Xenoblade Chronicles - Wii

[___]

I have Shulk all agility gem'd out and he's only in the 90s. Time to ditch the heavy armour, eh...

[Guest]

Well I just got through the assault bit. Didn't expect that at all!

In other news I worked out it's up/down to get them chain attacks! Doh

[Corleth the Fey]

I have Shulk all agility gem'd out and he's only in the 90s. Time to ditch the heavy armour, eh...

I wouldn't worry too much about it. That sort of thinking is more end game stuff. You'll come across characters with much better base agility stats than Shulk - with skills to enhance it further.

[mdn2]

I've been listening to the soundtrack today. Slightly miffed as one of the track titles seems to be a huge storyline spoiler.

Track 10 - Bionis Awakens

Bah. Lovely soundtrack, though.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

Well, if you'd expect antyhing else to happen after the intro, you're pretty dim - so I would hardly classify it as a spoiler.

Played about an hour of this today, but it's not enough for a verdict. There's stuff I like (the free exploring, lack of random battles) and stuff I don't particularly like (the battle system, the slow pace). I'll give it some more time to sink its hook in me though, but so far I'm not convinced that this will be the JRPG that will make me forget my dislike of JRPGs.

[mdn2]

Well, if you'd expect antyhing else to happen after the intro, you're pretty dim - so I would hardly classify it as a spoiler.

Well, yeah, I did guess that. Don't like having it confirmed before the fact, though.

[Jigsaw Monkey]

9 hours in and just read you can turn night into day and vice versa.

Must have missed that in the tutorials?

[mdn2]

Nah, it's one of the things you 'discover' just by messing around.

20 hours in and I only just realised there's an in game clock on screen.

[moosegrinder]

It tells you about the clock changing on the tutorial that tells you about the tutorial screen...

[Mallet]

The difference a proper RGB cable makes is incredible

I just spent the last 2 hours pottering about colony 9, doing a few side quests and general sight seeing. The scale of the game is amazing and I did a double take when I came across some level 71 monsters and had to turn tail and run

I always felt the battle systems were one of the strong points of JRPGs myself, they are significantly better than anything I've seen in a Bethesda game for instance and the battle system in this seems simple but complex at the same time, setting up sneak attacks is great fun.

The things I grew tired of in the genre were the lack of save points and not even so much random battles but more the way they took you out of the game world and then after you had to click accept 3-4 times to get your exp, loot etc

This is the game that Final Fantasy xiii should have been and the JRPG I've been waiting for since Final Fantasy xii.

[SteveH]

Had a massive face palm moment today. I didn't realise you could go to the individual maps option and fast travel back to any map and any location. I'd been fast traveling as far as I could on one map, going into the next zone, fast traveling across that...etc etc

One thing I wish they had done differently though, is equipping armour. Or at least, letting you remove gems from armour in your inventory. So many times I have switched armour, realised I hadn't removed the gem and had to re-equip it. Bit of a pain when everything else is so amazing.

[Ferine]

Had a massive face palm moment today. I didn't realise you could go to the individual maps option and fast travel back to any map and any location. I'd been fast traveling as far as I could on one map, going into the next zone, fast traveling across that...etc etc

Oh man, thank you! I actively looked for the option to do this from the map screen, but as I always jumped to it using 1, as opposed to using the menu option, I didn't come across it. This'll certainly save me a few loading screens each time I head back to Colony 9.

[Corleth the Fey]

One thing I wish they had done differently though, is equipping armour. Or at least, letting you remove gems from armour in your inventory. So many times I have switched armour, realised I hadn't removed the gem and had to re-equip it. Bit of a pain when everything else is so amazing.

Except you can add gems from armour that has it already in, but no one is wearing. It has an black E on it. You can even just remove gems from people that have it equipped, and put it straight on armour. Try it out. It even removes gems from items if you try to sell them in a shop.

[Mr.Jeff]

As much as it takes a silly ammount of time picking up new quests in a new town, there's something really enjoyable when you step back out into the wild and realise "Hey, I can just kill EVERYTHING because they're all for quests".

And you march onwards leaving a bloody swathe of dead and defeated in your wake.

[Ferine]

And you march onwards leaving a bloody swathe of dead and defeated in your wake.

I have the perfect RPG for you.

[mdn2]

And you march onwards leaving a bloody swathe of dead and defeated in your wake.

...Until you reach a level 80 caterpillar who beats you black and blue.

There's a huge level 86 beastie wandering around the Bionis leg. He's what I'm aiming for, not the end of the game.

[Mr.Jeff]

...Until you reach a level 80 caterpillar who beats you black and blue.

There's a huge level 86 beastie wandering around the Bionis leg. He's what I'm aiming for, not the end of the game.

But that's part of the fun.

"I am Mighty! I am All powerful! I am god descended onto Earth/Bionis, hear me roaoh fuck oh fuck oh fuck run run RUN WHAT IS THAT WHY IS IT STILL FOLLOWING ME FUUUUUUUCK"

Perfect example of this is the sacred altar in the ravine of the leg where a massive fuck off spider climbs up the cliff.

Also, that level 86 is nothing. There's a level 90+ giant later on that looks like it will be so much fun to annihilate.

[Dave White]

masterpieces don't come along often.

What a labor of love this is.

[___]

If someone could do for Monster Hunter what this does for the JRPG... *mindgasm*

Online co-op in these expanses would be... woo.

[scottcr]

If someone could do for Monster Hunter what this does for the JRPG... *mindgasm*

Online co-op in these expanses would be... woo.

Oh lord

[___]

Another night lost to questing, got Colony 9 up to 3 affinity stars. The affinity chart, the Monado's ability to show the future - the way they use those in the simplest ways to toy with your emotions are just masterful.

Quest spoilers:

I was determined to help

that soldier guy win his girl back from the guy who was eventually going to dump her when the Monado showed how gutted he would be, until I talked to her and the Monado revealed that she would live to regret the decision to marry him

. Or the kid in the refugee camp

with the multi-part quest which ties in with lots of characters to create a colouring book for him, when the Monado reveals that the story in the book would have accidentally got him drowned

All done on top of what amount to basic search/fetch/kill monster quests but, damn, it makes you feel something as you build up the relationships between people.

[Ferine]

Does anyone have the first vegetable item in the Collectopaedia for the Satorl Marsh? Apparently it's a Blue Turnip, but I haven't come across a single one of the buggers despite having about 10 of everything else, so I'm wondering if there's a particular spot I need to farm for it.

[Mr.Jeff]

Aha! Someone else encountering the same problem I did!

From what I can tell, the buggers seems really damn rare. I ended up making several loops round the entire area again trying to find one.

[Corleth the Fey]

Does anyone have the first vegetable item in the Collectopaedia for the Satorl Marsh? Apparently it's a Blue Turnip, but I haven't come across a single one of the buggers despite having about 10 of everything else, so I'm wondering if there's a particular spot I need to farm for it.

There seems to be some spots on the maps where rare items are more likely to appear. I'd keep checking out the enclosed waterfall area which you get to by jumping up some rocks, the top of exile fortress and some of the caves.

[Colonel Panic]

Wow, I'm on a really tough boss around 11 hours in.

Xord... So it would seem I need to build up my charge attack to break/topple the guy and inflict damage on him, but I can't build it quick enough before one of my spacker party dies, or I get a premonition and need to save one of them! Nggggggg! Any pointers?

[mdn2]

Wow, I'm on a really tough boss around 11 hours in.

Xord... So it would seem I need to build up my charge attack to break/topple the guy and inflict damage on him, but I can't build it quick enough before one of my spacker party dies, or I get a premonition and need to save one of them! Nggggggg! Any pointers?

Slight spoiler info:

I did it at level 26. You don't need to defeat him - when you topple him twice, a cutscene kicks in.

[Colonel Panic]

I'm one level less, but I just can't seem to get to the point where I can do what you say!

[mdn2]

I'm one level less, but I just can't seem to get to the point where I can do what you say!

Go into the fight with your charge gauge nearly full - that'll help with the first instance.

EDIT: Also, you should use the Monado power that let's your squad all inflict damage on Mechon as soon as you can, otherwise Reyn is useless.

[Cyhwuhx]

Having faffed about with gem crafting for a few hours now, I thought it prudent to share my experiences with the rest. It's not 100% correct (at least, I assume so), but it'll get you into the right mindset for Gem Crafting.

Gem Crafting 101

In short you'll be doing this:

1. Select Crystals and/or Cylinders

2. Select your Shooter and Engineer

3. Wait for the crafting animation to end

4. Select values for Cylindration

5. Take resulting Cylinders and Gems into inventory

The goal of Gem crafting is to create high quality Gems. Gems can be slotted into Slot Equipment designated in your inventory with an S. Unique Equipment (designated with a U) has Gems 'baked in'; these are not unique in a World of Warcraft sense. Unique simply means it's Slotted Equipment without the possibility to remove Gems.

Basically if you want more flexibility go for Slotted Equipment, if you don't want to think too much about Gems, go for Unique Equipment.

Now the higher quality and Rank Gem you have, the better its bonus to your stats. Better stats = easier combat all-round. So with that in mind, let's look at how we'll create high quality Gems. (I assume you want to create Rank I Gems or are just starting the game. These instructions should scale up accordingly for higher Rank Gems.)

1. Select Crystals and/or Cylinders

Material selection seems rather straightforward. Each material has a value for certain stats enhancers. Say, Agility Up or Poison Defence. To gain a Gem from materials, you need to raise the stat above 100. This will ensure a Gem will be created. The higher the surplus above 100, the higher the value of that Gem's stat enhancement. So a material value of 156 will produce a higher quality Gem then a material value of 129.

The trick is to select Crystals and Cylinders until you reach a 100+ value on the stat of your preference. As soon as this happens you won't be able to add any more materials. This in turn means it's important to select materials in order.

Combine for instance 35 + 75 + 35. Selecting the first two, will gain you a value of 110 after which you won't be able to add to that. But select the 35 + 35 first and you'll get 70, to which you can add 75 and presto: a value of 145.

The game also helps you with selecting materials. As soon as you select a material, compatible materials will light up. This means they enhance at least one of the stats of your chosen material. Continue until you've reached a 100+ stat and try to not have more than 3 or 4 stat enhancement affected in total. I'll explain why in the following steps.

2. Select your Shooter and Engineer

This is probably the most confusing part as it involves Flames, Fever and whatnot. I'm still not sure about this part, but in short: during crafting the Shooter and the Engineer will boost the stat values of the enhancements chosen through your materials and will fill the Cylinder gauge respectively. How many times they will boost and fill is dependent upon the Affinity of the chosen characters.

I found it's best to put Reyn in Shooter and Shulk in Engineer roles, but this may vary depending upon your personal game. As a rule of thumb, select a balanced approach of the best boost of the Shooter and the most stable Flames of the Engineer (with a high Affinity of course)

3. Wait for the crafting animation to end

Now the animation will start. You can fast-forward through it by holding the A button. Depending upon the selection of your Shooter and Engineer (and just plain luck) your enhancements will be boosted and your Cylinder Gauge (the green gauge right of the ehancements list) will fill up.

When they are done, all enhancements with values above 100 will be converted into Gems. If you have values above 200 these will display as 'Heat' and will generate a higher Rank Gem instead (as a bonus it also boosts other values)!

4. Select values for Cylindration

Now comes the crucial part: any enhancement values under 100 will be up for Cylindration. This is where the Cylinder Gauge comes into play. Depending upon the Cylinder number on top, you can select just as many enhancement values. Each selected value will be 'recycled' into a Cylinder, to be used as a future material in a different crafting session. Once your Cylinder amount is empty, all remaining enhancement values will be lost.

This is why you should aim for 3 to 4 enhancement values while selecting materials as mentioned earlier. If you go overboard with 5-7 values, you might lose materials in the end as they cannot be Cylindrized. Of course, you can still hit an unlucky crafting streak and only generate 2 Cylinders even with a great character couple, but that's the luck of the draw. What works best in terms of the amount of values chosen is wholly dependent upon the characters' ability as a Shooter or Engineer and their Affinity.

5. Take resulting Cylinders and Gems into inventory

Once you've selected all values for Cylindration, the game will hand you the resulting Cylinders and Gems to put into your inventory. As space is limited, be sure you have enough space left before starting the process. You'll then be asked to continue for another session or quit crafting.

That's the gist of it. Now there are some other things to keep in mind. One is that enemies drop 'colourless' Crystals which contain all sorts of coloured enhancements. Cylinders however, contain only enhancements of one colour. Ether Deposits will give you Crystals of a single colour as well.

The trick in Gem Crafting is thus to refine the 'colourless' enemy Crystals trying to aim for Gems together with Cylindration yielding you medium value (30-40) and high value (70-90) Cylinders. This will allow you to create high quality Gems with solely the Cylinders, or even a higher Rank Gem through generating Heat by selecting your materials in a smart order. It's even possible to just select a few materials and go purely for Cylinder creation as the game will allow you to continue crafting even if you do not have any value above 100 (or you could wing it, and see if your character can still boost it up above 100)! Keep this in mind, because while you may not create any Gems this way, it can be used to refine 'colourless' crystals into dedicated Cylinders, leaving you with less values lost during Cylindration.

With that out of the way, your resulting Gems can then be used in your Slotted Equipment to use their stat enhancing properties. These in turn allow you to sharpen the role of your characters: buff up Reyn with higher defense values, or make Shulk quick and nimble with a high Agility. Experiment and see what fits your play style.

That concludes the Gem Crafting tutorial. Enjoy and if you find anything wrong, please tell me.

[mdn2]

Having faffed about with gem crafting for a few hours now, I thought it prudent to share my experiences with the rest...

Interesting stuff, thanks for that, I'd not tried gem crafting yet, but I'll give it a go tonight.