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[Laughing Banana]

Man, I haven't been doing sidequests like you guys...maybe I should. Apparently I've been missing out on a lot.

I'm level 58ish, got the final party member, and I'm about to hit

Spoiler

the end of the Mechonis 'Field'

.

What are some fun things I could do at this point?

Spoiler

Apparently I've missed out on a Monado art among other things.

At that point you shouldn't have missed

Spoiler

a Monado Art

... I mean you can still get them. I'm not even sure that they're miss-able.

 

[Ulthwe]

I'm level 35 and

Spoiler

Melia

just joined my party.

I'd like to know how to use her explosion art, specially when she's not the main character and I use a chain:

1. How do I know which eter (electrical, water or fire) is the last one she used? As when I use explode, that's the one wich will be triggered.
2. I can use explode without the main art bar being filled. So, what's the point on filling it? Is the attack more powerful?

 

[Laughing Banana]

I'm level 35 and

Spoiler

Melia

just joined my party.

I'd like to know how to use her explosion art, specially when she's not the main character and I use a chain:

1. How do I know which ether (electrical, water or fire) is the last one she used? As when I use explode, that's the one wich will be triggered.
2. I can use explode without the main art bar being filled. So, what's the point on filling it? Is the attack more powerful?

I don't really understand your first question. You're finding it difficult to notice the difference between the elementals you've summoned? Just look at the colors and it's pretty obvious which one is which. Don't forget you can stack up to three summon elementals (though my playstyle with her has always been summon-discharge-summon-discharge). I use Fire and Ice for their Blaze + Chill + AOE damage, and then Earth to poison, and then Electric. Putting a Summon Copy too for good measure.

This is my set-up: Ice-Fire-Earth-Electric-Talent Gauge-Summon Copy-Mind Blast-Spear Break-Starlight Kick.

The main point to fill the bar is to trigger her elemental burst. Mind Blast, a powerful hit-all attack that may trigger an art-seal effect (very useful in certain situation), for example, can only be used in this state. Elemental burst also doubles the damage done by normal elemental attacks.

Elemental burst + Electric art + The fact that Electric Elemental has an Ether-Up effects + Electric Gems (up to 100% extra firepower) = ungodly amount of damage. Even more so if you choose to link her with ether up or ether arts up skills in the skill link.

She's basically a walking nuke that's a bit frail on the constitution side. As far as damage output goes, she's one of the best--if not the best, available. Not to mention Spear Break + Starlight Kick saves up a lot of time with its forced Topple that works even against uniques/bosses.

 

[donkey show]

I'm level 35 and

Spoiler

Melia

just joined my party.

I'd like to know how to use her explosion art, specially when she's not the main character and I use a chain:

1. How do I know which eter (electrical, water or fire) is the last one she used? As when I use explode, that's the one wich will be triggered.
2. I can use explode without the main art bar being filled. So, what's the point on filling it? Is the attack more powerful?

The way you should play is to stack elementals before attacking with them. As you may or may not know, using them gives the party certain status effects (fire - strength up, elec - ether up, etc.), and you can stack more than one of the same. What I do for example, would be to call fire, elec, fire. When attacking, the one that's sent is the last one to be summoned. And yes, the attacks are much stronger when the talent gauge is filled. When you say explode, are you talking about the burst attack? That just drops the strength and ether def. of enemies in the area and can only be used when the talent gauge is full.

EDIT: Beaten!

I got past

Spoiler

Prison Island

at 98 hours in.

 

[carlos]

If you can, try to link Melia with Sharlas heavy equipment link; put a couple of high rank HP plus gems on her, and she can be quite a tank too.

The other day I used her kick attack on an enemy, and she hits him, but jumps over a barrier and into an ether river from which there was no escape, lol.

 

[Gvaz]

Where is Perrine?

 

[Laughing Banana]

If you can, try to link Melia with Sharlas heavy equipment link; put a couple of high rank HP plus gems on her, and she can be quite a tank too.

The other day I used her kick attack on an enemy, and she hits him, but jumps over a barrier and into an ether river from which there was no escape, lol.

I always view heavy equipment as the worst of all equipment types (and that's why I always stuck it on Reyn, lol). Low agility, low ether defense, often with no gem slots/only pre-determined unique sets, and they look butt ugly, hahaha. Medium armor is fine with her, in my opinion.

It's better for Melia to use those affinity coins to link to a bunch of ether up/ether arts up anyways.

Where is Perrine?

18.00 - 06.00 Colony 9 Weapon Development Lab. Or,

Spoiler

if you moved her to Colony 6

, she will hang around at building with terrace north-east from the lake.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

Where is Perrine?

Inside the weapons development lab in the evenings

 

[Ulthwe]

I don't really understand your first question. You're finding it difficult to notice the difference between the elementals you've summoned? Just look at the colors and it's pretty obvious which one is which. Don't forget you can stack up to three summon elementals (though my playstyle with her has always been summon-discharge-summon-discharge). I use Fire and Ice for their Blaze + Chill + AOE damage, and then Earth to poison, and then Electric. Putting a Summon Copy too for good measure.

This is my set-up: Ice-Fire-Earth-Electric-Talent Gauge-Summon Copy-Mind Blast-Spear Break-Starlight Kick.

The main point to fill the bar is to trigger her elemental burst. Mind Blast, a powerful hit-all attack that may trigger an art-seal effect (very useful in certain situation), for example, can only be used in this state. Elemental burst also doubles the damage done by normal elemental attacks.

Elemental burst + Electric art + The fact that Electric Elemental has an Ether-Up effects + Electric Gems (up to 100% extra firepower) = ungodly amount of damage. Even more so if you choose to link her with ether up or ether arts up skills in the skill link.

She's basically a walking nuke that's a bit frail on the constitution side. As far as damage output goes, she's one of the best--if not the best, available. Not to mention Spear Break + Starlight Kick saves up a lot of time with its forced Topple that works even against uniques/bosses.

You know, thanks for the help but I've understood NOTHING! :-(

Ok, wait a moment... So "burst attack" ("Explosión" in the spanish vers.) uses all the elementals (up to three) in use at that moment in the battle, right?

What if I don't control her? I should wait to trigger a chain attack when some elementals have been stacked, so I can use "burst attack"?

The way you should play is to stack elementals before attacking with them. As you may or may not know, using them gives the party certain status effects (fire - strength up, elec - ether up, etc.), and you can stack more than one of the same. What I do for example, would be to call fire, elec, fire. When attacking, the one that's sent is the last one to be summoned. And yes, the attacks are much stronger when the talent gauge is filled. When you say explode, are you talking about the burst attack? That just drops the strength and ether def. of enemies in the area and can only be used when the talent gauge is full.

"Burst attack" AFAIK is her Personal Art, the big icon in the middle. So that's used both to attack with the summoned elementals and to trigger the "Burst attack" ability when full?

Spoiler

I don't play many RPGs as you have already guessed

 

[donkey show]

"Burst attack" AFAIK is her Personal Art, the big icon in the middle. So that's used both to attack with the summoned elementals and to trigger the "Burst attack" ability when full?

Spoiler

I don't play many RPGs as you have already guessed

Ah, I'm getting names mixed up. When burst attack is full, it makes your elementals stronger when attacking and you can use certain arts only when its full. You don't shoot out all your elementals that are stacked when using it. The full burst attack gauge lasts for several uses until it needs recharging again. But yeah, the big button in the middle is for attacking with your elementals regardless of whether or not its completely full.

 

[Laughing Banana]

You know, thanks for the help but I've understood NOTHING! :-(

Ok, wait a moment... So "burst attack" ("Explosión" in the spanish vers.) uses all the elementals (up to three) in use at that moment in the battle, right?

What if I don't control her? I should wait to trigger a chain attack when some elementals have been stacked, so I can use "burst attack"?

"Burst attack" AFAIK is her Personal Art, the big icon in the middle. So that's used both to attack with the summoned elementals and to trigger the "Burst attack" ability when full?

Spoiler

I don't play many RPGs as you have already guessed

No, Elemental Burst, or Explosion in your version, only activates double ether art damage and the ability to use techniques like Mind Blast. It acts the same as the usual elemental discharge, but only doubles the damage. It discharges off the last elemental that you're summoning, not all of the elemental you've summoned.

So, for example:

You've summoned electric elemental the last. You're entering the Elemental Burst/Explosion state. If you choose to discharge it, the electric elemental art will cause double the damage than it normally does in normal state.

That is why it is ALWAYS better if you're controlling Melia to summon elementals before you're launching a Chain Attack and so she can discharge them during the chain attack instead of wasting turns summoning them. Better if you're in Elemental Burst/Explosion state. EVEN BETTER if you're toppling the foe first with Spear Break + Starlight.

I do not recommend leaving Melia to AI--her amazing damage potential is seriously dwarfed by the fact that the AI tends to just hang around not discharging elementals to the enemies (it's for the buffs but still........)

 

[Gvaz]

Where is "miss Sweetness"?

I need her for the colony 6 quest

edit: oh apparently to finish this I need level 4 stars? I only have level 3

 

[Ulthwe]

Thanks Laughing Banana and donkey show, your guidance will be very helpful on my next visit to Bionis.

 

[Laughing Banana]

Where is "miss Sweetness"?

I need her for the colony 6 quest

Its Berryjammy.

21.00-06.00, Frontier Village, west of Apex Lake. Or,

Spoiler

if you have moved her already to Colony 6, she's west from Reconstruction HQ.

Thanks Laughing Banana and donkey show, your guidance will be very helpful on my next visit to Bionis.

I hope you'll be enjoying your time with Xenoblade, mate. She is my most used/most favorite character in Xenoblade, bar none.

 

[Gvaz]

So I just entered

Spoiler

Sword Valley

and I'm being told by someone that I should kill all ums and quests while I'm in the zone before leaving it?

 

[Finalow]

I got past

Spoiler

Prison Island

at 98 hours in.

i don't believe this.

 

[Hela]

Just look at this guy, thinking he's so great having owned all these Igna.

Spoiler

I stomped his shit in

Where is this?

 

[Laughing Banana]

So I just entered

Spoiler

Sword Valley

and I'm being told by someone that I should kill all ums and quests while I'm in the zone before leaving it?

Not until the end of

Spoiler

Agniratha

. After that all

Spoiler

Mechonis-side dungeons get destroyed

except

Spoiler

Central Factory

Where is this?

Igna Fortress at Satorl Marsh. Behind him is the door to the roof, required for one of the sidequests.

i don't believe this.

Maybe it's the

Spoiler

second visit?

. If not, I find it very hard to believe. Nobody is that patient/crazy.

 

[Hela]

Igna Fortress at Satorl Marsh. Behind him is the door to the roof, required for one of the sidequests.

I've been there, done the quest and have never seen him like this, weird.

 

[Arkain]

Where is this?

Spoiler

King Agni's Tomb, Makna Forest

 

[state_vector_collapse]

I'm just listening to the latest Roleplayers Realm podcast and can't believe my ears. Some dude (missed his name) is talking about this game, and I'm convinced he somehow played the wrong game. I quote "you either spend hours in a dungeon, or are suffering Metal Gear Solid 4 length cut scenes.........it's like the first Xenosaga where the first few hours are spent watching cut scenes rather than playing the game". Get this guy a straight jacket stat, he is clearly insane.

 

[Laughing Banana]

I've been there, done the quest and have never seen him like this, weird.

Whooooppppps. It seems like I am mistaken. I am horribly ashamed (((((

Also, I have just discovered that Affinity Coins accumulate again and added to your previous Affinity Coins if you defeat the unique monsters again in new game+. So in theory you can have up to 999 Affinity Coins with enough subsequent playthroughs.

I've been planning to start a fresh game but this changes things... hmmmmm

 

[BlazingDarkness]

i don't believe this.

Yeah I don't know how he managed that, I finished there around 70 hours in and had completely exhausted all sidequests at that point - he must have just been grinding mobs for hours

 

[Gvaz]

I'm in

Spoiler

Sword Valley

at lvl 56 and 54 hours and I've exhausted everything I think...5/5 C9, 5/5 CB, 4/5 Al, 3/5 C6...

:\

 

[BlazingDarkness]

I'm in

Spoiler

Sword Valley

at lvl 56 and 54 hours and I've exhausted everything I think...5/5 C9, 5/5 CB, 4/5 Al, 3/5 C6...

:\

I'm in the same place as you, same level and with 84 hours D:

 

[MiloFoxburr]

I'm in the same place as you, same level and with 84 hours D:

Wow, I just reached there at level 48 and 33 hours and I don't feel like I've rushed at all.

 

[Laughing Banana]

I'm in the same place as you, same level and with 84 hours D:

You guys are fucking crazy, hahahaha.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

:V

It's the most time i've put into a game that I can remember, don't think I've done so much since FFX :lol And I'm not the slightest bit tired of it!

 

[Anasui Kishibe]

I've reached

Spoiler

Eryth Sea

, Frontier Village was fantastic and the Nopons are adorable

all of

Spoiler

Riki's cutscenes were great, expecially the one with his bloodsucking family, which made me burst out laughing

.
I'm using him instead of Reyn for now, I find his debuffs and DOTs rreeeeeally useful, and it's just fun to see a little furball going against gigantic beasts. And I love him!

 

[Oxx]

Level 42, 39 hours. Loving

Spoiler

Alcamoth

in the rain.

 

[Hazanko]

:V

It's the most time i've put into a game that I can remember, don't think I've done so much since FFX :lol And I'm not the slightest bit tired of it!

Xenoblade and Monster Hunter Tri have been my most played games this gen. I rarely stay up all night to play games but I did with this game.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

Xenoblade and Monster Hunter Tri have been my most played games this gen. I rarely stay up all night to play games but I did with this game.

Funny you say that, I got MH Tri on a whim the other day and sunk 8 hours into it in one sitting :lol

 

[Gvaz]

 

[ramyeon]

Put a few hours in today and still cannot kill the Breezy Zolos in Makna Forest...

Decided to advance with the story in Eryth Sea

Spoiler

the Tomb was easier than I expected - I think I must be a bit over levelled. The Telethia went down without a fight and then the assassin was just a matter of sitting back with Shulk and breaking her as he couldn't deal any proper damage.

I can see what people mean about this being a slump in the story. I don't like the High Etia, and the armour here sucks as well. All my characters look stupid :/ Shulk has these wings coming off his head and Dunban reminds me of Sephiroth with this huge angel wing coming off one of his shoulders. Can't wait to move on to another place. I'd also like to start working on more side quests but I just can't seem to progress anywhere with them. I hate the collecting ones since most of the blue orbs seem to be random and drops can be pretty infrequent as well

 

[wrowa]

I can't be the only one who loved the

Spoiler

High Entia

part of the game.

 

[Gvaz]

I didn't like it either. It's too big, there's too many quests in one zone that aren't that interesting (also nopon's area), and while it looks good it's not that fun to traverse.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

Put a few hours in today and still cannot kill the Breezy Zolos in Makna Forest...

Decided to advance with the story in Eryth Sea

Spoiler

the Tomb was easier than I expected - I think I must be a bit over levelled. The Telethia went down without a fight and then the assassin was just a matter of sitting back with Shulk and breaking her as he couldn't deal any proper damage.

I can see what people mean about this being a slump in the story. I don't like the High Etia, and the armour here sucks as well. All my characters look stupid :/ Shulk has these wings coming off his head and Dunban reminds me of Sephiroth with this huge angel wing coming off one of his shoulders. Can't wait to move on to another place. I'd also like to start working on more side quests but I just can't seem to progress anywhere with them. I hate the collecting ones since most of the blue orbs seem to be random and drops can be pretty infrequent as well

Spoiler

Yeah the story picks up pretty much as soon as you leave for the next area. And I agree with the armor too, all my characters had mismatched armour around that point and only now are they starting to look better ;p As for the collection quests, remember that there are people you can trade with, all of those blue drops can be traded with people, even the rarest ones - providing your affinity with an area is high enough, so if you have to just go back to the collection quests once you've done some other sidequests

 

[Hela]

only two items were in it

Spoiler

and neither of them gave the Monado any additonal power. they were both unique items

Weren't there two books, because that's what I found there a moment ago.

 

[Antagon]

Put a few hours in today and still cannot kill the Breezy Zolos in Makna Forest...

Decided to advance with the story in Eryth Sea

Spoiler

the Tomb was easier than I expected - I think I must be a bit over levelled. The Telethia went down without a fight and then the assassin was just a matter of sitting back with Shulk and breaking her as he couldn't deal any proper damage.

I can see what people mean about this being a slump in the story. I don't like the High Etia, and the armour here sucks as well. All my characters look stupid :/ Shulk has these wings coming off his head and Dunban reminds me of Sephiroth with this huge angel wing coming off one of his shoulders. Can't wait to move on to another place. I'd also like to start working on more side quests but I just can't seem to progress anywhere with them. I hate the collecting ones since most of the blue orbs seem to be random and drops can be pretty infrequent as well

Do you use purge on Breezy?

 

[CoolS]

Decided to advance with the story in Eryth Sea

Spoiler

the Tomb was easier than I expected - I think I must be a bit over levelled. The Telethia went down without a fight and then the assassin was just a matter of sitting back with Shulk and breaking her as he couldn't deal any proper damage.

I can see what people mean about this being a slump in the story. I don't like the High Etia, and the armour here sucks as well. All my characters look stupid :/ Shulk has these wings coming off his head and Dunban reminds me of Sephiroth with this huge angel wing coming off one of his shoulders. Can't wait to move on to another place. I'd also like to start working on more side quests but I just can't seem to progress anywhere with them. I hate the collecting ones since most of the blue orbs seem to be random and drops can be pretty infrequent as well

You're gonna love the next batch of story scenes. SO good


50 h Lvl 50 now, and I had the first instance where I really hated the game today. There's this one unique in Eryth Sea you need for a quest that only appears during stars falling down. Well, I spent literally 25 minutes changing the time from day to night till that "weather effect" appeared. Slaughtered that damn enemy like there was no tomorrow!

Now to find the rest of the locations in Eryth Sea so the map becomes complete, that's bugging the hell out of me ^^

 

[Out_Of_Ammo]

Can anyone tell me how many "timed" quests there are in

Spoiler

Alcamoth. I just got 3 stars there but I think I'm almost at the point they expire.

(story spoiler, lvl 63, 75 hours in)

Spoiler

I just beat the Gadolt face-mechon so I guess it won't be to long before I reach the point where the quests become unavailable. I just want to make sure I didn't miss any because Alcamoth is a bitch to find questgivers...

 

[darkjedi187]

Got upto about 6 hours. The open fields of Bionis Leg is wonderful. It took what 30 hours to get the same feeling in ff13. This games might end up being may favorite JRPG!

How do you get the star rating up for a town. I've done a couple dozen quest for Colony 9 and I'm still on 1 star.

 

[Out_Of_Ammo]

Got upto about 6 hours. The open fields of Bionis Leg is wonderful. It took what 30 hours to get the same feeling in ff13. This games might end up being may favorite JRPG!

How do you get the star rating up for a town. I've done a couple dozen quest for Colony 9 and I'm still on 1 star.

Just keep doing quests for that area. The reason it takes so long before the stars go up is that there are just sooo many quests

 

[CoolS]

Got upto about 6 hours. The open fields of Bionis Leg is wonderful. It took what 30 hours to get the same feeling in ff13. This games might end up being may favorite JRPG!

How do you get the star rating up for a town. I've done a couple dozen quest for Colony 9 and I'm still on 1 star.

Do even more quests, especially for named NPCs. It will definitley take some time though.

 

[Extra Sauce]

Someone needs to post a high-res shot of the view from the top of (level 58ish area)

Spoiler

"Distant Fingertip".

 

[meltingparappa]

I spent hours grinding out as many colony 9 quests as I could, trying to get

Spoiler

Desiree to give me a new skill tree for Shulk since he's almost maxed out

and the only one I have left (as far as I know, without talking to the entire town again) is trying to raise the affinity between female party members.

Damn you Colony 9, damn you ALL.

 

[darkjedi187]

Just keep doing quests for that area. The reason it takes so long before the stars go up is that there are just sooo many quests

Thanks, I'll keep at them. So there are additional skill trees? How do they get unlocked?

 

[jump_button]

Got upto about 6 hours. The open fields of Bionis Leg is wonderful. It took what 30 hours to get the same feeling in ff13. This games might end up being may favorite JRPG!

How do you get the star rating up for a town. I've done a couple dozen quest for Colony 9 and I'm still on 1 star.

talk to the them all time quest or not still talk to them and more will open up

 

[Neon_Icarus]

I can't be the only one who loved the

Spoiler

High Entia

part of the game.

Yeah, I thought it was a nice chance of pace from all the exploring in the wilderness. Being one of the most visually striking places in the game certainly didn't hurt either.

 

[Reveirg]

Protiop: Don't forget to collect stuff for your collectophedia there and finish all of the available quest immediately before progressing on You might also want to fight the uniques there repeatedly and abuse the hell out of the save-load system to pick up their goodies--most importantly the skill books. The fallen arm's quest

Spoiler

For The Loved One....

will also gone after fighting the end-boss in

Spoiler

Agniratha.

Just a couple more dungeons and one of them is somewhat short, so yea you're not far from end-story.

Many thanks for the tip! I try to be careful but I wouldn't have guessed for the Fallen Arm's quest