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Tales of Xillia |OT| - Teach me about Bazongas!

Xillia 1's platinum is probably one of the easiest platinums out there.

The only problem is not going crazy from seeing all the same fields over and over again.
 
Most of the trophies you got in Xillia? You have to do them again in Xillia 2, except the number of times you have to repeat something is doubled or even tripled. Yay.

That's not even the worst ...

Xillia 2 will test your battle skills with battle challenges and you need to complet them all if you wish to have your platinium.

Have fun making an aerial combo with all the elements :)
 

LuuKyK

Member
Plat in this game only took 60 hours max, not bad at all for a RPG. Especially one that is fun to play.

lol I feel like a bad gamer when people say that. It took me 130 hours to plat the game. ;-; Thats more than double the time it should take going by statistics and such.
 

Proven

Member
That's not even the worst ...

Xillia 2 will test your battle skills with battle challenges and you need to complete them all if you wish to have your platinium.

Have fun making an aerial combo with all the elements :)

That... doesn't seem too hard with someone like Leia. Wait, I forgot about light/dark elements...
 
I have a question about the battle system. I just got Alvin and was introduced to linking. Should I always be linking with party members? Also, when you fill up the meter on the left what is supposed to happen? Chain chance pops up but I don't know what I'm supposed to do with it.
 

LuuKyK

Member
I have a question about the battle system. I just got Alvin and was introduced to linking. Should I always be linking with party members? Also, when you fill up the meter on the left what is supposed to happen? Chain chance pops up but I don't know what I'm supposed to do with it.

Yeah, when you're linked with someone both of you will attack the same target. Also when linked, and each time one of the section of the bar on the left fills, you are able to do a linked arte (see the menu for which arte shares the possibility of linking with each character) for big damage. When that bar fills completely and it blinks in other color, you can link/chain linked artes and do them all in sequence.
 
That... doesn't seem too hard with someone like Leia. Wait, I forgot about light/dark elements...

Well that was not one of the hardest ones.
This is one of the battle challenges in xillia 2:

use combos with artes or link artes with all 9 attributes (fire/ice/earth/wind/dark/light/sword/hammer/gun), and then kill the enemy.

Some artes have attributes related to sword , hammer & gun and some ennemies are weak to those... well this challenge is the regular version. There is another where you need the ennemy to be in the air :) Well anyway you'll all have fun with them in a couple of months.
 
Yeah, when you're linked with someone both of you will attack the same target. Also when linked, and each time one of the section of the bar on the left fills, you are able to do a linked arte (see the menu for which arte shares the possibility of linking with each character) for big damage. When that bar fills completely and it blinks in other color, you can link/chain linked artes and do them all in sequence.

Thanks. I'm loving the story and the battle system so far. I have a feeling I will like this game more than Graces.
 

PKrockin

Member
Well that was not one of the hardest ones.
This is one of the battle challenges in xillia 2:



Some artes have attributes related to sword , hammer & gun and some ennemies are weak to those... well this challenge is the regular version. There is another where you need the ennemy to be in the air :) Well anyway you'll all have fun with them in a couple of months.

That sounds better than respawning field enemies for two hours waiting for ! monsters.
 

LuuKyK

Member
Thanks. I'm loving the story and the battle system so far. I have a feeling I will like this game more than Graces.

Thats pretty much how I felt after playing Xillia. :)

That sounds better than respawning field enemies for two hours waiting for ! monsters.

Seriously. That was tedious. Pure torture. I had to mute my TV and play some other Tales soundtracks in the background because the sound effects for changing maps started to piss me off.
 

PKrockin

Member
Although Graces's battle system is better designed in some aspects, such as cooking, I'm actually having more fun with Xillia's. The AI seems much smarter and Jude is more fun to play as than anyone in Graces. Aerial combos finally return, too, and for once they're actually fun!

I disagree with some major complaints others had with the game, like the absolute loathing of Jude over one scene, and the argument that it doesn't matter what you do on the Lilium Orb.

For the complaints I could level against the battle system, I do consider it one of the most fun in the series.

Seriously. That was tedious. Pure torture. I had to mute my TV and play some other Tales soundtracks in the background because the sound effects for changing maps started to piss me off.

I muted the TV and played that retsutalk episode where the retsupurae and Chip & Ironicus folks play a two hour and 45 minute session of Dungeon World, and it took nearly the entire episode.

I don't know who thought that title was a good idea.
 
That sounds better than respawning field enemies for two hours waiting for ! monsters.

Wait you guys don't know ? there was this spot ( still present in the us/eu version ) where you could farm those "rare" monsters in less than a hour. if you do that after completing the game.

Besides kill X rare monsters is still there in the sequel.
 

LuuKyK

Member
Wait you guys don't know ? there was this spot ( still present in the us/eu version ) where you could farm those "rare" monsters in less than a hour. if you do that after completing the game.

Besides kill X rare monsters is still there in the sequel.

I used this transitioning maps tactic, it was between Sapstrath (?) Deepwood and one of the fields near a city, can't remember which one now. It certainly didn't take me two hours to get the trophy, but it did take around an hour. I needed 75 and had around 20, so its understandable that it took long, but it was annoying nonetheless.
 

PKrockin

Member
In case you guys ever want to express what Tales of Xillia's boss battles are like in a single image... here.

KutXL3t.gif
 

Sagitario

Member
So, I think I am finally going to start Xillia this week.

Is there a good list for missable events/items/skits/etc.? It's one of the things I hate the most about RPGs.

Also, any good exploits/glitches to be rich, maybe overpowered or upgrade everything faster? I don't mind an easy first playthrough and after the last couple of weeks, I kinda want an easy/stress free experience where I only have to worry about enjoying the battles (and I think SM3DW's Champion's Road broke me).
 

Soriku

Junior Member
So, I think I am finally going to start Xillia this week.

Is there a good list for missable events/items/skits/etc.? It's one of the things I hate the most about RPGs.

Also, any good exploits/glitches to be rich, maybe overpowered or upgrade everything faster? I don't mind an easy first playthrough and after the last couple of weeks, I kinda want an easy/stress free experience where I only have to worry about enjoying the battles (and I think SM3DW's Champion's Road broke me).

Sub event guide, very helpful: http://www.ps3trophies.org/forum/tales-xillia/207180-sub-events-everything-you-need-know.html

I don't think there are any missable items besides the ones in the first dungeon (the lab) and the Zenethra. And I think your first time in the Temporal Crossroads. So just be sure to pick everything up there. As for skits, there is one skit that is easy to miss which is triggered by not using gels until Xian Du.

I don't know about any exploits but you'll be happy to know that Xillia isn't a hard game. Plus you can switch difficulty on the fly in this series so yeah.
 

PKrockin

Member
So, I think I am finally going to start Xillia this week.

Is there a good list for missable events/items/skits/etc.? It's one of the things I hate the most about RPGs.

Also, any good exploits/glitches to be rich, maybe overpowered or upgrade everything faster? I don't mind an easy first playthrough and after the last couple of weeks, I kinda want an easy/stress free experience where I only have to worry about enjoying the battles (and I think SM3DW's Champion's Road broke me).

If you want to platinum the game you'll need to play it twice. You can unlock all the skits with grade on a new game plus so no need to worry about missing those. You can miss, what, 12 subevents and still get the highest trophy and title? But you should still check a guide. I don't think you can miss out on major content in this game like the bonus dungeon in Vesperia for example.

Early in the game you can reach the Xagut Floodmeadows from Nia Khera. It has lots of valuable materials for upgrading shops very quickly. And of course you can change the difficulty at any time.
 

LuuKyK

Member
You can miss, what, 12 subevents and still get the highest trophy and title?

I think its 9 for Jude's story and 7 for Milla's. Something like that, yeah. But its very easy to miss those if you are not the kind of player that backtracks a lot, and even then... to trigger some of these you need to go to very specific places in a very specific order. Its kinda annoying really.
 

LuuKyK

Member
Thanks. Also, for expanding shops should I focus more on Armor and Weapons?

Yeah, Weapons, Armors and Accessory should be your focus. But that doesn't mean you should not upgrade the others at all, since they do come with some good additions to the shops. Just keep an eye on the bonus multiplier (indicated by a green 3x) that appears sometimes and make good use of it.
 
Yeah, Weapons, Armors and Accessory should be your focus. But that doesn't mean you should not upgrade the others at all, since they do come with some good additions to the shops. Just keep an eye on the bonus multiplier (indicated by a green 3x) that appears sometimes and make good use of it.

Damn, I just had a 3x multiplier before I finished my last session. I should have taken advantage of it!
 

isual

Member
man. after beating the game, this is the first time in a very, very, very long time that I can't wait for a jrpg to release.

just saw xillia 2 opening and am wowed by all returns and new faces.

first time in a long time. wow.

also, since when did tales start getting their japanese openings ? did namco bandai finally realize who their target audience is ?
 
I just returned to Fennmont and the story is just getting better and better. I also tried playing as Milla and I love her. Once I get all the bond titles, I'm going back to her.
 

Thorgal

Member
man. after beating the game, this is the first time in a very, very, very long time that I can't wait for a jrpg to release.

just saw xillia 2 opening and am wowed by all returns and new faces.

first time in a long time. wow.

also, since when did tales start getting their japanese openings ? did namco bandai finally realize who their target audience is ?

Xillia is the first one who retained its Japanese opening for the western release .

One reason for that is unlike both Vesperia and Graces F who the singers of those songs could sing in English as well as Japanese pretty well . (Graces one might have been a bit iffy but still passable )

However . Ayumi Hamasaki Who did Progress for Xillia said herself in a n interview that she is very bad at English so singing in English would be difficult for her .

So i believe Namco could either choose to make the song instrumental only ( like Abyss) or They find another English singer. or they keep the original version .

Namco chose the path of least resistance and kept the Original song both out of easiness and perhaps realizing that the fan base would have no trouble with this and will like it as it is .
 

Sagitario

Member
Xillia is the first one who retained its Japanese opening for the western release .
One reason for that is unlike both Vesperia and Graces F who the singers of those songs could sing in English as well as Japanese pretty well . (Graces one might have been a bit iffy but still passable )
However . Ayumi Hamasaki Who did Progress for Xillia said herself in a n interview that she is very bad at English so singing in English would be difficult for her .
So i believe Namco could either choose to make the song instrumental only ( like Abyss) or They find another English singer. or they keep the original version .
Namco chose the path of least resistance and kept the Original song both out of easiness and perhaps realizing that the fan base would have no trouble with this and will like it as it is .
While I understand the decision and I am OK with it, I must confess I was a little disappointed. I really liked [having] Vesperia and Graces' intros in English.
 
While I understand the decision and I am OK with it, I must confess I was a little disappointed. I really liked [having] Vesperia and Graces' intros in English.

Just want to point out that "Anything is better than instrumentals" for tales of opening.

It's time to sort those licensing issues
 
Optimally Tales of games in NA would have the English version played first then after waiting at the title screen for a while you'd then get the Japanese version (this is how it was in Vesperia).

But for Xillia at least there is no English version so just having the Japanese version is the next best thing.

Knight of Ratatosk's opening was basically ruined for me after learning that they changed it to some instrumental stuff in the NA release. 3 Legged Race sounds so much better than what we got so I'm glad that NB is now just giving us the same as the Japanese version.
 

Sagitario

Member
I am about to start the summoning ritual in Nia Khera and I am already tired of Xillia's fields. There isn't a lot of incentives to explore and I dislike playing "Where is Waldo?" for material spots and Aifread's treasures. I actually prefer Graces's narrow hallways fields (ironically, I preferred Legendia's dungeons to Graces').

So far, I am not a fan of the combination of TP and AC. The Assault Counter seems to be more restrictive than strategic. It worked in an absolutely fantastic way in Graces, so hopefully it will get better as I level up (and the counter number also goes up) and I get more skills.

Some questions:

- The materials found in the fields' flashing spots are used exclusively to upgrade the shops? The only reason to horde them is to basically wait for the multiplier?

- There isn't any weapon/items synthesis or upgrade? It all depends on being able to buy stuff from the store?

- No more cooking? Just buy a dish (1 per recipe) and use it before a fight... and that's all there is to it? No automatic usage? So, if I run out of dishes, I can't do anything until I arrive to a town and buy more?

- During over limit, you can chain between any linked artes? There isn't a tree/hierarchy and you can only use 1 distinct arte per OL chain (meaning, no spamming the same arte over and over). It would be like this: over limit -> arte 1 -> R2 -> linked arte -> arte 2 -> linked arte?




Early in the game you can reach the Xagut Floodmeadows from Nia Khera. It has lots of valuable materials for upgrading shops very quickly. And of course you can change the difficulty at any time.
Tried it on easy. 2 hits and I am dead :(
 

Thorgal

Member
- The materials found in the fields' flashing spots are used exclusively to upgrade the shops? The only reason to horde them is to basically wait for the multiplier?

For the most part yes . but be sure to keep one of each because you need some of them for side missions .

- There isn't any weapon/items synthesis or upgrade? It all depends on being able to buy stuff from the store?

No . everything is bought from the store except
the devil beast weapons .

- No more cooking? Just buy a dish (1 per recipe) and use it before a fight... and that's all there is to it? No automatic usage? So, if I run out of dishes, I can't do anything until I arrive to a town and buy more?

Yes . but some of the later recipes can last for multiple battles .

- During over limit, you can chain between any linked artes? There isn't a tree/hierarchy and you can only use 1 distinct arte per OL chain (meaning, no spamming the same arte over and over). It would be like this: over limit -> arte 1 -> R2 -> linked arte -> arte 2 -> linked arte?


not sure .
 

PKrockin

Member
- During over limit, you can chain between any linked artes? There isn't a tree/hierarchy and you can only use 1 distinct arte per OL chain (meaning, no spamming the same arte over and over). It would be like this: over limit -> arte 1 -> R2 -> linked arte -> arte 2 -> linked arte?

There are almost no restrictions on linked arte chaining. You can chain between any linked artes that you haven't already used in your current combo. So while you can't combo Demonic Chaos into another Demonic Chaos, you can combo Demonic Chaos into Final Gale (both of which are activated by Demon Fist but just with different link partners).

(And actually, that one restriction is even more lenient, as you can use the same linked arte twice in one combo as long as it's with a different link partner. Igneous Crush can be done with Jude+Milla and Jude+a later character, so just switch from one to the other mid-combo and you can do it twice.)

Tried it on easy. 2 hits and I am dead :(

Just collect loot from the field. Sorry, that comment about changing the difficulty was just referring to in general how you can make this game a breeze if you want, I didn't mean to suggest you should set it to easy and kill the Xagut Floodmeadows enemies... :(
 

Chris R

Member
How long is chapter 4?

Oh and I haven't seen a shop 3x multiplier in forever :( Guess they stop if your shop level is ~20 above your player level? I may have grinded a bit too much... lol
 

Proven

Member
How long is chapter 4?

Oh and I haven't seen a shop 3x multiplier in forever :( Guess they stop if your shop level is ~20 above your player level? I may have grinded a bit too much... lol

You're just getting unlucky. You get a x3 multiplier whenever two shops ask for the same materials (competition!). Every time you do a battle, the shops have a chance to all change what materials they're asking for. If the shops don't change, your chance of them changing after the next battle increases a little bit, I think 1%, and it's cumulative. If they do change, then the chance is reduced to 0%. If you reload your save file (like say sitting down for a new session) then the chance is reduced to 0% as well.

So basically go out, do a ton of battles, get materials from enemies and the field, then come back and check. Every time you notice them asking for different materials but no x3 means you just didn't get the best roll.
 

Sagitario

Member
I finally got the 4th party member.
The game hasn't clicked yet. Xillia feels [so far] like it belongs to a previous generation, just to name a few things:
- Invisible walls to block areas (and around objects).
- Big empty fields, DOF and pop-up issues.
- Floaty non-tight movement (in and outside battle).

That last point is the one that disappoints and concerns me. I wasn't expecting a battle system as good as Graces, but it definitely doesn't feel like the best TP-based LMBS (like some people had mentioned), and I I would be totally fine with that IF the movement of the characters was tight and precise: Jude constantly faces the wrong direction, jumps instead of performing the ⬆ arte, his movement on the battlefield is floaty (and it makes me consider using semi-auto instead of manual).

Graces' battle system took some time to click (IIRC, it was around chapter 4 when I finally and completely got it), so I am hoping the same for Xillia's. I am OK with not being in the same league as Graces, but I was expecting Vesperia or Dawn of the New World levels (as far as character movement and response time go). And like I previously said, the Assault Counter here feels more restrictive than strategic.

Xillia makes me think about something that has always bothered me about the series: the lack of consistency and shared ideas/standards/concepts/improvements between the teams (RIP) and developers (I am going to blame the producers here), even if the approach and focus for each game are different.
 

PKrockin

Member
That last point is the one that disappoints and concerns me. I wasn't expecting a battle system as good as Graces, but it definitely doesn't feel like the best TP-based LMBS (like some people had mentioned), and I I would be totally fine with that IF the movement of the characters was tight and precise: Jude constantly faces the wrong direction, jumps instead of performing the ⬆ arte, his movement on the battlefield is floaty (and it makes me consider using semi-auto instead of manual).

Yeah, change to semi-auto. The AI will close the distance and/or turn to face the enemy if necessary when you input attacks. With Jude I don't think there's really any reason to be on manual, even though semi-auto at first sounds like some kind of dumbed down casual mode.

In terms of the feel of the movement, I prefer it to Vesperia. A lot of moves in Vesperia had such long recovery animations that actually using them would usually just give enemies a free shot, such as backstepping, jumping, recovering, and certain attacks. God forbid you jump as Yuri, you'll be in the air for about a century, and another century before you recover from landing lag, and you have no means to defend yourself.

I didn't find AC very restrictive at all, certainly not when I got +3 for backstep dodges, bonuses for hitting enemies from behind, and the option to just knock down the enemy, stop and let the AC counter replenish instantly, then hit them with any of Jude's plethora of OTG attacks like his physical up + X attack or Steel before they can recover.
 
Does anyone have any tips for playing as Milla? I'm not sure if I should shortcut her lower level spells like Fireball or her higher level one's like Sunburst. It seems like her higher level spells don't have many linked artes opportunities as her lower level spells do.
 
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