[Exeunt]

I'm at level 19-20 now and am looking for Colony 6 after Juju's capture. A few questions: 1. It seems like the game wants me to find the next location on my own after I go through the road; is that correct? 2. Do I need to worry about becoming overleveled? I'm already a few levels ahead of the enemies I meet. I've done some quests, but I haven't gone out of my way for that many. The possibility of becoming too powerful and steamrolling everything is keeping me from exploring as much as I would otherwise. 3. I have a bit of a hard time selecting the right enemy in combat. When I'm fighting a bunch of bad guys, it can be confusing targeting the right one - I'm playing Reyn right now and when someone uses break and I want to topple or I need to draw aggro away from a party member I often have trouble getting the right enemy targeted before it's too late. Are there any tricks for this or do I just have to get used to it? 4. How much of a difference do gems actually make? I feel like I spend a lot of time rearranging them and I'm not sure how much benefit it really gives me. 5. Should I bother trying to fight monsters above my level? I'm guessing the level 70s are imposible at this point, but would it be possible for me to tackle the 30s? 6. Is there any way to change the camera with the nunchuck? Choosing attacks while moving is nice but no camera is kind of a dealbreaker. 7. Are the "materials" vendor trash or should I actually keep some of them?

I was at the point in the game you have reached not too long ago, so I can answer some of your questions for you.

1. Unless you turn the display option off, the game will always direct you to your next objective (this has always been the case for me up to plot advancement with my party in the 30s). If you have a "Story Memo" notice on the screen instead of the arrow, it just means you are not currently on the same map as your objective.

2. I think it's possible to become overleveled as a result of doing quests, but there are still unique monsters that can keep you in check. I do a lot of quests and I find I have usually been around the same level as the unique enemies whereas the normal ones hover around blue or grey threat levels, often turning black as I advance. If you level up your Arts and do all the quests, you will probably find most monsters too easy.

3. Make sure you're close to the monster and move the target until you are hitting the right one. As far as I can tell, that's all you can do.

5. Fighting enemies above your level is harder not only because of the stat difference, but also because you are more likely to miss an enemy above your level. Named monsters are more powerful than an average monster their level as well. That said, there are achievements for defeating enemies that are above your level, so it's obviously designed to be possible. If you level up your Arts, have good equipment, and have a battle plan you might stand a chance. I haven't tried it myself.

7. By materials, do you mean drops from monsters or the items you find in the field? If the former, you will want to hang onto the drops that have a little sparkle on their icon indicating a rare item in case someone wants them (which is entirely possible). I would also keep most of the field items as well especially in the Bionis' Leg area. The game might make it more obvious that you found something you'll need later after a certain point, but there is still a chance the items could turn up in another quest. From what I noticed so far, most of the common drops and old equipment seem safe to sell.

[burgerdog]

Five stars with Frontier Village and I still can't get even in the chief's absence, probably not far enough in the story maybe? Other than that I'm making good progress, I have every quest possible done up to Eryth Sea with half of Alcamoth done. After that I'll be able to continue the story.

[Hiltz]

For Reyn's 4th skill tree, they say i need to migrate some guys to Colony 6, but when i talk to, say for example Hoko, he just talks and nothing else. My affinity is at 4 stars with Frontier Village and storywise im at the beginning of Agniratha. Do i need more stars? More quests to be done? Advance further in the story?

Did you talk to Ma'crish in Colony 6 first? I think that's the npc you need to trigger the right quest for Reyn. The npc appears from 6:00 -18:00.Also, make sure that you are playing as Reyne when you are talking Ma'crish. Apparently, if you still cannot activate the 4th skill tree, then you'll likely have to do more sidequests in that area. Also, you may have to get Colony 6 reconstruction areas up to level 2. As for Hoko, you may not be able to migrate him over until the population of Colony 6 has been increased enough by upgrading the reconstruction areas.

[burgerdog]

Did you talk to Ma'crish in Colony 6 first? I think that's the npc you need to trigger the right quest for Reyn. The npc appears from 6:00 -18:00.Also, make sure that you are playing as Reyne when you are talking Ma'crish. Apparently, if you still cannot activate the 4th skill tree, then you'll likely have to do more sidequests in that area.

Colony 6 needs to be at lv2 as well before you can send some of those NPCs there.

[Bisnic]

Did you talk to Ma'crish in Colony 6 first? I think that's the npc you need to trigger the right quest for Reyn. The npc appears from 6:00 -18:00.Also, make sure that you are playing as Reyne when you are talking Ma'crish. Apparently, if you still cannot activate the 4th skill tree, then you'll likely have to do more sidequests in that area. Also, you may have to get Colony 6 reconstruction areas up to level 2.

Macrish is still in Alcamoth and wont yet migrate.

But yeah i think it has something to do with my reconstruction only being at lvl 1. I'll try to improve that to lvl 2 and see.

[Hiltz]

Reyne 4th skill tree:



- Upgrade all of Colony 6 to level 2. By the way, you get a useful gem as a reward.

- Warp to Alcamoth's Imperial Palace landmark. Turn around and walk to the big staircase in front of you on Melifica Road. Ma'crish will appear here so change the time to 12:00 daytime. Talk to the npc and invite to Colony 6.

- From here, walk past the staircase and go down the central escalator. Turn left and find Talonyth standing next the big fountain. You won't need to change the time. Invite Talonyth to Colony 6.

- Warp to Frontier Village Chief's Residence landmark. Talk to Hoko near one of the mushroom fountains next to a large tree door entrance. Invite Hoko to Colony 6.

- Go to the Central Plaza on the bottom floor and change the time to 0:00 night. Talk to Pokapoka (the nopon with the blue hat) and invite him to Colony 6.

- Warp to Colony 6 and change the time to 12:00 daytime. Talk to Hoko on the upper right side area of Juju's location. He'll appear in the back next to the second blue tent. Accept and complete his new side quest. He'll want you to collect the following items: 3 Thick Armu milk on Bionis leg, 3 White Brog livers from Detox Brog enemies in Satorl Marsh, and 3 Juicy Wild Meat from Stella Eks enemies at Eryth Sea.

note: the detox brogs appear in Satorl Marsh's Nopon Merchant Camp landmark. Warp there and walk forward and you see that monster behind the rock.

- Warp to Colony 6 and talk to Hoko again. He'll give you another side quest to do. You'll be asked to collect 4 Charcoal legs, 4 Honey Rhubarb, and 4 Tropical Radish.

- Talk to PokaPoka who will appear in the same area as Hoko in Colony 6. PokaPoka's new sidequest has you collect 3 Bunnia Hams from Ether Bunnia enemies in Satorl Marsh. If you need to, warp to Satorl Marsh's Glowing Obelisk landmark and walk to the Nopon Refugee Camp on top of the mountain. You will find the enemy right before walking up to the mountain path next to the Ogre Bunnia. Apparently, you can get the same item from the Ogre Bunnia enemy as well.

- Go back to Pokapoka to complete his side quest and talk to Talonyth and accept the new side quest. Talonyth is inside the blue tent right next to Pokapoka. This quest wants you to collect 1 Sky Frying Pan from near the Sky Stage location on the Bionis Leg. To find it, warp to Kamos Guidepost on Bionis Leg and walk across Vienna Hill to the Sky Stage area. This item is a red orb that is found in the back area.

- Return to Talonyth and she'll give you a second-part of the side quest. Collect 1 Nature's Stove from near Eks Watering Hole in Makna Forest. Again, this item appears as a red orb. The item is found behind Eks Watering Hole next to a tree where there's a group of pirahna fish in the water.

- Warp back to talk to Talonyth to complete the quest. Now talk to Ma'crish (6:00-18:00) who should be found in the general area between Hoko and Juju. Accept the new quest and then go to the back area of Colony 6 where the the fenced off farm area is. Talk to Nopo'rikh (6:00-6:00) next to the friendly Armu monster. and then go back and talk to Ma'crish to complete the quest. Now play as Reyne and talk to Ma'crish and then talk to Hoko. Accept Hoko's quest to collect 2 Soya paste shells from Entma king enemies on Valak Mountain. Warp to the Mechonis Wound landmark and follow the guide arrow to fhelp find Entma King which his lvl. 45. Keep a look out for the big enemy because it comes up fairly quickly.

- Warp back to Colony 6 and use Reyne to talk to Hoko to choose any of the two choices he gives you. Finally, talk to Ma'crish and you'll now have Reyne's 4th skill tree unlocked !

note: Always play as Reyne while talking to these npcs.

[AniHawk]

hey so spoilers for after getting 7th

mechonis field music finally has me in love with this game. that's the thing that put me over the top. good fucking awesome stuff.

[Starwolf_UK]

So I'm going to do a second playthrough sometime or other. I'm in the process of prepping up a material/collectible guide.

The goal is to alphabetically list what materials and collectibles you need for quests, how many you need and where to get them so you can ditch the rest. Also where to find the materials if you're questing. A sample of what I'm going for:

[C] Blue Chain (3)
(3) Q - The broken watch C.9
-L- (F) Colony 9
    (T) Liliana C9 OT

[C] Plate Snow (1)
(1) Q - Collection quest 2 C.9
-L- (F) Colony 9
    (T) Jolele C9 1*, Sonia C9 OT, Perrine C9 5*

[C] Rabbit Diode (2)
(2) Q - Collection quest 1 C9
-L- (F) Colony 9
    (T) Rocco C9 OT, Jan C9 2*, Sesame C9 4*
        Moritz C9 1*, 

[M] Small Scale (1)
(1) Q - Material quest 2 C.9
-L- (E) Piranhaxes near Anti-Air Battery 1.
    (T) Narine C9 1*, Kantz C9 OT, Cheryl C9 1*

[M] Yolkless Flamii Egg (1)
(1) Q -  Material quest 4 C.9
-L- (E) Flamiis beach near Anti-Air Battery 1 day
    (T) Jackson C9 2*

Its not too hard to make as its going through that spoilery google doc and a list of quests and throwing in the appropriate info into as text document. and probably making tonnes of mistakes and omissions :(

Collectibles is less useful as you can't run out of inventory space for those so excess is less of a problem (but so many of them are just sanity-saving to trade instead) so they'll probably become a separate list (I might include best spots for ones for collectopedia too as not all can be traded).

Maybe enemy levels and drop rates for the materials too...

[Poyunch]

Okay Makna Forest spoilers.
I have Melia and I'm wondering what I should do with my party now. Previously my team was Shulk, Dunban, and Sharla. I love playing as Shulk but the party needs a tank (Dunban) and healer (Sharla) so I've had to get rid of him to play as Melia. Was this a good idea? I've already read the GAF post about how to play as her. I'm willing to get rid of Sharla but I'm worried about not having a healer.

[Leezard]

Okay Makna Forest spoilers. I have Melia and I'm wondering what I should do with my party now. Previously my team was Shulk, Dunban, and Sharla. I love playing as Shulk but the party needs a tank (Dunban) and healer (Sharla) so I've had to get rid of him to play as Melia. Was this a good idea? I've already read the GAF post about how to play as her. I'm willing to get rid of Sharla but I'm worried about not having a healer.

You don't really "need" a healer actually, seeing as you recover health after battles. I found it very useful to have a healer in some boss battles though.

[SecretMoblin]

Starwolf, you're amazing...

Okay Makna Forest spoilers. I have Melia and I'm wondering what I should do with my party now. Previously my team was Shulk, Dunban, and Sharla. I love playing as Shulk but the party needs a tank (Dunban) and healer (Sharla) so I've had to get rid of him to play as Melia. Was this a good idea? I've already read the GAF post about how to play as her.

You can (and should) do whatever you want to do, but it would make the game more fun to switch up the party every now and then. Melia can be one of the most dominant characters to control, as most enemies have pretty pitiful ether defense and she is able to single-handedly break and topple virtually all non-flying enemies with only two arts. Her AI is considered the worst in the game, as it only attacks under certain circumstances, so if you want her in your party it's best to control her.

And I'll second Leezard (and everyone else): you don't need a dedicated healer in the party if your setup is OK.

[RagnarokX]

So I'm going to do a second playthrough sometime or other. I'm in the process of prepping up a material/collectible guide. The goal is to alphabetically list what materials and collectibles you need for quests, how many you need and where to get them so you can ditch the rest. Also where to find the materials if you're questing. A sample of what I'm going for: [C] Blue Chain (3) (3) Q - The broken watch C.9 -L- (F) Colony 9 (T) Liliana C9 OT [C] Plate Snow (1) (1) Q - Collection quest 2 C.9 -L- (F) Colony 9 (T) Jolele C9 1*, Sonia C9 OT, Perrine C9 5* [C] Rabbit Diode (2) (2) Q - Collection quest 1 C9 -L- (F) Colony 9 (T) Rocco C9 OT, Jan C9 2*, Sesame C9 4* Moritz C9 1*, [M] Small Scale (1) (1) Q - Material quest 2 C.9 -L- (E) Piranhaxes near Anti-Air Battery 1. (T) Narine C9 1*, Kantz C9 OT, Cheryl C9 1* [M] Yolkless Flamii Egg (1) (1) Q - Material quest 4 C.9 -L- (E) Flamiis beach near Anti-Air Battery 1 day (T) Jackson C9 2* Its not too hard to make as its going through that spoilery google doc and a list of quests and throwing in the appropriate info into as text document. and probably making tonnes of mistakes and omissions :( Collectibles is less useful as you can't run out of inventory space for those so excess is less of a problem (but so many of them are just sanity-saving to trade instead) so they'll probably become a separate list (I might include best spots for ones for collectopedia too as not all can be traded). Maybe enemy levels and drop rates for the materials too...

I would organize it by location order.

Okay Makna Forest spoilers. I have Melia and I'm wondering what I should do with my party now. Previously my team was Shulk, Dunban, and Sharla. I love playing as Shulk but the party needs a tank (Dunban) and healer (Sharla) so I've had to get rid of him to play as Melia. Was this a good idea? I've already read the GAF post about how to play as her. I'm willing to get rid of Sharla but I'm worried about not having a healer.

Both Shulk and Melia can heal.

[picklecannon]

And I'll second Leezard (and everyone else): you don't need a dedicated healer in the party if your setup is OK.

Is no healer viable for fighting unique mobs? I've been strictly Reyn, Shulk and Sharla and considered trying out everyone else but the lack of heals scares me.

[chaosblade]

So I've decided to take on every unique, all the way up to that ridiculous level 120 bastard. Beat him on my other playthrough, but I guess I'm going to work my way up to doing it again.

Meaning quests quests quests so I can unlock some optional stuff I otherwise wouldn't have bothered with. Spent a few hours working on that, every timed quest from the initial set of them and the bulk of the Colony 9 quests since I hadn't touched those yet.

I'll probably hit up the next set of timed quests tomorrow and try to get as many of those done as possible.

And I'll second Leezard (and everyone else): you don't need a dedicated healer in the party if your setup is OK.

To clarify (and I assume this is what you mean) this is not referring to party makeup, but the arts, skills, equipment and gems used for each character. Any combination of characters will work as long as you have a plan for them, but you can't necessarily just throw a group of characters together without concern for the things I mentioned before, or it might not work.

It's not only about playing to each individual character's strengths, but playing to the strengths of the other party members too.

Is no healer viable for fighting unique mobs? I've been strictly Reyn, Shulk and Sharla and considered trying out everyone else but the lack of heals scares me.

Yes, I've been taking out unique mobs the same level as me and a bit higher with Shulk/Reyn/Dunban on my current playthrough. I do use light heal, and I have skill links for things like healing after encourage and healing after chains. I've had literally a couple instances where I "abused" those, and that's taking into account every possible unique up to the point I'm at (killing all of them on this playthrough).

[RagnarokX]

Is no healer viable for fighting unique mobs? I've been strictly Reyn, Shulk and Sharla and considered trying out everyone else but the lack of heals scares me.

I suggest luring non-unique members of a mob away from the unique until only the unique and what you can't separate from it are left.

[Mikey Jr.]

I'm at level 19-20 now and am looking for Colony 6 after Juju's capture. A few questions: 2. Do I need to worry about becoming overleveled? I'm already a few levels ahead of the enemies I meet. I've done some quests, but I haven't gone out of my way for that many. The possibility of becoming too powerful and steamrolling everything is keeping me from exploring as much as I would otherwise.

I am about 40 hours in, and I feel that yes, it is possible to become overleveled.

The thing with this game is that 1 level makes a HUGE difference compared to other RPG's. I was like you, exploring around, doing as many sidequests as I could, and I came to the realization that enemy encounters were not as fun anymore. I realized this about 6 hours ago.

I went into a dungeon, and ALL the enemies were black label. The game was throwing these enemies at me like they were supposed to be a challenge, surprising me, blocking off chests.
Except that when they are black label, they will ignore you completely, and you can steamroll them.

So I started to back off on sidequests specifically, and it has helped. The next dungeon had all blue labels, and was more of a challenge. Gray label seems the best.

My advice to you? When you go to your next dungeon, if 80% of the enemies of black label, then start to slow down on the sidequests. I think you'll have a much better experience.

[Bisnic]

So...Riki 4th skill tree this time. :lol

I got all the prerequisites, but the wikia and google do not have the answer as to WHO gives the "Getting Bigger" quest and i've look all over Frontier village during the day and night and found nothing. -_-

[Leezard]

So...Riki 4th skill tree this time. :lol I got all the prerequisites, but the wikia and google do not have the answer as to WHO gives the "Getting Bigger" quest and i've look all over Frontier village during the day and night and found nothing. -_-

It's "outside" the tree somewhere about the middle vertical height, near the place where you can jump down to the bottom lake. There's something like a trampoline or just a little bit that is outside the fence where you can jump down to the lake. I think it is during the night as well.

I hope you can understand what I mean, I can't explain it any better I think.

[Bisnic]

It's "outside" the tree somewhere about the middle vertical height, near the place where you can jump down to the bottom lake. There's something like a trampoline or just a little bit that is outside the fence where you can jump down to the lake. I think it is during the night as well. I hope you can understand what I mean, I can't explain it any better I think.

Thanks, just found him at 22h, 7th floor right outside the tree. Dabidabi it was.

I looked all over the place sooner but never thought of checking outside.

[burgerdog]

Thanks, just found him at 22h, 7th floor right outside the tree. Dabidabi it was. I looked all over the place sooner but never thought of checking outside.

10 and 22 seems to be when named npcs sit around for a while so that's for the most part the best time to look for them.

[Poyunch]

Both Shulk and Melia can heal.

But both their healing artes are pitiful compared to "MEDIC".

[RagnarokX]

But both their healing artes are pitiful compared to "MEDIC".

They're both adequate, though. The only time you might need a dedicated medic is when you have to fight a large high-leveled mob and other party members are getting attacked by the enemies you aren't targeting or the enemy has a powerful attack that hits multiple party members. Your tanks should be drawing agro.

[gwarm01]

I know I'm incredibly LTTP on this one, but I had to stop playing just to post about how amazing the music is in this game. I'm only an hour in, but the theme of Colony 9 is bringing me back to the PS1 era. I feel like I'm playing Chrono Cross or Final Fantasy 8 for the first time, and for someone 27 years old that's a special thing. The only way a game could be better is if it made me feel like I was playing Chrono Trigger or FF6 for the first time again. Maybe Earthbound.

[BlazingDarkness]

I know I'm incredibly LTTP on this one, but I had to stop playing just to post about how amazing the music is in this game. I'm only an hour in, but the theme of Colony 9 is bringing me back to the PS1 era. I feel like I'm playing Chrono Cross or Final Fantasy 8 for the first time, and for someone 27 years old that's a special thing. The only way a game could be better is if it made me feel like I was playing Chrono Trigger or FF6 for the first time again. Maybe Earthbound.

If you love the music already be prepared to have your mind blown

[burgerdog]

I know I'm incredibly LTTP on this one, but I had to stop playing just to post about how amazing the music is in this game. I'm only an hour in, but the theme of Colony 9 is bringing me back to the PS1 era. I feel like I'm playing Chrono Cross or Final Fantasy 8 for the first time, and for someone 27 years old that's a special thing. The only way a game could be better is if it made me feel like I was playing Chrono Trigger or FF6 for the first time again. Maybe Earthbound.

When you get to the swamp...wait for nightfall!

[BlazingDarkness]

When you get to the swamp...wait for nightfall!

I hated the battles in that area for interrupting the music :lol

[burgerdog]

I hated the battles in that area for interrupting the music :lol

Regular battles shouldn't interrupt the music track, UM and bosses, yes. Kev brought this up earlier, too.

[Jive Turkey]

I suggest luring non-unique members of a mob away from the unique until only the unique and what you can't separate from it are left.

It's no fun that way. Real men fight 10 enemies at once. Just take out the little guys first since they'll go down faster and then you have less damage coming at you.

[BlazingDarkness]

Regular battles shouldn't interrupt the music track, UM and bosses, yes. Kev brought this up earlier, too.

It would have been cool if they did something like FFXIII-2 where there was a broken up/ faster version of the same area track when engaging the enemy

[Rebel Leader]

Does anyone know where I can get the intermediate book for heal blast?

[picklecannon]

Does anyone know where I can get the intermediate book for heal blast?

It should be either at the refugee camp or colony 6. If not you'll get it in the ether mines which should be coming up if you've not yet gone there.

[-GOUKI-]

Who's the best damage dealer? Everyone keeps saying Melia but my Shulk does 10k+ most times and Melia's thunder only does like 5-6k after full intemidate upgrades. Also her summon than cast makes her slower :/

[Bisnic]

I'm still missing a lot of intermediate books for the 7th character and i checked every shops before Agniratha, and found nothing. Are most of these books drops or something, or is there more shops waiting for me later?

[Adam Prime]

I'm still missing a lot of intermediate books for the 7th character and i checked every shops before Agniratha, and found nothing. Are most of these books drops or something, or is there more shops waiting for me later?

Same here, I think there's ONE shop very very end game, like the last shop you come across... I think. But honestly I think you just find most of the advanced arts as drops.

.. Honestly you really don't need'em right away. This is the only character that heavily relies on auto attacking and not spamming arts. I used them for the end boss and only ever upgraded like two of their arts. Don't let not having them keep you from using them.

[dragonlife]

When you get to the swamp...wait for nightfall!

Yes, yes, yes! I love Satorl Marsh at night. It's the most beautiful place in any game I've played, with music to match.

[Adam Prime]

Who's the best damage dealer? Everyone keeps saying Melia but my Shulk does 10k+ most times and Melia's thunder only does like 5-6k after full intemidate upgrades. Also her summon than cast makes her slower :/

I played with Melia the entire game pretty much, and I felt like Lvs 20-60 she kind of sucked. But after I got around Lv~70 with some advanced Arts (the summons cool off FAST) and boosted her Ether, Elec, Poison, and Burn damage... she is BEASTLY. She's definitely a lot better as a high level character and not so much as a mid-level character. I thought about dropping her many times over the course of the game because I felt her damage sucked, but it pays off in the end. (Plus she's a good Chain combo character because of her summons as well)

But to answer your interesting question... It's almost impossible to tell, because you have to consider the damage divided by time it takes to deal it, so a better question would be: "Who has the best damage:time ratio?". (I teach middle school math :p)

So the last character has a pretty high one, once you fully upgrade all of their speed, critical, double attack, and haste skills. They're doing fast fast damage that increases their Talent Art and then that does REALLY good damage.

But personally I think it may still be Melia.
Here's my thinking: If you fully upgrade her Poison, Flame, Thunder, and Ether % - I think she's tough to beat. Follow me here:
Summon Bolt > Copy Bolt > Summon Poison > Release Poison > Summon Fire > Release Fire > Summon Bolt > Release Bolt > Bolt > Bolt.
Now you are doing damage for 30 seconds of Poison that's boosted by the Ether Ups of the Bolt Summons. Now after you release the Poison you now summon Fire and release that. Now you are doing Burn damage as well for 20 seconds. Then you summon your last Bolt and release all three Bolts. Once you have 100% Elec Boost release those Summons does SICK damage.... compounded with all the 100% damage over time of the Burn and Poison damage, including the burst damage of those spells. You can also make that do more damage by toppling first with 1-2 Starlight Kick Topple combo, then start releasing Summons.


... So the way you'd discover this I guess would be to find a high level monster, issue battle order "Come to me" (Hold zR and press DOWN) so that way nobody attacks. Then just stopwatch how long it would take each character to down the monster individually. Now since every monster is different, it's not going to be an exact science, but it'll give you a rough idea.

To answer your question in summary though: I think Melia does the best damage in a single action (Have three Bolts summoned, then release) but The Last Character may have a better damage:second ratio once fully upgraded.

[Roto13]

After 55 hours I'm about ready for this game to be over, even though I've enjoyed it a lot. I just fought Gadolt for the first time and I'm at level 63. I don't know if I'll be strong enough to finish the game or how much farther I have to go. Random encounters and the most recent boss haven't given me any trouble, but I'm expecting to hit a wall any hour now. I'd also like to get some more skill trees but I don't want to spend that much time doing quests. :P

[Adam Prime]

After 55 hours I'm about ready for this game to be over, even though I've enjoyed it a lot. I just fought Gadolt for the first time and I'm at level 63. I don't know if I'll be strong enough to finish the game or how much farther I have to go. Random encounters and the most recent boss haven't given me any trouble, but I'm expecting to hit a wall any hour now. I'd also like to get some more skill trees but I don't want to spend that much time doing quests. :P

Nah I think you're good. I entered the last dungeon at Lv71 and was wondering if I should grind up somewhere else first... nope. By the time I hit the end boss I was Lv80. What I'm trying to say is that you level up really fast in the last two locations you visit.

... I think I hit a small wall of fatigue too at around ~55 hours. Don't worry the story gets "interesting" (bat shit crazy) so the game finishes pretty strong. I think you're in a bit of a lull, but you're pretty close to the end where the story takes a better turn.

[The Hermit]

hey so spoilers for after getting 7th mechonis field music finally has me in love with this game. that's the thing that put me over the top. good fucking awesome stuff.

Yes! I was impressed that the game kept throwing amazing tunes even very late in the game... and that music is amazing and unlike anything you hear until there.

[-GOUKI-]

I played with Melia the entire game pretty much, and I felt like Lvs 20-60 she kind of sucked. But after I got around Lv~70 with some advanced Arts (the summons cool off FAST) and boosted her Ether, Elec, Poison, and Burn damage... she is BEASTLY. She's definitely a lot better as a high level character and not so much as a mid-level character. I thought about dropping her many times over the course of the game because I felt her damage sucked, but it pays off in the end. (Plus she's a good Chain combo character because of her summons as well) But to answer your interesting question... It's almost impossible to tell, because you have to consider the damage divided by time it takes to deal it, so a better question would be: "Who has the best damage:time ratio?". (I teach middle school math :p) So the last character has a pretty high one, once you fully upgrade all of their speed, critical, double attack, and haste skills. They're doing fast fast damage that increases their Talent Art and then that does REALLY good damage. But personally I think it may still be Melia. Here's my thinking: If you fully upgrade her Poison, Flame, Thunder, and Ether % - I think she's tough to beat. Follow me here: Summon Bolt > Copy Bolt > Summon Poison > Release Poison > Summon Fire > Release Fire > Summon Bolt > Release Bolt > Bolt > Bolt. Now you are doing damage for 30 seconds of Poison that's boosted by the Ether Ups of the Bolt Summons. Now after you release the Poison you now summon Fire and release that. Now you are doing Burn damage as well for 20 seconds. Then you summon your last Bolt and release all three Bolts. Once you have 100% Elec Boost release those Summons does SICK damage.... compounded with all the 100% damage over time of the Burn and Poison damage, including the burst damage of those spells. You can also make that do more damage by toppling first with 1-2 Starlight Kick Topple combo, then start releasing Summons. ... So the way you'd discover this I guess would be to find a high level monster, issue battle order "Come to me" (Hold zR and press DOWN) so that way nobody attacks. Then just stopwatch how long it would take each character to down the monster individually. Now since every monster is different, it's not going to be an exact science, but it'll give you a rough idea. To answer your question in summary though: I think Melia does the best damage in a single action (Have three Bolts summoned, then release) but The Last Character may have a better damage:second ratio once fully upgraded.

I see im only level 47 so i don't even have poison yet but ill substitute with wind

[Alucrid]

So after grabbing shitty component Wii cable and having to go back to composite I've decided to just buck up and use dolphin. Luckily my dvd drive is one of the ones that can rip my game, so I'm dumping right now.

[Mikey Jr.]

So after grabbing shitty component Wii cable and having to go back to composite I've decided to just buck up and use dolphin. Luckily my dvd drive is one of the ones that can rip my game, so I'm dumping right now.

I would love to play on Dolphin, but my computer has a 7800GT from 7 years ago.

So yeah.....

When I get a new comp, my second playthrough will on Dolphin.

What are the specs to max out Xenoblade?

[RedSwirl]

So wait, I just got finished with the first town where I started like fifteen quests, but didn't get to finish any of them before the mechon attack. I was kinda waiting until the tutorial was over. What's gonna happen?

[chaosblade]

I see im only level 47 so i don't even have poison yet but ill substitute with wind

You probably do now! Since you get it at 48.

I played with Melia the entire game pretty much, and I felt like Lvs 20-60 she kind of sucked. But after I got around Lv~70 with some advanced Arts (the summons cool off FAST) and boosted her Ether, Elec, Poison, and Burn damage... she is BEASTLY. She's definitely a lot better as a high level character and not so much as a mid-level character. I thought about dropping her many times over the course of the game because I felt her damage sucked, but it pays off in the end. (Plus she's a good Chain combo character because of her summons as well) But to answer your interesting question... It's almost impossible to tell, because you have to consider the damage divided by time it takes to deal it, so a better question would be: "Who has the best damage:time ratio?". (I teach middle school math :p) So the last character has a pretty high one, once you fully upgrade all of their speed, critical, double attack, and haste skills. They're doing fast fast damage that increases their Talent Art and then that does REALLY good damage. But personally I think it may still be Melia. Here's my thinking: If you fully upgrade her Poison, Flame, Thunder, and Ether % - I think she's tough to beat. Follow me here: Summon Bolt > Copy Bolt > Summon Poison > Release Poison > Summon Fire > Release Fire > Summon Bolt > Release Bolt > Bolt > Bolt. Now you are doing damage for 30 seconds of Poison that's boosted by the Ether Ups of the Bolt Summons. Now after you release the Poison you now summon Fire and release that. Now you are doing Burn damage as well for 20 seconds. Then you summon your last Bolt and release all three Bolts. Once you have 100% Elec Boost release those Summons does SICK damage.... compounded with all the 100% damage over time of the Burn and Poison damage, including the burst damage of those spells. You can also make that do more damage by toppling first with 1-2 Starlight Kick Topple combo, then start releasing Summons. ... So the way you'd discover this I guess would be to find a high level monster, issue battle order "Come to me" (Hold zR and press DOWN) so that way nobody attacks. Then just stopwatch how long it would take each character to down the monster individually. Now since every monster is different, it's not going to be an exact science, but it'll give you a rough idea. To answer your question in summary though: I think Melia does the best damage in a single action (Have three Bolts summoned, then release) but The Last Character may have a better damage:second ratio once fully upgraded.

By the time you hit level 99, Shulk and Dunban also have the potential to be a bit better than Melia in terms of pure DPS. The problem with her poison and ice attacks is they have long cooldowns and the ice attack has very low range. In the end they might be good for dealing damage, but tactically you're better off with other arts.

I would love to play on Dolphin, but my computer has a 7800GT from 7 years ago. So yeah..... When I get a new comp, my second playthrough will on Dolphin. What are the specs to max out Xenoblade?

Playing on Dolphin, have an 2500k at 4.5GHz and I still get occasional desynced/garbled audio but otherwise it's fine. Not sure what the lowest you can go is, but it's probably around 3.7-3.8GHz, but with a higher chance of sound issues cropping up.

[Hiltz]

So wait, I just got finished with the first town where I started like fifteen quests, but didn't get to finish any of them before the mechon attack. I was kinda waiting until the tutorial was over. What's gonna happen?

The quests should still be available. Nothing to worry about.

[Elfforkusu]

hey so spoilers for after getting 7th mechonis field music finally has me in love with this game. that's the thing that put me over the top. good fucking awesome stuff.

That first trip to Mechonis Field is probably my favorite moment of the game. The long ramp into the factory with the PSO-esque music kicking in... amazing.

[-GOUKI-]

Fuck shit fuckk shit. 5th time dying against that stupid fucking big mechon tank thing in gate 3. fucking piece of shit. what the fuck is this .fuckc fuck fuck fuck fuck!!!!! Stupid fuck.

[Ledsen]

Just picked this up again after a ~6 month hiatus. I'm at about lvl45 at the big mechon fortress thingie that I have to "find a way into". The thing is, I see no entrance on the map or even an exclamation mark... help?

[burgerdog]

Fuck shit fuckk shit. 5th time dying against that stupid fucking big mechon tank thing in gate 3. fucking piece of shit. what the fuck is this .fuckc fuck fuck fuck fuck!!!!! Stupid fuck.

I almost died there, awesome battle. What's your set up and level and the monsters level?

[AniHawk]

That first trip to Mechonis Field is probably my favorite moment of the game. The long ramp into the factory with the PSO-esque music kicking in... amazing.

it took me a while to appreciate it. by the end of the night, i was hooked. had it on all day at work yesterday.

today i progressed through the story a bit. my impressions: hahaha what the shit.

anyway, going back down and trying to level up affinity with places and stuff. i want to get to 3 stars with colony 9, but that means building a heart relationship with two female characters, which might take a while, but that's okay because another place has a bunch of quests right now.

i probably won't continue the story in a major way until saturday, or somewhere around the 68-70 hour mark.