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Xenoblade |OT| Sorry I Kept You Waiting!

Z

zlatko

Banned
I played for maybe not even an hour last night, got to the first field area with the main character where the tutorial starts. The initial cut scenes gave me some Lost Odyssey vibes, and then when you get a scope scene of the world I was like awwwww yeah.

Excited to play more. Yesterday I just couldn't manage the time. From going to my bank, to buying the wii and the game, then going to run, having to do dinner, then I ran sets on Street Fighter x Tekken, and then I finally had to set up the Wii.

Tonight though should be a little better and hopefully I can get a solid 2 hours. :D

Edit: Oh one question. Composite cables related. I was buying the wii/game and I asked the dingle berries there at GameStop if I needed anything extra to buy that they recommend from SD cards, etc. They just tipped me to the CCpro but I passed to try it with Wii mote first(works great on it). So I go home and realize doh, this thing only came with the stock cables, and not the component ones I need right, for a better picture quality?

Where can I pick them up for cheap? I didn't see a slot on the Wii they go in either.
 
L

LittleTokyo

Member
"Also, just a gameplay question. Sometimes when I'm fighting with Shulk in the middle of battle, the B button prompt will pop up. What do I get when I hit it?"

Been trying to figure this out myself... Anyone?
 
M

MetatronM

Unconfirmed Member
Mikey Jr. said:
Also, just a gameplay question. Sometimes when I'm fighting with Shulk in the middle of battle, the B button prompt will pop up. What do I get when I hit it?
Click to expand...

That's Burst Affinity. This will occur occasionally when someone in your party scores a critical hit, dodges an attack, or misses an attack. By hitting B when it hits the circle, your character will compliment or encourage the other character, resulting in a big boost in tension and increasing affinity between those two characters. Some character skills can also add extra effects to burst affinity, I believe.
 
U

Ultratech

Member
MetatronM said:
But that was sort of the point. That's why the party freaked out when they learned that.
Click to expand...

I thought they were freaked out by the fact that he
had a ton of kids and a wife
.

Eh...you're right. I had to go back and look up that part.

I'd forgotten all about that.
 
B

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
MetatronM said:
That's Burst Affinity. This will occur occasionally when someone in your party scores a critical hit, dodges an attack, or misses an attack. By hitting B when it hits the circle, your character will compliment or encourage the other character, resulting in a big boost in tension and increasing affinity between those two characters. Some character skills can also add extra effects to burst affinity, I believe.
Click to expand...

Also, some attacks like Dunban's combo attack require to press b at the right time 3 times to complete it.

It also fills the blue bar for chain attacks sometimes too.
 
M

MetatronM

Unconfirmed Member
Bisnic said:
Some attacks like Dunban's combo attack require to press b at the right time 3 times to complete it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the mechanic comes up a few times. It also occurs when you instigate combat in the form of Battle Start Affinity (which can have all kinds of effects added to it from character skills), rather than being attacked by an aggro enemy.
 
A

Antagon

Member
zlatko said:
I played for maybe not even an hour last night, got to the first field area with the main character where the tutorial starts. The initial cut scenes gave me some Lost Odyssey vibes, and then when you get a scope scene of the world I was like awwwww yeah.

Excited to play more. Yesterday I just couldn't manage the time. From going to my bank, to buying the wii and the game, then going to run, having to do dinner, then I ran sets on Street Fighter x Tekken, and then I finally had to set up the Wii.

Tonight though should be a little better and hopefully I can get a solid 2 hours. :D

Edit: Oh one question. Composite cables related. I was buying the wii/game and I asked the dingle berries there at GameStop if I needed anything extra to buy that they recommend from SD cards, etc. They just tipped me to the CCpro but I passed to try it with Wii mote first(works great on it). So I go home and realize doh, this thing only came with the stock cables, and not the component ones I need right, for a better picture quality?

Where can I pick them up for cheap? I didn't see a slot on the Wii they go in either.
Click to expand...

Component cables are dirt cheap on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000M4KIME/?tag=neogaf0e-20
 
A

AwRy108

Member
Anyone else prefer the combat when there's only 2 party members? I'm finding the Break/Topple systems and position-specific attack bonuses so much easier to manage when there's only two party members present. Does the 3-member party become more common later? I'm kind of hoping it doesn't.

Am I doing it wrong?
 
B

backlot

Member
AwRy108 said:
Anyone else prefer the combat when there's only 2 party members? I'm finding the Break/Topple systems and position-specific attack bonuses so much easier to manage when there's only two party members present. Does the 3-member party become more common later? I'm kind of hoping it doesn't.

Am I doing it wrong?
Click to expand...

3 party members becomes much more common later on. As long as you have members that can do topple and break I don't see how a third party member makes that any harder to pull off.
 
S

Seanspeed

Banned
I'm figuring more and more out now, but what exactly is 'tension'? I know that I can boost it, but what on earth does it do and how do I know how high it is?
 
M

MetatronM

Unconfirmed Member
AwRy108 said:
Anyone else prefer the combat when there's only 2 party members? I'm finding the Break/Topple systems and position-specific attack bonuses so much easier to manage when there's only two party members present. Does the 3-member party become more common later? I'm kind of hoping it doesn't.

Am I doing it wrong?
Click to expand...

The 3 member party is the party. You have 3 members in the party for almost the entire game.
 
M

MetatronM

Unconfirmed Member
Seanspeed said:
I'm figuring more and more out now, but what exactly is 'tension'? I know that I can boost it, but what on earth does it do and how do I know how high it is?
Click to expand...

Tension is indicated by your characters' battle portraits. If tension is low, they'll look depressed. If tension is normal, they'll look normal. If tension is rising, they'll appear to be shouting. When tension is maxed, they'll be shouting and have fiery backgrounds.

High tension improves your evasion, accuracy, and other stats in battle. There are character skills related to tension as well, and at least one character has a devastating art that can only be activated at High Tension.

Low tension, naturally, weakens your characters. Tension decreases when somebody dies (they'll be at low tension when revived), gets hit with critical hits, or miss attacks (without successfully triggering burst affinity).
 
N

nan0

Member
Seanspeed said:
I'm figuring more and more out now, but what exactly is 'tension'? I know that I can boost it, but what on earth does it do and how do I know how high it is?
Click to expand...

Its basically the "mental strength" of each character. Ever noticed that the character portraits change their expression in fights (on the left)? That indicates their tension. If tension is maxed, there are flames in the background of the portrait. It is reset in every battle, and can be increased by the quick time events and certain arts.
 
Go_Ly_Dow

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
I'm probably not alone, but whenever entering a new location I would always set the time to day, because I loved the audio/visual transition from day>night so much.

Definitely made me say wow in:

LOCATION SPOILERS
-Satorl Marsh
-Mount Valak
 
C

cametall

Member
Someone mentioned earlier in the thread the names in this game being lame/vague/etc. That guy is 100% right. I don't have issue with most of the character names so far, except one
Juju ... is/was he an African Shaman Child?

Prison Island, what... the... hell... The colony names, you'd think the colonists would want some identity and give their colonies an actual name (did I miss colonies 7 and 8?). It's like the PS118 system in New York.
 
W

Wichu

Member
ipitydatfu said:
without spoiling so much how long will the timed missions on bionis leg/colony 6 last?
Click to expand...

Until you complete Juju or the guy standing outside the colony's quest (it's practically the same one) - the one where you kill the Hoxes on the bridge. Makes sense when you think about it.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure EvilMario is wrong on this one. That only applies to the later timed quests; you can do the Bionis' Leg quests any time before you complete the aforementioned quest.
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
cametall said:
Someone mentioned earlier in the thread the names in this game being lame/vague/etc. That guy is 100% right. I don't have issue with most of the character names so far, except one
Juju ... is/was he an African Shaman Child?

Prison Island, what... the... hell... The colony names, you'd think the colonists would want some identity and give their colonies an actual name (did I miss colonies 7 and 8?). It's like the PS118 system in New York.
Click to expand...

Prison Island is actually really important later on
 
E

EvilMario

Will QA for food.
Wichu said:
Until you complete Juju or the guy standing outside the colony's quest (it's practically the same one) - the one where you kill the Hoxes on the bridge. Makes sense when you think about it.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure EvilMario is wrong on this one. That only applies to the later timed quests; you can do the Bionis' Leg quests any time before you complete the aforementioned quest.
Click to expand...

No, I'm pretty sure there is an option here too. I forget who you talk to.. Juju maybe, but he will ask
Do you want to move the colonist over. When you move them over, you lose the ability to do most of the quests from the refugee camp, which is the first set of timed quest.
. And you don't actually have to move them over until much later if you opt to.. so he can really take his time if he doesn't want to start the major side quest.
 
W

Wichu

Member
EvilMario said:
No, I'm pretty sure there is an option here too. I forget who you talk to.. Juju maybe, but he will ask
Do you want to move the colonist over. When you move them over, you lose the ability to do most of the quests from the refugee camp, which is the first set of timed quest.
. And you don't actually have to move them over until much later if you opt to.. so he can really take his time if he doesn't want to start the major side quest.
Click to expand...

Fair point. Though the quests don't expire until you finish that particular quest, so even if you say 'yes', you still have time to do the timed ones.
 
Zenaku

Zenaku

Member
cametall said:
Someone mentioned earlier in the thread the names in this game being lame/vague/etc. That guy is 100% right. I don't have issue with most of the character names so far, except one
Juju ... is/was he an African Shaman Child?

Prison Island, what... the... hell... The colony names, you'd think the colonists would want some identity and give their colonies an actual name (did I miss colonies 7 and 8?). It's like the PS118 system in New York.
Click to expand...

Well, unlike other Monolith games, a lot of characters/items in Xenoblade were given names based on how the names sound, rather than because they have special/hidden meanings. The Monado is one exception.

There were 10 colonies prior to most being destroyed.
 
X

XenoRaven

Member
Oh man this game is awesome. I spent like an hour just swimming around Colony 9 picking up items and running from level 70 fish. I can't wait to actually get more into the real game.

Also...

WHAT A BUNCH OF JOKERS
 
B

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
XenoRaven said:
Oh man this game is awesome. I spent like an hour just swimming around Colony 9 picking up items and running from level 70 fish. I can't wait to actually get more into the real game.

Also...

WHAT A BUNCH OF JOKERS
Click to expand...

LETS NOT LOSE OUR HEADS THOUGH
 
J

jump_button

Banned
cametall said:
Someone mentioned earlier in the thread the names in this game being lame/vague/etc. That guy is 100% right. I don't have issue with most of the character names so far, except one
Juju ... is/was he an African Shaman Child?

Prison Island, what... the... hell... The colony names, you'd think the colonists would want some identity and give their colonies an actual name (did I miss colonies 7 and 8?). It's like the PS118 system in New York.
Click to expand...

I think it give you more of a idea how many have been loss
 
R

RPG

Member
This game is fantastic; such an enthralling battle system and love the art and facial animation. Got past the initial town arc and going through the first cave area again right now (~5-6 hours in.)

Question about the storytelling so far though:
I'm guessing from the heavy insinuations that Metal Face is Mumkhar, but that isn't going to be kept as some OMG spoiler reveal at the end of the game, right? I'm hoping they get that reveal out of the way relatively early or that I'm wrong entirely.
 
W

Wichu

Member
RPG said:
This game is fantastic; such an enthralling battle system and love the art and facial animation. Got past the initial town arc and going through the first cave area again right now (~5-6 hours in.)

Question about the storytelling so far though:
I'm guessing from the heavy insinuations that Metal Face is Mumkhar, but that isn't going to be kept as some OMG spoiler reveal at the end of the game, right? I'm hoping they get that reveal out of the way relatively early or that I'm wrong entirely.
Click to expand...

You find out the truth somewhere around the half-way point.
 
J

jump_button

Banned
RPG said:
This game is fantastic; such an enthralling battle system and love the art and facial animation. Got past the initial town arc and going through the first cave area again right now (~5-6 hours in.)

Question about the storytelling so far though:
I'm guessing from the heavy insinuations that Metal Face is Mumkhar, but that isn't going to be kept as some OMG spoiler reveal at the end of the game, right? I'm hoping they get that reveal out of the way relatively early or that I'm wrong entirely.
Click to expand...

the claws are a bit of a give away but don't worry that about 30% in they are lots more bigger stuff hiding away
 
B

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
MetatronM said:
Maybe a third. Maybe. (And, of course, I'm only really talking about progression through the main story, not all the tons of extra crap you're likely to be doing in the late game.)
Click to expand...

Talking about main story wise, i dont think i'll be doing every sidequests like i was planning to do at first. There is way too many of them, and i want to be done with this game by the time Diablo 3 come out. I know its still one month away, but i play more than just Xenoblade, not to mention other non-gaming stuff.
 
P

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
I heard the Bionis Leg area was big...but HOLY SHIT. I'm running in the completely wrong direction, found some ruin area, slowly walked up to a red drop on the floor and some giant ass spider double my level climbed up so I ran like hell. I'm absolutely loving this game.
 
I

ivysaur12

Banned
Papercuts said:
I heard the Bionis Leg area was big...but HOLY SHIT. I'm running in the completely wrong direction, found some ruin area, slowly walked up to a red drop on the floor and some giant ass spider double my level climbed up so I ran like hell. I'm absolutely loving this game.
Click to expand...

That's one of the moments where I fell in love.
 
Yoshichan

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
Watching a playthrough of this game and it's really ridiculous how good this soundtrack is.
 
Lucent

Lucent

Member
Mine seems like it's taking forever to get here. Every time I look at the tracking it still says "in transit" and has been stuck in the same location all week. Looks like it was shipped via UPS ground, but it still shouldn't be moving like that. =/
 
Yoshichan

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
I live in Europe, there are copies of the game everywhere <,<
 
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