Xenoblade Chronicles - Wii

[mdn2]

Can you lose affinity? Shulk and Reyn are pretty much BFF, so I want to swap Reyn out of my party and put someone else in to raise their affinity. I don't want Reyn's affinity to decline though if he's not used.

[revlob]

Can you lose affinity? Shulk and Reyn are pretty much BFF, so I want to swap Reyn out of my party and put someone else in to raise their affinity. I don't want Reyn's affinity to decline though if he's not used.

It doesn't degrade over time, but you can suffer small losses by gifting certain items or via choices in heart-to-hearts.

[blipwoo]

i'm trying to mop up all the collectibles in colony 6, but there's one flower that keeps eluding me. Will I get it if I keep grinding away, or is it hidden somewhere that unlocks later? (i'm up to satorl marsh at the moment)

[mdn2]

Yeah, you'll find it later.

I've managed to find all collectibles so far bar one flower type in Satori Marsh. I spent a couple of hours exploring around yesterday, but couldn't see it.

[Ferine]

I've managed to find all collectibles so far bar one flower type in Satori Marsh. I spent a couple of hours exploring around yesterday, but couldn't see it.

Is it the first entry? If so that's the oh-so-elusive Blue Turnip and I'm pretty sure the only place you find it is whilst scaling the exit out of the zone; I had to climb up and down it several times, focusing on the more out of the way orbs.

[mdn2]

Is it the first entry? If so that's the oh-so-elusive Blue Turnip and I'm pretty sure the only place you find it is whilst scaling the exit out of the zone; I had to climb up and down it several times, focusing on the more out of the way orbs.

Nope, it's the last one. It's really annoying because I've got all the entries for the two areas that follow the Marsh, but still can't find that one.

New avatar get! I've been tempted for a while to change from the old Ouendan avatar. I just needed a new game to grab me enough to warrant it.

[Ferine]

Ah, that'll be the Forget-Me-Not then — you did say flower so apparently I can't read. For what it's worth I found that near the exit, too.

[Vimster]

Played about 7 hours of this now and really enjoying it. One minor criticism: I wish the Level Up thing was a bit more obvious. It's too easy for going up a level to go unnoticed until you check the level. Apart from that I can't complain so far

[stefcha]

How do I gift items to others in my party to raise affinity? I've seen it mentioned in here but christ knows if I've seen it in the game yet. I'm only just about to go over that bridge on the first field area though (on the leg?) so I'm not exactly that far into the storyline bit.

[Mr.Jeff]

You gift collectables by entering the inventory menu and selecting an item from the collectables tab. You'll have the option of either discarding it or giving it as a present from one party member to another.

I'd also like to retract my earlier statement; the heart to hearts I was thinking of seemingly don't disappear. Even the particular couple of ones I was thinking about remain intact through some crafty wrangling. After the plot taking over for quite a while yesterday I wasn't able to check my suspicions as it was too late in the night.

Some side-quest chains do however become totally unavailable though.

[revlob]

Regarding Bitter Kiwis, there is someone in Frontier Village who will trade them, so I can finally progress without that obsessive nagging at the back of my head for not completing the Makna Forest collectopedia page. I suspect quite a few (most? all?) of the collectopedia items can be obtained in this way, so that's really handy to know if like me you lose sleep over these things.

[Nespresso]

Yay finally received the copy Moose had sent me!

So what did I miss?

[Mr.Jeff]

So there was someone who was wondering if there was a way to reach a couple of areas which seem accesible in Tephra Cave near the start. I'd just like to confirm that they become accesible later on and considering they contain level 96 beasties who all want to eat your face, I don't recommend going there for a casual leisure jaunt.

[daveodeth]

It goes completely shite after the first 6 hours. turns into a sub rate card game where you play for parts of both giant robots. if the computer wins they party get eaten.

[Majora]

Played this for a couple more hours tonight and enjoyed the combat a lot more, I think it's clicking. I got through Tephra Cave and just about to embark across Gaur Plains. The only thing I found a bit tricky was targeting the exact enemy I wanted during the cave boss fight in the heat of the moment.

I love the music in this. Overblown Japanese guitar music ftw. I can be quite OCD in some games but I don't think that's going to happen here because all the collecting and killing tasks already seem totally overwhelming. I'll just accept them all and see what I can do along the way rather than actively grind for them.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

I started out with the Classic Controller, but switched to Nunchuk and remote as it's so damn comfy.

I want twin sticks. I just hate having to press buttons or jump through hoops to move the camera around.

Please tell me the Classic Controller allows direct and full camera control.

[Professor Puzzles]

Yes. Even fuller than usual.

[Stolly]

I want twin sticks. I just hate having to press buttons or jump through hoops to move the camera around.

Please tell me the Classic Controller allows direct and full camera control.

Yeah its so satisfying at long last to be able to play a game properly on my wii

[Davros sock drawer]

That's a point against it for me. There is no reason for this to be on the Wii, I guess besides being exposed to a larger userbase? Anyway, I'd take inventive use of a console's unique controller over fiddling with the camera any day. If the C button centred the camera a bit more quickly then I doubt I would move the camera about much anyway.

Another minus for me is the running, jumping, and swimming animation outside battles. It really is very amateurish, the jog-speed running is just the full-pelt running in slo mo, and looks unintentionally comical.

[___]

That's a point against it for me. There is no reason for this to be on the Wii, I guess besides being exposed to a larger userbase?

That, and the developer being first-party

[Davros sock drawer]

Ah, didn't know that.

Still, seems a poor fit for the Wii really.

[Vorgot]

Loving this, tied with Persona 3 Portable for my GOTY so far. The collection side is nicely fuelling my OCD, and the battle system is great once it clicks. I would recommend that people who haven't go and read the tutorials that don't pop up automatically, they filled in a lot of detail on some of the nuances of what you are doing

[Talk Show Host]

Played this for a couple more hours tonight and enjoyed the combat a lot more, I think it's clicking. I got through Tephra Cave and just about to embark across Gaur Plains. The only thing I found a bit tricky was targeting the exact enemy I wanted during the cave boss fight in the heat of the moment.

I love the music in this. Overblown Japanese guitar music ftw. I can be quite OCD in some games but I don't think that's going to happen here because all the collecting and killing tasks already seem totally overwhelming. I'll just accept them all and see what I can do along the way rather than actively grind for them.

The soundtrack also has plenty of sombre, discreet moments while exploring or in cutscenes. It's really fucking amazing.

As for collecting stuff, I didn't care at first (I'm rarely an OCD person in games). But after a while, when I saw how easy it was to collect and at the same time open the map and explore, I just couldn't help myself. It didn't feel like it was a chore at all and it's not very difficult to 100% areas.

If you like exploring you'll start collecting without realising you're doing it. And it's also great because collecting can actually help you raise affinity (by trading) or complete quests in an instant when you receive them (which is cool) or receive new items each time you complete a category (which rocks).

[stefcha]

Tum te tum, I'll just look over there, end of the road but don't want a dark bit on the map, oh hello there, what's this? Something there, eh? What the hell? Jesus christ, it's coming at me! Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh, 2000 HP off! Run!

Fucking spider.

[Stanley]

I think it's better all round that Nintendo accept people prefer different kinds of controls, or that some games benefit from it. The Wii U controller is a concession to this too.

[TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap]

I still can't believe they didn't release this in the US.

[SteveH]

Quick question for anyone who is well past halfway in the game at least - just to be safe from spoilers.

I'm currently at

Eryth Sea

and would rather mop up side quests before getting on with the story. But at least one NPC I've met wants me to do something that requires proceeding with the main quest I think (they want something from the next area mentioned in the story) and it's a bloody timed quest (my only real beef with the game are the timed ones).

I decided to go back to an earlier save to avoid doing that side quest for now. If I did do the next part of the story

going to the Tomb to save Melia

does it affect access to any timed quests here? Thanks

[revlob]

No, you can still do all your Eryth Sea/Alcamoth quests after visiting the tomb. There's another (quite long) story event afterwards, and once you get control again you are free to carry on adventuring with Melia in your party. I'm currently at that exact point in the game, so I'm not sure how much longer after that the stopwatch quests last, although supposedly the game warns you before proceeding beyond the point of no return so it should be clear when you need to mop things up before continuing.

[Professor Rob]

I still can't believe they didn't release this in the US.

Neither can the Americans.

[Talk Show Host]

No, you can still do all your Eryth Sea/Alcamoth quests after visiting the tomb. There's another (quite long) story event afterwards, and once you get control again you are free to carry on adventuring with Melia in your party. I'm currently at that exact point in the game, so I'm not sure how much longer after that the stopwatch quests last, although supposedly the game warns you before proceeding beyond the point of no return so it should be clear when you need to mop things up before continuing.

I'm in the next zone and my timed quests from the previous zone are still alive.