Xenoblade Chronicles

As I may have mentioned before, if you're just gonna mindlessly grind, there's some options in the menu to help with that; besides enabling auto-battle, you can also use custom difficulty and set everything to the quickest, easiest options available. Then you can do something else in the meantime, and only check in to re-activate Arduran's tombstone.

Just be sure to save here and there if you're gonna do it for hours on-end. I did that against Torna's superboss to max everything out in that game, but... the game crashed afterward and I lost everything.

I'll be careful.

It'll be less of a waste of time than trying to get KOS-MOS.

I'd like to extend a heartfelt "fuck you" to whoever decided that the final sequence should be that long and not allow saving or grinding. I ended up dropping to casual for the final boss, which, uh, ended up making it less epic than intended^note casual mode is kinda disgusting

More detailed thoughts later

Don't those ghostly enemies at the very end give you really good xp?

Or am I misremembering?

I don't think the Ghosts and the location exp are enough to get 1 level up.

Final boss should be doable at Lv.77.

Edited by RAlexa21th on Jul 20th 2020 at 11:52:06 AM

Don't those ghostly enemies at the very end give you really good xp?

Maybe? My issue was mostly that not being able to save made me nervous and want to rush through

a review

So, I'll be playing Future Connected, but I don't think I'm going to bother with the post game or NG+

Edited by Hylarn on Jul 21st 2020 at 4:07:09 AM

There's a sidequest where a bunch of Ignas kidnapped a Nopon scientist so they can get access to treasure. They can clearly think, stratigize, and have beyond base desire

They are as intelligent as illiterate bandits, so I do think they're sentient.

Vandham doesn't need to be in the active party to gain EXP and SP; you can just use Rex, Nia, and Tora at maximum level and Vandham can be underlevelled.

Cool. But I kinda like having him in the party while I have him, so I'll keep him. Plus even if he gets Leaked Experience, I'm assuming having him in the party gets him more.

Anyway, fought Zeke (does anyone else think that if he'd gotten to the point and joined the party sooner, Vandham might not have died?) and reached Fonsa Myma. Gonna screw around now, get all the locations for that area, all the quests, and then talk to Cole. I'm still gonna try and grind up Vandham's Affinity chart (maybe I should have filled it during my first playthrough), but I doubt I'll stick with it long.

I don't think Zeke joining would make much difference. Due to his Blade Eater status he'd be even more useless than everybody else under Obrona's nullification field. At best, he dies instead of Vandham; at worst, they both die.

Frankly, Vandham died because Mythra was a lazy asshole who refused to wake up fast enough.

Good point.

So in other words, either Pyra/Mythra should have made the switch earlier, or Nia should have acted sooner.

Edit: 'ed.

Psychological damage is a hell of a thing. I think she knew full well she should have come out, but you know...the belief that your power will only hurt people tends to be a bit of a mental shackle.

Edited by HandsomeRob on Jul 21st 2020 at 1:49:06 PM

You can put off talking to Cole and feel free to use Fonsa Myma's inn, if that's your thing. I'd say filling out his first chart ought to be an easy enough goal for your first New Game Plus playthrough; his second takes a lot of SP (as does anyone else).

Edited by RainingMetal on Jul 21st 2020 at 2:00:34 AM

Phew. So Filling out Vandham's first chart is gonna take a while. I've already done all the quests that were available at this point in the game, and most enemies are too weak to really help me get him more SP beyond the Unique Monsters. I'll probably be barely able to fill his first chart, let along the second one (which I already knew I'd never come close to filling. Makes me wish I'd worked harder on filling it back when I first played. It would make things a lot easier.

You...definitely don't want to go out of your way to fill out Vandham's first chart until New Game Plus. The two blade maximum restriction really kills it. The Relentless Arduran is your best bet for getting SP via chain attack overkills (remember that there's no cap for SP yields unlike EXP, not that the latter matters much here). You did obtain the access to that boss and its tombstone, right? This is where having an Orb Master Common Blade really helps with the process. I tend to run:

• Rex: Pyra-Mythra, Common Earth Katana Blade w/ Orb Master, Akhos
• Nia: Dromarch, Elma, Fiora/Adenine
• Tora: Ice Poppi Alpha

Feel free to cycle Poppi's element according to what you can get your hands on, or Nia's third blade. Something.

Huh. I see. That might help. My level is pretty low though (I put myself at 60), but I can raise it back up I suppose.

That being said, I've been fighting enemies 10 levels about me in Gormott and it is helping for SP.

I suppose I gotta get the right attacks for fighting Arduan again. That might help a lot.

My strategy involves making a rainbow of elements to smash at the end using that common blade's Orb Master skill. For this reason, this is why I use said blade on Rex, to activate Pneuma just before starting the chain attack. Inflicting topple before a chain attack makes it deal more damage too. Having an Overclocking Bangle on Rex makes it easier to switch blades on the fly, which is essential for having the Orb Master blade active whenever you reach the first two steps in a blade combo. Burst Symbols on all characters will boost the chain attack's overkill damage.

Arduran's the only viable choice given that it's the highest level enemy in the game at that point. I was lucky enough to have that Orb Master blade as a Katana, as it helps Rex dodge its more annoying attacks.

You may be tempted to turn the enemy's HP to its lowest in custom difficulty, but remember that you need to apply all eight orbs and set up a chain attack to maximize SP profits. Tinker with that option to your liking, to how fast you can achieve this effect without killing it prematurely.

I made a video on this a while ago:

This was made before Elma was a thing, so I used T-elos on Nia instead for Dark coverage, and this was on a separate playthrough, so I had a Wind Katana as my Orb Master blade. In hindsight, giving Nia Topple and Launch coverage was also a mistake, since she might ruin your Topple setup just before you start a Chain Attack. You can do just fine with her being limited to Break so you don't get sidelined.

Edited by RainingMetal on Jul 27th 2020 at 5:18:41 AM

Good stuff.

My other issue is....

...I still have to play Tiger Tiger to get better tech manuals for Poppi Alpha.

....I'm sure there was a way to buy those on NG+ too wasn't there?

Because FUCK TIGER TIGER!!!

Manuals? Those are found exclusively in the main game in treasure chests. If you're having trouble finding them, I'm sure googling it will net you results. As for Ether Crystals, you can buy them at the Torigoth Inn with Bonus EXP, so you'll no longer have to burden yourself with Tiger Tiger.

I got more than enough Ether Crystals and I can get more when I need them.

But for some reason, I wasn't able to make more parts due to not having the right manuals for them. Guess I just gotta start searching.

Ah, perhaps the manuals are reset upon starting New Game Plus then. Which means you'd have to go through the entire game to get access to those blueprints...

If it makes you feel better, you can start New Game Plus infinitely provided you beat the final boss on each run. So you can do all that grinding another time.

Definitive sold 1.32 million through June 30th.

Better incentivize them for a X port sooner rather than later.

Currently on the Sword in Galahad Fortress for the first time. Got my butt handed to me by Seven and her mooks. Don't remember it being this hard at this stage of the game.