[crowphoenix]

I think half the player base who winks at any guide gets that spoiled.

Oh it doesn't bother me in the slightest. More vagueness regrading 7th: I am just excited to see how the game pulls that off.

[Croc]

Been playing for 4-5 hours I think and I just am now leaving Colony 9. I'm really liking it so far, the world is really interesting and there is stuff to look at everywhere. I also really like all of the characters and none of them are getting on my nerves (so far).

One question I have is, are there any/a lot of missables in this game? Or at least anything that will make a big difference?

[massoluk]

The Japanese launch commercial itself wasn't exactly spoiler free.

Spoiler? May be. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL9-5vbyQjA

[Roto13]

I didn't spoil the seventh party member but I did assume it correctly. Every other temporary character that joins your party doesn't have a skill tree but Fiora did. :P

Been playing for 4-5 hours I think and I just am now leaving Colony 9. I'm really liking it so far, the world is really interesting and there is stuff to look at everywhere. I also really like all of the characters and none of them are getting on my nerves (so far). One question I have is, are there any/a lot of missables in this game? Or at least anything that will make a big difference?

There are some quests that will be impossible after a certain point in the game, but those are marked with clocks next to them in the quest list.

[chaosblade]

Updated the FAQ with another question, about art colors. I thought about doing it a while back when some people were talking about not really understanding chain attacks. The fact somebody mentioned losing "the break art" (Turn Strike) kind of set it in motion.

What's the meaning behind the different colored arts?

I'm not sure if it's mentioned in the game, but each colored art denotes a different art type. It's important to pay attention to the color of the arts when using chain attacks, because chaining arts of the same color gives you a hefty damage bonus. The most important colors:

Pink - A break art. Any pink art will attempt to inflict break on an enemy. Turn Strike also inflicts break, but you lose that early on.

Green - Topple arts. All green arts attempt to inflict topple. They usually require break first, but there are some exceptions.

Yellow - Daze arts. Every yellow art will attempt to inflict daze. It's usually stacked on top of topple, but there are some arts that will inflict it directly.

The other colors:

Red: An offensive art, always physical. Almost always has some sort of additional effect. Easiest to stack with chains.
Blue: Support art. Always ether. These have a wide array of effects.
Orange: Auras. These last a certain amount of time and add various buffs to the character.
Purple: Aura attacks? Not 100% sure, but there aren't many purple arts and I believe all of them are ether attacks based on auras.

Been playing for 4-5 hours I think and I just am now leaving Colony 9. I'm really liking it so far, the world is really interesting and there is stuff to look at everywhere. I also really like all of the characters and none of them are getting on my nerves (so far). One question I have is, are there any/a lot of missables in this game? Or at least anything that will make a big difference?

Not very many missables. There are some timed quests, and if you don't do those there are probably some bigger things you could miss out on, but you get a lot of time to do all the time quests.

[Roto13]

Regarding art colour combos: Talent arts work as a wild card that keep the chain going. So Red > Red > Red will get just as much of a damage bonus as Red > White (Talent) > Purple.

[chaosblade]

I had already mentioned that in the question in the FAQ specifically about chain attacks. But it's good to note nonetheless. I've taken heavy advantage of chains and damage bonuses on my current playthrough.

It's pretty awesome when you kill a unique at near level parody with a single chain attack. I've taken down at least 3 story bosses with a single chain too. That's the main reason I'm not feeling Melia this time, her arts don't really line up with the strategy I've gone with at all. I was initially concerned about how Shulk/Reyn/Dunban would work, but apart from Shulk stealing aggro when I control him, it's actually a damn good party.

This guy right here, looking like a badass? He's one of the unfortunate ones that got KOed by a single chain. (He's 46, I was 44/45)

[Varjet]

Regarding art colour combos: Talent arts work as a wild card that keep the chain going. So Red > Red > Red will get just as much of a damage bonus as Red > White (Talent) > Purple.

Also one of the reasons why Melia is so good.

[Zarovitch]

Do i need to look at which kind of attack the other do before choosing an art, or it's just when i launch a chain attack that is important?

[chaosblade]

Do i need to look at which kind of attack the other do before choosing an art, or it's just when i launch a chain attack that is important?

It's only during chain attacks. But, you can watch what your AI comrades are doing and take advantage of the arts they use. For example, topple and daze an enemy, then chain, then re-topple and daze and you'll essentially double the length of time the enemy will be down. That won't give you any sort of damage bonus, but it's useful.

Edit: It's also interesting not only how the story holds together and makes sense despite all the crazy plot twists, but also that so much is foreshadowed in throwaway comments.

Consider these ending spoilers:

Even as early as Prison Island part 1, the High Entia - Telethia thing is very heavily hinted at. So much so that I don't know how I missed it on my first playthrough. Meyneth also mentions the fact that Shulk's existence is more similar to hers and Zanza's than the people of Bionis/Mechonis.

There does seem to be some misleading info. There are a lot of things that simply aren't clear, like the High Entia inscriptions. There's also the convenient fact that they lost the records for just what was imprisoned in Prison Island, so when they got there it was "only a giant" but Melia was the only one to question why a giant would be locked up for eternity. Obviously Sorean knew about the High Entia - Telethia transformation, but apparently he didn't know the purpose of the Telethia themselves?

And what the heck was going on with Alvis' discussion with Zanza? Alvis doesn't have any side/allegiance, why would he "stand in" for Zanza? I don't really get what that was about at all.

It's also interesting how Egil basically played right into Zanza's hand, because Egil is the one who set everything in the entire game into motion. If he hadn't attacked Bionis to try to weaken it's ether levels and prevent it from ever awakening, Zanza never would have been released, and everything wouldn't have gone to hell. So yeah, both Sorean and Egil were crappy leaders that led to terrible stuff happening due to their lack of understanding the whole situation, but I guess at least in the case of Sorean he had to do something. Egil doesn't have that excuse, just a poorly planned revenge plot.

[Zarovitch]

It's only during chain attacks. But, you can watch what your AI comrades are doing and take advantage of the arts they use. For example, topple and daze an enemy, then chain, then re-topple and daze and you'll essentially double the length of time the enemy will be down. That won't give you any sort of damage bonus, but it's useful.

Ok thanks, it's more simple that i have think.
So there's arts and Talent arts, do Talent arts look different than arts when i need to choose those to chain attack?

[jorgeton]

I take back every bad thing I've said about Rikki. He's bad ass. Has not left my party since I put him in.

Also fuck this thread for spoiling the fact there is a 7th party member (don't know who yet, luckily). Really thought there were only six.

[Roto13]

Look at your party icon in the relationship chart. Of course there's a seventh member. There's an empty space. :P

Ok thanks, it's more simple that i have think. So there's arts and Talent arts, do Talent arts look different than arts when i need to choose those to chain attack?

Talent arts are the big ones in the middle of your list that you can't upgrade or remove.

[jorgeton]

Look at your party icon in the relationship chart. Of course there's a seventh member. There's an empty space. :P

There are so many sub-menus in this game that I literally have never looked closely at the relationship chart. I usually just skim through to find what I'm looking for. Ah well, no harm done, just a nice surprise brutally taken away from me by gaf. T_T

[Roto13]

Reloaded about twenty times looking for Tempestuous Edegia on Floating Reef 10. I've decided I'm not doing any more quests that involve praying that a rare monster spawns. It's not worth it and it's certainly not fun.

[thomaser]

It's pretty awesome when you kill a unique at near level parody with a single chain attack.

Not to be THAT guy, but I believe the word you're meaning to use is "parity".

[chaosblade]

Not to be THAT guy, but I believe the word you're meaning to use is "parity".

Yep. I'm tired and sick, if that's the only typo I've made over the last couple days then I'd be surprised.

Reloaded about twenty times looking for Tempestuous Edegia on Floating Reef 10. I've decided I'm not doing any more quests that involve praying that a rare monster spawns. It's not worth it and it's certainly not fun.

If you're actually making an effort to do the quests, I found it's best to avoid unique monsters until you've gotten all the challenge quests. That way you aren't stuck reloading.

Weather specific uniques are a pain in the ass though (but not as much as quest-only ones). Spent like 10 minutes trying to get a thunderstorm on Gaur Plains for White Eduardo, and probably 4-5 minutes trying to get a meteor shower for another unique. Even the ones that appear during common/calm weather are annoying because wouldn't you know it, right as you're out hunting for them it starts raining. I can think of two times just on this playthrough that it's happened to me.

[Pancho]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...der=true&gid=2 You should probably print it like i did, like i said its huge. :lol It obviously spoils some locations, but its nothing major or mind blowing. Edit : Oh yeah, 7th character. My bad. Do not look unless you already know who it is.

Thanks
And really the 7th party member is no spoiler at all xD
I sort of already expected for it to happen.

I finally got Riki in my party and the game's starting to get overwhelming again x_x
So much stuff to do

[SafeinSound]

Normally I hate characters in jRPGS like Riki, but I think they realize that he is just a silly character. When you get him the music that is playing has such a jovial undertone that it's hard not at least laugh at the situation

[Rebel Leader]

I am tiring to find that song that has a piano in it... it's happens alot in cut-scenes when shulk attacks something

Found a video with the music... So can someone tell me what the title is
EDIT: nvm

I think I found the song. Engage the Enemy
=D

Normally I hate characters in jRPGS like Riki, but I think they realize that he is just a silly character. When you get him the music that is playing has such a jovial undertone that it's hard not at least laugh at the situation

Riki like friends. Riki do happy dance.

=)

[Croc]

Just some fun speculation about the 7th character from someone only about 10 hours into the game. Right now I only have 3 characters so obviously this is just going on a whim but...

Would the 7th character happen to be Fiora? I don't think it'd be Riki since people seem to be throwing that name around pretty freely on here. All I'm going on is the knowledge that the 7th character is surprising as a spoiler. I was thinking Fiora since she had supposedly died, and also the fact that she was made a playable character early on in the game. It doesn't really seem that surprising to me (if it is her) because it just doesn't seem like it'd do much good to make her a playable character if you were only going to be able to use her for a brief moment.

So yeah, am I completely off base here?

[burgerdog]

Just some fun speculation about the 7th character from someone only about 10 hours into the game. Right now I only have 3 characters so obviously this is just going on a whim but... Would the 7th character happen to be Fiora? I don't think it'd be Riki since people seem to be throwing that name around pretty freely on here. All I'm going on is the knowledge that the 7th character is surprising as a spoiler. I was thinking Fiora since she had supposedly died, and also the fact that she was made a playable character early on in the game. It doesn't really seem that surprising to me (if it is her) because it just doesn't seem like it'd do much good to make her a playable character if you were only going to be able to use her for a brief moment. So yeah, am I completely off base here?

Completely right.

[AniHawk]

So yeah, am I completely off base here?

ffvii spoilers

aeris died kinda early in final fantasy vii too, never to be seen again and no glitches don't count and neither do spinoff games

[KarmaCow]

Just some fun speculation about the 7th character from someone only about 10 hours into the game. Right now I only have 3 characters so obviously this is just going on a whim but... Would the 7th character happen to be Fiora? I don't think it'd be Riki since people seem to be throwing that name around pretty freely on here. All I'm going on is the knowledge that the 7th character is surprising as a spoiler. I was thinking Fiora since she had supposedly died, and also the fact that she was made a playable character early on in the game. It doesn't really seem that surprising to me (if it is her) because it just doesn't seem like it'd do much good to make her a playable character if you were only going to be able to use her for a brief moment. So yeah, am I completely off base here?

Yup. I had similar reasons for thinking it was her too. Though my main reason was that I got weapons only she could use before she died so surely the game wouldn't create a class of weapons just for a character that dies fairly early into the game.

Even more spoiler-y below.

The funny thing is that she can't even use those weapons when you get her back because she has a new type of weapon set.

[Croc]

ffvii spoilers aeris died kinda early in final fantasy vii too, never to be seen again and no glitches don't count and neither do spinoff games

Though I never actually got to the point where she died in FF VII, I feel like however long I played it (to some cave that was in an area with an observatory or something) was significantly longer than I was able to play with Fiora for in Xenoblade. I guess it just struck me as odd since she died literally in the first town.

[sillymonkey321]

70 hours into the game.....right before the tail end....and i end up quitting and watching the rest of the boss fights on youtube because i didn't want to grind 3 levels to make the fight more manageable :P That blaze damage!

It was a fun game but it went on too long for me. You stopped getting arts for a long time, i didn't really like the characters or the plot, but the battle system was fun. Not 70 hours fun, but fun. Environmental design and music were also really good, but i wish the plot/characters matched it.

[emb]

Completely right.

Curses. I thought it'd be safe to highlight speculation from some one who wasn't as far as me, didn't realize it would be phrased as a question until it was too late. My own fault, but I'm annoyed with myself for highlighting any of the spoiler tags. I knew this would happen if I kept hanging around this thread before I could put a lot of time into the game.

[flyover]

Curses. I thought it'd be safe to highlight speculation from some one who wasn't as far as me, didn't realize it would be phrased as a question until it was too late. My own fault, but I'm annoyed with myself for highlighting any of the spoiler tags. I knew this would happen if I kept hanging around this thread before I could put a lot of time into the game.

The good news is that you really haven't ruined the game for yourself. Believe me.

But (and I advise this for anyone playing for the first time) if you don't want to be spoiled on things, You may want to stay out of this thread until you're done. Or only pop in to give your progress, but avoid reading any part of any post that has spoiler tags.

Hell, if I were playing for the first time, I wouldn't want to know a bunch of stuff that's being left out of spoiler tags. But I like knowing almost nothing when I'm going through a new game.

[-GOUKI-]

About 2 or 3 hours in, does the story get better? It's just standard jrpg drivel right now.

yes

[-GOUKI-]

Goddamn it i didnt even read spoilers and i think i just got spoiled...

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Goddamn it i didnt even read spoilers and i think i just got spoiled...

Yeah, those answers really should have been put in spoiler tags. Nice work, guys.

[zashga]

Played the European release last year but didn't get very far. Picked it up again this year, and I'm having a much better go of it. Not sure why; maybe it's the fact that I'm using a classic controller this time instead of remote+nunchuck. Now I can't put it down.

I love the scale and creativity of this world. Just spent a couple hours covering the first half of Makna Forest. (Minor early/mid-game location spoilers, I guess.) Realizing that the next area's "sea" is floating directly overhead was a pretty awesome moment.

Regarding party composition, should I be trying to keep a dedicated "healer" in my active party? So far only Sharla seems intended to fill that role. I guess I don't have everyone's skills just yet.

[chaosblade]

Regarding party composition, should I be trying to keep a dedicated "healer" in my active party? So far only Sharla seems intended to fill that role. I guess I don't have everyone's skills just yet.

No, you don't have to. It arguably makes the game easier though since you can win a lot of fights through attrition.

[Hiltz]

Played the European release last year but didn't get very far. Picked it up again this year, and I'm having a much better go of it. Not sure why; maybe it's the fact that I'm using a classic controller this time instead of remote+nunchuck. Now I can't put it down. I love the scale and creativity of this world. Just spent a couple hours covering the first half of Makna Forest. (Minor early/mid-game location spoilers, I guess.) Realizing that the next area's "sea" is floating directly overhead was a pretty awesome moment. Regarding party composition, should I be trying to keep a dedicated "healer" in my active party? So far only Sharla seems intended to fill that role. I guess I don't have everyone's skills just yet.

There is another new character that is more versatile than Sharla is. In addition to being able to being able to heal the whole party, this character has other valuable supportive arts. All the other characters are really just meant to heal themselves or one party member at a time. By the way, Melia is not an ideal healer for the party.

[MetatronM]

Regarding party composition, should I be trying to keep a dedicated "healer" in my active party? So far only Sharla seems intended to fill that role. I guess I don't have everyone's skills just yet.

Sharla is the only "dedicated" healer in the game. No, you do not have to keep a dedicated healer if you do not want to. Most party configurations can get by with little to no healing at all (actually, a least 4 other party members have at least one healing art of varying effectiveness, so it's basically impossible to not have SOME healing in the party).

Parties without Sharla will typically do more damage more quickly than parties with Sharla, resulting in faster battles and less damage taken in most minor battles. Additionally, evasion tanks like Dunban inherently require less healing than using someone like Reyn as a tank (or not having a tank at all). However, Sharla can certainly help keep your party safe, and she particularly compliments Reyn's tanking style.

It's all down to your style, though. Basically any combination of party members can make an effective party in most situations.

[DarkChronic]

Dammit. Read the speculation but you gotta mark the answer in spoilers.

Dammit.

[SteeloDMZ]

I had already mentioned that in the question in the FAQ specifically about chain attacks. But it's good to note nonetheless. I've taken heavy advantage of chains and damage bonuses on my current playthrough. It's pretty awesome when you kill a unique at near level parody with a single chain attack. I've taken down at least 3 story bosses with a single chain too. That's the main reason I'm not feeling Melia this time, her arts don't really line up with the strategy I've gone with at all. I was initially concerned about how Shulk/Reyn/Dunban would work, but apart from Shulk stealing aggro when I control him, it's actually a damn good party. This guy right here, looking like a badass? He's one of the unfortunate ones that got KOed by a single chain. (He's 46, I was 44/45)

That sidequest was so cool, specially some of the "surprises".

[Junie12]

Ever since I started NG+ I've been looking at the guide here doing sidequests.

Don't have lot of time to play these days so I'm playing the game with a guide to 100% the game faster. Did a lot of quests today, already got 3 stars on Colony 9 in a short amount of time. Man, these sidequests get tedious after a while :(

I can tell my second playthrough is gonna be longer than my first one, doing everything in this game is gonna be pretty tough.

I wonder if I'll ever finish it <_<

[Hiltz]

Ever since I started NG+ I've been looking at the guide here doing sidequests. Don't have lot of time to play these days so I'm playing the game with a guide to 100% the game faster. Did a lot of quests today, already got 3 stars on Colony 9 in a short amount of time. Man, these sidequests get tedious after a while :( I can tell my second playthrough is gonna be longer than my first one, doing everything in this game is gonna be pretty tough. I wonder if I'll ever finish it <_<

But at least you don't have to do any level grinding and most battles will be over in a matter of seconds. Doesn't it get boring killing monsters in like 1-2 hits ?

[AniHawk]

the story hogged all my playtime tonight, but it was mostly good. looking forward to all the new quests that i'm hoping opened up just now just got 7th

[ShadowgeistX]

Just finished the game, about 60 hours in. Beating the final boss at level 78 felt pretty brutal, had a couple attempts that pretty much lasted about 20 seconds.

[Junie12]

But at least you don't have to do any level grinding and most battles will be over in a matter of seconds. Doesn't it get boring killing monsters in like 1-2 hits ?

Yeah it does get boring after awhile but there is unique monsters I can still fight with, so it's not all bad.

Besides, I can finally get revenge on all those overpowered monsters that beat the crap out of me in my first playthrough!

[Luap]

The game just arrived this evening. I put about 2 hours into it so far, and it's great. I was going to immediately change the voice acting to Japanese, but a quick Google told me that the British voice acting is actually quite good so I kept it. And so far I have to agree that the English version is just fine.

Combat seems fun so far; definitely feels MMO-esque. Honestly I've spent most of the time just exploring the city (I forget what it's called) and picking up side quests. I just reached the part where you take control of the girl.

All in all, I am very impressed so far.

[Exeunt]

All right, I'm 20 hours into the game at this point with most of my party hovering around level 27. The spoiler tags in my post all concern the game up to and a little after the first major boss fight in the Ether Mines, so don't highlight if you you haven't reached that point. I got out of the ---Xord--- fight which I found rather difficult at first—but since the game doesn't punish you for dying I was able to experiment and find the best way to win I am talking about the first part of course, during which you have to rack up combos to topple him and use the Monado to deal damage. Quite a nice use of the battle system, I have to say. I was breezing past most of the enemies at that point so it was nice to have something more challenging to contend with.

I'm still loving this game after 20 hours in and I have a feeling I'm not even that far in terms of the narrative—at least I see myself spending probably another 20 or so hours on subquests alone since I've seen a lot of high-level monsters about that I'm sure someone will ask me to confront. I've actually had a lot of fun with those when a certain quest came about; I did the With Much Gratitude quest as a stealth mission creeping past the flying monsters and avoiding the high-level ants and I also stole a Giant's Mirror from a giant scary spider. Anybody else have experiences like this? I'm really fond of the way the game is designed to let you see these terrifying beasts that you know you'll get a chance to take a shot at when you gain another… fifty levels or so.

I also have to say holy crap at the sheer scale of the Bionis' Leg area. I get that there are fancy tricks at work with rendering the environment and you can see enemies and geometry pop in at times but the fact that they pulled off that area with pretty much no visible loading time is mighty impressive but (negligible location spoiler) of course the Metroid Prime player in me always smiles when I come across a long corridor with little detail. I think Prime filled its blank corridors better, but Xenoblade is hugely impressive in its environments. As I said before, I'm really impressed with the scale of the game.

The story is pretty serviceable as well for what it is. The villains so far have actually been pretty brutal and are definitely stronger than the standard JRPG villain I can remember. Plot up to this point and speculation to follow: There's something great about Metal Face taunting Shulk even if the writing gets a little corny at times, and even Xord was pretty enjoyable for the relatively small amount of time he got. But I'm guessing they are going to try and make me feel bad about killing the sentient Mechon bosses soon.. I'm really hoping that the main "twist" of the story isn't that the Mechon with faces are corrupted humans with Metal Face as the Wolverine claw guy. I feel like it was pretty blatantly telegraphed so I'm hoping there's more to the narrative than that (I would love to be wrong as well). That said, I'm still interested to know how that happens and I'm guessing the party will end up confronting the power that causes this transformation anyway so I suppose it's not a huge deal.

For perspective, how far would someone say I am in the narrative (not counting any sidequests and such) if I just added Dunban to my party? It would be reassuring to know that I'm still fairly early on in the plot for more developments to take place.

I apologize if any of this has been asked or stated before, but I haven't wanted to read much of the OT to avoid spoilers; a couple posts above mine suggest that this was the right approach to take.

[AniHawk]

For perspective, how far would someone say I am in the narrative (not counting any sidequests and such) if I just added Dunban to my party? It would be reassuring to know that I'm still fairly early on in the plot for more developments to take place.

maybe like the 20% mark? and that's being generous. it's probably less.

i reached that part of the game about 35 hours ago and the endgame is nowhere in sight.

[Hiltz]

You're still very early in the game based on what you have said on your current progress. The story has a heck of a lot more to reveal and there's plenty of new areas for you to drop your jaw in amazement. Quite frankly, you can spend all day exploring and doing sidequests instead of moving on with the narrative. So that's what will basically determine your pacing of the game. Of course, you can do pretty much everything at your own leisure so there's often no rush to get things done.

[Papercuts]

Where can I buy books for Sharla's artes?

[burgerdog]

Where can I buy books for Sharla's artes?

According to google: Refugee camp, and the Nopon in the Ether Mine.

[Exeunt]

maybe like the 20% mark? and that's being generous. it's probably less. i reached that part of the game about 35 hours ago and the endgame is nowhere in sight.

You're still very early in the game based on what you have said on your current progress. The story has a heck of a lot more to reveal and there's plenty of new areas for you to drop your jaw in amazement. Quite frankly, you can spend all day exploring and doing sidequests instead of moving on with the narrative. So that's what will basically determine your pacing of the game. Of course, you can do pretty much everything at your own leisure so there's often no rush to get things done.

Okay; thank you both! I'm glad to hear there is still much to come. I really like how the game lets you set your own pace like described above; I stopped following the narrative for a bit to do the time-sensitive quests for the Refugees and I keep returning to Colony 9 but whenever I get tired of chasing people/monsters around I know I can go back to the narrative until it drops me off somewhere or I feel like questing again. Either way it feels like progress and the open areas are a blast to explore.

The one problem I have with the exploration in the game is how the unique monsters are handled in relation to quests; you can kill one of them while exploring then get sent to kill it again. Not a huge deal since you should know the time and place to find it, but you still have to wander over and the fight might not be as fresh this time. I had this happen to me when I was exploring the Bionis' Leg and I ended up finding the Tirkin Hideout and killing everything there—including the Vagrant Alfead. Then of course I was sent to kill it again and I had to take two more trips when I realized it didn't immediately respawn.. Not the worst thing in the world, but given the other attention given to quests—how items are recognized, you don't always have to return to the quest-giver, and so on—it's too bad killing monsters isn't also registered in advance. I could also go for teleporting to locations (not just landmarks) and exclamation points for quests on the main map (not just the mini ones) but overall these are pretty minor complains I have with the title.

[dragonlife]

Just so people know: you can warp anywhere instantly by opening up the map. And I don't mean hitting the minus button; I mean the leftmost icon when you bring up the menu. I never even bothered with this method until the 60 hour+ mark because... I never really noticed. I would always just warp back to the earliest landmarks and exit to enter new areas... I did this a lot when gem crafting. It didn't take too long, but I was doing it the longer way for sure.

Also, this is one game where sidequests have gotten the better of me. I burned myself out to the point of me not giving a fuck anymore. Very little progress for a bunch of exhausting sidequests made me a sour bitch. Suddenly the game felt like it dragged and I just wanted to beat it. My play time per day dwindled because of this, and my other compulsions (beating every monster I see and navigating every inch of the maps) were also beginning to shatter my sanity and giving me mixed feelings on the game.

Small chunks of play time definitely helped me progress, but ever since it felt like I was nearing the end, I would just beeline it to the story progression markers ASAP. I would get this itch like I just wanted the game over with... but I do like it. It's weird.

I'm certain I'm in the final area of the game, so, beware: I'm back on Prison Island. I stopped at the dragon boss after you ring a bell. No joke, I didn't fight more than 4 monsters--and that's including the bosses. I was a broken man by this dungeon; I would just start being a little whiny bitch and start talking to myself/the TV/the game if more areas had to be traversed. I was so over exploring and fighting... except for bosses. I just want to fight bosses and watch the awesome cutscenes.

Anyway, like I said, I do like the game--adore, even--it's just that I burned myself out with sidequests. I'm no 100% nut, but I like doing as much as I can, and I usually don't mind... but there was just a bit too much for me in this game.

Did anyone else feel like I did?

EDIT: I was wondering, but is (late-game location/boss spoiler) the battle with Lorithia the Mt. Gagazet Seymour/Matador battle of this game? It's the only fight that gave me trouble. I had to retry it about four times, I think. I never lost to any boss before them. My usual Riki (me), Shulk, and Dunban party wasn't cutting it. I had to switch Dunban for Melia (me controlling her) to win, but even then it felt a bit challenging