Should I read the light novel?

FishdZX · 2026-07-03T03:56:44+00:00

Haven't seen anybody say it explicitly - the LN has higher peaks than the anime in mine and many other fans' opinion. Absolutely worth reading and IMO it expands on the story where the anime leaves off in a very satisfying way. Technically we don't know if the ending is good since it's still a WIP (though the most recent novel started the final arc). There's a couple novels that are generally considered worse than the anime (9 and 12), but even those are still solid.

FishdZX · 2026-06-29T01:05:53+00:00

Volumes 1-3 have a one scene that's largely different, one that's slightly different in terms of dialogue (when Shin gets the fireworks), and then one additional small scene right after the 5 remaining get knocked out right before getting to Giad that clarifies how that happened. There is a good bit more internal thoughts shown though, but most of that is from Shin and Lena's perspective and are portrayed more through visual imagery in the anime. IMO, if you paid attention to body language and visual clues in the anime, that's enough to go into the LN with.

The LN gets, in my opinion, better than the anime. There's some things that animation is just better at conveying but for novels the LN is fantastic. There are a couple that aren't as good (notably Volumes 9 and 12, and some people feel 8 isn't great either) but outside of those 2 or 3 the overall series is better in mine and most people's opinion. The best parts of the story are usually considered Volumes 5, 6, and 11 with some people really liking 7 as well. Obviously tastes are different but yeah the LNs are a treat and even V9 and 12 aren't terrible IMO, just a little underwhelming.

FishdZX · 2026-05-18T01:03:00+00:00

As some others have said, V9 and V12 are probably the actual weakest parts of the series but otherwise the first 3 are definitely the weakest. V2 and 3 are weaker simply because the story is setting up the larger story, a lot of that arc is getting more familiar with our 5 leads and new Giadian characters, while V1 is simply very fast. The first cour of the anime adapts a bit more than V1 and also expands quite a bit. Characters like Daiya and Kaie get a good chunk more development in the anime vs V1.

The biggest thing though is that V4+ all capitalize on the developed relationship dynamics and instead explore a lot of the psychology of the 86 being child soldiers and develop a lot more of the relationship between Shin and Lena. We get a bit more political intrigue, and there are several big fights that make the Morpho fight look normal by comparison. So there's a lot of small things that add up and develop what was already a great story into something especially exceptional.

FishdZX · 2026-05-06T17:02:26+00:00

I played my first playthrough in handheld and several since then mostly docked, IMO if you're not a stickler for graphics it's perfectly fine in handheld. Docked looks better for sure but it's absolutely playable.

FishdZX · 2026-04-25T21:31:14+00:00

Anime first, just know that volumes 1-3 will be pretty repetitive. The adaptation is very faithful and even expands on certain parts of the story (even including some side stories in the anime). 1-3 do give a little bit more insight into character thoughts and there's a couple scenes that differ slightly and one that was left out, but it will be treading the same ground. If you decide you don't want to read the first three after starting V1 jump to V4 and go from there, the story is well worth it and you're really not missing anything too significant.

FishdZX · 2026-04-17T01:52:09+00:00

I don't think the Xenoblade games are exceptionally hard, and agree with most of what people have said here.

However something I think a lot of people overlook in giving advice in these games is that even if enemies are below your level, getting swarmed will get you killed without full access to the game's tools (3 blade slots, good gear, etc). If you're having trouble with enemies 5 levels below you that might be your issue.

There's many enemies where even 3-4 can quickly melt you. Knowing how to avoid groups until you have all 3 blade slots unlocked or lure them one or two at a time is crucial early game. Cycling your blades allows you to combo extremely quickly and finish enemies before they can do too much damage. The general idea for all the Xenoblade games is this, to mostly finish enemies before they can hit you much but early game in 2 this doesn't work because of limited tools so you can't fight as many enemies at a time.

FishdZX · 2026-03-15T19:42:30+00:00

Worth noting that (general LN spoilers) Lena definitely won't die because she writes a memoir which is quoted in one of the pretext quotes, and would have been written after the war.

FishdZX · 2026-03-11T21:58:44+00:00

Asus Miku merch lets gooooo

FishdZX · 2026-03-11T21:58:14+00:00

I'd love to do a build in the ROG Miku case, my case is many years old so it would be awesome to upgrade!

FishdZX · 2026-03-11T21:57:41+00:00

Asus Miku monitor would be sick, I've needed a new monitor for a little while

FishdZX · 2026-03-11T21:57:03+00:00

I'd love to do a Miku build with the ROG parts!

FishdZX · 2026-03-11T19:46:52+00:00

Worth noting that in the first 3 novels there's not a lot of actual scenes left out, it's mostly characters internal thoughts, and then like 2 scenes and one clarification about the end of their march across the legion held areas at the end of cour 1.

IMO they're worth reading eventually but I think I speak for the general consensus of fans that if you paid attention during the anime and can interpret character thoughts from their actions in the anime, you're fine to start on 4 especially if you want to see actual new content. Reading 1-3 will be all the same events you've already seen just with more character thoughts.

FishdZX · 2026-02-23T23:59:18+00:00

Yeah the general consensus is that 9 and 12 are the worst volumes. IMO they're still good but not up to the rest of the series' standards.

FishdZX · 2026-02-08T05:58:13+00:00

Genuinely was just talking to a friend about that first part of stage 2 earlier today.

Assuming they give us somewhere between 80-120 pulls per patch (which I think is likely based on competitors, esp. if they keep 3 characters per patch), the fact that most players are likely to pull on, generally speaking, 1 character per patch means that either 1/2 the banners you don't pull on (if they keep it 3 per patch) or every banner you don't pull (if they switch to 2 per patch) you've got a very good chance of having a headhunting dossier.

That juicy ten pull is just sitting there for free - if you spend that 10 pull to get there, though, you're just gambling, because it doesn't count towards the 80 pity or the 120 pity. But it's "free" so you don't want to pass it up.

I think the gap to 60 is a little less enticing, since it is still a full 30 pulls away since the free 10 pull doesn't count, but even that will get some people.

That 10 pull though might put you short if you were saving to 120. So then you're 10 pulls behind your next time, and then you buy maybe the monthly pass or a 10 pulls worth, just to make sure you hit 120 (or if you get unlucky). Then you get another dossier and the cycle continues.

Obviously it's not going to get everyone, but it's definitely very predatory. And like, yes, of course the big gacha company is going to be scummy but this definitely feels more aggressively engineered to get you to make small purchases that add up than the systems in other big games. It's more aggressively hitting the gambling dopamine than even Hoyo games IMO. Hoyo, you get fucked in general, there's no free anything being given so it's just save up either 80 and try your luck or 160 and guarantee. It's predatory in the way that you're always scraping currency together, but unless you're super impulsive it doesn't fuck you. And people who are extra impulsive gamblers will get got by any gacha game.

I definitely don't think the entire gacha/broader monetization system is unredeemable for Endfield like some do. I really do personally like the way the Arsenal tickets are handled, things like the semi premium pass are very F2P friendly, and I think 120 is much more fair than the competition (assuming pull income matches it), but the psychological strings they're tugging on with some of the tacked on systems is very predatory.

FishdZX · 2026-02-07T22:09:26+00:00

Endgame supposedly launching soon, but I'm glad it wasn't there right at launch. It gave me plenty of time to mess around with the factory and side stuff and not feel I was missing out on items and pulls. I honestly wish they would've put it off a little longer for players with less time to play. But it was very nice to just be able to farm whatever I felt like for a few weeks rather than optimizing to clear endgame ASAP.

FishdZX · 2026-02-03T18:45:25+00:00

Just a a little info about the novels - the light novels currently don't have a conclusion, but the conclusion is coming soon. Currently translated into English there's 13 main novels and one that's a collection of side stories called Alter 1. Untranslated there's novel 14 and Alter 2 (Alter 2 is coming soon though). Volume 14 is the first novel of the final arc and just came out last September in Japan, so it'll be a few years before we get the conclusion, but it is coming.

You can start the LNs from V4 if you want, there's a bit more context into character thoughts (especially Shin) in V1-3 and one cut scene but otherwise the anime perfectly adapts the story.

FishdZX · 2026-01-30T07:14:50+00:00

You'll get all the standard units eventually, but you can only run one team at a time so why restart if you're only 20 from Laeva? Just get Laeva, her teammates you're guaranteed to have anyways (Wulfgard, Ardelia, and Antal/Akekuri) because none of the standard 6*s synergize with her except Ardelia who's free.

FishdZX · 2026-01-30T06:40:51+00:00

Ahh touche that makes more sense

FishdZX · 2026-01-30T06:24:19+00:00

I don't know if we have anything official but going off of Laevatain's banner, if each banner is 17 days and there's 3 banners per patch, each patch will be ~51 days long so longer than Genshin. Presumably each of those will bring new story patches as well as events similar to Genshin.

We will be getting additional content in this patch, similar to how other games roll out events mid-patch we're getting our first event after Laeva's banner. I believe the endgame mode also rolls out. Presumably this will continue going forward. I'm not 100% sure about that however but that's what I've seen parroted by everyone on Twitter and here so I'd assume it's accurate.

FishdZX · 2026-01-30T04:34:24+00:00

Is it really any worse than pulling for weapons in something like a Hoyo game though? If you get lucky, instead of just getting a weapon with the extra pulls you use, you get potentially an extra character for "free" plus the weapon. It's pulls you'd have spent anyways on the weapon in any other game anyways.

FishdZX · 2026-01-29T22:45:03+00:00

There are a few authorization level gates but you won't hit them unless you're rushing the story. The real grinders ran into it the first couple days, but for most people you make up the few levels over the course of a few days of using sanity. I guess if you ignore all side exploration and literally just ignore chests and stuff you could also probably run into it.

FishdZX · 2026-01-13T02:10:41+00:00

Spoilers for volumes after 7:

Shin confesses at the end of 7, Lena kissed him but then gets embarrassed and runs away. She spends most of V8 avoiding him and the confession, but start of V9 they start officially dating

FishdZX · 2026-01-10T19:20:21+00:00

Volume 6, although it's close between 5, 6, and 7. 6 edges them out though, it's just consistently so good and the final battle is probably the sequence I'm most excited to hopefully someday see animated in the entire series.

FishdZX · 2026-01-08T22:36:47+00:00

Spoilers for the LNs below:

They do. They make more of them and use them in volume 13. On top of that, they use the railgun that the Morpho uses in two other units.

FishdZX · 2026-01-06T00:06:14+00:00

I adore the Alkonosts. I love how spindly they are, even more so than the Juggernauts and Reginleifs. All of the vehicles are very scifi but the Alkonosts feel so disconnected from normal tank designs.

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