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If the USPS package tracker is to be believed, my copy was in a mail center one hour away from me approximately 90 minutes ago  I wasn't expecting to actually get the game today and I'm having company this weekend, but if it's already here then hot drat.
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Apr 6, 2012 20:10
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Giant Bomb has a Quicklook up and I really want to watch it despite my self-imposed info embargo on this game. Should I watch it anyway?
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Apr 6, 2012 21:48
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I've been too busy to really tear into this but I've been able to put in a solid four or five hours so far (leaving Colony 9 after the Mechon assault) and I'm loving it. It's been a long time since I've played a new jRPG but this is really easy to get into, probably because it borrows a fair amount of ideas from western titles. A couple areas that deserve more commentary- Combat- I never played FF12 so this sort of combat is new to me but I'm really enjoying it. Group tactics and positioning aren't something I'm used to in a jRPG but I'm a fan. I'm not a huge fan of the Break -> Topple mechanic but I imagine that's because I don't have too many options yet as far as that goes. I also wish you could give discrete orders to party members (like in Tales of Symphonia) but as others have said the AI is pretty good at picking up on what you're trying to do. Sound- The music is awesome, not much else to say that hasn't been already. I'm also a big fan of the voice acting; the constant stream of British accents gives the game a unique charm and I love the combat banter. Others have said it's too much but I think it works really well with the emphasis on teamwork that pops up several gameplay mechanics. I wish I could play it tonight but I have to work late and really need to get started on filing my taxes  Especially because the story has really hooked me, having just gotten past where (first area spoiler) the Mechon rolled into town and slaughtered everyone, including poor Fiora. That bummed me out to an unreasonable degree but the savvy gamer in me says she wouldn't have all these official art bits, full skill trees, and equipment options if she was gone for good...right?  Definitely looking forward to when I have more time to play this, whenever that is. evilalien posted:On the skills screen for any character you can press - I believe to open up the skill link menu where you can equip certain skills from other party members onto a given character. Each skill you link requires a certain amount of affinity coins to equip so it's best that you get as many as you can. Each unique monster you kill will give one. This is useful and should be in the tips in the OP, I had no idea what affinity coins were for.
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Apr 12, 2012 00:06
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evilalien posted:Enemies have fixed levels and you will become overleveled if you do every sidequest you possibly can. If you are more than 5 levels above an enemy, they become trivial. But if you're more than one or two levels below an enemy's level they'll probably wipe the floor with you unless you have some flawless strategy. VV This is coming from my early experiences with the game. The named rabbit-thing that someone sends you to kill in Colony 9 whipped my rear end and it was only two levels above me (8 vs 6). Then again I only had two party members at the time, I've been meaning to exact some revenge now that I'm a higher level. C-Euro fucked around with this message at 15:03 on Apr 13, 2012 |
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Apr 13, 2012 14:20
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Dying in this game is not a huge deal either, so if you get railed by an overleveled monster you have a few minutes of backtracking at most as a penalty. Final Fantasy VI actually did the "keep your EXP if you die" trick before but Xenoblade also lets you keep drops, collectibles and finished quests. It's awesome.
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Apr 13, 2012 15:26
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Zombie Defiler posted:As far as equipment goes, Blue numbers Good. Red number Bad. You maybe have to count the numbers a little bit? The tank should probably have high physical defense? More slots is mo' better usually? It is pretty simple, its not like you are calculating out some kind of dps formula. This weapon does more damage, this one has more block or slots or something, which is better for what you want your guy to do? I think what he's referring to is the fact that the equipment menu shows you which stats are going up or down...but not by how much. If you could easily see before and after stats it'd be a lot better, but for now I just ask myself if there's more blue than red when I highlight a given piece of equipment.
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Apr 13, 2012 17:45
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ChibiSoma posted:Only just getting to the first dungeon after like 2 hours. Is there a way to actively track sidequests? Like putting a marker up if applicable, or is it just reading the quest text and going off that? Honestly I just take all the quests I see at any given point and forget about them. If it's a quest where you need to find a certain item or go to a certain place, that spot will be highlighted. If it's kill/collect X number of Y, then I don't worry about it until I've picked up my 10th buffalo foreskin and get the Quest Complete pop-up. For kill/collect quests, the questgiver will usually drop a hint as to when and where the target object or creature can be found.
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Apr 14, 2012 16:22
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Ledneh posted:Where is the ideal timing for the in-battle QTEs, on the outer edge of the blue circle or on the button to press (b) itself? Outer edge of the large circle is best, within the large circle is OK, outside the circle or within the b button is a miss.
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Apr 14, 2012 16:50
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How does the "see the future in battle" mechanic work? I get that you see what's going to happen and that you get a chance to counter it, but at least in the first battle where it's a mechanic countering boils down to "use Monado Shield on whoever's being targeted". Then why, for example, does warning Reyn of danger prompt me to choose one of Reyn's arts as a counter?
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Apr 16, 2012 19:39
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Oh OK, so you don't HAVE to warn the target that they're being attacked. Didn't know that. Isn't there a certain way to counter incoming Arts, the way you're told to counter Talent Arts with Monado Shield? Like using physical Arts to counter ether Arts and vice versa? Or does it boil down to "use an Art that will either stop this enemy from attacking or block/heal the damage"?
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Apr 16, 2012 19:48
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So I'm a little further into the game now (10ish hours, level 22) and I'm loving it even more. Once you hit the second large area the game really drives home how expansive its environments are, and how much there is to find. Most of the fun I've been having has come from loading up on sidequests and going nuts with those. I don't even use the fast travel too often, I just like running through all these different places. I think the thing that really grabs me about this game is that everything in it gives me this "wow that's so cool!" vibe that I haven't experienced since I was a kid, or at least haven't experienced since the start of this console generation. But maybe I don't play enough games, or have low standards when it comes to them  Nucular Carmul posted:Sharla is fun! I haven't enjoyed playing a healer this much since Raine in Tales of Symphonia. I like that stuff is based on a cooldown system instead of mana, so I can shoot things and run in to pistol whip a bitch without worrying if I can still keep everyone up. Also I've got her in the jungle armor set and she looks badass. How does she auto-attack? Do you have to move close enough to smack people with her rifle or does she shoot off regular bullets from far enough away? Samurai Sanders posted:I mean, for my purposes this is a good game and all, and I will probably finish it, but it isn't a "wait why is it 3am?" game. I mean, the only game like that I have played in years is Dark Souls anyway, so maybe that's not fair to say. Maybe it's not fair to compare any game to that one. I'm getting that with this game mostly because I haven't bought a new console game in a long time, or at least one where long play sessions are normal. rt4 posted:You'll regularly encounter monsters that you can't yet possibly defeat. Just avoid them. And on top of that, only certain monsters will attack you on sight/when they hear you. So even if it's way above your level it's not always a threat, at least if you don't attack. C-Euro fucked around with this message at 14:52 on Apr 20, 2012 |
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Apr 20, 2012 14:49
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Been really busy lately so progress is slow, but I'm at Satorl Marsh and loving this game (also holy poo poo nighttime there  ). Couple of quick questions--Roughly how long do I have to finish the timed quests on Bionis' Leg? Should I just warp back there and finish them now? -Does Dunban get any more armor with side capes and frilled collars? He looks too handsome to change armors from his default set 
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Apr 29, 2012 02:27
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Is there a good gem-crafting guide out there? I keep getting a bunch of crummy Level I gems yet at the same time my inventory is chock-full of raw crystals from monsters. What can I do to get higher-level gems? Can I swing all these low-level crystals and gems into higher-level versions of themselves?
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Apr 30, 2012 01:09
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Lakitu7 posted:Clever crafting can at most boost things by one level. If level 2 gems are no longer useful to you, sell all your level 1 crystals/containers. Repeat as you get access to higher level gems. But there's no way to, say, take a bunch of Level I gems and combine them into a single higher-level gem or something? Also, I'm trying to clear all the Bionis' Leg quests before setting off their "timer", what time does the named enemy you're supposed to kill on the Sky Stage (Violent Andante) appear? And where can I find some Brogs to collect Brog Leg Meat? By Lake Raguel probably? C-Euro fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Apr 30, 2012 |
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Apr 30, 2012 01:46
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Calaveron posted:They receive like, 85 to 90% of EXP/SP. You can skill link to make it 100%. I feel like it's even higher than that, more like 90-95%. At least, everyone in my party is at the same level though I might just be good at switching people in and out. And there are abilities to boost XP/SP/AP gains that are linkable. Come to think of it, what about XP/SP/AP you get from quests? Is that still reduced for inactive members, even though it's not a combat situation? Also re-post from earlier- I'm trying to clear all the Bionis' Leg quests before setting off their "timer", what time does the named enemy you're supposed to kill on the Sky Stage (Violent Andante) appear? And where can I find some Brogs to collect Brog Leg Meat? Lake Raguel?
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Apr 30, 2012 16:07
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TenaCrane posted:The spreadsheet doesn't specify a time for Andante, he should be around at any time. He runs a set path around Viliera hill instead of sitting in one place, he'll always be in the general area. So he's closer to the hill than the actual Sky Stage? Maybe I'm just unlucky then...what does he look like?
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Apr 30, 2012 16:38
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Honestly I didn't even notice the bridge to go above the big caterpillar there until maybe my third time through that cave. I always just walked around to the side of it and never had trouble unless I intentionally aggro'd one of the smaller caterpillars. It's true though, unique enemies can come out of nowhere and steamroll your group without warning. The Bionis' Leg is particularly bad about this- I (low 30s) bumped into some huge level 70 gorilla-raccoon thing in the first area of it that I managed to get away from. I fast-travelled to Spiral Valley to get closer to a quest, and when the area loaded I was staring down an even larger, level 90 gorilla-raccoon thing  VV Did that last night with the giant Antol-thing that ambushes you at that out-of-the-way shrine on the Leg 
C-Euro fucked around with this message at 21:56 on May 1, 2012 |
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May 1, 2012 21:22
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:I'm also looking for a unique monster, but all I've been told is that it's "somewhere between Vileria Hill (whatever it's called) and Sky Stage", and I've spent a lot of time wandering around that area without finding it. Violent Andante? It took me a while to find him, though when I did it was more between Vileria Hill and Lake Raguel than between the Hill and Sky Stage. Look for a huge-rear end Ardun, I think it was around 3 AM when I found him (running from the hill towards the lake) VV Try trading? I know there aren't a great deal of named NPCs in that area. C-Euro fucked around with this message at 00:01 on May 2, 2012 |
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May 1, 2012 23:10
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I know most named enemies respawn but do quest-related ones even spawn prior to receiving the quest?
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May 2, 2012 03:44
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Finally got Riki to join my party. Heropon best-pon and wow he's got some pretty crazy skills. Going to have to grind his affinity so everyone else can get in on those. Speaking of skill trees, a couple questions: -If a skill is labeled "Always Active", is it truly always active or only active so long as that skill tree is highlighted? I've had Reyn on Diligence ever since Skill Trees became a thing as every skill on that path is an Always Active entry. -What are these fourth and fifth skill trees I keep hearing about? Without going into spoiler detail, how do I unlock them?
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May 3, 2012 05:50
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LeeDless posted:At what point in the story can I begin the Colony 6 reconstruction side-quest? You have to talk to Otharon at the entrance to Colony 6, who gives you a quest to clear some monsters on Raguel Bridge. Once you do that, you have to go to the refugee camp and tell Juju to move everyone.
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May 3, 2012 14:24
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Mazed posted:Xenoblade brings us the heartfelt message that murdering together makes you better friends. That's actually one of the unique things about this game- in lots of other RPGs (moreso jRPGs), your characters can be friends, rivals etc. with one another but it almost never really is apparent in the game outside of plot stuff. Here, being friends with your teammates is actually a gameplay mechanism (encouraging others during battle) that has impact on how you develop your characters (skill links, gem crafting to a lesser extent). Maybe I just missed all the good examples of this in other games but this is maybe the first time where I've felt my party is a team that cares about one another.
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May 3, 2012 16:48
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There's one of those too-high ledges in Tephra Cave and it bugged the hell out of me when I couldn't get up there my first time through that area, happy to hear I didn't miss something.
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May 3, 2012 22:29
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Speaking of affinity coins, do characters still get affinity coins from level ups and the first time you kill a given unique monster if they're on the bench?
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May 8, 2012 22:16
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Man, I need to stop coming to this thread. I just got to Frontier last week and...haven't had much time to progress past that, so it's a spoiler minefield in here  Half the problem is lack of playing time, the other half is that I find myself running around areas I've already been to clean up quests, when I'm already overleveled enough as it is. But I really want that portable gem furnace fuuuuuuuuuuckkkkk...Is there a soundtrack out/available for this game? Would love to listen to some of these themes while I'm slaving away in the lab all summer. VV That's exactly what I'm doing...which mean I can read an entire page of this thread in 30 seconds because I refuse to read 75% of what's there
C-Euro fucked around with this message at 18:52 on May 16, 2012 |
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May 16, 2012 18:49
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Vil posted:For the portable gem furnace (vague early-game spoilers; you're personally past that point): Yeah I know what I need to do to get the portable furnace...just not where to get everything.
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May 16, 2012 19:56
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I'm sure others have asked it before, but what's the timeframe for finishing the timed quests in Alcamoth? Can I go ahead and push the main story a little further or should I seek out these quests first?
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May 25, 2012 04:35
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Decided to power through some of this over the long weekend, going from Alcamoth to just setting foot in Sword Valley. Man, things got crazy really fast. I knew from the visions of the Prison Island sequence that the faced Mechon would turn out to be Gundam-types, but it wasn't until Dunban remarked on it that I realized Metal Face was that rear end in a top hat from the prologue. And it took me completely by surprise to see Fiora piloting one of them- it's us Fiora, please come back to us Just goes to show you that no one in video games is dead unless you actively witness or take part in their death. I had a faint hope that she wasn't truly dead, but...not like this . Man, I can't wait until the next chance I have to play some more of this. I should probably take a little time to wrap up some sidequests, maybe start to unlock these extra skill trees I keep hearing about...
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May 29, 2012 03:36
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Should I go ahead and grab everyone's Anti-Mechon weapon when first arriving at Sword Valley? Or do other weapons that can damage Mechon drop in the area?
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Jun 3, 2012 23:52
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Am I correct that there's no real use for lower-level crystals, cylinders and gems once I have access to their higher-level counterparts? Like, say, I can't synthesize a gem from a level I and level II crystal together? And now that enemies are regularly dropping level III crystals, I should sell off all these level I cylinders I never processed?
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Jun 5, 2012 04:51
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What are some good ways to spec Riki? I know that his best abilities are his DoT powers like Lurgy and Burninate, but I don't have enough Blaze/Poison/Bleed/etc. Plus gems to make that a really viable strategy right now. And being in Sword Valley I have to use his Anti-Mechon weapon, which only has one gem slot for those types of gems . His melee damage output isn't that great either, but I've got Strength Up gems to spare. Should I farm for crystals that promote those DoT effects? Give him a weapon with more gem slots, even though it won't hurt Mechon? Go back to some recent areas and sidequest, hoping for those kinds of gems as rewards?
C-Euro fucked around with this message at 00:49 on Jun 7, 2012 |
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Jun 6, 2012 15:59
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What are some good ways to spec Riki? I know that his best abilities are his DoT powers like Lurgy and Burninate, but I don't have enough Blaze/Poison/Bleed/etc. Plus gems to make that a really viable strategy right now. And being in Sword Valley I have to use his Anti-Mechon weapon, which only has one gem slot for those types of gems . His melee damage output isn't that great either, but I've got Strength Up gems to spare. Should I farm for crystals that promote those DoT effects? Give him a weapon with more gem slots, even though it won't hurt Mechon? Go back to some recent areas and sidequest, hoping for those kinds of gems as rewards?
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Jun 8, 2012 21:39
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Pyroclastic posted:I would never use Riki for his auto-attack. It's only worthwhile to build up his Talent Gauge so you can steal. If I have Riki in the lead, most of the time I'm standing back to position Lurgy or the heal breath or finding the middle of a mob for Burninate, usually only closing to hit with bleed or sneaky. Poniard posted:I gave Riki a physical defense VI gem, a spike gem, then filled the rest with ether up gems; it makes the DoTs do a bit more damage. Freezinate is pretty good due to its short cooldown and you could use that as his 'basic' attack over autoattacking. Thanks, I didn't realize that Ether Ups would help his DoT output.
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Jun 10, 2012 06:28
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My go-to gem crafting strategy (which I think someone came up with in this thread) is to pair Sharla and Riki to get cylinders, and then Shulk and Reyn to get gems. Just make sure you cram as many different effects in there as possible on the cylinder crafting phase and you should be able to get a high-number cylinder unless you're horribly unlucky with other party members butting in to help. From there I always get at least Heat on my actual gems, Mega Heat maybe 40-50% of the time. VV I'm purposely keeping Sharla and Riki at low affinity for the time being in order to counter this. Granted, it's not airtight and I'm only halfway(?) through the game but it's been mostly successful. C-Euro fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Jun 21, 2012 |
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Jun 20, 2012 21:55
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timeandtide posted:So would people say that Alcamoth/the tombs are the low point of the game? I can't tell if it's that or if I'm getting burnt out, but I would say it's the combination of huge yet kind of empty city with few landmarks and a maze-like plain gray tomb that combined takes several hours is the real culprit. I'm sort of getting that vibe from Sword Valley, mostly because it's taken me two weeks to get through it due to having no play time. I'm anticipating some serious poo poo to go down in the next area too, which will hopefully be a good payoff. And 40 is fine, the next bosses coming up are levels 40-42.
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Jun 21, 2012 19:53
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Being halfway through the game (I think, I'm about to enter Galahad Fortress after Mumkhar's demise), I'm not sure if I'd call this the best game ever. I might not even call it the best RPG (j or otherwise). What I would call it, however, is one of the most important games of this console cycle. I think that this game could have the same sort of paradigm-shifting effect that Resident Evil 4 had on survival horror and that Modern Warfare had on FPS titles (and if this game had a wider release and/or didn't come out on a mostly dead console, it'd be likely to have that effect). This game just does so much right, and is the first jRPG to do that in a looooong time, that I think anyone who wants to make a game in this genre going forward should be required to play through this before starting. If jRPGs make a comeback in the next several years, I think we'll point back to Xenoblade as the game which got that ball rolling again.
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Jun 22, 2012 21:09
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I finally sucked it up and powered through Sword Valley and Galahad Fortress, and holy gently caress everything is awesome -I was really pissed when Fiora was seemingly offed, then I transitioned to being blindsided by the fact that she was alive, and now I'm happier than a pig in poo poo that's she back and in our party, even if she's stuck looking like an unused P.N.-03 design. I'm going to have to try playing as her sometime, she seems like she'll be a beast once I can level her Arts, and her armor gimmick seems pretty interesting. Seriously, her character seemed really well-written in the beginning of the game and I'm glad they went ahead and brought her back. -Fallen Arm might be my favorite area so far, I really like the mix of organic Bionis and metallic Mechonis decor and the music is so good everywhere, especially the badass Machina Village theme. I sat there for 20 minutes just crafting gems so I could listen to it on repeat, so loving good . Also putting Metal Face's remains there was a nice touch, can't wait to hear the Heart-to-Heart at that location.-I don't loving trust you Dickson, how can you travel everywhere so easily and know everyone all over the known world? Tell me your secrets Axel Rose  My question now is whether to go hog wild on the plot some more or backtrack for questing. I haven't done any Colony 6 restoration beyond level 1 and I'm itching to see these extra skill trees, which means clearing out my ever-growing quest log. A mechanical question though concerning my location: how does the game rationalize being able to backtrack from Fallen Arm? Is there some kindly Defence Force soldier with a dropship somewhere that I've yet to run into? Is it simply videogame magic? gently caress this game is so good but I work too much and I'm out of town this weekend and E: Could a kindly goon link me to Polsy-fied versions of the music for Fallen Arm during the day and Hidden Machina Village? Want to jam on them at work today but cautious of spoiling myself on related Youtube videos And did a legitimate OST ever become available for download/purchase? I'd consider purchasing it if I didn't have too many hoops to jump through. C-Euro fucked around with this message at 19:45 on Jun 26, 2012 |
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Jun 26, 2012 04:55
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Vil posted:Riki is DoT-flavored (= exceptionally murderous for chain 4 and 5 since DoTs double-dip on the chain damage multiplier) partially-AoE DPS, and plenty good healing. And if something gets pissed at him for whatever reason, he's got a mountain of HP. Plus between his directional attacks and his ability to directly charge up the party gauge some, he's good for frequent chain attacks. It's a shame that the HP cap is 9999 in this game, because Riki would blow past that if he could (he hit that cap at level 55 or so for me)
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Jul 8, 2012 20:14
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Another important detail is that skills stack when present on multiple characters. So example, Shulk has a skill that heals everyone for 5% their max health after a Chain Attack. If you link that to Reyn, then it becomes a 10% (5%+5%). I would imagine that only applies if both Shulk and Reyn are in your party but I can't say for certain.
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Jul 24, 2012 15:24
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Dammit Desiree, I have 4 stars with Colony 9 give me the quest for the 4th skill tree already Speaking of loose ends at Colony 9, has anyone been able to do Challenge 4 there? To kill Wallside Gwynry? The spreadsheet says to check the dead end east of Warehouse 2 in Tephra but I've been sitting there for a while now with no monsters showing up (apart from the little lizards that spawn there by default) VV Holy poo poo that worked the first time I tried it. Thanks. C-Euro fucked around with this message at 04:06 on Jul 30, 2012 |
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Jul 30, 2012 03:54
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