Xenoblade Chronicles

[JDR13]

Any of you guys end up finishing this game? I started playing again a few days ago, and I'm currently level 16 and in the Gaur Plain area.

I'm still trying to decide if it's worth my time to complete a full playthrough. There's a lot things I like about it, but certain aspects are beginning to annoy me.

 

[Fnord]

I've finished the game. What aspects are annoying you?

 

[JDR13]

I don't like how quickly enemies respawn, and I especially dislike that even unique enemies respawn. I understand the reason for it, but I wish they had done it differently.

I also think the vast majority of the sidequests are just really lame. It seems to be the same ones, i.e. kill X amount of this monster, find X amount of this item, over and over again.

Also, is the Monado the only weapon Shulk wields for the entire game?

 

[fadedc]

I think I gave up around the Gaur plain too, somehow the game just never seeemd to excite me all that much. There were things that I liked, but I was never a great fan of the combat, and the story had failed to grab me up until that point.

 

[Fnord]

I don't like how quickly enemies respawn, and I especially dislike that even unique enemies respawn. I understand the reason for it, but I wish they had done it differently.

I also think the vast majority of the sidequests are just really lame. It seems to be the same ones, i.e. kill X amount of this monster, find X amount of this item, over and over again.

Also, is the Monado the only weapon Shulk wields for the entire game?

Enemies will keep respawning, and side quests will continue to be lame. I just skipped most side quests, only doing those that conveniently crossed my path. You don't have to do them, they just give you a bit of experience, and the game is not hard enough for you to need to do either sidequests or grind.

Also, in regards to Shulk's weapon

Spoiler

Yes, he will keep on using that weapon for the rest of the game, though it will be upgraded at important plot moments, at which point it gets new abilities

 

[figment]

I'm nearing the end game I'm pretty sure. Side quests are totally lame and there are hundreds of the buggers to complete. There are a couple that are a little more interesting than a fetch quest but few and far between and not very rewarding (though items can be nice). The story picks up really late or at least does when you are doing every side quest slowing things down.

The completionist in me kicked in on after my last post and I completed every sidequest possible and have all personal relationships maxed as well as group relationships. I started using a spreadsheet about 3/4 of the way through to keep track and found I missed about 5-10 quests at the beginning but nothing too substantial. I would recommend skipping quests if you don't feel the need to do everything.

My biggest gameplay complaint is that there are not enough slots for dropped items. As I was going through completionist I find that I keep having to clean out my inventory of monster drops. But I hate it when they are needed for quests and I've gotten rid of a bunch just prior and have farm again. Most of the time its really only rare drops (silver/gold chest) drops that are useful for quests.

On the story front, I'm mostly disappointed. Some twists are intriguing but not really rewarding. Much less philosophically oriented than Xenogears or Xenosaga but it does rear its head in the late game. Still looking forward to seeing how it all comes together all things considered.

 

[JDR13]

Doesn't look like I'll be continuing any longer. I though Xenoblade might be the first jrpg in a long time that I could actually finish, but I've lost pretty much all desire to keep playing.

I'd like to see where the story goes, but I'm just not enjoying the combat or the majority of quests enough to continue.

I might give The Last Story a shot when it gets released over here