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[ChrisD]

Are you sure you're mining in the right spot? Do you have your best available probe on that spot? Place a booster probe next to it if you have one available.

Honestly, I left my WiiU running while I was making/eating dinner/putting kids to bed, then came back to it later that evening and it was mined.

FN Site 115, the only one I can see in Primordia with the resource available. Mining Probe G2 on it, Booster Probe beside it. :/

I play Monster Hunter, I'm used to the Desire Sensor. But this, this is getting to Ruby/Mantle levels of nuts.

 

[Adam Prime]

What's a good way to tweet out screenshots from the Wii U?

I've been emailing screenshots to myself and just tweeting from my phone or laptop.

I would recommend signing in and posting from imgur.com on your WiiU. You can tweet out from there too, but it takes better resolution screenshots and it gives you the

 

[Jims]

The feeling of going into places where it doesn't seem like you should be is becoming my favorite part of this game.

I grumbled about that island in Primordia earlier with the Lv40 Grexes guarding the entrance ramps. Finally just went ahead and ran through them, running away as fast I could. Just barely survived their swing at me and got away barely in time. But it's so cool once you get back there. A ton of docile Lv50 enemies that completely leave you alone and a surprisingly robust area to explore. And the probe location was only Level 1.

I love that they reward you for just attempting something risky and foolish. They could have very easily put that whole island full of high-level Grexes and a Level 5 probe location. The game seems designed to make players think they're getting away with something when the developer really doesn't seem to care that much.

 

[Plum]

I'm 40 hours in and still haven't started chapter 5. I'm taking my time exploring (Primordia and Noctilum only, I want to feel at home in both before I go to the other continents).

I'm also slowly memorizing what the buff/debuff icons mean, and everyday I learn something new about the mechanics. I'm enjoying this so much that I don't want it to end, so I'll keep playing very slowly, learning everything I can about the world and the systems. Hell, I'm even reading the descriptions in the bestiary...

What's interesting about this game is that, if you take this slow approach, you really start to feel like you're living in Mira. As the days go by, you meet new people in NLA, learn new things about this alien planet... I mean, I love Zelda games and played many JRPGs, but even though it takes a while to beat them, they never made me feel time in such a real way. They're like "an epic adventure in a day", while Xenoblade is an entirely different beast. What an amazing experience.

What I love is that feeling of conquering and adapting to this massive, wild world. It doesn't feel as hostile as something like Dark Souls and it doesn't feel as "made for the player" as something like Fallout 4. The fact that a large number of animals in the game don't mean any harm at all puts it apart from a lot of its ilk.

It's not that often that you get a massive open world game like this with only one friendly settlement.

 

[Adam Prime]

FN Site 115, the only one I can see in Primordia with the resource available. Mining Probe G2 on it, Booster Probe beside it. :/

I play Monster Hunter, I'm used to the Desire Sensor. But this, this is getting to Ruby/Mantle levels of nuts.

Yeah, you're doing everything right, that sucks then. :-/

I was more than prepared to leave my WiiU on overnight if necessary, luckily it didn't come to that.

 

[Aaronrules380]

Oh no you don't understand. I still have all 3 of my insurance. I'm so cheap that I save before I do most shit with my mech so if I get killed I reload and still have all 3 insurance. Regardless I reloaded I didn't have to retread too much ground. Already caught up.

Seems really dumb then. Especially since if you perfect the prompt you don't even lose insurance

 

[Rebel Leader]

Mom

Just got home and saw nothing had to be done

 

[shadow2810]

Hope's 2nd affinity quest sure is dark

 

[Pokemaniac]

I'm stuck at 47/99 lobsters. I know that they

Spoiler

become available in two sets

, but I'm pretty sure

Spoiler

there should be like two more in this current set

. Anyone know of any really easy to miss lobsters?

 

[Adam Prime]

The feeling of going into places where it doesn't seem like you should be is becoming my favorite part of this game.
.

Yes, this game NAILS it.

You go into an area and see nothing but Lv.50 monsters and you think you're going to get MURDERED from looking at them, however 19/20 monsters you see are going to leave you alone. But you're always prepared for that one who is going to F you up.

It gives you a "realistic" feeling of dread knowing that it's MOSTLY safe out there, but there is still REAL danger. It keeps you on your toes, and makes you feel like you're actually exploring something dangerous and wild.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

do inactive party members level up too? Am I screwing myself by only using Elma, Lin and Random?

 

[Qurupeke]

Chapter 12 fights spoiler

Spoiler

First, I know there's a bit more and Vita is not the final boss(I wonder if 3DS... lol).

Anyway, I try to beat it but most, if not all of my party is wiped off their Skells. Can I beat whatever is after Vita without Skells? Or I really should go for level 50 Skells...?

 

[Pancakes]

no inactive party members level up too? Am I screwing myself by only using Elma, Lin and Random?

You can grind pretty easily later on, it's annoying but it won't ruin you.

 

[Dad]

no inactive party members level up too? Am I screwing myself by only using Elma, Lin and Random?

Actually, not always using Elma and Lin will screw you unless you're up for some grinding

 

[Mega]

This game is crazy. I have literally never played an open world game of this complexity and scope, maybe the closest thing is Shadow of Mordor and that's comparatively a very simple game. I feel like someone being thrown in front of a modern ultrabook after last using a computer two decades ago and being told to get to work. The sheer amount of stuff to do actually gets to me. I've been reading some helpful posts, links, etc. and have a few questions. Appreciate any help.

Can I actually miss out on things? I hate to become invested in a 100+ hour game and finding out I'm permanently missing stuff.

Why do I need to save before I do Affinity quests? I don't get it.

So Basic quests are busy work and Normal quests should be done periodically aside from the regular story stuff?

Is there a downside to having many Active Missions and is there a limit (12 spaces on the list)?

How do I do squad tasks? I see icons with numbers on the bottom right and a timer, all without any context. I'm assuming this is kill x amount of y monster.

Is there an explanation for all the map icons? I wish this game had a print manual. When I played new games I would read those things during downtime in class from cover to cover to understand new games, especially RPGs.

 

[Plum]

Yes, this game NAILS it.

You go into an area and see nothing but Lv.50 monsters and you think you're going to get MURDERED from looking at them, however 19/20 monsters you see are going to leave you alone. But you're always prepared for that one who is going to F you up.

It gives you a "realistic" feeling of dread knowing that it's MOSTLY safe out there, but there is still REAL danger. It keeps you on your toes, and makes you feel like you're actually exploring something dangerous and wild.

That feeling when sneaking around creatures 20+ levels higher than you to get an item or a treasure is one of the best feelings I've got from a game all year.

Of course it always ends up in a mad escape as my party members get obliterated behind me but when have details ever mattered?

 

[HiroTSK5]

Chapter 12 spoilers
Oh God Tatsu said

Spoiler

Hom Hom

, I'm freaking out!

 

[Teletraan1]

Game just dumped me to the main menu after not saving all day of questing. Lost about 7 hours. FML

 

[zakujanai]

You could have done it. The level 19-23 enemies should have been no trouble at level 16 and it's possible to avoid the ones higher than that.



No, the cave is below you. Jump off the continent and swim to it.

They were no trouble when I was fighting one or two but they were close enough that they'd generally pull in 3, 4 or 5 at a time, including level 30 enemies. Again, I could handle the level 30s on their own but I was almost impossible to systematically eliminate the enemies one by one.

You can imply that I'm playing it wrong as much as you like but the fact I had such a painful experience getting to those areas, and then an incredibly pointless 50 second battle against the supposed "boss" of the chapter shows that the game is flawed. I could literally have put the controller and let the party win that fight by themselves. If it was my lack of skill then surely the boss should've been as much, if bit more of a struggle for me.

 

[KarmaCow]

no inactive party members level up too? Am I screwing myself by only using Elma, Lin and Random?

Pretty much every big quest seems to require Elma and Lin anyway.

 

[NeonZ]

They were no trouble when I was fighting one or two but they were close enough that they'd generally pull in 3, 4 or 5 at a time, including level 30 enemies. Again, I could handle the level 30s on their own but I was almost impossible to systematically eliminate the enemies one by one.

There are some arts that have area of effect. Those end up inevitably attracting nearby enemies. If you avoid them though, it's perfectly possible to pick targets one by one.

Is no one doing the global nemesis or what

You don't have to be 60 to do it, just really have a skell

Timeout or lose you get free tickets, Timing out is best but still. I need tickets

You pretty much need to have a team of lvl 30 Skells at least. I remember going there and I didn't seem to get anything after failing to do much damage. If you can't take out at least one of his life bars, it seems like going there just ends up costing blade medals.

 

[Blues1990]

Game just dumped me to the main menu after not saving all day of questing. Lost about 7 hours. FML

Dude, that is horrible. D:

 

[Kadin]

Game just dumped me to the main menu after not saving all day of questing. Lost about 7 hours. FML

What?!? No error or anything... just back to the menu? What kind BS is that?

I make it a point now to save any time I go back to NLA (which is usually once an hour or so). It's become habit and I'm glad I'm doing it. Yikes.

 

[Dad]

This game is crazy. I have literally never played an open world game of this complexity and scope, maybe the closest thing is Shadow of Mordor and that's comparatively a very simple game. I feel like someone being thrown in front of a modern ultrabook after last using a computer two decades ago and being told to get to work. The sheer amount of stuff to do actually gets to me. I've been reading some helpful posts, links, etc. and have a few questions. Appreciate any help.

Can I actually miss out on things? I hate to become invested in a 100+ hour game and finding out I'm permanently missing stuff.

I don't think you can lock yourself out of content, but someone further in than me may want to weigh in

Why do I need to save before I do Affinity quests? I don't get it.

You can't progress in the main story or do any other affinity quests while you're currently doing one, and you can't abandon them either

So Basic quests are busy work and Normal quests should be done periodically aside from the regular story stuff?

Yes

Is there a downside to having many Active Missions and is there a limit (12 spaces on the list)?

I believe the limit is 20. Just leave gathering quests on the board until you already have all the resources on hand. There's not really a reason to keep them active

How do I do squad tasks? I see icons with numbers on the bottom right and a timer, all without any context. I'm assuming this is kill x amount of y monster.

They're kill monsters/tyrants and gathering specific items. I believe holding L will let you see exactly what they're asking for

Is there an explanation for all the map icons? I wish this game had a print manual. When I played new games I would read those things during downtime in class from cover to cover to understand new games, especially RPGs.

Check the digital manual from the home button

Hope that helps some!

 

[Toadsili T]

Is no one doing the global nemesis or what
You don't have to be 60 to do it, just really have a skell
Timeout or lose you get free tickets, Timing out is best but still. I need tickets

I would try Global Nemesis more often if it didn't require spending BLADE Medals. These things have been so hard to get hold of that I only had one upon being able to play in Global Nemesis mode, and I've been pretty diverse in what I've been doing in-game, including Squad goals & missions.

This is a dumb question, but I haven't found any way to see what the actual goals of each squad mission are yet? The ones that are in the lower right hand corner with icons.

To cycle between goal information, Hold the R button, and then press L to cycle between each of the goals. Information about the selected goal will then display in a text bar just above those icons.

Additionally, if any of those objectives require hunting/killing enemies, an "S" symbol will appear above the field level tag of these enemies, so you can tell from a distance which enemies you need to wipe.

I've now had Lin's Affinity Mission "The Repair Job" for over five hours.
I am still waiting on RNG to give me two more White Cometites.
Screw.
RNG.

Better not play Splatoon then. That game is full of RNG nonsense.

Spoiler

Nice to see you around again.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Seems really dumb then. Especially since if you perfect the prompt you don't even lose insurance

but when I don't hit it perfectly because I'm not expecting it? How dumb is it I still I have all three of my insurance and it takes an extra bit to reload lol. I'm not following your logic. Every game I play I save before I do most things anyways.

 

[Adam Prime]

1. Can I actually miss out on things? I hate to become invested in a 100+ hour game and finding out I'm permanently missing stuff.

2. Why do I need to save before I do Affinity quests? I don't get it.

3. So Basic quests are busy work and Normal quests should be done periodically aside from the regular story stuff?

4. Is there a downside to having many Active Missions and is there a limit (12 spaces on the list)?

5. How do I do squad tasks? I see icons with numbers on the bottom right and a timer, all without any context. I'm assuming this is kill x amount of y monster.

6. Is there an explanation for all the map icons? I wish this game had a print manual. When I played new games I would read those things during downtime in class from cover to cover to understand new games, especially RPGs.

1. Nope, no that I know of.

2. Umm, some Affinity missions have you collecting stuff that you may not feel like doing - but wouldn't have known that before they started. So save because if you get into the mission, you can't quit it until its done. And some Affinity missions have you doing stuff like "Kill ALL THESE GUYS and then COLLECT ALL THIS STUFF." and you may not feel like doing that for the next hour. So quit and reload.

3. Yeah pretty much. The quest board stuff - you're not supposed to focus on it. You accept every quest and then watch them complete themselves as you're collecting orbs or running around and see monsters with the Green ! and you know you need to kill them for a quest.

4. Nope

5. Yes you are correct, kill those monsters if you see them. You get a "reward ticket". Use those at the Blade Barracks terminal to buy monster drops that you don't feel like getting yourself.

6. Yeah read the digital manual when you press the Home menu. It's actually the best one I've seen on WiiU.

 

[Adam Prime]

What?!? No error or anything... just back to the menu? What kind BS is that?

I make it a point now to save any time I go back to NLA (which is usually once an hour or so). It's become habit and I'm glad I'm doing it. Yikes.

Damn I wish they patched in an optional autosave feature.

 

[Teletraan1]

What?!? No error or anything... just back to the menu? What kind BS is that?

I make it a point now to save any time I go back to NLA (which is usually once an hour or so). It's become habit and I'm glad I'm doing it. Yikes.

I was in my hanger, messing with skell gear. The game froze up for a second, the song went bzzzt for a second, then I got a connecting msg and was at the title screen. I am done with this for today.

 

[ChrisD]

SWEET.
Just got a Mining Probe 3 out of a Sylvalum Mechanical Field "Chest." Maybe this will speed things up.

If I switch them out will it reset the collection time or just boost the next one?

Actually let me further that question, when is collection time for FrontierNav? Every 24 in-game hours? Shorter/longer?

 

[Deleted member 30609]

I've now had Lin's Affinity Mission "The Repair Job" for over five hours.

I am still waiting on RNG to give me two more White Cometites.

Screw.
RNG.

The same thing happened to me. You can find white cometites in the upper part of Noctilum, as I discovered later. It's worth exploring, as you'll soon need 20% survey there anyway.

 

[BriGuy]

Is there a point to the "reserves" section of the active party menu? There are four open slots, but moving a character into the reserves and confirming it basically just makes them fuck off. It's like the complete opposite of what reserving means.

 

[Rebel Leader]

SWEET.
Just got a Mining Probe 3 out of a Sylvalum Mechanical Field "Chest." Maybe this will speed things up.

If I switch them out will it reset the collection time or just boost the next one?

Actually let me further that question, when is collection time for FrontierNav? Every 24 in-game hours? Shorter/longer?

What are you looking for?

 

[Kadin]

Damn I wish they patched in an optional autosave feature.

The only issue with that is if you take up a story or affinity quest and then realize it was a mistake and want to go back to before you accepted it. I wish they just allowed for more than one save file, then an autosave would be very welcomed.

 

[KarmaCow]

Is there a point to the "reserves" section of the active party menu? There are four open slots, but moving a character into the reserves and confirming it basically just makes them fuck off. It's like the complete opposite of what reserving means.

It really is bizarre, like a vestigial menu before they added in needing to find party members strewn in across the world to get them in your party.

edit: Though thinking about it there was a situation where I needed to get rid of multiple people in my party for an affinity mission.

 

[ChrisD]

What are you looking for?

White Cometites, though...

The same thing happened to me. You can find white cometites in the upper part of Noctilum, as I discovered later.

I think I'm going to hightail it to Noctilum while the probes continue being jerks. Dude, thanks for letting me know this.

 

[Rebel Leader]

White Cometites, though...



I think I'm going to hightail it to Noctilum while the probes continue being jerks. Dude, thanks for letting me know this.

I was about to post this

Fn 212 & 218 in noct has what you want

 

[Conezays]

Just beat it. I have mixed thoughts on the difficulty, progression, and some mechanics, but overall enjoyed it and felt it was a worthy followup to the last game.

 

[Mega]

Hope that helps some!

Thanks, Dad! lol

That was helpful. I see the squad mission details now by holding R and cycling with L.

 

[ShinNoNoir]

After a bit of jumping around I managed to get to FN site 101 (top left probe segment of Primordia), only to find out you need mechanical skill level 5...

 

[Admiral Woofington]

All right done with Sylvallum field skill material gathering atm. The ones I couldn't grab were biological, which are like the grand majority in Sylvallum, and a few level 5 ones.

I got a grand total of 1 extra research, G3! WOO HOO. And let's be honest even if I had a high biological field skill I would've probably grabbed like 1 more research at most.

Beautiful. Well onward to the last area.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

It's seems like you're a sucker if you level up anything but mechanical? [T/F]

 

[ChrisD]

It's seems like you're a sucker if you level up anything but mechanical? [T/F]

Looks to be about right so far. Mechanical first, the others later.

 

[wildemu]

I've been blase on the game so far, kinda mindlessly going through it hoping at some point it clicks and it just hasn't. I just got flying upgrade for the skells, and I'm not sure what I was expecting but I think I'm just ready to drop it. I'm not exactly hating the game, which is how I've been playing the game for so long but there's just nothing really compelling outside of the act of running around some beautiful vistas. The main thing that's been keeping me playing is that traversal is fun in a janky way. I think they did a pretty good job of making little distractions everywhere from blue collectible stuff scattered around to enemies blocking paths, forcing pseudo-stealth routes when running around. It's clearly designed but also not constrained which leads to some fun stuff that feels like you're getting away with something you shouldn't. The rest though drags it down.

- The quests range from terrible to mediocre. The ability to warp around saves time but it highlights how much of it is just moving around with nothing worthwhile inbetween. I'm really the sick of the quests that is just for some indiscriminate thing from an area with no good indication where to actually find it, if there is even a good spot to find it in the first place. The choices also feel inconsequential which is a pet peeve of mine when games put meaningless prompts.

- The actual RPG aspects in terms of choosing what to wear and skills does not seem worth going through the effort of sorting through menu garbage (the UI as whole is just bad). Every so often I try to go through and optimize stuff but it doesn't seem to matter both in terms of the upgrades being minimal and the game not being challenging most of the time to warrant some rethinking.

- The narrative, or specifically the cutscenes are bland and drawn out. There is some intrigue in how they're clearly hiding something or talking around it but most of it just grating like the whole Lin and Tatsu stuff or just people standing around talking slowly. The story can never really make or break a game for me so I've started to just skip them, which I'm glad is an option. Also the design of linear story missions kinda runs at odds with the rest of the game. There have been multiple times now where I've gone to areas while just running around and found stuff that's clearly meant for later story missions but there is nothing to do with them. It's kinda jarring to find stuff like Lifehold pieces out in the world and not being able to do anything with them because I'm not on the appropriate story mission.

- I had heard that the combat was improved from Xenoblade and maybe it is once you really pick it apart but so far it's been pretty a mindless game of simon says. Not that the first game had very compelling combat either but this just feels way more grindy to get different options with the different classes. I may have just gone down the wrong path by focusing on the class on the bottom row but the only times there was an interesting choice was fighting multiple enemies and trying to line them up to maximize damage for the raygun arts while also keeping the rhythm with the other party members. I'm guessing there are more interesting fights in the post game but I'm not sure if I want to bother with everything else to get up to snuff for them.

It's odd because I have put close to 40 hours into this but I haven't been really loving it either and haven't been forcing myself to play either.

I feel the same way, but I've put only 20 hours into it. I'm waiting for that moment where I will snap out of boredom like some longer games have in the past, but I'm afraid it won't come.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

It's seems like you're a sucker if you level up anything but mechanical? [T/F]

Mechanical > Archaeological > Biological

 

[KarmaCow]

It's seems like you're a sucker if you level up anything but mechanical? [T/F]

That's only because probe spots require the mechanical skill.

 

[NeonZ]

Can I actually miss out on things? I hate to become invested in a 100+ hour game and finding out I'm permanently missing stuff.

There are some normal quests with branching results, but generally both will have the same amount of content afterwards, they'll be just different. You won't be getting less content based on the chosen outcome.

Well, there's one thing though... (vague, but big spoilers)

Spoiler

One character who leaves after a certain point of the story, so the content related to that one character can be missed.

Why do I need to save before I do Affinity quests? I don't get it.

Because you can't cancel it or start a story mission afterwards. You need to complete it. It's not like you're locked in an area or anything. Some Affinity Quests restrict your party with obligatory members though.

Is there a downside to having many Active Missions and is there a limit (12 spaces on the list)?

I can't remember the number now, but there's a limit to the active quests from the quest board, but there isn't any limit to the normal quests.

How do I do squad tasks? I see icons with numbers on the bottom right and a timer, all without any context. I'm assuming this is kill x amount of y monster.

Hold R, press L to see which is the target listed there. You gain tickets for killing them, and everyone in the squad gains tickets if the entire objective is accomplished. Those tickets can be used in the multiplayer console in your BOARD base in exchange for monster materials.

Is there an explanation for all the map icons? I wish this game had a print manual. When I played new games I would read those things during downtime in class from cover to cover to understand new games, especially RPGs.

There's a pretty big electronic manual. The first post has a link to a PDF version of the manual.

 

[Mega]

^Thanks. I'll download that PDF to read on my work commute!

1. Nope, no that I know of.

2. Umm, some Affinity missions have you collecting stuff that you may not feel like doing - but wouldn't have known that before they started. So save because if you get into the mission, you can't quit it until its done. And some Affinity missions have you doing stuff like "Kill ALL THESE GUYS and then COLLECT ALL THIS STUFF." and you may not feel like doing that for the next hour. So quit and reload.

3. Yeah pretty much. The quest board stuff - you're not supposed to focus on it. You accept every quest and then watch them complete themselves as you're collecting orbs or running around and see monsters with the Green ! and you know you need to kill them for a quest.

4. Nope

5. Yes you are correct, kill those monsters if you see them. You get a "reward ticket". Use those at the Blade Barracks terminal to buy monster drops that you don't feel like getting yourself.

6. Yeah read the digital manual when you press the Home menu. It's actually the best one I've seen on WiiU.

Thanks to you as well.

 

[zakujanai]

There are some arts that have area of effect. Those end up inevitably attracting nearby enemies. If you avoid them though, it's perfectly possible to pick targets one by one.

I may have been guilty of this but while I could've handled the enemies if I'd been better able to pick them off one by one, it doesn't change the fact that the 3 boss enemies together were still easier than most of the regular enemies by themselves.

There were definitely places where there was no choice but to fight multiples. One of the areas was only accessible by two narrow bridges at either end, both guarded by closely grouped enemies that could only be tackled together. I eventually managed to get past the easier of the two which had 3 level 20ish enemies and a level 29 patrolling behind that I had to be careful not to draw in. Once I was able to get past these I could mostly keep the fights to one or two at a time.

 

[Vena]

I'm more powerful than my Skell offensively, but damn am I paper thin for defense. LOL.