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Xenoblade Chronicles |OT| Man, what a bunch of jokers.

Zornica

Banned
I asked about including a note about the Alcamoth one since it's an exception, but nobody had anything to say so I wrote it out. I don't remember any other points where you're asked if you want to continue but it's not a point of no return.

And there is a message before you fight Egil, it's before you board the ship to go to Mechonis Core. I don't remember any unmarked points of no return. Even the ones at the refuge on Bionis leg have a message, it will ask if you're sure you want to send the people back to Colony 6, unless I'm mistaken.

The four points where you're asked, IIRC:
1) Before moving refugees
2) Alcamoth, leaving for Makna Forest
3) Before traveling to Mechonis Core
4) Before the last two bosses

And I like the Bionis/Mechonis banners.

sry, there was a typo. I meant
before you meet gadolt for the first time, you go up an elevator, during that, the attack against mechonis starts, you can't access galahad fortress and sword valley anymore and there is NO warning.
+ I think there was at least on more point with that "move on" question, but I am not sure, could be wrong on that.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
These are relatively late game spoilers, just wanted to point that out.

I thought Mechonis didn't start moving until after Agniritha, and that was when the city was destroyed. But I thought you could still go to Sword Valley/Galahad at that point, just not after Mechonis Core.

If anybody has a save around there they could confirm that. But IIRC there are no quests in Galahad, and only 3 or 4 in Sword Valley? Don't remember if items are missable or not due to trading. Might be able to make a note for that if I'm remembering wrong.
 

nan0

Member
You could just shorten the region to its first and last letter and maybe do the same if a landmark is involved. The PONR Zornica mentioned would the be "A...a, elevator on W...e", which would mean
Agniratha, elevator on Wisdom Terrace
. That wouldn't spoiler anything and its pretty clear if you currently are in that area.
 

Jintor

Member
Sword Valley redux

Fuck yes, that boss battle was amazing. I overlevelled for it accidentally because I thought I had to beat the shit out of a fortress mechon to continue, but god it felt so carthartic to finally beat that smug bearded shithead's face in. And I did it without Shulk even in the party, too, by accident. Riki very cool!

This game, so awesome.
 

Zornica

Banned
These are relatively late game spoilers, just wanted to point that out.

I thought Mechonis didn't start moving until after Agniritha, and that was when the city was destroyed. But I thought you could still go to Sword Valley/Galahad at that point, just not after Mechonis Core.

If anybody has a save around there they could confirm that. But IIRC there are no quests in Galahad, and only 3 or 4 in Sword Valley? Don't remember if items are missable or not due to trading. Might be able to make a note for that if I'm remembering wrong.

you need 2 items from sword valley and 2 items from galahad for colony6. you could trade those, but the few quests there and the unique enemies are gone. I read some compaints about that, so I guess it is somewhat major.
btw: it doesn't get sealed of because mechonis starts moving, it's because the attack starts. (If I remember correctly as soon as you step out of the elevator that takes you to gadolt and walk thorugh the big gate ahaed)
sadly I don't have a proper save state, and the speedrun wasn't very conclusiv as he skips all cut scenes.

but it seems that Jintor is geting close there ^^ so maybe he could answer that in a few hours :p
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Yeah, I'm not even sure I tried to go back there at that point. So you're probably right. nan0's note would be a good idea to add in there.
 

Zornica

Banned
You know I'm not reading the spoilers right? I don't know what you're talking about :|

that's no problem. I guess you are in
sword valley
right now.

after you left the 2nd area from there, highlight this spoiler:

within this area, mechonis hall, watch out for a curtain cutscene involving sword valley. It's not very hard to miss, so please post at which point it happend.
there shouldn't be any real spoilers in here.
 

Adam Prime

hates soccer, is Mexican
I'm sitting on enough GameStop bucks to preorder a second copy. Is anyone else thinking about doing the same? This game with it's limited release and going to be very high reception, have all the makings of a rare collectible game to own in a couple of years?
 

Rebel Leader

THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
I'm sitting on enough GameStop bucks to preorder a second copy. Is anyone else thinking about doing the same? This game with it's limited release and going to be very high reception, have all the makings of a rare collectible game to own in a couple of years?

Nintendo may do a reprint if it's popular enough in demand. But this may or may not happen.
 

Tess3ract

Banned
I'm sitting on enough GameStop bucks to preorder a second copy. Is anyone else thinking about doing the same? This game with it's limited release and going to be very high reception, have all the makings of a rare collectible game to own in a couple of years?
A bunch of goons on SA are doing the same exact thing. Buying two copies to sell one later. They've done it before and it turns a decent profit.
 
So I noticed something strange, on the (early game location)
Bionis Leg
I remember there being a level 18-20-something Tirkin enemy Unique Monster. I couldn't beat him when I was there, now that I'm a bit farther I decided to come back and beat him (lvl 37 now). I don't remember his name, but now there is a level 76 Tirkin Unique Monster right where he was. Do non-quest UMs change level as you do?

Found a map of of the UM in that area but it listed the level 76 one as well.
 

Leezard

Member
So I noticed something strange, on the (early game location)
Bionis Leg
I remember there being a level 18-20-something Tirkin enemy Unique Monster. I couldn't beat him when I was there, now that I'm a bit farther I decided to come back and beat him (lvl 37 now). I don't remember his name, but now there is a level 76 Tirkin Unique Monster right where he was. Do non-quest UMs change level as you do?

Found a map of of the UM in that area but it listed the level 76 one as well.
Are you sure you are at the exact same location? I know that there's one weaker unique Tirkin in the Tirkin lair, but the lvl 76 Tirkin is at another place, near the upper level.
 
Are you sure you are at the exact same location? I know that there's one weaker unique Tirkin in the Tirkin lair, but the lvl 76 Tirkin is at another place, near the upper level.
Almost positive it was the same place, unless there is a Tirkin on a cliff that looks very similar, it definitely wasn't the one in the lair.

To fight it before I had to lure a set of two normal Tirkin away before taking on the UM (that also had 2 normal Tirkin with it). For what its worth, the Tokilos (big bird things) leading up to that area weren't there before either (my first time on the
Bionis Leg
).

I have been wandering around the area completing quests and still haven't found another area that looks similar.
 

Leezard

Member
Almost positive it was the same place, unless there is a Tirkin on a cliff that looks very similar, it definitely wasn't the one in the lair.

To fight it before I had to lure a set of two normal Tirkin away before taking on the UM (that also had 2 normal Tirkin with it). For what its worth, the Tokilos (big bird things) leading up to that area weren't there before either (my first time on the
Bionis Leg
).

I have been wandering around the area completing quests and still haven't found another area that looks similar.

I see. I never went through the Windy Cave on my first pass through the area, so I guess it is possible that they added the high-level enemies after a certain story event. I know another place in the game where they definitely add a high-level enemy after a story event (it's just a UM, nothing to do with any quest). The place is a bit further in the game for you, seeing as you're lvl 37.
 
I see. I never went through the Windy Cave on my first pass through the area, so I guess it is possible that they added the high-level enemies after a certain story event. I know another place in the game where they definitely add a high-level enemy after a story event (it's just a UM, nothing to do with any quest). The place is a bit further in the game for you, seeing as you're lvl 37.
Definitely some changes now that I've gotten farther in the game, new enemies (like the Tokilos and another UM that hangs out around the fields near the initial entrance). According to the list I found the level 76 UM isn't used for a quest, so its possible its the same UM but with its level increased (as I can't remember its name from my first pass through).
 

Adam Prime

hates soccer, is Mexican
Okay I'm running into a wall when it comes to side questing.

I'm wanting to do some Colony 9 side quests to raise my affinity in the region, but damn it's becoming real annoying to complete these side quests without better direction. Every quest is like: find a specific monster, who drops a specific item, then take it a specific NPC, who's only standing at a specific location at a specific time. Or some variation of all that. Yes, I'm using the master spreadsheet to help me with where things are, but even that's not a lot of fun to have the iPad open to the spreadsheet and referring back to that every few minutes.

... does anyone have any suggestions to make going through side quests a little more enjoyable?
I'm finding that now I'm Lv.45~ going back to Colony 9 to defeat some Lv 3 monsters to find some item drops just isn't compelling, but seems necessary that I do these quests to raise the affinity in the area. I wish that I would've stuck around earlier in the game and done a lot of these quests before moving on. Because, now it just isn't very fun.


Also, story spoilers discussion for post Prison Island
okay so I pretty much had a hunch the entire game that 'Metal Face' is somehow actually the dude at the beginning of the game during the intro who also wields the claw weapon and decides to retreat and gets "eaten up" by the Mechons. I'm waiting for the game to confirm this fact, but anyways it was funny because like TWO SECONDS before it was revelaed that the Pink mechacon is actually the girl who dies, I realized "Oh wait, I bet it's Shulks GF/BFF who is soharacters meone the Pink Mechanon... and then BAM! I'm right. Haha. The story is definitely leaving a lot hanging with a lot of unanswered questions. But still pretty good.
Okay, so I'm wondering about what fraction of the story am I through now? The monsters are finally starting to be at/near my party level for the first time in the game. Which makes me think that I should break from story progression and side quest a bit for XP, but yeah... maybe I'll just uncover more of the Entia Sea for fun and maybe I'll clear some quests along the way.
 
Okay I'm running into a wall when it comes to side questing.

I'm wanting to do some Colony 9 side quests to raise my affinity in the region, but damn it's becoming real annoying to complete these side quests without better direction. Every quest is like: find a specific monster, who drops a specific item, then take it a specific NPC, who's only standing at a specific location at a specific time. Or some variation of all that. Yes, I'm using the master spreadsheet to help me with where things are, but even that's not a lot of fun to have the iPad open to the spreadsheet and referring back to that every few minutes.

... does anyone have any suggestions to make going through side quests a little more enjoyable?
I'm finding that now I'm Lv.45~ going back to Colony 9 to defeat some Lv 3 monsters to find some item drops just isn't compelling, but seems necessary that I do these quests to raise the affinity in the area. I wish that I would've stuck around earlier in the game and done a lot of these quests before moving on. Because, now it just isn't very fun.
Thankfully, a large number of quests get completed when you fulfill the kill/find requirements, which saves a lot of time. But yeah, if you're set on affinity grinding then all you can really do is push through all the available quests for an area. It's boring for the most part, especially if you're way overleveled.

If you want to break it up a bit, you could always do quests for other areas and come back later.


Definitely some changes now that I've gotten farther in the game, new enemies (like the Tokilos and another UM that hangs out around the fields near the initial entrance). According to the list I found the level 76 UM isn't used for a quest, so its possible its the same UM but with its level increased (as I can't remember its name from my first pass through).
I was a little late to this, but all enemies in the game have a fixed level; they don't scale according to your level or where you are in the game. Unique monsters have an inconsistent appearance rate, which explains why some seem to disappear/reappear at various times. But they all have a fixed location, so the best guess as to what happened with the birds is that you were in two different locations, as Leezard suggested.



RPGCrazied needs to be in the credits.
Of course!

You could link to the GAF Soundtrack of the Year thread (http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=459262) or post some Youtube links.
I'll add it to the overview section, thanks.

You could just shorten the region to its first and last letter and maybe do the same if a landmark is involved. The PONR Zornica mentioned would the be "A...a, elevator on W...e", which would mean
Agniratha, elevator on Wisdom Terrace
. That wouldn't spoiler anything and its pretty clear if you currently are in that area.
Yeah, I might do this and try to rewrite that little section. It's difficult to put into words without spoiling the game, and being too general ("these points of no return are usually obvious") is misleading.
 

Adam Prime

hates soccer, is Mexican
Thankfully, a large number of quests get completed when you fulfill the kill/find requirements, which saves a lot of time. But yeah, if you're set on affinity grinding then all you can really do is push through all the available quests for an area. It's boring for the most part, especially if you're way overleveled.

If you want to break it up a bit, you could always do quests for other areas and come back later.

Question: I managed to complete all of the Colony 9 quests in my log, including all the search and hunt quests, but I'm still only at two stars. Is there a point in the game where more quests open up? I'm just running through town looking for white ! and typically what I find are just "talk to this other person in town" quests.

I don't see how completing a bunch of those are going to raise my affinity. Is there something else I'm supposed to be doing in town besides quests to raise affinity?

... side note: I finally upgraded Col 6 to Lv 1. Making runs through areas over and over again hoping just to find the one collectible I need is taking way longer than I thought it would!
 
Question: I managed to complete all of the Colony 9 quests in my log, including all the search and hunt quests, but I'm still only at two stars. Is there a point in the game where more quests open up? I'm just running through town looking for white ! and typically what I find are just "talk to this other person in town" quests.

I don't see how completing a bunch of those are going to raise my affinity. Is there something else I'm supposed to be doing in town besides quests to raise affinity?

... side note: I finally upgraded Col 6 to Lv 1. Making runs through areas over and over again hoping just to find the one collectible I need is taking way longer than I thought it would!

If it's only at two stars, then there are many more quests you need to complete. Some of the prerequisites can be a bit involved, so you may need to come back at some point later in the game or check the spreadsheet—just be aware that you're likely to be spoiled if you hang around there.

If you want to be raising area affinity, then quests are your only option. Sometimes it can seem like the affinity doesn't go up at all after a bunch of quests, and then after just a few it can jump a star or two. There are tons of quests in the game, so get ready to do most of them if you want to max out the affinity for each area.
 

Zornica

Banned
if you really want to get 5 stars in every town, I'd wait for the end of the main game for that, because it is NOT worth accidentally spoiling the entire main story for it, neither is it required to do, and you don't seem like someone who has a lot of fun doing it. So why do you do all those quests at all?

Btw: you need to talk to as much people as often as possible, to get more connections and, as an result, more quests.
 

nan0

Member
Question: I managed to complete all of the Colony 9 quests in my log, including all the search and hunt quests, but I'm still only at two stars. Is there a point in the game where more quests open up? I'm just running through town looking for white ! and typically what I find are just "talk to this other person in town" quests.

I'm not sure, but I felt that after certain points in the story new quests appeared. I guess they are unlocked as the story progresses, to prevent getting too far too early in the game.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Talking to people definitely makes a difference. Talk to everybody. Hell, talk to them twice. There will be adjustments on the affinity chart after quests if you talk to people involved again, and you'll gain affinity for the region in the process.

Often there will be quests that are technically available, but it won't pop up because you haven't talked to the right people after a previous quest.
 

Adam Prime

hates soccer, is Mexican
if you really want to get 5 stars in every town, I'd wait for the end of the main game for that, because it is NOT worth accidentally spoiling the entire main story for it, neither is it required to do, and you don't seem like someone who has a lot of fun doing it. So why do you do all those quests at all?

Btw: you need to talk to as much people as often as possible, to get more connections and, as an result, more quests.

Oh, I haven't been talking a lot at all to NPCs... That must be what I'm not doing.
 

corn_fest

Member
I'm still a little unclear on exactly how limited the release of this game is going to be.
Do I pretty much need to preorder in order to buy a copy?
 
I'm still a little unclear on exactly how limited the release of this game is going to be.
Do I pretty much need to preorder in order to buy a copy?

It wouldn't hurt.

My guess is that you will probably be able to find new copies for ~$50 for a few weeks after release, but prices will start to spike after a month or so. Gamestop lets you put $5 down on a preorder and you get an artbook, so go for it!
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Yeah, I'd preorder if you're sure you want the game. It's probably not going to be limited to preorder only, but it's probably going to be limited enough that it never drops in price.
 

UltimaKilo

Gold Member
Having a little trouble with the final boss. I've been playing this game since September (on and off), and I really want to move on. Therefore, where can I find enemies level 80-85 to help me level up?
 
Having a little trouble with the final boss. I've been playing this game since September (on and off), and I really want to move on. Therefore, where can I find enemies level 80-85 to help me level up?

Try
Alcamoth, the Windy Cave on the Bionis' Leg, and the new area in Tephra Cave. Or simply grinding the Gogols and Hoxes under the Raguel Bridge on the Bionis' Leg should net you a few levels in very little time.
 

nan0

Member
Having a little trouble with the final boss. I've been playing this game since September (on and off), and I really want to move on. Therefore, where can I find enemies level 80-85 to help me level up?

Try the
Kromars in Eryth Sea and Telethia in Alcamoth

Edit: Too slow.
 

Bagu

Member
I figured this is the best place to ask, so...
I was over on gametrailers and saw these images posted
Xrjpy.jpg
Assuming they're accurate, where would Xenoblade be placed?
 

UltimaKilo

Gold Member
Thanks guys, went into it after grinding. Even found some stuff to kill in the marsh. Anyways
at the end I beat him so easily, even toppling him occasionally, that I felt as if Shulk was the final boss! Nonetheless, great ending. Definitely RPG of the generation, although it does have its flaws.
 
I figured this is the best place to ask, so...
I was over on gametrailers and saw these images posted


Assuming they're accurate, where would Xenoblade be placed?

Tough to say, because the land in Xenoblade is not contiguous like in most of those games. The images are a bit misleading, though; Daggerfall in particular was only "large" in the sense that the game world represented was large. The towns themselves, as well as the countryside, were copy/paste, so it's not like you were seeing anything new after a while. And isn't there some MMOFPS that has a map the size of Europe, or 1/2 or 1/4 the size or something? I'm sure Daggerfall has been topped since it came out.

There's a lot of traversable ground in Xenoblade, to be sure.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
I'd guess somewhere around JC2 and Burnout Paradise if you combined all the explorable areas into one. It's really hard to say though.
 

Zornica

Banned
xenoblades map is more vertical than horizontal which makes it pretty unique and hard to compare. its actually not that huge, but it's crafted in a way that makes it look gigantic.
running from colony 6 (bottom) to alcamoth (top) takes about ~40 to 50 minutes passing through 9 areas, and skimming 1. there are more than 20 areas in total...
The main char runs pretty fast, I'd guess about 10km/h, which results in a total distance of about 8,3km. That'd be abouth 1km in diameter for every area. most of them are roundish, so I'd say the toal world size should be around 20-30 km² (and probably another 10 km² for eryth sea :p)
 

Instro

Member
So I imported the game back when it released in EU, and I'm just now reaching the end after putting it down for some extended time periods in between due to Zelda and so on. Got a little over 130 hours clocked now, pretty damn extensive game. Anyway, I've pretty much done everything possible in the game, but I'd like to beat the level 100+ monsters before I finish it off. The spreadsheet gives a good build for doing so, but some of the required gems(specifically level 5 Night Vision Crystals) apparently are only dropped by Ancient Daedala. Any other good places to get crystals with the night vision attribute, ideally at least level 4 ones? Then again, perhaps if I finish getting to level 99 I'll be able to beat Daedala instead, the dude wipes me out really quick with his initial laser attack.
 

Zornica

Banned
So I imported the game back when it released in EU, and I'm just now reaching the end after putting it down for some extended time periods in between due to Zelda and so on. Got a little over 130 hours clocked now, pretty damn extensive game. Anyway, I've pretty much done everything possible in the game, but I'd like to beat the level 100+ monsters before I finish it off. The spreadsheet gives a good build for doing so, but some of the required gems(specifically level 5 Night Vision Crystals) apparently are only dropped by Ancient Daedala. Any other good places to get crystals with the night vision attribute, ideally at least level 4 ones? Then again, perhaps if I finish getting to level 99 I'll be able to beat Daedala instead, the dude wipes me out really quick with his initial laser attack.

Do you know how to play melia? because that would solve all of your problems. she can reflect that laser beam, and even supplement for those night vision gems.
(see Reflection & Summon Wind
everything you need are 3 IV agility gems, lvl 99, skill links and you are good to go.
 

Instro

Member
Do you know how to play melia? because that would solve all of your problems. she can reflect that laser beam, and even supplement for those night vision gems.
(see Reflection & Summon Wind
everything you need are 3 IV agility gems, lvl 99, skill links and you are good to go.

Oh shit I should have paid attention to his attack, I was thinking it was a talent art for some reason. Good call.

edit

Oh yeah btw, is there any gems that increase SP gain? A couple characters are still finishing their 5th skill tree.
 
Spoilering just because the US release is coming up and I don't want to ruin anything.

So, after reorganizing, I was finally able to beat
"Breezy Zolos"!

I was getting a bit stuck with this game. Kind of tired playing as Shulk/Sharla/Reyn, I couldn't beat this quest mob which was frustrating me, and I didn't want to progress the story til I did. After skimming this thread a bit (and looking at a few youtube videos) I reorganized and tried a new party.

So I tried
Melia/Dunban
/Sharla and finally beat the thing (though not without
Dunban
dying twice). I like this party though and
Melia
is rather interesting to play as.
Managing what summons you have out adds a simple but fun little sub-game that is unique to her character. This is something I wish more characters (and RPGs) had, especially in such a long game.
I think I may be able to switch out Sharla for Shulk if healing isn't a huge priority (non-bosses or long UM fights), I'll have to try it out. Glad I didn't completely poop out on this game, haven't successfully played through a JRPG for awhile.
 

Oxx

Member
I might have to re-watch the GT review to make sure I'm not miss-interpreting what was said, but I can't agree that the combat "is easily the highlight of the experience".
 

Gambit

Member
Nope.



Pretty sure he said the combat system, but that's still wrong. The highlight of the experience is the exploration. Nothing else comes close.

Seconded.

I enjoyed the combat and found it engaging, but under no circumstances is it the highlight of the game.

Nevertheless, I found the review quite good.
 

Oxx

Member
Probably explains why they were so high on the combat and praised how tactical it was.

After about ten hours you realise that putting all the points into skills and attacks doesn't make much of a difference.

It's not like I hate the combat, but it's pretty functional.
 
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