46 hours in. Just hit Sword Valley. Fatigue is starting to set in, you know the drill.

I won all the bets I made in the last post, so testicles the world over can heave a sigh of relief. Not only was I proved right, but I was proved right in the very next gaming session after I wrote all that. It’s like Xenoblade Chronicles looked over my shoulder and went “Okay, okay, you figured it all out. No sense hiding anything any more,” and just spilled its guts.

So yeah, Fiora is the same as Nemesis, only she’s a Mechon with amnesia now, and still probably dead. Dunban, Reyn and Shulk are determined to get her back somehow, but this leaves me with the same problem I had right at the beginning: I don’t care about Fiora. I don’t want her back. I don’t want to see anyone pining over her. I don’t mind if I never find out what happened or how she turned into a Mechon.

Which also brings me to the same issue I’ve been having with Xenoblade Chronicles for the past 40 hours or so. I like the setting and the environments. I like most of the characters. The music is great in places, as is the voice-acting. I’ve made my peace with the battle system and I’ve even started dabbling in item-giving to raise Affinity. I’m happy with everything except the story.

And that is why I don’t dare take anything longer than a short break, even though I’m seriously tired now. I feel like I’ve already experienced the best the game has to offer. Like I wouldn’t be missing anything if I quit here and now. Settings, exploration, fights, characters… after 46 hours I’ve seen plenty of all of them. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope that Sword Valley is either the last-but-one or last-but-two stage before the end of the game.

I’ll take the next couple of days off, play till the 60-hour mark and reevaluate things at that point.