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Xenoblade |OT| Sorry I Kept You Waiting!

wsippel

Banned
You are right.
Prison Island
marks the half-point of the story.
Not really. Certainly not story-wise. The way the story is paced, I'd almost consider that part "end of the prologue" - there's more happening in the last five hours than in the first 50 hours.
 

ag-my001

Member
It's a fine combo. You still have tank/dps/healer, but now your tank will be doing even more dps himself, so you may notice fights going faster/easier.
 

wrowa

Member
Not really. Certainly not story-wise. The way the story is paced, I'd almost consider that part "end of the prologue" - there's more happening in the last five hours than in the first 50 hours.

I'm talking about the playtime you need to finish the story. If you don't do any side-quests the above mentioned point is probably even more than the half point.
 

wsippel

Banned
I'm talking about the playtime you need to finish the story. If you don't do any side-quests the above mentioned point is probably even more than the half point.
Maybe. Then again, I reached that point ~35 - 40 hours in, and finished the game with ~110 hours on the clock, so maybe not. Either way, it isn't the halfway point of the story.
 

Ridley327

Member
It's a fine combo. You still have tank/dps/healer, but now your tank will be doing even more dps himself, so you may notice fights going faster/easier.

Slap some agility gems and armor with high ether defense on him and he's close-to-indestructible. I swap out a lot of the other roles depending on the situation, but he's been a constant figure ever since he joined.
 

Rebel Leader

THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
I use
Shulk, Dunman and sharla

You are right.
Prison Island
marks the half-point of the story.

no that just before
fallen hand
but most players rush the 2nd part so it feels faster

so... you're telling me... I'm barely half-way there.....

faints.gif
 
GAF, I've reached another roadblock.

I'm in the snowy place and I have to get a magma thingy from a cave. So I go to where the magma thingy is, but there are TWO unique monsters waiting to eat me, and one of them is one of those stupid fire elemental ghost things with the Selfdestruct attack. Moonlight what's-his-name. I've been trying to take him out separately first so he won't interrupt me when I try to take out the more important guy. But, I keep dying. I'm at level 47 using Shulk-Dunban-Sharla to try and take him out - Dunban can dodge, Shulk can use the shield to block his art, and we absolutely need a healer for this fight. But nothing works.

How on earth should I take this guy out? I can't even topple him with a chain attack. Should I change my party? Are there any specific arts I should use? Do I just grind out some levels? Attack the other guy and hope he ignores me? Bleh.
 

AniHawk

Member
Don't worry. Even if you highlighted my spoilers, it will not prepare you in the end. :p

well, knowing that the halfway mark gameplay-wise is about 45 hours for me seems pretty daunting. i'm looking forward to it, since it actually doesn't feel like i've played 4 uncharted 2s at this point.
 

AniHawk

Member
GAF, I've reached another roadblock.

I'm in the snowy place and I have to get a magma thingy from a cave. So I go to where the magma thingy is, but there are TWO unique monsters waiting to eat me, and one of them is one of those stupid fire elemental ghost things with the Selfdestruct attack. Moonlight what's-his-name. I've been trying to take him out separately first so he won't interrupt me when I try to take out the more important guy. But, I keep dying. I'm at level 47 using Shulk-Dunban-Sharla to try and take him out - Dunban can dodge, Shulk can use the shield to block his art, and we absolutely need a healer for this fight. But nothing works.

How on earth should I take this guy out? I can't even topple him with a chain attack. Should I change my party? Are there any specific arts I should use? Do I just grind out some levels? Attack the other guy and hope he ignores me? Bleh.

i ran into this problem a few nights ago.

take out the smaller elementals first. then take the big one over to the edge away from the large elemental and have it so sharla and dunban are on the opposite side of you, facing more towards where the flying monster was waiting for you. you shouldn't accidentally aggro the big monster that way.

i almost, almost beat it with a riki/dunban/melia combo at level 46, but dunban was killed at the very last moment. so disappointing, but their affinity did go up at least.
 

cametall

Member
I'm in
Galahad Fortress
now, but I am finding computer Shulk is an extremely dumb Shulk.

Too many times he does not activate Monado Enchant and just tries to kill enemies (a few times groups of them) by himself. The other party members are stuck trying to topple the Mechons.

Also ran into a boss (
Clear Radio Tower Boss
) for the first time that is single handily destroying me with Spike, despite my resist gems... probably need stronger or just stack em.
 

Ledsen

Member
Other than the last sentence, this succinctly explains why paid reviews are unlikely to be informative on the value of games that will be played longer than about 20 hours.

The last sentence is simply false. For example, most MMOs lose subscriptions because of the stuff that happens after the 35 hour mark. Most e-Sports type games only gain in value as the playtime increases (because the player gains competence, and the metagame perpetually evolves).

I'm specifically talking about Xenoblade, not MMOs or e-sports. I agree with you that any sort of traditional review is worthless in those genres.

Sometimes, in a story driven game, the ending is very important for the lasting appeal it has on you. And for every 60 hour game a review has to conquer, there will be a dozen two hour shovelware titles. If a company / site has any integrity with their reviews, they will stress the importance of playing an entire game and pay for it.

You own a website about gaming. Please choose one: Demand that all reviewers fully play through each game they review, pay them for their time, and inevitably bankrupt yourself within weeks, OR demand no such thing and stay in business.

So it ok for film reviewer to not see the full thing? I'am not saying they should do every thing just the story

most game sites do rank a game on story, if they don't see it all makes it pointless to try and rank it

How is a 2-hour movie comparable to a 70-hour video game?
 

ag-my001

Member
I'm in
Galahad Fortress
now, but I am finding computer Shulk is an extremely dumb Shulk.

Too many times he does not activate Monado Enchant and just tries to kill enemies (a few times groups of them) by himself. The other party members are stuck trying to topple the Mechons.

Also ran into a boss (
Clear Radio Tower Boss
) for the first time that is single handily destroying me with Spike, despite my resist gems... probably need stronger or just stack em.

Learn to love Topple-lock and Arts Seal, both courtesy of Melia. For extra preparation, fight some scrubs to that she ends the battle in Ether Burst. In the next fight, she'll regain it after discharging one element. This will let you use Mind Blast on demand. I recommend using Spear Break/Starlight Kick to get the initial Topple (with Topple Plus gem if available), then Mind Blast when that wears off. By the time that's done, you should have a chain attack available, and you can re-use the Spear/Kick combo as long as it chains back to Melia once. It's the most effective strategy I've found for dealing with spike damage (except for those stupid mobs that spike when you topple them).
 

ZenaxPure

Member
Right now i'm using
Dunban
, Shulk, and Sharla. Is that a good combination of characters to use? So far it's working pretty good for me.

It's been discussed to death in this thread but a) use whoever you want but b)
the point of Dunban is to not take any damage at all The "optimal" strategy with him tanking involves not using Sharla at all since there is no real need for a healer. However, at the point you're at you don't have any other great characters to replace her since Reyn is also a tank so you're better off just using her.
 

EvilMario

Will QA for food.
I'm specifically talking about Xenoblade, not MMOs or e-sports. I agree with you that any sort of traditional review is worthless in those genres.



You own a website about gaming. Please choose one: Demand that all reviewers fully play through each game they review, pay them for their time, and inevitably bankrupt yourself within weeks, OR demand no such thing and stay in business.



How is a 2-hour movie comparable to a 70-hour video game?

The amount of relevant titles that break the 20 hour mark has decreased drastically from a decade ago. Reviewers are rarely confronted with a title of this length and if it's a 'big name title' they should devote their resources to actually playing through it to give a review. If the reviewer did not have time, or had to stop playing because they were sick of it, then they should note in the review where, or when they stopped. Especially in the case of games that rely on story, where you can say it is as important as any gameplay mechanics you'll be rating. You either have to devote time to review the entire game, not review it all, or put a remark in about how far you were able to complete the game. Maybe state that you will have a follow up in a later issue? There are plenty of ways around it.

Nice stealth brag about the wage too, champ.

14 hours and 30 minutes in and I just beat
Xord
in the
Ether Mines
.

Wow, what happened afterward was awesome. I totally didn't expect to get
Dunban
in my party.

Since I started the game, I haven't played as anyone but Shulk, but now since I have
Dunban
, I figured i'd main him for a bit. Wow. When playing as someone else it's almost like playing an entirely different game. It's truly incredible.

Right now i'm using
Dunban
, Shulk, and Sharla. Is that a good combination of characters to use? So far it's working pretty good for me.

I change parties frequently, both for fun and to raise affinity. You can't really go wrong with whatever party you choose. Only one character really 'fails' as the AI, and it's always interesting to hear the different banter during battle, depending on who's with you. Try giving everyone a try as the lead character too. The only one I really don't care to control is Sharla, but it sure does give the game a different feeling.
 

Korosenai

Member
It's been discussed to death in this thread but a) use whoever you want but b)
the point of Dunban is to not take any damage at all The "optimal" strategy with him tanking involves not using Sharla at all since there is no real need for a healer. However, at the point you're at you don't have any other great characters to replace her since Reyn is also a tank so you're better off just using her.

Awesome, thanks for the info
 

Zee-Row

Banned
This game is a lot different than what i'm used to in JRPGs , I just passed the part near the beginning
when the Mechs attack Colony 9
and I'm wondering , Where are the shops? I know about the Gem guy but what do you spend money on? Does the game have healing items or is the main characters healing skill my only option?
 

Ridley327

Member
Speaking of Reyn, is there an effective way to use in a non-tank role? He just seems so useless after
Dunban joins up
, and his arts list suggests that he's got a bunch of different ways to utilize him. I'd hate for him to end up as "the guy who gets the heavy armor skill early one for skill links," but I don't know what else to do.
 

Ultratech

Member
I'm in
Galahad Fortress
now, but I am finding computer Shulk is an extremely dumb Shulk.

Too many times he does not activate Monado Enchant and just tries to kill enemies (a few times groups of them) by himself. The other party members are stuck trying to topple the Mechons.

Also ran into a boss (
Clear Radio Tower Boss
) for the first time that is single handily destroying me with Spike, despite my resist gems... probably need stronger or just stack em.

For Spike, this should semi-obvious if Shulk's in the party.
lrn2 Monado Purge spam

Speaking of Reyn, is there an effective way to use in a non-tank role? He just seems so useless after
Dunban joins up
, and his arts list suggests that he's got a bunch of different ways to utilize him. I'd hate for him to end up as "the guy who gets the heavy armor skill early one for skill links," but I don't know what else to do.

Slap on an attack aura I guess and watch him AoE enemies?
 

EvilMario

Will QA for food.
This game is a lot different than what i'm used to in JRPGs , I just passed the part near the beginning
when the Mechs attack Colony 9
and I'm wondering , Where are the shops? I know about the Gem guy but what do you spend money on? Does the game have healing items or is the main characters healing skill my only option?

There are shops (usually one, sometimes a few) in every city, and some in more odd places. There is one shop in Colony 9, near the 'front entrance'. While it's okay to buy stuff, you will probably find better equipment in the field from monster drops.

Look for the little icon above their head, which will also appear on the map when it's close.

nm7kS.png
 

Zee-Row

Banned
There are shops (usually one, sometimes a few) in every city, and some in more odd places. There is one shop in Colony 9, near the 'front entrance'. While it's okay to buy stuff, you will probably find better equipment in the field from monster drops.

Look for the little icon above their head, which will also appear on the map when it's close.

nm7kS.png

Ah i see.
 

EvilMario

Will QA for food.
You shouldn't fear using Reyn. He still does his job well when equipped properly and if you enjoy using him over Dunban, then do it. But if you try giving him other roles outside of typical Aggro drawing tank, he's going to struggle quite a bit more.
 

Ridley327

Member
You shouldn't fear using Reyn. He still does his job well when equipped properly and if you enjoy using him over Dunban, then do it. But if you try giving him other roles outside of typical Aggro drawing tank, he's going to struggle quite a bit more.

It's not that I fear using him or anything; I just don't see much of a point now. Granted, it's not like Shulk is the deepest character to use either, but he at least serves a really important purpose against Mechons and those that can Spike and/or Awake.

About the only thing I can really think of is having him on reserve for enemies that use more Ether attacks than Dunban's health can really support, so I guess there's that.
 

Roto13

Member
Stupid Violent Andante. Spawn, damn you!

What's the best way to get rare enemies to spawn? Teleport within the area? Teleport to another area and back? Save and load? Set the clock? Jump off a cliff?
 

EvilMario

Will QA for food.
Stupid Violent Andante. Spawn, damn you!

What's the best way to get rare enemies to spawn? Teleport within the area? Teleport to another area and back? Save and load? Set the clock?

Save and load is the tried and true method, although people claim the clock works just as well.
 

Roto13

Member
Should I save every time or can I just save once and load it forever? :p

Because this thing is not appearing. I'm assuming it shows up right in the middle area of the sky stage.

EDIT: Oh, "rampaging between Viliera Hill and Sky Stage." Should have read that more closely.
 

Ridley327

Member
Should I save every time or can I just save once and load it forever? :p

Because this thing is not appearing. I'm assuming it shows up right in the middle area of the sky stage.

You only need to save once. Just load it until you see the telltale green brackets pop up.
 

SteeloDMZ

Banned
I've been side-questing for like 5 hours now. Xenoblade is like my dream game in terms of exploration. Absolutely massive world with tons of places to discover and new enemies to find.

I just finished the Giant's Treasure side-quest and it was awesome.
 
I've been side-questing for like 5 hours now. Xenoblade is like my dream game in terms of exploration. Absolutely massive world with tons of places to discover and new enemies to find.

I just finished the Giant's Treasure side-quest and it was awesome.

Yeah, I spent much of the afternoon today just running around and exploring while doing some side quests. It's just so easy to spend hours just exploring massive areas, doing sidequests, and the like.

I would probably be loving this game even if the story was non-existent. Yet, the story and characters are also really keeping me engaged. What a game.
 

Ridley327

Member
I've been side-questing for like 5 hours now. Xenoblade is like my dream game in terms of exploration. Absolutely massive world with tons of places to discover and new enemies to find.

I just finished the Giant's Treasure side-quest and it was awesome.

For me, that one was improved a great deal since I didn't discover the first area you're supposed to head to on the Leg. The surprise was greatly appreciated, that's for sure.

And it gets even better in the follow-up quest.
 

Roto13

Member
Found it. I was looking in the wrong spot. Apparently it's somewhat south of the hill even though the sky stage is north of it. :p
 

SteeloDMZ

Banned
For me, that one was improved a great deal since I didn't discover the first area you're supposed to head to on the Leg. The surprise was greatly appreciated, that's for sure.

And it gets even better in the follow-up quest.

Yeah, me too. And it felt awesome just exploring the world and finding that location.
 
GAF, I've reached another roadblock.

I'm in the snowy place and I have to get a magma thingy from a cave. So I go to where the magma thingy is, but there are TWO unique monsters waiting to eat me, and one of them is one of those stupid fire elemental ghost things with the Selfdestruct attack. Moonlight what's-his-name. I've been trying to take him out separately first so he won't interrupt me when I try to take out the more important guy. But, I keep dying. I'm at level 47 using Shulk-Dunban-Sharla to try and take him out - Dunban can dodge, Shulk can use the shield to block his art, and we absolutely need a healer for this fight. But nothing works.

How on earth should I take this guy out? I can't even topple him with a chain attack. Should I change my party? Are there any specific arts I should use? Do I just grind out some levels? Attack the other guy and hope he ignores me? Bleh.

Alright I seem to have figured out this problem, for future reference. Basically, just stay as far away from Mr. Moonshine as possible and hope he doesn't smell your ether. Get as close as possible to the dragon guy, making sure your teammates have enough sense to stay out of the lava. If they don't, call them back a bit.

Once you've engaged him, basically just pummel him as quickly as possible so you can retreat before the other elementals do you in and the man in the moon takes an interest. You get the magma stone immediately after it dies, so there's no need to stick around and open a treasure chest. I did this at level 48 with Shulk-Dunban-Sharla.
 

burgerdog

Member
I think I'm about to get 7th. I seriously wasn't expecting to take 5-6 hours RUSHING the mountain, sword valley, and the fortress. This game :D As soon as 7th is in my party and get the ability to quick travel I'm going back to finish all side quests. That means I probably won't do any main story stuff for a week. :lol
 

RagnarokX

Member
I think I'm about to get 7th. I seriously wasn't expecting to take 5-6 hours RUSHING the mountain, sword valley, and the fortress. This game :D As soon as 7th is in my party and get the ability to quick travel I'm going back to finish all side quests. That means I probably won't do any main story stuff for a week. :lol
You do know you could quick travel this whole time, right? Unless you mean once you are allowed to after the 7th party member.
 

ZenaxPure

Member
Alright I seem to have figured out this problem, for future reference. Basically, just stay as far away from Mr. Moonshine as possible and hope he doesn't smell your ether. Get as close as possible to the dragon guy, making sure your teammates have enough sense to stay out of the lava. If they don't, call them back a bit.

Once you've engaged him, basically just pummel him as quickly as possible so you can retreat before the other elementals do you in and the man in the moon takes an interest. You get the magma stone immediately after it dies, so there's no need to stick around and open a treasure chest. I did this at level 48 with Shulk-Dunban-Sharla.

Hmm didn't notice your first post or I'd offered some advice, specifically have you been using the lure function? In that specific scenario I cleared out the room before the 2 unique mobs and then just used lure to pull the guy who dropped the magma stone into the previous hallway and fought him there.

Lure is pretty much key for a lot of the higher populated areas imo.
 

Antagon

Member
Alright I seem to have figured out this problem, for future reference. Basically, just stay as far away from Mr. Moonshine as possible and hope he doesn't smell your ether. Get as close as possible to the dragon guy, making sure your teammates have enough sense to stay out of the lava. If they don't, call them back a bit.

Once you've engaged him, basically just pummel him as quickly as possible so you can retreat before the other elementals do you in and the man in the moon takes an interest. You get the magma stone immediately after it dies, so there's no need to stick around and open a treasure chest. I did this at level 48 with Shulk-Dunban-Sharla.

I killed that unique elemental at lvl 47. He's a bitch, but definitely doable.
Did it with Melia/Shulk/Riki. Melia has the best ether attacks and Riki has some ether DOTs. Physical damage is almost useless against this guy, his defence is way too high. The tanks son't really help either, as they don't do enough damage to keep agro off of Melia. He drops an advanced skillbook btw, so killing him is worth it.
 

Exeunt

Member
I bought Xenoblade Chronicles on release day (in Canada mind you, so the 5th) but thanks to exam time I didn't really find time to to play it until today. So far I've I put about 7 hours into the game—5 of which were probably spent on subquests—and I thought I would share my thoughts as a first-time player in this thread. I've only made it to the first "major" element of the plot right after
the party sets out on an adventure following the Mechon attack
so far so there is much to see and do.

I've been playing with the Classic Controller Pro for the camera control and lack of pointer support for the Wii Remote (that's what the manual led me to believe anyway). I haven't had any problems with the setup as far as selecting attacks goes, so I think I'll stick with it. I wasn't a huge fan of the combat system when it was first introduced, but it has definitely grown on me; whenever the party consists of at least two characters it's really fun to maneuver the lead around for the best positioning.

I would also like to praise the idea of having monsters on the map—the execution is absolutely brilliant. Seeing a big enemy or targeting a monster only to discover it is sixty levels above you creates a great sense of tension and adventure, and the monsters that are provoked by sight or sound are fun to get the jump on or sneak by. I noticed a lot of similar monsters but I'm hoping that's just because I only made it to the first two areas so far; I have faith that the enemies will continue to be interesting as I progress. In a similar vein, I have high hopes for the "stronger monsters come out at night" concept—it would be great if the night creatures are even more menacing in later areas.

As for other impressions, the graphics are—in my opinion—really good aside from some muddy textures and it probably helps that the ennvironments I have seen so far (not many) have been pretty compelling. I was a little disappointed to find that I couldn't open any doors, but that later turned to relief when I realized the scope of the first area. The game seems quite "epic" so far and I like how it's really easy to do things at my own pace. The overworld seems large without being sparse or too daunting, and I hope that continues to be the case in the rest of the title.

The voice acting is also quite enjoyable—reusing NOE's dub may have been a wise move financially but I think it works well for the game too. I haven't seen much of the story so far, but I have to say I did not expect (major early spoilers)
Fiora to die—I completely believed that she would be a consistent member of the party and that the bloody Mechon claws in Shulk's vision would be the result of her brother's death. Quite effective.
I still do think I will see some more predictable fare such as
Shulk's connection to the Monado and the traitor from the introduction in a major role
but I would love to be surprised by the rest of the plot. At the very least, (major early spoilers again)
I actually believe that any of the party members can die
.

Anyway, those are my collected thoughts so far. I am very optimistic about this title and I can't wait to see what's to come.
 
Is there a trick to getting collectables to reappear? I'm trying to get 9 Gold Caterpillars for a quest, and the collectables in Tephra cave stopped appearing.

I've tried moving the clock ahead, and transporting to a completely different area and back, but neither seem to be working. Hmm...

EDIT: Nevermind, I just had to move the clock up more than 24 hours, not just 12. Carry on.
 
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