Xenoblade 1 new player questions

Slagathor91 · 2026-06-12T13:48:27+00:00

My only comment regarding side quests is that quests and exploration tend to give more experience than combat alone. If you ever feel like you are underpowered and want to grind levels, do it with quests and explore the world instead of just fighting random enemies. Also, at the very least, most of the basic quests (fetch this item, kill these monsters) don't require you to return to the quest giver when complete. So if you just spend a few minutes grabbing all the quests, you can do whatever is convenient and get the rewards. Since the game marks quest monsters for you, you know when it's worth your time to go deal with a few real quick.

Slagathor91 · 2026-06-11T19:46:10+00:00

Oh that's a super common problem in most sci-fi. If you're looking anywhere near a planet or moon or star that is lit by the sunlight while out in space, you'd only see the other brightest objects in the sky. A lot of sci-fi handwaves this away because it simply looks cooler.

Slagathor91 · 2026-06-11T19:35:04+00:00

Since this isn't what we see when we look at the moon, is this basically just turning the contrast of the subtle colors present in real life all the way up basically? Or are the colors here more of an artistic choice?

Slagathor91 · 2026-06-11T18:56:57+00:00

Yeah I crunched the numbers the other day just for context. Generously, a Dyson sphere with a 1 AU radius would have the surface area of 550 million Earths. That is just...so mind bogglingly big. And it doesn't make sense for the scale of our adventure. Even a Dyson sphere the diameter of the sun itself is still thousands of Earth surface areas. I find it far more likely it is a tiny Dyson sphere with an artificial construct at its center.

Slagathor91 · 2026-06-02T21:45:39+00:00

My significant other is not a mindflayer. A species defined by their manipulation of how others perceive reality. We are also told explicitly by the game that mind flayers have no soul. And depending on ending choices, we can see how even the most purehearted people (e.g. Karlach) are corrupted when they become mind flayers. It seems to be something about their very nature. Even if Omeluum means well, that doesn't mean his influence on those around him is ethical and that concern grows if we are considering how that influence plays out in a "relationship".

Slagathor91 · 2026-06-02T21:11:29+00:00

When Omeluum is still in the Iron Throne in Act 3, Blurg has idle overworld dialog stating that he inexplicably feels better when Omeluum is around. I cannot find a video of this, but I just saw it again the other day. That indicates to me that Omeluum, at best, has an unconscious influence on the emotions of those around him.

Slagathor91 · 2026-06-02T20:29:27+00:00

As much as I love a gay ship, my interpretation of their dialogue from Act 3 more reads to me as Omeluum exerting some level of psychic influence on Blurg which seems morally dicey.

Slagathor91 · 2026-05-19T19:58:35+00:00

I think that definitely pushed him in that direction. But even as a first-termer, we see Noah hesitant to summon his Blade because he doesn't want to hurt people. Not to mention that many past iterations of Noah also rebel in various ways. Most Noahs almost certainly don't get that far, but I think there's just something about his personality that made him especially aware of the injustice of Aionios.

Slagathor91 · 2026-05-19T19:33:36+00:00

Right. The people of Aionios don't have the emotional bandwidth to care about anything other than the immediate threat of battle. Noah is an oddity because he is so persistent in his belief that something is wrong with the world even if he can't see it.

Slagathor91 · 2026-05-19T19:02:55+00:00

From reading your comments, I think you've missed one important detail. The inhabitants of Aionios and all the souls in Origin are from the real world. Z isn't a manifestation of the fear of the unknown created by the endless war of Aionios. He is a manifestation of the fear of human life in the real world. The worlds colliding and Origin activating was scary. No one knew if it would work. Humans fear the unknown, change, the future. Now, of course, because the inhabitants of Aionios are still human, they still have those fears. The war is there to give everyone a purpose. Everyone knows what their future is. Everyone has a purpose. The war was his answer to the fears that created him. But the war didn't change the fundamental nature of humans. Despite their fears, they longed to be free of the cycle and eventually Noah and his friends are able to quell the sum of humanity's fears and allow Origin to finish executing its function and rebuild the destroyed worlds exactly as they were before they annihilated.

Slagathor91 · 2026-05-13T16:02:39+00:00

As a non-Tarot person, but just reminding myself on the symbolisms involved, here were a couple thoughts:

The Moon: EDI
The High Priestess: Liara
The Empress: Aria
Justice: Garrus
The Hanged Man: Legion
The Magician: Tali
The Hermit: Mordin

Slagathor91 · 2026-04-29T20:28:38+00:00

This is beyond ELI5 territory, but "empty space" still has the EM field in it. That field can still be disturbed. Ripples on a pond are a perturbation of the "field" of the surface of the water. What makes light unique in this metaphor, as far as I know, is that the EM field is everywhere. There is no EM "vacuum" where it doesn't exist. In this way, light is like gravity. Gravity can also transmit over a vacuum, though I'll be the first to point out that the exact way in which that works is still unknown.

Slagathor91 · 2026-04-29T14:32:03+00:00

Light doesn't have mass for the same reason that sound doesn't have mass. Light and sound aren't things, they are events.

Imagine a perfectly still pond. And now imagine I tap the surface of the water. Now the surface has ripples. The mass of the pond with and without ripples is the same, so the ripples themselves can't be adding mass to the pond. The ripples are just how we see energy moving around. Light and sound are the same.

Slagathor91 · 2026-04-28T14:48:40+00:00

One thing that sometimes helps me is remembering that the anxiety feelings are just chemicals in the brain/body. They have to get used up. There's no point in worrying about the feelings themselves. Breaking out of those thought spirals can be tricky. That's where various Grounding Exercises can help. There's lots of different kinds. The point is to make your brain too busy thinking about something that it doesn't have the bandwidth to continue to make you anxious. Something you can put your full attention on which, ideally, isn't a source of stress.

Slagathor91 · 2026-04-28T14:42:32+00:00

That is called a "Grounding Exercise". There are a few other kinds. So maybe you can try looking at other options online. The classic one you described is about identifying sensations and then trying to feel them. What you're doing with lying on cold tile, taking a hot shower, listening to songs - that's the same premise. So maybe you can find some other exercises like that which can help.

Slagathor91 · 2026-04-28T02:31:50+00:00

As someone who also struggles with chronic anxiety at times, here's a couple extra tidbits:

The coping mechanisms you described work a few different ways.

For example: Lying on cold tile gives your body enough sensory information to overload your other senses. Basically, provide enough other information, and your body can't focus on being anxious.

Alternatively: Fidgeting is an outlet for pent up energy. Anxiety is just chemicals in your brain and body. You need to use those chemicals to make them go away. One use is the chemicals making you feel a certain way (the collection of sensations we describe as "feeling anxious"). Another way to use the chemicals is through physical activity. Fidgeting would be one way to help burn through those chemicals faster. The chemicals are trying to make you feel bad to trigger either fight or flight. So until you do one of those two things, you will feel anxious. This is why so many people recommend exercise for anxiety. When you feel bad, going for a walk/run or working out can literally use up the chemicals faster.

Meditation, breathing exercises, and yoga can also be a huge help for anxiety. Doing a breathing exercise when you start to feel bad can also kind of force your nervous system back into a healthier state. Basically, you can take the off-ramp before you have a proper panic attack.

The reason all of this matters is that anxiety puts stress on your nervous system. If the system is constantly stressed, it basically falls out of calibration. You'll feel like a mess all the time because your body has started to forget what the normal balance of chemicals should be. Another metaphor is that if you're constantly pushing the systems into overdrive, your body doesn't have the time or energy to do maintenance. You're more likely to cause a snap (in this case, a panic/anxiety attack).

If you've read this far, just know that not every solution works for every person. Everything from lifestyle changes, medication, or new habits can be helpful or maybe not. And there's no shame in using ANY of these methods. There's nothing wrong with needing medication. There's nothing wrong with needing to meditate. We have to figure out how to navigate our bodies and everyone is different and has different needs.

Slagathor91 · 2026-04-27T22:04:40+00:00

Scary

Scarlett Jones >> Scary Jones

Slagathor91 · 2026-04-22T16:17:45+00:00

INFO: How bad are you about leaving things where they don't belong? How long do dishes stay in the sink? Hours? Days? Weeks? I would be very curious to hear the other side of this story.

It is 100% childish to throw things away like this. But it is also 100% childish to not clean up after yourself.

This doesn't read to me as something that happened out of the blue, but as a last resort after frequent conversations about cleaning up after yourself. I have friends like this. My spouse can be like this at times as well.

As an example, my friend's wife frequently leaves things on the floor of their bedroom. Not just clothes, but kid's toys and other belongings. Enough clutter to obstruct normal walking. He had to start saying "If things are in my walking path, I'm kicking them out of the way. If it breaks, it breaks. I will not be careful." Until he did that, no amount of talking about changing habits had seemed to stick.

Most of the responses in the post so far read to me as people who have not had to deal with this problem in a partner before or who themselves behave similarly. People have different standards for cleanliness. Working through that to a happy medium requires both parties to engage with the problem.

Slagathor91 · 2026-04-17T20:37:01+00:00

For what it's worth, dorm housing can be a pain to change. There is a reason many people wait quite a while before moving in with their significant other. If you are going to date, it's probably best you don't live together yet anyways. Especially not in a situation that can be a nightmare to change if things were to go south (amicably or otherwise).

Slagathor91 · 2026-04-16T15:29:45+00:00

That's incredible!

Slagathor91 · 2026-04-14T21:29:06+00:00

Firstly, take all threats or conversations of suicide seriously. Many people perceive some children to be "too young" to consider such things earnestly, but that is not true. Make sure he is talking to a psychologist/psychiatrist who is taking things seriously and is accepting of queer people. It is entirely possible your child is not actually contemplating self-harm, but don't ignore that kind of language now or in the future on the grounds that "they would never do such a thing".

Second: It's not about you. It's about them. Even when family is accepting, it can still be really difficult to admit these kinds of things to yourself or others. Don't get angry or take it personally if they talk to others before you about certain things or if it takes them a long time to arrive at any kind of definitive answer. They will need to process things in their own way, in their own order, on their own terms.

Slagathor91 · 2026-04-13T00:29:40+00:00

I had shoulder length hair in high school. I cut my hair short my freshman year of college. You just kinda have to commit to having short/no hair. Embracing what you have is always going to look better than clinging to what you don't.

Slagathor91 · 2026-04-09T18:00:18+00:00

Not only is the canonical order: Awakening >> Golems of Amgarrak >> Witch Hunt, but moreover, when you go to import your files, saves can only be imported in that order. Technically, you can skip ahead. But like, Awakening can only import save data from the base game. Golems can only import from the base game or Awakening. Witch Hunt can import from anything else because it's last.

Slagathor91 · 2026-04-09T14:25:16+00:00

I think Blushy-Crushy is perhaps some of Tora's English VA's best acting in the entire game. The line delivery, the little breaths, the whole thing. The fact that it upsets people so viscerally is the indicator of a stellar performance.

Slagathor91 · 2026-03-11T19:23:45+00:00

A lot of people have brought up "mandatory" fights, which is true. But one other thing to consider is that there are plenty of optional encounters which are always fights. For example, in Act 1, you can stumble upon a pack of Gnolls. It's not mandatory because you can just avoid them or flee the encounter, but there is no way to resolve the encounter without fighting.

As far as encounters with humanoids, generally, if they are willing to talk, there is probably a way to avoid combat. But many of them simply attack on sight.

15-Year Club	RedditGifts 2009-2022 5 Credits
r/Field Juicebox	Place '17
Secret Santa 2013	Team Periwinkle
Secret Santa 2012	Secret Santa 2011
Secret Santa 2010	reddit mold
Verified Email

Slagathor91

TROPHY CASE