It's highly infuriating. I have relatively good armor on and I'm still having significant problems with them. I can get one down but all three is an utter pain in the ass.
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Xenoblade |OT| Sorry I Kept You Waiting!
- Thread starter SecretMoblin
- Start date
It's highly infuriating. I have relatively good armor on and I'm still having significant problems with them. I can get one down but all three is an utter pain in the ass.
if your party can't eat enough damage, then you got to evade it. get all the agility gems you can get, put them on duban.(if you got some left give them to shulk and riki) next go to your skill trees and try to link as much agility as possible to everyone. last replace sharla with riki and give him hp.
your party should now consist of shulk, dunban and riki. don't forgett to upgrade all your arts though!
that wont be the last tough fight. you should use the time wisely and learn to controll other chars and party combinations too. otherwise you could hit another brick wall sooner or later.
Thanks for the help. I hit 39 and was able to get through it. I think one of the monsters glitched out making the battle much easier.
Snacks the sober sea lion
Member
I'm level 71 and
Pretty goofy how many level 90 monsters are just wandering around now.
just chased off the Telethia at Colony 6. Clearly it won't be enough even though those fights were pretty easy, and I'm guessing the game is just going to be boss fights from here on. So it looks like I just have to go to Bionis Interior and grind there?
Pretty goofy how many level 90 monsters are just wandering around now.
you are lvl 78 and still struggling with L.?
I guess you are still using the worst possible party in the game? (shulk, reyn, sharla?)
if so, that's your problem
physical damage is useless against that boss (and the entire area). you should either switch to melia, riki + random for maximum ether damage or shulk reyn dunban for topple lock.
brute force shouldn't be necessary, but if you insist you can lvl up some more in satorl marsh, there are lvl 85 gorgols on a plateu in the east
Snacks the sober sea lion
Member
Pretty sure I beat that boss at level 74-75, but had to rely on Sharla. Rest of the party was probably Shulk and Riki.
I finished the game at level 81. First, the bosses:
As for the story:
I guess it's not one of my top games ever, though it's certainly one of the most impressive games on Wii. The writing isn't always the sharpest, and aside from what seems like a throwaway line at the beginning of the game (
), I don't know if it'll have those moments where you play through again and see exactly what subtle details are leading up to. The game is a little too strong on heavy-handed foreshadowing for that, I think.
As for the sub-systems, they are definitely overwhelming. The only RPG I've ever really gone into is Chrono Trigger, and Xenoblade has much more going on than "Equip Gold Stud, spam Luminaire and Dark Matter." The disguising of grinding as fetch quests was pretty grating at times (Eryth Sea), some of the gems just aren't useful given the effort to make them, elements like spike damage are introduced and then glossed over until a toppled UM starts doing 1000 damage to your party, and sometimes you'll just forget to change what skill branch you're leveling. Not that they're inherent flaws with the battle system, but some definitely feel like flaws within the game's design.
The game also suffers from the strange issue of being too damn big, and basically impossible to complete without a guide. "I hear you can find those in Makna Forest" is the kind of hints the game will give you for finding a specific item, which is really not helpful at all.
Not the brain-melting RPG revolution you'll hear it described as, but a strong RPG with good pacing and a ridiculous technological achievement given the hardware.
I finished the game at level 81. First, the bosses:
The 2 minibosses thrown at you on Prison Island were pushovers. Then the Dragon thing was like Jade Face all over again with its "fly backwards and do huge area attack," so I had to use Sharla yet again. Then Dickson himself wasn't much. Was at level 80, he got me once with his ridiculous area attacks (isn't that really the case with every boss from Agniratha onwards?), then Shulk Dunban Riki just beat on him.
The space spirits were really easy, not sure what they were for outside of looking cool. Zanza's first form was a pain. I kept trying different parties and wasn't sure what was working because sometimes he would use his cheapass Monado Left/ Right combo and just teleport around killing the whole party instantly, other times it would do nothing. Beating up on his stupid minions with Shulk (81) Fiora and Sharla (both 79) made it a lot easier even though he occasionally healed them and they seem to have quite a bit of HP. Then the rest just beat on Zanza and he really didn't seem to do much.
His next form was just stupid. It wasn't hard at all, but it took around 20 minutes. Then the next form is practically the same thing but Shulk can do more damage. I wasn't a fan at all of the utter fustercluck this boss and Lorithia were. That was a real problem with some of the Mechon bosses, including Yaldabaoth. Really very annoying.
The space spirits were really easy, not sure what they were for outside of looking cool. Zanza's first form was a pain. I kept trying different parties and wasn't sure what was working because sometimes he would use his cheapass Monado Left/ Right combo and just teleport around killing the whole party instantly, other times it would do nothing. Beating up on his stupid minions with Shulk (81) Fiora and Sharla (both 79) made it a lot easier even though he occasionally healed them and they seem to have quite a bit of HP. Then the rest just beat on Zanza and he really didn't seem to do much.
His next form was just stupid. It wasn't hard at all, but it took around 20 minutes. Then the next form is practically the same thing but Shulk can do more damage. I wasn't a fan at all of the utter fustercluck this boss and Lorithia were. That was a real problem with some of the Mechon bosses, including Yaldabaoth. Really very annoying.
As for the story:
Egil's motivation, that he doesn't want revenge on the people of Bionis like your generic nonsensical revenge-driven moron, but is weakening the Bionis by killing its inhabitants was actually a smart and interesting twist. Dickson's betrayal would have been shocking had not the game, like 90% of its twists, decided to constantly and blatantly foreshadow it leading up to it happening.
Zanza being the final boss was a no-brainer. Probably could have predicted it at some point after Prison Island, and there was no other possibility after the cutscene in Agniratha tower. I was not at all shocked by his whole "god of this world" shtick because, well, that's not particularly uncommon territory in Japanese storylines from what I've seen. Tales of Symphonia, Asura's Wrath, Gurren Lagann, Dragon's Dogma, surely many others. In fact, the ending section's theme (All living beings should be free to choose their own path) is identical to one of Gurren Lagann's motifs.
Tying in Earth was just sort of there to give it an impact, rather than being of any significance to the story, and frankly was something I expected from the start (is it a post-apocalyptic Earth or Earth before it became Earth as we know it today, is what I was thinking).
Zanza being the final boss was a no-brainer. Probably could have predicted it at some point after Prison Island, and there was no other possibility after the cutscene in Agniratha tower. I was not at all shocked by his whole "god of this world" shtick because, well, that's not particularly uncommon territory in Japanese storylines from what I've seen. Tales of Symphonia, Asura's Wrath, Gurren Lagann, Dragon's Dogma, surely many others. In fact, the ending section's theme (All living beings should be free to choose their own path) is identical to one of Gurren Lagann's motifs.
Tying in Earth was just sort of there to give it an impact, rather than being of any significance to the story, and frankly was something I expected from the start (is it a post-apocalyptic Earth or Earth before it became Earth as we know it today, is what I was thinking).
I guess it's not one of my top games ever, though it's certainly one of the most impressive games on Wii. The writing isn't always the sharpest, and aside from what seems like a throwaway line at the beginning of the game (
All life born of the Bionis returns to the Bionis
As for the sub-systems, they are definitely overwhelming. The only RPG I've ever really gone into is Chrono Trigger, and Xenoblade has much more going on than "Equip Gold Stud, spam Luminaire and Dark Matter." The disguising of grinding as fetch quests was pretty grating at times (Eryth Sea), some of the gems just aren't useful given the effort to make them, elements like spike damage are introduced and then glossed over until a toppled UM starts doing 1000 damage to your party, and sometimes you'll just forget to change what skill branch you're leveling. Not that they're inherent flaws with the battle system, but some definitely feel like flaws within the game's design.
The game also suffers from the strange issue of being too damn big, and basically impossible to complete without a guide. "I hear you can find those in Makna Forest" is the kind of hints the game will give you for finding a specific item, which is really not helpful at all.
Not the brain-melting RPG revolution you'll hear it described as, but a strong RPG with good pacing and a ridiculous technological achievement given the hardware.
Edvardelis
Member
I haven't even left the town you start out in, and yes, it's too damned big.
The characters say "time to strike out on our journey" and leave the town.
The guide says to go back to town to do all these new quests that only just popped up. :-/
I mean... what the heck? If I had followed the in game prompts I would have missed all of that.
If you do all the quests you'll end up massively overleveled. Do a few, then continue the story - you can come back to the rest later.
depends. If you came this far, you should be good to go.
the
dragon
Karsticles
Member
Try a spoiler tag.
Yeah I think I'll save in the second slot just to be sure.
Starwolf_UK
Member
IIRC the save option is disabled completely after that point.
Game's been out for quite a while dude.
Karsticles
Member
Therefore people should be douchebags and spoil things for people who come to this thread just trying the game now? It takes close to zero effort to type the word "spoiler" twice and put brackets around it. It's just the courteous thing to do.
Extra Sauce
Member
Irrelevant.
woo and indeed hoo
Banned
I posted the following in the stupid gaming questions thread and then remembered that we have a thread for the game so I am re-posting it here:
Would someone who has played Xenoblade Chronicles be kind enough to tell me what this game is like for persistence of on-screen graphics like the H.U.D. please?
i has a new plasma tv which I am being very careful with in an attempt to avoid any burn-in. However, if the game allows me to configure the H.U.D. and other on screen elements so I can safely play it on my plasma that would be far preferable to playing it on my old CRT screen which now looks tiny compared to the 42" plasma goodness!
Thanks in advance.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Xenoblade has a lot of HUD. I think you can disable the minimap, and I know you can disable the story marker.
But the party gauge will be on screen the majority of the time, and the battle HUD will be up a lot.
You would definitely get some IR from the battle HUD on a young plasma, but I think that applies to most games in general.
But the party gauge will be on screen the majority of the time, and the battle HUD will be up a lot.
You would definitely get some IR from the battle HUD on a young plasma, but I think that applies to most games in general.
woo and indeed hoo
Banned
Thanks very much chaosblade. Disapointing but I would far rather know than risk it and then have to be annoyed by burnt in images for forever and a day so I much appreciate your response
. I have other games to be getting on with before the Wii U arrives so I'll leave XC until I have accrued more hours on the plasma's 'clock', by which time burn in should be less of a concern.Thanks again
.I'm still slowly making my way through this game for the first time, and I think I'm nearing the end. I am at the
I don't even have the best gear available since I can't afford it (best weapons I've seen so far are at that hidden vendor in Mechonis Field, but it was hella pricey). I'm not looking to do every quest or anything like that, I'm just trying to complete it...do I need to get my ass leveled up and some better equipment, or am i going to be able to get through the rest of the game at this rate? I've not been crafting or doing quests.
I'm using Dundun, Riki, and Sharla...perhaps a new party would help me beat this bastard? He hits me for like 6k at a time, and Dundun only has like 5k HP.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
end of Agniratha and am fighting Gadolt again. He is kicking my ass...I'm level 61 or so, he is 68, so my Dundun dodging isn't doing the trick anymore.
I don't even have the best gear available since I can't afford it (best weapons I've seen so far are at that hidden vendor in Mechonis Field, but it was hella pricey). I'm not looking to do every quest or anything like that, I'm just trying to complete it...do I need to get my ass leveled up and some better equipment, or am i going to be able to get through the rest of the game at this rate? I've not been crafting or doing quests.
I'm using Dundun, Riki, and Sharla...perhaps a new party would help me beat this bastard? He hits me for like 6k at a time, and Dundun only has like 5k HP.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
VanillaCakeIsBurning
Member
You should probably level a bit. Bosses are easier when you are closer or on their level.
Karsticles
Member
I broke my plasma TV in on Xenoblade without problems. The HUD is always changing because you are entering/exiting combat. I never had a problem.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
For starters, you should almost never buy equipment in this game. The only things you should spend money on in shops are art books and the occasional armor you can't get elsewhere (like some of 7ths). You get as good or better equipment from drops than you do in shops.
Anti-Mechon weapons are a lot weaker than standard weapons+enchant, although at that point in the game you should be able to get some "rank III" ones that will be the best stuff available at that point.
I'd suggest going back to
Fallen Arm
woo and indeed hoo
Banned
Good to know, thanks
. I'm going to start adding in gaming on the plasma within a few days and that should tie in nicely with being free to start XC. Hope I enjoy it as much as everyone else seems to!there was one here on gaf... but I can't remember where.
anyway, you aren't that far in and nothing earth-shattering has happend yet.
bassically thats what happend so far:
- there are 2 giant beings called bionis and mechonis
- the good guys live on bionis, the bad guys live on mechonis
- a few years back the evil robots from mechonis were beaten in a fierce battle using a holy blade called monado
- you are a scientist/boy from a small town on bionis
- one day your hometown gets runover by an mechon attack in which most villagers and your girl friend died. But thanks to the monado you could fend them off
- within the battle you learn to use the monado which is the only way to hurt those robots. you also learn that it has special abilities like giving you a glimps of the future. you also learn that it can't hurt people.
- you and your best buddy set out on a quest to revenge her death
- on your way to the head of the bionis you meet sharla, a medic from colony6. here village also got annihilated. Even worse, they don't have a monado so they got practically wiped out.
- you try to save the remaining people of colony 6 when you meet xord, a mechon who talks. he has killed (and eaten) everyone.
- after you beat him, you are surrounded by mechons and your nemesis metal face who killed your girl friend. dunban and dickson (temporarily) join your party to help you beat them. but they are way to strong for you, luckily you get saved by a telethia and alvis who controlls it
- you progress further into the bionis until you reach makna forest. there you were greeted with a cutscene showing a young girl and her guards fighting against a telethia like the one who saved you a few moments ago. all the guards die and the girl gets badly hurt.
- you were tasked to find a crystal to heal here. while doing so you meet alvis, a mysterious young man who also can wield the monado and teaches you a new technique
- you heal the girl and promise you will help her defeat the telethia if she shows you the path to the "dark tower" on bionises head.
- she guides you to a huge village within a tree where the nopon live. a naive and cute looking race of adventureres. you get assigned their greatest hero to your party because he is greatly in depth and can't pay the food for his 10 millions of children anymore.
- together you finally confront the telethia and kill it.
- you enter a magic teleporter from the nopon village (they are also gate keepers aperently) which takes you to earyth sea.
- while trying to enter the captial "alcamoth" you and your friends are arrested for reasons unknown.
- after a while, you meet alvis again who turns out is the seer of the city and the personal advicer of the emperor. He releases you from your "prison" and sends you on a quest to help high entia in need.
- it also turns out that the girl you saved is actually the princess and she has a hard time claiming her rightfully place in society because she isn't pure blood.
- there is a pretty big subplot about purety and racism going on, but it's not that important overall.
- melia is sent to an ancient tomb by her stepmother who plans to have here killed by an ancient shadow society there. they also attacked shulk and his group earlier.
- shulk has a vision of what is going to happen here so he and his friends are hurring to her rescue.
- meanwhile, the mechon also plan to attack alcamoth with there new units and weapons...
- the good guys live on bionis, the bad guys live on mechonis
- a few years back the evil robots from mechonis were beaten in a fierce battle using a holy blade called monado
- you are a scientist/boy from a small town on bionis
- one day your hometown gets runover by an mechon attack in which most villagers and your girl friend died. But thanks to the monado you could fend them off
- within the battle you learn to use the monado which is the only way to hurt those robots. you also learn that it has special abilities like giving you a glimps of the future. you also learn that it can't hurt people.
- you and your best buddy set out on a quest to revenge her death
- on your way to the head of the bionis you meet sharla, a medic from colony6. here village also got annihilated. Even worse, they don't have a monado so they got practically wiped out.
- you try to save the remaining people of colony 6 when you meet xord, a mechon who talks. he has killed (and eaten) everyone.
- after you beat him, you are surrounded by mechons and your nemesis metal face who killed your girl friend. dunban and dickson (temporarily) join your party to help you beat them. but they are way to strong for you, luckily you get saved by a telethia and alvis who controlls it
- you progress further into the bionis until you reach makna forest. there you were greeted with a cutscene showing a young girl and her guards fighting against a telethia like the one who saved you a few moments ago. all the guards die and the girl gets badly hurt.
- you were tasked to find a crystal to heal here. while doing so you meet alvis, a mysterious young man who also can wield the monado and teaches you a new technique
- you heal the girl and promise you will help her defeat the telethia if she shows you the path to the "dark tower" on bionises head.
- she guides you to a huge village within a tree where the nopon live. a naive and cute looking race of adventureres. you get assigned their greatest hero to your party because he is greatly in depth and can't pay the food for his 10 millions of children anymore.
- together you finally confront the telethia and kill it.
- you enter a magic teleporter from the nopon village (they are also gate keepers aperently) which takes you to earyth sea.
- while trying to enter the captial "alcamoth" you and your friends are arrested for reasons unknown.
- after a while, you meet alvis again who turns out is the seer of the city and the personal advicer of the emperor. He releases you from your "prison" and sends you on a quest to help high entia in need.
- it also turns out that the girl you saved is actually the princess and she has a hard time claiming her rightfully place in society because she isn't pure blood.
- there is a pretty big subplot about purety and racism going on, but it's not that important overall.
- melia is sent to an ancient tomb by her stepmother who plans to have here killed by an ancient shadow society there. they also attacked shulk and his group earlier.
- shulk has a vision of what is going to happen here so he and his friends are hurring to her rescue.
- meanwhile, the mechon also plan to attack alcamoth with there new units and weapons...
there are thousands of little deails missing which will make the story harder to understand overall.
olimpia84
Member
Just finished this game after taking a short break from it. Took me 70 hours and beat the final boss at level 78. Granted, for the last few sections of the game I was rushing through since I want to get started on The Last Story.
Overall, this is a masterpiece and easily one of the best games of this generation. I hope MonolithSoft delivers for the WiiU and we get a similar epic adventure!
Overall, this is a masterpiece and easily one of the best games of this generation. I hope MonolithSoft delivers for the WiiU and we get a similar epic adventure!
this game is confusing... I jus passed like 53 hours and have no idea if I'm playing it right...
I can never seem to access heart to heart,
I have no idea what that whole gem crafting thing was,
I have had a full inventory since hours ago and jus keep declining items since I have no idea what they're for,
and I had no idea u could rebuild the colony!! I dont even know how to go back there!
the only thing I understand is sidequests lol, coz theyre easy to do when you're in new areas
but other than that I think the game is real fun and look forward to beating it, but I feel like I missed the point of it
I can never seem to access heart to heart,
I have no idea what that whole gem crafting thing was,
I have had a full inventory since hours ago and jus keep declining items since I have no idea what they're for,
and I had no idea u could rebuild the colony!! I dont even know how to go back there!
the only thing I understand is sidequests lol, coz theyre easy to do when you're in new areas
but other than that I think the game is real fun and look forward to beating it, but I feel like I missed the point of it
Snacks the sober sea lion
Member
You have to have both characters active in the party to access heart-to-heart. If you still don't know how to build affinity, your characters gain affinity for encouraging each other in battle, doing chain attacks, accepting side quests.
You can go sell junk items. It's not that big of a loss, because the items you'll be getting are worth far, far more to sell, and the sidequests they might be for will give you items that are actually useful for where you are.
You can fast travel to anywhere in the world from the menu. It's the option all the way to the left, and you can go to any landmark you've found.
Gem crafting is a huge pain and requires some of the worst grinding in the game to make good use of. You can get through the game without them, unless you want to beat all the optional superbosses (ridiculously strong unique monsters), in which case you'll need to find out what role each character is going to be, what canisters/ crystals you need for the specific effects, and make a level 6 crystal with them. There's probably some useful stuff you can do with the crystals you have, like HP Up gems, but I'm no good at helping with that.
well you made it this far, you seem to be on track
most of them are endgamestuff. the refere to situations that probably haven't happend yet. And the other thing is that you need a certain friendship level between your characters. there is a complete ingame list of all heart to hearts in the menu (little heart symbol). Bolded ones are already available to you.
there is a guide in the 1st post
I think there is also a small guide in the first post. Bassically: sort by price, cell the last (cheapest) page. sell only small pouches without white markings (* or !)
Sounds like you don't know that you can always port instantly everywhere you've been already. just open the map (in the menu bar 1st one from the left.)
WOW!! ok I had no idea...
I know about fast travel between landmarks, but the only time I ever really did it to go a long distance was when I went back to my original town to buy some Arts Manuals,
and I did it by traveling between endpoint to endpoint within each map... it was such a pain that I never did it again!!
omg... seriously, had I known this earlier I would be playing a completely different game for these past 50+ hours >_<
and does it have to be both characters only?
because one time I thought I had fulfilled the relationship requirement, but I figured it wasnt working because I had 3 characters in my party.
I tried to go into the party menu but could not figure out how to remove a person making a party of 2...
THANKS guys!!
Snacks the sober sea lion
Member
That was a really dumb idea on their part, putting a waterfall right there and telling you to find a waterfal.
You need to backtrack and find this spot:
Landmark 4.
They only need to be in the party, doesn't matter who the third character is.
You need to backtrack and find this spot:
Landmark 4.
They only need to be in the party, doesn't matter who the third character is.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
There should have been a marker showing you where to go, unless you had that disabled. Story Quest markers always appear on the minimap and main map.
aw man now this game is too overwhelming lol.
I knew it was big, but then I discovered you can unlock additional skill trees (which btw I have no idea what they do lol)
so I went to gamefaqs to try to unlock another one, and it said if the mission isnt available I can unlock it by doing more missions,
which jus takes too much time >_<
and the colony rebuilding is a glorified item hunt, it was tough enough to bring it to level 1 lol
and then I noticed all these unexplored areas in the early maps!
when I went to explore them the monsters there were still too strong!!!
on the bright side, game is still a ton of fun!!
I knew it was big, but then I discovered you can unlock additional skill trees (which btw I have no idea what they do lol)
so I went to gamefaqs to try to unlock another one, and it said if the mission isnt available I can unlock it by doing more missions,
which jus takes too much time >_<
and the colony rebuilding is a glorified item hunt, it was tough enough to bring it to level 1 lol
and then I noticed all these unexplored areas in the early maps!
when I went to explore them the monsters there were still too strong!!!
on the bright side, game is still a ton of fun!!
This game is overwhelming! Every time I think "Ok! If they stop throwing stuff at me, I might just start to understand everything!" But then here comes 2 or 3 new game systems to learn and take advantage of!
But yeah, I'm loving the experience as well, though I've gotten side tracked numerous times and have put the game down a couple times to focus on school work, Diablo 3 and other things.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
The additional skill trees are very important for post-game/optional content, but aren't really necessary just for beating the story.
And recostruction gives you access to some optional shops, but I don't recall anything super-important. Some Intermediate art books are exclusively available through them, but by the time you can get everything finished you're also at the end of the game and can start collecting Advanced books from monsters (and you can use advanced books without the intermediate ones).
BriareosGAF
Member
Finally beat it this weekend, too, 93h20m. Finished every quest I found with the exception of some of the endgame ones with really high level restrictions. I similarly had a "last item" I was missing, in my case Red Frontier, but while grinding out to level 81 or so and checking Colony 6 a lot when finishing the last few "create ultimate weapon" quests I was able to finally get one.
For final battle I actually reverted to style mentioned previously in thread using Dunban, Shulk and 7th. Their break/topple/daze + extra daze from Shulk made a lot of the more difficult fights much easier to handle. Shulk filled in on healing duty when required, and of course 7th has a healing aura; it all seemed to work out pretty well, and that much dps is more fun than dragging Sharla around with you.
I'm gonna say this is top 3 of the generation for me along with Oblivion and Fallout 3. So damn good.
Next up: Last Story. And early next year, Ni No Kuni collector's edition.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Heyoooo. Definitely my party of choice.
Good luck, I hope you like that game more than I did.
BriareosGAF
Member
I should clarify I actually used them for the last 15 hours or so, not just the final battle. It really is a much better party than Shulk/Reyn/Sharla. I was never really able to find a good place in my rotation for Riki, although I did spend some grind time running Melea, Sharla, and 7th just because it was
fun to run an all girl group for my daughters to see
- After beating the game, I still have no idea what tension is, or why/how I was on fire some times, or how ether affected anything beyond "being good for casters", I assume by increasing their damage? I basically paid attention to cooldowns, positioning, hit points, and party attack bar when in combat.
- I'm guessing I used less than 20% of the possible gem types. +Agility to 50 on everyone, 2xDouble Attack + 1xWeapon Power on weapons when possible, remaining slots got a mix of +Ether, +Physical Protect, +Ether Protect, +Damage Heal, and +HP. I only got one +Critical the entire game, that went to 7th's weapon slot in conjunction with Dunban's "heal on crit" skill link. Every other gem/ingredient was just wasted space, although I did try using Blaze Defense to defeat that named in
Prison Island kitchen
- I only unlocked one additional skill tree; I looked into it for other characters but at endgame there aren't enough quests to raise reputation and it seemed I was thus locked out. Weird because I did *a lot* of quests in the game and figured all of my rep should have been maxed. But by the end I had 4 stars with
Machina Village
- Finished with something like 2.5mm gold and nothing to spend it on. Wish you could have bought high-level arts books for a ton of money, as it is I beat the game with maybe 30% of my arts stuck on intermediate level.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Tension is basically based on how well you do in combat. It has effects on stats, agility in particular. The higher/lower your tension, the higher/lower your agility. So with max tension (characters on fire) you're less likely to be hit and more likely to hit the enemy. It's kind of self-cyclical, if that makes any sense. If you're tension is high it's fairly easy to keep it there, if it's low it's hard to come back from it. Fortunately the encourage option is there and that automatically brings characters to "normal" tension.
It also improves your critical hit rate.
It goes down when you miss attacks, some enemy attacks lower it, and some enemies have a tension-reduction spike. That's really common on the nebulae enemies, hitting them with physical attacks often lowers tension. It goes up when you use certain arts (or use directional arts properly), and hitting the battle start/burst affinity QTEs right. The closer you get those the more tension you gain, just like affinity.
You can see those red and blue arrows appearing by the character portraits real quick, that indicates tension rising or falling.
Weapon power doesn't help with double attack. That only works on gems that have two variables (x% chance of doing y whatever). So that was kind of a wasted gem.
Haste and critical have super-limited availability in the main game. There are two quest reward crit gems that kind of suck, then you can't get more unless you fight the level 108 super-boss since he drops rank V crystals for it.
And haste comes from a number of high level (80+) enemies, but before that it's only available as a quest reward one or two times. And ultimately you will want to get Glory Gauntlets from the Glory Slobos or super-bosses, since it gives you haste in one of the armor slots instead of having to use a weapon slot for it. Weapon specific gems >>>> armor specific ones, so freeing up that slot is great, even if it costs you 5% haste (45% in gaunts vs 50% for a megaheat gem).
The 4th skill trees are more affinity-based than the 5th trees, but you can't unlock the 5th ones until the post-game. I don't remember exactly what they are, but most require you to beat some level 90+ enemies.
The only things worth buying are art books and spending money rebuilding the colony, with very few exceptions (like some of 7ths armor). I hate how RPGs balance money, for the first half or so you're barely getting by or even grinding for money, and the second half you're loaded with monstrous amounts of money and don't even need it.
I'm also getting my arse handed to me by the
. I have all my characters at level 68 and I'm using Shulk, Reyn and 7th. I get maybe a quarter or a third of his health off in the second part of the fight before he just destroys my party in one fell swoop. I have no idea what I should be doing...
seconds Gadolt fight