Xenoblade

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Class Impressions So Far


Kevesi Attacker


Swordfighter-If you've played Xenoblade 1, this is Shulk before he gets the Monado.  Sword Strike provides Break for the useful Break-Topple-Daze stun combo.  Edge Thrust deals extra damage from the back, and Shadow Eye decreases aggro and increases damage.  It's Noah's starting class.


Flash Fencer-Ethel's class specializes in increasing its strength and critical rate with Cross Impact and Null Slash respectively.  Hidden Thorn can make enemies Bleed to lose health over time as well.  A riskier approach is to use the Acceleration stance to increase attacking speed and decrease defenses.  Its dual sword auto-attacks probably combine well with Agnian Fusion Arts from other classes.  Flash Fencer's disadvantage is its lack of Break, Topple, or Daze skills.


Yumsmith-Riku and Manana teach this class to Sena late in Chapter 3.  Its Break-inducing move Flashback can make it a replacement for Swordfighter.  Extended Slash gives a damage bonus from the front, and Energy Grenade inflicts damage over time with a Blaze ring.  Determination increases attack and decreases damage taken if standing within a field buff, which should be applied often anyway.  This is another class that suffers from "3 move slot syndrome".


Full Metal Jaguar-Gray teaches this dual pistol role to Eunie.  It shoots from the front with Quickdraw and from the back with Fatal Barrage, so you'll be tapping the right stick to roll around the arena.  Dead Set is a buff that removes your own aggro and increases accuracy.  Like Flash Fencer, Full Metal Jaguar's drawback is that it doesn't support the party much with ailments compared to other Attackers.  It does deliver some flashy and effective Chain Attacks when used properly, however!


Kevesi Defender


Heavy Guard-If you liked playing as Reyn in Xenoblade 1, this is the class for you.  Lanz's first job Topples enemies with Bull Rush and increases aggro with Crash Out and Uppercut Slash attacks.  Solid Stance reduces damage both received and given, which comes in handy.  However, with only three slots for regular Arts from its own class, you'll often have to sacrifice a desired move.


Guardian Commander-Zeon's job is the least useful Defender class I've seen so far unless I'm using a stupid setup with it.  Guardian Commander is meant to absorb damage to enter Awakened status, making it a more offense oriented defender.  However, these Awakened based moves don't have inherent aggro increasing properties, so you have to either pick one build or the other.  Perhaps gems are the answer to making Guardian Commander work.  Shield Bash inflicts Topple, which can replace the Heavy Guard.


Kevesi Healer


Medic Gunner-Eunie's starting class remains useful throughout much of the game.  Myopic Screen is the starting Daze move.  Group Heal is necessary for HP restoration, and Vortex helps if Group Heal is on cooldown.  Power Ring creates an attack buff field, and Ether Cannon decreases enemy accuracy if you're lucky.


War Medic-Valdi's job feels like a variation of Medic Gunner without innate Daze.  Heal Bullet is the standard HP restoration, and Multi Blast is most beneficial when used late in Chain Attacks.  Advanced Cooldown is a field that increases defense instead of attack, which probably complements a Healer more anyway.  Xenoblade 3 is a game where you need to outlast your opponents in long battles, not an RPG where the best defense is offense.



Agnian Attacker


Ogre-Sena's starting job can use its Talent Art to Launch enemies after a Topple, though you might not get to use it often since its moves depend on slow auto-attacks combined with an Agnian cooldown system.  Hammerhead works best when used from the side, and Cannonball hurts more when hitting a Dazed enemy.


Agnian Defender


Zephyr-Mio's first class is an evasion based Defender.  Butterfly Blade increases aggro, Wide Slash increases evasion and decreases critical rate, and Speed Demon is a stance that raises evasion and reduces attack power.  This role auto-attacks often, which takes advantage of its Agnian cooldown, so it's fun to try in the early game.


Agnian Healer


Tactician-Taion's first job sets up Hazy Figure to make an evasion field close to a Defender, then use Stormy Skies to heal.  Overfall can decrease Ether Defense.  Other than that, there's not much to say other than that Healers sometimes have difficulty with Agnian cooldowns since you need to constantly be auto-attacking, and that Stormy Skies bar doesn't fill up while you're trying to revive dead characters.


Strategos-Taion learns his next job from Isurd in Chapter 4.  Strategos seems to work better with the Agnian cooldown system than Tactician, but then I haven't tested it in a difficult fight yet.  It combines well with Medic Gunner and War Medic Fusion Arts.  Hornet is an attack that also heals, and No Love Lost decreases physical defense.  Mirror Trap adds Counter Heal to an area around the user, which restores HP when hit by an attack.


Thaumaturge-Although nominally a Healer, Teach's job seems to be more about preventing damage with Armor Veil from Divine Protection than restoring HP.  Leaping Current increases attack and cures ailments, and Rank Splitter is an attack with minor healing.  Spearpoint Thrust can inflict Bind to stop enemies from moving, but many foes resist it.  I don't find Thaumaturge very effective yet, but perhaps it gets better later.



If the class lineup seems lopsided, that's because there are many more colonies to rescue, and Chapter 4 will focus on Agnus if the cutscenes are a good hint.  There are still 10 more jobs to unlock based on the menu.


EDIT:  In case I didn't make that clear, Fusion Arts have to be Agnian if your class is Kevesi and vice versa.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Noah and friends brought Fox and other Colony 9 raiders to their senses by beating them in a side quest fight.  Colony Gamma would have killed them for real if they tried to invade.  Umber Drague was the next boss fight, and the dragon had little to do with the story.  I played as Lanz the Guardian Commander for variety's sake, and to test out the class.  It didn't impress me.  Tail Swipe's wide range made aggro management pointless, even with the Talent Art called Deflector Field that was meant to absorb damage.  I think Defender classes in general will be obsolete by the end of the game, except for providing Topple abilities via Fusion Arts.  An all Healer party may be viable although it would make the boss battles take even longer than usual.


The victory cutscene showed the Ouroboros forms overheating, and the characters said they heard a warning sound whenever that happened.  The other Consuls taunted J about his failure, but it was suggested that J wanted to have fun tormenting the party rather than killing them.  O and P are probably going to be the next enemy Consuls for the party.


Our heroes dropped down a waterfall to fight Level 32 Budding Francis, a strange smiling polyp or water plant.  In spite of its lower level, Budding Francis annihilated the party late in the fight with Venom Gas, which dealt four digit damage to everyone and poisoned them too.  See what I mean about Defenders becoming irrelevant?


Soaring Virion the Level 36 eagle, by contrast, was tough but manageable for the Level 37 party.  It mostly used physical attacks such as Feather Vane of Pain.  Noah and Mio Overkilled it with an Ouroboros Order called Limits Unbound during a Chain Attack.  Overkilling an enemy with a Chain Attack yields more experience, so everyone grew to Level 38.


Level 30 Gallivanter Buckley the Squirrel liked to Break the party with its wide range Hard Dig, and Leg Breaker sometimes followed that up with a Topple to one character.  One special Chain Attack was the Ouroboros Order called Grand Design, featuring Taion + Eunie.  Grand Design fully heals the party in addition to dealing damage!


A location named Titan Rock on top of Great Cotte Falls looked as if it had been taken from Xenoblade 2.  At the end of this session, our heroes swam around a Ferronis Hulk and killed the fish in the pool surrounding it in order to reactivate the robot.  It needed 15 Ether Cylinders, of which I had a surplus.  The treasure included Gold Nopon Coins which went to upgrading Healer gems that gave bonuses to reviving characters.


Noah-Medic Gunner
Mio-Flash Fencer
Eunie-Strategos
Taion-Flash Fencer
Lanz-Guardian Commander
Sena-Yumsmith

Hero-Gray (Full Metal Jaguar)


I only added Gray to the party in case characters could somehow learn Full Metal Jaguar from him.  What made me guess that was possible was that heroes other than Taion were starting to unlock Strategos since Isurd was in the active party for so long.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

One problem with going to the region of the Great Sword was that it was close to Keves Castle.  Ethel met with the Queen, which was a terrible idea for the leader of the first rebel colony!  She cut off the formalities, saying "We can dispense with the stiff preambles, Ethel".  N happened to be the "Golden Consul", or the highest ranking Consul in Keves.  He demonstrated the new Kevesi cannon called the Annihilator powered by the black fog on a video screen.  Urayan Mountains were target practice, in spite of them being the Queen's favorite view.  Ethel wondered if the Annihilator would be used on Agnus.  The Queen and N had her own Colony 4 in mind. . .


Noah and friends met Dorin and Bambam again.  Dorin hated Bambam's new recipe, but I couldn't find enough of the ingredients to complete the quest.  Even going back to the Ferronis Hulk's fabricator didn't generate the required Bubblesia item.


Part of the Old Cliffside Way made me wonder if it was inspired by Xenoblade 1's Fallen Arm.  In High Maktha Wildwood, the party discussed philosophy.  Manana thought the world was evil because it forced Keves and Agnus to fight against the will of the people.  Taion mused that they couldn't think about these matters too much, or otherwise they would commit suicide.  He phrased it in such a way that made me think the writers had recently read Camus.  Noah took an existentialist viewpoint, saying that the moon shined on regardless of whether humans lived or not, but that humans gave it significance.  Very "existence precedes essence".


The party went back and tried to beat up a Level 31 Frolicking Parker otter, only to be humiliated at least twice.  The goofy looking mammal Launched and Smashed the party with an Aquatic Missile jump, and summoned Level 29 Seymo Ottils with Rescue Call when low on HP.  Cotte Trick Ruins's puzzle was easy to solve, but its Level 35 Phantasmagorical Rist jellyfish (?) overwhelmed the party with Toxic Gas.


Even the mandatory Mystery Agnus Ninjas boss fight defeated our heroes about four times.  Agnus Fighter A was the boss, though the others had smaller health bars.  All were around Level 32.  But I still had enough Realms Beyond pride or foolhardiness to try to win without using more bonus experience from quests.  The trick was to use Isurd as a Hero for an extra Medic and changing Mio to Thaumaturge.  Lanz's Ouroboros form was useful towards the beginning for its Burning Rain and Ray of Punishment area of effect moves.  Agnus Fighter C was killed in a Chain Attack, and Grand Design raised a Chain Attack to 169,104 against Agnus Fighter A.


Corsaire Gogol apes attacked the team on sight in this area, and even they knew Venom Cloud for some reason.  They were easy to kill though.


Agnus Fighter A turned out to be Juniper, the commander of the secret Colony Tau.  Colony Tau had been mostly neglected by Agnus, including by its own Consul.  Juniper's hometown didn't seem to care much about whether or not their nearly empty Flame Clock was destroyed since they thought they were doomed anyway.  But the party fended off three Level 33 Armon Rhinon minibosses to earn their trust.  But liberating Colony Tau did raise the Agnus Warning Level to 2, so they must not have been completely ignored.


Juniper gave her Stalker archer Attacker job to Noah and also taught the party Rope Sliding and "The Art of Flow".  Ziplines were common in Aionios, but I couldn't use them until now.  Stalker seemed to emphasize getting behind enemies and inflicting Bleed damage.  "The Art of Flow" unlocked the ability to cancel Arts into other Arts for faster attacks.  Lanz had finally maxed out Guardian Commander for now, so he switched to Thaumaturge.  Who knew he had A rank in Teach's intellectual job?  Sena replaced Lanz as the Guardian Commander since she had A rank.


Freeing Colony Tau also added Speed Jogger to the list of Affinity Bonuses.  Now they could run 14% faster. 


Apparently Colony Tau was allied with some local Tirkins, and Tau seemed to "return corpses to the earth" rather than use the other colonies' off-seer ritual.  This confirmed the rumors Taion had heard about Colony Tau having strange customs compared to the rest of Agnus.  After learning about Colony Tau's sidequests, it seemed like a good time to stop for the day.


EDIT:  Obviously Colony 4 is going to survive somehow, because I've done their sidequests but haven't maxed out its Affinity.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Grinding on rails in the Fornis Region's desert and mountains didn't yield much more than a couple of Containers, which were nice, but not the secret areas I was hoping for.  One thing I hadn't realized earlier is that some nodes on the Ouroboros skill tree were NOT locked by story, and I merely neglected to buy some of the earlier upgrades with Soul Points.  Most were passive stat gains, though I reconfigured Lanz's transformation to protect other party members with Incredible Guard.


The hardest quest in the game so far involved. . .potato farming for Colony Tau.  The recommended Level of 34 was false on Hard, as my Level 38 party was ground into powder multiple times without even killing the first four Spud-Starved Beasts called Hungry Anloods.  These horned quadrupeds gored the team and sometimes restored their own HP with Healing Rest.  Opening the battle with Lanz's Ouroboros form didn't work.  Neither did trying again at Level 40, or equipping better gems.  Level 40 is a milestone in Xenoblade 3 because it unlocks the third gem slot, the third Fusion Art slot, and another cross-class passive ability slot.  To win, I had to use all the bonus experience to raise the party to Level 42.


Once the Hungry Anloods were defeated, four Hungry Swarors confronted the party.  These were much easier to kill, and one was Overkilled with a Limits Unbound Chain Attack.  The final swarm of Hungry Quadwings was killed with a new Ouroboros Order:  Death of 1,000 Cuts.  This Chinese execution move had Noah + Eunie surf into the bird in midair and swing the sword board around to finish the 320,325 damage combo.


Now that the team was Level 42, they decided to take revenge on the Uniques in the waterfalls and caves of the Pentelas Region.  Phantasmagorical Rist was the first to go, but not without the occasional character death and revival.  The prize for clearing Cotte Trick Ruins was a collection of ether wells, a Container, and an Odd Ringlike Shard.  (These Shards are so conspicuous that they have to be used for some late game side quest!)


Frolicking Parker the otter was the next target, and even appeared to writhe in pain as Chain Attacks pummeled it.  Grand Design finished it off for 413,669 damage, the strongest Chain Attack so far.  The party even stole its favorite Ottil's Clambreaking Stone from its corpse.


The last sidequest in this session involved searching for "ingredients" to make some eggplants taste better for Dorin and Bambam.  What Manana didn't say was that the recipe needed the party to kill a Level 37 Sweet Plambus giant beetle.  This wasn't a Unique, and had much lower HP than other fights mentioned in today's post.  Dorin said Manana's cooking was the best thing he'd ever eaten.


Now the team is looking down at the waterfall pool where Budding Francis awaits. . .


These writeups may not seem like much, but I've already played more Xenoblade 3 than Ys 8, and I did most of the side quests in Ys 8, including getting the best ending and fighting the bonus boss in the optional dungeon in the past.  Xenoblade makes most other RPGs look short!

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Budding Francis did not go down easily even though the party was Level 42.  Besides its Venom Gas, the team also had to watch out for Draining Vacuum.  The battle was too tough for one attempt once it was in "rage" mode, hinted at by the flaming HP bar.  A Grand Design Chain Attack followed by a Phantom Slash from Noah + Mio's Ouroboros added Budding Francis's gravestone to the map at last.


Massive Georges was the next target, and was hit by a Brilliant Ascension Ouroboros Order during a Chain Attack, which increased "damage ratio" and fully restored the party's HP.  The fight continued for a while due to strong physical moves like Fin of Fear, but this was otherwise a simple victory.


Noah explored a cliffside east of Colony 9 that I'd forgotten to visit, and the enemy level range was in the 20s.  Sena Overkilled Repulsive Deepus the Level 24 Unique fish with her Bombshell Blitz at the end of a regular Chain Attack.  The reward was a Container that also contained just enough SP for Lanz to upgrade his Ray of Punishment when transformed into an Ouroboros.


Altruistic Maribel the Level 29 flying bug had a silly name, especially since by coincidence I'm watching the Mexican soap opera Rubí.  In that show, Maribel is altruistic compared to her deceitful "friend" Rubí!  Altruistic Maribel put up enough of a fight to occasionally knock out characters like Taion.  Another Container was the prize for this Unique.


Through careful jumping, our heroes plundered a Container in the Svinne Cavity, a place in the Yzana Plains that the party really wasn't supposed to visit until the 50s level range.  They escaped with the loot, only to find that the water below also had fish in the 50s.


Everyone returned to the Fornis region to enter Dies Arch and climb the Tepnos Heights.  Enemies here were in the low 40s, and they killed an Elite giant Level 42 Ormide Camill just because they could.  Monsters here increased class ranks quickly, especially with Gray as the Hero.  They discovered Colony Iota along the way, but every soldier and robot was hostile.  The northern gate was locked, as a hint that I had no business arriving before the plot demanded it.


But this was a murder hobo party, so they tactically used their Ouroboros forms and Healers to slice through the guards and large Ulula robot.  They held out long enough against the initial waves of Agnian troops that reinforcements had to come, and there was probably an infinite amount of them.  Still, the team humiliated Colony Iota and even gained a level after Overkilling a Level 40 Agnus Medic Elite with Demon Punisher from a Chain Attack!  Noah escaped while the rest of the party distracted the Agnians.


Farseer Pirtett the Level 40 Unique squirrel could probably have substituted for the Agnian army, and would have been much cheaper.  It was really just a stronger version of Gallivanter Buckley, complete with Hard Dig.  One incident made this battle stand out:   a Chain Attack with Death of a Thousand Cuts reducing its HP bar to 0% from 35-40%, for a total of 621,681 damage!


I was right about Heroes unlocking classes in the active party, because Taion now has access to Full Metal Jaguar with A rank once he's done with his current job.  S ranks are reserved for classes the character starts with or directly inherits from a Hero.


Jobs for each character:


Noah-Stalker
Mio-War Medic
Eunie-Strategos
Taion-Flash Fencer
Lanz-Thaumaturge
Sena-Guardian Commander

Hero-Gray the Full Metal Jaguar

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Instead of advancing the story, the party took out their giant comb again and scoured the eastern Fornis Region.  The fact that even the local rabbits were Level 43 didn't deter them.  Noah said he wanted to stop the violence between Keves and Agnus when he saw a Skirmish, but we all know the real reason he fought was to get 3 Silver Nopon Coins for helping the Level 47 Agnus Squad.  I had spent many of them filling up collector cards to raise colony Affinity.  Although the Keves Squad was 4 levels higher than my team, all that time spent on side quests paid off when upgraded Ouroboros forms tore through their troops.  A Chain Attack scrapped the Sagittarius robot.


Taion switched to Full Metal Jaguar after finishing with Flash Fencer, and Riku + Manana became the new Hero to unlock Yumsmith for other characters.  One side benefit of Riku + Manana was that the Break-Topple-Daze combo returned.  The party helped the Robnos Feris and killed the Mudtalon Ansel birds in one Skirmish because they valued the 3 Silver Nopon Coins more than 100 Affinity for Colony 30.  Upon visiting the Landmark of Dow Dolmen, the party ran into an invisible wall and Taion said "We should avoid going down this route".


On the way back, they found a Colony Lambda drop box for the Securing Supplies side quest, only to discover it was a trap.  Level 42 Agnian troops and Elsayer Ansel birds attacked the team simultaneously, but they were weak enough that a Chain Attack wasn't even necessary to win.  For an encore, the party slaughtered a Level 47 random Agnus party, including one Elite soldier.  This time, they used Chain Attacks, and grew to Level 44.


Noah switched to Yumsmith and could now Break enemies as well with his Flashback.  They passed through the Valley of Anguish and noticed black fog around the Landmark called Orochi's Crag.  Level 46 Sloth Gogol apes assaulted the team without provocation as they were looking for the Container and one off-seer spot.  They were generous enough to attack separately, though, and fought like the apes near Colony Tau.  The party found their treasure and Sena became the first character to have all three parts of the stunning combo as Fusion Arts:  Break from Yumsmith's Flashback, Topple from Guardian Commander's Shield Bash, and Daze from Medic Gunner's Myopic Screen.


Character Classes


Noah-Yumsmith
Mio-Guardian Commander
Eunie-War Medic
Taion-Full Metal Jaguar
Lanz-Medic Gunner
Sena-Stalker

Hero-Riku + Manana the Yumsmith

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

This session began with the party immediately entering a battle as soon as I loaded my save file.  I was annoyed enough to try to run away, but the Sloth Gogol killed Noah and teleported the party to Orochi's Crag.


Our heroes spent most of the rest of the time combing the Dannagh Desert again, this time climbing Limoux Hill in the center of the map. They once died to a small party of Level 33 Draggoia Ropls, the kind of enemies that use Fin of Fear.  Not even a high level can always save you from unwanted encounters.  As usual I always sided with the faction that gave Silver Nopon Coins in Skirmishes.


Klondos Table and Glam Rock were higher up than Limoux Hill, and exploring the area yielded some Containers and corpses to play the flute to.  The party admired the view of the Great Sword from The Blue Bluffs on the eastern edge of Dannagh Desert.  A Ferronis Hulk was nearby and the party had to kill some Draggula Ropls and Sky Ansel birds in order to turn it on.  Ether channels were so easy to come by that the 20 Ether cost to reactivate the Ferronis Hulk was minor.


Lanz changed to Swordfighter and Taion changed to Strategos.  They encountered the Agnian party Team Fili in the Dannagh Desert, and killed the Level 40 squad one by one.  Fili had high enough HP and seemed to be a Defender class, so I used Chain Attacks and Noah + Mio's Ouroboros transformation.  Defeating Fili opened up a new quest in Colony Iota.  Apparently I was supposed to go there; I just went there slightly too soon before.


Noah did the sensible thing and just dashed past the Agnian troops at Colony Iota until the next cutscene activated and unlocked the Hero Quest called Her Reasons.  Although they were Level 40, Colony Iota's Finest lived up to their title and murdered the party multiple times.  The trick to winning at Level 45 was an unconventional tactic:  switch Lanz to Zephyr although he was only C rank in that class. 


Lanz had already learned useful Fusion Arts for a Defender:  Advanced Cooldown to make a defense boosting field, Noble Taunt to raise aggro, and Solid Stance to increase defense at the expense of attack.  I have to admit I was dismissive of Defenders in earlier parts, since they're essential in battles like this where enemies use many single target attacks.  Sequoia suffered Death of 1,000 Cuts, and regular attacks combined with Noah + Mio's Ourobors took down Chelle.  Rhyza was Overkilled from over half her HP via another Death of 1,000 Cuts combo.  Craftmaiden Alexandria was strongest since she was the boss and a Defender as well.  But with her subordinates defeated, she wasn't too bad.


Consul E attacked the party with his Moebius form after Colony Iota's Finest were beaten.  Chain Attacks were useful but not nearly as strong since Moebius bosses tended to have far better defenses than humans.  Lanz had trouble keeping the aggro on himself, and sometimes a red line pointed toward a Healer instead.  Consul E's distinctive move was Flame Pillar which inflicted Blaze.  Daze from the AI characters gave them enough time to resurrect Lanz when he died once.  At one point I accidentally turned into an Ouroboros when I meant to use another move.  Consul E died to a regular attacks after a long battle, and the play session was over.  Lanz was the MVP for real this time, after boasting about it too many times after winning random fights.


Next time, Colony 9's Flame Clock will be destroyed, and the party will gain a new Agnian class.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Alexandria the commander of Colony Iota was also the creator of the Collectopaedia Cards.  These were the "side quests" that involved sending items or Silver Nopon Coins to various colonies for Affinity bonuses and Accessories.  Alexandria must have kept spies in all of Keves as well as Agnus.


Taion inherited Alexandria's class of Incursor, an Attacker role that specialized in high critical rates with arts like Sidewinder and Breaking enemies with Glitter Stream.  Our heroes wandered around a cold (?) desert area north of Colony Iota called Mehnert Interdigit.  Most of the enemies were various snakes, Igna goblins, and bats.  These were in the low to mid 40s, so they often attacked the party on sight.  Eunie and Sena changed to Thaumaturge and Noah became a Full Metal Jaguar.  Chain Attack Overkills increased the party's level to 47, and they fought their way through Nid Cave before dying to a Level 46 Villainous Igna Unique.


At this point, I was beginning to suspect that Elaice Highway in this area was the remnant of Mechonis from Xenoblade 1.  Noah had to climb a long way before reaching Distant Fingertip, then jumping off into a pond called the Carafe of Plenty.


Torus Hollow, the western cavern in this area, had the next side quest from Rhyza of Colony Iota.  Colony Iota had stupidly put their supplies in a cave filled with Level 40+ enemies, so Noah and friends had to fight through them.  Night-Stalker Volodya the Unique bat killed the team a couple of times, until I realized killing some of the local caterpillars first would cause less trouble.  Lanz switched back to my favorite Defender class Zephyr even after maxing it out (at this point).  Demon Punisher finished it off, and I only realized well into the battle that I only had one Attacker other than Alexandria the Hero.


At the end of Torus Hollow, the Secret Stash was intact.  Alexandria gave Colony Iota Goods to the party to send via Collectopaedia Cards in order to create alliances between the free colonies.  Now I was beginning to run low on classes to train, so I continued on the story with Juniper in the Pentelas Region.  Mysterious Raider was a Level 34 Levnis that was easy to defeat, but troubled the party because it had a cloaking device in a cutscene.


Lifesaving Expertise V was crafted at Sparkling Pool Camp with Gold Nopon Coins, since I always give priority to Healer gems.  This one both enhances the healing stat and revives fallen allies faster.  Unlike in Xenoblade 1, the same gem can be equipped to multiple characters, since they're more like stat bonuses than items in Xenoblade 3.


A conversation between Lanz and Riku told me that Kevesi were weaker than Agnians, but could make up the difference with artificial "power frames".  Lanz used his to throw aside a boulder.  Manana complained that the local Bright Figs wouldn't be ripe for another year, and they were poisonous before this time.  Tirkins had stolen the party's food after they ate sleep-inducing mushrooms by mistake. 


Bolearis of Colony 4 had escaped Keves to warn everyone about the Annihilator and their new anti-Ouroboros Ferronises.  The Kevesi Queen and the Consuls had blackmailed Ethel into hunting the party in order to save Colony 4 from the Annihilator.  But even she was surprised when Cammuravi joined her on the mission, since Cammuravi was the champion Agnus fighter.  These characters are slow to realize both of their countries are manipulated by the same crew of cartoon devils.


Just before the session ended, Bolearis claimed his wounds came from falling off a cliff in the dark.  Considering my idea of a "shortcut" during exploration, the party would sympathize with him easily!


Character Classes


Noah-Full Metal Jaguar
Mio-Heavy Guard
Eunie-Guardian Commander
Taion-Strategos
Lanz-Swordfighter
Sena-Thaumaturge

Hero-Juniper the Stalker


Final Fantasy 5 fans will be happy to know there's a Blue Mage class in Xenoblade 3 called the Soulhacker, based on the information about the locked jobs in the menu.  It'll probably come too late to be good for anything other than New Game Plus, but at least the developers thought of it!  I'm still waiting for another Defender role since there have only been 3 so far in the game.  Does Colony Sigma north of Colony 9 have a Defender Hero, maybe?


More Switch Games That I've Played Less Than Xenoblade 3


Pokemon Shield (but probably not Sword + Shield combined. . .yet)
Subnautica
Tales of Vesperia
Final Fantasy Legend series
Super Mario Odyssey
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
Ni No Kuni 1

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

In Which Herman Gigglethorpe Vomits a Massive Xenoblade 3 Post


Two Level 44 Envy Gogols slaughtered the Level 48 party, and they weren't even Elites.  Maybe their Venom Clouds had something to do with it, since Defenders were irrelevant against area of effect moves.  Our heroes descended to Low Maktha Wildwood, home of Dragon Quest style poisonous purple ponds.  They knew the game meant business with its Warning Tree area when random monsters were Level 71!


At The Tirkinhold, the party decided to break the alliance between the Tirkins and Colony Tau for two reasons.


1.  I had no intention of wandering around collecting 50 Green Nectarines.

2.  There was a Unique just behind the Tirkin village, and RPG players have no more regard for native peoples than Francisco Pizarro.


To be fair, the Tirkins DID say they wanted to eat the party when they found out they weren't getting free fruit.  Their Level 40 leaders were easy to kill, and although the quest completion screen warned me that other Tirkins would be hostile, they were too far below my team to start a fight.  The Unique I mentioned earlier was Level 45 Dimwitted Tirkin, which was challenging in spite of its silly name.  Both Ouroboros forms and Chain Attacks were needed to deal with it once its HP bar started burning.  


I finally continued the story by walking into Archaic Tower.  Mio was whining about only having 2 months to live, even though it seems Kevesi and Agnians don't naturally die after their tenth year because they need a Homecoming to be reabsorbed by the Queens.  In the Engardo Pass area, both Ethel and Cammuravi battled the party at once with their Level 35 custom Ferronises.  Both mechs were easily Toppled and Dazed and both were Overkilled with Chain Attacks.  Noah had a fun time rolling around the front as a Full Metal Jaguar with Quickdraw and the back with Fatal Barrage.  Dead Set erased his aggro if necessary.


Consuls O and P tried to brainwash Cammuravi with his Iris computer, but he gouged out his own eye to save himself for one last Ferronis duel with Ethel.  Ethel was eager to oblige him, since their rivalry was the purpose they had given their lives.  Everyone's an existentialist in Aionios.  O and P were furious, and had to drain their lives via the Flame Clock and then challenge the party themselves.  Ouroboros wasn't the only kind of monster that could Interlink; Moebius demons could do that too.


Moebius O & P was at Level 36 and had two heads, but still technically had a front and back for the purposes of positional Arts like Quickdraw.  Its signature move was Rose Whip, a wide mid-range attack that lashed out with the whips on its legs.  Dazing was still possible, and Moebius O & P suffered injuries from Death of 1,000 Cuts.  A Burst move sent it flying once.  A 343,518 damage Chain Attack finished it off with Eunie's Pinion Primed.  The Interlinked Moebius was hard enough that I had to take it seriously, but not as threatening as Consul J.


Consuls O and P tried to remain Interlinked after overheating, but Noah and Mio plunged the Lucky Seven sword into the ground in a cutscene to prevent them from "annihilating" the region when the black fog overwhelmed their body.


Noah opened Balquors Gate and tried to fight a Level 48 Besieger Sheritt to open the way to the Urayan Trail.  The battle went well until its HP bar was burning.  Much like in Final Fantasy 12, Xenoblade 3 bosses get much stronger once they've lost at least half their health.  Once Taion and Sena the Healers had fallen, the fight was over.


The party entered the Syra Hovering Reefs in the Keves Castle Region.  Is this meant to make me think of the Alcamoth area in Xenoblade 1?  The remaining Consuls in Keves Castle mysteriously said that "Her Majesty' occupies the same niche of existence as we do".


Then my team decided in a cutscene whether to enter Keves Castle by fighting through Colony 11, or entering through the ether mines by sneaking around the Syra Hovering Reefs.  Guess what I did immediately afterwards!  When the party approached Colony 11, Ashera the Hero brandished her double-bladed sword.  (Think of Serge's weapon from Chrono Cross, or those awkward lightsabers from Knights of the Old Republic.)


Lanz was in awe of Ashera since she was the greatest Defender Hero of Keves, and leader of a Silver rank colony.  Ashera loved nothing more than a good fight, and was willing to cut through her own colony to get one.  She and the rest of Colony 11 were an entire town of murder hobos judging by their dialogue and side quests.  The gauntlet of Kevesi troops was easy to defeat since they were only Level 37.


In the town proper, Level 38 Moebius R attacked the party with various generic Kevesi troops.  The party shot them down one by one before focusing on the demon.  She was weak for a Moebius and the only notable moves were the area of effect attack Fragmented Circle and Winnowing, a debuff to Phys. Def and Evasion.  


Ashera joined the Hero list and gave her Lone Exile class to Eunie.  This was an unusual choice even in the story since Eunie was Ashera's harshest critic in the cutscenes, compared to Lanz's hero worship.  Lone Exile is a offensively oriented Defender job, and rivals the Zephyr for one of my favorites to play as.  Its Gale Slash powers up based on aggro, and the Talent Art is Blossom Dance, which is named after Dunban's signature move from Xenoblade 1.  But no Xenoblade 3 job can substitute for a character who can take off his clothes and laugh at any physical opponent while farting to Daze the AI out of a Talent Art!


Colony 11's East Gate was locked, preventing a direct assault on Keves Castle.  So the party tried to impress the other warriors of Colony 11 by fighting Level 49 robots and troops in the city itself, hunting a giant Level 46 Hantis Ansel bird in the Fornis Region, and stopping Kevesi troops from attacking Colony Lambda for fun.  I killed a Level 46 Bigges Darbus dinosaur just for fun; it wasn't a Unique.  As for Hantis Ansel, Ashera Launched it with one of her Arts, and it crashed to the ground after a 285,206 damage Chain Attack.


One benefit of having Ashera in the party is that she's great for Chain Attacks.  Besides Launching enemies as an alternative to Daze, if she completes the current round, she raises the percentage to 200%, which reactivates more characters for the next phase at the cost of being unable to use her again for the rest of the Chain Attack.  


Party Classes


Noah-Strategos
Mio-Yumsmith
Eunie-Lone Exile
Taion-War Medic
Lanz-Incursor
Sena-Stalker

Hero-Ashera the Lone Exile

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Tenderling Rumi in the Rae-Bel Tableland was barely worth its Unique title, since it was only Level 21.  The party completed the Missing Parts quest since Mechafriend, the little Levnis made by Valdi, had been taken apart.  The culprits were various Nopon mechanics around Colony 30.  Then they had to follow tracks through the cave below Colony 30 which I'd explored much earlier in the game, and found out that the leader of the plot was working for Colony Iota's Alexandria as a freelancer.  Valdi was too forgiving to make this the start of a subplot involving the free colonies bickering.


Our heroes visited Elaice Highway again and found Sequestered Lake and Ag's Talon.  An Elite Level 52 Submit Gogl didn't know what hit it when a Demon Punisher finished a Chain Attack for 965,909 damage!  The experience bonus from that fight raised the team to Level 49.  There's no way to level down like the Switch version of Xenoblade 1, so all you can do to avoid overleveling is to wait before using bonus experience.  Mio became a Strategos and Taion became a Full Metal Jaguar.


On Yunnae's Rise, the party tried to assist the Submit Gogol ape versus six Level 51 Amity Wisp fireflies. . .and were immediately destroyed.  At least later they found Visura Parkland Camp to make repeated trips take less time.  Then the party warped to Everblight Plain, only to discover that the enemies around the Rottswoe Battlescar's Ferronis Hulk were Level 60.  They managed to run away, but proceeding further north of Colony 9 was not an option.


I noticed that I had 99 Silver Nopon Coins when the game said it was starting to automatically sell them, so I bought an Emergency Bandana from the Nopon store to increase revival speed.  Trying to fight The Three Ravens of Colony 11 was a complete failure when they were all Level 54.


The only thing left to do was to ride ziplines across the Syra Hovering Reefs.  I'm convinced these are the barren remnants of the Alcamoth outskirts in Xenoblade 1, and Keves Castle looks suspiciously like Alcamoth itself.  Alcamoth was also the focus of Future Connected and associated with the first appearance of the black fog.


Diabolical Rindolph was Level 49 and too strong for Noah and friends, especially since its long range Poison Breath rendered Defenders obsolete.  Level 40 Blazing Karlos the wyvern was simple to defeat with Chain Attacks and healing from the Eunie + Taion Ouroboros transformation.  Typhoon Heal is a useful move to attack and heal, and Liberty Wing can revive the party in a desperate situation.  Feather Sanctuary gives random buffs to allies.


Level 38 Craven Piggard on Hovering Reef 3 was another occasion to use the Eunie + Taion Ouroboros.  It spun helplessly in the air after being Launched, and lost almost half its HP to a 787,379 Chain Attack.  This fight elevated the team to Level 50, unlocking the final Accessory slot.  The developers were anticipating what I'd try to do, because attempting to equip multiple critical hit accessories to Lanz  the Incursor resulted in the message "Cannot set item with same effect".  No stacking bonuses for one stat allowed in this game!


On Hovering Reef 1, the party insisted on sneaking, but I instead fought the Level 39 Ambusher Tirion, a kind of Levnis.  The battle was unremarkable since it was just a stronger version of the usual robots.  The usual Launch and Chain Attack methods were effective, though Eunie was an effective Lone Exile.  Perhaps that job would benefit from "heal HP upon hitting enemy" moves like Hornet, since it doesn't seem to have native defensive or evasion buffs.  Lone Exile is an Attacker that pretends to be a Defender.


The next part should be the invasion of Keves Castle.  Xenoblade 3 is definitely worth buying if you liked the first game!  Now the play time has knocked Dead Cells off the second row of Switch games.