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[Melhisedek]

Well on normal battles I think I should be able to win them without healing. But on bosses, don't know. Never tried tbh

I'll try out Dunban, Melia and Shuld and see where that gets me I have to control Melia in order for her to become useful right? What are good arts for her to have?

Oh and what items could I sell without thinking?

 

[chaosblade]

For Melia, this is probably more useful than anything I could write up real fast.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=34985554&postcount=16970

And you can usually safely sell items with small bag icons, especially older/low value ones. Even if you do end up needing them, they're easy to get again.



And just to throw this out there, a really fun combo with Melia is to use a skill link with the 7th character's 4th tree that increases the tension level when using the talent art. I think it's rather obvious what happens when combined with Melia!

 

[Melhisedek]

In this wonderful post you linked it says that AGI is by far the most important stat in the game.
Is it in general (for all characters) or just some of them?

 

[chaosblade]

I'd say it's the most important for every character except maybe Reyn and Melia. Physical defense takes priority for Reyn (maybe tied with agility), and Ether for Melia. The only physical attacking Melia should ever be concerned with is Spear Break + Starlight Kick. And hopefully you should be able to avoid picking up aggro with her, but at some points in the game she's so much better at dealing damage than everyone else it's tough.

He was replying to regarding something else when he mentioned that.

Agility affects two things - your hit rate for physical attacks (but not ether attacks), and your likelyhood of dodging attacks. If you're dodging a good number of enemy attacks while all of yours hit, you'll be able to win most fights with minimal concern for healing and excess support.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Spike defense protects against all spike damage. But you really shouldn't need to topple lock Blizzard Belgazas at level 99. I mean, I beat him without toppling at level 79/80... but after Abaasy at 55 I don't think anyone is going to listen to me. :lol Still not sure how I'm going to upload that at full resolution.

Ok thanks. So a Spike Defense VI + Melia's skill link for 50% spike resistance will keep me safe from that.

Well chaos, you shamed me into taking on the superbosses without topple locking, so I've begun my attempt. As you saw in my last post, I accidentally ended up fighting Despotic Arsene while hunting Ether Bunnia for a quest, and was very surprised when I came out on top. I didn't think I was ready.

My team: Melia, Shulk, Sharla. To warm up, I started off with Final Marcus, and I destroyed it pretty quickly. Then, just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, I fought Despotic Arsene again, and I won without too many issues. And then I attempted Ancient Daedala, and got wiped with it at half HP. I figured I just messed up, but no, I wiped again. Now I was annoyed, and so I substituted Melia out for Riki. Riki, Shulk, and Sharla is basically the cheesiest team in the game, but screw it. I came out victorious, but it definitely wasn't a smooth victory, even with all three of the game's healers. I REALLY need some Night Vision VI gems. I don't even have the affinity to trade Scarlen for the rank V gems, so yeah, these bosses are a bitch to hit. But I'm making slow progress at least.

 

[chaosblade]

What level are you again? I thought you said 99.

Anceint Daedala shouldn't be a problem, even without any Night Vision.

It's probably more a matter of your party, actually. Your first party really lacks someone who can either eat damage or dodge. Riki is a ball of HP, even if his defense is a tad low kind of low he can still take hits. With a Melia/Shulk/Sharla party, I'd say to hell with Melia's agility. Especially if you're not toppling, you can ditch Spear Break and Starlight Kick.

Link her up with a heavy armor skill (not Reyn's) and make sure you've got her 4th tree full, which has a skill that raises her ether defense with heavy armor. Especially for Daedala, Arsene, and Belzagas. All of them primarily deal in physical damage. HP Up could be a good choice for Melia in this setup too. She's basically your tank.

Drop any agility skills too and focus on ether boosts from Sharla for increased damage (defense skills wouldn't hurt either). Agility doesn't do anything for ether accuracy, and Melia isn't doing any physical attacking, so you can save coins there. At 99 your ether attacks should be very accurate against Daedala at 105.

Still, you really shouldn't run into problems with an ether/DoT focused team, especially with healing. They should be more accurate than my brute-force physical team. Sharla's biggest problem is that she holds back your damage and leads to the battles taking longer (thus more threat of dying). She's super-low tier for the post-game content, IMO. Reyn is the only other character I'd consider "low" tier, but that's only for self imposed challenges, he's fantastic for topple locking and deals pretty decent damage. (Dunban/Reyn/7th is probably the OP topple lock party, with Shulk being a close #4).

Riki, Shulk, Sharla with Shulk's 5th tree fully unlocked is still the most broken team in the game though. You can beat anything through attrition with Riki's DoT's, Sharla's healing, and warning Shulk to manage visions/Monado arts.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Yeah I'm level 99.

Hmm, I hadn't considered using heavy armor on Melia. I used it on Riki, but you're right that Melia kind of has to serve as a tank, because she does so much more damage than Shulk and Sharla that she kept drawing aggro. And yeah, Spear Break and Starlight Kick were completely useless.

I think things will get a lot easier when I get all of their skills. I just unlocked all of the characters' 5th skill trees, and also most characters' 4th skill trees, so I am just barely getting access to some of their best abilities. I had been more focused on acquiring all of the best VI gems, which was definitely worthwhile.

 

[chaosblade]

Another thing would be to take advantage or Riki's cooldown skills. Fight at night since the effects for nighttime are better. Especially for Sharla (healing) and Melia (everything). Instead of holding a wind summon for agility, maybe hold an earth summon for defense to help cover for Melia's poor HP.

 

[MBison]

So I'm at this part:

Spoiler

Unlocking the two things to get into prison island

I'm not even halfway done? Heh this game is long. I like it a lot especially on dolphin but wow. Time sink! My save is 30 hours and I'm like level 42 btw.

What's the min level to fight the end game where I will have little trouble?

 

[chaosblade]

So I'm at this part:

Spoiler

Unlocking the two things to get into prison island

I'm not even halfway done? Heh this game is long. I like it a lot especially on dolphin but wow. Time sink! My save is 30 hours and I'm like level 42 btw.

What's the min level to fight the end game where I will have little trouble?

You're probably around 45% of the way done with the story.

I think I proved above that the absolute minimum level is probably around 55, maybe a couple levels lower.

But you're not going to do it at that level. Most people beat it at

Spoiler

79-80, though 78 is possible it's fairly difficult

. Any lower than that and you're in for a very, very rough time.

 

[Melhisedek]

Oooook,
I'm at the High Entia Tomb and have a fight against

Spoiler

Telethia and Tyrea

I do like 1 damage with Shulk against "assassin" and like half damage against the flying thing.
I'm winning but it is so annoying to do just 1 damage How come?

Spoiler

Does it have to do something with her mask? If so why doesn't Monado power agains mech a work?

 

[chaosblade]

Oooook,
I'm at the High Entia Tomb and have a fight against

Spoiler

Telethia and Tyrea

I do like 1 damage with Shulk against "assassin" and like half damage against the flying thing.
I'm winning but it is so annoying to do just 1 damage How come?

Spoiler

Does it have to do something with her mask? If so why doesn't Monado power agains mech a work?

Remember back to the beginning of the game.

Spoiler

Monado doesn't cut people, yo.

Damage should be fine against the big enemy.

 

[cooljeanius]

Remember back to the beginning of the game.

Spoiler

Monado doesn't cut people, yo.

Spoiler for the part Melhisedek is just about to get to:

Spoiler

It doesn't cut them yet, at least

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Another thing would be to take advantage or Riki's cooldown skills. Fight at night since the effects for nighttime are better. Especially for Sharla (healing) and Melia (everything). Instead of holding a wind summon for agility, maybe hold an earth summon for defense to help cover for Melia's poor HP.

Yeah I can't wait to unlock those skills. Thankfully I'm getting some pretty good SP by killing the superbosses.

I now have Ancient Daedala and Despotic Arsene on complete farm status. My most successful party so far has been Riki, Shulk, and Dunban. I finally killed Daedala enough times to mega heat a pair of Night Vision VI gems, so that really helped. Now I'm using Melia, Shulk, and Dunban and that's also going well. With HP Steal and Aura Heal gems, Dunban seems to do fine without Riki or Sharla's heals.

I'm waiting to unlock Melia's 50% spike damage resistance skill before taking on Blizzard Belgazas. I'm pretty much done with questing, as I have gotten all the skill trees and I don't really need to trade for anything. Looks like my playthrough is finally beginning to wind down. I'm at something like 175 *edit* 181 hours.

 

[Conor 419]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLadRkjbXSc

The song at 12:40, does anyone know the name of the track?

 

[chaosblade]

Engage the Enemy/Confrontation with the Enemy

 

[Conor 419]

Thanks man

And I've just gotta say it again to all of the chums, there is only one game of this generation and its name is Xenoblade.

 

[Melhisedek]

How do you get more arts? By leveling or?

 

[Conor 419]

How do you get more arts? By leveling or?

By levelling.

 

[Melhisedek]

Whoa, whoa, whoa... talk about plot twists

Spoiler

First Dunban recognizes faced Mechon ( I believe he is the same as the cowardly guy from the start of the game), than Fiora crashes the party and is all cool and doesn't give a damn and leaves them all just standing there, than that seer shows up and is all malicious and even knows who Zanza is...
I also found interesting that two faces Mechons were acting so differently, in a way it makes sense because they are different people in the core, but still, wouldn't Mechons brainwash them either way

Either way I've been hit with great twist and I can feel there'll be more of those soon Can't wait.

Any estimates on how far in am I? This far took me about 29 hours...

Damn what a game!

 

[chaosblade]

45-50%.

Might want to adjust your camera options for the next area so it doesn't reset to the landscape.

 

[Melhisedek]

What should be set as?

Oh and who made this game? What other games is he responsible for?

 

[chaosblade]

Angle correction off, due to the ground sloping in that area it will constantly re-adjust to positions you probably don't want it to be in. You can also take the opportunity to set the camera speed to fastest, that really should have been the default setting.

And it's from MonolithSoft/Tetsuya Takahashi

 

[Uthred]

Going to take the plunge and give this a go, just wondering before I start, are there any "Guide dang-it!" moments? i.e. any missable stuff which would prove critical later?

 

[chaosblade]

Not really. The only missables I can think of are obviously the timed side quests, which are all labeled and you get a lot of time to do most of them, and there's one optional character development scene late in the game that you can easily skip.

The "big" rewards (not really a spoiler but:

Spoiler

4th and 5th skill trees

) aren't missable, but it might be harder to get one or two of them if you do skip a whole lot of timed side quests.

Oh, and you can miss out on affinity coins from unique monsters if you don't kill all of them in certain areas that end up off-limits, but that's not really a big deal unless you're a completionist or have some sort of specific goal or use for those.

 

[Uthred]

Not really. The only missables I can think of are obviously the timed side quests, which are all labeled and you get a lot of time to do most of them, and there's one optional character development scene late in the game that you can easily skip.

The "big" rewards (not really a spoiler but:

Spoiler

4th and 5th skill trees

) aren't missable, but it might be harder to get one or two of them if you do skip a whole lot of timed side quests.

Oh, and you can miss out on affinity coins from unique monsters if you don't kill all of them in certain areas that end up off-limits, but that's not really a big deal unless you're a completionist or have some sort of specific goal or use for those.

Cheers, I shall forge ahead with it then

 

[Siaynoqq]

Finally beat the game. That ending... so good. Really brought everything together.

I'm wondering if you guys know of any sources discussing how Xenoblade fits into the broader Xeno series/timeline. I noticed a lot of parallels, but it wasn't clear to me if it was meant to be one of the episodes set forth in PerfectWorks, or if it was meant to have more of a spiritual connection to the broader series.

 

[cooljeanius]

Angle correction off, due to the ground sloping in that area it will constantly re-adjust to positions you probably don't want it to be in. You can also take the opportunity to set the camera speed to fastest, that really should have been the default setting.

Darn it, I wish I had known about this option before I did that area...

 

[chaosblade]

So I revamped the FAQ, the first part (general information and tips) has a rough draft done.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=34956140&postcount=16961

Tomorrow I might see about working on the second part. It will probably be bigger and cover a hella-lot of stuff that the game doesn't really get into details on.

Finally beat the game. That ending... so good. Really brought everything together.

I'm wondering if you guys know of any sources discussing how Xenoblade fits into the broader Xeno series/timeline. I noticed a lot of parallels, but it wasn't clear to me if it was meant to be one of the episodes set forth in PerfectWorks, or if it was meant to have more of a spiritual connection to the broader series.

It's not really connected at all, at least not like that. It was originally not even going to be a "Xeno-" game, but they went with Xenoblade as the final title since Xeno- has some name recognition. And Nintendo/Monolithsoft claim it was to honor Takahashi.

The only one I know of was linked in the PAL topic by B.K., but I forgot where it was. All it really did was complain that Xenoblade wasn't a "real" Xeno-game and how bad/dumbed down it is compared to Gears/Saga.

 

[Melhisedek]

About Dunban, I remember there was something about him and light armor? Or was it medium? What was it and should I worry about it?

 

[chaosblade]

The lighter the armor, the lower the agility penalty (the game subtracts the weight of your armor from your agility). Dunban has skills that reduce the weight of armor so even light armor with a weight of 1 will be reduced to 0, and I think he has the one that increases defense of light-class armor. So it ends up about matching Medium-class armor with that bonus anyway.

 

[Melhisedek]

Ah now I remember, there is a skill that gives Dunban greatly increased aggro when not wearing armor... Is it worth it? I mean how will he survive?

 

[Head of Vengarl]

What's the best way to farm SP in the post-game? All I really have left to do is kill the last 2 superbosses, but I need some skills (like Melia's spike resist one) beforehand. I've been killing Final Marcus and the level 99 slobos' next to him, but it's still going very slowly.

Ah now I remember, there is a skill that gives Dunban greatly increased aggro when not wearing armor... Is it worth it? I mean how will he survive?

It might be worth it early on, but as soon as you start getting good gems it's completely useless.

 

[Exeunt]

I kind of ran into trouble farming for Skill Points in the "post-game" as well. Hypothetically I suppose you could run around some of the early areas OHKOing Bunnits and the like for 1 SP each but it might be faster just to beat some of the enemies that are your level or higher. If you end the battle on a chain attack you can get double AP, Experience, and SP but I don't remember gaining more than 40 or so SP when I was at level 99. I filled out some of the last skills that I needed by repeatedly killing Deinos Sauros for crystals but I fell short of completing all of the trees for some characters. If there is a good way of farming SP at a high level I'm not sure if it's anything beyond "kill these high-level enemies really quickly using chain attacks." If there are strategies, I'd be interested in hearing them as well.

 

[Uthred]

This might be a stupid question, playing the game on Dolphin and its running fine, etc. However there are certain NPC's who have a "Press X to trade" however when I press X the only thing that happens is the menu appears, is this working as intended ?

Edit: Nevermind, sorted it, custom button textures were showing up for Y and X in dolphin for some werid reason

 

[Siaynoqq]

t's not really connected at all, at least not like that. It was originally not even going to be a "Xeno-" game, but they went with Xenoblade as the final title since Xeno- has some name recognition. And Nintendo/Monolithsoft claim it was to honor Takahashi.

Then what do you make of this: http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q2-2010/040110a.html

 

[chaosblade]

Then what do you make of this: http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q2-2010/040110a.html

An April Fools joke.

 

[Melhisedek]

Any ways of easily getting money?

 

[Zornica]

Any ways of easily getting money?

yeah, playing the game
you have like 3 million by the end of it.
(the only things worth buying are artbooks and in the endgame prestige armors.)
and for that, you should have enough money.
if you really want to grind some, do quests.

 

[Melhisedek]

Yeah but I need money now Am at Sword Valley and want to deck out my guys for the heck of it

Anyway I just tried Riki for the first time. I have NO idea on what he is supposed to be doing but damn he does it so well. So far no aggro pull from him and things go down faster than with Reyn.

Any advice on arts with Riki?

So far I control Shulk and the CPU is Riki and Sharla

 

[Zornica]

if shulk is still in your party, it's not worth it really.
those weapons are weak, and not using enchant makes mechon fights drag on forever.
weapon drops in this and the next areas are gonna be much better than what you could buy now.

for riki, I'd use all his DoT art, bleed, poison, fire, ice, don't know how they are called in english, something stupide i suppose. healing and hero time is nice too.

btw: riki is a good healer, so i'd dump sharla too (preferably for dunban), you'll be surprised how quickly everything dies. (don't forgett those agility gems for everyone though)

 

[Melhisedek]

Hmmm I don't have a lot of Agi gems. Like a 4-5 lvl III ones I think. Where was it that you made the gems? Colony 9 IIRC? Gonna try Dunban instead of Sharla and see how it works

Am lvl 48-49 with everyone, is that ok?

Love this game!

 

[chaosblade]

Weapons and armor are pretty much never worth buying. There area where you are is the one exception if you really want to avoid using Shulk. Enchant > Anti-Mechon weapons, since the weapons are weak and enchant actually nets you a damage bonus, 50 bonus damage per enchant level against Mechon.

You can always get better equipment from drops. Intermediate art books are worth buying, and you spend money to fix Colony 6, but that's about it.

The gem crafting furnace is in Colony 9, but if you start working on Colony 6 you'll quickly earn an item to get a portable furnace.

 

[Melhisedek]

I wanted to start on Colony 6 but for the life of me couldn't find that first quest (clear out some bridge so that refugees can arrive).

I guess I should look into it.

I kinda can't decide on group I want to play with. I played like 25 hours with Shulk, Reyn and Sharla. Now trying to incorporate Riki (wasn't as good as I thought previously) and/or Dunban but I'm getting killed by bosses. Right now am at the third "door" in Sword Walley and M104 is kicking my butt. Lvl is 49, party= Shulk, Riki, Dunban

Oh and sometimes when I get those visions of future and I use monado power to shield it works, but sometimes it doesn't. I'm sure it isn't the shield lvl as I leveled it to lvl 6-7 I believe. Must be something I missed or forgot since I played last time

 

[chaosblade]

M104 and other mechon of that type are probably some of the strongest enemies in the game, relative to their level. The unique variations especially since they have a very powerful blaze attack. They all have fairly high defense, a lot of HP, and a lot of strong attacks (Titan Stamp is a pain in the ass).

If that and similar enemies are the only ones you're having trouble with, you're not really doing too bad. So you know, if you kill that enemy an even stronger one shows up.

 

[big_erk]

I have really got to go back and finish this game. I was pretty far into the game when I got distracted by other games that came out. Fired it up again recently, only to discover that I had completely forgotten the battle system.

 

[Melhisedek]

M104 and other mechon of that type are probably some of the strongest enemies in the game, relative to their level. The unique variations especially since they have a very powerful blaze attack. They all have fairly high defense, a lot of HP, and a lot of strong attacks (Titan Stamp is a pain in the ass).

If that and similar enemies are the only ones you're having trouble with, you're not really doing too bad. So you know, if you kill that enemy an even stronger one shows up.

How in the seven hells? Yeah I just walked past that one and noticed that it was one way street that way

In any case, I seem to lack three of the monado arts that you have... Most noticeable is the one lowering all damage "Armour" I believe it is called? Is it normal or?

 

[chaosblade]

Yeah, you're not to those yet, and a couple are optional and obtained through side quests (armor and eater). That's a NG+ playthrough so I already had all the arts and everything unlocked. Just used a code to reset my level and stats.

Actually, you can probably get Eater. It's from the Mystery of Makna Ruins quest line.

I wouldn't go digging too far into the videos since most of them are boss videos and may contain spoilers.


And I won't lie... even though I've already beaten the game twice since the NA release (normal playthrough and a low level one on NG+), plus a PAL playthrough last year, I still wouldn't mind doing ANOTHER lowish-level NG+ playthrough but this time without NG+ armor. That way bosses are actually threatening in the first 2/3 of the game. But I'll save that for another time. If I have a decent Internet connection by then I might do a whole LP, if I can find a buddy for it. Solo LPs are boring.

 

[cooljeanius]

Actually, you can probably get Eater. It's from the Mystery of Makna Ruins quest line.

Which quest line is that again? I don't think I've found it yet...

Edit: nvm, checked the spreadsheet. Sometimes I wish the spreadsheet were organized as a relational database so quests that are pre-requisites for one another could be connected.

 

[chaosblade]

That's the name of the quests (they're numbered). They're from the Nopon in the archeology area of Frontier Village. Forgot what time of day she's there.