Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles Wii / 3DS / Definitive Edition

[noname2200]

I played around with the super-agility-boosted Dunban but never seriously tried it out against a tough opponent. Having armor with gems seems more important than using multiple skills to boost the base stats.

He's actually pretty good for most of the game going in the buff, especially when he links to Melia's unadorned skill, but the few hits that get through always make me nervous, so by the late game I usually just keep him in light armor. He's a beast either way.

Do you guys use non-Shulk characters much as your primary character? I never do.

 Melia's useless unless you're controlling her, and Melia's awesome, so as soon as I get her I ditch Shulk. The final character is also fun to use directly, since she basically does 90% of the work for you.

Other than that, I tend to switch around when boosting affinity. Everyone's got their upsides, but playing as Sharla does bore me.
 

[gbuell]

Nice, I'll try Melia some.

[Oblivion]

Make sure to not release her elements so quickly. I didn't realize until the final boss that by keeping them up, you'll give you and your teammates a boost.

[Enner]

Do you guys use non-Shulk characters much as your primary character? I never do.

I switched around very early on. In Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Vesperia, I grew attached to playing the healing and magic characters since they could take an overlooking view of the battle. Also, as stated above, you need to switch around to help build affinity between party members.

Make sure to not release her elements so quickly. I didn't realize until the final boss that by keeping them up, you'll give you and your teammates a boost.

Heh, I guess I'm one of the few that diligently reads all the in-game tutorials? The battle tips for Melia detail how her summoned elementals provide buffs for the entire party. One things about Melia is that she is delayed in summoning and discharging a third elemental. If you decide only to keep one elemental active, Melia summons and discharges the second more quickly.

I haven't run in to too much trouble with the CPU controlling Melia, but that might be me not paying attention to what she is doing. At least most of the time I perform a chain attack, Melia usually has a bolt elemental ready to fire.

[BeautifulShy]

Whenever I get a new character I switch over to them for a while to just get a feel of their artes and how they play and their skills and get to know what they say when they use what attack so I know what to listen to when I am using other characters so I can coordinate my attacks with them.

[leahsdad]

So I'm 13 hours in, and I have to say this could quite possibly be one of the most refined, well crafted JRPG's I've ever played.  Every aspect, from the combat system to the narrative, is just so good.   A few, very few, anime cliche's, but not too bad, and I have a very low tolerance for those things.   And for the first time since I was a teenager, I'm actually caught up in the story of a game.   Part of that is really good use of the "future visions" as a narrative device (thanks Battlestar Galactica) and part of that is just a really good, suspenseful "what is all this about" story (also thanks Battlestar Galactica).

I just really, really hope that the ending is not:

1.  This was all just a holodeck computer simulation
2.  This is all just a dream

I will kill my classic controller if that happens.

[Enner]

I just really, really hope that the ending is not:

1.  This was all just a holodeck computer simulation
2.  This is all just a dream

I will kill my classic controller if that happens.

You need not worry. There are some very weird aspects to the story in the game's end, but none of it renders the preceding story worthless. In fact, it may just have you look at the rest of the story in a different light. Anyway, you don't have to worry about experiencing a reset ending.


EDIT:
Well, this is a pleasant surprise. I've been looking up the English voice acting credits for Xenoblade Chronicles. I recall a comment on Radio Free Nintendo stating that Melia's voice over is one of the game's best. When I searched for other roles Jenna-Louise Coleman has played, I discovered that she will be the new companion character in Doctor Who.

It's going to be weird watching Doctor Who when all that's ringing in my head is, "Hmm, a rather advantageous position," and, "I see you strength is the genuine article." It should be fun though.

Oh, and one example of voice over efficiency in the game I've discovered is that Shulk and Kalian are voice by the same actor. Good on Adam Howden for being able to voice two characters without me noticing.



EDIT, EDIT
Ah, I was mistaken. Kalian's English voice over is provided by Rufus Wright, not Adam Howden.

[Adrock]

I finally opened this last night. I didn't get to far, just to the 1st town. Voice acting is above average. Graphics are the typical "good for a Wii game." There are some really bad textures throughout but tons of grass everywhere. I like the gameplay so far though I've most been just mauling giant rabbit and wasp creatures. They're so weak that I actually feel like I'm good at videogames.

[Fatty The Hutt]

Had a big ol' 4 hour play session last night after a break from playing for a bit (life always interferes with my gaming dagnabbit).
 
I had stopped just after the first Mechon attack. Story says I'm supposed to head to another colony now. So what did I do? Spent the whole time in and around my hometown doing sidequests, raising affinities, gem crafting, leveling up some different arts and swapping out gear.
 
THOROUGHLY enjoyed myself. I'm getting better at the craziness of combat. And thank-you to gbuell about the suggestion to switch to the classic controller. I broke down and sprung for a CCPro (had a regular one that has become sticky with myriad "children-juice"). It has made a huge difference.
 
You know, I think this Xenoblade Chronicles thing just might be a pretty darn good game. 

[Adrock]

(had a regular one that has become sticky with myriad "children-juice").

That sounds a lot worse than you probably intended. Lulz

[Fatty The Hutt]

(had a regular one that has become sticky with myriad "children-juice").

That sounds a lot worse than you probably intended. Lulz

The children in question are my own. I wonder if that makes it sound better or worse?
 
 
...worse

[BeautifulShy]

Typically there is a arrow Fatty_The_Hutt that points to where your next story objective with a number below it and that typically is the distance to the next area. If I remember correctly you have to go to the caves and that is in the direction to the east of the main entrance to the city.

[Adrock]

The children in question are my own. I wonder if that makes it sound better or worse?
 
 
...worse

A lot worse.

However, you get a +1 for your honesty.

[Fatty The Hutt]

Typically there is a arrow Fatty_The_Hutt that points to where your next story objective with a number below it and that typically is the distance to the next area. If I remember correctly you have to go to the caves and that is in the direction to the east of the main entrance to the city.

Thanks, Maxi. I know all this. I think you misunderstood. I am not lost for what to do next at all. I deliberately spent my time farting around in Colony 9 before setting off to the next story thing. I started off with learning gem crafting and then just messed around from there, got caught up in a bunch of side-quests, etc. I was having too much fun to move on yet. Now I am saved outside Tephra Cave and ready to push on (though I might double back for a few Colony Crabbles that are part of an uncompleted side-quest. We shall see.)

[gbuell]

Loads of sidequests. I like saving them up for when I'm more powerful than most of the enemies in the area, so I can go back and breeze through them. Though I suppose that may be an inefficient way to get experience...

[Enner]

Thing about gem crafting: Don't be like me and craft every possible gem you can when you nearly fill the 300 spaces for crystals and cylinders. I've wasted hours crafting gems that I never use. The gems you get from quests and unique equipment should be adequate for the needs of the story if you keep pace with the level curve. This may be from my party being over leveled for most of the story, but I don't think you need to be concerned with gem crafting until you can craft rank 4 or 5 materials. That said, it wouldn't hurt to make a few attribute boosters if you have the slots for them.

[gbuell]

But I LIKE gem crafting!

[Evan_B]

Every time I enter a new region, my pants explode.

[Mop it up]

Why do you like gem crafting? I find it one of the few low points. This game does pretty well of avoiding the random elements that tend to plague RPGs, but the gem crafting is pretty much 100% random. Waiting until the RNG finally decides to give you the crystals you want is bad enough, but then it's also random that they will reach their maximum strength in crafting. Not only that, but you have to sit through a boring scene that should be interactive every single time you craft one.

Fortunately gem crafting isn't required for the main game, but the right gems are needed to defeat the optional high-level enemies in the game. For that reason, I may not bother with them; at that point the game falls into nothing but tedium.

[Oblivion]

Um, nothing is random in Gem Crafting. You have to be smart about what you craft and what you don't. Plus, you do know that you can speed up the scene when you craft, right?

[Mop it up]

Um, nothing is random in Gem Crafting.

Explain. From where I'm seeing, the crystals you get from enemies/deposits contain random attributes from a certain set, and the numbers in the refining process are also generated randomly.

And I know it can be sped up, but that's nowhere near being able to skip it entirely. Since it isn't interactive, there's no reason to have to see it each and every time.

[Oblivion]

Oh, that's what you meant. Sorry, I thought you meant something else.

[gbuell]

They're random, much like almost every other aspect of most RPGs, but you can still predict what will happen pretty well, based on the people you pair up. I just like the distillation of a bunch of random materials into useful items, and being clever about throwing low-stat crystals into the mix to up their stats and get cylinders back, while not putting so many extra crystals in that you lose some of them. I do wish you could skip the animation but it's quick enough when you speed it up.

[noname2200]

Making the crafting process into something interactive would have bored me. I'm glad I can just hold the A button for five to ten seconds and blaze through it. Although it would have been even better to not waste those five to ten seconds.

I generally like the system in place, though. You can actually exercise quite a bit of influence over the final result, but there's enough randomness to keep things interesting. And since I don't find any of the abilities (aside from Agility) to be particularly overwhelming until you reach the Level IV+ gems, I basically consider most of the system to be added bonuses rather than required.

[Enner]

Explain. From where I'm seeing, the crystals you get from enemies/deposits contain random attributes from a certain set, and the numbers in the refining process are also generated randomly.

Deposits, yes.
Enemies, no.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?hl=en_US&key=0Anx12MiCQejudHJfUWhOTGd5Wm1uS25ub2FDeE5BekE&hl=en_US&f=true&noheader=false&gid=18

As for the flames and party support, they are pretty random. However, there are things you can do so the numbers play in your favor. Sure fire way is to use 7TH and Riki to separate all the attributes in to cylinders (I usually craft six attributes with the pair at max [heart] affinity), and then use Reyn and Dunban (at max affinity) to easily get MEGA HEAT crafted gems.

As you can tell from I saying "max affinity" and "7TH," gem crafting is really something you get in to later in the game. I don't think it is necessary until the end game against level 100+ monsters or if you're doing some crazy low-level run.