The Xenoblade thread (aka the Thread of the Monado)

I’m hoping the Trails games make it to switch at some point

And to be clear, it isn't just about her bad, inconsistent accent. Even if that didn't suck, the fact is that her personality boils down to "is angry, all the time".

Imagine the world's loudest, bitchiest, moodiest teen, and THEN give her a shit accent and lots of speaking lines.

I don't remember finding Vanille too bad, but I don't really remember much about that game in general.

I think it helped that she was actually played by an Australian, instead of someone whose entire training apparently consisted of watching the Bart vs Australia Simpsons episode a couple times.

I SEE YOU'VE PLAYED KNIFEY SPOONY BEFORE

My idea of Aussies is formed by bogan saves his mate's chip shop.

I AIN'T TRYIN TO BE A HERO MATE

Those people (bogans) definitely exist. I'm not opposed to that kind of broad Aussie accent being in games, though it's not very similar to mine. There are even a couple of other characters in XC3 with it (ie. basically anyone in the Vandham family).

But this character is something else. It's probably how other people react to the Yorkshire or Welsh or Essex or whatever accents in these games. I don't notice those ones, but this one is uniquely terrible to me.

That fight is a bit of a bitch for a lot of people after a cursory internet search. Unfortunately it's been quite a while since I did it but I'll try and give some general tips:


That's about all I can think of off the top of my head. It would help if you list which Blades you have on each character, but at the end of the day there's no shame in trying to find more Blades or grinding more levels/equipment, or even just fighting some randos to get used to a different character.

Blades I have at the moment are:



and then there is Tora with his usual 2 at this point, although I haven't been using him much besides my last attempt in place of .

Edit: ok, just gave it another go controlling Morag instead of Rex and did it first time. It was still much closer than I feel it should have been and still couldn't actually complete a blade combo, so surprised I managed it.

That's a pretty good spread in terms of elements and no real howlers when it comes to Blade/Driver pairs (two of the same element on Z aside). I will say you're missing quite a lot of Rare Blades even accounting for the fact that you haven't unlocked any good Core Crystal farming spots yet (that I can remember, at least). There's a few named Core Crystals you get from sidequests and shops that always give you a specific Rare Blade if you want to check them out.

The good news is, you're past a big roadblock of a fight and closer to unlocking one of the big farming spots for not only Core Crystals but also some pretty good weapon chips (by getting the last few materials necessary for the Ardun back in Torigoth).

That said, Blade (and Driver) Combos (and by extension big Chain Attacks) do become more and more important to at least have a decent grasp on. It's really not necessary to have any "meta" builds just to finish the game, that's DLC best times territory, but taking the time to understand and practice that system will make everything much easier from here on out.

Octopath Traveller is great and on Switch

The bold part I 100% agree on, especially since some Field Skill checks needed me to use generics to get there and it was a nightmare sifting through the couple hundred I'd got in the search for rares (never mind then having to hope I could actually assign all of them...)

I think the only shop that sells a Core Crystal is in Torigoth. I distinctly remember salvaging for hours to get her as soon as I got there, a main story quest needs you to grab three of a... something that only appears that early because of the quest, and it selled for a lot. So I'd get two, go sell them so the quest didn't update, get another two... Looks like I've got the JRPG grind mindset

It did pay off, though, that Blade's Affinity chart gets unlocked as you spend money, so unless it's retroactive (which it might be, I haven't checked) getting her early kinda worked out!

On that note, Affinity charts are one of the main things to power up your Blades, going from 20 to 60% bonus damage on a special move is quite the increase. They are a pretty massive sidequest though, so I'd say focus on the Blades you actually use, main story Blades especially, if you haven't been doing so already.

I'm getting on a bit these days and as a result there are fewer and fewer games that actually really grab me. JRPG's were my absolute go to after falling in love with FF7 as a 13 year old. That love died with final Fantasy 12 in my 20's. I just felt to old for them. The original Xenoblade kept that dying flame just about alive before a long hiatus and a renewed respect for the genre with Dragon Quest XI and Octopath Traveller where I managed to look past the anime melodrama and enjoy the systems at play, the constant feeling of progress. It was rewarding and good value for money and my time. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 may have brought me back to the table and for surprising reasons. Anime melodrama, check, pointless fetch quests, check, millions of shiny collectibles all over the screen, yep they are in there and these are three of my biggest hates in all of videogames and yet here I love it. The difference between Xenoblade and its use of these tropes are that it manages to make all of these things matter. You feel like they are worth your time. Everything you do feeds into a never ending feeling of progress. Those ugly shiny items? Those can be crafted, cooked with or traded to build affinity with colonies. The same can be said of the pointless side quests. The story is suprisingly touching and interesting. Combat is varied and the scope for experimentation is huge. Exploration rewards you with more goodies, a secret area or a Named monster to tick off the list in suprisingly tough fights. Many of the side quests are really good too. In many ways XC3 is the Stardew Valley of JRPG's. It takes the compulsive loop of completing tasks in a farming sim and wraps it in a gorgeous and massive epic. Not since Hades have I loved a game enough to post about it. I love it.

I'm so side-tracked that I actually can't remember which chapter I'm in

That bit is great there's tons of interesting islands to find! There's loads there I've not fully explored but I did find landmarks for most if not all of the areas so I can fast travel back later. I moved on because I was in danger of spending 30 hours there alone and I'm terribly over levelled now (72)

I'm 60 hours and about as many levels. Feel quite overwhelmed by the island sections. Met a couple of the heros around there. So working on the quests for them at the moment.