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Reiterpallasch
Nov 3, 2010



Fun Shoe

Ometeotl posted:

What are the best chips for block and crit rate and where do I get them?

Block: kill Ophion in the postgame. It'll drop a key you can use in the last dungeon to open a chest with 10 Dilation chips. They're the best block chip I know about; I don't know if there are any other sources in the game. Gold chips are only marginally worse and offer a 50% drop rate bonus instead. You can farm them from a bunch of sources; the most reliable is driver comboing the level 65 Vampire Queen Marion in Uraya.

Crit: If in the postgame, farm Cloud Sea King Ken in Tantal (fog) for Moon Matter chips. Otherwise, get Mirror Matter Chips from the Misdan Pipitos in Temperantia.

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Neddy Seagoon
Oct 12, 2012

"Hi Everybody!"

Louisgod posted:

I just effectively bartered six orphan kids to two white men to months of servitude as slaves, with no pay until they’ve proven themselves. The gently caress game?

Not really. They had no real future on their own, and the Salvagers treat them very well. It's less "work or die, thieving orphan scum :toughguy:" and more "These guys I trust are gonna teach you all an honest trade, and see you get proper food and beds.".

Meowywitch
Jan 14, 2010

Fought that spider, that was a really fun fight. It's a shame it took me like 70 hours to fully appreciate how fun the battle system is in this game.

ChaosArgate
Oct 10, 2012

Why does everyone think I'm going to get in trouble?

Neddy Seagoon posted:

Not really. They had no real future on their own, and the Salvagers treat them very well. It's less "work or die, thieving orphan scum :toughguy:" and more "These guys I trust are gonna teach you all an honest trade, and see you get proper food and beds.".

Yeah they’re getting free room and board and apprenticeships so that they’re not left fending for themselves in the wild and so they’ll have a good chance at a positive future for themselves.

ajkalan
Aug 17, 2011

Fighting one of the bad guys in Chapter 7 I think, and he starts using Monado skills. Malos used Monado Cyclone more in one fight than I did in the entirety of XC1. Okay, game, you have my attention.

Pierson
Oct 31, 2004



College Slice
I wanted Nia to burst him like a water balloon. :mad:

IcePhoenix
Sep 18, 2005

Take me to your Shida

voltcatfish posted:

I'm not sure if it was ever confirmed Rare Blades being softlocked to chapter progression, but it seems likely.

It's not because they're not

Neddy Seagoon
Oct 12, 2012

"Hi Everybody!"

IcePhoenix posted:

It's not because they're not

It's about as likely as knowing you can get this one slot machine in the casino to pay out 10% more often if you lean to the right and nudge the lever forward before pulling it. But not too far, or it won't work.

No, really, it works I promise! :pseudo:

IcePhoenix
Sep 18, 2005

Take me to your Shida

If you hold down+B it increases your chance of getting a rare by 50%

Centzon Totochtin
Jan 2, 2009
I got to the big Nia reveal in chapter 7 and I'm not sure I understand entirely

Is she a Flesh Eater, a Blade Eater, or just a normal blade? I'm not sure how reliable her narration or accurate the timeline of the flashbacks were. Was she summoned/transformed after her sister (" "?) passed and her father (" "?) summoned/transformed her to replace her as a daughter or did he do it before to get a healing blade so he could try heal her or what. Like, she has her own blades and there are some blades that can summon their own blades but I think most of them are "special" like Malos, an aegis. Then the Praetorium was hunting her down so I guess she's a flesh eater? But if she was originally a human, why would that guy have to ask her to call him father? was she just another human (or gormotti... are they different from humans?) And then she has no reservations about going to the praetorium even though they were hunting her down some time ago and she wasn't concerned about them recognizing her at all?

Am I missing something or do they explain more later

Neddy Seagoon
Oct 12, 2012

"Hi Everybody!"

Centzon Totochtin posted:

I got to the big Nia reveal in chapter 7 and I'm not sure I understand entirely

Is she a Flesh Eater, a Blade Eater, or just a normal blade? I'm not sure how reliable her narration or accurate the timeline of the flashbacks were. Was she summoned/transformed after her sister (" "?) passed and her father (" "?) summoned/transformed her to replace her as a daughter or did he do it before to get a healing blade so he could try heal her or what. Like, she has her own blades and there are some blades that can summon their own blades but I think most of them are "special" like Malos, an aegis. Then the Praetorium was hunting her down so I guess she's a flesh eater? But if she was originally a human, why would that guy have to ask her to call him father? was she just another human (or gormotti... are they different from humans?) And then she has no reservations about going to the praetorium even though they were hunting her down some time ago and she wasn't concerned about them recognizing her at all?

Am I missing something or do they explain more later

She's a Flesh Eater. The original Nia's dad went crazy because his daughter was dying, forced Blade-Nia to eat Original-Nia's flesh to make her a Flesh Eater, and basically psychologically tortured the poor girl into being his daughter's replacement.

Amppelix
Aug 6, 2010

Speaking of that, although I'm not there yet, Nia's not going to leave my party is she? That would be extremely hosed up in this game with five party members four of which can bond with blades

Neddy Seagoon
Oct 12, 2012

"Hi Everybody!"

Amppelix posted:

Speaking of that, although I'm not there yet, Nia's not going to leave my party is she? That would be extremely hosed up in this game with five party members four of which can bond with blades

It's a menu toggle like Pyra/Mythra.

Louisgod
Sep 25, 2003

Always Stupid
Bread Liar
I'm close to finishing chapter 4 and so far this game is a loving BORE. The nonsensical, unexciting routes from the main story do a very poor job of exploring or explaining the world around you; the lore of how the world came to be, the people living on the titans, or the mystique of the environments is left untouched. One of the great aspects of XC1 and even XCX was the first time discovery of new areas and how the characters remarked on them was really cool. This game lacks that, and the existential threat of the empire supposedly looming above everything is pointless when you can kill dozens of their troops yet waltz into one of their ports unchecked.

Per the clock I've put 55 hours into the game (though I think a lot of those hours are from either pausing the game or when I literally fell asleep playing it) and I still don't fully understand the combat system. Yeah I can build up my special to level 4 and dish out a neat one time combo but how you build up white orbs or lead to an orb rotating around an enemy was so poorly explained that it never clicked. Even after watching tutorial videos online I still don't get how to set up the "seal arts" system.

I think the two things that driven me absolutely insane so far is how poorly done the markers are for quests (the revised map has helped a little bit), and the pacing/dialogue in cutscenes. Holy god is the dead air/filler dialogue in cutscenes terrible. Sneaking up to bandits in a cave by standing 30 feet away from them and ducking by 2 ft tall grass was so dumb. Main characters asking where somebody went when they were literally standing next to them but they walked out of the frame is lazy directing.

I really hope this game gets better because I'm in it for the long haul.

U-DO Burger
Nov 12, 2007




I felt so bad for Nia in chapter 7 when she got friendzoned. Poor kid can't catch a break.

Meowywitch
Jan 14, 2010

U-DO Burger posted:

I felt so bad for Nia in chapter 7 when she got friendzoned. Poor kid can't catch a break.

I don't really understand it myself, because Pyra is so boring compared to Nia, but hey Rex does Rex

U-DO Burger
Nov 12, 2007




Louisgod posted:

I'm close to finishing chapter 4 and so far this game is a loving BORE. The nonsensical, unexciting routes from the main story do a very poor job of exploring or explaining the world around you; the lore of how the world came to be, the people living on the titans, or the mystique of the environments is left untouched. One of the great aspects of XC1 and even XCX was the first time discovery of new areas and how the characters remarked on them was really cool. This game lacks that, and the existential threat of the empire supposedly looming above everything is pointless when you can kill dozens of their troops yet waltz into one of their ports unchecked.

Per the clock I've put 55 hours into the game (though I think a lot of those hours are from either pausing the game or when I literally fell asleep playing it) and I still don't fully understand the combat system. Yeah I can build up my special to level 4 and dish out a neat one time combo but how you build up white orbs or lead to an orb rotating around an enemy was so poorly explained that it never clicked. Even after watching tutorial videos online I still don't get how to set up the "seal arts" system.

The empire isn't an existential threat. It's just one of the two major world powers.

When you use a level 1 special, a diagram appears in the upper right showing what two elements can be used to perform a level 2 special. To the right of that you can see which level 3 specials can be done. Perform a level 3 special and the Seal X effect on the diagram will hit the enemy, and an orb will start circling the enemy which corresponds to the element of the level 3 special you just did. Those orbs can be destroyed during chain attacks for massive damage.

The battle system tutorial sucks, but it's easily the best battle system any Xeno game has ever had once you get the hang of it.

Tae
Oct 24, 2010

Hello? Can you hear me? ...Perhaps if I shout? AAAAAAAAAH!
I don't understand how anyone actually though the empire was an enemy faction other than "WELL STAR WARS EMPIRE WAS EVIL I GUESS."

The main threat is the guy that killed you in the opening act.

Louisgod
Sep 25, 2003

Always Stupid
Bread Liar

U-DO Burger posted:

When you use a level 1 special, a diagram appears in the upper right showing what two elements can be used to perform a level 2 special. To the right of that you can see which level 3 specials can be done. Perform a level 3 special and the Seal X effect on the diagram will hit the enemy, and an orb will start circling the enemy which corresponds to the element of the level 3 special you just did. Those orbs can be destroyed during chain attacks for massive damage.

I think part of what's confusing is how to execute the corresponding element. Do you press ZR/ZL for one of your party members? Do you switch Blades to an element that aligns with the chart and have the character you're controlling do it? Do you have to build up to level 3 to execute the chart? When's the best time to use level 4 specials? So many questions that I wish I could get answers to from the game itself.

emoji
Jun 4, 2004
It was probably like ch 7 before I fully understood all the battle mechanics lol, well until they added more after

emoji
Jun 4, 2004


Thanks google

IcePhoenix
Sep 18, 2005

Take me to your Shida

Louisgod posted:

I think part of what's confusing is how to execute the corresponding element. Do you press ZR/ZL for one of your party members? Do you switch Blades to an element that aligns with the chart and have the character you're controlling do it? Do you have to build up to level 3 to execute the chart? When's the best time to use level 4 specials? So many questions that I wish I could get answers to from the game itself.

Yes, also yes, yes for the last step, play the game and decide for yourself, the game gave you answers for the first three questions in tutorials that you probably skipped.

Admittedly, not being able to go back and look at old tutorials through the menu is dumb.

RazzleDazzleHour
Mar 31, 2016

Tae posted:

I don't understand how anyone actually though the empire was an enemy faction other than "WELL STAR WARS EMPIRE WAS EVIL I GUESS."

The main threat is the guy that killed you in the opening act.

Yeah let's totally forget about the part of the game where your first introduction to the empire is that in the past they incited a war on this beautiful peaceful city and are now annexing it and doing military recruitment there and there's a ton of hostility between the Gormotti and them, the Empire explicitly sends soldiers to capture Nia, you get in a fight with Bridghid where she calls Pyra out on being the Aegis and all the soldiers have orders to capture her too, the mayor of Gormott is giving direct orders to Empire soldiers while also being an underling of Bana, the guy who knowingly sent you to your death, the Empire soldiers actually succeed in capturing Nia with a magical weapon, the player is told the Empire is going to execute Nia, you have to stage a prison break on an Empire ship where you fight the evil mayor and captain of local Empire troops, then you get in a fight with Morag who apparently wasn't even interested in Nia and wanted to use her to capture the Aegis and is also a high-ranking Empire officer.

What loving game were you playing where you didn't think the Empire was supposed to be an antagonistic faction?

Louisgod
Sep 25, 2003

Always Stupid
Bread Liar

IcePhoenix posted:

Yes, also yes, yes for the last step, play the game and decide for yourself, the game gave you answers for the first three questions in tutorials that you probably skipped.

Admittedly, not being able to go back and look at old tutorials through the menu is dumb.

No, I didn't skip the cutscenes, the elemental pieces were introduced loving before break/topple and chain attacks were unlocked. If at any point the player is being blamed for confusion over game mechanics then you know you hosed up.

RazzleDazzleHour posted:

Yeah let's totally forget about the part of the game where your first introduction to the empire is that in the past they incited a war on this beautiful peaceful city and are now annexing it and doing military recruitment there and there's a ton of hostility between the Gormotti and them, the Empire explicitly sends soldiers to capture Nia, you get in a fight with Bridghid where she calls Pyra out on being the Aegis and all the soldiers have orders to capture her too, the mayor of Gormott is giving direct orders to Empire soldiers while also being an underling of Bana, the guy who knowingly sent you to your death, the Empire soldiers actually succeed in capturing Nia with a magical weapon, the player is told the Empire is going to execute Nia, you have to stage a prison break on an Empire ship where you fight the evil mayor and captain of local Empire troops, then you get in a fight with Morag who apparently wasn't even interested in Nia and wanted to use her to capture the Aegis and is also a high-ranking Empire officer.

What loving game were you playing where you didn't think the Empire was supposed to be an antagonistic faction?

seriously, add to the fact that there's some sort of arms race, clashes with mercenary groups, and that you constantly run into underlings associated with the empire (that one blue haired person with the blue flame idiotic outfit blade) and it's hard to ignore that the empire isn't supposed to be some sort of existential world power.

IcePhoenix
Sep 18, 2005

Take me to your Shida

Louisgod posted:

No, I didn't skip the cutscenes, the elemental pieces were introduced loving before break/topple and chain attacks were unlocked. If at any point the player is being blamed for confusion over game mechanics then you know you hosed up.

They told you how blade combos work, then when they added a new bit they told you how blade combos work within it. I'm not sure how it's their fault that you went two chapters without ever learning how they work.

nerdz
Oct 12, 2004


Complex, statistically improbable things are by their nature more difficult to explain than simple, statistically probable things.
Grimey Drawer
I mean, the combat is indeed badly explained. I advanced a lot in the game because I had a good build and was able to ignore most of the mechanics, but there's a time where they start to be mandatory.

U-DO Burger
Nov 12, 2007




Louisgod posted:

I think part of what's confusing is how to execute the corresponding element. Do you press ZR/ZL for one of your party members? Do you switch Blades to an element that aligns with the chart and have the character you're controlling do it? Do you have to build up to level 3 to execute the chart? When's the best time to use level 4 specials? So many questions that I wish I could get answers to from the game itself.

Let me see if I can explain this better. Let's say you use a level 1 special with Pyra. You'll see this:



That big fire symbol on the left is the level 1 special you just used. To the right are the paths this special can take. The only level 2 specials that can be done here are a Fire special or a Water special. So you have either have Pyra do a level 2 special, or you have Nia get Dromarch to do a special (or you can use any other Water blade you may have pulled from the horrible gacha). Generally speaking, your other party members will switch to the right element when they get a chance. If you used Pyra for the level 2 special, then the only available level 3 specials will be Fire and Light. Which means Pyra or Mythra can activate the level 3 special. Do that and the attack/status effect next to that element on the chart will be sealed. Sealing moves will be pointless 90% of the time, so don't worry about that too much.

If you had Pyra do the level 3 special, a Fire orb will start circling your enemy. This lowers fire damage against it, which is the game's way of saying you should be using as many elements as possible in battle. Every time you use a special, an orb of that element will get added to the enemy. You can have one orb of each element on an enemy, which means you can have up to 8. You can destroy those orbs during a Chain Attack to absolutely murder your foes and feel like a total badass.

U-DO Burger
Nov 12, 2007




Level 4 specials are kinda weird. You can use them any time you see the IV symbol, regardless of if that element would continue your 1->2->3 special chain.

Ytlaya
Nov 13, 2005

Farming that Vampire Marion unique enemy has been pretty effective, now that I've gotten a number of Gold Chips off of it. I can usually get 1 or 2 legendary cores and 3-4 rare cores when I fight it, and there's zero risk when doing so at level 80.

Regarding Tiger Tiger, exactly how rare are the good drops? I did Stage 5 several times (I'm really bad at Stage 5 and can only beat it maybe 1/5 of the time, even on Easy), and didn't get anything good. If we're talking about like a 1/50 chance of getting the good parts, I really don't want to grind that out.

U-DO Burger posted:

That big fire symbol on the left is the level 1 special you just used. To the right are the paths this special can take. The only level 2 specials that can be done here are a Fire special or a Water special. So you have either have Pyra do a level 2 special, or you have Nia get Dromarch to do a special (or you can use any other Water blade you may have pulled from the horrible gacha). Generally speaking, your other party members will switch to the right element when they get a chance. If you used Pyra for the level 2 special, then the only available level 3 specials will be Fire and Light. Which means Pyra or Mythra can activate the level 3 special. Do that and the attack/status effect next to that element on the chart will be sealed. Sealing moves will be pointless 90% of the time, so don't worry about that too much.

If you had Pyra do the level 3 special, a Fire orb will start circling your enemy. This lowers fire damage against it, which is the game's way of saying you should be using as many elements as possible in battle. Every time you use a special, an orb of that element will get added to the enemy. You can have one orb of each element on an enemy, which means you can have up to 8. You can destroy those orbs during a Chain Attack to absolutely murder your foes and feel like a total badass.

One other thing that needs to be mentioned is that the number of white dots circling around your party members' portrait when you see their ZL/ZR prompts represents what level of special they can do. So if you've done level 1 of the combo, your party member needs to have 2 or 3 white dots circling them to continue it (and then whoever does the third, if it's not you, need 3 dots). I feel like it's important to mention this, because otherwise Louisgod might end up doing a party member's level 1 special when trying to continue a combo.

Level 4 combos aren't really necessary for anything and are just sort of a nice bonus if you happen to end up using them.

Generally speaking, the bulk of your damage earlier on will likely come from blade combos, and later in the game it will come from chain attacks (pressing + when the three bars at the top left of the screen are filled and you ideally have a bunch of elemental orbs on the enemy).

Speaking of elemental orbs, I have a question - Is there any way to know which orbs are on an enemy other than just visually looking at the orbs? I'm color-blind, and it can sometimes be a pain to figure out which orbs are which. I usually just have to try and remember which combos I've used.

voltcatfish posted:

I don't really understand it myself, because Pyra is so boring compared to Nia, but hey Rex does Rex

There's something Pyra has that Nia lacks. Well, two things.

bef posted:

Pretty sure I saw a panty shot with perun

I'm pretty sure Perun's skirt is somehow hiked above her panties, such that you can see them from directly in front of her.

Ytlaya fucked around with this message at 18:38 on Jan 4, 2018

Louisgod
Sep 25, 2003

Always Stupid
Bread Liar

U-DO Burger posted:

Let me see if I can explain this better. Let's say you use a level 1 special with Pyra. You'll see this:



That big fire symbol on the left is the level 1 special you just used. To the right are the paths this special can take. The only level 2 specials that can be done here are a Fire special or a Water special. So you have either have Pyra do a level 2 special, or you have Nia get Dromarch to do a special (or you can use any other Water blade you may have pulled from the horrible gacha). Generally speaking, your other party members will switch to the right element when they get a chance. If you used Pyra for the level 2 special, then the only available level 3 specials will be Fire and Light. Which means Pyra or Mythra can activate the level 3 special. Do that and the attack/status effect next to that element on the chart will be sealed. Sealing moves will be pointless 90% of the time, so don't worry about that too much.

If you had Pyra do the level 3 special, a Fire orb will start circling your enemy. This lowers fire damage against it, which is the game's way of saying you should be using as many elements as possible in battle. Every time you use a special, an orb of that element will get added to the enemy. You can have one orb of each element on an enemy, which means you can have up to 8. You can destroy those orbs during a Chain Attack to absolutely murder your foes and feel like a total badass.

This is a HUGE help, thank you. I think if they included a column of sorts for the step-ladder along with some sort of visual confirmation it would've gone a long ways, kinda like this:



A lot of times I'll activate what I think is the correct art needed but the first element is still highlighted white. Understanding how this works sequentially is confusing without visual cues. In this example, what happens when I activate a level 3 fire special? Is Seal Self-Destruct automatically activated, or is the next sequence activated (column 2)? How does level 4 play into this?

Ytlaya posted:

One other thing that needs to be mentioned is that the number of white dots circling around your party members' portrait when you see their ZL/ZR prompts represents what level of special they can do. So if you've done level 1 of the combo, your party member needs to have 2 or 3 white dots circling them to continue it (and then whoever does the third, if it's not you, need 3 dots). I feel like it's important to mention this, because otherwise Louisgod might end up doing a party member's level 1 special when trying to continue a combo.

THANK YOU, the orbs are a nice visual cue but I wasn't quite piecing together how they aligned with the chart or even HOW I accumulated the orbs. I think it's starting to make sense, just wish the tutorials hand held you through this and provided more visual and realtime examples. Even the first Xenoblade's tutorials were really lacking in depth.

Louisgod fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Jan 4, 2018

Amppelix
Aug 6, 2010

You need to do the entire sequence in order to get the full effect and orb. However, you don't need exactly a level 2 special to perform the second step, level 3 and 4 are also applicable. You just need at minimum a 1, a 2, and a 3 in order.

LPG Giant
Feb 20, 2011

Ytlaya posted:

Generally speaking, the bulk of your damage earlier on will likely come from blade combos, and later in the game it will come from chain attacks (pressing + when the three bars at the top left of the screen are filled and you ideally have a bunch of elemental orbs on the enemy).

I didn’t start doing blade combos until way after chain attacks. I just didn’t have anyone who uses launch (still don’t, really).

Louisgod
Sep 25, 2003

Always Stupid
Bread Liar

Amppelix posted:

You need to do the entire sequence in order to get the full effect and orb. However, you don't need exactly a level 2 special to perform the second step, level 3 and 4 are also applicable. You just need at minimum a 1, a 2, and a 3 in order.

Cool, so, I couldn't do level 1, then 3 and activate the seal? I have to do level 1, build up to level 2, activate it, then build up to level 3 and activate to complete the seal, right?

U-DO Burger
Nov 12, 2007




Ytlaya posted:

One other thing that needs to be mentioned is that the number of white dots circling around your party members' portrait when you see their ZL/ZR prompts represents what level of special they can do. So if you've done level 1 of the combo, your party member needs to have 2 or 3 white dots circling them to continue it (and then whoever does the third, if it's not you, need 3 dots). I feel like it's important to mention this, because otherwise Louisgod might end up doing a party member's level 1 special when trying to continue a combo.

Those ZL/ZR prompts straight up don't appear unless they continue the combo. If you're unlucky and lock yourself into the wrong special path, you won't see any prompts at all until your Blade Combo meter depletes and you can use level 1 specials again.

Louisgod posted:

THANK YOU, the orbs are a nice visual cue but I wasn't quite piecing together how they aligned with the chart or even HOW I accumulated the orbs. I think it's starting to make sense, just wish the tutorials hand held you through this and provided more visual and realtime examples. Even the first Xenoblade's tutorials were really lacking in depth.

yeah the tutorials are just terrible. Better than XCX's "just look up the manual online lol", but still pretty bad.

Louisgod posted:

Cool, so, I couldn't do level 1, then 3 and activate the seal? I have to do level 1, build up to level 2, activate it, then build up to level 3 and activate to complete the seal, right?

Exactly.

Ytlaya
Nov 13, 2005

^^^ The prompts will still appear if they're using the right element but don't have the adequate level special to continue the combo, but they won't be highlighted or something IIRC. I think you can force the party member to use their special under those circumstances, maybe by pressing ZL/ZR twice? Not sure about that, but I feel like I've done it before. You generally wouldn't want to do that, though (unless you were trying to grind up a blade's affinity chart that required them to use a certain special).

Louisgod posted:

A lot of times I'll activate what I think is the correct art needed but the first element is still highlighted white. Understanding how this works sequentially is confusing without visual cues. In this example, what happens when I activate a level 3 fire special? Is Seal Self-Destruct automatically activated, or is the next sequence activated (column 2)? How does level 4 play into this?

When you complete the combo, you'll get an obvious animation along with a QTE and a lot of damage. The seal is then applied along with the combo. Level 4 is completely unnecessary and is just kind of a nice bonus if you've gotten up to it (it'll just replace a lower level special in the combo chain).

You'll also notice that the names of the specials change for each type of combo and level in the sequence. Over time you'll become familiar with which names represent which stage in the combo, though you can always also refer to the chart in the upper right.

Louisgod posted:

Cool, so, I couldn't do level 1, then 3 and activate the seal? I have to do level 1, build up to level 2, activate it, then build up to level 3 and activate to complete the seal, right?

Your character doesn't necessarily need to build up to level 2 if another party member already has level 2 or above (3/4 can also take its place). You always need to do 3 specials to complete the combo, though.

If, for example, all 3 party members have their level 3 special available, if you use the special it will only use the level 1 special (and I believe this uses up all your special charge, so it's not like it just takes you from level 3 to level 2). The next character will use their level 2 special if you activate them, and the one after will use their level 3. Basically all you need to keep in mind is that a character needs a special of the required level or higher to continue the combo.

LPG Giant posted:

I didn’t start doing blade combos until way after chain attacks. I just didn’t have anyone who uses launch (still don’t, really).

You're mixing up blade combos and driver combos. Driver combos are the topple/launch/smash ones, and I also didn't start doing those until after blade combos/chain attacks.

Ytlaya fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Jan 4, 2018

Amppelix
Aug 6, 2010

Louisgod posted:

Cool, so, I couldn't do level 1, then 3 and activate the seal? I have to do level 1, build up to level 2, activate it, then build up to level 3 and activate to complete the seal, right?

Yes. You can also build up past the required level, but it won't skip a step in the process, it'll just make you perform the stronger special and continue to the next step. Since all the specials have unique effects you may want to do this sometimes instead of mashing out the fastest combo possible.

E: actually, do level 4 specials have any sort of effect besides "hurt it a lot"? They aren't listed in the affinity chart and you can't improve them, so I assume not, but that would be a very xenoblade thing to do to make them have a secret effect.

U-DO Burger
Nov 12, 2007




Also make sure you always have instruments in your party's pouches. Most of them recharge Specials and make it much easier to finish those combos

Ytlaya
Nov 13, 2005

^^^ Regarding pouch items, how useful are ones that either increase affinity acquisition, decrease affinity loss, or give initial affinity? I've never really gotten a good feel for how quickly affinity builds up and how quickly it goes away/returns. How many affinity are needed to reach max? I imagine affinity drops when you're using other blades. Is there a "buffer" once you hit max affinity (such that you could switch blades, return to your initial blade, and still have max affinity) or will switching blades always make you need to spend at least a little time getting back to max affinity? Also, do abilities like "give party a X% HP barrier at max affinity" reactivate if affinity drops and then returns to max, or do they only occur once a battle?

Amppelix posted:

Yes. You can also build up past the required level, but it won't skip a step in the process, it'll just make you perform the stronger special and continue to the next step. Since all the specials have unique effects you may want to do this sometimes instead of mashing out the fastest combo possible.

E: actually, do level 4 specials have any sort of effect besides "hurt it a lot"? They aren't listed in the affinity chart and you can't improve them, so I assume not, but that would be a very xenoblade thing to do to make them have a secret effect.

Oh, if you use a level 3 special second in the combo it'll actually do the level 3 special? I thought it just did the level 2 one. That's good to know due to each special having different affinity chart bonuses.

Ytlaya fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Jan 4, 2018

Louisgod
Sep 25, 2003

Always Stupid
Bread Liar

Ytlaya posted:

Oh, if you use a level 3 special second in the combo it'll actually do the level 3 special? I thought it just did the level 2 one. That's good to know due to each special having different affinity chart bonuses.

Wait, the response sounds like if you do a level 3 special second in the combo it'll activate the level 2 combo but still dish out level 3 damage. Is that right?

Sounds like art levels don't matter for the sequential activation, only that the art must be higher than the level you're activating it for (ie don't use art level 1 to activate combo 3, I think?)

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Ytlaya
Nov 13, 2005

Louisgod posted:

Wait, the response sounds like if you do a level 3 special second in the combo it'll activate the level 2 combo but still dish out level 3 damage. Is that right?

Sounds like art levels don't matter for the sequential activation, only that the art must be higher than the level you're activating it for (ie don't use art level 1 to activate combo 3, I think?)

"Art" usually just refers to your abilities assigned to the top, left, and bottom buttons, not your special. And yeah, it will definitely progress the combo to the second stage, and I think (based on what that poster said) it will still do the level 3 special. That being said, I don't think there's a big difference in damage between level 1-3 specials, and most of your damage won't come from specials to begin with so it's not that relevant. The biggest difference will be related to your affinity chart bonuses. For example, your level 3 special might have "does 150% damage to toppled enemies" or, if it's a healing blade, "Heals party for X% of damage dealt" or "Drops potion and has X% to drop second potion." The affinity chart bonuses to specials are probably most relevant for healing blades, since they often involve full party heals in some way.

Speaking of which, I should probably mention some stuff about affinity charts that isn't clear and took me a while to understand. The first three columns in the affinity chart represent a bonus assigned to their respective specials. If you do a level 1 special, it will receive the bonus in the first column of your affinity chart, and vice versa for level 2/3 specials and the second and third columns. The next three columns always apply when using that blade. The last columns are obviously your field skills. (So when judging how good a blade is, a big thing you're going to be looking at is their 4th through 6th columns, since those are bonuses that are always active when using that blade.)

Ytlaya fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Jan 4, 2018

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