Spoiler Alert!
So I finished the first big battle against the Mechon, and I am really impressed. I thought this game was good before, but that was amazing how they pulled off a full scale invasion of Colony 9 out of nowhere. Poor Fiora! I was surprised that they actually killed her off like that and so early in the game, although I have some doubts as to whether she is actually dead. Well, next up is some gem crafting and some more Colony 9 questing, and then I get to leave town on my foolhardy revenge quest.

At first I was like: "Ohhhh, there's too much to doooo....."
Then I played for like an hour, and then I was all like: "Woohoo! There's so much to do!!!"
I am currently residing on the kneecap of Bionis.
Spoiler
I actually had no idea what I was doing during the Giant Arachno fight. I just kept spamming shields and attacking every which way...
Also...Fiora... I'm not doubting a reappearance or something, but it's still sad. I just wish the characters showed more emotion. No one cried? That's not very touching...
Not used to this kind of main character kill-offs. Guess I need to play some more RPGs, huh?

The best part is it ain't an emo fest. Dang ol positive attitudes everywhere.

I know right? No brooding heroes in this game!
At least, not yea here I am...

Ha! Hear no evil, Xeno evil.

Oops... My bad. Is it too early for the punny jokes?

Lawlollerlers. Xeno evil...

To me it seems like you're referring to Tales of Symphonia on the GC but Mieu-fire was referring top its Wii sequel called Tales of Symphononia: Dawn of the new world and I haven't played it yet but pretty much everyone who has (whether they liked the sequel or not) says its nowhere near as good as its predecessor.

You won't have to wait too long, she's the first new party member.

Does anybody know where the Tirkin Headquarters are on Bionis' Leg?

@Cloudcult
I stumbled upon one through a cave south of that Oasis where you save Juju...although I just recently got to the leg myself... IT'S SO BIG!

I need help, guys! Okay so you know how the Monado SPOILER ALERT will give you the ability to see what will happen in the future while in battle? How exactly am I supposed to prevent these attacks from hitting me or my teammates? All help is appreciated. Thanks!

I beleive by "warning the teammate" which allows you to use him for an instant, by stopping the attack with the Monado shield, by drawing away the monster's aggro, or just by killing it.

Is Xenoblade Chronicles really becoming a more enjoyable experience for you guys, or are you just in denial?

Yes it is actually. I think the first few hours are so overwhelming from all the things the game teaches you and can do that it takes about two to three hours to get accustom to. Lets put it this way. The first city has about 5 times more people to talk to then skyward sword. Its also probably two to three times bigger then skyloft. That's just the first city. The combat is so satisfying now but wasn't as fun in the first few minutes. They pretty much started the game with you able to fight. That was the first five minutes of the game the next hour to an hour and a half was wondering around the city just talking to people. I like to play rpgs in a way as to find everything I can before I move on with the main story. The problem with that is there is so much you can get caught up in that it can become tedious if you just don't continue the story.

It depends on the attack. If the enemy is about to use a physical/close range attack then use the Monado ability that raises the evasion of the party member on the party member the enemy is aiming for and if its a long range attack or attack that uses magic, lasers or poison or something like that then use the Monado shield ability. You can also warn party members and when you do you can select one of their arts. Reyn's guard art is useful for this and so are any healing arts that Sharla (and later Rikki and the 7th party member) have.

Just picked this game up yesterday. Didn't get to start it yet, but I really can't wait to sink my teeth into this one.

Ditto. I just unlocked an achievement called Some Help You Are! - Win a battle without actually doing anything.

Does anyone who has beaten Xenoblade know if there's another achievement to unlock for Winning all the battles without actually doing anything? Because I'm well on my way.

I'd be surprised if anyone could do that, especially in the battles where you get visions and need to prevent what you see in them from happening.

@FonistoCruxis What if I make the computer control Shulk?

Yeah you might be able to get away with that with some weaker enemies but if you try that with some of the stronger ones you will die a lot.

I doubt it would always make the right decisions seeing as it doesn't always make the right decisions with simpler characters. For example, Sharla doesn't always heal at the right times Sometimes she'd heal us at the start of the battle and other times she wouldn't heal us when our HP was getting dangerously low. This doesn't happen so often that its a major flaw but it did happen often enough to become a noticeable flaw and made some battles harder than they should be. Also, the most frustrating boss fight in the game has pools of liquidized ether in the area where you fight it and Reyn seems to love running into it, I had to call him back 3 times before he came out one time. It turned out that I didn't even need him for that boss fight anyway.