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[chaosblade]

Arsene's agility is just 120. It is a medium agility among unique monsters. You can dodge its attack with Melia's wind. But you can never dodge its talent arts which is the biggest problem in this battle. Besides, lv120 and lv114 both have strong ether arts. Dunban's hp needs to be half to dodge the attack and it is hard for this hp to resist ether arts. Jaws of death is required.

Right, Abaasy's agility is only 80. But you lose 200% of your hit rate, so your agility needs to be high enough to counter that.

And I know Serene Heart works because I've done it, lol. I did have Shulk with Monado Armor to cover the ether attack though.

 

[thomaszyj]

Right, Abaasy's agility is only 80. But you lose 200% of your hit rate, so your agility needs to be high enough to counter that.

And I know Serene Heart works because I've done it, lol. I did have Shulk with Monado Armor to cover the ether attack though.

Monado armor is too good and I suggest you not to use it. Shulk is the best character to fight against Abaasy because slit edge can decrease 50% defense. I just used Shulk/Reyn/Dunban against Abaasy and it just took 2.5 hours in game time. Without Monado armor and Mondo shield, you can use more ap for more arts like slit edge and air slash.

 

[Elfforkusu]

I'm 15 hours in and just got the

Spoiler

Purge

ability from

Spoiler

Alvis.

Am I almost done?

Seriously though

Spoiler

magic lady

just joined my party and I have no idea how to use her. Her spells don't seem to be usable again after their cooldown?

Spoiler

Melia's

magic is a two-action thing. First you summon (and optionally enjoy a buff for agility, strength, ether, etc), and then you use the center art to blast away at the enemy using whatever you summoned.

But you don't need to worry too much about figuring it out right away,

Spoiler

since there's a tutorial section for her coming soon...

 

[Snacks the sober sea lion]

Doesn't Melia's Talent skill charge by using it repeatedly? Then you can use her special artes as well as doubling her damage while it's charged. The game doesn't do a fantastic job explaining how to use her.

I beat the Dinobeast without anyone going below half health, Riki didn't even take a single hit, then I get to

Spoiler

Eryth Sea

and the same party somehow almost lost to a group of Hodes 3 levels below them :|

 

[Anteo]

Finished it!

Spoiler

I can finally play other games!!

So, about the last part of the game (after you find out who the final boss is gonna be)

Spoiler

Lorithia was the most annoying boss fight of them all. I could deal with her, I could very well deal with her summons with Seven/Dunban/Riki, but I hated how she pushed my characters towards the pools of ether making them take damage. I even lost some fights cause she KOed someone in the pool and I could not revive them. There was even one fight were I had almost 3 bars, got hit with the confuse laser into the pool where Seven fainted and the game just triggered a game over cause no one could revive me there. Sigh.. I finially managed to beat her by locking her out of her summons with many links in a row.

Loved the game.. Time to check out the newgame+.

 

[Overside]

Finished it!

Spoiler

I can finally play other games!!

So, about the last part of the game (after you find out who the final boss is gonna be)

Spoiler

Lorithia was the most annoying boss fight of them all. I could deal with her, I could very well deal with her summons with Seven/Dunban/Riki, but I hated how she pushed my characters towards the pools of ether making them take damage. I even lost some fights cause she KOed someone in the pool and I could not revive them. There was even one fight were I had almost 3 bars, got hit with the confuse laser into the pool where Seven fainted and the game just triggered a game over cause no one could revive me there. Sigh.. I finially managed to beat her by locking her out of her summons with many links in a row.

Loved the game.. Time to check out the newgame+.

Hate to do this to you when its too late...

But holding one of the r buttons and pressing down will get your party to get out of the ether and back to you.

 

[Anteo]

Hate to do this to you when its too late...

But holding one of the r buttons and pressing down will get your party to get out of the ether and back to you.

I know, but it doesnt help that you have to, at the very least, switch targets because the boss would still push you away from whoever you were targeting at first. It was super annoying when it happened, but it was even worse when someone fainted because of it.
One time I was about to beat her but I accidentaly used the "get to me" command instead of the "split" just as a confuse laser was going to be fired. 3 characters confused and with less than 10% HP? no way to recover
It was just a frustating fight overall. Not really that hard, just frustating.

 

[BY2K]

Now that things calmed the hell down, time to start Operation Colony 6.

How many levels is there per categories?

 

[Beren the Empty-Handed]

Now that things calmed the hell down, time to start Operation Colony 6.

How many levels is there per categories?

5 each.

 

[Man God]

Hate to do this to you when its too late...

But holding one of the r buttons and pressing down will get your party to get out of the ether and back to you.

Another secret is that even an underleveled party of Melia/Riki/Sharla, outfitted with ether defense gear, can ignore the adds and beat the boss senseless.

 

[Anteo]

Another secret is that even an underleveled party of Melia/Riki/Sharla, outfitted with ether defense gear, can ignore the adds and beat the boss senseless.

Yeah.. to be honest.. I really didnt have any way to deal with the summons. I only had 2 AoE attacks, and I deal super low damage to them with my party. But I really didnt get more than 1 ally down at a time. The one time I managed to beat her I locked her out of the summons and just deal like 75% of damage in like 1 min. She managed to summon stuff at the very end but it was too late.

 

[Overside]

I know, but it doesnt help that you have to, at the very least, switch targets because the boss would still push you away from whoever you were targeting at first. It was super annoying when it happened, but it was even worse when someone fainted because of it.
One time I was about to beat her but I accidentaly used the "get to me" command instead of the "split" just as a confuse laser was going to be fired. 3 characters confused and with less than 10% HP? no way to recover
It was just a frustating fight overall. Not really that hard, just frustating.

Youve been killing yourself for no reason.

There is no split command. That command is attack at will, the ai does whatever it wants.

On top of that, there is no dodging like that in the first place. The enemies and players can move in real time, but the combat isnt real time.

Whether or not an attacks animation makes contact with a target or not is completely irrelevant, as the game has no actual hit detection implemented. Attack animations are just a visual effect.

Whether something is hit or not is determined the moment the move is activated, via a static 'area of effect field'. If a target is in that area at the moment of activation, it gets hit, and if it wasnt, its ignored, regaurdless of what the animation comes into contact with.

Its the same for player attacks as well.

Xenoblades combat just isnt real time.

 

[Anteo]

Youve been killing yourself for no reason.

There is no split command. That command is attack at will, the ai does whatever it wants.

Thats exactly what I needed them to do, not be super close to me, target whatever is there while I walk to the other side before the vision timer runs out.

On top of that, there is no dodging like that in the first place. The enemies and players can move in real time, but the combat isnt real time.

Whether or not an attacks animation makes contact with a target or not is completely irrelevant, as the game has no actual hit detection implemented. Attack animations are just a visual effect.

Whether something is hit or not is determined the moment the move is activated, via a static 'area of effect field'. If a target is in that area at the moment of activation, it gets hit, and if it wasnt, its ignored, regaurdless of what the animation comes into contact with.

Its the same for player attacks as well.

Xenoblades combat just isnt real time.

I know, but the Laser only hits whatever is in front when she starts the animation unlike her spin attack which hits everything everywhere, And I had a vision that the laser would come and hit Seven (the character I was using). So I wanted the charaters to hit whatever it was there and dont group up focusing one enemy, so if the boss happened to change targets because of agro before the vision timer ended, 2 characters would not be hit (I only had one bar to revive one character at the moment) I just input the wrong command and was like "4.. 3.. Wait what are they doing?? 2..1.. "

Then there was this other time were the vision said it would target Riki, but changed in the last few seconds and didnt have enough time to reposition Seven (I was expecting to change to Dunban at worst), the laser hit and Seven landed in the middle of the pool and Riki and Dunban could not revive Seven triggering the game over (neither Seven could revive anyone landing there for some reason, never faced this problem before, I guess water is a problem?)

On the other hand, having a vision of her spin attack was useless because of everything you said.

 

[Overside]

Thats exactly what I needed them to do, not be super close to me, target whatever is there while I walk to the other side before the vision timer runs out.



I know, And I had a vision that the laser would come and hit Seven (the character I was using). So I wanted the charaters to hit whatever it was there and dont group up focusing one enemy, so if the boss happened to change targets because of agro before the vision timer ended, 2 characters would not be hit (I only had one bar to revive one character at the moment) I just input the wrong command and was like "4.. 3.. Wait what are they doing?? 2..1.. "

Then there was this other time were the vision said it would target Riki, but changed in the last few seconds not allowing me to reposition, the laser hit and Seven landed on the middle of the pool where Riki and Dunban could not revive Seven (neither Seven could revive anyone landing there for some reason)

On the other hand, having a vision of her spin attack was useless because of everything you said.

Ah, I see.

Ive never had any trouble there....

And im pretty sure its just because i dick around so much in xenoblade, going after everything except the storyline, that im so overleveled i could get into the fight, put the controller down and leave the room, and still win.

I guess thats why i like the past cap uniques so much.

 

[lilty]

I'd say 10-20. You could do it less than 10 if you rush, but unless you've been using Melia in your party, you'll be hitting a brick wall with one of the late-game bosses that will slow things down and test your patience.

I'm at this boss now and I'm incredibly frustrated with it.

 

[Rizzi]

Started playing this. 3DS port doesn't look super fantastic huh.

 

[mrmickfran]

I'm at this boss now and I'm incredibly frustrated with it.

YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR INSOLENCE

 

[joesiv]

Finally picked up a n3DS (yay), and downloaded Xenoblade 3D, this will be my first Xenoblade experience, looking forward to it!

HOWEVER, what were they thinking with the floating info tags over the characters? In 3D they're in a completely different depth than the chacter they're suppose to be "over". I messes with my brain. I don't think I can play like that, so far I've just turned off the 3D, it's so distracting...

Ughhh, I guess there is no way to fix that eh?

 

[Magnetic_North]

Just a heads up Shopto are selling this for £20 new right now

I think shopto linking is still banned on here I think... sorry I apologise if they are still frowned upon on gaf however I've used them for years and never had a problem

£20 though is a bargain not sure how long its gonna be at that price though

 

[thomaszyj]

lv68 Riki/Dunban/Reyn defeated lv120 Avalanche Abaasy + lv100 Final Marcus( it joined in battle when abaasy's hp was around 40%). It's a pretty tough battle. lv6 gems are required.

 

[Juke Joint Jezebel]

Bought this game off of Amazon for £20, going in completely blind, 100%! Looking forward to this as I haven't played a JRPG properly since Lost Oddysey.

 

[deoee]

All this stuff you can pick up from the ground...

 

[Adam Prime]

Has anyone printed off those alternate covers that are on the Facebook page? Did you need just one complete page of paper.

 

[chaosblade]

Has anyone printed off those alternate covers that are on the Facebook page? Did you need just one complete page of paper.

You would want some decent photo paper and need to print borderless, but from what I saw those were really low resolution. They won't look very good if you print them as-is, but you could use them as a template and make something that is big enough. I think all of the artwork (as well as some others) are available around the web in high enough resolution for a 300DPI print. You would need to add the spine logo and ESRB stuff though.


Had some time and put together the covers Nintendo did, but in 300 DPI. There are two versions of each with different spine logo alignments, one has it centered like Nintendo's custom covers, and the other has it aligned with the standard 3DS cover. None of them have the ESRB logo or the long copyright line.

Zip file with all of them.

 

[TheMoon]

You would want some decent photo paper, but from what I saw those were really low resolution. They won't look very good if you print them as-is, but you could use them as a template and make something that is big enough. I think all of the artwork (as well as some others) are available around the web in high enough resolution for a 300DPI print. You would need to add the spine logo and ESRB stuff though.

bolded: if you hate yourself

 

[Adam Prime]

Started playing this. 3DS port doesn't look super fantastic huh.

I think everyone thinks that for the first few hours. I would say after about ~5 hours I got over and it and I am just blown away that a game like this is playable on a portable device. It's amazing. Yeah the resolution is super tiny, but you get over it - this game is a technical marvel.

Honestly, the same is true of DKC Returns 3DS. I hated it for the first few hours, the resolution is so small... then you start to appreciate they managed to put this game on a portable device. Monster Games are some talented devs.

 

[vareon]

I finished this! What a game. 85 hours.

Final boss is a bit easy but I had fun nonetheless, and that's what superbosses are for. I just started to read wiki and spoilers and boy do I miss many challenges.

I might continue leveling up between days, trying to fight the superbosses, but I'm ready to move on to another games...and waiting for XCX. This has been a great ride.

 

[TheMoon]

I finished this! What a game. 85 hours.

Final boss is a bit easy but I had fun nonetheless,

wtf!

back in the Wii game I spent 5 hours on that fucker.

 

[Rizzi]

Why the hell does Sharla refuse to heal anyone?

 

[Adam Prime]

wtf!

back in the Wii game I spent 5 hours on that fucker.

lol I guess it depends on your level and your party. I remember using RIkku and spamming bleeding and posion arts to victory.

I want to try super bosses this time around.

 

[EvilMario]

Why the hell does Sharla refuse to heal anyone?

AI Sharla can be lousy with how she handles her cool downs, but I've generally not had a problem with her. Seems like I see a bunch of complaints about her AI though. I often wonder if people are taking so much damage because they don't understand the mechanics of the game yet.

lol I guess it depends on your level and your party. I remember using RIkku and spamming bleeding and posion arts to victory.

I want to try super bosses this time around.

End boss was super easy for me as well on my first playthrough. I wasn't overleveled, as I had only done a few side quests here and there. I also used Riki as my player controlled character.. as I did for much of the second half of the game. He's the best.

 

[Dice//]

I think everyone thinks that for the first few hours. I would say after about ~5 hours I got over and it and I am just blown away that a game like this is playable on a portable device. It's amazing. Yeah the resolution is super tiny, but you get over it - this game is a technical marvel.

Honestly, the same is true of DKC Returns 3DS. I hated it for the first few hours, the resolution is so small... then you start to appreciate they managed to put this game on a portable device. Monster Games are some talented devs.

Yeah, graphically it IS impressive, but the super small resolution starts bugging out my eyes after a day on the computer.

I just finished the big Core event so now I'm getting into the final wave of super quests.
Is there any good order to go about this? I feel like super monsters are scattered like crazy and there's a strange difficulty bump where enemies seem to go from low 70s to high 80s.
At least Sharla might get some use now.

Also, what does anyone know about counter-attacks? I feel like the only time they're EVER mentioned is in Fiora's skill set... but what the hell is the activation for them?

 

[matmanx1]

I'm getting the itch to pick up a New 3DS and jump in to Xenoblade. As long as the port is good I actually like long, meaty RPG's on a handheld device. *much thinking commences*

 

[TheMoon]

I'm getting the itch to pick up a New 3DS and jump in to Xenoblade. As long as the port is good I actually like long, meaty RPG's on a handheld device. *much thinking commences*

 

[Beren the Empty-Handed]

I'm getting the itch to pick up a New 3DS and jump in to Xenoblade. As long as the port is good I actually like long, meaty RPG's on a handheld device. *much thinking commences*

Quite a large group call it the best RPG of the last generation, so the game is definitely good. The port itself actually improves on the framerate from the Wii version in a few places. The resolution isn't as good, but that's an issue to take up with the 3DS, not Xenoblade.

Most people get through the main game in about 70 to 80 hours, and extra side stuff will bump that number over 120. Meaty, it is.

 

[Kastrioti]

Just got past the intro and

Spoiler

Fiora dying

. I'm on my way to Colony 6.

I just spent some time buying new equipment and gem crafting. What's the secret to gem crafting? I was just putting together random items and seeing what it could spit out but I'm sure there is an art to the craft to make the game a bit easier.

Also I think I read it on this thread (or the Xenoblade Wii OT) but should I sell all of my loot?

 

[WarAdept]

Just got past the intro and

Spoiler

Fiora dying

. I'm on my way to Colony 6.

I just spent some time buying new equipment and gem crafting. What's the secret to gem crafting? I was just putting together random items and seeing what it could spit out but I'm sure there is an art to the craft to make the game a bit easier.

Also I think I read it on this thread (or the Xenoblade Wii OT) but should I sell all of my loot?

The key is the character affinities between each other. Highest level of affinity between 2 characters give a max of 15 turns of refinement during the gemcrafting process which leads to much stronger gems.

Obviously it's much more indepth than that (isolating skills by themselves into Cylinders to maximise crafting growth), but that's the general rule to making high quality gems. At your level, I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's when the crystals start to become level 3-4 that you see some big rewards for crafting them.

 

[highoffcoffee496]

Getting a New 3DS tomorrow!!! I rushed through the Wii version in 2 weeks to finish it during my last Winter break in college so now I plan to take my time and enjoy everything it has to offer.

 

[Kastrioti]

The key is the character affinities between each other. Highest level of affinity between 2 characters give a max of 15 turns of refinement during the gemcrafting process which leads to much stronger gems.

Obviously it's much more indepth than that (isolating skills by themselves into Cylinders to maximise crafting growth), but that's the general rule to making high quality gems. At your level, I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's when the crystals start to become level 3-4 that you see some big rewards for crafting them.

Thanks for the advice but I basically skipped the tutorials about affinities and everything else. I played about 6 hours or so of the Wii version a few years back.

Got a lot to learn I just got to the Gaur Planes so far and I've been pretty much just using brute force tactics (Monado attacks, back attacks) and some chain attacks but I know that's not going to work as I get further into the game.

All that said Xenoblade has one of the greatest intros of any JRPG, or possibly even, any game ever. The first 4 hours of story and cutscenes are amazing. FF7 is still king but damn does Xenoblade suck you right into its world right away.

 

[Adam Prime]

All that said Xenoblade has one of the greatest intros of any JRPG, or possibly even, any game ever. The first 4 hours of story and cutscenes are amazing. FF7 is still king but damn does Xenoblade suck you right into its world right away.

I agree. A lot of games should take lessons of how to immediately get the player engaged. I agree, you can tell VERY quickly in starting Xenoblade if this game is going to be something that interests you. It definitly doesn't doll you around for hours and hour before you decide if its going to be something you enjoy.

 

[vareon]

I like Shulk's voice especially apparent when (very early game spoilers)

Spoiler

Fiora dies

. His shout was always full of anger or desperation.

 

[joesiv]

I just reached the refuge camp, and so far I'm really enjoying it. I had no idea the combat system was so deep, I was getting annoyed at all the tutorial popups that were happening, until I started realizing that it was actually important

I can't quite put a finger on it, but I get so many 16bit JRPG vibes from this game, maybe it's the quest/story structure or something. I never really got into modern jrpg, so I'm quite happy!

And man, voice acting makes such a difference, it surprised me at first... what I can hear them talk in cutscenes? I'm so used to Zeldas and 16bit rpg's lol...

 

[Kastrioti]

I really got to get this battle system down. I just defeated Mechon 71, the mech that captured JuJu and I barely beat him after dying a few times.

I've never been good at these FF12 battle systems (Active time battle) and I really have no idea what I'm doing. I've been going through Gaur Plains leveling up but I beat the Mechon 71 by using brute force with Shulk and his Monado and I know that's not going to cut it later in the game.

For instance Reyn was only doing 1 damage to the Mechon 71 and I generally don't like not having full control of him or Sharla. I toyed around with leveling up my arts, adding enhancements to my armor and weapons but I still don't know what I'm doing.

 

[Dice//]

For instance Reyn was only doing 1 damage to the Mechon 71 and I generally don't like not having full control of him or Sharla. I toyed around with leveling up my arts, adding enhancements to my armor and weapons but I still don't know what I'm doing.

I'mm a little tipsy so stop me if I'm wrong... Did Shulk usse Enchant? Thats the skill that makes yo damage mechon in the first place till special weapons letyou do it later.

 

[Kastrioti]

I'mm a little tipsy so stop me if I'm wrong... Did Shulk usse Enchant? Thats the skill that makes yo damage mechon in the first place till special weapons letyou do it later.

I'm sober but I'm honestly not sure. I'll give it a try a little later. Basic stuff I should know. One critique I have of the 3DS version is its hard to see what fellow party members are doing due to the screen size and general speed of the battle.

 

[TheMoon]

I really got to get this battle system down. I just defeated Mechon 71, the mech that captured JuJu and I barely beat him after dying a few times.

I've never been good at these FF12 battle systems (Active time battle) and I really have no idea what I'm doing. I've been going through Gaur Plains leveling up but I beat the Mechon 71 by using brute force with Shulk and his Monado and I know that's not going to cut it later in the game.

For instance Reyn was only doing 1 damage to the Mechon 71 and I generally don't like not having full control of him or Sharla. I toyed around with leveling up my arts, adding enhancements to my armor and weapons but I still don't know what I'm doing.

Re-read the tutorials in the menu. Read the descriptions of what all your arts do. If you don't understand what they all do you'll have a hard time with this game on a fundamental level.

 

[Kastrioti]

Re-read the tutorials in the menu. Read the descriptions of what all your arts do. If you don't understand what they all do you'll have a hard time with this game on a fundamental level.

Re-read the tutorials and just spent time leveling up and adding AP points to different abilities on Shulk, Reyn and Sharia. Game is extremely addicting just going around and leveling up.

I still don't understand affinity but my friend said to worry about that later in the game. As for crafting gems I'm just putting in random gems at Colony 9 and seeing what it spits out.

Now I go into the Ether Mines to see how I've done so far.

 

[RankFTW]

Just bought this for £20 off Amazon and it should arrive tomorrow

 

[TheMoon]

Re-read the tutorials and just spent time leveling up and adding AP points to different abilities on Shulk, Reyn and Sharia. Game is extremely addicting just going around and leveling up.

I still don't understand affinity but my friend said to worry about that later in the game. As for crafting gems I'm just putting in random gems at Colony 9 and seeing what it spits out.

Now I go into the Ether Mines to see how I've done so far.

Affinity is just something you build up during battle and by doing quests with the members in your party. It's relevant for the skill links (I think they're on a separate page in the arts menu) with which you can set up certain passive skills and link them together between characters so that everyone benefits from everyone else's skills. It sounds complicated and I can't explain it very well but it's relatively self explanatory if you're looking at that screen in the menu. Affinity also allows you to activate Heart-to-Hearts (those dialog scenes between characters like the mandatory one with Fiora and the sandwich from the beginning). But like your friend said, it's nothing you really need to actively worry about this early on.

 

[Snacks the sober sea lion]

People never mention that Enchant also gives you a damage bonus against Mechon. It makes a big difference as you level it up and you definitely shouldn't stop using it just because the party has weapons that do damage to Mechon.