Last time I checked I was 33 hours along. Just arrived at Prison Island, currently making my way to the top to watch the Emperor get killed. Shulk had a vision 20 hours ago that he was fighting Metal Face over there, but it’s taken this long for the vision to actually come to pass. Hopefully he can get this out of his system now we can start FINALLY having some new visions and some actual story progression.

Meanwhile it seems the Mechons in Xenoblade Chronicles and the machines in Final Promise Story are even more similar than I’d thought. Not only do they have similar designs and not only do they both “eat” people, but they are also both capable of absorbing the skills and personalities of the people they “eat”.

Xenoblade hasn’t spelled it out yet, but it’s pretty obvious that’s the direction they’re going in, simply because:

1. They make a big show out of the Monado not being able to harm humans. It can’t harm faced Mechon either. Put the two together already, Shulk.
2. We fight a faced Mechon named Xord, with a giant hammer. Later on we talk to an NPC named Desiree, who talks about her father who was also named Xord and who also wielded a giant hammer and who died fighting the Mechon. Put the two together already, Shulk.
3. Metal Face talks and acts a lot like Dunban’s cowardly friend in the prologue, I forget his name. It hasn’t been revealed to be him yet, but I’d bet my left testicle it’s him.
4. If that’s the case, then the new Mechon Nemesis is bound to be Fiora. I’d bet my right testicle it’s her (I don’t actually have any testicles but I’d totally bet them if I did).

However, while “Machines are absorbing people!” was the only major twist Final Promise Story had, I’m expecting better things of Xenoblade Chronicles. They have some other things going on like the Monado and Alvis and whatever that giant Kimahri-clone on Prison Island is, and I bet the Mechons are going to turn out to have been not-so-evil after all. In all my life I’ve only played one (1) RPG where the bad guys at the very beginning were the same bad guys at the end.

But seriously, I’ve had enough of Alcamoth and enough of Eryth Sea. Things were moving along so briskly before, but everything just came to a standstill once I arrived at the top of the Bionis. Also this whole Melia palace intrigue stuff just dragged on too long. Way too much time was spent on a character I really don’t like and really don’t intend to use. I’ve been getting some good use out of Riki though, once I got used to his annoying voice. My main parties now are Shulk/Dunban/Riki and Dunban/Riki/Reyn.

Apart from Xenoblade Chronicles, I have also been making good progress in Growlanser and Trails of Zero, which I started a few weeks ago but didn’t get into until just this weekend. I’ll give an update on one or both of those next time.

Related posts:

Xenoblade Chronicles – First impressions Xenoblade Chronicles – 20 hours gone Xenoblade Chronicles – Taking a short break (spoilers) Xenoblade Chronicles – Last break before the end (spoilers)