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All the gem talk is real good. You could spend huge amounts of time min maxing gems, but effort versus reward is important. I've played through the game a couple times now, and these are my thoughts of gem crafting: 1. Agility gems are op as gently caress and you want to max out your agility on shulk + Dunban ASAP. 2. Pay attention to what rewards quests offer. I completed a quest for otharon at the bionis leg and got a quick step |||. I then bought a pair of boots from the shop that ALSO had quick step ||| built in and suddenly I have 20% run speed on shulk, which is a god send. Most small quests provide lackluster/weak gems; look for difficult or multipart quests instead. 3. There are only 5 spawning strengths of gem crystal for the whole game. You can go through 3 or 4 areas or more before higher tier gems start showing up. Therefore, it is best to binge on gem crafting/exploration when you reach the first new region to give you the next tier gems. As soon as you hit bionis leg, stock up on crystal deposits and go craft them immediately so you can get the most use out of them. When you hit makna, do the same thing. 4. Shulk/Reyn can mega heat crafted gems stupidly easy as soon as you max affinity on them, which for me usually happens late satorl marsh/early makna, and for new players it could be even sooner. Once you know what you are doing, 30 minutes of skilled, patient gem crafting can result in you walking into makna with 2 brand new max strength Agility IV gems. For the most part there isn't really any point in worrying about megaheat because it takes much more skill and time, or luck period if your affinities aren't very high yet. However, certain gems like agility gems go for loving miles in you really sit down and put some love into it. It's the difference between having 1 agility IV for 21 agility or 2 agility IV gems for 24 each. 5. For some characters, it's not not just about higher stats. Gem stat break points exist on several characters, and having those gems can amplify damage far better than others. For instance, melia really really wants those elec up gems to the maximum, because summon bolt is her single target dps and by far where her non chain attack damage comes from. Sharla on the other hand gets ~ok use from elec up but she can still do her job just fine without them. Dunban is a dodge tank and an extra 50 agility can make him dodge so many extra attacks that his theoretical ehp increases go through the roof, living far longer than he would with just hp/muscle up. I keep one aura heal 5 on him and he's good to loving go. Reyn should get every hp up gem until he starts getting 9999 hp. He can tank for days with raw stats like that. Shulk also really likes agility, but double attack/haste can give the monado huge increases in uptime. Give your party monado enchant and still always have shield or speed on hand when you need it. Remember, gems like these are the only ones you "need". You can slot utility gems like quick step, fall pro, or exp up in for strength/ether/muscle ups 6. Sell every crystal that is lower than the highest tier you can farm. As soon as you can farm IIIs you don't need I or II. Arts manuals are expensive. 7. Please get agility gems
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Sep 25, 2014 17:06
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| # ? May 22, 2024 17:58 |
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The easiest way to mega heat is purposely failing a crafting session so have enough partial gems such that you start crafting mostly there. once you hit one hundred percent in adding ingredients, it stops letting you add more. But you can add two ninety percent leftovers and start crafting your gem at one hundred and eighty, well past enough to guarantee success and already close to mega heat.
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Sep 25, 2014 17:45
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Reading all of those words has just told me that I will never touch the gem crafting thing ever.
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Sep 25, 2014 20:15
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Yeah, you only really need those if you want to bother with some of the bonus bosses.
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Sep 25, 2014 20:18
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It's really not that bad once you get the hang of it. It makes characters go from pretty good to gods of destruction when outfitted with the appropriate gems. Having haste VI and double attack VI made seven a blender of death and my favorite character to play as for the rest of the game.
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Sep 25, 2014 20:30
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Whether you craft or not, here's your priority with gems: 1. Agility up for Dunban and Seven, who are dodge-tanks 2. Lightning Plus in Melia's weapon so she's beast with lightning element spam 3. Tension gems on riki, who should always be in BURNING PASSION mode so he can use happy happy any time. You can do a lot of nice stuff with gems but those three make already good characters way better without much effort.
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Sep 25, 2014 22:18
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If Riki's happy, then everyone's happy.
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Sep 26, 2014 08:47
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The Taint Reaper posted:Are we seriously spoilering a 3 year old game(5 years old in japan). You're a troll AND an rear end in a top hat? Good to know. Between this and the Wii U thread, why are you even allowed to post?
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Sep 26, 2014 13:15
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The Taint Reaper posted:Are we seriously spoilering a 3 year old game(5 years old in japan). Considering that people are literally talking about their playthroughts in the thread, and how the game is literally - like literally - being ported to the N3DS, you're going to have people skim over the pretty big spoilers that ruin a fun surprise about the game. Is it that hard to think "oh hey people may be playing this game and want to be surprised, maybe I should spoiler what I write"?
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Sep 26, 2014 16:15
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Sometimes I wish there was more feedback on when you're being affected by spike effects. I still remember taking Seven up against some named Mechon enemy, setting them to blender mode and then being baffled about where all my health dissapeared to. I think this happened to me multiple times.
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Sep 30, 2014 22:17
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Ashsaber posted:Sometimes I wish there was more feedback on when you're being affected by spike effects. I still remember taking Seven up against some named Mechon enemy, setting them to blender mode and then being baffled about where all my health dissapeared to. I think this happened to me multiple times. Yeah me to. With fast, hard-hitting characters like Seven your health disappears really quickly. I hated that mechanic something fierce.
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Oct 1, 2014 04:33
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I've found a good gem crafting strategy: start with Sharla as the shooter and Riki as the engineer. Sharla's ability fills the cylinder gauge higher with a gentle flame, and Riki has excellent gentle flame abilities. Throw in a bunch of crystals to create, but try to keep the stuff you want created below 70-80% (maybe more if you have a lot of high affinity with party members). They'll fill the cylinder count rather quickly while not increasing the quality of the gem that much, and you'll probably end up failing but you can convert them into a bunch of cylinders that are probably at 80-90%. Then use Shulk & Reyn as your shooter / engineer and combine the cylinders to get 180% or so. Reyn gets a high boost on a strong flame, which will increase 1 quality significantly. If your affinity is high enough, you can get this up to a mega heat, and Shulk can go into fever mode too. Speaking of Shulk, try to throw some aggro down gems on him to keep the heat off him, so he can easily hit enemies from behind or from the side. Add back attack plus gems as well and you can turn his black slash into a murdering weapon, especially if you use slit edge (correctly) and shadow eye beforehand.
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Oct 1, 2014 18:38
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quote:Lots of posts about gems As always, I get a better answer than I could ask for. Thanks  Now, can someone tell me what Xord yell-mumbles at you every time you hit him during the first battle? Whatever it is it gets old pretty fast.
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Oct 1, 2014 19:42
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Renoistic posted:Yeah me to. With fast, hard-hitting characters like Seven your health disappears really quickly. I hated that mechanic something fierce. 2 anti-spike gems and all these problems go away; in alternative, a top tier -75% gem plus Dunban's -20% skill. They're not strictly needed but I rate that highly as a quality-of-life equip.
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Oct 1, 2014 19:54
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Mak0rz posted:As always, I get a better answer than I could ask for. Thanks Drunk robots mumbling about eating you is actually really great.
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Oct 2, 2014 01:53
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Mak0rz posted:As always, I get a better answer than I could ask for. Thanks I think it's "Like a fly bit me!" but that might be the second battle. Also nothing about Xord ever gets old.
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Oct 2, 2014 02:10
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ajkalan posted:I think it's "Like a fly bit me!" but that might be the second battle. Also nothing about Xord ever gets old. Reading this thread and playing Xenoblade near its US release, I really REALLY hoped Xord was Seven. I don't know why I was convinced it could be likely. (Midgame spoiler)
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Oct 2, 2014 02:22
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You probably talked to somebody that knew more about him and subconsciously made the connection -- BIG TWIST spoiler one of the named NPCs in Colony 9 is his daughter and talks about him being a blacksmith offhand
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Oct 2, 2014 02:53
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Chronojam posted:You probably talked to somebody that knew more about him and subconsciously made the connection -- BIG TWIST spoiler one of the named NPCs in Colony 9 is his daughter and talks about him being a blacksmith offhand Yeah, I did. And everyone here was being so hush-hush about identity, I was expecting something crazy out of left field. FWIW I don't mind what we got, the identity is predictable but how they got there wasn't so much.
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Oct 2, 2014 17:21
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I feel like they saved that for the BIG RE-TWIST with the entia being telethia which were just invented by zanza
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Oct 2, 2014 17:30
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So I'm playing Xenoblade and I'm at the Gaur plains... and I am already bored. Is this a bad thing? I think the number of sidequests making me overleveled is probably the issue, combined with the battle system that is repetitive and a bit boring(I keep using shulk, should I change party leader or what?) Sorry, but I really want to give this game a chance. I only have 8 hours in but I just can't keep myself from playing anymore. Does anyone have any encouraging words so that I won't quit?
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Oct 3, 2014 21:58
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Start skipping sidequests and try maining Reyn for awhile. Things will get a bit more interesting a bit later. You'll pick up a third party member soon, for instance. I'd say give it until you get to the Marsh. Make sure it's night when you go there!
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Oct 4, 2014 01:01
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Don't worry about sidequests that don't have a little clock in the quest display; that's your indicator that it's time limited by plot lockouts. Where you are right now, your combat options are still very limited, so try sticking with it a bit longer and don't burn yourself out on sidequests. There are way more abilities to combine, skills to cross-link, and party members who play differently.
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Oct 4, 2014 01:13
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Chronojam posted:Don't worry about sidequests that don't have a little clock in the quest display; that's your indicator that it's time limited by plot lockouts. If you're bored of sidequests feel free to ignore the clock icon ones too. You don't need to do any of them ever if you don't want, and you miss very little.
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Oct 4, 2014 01:17
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Xenoblade isn't Chrono Trigger. Sidequests don't have any plot consequences and the rewards you do get aren't all that spectacular, outside of a handful of specific late game quests (none of which are temporary iirc). They're there if you want to do them. If you feel tired, move on. The only meaningful thing you really get out of doing a lot of sidequests is boosting affinity between the player character and his/her companions.
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Oct 4, 2014 02:19
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Sidequests boost area affinity which is a nice thing for trading and rebuilding colony 6. Trading can make some sidequests super easy rather than grinding monsters for rare loot.
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Oct 5, 2014 19:01
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seiferguy posted:Sidequests boost area affinity which is a nice thing for trading and rebuilding colony 6. Trading can make some sidequests super easy rather than grinding monsters for rare loot. Trading is a huge pain that I never bother with because you need a guide, thanks to the hundreds of NPC's.
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Oct 5, 2014 21:32
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Trading is a huge pain that I never bother with because you need a guide, thanks to the hundreds of NPC's. Once you get your location affinities up to a good level, and you get a mission to collect stuff, you can always look for what item you have available in the wikia page to see who has it and where they're at. It's much less time consuming than fighting a bunch of monsters hoping for a silver / gold chest drop. Random sidenote, but wanna know how good chain attacks are? I just killed 7 enemies (1 of them a unique) in a chain attack  It was at Galahad Fortress in one of the supply rooms, using Shulk / Dunban / Riki. I got 6 hits in overall, and had a max combo at the end thanks to mixing in talent arts. Using Monado Buster with at least a times 4 multiplier on Mechon will wreck stuff.
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Oct 6, 2014 16:26
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The literal first thing I picked up on Valak Mountain during my second playthrough? An Ice Cabbage 
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Oct 12, 2014 19:28
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Yeah I picked up like 5 in my first 2 hours of roaming the region.
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Oct 12, 2014 20:15
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The best item gag in the game is in the final area. You've spent the whole game collecting these blue glowing objects and finally you encounter one that's just named "blue glow".
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Oct 13, 2014 03:00
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I was doing some sidequests today when I finished the lighthouse one in Eryth Sea and unlocked a new skill branch for Melia. I didn't even know you could unlock skill branches for characters! Are there more, and are they all tied to quests like that? I'd look them up, but I'd like to avoid spoilers for the game. For reference, in the story, I have just defeated muhmkar at sword valley. Or rather, he fell down off the mechonis in his own hubris. I haven't gotten Fiora yet.
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Oct 29, 2014 19:39
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mabels big day posted:I was doing some sidequests today when I finished the lighthouse one in Eryth Sea and unlocked a new skill branch for Melia. I didn't even know you could unlock skill branches for characters! Are there more, and are they all tied to quests like that? I'd look them up, but I'd like to avoid spoilers for the game. For reference, in the story, I have just defeated muhmkar at sword valley. Or rather, he fell down off the mechonis in his own hubris. I haven't gotten Fiora yet. Each character has two extra skill branches, and they're all tied to quests that don't unlock until you've got like 3-5 stars in an area. Hope you like sidequests! On the plus side, the extra branches max out much faster than the normal skill branches. The skills on those branches tend to be kind of broken though.
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Oct 29, 2014 19:55
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U-DO Burger posted:Each character has two extra skill branches, and they're all tied to quests that don't unlock until you've got like 3-5 stars in an area. Hope you like sidequests! I got Melia's with only two stars in the upper bionis, so i guess I just got lucky with the bare minimum requirements, and just so happened to be using her when i talked to the NPC in the lighthouse. I'm grinding affinity in colony 9 right now, but I think I'm gonna have to move on to colony 6 because I'm running out of quests in colony 9, and I'm guessing I'll have access to more later. Honestly at this rate I'll end up doing pretty much everything in the game because I just want to max out affinity between my own party members and see all the heart to hearts, and now I want to get all the skill trees unlocked, so just as a consequence of that I'll probably end up 100%ing. mabels big day fucked around with this message at 22:44 on Oct 29, 2014 |
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Oct 29, 2014 22:38
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mabels big day posted:I got Melia's with only two stars in the upper bionis, so i guess I just got lucky with the bare minimum requirements, and just so happened to be using her when i talked to the NPC in the lighthouse. I'm grinding affinity in colony 9 right now, but I think I'm gonna have to move on to colony 6 because I'm running out of quests in colony 9, and I'm guessing I'll have access to more later. Good luck with that, 100%ing Xenoblade is a massive chore. I still haven't finished the game yet, and there's still a ton of side content left. And there's the whole Colony 6 stuff.
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Oct 29, 2014 22:53
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Dr. Fetus posted:Good luck with that, 100%ing Xenoblade is a massive chore. I still haven't finished the game yet, and there's still a ton of side content left. And there's the whole Colony 6 stuff. My current game is a "completion run" attempt. I just got the achievement for completing 300 quests. It's... worth a lot of experience points 
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Oct 30, 2014 01:43
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I just did a quest in colony 9 where I had to get a girl soldier either a sword or a shield to help her pass the lieutenants test. When I accepted the mission, a vision of her winning with a poisonous sword was shown, and the loser seemed pretty upset that she cheated. So naturally I got the shield for her, so that wouldnt happen. Of course she loses, and then I lose affinity towards Colony 9. Did i make an objectively wrong choice gameplay-wise, or will the game make up for that because I did the right thing and stopped her from cheating?
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Oct 30, 2014 05:54
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I think there's two separate quest lines (or two seperate quests) for that one, so don't worry about it too much.
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Oct 30, 2014 05:56
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That girl looks dangerously incompetent so I really had no qualms giving her the shield on my playthrough either.
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Oct 30, 2014 06:54
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| # ? May 22, 2024 17:58 |
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I know Shulk/Reyn is generally the go-to standard for Gem refining, but I've found that Seven as the Engineer and Dunban as Shooter is absurdly effective. Basically Seven gets almost all Medium flames all the time, and Dunban's ability means that every time you get the same flame in a row it gets a multiplier. 15 turns of that is something like +120 to all attributes, or over 200 if you get a Fever. It's not something you'd really have access to until you hit the endgame, but it's great when you have crystals with multiple high attributes. (This strategy can actually get past 300+ with two Fevers, which would literally Mega-Heat anything that's been tossed in the furnace, so you might be able to do completely crazy poo poo like Mega-Heat 15 gems at once)
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Oct 30, 2014 08:00
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