Someone posted a picture of Enchancted Arms in the gaf thread complaining about this article. Man that game didn't age well at all. Xenoblade shits all over it.
Shit, I remember when Super Play reviewed that game. They fell in love with it, and curiously enough stated something along the lines of how this is how the new school of JRPGs should be. Man, that was a long damn time ago...
What's the combat like in this? OP says real time action but is it instant in that no loading?
No loading whatsoever. None. Just the time it takes to recharge your skills, like in one of those bovine games people play these days I think they're called MOOOs.
Alright and in this next scene all the animals have AIDS.
I got a little excited when I saw your ship.
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MaddocI'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother?Registered Userregular
What's the combat like in this? OP says real time action but is it instant in that no loading?
Basically MMO combat
You control one character, have two NPCs, all the enemies are standing around in plain view and you can just run up and attack them. Occasionally you'll also pull other groups by accident, etc.
It has the MMO holy trinity of Tank, Heal, DPS. With an aggro system and everything.
What's the combat like in this? OP says real time action but is it instant in that no loading?
It's very much like an MMO. See enemies in the field, engage combat right there. Character auto-attacks and has a number of special attacks that go on cooldowns when used.
What's the combat like in this? OP says real time action but is it instant in that no loading?
It's menu-based but not turn-based. You auto-attack if in range and can select various abilities with recharge timers. Only can directly control one character per battle. Oh and combat happens on the map - there's no separate battle screen.
I'm not sure I like the sound of that. MMOs are really not my thing.
I'd say that, at least, it is good MMO-style combat. You get enough options early on and combat encourages you to move around and work well with your team. It's well-done.
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, I don't know what to make of the AI. Sometimes it works, and other times it's dumber than dirt. If I main Shulk, I'm lucky if I ever get a topple. If I leave Shulk and Reyn to the AI, they'll actually coordinate enough to pull off a daze. But on the flip side, Shulk will choose to stand right in the monster's face, ignorant to the fact that the majority of his attacks rely on enemy position.
That's the kicker for me. You have positional combat, but don't program the AI to properly use it? What's the point then?
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
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.
Throwing out backstab just because you have it isn't a good idea against stronger monsters, especially if you're going balls-out strength on Shulk. You will pull so much aggro that any tank will have a very, very hard time pulling the enemy off you. The ideal Shulk strategy for long fights is to just camp the enemy's side, throw out your side attacks when possible, use monado speed on your tank, and stick the appropriate Monado counter onto your allies when needed.
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.
Throwing out backstab just because you have it isn't a good idea against stronger monsters, especially if you're going balls-out strength on Shulk. You will pull so much aggro that any tank will have a very, very hard time pulling the enemy off you. The ideal Shulk strategy for long fights is to just camp the enemy's side, throw out your side attacks when possible, use monado speed on your tank, and stick the appropriate Monado counter onto your allies when needed.
I think we have different definitions of "ideal". For me, even random trash has too much health and even trivial fights just take too long for my liking. If I'm 10 levels above something and it's wouldn't have provided me any challenge even at an equal level, why give the thing 100k health? Not using Backstab means using an attack that does 4k damage compared to 30k damage. Nothing about not being able to use an attack that does more damage in one shot than every other ability combined, is "ideal"; because why even give it to him then? Heaven help you if you're using Riki's increased back attack damage; or a first attack crystal with it.
I'm generally so overeleveled it doesn't matter, nothing can hurt me anyway, even uniques. I'm not worried about Shulk taking damage, I just get frustrated because if Shulk takes aggro he can't do any of his positional moves, which is most of them.
If they wanted to go MMO on combat, they should have gone all out. Not having a snap aggro, at least not on any reasonable cooldown, is a failing and brings the system down.
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.
Whenever I decide to main shulk, which is not often because he's a boring as hell character to play, it's really really easy to keep aggro off of him.
Get aggro -> use shadow eye -> light heal someone -> don't have aggro any more
Also, dunban tank should have exclusively all of the aggro-gaining skills; i had the same problem with keeping aggro from melia with dunban tank until I took off his reduce aggro to 0 ability and haste aura for the lock-on and phys up ability that gives him aggro
seriously when dunban has like 4 abilities that all give him aggro, he's p much an unstoppable tank that never ever gives up aggro and when he does, he just steals it from you again
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RentI'm always rightFuckin' deal with itRegistered Userregular
Also unless you're fighting those nucleus things/mechon exclusively without either an ether user main or an ether user main or shulk, respectively, any fights with anything that's ten levels lower than you will be over in seconds, so uh i don't get what the problem is dude
weirdly enough i kind of sympathize with herpes' position here (one for the record books, people) because ffxii's combat was indeed fucking awesome as shit, but imo I really enjoy the ai in this game and enjoy the combat more here, since it basically combined the best part of ff 12 and 13's gameplay (don't use this line as an excuse to derail this thread to be an ff13 bash session)
anyways the characters played differently enough, and there was enough of them, to really offset any pain i felt from not being able to control the entire party (which was very little since the AI did a good enough job where I could just focus on my own character (which since I'm a pro ass pro player of this game is always one of the technically demanding characters because I'm just that good at this game))
I hate how everybody has like 15 different arts now but only 8 slots. I have no idea what should be used. :P At least Shulk is easy. 40 levels and the dude still has exactly 8 skills.
Are there any super go-to builds for some members?
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
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turtleantGunpla Dadis the best.Registered Userregular
So what all will I miss out on if I skip side quests? I know the fourth skill trees are locked behind them, but anything else super important.
Cause I am sick of running around looking for these little blue balls, and I think that if I don't just skip these side quests I'm gonna end up shelving this game.
RentI'm always rightFuckin' deal with itRegistered Userregular
So at what point does the fifth skill tree for Shulk open up? Because i just got his fourth and miller still isnt giving me the quest, despite clearing all the prerequisites and such
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turtleantGunpla Dadis the best.Registered Userregular
But how do I know who to trade with? Cause if I replace running around searching for random drops with searching for random people, that isn't much of a step up.
So at what point does the fifth skill tree for Shulk open up? Because i just got his fourth and miller still isnt giving me the quest, despite clearing all the prerequisites and such
Pretty much all the 5th trees appear to have the requirement of (generic spoilers I guess)
Mechonis core cleared. Wherever and whenever that is.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
Healing actually generates something like 1.5 normal threat, So if you're trying to get threat off Shulk I'd go Heal, Shadow eye, back off for half a second.
Fifth tree opens up for every character after shit gets real.
So Majora's Mask not having locations of NPCs in the bomber's notebook on top of the time frames in which you can accept 'quests' is considered a design flaw?
I'd have to humbly disagree.
Majora's Mask:
-Has only 20 people to keep track of. Colony 9 alone is double this.
-Actually does give a generic location where the person may be found. May not be entirely accurate since they may move around, but it's at least a start in the right direction.
-Shows a time bar to indicate when you should talk to them to continue their story. Knowing you need to talk to somebody between 2PM and 3PM is a lot more help than simply saying they're active between 6AM and 6PM.
As far as I know, you can accept and turn in quests during every point of their active period of day. I can only think of a few NPCs that require you to talk to them on a specific time of day. A large number of named NPCs in Xenoblade are part of a couple of quests. When you complete their quests, you can safely ignore them for the rest of the game. So, no, you don't have to keep track of dozens of people. When you break it down, Clock Town isn't that much different than the hub areas in Xenoblade as far as how the inhabitants spend their day. Clock Town is just smaller and has better defined areas. Frontier Village on the other hand is confusing, which has more to do with its layout than anything else.
I walk into Frontier Village. While climbing the tree, I pick up quests from Pepa, Hoko, Tuzu, Minana, and Rasha. Rasha tells me to talk to Cherri, and Pepa asks me to talk to Lupa. After an hour collecting their things in the wild, I need to return to Hoko and Minana. They have the "luxury" of being in the affinity chart, telling me what 12 hour window they're active in, and the nearest landmark noted in the quest notes (which is often than not not that helpful or accurate). Meanwhile, I have nothing to go on in terms of finding Cherri or Lupa.
Yes. This is a design flaw.
I can tell you exactly how I would go about fixing it though. Increase the range where the ! marks appear on the map by a factor of 50. Have them show up on the full map in addition to the minimap.
Do not give me quests in batches and then tell me to remember where each and every person in addition to the exact time it was when I talked to them. I do not have a photographic memory.
I wonder whether your proposed solution would help make questing painless in Frontier Village. Frontier Village is a bit of an anomaly as it consists of multiple, samey floors and the inhabitants are inconspicuous and wander around the place. The minimap isn't going to help much as it only focuses on the current floor and going to the main map and flicking through the many floors every time you're looking for someone isn't an elegant solution by any stretch of the imagination. Worse, by relying on the main map instead of your memory, you're compelled to use it whenever you can. What I could pick up from Game Development 101 is the less time spent pausing the game and going through menus, the better.
Again, you don't need to know the exact time you talked to NPCs. That's what the affinity tree is for in case you forget. Most NPCs are divided by day and night cycles. You don’t need a photographic memory. You only really need to remember their location, and like I said, the layout of Frontier Village makes it a pain in the ass no matter how you tackle it. The other hub areas are fine to navigate. If you can’t remember where Emmy Leater is during the day, you have a pretty bad short term memory. I don’t mean this as a patronizing comment, but you're trying too hard to prove your point by giving the worst example. It’s not perfect by any means and I can perfectly understand it’s a detriment to your enjoyment, but it’s a bit overblown and your solution has flaws of its own.
So I need some party composition assistance. I'm up to 6 characters and as much as I like Sharla, I want to get some use out of the other characters but I can't bring myself to take the healer out of the group. Is it necessary to keep her around? Is there someone else that can heal like her but I haven't unlocked the abilities for it yet?
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So Majora's Mask not having locations of NPCs in the bomber's notebook on top of the time frames in which you can accept 'quests' is considered a design flaw?
I'd have to humbly disagree.
Majora's Mask:
-Has only 20 people to keep track of. Colony 9 alone is double this.
-Actually does give a generic location where the person may be found. May not be entirely accurate since they may move around, but it's at least a start in the right direction.
-Shows a time bar to indicate when you should talk to them to continue their story. Knowing you need to talk to somebody between 2PM and 3PM is a lot more help than simply saying they're active between 6AM and 6PM.
As far as I know, you can accept and turn in quests during every point of their active period of day. I can only think of a few NPCs that require you to talk to them on a specific time of day. A large number of named NPCs in Xenoblade are part of a couple of quests. When you complete their quests, you can safely ignore them for the rest of the game. So, no, you don't have to keep track of dozens of people. When you break it down, Clock Town isn't that much different than the hub areas in Xenoblade as far as how the inhabitants spend their day. Clock Town is just smaller and has better defined areas. Frontier Village on the other hand is confusing, which has more to do with its layout than anything else.
I walk into Frontier Village. While climbing the tree, I pick up quests from Pepa, Hoko, Tuzu, Minana, and Rasha. Rasha tells me to talk to Cherri, and Pepa asks me to talk to Lupa. After an hour collecting their things in the wild, I need to return to Hoko and Minana. They have the "luxury" of being in the affinity chart, telling me what 12 hour window they're active in, and the nearest landmark noted in the quest notes (which is often than not not that helpful or accurate). Meanwhile, I have nothing to go on in terms of finding Cherri or Lupa.
Yes. This is a design flaw.
I can tell you exactly how I would go about fixing it though. Increase the range where the ! marks appear on the map by a factor of 50. Have them show up on the full map in addition to the minimap.
Do not give me quests in batches and then tell me to remember where each and every person in addition to the exact time it was when I talked to them. I do not have a photographic memory.
I wonder whether your proposed solution would help make questing painless in Frontier Village. Frontier Village is a bit of an anomaly as it consists of multiple, samey floors and the inhabitants are inconspicuous and wander around the place. The minimap isn't going to help much as it only focuses on the current floor and going to the main map and flicking through the many floors every time you're looking for someone isn't an elegant solution by any stretch of the imagination. Worse, by relying on the main map instead of your memory, you're compelled to use it whenever you can. What I could pick up from Game Development 101 is the less time spent pausing the game and going through menus, the better.
Again, you don't need to know the exact time you talked to NPCs. That's what the affinity tree is for in case you forget. Most NPCs are divided by day and night cycles. You don’t need a photographic memory. You only really need to remember their location, and like I said, the layout of Frontier Village makes it a pain in the ass no matter how you tackle it. The other hub areas are fine to navigate. If you can’t remember where Emmy Leater is during the day, you have a pretty bad short term memory. I don’t mean this as a patronizing comment, but you're trying too hard to prove your point by giving the worst example. It’s not perfect by any means and I can perfectly understand it’s a detriment to your enjoyment, but it’s a bit overblown and your solution has flaws of its own.
Then let's use some Colony 9 peeps.
Kenny Rohan. The chart says he's active from 9pm to 6pm Leaves his house in the residential district at 9pm, and reaches the tree outside the gem stall at 12am. He stays there until 6am, where he walks back to the residential district and sits under a different tree at 9am. He stays until 3pm, where he promptly walks to his house in 30 seconds... and vanishes. So right off the bat the time on the chart is wrong.
This results in the situation where I may remember Kenny being under the gem stall tree at 2am. Flash forward to around 9pm, where I acquire a quest to talk to him, but he's not at the tree, and I have no idea where he is and am forced to play hide-and-seek (because I A) did not note the time when he was at the tree and do not yet know what his movements are).
Now let's take Paola. She at least plays nice, and more or less never leaves the area just to the right of the gem stall. Her time is 6am to 6pm, but she also fucks off and vanishes at 3pm. So I could be trying to find her at 4pm for a quest, unaware that she doesn't even exist in the world.
But at the end of the day, this isn't really the point. Yes, I can learn and memorize where people are if I go out of my way to. And with your example, Emmy doesn't actually move much, so yes she's easy to find (I would track her movements to see if she does anything funny, but she's gone from my game). The issue is when I'm doing a circuit through town for the first time, picking up every ! that pops on the map and talking to any blue dots to register them on the chart. Now I've got a situation where (random names incoming) Dean asks me to talk to Raoul, who I did speak with and may remember where he is if he's still there, and Nick asks me to talk to Monica, who I haven't seen yet and won't actually be around for another 12 hours. Meanwhile Minnie wants her locket she lost on the beach, Giorgio wants 3 collectibles, which may take a while depending on the RNG, and Eric wants me to kill a UM by the entrance to Tethra cave. I go out and do all 3 quests in one go, but they're the type that don't auto-complete, so I need to go back and turn them in.
And you're saying I should remember all this.
Uh... no. It's not going to happen. Not with a game this large. There are too many quests and too many people to reasonably do so. I will remember some people here and there. Perhaps faster if they have multiple quests, and if they're actually charming and memorable. But otherwise, I'm generally not going to remember exactly where every quest giver is when it comes time for turn-in. I can certainly remember exactly where they are... if I instantly go out into the world and complete their quest the second I get it, so that they're still in my short-term memory. But I'm not doing that, I'm collecting these quests in bunches and I'm completing them in bunches. This shit is going to get muddled. So it would be handy if the map would show the ! at a greater distance than it already does, which is basically "when you're already on top of them".
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
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.
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.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
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Warlock82Never pet a burning dogRegistered Userregular
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.
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.
Post Mechonis Core
Plus its kind of unmotivating knowing half of those people end up getting turned into horrible monsters even if you helped them all find their lost cats. It tugged at me a bit after to see whole families of people I helped out grayed out.
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
So I need some party composition assistance. I'm up to 6 characters and as much as I like Sharla, I want to get some use out of the other characters but I can't bring myself to take the healer out of the group. Is it necessary to keep her around? Is there someone else that can heal like her but I haven't unlocked the abilities for it yet?
I have this same issue, and I don't have an answer for you. I just don't remove her really. Until I get a healer that is her equal, I just consider her a permanent party member and move on.
So I need some party composition assistance. I'm up to 6 characters and as much as I like Sharla, I want to get some use out of the other characters but I can't bring myself to take the healer out of the group. Is it necessary to keep her around? Is there someone else that can heal like her but I haven't unlocked the abilities for it yet?
I have this same issue, and I don't have an answer for you. I just don't remove her really. Until I get a healer that is her equal, I just consider her a permanent party member and move on.
Just over-level the guys and you won't need a healer :P
But anyways, a few characters have *one* heal spell, but Sharla, as far as I can tell, is the only one that can actually heal for shit.
Warlock82Never pet a burning dogRegistered Userregular
But yeah, I've been playing recently with a non-Sharla party to build affinity (which includes Shulk and Riki who both have one semi-crappy heal). It has been going ok, even though most of the enemies are "blue" to me (close to my level). I would say you probably don't need her unless you are fighting a particularly hard enemy, like a UM or a boss.
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?
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.
Posts
I suppose.
Grudgingly.
My Let's Play Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2go70QLfwGq-hW4nvUqmog
Shit, I remember when Super Play reviewed that game. They fell in love with it, and curiously enough stated something along the lines of how this is how the new school of JRPGs should be. Man, that was a long damn time ago...
No loading whatsoever. None. Just the time it takes to recharge your skills, like in one of those bovine games people play these days I think they're called MOOOs.
I got a little excited when I saw your ship.
Basically MMO combat
You control one character, have two NPCs, all the enemies are standing around in plain view and you can just run up and attack them. Occasionally you'll also pull other groups by accident, etc.
It has the MMO holy trinity of Tank, Heal, DPS. With an aggro system and everything.
It's very much like an MMO. See enemies in the field, engage combat right there. Character auto-attacks and has a number of special attacks that go on cooldowns when used.
My Let's Play Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2go70QLfwGq-hW4nvUqmog
I got a little excited when I saw your ship.
It's menu-based but not turn-based. You auto-attack if in range and can select various abilities with recharge timers. Only can directly control one character per battle. Oh and combat happens on the map - there's no separate battle screen.
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Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
I'd say that, at least, it is good MMO-style combat. You get enough options early on and combat encourages you to move around and work well with your team. It's well-done.
My Let's Play Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2go70QLfwGq-hW4nvUqmog
It's really similar to Final Fantasy XII, though without gambits (AI just controls the other two guys)
It goes a lot further than FFXII, in terms of MMO style combat
The only thing FFXII had in terms of MMO combat was the free roaming enemies and battle taking place without any transition
Xenoblade brings in stuff like aggro mechanics and tanking and attacks that utilize positioning
True. But mechanically they are similar
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.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
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That's the kicker for me. You have positional combat, but don't program the AI to properly use it? What's the point then?
Throwing out backstab just because you have it isn't a good idea against stronger monsters, especially if you're going balls-out strength on Shulk. You will pull so much aggro that any tank will have a very, very hard time pulling the enemy off you. The ideal Shulk strategy for long fights is to just camp the enemy's side, throw out your side attacks when possible, use monado speed on your tank, and stick the appropriate Monado counter onto your allies when needed.
I think we have different definitions of "ideal". For me, even random trash has too much health and even trivial fights just take too long for my liking. If I'm 10 levels above something and it's wouldn't have provided me any challenge even at an equal level, why give the thing 100k health? Not using Backstab means using an attack that does 4k damage compared to 30k damage. Nothing about not being able to use an attack that does more damage in one shot than every other ability combined, is "ideal"; because why even give it to him then? Heaven help you if you're using Riki's increased back attack damage; or a first attack crystal with it.
I'm generally so overeleveled it doesn't matter, nothing can hurt me anyway, even uniques. I'm not worried about Shulk taking damage, I just get frustrated because if Shulk takes aggro he can't do any of his positional moves, which is most of them.
If they wanted to go MMO on combat, they should have gone all out. Not having a snap aggro, at least not on any reasonable cooldown, is a failing and brings the system down.
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Whenever I decide to main shulk, which is not often because he's a boring as hell character to play, it's really really easy to keep aggro off of him.
Get aggro -> use shadow eye -> light heal someone -> don't have aggro any more
Also, dunban tank should have exclusively all of the aggro-gaining skills; i had the same problem with keeping aggro from melia with dunban tank until I took off his reduce aggro to 0 ability and haste aura for the lock-on and phys up ability that gives him aggro
seriously when dunban has like 4 abilities that all give him aggro, he's p much an unstoppable tank that never ever gives up aggro and when he does, he just steals it from you again
weirdly enough i kind of sympathize with herpes' position here (one for the record books, people) because ffxii's combat was indeed fucking awesome as shit, but imo I really enjoy the ai in this game and enjoy the combat more here, since it basically combined the best part of ff 12 and 13's gameplay (don't use this line as an excuse to derail this thread to be an ff13 bash session)
anyways the characters played differently enough, and there was enough of them, to really offset any pain i felt from not being able to control the entire party (which was very little since the AI did a good enough job where I could just focus on my own character (which since I'm a pro ass pro player of this game is always one of the technically demanding characters because I'm just that good at this game))
Are there any super go-to builds for some members?
Cause I am sick of running around looking for these little blue balls, and I think that if I don't just skip these side quests I'm gonna end up shelving this game.
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But how do I know who to trade with? Cause if I replace running around searching for random drops with searching for random people, that isn't much of a step up.
Pretty much all the 5th trees appear to have the requirement of (generic spoilers I guess)
Fifth tree opens up for every character after shit gets real.
As far as I know, you can accept and turn in quests during every point of their active period of day. I can only think of a few NPCs that require you to talk to them on a specific time of day. A large number of named NPCs in Xenoblade are part of a couple of quests. When you complete their quests, you can safely ignore them for the rest of the game. So, no, you don't have to keep track of dozens of people. When you break it down, Clock Town isn't that much different than the hub areas in Xenoblade as far as how the inhabitants spend their day. Clock Town is just smaller and has better defined areas. Frontier Village on the other hand is confusing, which has more to do with its layout than anything else.
I wonder whether your proposed solution would help make questing painless in Frontier Village. Frontier Village is a bit of an anomaly as it consists of multiple, samey floors and the inhabitants are inconspicuous and wander around the place. The minimap isn't going to help much as it only focuses on the current floor and going to the main map and flicking through the many floors every time you're looking for someone isn't an elegant solution by any stretch of the imagination. Worse, by relying on the main map instead of your memory, you're compelled to use it whenever you can. What I could pick up from Game Development 101 is the less time spent pausing the game and going through menus, the better.
Again, you don't need to know the exact time you talked to NPCs. That's what the affinity tree is for in case you forget. Most NPCs are divided by day and night cycles. You don’t need a photographic memory. You only really need to remember their location, and like I said, the layout of Frontier Village makes it a pain in the ass no matter how you tackle it. The other hub areas are fine to navigate. If you can’t remember where Emmy Leater is during the day, you have a pretty bad short term memory. I don’t mean this as a patronizing comment, but you're trying too hard to prove your point by giving the worst example. It’s not perfect by any means and I can perfectly understand it’s a detriment to your enjoyment, but it’s a bit overblown and your solution has flaws of its own.
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Then let's use some Colony 9 peeps.
Kenny Rohan. The chart says he's active from 9pm to 6pm Leaves his house in the residential district at 9pm, and reaches the tree outside the gem stall at 12am. He stays there until 6am, where he walks back to the residential district and sits under a different tree at 9am. He stays until 3pm, where he promptly walks to his house in 30 seconds... and vanishes. So right off the bat the time on the chart is wrong.
This results in the situation where I may remember Kenny being under the gem stall tree at 2am. Flash forward to around 9pm, where I acquire a quest to talk to him, but he's not at the tree, and I have no idea where he is and am forced to play hide-and-seek (because I A) did not note the time when he was at the tree and
Now let's take Paola. She at least plays nice, and more or less never leaves the area just to the right of the gem stall. Her time is 6am to 6pm, but she also fucks off and vanishes at 3pm. So I could be trying to find her at 4pm for a quest, unaware that she doesn't even exist in the world.
But at the end of the day, this isn't really the point. Yes, I can learn and memorize where people are if I go out of my way to. And with your example, Emmy doesn't actually move much, so yes she's easy to find (I would track her movements to see if she does anything funny, but she's gone from my game). The issue is when I'm doing a circuit through town for the first time, picking up every ! that pops on the map and talking to any blue dots to register them on the chart. Now I've got a situation where (random names incoming) Dean asks me to talk to Raoul, who I did speak with and may remember where he is if he's still there, and Nick asks me to talk to Monica, who I haven't seen yet and won't actually be around for another 12 hours. Meanwhile Minnie wants her locket she lost on the beach, Giorgio wants 3 collectibles, which may take a while depending on the RNG, and Eric wants me to kill a UM by the entrance to Tethra cave. I go out and do all 3 quests in one go, but they're the type that don't auto-complete, so I need to go back and turn them in.
And you're saying I should remember all this.
Uh... no. It's not going to happen. Not with a game this large. There are too many quests and too many people to reasonably do so. I will remember some people here and there. Perhaps faster if they have multiple quests, and if they're actually charming and memorable. But otherwise, I'm generally not going to remember exactly where every quest giver is when it comes time for turn-in. I can certainly remember exactly where they are... if I instantly go out into the world and complete their quest the second I get it, so that they're still in my short-term memory. But I'm not doing that, I'm collecting these quests in bunches and I'm completing them in bunches. This shit is going to get muddled. So it would be handy if the map would show the ! at a greater distance than it already does, which is basically "when you're already on top of them".
You don't need a photographic memory. I certainly don't have one.
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.
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I have this same issue, and I don't have an answer for you. I just don't remove her really. Until I get a healer that is her equal, I just consider her a permanent party member and move on.
Just over-level the guys and you won't need a healer :P
But anyways, a few characters have *one* heal spell, but Sharla, as far as I can tell, is the only one that can actually heal for shit.
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?
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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.
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