So I know Dunban should focus more on agility rather than defense, but how about the other characters? Should they be packing on the defense or is agility the way to go for anyone not named Reyn?
So I know Dunban should focus more on agility rather than defense, but how about the other characters? Should they be packing on the defense or is agility the way to go for anyone not named Reyn?
Agility for all melee, even Reyn. Since the damn stat increases both accuracy and dodge. Keep in mind that Agility bonuses from Gems cap at 50, so start stacking something else after hitting that threshold.
It's basically the superior stat attribute for non ether users.
Oh right! Ok, I didn't take notes or anything, so I'm just going to write stuff out stream of consciousness style:
- Holy crap, the Emperor was awesome. Actually, now that I think about it, this is the first JRPG I've seen with a good and benevolent emperor.
- Why did the Emperor go to Prison Island? Was it to unlock the Monado's power or something else? I presume it was to unlock its power, since he seemed quite happy to stand aside once Zamza started talking to Shulk.
No, it was to use the power his ancestors had locked away there to defend his people. He didn't know what the power was.
- Man, I don't trust Zamza.
- Man, I sure as fuck don't trust Bakura.
Who?
- Man, I used to trust Melia's Brother, but seeing him trot out Melia's body double started ringing major alarm bells. Especially since the subplot of High Antia Game of Thrones hasn't been resolved, and her Brother kept it to himself that he witnessed his mother plotting murder, I'm starting to think Brother Dearest is in on it.
You're reading too much into it.
- Why the hell was Fiora trying to talk to Zamza? Also, someone mentioned the Monado is a double edged sword. I presume this means that using the Monado to defeat the Mechon might wake up the Bionis, but there's not enough information to make an educated guess.
Before it was unlocked, the Monado couldn't cut people. Now it can.
- The High Antia seemed obsessed with genetics. There was that whole genetic scan for Melia earlier on in the tomb, and again here. Obviously the Forefathers either wanted something inherent in Homs DNA or there is something majorly fucked up about either the High Antia people or at least the Antiqua bloodline. Maybe this is related to that statue of the Telethia, which someone guessed might be what old High Antians looked like?
now. Just wanted to posts my musings and speculations, please don't actually confirm or correct anything I say as I wanna discover the story by myself as it unfolds.
Mecha Fiora's comments about her "reawakening" (or did she use another word? "Rebirth," perhaps?) sounds intriguing. I wonder if that's just the term Mechon use to describe the process of being turned into Mechon, or if there are reincarnation shenanigans at work.
I'm also kinda embarrassed that I didn't realize Metal Face was Dunban's shitty friend from the prologue until the game spelled it out to me. The voice and claws really should have tipped me off, but I have to admit, I kinda forgot he existed after the prologue was done.
Finally, I really hope Melia and Shulk get together. They're so cute (and besides, Melia is fucking Empress. Shulk would be marrying up!) Fiora and her sandwiches can fuck right off.
I realized the Metal Face twist on prison island. I think the way they handled it was pretty well done. In the prologue, one of the first things they do is draw attention to mumkhar's weapons. But after that there are a few hours before we see Metal Face, and at that point you probably won't have him in mind. Then there are probably at least 10 hours before you actually here him talk, so by that point many people (like myself), won't remember the voice of that one character in the prologue enough to make the connection
Seriously, don't comment on speculation when you know what's going to happen. Part of the fun of speculation is seeing for yourself if you were right or not
Agility for all melee, even Reyn. Since the damn stat increases both accuracy and dodge. Keep in mind that Agility bonuses from Gems cap at 50, so start stacking something else after hitting that threshold.
It's basically the superior stat attribute for non ether users.
Cool, thanks. So does that mean the ether users should stack defense then? Or is agility still better for them, just not as useful as for the melee users?
Oh, sorry, I meant Alvis. Bakura is the personal nickname I have for him since he reminds me of the character from Yu Gi Oh.
And thanks for clarification for the other points! I didn't remember them when writing my posts, but I do recall them now. Man, lots of shit went down on
Cool, thanks. So does that mean the ether users should stack defense then? Or is agility still better for them, just not as useful as for the melee users?
Agility is great for everyone. Everyone. Even for characters that you don't want targeted anyway (Melia, Sharla, Shulk most of the time) if for some reason they are targeted you want to avoid as much damage as possible. Since it also increases accuracy you'll want it anyways (need to make sure that Spear Break + Starlight Kick hits).
Muscle Up and Ether Def Up are great if you have extra slots that need filling in. I don't make them my top priority, but they definitely help if you're looking for something to use.
Oh right! Ok, I didn't take notes or anything, so I'm just going to write stuff out stream of consciousness style:
- Holy crap, the Emperor was awesome. Actually, now that I think about it, this is the first JRPG I've seen with a good and benevolent emperor.
- Why did the Emperor go to Prison Island? Was it to unlock the Monado's power or something else? I presume it was to unlock its power, since he seemed quite happy to stand aside once Zamza started talking to Shulk.
- Man, I don't trust Zamza.
- Man, I sure as fuck don't trust Bakura.
- Man, I used to trust Melia's Brother, but seeing him trot out Melia's body double started ringing major alarm bells. Especially since the subplot of High Antia Game of Thrones hasn't been resolved, and her Brother kept it to himself that he witnessed his mother plotting murder, I'm starting to think Brother Dearest is in on it.
- Why the hell was Fiora trying to talk to Zamza? Also, someone mentioned the Monado is a double edged sword. I presume this means that using the Monado to defeat the Mechon might wake up the Bionis, but there's not enough information to make an educated guess.
- The High Antia seemed obsessed with genetics. There was that whole genetic scan for Melia earlier on in the tomb, and again here. Obviously the Forefathers either wanted something inherent in Homs DNA or there is something majorly fucked up about either the High Antia people or at least the Antiqua bloodline. Maybe this is related to that statue of the Telethia, which someone guessed might be what old High Antians looked like?
Had this same experience. I freed up a file for my kid brother to play and explained small things to him, although he seemed to make it through alright. One problem was when he had to inflict Topple to do damage against Metal Face but his party arrangement was messed up, so I had to start with Dunban and teach him how to inflict Break that way. Last I checked he arrived on Bionis Leg.
It's really embarrassing that it took me this long to get the blatant Erythrean Sea allusion. In fairness, 'Red Sea' is the more common term by far...
As a result, I was interested in seeing what the etymology of the other main areas could be - Tephra Cave is fairly straightforward, seemingly named after a type of volcanic material and/or a Greek word for 'ash', Valak Mountain likely comes from the Goetic demon of the same name; it'd make sense for Makna/Macuna Forest/Woods to be named for this plant genus; and Gaur Plain may come from either a species of cattle or the archaic rendering of the name of the first post-diluvian king of Sumeria. Also, assuming Agniratha is intended to be read as a two-word phrase; it's likely derived from the Vedic fire deity and messenger between god and man Agni, and the Sanskrit/Rigvedic term for 'chariot', Ratha - in addition, 'ratha' is also used to describe a vertically projected structure emanating from a tower in Hindu temple architecture, fitting the actual construction of Agniratha
atop Mechonis
relatively well. Finally, Alcamoth / Achamoth appears to be derived from the Hebrew term for the Gnostic figure more commonly referred to as Sophia, intended to represent one of the feminine aspects of God and the human soul. Several parallels can be drawn between the concept and the role of the High Entia; its role as representative of the Holy Spirit of the Holy Trinity is analogous to
Lorithia's status as one of Zanza's three disciples
, the description of Sophia / Achamoth dwelling at the very apex of the created universe refers to Alcamoth's position on the Bionis' head, and the common themes of a fall from grace and divine birth in the Sophia mythos are echoed by the
High Entia's sole purpose being a vector for the birth of Telethia, in contrast to their presumed superiority among the life of Bionis
- the Sophia's characterisation as a finite spirit longing for the infinite can also be seen in the
High Entia's near-futile struggle to escape the curse of their blood.
there are some random difficulty spikes in this game that are both frustrating and enjoyable. Those 2 filler quests to open
access to Prison Island
were much longer and tougher than i thought they would be. Found myself using Lure a bunch since just running to the unlock button meant that i was fighting like 10 monsters at once hah.
Past that point now and clocking in at 25 hours. I feel like i'm about halfway through but i'd rather not look at a guide for fear of spoilers. how far am i?
there are some random difficulty spikes in this game that are both frustrating and enjoyable. Those 2 filler quests to open
access to Prison Island
were much longer and tougher than i thought they would be. Found myself using Lure a bunch since just running to the unlock button meant that i was fighting like 10 monsters at once hah.
Past that point now and clocking in at 25 hours. I feel like i'm about halfway through but i'd rather not look at a guide for fear of spoilers. how far am i?
Well, you're still in Bionis, so there's still a long ways to go lol. I guess you're about halfway in the game if you reach the bridge connecting the the two titans.
I don't think it's 30%. 45% may be closer, 40% at the lowest.
Off the top of my head I count
_______nine______
more zones to explore before the end. Obviously longer if you do sidequests, of which a lot of really beneficial ones open up a specific "point of no return" event.
Seriously, don't comment on speculation when you know what's going to happen. Part of the fun of speculation is seeing for yourself if you were right or not
I don't think it's 30%. 45% may be closer, 40% at the lowest.
Off the top of my head I count
_______nine______
more zones to explore before the end. Obviously longer if you do sidequests, of which a lot of really beneficial ones open up a specific "point of no return" event.
I don't think it's above 40%. Take note it's before Prison Island, and the next map is not a short trek. Plus the whole Mechonis part is pretty long too.
Been taking my time with the game and I'm having a blast. The thing that's difficult for me to do is raise affinity though since I don't like using certain characters or I don't use them within a certain team. Anyway around this?
Been taking my time with the game and I'm having a blast. The thing that's difficult for me to do is raise affinity though since I don't like using certain characters or I don't use them within a certain team. Anyway around this?
You can give Presents from one character to another, which can raise or lower their affinity. There are extensive lists what present is the best for a certain character, but I haven't really looked into it.
Been taking my time with the game and I'm having a blast. The thing that's difficult for me to do is raise affinity though since I don't like using certain characters or I don't use them within a certain team. Anyway around this?
If you want to raise affinity outside of battles you can give gifts. Different characters like certain gifts, so if you know what they are you can go into the Items menu and have one character give them to another to raise the affinity between them. Also, quests will raise affinity too.
Keep in mind that you don't need top affinity between all team members. It just isn't really necessary. It contributes to Chain Links but your favored party groups will gain that anyways. It does help with crafting, so I would look into raising affinity for any characters that will be in that process (and since Sharla x Riki is great for that, I do end up going out of my way to make sure the affinity between those two is really strong). Other than that, it's really just for completionist purposes.
Been taking my time with the game and I'm having a blast. The thing that's difficult for me to do is raise affinity though since I don't like using certain characters or I don't use them within a certain team. Anyway around this?
Protip: When accepting or ending quests via talking to unique NPCs, change your party with a group you want to raise affinity with. Just reload if you don't get affinity.
Other is the suggestion before me, which is using collectibles as presents.
Been taking my time with the game and I'm having a blast. The thing that's difficult for me to do is raise affinity though since I don't like using certain characters or I don't use them within a certain team. Anyway around this?
I think the OP probably has good tips(well the Wii OT from a couple years ago IIRC), but one method that is a bit slow but kind of works is to switch your party to the 'affinity team' when in towns as your active team usually has unique dialogue and affinity gains when both getting quests from NPC's and turning them in after completion. Switch back to your combat team when going back out into the world to fight.
Edit: Oh and gifts as mentioned, I never actually have tried any of that. Should really do so as I am so sick of seeing the majority of Heart-to-hearts as unavailable.
I played this during my lunch break and spent almost the entire time watching cutscenes lol.
wowzers, Monado II get! Emperor is dead, the obvious twist that Fiona was in that girly Mechonis finally is revealed and that cowardly dude from the intro with the spikes is totally inside Metal Face!
You can give Presents from one character to another, which can raise or lower their affinity. There are extensive lists what present is the best for a certain character, but I haven't really looked into it.
For those asking about affinity, while there are ways to do it outside of combat, it's much slower than grinding affinity against a unique enemy with a spike debuff. The player character gems in status resist of debuff resist, while your party members get constantly demoralized, which gives you very quick and constant chances to raise affinity. You're not trying to beat the enemy, so you don't need to be that good with the characters and you can run away if you're low on HP. There are unique enemies with spike debuffs as early as level ~38.
Your items are better put to use for trading or (if needed) selling.
Yeah, that part seemed a bit spoilery. Thanks for the rest of the comments, DragonGirl, but that specific comment did kinda give me more of an idea of what's going to happen, or at least what won't be happening.
Speaking of which, I was rewatching the
Prison Island
scene, and something really spurred my interest.
Firstly, Fiora seemed to know of Zamza, who then responds that she's "outside the preestablished harmony." My guess is that there are groundhog day shenanigans at work. Maybe the players are different, but I'm starting to wonder if these events have played out before and Mecha Fiora is wild card.
Also Fiora knowing Zamza (at least by reputation) seems to suggest to me that getting Mechonisized seems to involve attaining additional knowledge about the going ons of the world. I'll probably find out more next time we run into Metal Face and his buddies.
I'm a big fan of farming affinity at the Lava Cave.
Also barring random drops I bet I can do most of the quests in the game in ten hours tops now. Once you learn about spawn points and get a good idea of frontier village it becomes simple.
Alvis and Shulk just had the Monado Talk. From what I gathered, the world is essentially composed of ether, and since the behavior of ether can be measured and predicted, the future behavior of everything in the world can also be predicted. That's...actually kinda grim, since it would mean that it is scientific fact in the world of Xenoblade that free will is an illusion.
Alvis and Shulk just had the Monado Talk. From what I gathered, the world is essentially composed of ether, and since the behavior of ether can be measured and predicted, the future behavior of everything in the world can also be predicted. That's...actually kinda grim, since it would mean that it is scientific fact in the world of Xenoblade that free will is an illusion.
Alvis and Shulk just had the Monado Talk. From what I gathered, the world is essentially composed of ether, and since the behavior of ether can be measured and predicted, the future behavior of everything in the world can also be predicted. That's...actually kinda grim, since it would mean that it is scientific fact in the world of Xenoblade that free will is an illusion.
People are generally night people or day people. So talk to the day people, then all of the night people. Then after talking to the night people, go back and talk to the day people.
Get quests, do them. Then talk to all of the participants in said quests. When you hit a dead end, go adventuring. When you reach a new area, go back and talk to everyone as they won't give out quests until you get to the area with the monster/collectable they need. Rinse, repeat.
and the track that plays when you are there is fucking great. It's amazing how they make the track "go" with where you are. Both sides of the bridge sound different in terms of the sound direction, melody, instruments used, it's brilliant. I kinda wanna buy the OST for collection.
Lv 54 Dunban/Riki/Reyn defeated Spiral valley lv90 Immovable Gonzalez. Riki's 4th skill tree is very useful. With back attack accuracy up 50%, Dunban do not need serene heart to increase the accuracy. With spike defense VI, this monster is a joke.
Yeah, that part seemed a bit spoilery. Thanks for the rest of the comments, DragonGirl, but that specific comment did kinda give me more of an idea of what's going to happen, or at least what won't be happening.
Speaking of which, I was rewatching the
Prison Island
scene, and something really spurred my interest.
Firstly, Fiora seemed to know of Zamza, who then responds that she's "outside the preestablished harmony." My guess is that there are groundhog day shenanigans at work. Maybe the players are different, but I'm starting to wonder if these events have played out before and Mecha Fiora is wild card.
Also Fiora knowing Zamza (at least by reputation) seems to suggest to me that getting Mechonisized seems to involve attaining additional knowledge about the going ons of the world. I'll probably find out more next time we run into Metal Face and his buddies.
Sorry about that, I hadn't intended to leave that there. I posted it, thought better of that particular comment and edited it, but apparently it didn't save. I didn't check the post again after I edited it.
Sorry about that, I hadn't intended to leave that there. I posted it, thought better of that particular comment and edited it, but apparently it didn't save. I didn't check the post again after I edited it.
No worries, we all make mistakes
Lord knows I've accidentally spoiled more than my share of games and movies for other people.
Also, on my continuing Xenosaga adventures, we got a visit from a familiar face:
So Mecha Fiora popped up again, and probably the most interesting thing she said was, "do you know this body?" Guess this sorta answers my questions as to why people who have gotten robotized seem changed. My current hypothesis is that the true Mechon are some sort of lifeform, possibly digital or ether based, that requires a biological vessel to interact with the physical world.
Though that doesn't explain why Metal Face is so close to his human life; retaining the same memories, personality and general assholishness, whereas Fiora and presumably Xord are very different from their human selves.
Also, Melia has just learned Starlight Kick, which in addition to being a really good move, is literally a Shining Wizard. So in addition to being a powerful mage and Empress, Melia is also moonlighting as a professional wrestler. Truly she is best girl and Shulk would be a fool not to love her.
No worries, we all make mistakes
Lord knows I've accidentally spoiled more than my share of games and movies for other people.
Also, on my continuing Xenosaga adventures, we got a visit from a familiar face:
So Mecha Fiora popped up again, and probably the most interesting thing she said was, "do you know this body?" Guess this sorta answers my questions as to why people who have gotten robotized seem changed. My current hypothesis is that the true Mechon are some sort of lifeform, possibly digital or ether based, that requires a biological vessel to interact with the physical world.
Though that doesn't explain why Metal Face is so close to his human life; retaining the same memories, personality and general assholishness, whereas Fiora and presumably Xord are very different from their human selves.
Also, Melia has just learned Starlight Kick, which in addition to being a really good move, is literally a Shining Wizard. So in addition to being a powerful mage and Empress, Melia is also moonlighting as a professional wrestler. Truly she is best girl and Shulk would be a fool not to love her.
So I'm trying to beat a boss mechon and two henchmen in the beginning of Sword Valley and the camera in this battle makes me so irritated that I'm wanting to give up. I can't tell what the fuck is going on or where my teammates are. Seriously considering dumping this game after 50 hours. Gamefaqs walkthroughs have been pretty useless. Any ideas to make this battle manageable?
So I'm trying to beat a boss mechon and two henchmen in the beginning of Sword Valley and the camera in this battle makes me so irritated that I'm wanting to give up. I can't tell what the fuck is going on or where my teammates are. Seriously considering dumping this game after 50 hours. Gamefaqs walkthroughs have been pretty useless. Any ideas to make this battle manageable?
Alvis and Shulk just had the Monado Talk. From what I gathered, the world is essentially composed of ether, and since the behavior of ether can be measured and predicted, the future behavior of everything in the world can also be predicted. That's...actually kinda grim, since it would mean that it is scientific fact in the world of Xenoblade that free will is an illusion.
