Xenoblade

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

None of the items were relevant to the Founders of the City in the Writer's Block quest, but Leeanne didn't care.  Imagine her as your favorite inaccurate historical fiction writer.


The party upgraded Tail Slap while fighting a Level 59 Vaids Serprond giant floating fish.  It wasn't even a Unique, but it was big enough that I killed it just for fun.  After a quest called A Young Noble's Request, the Colony 15 residents were taken to the City, although everyone was naturally suspicious of Triton the renegade Moebius.  Colony 15 was then added to the Collectopaedia Cards, so perhaps they were here to stay.


Killing Level 60 Rockheart Ropls and Scarred Ansels in the Everblight Plain reactivated the nearby Ferronis Hulk.  There was no sign of Colony Sigma anywhere, even though it was supposed to be north of Colony 9.  Perhaps it's part of the Expansion Pass which I don't have?  If there's one thing this 100+ hour single player RPG does NOT need, it's an expansion!


Sena had become a Defender Soulhacker by this time, and both she and Lanz proved their worth in the battle against Level 59 Witchwind Kujiat the Unique bird.  Sacrificial Heal may be the most effective Skill in the game.  As soon as Gatling Peck knocked out Sena, the rest of the party became healthy!  Six Soulhackers could probably make any of the final bosses trivial.  The only thing the class lacks as of now is Break.  Chain Attacks and Ouroboros transformations were still important to victory.  Witchwind Kujiat taught Trick Dart when killed.


Fighting an Elite Level 58 Grapple Bunnit upgraded Aquatic Missile while I was exploring more of Everblight Plain.  Strangely, that part of the map had nothing worth mentioning.  The team went back and fought The Three Ravens, which was an anticlimax at Level 61 with Ashera as the mandatory Hero.  Poor Tenacious Clad should have dropped dead when hit by a 1,465,766 power Chain Attack!  Since the party had nothing better to do, they tracked down and beat up some Colony 11 deserters which were ordinary Kevesi troops.


At the Anu Shoals Camp on the Erythia Sea, our friends Dorin and Bambam returned, so the party had to find their stolen supplies so they could continue their travels.  When asked "What made the footprints", there was a joke answer:  Immovable Gonzales, a Unique enemy from Xenoblade 1!  But it was just some ordinary Merigna enemies that stole their items and moved them to the Sea Lizards' Tide Pool.


Level 51 Barbed Merod was another "sea urchin" Unique.  It took little damage from attacks but could frequently be Toppled.  Noah became an Attacker Soulhacker by this time.  All three Ouroboros forms were attacking Barbed Merod at the end of the battle, and the team learned Needle Shell.


Near Seaspray Lookout, I tried to jump off a zipline onto an otherwise inaccessible island and failed repeatedly.  Maybe there's another trick to get there?  At Predator's Paw, Riku and Manana warned everyone not to make offerings to the monument lest it summon a monster "from hideous slumber".  I had a surplus of Blood Emeralds, which were among the eligible offerings, so of course I had to see what happened.  A small Level 58 Depriti Pippito rodent attacked.  Its Evasion would have made shirtless Dunban proud, but it couldn't dodge a 980,561 Chain Attack ending in Death of 1,000 Cuts.  Radiant Arts was one of the most dangerous moves in the game since it could automatically Launch its target after cycling through the whole Break cycle.  Towards the end I was using Lanz's Ouroboros form.  Riku and Manana were offended that the party could think any monster was cuter than Nopon.


I activated part of a side quest involving fog in the Erythia Sea, but couldn't follow through with it yet.  Instead, I found Colony Mu, Aionios's version of Scotland based on the accents.  What accent do they have in Japanese, I wonder?  Fiona was too sad to make an effective commander Healer Hero, and her Chain Attack abilities were weak compared to Ashera's.  Along the way, the team was sidetracked and killed Level 49 Intrusive Neville on the coast.  Its signature attack was Shark Shock, a wide range multi-hit Ether jolt.  Of course, the Soulhackers learned it as soon as the easy fight was over.


Colony Mu was on the highlands of its own island, and had a flower garden to commemorate the dead.  Consul I, or Irma, was Fiona's former friend, so Fiona tried to stop the party from attacking her even after she gave her generic villain speech.  Moebius I was weak for a demon, so she sometimes had Level 45 False Volffs to help her.  Those didn't help, and only served to build up the party's Chain Attack gauge.  Several Ouroboros forms assaulted I during the battle, such as AI Eunie + Taion, and my Lanz + Sena.  A move called Torture Lesson was less painful than its name implied.  Fiona did assist with buffs, so she wasn't useless.


The previously invisible Flame Clock's location appeared once Irma was dead.  Does anyone else think Moebius should be called Organization XXVI?  Hiring demons based on the first letters of the human's original name sounds like an inefficient evil scheme.
   

Recommended Soulhacker Arts



Attacker

Horn Dance:  50% more power for each enemy in combat, hits multiple targets, has 340% multiplier
Shark Shock:  "Grants a high Critical Rate", Ether type area of effect
Spinning Bolt:  Inflicts Bleed, +70% damage to Aquatic foes
Poison Spray:  Inflicts Bleed, can be used as Fusion Art with Spinning Bolt
Trick Dart:  Inflicts a random debuff and attacks multiple targets



Defender

Neck Slice:  More aggro, 300% multiplier, 70% bonus against Agnian enemies
Beast Howl:  Increases aggro when using Art by 50%, quick animation
Dragon Gas:  Causes Target Lock


Recommended Soulhacker Skills


Attacker

Dangerous Claws:  +20% Critical Rate, +50% critical damage
Amazing Growth:  Damage increases the longer the battle continues


Defender


Needle Shell:  Deals 100% Attack damage when you block a hit, increases aggro



Character Classes


Noah-Soulhacker (Power Soul)
Mio-Incursor
Eunie-Medic Gunner
Taion-Yumsmith
Lanz-Soulhacker (Heal Soul)
Senna-Soulhacker (Tough Soul)


No Hero is listed because Fiona left right after the Consul I fight.


EDIT:  Forgot to mention a plot detail.  Much of the main continent is a wasteland due to frequent wars and black fog annihilation, but the Erythia Sea is mostly well preserved.  This is because it's hard for Moebius to steal life energy when humans die in the ocean.  Erythia Sea is a reference to the Alcamoth region in Xenoblade 1, but I had to look that up since it's been so long since I've played that game.  I was suspicious because some of the islands looked familiar. . .

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Fiona's job was Signifier, which went to Lanz.  I unceremoniously ignored it and concentrated on Soulhacker instead.  Would you rather wave a flag and pass random buffs to teammates, or heal everyone when you die?  Besides, I have a grudge against Fiona for her wimpy personality and annoying voice:  "I love the sea!" is probably one of the most hated lines in the game.  And I'm playing without spoilers, so this is purely a guess.  I will concede that by virtue of being a Healer, Fiona is at least useful for reviving dead characters, and if used at the beginning of a Chain Attack, she can increase the points for the rest of the party.


Fiona's substitute leader Tallow was worse.  He wanted to hold a contest to pick the new lieutenant for Colony Mu, and find out who contributed the most to the town.  That sounds fair at first, especially when the tasks involved getting rid of pest animals or beating up aquatic monsters to get seafood.  But then he set everyone's points to 999 at the end, rendering the contest worthless.  No, he didn't seem to be trying to set up a democracy or anarchist commune, since the other characters said he was stupid within the game.


Then I fulfilled everyone's Collectopaedia Cards with either collectibles or Silver Nopon Coins, including the one that established trade between Colony Mu and Colony Iota.  The quest Distress Signal involved a Nopon who was "stranded" on Twinpalm Isle, but who actually wanted to see the quicksand on the giant island of Lavi Sandbar for the sake of "romance" and cartography.  Although the recommended level for Distress Signal was 48 in the menu, every fight on Lavi Sandbar was in the low to mid 60s!  Did the monster programmers not communicate with the side quest designers?


With the power of Soulhackers, the team were able to destroy an (ordinary) Level 66 Bunez Vollgull.  It's rare to see the party conquer enemies 4 levels higher on Hard.  The fights weren't pointless, since they had a good experience yield, and upgraded the various Arts and Skills for the Soulhackers.  One that came in handy was Tactical Eye, which increased damage by 15% per enemy in combat.


But the most important was Sacrificial Heal.  It was already the best Skill in the game when it only restored 60%, and when it was upgraded?  SACRIFICIAL HEAL FULLY RESTORES THE HP OF ALL SURVIVING PARTY MEMBERS.


I lost to Level 64 Abysmal Rakshmi in the quicksand pit, but that was because I probably should have changed Mio to a Healer Soulhackers sooner.  Sacrificial Heal doesn't work if there's nobody to reanimate the corpses, after all.  Abysmal Rakshmi itself was just a tougher version of earlier spider bosses.  Our heroes rebooted the Ferronis Hulk on Lavi Sandbar and returned to the entrance of Keves Castle to fight Level 64 Protector Revelta.  This was a difficult fight since even its auto-attack shots could destroy a human.  Several Chain Attacks occurred, and once I made a mistake and made it so Healers were the last to act, thus running into the Point Limit. 


My worst enemy in the Protector Revelta fight was the context sensitive A button.  Normally you hold A to revive a corpse, but it can also sheathe your weapon and make you helpless until you can draw it again.  This isn't usually a problem, though it came at the worst time.  The only way to salvage the battle was to quickly switch to Eunie + Taion and revive everyone with their Ouroboros.  And what was the reward for all this trouble?  Heavy Armor, a Skill that "increases Physical Defense and Ether Defense by 5 percentage points". 

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

My idea about switching Mio to a Healer Soulhacker was correct.  Abysmal Rakshmi was easy to kill with endurance and Chain Attacks without having to worry about running out of characters who could revive the team.  It was a typical "giant spider" with moves like Queen Bomb. 


One move that came in handy throughout this session was Sumo Press, a Fusion Art that Smashed a Launched enemy.  If used late in a Chain Attack when the damage multiplier was high, it could injure the enemy as much as an Ouroboros Order!  Abysmal Rakshmi's award was Queen of Mercy, a simple 10% increase to the Healing stat when equipped as a Skill.  Useless when considering the general lack of direct healing moves for Soulhacker and the overwhelming power of Sacrificial Heal.


The party obtained Lunae Rings after riding down a zipline to a monument of the "Legacy of the Seven".  Were they the Xenoblade 1 party?  Mechon Fiora was occasionally called "Seven" on forums to avoid spoilers.  In the Antol Pit, the heroes fought Level 63 Spiky Aurelia, who was. . .another giant spider.  Monolith Soft had to cut some corners to make an RPG this colossal.  The only notable occurrence was that Spiky Aurelia was hard to Break like many later Uniques.  Spiky Aurelia's Skill was Queenly Pride, which increases damage per enemy targeting the player.  If you want a more offensive Defender, I guess you can equip this.


I equipped some new Accessories in this part.  The Memory Locket allows the bearer to revive an ally, even if they're not a Healer.  Towards the end of the session I gave it to Sena the Defender.  Taion the Stalker and last remaining non-Soulhacker of the main party put on the Break Brooch to try to increase his Break chance.  Noah put on Hero Pauldrons to raise Smash damage by 110%.


On the Krezen Cliffs, the team fought Level 57 Hardshelled Admory, yet another crab with moves like Cavalry.  It coughed up an Art for once:  Shell Guard, which decreases damage dealt by 25% in exchange for decreasing damage taken by 25%.  It's the Soulhacker version of Solid Stance.


The last thing the party did today was to sail to Baldotas Atoll and turn on the local Ferronis Hulk.  The enemies were in the upper 40s, suggesting that I was actually supposed to do this in the current Chapter 5.  The other islands with Level 60+ enemies were probably intended for backtracking once the player was further in the story.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Version 1.1.1 Update

"Adjusted movement pattern for Perilwing Ryuho, a Unique Monster found in the Aetia region".

"Fixed several minor issues to improve gameplay".


I've no idea what either of these mean after this playing session.  One part of the Aetia Region is currently inaccessible, implying that I'd have to fly to get there.  Maybe that's where Perilwing Ryuho is?  And the "minor issues" part says nothing.


There weren't many side quests left in the Erythia Sea in the Cadensia Region.  Cay of the Trick Grotto was really the only place left to go at my current levels, which had a few simple rotation puzzles, an Odd Round Shard, an Ether cylinder spot, and a Container.


Now the party remembered there was a plot in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and sailed for the cave leading to the Li Garte Prison Camp where Ghondor was.  Ropls always attacked the heroes on sight regardless of level, and the Level 47 Colnicas Ropls were no exception.  Everyone entered through a ventilation shaft in Deus Ex fashion, and were astonished at Ghondor's rudeness.  She was the daughter of Monica and granddaughter of Guernica, but she hated Monica. 


Ghondor and her servants Aggy and Oggy attacked the party, and all were in the 45-47 range.  In an attempt to shut Ghondor up, they clobbered her with a 1,258,343 power Chain Attack that featured a Sumo Smash from Noah.


The prison guards' demands were unintentionally funny, because they involved gathering collectible food and killing a specific amount of Garaffa enemies.  Agnus's idea of slave labor to supply their troops was generic online RPG quests!  Despite the tasks being what the heroes were doing for more than twice the length of an average RPG, they still complained about it.  The Perimeter Woodland was former City territory.  While they were at it, they picked up the lost stones for a Nopon in one jail cell.


The other major mission in prison was to kill a Level 47 Basreek Feris.  This battle happened in two stages, and the heroes had to follow its tracks to finish it off.


Once it was time to break out, Ghondor temporarily joined as a Martial Artist.  But she ditched the party while Noah and friends fought a Level 48 Gyrinus, a giant Agnian robot.  Shania had betrayed the Lost Numbers in hopes of gaining more than one life from Moebius, and because Ghondor had treated her so badly in flashback cutscenes.  I was rooting for Shania rather than the party because I hated Ghondor so much.


Gyrinus's most unusual ability was Psychowave, which could Shackle Arts and stop the party from using them for a while.  Its other signature move was Downpour, a multi-target laser attack.  In spite of its much lower level, Gyrinus was capable of knocking out characters occasionally.  Noah scrapped Gyrinus with a well-timed Sumo Smash during a Chain Attack.


Level 49 Moebius M's fight was confusing, since characters kept dying and I must have switched automatically between them at one point.  Eclipse Soul could one shot her lookalike Mio from full HP.  As many as 4 of the 6 characters were down on the worst occasion.  Noah pulverized her with yet another Chain Attack Sumo Smash.


Moebius M mind-controlled party members and forced them to attack each other in the next cutscene until Taion got the idea of marking hostiles with his Mondo (origami birds).  The next battle was similar to the previous one, except with the novelty of hitting "Taion" with a Chain Attack!  The cutscene did say that any damage that a mind-controlled person took would also hurt M.  Ouroboros could be mind-controlled too, so I had to wait out the heat gauge when AI Taion transformed.  The last Chain Attack hit M for 1,080,088.


Level 50 Moebius N was the last boss in this long session.  Although Noah's double was 15 levels lower than the party, he still managed to resist them.  The battle graphics were chaotic enough that it was hard to tell what N was doing, but one thing that definitely happened was a buff called Kinetic Purge which increased N's Attack and Critical Rate.  I timed one Chain Attack poorly since Noah died just before I pressed the + button, but still won.


As always, bosses that the party could defeat in combat were impossible in cutscenes.  They overheated their Ouroboros forms and tried to lift N high into the sky, only for Consul X to rescue him.  (That's why she didn't die in Eunie's side quest!)  No one could conjure their Blades, and everyone was sent to Ivory Gaol in the Agnus Castle Region. 


N is Noah's counterpart, but I couldn't stop thinking of Yuri from Tales of Vesperia whenever I saw his long black hair.


EDIT:  Forgot to mention some thoughts on the story.  I realized Shania was going to be a traitor as soon as I heard her suspicious dialogue in the prison about how everything was going to plan.  Ghondor's "plan" of waiting three days, then breaking out by force anyway brought the "Real heroes don't need plans!" scene from Final Fantasy 13 to mind, and I haven't even played that game!

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Chapter 5 ended in Ivory Gaol.  There was some "gameplay" involving pressing A to make Noah pound on the bars just to show how hopeless the party's situation was.  A montage had the party pound on the bars while watching the phases of the moon to indicate the last month until the eclipse and Mio's execution and Homecoming.  The developers spent money in this cutscene because they had a song with lyrics playing in the background.


N told Noah that anyone killed in a Homecoming ceremony was permanently dead, instead of continuing the cycle of rebirth.  Shania the City traitor officially became part of the Flame Clock cycle when she showed off the Iris in her eye.  Mio disappeared after the "Queen" of Agnus gave her speech.  The first Homecoming happened 1000 years ago.  The real Queen is Nia, a player character from Xenoblade 2, but the revelation didn't affect me much because I never played Xenoblade 2.


Chapter 6 began with Noah talking to a hooded figure and reliving his memories.  Between each memory, he would walk on clouds on an overcast screen.  Perhaps this is meant to make the player think of Xenoblade 1's scene of Shulk talking to Alvis in space.  The past life memories showed Mio falling in a battle with Z, Noah and Mio freezing to death after running away together, and one where Noah and Mio had an unnamed son.  Noah had N's sword, proving they were the same person.  In that cycle, Mio died some years afterwards, and Noah died in the woods while the son was still a kid.


Eventually, the past Noah went to Z the "r in his evil movie theater and decided to become Moebius to live with Mio forever.  However, back in the present, the party's Mio had switched places with Moebius M!  M didn't want to live as a parasitic demon for all time, so she agreed to die in Mio's place.  The party's Noah and Mio were a kind of "repentance" that somehow split off from the Moebius versions.


Level 50 Moebius N fought the same way he did last time, but on Take 2 everyone started the fight as Ouroboros.  This didn't last long, and soon they were battling in their human forms.  A Chain Attack, and later a Lv 3 Interlink of Noah's Ouroboros form dealt considerable damage.


Lucky Seven's true form was the Sword of Origin.  Consul X's wand was broken, and the last effort to stop the party was to send the fake Level 50 Queen of Agnus to attack with her Ferronis.  Lucky Seven became a new Talent Art for Noah called Unlimited Sword, a sort of purely offensive version of Shulk's Monado Arts.  Power Raiser buffed the party, Night Breaker debuffed the enemy, and Tachyon Slash gained a front damage bonus.  Its "limit break" Final Lucky Seven pierced defenses and created a Smash combo in one move.


Queen of Agnus's most powerful attack was Raidant Blade, which knocked out Eunie for almost twice her max HP.  Photon Impact fired multiple shots at a target.  A Chain Attack with Grand Design and a Sumo Press from Noah pummeled Queen of Agnus for a total of 1,050,481.


Once the robo-Queen was down, Consul X revealed her last trick:  an Annihilator pointing directly at the City.  Shania had betrayed the City's location, but it shouldn't have been hard considering it was located in a giant sword that could be seen from half a continent away!  Then Ghondor showed up in an aircraft and told everyone that the City was really a giant Ferronis, and they had moved underground just in time.  Shania herself died in a way best expressed in a Realms Beyond smiley.     No, she didn't shout "Persona!" first.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

M had already switched places with Mio during the first battle with her, so the party had been beating up their Mio the whole time.  Ghondor the Martial Artist became an official Hero and taught her class to Sena.  Taion then became a Defender Soulhacker to take Sena's place.  Since it was an Agnian type Attacker class, the Martial Artist could equip Flashback for Break, Shield Bash for Topple, and Soaring Tempest for Launch as Fusion Arts.


The party accomplished a rare feat on the Perimeter Bridge near the prison area:  defeating a Level 83 Avis enemy with Level 65 characters.  How?  It was a Skirmish with Level 67 Agnian soldiers assisting the heroes.  Constant revivals were necessary, but it was still a victory that gave Affinity points for Agnus Castle.  Unfortunately, further along in the Levnis Workyard Entrance ALL the enemies were in the 80s, so the Skirmishes weren't abnormally strong.


I tried to run northwest from the Agnus Castle Barbican to a new area, but Taion ran into an invisible wall and said "This isn't the way to our destination".  At Hope's Rest, Mio explained that the ruins in the ocean below the cliff were the City when it used to be more prosperous.  To save M, N was forced to burn down the original City on Z's orders.


Back at Colony Lambda, Isurd started the Side Story:  Taion quest.  Taion's former boss and friend Nimue had originally come from an isolated peaceful Agnian colony until she wanted to see the world and traveled with Isurd.  Nimue had to disguise the fact that she didn't have an Iris computer in her eye.  Although people in her colony were born the same way as all Kevesi and Agnians, they were not connected to a Flame Clock.


Nimue's colony was located past a new cave at Hermit's Inlet, a location I'd previously visited while exploring the Erythia Sea.  The party needed to destroy three Levnises in a boss fight to save the colonists:  A Level 55 Lepus and two Level 54 Armadillos.  These were typical Agnian robot battles, but their numbers made them a threat.


Uzralf Ropls attacked the party on sight just like every other Ropl in the game.  They were annoying, but not a total waste of time since killing one with a Chain Attack increased the team to Level 66.  Only one Unique lived in this area:  Level 56 Galloping Ghuldan the stag.  It was a standard physical boss, though its attack speed was so fast that it quickly knocked out heroes.  Without multiple Chain Attacks (the last with a Sumo Press from Noah) and Topples in normal combat, I doubt even Sacrificial Heal could have compensated for the deer's damage output.  Galloping Ghuldan's Soulhacker reward was Apothecary's Wisdom, a Skill that increases HP healing from Arts by 20%.  That would be nice if Soulhackers knew decent Healer Arts in the first place!



Nimue was from the Lost Colony, a cove beyond the cave with colorful trees above.  One Legacy of the Seven Monument gave the team Iovis Rings, and a Secret Area called Eternal Elegance was at the top of a ledge.  Chief Stella wanted to accept her fate if Consul V really wanted to attack the Lost Colony, but the party insisted on defending them.  Lost Colony, like Colony Tau, was smart enough to grow crops, unlike all of Keves.  Nimue didn't recognize Taion since she had reincarnated, but still had a similar personality.


To distract Consul V's Levnises, the team needed to gather parts to repair the ancient Ferronis for the Lost Colony.  I already had most of the parts, and the rest were acquired through regular fights in the cave.  Level 56 Moebius V may have been stupid in the storyline, but he was a worthy boss fight in gameplay.  This demon shot with strong Microblast lasers, inflicted Shackle Healing with Accursed Dance, and dealt heavy Toxin damage to multiple targets with Lethal Mist.  V had a sturdy HP bar too, and having Riku + Manana as the required Hero didn't help much with Chain Attacks until a timely Break needed to set up a Sumo Press combo towards the end of the fight. 


Taion's reward for finishing his special side quest was to set the job level cap for Tactician to 20.  Probably useless for me since Tactician is one of the weaker early game classes.  Agnian Healers in general have the problem of not filling up their Arts when they have to do other stuff than auto-attacking, like resurrecting dead characters.  And Sacrificial Heal is better than any dedicated Healer class anyway.


The Agnus Castle Annihilator's destruction of part of the Great Sword unlocked a new area called The Cavity, but the party couldn't explore it further because the monsters were Level 87!


Right now, I'm going back through liberated colonies to see what other side quests I may have missed.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Our heroes were finally strong enough to ascend High Maktha Wildwood in the Pentelas Region.  They fought Level 63-64 enemies until they reached the summit of Great Cotte Falls, called Cotte Fountainhead.  Two walrus Uniques called Level 64 Stately Doramma and Level 65 Saberley Dorampé attacked as the Aquatic Beasts team.  I carried Juniper as the Hero because of some unrelated quests, but she was effective in Chain Attacks with her Liberation Arrow and her power of increasing the damage bonus percentage.


The walruses were more dangerous because there were two of them, rather than because either one was particularly strong.  Aquatic Ballet was their signature attack.  Both Noah and Mio died at once form a sneak attack, but the party survived with Sacrificial Heal and frequent revivals from Taion, Lanz, and Mio.  Soulhacker's rewards were Scattered Healing, a Skill that has a 25% chance to restore allies' HP when taking damage, and Double Slap, an attack Art with a Phys Def Down side effect for enemies.


Much of this session was based on side quests for Colony 4, Colony Gamma, and Colony Iota.  Most of them had easy fights that aren't worth mentioning, though multiple renegade colonists poisoned them to render them unconscious, and both poisoners were in the Dannagh Desert.  They also had to save Chickadee, who was stupid enough to go alone to the area north of Colony Iota to look for a flower for Alexandria's birthday celebration. 


Teach's "Ascension Quest" was the most important of this segment.  Teach wanted to conduct training drills for Colony Gamma soldiers in the Everblight Plain, only for a Kevesi survivor of an old battle to show up as the Avenger to try to kill him.  Teach's real name was Oleg, and his strict discipline of Colony Chi allowed his troops to wipe out several Kevesi colonies in the Everblight Plain.  Level 55 Avenger's gimmick was to become temporarily invincible with Critical Vengeance, but Teach could disable it with his new All-Slayer attack.  Defeating Avenger raised the job level cap for Thaumaturge to 20.


If anyone's wondering what hairstyle I picked for Mio, it's Short.  She'd complained about how hard Long hair was to wash in a comedy cutscene, so I decided to make it easier for her.  The next story destination would be Colony Omega, where an old friend of Mio's was still alive.  Aetia Region's inaccessible location was actually Cloudkeep, where Queen Nia had fallen asleep to avoid Z.


But I haven't been to either location as of right now.  Instead, the party fought a few easy enemies to clear the way for the former prisoners to return to the City, which was now "2000 metri" underground.  Its new location made many of its residents sick, and some resented the Colony 15 immigrants.  Several new City side quests are now available, so I'll do those in the next post.


EDIT:  Forgot to mention that Mio got a new Talent Art after the Queen of Agnus robot battle.  It's Dominion Flower, a wide range attack with a 750% damage multiplier.  It "ignores defense" and seems to cause Burst if used when an enemy is Dazed, if the description is correct.  Mio can use Dominion Flower regardless of what job she has. 


But Talent Arts in general have problems for anyone other than Defenders, since you lose all the work you put into the gauge when you die.  Ouroboros levels stay even if you're knocked out.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

The party helped two star-crossed lovers from the City in a series of quests that started with Romera and Joulietta.  Since the suicide quota for Xenoblade 3 had already been met, their story ended with Joulietta being disowned from her noble house.  The City was an aristocratic republic ruled by the Six Houses, and Joulietta's family was among the most conservative and isolationist.  These nobles wore the same drab clothing as everyone else, defeating the purpose of aristocracy.


The heights of the Aetia Region were on Captocorn Peak.  Colony Omega was located here, which unlocked Side Story:  Mio, because Mio and Sena had been transferred there for Consul Y's experiments before the game began.  Everyone emphasized the first syllable, so I'll write it as Colony Ómega because studying too much Spanish makes me want to use the accent marks for this kind of situation.


A Level 56 ram Unique called Spiralhorn Baccro had a nice prize for Soulhackers:  Grace of the Land.  Grace of the Land is a Skill that reduces damage by 20% for allies standing near the character who equips it.  Maybe it'll get even better with upgrades.  For now, it was mandatory for the Defender and Healer Soulhackers.


Colony Ómega's Flame Clock was violet, a color shared with Cammuravi and Ethel's signature Ferronises.  I realized during one mandatory fight on the way there that both Keves and Agnus troops opposed the party.  The party pointed this out in a cutscene afterwards, and noted that they had never fought a mixed unit before. 



Mwamba, Cammuravi, Miyabi, and some other character I don't recall in the story named Hackt were brainwashed to attack the heroes in the next boss fight.  For a recap, Mwamba was the 4th Kevesi character who was obviously going to die at the beginning.  Cammuravi was the guy with burning hair who was Ethel's Agnian rival.  Miyabi was Mio's former off-seer partner who rescued rescued her from a Colony Ómega explosion in flashback cutscenes that I probably never mentioned in this thread.  This enemy team was around Level 53, and Hackt often forced the heroes to attack him with Target Lock powers.  Ouroboros forms were used, and Hackt fell down after a 1,080,205 power Chain Attack.  Noah and Mio played a song to snap their old friends out of their trance, and Consul Y turned into his demon form.


Level 54 Moebius Y was a difficult opponent even for a Level 66 party.  Like other heavy Moebius demons, he liked to grab and throw characters to their deaths, this time with an Art called Body Trap.  However, a Break from another character knocked my player-controlled Taion out of Body Trap once before it could kill him.  Impact Quake could Topple a character.  When his HP bar burned, Moebius Y started to punch out party members with his auto-attacks.  He was so fast that I often had to run over to revive the heroes.  Moebius Y was difficult to Break, similar to other bosses at this point.


Noah sliced open the Flame Clock, though Y teleported away.  Miyabi joined as a Hero and unlocked the Troubadour job, a Healer class that specializes in speeding up Art cooldowns for others.  Completing Side Story:  Mio also raised the job level cap for Zephyr to 20. 



The Colony Ómega residents immigrated to the City, and Cammuravi had suffered from a kind of psychosomatic blindness due to partial past life memories.  This didn't stop him from becoming the Hero for the Seraph job.  No, it doesn't have angel powers, but is rather based on the "burning" meaning of the original Hebrew word.  Seraph is an Attacker job that damages itself to deal damage, roughly like the Dark Knight of Final Fantasy.  Gustaran may find it amusing that one of Cammuravi's Arts is called "Sturm und Drang".  Ethel was reincarnated, but since she was in a kid's body she wouldn't be unlocking the Flash Fencer job level cap any time soon.  Cammuravi decided to become a sort of foster father for her, and neither remembered their old rivalry.


(Colony Ómega's experiments reincarnated soldiers as 10th termers rather than 1st termers, since 10th termers were ready to fight right away, and provided the most energy for Flame Clocks.)


After fighting more Mysterious Raiders on Captocorn Peak, Sena bashed open one of the robots and found a girl named No. 7 inside.  These "Ferrons" were part of Colony 0, a special team that reported directly to Moebius and made efforts to extend the war indefinitely.  No. 7 talked like a TV robot, so Sena was disturbed.  Sena made an onigiri for her because it's Japanese law to include it in every new game.  Agnus is the "Japanese" faction since onigiris are described as an Agnian treat, and Cammuravi has the personality you'd expect from a samurai character.  Sena gave No. 7 the name Segiri, a mix of "seven" and "onigiri".  Sena's taken Lanz's place as the stupid one of the party based on recent cutscenes.



Segiri gave the party the final Traversal Skill:  Hazard Neutralization.  This let the team ignore damage floors, like the poison swamp of Nocclia Mire.  I found the Perilwing Ryuho the update mentioned:  it's a Level 100 bird Unique flying above Coolley Lake.


None of the other Colony 0 residents talked like No. 7.  All of them were required to overclock their Ferrons and attack the party after Consul F failed to fool the party with his diplomacy ruse.  Five Ferrons assaulted the heroes, all from Levels 54-55.  Viral Vector inflicted debuffs like Attack Down, Evasion Down, and Physical Def Down.  I used my usual tactics here:  build up Chain Attacks, and save the Ouroboros transformation for when the boss was low on HP.  No. 7 killed characters often enough that revivals were necessary, and Sacrificial Heal certainly saved them when they had the handicap of lacking a Hero.


Segiri unlocked the final job in the game for Sena:  Machine Assassin.  Machine Assassin is an Attacker that specializes in extending and inflicting debuffs.  Debuffs in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (other than the Break combos) fail often enough that it seems questionable to base a party strategy around them.  Besides, I'm overly fond of Soulhacker, and I'll stick with that class.


It's strange that for so much of the game, there were long stretches between new classes, and the last three became available all at once.


EDIT:  I think Segiri/No. 7 is a subtle reference to Mechon Fiora, aka "Seven".


EDIT 2:  Consul Y's face has blue scars on it, similar to Z's.  Y also said "It is Z who wove the fabric of this world".  Maybe Z really is Zanza, or maybe even an evil Shulk?

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Lanz was surlier than usual because he was disillusioned with the City having a similar "pecking order" to Agnus and Keves, and having to make a purpose for his own life when he was accustomed to fighting all the time.  He was intrigued by a juggler, and at first taunted him by saying something like "You call that a job?".  If there's one thing ancient literature has in common across cultures and religions, it's that all the writers hate jugglers.  Eusebius (Church History), Zosimus (New History), and Chanakya (Arthashastra) express this view.


Side Story:  Lanz was about a Lost Numbers campaign to steal some "cradles" (i.e. the pods Kevesi and Agnians come from), only for it to be a trap.  The Kevesi opponents included Garvel, who was a bully in the Kevesi flashback cutscenes.  Garvel and the others were recently reborn as Social Darwinists, and fought as Level 47 enemies along with Equites robots.  This was an easy battle due to the level gap, but I used a Chain Attack against Garvel to spite him.  Apparently Garvel wasn't expecting the heroes to transform into Ouroboros, but Moebius H who had Gorgon style armor was delighted that she tricked them with her empty cradle ruse.  Lanz was surprised that H was a woman, although previous Consuls like X had been female.


Level 48 Moebius H should have had petrifying powers based on her costume, but she was actually an ice-themed boss.  She liked to damage the party over time with the corresponding ailment, and cast spells like Frozen Vortex , Blizzard Stream, and Ice Maiden.  H was a worthy opponent despite being almost 20 levels lower, and sometimes knocked out heroes.  Several Chain Attacks and Ouroboros transformations helped a lot.


Garvel was scared and confused when he realized his entire purpose for living was a lie after Noah destroyed the Flame Clock.  Lanz recommended that he go to Colony 4 since it was free but still had Kevesi culture.  Completing Side Story:  Lanz raised the Heavy Guard cap to 20.  At this point I checked the play time, and Xenoblade 3 had finally knocked Breath of the Wild down to 6th place.


Noah and friends beat up several prisoners who were still in Agnus Castle, and convinced them to work as guards in another side quest called The Three Fiends.  Colony 0's troops wanted to move to Li Garte Prison Camp of all places, since they felt safe.  But the mad Prison Warden from before still controlled the area, and the heroes had to break in through the vents to even get to him.  The Prison Warden congratulated the team on being model prisoners and fought them.  Segiri wanted to redecorate the prison to make it less depressing, but this side quest would have occurred in a Level 70+ area in spite of the recommended level of 55.  Xenoblade 3's level recommendations should often be ignored because of contradictions like this.


Dorin and Bambam returned for a quest called The Big, Unseen Monster, which ended in a simple boss fight against a large Level 55 Itiya Darbus.  Sena had become an Incursor by this time because she maxed out Martial Artist at 10.  I considered Machine Assassin, only to realize it was a Kevesi type class that would have prevented the necessary Fusion Arts for the Launch combo.


The party killed a couple of Uniques on Captocorn Peak, and both had useful Soulhacker abilities.  Level 57 Stonehorn Torphan the mountain goat gave Sense of Danger, a Skill with a 75% chance to receive 4 random buffs when an ally is knocked out.  An excellent complement to Sacrificial Heal!  The much more difficult Level 61 Tindercorn Cthinos the elk surrendered Healing Rest at the end of this session, finally giving Healers an actual healing Art.  (Draining Vacuum does NOT count when it heals for less than 300 per character and has a slow animation!)


Bambam the Nopon was sick after The Big, Unseen Monster, so Dorin had to take him back to Colony 4 and pick up the mushroom cure from the Keves Castle Region.  The problem was that a Level 58 Invaiss Volgull was guarding it with the usual "fire-breathing bird" Arts.  One odd event was that I activated a Chain Attack immediately after the boss grabbed Sena with its Raptor Catch.  Sena couldn't participate in the Chain Attack.  Even Moebius demons didn't have that strong of a grip!


Once Bambam was cured, he and Dorin set out on their adventures again.  This completed a long quest chain and maxed out Colony 4's Affinity.  With the final few classes coming all at once and Colony 4 reaching 5* Affinity, will the endgame be proportionately short compared to the rest of the game?

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

The party traveled to the Altar of Reception on Captocorn Peak and used their special key to summon Cloudkeep.  A bridge appeared in the air for them to cross, and they ransacked the small castle for Containers.  It wasn't a dungeon, though Cloudkeep made up for its size with boss battles and story revelations.


When the heroes awakened Nia, Consul D and Joran shot her in the chest.  They challenged the team to a boss battle, and the enemies were Levels 53-54.  D fought the same way he did in previous encounters, with moves like the multi-hit Grim Rush and Unstoppable Spear.  He was the first target to die.  Joran used his puppet powers to summon large numbers of minions.  Since he would create more as soon as they were defeated, it was best to target Joran directly.  Lanz's Ouroboros form was useful throughout the end of Chapter 5, from Burning Rain + Ray of Punishment to the Talent Art called Winning Rush that was a one move Launch combo.


J revealed that he was the same Joran that Noah, Lanz, and Eunie knew.  He was tired of feeling inferior to other Kevesi troops, so he joined Moebius.  It wasn't just for one lifetime either:  becoming a Moebius gave him perfect recall of all his previous lives, and he died a failure in most of them.  A flashback showing Joran's wood carving in Moebius-like armor made his point effectively.  Just as J was starting to feel regrets, D started a hostile Interlink to steal his power.


Level 55 Moebius D & J was a long battle, mainly because D regenerated so much of his HP.  Sena, whom I controlled, was the most valuable character since she Toppled and Launched the demon multiple times.  Cammuravi was the Hero, and his Chain Attack ability gave a boost to the damage percentage.  D's most dangerous Art was Beyond Death, which dealt heavy damage to the party and Toppled them.  A Chain Attack late in the fight where Noah's Sumo Press was set up properly dealt a total of 1,360,021 damage.  It was appropriate that the finisher was Winning Rush since Lanz was Joran's best friend.


Before he was a Moebius demon, D was an Agnian serial killer called Blackblaze Dirk, who abstained from using a Blade to murder Kevesi and Agnians alike with claws and added heads to his "collection" in a Ferronis.  Taion recognized him from a story in a textbook he had to read once.  J overloaded the Interlink and jumped off Cloudkeep to destroy both Moebius and save his old friends.


Nia wasn't killed by the attack, only injured.  She revealed the truth to the heroes at the end of Chapter 6 and the beginning of Chapter 7.  Nia and Melia realized the worlds of Xenoblade 1 and 2 were going to combine in an event called the Intersection in 300 days.  To prevent total annihilation of both, they built Origin to store data in "light".  But the effort failed when Z froze the worlds in time and created Moebius.  Z would later kidnap Melia.  Nia's backup plan was to create Ouroboros, and Melia was responsible for the Sword of Origin, aka Lucky Seven. 


Apparently Klaus/Zanza hadn't so much created the universes of Xenoblade 1 and 2 as split them off into different "worlds" after the destruction of Earth.  Nia will probably have more cutscene exposition to come, but this session was enough time spent on Xenoblade 3 for a day.