Xenoblade Chronicles - Wii

[Nespresso]

I love the theme that plays during the start screen. I also love how in the 7 hours of play I've put into the game, more exciting stuff has happened than in the entirety of a blockbuster release like MW2 (yeah yeah, apples and pears. I just want to take every opportunity to bash CoD's singleplayer).

Such an engaging story.

[Davros sock drawer]

I thought I knew how the in-battle visions worked, but I'm still getting twatted. Particularly by a big Triceratops thing on the way to the bridge that Juju is heading towards.

You need at least one bar on the tension meter

If a team member is the victim, press B to warn them

Here's where I get confused. You get to pick an Art by that team member, but which? The tutorial says that only Shield can block an enemy Art, and Reyn don't have no shield...

It's ok if Shulk gets attacked, as you can use his Monado shield, but what about the others?

[Mr.Jeff]

It depends what the skill is. When the vision begins, you see the skill name at the top in a coloured font. White is talent arts, red is physical and purple is ether arts. The idea is either to negate it or to warn a character to either prepare for their attack or get someone to heal them.

For white named attacks, Shulk's shield ability will negate the damage provided that the level of shield is equal to or greater than the attack's level; i.e shield level 3 won't block Mega Cunt Punch VII. Shield affects all people in the party.

Red attacks are negated by Shulk's Speed abaility which is picked up in the caves I think. BE careful that you activate it so it'll last through the attack otherwise it'll run out before the attack hits. Speed will only affect one person so make sure you choose the right person.

I have no idea how to protect against purple attacks.

If you're not playing Shulk but he's in your party, as long as you have one talent bar, you can run over and press b to make him use the skill you want on the person you want.

If Shulk isn't in your party at all, then you either have to have someone use a healing spell on the particular character so their hp is high enoguh to survive the attack.

Alternatively, if you're particularly cunning and have enoguh time, you can move the character out of range/line of sight of the attack to stop it coming by manually controlling the character or making them follow you out of range. Be warned though that you can't move them too far from their original spot or they'll reset and go back to where they were originally.

Hopefully that helps somewhat.

Edit: Missed this -

Can someone explain Affinity to me?

As far as I know you earn Affinity through means of battle and heart-to-hearts. Affinity is then used in battle to enhance the co-operation between characters to increase their battle efficiency (like a combo of Chain Links)?

That's pretty much spot on. Affinity can also be raised through quests as when you talk to the quest givers, they tend to chime in with some ridiculous nonsense like "This person looks troubled, we should help them" but free affinity is free affinity.

You can also gift collectables from one person to another through the inventory screen which can either raise or lower affinity depending onw hich item you gift.

As for what it affects, it also is responsible in some way for the gem crafting system depending on who your shooter and engineer in is as well as how well you get on with the rest of your party. That said, I'm not sure how affects it as I've not done much gem crafting.

[Davros sock drawer]

I'm still not sure I understand all that. I'm controlling Shulk. What if Reyn gets attacked by a red art, what art should I have Reyn counter with, another red one?

[Mr.Jeff]

If Reyn's under attack you can either;

i)Warn him with b and have him using something like Guard Shift which should reduce the damage a bit

ii)If you're at that point in the story and have Sharla, warn her and have her use a healing art on Reyn

iii)If you have Shulk's Monado skill available (the white symbol in the middle isn't crossed out), use the Speed skill which you get from a fight in the Tephra caves, preferably 3-4 second before the attack hits so Reyn will dodge

iv)If you have none of the above and it's available, use Shulk's heal and hope it heals Reyn enough to keep him alive

v)If none of those options are available, run away with Shulk and use the command to make Reyn follow you to try and outrange the skill.

Edit; I'm probably not helping at all am I.

[Davros sock drawer]

I've not got the Speed skill, I've got Enchant, Buster, and Shield.

Thing is, I'm sure your advice is right, but it doesn't match the tutorial at all which says:

"A monster's Talent Arts can only be blocked with Shield"

[Mr.Jeff]

Yeah it took me a bit of going over as well but when it says Talent Arts, the game means the white named skills that everyone has. Talent skills are essentially unique to each character and monster:

For player characters it's like Shulk's Monado skill or Reyn's Taunt(?) I think which builds up through auto attack.

Red skills are just pure physical skills like Shulk's Back Strike or Reyn's Bone Upper.

So to boil it down:

White skill name at top of screen -> Talent Art -> Use Shield

Red skill name at top of screen -> Physical Attack/Art -> Use Speed.

I only found this out when a certain monster was constantly killing me with a red skill despite me using shield. The game isn't really clear on the type of skills.

Edit: I can't read and missed the bit about not having Speed. Ummm, maybe try and outrange it? Which monster are you trying to take down?

[Davros sock drawer]

Ah ha! Now I get it. I was thinking Talent Arts meant all of these special attacks, but it only means the white ones. Of course.

I think I probably don't match the level of the attack either. Time to grind!

[daveodeth]

If you have the time, sometimes a break, topple combo will stop it. Break with shulk then warn and use a topple art if you can.

[boxoctosis]

So I thought I was getting a bit tired of this, after 30 hours in 3 weeks.

And then I had a wander around Satori Marsh, helping out some Napon dude hiding in a cave. Not the one that wets the bed unfortunately. And before you know it, it's midnight, and I've done another hour and a half, and I'm wanting to go straight back on it tomorrow night to find out more about some fortress I've just found a key for.

Oh, and I think I'll go and kick that spider's face in tomorrow as well.

[Nespresso]

That's pretty much spot on. Affinity can also be raised through quests as when you talk to the quest givers, they tend to chime in with some ridiculous nonsense like "This person looks troubled, we should help them" but free affinity is free affinity.

You can also gift collectables from one person to another through the inventory screen which can either raise or lower affinity depending onw hich item you gift.

As for what it affects, it also is responsible in some way for the gem crafting system depending on who your shooter and engineer in is as well as how well you get on with the rest of your party. That said, I'm not sure how affects it as I've not done much gem crafting.

Thanks for that Jeff!

Sorry to be such a nuisance but how does one get to the upper level of Bionis Leg? I'm currently trying to find Brog Leg Meat and read somewhere that you can find Brogs on the upper level.

[Mr.Jeff]

There's 2 paths: One is filled with fun/deadly level 80 odd beasties some of which respond to sound and the other is fairly straight forward.

Head all the way east until you hit the lake and find the large bridge. Cross over from there and head along the path. You should see an offshoot to your right called Maguel Road which should be fairly obvious to spot since it's covered with Mechon. Following that to the end should take you to the upper level.

Alternatively if you're like me and are a complete, stubborn idiot prefer the challenge, there's a cave entrance on the opposite side of the road which through some careful exploring leads to a slim mountain path which leads upwards.

Edit: Those Brogs tend to be a pain to drop their quest item since there's only a few in the area. There's one that occasionally that floats around the island on the lake on the lower level.

Otherwise, there's one on the upper level on a small island with connecting bridges to the east on the map near a cave entrance. If you explore the entrance to that cave you should find a landmark. That way, when you kill the Brog, you can quick jump to the landmark nearby which respawns the frog for another kill.

Slightly, long-winded but gets the job done!

[Nespresso]

Mr.Jeff, write us a strategy guide plz.

[Nespresso]

10 hours in, level 22 and I have yet to add Sharla to my party. So many side quest!

[Epcotman]

When I die I pretend it was just a "Vision".

[Nespresso]

So... Gem crafting. Wut?

[Majora]

Yeah I didn't have a clue what was going on in gem crafting. Something about shooting and fever....I tried it out once and then walked away, bemused.

[memories]

\o/ just had a "dispatched" email from Amazon, was beginning to think i had left it too late and they wouldn't be getting anymore in stock.

What they had must have been tied up into pre-orders though as its still showing as out of stock now.

[boxoctosis]

So... Gem crafting. Wut?

Read this helpful guide, posted some way back in the thread by Cyhwuhx

http://www.rllmukforum.com/index.php?showtopic=223287&view=findpost&p=8102040

[Mallet]

Sharla has Shield Bullet you can use during visions as well, it absorbs any type of damage.

[stefcha]

I've stood in that spot a number of times, looking out on that exact same view and it never fails to impress.

It'd impress a hell of a lot more if it actually looked anything like that screenshot in reality for the vast majority of us I was looking out over the top of the leg last night and felt vertigo from the drop off the side, so it's obviously "got it" but if it had greater clarity it'd be immense. I'd probably have to go lie down.

[stefcha]

I thought I knew how the in-battle visions worked, but I'm still getting twatted. Particularly by a big Triceratops thing on the way to the bridge that Juju is heading towards.

What level are you? I think I was about L24 by the time I got to the bridge Juju crashed on, don't remember much trouble from those things but there are a couple of L70-odd ones about on the leg.

[Davros sock drawer]

I'm level 16, so maybe that explains it. Bit worried I never got this "Speed" art though, have I missed something important?

Anyway, I killed a few individual Mechon just past the bridge, but then got gang-raped by a load of them a bit further up. Going to go back and do some quests I think, as I must have died about 50 times so far.

I love seeing these massive lumbering hulks wandering the landscape, like the two turtle-esque things I saw last night. "I'll be back for you later..." I always think.

[Mr.Jeff]

Yeah I was thinking about that last night and I think it's part of the next boss fight that you get Speed. For some reason I was thinking it was the caves but that's where you get Shield. It's definitely part of the story though so you're unlikely to miss it, don't worry.

I don't think I was very coherent last night anyway...

[stefcha]

I'm level 16, so maybe that explains it. Bit worried I never got this "Speed" art though, have I missed something important?

Anyway, I killed a few individual Mechon just past the bridge, but then got gang-raped by a load of them a bit further up. Going to go back and do some quests I think, as I must have died about 50 times so far.

I love seeing these massive lumbering hulks wandering the landscape, like the two turtle-esque things I saw last night. "I'll be back for you later..." I always think.

Nah, either you've not got to that bit of the story or you get it at L25-ish (I've only just got it, and I pinged L25 or 26 after a story battle you'll get to very shortly so I've not idea if it was one or the other). I wouldn't worry about it, or the battle visions - I thought you were miles into the game because I've barely experienced any yet - for the vast majority of normal battles a couple of levels higher and you'll be fine. Go too high like I have and there's not much challenge.

I did have a go at one of those massive turtle things last night though, it was L32 and I couldn't make a dent in the health bar whatsoever but I'm sure I was hitting it for a few hundred a time. Ran off. I felt a bit bad for hitting it really, it just seemed to be going about it's turtlely business.

[noizu]

You definitely pick up Speed slightly later than that point. And I got twatted by that exact same Mechon gang past the bridge, but if you stick to the right hand cliff wall you can actually sneak around them. And then come back later and smash their heads in.

[Davros sock drawer]

Cool, thanks guys.

Another question though - does the game ever stop giving you new stuff to deal with, by which I mean tutorials. I do feel a bit like I've been playing a very, very long tutorial level. I get used to the game and then it's like "Ok, pay attention - now you can link skills, but only of a certain shape, and what do you mean you've only just gotten your head round the other billion things in the game?".

[stefcha]

Another question though - does the game ever stop giving you new stuff to deal with, by which I mean tutorials.

I've not had any for ages now so I'd say you're probably through the vast majority of it.

[blipwoo]

Cool, thanks guys.

Another question though - does the game ever stop giving you new stuff to deal with, by which I mean tutorials. I do feel a bit like I've been playing a very, very long tutorial level. I get used to the game and then it's like "Ok, pay attention - now you can link skills, but only of a certain shape, and what do you mean you've only just gotten your head round the other billion things in the game?".

I'm about 25 hours in, and it seems to have settled into a finished battle system. I'll get the occasional new monado art, or a new character will join and i'll have a new playstyle to fiddle around with, but that's about it.

Also, thanks a lot stefcha; I just killed that level 32 turtle thing (twice). Now I feel guilty While i'm on that topic, does anyone else feel bad about killing armus when they're surrounded by their kids?

[revlob]

Well I'm 50 hours in and I still haven't got a full roster of party characters yet, but the combat system is more or less fully explained by the time you reach the boss at Colony 6. I'd argue it's not that complicated though!