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[Head of Vengarl]

After killing Belgazas a few more times with that team, I went to farm Despotic Arsene for the Demon Slayer art manual. After spending a good amount of time killing it (Dunban's manuals are so damn rare — Steel Strike took forever to get), I would say that Arsene is the most fun superboss, and has the potential to be the most difficult. As you can see in my video above, Belgazas can be "cheesed" even without using topples; just spam Monado A

Spoiler

rmor

and attack from the side. Arsene, I found, is much harder to kill without topples. It has a tiny model, so it's difficult to position yourself for Slit Edge, Backslash, etc. It also tends to combo its moves, i.e. it will use its talent art and then a physical move right after, which will almost always kill whoever has aggro, even with A

Spoiler

rmor

up. It also seems to have a way higher dodge rate than the other superbosses. I had a lot of fun using different party setups against it; a particularly enjoyable one was Riki, Dunban, and Reyn.

After completing my art manual hunt, collecting the Rafaga set for Melia and the Rex set for Reyn (their best-looking armor sets), I had nothing much left to do so I beat the game again and started a NG+ with the intention of doing a speedrun. I reached Makna Forest in about an hour. It's really amazing how fast you can blow through the game with Quick Step VI, First Attack Plus VI, and the related skill links (move speed from Riki and 7th, and First Attack+ from 7th).

 

[chaosblade]

That camera stand. :lol And that party looks familiar. You grinded for a lot more stuff than I did though, never bothered getting some of that stuff.

And I've said before I think Arsene has more (effective) agility than any other enemy in the game. Also has the most topple time resist, topple is extremely ineffective in that fight, pretty sure it's straight up impossible to lock him. Maybe if he wasn't immune to daze.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

That camera stand. :lol And that party looks familiar. You grinded for a lot more stuff than I did though, never bothered getting some of that stuff.

And I've said before I think Arsene has more (effective) agility than any other enemy in the game. Also has the most topple time resist, topple is extremely ineffective in that fight, pretty sure it's straight up impossible to lock him. Maybe if he wasn't immune to daze.

My gear/gem setup was largely inspired by you. I never would have thought of giving Dunban Bleed Plus or Aura Heal, but they're great. I like having the 60% crit rate for 7th because it makes her tension grow very quickly. What stuff do I have that you don't? Aside from First Attack Plus VI, because I'm probably the only person in the world who bothered to get that gem.

How do you deal with Arsene's talent art? Monado Shield only blocks 1 hit, so it still does severe damage to the tank. Seriously the only "counter" I've found is to make sure I have a high party gauge so I can just instantly revive them.

 

[Ookaze]

From what I've read, since it's a quest monster it will drop silver chests 100% of the time, so you have to steal the "gold chest" drops.

But Ledios Arm is a silver item, so you can get it just fine from the silver chest.

 

[chaosblade]

My gear/gem setup was largely inspired by you. I never would have thought of giving Dunban Bleed Plus or Aura Heal, but they're great. I like having the 60% crit rate for 7th because it makes her tension grow very quickly. What stuff do I have that you don't? Aside from First Attack Plus VI, because I'm probably the only person in the world who bothered to get that gem.

How do you deal with Arsene's talent art? Monado Shield only blocks 1 hit, so it still does severe damage to the tank. Seriously the only "counter" I've found is to make sure I have a high party gauge so I can just instantly revive them.

It's been forever since I beat Arsene, especially at a "normal" level. I'll have to try it and see. I don't even remember his talent art, but usually shield blocks everything (I specifically recall that on those fat mechon enemies that have the cross slash or whatever attack). But Arsene hitting through it does seem familiar.

And I never got a Wyvern Cutlass or farmed for a full set of Rondine. Never farmed Crit gems either, but I might to beat Abaasy with that particularly poor party.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

I finished my speed run! Haha, that was fast. I started with a NG+ save at 241:11 and ended (at the activated P

Spoiler

rison

I

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sland

transporter at 247:28. However, I took a 1h 36m "time-out" in A

Spoiler

gnaritha

, where I saved at the activated shrine teleporter and wrote down the time, and then went and killed all of the uniques that would no longer be available after the upcoming boss fight. After I killed all of the uniques on M

Spoiler

echonis

, I returned to the spot I saved at, wrote down how long it took (1h36m), and resumed my speedrun. So, not counting the time-out, the speedrun from the beginning of the game to the activated teleporter that takes you to the final 2 bosses took me 4 hours and 41 minutes.


And now I have access to a fresh new world full of affinity coin-bearing uniques.

But Ledios Arm is a silver item, so you can get it just fine from the silver chest.

The Xenoblade Wikia says otherwise, but once I get the motivation to restore Colony 6 and fight the dragon (the colony has to be like 90% restored to get the quest) I'll save before the fight and kill it a handful of times, and I'll post what drops I get.

It's been forever since I beat Arsene, especially at a "normal" level. I'll have to try it and see. I don't even remember his talent art, but usually shield blocks everything (I specifically recall that on those fat mechon enemies that have the cross slash or whatever attack). But Arsene hitting through it does seem familiar.

And I never got a Wyvern Cutlass or farmed for a full set of Rondine. Never farmed Crit gems either, but I might to beat Abaasy with that particularly poor party.

It's a two-hit talent art; the first hit is absorbed by Shield, and the second hit is not. I don't remember how Shield treats other combo talent arts, but I can definitely verify that it does not fully block Arsene's. And even the second hit alone hits like a goddamn truck.

Ah, well you gotta have the Cutlass and Rondine. Makes Dunban look like a badass pirate with a katana.

 

[Ookaze]

The Xenoblade Wikia says otherwise, but once I get the motivation to restore Colony 6 and fight the dragon (the colony has to be like 90% restored to get the quest) I'll save before the fight and kill it a handful of times, and I'll post what drops I get.

Well, I think it will show one more way in which this wikia is not reliable. It's wrong on so many counts it's not even funny (story, missable quests, ...), but they don't have the french and japanese material to help them I believe. I'll go on with my full archive which is based on xenobladedata and is mostly correct (I had very few adjustments to make so far).
The security missions on C6 are at 15 % completion, then 20 % more for every mission after, so the last one is at 95 % actually. I'm still at the cute little ones village but I'm already at 75+ % on C6 as it's my second playthrough and I kept everything I needed to rebuild C6 entirely, so it was done right away.
I will wait for your feedback as my french encyclopedia is far from 100 % complete and I think I'm far from getting to Dragonia.

 

[Ryaaan14]

Funny story following up my posts about me starting the game and sucking so bad...

So I get to Metal Face and can't do shit to him. Then I realize I didn't actually know how to begin a chain attack. LOL

Would've been hilarious if I went the whole game not knowing that. Christ.

 

[xvszero]

This game is awesome, it has like the biggest, most fully realized world I've played in any game that I actually enjoy (sorry Oblivion.) The story is getting interesting too. I just well... I don't want to spoil anything, I'm about halfway through the game I think. With 40 hours on my playtime clock. Argh.

Though I do have some complaints. I'm doing the colony 6 stuff right now and I'm basically forced to use an online guide because the game is very obtuse about where you're supposed to find this stuff you need.

Anyway we did a sort of combined Wii + Wii U GOTY award for Negative World this year and Xenoblade still won it by a very, very large margin:

http://www.negativeworld.org/news/9164/negative-world-goty-2012-awards-nintendo-consoles

 

[Ookaze]

Took me two decades to understand why RPG and especially JRPG weren't very popular and why lots of women were playing them : it's because people don't like to read anymore, which is a required skill to love JRPG.
It's pretty apparent with Xenoblade where people miss the tutorials despite them being in your face (so they probably skip them without reading), and don't know where to find things for quests, whereas they just need to ask the character that gave them the quest or read the quest description or both to understand where to find things.
I'm a completionist and I never had any problem finding things in this game, well except certain secret areas which were like puzzles to find. Perhaps I didn't have problem because I'm a completionist and enjoyed this, I can understand having problems if you want to breeze through the game.

 

[Mockingbird]

80 hours in and loving it.

 

[chaosblade]

This game is awesome, it has like the biggest, most fully realized world I've played in any game that I actually enjoy (sorry Oblivion.) The story is getting interesting too. I just well... I don't want to spoil anything, I'm about halfway through the game I think. With 40 hours on my playtime clock. Argh.

Though I do have some complaints. I'm doing the colony 6 stuff right now and I'm basically forced to use an online guide because the game is very obtuse about where you're supposed to find this stuff you need.

Anyway we did a sort of combined Wii + Wii U GOTY award for Negative World this year and Xenoblade still won it by a very, very large margin:

http://www.negativeworld.org/news/9164/negative-world-goty-2012-awards-nintendo-consoles

If you're actually around the halfway point, there's an item for Colony 6 coming up you'll definitely want to get since it's very difficult to find if you skip it there.

To be as unspecific as possible, you may run across a non-functioning self-destruct button. Find a way to use it.

 

[ASIS]

Umm.. Guys..

Spoiler

Lorithia

.. Help?

 

[chaosblade]

Umm.. Guys..

Spoiler

Lorithia

.. Help?

Ether damage helps a ton in that fight, use Melia or maybe Riki (or have both along).

Alternatively, topple lock, but considering you had to ask for help you're probably not going to be setup to do that yet.

 

[ASIS]

Ether damage helps a ton in that fight, use Melia or maybe Riki (or have both along).

Alternatively, topple lock, but considering you had to ask for help you're probably not going to be setup to do that yet.

Thanks, but i actually lead with Malia and the fight was a piece of cake even though I was only at level 70. She was boss!

 

[Head of Vengarl]

I farmed some new gems: Phys Def Down VI, Ether Def Down VI, Daze Resist VI (for that quest-only spider unique that has a Daze spike), and some more Attack Stability/Plus VI. The Phys/Ether Def Down gems are for 7th, as they are awesome in the Shulk/Dunban/7th setup, where it stacks with Split Edge and Worldly Slash, and for Melia/7th/Dunban, where it boosts Melia's damage. There's only 1 gem that I want left, but I'll have to get level 5 nature in Colony 6 for it: Agility Down. I'm thinking it would really help against Despotic Arsene.

I've nearly killed all of the uniques again, and I've also collected nearly every art manual in the game; the handful that are left aren't really worth getting anyway. I might go for them later, just to satisfy the completionist in me.

I have almost succeeded in burning myself out on this game again, which is actually a good thing. Tax season is rapidly approaching so I won't really have time to play anyway, so I've been overindulging.

Funny story following up my posts about me starting the game and sucking so bad...

So I get to Metal Face and can't do shit to him. Then I realize I didn't actually know how to begin a chain attack. LOL

Would've been hilarious if I went the whole game not knowing that. Christ.

You aren't the only person this has happened to; I've heard several people say almost the same exact thing... maybe the chain attack tutorial wasn't clear enough?

Thanks, but i actually lead with Malia and the fight was a piece of cake even though I was only at level 70. She was boss!

Melia really shines in the late game, which you are now at. When you first get her in Makna, she is underpowered IMO, unless you know what you're doing (which almost nobody does the first time they play her). But in the late game her DoTs tick for huge damage and her lightning release is godly in chain attacks.

 

[Ookaze]

There's only 1 gem that I want left, but I'll have to get level 5 nature in Colony 6 for it: Agility Down. I'm thinking it would really help against Despotic Arsene.

It will work.
You just reminded me of why I seem to never had any problem with Arsene. My actual first and still prefered setup for tackling the 100+ level uniques was involving an Agility Down VI gem on at least Dunban. I actually beat Dragonia at level 88 or less with this setup (to get an achievement), and every other 100+ with the same one, without topple locking. The Night Vision is useful to topple lock them, but is mostly effective at night (which is good against the highest leveled one). Usually, the first one to connect a hit is Dunban, so putting the gem on his weapon is enough, and then everyone can connect hits, so then tension and all the rest goes up pretty fast. So I was never annoyed by Arsene because most of his attacks didn't connect anyway, and I usually beat him with Reyn in the party (so Shulk/Dunban/Reyn). Reyn was my favorite character in end game to farm AP and PC, which are the most difficult things to get. I completed everything in my first playthrough too (I mean everything except some quests as you can't get them all in one playthrough).
Damage output against one enemy (where Melia shines) is useless for the purpose of getting AP and PC, and aggroing one enemy is useless too (where Dunban shines too, it actually was useless for most of the game to me). Reyn can gather the mobs quickly around him (which is very useful with Arsene), and then with a setup of Shulk/7th/Reyn for example, you can destroy entire mobs in no time, and to me it's still really funny despite having done it tons of time, especially against late game spider mobs. The damage output is also greater than with any other character. That's where I got my greatest chain combo damage of 660k +.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

It will work.
You just reminded me of why I seem to never had any problem with Arsene. My actual first and still prefered setup for tackling the 100+ level uniques was involving an Agility Down VI gem on at least Dunban. I actually beat Dragonia at level 88 or less with this setup (to get an achievement), and every other 100+ with the same one, without topple locking. The Night Vision is useful to topple lock them, but is mostly effective at night (which is good against the highest leveled one). Usually, the first one to connect a hit is Dunban, so putting the gem on his weapon is enough, and then everyone can connect hits, so then tension and all the rest goes up pretty fast. So I was never annoyed by Arsene because most of his attacks didn't connect anyway, and I usually beat him with Reyn in the party (so Shulk/Dunban/Reyn).

Thanks for the verification. I figure with my Night Vision VI gems and Agility Down VI, I should be able to land hits on Arsene with near-perfect accuracy. If you could get Reyn, with his abysmal agility, to hit Arsene, then my Shulk/7th/Dunban party should have no problems.

Reyn was my favorite character in end game to farm AP and PC, which are the most difficult things to get. I completed everything in my first playthrough too (I mean everything except some quests as you can't get them all in one playthrough).
Damage output against one enemy (where Melia shines) is useless for the purpose of getting AP and PC, and aggroing one enemy is useless too (where Dunban shines too, it actually was useless for most of the game to me). Reyn can gather the mobs quickly around him (which is very useful with Arsene), and then with a setup of Shulk/7th/Reyn for example, you can destroy entire mobs in no time, and to me it's still really funny despite having done it tons of time, especially against late game spider mobs. The damage output is also greater than with any other character. That's where I got my greatest chain combo damage of 660k +.

I'd say Melia also shines against multiple enemies, if you have Blaze and Chill Plus gems. What is PC?

 

[MrDaravon]

Okay, what dark fucking magic do I have to do to get a goddamn unique enemy to respawn?

I'm trying to get the Sunlight Schvaik to respawn for a quest. Of course I had already killed him twice before even getting this quest, god forbid it give me credit for either one of those. Anyway, I can't get it to respawn to save my life. Looking online people seem to propose variety of methods involving multiple skips, reloads, or both, and I know that you can't save right on top of where the monster would spawn. So I've been splitting doing the following:

-Have a hard save at the Silent Obelisk which is in clear eyesight of the spawn, but should/probably is outside of the monster's spawn zone. I reload, if he's not there I skip to a landmark in Colony 9 (different map), then immediately skip back directly to Silent Obelisk. Someone on GameFAQs swore up and down this would always work first try, it doesn't.
-Alternatively just on the off chance the save location at the Silent Obelisk is too close to the monster spawn, I have a hard save at the Nopon Merchant Camp on the other side of the map. I load the save, skip to the Silent Obelisk, and then if he's not there I then warp to a Colony 9 landmark and back again.

I've tried both methods a million times, with no success and have wound up spending the majority of this play session trying to spawn this fucker and my patience is wearing thin. And yes it's daytime (which is a requirement for this one, I have it set to noon). What the fuck am I doing wrong? If respawning monsters is this fucking crazy to do, I'm immediately dropping my plans to go for a 100% on this game.

Edit: Finally got him, that was a good hour or so. Would still appreciate feedback on how this works though, this is the first unique monster I've specifically had to respawn, if they're all like this than fuck that.

Also I enjoy how the generic party talk when getting and accepting a quest becomes more and more insane as the game progresses and you've seen it a hundred times.

NPC: "I have a problem!"
Shulk: "It sounds like you have a problem."

 

[Philia]

I've tried both methods a million times, with no success and have wound up spending the majority of this play session trying to spawn this fucker and my patience is wearing thin. And yes it's daytime (which is a requirement for this one, I have it set to noon). What the fuck am I doing wrong? If respawning monsters is this fucking crazy to do, I'm immediately dropping my plans to go for a 100% on this game.

Edit: Finally got him, that was a good hour or so. Would still appreciate feedback on how this works though, this is the first unique monster I've specifically had to respawn, if they're all like this than fuck that.

Uh, easy. Just COLLECT the damn quests FIRST before heading toward these damn things. They'd ALWAYS appear for the first time. I'm serious, there's ALWAYS will be monster hunting quests and item collectaton quests and the like when you head into a new area. I'd suggest you do those first efficiently before doing anything else.

 

[Mockingbird]

Go to where it roams/respawns and save your game. Then load the file you just saved. Repeat till you see it.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Tonight I was rewarded for being the kind of person who always goes out of his way to pick up collectibles. I had 0% of Colony 6 rebuilt, and in less than 30 minutes I had 99% of the materials for a fully-leveled Nature. The only problem was that I needed a Black Liver Bean, which took me nearly 2 hours to get. -_- But still, getting rank VI crystals in the Ether Mine for just 2 hours of work was awesome. I was able to quickly megaheat Agility Down VI gems. Time to test them out on Arsene!

Go to where it roams/respawns and save your game. Then load the file you just saved. Repeat till you see it.

This is the correct way. Sometimes it can take many reloads, but the unique will appear eventually. Do note that some unique monsters only appear during certain weather patterns (rain, heat waves, starry nights, thunderstorms, blizzards, etc.). Changing the weather is easy but also can be time-consuming (fucking took me like 45 minutes to get a heat wave for Shimmering Forte). To change the weather, simply change the time. You can actually keep pressing the same time (i.e., you keep selecting 19:00) and it will count.

 

[Ookaze]

What is PC?

Sorry, it must be called SP (or CP ?) in the english version.

Uh, easy. Just COLLECT the damn quests FIRST before heading toward these damn things. They'd ALWAYS appear for the first time. I'm serious, there's ALWAYS will be monster hunting quests and item collectaton quests and the like when you head into a new area. I'd suggest you do those first efficiently before doing anything else.

The problem is that sometimes the quest appears once you have a high reputation, meaning you had time to do lots of quests and scouting the entire map before getting the quest. Once you know what to do, it's no longer a problem though.
The biggest problem is getting Forte, as most people don't know the only reliable way to recognize big heat weather condition (I think that's the name for english version) in Makna. Which is that there is no wind, so no foliage is moving at all.

 

[chaosblade]

There are other reliable ways. The bird sounds in the background aren't there during heatwaves. Aside from just seeing the difference that's what I used.

Also, the Plasma Deinos will disappear if I remember right, so only the fire ones will be around.

The only problem was that I needed a Black Liver Bean, which took me nearly 2 hours to get.

Not sure where you farmed it, but it's never taken me more than 10 minutes or so in

Spoiler

Second Lung

.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Sorry, it must be called SP (or CP ?) in the english version.

Ah yes, it's called SP. And yeah, that was by far the worst to farm. Doing NG+ made it easier because of the SP you get for discovering landmarks and locations.

The problem is that sometimes the quest appears once you have a high reputation, meaning you had time to do lots of quests and scouting the entire map before getting the quest. Once you know what to do, it's no longer a problem though.
The biggest problem is getting Forte, as most people don't know the only reliable way to recognize big heat weather condition (I think that's the name for english version) in Makna. Which is that there is no wind, so no foliage is moving at all.

There are other reliable ways. The bird sounds in the background aren't there during heatwaves. Aside from just seeing the difference that's what I used.

Also, the Plasma Deinos will disappear if I remember right, so only the fire ones will be around.

It's called a heat wave in the English version. And yeah, the birds stop chirping during a heat wave, so that's how I recognized it. You can also tell it's a heat wave because your screen will get a light "smokescreen" effect, which is supposed to be the heat haze but it looks more like pale smoke.

Not sure where you farmed it, but it's never taken me more than 10 minutes or so in

Spoiler

Second Lung

.

I think I was just really unlucky. In that area it is supposed to be a 8% collection rate, but no luck for me.

 

[Ookaze]

I think I was just really unlucky. In that area it is supposed to be a 8% collection rate, but no luck for me.

There are actually only 3 blue orbs that give this material there. I was farming one of them, which is just besides a Unique monster, the farthest one from the entrance. The Unique is not always there, and when he was there, the time for killing him and his minions and the blue orb was appearing. When he was not there, I was scouting the entire area waiting for them to appear. Then go to the back, save and reload, so as not to wait 6 minutes (hours in the game) or more for them to reappear. I was doing that to get the number necessary to rebuild the colony right away in NG+.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

I'll try that next time, thanks. It'll probably be a while before I do another playthrough; two in a row has worn me out!

Here's something interesting I found out last night: Reyn is a better tank than Dunban for Despotic Arsene. Dunban is still great and all, but the fact that he always dies against Arsene's talent art + Imperial Sobat/Emperor Blow/Imperial Upper combo was starting to annoy me. Plus, he struggles to hold aggro from 7th in the Arsene fight. Last night I went with a full physical tank build: I linked Shulk's -5 weight skill and equipped Dunban with heavy armor (M100 & Ledios) with no agility penalty. I also linked 7th's 10% less phys damage skill, for extra tankiness. And still, Arsene's combo killed him — even with M. Armor up. I looked it up on the Xenoblade Wikia, and it says this:

Emperor Combo X - Despotic Arsene's Talent Art. A severely damaging 2-hit combo. Almost impossible for Reyn to survive, even with Last Stand active while he is under the effect of Sharla's Shield Bullet (unless he guards with Guard Shift to half the damage, or uses Shulk's Shield or Armour talent arts).

So I decided to use Reyn, figuring I'd be able to warn him to use his Guard Shift art; combined with Armor he was sure to survive.

I equipped Reyn with the same heavy armor set, Dunban's 15% less phys damage skill, 7th's 10% less phys damage skill, as well as Shulk and Sharla's +5% defense skills. I didn't even need to use Guard Shift. It was ridiculous; Reyn was tanking every move from Arsene with ease. The dreaded combo did a good chunk of damage to him, but a Light Heal + Aura Heal VI gem had him back to full HP in no time. And with Night Vision + 7th's Agility Down gem, he had no problem hitting Arsene and holding aggro at all. I tried this three times and each time we kicked Arsene's ass without any problems.

Dunban is still a better tank against the other 3 superbosses, though.

 

[Mockingbird]

Holy crap at the story! Monolithsoft never fails!

 

[coughlanio]

I just tracked down a sealed copy for RRP in the UK.

Apart from Pokémon/Chrono Trigger/FFXIII, I've never played a JRPG, but they've always interested me, and this game definitely looks intriguing, especially since it's considered by a lot of people to be the best JRPG in a decade..

 

[Ookaze]

I equipped Reyn with the same heavy armor set, Dunban's 15% less phys damage skill, 7th's 10% less phys damage skill, as well as Shulk and Sharla's +5% defense skills. I didn't even need to use Guard Shift. It was ridiculous; Reyn was tanking every move from Arsene with ease. The dreaded combo did a good chunk of damage to him, but a Light Heal + Aura Heal VI gem had him back to full HP in no time. And with Night Vision + 7th's Agility Down gem, he had no problem hitting Arsene and holding aggro at all. I tried this three times and each time we kicked Arsene's ass without any problems.

Exactly, which is why I never had any problem with Arsene. I think I always had Aura Heal on Reyn, so as he is always on Aura, he always heals.
Also, I always have the gem that heals when doing damage, on 7th and Dunban, which is why I don't need a healer in end game. So the only character I feel sorry for in end game is Sharla, as she becomes really useless to me.
In end game (especially in Tephra with the uniques and the other high level mobs), Reyn is my king of aggro and king against the quest uniques that appear there.

I used Dunban for the two higher level 100+ uniques only because Dunban is sure to touch them with Agility+ gems as he then hits more than 50 % of the time (without Night Vision gems). So with an Agility Down gem, all your characters get 90 % + chances to hit once Dunban hits (the effect wears out so he must keep hitting). I would prefer Reyn though as I must be very careful with Dunban, because his Agility is useless to dodge hits from the high level uniques. Dunban is not a good tank at all for me against those uniques. 7th character is far better at tanking against them, and always get the aggro anyway with my build which is a speed build (it's still funny for me seeing 7th mow foes doing insane damage so fast).
Xenoblade became my favorite JRPG of all time (got the title back from SRPG) and I still am not tired of it after 500+ hours of play. Perhaps I'll get tired of it by the time I finish adapting the japanese xenobladedata to french.

 

[Celegus]

I have a couple noobie questions that I'm sure have come up before, if anyone can help:

How the heck does crafting work? Is there a decent guide somewhere that explains it? The flame strength, fever, speeding up - I just have no clue what any of it means.

What is the best way to charge the party meter? I just got to the boss of the Ether Mines but the only way to damage it is by a chain attack. I got one attack in, but couldn't survive long enough for the meter to get charged again, and wasn't sure if there was a specific way to do it.

 

[Karsticles]

I have a couple noobie questions that I'm sure have come up before, if anyone can help:

How the heck does crafting work? Is there a decent guide somewhere that explains it? The flame strength, fever, speeding up - I just have no clue what any of it means.

Crafting:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=31772085&postcount=14576

 

[chaosblade]

I would prefer Reyn though as I must be very careful with Dunban, because his Agility is useless to dodge hits from the high level uniques.

Just use Serene Heart. 50% agility boost is typically enough to dodge with decent consistency. You can also add in a cheap skill link with Riki for extra protection at half HP (Dunban already has one of those skills, plus +25% agility from Serene Heart at 25% HP). It's a good combination with Agility Down and Unbeatable too, if you end up at 1HP and lower the enemy's agility they basically won't be able to hit you at all, even Abaasy (ether attacks obviously excluded here).

And Shulk's last skill on his 5th tree makes any fight in the entire game a complete joke. You can use haste+double attack for perpetual Armor while still being able to protect yourself against visions, so at that point it doesn't really matter who tanks against the super-bosses.

 

[Yamauchi]

I have a copy of the game, finally. It's much better than I expected.

Is NOA ever going to produce more copies of this game? I'd like to suggest it to friends but it is selling for $140 on Amazon.

 

[MrDaravon]

I just got Melia; if I'm not planning on player controlling her is there any point to having her in my party (outside of Affinity raising or whatever)? Looking around it seems like she needs pretty specific setup/play that the AI is apparently crap at, but how it seems like you need to play her is just absolutely not my style at all.

 

[olimpia84]

I just got Melia; if I'm not planning on player controlling her is there any point to having her in my party (outside of Affinity raising or whatever)? Looking around it seems like she needs pretty specific setup/play that the AI is apparently crap at, but how it seems like you need to play her is just absolutely not my style at all.

I was never a fan of controlling her myself or having the AI use her either but she will be useful much later on in the game for some tough enemies and bosses that are weak against ether.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

Man this second fight against

Spoiler

Gadolt

is ruining me. I'm using Dunban, Shulk, and Sharla and am LV 66. I should probably grind or something because it is making me really angry. Almost threw a controller for the first time in years. I heard about a skill called "Monado Armor". I don't seem to have it though. Any advice?

I have come to the conclusion this is the best JRPG I have played in years. It's got me hooked.

Also, what are heart to hearts for? I have only done like two.

 

[Karsticles]

Man this second fight against

Spoiler

Gadolt

is ruining me. I'm using Dunban, Shulk, and Sharla and am LV 66. I should probably grind or something because it is making me really angry. Almost threw a controller for the first time in years. I heard about a skill called "Monado Armor". I don't seem to have it though. Any advice?

I have come to the conclusion this is the best JRPG I have played in years. It's got me hooked.

Also, what are heart to hearts for? I have only done like two.

Heart to hearts are just for fun, as far as I know. They explore the interpersonal relationships between characters.

Monado Armor is amazing, but...isn't it unlocked via plot? I forget. Are you hiding behind the barriers so you don't get zapped?

Believe it or not, the answer to many problem fights in the game is dropping Sharla. You don't need her healing. Suit Dunban up for evasion tanking and slap Riki or someone in there. Or, at the very least, try to make healing a side job for Sharla if you want here there.

 

[IceIpor]

I just got Melia; if I'm not planning on player controlling her is there any point to having her in my party (outside of Affinity raising or whatever)? Looking around it seems like she needs pretty specific setup/play that the AI is apparently crap at, but how it seems like you need to play her is just absolutely not my style at all.

You could use Melia as an AI character. You'll just have to command everyone to go all out every battle.
The default setting has her conserving her auras, so she doesn't shoot her spells asap.

 

[chaosblade]

I just got Melia; if I'm not planning on player controlling her is there any point to having her in my party (outside of Affinity raising or whatever)? Looking around it seems like she needs pretty specific setup/play that the AI is apparently crap at, but how it seems like you need to play her is just absolutely not my style at all.

She's really useful at certain points in the game, so it's worth it to learn to use her correctly. There is a particular boss that is significantly more difficult without her, or at the very least Riki. And it's almost never worthwhile to have the AI control her, this is a game where DPS is king, and the AI, well... it doesn't prioritize it.

Heart to hearts are just for fun, as far as I know. They explore the interpersonal relationships between characters.

Monado Armor is amazing, but...isn't it unlocked via plot? I forget. Are you hiding behind the barriers so you don't get zapped?

Believe it or not, the answer to many problem fights in the game is dropping Sharla. You don't need her healing. Suit Dunban up for evasion tanking and slap Riki or someone in there. Or, at the very least, try to make healing a side job for Sharla if you want here there.

He said second fight, so it's not the one with barriers. Armor is optional, it's unlocked through a quest at the "quest hub" after Alcamoth.

It would help a lot with the fight he's on, but it sounds like he's also kind of underleveled, which won't be an immediate problem if he can tackle that particular boss, but he'll be in a load of trouble once he gets to

Spoiler

Bionis Interior and that boss

. Topple/daze locking works fine on that boss though, just use Shulk/Reyn/Dunban and roll with it. He's probably not set up ideally for a topple lock, but he should be able to come pretty close.

Heart to hearts also build affinity, always a net gain, but it can be bigger depending on what choices you pick.



Also, somebody beat Abaasy at a lower level than me (53) with 7th/Dunban/Reyn, with heavy use of topple and chain attacks though.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

Ok, after getting to the same level as

Spoiler

Gadolt

I finally beat him. I ended up sticking to my A-team of Shulk/Sharla/Dunban. I guess my ability to topple got better in the grind, because that's what ended up winning it.

The story from that point....HOLY SHIT! So good.

Spoiler

The moment of the betrayal where Shulk gets shot by Dickson

has firmly cemented this as my favorite story in a videogame. So badass, my jaw was dropped the whole time.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Ok, after getting to the same level as

Spoiler

Gadolt

I finally beat him. I ended up sticking to my A-team of Shulk/Sharla/Dunban. I guess my ability to topple got better in the grind, because that's what ended up winning it.

The story from that point....HOLY SHIT! So good.

Spoiler

The moment of the betrayal where Shulk gets shot by Dickson

has firmly cemented this as my favorite story in a videogame. So badass, my jaw was dropped the whole time.

Haha yeah that's the second-biggest twist in the game — only topped by the finale. A lot of people said that they saw the

Spoiler

Dickson betrayal

coming, but I certainly did not. You're gonna love the ending.

 

[Mockingbird]

Monolithsoft has the best twists! The Baten titles were notorious.

 

[JohnDonut]

Ok, after getting to the same level as

Spoiler

Gadolt

I finally beat him. I ended up sticking to my A-team of Shulk/Sharla/Dunban. I guess my ability to topple got better in the grind, because that's what ended up winning it.

The story from that point....HOLY SHIT! So good.

Spoiler

The moment of the betrayal where Shulk gets shot by Dickson

has firmly cemented this as my favorite story in a videogame. So badass, my jaw was dropped the whole time.

Hah, siddown dorothy, you aint seen nothing yet.

 

[danthefan]

Just started this last night, about 3 hours in. The depth of the game seems amazing. Playing on Dolphin which isn't just prefect but haven't hit anything gamebreaking thankfully. Can't wait to really get stuck into the game now.

 

[Mockingbird]

I wanted to see how the story ended so I beat it without finishing everything (though I still plan to finish everything) and

Spoiler

not exactly a satisfactory end. Didn't like the twist.

 

[Mockingbird]

Just did the last surprise quest in the game

Spoiler

Melancholy Tyrea

and wow. That was certainly unexpected! It added to the story and had voice acting as well. Tied up some loose ends. I wish there were more side quests like that one.

 

[Zornica]

there is at least another one like that. But it's probably too late now. One part of the quest was timed and had to be completed in alcamoth.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

Wow,

Spoiler

Lorithia

is pretty tough. I am 2 levels below her now after spending an hour grinding and still get destroyed. Guess I will level some more. I remember some LV 75 mobs in the Windy Cave. I just want to see what happens next in the story, but this fight is ridiculous! Guess I could try and swap my party and see what combos work. Shulk/Sharla/Dunban did everything up to here, but this might be the one that I must change for.

 

[Snacks the sober sea lion]

Inb4 "never use Sharla."

Doesn't hurt to bring her out for those dumbass bosses with undodgeable AoE attacks, but most people will say you should stop relying on Sharla as soon as possible.