2.5 hours in and:
Seriously, got nothin'. I'm in the Tephra Cave with Reyn and Fiora, and I thought I had a handle on the combat right up until I died like five times in a row. It seems like I can either go straight in and get instantly killed by a giant spiky slug and its friends, or I can take the little bridge route off to the right and get killed slowly against a big rabbit dude. Is there a good beginner's guide out there? Like,
beginner beginner, I mean. I've played a couple of JRPGs before, but never one with combat like this (and I've never played an MMO), so I've pretty much just been spamming all the Arts one after the other and hoping for the best. The idea of attacking automatically is really weird to me, and I have no idea if I should be running around trying to dodge attacks. Running into a battle and having my tiny screen instantly filled with all sorts of words I don't fully understand is incredibly overwhelming
I'm really looking forward to playing through this giant thing, but right now I just need to get my head above water for like half a second. I'll be going through this thread to see what you duders recommend.
I dunno if this will help, but here is my "basic" explanation of how combat goes:
First, auto attacks are basically the "attack" command you usually execute in turn-based JRPGs. It will only execute when you are within the attack range, so basically melee or close to enemy for the most part. It will be executed in intervals as long as you are close to the target. You can improve the speed of your auto-attacks but that's for later parts of the game
When you and your party attack a target, it will choose amongst everyone the target of its own attacks. It will usually target the ones who deal the most damage among other things, and that is what you call "aggro". If you are using Shulk, you are at best avoiding being aggro'd or being the target of enemy's attention. That's where Reyn comes into play. His role is to draw the target's attention, get being attacked, and gives the others the opportunity to attack on blind spots. It is important to manage aggro in battles as that is one key to every strategy in this game. Let the tanks (the ones with great defense and durability) get being attacked and getting aggro'd while the others do their thing.
Arts are the special skills you can execute at anytime for as long as they are available to use. They vary in kind, use and range, but assume first that every art you use is also close range, since you are very early in the game. The kinds of arts you have are color coded in the following categories:
GRAY (Talent Art) - The art at the center of your arts menu. It is basically the specialty of each charater. This gets filled up when your auto-attack hits, so that's where the importance of auto-attacks takes place.
BLUE (heal.support) - Healing spells and Support arts. Shulk is the only one currently with healing art, but you'll get party members with healing arts as well. Blue arts are also buff spells, which have varied effects such as reduce aggro (Shulk), increase blocking rate and charge next attack (Reyn). You'll get to know more of these kinds later on.
RED (physical) - special physical attacks. Can inflict some effects to target if they have special effects, like "Bleed" or "Double Damage". Shulk's Back Slash has an effect of Double Damage when you use it at the back of the target.
PINK (break) - they are also physical attacks, but they inflict Break status. Break does not really do anything, but you need it in order to topple the target.
GREEN (topple) - they can be physical or ether ("magic"), but the effect is basically to topple the target. When the target is toppled, they can't attack and defend. So you get basically free hits on a non-moving foe and can land critical attacks with more frequency. You need first to inflict Break in order to Topple. There are ways to force topple, but that's a later tactic in the game, so don't think about it yet
YELLOW (daze) - You may not have these kinds of arts yet, but they inflict Daze status, which is similar to Topple. But Daze can also "reset" the target opponent. "Reset" means reset the aggro and the attack it is about to commit before getting Dazed. You need to inflict Topple first before Daze.
So basic tactic is: PINK (break) -> GREEN (topple) -> Daze (Yellow), or just PINK (break) -> GREEN (topple) while extending topple effect by using another GREEN.
You'll learn other colors as well, such as PURPLE (ether) and ORANGE (aura), but that's for the later part of the game.
Basic tactic when using Shulk: avoid getting aggro'd. Go behind the target and use Back Slash to deal greater damage. Also inflict Break using Air Slash so that Reyn can topple it with a Wild Down follow up from his AI and you can basically gang up and beat your opponent. If you get spotted, just auto attack and Reyn will help draw the enemy's attention away from you.
Basic tactic when using Reyn: just keep attacking and use his talent art (Taunt) on a regular basis to keep the enemy's attention to him. He's hard to get killed and Shulk will heal you if you are in trouble. If Shulk's AI inflicts break, follow it up with Wild Down.
Basic tactic when using Fiora: just play like you are using Shulk.
Another thing in battle is the tension. You see the character portrait change in battle? That's the work of tension. Higher tension will change their portraits from calm-looking to angry-looking, and this will make them perform well in battle. Lower tension will change their portraits to slumped-looking and they'll perform trash. To keep the tension high, you must:
- time those B-button prompts good. A perfectly-timed press will give the highest tension points, and will also improve affinity to your teammates (See those hearts appear?). The B prompts appear when anyone lands a critical hit, successfully dodged an attack, or misses an attack.
- get battle start affinity. If you initiate an attack, you will get a B prompt at the beginning. Time it correctly and you'll get increased tension right from the start.
- avoid missing attacks. Consecutive misses will drop the tension, that is why focus on your agility stat.
- avoid getting hit hard by status effects. Getting toppled or dazed drops tension too, but you can get it back when you assist a dazed or toppled, or when you get assisted by another party member.
- avoid getting killed. Being KO'd and revived drops tension to oblivion.
- "Encourage" depressed party members. Just approach them and a B button prompt appears to execute a cheer, or just get approached and cheer up when you are low in tension yourself.
That's the gist of the basics, sorry if it's too long lol. You'll eventually learn those by practice anyway
