[Silent_Ocarina]

Random questions: • There's a heart-to-heart in Alcamoth that I can't get to any more now that the teleporters are all dead and landmarks are unusable. Did I miss out on it completely? I'm guessing I didn't, but I just want to be sure... • The unique Kromar on the Kromar Shore in the Eryth Sea is kind of annoying with his spike that puts you to sleep and how he just destroys a party's tension. Is there any way to avoid these things he does besides using a bunch of situational gems, or grinding up to a higher level? • Is there any point to completing all the "post game" stuff besides being a completionist? I mean, I'd kind of like to, but if the rewards for doing the extra stuff aren't really worth it, I might just put this game down for something else for a while... • Also, one thing I've been wondering throughout the game that never really got answered: Where were Colonies 1-5, 7, and 8? Seeing as you end up traveling pretty much the entirety of Bionis in the game, it doesn't seem like there's really much room left for 7 more colonies out there... • Also, along the lines of things the game left unexplained, I never really did get a satisfying in-universe explanation for why the party size limit was only 3 characters. This was especially annoying when there were cutscenes where the characters were like, "Come on guys, this boss can't beat all of us at once!" and then you go to fight that boss and there are only 3 of you.

1. I believe you will be able to access them after a few side quests.

2. I'm not sure whether or not magic is affected by its Sleep Spike. I just powered through with brute force. It takes a while, but doable. You can let your partners attack while you mash B (Wii Remote) to wake them up as soon as they fall asleep. It's actually a very effective way to build Affinity.

3. I don't think there is a reward for doing everything. It's just a challenge, really.

4. I never bothered with this. Perhaps they were abandoned years prior to the story. They probably don't exist.

5. Are party limitations ever explained? I'm seriously asking.

[ultron87]

There should be plenty of room for the other colonies. You take one path straight up the Bionis and dont really explore any of the lower areas. There is at least an entire side of it that you miss including an arm, leg, and shoulder along with a lot of the back.

[Karsticles]

You're not "obligated" to do anything with her. Next chance I get I want to try to set up a loadout for her with no healing abilities in it; I bet it will work better than one might think.

Yeah, you can use her auras, but they're pretty terrible. There's no point in not loading her with some healing stuff.

5. Are party limitations ever explained? I'm seriously asking.

Chrono Trigger explains your party limitation. Makes me happy.

[chaosblade]

Edit: Didn't realize there was another page, oh well.

• There's a heart-to-heart in Alcamoth that I can't get to any more now that the teleporters are all dead and landmarks are unusable. Did I miss out on it completely? I'm guessing I didn't, but I just want to be sure...

Yes, you can access that later through a quest.

• The unique Kromar on the Kromar Shore in the Eryth Sea is kind of annoying with his spike that puts you to sleep and how he just destroys a party's tension. Is there any way to avoid these things he does besides using a bunch of situational gems, or grinding up to a higher level?

Maxed debuff resist is not a situational gem since it protects you from literally everything except topple and daze, but you need to kill a level 98 enemy to get those crystals. It's doable at lower levels if you know what you're doing.

You'll need some kind of resistance for him though. Even if you don't have 100% sleep/debuff resist.

• Is there any point to completing all the "post game" stuff besides being a completionist? I mean, I'd kind of like to, but if the rewards for doing the extra stuff aren't really worth it, I might just put this game down for something else for a while...

Not really. The game does a pretty poor job of rewarding you for doing all of it. The only thing that's really rewarding is killing the level 100+ enemies, especially if you can do it without ridiculously cheap tactics like topple locking. Or doing it at level 55 without topple locking! That video has spoilers up to Fallen Arm, for anyone not finished with the game.

• Also, one thing I've been wondering throughout the game that never really got answered: Where were Colonies 1-5, 7, and 8? Seeing as you end up traveling pretty much the entirety of Bionis in the game, it doesn't seem like there's really much room left for 7 more colonies out there...

Presumably they were already destroyed by Mechon. There was something about there being more Colonies at one point, but they were gone now. And there were areas that the game didn't really touch, the left arm for example (there's a cut area on the left shoulder).

• Also, along the lines of things the game left unexplained, I never really did get a satisfying in-universe explanation for why the party size limit was only 3 characters. This was especially annoying when there were cutscenes where the characters were like, "Come on guys, this boss can't beat all of us at once!" and then you go to fight that boss and there are only 3 of you.

I think it's a case of there just not being one, it's all for gameplay purposes.

After you told me she wasn't required, I dropped her and was surprised at how little healing my team really needs. I put her back in for boss fights out of fear, but lately I've been playing without her entirely, and I'm amazed by how unnecessary she is. It's a shame that you're obligated to fill half of her slots with healing abilities, it would be cool to have her as a pure DPS character.

On my low level playthrough I used her a little with no healing abilities. She's always going to suck with DPS, the only worse character is probably Melia with melee only (:lol) but she has other support abilities to take advantage of.

[MBison]

Ok I'm at the

Discipled Lorithia fight in the heart of the Bionis

and getting my ass kicked.

I am level 73 and not sure who my party should be to try and survive this. This is the first real challenge I've had. I have enjoyed the game but after 61 hours I'm ready to move on and battle after battle at the end here is getting a little frustrating :)

Any tips would be appreciated!

She summons four elemental things, I try to kill those first but they just come back over and over again. If I leave them alone, I just get worked. Is there any chance other than just leveling up, which is god awful slow and boring? Sigh.

[ultron87]

What party are you using? I had trouble around that level with her until I switched in Melia on point.

[chaosblade]

Either use ether attacks or focus toppling and dazing since that removes the physical attack barrier. Killing the summons also removes it but they get resummoned, and it's time consuming to kil those.

[MBison]

Ok after trying like 6 times with other party configs, I tried Shulk, Riki, and Sharla and beat it in the first time. Sharla + Riki + Shulk heal helped out a lot. I would kill one summon to allow me to beat down the boss a little better then go to the boss, rinse repeat.

The most annoying element was my party members getting tossed in the lake, reducing their health to zero and me having to go revive them in there. Aigh.

Anyhow, thanks :)

[MBison]

If I'm just level 73-74, is it impossible for me to just go straight to the ending and survive or do i need to grind some. Or is there enough enemies in the last area to get my leveled enough? ugh. I dont want to grind :(

[chaosblade]

You definitely can't rush to the ending at that level. "Grinding" is pretty fast and easy though. Just hunt down all the unique enemies in Bionis Interior and Prison Island and you should be fine, and probably get some nice rewards too. Normal enemies along the way wouldn't hurt either.

[KarmaCow]

If I'm just level 73-74, is it impossible for me to just go straight to the ending and survive or do i need to grind some. Or is there enough enemies in the last area to get my leveled enough? ugh. I dont want to grind :(

If you're right before the point of no return, you'll probably need a level or two to get to 76. That's about where the accuracy penalty from being too low level isn't extreme.

[cooljeanius]

Chrono Trigger explains your party limitation. Makes me happy.

Exactly what I was thinking of. Of course then again Chrono Trigger is really the only other game I've played that has had this sort of party limit, so I guess I'm kind of biased...

[ultron87]

Beat it last night at level 76. Bosses were good and challenging. 59 hours was final playtime.

I liked the it was Earth all along (kinda sorta) twist.

What was the symbol that appeared on the True Monado? I think there's a line of dialogue where Shulk reacts to it.

Probably going to take a break for awhile but I might come back and do some post-game stuff.

[McNum]

Beat it last night at level 76. Bosses were good and challenging. 59 hours was final playtime. I liked the it was Earth all along (kinda sorta) twist. What was the symbol that appeared on the True Monado? I think there's a line of dialogue where Shulk reacts to it. Probably going to take a break for awhile but I might come back and do some post-game stuff.

I can answer that endgame question of yours.

The symbol is "God". Just as it was "Machine" when the Monado was first switched on and "Human" or "Person" when it got upgraded to Monado II. Basically, the symbol shows what it can hurt. Hence the name of the final boss battle theme: "The God-slaying Sword", because that's exactly what the True Monado is.

[ultron87]

Ah, that is quite cool. Thanks!

[chaosblade]

76 is pretty good for a first playthrough. Curious what party/setup you used to hit the final boss consistently since most people seem to struggle at 78 or so (final boss is actually level 82 even though the level isn't shown).

I'd guess the agility penalty doesn't affect him since no level is actually displayed, but I was missing pretty consistently during the daytime at level 55.

[MBison]

Yeah I'm 79 and getting WORKED by the last boss. Any tips would be appreciated. UGH. I was annihilating everything in the final area up to this point but this thing is obliterating me.

I don't want to reload some old save and level up :(

[ultron87]

I just went with the traditional combo of Shulk, Dunban, and Sharla. Shulk and Dunban were maxed on agility which I imagine helped with hitting it.

In terms of specific strategy I don't think I did much special beyond burning down the additional helper guys he summons as quickly as possible and removing the few Spike Defense gems I had on because he didn't seem to do any Spike damage the first time I tried him. And the obvious stuff like always catching the prompt to get a vision and using the appropriate Monado skill to counter.

[chaosblade]

You should be able to beat it at 79 without too much trouble, assuming you're set up well. You obviously want Shulk around to manage visions.

If you're really struggling, having Riki with DoT attacks (bleed, poison, blaze, etc) plus his healing art and Sharla loaded up with healing arts is pretty much the cheap way to go. Riki has a crap load of HP and can tank (his spike aura is a good choice if he is tanking), his DoT attacks aren't too strong but the DoT effects will deal a lot of damage (especially if you boost them with gems), plus all three characters have healing abilities.

Prioritize defensive skill links if you're having trouble with taking damage. You could also do some offensive combos if you have the coins for it (things to increase the party gauge faster + chain rate up + chain damage up + heal after chains on the whole party), but if you're struggling at level 79 that's probably getting into stuff that's over your head and/or you don't have the affinity coins for.


Edit: For the record, that tactic pretty much applies to anything. Shulk+Riki+Sharla is the broken/cheap party. It's not particularly fun, but you can win pretty much any fight through attrition with a crap ton of healing, Riki's DoT and crazy HP, and the Monado countering visions.

[TunaLover]

Hi guys
I wonder if there's some faq about all the sidequest availables, and how get the max afinity level in each area. In spanish if possible =P

[Gunsmithx]

So 33 hours in and just started doing some side quests in eryth sea, loving the game so far. One thing I've noticed is while I normally stick to one party set up in these types of games this one has me swapping out members fairly often. Also great is listening to my room mate bitch about the 'marshmellows'(nepon)

[Conor 419]

Is there any way to nominate this game for some kind of award? I'd go as far to say that it's probably the pinnacle of human artistic achievement.

[aceface]

Just beat the game last night. Shulk/seventh/Sharla with Shulk at 78 and seventh/Sharla at 77. For the final boss I just had to remember to save my Monado use and my party gague. I was using chain attacks and Monado attacks in my previous attempts at the final boss (usually to wipe out those minions he summons) and I would get caught flat footed on an attack vision that would wipe out my whole party. I couldn't charge the Monado fast enough and got wiped out. Once I started playing conservatively, holding on to the Monado attacks and the party gauge, I was fine.

Questions about the ending...I liked how they brought it back to earth, but I was a bit confused as to what happened with that experiment Zanza did to create this new universe. Did his experiment wipe out the existing universe (and with it earth, etc) and create the nothingness in its place? Or did he create a new universe within the old universe somehow? Or, was everything inside a computer? After the ending is over, what is the nature of the world now? Are they just on one planet in the universe now?

[aceface]

Is there any way to nominate this game for some kind of award? I'd go as far to say that it's probably the pinnacle of human artistic achievement.

I was thinking about this last night after beating the game. I think you could definitely make a strong argument for Xenoblade being the best jrpg of all time.

[chaosblade]

Questions about the ending...I liked how they brought it back to earth, but I was a bit confused as to what happened with that experiment Zanza did to create this new universe. Did his experiment wipe out the existing universe (and with it earth, etc) and create the nothingness in its place? Or did he create a new universe within the old universe somehow? Or, was everything inside a computer? After the ending is over, what is the nature of the world now? Are they just on one planet in the universe now?

Klaus destroyed the universe, but created the new universe in it's place. Alvis was basically the computer/program he used to do this.

Alvis, upon creating the new universe, put Meyneth and Klaus (who apparently changed his name to Zanza because Klaus is lame) in the new universe with godlike qualities so it would have something to examine. And it's why Alvis was so interested in Shulk, he basically existed "beyond" the rules (they refer to this a several times throughout the game, even as early as Prison Island, but it's easy to miss).

Shulk was responsible for using Alvis to create a new universe, so he asked for a universe without "gods" like Meyneth and Zanza. So Alvis basically keeps the data for the inhabitants of Zanza and Meyneth's universe and transfers them to the new universe. The end seems to imply that Alvis restored the previous universe rather than creating something entirely new.

[aceface]

Klaus destroyed the universe, but created the new universe in it's place. Alvis was basically the computer/program he used to do this. Alvis, upon creating the new universe, put Meyneth and Klaus (who apparently changed his name to Zanza because Klaus is lame) in the new universe with godlike qualities so it would have something to examine. And it's why Alvis was so interested in Shulk, he basically existed "beyond" the rules (they refer to this a several times throughout the game, even as early as Prison Island, but it's easy to miss). Shulk was responsible for using Alvis to create a new universe, so he asked for a universe without "gods" like Meyneth and Zanza. So Alvis basically keeps the data for the inhabitants of Zanza and Meyneth's universe and transfers them to the new universe. The end seems to imply that Alvis restored the previous universe rather than creating something entirely new.

Ah ok (more on the ending)...It's pretty wacky that Klaus/Zanza could destroy the whole universe by hitting a button. You'd think they would keep that button better protected...or something...no one else there seemed to mind except Meyneth being like "no, don't do it!" heh

[ultron87]

I wish they used this song more in the game: (post colony 6 spoiler) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LR1N...ure=BFa&t=2m1s

[chaosblade]

Unfinished battle. I can never remember if it was used once or twice, because I seem to remember it being used for one other scene.

Either way, too few.

[aceface]

I had no idea Yoko Shimomura did composition for this game until I saw the end credits. Did she do most of the music, or just a handful of songs? Also, is there anywhere to legally download or get the soundtrack in North America relatively cheap?

[chaosblade]

She only did a few tracks. From what I remember, she did the main theme, songs for the prologue, the Colony 9 area songs, and the main battle theme. Mitsuda did the vocal theme. Everything else was ACE+.

Edit: Details here, she did a little more than I thought.

And as far as I know you'll just have to import the OST. Not sure where you could get the best price. It's 4 discs.

[Samyy]

Officially hooked after what happens on prison island

[L1quidSwords]

Finally got around to picking this up. Also dropped $5 on a Last Story pre order. Gonna be showing the Wii a lot of love for the next few months. I can't wait to dive in. Any tips or advice for a newbie?

[chaosblade]

Finally got around to picking this up. Also dropped $5 on a Last Story pre order. Gonna be showing the Wii a lot of love for the next few months. I can't wait to dive in. Any tips or advice for a newbie?

Read the FAQ in the OP. Or for more ridiculous details, read this. I never actually finished that post, need to go back to it since so many sources for Xenoblade info have spoilers, intentionally or not. My whole goal was to have some spoiler-free info for people to look at.

That's why I don't recommend using the Xenoblade Wiki. Wikia sucks for games with stories because the recent updates box is on every page, and one of the articles or pictures almost always has a spoiler.

[L1quidSwords]

Right after posting I had started scanning the op, lot of good info there. Last thing I want to do is spoil the story. With all the praise this game has been getting I want a blind experience. I'll def stay clear from any wikis. I can't wait to crack into this.

[ultron87]

*totally didn't know about chaining same color arts in chain attacks until the last dungeon*

[Karsticles]

Chaosblade, what are your thoughts on putting Lightning Attack on 7th? 7th seems to attack ridiculously fast, and 7th's normal attacks to do poor damage. I have Haste +40%, Double Attack +40%, and Lightning Attack +200 on my current weapon, and enemy health just plummets once I activate Speed Shift.

Characters spoilers:
Oh yeah, and is there an easy way to find Art Books for 7th? It's pretty easy to cap her skills out. I also just got to Aginratha, and I now have two new Talent Arts for her - Shield, and Sword. What are your thoughts on them vs. Gun and Cannon Drones? I was honestly a bit disappointed that Meyneth "awakening" within her didn't give her a cool new ability, haha.

Edit:
Big tip for anyone new to the game. I just figured out that when doing Chain Attacks, using a character's Talent Art (middle white skill) lets you retain the chain bonus between types. In other words, while Red-Red-Red will do Chain Bonus x3 on the third red attack, doing Blue-White-Red will have the same effect.

[chaosblade]

It's not a bad choice at all, you could stick with that pretty much forever and it would do you well. Of course you would want a better gem eventually, I think Lightning Attack caps at 500. You can double it to 1000 with Electric Plus, but I don't think it's worth sacrificing haste or double attack for. And by the time you've got haste in an armor slot, you're probably going to be using that newly freed up slot for Night Vision.

I guess there is a brief point in the mid-90s where Electric Plus would be beneficial, actually.

Cannon drones sucks. Shield drones isn't really worth it most of the time. Gun drones is very useful against large groups assuming your character is set up to tank reasonably well because you're going to pick up aggro (and it's ether based). Sword Drones is awesome, especially the final version you get in the post-game.

Are you looking for intermediate or advanced books? I think the only places that sell intermediate books for that character are Hidden Village and Colony 6 (some with 4+ Commerce, might be one that doesn't require it that will open up soon). And you can start farming advanced books relatively well once you hit the mid-70s.

[ZombiePlatypus]

For those that beat the game how did you like the story? I'm a little under 20 hours into it, and while there's a lot that I'm absolutely loving about the game, the plot so far has been pretty cliché/generic/predictable.

[Snacks the sober sea lion]

Galahad Fortress is really bugging me. I wrecked Metal Face, then the game throws a miniboss at you that's 3 levels above everything else (Glorious Jurom), so the boss will have to be even worse. And I don't want to do even more of those meager Alcamoth sidequeests for 1000 experience, that's how much I get out of every battle in the fortress anyway.

Level 53 right now.

[Karsticles]

Post

I think you need to learn what a spoiler is.

[chaosblade]

Glorious Jurom is kind of a dick, but apart from his surroundings he's not too bad. But in general unique enemies are stronger than story bosses at similar levels.

I assume you missed the real challenging unique in the previous area, Mischievous Naberius. Relative to its level, it's easily the hardest enemy in the game up to point you're at.

For those that beat the game how did you like the story? I'm a little under 20 hours into it, and while there's a lot that I'm absolutely loving about the game, the plot so far has been pretty cliché/generic/predictable.

That means you're paying attention to exactly what the game wants you to. You're playing into its hand, basically. You very well might be right about what's going to happen, but the game expects you to try to predict it and takes advantage of that. The story is fairly cliche in the end, but I think it's enjoyable since it's told well.

[aceface]

For those that beat the game how did you like the story? I'm a little under 20 hours into it, and while there's a lot that I'm absolutely loving about the game, the plot so far has been pretty cliché/generic/predictable.

Well I would say 20-40hrs is the slowest part of the game story-wise. It picks up after that. And let's just say that the plot has some surprises in store for you.

[aceface]

Galahad Fortress is really bugging me. I wrecked Metal Face, then the game throws a miniboss at you that's 3 levels above everything else (Glorious Jurom), so the boss will have to be even worse. And I don't want to do even more of those meager Alcamoth sidequeests for 1000 experience, that's how much I get out of every battle in the fortress anyway. Level 53 right now.

Did you completely explore Sword Valley? There's some hidden locations around there that will give you a ton of experience just for finding them. Also there's some mini-quests where you have to wipe out high level enemies/clear enemies out of a bunker type things that will give you a lot of experience as well. I was having the same trouble you were at that point but completely exploring that area and doing all those quests leveled me up enough.

[zlatko]

I finally played like an hour and a half after about 2+ months of not touching it. 20+ minutes were spent buying/re-equipping characters. Ugh. :/

[Seik]

Unfinished battle. I can never remember if it was used once or twice, because I seem to remember it being used for one other scene. Either way, too few.

Its used twice, once after the ether mines.

Can't remember the other, but I know its used another time, but I agree, this song is tight.

[chaosblade]

I finally played like an hour and a half after about 2+ months of not touching it. 20+ minutes were spent buying/re-equipping characters. Ugh. :/

That's part of the problem. Never buy armor! You'll get better stuff from unique enemies and some groups of enemies.

Its used twice, once after the ether mines. Can't remember the other, but I know its used another time, but I agree, this song is tight.

Shimomura's work on this game is definitely eclipsed by what ACE+ pulled off (their area themes and battle themes blow away her work on Colony 9 and battle theme). But this song, along with the second Prologue song and the main theme are all excellent.

[zlatko]

That's part of the problem. Never buy armor! You'll get better stuff from unique enemies and some groups of enemies. Shimomura's work on this game is definitely eclipsed by what ACE+ pulled off (their area themes and battle themes blow away her work on Colony 9 and battle theme). But this song, along with the second Prologue song and the main theme are all excellent.

I'm completely ignoring side quests unless they complete while I'm out following the story line, so I feel my odds for finding better gear are a little shittier plus I'll start to be lower leveled then I should be I'm sure, so hence trying to give myself the edge with solid gear throughout. Plus, I don't know what else to spend money on.

[Seanspeed]

For those that beat the game how did you like the story? I'm a little under 20 hours into it, and while there's a lot that I'm absolutely loving about the game, the plot so far has been pretty cliché/generic/predictable.

Interesting at first but I started to stop caring as much by the end. I'm not that big into stories in general, though. For a JRPG, I'd say its pretty good.

[Karsticles]

That's part of the problem. Never buy armor! You'll get better stuff from unique enemies and some groups of enemies.

This is like the #1 rule of RPGs. It's almost never worthwhile to buy store gear. Though you want to buy 7th's.

[chaosblade]

I'm completely ignoring side quests unless they complete while I'm out following the story line, so I feel my odds for finding better gear are a little shittier plus I'll start to be lower leveled then I should be I'm sure, so hence trying to give myself the edge with solid gear throughout. Plus, I don't know what else to spend money on.

You'll probably struggle a lot toward the end of the game that way, but it will work for the most part. But there aren't many side quests that offer worthwhile armor anyway.

Unique monsters though, they're like the game's dirty little secret. The rest of this isn't really directed at you since you're just running through the story, but I'm definitely going to make sure to mention this in that FAQ/info post when I update it some more. Putting the effort into hunting them down is worth it, since they have so many rewards.

- They're the best source of experience in the game. Secret areas offer more, but there aren't many of those and they're one time things. Lots of unique enemies to take out on the way through the game, and killing them will minimize the effort required to keep your level up. It's not unlikely you'll easily end up overleveled if you're doing quests.
- You'll get a crap load of awesome gear since they have 100% gold chest drop rates, and drop the best items available at whatever point in the game they're at.
- They're how you get affinity coins, which allow you to link more skills, which allows you to get stupidly overpowered.

This is like the #1 rule of RPGs. It's almost never worthwhile to buy store gear. Though you want to buy 7th's.

That's the one exception, just because the unique armor available in shops has good gems in it for once! Most unique armor, be it from shops or loot, is junk because of the gems locked in it. I'd rather go with something weaker with a slot for a good gem.