Impressions! [may contain spoilers]

Lin is basically like MOMO and Miyuki suffered a transporter accident and got merged into one character. I really liked her intro scene, it gave me Episode 2 flashbacks! @_@ I have all these odd post Episode 3 headcanons, where the two of them become good friends. MOMO works a lot on network stuff and also technology-related things along with Miyuki as they work on re-establishing the rebuilt network around what's left of known space. She also becomes a really great cook. lol... It's kind of fulfilling to see those things about Lin.

I was expecting Elma to seem more like Wilhelm due to her name, but I guess that's to be seen. She feels a lot like Mary (KOS-MOS Mary) in some respects. She seems interesting! Sofar, I haven't gotten many of the other characters yet or interacted as much with them to get more of a feel for them.

I'd have to say Lin is probably my favorite sofar though!

I was looking through skills and arts, and noticed that there's a skill called "Brainjack". Hahaaa noooo... Considering I made Jan my avatar character, I'm not sure how I feel about it. XD But it was nice to see a PP reference! Even if it's just a small one.

I like that we have a big burly guy named Vanderham. :p Except he seems much nicer.

I know I saw in interviews that this game was huge, but holy crap. @_@;; I don't even know what to do or where to start. lol.

It's taking me a little to get used to the battle system. I'm so used to being able to use items and specifically select skills from other characters in a turn-based style. I've not played many games in the last few years. So I feel like an old lady trying to figure out a smartphone. But sofar it seems really cool. I like changing up the equipment and having it show on the character for a change.

As a new player in a new game, with no players guide, on a game so new there's not even an FAQ for, I was bewildered and frustrated with the tutorial chapters, not because of the content, but because of how broad they were. Basically, the first Xenoblade is your tutorial for Xenoblade X, but even with that under my belt, all the new systems in X and all the differences between them kinda overwhelmed me. Just when I thought the tutorial was over and I could explore, I got lost and didn't realize I hadn't unlocked Fast Travel, so my entire night was spent trying to find my way back to the East Gate after wandering around. I think the most frustrating part of it was that it gave the impression of handholding, but I easily found things I could get to and knock over while having my hand held.


The combat tutorial slipped out of my brain entirely, but I think what was needed was a way to show the player what all the different colors of arts meant and how the characters reacted based on that, but you don't start out with every available color right away, so I've been blundering through ignoring the other pc's art calls until tonight. I think if Doug or Irina were along for it, I'd have gotten a better feel for it. When given the choice, I went for the Fiora-class because it seemed the most fun, but that turned my party into 2 DPS and a Tank, which frustrated me, but I was smart enough to switch over before I wiped more than twice. The wheels in my head are turning, and I kinda wanna do my own beginners guide now that I get it.

At this point, after having beaten the final boss of the main campaign and been hit with the Elma thing and the Lifehold thing, I still want more story, but I'm completely directionless about being led through postgame content. I kinda went into the Chapter 12 boss fight sequence raw. I locked myself out of doing any fluffy affinity missions, or being able to level Nagi, which put a nail in my enjoyment. I'm burnt out, but apparently have 30-ish hours left to go, but I'm having trouble getting up the motivation to do so.

All in all, this has been one of the most challenging video game experiences I've put myself up against. I'm reminded a little of my experience with Xenosaga 2, but I was able to beat the main story of this one. I want to know so much more about all of these characters and the intrigue around their planet, but 250 hours in, I'm exhausted and I want my life back.

After beating chapter 12, I'm mostly playing now in order to craft Elma's true form outfit but putting it on my KOS-MOS character instead.  >.>;

Months ago, Earth was destroyed by being in the crossfire between two very advanced alien races - the Ghost and the Samaarian Federation.  The Ganglion, a small faction within the SF, were actually attacking Earth because something in human DNA was prophesied to be the end of the Ganglion race.  Calling a holy war upon the humans, the Ganglion leader Luxaar and his forces successfully destroyed the planet, but not before the an alien ambassador to Earth, Elma, was able to outfit what remained of humanity with artificial bodies and a way to re-clone their real ones once they reached a safe location. It is unknown which species of alien Elma is. I thought she was Qlurian, but this is never stated throughout the course of the game.
http://xenoblade.wikia.com/wiki/Elma
http://xenoblade.wikia.com/wiki/Samaar_Federation

Since there was very little time before the Ganglion invasion and the evacuation of Earth, similarly to Fallout, only certain people were selected for this special evacuation.  Left behind were Lao Huang's wife and daughter, causing him to fall into despair and develop a nihilistic attitude about humanity's continued survival.  Lao bears exceptional resemblance to Dunban from the original Xenoblade, who bore resemblance to Jin Uzuki and Citan Uzuki.

In order to quell complete panic, Elma disguised herself as a human military commander when she boarded the evacuation ship, The White Whale.  During many battles alongside Irina Akulov and other members of the Terran military, she gained their admiration and respect, all the while keeping her secret.  

When the White Whale crashed to planet Mira, not all parts of it crashed in the same place.  Upon crashing, the chief officers of the ship refashioned the ship into the city of New Los Angeles (NLA).  The main objective of the game is to explore and retrieve pieces of the White Whale and bring them back to NLA, most notably the piece called the Lifehold Core, which is messaged to the people at large as the power source for the artificial bodies the humans were given.  There is a clock tower at the center of NLA which counts down a percentage of power left, so the humans scramble to find the Lifehold Core to stop the threat of complete annihilation.  Upon reawakening from their evacuation pod, the main protagonist, usually called Cross, does not remember that their body is artificial, and it is revealed maybe 20% of the story through and comes as a shock to them.  
http://xenoblade.wikia.com/wiki/Mimeosome

The humans form the paramilitary group BLADE to try to retrieve the Lifehold Core before the clock runs out, and Cross joins Elma, Irina, Lao, and their friends and compatriots, all the while trying to stop the Ganglion forces from finishing the job they started with destroying Earth.

The Ganglion have also made it to Mira, along with other alien races who were part of their galactic alliance (several of which were strongarmed).  For some reason, on this planet, humans and aliens can understand each other because they all appear to speak the same language.  There are several indigenous aliens that ally with the humans as well.

About 75% of the way through the story, Lao reveals himself as a traitor, relaying coordinates of important artifacts to Luxaar in a fit of nihilistic outcry over no longer truly being human.  This itself is a double-double cross, because Lao receives information about the location of the Lifehold Core that is passed to Elma and her team.

Within the Lifehold Core, the party discovers that it is not the power source for their own bodies, but for Elma's artificial human body.  Within the Core, the party also sees the cloning material for everything that ever lived on earth, and Elma's real body (which looks a lot like KOS-MOS version 3) awakens and apologizes for the deception, but everything she had done was to save them.  Various party members react variously, but still realize Elma was working for the greater good and has saved them.  Also within the depths of the Lifehold Core are peoples' uploaded consciousnesses, which were believed to be what was what enabled people to move and control their artificial bodies.

At that point, the last boss pops out of one of the clone pods and does the last boss stuff and the epilogue begins with Elma discovering that the server containing the humans' consciousnesses was destroyed when they landed on Mira.  A new mystery of why the people are moving around and doing the things they do without their consciousnesses controlling their artificial bodies screams for a sequel.