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[tbd]

Such an incredible game and take on open world. No idea how they even managed to do this, especially on the Wii U. The amount of unique assets, different biotopes directly connected, a huge town without any loading screens. Sure, they made use of many tricks but that makes it even more impressive. And then, contrary to my expaction, even the combat is amazing, motivating, fast and actually deep with many Monster Hunter elements. And don't get me started on the soundtrack.

It completely shits on everything else this year, imo.

 

[Somnid]

The craziest part is how little loading there is. Fast travel and respawning are pretty quick even into different continents. There are some trade-offs with pop-in but overall they made the right choices to keep the game moving fluidly.

 

[Finalow]

best place to grind brilliant tersqual liquid?

need 48 of them

repeat for 3 times

uuum.

 

[PetrCobra]

(Post-game spoilers)

Spoiler

I'm trying to figure the story out, and I'm wondering if the crator themselves had it fidured out...
So where I'm at, NLA (probably along at least another ship) was warped to Mira, just as those other races. The second ship was also warp to another place on Mira, and has the equivalent to Elma (maybe the second person of her Skell?). I presume Mira is an artificial planet (maybe one created by Shulk?) and someone is having fun watching the races mingle together.

Humans are the descendant of the Samaarian.
The Samaarian created the Ganglion. And probably the Zaruboggans(or that were the humans, in which case the warp was also in the future/a place in limbo (which would explain Proffessor's B troubles)).
The form seen aproaching Lao is probably of Elma's race. I'm unsure if it's supposed to be Elma's copilot?
In parallel, humans are toying with mims and AI, as seen in Yelv's affinity mission. This makes me wonder what the player is exactly? Maybe a form of deus ex machina to avoid the destruction of the human race?

What I'm still completely unclear about:
- What the hell happened to the civilization on Cauldros? You can't build all that and explain nothing...
- Why Elma's race cares about Ganglion/human wars; is the shadow at the end with Lao an antagonist? What has he planed/why.
- What the hell is up with Mira; who built it; why.
- Who the hell send all those races to Mira.
- What the hell happened to the Samaarian.
- How the hell do you "implant a failsafe in human DNA", and how does it work?
- And a lot more that don't come to mind right now.

The story is a real clusterfuck, and I begin to doubt the developer themselves had something clear in mind for the game.

I think you'll find some food for thought in the spoiler thread

 

[TheMoon]

guys ...we're already almost 3/4ths to 100 pages again. what are you doing

 

[theprodigy]

guys ...we're already almost 3/4ths to 100 pages again. what are you doing

It's not that surprising, after all it's slowed down significantly from the first OT.

 

[And_Gignac]

Devinian Downfall final boss:

Spoiler

Holy shit this thing sucks. A moment after I get it below half health it always just one shots me with something. Even if I do survive for a bit longer, it always knocks me down and drains all of my TP away which screws me from doing Overdrive. Anyone have any tips?

What I did, after failing a couple of times, was gearing up my whole party with anti-beam properties. All the way up to 100. Then I gave 1 Mechanical Slayer augment to all my party (my main had 3+1 Critical up mechanical XX). That did the job.

 

[Fandangox]

guys ...we're already almost 3/4ths to 100 pages again. what are you doing

Not reading the OP.

 

[TheMoon]

Not reading the OP.

 

[massoluk]

F' that stupid monk' affinity quest. Who thought it was a good idea to have platforming + lava floor in a rpg game that cannot do proper platforming and with AI team that can't stay still or jump with you properly onto platforms.

I must have to spend like 20-30 minutes just soloing this bastard.

 

[pinkurocket]

I drove my skell off a cliff and exited as it landed, making it look like it got stuck in the sand like that. I thought it was funny.

Also I got my man a new armor set and I keep on being impressed with that booty.

 

[Wyndstryker]

Well, just did an achievement count.

Missing 181.

Well, time to get cracking. Most of them are the monster ones of course

 

[El Odio]

So is Primordia the only continent without an area that changes the music, even while flying? Doesn't really bother me or anything just curious.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

So is Primordia the only continent without an area that changes the music, even while flying? Doesn't really bother me or anything just curious.

NLA

you never flew into the Bowl?

 

[Xenoboy]

Yeah, fuck you chapter 9 enemies! Fucking wrecked your ass right now! How are ya gonna do with a constant overdrive Elma up your asses with decoy 75% of the time?!
And then came round 2 and I wrecked their asses again.

 

[Renewed]

So is Primordia the only continent without an area that changes the music, even while flying? Doesn't really bother me or anything just curious.

Silent Mire, just a bit northeast of NLA. You can identify it by the huge bowl-like formation that surrounds it and the swamp area that leads into a cave. Also a Leviath fies around.

 

[victreeb3l]

Good God that european launch trailer is chock full of spoilers. I'm glad I never looked into any of them beforehand.

(continuing with post game spoilers

Spoiler

I think that the Ganglion were originally that one race, probably something like what Luxaar looks like, but with time they came to be more like a covenant of different species as they conquered those others. But still the original Ganglion were there and they're still the masters ultimately in control, and humanity could only wipe them out.

It's kind of left open though, but the conquering part is definitely true at least (like we know they conquered the Prone for example).

Could be of course that they were originally multiple species too, but then they just conquered more species to have under their control, in which case humanity could wipe out all the original species.

Spoiler

Ah right, thats a fair point. Even if they're a collective, if the leadership is wiped out then they're as good as done.

(Post-game spoilers)

Spoiler

I'm trying to figure the story out, and I'm wondering if the crator themselves had it fidured out...
So where I'm at, NLA (probably along at least another ship) was warped to Mira, just as those other races. The second ship was also warp to another place on Mira, and has the equivalent to Elma (maybe the second person of her Skell?). I presume Mira is an artificial planet (maybe one created by Shulk?) and someone is having fun watching the races mingle together.

Humans are the descendant of the Samaarian.
The Samaarian created the Ganglion. And probably the Zaruboggans(or that were the humans, in which case the warp was also in the future/a place in limbo (which would explain Proffessor's B troubles)).
The form seen aproaching Lao is probably of Elma's race. I'm unsure if it's supposed to be Elma's copilot?
In parallel, humans are toying with mims and AI, as seen in Yelv's affinity mission. This makes me wonder what the player is exactly? Maybe a form of deus ex machina to avoid the destruction of the human race?

What I'm still completely unclear about:
- What the hell happened to the civilization on Cauldros? You can't build all that and explain nothing...
- Why Elma's race cares about Ganglion/human wars; is the shadow at the end with Lao an antagonist? What has he planed/why.
- What the hell is up with Mira; who built it; why.
- Who the hell send all those races to Mira.
- What the hell happened to the Samaarian.
- How the hell do you "implant a failsafe in human DNA", and how does it work?
- And a lot more that don't come to mind right now.

The story is a real clusterfuck, and I begin to doubt the developer themselves had something clear in mind for the game.

Spoiler

I hope the next Xenoblade game delves further into the ancient civilizations of Mira. I want to know more about the Cauldros kingdom and the origins of those discs in Oblivia.

 

[TheFatMan]

After 75 hours I can finally say I am starting to get a little burned out on this game.

I think I'll grind out the last few levels to 60, and knock out the last two chapters of the main story and shelf the game for a few weeks.

 

[KittenMaster]

I finally learned (advanced gameplay)

Spoiler

that I can press the Overdrive button while still in overdrive, and that's how people pull off infinite overdrive.

 

[Xenoboy]

So I finished chapter 9 now, there isn't really much to talk about either... Depends on how Chapter 10 pans out.

 

[UpDownLeftRight]

Couldn't hold out anymore. 10gb downloaded just 10 more to go. Itching to get started but at least 5 more hours of waiting to go. I'm expecting greatness from this since I loved XC and this seems to double down on exploration.

 

[Lunar15]

So I'm level 50 and I haven't really found more than 6 or so research probes, not enough of the same level to even make a link. What's the deal?

 

[rhandino]

Ok, managed to get Lvl 50 while exploring Cauldros for some sidequests and after completing them went to the barracks to try that Inferno Lvl. 50 that I bought earlier and I found that I had this in my inventory...

Ok, it seems decent even if the Skell has a big sword that deals 18000 in one hit so I went out to try it against my Skell weapong punching bag aka. Siren, The Lost

Or maybe she is now Sirene, The F*cked!

 

[Recompose]

why are so many of these sidequests so dark

Spoiler

i love it

the alien nation one especially, that could have been so much more fucked up depending on the choices you made

 

[theprodigy]

I finally learned (advanced gameplay)

Spoiler

that I can press the Overdrive button while still in overdrive, and that's how people pull off infinite overdrive.

Wait what? Oh well I don't exactly have an infinite overdrive build yet lol

(looks like it's my turn to learn something halfway into the game!)

 

[Dimmle]

So, hey: how do I get mechanical level 5? Apparently not through Blade levels?

 

[Xenoboy]

Okay I started H.B second mission and he keeps on being the gift that keeps on giving, lol.

 

[rhandino]

So, hey: how do I get mechanical level 5? Apparently not through Blade levels?

There is a sidequest called Off the Record in the mission board after you get a skill to level 4, complete it and you get the Lvl. 5.

 

[Blues1990]

So, hey: how do I get mechanical level 5? Apparently not through Blade levels?

It's part of a series of "Off The Record" quests that become available after completing certain quests. This guide will show you some of the shortcuts to completing them.

 

[Dimmle]

There is a sidequest called Off the Record in the mission board after you get a skill to level 4, complete it and you get the Lvl. 5.

Ah, thank you!

 

[Adam Prime]

So, hey: how do I get mechanical level 5? Apparently not through Blade levels?

Here's the extremely helpful video I used. You need to have Lv 30 skells for everyone, and the Tyrant that you have to beat took me A LOT of tries, it was really tough. Make sure you have G-Buster swords for all your Skells too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_khaqBR5ZqM

 

[Wyndstryker]

Okay I started H.B second mission and he keeps on being the gift that keeps on giving, lol.

He has to keep excelling in every way

 

[Motooni]

So with Skells, I'm losing 200k-400k every time I play due to wreckage now. I was under the impression that party members couldn't wreck Skells, or that hitting a 'Perfect' would save insurance, however I think neither of those have been true for me. In particular my party member's Skell, as I had to repair 2 Skells at one point.

This is a problem for me as I can't really absorb frequent repair bills where I am in the game, with level 50 looming. Guess I should just make sure I never wreck Skells.

 

[Adam Prime]

Yeah, fuck you chapter 9 enemies! Fucking wrecked your ass right now! How are ya gonna do with a constant overdrive Elma up your asses with decoy 75% of the time?!
And then came round 2 and I wrecked their asses again.

lol this made me chuckle. Hyped, are we?

 

[Aaronrules380]

So with Skells, I'm losing 200k-400k every time I play due to wreckage now. I was under the impression that party members couldn't wreck Skells, or that hitting a 'Perfect' would save insurance, however I think neither of those have been true for me. In particular my party member's Skell, as I had to repair 2 Skells at one point.

This is a problem for me as I can't really absorb frequent repair bills where I am in the game, with level 50 looming. Guess I should just make sure I never wreck Skells.

Party members don't lose insurance, but if you give them a skell that's already hit zero you'll have to pay since they perfect the prompt, but that only stops wrecking if you still have insurance

 

[Adam Prime]

So with Skells, I'm losing 200k-400k every time I play due to wreckage now. I was under the impression that party members couldn't wreck Skells, or that hitting a 'Perfect' would save insurance, however I think neither of those have been true for me. In particular my party member's Skell, as I had to repair 2 Skells at one point.

This is a problem for me as I can't really absorb frequent repair bills where I am in the game, with level 50 looming. Guess I should just make sure I never wreck Skells.

Yeah... I don't understand. I've had party members lose their Skells in battle, I just return to the Barracks and its been repaired or salvaged, or whatever. I check on the screen and it still says that there's 3 insurances remaining, so did it cost anything? I don't know.

I have like 20 salvage tickets from being int he Prospectors.

 

[Haunted]

So with Skells, I'm losing 200k-400k every time I play due to wreckage now. I was under the impression that party members couldn't wreck Skells, or that hitting a 'Perfect' would save insurance, however I think neither of those have been true for me. In particular my party member's Skell, as I had to repair 2 Skells at one point.

This is a problem for me as I can't really absorb frequent repair bills where I am in the game, with level 50 looming. Guess I should just make sure I never wreck Skells.

Your party members will never use up insurance and always hit that perfect eject. However, if they have Skells with a 0 insurance count (hand-me-downs from you), they will wreck them and you will have to pay for the repairs.

If you have Skells with a 0 insurance count, it's much cheaper and less painful in the long run to just unequip all gear and sell the frame to get a new one.

The best way to maximise the longevity of your Skells is to hand down your Skell once it reaches 1 insurance count.

 

[Motooni]

Party members don't lose insurance, but if you give them a skell that's already hit zero you'll have to pay since they perfect the prompt, but that only stops wrecking if you still have insurance

That explains a lot.

Guess I'll just be extra careful until I upgrade to level 50s.

Your party members will never use up insurance and always hit that perfect eject. However, if they have Skells with a 0 insurance count (hand-me-downs from you), they will wreck them and you will have to pay them.

If you have Skells with a 0 insurance count, it's much cheaper and less painful in the long run to just unequip all gear and sell the frame to get a new one.

The best way to maximise the longevity of your Skells is to hand down your Skell once it reaches 1 insurance count.

Good to know, thanks for the information. I'll try it out

 

[Malus]

Here's the extremely helpful video I used. You need to have Lv 30 skells for everyone, and the Tyrant that you have to beat took me A LOT of tries, it was really tough. Make sure you have G-Buster swords for all your Skells too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_khaqBR5ZqM

Hm? The mechanical tyrant wasn't that tough. Didn't have any G busters or use any special strategy.

The archaeological one on the other hand...

 

[Recompose]

So with Skells, I'm losing 200k-400k every time I play due to wreckage now. I was under the impression that party members couldn't wreck Skells, or that hitting a 'Perfect' would save insurance, however I think neither of those have been true for me. In particular my party member's Skell, as I had to repair 2 Skells at one point.

This is a problem for me as I can't really absorb frequent repair bills where I am in the game, with level 50 looming. Guess I should just make sure I never wreck Skells.

If you already have 0 insurance on your skells, perfecting the QTE won't save it from being wrecked.

 

[Mat-triX]

Just curious: Are there female players here who are subjecting the men to wear sexy outfits/nothing, much like male players are doing to the women?

 

[victreeb3l]

I named my final Skell squad Charizard, Venusaur and Blastoise.

My Skell was Pikachu.

 

[KittenMaster]

Wait what? Oh well I don't exactly have an infinite overdrive build yet lol

(looks like it's my turn to learn something halfway into the game!)

Better halfway through the game than right after starting post-game!

Also surprising is that I managed to have just enough TP gain to pull it off without augments (but that might be because of my arts more than my gear).

 

[-shadow-]

What is exactly the reason the game gives you the Bind option with a Skell or goes into a cockpit POV? I thought I had it figured out, but in the end it just seems completely random to me.

 

[MannyToons]

Eeee. Just got my flight module. My little Wavebird can finally fly. :') Seriously, this game does a fantastic job at establishing a feel of scale in its world. I haven't really touched Xenoblade all that much for the past week. I think I may have exhausted it a bit after no-lifing the game for the first 2 weeks of owning it, but I feel I'm ready to really get back into it now that I can fucking fly everywhere. Time to finally finish the game's chapters.

Also need to figure out the best way to heighten my Miranium and FrontierNav income count. =/

 

[Recompose]

What is exactly the reason the game gives you the Bind option with a Skell or goes into a cockpit POV? I thought I had it figured out, but in the end it just seems completely random to me.

You get the option to bind an enemy when it's staggered.
Not sure what triggers the cockpit POV, but I find it annoying when it happens.

 

[El Odio]

NLA

you never flew into the Bowl?

The bowl?

Silent Mire, just a bit northeast of NLA. You can identify it by the huge bowl-like formation that surrounds it and the swamp area that leads into a cave. Also a Leviath fies around.

Huh, guess I never hang out around there enough to notice.

I finally learned (advanced gameplay)

Spoiler

that I can press the Overdrive button while still in overdrive, and that's how people pull off infinite overdrive.

Wwwwwwhhhhaaaaattttttt?

 

[Nostremitus]

I have a question for you all re: classes. I'm 29 hours in and I just reached rank 10 in Duelist. I then switched to Commando to try something new and I promptly switched back since I would be leveling the majority of my arts from scratch again. Not sure I want to take that on right now since I'm about to face off against some strong enemies in an affinity quest.

So, my questions is, is it just better to remain in a specific branch so that you can completely earn and level all the arts in it or is it cool to hop around? I'm leaning toward the former but wanted to get some insight from you all since most of you are much further in than I am.

Thoughts?

Change classes and then reequip your duelist weapons. You still have access to all of your arts regardless of the class you choose. They are tied to weapon type.

You can even mix and match, ie longsword and dual gun or dual sword and ramjet rifle.

 

[AppleSautts]

What I did, after failing a couple of times, was gearing up my whole party with anti-beam properties. All the way up to 100. Then I gave 1 Mechanical Slayer augment to all my party (my main had 3+1 Critical up mechanical XX). That did the job.

I ended up just adding some overpowered guy from the scouting console. The battle ended before I knew it lol

 

[HawthorneKitty]

Yay, beat Pharsis on foot, should have tried again earlier since I haven't changed gear in forever.