Anyone still playing this? I recently picked it back up. It had been a few months since I played it, and my hope was that a bit of time away from it would rekindle my interest in the game.
I'm happy to say that it worked. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. I finished Chapter 11, though I feel I was a bit over-levelled at the time. I'm getting ready to start working on some affinity missions with some of the lesser-used characters, so I need to get their affinity up. Aside from my main squad, most of them are still at 1 or 2 heart affinity.
I took a break right away I beat the main quest, but not because I was tired of it. I still had MGSV on the docket to finish, as well as the new Fire Emblem launching and pretty much monopolizing my gaming life for two months along with TPHD.
I think at some point I'll go back and truly dive into what the game has to offer beyond the main quest, because I barely scratched the surface. I still experienced some incredible moments, and I'd love to go through some more.
Anyways, now that I've had time to think about it, here are my favorite parts/elements of the world we got from X (almost exclusively from what I just stumbled upon myself):
The Tainted:
I really wish we got more of these guys beyond like chapter 3, along with some more explanation as to what caused them to be. I get that the Vita seemed to be corrupting everything around it, but why is the so-called "virus" only able to survive in Noctilum? Is it actually contagious to all life-forms, or is it contained to just the area around the Vita and the initial life-forms corrupted by it? I also found it fascinating that the Telethia seemed to see it as a number one threat on Mira, hence its sole intervention in the main plot.
Floating Islands in Oblivia:
The scenic view I got from these was among the most visually incredibly I've ever witnessed in a video game. I actually didn't discover these were even a thing until way after I got the flight module I decided to finally try to get some Oblivia mining probes discovered. Just the design of the island itself was incredible, with waterfalls and ponds at the very top, the whole nine yards. It was just so cool to discover and look down from.
Zu Pharg Battle:
The sense of scale and how massive this thing is doesn't make much sense narrative-wise (why the hell wasn't this thing used against us earlier?), but I love how this just goes over the top boss-size-wise without breaking the battle and making it nearly impossible to fight.
The Divine Roost:
The was the most amazing part of the game for me. I had wanted to go to the north-most part of Noctilum ever sense I first went to the area and explored as far as I could; the natural barrier of that massive waterfall really made me think something special was up there. However, I was expecting it to be a natural continuation of Noctilum, you know, like the rest of the continent with similar monsters and the like. Finally getting up there with the flight module and discovering how it was a completely different world was astounding. Weird, passive species, creepy music, strange landscape, all of it took me by complete surprise. It felt like this place existed entirely separate from the main world, and I loved that.
Telethia the Endbringer:
Why is there a Telethia in this world, and why is it the guardian of this entire place? It seems to be pro-lifeform as it takes down the Tainted, but is it truly watching out for others, or just proactively taking down things it thinks can eventually threaten it? With the context of what the Telethia were in the last game, this is one of X's greatest mysteries for me. Also, stumbling upon it accidentally must have been terrifying for some people (I didn't even think to fly above the Divine Roost, unfortunately).
The Ending:
Not going to spoil anything, but I'm STILL thinking about what this ending means. I would really like some official closure at some point, because it's honestly bothering the hell out of me. But maybe that's what they were going for?
If you ever need a material grinding buddy, know that I'm your guy^^.
