Xenoblade Chronicles Official Thread

[Mokong]

Where abouts are you? There is a few large Tellethias

 

If it's the one I'm thinking of then yeah that one had me stuck for a bit too and proper team selection is important. It was teh only boss where I had to really make a plan to get round it.

 

Best Character for you to control is Melia if I remember right. Can't remember the full tactics though but her arts do the most damage and you just have to be on your toes for healing other CHaracters. Have Shulk as one of teh CPU controlled chars and I think maybe Sharla for healing. When you get a Chain attack going get Shulk attacking with Monado arts and Melia with hers, he Talent art "Mind Blast" I think it called it one of the best to use.

 

Whatever you do DO NOT DARE read how it ends

You have to experience or you won't get the pure awesomeness of it

[Zechs Merquise]

I finally completed Xenoblade (86 hours). On the whole I really enjoyed it. In many ways the game is a total masterpiece. However it's liked flawed genius as there are several things I found really irritating.

 

The story was amazing. The graphics were unbelievable and the game actually puts many 360 and PS3 games to shame. The locations are amazing and they all look utterly stunning, they're massive! The best thing is each one looks so different. You never feel like you're just on another field. I actually loved exploring and thought it was neat you got XP from finding new areas. This made the exploring not only fun but genuinely rewarding.

 

The battle system was solid and enjoyable with the timed button presses and the positioning meaning it is quite an interesting mix between turn based combat and real time action. Some of the battles I fought were on a knife edge and I actually felt a great sense of achievement when I won them.

 

I also really liked the characters. They were all likeable and plenty of the NPCs were also great too. The music deserves a special mention too. All of the compositions were superb and fitted the different areas. The voice acting was incredible too.

 

But I found several things really irritating. I felt there were too many tutorials all at the same time at the beginning. These overwhelmed me and it was nearing the last quarter of the game that I figured something's out fully. Had things been introduced slightly more gradually, allowing you to take each one in it would've been easier to grasp and less frustrating.

 

On the whole the difficulty curve was near perfect. But there was two crazy difficulty spikes that left me stumped and grinding out levels when I felt I was already over levelled due to exploring and quest completion.

 

The final thing that I found a little backward was a number of the side quests. After playing Fallout 3, Xenoblade felt a little old school in this regard. In Fallout the side quests all have reason and consequence and you can choose their outcome. In Xenoblade most of the side quests were formulaic, kill this, collect that. Which brings me on to the final complaint about the side quests - some of the collect quests were insane as the items you needed were so rare. This led to endless fights with the same creature waiting for that crucial drop, or worse you found yourself trekking around for that single blue orb that'd grant you the single rare item you needed.

 

Overall the pros outweigh the cons. Overall I loved it and would believe that every wanker who says 'er.. I haven't played my Wii for 2 years as it's all waggle' needs repeatedly punching in the face with this game! If anyone is looking for an epic, deep, technically amazing, core gaming experience then this is it. What's more its sufficiently different from bald space marines and grizzled US soldiers to make it stand out and demand attention.

[Mokong]

Ah finally finished.... you didn't mention anything of ending itself what did you think of that, did you start to get weirded out and confused a bit in that final run up to the final battle? I know I was

 

How did you find the final boss too and what level were you at?

I did myself a bit of a disservice at the end as I refused to go for the final boss right away as I wanted to A: finish all the side quests on my list....and ended up finding more , B: Wanted to max out affinity between my characters and of the NPC areas which lead to C: maxing my levels at 99 so I was way overpowered for the final boss and flew through him

 

Still loved it though

 

Nice little mini-review in tha post too, good read.

 

Gotta offer my own opinion though on some of your cons

 

I felt there were too many tutorials all at the same time at the beginning. These overwhelmed me and it was nearing the last quarter of the game that I figured something's out fully. Had things been introduced slightly more gradually, allowing you to take each one in it would've been easier to grasp and less frustrating.

 

K, I can kinda get who it might overwhelm some people, it was a lot to take in at the start but what I liked is this left the other 99.999% of the game for the game. If they tried to space it out too much you'd be learning some "basic" things pretty late in the game. Although that said I only fully understood the Gem crafting about 75% into the game and even then I think I only ever managed to make like 10 useful gems as I had tossed away alot of materials for item space during the game

 

On the whole the difficulty curve was near perfect. But there was two crazy difficulty spikes that left me stumped and grinding out levels when I felt I was already over levelled due to exploring and quest completion.

 

I actually enjoyed the few spikes I had, like you said I thought I might have over leveled too much from exploring and side quests, so I enjoyed having my back to the wall a few times to offer me some challenge and forcing me to look more closely at my team set up and skills activated.

 

Actually thinking of that.... have you tried any of the Super Bosses? (4 bosses over level 100 that aren't part of the main game, if you have a save from just before the point of no return they will be findable) I got all my team to level 99 and was only able to beat 2 of them

 

The final thing that I found a little backward was a number of the side quests. After playing Fallout 3, Xenoblade felt a little old school in this regard. In Fallout the side quests all have reason and consequence and you can choose their outcome. In Xenoblade most of the side quests were formulaic, kill this, collect that.

 

K, I'll agree on that one, the Kill x, collect x stuff was ok at the start but it would have been nice to have more proper side quest stuff in there too, although there was a good number of those I thought some of the later kill x, collect x basic stuff could have been replaced with more meaningful NPC affinity quests.

 

But like I said before I usually just found those quests as soon as entering a new place so went I ventured forth I'd end up completing them just from general gameplay.

 

Which brings me on to the final complaint about the side quests - some of the collect quests were insane as the items you needed were so rare. This led to endless fights with the same creature waiting for that crucial drop, or worse you found yourself trekking around for that single blue orb that'd grant you the single rare item you needed.

 

Different folk for different strokes I guess Haha, yeah some of those blue orbs were annoyingly hard to find, but my search for a few of them lead me to discover some new areas on the map which I would not have found otherwise. But if I remember correctly there was one or two blue orb items I ended up doing trades for because either they seemed to be impossible to find or actually there are a few places in Colony 6 when you rebuild it (you did get that big side quest yeah?) that give blue orbs from other areas which helped me find a few other items too.

 

Overall the pros outweigh the cons. Overall I loved it and would believe that every wanker who says 'er.. I haven't played my Wii for 2 years as it's all waggle' needs repeatedly punching in the face with this game! If anyone is looking for an epic, deep, technically amazing, core gaming experience then this is it. What's more its sufficiently different from bald space marines and grizzled US soldiers to make it stand out and demand attention.

 

:bowdown:

[Captain Falcon]

Actually thinking of that.... have you tried any of the Super Bosses? (4 bosses over level 100 that aren't part of the main game, if you have a save from just before the point of no return they will be findable) I got all my team to level 99 and was only able to beat 2 of them

 

I'm right at the PONR on my second playthrough and have been doing some of the late game sidequests so now I'm in the region of 94-97 level wise and am thinking about having a proper go at the super bosses. I finished my first game at 99 across the board but the only boss I think I beat was the the Final Marcus on top of Valak Mountain - to be fair, I never really checked where the others were but I did see the dragon up there once at lvl 120... didn't see it for long though as it wiped me out fairly pronto.

 

It stikes me that physical moves get the shaft in this game to some degrees as I swear once an enemy is 5 levels higher than you, it's impossible to hit the thing without buffs (and then it is still no guarantee) but as soon as you get to within that limit, you can finish them fairly quickly and rarely miss. It just seems like an artificial barrier at times.

[Mokong]

I started my 2nd play of this beauty yesterday, decided to start from scratch on a new file instead of a newgame+

 

Goona try to not be as OCD with the side quests this time though, haha.

Still gonna pick up whatever I come across but not gonna actively seek out any I miss.....well I might a few, haha.

 

Finding obviously having played the game before and know how things work I'm leveling up faster I think than first time. Knowing the area already and knowing where to get to get new location and land marks for EXP and not running around in awe and bewilderment at the size of the place and getting lost helps too. Though I'm still very impressed with the size of the game. Getting to the end of teh cave where the cyclinders are and looking down at the Colony was still a wow moment. Also when that you had to then return to the colony after that I just jumped down off the cliff into the water below and got back faster. That never occured to me on my first play and I ended up running back through the cave

 

Also know about the warping feature from the start makes getting around at the start tons easier. I remember it took me till I think teh Refugee camp to work out about the warping so I covered a lot of footsteps on my first play before that, haha.

 

Also getting the skilltrees right from the start has proved very helpfull, I switched all the 3 chars active trees from the default to another based on which would give the better skills to learn at the start, eg: Shulks left tree starts with granting more HP for healing arts, where as on my 1st play I didn't figure that out till bout the mountain I think.

 

Also damn is the Music still awesome, I actually felt like I missed the music it was great to hear it again. And teh characters too, was like coming back to old friends, like when you decide to rewatch an anime that you really love and it feels awesome to see the characters again.

 

Play up to after "that bit after the cave" in about 3 hours, chars all at level 13. I think on my first play I was at 14 at same point But I remember I stuggled more on that play obviously as I was still unfamilair with the proper ins and outs of combat and skills at that time. But now I'm a beast

 

And doing "that bit"....see spoiler tag

 

You know the mechon attack on colony 9.....seriously if you are only starting the game and you opened this tag FOR SHAME.

 

Anyway I actually ended up taking out EVERYO SINGLE MECHON in the colony. Didn't do that first time. Again the experience of knowing how to adapt right to the situation helped a ton. I switched my main char to Reyn and this made it easier to get the Topple on the Mechon as both Shulk and Fiora have moves that inflict Break it and Fiora always used hers as her 2nd move, it made sense to control Reyn, wait for that and then use Wild Down.

 

On my first play I stayed as Shulk and it would take a while sometimes to get a topple as CPU Reyn would have either used the Wild Down before I inflicted break or after break wore off. This made it seem very hard and on my first play I avoided as many Mechon as I could...though I guess that did add that extra bit of danger and excitement on teh first play

 

oh and I still felt sorry for Fiora at the end of that section ....and yeah I did buy her the bikini outfit again

 

[daftada]

I started a new game+ and decided to play through the whole game only using the beach outfits. Some of the early cut-scenes have been hilarious!

[Fierce_LiNk]

I played a few hours of this earlier. Am now stuck:

 

I'm in the Ether Mine and have just arrived at the "boss fight" with Xord. I keep killing the Mechon to make my team gauge meter thing to rise, then unleash a break attack, then a topple, and a normal attack to hit him. Only thing is that my team keep dying, and I do eventually. I've taken health off him, but it's haaard trying to defeat him.

 

[Mokong]

I played a few hours of this earlier. Am now stuck:

 

I'm in the Ether Mine and have just arrived at the "boss fight" with Xord. I keep killing the Mechon to make my team gauge meter thing to rise, then unleash a break attack, then a topple, and a normal attack to hit him. Only thing is that my team keep dying, and I do eventually. I've taken health off him, but it's haaard trying to defeat him.

 

 

Can't remember the exact tactics I used at that point but just some basic things.

 

What level you at...I think is Zord 25? If I remember right I think I was 25 with shulk and 24 with others.

 

Have you been upgrading your moves? Espcially the Monado arts of Shulk.

 

Be sure to start with Enchant so that your team mates can do proper damage on Mechon and use Buster next time the monado gauge is full. And then enchant again when it wears off.

 

When talking on the smaller mechon try to get the CPU characters to focus on the same one you are (hold z press A with the wiimote/nunchuck controllers) instead of everyone taking on one mechon each.

 

Go into your skill tree options too and if you've not done so already switch Shulk to the one on the left (assuming you only have 3 still)...the one with a Increased HP recovery skill as the first skill. Then go back and grind abit to get enough SP to learn that first skill in the tree.

 

Should take long as it the very first Skill on that tree, then when you have it skill link it to Sharla (I think skill linking is available at that point yeah?)

 

That will at least help a bit with giving you a bit extra HP when you need to heal....also upgrade Shulks and Sharlas recovery moves as much as you can if you have enough AP

 

 

I started a new game+ and decided to play through the whole game only using the beach outfits. Some of the early cut-scenes have been hilarious!

 

Thats a pretty good idea haha.

 

I still have my newgame+ save, when I finish my 2nd from scratch play I might do this too. My newgame+ file has characters at level 99 so it would basically turn the game into a big CGI movie/anime anyway

[Zechs Merquise]

I played a few hours of this earlier. Am now stuck:

 

I'm in the Ether Mine and have just arrived at the "boss fight" with Xord. I keep killing the Mechon to make my team gauge meter thing to rise, then unleash a break attack, then a topple, and a normal attack to hit him. Only thing is that my team keep dying, and I do eventually. I've taken health off him, but it's haaard trying to defeat him.

 

Mokong's tips are good. But in this game there's two key rules to overcoming the difficulty spikes:

 

1) Upgrade all the abilities. Make sure everytime you see a merchant you find out what upgrade books they are selling and buy them. You don't really need to buy anything else in Xenoblade as you get amazing stuff from just killing. But the books are essential and something I missed for quite sometime. Just buy the books and upgrade all the skills of those in your party, this allows you to do extra damage and sometimes it allows you to break or topple enemies you couldn't previously break or topple when your arts were at lower levels.

 

2) GRIND. Like all JRPGs, just grind. I found by exploring and killing I levelled enough to make the battles manageable.

[Wii]

Black Liver Beans are the very definition of frustration!

[Mokong]

Black Liver Beans are the very definition of frustration!

 

If this is the item I'm remembering right there is a trick to help you get these (it bloody annoying though if you are unlucky)...will spoiler it.

 

Inside the Bionis interior, Switch time to 4pm. Warp to the door outside the heart (where the boss was), facing the door if you turn around there is a blue orb at the end of an blood vien thing. Go collect it.

 

If its not the Bean warp back to the door (you have to warp back to make the blue orb respawn) and go collect it again. Repeat until you find it. If the time passes 6pm switch the time back to 4pm and warp to the door again.

 

Took me I think 20 odd tries but I eventually got the beans I needed

 

 

 

I think one of the areas in colony 6 has a chance to give it also...the water tower I think, but I used the description in the spoiler tag to find mine.

[Wii]

Thanks but I found a better way earlier. Stand exactly over where you collect the blue orb on that ledge outside the heart, switch the time to 4.15p.m., save immediately. Then press the home button, reset the game and load up your file. You'll collect an orb straight away, if it's not a black bean liver just reset and repeat until you get one. It still takes a long time but it's quicker than the other methods I've heard. I had 1 earlier, I now have 5.

 

Thanks though. How many are really needed? I think it's 4.

 

Wait a minute, I'll try that. I didn't know they'd respawn if you warp back there.

 

I'll get back to you.

 

Edit: I tried your method, the orbs don't respawn when you warp back.

Edited September 18, 2012 by Wii

[Magnus]

Um, I'm pretty sure you only need two. Three, if you want one in the collectopaedia.

 

No wonder you've been playing this game for 5,000 hours.

[Mokong]

 

Edit: I tried your method, the orbs don't respawn when you warp back.

 

Really? Unless I'm remembering what I did wrong I guess.

 

 

ah crap now I remember it was something like switch to 4pm get the orb, switch back to 4pm wait for 4.15 and it would respawn at 4.15pm

 

Though I think I did have to warp too or the respawn soemtimes didn't happen...ah been awhile obviously...least you got them. One of teh few rare items you can't trade for (i think?) so it can be a real bitch.

[Wii]

@Magnus

 

No I think it's 4. 2 for upgrading Colony 6, 1 for the collectopedia and 1 for the collectibles chart.

 

The reason I'm taking so long is because I collect everything. I'm like a beast on steroids, level 99, all 5 skill trees, pumped up art skills, perfect affinity with every character. I'm collecting every advanced manual, haven't bought a single 1. I'm doing every sidequest. I know I'm coming near the end, I'm at Bionis Interior, so I'm slowing down. I don't want the game to end.

Edited September 18, 2012 by Wii

[Mokong]

If you plan to collect everything it might be a good idea to warn you now so.

 

I planned to collect everything tool, I actually got every single collectable item possible....except 2.

 

There is one item on that can only be gotten from a trade. And there is only one item that will be accepted for trade for it...that item can only be gotten in a drop from one of the super bosses...I have beaten the two "weaker" of the 4 super bosses (a few time each too)...neither dropped the item I needed for trade for the other (can't even remember the names) I've not confirmed it but have a sneaking idea that the super rare drop item needed for the trade might be only from the strongest super boss....which I can't beat

[darksnowman]

I've played this a bit again this week but the font is still murder to make out on my telly. I was trying to mop up a few quests as I refamiliarised myself with the game (took ages to remember how to trigger a tri-attack!) and noticed there are a few I had already complete, but I need to return to certain characters to get em ticked off. This game streamlines so much, is there some obvious technique it has to point you back to these NPCs? Or was I meant to remember where they are...

[RedShell]

I've played this a bit again this week but the font is still murder to make out on my telly. I was trying to mop up a few quests as I refamiliarised myself with the game (took ages to remember how to trigger a tri-attack!) and noticed there are a few I had already complete, but I need to return to certain characters to get em ticked off. This game streamlines so much, is there some obvious technique it has to point you back to these NPCs? Or was I meant to remember where they are...

I spotted that you were playing this again over on the Backloggery.

Glad to hear you're getting back into it, and needless to say Mokong will be over the moon.

 

As for the sidequests (can't remember now for sure), I think you do need to track down the NPCs for certain ones yeah.

[Mokong]

I've played this a bit again this week but the font is still murder to make out on my telly. I was trying to mop up a few quests as I refamiliarised myself with the game (took ages to remember how to trigger a tri-attack!) and noticed there are a few I had already complete, but I need to return to certain characters to get em ticked off. This game streamlines so much, is there some obvious technique it has to point you back to these NPCs? Or was I meant to remember where they are...

 

If you can't remember where the NPC is open up the Afinity Chart, I think its the option in the menu right of where you check your side quests.

 

The Afinity chart can be a bit of a mess depending on how much (or rather little) of it you have filled. But just go to the area where the NPC is, eg: Colony 9 and go through all teh NPC's till you find the one you want.

 

Only NPC's you've talked to will appear on the chart but if you got a quest from them then you obviously talked to them so they will be there somewhere. When you find the one you want you'll see info on what time of the day they are active at and what the nearest warping landmark to them is.

 

 

Glad to hear you're getting back into it, and needless to say Mokong will be over the moon.

 

:bouncy::bouncy:

[Mokong]

EDIT:

 

Last night I decided to switch from playing a new file from scratch to my NewGame+ file.

 

Mainly to save time as there are other games I wanna (re)play before Wii U comes out and even though I was trying to not get distracted by side quests and helping NPCs in my new from scratch game I still found myself doing it...prolly because I was having to level up again I ended up looking for "some side quests" to help me get extra EXP and money (for buying Art books) and would come across other side quests and would end up getting side tracked.

 

While I'd love to keep playing like that I got a few other games I wanna play thourgh before Nov 30th so figured I'd just load up the NewGame+ file I had that I left off a while back.

 

SO I continued my "from scratch" file up to just before going to the Marsh, which happened to be where my NewGame+ file was left off so I played till there on the from scratch file then loaded up the NewGame+ file.

 

I'm then flew through the Marsh and up to the Forest now

 

Messing with the equipment too is fun, since I got everyone at level 99 not too concerned about the stats provided by armour, haha, got everyone in full Panther or Jungle gear, except Sharle and Dundan who I got in Entia gear

 

Don't have enough swim suit gear for everyone, must go buy some of that for when I get to the sea area, haha

[darksnowman]

Can I get party suggestions?

 

Shulk

Reyn

Riki

 

 

I could also probably do with upgrading their gear, arts, materia, etc but it takes so much squinting for me. Shulk is in swimming shorts which is funny in cutscenes.

 

@Mokong-XC I looked for Niranira on the Colony 9 chart but couldn't spot him. So... I've ditched the sidequests idea and am pressing on to Eryth Sea and THE DARK TOWER beyond...!!

 

[Mokong]

Ah so Niranira, he's the nopon that plays with the two Homs boys (or sitting under the tree just up the steps from there) near the bridge in the Residential District that leads to the way to Outlook park.

 

He's there daytime try between I think 10am and 6pm

[madeinbeats]

I've been bitten by the Xeno bug, can can anyone recommend a good therapist?

 

Q. You know the skill tree? I'm not confident I've got a grasp of it. I've set learnt skills but I've just selected all I can with the coins I have to spend and what's available... no real idea of if I'm doing it right - is this what everyone else does?

 

Put about 20 hours in so far but completed and absolute shed load of side quests. Just entered the Stolen March area.

[Fused King]

So, ...

We've just beaten Mumkhar and we'd actually like to know how far we are in the game. We're unsure as to how we should feel about Xenoblade, because, to be honest, most of it feels a bit like a boring chore. We've come too far to stop now, but 30 more hours of grinding and endless walking will take a lot out of us.

We're at level 54 now and I guess we'll have to level to near the 80.

Anyway, It would be nice to know how far along we are.

 

[Magnus]

Once you get through the next (small) area, you'll probably get through the rest of the game fairly quickly, as the game is pretty free from sidequests from that point on.

 

Until the endgame, that is, when you unlock a bunch of them at once, but you may want to skip those if you're getting tired of the game. Some of them will require you to be level 90+, so they're probably not worth it for you. I think the last boss is around level 80, so just make sure you're around that level when you reach the point of no return.

 

That said, you still have several areas left to go, but the end is within reach. Don't give up now!

Edited October 5, 2012 by Magnus