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Xenoblade Chronicles X |OT2| Welcome to New L+A a.k.a. Read the Frakkin' Manual!

jdstorm

Banned
Switch the player controled Character to Elma. Most of her DPS comes from positional attacks that her AI is poor at executing. So you get a nice boost when its used properly.

Ghostwalker is also essential for running away from enemies you arent ready to face yet.
You don't build up affinity with other characters if you control anyone but the MC. Just a tip if you're trying to jack that up.
 
Played quite a bit tonight though for some reason it took me some time to get into it. Beat chapter 10 and did a few sidequests as well as the required affinity missions for chapter 11. I wonder if I stand the chance of beating this before Switch is out?

I took a couple of screenshots today because I came across some interesting holofigures. Man, the gay characters in this game. It sure is hard to get any kinda respect in jrpgs for gay people. I admit they at least made me laugh a bit.

ys3EoTt.jpg


A2KzGEL.jpg


kQ9iks5.jpg


I need to upgrade the weapons on my skell... This game is good stuff.
 

RiggyRob

Member
Switch the player controled Character to Elma. Most of her DPS comes from positional attacks that her AI is poor at executing. So you get a nice boost when its used properly.

Ghostwalker is also essential for running away from enemies you arent ready to face yet.

Man, it was bad enough having to control Melia because her AI was bad, not Elma too...

We managed to get through it - took us four hours, but we did it! I need to properly examine all the equipment and skills everyone has because we've barely touched them.
 

neoemonk

Member
I need money bad. I'm actually considering leaving the Wii U on overnight to let the money pile up, but I didn't want to resort to that. I'm level 45 across my party now and can't afford to upgrade their gear at all.
 

alvis.exe

Member
I need money bad. I'm actually considering leaving the Wii U on overnight to let the money pile up, but I didn't want to resort to that. I'm level 45 across my party now and can't afford to upgrade their gear at all.

Time to re-evaluate your probe setup! Make sure you're using storage+booster+duplicator probes properly. For money, have you discovered all the sightseeing spots in the hexes that have them?

Try these lists out to see about getting some more special probes to use.
 

neoemonk

Member
With a little help online I went from 30k to 120k. The only extra probe I needed was a level 2 booster, so I finished up the Primorida collectapedia for that. Now I just need to wait for that cash to start rolling in.
 
With a little help online I went from 30k to 120k. The only extra probe I needed was a level 2 booster, so I finished up the Primorida collectapedia for that. Now I just need to wait for that cash to start rolling in.
By the time you reach the end game, you'll have piles of cash but nothing to spend it on. All the best gear and skells depend on enemy drops and miranium.
 
Played a bit more since the other day and feeling less intimidated. Killed a bunch of enemies in the first area to get comfortable with things. The UI is just bad and having it be raining is so profoundly stupid. "Let's overwhelm the player with the battle system and throw in poor visibility on top of it."
 

neoemonk

Member
I made a bunch of money and upgraded my ground gear to level 45 weapons and armor for the whole team, and then crushed Chapter 11.

Decided to give Chapter 12 a go. My party is level 46 and 45 with updated ground gear now. I still only have three level 30 skells because I went with ground gear instead of a fourth.

Chapter 12 first boss made short work of me. I reloaded my save and died on foot three times to try the reduced level version of the fight. I was able to get to the phase where he shields himself but my skells got wrecked before I could defeat the shield generator thingy and I called it a night.

I will probably finish this game, but I'm glad this is the end of story missions. I'm pretty much stuck with doing normal missions while I let my money accumulate until I can buy a fourth skell and I'm getting pretty bored with that since that's what I've been doing for a while now.
 

alvis.exe

Member
I made a bunch of money and upgraded my ground gear to level 45 weapons and armor for the whole team, and then crushed Chapter 11.

Decided to give Chapter 12 a go. My party is level 46 and 45 with updated ground gear now. I still only have three level 30 skells because I went with ground gear instead of a fourth.

Chapter 12 first boss made short work of me. I reloaded my save and died on foot three times to try the reduced level version of the fight. I was able to get to the phase where he shields himself but my skells got wrecked before I could defeat the shield generator thingy and I called it a night.

I will probably finish this game, but I'm glad this is the end of story missions. I'm pretty much stuck with doing normal missions while I let my money accumulate until I can buy a fourth skell and I'm getting pretty bored with that since that's what I've been doing for a while now.

Kinda curious. How many alien species have you unlocked for NLA so far?

The reason I ask is because at that point I was rushing through story missions just to unlock more normal missions haha and a large part of that was because all the alien stuff was much more interesting. I had a difficult time on chapter 12 too because I hadn't bothered to do any gear optimization at all, just stuck stuff with the highest stats on everything and called it a day. Didn't have to decrease the difficulty but did splurge on a lv 50 skell which made a huge difference. Don't forget you can go through your menu and sell off all the extra gear for some extra cash!
 

alvis.exe

Member
Only the ma-non and nopon.

What do you mean by gear optimization specifically?

No wonder you're not having fun with the normal missions! There are
8
species of aliens that you can recruit and some of them will establish their own arms manufacturers as well. The main thing is looking for quests from Stella or Julius who hang out near the BLADE Tower. A lot of them do have various survey requirements though.

As for gear optimization I mainly mean the use of augments. I went in without using a single augment on skell or ground gear and that probably didn't help. You might also consider looking for some great skell weapons from drops but I think most of the drop tables out there only focus on lv50 gear. Oh and there will be a forced ground gear stage. I was able to cheese it but it might be worth figuring out a good build going in (the most popular one is an overdrive build). Either that or just recruit a lv 60 scout to help you out.
 

neoemonk

Member
I just finished chapter 12. Have to get ready for a Super Bowl party so I can't expand my thoughts right now but I will say this is a great entry to the series. I loved the last one and this one even though they are different in many ways.
 
Is there a quick reference sheet I can print out? The iconography in this game is incomprehensible. I shouldn't have to open up the manual if I forget what a bloody symbol means.
 
Just wanted to say THANK YOU SO MUCH BLESSED OP. I've been interested in this game for a very long time but have only just now purchased a WiiU. Ready for some adventure, and the art reminds me of Phantasy Star Online which just warms me all over!
 
Finally beat Chapter 9! I think in hindsight I regret starting the Chapter when being level 30 on the dot, because I couldn't accept any Affinity Missions... oh well. The first boss initially kicked my butt, I trained up a bit and did okay and then lost and then the second time my entire team but me died and then I survived and almost won but was stunlocked to death.

Spent the entirety of Saturday preparing myself to beat Chapter 9. Did a ton of sidequests, exploring, and grinding to be level 34. Oh and I remembered that I can ask random peeps in the barracks to join my team! I played so much of the game and forgot all about that.

Today I won! Took me buying a different Skell to replace the one given to me and a teammate addition, but I won!! I can't wait to enjoy the flight module :3
 

TheMoon

Member
Is there a quick reference sheet I can print out? The iconography in this game is incomprehensible. I shouldn't have to open up the manual if I forget what a bloody symbol means.

print out whatever page from the manual PDF linked in the OP has your symbols? :)

or go to the xenoblade x wiki?
 

neoemonk

Member
It did seem like a weird choice for that part of the game.

Question for people that have finished the game:

Can you find out why people are alive in the postgame, or is that just sequel setup?
 

neoemonk

Member
I'm going to move on for now and try to knock out another game before Zelda in March, but I can see myself coming back to this when I have a lull. I have a lot of affinity and normal missions hanging out there still.
 
I'm going to move on for now and try to knock out another game before Zelda in March, but I can see myself coming back to this when I have a lull. I have a lot of affinity and normal missions hanging out there still.
You JUST beat XBX, right?

How many hours did it take? I'm about 58 hours in and on Chapter 10's prereqs so I wanna know how more I have to beat the game!
 

neoemonk

Member
You JUST beat XBX, right?

How many hours did it take? I'm about 58 hours in and on Chapter 10's prereqs so I wanna know how more I have to beat the game!

I think it took me about 65 hours or so, maybe 70, but I accepted the difficulty drop on Chapter 12 to finish the game because I didn't want to spend a bunch more time becoming more powerful. If I wanted to complete it as is I think I would have needed to level up more and then update my ground gear to match the level.

I regret playing this game in a rush but I want to play Zelda and Persona 5 when they come out.
 

jdstorm

Banned
This thread just inspired me to start a replay. Just got done with the Prologue.

Just remembered how great Elma was. Plus there is no Tatsu yet. Love the combat system. It feels like a really good advancement from slower Turn based combat.

Going to look for a speed leveling guide and then just blow through most of the story missions overleveled. Not going to MGS through Noctiilum and Insomnia as a level 20 because of a sidequest. That can wait until postgame
 
I am not one to skip cutscenes but this game is testing my patience. They are tolerable at best and torture at worst. Tatsu can fuck off. The cutscenes are generally so budget starved and feel amateur. The voice acting is stitled and neither the facial animations nor cinematography can compensate.
 

jdstorm

Banned
Just finished chapter 3. Man that was what a 3 hour long tutorial and it doesnt even cover half of what you actually need to know.

Also Tatsu is now part of the party deapite my best efforts to leave him behind. Oh well time to quickly unlock Brainjack/Servant Sacrifice for Irina and power level.
 
So I was skimming the thread and doing some sidequests and was following this post...
Here are the maps for collectible locations. Just fast travel to a location within the target area and run circles/fast travel to reset. If it's an enemy drop material, buy it with reward tickets.

Also, pick the
blue
wire.

Oh and don't burn yourself out doing basic missions from the board! Just do a couple here and there or ones with rewards you want. Only exception are 4 (IIRC) basic missions that get you new characters:
Backup Request (two of these), Marry Me, and Guinea Pigs Wanted
then I did the Backup Request mission and Boze is the absolute worst. I want to punt his unfathomably jerk ass into the stratosphere. How he treated the Ma-non is despicable and I hate him for it.
 
then I did the Backup Request mission and Boze is the absolute worst. I want to punt his unfathomably jerk ass into the stratosphere. How he treated the Ma-non is despicable and I hate him for it.

That is the intended response to his behavior. Keep doing his quests. His line is a bit hamfisted but a nice change from "everyone in your party is a good person with no flaws".
 
That is the intended response to his behavior. Keep doing his quests. His line is a bit hamfisted but a nice change from "everyone in your party is a good person with no flaws".
Another sidequest did this better, I believe. The one where the NPC you were escorting was racist and thinking that the Ma-non was going to kill and eat her. Her hijinks were bad, but they were amusingly so and she had real heart to her arc.

This guy on the other hand is despicable. He's way too far gone for any redemption arc to make me forgive him for being such a jerk. Kind of like the bunny from Zootopia. I just want to see the guy get hit by a meteor or me be allowed to throw him into a volcano. Couldn't say no fast enough for him to join my team (and the fact Elma liked it was hysterical), but a shame that they saddled me with him anyway.
 

alvis.exe

Member
So I was skimming the thread and doing some sidequests and was following this post...

then I did the Backup Request mission and Boze is the absolute worst. I want to punt his unfathomably jerk ass into the stratosphere. How he treated the Ma-non is despicable and I hate him for it.

Hey at least the other Backup Request mission gets you Phog who is the best :p
 
Hey at least the other Backup Request mission gets you Phog who is the best :p
So apparently according to my best friend, it's weird that I've gotten to Chapter 10 with only 3 people on my team the entire time.

I didn't even know you could have a fourth until like Chapter 9 :s

So right now in training for Chapter 10, I've taken Alexa under my wing and trained her enough to pilot a Level 20 Skell! I literally can not beat the Chapter 10 boss and leveling up doesn't affect Skells, so I'm either going to have to farm Skell equipment (which I have no idea where to do so) or level up to level 50 so I can get the Level 50 Skell... I'm like level 37 grrrr
 

alvis.exe

Member
So apparently according to my best friend, it's weird that I've gotten to Chapter 10 with only 3 people on my team the entire time.

I didn't even know you could have a fourth until like Chapter 9 :s

So right now in training for Chapter 10, I've taken Alexa under my wing and trained her enough to pilot a Level 20 Skell! I literally can not beat the Chapter 10 boss and leveling up doesn't affect Skells, so I'm either going to have to farm Skell equipment (which I have no idea where to do so) or level up to level 50 so I can get the Level 50 Skell... I'm like level 37 grrrr

The mechanical enemies like Puges and Pugiliths will be your best bet for good skell weapons. Find a base full of ones that are Lv30 or so and go crazy. You definitely won't need level 50 skells for that boss.

If you reeeeally want to grind levels though, the key is finding small sized but high level enemies that you can quickly kill using skells. Bonus if you equip the correct slayer augments to speed up the process. It didn't take me long at all to max out everyone's levels. It's the affinity that takes longer but there are post game quests that speed that up a lot.
 

neoemonk

Member
So apparently according to my best friend, it's weird that I've gotten to Chapter 10 with only 3 people on my team the entire time.

I didn't even know you could have a fourth until like Chapter 9 :s

So right now in training for Chapter 10, I've taken Alexa under my wing and trained her enough to pilot a Level 20 Skell! I literally can not beat the Chapter 10 boss and leveling up doesn't affect Skells, so I'm either going to have to farm Skell equipment (which I have no idea where to do so) or level up to level 50 so I can get the Level 50 Skell... I'm like level 37 grrrr

I had three level 30 skells and a level 20 skell, all equipped with store bought equipment. My character had the most expensive level 30 skell that looks like a tank, and I threw a G-Buster on it. The other two were the Verus models because they come with G-Buster, and my fourth member had my free skell.

I only outfitted the heavy skell fully as well, because that's all I could afford. The other ones all had stock equipment.

I'll put it in spoilers in case you want to figure it out but the key to the chapter 10 boss is to
target the radar dishes.

G-Buster also allows you to grind levels on those level 55 mechs at the farthest west point in Oblivia. I've read that the Homura is actually really good for that as well but it didn't drop for me from the chapter 9 boss after a few tries so I moved on. You may have gotten it so it's worth checking.
 

jdstorm

Banned
Now have all the requirements ready to start chapter 5.

Ive been playing through the game on a focused narrow run only doing the minimum. Man this is a different experience. If i didnt have such a rich understanding of the characters from my first play through everything would feel rushed and inconsistent. It also makes the continent completion percentage a pain in the ass as you are just wandering around looking for probes and grinding.

Only a few hours away from being able to fast level to 30 thanks to
the Brainjack/Servant Sacrifice tandem that Irina has going.
Then Skells and The Flight Module will be within reach
 

Adam Prime

hates soccer, is Mexican
Now have all the requirements ready to start chapter 5.

Ive been playing through the game on a focused narrow run only doing the minimum. Man this is a different experience. If i didnt have such a rich understanding of the characters from my first play through everything would feel rushed and inconsistent. It also makes the continent completion percentage a pain in the ass as you are just wandering around looking for probes and grinding.

Only a few hours away from being able to fast level to 30 thanks to
the Brainjack/Servant Sacrifice tandem that Irina has going.
Then Skells and The Flight Module will be within reach

A lot of people on release were having the same issues. If you have to speed through this game, it sucks. This game definitely wants you to take your time, explore around, do side missions, get off the story path and just dick around in the world.

It's not like Xenoblade Chronicles, at all.
 
Another sidequest did this better, I believe. The one where the NPC you were escorting was racist and thinking that the Ma-non was going to kill and eat her. Her hijinks were bad, but they were amusingly so and she had real heart to her arc.

This guy on the other hand is despicable. He's way too far gone for any redemption arc to make me forgive him for being such a jerk. Kind of like the bunny from Zootopia. I just want to see the guy get hit by a meteor or me be allowed to throw him into a volcano. Couldn't say no fast enough for him to join my team (and the fact Elma liked it was hysterical), but a shame that they saddled me with him anyway.

What I enjoyed about Boze was how rarely in video games actual hatred is seen from controllable party members as their flaw to overcome. The NPC you mentioned had a fear and prejudiced towards another species which is easier to digest, along with not being one of your controllable characters. There are a number of quests to encounter in that regard depending on how many of the side quests you go for, and it is a major theme of a ton of the side story. There are also a few "hatred" ones but iirc Boze is the only one that can have somewhat of a positive outcome for internal change of that character depending on what you do.
 
Beat Chapter 10 last night with all of your advice.

In fact... I think your advice worked TOO well, it was like setting butter ablaze with a flamethrower :p

4 G-Busters made quick work of the boss, it had no chance.

Two chapters to go, 21 days until the Switch comes out and two chapters of XBX and 2 more games are in my way. I will prevail!!
 
so playing this game again after beating ffxv and its so amazing that how great the game looks and how free you can move around if you take into account that its on such inferior hardware
 
Oh god. Met Goetia and now I fully can't take this game's story seriously. Her introductory cutscene is painful with all the male gaze.
 

jdstorm

Banned
Just got done with the prerequisite loyalty mission for chapter 6. Now off to do some exploring and survey Noctilum. Two quick takeaways from chapter 5.

1 the grind is real.
2. Dougs extra DPS is nice but its no substitute for Irina. It will be nice to return to my defult party.

A lot of people on release were having the same issues. If you have to speed through this game, it sucks. This game definitely wants you to take your time, explore around, do side missions, get off the story path and just dick around in the world.

It's not like Xenoblade Chronicles, at all.

I know. I have already finished the game once (played around 120 hours). After my first run, i just feel that its a bit of a waste of time to do the sidequests underleveled and before you have the flight module.

Grinding a few levels is a better use of your time. With a few G-Busters it only takes about 30-40 minutes to go from level 40 to 60.
 
I think I am reaching my breaking point with this game. On chapter 5 and combat is just starting to feel like a real slog. I think the battle system isn't so well designed. Like they want it to be streamlined and yet everything behind the scenes is convoluted with all the different variables. In the heat of battle it's hard to tell how optimally you are performing.

I know enemies have different resistances but the game does a poor job helping you keep track of that. Let alone letting you know if your attacks are infective. The thought of needing to go in the menu to swap weapons between enemies types makes me to drop the game.
 
Oh god. Met Goetia and now I fully can't take this game's story seriously. Her introductory cutscene is painful with all the male gaze.

Trust me, the story is pretty dumb anyways. Which is sad because of the awesome set-up and atmosphere was making me expect something great.

There's good story stuff in the side-quests though. Main story is awful.
 
The plot twist at the end of chapter 5. The story team really didn't know what they were doing here. It's not an inherently bad idea but that execution. Woof. Everything leading to the reveal was contrived as fuck.
 
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