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Xenoblade 3D |OT| Is that a Monado in your pocket or are you just really feeling it?

ramyeon

Member
So, focusing on main quest and doing side quests only when they are in front of my face is the best way to enjoy playing Xenoblade?
For fetch quests and slaying mob quests yes, I tend to go out of my way to do the challenge quests (Slaying unique monsters) and quest chains from named NPCs that have a bit more story behind them.
 

TheMoon

Member
?

A remake would be something like Metroid Zero Mission, remade from the ground up. Majoras Mask 3D and OOT3D are enhanced ports. The games are built upon the N64 versions, which is why the same glitches exist and why even 64DD beta elements remain in the ROM. Not really any debate here.

You missed the joke there :)

There's no debate. It's that I found it funny because you always jump on everyone calling the 3DS Zelda remasters a "remake" which becomes even funnier when looking at your Reggie derp-face avatar.^^ Hence the avatar-quote comment :D
 

Zing

Banned
I'm to colony six and have enjoyed doing all the quests so far. I'm not using a guide or any outside help, so I don't know what quests I may be missing or which "have more story behind them". I just write down what items/enemies I need to find in a notebook, and cross them off as I complete.
 
So, focusing on main quest and doing side quests only when they are in front of my face is the best way to enjoy playing Xenoblade?

It's really up to you, but I think that most people who hate the "MMO-style fetch quests" tend to approach the game this way. I actually enjoy finding and completing all the side quests, but I seem to be the exception to the rule.

4 days to go!
 

Rich!

Member
So, focusing on main quest and doing side quests only when they are in front of my face is the best way to enjoy playing Xenoblade?

For me, yeah

I'm currently at the end of Valak Mountain, level 45, and I've only so far done sidequests that came along as I progressed with the main quest.

I'm only now just doing a few extra sidequests such as the generator in Eryth and the Giants Mirror quest, just to level up a little bit.

The first time I played Xenoblade I kinda went overboard with sidequests. You don't really need to imo
 

Golnei

Member
I burnt myself OUT by the time I got to sword valley my first time through by stopping to do every single side quest in an area before moving on to the next.

I wasn't being that exhaustive with sidequests, but that's about the same point I started ignoring most of them as well. I think I only really did the few in
Agniratha and a couple of Fallen Arm story quests
from there until the end of the game.
 

Rich!

Member
Just got to sword valley.

Funny how I'm now only half way through the game. I always forget just how insanely long this game is.
 
From what I am reading here, I get that I should take the time in towns and whatever to pick up the quests then just carry on with my own thing, whether it be exploring or going to the next story point, without attempting to do the side quests at all. Eventually they get done by playing the game normally. Is this right?
 

ramyeon

Member
From what I am reading here, I get that I should take the time in towns and whatever to pick up the quests then just carry on with my own thing, whether it be exploring or going to the next story point, without attempting to do the side quests at all. Eventually they get done by playing the game normally. Is this right?
Do the ones that interest you, the collection and mob slaying quests tend to get done just by exploring and fighting anyway. Don't go out of your way to 100% all the quests first time through though, just enjoy the game.

Doing all of them makes you overlevelled but not doing enough will leave you underlevelled I imagine.
 
This is the general course we would recommend, yes. If you stop to bombard yourself with a multitude of fetch quests, you'll burn yourself out. Just pick them up and let the stories and time with the characters be the priority.

Do the ones that interest you, the collection and mob slaying quests tend to get done just by exploring and fighting anyway. Don't go out of your way to 100% all the quests first time through though, just enjoy the game.

Doing all of them makes you overlevelled but not doing enough will leave you underlevelled I imagine.

I see, I bolded my main concern on ramyeon's post. I fear that not doing any of the side content will eventually raise a wall at some point that will require me to spend a ton of time grinding. I guess I will have to find the right balance, do stuff that seems easy/not too time consuming when I can, while leaving whatever else needs to be done up to fate, and get it done over the course of me doing the story lol.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
You shouldn't need to do quests or grind. Fight the enemies you naturally come across, try to kill the unique enemies you see, do whatever quests you can finish without putting a whole lot of effort into them, and you should be fine.

The only likely exception will be the tail end of the story, because there are basically no quests to do and the areas are really linear so you probably won't be killing many monsters, but you still need to get some levels to keep up with the enemies and bosses.

Also exploring will help since discovering landmarks (and especially secret areas) gives you experience.
 

TheMoon

Member
I see, I bolded my main concern on ramyeon's post. I fear that not doing any of the side content will eventually raise a wall at some point that will require me to spend a ton of time grinding. I guess I will have to find the right balance, do stuff that seems easy/not too time consuming when I can, while leaving whatever else needs to be done up to fate, and get it done over the course of me doing the story lol.

If you're not doing any of the sidequest then that means you're just running from point a to point B, ignoring anything that isn't a story quest marker and you're effectively not playing the game. This isn't Uncharted. It's why we say to accept every quest and then just go nuts and explore (and don't actively avoid combat). You'll complete a ton of them by just doing that.
 

Corgi

Banned
what was annoying at times when you finally tackle a FOE on the map... and then later accept a quest for killing this boss and it doesn't autocomplete :/
 

Rich!

Member
My advice? If you see a dude with an exclamation mark above them, exhaust their dialogue, get all their quests and go on your way. Do that with everyone. At the end of the area, you will have likely finished most of them just by playing the quest and then you can pick up on the more expansive quests

Also, go back to Tephra Cave after the big event in the final part of the game. Giants quest is one everyone should do.
 

random25

Member
I see, I bolded my main concern on ramyeon's post. I fear that not doing any of the side content will eventually raise a wall at some point that will require me to spend a ton of time grinding. I guess I will have to find the right balance, do stuff that seems easy/not too time consuming when I can, while leaving whatever else needs to be done up to fate, and get it done over the course of me doing the story lol.

Not essentially. You can do minimum side quests, be underleveled, and still push through with the game. Strategic team build up and combos can overpower enemies even 10 levels above your party. A challenging, but manageable battles can be done by at least keeping your party 5 levels below bosses. Cheesing it out can also be done by having your party 5 levels above bosses. That's pretty much the range.

My advice? If you see a dude with an exclamation mark above them, exhaust their dialogue, get all their quests and go on your way. Do that with everyone. At the end of the area, you will have likely finished most of them just by playing the quest and then you can pick up on the more expansive quests

Also, go back to Tephra Cave after the big event in the final part of the game. Giants quest is one everyone should do.

This. You just accept them and just play along the game. In no time, they are automatically accomplished or gives you a note to deliver the items while you are busy exploring and just casually beating up monsters scattered on the area. Even the "timed" quests warns you when the deadline comes, so you have all the time in the game to finish the quests. The quests people need to pay attention to are the ones given by unique NPCs as they progress and have sub-plots underneath them.
 
I ask this simply because the game drops the week before exams for me :/ I won't be able to put an awful lot of time into the game. Maybe I should just play once I'm all done with this semester to enjoy it fully.
 

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
I put in like 30 hours into Xenoblade on the Wii. I don't think I left frontier village, though.

Gonna double dip and hopefully put in more time on the N3DS version.
 

Xbro

Member
For those who are interested, these are the three quests I think everyone should do.

-Nopon Kingpin
-Giant's Quest
-Late game High Entia quests(Going to bundle all of these together because they are a collection of different quests and all of them have the same feeling)
 
Fallen Arm is the area with the best set of sidequests, because unlike the other quest hubs they don't have the generic "kill x/collect x" crap
 

Rich!

Member
I'm thinking digital will be the way to go with a game this big. Will make things a lot convenient. I dunno; I generally only adhere to physical copies for the 3DS.

What are your plans?

Everything else digital. Xenoblade only cost me £28 when I got it last week as a physical cart, its never leaving my New XL.
 

oakenhild

Member
Does anyone know if Gamestop is going to have physical copies of this in-store?

Seeing online only on the website so far.
 
I'm thinking digital will be the way to go with a game this big. Will make things a lot convenient. I dunno; I generally only adhere to physical copies for the 3DS.

What are your plans?
I already bought it digital. I only have one physical game.
It is nice to be able to boot up during downtime.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
what's the starting quest? can I miss it?
I did many quest on the Wii version. But I can't remember this quest. so i ask

IIRC it's a pretty big quest chain and has some prerequisite quest chains leading up to it. Some of it is timed, but I don't think any of them expire until the post-game opens up.

It's the most impressive quest series in the game in my opinion, tying together a number of other quests into a big series with a neat conclusion. The game would have been so much better if all the quests were that interconnected and had that level of quality, even if there were only 25% as many in total.


Edit:
It starts from the Pollen Orb Ingredients quest, but ties in with the quests from Daza near Colony 6, and the quests with Zazadan in Satorl Marsh. I thought there was also a tie in with some Alcamoth quests, but maybe not.
 

CassSept

Member
IIRC it's a pretty big quest chain and has some prerequisite quest chains leading up to it. Some of it is timed, but I don't think any of them expire until the post-game opens up.

It's the most impressive quest series in the game in my opinion, tying together a number of other quests into a big series with a neat conclusion. The game would have been so much better if all the quests were that interconnected and had that level of quality, even if there were only 25% as many in total.

And it's both hilarious and does a nice job at expanding the world.

However, it is timed. It expires after the big story event.
The penultimate quest in the chain takes place in Alcamoth
 
As for quests... Anyone know when the
backalley conspiracy questline
in Colony 9 opens up after the initial string of deliveries? In the short stretch I played in a friend's Wii I made it to the Marshlands and I was still being told to come back later.

Also by Odin, when is that transfer I called in going to go through? I called in on Thursday about having my NNID unlinked from my old 3DS and I've still not gotten the email saying it's clear to log in on my n3DS.

Edit:

Speak of the devil. My pager just notified me I got the email.
 

Xbro

Member
To begin the quest you need to talk to everyone affiliated with the quest.

From memory:

-Zazadan
-Bana
-Gadada
-Dedeba
-Dobadoba
-Cherri
-Daza
-Rasha

You need a 2.5 star affinity with upper bionis(?) for the later quests.


The rewards for the final quest in the chain are:

100,000 G
200,000 EXP
Haste VI
Double Attack V
EXP Up VI

There are four separate quest chains that lead to the final quest.
 

alvis.exe

Member
I actually compiled a list of quests needed for the Kingpin quest for a friend recently so...

Pollen Orb Ingredients
- Dobadoba
Secret Innovation
- Rasha
Secret Ingredient Hunt
- Bana
The Master's Successor
- Dobadoba, 2 star affinity
Dangerous Ambition
- Cherri, 2.5 star affinity, timed

Proof of Status
- Daza (Colony 6)
Safety First
- Daza
Secret Mission
- Daza

Find the Kingpin
- Gadada, timed

Preventing Starvation
- Zazadan (Satorl)
Zazadan in Danger
- Zazadan
Zazadan Still in Danger
- Zazadan
It's All in the Mind
- Zazadan
A Mysterious Delicacy
- Zazadan
A Gift?
- Zazadan, timed

Advsier Hunt
- Gadada, timed
Evidence Collection
- Gadada, timed
Destroying the City Trade
- Gadada, timed
(Kingpin Quest) - Gadada (post Core)

Feel free to correct if I'm missing anything! And just FYI, the only thing in the spoiler tags are the names of the quests and there isn't really anything all that spoiler-y in there.
 

Overside

Banned
From what I am reading here, I get that I should take the time in towns and whatever to pick up the quests then just carry on with my own thing, whether it be exploring or going to the next story point, without attempting to do the side quests at all. Eventually they get done by playing the game normally. Is this right?

Pretty much. If you find yourself wanting to do sidequests, because you find some of the quest lines interesting, but want a way to filter out the garbage, its actually very simple.

All NPC's with no names have are throw away quests with no overarching storylines/impact. They are always kill X of Y, or Kill this Unique monster, they never result in fleshing out world lore, fleshing out npc's and their stories, changing the affinity web, unlocking abilities, or give the great equipment/gem rewards.

You dont have to worry about going out of your way to do those ones at all, as there are plenty of named characters with quest arcs. They arent really for experience grinding, they are more for affinity/renown grinding, which kind of sucks if you messed up and ended up in that situation, but its kind of nice they do have a way to keep the player from getting affinity screwed. This seems to be mainly implemented for trades of items (for optional sidequests of course) that at some point in the game would otherwise become un-attainable if the player didnt already collect enough of them.

You really wont need to grind much at all to beat the story side of the game, the large number of quests are for people who want to go after the optional boss metagame, which far eclipses the levels of anything you face in the story side of the game. Interestingly enough, the metagame forces you to learn how to game its combat system and fight enemies 10+ levels above the player, as the last 5 bosses are all above the players level cap. In other words, its impossible to over level for the meta game side of Xenoblade.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Bah, you need 2 star affinity to do the quest to open up the Hode Lair? I guess that is another UM I will have to skip. Edit: And Brutal Gravar, also requires 2 star affinity plus some prereq quests.

Mischievious Naberius and Majestic Mordred are going to be lots of fun, especially the former since I likely won't have any significant Blaze Resist gems at that point... (I know I can cheese both of those, may resort to it).
 

Rich!

Member
The worst thing about this port: running low on battery

But even then, just close the lid and plug it in or save and quit. Its so fucking perfect for a handheld.

Anyway, just encountered the first section in this version that has frame rate issues:
the fight with mumkhar and two faces in sword valley.
. It was pretty laggy back on the Wii though...but one thing is for sure, I am NOT looking forward to the battle with
Lorithia inside the Bionis heart
. That's gonna be brutal unless Monster Games managed to work some magic.
 
Pretty much. If you find yourself wanting to do sidequests, because you find some of the quest lines interesting, but want a way to filter out the garbage, its actually very simple.

All NPC's with no names have are throw away quests with no overarching storylines/impact. They are always kill X of Y, or Kill this Unique monster, they never result in fleshing out world lore, fleshing out npc's and their stories, changing the affinity web, unlocking abilities, or give the great equipment/gem rewards.

You dont have to worry about going out of your way to do those ones at all, as there are plenty of named characters with quest arcs. They arent really for experience grinding, they are more for affinity/renown grinding, which kind of sucks if you messed up and ended up in that situation, but its kind of nice they do have a way to keep the player from getting affinity screwed. This seems to be mainly implemented for trades of items (for optional sidequests of course) that at some point in the game would otherwise become un-attainable if the player didnt already collect enough of them.

You really wont need to grind much at all to beat the story side of the game, the large number of quests are for people who want to go after the optional boss metagame, which far eclipses the levels of anything you face in the story side of the game. Interestingly enough, the metagame forces you to learn how to game its combat system and fight enemies 10+ levels above the player, as the last 5 bosses are all above the players level cap. In other words, its impossible to over level for the meta game side of Xenoblade.
Great info, thanks! I'm going in kinda blind, with only knowing that I have an epic story ahead of me. If by doing these side quests I also get more story/lore I will gladly do them as well.
 

fred

Member
So, focusing on main quest and doing side quests only when they are in front of my face is the best way to enjoy playing Xenoblade?

Depends on what floats your boat tbh. You can easily spend over a hundred hours just exploring. The game is bloomin HUUUUUGE and any area you see in the background can be travelled to.
 
I actually compiled a list of quests needed for the Kingpin quest for a friend recently so...

Pollen Orb Ingredients
- Dobadoba
Secret Innovation
- Rasha
Secret Ingredient Hunt
- Bana
The Master's Successor
- Dobadoba, 2 star affinity
Dangerous Ambition
- Cherri, 2.5 star affinity, timed

Proof of Status
- Daza (Colony 6)
Safety First
- Daza
Secret Mission
- Daza

Find the Kingpin
- Gadada, timed

Preventing Starvation
- Zazadan (Satorl)
Zazadan in Danger
- Zazadan
Zazadan Still in Danger
- Zazadan
It's All in the Mind
- Zazadan
A Mysterious Delicacy
- Zazadan
A Gift?
- Zazadan, timed

Advsier Hunt
- Gadada, timed
Evidence Collection
- Gadada, timed
Destroying the City Trade
- Gadada, timed
(Kingpin Quest) - Gadada (post Core)

Feel free to correct if I'm missing anything! And just FYI, the only thing in the spoiler tags are the names of the quests and there isn't really anything all that spoiler-y in there.
I believe the great and almighty google spreadsheet has this buried somewhere inside, but this looks like a good quick reference.

"ignore most of the sidequests in Xenoblade" is really something that can't be repeated enough, though. Their poor quality is the thing between this game and perfection.

Well, that and the arbitrary item/equipment box limits. WHY???
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
This was actually a cut area. You can hack the wii version to get into it. No quests or npcs but the zone was completely made

Was probably intended to take place just before Valak Mountain. I mean, the "world layout" of Xenoblade makes no sense at all, but Makna/Eryth/Valak in particular are extremely screwy in where they are relatively to one another. Having the shoulder area in there would at least make it more like the earlier/lower Bionis areas that, while they make little sense scale-wise, at least fit together slightly better.
 
So I don't need to know the story of the previous games?

Like TheMoon said, there's pretty much no direct connection in the story. There are many similarities in the narrative themes and some characters, which are interesting for xeno-fans to take note of, but beyond that there's no real benefit to knowing the story of previous games.
 

Shahadan

Member
This was actually a cut area. You can hack the wii version to get into it. No quests or npcs but the zone was completely made

Yeah, iirc it was the area with the village of giants or something. Shame it was cut, I'd have been interested
 

TDLink

Member
Yeah, iirc it was the area with the village of giants or something. Shame it was cut, I'd have been interested

I agree. It would have been cool to see them finish it up and include it as a bonus since they were doing a new version. Oh well
 

Xbro

Member
Just going to note that they fixed the auto-attack bug in the 3D version.

It’s about the bug that made your characters weaker than their status screen showed. Your characters have an auto-attack, which ranges between two fixed points. For example: Shulk has an auto-attack power of 1200-1600 points, at least the status screen says that. But the bug didn’t make it possible to deal more damage then 1299, because it always just took the minimal possible damage and added 99 points to it. It was never possible to deal 1600 in that situation, only with critical attacks and special attacks.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Just going to note that they fixed the auto-attack bug in the 3D version.

So Attack Plus at least has a reason to exist now, I guess. I think Attack Stability is still the better real-world option since it increases your guaranteed damage output by increasing the minimum, even though Attack Plus increases the maximum, and in turn the theoretical average.

I wonder if there is a patch/code to fix that in the Wii version for Dolphin/Gecko.
 

Dice//

Banned
This was actually a cut area. You can hack the wii version to get into it. No quests or npcs but the zone was completely made

Damn, if there was ever an opportunity for DLC or an HD remake.... y'know, just have it roam with Level 99 enemies or whatever. It's not like XB landscapes aren't fun to traverse.

Ah well.
 

TDLink

Member
Damn, if there was ever an opportunity for DLC or an HD remake.... y'know, just have it roam with Level 99 enemies or whatever. It's not like XB landscapes aren't fun to traverse.

Ah well.

Yeah, you can see it on YouTube. Seems like a really cool area, similar to bionis' leg but still pretty different.
 

Golnei

Member
I agree. It would have been cool to see them finish it up and include it as a bonus since they were doing a new version. Oh well

That would have been fantastic, especially since the version that shipped with the game was completely traversable - aside from a few dummy treasure chests and a duplicate cave that had to be removed, it would have been a fantastic bonus area as is. Especially given how effortless everything is on NG+, it would have been great to be given access to that area with appropriately leveled postgame enemies.
 
So Attack Plus at least has a reason to exist now, I guess. I think Attack Stability is still the better real-world option since it increases your guaranteed damage output by increasing the minimum, even though Attack Plus increases the maximum, and in turn the theoretical average.

I wonder if there is a patch/code to fix that in the Wii version for Dolphin/Gecko.

Attack Stability+Attack Plus was always a "viable" option ;)

("viable" in quotes cause that's two gem slots lol)
 
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