I'll be honest; for me combat is the weakest part of Xenoblade. That's not to say it's bad; it's just not my favorite part.
I actually prefer the combat in XII over Xenoblade. The facing and stuff is ok, I suppose; but it still is not a very deep system. Also, and while it didn't bother me early in the game, not having any control over your teammates outside of chain attacks is frustrating. Yes, Dunban I know your fucking topple ability is off cooldown; why don't you try using it for either of the breaks I inflicted? Why won't you taunt, etc.
It just gets annoying. And if you're maining shulk, at least where I am (level 50), Dunban is completely incapable of keeping aggro from Shulk. One backstab and Dunban will never get aggro back, ever. I don't know if he's not using his aggro abilities or what, but give me a break.
It wouldn't have been difficult to just put in a swap button that let you switch who you're controlling on the fly. You have access to their abilities instantly when you chain, so it can't be technical limitations.
Plus, I liked Gambits. They added customization and strategy to combat that allowed you to have control over your teammates without actually taking control of them; though you still could if you wanted to.
Yeah...definitely liked combat in XII better.
While Backstab from a Strength-specced Shulk is hard to recover from, aggro-wise, Dunban actually has an Art or two that will reduce his Aggro, if you're going pure DPS with him. Make sure you don't have that on his bar by accident.
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
The gambit system is absolutely the one thing I think this game is missing, combat mechanics wise. If Monolith ever does a real/spiritual sequel to Xenoblade, I want to see an AI system with custom command lists, like XII and DA:O.
No need to be silly about the resolution comment, a game looking blurry on your tv is an objectively negative thing. And I still said the game was great and worth it!
I just don't understand where all these people came from all of a sudden. I don't remember people complaining so much about games during the PS2/Xbox/GCN days...does nobody go back and play those anymore?
A lot of people didn't have a point of comparison then. Console games didn't output in HD resolutions. HDTVs weren't widespread. And SD signals look like ass on most modern HDTVs.
I'll say this. You're not completely wrong. I can remember some characters, and sometimes the chart can jog the memory.
But so far it's only with Colony 9. I might be able to do the same with Colony 6. But Frontier village is unwieldy and all the nopons blend together. And so far Alcamoth is just fuckoffhuge to even try. Couple that with acquiring and completing multiple quests at once, and like I said, everything gets muddled.
I've actually found after awhile I started to learn where everyone was in Frontier Village. Not after much annoyance of course, but once you get used to who the people are it's easy to associate most with a location (ex: Pollen Works people are near the Pollen Works, etc). Alcamoth can go to hell though. It actually wouldn't be terrible if not for that huge ass balcony that spans around the top level. There are *sometimes* people there but usually not, so it's super easy to miss them.
There is a trick in Alcamoth where you set the clock at 5am/pm and wait at the main entrance to cherry-pick the ones you want to talk to.
I have horrible long-term and short-term memory. Like, I can't even recall the names of my family members without going into the think tank if I haven't seen them for a few months. Yet I have found ways to mitigate my shortcomings by for example using visual cues. The affinity chart is a perfectly good way to recall vague names as it provides an avatar, a short description and relationships. You then associate that person with a location. I see for example Kenny Rohan often sitting on a bench in the outer part of the residential district in the afternoon, so I remember that and associate that person to that location henceforth. I do the same with other people as I wander around town. People go to their homes about three hours before their designated end time, but you can talk to them in the meantime. The shown times on the chart are accurate in my experience. For an effective approach, it's better to change the time when you can find them on their spot and not go running about on a random period of day.
You don't need a photographic memory. I certainly don't have one.
Or they could have just uses a proven, good design method and implemented quest tracking instead of making things a pain in the ass.
Pausing to look at the map to get an exact location >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> pausing to browse around the affinity chart until you find the right person in a sea of people to get vague information about what general area they might be around in.
I disagree if it inclines you to use your memory instead of making it a habit to open up the map every so often, which with so many quests will get annoying after a while, especially in Frontier Village.
Close, it's called the heal after performing a chain attack stacked with more chain attack damage and more chances of said chain attack. Most characters will heal to full after about five or six links in said chain.
No need to be silly about the resolution comment, a game looking blurry on your tv is an objectively negative thing. And I still said the game was great and worth it!
I just don't understand where all these people came from all of a sudden. I don't remember people complaining so much about games during the PS2/Xbox/GCN days...does nobody go back and play those anymore?
At the time, PS2 games looked great in comparison to what people were used to. When games for the PS2 came out that looked like they could have been done on the PS1, you can bet there was complaining.
I think the type of game matters a lot. Like with something like the Trauma series, there aren't really any games like that elsewhere and so people are perfectly fine with those games not looking technologically advanced. Similar thing with 2D games that are released - few developers are making big budget 2D games these days so something like Muramasa is going to get a lot less scrutiny than it would otherwise since there are few games to compare it to. However, Xenoblade is a 3D RPG which is a very common genre on other systems like the 360, PS3, and PC.
While I wouldn't go so far as to say Xenoblade looks like a PS2 game (the draw distance is MUCH better for one thing), it does look like a definite step down from something like Mass Effect 3, Final Fantasy XIII, or even Valkyrie Chronicles.
Wow, that's a harsh way to enforce armor class restrictions.
Well the thing is the game thought about that and...
Gave her some of the most broken abilities ever. All double attacks become crits is especially lol worthy. If you ever unlock her fifth tree and stick Shulk in the party you can see some real absurdity.
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Warlock82Never pet a burning dogRegistered Userregular
Wow, that's a harsh way to enforce armor class restrictions.
Well the thing is the game thought about that and...
Gave her some of the most broken abilities ever. All double attacks become crits is especially lol worthy. If you ever unlock her fifth tree and stick Shulk in the party you can see some real absurdity.
Close, it's called the heal after performing a chain attack stacked with more chain attack damage and more chances of said chain attack. Most characters will heal to full after about five or six links in said chain.
I thought it was called "spec SEVENTH as your tank and skill link Dunban's 'heal after critical' skill"?
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Warlock82Never pet a burning dogRegistered Userregular
So are gifts even worth bothering with? Is it it just better to battle to raise affinity?
So are gifts even worth bothering with? Is it it just better to battle to raise affinity?
Gifts are definitely worth it. They're a good way to dump a lot of affinity on two characters that don't battle together much, like Reyn and Dunban. Who are your best endgame gem crafters.
So are gifts even worth bothering with? Is it it just better to battle to raise affinity?
Well...it's not like there's any use for 99% of the collectables aside from trading; and even then it's usually not even worth bothering with. I'd use them just because why not.
I'd like to know if anyone has figured out exactly how many hearts you need for each affinity level between party mates. That'd make figuring out if you want to bother, easier.
It seems like it's not that hard to get people up to the cloud friendship, but I have no idea what it takes to get to the next level. Half my guys have been stuck at the cloud forever.
So are gifts even worth bothering with? Is it it just better to battle to raise affinity?
Well...it's not like there's any use for 99% of the collectables aside from trading; and even then it's usually not even worth bothering with. I'd use them just because why not.
I'd like to know if anyone has figured out exactly how many hearts you need for each affinity level between party mates. That'd make figuring out if you want to bother, easier.
It seems like it's not that hard to get people up to the cloud friendship, but I have no idea what it takes to get to the next level. Half my guys have been stuck at the cloud forever.
Yeah it seems like once they get to purple cloud/flower, they are stuck there for ages. I think I did a HUGE chunk of both Frontier Village and Alcamoth quests with Milea lead, Sharla in the party and it still took ages for them to have pink heart level affinity
But now I have the 7th character and they are yellow {: /} face with almost everyone
So are gifts even worth bothering with? Is it it just better to battle to raise affinity?
Well...it's not like there's any use for 99% of the collectables aside from trading; and even then it's usually not even worth bothering with. I'd use them just because why not.
I'd like to know if anyone has figured out exactly how many hearts you need for each affinity level between party mates. That'd make figuring out if you want to bother, easier.
It seems like it's not that hard to get people up to the cloud friendship, but I have no idea what it takes to get to the next level. Half my guys have been stuck at the cloud forever.
I wonder, do different couples have different rates of affinity increases? I noticed when I was controlling Sharla after she joined that she almost always got affinity dialogue with Reyn when accepting a quest. Now I am trying to get Melia and Sharla's affinity up for that stupid Colony 9 quest, but nine times out of ten Dunban keeps butting in to get affinity ups with Melia instead. They're at the purple cloud after doing about 50 or so quests together and Melia and Sharla are only at the green face.
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Warlock82Never pet a burning dogRegistered Userregular
I wonder, do different couples have different rates of affinity increases? I noticed when I was controlling Sharla after she joined that she almost always got affinity dialogue with Reyn when accepting a quest. Now I am trying to get Melia and Sharla's affinity up for that stupid Colony 9 quest, but nine times out of ten Dunban keeps butting in to get affinity ups with Melia instead. They're at the purple cloud after doing about 50 or so quests together and Melia and Sharla are only at the green face.
It may be quest-based. It seems like they have a lot of generic lines, but then some characters have unique lines related specifically to the quest. I know Riki has a ton of them if you have him in your party for Frontier Village quests especially.
Oddly, I just got my first heart between Sharla and Dunban. I haven't mained either of them, ever (except Sharlas 4th tree quest; and she was already hearted with him), and I haven't even had Dunban in my party as much as Reyn who isn't as high.
I'm thinking different pairs have different affinity requirements per phase. Or something. It isn't equal, is what I'm saying.
Yeah I'm at 61 hours now and I still haven't gone to
Prison Island. I've actually done virtually all of the Capital quests without Melia because I'm not sure when the cutoff point for going back there is; so I've cleaned out the entire city pretty much of quests except like...3 or 4 that require going to Prison Island first I think
And I dont even have any clue how far in the game that is. I'm gonna want to say half? Is that about right?
I've got so much time because I refuse to move on an area until there are absolutely no more quests I can get until I continue.
Wow, that's a harsh way to enforce armor class restrictions.
Well the thing is the game thought about that and...
Gave her some of the most broken abilities ever. All double attacks become crits is especially lol worthy. If you ever unlock her fifth tree and stick Shulk in the party you can see some real absurdity.
But I can't throw Quick Step gems on her /sadface
Heh, that too. I was referring to how, since the skills that unlock armor are all star-shaped, she just doesn't get any star-shaped skill links, at all.
So in my sadness, Eryth Armor is pretty subpar and I'm already finding equipment that has considerably better stats; not to mention there apparently isn't a slotted version of the chest piece; and none of the Mithril armor (green variant) is slotted at all; it makes me ask: since so many armor types repeat themselves in the game (so far anyway), just with color variants; are there later versions of the amazingly badass looking Entia looking gear that is slotted that matches?
I can't stand mismatched clown armor and I will take stat losses in order to look cool, so this is important to me.
Also, I need some help in that I can see no discernible difference in the way party members function in battle whether they're wearing light armor or heavy armor, or how much any given armor weighs. It makes the weight seem pointless, and the skills that reduce weight seem more pointless. Dunban said he functions better in light armor, but I'll be damned if I can see any difference between him using light or medium regardless of how much it weighs. Is there something I'm missing here? or does it just not matter. I mean, light armor has higher ether defense, heavy armor tends to lack much ether defense at all. I've actually found light armor to be the best balanced in that regard; but I've been so overleveled physical damage has rarely been any issue so that's part of it.
I had heard weight and such affects cooldowns, but it was only secondhand, as somebody was talking about Shulk with weight reduction stuff can make a decent healer.
No idea if it's actually true or not though.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
Light armor is for agility tanks like Dunban, heavy armor is for mitigation tanks like Reyn. It doesn't effect cooldowns. There's nothing really stopping you from sticking Dunban in fatty heavy armor, but it will mean you can't push his agility quite as high.
Any character not tanking I usually just slap on whatever light or medium slotted armor I have.
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A lot of people didn't have a point of comparison then. Console games didn't output in HD resolutions. HDTVs weren't widespread. And SD signals look like ass on most modern HDTVs.
Though of course the end game has its own hilarious way to heal.
It's like healing in advance.
Because you're not taking any damage.
There is a trick in Alcamoth where you set the clock at 5am/pm and wait at the main entrance to cherry-pick the ones you want to talk to.
I disagree if it inclines you to use your memory instead of making it a habit to open up the map every so often, which with so many quests will get annoying after a while, especially in Frontier Village.
At the time, PS2 games looked great in comparison to what people were used to. When games for the PS2 came out that looked like they could have been done on the PS1, you can bet there was complaining.
I think the type of game matters a lot. Like with something like the Trauma series, there aren't really any games like that elsewhere and so people are perfectly fine with those games not looking technologically advanced. Similar thing with 2D games that are released - few developers are making big budget 2D games these days so something like Muramasa is going to get a lot less scrutiny than it would otherwise since there are few games to compare it to. However, Xenoblade is a 3D RPG which is a very common genre on other systems like the 360, PS3, and PC.
While I wouldn't go so far as to say Xenoblade looks like a PS2 game (the draw distance is MUCH better for one thing), it does look like a definite step down from something like Mass Effect 3, Final Fantasy XIII, or even Valkyrie Chronicles.
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Oh boy. This a thing that needs to happen.
Just imagine how often it will be you-know-what time.
Well the thing is the game thought about that and...
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Gifts are definitely worth it. They're a good way to dump a lot of affinity on two characters that don't battle together much, like Reyn and Dunban. Who are your best endgame gem crafters.
Well...it's not like there's any use for 99% of the collectables aside from trading; and even then it's usually not even worth bothering with. I'd use them just because why not.
I'd like to know if anyone has figured out exactly how many hearts you need for each affinity level between party mates. That'd make figuring out if you want to bother, easier.
It seems like it's not that hard to get people up to the cloud friendship, but I have no idea what it takes to get to the next level. Half my guys have been stuck at the cloud forever.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
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Yeah it seems like once they get to purple cloud/flower, they are stuck there for ages. I think I did a HUGE chunk of both Frontier Village and Alcamoth quests with Milea lead, Sharla in the party and it still took ages for them to have pink heart level affinity
But now I have the 7th character and they are yellow {: /} face with almost everyone
Nothing special, just more affinity boosts.
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It may be quest-based. It seems like they have a lot of generic lines, but then some characters have unique lines related specifically to the quest. I know Riki has a ton of them if you have him in your party for Frontier Village quests especially.
I'm thinking different pairs have different affinity requirements per phase. Or something. It isn't equal, is what I'm saying.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
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Only 10 quests?
And I dont even have any clue how far in the game that is. I'm gonna want to say half? Is that about right?
I've got so much time because I refuse to move on an area until there are absolutely no more quests I can get until I continue.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
Is there any downside at all to not doing every side quest? Anything from missing out on a rare item, an achievement, or progress percentage?
I can't stand mismatched clown armor and I will take stat losses in order to look cool, so this is important to me.
Also, I need some help in that I can see no discernible difference in the way party members function in battle whether they're wearing light armor or heavy armor, or how much any given armor weighs. It makes the weight seem pointless, and the skills that reduce weight seem more pointless. Dunban said he functions better in light armor, but I'll be damned if I can see any difference between him using light or medium regardless of how much it weighs. Is there something I'm missing here? or does it just not matter. I mean, light armor has higher ether defense, heavy armor tends to lack much ether defense at all. I've actually found light armor to be the best balanced in that regard; but I've been so overleveled physical damage has rarely been any issue so that's part of it.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
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Edit: Random google search someone said heavier armor lowers agility, but doesn't seem like it does by that much...
No idea if it's actually true or not though.
Any character not tanking I usually just slap on whatever light or medium slotted armor I have.