Xenoblade

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade Chronicles Part 1:  Now It's Shulk Time!


Just got Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition for the Switch, so let's try a variant for it!  It's an open world RPG with a combat system that gets hectic quickly. . .at least if you're using more than 1 character.  Many readers here probably know Shulk best for his Super Smash Bros. taunts, but now he will star in his own game.


After a tutorial with Dunban designed to show the spectacle of the Monado sword, Shulk struggled with a Level 1 Colony Krabble.  He had auto-attacks similar to the Attack Gambits of FF12, but also Arts with cooldowns like skills in Dragon Age, and he had to position himself more carefully than Vaan and friends.  At Level 1, he had his main move Turn Strike, Back Slash from Super Smash Bros., and Light Heal to restore some HP. 


Back Slash is supposed to work with other party members that can distract enemies.  But Solo Shulk won't see its full power as often, except perhaps as an opener.  It's still better than the basic attacks.


To make the "solo run" as accurate as possible, there are several options.  Definitive Edition comes with Expert Mode which allows players to keep specific characters at lower levels if they wish.  Guess what will happen to the other party members!  An order issued to the party with ZR makes them useless in combat, not that this will be an issue given how the leveling system works.  So far, the game seems VERY level-based, to the point where enemies crush lower level characters without remorse.


Shulk's hometown of Colony 9 sold no new weapons, probably because he'll get the Monado.  Empyreal tier armor was available, and within Shulk's price range because he only had to equip himself.  Shulk completed a few of Xenoblade's many generic fetch quests for the rewards, and defeated a couple of Ridge Antols in a watery cave. 


Of the paths of Humanity, Integrity, and Intuition, Shulk selected Humanity for its passive Healing Arts bonuses.  No consumables like Potions seem to exist, so HP restoration is based on skills instead.  Nothing could save Shulk from Level 5 Verdant Bluchal in one quest, even at Level 7.  The familiar "You Will Know Our Names" song from Super Smash Bros. should have tipped off Solo Shulk. . .


Perhaps our hero should continue with the story to gain more levels, then come back to these hunt sidequests.



Level 7


Junk Sword (HP Up II, Strength Up II)
Empyreal Helm
Middle Armour
Empyreal Gauntlets
Empyreal Girdle
Empyreal Greaves

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade Chronicles Part 2:  I'm Really Feeling It!


Tephra Cave, the first "real" dungeon of the game, proved difficult for Solo Shulk.  He was still stuck with his starter sword, and miniboss enemies like Mining Patrichev and Cellar Bugworm pulverized him.  Even now he has yet to beat them.  After reaching Level 9, Shulk purchased an Empyreal Cuirass for more defenses and more Weight to lower his accuracy and evasion.


It was at this point that Level 5 Verdant Bluchal died, ending one sidequest.  Level 6 Lake Magdalena was a fish who could simply swim out of combat range whenever Shulk damaged it enough, so he had to abandon that mission.  Attempting to fight him in the water was pointless.  First, that option wasn't available, and second, he got Dazed in the process.



On the other side of the dungeon was the Chapter 1 boss:  2 Ancient Machines at Level 8.  These enemies had a gimmick of switching between a defense mode and an attack mode, encouraging the player to switch targets when necessary.  On the first attempt at Level 9, Shulk performed miserably and could only reduce the HP of one robot by half.


At Level 10, Shulk learned Shadow Eye.  This Art was meant to draw aggression towards the rest of the party (i.e. Reyn), but its "increase physical Art damage for a few seconds" became more useful.  The Level 9 Wallside Gwynry of Warehouse 2 in Tephra Cave was as deadly as any other miniboss, so Shulk had to flee.



Upon reaching Level 11, Shulk performed better against the Ancient Machines, at least until the last one used Final Defence Mode at low health to increase its stats dramatically.  Victory came at Level 12, after doing a few sidequests and slaughtering a Level 6 Itinerant Dorothea on a beach.  A Muscle Up II gem was better than an HP bonus due to the Xenoblade defensive formulas.


A Mechon air force was about to attack Colony 9 to fulfill the "RPG hometown destruction" cliche, and it sounded like a good point to take a break.  Maybe Shulk will get his Monado and become a more capable solo character?


(If you want damage printouts, you're probably not going to get them.  Xenoblade is real time, and you have to fumble through the Arts menu constantly and monitor cooldowns.)




Level 12


Junk Sword (Muscle Up II, Strength Up II)
Empyreal Helm
Empyreal Cuirass
Empyreal Gauntlets
Empyreal Girdle
Empyreal Greaves

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade Chronicles Part 3:  End of a Variant?


Chapter 2 banished any pretensions of a solo challenge.  Not so much because the enemies were too difficult, but rather due to game mechanics.  In one Shulk/Reyn story fight against a group of Level 5 Mechon, they failed to do more than 1 damage unless they inflicted Break and then Topple with Arts.  Shulk could Break with Turn Strike and Stream Edge, but he had no way to Topple.  That was a job for Reyn and his Wild Down Art.  Reyn temporarily leveled to 14 to win this match.


Metal Face at Level 10 was the boss of this short chapter.  Shulk had inherited the Monado by this time, which had cut through previous Mechon with ease.  Monado Arts had replaced Turn Strike. Enchant allows other characters to hurt Mechon, while Buster hits enemies in a line starting with 585-700 damage, and has double power against Mechon.


Unfortunately, "The Monado has no effect on Mechon with faces", so Shulk had to use Chain attacks to use Stream Edge + whatever Topple move Dunban had.  Reyn had been demoted in level again, so his attempts to Wild Down always missed.  Chains function similarly to Unison Attacks in Tales of Symphonia:  you pick your Arts and use them consecutively.  After reaching a certain HP threshold, Fiora thought she was in Xenogears and charged at Metal Face in a mech.  She was seemingly killed, but the Arts and Skills menus suggested she would return. 


Chapter 3 began with Shulk and Reyn vowing to avenge Fiora and kill all the Mechon.  Dunban stayed behind in Colony 9 to recover, meaning he wouldn't rejoin the team for a long time.  Reyn at Level 14 had over 300 HP more than Dunban at 20, perhaps as a reference to Dunban being unhealthy from excessive use of the Monado.


How to carry on with this playthrough?  Probably by using Expert Mode to keep levels appropriate to each area.  Xenoblade doesn't work with a low level challenge, though restricted equipment variants MAY be possible.  For this run, I'll just play "normally" with Expert Mode since I'm inexperienced with Xenoblade, or any other Takahashi game.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade Chronicles Part 4:  Now It's Reyn Time!


Now that having a proper party was necessary, Reyn bought Empyreal tier armor at the Colony 9 shop.  Reyn needs to make a decision between power and defense when it comes to weapons, and I chose defense.  Some of Reyn's skills are meant to draw "aggro" away from Shulk, or reduce damage from enemy attacks.


Gem crafting became available, but it wasn't much use as only tier I gems were available.  The gems Shulk had used on his Junk Blade were tier II, for comparison.  


To test their abilities, Shulk and Reyn returned to Tephra Cave and cut down the Level 10 Cellar Bagworm.  It still took several tries to do it, and the team barely won at Level 13-15 according to one screenshot with Shulk at 124/1364 HP.  In Xenoblade, if the party leader dies, you lose.  Supporting characters can be revived by walking up to them and pressing B.  The Level 8 Mining Patrichev and Level 9 Wallslide Gwynry were easier prey.


Chapter 3 opened the previously-locked door near Wallslide Gwynry, leading to a new area of Tephra Cave.  Shulk and Reyn de-leveled to 10 in an attempt to match the local monsters like the Noble Brog.  One mandatory encounter with Level 7 Worker Arachnos and Level 9 Director Arachnos was simple, especially with a Chain.  Reyn briefly abandoned the party afterwards, in spite of Shulk's vision of him being surrounded by spiders.  Shulk learned to climb vines on a pillar, since his mobility couldn't match Breath of the Wild Link.


Level 12 Arachno Queen and her underlings served as Chapter 3's boss fight.  Xenoblade introduced its "vision" battle mechanic, represented as Shulk's Down + B counterattack in Super Smash Bros.  Sometimes you will see a devastating attack hit a character in advance, and you can then prepare.  In the case of Arachno Queen, it usually meant trying Monado Shield, another Super Smash Bros. move.  Monado Shield blunted the worst of her techniques like Arachno Crush I.  Without it, Reyn would have taken 1555 from that move!     There's another reason why solos aren't welcome in Xenoblade, especially non-Shulk varieties.


Our heroes died horribly at Level 10, so they tried again at Level 12.  They Toppled Arachno Queen at some point, and struck with multiple Chains.  The best Chain according to one screenshot dealt 4955, which sounds impressive until you learn how inflated Xenoblade HP numbers are.  Couldn't get a good screenshot of it, but the finisher was a Back Slash in true Super Smash Bros. fashion.


Chapter 4 began with a teleporter to a Nopon Archsage, who hosted special battle challenges.  Reyn and Shulk were the designated party for Humble Beginnings at Level 20, and Reyn was the party leader.  This was different from usual since I've been controlling Shulk for the whole game except when Reyn picked a move for Chains.  Reyn relied on his defensive moves while Shulk dealt more damage.  I scored a B grade with a 4.09.07 time.  Apparently I was supposed to use more Chains and alter visions.


Gaur Plain, as in the stage from Super Smash Bros. 3DS, was on the Bionis's Leg.  This was a massive open area filled with monsters at the party's level, or sometimes far above it. Shulk and Reyn kept their distance from a Level 81 Territorial Rotbart!  Overall, it reminded me of what people say Gran Pulse is like in Final Fantasy XIII.  (Never played THAT one due to the criticism. . .)


Shulk and Reyn grew to Level 16-17, then fought the next mandatory encounter with Level 14 Berserk Arduns.  They were too easy to qualify as a boss, especially after the excitement of Queen Arachno.  Our heroes were about to set out for the camp in Gaur Plain when the session ended.
 

Level 16-17


Shulk

Monado (Muscle Up II, Strength Up II)
Empyreal Helm
Empyreal Cuirass
Empyreal Gauntlets
Empyreal Girdle
Empyreal Greaves


Reyn

Aegis Guarder
Empyreal Helm
Empyreal Cuirass
Empyreal Gauntlets
Empyreal Girdle
Empyreal Greaves


Shulk's weapons are tied to the story, so there's no need to buy them at shops.  Also explains why he's weak in Chapter 1.  Reyn's Aegis Guarder sacrifices Auto-attack power and Critical Rate in exchange for Physical Def and Ether Def.  If he wanted to be an offensive party member, he would prefer something like Flame Gear.


Another choice Xenoblade players have to make is whether to use equipment with better initial values, or weapons and armor with gem slots.  Gems are probably better in the late game, but for now I'm sticking with Empyreal armor.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade Chronicles Part 5:  More Smash Bros. Moves


Gaur Plains's Refugee Camp accidentally revealed that a new party member would join by the fact that upgrades to her Arts were available in the shop.  From here on out armor started to have trade-offs between Physical Def and Ether Def.  Empyreal equipment from Colony 9 had better Physical Def, but Prairie Attire from Refugee Camp had better Ether Def, for example.


Shulk and Reyn completed a few fetch quests to gain armor and explore Gaur Plain.  Thieving Monsters in Tirkin Headquarters required more thought than the "kill 3 Field Ponios" mission.  On the first try, a Level 15 Guard Tirkin fled and alerted all the other Tirkins, thus dooming the party.  So Shulk lured out the Guard Tirkin and hacked it down with Reyn, and then they collected the Clothes to complete the mission.  Refugee Camp was a bit annoying in that quest NPCs were only available at certain times of day despite being a small area.  Definitive Edition lets you change the clock instantly, and I have no clue if the original Wii version did.




Sharla the Medic joined the party, serving as the "White Mage".  Xenoblade Chronicles officially uses the terms "buffs" and "debuffs", and uses Sharla's Cure Bullet that grants debuff immunity as an example of the former.  "Debuff" in Xenoblade can also mean status ailments like Sleep, unlike the conventional use of the term.  Sharla's Heal Bullet and Heal Blast were welcome compared to Shulk's underwhelming Light Heal.


Attempting the Time Trial Fair Game was a disaster, but that must have been because I accidentally picked Free rather than Restricted when I look back on the screenshot.  Restricted picks your party for you but scales your level to the challenge.  Level 16-17 characters couldn't even hit the Level 28 Oasis Flamii monsters.  Underleveled characters in Xenoblade have abysmal accuracy in general, so it's not a trait of that specific enemy.


As Shulk and friends approached the Chapter 4 boss, they started seeing Mechon again.  Shulk's Enchant was essential here to allow Reyn and Sharla to attack without having to Topple the robots first.  It also lasted unusually long for a Xenoblade stat modifier, at 100 60 seconds at Art Level 2.  (Compare this to Slit Edge's 5 second enemy Phys Def decrease.)


A Level 18 spider robot called Mechon M71 confronted our heroes at Levels 17-18.  Cutscenes before the fight showed off Shulk's Monado Speed from Super Smash Bros., but its evasion increase only applied to one character.  Enchant was used as always, along with the typical Stream Edge, Monado Buster, and Back Slash.  Air Slash should have been mentioned in the previous post when it first appeared.  It Breaks an enemy, and has a bonus Slow effect if the enemy is Air Slashed from the side.  And of course it's Shulk's Up + B jump in Super Smash Bros.


Monado Shield protected Shulk against a predicted 889 damage Tentacles.  Mechon M71 left the battlefield in one cutscene and forced the party to fight it again.  Several Chains ranged from 3893-3916 damage, with the help of Sharla's Thunder Bullet.  Judging by a screenshot taken at the end, a 408 regular attack finished off Mechon M71.


Level 25 Mysterious Face was the obligatory unwinnable cutscene battle.  Monolift Soft abused that RPG convention in Baten Kaitos Origins, so let's hope Xenoblade isn't as much of an offender.  Shulk and friends were dismayed to see the "MISS" message constantly, and the Monado Arts didn't cool down quickly enough to block Arts such as a 1413 Swing Beat seen in visions with Monado Shield.  Mysterious Face kidnapped Sharla's brother Juju and escaped to Colony 6, and thus began Chapter 5.   


 

Level 17-18


Shulk

Monado (Muscle Up II, Strength Up II)
Empyreal Helm
Grand Armour
Hunter Gauntlets (Agility Up I)
Diver Shoes (Muscle Up I)

Reyn

Aegis Guarder
Empyreal Helm
Quark Armour
Quark Gauntlets
Grand Leggings
Hunter Boots (HP Up II)

Sharla

Calm Shot (Agility Up I)
Round Cap
Round Top (Ether Up I)
Lime Bangle (Blaze Defence III)
Round Bottoms (Agility Up I)
Round Shoes

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade Chronicles Part 6:  Battles As Excuses For Cutscenes


Even with the fixed Level 25 version of Fair Game, our heroes led by Sharla were met with a FAILURE message.  The Gust Vangs were simply too tough.  Perhaps some of these Time Trials are meant to be played in the late game with good equipment and high Art levels to get around character level caps?


Speaking of Art levels, an effective method of gaining more AP and SP in Expert Mode is to artificially lower your party to the local monsters' level.


Colony 6 began with the Drainage Tunnel, probably to obey the "sewer level" statute.  Shulk and friends battled enemies such as Level 20 Colony Upas at Level 16 to take advantage of the scaling.  Storage Depot and Ether Mine were full of Mechon which required Enchant.  To battle a Level 23 Mechon M82, the party used Expert Mode to go to Level 22.  They unleashed a 12,487 damage Chain on the robot according to one screenshot.


Xord, or the "Mysterious Face" from before, was still Level 25.  Since the boss itself was unbeatable, the group had to deal with waves of Mechons that it summoned while Xord himself tried bashing them with his hammer.  Don't know what triggered the cutscene that dropped Xord in the ether river, but several attempts at Chains on Xord himself did around 2 at best.  The hints before combat didn't help, because they suggested using Break vs. "large monsters" during a Chain and implied that this was a winnable fight.



Oh well, at least Sharla inherited Gadolt's Rifle with 265-345 Auto-attack and 3 gem slots!  Surprised the update was this short considering how long this dungeon felt.  Xenoblade isn't a game where you vary your tactics between battles often, at least for now.  Before the "victorious" Xord attempt, Sharla had taken Covert Stance, an Aura buff designed to remove "aggro" from her.  Essential for a healer with substantially lower HP than Shulk and Reyn.



Level 26-27


Shulk

Monado (Muscle Up II, Strength Up II)
Grand Gear
Grand Armour
Hunter Gauntlets (Agility Up I)
Quark Leggings
Diver Shoes (Muscle Up I)

Reyn

Lieutenant Pike
Grand Gear
Quark Armour
Quark Gauntlets
Grand Leggings
Empress Greaves (Revival HP Up II)

Sharla

Calm Shot (Agility Up I)
Quark Gear
Blessed Brigandine (Recovery Up II)
Lime Bangle (Blaze Defence III)
Round Bottoms (Agility Up I)
Round Shoes (Quick Step III)


(Must have forgotten to put Shulk's leggings up on the previous post.  Reyn has Lieutenant Pike for greater offense since the Aegis Guarder was starting to fall behind.)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade Chronicles Part 7:  Dunban Returns



Xord survived being thrown into an ether river at Level 25, but looked like he was ready for the junkyard when he fought the Level 26-27 party again.  He had none of his former resistances, and succumbed to moves like Back Slash, Stream Edge, and Monado Buster.  Gadolt's Rifle probably assisted with the damage output.



Metal Face sent waves of Level 21 Mechon M53X, and probably some other types of robot.  These were easy to fight with normal anti-Mechon tactics, but Shulk and friends complained afterwards that there were too many in a cutscene.  A Telethia bird appeared to zap the Mechon, and so Metal Face was forced to leave.


Dunban had replaced Reyn in the active party during the Mechon wave, this time without the Monado.  His signature technique is Blossom Dance, which can hit multiple times if you time your B button presses well enough.  Gale Slash causes Bleed damage and is meant to combo into other Arts like Worldly Slash for a strength debuff, or Electric Gutbuster to cause Break.  Steel Strike is his equivalent to Wild Down, and it's convenient to have both Topple and Break on the same character.  Dunban also has Auras like Reyn, such as Peerless to cure Confuse and increase strength, or Spirit Breath to cure debuffs and generate Haste.



Dunban led the party in a Restricted Time Trial at Level 30.  The party performed well enough to get a B, but not well enough to get the equipment rewards.  One noteworthy mechanic is that visions are NOT linked to Shulk being in the active party, since one appeared in the Time Trial without him.  Perhaps he warns them from the bench? 


Now I'm in Chapter 6, about to travel through Satorl Marsh.



Level 26


Shulk (Humanity)

Monado (Muscle Up II, Strength Up II)
Grand Gear
Grand Armour
Hunter Gauntlets (Agility Up I)
Quark Leggings
Diver Shoes (Muscle Up I)

Dunban (Bravery)

Anti-Mechon Glaive
General's Cap
General's Attire
General's Gauntlets
General's Belt
General's Boots

Sharla (Devotion)

Gadolt's Rifle (Break II, Strength Up I)
Quark Gear
Blessed Brigandine (Recovery Up II)
Lime Bangle (Blaze Defence III)
Round Bottoms (Agility Up I)
Round Shoes (Quick Step III)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade Chronicles Part 8:  Flaming Dinosaurs


Colony 6 forms part of a sidequest chain starting now, but our heroes were not even up to the challenge of defeating the Level 32 enemies on the Gaur Plains bridge.


Satorl Marsh itself was a fetch quest over a broad expanse, since the materials were needed to perform some ancient ceremony.  After all the items were delivered, the Level 30 28 Satorl Guardian was defeated with the usual tactics.  Reyn re-entered the battle party because he was a superior defensive unit to Dunban.  Shulk, Reyn, and Sharla form the stereotypical "damage, tank, healer" MMO party, and Xenoblade no doubt takes inspiration from that sort of RPG.


Chapter 6 itself ended by climbing up inside the Bionis, a strong hint that the giant was still alive.  The idea of a giant being the world the characters live in was probably taken from Ymir of Norse mythology, but it's used well in this game. 


Chapter 7 opened with Makna Forest, home to a shop with armor upgrades that also reduced weight encumbrance.  Shulk separated from the party and was forced to fight 3 Telethias alongside Alvis, a character who knew too much about the Monado.  Alvis even unlocked the symbol for Purge, a Monado skill needed to remove the Soul Read aura surrounding Telethias so our heroes could actually hit them.  Another Telethia gimmick was their ability to anticipate Shulk's visions.


As you can guess, the 3 Level 28 Puera Telethias made for a difficult fight, and took several attempts.  Eventually I realized that Purge could be leveled up in the Art menu before trying again. 


One tooltip in Makna Forest promised to make battle tactics more interesting:  passive Spike damage.  Now it was no longer prudent to Topple every type of enemy, and other monsters to come would have different Spike triggers.  Spike Defence Gems and Purge are the only ways to mitigate Spike, making Shulk even more essential to the party than he already was.  Mechons, Telethias, and now Spike damage?  It almost seems suicidal to remove Shulk on many occasions.


Inferno Deinos wins the title for "most ridiculous monster".  A flaming dinosaur may work in a cartoonish series like Pokemon, but the small fire on the back of a slightly more "realistic" monster looks silly!  The session ended at the Twisted Tree Gate.


A character named Melia joined the party in Makna Forest, and she seems to be the "Black Mage" judging by her Arts.  Don't know what justifies putting her in the party over Reyn or Dunban, unless some enemies vulnerable to Ether appear later on.


Level 30



Shulk (Humanity)

Monado (Muscle Up II, Strength Up II)
Grand Gear
Makna Top
Hunter Gauntlets (Agility Up I)
Makna Bottoms (Bind Resist II)
Diver Shoes (Muscle Up I)

Reyn (Enthusiasm)

Hazzard Driver
Grand Gear
Makna Top
Quark Gauntlets
Makna Bottoms (Slow Resist II)
Empress Greaves (Revival HP Up III)

Sharla (Devotion)

Gadolt's Rifle (Break II, Strength Up I)
Quark Gear
Makna Top
Lime Bangle (Blaze Defence III)
Makna Bottoms (Agility Up I)
Infantry Boots (Quick Step III)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade Chronicles Part 9:  Assist Trophy


Our heroes finally defeated the Level 32 White Smoke Hox squirrels (?) on the bridge on Bionis's Leg, but even then only after dying multiple times at Level 32-33.  Good thing death has no penalty in Xenoblade other than sending you somewhere else, so you can kill one per attempt if you choose.


The Refugee Camp members packed up and returned to the Colony 6 ruins, beginning a new sidequest in the tradition of rebuilding Luin in Tales of Symphonia.  The problem was that rebuilding Colony 6 involved. . .even more pointless fetch quests, so Shulk only made Housing 1 before moving on.  Xenoblade's designers were LAZY when it came to side missions!


Riki, the mandatory "annoying mascot" character, joined in Frontier Village.  Yes, he's the Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. "4".  Due to him being such a joke even in story, I decided to drag him along for as much of the rest of the game as possible, a bit like Poshul in the Chrono Cross Low Tier Character run.  He seems to be the "Thief" archetype.  Yoink! steals items, and Sneaky's multiplier and Bitey Bitey's Bleed damage depend on being behind the enemy like Shulk's Back Slash.  Riki's other moves are either status ailments like Behave (paralysis) and Roly-Poly (Topple/Bind), healing, or even filling the Party Gauge for Chains.


In the remainder of Makna Forest, the party died multiple times until they gained enough experience to outlevel the monsters.  Shulk and Sharla seemed to be Riki's best teammates after some experimentation.  Riki already had more HP than any other character, so he didn't need Reyn to take hits for him.


Leone Telethia at Level 36 was the next boss, and it used Soul Read just like its spawn.  Purge was mandatory to get rid of it, but it was hard to end the Monado cooldown when no auto-attacks were hitting.  A partial solution was found in Battle Soul, a Shulk Art that drained half his HP to reduce Art cooldowns, combined with Sharla's healing.  All Monado Art uses afterwards were saved for Purge instead of being wasted on something like Buster.  Both stages of the fight lasted a while, and proved Riki and Sharla's worth.


Haven't had as much time to play Xenoblade lately due to my work schedule.



Level 33-35



Shulk (Humanity)

Monado (Muscle Up II, Strength Up II)
Makna Cap (AP Up I)
Makna Top
Hunter Gauntlets (Quick Step II)
Makna Bottoms (Bind Resist II)
Diver Shoes (Muscle Up I)


Riki (Innocence)

Warrior Gnasher
Nopon Cap
Nopon Top
Nopon Gloves
Nopon Bottoms
Nopon Shoes


Sharla (Devotion)

Gadolt's Rifle (Break II, HP Up II, Agility Up III)
Makna Cap (EXP Up I)
Makna Top
Lime Bangle (Blaze Defence III)
Makna Bottoms (Agility Up I)
Infantry Boots (Quick Step III)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade Chronicles Part 10:  Obvious Villain


Chapter 8 took place in the Eryth Sea, the floating imperial capital Alcamoth, and the High Entia Tomb dungeon.  The Level 36 Defensive Kromars were difficult mostly because of their habit of sealing Arts, and took several attempts with Shulk, Sharla, and Riki. 


In Alcamoth, it was revealed that Melia would become their crown princess.  Not much of a surprise there.  Also there was Lorithia, the First Consort who was racist against Homs and therefore didn't want her stepdaughter Melia to ascend to the throne.  Lorithia was dressed like a comic book supervillain, so it's a wonder the Emperor was fooled for so long.    


Some High Entia assassins in the Level 34 range attempted to destroy Shulk, Sharla, and Riki.  They succeeded at least once due to only taking 1 or 2 damage from physical attacks, and their combos that inflicted Bind and Topple.  Shulk was almost worthless, and Melia couldn't replace him in this battle.  The secret to winning was using Sharla's Arts such as Thunder Bullet, along with Riki's ailments.


Melia starred in a brief solo segment in High Entia Tomb.  A tooltip recommended that she "fire Elementals" upon summoning them, instead of using them for passive buffs as she might do with a party.  This added a bit of excitement to the combat, only to disappear when the usual party of Shulk, Sharla, and Riki returned for the majority of the dungeon.


Orluga Rufus(es) served as minibosses, but were typical "brute" type enemies that could be killed with normal tactics.  The main boss fight was against a Level 38 Solidum Telethia and Level 38 Tyrea.  Solidum Telethia was less annoying than previous Telethias and only required 1 Purge, but it was still a tedious battle since it had so much HP.  Tyrea had the same defensive properties as the other High Entia assassins, rendering Shulk useless except for filling up the Chain gauge with token 1-2 damage Arts.  Sharla's Thunder Bullet and Riki's Bitey Bitey helped.  It was funny to hear Reyn insulting Riki in the following cutscene when he was the one who finished off Tyrea!


The rest of the playthrough may involve a rotating party.  Otherwise the combat would get too tedious.  Xenoblade's story is as stupid as any other RPG, and only gets praise because Takahashi wrote it.  IGNORE ALL SIDEQUESTS if you decide to play Xenoblade, or else you'll quit out of boredom.  And Xenoblade is hostile to variants because of all the "special circumstances" boss battles, so it's probably a "play once and never again" sort of RPG.



Level 37



Shulk (Humanity)

Monado (Muscle Up II, Strength Up II)
Eryth Gear
Eryth Armour
Mithril Gauntlets
Eryth Gauntlets
Mithril Boots


Riki (Innocence)

Warrior Gnasher (Strength Up I, Muscle Up I)
Sky Cap (EXP Up I)
Sky Top (Ether Def Up I)
Sky Gloves (AP Up I)
Sky Bottoms (Quick Step II)
Sky Shoes (Agility Up II)


Sharla (Confidence)

Thunderclap (Electric Plus III, Ether Up II)
Eryth Gear
Eryth Armour
Mithril Gauntlets
Eryth Leggings
Mithril Boots