I think I killed her in like two hits?  I was max leveled and playing on casual though... it was great!

Yea I'm ashamed to admit I put the game on casual mode for it's final boss. I specifically went out of my way not to do that the entire rest of the playthrough, because I enjoyed the combat systems. Everything was easy before the final boss, even Lorithia once you get to the right levels, but nope, that 2nd phase of the boss just made me lazy as fuck. This always happens with me and JRPGs (except Pokemon obviously), I get to the final boss and get lazy and just want to see the end of the story ... usually late at night after having thought I would have finished the game 10 hours earlier in the day I've cheated not only the game, but myself.

The worst part is my cleared playthrough now has a big green "casual mode" banner on it's save image. Even though I played 99.99% of the game normally. Fucking hell! I swear I might just return this game because of that. This is a defective product! I hate Monolith Soft and absolutely everything they stand for because of this. 

Decent game though. 

Mod Note-  Edited to avoid potential spoilers.  It was borderline, but always err on the side of caution.

Just finished the main quest. Got lucky with chain attack extensions and took down the boss in one chain attack (Shulk's extra skill tree also helps).

Gotta say. In the end, the real Monado was the friends we made along the way.

Was this your first time playing it? (I forget)

Nah.  Played it back on the Wii and once since then.  

I just got to the Fallen Arm, the reunification section is the beating heart of the entire story.

Unfortunately, it’s after this part that I tend to lose interest in continuing on.... but I tend to pick it up again months later. Although, this time I’ll probably push through because I tend to New Game+ this one.

Update from the slow-poke. I'm in Chapter 9 now (40 something hours in), although I've played many games that have better graphics, I've got to say this game has stunning environments, some of the best in any game. I thought Gaur Plains would be the highlight since it's the location that made it into Smash but then there's Satorl Marsh at night (my favorite), the Makna Forest Waterfalls, Eryth Sea at night. It's a joy to discover new locations.

Future Connected is underwhelming but the base game remains as great as ever.

Despite all I was saying earlier, I ended up getting the definitive edition lawlz. New Horizons has been a bit a dissapointing, will have to hope the free updates do more than just catch the game back up to New Leaf, and The Last of Us 2 is a complete trash fire, so I really wanted something that I know for sure is top tier awesome. I only paid $20 for the original game on Wii U so at least I don't feel like I wasted money.

I still think I like Xenoblade 2 better overall namely for that gameplay, but I definitely am enjoying reliving a great story with minimal cringeyness! They have indeed fixed Melia, her AI actually attacks now, making more team comps viable, so my main complaint from the first game is taken care of. However, quest seem to be as numerous and tedious as before, though yes you don't have to do them, and I originally wasn't going to, but the min-maxer in me demands I get all skill trees. The graphics aren't amazing or anything but still a nice upgrade, and I was worried I wouldn't like the new arrangements, but I haven't switched to the original version for any song they're that good! Otherwise I don't notice much difference from the original, which is fine because it was already great.

Beat the entire Definitive Edition, including Futures Connected.

Yep, still my favorite action RPG of all time. But even better than ever. I'll start off with the things I didn't like.
The one thing I asked that remained unchanged was the soundtrack. I believe my exact words were, "Don't touch it! Leave it alone! It's already perfect!" But did Monolith Soft. listen? Nope.

Soundtrack - I will say, most of the tracks have been improved over the original version. Time to Fight, Colony 9's themes, Satorl Marsh's night theme, Eryth Sea's day theme, Mechonis Field. I even think Engage the Enemy was improved slightly, which I didn't think was possible! But in other places, I actually think it was worse than the original. Namely, Gaur Plains and Mechanical Rhythm. It's a minor nitpick, but... Man, when you're already at the top/perfection, there's nowhere to go but down. :/

Graphics and art style - Man, if there was ever a game, besides Skyward Sword, that was severely limited by the Wii's hardware, it was this game. I played the original Wii version back in December in preparation for this version just to compare. And in the graphical department, it's like on a scale from 1 to 10, we went from 4 to 8-9! It's the most noticeable with the character models! Everyone can actually give proper facial expressions now! Not just Riki!

Gameplay: Still as great as it was in the original. And they addressed the biggest complaint I had, which was sidequests. That little blue dotted line for sidequests saved me A LOT of time, blind searching, and frustration. And whenever I found myself needing to grind, whether to take on a Unique monster, prepare for a boss fight, or max my affinity between all the party members, Expert Mode quickly became my best friend. It especially helped in Futures Connected. And I may or may not be in the minority, but I much prefer Xenoblade 1's combat system over Xenoblade 2's.

Story: The story is still as engaging on its own as when I first played. But now I got way more excited and hype after having played Xenoblade Chronicles 2 because:

Then, there's Futures Connected. Which is the main thing I wanted to address. And it's pretty much all spoilers, so:

Overall, I'd say Future Connected was a solid expansion for what it was worth.