I'm gonna post my Xenoblade Chronicles thoughts here as I play through the games (may be a while lmao). Also, there are going to be spoilers in these, even outside of the ending section, so be warned
First thoughts
I really liked the game, as much as I hoped I would and maybe even more than I thought I would. I found myself constantly impressed the visuals, the world building, the music, everything. Over my playthrough I felt strangely nostalgic, and I think that's because after several years of listening to the soundtrack, I'm finally seeing what the game is about. And because I've listened to the soundtrack so many times, I had imagined what the game looked like and what the story would be like. There was quite a bit of music in the first half of the soundtrack that I felt got stale and weren't as good as the battle themes and themes like Gaur Plain, but when you're running around and taking in the sights, the music becomes so much more enjoyable. I actually felt the battle themes lost some of their impact in game because there was so much to pay attention to and other noises.
Locations - Bionis
Exploring each area and taking in the sights became my favorite thing to do. When I reached Colony 6, I just stood there at the edge and looked around. I saw the arm of the Bionis holding the sword directly above, with the Mechonis far in the distance. I could look out and see the leg that I had just walked up, and the knee where I exited Tephra Cave. I looked down the knee and could see Colony 9 just behind the foot. I could easily imagine walking around the waist to reach the back where we'd climb up to the head. But the game instead had us go inside the lung and then launch up before coming out onto the back which was a huge rainforest? At this point I started to feel like I couldn't place where I was on the Bionis. I had thought the back would be more of a cliff, or a mountain, I don't quite understand physically how Makna Forest fits on the titan. Despite this, this part of the game felt the most magical to me. Partially because it felt like it shouldn't exist in this way, but also because there was more departure from the serious science fiction the story had up until this point. I had realized that this was because the upper half of the Bionis had more ether concentration, which you could visually see (that's why Satorl Marsh looks dull and dead in the day and magical at night). This was also the point in the game where we encountered races and creatures we didn't see much before. Every now and then you'd see a nopon, but here you only see nopon, as well as weird bugs and magical dinosaurs. You also encounter the High Entia for the first time, which has been mentioned several times before. It was here that I started getting answers to certain aspects of the world building (like why was there ancient technology in colony 9). Then Eryth Sea was quite beautiful, with the floating islands and advanced technology, and the stars and aurora that lit up the night sky. Upon reaching Alcamoth, and experiencing the events here, I had realized that this game was kind of like reading a book trilogy. In fact, bits of the story started reminding me of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (not that the stories are any way alike, but I was getting similar vibes). It was also here that I started to feel a connection to the characters (actually it was just melia lol) and truly felt engulfed in this world.
Characters
Up until this point I had felt the characters and their interactions weren't that compelling, and I still do feel that way. Shulk and Reyn are good bros and their dynamic is based around Fiora, so when Fiora dies, their character dynamic has to change. Shulk was always viewed as weak and unaware, but since obtaining the Monada and the drive for vengence has caused him to become more powerful. Reyn is meant to protect Shulk but as he gains power, Reyn slowly loses his need to protect Shulk. This shift in dynamic leads Reyn to realize that his role is no longer to proect Shulk, but to watch his back. I feel like this character development should've happened by Makna Forest, instead of being delayed to much later, as a lot of other characters get added to this dynamic and they just have no meaningful interactions until after this development occurs. Specifically I'm talking about Sharla, who has literally zero development or place in this dynamic until the game decides that there's romance between her and Reyn (and even that's not interesting at all). I feel like Dunban joined the party at the perfect time for this development to take place. In fact, Reyn has this character development at this time in one of the heart to hearts with Dunban, but it doesn't actually happen in the story until later. The reason I feel this stuff should've happened earlier is because the game wanted there to be romance between Melia and Shulk, which could have been far more interesting. Melia joining the team could've acted as a replacement to Fiora in Shulk and Reyn's dynamic, and just as romantic feelings started budding, we find out that Fiora isn't dead. At this point, Shulk would become distant from Melia, only focusing on getting Fiora back, setting up conflict between the two before they come to mutual respect (once again, this does happen in the game but literally it happens right before the final dungeon). I feel that all of the character developments should have been finished before reaching the Central Factory because by that point we are fully invested in the story.
Locations - Mechonis
Reaching the Mechonis also marks a moment of disconnect between how I imagined the game would play and how it actually came out. I had always thought that we would cross the sword and step foot onto Mechonis Field and it'd be large and open like Gaur Plain. I thought it'd be this moment of awe and excitement at the fact that you're finally on the Mechonis that you've seen in the distance all this time. With an atmospheric theme and a new battle theme (side note, mechanical rhythm is absolutely the best battle theme in the game), you'd feel pumped up to explore the titan. Especially with the fact that the field could've been on the Mechonis arm, leading straight to the head where Agniratha is. I had hoped that it was in Agniratha that you'd meet the people of Mechonis and find out the reasons behind the assault and the story is more complicated than originally thought. Then from there you'd have to head down and go inside the Central Factory where you'd eventually fight Egil. I'd thought that the game would end shortly after where you find out who the true villain is and enter the final dungeon somewhere on Mechonis. Instead, Mechonis Field is the equivalent of Tephra cave, taking place as a climb up the leg. After that we enter the Central Factory, which was even more epic and impressive than I thought it'd be (like goddamn this place is so visually amazing). With this series of events, I felt like the fact that we're on a titan was kind of forgotten/under-utilized as it was once again hard for me to conceptualize where exactly I am. Especially with all the locations being inside the Mechonis rather than on it. I honestly didn't like that Agniratha was a ghost town. It made sense in the story, but it felt underwhelming as the "final" dungeon before fighting Egil (yes the final fight with him is in the Central Factory, but I would've rather gone through that as the dungeon before fighting him), as well as the fact that the game started to have a steep difficulty spike.
Difficulty
For most of the game I didn't have much difficulty with levels or with the combat system. Since I spent so much time doing side quests and running around, I was 5-10 levels higher than the enemies around me. I constantly checked each previous area for side quests after each chapter, but there was hardly anything new during the entire climb of the Mechonis (I also couldn't upgrade colony 6 to level 4 because you don't get the items needed until after every single area on the Mechonis) so I had assumed that there wasn't anything else to do and that the game was catching up to my level for the final few fights, which is fine. It also meant that I felt the game started being more unfair with the combat system with the increased amount of spike enemies. At first, spike creates an interesting dynamic in how you approach combat. Previously, your best way to get an advantage on an enemy was your position (attack from the side or the back), with the mechon being difficult because you need to topple them or use the monado. The addition of ether based enemies created more need for ether defenses and varied attacks, and you can use status conditions and buffs/debuffs for additional strategy (this also allowed you to damage mechon without needing to topple them). Spiked enemies just meant that it's now more necessary to topple them so you can freely deal damage, so I then based my arts around toppling and dazing. But then enemies started having spike after they're toppled, which at first sounds interesting because it means you don't want to topple them. But that just means that there's no way to get an advantage over the enemy and you're just stuck with auto attacking and waiting for your arts to cool down. And this becomes a bigger problem because you're expected to fight multiple enemies at once and sometimes you want to quickly deal with one that's causing the most problem but you can't since toppling them will make you die faster. Spiked enemies made me not want to get into fights because it made me feel restricted in what characters I can use and how I am able to play. But I felt I could forgive this since this is the final area and we just have the final boss fights left right?
Ending
Despite it flaws, this game will stick in my mind for a long time. I hear a lot of people say that 1 is the best, even after 3 has come out, but I feel like I'm going to like 2 and 3 more. I think those games will have better character interactions (from the little bit of 2 I played a while back, I already like those characters more) and answer my questions more completely. I'm glad I played this game, and especially glad I did it in a week and a half lmao. 9/10
First thoughts
I really liked the game, as much as I hoped I would and maybe even more than I thought I would. I found myself constantly impressed the visuals, the world building, the music, everything. Over my playthrough I felt strangely nostalgic, and I think that's because after several years of listening to the soundtrack, I'm finally seeing what the game is about. And because I've listened to the soundtrack so many times, I had imagined what the game looked like and what the story would be like. There was quite a bit of music in the first half of the soundtrack that I felt got stale and weren't as good as the battle themes and themes like Gaur Plain, but when you're running around and taking in the sights, the music becomes so much more enjoyable. I actually felt the battle themes lost some of their impact in game because there was so much to pay attention to and other noises.
Locations - Bionis
Exploring each area and taking in the sights became my favorite thing to do. When I reached Colony 6, I just stood there at the edge and looked around. I saw the arm of the Bionis holding the sword directly above, with the Mechonis far in the distance. I could look out and see the leg that I had just walked up, and the knee where I exited Tephra Cave. I looked down the knee and could see Colony 9 just behind the foot. I could easily imagine walking around the waist to reach the back where we'd climb up to the head. But the game instead had us go inside the lung and then launch up before coming out onto the back which was a huge rainforest? At this point I started to feel like I couldn't place where I was on the Bionis. I had thought the back would be more of a cliff, or a mountain, I don't quite understand physically how Makna Forest fits on the titan. Despite this, this part of the game felt the most magical to me. Partially because it felt like it shouldn't exist in this way, but also because there was more departure from the serious science fiction the story had up until this point. I had realized that this was because the upper half of the Bionis had more ether concentration, which you could visually see (that's why Satorl Marsh looks dull and dead in the day and magical at night). This was also the point in the game where we encountered races and creatures we didn't see much before. Every now and then you'd see a nopon, but here you only see nopon, as well as weird bugs and magical dinosaurs. You also encounter the High Entia for the first time, which has been mentioned several times before. It was here that I started getting answers to certain aspects of the world building (like why was there ancient technology in colony 9). Then Eryth Sea was quite beautiful, with the floating islands and advanced technology, and the stars and aurora that lit up the night sky. Upon reaching Alcamoth, and experiencing the events here, I had realized that this game was kind of like reading a book trilogy. In fact, bits of the story started reminding me of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (not that the stories are any way alike, but I was getting similar vibes). It was also here that I started to feel a connection to the characters (actually it was just melia lol) and truly felt engulfed in this world.
Characters
Up until this point I had felt the characters and their interactions weren't that compelling, and I still do feel that way. Shulk and Reyn are good bros and their dynamic is based around Fiora, so when Fiora dies, their character dynamic has to change. Shulk was always viewed as weak and unaware, but since obtaining the Monada and the drive for vengence has caused him to become more powerful. Reyn is meant to protect Shulk but as he gains power, Reyn slowly loses his need to protect Shulk. This shift in dynamic leads Reyn to realize that his role is no longer to proect Shulk, but to watch his back. I feel like this character development should've happened by Makna Forest, instead of being delayed to much later, as a lot of other characters get added to this dynamic and they just have no meaningful interactions until after this development occurs. Specifically I'm talking about Sharla, who has literally zero development or place in this dynamic until the game decides that there's romance between her and Reyn (and even that's not interesting at all). I feel like Dunban joined the party at the perfect time for this development to take place. In fact, Reyn has this character development at this time in one of the heart to hearts with Dunban, but it doesn't actually happen in the story until later. The reason I feel this stuff should've happened earlier is because the game wanted there to be romance between Melia and Shulk, which could have been far more interesting. Melia joining the team could've acted as a replacement to Fiora in Shulk and Reyn's dynamic, and just as romantic feelings started budding, we find out that Fiora isn't dead. At this point, Shulk would become distant from Melia, only focusing on getting Fiora back, setting up conflict between the two before they come to mutual respect (once again, this does happen in the game but literally it happens right before the final dungeon). I feel that all of the character developments should have been finished before reaching the Central Factory because by that point we are fully invested in the story.
Locations - Mechonis
Reaching the Mechonis also marks a moment of disconnect between how I imagined the game would play and how it actually came out. I had always thought that we would cross the sword and step foot onto Mechonis Field and it'd be large and open like Gaur Plain. I thought it'd be this moment of awe and excitement at the fact that you're finally on the Mechonis that you've seen in the distance all this time. With an atmospheric theme and a new battle theme (side note, mechanical rhythm is absolutely the best battle theme in the game), you'd feel pumped up to explore the titan. Especially with the fact that the field could've been on the Mechonis arm, leading straight to the head where Agniratha is. I had hoped that it was in Agniratha that you'd meet the people of Mechonis and find out the reasons behind the assault and the story is more complicated than originally thought. Then from there you'd have to head down and go inside the Central Factory where you'd eventually fight Egil. I'd thought that the game would end shortly after where you find out who the true villain is and enter the final dungeon somewhere on Mechonis. Instead, Mechonis Field is the equivalent of Tephra cave, taking place as a climb up the leg. After that we enter the Central Factory, which was even more epic and impressive than I thought it'd be (like goddamn this place is so visually amazing). With this series of events, I felt like the fact that we're on a titan was kind of forgotten/under-utilized as it was once again hard for me to conceptualize where exactly I am. Especially with all the locations being inside the Mechonis rather than on it. I honestly didn't like that Agniratha was a ghost town. It made sense in the story, but it felt underwhelming as the "final" dungeon before fighting Egil (yes the final fight with him is in the Central Factory, but I would've rather gone through that as the dungeon before fighting him), as well as the fact that the game started to have a steep difficulty spike.
Difficulty
For most of the game I didn't have much difficulty with levels or with the combat system. Since I spent so much time doing side quests and running around, I was 5-10 levels higher than the enemies around me. I constantly checked each previous area for side quests after each chapter, but there was hardly anything new during the entire climb of the Mechonis (I also couldn't upgrade colony 6 to level 4 because you don't get the items needed until after every single area on the Mechonis) so I had assumed that there wasn't anything else to do and that the game was catching up to my level for the final few fights, which is fine. It also meant that I felt the game started being more unfair with the combat system with the increased amount of spike enemies. At first, spike creates an interesting dynamic in how you approach combat. Previously, your best way to get an advantage on an enemy was your position (attack from the side or the back), with the mechon being difficult because you need to topple them or use the monado. The addition of ether based enemies created more need for ether defenses and varied attacks, and you can use status conditions and buffs/debuffs for additional strategy (this also allowed you to damage mechon without needing to topple them). Spiked enemies just meant that it's now more necessary to topple them so you can freely deal damage, so I then based my arts around toppling and dazing. But then enemies started having spike after they're toppled, which at first sounds interesting because it means you don't want to topple them. But that just means that there's no way to get an advantage over the enemy and you're just stuck with auto attacking and waiting for your arts to cool down. And this becomes a bigger problem because you're expected to fight multiple enemies at once and sometimes you want to quickly deal with one that's causing the most problem but you can't since toppling them will make you die faster. Spiked enemies made me not want to get into fights because it made me feel restricted in what characters I can use and how I am able to play. But I felt I could forgive this since this is the final area and we just have the final boss fights left right?
Ending
Spoiler
I fought Egil and Dickson comes out and betrays you and Zanza comes out and now its time to fight. I had thought that we would get transported to one final area and then fight and it'd be done. I didn't like this last portion of the game because it felt like a lot of the world building was thrown out the window. The story made sense to me up until this point. I understood why the mechon attacked Bionis, I understand why homs were turned into faces, I understand that this fighting has been going on for thousands of years. I was just hoping for the explanation as to why Zanza struck in the first place, but the game started saying that it was planned all along, which that one statement made a lot of choices far more questionable than they were before. There was no explanation for why Zanza had to do things in this way, or why he had to wait until his "chosen vessel" was born. He said that's done this time and time before, but creating intelligent life was a mistake? And with the explanations of why Zanza needed to create life as food in order to sustain himself so that he can live forever doesn't make sense because why did Meyneth not do the same thing? And then the explanation of it being an experiment? That ending twist was the thing that I'd spoiled for myself a while back, but was hoping that it would make more sense in context, but it doesn't. It reminds me of how I felt about Mistborn's ending :kekdog: However, I'm not completely unsatisfied with the ending, as I the fact that 2 and 3 exist and their DLCs (and the soundtrack of 3 specifically) makes me trust that this will make sense with those games. I'm a little upset by the amount of stuff that becomes lost after the Mechonis is destroyed (I had chosen not to fight many unique monsters because I thought I could return later) and how a lot of information revealed at the end needs more explanation. I'm a little upset that the game slowly dropped the idea of exploring a world on a titan (especially with how you would just fly to whatever location you need to get to at the end, and how Prison Island was just in the middle of nowhere and had a distinct lack of visual interest).
[close]
Despite it flaws, this game will stick in my mind for a long time. I hear a lot of people say that 1 is the best, even after 3 has come out, but I feel like I'm going to like 2 and 3 more. I think those games will have better character interactions (from the little bit of 2 I played a while back, I already like those characters more) and answer my questions more completely. I'm glad I played this game, and especially glad I did it in a week and a half lmao. 9/10
