The Xenoblade Obsession Returns

On 04/15/2015 at 01:14 PM by mothman

I swapped out Persona Q for Xenoblade last Friday to check it out for a bit, fully intending to go back after a few hours.

Well that didn't work out so well. Since last Friday it's all I've been playing. I'd forgotten how deep the rabbit hole goes in this game. Crafting gems, constantly upgrading weapons and armour, taking on quest after quest, raising my affinity with my team and NPCs, upgrading and switching skills..... it just keeps on going.

I'm 13 hours in and I'm still making sure all the timed quests from the refugee camp are done so that I don't lose them and looking around Colony 9 at different times of day to find new quests there. I love running around the Bionis Leg trying to remember where stuff is and avoiding giant enemies I have no chance of beating.

The Bionis Leg is my favourite area of the game. It's like Bob-omb Battlefield x 100 with much scarier critters. No racing with Koopa the Quick though.

This time though I'm paying more attention to what I should be doing in battles rather than hacking away and hoping for the best. Even after beating it once I still need to figure out why Shulk sometimes cannot act at all during parts of battles. Yes I know it can be status ailments but sometimes battles start and all my action choices are X'd out.

Finally the downgrade in graphical detail and the fact I'm playing on a small screen has ceased to mean anything to me. So the resolution isn't all that it might be but the detail that is still in the environments like trees moving in the wind and lightning storms that illuminate distant objects is quite amazing.

In other news my friend is out of the hospital now and resting at home. He finds out today what the next steps are. I've got everything crossed for a good prognosis.

FAF101

04/15/2015 at 01:50 PM

Glad your friend is okay!

I still need to play Xenoblade...I have it on the Wii and never touched it yet.

mothman

04/15/2015 at 02:04 PM

Yeah you should fix that. I'd love to still have my Wii version back but the money was much more important so I sold it.

04/15/2015 at 02:08 PM

Understandable. I have a lot of Wii games I need to beat! It's certainly one I have been wanting to play. I watch someone on Twich messing around in it every now and then and it looks like such a great game.

V4Viewtiful

04/15/2015 at 07:45 PM

Play it and waste your life.

PLAYIT!

Matt Snee Staff Writer

04/15/2015 at 01:58 PM

I think you've got... Xeno-addiction!

Happy to hear your friend is doing better. Our bodies are treacherous.

You're really making me want to play this, but I spent a lot of money this month already, and I have to wait.

04/15/2015 at 02:05 PM

... and you still have the Wii version.

04/15/2015 at 04:21 PM

but that's not shiny and new!!!

goaztecs

04/15/2015 at 02:15 PM

Good to hear about your friend, and being able to be at home instead of the hospital.

bullet656

04/15/2015 at 02:25 PM

I recently opened up my Wii copy for the first time and have now put about 25 hours in to it. I'm really enjoying it, although like you I'm not always certain what is going on in battles.

Sometimes I can swear I have no ailments and am in the correct range of the opponent, but still everything is X'd out. I'm sure I probably just missed the screen that might have explained it. I just recently realized that the monado can only charged by allowing Shulk to auto-attack. I spent the first 3/4 of the time I was playing it getting frustrated that sometimes it didn't seem to ever refill and not understanding why.

04/15/2015 at 03:37 PM

I started thinking last night in bed (lol) that it's a target thing and shulk is auto-targeting something he can't reach. I haven't tried it yet but maybe using the shoulder buttons to switch targets might help. I've started using the zR plus directional buttons to tell my team to attack the same enemy that I'm attacking or let them loose. I never actually used that on the Wii.

GeminiMan78

04/15/2015 at 07:42 PM

Glad to hear your friend is doing better. I need to dust off my copy of XenoBlade. I got about 20 hours in before I got distracted by Borderlands or something. Unfortunately the Wii just does not look very good on my hdtv.

04/15/2015 at 07:49 PM

Games and Healthy Friends are all we need.

I don't know what's my favourite area yet, It could be the swamp.

04/15/2015 at 09:52 PM

Too right Ash other than you forgot beer :)

jgusw

04/16/2015 at 08:23 AM

I have yet to open my Wii copy. I don't know why I keep putting off the game.

NSonic79

04/16/2015 at 08:45 AM

I"m with youthere when it comes to xenoblade chronicles. I had to stop playing it for awhile when teh wife was concerned i was spending too much time on it. I need to get back on it though, I'm starting to forget where I left off.

PixlBit