Xenoblade Chronicles

So someone mentioned a late-game boss sucking, right? I think I've hit that boss.

Clocking in a whopping three whole levels above me, Disciple Lorithia also holds the record for "boss that has killed my party the quickest" at about fifty seconds.

From tips I've gotten elsewhere, Melia and Shulk are musts in the party, but I have no idea who should lead. Probably Melia, since I don't trust the AI to actually bother firing Summon Bolts off. Third guy will probably be either Riki or Fiora, repurposed for ether attacks. I've discovered on my own that to not get curbstomped that Monado Armor is a must-have, and if I'm playing Shulk I have no doubt Monado Eater will be amazing. Monado Cyclone is also good for that fight, from what I've heard.

Any other tips?

Do anything you can to avoid having your party suffer from confusion. Confuse Resist gems (I assume they exist) might help, and I would definitely advise you to keep a close eye on your allies. They kinda wander into the poison pits and won't get out if they stay confused for long. They will most likely need lots of encouragement, so skill linking to the skills that restore more tension or more HP upon being encouraged would help a little. I would definitely lead with Melia, Shulk is a must, and since you're dealing with a Flunky Boss, someone who's good at crowd control and has good ether defense would serve you well for the third party member.

edited 7th Sep '14 5:38:47 PM by RavenKingSage

If you're struggling with a boss, it's usually a sign that you should stick Sharla in your party. The problem with the Disciple is the pools of ether that surround it, which the AI insists on blundering into at every available opportunity.

She's the hardest story boss in the game by a mile. Once you've dealt with her, the rest of it is a breeze.

I remember I didn't lose against that boss. But damn did that fight last a bloody eternity!

Aren't you supposed to kill the elementals in the right order or something? Not that I knew that when I was trying to beat her.

You can either do that, or never realize it and brute-force it. Awfully appropiate that I just so happened to have Reyn in the party for that fight.

You beat That One Boss in one try and you had Reyn in your party?

Are you some kind of god?

@Nes Classic
Yep, that's the boss. :>
And I welcome you to the group of people who need to spoiler everything. :D Still one more slight "twist" incoming. Doesn't actually change the story much, but gives it a slightly different perspective and explains some background.
I'd recommend Sharla as the third person for that fight. And panic resist (afaik it's called "panic", not confusion) is quite useful for that fight.

edited 8th Sep '14 6:09:15 AM by Uchuujinsan

Elbruno may have just been overlevelled like I was.

Once you have a party setup that can easily take out mobs that are 5 levels above you, grinding becomes easy as hell, especially if you have some Exp gems. And once you have just few levels on an enemy, they become a complete joke.

edited 8th Sep '14 7:38:49 AM by TheAirman

I got shut out of Alcamoth and had to grind everyone up if i wanted to get all of the heart-to-heart convos, so by the time i got to Lorithia i was well overleveled by necessity, for the sake of surviving post-event Alcamoth.

I just didn't bother with Alcamoth the first time around - the last couple of bosses would have been mind-numbingly easy at that level.

edited 8th Sep '14 8:07:21 AM by Null

Indeed they were.

Except that dragon with the super spikes. Fuck that guy.

I think I had as much or even more problems with that dragon than with Disciple Lorithia. Seem to be in a minority though.

Btw, does anyone know if you get a non-standard game over if you fail to protect Bionis in the final fight in Mechonis? Or is it just the deault game over. Don't want to try it out. :>

I had loads of trouble with the dragon because I left the game for around a year before going back to finish it, so I couldn't remember how to get rid of spike.

Has anyone here actually tried the bonus bosses? Did you defeat them (especially those in Valek Mountain) without abusing topple?

I defeated all of them. I think my team consisted of Shulk (controlled character), Sharla, and Dunban.

I did the first one a few days ago. I used Shulk, Dunban and Seven. I din't really have much trouble, I did use topple, but I didn't have any plus or up gems.

Although to be honest the combination of Double Attack VI, Haste VI and Seven's skill that makes all double attacks crits is just a bit ridiculous.

Chain attacks just come around so quickly like that. then I could use stream edge -> steel strike -> Final Cross -> Cyclone -> Blossom Dance -> Sword Drones.

edited 10th Sep '14 4:39:17 PM by 32ndfreeze

Fun bonus: give Seven Dunban's ability that makes crits heal the character.

I've affectionately dubbed Seven a "drain tank".

I do that as well. it just slipped my mind.

I'd never done that setup until my most recent play though and it was so much fun heading back into alcomoth.

I love that combination. Seven's arts become useless if you do that, because you are missing just too much damage from not attacking during the animation. :)

x4
I think I mostly used the same combination, though the "low level" bonus bosses in Satori and Fallen Arm don't really need special preparation and are basically just warmup. :> Did you use topple or did you have another strategy?

Another thought: I watched some plays of the game on Youtube, and why does no one seem to use the damage multiplier during chain attacks? Seems like such a waste...

I don't recall using Topple against any of those bosses, although it's been such a long time that I'm not sure myself anymore. All I know for certain is that I used Sharla, Dunban, and Shulk, with Shulk as the leader.

So I just bought the OST on Amazon. I must say, that is some of the best ~$42 dollars I have ever spent.

Jesus Christ this game's music is beautiful:

edited 9th Oct '14 12:51:06 PM by TheAirman

According to Chuggaconroy's comeback LP video for Xenoblade Chronicles, it's coming to the 3DS. How come we didn't discuss that?

Also, how would you recommend to deal with some of the named nebula enemies? I'm looking at two on Valak mountain: One that inflicts slow and bind for Spikes, and one that inflicts Strength Down. Tried against both of them, got thoroughly creamed in the process.

Use Melia + her her summons if you don't want to be rearranging your party all of the time. You might have to use a chain attack near the end if you can't defeat them before they explode. You can tell when they are about to by an animation they show that sucks in red lines.

Or if you really struggle just use Riki / Sharla / Melia and make sure Riki has Do T arts and Sharla has Thunder Bullet.

Edit: Oops, I didn't realize you were talking about the unique Nebula. I'd go with the second strategy, IIRC at least one of the Unique Nebula, I think the one in the Lava cave, was really hard and I ended up needing to grind 2-3 lvls to deal with it.

edited 6th Nov '14 9:40:55 PM by 32ndfreeze

Please don't tell me the Unique ones will explode as well. I don't think I could take that.