Project X Zone: SEGA, Capcom, and Namco co-production.

right, finally beat challenge stage 2. may as well mention how I did them since I can't find this info myself:

Stage 1: You're allowed 6 units here, but you're quite far away from the enemy. Bring as many poisoners as you can since poisoning this thing is an absolute must. Back attacks and block-breakers are also good choices. My MVP here was Jin/Kazuya+Aty, though it was Chun-Li/Xiaoyu+Nick/Maya that dealt the final blow (largely because everyone else was dead. Don't even try to keep people out of its attack range though, you don't have the time to bait & switch).

Your prizes here are Dystopia and Secret White Underwear for KOS-MOS and Fiora!

Stage 2: I eventually did this one with KOS-MOS/Fiora+Captain Commando. Level 18 going in, 3 bars to all attacks for the lot of them, and wearing the cool duds they got from stage 1. Sadly they don't have any wallbreaker moves, but the high attack power made up for it in the end.

Note that except for the Hyper Chip on Sigma, all of the cool items on this stage are in chests and you need to go out of your way to get them. Many of the chests also contain HP/SP items that are absolutely vital for Sigma, so save them if you can. Keep your XP up for when you pass through the section with Vile, as he has 2065 attack and will take off 60% of your HP even if you do a regular defend.

Sigma still has his totally unfair XP counter ability, and unlike in the main game he is also immune to stun and poison, but NOT to down, so have Cap Com break his shield and then spam X-buster/Mag Storm until he gets statused. Quicksave after every battle, scumming will become part of your life now. You CANNOT afford to let him counterattack you at any time. You really need to break the pillars in this area too, there are goodies inside, including parfaits. Use them in conjunction with "Battle Start Affinity" so you can actually super the bastard, you won't build up enough meter otherwise.

Your efforts here will reward you with a Ride Chaser and Hyper Chip for X and Zero, and an Arisu's Protective Jacket and Serious Underwear (Ultimate) for Reiji and Xiaomu!

edited 16th Mar '16 4:18:54 PM by SCDifference

Finally getting back into this game.

Chapter 19: Thus... Spake Eternity?

There a joke I'm missing here?

Almost certainly an Also Sprach Zarathustra reference.

edited 19th Mar '16 2:39:36 PM by SCDifference

Chapter 20: Don't know the title yet, but...

METS. WE GOT METS AGAIN. DO I FINALLY GET...?

AH IT'S

PURPLE SHOULDER TURRET GUY

...I've never played any of the X games, actually, so his name slips my mind.

Vile.

And if Vile is here THAT MEANS... THEEEEEEEERE THEEEEEEEEEEY ARRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEE

Ah, you mean Dr. Wily?

He's there in spirit. Possibly literally! y'know depending on how you want to interpret whatever zero's deal is

Clearing through The World levels. The intro into it is pretty neat, and I guess that's what you see in .hack?

I'm glad these levels are... briefer? In comparison? I mean, I imagine it'd be shorter considering the whole party isn't there.

I'm kinda mad the game felt it had to fill its "we haven't thrown enough enemies at the player" quota after saving Aura in chapter 21, though. I mean... random zombies fit, I guess but it was just kinda annoying to have to sweep those up.

Chapter 23! I think. Find the Aura Round Three's what I'll call it.

What is with the Leanne statue though? ...is she constipated?

...Oh no... The map's a whole lot bigger than I thought it was... The statue's gonna go sliding off and I gotta catch up to it, don't I?

Oh, well, alright. Not sure if the objective's any better since I still gotta race to the end, but whatever. Hey, a box art character! Neat.

edited 20th Mar '16 7:48:03 PM by Rivux

Fortunately you don't need to protect the statues, they just go.

There are mimics but I failed to kill them and I just went on with the level and didn't bother since there are so many baddies in the way.

And as for the levels being briefer in 2, there are... certain exceptions... the Xenoblade levels being some of them.

EDIT: Clarified that I was talking about the sequel.

edited 26th Mar '16 9:14:24 PM by Malco

Gotten up to Chapter 25.

Well, they most certainly hit the nail on the head with the title of that one. Juri's on our side! I can finally give everyone a solo unit to pair with! God, it irritated me for so long that I couldn't.

"Heihachi: Interesting. I eagerly await her sudden but inevitable betrayal."

You and me both, man.

Well she doesn't betray in that game. Regardless, she's a bad guy again as expected for the sequel.

There's also another annoying thing, Haken and Kaguya not having a MAP attack (for a while). Same problem with Kite and Haseo in the sequel.

edited 26th Mar '16 9:16:27 PM by Malco

This game seems to have an obsession with spawning most of the enemies on the second or third round and then pretending you should be surprised after the 100th time it happens.

Anyway, if there ever is a Project X Zone 3, some of the characters I'd like to see are:

• Chaz and Rika
• Joe and Sylvia
• Lloyd and Colette
• Pit and Palutena

So I still don't have this, but I am planning to get the full game when I have a bit more money.

I did finally play the Demo (which I either never knew about or just forgot about.

Seems fun, though It went too quickly for me to get used to the proper combos.

So, I've been considering getting Project X Zone 2 for a while. But I've been putting it off because of spoiler potential while I beat Xenoblade Chronicles. Well, that didn't happen because my Wii went and died and took disc prisoner... Right after I got the 7th party member.

But I found out recently that Amazon has the game on sale for about $19. And really tempted to get it on the cheap while I can. So, how worried should I be about totally spoiling the rest of Xenoblade? Or the .Hack series (that I never played, but have been thinking of doing forever)? Or any other series with major spoiler alerts I should be aware of?

Well considering that every character that appears comes from a time after their games are finished, yeah, if you care about spoilers then I suggest not getting the game for a bit

Yeah, eShop has it at half off for nineteen.

I would reccomend getting it now.

Some are actually taken during their games, or between games. Fiora for example, is taken from 2/3rds of the way through Xenoblade, but it doesn't spoil the major Act 3 twist (Which is a reoccurring trend with Xenoblade representation. Number 7's identity is pretty well know, but the Mechonis Core events are never referenced.)

Dante is taken, weirdly, during DMC 1, right before he fights Nelo Angelo, since he doesn't know the latter's identity. Ulala is taken from between Space Channel 5 Part 1 and 2, and Shadow's identity is kept a secret.

edited 19th Jun '16 1:37:32 PM by Emperordaein

Ah, good, in that case it sounds like I managed to get just far enough into Xenoblade to be safe this time. And .Hack has 4 separate games involved, and is old enough that actually getting the series and playing it seems like a stretch... Probably just going to not worry about spoilers for that one. And all the other series (I know of) in the game I'm not worried about spoiling.

Guess I'm getting in on the sale while I can! Thanks for the info :)

edited 19th Jun '16 2:31:28 PM by BlitzTrain

So, as we speak, I'm downloading this. I found out there's plenty of room on my SD card for it, and I intend for it to be the only game I download on my 3DS (I'm still using the original SD card, so I probably shouldn't go too nuts with that).

Feels good to finally be able to play this game. I'll get back to you with first impressions soon enough.

Alright. Playing the first level again. It's not too different from the demo.

I'm looking forward to some of the newer features this has.

This game is such a step up from the first, I'm even on my third playthrough

Good to hear. I just finished the second prologue and am starting the third.

From my time in the demo, my biggest difficulty will be figuring out how to string together combos with support units. Some of them screwed up my rhythm. Hopefully, I'll think of something soon enough.

Prologue part 3:

Dammit Natsu! You're from the past! Quit acting like a damned Valley girl! This is why you game killed Soul Calibur!!!!

Man, I sucked at properly doing those Cross hits. I've got a lot of practice to do to get good at this.

Alright. All prologues done. I still got a lot of work to do. I guess I gotta get used to using those B cancels that were mentioned in the last Prologue (Fire Emblem, Vesperia, and Valkyrie). I didn't use them in battle, and they'd probably be useful. Still, blowing most of my XP just to cancel an attack and better combo into a new one is a difficult prospect for a stingy guy like me.

I'm hoping there's a way to offset that cost later on. If I can properly make use of all the features, I can start stringing together crazy long combos like I did in the old game.

I'm still salty the first game was taken out from e-shop. I still want to enjoy the story in entirety.

Ok. Checked out the Crosspedia after doing the first chapter.

So I gotta keep track of which attacks send the enemy flying and which don't for Cross Attacks, and I'll need to properly watch my XP in order to do Mirage Cancels and other moves as well. That'll be tough.

...Sheath is the stereotypical mangled Japanese using American character...appearing in the same chapter as Chris and Jill, who use perfect Japanese, which kinda makes her funny.

Glad I'm Canadian. Japan doesn't even know we exist, so far less stereotypes.

You're right. I don't think I've ever◊ seen the Japanese stereotype Canadians.