Playing XC2 has become a bit of a soothing habit over time: I pick up the game, grind until I'm sated, and turn it off until the next day. Now I understand better how people can pour hundreds of hours into MMORPG or long-winded games à la Skyrim; once you get into that sweet grinding rhythm, it's really easy to keep going. The question is, will my XC2 playthrough beat my 200-hours Dragon Quest IX playthrough and become my newest longest run ever? It would be sweet, but I'm not too sure this will happen. I'm slowly but surely running out of things to do; and since I'm currently standing at the beginning of chapter 10, wrapping up the story will probably require but a mere couple of hours. Just for you, dear fellow gamers, here's a summary of all the neat and nice things I managed to accomplish in the last 50 hours.
—I developed all areas to the max; and as I promised, I did it without resorting to FAQs. I can safely say that I managed to pinpoint the requirements for developing, and that they are pretty similar for all areas: explore, talk to people, do merc missions, clear side quests, and most importantly, buy and sell a LOT of stuff. I got my paws on all the available Deeds (except the one from that Torigoth shop that's tied to a side quest triggered by a Rare Blade I don't own) and boy, do they make things smoother and nicer indeed. Faster running speed, better item drops, larger item collecting range — you name it, the Deeds will provide it to you. Most definitely worth the hassle and spending, oh yes precious.
—I expanded my roster of Rare Blades, with only Kassandra, KOS-MOS and Dahlia still missing. Not bad for somebody who wasn't even planning on collecting Rares, methinks. And since I got hold of all these nice Blades, why not max out their affinity charts while I was at it? That's exactly what I'm been doing for the past 50 hours, and it was tremendously fun. Although requirements can be a tad repetitive at times ("Kill monster x in place y" was visibly a developer's favourite), they are nicely varied and entertaining for the most part. The difficulty variation was also a nice touch, with some Blades requiring significantly more work than others. My personal top 3 of high-maintenance Blades comprises Ursula, who required days of Merc Mission grinding; Boreas, who required a crap ton of foraged items; and last but not least, Sheba, who required no less than a bloody million gold. Fun anecdote, by the way: I was about to start grinding Sheba just as I got the Nopoon Doublon side quest, which also requires a hefty amount of money. I needed two millions for those two tasks; and as I checked my balance, I saw that I had only roughly 800,000 golds. Grumbling a little bit, I proceeded to farm more money — until I realised half an hour later that I had read too fast and that I owned not 800,000 golds as I though, but 8 bloody millions golds. I swear I had no idea how I got so filthy rich; the last time I had checked my balance seriously, I had something like 600,000 golds. Grinding for hours in side quests sure pays off, ain't it?
—My whole crew reached the big 99, which is a tad disappointing but also strangely relaxing. My active fighting party is pretty much set, with Morag as my MC and Zeke and Nia as my sidekicks. I use Rex solely when I need to grind his Blades, and I all but ditched poor Tora: the little chap has not been strutting his stuff on the battlefield for dozens of hours. Although he was doing a great job in the early stages of the game, he became a giant gimmick as time went on — a time-consuming, high-maintenance gimmick. Not only is he stuck with the three versions of Poppi only, but I cannot even max out the affinity charts of said Poppies because there's some heavy Tiger Tiger playing involved. Why should I even bother with that pervy Nopon and his measly three blades when Morag does as good a job as him as a tank?
—I slaughtered all Unique Monsters so far, apart from a nasty pair that are still too powerful for my party: the lv. 100 Driver in the Cliffs of Morytha and the lv. 130 creature in Temperentia. There's nothing quite like that feeling of accomplishment you get when you finally take down such powerful foes after a long and arduous fight. Now I understand better why Monster Hunter is so immensely popular.
And that's the gist of my XC2 adventures for the time being, dear fellow gamers. Unless I'm sorely mistaken, I'm probably getting close to the end of my playthrough. I'm not planning to farm Core Crystals in order to gain the three Rares I'm still missing; and since I only have two Rares left to grind, max levels and a paltry single chapter to polish off, my run might very well come to an end in the next days. Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!
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