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[chaosblade]

For those characters:

Spoiler

Dunban has a couple auras which are pretty much staple arts. One removes debuffs and adds haste, very, very useful. The other is an agility aura ("evasion+accuracy").

Beyond that you can sort of do what you want. Steel strike for toppling can come in handy, and you'll probably want at least 3 red arts for chains. Gale Slash is a good choice for bleed damage, Worldy Slash is pretty strong, and Soaring Tempest is good for multiple powerful hits late in a chain attack, plus it fills the talent gauge to possibly set up for Blossom Dance. Jaws of Death can get you out of a lot of ugly situations.

Just don't use Heat Haze!

For the other character, Fiora also has a debuff removal art in healing energy, but it's even better since it adds regen too. But the real star of her arts is speed shift for obvious reasons. Apart from those, Double Wind is good since it's AoE, and raises tension. Her other red art that deals more damage to topple enemies is useful too, with Final Cross (instant AoE topple) and Cross Impact (daze) to go along with those. I used Power Drain on this playthrough and found that pretty useful since she primarily deals physical damage.

 

[AniHawk]

i knew my wii was chugging along at this point. you could hear the fan struggling, but now the fan simply stopped working at all. and worst part is i'm at the point of no return in xenoblade. so i won't be able to see the conclusion until this gets resolved.

edit: ah! there it goes.

 

[arglebargle]

just chiming in to say i am really enjoying this game. for a variety of reasons i didnt get a chance to start it until about 10 days ago, but since then i have played close to 35 hours. that is a ton for me. this is a rare moment in my life when i dont have much in the way of responsibilities (classes ended, work hasnt started, fiance is traveling for work) so i took advantage of it. i am

Spoiler

in alcomoth, finished the temple of trials. i am supposed to go see melia, but i assume once i do the mechon arrive. therefore i have decided to do some questing rather than make progress in the plot

. i feel like there are so many mechanics i am just now getting comfortable with many things.

 

[chaosblade]

You still have a very long time before those timed quests end, so don't think you need to do them all now.

 

[dancrane212]

So I just finished

Spoiler

defending Colony 6 from the Telethia

so I guess I'm almost done right? Everything

Spoiler

on Mechonis

kinda soured me on the game, nothing but

Spoiler

killing Mechon and going through very boring looking environments for a couple of hours

.

Though the story is starting to get rolling again, here's hoping it ends well.

 

[Zerokku]

So how far am I? I'm not enjoying the game as much as I thought I would, so I'm at the point where I'm simply following the arrow (and killing plenty of monsters to make sure I'm at the appropriate level) and ignoring side-quests completely.

I just got

Spoiler

The heropon dude as a party member. I guess it wouldn't be a modern JRPG if I didn't have some annoying cutesy character as a party member

I'm assuming I'm only about 1/4 or 1/3 of the way through the game tops, but yah.

While its a fun game, the hype feels completely undeserved. Seems to be a relatively average JRPG with a good combat system to me so far.

 

[Bisnic]

So how far am I? I'm not enjoying the game as much as I thought I would, so I'm at the point where I'm simply following the arrow (and killing plenty of monsters to make sure I'm at the appropriate level) and ignoring side-quests completely.

I just got

Spoiler

The heropon dude as a party member. I guess it wouldn't be a modern JRPG if I didn't have some annoying cutesy character as a party member

I'm assuming I'm only about 1/4 or 1/3 of the way through the game tops, but yah.

While its a fun game, the hype feels completely undeserved. Seems to be a relatively average JRPG with a good combat system to me so far.

The story takes a while to get good. But you're getting close to that point. There is Eryth Sea after Frontier Village(where you got Riki) and the story gets more interesting once you reach the city over there and everything that will follow. Part of the hype is also the beautiful zones and scenery, so hopefully you like that too.

 

[arglebargle]

I just got

Spoiler

The heropon dude as a party member. I guess it wouldn't be a modern JRPG if I didn't have some annoying cutesy character as a party member

.

i dont know where the puts you since i am only a few hours ahead of you, but i agree that character is annoying. not as bad as marumaru from blue dragon, but still pretty terrible. i wish jrpg devs would stop it with that.

 

[Seanspeed]

I'm six hours in and the game's music keeps playing even when I turn the Wii off.

Awesome!

I got the last playable character and the

Spoiler

noise Fiora makes when she jumps

is hilarious.

 

[burgerdog]

Awesome!

I got the last playable character and the

Spoiler

noise Fiora makes when she jumps

is hilarious.

Haha, I hated jumping as it but I simply could not stop because it was so ridiculously bad.

 

[Bisnic]

I can't be the only one who can't wait to see NPD today and see if Xenoblade will really end up #3? I have big doubts about it, but if it actually do, either the game sales were really low in April, or Xenoblade was a bigger success than we all(Nintendo included) anticipated.

 

[chaosblade]

I'd like it to do really well, but I'm not really all that confident.

And I got the

Spoiler

High Entia Emblem

at level 78. Fighting level 86/87 monsters at that level is kind of annoying, if only because it's so time consuming. Bind-spike didn't help.

 

[ZenaxPure]

Man, haters gonna hate, the sound

Spoiler

7th makes during jumping is the best! Makes me giggle every time

I can't be the only one who can't wait to see NPD today and see if Xenoblade will really end up #3? I have big doubts about it, but if it actually do, either the game sales were really low in April, or Xenoblade was a bigger success than we all(Nintendo included) anticipated.

Who really knows but it wouldn't surprise me if it happened, mainly for the former reason. Nothing really came out in April at retail did it? I know Xenoblade is the only thing I can think of off the top of my head I was interested in.

 

[whalleywhat]

Is Melia worthwhile if you aren't directly controlling her? I've switched to tanking with Dunban (he doesn't hold Aggro well but Shulk's agility is pretty high too) but haven't had any luck integrating Melia. I do much better with Riki, and if I get stuck on a fight with him, switching to Sharla makes it easy. Honestly, I might've just stayed Shulk/Reyn/Sharla if I didn't want to build different affinities. ~Level 40.

 

[Seanspeed]

I still haven't figured out how to NOT use Sharla. I rely on her healing quite a bit.

 

[Croc]

Is Melia worthwhile if you aren't directly controlling her? I've switched to tanking with Dunban (he doesn't hold Aggro well but Shulk's agility is pretty high too) but haven't had any luck integrating Melia. I do much better with Riki, and if I get stuck on a fight with him, switching to Sharla makes it easy. Honestly, I might've just stayed Shulk/Reyn/Sharla if I didn't want to build different affinities. ~Level 40.

I've never actually used her while NOT controlling her but the general consensus seems to be that no, she's not worth it. Apparently her AI does not use her powers very well and it's just a mess.

 

[ZenaxPure]

I still haven't figured out how to NOT use Sharla. I rely on her healing quite a bit.

To put it simply: Dunban takes little damage, so little that Shulk's heal is usually enough to keep him alive. That combined with another character who will probably do more damage than Sharla means less healing needs to go out because you finish fights faster.

That's the simple logic behind it anyway.

I don't know if Reyn can function without Sharla, but the whole "not using Sharla" thing is generally because Dunban is tanking.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

I actually read the OP for the first time last night. These are much overdue, but I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who got together to make this thread possible.

And I was really glad after reading Zornica's Melia overview that I have been mostly doing it right. And Man God's gem overview was very enlightening.

Honestly, I might've just stayed Shulk/Reyn/Sharla if I didn't want to build different affinities. ~Level 40.

Heh, I used that combination for a while and I thought it was the best, but I was way wrong. If you beef up Dunban's agility with gems he is such a beast. I haven't used Reyn since my post about defeating Breezy Zolos, which was where I discovered how good Dunban's tanking ability is. Reyn needs a healer like Sharla, which is a waste of a good DPS spot in your party IMO. With boosted agility (and perhaps some HP and Aggro Up gems), Dunban can easily get by with Riki or Shulk's heals.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

Is Melia worthwhile if you aren't directly controlling her? I've switched to tanking with Dunban (he doesn't hold Aggro well but Shulk's agility is pretty high too) but haven't had any luck integrating Melia.

The AI tends to like having 3 elements on standby at all times (for buff purposes I guess) rather than what players do which is have 1 or two. As a result less discharging happens than under player control so less damage is done. Also the AI very rarely uses spear break+starlight knee (AI Dunban is similar in not exploiting its topple combo much). With a maxed Summon Bolt and Wind she still pulls her weight. I wouldn't go as extreme of only bothering with her if shes in your control.

To help Dunban with Aggro his Peerless aura is good for that (with the aura time up skill and its best to alternate between peerless and his haste aura). There is also a skill that makes auto attacks give more Aggro.

All the AIs have their flaws. I don't think I've ever seen AI Reyn use Magnum Charge (or at least do it the way I want which Berserker+Magnum Charge+Sword Drive which really punts a dent in things...) and AI Riki isn't great when only single targets (will only use Lurgy or Bunimate if no other arts available; heck some people have had him with only those arts for him to do nothing), AI Shulk likes Monado buster more than is healthy (quite literately if you leave Battle Soul on).

 

[whalleywhat]

To help Dunban with Aggro his Peerless aura is good for that (with the aura time up skill and its best to alternate between peerless and his haste aura). There is also a skill that makes auto attacks give more Aggro.

I just got that. I think I just need a sword with more slots so I can put another Aggro Up gem on him.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

I just got that. I think I just need a sword with more slots so I can put another Aggro Up gem on him.

Dunban weapons seem to have the lowest drop rate for me. Which sucks because that means I get stuck with a weapon for a long time. Thankfully I got one not too long ago, and it has 3 slots so it's all gravy.

The extra slot also let me give Dunban another Aggro Up gem (he now has +30%), which in turn let me take off Shulk's aggro-decreasing gems in favor of Double Attack gems. I got him to 50% double attack and he's a fucking monster at the moment; those double attacks are really awesome because he gets to use his Monado Arts so much faster now.

 

[Croc]

Speaking of Dunban and gems, what's the word on Dunban with no gems/armor and with those skills that give him stat boosts versus regularly equipped Dunban?

 

[Jive Turkey]

Dunban weapons seem to have the lowest drop rate for me. Which sucks because that means I get stuck with a weapon for a long time. Thankfully I got one not too long ago, and it has 3 slots so it's all gravy.

Huh. I wound up with 15 Darkness Sickles and Forma Spears (each) at one point.

 

[OMG Aero]

I wish you could buy maps in this game.
I just spent over an hour swimming around Eryth Sea to complete the map because I am a crazy person.

 

[Bisnic]

I wish you could buy maps in this game.
I just spent over an hour swimming around Eryth Sea to complete the map because I am a crazy person.

I learned that once you find all zones with a name on a map, that every corners will uncover. I checked the Eryth Sea on Wikia to find the spots with lands, and once i discovered the last one, the whole sea showed up on my map.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Speaking of Dunban and gems, what's the word on Dunban with no gems/armor and with those skills that give him stat boosts versus regularly equipped Dunban?

Someone posted earlier saying that it's basically a gimmick. I wouldn't trade all those gem slots for anything.

I learned that once you find all zones with a name on a map, that every corners will uncover. I checked the Eryth Sea on Wikia to find the spots with lands, and once i discovered the last one, the whole sea showed up on my map.

Wow... that's gonna save me some time. I also like to complete my maps so I've spent a lot of time just roaming around.

 

[Esura]

I'm so tired of doing quests. I made it to

Spoiler

Alcacoth

and I'm about to go to the

Spoiler

High Entia Tomb

I guess at lv. 39 and I have like what feels like 500 quests for this area. The story is starting to get more interesting and I want to progress with that instead of doing these side quests or rebuilding the Colony or whatever. Do skipping quests affect anything other than getting money?

 

[chaosblade]

The main reward you miss out on is the two optional skill trees for each character. The 4th ones are available about halfway through the game at the earliest and the 5th ones are post game.

There are also some gems and other minor rewards that you either can't get elsewhere or can't get until the post game content.

 

[Esura]

The main reward you miss out on is the two optional skill trees for each character.

There are also some gems and other minor rewards that you either can't get elsewhere or can't get until the post game content.

Do you need that to stand a chance against the final boss?

 

[chaosblade]

Not really. Definitely need them for post game stuff and optional bosses though.

 

[Seanspeed]

To put it simply: Dunban takes little damage, so little that Shulk's heal is usually enough to keep him alive. That combined with another character who will probably do more damage than Sharla means less healing needs to go out because you finish fights faster.

That's the simple logic behind it anyway.

I don't know if Reyn can function without Sharla, but the whole "not using Sharla" thing is generally because Dunban is tanking.

So if I dont have Sharla in my party, it means I have to have Dunban....

Again, it ruins the prospect of mixing up my party more often to affinity grind a bit. Like the previous poster said, I get on just fine with a Shulk/Reyn/Sharla combination like I started out with early on, but it gets boring doing that constantly and it benefits me a lot to use other characters to gring up affinity levels.

 

[Croc]

I was visually cross-checking my affinity chart to see how many people in Alcamoth I'm missing and it turns out it's only one. Too bad that I can't actually tell who the person is, just where there location is on the affinity chart ugggh

 

[chaosblade]

So if I dont have Sharla in my party, it means I have to have Dunban....

Again, it ruins the prospect of mixing up my party more often to affinity grind a bit. Like the previous poster said, I get on just fine with a Shulk/Reyn/Sharla combination like I started out with early on, but it gets boring doing that constantly and it benefits me a lot to use other characters to gring up affinity levels.

Any party will work, some just less effectively than others. I used Reyn a lot on my second playthrough and have used Sharla as little as possible.

 

[ErasureAcer]

I was visually cross-checking my affinity chart to see how many people in Alcamoth I'm missing and it turns out it's only one. Too bad that I can't actually tell who the person is, just where there location is on the affinity chart ugggh

Last person I found in Alcamoth was a lady during the day time on the right hand side of the second floor. Pretty creepy if that's who you're missing.

 

[DragonGirl]

So if I dont have Sharla in my party, it means I have to have Dunban....

Again, it ruins the prospect of mixing up my party more often to affinity grind a bit. Like the previous poster said, I get on just fine with a Shulk/Reyn/Sharla combination like I started out with early on, but it gets boring doing that constantly and it benefits me a lot to use other characters to gring up affinity levels.

Don't worry about it. I used every party combination imaginable and tore through enemies with enough success that I rarely bothered with optimizing my party, and I was only occasionally over leveled.

 

[ZenaxPure]

Any party will work, some just less effectively than others. I used Reyn a lot on my second playthrough and have used Sharla as little as possible.

Pretty much, like I said I don't actually know if Reyn can function without Sharla (because I never tried it). But for 60% or so of the story I was constantly mixing up my party, it made the game a lot more enjoyable and spread affinity around a lot.

By the end of the game my Shulk was max affinity with everyone but Melia, and the other characters were maxed with at least half of the others (aside from again, Melia), while barely touching any sidequests. I'd suggest just experimenting with what you want and seeing what happens.

 

[chaosblade]

Pretty much, like I said I don't actually know if Reyn can function without Sharla (because I never tried it). But for 60% or so of the story I was constantly mixing up my party, it made the game a lot more enjoyable and spread affinity around a lot.

By the end of the game my Shulk was max affinity with everyone but Melia, and the other characters were maxed with at least half of the others (aside from again, Melia), while barely touching any sidequests. I'd suggest just experimenting with what you want and seeing what happens.

Yeah, you never know how a party will work until you try it. I didn't think Shulk, Reyn, Dunban would be nearly as good as they were. A great combo for topple and daze.

 

[PigSpeakers]

This game finally got interesting. I feel like I just finished disc 1.

Spoiler

Beat the Prison Island section and the whole mess with fiora in the mechon suit happened, which I sort of guessed it was her, but I was still pretty intrigued when all of the events happened. Now I'm actually interested in the story, whereas before it was just sort of an entertaining revenge plot. It still kind of is, but it adds a bit more "why" questions in there.

 

[OMG Aero]

I learned that once you find all zones with a name on a map, that every corners will uncover. I checked the Eryth Sea on Wikia to find the spots with lands, and once i discovered the last one, the whole sea showed up on my map.

oh god damn it

 

[chaosblade]

I guess I've decided to try something completely insane, if anybody is curious if it's possible (I kind of am). I'm thinking about shooting for the highest enemy in the game. At level 90. That would give me a

Spoiler

30

level disadvantage. Wonder how significant the 9 level difference would be for that enemy. Will definitely need to spec up with some night vision and stuff (having to grind Ancient Daedala and Dienos Sauros at that level will be interesting too).

And I guess this thread had a good run before it hit the community graveyard. Better than Wipeout at least, that thread was moved two weeks after the "full" Vita launch!

Edit: A quick search and the lowest level I've seen is 96/97 for that enemy. Interesting

Edit2: Found a video where someone did it gimped at level 88. So I'm considering going for 85 now!

 

[SecretMoblin]

Yikes, 85.

That battle could take forever.

 

[chaosblade]

I'm still in the high 70s since I haven't done much other than some quests since beating the game. Theoretically I could try at 80, but farming the gems I'll need will take forever.

Nothing really to lose except time, and honestly it's fun. Most of the enjoyment I've gotten out of the end-game stuff on my second playthrough is killing stuff while underleveled, especially since unlike the "superbosses" the normal enemies/uniques aren't intended to be killed at such level differences. There's a thrill to that you can't really get when you're in that 5 level "safe zone."

 

[Head of Vengarl]

I definitely have to take back what I said earlier about Shulk's AI being terrible. Sure he sometimes uses backslash from the front, and he tends to overuse Monado Buster, but other than that he fights pretty intelligently. I was playing as Sharla last night when I fought that unique monster you have to beat to get the (Valak Mountain item)

Spoiler

Magma Rock

, and when I drew aggro Shulk immediately put

Spoiler

Speed

on me. I was very impressed with the reaction time. Plus, him and Dunban have been good at using Break+Topple+Daze on enemies.

I've been using Sharla to build affinity (gotta get that agility skill link for Dunban) and because I'm overleveled, but I didn't expect to enjoy it so much. My team is basically invincible while I control her; I only leveled up her healing/support arts so even her weakest heal restores like half of Dunban's HP. Throw in her shield and debuff removal arts on top of that and shit just gets unfair.

Btw, Valak Mountain is the first area of the game that I didn't enjoy. I generally don't really like snow/ice areas in games and this was no different. It's just white and rather bland (especially for Xenoblade standards). I just rushed through it after minimal exploration. Was the (boss spoiler)

Spoiler

Mumkar

fight supposed to be

Spoiler

ridiculously easy

?

Spoiler

Dunban and Shulk just kicked his ass while I sat back and did minimal healing/buffing with Sharla

. Good cutscenes though. Dunban is such a boss.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

Btw, Valak Mountain is the first area of the game that I didn't enjoy. I generally don't really like snow/ice areas in games and this was no different. It's just white and rather bland (especially for Xenoblade standards). I just rushed through it after minimal exploration. Was the (boss spoiler)

Spoiler

Mumkar

fight supposed to be

Spoiler

ridiculously easy

?

Spoiler

Dunban and Shulk just kicked his ass while I sat back and did minimal healing/buffing with Sharla

. Good cutscenes though. Dunban is such a boss.

The thing I don't like about the area is how little quick travel points it seems there are. Plus the whole falling to your death then being put to a checkpoint miles away.

The boss fight was the name was in yellow for me and it was close and

Spoiler

if the battle had gone on 2 seconds longer I'd have gotten wiped out. It didn't help AI Shulk kind of forgot to use enchant (or lacked the gauge possibly) for a bit

So random question time which will probably be like the Haste+Haste Auras stacking question but anyhow:
Weapon power gems. Do they allow me to exceed caps. Say I've got double attack at 50% then weapon power of 30%. Will it make Double Attack 80% or is it suck at 50%?

 

[HeresSomeWeapons]

AH! I think my save file is corrupted. Somebody...please help!

So whenever I try to load my save file the game hangs at the loading screen then goes black and says "Reading disc..." After that, the game reboots and gives me the "Please don't whack anybody in the face with the Wiimote" screen.

One interesting thing of note is that on the File Select screen where it normally shows a thumbnail, Lv XX and your party leader's name, on my save file the letters "Lv" are shifted to the right and are directly on top of the numbers. I mean directly on top of. This was my first indication that something was wrong.

Has anybody had this happen to them? Is there a fix? Fuck, I hope I'm not boned...I've already put 24 hours into the game. For reference I just got to Alcamoth.

EDIT: Nevermind. I rebooted my Wii and tried at least 5 times before posting this to no avail. I randomly decided to try again while waiting for someone to reply, and it works now. I created a second save file now to be safe, which I guess I should have done in the first place. Anyway...bizarre.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Damn that sucks HeresSomeWeapons. That's why I use 2 save files.

The thing I don't like about the area is how little quick travel points it seems there are. Plus the whole falling to your death then being put to a checkpoint miles away.

The boss fight was the name was in yellow for me and it was close and

Spoiler

if the battle had gone on 2 seconds longer I'd have gotten wiped out. It didn't help AI Shulk kind of forgot to use enchant (or lacked the gauge possibly) for a bit

Why would Shulk need to Enchant for that fight? I don't think you needed to against him IIRC. Anyway I was like 2 levels above him so that helped.

I finally got Sharla and Dunban to affinity level 3 so he can use her agility skill now. Now I'm using Riki.

 

[Ultratech]

So random question time which will probably be like the Haste+Haste Auras stacking question but anyhow:
Weapon power gems. Do they allow me to exceed caps. Say I've got double attack at 50% then weapon power of 30%. Will it make Double Attack 80% or is it suck at 50%?

Pretty sure Weapon Power only applies to Weapon activation Gems (i.e. it'd increase the chance of Paralysis 0on a weapon if it had a Paralysis Gem attached for example. Or Slow or Bind.).

Edit: Looked it up. Only applies to Weapon Debuff Gems. However, you could stack skills to increase the cap (50% from gems +X% from skills).

 

[StAidan]

Wow, just finished up with Prison Island. The story is really picking up the pace. It's taking a lot of willpower not to just rush through the rest of this thing to find out what happens next

 

[The Awesomest]

Doing Alcamoth quests before they expire. Currently on Preparing for Adventure 3. Where in the crap is this Lakebed Orthlus guy. Anyone?

 

[AlphaDragoon]

So I guess when you get to the end of the game (or put a certain set of skills on) Melia's AI stops being a complete retard and actually does things. I was so happy, I can finally have her in my group without having to play as her all the time.