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Xenoblade |OT| Sorry I Kept You Waiting!
- Thread starter SecretMoblin
- Start date
SafeinSound
Member
I too just got past there. Was definitely getting a little bored of the game, but it has re-hooked me.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
It really does get crazier and less predictable as it goes on. I think it's kind of funny how people think they have the story figured out 10-15 hours in and by the end their mind is blown.
But... end game spoilers for those who have finished:
But... end game spoilers for those who have finished:
I feel like the game kind of "cheats" now that I'm playing it a second time. I didn't notice it as much the first time, but now that I know how it all ends and what's really going on, I'm seeing that a lot of scenes along the way deliberately throw you off course. So of course some things are completely surprising and you don't see them coming. It's because it's borderline contrary to what was said 20 hours previously.
That or it leaves out details for the sake of leaving them out. The whole story could have easily been revealed during the Eryth Sea-Prison Island events, and Valak, and Fallen Arm, but key characters keep information to themselves just so the player still has questions for later.
So yeah, I still think the story is interesting and I don't dislike it, but I don't feel like it's as well executed as I did my first time through the game.
That or it leaves out details for the sake of leaving them out. The whole story could have easily been revealed during the Eryth Sea-Prison Island events, and Valak, and Fallen Arm, but key characters keep information to themselves just so the player still has questions for later.
So yeah, I still think the story is interesting and I don't dislike it, but I don't feel like it's as well executed as I did my first time through the game.
There's a Lvl 70 Unique inside
that's giving me fits. He's immune to break and topple (inside and out of Chain Attacks) and has an infinite range attack that hits everyone for 5-7k. On my best run, I had him down to about 1/3 HP by using a certain Monado skill, but then died when my Dunban tank had too much HP and didn't trigger a vision.
Still better than my first run when I wasn't completing every quest; now he's only yellow instead of red. I understand there's a method to cheese him by standing on a ramp, but I'm too stubborn to go for it. At least for now.
Central Factory
Still better than my first run when I wasn't completing every quest; now he's only yellow instead of red. I understand there's a method to cheese him by standing on a ramp, but I'm too stubborn to go for it. At least for now.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
What level are you? There's a similar unique in
Sword Valley
Assuming you're high enough level, I'd say focus on same color chain attacks and make sure you have skill links that complement that. Link chance up (affinity increases chance of continued links, so use characters with high affinity), damage up, heal after chain.
And of course, have your lube prepared for that ridiculous team killing attack.
Edit: And I hate it when big attacks don't trigger visions, I wish ALL of them did regardless of HP or damage dealt. That screwed me over hard on another unique. Had a AoE attack that inflicted chill. No vision tag, attack kills 2 of my 3 party members and the chill damage takes out the last one after like 6 seconds.
So annoying that doesn't show that, but it does show when Dunban is going to dodge an attack. Gee, thanks.
Are you talking about
Alvis specifically, or something else? He could of certainly revealed every single thing early on if he had wished, but at least in the context of the story I don't think the characters would have understood it at all. Otherwise I can't really think of certain things they were keeping hidden for the sake of hiding it.
Overall I think they handled the story quite well, I still stand by the pacing is awful and everything before
Prison Island
Just browsing this thread as I'm 3 hours in, but reading all this, it seems like unless I want to use guides, etc, I'm going to miss a ton of content and such. Is that the case, or can you get most of what the game has to offer from a typical playthrough? Might put it away if not, as I'm not looking to have to follow specific stuff to feel my characters can handle what the game throws at me.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
That's part of it. But
half the things Alvis says or does just doesn't really seem to fit anywhere except to throw the player off. He's from a long line of seers? That's not exactly accurate, unless it's insinuating that he's reincarnated. But he's also considered one of the trinity like Dickson and Lorithia, and they aren't? Nothing is really clarified there. Same with the "seers touch the Monado to gain their power." You could make another roundabout insinuation there given what the Monado actually is and what Alvis is, but from a writing perspective it's clear the idea is to throw the player off.
And as far as keeping things hidden, I don't just mean NPCs not telling what they know. I also mean the coincidences that I brought up before. Such as information that the High Entia just happened to lose, despite the fact it related to the potential destruction of the world. You could ask what Sorean knew. He knew that the High Entia needed to adjust their genome, and Kallian knew as well which is why he supported Melia over himself. But did he know about the Telethia part? Did he know what their purpose was? The people clearly did at one point, thus the whole Prison Island thing.
I realize that a lot of games have coincidences like that, but that doesn't make it good writing.
And as far as keeping things hidden, I don't just mean NPCs not telling what they know. I also mean the coincidences that I brought up before. Such as information that the High Entia just happened to lose, despite the fact it related to the potential destruction of the world. You could ask what Sorean knew. He knew that the High Entia needed to adjust their genome, and Kallian knew as well which is why he supported Melia over himself. But did he know about the Telethia part? Did he know what their purpose was? The people clearly did at one point, thus the whole Prison Island thing.
I realize that a lot of games have coincidences like that, but that doesn't make it good writing.
Depends on what you're looking for. You can enjoy the game easily without a guide or any assistance. You'll undoubtedly miss out on some unique monster fights and side quests, and potentially some of the post-game rewards. But for a general playthrough, nothing that would hinder enjoyment of the game.
SecretMoblin
Member
There aren't really any "missables", if that's what you're worried about. There are a few sets of quests have have an expiration point, but for the most part those are telegraphed ahead of time and you can always ask the thread roughly how much time you have left.
There is a ton of content in the game, yes, but the best way to experience it is through exploration and playing at your own pace. It can be overwhelming if you try and take in everything at once, but if you allow the game's pace to flow naturally you'll have a much better time.
Yes without a guide you will probably miss a lot of the content unless you talk to every NPC multiple times per day and cycle through the various hours they are walking around along with exploring every nook and cranny.
No, however, you do not have to "follow specific stuff" to handle what the game throws at you, it's not a hard game in the least. You should play it, I did not use a walkthrough at all and mostly enjoyed the time I put into it.
I can certainly see this, looking back the stuff about how
Melia knew nothing about the cross breeding but other Entias did really begs to question why she specifically knew nothing. Inside the world itself I can't see any realistic reason that she would not know what is going on but her brother did. It would make far more sense if they both knew since she seems really confused all the time that he is alright with her becoming the new leader of their people. As for Alvis being a seer, I never really thought to much about it as the game doesn't do much to explain it.
There certainly is some weird things going on with all of the High Entia folk but overall I think all the great things about the second half of the story make me personally not care about minor things that make no sense.
There certainly is some weird things going on with all of the High Entia folk but overall I think all the great things about the second half of the story make me personally not care about minor things that make no sense.
SecretMoblin
Member
I'm about level 60 now and some of the areas are wearing thin on me.
Just metVanea and Gadolt and have to go through a factory to get to the capital city. I'm getting tired of the Mechonis environment. Is the factory as big as it looks?
I think I'm burning out
When you leave, it'll be worth it.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
I'm about level 60 now and some of the areas are wearing thin on me.
Just metVanea and Gadolt and have to go through a factory to get to the capital city. I'm getting tired of the Mechonis environment. Is the factory as big as it looks?
I think I'm burning out
I'm level 61 and I haven't even left
Fallen Arm
Lowered my exp multiplier to 0.5. Might lower it to 0.25 :lolEdit: Actually, I think I'm going to lower it to 0 while I'm questing and probably for the first part of that area. Then once I'm part of the way through it I'll put it back at 0.5.
Oh, I meant to ask. Like I said, I just got past
. Have I hit the halfway point / around how far into it am I?
I've put in about 25 or 30 hours, with only a little light side questing. It sorta feels like I'm well into it, but at the same time so many new things keep happening that it's almost like I'm just starting.
Prison Island
I've put in about 25 or 30 hours, with only a little light side questing. It sorta feels like I'm well into it, but at the same time so many new things keep happening that it's almost like I'm just starting.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Xenogears, and never play Xenosaga.
Huh? No, the gameplay is great.
People are just burned because the 2nd disc contains very little gameplay at all. Thankfully, 90% of the game is on disc 1.
You should realize that any strongly-held, bluntly-stated opinion on GAF is just tomfoolery (including this one).
I'm about 5 hours in, I just got to the first "exciting" part after the cave at the first town, and so far I'm just not feeling it. The characters seem fairly generic to me so far, the story about the sword is showing some promise, but I hate the battle system. If I had done my research and heard this game had realtime battles with AI partners, positional attacks, cooldowns, and an aggro system, I probably would have passed on the game.
I'll keep at it for a bit longer, but if something about the game doesn't grab me in the next 5 hours or so of progress I'll probably just shelf it.
I'll keep at it for a bit longer, but if something about the game doesn't grab me in the next 5 hours or so of progress I'll probably just shelf it.
Adam Prime
hates soccer, is Mexican
Hmm, yeah I would suggest try playing as other characters other than Shulk. That keeps the combat fresh. I dunno, I say keep at it for at least until you get out of the cave into the next area... if the game isn't grabbing you by that point then, you're probably better off not bothering. I think this game has a great hook at the first ~10 hours, but if you're not feeling it, then the rest of the game probably isn't going to convince you.
I was the same as you, I didn't want to miss anything. But you'll enjoy this game WAY more if you don't have any clue what's coming. I played through about 95% of the game without any guides or assistance. But once you start hitting a rather large side quest, you're probably going to want more help than what the game provides to locate specific items. Like the others said though, you can't miss anything big or major that you can't come back to later. Honestly, if I had to give any advice don't look at any references online until you hit about the ~50-~60 hour mark. At that point you can probably start back tracking and picking off whatever you left behind if you want to do it before the end game.
DarkChronic
Member
Somewhat related: sad to see all the hate for Xenosaga. I played through the entire series a few summers ago and really enjoyed them all. 2 is eh but 1 and 3 were pretty great.
At GAF, it makes you cool to hate Xenosaga and Xenogears.
Meccanical
Member
Well Xenosaga 2 sucks no matter how you slice it, but I loved the third one.
Xenogears...I loved it s a kid sure, but now its kind of meh.
It was written by Takahashi, some Anime screenwriter who did giant robo stuff like GaoGaiGar and Yurie Hattori from Nintendo SPD who used to work on Fire Emblem and Endless Ocean. She's probably the main reason the story stayed sane and made sense in the end, as it was her job to keep the other two in check.
I love both Gears and Saga, but they're more memories of how I loved them now. My tastes are just different now.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Pretty sure none of them are missable. Monsters drop more than one, or at least the higher level ones do. So there's lots of overlapping.
Playing it now
Everything pretty good so far but damn i hate how confusing the map is. Badly needs a minimap.
That's good, I can continue on, then, cheers.
chaosblade
Unconfirmed Member
Actually, it looks like Ether Drain can only be obtained from Synchronised Gaheris in
Central Factory
(I don't think Ether Drain is a very big loss either, but if you use it, more power to you to try and get it.)
The Hermit
Member
Majestic Mordred... the bastard.
Don't feel bad, he is probably one of the hardest uniques out there. I beated him on the second floor, so he couldn't do his bullshit stomp attack.
BTW, after half of his life is gone he will be frenzied... so good luck
!transience
Member
Xenogears is great. Xenosaga is great (well, the final game is, the rest have some nasty drawbacks that stop them from being great). Xenoblade is great.
Play Xenogears next, and don't read/watch some LP. it's definitely worth playing.
Anyway, I finally got to
on a replay. So many freaking quests! It's so big and overwhelming! I love going back to the previous area and wanting to just kill everything since there are 30 quests relating to one area alone.
Play Xenogears next, and don't read/watch some LP. it's definitely worth playing.
Anyway, I finally got to
Alcamoth
There's no fucking way that synchronised gaheris drops ether drain. I just spent close to an hour reloading the game and nada. So pissed right now.
edit
Just to be clear, I'm not mad at you chaosblade, I googled and found out about ether drain so I thought I'd go for it. I'm done, don't care about that art anymore. I'll probably never use it so my OCD got the best of me.
edit
Just to be clear, I'm not mad at you chaosblade, I googled and found out about ether drain so I thought I'd go for it. I'm done, don't care about that art anymore. I'll probably never use it so my OCD got the best of me.
54 hours in now with my party at level 48 about to enter
. The quest to
shouldn't take too long since I already found the relevant areas while adventuring before. The story is moving pretty quickly at this point and is definitely doing its job at keeping me hooked while not doing sidequests. I never suspected that
so there's a plot positive right there.
isn't annoying like I feared at first and overall the story is turning out better than I had initially expected. I'm also noticing the attention they are paying to
I didn't go in the game knowing much, but just from posting here I've read some rumblings about
In any case I can't wait to find out.
I'm still having fun after all these hours and I'm definitely not getting tired of the game yet—I'm guessing I'm only somewhere around the halfway mark so that's definitely a good thing. The
in the
was a really neat sequence even though I don't think it was exploited to its fullest. I also had a lot of fun with the subquest series you get in
in which you
. That felt immensely satisfying and was definitely my favourite set of non-story quests in the game so far. I'm also about
but I have a bad feeling that will become more of a chore as
.
Quick question: I know there are a couple more zones to go before the
quests expire, but will I reach that point right after I finish
? I feel like
but is that the point of no return for those quests? I'm assuming it's not based on this post from when I was about to enter the
:
I will have completed two more zones (at least?) by that point and I just wanted to make sure I won't be ending my chance to complete these quests too soon. Like I said, I'm pretty sure this is too early to be the point of no return, but I
and just wanted to confirm with those who have played the game already. Thanks!
Prison Island
break the seals
Alvis would turn out to be a double agent
Riki
the newest female "Face".
a seventh character who is quite significant. I'm fairly confident that whoever is "inside" this Face is going to be it... Since there was a soul transfer involved I almost want to put my money on a resurrected Fiora since that seems like the biggest reveal that can be pulled at this point. Unless it's Wolverine claws guy since I think he emerges from his armour in the battle... I guess it depends on the sort of magic/technology that's at work here. I could just be wrong altogether.
I'm still having fun after all these hours and I'm definitely not getting tired of the game yet—I'm guessing I'm only somewhere around the halfway mark so that's definitely a good thing. The
split gameplay between Melia and the rest of the party
High Entia Tomb
Frontier Village
arrest the Red Pollen Orb con artist
20% of the way to reconstructing Colony 6
the upgrade requirements become more complicated
Quick question: I know there are a couple more zones to go before the
Alcamoth
Prison Island
that encounter has been hyped up for a long time
High Entia Tomb
I will have completed two more zones (at least?) by that point and I just wanted to make sure I won't be ending my chance to complete these quests too soon. Like I said, I'm pretty sure this is too early to be the point of no return, but I
don't know how involved the Prison Island adventure is
You're good. Hours and hours and hours to go before those expire. At the pace you're playing (relative to me. I think I was at around 40 hours for PI), you'll probably hit 100 hours before they expire.
You're good. Hours and hours and hours to go before those expire. At the pace you're playing (relative to me. I think I was at around 40 hours for PI), you'll probably hit 100 hours before they expire.
I suspected as much, but I thought I would check before diving right in; thank you for your response! I wish the clock icons were dynamic—that is, that the orange area would deplete (or the icon would fill up with orange) as you got closer to the point of no return for those quests. I know there's a warning eventually, but it would be nice to gauge your progress at a glance.
On another note, it's interesting to hear how different players progress through the game and the amount of time it takes them to get to that point. I do a lot of exploring and set off on quests so I'm probably near the back of the pack in terms of story progression : playtime ratio; I think it's a testament to the openness of the game that someone else could have reached the same point some 10 or 20 hours ago without getting stuck but rather moving at his or her own pace.
so as far as lockouts go, i think i'm at the second-to-last one (before the endgame's final point of no return)
is there anything special i should be doing? anything on prison island, for instance? are there any places i should gain affinity in to get trades for items i'll need in the future? i think i'm level 3 with everything except junks, which is level 5
Oh, I took that one down with Shulk, Reyn, and Sharla. I just spammed
Monado Armor
As are ad hominem attacks, apparently.
If you're at
Prison Island
Alcamoth
Diddy Kong
Banned
Could someone explain the NG+ process to me? I'm very close to the ending and from what I understand, you beat the game and it asks you to make it. If I decline, do I have the opportunity to make it when I'm ready? (I'd like to be level 99 before I do so)
Put in 3-4 hours this weekend finally again. I'm up to the Nopon Village, and the Makna forest before that is WOW, especially the waterfalls.
I'm 100% ignoring all side quests. Too much of a fucking hassle to even find NPCs to turn in rewards too, and I'd rather not use an online guide. Like at Colony 6 I can't find Juju for the life of me. Spent too much time looking for him. I also missed that one guy's Gun for the 3 items he has scattered somewhere around the world that his mom wants to know about him. I have the knife and the other item, but the 2nd item the gun, no clue where it is.
Am I about 30% done with the main story quest at this point? Less? Further?
I'm 100% ignoring all side quests. Too much of a fucking hassle to even find NPCs to turn in rewards too, and I'd rather not use an online guide. Like at Colony 6 I can't find Juju for the life of me. Spent too much time looking for him. I also missed that one guy's Gun for the 3 items he has scattered somewhere around the world that his mom wants to know about him. I have the knife and the other item, but the 2nd item the gun, no clue where it is.
Am I about 30% done with the main story quest at this point? Less? Further?
I think the level cap is 99...in order to kill those things I guess you have to optimize stats and hope for the best.
Try looking at the refugee camp for Juju. That's assuming you haven't done any of that yet. If you have he's in front of that one building... but I don't really know how to describe his location.
Most of the time you don't have to go back and turn anything in. For this game's quests, I get annoyed if I try to focus on them. I just accept as many as I can when I get to new areas, and a lot end up getting done as I explore along the story path.
Based on how far they told me I was... 30% sounds about right. Probably a bit more.
FML.
31 hours, level 35, and not even 30%? Yeah 100% not giving a fuck about side quests here on out.FML.
I'm a little over 112h, but i blame all of this because i'm a completionist and doing as much quests as i can + improving affinity with gifts and that is wasting a lot of my time.
It's also because i couldnt beat the final boss at lvl 78, so im doing other stuff until i get a few more lvls.
Story will get more interesting in the next following zones, and there will be a lot less sidequests given to you at some later points, so the story will advance at a much quicker rate.
Omegasquash
Member
That's what's going to fuck me, right there. There's just...so....much.