Xenoblade Chronicles Official Thread

[Hero-of-Time]

Me and my pal just keep getting annoyed at encountering all these 'heart-to-hearts', but being unable to do anything with them.

 

I guess we need to pump up that affinity.

 

Is it true that you get that by doing sidequests and fighting with your party?

 

You can give them gifts if I recall. I'm sure Mokong will give a 5 pages essay on the whole procedure though.

[Mokong]

I've now put in over 18 hours and it's time for my second impressions. I've reached Makna Forest and have just entered the Nopon Village. I'm around lvl 35. I've been grinding quite a lot and exploring as well as doing the monster quests. I've found most battles OK, but a few have been tough.

 

Graphically this game is amazing and nothing has shown this off as much as Makna Forest. The game has really started to become enjoyable and I like it a lot more now.

 

I've got to grips with most things, other than the crystals. I still haven't fashioned any as I have just been on a steady journey up the Bionis. I take it that you go back to Colony 9 at some time? Or are you just free to trek back whenever you wish as it seems an awful long way to just make a few crystals.

 

Anyway, liking this now and am playing it every night. At the weekend I'm gonna put some major playtime into it.

 

 

Great to see you are enjoying it more and yeah Makna Forest is one of my favourite areas of the game. And love the different weather patterns it has, really feels like it is a tropical forest.

 

 

Anyway, yeah as H-o-T said there is a fast travel "wrap" feature to make back tracking easier. Can't believe you didn't spot it yet?

 

Any "Landmarks" you find are basically "warp points"

 

If you want to warp to a different part of the area you are currently in just press "1" (if using the Wiimote...I don't have a CCP) to bring up the current area map.

 

The Landmarks you have already found will be listed at the bottom left corner of the map screen and are shown on the map by an obelisk like icon.

 

Just select the one you wish to warp to and your there.

 

If you want to warp a different Area altogether, open up your menu ("-" i think on the Wiimote) and select "Area Maps" (first option on the left)

 

Then select the area you wish to warp to then find the landmark you want to go to. For example in Colony 9 "Gem Mans Stall" is a Landmark so you can warp right to him if you want.

 

 

This is why the game fully rewards you for exploring, 1: you can earn a fair number of EXP point for finding new named parts of a map and finding Landmarks. And the more Landmarks you have obviously the better you might be able to get to certain areas quickly if you have to return to some. (Can be really handy for some side quests)

 

I'd always encourge you to try return to previous areas when you can, as new side quests can become open and can help you improve affinity between your own characters and between NPC's.

 

 

Also on the Gem Crafting you'll at the point in the game you currently are you should have access to the side quest chain that will lead you to getting a portable Gem Crafting machine so you won't have to return to Colony 9.

 

If you need a hint to find the begining of this side quest.... just go look for the characters that left you at the end of the swamp area....

 

Me and my pal just keep getting annoyed at encountering all these 'heart-to-hearts', but being unable to do anything with them.

 

I guess we need to pump up that affinity.

 

Is it true that you get that by doing sidequests and fighting with your party?

 

You can give them gifts if I recall. I'm sure Mokong will give a 5 pages essay on the whole procedure though.

 

Hehe... I think I can keep it under 5 pages.

 

Yeah as H-o-T said you can give characters "gifts" from other characters that will help improve the affinity between them, these gifts are basicially the items (blue orbs) that you find within the game, so if you are going to do this be warned if you are saving a number of certain items as part of a side quest you don't want to be wasting stocks as gifts.

 

The gifts can be the hardest way to increase affinity too, as most items give just "one heart" some "two hearts" and rarer items will give "3 hearts", going one heart at a time can take ages if you are aiming to increase affinity to one of the higher levels.

 

Also you have to know what the character you are giving the gift to likes, you can't just give them anything, give the wrong thing and you will Decrease affinity between the two. If you paid attention to some cut scenes and different things you may be able to figure out what kind of items each character likes.

 

For example two of the easier to work out is Shulk being a bit of an engineer/scientists likes to be given mechanical things. Riki who is always going on about food obviously loves things that he can eat and taste good.

 

 

 

But the best way (i guess depending on where in the game you are but I think you are far enough into the game to get most of the following) is through fighting.

 

Have you ever noticed during fights you get an "Encourage" prompt sometimes when close to some characters. You get this when a character is "not feeling very confident" I guess is the best way to put it (I can't remember the term the game uses). Maybe they've taken a lot of damage and not been able to fight back, maybe they've taken a status effect.

 

You can tell from the Avatars of each character that appear on screen during a fight. If the characters face in the avatar looks like the character is happy/angry/pumped up, then he/she is doing well (note: the more pumped characters are the more effective some moves can be and the likely hood of getting extra chain attacks I think improves too)

 

If the avatar shows a characters face is looking sad or upset then with the character you are controlling walk over to whoever is feeling down and you'll get the "encourage" prompt.

 

This also works if one of your party has been toppled or put to sleep or other status effect. Go over to them and you can lift them up or wake them up or whatever and you'll get some positive affinity points.

 

 

If you know where to find the right enimes that can use moves that lowers character "aggression" (I think that's the term used?) and make characters feel "sad" in battle (I think those cloud things in the lava cave on Valak mountain are good for this...other clouds in other areas might work also but I think the ones in the lava cave are considered the best to use....if you aren't too much stronger tthan they are...you don't want to kill them remember)

 

or an enemy that can inflict status effects like topple then you can use that to your advantage for improving affinity between characters.

 

I worked this out pretty late in the game and I used one of the T-rex like things in Makna Forest (level 80 odd I think it was, but as I said I was pretty late in the game anyway)... I think it was the special one that gets a "special name" again I can't remember the correct in game term. It inflicted Topple on my characters so I'd control one character and have the 2 CPUs as characters whose Affinity I wanted to improve with the character I was controlling.

 

I'd run towards the enemy let the two CPU controlled characters go in and attack and keep my character at a distance (so as to not take damage or be toppled myself) Let the CPUs get toppled, run in pick them up then run back out and repeat. Heal and/or revive the CPUs as best you can to extend the fight going longer.

 

If you find yourself in a spot of trouble, maybe you've run out of heal or revive moves to use, run away from the fight in a direction that you won't run into other enemy fights and keep running till the battle ends and the enemy you are fight leaves you alone. (Don't worry if you CPU's are KO'd once the enemy stops persuing and KO'd characters will return (with 1hp left)

 

 

So was that understandable or complicated?

 

 

Other than that when you do get Affinity to a point that you can see a new heart-to-heart (and characters aren't at max affinity yet) just be carefull to make all the right choices during a heart-to-heart to earn more Affinity points and not decrease them by mistake.

[Zechs Merquise]

Great to see you are enjoying it more and yeah Makna Forest is one of my favourite areas of the game. And love the different weather patterns it has, really feels like it is a tropical forest.

 

 

Anyway, yeah as H-o-T said there is a fast travel "wrap" feature to make back tracking easier. Can't believe you didn't spot it yet?

 

Any "Landmarks" you find are basically "warp points"

 

If you want to warp to a different part of the area you are currently in just press "1" (if using the Wiimote...I don't have a CCP) to bring up the current area map.

 

The Landmarks you have already found will be listed at the bottom left corner of the map screen and are shown on the map by an obelisk like icon.

 

Just select the one you wish to warp to and your there.

 

If you want to warp a different Area altogether, open up your menu ("-" i think on the Wiimote) and select "Area Maps" (first option on the left)

 

Then select the area you wish to warp to then find the landmark you want to go to. For example in Colony 9 "Gem Mans Stall" is a Landmark so you can warp right to him if you want.

 

 

This is why the game fully rewards you for exploring, 1: you can earn a fair number of EXP point for finding new named parts of a map and finding Landmarks. And the more Landmarks you have obviously the better you might be able to get to certain areas quickly if you have to return to some. (Can be really handy for some side quests)

 

I'd always encourge you to try return to previous areas when you can, as new side quests can become open and can help you improve affinity between your own characters and between NPC's.

 

 

Also on the Gem Crafting you'll at the point in the game you currently are you should have access to the side quest chain that will lead you to getting a portable Gem Crafting machine so you won't have to return to Colony 9.

 

If you need a hint to find the begining of this side quest.... just go look for the characters that left you at the end of the swamp area....

 

Of course I know about the fast travel. Just the lift system was broken after the fight with Xord so I thought you might have been able to go back later. Either way, I'll go back now and have a look around. I've exploredsome areas fully and others less well. I'll get on it tonight and go back to Colony 9 and learn the gem crafting and do some more side quests!

[Mokong]

Of course I know about the fast travel. Just the lift system was broken after the fight with Xord so I thought you might have been able to go back later. Either way, I'll go back now and have a look around. I've exploredsome areas fully and others less well. I'll get on it tonight and go back to Colony 9 and learn the gem crafting and do some more side quests!

 

OH that lower area of the mine can't be reached anymore, as I said some areas become locked out after certain points.

 

But the two characters I told you to find won't be down there anyway, but if you think about you should be able to work where to go to find them. I suggest going to find them now cause if to progress the story too far that whole chain of side quests will get locked out too and you'll miss out on a lovely part of the game (it won't be till a fair bit longer into the story but best at least go a find them now rather than later :wink:)

[Zechs Merquise]

OH that lower area of the mine can't be reached anymore, as I said some areas become locked out after certain points.

 

But the two characters I told you to find won't be down there anyway, but if you think about you should be able to work where to go to find them. I suggest going to find them now cause if to progress the story too far that whole chain of side quests will get locked out too and you'll miss out on a lovely part of the game (it won't be till a fair bit longer into the story but best at least go a find them now rather than later :wink:)

 

Yeah, but originally the gate to Colony 6 was closed, now it's open. So I can go back and let the people from the refugee camp go back home. I'm also trying to complete as many refugee camp quests as possible before they clear out.

 

One thing that is really annoying about this game is that when you're doing some of these quests you don't really know where to go or what to look for. In fact, you don't even get markers on the map for returning to people that you've got something for. These little things make some of the side quests a little too tedious!

 

I've now done 20 hours, but didn't level up once as I was too busy going back doing shitty little quests for crap amounts of XP! I have an easy weekend so I'm going to put in some legendary time on this to try and level up and get a little further.

[Mokong]

Yeah, but originally the gate to Colony 6 was closed, now it's open. So I can go back and let the people from the refugee camp go back home. I'm also trying to complete as many refugee camp quests as possible before they clear out.

 

One thing that is really annoying about this game is that when you're doing some of these quests you don't really know where to go or what to look for. In fact, you don't even get markers on the map for returning to people that you've got something for. These little things make some of the side quests a little too tedious!

 

I've now done 20 hours, but didn't level up once as I was too busy going back doing shitty little quests for crap amounts of XP! I have an easy weekend so I'm going to put in some legendary time on this to try and level up and get a little further.

 

But sure you shouldn't have to return to many (or any?) of the Refugees after finishing a side quest?

 

Depending on the side quest, you won't get markers if asked to find/kill certain animals/enemies or is asked to find items that are one of the blue orb things.

 

If asked to find something very particular (A special Item or a certain person) a ! will appear on the map when you get close to it.

 

If you do have to return to a quest giver (or are looking for a particular named NPC...assuming you've met them before) there is a menu (can't remember where) where you can see all the NPC's you've met and you'll get info on their daily patterns there...where they tend to be and between which times. So just use the time manipulator option to make it the right time if need be.

[MindFreak]

Well, 50 hours in and have just passed Sword Valley

 

It was really annoying that all the Mechon-weapons you could buy from Dickson are weaker than the weapons I had already got. But I almost ruined myself buying them all so the fights in Sword Valley would be easier. Now I'm up to the point where I'm about to enter the fortress and save Fiora. Or whatever will happen to her.

I really like the story; there are so many conspiracies and it's hard to see who's truly good. I've always had a bad feeling about Alvis but the latest cut-scene shows him from a new perspective; they're apparently trying to save the Bionis after all. And what's up with Dickson?? It's like he's on yet another team and suddenly he's with the High Entia! I look forward to finding out.

I'm also really eager to see who the last member of my party will be. I don't really like it being that big because of the affinity. It takes so long to get the party members to like each other. (I only think that there's going to be seven members in the party because there seems to be room for one more in skill links and such.)

 

 

 

Could anyone give an estimate of how much I've progressed into the story? I feel like I'm at 50 % now but I really hope it's a bit more!

[daftada]

I think you're about 50-60% of the way through. I spent so much time wandering around and doing quests I'm not 100% sure! Someone else might be able to confirm.

 

I'd recommend getting as many side quests and unique monsters completed before going any further though - I'm pretty sure you're close to triggering one of the games 'point of no return' moments.

 

 

[MindFreak]

I'd recommend getting as many side quests and unique monsters completed before going any further though - I'm pretty sure you're close to triggering one of the games 'point of no return' moments.

 

 

 

Thanks for that. I think I've done most of what I've found, though. Got a Three Star rating for Upper Bionis now, might do some more for the Nopon village.

 

 

Oh, bullocks! I just returned to Colony 6 to see if there were new quests but there were none. Then I spoke to Juju and he was the one I should have been talking to. But now I just sold every random item because I didn't know they could be put to use. Damn that.

 

 

[Fused King]

Just to keep you guys up to date, me and my mate are currently doing some quests before we head for Valak Mountain.

 

That stuff that went on prior to that.....SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!!

 

Also, what the fuck is up with that gem crafting stuff. It takes forever (Sometimes we end up 'crafting for over 30 minutes)', isn't fun, and you're left with so many lame gems. . .

[Ville]

Also, what the fuck is up with that gem crafting stuff. It takes forever (Sometimes we end up 'crafting for over 30 minutes)', isn't fun, and you're left with so many lame gems. . .

 

30 minutes? Whaaat? More like a few seconds...just pick a pair that gets along, select the gems and hold the speed up button.

 

Also, wouldn't bother with the shittiest gems at all. The moment you start getting next tier gems, forget about the previous ones...

[MindFreak]

Yeah, gem crafting is kind of lame, and yes, it easily takes up 30 minutes of your play time. (But not just ONE gem.)

 

I'm 85 hours in now. I just spend time doing a lot of minor quests in Colony 9 to raise my affinity and get Shulk's fourth skill tree. Then when I've done that, I'm going to head towards the end of the game.

 

And jeez, the last 10 hours where 5 hours of cutscenes! Or so it felt. But it was great to finally get the truth about all those things earlier.

 

Edit: Got Shulk's last Skill Tree now. I don't want to get the other party members' so I'll just finish the game tomorrow. I think.

Edited August 27, 2012 by MindFreak

[Mokong]

Xenoblade is nominated for Best RPG in the Golden Joysticks awards

 

Go give it the vote it deserves :wink:

 

http://www.goldenjoystick.com/awards/best-rpg

[Captain Falcon]

OK, stupid question time but it's been bothering me and I've had quick look around the "net" and I can't find the answer, so...

 

Is Dunban's voice actor the same guy who does the VO work on the UK Calgon washing tablet ads? I think it's Calgon anyway, it could be another brand.

 

It can't just be me who has noticed this. If it's not him, it's a remarkable likeness and if they made a sequel and the original guy (Rufus Jones) wasn't available, he'd fill in nicely.

[MindFreak]

I finally took the game disc out of the Wii now, having completed the game after 96 hours and 36 minutes, and I was level 81.

 

So... Well, I loved that the game's story was based on LHC at Cern. That made me laugh a bit. It was truly a good story, of course a bit straightforward - not in terms of plot (that kept surprising you until the end) but in terms of decisions made and such. But I liked it.

I had to try three or four times to defeat Zanza (or Klaus) before I did it. The first couple of times I used Shulk, Sharla, and Reyn but that didn't work out. Then I exchanged Reyn by Riki and it made it a lot better, though I was a bit unlucky at the beginning of the third attempt so I lost again. But then it just went great and I won with ease. Great boss fight, though. Not too hard but not frustrating either. It was well balanced. I imagine it would have been tougher had I been a lower level.

 

 

 

Great game.

[Wii]

I finally took the game disc out of the Wii now, having completed the game after 96 hours and 36 minutes, and I was level 81.

 

So... Well, I loved that the game's story was based on LHC at Cern. That made me laugh a bit. It was truly a good story, of course a bit straightforward - not in terms of plot (that kept surprising you until the end) but in terms of decisions made and such. But I liked it.

I had to try three or four times to defeat Zanza (or Klaus) before I did it. The first couple of times I used Shulk, Sharla, and Reyn but that didn't work out. Then I exchanged Reyn by Riki and it made it a lot better, though I was a bit unlucky at the beginning of the third attempt so I lost again. But then it just went great and I won with ease. Great boss fight, though. Not too hard but not frustrating either. It was well balanced. I imagine it would have been tougher had I been a lower level.

 

 

 

Great game.

 

Then you haven't completed the game. I'm level 88 and 230+ hours into the game and still haven't completed the game. I'm doing every sidequest possible. I've a bit to go. You must have skipped alot of the sidequests.

 

I'm at the point where Egil has made the Mechonis come to life.

 

 

I then went back to before that point as I still had quests to fulfill and wouldn't be able to do so afterwards. Awesome game, don't want it to end. I'm playing it less now so the end seems further away.

Edited August 29, 2012 by Wii

[Magnus]

By that logic, if you miss even a single sidequests (and there are quite a few that are easy to miss forever), you haven't completed the game.

 

 

Sorry, Mokong! Better start over!

[Wii]

I'd imagine if you did 1/2 to 3/4 the sidequests you wouldn't be completing the game in under 100 hours.

[Magnus]

I finished the game in 135 hours and did every sidequest I could find, so I think you're just a very slow player.

 

Though it's a moot point, anyway. If you've beaten the last boss and seen the credits, you've completed the game.

[Mokong]

By that logic, if you miss even a single sidequests (and there are quite a few that are easy to miss forever), you haven't completed the game.

 

 

Sorry, Mokong! Better start over!

 

But I only missed like 6 I think it was...but.....but....

 

[RedShell]

But I only missed like 6 I think it was...but.....but....

 

Perfect excuse for you to play through this game again, Mokong.

Not that you need one.

[Mokong]

Haha yeah, I'm doing a lot of replaying of old games lately to keep me going till I get my WiiU, was thinking of doin Xenoblade again after my Nightmare mode run of Fatal Frame 4 (not trying to rub anything in I swear )

 

Just tryin to decide if I should start from scratch or do the newgame+

[MindFreak]

Then you haven't completed the game. I'm level 88 and 230+ hours into the game and still haven't completed the game. I'm doing every sidequest possible. I've a bit to go. You must have skipped alot of the sidequests.

 

I'm at the point where Egil has made the Mechonis come to life.

 

 

I then went back to before that point as I still had quests to fulfill and wouldn't be able to do so afterwards. Awesome game, don't want it to end. I'm playing it less now so the end seems further away.

 

No, you're right. I haven't done every single side-quests and only have the fifth skill tree for two of my party members. I do feel a bit bad for not doing that but the fact of the matter is that I haven't got the time. Uni starts again on Monday so I needed the game to be done before that and honestly, many of the side-quests are plain boring.

I believe they are like this:

Colony 9: 4.5+

Colony 6: 3

Makna Forrest etc.: 4+

Upper Bionis: 4+

Fallen Arm: 5

But I did get the achievement for doing 200 side-quests and I did level Colony 6 to level 4 (5 for housing), but then the items became so rare that I didn't want to waste time looking for them.

(

 

 

So no, didn't do nearly everything in the game, unfortunately. Also, I've got seven other games wating for me. Hehe.

[Wii]

I'm going playing some more of this canned awesome sauce. I like taking my time with this game just grinding and exploring all areas at different times of the day/different weather to try and find unique monsters for more affinity coins.

[Zechs Merquise]

I'm near the end, but am at the point of just giving up and reading how it ends. I've done plenty of quests and grinded a lot. Now I'm at some stupidly large Telethia which I can barely damage. This game is sometimes awesome, but a lot of the time frustrating. It's a shame, as I've really enjoyed many parts of it, but equally it's frustrated me too.

 

I know I'm over levelled for where I am, so this should be easy. I'm probably using the wrong team members. But I can't get half the arts manuels now I need to use the right team members as they're in now inaccessible places. What utter frustration.

 

No wonder these JRPGs are massively overshadowed by game like Fallout and Skyrim.