Xenoblade

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade 2 Part 11


A Small War was an easy side quest to complete, since Rex already had a Morph Orb.  The destruction of the Torigoth water tower continued to have consequences, since Gryff complained about not having enough water to grow leeks.  Rex got into a quick fight with Lv 25 Plyme Drivers, and Poppi Alpha cast Meteorite.  After his victory, Diplomatic Tensions were resolved.


The Missing Order was a simple delivery quest from Mopopo the Nopon to Feyla.  No-Penny Nopon was impossible  since I couldn't complete the Turf War Protection Merc Quest due to the lack of any spare Knuckle Claws Blades.  Catching a Snow-White Rhino bug for A Young Man's Prize was difficult, not because the task was hard, but because the instructions were cryptic.  I thought I had to salvage one somehow, but the real method was to set the time to early morning (inspired by memories of Ledyba in Pokemon Silver), jumping off the Gormott Titan, and collecting the insect from a small island during high tide.


Returning Solala to Falala would have to wait until the party's Blades had more Nopon Wisdom and Keen Eye skills to pass the check.  I took a wrong turn while looking for Nocclia Timber Site, causing Lv 90 Immovable Gonzalez the ape to punch out Nia in one hit.  Immovable Gonzalez appears in every Xenoblade game, and fate wouldn't allow me to miss the cameo in this installment. 


The party failed a Follow Trail check to spot the thieves' footprints, so they had to talk to Otto at Nocclia Timber Site to find the way.  The trail in the Stop, Thief! quest led directly to Umon's Shipyard.  While Umon was away, the Gormotti thieves used his workshop as a hideout.  When they were cornered, they sent several Lv 22 Latollo Puffot birds against the party, which were easily defeated. 


The thieves were actually orphans who wanted to avenge their village, which had been destroyed by local bandits.  Their intention was to awaken Roc to fight for them, in spite of the risks.  At the bandit lair at Bolderbore Gate, Rex had to resurrect Roc to blow away a "miasma" blocking the the entrance.  After that, Roc went back to the bench. 


Lv 26 Benjamin the Brain was the first bandit to die.  I played as Nia and used Kirim as the boxing Blade.  Lv 24 Cartbreaker Grzeg was second, followed by Lv 25 Menacing Jo.  The only notable occurrences were a weak 10,284 Chain Attack and a Launch against Menacing Jo.  Still can't figure out how to make the element orbs appear so that the party can break them.  It seems that in Xenoblade 2, you should wait before using Chain Attacks, unlike Xenoblade 3 where you want to unleash them as soon as you can.


Nia awakened the Beastly Core Crystal and resurrected Wulfric, the Blade of Elder Arachno.  Another "indentured servant" for Merc Missions!  Completing True Colors, a side quest in Fonsa Myma, was irritating.  The party had to gather Tricolor Rocks, which were allegedly in "rocky areas" of Uraya, but in practice seemed to spawn only at Uraya's mouth, and even then only some of the time.


Once the orphans were adopted as apprentice salvagers in Argentum Trade Guild, Rex was finally able to take a boat to the industrial desert continent of Mor Ardain.  Along the way, they completed a side quest called Road to the Capital that involved killing wolves and bugs.  Tiger Tiger's 3rd stage was now unlocked, though it didn't yield any more Ether for Poppi Alpha than the 2nd.  New recipes for equipment were offered as rewards, however.  Can't wait to get another party member so I can ditch Tora and try out more Common Blades!


Just before the end of the session, Nia replaced Shinra with a 2* HLR Earth Blade called Miyuki.  It has a different weapon, so I'll have to see how Nia performs with it.  Right now, the team is at the entrance of the Ardainian capital Alba Cavanich.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade 2 Part 12


In Alba Cavanich, Rex bought Chain Chips for the Blades.  These were an improvement over even the specialty Amethyst Chips that granted special effects due to the large increase in Auto-Attack.  Nia tested out Kisaragi the Fire type ATK axe Blade with the moves Brutal Blade for Topple, Bear Smash with a bonus against Toppled foes, and Rhino Assault for an effect called Critical Recharge.  Kisaragi itself was mediocre due to its slow Auto-Attack speed, but now Nia could sometimes pull off a Launch combo with Dromarch's Butterfly Blade, Kisaragi's Brutal Blade, and Kirim's Comet Punch.


Fighting Lv 26 Land Volffs outside the city was annoying because they spontaneously generated another Land Volff when low on HP by casting Beast Howl.  A Launch + Chain Attack was necessary to end the cycle. 


Although Xenoblade 2's plot is really about global warming and resource shortages, Mor Ardain's technology was not as polluting as the story would demand.  "The majority of Mor Ardain's buildings are built from salvaged machinery and processed ores and minerals.  We also make extensive use of geothermally-powered steam engines".


Rex and friends had to fight through the streets and rooftops of Alba Cavanich because the soldiers had mistaken Poppi for a similar Blade called Lila.  Pyra changed into Mythra for this segment.  A tutorial text box suggested that Mythra would only be useful outdoors because her Sacred Arrow special wouldn't work indoors.


Lv 29 Lila was a formidable solo boss.  Dynamite Puh-Punch sent party members flying, Missile Circus sent many rockets at the team, and Ether Barrier turned Lila invincible for a few seconds.  Nia switched between her three Blades throughout the battle.  Blades have to cool down when you switch away from them, but their Art cooldowns don't seem to be synchronized.  So you can use up one Blade's Arts, then switch to another and use their Arts immediately if they're active.


Poppi Alpha was based on Lila, who seemed to be a true Blade that none of the Nopon mechanics could use.  In a flashback, a Nopon with Tirkin henchmen shot at Tora's father and grandfather, though Tora managed to escape to Torigoth.


Lv 31 Mòrag and several Lv 27 Ardainian Soldiers attacked the party due to the Lila misunderstanding.  The nameless troops were barely a factor in the battle.  Mòrag used established Brighid Specials such as Heat Haze and Hellfire, but there seemed to be new moves like Azure III:  Soulfire.  Nia, Tora, and Rex Overkilled Mòrag with a 33,204 Chain Attack.


Niranira the intelligence officer Nopon clarified the situation so Mòrag and the party would stop fighting.  He was "auditing" Argentum Trade Guild, as he put it.  Tora insisted on having 1 year's supply of Tasty Sausages as an indemnity.  (Yes, Nopon in Garfont, I wasn't giving a stupid answer when I said Tasty Sausages were the Nopon's favorite food!)


Jac from Torigoth was now working in Alba Cavanich, and asked Rex to send a present to his hometown.  When Rex returned to Alba Cavanich, he was told that Jac was investigating a murder at Smùide Hot Springs, but Nia couldn't get in because the door was locked.


The party climbed down into Thermal Exhaust Fork and fought Noog Vang bats until they collected enough Whitescale Antennae for the Ecological Survey quest.  They warped to Garfont and created rations for the mercenary guild, which I had enough supplies to do immediately.  Now they were at Merc Group Rank 2, letting them send two squads on different missions instead of only one.  This also unlocked more Merc Missions, and increased the maximum number of Common Blades.


Rex awakened a 2* Dark (?) Blade called Kagemitsu that had a ring in its mouth.  Here are its stats:


Role:  HLR
Auto-Attack:  12
Block Rate:  10%
Critical Rate:  4%
Phys. Def.:  2%
Ether Defense:  27%
Strength:  9


Some Merc Missions require Animal type Blades instead of Humanoids, so Kagemitsu can be useful even if it doesn't work well in battle.  Agate was an axe-wielding Earth Rare Blade that would be ineligible for the battle team.  At the end of the session, Rex and Tora both learned how to use their Y button Art at the start of battle via the Affinity Chart, and Nia gained 200 max HP.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade 2 Part 13


In One Step ahead, Rex and friends had to navigate around the waterfalls in Gormott to find a woman named Cherlie.  Along the way, I took a wrong turn and found a Pouch Expansion Kit in the old bandit hideout, which I used on Nia.  Cherlie was searching for Healing Herbs, which could only be found at specific times in the morning.  Setting the timer to 7:00 AM worked.  The dialogue option I picked at the end of the quest was to "tell them to stop being so silly".


Rentarenta the Nopon was a rentier capitalist who demanded 100,000 gold to enter an allegedly "useless warehouse" he inherited.  Rex didn't have enough cash.  Rex fed some Ardun Food to a domesticated Ardun to make it grow, but didn't have the right kind of food to follow up on the nameless "quest".


Completing the Merc Mission Materials Stakeout was necessary to proceed with the story.  Before going back to Mor Ardain, Rex bought some Attas's Noodle Soup for Shatoto to complete No-Penny Nopon, and by extension all the Torigoth bulletin board quests of The Militia's Request.  Reaching Shatoto was tricky because he was on a narrow ledge that required a careful jump to land on.  I fell off several times before succeeding.  A quick salvaging trip in Argentum Trade Guild collected the required materials to complete Into the Open Sky.


I had to look up the route to the next part of the main story on GameFAQs because Xenoblade 2 gave bad directions again.  The gate to the area was locked (although Mòrag personally approved of this investigation!), yet the quest marker was still pointing there.  What I had to do was warp to the Old Industrial District, then work my way through a rusty factory.  While doing so, the party easily defeated Lv 33 Judicial Kollin with a 4:01 time.  A 68,066 Chain Attack helped when Rex and friends burst an Earth orb. 


The factory exit was above the Chansagh Wastes.  Is the name of Dannagh Desert in Xenoblade 3 based on this place?  Rex had to run past numerous monsters that went up to Lv 85, such as Tempest Pterix.  Looks like Xenoblade 3's habit of "place monsters that are much higher level than the intended quest" originated in this game.


Lv 32 Zeke battled the party after an unfunny comedy sequence that involved Mythra slapping Rex, but the fight was too unremarkable to bother writing about.  He used the same electric attacks as before.


Abandoned Factory had several fans that could only be destroyed with the help of Wulfric.  Wulfric was on a Merc Mission when I saw the first fan, so I ate lunch and did a chore while leaving the game on.  It was a confusing maze that made me consult GameFAQs since the game didn't bother to give any hints.  The first "boss" was a squad of Lv 29 Jailer Tirkins, which was so easy at Lv 36 that Rex didn't need to switch from Kagemitsu.  Bana from Argentum Trade Guild had kidnapped Tora's father Tatazo and killed Soosoo the grandfather, and forced Tatazo to mass-produce "ether furnaces" to sell artificial Blades to both Torna and Mor Ardain.  Bana's dream of luxury was to "feast on Mushy Mushrooms for life".  Lv 31 Lila fought almost the same as before, except the player controlled Rex was Launched once.  



When Lila was defeated, Tora stayed with her and Tatazo.  Bana fled to another room in the factory, and pursuing him was annoying.  Rex and Nia had to fight Tirkins in control rooms to get the required keys, and the second party of Tirkins killed them at least twice due to the lack of a third party member to help.  And the Tirkins were Lv 33 at most against a Lv 37 Rex and Nia.  Playing as Nia rather than Rex worked better for some reason.  Maybe Nia's AI is worse than Rex's? 


In the Affinity Chart, Nia bought Mutual Happiness for a Party Gauge bonus with an Excellent Special attack activation, and Rex took Picture of Health for +10% HP restoration without potions.  (Potions are the main source of healing in Xenoblade 2, making this passive bonus situational.)


The last fight in this part was Lv 32 Rosa, a giant bobble-headed robot based on Lila.  The battle was uneventful until Tora returned with Poppi QT, a Fire type version with three new Arts.  Scattershot dodged and shot missiles, Pow-Pow Cannon dealt more damage when Tora had the most aggro against him, and Dented Shield inflicted Smash when AI Nia Launched Rosa with Comet Punch.  Rosa Launched Rex at least once, so it was only fair to return the favor.  Ultra Bang-Bang was no more than a light fog with a well-timed Scattershot, and the party Overkilled Rosa with a 21,969 Chain Attack.  Now they'll have to catch Bana himself before he leaves Abandoned Factory.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade 2 Part 14


Just as the party was about to capture Bana, two Lv 34 Torna members named Mikhail and Patroka attempted to bring the Aegis with them by killing the party.  They succeeded the first time.  Mòrag joined the team at Lv 39, compared to the others who were at Lv 37.  Mòrag had a competent TNK Blade in Brighid, though since she was under-equipped she wasn't as effective as usual.  Brighid's moves were Azure II:  Hellfire for Break, Azure II:  Radiance for a bonus against Toppled enemies, and Azure II:  Blaze to attack and increase aggro.


Patroka was the attacker with her machine gun, while Mikhail was the defender with his shield.  Their attack Arts had names like Diamond Crash, Fire Flower-Peony, Leonine Upper, and Stellar Explosion, and they were more than enough to overwhelm the team.  Mòrag was still in the party after the "game over", and this gave me time to upgrade her Arts with WP, and equp two new Blades.  Gogyo was a Water element spear ATK Blade, and Momiji was a Fire element Shield Hammer TNK Blade.  Mòrag replaced Azure II:  Radiance with Azure II:  Judgment, which could dodge enemy attacks like Tora's Scattershot.


Mòrag also had an Affinity Chart to fill out.  Arts Relay enhanced Art canceling, Imperial Footwork gave +20 Agility, Etherology gave +20 Ether, Basic Discipline increased Auto-Attack power by 20%, Initiative I enabled the X button Art at the beginning, Vigilance gave +20 Dexterity, Imperial First Aid increased revival healing to allies by 15%, and Alchemy boosted HP Potions by 20%.


With all this preparation. . .the party won the battle with Mòrag as the sole survivor.  Mikhail's Leonine Shield often blocked attacks, and Mòrag sometimes had to revive fallen allies.  Mythra made use of a special called Nuclear Blast, a name the Final Fantasy 1 players would appreciate!  Nuclear Blast only hit for 14,250 damage, a modest number by Xenoblade standards.  Shield Hammer's moves were Spiral Uppercut for a back attack, Twin Dragons which dealt more damage with high current HP percentage for the user, and Crown Splitter.  Crown Splitter Smashed Patroka into a HP Potion piñata.  A Chain Attack against Patroka hit for a minor 26,757.


Patroka and Mikhail fled on the Torna ship Monoceros at the end of Chapter 4.  Chapter 5 began with a flashback to a sparring session in Addam's time.  Addam was wearing a hooded robe for some reason, which made him look like a Kingdom Hearts villain.  Brighid was active 500 years ago too.  Jin was once an ally of Addam's, so some plot twist will have to explain why he's a villain and ally of Malos in the present.


Fan la Norne, envoy of the Praetorium of Indol, disabled Patroka's powers and forced her to run away with Mikhail.  The Praetor named Amalthus had summoned Rex because he was the Aegis's Driver.  Malos in fact was another Aegis, and Amalthus was his Driver.  Amalthus was also the owner of the special dagger that Rex had. 


Chapter 5 allowed Rex to switch between Pyra and Mythra at any time, whether out of battle, or in battle without a cooldown.  The members of Torna held a meeting where they discussed the excavation of a weapon from Judicium, a Titan destroyed during the war 500 years before.  Judicium was also where the Flesh Eater experiments were conducted.


The next destination was the Leftherian Archipelago, Rex's homeland.  These were small Titan islands floating in the sky connected by long bridges.  Perhaps the Erythia Sea in Xenoblade 3 was based on Leftheria.  Mòrag switched out her Blades to Shun, a Water element Shield Hammer TNK, and Taisei, a Wind element katana TNK.  Xenoblade 2 in fact has a class system where having different Blade roles changes your stats and title.  It feels like a less refined prototype of the Xenoblade 3 jobs.


In the Garfont Village quest Sniff out the Spy, the party had to kill many Spike Urchons and a trio of Invading Spike Urchons as part of a "subjugation" campaign against Uraya's monsters.  This was actually meant to identify a saboteur within the mercenary guild, but I couldn't follow through with the rest of the quest because the game did not give adequate directions.  Talking with practically everyone in Garfont didn't do the trick.


Back in Argentum Trade Guild, a Nopon on a small ledge could upgrade Rex's Salvager Rank and give him more cylinders.  After searching through Argentum Trade Guild and the other towns of Alrest, it seemed the only option was to continue with the story in Leftheria.  The party completed a quest called Maiden Voyage where they had to rescue a Blade called Olua from Lv 33 Moks Eluca caterpillars, and tell her Driver Reid to return from the Cloud Sea island Merlibay Islet.  While exploring, the party encountered a Lv 47 Perplexed Stoyan fish (?) in Little Garden of Tradition and managed to hold out for a whole minute and 26 seconds before dying! 


As of right now, the team is on Daram Isle.  Tora will stay out of the party as much as possible because he can't use Common Blades, and because playing Tiger Tiger gets old fast.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade 2 Part 15


Daram Isle must have had half of Alrest's Tirkin population.  Some of them would act as scouts to summon the others to attack the party.  Although my team was at Lv 38-39 at the time, an army of Lv 31-35 Tirkins poked them to death at least twice.  Eventually I decided to go around the right side of Daram Isle to avoid them, only to find a Lv 38 Unique named Confiscator Jimmy was there to pulverize them.


To fill out all three Blade slots with HLR types, Nia added Miyuki the 2* Earth element Bitball Blade to the team.  Nia's new Bitball moves were Dolphin Spin which dropped HP Potions, Healing Circle to directly restore the party's HP, and Acrobatic Bomber to inflict Break. 


One long tunnel through Leftheria called the Orl Cloudway went through a tall Titan.  At first, the tunnel looked like a cave, and later the walls became transparent as if the party were underwater.  I'll have to compliment Monolith Soft on the graphical design of Leftheria, as it's a unique area in the series.  Gramps explained that a larger Titan was within the Cloud Sea, and that people lived on the smaller Titans above.


The party fled from a Lv 44 Eclipse Serprond to Merto Island, an islet in the Cloud Sea.  Sokoko the Nopon began a side quest that involved salvaging and gathering items, which I have not completed as of the end of the session.  To make all three Blade slots ATK, Rex equipped the 1* Ether Cannon Wind element Kaibyaku.  Ether Cannon had a longer range than other Xenoblade 2 weapons, so it was fun to experiment with Arts like Armor Crusher, Grenade Launcher, and Daring Shot.


Fonsett Village's residents entertained themselves and trained for salvager careers by jumping off cliffs into the Cloud Sea.  Nia had no intention of doing so despite Rex's encouragement.  Nia explained the difference between the Cloud Sea and water everywhere else:  "It's not like water, feels like the clouds are wrapping around you". 


In another cutscene, an Ardainian officer was excavating Judicium technology.  One soldier told him that even if the new weapons exploded by mistake, it would be in enemy territory.  The officer said "A pyrrhic victory, I'd say".  Maybe Alrest citizens know Earth history?     I found it funny when reading Herodotus that he used the similar phrase "Cadmean victory" because he was so old he lived before Pyrrhus.


Corinne of Fonsett Village acted as Rex's adoptive mother.  Rex's mom died upon reaching Fonsett Village, and his dad didn't even make it that far.  Corinne wondered if Rex was a refugee from a war or a naturally dying Titan.  Rex took Pyra to his parents' graves, and all the villagers thought Pyra was his girlfriend.  The remittances Rex had sent to Fonsett Village went to education for the children.


I still couldn't find the spy in Garfont Village, even after passing a Dive check in one of the pools.  Another side quest in the flower fields of Village Guardian near Fonsett Village was a dead end when the party failed a Follow Trail check.


The session ended in a hilarious way.  Maybe not to the Realms Beyond readers, but it was funny when I was playing it!  A Unique Driver named Skyfist Remington accosted the party on a narrow sky bridge beyond Fonsett Village.  Since he was a Lv 39 solo enemy, the team had a real chance at winning.  But one attack sent Skyfist Remington into the Cloud Sea below.  Rex walked a short distance away. . .and found Skyfist Remington's gravestone without a record time!  Did the developers anticipate an incident like this and program the Unique gravesones like that as an inside joke?


EDIT:  I should have mentioned that AI Rex seems to switch between Pyra and Mythra randomly.  Since it's easier to add Fire to a combo than Light, it can be annoying when activating Specials.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade 2 Part 16


Lv 35 Zeke was competent for a change when he attacked the party in Leftheria.  Lv 39 Rex and Nia fought against him, only to fall quickly to his Electric Arts like Dynamic Spark Sword because there was no TNK to defend them.  Mòrag decided to sit out the Zeke battle in the cutscene.  As for Tora, he fell victim to the "Include" or "Exclude" feature.  I didn't know until after the fact that characters in Xenoblade 2 can be manually excluded from the party.  It may be unique to this game, because I never found something like this in the rest of the series.  I lost twice before figuring this out.


(That means it's theoretically possible to do a solo or duo challenge in Xenoblade 2, but you'd probably turn off the game in disgust long before a battle ends.  Overleveling and New Game Plus features might make such a playthrough more tolerable.)


With Tora back on the team, the fight became manageable.  Zeke continued to cast his Arts such as Stratospheric Thunder, Overload Thunder Beam, Sonic Thunderslash, and ULFS Max.  Nia used Mega Eruption with Miyuki's help for 33,124 damage.  AI Tora once had to revive me since Nia had died.  Zeke was actually a prince of a nation the party hadn't visited yet, and was currently working as an agent for Indol.  He then stumbled on a weak fence and fell into the Cloud Sea.  Even his Blade said he would "find his own way back up somehow" when Pyra expressed concern for his safety.


Indoline Praetorium was a large cathedral city with a mostly Gormotti refugee camp to the side.  Mòrag rejoined the party.  Players who know their arcane history will probably think something's suspicious about the capital city of the world religion being named Goetuis like "goetia".  Salvager ranks came into play for the first time as one exchange in Goetuis only opened for Rank D and above.  Rex warped back to Argentum Trade Guild to become Rank D, which happened to be the same as Bana's.  "Actually quite ordinary as salvager".


All active Blades bought Tri-Chips for ATK and HLR, or Rhombus Chip for TNK.  Rhombus Chips had a higher Block Rate, while Tri-Chips had superior Auto-Attack.  Promise Ring accessories weren't silly jewelry to sell to couples before they were even engaged, but rather a 45% bonus to HP restored to revived teammates.


One interesting story twist was the anti-Blade protest in Goetuis.  The party regarded it as blaming the nearest available target, but the protesters had a point.  Mythra and Malos were responsible for destroying multiple continent Titans 500 years ago, causing the current resource and land wars.  And Zayri had this to say:  "Every Blade in Alrest is controlled by Indol.  So really, it's Indol that's responsible for all this!  Making amends by letting in refugees?  Well sorry, but that's too little, too late.  I hope we drain them dry!"  That's true, especially when the leader of Indol is Malos's Driver, and they send Blades to multiple countries!  Blades are also the weapons of Alrest, since no country seems to be able to fight without them.


In the Mellica the Chorister side quest, Mellica the Gormotti choir singer was worried.  Some kids seemed to be indifferent.  One happened to be named Serge, as if they knew a Chrono Cross player would pick up Xenoblade 2 eventually.  Albina the Urayan lost the contest to become a choir singer, and this was one of the few jobs that could improve the welfare of a refugee.  Albina used a Lv 40 Hired Driver with an axe Blade to attack the party in a murder attempt against Mellica.  It was an easy fight when Mòrag cast Dead of Winter as a finisher.  Mellica tried to convince Albina that she shouldn't go into the choir for money, but what other chance did she have?  It's not like any of the other refugees have jobs years after the Gormotti war ended!


Brighid talked to Pyra about her diary in a cutscene.  Diaries of past lives were the only way that Blades could maintain some memory between Drivers, but the books were often lost.  Brighid was more fortunate because she was a servant of Mor Ardain for so long, and they kept her diary. 


Rex heard a distortion in Praetor Amalthus's voice, and a ghostly image of Malos appeared.  Amalthus said he failed to find either Elysium or the Architect, but he was willing to help Rex with his attempt.  Xenoblade 2:  a game where the solution to global warming is to storm the Garden of Eden.


Jin reactivated the ultimate Flesh Eater Titan weapon from Judicium and destroyed an Urayan fleet in the "demilitarized zone" of Temperantia in order to start the next world war.  Senator Roderich, the leader of the hawk faction in Mor Ardain, denied responsibility.  He said even he wouldn't have acted without the emperor's permission.  Nia figured out the culprit was the Torna organization.  Mòrag didn't want Rex and friends to be involved in Ardainian politics, but Rex said it would be compensation for the water tower.


I spent some time salvaging to earn gold before continuing the story.  A Lv 41 Ferrii Aligo knocked out the team before they could open a salvaged treasure chest in Goetuis.  It wasn't a Unique, just a regular monster.  I warped to an inn to level up the party after that since the defeat was so humiliating.  I could have gone up to Lv 49 if I wanted, but settled on 44 to prevent the game from becoming too easy.  (If you insist on trying low level challenges for RPGs, stay far away from Xenoblade!)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade 2 Part 17


While on their way to kill the Lv 31 Noog Skeeter to retrieve the Sensitive Documents for the Hard to Stomach Quest, the party was attacked by a Unique called Lv 32 Man-Eating Glenn.  It was a physical monster that relied on its Cat Walk and Rolling Claw attacks.  The fight was notable for the unusually powerful Chain Attacks of 152,932 and the Overkill version of 362,143.  When several element orbs were floating around Man-Eating Glenn, the Chain Attack seemed to hit random targets instead of aiming for a particular orb.  Specials such as Dark Tide and Dead of Winter assaulted Man-Eating Glenn as well.


The party spent some time exploring the other islands of Leftheria and encountered monsters around Lv 44, like the Fleet Moramora who fell out of the "arena" yet was still technically alive.  A Falc Lexos dragon was their undoing on a narrow bridge.


Zeke and his electric Blade Pandoria joined the party just as they were about to leave for Temperantia.  He was an ATK specialist with a Big Bang Edge signature weapon.  The Affinity Chart bonuses I unlocked for him are as follows:


Mach Prep I:  X button Art available at start of battle
Brawn Over Brain:  +20 Strength
Lucky Duck:  +20 Luck
Adamant Heart:  +200 HP
Flash Step:  +20 Agility
Herculean Strength:  +10% Strength
Tantal Courage:  +15% HP for allies when Zeke resurrects them
Move Chaining:  Can cancel Driver Arts into each other


Big Bang Edge Arts


Stratospheric Thunder:  Can Launch an enemy
Dynamic Spark Sword:  More damage from the front
ULFS Max:  More damage to Toppled foes


Ether Cannon Arts

Burst Gunner:  Can Break an enemy
Haywire Chainshot:  More damage after canceling an Auto-Attack
Laserpoint Bazooka:  More damage to Launched foes


Zeke's common Blades were Sulgar the 2* spear Water element, and Torwa the 2* Ether Cannon Earth element.  The party completed Indol's Teaching, a side quest where Mololo the Nopon repented his sins by returning a stolen Platinum Music Box, and then advanced to Temperantia.


Temperantia was a short and barren rocky region where the monsters were only in the mid 30s and therefore ignored the team.  Everyone leaped onto Jin's Judicium Titan in a cutscene and confronted Lv 38 Aeshma's Core and Lv 36 Power Lines.  This boss fight pulverized the party so thoroughly I'm at a loss as to how to continue.  Aeshma's Core constantly regenerates, making a Chain Attack the only viable option to kill it.  The Power Lines are what Zeke, Nia, and Mòrag really need to destroy, but Aeshma's Core attacks furiously after you attack it for a while.


After multiple losses, the party returned to Garfont Village to promote to the next Merc Mission rank.  The problem was that they had to spar with Lv 36 Exacting Vorden and two of his friends at Lv 36-37.  Even with Mòrag and Zeke at Lv 50 and Nia at Lv 46, I had my head handed to me.  Did all the enemies suddenly adopt the Xenoblade 3 Hard mode training regimen?

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade 2 Part 18


Exacting Vorden must have won because of a fluke on previous attempts.  A Mega Eruption followed by a 158,794 Chain Attack struck down Maanus Driver, and Icy Wind was part of a combo against Exacting Vorden.  Morag had to revive Nia once, but other than that the battle was surprisingly easy.  (Can't type the accent in Morag's name because I'm writing this post on a different computer, and I don't have the Control Panel set to U.S. International Keyboard.)


Maxing out Kirim's Affinity Chart gave Weapons for Noobs items as a reward.  (Early 2000s Internet slang continues unabated in 2017.)  Weapons for Noobs gives Weapon Points to a character and weapon category of your choice.  Common Blades like Kirim have much smaller Affinity Charts compared to the Rare nobles, and therefore give fewer passive buffs to the Driver.  


Lv 42 Ferocious Jugger was next in the Garfont Village quest.  The team was once more Zeke, Nia, and Morag, with me playing as Morag.  Lightning and Earth seemed like incompatible elements until Zeke cast Lightning Quake.  Ferocious Jugger sometimes sent Morag flying into the air to annoy her, and once managed to kill Zeke, but he fell too.


Last in the Garfont Village quest was Lv 44 Whirlwind Yew and Lv 44 Lightning Zuo.  When everyone died quickly on the first attempt, I switched out Lv 50 Zeke for Lv 46 Rex.  I probably thought at the time that he would heal the party with some HP Potions from Anchor Shot.  Both opponents hit hard with moves like Falling Axe, Power Rays, Axe Throw, and Round Break.  Rex retaliated with Volcanic Storm, a Fire + Wind Special.  Upon defeating Zuo and Yew, the party rose to Merc Group Rank 3.  This didn't let me send out a third party, but did unlock new Merc Missions and increased the Common Blade number limit.


I spent a lot of time salvaging, since that's the way to make money in Xenoblade 2.  The implication of economic and technological decline as the reason that ancient machinery is more valuable than modern machinery is present in the story.  Buying cylinders also increased the development level of areas like Indol, which would unlock more Merc Missions.  Rex earned enough money to send 90,000 gold to his hometown.


In the side quest Crystal Clear, the Blades named Praxis and Theory attacked the party, but they ran away in a cutscene before the fight could end naturally.  What followed was a series of Merc Missions, one with an indefinite time limit as an "ambush"  that the party was supposed to carry out.  Unfortunately, the side quest never told me where a particular area in Mor Ardain was, so it's still incomplete.


The rematch against Power Lines and Aeshma's Core was an anticlimax.  With a higher level and Rex instead of Zeke, the party could concentrate on Power Lines to win with Specials like Mega Eruption.  Jin revealed his true identity as a Blade when he took off his masked and attacked the party at Lv 40.  He used sword techniques like Ultraslash, Skyward Slash, and Stunned Swallow.  Stunned Swallow Launched Morag into the air on occasion.  Mega Eruption and Dark Tide were the main Special moves, though they did unleash a weak 32,490 Chain Attack.  The problem was that there were too many elemental orbs to break, rather than too few.  The trick seems to be to use a Chain Attack when one orb is floating around the boss, since any more than that may disperse the damage between the orbs so they don't break on time.


Jin damaged Fan's (i.e. Haze) Core Crystal so she would no longer resurrect.  Jin regarded Torna as a sort of Blade rights movement, since he regarded the memory loss as both slavery and denial of the opportunity to create a true culture.  If Blades were the slaves, Indol was the master.  Xenoblade 3's theme of "moving on from stasis" also exists in Xenoblade 2.  Akhos helped Jin escape, and the team fought Aeshma's Core without its regeneration from the Power Lines.  Aeshma's Core cast Powered Missile and Blast Hammer.  The latter was what doomed the party in previous fights.  Razor Thread tried to inflict Shackle Blade.  Dark Tide, Mega Eruption, and Steam Explosion were the main Specials.  I got lucky during a Chain Attack with multiple orbs and dealt 482,584 damage for the Overkill!


Uraya and Mor Ardain were about to fight with their fleets until the Indol Titan flew up to them.  Amalthus held a summit with the Urayan Queen and the Ardainian emperor.  The emperor offered reparations since he had not given the order to invade.  Besides the leaders, Niranira represented Argentum Trade Guild, and Zeke attended as a prince of Tantal.  Zeke's true name was Ozychlyrus Brounev Tantal, which sounded like a Hod noble's name from Tales of the Abyss.  Or "Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca" from Final Fantasy 12.  Torna plotted an attack on the summit, and Jin desired to kill the Architect later.  You'd think in a Tetsuya Takahashi story that it would be the heroes who wanted to kill a god.  


Morag left the party, and has still not rejoined as of the end of this part.  Tora had to take her place as a substitute TNK, and I played a few rounds of Tiger Tiger so Poppi QT wouldn't be hopeless.  Amalthus told Rex that the way to the Great Tree was blocked by Ophion, a servant of Mythra.  Ophion was placed there by Tantal to avoid repeating the debacle of 500 years ago.  Zeke said Tantal was a nation founded by Addam and the survivors of Torna's destruction.  Only the Omega Fetter could stop Ophion, and that belonged to Tantal's monarchy.


Bana was also plotting to attack the world leaders.  The explanation for the Lv 62 enemy soldiers in Mor Ardain was that they were a rebel faction called Brionac who wanted to replace the current emperor with their own candidate.  After failed attempts to resolve side quests, I saved the game and stopped playing for the day.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade 2 Part 19


Rex gathered information in Indol about Bana's plot.  The rumors were mostly that he hired Tirkins to poison the delegations on the Ardainian battleship.  Tora, Nia, and Rex fought three Lv 39 Tirkins and defeated them easily, only to learn that they were really master chefs instead of poisoners.  In the Affinity Chart, Tora bought Health Bomb for 10% HP healing without potions, Nia learned Feral Awakening II to use her Y Art immediately, and Rex took Combo Enhance for a +20% damage bonus from canceling Auto-Attacks.  


Bana personally commanded Rosa the giant bobblehead robot, and the Lv 42 Giga Rosa version fought the same way as the first time.  I played as Tora and switched between Poppi Alpha and Poppi QT when the situation called for it.  Poppi Alpha wasn't obsolete since it was Earth element as opposed to QT's Fire, and had Big Boost to Topple enemies.  The different versions of Poppi are functionally separate Blades for Tora.  Rex cast Steam Explosion and later Dead of Winter, and a Chain Attack with one orb hit for 67,415.  Nia cast Mega Eruption.  The last Chain Attack was a 247,977 Overkill with 2 Elemental Bursts from orb smashing.  One reward for stopping Giga Rosa was a Pouch Expansion Kit.


Bana caused Giga Rosa to self-destruct, which may or may not have killed him.  Emperor Niall of Mor Ardain used his Blade Aegaeon to try to protect everyone else, and died.  Mòrag mourned for her cousin.  Nia ordered Dromarch to cause a distraction so she could secretly resurrect Niall.  The cutscene implied that Nia was herself a Blade.  Queen Raqura of Uraya was grateful for the rescue.  Niall ordered Mòrag to rejoin the party since they were going to Tantal, and he wanted an imperial representative to be there.


Mòrag had been using a 2* Dark katana Blade called Hayabusa for a while.  When checking its Aux Core slots, I discovered Hayabusa couldn't equip any at all!  The party tried out a few sidequests on the dark desolate rocks of Temperantia.  Snififi in A Ripe New Frontier wanted to supply Ardainian soldiers, but didn't have any goods that they wanted.  So the party had to gather Metal Brooches for Snififi since they could be used as pieces in the Duelling Kingdoms board game.  Gathering them on the Cloud Sea beach was annoying since so many stronger monsters like Dalian Lexos loved to attack the party.  Another Temperantia side quest was impossible for now because one Ancient Knowledge check was so high, Dromarch couldn't do it alone.  Apparently another Rare Blade that I don't have is required.


Zeke and Pandoria explained some backstory on the ship to Tantal.  He didn't become an envoy like he said earlier, but was disowned and banished because he liked to travel too much.  Tantal was a frozen isolationist kingdom on the Titan called Genbu.  When I heard that name, I recalled the Final Fantasy Legend 1 boss.  The first part of Tantal itself was a dull climb up snowy slopes.  One treasure chest took a few attempts to jump to, and had some Core Crystals if my memory is right.  Tantal was so isolationist that the only way the people in the capital avoided starvation was to buy smuggled food.  There was also a black market in board games, and even Tanaris, the person who told them this fact, wasn't sure why.


I typed this post on the old computer, since we can't just let Bill Gates win. 

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade 2 Part 20


When the party tried to run out of the rear entrance of the Tantal capital Theosoir, a text box appeared saying "Head to the palace first!"  Xenoblade 2 has no problem with me running into Lv 80+ monsters in Gormott and Mor Ardain, but going to the wrong area is forbidden in Tantal.  The next Pouch upgrade went to Mòrag because I used her as the TNK instead of Tora.  Buying Pouch Items like The Annals of Addam (+20% Special damage) was enough to increase Tantal's development level.


King Eulogimenos of Tantal struck Pyra with lightning and imprisoned the party, and said that the Aegis must be destroyed to save Alrest.  He criticized Zeke for speaking "like a commoner".  To break out of the jail cell, Mòrag gave some of Brighid's power to Poppi, letting Poppi break down the door.  Rex fought once with three Common Blades instead of Pyra.  I soon swapped him out to Zeke when he reunited with everyone since I hadn't used him as much during the playthrough. 


Zeke fought against his own army of Lv 37-42 Tantalese Knights.  What they lacked in individual power, they made up for with their numbers.  Xenoblade 2 is similar to Xenoblade 3 in that large groups of foes can be a threat even if they're well below your level.  Xenoblade 1 is the odd installment in terms of game mechanics since you can dodge most physical attacks in that game with a +6 level advantage.  I had forgotten to use Weapon Points on Nia's Bitball Arts for a while, so I corrected that mistake.  Weapon Points are not easy to come by unless you're maxing out a lot of Common Blades and using their Weapons for Noobs items.


Lightning can combine with other elements, though not so easily as Earth, Fire, and Wind from what I can tell.  Zeke's Volt combined with Flame Bolt from Mòrag and the final Special in one encounter was an Ultimate Aurora with Nia's Ice added to it.


King Eulogimenos had set up an "ether accelerator" to take out Pyra and Mythra, though after a fight with a squad of Tantalese Knights, Zeke and Poppi QT joined forces to sent the blast into the sky.  I was playing as Zeke, and he and Nia had to revive each other a few times.  Due to being on the defensive with the Party Gauge, no Chain Attacks were unleashed.  Eulogimenos had told Zeke in private that the Tantal monarchy was only a cadet branch of the Torna dynasty, not descendants of Addam the Aegis Driver.  They usurped the throne to bring peace to the remnants of Torna according to Eulogimenos, but Zeke thought they were only opportunists.


Pyra played a Star Wars style hologram of Addam's final message.  He had willingly left the Torna survivors and sealed the Aegis in the Ancient Ship until humanity became worthy of working with her.  The redirected ether accelerator blast caused Genbu to dive deep into the Cloud Sea, and the party only had 3 hours before it and Tantal would be crushed by the pressure!  This means nothing in gameplay terms, so I went off and tried to complete side quests instead.    


With the right Field Skills from Poppi and Brighid, Rex was finally able to convince Solala the Nopon in Fonsa Myma to return home to Argentum Trade Guild with his mom Falala.  Solala didn't believe she was his mother because her cooking and singing were too good, but he did recognize her when she hit him (with the correct amount of restraint).  Xenoblade 2 side quests can be tricky and tedious to complete, like in Xenoblade 1.  Xenoblade 3 has them both beat in the side quest design, so Monolith Soft is learning with their newer games.  (And never ever try to get all the Magnus cards in their earlier Baten Kaitos series!)