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[chaosblade]

Spoiler

Or, what if he's on Alvis' side?

Spoiler

Alvis has a side? He was pretty much neutral just letting things run their course. I guess it could fit, but given that not even Zanza seemed to know what was going on there I doubt Miqol would.

And remember that there are two different types of spike damage. Area spikes will damage you on regular intervals even if you're not attacking the enemy. And the other one (damage spike?) will only hurt you when you hit the enemy (there's also topple spike, but it's basically the same thing, but active when an enemy is toppled).

 

[Karsticles]

Spoiler

Alvis has a side? He was pretty much neutral just letting things run their course. I guess it could fit, but given that not even Zanza seemed to know what was going on there I doubt Miqol would.

No way.

Spoiler

Alvis helped Shulk time and time again. He basically saved Shulk's life in Makna Forest and taught him to wield the Monado better. We know he wasn't just serving Zanza when doing all of that. I think Alvis was shopping for a new owner, which is why he says he hopes Shulk is the one who proves he can handle the Monado. If Miqol is a servant of Zanza, why is he the leader of the peace-loving settlement? It makes more sense that he is tired of all the strife as well, and wants Shulk to bring about a new era. I agree there has to be more to Miqol...that laugh!

And remember that there are two different types of spike damage. Area spikes will damage you on regular intervals even if you're not attacking the enemy. And the other one (damage spike?) will only hurt you when you hit the enemy (there's also topple spike, but it's basically the same thing, but active when an enemy is toppled).

Indeed. Topple spikes are the most annoying...

 

[Jarsonot]

I let my cousin borrow this game, a guy who has never been into RPGs before, and he LOVES it. He's got ~70 hours into it now, has a few areas up to 4 star affinity, colony 6 built up pretty well, etc. and he doesn't have internet!

I've gone over and played with him a few times, giving him pointers on gem crafting and the importance of talking to NPCs and whatnot, so that's helped him out.

But man, it's making me itch to get the game back! He raves about how huge everything is, how there's so much to do, the awesome story, the number of different monsters, how much battles change with different characters, etc.

Great game. It's converted him over to RPGs. =)

(his girlfriend? Not loving it as much, haha)

 

[FoBiA]

This game is the reason I actually got an account here on NeoGAF. That being said, this is also my first post here on NeoGAF, ha.

Fantastic game. I'm probably just a tad over a 3rd of the way in, maybe? Just hit Frontier Village, so I'm wandering around taking in the scenery for the time being, picking up random quests before I head back out the entrance and knock some out.

 

[Karsticles]

This game is the reason I actually got an account here on NeoGAF. That being said, this is also my first post here on NeoGAF, ha.

Fantastic game. I'm probably just a tad over a 3rd of the way in, maybe? Just hit Frontier Village, so I'm wandering around taking in the scenery for the time being, picking up random quests before I head back out the entrance and knock some out.

Frontier Village drives me nuts. I can't tell the difference between most of the Nopon names, so I wander aimlessly looking for NPCs. -_-

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Frontier Village drives me nuts. I can't tell the difference between most of the Nopon names, so I wander aimlessly looking for NPCs. -_-

Frontier Village is a bit annoying because you can have a much harder time finding specific NPCs due to the layout (and a lot of them wander). Ones that I had long quest chains from I knew where they were, but some ones that I didn't talk to as much drove me nuts.

 

[ScOULaris]

Frontier Village drives me nuts. I can't tell the difference between most of the Nopon names, so I wander aimlessly looking for NPCs. -_-

Yeah, it's annoying in that regard. But Frontier Village is still fucking awesome. Exploring that vertical tree town was one of my big "wow moments" from this game.

 

[Karsticles]

Yeah, it's annoying in that regard. But Frontier Village is still fucking awesome. Exploring that vertical tree town was one of my big "wow moments" from this game.

Oh, no doubt. That place is great. Really, it all would have been fine if they included a way to select an NPC to track on your minimap.

 

[Zornica]

I always found frontier village to be by far the easiest place to find npcs... well, after alcamoth and

Spoiler

hidden village

ofc. there is a path up to the top on which you pass by 90% of the currently active at that timeframe, without even looking for them. all of them spawn either at 6 or 18 o'clock, there are only 2 exceptions to that rule, and both spawn from the same building. (on the first floor, they spawn at 9 and 21)
I am always puzzled why people find it hard to meet certain npcs there.

A few months ago, I even translated the spawnmaps, to bad nobody seems to be using them...
http://abload.de/gallery.php?key=kFDaUQjJ
(alcamoth and frontier village included)

 

[Karsticles]

I always found frontier village to be by far the easiest place to find npcs... well, after alcamoth and

Spoiler

hidden village

ofc. there is a path up to the top on which you pass by 90% of the currently active at that timeframe, without even looking for them. all of them spawn either at 6 or 18 o'clock, there are only 2 exceptions to that rule, and both spawn from the same building. (on the first floor, they spawn at 9 and 21)
I am always puzzled why people find it hard to meet certain npcs there.

A few months ago, I even translated the spawnmaps, to bad nobody seems to be using them...
http://abload.de/gallery.php?key=kFDaUQjJ
(alcamoth and frontier village included)

It's like this:
You're looking for a guy named Dabidabi. That must be Floor 4. Damn it, that was Dobadoba. Maybe it was that guy on Floor 2. Crap, that was Debeda. Er, who was I looking for again? Dubidubi or something?

Yeah, you can use a map, but I like to immerse myself in the games I play. Referencing a map every 5 minutes really ruins that experience. No disrespect to your map - it's awesome and very helpful. I wish we had a list of resources in the OP.

 

[Zornica]

even without looking at the map, I can tell you dabidabi is the guy outside near the lake

 

[Karsticles]

Mechanics question:
If an enemy is suffering Bind, and the highest aggro target is out of range, will the enemy do nothing or attack a second highest aggro target within range?

even without looking at the map, I can tell you dabidabi is the guy outside near the lake

I know that too, but you don't know it when you're doing your first series of quests. Like Kuwabara says, once you do a long chain quest you tend to learn who is who. Initially, it's just a bunch of babytalk names.

 

[cooljeanius]

Indeed. Topple spikes are the most annoying...

Nope, Daze and Instant Death spikes are both more annoying.

 

[Karsticles]

Nope, Daze and Instant Death spikes are both more annoying.

I disagree.

 

[DragonGirl]

Aside from menu text I can actually read on my old TV, the one thing I wish Xenoblade had was a map that tracked the movements of named NPCs, not just as anonymous little dots but named the dots. It would have been awesome to bring up a map of the entire area and see where every individual was, with exclamation points next to the ones with pending quests. It would save so much time hunting down NPCs.

 

[Samyy]

Finally made some progress, got 2 levels, the party is now all 51 ^^. Still switching between quests, UM for perhaps another level before I go to

Spoiler

Galahad Fortress

because levelling is starting to get tedious.

Also working on the nature section of Colony 6 upgrades, didn't know I could get better crystals through that, I want me some high level agility gems >=o

 

[Smiles and Cries]

what does the nature section do to your gems?

I just need one ice cabbage but those things are super rare it seems

 

[Karsticles]

what does the nature section do to your gems?

I just need one ice cabbage but those things are super rare it seems

Ice cabbage is really rare. It took me 2 hours of wandering to get it.

The nature section upgrades the gems you receive from the Ether Mines. Some of the best gems in the game can only be gotten that way.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

shiiiieeet... already reaching 115 hours been all over that mountain only got it once
but I want some high end gems

 

[olimpia84]

So what the heck am I supposed to do now? My inventory for the parts being dropped by the enemies is full and I can't pick up new stuff. I've tried using some of the materials in the Colony 6 restoration but I can only spend so much before Juju asks me for some weird new materials that I'm sure I'll get down the road.

 

[chaosblade]

So what the heck am I supposed to do now? My inventory for the parts being dropped by the enemies is full and I can't pick up new stuff. I've tried using some of the materials in the Colony 6 restoration but I can only spend so much before Juju asks me for some weird new materials that I'm sure I'll get down the road.

Sell the oldest small bag items first, since they're easiest to get again.

 

[Karsticles]

So what the heck am I supposed to do now? My inventory for the parts being dropped by the enemies is full and I can't pick up new stuff. I've tried using some of the materials in the Colony 6 restoration but I can only spend so much before Juju asks me for some weird new materials that I'm sure I'll get down the road.

To some degree, you just have to guess on what's okay to throw away. It's generally better to throw away common items, though, since you can get them back easily.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

my ice cabbage hunt went fail

walked the who mountain pretty much fighting everyone that is standing near a little bug light
nada

there has to be a better way to spam spawn one oh well I guess I'll go back to work on leveling up can't seem to get pass my next boss fight so far

Spoiler

Sharla's hubby level 68 boss his little flying friends keep wacking me, almost had him a few times until he takes to the air and sends down rain of fire!

Of course I am below his level

seriously they needed a bank to store your stuff instead of needing to throw away or sell things - or at least color code the rare items/quest items

I can't always tell a little bag from a big one lol

I hope the next JRPG like this also allows you to enter some homes... this is a vast game but you hardly enter one house.

played too much today... raised towns slightly 122 hours!

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Are ice cabbages really that hard to find? I don't remember having any issues there. I think an ice cabbage was the first collectable I picked up as soon as I walked into that zone.

 

[Karsticles]

Limited inventory space in a collectathon game is definitely one of the title's errors.

The way to handle the Ice Cabbage bit is to pick a good spot with a lot of collectable spawns, and just warp there every now and then while playing. Good spawn spots are the lower level geyser, the area before the tower, the peak of the mountain, and the volcano spot.

I'm okay with houses not being a big part of the game. It's actually nice in some ways. Whenever I get to a new town in an RPG, I look at how big it is. If it's too big I think "ugh, so many houses to go into, and most of them won't have anything".

Are ice cabbages really that hard to find? I don't remember having any issues there. I think an ice cabbage was the first collectable I picked up as soon as I walked into that zone.

IIRC, the opening area is also a cabbage hotspot. I also found one as one of my first items, so I was surprised when I couldn't find any later.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

do you guys have any "Other Collection" done?

the inventory is hard enough I would hate to trade something I really need I guess that will not be something I'll do until NG+

how far am I from the end anyway?

 

[Karsticles]

do you guys have any "Other Collection" done?

the inventory is hard enough I would hate to trade something I really need I guess that will not be something I'll do until NG+

how far am I from the end anyway?

85%-ish done.
The "Other" collection comes from trading with select NPCs.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

speaking of level 68 should I not be able to beat up on some of those level 70+ guys on Bionis' Leg?

Never did go try them not wanting to cheat myself out of enjoying the game. But I need Arts Books now and some leveling to end this run

 

[IceDoesntHelp]

Sort of late on picking up Xenoblade (NA), but does anyone know how to make a EU save work on the NA one? I really don't want to start all over again.

 

[chaosblade]

Sort of late on picking up Xenoblade (NA), but does anyone know how to make a EU save work on the NA one? I really don't want to start all over again.

There's this:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/960564-xenoblade-chronicles/62466640

 

[Karsticles]

speaking of level 68 should I not be able to beat up on some of those level 70+ guys on Bionis' Leg?

Never did go try them not wanting to cheat myself out of enjoying the game. But I need Arts Books now and some leveling to end this run

IMO, within 5 levels is reasonable for you to kill the opponent if you have an ether-based party or have +50 agi on all of your characters. If you are good at the game, you can push that barrier more. The most I ever killed was an enemy 20 levels above my party. Chaosblade has done even more. Levels aren't what make or break this game. Setups are.

Edit: In fact, I'd rate the importance of party traits as follows:
1) Skill Links
2) Gems
3) Levels
4) Gear
5) Art Levels

 

[ScOULaris]

Holy shit. I was about to take the bridge from

Spoiler

the Fallen Arm

over to

Spoiler

Mechonis

, when I saw some climbable sections of the wall on

Spoiler

Digit 2

. I started my climb just as a thunderstorm rolled over the landscape. About 3-5 minutes of alternating climbing and staring at the ever-shrinking landscape below, I finally reached the secret area at the top of the

Spoiler

fingertip

.

Just as I walked over to the railing to take in the surrounding world(s), the rain stopped and sunlight blanketed the infinitely stretching land below me once more.

Jaw. Fucking. Dropped.

The draw distances in this game are hard to believe at times.

 

[chaosblade]

I'd put gear above level, it has a much more direct impact on your stats (sans agility) than level.

But strategy and a strong understanding of how battles work is probably as important as anything. Need to know what you're doing to win if you're going in well under-leveled.

And I don't think I'll ever bother with killing an enemy over 65 levels above my party level. That was crazy enough I think. :lol

Spoiler

Until someone beats that record.

 

[Samyy]

Breezed through

Spoiler

Galahed Fortress

That area just throws experience and levels at you

Still gotta go around and explore for secret areas too.

 

[Karsticles]

Holy shit. I was about to take the bridge from

Spoiler

the Fallen Arm

over to

Spoiler

Mechonis

, when I saw some climbable sections of the wall on

Spoiler

Digit 2

. I started my climb just as a thunderstorm rolled over the landscape. About 3-5 minutes of alternating climbing and staring at the ever-shrinking landscape below, I finally reached the secret area at the top of the

Spoiler

fingertip

.

Just as I walked over to the railing to take in the surrounding world(s), the rain stopped and sunlight blanketed the infinitely stretching land below me once more.

Jaw. Fucking. Dropped.

The draw distances in this game are hard to believe at times.

I never get tired of the views. I think the first real Xenoblade moment is when you get to the Tephra Cave exit and can look out over Colony 9. Goddamn, imagine if this game had an airship...

I'd put gear above level, it has a much more direct impact on your stats (sans agility) than level.

But strategy and a strong understanding of how battles work is probably as important as anything. Need to know what you're doing to win if you're going in well under-leveled.

And I don't think I'll ever bother with killing an enemy over 65 levels above my party level. That was crazy enough I think. :lol

Spoiler

Until someone beats that record.

Really? Even when I ran naked Dunban against the final boss, I was surprised at how little damage he was taking when he did get hit.

Breezed through

Spoiler

Galahed Fortress

That area just throws experience and levels at you

Still gotta go around and explore for secret areas too.

I feel the whole game throws XP at you. I try not to level, and I fail.

 

[Samyy]

I feel the whole game throws XP at you. I try not to level, and I fail.

I kinda felt that way until Valak mountain, first kinda area I had to do some grinding. Maybe it just felt long because the walking distances were stupid huge.

 

[Karsticles]

I kinda felt that way until Valak mountain, first kinda area I had to do some grinding. Maybe it just felt long because the walking distances were stupid huge.

I honestly think Valak Mountain has the worst music in the game, and it makes the area feel bad. It's the daylight tune, specifically when it launches into the "duuuuuuun dun dun, dun dun, dun dun". It has this "and here we go again" feel to it, like it will never end. At least that's how I took it. Only song in the game I hate.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

Breezed through

Spoiler

Galahed Fortress

That area just throws experience and levels at you

Still gotta go around and explore for secret areas too.

I hardly remember that area I went through it very fast the boss fell in minutes too and I was under level... must have had a good combo

these guys are right its really about your gear and gems

its funny how I can breeze through a pack of monsters and just change one member of that party and try to do the same area same monsters but fail because something changed

you have to change tactics with every party so cool... I hope the World's Engine is improved and reused ... I will not accept a small world from that company after this game. Whatever they are making for Wii U better just be bigger and nicer looking

 

[chaosblade]

I honestly think Valak Mountain has the worst music in the game, and it makes the area feel bad. It's the daylight tune, specifically when it launches into the "duuuuuuun dun dun, dun dun, dun dun". It has this "and here we go again" feel to it, like it will never end. At least that's how I took it. Only song in the game I hate.

I was going to say WHAT but you were referring to the day theme. Because the night theme is one of the best songs in the game.

 

[Karsticles]

I was going to say WHAT but you were referring to the day theme. Because the night theme is one of the best songs in the game.

Hahaha, agreed. That's what's so infuriating about the area. Beautiful theme at night, annoying theme during the day. A week ago I left the night theme on while taking a shower. So nice.

 

[ZombiePlatypus]

Got to Eryth Sea. When the cast kept referring to it before I actually got there, I kept thinking it'll be some typical destination that's mostly gonna just keep reminding me of Aerith cause of its name, but it's just so pretty. Especially at night. And holy hell, it's freaking HUGE. Even with the teleporters, there's still a lot of area to cover on your own. Is swimming around in the middle areas of the vast bodies of water worth it or should I not bother and just stick to the edges with the shores?

Also, on a kind of a random note, this is the only game that has made me feel like the TV screen (a 52" in my case) is just too small and constricting of a window. The environments are so vast and so appealing that I just wanna, well, physically delve in there to get the full, unhindered view of everything. Seeing everything from the TV almost feels constrictingly claustrophobic. Having a more robust zoom-out option might have helped, but I guess I'm nitpicking.

I still have not taken the plastic off this. TOO MANY GAMES

I kept putting it off too cause I heard how the game's a massive timesink and I wanted to attack my backlog more. On one hand, I'm glad I got other games outta the way first, but I also feel a little crazy to have waited so long to experience the game's amazingness. You have no idea what you're in for. Massive compelling environments, a mind-boggeling amount of things to do, a fun battle system and an interesting story so far. The more I play it, the more it feels like FFXII done right and the complete antithesis of FFXIII. It's not a perfect game (the graphics aren't bad but these environments are just begging to be in HD) but it's so, so good! Totally feels like an RPG savior in this gen.

And to think we almost never got it here in the States!

 

[chaosblade]

You can check out some islands, and there's a secret area, but otherwise there's nothing in the water.

 

[ZombiePlatypus]

Outta curiosity, does anyone else play it with the wiimote-nunchuck combo? I started this way and figured I'd get a classic remote later to play "properly", but 40 hours or so in nunchuck+wiimote just feels totally natural now.

You can check out some islands, and there's a secret area, but otherwise there's nothing in the water.

Got it thanks.

 

[Exeunt]

I felt like water-based exploration in the game was quite the missed opportunity as it's really slow (if it isn't slower than land-based movement, it sure feels like it) and nothing really happens in the water unless you want to pick up the odd collectible (of which there are none in the waters of Eryth Sea). At least on land you can usually get into battles and explore different routes if you're just exploring the area; I don't remember swimming being mandatory for the story, but it would have been nice if there were something to do in the water for those who wanted to go exploring.

Outta curiosity, does anyone else play it with the wiimote-nunchuck combo? I started this way and figured I'd get a classic remote later to play "properly", but 40 hours or so in nunchuck+wiimote just feels totally natural now.

I used the Classic Controller Pro for my playthrough a couple months ago and I really liked having manual camera control—and I don't usually care about dual analogue. The camera in the game is okay but I felt a lot more comfortable when I could move it around and see my environment; I used "the claw" for Art selection while moving on a couple occasions, but it was worth it. Playing Skyward Sword right after felt a little odd since I couldn't rotate the camera wherever I wanted it but after an hour or two I was comfortable again—unless it's terribly broken, I'd imagine most people could get used to a certain control scheme.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

Is the a way to deselect one target to select another in battle?

got to be missing something

 

[Karsticles]

Chaosblade, I thought I'd let you know that the Agility Down strategy works pretty well. I just took down Blizzard Belgazas with it using 7th / Reyn / Dunban. I topple locked him once I got the party gauge built up, but I can say with confidence that I almost never saw a "miss" pop up once I got the debuff on him, it never dropped him, and it usually appeared on him within a few hits. No Night Vision gems were used. I was level 95, but I wasn't using Riki's BA +50% accuracy skill either. I think this is a viable approach. I also gave Reyn his art that causes paralysis and the AgiDown debuff to ensure no one ever misses, and he was good at keeping it up.

I've been running 7th with a Defense Down gem, and it works nicely as well. I swap her around depending on what the team needs.

Edit: I'm thinking about beating the big 2 with every possible team combination just to have fun. Do you think it would be challenging?

Is the a way to deselect one target to select another in battle?

got to be missing something

There is, but I don't know the command on your control configuration. On the CCP it's just the R/L buttons.

And yeah, water exploration is sooooo slow. There should have been a swimming +50% gem or something.

 

[ScOULaris]

Is the a way to deselect one target to select another in battle?

got to be missing something

If you're playing with the Nunchuck + Wiimote combo, just hold down Z and press the d-pad left/right to cycle between enemies. This is how you target specific ones before entering a battle as well, which is useful for drawing a particular enemy away from a crowd.

Also, holding Z will give you party control commands during battle as well, in case you missed that too. Holding Z to select an enemy and then pressing A will tell your party to focus only on that one enemy, for example.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

shirtless armor is so strange

naked top fighting lol

 

[ScOULaris]

Anybody else enjoy letting the title menu sit for a while and being treated to fly-overs of the different areas in the game? So awesome after taking a break from a binge session.

 

[Karsticles]

Another mechanics question:
Why do characters sometimes get an affinity coin for beating a UM they're already beaten?

Why are each characters' affinity coin count uneven?

I wish they slapped a dozen more level 120 monsters in. It seems that only two monsters in the game are even threatening now. :0(