Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition

@Heavyarms55 I haven't caved into casual mode just yet. Though I also haven't played since Sunday. Haven't had a ton of time to sink into a JRPG the last couple of days. My hope is to play for a little while this evening.

@Grumblevolcano yea I was able to go back to some areas.

@Tyranexx I picked it back up the last couple days. Been a balancing act between work, Pokemon, Xenoblade and moving shenanigans. I really do love all the updated visuals and stuff. It annoys me how some people are so upset with the way the game works but that's just the internet in 2020.

I finished Valak Mountain and then made sure colony 6 was all level 3. Getting those element items from the ether enemies remains as annoying as I remember because of how they like to self-destruct. Thankfully Melia, Riki and Sharla butcher the crap out of them.

Also, if you haven't already, go back to that magma cave at night. There's a thing there.

Well I finished the game tonight folks. Not sure where to begin, honestly. It was one of the best games I've played in a LONG time. Maybe in my top 5 of all time, though id have to get back to you on that lol. Similar to how i felt after beating botw. Sad to see its over, but I loved the story and the ending. This was as close a perfect game as it could be, imo. Now I'm kinda drained and might head off to bed. That 60 hours took a lot outta me haha. So glad I decided in the last couple weeks leading up to launch, that i should grab it. Best decision I've made in a while.

@NintendoByNature Congrats! Will you play Future Connected next?

@Quarth thank you! Not just yet. I'm kinda exhausted believe it or not lol. That game was a wild ride and I have so much in my current play list and backlog that I need to start chipping away at it. I've had the wonderful 101R sitting at my house for a few weeks now untouched. Borderlands 1 only an hour in, and a slough of other games i grabbed in sales and/or through Amazon a while back.

I will eventually get to future connected, but now at this time. At least it's a short one when I do decide to play it.

The soundtrack was one of my favourite parts of Xenoblade Chronicles when I first played it on the Wii, and the new remastered soundtrack is even better. The night version of the Valak Mountain theme used to be my favorite, but I think the day version has surpassed it in the remastered soundtrack. I'd go as far as to say the entire soundtrack as a whole is probably my favorite video game soundtrack of all time. Bravely Default's soundtrack is a pretty amazing one too, but I think Xenoblade Chronicles edges it out by a bit.

@NintendoByNature Oh, I know that backlog pain. Have a lot of unfinished games myself (and I just bought Trails of Steel III). But I'm at the end of the 15th chapter of XC, so will probably beat it this weekend.

@Cynas Yeah I agree the soundtrack of XC is stellar! I've got the original on CD and loaded up into my phone. I listen all the time and honestly have for years.

@Cynas i really like it too, but in my opinion XC2 ost is even more remarkable in general

@Heavyarms55 Same! I listened to the soundtrack constantly for a few years after the Wii version came out, and the remake reignited my love for it. The remastered soundtrack is mostly what I've been listening to at work for the past couple weeks.

@Quimbolas I also love the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 sountrack, but as a whole I think I like XC's sountrack a bit more. I think from XC2 my favourite songs are from the Torna DLC. I'm a huge fan of the jazz style they went with, especially the battle theme.

I did squeeze in some XC:DE last night and finished off Chapter 11. I had some difficulties with the second-to-last fight in the chapter since the enemies like to gang up on you; luring a few at a time didn't work as they all head your way once Silver Face engages. I finally triumphed via a few lucky hits and a LOT of party reviving lol. Everyone was at level 55.

A nice cliffhanger ending bookended the chapter. Can't wait to see what's in store in Chapter 12!

@Heavyarms55 Between work, a couple of appointments, a needed grocery run, and a few meetups with the local Pokemon Go group, I've had my hands full this week lol.

I'll be sure to go back and check that cave. Thanks! Though...How do I advance the Colony 6 reconstruction? I've went back multiple times since finishing up a few quests there during my time in Makna Forest and Eryth Sea but haven't found any new quests at all. I've cycled through 24-hour time periods as well, only skipping 2-3 hours at a time. No new exclamation points appear at all, unless I need to search outside of Colony 6 as well? I've completed nearly every quest that's come my way.

@Tyranexx Some things you will need are rare drops. Most notably are the elements from those gas looking ether enemies that like to blow themselves up and drop nothing. Which you can probably guess which drops which element chunk. Like the ice one comes from the ones on Valak Mountain for example.

And a lot of quests in Colony 6 come from inviting people from other regions to move to Colony 6. This is really tedius to do without using the wiki/a guide. You just have to talk to named characters and note any who seem unhappy with where they live - then once you have high enough levels of reconstruction in Colony 6 and affinity in their home region, you can talk to them and invite them to move. I ADORE this game, but this mechanic is silly and people really should just look at the wiki page. But don't click the link if you want to remain spoiler free and add 20 hours of talking to random NPCs to your game.

https://xenoblade.fandom.com/wiki/Colony_6_Immigrants

@Cynas Yeah I have XC2 and XX as well. And I think I would rank them in that order XC1, XC2 and XX. But I like the music for all 3.

I just beat Future Connected, so now, I’ve beaten everything.

Xenoblade Chronicles
Xenoblade Chronicles: Future Connected
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna

Never has a game series captivated me so much. Never has a game series consistently hooked me to play to completion every. Single. Time. That speaks volumes.

I also took a different approach for Future Connected. In the main game, where I completely ignored side quests unless they were in my natural path of progression (accepted them all, but only hit ! along the way) and completely ignored Colony 6, in the expansion I did every single side quest in the game. Every single one of them. I found every single secret area, all 12 Ponspectors, all 20 red item thingies scattered all over the shoulder... I did it all. In previous games I did a balanced mix of some side quests but not all. I just didn’t have the patience for it in the main game here because a lot of them felt super tedious and they were just too many of them.

In the expansion, however, there were WAY fewer quests, but they were mostly all amazing side quests. The one where you help the nopon who is scared of climbing trees was amazing. There are countless others too but I’d be writing forever if I got into all of them.

@NintendoByNature
Nice. I agree the game is up there. Definitely my favorite JRPG now.

I’m really enjoying to read how much you enjoy the games outside your comfort zone, look at you it’s even in your top 5 games 👏🏼Im glad your evolving into other games.
Your going to get cold steel III as wel?@NintendoByNature

@DenDen yea me too. It's been nice trying new things. It is very close to my top 5, which up until this point were all zelda games. At the very minimum it's too 10.

I don't believe I'll get trails. I kind of need to take a Jrpg break for a little bit. At least until paper mario comes out, if You even count that as one.

@Heavyarms55 I prefer the XC2 approach to self-destructing enemies, a dark seal prevents self-destruct meanwhile there's no equivalent in XC1. It got to the point that for some of the Nebulae item drops, I just bought them from the Nopon Archsage (the Nopon in the portals for challenge battle).

@Grumblevolcano That's a good point. I personally just use Melia, Riki and Sharla to fight them. They butcher the Ether enemies so quickly. Melia equipped right can dish out so much damage it almost feels unfair.

PSA
Get your Xenoblade Chronicles Tetris 99 theme by playing in the event now! 100 coins to unlock theme. Will earn minimum of 5 coins per round, even if you’re dead last. Averaging in the 40 - 85 range took me about 14 rounds, and about 45 minutes of playtime.

@NintendoByNature
Idk if you played Xenoblade Chronicles 2 or XCX before this, but now that you’re into the series you should definitely check those games out. XC2 isn’t quite as good as XC, but it’s still DANG good. Still one of the best in the genre.

I love branching out and trying new games. Catherine Full Body is quite a unique game. Basically Pushmo gameplay (more elaborate though) and Persona-like style and story telling. Trails of Cold Steel III is top tier JRPG, but if you’re burned out on the genre can always visit it later. Paper Mario is definitely getting priority from me when it releases, but until then it’s Trails III. Will just put it on pause for Paper Mario and resume after I beat it.

I should also recommend Borderlands Handsome Collection, Bioshock Collection, Burnout Paradise, XCOM 2 and, if you’re into Platinum Games, Wonderful 101, Astral Chain and Bayonetta 2. Gosh there’s just so many good games to recommend, I don’t know what you’ve already played and what you haven’t though. I recall you telling me a few games but it’s hard to remember. Monster Hunter, now that’s one worth making an investment in. Maybe we’ll make a “NintendoByNature Recommendations Thread” and just bankrupt your wallet with an onslaught of diverse recommendations 😊

@Heavyarms55 Yeesh....That does sound tedious. Worthwhile I'm sure, but to get to that point....Maybe I'm missing something, but you'd think the game would be better at indicating this by marking certain NPCs in some way. Maybe not with a quest icon, but with something similar.

Thanks for the link! Not sure how far I'll desire to get with the Colony 6 development, but it's nice to know there's a guide out there that'll save some time and sanity. The question now is if I want to invest even more time into this side activity.... 🤔

It's a bit late for me to play tonight, but you can bet I'll jump back in for awhile tomorrow. It's almost a shame that my late afternoon/evening is booked....