Xenoblade

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Nia told everyone that Z and Melia were hidden "deep beneath the sea where none may travel".  This was in the center of the world map, and no ships ever returned from there because of the permanent storms.  Lanz offered a reasonable suggestion:  why not have Mio use her Moebius teleportation powers?  Mio replied that she probably lost them after liberating Agnus Castle.  Z could take away Moebius powers from anyone if he wished.


For the sake of variety, I made Taion into a Seraph and forced Sena into the Defender Soulhacker role.  Crimson Lance was perhaps the first Agnian Attacker Art that could Topple, Inferno Dance could combine with Yumsmith's Energy Grenade for Blaze Damage, and I linked Dragon's Snarl with Soaring Tempest so he could Launch foes.


I took a look at the Founder statues in the Memorial Hall, and wondered if some of them were Xenoblade 1 or 2 characters.  The House Ortiz Founder's story sounded suspiciously like a reincarnation of Shulk:  he was a Kevesi (Xenoblade 1 kingdom) mechanic who used his own weapon instead of a conjured Blade.  The mentor of House Reid's Founder seemed like Dunban because of his "calm and constant disposition" and lack of a right arm.  (One of Dunban's arms was disabled in Xenoblade 1 because he used the Monado in spite of not being its rightful wielder.)


The fog on the Erythia Sea was the fault of Level 48 Misty Medooz monsters, who dealt heavy damage to a party 20 levels their senior with Toxic Gas.


To reach the stormy sea, the party had to get six samples of metal from different areas around Aionios, but I spent the rest of the session doing side quests instead.  I had no idea when the point of no return would be for Xenoblade 3.


I thought I'd forgotten to get Spectal Rémy's Soulhack ability, and my suspicions were confirmed when the party received the Toxic Gas attack.  Toxic Gas is an Ether attack that buffs the user with Power Charge for their next Art.  Surprisingly, it doesn't inflict any kind of poison when the player casts it, unless that comes with the upgrade.


One of the greatest victories in Xenoblade 3 came when the Level 67 party murdered Level 71 Sundappled Floria near the Great Sword in spite of the odds.  Sundappled Floria had high evasion in addition to its level advantage.  Its Electric Skin Art dealt heavy Ether damage to everyone and Dazed them too.  Sacrificial Heal combined with Sense of Danger saved the party from extinction multiple times.  Multiple Chain Attacks were required to kill this giant foe:  one dealt 453,302, and another dealt 1,327,308.  Sundappled Floria's reward was worth the risk:  the Electric Skin spell which could Daze enemies!


Daze sounds worse than Launch at first, until you realize that Burst can only be applied after Daze, and Burst removes the enemy's burning HP bar bonus.


I'd forgotten to beat Level 58 Foolhardy Saide in the Cadensia Region until now, which was a standard "ramming dinosaur" enemy.  Its Soul Hack Art was Rhino Storm, a physical move that could block Blowdown and Knockback while used.  Not really worth a slot for the Attackers.


Side Story:  Sena was really more about Shania, who had been reborn as a Moebius after her suicide at Agnus Castle.  She didn't just feel inferior to the annoying Ghondor, but was pushed into the Ouroboros training by her mother who cared only for the honor of House Reid, and openly preferred the dead sister Titania.  Shania is the best-written villain in the game, and it's odd to see a character like her in a story that mostly has cackling devils as the antagonists.


Shania had burned part of the City while Ghondor and the party were gathering supplies, and had frozen everyone in time.  As Level 55 Moebius S, she could also freeze the team at will with Stasis Command.  There was nothing anyone could do but wait for Stasis Command to expire as S attacked them with moves like the spinning Nexus Slice and Mad Shot fireballs.  One Chain Attack aligned properly, and Noah's Sumo Press led to a total of 2,687,105 damage!  Shania's final scenes before her death had her smiling at Ghondor, and flashbacks of her dad complementing the pictures she painted.  Completing Side Story:  Sena increased the Ogre cap to 20, but surprisingly didn't do it for Martial Artist despite it being as much of a Ghondor quest as a Sena story.


Another of Valdi's robots was causing trouble:  a Level 68 Keves Armadillo at Colony Iota.  Valdi called it Cyberchum to fit the naming theme of Mechafriend and Robobuddy.  The party leveled to 68 and many more Collectopaedia Cards opened up to increase Affinity for colonies.  Colony Iota was now at 5* just like Colony 4.


I investigated the Soul Hack menu, which you can find by pressing Y in the Heroes menu.  If you've already killed a Unique without learning its move, the menu helpfully tells you what Unique it is and which Region it lives in.  Soulhacker does have Break and Launch moves, Hawk Shot and Bomberhead respectively, but I haven't found those bosses yet.  They must be found very late in the game.  Through the menu, I found out that I hadn't killed Bloodsucking Elvis yet, so I finally struck down the bat near Eunie's old colony.  It taught Double Strike to the party, which wasn't a remarkable attack, but every Soul Hack adds to the class's Talent Art power.


At this point I stopped playing for the day.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

A rematch with Blazing Karlos unlocked Dino Storm, an Ether Art that dodges enemy attacks in its casting animation.  Fireblade Faltaar unlocked the similarly named Ether attack Dino Flash, which is twice as powerful when the caster's HP is at least 90% of maximum.  This could combine well with a Sacrificial Heal from other party member, but remember that only 6 move slots are available.


Based on the Soul Hack menu, it's likely that Hawk Shot comes from a Unique between the levels of 31-37 in the Pentelas Region.  A Break move would have been the best presents for Soulhackers, but unfortunately I never found the boss that dropped it.  There's no indicator on the minimap that a Unique is nearby as opposed to any other enemy.  So I wasted a lot of time scouring the Pentelas Region, but I did find Level 50 Gracious Titania in the Urayan Tunnels, who fought exactly the same as every other giant spider.  Electric Skin was upgraded during the fight, and the prize was an Art called Battle Pheromone, which I forgot to look up at the time.


Level 28 Shimmering Marcko in Urayan Tunnels was a weaker version of Depriti Pippito, the squirrel summoned in the Cadensia Region.  I'd forgotten to check all the ziplines earlier, and so I missed this boss.  Its reward was the most disappointing in the game.  Radiant Arts was a one move Smash combo when both squirrels used it, but for the player?  All it does is dodge attacks and increase accuracy by 30%.


One strange location was an unmarked area of Great Cotte Falls with a glowing handprint on the rocks.  Is it part of a side quest?  The worst part of the High Maktha Wildwoold was when I saw a platform across a gap with a Container (and possibly a Unique monster), only to find no way to get to it.  Jumping didn't work, and there was no nearby tunnel or zipline leading to it.


The elevator in Colony Tau actually led to Low Maktha Wildwood, but I had to find the other side before it would activate.  At this point, I used bonus experience to increase everyone to Level 72 to explore new areas.  If I weren't holding back, they would have jumped to around Level 79 instead. 


Low Maktha Wildwood was mostly a poison swamp, which was harmless due to Segiri's Traversal Skill.  The side quests for Colony Tau and Li Garte Prison Camp had the funny result of making the party fight monsters that were around 17 levels lower than the random enemies!  Someone on the monster design team must have had a grudge against the side quest developers. . .


I tried to fight a Level 78 Spartan Finnick, but this resulted in death by rapid-fire pecks and Ether type Water Pistol casts.  The final area of Low Maktha Wildwood was also off-limits since its basic enemies were Level 91!


Wheelideeli the Nopon merchant wearing the novelty spiral glasses demanded hundreds of thousands of gold in installments to refurbish Li Garte Prison Camp.  Since I didn't spend much money for most of the game anyway, I finished the remodeling all at once.  It didn't look much better before, but at least now there were a few Containers and a new fabricator available.


Consul U was the mastermind behind Colony Tau's culture.  For some reason, the protagonists believed her when she told them to get Twineturf.  What U actually did with the Twineturf was to burn it to attract Level 48 monsters like Annon Rhinons to Colony Tau.  She was as much of a cartoon villain as the majority of the Consuls.  No sympathetic motivations like for M, N, J, or S.  (Or Triton, but he barely counts as Moebius.)  Although these fights were trivial, they at least upgraded Sense of Danger and Toxic Gas.


Level 50 Moebius U herself was an easy boss whose signature attack was Toxic Bullet.  A well timed Sumo Press in a Chain Attack gave the combo a total of 1,316,025 damage.  Ouroboros forms finished the battle.  For some reason, the party still let U continue talking for a while until Juniper came to her senses and shot arrows at her.  These party members are too soft on Moebius!


Attempting to fight Level 75 Demonic Krenolur the flying beetle in the Cadensia Region was doomed when it slaughtered the entire party at once with Anguished Wail when the boss was around half HP.  Level 72 Jealous Mizraile the cobra, however, was possible, if a long fight.  The move to watch out for here was Serpentine Blow, a spinning jump Art that dealt heavy damage to a wide area.  Only Sacrificial Heal and Sense of Danger could save the team.  Its Soul Hack reward was mediocre:  Creeping Predator, a Skill that gives a 15% attack bonus when striking from behind.  Consider that you only get 3 Skill slots, and two of those are reserved for Sacrificial Heal and Sense of Danger.


Going in Elgares Depths in the Aetia Region wasn't an option when the enemies at the entrance were around Level 77, all Elites in a group.  Instead, I decided to continue with the story.  Nia gave the party the first sample of metal needed to finish the ship, and she explained some of the Origin's schematics.  An Agnian Nopon had designed it, possibly Tora from Xenoblade 2.  Nia knew so much about the world since a machine in Cloudkeep taught her information while she was sleeping.


Given how long the high level Uniques take, some of them may be reserved for a postgame bonus post if I'm feeling up to it.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Noah and his companions found most of the metal for the ship in this session.  One was in the far north of Everblight Plain, in the area I thought was pointless when I first explored it.  A random Level 59 Rockheart Ropl attacked on sight in an unrelated fight, a typical experience in Xenoblade 3.


The next piece of metal was on the Cape Arcophor island in the Erythia Sea.  I hadn't explored large parts of this island earlier due to the poison swamp.  Along the way, the party fought several Uniques.  Level 60 Covetous Gerondon was a basic giant frog that dropped Aquaball, an Art that might be useful for a change.  It's an Ether attack that deals 70% more damage to Terrestrial Life.


Level 63 Talkative Dirakha was much more interesting because it was an angler fish with coral on its back.  It usually increased the strength of its attacks with Lantern's Glow.  One memorable moment occurred when it chewed up and spat out Taion with Fanged Feed, sending his corpse flying into the water.  Sumo Press's Smash property increased the power of one Chain Attack to 1,091,569.  Talkative Dirakha's reward was Deeply Tactical, which raises TP for a character at the start of Chain Attacks by 5.  I checked on the upgraded Sense of Danger, and now it has a 100% activation rate for the buffs instead of 75%.


The last Unique in this part was Level 60 Otherworldly Rodsin, a flying eel (?) that often summoned Level 58 Abyssal Medooz enemies.  It specialized in wide attacks such as Lightning Storm and Jet Stream.  The latter Art was the reward for the battle, and it's a physical attack that causes Blowdown.  The next piece of metal was behind the waterfall near Otherwordly Rodsin.  "Always check behind the waterfall" is such an RPG cliche that Xenoblade 3 does it twice:  once with Colony Lambda's location, and now with the Origin metal.


In Elaice Highway north of Colony Iota, the party had to dig up "earth mounds" because Tirkins had buried the Origin metal.  There was no fight here, but I checked all the mounds and got a few collectibles too.  The next Origin metal was in the gullet of Level 58 Swaroog Rhana in Low Maktha Wildwood.  The name probably comes from the Spanish for "frog", "la rana", and it fought just like a weaker version of Covetous Gerondon.  Why do all the mission fights in Low Maktha Wildwood have monsters that would die to any random enemy in the area?


A cutscene played with a flashback featuring Noah's old off-seer friend Crys in his incarnation 1000 years ago.  He was arguing with Consul V over whether a promising 10th termer should be harvested for life, or sent off for the Homecoming.  M convinced Consul V that Z wanted him to be sent off rather than killed directly.  Since this proved M was Moebius 1,000 years ago, that meant N burned the old City before then.  Nothing had changed much in the past 1,000 years, fitting the theme of Moebius trying to keep the world in stasis forever.


Z in his evil movie theater wondered if the "formless dead" would respond to "the Queen's awakening".  Crys was revealed to be a Moebius, and Z sent him to go after Noah.  The final piece of Origin metal was in Gardin Defense Base near Keves Castle, starting the "side quest that isn't" called Side Story:  Noah.


EDIT:  I've now played more Xenoblade 3 than the entire Baldur's Gate series.  Will it knock Xenoblade 1 down a spot next?

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Noah wanted to infiltrate Gardin Defense Base via ziplines through the floating reefs, so of course I approached the front gate and fought Level 64 Infiltrator Garnach instead.  It was a typical "heavy Kevesi robot" with moves like Heat Injection and Erasure Buster.  Once you've seen enough enemies in Xenoblade 3, you start to notice the recycling.  However, its Soul Hack was wonderful for the Soulhacker Suicide Squad.  Super Explosion is a passive Skill that "deals 1000% of Attack in damage to nearby enemies when incapacitated".  So Soulhackers don't just heal and provide buffs to survivors when they die, but can also hurt their foes too?


Gardin Defense Base was too quiet.  All the buildings in the castle town of Fort O'Virbus were locked.  Mio pointed out in a cutscene that Z and X were originally Moebius, not converted humans like J, M, and N.  Crys fought the party twice in the Keves Castle throne room because he wanted to test their convictions, even though the results of the end of Moebius would be uncertain for the world.  Level 60 Consul Crys had many music-themed Arts suitable for the master off-seer, such as Lightning Resonance and Staccato Shock.  Occasionally he would knock out a character, but the overleveled party won with Taion's Ouroboros Talent Art called Eightfold Divide.


Round 2 had Level 61 Consul Crys in his Flame Clock mech.  Nocturne Sword sometimes Dazed one of the heroes, and the party returned the favor with Electric Skin.  The final Chain Attack was a rare event when Noah had drawn Lucky Seven in advance, and he Smashed the boss with a fusion of Gravity Blow and Power Raiser. 


Crys and Noah's conversation implied that all people ruled by Moebius were incarnations of the first humans of Aionios.  Otherwise they wouldn't have been recorded in Origin.  Side Story:  Noah was complete, which raised the Swordfighter cap to 20 and made the team gain another level.


Fort O'Virbus's restaurant meal was Cured-Meat Vizzard, which raised experience gain by 40%.  Stefaan the depressed painter's art could sell for hundreds of thousands of G in the City, and he wanted a model for his next portrait.  Based on his vague description, I assumed he wanted to see the annoying Fiona. . .and I was right!


Noah and friends brought the Origin metal to complete the ship, now named the Bravery.  Bravery had a turbo boost feature when sailing the Erythia Sea.  Samon the Nopon engineer wanted everyone to bring "odd shards" so he could upgrade everyone's Blades.  These "odd shards" were glowing items that I'd found while exploring Aionios, and I knew they'd be useful later.  What's the catch?  To complete this quest, you have to find several legendary Nopon, and the game gives no hints as to their locations.  Monolith Soft must have assumed the player would look at YouTube or GameFAQs anyway.  I may cover this in a bonus episode, but for now I'll skip the quest.


Nopon were dancing on a beach because they'd met a legendary Nopon cook, starting the Hero Quest for Riku + Manana.


EDIT:  I still had to follow the recommended route to Gardin Defense Base because the gate behind Infiltrator Garnach was locked.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Riku + Manana's quest was on Daedal Isle, home of many Elite dinosaurs and apes that were too big for the Switch handheld screen to display properly.  They did make for impressive fights however, and the party gained a few levels with the help of Overkill from Chain Attacks.  Never managed to complete that Hero Quest, however, since I was short on the materials necessary and the enemy needed to get them failed to reappear.


The party sailed over the waterfalls in the Erythia Sea and set out for Origin.  Lost Numbers troops assisted with their vehicles, and Z retaliated by firing upon every colony, including the ones still loyal to Moebius.  The party was surprised to find out that the purple metal inside of Origin was of the same material as Noah's sword, even though this was explicitly pointed out in the ship building missions!  RPG parties have slow wits compared to the readers of Realms Beyond.  (But not as slow the player writing these posts!)


Monsters inside of Origin were in the mid to late 60s and attacked on sight in the linear narrow corridors, making them annoying and generally unrewarding.  I was thinking of Origin as the Star Forge, even if it's not quite as bad.  The Uniques here were stronger versions of the regular enemies.  Level 67 Creeping Hameel gave Attack Mastery, a Skill which increases attack power for every Soul Hack acquired.  It's the class's Talent Art as a passive buff, and I equipped it to my Attackers. 


Level 65 Defiled Ishtar was a bat, and appropriately taught the party Vampire Bat, an attack that heals based on Healing Power when it hits.  Level 72 Reaping Anteel had some allies, though it too fell and gave Healing Mastery to the team.  Healing Mastery is the Healer version of Attack Mastery, which isn't nearly as useful considering Soulhacker's strength is in Sacrificial Heal anyway. 


N fought the party twice in an attempt to keep them from freeing Melia from her chains, and he was Level 68 both times.  He was similar to the previous battles, with some of the same moves like Shred the Strawman, which Toppled one character.  The only significant difference in the second battle was that he had a permanent burning HP meter. 


N had a god complex as big as Zanza's:  "As their original creator, I held dominion over their lives and deaths!"  Noah eventually convinced N that his current actions weren't what M would have wanted, and that he should let go of his regret and merge.  N became a part of Noah, as seen in the combination Moebius and Ouroboros symbol in his eye.


Melia's speech disappointed me a bit due to the lack of any Xenoblade 1 references.  Xenoblade 3 can work as a standalone game if you haven't played the rest of the series, but you will miss some details.  Melia told everyone that the "nucleus of Origin" was below, and that Z was a "concept" of fear and uncertainty more than a person.  Melia decided to return to Keves Castle to ensure everyone there was free from Moebius. 


Meanwhile, Monica and Ghondor were planning an attack on the defenses outside of Origin.  Monica sent a flying robot named Gilgamesh.  This wouldn't be the first RPG I've played with a robot Gilgamesh:  remember Heart of Ice?


(What's much worse is that I've played at least two RPGs with a "Your Meowjesty":  Ni No Kuni 1 and Bravely Second.)


For most of this session, I've used Riku + Manana as the Hero.  In spite of not having finished their Hero Quest to power them up to job level 20, they were still useful for their Break inducing Art.  One for the blooper reel:  I switched Taion to an Attacker Soulhacker, but forgot to change the Defender Arts for a while.  So he was gaining aggro unnecessarily with moves like Neck Slice and Beast Howl.  As of the end of the session, the Hero is now Alexandria.  She has a Break attack too, and she's at job level 20. 


Lanz is a Signifier, not because the job is good for the party, but because it's both a Healer who can revive and an Agnian class that can equip the Break-Topple-Launch combo as Fusion Arts.  Who needs to pass random buffs manually when Sense of Danger does that for free?


The next session might be the last in the main story.


EDIT:  Origin is NOT a point of no return, even though its location means it should be in any sensible story.  You can fast travel to other places, and even deliver new collectibles to colonies with Collectopaedia Cards.


EDIT 2:  The original joke about the Xenoblade 3 characters sounded like I was insulting the Realms Beyond readers, when I actually intended to be rude to the characters in the game.  And some self-deprecation.  

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Finale Part 1


I finished the game today, but there's so much to say that I'll split it into two posts.  The party was unable to defeat a party of Level 69-70 Uniques called Hollow Ones since Lanz and Sena, two of my three characters who could revive, were transformed into Ouroboros as the party started to die.  One of my biggest fears for the rest of the game was the possibility of Noah + Mio and Lanz + Sena staying transformed as they watched the others perish.


Level 69 Pressing Rafael dropped a Skill called Defense Mastery, but I didn't even bother to check it at the time.  The next boss fight was a horde of Level 68 Kurria Flaks, which were similar to the waves of enemies the party had to fight through to get to this point.  Origin may have had noticeably different graphics than the rest of the game, but as an area to explore it was tedious.  Monica and Ghondor came to the rescue against the Kurria Flaks, and both said their reason for coming was to see Z for themselves.  The party found it funny that they came to the same conclusion independently, considering how much Ghondor hated Monica.


Level 69 Clinging Azreel yielded Elimination Beam, an Ether attack that decreased Physical Defense.  Noah equipped it to his Fusion Arts and used it until the end.  Level 70 Moebius X returned as a boss fight, and she was different enough this time for me to describe her here.  One of her main gimmicks was Trick Balloon, which sent balloons into the air to cause heavy damage and inflict Bleed on the party.  Crazed Headhunt had a chance of instantly killing a character with Doom and a scythe swing, and it happened to Eunie at least once.  Discerning Eye lowered the party's Ether Defense and Physical Defense.  Vengeful Judge was a series of wild scythe swings.


Taion may have killed Moebius X with a cinematic Eightfold Divide, but she didn't even have the dignity of a death cutscene.  She just disappeared after the fight ended.  Did the developers rush this part?  Also, is it possible to kill X here, and then go back to do Side Story:  Eunie where she appears?


Level 71 Thaumawolf Bajeek surrendered a Skill called Wolf Spirit that I didn't use.  The only thing to note was that Beast Howl worked differently for enemies, where it was a Critical Rate buff instead of a way to increase aggro on a Soulhacker.  I made the final class change in the game:  making Mio into a Troubadour.  It had the Agnian capacity for Break combos, and had a circle buff that sped up Art cooldowns. 


Level 70 Moebius Y returned, but was much more boring than Moebius X.  He was just another "grappler demon" with Body Trap as far as gameplay mechanics were concerned, and he had an overly large HP bar like many late game bosses.  Would these fights have been noticeably faster with the Blade upgrades that I never found?


At last, the party entered the Amphitheater and confronted Z.  Lanz was understandably confused when he gave his evil speech, since Z didn't quite make it clear whether he wanted to stop time, or make everyone surrender to "the flow".  


The first phases of the final battle was more of an interactive cutscene than a real fight.  Level 72 Z disabled Chain Attacks and Interlinks, making this section a slow boxing match with the Soulhackers.  Z froze the floor to slow down the party's movement in one part, and dealt gradual damage to them in the next part by burning the floor.  Z summoned a force field and showed the party traumatic scenes from their pasts on the movie screen, only for the heroes to express their desire to move on and regain the ability to use Chain Attacks and Ouroboros transformations.  To destroy the shield, several Ouroboros Orders in Chain Attacks came up.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

When the Z fight proceeded normally, Noah Overkilled him with a Sumo Press Smash in a Chain Attack, followed by a Brilliant Ascension Ouroboros Order just for humiliation.  The damage total was 2,136,115.


Z transformed into a kind of purple ghostly head on, and warned the party that both worlds would be destroyed if time were allowed to restart.  Origin turned into a giant robot and scared the inhabitants of the City, who ran for cover.  Melia and Nia transformed their castles into mechs as well, and started to attack Origin to give the party a chance. 


Z was now Level 75, lower than Zanza from Xenoblade 1 who was Level 82 if I'm not mistaken.  The following fights were still extremely long, and if I had lost, I certainly would have used all my bonus experience to speed it up next time.  Moebius Breath inflicted Toxin and Ether Defense Down.  Archon Purge sent waves of energy at multiple characters, and was especially deadly in the last phase.  Moonless spread a Toppling wave at everyone.  Hand of Origin shot lasers.  Breaking Z was possible if difficult, and even Smashes didn't have the dramatic effects it had on other enemies. 


The next phase had Noah, Eunie, and Lanz fighting a Level 75 "X" without the Agnian party members.  Lanz was the only Healer in the Kevesi group, and he died.  But after the boss cast Meaningless Pain to Topple and deal heavy damage, these guest Heroes joined:  Zeon, Miyabi, Monica, Isurd, Segiri, and Triton.  They weren't added to the party directly, but Miyabi in particular was a big help with her regeneration fields.  "X" had much less health than Z's earlier forms. 


Agnian party members had to kill Level 75 "Y", with the help of Teach, Ashera, Valdi, Juniper, Gray, and Fiona.  Mio was the Troubadour, and Sena had an Accessory to revive outside of a Healer class, so they fared better.  Alexandria the Hero in the party fought for Mio, Taion, and Sena.


Once both "X" and "Y" were down, Level 75 Z returned for the final round.  Astraea sent a tornado to Break any character that somehow survived its tornado.  Moebius Diffusion dissolved the face for a couple of seconds to wound the entire party.  Melia and Nia joined the fight personally.  Melia used a spear instead of her Xenoblade 1 spells for some reason, and Nia rapidly slashed Z with a sword.  Taion transformed into his Ouroboros form to cast Body Double and Atomize, but failed to build up the meter for Eightfold Divide.  But regular fighting with the Level 77 party eliminated Z for good.


Z raved that "The self is all that exists!" and "the only cure for despair is total oblivion" as if he were in a Final Fantasy game, but still persisted until the ghosts of N and M merged with the light, symbolizing their desire to move on rather than hold onto the present forever.  Noah tried to convince them to stay, fitting the theme of everyone having desires like Moebius. 


In the ending, Keves and Agnus would separate into the two worlds of Xenoblade 1 and 2.  The Kevesi and Agnian characters rushed towards each other to stay as either romantic couples or friends, but their land masses drifted apart.  From here on out, the ending followed the Kevesi characters rather than the Agnian ones, implying that either the developers or the fans preferred the first game to the second.  The hands on the clock in the Keves castle town from the first scenes in the game started to move.  A young Noah was looking at it, and the child versions of Eunie, Lanz, and Joran told him to come with them or he'll miss out on the celebration.


Features Unlocked After Beating the Game


-You can level down like Expert Mode in Xenoblade 1's Switch version.
-Heroes can now have custom Accessories rather than being locked to the default ones.
-Swordfighters can change the appearance of their weapon.  A picture shows Noah with the Monado.


New Game+


-Chain Attacks and Interlinks have to be unlocked again.
-Inventory is kept, but not Key Items, except for Origin Shards, The Art of Flow, and Nopon Coins.
-Unique Monsters are revived, but you keep Soulhacker abilities.


Final Time After Credits:  127:00.


(Told you this was a long RPG!)


Opinions


Xenoblade 3 is highly recommended if you like Xenoblade 1, since the tone of the story and combat system are similar.  The job system keeps Xenoblade 3 from growing stale for the most part, though Uniques are recycled into stronger versions more often than I'd like.  Side quests are much less annoying than in Xenoblade 1, especially since you get experience point rewards early on instead of having to do long quest chains.  There are still some that practically require a guide, so I ignored them in this playthrough.  My only major complaint about the battle system is that it can drag on near the end of the game, where it becomes overly dependent on Chain Attacks.  Eventually you'll have to make a choice between making a Soulhacker party or ignoring the job, because it barely interacts with other classes.


I may do a bonus episode for extra areas and Uniques if I'm feeling up to it, though I will use a guide if that occurs since the "blind" playthrough is over.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 BONUS


As for the Soulhacker Skills that I hadn't looked at before:


Wolf Spirit-Auto attack speed increases per ally with same "role" (e.g. Power Soul?)

Defense Mastery-Damage reduction per Soulhacker Art and Skill learned


Level 37 Terrorbird Zieger was found on the tallest peak of Dannagh Desert.  I'd been there earlier, but must have been at too low a level to fight it at the time.  This is why Xenoblade 3 could use some hints within the game for finding Uniques.  It taught Hawk Shot to the party, finally giving them a Break move that would have come in handy during the storyline! 


If you're wondering what level the party would be if I weren't holding back against the final boss, it's 87.  Z made a lot of people angry on the GameFAQs forums due to the length of the fights and cutscenes. 


As for Riku + Manana's Hero Quest, it was finally resolved.  Tempapa wasn't a "cheffypon", but rather a smith who made a new cooking pot and enjoyed his reputation too much.  Without a guide, I would never have found all the Nopon smiths in the postgame.


Level 73 Oceanic Lubera in the Cadensia Region taught the party Bomberhead and highlighted the flaws of the battle system in the endgame.  It took over 15 minutes to kill this Unique even though the party was 14 levels higher.  Part of the reason for this was that it was effectively immune to Smash since monsters flying over a pit are automatically cured of Topple.  Bomberhead is a Launch move, and it removed the need to have any token non-Soulhacker in the party to complete the Break combo.


Apparently the weapon upgrades only have minor effects, so much that one site said they were cosmetic, and they only apply to the characters' default classes.


The postgame does have some new features, as Melia and Nia can join the party as Heroes!  Noah receives Melia's  Attacker class of Royal Summoner, based on her magic in Xenoblade 1 with moves like Summon Element, Shadow Stitch, and Elemental Discharge.  The Talent Art of Element Genesis is used to cause great damage after preparing elements in advance.  Nia passes her Lifesage job to Mio.  It's a Healer class with direct HP restoration, a Regenerate field, and Ether attacks such as Saber Slash and Last Hope.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 BONUS 2


There was one set of Uniques in Origin who defeated the party before they killed Z:  Level 69-70 Hollow Ones.  But now that they had Melia on the team, they exacted their vengeance.  Melia has an especially powerful Chain Attack gimmick compared to other Heroes:  being able to go above 100% when you pick her so another character can hopefully reach 150% or 200%.  This lets more characters recover after each round of the Chain Attack so they can be used again. 


Hollow Ones fought like a Kevesi or Agnian army, and Dishonest Karom was the Target Lock "Defender" of the group.  Still, with Chain Attacks that could go as high as 4,051,949 power, the Hollow Ones' Arts and Skills were easy to steal.  Evasive Posture is a Stance that increases evasion but decreases damage, so it's not useful for this team.  Berserker Mindset gives a 30% damage bonus in exchange for taking 15% more damage.  Exoshell "reduces damage taken by 5%" per enemy defeated in the current fight.  Magic Transmutation might be the best in the list since it's a 60% damage increase when suffering from a debuff.


The Healers equipped Defense Mastery, and then headed for the Cadensia Region to hunt Uniques on Daedal Isle.  The Soulhackers' first target was Level 75 Demonic Krenolur the flying beetle.  With a Chain Attack ending in Brilliant Ascension, the team dealt a total of 4,006,726 damage.  The advantage of having Hawk Shot and Bomberhead was the possibility of Smashing a boss twice in one Chain Attack.  One of its signature moves was Hydra Gas, which inflicted Daze once on Noah.  But when used by a player, it causes Resistance Down.  This might have been useful if it were in the "Kevesi" Arts rather than the "Agnian" Fusion Arts.


Level 78 Ragemaw Tempeldo was a typical Dino Torrent fireball spewing flying monster hovering over a pit, preventing Topples (and Smashes) during Chain Attacks.  For this reason, it took over 11 minutes to kill.  Its Celestial Conqueror Skill increases damage by 20%, but only when HP is at max.  This could work with Sacrificial Heal, but the bonus is small compared to other attack increasing passive abilities.


Noah and friends finally explored the Elgares Depths in the Aetia Region, only to be disappointed by most of what they saw.  It was a drab cave with high level versions of typical monsters, such as Shreddle Vang bats, Sweetless Brog toads, and Bemot Ropls.  The Level 78 Ropls attacked on sight, so anyone playing a Xenoblade 3 drinking game can take a sip.  In fact, the Ropls were the only monsters outside of the Unique's room that attacked the team at all, since they were at Level 87.


Level 80 Fang-King Clavein was one of those dinosaurs that was clearly meant for a big screen TV rather than a Switch Lite.  Its Tail Flip hit multiple characters for minor damage.  It often summoned Level 76 Cadine Grebels, which were easily killed by Taion's Ouroboros form.  Be sure to purchase the "Art canceling" upgrades, since those reduce the lag between Ouroboros attacks and give you enough time to cast Talent Arts like Eightfold Divide.  Gaia Crash could kill an Attacker like Taion from full HP, and hit multiple targets.  With Melia's help, the Soulhackers Overkilled Fang-King Clavein with a 5,492,433 Chain Attack!


Fang-King Clavein's Skill is Counter Puncher, which is a 6% chance to activate Power Charge when dodging an attack.  Why do Level 80 monsters give you such weak and situational abilities when a Level 40 Unique gives the best Healer Skill in the game?


Speaking of Level 80 Uniques, the Soulhackers tried to fight Jingoistic Gigantus on a river in Millick Meadows.  This was a mistake.  Venom Cloud Burst had a wide range and inflicted Blaze, rendering Defenders redundant.  Wild Wave was survivable since it had minor power.  But the burning HP bar combined with high attack speed crushed the party, with or without Sacrificial Heal.


The Cavity, a high 80s-90 level area created by the Agnus Castle Annihilator's destruction of part of the Great Sword, was an anticlimax.  There weren't any Uniques that I could find there, and even the Level 90 foes could be killed quickly without Chain Attacks.  Guess it's a good place to power level.  Mio's Blade was the last to be upgraded by the Nopon smiths, since The Cavity had the last of the Origin Shards. 


Not many side quests seem to be available now other than killing more Uniques.  It seems the last thing to do as far as Realms Beyond would be interested in is to explore the last area of the Low Maktha Wildwood.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Xenoblade 3 BONUS Finale


After the session ended, I looked up what differences Hard mode has from Normal.  This whole playthrough has been on Hard.  According to Nintendo Everything, these modifiers are used:


-50% more HP for enemies
-25% more attack for enemies
-50% extra resistance to Debuffs
-25% shorter duration for Break, Topple, Daze, and Launch
-25% less healing from all sources
-25% slower charging for Talent Arts
-25% slower Interlink gauge buildup
-25% faster Heat Gauge during Interlink
-25% slower Chain Attack gauge buildup
-125% starting Chain Attack multiplier rather than 150%
-50% damage multiplier increase at end of a Chain Attack round


I disagree with the notion in the article that "this makes Chain Attacks a far less reliable strategy in Hard mode", since they're still the primary source of damage, and can be an effective source of HP restoration with a high damage multiplier if you're not relying on Soulhackers' Sacrificial Heal.  The debuff resistance increase for enemies must hit Machine Assassins hard, since that's the whole point of that job.


Now for the main event.  I'd almost forgotten about the Levnis Workyard in the Cadensia Region, so the party traveled there to fight Level 91 Obliterator Centaurio.  They had grown to Level 88 after a long Chain Attack against an Elite in a previous fight in the area, and wanted to test their strength.  Obliterator Centaurio was a giant Agnian robot and fought like one, with strong single target moves like Punishment Shot and a wide light show called Downpour.  The most dangerous Art it had was probably Psychowave.


Most of the battle was ordinary, and Chain Attacks hit anywhere from 1,495,202 to 2,696,439 depending on how much the boss was willing to resist Break.  I once had to manually switch to the Lanz + Sena Ouroboros to get them to shut down the transformation and revive the rest of the party.  Just before the boss would have died to Taion's Ouroboros attacks, a female voice shouted "Topple!" and sent the boss falling off the edge of the pier into the Erythia Sea.  This ended the battle as if the party had retreated.  No items, no Soulhacker ability, no Gold Nopon Coins, nothing. 


It wouldn't be one of my playthroughs without a glitch like this occurring.  Tales of Vesperia 3DS had the party and the final boss fight an endless battle because the ending failed to load.  Subnautica crashed during the ending just after the Sea Emperor Leviathan gave her speech about dying.  Baldur's Gate 1 sent me to a nonexistent chapter as if everything were normal in the city of Baldur's Gate, and Irenicus once failed to send me to the Nine Hells in Baldur's Gate 2 after the first fight.  Consider this incident the "official" end of the Xenoblade 3 run since it's too silly not to close the curtain here.


If all goes well, the next game will be Dragon Quest 11.  It has challenge variants built into the game, and I'm already coming up with stupid post titles. . .