Xenoblade Chronicles 2

[Shiki]

Poppi Buster is a freaking ganmen, wtf.

T-ELOS is nice, I suppose. Seems like an unique weapon type with Dark element though a part of me wishes that she is Light since only KOS-MOS can be freely distributed between the other 3 (Rex has Mythra, Tora can have a Light Core on Poppi).

Leaves us with the 3rd Blade which will be the great surprise. We will know more at the 27th of April.

Btw. they announced that you can buy Poppi Parts from ver. 1.4.0 onwards. *cue A Beautiful Song*

[Armagon]

34 minutes ago, Zeratul said:

Leaves us with the 3rd Blade which will be the great surprise. We will know more at the 27th of April.

So actually....

Back when the DLC Blade sillouetes were shown, none of them match up with T-elos. And seeing as how T-elos is free, i have a feeling that we'll be getting the other two DLC Blades later, with Poppibuster (NoE confirmed that the English name is Poppibuster, all one word) being the first to arrive on the 27th. And i get the feeling that there's more DLC Blades that we don't know about but given their nature, i don't expect too many. The description of the Challenge Mode (not the new extreme difficulty) gives off the implcation that we'll get a Blade(s) from that though.

___________________________

Speaking of Poppibuster, i'm sure you've all seen the comparisons between Mythra and Angela from Expelled from Paradise, as both characters have the same character designer, Saito. Saito also designed Poppibuster and

Literally the same mecha.

 

 

 

 

[Lightchao42]

For those who are interested, Skye Bennett's first stream of XC2 will be on May 1st at 8:00pm London time.

The new blade looks neat but I've been waiting to see the new story content before deciding on whether or not to buy the season pass. How is the content released thus far?

12 hours ago, Sire said:

In preparation of beating XC2, I finally went back and beat the first XC. (I had a save file right before the final fight. I originally intended to do all the side content and stuff, but I decided "screw it" and just beat the game.) In short, I gotta say XC2's combat is definitely better than the first. Either way, I hope the first one is remade one of these days. I'll love to explore that world again with updated visuals and the like.

Click on the following spoiler for some random speculation, following the ending of the original Xenoblade with some connection to its sequel.

  Reveal hidden contents

All right, so the world where the Bionis and the Mechonis is no more. Colony 9 is now apparently a safe haven for everybody and everything is sunshine and rainbows. (Fiora's hair is not long though. Shulk made a poor decision, I'd say!)

What got me was Shulk saying "I hope I can meet them all. The people of this endless world."

While I haven't properly beaten XC2 yet, a part of me is thinking if there is ever a XC3 how the cast of both games would interact with each other if they happen to be on the same new world. I can see Dundun be awesome again! What would a meeting between Tora and Rikki be like? Rex's salvaging combined with Shulk's engineering? What would Mor Ardain think of the High Entia?
- - - - -
Before XC3 though, I need a sequel to X. That game left so many unanswered questions and I want to be a bad*** rookie again in my Skell.

Click on the spoiler below for my gameplay ramblings.

  Reveal hidden contents

I have a concession to make. XC2's combat is definitely better than the original Xenoblade Chronicles. While the original did have some fun gimmicks (Sharla's healing rifle, Melia's ether powers, Riki's DoTs, and Shulk's Monado), I stuck to using "Seven," Dunban, and Shulk for the finale. Autoattacks with Haste+Double Attack on Seven is ridiculous even though I had fun comboing Dunban's arts together. I chewed through the final encounters easily.

Chain Attacks for epic finishes and the extended Blade Combos (Break->Topple->Launch->Smash) are definitely an improvement over the original. While I'm still not a fan on Blades and Elements, I'm sure the feature can be improved in later installments.
- - - - -
I also fired up Xenoblade Chronicles X for about an hour and ran around to do things. X's combat is different due to the focus of using both ranged and melee arts (as well as carrying a ranged and melee weapon). There is also the Skells themselves that add another layer of gameplay. One of my favorite features in X are Soul Voices, which is X's version of the QTE in battle sequences.

Essentially, comparing X's combat is different from 1&2 and probably should not be compared to them. (Off Topic, but when replaying a bit of X I remembered how small all the text was, especially if playing on the Wii U Gamepad.)
* * * * *
Back to XC2, perhaps the reason I am not totally sold on the combat is due to its equipment system. My Blades are nowhere near optimized and while I have been using Core Chips, I rarely make use of the Aux Cores. When I can stack damage on Zeke I feel pretty good (+DMG when near full health, +DMG when on max affinity, etc). Tora makes a good blocking tank with an upgraded Poppi, and Morag fairs well as an evasion tank.

Or maybe it's all just in my head. I don't know.

Out of curiosity, what part of XC2 where you on before you decided to finish the first game? Because this reminded me that I should continue my own playthrough of XC sometime soon...

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, Lightchao42 said:

The new blade looks neat but I've been waiting to see the new story content before deciding on whether or not to buy the season pass. How is the content released thus far?

I haven't bought it yet but i was waiting for the DLC Blades to show up. Prior to that, we got two waves of quest DLC, with the second wave having "multi-Blade" quests. For example, one quest involves Perceval, Perun, and Godfrey.

Poppibuster has her own quest, i'd imagine T-elos has one as well. Both probably have Heart-to-Hearts and this will apply to any future Blades that release. The amount of effort Monolith Soft has put into this game is making me want to get the Season Pass regardless. They've done such a fantastic job and that doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.

[Sire]

5 hours ago, Lightchao42 said:

The new blade looks neat but I've been waiting to see the new story content before deciding on whether or not to buy the season pass. How is the content released thus far?

Some of it is standard "extra loot" type stuff such as extra Gold and Core Crystals. However, it does contain some extremely useful Overdrive Protocols and well as a sizable amount of Ether to upgrade Poppi (60,000 total).

As for the new quests, I can only offer my opinion on some of them since I haven't cleared them all yet. I haven't had the chance to do the Blade Quests, and the basic ones are fairly standard. Two stand out for me though (M.I.A. Nopon and Upgrades and Tinkering). The Nopon one allows for crafting of Premium Cylinders which are even better than Gold, and the Upgrade one grants new Salvaging locations if I recall correctly. Upgrades and Tinkering basically revolves around Tora improving Rex's salvaging equipment, which is a plus.

Even though so far the DLC is mostly standard and can be lived without, I've had fun with the content it provided. I do look forward to the Story DLC though whenever it comes around.

5 hours ago, Lightchao42 said:

Out of curiosity, what part of XC2 where you on before you decided to finish the first game? Because this reminded me that I should continue my own playthrough of XC sometime soon...

I was at Chapter 9 of XC2 before going back to my save file (at the final battle) of the original Xenoblade Chronicles. So, I ended up finishing both XC and XC2 in the same day.

[Armagon]

3 hours ago, Sire said:

So, I ended up finishing both XC and XC2 in the same day.

So now that you've beaten XC2, what are your thoughts on it. You did give your overall thoughts on the gameplay but what about the rest? And will you be going for the side-content (collecting all the Rare Blades, taking down all of the Unique Monsters and Superbosses, etc)?

[Sire]

2 minutes ago, Armagon said:

So now that you've beaten XC2, what are your thoughts on it. You did give your overall thoughts on the gameplay but what about the rest? And will you be going for the side-content (collecting all the Rare Blades, taking down all of the Unique Monsters and Superbosses, etc)?

I am a bit of a "completionist" at heart, so I will try get all the side content done. However, I'm more about getting the side quests done and collecting the Rare Blades as 100% completion is more like a chore than fun. At the very least, I would like to finish up all the available sidequests and get quest blades before starting NewGame+. I never did get around to beating the superbosses in the original or X.
- - - - -
As for my thoughts of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, man where should I start... I guess I'll compare my experiences to the other Xenoblade titles. To save space and to possible avoid spoiling someone I'll use the spoiler tag.

Spoiler

Music is definitely an improvement over the first. While both soundtracks are excellent, I'll say there are more "memorable tracks" in 2 compared to the original. I think this is due to because the night themes in 2, as a whole,  are typically done way better than the first as in the original Xenoblade. The original did have awesome night tracks like Eryth Sea and Satorl Marsh, but 2 has Alba Cavanish, Theosior, Tantal, Uraya, and so on.
Currently the Mor Ardain and Tantal tracks are my favorite off the top of my head, although this may change whenever I get around to delving into the soundtrack itself. Then again, this may just be a recency effect since I just finished XC2.  If there were any tracks I disliked, it would probably be Indol's. I know it is the same people that did Theosior (I think so, anyway), but Indol did not really resonate with me that much.
We also do not talk about X's soundtrack because it is far, far removed from the original and 2's. It is definitely an acquired taste, and even though I didn't care much for New Los Angeles at first, I eventually crumbled into the fold. (ICan'tHearYou,ICan'tSeeYou) Jokes aside, X does have some outstanding tracks such as Oblivia and Noctilum. The lyrical tracks just need some adjusting to...

Character wise, I gotta say Xenoblade Chronicles 2 wins. Like I said previously, in the prerelease I didn't care much for Poppi and then she becomes one of the best characters in the game. There's also the shenanigans with Zeke and Nia just being Nia. Everyone is awesome in 2 and I do not dislike any character at the time of this writing.
I do love the original's cast and Dunban is still the best thing ever, but overall I feel character development is done better in 2. I think Melia's thing with Shulk is done better with Rex and Nia, and there is no doubt that Tora is the best Nopon out of the three titles. (Rikki had some shining moments, but Tora had way more. Tatsu is a waste.)
Regarding X, it is far more focused on the exploration of the planet Mira and less so on the story. The only one who really had much relevance is Elma and Lin, although I did enjoy being the silent protagonist (or camera lens since Elma is more of the protagonist). Sure, there are some cool character moments here and there, but I'm struggling to remember what some of them are.

Regarding story, this one is a little harder. 2's story sticks with the whole idea of Rex helping Pyra get to Elysium, with their entire adventure being the journey of getting there and discovering the backstory behind the Aegis and the events of times long past. The original XC starts off as the simple life of Shulk until he goes on a quest of vengeance, and then it transforms into something more.
I gotta say I like the first story more because it has that "epic feel" going for it, and this definitely shows in the awesome cutscenes of the original Xenoblade Chronicles. The second is also good, but it takes a different and more intimate approach with its characters. It is simply different, and I guess I prefer epic war stories over the premise of "boy meets girl." Despite this, while I believe the first has the better overall story and premise, 2 retains having the better characters.
X's story is more or less nonexistent due to its focus on exploration and gameplay, although what does exist is definitely intriguing. I would say X had awesome sidequests going for it, but it seems 2 has taken note of this and also implemented awesome sidequests. So far though, I think X still has better sidequests, but I haven't finished with all of 2 yet.

As for overall enjoyment and immersion, I loved all three games. However, I did have to take a break with the original and the 2nd at times. They are excellent games, yes, but sometimes I would get caught up in something else and write it off as "I'll get back to it later." Off topic, but this is one of my problems I am having with Trails in the Sky FC and its franchise. I'll get back to it, eventually...
Surprisingly enough though, X had me hooked from the start. I think I spent about ~150-200 hours in the first two weeks of playing. While the story was definitely weaker, something about the world of Mira seemed to hold me like a spell. I just couldn't stop playing X (at least until I got the Ares 90). I loved exploring Mira with my avatar and companions as well as doing all of the side quests. Getting a Skell and then getting the ability to fly said Skell were also awesome moments. I think the ability to "complete" a map with a completion indicator was a huge factor for my enjoyment.
* * * * *
So yeah, I think this covers most of it. If you want my impressions about certain things, just ask.

In short though, I'll say that Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is the best Xenoblade Chronicles game. The original has a more epic story going for it while X has the mystery of the planet Mira and the exploration. While I am still on the fence regarding combat in certain areas and the mechanics of Blades, XC2 definitely improves almost everything over its predecessors. 

[Armagon]

37 minutes ago, Sire said:

I never did get around to beating the superbosses in the original or X.

Neither did i, aside from Final Marcus in XC1. I've also never played X. But on the subject of Superbosses, XC2's Superbosses are significantly easier than in previous games and the reason for that is that there's no insane grinds you have to do. In XC1, aside from Final Marcus, you have to grind Accuracy Gems for everyone because XC1 has that really bad mechanic where you get intentionally nerfed if you take on enemies that are six levels higher. And while i haven't played X, i hear that the grind for augments in that is even worse but you can also cheese the Superbosses with Overdrive.

Meanwhile, the only grind you need to take on XC2's Superbosses is just the standard "level up to Lv.99". You have some annoying ones like Chickenheart Dagmara and Ophion but it's pretty much a fact that XC2's Superbosses are the easiest in the series.

As for the rest of your thoughts, i'm pretty much in agreement with you (though again, i haven't played X so i can't fully compare it to 1 and 2). And along with Indol's theme, i also don't like Temperantia's theme. Temperantia in general is probably my least favorite area in the game, next to the Spirit Crucible. I get that Temperantia's meant to be barren but there's nothing of interest there, except for the Tyranotitan Kurodil, the strongest Superboss at Lv.130.

By the way, if you ever get the chance, i strongly recommend playing Xenogears. While the gameplay shows it's age, as do most PS1-era JRPGs, the story is the best in the Xeno series and all three Xenoblade games draw a lot of elements from it. Playing Xenogears pretty much made me appreciate the entire series even more.

And then if you want, you can also give the Xenosaga trilogy a try so you can learn more about KOS-MOS and T-elos. But i haven't played it so i can't give my full opinions on the Saga trilogy.

 

 

Edited April 26, 2018 by Armagon

[Armagon]

We have a small clip of gameplay for Poppibuster

It seems she has a Brawl Samus thing going on. Using her Lv.4 Special destroys the mecha. It also completely resets the Affinity Link so maybe Poppibuster with and without the mecha are two separate Blades? Oh, she's a Shield Hammer Blade btw.

Oh and if you notice, T-elos is there. She's a Dark Greataxe. Speaking of

Here's a sample of her awakening cutscene. She has glasses. Interesting, since she didn't have that in Xenosaga.

Oh yeah, the recent sales numbers came out. Before, at 1.02 million, Xenoblade 2 was the best selling Xenoblade game. Now, at 1.31 million sales, it's officially the best selling Xeno game, period. The previous holder of that title was Xenogears at 1.12 million.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Armagon

[Lightchao42]

Here are the patch notes for Version 1.4.0:

Quote

Version 1.4.0

• Issues Fixed
  • Fixed an issue causing the rare blade Dagas to disappear if bonded with a driver other than Rex, but engaged with Rex when starting a New Game Plus.
    • If Dagas has disappeared, downloading the latest update will cause him to be restored.
  • Fixed an issue causing Adenine’s blade quest, “Limits of Awareness” to advance automatically after continuing when the Ver. 1.3.1 update had been applied.
  • Fixed an issue that rarely prevented Skip Travel when on the Skip Travel screen
  • Fixed an issue causing the Recover Recharge effect from Mythra’s skill, Lightspeed Flurry, not to occur when used as a Special.
• Changes and New Features
  • Added the sorting categories “Driver,” “Trust,” and “Field Skill” to the Blade List.
  • Added the sorting category “Type” to the list of Accessories.
  • After having cleared the game’s main story, once a star appears next to your current money in the menu the rare blade, T-elos can be bonded from core crystals at random.
  • Numerous traveling bards have been added that will exchange bonus EXP for Poppi’s rare parts when playing New Game Plus.
  • Added functionality to receive the first additional rare blade from the Expansion Pass, Poppibuster.
    • Poppibuster is a special blade, and the quest rare blade quest “Shiny New Power” must be completed to a certain point before Poppibuster can be engaged.

It will be released tonight at 10PM Pacific time, so it will release tomorrow everywhere else.

[Armagon]

1 hour ago, Lightchao42 said:

Added the sorting categories “Driver,” “Trust,” and “Field Skill” to the Blade List.

THANK THE ARCHITECT

[Sire]

Just a warning of those jumping in on the update, the game may be prone to crash since 1.4 released. (Reddit Post)

Other players are experiencing crashes and I experienced my first ever crash. I was doing the DLC Quest for the Poppi Buster and tried opening up the main menu in Mor Ardain. The screen went black and the music still played, but I can't do anything else. I think I lost an hour or two of progress...

So, save often or try to wait a bit until it gets fixed.

[Shiki]

Spoiler

Poppi Buster is the salvation to Morag's Light Element problem. She is a Light Shield Hammer with 15% AGI mod and her skills revolve around drawing aggro and increasing damage. Now only 1 Driver might not have a Light element blade while everyone else is supplied (probably Nia for most).

Telos has a 15% STR mod. We don't have an Dark Blade with that modifier yet so that's an amazing fit for physical Zeke and Rex.

Also you can now buy the Light Core and Master Mods from Traveling Bards.
- Light Core: Spirit Crucible Elphys
- Master Muscle/Strike: Land of Morytha
- Master Luck: Cliffs of Morytha
- Master Tank/Evasion: World Tree

Bye, Tiger Tiger. You won't be missed.

 

[Armagon]

Jay RPG interviewed Zeke's voice actor, Daniel Barker

 

49 minutes ago, The Priest said:

  Hide contents

Poppi Buster is the salvation to Morag's Light Element problem. She is a Light Shield Hammer with 15% AGI mod and her skills revolve around drawing aggro and increasing damage. Now only 1 Driver might not have a Light element blade while everyone else is supplied (probably Nia for most).

Telos has a 15% STR mod. We don't have an Dark Blade with that modifier yet so that's an amazing fit for physical Zeke and Rex.

Also you can now buy the Light Core and Master Mods from Traveling Bards.
- Light Core: Spirit Crucible Elphys
- Master Muscle/Strike: Land of Morytha
- Master Luck: Cliffs of Morytha
- Master Tank/Evasion: World Tree

Bye, Tiger Tiger. You won't be missed.

 

Does Poppibuster have Poppiswap or is she alaways a Light Element Blade?

 

[Lightchao42]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Does Poppibuster have Poppiswap or is she always a Light Element Blade?

I never heard anything about her having Poppiswap, so I imagine she's always Light. I did hear that she can be freely exchanged between the non-Tora drivers without an Overdrive Protocol.

In other news I've been gathering resources for the Relentless Arduran Core Farming Method™, even though my team is in its early 70s so I'll probably fail horribly every time I try. I have the Arduran itself, Overclocking Bangles, and two Gold Chips, so I just need Beta Scopes (to inflict Break) and more Gold Chips (to increase item drop rate). The only non-story Blades I have thus far are

• Rex: Finch, Perceval
• Nia: Vess (somehow she never summoned any rare Blades on her own)
• Mórag: Godfrey, Adenine
• Zeke: Wulfric, Azami, Nim, Floren
• I also have Kassandra's core crystal but I haven't decided who to give it to.

Also, the higher difficulty will be called "Bringer of Chaos" in English.

Edited April 27, 2018 by Lightchao42

[Shiki]

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

Does Poppibuster have Poppiswap or is she alaways a Light Element Blade?

She is a regular Blade, so she doesn't have Poppi Swap either. Tora can't even equip her.
Also you actually get 2 Blades at the price of one; the blonde Poppi and the mech itself are apparently two different individuals (the former tragically dying everytime you use the lvl.4 Special).

1 hour ago, Lightchao42 said:

Also, the higher difficulty will be called "Bringer of Chaos" in English.

Music to my ears.

[Armagon]

11 hours ago, Sire said:

Just a warning of those jumping in on the update, the game may be prone to crash since 1.4 released. (Reddit Post)

Other players are experiencing crashes and I experienced my first ever crash. I was doing the DLC Quest for the Poppi Buster and tried opening up the main menu in Mor Ardain. The screen went black and the music still played, but I can't do anything else. I think I lost an hour or two of progress...

So, save often or try to wait a bit until it gets fixed.

In addition, one of the crashes is guaranteed to happen if you use Nexus Force 

Spoiler

Pyra+Nia's Lv.4 Special

 

Edited April 28, 2018 by Armagon

[Lightchao42]

Just as a reminder, Skye Bennett's stream will begin later today at 8:00 PM London time. Once again here is her Twitch page. She'll also post her streams on YouTube afterwards if you can't watch them live.

Also a personal update on my blades, since I found that Reeking Douglas was a better source of core crystal farming than Relentless Aruduran in the present (mainly because I can actually kill it).

• Rex: Finch, Perceval, Perun
• Nia: Vess, Gorg, Sheba
• Mórag: Godfrey, Kasandra, Adenine, Electra
• Zeke: Wulfric, Boreas, Azami, Nim, Floren, KOS-MOS

While I was summoning for T-elos the universe saw it fit to give me KOS-MOS instead, which is ironic but a pleasant surprise. So much for T-elos being more common than other rare blades?

[Zelgius]

I finally completed Ursula's quest, that was a slog as Nia might say. I also just got KOS-MOS there, she was the last of the blades that I wanted for now.

[Bubba Jones]

On 4/25/2018 at 10:28 PM, Armagon said:

 I've also never played X.  

As much as you go over the xeno series, you really should.  Used wii-u’s are probably dirt cheap and there is still a surprising amount of people online.  It is also has that hardish sci fi feel that xenogears and xenosaga had.  It’s still my favorite from the xeno series even though it retains and adds to the bullshit 1 had that 2 scrapped and streamlined.

That said, I’m dusting off my old clear game data and looking to start ng+.  I haven’t seen a good to-do list of what to do prior to making that jump.

Right now I’m:

1. Spending all my money on items to max out as much blade affinity as possible.
2. Junk my junk - common cores any aux cores of less than legendary rarity.
3. Grab as many good chips to upgrade blades as I can.
4. Finishing all or as many quests as possible from blades and dlc.  The only “normal” quest I have left is the doubloons one.

I’m not interested in grinding up more cores, and since ng+ is a thing, I’m not as interested in tyrant hunting since they’ll all pop up as I go through ng+ anyway.

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, Bubba Jones said:

As much as you go over the xeno series, you really should.  Used wii-u’s are probably dirt cheap and there is still a surprising amount of people online.  It is also has that hardish sci fi feel that xenogears and xenosaga had.  It’s still my favorite from the xeno series even though it retains and adds to the bullshit 1 had that 2 scrapped and streamlined.

Yeah, X is on my wishlist along with the Xenosaga trilogy, i just haven't gotten to it because no Wii U. With that said, i'll wait until E3 to see if they announce a Switch port of X. I know Takahashi wants that so i get the feeling that X getting a Switch port is only a matter of time.

As for Xenosaga, i'm gonna need an actually good PC to emulate it because i ain't buying a PS2 and even if i did, physical copies of Xenosaga are a myth.

_

In other news, this isn't confirmed but apparently, datamines have uncovered the content in future updates

Spoiler

 

Moosehunter is a legitimate dataminer so i don't think the stuff here is being pulled out of nowhere but with that said, take this all with a grain of salt..

[Aura Of Twilight]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

Yeah, X is on my wishlist along with the Xenosaga trilogy, i just haven't gotten to it because no Wii U. With that said, i'll wait until E3 to see if they announce a Switch port of X. I know Takahashi wants that so i get the feeling that X getting a Switch port is only a matter of time.

As for Xenosaga, i'm gonna need an actually good PC to emulate it because i ain't buying a PS2 and even if i did, physical copies of Xenosaga are a myth.

_

In other news, this isn't confirmed but apparently, datamines have uncovered the content in future updates

  Hide contents

 

Moosehunter is a legitimate dataminer so i don't think the stuff here is being pulled out of nowhere but with that said, take this all with a grain of salt..

Spoiler

All of that sounds awesome. Especially maybe being able to play as Jin. I hope its real to be honest.

 

[Sire]

The new stuff sounds cool. However, I don't think I'm prepared for any of that yet...

As for my personal hopes of the datamine and future stuff...

Spoiler

While Jin is confirmed playable, I wonder how exactly he would play. I also wonder if he will remain a bit broken because of his Break -> Topple+Launch+Smash combo.

I would love to see Haze become playable because I loved her design. It is a shame she really did not get to do much.
- - - - -
Also, I slightly hoping that Lora becomes a playable Driver in some fashion. Maybe she'll be the main Driver in a flashback sequence where she controls Jin and Haze (and then added to the main game for fun like the Torna blades).

* * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile I'm trying to finish up some of my post-game stuff so I can finally start NewGame+. The sidequests are starting to get into "use a guide or you are screwed" territory as well as getting ridiculous with their Field Skill checks. (Did I mention I hate Field Skills? I hate Field Skills. Seriously, I send a good number of my Blades on Merc Missions and then I get blocked on quest progress because of stupid field checks. Also, Story Blades suck at raising their affinity charts on NG as I can't just ship them off on a Merc Mission so it can fill it out for me. JUST LET ME PLAY THE GAME DAMNIT.) [On an unrelated note, I think X still has the more memorable sidequests. Sure, XC2 has voice acting, but the writing in X for some of the sidequests are just that spectacular. I sincerely hope for a Switch port so I can replay X again.]

While I would love to get KOS-MOS and try her questline before NG+, I'm probably just going to try and get Theory and at least finish up Dagas' sidequest. Defeating Superbosses is out of the question at the moment as my guys are just level 80 and I do not think I'm prepared for any of them. The fact there is a bug when using a "super special IV" with story Blades sucks. Besides, when I come back later during NG+ my guys should be far more prepared (especially Tora and his army of Poppi).

Of course, being prepared and everything will probably be tossed out the window as soon as "Hard Mode" comes in, but I'll worry about that later.

Edited May 8, 2018 by Sire

[Aura Of Twilight]

Here's some more news for ya fellow Xenoblade fans.

I'm so hyped for this. 

[The DanMan]

Welp. People have datamined stuff about Challenge Mode. Brief details:

 

Seems to be called Bringer of Chaos mode, massively buffs enemies (every unique monster is over level 100), chain attacks deal half damage.

Also, there are two unannounced Blades that seem to be exclusive to it. Spoiler within a spoiler:

 

one that's wind elemental with the twin rings animation set (though likely not that weapon type, as Obrona uses them with her katanas) that focuses on increasing crit rate and another that's light elemental with shield hammer animations and has powerful full-party buffs while bringing a whole new game mechanic to the table. As for their identity...

 

Wind "twin rings": Fiora
Light "hammer": Shulk 

 

Edited May 10, 2018 by The DanMan