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Xenoblade |OT| Sorry I Kept You Waiting!

Zee-Row

Banned
I find this game very hard to stay interested in , the combat and exploration just doesn't do it for me. I wanna just finish it for the story , i'm at the part where
Emperor Sorean is about to call my team for an audience
How much more story time do I have left in the game and whats the average level that you can beat the final boss with?
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
You're probably about 40% of the way through, give or take. The story is about to pick up a lot too.

Most people seem to beat the final boss around
79
.
 
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 :)

Haha I felt the same way. I really picked up the pace after Prison Island. I'm a couple zones past you but I have been charging ahead and doing a lot less exploring/ether mining.
 

Exeunt

Member
106 hours in with my party at level 71; I just witnessed
the destruction of Agniritha and the awakening of the Mechonis
. The game is starting to get more challenging at this point and I'm not really finding more quests to do outside of the
Colony 6 reconstruction
. The fights with
Gadolt and then Egil
felt much meatier than past confrontations and I'm guessing the difficulty level will stay higher from now on since the game's become more linear. The story has gotten
a little heavy-handed with its "Shulk will always do the right thing" and the conflict of ideals between Egil and the party (moreso than the first half) but the further developed lore of the Mechonis and the Bionis is pretty interesting. And at least they explained how they all survived the fall as well! Alvis seems like he could actually be on our side in the end but Dickson is seeming a little off... Probably not a Mumkhar-level betrayal but I'm guessing we might confront him at some point.
I think all the obvious revelations have been dealt with at this point so I'm interested to see where it goes from here (aside from the
core of the Mechonis
of course).

Quick question story-wise concerning something that happened a while ago in
Alcamoth
since this last cutscene reminded me of it. Was there ever a resolution to the plot with
the first consort/whoever Melia's "mother" was
? I am pretty sure that
the Order of the Bionis
is still outstanding and will likely come back but was
that specific character dealt with
? I don't remember that plot point receiving closure so I'm guessing it will reappear before the end of the game.

I've received a couple more Arts books during my adventures and I was complaining last time about only finding useless ones; fittingly enough, in the meantime I found two Arts books from one unique monster, one of them being
You Can Do It! Which has definitely come in handy
. And even better, I randomly found a drop for
Final Cross
before I even reached the point where you obtain the Art! I heard it's pretty broken and it certainly looks to be so based on the description, so I consider that drop really fortunate even though I'm not sure just how rare it is. I actually think I've received a couple from gold chests dropped by normal monsters, but I could just be getting my treasure chests mixed up. The prospect of collecting so many Arts books between now and the end of the game is a little daunting, so I hope the drop rates for most of the usable Arts aren't too horrific.
 

johnsmith

remember me
Ugh, getting sick of this game. I'm about the same spot as Exeunt, level 71, 60ish hours. Got my ass kicked by a level 75 boss, and its obvious i need to level. But the xp gains are so slow and the normal enemies take so long to beat because they all seem to have massive amounts of defense. Currently
inside the bionis
the 2nd time. Is there something I'm not getting?
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Ugh, getting sick of this game. I'm about the same spot as Exeunt, level 71, 60ish hours. Got my ass kicked by a level 75 boss, and its obvious i need to level. But the xp gains are so slow and the normal enemies take so long to beat because they all seem to have massive amounts of defense. Currently
inside the bionis
the 2nd time. Is there something I'm not getting?

Use ether damage for that fight. Or other tactics, I beat it with Shulk, Dunban, 7th and it was a joke at 71, but I've been basically been breaking the game, so...
 

Balphon

Member
Ugh, getting sick of this game. I'm about the same spot as Exeunt, level 71, 60ish hours. Got my ass kicked by a level 75 boss, and its obvious i need to level. But the xp gains are so slow and the normal enemies take so long to beat because they all seem to have massive amounts of defense. Currently
inside the bionis
the 2nd time. Is there something I'm not getting?

Late in the game I found that a party of Reyn, Sharla and Riki could kill pretty much anything in a battle of attrition. Just load Sharla up on healing abilities plus Drive Boost and give Riki his four DoTs, his heal, and Riki is Angry! for when he takes hate. I took out a few unique monsters 15+ levels higher than me with that setup, so you might want to give it a shot if all you want is to push your way through.
 
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).
Oh well. On the plus side it frees up a gem slot I could put strength up into or just use a strong weapon with 2 slots (whichever comes off better).
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Oh well. On the plus side it frees up a gem slot I could put strength up into or just use a strong weapon with 2 slots (whichever comes off better).

It's understandable why it wouldn't work that way, I kind of hoped it did. 100% haste + double attack? I'm not sure if anything in the game could be more broken! :D
 
Ugh, getting sick of this game. I'm about the same spot as Exeunt, level 71, 60ish hours. Got my ass kicked by a level 75 boss, and its obvious i need to level. But the xp gains are so slow and the normal enemies take so long to beat because they all seem to have massive amounts of defense. Currently
inside the bionis
the 2nd time. Is there something I'm not getting?

I was in the exact same situation. I was lvl. 69 at that boss (currently 73 but I haven't gone back yet).

I leveled up pretty quickly by going to the
Bionis' Leg. The ape monsters by the north side of the bridge are easy single out and offer a decent amount of XP.
 

zashga

Member
Finally finished the game this afternoon. It's a really great experience overall; probably my favorite console RPG in the past decade. I clocked in at around 65 hours and didn't even come close to "completion." I only had one region (
Hidden Village
) at 5 stars and had Colony 6 at ~60%. It's amazing how much content is jammed into this game. It's all on one disc, too!

Ugh, getting sick of this game. I'm about the same spot as Exeunt, level 71, 60ish hours. Got my ass kicked by a level 75 boss, and its obvious i need to level. But the xp gains are so slow and the normal enemies take so long to beat because they all seem to have massive amounts of defense. Currently
inside the bionis
the 2nd time. Is there something I'm not getting?

If you're talking about
Disciple Lorithia
, that's sort of a gimmicky boss battle. You don't need to grind levels, but you probably do need to use a specific party composition. I was getting pretty frustrated myself until I got some advice.
The winning combination is Riki (main), Sharla, and basically anyone else. Every time the wisps spawn, hit them with Lurgy and Burninate and they'll all die in ~10 seconds. With them out of the way, the fight is very easy. Also, you may need to occasionally hit Z+down arrow (I think) to get your idiot teammates out of the acid pools.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Killed a Deinos Sauros at level 79. Was kind of a mess, but I have the unfortunate problem of needing to kill these high level enemies in order to get the gems I need to... kill the high level enemies.

Problem is mainly the inability to use a steady tank. Dunban did a decent job getting attacks off and even dodging the enemy, but he couldn't maintain aggro over Melia or Riki. Riki could at least survive some attacks, but Melia gets torn to shreds. And Shulk is pretty much required for some Monado arts.
 

raven777

Member
I am at
sword valley, just beat the metal face. I am running out of crystal stocks so I am trying to craft some and get rid of some to get more space. Is level 1 crystals have any use? Like should I use it to craft and get affinity or something? or should I just sell level 1 crystals?
Also, what are some useless traits? I know agility is important. Other traits I use are like ether up for melia, and some strength up. But other than those, I haven't used any other gems.
 
Took out Blizzard Belgazas earlier today, felt good man.

Did it with Shulk/Melia/Dunban, didn't have to use any goofy special setups like Night Vision or any of that, I just went in with my typical gear and took it to him, was controlling Shulk directly for Monado Art usage without wasting meter. Shulk is pretty much required for those high level fights because without Monado Arts you're basically fucked.

I'm convinced at this point that Melia is the MVP in damage dealing, because she can hit like a truck but unlike the other DPS characters in this game, her attacks can't miss and she has DoTs.
 

Exeunt

Member
109 hours in now... and the game's story just got crazy. I'm at level 72 now and anyone who's been at this point in the game probably knows what part I'm referring to; for the record, I'm about to
venture into the Bionis' interior again
if I progress the story.
Poor Dunban needed to pick some better friends.
I kind of preferred the more intimate focus it had at the beginning, but at least
they keep the villains interesting with all the betrayals and motivations and whatnot. Dickson felt a little off for a long time but I didn't think he would turn so dramatically. "Shulk"/Zanza doesn't work too well for me as a villain but at least there will be his underlings to fight.
It seems I'm nearing the end of the main storyline now, but there's still a ton of stuff to do and I'm now getting some new quests in
Colony 6, which is only just over 50% rebuilt
. It would be really interesting if
the game ends on a bittersweet note with Fiora's death.
I don't see them
destroying the world
and I don't know if
they'll actually end with a death... the tone of the game is a little hard to guess at times
. I suppose I'll have to see what comes.
 
Killed a Deinos Sauros at level 79. Was kind of a mess, but I have the unfortunate problem of needing to kill these high level enemies in order to get the gems I need to... kill the high level enemies.

Problem is mainly the inability to use a steady tank. Dunban did a decent job getting attacks off and even dodging the enemy, but he couldn't maintain aggro over Melia or Riki. Riki could at least survive some attacks, but Melia gets torn to shreds. And Shulk is pretty much required for some Monado arts.

At least the one nice thing when your aggro is bouncing all over the place is that the enemies typically take like a second or so before they start attacking once switching targets, so you can wail on them while they're spinning around trying to decide who to hit. XD
 

nan0

Member
I am at
sword valley, just beat the metal face. I am running out of crystal stocks so I am trying to craft some and get rid of some to get more space. Is level 1 crystals have any use? Like should I use it to craft and get affinity or something? or should I just sell level 1 crystals?
Also, what are some useless traits? I know agility is important. Other traits I use are like ether up for melia, and some strength up. But other than those, I haven't used any other gems.

You can safely sell low-level crystals. None of them are rare as far as I know and can be easily farmed again. Higher level crystals give better boni anyway and they aren't really needed until mid-/lategame.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
At least the one nice thing when your aggro is bouncing all over the place is that the enemies typically take like a second or so before they start attacking once switching targets, so you can wail on them while they're spinning around trying to decide who to hit. XD

It's funny when you get trapped in a low tension cycle and most of your characters attacks are missing, the enemy will sometimes just stand there. It was like it was taunting me, going 15+ seconds without attacking or anything, because nobody except Dunban was able to hit him, and even he was missing around half the time.

Need to get these debuff resist gems though. Double attack VI would be nice too, but I can probably live without those.

The real question is: Night Vision gems? Beating Ancient Daedala at this level is going to be veeerrry interesting. If anything drops rank IV ones I might need to get those first, but I don't know if anything does or not.

Edit: I see you can trade for Night Vision V. I'd rather craft for max ones, but if that's not an option I guess I'll take what I can get.


Edit: Ahahaha, got those Night Vision V gems. 19 level difference? Nothing for Shulk, Dunban, 7th. Lame part is the battle still takes a while and I got a brown chest drop. :( I need gems!

2 in a row, this game hates me!
 
Meh, I used Shulk, 7th and Riki and found it extremely easy the entire time. I didn't do any quests so I was always under leveled too if anything.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
I guess level 79/80 is too low for this stuff. I've managed to kill a couple Bunnivs and Gogols in
the back part of Tephra cave
but the UMs are just too much. Pretty much 2-3 hit KO anybody even with normal attacks, except Reyn and Riki, but Reyn isn't too useful for this stuff unless I use Sharla. Which is still forbidden.

Maybe I should cut that restriction since I've already beaten the game on this playthrough? Or is that just giving up? :lol


Also finally got a second Art Core Coil. Colony 6 complete! Game is panning around showing the completed town... and Dolphin freezes. :(
 

Jhoan

Member
I've been breezing through the game. I got 7th and I'm in the
Mechon Factory making my way to the Capital.
The plot's getting pretty damn good. 7th is pretty kick ass I must say. I've been using Melia, Sharla, and 7th even though 7th's abilities are underdeveloped. Shulk, Dunban, and Riki is my go-to party for unique monster battles because of the rapid rate at which they build the party gauge at. Melia, Sharla, and 7th is pretty decent combination to take on uniques with especially if it's not a Mechon. I'm at level 63 with almost everyone.

I have all three skill Shulk skill trees maxed out as well as Reyn's but in order to get their other skill trees I need to do more side quests. I've been bored of using them as a result.

I haven't been doing too much side quests save for at
Frontier Village and Junk stuff.
At this point, I'm just trying to get the party affinities up. With Shulk, I have Riki and Reyn at max affinity, all the female characters are at level 3 affinity. Getting the party affinity with a character that's not Shulk is a pain in the ass. I love the gorgeous vistas that this game has.
 

Esura

Banned
Its nice to know that you can skip side quests without too much problems I guess.

Hardly doing any of the
Alcamoth
side quest stuff (intentionally that is) and I'm at level 41 going to
Prison Island
.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Alright, got two of the
Replica Monados, including Abyss which is probably the best one since Dogma is limited to 2 slots?
Shulk has a 40% critical rate plus 30% double attack, all double attacks critical, and all critical hits heal. Not bad.

It's pretty funny how even the little wisp enemies could totally screw my party with Ether Fireworks while trying to get one of the items I needed.

Time to play with the Deinos Sauros again I guess. Contemplating turning exp back on to get higher than 79/80. Because I think it's safe to say I'm not going to be killing Abaasy at this level, as much as I'd love to (can't even kill uniques in the upper 90s). He could probably 1HKO 5 of my 7 party members.
 
You probably know this but formulas (and what penalty means in real numbers) is shown here:
http://www35.atwiki.jp/xenoblade/pages/166.html
For anyone who wants to read if about half way down it starts talking about techniques including one for certain party members so...cast spoilers.

I didn't know ultra-low tension set hit to zero...

But form the table I assume >=22 levels lower is the same in penalty...except EXP might underflow to you being 20 levels over (or so I hear).
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
That is some awesome stuff. Really wish somebody would translate stuff like this and that other Xenoblade site, lot of great info out there but it's all Japanese.

And I didn't know any of the specifics like that. I figured there was different balancing as levels went up though and it wasn't static. I don't seem to have problems until I hit 9 levels higher than me (88). That's when I need to start changing tactics from standard all-out attacking. Especially for UMs, not sure I can do anything over 89 without better gems, but I need to kill them to get the better gems! Normal enemies over 90 are doable, but it's tough and semi-dependent on luck. I've just done topple runs on Deinos Sauros, and when Breezy Zolos spawns it's really easy to use Demon Slayer and start the battle with an instant topple and high/very high tension.

This would all be easier if I let myself use Sharla too.

Edit:

Machine translators really suck for stuff like that since they like to rearrange the text and try to make sense of everything when some things are supposed to be equations. Looks like the main column is the first one and is for agility which is for accuracy and evasion. Second one is for accuracy of ether attacks, and it's obviously impacted less by level which is easily noticeable in game. I'm not totally sure this is accurate, but this is what I've been able to make of the info on there:

Evasion rate (presumably for your auto attacks?):
Your agility - weight + level difference correction from the table - enemy agility = evasion rate as a percent

Accuracy (seems to be for arts?):
Your agility - int(weight/4) + (art level * 5) + level difference correction from the table - enemy agility + 100 = hit rate as a percent

Ether Accuracy:
100 + (art level * 5) + level difference correction from table = hit rate as percent

No idea what's going on there or what "int" is supposed to be, maybe just the weight/4, and if the art level * 5 is correct. That info for the art adjustment/correction is described in the text below the formula. The weight part is also confusing since it subtracts the weight difference when you change armor. Might recalculate it during battle.


Other notes:

- Low tension gives you -50 agility.
- Finishing off an enemy at the end of a chain attack gives you double SP from that enemy, and 25% more AP/EXP
- The AP/EXP multiplier is based on average level and not the level of individual characters?
- Chain multiplier isn't actually what's reflected on screen. It's actually 2x for the second hit, 4x for the third hit, 6x for the fourth hit, and 8x for the fifth hit and beyond.


Edit: And one thing I'm confused about is what all impacts your chance to continue a chain attack. Maybe I'm just having bad luck but I've been getting some terrible chains lately. Like all of them are just the first 3 attacks, or maybe I get an extra one in. And that's with max affinity between the party members, and with the skill link that improves chances.
 
I finally picked up this legend of a game. And my first few hours in are pretty good.

Since I play a crapload of Pokemon and other RPGs, I expected to be fairly even with bosses that are the same level as me. I was unfortunatley wrong. I was fighting this Level 18
tentacle boss
and the difficulty almost shot through the roof a couple times. Sometimes I would get the boss' HP low, sometimes it would kick my team's ass, etc. Also this "warning system", while a nice touch, gets a little fustrating when my team refuses to be warned for some reason. This might be just me, but this "teamwork" system really confuses me when it comes to the B QTEs.

Does anyone have any tips for boosting that chain link meter faster against bosses?
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
I finally picked up this legend of a game. And my first few hours in are pretty good.

Since I play a crapload of Pokemon and other RPGs, I expected to be fairly even with bosses that are the same level as me. I was unfortunatley wrong. I was fighting this Level 18
tentacle boss
and the difficulty almost shot through the roof a couple times. Sometimes I would get the boss' HP low, sometimes it would kick my team's ass, etc. Also this "warning system", while a nice touch, gets a little fustrating when my team refuses to be warned for some reason. This might be just me, but this "teamwork" system really confuses me when it comes to the B QTEs.

Does anyone have any tips for boosting that chain link meter faster against bosses?

Burst affinity (the B button QTEs mid battle, not the ones before battle) - biggest one
Critical hits boost it
Some arts seem to boost it a little
Along with using arts, directional arts (side, back, etc) when used the right way will raise it

Regarding burst affinity, if you hit it right (right when the two circles overlap) you can get an entire bar of the party gauge filled. It's better to hit it a little late if you can't do it perfectly, because if you hit it early (before the shrinking circle intersects with the static one) you don't get anything. Hitting it late at least gives you a reduced bonus.


Edit: 7 Deinos Sauros killed at level 79/80, 1 gold chest (didn't save, no gem), 2 silver, 4 brown.

So 2 Debuff Resist crystals so far. Two to go for four rank VI gems. So I'll be safe from Abaasy's death spike and blaze damage. But his attacks are still going to 1HKO me :lol
 

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
I've been stuck on the Xord boss fight for many months. I basically vow never to play this fucking thing again, then come back a few weeks later to try out different parts of the world and get intrigued again, then just hit this brick wall repetitively. I have a full chain meter, and none of my topples or breaks EVER happen when I try to attack him. Level 26, and I still feel like I just don't understand this game and should just snap it in half or sell it off.
 
I've been stuck on the Xord boss fight for many months. I basically vow never to play this fucking thing again, then come back a few weeks later to try out different parts of the world and get intrigued again, then just hit this brick wall repetitively. I have a full chain meter, and none of my topples or breaks EVER happen when I try to attack him. Level 26, and I still feel like I just don't understand this game and should just snap it in half or sell it off.
That's a fight that typically gives people trouble though (you're definitely at the right level for it though, so that doesn't seem to be the problem). Basically, first off, you should be focusing your efforts on getting rid of all the other Mechon first before focusing on Xord himself. He'll eventually summon more, but you should only be attacking him when he's the only thing on the field.

As for Break and Topple, are you actually performing the arts in a Chain Attack? The Party Meter in the top-left corner being full and the triangle appearing between your characters does nothing by itself--that just tells you that you're now able to perform a Chain Attack. Remember back to the Metal Face fight in Colony 9--since Xord is a faced Mechon just like him, you have to be using an actual Chain Attack to inflict him with those debuffs. Once the Party Gauge is full, you want to cycle through the command menus by pushing Up on the D-Pad (at least on the Classic Controller--not sure on the Wii Remote) until you get the Chain Attack icon and then select that. Then, it's pretty much like normal--have Shulk use a Break art, Reyn follow-up with a Topple Art, have Sharla do whatever and then wail on him once the Chain Attack ends. After that, rinse and repeat.

Also, are you making sure to actually level up your characters' arts (open up the menu, select the Monado-icon, and then choose Arts)? Because that by itself can make a huge difference.
 

Javier

Member
18:30 hours in. I'm on my way to
save the mechanic at that sea place with the floating city
and I'm at Lv. 35. I get the feeling I'm rushing through the game.

And, of course, it took me about ten hours to realize you can actually JUMP. That's a complete game changer, man.
 
18:30 hours in. I'm on my way to
save the mechanic at that sea place with the floating city
and I'm at Lv. 35. I get the feeling I'm rushing through the game.

And, of course, it took me about ten hours to realize you can actually JUMP. That's a complete game changer, man.
Yeah, it took me like about that long (time-wise; I wasn't as far as you currently are at about 20 hours into my playthrough) to figure out jumping. xD Doesn't really matter much though, as I believe jumping is really only needed for like... finding one hidden very minor sidequest item in Colony 9 (you basically need to jump on some barrels to get on top of some crates to be able to jump into a back alley in the Residential District near the heart-to-heart there to grab an item) and that's pretty much it (well, it's also needed to reach a few places in an area a few spots ahead of where you are, but again, that's only for sidequests). Can be very time-saving though (like in the place you're currently at, jumping over those little fences on the floating reefs to fall into the ocean below you can be a real time-saver for some of the sidequests in that area. But judging on your time, I'm guessing you haven't done many sidequests, so I suppose that doesn't really matter much either. xD). Although, there is jumping off a tall-ladder you're climbing down, and then pressing the jump button again near the ground to grab onto it again to quickly scale it without taking fall-damage. Fun and efficient~

This. That fight is basically a tutorial for Chain Attack. They need an audio cue about why your breaks aren't working in the fight, took me a little while to figure it out.
Like I said though, the actual tutorial fight for that isn't the Xord fight, but the Metal Face fight back in Colony 9--they explain all that right before that fight (as in, an Explanation Screen pops up that literally says "Faced Mechon are normally immune to Break and Topple! However, you can inflict Break and Topple against it by using a Chain Attack, and allow your party to damage them!"), you can't really lose that fight since you have a completely overleveled Dunban in your party at the time, and you can't win it until you successfully perform a Chain Attack on him (believe me, I know first hand. I must have skipped the screen that actually told you how to perform Chain Attacks or something, because I thought Chain Attacks were things that automatically happened when the Party Gauge got full at first. So I was wailing on Metal Face for like 10, 15 minutes, using Shulk to heal Reyn/myself as necessary, but being confused how even with all my characters doing 1 damage to him how his health just completely stopped going down at one point until I actually figured out how to switch to Chain Attacks (and Lure/Flee as well, as a result) and realized what I was doing wrong. xD Then, boom--as soon as I did that one chain attack against him, the fight was over.). So, perhaps they did need to explain how to alternate between Talent Arts/Chain Attack/Lure/Flee better, or maybe I just missed it, I don't know, but in any case, that's definitely something the game has explained by the time you get to Xord.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
One neat thing the game doesn't tell you (but you'll probably figure out on your own) is that you can press up anywhere on the art bar and it takes you to the talent art/flee/chain command. Doesn't save a lot of time, but it can be useful at times.

And I don't really think this game is very hard at all once you wrap your head around all the different systems. Not properly utilizing chains, skill links, gems, etc can lead to the game being more difficult than it should be, but on the other hand you can easily use the systems together in your favor and break the game.

Uploading a spoilery video killing a Deinos Sauros stupidly easy around 20 levels below it (I can kill it without the cheap tactics, but it's not guaranteed since it's easy to fall into low tension cycles and an unwinnable battle if you screw up or have a run of bad luck.)


On that note, 5 dinos later, I finally have my Debuff Resist VI gems. Not sure what good they'll do at this level, but I have them!

Edit: Contains a few spoilers including the last character/mid-game story spoiler and another really minor late-game one. Went with a shortened URL so mobile GAF and userscripts won't display it.

http://bit.ly/J3giSK
 
So I finished the game last night...

I was happy to see that the game picked up after the slog through the Mechonis. From that point to the final battle, minus a fight here or there (Lorithia), I really enjoyed myself. All in all I'm glad I bought into the hype and picked it up, warts and all it was a fun ride.

Did anyone else get kind of a Phantasy Star 2 vibe from that ending? That's probably why I enjoyed it so much, I love it when fantasy turns sci-fi and try to tie themselves to Earth.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Alright, so I am going to beat Abaasy at level 79/80 with Shulk/Dunban/7th (that's a
40-41
level difference...). Did a prelim run, and it's significantly more possible than I expected it to be. I have to wonder what the lowest level run against him is.

Honestly, I probably would have won that fight if one of the slobos hadn't decided to join in, and if I was more prepared for his Crazed aura he activates at about 50% HP (which needs to be removed ASAP).

So yeah, I can totally do this. It's just going to require a little luck keeping the slobos away because Abaasy moves around the field a lot during some of his attacks. It's a long fight too, so I'll have to make sure to start it as early in the night as possible (19:00) and hope that I can end it before night ends. Should be able to, but it's not guaranteed, especially if something goes wrong and I have to waste time.

Edit: Man, that's disappointing, almost had it. Contains spoilers

Edit: Okay, even more disappointing. I had the fight won, probably 15% HP left, and the slobos team up on me. They took out 7th and attempting to revive was suicide, but I was still on the verge of winning with Dunban and Shulk alone. The slobos targeted Shulk but he was on the other side of Abaasy so they couldn't hit him. Managed to get him down to just a sliver of health before they finally made their way around and screwed up everything. :(



Edit: It's done. Beat Avalanche Abaasy. Got a video, about 17 minutes. To think, this is 10 levels lower than my initial "low level attempt" plan.
 

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
As for Break and Topple, are you actually performing the arts in a Chain Attack? The Party Meter in the top-left corner being full and the triangle appearing between your characters does nothing by itself--that just tells you that you're now able to perform a Chain Attack. Remember back to the Metal Face fight in Colony 9--since Xord is a faced Mechon just like him, you have to be using an actual Chain Attack to inflict him with those debuffs. Once the Party Gauge is full, you want to cycle through the command menus by pushing Up on the D-Pad (at least on the Classic Controller--not sure on the Wii Remote) until you get the Chain Attack icon and then select that. Then, it's pretty much like normal--have Shulk use a Break art, Reyn follow-up with a Topple Art, have Sharla do whatever and then wail on him once the Chain Attack ends. After that, rinse and repeat.
Yeah, that was my problem. Taking too much time between playing this means I didn't remember anything about the chain command or pressing up to get to it. One thing I'm still struggling with is keeping the meter full though, i know reviving takes some of it but it just disappears so quickly on me.
 
So I finished the game last night...

Did anyone else get kind of a Phantasy Star 2 vibe from that ending? That's probably why I enjoyed it so much, I love it when fantasy turns sci-fi and try to tie themselves to Earth.

Actually I hate that.
It didn't ruin the story for me because it was such a brief point, but I really do hate it when a high fantasy story tries to tie itself to the real world.

I don't mean in a Harry Potter or super hero way. In those, it's established that this is an iteration of reality where magic and super powers are part of that reality. But in Xenoblade (and some book series I've stopped reading because of this) it takes an unrelated high fantasy world and suddenly tacks it onto what I can only assume is supposed to be the "real" Earth (since it isn't present long enough to establish it as a magical iteration of Earth). And so we get a scenario here where a scientist playing god™ hits the abracadabra button on a magic computer thus causing the universe to go pear-shaped. At which point you can see my suspension of disbelief go flying out the window like a punted football. I thought it was pretty bad.

I would have much preferred the big reveal be a "not earth" but close with Zanza being an alchemist or magitechnician or something that directly connects him to a high fantasy setting.
 
Yeah, that was my problem. Taking too much time between playing this means I didn't remember anything about the chain command or pressing up to get to it. One thing I'm still struggling with is keeping the meter full though, i know reviving takes some of it but it just disappears so quickly on me.

Other things will deplete it, like your comrades doing poorly in a fight. Something like missing a strike in battle depresses the characters, so hitting the "burst affinity" quicktime events are important for keeping spirits high. The bigger the level range between your characters and an enemy makes it harder to hit the enemy. Using gems and various skills can close that gap, but early in the game you don't really have either, so its best to choose your fights carefully.
 
Heh, I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one who struggled against Xord.

That's a fight that typically gives people trouble though (you're definitely at the right level for it though, so that doesn't seem to be the problem). Basically, first off, you should be focusing your efforts on getting rid of all the other Mechon first before focusing on Xord himself. He'll eventually summon more, but you should only be attacking him when he's the only thing on the field.

I disagree with that. Just focus on Xord and you should be alright. On my first two tries against Xord I tried taking out all of the side mobs, and I kept wondering if there was a limit to the amount he summons (hint: there isn't). They just wear you down. On my third try I just spammed arts on Xord until the party gauge filled up, and that's how I finally beat him.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Yeah, that was my problem. Taking too much time between playing this means I didn't remember anything about the chain command or pressing up to get to it. One thing I'm still struggling with is keeping the meter full though, i know reviving takes some of it but it just disappears so quickly on me.

Warning an ally during a vision also uses one bar. So you don't really want to do that unless you need to. And of course it goes down while you're not in battle. And I posted the ways it fills up a few posts up, which you should find useful.

For Xord, I would recommend fighting the minions, but only to get your party gauge up since you can do it faster on them. Once it's full you can focus on him and use the chain.

Your arts are leveled up, right? That allows them to cooldown faster as well as increase their effectiveness (deal more damage, heal more, better buffs, etc). Sharla shouldn't have any trouble keeping your party members in good shape as long as you're leveling her arts up.




Anyway, here's the Abaasy at level 79/80 video. Sound is pretty terrible since I couldn't really keep a steady framerate while recording. Pretty major spoilers if you're not to Fa
llen
A
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, aside from that it should be fine. Details are in the description.

http://bit.ly/L1i6qu

Edit: And special thanks to Starworld_UK for this. That Xenoblade info he linked before was really useful. The trick is actually very simple: Abaasy is so high level that there's no more penalty for fighting him at the level I beat him at than there is fighting him at level 99. It's still important to note that you'll have much lower stats due to the 20 level difference so it's not equally easy, but the actual stat penalties won't be any different.

Edit2: Apparently somebody else has done it at level 80, not surprised. No chains, toppling, or Monado, but they did drag him into a corner so apparently he wouldn't use his arts. I wouldn't consider that much less cheap since they were using DoT and Sharla which basically made it a battle of attrition primarily against his "auto-attacks." Not to say his level 80 kill was unimpressive, any kill around that level is going to require some sort of cheap tactics - be it that or heavy use of topple/chains - given the disadvantages you face.
 
Heh, I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one who struggled against Xord.



I disagree with that. Just focus on Xord and you should be alright. On my first two tries against Xord I tried taking out all of the side mobs, and I kept wondering if there was a limit to the amount he summons (hint: there isn't). They just wear you down. On my third try I just spammed arts on Xord until the party gauge filled up, and that's how I finally beat him.

I found focusing on the side mobs helped to build my party gauge better than focusing on Xord. I'd kill them until I was ready for a chain attack then switch focus to Xord until he got back up, then I'd go back to attack the side mobs.
 
Hmm, well I suppose different things work for different players. I struggled mightily when I tried to do it that way.

Anyway, here's the Abaasy at level 79/80 video. Sound is pretty terrible since I couldn't really keep a steady framerate while recording. Pretty major spoilers if you're not to Fa
llen
A
rm
, aside from that it should be fine. Details are in the description.

http://bit.ly/L1i6qu

Hmm, I see your break art of choice for Shulk is Stream Edge. Is it better than Air Slash? That's what I've been using.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Hmm, well I suppose different things work for different players. I struggled mightily when I tried to do it that way.



Hmm, I see your break art of choice for Shulk is Stream Edge. Is it better than Air Slash? That's what I've been using.

I don't think there is a difference as long as they're the same level. I just use Stream Edge because of how I have the arts laid out. The two side attacks are together, and Slit Edge comes first (to lower defense so Air Slash and later Backslash does more damage). I keep Stream Edge on the other side for quick break access just because it doesn't really fit in anywhere else.

I'd have to look, but I think Stream Edge deals more damage, and Air Slash makes up for that by inflicting Slow.

Also, in chains I've found myself using Worldly Slash a lot up front even though it's a strong attack that would typically benefit from being late in the chain, since it lowers defense to make other attacks in the chain deal more damage.
 
Machine translators really suck for stuff like that since they like to rearrange the text and try to make sense of everything when some things are supposed to be equations. Looks like the main column is the first one and is for agility which is for accuracy and evasion. Second one is for accuracy of ether attacks, and it's obviously impacted less by level which is easily noticeable in game. I'm not totally sure this is accurate, but this is what I've been able to make of the info on there:

Evasion rate (presumably for your auto attacks?):
Your agility - weight + level difference correction from the table - enemy agility = evasion rate as a percent

Accuracy (seems to be for arts?):
Your agility - int(weight/4) + (art level * 5) + level difference correction from the table - enemy agility + 100 = hit rate as a percent

Ether Accuracy:
100 + (art level * 5) + level difference correction from table = hit rate as percent

No idea what's going on there or what "int" is supposed to be, maybe just the weight/4, and if the art level * 5 is correct. That info for the art adjustment/correction is described in the text below the formula. The weight part is also confusing since it subtracts the weight difference when you change armor. Might recalculate it during battle.
Nice. Int probably refers to integer as in whole number. Usually these things work by ignoring decimals (so 5-7 total weight means the same as 4) rather than rounding but sometimes it can ignore the other way round (so 5-7 would be the same as 8).

Slightly anecdotal but against a level 72 boss (with a level 66 party), I was manning Reyn and my auto attacks missed (quite a lot...all of them, can't recall) but Bone Upper seemed to hit much more constantly so possibly its the same accuracy formula for both arts and auto-attacks.

Also, in chains I've found myself using Worldly Slash a lot up front even though it's a strong attack that would typically benefit from being late in the chain, since it lowers defense to make other attacks in the chain deal more damage.
IIRC bleed damage gets multiplied as well so Gigaslash is better later on in the chain.
 
I would have much preferred the big reveal be a "not earth" but close with Zanza being an alchemist or magitechnician or something that directly connects him to a high fantasy setting.

More ending discussion...

I found the idea of the whole universe resetting as a really cool way of explaining the magic/premonitions concepts. The very rules of the universe were rewritten due to Zanza's experiment (2+2 = 5), it now is a magical world now. Seeing as Xenoblade already had a decent amount of "science" in it (Telethia genetics or the Monado) I felt the idea fit the story pretty well.

I also love that in Xenoblade "Earth" is more of a deal to the player then it is to the cast of the game. There is no 30 minute cautionary tale of the dangers of science or anything of the sort, it is just a plot point that connects the player to the world. Jupiter popping up as a location was a great surprise.

Though I do agree that the "Earth" concept, in general, can be (and usually is) pretty terrible.
 
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