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Xenoblade |OT| Sorry I Kept You Waiting!

C

Chairhome

Member
So, trying to get back in this game, and I think I'm not very good at it, or need to do some grinding. Currently fighting this boss
Metal head's human, forgot the name, for the first time
on the snowy mountain. He's level 48 I think and my guys are level 43. Do I need to grind? I die pretty quickly.

I've pretty much just been using Shulk with Dunban as tank and Sharla as healer, but really, I just let them do whatever and I keep attacking with Shulk (which is what I've been doing for almost every battle). I think I'm doing it wrong. Any tips? Stop using Shulk?
 
J

JulianImp

Member
Chairhome said:
So, trying to get back in this game, and I think I'm not very good at it, or need to do some grinding. Currently fighting this boss
Metal head's human, forgot the name, for the first time
on the snowy mountain. He's level 48 I think and my guys are level 43. Do I need to grind? I die pretty quickly.

I've pretty much just been using Shulk with Dunban as tank and Sharla as healer, but really, I just let them do whatever and I keep attacking with Shulk (which is what I've been doing for almost every battle). I think I'm doing it wrong. Any tips? Stop using Shulk?
Click to expand...

Stop using Sharla. Her heals look like they help, but due to having less attacking power than other teammates you could be using instead of her, fights take longer and she ends up making you take more damage in the long run than what she can give your party back through healing.
 
T

theprodigy

Member
Chairhome said:
So, trying to get back in this game, and I think I'm not very good at it, or need to do some grinding. Currently fighting this boss
Metal head's human, forgot the name, for the first time
on the snowy mountain. He's level 48 I think and my guys are level 43. Do I need to grind? I die pretty quickly.

I've pretty much just been using Shulk with Dunban as tank and Sharla as healer, but really, I just let them do whatever and I keep attacking with Shulk (which is what I've been doing for almost every battle). I think I'm doing it wrong. Any tips? Stop using Shulk?
Click to expand...

Sharla's healing is just solving a problem that she creates herself via her lack of damage, switch her out (if you really need to have some healing, swap Sharla for Riki)
 
C

Chairhome

Member
JulianImp said:
Stop using Sharla. Her heals look like they help, but due to having less attacking power than other teammates you could be using instead of her, fights take longer and she ends up making you take more damage in the long run than what she can give your party back through healing.
Click to expand...

theprodigy said:
Sharla's healing is just solving a problem that she creates herself via her lack of damage, switch her out (if you really need to have some healing, swap Sharla for Riki)
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll switch her out, probably for Riki. Might level up a bit, then try again with Dunban, Shulk and Riki. Or sub Shulk for Reyn
 
J

JulianImp

Member
Chairhome said:
Thanks! I'll switch her out, probably for Riki. Might level up a bit, then try again with Dunban, Shulk and Riki. Or sub Shulk for Reyn
Click to expand...

Yeah, you should try switching the character you're controlling to somebody other than Shulk to make things a little less repetitive. I really liked playing with Dunban (just Serene Heart and watch him dodge attacks like a boss!) until I got Melia, and stuck to those two until I got the seventh party member (then I played as either 7th or Melia until the end of the game, depending on the opponents I were facing).
 
H

hipsterpants

Member
Alright, so I have no idea how to beat the final boss. I've been using Shulk, Melia, and Dunban and can't even
get past his first form.
Any advice? Dunban's agility is 200+ but it doesn't seem to help and he's having trouble drawing enough aggro to keep
the minions from wrecking Shulk and Melia.
I'm only level 77 so I guess I could... grind. Ugh. I've put 60 hours in so far but I don't want to spend a bunch more prepping just so I can beat this.

I've been really enjoying this game since (mega spoilers)
Zanza revealed himself
but the late-game combat is really turning me off. The fight with the
High Entia woman
was especially terrible. I almost dropped the game there.
 
T

theprodigy

Member
hipsterpants said:
Alright, so I have no idea how to beat the final boss. I've been using Shulk, Melia, and Dunban and can't even
get past his first form.
Any advice? Dunban's agility is 200+ but it doesn't seem to help and he's having trouble drawing enough aggro to keep
the minions from wrecking Shulk and Melia.
I'm only level 77 so I guess I could... grind. Ugh. I've put 60 hours in so far but I don't want to spend a bunch more prepping just so I can beat this.

I've been really enjoying this game since (mega spoilers)
Zanza revealed himself
but the late-game combat is really turning me off. The fight with the
High Entia woman
was especially terrible. I almost dropped the game there.
Click to expand...

just get one more level to get to level 78 and do it again, cause the final boss is effectively level 83
 
A

arglebargle

Member
woohoo! finally beat this tonight. great game, looking forward to xenoblade chronicles x. since i put it down for a while i lost some of the plot threads, but still an enjoyable experience.

789shadow said:
What the fuck is the deal with
Lorithia?
Click to expand...

this was a huge road block for me for a while. i lost the fight several times a long time ago and got frustrated. put the game down only to pick it up again recently. i beat this one by controlling melia and bringing sharla and dunban. the two things that really hurt in this battle (i think) are the nebulae and standing in the acid pool or whatever it is. control melia to kill the nebulae with ether attacks, and if the characters you arent controlling go into the acid flee from the battle so they reform around you and then reengage. that strategy seemed to work for me.
 
H

hipsterpants

Member
The
Lorithia fight
is so, so awful. The party AI isn't equipped to deal with the acid, so if one gets trapped and dies there the fight is pretty much over unless you're lucky. Of course this is easy because the boss can just awkwardly push everyone around (this is an issue that other large enemies have as well, especially flying ones). Then there's the fact that spawned enemies automatically aggro to the main character, which in this case is extremely dangerous and requires some micromanagement that the game (at least in my experience) doesn't allow you. And finally to top it all off is a super attack that the game often decides isn't dangerous enough to give you a premonition for, despite the fact that it can single handedly destroy your entire party, especially if you get blasted into the acid.

I only emerged victorious by playing as Dunban for the aggro and only attacking
her
, basically entirely dependent on luck that I got the chance to block the super attack.

I haven't watched too much about Xenoblade X but I'd love to see better partner AI/more control, or at least less emphasis on aggro management if the aforementioned doesn't happen.

Sorry about the rant but I beat
her
two nights ago and the rage is still with me.
 
T

theprodigy

Member
hipsterpants said:
The
Lorithia fight
is so, so awful. The party AI isn't equipped to deal with the acid, so if one gets trapped and dies there the fight is pretty much over unless you're lucky. Of course this is easy because the boss can just awkwardly push everyone around (this is an issue that other large enemies have as well, especially flying ones). Then there's the fact that spawned enemies automatically aggro to the main character, which in this case is extremely dangerous and requires some micromanagement that the game (at least in my experience) doesn't allow you. And finally to top it all off is a super attack that the game often decides isn't dangerous enough to give you a premonition for, despite the fact that it can single handedly destroy your entire party, especially if you get blasted into the acid.

I only emerged victorious by playing as Dunban for the aggro and only attacking
her
, basically entirely dependent on luck that I got the chance to block the super attack.

I haven't watched too much about Xenoblade X but I'd love to see better partner AI/more control, or at least less emphasis on aggro management if the aforementioned doesn't happen.

Sorry about the rant but I beat
her
two nights ago and the rage is still with me.
Click to expand...

everyone says they have trouble with that fight, but I just used Melia/Riki/Dunban and kept her toppled for a majority of the fight w/ reflect to get out of any jams

idk though
 
D

dantehemi

Member
I'm fighting gadolt in Agnithia and I'm level 65, I made a huge mistake not having a separate save file and now I'm having a really hard time against him (been trying for the last couple hours) am I pretty much screwed? Am I too under levelled? And is there a way for me to go grind a bit? When I try to leave it always tells me I have to beat him first. Man this sucks!! I'm using shulk/dunban/sharla.
 
M

meow

Member
Arghh I triggered story progression in
Agniratha
and missed fighting several of the unique enemies (at least one of them, Wise Gremory, was a quest one, too, that should tell you what area I'm talking about). Then I realized afterward the area is closed off to quicktravel. Does the area open up again afterward? I'd check the wiki but I'm afraid of coming across spoilers.
 
T

theprodigy

Member
meow said:
Arghh I triggered story progression in
Agniratha
and missed fighting several of the unique enemies (at least one of them, Wise Gremory, was a quest one, too, that should tell you what area I'm talking about). Then I realized afterward the area is closed off to quicktravel. Does the area open up again afterward? I'd check the wiki but I'm afraid of coming across spoilers.
Click to expand...

you can actually go back there via the Central Factory (right before
the battle with Yaldabaoth at the Mechonis Core, I assume you are at the point where you know this already)
, there's a teleporter off the main path you can use to go back to the main Central Factory area
 
M

meow

Member
theprodigy said:
you can actually go back there via the Central Factory (right before
the battle with Yaldabaoth at the Mechonis Core, I assume you are at the point where you know this already)
, there's a teleporter off the main path you can use to go back to the main Central Factory area
Click to expand...
Ah, thanks! Decided to do some quests around junks, forgot how tedious it is tracking down the various NPCs.
 
D

Dunbar

Member
Possibly a weird question, but is there any point in this game where you start to get more story? I'm about 40 hours in, I've just arrived at the Sea, and it occurred to me that I still have very little idea what is going on story-wise. I played for about 3-4 hours this weekend and I doubt more than 20 minutes of that was advancing the story or any sort of narrative progression.

I do like what story there has been so far, but I'm hoping the ratio of story to exploration/grinding starts to reverse a little bit as I get further into the game, because it's about 10:1 so far. One of my favorite things about JRPGs is the heavy emphasis on story and character development, but this game has been more like Skyrim than any JRPG in that regard.
 
C

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Dunbar said:
Possibly a weird question, but is there any point in this game where you start to get more story? I'm about 40 hours in, I've just arrived at the Sea, and it occurred to me that I still have very little idea what is going on story-wise. I played for about 3-4 hours this weekend and I doubt more than 20 minutes of that was advancing the story or any sort of narrative progression.

I do like what story there has been so far, but I'm hoping the ratio of story to exploration/grinding starts to reverse a little bit as I get further into the game, because it's about 10:1 so far. One of my favorite things about JRPGs is the heavy emphasis on story and character development, but this game has been more like Skyrim than any JRPG in that regard.
Click to expand...

The main plot really picks up at the end of that area, and the second half of the game is a lot more heavy on story and less on exploration.
 
RPGCrazied

RPGCrazied

Member
Fastest way to increase character affinities? I'm playing with characters I never played with when I first played the game years ago, like Riki. But almost every Heart-to-Heart I get to I can't view. I know fighting and quests raise it, but its so slow. I know about gifts, but I can't seem to raise it that much by giving them random stuff.
 
C

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Fight enemies that have status spikes. There is a level 87ish UM in Eryth Sea that is good for it since it has a sleep spike. So in that case you would give the lead character 100% sleep immunity, let the other two characters will attack, fall asleep from the spike, you wake them up, they attack again and fall back asleep, and just keep repeating that and you will gain affinity.

There are some other enemies that work, but I don't recall what they are.
 
RPGCrazied

RPGCrazied

Member
chaosblade said:
Fight enemies that have status spikes. There is a level 87ish UM in Eryth Sea that is good for it since it has a sleep spike. So in that case you would give the lead character 100% sleep immunity, let the other two characters will attack, fall asleep from the spike, you wake them up, they attack again and fall back asleep, and just keep repeating that and you will gain affinity.

There are some other enemies that work, but I don't recall what they are.
Click to expand...

Oh, nice. But I'm only level 36 in Mekna Forest. :p
 
M

Man God

Non-Canon Member
I like the volcano cave trick in Valak Mountain. It's nowhere near as fast as the end game version but it is also far earlier in the game.
 
M

Man God

Non-Canon Member
love sources give 4 and the best items for most characters give 3. Melia is an odd ball who doesn't like love sources.
 
S

Starwolf_UK

Member
RPGCrazied said:
Oh, nice. But I'm only level 36 in Mekna Forest. :p
Click to expand...
There is a spot coming up soon.
Starwolf_UK said:
Edit: A popular tactic that can be done much earlier involves removing offensive arts and equipping weak weapons and fighting elementals (or were they nebulae) in E
ryth Sea
. IIRC, they show up in rain. Anyway, they're very resistant to physical attacks and they have a morale down spike. So Its a case of AI partners attack and you raise their morale when it drops. Weak weapons and no arts keeps the enemies around for longer.
Click to expand...
I don't remember if you can get the gems that make morale rise/fall more easily at that point in the game. Those may make this quicker (the morale will fall quicker but won't the encouragement boost it more...).

IIRC Raising morale about 500 times gets you from zero to max. I think 300 times gets you to the 4th affinity level.
 
T

theprodigy

Member
random trivia (and because this thread is dead), size of each area in Xenoblade (as in places that are actually traversible, which sharply cuts down some areas such as Bionis' Leg and Valak Mountain):

MAP ............... SQ KM ... SQ MI ... SCALE
Mechonis Core ..... 0.00085 . 0.0003 .. 6000 px/km
High Entia Tomb ... 0.051 sq km .. 0.020 sq mi
Frontier Village .. 0.066 sq km .. 0.026 sq mi
Tephra Cave ....... 0.13 .... 0.051 ... 1440 px/km
Ether Mines ....... 0.14 .... 0.054 ... 1500 px/km
Agniratha ......... 0.14 .... 0.056 .... 545 px/km
Galahad Fortress .. 0.16 .... 0.063 ... 1000 px/km
Prison Island ..... 0.17 .... 0.067 .... 895 px/km
Colony 6 .......... 0.27 .... 0.11 ..... 800 px/km
Central Factory ... 0.31 .... 0.12 ..... 500 px/km
Bionis Interior ... 0.70 .... 0.27 ..... 800 px/km
Alcamoth .......... 0.54 sq km ... 0.21 sq mi
Mechonis Field .... 0.72 .... 0.28 ..... 400 px/km
Satorl Marsh ...... 0.90 sq km ... 0.35 sq mi
Fallen Arm ........ 1.03 .... 0.40 ..... 750 px/km
Colony 9 .......... 1.03 .... 0.40 .... 1000 px/km
Sword Valley ...... 1.15 .... 0.45 ..... 500 px/km
Bionis' Leg ....... 1.89 sq km ... 0.73 sq mi
Valak Mountain .... 2.18 .... 0.84 ..... 500 px/km
Makna Forest ...... 3.01 sq km ... 1.16 sq mi
Eryth Sea ........ 15.24 .... 5.89 ..... 250 px/km


TOTAL: 29.85 sq km (11.52 sq mi)

remember before you say "that seems pretty small", remember that this is just areas you can walk directly on (also it doesn't include bridges, not like those add up to much)
 
G

Golnei

Member
Deku Tree said:
So was this all just a computer simulation?
Click to expand...

Are you referring to
Klaus and Meyneth's experiment? The implication seems to be that Xenoblade's world was real, but formed as a result of whatever Klaus did that destroyed the initial universe, with the Alvis AI gaining sentience / omnipotence through the same event.
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
Golnei said:
Are you referring to
Klaus and Meyneth's experiment? The implication seems to be that Xenoblade's world was real, but formed as a result of whatever Klaus did that destroyed the initial universe, with the Alvis AI gaining sentience / omnipotence through the same event.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I was thinking of... I thought the world was all just existing on a computer hard drive in lots of 1's and 0's somewhere. I don't understand how the world could be real given the way it was formed...

EDIT: These are end game spoilers.
 
D

Dunbar

Member
theprodigy said:
random trivia (and because this thread is dead), size of each area in Xenoblade (as in places that are actually traversible, which sharply cuts down some areas such as Bionis' Leg and Valak Mountain):

*snip*
Click to expand...

So does that mean the Eryth Sea is the last of the really gigantic explorable areas? I'm just at that part doing all of the plot stuff with Melia.
 
C

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Deku Tree said:
Ok I did it. But I thought spoilers were spoilers.
Click to expand...

It's just good posting etiquette to give context so people who may not have beaten the game but want to discuss it can get an idea whether or not something is okay to read. I can't even remember all the times I've seen comments like "god damn it I shouldn't have clicked that" in response to unmarked spoilers.

Dunbar said:
So does that mean the Eryth Sea is the last of the really gigantic explorable areas? I'm just at that part doing all of the plot stuff with Melia.
Click to expand...

Those are in order by size, so you should be able to see there are some bigger ones you haven't been to yet.

Most of the bigger areas are in the first half of the game though.
 
T

theprodigy

Member
chaosblade said:
It's just good posting etiquette to give context so people who may not have beaten the game but want to discuss it can get an idea whether or not something is okay to read. I can't even remember all the times I've seen comments like "god damn it I shouldn't have clicked that" in response to unmarked spoilers.



Those are in order by size, so you should be able to see there are some bigger ones you haven't been to yet.

Most of the bigger areas are in the first half of the game though.
Click to expand...

bigger size=more quests=more filler quests though :p
 
openrob

openrob

Member
Really only about 5 hours in. Just got past the
Talking Mechon
Really enjoying it, but battles are something a little complicated to get my head around. From the discussion around this game I knoI have no idea what is going on story wise yet, and the fact that I wont know for dozens of hours makes reading these spoilers extremely tempting!
 
R

redhairedking

Junior Member
openrob said:
Really only about 5 hours in. Just got past the
Talking Mechon
Really enjoying it, but battles are something a little complicated to get my head around. From the discussion around this game I knoI have no idea what is going on story wise yet, and the fact that I wont know for dozens of hours makes reading these spoilers extremely tempting!
Click to expand...

Resist! This story is one you really do not want to spoil, it's wonderful. Battles aren't terribly complicated, you'll get a feel for it.
 
R

Rawk Hawk

Member
I had issues with the battles at first too, then one fight it just.. worked and has been fine sense.

Time to study Man God's Godly Guide and get ready for my push through the end game! After preordering the game, I might finally finish it, haha.
 
openrob

openrob

Member
Playing it now - 10 hours in - I think it is because 1. There is a lot going on onscreen. And 2. Because I expected it to be more complicated. Like yeah I have no idea about affinity and all of that properly yet, but basically the battles are very simple.

I think people (and myself at first) feel daunted because they think there is something they arent getting.
 
M

meow

Member
The battles add new stuff as you progress. I made it all the way to level 70-something before I even paid attention to spike effects, when I ran into a unique I kept dying to.
 
T

theprodigy

Member
meow said:
The battles add new stuff as you progress. I made it all the way to level 70-something before I even paid attention to spike effects, when I ran into a unique I kept dying to.
Click to expand...

thing is, very few bosses actually have spikes, so if you don't do optional fights you will never even need to know outside of like one endgame fight
 
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