There's a couple of earlier uniques with spikes which depending on your level might give you no end of trouble if you don't know about it.
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Xenoblade |OT| Sorry I Kept You Waiting!
- Thread starter SecretMoblin
- Start date
There's a couple of earlier uniques with spikes which depending on your level might give you no end of trouble if you don't know about it.
theprodigy
Member
yeah but uniques aren't required, that's my point
Choppasmith
Member
Question for those who've beaten the game. I''m right at that point of no return (IE Dunban warning) Without being too spoilerific obviously, what happens to your save after you beat the game? I ask because I still want to do some of those quests (for the final skill trees) and fight some of those crazy high level UMs. Does the game force you to start over (New Game +) or is it like some Dragon Quest games where the game can still continue after beating the final boss? If it's the former, I'd rather try to do everything before hand including some grinding for those UMs. If it's the latter then I know I can just go ahead with the final boss.
Also, I FINALLY got the hang of Melia. Now I see why everyone praises her so highly and calls her "broken" (although I wouldn't go that far) when player controlled. With Maxed Leveled Summon Bolt and Summon Copy, she can take down monsters super quickly.
Also, I FINALLY got the hang of Melia. Now I see why everyone praises her so highly and calls her "broken" (although I wouldn't go that far) when player controlled. With Maxed Leveled Summon Bolt and Summon Copy, she can take down monsters super quickly.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
You get the option to save, but it automatically carries over to NG+.
So keep a save at the point of no return so you can keep doing stuff after you beat the boss.
I'd also recommend doing the last bit of the story and then the post-game stuff. It will be pretty boring doing it later since the enemies are balanced for a party that is around your current level and not a higher one. So you will basically be sleepwalking through that content, and that isn't really fun (at least not in my opinion, might be fine for you though).
theprodigy
Member
switch off exp growth? oh boy it would be interesting to see if you could beat the game without gaining a single point of experience (I would imagine the hardest part is at the beginning of
)
Fallen Arm where you only have Shulk, then Shulk/Reyn/Sharla
Being able to manually scale your party's levels would also be a welcome solution. It'd be less work for the developers than progressively scaling every enemy in the game while maintaining difficulty, and allows for self-imposed challenges at the equivalent of low levels. It'd fix the new game+, as well.
Actually considering how the agility and level interplay scaling encounters based on your levels would be very easy.
Major B.S.
Neo Member
Just a heads up that you're likely to start seeing more copies of Xenoblade Wii at your local independant gaming stores and online. A limited official reprint was just completed. Pricing should be around $99.99. Cheers folks!
theprodigy
Member
..........
Major B.S.
Neo Member
Can you feel the magic?
Popping my head in: just started this a few weeks ago and I'm about 10 hours in. Loving it. The scope of the Bionis environments, the musical score, the side quests, the characters.
Love the open nature of the game and the MMORPG'ish battle system (small wonder FFXII is my favorite FF title).
Also, I'm sure it's been stated before but the game is gorgeous on Dolphin. I almost hesitated and was going to play it on my Wii since I didn't want to deal with emulator glitches and bugs but man, it looks pretty up-res'ed. Coupled with the HD texture pack and some parts are legitimately HD.
I popped my copy into my Wii after I had played a few hours and it looks night and day different. Even the title screen looks legitimately so much better with the HD texture pack that I feel for anyone who trudged through it at 480p.
Then again, I played through FFXII at 480i and didn't have an issue (they need to HD remake that game, stat).
Love the open nature of the game and the MMORPG'ish battle system (small wonder FFXII is my favorite FF title).
Also, I'm sure it's been stated before but the game is gorgeous on Dolphin. I almost hesitated and was going to play it on my Wii since I didn't want to deal with emulator glitches and bugs but man, it looks pretty up-res'ed. Coupled with the HD texture pack and some parts are legitimately HD.
I popped my copy into my Wii after I had played a few hours and it looks night and day different. Even the title screen looks legitimately so much better with the HD texture pack that I feel for anyone who trudged through it at 480p.
Then again, I played through FFXII at 480i and didn't have an issue (they need to HD remake that game, stat).
MagiusNecros
Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
Should have bought those earlier copies.
SoldnerKei
Member
I am not really feeling it
I will have to wait for the 3DS release I guess... unless that's 99 bucks too
Snacks the sober sea lion
Member
I saw one at GameStop for $60 a few months ago. I already got mine at launch and it's not going anywhere, though.
redhairedking
Junior Member
I have a couple of friends who are interested in picking up Xenoblade, where did you hear about the reprint? I can't seem to find anything online
redhairedking
Junior Member
Damn that looks nice
A method to mitigate overlevelinng (because completing the affinity web is so satisfying) I'd like to see in the 3DS+would be not letting you level up from your EXP (which would still be buffered, not wasted) past each level unless you beat (or had beaten) a unique monster (story bosses too) of at least the level you're locked at.
Also, they better fix the 99 autoattack damage range cap and cap the Debuff Immunity gem bonus at 75%.
Also, they better fix the 99 autoattack damage range cap and cap the Debuff Immunity gem bonus at 75%.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Debuff Resist having a 100% cap does seem broken in theory, but I don't remember it really being the case in practice. Given the requirements to get those, you're not going to have them until you are nearly level 99 anyway, and I don't recall there being any situation where you really needed two debuff resistance gems except Abaasy (Divine Protect + Blaze Resist). All it really does is save you the effort of making a bunch of other specific resistance gems and swapping between them.
But that's precisely it - they the same thing as many other gems put together, which makes those redundant if you let Debuff Resist Gem reach 100%. Let's take Abassy - if you're man enough to take him on, you're more than man enough to get the Debuff Resist V Crystals, so what would even be the point of Divine Resist VI gems, which otherwise are made specifically to fight him? They just outright outrank too much other stuff.
For instance, Shulk has a skill that grants immunity (can't remember if only on high tension) to stat-altering debuffs. Nice skill, eh? Worth unlocking, right? Maybe something you wanna link (assuming it wasn't hexagonal) to auto-attackers against stat-down spike nebulae? NOPE, Debuff Resist 100% Gem makes it pointless. Mmm, so if I don't have space for both Divine Protection and Blaze Resist, maybe I can make everyone survive Abassy's firebreath if I time vision-ordering Sharla a Cure Round at ther right moment so Blaze (which is where most of the attack's damage is dealt) isn't even inflicted? NOPE, Debuff Resist 100%. Oh boy, how much variety there is between the status spikes of all these high-level ene-NOPE, not even gonna know they exist.
Think about it - would a Debuf Immune enemy be fun? It'd be a challenging, but boring fight. Similarly, enemies have no fun fighting you if you have Debuff Immunity all the time.
This makes me think: I still haven't seen nor heard of anyone beating Abassy using Sharla's Cure Round and Cure Bullet as the only means of countering his spike.
Also, Man God, I took a loog at your Gem Crafting Guide, and while it's great in how informative yet simple it is, it's lacking a tiny detail - the best duo is technically Dunban-Seventh. Without even counting party interventions, they have a reasonable chance of megaheating ten gems at once. Here's what I wrote some time ago on it:
Requires a tiny bit of save scum, but damn if it isn't satisfying making sixty-four gems at once (probably less, unless there exist eight crystals of 4 non-repeating qualities each).
For instance, Shulk has a skill that grants immunity (can't remember if only on high tension) to stat-altering debuffs. Nice skill, eh? Worth unlocking, right? Maybe something you wanna link (assuming it wasn't hexagonal) to auto-attackers against stat-down spike nebulae? NOPE, Debuff Resist 100% Gem makes it pointless. Mmm, so if I don't have space for both Divine Protection and Blaze Resist, maybe I can make everyone survive Abassy's firebreath if I time vision-ordering Sharla a Cure Round at ther right moment so Blaze (which is where most of the attack's damage is dealt) isn't even inflicted? NOPE, Debuff Resist 100%. Oh boy, how much variety there is between the status spikes of all these high-level ene-NOPE, not even gonna know they exist.
Think about it - would a Debuf Immune enemy be fun? It'd be a challenging, but boring fight. Similarly, enemies have no fun fighting you if you have Debuff Immunity all the time.
This makes me think: I still haven't seen nor heard of anyone beating Abassy using Sharla's Cure Round and Cure Bullet as the only means of countering his spike.
Also, Man God, I took a loog at your Gem Crafting Guide, and while it's great in how informative yet simple it is, it's lacking a tiny detail - the best duo is technically Dunban-Seventh. Without even counting party interventions, they have a reasonable chance of megaheating ten gems at once. Here's what I wrote some time ago on it:
Requires a tiny bit of save scum, but damn if it isn't satisfying making sixty-four gems at once (probably less, unless there exist eight crystals of 4 non-repeating qualities each).
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
I think all that goes back to being more of an inherent flaw in the game's design than being a problem with Debuff Resist specifically though. All that gem does is save you time - mostly the time grinding out other resistance gems, but also the time to check for an enemy spike, run away and put on the appropriate gem, then go back and actually fight. And even if it ends up being an attack that you need resistance for the complete lack of punishment for dying still means you only lost time and just need to toss in the appropriate gem. There is no significant change in strategy other than "use this gem -> win" unless you forgo them entirely with a self-imposed restriction.
I wouldn't be surprised if the developers realized that issue during testing but didn't bother rebalancing the game around it. Maybe XCX will have something in place to prevent that sort of abuse.
I wouldn't be surprised if the developers realized that issue during testing but didn't bother rebalancing the game around it. Maybe XCX will have something in place to prevent that sort of abuse.
theprodigy
Member
Debuff Resist is only really useful in endgame anyway, and honestly that's hardly the biggest problem with this game's difficulty curve (especially when you can just replace it with Divine Protect and shrug off Blaze Resist entirely, for example)
It saves you time, allright - by skipping the part of the fight where you have to pay attention to what's going on. Which is kinda the point of playing, really.
It'd be less jarring if they only resisted stat-down debuffs,(as global DoT immunity is the reall gamebreaker), but even then they'd still eliminate the tension managing mechanic from the fight (except against Abassy and the bunny).
But I already complained about that years ago, let's get to another topic: What new superbosses would you like to see, if any? Or new non-super unique monsters. I don't remember there being any enemy that can inflict Aura Seal on you, and there could be more that inflict Confusion, as I only remember a certain nebula with it as spike and the Ether-vulnerable story boss, which could AoE it (making Dunban's "also cures party of confusion" aura finally put its secondary effect to use).
It'd be less jarring if they only resisted stat-down debuffs,(as global DoT immunity is the reall gamebreaker), but even then they'd still eliminate the tension managing mechanic from the fight (except against Abassy and the bunny).
But I already complained about that years ago, let's get to another topic: What new superbosses would you like to see, if any? Or new non-super unique monsters. I don't remember there being any enemy that can inflict Aura Seal on you, and there could be more that inflict Confusion, as I only remember a certain nebula with it as spike and the Ether-vulnerable story boss, which could AoE it (making Dunban's "also cures party of confusion" aura finally put its secondary effect to use).
theprodigy
Member
2 months and 2 days later, chuggaaconroy's Xenoblade LP finally continues!
lol
lol
dont bother selling anything, money comes easy to the point you have too much
I'd love a turn EXP off switch. LOVE it. Same thing with a level up enemies to your level/higher than your level switch.
I won't be mad if Xenoblade 3DS is just a straight port either because its one of my favorite games, but I'd love it if they did it this way. I could power level affinity/unlock all the skill trees to my hearts desire with that.
I won't be mad if Xenoblade 3DS is just a straight port either because its one of my favorite games, but I'd love it if they did it this way. I could power level affinity/unlock all the skill trees to my hearts desire with that.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Some NG+ difficulty options would be really nice as well.
Inquisitive_Ghost
Member
Like a NG+ that doesn't carry your level.
Carrying levels into NG+ is just the worst. At least make it optional.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Not just that, but maybe a hard mode that does carry over your level but everything is scaled around that. Or an extreme mode where everything is level 100+ from the outset and only gets higher.
If you're selling because you're worryied about inventory space, don't worry about inventory space. No, really: You won't reach inventory limit on any category for 20 hours on average.
If you need money, then start by selling Materials with non-shiny icons. Those are 100% drops from wood chests, as opposed to the shiny icon ("rare") materials, which aren't guaranteed drops on woodchests. This way, if you eventually get a quest that asks for some of the materials you've sold, you'll have an easier time getting more.
And obviously, you can sell objectively inferior armour and weapons - but if you're like I was, you'll only do so if you've also got a better weapon/armour with the same base model (palette swaps are OK). For collection purposes, you know.
Oh, and another thing to add to the 3DS+ whishlist: a landmark on Agora Shore.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Moving the landmark at the triangle thing in Makna Forest down to the Hode Lair or the bridge near it would also be useful. It's kind of dumb they have landmarks all over the place on the west side of the map, but on the larger east side they are much more spread out and there isn't one anywhere on the southern part of the map.
There were a couple other places with wonky landmarks too but I don't remember them.
There were a couple other places with wonky landmarks too but I don't remember them.
Yep, both/either of these.
That being said I bet the game would be hilariously easy with a filled out skill tree even if you had to start with basic equipment, reset artes levels, and back at level 1. Just affinity and skills. You'd still wreck everything.
The Last Wizard
Member
Can I play xenoblade with the wii u pro controller?
Not really - aside from using it on PC via Dolphin, even though Devolution supports the Wii U pro controller, no method is currently available to allow it to work for Wii games.
The Last Wizard
Member
So what are my options if I'm playing on a wii u then?
Wiimote or Classic Controller
The Last Wizard
Member
I'm pretty sure either one will work.
Pancakes
hot, steaming, as melted butter slips into the cracks, drizzled with sticky sweet syrup OH GOD
Didn't realize the OT was semi-active. Thoughts so far.
About 50 hours into the game, just finished up Galahad Fortress and had
join the party. I don't know how useful that addition will be since I normally just roll with Dunban, Shulk, and Sharla as my go to group for destroying tough enemies. I tried incorporating Melia and Reyn but they are so heavily outclassed by Sharla and Dunban that it's just not worth it imo. Although I've mixed Riki in here and there and he'e a little monster.
This game is shaping up to be one of my favorite JRPGs of all time and I don't think I'm even close to the end given how much of a completionist I am.
The positive:
-I love just how massive this game world is, there is so much to explore wherever I go and actual stuff to find there. I've spent hours just doing sidequests and trying to 100% complete each map because of how fun it is.
-The combat system is fantastic and flows very well from exploring->fighting->exploring again. The enemies do feel challenging enough that I need to change strategies every now and again.
-The story is actually somewhat decent and the characters are very likable.
-The music is god tier especially in long drawn out boss fights
The negative:
-I despise how the game constantly teases you with the Face mechon fights. It feels like they all end with the same BS of
"I'll let you live today but NEXT time I'll get you meddling kids and your dumb Monado too!"
Just feels so cheap and annoying.
-The menus are sluggish and take some time to load on Wii U
-Finding NPCs again to turn in quests basically requires a quick run to the online wiki to find out where the heck they are and what times they are active
-The animations during combat can sometimes lag a lot causing instant death because you couldn't get a crucial shield off
-Armors look really bad
All things said though, I would highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys JRPGs. This is breath of fresh air to me especially after finishing Tales of Xilla 1/2.
About 50 hours into the game, just finished up Galahad Fortress and had
Fiora
This game is shaping up to be one of my favorite JRPGs of all time and I don't think I'm even close to the end given how much of a completionist I am.
The positive:
-I love just how massive this game world is, there is so much to explore wherever I go and actual stuff to find there. I've spent hours just doing sidequests and trying to 100% complete each map because of how fun it is.
-The combat system is fantastic and flows very well from exploring->fighting->exploring again. The enemies do feel challenging enough that I need to change strategies every now and again.
-The story is actually somewhat decent and the characters are very likable.
-The music is god tier especially in long drawn out boss fights
The negative:
-I despise how the game constantly teases you with the Face mechon fights. It feels like they all end with the same BS of
"I'll let you live today but NEXT time I'll get you meddling kids and your dumb Monado too!"
Just feels so cheap and annoying.
-The menus are sluggish and take some time to load on Wii U
-Finding NPCs again to turn in quests basically requires a quick run to the online wiki to find out where the heck they are and what times they are active
-The animations during combat can sometimes lag a lot causing instant death because you couldn't get a crucial shield off
-Armors look really bad
All things said though, I would highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys JRPGs. This is breath of fresh air to me especially after finishing Tales of Xilla 1/2.
theprodigy
Member
sounds like someone needs a Melia tutorial!
Pancakes
hot, steaming, as melted butter slips into the cracks, drizzled with sticky sweet syrup OH GOD
Oh I know she's awesome when the player controls her. But the AI is dumb as bricks and she can't output as much healing as Riki or Sharla.
Besides, Dunban is much more fun to play
.If you need healing, try using the manly party (Shulk, Reyn and Dunban), linking Shulk's chain attack heal skill on everybody. Also try giving Reyn his more offensive skills (use Magnum Charge only if you're manning him though). He doesn't output as many criticals as Dunban, but he can be a beast on chain attacks.
A good trick to find NPCs is that their active time window indicated in the affinity chart is the time they're in the gameworld, not the time they're in their default location. So what I did to find some NPCs whose default location I forgot was changing the time to the beggining of their window, which is the exact moment they spawn. But they won't spawn in their default location - they all spawn at some building's door, and tracking those is easier. For timed-quest-town, they all spawn from some teleporty-looking things, so I just tried one after another.
-I always considered the animation lag an essential part of each art that helped define it. For instance: Shulk's Daze art, whose name I forgot but that has the same animation as Turn Strike, has a relatively long wind-up animation, which maks it harder to land it before Topple wears off if you weren't paying attention. But Reyn's Wild Down, his Topple art, has a, while only moderately long, very recognizable wind-up animation, so if you see recognize it you can start not-Turn Strike before Wild Down lands, and it'll inflict Daze very in time.
So yes, I learnt how to take advantage of wind-up animations. Hell, the second superboss is a mechon, and when you get closer than a certain (loooong) distance from him, he'll start the fight using an ether-based line-AoE art. Playing as Shulk, it'll always trigger a vision (unless you've linked a certain skill from Melia that greatly reduces enemy AoE ether arts' damage). Shulk can also have a skill that completely fills the Talent Gauge whenever a vision appears. And shattering a vision boosts the whole party's morale. Shulk can also have an optional Monado Art, Armor, by that point that reduces all physical and ether damage received by the party.
Thing is, if you use Armor after the vision starts, you'll shatter the vision, but you won't have the talent gauge to use Enchant right away, and the enemy has Spike. But if you use Armor before the vision, then the damage you'd take from the attack won't be high enough to trigger a vision.
Solution? You start Armor before the vision, but time it so that, before its wind-up animation finishes, another party member has gotten close enough to aggro the enemy. That is - the vision starts during Armor's wind-up. SInce the Talent Gauge emptied when you started Armor, it'll be filled again by the vision (so you'll be able to use Enchant immedieately afterwards), and when Armor's wind-up animation finishes, it'll take effect and shatter the vision, boosting the party morale. You get more time before the enemy attacks (vision countdown), you reduce its damage, you get to use Enchant (or whatever else) immedieately, and you get a morale boost. Win-win-win-win.
And armors look hilarious. If you haven't already, you should definitely have a fashion session where you link a Heavy Armor skill to everybody and check how each different model of heavy armour looks on them.
A good trick to find NPCs is that their active time window indicated in the affinity chart is the time they're in the gameworld, not the time they're in their default location. So what I did to find some NPCs whose default location I forgot was changing the time to the beggining of their window, which is the exact moment they spawn. But they won't spawn in their default location - they all spawn at some building's door, and tracking those is easier. For timed-quest-town, they all spawn from some teleporty-looking things, so I just tried one after another.
-I always considered the animation lag an essential part of each art that helped define it. For instance: Shulk's Daze art, whose name I forgot but that has the same animation as Turn Strike, has a relatively long wind-up animation, which maks it harder to land it before Topple wears off if you weren't paying attention. But Reyn's Wild Down, his Topple art, has a, while only moderately long, very recognizable wind-up animation, so if you see recognize it you can start not-Turn Strike before Wild Down lands, and it'll inflict Daze very in time.
So yes, I learnt how to take advantage of wind-up animations. Hell, the second superboss is a mechon, and when you get closer than a certain (loooong) distance from him, he'll start the fight using an ether-based line-AoE art. Playing as Shulk, it'll always trigger a vision (unless you've linked a certain skill from Melia that greatly reduces enemy AoE ether arts' damage). Shulk can also have a skill that completely fills the Talent Gauge whenever a vision appears. And shattering a vision boosts the whole party's morale. Shulk can also have an optional Monado Art, Armor, by that point that reduces all physical and ether damage received by the party.
Thing is, if you use Armor after the vision starts, you'll shatter the vision, but you won't have the talent gauge to use Enchant right away, and the enemy has Spike. But if you use Armor before the vision, then the damage you'd take from the attack won't be high enough to trigger a vision.
Solution? You start Armor before the vision, but time it so that, before its wind-up animation finishes, another party member has gotten close enough to aggro the enemy. That is - the vision starts during Armor's wind-up. SInce the Talent Gauge emptied when you started Armor, it'll be filled again by the vision (so you'll be able to use Enchant immedieately afterwards), and when Armor's wind-up animation finishes, it'll take effect and shatter the vision, boosting the party morale. You get more time before the enemy attacks (vision countdown), you reduce its damage, you get to use Enchant (or whatever else) immedieately, and you get a morale boost. Win-win-win-win.
And armors look hilarious. If you haven't already, you should definitely have a fashion session where you link a Heavy Armor skill to everybody and check how each different model of heavy armour looks on them.
Alright GAF. I'm starting my 2nd playthrough of this awesome game. Felt like I had to do it I loved it.
I honestly don't remember much which is for the better. I imported this one from Europe on 2011 and did almost everything that could be done (except those +lvl 100 dudes >_>) in about 200h and never touched it again. I feel excited! The music alone is enough to have me happy.
I honestly don't remember much which is for the better. I imported this one from Europe on 2011 and did almost everything that could be done (except those +lvl 100 dudes >_>) in about 200h and never touched it again. I feel excited! The music alone is enough to have me happy.
I got to
on Friday and have decided to take my foot off the gas pedal, do some sidequests, try some different parties, do some heart-to-hearts, and try and get party members geared up and caught up on their arts. I think part of the reason is that I really don't want the game to end and am sensing that I'm getting pretty close at this point. Anyway, it's been a lot of fun, and I'm excited to see how this all goes down.
Agniratha
Pancakes
hot, steaming, as melted butter slips into the cracks, drizzled with sticky sweet syrup OH GOD
I know that feeling. I haven't left the fallen arm area yet and I'm at around 60 hours played. I'm just 100%ing maps and knocking out all the sidequests I can. I'm going to get full mileage from this game!
(And then do it again when the 3DS version comes out.)
Yea I might try something like this. Honestly, I haven't been taking as much advantage of chain attacks as I should since Sharla just ruins them all the time. I also haven't really mucked around with skill linking too much aside from just getting max AGI on Dunban and some neat ones here and there. I need to redo them soon.
Pancakes
hot, steaming, as melted butter slips into the cracks, drizzled with sticky sweet syrup OH GOD
Sorry for the double but I just randomly unlocked another skill tree for Dunban just by doing a random sidequest in Valak Mountain. Was this attached to the quest itself or did something else trigger it?
I think there's a different quest for every party member where the reward is the new skill tree if I recall correctly.
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