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[LuuKyK]

You guys are so far ahead into the game. I feel out of place. I blame the stupid game distribution in my country.

But yeah, anyway, I am playing on hard because moderate was too easy. I barely used Jude's side step thing (cant remember the name), but the first (and only?) fight against

Spoiler

Ivar

made me use it a lot.

I was basically running around using heal whenever I was hurt and spamming the side step followed by a few hits and the wind arte he has (you can tell I am terrible at remembering names right? ). I died twice or thrice I think because I made some very dumb mistakes and because the dumb game made my character jump a thousand times when all I wanted was to block. Fuck that. >_>

Still, I am glad that fight happened since now I am using the side step way more effectively than before. Its pretty useful against physical normal attacks.

I just met

Spoiler

Leia

and I love her VA, very good choice (yet again! I think my favorite one is between Alvin and Leia and the least liked one is probably Elize, but that mainly because I usually hate child characters in games with the exception of Ellie in The Last of Us, but Elize is not that bad overall, surprisingly). Loving her build of artes too. She is basically the support magic character, but not much of a healer from what I saw. I am glad she has resurrection though, might come in handy later I think, since Elize also has it. And thank god Jude's town (look, I cant remember the name again lol) is not a mere port, it is an actual city! Joking aside, even if the ports are pretty much the same, all the cities in the game have very good designs and atmosphere. It helps that the OST is awesome too.

Moving on!

Fake Edit: Am I the only one that cant help but notice the weird "s" the Milla's voice actress uses? Its like she is spitting when she says it. lmao I cant unhear it now and its starting to bother me.

 

[Yuterald]

I just finished that fort dungeon with the crate puzzles the other day. Aw man, I love Fisher Price/Baby-dungeon ideas. I'll take any simplistic procedural idea to break up the monotony of those barren fields. One thing I like most about playing RPGs is exploring dungeons. I'm fascinated by dungeon design. That place was easily my favorite area in the game so far. I swear, sometimes I felt like I was heading towards the shark tank in the original Resident Evil while pushing some of those crates. The music in that place was pretty ominous, lol! Funny stuff.

 

[Shouta]

Xillia story is fine. I do think a lot of folks appreciate stories different manners and that really changes their perception of it. Tales games usually don't have a lot stuff that immediately stand out and stick with folks easily but they're usually constructed fine and are enjoyable when you're playing them. Being memorable, being good, being enjoyable etc aren't the same attribute so nailing any story in anyone aspect is kind of meh.

 

[LuuKyK]

Xillia story is fine. I do think a lot of folks appreciate stories different manners and that really changes their perception of it. Tales games usually don't have a lot stuff that immediately stand out and stick with folks easily but they're usually constructed fine and are enjoyable when you're playing them. Being memorable, being good, being enjoyable etc aren't the same attribute so nailing any story in anyone aspect is kind of meh.

I agree. I think they are always very safe with the story. You can kind of see how there is always the same style of characters in the game, and the part they play is pretty much the same every time. Its good because by not going crazy they don't risk alienating any part of the fan-base.

But by using very similar aspects in every game does turn it into a fatigued experience. Not completely, but kind of. And I say not completely because most of the games come with an excellent gameplay system that sort of makes up for the repetition. Thats how I see it at least.

 

[PKrockin]

Honestly I care about the skits and interactions between the characters much more than the story/plot. Hell, even the in-battle and battle results dialogue is more attractive to me. I doubt I'm alone in this.

I was curious to see how he was doing at the end of act 2 where I was last night and he basally powerleveled and grinding the shit out of the game and has everyone at 6K HP(3 times more than me on moderate at the same spot, lol) so he killed the boss in a few seconds. Though he doesn't seem to check most skits and rarely knows where to go.

But yeah, I don't know why someone would watch him play an RPG of all things.

Bwahaha. How do you not know where to go in this game? I mean it's one step down from the glowing path in Fable 3.

 

[FSLink]

So my little brother started playing the game and he's having fun with attachments.

Isn't Milla beautiful?

 

[Rhapsody]

Just finished beating the chapter 4 boss

Spoiler

Maxwell.

Probably one of my favorite (and most frustrating) fights on hard. Plus it has that feeling that's almost like a final boss.
Ended up controlling between Milla and Rowen just to expose those weaknesses.

 

[chickdigger802]

cress's outfit is great.

that flowing cape is good for cutscenes.



and if I was jude, i'd be one cynical guy about halfway through the game... but i'm no anime man.

 

[OniBarubary]

The one thing I have to say about this game that I don't particularly care for is the music. It's pretty blowful with a couple exceptions

Spoiler

namely that when you hop on the SS Big Elympios Ship the music...sort of shifts tone and has a more jazzy feel to it, and then when you head to Elympios and the music is jazz? That was pretty cool.

 

[chrono01]

So I just got

Spoiler

Leia

in my party, but I can't equip her with new weapons? I bought her a Staff from the merchant, however it's not equipped on her nor is it in my inventory.

I'm thinking the merchant isn't to be trusted...

Purchased it again and it's now equipped. Not sure what happened the first time.

 

[PKrockin]

So I just got

Spoiler

Leia

in my party, but I can't equip her with new weapons? I bought her a Staff from the merchant, however it's not equipped on her nor is it in my inventory.

I'm thinking the merchant isn't to be trusted...

Uh... when you press Triangle do her battle stats show up on the right? Or is she just accompanying you and not participating in battle like Milla has been?

 

[OniBarubary]

There's something lame with that for me (and I assume others). No matter who you have the cursor on in the shop menu, when it asks you to equip and you say yes it will always equip on the leftmost character who can equip it.

 

[dakkumauji]

There's something lame with that for me (and I assume others). No matter who you have the cursor on in the shop menu, when it asks you to equip and you say yes it will always equip on the leftmost character who can equip it.

Oh yeah, that happened me a lot especially with the hats. I just stopped equipping hats from right after buying them afterwards.

 

[HawthorneKitty]

We never get to fight

Spoiler

Leia's mom

, do we?

 

[OniBarubary]

We never get to fight

Spoiler

Leia's mom

, do we?

Told you guys that it was a waste to not have her be a secret boss.

 

[FSLink]

Told you guys that it was a waste to not have her be a secret boss.

Xillia lacks really a good cameo fight or in-game fights like that.
At least Xillia 2 you get a cameo battle!

 

[chickdigger802]

Chapter 4 intro is all dumb dumb dumb.

 

[MilkBeard]

Holy crap, fight those spinning board things with exp boost food and you'll level up multiple times in one battle. There's a high level one just before re-entering Fenmont and I gained tons of exp.

 

[Why would you do that?]

At Ch.4 now. I knew I should have used the 100% EXP boost food but I didn't. Two boss fights I need to replay. I played until I reached a boss on a summit, just to see what happens.

Story-wise, well, I completely understand why people didn't like the events at the beginning of the chapter. Also, it's so weird to see so many people

Spoiler

flip-floppong between friend and enemy

. At this point, I would not be surprised if the final boss is going to be Jude. lol

As far as leveling up shops goes, I focused almost all my energy on weapons. I think Im Lv.78 on weapons now. I rarely ever buy weapons and armor in Tales games, but this game forces you to buy weapons since they're not found in chests for some odd reason. I also focused a lot on food, of which I'm Lv.55-60 I think. I really did it to get the 100% Gald boost cheaper, but it turns out I currently have 300,000 Gald anyway, so it didn't work out exactly how I thought.

Some things I still need to do in the game:
- Find the enemies with weapons growing out of them
- Complete a couple of side quests that have been bothering me for a very long time now. Specifically the pink elephant tusk and perfect topknot one.

The one thing I have to say about this game that I don't particularly care for is the music. It's pretty blowful with a couple exceptions

Spoiler

namely that when you hop on the SS Big Elympios Ship the music...sort of shifts tone and has a more jazzy feel to it, and then when you head to Elympios and the music is jazz? That was pretty cool.

I really like the battle music in Chapter 4. It reminds me of some of the battle music in the PS1 Tales games.

 

[R_thanatos]

Gaius, what are you doing? Gaius, stahp.

Edit: The music is so jazzy here. I love it.

it was such a shock when i arrived there ... i love the place & the music but it's so different from the other town.. ( it's on purpose obviously but still )

We never get to fight

Spoiler

Leia's mom

, do we?

Unfortunatly . it's a missed opportunity

 

[BY2K]

Any side events guide anywhere? I need to start hunting the Fell Arms.

 

[J4g3r]

This just happened.

Spoiler

"The secret of bazongas"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVCzXpIUDjk

Pretty much the best skit so far, haha!

Spoiler

TEACH ME ABOUT BAZONGAS!

 

[Finalow]

is there an easy way to exp until level 99? I read about that combo hit multiplier but I'm not sure how it works and how to do that infinite combo trick with Rowen.

anyone?

Well, finally beat it. Was about level 70 and it still took me everything I had, and on Normal difficulty at that. >>;

I was around level 70 and I won in 3 minutes on normal, should have chosen an higher difficulty for that last fight.

the EX dungeon boss on the other hand is a really long and annoying fight.

 

[Finalow]

Any side events guide anywhere? I need to start hunting the Fell Arms.

this one for the fell arms and some others, http://www.justpushstart.com/tag/tales-of-xillia-guide/page/2/
for the rest you can just read a walkthrough on gamefaqs.

 

[scarlet]

i got jude's second artes skill for

Spoiler

cerberus attack, healer, demon fist and steel

any idea how to use it?

it says that i need to hold the button, but nothing's changed

 

[Bladenic]

i got jude's second artes skill for

Spoiler

cerberus attack, healer, demon fist and steel

any idea how to use it?

it says that i need to hold the button, but nothing's changed

It should. Demon Fist lets out another shock wave, another attack is added to CA, Healer heals 3 times, and Steel increases defense too I believe.

 

[scarlet]

It should. Demon Fist lets out another shock wave, another attack is added to CA, Healer heals 3 times, and Steel increases defense too I believe.

so nothing significant in animation right? except demon fist.

since the rest of them look similar

 

[Bladenic]

so nothing significant in animation right? except demon fist.

since the rest of them look similar

Right.

 

[MilkBeard]

Wow, chapter 3 is short. 4-5 hours max. That cutscene was rad though.

Spoiler

Nachtigal is a bitch though with his one hit kill. All I did was wait on the edge the entire battle and heal my team mates whenever they needed it. Eventually he was grinded down.

EDIT: Weird, looks like some people say I'm still in act three although I've gotten my 3rd cutscene trophy already.

EDIT 2: Ha! I just looked it up. I actually just finished act 2! Wow I'm much slower than everyone else. Fine by me. I take my time. So the trophy I received after the boss after riding the Wyverns was for something else. I think it was Milla's bind trophy. Cool.

 

[aravuus]

At Ch.4 now. I knew I should have used the 100% EXP boost food but I didn't. Two boss fights I need to replay. I played until I reached a boss on a summit, just to see what happens.

By the time I had reached around the halfway point of chapter 4, I had so much money I could stock on gald and exp boosting foods as much as I wanted. So I had double exp or +50% exp and gald on all the time. I thought I'd try how many level ups I can get before I reach the final boss by fighting everyone in the fields and dungeons and had like 20 unused points for everyone in the final dungeon lol

 

[BY2K]

2x and 5x EXP + 100% EXP food items must make you level up so fast it's not even funny!

That's like 20 time normal EXP!

 

[R_thanatos]

Start of Chapter 4 still on Milla's side.

Spoiler

This Muzét battle with just Milla really sucks on hard.

it's horrible no matter the difficulty.

Yeah, I eventually realized that

Spoiler

the Four

were absolutely necessary.

i ...did it without that but this was luck ...?? willpower ? i don't know how i did it .

 

[Celcius]

Finally got all the shops and characters to lv 99.

 

[BY2K]

i ...did it without that but this was luck ...?? willpower ? i don't know how i did it .

Love and friendship, of course! This is a Tales game!

 

[R_thanatos]

Love and friendship, of course! This is a Tales game!

i remember being pissed off , and came back 1 day later after making all sorts of simulations in my head( since i had the japanese version i was even wondering if i had missed a key action or a key skill necessary ) damn if it was not brutal. When i came back to my senses i was on the victory screen.

 

[Cheska]

It's my first "day off", so happy I get to devote some more time into this. I just got my ALTER Milla figure on Friday too so woohoo!

The music in

Spoiler

Kanbalar

(Chapter 3 location) is fantastic! Love how it totally get's you in the mood for this mission. Also, when will I be able to head back to other locations to complete some side quests?

 

[RurouniZel]

i ...did it without that but this was luck ...?? willpower ? i don't know how i did it .

I've mentioned it before, but as much as I love games I'm terrible at playing them. XD

 

[Gillian Seed]

2x and 5x EXP + 100% EXP food items must make you level up so fast it's not even funny!

That's like 20 time normal EXP!

You can stack them?

 

[Yuterald]

Omg, this game's a riot. Some spoilers post Sharilton...

Spoiler

What the fuck was that horse scene? This game's a soap opera, I swear. What the fuck kicked that boar out of its hole? The freeze frame right before Jude and company get hot was joke-town central. Mila crawling around in those bandages looks REALLY funny too, I don't think I can take this game seriously anymore, hah! Doesn't help that I put the sunglasses on her! XD

On another note, I just fought (Post Sharilton Spoilers)

Spoiler

Ivar

on Hard mode at the docks and it was the best fight in the game so far. I snap pivoted the fuck out of him. You can just endlessly counter him when he gets in those blue exclamation point patterns towards the end of the fight. Felt so good. I think I actually like this game more when it's one on one, hah!

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Anyone know what the field music is on

Spoiler

Elympios

? The jazz sound is the best. Also it's a shame you can't explore more of the place since that one town is actually really nicely designed.

 

[kayos90]

Anyone know what the field music is on

Spoiler

Elympios

? The jazz sound is the best. Also it's a shame you can't explore more of the place since that one town is actually really nicely designed.

Be prepared for the glory that is the Xillia 2 OST.

 

[Bladenic]

2x and 5x EXP + 100% EXP food items must make you level up so fast it's not even funny!

That's like 20 time normal EXP!

They don't stack.

 

[kayos90]

I'm not fond of Ali Hillis' voice acting but I thought she did a somewhat competent job as Presa.

 

[Rhapsody]

I thought bonuses stacked in previous games though? I didn't try Xillia's yet.

 

[DY_nasty]

gaius ?

wut no

gaius stahp

pls

 

[Papercuts]

Shit has been getting real at the end of act 2/start of 3. Also palm strike is broken as hell and has been annihilating bosses for me.

 

[Gartooth]

I'm finally ready to start this game! Between clearing up my backlog and being bombarded with new releases this month, I decided to save Tales for last considering the length of this game. Now that I'm done with everything else though I'm ready to dive in!

Quick question though, what should I set for my difficulty? I'm leaning towards moderate but I'm not sure what is good for a first playthrough for someone who has played past Tales games. Also can difficulty be changed mid-playthrough?

 

[dakkumauji]

They don't stack.

Pretty sure they'll stack.

Can't imagine any other reason why I was able to hit 99 on my second playthrough with the x2 and x5 exp options from the grade shop by playing normally through the game.

 

[Rhapsody]

I'm finally ready to start this game! Between clearing up my backlog and being bombarded with new releases this month, I decided to save Tales for last considering the length of this game. Now that I'm done with everything else though I'm ready to dive in!

Quick question though, what should I set for my difficulty? I'm leaning towards moderate but I'm not sure what is good for a first playthrough for someone who has played past Tales games. Also can difficulty be changed mid-playthrough?

Moderate is probably best unless you're really new to the type of battle system. And yes, difficulty can be changed mid-playthrough, so feel free to experiment.

 

[Bladenic]

Pretty sure they'll stack.

Can't imagine any other reason why I was able to hit 99 on my second playthrough with the x2 and x5 exp options from the grade shop by playing normally through the game.

OH

Never mind, read that as stacking food items. Oops. Yeah I'm sure they stack.