344 xenoblade - trading with lupa for a hode plank

Dear Readers,

Now to find Lupa in Frontier Village. She's found at Riki's House between 6pm and 6am. We warped there.

The guide said she was at Riki's House AND at the archaeology centre, which threw me off and got me confused and wasted even more time. She's at the archaeology centre and that's that.

I got the Hode Plank from her through trading and warped back to Colony 6.

343 xenoblade - researching hode planks

Dear Readers,

I couldn't upgrade housing for now in Colony 6, so I decided to focus on commerce. I had most of what I needed to go to level 2, except I was short a Hode Plank. Juju said it was in a jungle-like place.

I looked it up and I can get it as drops from Hyle Hodes or Scout Hodes in Makna Forest. I can also get it through trading from Lupa or Nelo from Frontier Village.

Let's try finding Lupa. 

342 xenoblade - enjoying the level 3 housing in colony 6

Dear Readers,

I wasn't able to increase housing any more at this point in the game, so I walked around Colony 6 to see the housing we helped build.

It was nice, especially at night with all the lights in the windows. Things were coming back to life in this place!

I'll talk to Juju about increasing the level in another category next time.

341 xenoblade - trading with cian for sturdy armour

Dear Readers,

I decided to trade with Cian in Alcamoth to get the 4 Sturdy Armour. We warped there, to the fountain of hope, between 9am and 6pm, went further south and then traded with her. We were able to trade with her over and over again so it was nice we didn't have to do anything else.

After this, we warped back to Colony 6 and increased the housing to level 3.

I was going to increase further, but the items required are from a place we haven't been to yet.

340 xenoblade - looking up how to increase housing to level 3 in colony 6

Dear Readers,

I decided to keep upgrading the housing to level 3. It sounds like a good thing to do in times like these doesn't it?

We had everything we needed except for 4 Sturdy Armour. Juju said we could get them from enemies near a big sea.

Looking it up it seems I can get it from Flavel Andos at Eryth Sea. I can also get them in trading with Cian, Galdo, Jer'ell and Arielle at Alcamoth. Let's try the trading!

339 xenoblade - beating up mechon in the pod depot

Dear Readers,

From Colony 6 we jogged down to the Pod Depot to beat up the Mechon M64 Armour+ that were eyeing up the ether thingies.

They were very easy to deal with, thankfully as we were much stronger than them. When we beat them up, some Hoxes got involved as well so we smacked them around a bit too. We got a lot of stuff.

338 xenoblade - upgrading housing in colony 6 to level 2

Dear Readers,

We warped back to Colony 6 with the stuff we needed and upgraded Housing from level 1 to 2. Some houses did indeed get built. They looked pretty nice.

Suddenly, a message came up saying enemies were attacking one of the colony's ether planters.

We accepted a mission to defeat 3 Mechon M64 Armour+ units at the ether planter at the Pod Depot.

We thought, why not do it now, so we jogged away down there to the Pod Depot.

337 xenoblade - making my first trade ever

Dear Readers,

We went to Fronter Village in search of the Fossil Monkey. What a funny named item. Many items have funny names but it doesn't matter a bit since they're all the same thing. It's not like getting a bunch of bananas in Link's Awakening.

Trading is involved this time and I'm excited about doing this for the first time. I have to trade with either Berryjammy, Puko, or Rasha.

I tried Berryjammy. I looked her up as I didn't feel like sifting through all the Nopon on the Affinity Chart. It was a good thing I did too as I never met her before. Shes at the Contemplation Terrace between 9PM and 6AM. She came up as "Poor Miss Sweetness"

She had the Fossil Monkey, which I traded for an Element Chunk. I got the Equivalent Exchange achievement for my first trade! Woo! I wasn't even going to bother with this but I'm glad I have a strategy guide now.

336 xenoblade - looking up how to get the fossil monkey

Dear Readers,

I decided to upgrade Housing in Colony 6 to level 2. For that I needed a Fossil Monkey. Juju's hints were absolutely useless, so I looked it up.

Berryjammy, Puko and Rasha in Frontier Village are involved with trading this item, so let's go there.

335 xenoblade - building the farm on colony 6

Dear Readers,

We warped back to the Reconstruction HQ at Colony 6 and talked to Juju to upgrade the Special category to level 2.

This enabled them to build a farm.

We had a look at the farm and it was a nice fenced grassy area with 2 sleepy snoozy Armus in it. They actually look quite cute when they're not huge and several levels higher than us. These ones were super easy going and just laid there.

There was a young man and an old lady in the field with them. The man was interested in tending to the Armus and the old lady was happy to give him her expert advice. She said she felt good and useful in her old age, which is a nice thing.

Collectibles pop up in the field as well. Might be good for something who knows.

334 xenoblade - switching to riki to steal dust elements

Dear Readers,

I was having trouble with the Caris Nebula in trying to obtain its drops, so I checked the Arts of other characters.

I noticed that Riki had an ability called "Yoink!" where he can steal stuff from enemies, so I switched to play as him and tried to use it on the Caris Nebulae.

I was almost guaranteed to get items even if they exploded! That's all I wanted so I kept trying to steal stuff off of them. I eventually got the Dust Element at last! Woo!

I needed 2 Dust Elements so I continued this strategy until I got the two I needed. It took ages as they were a rare drop. I kept getting other drops, along with stuff that weren't even in the guide I was looking up.

As soon as I got the 2 Dust Elements I was outta there and back to Colony 6 to build the farm.

333 xenoblade - confusing the caris nebulae with a much stronger nebula

Dear Readers

I had a couple of amusing encounters while hunting Caris Nebulae. I engaged battle with nebulae that looked the exact same but I didn't look at their name and level beforehand.

Instead of the roughly LV30 enemy I wanted, I targeted an enemy that was like LV80 or 90 or something crazy. I didn't even notice until Sharla and Reyn said stuff like "ARE WE INSANE?!", which was pretty funny.

Anyway, I got us to run away as fast as we could!

332 xenoblade - the caris nebulae keep exploding before i can defeat them

Dear Readers,

Now to hunt the Caris Nebulae for their Dust Element drops.

I found a few and fought them. I learned that they're difficult in a very stupid way. When their health goes down, they explode without dropping anything. It seems the only way to get them to drop something is if we defeat them without letting them have a chance to explode. The only thing I can think of is a chain attack.

We managed to get some chain attacks done alright and we got them to drop some stuff but it was an Element Chunk as opposed to the Dust Element. I looked this up and it seems the Dust Element has a much lower chance of dropping. I might have to think of another strategy.

Dang that Sand Burst II move they have. It stops me from getting stuff!

331 xenoblade - researching caris nebula from makna forest

Dear Readers,

I want that Dust Element and I learned it's a drop from Caris Nebulae, so I'm looking up where to find it in Makna Forest.

I learned it can be found on either side of Bridge Three, also north of the village entrance and in that weird clearing northeast of the village. It's also found at all times of the day and night. Let's gooooo!

330 xenoblade - trading fail with hoko

Dear Readers,

I wanted to try trading with Hoko in Frontier Village. Affinity chart says he's active between 9am and 6pm and online it said he's found under the chief's residence in Frontier Village. On we go so...

I found him and tried the trading thing. I couldn't find the Dust Element in his belongings. It turns out the guide I was using listed the things he wanted, so again I'm left confused and discouraged with this game.

For now I'm going to get it as an enemy drop like I usually do when I'm looking for something. I'll try the trading feature later if it gets any way good at all, like filling the collectopaedia or something.

329 xenoblade - researching how to build a farm in colony 6

Dear Readers,

While we were in Colony 6, I wanted to do more reconstruction with Juju.

I took an interest in the Special category, which lets them build a farm. To increase the level I need to get 2 Dust Elements. I had the other stuff.

I looked up how to get Dust Elements. I can get them from Caris Nebulae in Makna Forest or from trading with Hoko in Frontier Village.

I think I'll finally start doing this trading thing. I've never done it before so let's start now!

328 xenoblade - chatting with anna after saving her friends

Dear Readers,

We spoke to Anna when we got back to Colony 6. She was relieved that Nikita and Kiroki were back safely.

Anna also apologised for getting them to do silly things for her. I'm glad she did apologise!

Their entries updated in the affinity chart. The triangle link between them had a blue smiley with "Friends Always" marked on it. Yay!

327 xenoblade - finding nikita near the mine

Dear Readers,

We warped to the Drainage Outlet so we could look for Nikita on the Splintered Path near Colony 6.

We found him huddled on the end of one of the paths jutting out towards the abyss on the lower level. It was very hard to spot him without the red exclamation mark above his head and that doesn't appear until you get very close, so we had to comb the entire area looking for him. I'm glad we did find him.

Now to go back to Colony 6 to speak to Anna.

326 xenoblade - looking up how to find nikita

Dear Readers,

I decided to go back to an old quest that had been giving me trouble. Nikita from Colony 6 was in danger and I wanted to go to the mine nearby to find him, but I didn't have access to it. I was worried I was locked out of the quest so I looked up how to find him.

From the looks of things I have to go to the Splintered Path in the Colony 6 region. So he wasn't in the mine at all? That's a relief.

325 xenoblade - giving cheryl keepsakes of her son

Dear Readers,

We headed back to Cheryl in Colony 9. We showed her her son's armour, gun and knife. She was very happy to have keepsakes of her late son.

She said he saved up for a long time for this stuff and she remembered how he smiled when he put on his armour. Aww... well it's nice for her to have this stuff to remember her son by.

She then vanished from this spot after we spoke to her. Dunno where she hangs out now.

324 xenoblade - finding cheryl's son's gun

Dear Readers,

We warped to the Bionis Leg and returned to Daksha Shrine. We didn't bother with any enemies here because we just wanted Cheryl's son's gun. On the right side of the shrine was a little path that led to a cave all tucked away. I had no idea it was here. It's a very blink and you'll miss it kind of place.

Inside this cave was the item we wanted. We had to run from some very strong enemies that were in here. The other side of the cave opened up to a secret area, an observation platform that looks like the area depicted on the inside cover box art for the game! We were probably high above that particular area. It was a nice discovery all the same!

323 xenoblade - looking up where to find cheryl's son's gun

Dear Readers,

I decided to research one of the first quests I took on. I found two parts of it and now I need to find this last one. The answer I got was that it was in the Bionis Leg area at Daksha Shrine. I never hung around this place for too long because the big enemy there that came from the depths. I'm gonna go there now though.

322 xenoblade - updated collectopaedia page for high entia tomb

Dear Readers,

We got all the entries for the High Entia Tomb! Yay! It's a small place so it wasn't too difficult.

An entry of note was the Tasty Sausage, named by Riki. It's described as a sweet golden tubelike thing. Not sure if anyone else would find it to be a tasty sausage.

321 xenoblade - updating collectopaedia page for alcamoth

Dear Readers,

We got all the collectopaedia entries for Alcamoth. Woo!

The weirdly named "Ha Ha Ha" item was one of the things. Riki named it and it's described as some kind of furry white creature. I was wondering about it alright as it was indeed a funny name.

320 xenoblade - updating collectopaedia page for eryth sea

Dear Readers,

Haven't looked at this thing in a while. I opened the Eryth Sea page and confirmed what I found.

The only thing I didn't find was the second one on the Nature line. Not sure what it is or where it is.

319 xenoblade - making sonia and liliana happy again with memories of their late husband and father

Dear Readers,

Now that we had defeated the Gentle Rodriguez, there was nothing keeping us from getting the item behind it that we needed for a quest.

This quest was the precious item for Sonia. It was a message in a bottle from her late husband. Not sure how it ended up in a place like this cave with a huge frog guarding it. Or at least, I don't remember. It's been so long since I did anything with this quest.

I showed it to the daughter Liliana first and it was just a recipe for cabbage parcels. She said it would remind Sonia of the father anyway so she asked me to show it to her.

I showed it to Sonia and it sparked a memory of her late husband proposing to her. He said he wanted to eat her cabbage parcels everyday, so she wrote out the recipe for him. He then got on one knee and said it was his way of proposing to her, calling her a silly nincompoop! She was charmed with the memory.

Next, I had to return to Liliana to tell her and she was very happy that it reminded Sonia of Liliana's late father. The affinity chart entry changed and it was a "Happy family" link between mother and daughter with a green smiley instead of the red frowny face. Nice happy ending to this little side story.

I chatted with Liliana and Sonia afterwards. Sonia was surprised Liliana was worried for her sake and Liliana talked about her father being one of the stars in the sky, watching over her and her family always until the day they die too. She would look out her window at night at her father up in the stars. Aw....

That gave me a nice sentimental feeling! I'm glad I was able to enjoy something else about this game again!

Now, I must look up cabbage parcels... They must be very good, right?

318 xenoblade - finally defeating the gentle rodriguez!

Dear Readers,

Since we were in the area, my thoughts went back all the way to the Gentle Rodriguez, the massive frog lurking on the northern end of Agora Shore in a cave. We were finally stronger than it! I thought, why not kick its butt now?

And we did! We marched all the way up there, picked off the other smaller frog enemies in the area before picking a fight with the massive Gentle Rodriguez.

It was in a pretty tight spot so it wasn't easy getting side and rear hits while adjusting the camera. I even lost consciousness at one point but Reyn helped me up. I did my best to keep everyone healthy and safe while landing lots of my own hits on the creature. We eventually defeated it, accomplishing what we couldn't near the start of the game. It's always a nice thing when that happens!

317 xenoblade - hunting the lakebed orthlus

Dear Readers,

Now to hunt this Lakebed Orthlus.

We lost a couple of times but we eventually defeated it. It was pretty fun to topple the creature, being a turtle and all, as it would flip onto its back. The visual of the big turtle on its back was pretty satisfying.

I got in as many side and back hits as I could while keeping people alive, shattering my visions and changing the future. Amusingly, one of my visions had Reyn getting an attack that completely missed him. During the chain attacks I made good use of Sharla's healing abilities.

We eventually whittled down the creature's to defeat and got the Orthlus Liver we needed for the quest in Alcamoth.

316 xenoblade - researching the lakebed orthlus from colony 9

Dear Readers,

Now that I've that nonsense with the maps sorted out, I'm gonna research how to get Orthlus' Liver on Agora Shore in Colony 9. All for a quest of course.

I have to defeat the Lakebed Orthlus, which is found on the Agora Shore at that point jutting out into the water.

We warped all the way there, swam all the way there and spotted it, this big turtle thing.

315 xenoblade - the two methods of bringing up the map for fast travel

Dear Readers,

Today I learned how to use fast travel to any previous point in the game and not just in the same map. This is a pretty big thing because the way I was doing it before was a massive pain.

Up until now I've been using the select button to access maps. I didn't bother with the Area Maps option in the X menu. I didn't even look at the menu properly.

Pressing the SELECT or minus button brings up the current area map only, whereas choosing the Area Maps option in the X menu gives you access to all the maps you've seen so far and you can warp to any previously visited area in any previously visited map even if you're in a different map.

Throughout the game it's been pretty annoying the way I've been doing it, because I've been warping to the start and end of areas in order to get to a different map, but now that I'm in Eryth Sea, a place that has no obvious entrance area, I can't use this method anymore. This made me believe I was stranded here until some story point in the game told me otherwise.

Now that I know this isn't the case, over 120 hours in to this game, I'm making this blog post to address this point alone. There are two ways of accessing the map. I've been using the more limited way and it's left me annoyed and bored, like many other things in this game.

Anyway, this'll mean I can go back to doing quests in previous areas too, and I can develop Colony 6 more.

314 xenoblade - gathering glossy grady fans from lunar gradys

Dear Readers,

We went to Latael Shore to fight more Lunar Gradys but they only dropped rotten meat for some reason. It was also funny how none of us could reach it besides Sharla with her gun.

After we ran out of them to hunt, we went back to Sleeping Dragon Isle, this time hopping off the northern point of Hovering Reef 7, which was much closer to it than Central Seal Island. Should've done this the last time but ah well.

We reached the island and fought the lone Lunar Grady again that respawned. This time we got the material we needed to finish the quest.