Don't let that discourage you
It happened to me once in Windy Cave (where lvl.70+ guys hangout lol), but after that, it didn't stop me from completing the Bionis' Leg map before leaving that area.
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LTTP: Xenoblade Chronicles is EXCELLENT (Playthrough ongoing; please mark spoilers!)
- Thread starter Neiteio
- Start date
Don't let that discourage you
It happened to me once in Windy Cave (where lvl.70+ guys hangout lol), but after that, it didn't stop me from completing the Bionis' Leg map before leaving that area.I'll make potential suicide runs into areas full of super-bosses (lv. 80+) just to pick up whatever items I can and to get EXP charting more of the map. You can avoid the line of sight of many super-bosses, allowing you to bypass them into seemingly restricted areas.Don't let that discourage you
thebisonxrc
Member
I can't wait to play this for the New 3DS!
I'll make potential suicide runs into areas full of super-bosses (lv. 80+) just to pick up whatever items I can and to get EXP charting more of the map. You can avoid the line of sight of many super-bosses, allowing you to bypass them into seemingly restricted areas.
There's a secret area near your arachnophobia spot on the Bionis Leg that had me juking and jiving when I first went there. I'm surprised you missed main surprise though.
I've been playing through the game since June but slowed down a lot through the summer. The Smash reveal made me pick up the game again and half the time I'm in the Smash thread I'm reading your posts and comparing with my own playthrough. You quickly skyrocketed past me with less hours played, but it looks like I found a secret here or there you missed with all my waffling. Next stop on my file is High Entia Tomb.
And yeah, enemies to me seem like terrible methods of experience gain but decent AP and SP if you can fight them at level. But if you kill most enemies for items and sidequests, search around for landmarks and secret areas for sidequests, and go around repeatedly grabbing collectables for sidequests (if there's a way to influence which collectable you pick up instead of doing a random roll each time, someone please tell me) you will be rolling in experience. I don't think I've ever fought a story boss yet being at least 4 levels above them. When I first read the tutorial about enemy's being colored based on how close to their level you were, I thought they were lying because I had almost never seen a color that wasn't black or red at that point, lol.
When you say I missed the "main surprise" near the "arachnophobia spot," you know I encountered
the huge spider on the cliff
Brilliant OP, really makes me want to pick up the game again.
Unfortunately I sold both my standalone Wii copy and the controller+game copy last week. With the New 3DS version coming I figured the original would lose a lot of value because of a more widely available version, and I'd much rather play the game on a more accessible handheld over being tethered to the TV anyway, so I'll wait for this new version. The reveal trailer looked a bit rough, but no different to Nintendo's quickly-becoming-standard strategy of 'early reveal = beautiful finished product'. The OP has made the wait that much harder.
Unfortunately I sold both my standalone Wii copy and the controller+game copy last week. With the New 3DS version coming I figured the original would lose a lot of value because of a more widely available version, and I'd much rather play the game on a more accessible handheld over being tethered to the TV anyway, so I'll wait for this new version. The reveal trailer looked a bit rough, but no different to Nintendo's quickly-becoming-standard strategy of 'early reveal = beautiful finished product'. The OP has made the wait that much harder.
Great OP for an amazing game, Neiteio.
Incidentally, as you're discussing Melia, I recommend Zornica's amazing guide to using her. It switched me from almost never bothering with her to making her a mainstay of the party for a good stretch of the game.
http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=34985554&postcount=16970
Incidentally, as you're discussing Melia, I recommend Zornica's amazing guide to using her. It switched me from almost never bothering with her to making her a mainstay of the party for a good stretch of the game.
http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=34985554&postcount=16970
Reading this gives me the amazing feeling I got when I started to understand the competitive meta-game in Pokémon (IVs, EVs, etc). The only parts that sound daunting are crafting the right gems and achieving the Skill Links that allow Melia to wear heavy armor, since I'm still a bit sketchy on how Skill Links work. I've established some links between my characters, but sometimes it's hard to tell who's linking to who, lol.
Beren the Empty-Handed
Member
Tits indeed.
I love this game. I have to do another playthrough soon, but there's just so many other games to play! Once I figured out crafting, and got the mobile crafting unit, the game opened up on a whole other level for me. Suddenly I was a gem-crafting machine. I also like how absolutely nobody looks good in the various kinds of armor. They all look silly, and I love it.
You really don't need Sharla. Other characters have light healing or agility to compensate, and the right Gem setups can help even more.
I played as Melia a lot of the time. Spear Break/Starlight Kick is essential. As for the spells, one of my favorite moves was to summon whichever one you wanted to keep first (either Lightning or Earth, usually), Copy it, and hold those two for the rest of the fight, or until the cooldown expires. Then use that third slot to summon and fire off the other elements. It does a LOT of damage.
Also, something that the game doesn't make clear is that time more or less freezes in a Party Attack. And since all status effects stack on each other, if you inflict Topple, Daze or something on the victim of the Party Attack, and have other characters also do Topple/Daze/Whatever attacks, those effects stack AND don't start to expire until the Party Attack is over. So if you inflict 3 seconds worth of Topple with three different characters, then the opponent is stuck with 9 seconds of Topple, and it won't start counting down until the Party Attack is over, giving you all of that time to get hits in. Needless to say, it's AWESOME.
Keep us updated OP! It's an amazing game!
I love this game. I have to do another playthrough soon, but there's just so many other games to play! Once I figured out crafting, and got the mobile crafting unit, the game opened up on a whole other level for me. Suddenly I was a gem-crafting machine. I also like how absolutely nobody looks good in the various kinds of armor. They all look silly, and I love it.
You really don't need Sharla. Other characters have light healing or agility to compensate, and the right Gem setups can help even more.
I played as Melia a lot of the time. Spear Break/Starlight Kick is essential. As for the spells, one of my favorite moves was to summon whichever one you wanted to keep first (either Lightning or Earth, usually), Copy it, and hold those two for the rest of the fight, or until the cooldown expires. Then use that third slot to summon and fire off the other elements. It does a LOT of damage.
Also, something that the game doesn't make clear is that time more or less freezes in a Party Attack. And since all status effects stack on each other, if you inflict Topple, Daze or something on the victim of the Party Attack, and have other characters also do Topple/Daze/Whatever attacks, those effects stack AND don't start to expire until the Party Attack is over. So if you inflict 3 seconds worth of Topple with three different characters, then the opponent is stuck with 9 seconds of Topple, and it won't start counting down until the Party Attack is over, giving you all of that time to get hits in. Needless to say, it's AWESOME.
Keep us updated OP! It's an amazing game!
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
I'll make potential suicide runs into areas full of super-bosses (lv. 80+) just to pick up whatever items I can and to get EXP charting more of the map. You can avoid the line of sight of many super-bosses, allowing you to bypass them into seemingly restricted areas.
Super bosses?
Ha! You haven't seen "super bosses" yet, there are a few special enemies that don't begin to spawn until near the end of the game - THOSE are the super bosses.
Beren the Empty-Handed
Member
I'll make potential suicide runs into areas full of super-bosses (lv. 80+) just to pick up whatever items I can and to get EXP charting more of the map. You can avoid the line of sight of many super-bosses, allowing you to bypass them into seemingly restricted areas.
Those aren't super bosses. Oh not by a long shot.
You haven't seen the super bosses yet.
It just occurred to me how perfect Melia would be as a playable character in Smash Bros., should Sakurai ever decide to add a second Xenoblade rep (be it DLC or whatever). She could summon orbs with her neutral special, cycling through them in similar fashion to Shulk and the Monado Arts. She could stack them and receive buffs from their aura (and maybe share buffs in Team Battle), and then she could fire them off with her Side Special -- last one summoned, first one fired, just like Xenoblade. :-D
. So far, I just pour gems into the forge without rhyme or reason; I select one, and then I select whatever gems are highlighted, figuring they must be highlighted for a reason. I think I have Shulk as the "shooter" (the position on the left) and Reyn as his partner, due to the high Affinity between them. I periodically clear out crystals this way so I can collect more.
Great tips! I still need to get the hang of gems, but I do have the mobile gem forge from the lv. 1 reconstruction of
Colony 6
Well then! I'm even more excited now, lol.Those aren't super bosses. Oh not by a long shot.
You haven't seen the super bosses yet.
It just occurred to me how perfect Melia would be as a playable character in Smash Bros., should Sakurai ever decide to add a second Xenoblade rep (be it DLC or whatever). She could summon orbs with her neutral special, cycling through them in similar fashion to Shulk and the Monado Arts. She could stack them and receive buffs from their aura (and maybe share buffs in Team Battle), and then she could fire them off with her Side Special -- last one summoned, first one fired, just like Xenoblade. :-D
Great tips! I still need to get the hang of gems, but I do have the mobile gem forge from the lv. 1 reconstruction of. So far, I just pour gems into the forge without rhyme or reason; I select one, and then I select whatever gems are highlighted, figuring they must be highlighted for a reason. I think I have Shulk as the "shooter" (the position on the left) and Reyn as his partner, due to the high Affinity between them. I periodically clear out crystals this way so I can collect more.Colony 6
Well then! I'm even more excited now, lol.
Well that's why many like Melia to be in Smash more than Shulk
As for gem crafting, try to combine crystals (and cylinders if you have those) that will produce a gem with a close to 200% in quality. Higher-quality gems have better net effects, and if you exceed 200% (Heat) during gem crafting, the net gem is 1 level higher (e.g. producing a level 2 gem at 200% will produce a level 3 gem). In special cases, you can even reach 300% (Mega Heat), netting you not only one, but two highest-quality gems of that level. But you'll probably achieve that with better affinity and better duo.
foxuzamaki
Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
That is why Melia is everyone's waifu
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I was a victim of NoA dragging their feet on localization.
I bought the European version, played far into it, but then they announced the North American version. I knew I'd want that copy, and all my progress should be on it, so I halted my playthrough. I did buy the North American version (yay! It's rare now), but by then my enthusiasm to play had waned.
Luckily with recent buzz, the New 3DS version, and the hindsight that Xenoblade is one of the jRPG gems of the last decade, I feel the passion to start again... Listening to my copy of the soundtrack will surely help!
I bought the European version, played far into it, but then they announced the North American version. I knew I'd want that copy, and all my progress should be on it, so I halted my playthrough. I did buy the North American version (yay! It's rare now), but by then my enthusiasm to play had waned.
Luckily with recent buzz, the New 3DS version, and the hindsight that Xenoblade is one of the jRPG gems of the last decade, I feel the passion to start again... Listening to my copy of the soundtrack will surely help!
Beren the Empty-Handed
Member
I was so disappointed when Melia wasn't the AT. I love Riki, but he's already in the Final Smash! grumble grumble
This.
When I craft, I usually go for a specific effect that I want. A lot of the times I need to "separate" the crystals that have double or triple effects. This requires me to get a couple of crystals, sometimes without any effects in common, and raise their values without going over 99%. To do that, I used Sharla and Riki (don't remember in which spot). They don't make the crystals go very high, but they are great at pumping up the various effects. My goal at that point is to NOT get a gem out of it, but instead get the effect or percentage as close to 100 as possible (you only craft a Gem if you get to 100). Then after I've "failed" at making a Gem, the game lets me keep a number of cylinders or whatever they are. I take the effects I want (like Topple Plus or Agility Plus), and hopefully they are in the 90s by that point. Next I grab two of those, for example one Topple Plus cylinder at 96, and then another Topple Plus cylinder at 95 or something and begin crafting out of that. I use Shulk and Reyn, who shoot up the values very high. Since I only have one effect that's being raised, all of their "turns" or whatever only go into that one specific value. Doing that, it's easy to boost it up to Mega Heat provided affinity is high enough. When that happens you not only get your Topple Plus to go up a whole level (if you're crafting Topple Plus IV, and it Heats, you instead get Topple Plus V), but you get TWO of that Gem. So instead of one Topple Plus IV, you get two Topple Plus V.
If you can master Gem crafting so that you only ever get Mega Heats from specific effects/cylinders, your party becomes incredibly strong.
There are certain areas that gets blocked once you reach certain points in the game. But don't worry, Frontier Village will always be accessible
Hmm, I want to ask what areas get blocked, and when, but I'm not sure if it makes sense for me to ask. I don't consider location names to be spoilers (although I still tag them sometimes).There are certain areas that gets blocked once you reach certain points in the game. But don't worry, Frontier Village will always be accessible
manueldelalas
Time Traveler
No, I mean, for story reasons, some parts will get inaccessible for a short amount of time, but don't worry; before the end game, you can warp anywhere you want, and defeat those lvl 80+ monsters you see everywhere.
Sword Valley, once the 2nd Battle at the Sword Valley begins.
All of Mechonis (except Fallen arm) I guess I won't spoil this one as this will be a major twist
Also, there are 2 areas that will change, but there's a major story twist here that will cause it so I won't spoil the fun. These areas are:
Alcamoth
Tephra Cave
manueldelalas
Time Traveler
It's true, but all of the "explorable" areas remain accessible.Sword Valley, once the 2nd Battle at the Sword Valley begins.All of Mechonis (except Fallen arm) I guess I won't spoil this one as this will be a major twist
Also, there are 2 areas that will change, but there's a major story twist here that will cause it so I won't spoil the fun. These areas are:
AlcamothTephra Cave
A good measure is to see if the area has timed quests, obviously having those mean that either it will become inaccessible or it will change substantially.
Only those areas I mentioned will be inaccessible after reaching certain points in the game, so if you have plans of completing quests there or completing collectibles there, better finish them before proceeding further. For collectibles you may miss out, rebuilding Colony 6 can help out as collectibles from different areas spawn inside the village.
The first areas I mentioned will literally be inaccessible due to the events that will occur. The last 2 will change, but still accessible.
Hmm, I think I understand. How will I know when I'm approaching
the second battle of Sword Valley
on Mechonis
Once you reach the end of
Mechonis Field
beating Jade Face
Ooo, more Faced Mechon. :-D
When you say "that area," do you mean
Sword Valley
Mechonis
Excellent. Thanks for fielding all of my questions. I can't wait to get back to the game later this week. :-DThe quests for those sections I believe are not really too critical. Beat x enemies, collect x things, challenge quests. No biggie, except for affinity coins you'll get from Unique MonstersSword Valley.
Laughing Banana
Weeping Pickle
I poured more than 250 hours-ish to this game, crafted the strongest equipment, defeating the strongest monster, and that is without the push of trophies/achievements.
And I didn't regret a single second of it.
And I didn't regret a single second of it.
Your argument is invalid.
(Peter Dickson being Peter Dickson in a game? Awesome.)
(Plus, you know, Clara bein' Clara)
Prepare for more exciting things that will happen!
Me too, though I only played 160 hours on my 1st playthrough. Average of 100 hours from 3 playthroughs.
Oops, that came out wrong. The spoiler is the main thing there, and I was surprised you missed. There's a secret area to the side you should check out if you haven't. It was one of my first and put me onto taking wild risks and finding cool looking areas.
Soodanim
Member
I had my mind blown yesterday when I looked at IMDB's and saw that Del Boy's Mum plays Sharla.
I enjoyed reading the OP even having fairly recently bought and completed it, because it reminds me of how fun it was. Not everything clicked immediately for me, because there are a few things to learn, but by the end it's such a great game with so many ways to play, and being able to choose your controlled character on top of the team is fantastic. Played as Shulk for a bit? Cool, now go learn how to effectively control 5, who plays completely differently.
There are a few small things that seem like design oversights, like there being enough room for every type of collectible but not every type of item drop. Towards the end you are forced to sell things off, which isn't ideal as you still use a number of the drops for side quests. If there fix that in X I'll be happy. Just the simple fact of another Xenoblade, on Wii U, will make me happy.
I enjoyed reading the OP even having fairly recently bought and completed it, because it reminds me of how fun it was. Not everything clicked immediately for me, because there are a few things to learn, but by the end it's such a great game with so many ways to play, and being able to choose your controlled character on top of the team is fantastic. Played as Shulk for a bit? Cool, now go learn how to effectively control 5, who plays completely differently.
There are a few small things that seem like design oversights, like there being enough room for every type of collectible but not every type of item drop. Towards the end you are forced to sell things off, which isn't ideal as you still use a number of the drops for side quests. If there fix that in X I'll be happy. Just the simple fact of another Xenoblade, on Wii U, will make me happy.
SoraanTribal
Member
Melia is quite overpowered (in a fun way) - she can self-topple with just using two of her own abilities back to back and she does a crazy amount of burst damage. Just so you know, the buffs stack, so if you use Summon Bolt -> Summon Copy, then Summon another Bolt, that's like 3x (or more, not sure exactly) the Ether damage from her (and your party members). So doing three Bolts, then firing one off hits an enemy for like 30,000 or more damage (depending on level, gear, stats, etc). Doing this on regular enemies is fine because they die quickly, but be careful with her threat/aggro. She can draw it very quickly on bosses or unique monsters. And keeping the Wind buff up is useful for some unique monsters/bosses as it helps your tank avoid even more damage. It's less useful for regular enemies, though.
And as others have already said, there are some areas late in the game that become completely inaccessible or change which means you won't be able to complete sidequests there after a certain point. But it happens at like 85-90% through the game, so you should have plenty of time to do everything if you wanted to worry about that.
And as others have already said, there are some areas late in the game that become completely inaccessible or change which means you won't be able to complete sidequests there after a certain point. But it happens at like 85-90% through the game, so you should have plenty of time to do everything if you wanted to worry about that.
This is one of those games where, once you've beaten it, you can continue to play that file and explore the world and get what you missed, right? I know some quests expire, but I'll still be able to revisit most of the areas after I've beaten the game, right? And is it like a Zelda game where it returns you to before you beat the final boss, or do the NPCs, etc, knowledge you beat the game when you talk to them afterwards?
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
There is an extremely obvious point of no return (like, the game even tells you). So you want to keep a save there so you can continue doing stuff after you beat the game.
Also worth noting that you can't save beyond the point of no return until you beat the game and get a prompt for a clear save to use for NG+. If you overwrite the point of no return save with the clear save you will have to beat most of the game again to unlock the "post-game" content.
Don't worry - the game is very front loaded in terms of sidequests. The last half of the game has very few compared to the first half.
Yeah, just got
Fiora back!
Can anyone tell me if
Fiora stays form here on out or not? I just don't want to equip anything if she's just going to leave.
Quiet, you.
Awesome, thanks!
Also, my least favorite part of this game by far is "press zr to delete save". I have accidentally deleted my save multiple times. Thankfully, I was already in game so I could just save again.
SoraanTribal
Member
I love her new look! She's a cool character to control as well. She can act as a tank similar to how Dunban functions (dodge/agility tank), but she's not quite as good as him in that department since he has aggro tools. She keeps threat/aggro by outright damage. And yes, she's in your party from now until the end of the game, so don't worry.
Ah, OK. I've been maintaining two saves, anyways. When I get to the grand finale, I'll just use one file for New Game + and the other to continue cleaning up the post-game.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Ah, OK. I've been maintaining two saves, anyways. When I get to the grand finale, I'll just use one file for New Game + and the other to continue cleaning up the post-game.
I'll also let you in on a little-known secret - Xenoblade's NG+ sucks. Seriously, it's so bad. Level scaling works on both the player and enemies, none of the bosses or anything even have a chance at hitting you until you get to the very end of the game, and even that depends on whether or not you fought unique monsters and leveled up some. The only thing NG+ is good for is if you want to experience the story without having to touch the combat. Because you can win basically every fight without even touching the controller.
The post-game content offers quite a lot to do though, between additional quests that will have you hunting monsters nearly level 100 and collecting stuff to beat the super bosses you can easily tack on another 20 hours or more.
Well, that NG+ sounds like the opposite of what NG+ usually does (I.E. make the game harder), but at the same time I appreciate the option to go through the story again without much trouble.
Shadow Hog
Member
Technically you can go back there for a bit;
Agniratha might've looked like it exploded in the cutscene after the fight with Yaldabaoth, but in fact the teleporter that brought you there in the first place is still active, you can waltz right in, and the town will look none the worse for the wear. I even did all of the side quests available here after clearing the fight with Yaldabaoth but before tackling Mechonis Core, which is where the real point of no return lies