User:Afti/Xenoblade Chronicles

Xenoblade Chronicles is the best JRPG in at least a decade. Well-paced, ridiculously open, and in possession of an intriguing plot with surprisingly little by way of the common cliches in modern JRPGs.

While its title may seem to be nothing more than piggybacking on the fame of Xenogears, this game does in fact handle some of the themes present in Xenogears and Xenosaga, but in a far more subtle way. However, as you can surely guess by the length of this page (note: this page is going to be gigantic when it goes into mainspace) its real claim to the Xeno-title is in being absolutely packed with unused content.

Storyboards
A fair few very early storyboards are present on the disc, apparently as placeholders for early-game visions that went unused and, consequently, were never finished. They don't reveal any huge changes, but that doesn't make them any less interesting as a window on the game's development.

Bionis' Left Shoulder
Ridiculously huge unused map. Seen in one late-game cutscene and the ending, but there's way more than the small sections shown in those.

The sheer scale of this game's environments is well-known; maps such as Bionis' Leg and Valak Mountain are simply massive, and visually stunning to boot. However, the one real unused map in this game is even bigger than anything which is actually used!



The unused map, internally ma0801, is a huge, multi-level field stretching along the left shoulder of the Bionis. While small sections of it are seen in the cutscene featuring Egil's discussion with Arglas and in the ending, Bionis' Left Shoulder is arguably the largest map in the game, and features unique architecture and landforms, unlike anything else in the game. The map seems to be roughly half-finished. Portions of it, such as the lake area, are essentially complete; other regions are mostly finished, but still in possession of some rough edges, such as the town. A few areas are very obviously completely unfinished- the wooden platforms at the back of the map and the caverns chief among those.

The map's internal name is interesting: it's right between Makna Forest and Eryth Sea. Its position both in the map list and on the Bionis would suggest that this map was intended to be visited between Makna and Eryth, probably connecting them. Indeed, in the final game, the transition between Makna Forest and Eryth Sea is rather jarring: after slaying the Leone Telethia, the Nopon in Frontier Village allow for the party to freely transport to Eryth Sea in a ball of light. Presumably, this rather awkward method of transportation came to be after it became clear that the left shoulder map wasn't going to be complete in time for release.



One interesting thing about this map is that it features standing treasure chests. These were on show in some early screenshots, but are not present in the final game; all treasure chests in the final are dropped from enemies upon death. This dates the map to around the game's unveiling at E3 2009; treasure chests, free in the environment and of this specific design, were visible in the batch of screens from the press pack. For that matter, so was this map, apparently in much the same state as in the final.

Due to the sheer size of Bionis' Left Shoulder, it isn't possible to provide a single image or video of the map as a whole. Instead, the two screenshots above allow for a wide view of the front of the map; in addition, specific places of interest will be pointed out, accompanied by videos. Descriptive titles have been given to these areas for ease of reference; these are in no way official names.

Northwestern Village
The landscape of this map is dotted with tiny villages, comprised of these interesting clay-looking buildings. Normally, these aren't particularly worthy of attention- there are just too many to catalog each little hamlet. However, this particular village, located on a spike of rock jutting out in front of the lake, is interesting because of the presence of a large, ruined stone tower, identical to the one in the walled town. The texture on the tower is very, very low-resolution; the tower is located on the town's edge. The path splits at the tower, making a perfect circle around it before rejoining at a strange earthen platform in front of it.

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Lake Area
Near the aforementioned village, this is a huge and very polished section of wilderness. A massive waterfall feeds into a lake; two streams leave this lake, pass under bridges, and run off of the Bionis' arm. Being essentially complete (the only unfinished bit being the currents at the waterfall, which are buggy) it's no surprise that this section of the map was glimpsed in prerelease screenshots and in the ending of the game.

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Dummy Caves
There are three cave entrances on the map: one each at the front and back near the head of the Bionis, and one a bit further out on the arm. All of them are very, very unfinished as they're just simple square doorways. Inside, they all use the same layout, which is interesting - it's a rough, early layout of a cavern, but it's too complex to be a placeholder; this was probably intended to stay in one of these locations. It's a claustrophobic tunnel system filled with early Ether Crystals, in a design unlike any in the final...though it should be noted that these can't be interacted with. The crystals all share the same blue color, and glow faintly.

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Walled Town
To the far distant end of the map is a massive city behind a wall, bigger than any city in the final game, even Alcamoth. Huge expanses of farmland littered with individual houses fill most of the space; it seems likely the grain would have looked different in an earlier version of the game, as the final grain, as seen in Colony 6, isn't too pretty here. The interior of the walled area is an expansive city featuring a market, many large houses, and a HUGE citadel surrounding a rough tower identical to the one mentioned previously.

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Three Pillars
Near the back, but closer to the head than the wood rings, are these three stone pillars protruding from the floor of the lower level. They mushroom out at the top; there's a sizable space, which you can reach by using the bridges connecting the pillars to the upper level. The near two feature rough, unfinished clusters of buildings; the far one is even less complete, being completely empty inside the surrounding wall.

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Wood Rings
Around the back of the map are a series of pillars beyond the edge of the main landmass, protruding from far below. Some very unfinished wooden scaffolding of unknown purpose surrounds these pillars; beyond a trio of chests, there's nothing on these platforms, and no way to know what they would have been for.

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Makna Forest


The internal map listing would indicate you were intended to visit Bionis' Left Shoulder between Frontier Village and Eryth Sea. Surprisingly, there's still a trace of this plan in Makna Forest's background geometry! The Great Makna Falls stretch far beyond where they need to, leaving a large chunk of the falls unviewable from any point accessible in normal gameplay; beyond them is the left shoulder of the Bionis! The left shoulder is untextured, but the geometry is present. Were a path to extend further beyond Great Makna Falls, it'd allow you to view the left shoulder and the far falls normally.

Shulk
Shulk's unused weapons are interesting: besides the Debug Sword, which is exactly what it sounds like, there's a set of unfinished early-game weapons which would suggest Shulk was intended to have access to more than just the Junk Sword, prior to acquiring the Monado. Presumably, they were cut due to just how little time that section of the game is- no point in giving Shulk a full compliment of weapons if he gets the Monado and can't change his weapon for most of the game. All of these use the Junk Sword's model unless otherwise noted.


 * Debug Sword: Sharing the Monado III's model, this weapon features 6000-6550 auto-attack damage, 255 physical/ether defense, a 0% critical rate, a 25% block rate, and three gem slots. It's quite obvious that it was never intended to be used in gameplay, but in testing it'd be invaluable- merely equipping it to Shulk would enable one to cruise right through the game until reaching the sections which needed specific testing. No description is present- in all fairness, this weapon doesn't exactly need flavor. Despite its model, it's actually considered by the game to be a normal sword, not a Monado. Amusingly, this means that its Turn Strike is the single most powerful attack in the game.
 * Easy Edge: "A lightweight sword used by ordinary citizens for self-defence." 13-24 damage, with no defensive bonuses and 0% block/critical rates. A fairly dull, ordinary weapon- a trend present in all of these unused early-game weapons for Shulk.
 * Salvage Sword: "A modified version of the Junk Sword ordered by Shulk." 9-30 damage, 0/0/0%/0% secondary stats. Compared to the Easy Edge, it has a higher max damage but is less stable. Probably would have come around the same time as the Easy Edge.
 * Break Sword: "Its weight deals enormous damage but it is not suitable for cutting." 48-78 damage, 0/0/0%/0% secondary stats. Surprisingly high damage for when it'd have to be obtained, but about on par with Reyn's expensive weapons at the Colony 9 shop. It's plausible it would've been on sale there as well.
 * Mell Edge: "A sharp blade crafted from rare materials found at Mag Mell." 42-60 damage with, again, 0/0/0%/0% secondary stats. It can safely be said you'd have obtained this at Mag Mell Ruins, probably as a drop from an enemy; its damage is about right for that point in the game.
 * Weapon No. 6: This is interesting! Its damage is a mere 100-150, but its model is that of the true form of Zanza's Monado. You know, the one that no one except for Zanza touches in the final! 1% critical rate, and correctly treated as a Monado, meaning that Shulk has Activate Monado for his talent art instead of Turn Strike. The actual name is blank, so for the purposes of this article it'll be referred to by its item ID.

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Sharla

 * Gadolt's Cannon: "The firearm left to Sharla by Gadolt. It gives Sharla the strength to go on." 630-735 damage and an 18% critical rate. Three gem slots. An unused unique weapon with fully-finished (and rather good!) stats and an otherwise unused model. Visually, the gun is obviously Mechon in origin, and its stats and description would indicate Gadolt would have given it to Sharla after Mechonis Core.

Dunban

 * Monado: "A weapon of many abilities, and the only one that can match the Mechon." 200-280 damage with a 10% critical hit rate. Two free gem slots. Dunban has the Monado for the intro sequence- but it's a different one, with an Unbeatable VI (100%) gem permanently equipped and some actual defensive bonuses. The presence of free gem slots is interesting, because it would suggest that at some point the intro would've worked differently- it'd have been perfectly possible to die, and would've lasted long enough that applying gems to the Monado would've been a valid concern.

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Fiora

 * Meyneth Monado: "Monado of the goddess Meyneth. The counterpart of Zanza's Monado." 350-400 damage and a 15% critical rate. Unbeatable VI (100%), Damage Heal VI (150) and Arts Heal VI (75) gems are permanently equipped. Technically, this is used- but it's only equipped to Fiora during the Zanza fight at Mechonis Core, which you can't leave in any way. The presence of a description and the unique behavior of the weapon (like Shulk's Monado/Monado II, it's impossible to remove manually once equipped) would suggest that it was intended for a slightly longer period of use before Zanza steals it.

Others
Alvis, Dickson, and Mumkhar all join your party at one point in the game, but are removed after the fight they join for. Oddly enough, though, their unique weapons have descriptions!


 * Claymore: "Probably crafted by Alvis. It is similar to a Homs sword." Alvis' weapon, featuring 300-420 damage, 25 physical and ether defense, a 10% critical rate and a 15% block rate. An Unbeatable VI (100%) gem is permanently equipped to the Claymore.
 * Sabre: "This weapon developed by Dickson combines a sword and a firearm." Dickson's weapon, featuring 220-315 damage, 25 physical and ether defense, a 5% critical rate and a 10% block rate. Unbeatable VI (100%) and Topple Resist VI (100%) gems are permanently equipped.
 * Steel Claws: "Mumkhar's weapon of choice. Nasty claws that attach to the hands." Mumkhar's weapon, featuring 30-40 damage, 20 physical defense, a 50% critical rate and a 0% block rate. An Unbeatable VI (100%) gem is permanently equipped.

Dunban's Bandages
While these are seen in cutscenes, it's interesting to note that they're a fully-statted five-item set, exclusive to Dunban. Two of them even have inventory descriptions!


 * Head Bandages - Dummy: Light armor with 1 weight, 5 physical defence, and 7 ether defence. No model, no description. Is locked once equipped.
 * Torso Bandages: "A bandage once worn by Dunban. Applied with filial affection by Fiora." Light armor with 1 weight, 8 physical defence, and 12 ether defence. Model is the upper half of Dunban's cutscene-only bandages, unsurprisingly. Is locked once equipped.
 * Arm Bandages: "A bandage once worn by Dunban. Imbued with the tenacity of a hero." Light armor with 1 weight, 4 physical defence, and 12 ether defence. Model is the bandages covering Dunban's right arm. Is locked once equipped.
 * Waist Bandages - Dummy: Light armor with 1 weight, 7 physical defence, and 8 ether defence. Stock leg light armor model, no description. Is locked once equipped.
 * Leg Bandages - Dummy: Light armor with 1 weight, 6 physical defence, and 6 ether defence. Stock foot light armor model, no description. Is locked once equipped.

Unused Gem Effects
None of these actually function, unfortunately. As such, all we have are the descriptions.


 * Armour Power: "[Passive] Increases activation rate for gems mounted on armour by n%." Orange armour gem, with a maximum value of 100%. It doesn't do anything at all, though; while its effect indicates it should be a counterpart to the existing Weapon Power gem, it doesn't actually work in battle, and displays no value in the character stats when set to a slot.
 * Cast Quicken: "[Passive] Reduces cast time by n%." Yellow armour gem with, strangely, a maximum value of 0%. This is very interesting, because while the name and description bring to mind time-delayed spellcasting like in a Tales title, Xenoblade Chronicles doesn't include anything of the sort! The closest thing would be Melia's ether arts, but those don't have any real casting time; they're active as soon as the animation is finished, just like every other art in the game. Considering the weird maximum value and the fact that it applies to a system that doesn't actually exist, it's safe to say this was scrapped fairly early in development.

Unused Models


This big guy is stored as 1082134574.brres. He's called "boss", and doesn't have any animations. While he's mechanical, he doesn't really seem to fit with the Mechon...



A very unfinished model for a Monado replica. None of the available weapons use this model- even the dummied-out ones. There's no handle, no light shaft, and the texturing is broken. Indeed, the interior of the weapon uses the textures of one of Dunban's rapiers, as its own don't exist. By viewing the dumped textures, it's possible to get a better idea of what this weapon might have looked like.

Old Title Screen
Old title screen graphics, from before the title change during development! Left is how it's supposed to be displayed in-game, right is how the texture is actually stored on disc.

The kanji in the background is 仮, meaning temporary or provisional.

PP
One of the stats the game lists internally is PP. There is no PP stat! It's possible that this was intended for a role similar to other games' PP or MP stats.

The SP tag the game displays to indicate SP gains after battle is labeled mf00_com00_pp.tpl internally. Since the script contains entries for both SP and PP, presumably this wasn't always a SP tag.

Fiora's Connectors
Many of Fiora's Mechonis armor parts have connectors to each other, textured and modeled. You can't see them because it's not possible to view armor on its own.