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[XiaNaphryz]

Man, I hope the story keeps delivering.

Spoiler

I just killed Xord and saw the cutscene with Shulk dismembering Metal Face. There were new characters, a whole bunch of confusing talk about the Emperor, and what APPEARED to be someone or something inside Metal Face when Shulk destroyed the armor. Don't tell me if I'm right or wrong, but that will be a game changer.

The ride has just begun, you have no idea.

 

[nicoga3000]

The ride has just begun, you have no idea.

My only complaint is that some areas seem unnecessarily huge. It's cool, relatively awe inspiring even...But holy goodness. It can take AGES to traverse.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

My only complaint is that some areas seem unnecessarily huge. It's cool, relatively awe inspiring even...But holy goodness. It can take AGES to traverse.

I don't mind so much as I like exploring, one of the first things I do in a new area is explore and discover as many landmarks as I can before advancing the story. Makes fast travel a lot easier later.

If you really need to, you can equip Quick Travel gems to a set of gear and equip it just to move quickly through an area and then switch back to your regular gear. A sort of manually equipped mount...not ideal, but it works. Later on you'll also have party member skills you can link to that also increase travel speed a bit. Not a big boost, but combined with gems it can add up.

 

[Rebel Leader]

You are on 2 giant things, nothing is a skip or hop away

 

[Qblivion]

I'm about 20 hours in at the

Spoiler

High Entia Tomb

and while the game is good and I want to keep playing, I haven't seen what all the hype is about.

Is there a specific point where Shit Gets Real?

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

I'm about 20 hours in at the

Spoiler

High Entia Tomb

and while the game is good and I want to keep playing, I haven't seen what all the hype is about.

Is there a specific point where Shit Gets Real?

You're coming up on a pretty big story moment that definitely involves shit getting real. Still, if the gameplay hasn't completely grabbed you yet, it probably never will.

While the story definitely picks up in the second half, the battles and music are pretty consistent throughout.

 

[theprodigy]

I'm about 20 hours in at the

Spoiler

High Entia Tomb

and while the game is good and I want to keep playing, I haven't seen what all the hype is about.

Is there a specific point where Shit Gets Real?

you're sorta close to the first instance of Shit Just Got Real™, yeah

 

[Edgeward]

I just beat

Spoiler

Mumkhar

and am now heading to destroy two reactors to stop a furnace. Can anyone give me an estimate of how long I got left if I just mainlined it?

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I just beat

Spoiler

Mumkhar

and am now heading to destroy two reactors to stop a furnace. Can anyone give me an estimate of how long I got left if I just mainlined it?

Still a good ways to go. Several more areas at least. You're probably 2/3rds of the way through maybe?

 

[Edgeward]

Damn, this game is massive. I haven't even unlock any of the extra skill trees yet. Thanks for the reply.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

This person recorded her own flute arrangements of the soundtrack:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtgCFoDrHGS7-RjQfnKJ5OpJNCpgrcX6e

Spoilers in some of the images she uses at the start of vids given some of the tracks are from later in the game, obviously.

 

[PKrockin]

I'm a little over halfway through this game and I just realized the title screen theme is giving me some extreme Joe Hisaishi vibes, especially around 0:33-1:28. I know there's a Studio Ghibli movie with a very similar sounding song in the opening or credits. Can anyone place it?

 

[Trevelyan9999]

Hey guys I am 30 hours in and I just left the village with Riki after beating the boss with his help.
Been doing a lot of side quests too, how much more game do I have? Seems like a lot still but not sure.

 

[theprodigy]

Hey guys I am 30 hours in and I just left the village with Riki after beating the boss with his help.
Been doing a lot of side quests too, how much more game do I have? Seems like a lot still but not sure.

you're like, a bit more than ~1/3 of the way through the game?

 

[XiaNaphryz]

You Will Know Our Kazoos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OBZN1rL9gc

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Welp just finished the game and beat the final boss.

That ending though.

Spoiler

So basically Shulk becomes god and gives it up to let people do what they want pretty neat ending. Alvis being a computer AI was kinda out of nowehere. Also, wtf Fiora got her organic body back?! I guess since Shulk was a god he could give his girlfriend an organic body without any issue.

I know that Xenoblade X is supposed to be a spiritual successor but I do hope we get to see some cameos or references to the original cast.

I was highly skeptical of people saying that is one the best JRPGs of last gen but man I was quite wrong to believe otherwise. The exploration, the combat, the likable characters. It was all done so well.

My only 2 gripes with the game was that even though there was so much content most of it was in the form of lousy sidequests which involved killing this or fetching that it just felt so mundane. I had to just drop all sidequests and move on with the story otherwise I was going to burn out on the main game. Another gripe was the grinding for materials and locking skill trees behind these mundane sidequests.

Aside from all that though, I would highly recommend this game and would personally place it as one of my top 2 favorite JRPGs. The other being Tales of Vesperia.

Now, I sit and wait for Xenoblade chronicles which looks more and more amazing with ever teaser we get .

Haha yeah, that ending. Just when you think the plot can't possibly twist even more, it does. I absolutely loved that final boss area

Spoiler

with the planets in the distance

. That looked so cool.

You were wise to stop doing sidequests. A lot of people fall into the trap of trying to do all of them, which is completely unnecessary and actually a terrible idea. That's how you get overleveled and burned out. It's been said time and time again in this thread: do some of the sidequests, but don't go out of your way to be a completionist. I've played through this game like 5 or 6 times now, and I haven't even done all of the sidequests.

If you're gonna go out of your way to do something, go hunt down all of the unique monsters. Not only do they drop good loot, but more importantly they give you an affinity coin upon killing them for the first time. These give you access to more skill links, which are very powerful. Also, the affinity coin drops reset when you enter New Game+, so you can kill the unique monsters again and get another affinity coin from each. This leads to some insanely overpowered skill links once you have a crapload of affinity coins. It's awesome.

When did you have to grind for materials? I don't remember having to go too far out of my way for most things. Collecting ether crystals and the later stages of rebuilding

Spoiler

Colony 6

are the only grinds that come to mind, and both of those are completely optional. Although if you plan on defeating the post-game superbosses you will definitely need to collect ether crystals so you can craft the good gems (Agility Up & Night Vision).

Man, I hope the story keeps delivering.

Spoiler

I just killed Xord and saw the cutscene with Shulk dismembering Metal Face. There were new characters, a whole bunch of confusing talk about the Emperor, and what APPEARED to be someone or something inside Metal Face when Shulk destroyed the armor. Don't tell me if I'm right or wrong, but that will be a game changer.

I am loving this game. I'm now 16 hours in and my party is level 26. I need to find a spoiler-free guide on getting

Spoiler

all the 4th skill trees

to make sure I don't skip or miss a necessary quest or item or something nutty.

Haha oh man, you're in for a treat. Get ready for a rollercoaster ride with lots of twists and turns. Just when you think you have the story figured out, you'll realize you were totally off.

I went ahead and checked if the 4th skill tree quests have spoilers, and yes they do. They require you to be farther in the game, and I can't even give you the bare quest details because they contain areas and NPCs that are spoilers themselves. Only Shulk's quest appears to be spoiler-free so I'll post it here for you, but be warned that you aren't nearly far enough in the game to get 4.5 stars of affinity with Colony 9.

Shulk

To get Shulk's fourth tree, Pessimism, you must complete the side quest Desiree's Future in Colony 9. This requires 4, almost 5 stars of affinity with the town, so you will have to do several other side quests before. If you don't want to be doing side quests for several hours straight, do a few every couple of hours to take a break from the story. Also, one that may need to be done, Paola and Narine, requires affinity between two female characters to be the second highest it can be, so keep that in mind while playing.

I like the suggestion from the IGN Wiki to go back to Colony 9 every couple hours to do a few sidequests. That's a good way to avoid getting burned out. If you've been keeping up the pace since defeating Xord, you might have the next party member by now, who is a female. Start raising affinity between her and Sharla. There's several ways to raise affinity between characters — the most basic way is to have both of them in your party and just fight a lot of battles together. You raise affinity by helping them out during battle (e.g. Sharla gets put to sleep by an enemy, so you run over to her and wake her up.) Anyway, here's the quest details:

Désirée's Future
Quest giver: Désirée
Location: Colony 9 (North of Commercial District)
Time: 19:00 - 21:00
Prerequisites: Xord defeated, Kenny Rohan registered on the Affinity Chart, Jackson's Awakening completed, ☆4.5
Additional Comments: You must be controlling Shulk to activate the quest. A wiki commentor mentioned that if the quest marker isn't appearing, try talking to Betty and/or Désirée. After they give you their usual NPC conversation, the quest marker should pop up.

 

[chaosblade]

You pretty much need to do every possible Colony 9 sidequest AND talk to every person to "max out" the affinity chart to get Shulk's skill tree before the post-game content opens up. It's easier after that because a bunch more Colony 9 quests open up allowing you to boost it's affinity more easily.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

This thread got me thinking: Do we have a post in this OT explaining the basics of the combat system? If we don't, we should probably make one and put it in the OP. It seems that a lot of people find the combat in Xenoblade to be confusing.

I made this post in the thread, to act as a start:

Let's see if I can get you up to speed, OP.

Here's a very basic text guide on combat:
Xenoblade Chronicles beginner's guide - Combat

Here are two simple video tutorials that goes over the basics of break/topple/daze and chain attacks:

Wii - Xenoblade Chronicles How to Play Video -- Part 4
Xenoblade battle tutorial

Melia is very different from the other characters, so she takes some extra getting used to. GAF member Zornica made an excellent guide on how to play her in the Xenoblade OT:

Character #5 Tutorial: Melia

Here's a good video guide to compliment Zornica's post:
[Xenoblade] Guide How NOT to Suck with Melia

Speaking of the Xenoblade OT, make sure you check it out! It's not as active as it used to be, but there's still some very helpful people in there who will give you advice:

Xenoblade |OT| Sorry I Kept You Waiting!

Some final tips:

- Agility is the most important stat in the game! It affects your accuracy (crucial when fighting higher level enemies) and your dodge rate.

- Don't ignore gems! Crafting high level gems (especially Agility gems) will make the game so much easier. NeoGAF member Man God made an awesome gem crafting tutorial post in the Xenoblade OT.

- Shulk is amazing! Ignore anyone in here who tells you to not use him. Get the hang of his Monado arts and you are a huge asset to your party:

-- Enchant lets your party members hit Mechon and increases everyone's auto attack damage.

-- Shield blocks an enemy's Talent Art. You can tell if an enemy is using a talent art if you get a vision, and the attack the enemy is using has a roman numeral after its name. Your Monado Shield's level must be equal to or greater than the level of the enemy's Talent Art in order to block it. Talent Arts usually do a ton of damage, so being able to block them is a lifesaver.

-- Speed grants a huge temporary boost to the dodge rate of your targeted party member. If you get a vision of an enemy using an attack with red font color, use Speed on whoever the enemy is targeting and the attack will most likely miss.

-- Purge is explained pretty well when you acquire it. It shuts down enemy aura & spike abilities. For example, certain monsters have a spike ability where you take damage every time you auto attack them (you'll see purple damage numbers appearing over your party members and your HP will start dropping fast). Use Purge to temporarily nullify this.

-- There are two "hidden" Monado arts that you can acquire though sidequests later in the game. One of them (Eater) is kinda lame, but the other (Armor) is probably the most overpowered defensive art in the entire game.

 

[tonyh24613]

This thread got me thinking: Do we have a post in this OT explaining the basics of the combat system? If we don't, we should probably make one and put it in the OP. It seems that a lot of people find the combat in Xenoblade to be confusing.

Yeah, some people will need help when the new 3DS version released.

- Don't ignore gems! Crafting high level gems (especially Agility gems) will make the game so much easier. NeoGAF member Man God made an awesome gem crafting tutorial post in the Xenoblade OT.

That's why I never built up affinity between Riki and 7th, Melia and 7th sometimes helps, too.

-- Enchant lets your party members hit Mechon and increases everyone's auto attack damage.

Only against mechons, enchant is completely useless when fighting non-mechon enemies.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

I'm thinking about installing Dolphin and playing Xenoblade on my PC. Chaosblade I know you have experience with Xenoblade on Dolphin, could you tell me if my PC is powerful enough to run it properly?

Windows 7 64-bit
Intel Core i5 3570K @ 3.40GHz
2 x 4GB Corsair Vengeance LP Dual-Channel DDR3 RAM @ 668MHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 - 2048 MB physical & virtual memory

I got an Amazon gift card for Christmas and I might use it on the DolphinBar. It looks really awesome.

Only against mechons, enchant is completely useless when fighting non-mechon enemies.

Have you confirmed this? I could have sworn it buffs your party's auto attack damage regardless.

 

[theprodigy]

Have you confirmed this? I could have sworn it buffs your party's auto attack damage regardless.

well the Xenoblade wiki says the auto attack boost only applies to Mechon, huh I didn't know that

(well at least Enchant still isn't COMPLETELY useless if you have anti-Mechon weapons on everyone!)

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I'm thinking about installing Dolphin and playing Xenoblade on my PC. Chaosblade I know you have experience with Xenoblade on Dolphin, could you tell me if my PC is powerful enough to run it properly?

Windows 7 64-bit
Intel Core i5 3570K @ 3.40GHz
2 x 4GB Corsair Vengeance LP Dual-Channel DDR3 RAM @ 668MHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 - 2048 MB physical & virtual memory

I got an Amazon gift card for Christmas and I might use it on the DolphinBar. It looks really awesome.

I have a worse GPU but a faster CPU and more memory, but your specs should be more than adequate.

 

[chaosblade]

well the Xenoblade wiki says the auto attack boost only applies to Mechon, huh I didn't know that

(well at least Enchant still isn't COMPLETELY useless if you have anti-Mechon weapons on everyone!)

Nah, anti-mechon weapons are just useless because enchant is way more useful. Weaker weapons vs stronger weapons+damage bonus? I know what I pick.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Nah, anti-mechon weapons are just useless because enchant is way more useful. Weaker weapons vs stronger weapons+damage bonus? I know what I pick.

I prefer to go with the weapons because I don't want Shulk in the party.

 

[Golnei]

I prefer to go with the weapons because I don't want Shulk in the party.

Same here. And even aside from purging the plague from my active party, by the time anti-mechon weapons are available, you're usually overleveled enough for a damage decrease to be welcome.

A level modifier or zero EXP gem really has to be implemented into the port.

 

[theprodigy]

Nah, anti-mechon weapons are just useless because enchant is way more useful. Weaker weapons and not having to use Shulk vs stronger weapons+damage bonus? I know what I pick.

FTFY

Spoiler

the real fun is beating up Metal Face/Mumkhar at Prison Island/Valak without Shulk

 

[chaosblade]

For all the hate Shulk gets, I think he's one of the more interesting characters to play as. Certainly better than 7th, Sharla, and outside of screwing around, Reyn.

 

[Pancakes]

For all the hate Shulk gets, I think he's one of the more interesting characters to play as. Certainly better than 7th, Sharla, and outside of screwing around, Reyn.

If only I could make a party with 3 Riki's.

 

[chaosblade]

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a character replacement Ocarina code somewhere...

 

[Golnei]

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a character replacement Ocarina code somewhere...

They actually work fairly well; and guest characters are more or less playable using them; Mumkhar's

Spoiler

mechon exoskeleton

even functions as a separate set of equippable armour.

If they were given a few more skills, I'd love it if they added a bonus chapter on Bionis' Shoulder using the guest characters as the main playable party, seeing as most of the work is already done. Though I'm not sure when it could take place...

Spoiler

Alvis and Dickson could be present at any point in the Bionis' life, but Mumkhar's mortality would make him very difficult to integrate into a separate scenario set at a different point to the main game.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

I have a worse GPU but a faster CPU and more memory, but your specs should be more than adequate.

Ok thanks. I don't need to run it at super high-res or anything, I just want to be able to easily record my gameplay with Shadowplay so I can make guides or lets play videos.

 

[theprodigy]

For all the hate Shulk gets, I think he's one of the more interesting characters to play as. Certainly better than 7th, Sharla, and outside of screwing around, Reyn.

good thing I like to roll with Melia/Dunban/Riki then

 

[XiaNaphryz]

good thing I like to roll with Melia/Dunban/Riki then

Best party is best.

 

[Rebel Leader]

I'm thinking about installing Dolphin and playing Xenoblade on my PC. Chaosblade I know you have experience with Xenoblade on Dolphin, could you tell me if my PC is powerful enough to run it properly?

Windows 7 64-bit
Intel Core i5 3570K @ 3.40GHz
2 x 4GB Corsair Vengeance LP Dual-Channel DDR3 RAM @ 668MHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 - 2048 MB physical & virtual memory

I got an Amazon gift card for Christmas and I might use it on the DolphinBar. It looks really awesome.



Have you confirmed this? I could have sworn it buffs your party's auto attack damage regardless.

You should be able to run the HD texture pack with v-sync @3 times the resoultion with some AA at a near perfect 30fps
I do that with an i5 4460 @ 3.20GHz and 750ti
So it will run fine
But nomatter what enable v-sync

Also, why get the dolphin bar? unless you are gonna use wiimote and nunchuck.

I'm using the DS4 to play it =p

 

[Head of Vengarl]

You should be able to run the HD texture pack with v-sync @3 times the resoultion with some AA at a near perfect 30fps
I do that with an i5 4460 @ 3.20GHz and 750ti
So it will run fine
But nomatter what enable v-sync

Also, why get the dolphin bar? unless you are gonna use wiimote and nunchuck.

I'm using the DS4 to play it =p

Thanks for the details.

That's actually a good question. I'm deciding between getting a DolphinBar or getting a wired Xbox360 controller. I'm more used to the Wiimote so the DolphinBar would be good for that, and for playing other Wii games on my PC. The 360 controller would be better for playing actual PC games though, like Dark Souls (if I ever decide to play it). Tough choice!

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Thanks for the details.

That's actually a good question. I'm deciding between getting a DolphinBar or getting a wired Xbox360 controller. I'm more used to the Wiimote so the DolphinBar would be good for that, and for playing other Wii games on my PC. The 360 controller would be better for playing actual PC games though, like Dark Souls (if I ever decide to play it). Tough choice!

360 controller works great with Xenoblade, but you may need to add a bit of dead zone to stop drifting. The HD pack also has textures to update the button icons to match a 360 controller, though that may be confusing for tutorial purposes.

 

[Rebel Leader]

Thanks for the details.

That's actually a good question. I'm deciding between getting a DolphinBar or getting a wired Xbox360 controller. I'm more used to the Wiimote so the DolphinBar would be good for that, and for playing other Wii games on my PC. The 360 controller would be better for playing actual PC games though, like Dark Souls (if I ever decide to play it). Tough choice!

And gamecube games . You can't forget about those =p


Do you have any other console controllers?

If you do have any framerate problems try changing the Graphics backend to direct3d.

Also unless you are on SSD loading xenoblade with the HD texture pack will atleast take a few minutes to load

 

[XiaNaphryz]

And gamecube games . You can't forget about those =p


Do you have any other console controllers?

If you do have any framerate problems try changing the Graphics backend to direct3d.

Also unless you are on SSD loading xenoblade with the HD texture pack will atleast take a few minutes to load

Even with a SSD the initial load can take a little while.

 

[Rebel Leader]

Even with a SSD the initial load can take a little while.

Forgot that but it's not at long as the HDD from my experience

 

[Head of Vengarl]

360 controller works great with Xenoblade, but you may need to add a bit of dead zone to stop drifting. The HD pack also has textures to update the button icons to match a 360 controller, though that may be confusing for tutorial purposes.

Cool, that's good to know.

And gamecube games . You can't forget about those =p


Do you have any other console controllers?

If you do have any framerate problems try changing the Graphics backend to direct3d.

Also unless you are on SSD loading xenoblade with the HD texture pack will atleast take a few minutes to load

I only have Wiimotes and GameCube controllers. Can you use the GC controller to play Steam games? If so I could buy an adapter for the GC controllers instead of buying a whole new (360) controller.

I don't think I'm doing to use a HD texture pack. Especially if it slows the load times. Thanks for the info.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I don't think I'm doing to use a HD texture pack. Especially if it slows the load times. Thanks for the info.

It's only the initial load time (booting up the game to the title screen). Load times are fast after that.

 

[Rebel Leader]

It's only the initial load time (booting up the game to the title screen). Load times are fast after that.

Yes, I forgot to say that.

EDIT:The initial load took me 1 minute and 23 seconds

Using HDD 7200rpm

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Thanks for clearing that up.

So I've thought it over and I think I'm gonna buy an Xbox 360 controller for my PC. I can use it for Xenoblade and my Steam games, while the DolphinBar would only work for my Wii games.

 

[Rebel Leader]

Also, you will beable to change these enhancements while in game if you are in windowed mode and immediately see the difference:

So if you experience frame drops try dropping the AA first, happened to me on the plaines and is barley noticeable when gone (was using 2 AA and had a smother and more constant framerate when off)

Though anisotropic filter had little to no effect on framerate (will double check this)

If you are in full screen mode just press esc and it will ask you if you want to end the emulation, press no and the game will go into windowed mode. Click full screen one you are done with changing the enhancement options

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Very good to know.

So I hear Xenoblade is a dual layer disk, does that make it hard to rip to .iso?

 

[Rebel Leader]

Very good to know.

So I hear Xenoblade is a dual layer disk, does that make it hard to rip to .iso?

Not at all.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Here's a couple albums of Xenoblade wallpapers I found on reddit (warning - contains spoilers):

http://imgur.com/a/MNR5M#0
http://imgur.com/a/XU9tf#0

Not at all.

Awesome, thanks.

 

[Pancakes]

Here's a couple albums of Xenoblade wallpapers I found on reddit (warning - contains spoilers):

http://imgur.com/a/MNR5M#0
http://imgur.com/a/XU9tf#0



Awesome, thanks.

I'm assuming this is some sort of model swap mod?

http://imgur.com/a/XU9tf#38

 

[ag-my001]

So like others, that Dolphin update topic inspired me to start a new game. I added in the max AP code to reduce the grind; no need for another 80+ hour trek. I was recently reminded of one gripe I had in my first game: Dunban is too good.

No, seriously. I was fighting the UM in Exile Fortress, and he kept hitting me with a move that toppled the entire party, leaving them all at low health. Never got a warning with enough time to use shield. I finally did on the run I won, as Dunban finally failed at dodging an earlier hit. Cue the vision, shield on everyone, easy fight.

 

[Pancakes]

I don't know how people managed the later sections with Reyn as tank. He just went down like a rock for me even with Sharla healing against the later unique mobs.