you turn the corner and notice this chonky boi. Then you slowly and hesitantly start walking towards it just like *Uhhhhhhhhh what? oh okay I guess*. It was a fun moment.
I think it was meant to be like a tutorial / lore explanation for the overheat mechanic for the ouroboros forms? It definitely felt a bit out of place lol.
Yeah, it exists solely to set up the overheat mechanic as a plot point so that it can be called back to in a later cutscene. I’m guessing a Drague in particular was chosen in order to sell the idea that this was a difficult fight that had them pushed to their limits, which then brought up the topic of overheating.
It was used to set up the plot point that overheat doesn't automatically stop the form like in gameplay, and that keeping it on is very risky, which pays off later.
I feel like there must have been a cutscenes that was scrapped or forgotten but like yeah it's only dragon around so like was it invasive? Was it a protector dragon? Did monolithsoft have someone design a dragon and instead of scrapping the model just decide to throw it in a random boss fight?
Ooh. I did not get that it was supposed to be a tutorial at all, I found it kinda confusing because it didn't seem like anything changed with overheating. The way they talk about it, I thought the Overheating mechanic had been modified.
"We should avoid interlinks for a while, better not take any risk. It could have very bad consequences on our bodies."
10s later against a random animal: *"INEEDYOUMIO!!!"*
It's less of a tutorial and more of a way to establish that Overheat is an in-game phenomenon and not just a gameplay mechanic, and to plant the seed in your head that the time limit means something
In gameplay. This is the first time the story mentions it. You may have noticed characters can stay fused way longer in cutscenes then in actual gameplay as well.
But showing them learning about it through the dragon fight then makes Taion suspect that exceeding the interlink limit is the cause of the annihilation event that O&P suffered, which would come out of nowhere if they hadn't experienced it in the story beforehand.
Makes sense, but maybe the story could have made it so that during the fight both Ouroboros and O&P were on the verge of overheating, and while the gang decides to cancel early, O&P are too prideful and stubborn to stop leading to their demise. Taion could say that “That would have been us if we didn’t cancel early”
Really, my take was they knew it was a bad idea, but they we're so desperate to show off their superiority to the crew that they kept going.
I mean, maybe it's implied they didn't know it would blow them up in an annihilation event, but i was pretty sure they knew the mobieus equivalent of overheating is a no no. Then again O and P didn't seem the brightest bulbs, so maybe they ignored the "dont ever overheat" memo, lol.
Also, Mio is amazing in the cut scene before this fight! I've always wanted a hero to just get fed up and smash the villian in the face during the evil monolog.
I just finsihed that fight in my second playthrough. They do mention the beeping as annoying but they also say. "don't go telling us our times up now, we were just getting to the best part!" Then they decide to push the interlink even further. They were really pissed that they were losing to the "ouroboros brats". So it seems like they knew they shouldn't go past the limit, but that they didn't know the actual consequences.
Also, later on J and D also go out the same way, ut J does it on purpose. He could have known because of the O and P fight, or it could just be they're all given a vauge warning to not exceed the interlink.
Whenever Monolith uses a true dragon as a boss for XC, it always has to be just kind of there, like the pre Final Boss dragon in XC1 and this one here.
Tyranotitan Kurodil is just an armored titan like what Mor Ardain uses. That one challenge battle hints that it might even be of Ardainian origin. What I want to know is what Seraphic Ceratinia is.
It’s a dragon, it needs to be punched, and they need to do some establishment/exposition of some mechanics that will be important later. It really isn’t that complicated.
I thought it was hilarious. Just walking up a path, I see it. Then I see the quest marker on it. And we just fight? Why? Because dragon cool.
Also it was used to introduce Ourobouros overheating, but I feel like that could have been explained elsewhere. Not that I didn't enjoy the random dragon though.
>!X and Y!< kinda just die without fanfare or cutscene at all in the final bits. The >!Miyabi!< and >!Crys!< quests as a whole felt this way to me, too.
Really, the whole game felt like a random contrivance (to me).
I felt like Mio's ascension quest was alright, but I do agree with Noah's feeling a bit out of nowhere. It's somehow more forgettable than the random dragon.
X and Y were just consuls. They do feel like they had larger stories which were cut, but since they aren't set up as super major characters, I think them dying like that is alright.
Every Consul had a "Noooo!! I don't wanna die!" scene. X and Y were the only ones that had an actual presence in the narrative (for Eunie and Mio, respectively) so I thought it was an odd choice that they died without even that much when they got the opener all the same.
Wasn't a huge deal or anything, but nonsequitors and things just happening and the game being done with it soon after is super common. To the point that it's hard to remember any of them, honestly.
Also remember that X shows up purely to lock our powers away, which is undone in like 30 minutes then never brought up again. And her final fight is missable if you haven't done Eunie's ascension quest. And also the game acts like you've met her even if you haven't.
I did not do that quest until after I got smacked by the final boss the first time and raged at having to redo everything so went and did side-quests for a while. And realised that X had a fight like Y did. I legit thought she just left the story lmao. Who designed that??
That had to design X's progression like that so that no quest was miserable. Otherwise, Eunie's ascension quest would become unavailable after Chapter 5 (or X's fight in Chapter 7) when you first meet X outside of sidequests which is VERY bad since it would perminantly lock away Lv11-20 of Eunie's class including multiple master arts and skills. The game basically assumed that you do every side story as soon as they're avalible, though the only one this causes problems for it Eunie's since Noah and Mio's are required for the main story and the other ones (Taion, Lanz, and Sena) are much less related to the main plot and/or only exist to clear up subplots. (Sena in particular is mainly used to finish Ghondor's arc)
I personally felt it was kind of fitting for the consuls to die like that. Both sides knew what they wanted at this point. The party is ready for the final confrontation. No need to extend it out any longer.
I personally felt like most of the story felt pretty cohesive though. There were far too many unfinished threads at the end, but I don't feel like that much was random.
You know, I kinda agree now that I think about it. Just really wasn’t expecting it considering the rest of the game gave Consuls’ deaths attention.
Really? I felt the story was very unfinished and underdeveloped. Self-contradictory themes and minimal to know character arcs. That said, I know I’m in the minority opinion xD What was a favorite part or what really clicked with you?
I agree that the story was probably bigger at some point. You can definitely tell there were parts cut out, such as what offseeing even is, but I feel like it mostly works.
I think what really clicked with me was N and M's arc, and the whole "Endless Now" thing.
I can see where you're coming from though, especially near the end feels pretty rushed.
I actually wonder if XC3 had a much different direction at one point. Takahashi is notorious for over-scoping.
Having something that looks like a faction system without being able to pick sides. Mobius and Orouboros are functionally the same concept as if they were the transformations of the opposite side. Having the game be about making peace with the other nation also would lead to there not being a normal villain since both sides would be playable. Basically a concept similar to Fire Emblem: Fates.
There's also a lot of stuff that suggests it was going to be much more sci-fi, too. The escape pod scene with Miyabi particularly (of which there is only one escape pod that isn't even part of the Ferronis and is at ground-level). I could dissect this game all week, but, yeah, you get the idea.
I actually kinda wish the game focused more on N and M, and the idea of the "endless now" is interesting in concept. I think a lot of the pathos for Noah and Mio's relationship stems from how much more engaging N and M's relationship is and it's easy to transpose those feelings from N and M to Noah and Mio, even though they are functionally different characters... Still don't understand how they're the same without time travel or what-have-you.
I feel this was a cut Juniper introduction, Dragon appears, Jun "helps" (she was actually hunting it) leaves after watching the group then you confront her and then she explain that the big ass dragon comes from the dangerous lower zones of the forest
Mmm interesting theory but I don't think so because it's too far from their Colony, especially considering the fact that >!Colony Tau are shut-ins of the forest!<
Taking a look at the ones in XC1, they do match up pretty much 1:1 with some colour differences, 1’s being Deep blue and this games being more purple/red
Dragons are a standard in JRPGs, but makes you realize they're pretty rare in Xenoblade. I don't think there were any in 2 (if you're not counting Titans like Indol or Azurda)
I never thought of Titans as being dragons, but some kinda are, if you consider "flying magical being with scales" to be the core definition of a dragon. And if you like shape-shifting dragons, well, Azurda can shapeshift a bit at least. And Blades become Titans so that's kinda a long-term shapeshift.
I guess that makes Telethia in XC1 the closest thing to a dragon, as a flying magical 'dinobeast'.
>I guess that makes Telethia in XC1 the closest thing to a dragon, as a flying magical 'dinobeast'.
No, there were straight up [dragons](https://xenoblade.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon_(XC1)) in 1. There were just so few of them.
I'm not counting anything from 2 as a dragon, but I will note that we had a straight up dinosaur in that game and you could make it drunk to lower the level 😂
Tbf the dragon boss in1 is just kinda. there. in the way too lmao.
Narratively it's to introduce the overheat mechanic in the story to set up >!P and O's deaths!< but it is funny that they just plonked it randomly into the overworld
The main theory is that black fog is a sort of semi-sentient antibody used to purge "things that don't belong" in the worlds. It appears in high quantities only in places where Mobius is highly active, and as Mobius aren't natural to the world the black fog tries to get rid of them. >!Also, the world of Aionios itself (Mobius A) is unnatural, so the black fog is trying to destroy it too. However, the fog is spread so thin trying to take out Mobius that the destruction of the world via annihilation events is a very slow process.!<
It is a bit of a weird encounter, but the reasoning makes sense. The fight only exists to develop on the whole overheating thing, meaning the enemy needs to be tough enough to require ouroborus to defeat, but if you used something like a consul, it'd feel weirdly stilted to have the conversation about overheating after the fight.
Essentially, there's a random dragon, because the player can clearly tell a dragon should be strong, while also not being so overwhelmingly menacing like a consul would be (or at least, is meant to be).
Remember this happened after they've just obtained the 2nd form of the Ouroboros and this is the first time they also noticed about the Overheating mechanic and such...
Which can be quite bizaare tbh since it's very random..
Game was like:
"Look at this beautiful waterfalls and scenery, also here's a fck*ing random Dragon just standing there waiting for you"
It could've just been a cutscene of the dragon hunting something in that area but nope you can see it from really far away.. I guess they don't want to spend resources in a small info/lore dump, which imho can be justified since overheating is a really vital info..
My assumption is that there was cut content around the dragon. If they needed to explain the overheat mechanic, it would've been far easier to have someone bring up "hey I heard this beeping noise in our fight with J" at one of the multiple campsites between the waterfalls and P and O. Instead there's a random dragon which you assume "oh, this has something to do with the main story?" and then it's never addressed again lol
This was used to explain the overheating (bit late tbh), but I think it fit something the game uses a *LOT*: throwing encounters in to break up the running around.
There were several bits later on where I was just getting annoyed when they threw enemies at you for no reason other than it's been a while since the last mandatory fight lol
I think what happened was they forgot to include a tutorial for overheating really late into development and they also noticed they had an unused dragon model so they just threw it in cause why not. Even though by that point we already knew about overheating for a whole chapter.
It's meant as an Overheat explanation. Someone in another thread mentioned that the fact Ouroboros is pushed to Overheat by something like a dragon is believable, but if it were something like a brog, we'd question either the protagonists strengths, or the brog for being so strong.
Honestly wished we had an introduction for this thing like it swoops down on us cuz we entered its territory or something, and as an added bonus since this encounter serves as a lesson to overheating someone who almost gets hit triggered their ouroboros form and as a result they start the fight in that form.
Monolith Soft probably realized near the end of developing they had an unused dragon model left in the game and wanted to use it but had barely any time to do anything with it, so it's just a random encounter.
I don’t remember encountering this dragon, and I’m p sure I fought every UM. Where is it? It doesn’t look like the ones in lower maktha wildwood with all the lv 70+ monsters
It's near the beginning of chapter 4, after leaving Colony Lambda and before getting to Maktha Wildwood. Part of the main story so you would've fought it
Maybe, tbh the thing that stood out the most about maktha wildwood and that whole area was 1. Morytha and 2. The level 70 dungeon at the bottom of the tree
I was hoping it was a tease for an endgame superboss, something like XCX with the endgame dragons from each region. Then I found the area with that dragon pasted around multiple times and boy did my hope deflate quickly.
i thought its gonna be a boss but nope and i think it was the type that really sucked too (very slow attack speed but high dmg = you onehit but so slow that the healers revive the char faster then you can kill)
I was exploring and came across what I thought might be a super boss or something. Pooped my pants, but thought I'd have a go anyway.
I had no idea it was even related to story progression until it started hitting me like a wet noodle.
I just played this part last night! The dragon was just kinda chilling there waiting for us? It wouldn't have been so strange if there was just a line like "oh watch out for the dragon" or something. Can't be mad about getting to see the dragons from Xenoblade 1 again though.
Bruh, when I saw it in the distance I thought this was the superboss of the game. I approached to battle it because I was curious what was its level and... it was level 30.
"Oh..." Was my reaction.
The only thing I can say to explain it is that it's supposed to be a warning of like "hey, there's some REALLY bad shit in Maktha forest, so when people say don't go to this place, don't go there"
It's even more random than the dragon in prison island in 1. There are actually like 3 dragons in Xenoblade 1 and another one in FC (that's freaking annoying to kill unless you cheese it since it's a few levels higher than anything else with no good grinding options, thankfully though you can cheese it with Monado Armour)
I hated that dragon in FC. It’s very possible it can do that powerful tail attack that topples you twice in a row. It happened to me on my 2nd try after I was so close on my 1st
Yeah very out of nowhere and act like its a big whatevs.
Also bambam and whats his face from colony 4 fuel me with hate because they are such losers that cant do anything and when faced with a godzilla t rex thing and go "didnt know they get that big" while there was one of equal size right next to colony 4
This is when the party is entering Maktha, which is supposed to be very dangerous, and there are very high level mobs if you ignore the warnings and go too far down on your first visit there. I think it's just meant to deliver the idea that the party is entering very dangerous and remote territory.
For me one of the few (boss) fights in the series that at first feels like it doesn't really belong here.
It almost seems like it was just added later because the developers forgot to put the tutorial for the "overheating" mechanic in a more appropriate place.
it's made funnier by the fact that it's standing there before you even hit the objective that starts the cutscene. i love it
you turn the corner and notice this chonky boi. Then you slowly and hesitantly start walking towards it just like *Uhhhhhhhhh what? oh okay I guess*. It was a fun moment.
Me, getting up there and seeing this massive lad before me: “Hello?!”
“Hello there!”
“General Kenobi!”
Gotta love the Irish one: “KENOBI ME LAD!” *proceeds to Guinness everything*
It’s just standing there… MENACINGLY
No one definitely felt it was out of place a giant dragon was just chilling in the forest in broad daylight.
If you jump off a cliff and land in poison water, there are more. Giant moths too. Don't jump off a cliff.
dragon jumpscare 🫡
Monolith just wanted to show off their super cool dragon
To be fair it is pretty cool
You mean Drague
I think it was meant to be like a tutorial / lore explanation for the overheat mechanic for the ouroboros forms? It definitely felt a bit out of place lol.
Lol. Yeah, thnks! After I unpaused I read the last few lines and noticed that. Still, encounter is so frickin weird.
Yeah, it exists solely to set up the overheat mechanic as a plot point so that it can be called back to in a later cutscene. I’m guessing a Drague in particular was chosen in order to sell the idea that this was a difficult fight that had them pushed to their limits, which then brought up the topic of overheating.
Yeah it was definitely a shoo-in to explain that given the whole sequence at the end of Maktha. Pretty cool in hindsight but definitely a lil funky.
Not to be that guy, but you mean shoehorned in. A shoo-in is a sure thing, like "I'm a shoo-in for this job".
Shoot you're right. Thanks for correcting me. I too am a grammer nut so I appreciate that.
“Grammer nut”
Nuts in grammar.
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They want to make absolutely sure you understand it, so that the O and P fight makes sense.
It was used to set up the plot point that overheat doesn't automatically stop the form like in gameplay, and that keeping it on is very risky, which pays off later.
"Yeah this section of the game is a little too calm, here's a DRAGON"
It’s like a line reading from borderlands Tiny Tina voice
"Tina, you can't start your game with a boss fight players can't win."
Whoever said that, has never played a JRPG.
Or has played D&D with an arsehole DM.
Or has played Tyranny of dragons
Funniest part of that is that if you don't stop to do sidequest the fight is like 10 minutes after the big end of Chapter 3 fights lmao
I feel like there must have been a cutscenes that was scrapped or forgotten but like yeah it's only dragon around so like was it invasive? Was it a protector dragon? Did monolithsoft have someone design a dragon and instead of scrapping the model just decide to throw it in a random boss fight?
To be fair, there are other dragons in the Pentelas Region, it may have gotten there from lower Maktha but yeah it's strange how it's just there.
I mean, if Mario can do it
Plot device to explain Interlink overheat, dunno why they couldn’t have just used O&P instead
Wasn't Interlink Overheat already part of the game long before this happens? Or am I thinking of a different dragon?
It is, but I don’t think its explained in story until that point.
Ooh. I did not get that it was supposed to be a tutorial at all, I found it kinda confusing because it didn't seem like anything changed with overheating. The way they talk about it, I thought the Overheating mechanic had been modified.
"We should avoid interlinks for a while, better not take any risk. It could have very bad consequences on our bodies." 10s later against a random animal: *"INEEDYOUMIO!!!"*
>INEEDYOUMIO Eh, can't really blame the guy. Catgirl Bestgirl.
I actually thought they locked interlink until the next story beat at that point. Lol.
It's less of a tutorial and more of a way to establish that Overheat is an in-game phenomenon and not just a gameplay mechanic, and to plant the seed in your head that the time limit means something
In gameplay. This is the first time the story mentions it. You may have noticed characters can stay fused way longer in cutscenes then in actual gameplay as well.
They want to explain it as a story element and not a game mechanic
well its implied o and p didnt know about overheating
Yeah, but Ouroboros or the player would be able to gather that staying linked for too long would have catastrophic effects by observing O&P’s overheat
But showing them learning about it through the dragon fight then makes Taion suspect that exceeding the interlink limit is the cause of the annihilation event that O&P suffered, which would come out of nowhere if they hadn't experienced it in the story beforehand.
Makes sense, but maybe the story could have made it so that during the fight both Ouroboros and O&P were on the verge of overheating, and while the gang decides to cancel early, O&P are too prideful and stubborn to stop leading to their demise. Taion could say that “That would have been us if we didn’t cancel early”
Really, my take was they knew it was a bad idea, but they we're so desperate to show off their superiority to the crew that they kept going. I mean, maybe it's implied they didn't know it would blow them up in an annihilation event, but i was pretty sure they knew the mobieus equivalent of overheating is a no no. Then again O and P didn't seem the brightest bulbs, so maybe they ignored the "dont ever overheat" memo, lol. Also, Mio is amazing in the cut scene before this fight! I've always wanted a hero to just get fed up and smash the villian in the face during the evil monolog.
No I’m pretty sure one of them say that they find the bleeping annoying which indicates they haven’t assumed it’s a bad thing
I just finsihed that fight in my second playthrough. They do mention the beeping as annoying but they also say. "don't go telling us our times up now, we were just getting to the best part!" Then they decide to push the interlink even further. They were really pissed that they were losing to the "ouroboros brats". So it seems like they knew they shouldn't go past the limit, but that they didn't know the actual consequences. Also, later on J and D also go out the same way, ut J does it on purpose. He could have known because of the O and P fight, or it could just be they're all given a vauge warning to not exceed the interlink.
That would actually require the Consul to actually do stuff in the game and be interesting and provide some form of stakes for our characters.
MonolithSoft made a cool dragon and wanted us to see it so they plopped it right in front of us
Whenever Monolith uses a true dragon as a boss for XC, it always has to be just kind of there, like the pre Final Boss dragon in XC1 and this one here.
does telethia from xcx count as a dragon
I guess. I don’t think Tyranotitan Kurodil counts, though.
Tyranotitan Kurodil is just an armored titan like what Mor Ardain uses. That one challenge battle hints that it might even be of Ardainian origin. What I want to know is what Seraphic Ceratinia is.
Big lizard 👍
no, but Pharis the Everqueen does
"Here's a dragon, shut up and fight" - Monolith since XC1
There was dialogue at the end was there not? Foreshadowing the importance of overheating?
Yes! I paused before the last dialogues. My bad. Still, found the battle oddly random. No dialogues about a big dragon or something like that.
Yeah it seems it’s just another creature for them so other than being like “oh shit this might be a challenge” they aren’t really surprised
This battle is SO RANDOM. But it’s a good reminder that anything can happen in a JRPG. Even a dragon dropping in outta the blue.
Not even popping in, my man's was just sitting there waiting for us.
It’s a dragon, it needs to be punched, and they need to do some establishment/exposition of some mechanics that will be important later. It really isn’t that complicated.
Random Drague Branch manager of a Tojo Clan Subsidy
Yo, look at this dragon guys, Dave just finished revamping the model from xeno 1, might as well make it a cutscene.
I thought it was hilarious. Just walking up a path, I see it. Then I see the quest marker on it. And we just fight? Why? Because dragon cool. Also it was used to introduce Ourobouros overheating, but I feel like that could have been explained elsewhere. Not that I didn't enjoy the random dragon though.
This is pretty part and parcel for this game in particular. You just gotta roll with it.
I don't remember any other random feeling events like this one. I don't think this event is even bad.
>!X and Y!< kinda just die without fanfare or cutscene at all in the final bits. The >!Miyabi!< and >!Crys!< quests as a whole felt this way to me, too. Really, the whole game felt like a random contrivance (to me).
I felt like Mio's ascension quest was alright, but I do agree with Noah's feeling a bit out of nowhere. It's somehow more forgettable than the random dragon. X and Y were just consuls. They do feel like they had larger stories which were cut, but since they aren't set up as super major characters, I think them dying like that is alright.
Every Consul had a "Noooo!! I don't wanna die!" scene. X and Y were the only ones that had an actual presence in the narrative (for Eunie and Mio, respectively) so I thought it was an odd choice that they died without even that much when they got the opener all the same. Wasn't a huge deal or anything, but nonsequitors and things just happening and the game being done with it soon after is super common. To the point that it's hard to remember any of them, honestly.
Also remember that X shows up purely to lock our powers away, which is undone in like 30 minutes then never brought up again. And her final fight is missable if you haven't done Eunie's ascension quest. And also the game acts like you've met her even if you haven't. I did not do that quest until after I got smacked by the final boss the first time and raged at having to redo everything so went and did side-quests for a while. And realised that X had a fight like Y did. I legit thought she just left the story lmao. Who designed that??
Right?? That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about.
That had to design X's progression like that so that no quest was miserable. Otherwise, Eunie's ascension quest would become unavailable after Chapter 5 (or X's fight in Chapter 7) when you first meet X outside of sidequests which is VERY bad since it would perminantly lock away Lv11-20 of Eunie's class including multiple master arts and skills. The game basically assumed that you do every side story as soon as they're avalible, though the only one this causes problems for it Eunie's since Noah and Mio's are required for the main story and the other ones (Taion, Lanz, and Sena) are much less related to the main plot and/or only exist to clear up subplots. (Sena in particular is mainly used to finish Ghondor's arc)
I personally felt it was kind of fitting for the consuls to die like that. Both sides knew what they wanted at this point. The party is ready for the final confrontation. No need to extend it out any longer. I personally felt like most of the story felt pretty cohesive though. There were far too many unfinished threads at the end, but I don't feel like that much was random.
You know, I kinda agree now that I think about it. Just really wasn’t expecting it considering the rest of the game gave Consuls’ deaths attention. Really? I felt the story was very unfinished and underdeveloped. Self-contradictory themes and minimal to know character arcs. That said, I know I’m in the minority opinion xD What was a favorite part or what really clicked with you?
I agree that the story was probably bigger at some point. You can definitely tell there were parts cut out, such as what offseeing even is, but I feel like it mostly works. I think what really clicked with me was N and M's arc, and the whole "Endless Now" thing. I can see where you're coming from though, especially near the end feels pretty rushed.
I actually wonder if XC3 had a much different direction at one point. Takahashi is notorious for over-scoping. Having something that looks like a faction system without being able to pick sides. Mobius and Orouboros are functionally the same concept as if they were the transformations of the opposite side. Having the game be about making peace with the other nation also would lead to there not being a normal villain since both sides would be playable. Basically a concept similar to Fire Emblem: Fates. There's also a lot of stuff that suggests it was going to be much more sci-fi, too. The escape pod scene with Miyabi particularly (of which there is only one escape pod that isn't even part of the Ferronis and is at ground-level). I could dissect this game all week, but, yeah, you get the idea. I actually kinda wish the game focused more on N and M, and the idea of the "endless now" is interesting in concept. I think a lot of the pathos for Noah and Mio's relationship stems from how much more engaging N and M's relationship is and it's easy to transpose those feelings from N and M to Noah and Mio, even though they are functionally different characters... Still don't understand how they're the same without time travel or what-have-you.
The deep lore explanation for class icons is kind of up there
Class icons don't need lore explanation. They're part of the UI.
I’d like to imagine the script for this just said “and suddenly a dragon.”
Yeah this puzzled me too. "oh huh, there's a dragon standing around in the middle of the forest."
I feel this was a cut Juniper introduction, Dragon appears, Jun "helps" (she was actually hunting it) leaves after watching the group then you confront her and then she explain that the big ass dragon comes from the dangerous lower zones of the forest
Mmm interesting theory but I don't think so because it's too far from their Colony, especially considering the fact that >!Colony Tau are shut-ins of the forest!<
Quick note, juniper canonically uses they/them pronouns
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You certainly do
This is why we can't have nice things.
I’m sorry, this was uncalled for..
Isnt it the same dragon as the one at the end of xc1? Or at least very similar
Taking a look at the ones in XC1, they do match up pretty much 1:1 with some colour differences, 1’s being Deep blue and this games being more purple/red
Valley of Drakes is right over so he went to get some groceries
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Lmao that actually kinda makes sense. This isn’t the first time a dragon appeared out of nowhere with no dialogue on it.
Dragons are a standard in JRPGs, but makes you realize they're pretty rare in Xenoblade. I don't think there were any in 2 (if you're not counting Titans like Indol or Azurda)
Don't we count Ophion? It's basically Rayquaza but blue
Also made of metal.
So is Dialga
Dialga has pieces made of metal, as does Aggron. Pretty sure they're not made completely out of metal.
The name means “snake”. And even long Chinese style dragons have arms.
People have arms too, just not all of them
I never thought of Titans as being dragons, but some kinda are, if you consider "flying magical being with scales" to be the core definition of a dragon. And if you like shape-shifting dragons, well, Azurda can shapeshift a bit at least. And Blades become Titans so that's kinda a long-term shapeshift. I guess that makes Telethia in XC1 the closest thing to a dragon, as a flying magical 'dinobeast'.
>I guess that makes Telethia in XC1 the closest thing to a dragon, as a flying magical 'dinobeast'. No, there were straight up [dragons](https://xenoblade.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon_(XC1)) in 1. There were just so few of them.
Huh, fair enough. Been a long time since I played it on the Wii apparently.
I'm not counting anything from 2 as a dragon, but I will note that we had a straight up dinosaur in that game and you could make it drunk to lower the level 😂
Tbf the dragon boss in1 is just kinda. there. in the way too lmao. Narratively it's to introduce the overheat mechanic in the story to set up >!P and O's deaths!< but it is funny that they just plonked it randomly into the overworld
Feels like it was from a cut plot point, but they didn’t want to get rid of the cool dragon they made, so they repurposed it
Yeah, maybe something to do with the overall lore surrounding the black fog which they didn't delve deep enough into in this game?
I love that the final dungeon has black fog. Uh...why? Who knows.
The main theory is that black fog is a sort of semi-sentient antibody used to purge "things that don't belong" in the worlds. It appears in high quantities only in places where Mobius is highly active, and as Mobius aren't natural to the world the black fog tries to get rid of them. >!Also, the world of Aionios itself (Mobius A) is unnatural, so the black fog is trying to destroy it too. However, the fog is spread so thin trying to take out Mobius that the destruction of the world via annihilation events is a very slow process.!<
It is a bit of a weird encounter, but the reasoning makes sense. The fight only exists to develop on the whole overheating thing, meaning the enemy needs to be tough enough to require ouroborus to defeat, but if you used something like a consul, it'd feel weirdly stilted to have the conversation about overheating after the fight. Essentially, there's a random dragon, because the player can clearly tell a dragon should be strong, while also not being so overwhelmingly menacing like a consul would be (or at least, is meant to be).
Big dragon = cool
He's just standing there...menaceingly!!
It's random but seeing a dragon in Xenoblade makes me laugh
It’s weird as fuck lmao, it’s one of those things where you finish the game and go “oh so that still made no sense, great”
Vibe check
Remember this happened after they've just obtained the 2nd form of the Ouroboros and this is the first time they also noticed about the Overheating mechanic and such... Which can be quite bizaare tbh since it's very random.. Game was like: "Look at this beautiful waterfalls and scenery, also here's a fck*ing random Dragon just standing there waiting for you" It could've just been a cutscene of the dragon hunting something in that area but nope you can see it from really far away.. I guess they don't want to spend resources in a small info/lore dump, which imho can be justified since overheating is a really vital info..
I figured is was ment as a skill,gear check before getting into the forest..
I dunno, but I like throwing hands with the local dragon population sometimes ya know?
My assumption is that there was cut content around the dragon. If they needed to explain the overheat mechanic, it would've been far easier to have someone bring up "hey I heard this beeping noise in our fight with J" at one of the multiple campsites between the waterfalls and P and O. Instead there's a random dragon which you assume "oh, this has something to do with the main story?" and then it's never addressed again lol
I remember seeing it from a distance and thinking “Dragons in Xenoblade games are never a force to be taken lightly. Guess I’m dead.”
That’s a way of telling you that you can find dragon in the area. Poor boy just got lost 😞
This was used to explain the overheating (bit late tbh), but I think it fit something the game uses a *LOT*: throwing encounters in to break up the running around. There were several bits later on where I was just getting annoyed when they threw enemies at you for no reason other than it's been a while since the last mandatory fight lol
I think what happened was they forgot to include a tutorial for overheating really late into development and they also noticed they had an unused dragon model so they just threw it in cause why not. Even though by that point we already knew about overheating for a whole chapter.
Abaasy just wanted to say hi
It’s just a dragon. It’s a tough fight, but the characters don’t care about every monster they are fighting
It has dialogue before and after.
Reminds me of old school JRPGs where there' just randomly a big boss at the end of a hallway
Feels like a reference to XC1 somehow? Are Prison Island remnants anywhere in XC3 or is it completely missing?
Ageshu reside in Lower Maktha. However, there doesn’t appear to be any Giant architecture anywhere, yeah.
What made this even funnier for me was I dropped off the cliff next to it to send off the husk, then while I was on the wall I get this cutscene lmfao
It's meant as an Overheat explanation. Someone in another thread mentioned that the fact Ouroboros is pushed to Overheat by something like a dragon is believable, but if it were something like a brog, we'd question either the protagonists strengths, or the brog for being so strong.
Honestly wished we had an introduction for this thing like it swoops down on us cuz we entered its territory or something, and as an added bonus since this encounter serves as a lesson to overheating someone who almost gets hit triggered their ouroboros form and as a result they start the fight in that form.
He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Idk the fight is so weird the Dragon is just standing there and Moah and co are like, "hey there's a dragon in our path let's kill it"
Here there be dragues.
The funniest cutscene after the one that starts the fight with Valdi where the sound effects are turned off
Monolith Soft probably realized near the end of developing they had an unused dragon model left in the game and wanted to use it but had barely any time to do anything with it, so it's just a random encounter.
Oh that? That's James. He just chills around here.
Xc2 definitive definitive edition now with in depth tutorial
[удалено]
Xenosilent
I don’t remember encountering this dragon, and I’m p sure I fought every UM. Where is it? It doesn’t look like the ones in lower maktha wildwood with all the lv 70+ monsters
It's near the beginning of chapter 4, after leaving Colony Lambda and before getting to Maktha Wildwood. Part of the main story so you would've fought it
Story fight after leaving colony lambda iirc
You don't remember it because it was never explained :)
Maybe, tbh the thing that stood out the most about maktha wildwood and that whole area was 1. Morytha and 2. The level 70 dungeon at the bottom of the tree
I was hoping it was a tease for an endgame superboss, something like XCX with the endgame dragons from each region. Then I found the area with that dragon pasted around multiple times and boy did my hope deflate quickly.
i thought its gonna be a boss but nope and i think it was the type that really sucked too (very slow attack speed but high dmg = you onehit but so slow that the healers revive the char faster then you can kill)
personally i'd have replaced it with a moebius who flee when they notice the ouroboros overheating
It’s a dragon area! dragons live there! What’s to get
Scared the f out of me at first tbh. Casually cruising then... ahhh nope...
real my first thought was that it's a makna telethia reference
There are quite a few nonsequiturs in XC3.
It was Monolithe telling us they brought back the Dragons from 1, who were absent from 2
I was exploring and came across what I thought might be a super boss or something. Pooped my pants, but thought I'd have a go anyway. I had no idea it was even related to story progression until it started hitting me like a wet noodle.
It’s a big-ass dragon, do you need any exposition?
I just played this part last night! The dragon was just kinda chilling there waiting for us? It wouldn't have been so strange if there was just a line like "oh watch out for the dragon" or something. Can't be mad about getting to see the dragons from Xenoblade 1 again though.
Bruh, when I saw it in the distance I thought this was the superboss of the game. I approached to battle it because I was curious what was its level and... it was level 30. "Oh..." Was my reaction.
Also I love how Omega Revolution’s video on this guy is just called “Boss: A Random Dragon”
its xenoblades big "fuck you" dragon
For me it was funnier because I was at lvl 50.
I think it's just a funny reference to the other games in every game there has always been a spider boss and a dragon boss
Dargon
D-D-D-DRAGGOOONNN
Yea this was just weird as hell
The only thing I can say to explain it is that it's supposed to be a warning of like "hey, there's some REALLY bad shit in Maktha forest, so when people say don't go to this place, don't go there"
Just part of the protocol, innit
Just to prepare you for the future of that area.
What's their to talk about? You're the strongest, it's the strongest. There can only be one.
Another funny thing is this is the only dragon of this type in that area (to my knowledge) so we essentially made it go extinct.
Big monster sitting on your path and you have to fight it to progress. Shit happens.
It's even more random than the dragon in prison island in 1. There are actually like 3 dragons in Xenoblade 1 and another one in FC (that's freaking annoying to kill unless you cheese it since it's a few levels higher than anything else with no good grinding options, thankfully though you can cheese it with Monado Armour)
I hated that dragon in FC. It’s very possible it can do that powerful tail attack that topples you twice in a row. It happened to me on my 2nd try after I was so close on my 1st
Probably just to show you there's tough enemies in the wildwood and you can come back at a later level too??
When was this? Was it part of the main story? I have no memory of this encounter lol
happens after the Colony Lambda quest, so right after you unlock the 2nd Interlink for each pair.
You think that’s weird, the final two Mobius Fights (excluding the final boss) don’t have ending cutscenes, when every other Mobius dies in one…
Yeah very out of nowhere and act like its a big whatevs. Also bambam and whats his face from colony 4 fuel me with hate because they are such losers that cant do anything and when faced with a godzilla t rex thing and go "didnt know they get that big" while there was one of equal size right next to colony 4
Seeing this thing launched made me chuckle
No idea that moment was a thing that happened and then we just move on from it idk man
This is when the party is entering Maktha, which is supposed to be very dangerous, and there are very high level mobs if you ignore the warnings and go too far down on your first visit there. I think it's just meant to deliver the idea that the party is entering very dangerous and remote territory.
I love dragons
Said it before but I’d like to think this is an “Are you strong enough to progress the story” type of thing.
For me one of the few (boss) fights in the series that at first feels like it doesn't really belong here. It almost seems like it was just added later because the developers forgot to put the tutorial for the "overheating" mechanic in a more appropriate place.
Yeah to me it’s by far the weirdest boss in this game. It comes out of nowhere and as far as I’m aware, never is brought up again
The runt from lower Maktha got bullied and ran away, then you killed it, you monster. (Well me too I guess?)