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[beje]

source?

Sorry, I missed the thread. Some guy from a spanish forum called Nintendo Spain customer care to ask and they confirmed it, also saying the shipping would depend on the demand by the stores.

http://www.vandal.net/foro/mensaje/633771/nueva-tirada-xenoblade-segunda-quincena/

It's still not 100% sure but it doesn't hurt to check around from next wednesday.

 

[Oxx]

Should I get rid of all the level 1 crystals if I have so many I can't pick-up fresh ones?

I have some that are level 4, so the lower-level stuff is just a waste of inventory space, right?

 

[slaughterking]

Should I get rid of all the level 1 crystals if I have so many I can't pick-up fresh ones?

I have some that are level 4, so the lower-level stuff is just a waste of inventory space, right?

Oh, absolutely. As soon as I got access to the next tier of crystals I sold the lower ones.

 

[Twilight Princess]

How's the story in the game? How does it compare to Xenosaga/Baten Kaitos/Origins?

i never played xeno-anything other than xenoblade. but i did beat both kaitos, and i think xenoblade is superior in terms of everything. still love bk's, but xenoblade is just soo good. you should definitely get it.

 

[Gvaz]

It's less than Xenosaga imo but the actual plot is probably better for most. It's not so confusing for most perhaps, and keeps you pretty interested.

Then again I loved all the space nerd gism being thrown around in xenosaga so....

 

[Zornica]

Regardless. You shouldn't be forced to do them if you want to proceed with the story. You should be able to get enough experience to do the story, just by doing the story. I personally think sidequests shouldn't give XP, instead just give items which could potentially and optionally help you. It would also fix the problem of being overlevelled if you do all of them.

I still really like the game, but it definitely is one my my biggest problems with the game. That and a lot of the character interaction is relegated to the heart to hearts which again, you have to grind for.

no one forces you to do any quests in this game.
I didnt do a single quest on my first playthrough and it wasn´t a problem at all.
just follow that damn arrow, kill everything thats roughly your lvl along the path and still nobody will be able to stop you.

 

[MYE]

Holy fuck the areas on this game are like 10 times bigger than i thought

And no loadings. What wizardry?...

 

[McNum]

Holy fuck the areas on this game are like 10 times bigger than i thought

And no loadings. What wizardry?...

Try using skip travel from one end of the world to another. Fade out, fade in. I don't know how they do that either. Well, apart from the obvious that they load terrain and player character first and let you move while it loads the other two party members and all the NPCs and enemies.

Wizardry sounds about right, though.

 

[Electivirus]

Alright, just got through the

Spoiler

Ether Mine

and the series of cutscenes/story battles that followed.

holy shit this was fucking awesome.

Spoiler

From both Zord fights to Reyn saving Otharon to the confrontation with Metal Face and his posse outside the mines to Dunban (with a very stylish outfit, might I add) and Dickson showing up to HOLY SHIT HUGE DRAGON WHAT THE FUCK

. Phew. That was a lot to take in. @_@

 

[Finalow]

Spoiler

there is no reason to do a new game +, it's pretty useless.

 

[HolyCheck]

Spoiler

there is no reason to do a new game +, it's pretty useless.

That was the worst use of the spoiler tag I've ever seen. You should actually be ashamed.

 

[Finalow]

That was the worst use of the spoiler tag I've ever seen. You should actually be ashamed.

well, you know, everything is a spoiler here. Or i could say that it was an

Spoiler

automatic reaction.

 

[Vamphuntr]

no one forces you to do any quests in this game.
I didnt do a single quest on my first playthrough and it wasn´t a problem at all.
just follow that damn arrow, kill everything thats roughly your lvl along the path and still nobody will be able to stop you.

Once again, if you do that you will miss skills and arts. For instance, I finally got Riki's 4th skill line and a Monado art by doing long quest lines at Frontier Village. If you want all the skills you have to suffer.

 

[HylianScribe]

Spoiler

there is no reason to do a new game +, it's pretty useless.

I accidentally heard about a point of no return when it comes to completing all the quests, so I had been spending a lot of time completing as many of them as possible up to a certain point. That's when I just said screw it, and moved on past that point of no return.

You said that new game+ was pretty pointless. Could you explain what the new game+ features are?

I'm pretty sure I'm at the final boss at 70 hours and at Level 78. Describing where I am,

Spoiler

I just ran through space past Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and the Moon and am fighting Zanza, and am at his second form

. I can see that if you did all the quests and went for Level 99, you'd be at the 120-160 hour range some others here have stated. I made a save before the point of no return in case there was no new game+ or it would be more of a hassle to utilize new game+ to finish all the remaining quests than re-loading the old save after I beat the game. I've had completed just over 300 quests at the point of that save point.

 

[HolyCheck]

well, you know, everything is a spoiler here. Or i could say that it was an

Spoiler

automatic reaction.

Ok just.. *runs*

Spoiler Etiquette

The following is an example of what is good and bad spoiler usage:

Correct spoiler marking strategies.
This is a spoiler for the 4th boss fight in Zelda

Spoiler

I can't believe the part when the boss breaks out a deck of cards and starts playing poker with himself!

Incorret spoiler marking strategies.
I can't believe

Spoiler

link

dies at the end of the boss fight against

Spoiler

megaman

or

Spoiler

Dude, I can't believe link just died

 

[PixyJunket]

Spoiler Etiquette

The following is an example of what is good and bad spoiler usage:

I'm not quoting the entire thing, but if this isn't in the Forum FAQ, it should be.

 

[Finalow]

Ok just.. *runs*

Spoiler Etiquette

The following is an example of what is good and bad spoiler usage:

Correct spoiler marking strategies.
This is a spoiler for the 4th boss fight in Zelda

Spoiler

I can't believe the part when the boss breaks out a deck of cards and starts playing poker with himself!

Incorret spoiler marking strategies.
I can't believe

Spoiler

link

dies at the end of the boss fight against

Spoiler

megaman

or

Spoiler

Dude, I can't believe link just died

ok, nice. Now i'm a better man, thanks dude.

I accidentally heard about a point of no return when it comes to completing all the quests, so I had been spending a lot of time completing as many of them as possible up to a certain point. That's when I just said screw it, and moved on past that point of no return.

You said that new game+ was pretty pointless. Could you explain what the new game+ features are?

I'm pretty sure I'm at the final boss at 70 hours and at Level 78. Describing where I am,

Spoiler

I just ran through space past Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and the Moon and am fighting Zanza, and am at his second form

. I can see that if you did all the quests and went for Level 99, you'd be at the 120-160 hour range some others here have stated. I made a save before the point of no return in case there was no new game+ or it would be more of a hassle to utilize new game+ to finish all the remaining quests than re-loading the old save after I beat the game. I've had completed just over 300 quests at the point of that save point.

in the new game + you have everything from the save that you use and you can start a new game at the same level (in your case, 78), there is nothing more. The same game, but you are overlevelled.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Once again, if you do that you will miss skills and arts. For instance, I finally got Riki's 4th skill line and a Monado art by doing long quest lines at Frontier Village. If you want all the skills you have to suffer.

Why do you feel compelled to get all the skills if you don't enjoy getting them?

 

[HolyCheck]

I'm not quoting the entire thing, but if this isn't in the Forum FAQ, it should be.

It is! and theres plenty more too on when it's appropriate to not use spoilers and so on.

ok, nice. Now i'm a better man, thanks dude.

No probs! Just spreading the good word

 

[mclem]

Collecting the feathers is boring but simple. You're not a slave to random algorithms. They are always there you only need to have "access" to it. Once collected you put them back in your box in the villa, that's it. In Xenoblade you need to hope the game will give you the items or rare drops you want. Hope the items is not only available or dropped during a specific wheather, find the person that gave you the quest to return it. Then you need to warp yourself between landmark to make them respawn over and over again to get what you want. Even with a guide it's tedious. There are probably 5 or 6 times as much quests as feathers to collect in AC2.

...or, alternatively, trade for them. Wander round town, find someone who stocks it, then get all your items from them.

But hey, if you want to entrust random chance, be my guest.

 

[MatthewB92]

Doesn't read the spoiler if you haven't seen common lvl 50+ monsters.

Spoiler

Oooh shit face 20814

 

[chris121580]

I finally got my copy and started this up tonight. Loving it so far. Quick question, I'm playing through USB loader and it's not displaying full screen. Is this game not full screen?

 

[Aeana]

I finally got my copy and started this up tonight. Loving it so far. Quick question, I'm playing through USB loader and it's not displaying full screen. Is this game not full screen?

It'll be letterboxed on 4:3 TVs.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

I'm pretty sure I'm going to just sell my Wii once I'm finished with this. No way Zelda is even touching near the greatness of this game. I'm a little over ten hours in, just awesome.

Curious how far in I am, though I'm sure it's like a tenth of the way.

Spoiler

I just fought the second mech with a face on my way to colony 6.

Time to start cutting back on doing every single side quest. I'll keep doing some, but I'm not a completionist or someone who really enjoys RPG's so I better start trucking along so I don't burn myself out.

 

[Anasui Kishibe]

I'm pretty sure I'm going to just sell my Wii once I'm finished with this. No way Zelda is even touching near the greatness of this game. I'm a little over ten hours in, just awesome.

Curious how far in I am, though I'm sure it's like a tenth of the way.

Spoiler

I just fought the second mech with a face on my way to colony 6.

Time to start cutting back on doing every single side quest. I'll keep doing some, but I'm not a completionist or someone who really enjoys RPG's so I better start trucking along so I don't burn myself out.

eh give Zelda a chance man

 

[chris121580]

It'll be letterboxed on 4:3 TVs.

Hmm I have a 42" widescreen and it's being letterboxed

 

[Haunted]

It's happened a couple of times to me. All the enemies probably have to be of the same type. I know some Tirkins did it once, and I think some Igna did it too.

If you think about it in in-game logic, it probably takes some kind of elevated intelligence and cooperation to pull them off, so it makes sense that only humanoid mobs like Hode, Igna or Tirkin are capable of doing a chain attack.

It's the kind of detail a developer actually thinking about his game world would put into the game.

Curious how far in I am, though I'm sure it's like a tenth of the way.

Spoiler

I just fought the second mech with a face on my way to colony 6.

Time to start cutting back on doing every single side quest. I'll keep doing some, but I'm not a completionist or someone who really enjoys RPG's so I better start trucking along so I don't burn myself out.

Yeah, you're still really early.

Hmm I have a 42" widescreen and it's being letterboxed

Wii set to 16:9? Checked the game-specific USBLoader settings?

The game is widescreen (and looks beautiful).

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

Yeah, you're still really early.

Figured. And, awesome since I still don't really know shit as far as plot goes. I also don't have a fucking clue how that gem creation shit works if someone can explain it to me. I get the whole reaching 100% thing, but when you see them making them at the furnace and it tells you to push a button or whatever, what am I supposed to do?

eh give Zelda a chance man

I'm sure I will. Don't think I'm even going to have this epic done before Zelda arrives. I'm sure it'll be good, I'm just not too enthused by anything I've seen. Looks like more Zelda. Give me a hand drawn Link to the Past style Zelda and I'll give hand jobs to every Nintendo employee.

 

[KarmaCow]

Figured. And, awesome since I still don't really know shit as far as plot goes. I also don't have a fucking clue how that gem creation shit works if someone can explain it to me. I get the whole reaching 100% thing, but when you see them making them at the furnace and it tells you to push a button or whatever, what am I supposed to do?

That's just an animation, you can either watch it or just hold down A to skip it.

Ideally, you'll want to reach 200% (or even 300%) since that will give gems of a higher rank but at low levels it too much work for short term gains.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

That's just an animation, you can either watch it or just hold down A to skip it.

Ideally, you'll want to reach 200% (or even 300%) since that will give gems of a higher rank but at low levels it too much work for short term gains.

Gotcha. How do you get to 200% when it stops letting you put in crystals or whatever once a stat reaches a 100%. Also, how do you decide who should do what job in the gem making?

 

[InternHertz]

Spoiler

there is no reason to do a new game +, it's pretty useless.

New Game + is useless, and that's why I'm 15 hours into that useless new game +. I did almost everything you can do in one playthrough, and yet I restarted.
Of course, I won't redo everything at the end, but will get my save in a state of "I can finish everything one more time, at any time, if I so want", that's why I'm only focusing on the timed quests.

The only reason I restarted was to experiment with a new weapon, and to get everyone's skill trees to the max, as I needed one more character to get ~8000 SP. And also to level up my arts some more because quite a lot of them were not at level 10 because of AP restriction.

And yet, all of this is useless in the end, because I already did everything else in the game so it won't help me get anything nor beat anyone.

It's just that awesome.

 

[KarmaCow]

Gotcha. How do you get to 200% when it stops letting you put in crystals or whatever once a stat reaches a 100%. Also, how do you decide who should do what job in the gem making?

The game is pretty vague about the mechanics but here it goes.

You need a minimum of two crystals/cylinders to craft but you can select up to 8 crystals/cylinders or until one attribute passes 100%. So you can potentially have one stat up to 198% before even crafting.

The shooter/engineer stuff is pretty simple. The shooter has their specific trait, like they're good with a strong flame. I'm not sure what fever means, I think it's just they'll continue using the same flame rather than letting the game dice roll for the next flame. The engineer is the one that determines the type of flame for crafting.

Strong - Adds 5-10 percent to one attribute
Medium - Adds 1-5 to all attributes
Weak - Fills the cylinder gauge

Reaching 100% at the end means you'll get a gem of that attribute. The higher the percent, the better quality it will be (like more strength). If you reach 200%, it'll say heat and you'll get a gem one rank higher than the input crystals. If it reaches 300%, it'll say mega heat and that means you'll get 2 gems of the higher rank and they'll be max stat for that rank. The games doesn't show you the percentage once you reach 200% though.

If you don't get 100%, you might be given the chance to salvage it, which depends on how many times you fill the cylinder gauge on the right side of the percents when crafting. This is a good way for refining the crystal to just get the attributes you want to focus on for later.

Oh and affinity between characters not only determines the number of turns, even party members not involved as a shooter or engineer might lend support every once in a while.

So use an engineer who is good with medium flames to get some attributes as close to 100% as possible, salvage it as a cylinder, then use them for crafting one specific gem with a strong flame engineer. Again, this is a lot of work for gems that will probably become outclassed in a couple of hours so this is mostly just for when you get rank 5 crystals.

 

[mclem]

Gotcha. How do you get to 200% when it stops letting you put in crystals or whatever once a stat reaches a 100%. Also, how do you decide who should do what job in the gem making?

Add a 90%+ crystal to another 90%+ crystal. 90% crystals are rare, though, which means you need to figure out how to manufacture them.

Fundamentals of the crafting system:

Spoiler

There's three flames; green increases the cylinder gauge (more on that in a moment), blue adds a small number of points to all stats, red adds a lot of points to one stat.

The engineer - the second person you select - has a distribution listed under them which dictates the probability (roughly) of each kind of flame for that engineer. Someone heavy on green flames would end up with a lot on the cylinder gauge; someone heavy on blue would increase all the stats fairly evenly, while red would be fairly randomly defined with some stats making big jumps.

The shooter has a more obvious direct benefit, although to understand exactly what benefits what you need to fully understand the system.

The cylinder gauge starts at one, and increases by one each time you fill it (green flame). For any stat left over after you're done crafting, you can create a new crystal (effectively, although it's termed a cylinder) containing that stat alone using one point of the cylinder gauge; if you have three stats left over, and a cylinder gauge of two, you have to lose one of those stats but the other two can go in cylinders for later use.

When selecting crystals, you don't actually have to hit 100 on a stat to start; you can start earlier than that.

Actual method towards making good gems (you may want to experiment to find this out yourself):

Spoiler

I have a three-step plan to making 200% gems (only hit 300% once, but it'll become easier with better affinity):

REFINE: Take a single crystal. Use an engineer that focusses heavily on green (and maybe a little blue) to 'refine' the gem: Split out all the component parts into separate cylinders). Your goal is to get the cylinder meter to equal the number of stats in the gem, so nothing is lost.

COOK: Take the cylinder of the target stat. Pick an engineer heavy on red flame to try to get it as close to 100% as possible *without actually hitting it* - you don't want a gem yet. This is the tricky part, you can't really use strategy, just judgement. It takes practice to know when to stop. You could also use a blue-heavy engineer for fine-tuning.

BLEND: After going through both the above steps to make two cylinders with high scores, merge them both, with a red-heavy engineer. You should hit 200, and with high enough affinity scores and team contributions, you might make it to 300.

Edit:

You need a minimum of two crystals/cylinders to craft but you can select up to 8 crystals/cylinders or until one attribute passes 100%.

Really? I thought I'd done it with just one, but maybe I'm misremembering.

I'm not sure what fever means, I think it's just they'll continue using the same flame rather than letting the game dice roll for the next flame.

Fever is a bunch of 'free turns' using the last-used flame. Not terribly exciting when it's green!

 

[Neon_Icarus]

Just finished the game at 115 hours... Man what a great ending, what a great game. It has its flaws, but with a game this ambitious, they are easy to forgive.

Now some sleep...

 

[KarmaCow]

Really? I thought I'd done it with just one, but maybe I'm misremembering.

Fever is a bunch of 'free turns' using the last-used flame. Not terribly exciting when it's green!

I remember not being able to craft one crystal but I'm not sure now, heh.

And the fever thing makes a lot more sense now, thanks.

 

[ramyeon]

20 hours in and I just reached Makna Forest and met

Spoiler

Melia. Okay, so I heard she's good. And I heard you need to main her for her to meet her potential. But I'm not getting it. Her one physical attack is weak and useless - and then her Ether arts don't even seem to do anything at all. There's one lightning one and a fire one, but they don't seem to damage the enemies and I'm not seeing much effect at all. Maybe I'm doing something wrong here... Not sure who to have as my party now. I took Sharla out for Melia and have Shulk and Dunban alongside. But now I'm missing Sharla and Reyn has been sitting in the sidelines ever since Dunban came along :/

I'm gonna take a break from the storyline now I think and head back to see how Colonies 9 and 6 are doing.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

Thanks for the lengthy explanations you two. Time to put a few more hours on the clock.

 

[HolyCheck]

hmm, So i've hit a road block in the game about 11 hours in I think (am not at home at the moment) and was wondering if I could get some guidance on where to go now
Spoilers relating to gameplay for the next hour or three after you leave colony 9:

Spoiler

I've gone through all the battling Xord stuff, and have now been told I need to go to some where , and i'm instructed to go the opposite way from bionis leg to some place.. oh god I shouldnt have written this when i'm at work no one will be able to help.. I just have no clue where to go? I'm wandering about the big field of bionis leg..

 

[ramyeon]

hmm, So i've hit a road block in the game about 11 hours in I think (am not at home at the moment) and was wondering if I could get some guidance on where to go now
Spoilers relating to gameplay for the next hour or three after you leave colony 9:

Spoiler

I've gone through all the battling Xord stuff, and have now been told I need to go to some where , and i'm instructed to go the opposite way from bionis leg to some place.. oh god I shouldnt have written this when i'm at work no one will be able to help.. I just have no clue where to go? I'm wandering about the big field of bionis leg..

Spoiler

Just before where you fought Xord in Spiral Valley there's a bridge and a huge wooden gate. Go there and you'll be on your way to Colony 6. It's hard to miss.

 

[HolyCheck]

Spoiler

Just before where you fought Xord in Spiral Valley there's a bridge and a huge wooden gate. Go there and you'll be on your way to Colony 6. It's hard to miss.

Many thanks kind person

 

[Let me in]

Thanks for the lengthy explanations you two. Time to put a few more hours on the clock.

Why doesn't your username wrap? It's throwing the tables all out of whack.

 

[ramyeon]

Many thanks kind person

That is if it's the first time you battled

Spoiler

Xord and he ran away with Juju

anyway

 

[HolyCheck]

That is if it's the first time you battled

Spoiler

Xord and he ran away with Juju

anyway

Eep! no it's the 2nd time!

Spoiler

he's fallen into the ether mines and what not, and i've escaped all that and have one armed pirate person and dickson with me now. well dickson left so just one armed pirate man .. original holder of the monado i forget his name

 

[SecretMoblin]

20 hours in and I just reached Makna Forest and met

Spoiler

Melia. Okay, so I heard she's good. And I heard you need to main her for her to meet her potential. But I'm not getting it. Her one physical attack is weak and useless - and then her Ether arts don't even seem to do anything at all. There's one lightning one and a fire one, but they don't seem to damage the enemies and I'm not seeing much effect at all. Maybe I'm doing something wrong here... Not sure who to have as my party now. I took Sharla out for Melia and have Shulk and Dunban alongside. But now I'm missing Sharla and Reyn has been sitting in the sidelines ever since Dunban came along :/

I'm gonna take a break from the storyline now I think and head back to see how Colonies 9 and 6 are doing.

Regarding the character you just got:

Spoiler

She has quite a different feel than the others and her in-game tutorial is unclear, but she has been my main for as long as I've had her. Her AI is usually the worst, so if you want her in your party you should probably be the one controlling her.

When you use her elemental moves, she summons the element, a colored dot appears above her head, and the party is buffed based on the element used (wind raises agility, fire raises strength, etc.). You can summon up to three elements at a time. After you've summoned something, you can use her talent art - the big circle in the middle - to 'dismiss' the summons in reverse order (the last summoned is the first to be dismissed) and the element is used as an attack. So you can balance buffing the party and attacking the enemy with your summons. Keep in mind that the buffs don't last forever, so if you use wind to raise agility and don't dismiss it, the buff will wear off after a certain amount of time.

When she gets to level 44 she learns a physical move that can topple almost every non-flying enemy in the game, which is extremely useful.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

70 hours in, level 50, just finished

Spoiler

Prison

Island.

Mymindisfulloffuck.gif

 

[ramyeon]

Eep! no it's the 2nd time!

Spoiler

he's fallen into the ether mines and what not, and i've escaped all that and have one armed pirate person and dickson with me now. well dickson left so just one armed pirate man .. original holder of the monado i forget his name

Spoiler

In that case just follow the road up and right from where the cutscene left off. The camera should have zoomed in on the way to go at the end of the cutscene. You need to end up in Satorl Marsh.

Regarding the character you just got:

Spoiler

She has quite a different feel than the others and her in-game tutorial is unclear, but she has been my main for as long as I've had her. Her AI is usually the worst, so if you want her in your party you should probably be the one controlling her.

When you use her elemental moves, she summons the element, a colored dot appears above her head, and the party is buffed based on the element used (wind raises agility, fire raises strength, etc.). You can summon up to three elements at a time. After you've summoned something, you can use her talent art - the big circle in the middle - to 'dismiss' the summons in reverse order (the last summoned is the first to be dismissed) and the element is used as an attack. So you can balance buffing the party and attacking the enemy with your summons. Keep in mind that the buffs don't last forever, so if you use wind to raise agility and don't dismiss it, the buff will wear off after a certain amount of time.

When she gets to level 44 she learns a physical move that can topple almost every non-flying enemy in the game, which is extremely useful.

Wow okay that makes a LOT more sense. I'll have to try her out more and see. Thanks a lot.

 

[wsippel]

Also monsters have different reactions, some (most) are not seeking to fight, some will join a fight if there is another monster fighting nearby, some only react to sound and are blind (I don't know why spiders are blind in this game, but whatever), some will attack if they see you, and others if they feel the use of magic (ether).

As far as I know, spiders really have very bad vision and mostly react to vibrations (or sound). There are even spiders with no eyes at all, in Cambodia or Laos if I remember correctly. The exception seem to be certain jumping spiders like Portia, but those little guys are very different from common spiders in many ways, being highly intelligent and capable of solving complex problems, in addition to relying mostly on vision to hunt.

 

[HolyCheck]

Spoiler

In that case just follow the road up and right from where the cutscene left off. The camera should have zoomed in on the way to go at the end of the cutscene. You need to end up in Satorl Marsh.

Wow okay that makes a LOT more sense. I'll have to try her out more and see. Thanks a lot.

Ah.. then I guess wandering all the way back to the plains was a bad idea sigh.

Need to stop playing as I watch the GSL.. it makes me miss important little scenes like that tyty

 

[Freyjadour]

Mechonis Field Daytime is fantastic music. I haven't been really captivated by the music thus far other than a few tracks here and there (Swamp Night and Valac Night), but this is good stuff.

 

[KarmaCow]

20 hours in and I just reached Makna Forest and met

Spoiler

Melia. Okay, so I heard she's good. And I heard you need to main her for her to meet her potential. But I'm not getting it. Her one physical attack is weak and useless - and then her Ether arts don't even seem to do anything at all. There's one lightning one and a fire one, but they don't seem to damage the enemies and I'm not seeing much effect at all. Maybe I'm doing something wrong here... Not sure who to have as my party now. I took Sharla out for Melia and have Shulk and Dunban alongside. But now I'm missing Sharla and Reyn has been sitting in the sidelines ever since Dunban came along :/

Spoiler

Melia's mechanic is about summon charges for buffs and then unleashing the last summon using the Talent Art to do damage. The catch is that when you unleash a summon, you lose the buff linked to it.

You can summon up to three summons at a time and then you need to unleash it to summon more. Also, as you unleash summon, that builds the meter eventually unlocking a Ether Burst state where you unleashes do more damage. There are also some arts that can only be used in this state.

The problem with the AI is that it prioritizes the buffs rather than doing damage so it'll spend a lot of time standing there instead of cycling through summons. If you control her directly, you can do pretty insane amounts of damage even early on.

EDIT: beaten