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Xenoblade |OT| Sorry I Kept You Waiting!
- Thread starter SecretMoblin
- Start date
By the way I still haven't managed to make the jump off the huge slide on the side of the upper arm. At this point I'm not even sure it's possible in the game, I tried SO many times. And it's not a tube!
And screw Jarack. More like Jerack OH HO HO HO
HO HO HO HO
Well, the original reason why I decided to go explore stuff was to spend more time with the game not main story-ing (as seen a few posts up), so going to wiki-flavored substances was a bit counter-intuitive. Not to mention, they're really characters I don't care about using (like Reyn, who'd use that guy, like, c'mon it's Reyn).
And screw Jarack. More like Jerack OH HO HO HO
HO HO HO HO
Mockingbird
Member
You need a gem called quick step to jump. It increases your movement speed.
So, I have the games voices set to japanese (with subtitles), and after hearing Duncan for a bit I thought I had heard him somewhere else. Turns out he's voiced by Ryo Horikawa, who also voices Heiji Hattori in Detective Conan (Case Closed in the US). Due to that link, I instantly bonded with him, though I guess he won't be around later since most JRPGs are about teens saving the world while people in their 20s are considered too old to fight anymore.
Thinking of him as Heiji made his speech after
a lot more touching, since I'm a bit of a sucker for the somewhat formulaic shounen character relationship Heiji and Kudo have in Detective Conan (...yeah, really).
Thinking of him as Heiji made his speech after
Fiora's death
I just realized that I'm level 60 at 60 hours.. same thing happened to me with all the DQ games I played, as well as some of the Pokemons. I don't know what it is but I always progress at 10 levels per hour, haha.
I hope that means I've got more than 20 hours left, because I'm nowhere near satisfied.
Hypothetically speaking... which would be a better/more fun way to 100% the game, a new save or NG+? Quests and everything.
I hope that means I've got more than 20 hours left, because I'm nowhere near satisfied.
Hypothetically speaking... which would be a better/more fun way to 100% the game, a new save or NG+? Quests and everything.
Okay see, now that's not very nice! How am I supposed to know that.
Incorrect. And his name is Dunban, not Duncan.
He goes away for a short time, but catches up with you not long after and you have him in your party the rest of the game.
My bad, I either mistyped or had a memory lapse.
That last part is good to know. While so far I haven't found anything breaking my suspension of disbelief, I still believed the game would follow the basic JRPG formulae.
Real time combat without a map transition is really refreshing for me. I'll probably end up getting used to it, and then it'll probably be harder for me to go back to turn-based ones, though.
Head of Vengarl
Banned
No you don't. Maybe it makes it easier but I never used Quick Step gems when I made the jump.
Probably the best way to 100% the game is to save before you face the final boss. because if you do everything else first, the final boss wont be a challange anymore and the end feels rather anticlimatic. (for reference: when I got to that point, I let my party handle him. I didn't touch him once, and even than dunban and 7th killed him in like 5 minutes, cutscenes included.
so you should fight him as soon as you get there, but also don't forget to save. Dunban will explicitly tell you when you are there. He'll say something like "if we go any further, we won't be able to return". Choose no, create a new save file, beat the final boss, load the file, enjoy the real endgame.
For a reasonable price? only in europe. (~50$ for import - also you'd need to homebrew your wii)
In america, you can consider yourself lucky if you'r able to find a used one apparently.
Elfforkusu
Member
re: homebrew. It's jarringly straightforward and easy on the Wii, best softmod ever. With bootmii and an older Wii, you can even safely backup your entire Wii before you go to town with homebrew stuff, so there's almost no danger of bricking it even if you were to do something horribly stupid.
The obvious negative is that the PAL versions won't work on the Wii U.
The obvious negative is that the PAL versions won't work on the Wii U.
Dunban will be around, which is fortunate because Dunban is freaking awesome.
Well sure there's the endgame, but I mean doing all the missable quests and quests I skipped and all those stuff. Doing them at the end when I'm 70 levels above the challenge is boring.
they will be "boring" anyway
if you are lvl 60 atm, you should probably start doing the missables though, they'r going to expire within the next 10 levels. At least I'd complete the nopon mafia quest chain. starting somewhere in frontiere village. It's regarded as one of the best sidequests, so you shouldn't miss it.
Lumpy Onion
Member
Finally got to the final boss last night and lost, but I don't think this fight will be too bad overall. Gonna train for a bit and finish this once and for all!
Also, Riki is an amazing character to have around. Trading Sharla for him is making things much easier. But damn, I can't stop cracking up at one of his battle cries that sounds just like Howard Dean's infamous scream.
Melia is another one that I started using in the final dungeons and once I got her rhythm down realized I had been missing out.
Can't believe that fight kept me away from the game for almost a month.
That bit when you are walking through our solar system was fucking awesome! Can't wait to see what the deal with that was. Also, finding out that Prison Island was really some old midevil castle belonging to a race of giants was kinda interesting too.
Also, Riki is an amazing character to have around. Trading Sharla for him is making things much easier. But damn, I can't stop cracking up at one of his battle cries that sounds just like Howard Dean's infamous scream.
Melia is another one that I started using in the final dungeons and once I got her rhythm down realized I had been missing out.
Disciple Lorethia got absolutely destroyed once I leveled up her skills and put on tons of ether + gems.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
About the only way to mess anything up is to turn the Wii off while you're setting it up. It's a straightforward process of putting stuff on an SD card and following a few onscreen prompts.
Unless you can get lucky with a used copy at Gamestop or some mom and pop store, that's going to be your cheapest bet.
It's a chain of side quests with a plot, so that alone makes it better than almost all the other ones in the game.
Lumpy Onion
Member
Beat it just now. Great ending.
Overall the story of this game delivered on so many levels. Dunno if I want to do NG+ though.
the twist that Zanza and Meyneth were originally just normal people on some space station in our solar system blew my mind...and Alvis was some administrative computer
Yeah, that threw me for a loop too and made for quite an interesting twist on the ending.
Honestly, the game is still powerful the second time around. I started a NG+ and instead of skipping the cut scenes, I'm still watching every one of them. Just something about the characters that grasps me.
HA... AHAHAHAHA.... yeah right.
It's been said a million times already in this thread and elsewhere. Read a little.
So, I've beaten
after two tries, and I'm really into the game now. Just when I thought the game couldn't get any better, I think I've spotted Norio Wakamoto's voice (as the
Shulk's been chasing around).
Poor Reyn has been relegated to the bench to make room for Heiji-Dunban, who has been doing quite well, looks cooler and has way better voice clips. I like how his arts form combos, unlike the rest of the characters's so far.
Only after reading the manual again did I notice you could set the in-game time and what each bar next to a character's stats was (I knew one had to be experience points, but I didn't know the other one counted down to the next special attack the character will learn).
Fast travel's amazing, but I still prefer walking around the varied environments to find new stuff. I managed to run past a level 70 bird thing in an area filled with level ~15 enemies, and was rewarded with a huge experience bonus when I spotted a new area. Rewarding experience for exploration seems like a really nice design decission to encourage running around the map rather than fast-travelling all over the place.
Xord
masked mechon
Poor Reyn has been relegated to the bench to make room for Heiji-Dunban, who has been doing quite well, looks cooler and has way better voice clips. I like how his arts form combos, unlike the rest of the characters's so far.
Only after reading the manual again did I notice you could set the in-game time and what each bar next to a character's stats was (I knew one had to be experience points, but I didn't know the other one counted down to the next special attack the character will learn).
Fast travel's amazing, but I still prefer walking around the varied environments to find new stuff. I managed to run past a level 70 bird thing in an area filled with level ~15 enemies, and was rewarded with a huge experience bonus when I spotted a new area. Rewarding experience for exploration seems like a really nice design decission to encourage running around the map rather than fast-travelling all over the place.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Import a PAL copy and mod your Wii to play it (extremely easy to do, would be about $50 for the game) or hope you get lucky and find a used copy at Gamestop or a mom and pop store.
Lumpy Onion
Member
Does anyone know
I have beaten the game, but don't recall if this was ever mentioned anywhere.
what happened to the race of giants that Arglas (Zanza) belonged to?
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
I think that came up in some post game quests but I don't remember if there was ever a specific answer. Even within the game world, I'm not sure it was known.
It was somehow related to the spiders. I don't remember the stuff well, but I think the two races fought, and the giants were dwindling so they made tributes to the spiders. And eventually something happened? I'm sure there are some discussions about this in detail on Gamefaqs or something, since there are several points this is mentioned, but it's never in much detail aside from one quest line in the back part of Tephra Cave.
Edit: From the Xenoblade Wiki.
At the Bafalgar Cave, the ruins inside Tephra Cave, the party learns of the soothsayer. The Giant's soothsayer is credited with the near extermination of the White Spiders, the nemesis of the Giants which exist on Tephra Cave. After the death of the soothsayer, it is said that the tables were reversed and the giants were hunted to extinction.
It is worthy to note that there are giant spiders on the giant ruins existing on Satorl Marsh. However, it is unknown if the spiders brought about the demise of all of the giant race.
It is worthy to note that there are giant spiders on the giant ruins existing on Satorl Marsh. However, it is unknown if the spiders brought about the demise of all of the giant race.
This is probably the longest "final stretch" I've experienced yet, haha.
, and it just goes on and on and on! I'm constantly surprised by just how much they still have left in the game, it's so amusing.
My current "cycle" is that I skip a few enemies, hit a strong enemy that kills me a few times, get worried that I may be underpowered... and then sweep the real bosses easily. My current 'strategy':
I'm not exactly sure when or how this happened, but it is what it is. I'm getting the best performance I've ever had, so I'm not sure if I just suck at actually fighting or what.
Everyone die, everything blows up, the entire world breaks apart
My current "cycle" is that I skip a few enemies, hit a strong enemy that kills me a few times, get worried that I may be underpowered... and then sweep the real bosses easily. My current 'strategy':
7th/Dunban/Sharla
7th: Focus on aura and auto damage (with double attack gems and stuff)
....then sit back and do nothing but activate auras. LITERALLY nothing, not even chains or topples.
7th: Focus on aura and auto damage (with double attack gems and stuff)
....then sit back and do nothing but activate auras. LITERALLY nothing, not even chains or topples.
I'm not exactly sure when or how this happened, but it is what it is. I'm getting the best performance I've ever had, so I'm not sure if I just suck at actually fighting or what.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
That's pretty much the way to play that character. Throw haste and another good attack related gem (lighting attack, attack stability/plus, HP steal, back attack) in there and they are a monster.
Is there a limit to how much Haste stacks with different auras and gems and all that?
And unrelated question, I just realized that art books can be drops and not just bought from shops. Do I actually have to look for those or am I fine ignoring them, and not upgrading the arts?
And unrelated question, I just realized that art books can be drops and not just bought from shops. Do I actually have to look for those or am I fine ignoring them, and not upgrading the arts?
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Not entirely sure how much it stacks, but there is probably a limit somewhere. Still worth having a maxed haste gem once you can get it plus the aura.
Regarding art books, only intermediate books can be bought. Advanced books are dropped. If you have any interest in playing post-game stuff, you will want to get the advanced books.
Regarding art books, only intermediate books can be bought. Advanced books are dropped. If you have any interest in playing post-game stuff, you will want to get the advanced books.
Actually, the drops for advanced art books start with monsters in the Valak area.
And as for the 7th character
And as for the 7th character
she's the most powerful with the people she likes most, she even has one entire optional skills tree dedicated to the one she loves, which makes her a monster when paired with him.
Oh, by the way, does anyone know if there's a way to re-watch cutscenes in-game? I was in a hurry to save after beating
, so I had to skip the post-battle cutscene. I guess I could always search for it in YouTube, but since I'm not sure how to search for it I fear I might run into spoilers by mistake.
the large Thelethia
nope, youtube is your best bet. but as always, don't read any comments (or linked videos)
It contains both cutscenes, before and after the fight against L.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su9dGHXtkyk
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
I was under the impression he meant a different boss fight,
at the end of Makna Forest
Yup, that's the one I was talking about. Thanks for stepping in before I was able to check the video out!
So far I have avoided most spoilers except for
Fiora being alive and joining your party later on (although I don't know when or how that happens)
the identity of the two faced mechons I've met who are still alive (the one with long, sharp fingers and the white female one that appeared in a cutscene, since Xord is dead)
I'll be trying to switch my party up to check all characters out, since so far I've been pretty conservative with my party choices (mostly a Shulk, Dunban/Reyn and Sharla).
Me too...
Jesus the introduction scene to
Alvis
Elfforkusu
Member
That intro scene really is incredible.Me too...
Jesus the introduction scene toin the Makna Forest was nothing short of awesome. I love this game it's already one of my favorites of all time!Alvis
The way he vanishes and reappears to lean on Shulk's shoulder makes me laugh every time.
Alvis's
Snacks the sober sea lion
Member
It should be quite obvious what Metal Face's deal is after the Ether Mines. As for the silver mechon, (non-specific spoilers)
there's really no question as to who it is, the question is when they're going to bother revealing it.
When you get Riki and Melia you're going to want to start trying out parties without Sharla.
Yeah he is. Just got (party member spoiler? not sure if it counts as one but for people not wanting to go ill tag it)
Riki
40
However, Sharla's just too useful when it comes down to healing. I'm trying out other parties in regular encounters, but against bosses I often need her recovery skills to stay alive.
I like Dumban more than Reyn against non-bosses as well, mostly because he can focus enemies on him with Peerless and then use the other aura which boosts his evasion rate to dodge forever while your teammates keep attacking the enemies. When I was ambushed by
the inquisitors just as Melia was about to go to the ancient tomb
By the way, what's up with the whole "It's Reyn time!" thing I read near the beginning of the thread? Does he have that voice clip which is somehow repeated often in the english language setting or something? My japanese knowledge ammounts to stock anime phrases and some basic verbs and nouns, but I don't think I've spotted such a clip so far (his battle start cry is something along the lines of "Leave 'em to me!" or something).
When Shulk met
Alvin
the party met him again at the entia's city... I had thought he was some kind of alternate personality to Shulk or something like that, but I guess I should've know better since I think it was him who sent the telethia to save your party from all the faced mechons
The game has been awesome so far, and I guess I'm only halfway through if most of you guys have played it for 100+ hours, so that's even better. Right now I'm at
the ancient tomb, after Melia gets ambushed by an inquisitor and the game switches back to Shulk and co.
By the way, what am I supposed to do with the collectables I pick up? I've spotted some that appear to regenerate after a while, but so far I haven't sold any of them. The game said something about getting a bonus for collecting all of them in an area, but I don't think I've achieved that yet, either.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
That's a strategy issue more than a game design issue, you can beat the entire game post-Ether Mines without Sharla, without grinding of course. Shulk/Reyn/Dunban are great for toppling/dazing, for example. On my no-Sharla playthrough I used that party for most of the game, and especially on bosses.
Yeah, it is. And honestly, I feel like the English voice acting absolutely blows away the Japanese in this game. Like, it's not even close. Some of the characters just don't sound right at all in Japanese, especially the older characters (Dunban and Dickson are way off, IMO).
Not quite halfway, actually.
All of them respawn, but it takes a while to do it, or requires a full reset of the game (not just loading a save). You will never run out of space for collectables so you don't need to sell them unless you just need money. But since art books are the only things worth buying*, that shouldn't be an issue either. They're usually used for quests, I'd only sell ones you have quite a few of, maybe 6-8+.
(* - there is an exception later in the game, but for the most part this holds true)
Edit: And regarding the bonus, that's the collectopedia. You have to manually fill it with one of each collectable from each area. It's in the same "submenu" with your item list.
Yeah, I guess I should try the other guys out. Another issue I have is how Shulk is mostly needed for his Monado arts during boss battles. Whenever I get near a large, enemy-less room I often switch my party in case there happens to be a cutscene which segues into a boss fight.
I'd wish they'd let you change your party around right before boss fights and at times other than when someone enters or leaves your group. I guess it'd break the whole "We've been ambushed!" feel, but it'd allow me to be less paranoid with my party arrangement.
I'm perfectly fine with Dunban (as I've said a while ago, simply because it's Hattori Heiji's voice actor), but Riki's high-pitched tone is kind of annoying. If I ever replay the game, I might use english voiceovers for a change, though.
I haven't enjoyed an RPG this much in ages, so that's some great news! So far, my only complaint is how fast the court intrigues sub-plot has advanced for now.
I hardly got to meet the characters before being shown who's who in some cutscenes. I mean,
showing the emperess conspiring with a striperrific high entia and a masked serf about getting Melia killed as soon as I reached the town
That's another thing that's good to know. So far I've never had to farm money to buy anything (except for some gear I wasted
on Fiora
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
I actually thought about doing a no-Shulk playthrough (effectively starting post-Ether Mines, obviously). But I don't really think that would be challenging enough to be worth a fourth playthrough of the game already.
I also considered a Dunban solo run with the help of a couple gecko codes, but in my planning I realized exactly where it would end (or become 100% luck based), or require me to just grind and outlevel enemies, but that ruins the whole idea of the playthrough.
I also considered a Dunban solo run with the help of a couple gecko codes, but in my planning I realized exactly where it would end (or become 100% luck based), or require me to just grind and outlevel enemies, but that ruins the whole idea of the playthrough.
I'm not sure what part you're talking about, but so far it looks like Dunban can hold his own with little to no help. He gets several useful auras and attack combos, plus he hits like a truck and has relatively low cooldown on most arts.
Is Melia any good when used by the AI? So far I've only played her myself, and switched her out for bosses and large fights were her burst damage potential is less relevant. Riki has been a good AI partner so far, though, with all his status ailment-inducing moves and having lots of HP.
SenorArdilla
Member
Just wondering. When you assign an skill tree, does it affect stat growth?
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
As far as I know stat growth is fixed, but I've never really paid attention.
Not really, she has a bad habit of activating elementals just for the stat boosts and then kind of standing there, or using auto-attacks and other arts and not firing them off to deal damage like she should.
So, yesterday I beat
after about four tries (mostly looking for the correct party configuration to use). Shulk was great for the main enemy but he was almost useless against the supporting character (other than inflicting break so Reyn could use wild down for a topple during link moves). I still don't get why
, though.
Also, I can't say it was completely unexpected, but
wasn't something I thought could happen;
.
I guess I'll be meeting
very soon, but the latter wasn't spotted by Shulk, so I'm not sure what could happen with it.
I've tried Dunban alongisde Melia, but his low HP is a bit of a problem unless I send out another tank (even then, he tends to attract all attaks to himself and gets promptly killed way too often). Reyn's just too good at his job, as is Sharla. Most unique monsters and large mobs force me to use them for their superb tanking and healing abilities. Riki tends to do nice stuff, but rather than attract enemies he tends to send them off to attack the rest of my party with Play Dead...
Oh, by the way, I recently got the "It's Reyn time, baby!" achievement (for using Reyn's arts one hundred times). Reading the pop-up message got a chuckle out of me.
When I last stopped playing I was about to
, so there's still some things I'll have to do before facing the [true?] enemy.
the boss at the end of the ancient high entia tomb
the Monado hurts living monsters, but not humanoids
Also, I can't say it was completely unexpected, but
Alvis scheming something alongside the striperrific high entia (was it Lorithia? As in, [almost] a homophone to "Lolita" in japanese? Come on, game) in a cutscene
there's so much double-crossing within high entia ranks that it makes me wonder how they managed to keep the race together up to when the game takes place
I guess I'll be meeting
the black and white faced mechons
I've tried Dunban alongisde Melia, but his low HP is a bit of a problem unless I send out another tank (even then, he tends to attract all attaks to himself and gets promptly killed way too often). Reyn's just too good at his job, as is Sharla. Most unique monsters and large mobs force me to use them for their superb tanking and healing abilities. Riki tends to do nice stuff, but rather than attract enemies he tends to send them off to attack the rest of my party with Play Dead...
Oh, by the way, I recently got the "It's Reyn time, baby!" achievement (for using Reyn's arts one hundred times). Reading the pop-up message got a chuckle out of me.
When I last stopped playing I was about to
undo the first seal to the Prison Island teleporter
sounds like you'r doing something wrong then.
Dunban is an agility tank, which means he doesn't need much hp. He only needs tons of agility.
I feel like repeating myself for the 140234 time in this thread but...
short version:
- agility is the most important stat, so get as much as possible for everyone. gems, skill links, light armor, etc
- sharla is the worst charakter in the game and also a self fulfilling prophecy - you need here in your party because she is in your party. in short: the lack of damage prolongs fights which means you'll take more damage.
- riki isn't a tank. but he has a great healing spell
- get more agility.
sry for that, I was pretty tired that day.
Well, that's true, I guess Sharla's health recovery basically compensates for her dealing no damage 99% of the time, which ammounts to her doing nothing.
Yeah, I did read your comments about agility, and so far I've made sure to equip everyone with gear that doesn't drop it; I haven't crafted gems since the beginning of the game, though, so perhaps I should dump my crystals into some gems soon, since I think I've been walking around with a full crystal inventory since I got into the jungle (although I've been swapping my worst level 1s for better level 3s I've been getting).
Do Dunban's auras stack, or do they override previous ones when cast? I've been getting a lot of mileage out of the one that makes him dodge like mad and I really like playing as him; however, if Melia's AI is bad on its own I think I should probably play as her and have the AI take over Dunban.
I don't think I've unlocked a healing spell for Riki, but I'll take a look the next time I play just in case he learned it a short while ago.
By the way, I really don't get the heart-to-heart events... so far I've only been able to watch the first one at a sensible time. The other one I watched was between Sharla and Reyn inside the camp, and only because I went back there to do a quest a long while after I first spotted it. Nearly all of them either say a generic "Requirements not met" or show me the party's affinity should be a whole lot higher than whatever my level is at the moment.
My swordman also got killed often during the game, if I tried to rely on him doing all the job. He's not over powerful like people try to say, and he is especially useless at mob control and against spike enemies.
That's why Reyn is useful until the end game, and also why Sharla is still useful contrary to popular belief, though I agree she is the less useful member, but it basically depends on how you play the game. You can finish the game without using gems, and then Sharla will be really useful.
She is also very useful with the swordman, when fighting enemies that have spike. I notice lots of people have problem (and die quickly) against these enemies because they over use the swordman, who is very quick to kill himself on thoses spike enemies. Sometimes, even Sharla is not enough to save him from his own destruction. Reyn never has this problem and he can mob control.
Also, Auras don't stack, only one can be active at any time.
That's why Reyn is useful until the end game, and also why Sharla is still useful contrary to popular belief, though I agree she is the less useful member, but it basically depends on how you play the game. You can finish the game without using gems, and then Sharla will be really useful.
She is also very useful with the swordman, when fighting enemies that have spike. I notice lots of people have problem (and die quickly) against these enemies because they over use the swordman, who is very quick to kill himself on thoses spike enemies. Sometimes, even Sharla is not enough to save him from his own destruction. Reyn never has this problem and he can mob control.
Also, Auras don't stack, only one can be active at any time.
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