Xenoblade Chronicles

The sidequests getting cut off during Chapter 8 is not a big deal. Only three quests become inaccessible (and one of those can still be done so long as you at least initiated the quest in Indol), none of which have noteworthy rewards, and everything not related to those sidequests gets re-located elsewhere in the game. All the shops, and even a chunk of wall mural for a different sidequest.

You do need to get past a certain part in Chapter 9 for said elements to appear all over Alrest though.

Got to the bit in the Torna campaign where Malos attacks the capital. Gotta say I wish Malos had been as trollish in the main game as he is in the DLC. He has his moments in the main story, but it's just really fun watching him act like an unrepentant misanthrope.

Ha ha, I'm so smart that I mixed up which Driver Combo arts Zeke and Mòrag get from knuckle claws. I thought Mòrag got the topple art, but it's actually Zeke that can topple with them. So yeah, I'm going to keep Adenine on Zeke.

Anyway, Zeke's axe auto-attack is fairly fast. He's certainly a lot faster than Rex is with an axe. I know that auto-attacks don't do much damage, but the animation speed affects my ability to cancel them into Driver Arts. And the arts don't take that long to charge, even without any dessert items.

Zeke also gets an art for Axes that rechages itself if the art crits, which is very nice.

For arts that recharge when they crit, something very important to consider is how many hits the art is. Each hit has its own separate crit chance, and the recharge happens if any hit crits.

That's why Double Spinning Blade is such a good move on Rex. Not just for the damage it deals but for the double recharge chance.

Anchor Shot is very spammable too.

What? Double Spinning Edge has the "recharge on crit" effect? I didn't know that... I thought "side attack up" was its only special effect.

Double Spinning Edge doesn't, but Mythra herself does. Which means that it applies to all of Rex's driver arts for Mythra.

And the level 5 node for Mythra's Lightspeed Flurry skill makes it so that its 100% recharge if any hit crits. It also recharges specials by one level when getting a crit.

Because Double Spinning Edge strikes twice, it means twice the chances for a full recharge with Mythra on hand. So replace Sword Bash with it if you can (and keep Rolling Smash while you're at it).

Morag only gets a Break Art with Knuckle Claws, which is redundant given her Break Art with her Whipswords (and Ether Cannons). So I wouldn't use Knuckle Claws on Morag or Rex.

Yeah, I see the knuckle claws thing now. I wasn't really paying attention to the arts pages when I made the earlier post and thought she got a topple art with them, when it's actually Zeke that gets the topple art.

So, if I'm trying to farm rare blades, is it better to just fight a monster that drops crystals and use them right away, or should I also farm boosters? And is there any way to get them other than salvaging?

I understand that late- and post-game, finding a unique monster you can fairly easily Smash and beat is considered the best way to farm rare and legendary core crystals. Earlier on, or when you just want commons and rares, salvaging at the docks in Mor Ardain with drop rate boosting Blades (like Adenine) equipped is a good way to get tons of crystals easily.

As for boosters? Turning in salvage, find them in chests, or release common Blades. Architect, do you get plenty of boosters from releasing common blades...

Edited by Hunter1 on Nov 25th 2018 at 9:38:43 AM

It's worth noting that the more developed a blade is, the more boosters it will yield upon release (sans completed 4-crown blades, which give you an Overdrive Protocol instead). If you have common blades worth using for merc missions, build them up to completion (or near completion, if they have any of those pesky "Deal X Damage in One Hit" or "Complete Merc Missions" nodes), then release them. Then replace them with more common blades worth a damn. Rinse and repeat, and you'll be up to your eyes in idea boosters and WP boosters in no time!

If you're looking for a particular Blade, just use one Booster of the right type when opening a legendary crystal.

Another thing that can help for farming crystals is to use Custom difficulty to make enemies as quick to kill as possible.

So, Mythra's Spirit in Smash Ultimate was edited to give her tights and eliminate the boob window.

It's a huge improvement.

Yeah, that looks like something that a person might actually wear. Did they make any changes to Pyra's image? Because her outfit is even more gratuitous.

Pyra's outfit in the Spirits trailer was unaltered. Which is a shame, there's two or three edits of hers that I really like.

Mythra goes from superior design to even more superior design. That's Aegis perfection for you.

My intense dislike of censorship compromising artistic integrity and my intense dislike of Mythra's patently-stupid outfit are warring it out in my head.

I don't mind edits like this since it still looks aesthetically appealing and not... well, 4kids style blatant brush-overs. I never minded Pyra or Mythra's default looks (stereotypical fetishistic designs in a JRPG are an unfortunate byproduct of the genre that I've just become jaded to over the years), but this is no skin off my nose.

As for Pyra being unaltered, I guess it's because big boobs+cleavage is just seen as more "inherently" problematic. Though has anyone seen her Spirit outside the Direct yet?

Edited by Customer on Nov 25th 2018 at 10:25:09 AM

So this is what happened: she swapped pants with Malos.

But seriously, on the whole I'm kinda on the fence. On one hand, I like the fact that it looks like a more practical outfit rather than the typical JRPG "this is designed to be visually distinct with zero regard for whether it's something you could actually wear", but on the other hand, I think adding that much black to her design kinda throws off her color scheme. Especially because her white/gold theme is obviously supposed to be a contrast to Malos'.

That and I feel like it would've just looked better if they had shrunk or closed the boob window and then just lengthened her skirt rather than adding leggings. I wouldn't go so far as to say I think it's a huge improvement, but it's hardly the complete butchery some people are going to inevitably whine about either.

Edited by JapaneseTeeth on Nov 25th 2018 at 9:26:37 AM

Don't look at the Game FA Qs board; the waifu fans are going apeshit.

She looks better. Would it have been more appropriate to give her white leggings? Probably. But at least now she's wearing something.

I think the black leggings are a rather low-quality edit. They're just solid black in the middle with the edges still partially tan.

Like somebody spraypainted over it. Or Mythra stepped in a waist-deep tar pit.

The covered-up boob window doesn't look off at least.

that's the greatest thing to ever happen to this game. Shame they didn't went all the way and did something with pyra.