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Tales of Graces |OT| Gracing the PS3 with the Best RPG Combat
- Thread starter kayos90
- Start date
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
I do think it's unfortunate the you can't unlock the max difficulty until you beat the game once in Xillia. It's extremely easy to grind and level up beyond where you're supposed to be in Xillia because:This is sort of how I felt about Graces (regular encounters were fun, and could be challenging by cranking up the difficulty level, while bosses were tedious) although not to the level you describe here, so that makes me sad about Xillia.
a) There is a location right next to the 3rd or 4th town with high level monsters which you can easily take on with Easy Mode set, and then just going up from there.
b) You level up shops with all of the drops you get (so all of the shops in the game are the same, and the inventory changes depending on how much you've leveled them up). This means you can get weapons and armour earlier than you "should". Using drops from the location I mentioned in (a) levels the shops up even faster. Using elemental weapons makes things easier.
c) Levelling characters up to Level 99 isn't hard at all. I did it the hard way, but other people found out that you can just equip 1 Damage on Milla, and use a few of her skills to get very very high combos on regular enemies, and then get the EXP multiplier bonus based on how high the combo is.
I don't think it's a bad game, though. I like it despite it not having everything I wanted. I think the characters (with the exception of one) are good (the party members are generally written to contrast each other rather well), and the story's not bad. The systems are great, and the soundtrack is great, but it's a shame that titles are now basically achievements/trophies. It's just that the borked multiplayer, boss battle execution/mechanics, lack of side/post-content, lacklustre environments, and a few other issues which I'll keep to myself dragged the game a little bit down for me upon subsequent playthroughs.
When people say that Xillia is like the "Final Fantasy XIII" of the series, I somewhat understand where they're coming from, but at the same time I do think they hyped the game up a lot. I took that comparison to mean 'divisive'. Fans of the series might feel let down by Xillia, which was touted to be a 15th Anniversary game (and thus were likely expecting a lot of Tales references and nods to previous games out of it). Newcomers or casual Tales players might like it, or they might like the story or streamlined mechanics.
I've been trying to balance materials grinding with Neptunia mk2's share acquisition nonsense. Pretty close to the 15 weapons trophy now. Maxing out all of them is going to make me go bonkers. :lol
Against my better judgement, I still want to plat Nier. It's probably just going to take longer than expected. I think I might make an additional playthrough for the final ending instead of doing it in three playthroughs.
I don't think this is a bad idea at all. Of course, it might make the HUD a little crowded, but I think it's a better alternative to what we have right now.
A lot of people from what I've seen seem to use the same attacks repeatedly whenever they play Tales games. At least with Graces, it wasn't very good to do that, especially on higher difficulties. I don't know about everyone else, but I changed my B-style attacks often, depending on what sort of enemy it was to get better bonuses. Changing up the A-style was much easier, but it seemed like something you had to do. Besides, changing up your style makes it more fun, imo. Using the same attacks over and over is boring.
Enemies going into OVL randomly truly got on my nerves.
Just be careful about going for the final ending and make sure you have done everything you want to do. It's kind of evil what it does.
IntelliHeath
As in "Heathcliff"
Nope. I grind a lot during children era, and it helped me a lot; however monsters are still one shotting my team. You have to play it safe and wise.
I just beat main story on chaos and 10x damage. It's insane but fun.
Damn, I was hoping I could just do a speed run to get the rest of the 60 second trophies I need. Thanks for the information!
IntelliHeath
As in "Heathcliff"
I got all but Forda Queen 60 seconds, thank to 10x damage. Right now, I am grinding in zhoacage before I start Future Arc.
I made sure to get the 60 second trophies for the final boss and the future arc boss on my first play through after I beat the zhonecage. That way I won't have to play through an entire second playthrough.
I really like Graces but at this point I just want to get the platinum and move on.
IntelliHeath
As in "Heathcliff"
I felt kinda same with story, however battles are so much fun when I am playing with friends.
ULTROS!
People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
The final boss in the future arc can be beaten under 60 without the 10x damage. You just need to grind till level 130, get 3 Hubert Narikiris, and max the Accel gauge.
<3 Hubert.
I do agree that the battles are very fun. I haven't tried playing the game with other people though.
Yikes! Even with my characters at over level 100 I got my trash kicked when I first fought him. Poor Asbel and Malik died with one hit together.
I ran around like a crazy chicken when it one shotted the AI characters. The second time I just went in to steal an item. I had just learned the steal ability with Stagger Strike.
Try to use long ranged attacks against him and be wary of the mouth. I lost two characters that way completely.
distantmantra
Member
The game is $49.99 at Fred Meyer now.
We've just made it to Strata and the new monsters are destroying us(we are playing on hard). We figure it is time to upgrade our gear and levels (we are currently at 28-31). One aspect of the game that we have been more or less ignoring is dualizing gear. So we had a few questions:
1 - What is a good general approach to dualizing equipment?
2 - Is it a good idea to save all our shards for the end game, or use them as we go?
3 - Are there particular shards that we should save?
4 - Is it a good idea to save all of our old gear for dualizing purposes in the future, or is fit better to sell it?
Thanks!
1 - What is a good general approach to dualizing equipment?
2 - Is it a good idea to save all our shards for the end game, or use them as we go?
3 - Are there particular shards that we should save?
4 - Is it a good idea to save all of our old gear for dualizing purposes in the future, or is fit better to sell it?
Thanks!
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
I actually did something like that for my first platinum. But this time around, I didn't do the same thing.
I posted what I did here. I did it with a ton of books and relied on items, but it was so worth it.
Nah. I was able to do it at Lv 95 this time around as opposed to Lv 140+. This time, I did it in Future Arc, with Asbel, Cheria, Malik, and
Richard
Of course, you can just do it the cheesy and unsatisfying way and OHKO it with Hubert or something.
I get the feeling I know what it does, but I'm eager to see how it's executed. Thanks for the info.
I get the feeling I know what it does, but I'm eager to see how it's executed. Thanks for the info.
Just copy your save file to a USB stick and you should be fine ;]
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
scy has some really good posts about this here, here, and here. This is all for profit, though. In general, the dualization book lists out the different qualities and what sort of stat boosts they give to weapons/armour, so if you're fixated on defense or attack, follow what the dualization book (in the menu's library option) tells you. But dualizing for profit is an entirely different beast as you can tell from scy's posts.
The links in this post will help you with finding shards to dualize weapons/armour with, but I think some locations might be spoiled for you if you look at the lists now.
No. If you keep hoarding your shards, you'll get less and less as time goes on. If you have 190 shards, you'll stop getting them. It's best to keep using them so as you progress later in the game and get better shards, you can use those to maximize the profit from armour.
I don't think so. Not at this point, at least. If you find Magical Shards, you should hang onto them if you're planning to do all of the inn requests at the end of the game, though. Magical Shards were the harder ones for me to find.
I generally hoard old equipment (in any RPG, not just this), but if you're low on money, you could just sell the stuff and rebuy it later if you need them for inn requests (because you can evolve older weapons into new ones with those special stones, and I can tell you now that you'll need some old equipment to evolve them into something else (or you could do the Trials of Graces and get some of the stuff that way)). You can also keep dualizing old gear with shards you don't feel are needed immediately and sell them for a profit too. Money will be plentiful by the time you get to the later Inn Requests, imo.
I wrote up a small short post about the basics of A-Artes combat here. It might not be helpful at this point, but it's a basic outline of exploiting enemy weakness on a consistent basis. You cannot constantly use the same attacks over and over on harder modes because it will get you in trouble later on. It isn't just limited to A-Artes. B-Artes also follow this same sort of thing. Note that every A-Arte or B-Arte are strong against certain kinds of monsters.
You should try to level up some more titles and get more techniques for your characters if you haven't done so already. Infernal Torrent (easiest way to learn it now is with the Handsome Paragon title -- obtain 150 enhancements from titles) helps a lot against humans or beasts. But don't feel bad that it's getting a little tougher, because the difficulty really does ramp up there.
Thanks.Sagitario said:
I honestly do this all the time. If it's a game I've invested hours and hours into, I usually copy a save over to a USB stick. I think those days of corrupted memory cards back in the 1990s/early 2000s made me paranoid about it. :lol
Nice idea! I didn't even consider that but I had done everything int he game by the time I got there.
Disgaeamad
Member
I promised myself that I wouldn't argue with you about Xillia anymore Schala because we're never ever going to agree, and thus managed to not take most of that post to heart, with this exception:
Now excuse me while I shout at a wall because people on the internet disagree with my opinions about videogames.
I ended up really liking Sophie and Cheria's Vesperia costumes, especially Sophie's cause it made 決着の刻 (spoilers etc) play during regular fights.
Really? Xillia had tons of side quests and stuff, which lead towards a bunch of development for both side characters and the main characters. And in terms of post-game content, I can agree a bit because memories dungeons are awful and boring, but Xillia isn't the only offender there.
Now excuse me while I shout at a wall because people on the internet disagree with my opinions about videogames.
I ended up really liking Sophie and Cheria's Vesperia costumes, especially Sophie's cause it made 決着の刻 (spoilers etc) play during regular fights.
I absolutely cannot comprehend how some people think that the game is ridiculously easy on Evil and Chaos. Like, I absolutely cannot grasp my mind around it. I'm currently getting stone-walled by a one-on-one optional boss on these difficulties because the boss can do a 2000+ hp combo that can essentially OHKO Asbel. It just blows my mind how much the gap between random encounters and bosses get on these difficulties. Yeah, I expected bosses to be harder, but even after unlocking Evil, enemies were still doing 300 damage tops. Then you end up lowering the difficulty, and the boss's HP is not only pitiful now, but it usually struggles to do combos in the mid-triple digits. Is there even any sense of a middle ground between "lol boss is weak" and "lol ninja master mode" in this game?
I just don't get it. If the difficulties were more designed to be played with x2 EXP or whatever multiplayer could be unlocked by the GRADE shop on NG+, then what is the point?
Edit: But to this game's credit, you really do feel like a bad-ass when you're perfectly side-stepping and comboing.
I just don't get it. If the difficulties were more designed to be played with x2 EXP or whatever multiplayer could be unlocked by the GRADE shop on NG+, then what is the point?
Edit: But to this game's credit, you really do feel like a bad-ass when you're perfectly side-stepping and comboing.
CielTynave
Member
BassForever
Member
WiiU for next beta test version confirmed
You know... it wouldn't surprised me if it happened :\
YAY for ufotable! After Graces, I don't want Production I.G near Tales again.
Also, I wouldn't mind at all a Symphonia remake and a Ratatosk sequel [from a gameplay/mechanics standpoint].
Was the "Huh?" positive or negative?
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
Aw, just know that I like the game despite its shortcomings. I know a lot of people just outright hate Xillia, and I can't disagree with the reasons why they hate it because I generally cite the same reasons as to why I felt it was dragged down a little. I guess I fall a little bit into the category that expected a little more out of its extra content based on it being the 15th anniversary game. Like I said, most of the characters are good (Jude is... no comment, Alvin's alright, Leia is awesome but needed more screentime, Elise and Rowen are better than I'd initially expected, and Milla's cool), and the story's interesting. The mechanics are good during normal battles, and thus the game is fun to play at those moments.
Xillia's sidequests were essentially fetch quests, which sometimes led to slight development of the characters, but it wasn't something that I felt that I could get invested in, you know? I think the multi-chapter ones were good since they led into each other, but the single sidequests consisting of "get me these items!" or "go into the middle of nowhere in this field area and beat these monsters for me!" weren't to my liking. Then you have the Fell Arms, the short EX dungeon, the treasure spheres, and the extra boss... and that's about it (so lacking typical Tales extras, which is odd in an anniversary title, I guess). I do think that this is partially because they made the costumes all DLC, so I guess it can't be helped (well, it could, but that would mean making the costumes available in-game).
Basically, it's the little things that just build up and bring the game down a bit for me. If someone's just interested in the story and the characters, and aren't concentrating too much on battle mechanics, I think they'd like Xillia.
I kind of felt like Hard/Evil was middle-ground a lot of the time, but yes, sometimes it feels like there isn't really a middle-ground, especially if you've played much of the game on Chaos and try to go down on lower difficulties. The game isn't easy on Chaos either, since you do have to watch what you use and dodge a lot on that difficulty.
Wow, that article was short. :lol
New PSP titles? And NA isn't going to get those, lol. Someone should've asked him why Vesperia and RM3 haven't gone budget yet. I dunno about you guys, but I liked Ratatosk in terms of the monster mechanics. I'd personally like a sequel to it. I know it isn't well-liked on GAF, though.
I'm guessing the new Vita titles will be the R titles, then (Hearts/Tempest). I guess we'll know when a Jump thingy floats around prior to Tales Festival.
Also, YES to more ufotable. Xillia's animation was stunning and very consistent. After God Eater Burst, Symphonia OVA, Xillia, and Fate/Zero, I'm pleased to see them do more stuff in the series.
I think I will leave the weapons/armors requests for last [after the final boss or the arc]. They ask for qualities I don't have access yet or are really uncommon :\
I really wanted to get done as much as possible before attempting the final boss.
I guess I will grind to level 80 and finish the game [currently @ level 74].
The Sandshroud Ruins give around 5000 exp. per fight on Evil.
The battles don't take that long. Any other places or tips to get exp. faster?
High-five, girl!
I really wanted to get done as much as possible before attempting the final boss.
I guess I will grind to level 80 and finish the game [currently @ level 74].
The Sandshroud Ruins give around 5000 exp. per fight on Evil.
The battles don't take that long. Any other places or tips to get exp. faster?
High-five, girl!
So I didn't like getting killed in one hit on my new game + so I started over. This time I just chose X5 damage instead of X10 and didn't choose any experience upgrades. Took all my skills and titles, eleth mixer and books, grade shops, 1,000 extra health, +500 eleth mixer, etc. I am already doing much better this time around. I killed the first boss in less than 10 seconds so I already got that trophy extremely easily. I am already fighting battles as I was doing at the end of game when I was grinding my eleth mixer. Just have Malik in the Sophie costume set to completely passive and doing the 10 second battles. The only part that will be hard is that money isn't the easiest thing to come by this early in the game to refill my eleth mixer. Too bad I didn't have enough grade to carry over half of my gald since that would have solved that issue easily since I had over 2 million gald at the end of game.
I think I will leave the weapons/armors requests for last [after the final boss or the arc]. They ask for qualities I don't have access yet or are really uncommon :\
I really wanted to get done as much as possible before attempting the final boss.
I guess I will grind to level 80 and finish the game [currently @ level 74].
The Sandshroud Ruins give around 5000 exp. per fight on Evil.
The battles don't take that long. Any other places or tips to get exp. faster?
High-five, girl!
Only grind the minimum amount until you can get to the Zhonecage. You get crazy amounts of experience there. You will be earning upwards of 300K-400K experience on the higher floors on Normal.
Besides going all that way though, the Sandshroud Ruins gives about the best experience beyond being that far. You can get around 10K-20K experience there if you are using food to raise your experience and being on a higher difficulty setting.
CielTynave
Member
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
Thanks. I just read the esuteru link and assumed the second one was the same. The other one has more info, which seems more accurate than the blog post.
The audience's overwhelming support of the PSP is curious given that the Vita should probably be the next step. But I guess people just don't want to buy the device right now, especially given its lack of BC? I don't think a lot of people would've jumped onto the Vita just to get ToIR.
Curious why the 3DS wasn't really supported by the audience, though. My bf thought it was odd, since he thinks the 3DS is popular in Japan. But I assume the general Tales audience--or at least the segment asking questions--might not have a 3DS?
I think both systems just need either a mothership or an original escort title for people to invest in the series on those systems. But then that would mean that I might have to invest in a JP 3DS. :x
Region-free 3DS, where art thou?
Eh, I enjoyed my time with it.
The audience's overwhelming support of the PSP is curious given that the Vita should probably be the next step. But I guess people just don't want to buy the device right now, especially given its lack of BC? I don't think a lot of people would've jumped onto the Vita just to get ToIR.
Curious why the 3DS wasn't really supported by the audience, though. My bf thought it was odd, since he thinks the 3DS is popular in Japan. But I assume the general Tales audience--or at least the segment asking questions--might not have a 3DS?
I think both systems just need either a mothership or an original escort title for people to invest in the series on those systems. But then that would mean that I might have to invest in a JP 3DS. :x
Region-free 3DS, where art thou?
Why? Unless they want to remake the game and keep the spoilers to a minimum.
I really don't think it's as bad as other people think it is. I think the VA change and lack of fixation on the previous game's characters might have played a large role in people not really liking it. The chapter-based stuff, and the monster-rearing (which I felt was a bit of deep mechanic) might have had something to do with it too.Sagitario said:
Eh, I enjoyed my time with it.
Many of the skits in the Future Arc are awesome.Thoraxes said:
BassForever
Member
Symphonia 2 had the perfect recipe to be disliked by everyone. While it was a true main sequel the way ToD2 was, it was over shadowed by the next big title Tales of Vesperia which was coming out a few months later in Japan and it was obvious that Vesperia was getting the premium treatment while ToS2 was kind of the step child. It screamed "gimmicky spin off" with elements like the monster catching/raising, no real world map, and introduced mary sue type characters into the plot. In NA it really didn't help that this game came out after ToV, coming off Vesperia it felt like a massive step backwards. If ToS2 had been a wii launch title with Vesperia a year away it probably would have been much better received cause it is a good game.
Level 76 and 11 slots in the mixer
Will grind until 80 tonight [getting a few arte master titles] and beat the final boss tomorrow.
How do you get so many mixer slots? I am only around 200 points away from a maxed mixer and I haven't gotten more than 8 slots.
Dedication Through Light
Member
Finally back to playing though I forgot what I was even doing in the game before taking the month off from it for school stuff.
.
I always listen to the OP twice when playing.
I just remember Richard losing control and then him being split up from my group in the castle, wallbridge I think?
I always listen to the OP twice when playing.
I played until 4am last night O_O
I was getting 25~30K exp per fight in the Sandshroud Ruins.
The only inn requests left to do are weapons/armors with 8-letters qualities. I will do those later.
I guess this it it... final boss here I come!
When the mixer creates an item, it gets exp. When it levels up, it gets a new slot.
Lets just say I have created A LOT of items (and there are books that help you to create items and get mixer exp)
I was getting 25~30K exp per fight in the Sandshroud Ruins.
The only inn requests left to do are weapons/armors with 8-letters qualities. I will do those later.
I guess this it it... final boss here I come!
When the mixer creates an item, it gets exp. When it levels up, it gets a new slot.
Lets just say I have created A LOT of items
(and there are books that help you to create items and get mixer exp)I played until 4am last night O_O
I was getting 25~30K exp per fight in the Sandshroud Ruins.
The only inn requests left to do are weapons/armors with 8-letters qualities. I will do those later.
I guess this it it... final boss here I come!
When the mixer creates an item, it gets exp. When it levels up, it gets a new slot.
Lets just say I have created A LOT of items
Ah, no wonder. I didn't create a ton of items while I was playing.
The Graces platinum trophy is mine! Just barely got it. =D
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
The range I've heard is usually 85-100+. During this platinum run, I did it around Lv 95 in Future Arc, since the HP levels were comfortable enough for me. During my JP playthrough, I did it with much higher levels and it was pretty easy.
You can always cheap out and one-hit KO it with Hubert or something using that title that deals out damage taken.
Congratulations.
Did you end up having to do the mixer trophy in NG+?
Congratulations.
Did you end up having to do the mixer trophy in NG+?
Thanks! This has definitely been the platinum that took the longest at around 140 hours total for me.
I got my eleth mixer around 9,000 during my first playthrough and then used the +500 mixer grade shop upgrade. I was able to get the rest by just playing through my NG+ as I normally would.
Just got to Bladehorn Boar on Evil Difficulty.
At first, I was like "Oh shit, a boss that doesn't just completely cheese you with multiple enemies and OHKO aoes? A boss that actually requires more good dodging than anything else?"
But then it started summoning enemies, and I was like "Oh, of fucking course this wild feral boar would have friends. And of course the devs would think that 'we'll just flood them with enemies' is good difficulty."
And naturally, of course Hubert/Cheria seem absolutely incapable of evading the boar when it charges yet Sophie is able to. Every single time.
EDIT: Turned it down to Hard and the same problem was going on as in Evil; Boar charges, no one evades and gets killed. Boar summons enemies, casters get bum-rushed. Boar gets low on health, boar digs, kills target because target can't dodge.
I pretty much had to solo the boss after the pattern of "use life bottle on party member, party member gets immediately killed." It's pretty sad that in prior Tales games, I was actually looking forward to the boss encounters. In this game, I'm dreading how bad the next encounter is going to be.
At first, I was like "Oh shit, a boss that doesn't just completely cheese you with multiple enemies and OHKO aoes? A boss that actually requires more good dodging than anything else?"
But then it started summoning enemies, and I was like "Oh, of fucking course this wild feral boar would have friends. And of course the devs would think that 'we'll just flood them with enemies' is good difficulty."
And naturally, of course Hubert/Cheria seem absolutely incapable of evading the boar when it charges yet Sophie is able to. Every single time.
EDIT: Turned it down to Hard and the same problem was going on as in Evil; Boar charges, no one evades and gets killed. Boar summons enemies, casters get bum-rushed. Boar gets low on health, boar digs, kills target because target can't dodge.
I pretty much had to solo the boss after the pattern of "use life bottle on party member, party member gets immediately killed." It's pretty sad that in prior Tales games, I was actually looking forward to the boss encounters. In this game, I'm dreading how bad the next encounter is going to be.
This was the first enemy/boss that gave me actual trouble in the game
My pride was quite heavily damaged