The area next ( where you get the tutorial on link artes ) is a good spot to get a firm handle at the game.Evading with just is indeed extremly fun so don't worry ..try to get stronger in this area ... You'll have more than enough artes to experiment than you think ...
Yeah you were definitely right. Now that I've gotten to a field and can fight at my own pace I've been able to become familiar with the battle system. I can experiment with artes in combos, links, and dodges. It's great fun! Now I'm trying to tackle the shop system. It's pretty addicting leveling up the stores, but now I never feel confident enough to buy anything because I always think it's not worth it if the next batch of equipment is just a few levels away. Perhaps I'll be more inclined to purchase things once they reach levels that take longer to move up in.
Yeah you were definitely right. Now that I've gotten to a field and can fight at my own pace I've been able to become familiar with the battle system. I can experiment with artes in combos, links, and dodges. It's great fun! Now I'm trying to tackle the shop system. It's pretty addicting leveling up the stores, but now I never feel confident enough to buy anything because I always think it's not worth it if the next batch of equipment is just a few levels away. Perhaps I'll be more inclined to purchase things once they reach levels that take longer to move up in.
pretty much ...don't waste too much time with shop upgrading ..having equipment is very nice but you'll have more than enough by the endgame.. you know you've broke the shop system when you get weapons and armos in chests but you have already the next ( better ) equip on you already ..
Explore troughly each field/dongeon and you'll have no problem with xillia
pretty much ...don't waste too much time with shop upgrading ..having equipment is very nice but you'll have more than enough by the endgame.. you know you've broke the shop system when you get weapons and armos in chests but you have already the next ( better ) equip on you already ..
Explore troughly each field/dongeon and you'll have no problem with xillia
Oh wow, when you're fighting an enemy and you notice another preparing to attack and you quickly switch targets, evade, and kick their bootay, there is nothing more gratifying. Really loving this. Also, how do you increase your AC? I want to attain this level of swag.
Oh wow, when you're fighting an enemy and you notice another preparing to attack and you quickly switch targets, evade, and kick their bootay, there is nothing more gratifying. Really loving this. Also, how do you increase your AC? I want to attain this level of swag.
Oh wow, when you're fighting an enemy and you notice another preparing to attack and you quickly switch targets, evade, and kick their bootay, there is nothing more gratifying. Really loving this. Also, how do you increase your AC? I want to attain this level of swag.
Rofl at this jude in the video a " shut up , take the hit and don't complain" with the glasses ..
So fun ..
Increasing your base AC is done by getting lilial orb upgrade ( the big sphere where you put points ( GP ) into )
You need Exceed : エクシード 1,2,3
Each will increase your AC by 1 You need to equip this skill for in the skill part of the menu where you use SP points
You need Splendor Assault : スプレンダーアサルト
If you evade an attack with jude , you'll gain 3 AC in your metter for use . ( for the fight ) As far as i'm aware you can't chain slendor assault ..
There are some weapons & accessories that give you AC +1 & AC +2
Oh wow, when you're fighting an enemy and you notice another preparing to attack and you quickly switch targets, evade, and kick their bootay, there is nothing more gratifying. Really loving this. Also, how do you increase your AC? I want to attain this level of swag.
So how do you like maining Jude so far? I think he's one of the better MA characters in the series next to Senel and Farah. He uses speed and Vanish to his advantage. And he has an excellent skillset like Senel's which is to his advantage. Really, you can just solo the entire game with Jude himself because he can deal damage and he's also a support character.
I know people earlier in the thread didn't like maining Milla, and I generally don't like maining magical swordspeople much either, but I didn't really have much of a problem with her because you can choose to either charge her spells or don't.
Honestly, everyone in this game is fun to main, much like in Graces.
It's best to start getting used to Link Artes and Link Mode as soon as possible so that you can try to use them on the bosses. You'll notice that you'll be using Jude/Milla linked together often. However, later on, you'll find that some of Jude's Links with Elise and Leia are more than helpful (particularly because he and Leia both heal and support-- the link artes to look out for with regards to Leia/Jude are エイドオール (Aid All) and ヴァイトルインフォース (Vital Enforce -- which increases everyone's ATK), and the link arte to look out for for Elise/Jude are Aid All and リカバーヒール (Recover Heal -- which heals everyone, cures all negative statuses, and prevents negative statuses for a while)). Milla and Elise have a really nice healing Link Arte too called フェアリーサークル (Fairy Circle -- heals 75% HP for people in the immediate area)).
Leia and Elise's Link Arte, リザレクション (I will never know why they call it that... just call it "Revitalize" instead...), heals a lot of HP for everyone and cures all negative statuses. フルレイズデッド (call this "resurrection" because "full rise dead" sounds stupid) does what you think it does and provides buffs. I imagine that you'll be using スパイリット・メディク (Super Elite Medic) with Milla/Jude during bosses.
But the key is--take advantage of enemies' elemental weaknesses and use the appropriate Link Arte or elemental arte against them to win battles faster. Especially if you're playing on higher difficulties like I was. If you're on an easier difficulty, this isn't as crucial, but if you're playing on Hard or above, Link Artes and elemental artes become more important.
Thanks for the advice, guys. I haven't spent much time with Jude narrative-wise, only up to
the fight when Jude tells Alvin to shoot the rock that turns into a giant monster
, but I think he's pretty cool. So far I find Millia's funny quirks really endearing. Battle-wise, all of the characters in my party are awesome. I've always wanted to try a fist-fighter, and Jude's really self-sufficient with his healing skills. I definitely notice the benefits of utilizing enemy weaknesses, but I still need more elemental skills to really take advantage of it. I love using link artes but I think I'm stupid because I can't figure out the most effective way to fill the bar up. I love it when I use an arte and get the icon to use a new link arte I just unlocked without realizing. Another thing I'm really not familiar with are the Skill Points (SP). I unlock them in the Lilial orb board but then I never see them. I'm an idiot and just realized I completely ignored the skill system. Will try it when I get back on this afternoon.
Thanks for the advice, guys. I haven't spent much time with Jude narrative-wise, only up to
the fight when Jude tells Alvin to shoot the rock that turns into a giant monster
, but I think he's pretty cool. So far I find Millia's funny quirks really endearing. Battle-wise, all of the characters in my party are awesome. I've always wanted to try a fist-fighter, and Jude's really self-sufficient with his healing skills. I definitely notice the benefits of utilizing enemy weaknesses, but I still need more elemental skills to really take advantage of it. I love using link artes but I think I'm stupid because I can't figure out the most effective way to fill the bar up. I love it when I use an arte and get the icon to use a new link arte I just unlocked without realizing. Another thing I'm really not familiar with are the Skill Points (SP). I unlock them in the Lilial orb board but then I never see them. I'm an idiot and just realized I completely ignored the skill system. Will try it when I get back on this afternoon.
Basic mistake that happen to everyone ( i know someone who unlocked skills in vesperia but didn't keep them afterwards when he switched weapons and acessories ).
You haven't progressed far yet that missing equiping them is a real problem ...
Abusing weakness is much easier to do at the start with mila ( since she uses fire, water, wind and earth ) in 85% of her artes ...
Mila whenever she is just funny because she is learning about the world and herself (not really a spoiler )
Oh i see ..so this is hunger !!
is as awesome as when she kick-ass as you might have seen already..
Abusing ennemy weakness can also give you free CP to use in battles so enjoy in some cases ...
As all games get two tries from me, I'm finally getting around to giving this game its second try. I just left Hamil, so I'm not too far in. We'll see how it goes. I think having my expectations firmly in check will help me out a bit.
As all games get two tries from me, I'm finally getting around to giving this game its second try. I just left Hamil, so I'm not too far in. We'll see how it goes. I think having my expectations firmly in check will help me out a bit.
Yes, of course. I'm tolerating it the best I can, but that aspect is far and away my least favorite thing about Xillia.
I'm managing though, and I'm having a generally good time with other aspects. I've come to appreciate the camera perspective in some cases, when I really didn't care for it before. Combat has grown on me a bit, too. I've passed where I quit before now, so we'll see how it goes going forward.
Yes, of course. I'm tolerating it the best I can, but that aspect is far and away my least favorite thing about Xillia.
I'm managing though, and I'm having a generally good time with other aspects. I've come to appreciate the camera perspective in some cases, when I really didn't care for it before. Combat has grown on me a bit, too. I've passed where I quit before now, so we'll see how it goes going forward.
I was wondering if you think bosses are more tedious than Graces because honestly I had a horrible time with bosses in Xillia. The combat is all around good in Xillia, especially using Jude. However, I really really really hate what AC does to the battle system.
I was wondering if you think bosses are more tedious than Graces because honestly I had a horrible time with bosses in Xillia. The combat is all around good in Xillia, especially using Jude. However, I really really really hate what AC does to the battle system.
I don't think the bosses are that great, but I never thought the bosses were very good in Graces, either. They have some pretty serious balance issues. That said, I'm playing Xillia on normal since there is absolutely zero reason to play on higher difficulties, whereas I play Graces on second or hard due to the exp/gald boost, so I can't really compare directly.
My shop build multipliers haven't changed for an extremely long time, and I haven't seen a x3 in just as long. What affects that?
Balancing in boss battles have always seemed to be a weird thing with Tales. It's even more obvious on higher difficulties, where a lot of the stuff you use in battle seems to be thrown out the window for the bosses in an attempt to challenge the player. This would be all fine and dandy if it weren't for the fact that there are sometimes hitches in boss battles (ex: bosses would call in reinforcements, bosses would swim through the battlefield, bosses break out of combos easily, bosses go into OVL often or use hi-ougis often, etc). Tales really needs to get that sort of thing together for bosses to be enjoyable on any difficulty.
I do think that they should modify how the difficulty works, though. Making bosses hit sponges with higher stats only isn't an adequate difficulty modification.
Aeana said:
My shop build multipliers haven't changed for an extremely long time, and I haven't seen a x3 in just as long. What affects that?
It seems to be random, but some people have said that it seems to change after fighting a number of battles (maybe 5-7?). I'll have to see to be completely sure, though.
the "shell" was burst through, and we find out that Maxwell confined e'rrybody to Rise Maxima and Elenpios is the world outside
, so now I'm ready for Xillia 2 ~! ~!
I've been a lot slower going than is usual for me. I'm not sure how much of the game is left, but I kinda feel like I hit the halfway point or something.
Also, during the last scene, Wingal was talking and for a moment I thought it was JYB speaking Japanese. This is an omen.
Balancing in boss battles have always seemed to be a weird thing with Tales. It's even more obvious on higher difficulties, where a lot of the stuff you use in battle seems to be thrown out the window for the bosses in an attempt to challenge the player. This would be all fine and dandy if it weren't for the fact that there are sometimes hitches in boss battles (ex: bosses would call in reinforcements, bosses would swim through the battlefield, bosses break out of combos easily, bosses go into OVL often or use hi-ougis often, etc). Tales really needs to get that sort of thing together for bosses to be enjoyable on any difficulty.
I do think that they should modify how the difficulty works, though. Making bosses hit sponges with higher stats only isn't an adequate difficulty modification.
It seems to be random, but some people have said that it seems to change after fighting a number of battles (maybe 5-7?). I'll have to see to be completely sure, though.
I think Destiny remake was the only one that got close to perfect difficulty wise (at least on Hard, Chaos is more of abusing all the game systems like Flash and gaining BC meter but I'll take that over having to grind or mashing attack to regain TP or something). Final Boss was also kind of too strong, but I kinda liked it since most Tales final bosses are too damn easy. Also love that it really makes it a point to use attacks the boss is weak against. Graces is kind of the same way but they gave some bosses ridiculous amounts of HP, especially near the end.
Vesperia had some of the worst boss battling early on. Zagi should not be doing 25 hit combos when I'm just still learning how to use Yuri. And the Ehmead Hill boss, let's not talk about that difficulty spike.
the "shell" was burst through, and we find out that Maxwell confined e'rrybody to Rise Maxima and Elenpios is the world outside
, so now I'm ready for Xillia 2 ~! ~!
I've been a lot slower going than is usual for me. I'm not sure how much of the game is left, but I kinda feel like I hit the halfway point or something.
Also, during the last scene, Wingal was talking and for a moment I thought it was JYB speaking Japanese. This is an omen.
I think Destiny remake was the only one that got close to perfect difficulty wise (at least on Hard, Chaos is more of abusing all the game systems like Flash and gaining BC meter but I'll take that over having to grind or mashing attack to regain TP or something). Final Boss was also kind of too strong, but I kinda liked it since most Tales final bosses are too damn easy. Also love that it really makes it a point to use attacks the boss is weak against. Graces is kind of the same way but they gave some bosses ridiculous amounts of HP, especially near the end.
Vesperia had some of the worst boss battling early on. Zagi should not be doing 25 hit combos when I'm just still learning how to use Yuri. And the Ehmead Hill boss, let's not talk about that difficulty spike.
Yeah, the bolded was crazy! What was going on there?
Yes, Destiny R was probably the only one that got difficulty sort of right outside of the harder modes. I really wish, though, that they'd make Chaos a more rewarding difficulty somehow. Like, give them extra attacks or something, but balance it in a way that doesn't make the player feel claustrophobic. And make the skills and how you've been fine-tuning your abilities with the battle system matter in those battles.
Graces' Chaos difficulty could have been awesome (and this is coming from someone who emphasized higher difficulty settings in that game, so...). It was okay near the beginning of the game, but about 1/3-50% in, bosses go somewhat insane and the tools and attacks you've been fine-tuning in regular battles don't work as well anymore. The biggest example of this is the Champion Boar battle where your AI partners don't work as efficiently as they're constantly under attack, he summons friends, and he charges across the battlefield all the time without leaving you room to recover and breathe. And on Chaos he gets a ton of HP, which doesn't help.
Got to the point where you have to go to Lu Rondo, so I fought
Ivar
at the port. I dunno. I don't find him as annoying as other people, but he's more of, uh... a really dedicated... pest who won't go away. Put there for comic relief.
I'm sorta disappointed that I'm not throwing food around at everyone. I should, because you need to feed people 800 times, but having to buy fast food in this game isn't helping. At least the food counter counts towards the 800, but ehh... I don't like the cooking in this game much. You don't need it half the time and to get better stuff you need to put XP into the restaurant (when it would be more beneficial to do that with weapons/armour/accessories first).
I'd already gotten the Cruel Bastard trophy months ago so that takes a load off. I haven't assigned Auto-Item to anyone, and I should since that leads to stuff too. I don't like using Auto-Item in Tales in general, though.
Graces' Chaos difficulty could have been awesome (and this is coming from someone who emphasized higher difficulty settings in that game, so...). It was okay near the beginning of the game, but about 1/3-50% in, bosses go somewhat insane and the tools and attacks you've been fine-tuning in regular battles don't work as well anymore. The biggest example of this is the Champion Boar battle where your AI partners don't work as efficiently as they're constantly under attack, he summons friends, and he charges across the battlefield all the time without leaving you room to recover and breathe. And on Chaos he gets a ton of HP, which doesn't help.
Yeah, some other ridiculous difficulty spikes are the ones they buffed from the Wii version. What the hell at respawning enemies in the Kurt battle. -_-
I've been finally getting around to playing my New Game Plus in Xillia in Jude Side myself. Still need to finish Vesperia PS3 as well, at the end of part 2 in that. Loving being able to use Flynn. So much more fun to use than when I hacked Flynn in my party in the 360 version.
Got to the point where you have to go to Lu Rondo, so I fought
Ivar
at the port. I dunno. I don't find him as annoying as other people, but he's more of, uh... a really dedicated... pest who won't go away. Put there for comic relief.
I'm sorta disappointed that I'm not throwing food around at everyone. I should, because you need to feed people 800 times, but having to buy fast food in this game isn't helping. At least the food counter counts towards the 800, but ehh... I don't like the cooking in this game much. You don't need it half the time and to get better stuff you need to put XP into the restaurant (when it would be more beneficial to do that with weapons/armour/accessories first).
I'd already gotten the Cruel Bastard trophy months ago so that takes a load off. I haven't assigned Auto-Item to anyone, and I should since that leads to stuff too. I don't like using Auto-Item in Tales in general, though.
How did you find the final dungeon? Yeah, I agree--the last bit of the game was... kind of unsatisfying. You could always try Milla's side to get some of her content since parts of it is different from Jude's side (well, obviously).
And I found that the Elenpios music was very refreshing. If Sakuraba could do more varied stuff like that on Tales soundtracks, they wouldn't sound so standard-order.
Aeana said:
I only use the high percentage exp food when I fight one of the spinning blocks, and rarely any other time.
I'm so happy that the battle theme seems to have changed in chapter 4.
Coming off of Graces sort of highlights how not cohesive everything is. Stuff like food, titles, and weapon synthesis were very important in Graces, where in Xillia it isn't as important at all. Titles are only worth grade or trophies. You can break the game if you grind at some points, get higher-experience drops, and level up the shops so much that you have better weapons/armour than the ones you find in chests. And of course, food doesn't really matter here. Stock up on burgers and fries for the journey, and consume each time the numbers run out.
Sometimes it just feels like some things are in the game just because. But that doesn't mean I dislike the game in general. I liked it last year, and I still like it while on this replay. I just think it could be better, and executed better. I kinda feel like there's this misconception that I hate Xillia and Graces or something when I point out general flaws I have with the games. Like. I don't want to give this impression that they're the greatest games ever by being ignorant towards the flaws and issues I had with the games. Buuut, I guess that I should stop being so aggressive about it.
FSLink said:
Yeah, some other ridiculous difficulty spikes are the ones they buffed from the Wii version. What the hell at respawning enemies in the Kurt battle. -_-
difficulties in the PS3 version. Lackeys didn't need to come back if they're harder. Some of the Future Arc stuff was pretty wild, too. Question, though: since you started Milla's side, did you find that the battle difficulty was slightly higher?
Is it more fun because Flynn shows up in scenes now?
How did you find the final dungeon? Yeah, I agree--the last bit of the game was... kind of unsatisfying. You could always try Milla's side to get some of her content since parts of it is different from Jude's side (well, obviously).
And I found that the Elenpios music was very refreshing. If Sakuraba could do more varied stuff like that on Tales soundtracks, they wouldn't sound so standard-order.
Yes, I'm still waiting for a final dungeon and a final boss, even after the credits have rolled and I've made my clear save. I mean, it's nice that the game didn't have a Vesperia-style nightmare final dungeon, but... oh well.
But you'd have to pay me to play through it again any time soon.
I'll do Milla in the English version, maybe. Maybe.
There was a part in there somewhere where I was having fun and I was actually considering putting down an order for Xillia 2, but it was long gone by the time the credits rolled. I may still get Xillia 2, if the systems are all actually improved, but I'm not excited about it.
Yes, I'm still waiting for a final dungeon and a final boss, even after the credits have rolled and I've made my clear save. I mean, it's nice that the game didn't have a Vesperia-style nightmare final dungeon, but... oh well.
But you'd have to pay me to play through it again any time soon.
I'll do Milla in the English version, maybe. Maybe.
There was a part in there somewhere where I was having fun and I was actually considering putting down an order for Xillia 2, but it was long gone by the time the credits rolled. I may still get Xillia 2, if the systems are all actually improved, but I'm not excited about it.
Whoa. That bad, huh? You seemed to be enjoying it outside of the shops and ports stuff. :x
That was part why I felt Xillia exhibited some 'abruptness'. I didn't like the game's denouement in general (including that final dungeon--if you can even call it that). It kind of gave the game a kind of 'rushed' feeling. Like, Xillia has this interesting world and you just got introduced to Elenpios, so it's disappointing that the game ended in that fashion.
I had fun with the base battle system, so I want to see what Xillia 2 has to offer. But if I'm mostly buying it for the battle system, I'm still sticking with the Asian version. Unless it's like Xillia and goes down in price after a while.
And I guess since I'm a ways into my replay, maybe I'll like Jude better this time. I'm willing to give him another chance.
Yes, I'm still waiting for a final dungeon and a final boss, even after the credits have rolled and I've made my clear save. I mean, it's nice that the game didn't have a Vesperia-style nightmare final dungeon, but... oh well.
But you'd have to pay me to play through it again any time soon.
I'll do Milla in the English version, maybe. Maybe.
There was a part in there somewhere where I was having fun and I was actually considering putting down an order for Xillia 2, but it was long gone by the time the credits rolled. I may still get Xillia 2, if the systems are all actually improved, but I'm not excited about it.
Whoa. That bad, huh? You seemed to be enjoying it outside of the shops and ports stuff. :x
That was part why I felt Xillia exhibited some 'abruptness'. I didn't like the game's denouement in general (including that final dungeon--if you can even call it that). It kind of gave the game a kind of 'rushed' feeling. Like, Xillia has this interesting world and you just got introduced to Elenpios, so it's disappointing that the game ended in that fashion.
I had fun with the base battle system, so I want to see what Xillia 2 has to offer. But if I'm mostly buying it for the battle system, I'm still sticking with the Asian version. Unless it's like Xillia and goes down in price after a while.
And I guess since I'm a ways into my replay, maybe I'll like Jude better this time. I'm willing to give him another chance.
Most likely the entire Xillia project was cleaved into two which is why we get the Elenpios expansion in Xillia 2. *sigh* I don't know. I could be wrong.
Whoa. That bad, huh? You seemed to be enjoying it outside of the shops and ports stuff. :x
That was part why I felt Xillia exhibited some 'abruptness'. I didn't like the game's denouement in general (including that final dungeon--if you can even call it that). It kind of gave the game a kind of 'rushed' feeling. Like, Xillia has this interesting world and you just got introduced to Elenpios, so it's disappointing that the game ended in that fashion.
I had fun with the base battle system, so I want to see what Xillia 2 has to offer. But if I'm mostly buying it for the battle system, I'm still sticking with the Asian version. Unless it's like Xillia and goes down in price after a while.
And I guess since I'm a ways into my replay, maybe I'll like Jude better this time. I'm willing to give him another chance.
The weird thing is that the game has several optional dungeons, some dedicated just to getting a fell arm or something.
I don't hate Xillia. I would say it's about mid tier, all in all. I just really ran out of steam with it before the game ran out of game. It could perhaps have been alleviated at least partially if I had tried controlling someone other than Jude, but I didn't really feel like learning the ins and outs of another character either. The combat is not bad - certainly better than Team Symphonia's output - and it might be the most interesting thing about the game. The game just lacks or completely mangled a lot of the stuff that keeps me enthralled with Tales games, so the hooks weren't there. I got so fed up with the lillial orb system once I realized that you end up learning everything ANYWAY because the useful abilities are spread out in such a way that they connect with other stuff and you end up learning nearby stuff, that I started using auto-navigate for everyone except Jude, and I think that's where my interest really started to wane.
The weird thing is that the game has several optional dungeons, some dedicated just to getting a fell arm or something.
I don't hate Xillia. I would say it's about mid tier, all in all. I just really ran out of steam with it before the game ran out of game. It could perhaps have been alleviated at least partially if I had tried controlling someone other than Jude, but I didn't really feel like learning the ins and outs of another character either. The combat is not bad - certainly better than Team Symphonia's output - and it might be the most interesting thing about the game. The game just lacks or completely mangled a lot of the stuff that keeps me enthralled with Tales games, so the hooks weren't there. I got so fed up with the lillial orb system once I realized that you end up learning everything ANYWAY because the useful abilities are spread out in such a way that they connect with other stuff and you end up learning nearby stuff, that I started using auto-navigate for everyone except Jude, and I think that's where my interest really started to wane.
Lilial Orb seemed like a great idea on paper and it was certainly cool in the beginning but as the game progressed I cared little about it because it just seemed pointless.
Remember that parts of the game were streamlined? I imagine that the Lillial Orbs system was designed on paper for people who don't really grind much or are on harder difficulties and didn't grind much, and need to prioritize certain stats and skills.
So Elise would prioritize defense and magic first, for example. Jude would prioritize strength and speed. Alvin would prioritize strength and defense. You would probably look around at the orbs and prioritize certain abilities and certain trapezoids to get certain skills or abilities first. It was their way of giving players some sort of choice, I guess.
But if you're playing on a lower difficulty or are at higher levels or are just progressing through the orbs to get extra skills, this sort of stuff doesn't matter to you. It gets to the point when you realize that you're going to learn everything anyway, so you probably don't bother with that and auto-level anyway (I don't really do this, though--I usually try to complete the current level before moving onto the next if I prioritized one side too much). It's kind of unfortunate that it wasn't separated into stats and artes which emphasize the stats or something. That's... kind of what FFX did with the Sphere Grid. Like, it's a good first step if the decision behind it was to give players choice, but it should have been implemented better.
Wonder if they'll improve upon the system for Xillia 2?
Learning how to use other characters make things better. I ended up enjoying the system for that purpose, but there a feeling there that you don't or sometimes shouldn't need to use the other characters who aren't Milla and Jude because the DR-LMBS's Link Artes system is balanced in favour of Jude and Milla. You get synergy from them, but you don't generally get synergy with other people, even if the Link Artes with other characters feel far more beneficial then some of the Jude/Milla ones. Using characters as individuals, though, makes the battles pretty fun in general. I may not like the system as much as I do Rebirth's, Graces', or Destiny R's, but I still think it's kinda fun when fighting normal battles.
I agree with the usual stuff that makes Tales interesting weren't there. It's a good game, but it's just kind of disappointing for what purpose it was developed to serve.
Remember that parts of the game were streamlined? I imagine that the Lillial Orbs system was designed on paper for people who don't really grind much or are on harder difficulties and didn't grind much, and need to prioritize certain stats and skills.
So Elise would prioritize defense and magic first, for example. Jude would prioritize strength and speed. Alvin would prioritize strength and defense. You would probably look around at the orbs and prioritize certain abilities and certain trapezoids to get certain skills or abilities first. It was their way of giving players some sort of choice, I guess.
But if you're playing on a lower difficulty or are at higher levels or are just progressing through the orbs to get extra skills, this sort of stuff doesn't matter to you. It gets to the point when you realize that you're going to learn everything anyway, so you probably don't bother with that and auto-level anyway (I don't really do this, though--I usually try to complete the current level before moving onto the next if I prioritized one side too much). It's kind of unfortunate that it wasn't separated into stats and artes which emphasize the stats or something. That's... kind of what FFX did with the Sphere Grid. Like, it's a good first step if the decision behind it was to give players choice, but it should have been implemented better.
Wonder if they'll improve upon the system for Xillia 2?
Learning how to use other characters make things better. I ended up enjoying the system for that purpose, but there a feeling there that you don't or sometimes shouldn't need to use the other characters who aren't Milla and Jude because the DR-LMBS's Link Artes system is balanced in favour of Jude and Milla. You get synergy from them, but you don't generally get synergy with other people, even if the Link Artes with other characters feel far more beneficial then some of the Jude/Milla ones. Using characters as individuals, though, makes the battles pretty fun in general. I may not like the system as much as I do Rebirth's, Graces', or Destiny R's, but I still think it's kinda fun when fighting normal battles.
I agree with the usual stuff that makes Tales interesting weren't there. It's a good game, but it's just kind of disappointing for what purpose it was developed to serve.
The thing is that it doesn't really matter if you prioritize or not. Your main goal and the highlight of the orb system is the abilities that are surrounded by stat nodes. As you go for the most useful abilities, you grab the stats around them. On each tier, the useful abilities change position. As a result, even if you skipped the previous part of the "section" that now has the ability you want on it, making your way to it will end up filling everything in anyway. It is actually nearly impossible to not fill everything in just as you work to expand the area. It is a complete illusion of choice. I noticed this about halfway through the game, when I zoomed out the lilial orb thing and noticed that it was almost entirely filled even though I felt like I actively skipped stuff. I just got filled in on the way. So I switched to auto navi because the actual action of spending GP is tedious and irritating. So many delays.
Chapter 4/Final Chapter third boss spoilers (ie: after the third story trophy is earned):
Musee shouldn't be allowed to break out of combos in 6-10 hits. This is nonsense. At least 7 hits and the blue ! appears for me to dodge. At least give me 15 or a counter to dodge faster. And spams Elemental Homing every single chance she gets so you need to run around in a circle to avoid instead of backstep. And after she uses her Hi-Ougi she decides to spam Elemental Homing yet again. And then for some reason she goes into OVL AGAIN. Edit: wtf how the hell are you going into OVL while I'm Chain Linking? >:|
Edit:
The Milla side of this fight is much much much harder on Unknown, I suspect.
Man, I felt like Graces and Destiny R (especially Destiny R) got higher difficulties right in that regard because it forced you to use Flash/building BC or weakness-targetting attacks for a better combo and take the HP down faster. Hard/Unknown difficulty here kind of feels like a waste sometimes.
-> Life or Death (standard boss theme and I don't like it very much)
-> Believe in Me (it's pretty good; if you search for it on YT you might get a TON of spoilers, though; this one might not have spoilers in the comments)
-> Indomitable Will (personally I wouldn't listen to this one until I play the game; I thought it was a rather pleasant surprise and worked well within the context of the game)
-> Between Tragedy and Hatred (Duel Theme; again, I wouldn't listen to this until I play the game)
Dunno if you want the final boss theme.
I really liked Xillia's soundtrack. I just got to the part with the awesome jazzy town theme.
I wouldn't mind listening to the the final boss music.
Edit:
Only 5 bosses themes? It seems a little on the short side.
After listening to them carefully, I prefer Graces' :O
Actually, I think they are weak compared to the rest (Graces, Symphonia 2, Vesperia, Abyss... all had more and better [both in quantity and variety] boss themes).
Battle for a Future to Believe In. I think it's better in context, tbh. I remember being pretty impressed with it when I wrote the mini soundtrack impressions for Xillia in the SotY thread last year.
Only 5 bosses themes? It seems a little on the short side.
After listening to them carefully, I prefer Graces' :O
Actually, I think they are weak compared to the rest (Graces, Symphonia 2, Vesperia, Abyss... all had more and better [both in quantity and variety] boss themes).
Well, Xillia itself is kinda short, and most of the bosses are story-based; story's kind of more serious so there aren't a lot of joke bosses and stuff (but I really dislike that standard boss theme; it's boring). There's also no
cameo fight
, so you're not going to get a theme for that.
If you're gearing up to do a lot of the time-consuming trophies and doing some of the missable / non-missable subquests, one playthrough might take you about 50-70 hours at the most depending on how fast you are and which difficulty you're at. I'm almost finished Jude's side (and I guess it'll take about 3-5 hours to finish now depending on if I want to level a little or not) and have a few trophies lying around (like the (these aren't story spoilers, just trophy spoilers)
"use Alvin's charge ability 150 times" trophy (so all of the skill and linked skill trophies for all of the characters), "fight 800 battles", "use auto-item 400 times", "get a combo of 100 hits or more" (which is really really easy in this game because Milla, Rowen and Leia are broken), "use link artes 1350 times", "kill a monster 1350 times using an attack it's weak against", "open 300 treasure chests", "find 459 black feathers" and I have some of the Shop VIP trophies almost finished up
) and I'm about 55-57 hours in or so. Then you have to play Milla's side to platinum the game. So that's their way of having you play 100 hours (or 80 depending on what you pick from the Grade Shop). Personally, though, I would recommend splitting some of those "do this x times" trophies into both playthroughs.
Xillia has the better regular battle themes, though, imo. A lot of the boss themes are much better in context, particularly the final boss theme, Indomitable Will, and Between Tragedy and Hatred.
Edit: Oh, if there's anything I really dislike about some of Xillia's soundtrack it's that two BGMs are used over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over on fields. I muted the BGM when I ended up bringing or looping the area for goods to accumulate things for the trophy because the BGMs are used a lot.
I do like 'Indomitable Will' and 'Battle for a Future to Believe In' because of the use of voices/chorus samples typical from Sakuraba (something I loved in a couple of Vesperia themes). 'Believe in Me' is good too.
It's just a little disappointing cause for me, Tales boss battle music has always been one of my favorite things about the games (I listen to them in a semi-regular basis).
difficulties in the PS3 version. Lackeys didn't need to come back if they're harder. Some of the Future Arc stuff was pretty wild, too. Question, though: since you started Milla's side, did you find that the battle difficulty was slightly higher?
Is it more fun because Flynn shows up in scenes now?
Milla's side seemed a little more difficult to me, and since I was playing Xillia for the first time, Milla definitely has more of a learning curve than using Jude, lol. I ended up using Jude and Leia more as my mains instead of Milla in her side though....they're just more my style. I'd definitely enjoy Milla more if there were easier ways to combo into her magic seamlessly like the Destiny cast.
It's also more fun since he actually has tons more artes in the PS3 version. Patty's a pretty fun extra character too battle-wise, not too fond of her in the story.
And darn, I have still yet to get all the trophies in any of the Tales PS3 games, some of them look kind of fun to get (others not so much and grindy). Need to get around to that someday but work makes it so I pretty much have to speedrun them. I did get 1000/1000 in 360 Vesperia though.
The BGM thing is really a shame. Legendia (which also had an amazing soundtrack) also used its BGM in weird ways too (seriously, that amazing track for that first area and nowhere else!?).
I'm almost finished. Just have a few sub-events to take care of and then I could beat it and do the EX dungeon. Finished up the Fell-Arms bosses too. I... well, I know I put it in my GOTY list last year, but I can't help but to feel like I enjoyed this playthrough more than I had originally (like, my first playthrough I rushed, the second playthrough, I skipped most cutscenes that weren't new). I mean, yeah, the flaws are definitely still there but I did more battling this time and learned to play with pretty much everyone in a more proficient manner and it made comboing fun. Taking advantage of the combo exploits I know from the first two times through (ex: spam
Sylph or Negative Holder
) helped out a lot.
Xillia has quite a bit of design problems, but it's still a fun game to play, imo. Like, whenever people criticize Xillia--for me at least--I'm criticizing some design flaws, some system flaws, one of the characters, the execution of the boss battles, and the lack of variety in terms of subquests in the game. I also feel like the endgame and Act 4 itself was rushed. It's not like I hate the game, and apparently acknowledging flaws and expressing things you dislike about the game = you really hate the game and you're consistently bashing it when you say stuff like that. But that isn't true at all. I like it; I like 5/6ths of the cast, the scene direction, the anime cutscenes, the music, etc. I just don't like that it seems to have fallen short in some areas. It seems like it was supposed to be an ambitious game but fell victim to perhaps stuff like dev time or something? You can't help but to not feel like it was rushed along, especially by the time you get to the end. Like Final Fantasy XIII-2, Xillia 2 is attempting to rectify the problems that the original game had. Let's hope it goes smoothly.
I also have to say that I passed the part in Act 4 where
all six of the characters are talking to each other at night and the characters who contrast each other the most strike up a conversation? I love the scene direction there. Especially for the Alvin & Elise conversation which I still think is the best one. At the end on the next day, I couldn't help but to feel like the group had a deeper sense of friendship than maybe the Graces cast, but that's because the character writing, I felt, was better in Xillia than Graces.
Also, kayos--remember how I said maybe I'll like Jude more towards the end of this playthrough?
I like him in some of the subquests when he's being smart, but then the little things add up and I... eh. He's great at the beginning because he reminded me of myself when I try to do clinical prep, but then it feels like he kind of goes downhill. He redeems himself at the end but I still didn't find any newfound appreciation for him. Oh, and I ended up purposely losing the duel so Alvin could kick him in the face which was rewarding.
Honestly, when you get to Act 4, you'll probably be kinda impressed with the music. It's definitely my favourite part of the game audio-wise, and some of the scene direction in it is pretty nice. It makes me pretty interested in the direction of the Xillia 2 soundtrack, tbh.
Milla's side seemed a little more difficult to me, and since I was playing Xillia for the first time, Milla definitely has more of a learning curve than using Jude, lol. I ended up using Jude and Leia more as my mains instead of Milla in her side though....they're just more my style. I'd definitely enjoy Milla more if there were easier ways to combo into her magic seamlessly like the Destiny cast.
It's also more fun since he actually has tons more artes in the PS3 version. Patty's a pretty fun extra character too battle-wise, not too fond of her in the story.
And darn, I have still yet to get all the trophies in any of the Tales PS3 games, some of them look kind of fun to get (others not so much and grindy). Need to get around to that someday but work makes it so I pretty much have to speedrun them. I did get 1000/1000 in 360 Vesperia though.
Man, I can't do the Vesperia plat. I just played through the main story and didn't bother with most of the secret missions. If I had more time and patience, I'd go for Vesperia's plat. Flynn's fun to use because he has more physicals than spells. Not a bad Magic Knight character by any means.
I felt like Graces and Xillia were doable, but they were moreso "grind for this" trophies than anything else. In a first playthrough where I'm not going for a platinum in Xillia, it definitely wouldn't take 50-70 hours if you're grinding for food and stuff. Since I mostly play console games on weekends, and if I choose to platinum a game, that means several weekends straight of the same game for a while.
What I don't like about Milla's casting is that while she's fast and you have the ability to make it fast, she stays in the cast animation while the spell animation is going so it takes some lag time before casting spells into each other. Definitely feel similarly when it comes to comboing spells. At least with Rowen, it seems like you could do it endlessly.
The BGM thing is really a shame. Legendia (which also had an amazing soundtrack) also used its BGM in weird ways too (seriously, that amazing track for that first area and nowhere else!?).
