Board 8 > Xenoblade Opinions Day 5: Best Area (Part 2)

(+) Yeah! (+)

*assume spoilers for Xenoblade Chronicles 1 (including Future Connected)*

Past results:
Best Character- Dunban, 2nd Melia, 3rd Shulk/Riki
Best Character in Battle- Shulk, 2nd Melia, 3rd Dunban
Best Antagonist- Dickson, 2nd Mumkhar, 3rd Egil

Yesterday: Satorl Marsh maintains its lead over Bionis' Leg. This poll is still open, I figured there's no point closing it early if somebody missed a day. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79417553

Today: The entirety of Mechonis and a few late areas of the Bionis are on the table! The winner will join Part 1's winner and Bionis' Shoulder tomorrow for a final poll to decide the best area in Xenoblade Chronicles!

Note: I removed Mechonis Core. I had to get rid of one to fit the limit and it is literally one room with no collectables or random enemies, I don't know why they even call it an area >_>

Tomorrow: The grand final!

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Fallen Arm ez win

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Valak Mountain > Fallen Arm > Alcamoth > Prison Island > Sword Valley > Agniratha > High Entia Tomb > Galahad Fortress > Mechonis Field > Central Factory

Almost all of the Mechonis areas blend together so an actual ranking is tough

Central Factory because it reminds me of Xenosaga

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Fallen Arm has two problem - there's way too many enemies, and it's surprisingly small. With that said the vista from the top of the finger is a #1 all-time open world moment.

Throwing a vote to Sword Valley cause I like its atmosphere more than most and I'm pretty sure it'll get crushed.

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Fallen Arm is when I really knew Xenoblade was one of my favorite games ever.

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Fallen Arm and it isn't even close.

The other Mechonis areas are kind of bad mostly.
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Fallen Arm just too iconic, sorry Valak Mountain I wanted to give you votes

also helps as a Shulk x Fiora fan that beach scene makes me swoon

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Valak Mountain > Fallen Arm > Alcamoth > Sword Valley > Agniratha > High Entia Tomb > Prison Island > Galahad Fortress > Central Factory > Mechonis Field

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Fallen Arm is cool and all but is it really that great? It's nowhere near the sprawling fun Valak Mountain or the moody ambience of Satori.

Throwing a vote to Sword Valley for the general tension - when the area introduction showed the silhouette of the Mechonis I was like oh MAN we're really doing this

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This is the actual stacked poll.

Alcamoth, Valak Mountain, Sword Valley, Fallen Arm, Mechonis Field, Central Factory, and Agniratha? op plz nerf

Voted Central Factory but I'm the odd duck who thought the climb up the Mechonis and its associated areas was the peak of the game.

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ChainLTTP posted...

Fallen Arm is cool and all but is it really that great? It's nowhere near the sprawling fun Valak Mountain or the moody ambience of Satori.

It's where the party is finally complete, and where the story temporarily becomes less epic and much more intimate. Obviously the spoiler stuff is the most touchy-feely, but even cutscenes like Melia/Riki/Dunban are really sweet - it's like the entire party let's their guards down and opens up.

The melancholy music captures it perfectly:

https://youtu.be/mP4OnVC1mNY

And yeah, while the area map itself is small, climbing that finger is probably my favorite example of scale in the game.

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Janus5k posted...

when the area introduction showed the silhouette of the Mechonis I was like oh MAN we're really doing this

Yeah same for me, it's a pretty big deal. And those giant Mechon wandering around were incredibly intimidating because they weren't Level 99 or whatever- they were on the upper end of the party's current range so it was conceivable that you were supposed to fight these beasts! It is a shame that the area becomes inaccessible so early, though. It's a great 'enemy base' level.

Fallen Arm is truly wonderful. Like yoblazer says, following Galahad's climax by slowing everything down and focusing on the party again, being removed from the ongoing story for a little bit, it's really smart. And in terms of level design the arm felt more like moving around on a giant titan's body than any other area in the game, imo. As others have said, climbing to Distant Fingertip and seeing the Bionis in all its glory from there is one of my absolute fav moments of the game. I will concede that they probably put a few too many Mechon in such a small area.

That said, I really like Valak too. This game just truly nailed nighttime areas, I can't think of a single area that's better in the daytime lol. The lights at night and seeing the faint glow of Osu Tower in the distance, and just the sheer scale of Valak and all there is to do there, it's very impressive.

Alcamoth is one of the few areas that I think they honestly messed up a little, it's just a little too big and too empty for what they were going for imo. It works lategame when the Telethia are around but wandering this big 'full' city with very few landmarks and having to walk a long way to get all the sidequests is very annoying. There's one lady at the far bottom left of the map that takes forever to get to!

Also fun fact: the reason Alcamoth collectables are a nightmare in Future Connected is that they rotated the map 90 degrees but forgot to rotate the spawn points, so only half of them appear on the map and in really awkward places!

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Fallen Arm has my vote, but Valak Mountain and Sword Valley are very good too.

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Shout-out to Prison Island, too. I think it's hindered a bit by being the final dungeon, so everything is linear and there's no sidequests, but the area is very cool. You don't usually get such a clean look at the past civilisation of Bionis like you do here. Also has one of my fav moments- the massive door opening and kicking off the music as you enter to let you know this is really it. So cool.

I enjoyed the climb up the Mechonis quite a bit but I don't think the level designs stand out that much. Most memorable bit is the giant conveyor belts that are fun to ride.

Agniratha is a place that I love in concept, I am a sucker for the secretly dead city trope in games. But the area itself looks pretty samey all around, and I found it annoying to navigate. Also the reward for doing all the sidequests here is a vista lookout point, which should be great but it's just... the same view you've been seeing but a bit clearer. One of the very rare misses in terms of viewpoints!

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Final bump.

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