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[LordK]

He reversed the buttons to make it like the PS2 Tales games. You do the arte, and then in the midst of the arte going off you press and hold whichever button is for artes.

Awesome, thanks for the clarification!

 

[kiryogi]

He reversed the buttons to make it like the PS2 Tales games. You do the arte, and then in the midst of the arte going off you press and hold whichever button is for artes.

Like the US tales games maybe.

Jonnyram: You're thinking of Hiougi/mystic arte. Burst Arte is done via the waza button, hiougi is done via the attack button.

 

[Tamanon]

Aight, since the battle system is so fun, I decided to go ahead and restart the game so I can get all the Secret Missions my first playthrough. Plus those chests I've missed all over the place.

 

[Jonnyram]

Like the US tales games maybe.

Jonnyram: You're thinking of Hiougi/mystic arte. Burst Arte is done via the waza button, hiougi is done via the attack button.

Oh crap, sorry. I honestly think I've never done a burst arte in that case :lol
I can do the mystic artes no problem though. I'll have to try mystic artes tonight. Guess I'll need to play with the modifiers too.

 

[kiryogi]

Aight, since the battle system is so fun, I decided to go ahead and restart the game so I can get all the Secret Missions my first playthrough. Plus those chests I've missed all over the place.

Ah man the treasure chests. There's a bunch I left unopened because I was maxed out D: Gonna suck looking for those.

 

[Jonnyram]

Oh god, I just looked up some recipes and found I need

Spoiler

Fenrir's

drop AGAIN! ffs. It's such a pain because you have to walk quite far from the save point to see if he popped or not before reloading :/

 

[kiryogi]

Why the fuck does Yeager have the worst voice ever? The voice acting in this game is good, but Yeager's is awful.

I knew he'd be lost in translation. He's one of the most awesome characters in the japanese

"Good answer. COME ON!"

 

[Princess Skittles]

Just passed "Part 1," yay.

The achievements for this game are all over the place, some of them bordering on ridiculous (getting all skits), they could have done a lot more interesting things than the twenty something "Secret Missions," for instance. I think Lost Odyssey has had the best JRPG achievements so far, a good mix of stuff you'll come across always and more hardcore ones, with only one insane one. Most importantly YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO BEAT THE GAME TWO OR THREE TIMES TO GET THEM. If I recall, not a one was permanently missbale. Eternal Sonata and Tales, ah, seems to be a Namco thing, not surprising.

I missed using Magic Lens on one monster so far, one of the black guild guys that you probably fight once (and I guess I skipped it since there were two of them that looked identical except their weapon in the fight).

 

[gregor7777]

Just passed "Part 1," yay.

The achievements for this game are all over the place, some of them bordering on ridiculous (getting all skits), they could have done a lot more interesting things than the twenty something "Secret Missions," for instance. I think Lost Odyssey has had the best JRPG achievements so far, a good mix of stuff you'll come across always and more hardcore ones, with only one insane one. Most importantly YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO BEAT THE GAME TWO OR THREE TIMES TO GET THEM. If I recall, not a one was permanently missbale. Eternal Sonata and Tales, ah, seems to be a Namco thing, not surprising.

I missed using Magic Lens on one monster so far, one of the black guild guys that you probably fight once (and I guess I skipped it since there were two of them that looked identical except their weapon in the fight).

Spells were miss-able. There were two in the

Spoiler

city that got frozen over, can't recall the name

. They were only available in the shop there for a limited time.

 

[Spruchy]

Yeager is awesome I think his voice becomes more likable as he becomes more of a major player.

Yuri's speech during the hi-ougi is awesome, can't wait to see more. Doing these altered divine wolf's 100 times to learn them is ridiculous though.

 

[Jonnyram]

I really like the secret missions actually. They're a little frustrating sometimes, but the effort is well rewarded. But I really hate achievements that require more than a single playthrough, and anything that depends on an item that is lost forever. That said, I'm gonna do it anyway, because this is a fun game, and I'm quite keen to try the speed play anyway.

For the skits, don't worry too much The really insane achievement in my eyes, is the "all titles" achievement. Some of these titles require a LOT of stuff, like getting 100x FS with every character, or

Spoiler

beating the 200-man coliseum, which itself is only unlocked after you beat the hidden dungeon, which is only unlocked once you've beaten the game

... or something equally ridiculous.

 

[Firestorm]

Ok so the demo boss in the real game who's a sonuvabitch bullshit motherfukcing f;adsjdsf. Finally beat him. Went back to town, stocked up on everything, upgraded my weapons through synthesis (was gonna do it beforehand but

Spoiler

those idiots attacked us and they wouldn't let me

), Yuri learned some awesome skill becaused I grinded to lv14.

BUT I missed the secret mission even though I could've sworn I did it twice that battle and since I kept trying to get that "Great" Yuri and Repede died at the end so they didn't get exp. Guess I gotta do this again

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Ok so the demo boss in the real game who's a sonuvabitch bullshit motherfukcing f;adsjdsf. Finally beat him. Went back to town, stocked up on everything, upgraded my weapons through synthesis (was gonna do it beforehand but

Spoiler

those idiots attacked us and they wouldn't let me

), Yuri learned some awesome skill becaused I grinded to lv14.

BUT I missed the secret mission even though I could've sworn I did it twice that battle and since I kept trying to get that "Great" Yuri and Repede died at the end so they didn't get exp. Guess I gotta do this again

The secret mission for that boss is a pain because it's really finicky.

Spoiler

You (or I think a team member) needs to deliver the hit to the flower that makes it spit out paralysis powder on the boss. If he makes a sweeping attack that does it, even if it still hits him, it doesn't count for you.

 

[Papercuts]

Wow, this game is awesome. I'm about to get the ship so I'm not even sure if I'm all that far in, but I love all the characters so far.

I have a question about some earlier Secret Missions I couldn't do though:
5 -

Spoiler

It says to hit the Dreaded Giant while he's on his hind legs. I know he does it a lot, but I can never get him to fall over. I've rushed in and hit(which gets me hit), ran to the side and hit, etc.

6 -

Spoiler

Use Serpent with Raven when the boss tries to heal itself. I know what to do, but do I have to play as Raven for it or would Great! show up even if the AI did it? I've only used Yuri and the boss was tough, so I doubt I could fight the whole thing as Raven.

The secret mission for that boss is a pain because it's really finicky.

Spoiler

You (or I think a team member) needs to deliver the hit to the flower that makes it spit out paralysis powder on the boss. If he makes a sweeping attack that does it, even if it still hits him, it doesn't count for you.

Spoiler

You can't get hit by the flower either, I did it by facing my back to the flower until he charged at me, I ran behind him, locked onto the flower, and used Azure Edge to hit both the boss and the flower, it hit him without anybody else being near him.

 

[Firestorm]

The secret mission for that boss is a pain because it's really finicky.

Spoiler

You (or I think a team member) needs to deliver the hit to the flower that makes it spit out paralysis powder on the boss. If he makes a sweeping attack that does it, even if it still hits him, it doesn't count for you.

Ugh maybe that's why. I'll try again. I just beat him again and now am restarting once again. The stupidest part is, I got it like 3 times before but never finished the fight.

 

[Jonnyram]

6 -

Spoiler

Use Serpent with Raven when the boss tries to heal itself. I know what to do, but do I have to play as Raven for it or would Great! show up even if the AI did it? I've only used Yuri and the boss was tough, so I doubt I could fight the whole thing as Raven.

You can set it as a shortcut on the right stick and use it manually. You don't have to play as him

 

[Llyranor]

I'm about 4 hrs in. So far, the game's been a joy to play. The mage character just joined my party. The story isn't anything particularly groundbreaking, but the pacing is good and it keeps me motivated to keep on going. It has a nice adventuring feel to it.

The skits have been pretty fun, actually. Sure, you may say they're cliched or that they don't advance the storytelling cause in the gaming medium, but they've been pretty charming and the character interaction is nice. So far, they've been a lot of them, which is nice. If the pace keeps up, that's a whole lot of skits. I like. The characters have been entertaining so far as well. Repede is awesome. The game hasn't been taking itself too seriously so far.

Combat is great, especially in co-op. I'm already a fan of the Tales series (though I only played Destiny/Eternia/Phantasia GBA, so I've never been exposed to skits before). I've actually been running into encounters rather than avoiding them, since I enjoy the battles and they're pretty short. Is this the first Tales with no random encounters? Enemies on-screen is good stuff.

I like the artstyle. The celshading is pretty well-done. Seems about on par with ES, though that one may have been a tad more colorful. Vesperia doesn't have awkward character postures (the ubiquitous arms straight spread out on both sides, for example) or hilariously bad cutscene direction, though.

Music has been surprisingly ho-hum so far. Oh well :/

I enjoyed BD for its hard mode and overall charm, LO for its awesome Dreams of 1000 Years, and ES for its co-op and fantastic music. But Vesperia feels like the first truly great next-gen JRPG, with some good polish. What all 3 games had that Vesperia lacks, though, is Japanese VA Too bad.

 

[Beezy]

You can set it as a shortcut on the right stick and use it manually. You don't have to play as him

Oh shit, I had no idea that you could map another character's arts to the right stick.

 

[Jonnyram]

Oh shit, I had no idea that you could map another character's arts to the right stick.

I find it pretty much essential to set Repede's steal move on there, esp. for boss/gigant fights as you'll need to use it a lot to get the more unique items.

 

[Firestorm]

That didn't even make sense. Tried two more battles, didn't get it even though I tried my hardest. Next time, I did get it even though I was no where near him and the battle turned out to be a lot harder too. Oi.

edit: oh jesus

Spoiler

I got attacked in the next town and died. Did not expect that. Should've saved

 

[Spruchy]

Dammit Estelle.

I tell her deliberately NOT to use any TP at all and this pink haired loli continuously keeps draining her TP.

If you've played a tales game you know help is on its way in item form.

 

[Papercuts]

Dammit Estelle.

I tell her deliberately NOT to use any TP at all and this pink haired loli continuously keeps draining her TP.

Her AI is so dumb, I set her to save TP too, but she constantly casts Nurse when nobody really needs it, then when I actually need her help she's out of TP and is rushing forward to attack. :lol

I find it pretty much essential to set Repede's steal move on there, esp. for boss/gigant fights as you'll need to use it a lot to get the more unique items.

I had no idea you could map that stuff either, that'll help a ton.

 

[Tamanon]

That didn't even make sense. Tried two more battles, didn't get it even though I tried my hardest. Next time, I did get it even though I was no where near him and the battle turned out to be a lot harder too. Oi.

Spoiler

Well, the one thing to keep in mind is that if you hit one flower, they all go off.

 

[Enron]

And watch out, you actually might be saddened when you see why Estelle loses some of her naivete

no way dude, that was totally hot!

 

[Llyranor]

Can't you guys just set all of Estelle's spells to OFF if you don't want her casting any?

 

[Papercuts]

Can't you guys just set all of Estelle's spells to OFF if you don't want her casting any?

Turning off healing spells isn't a really good idea, she just uses them at the wrong times a lot.

 

[Aras]

is that true that xbox360's sales rose just because of tales of vesperia???

how much ? :0 I dont believe it

 

[JaMarco]

Can't you guys just set all of Estelle's spells to OFF if you don't want her casting any?

:O

 

[Sagitario]

Could someone explain me this Burst Arte/Fatal strike thing?

 

[Firestorm]

is that true that xbox360's sales rose just because of tales of vesperia???

how much ? :0 I dont believe it

Tripled or Quadrupled for the week in Japan. Might've been more if it didn't sell out there. Probably didn't make a blip here. I mean, I had a few friends who were looking at a 360 for Vesperia (then went out and purchased it when Star Ocean joined it too), but I don't think that's what happened across the continent here.

 

[Spruchy]

Tripled or Quadrupled for the week in Japan. Might've been more if it didn't sell out there. Probably didn't make a blip here. I mean, I had a few friends who were looking at a 360 for Vesperia (then went out and purchased it when Star Ocean joined it too), but I don't think that's what happened across the continent here.

Hey I got a guy harassing me about not preordering and tried to guilt trip me into doing so for craponia 2. But he was most likely doing it only because he works at gamestop not because of the hype for the game ;[

 

[kiryogi]

Could someone explain me this Burst Arte/Fatal strike thing?

I'm guessing you've unlocked them right?

Burst Arte - During overlimit, do an Arcane arte and hold down the Arte button, if there's any OL gauge left, you'll do a burst arte.

Fatal strike - These can be executed once you've drained the ppropriate fatal strike gauge. You can see these gauges as 3 colored arrows when you target an enemy with RB.To drain them, use attacks that correspond with the direction. Check out Arte descriptions to know what each one does. There will be a little colored arrow next to it's name. A good example for getting a feel for it is to spam Azure Edge over and over. First off, Azure Edge will deal green -> FS damage. So by doing this in repetition, you'll eventually drain the green -> gauge. Once you have, you can trigger the FS glyph be doing an arte that corresponds with that direction. Now with good timing, hit RT and you'll execute a fatal strike.

Advanced notes: Artes aren't the only thing that drain FS gauge, normal attacks do as well! Say you attack by holding forward for all 3 hits, that'll deal green -> FS gauge damage. While if you did low attacks, that'll deal V red FS gauge damage. And finally, any type of up/launching attack will deal blue ^ FS gauge damage. But the thing to remember is, you can only trigger the FS glyph with an arte.

Expert notes: On top of triggering fatal strikes, another big key is executing fatal strike chains. And how do you do this? When you trigger a FS glyph, don't trigger the FS, instead keep retriggering it with the same arte or an arte that corresponds with the glyph that was triggered. This will raise your FS chains, and thus also raise your grade. See how long you can keep this up before triggering the FS and finishing off the enemy.

 

[Firestorm]

Hey I got a guy harassing me about not preordering and tried to guilt trip me into doing so for craponia 2. But he was most likely doing it only because he works at gamestop not because of the hype for the game ;[

The game is in really short supply everywhere. Like I said earlier, my store sold out by 2:30 the day of release. I blame Namco's shipment habits more than anything, but I guess this means we beat their expectations? Although knowing Namco, they shipped 20k but expected to sell 100k so they'll call it a failure.

 

[Jonnyram]

You can see these gauges as 3 colored arrows when you target an enemy with RB.

Oh shit, I had no idea what they were for. Thanks! The rate of depletion is based on number of hits, rather than amount of damage, right? I mean, if you use the 1 damage skill, you still take the FS bars down at the same rate, I think.

 

[kiryogi]

Oh shit, I had no idea what they were for. Thanks! The rate of depletion is based on number of hits, rather than amount of damage, right? I mean, if you use the 1 damage skill, you still take the FS bars down at the same rate, I think.

Bingo, basically one of the reasons why you want to use damage modifier skills. That's why sometimes right from the beginning you'll already have a FS opportunity, as usually Rita or Estelle will cast something that'll completely drain it.

Firestorm: I've had to explain to a lot of people now about those two aspects so far. Mind tossing my description into the OP or something?

 

[Jonnyram]

Bingo, basically one of the reasons why you want to use damage modifier skills. That's why sometimes right from the beginning you'll already have a FS opportunity, as usually Rita or Estelle will cast something that'll completely drain it.

Ah, so assuming you turn off the other chars using FS, you should be able to get massive FS chains going in really simple fights, and get insane grade points. I'll have to try it. I think I read somewhere that higher grades also result in better drops? Might be useful for those damned superstars!

 

[kiryogi]

Ah, so assuming you turn off the other chars using FS, you should be able to get massive FS chains going in really simple fights, and get insane grade points. I'll have to try it. I think I read somewhere that higher grades also result in better drops? Might be useful for those damned superstars!

My best moment so far was with Rita, scored like 30 grade OL4 and massive spam in a 3 encounterlink. (Which you dont want to try in hard mode unless you got Rita) It was fatal strike galore.

 

[kiryogi]

Oh god. I'm not sure how to go about this one. Maybe I need to stay more healed.

Spoiler

Facing Alexei now, his hiougi is NUTS. I survived the first assault since I was in OL4, since time, he just wiped out everyone. Is it possible to survive this on hard?

Amazing boss theme though. Crazy.

 

[Firestorm]

There isn't achievement for getting all the secret missions or something is there? Because since I died after getting the achievement, I did the boss again but didn't get it this time. I have the achievement on my profile, but is there some sort of achievement for completing all the secret missions on one playthrough?

 

[kiryogi]

There isn't achievement for getting all the secret missions or something is there? Because since I died after getting the achievement, I did the boss again but didn't get it this time. I have the achievement on my profile, but is there some sort of achievement for completing all the secret missions on one playthrough?

Yeah, a costume title for Yuri.

 

[Spruchy]

Fucking retarded boss battle with 10 minutes of cutscenes has led to me putting down the game earlier tonight then usual.

lfkdjahfdkjahfkdjaha

 

[Firestorm]

Yeah, a costume title for Yuri.

Ok. Even though I just know I won't get all the titles. Now I'm gonna have to beat this boss again and again until I complete it again. This game hates me. Thank god it's only like 10 seconds of cutscene.

edit: ugh give up for the night. I can either beat him and not get it or get it but die.

 

[kiryogi]

Ok. Even though I just know I won't get all the titles. Now I'm gonna have to beat this boss again and again until I complete it again. This game hates me. Thank god it's only like 10 seconds of cutscene.

edit: ugh give up for the night. I can either beat him and not get it or get it but die.

Cmon! I've been trekking thru out this entire game doing the secret missions on HARD. If you're failing on normal I don't know what to say!

 

[Firestorm]

Cmon! I've been trekking thru out this entire game doing the secret missions on HARD. If you're failing on normal I don't know what to say!

But you guys are at acceptable levels. I avoid battles when I can! Although I'm LV14 now which I think is actually around what I should be at. It's weird. He's pretty easy if I don't pay attention to the flowers. But as soon as he gets stunned once, it's like he goes into overdrive.

 

[FSLink]

Finally have the money to get this game...where is the recommended place to order the Special Edition from? Or is there a good place that I can just pick it up in-store?

Also how's the difficulty? Obviously from some of the posts here, and from the demo, it's definitely tougher...but I mean how balanced is the difficulty. Are the difficulty levels reasonable? I usually play on Hard mode for 1st playthroughs (excluding Tales of Destiny 2 JPN, ugh, had to play on Second for that) so I'm hoping it'll be a fun challenge and not a chore.

And how's Unknown in this game if anybody has unlocked that yet? Same like Abyss where its enemies had cheap stats and battles take an hour if you happen to have crap equipment or levels? Or is it more balanced out this time?

 

[Jonnyram]

But you guys are at acceptable levels. I avoid battles when I can! Although I'm LV14 now which I think is actually around what I should be at. It's weird. He's pretty easy if I don't pay attention to the flowers. But as soon as he gets stunned once, it's like he goes into overdrive.

Lv18 is a typical level for that fight. I don't know what you're trying to achieve at 14

 

[kiryogi]

Ok. I might have to step down to normal for this guy. Or study an unknown video.

Spoiler

He keeps healing himself! and hiougi's me to no end. Oh the pain

 

[My Arms Your Hearse]

Ok. I might have to step down to normal for this guy. Or study an unknown video.

Spoiler

He keeps healing himself! and hiougi's me to no end. Oh the pain

Spoiler

Flynn? That fight took FOREVER. Once he got to half health he did nothing but heal like a little bitch. The casted heal isn't so bad... but i never play with Yuri and he didn't seem to have any options for knocking him out of his Guardian Field type move (Azure Edge and its variations never interrupted it). BTW, you don't have to beat him. though you do miss out on two pretty decent items (though I think they're both craftable and you get one of them earlier).

 

[kiryogi]

Spoiler

Flynn? That fight took FOREVER. Once he got to half health he did nothing but heal like a little bitch. The casted heal isn't so bad... but i never play with Yuri and he didn't seem to have any options for knocking him out of his Guardian Field type move (Azure Edge and its variations never interrupted it). BTW, you don't have to beat him. though you do miss out on two pretty decent items (though I think they're both craftable and you get one of them earlier).

Spoiler

Alexei

I"m watching an unknown video for it right now. Blowing my mind how insane the battle is on both sides.

 

[My Arms Your Hearse]

Spoiler

Alexei

I"m watching an unknown video for it right now. Blowing my mind how insane the battle is on both sides.

Oh yea, he does as well. Though... as I recall his are casted only? They shouldn't be THAT hard to interrupt.

What is your group makeup?

I haven't played it on unknown, I just don't see why you wouldn't be able to stop him from doing it.