Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (2017)

[Londragon]

Chapter 5 now, and I’ve stuck with the 3 main starting characters as I love the way they link together. Rex is attack all the way, Tora tank (aggro sucker), and Nia healer. I’m reticent to use anyone else ATM.


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[ArtMediocre]

After not really having any idea of how the deeper systems in the game functioned, I decided to take a deep dive into the menus, just to read and check out everything. This game is pretty complex, but after spending... idk, maybe 2-3 hours in menus and reading around, I've figured out the system, the skill trees, the arts, combos and whatnot. Still loads to learn, but the game went from a 7/10 to at least a 9/10. I'm really loving the game now, and just running around and grinding is actually a lot of fun. Not having a bad time at all.

I just opened 2 rare cores, and got... just the generic blades :(. But then I opened 9 common cores and whoop! Here's 2 rare blades for you!  One of them has breast physics set to Dead or Alive-level.

Unfortunately, the game didn't give me a heads-up about how rare the Overdrive Protocols are, so I've already wasted the 3 first you get. That sucks... I might look into getting the season pass later if the new story is any good. 

But overall REALLY enjoying the game now :D. One of the best games on the Switch system, and I have a flight to Australia tomorrow. Looking forward to spending some good Xenoblade time there.

[Ganepark32]

So I've put 10 hours into this so far, only just started Chapter 2 and I'm really not sure what to make of it all. It felt like such a slog at the start and has only really started to grab me now and even then it's still not really got it's hooks into me. I'm just finding it a bit slow going (partly because of the battle system but also because of how massive the world is/locations are which is making it confusing at times trying to figure out where to go and how to get there) and grindy which I don't think is what I'm looking for at the moment in a game. Being sent on fetch quests to progress the main story is something that really irks me in games and I've just come across that here with regards to getting a boat together and it put a dampener on the progress I'd made up to that point.

I'll admit, I don't tend to play many JRPGs and the overtly anime nature of this is at times off-putting compared to some of the more WRPGs I more normally play. I'm hoping it'll all start to gel with a bit more play as I progress through the next chapter but I'm not sure. Story wise I'm not massively far into it so to put it on the back burner and wait for a time when I'm struggling to engage with games (not just this but also in trying to play Resi Evil 7, Mafia 3 and Dark Souls 3 for the first time and none of them really hitting the mark for me so far) wouldn't be a bad idea. I'll see how I feel after another session on it.

It's a shame really as I absolutely loved the original Xenoblade Chronicles. It was probably my favourite game on the Wii ahead of the likes of the Mario Galaxy games, Okami and Twilight Princess. But then I don't know if I'd have the patience for playing through that again either so maybe it's the change I've noticed in my gaming habits and tending to get more out of smaller, indie titles than bigger ones.

[Aperson]

Currently fighting Amalthus. This boss fight is pretty challenging although I had a three level disadvantage and ended up losing after reviving a teammate while my lead was on low health with only one full party gauge. Was doing well too, but I may level up a bit more to help with this boss and anything that Chapter 10 might throw my way.

 

On another note, anyone toppled a flying enemy before? Takes ages for them to fly up again to allow you to attack them....

[Glen-i]

I would have used Tora more if he wasn't so much of a pervy scumbag. I keep looking at Poppi (who I actually like, personality wise) and keep getting reminded of that side of him. Anyway, the fourth party member is way cooler.

Spoiler

I'm so happy it was Zeke. The guy is just a barrel of laughs. Reminds me of Owain from Fire Emblem Awakening and I love me some overdramatic move names. (Ultra Lightning Fury Slash... Max! Because the Max makes all the difference) He's rocking the Attacker role in my party now. I don't care if Rex turns out to be better.

I literally burst out laughing while I was running away from a particularly high level enemy and got spotted by another one, Zeke dropped all his flair and just shouted very loudly, "Oh, Piss off, mate!" Good stuff! Best character in the game.

 

[Emerald Emblem]

So I've reached the 3rd Titan and I've played just over 50 hours, almost beating my Zelda playtime and I don't think I'm even halfway through the story. It's at this point in the game where I have no more money worries to the point I have bought that special core from Torigoth's knick knack store...Let's just say that the blade inside is...Interesting.

[Glen-i]

1 hour ago, Emerald Emblem said:

It's at this point in the game where I have no more money worries to the point I have bought that special core from Torigoth's knick knack store...Let's just say that the blade inside is...Interesting.

I just got that myself. Laughed out loud when I saw the running animation.

Spoiler

I've just come across the Snowy Titan. That music is utterly beautiful. I've started canceling Arts with other arts and then figured out that I can cancel those with Blade Switches, which I can cancel with those arts and go into an endless cycle of non-stop arts and Specials and Zeke telling enemies to Piss off and it's a spectacle to watch.

 

[MindFreak]

I won't be able to afford that in the near future. I have about 130,000. How do you get so much money?? I do Merc Missions all the time but nothing gives more than 1-5k and takes forever. 

I'm still in Chapter 5, just been doing side-quests for the past 10 hours I think.

[Emerald Emblem]

8 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

I won't be able to afford that in the near future. I have about 130,000. How do you get so much money?? I do Merc Missions all the time but nothing gives more than 1-5k and takes forever. 

I'm still in Chapter 5, just been doing side-quests for the past 10 hours I think.

Spoiler

Salvaging. When you get access to gold canisters you can haul up materials you can trade at the trade guilds for up to 30k in Mor Ardain. You can also get boosters as part of the money reward too which makes that farming easy too.

 

Edited February 3, 2018 by Emerald Emblem

[MindFreak]

Which items are good to sell ? Haven't sold anything yet because I'm afraid I'll need them for some quest later on.

[Glen-i]

2 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

Which items are good to sell ? Haven't sold anything yet because I'm afraid I'll need them for some quest later on.

I wouldn't worry too much about money, to be honest. Sooner or later, you'll be swimming in dosh. But you should routinely sell any core crystals and accessories you aren't using. They build up quick.

[Sméagol]

1] Don't focus too much on getting more rare blades early on. They need training to become more useful, and it's more blade management. You will get plenty eventually, you're guaranteed to get at least a couple due to story events and sidequests.

2] Salvaging is good, but becomes more useful the further you get in the game, as you get access to better salvage points, and can afford gold cylinders (and you may have some blades with the salvaging knowledge skill). Never salvage just once, always do it a couple times at least. Even in the beginning though, if you have some money to spare, buy the best cylinders you can afford. They are always worth the investment.

3] In my opinion, the best early way to earn money, is to sell all your crap. It also makes it more manageable, because if you don't sell regularly, it becomes a pain to sell stuff due to the interface. If you do plenty of exploring, fighting monsters you aggro, sidequests, and merc missions, you will have plenty of stuff to sell, and this is going to add up. Make sure you sell your stuff in a region you want to raise the dev level of, because this is actually one of the easier ways to raise the dev level. I would not sell collectibles, as they are used for various other things, and I would not sell pouch items, unless you use a guide. Certain pouch items are needed for blade affinity charts. Obviously don't sell treasure to regular sellers. Aux cores are great for selling. I never really bothered much with them in the main game (I may now, now I'm in post-game). If you're interested in using them, refine them first (this is one of the things where collectibles are used), but I would sell anything that isn't rare at the very least. I would also sell accesories (that aren't rare), and core ships which have been made obsolete. And common core crystals.

[Glen-i]

A little extra money tip as well. In the small village with the mercenary HQ, there's a shop that if you buy 1 of everything, you can get the deeds at Development Level 1, this increases the battle money you get by 10%, which will pay for itself in the long run.

[Aperson]

Attempted the final boss at Level 71. I got to the second phase, before...

 

He became invincible and spawned two more robots. I didn't realise that had happened and ended up having my entire party wiped out while attacking an invincible target. I recall the same thing happening in X before though may need to watch that game's final boss again to double check. Anyway, the final boss is a giant mech... typical yet probably wouldn't have been my guess as to the game's final boss. I had a theory that the Architect was going to be the final boss but that turned out to be wrong, although the identity of the Architect was still really cool nevertheless. The fact that it was basically the same guy responsible for both this and the previous game is amazing and a cool way to really make this XC2. There's even a voiceclip from the first game just as the Architect is about to die. THIS... CHAPTER... IS... AMAZING...

[MindFreak]

Money wise I'm good now. Got about 450k by selling all accessories that weren't rare or uncommon. So that's good.

I also advanced to Chapter 6 finally. I spent way too much time doing side-quests these past 10-15 hours but they are just really good and enjoyable overall. Also just realised that if I haven't got a field ability at the right level, I can just equip a lot of blades with that ability and it will be fine for the most part. Except for doing Master of Thunder quest. Needed level 10 electric and didn't have enough electrical blades. I also need a good Dark blade.

[Aperson]

Just beaten the game. Full non-spoilerific thoughts below.

 

Found out during the course of the final battle that I had a Special that refilled everyone's HP so just spammed that and it made the fight significantly easier. Had been struggling beforehand and constantly dying at the halfway point.

Overall, I'd say this was a game worth playing. It had it's rocky moments here and there, my views on the character designs and the cameraman still stand and I'm not the biggest fan of Rex, but everything else was so good. It probably won't make my top 10 games of all time list but I wouldn't blame anyone who did put it in there. The second half of the game was an absolute treat and well worth the 100 hours I put into playing the game. The ending that I'm watching is pretty insane too.

 

OK, now for Spoiler stuff.

 

This ending so far has been rather melodramatic, but I do like how the message of the "paradise" Rex was looking for being the world they were already in all along. The existing landmass looks kind of similar to what was in the ending of Xenoblade 1.

 

Not sure how I feel about them bringing Pyra and Mythra back unexplained at the very end after the dramatic sacrifice scene. It's an after credits scene that a bit like X changes the tone of the ending somewhat, although in this game's case it's for the happier. Curious how there's no voice acting in the very end, the mouth movements are obviously meant to convey the message which was rather obvious and had been hinted at all game.

 

Final party was:

Zeke Lv.73 with Pandoria, KOS-MOS and Wulfric
Tora Lv. 73 with Poppi QT Pi, Poppi QT and Poppi Alpha
Nia Lv. 73 with Dromarch, Dahlia and Floren, I used an Overdrive Protocol to put Floren on Nia after originally getting her for Rex.

[Kav]

Still chasing my final 3 Rare Blades.

The number of Legendary Core Crystals I’ve opened without one single return of a Rare Blade is bordering on ridiculous, it must be over 100 now!

I average 10 Legendaries a day from farming them on my commute to/from work and I’m yet to pull a Rare Blade from them!

[Glen-i]

15 hours ago, Kav said:

Still chasing my final 3 Rare Blades.

The number of Legendary Core Crystals I’ve opened without one single return of a Rare Blade is bordering on ridiculous, it must be over 100 now!

I average 10 Legendaries a day from farming them on my commute to/from work and I’m yet to pull a Rare Blade from them!

I got a rare Blade on my first (and only so far) Legendary Core.

Not helpful, I know, but thought that was funny. Good luck!

Edited February 6, 2018 by Glen-i

[Kav]

I bonded with 12 Legendary Cores today... I used the specific Boosters I need and my character has 729 Luck... still no Rare Blade out of a Legendary yet!

[Glen-i]

10 hours ago, Kav said:

I bonded with 12 Legendary Cores today... I used the specific Boosters I need and my character has 729 Luck... still no Rare Blade out of a Legendary yet!

Geez, that's some horrendous luck, and I'm not talking about the stat.

I'm on Chapter 8...

Spoiler

If I knew Rex was just gonna be able to use any Blade, I wouldn't have wasted the 4 rare Blades on him. Kinda annoyed by that. Is there any way to get Overdrive Protocols? Or are they limited quantity?

Anyway, my team is now Zeke in lead, Morag as the Tank and Rex as the healer. (He's using Nia as a Blade, along with Dromarch) Tora remains in the super back row forever because he made Poppi's final form wear nothing but a swimsuit. Way to ruin a perfectly good character. I mean, come on! "QTpi"? Shove off! I'd rather have Tatsu from Xenoblade X stand around and do nothing. At least he was mildly amusing.

Anyway, the battle music has changed, so I must be getting near the end. Xenoblade 1 says so.

 

[Kav]

5 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Geez, that's some horrendous luck, and I'm not talking about the stat.

I'm on Chapter 8...

  Chapter 8 (Hide contents)

If I knew Rex was just gonna be able to use any Blade, I wouldn't have wasted the 4 rare Blades on him. Kinda annoyed by that. Is there any way to get Overdrive Protocols? Or are they limited quantity?

Anyway, my team is now Zeke in lead, Morag as the Tank and Rex as the healer. (He's using Nia as a Blade, along with Dromarch) Tora remains in the super back row forever because he made Poppi's final form wear nothing but a swimsuit. Way to ruin a perfectly good character. I mean, come on! "QTpi"? Shove off! I'd rather have Tatsu from Xenoblade X stand around and do nothing. At least he was mildly amusing.

Anyway, the battle music has changed, so I must be getting near the end. Xenoblade 1 says so.

 

Limited Overdrive Protocols I’m afraid. There are a few you can collect in the game and then you can get them also by:

Spoiler

Max out your characters affinity chart.

Max out a 4 Star Common Blade’s affinity chart and then release them.

 

[Kav]

YESSSSS!!!!

Finally got a Rare Blade from one of today’s Legendary Cores!

Spoiler

Adenine.

...2 more to go!

[MindFreak]

Just got two or three Rare Blades yesterday - one or two from a Rare Core Crystal and one from a Common. I don't know how many I've got now.

I think I'm nearing the end of Chapter 6 now. I think I'm overlevelled but I have done a lot of side-qeusts and did sleep at an inn to get the Bonus Exp.

 

In other news, version 1.3.0 is coming next week:

Quote

1. You can lock blades so you won't accidentally release them
2. When can skip the core crystal bonding cutscene.
3. When you enlarge the mini-map, icons from the skip travel map will now be displayed.
4. Added an Easy Mode.
5. New sorting option being added for items.

Advanced New Game Mode is being added. 

You have to beat the game and choose this save option to go into this mode.

Here is what carries over from your completed game:

1. Driver Levels
2. Unlocked Skills on both drivers and blades.
3. Blades
4. Items and Gold
5. Mercenary Ranking Level
6. Town Development Level
7. Unique Monster Kills
8. Cutscenes

Quests, Heart to Heats, Skip Travel Points, and mercenary missions will not carry over.

Here is what is added in Advanced New Game Mode

1. Torna's Blades:

Spoiler

Obrona, Sever, Perdido, and Cressidus

can now be obtained as blades.
2. Torna's Drivers:

Spoiler

Akhos, Patroka, and Mikhail

can now be obtained as blades.
3. A certain character now has access to a level 4 special.
4. ALL blades can now be dispatched on mercenary missions (Even Pyra, Dromarch, etc.)
5. New skills added to Skill Tree (for drivers)
6. You can lower a driver's level at an inn. Doing so nets you more bonus EXP when you win battles. 
7. You can use bonus exp to purchase new special items, including an item that lets you hold more accessories. 

4th item distribution for those with the expansion pass.

 

Edited February 9, 2018 by MindFreak

[Glen-i]

Nice one, @Kav I've had that Blade for a while, annoying to max out the affinity chart, mind.

I just finished Chapter 8, and I am nigh convinced of a prediction I've had since Chapter 6. Fair warning, there's huge spoilers for both Xenoblade 1 and 2 here.

Spoiler

Right, so that fight you have with Malos, where he blatantly pulls out a Monado. At first, I thought it was a cool little nod. But giving it a bit more thought, it came to me that the Architect made these Aegis.

And then it hit me, what if the Architect is Zanza from Xenoblade 1? You know, back when he was a normal bog standard scientist? He made the actual Monado, so I'd be surprised if the game wasn't giving a subtle nod to who made Malos there.

Don't tell me if I'm wrong, BTW. I haven't actually got to Elysium yet. Far more important things to do, like random side quests.

Advanced New Game Plus sounds cool. Having a third accessory sounds broken, so that should be fun.

[Sméagol]

I don't really see the point of a new game plus honestly. Once I get back to the game, I'll finish the remaining sidequests, and collect the final blades, and defeat those supermonsters, all in the same playthough. Unless the game features slightly altered story content to reflect all the weird additions, speaking of which,

getting to use the Torno blades / drivers makes no sense story-wise.