Xenoblade Chronicles 3

[shynra]

Im far from an expert but:

 

When you select someone it add their XX% to it + any bonuses during the attack.

When it goes over 100% that phase ends.

Each type has a special ability:

 - Healers never lets the % go above 99% (they are good to get it to the 99% limit)

 - Defenders - if you use them as the final attack to go over the 100%, in the next phase you are guaranteed to get your highest % person back (rather than a random person) 

 - Attackers - i forgot

 - Note Haler Heroes cannot do that 99% ability so careful not to use em to push em as it will go over 100%

 

If you go over 100% you get 1 person back next phase, over 150% you get 2 people back and over 200% you get 3 people back.

 

Bonus: To "Oruborus" during it - when you select the order for each phase (gives you random option of 3) make sure you pick pairs - so in phase 1 say you pick Noah - then if you pick Mio in another phase the next phase will be a Oruborus merge of Noah and Mio

 

[Alan Stock]

Attackers get a bonus if they are first to attack. Also you get more points if you use attacks and abilities that match the characters class. So for example if you do an attack with a purely healing class you'll get less points than if you did a group heal.

[Retroguy]

You also get more points if you use characters which match the team of the person doing the attack, eg Keves or Agnus.

 

Also, if you pick an attack by your ‘hero’ unit, it won’t use up the chain gauge, so you can basically get 4 attacks instead of three.

 

And this is aside from the other things to consider about ouroboros form.

 

There’s a lot to think about, but I love how chain attacks basically give you a turn-based element to a real time combat system.

[spanx]

Yeah I just opened up chain attacks in the game and was completely WTF is going on. This game is so dense with systems I feel like it’s going to take 20 hours to get my head around. 
 

I am THOROUGHLY enjoying it though. 

[scottcr]

49 minutes ago, spanx said:

Yeah I just opened up chain attacks in the game and was completely WTF is going on. This game is so dense with systems I feel like it’s going to take 20 hours to get my head around. 
 

I am THOROUGHLY enjoying it though. 

like previous XC games.. you don’t *really* need to master the systems to see the end of the game. But doing so will make you feel boss

[scottcr]

You’ll need to master the systems to take down the big ‘Distracted Malcolm Lvl 90’ massive tho

[scottcr]

Having played for a while… this theme is an all timer

 

 

[BitterToad]

This is such a strange experience of a thing. It's my first Xenoblade and I really like it generally. The environments are great and you get these amazing "Dark Souls-y" (sorry) moments where everything opens up and you can see where you've been before or where you're going on the horizon and that's fantastic! It's certainly the biggest feeling JRPG I've played in a while, which I honestly think is brought on by it being developed for a lower powered console. It reminds me of those PS1 era Final Fantasy games just because of how massive and varied the world feels. It's a definite argument for scale over polish and I really love it for that. 

 

But I'm over levelled to the point that I'm going through a series of tunnels and nothing wants to fight me. So my choices are either go through this really beautifully designed area just by running past everything or engaging in a series of fights that are going to be trivially easy and give me XP that might make the next stage even simpler. I've done all of the side quest stuff the game's offered mainly because it all seems tied into the main story and, crucially, because it's really good! The best bits of the game have been helping people out and fighting the massive consuls. I'm playing on hard and recently hit a level 22 fight that was just absolutely destroying me. So I went around and did all my other side quests and went back at around level 29 and handed him his arse in what was still quite a closely fought battle. The combat system absolutely sang and I really really loved it. And now it's just back to running past everything. I've barely even used any Bonus XP! 

 

And then there are all of these little things that just make me want to put my head in a blender. I understand the game might not necessarily been made with 33 year old Brits in mind but the repeating voice samples are really starting to put me off the characters. They'll be having these big story moments that should be quite effecting but when it's the "rare dooh daah this time" guy I don't care. I just want him to be fucking quiet for a second. And the less said about the Nopon... If there isn't a hideously gruesome death scene for Manana in the next 5 hours I'm not sure I can get through it. 

 

The above's a bit tongue in cheek, I really like the game and it's definitely holding my attention. There are just a few decisions in there that are souring the experience for me a bit. 

[Stanley]

I love the Nopon, Riku know what Noah thinking! 

[dataDave]

I'm also excessively over-leveled to the point where I don't have to think, or even look at the screen, and I'm not sure why because I've actively been avoiding any grinding whatsoever. Dying to anything other than the resident lvl.80 bully seems impossible.

[Retroguy]

Yeah it’s definitely one thing they’ve screwed up over the previous games- I’ve been prioritising quests and doing them in order of lowest level suggestion first, and I’m way over levelled to the point where all the monster names are greyed out. I haven’t even used the additional levelling up at campsites.

 

There’s literally no point in fighting the regular enemies for me now- and they know this because they don’t even bother me as I walk right past them. And then if I go out seeking the higher level ones which will give me a challenge, I’ll then level up again and still be too high level for the regular critters?

 

So now I just have to avoid doing any other content and focus on the main story until it eventually becomes a challenge again I guess? Kinda defeats the point of making this one more of an open world- why give us the choice of what we do when, if it leaves you not just with the fact that the content is a little easier, but that it leaves you with no challenge whatsoever? You’re actually punished for exploring the world.

 

I don’t really understand why this wasn’t picked up, as it’s quite a glaring error. I can only assume it was rushed out and they didn’t have time to balance it properly.

[Alan Stock]

As you probably know I've been on Hard and balancing has been less of an issue for me. My baseline rule has been to tackle normal enemies at my level or boss enemies I try to only go a few levels above if I'm struggling. I feel like, and this is mad to say, they should have considered some sort of self nerf, like undoing your bonus xp, or the ability to increase enemy difficulty outside of the baseline difficulty options. Because I don't use bonus XP the side quest rewards have mostly been gear or class xp which works out quite well.

[spatular]

3 hours ago, Alan Stock said:

I feel like, and this is mad to say, they should have considered some sort of self nerf, 

 

when you finish the game i think it says something about now being able to reduce your xp (edit - sorry reduce level not xp?), shame you can't do it before then

[revlob]

Just done the end of chapter 5. I know it's been mentioned in this thread before, but I was still unprepared for quite how long I'd be sat watching cutscenes. Once you get to:

 

Spoiler

The third day of the prison segment

 

There are very brief moments during the narrative while you do have control, and while I didn't try to save the game during these I suspect you could if you wanted to break it up, but the story takes you on a ride for about two hours before you return to the game proper.

[Stanley]

I did enjoy that part of the story but yeah it’s not broken up at all. 

[MidWalian]

I wish there was a warning about how long that sequence was going to be as I didn't have much sleep that night.

 

Agree that it is easy to over-level. You can change your level but only after you completed the game. 

[MikeBeaver]

11 minutes ago, MidWalian said:

I wish there was a warning about how long that sequence was going to be as I didn't have much sleep that night.

 

Agree that it is easy to over-level. You can change your level but only after you completed the game. 

There was... I warned everyone in this very thread 😛

[Ste Pickford]

I got to the start of Chapter 4 in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 last night and... I'm not loving it yet. Everything feels a bit tedious, boss battles take too long, the world looks a bit drab, I'm finding the character interactions in the cut-scenes a bit annoying, etc.

 

I really enjoyed the three previous ones.  Are there any major changes to the game ahead of me that are likely to shake it up and turn it around for me?

[MikeBeaver]

35 minutes ago, Ste Pickford said:

I got to the start of Chapter 4 in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 last night and... I'm not loving it yet. Everything feels a bit tedious, boss battles take too long, the world looks a bit drab, I'm finding the character interactions in the cut-scenes a bit annoying, etc.

 

I really enjoyed the three previous ones.  Are there any major changes to the game ahead of me that are likely to shake it up and turn it around for me?

No....

[Stanley]

I’m on chapter 6 now and it doesn’t really change much although there are a couple of massive story bits to come. 

[scottcr]

I’m 3 levels higher but J is kicking my arse

[Strafe]

J was the boss fight I had trouble with despite being over levelled. I ended up bumping it to easy just for him. I reckon if I’d paid attention to the tutorials and knew how interlink levels and fusion arts worked I would have fared better. Still, a difficulty spike for sure.

[spanx]

Man this is long, still finding it compelling enough to keep chipping away but I’m only at chapter five, and god knows how many more there are.

 

Thinking of just smashing a load of super enemies I’ve skipped to power up then try and cut through the story as quick as possible

[Alan Stock]

I'm around the same point and also gave up because there wasn't enough driving force in the story and I just unlocked a huge new area. It's quite fatiguing in that way. I will go back eventually but new games take precident for me. It's a good game but definitely suffers from its structure and length. Compare that to something like FFVII Remake which I never put down for the 60+ hours I put into it.

[ryodi]

The LE is now up on the Nintendo store and probably sold out because the website has crashed before I could order one.

[Stanley]

Arr shit, I was after that - is it including the game or just the extras separately as they had advertised months ago? 

[ryodi]

Just the steelbook and art book. I think it was only £35 according to comments on Resetera and there are already eBay listing for it for £85+. Who knows when the site will be working again but I expect it to be sold out when it is.

[Keyboard Koala]

Ten minutes after getting the link, it had already crashed.

Scalpers have really ruined this side of gaming 🤬

[Stanley]

Yeah it’s so annoying that - there’s got to be a better way - I would have happily paid upfront when I bought the game. They gave no indication when it would be on sale, all very vague. 
 

Can you imagine what the new Zelda LE will be like to get hold of 😬

[Djx]

2 hours ago, Stanley said:

Yeah it’s so annoying that - there’s got to be a better way - I would have happily paid upfront when I bought the game.

 

There is a better way. That way being the way Nintendo Japan did it -  

On 18/07/2022 at 17:31, Djx said:

XC3 Special Edition pre-orders are opened months in advance and are made to order. You have the option of a physical or digital edition of the game plus the extras or just the extras if that's what you want - https://store-jp.nintendo.com/search/?q=xenoblade 3

You'd think it would be easy for Nintendo America and Nintendo Europe to do the same. No server crashes and no disappointed fans.