* FlunkyBoss: Several of them, such as Face Mechon bringing smaller support units.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** Since Shulk can see the future, he occasionally gets glimpses of lots of distant future events. Lots of them only start to make sense once the event happens.
** Foreshadowing for the biggest plot twist in the game can be spotted as early as the prologue in Sword Valley, with Dunban and Dickson calling each other "stupid beast" and "old man" respectively.
** An easy to miss Foreshadowing of the Mechon attack on Colony 6 can be seen when an unnamed Nopon NPC states that she hadn't heard any gossip from Colony 6 lately.
** Throughout the game, Alvis keeps insisting to Shulk that he should find "his true Monado", foreshadowing the fact that he had a Monado tucked away within his heart the entire time which he eventually manifests into a physical form while fighting Zanza.
** Near the beginning of the game, after Fiora dies, Shulk remarks how he feels part of him is telling him to be rational, while another part of him is crying out for revenge. Even Reyn remarks on how that doesn't sound like something Shulk would say at all...
** A small one in Tephra Cave. When Shulk and Reyn come across the bodies of dead Homs, Shulk is the first one to suggest returning them to the Bionis. It seems innocent enough, but once you find out TheReveal involving Shulk and the nature of the beings on Bionis, plus the fact that Shulk was shown to not be a religious person beforehand, this scene becomes yet more ''incredibly'' subtle foreshadowing to the major PlotTwist late game.
** Right after killing Fiora, Metal Face shares a meaningful glance with Dunban, cluing the player in to Metal Face's identity as Mumkhar. Also of note is Metal Face's main weapon aside from that cannon on his back, his claws. Mumkhar also used claws as his main weapon. Subtle, yet easily noticed once you meet other unique faced Mechon and see that their weapon is based on what they used while they were still Homs.
** When Sharla asks Othoron if Gadolt's alright, he replies that while Gadolt has disappeared, he can feel that Gadolt's still alive simply due to Othoron seeing Gadolt like his own son. While he is indeed right about him still being alive, he didn't know that Gadolt's ultimate fate was to be turned into a Faced Mechon.
** After defeating Xord, he gives the first hints about his past as a Homs. The information is vague enough so the player doesn't know [[WhamEpisode what this will lead into]]. Speaking to a certain NPC in Colony 9 after his defeat reveals that a Homs named Xord used to be the best blacksmith in the colony. Think back to the weapon he used...
** In the first encounter with Alvis, after showing Shulk how to use Monado Purge, he throws the Monado back at him and off-handedly states "The Monado doesn't wield itself. You wield it." While at first this seems just as a metaphor on how Shulk must learn to control the Monado's power, it's later revealed to be '''much''' more literal.
** An easy-to-miss foreshadowing exists within Frontier Village where one of the NPC Nopons you can talk to states that he mustn't eat too much or else he would have to become Heropon to pay his debts. Similar to how Riki, the playable Nopon you encounter soon afterwards, became Heropon in the first place (an unskippable cutscene reveals that the only reason why he became Heropon was because he's in serious debt).
** When Melia enters the High Entia Tomb, the "spirit" within speaks to her about Homs integration into the bloodline, and something about escaping a curse. Turns out that half-Homs High Entia are the only ones immune to regression into Telethia.
** Easy to miss, since it's part of a sidequest, but a pureblood High Entia, who used to embrace Homs, Nopon, and hybrids, is now suddenly on board with the whole "pureblood High Entia are supreme" spiel and the FantasticRacism it involves. She claims this is the result of a voice she heard in a dream, which she believes was the voice of the Bionis itself. Now who, again, is the spirit of the Bionis, and refresh my memory here, what were they planning during the endgame?
** When Zanza offers to release the Monado's true power, he says that, if he were allowed to release its power, "Only a god could stand in your way". Turns out, a god is ''exactly'' who intends to stand in Shulk's way.
** Then about 2/3 of the way through the game, we get a dream sequence which sets up a big holy shit moment.
** The fact that Shulk isn't very interested in food is the first clue that he's really a reanimated corpse.
** Dickson's WhamLine early on ("Can't say I feel good deceiving these kids like this.") is a surprisingly subtle one. For one, it's your first clue that Dickson isn't as trustworthy as he seems. But further, the fact that he calls ''everyone'' in your party "kids", even Dunban, clues you in that he's older than he looks. '''Much''' older.
** The fact that Lorithia makes a passing reference to the High Entia having yet to reach their true potential during their assault on Mechonis foreshadows their entire nature as Telethia being given sapience.
** The fact that Zanza can only see up to the confrontation with Shulk and his friends after he obtains the Mechonis Monado foreshadows the fact that the Monado was only pretending to be on his side.
** The fact that Alvis looked at Lorithia and Dickson in shock after their respective {{Inner Monologue}}s (concerning then not being as benevolent as they let on) as if he can read their minds is not only foreshadowing his loyalty to Zanza being fake, it also foreshadows him being the Monado's spirit as he's the only in-game character who's implied have the ability to read minds (besides the Telethia).
** The lines Alvis said when he is revealed to be Zanza's disciple is deliberately worded so that it could either be interpreted as him taunting the party or him motivating them. The fact that he repeats it later on as a MeaningfulEcho means that it's meant to be interpreted as the latter - the only reason why he deliberately worded it like that is so that the other disciple that was with him at the time, Disciple Dickson, as well as Zanza himself, for that matter, would not suspect Alvis' loyalty.
** If you pay attention to the opening cutscene, you'll notice how the Mechonis is mostly moving ''defensively'' and doesn't strike any of the major areas on it where the beings of Bionis mostly live. Meanwhile, it's the ''Bionis'' that's mostly on the offense and is aiming most of its blows at the Mechonis head: AKA, where the Machina mainly live.
** A ''really'' subtle one but the fact that Mechon are immune to most everything but the Monado or [[OnlyLikeCanCutLike weapons made from Mechon armor]] is a very subtle nod to the true nature of the Mechonis and Meyneth; being mostly defensive in trying to ensure the protection of her followers. After all, it was ''Egil'' who spearheaded the creation of offensive Mechon and programmed them to attack the Bionis.
* FourTemperamentEnsemble
** The seven party members; Reyn (choleric), Sharla (choleric/melancholic), Shulk (melancholic), Melia (melancholic/phlegmatic), Dunban (phlegmatic), Fiora (phlegmatic/sanguine), and Riki (choleric/sanguine).
** The BigBad and the disciples; Zanza (sanguine), Lorithia (choleric), Dickson (melancholic), and Alvis (phlegmatic).
** The main Faced Mechons; Mysterious Face/Xord (sanguine), Metal Face/Mumkhar (choleric), Gold Face/Yaldabaoth/Egil (melancholic), Jade Face/Gadolt (phlegmatic), and Face Nemesis/Meyneth, while controlling Fiora's body (eclectic).
* FrictionlessIce: While it's thankfully not used in any puzzles, any icy surface in Valak Mountain makes you move much faster than normal when you run on it: this can be abused by gathering speed on it and then jumping off it, causing you to be catapulted ridiculous distances. If you're really (un)lucky, you might even hit something mid-jump that the game considers to be ground, die mid-jump, and have the game fade away and return you to the last landmark before your body even has time to land. A few places even make intentional use of these ice physics to allow you to reach places you couldn't reach any other way.
* FriendlyRivalry: You can cause the rivalry between several side characters to eventually evolve into this should you complete their quest chain.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: At the beginning of the game, before Reyn rejoins the party, go to the military district. Go to the fence where Jan stands and look through at the soldiers doing pushups for angering Square-tache. Note the gentleman on the left - easy to miss, but it would seem this is where Reyn ended up after coming back late from his break.
* FunnyForeigner: How the Nopon are portrayed, at least in the English version. Their strange customs, funny accents, and [[YouNoTakeCandle butchered English]] combine to create this impression. Crucially, many of the Nopon who have lived in Alcamoth their whole lives rather than in Frontier Village or elsewhere speak perfectly fluent English instead.
* FurBikini: The jungle-themed armors look like this when worn by the women.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tropes G to I]]
* {{Gainaxing}}: Both Sharla and Vanea have some noticeable... bounce to them. It's very evident during cutscenes. This is toned down significantly in the ''Definitive Edition'' and is subtly applied to Mecha-Fiora too.
* GameplayAndStoryIntegration:
** Visions of the future play a key role in both story and gameplay, and new Monado Arts are often introduced in cutscenes (e.g. Purge, Speed), ''not'' to be forgotten 5 minutes later.
** When Melia first joins Shulk and company, they don't realize she's a High Entia because her headwings are covered by her hat. To keep up the ploy, her headdress can't be removed or replaced until after the High Entia Tomb, long after her real heritage becomes known.
** The best way to fight a Mechon if you don't have the Monado is to topple them over and then attack them. This technique is first seen in the very first cutscene, where three Defense Force soldiers topple a Mechon and proceed to stab its weak underbelly.
** Shulk, Fiora, Reyn, and Dunban are from the same hometown and are close acquaintances, so they have very good synergy in combat with each other. All four are powerful physical attackers with access to topple and daze Arts, so they can either inflict heavy damage with Chain Attacks or immobilize enemies for a long period of time.
** It's established early in the game that the Monado can't cut people. Naturally, this doesn't come into play when fighting random monsters, but later you end up fighting some High Entia assassins, and if Shulk is in battle, the Monado will only do ScratchDamage to them. This is taken further within the NewGamePlus where the other type of Monados, including the Monado III, are indeed able to hurt them due to them not being limited in this regard as with the original Monado at this point within the story. This also applies to the Faced Mechon, once you know they are really just Homs in a forced symbiosis with a Mechon.
** During cutscenes where the party will be fighting Mechon, you can sometimes see Shulk use Monado Enchant. While the Enchant status generally doesn't carry over to the battle, it conveniently explains why your party can damage normally unstoppable Mechon.
** Some side quests and locations will be unavailable as the story progresses because their locations are either blocked and destroyed. if that happens, you will have to wait until the story is complete to go back and do them.
** The fact that Shulk continues to have visions of the future after losing the Monado and getting it replaced by a shoddy knockoff may briefly ''seem'' like GameplayAndStorySegregation, but later it becomes clear that there's some significance to it. It makes sense after Shulk manifests the True Monado, which was apparently inside him the entire time.
** If you see a location in a cutscene but haven't gone there yet, such as the test lab that Lorithia is shown in a couple times, 9 times out of 10 you can eventually go there.
** Similarly to the above, if you see a party member using a new power that isn't one of their arts, such as Melia unleashing a wave of energy at the Telethia, or Shulk putting a barrier around Reyn while fighting the Arachno Queen, it isn't CutscenePowerToTheMax, they've just learned a new art!
** Sometimes in Hear-to-Hearts, a character will mention that they do like something or don't like something. The collectibles that you gather throughout the game can also be gifted between party members. Guess how you figure out what gifts increase affinity and which ones decrease affinity?
* GameplayAndStorySegregation:
** It is implied in the story that Riki is lazy and weak, and can barely scratch enemies, with the implication that he is only the Heropon as a punishment for being in heavy debt. In actual gameplay, Riki is just as capable as his partners, and he can even solo bosses.
** Melia in a Frontier village cutscene doesn’t believe Shulk when he tells her he can see the future, before this however she can be warned/warn other party members about visions during battle.
** A side effect of having your characters' current equipment shown in cutscenes is that some dialogue regarding particular weapons (such as Dunban's anti-mechon sword) becomes nonsensical when that weapon isn't the one they're currently equipped with. This reaches its peak in the NewGamePlus: Dunban treats whatever sword he was equipped with in the last playthrough as the Monado, while Shulk talks about wanting to learn about the Monado when he has the Monado III. And then you reach the cutscene where Dunban drops the Monado and Shulk picks it up, and suddenly Dunban is carrying the Monado III so that Shulk can pick it up later and have it again to fight with it.
** In the Mechonis Field, a cutscene shows that Gadolt's rifle is getting old and is starting to malfunction more often. Shulk offers Sharla to build her a new rifle, only for her to reject the offer and keep using it out of sentimental value... except that Gadolt's rifle has been long outdated as a piece of equipment by that point and while it's unsellable, you'll very likely have swapped it out for a better weapon a long time ago. In fact, as soon as the cutscene is over the gun is immediately replaced with whatever she had equipped, with no one taking notice. This is especially notable because most examples of this happening involve NewGamePlus shenanigans; this incident ''will'' happen through perfectly normal game progression.
** Agniratha is heavily implied to be destroyed after you've finished all the story-related events within the city. However, it's still possible to visit it intact simply by taking the entrance through the Central Factory (if you haven't completed the Mechonis Core event, that is).
** The Monado is supposed to be incapable of people, but it can still damage species such as the hodes or kromars, seemingly sentient beings with their own, albeit simple, cultures.
** It's possible to obtain a ''second'' "Gadolt's Rifle" if you managed to bring the first one with you for the NewGamePlus. This, in spite of the fact that it's supposed to be unique due to the fact that it was once the rifle Gadolt used during the fight against the Mechon.
** In the sidequests where you are delivering a MercyKill to the High Entia-turned-Telethia in Alcamoth, during the fighting, the party members are still cheering each other on, engaging in TrashTalk, and celebrating at the end of the battles, despite the fact that these are meant to be grim ShootTheDog quests.
* GameplayAutomation: Auto-attack is the only form of normal attacking. Everything else requires input from the player.
* GenreBusting: The game has the look and feel of an eastern {{Role Playing Game}}, with a storyline to go with it. However, it contains several gameplay elements from western {{Role Playing Game}}s, with an overworld structured more like ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' than anything else, a combat system inspired by ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', and a sidequest system with a quest log system. The UK voice acting even has more in common with ''Franchise/DragonAge'' than the voices usually used for eastern {{Role Playing Game}}s.
* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: Sharla falls behind the group in Agniratha in a panic when she finds that Gadolt is gone. After trying to break free of his restraint, Reyn slaps her and reminds her that a Homs soldier like Gadolt wouldn't wait around to die.
* GiantMook: There are numerous monsters that are scaled-up versions of smaller ones. Most are Uniques, but there are a few actual mooks like the house-sized baboons in Satorl Marsh. The mantis-like Fortress Mechons all qualify, the smallest, mass-production ones being about two stories tall with a massive boss-class in the factory level that's at least four.
* GrimyWater: Mostly comes in poison swamp variety, but there's also some at the bottom of both Bionis and Mechonis in the form of ether-saturated water. These come into play in the Fallen arm, to keep the player from wandering off into the ocean.
* AGodAmI: Zanza was already a PhysicalGod, but when he gets control of Meyneth's Monado, his arrogance reaches entirely new levels.
* GodInHumanForm: Zanza, (once he gets out of [[SoulJar Shulk's body]]), and [[GodWasMyCopilot Alvis]], who is an artificial intelligence given divine powers by his master.
* GodIsEvil: Zanza, the god of Bionis, is most certainly a complete and utter bastard...
* GodIsGood: ...The Mechonis god Meyneth, on the other hand, is an incredibly [[TeamMom motherly]] and compassionate deity who even pulls a HeroicSacrifice to save the party.
* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: Variation. Zanza and Meyneth would wither and die if their creations, which are made from their life forces, leave their bodies and expand to the stars.
* GodWasMyCopilot: Alvis turns out to be the manifestation of the Monado, in other words reality.
* GogglesDoNothing: Sharla wears a pair hanging of her neck in her default costume. However, she never puts them on nor does anything with them, for that matter. This is the same for some headgears of other characters.
* GoingCosmic: As the story advances, the scope of the conflict increases more and more until gods get involved. It's pretty much part of Monolith Soft's AuthorAppeal.
* GottaCatchEmAll: One recurring sidequest is to find one unit of every collectible item from every region. Some items are much rarer than others.
* GratuitousEnglish: Used in the Japanese dub by every single party member other then Riki and Dunban (Their art names are in Japanese) when [[CallingYourAttacks calling their attacks]].
* GravityBarrier: Well, those huge environments have to end somewhere, especially considering they are on the top of a titan.
* GuestStarPartyMember:
** Dickson and Mumkhar at the beginning of the game. Afterwards, Dickson comes back for a reprise at the end of the Ether Mine chapter.
** Alvis, who only appears in the party for the first fight against a Telethia.
* GuideDangIt:
** Many sidequests have later consequences that aren't immediately obvious. Giving one seemingly inconsequential item to an NPC early on could lead to a whole branch of later quests being [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost]]. Also, the game clearly points out to you which quests are timed, but never tells you ''how long'' you have until they expire. A timed quest could mean anything from that NPC moving to a different location later to an entire area being destroyed.
** Some quests are completely unavailable to you until you talk to an NPC. An NPC you might have little to no reason to talk with.
** It's minor, but knowing which NPC trades what requires either massive trial and error or a guide. Even worse, some items aren't offered up for trade until you reach a certain affinity with the area, and certain [=NPCs=] who move locations offer completely different items afterwards. Not to mention many of the High Entia you can trade with become [[PermanentlyMissableContent inaccessible]] after a certain event. Good luck completing the "Other" section of the Collectopaedia without a guide, whose items can ''only'' be obtained by trading with specific people. This is improved upon in Definitive Edition with the Affinity Chart showing what each NPC can trade, but moving NPCs and the Other Page is still difficult without a guide.
** Good luck unlocking each party member's two extra skill trees without a guide, or even knowing that they have more than the default 3 skill trees in the first place. Unlocking each tree often requires the completion of several prerequisite quests, some of which may require that you first gain high affinity in the quest area.
** If you want to gain affinity with areas, you have to do plenty of quests and talk to named [=NPCs=] after certain story event. If you don't do the latter, it's possible to lock yourself out of high affinity ratings later in the game. To make matters worse, sometimes it's necessary to talk to them as many as four times before you actually gain a reputation boost.
** The fact that enemies are buffed or debuffed stat-wise depending on which danger level they are in (represented by the color of its enemy tag) and what level your characters are in comparison to the enemy you decided to fight. The game mentions via a tutorial message the danger level colors and what they represent, but it doesn't tell you the monsters gets buffed or debuffed depending on said colors.
** The exact benefits (or hindrance) of each party member's tension (essentially the morale of each and every single party member participating in battle) are only detailed within game guides.
** Maxing out your Party Members' Arts is a big one. Learning the intermediate levels is straightforward enough, just buy the books from shops; however, the Books that teach the Advanced Levels can only be obtained via drops from level 70+ monsters. The game never tells you this, let alone what monsters drop which Books.
** Two of Shulk's Monado Arts, Monado Armor and Monado Eater, are not leaned by progressing through the story, and can only be leaned by raising a village affinity and completing several sidequests. The game never even hints at the idea that not all Monado Arts are given to you as the story progresses.
** A missable special scene can occur just after the events of the Mechonis Core when the party first returns to Colony 6 and Shulk is unconscious in Linada's lab aboard the Junks. When Linada is not around (this can only take place at midnight), Melia can repeatedly speak to the unconscious Shulk for some dialogue regarding her feelings towards him, and also receive a big heart's worth of affinity (probably 300 affinity points like the big heart granting at the end of the Heart-to-Hearts). It appears that Melia was going to do something to the unconscious Shulk, perhaps a kiss, but she would later be ashamed had she not stopped herself.
* GuysSmashGirlsShoot: Played straight for all but one character. The guys use swords (or clubs in Riki's case), Sharla uses her rifle, and Melia is a SquishyWizard. Fiora is the exception, using her knives at close range.
* HalfHumanHybrid:
** Several of Alcamoth's inhabitants are half Homs, including Melia. This becomes crucial as only full High Entia are vulnerable to Zanza's Telethia regression.
** The Faced Mechon, which are Mechon that are piloted by [[UnwillingRoboticisation Homs who were turned into Machina]].
* HamsterWheelPower: The Pollen Works station in Frontier Village. The entire thing, including the lift that stretches across the entire tree and down several stories, appears to be powered by a single Nopon running on a wheel. When the party first arrives at the village, it's unclear if it's the same Nopon running day and night (they look similar, but have different dialog), but after Bana is outed as the kingpin in the Red Orb questline, Bana is sentenced to run the wheel day and night. Also, one NPC points out that this was ''Riki's'' job before he became Heropon.
* HandicappedBadass: As a result of using the Monado, Dunban has lost the use of his right arm. It doesn't stop him from kicking ass with a katana or {{BFS}}.
* HappyDance:
** Upon completing a quest while playing as Shulk, if you have Riki in your party, he may declare to do a "Nopon Dance" to celebrate their success, causing Shulk to wonder on how said dance goes.
** One of the animations Riki uses within dialogs is a small dance. He uses this animation whenever he's feeling energetic while talking.
* HeadbuttOfLove: Shulk and Fiora share one when they reunite.
* HeadsIWinTailsYouLose: There are around half a dozen of these throughout the game, especially during the first third. They're normally against a Faced Mechon. The party has to survive their attacks until they use that one art that may not actually kill the party but ends the battle and advances the plot.
* HeroesPreferSwords: Of course. Only one of the main characters uses a proper gun, and even then it's a rifle [[HealingShiv that is more effective at healing wounds]] [[ImprobableUseOfAWeapon than at inflicting them]].
* HeroicSacrifice: Lots of people give their lives to save others. Fiora (at least apparently), Gadolt, Lady Meyneth, Egil, Kallian...
* HeroicRROD: Dunban after using the Monado. It costed him a good deal of his health, almost killing him the second time around, and it left his right arm out of commission ([[HandicappedBadass not that he needs it though...]]).
* HesBack: Shulk himself pulls a serious one, making a BigDamnHeroes comeback to [[JustInTime save the day]] from Dickson's attack near the end of the game.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Naturally, some of the dynamics within the party end up falling within to this role. While Shulk and Reyn are already as close as brothers, the Heart to Heart events show three notable friendships form:
** Shulk and Sharla, being that she's the only female party member who has no romantic undertones with him, they have similar scientific interests, and she eventually becomes a supporter of his relationship with Fiora. It comes full circle that she herself is all but explicitly falling in love with Reyn, Shulk's best friend.
** Melia and Fiora due to their similarly friendly and supportive personalities that resonate with each other despite all of the hell they both go through, especially given that Fiora is more outwardly sunny but inwardly pensive, with Melia being just the opposite. The two even agree to confide in one another whenever they need support. It's a large reason why Melia gracefully bows out of trying to win Shulk's heart because she knows that Fiora is a lovely person and will treat Shulk well.
** Dunban and Riki, in a case of an OddFriendship. While at first glance they have nothing in common, with Dunban being TheStoic and Riki being a goofy Nopon, it turns out that Dunban being the TeamDad to the group (and especially Shulk, Reyn, and his younger sister) and Riki being a father of seven allows them to bond over what fatherhood is like.
* HitboxDissonance: While this is less of a problem for larger enemies and some EliteMooks, enemies can have a very picky hitbox for when you are "behind" or "to the side" of them, so it will sometimes look like you properly used positional ability only for its bonus effect to not proc. Unlike [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 its sequel]] or ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'', it's harder to see visually if you're behind or to the side of an enemy. The definitive edition still unfortunately has this, but they [[AntiFrustrationFeatures highlight when positional arts will count, and will give you a larger grace period than the Wii or 3DS versions if you fire it off but the enemy turns around.]]
* HoldYourHippogriffs: Some characters use "Bionis" as a substitute for "god" or "world". Reyn in particular makes good use of it. They stop after learning what the Bionis is.
-->''"What on Bionis is going on?"''.
* HongKongDub: Even though the dub for this game is considered one of the better dubs out there, the dubbers didn't exactly put too much thought on the lip syncing at points... for the most part it's passable, but it starts becoming noticeable when characters start MilkingTheGiantCow.
* HopelessBossFight: Quite a few of them, in the form of a fight against a foe that's either overleveled or very hard to damage. These battles end after a certain amount of time passes, enough damage is caused, or, in some cases, the party is completely wiped out. Between them, there are the first encounters with Metal Face and Xord, the first two encounters with Yaldabaoth, and the first one against Zanza.
* HopeSpot: Despite Shulk's anger over what Egil's mechon did to Fiora and many others, and Egil's equally potent anger over what Zanza (and by association, Shulk) did to the Machina, for a moment it really does look like the two might be able to set aside their differences after the battle in the Mechonis Core. [[WhamEpisode And then Dickson shoots Shulk in the back.]]
* HPToOne: While the lead character can die from falling damage, it will only ever reduce the other party members to a minimum of 1HP, even if they fell further than the leader.
* HumongousMecha: Comes with the territory, considering it's part of the [[VideoGame/{{Xenogears}} Xeno]] [[VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}} series]]. Specifically, the entire game takes place on two titans (one of which is a giant mecha) that are ''at least'' the size of large continents. Can't get much more humongous than that. However, unlike the other two games in the series, Fiora is the only party member who actually gets to ''pilot'' a mechon, and then only in cutscenes before she rejoins the party. After that, she fights on-foot like everyone else for the rest of the game.
* HybridPower: Half-Homs High Entia, despite their usually smaller [[MercurysWings head wings]] and lack of PointyEars, are just as [[Really700YearsOld long-lived]] and capable of manipulating [[MagicByAnyOtherName ether]] as their pure-blooded cousins. What really sets them apart is that they are cured of the genetic "curse" that can eventually turn pure High Entia into mindless Telethia.
* IceCrystals: They're everywhere on Valak Mountain, even being enough to be used as the trope image. At night, they even have beams of yellow light that go into the sky.
* IconicItem: The Monado, which is featured prominently in promotional material. Because, let's be honest, there's nothing quite as iconic as blending the LaserBlade and {{BFS}} tropes.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: The reason Mumkhar hates Dunban so much is that he was chosen as the wielder of the Monado over him.
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight:
** You fight against Fiora in her Nemesis Faced Mechon twice in Galahad Fortress, but you must not harm her. Turns out she and Meyneth are fully and consciously opposed to fighting the team, but her Mechon is being directly controlled by Egil.
** You go through a similar dance with Gadolt in his Jade Faced Mechon.
* IllKillYou: Shulk's response to Metal Face's brutal murder of Fiora. There's some serious anger in his voice.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice:
** Metal Face/Mumkhar's preferred method of execution is to stab through his intended victim with every claw on his hand.
** At Prison Island, Zanza is run through by a spear thrown by Metal Face/Mumkhar before he can empower the Monado. Not that it does much to keep him dead.
** Metal Face/Mumkhar is impaled by a piece of Galahad Fortress [[HoistbyHisOwnPetard blown off by one of his attacks]] before falling from Sword Valley.
** Zanza is impaled clean in the head by a True Monado-wielding Shulk.
* ImAHumanitarian: Mechon in general appear to be eating people during the initial attack on Colony 9, and Xord plays this up later on. It's later discovered this isn't actually the case. The Mechon are actually harvesting Homs to create new Face Mechon.
* ImpliedLoveInterest: Shulk and Fiora start off like this. Then it gets complicated with Melia.
* ImpossiblyCoolWeapon: The Monado. A Cool Laser Bladed {{BFS}} Of {{Combat Clairvoyance}} And [[SwordOfPlotAdvancement Plot Advancement]]. How in Bionis do you top that?! By having a God in it, ''that's how!''
* ImprobablePowerDiscrepancy:
** The strongest Brog in the game is called the Young Brog. Said Brog is about level 95 by the time you're able to encounter them, compared to the rest of the Brog which are between levels 5 to 87.
** The Mechon on Fallen Arm are stated by their names to be the prototypical forms of the actual units used by Egil's army. Said Mechon are stronger than the mechon you had encountered before them on Sword Valley, and some quest exclusive variants (as well as a superboss) are over level 70.
** There are several monsters in the game that are more powerful than the game's final boss to the point that the he seems {{Anticlima|xBoss}}tic by comparison (especially if you level yourself up just to face these powerful monsters). Said final boss happens to be the creator of the game world.[[invoked]]
* InformedEquipment: Can be invoked in ''Definitive Edition'' thanks to the cosmetic override settings. Useful for hiding the RainbowPimpGear in cutscenes... or making them permanent.
* InTheBack: Several Arts grant additional effects provided the player uses them while the enemy is facing away. The most obvious example is Shulk's Back Slash, which deals extra damage while also filling 20% of the Party Gauge.
* InexplicableTreasureChests: Does anyone have a theory of why a bunny-sized monster leaves behind a glowing golden chest twice its size when it's killed?
* InfinityPlusOneSword: The Monado III. By far the highest damage in the game (this thing will have a higher auto attack with no gems than many late game weapons will with three), and with 75 percent critical hit rate, and three gem slots. Only available in the FinalBattle and in NewGamePlus, though.
* InjuredVulnerability: There is a chain of these. Several attacks inflict Break on its target, which does nothing except opening them for a Topple attack, which causes its target to become defenseless and open to attack for a while. In turn, Daze can be inflicted on a toppled enemy, further weakening them. Finally, [[CombatMedic Sharla's]] [[BoomHeadshot Headshot]] art has a small chance of {{One Hit Kill}}ing a dazed target (which highly increases if triggered during [[CombinationAttack a chain attack]]).
* InterfaceSpoiler:
** The Bionis' Interior has a collectable page, yet no collectibles when going through it. Looking at the map of the area also reveals several ether crystal deposits extremely out of reach.
** The Achievements page also lists numerous achievements involving Fiora long before it's even remotely possible to get any of them.
** One unique monster (Dark Murakmor) found in Colony 9 can drop swords long before Dunban returns to the party.
** The weapon store in Frontier Village sells weapons and art books for Riki before he joins the party. Likewise, it's also possible to get weapons for him as a rare drop from the monsters in Makna Forest as well as find him mentioned in the description for the Rumble Box collectible (where it's revealed he's the one who named it).
** Riki's house is identified as such even before the party meets him. They apparently just happen to know that a certain ginormous house is the home to a Nopon they haven't even met yet.
** Looking at the party slots after Riki and Melia join reveals that there's still room for another character.
** Any quest that will automatically fail if not completed before reaching a story event is marked with a clock to indicate such. You know that something is going to happen to Alcamoth when ''every single quest'' that you get in the city is marked this way.
** One that most people won't notice involves the skill link system. Fiora's starting "Medium Equipment" skill is the unlink-able diamond shape, which implies that the skill is going to change in the future.
** The mere fact that there's space for a fifth reputation area on the affection chart in spite of there being only four within Bionis itself foreshadows the existence of the Hidden Machina Village within the area of Mechonis.
** The fact that there's a greyed-out option to use an Ether Furnace anywhere foreshadows an optional side quest from the Ether Furnace man of Colony 9 that would allow one to obtain a "portable Ether Furnace" to craft gems anywhere.
** Defeat the high-level monsters within various areas of Bionis early and you may get armour that are meant to be equipped by Fiora. In addition, said equipment refers to the Machina when you look at their descriptions.
** The entrance from Valak Mountain to Sword Valley is the only entrance that makes the player face the exit instead of away from it when they either warp to it or they respawn there. This doesn't seem much, until certain events within the game causes the entrance to cave in.
** In the ''Definitive Edition'', in the beginning of the game, Fiora suspiciously has much fewer appearance options than Shulk and Reyn. In fact, you could buy every appearance option for her, which implies she doesn't last long beyond Colony 9.
** The Time Attack mode allows you to buy Master art books for every Art in the game and complete challenges with party members well before they are even introduced.
* InterspeciesRomance: Despite widespread prejudice against the practice (implied to be mentally enforced by Zanza), the High Entia have a long history of interbreeding with Homs for romantic and secret reasons (namely to try to escape their race's fate to turn into Telethia). Their usually much greater ages compared to their Homs spouses don't seem to cause much issue as mentally they are often of similar maturity. The children they produce don't appear to suffer a decrease in lifespan or any particular defects either, though a majority of them can be identified by shorter head wings than pure-blooded High Entia (there are many exceptions who can't be distinguished visually from pure bloods). The interbreeding has been going on long enough that a fair number of High Entia don't even know they have Homs ancestors, at least until Zanza returns and forcefully transforms the pure bloods.
* InTheBack: Dickson shoots Shulk in the back after the latter refuses to kill Egil.
* IntimateHealing: Shulk steals Fiora's [[SacredFirstKiss first kiss]] while giving her water mouth-to-mouth. She even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades it]]. Not that either party was complaining.
* InUniverseGameClock: Cycles through 24 hours with appropriate lighting changes etc. Some areas look drastically different at night, and most have different background music for day and night. [[AntiFrustrationFeatures You can change the hour whenever you want.]]
* InventedLinguisticDistinction: The English dub has two examples. Though all of the characters sport accents from across southern England, most of them are distributed based on character rather than nationality (despite living together for most of their lives, siblings Fiora and Dunban speak in Estuary and Received Pronunciation accents, respectively, for example). The first exception and example of this trope is the High Entia race, who all speak in Upper Received Pronunciation accents and are the sole users of it. As a very long lived and somewhat isolationist society of High Elfish people, the language difference checks out. The other example is the Nopon race, who aren't so different accent-wise, but speak in their own unique dialect full of broken English and strange terminologies.
* {{Irony}}: Concerning the world's two gods, Zanza and Mayneth, and how they are preceived by their creations:
** Mayneth insists on AGodIAmNot and [[StopWorshippingMe doesn't want to be worshipped]]. Likely due to her benevolent treatment of them, she's actively worshipped by the Machina, who often invoke her name in an OhMyGods fashion.
** Zanza is an [[ItsAllAboutMe egotistical]] ControlFreak who believes his creations only exist to serve him. Yet while the people of Bionis occasionally invoke the name of their titan in a religious sense, Zanza himself has been all but forgotten by the time the game takes place, and even the few who know he ''exists'' aren't aware he's a god. Bionis' culture as a whole is largely secular, and the only group that publicly worship the Bionis are viewed as dangerious fanatics.
* IrrelevantImportance: You can't drop nor sell Gadolt's rifle, even though it doesn't take long before you get far more powerful weapons for Sharla. The same holds true for Melia's Imperial and Empress Staffs.
* IrrelevantSidequest: You can spend more time solving the problems of every single person on Bionis than, you know... saving the world.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tropes J to L]]
* JigsawPuzzlePlot: A staple of Monolith Soft games. Playing a second time reveals a great amount of foreshadowing and little details hidden that start to make sense in hindsight.
* JumpScare: Many Unique Monsters who attack on sight can and will ambush the party while fighting smaller enemies or just walking around. In particular, a GiantSpider called the Clifftop Bayern takes a little while to climb over a cliff before attacking, which may lead to the player not knowing they're being attacked from behind until the mini-boss theme kicks in. Can you say OhCrap?
* JustifiedTitle:
** The Monado is a blade that is deadly against the mechanical invaders. Much later, it's revealed that it's pretty much xenophobic.
** If you go for the literal translation of Xenoblade as "strange blade," then the Monado still qualifies, being vastly more advanced than anything the peoples of Bionis ever produced on their own. Even the Machina can only make a pale imitation of it.
** The True Monado obtained at the end of the game qualifies even more as a "strange blade" than the original. Even ''Zanza'' is shocked when Shulk pulls it seemingly out of nowhere.
* JokeWeapon: The Monapon, obtained after defeating The Nopon Kingpin (a level ''78'' enemy, mind you), only has a damage range of 1-1. Its only good quality is having a 30% critical rate.
* KirkSummation: Meyneth delivers one to Zanza:
--> "They (the Homs) are living beings! If you cannot understand this, you have no right to call yourself a god!"
* KissingInATree: One of Reyn's unique quotes when in battle with [[EveryoneCanSeeIt Shulk and Fiora]].
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Dickson seems like he falls into this after his final defeat, realizing that he's been so badly beaten that there's no point in doing a dramatic last stand, and simply walks away to avoid giving the heroes the satisfaction of seeing him die. Though really, it's strongly suggested that his decision was more than a little influenced by a [[BecomingTheMask genuine regret of having to go against Shulk]], and a desire to keep him from having to see his ParentalSubstitute kick the bucket.
* LampshadeHanging: Part of the "Find the Kingpin!" sidequest involves a key item that the protagonists cannot read due to it being written in Nopon script. By the time you'd do the side-quest, Riki, the playable Nopon, would be in your party. If he's not one of the three active characters by the time you give said key item to the quest giver for him to read, he'd tell the party members that you should've given it to Riki so that he could read it to the rest of the group and tell them what it says.
* LargeHam:
** The battle dialogues are FILLED with this.
** Xord enjoys overacting. His heavy British accent helps a lot with this. Justified in that it's implied he went insane from being turned into a face unit.
* LaserBlade:
** The Monado itself and its various incarnations (Except the Meyneth Monado briefly wielded by Fiora due to it being two giant mechanical-looking swords barely indistinguishable from her others). UpToEleven with the Monado III (AKA Shulk's Monado) which has a completely ethereal appearance, making it look like the entire Monado's made up of energy.
** Dunban can also get some of these, courtesy of the Machina.
* LaserGuidedKarma: The High Entia turn into Telethia when Bionis awakens. Yumea, the First Consort, wants High Entia ''blood purity'', meaning no half-Homs High Entia. She turns into a Telethia, while Melia doesn't, but if she had got her way, [[InferredHolocaust the High Entia would have been ''royally screwed'']].
* LastChanceHitPoint: The "Unbeatable" gems give their wearer a up to a 50% chance to turn any lethal attacks into this, with the catch that it can work even if the wearer is already at 1 HP, and the Monado visions will inform in case that happens. All {{Guest Star Party Member}}s, as well as Fiora while wielding the Meyneth Monado, wear a special version that gives them 100% protection, effectively making them invincible.
* LayeredMetropolis: Alcamoth and the Frontier Village. The former is an advanced muti-level city that floats above the Eryth Sea, which is located atop the Bionis' head. However, the Frontier Village is a whopping 9 level monstrosity inside a hollow tree, connected by stairs and rope bridges. Both are so big that it's possible to fall fatally from them.
* LazyBackup: Switching party members is only possible outside the battles. Which is probably why you're given the option to do so whenever your party changes one way or another before or during a boss battle after the relevant cutscene passed.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Some of them. A variation of the Main Theme is used as Shulk and Fiora's love theme once; and Riki has his own upbeat theme, which also has a slower and more emotional reprise for the moment he shows his HiddenDepths.
* LethalJokeWeapon: The ''other'' weapon besides [[JokeWeapon the Monapon]] obtained from the level 78 Nopon Kingpin looks like an oversized half-eaten fish. It's also one of Riki's best weapons.
* LighterAndSofter: While ''Xenoblade'' has its share of dark moments, it pales in comparison to ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools This is just the way the story was told, and it doesn't make the plot any less enjoyable]].
* LikableVillain: Egil. At first he's shown as completely ruthless, but it later is revealed that he shares a similar, and even more tragic, story as Shulk. Shulk comes to understand his pain, and tries to pull him out of the slippery slope he threw himself into.
* LimitBreak:
** Most character's Talent Arts work this way. They are charged by striking auto attacks, and once charged they allow the use of an unique ability of the character, such as Shulk's Monado Arts and Riki's "Yoink!"
** Melia enters a state of Element Burst after several uses of elemental attacks. In this state, she gets access to two powerful arts (Burst End and Mind Blast), and her next elemental attacks do double damage.
** A few characters have abilities that only become available when their tension reaches high levels, such as Riki's Happy Happy.
* LimitedAnimation: There are two kinds of cutscenes: "Dialogue" scenes that use a set of generic animations, and fully animated "action" scenes. The former has a limited number of character animations.
* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: Kinda. Nintendo of Europe released a special edition that included a red Classic Controller PRO, which was supposed to resemble the Monado. The box was pretty cool too.
* LipLock: Goes towards "not even caring about the lip sync", but it's ''especially' noticeable with Riki.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfSidequests: The game features hundreds of sidequests, ranging from simple {{Mass Monster Slaughter|Sidequest}}s, to major {{Sidequest Sidestor|y}}ies; the biggest sidequest by far, the reconstruction of Colony 6, even slowly grants more sidequests as it's completed. Besides money and loot, oftentimes these grant generous experience, so completing them as the story advances is a good way to avoid pointless LevelGrinding later on.
* LongSongShortScene:
** "Unfinished Business" is a boss theme used only once in the entire game, during an early-game boss fight that usually ends long before the track's end. The phrase "only once" is ''very'' literal here, since if the player lets the track fully play out, the music ''doesn't loop.'' Instead, the music abruptly switches to "You Will Know Our Names". ''Definitive Edition'' uses the song one more time in ''Future Connected''.
** The theme[[note]](or at least, the first one)[[/note]] for Bionis' Interior also fits somewhat. The area it plays in is rather small and has no enemies, so it's entirely possible for the player to rush through it on the way to Makna Forest without hearing the whole thing. There's a DarkReprise of that theme which plays when the party revisits the area after finishing the Mechonis Core.
* LoopholeAbuse: When told that nobody is allowed to interfere with Melia's Trial in the Tomb, Dunban suggests that only High Entia know those rules... a group of visiting Homs (and a Nopon) can't be expected to be familiar with High Entia customs. Therefore, if they just "happened" to have gone into the Tomb and found Melia under attack, nobody could accuse them of deliberately interfering, and Melia's Trial would still be valid. Kallian agrees and pretends to not notice Alvis leading the party into the Tomb, allowing them to save Melia from Tyrea and the Telethia.
* LosingTheTeamSpirit: A minor version can happen in gameplay when the party is getting wiped out. The team starts to lose their morale, and the battle music changes to a quite somber tune until the team manages to get back on their feet.
* LostInTranslation: The English version is generally excellent, but there are a few moments where things just ''can't'' carry over in quite the same way.
** The first example is the name of the non-biological giant. In Japanese, it is called the ''kishin'', 機神, literally "machine god". That might seem straightforward enough... except that it's pronounced exactly like another common term for certain Shinto & Buddhist divinities, 鬼神, or "ogre god/wrathful god". The double meaning is meant to be picked up on at once and make the "kishin" seem like the aggressor and the "evil" god of the pair. And this is, of course, the very opposite of the truth and Meyneth is not even remotely like a traditional "kishin". This is all perforce lost in English as the synonyms simply don't exist and there's no way to make them work without being extremely awkward.
** Another example is when Alvis reveals his true nature to Shulk. In the Japanese, it's clearer that he's making a reference to being the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monad_%28philosophy%29 monad]]'' in addition to being the sword, which brings the old Gnostic elements of Takahashi's works back into play.
* LoveTriangle:
** Melia starts to get pretty close to Shulk until Fiora comes back.
** If we take the ShipTease seriously, Sharla, Reyn, and Gadolt would also count.
** There are also some love triangles scattered throughout the [[MatchmakerQuest side quests]] for good measure.
* LuckySeven:
** An achievement involves performing a single attack for 777 damage.
** In Website/GameFAQs and other websites, you will occasionally see [[FanNickname "7th" or "Seven"]] as a character (such as 7th's armor). This is because the seventh character is Fiora, and her identity is a secret as it is a major spoiler for the game.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tropes M to O]]
* MacGuffin: The Red Pollen Orbs is this within the Nopon Black Market side quest chain. It's implied in-story to be used a GRatedDrug within the "secret club".
* MadScientist:
** The High Entia Naroth. Not only is he called one on the affinity chart but he also expresses a desire to experiment on Riki if he is in the party before you accept one of his quests. ''Especially'' after he finds out that Riki has a wife and kids.
** Klaus was hell-bent on taking to action the experiment to turn humans into gods, even after Meyneth's desperate warnings.
* MagicFeather: Shulk doesn't need the Bionis Monado in order to see visions. This becomes a plot point during the game's climax when he manages to manifest the Monado III (Aka "Shulk's Monado") from his heart during the fight with Zanza.
* ManualLeaderAIParty: Only the party's leader is directly controlled most of the time. The only exception to this are during chain attack or after warning a party member of a future event, which allow the player to use one of their moves.
* MarathonLevel: The Mechonis Areas in particular are ''huge''.
* MarshmallowHell: Sharla is fairly buxom and tends to give Juju a lot of hugs that put his head squarely between her breasts. This isn't helped by the fact that she gets a lot of {{Stripperific}} AbsoluteCleavage tops that expose ''only'' her breasts, making it all the more conspicuous.
* MassMonsterSlaughterSidequest: Usually, the first quests in any new area involve killing a certain number of certain monsters.
* MatchmakerQuest: There are several sidequests that involve people in the middle of a LoveTriangle or a similar issue. One particular case has Shulk's visions show that both options [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption don't end too well]].
* MayDecemberRomance: In one side quest in Colony 9 you can be TheMatchMaker for one 66-year-old man and one 22-year-old female soldier.
* MayflyDecemberRomance: Any relationship between a [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld High Entia]] and a Homs. You help such a pair in a particular questline.
* MechanicalEvolution: Implied to be the case of the Mechonis life forms.
* MechanicalLifeform: The Mechonis and the Machina that used to live on it. The Machina are mechanical living creatures from Mechonis as the Homs are organic living creatures from Bionis..
* TheMedic: Sharla, as she is the only character who specializes in healing arts. Otharon even calls her medic occasionally.
* MeltingPotNomenclature: Homs settlements have characters with names from various European languages.
* MercyKill: A rather common objective of the endgame quests given to you by the High Entia refugees. Their pure blooded friends and family who devolved into Telethia act on fragments of their memories as instinct, mindlessly roaming the places they frequented prior to their transformations, and as such, you're asked to put them down.
* MetaMecha: Egil eventually uses his Mechon armor to take control of and pilot the Mechonis.
* MickeyMousing: Several scenes that have "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAW4xlbyu28 Engage the Enemy]]" playing in the background have their most intense moment sync up with the moment the song builds up in intensity.
* MightyGlacier: Reyn; a slow and strong tank that hits like a truck and can take hits like one. He also has a lot of DrawAggro abilities that allow him to make good use of those stats to protect the rest of the party.
* MindScrew: Almost all of the later plot points become very mind-bending. [[AuthorAppeal Of course, this is]] [[VideoGame/{{Xenogears}} series]] [[VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}} tradition]].
* MonsterCloset: There are a few very straight cases of this trope in the High Entia Tomb. Justified, as not only is the place supposed to be full of traps, but the "monsters" that jump you are ancient machines built to guard the place. And there's a twist too, exactly one of them is more than just a closet: it's an actual secret passage that leads to a hidden area.
* MonstersEverywhere: Every area in the game holds monsters or some kind of enemy at some point.
* MoraleMechanic: Tension serves as this. You gain Tension by scoring critical hits and performing Burst Affinity. You lose Tension by missing hits and losing party members. [[UnstableEquilibrium Higher Tensions help you score more critical hits and increase critical hit damage, while lower Tensions make you miss attacks even more.]] Fortunately, party members can encourage each other to bring their Tension back to normal.
* MoralityKitchenSink: The game goes all over the place with this. In chronological order:
** BlackAndGrayMorality: Metal Face opens up the game with a horrific attack on Colony 9, sparing little to no one. Shulk may vow ruthless revenge against Mechonis, but Metal Face is an absolute monster and is the driving force behind the gang's actions. Only when he learns of who the Mechon's true leader does this change.
** GreyAndGrayMorality: Shulk is a NiceGuy and well-meaning, but openly preaches genocide against ''all'' mechon, even those that weren't involved with Fiora's death. On the flip side, their leader is a brutal, ruthless dictator, but turns out to have been doing everything he's done in a (misguided) attempt to defeat the ''real'' villain.
** WhiteAndGreyMorality: Shulk reverses his stance on the mechon pretty much immediately after he finds out Fiora was rebuilt as one of them (and once Metal Face was gone for good), and [[AllLovingHero tries to persuade Egil that the peoples of Bionis and Mechonis can live in peace together.]] He'd be right, too, if it weren't for...
** BlackAndWhiteMorality: Zanza's appearance changes it to this. He's a heartless, selfish bastard that cares about nothing but himself and attempts to kill everything on Bionis, and apart from Alvis, his Disciples' reasons for having anything to do with him are entirely selfish. Doesn't get much more black and white than that.
* MotorMouth: If you have story-based dialog scroll by automatically instead of by a press of a button, the characters don't pause when they narrate a text box, resulting in them speaking very quickly.
* MsFanservice: Every character can be put in their underwear. When it comes to the ladies, Sharla stands out with her... [[{{Gainaxing}} bounciness]]. Mechon Fiora also has a {{Stripperiffic}} outfit, being the speed armour, as the underwear armour is just her armour in her Face Unit, and she has [[BuxomIsBetter quite big breasts]].
* MundaneFantastic: An unnamed Nopon NPC within Frontier Village notes that a sea viewable within the sky is weird for the "Homs" (ie, the player characters, Riki and Melia notwithstanding), but normal for the Nopon that live within the village.
* MundaneMadeAwesome: The conclusion of the Find the Kingpin sidequest ends with a boss fight to the tune of "[[SadBattleMusic Tragic Decision]]", a song otherwise reserved for climatic storyline bosses, in particular, Egil and Zanza. For added effect, the battle is against a CardCarryingVillain [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Nopon]].
* MySisterIsOffLimits: Inverted. Dunban [[ShipperOnDeck completely agrees with the idea of Shulk and Fiora being together]], and even encourages it.
* MythologyGag:
** Magic is called "Ether" in this game. You have three guesses for what magic was called in ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}''. The first two don't count.
** The scene when the High Entia are turned into Telethia for merging again with Zanza is almost identical to the scene in ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' when almost the whole of humankind is turned into Wels and go back to Deus.
** For his Talent Art "Blossom Dance" Dunban recites a poem, as yet another shout-out to the characters he's an {{Expy}} of, Citan and Jin, who both did the same.
* NeckLift: In a cutscene, after Shulk stabs Egil in the shoulder with the Monado, Egil lifts him by the face and rips the sword out with his other hand.
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: A JustifiedTrope. When Shulk gains a new Monado Art during the course of the plot, they often seem incredibly tailored to solve the current problem. Seconds before Reyn dies to the Arachno Queen, Shulk gains Monado Shield, blocking the physical attack. When he and Reyn save Sharla from a Mechon with speedy tentacles, Shulk gains Monado Speed to compensate. This can be seen as Zanza making sure Shulk makes it safely to Egil, by pulling out a small (and literal) DeusExMachina.
* NewGamePlus: Saving after beating the game allows to start a new game while keeping any equipped gear, up to 30 pieces of other weapons/armor, 60 items, and all gems, crystals, collectibles, levels, and party affinity. Quests, maps, and location affinity are reset. You also get to keep the InfinityPlusOneSword as well.
* NameFromAnotherSpecies: The High Entia Ma'crish has a reluctant Nopon companion that she named Nopo'rikh, a big departure from the usual Nopon names.
* NoCutsceneInventoryInertia: When Shulk has a vision about future events, and later flashes back to that vision as the moment approaches. In the vision-flashbacks, he wears whatever he had on when he first had that vision, rather that what he is more likely about to actually be wearing (i.e.: his current gear) when it comes to pass.
* NoEndorHolocaust: ZigZagged:
** When the Mechonis begins moving, you get treated to the lovely sight of dozens of people spilling off of its sword towards the ocean several miles below. Later on, however, it is shown that many of them were caught out of the air by the High Entia flying machines and the Nopon's Pterix, and survived after all. It's stated that casualties were "kept to a minimum", but the relative proportions of how many were or weren't saved was not made clear.
** When the Bionis begins moving, ''EVERYONE'' on it should have died from the earthquakes and floods from the falling Eryth Sea alone; once you return to it, however, everything is fine beyond the High Entia turning into dinosaurs and largely no one cares about their ''goddamn continent'' suddenly springing to life and swinging swords.
* NoHeroDiscount: Lampshaded in Sword Valley where the party sees a supply convoy. Dickson arrives and tells them that they are carrying equipment, and asks if you want any. Then you still have to ''pay'' for it, even though you are clearly the advanced strike force.
* NoSell:
** The Mechon are highly resistant to normal attacks and need to be toppled before they can be damaged (and even then they are only temporarily disabled), except for the Monado, which damages them like normal enemies. Then you fight the first Faced Mechon who can no-sell the Monado and needs to be defeated the hard way.
** Even after the Monado gets upgraded by Zanza to deal with Face Mechon, Egil manages to shrug off being stabbed with it because of the [[AntiMagic Apocrypha Generator]]. He then pulls the Monado out of himself with his bare hands and tosses Shulk aside like a ragdoll.
--->'''Egil:''' Your blade. It did not cut deep enough.
* NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom: Defied in every possible way imaginable, after Eastern {{Role Playing Game}}s started moving towards this. Even the most linear areas have several sidepaths that can be explored, which usually hold secret areas, unique enemies, or sometimes even rare treasures.
* NominalImportance:
** While there are a bunch of generic non-named ones, another huge group of the non-plot important [=NPCs=] are named. Those form part of the global affinity chart, and tend to play huge roles in sidequests and sidequest arcs.
** This also holds true for monsters and enemies. If a {{Mook}} has a non-generic name accompanied by a fancy name tag, that means they're a unique monster, and they'll probably give you [[BossInMookClothing one hell of a fight]]. They even have their own theme, fittingly titled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4vCEHpv6Hg "Those Who Bear Their Name"/"You Will Know Our Names"]].
* NonCombatEXP: The game awards the player EXP for simply exploring the world map, by discovering landmarks and hidden areas. It also awards EXP for successfully completing sidequests and completing key points (called "Chapters") in the game's story. Being that it's easily over 80 hours in length (up to 100, or more, including sidequests) [[AntiGrinding it's not hard to see why that is.]]
* NonMammalMammaries: Female Machina have breasts, which can be justified by the fact that their creator used to be human.
* NonStandardGameOver: If Egil is not stopped from using "Bionis Slash X", he kills the Bionis, ending the fight with it.
* NotGrowingUpSucks: A Machina sidequest has the party helping with fixing a child whose growing algorithms have been malfunctioning for ''a thousand years''. It's left him mentally and physically as a kid when he's in the equivalent of a Machina's twenties.
* NotTheIntendedUse: While Expert Mode in ''Definitive Edition'' is intended to make the game harder, it can also be used to make LevelGrinding easier by lowering one character's level and then defeating a high level enemy with a different character, with the highest bonus being granted if the enemy is at least 7 levels higher. However, if the enemy's level is at least 22 higher, then the experience gained is actually reduced, so it's best to keep the targeted characters between 7 to 21 levels lower than the enemy to maximize the benefit. The bonus is also based on the ''average'' level of your active party, so if the other party members are too strong, the bonus won't trigger. This makes Expert Mode useful for circumventing the AntiGrinding that applies to AP and SP, which would otherwise be tedious to accumulate if one is preparing to fight the game's {{Bonus Boss}}es.
* NowWhereWasIGoingAgain: The game tells where the player is supposed to go next with a note that can be read whenever the player wants.
* NPCScheduling: Every named NPC has a different schedule, and all non-named [=NPCs=] have at least a selected time of the day when they're active. And to top it off the game has tons of [=NPCs=], and many of them either give a quest, or are involved in one somehow. Needless to say, this makes keeping track of where that one NPC is going to be when rather hard. Thankfully, one can turn the in-game clock to whatever time they want whenever they want, so if you're in a hurry to meet an NPC with an odd schedule, it's easy.
* NumberOfTheBeast: An achievement is given by performing a single attack doing this 666 points of damage.
* ObviouslyEvil:
** [[DirtyCoward Mumkhar]]. The guy is a complete {{Gonk}} with a {{Guttural Growl|er}} who runs away from battle to save his own skin ''within the first two minutes of play time''. Dunban may be GenreBlind, but the player needs only to look at [[Creator/NorioWakamoto his Japanese voice actor]] to get a clue that he's a bad egg. The only surprise is in ''how bad'' he turns out to be.
** Even if you couldn't tell that Lorithia was bad news from her red and black, stripper/dominatrix outfit, she has maybe 30 seconds of screen time before she starts telling the player about her plans to have Melia killed. Like Mumkhar, she's later revealed to be ''even worse'' than she seems.
** Dickson is not as blatantly obvious as Lorithia, but he is still stupid enough to comment out loud that he "feels bad about deceiving his allies". What makes it worse is that Otharon does ask him what he means with that, but neither of them make a big deal about it despite the ominousness of his words.
* OfficialCouple: Shulk and Fiora end up together in the end.
* OffscreenTeleportation: Alvis does it twice after first meeting Shulk, and pulls it off a few more times later on. It helps in making an already cryptic character even more mysterious.
* OhCrap: Quite a few times.
** One huge one is the party's reaction when Zanza destroys Mechonis.
** A more subtle one during the FinalBoss battle, but it's notable in that it's in response to ''the player.''
--->'''Zanza''': Did you...? No! ''How can you still have visions!?''
** If you decide to take on an enemy 5 or more levels above the party, your party members will respond with a combination of this, ThisIsGonnaSuck and YoureInsane. A pretty well-justified response, given that these encounters are UnwinnableByDesign outside of the Superbosses and Casual Mode.
* OldSaveBonus: Starting ''Definitive Edition'' with a ''Xenoblade Chronicles 2'' save on your Switch allows you to begin the game with an extra 100,000G, but you can also opt out if you so desire.
* OlderThanTheyLook:
** Riki. Would you believe that child-like fluffy ball is really 40 years old, happily married with a beautiful wife (by Nopon standards), and has 11 children under his care?
** The High Entia as a race are this for pretty much any age past infancy. Compared to Nopon and Homs they age very slowly, and unlike many examples in other settings this applies to more than just how they look as adults. Basically they spend three or four decades looking (and to a degree acting) like children, are considered young adults when they are in their eighties, and only look at all elderly when they are three or four hundred years old. Melia for instance is in her 80s, but several other High Entia who don't look much older deride her as a "child" due to how she is still quite young by High Entia standards.
* OminousLatinChanting: The FinalBattle themes: "Zanza" and "The God-Slaying Sword".
* OneHandedZweihander: Shulk and Dunban wield the Monado with one hand pretty often. Dunban knocks it up a notch with his late choice of weapons, some of which include axes, polearms and zanmato, which he wields with his left hand.
* OneHitKill... Or Something: Sharla has the [[BoomHeadshot Headshot]] art, which has the chance of doing this on dazed enemies (a chance that highly increases if she pulls it off during a chain attack).
* OneStatToRuleThemAll: Agility for physical attackers. Since each point of Agility equals one point of dodge rate ''and'' hit rate, just 50 Agility bonus from gems can make a world of difference. A character with high enough Agility will be able to dodge many attacks coming their way as well as accurately connect every attack. Even Ether characters like Melia need Agility in order to use physical moves that deal status effects. Later games would balance this by splitting it into two separate stats: Agility for evasion and Dexterity for accuracy.
* OneTimeDungeon:
** A partial example in the Ether Mines. A big chunk of the dungeon gets blocked for good once it's completed.
** The entire freaking Mechonis is locked out after a WhamEpisode.
* OneWingedAngel: Zanza takes a half-Bionis, half-Mechonis form in the last two battles against him.
* OnlyOneName: Only a few characters have a surname, the Antiquas being the most prominent example.
* OnlyTheChosenMayWield: Played with. Anyone can activate the Monado, and any strong enough person can control it, albeit with a high price for their health. Only the Monado's heir can wield it properly without any repercussions. [[ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne Too bad that's not exactly a good thing]], since that means [[DemonicPossession Zanza is inside of you]].
* OrganicTechnology: A Nopon trademark. Whenever it's possible, they build out of wood instead of metal or stone, prefer taming large animals over building vehicles, use bioluminescent pollen where most other species favor ether lamps. Even their "clocks" are large mushrooms that emit spores at regular intervals. It can go to damn impressive lengths: ''Future Connected'' introduces a Nopon ether gun. Homs ether rifles are complex pieces of machinery. This one is built out of sticks and a weird fruit that absorbs ether. And as far as we know, it's just as good as the real deal.
* OurElvesAreDifferent: Ultimately subverted. High Entia live longer than Homs, can use ether freely but it turns out they're just the temporary form Zanza gave Telethia on a whim, and whenever he or his Disciples choose, they turn into Telethia, unless they are half-Homs.
* OutsideTheBoxTactic: Thanks to the battles taking place ''anywhere'' in the overworld instead of a battle area, it's possible to use the terrain to one's advantage. For example, but using a combination of using sleep-inducing moves and moves with knockback, it's possible to push extremely high level enemies you normally wouldn't be able to even hit off of cliffs for a one-hit kill. Similarly, it's possible to use the high ground to your advantage to dodge enemy attacks that would easily kill you, this being pretty much required if you want to take on the [[BossInMookClothing Fortress Units]] in Sword Valley.
** A particularly memorable instance of this takes place when the party enters the Mechonis for the first time: at this point in the game, Melia will have just gotten her Starlight Kick technique (which inflicts Topple) and the area has a lot of flying enemies and walkways over bottomless pits. This makes it possible to end otherwise difficult encounters simply by luring enemies over, getting a Starlight Kick off, and laughing as they plummet to their demise. [[NoFairCheating You don't get any loot this way, though.]]
** Sharla has a cheesey technique all to herself: namely, since she wields an ether rifle, she has an auto-attack radius that's a fair bit larger than most monsters, so she can draw aggro and then just run in circles while chipping away at the creature's health. Of course, the effectiveness of this strategy is reduced by the fact that A) Sharla's attack usually sucks, so you'll be doing this for an hour on light encounters and longer on others, B) it only really works on one monster at a time, C) some monsters have ranged arts that make this a non-option, and D) monsters of a higher level than her will dodge most of the shots, putting you in a stalemate. It still makes a surprisingly effective stalling technique, which is useful in a system where the player's abilities are balanced around cooldowns.
* TheOverworld: This game's overworld is utterly massive. It has 20 maps, each of them sprawling landscapes teeming with wildlife, landmarks, {{sidequest}}s, and hidden areas. It's a telling sign when the game enables a [[WarpWhistle "quick travel"]] function from the start and even [[NonCombatEXP awards EXP simply for exploring the world map]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tropes P to R]]
* PaletteSwap: Some sets of armour are just palette swaps of each other or even identical.
* PartyOfRepresentatives: The final party consists of a group of Homs, a Nopon, a High Entia, and a Homs-turned-Mechon, which indirectly represents the Machina.
* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling:
** Thanks to Challenge Monsters, it's particularly encouraging to come back at any point in the game and train against what were once Demonic Spiders. Just don't expect them to be easy even if you're on the same level.
** Within Bionis' Leg, Satorl Marsh, Makna Forest and Eryth Sea, there are monsters within a few areas that are way above the average level of the monsters you'd normally encounter when you first play through them. Defeating them wields a large amount of experience points ''if'' you managed to beat them. Easier said than done if you're way underleveled, however, but a trick involving the use of Melia's arts [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM86JkkgcM0 allows you to "power level" on the Gongols of Bionis' Leg simply by relying on the fact that it's possible to kill them by flinging them off the cliff and into the water]].
** Using certain tactics and with the aid of Night Vision gems[[note]]Normally high leveled enemies have agility so high it's otherwise impossible to hit them, but night vision in addition to agility gems helps offset that and lets the characters hit them[[/note]], it's very much possible to defeat enemies well above the level the game expects you to be at when you first reach an area. This also, in turn, allows for the player to gain access to items and equipment ''well'' above anything they can buy from stores for quite a good while.
* PermanentlyMissableContent:
** Two entire areas' worth of quests get locked after certain story events. The game does have the courtesy to tell you that you shouldn't dilly-dally in completing these particular quests.
** All of the quests and unique monsters found in Sword Valley, Galahad Fortress, and the Mechonis areas following the Fallen Arm will likewise be gone for good if not obtained in time.
** Due to a glitch, the achievement "The Brave Protectors" can become unavailable after a certain point of time. The exact cause of lockout is unknown, but the most likely reason is moving Nic to Colony 6 before you've talked to all the remaining Defense Force soldiers.
** The Monado III will be permanently unobtainable if it is not equipped after beating NewGamePlus and is not deliberately carried over to the new file. The player is specifically warned about this.
* PerplexingPlurals: Almost every major race in the game uses the same word for its name's singular or plural form: the singular for Homs is still Homs, while the plurals for the other races are still Nopon, Mechon, High Entia, and Machina. Only Giants are the exception, for whom the singular is "Giant."
* PintSizedPowerhouse: Riki sure can take up lots of beating despite his size.
* PhysicalGod: Zanza and Meyneth, who are the spirits of Bionis and Mechonis, and can take other beings as their vessels.
* PimpedOutDress:
** The elaborate royal robes worn by the high Entia, including Melia.
** Meyneth's dress [[http://www.zonaingame.com/wp-content/2011/09/Xenoblade-Chronicles-imagenes.jpg is nothing short of this]].
* PointAndClickMap: The map can be used like this for teleporting.
* PlotlineDeath: When Metal Face kills Fiora, the rest of the characters are completely paralyzed, so no one can go to "revive" her. And when Shulk regains his mobility, Fiora's body has been taken by the Mechon. And of course, there's the whole thing about Fiora coming BackFromTheDead.
* PlotTriggeringDeath: The protagonists start their journey to destroy the Mechon to avenge Fiora's death. As time pases, stuff becomes more complicated than that.
* PointBuildSystem: Art Points are awarded during battle. These are used to improving the character's special attacks.
* PointOfNoReturn: Minor ones where certain areas become inaccessible, usually after boss battles, which you aren't warned of. The game does warn you before the ultimate one though.
* PowerWalk: Shulk and Fiora get one hell of a PowerWalk during the battle against Disciple Dickson.
* PoorCommunicationKills: [[DefiedTrope Defied]] during a cutscene in the Ether Mine. Once it's clear that Shulk can see the future using the Monado, Reyn convinces him to let the rest of the party know whenever he sees a vision, so that if Shulk can't change that future in time, someone else can. Case in point, when Shulk fails to stop Otharon's fall into the ether river while fighting Xord, Reyn steps in to finish the job with a DivingSave.
* PrehensileTail: Bunniv tails are used to hold the clubs and other assorted items they attack with.
* ProgressiveInstrumentation:
** Zanza's theme in the final boss fight starts with a voice, then adds an electric guitar, then a piano, then a violin. it works surprisingly well.
** The God-Slaying Sword plays in the same boss fight and starts with an organ, adds a choir, adds bells, strings, and then brasses.
* PunctuationShaker: A few number of High Entia have names with apostrophes in them, such as Ma'crish and Vol'aren.
* PurelyAestheticGlasses: The entire party can wear these, [[CommonplaceRare assuming you're able]] [[RandomlyDrops to find some]]. They generally have stat-boosting gems in them, and oddly, can provide as much, or even greater, defense as actual armor does.
* PuzzleBoss: The Lorithia/Kallian hybrid Telethia barely receives any damage until its flunkies are beat. And the latter are numbered, as killing one makes the next more vulnerable.
* ThePowerOfFriendship: In the gameplay itself. Not only can the party members' attacks be combined for added damage, but their skills can be linked with one another when the affinity between them grows.
* ThePowerOfLove:
** Gadolt remembers his past as Homs thanks in part to talking to Sharla.
** Kallian is able to mentally speak with his sister after they defeat Lorithia. Something that was believed to be impossible as a Telethias transformation erases almost everything of the individual. Other High Entia turned Telethia also keep something of their self that keeps them from harming or protecting certain individuals they knew/loved from other Telethia.
* RageAgainstTheHeavens:
** The entirety of Egil's plan is done in order to put a stop to Zanza, even if it also means going against his own goddess Meyneth.
** Later on, Shulk and his party take Egil's fight against Zanza, and head to put a stop to him.
* RageQuit: After Disciple Dickson is beaten, he simply walks out of the fight. He doesn't want Shulk and co. to see him die and enjoy the victory.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld:
** The High Entia race as a whole. They have a lifespan quite longer than Homs. For example, there's a father who is playing hide and seek with his two children. The father looks like a middle-aged man but is really 208 years old while his two kids who look like they are somewhere around ten are actually 36 and 56.
** Taken even further with the Machina, who are all at least 1000 years old, and ultimately taken UpToEleven with the Nopon Sage and Machina Neonik, whose ages are listed as 9999 and 9892. Some of the characters are implied to be even older than that, although you don't get them on your Affinity Chart.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: ''All'' of the authority figures, more or less. Chief Dunga is nothing but helpful to the party, and fighting the Telethia was the party's idea anyway. Sorean imprisons them due to protocol, but almost immediately releases them when he realizes they are not enemies, and Kallian takes this UpToEleven once his father dies. Miqol has shades of this as well, making his requests, but ultimately leaving the decision to the party, and allowing them a place to stay. Even Egil, the leader of Mechonis was a WellIntentionedExtremist.
* {{Reconstruction}}: Of {{Eastern RPG}}s as a genre, trailing away from the NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom road a lot of its contemporaries had taken.
* RedOniBlueOni: Fiora (Red) and Shulk (Blue). Fiora is a PluckyGirl that regardless of her kindness has a strong attitude. Shulk is a kind boy that tends to think before acting and plays things slower. It's {{Colour Coded|Characters}} in a cutscene just to drive the point home.
* RegeneratingHealth: Health quickly restores when not in battle or spotted by an enemy.
* RegeneratingMana: Special attack uses restore over time, with more powerful ones restoring more slowly.
* RegionalBonus: The cap on the play time was increased to the triple digits in the European and American releases.
* RelationshipChart: The Affinity Chart shows how various characters throughout the game form relationships with the main cast and other characters. Their values can change over the course of the game, sometimes just from the progression of the story, but usually with choices made and how sidequests play out.
* RelationshipValues: There is a separate RelationshipChart just for party members, who can gain or lose values depending on what gifts you give them or how you help them in combat. The closer party members are, the more skills they can share with each other, the more turns they have when [[ItemCrafting crafting gems]] and higher the chance for extra CombinationAttack turns, up to 15 compared to the default 3.
* ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming: The Unique Mechon later in the game tend to be named after Demons from the ''Literature/ArsGoetia'' or Knights from [[KingArthur Arthurian Legend]]. Then there's Egil's faced Mechon, Yaldabaoth, and the Monado itself, which hail from UsefulNotes/{{Gnosticism}}.
* RemovedAchillesHeel: Face Mechon stand out for being immune to the Monado, which slices through normal Mechon with ease.
* RespawnPoint: When falling in battle, the party is sent to the last landmark they visited.
* {{Retcon}}: As shown in the game trailers, the Definitive Edition changes the key around Alvis's neck into a Core Crystal, actively connecting the story with ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' and confirming his true identity as Ontos. That game's story already established the connection with this game, but the Definitive Edition does the same in turn. What makes this qualify as a retcon is the Definitive Edition's straightforwardness of changing that key.
* RewatchBonus: Many things Alvis says becomes this after his true nature as the Monado's spirit and his true allegiance to Shulk both come to light due to his liberal usage of ExactWords.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: The race of Nopon; fluffy, spherical, and overall adorable.
** Deconstructed to an extent, as the Nopon are more than aware of it and will sometimes exploit it to their advantage. A lot of quests given by Nopon are surprisingly dark.
** Nopon children are even cuter than their adult counterparts, having even tinier proportions, as well as noticeably rounder, beadier eyes.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Several of them; the plot starts with one of these from Shulk for the attack of Colony 9 and the death of Fiora.
* RobotGirl: Fiora becomes a partial one after being turned into part of a Face unit.
* {{Robosexual}}: Paired with IfItsYouItsOkay. Shulk really doesn't seem to mind seeing Fiora turned into a RobotGirl.
* RomanceSidequest: Shulk and Fiora's relationship makes much more sense when their affinity conversations are unlocked.
* RousingSpeech: A few battles that are divided in two halves have an empowering speech between confrontations. There are the first confrontation of the party against a Telethia, and right before the 2nd fight with Disciple Dickson.
* RulesLawyer: Dunban finagles getting the party into the High Entia Tomb to save Melia from another Telethia by noting that, while the Trial of the Tomb is special to ''High Entia'', [[LoopholeAbuse there are no rules saying ''Homs'' can't interfere.]]
* RunningGag:
** Reyn is easy to tease, so naturally, several characters, main and side alike, tend to do so when talking to him.
** A common end-battle banter with Reyn involves him [[{{Metaphorgotten}} getting metaphors wrong]] to the bewilderment of the other party members.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tropes S to U]]
* SacredFirstKiss: Paired with IntimateHealing. Fiora receives it from Shulk when he tries to give her water via mouth-to-mouth. She [[LampshadeHanging calls it out]], but she doesn't seem to be mad about it.
* SadBattleMusic: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCHt8Eaesyo Tragic Decision]]", only reserved for the most dramatic and climatic of battles [[MundaneMadeAwesome with one exception]]. In ''Future Connected'' it also plays against Gael'gar.
* SaveScumming: Unless you want to fight multiple hard-to-(re)spawn enemies to get some of the rarer top-tier Art Manuals and equipment, you're probably going to make use of the facts that the game doesn't determine treasure chest contents until you actually open them and that you can save and load the game anywhere outside of combat.
* SayMyName: A lot of characters do this, but Shulk is the most notorious example, to the point where the fandom makes it seem like he does it every other line.
-->''"FIORAAAAAAAAA!!!!"''
** Shulk may do it the most often, but Egil gets the best one hands down.
---> '''Egil:''' "I've been waiting. ''waiting'' for this day... '''''ZAAAAANZAAAAAAAA!!!"'''''
* SceneryPorn: The game [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAYBui5ghJ0 thrives on this]], offering utterly massive fields of exploration, and rewarding the player for finding new scenic vistas to explore. In fact, the lands are so expansive that ''Xenoblade'' is one of the hardest Wii games to emulate on a PC alongside ''VideoGame/TheLastStory''. Some of the best vistas in the game come from [[GhibliHills the Gaur Plain,]] [[UnnaturallyBlueLighting Satorl Marsh at night]], and [[JungleJapes Makna Forest]] with its huge waterfall ranges. Taking it further, try to climb up to the Distant Fingertip secret area of the Fallen Arm. We'll wait while you collect your jaw from the floor.
* SchizoTech: The world is shown to have technology that is equivalent to or [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture exceeding]] our own, such as buggies, airplanes, HumongousMecha, and gigantic mine-strippers. But despite [[ColossusClimb making sense]] there are no highways for people to drive on, and swords and melee weapons are still used prominently.
* ScienceFantasy: The lands of Bionis and Mechonis make a serious mix of fantasy and science fiction elements. The very intro starts with an ancient battle between titans that then transitions to a battle between HumanAliens and {{Mechanical Monster}}s. The Monado itself is an ancient legendary sword that also happens to be a LaserBlade. The High Entia are an old race that are both capable of ether manipulation and very technologically advanced. Et cetera.
* ScrewDestiny: Not only one of the main themes of the story, but one of the main gameplay mechanics as well. In battle, Shulk will get visions of lethal enemy attacks ahead of time, giving him a few precious seconds to kill the enemy, stop the attack, or defend against it, shattering that future.
* SecretAIMoves: Only enemies have arts which inflict the Pierce status debuff, which effectively turns your defenses to zero.
* SelfDisposingVillain: The plot begins as a revenge quest to kill the mechon Metal Face, who has killed countless Homs. But when the heroes discover that Metal Face is actually a Homs named Mumkhar piloting the robotic suit, Shulk decides to let him go, despite having a chance to kill him, saying that taking the life of a fellow Homs is wrong. Mumkhar takes this opportunity to fire a blast at them, but the blast misses and hits a spire that falls down, impaling him and pinning him to a falling platform, killing him.
* ShipperOnDeck: Two of them, actually. Dunban supports [[OfficialCouple Shulk and Fiora]], while Sharla roots for Shulk and Melia. The funny thing is that Sharla roots for Melia [[ShipSinking AFTER the party finds out that Fiora is]] BackFromTheDead; and she eases down on it after finding how much Fiora and Shulk care for each other.
* ShoutOut:
** The game gives you an achievement for filling all of a character's upgrade slots with gems. The name of said achievement? [[{{WesternAnimation/Jem}} "Truly outrageous"]].
** You can tell it was dubbed in Britain: Shulk and Reyn's gem-crafting "To me!"/"To you!" banter is a blatant reference to [[Series/ChuckleVision the Chuckle Brothers]].
** Another British-specific one is one of Riki's Arts being named "Lurgy", which is a playground taunt ultimately derived via PopculturalOsmosis from ''Radio/TheGoonShow''.
** If you do the Getting to Know Dorothy quest with Melia in your party, you'll hear the line "[[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda Excuse me, Princess!]]"
** Accepting a sidequest from a certain High Entia female will earn you some encouragement along the lines of, "Defeat that monster, [[VideoGame/ZeroWing for great justice!]]" and then [[IAlwaysWantedToSayThat her admitting that she always wanted to say that.]]
** When she is inside of the face unit, Fiora's head resembles the visor that KOS-MOS from ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' sometimes wears.
** The scene where Metal Face fires an ether spear at Zanza is similar to the Lance of Longinus scene from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''.
* SidequestSidestory: Many sidequests tie into one another, and their consequences are shown in the affinity chart. Furthermore, some overarching sidequests arcs progress alongside the main plot, and the connection between each of the individual quests involved becomes more obvious as they are completed.
* SidetrackBonus: The game rewards exploration via [[NonCombatEXP Non Combat Experience]] for discovering new locations. Also, many areas hold stuff like unique monsters and surprise quests.
* SilentWhisper: Dunban gives one to Shulk early in the game. Though it's revealed what he said not long after.
-->'''Dunban''': It was the Monado...It was controlling me. Even so...it saved us...saved...our future...Next...it will be up to you.
* SkillGateCharacter: Skill Gate Team, in this case. Shulk/Reyn/Sharla is the first "real" team you have, and you have an entire dungeon to learn how to utilize them. The team provides the classic DamagerHealerTank trio which is very well-grounded and reliable. It is not unusual for players to stick with them throughout the story. However, players who are willing to experiment and complete side quests will find that other teams are much stronger, can combo much better with each other, and abuse the Topple mechanic much better.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: This game leans toward idealism more than ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' but it still has its fair share of cynicism and dark themes. Just ask the entire High Entia race or all of Mechonis inhabitants. Hell, [[ApocalypseHow the entire freaking Universe]] is completely destroyed BEFORE the plot even starts.
* SlidingScaleOfLinearityVsOpenness: The game follows a mostly linear narrative, but the game practically gives free reign on what to do and where to go. The general largeness of the environments and the huge amount of sidequests certainly help.
* SmallGirlBigGun: Sharla may not be a small girl, per se, but her guns are pretty damn huge.
* TheSmartGuy: Surprisingly, all main characters have traits of this to different degrees (Even Reyn and Riki have their moments). However, Dunban would be the closest one to play the role straight, followed by Shulk. And he only falls behind due to his lack of experience.
* SoundtrackDissonance:
** Done for a deliberate MundaneMadeAwesome effect. The fight against the BonusBoss Bana the Nopon Kingpin, a CardCarryingVillain, is done to the tune of the SadBattleMusic "Tragic Decision".
** The track "Towering Shadow" often plays when the party learns a disturbing truth kept from them for some time, and during dangerous situations. The first time it plays, however, at the start of Sword Valley, it's just an exposition dump the party gives to Dickson as he sells weapons and gives some advice.
* SoftWater: Not only is the gradual falling damage from falling too high which can and will kill you negated by landing in deep water, you also get an ingame achievement for doing so for the first time. It's also outright invoked by an NPC rather than just being a gameplay mechanic, and even factors into the story (with various Homs that survive falling from Sword Valley and are rescued from the sea by Machina). Basically it's part of the physics of the Xenoblade world that deep water is always soft enough to land in.
* SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear:
** When Fiora gets killed, she keeps whatever she had equipped for NewGamePlus while any gems equipped are automatically removed from her equipment. Since her early equipment is quickly outclassed and her weapons can't be equipped by anybody else, it's not a big issue.
** Melia is a partial example, in that she ''does'' permanently join the party at some point (and thus you can ''eventually'' recover anything you gave her), but there are a few stretches during Makna Forest and Alcamoth where her equipment is not available from the party screen, which can make it annoying when following a quest or two without her.
* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'', and to a greater extent, ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''. ''Xenogears'' and ''Xenoblade'' both take place in SchizoTech worlds where space was once explored, and of course one (out of two) gods are evil. The two also share more [[{{Expy}} expies]] and other story elements.
* SpitefulAI: The Nebula enemies have high physical defense, making them hard to kill, and when they get weak, they explode. The frustrating part is that when normal Nebulae explode, they die and don't leave any loot.
* StarryNightSky: [[https://xenoblade.fandom.com/wiki/Eryth_Sea?file=Xenoblade_Chronicles_IB_eltosea.png Eryth sea at night specially during the meteor shower.]]
* StandardStatusEffects: Unlike the usual form, your party will use them to make battles easier; in some battles, it's required that you know how to chain status effects.
* SticksToTheBack: All party members carry their weapons through the power of video game magic, though Dunban and Melia's weapons stick to their waist instead. Admittedly, Fiora's robot body probably has something built-in to hold her daggers, and Riki has a backpack of some sort... but it's clearly way too small to hold his weapon without it falling off so he might as well still fit.
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: The Nopon accent gives off the illusion that the Nopon folk [[YouNoTakeCandle are not really fluent in the language of the Homs]] (when they actually are), with them tending to refer themselves as their given name when talking to others, them tending to add "pom" to the end of certain nouns, them calling the Homs "Hom homs", etc. An unnamed Nopon NPC {{Lampshade}}s this by making up a theory on the spot as to why they speak like that when you go talk to her.
* AStormIsComing: Zanza says this nearly word for word after the events of Prison Island.
* StoryArc: The game can pretty much be split into five arcs: the Xord arc, the Prison Island arc, the Mumkhar arc, the Egil arc, and the Zanza arc.
* StoryToGameplayRatio: Director [[WordOfGod Takahashi Tetsuya]] has described the game has being on the exact opposite side of the scale as ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'', calling the pursuit of excessive story-to-gameplay ratio "a dead end." Although in the end, the game still has its share of long cutscenes, the longest having a combined total of ''ten minutes'' where the average length is less than three minutes. The ratio is balanced by [[UpToEleven dramatically]] increasing the amount of exploration and [[WesternRPG Western-RPG]]-like sidequests.
* SubtitlesAreSuperfluous: Battle dialogues don't have subtitles, so people who don't speak either Japanese (most people) or English (a lot of people outside the US and the UK) will be left out during those.
* SuicidalOverconfidence:
** Unique Monsters attack no matter how powerful the party is.
** The player-controlled party leader sometimes displays this if a sufficiently tough monster is targeted for attack. The rest of the party [[ThisIsGonnaSuck tend to disagree with their perspective.]]
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Being exposed to high concentrations of Ether causes the High Entia to transform into their true identity, the Telethia creatures. In this form, they are big, bulky and have access to some powerful attacks, but it comes at the cost of much intelligence and sentience, making them fully subservient to Zanza.
* SwordOfPlotAdvancement: The Monado. It's the legendary sword said to have been wielded by the Bionis in the battle against Mechonis, and it's a big part of the plot, its presence being involved in several events.
* SwordOverHead: Shulk does this to [[AntiVillain Egil]] after his boss battle, hesitating to kill him even as [[BigBad Zanza]] is screaming in his head and telling him to do it. In the end, Shulk refuses to take Egil's life and sits down to have a chat with him. Dickson takes this chance to shoot Shulk InTheBack.
* SymbioticPossession: Between Fiora and Meyneth, getting to the point that both are essential for the other's survival.
* TakeUpMySword: Non-lethal example. Shulk gets the Monado when Dunban can't wield it any longer. Later, Shulk even tries to give it back to Dunban, but he refuses, saying that Shulk wields it better than he ever could.
* TakeYourTime: Especially jarring in moments like when the characters are getting inside the Mechonis while the Bionis alliance try to fend off the Mechon army in Sword Valley. Even in those moments, it's perfectly fine to go back to Colony 9 and keep doing sidequests.
** There are a couple of moments where the game locks out your ability to skip travel to keep you on task (most notably around the High Entia Tomb sequence), but this seems to have more to do with a heavy reliance on EventFlags than any desire to railroad the player.
* ATasteOfPower:
** For the tutorial, the players takes control of some characters whose levels are in their twenties before the main game gives the obligatory level one characters.
** Later in the early game Dunban rejoins with Shulk and Reyn wielding the Monado during the attack on Colony 9, and he is likely to be a much higher level than both of them. However, this is only for a few minutes before Shulk picks up the Monado and starts wielding it himself, though Dunban still sticks with the party a little while after that.
* ThemeNaming: The Gogol types within Bionis Leg, not counting Unique Monsters, are all named after four of the SevenDeadlySins, while both of the normal Gogol types encountered of Satorl Marsh are named after demons. The only exception is the Gogol of Tephra Cave which aren't named after anything related to evil.
* ThirdPersonPerson: The Nopon, including Riki, zig-zag it. They sometimes speak like this, while other times they use "me" instead of "I".
* ThreeAmigos: Shulk, Reyn and Fiora. Longtime childhood friends. It doesn't get to last though, thanks to Fiora's death.
* TimeLimitBoss: Once Egil's Mechon HP is reduced enough, he starts charging up for Bionis Slash X, which does ''infinite'' damage to its unfortunate recipient, and needs to be prevented by destroying all targets around him in 2 minutes.
* TookALevelInBadass:
** Dunban was a badass in his own right, but when he rejoins the party after the events in the Ether Mine he takes further levels in badass by wielding an Anti-Mechon Blade with only one arm, and also by taking a level in ''common sense''. His time out allowed him to learn to take a wiser approach instead of jumping into battle blindly.
** Fiora knew how to fight with daggers beforehand the prologue, but once she gets her new Mechon body, she ''really'' kicks some major ass with it.
** Melia, too. When the party first meets her, she's a frail SquishyWizard on the verge of death. Some time with travelling with the party later, she's picked up some new techniques, [[WrestlerInAllOfUs including the ability to drop-kick enemies ten times her size hard enough to knock them on their ass,]] which brings her more up to a KungFuWizard or MagicKnight.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Mumkhar. He starts out as a DirtyCoward, but once transformed into a Face Mechon, he ends up attacking Colony 9 and opposing Shulk's party just ForTheEvulz.
* TookAShortcut: Dickson usually arrives to a place before the party, for some reason.
* TomatoInTheMirror: Shulk. Think about it. After he froze to death in Valak Mountain, he was more or less a vessel for Zanza.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood:
** Shulk loves EVERYTHING that Fiora cooks, no matter how little effort she puts on it, so much so that Fiora suspects he has no sense of taste whatsoever and specifically goes to test it. Played with in that while he does hate vegetables (according to a Heart-to-Heart moment between Dunban and Sharla at Eryth Sea, along with the negative hearts from most vegetables when they're gifted to him in gameplay), he's willing to accept the ones cooked by Fiora anyway as to not upset her.
** In many heart-to-heart events, Sharla reveals that she loves fruit. Dunban, on the other hand, [[DoesNotLikeSpam hates fruit.]]
** Reyn takes it a step further in that he loves Energy Aubergies, a very specific kind of vegetable. There's even an achievement for giving him one.
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The trailer used for western releases' latter part spoils a good deal of plot developments, including a few {{Wham Episode}}s. Thankfully, they're out of context.
* TrashTalk: The party delivers some trash talk to their enemies occasionally. Such as when dodging an attack or after an easy victory.
-->'''Shulk:''' Not good enough!\\
'''Riki:''' Nah Nah Nah-Nah!\\
'''Reyn:''' Man, what a bunch of jokers!
* TreeTrunkTour: All of Frontier Village, except maybe the Apex Lake, which is outdoors.
* TriumphantReprise: Rebuild Colony 6 enough, and its theme will eventually turn into this.
* TronLines: The Faced Mechon all have bright red lights running across their bodies, which is actually the blood of their core units circulating throughout the Mechon.
* TwentyBearAsses: A big amount of the game's quests fall into collecting a certain number of certain objects. However, as stated above, doing a lot of them unlocks more story-rich questlines, which help with town affinity.
* TwiceShy: Everyone around Shulk and Fiora can tell they're in love with each other, but neither side seems to realize it or take any steps in pursuing a relationship. They do make progress eventually.
* {{Tykebomb}}: The entire race of High Entia, which at Zanza's whim can regress into the mindless Telethia. Those with Homs blood are immune to the regression though.
* UnexpectedGameplayChange: The appearance of the sliding segments in Valak Mountain causes many a player to stop and question what they were doing.
* UnexplainedRecovery: Colonel Vangarre of the Colony 9 Defense Force, nicknamed "Square-tache", is apparently crushed to death by a Mechon flinging a vehicle during the attack on Colony 9 at the start of the game. It's easy to assume he had been killed, but talking to an NPC later in the story reveals that he somehow survived the crush (Maybe he yelled at the vehicle to squat its way off his spine); and later he shows up during the Alliance's assault on Sword Valley, perfectly healthy and back to being comic relief.
* UnholyHolySword: The Monado: The weapon of the Bionis, and also the xenophobic manifestation of an EvilGod.
* UnnaturallyBlueLighting: Satorl Marsh at night, to the point of looking completely different from [[BubblegloopSwamp what it looks like]] during the day. [[SceneryPorn It works.]]
* UnroboticReveal: Hinted at by Xord during his last battle with the party, and played straight when Face Nemesis blocks Shulk's killing blow meant for Metal Face. The Face Mechon are, in fact, mechs piloted by Homs -- specifically, [[UnwillingRoboticisation Homs given mechanical bodies by Egil]].
* UnwillingRoboticisation: The Homs are turned into Faced Mechon. Since the Monado is initially unable to harm Homs, this make them NighInvulnerable until a significant power-up.
* UselessUsefulSpell:
** Totally ''inverted''! Status effects are immensely useful when used by the player, in fact they're part of what makes Riki the effective FightingClown he really is. Not only do they work on just about everything, even bosses, but there are at least ''four'' separate damage-over-time effects (Bleed, Poison, Blaze and Chill), and they all stack with each other. Riki can take major advantage of this, stacking all four on enemies quickly and re-applying them when they wear off ad-infinitum, to the point where he's considered one of the best boss killers in the game. The other main status effects, Break/Topple/Daze, render enemies not immune (and only flying monsters generally are) completely immobile and vulnerable to damage, and at higher levels the party can spam these to make sure they never have a chance to get up.
** On the other hand, the same status effects are only mild annoyances when used by enemies: damage-over-time effects are easily out-healed, and active party members can snap each other out of Sleep, Topple or Daze (though an attack that renders this on the entire party can be problematic). Moreover [[TheMedic Sharla]]'s status-curing ability actually has the additional effect of making the target ''immune'' to further debuffing for a short while, (and she can hit your whole party with it later) making them all the more useless.
* UndeadChild: Shulk died and was reanimated at the age of four.
* UnwittingPawn: Egil and Shulk play right into Zanza's hands for the majority of the game.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Tropes V to Z]]
* VariableMix: The theme song to Colony 6 becomes much livelier the more you restore it, eventually culminating in a TriumphantReprise of Colony 6's own theme.
* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: Prison Island, the second time around.
* ViciousCycle: Every time the Bionis races grow advanced enough to travel into space and leave him to die, Zanza enacts the apocalypse to reset everything. The entire game follows everyone's attempts to stop him from doing this again.
* VictoriousChildhoodFriend: In the end, Fiora and Shulk get together.
* VideoGameStealing: Riki's "Yoink!" lets him steal something from the enemy. With one quick move, not only can he steal any droppable item from the enemy, which can already let him get some bizarre things, but he can also steal ''stats'' from them, such as their strength or agility. And with the help of skills, he can upgrade the power to make it possible to even take experience points away from the enemy and share them with the party.
* VillainousBreakdown: Zanza starts losing it after Shulk and co. kick his ass twice and he still cannot see their future, while they can. It's displayed nicely in the final battle, the first time they manage to have a vision in his presence.
-->'''Zanza''': No! ''How can you still have visions?!''
* ViolationOfCommonSense: Want all the achievements? Better jump off 200 meters into water (for "Making Waves"), or off a cliff [[BottomlessPits into the blue, blue sky]] (for "Terminal Velocity").
* VisibleSilence: Sometimes. And it's funny, since the voice clip for the "silence" is actually a sigh or a hum.
* VirtualPaperDoll: Any changes to armor and weapons are visible even in cutscenes, and the game even remembers what you were wearing at the time during flashbacks. Taken further in ''Definitive Edition'', which allows you to apply a cosmetic override on any equipment slot using a running catalogue of every piece of gear ever obtained.
* WeirdSun: The sun, and for that matter all the stars in the sky, are particularly large and bright ether particles. Instead of rotating around the world, the sun simply dims and re-lights at daytime.
* WalkingShirtlessScene: It's possible to make every male character walk around without a shirt constantly. In fact, one of Dunban's skills, Inner Peace, grants him a whopping 30% agility boost while he is not wearing any armor, and can be linked with any of the other party members.
* WalkingSpoiler: Half the cast, to different degrees. But two characters deserve special mention.
** The first one is Zanza. Initially revealed as some sort of BigGood, he turns out to be an absolute EvilGod and the true BigBad. It's no wonder most of who he is is a spoiler.
** The second one is Fiora, who takes the cake, the shop, and the whole freaking baking industry! It's almost impossible to talk about the game's plot [[FirstEpisodeTwist beyond the first two hours]] without mentioning the (FIRST!) WhamEpisode involving them.
* WasOnceAMan: The faced Mechon were all once Homs. Additionally, Zanza and Meyneth were once humans.
* WaterfallIntoTheAbyss: Several of the islands that float above the Eryth Sea have never-ending waterfalls. You can also find areas like this at the outer edges of the Bionis.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Egil. All the atrocities he does are in an attempt to put a stop to Zanza's cycle of destruction.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman:
** Subverted. Shulk is horrified once he discovers that Faced Mechon have Homs inside them, and when he discovers later that there is actual life on Mechonis in the form of the Machina. This makes him forget about his RoaringRampageOfRevenge against Mechonis, as he would be taking sentient life. Later, the [[TragicMonster Telethia]] are played for all the horror they deserve.
** Played straight with some of the species of monster. They use tools, have goals and have a certain level of intelligence implied. Kill as many as you want, no one ever questions the morality. Not even the Monado itself cares, as it can't hurt sentient Bionis life, yet cuts through these creatures just fine.
* WhamEpisode: This is a Monolith Soft game. Which means [[UpToEleven we will need a freaking LIST]]:
** Fiora's death in the Mechon attack to Colony 9.
** The last one carries us to the moment she's seen resurrected as a Mechon. The reveal is made when Shulk slashes open her cockpit hatch, revealing her.
** The appearance of the Machina, revealing that Mechonis holds actual living beings, and that most of them want the war to end as much as the people of Bionis.
** The [[DiscOneFinalDungeon Core of Mechonis]] brings Shulk's death, the revelation of Zanza, the reveal of an EvilAllAlong character, and a whole freaking mess of twists.
** A little later, when all the pure-blooded High Entia are transformed into Telethia.
** They even keep something under the sleeve for the ending. We find out that the current universe was created after Zanza DESTROYED the previous universe, and that previous universe was OUR universe, as in the "real" world.
* WhamLine:
** '''Dickson''': ''"Can't say I feel so good about deceiving these kids."'' It's subtle, but it makes you go, "Wait....what?"
** There's also this one from Miqol.
--->'''Miqol''': He [Egil] is my son.
** In a flashback where Egil appears to be speaking with Zanza.
--->'''Egil''': Yes. I, too, desire this, Arglas.
** Also the one where Dickson shoots Shulk.
--->'''Dickson''': You shouldn't have done that, little brat.
* WhatTheHellHero:
** Denying a sidequest for whatever reason has both the quest giver reacting negatively, and possibly even other party members calling the leader out, complete with a reduction of the affinity between them.
** The rest of the party will have something to say when trying to face a red-named (6+ levels higher) monster in battle.
--->'''Reyn:''' Are you NUTS?\\
'''Sharla:''' Are you trying to get us killed!?\\
'''Shulk:''' Do you really think this is a good idea?
** Kallian is given a berating directed at all of the High Entia for them not lifting a finger to help the Homs in the war against the Mechon. He admits to their mistake, as they had mistakenly assumed it was not their fight.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: The focus of a sidequest, where an elderly Machina is about to die: you can either go get her some Machina Energy from the wreckages near Colony 9 to allow her to live another 20 years or so, or go hunt for some rare revitalizing eggs which instead cause her to outlive everyone in Colony 6 and be left all alone. Strange that the lazy option has better end result even if it makes sense in context.
* WideOpenSandbox: One of the game's main selling points is the positively vast overworld, and the game pretty much gives you free reign to stray from the main quest to do plenty of other sidequests. Thankfully, the game allows for teleportation to important locations around the overworld, meaning it's possible to stray off the path to complete a sidequest or two and teleport back to the main path.
* WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: There's an in-game achievement called, "Some Help ''You'' Are!". To unlock it, you have to initiate a battle, [[SomeoneElsesProblem then literally stand there]] while your AI-controlled party members do all the work.
* WolverineClaws:
** Mumkhar wields a pair of them in the battle of Sword Valley.
** As does Metal Face, who has a gigantic pair of claws for arms. There's a reason for this - he's actually a Mechon-ized Mumkhar.
* WombLevel: The Bionis' Interior's this, given that it's the insides of an organic titan. While it's briefly trekked through when Shulk and the gang were going from Satorl Marsh to Makna Forest, it's eventually fully trekked once Shulk and the gang decided to take on Zanza.
* WorldOfBuxom: Every adult female is stacked, save Melia and Fiora.
* WorldShapes: The entire universe is composed by an endless ocean and two titans where its inhabitants live. It is returned to its natural form of spiral-shaped galaxies full of stars and round planets in the ending, although the head and a bit of one shoulder of one of the two titans is still sticking out of Earth's ocean.
* XtremeKoolLetterz: Almost every Machina has a name with Z, X or Q in it.
* YellowSnow: Valak Mountain is an aversion. Sure the snow is clearly yellow at night, but it's reflecting the golden light from all the glowing crystals around the mountain.
* YouAreNumberSix: Egil refers to the Homs turned into Mechon by their serial number.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: All Homs characters have pretty realistic hair colors. The main exceptions being Colonel "Squaretache" with his pink hair, and Alvis with his MysticalWhiteHair that more closely resembles that of the High Entia.
* ZipMode: The fast travel mechanic, which turns what would be an otherwise tedious walk from one end of the world to the other into a breeze.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Future Connected]]
* AbhorrentAdmirer: Non romantically, Gael'gar for Melia. He's an insane zealot stalker who believes her to be the divine savior of the half breed High Entia from their tyrannical pureblooded ancestors. Understandably, Melia finds him disgusting.
* ADayInTheLimelight: The epilogue heavily focuses on Melia and the remnants of the High Entia and Machina. Shulk's role is relatively minor and the other protagonists get passing mentions. This is exemplified at the start of the game as Melia is chosen to be the group's leader by default rather than Shulk. In addition, almost half the epilogue is devoted to expanding on Riki's character through his children, despite him not being physically there.
* AndYourRewardIsClothes: A majority of the armors available are only there for this purpose. The collectopedia also unlocks a cute swimsuit for Melia that has pathetic stats.
** One of your rewards for beating the campaign is being able to freely switch the appearance of Shulk's Monado.
* AscendedExtra: Teelan, who was originally a minor {{NPC}} and a sidequest character in the base game, becomes a supporting character in the main story.
* BadassCreed: The Ponspectors have a short but strong one that all 12 will chant in unison during their Chain Attack:
--> ''We measure! Find treasure! Ponspectors 'til we die!''
* BigBad:
** The Fog King is the one for the main storyline. It kills most of those living in Alcamoth and forces them to move into the now very overpopulated town of Gran Dell.
** Bana takes this role for the Gran Dell sidequests, as it's revealed that almost every problem that the villagers have had since moving there were caused by him trying to develop addictive drugs to become emperor of the Bionis Shoulder via a criminal empire. He arrived shortly before Melia and friends did with the intention of taking advantage of the chaos caused by the Fog King.
* BigBadWannabe: Gael'gar is seemingly the BigBad for the main storyline, with him being shown right from the start, being the end to Melia's entire character arc while being quickly shown to be extremely deluded and hypocritical with him aiming to rule the remaining High Entia when he realizes Melia does not plan to lead them the way he wants her to (namely as a divine progenitor figure who demonizes their ancestors and idolizes half bloods), but he fails at killing Teelan and killing Melia. In the end, he never even gets close to the final goal he seeks and [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled commits suicide]], as the real main antagonist The Fog King starts to terrorise the Bionis Shoulder. Further, Melia and the rest of the group never treat Gael'gar as a major threat so much as a pitiable and seriously deluded man whose vileness all the same cannot be excused by whatever traumas he suffered as a half breed High Entia.
* BonusBoss: While there are no enemies above the level cap, there are two enemies stronger than the Fog King that function as this, being Contemptous Greymane, a Level 78 Gogol Fog Beast that can summon reinforcements (and being a Fog Beast those enemies are stronger than normal), and Prosecutor Davrum, a Dragon enemy with a powerful spike, which can only be unlocked through getting all 12 Ponspectors.
* CallBack: Once again, the final sidequest has the party fight Bana and his mount to the theme of Tragic Decision.
** In the main game, Melia is healed by Sharla while in a coma. In this game, Sharla's stand in does the same thing.
** This [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 isn't the first time]] a Nopon has said "meh meh" a lot. Bonus points for Nene considering she's also a tank.
** A Heart-to-Heart from the main game has Riki talk about one of his littlepon who became afraid to climb trees after a bad experience. A quest near Gran Dell reveals that Nene was that littlepon, and just like Riki promised in the original Heart-to-Heart, he helped her overcome her fear.
* CallToAgriculture: Most of High-Entia and Machina living in Gran Dell have become farmers and ranchers, adapting well to the more rural lifestyle. For the most part they enjoy it, but the main goal is returning to Alcamoth for all of them, as they would still prefer to choose where they live rather than be forced to stay there.
* ComingOfAgeStory: The half of the story that is not focused on Melia is devoted to telling this for Nene and Kino. It's also arguably this for Melia, or at least the conclusion of one that began in the main game as she grows into her role as Empress of Alcamoth.
* CoolSword: Shulk's Monado Replica EX (in universe shortened to Monado REX), which he later upgrades into the Monado Replica EX+, which is able to cut through the Fog King like butter and has four burners shooting out of its side.
* CutscenePowerToTheMax: Melia regularly summons four or five elementals with a wave of her staff, which is quite the far cry from her usual "only three and summoned one at a time" limits. It does make for cooler action, though.
* DamnYouMuscleMemory: Alcamoth's minimap has been rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise from the main game, so relying on the minimap will get you disoriented.
* DeathSeeker: Tyrea. She gets better. Several of the more traumatized [=NPCs=] also qualify, though most of them also get better.
* DrivenToSuicide:
** Gael'gar after being defeated once more in his sidequest jumps off the floating island when he realizes his AxCrazy dream of a racist holy half-High Entia empire will never come to pass.
** Tyrea nearly reached this point in the backstory, but met Teelan during her attempt and kept on living.
* EasilyForgiven: Downplayed with Bana. While the citizens of Gran Dell said they'll work with him to improve the town and forget about his drug dealing and stealing, they also punish him by making him do community service running food to the militia. The High-Entia girl who was Bana's main victim alongside her also addicted boyfriend believe this is too light of a sentence.
* FantasticRacism: Downplayed somewhat: the main conflict on the Shoulder, aside from the Fog King, is flaring racial tension. After the Alcamoth refugees failed to retake their capital with heavy losses, a comment by the Machina leader was taken the wrong way and caused the resentment over the Mechon war to explode, until a good chunk of Gran Dell's High Entia population seceded and founded the Companions on the other side of the island. It's downplayed in that aside from Gael'gar the raging supremacist, most of them are good people at heart (as Melia points out, the fact that they peacefully exiled themselves instead of trying to throw the Machina out speaks volumes) and they eventually reconcile when forced to join forces by the Fog Beast attacks.
* FloatingContinent: The Bionis Shoulder remained in position flying above the clouds after the rest of the body was destroyed due to an absurd amount of Hoverstone concentrated in the ground. Shulk theorizes that due to the Giants' ruins there that the floating islands in Eryth Sea and Alcamoth were constructed by Giants mining it from the Shoulder and moving it to other parts of the Bionis.
* HeelFaceTurn: With Zanza gone, the Telethia have become quite docile, to the point where no Telethia are fought at all in ''Future Connected''. They even aid the party several times in the story.
* InterspeciesRomance: Several [=NPCs=] are involved in one or were at one time:
** Winnie had one in the past, but lost her full blooded High Entia husband when he turned into a Telethia during the Bionis' resurrection. The experience made her a emotional wreck. She's also currently being pursued by a smitten Machina and a half-High Entia, though she's ObliviousToLove.
** Another Homs woman also mentions losing her High-Entia husband to the Telethia transformation.
** There's a Homs chef who once lived in Alcamoth with a one sided crush on Tyrea.
* KingIncognito: Melia actively refuses to reveal herself as Empress, believing that the last thing the population needs right now is a shockwave in the political sphere. Maxis, leader of the Companions, is shocked to learn that among unusually powerful wanderers who regularly helped them is actually the rightful leader of his people.
* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: With ''Future Connected" being released long after the main game's debut, and after two separate entries in the franchise, there are a few things that make this apparent:
** Nopon are back to saying "Meh!" on a regular basis, a first in the world of the twin titans. "Riki the Legendary Heropon" plays quite a bit more frequently in various cutscenes.
** With this being a condensed story, there's no NPC affinity chart to keep logs. It may be more difficult to find certain sidequests as a few still require chatting to certain people.
** Manual control over party members during Chain Attacks have been replaced with the ability to use the Ponspectors and their varying talents, namely to either deal lots of damage, force Daze on the enemy, or heal up your party. Arts that might be useful during a traditional Chain Attack might not be so handy here. It does, however, encourage you to complete as many Ponspector missions as possible, as this increases this initiative's effectiveness.
* MythologyGag: The Fog King has qualities similar to the Gnosis from ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'', being unable to be damaged at first and seemingly coming from another dimension entirely. It's ultimately defeated in a way that resembles the Hilbert Effect, with Shulk overclocking the Monodo REX to induce an Ether field that makes the Fog King tangible and thus able to be damaged by conventional weaponry.
* SceneryPorn: Taken to the next level. As in Xenoblade tradition, the Bionis Shoulder is gorgeous. However because it is the only real area in the epilogue, it's absolutely huge compared to the areas in the main game and many parts of ''Xenoblade Chronicles 2'', being very similar to the size of areas in ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX''. Because of the increased draw distance and verticality of the area, vast stretches of the floating island can be gazed out at from many locations.
* PaperThinDisguise: Bana has continued his criminal activity by moving to Gran Dell and changing his name to Bama. Shulk and Melia recognize him right away.
* SequelHook: The truth behind the Fog King is never revealed, though Melia believes it is a bad omen of things to come.
* TokenHuman: Token Homs rather. Shulk is the only Homs member this time.
* TheUnreveal: The true natures of the Fog King and the rift are not explained. The only possible hints to their origins is that Zanza's theme plays for the first phase of the final boss, and that it somewhat resembles [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 the Infernal Guldo]].
[[/folder]]
----
->'''Shulk:''' Cool! Let's keep this up!\\
'''Reyn:''' Man, what a buncha' jokers!\\
'''Fiora:''' Let's press on, and ''on,'' and ''ON!''
----

** The Nopon in this game don't say [[VerbalTic "Meh!"]] all that much unlike in later Xenoblade games; they don't even say it in audible cutscenes, only in text-based dialogue in sidequests. For that matter, this is the one game where the resident Nopon party member (or travelling companion) joins relatively late.

** Nopon are back to saying "Meh!" on a regular basis, a first in the world of the twin titans.

** It's established earlier that the Monado can't hurt "the sentient beings of Bionis." Naturally, this doesn't come into play when fighting random monsters, but later you end up fighting some High Entia assassins, and if Shulk is in battle, the Monado will only do ScratchDamage to them. This is taken further within the NewGamePlus where the other type of Monados, including the Monado III, are indeed able to hurt them due to them not being limited in this regard as with the original Monado at this point within the story. This also applies to the Faced Mechon, once you know they are really just Homs in a forced symbiosis with a Mechon.

** The Monado is supposed to be incapable of hurting sentient organic beings, but it can still damage species such as the hodes or kromars, seemingly sentient beings with their own, albeit simple, cultures.

* Affectionate Nickname: Riki is fond of these, with him dubbing Melia "Melly" and Dunban "Dundun." Neither mind at all, given their particular closeness to him.

** Shulk and Sharla, being that she's the only female party member who has no romantic undertones with him, they have similar scientific interests, and she eventually becomes a supporter of [[spoiler:his relationship with Fiora. It comes full circle that she herself is all but explicitly falling in love with Reyn, Shulk's best friend.]]
** Melia and [[spoiler:Fiora]] due to their similarly friendly and supportive personalities that resonate with each other despite all of the hell they both go through, especially given that Fiora is more outwardly sunny but inwardly pensive, with Melia being just the opposite. The two even agree to confide in one another whenever they need support. It's a large reason why [[spoiler:Melia gracefully bows out of trying to win Shulk's heart because she knows that Fiora is a lovely person and will treat Shulk well.]]

* DifficultySpike:
** Sword Valley. Even if you went out of your way to complete every single sidequest possible up to that point, the enemies levels will ''still'' likely be higher than your own. In addition, you get introduced to the BossInMookClothing Fortress Units, which ''will'' kill you if you try to take them on in a direct fight. Additionally, the game gets more spam happy when it comes to enemy units, to where it's not impossible to end up fighting ''five to six enemies'' at the same time. Also, if you want to go through it without having Shulk in your party twenty four seven, you'll be forced to downgrade to weapons that are weaker than the ones you already have and have only one slot, but can damage Mechon without Monado Enchant. While all this makes sense considering you're storming one of the enemies strongholds, it's still likely to catch many first time players off guard.
** Everything after the events of Mechonis Core also turns the game's difficulty into overdrive; most of the new sidequests available are catered towards endgame levels, making it difficult for those wanting to prepare themselves for the story-based fights ahead, themselves considerably more difficult than what came before.

''Xenoblade Chronicles'' (simply ''Xenoblade'' [[MarketBasedTitle in Japan]]) is a [[EasternRPG Japanese role playing game]] for the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} console, developed by Creator/MonolithSoft and published and produced by Creator/{{Nintendo}}. While Takahashi orignally did not intend the game to be related to his previous creations, beginning its life as a totally unrelated story called ''Monado: Beginning of the World'', it became the SpiritualSuccessor to the ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' series of Eastern [=RPGs=] for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, which itself was a spiritual successor to Creator/SquareSoft's ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'', after Creator/SatoruIwata suggested the Xeno title be added late into production to [[TroubledProduction honor Tetsuya Takahashi's history and struggles in the industry]]. After the game's success, more traditional Xeno elements would be retroactively added into the sequels, [[WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants seemingly ressurecting the Perfect Works storyline from Xenogears and Xenosaga in a form even its creator couldn't have predicted]].

* SoundtrackDissonance: Done for a deliberate MundaneMadeAwesome effect. The fight against the BonusBoss Bana the Nopon Kingpin, a CardCarryingVillain, is done to the tune of the SadBattleMusic "Tragic Decision".

* FiveRaces:
** Mundane: The Homs: HumanAliens with access to advanced yet relatively down-to-Earth technology.
** Cute: The Nopon: {{Ridiculously Cute Critter}}s that live in harmony with Makna Forest.
** Stout: The Giants: A long-extinct race of huge humanoid people.
** Fairy: The High Entia: An advanced and long-lived race capable of manipulating ether.
** High Men: The Machina: MechanicalLifeforms that greatly outlive the High Entia, and also very technologically advanced.

* CycleOfRevenge: Shulk swears revenge on Mechonis and the Mechon after they attack Colony 9 and kill Fiora. It turns out the Mechon attack was instigated by Egil as revenge for Zanza and the Bionis massacring the people of Mechonis thousands of years ago. Shulk manages to shake himself out of this mentality and stop the cycle before he kills Egil, unfotunately Zanza isn't having any of that...

* Irony: Concerning the world two gods, Zanza and Mayneth, and how they are preceived by their creations.

** The best way to fight a Mechon if you don't have the Monado is to topple them over and then attack them. This technique is first seen in the very first cutscene, where three Defense Force soldiers topple a Mechon and proceeds to stab its weak underbelly.

** The best way to fight a Mechon if you don't have the Monado is to topple them over and then attacking them. This technique is first seen in the very first cutscene, where three Defense Force soldiers topple a Mechon and proceeds to stab its weak underbelly.

It was released in Japan on June 10th, 2010, after Nintendo had delayed the game to allow Monolith to [[EarnYourHappyEnding finally deliver a game close to their original vision after their ''long'' history of problems]]. This game saw Takahashi adopt a style of directing and writing that matched what most modern game developers view as the optimal strategy when in a game is in preproduction of creating mechanics then writing a story around them instead of the other way around as had been the case in ''Xenogears'' and ''Xenosaga'', aka visions in this case, that is seen in his future projects resulting in vastly different narrative experiences from his older works. After much fighting from the fans, it was released in Europe on August 19th, 2011, and translated to English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. After much fan demand, the game reached American grounds in April of 2012. Unfortunately, due to the game's highly limited run, the original release became [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes incredibly hard to find]], making it hard for fans late to the game to own the whole "set" of Wii {{Role Playing Game}}s, made up of this, ''VideoGame/TheLastStory'', and ''VideoGame/PandorasTower''.