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[Dark Schala]

The game gives you four difficulty options at the start and you can switch between them at any point in the game. Easy mode pretty much is stomp mode I think enemies have half hp of something crazy like that

Oh, I'd neglected to write in the multipliers for each of the modes somewhere. I didn't think it was important enough for the OP, but here you guys go.

Easy:
70% of normal enemy HP
70% of normal enemy TP
70% of normal enemy stats
AC limit reduced by 1
Time you can't use items after using one = 2 seconds.

Normal:
100% of normal enemy HP
100% of normal enemy TP
100% of normal enemy stats
AC limit is normal
Time you can't use items after using one = 4 seconds.

Moderate:
150% of normal enemy HP
100% of normal enemy TP
120% of normal enemy stats
AC limit is normal
Time you can't use items after using one = 5 seconds.

Hard:
250% of normal enemy HP
150% of normal enemy TP
150% of normal enemy stats
AC limit increased by 1
Time you can't use items after using one = 6 seconds.

Unknown:
400% of normal enemy HP
200% of normal enemy TP
200% of normal enemy stats
AC limit increased by 2
Time you can't use items after using one = 7 seconds.

Additionally, I should post this too!

With respect to arte usage:

100 uses - Silver star - +3% crit chance
200 uses - 2 Silver stars - +5% power for it
400 uses - 4 Silver stars - +20% link gauge increase
1000 uses - Gold star - 2/3 TP consumption
2000 uses - 2 Gold Stars - +20% power increase
4000 uses - 3 Gold stars - May not use AC (25% chance) when linked with someone
9999 uses - Mastered - 50% chance that the arte won't consume AC when linked.

With respect to how much XP everyone takes to reach level 99:
Least -> Jude >> Leia -> Elize = Milla -> Alvin -> Rowen -> Most

 

[FSLink]

With respect to arte usage:

100 uses - Silver star - +3% crit chance
200 uses - 2 Silver stars - +5% power for it
400 uses - 4 Silver stars - +20% link gauge increase
1000 uses - Gold star - 2/3 TP consumption
2000 uses - 2 Gold Stars - +20% power increase
4000 uses - 3 Gold stars - May not use AC (25% chance) when linked with someone
9999 uses - Mastered - 50% chance that the arte won't consume AC when linked.

With respect to how much XP everyone takes to reach level 99:
Least -> Jude >> Leia -> Elize = Milla -> Alvin -> Rowen -> Most

I can't recall, any other effects for specific artes? Like how you can get some artes air OK in Xillia 2 and Vesperia depending on uses.

 

[Dark Schala]

I can't recall, any other effects for specific artes? Like how you can get some artes air OK in Xillia 2 and Vesperia depending on uses.

Yep. Character-specific.

Ex: Jude's Healer:
- faster after 100 and 400 uses
- AoE increase after 200 uses

Jude's Hienrenkyaku:
- attack speed increase after 200 uses
- makes knocked-down enemies stand after 400 uses

Jude's Houtsuiken:
- reduces knockback after 200 uses
- allows for higher juggling after 200 uses

Milla's Negative Holder:
- AoE Increase after 100 uses
- +1 hit after 100 uses and 200 uses

And so on and so forth.

Edit: I should mention that some Link Artes have this property, too. Ex: Piko Rain - +1 hammer for every 20 uses up to a max of 15 hammers after 300 uses

 

[nintendoman58]

Man I am loving this Tales cast. I especially loved the scene where

Spoiler

Rowen got the guards to back down after they kidnapped the girls. The cast of Tales of Graces would have been like: "YOU KIDNAPPED OUR FRIENDS DAMN YOUUUUUU" and immediately cut to a fight. Really wasn't expecting that.

 

[FSLink]

Jude's Hienrenkyaku:
- attack speed increase after 200 uses
- makes knocked-down enemies stand after 400 uses

Huh, didn't know about that 2nd one. That sounds really useful; Swallow Dance had no use otherwise.

 

[Shouta]

Rowen is fantastic unlike what a certain hater of geriatric folks would say!

 

[nintendoman58]

ifjeawnofiwjfnwaoifhewofjiniwaofhoiwahjfiowahfoiwejfoiwaef



fuck this first boss dude with a hammer.

the fuck.

Beat him on my second try. It's the next two bosses that are going to give you grief.

 

[chickdigger802]

wow finally beat that guy. why won't these pos ai dodge this guy's ground spike move

 

[Dead]

Hammer dude went down in seconds. Linked arts + chain arts gangbang and he was done.

 

[chickdigger802]

attack animations priorities fucked me up...

 

[iAmMaximus]

Which shops should I be focusing on leveling up?

 

[R_thanatos]

Man I am loving this Tales cast. I especially loved the scene where

Spoiler

Rowen got the guards to back down after they kidnapped the girls. The cast of Tales of Graces would have been like: "YOU KIDNAPPED OUR FRIENDS DAMN YOUUUUUU" and immediately cut to a fight. Really wasn't expecting that.

Rowen swag power at work ..but you're right seeing the cast not acting dumb was a revolution , especially after graces

 

[Yuterald]

Yo, what's up with preemptive strikes? Am I going crazy or is enemies health being reduced to half on top of being stunned at the start of a fight? Shit's crazy. Weirdest stuff I've seen in an RPG in awhile.

 

[Kagari]

Yo, what's up with preemptive strikes? Am I going crazy or is enemies health being reduced to half on top of being stunned at the start of a fight? Shit's crazy. Weirdest stuff I've seen in an RPG in awhile.

That's supposed to happen.

 

[chrono01]

Yo, what's up with preemptive strikes? Am I going crazy or is enemies health being reduced to half on top of being stunned at the start of a fight? Shit's crazy. Weirdest stuff I've seen in an RPG in awhile.

It seems someone skipped the Information prompt! Tsk Tsk!

As Kagari mentioned, the first time you get a pre-emptive strike [both in which one causes damage and another in stunned enemies] the game informs you of why it's happening. It is absolutely normal and, if you ask me, quite helpful.

But then, I read everything in this game. Thrice! I do it with all RPG's, I over-analyze everything when it comes to gameplay components. >_<

Edit - Never mind, I see what you're saying. It does seem like it knocks off a bit too much health, and if they're stunned in addition to that? Yeah, they do not stand a chance!

 

[Dark Schala]

Which shops should I be focusing on leveling up?

Weapons and Armour, always. Items if you really need it, but the former should be a focus especially to take advantage of the weakness system of the game. I usually don't buy new gear until it's 30% off, myself.

Yo, what's up with preemptive strikes? Am I going crazy or is enemies health being reduced to half on top of being stunned at the start of a fight? Shit's crazy. Weirdest stuff I've seen in an RPG in awhile.

I get where you're coming from. Should really be down to just 75% of HP, and it's really easy to PE-strike in this game. :/

Haha, do you find regular battles too easy because of this?

 

[leatherhat]

I'm not finding Premptive strikes easy. Whats the trick?

 

[nintendoman58]

Yeah, I'm not finding PE strikes that easy. You have to be holding the stick VERY gently to sneak up on the enemy. I've found that when you're close, you can rush up to them before they notice you, but I've never gotten the hang of it.

 

[Dark Schala]

I'm not finding Premptive strikes easy. Whats the trick?

You can do one two things:

-do what I did most of the time since I'm not a very patient person, and run around (ie: run past them and then circle around to attack their back because their animations to turn around can be slower) and attack them from behind for the 25% loss of HP
-do what other people do and sneak behind them by walking up to them for the 50% loss of HP + stun

 

[Yuterald]

It seems someone skipped the Information prompt! Tsk Tsk!

As Kagari mentioned, the first time you get a pre-emptive strike [both in which one causes damage and another in stunned enemies] the game informs you of why it's happening. It is absolutely normal and, if you ask me, quite helpful.

But then, I read everything in this game. Thrice! I do it with all RPG's, I over-analyze everything when it comes to gameplay components. >_<

Edit - Never mind, I see what you're saying. It does seem like it knocks off a bit too much health, and if they're stunned in addition to that? Yeah, they do not stand a chance!

Hah, you know what probably happened. I've noticed those tutorial messages would prompt after battle on somewhat of a delay and I would sometimes cancel/skip over them by accident. I'm definitely one of those guys who reads everything.

Weapons and Armour, always. Items if you really need it, but the former should be a focus especially to take advantage of the weakness system of the game. I usually don't buy new gear until it's 30% off, myself.

I get where you're coming from. Should really be down to just 75% of HP, and it's really easy to PE-strike in this game. :/

Haha, do you find regular battles too easy because of this?

Yeah, not that I'm complaining or anything, but it definitely struck me as an odd decision...and yes, I do find the battles to be quite easy (even on Hard which I've been exclusively playing on). I don't think I've ever seen a preemptive strike in a game/RPG as beneficial as this. It's SO easy to do it too because of the size of the fields. I really don't know what to make of this, hah! =/

 

[Crash Station]

Was about to start up the game and I see my PS3 has red lighted :/. Gonna go to a local place tomorrow to get it repaired and hope it isn't as bad as YLOD. Might not be able to play this for a while...

 

[Voror]

Level 99.

There's actually a reason this time as you get grade and titles from reaching level 99 with each of your characters.

Odd though given the series always did so before. Is it the same way for Xillia 2?

I have to say, I hope the next Tales has a better trophy list then this one did.

Oh, and thanks to Schala for the info on the difficulties and moves. The latter is particularly interesting.

 

[Rpgmonkey]

Yeah, I'm not finding PE strikes that easy. You have to be holding the stick VERY gently to sneak up on the enemy. I've found that when you're close, you can rush up to them before they notice you, but I've never gotten the hang of it.

Should be able to just hold the cancel button to walk. Makes it much easier.

You can also just circle around them two or three times to trip up their detection if you don't feel like doing the walk method. That usually works well too even though it looks weird.

 

[Dark Schala]

Odd though given the series always did so before. Is it the same way for Xillia 2?

I have to say, I hope the next Tales has a better trophy list then this one did.

Oh, and thanks to Schala for the info on the difficulties and moves. The latter is particularly interesting.

No prob. If there's a move you want to know about, let me know what it is and I can tell you if there's any sort of thing like that that's associated with it.

Xillia 2's trophy list is pretty much like this one only the values are increased. I'm not in a hurry to platinum Xillia 2 at all because of it.

Xillia 2's level limit is 200.

 

[Papercuts]

What does encounter linking do in this? Just more experience?

 

[Dark Schala]

What does encounter linking do in this? Just more experience?

Just like Vesperia. More XP and Gald.

Make sure Alvin's Link Slasher skill is off, btw, if you want to take advantage of that.

 

[Cheska]

I stopped aiming for pre-emptive strikes. I'm far too impatient to walk slowly behind them and honestly the difficulty (not that it's that hard to begin with) is completely thrown down the drain whenever I do preemptively strike.

 

[dakkumauji]

Weapons and Armour, always. Items if you really need it, but the former should be a focus especially to take advantage of the weakness system of the game. I usually don't buy new gear until it's 30% off, myself.

Speaking of which I noticed while my brother is playing that they removed the discount showing up in the shops, I believe.

 

[Dark Schala]

Speaking of which I noticed while my brother is playing that they removed the discount showing up in the shops, I believe.

Wait, what?

Really?

 

[Eusis]

I stopped aiming for pre-emptive strikes. I'm far too impatient to walk slowly behind them and honestly the difficulty (not that it's that hard to begin with) is completely thrown down the drain whenever I do preemptively strike.

I do try to circle behind at least. Not TOO hard, especially with how they're sorta dumb.

 

[HawthorneKitty]

Ever since I got sunglasses, I've never taken them off; is there something cooler?

 

[Ravage]

Hard should be the default difficulty for ARPG fans imo. Maybe it's not as apparent at the start, but i fail to see the benefit of increasing the Agility stat atm.

 

[kayos90]

Wait, what?

Really?

Discounts are still there. It just doesn't say how much is off anymore like it used to. it only says a discount is applied when you level shops up.

 

[Dark Schala]

Discounts are still there. It just doesn't say how much is off anymore like it used to. it only says a discount is applied when you level shops up.

Huh. Wonder why they decided to do that. Seems like an arbitrary change.

Hard should be the default difficulty for ARPG fans imo. Maybe it's not as apparent at the start, but i fail to see the benefit of increasing the Agility stat atm.

Faster movement = breaking the game because affects how fast you move. It causes the animation speeds and movement speeds to go really really fast. So essentially, you're recovering faster, can chain along artes faster, etc. It's just like Abyss. Vesperia kind of fixed that.

lol

Oh, I just realized that some people might not realize what stats do.

Strength - determines amount of damage dealt; allows you to break enemy guards more easily
Vitality - defense increases, and allows you to resist guard break
Spirit - Magic defense and resistance to status effects (because spells may cause status effects)
Intelligence - Offensive magic damage and ability to induce status effects (some spells have the ability to cause status effects)
Speed - Explained previously
Dexterity - Like your luck stat (crit chance), only it includes stuff like increasing the power of your artes.

 

[Ravage]

Faster movement = breaking the game because affects how fast you move. It causes the animation speeds and movement speeds to go really really fast. So essentially, you're recovering faster, can chain along artes faster, etc.

The in-game description made it sound like it's movement-only o.0

 

[Freezasaurus]

So I'm about 5 hours in, and I forget the name of the place,

Spoiler

that village where everyone knows who Milla is, and worships her and whatnot

. I stepped outside on the far end of the village, and got completely destroyed in like, 10 seconds by these two armadillo-looking things, as well as some scrawny guy that looks like the creepy guy from Slender.

Did I wander into the wrong area, or is that just one hell of a difficulty spike?

 

[Dark Schala]

Did I wander into the wrong area, or is that just one hell of a difficulty spike?

You wandered into the wrong area. You're supposed to get the elemental stones and go to the exit to the northwest exit instead.

You went into the early grinding area for materials and XP if you choose to do that. It's optional. It's optional for pretty much the whole game, really. You're not supposed to technically go there until Chapter 2, buuuut whatever.

 

[Papercuts]

So I'm about 5 hours in, and I forget the name of the place,

Spoiler

that village where everyone knows who Milla is, and worships her and whatnot

. I stepped outside on the far end of the village, and got completely destroyed in like, 10 seconds by these two armadillo-looking things, as well as some scrawny guy that looks like the creepy guy from Slender.

Did I wander into the wrong area, or is that just one hell of a difficulty spike?

Not supposed to go there yet. Pretty sure the NPC standing before that exit says something like that as well, though you can potentially farm there if you survive.

 

[Kagari]

So I'm about 5 hours in, and I forget the name of the place,

Spoiler

that village where everyone knows who Milla is, and worships her and whatnot

. I stepped outside on the far end of the village, and got completely destroyed in like, 10 seconds by these two armadillo-looking things, as well as some scrawny guy that looks like the creepy guy from Slender.

Did I wander into the wrong area, or is that just one hell of a difficulty spike?

You definitely went to the wrong area. I made that same mistake.

 

[Dead]

So I'm about 5 hours in, and I forget the name of the place,

Spoiler

that village where everyone knows who Milla is, and worships her and whatnot

. I stepped outside on the far end of the village, and got completely destroyed in like, 10 seconds by these two armadillo-looking things, as well as some scrawny guy that looks like the creepy guy from Slender.

Did I wander into the wrong area, or is that just one hell of a difficulty spike?

Thats not where youre supposed to go.

I got wiped out in like 30 seconds there too.

 

[Freezasaurus]

You wandered into the wrong area. You're supposed to get the elemental stones and go to the exit to the northwest exit instead.

You went into the early grinding area for materials and XP if you choose to do that.

Not supposed to go there yet. Pretty sure the NPC standing before that exit says something like that as well, though you can potentially farm there if you survive.

Thanks. That's what I thought, lol. I knew about the Elemental Stones, I already gathered them. I was just kinda curious about what was out there. Now I know. Ha ha.

 

[Einbroch]

So difficulty only makes enemies harder? You don't get extra material drops or anything?

 

[leatherhat]

For anyone who just watched my stream, I fine with 3/4 of my party being dead after that damn moth boss

 

[Iceblade]

There's a fair bit of important stuff that you only see as Jude. There's parts where you split up, but there's also parts where the characters are just like a room apart and Jude's story bits are still way more important than Milla's.

I mean, you can still play as Milla if you're playing Jude's story, so there's not a huge loss in choosing him.

Many thanks <3 Jude it is.

 

[FSLink]

For anyone who just watched my stream, I fine with 3/4 of my party being dead after that damn moth boss

About to do that one next, but I'm working at the moment. Not looking forward to it again on Hard mode...ugh.

 

[Dark Schala]

So difficulty only makes enemies harder? You don't get extra material drops or anything?

If you do higher combos, you get a higher extra XP multiplier. That's it. It's easy for you to level up in this game as a result of this and how broken some aspects of some characters' attacks can be.

That's why shit like this is hilarious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIe0cBHUNw4

There's an overflow hit video out there, but it spoils the final dungeon theme, so I won't post it. But if you have a turbo controller, that's certainly something you can try out. I did it by hand to test it out and had a laugh to myself. Ah, there's the OG overflow video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9LCSGjlTE4 (bear in mind that this spoils hi-ougis you get in New Game Plus)

And then there's Milla, who kinda breaks it too after chapter 4 (don't watch this if you haven't beaten chapter 3!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5ndfCf8AZ8&feature=related

 

[leatherhat]

About to do that one next, but I'm working at the moment. Not looking forward to it again on Hard mode...ugh.

He's a complete monster, weak to ground attacks (but he flies), hits hard, and can tag you with tons of status effects.

 

[FSLink]

He's a complete monster, weak to ground attacks (but he flies), hits hard, and can tag you with tons of status effects.

Yeah I've fought him on my JPN playthrough and wasn't having fun with him at all, same with the next boss. I think those two especially + final boss soured my opinion of the bosses in the game, haha.

 

[Solid Amit]

My copy was finaly shipped, probably will start playing after beating Baten Kaitos Origin

 

[leatherhat]

Yeah I've fought him on my JPN playthrough and wasn't having fun with him at all, same with the next boss. I think those two especially + final boss soured my opinion of the bosses in the game, haha.

Oh boy, something to look forward to