Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

Post by Skinypupy »

I caved on getting a Switch and XB2, Mario, and Zelda (which I played on WiiU, but wanted to give it another shot) were my first games. I actually came in expecting not to like this at all, but I find myself thoroughly enjoying it 14 hours in. The characters, world, and story are infinitely better than the previous two Xenoblade games. They also removed the issue of having to gather random crap every 5 steps and completely overdoing it with side quests, which eliminates about 80% of what I didn't like about the previous titles. Combat has taken a while to click, but I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. I mostly know how the combo system works, even if I can't quite get it to trigger as often as I'd like.

I'm having a surprisingly fun time so far (just started Chapter 3). My only real gripes are that the map system sucks, the combat voices are obnoxious, and that battles can randomly drift into uber-strong mobs that can wipe you in one hit. That's infuriating. Other than that, a solid 7/8 tentacles so far.
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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I'm glad I'm not the only one enjoying this now.
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

Post by Scraper »

I'm currently on Chapter 8. I''m enjoying the game and it definitely has it's moments. But at 90+hours in I'm ready for the main story to be done. It doesn't seem like there's much left but I haven't looked up a guide to know how close I am to the end.
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

Post by wonderpug »

I just started chapter 5 and I've been loving the game so far, but I'm getting more and more annoyed at complicated progression roadblocks.

I have one blade whose skill tree is blocked by something inexplicable even the internet apparently hasn't figured out beyond "it seems to unlock at a later chapter."

Another blade was blocked by a sidequest. Fine, sure. I go down that sidequest only to find it's dependent on another sidequest. FINE. I go down that sidequest only to find that the final step is blocked by field skill requirements I'm nowhere near achieving.
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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I'm in Mor Ardain and getting a bit annoyed at the terrain difficulty (I know where something I need is, but can't get there). Still having fun, but the game definitely has its share of annoyances.
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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Zaxxon wrote: Tue Jan 09, 2018 12:55 pm I'm in Mor Ardain and getting a bit annoyed at the terrain difficulty (I know where something I need is, but can't get there). Still having fun, but the game definitely has its share of annoyances.
I'm mitigating the terrible map system by just heading straight to Google any time I have a hint of annoyance at finding how to get to a location.
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

Post by Zaxxon »

It's especially annoying/hilarious when I move back and forth b/t BotW and XC2. BotW is just so much more 'fun' from a pure exploration/movement perspective.

XB2's combat is still fantastic for me, though.
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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I'm becoming increasingly annoyed with the random high level monsters roaming each zone. Battles with equivalent level enemies are typically rather long affairs to begin with, and having all of that progress wiped out because some gorram bird or gorilla that's 3X your level happened to swoop by and one shot all three characters is utterly infuriating.

I'm in Chapter 3 trying to cross the huge open area to get to the Capital (Fonsa Myma?), and that scenario has happened now 6 different times. I've tried all sorts of alternate routes to avoid the crazy high-level birds, but they constantly patrol what appears to be the only route to the checkpoint. And, of course, dying means that I have to restart at the closest checkpoint...which is all the way across the map.

I actually had to put the game down and walk away after the last time it happened...I was so damn frustrated.
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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You’re probably going the wrong way. When I finally looked up the correct trailhead for that section it turned out I had been running around in entirely the wrong areas.
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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wonderpug wrote: Tue Jan 09, 2018 10:35 pm You’re probably going the wrong way. When I finally looked up the correct trailhead for that section it turned out I had been running around in entirely the wrong areas.
Yeah, I ended up figuring it out. The map marker was pointing at the actual city, which sat atop a massive staircase in the middle of the map. I just assumed that I had to figure out how to get onto that staircase in order to get there. Turns out, I had to take a side passage, flip a switch that drained the water, go through a door that was revealed when the water drained, then take a path up the other side of the map to get to the city. All without any indication from the game that that might be the way to progress. :roll: Broke down and watched a walkthrough that explained it...was easy (and mostly level appropriate) once I figured it out.

A couple quick questions:
1. Is there a way to tell at a glace whether a mob is hostile or not? I was being super careful trying to plan out a route to a specific area with minimum combat, only to find out after the fourth try that I could simply run past most of the mobs without being attacked. That would have been nice to know.
2. Is there any way to tell when your characters are ready to level up at an Inn with their bonus XP?
3. Each blade has a crown icon in the bottom right of their info panel. Some have 1 crown, others have 5. What does this mean? (I assume it's some sort of rarity indicator, but could be wrong).

The game says I've played 27 hours already, but I can only assume it's somehow counting time the system is in "sleep" mode. It's fun and I'm certainly enjoying it, but there's no way I've put in nearly 30 hours since Friday. :lol:
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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Skinypupy wrote: Wed Jan 10, 2018 9:05 am A couple quick questions:
1. Is there a way to tell at a glace whether a mob is hostile or not? I was being super careful trying to plan out a route to a specific area with minimum combat, only to find out after the fourth try that I could simply run past most of the mobs without being attacked. That would have been nice to know.
2. Is there any way to tell when your characters are ready to level up at an Inn with their bonus XP?
3. Each blade has a crown icon in the bottom right of their info panel. Some have 1 crown, others have 5. What does this mean? (I assume it's some sort of rarity indicator, but could be wrong).

The game says I've played 27 hours already, but I can only assume it's somehow counting time the system is in "sleep" mode. It's fun and I'm certainly enjoying it, but there's no way I've put in nearly 30 hours since Friday. :lol:
  1. Not really. You can guess a bit by the look of them, and if you're like 4-5 or more levels higher then even aggressive mobs will avoid you.
  2. No, but you probably don't need to do it as often as you're thinking. The bonus XP system is more of a mechanic to help avoid people being overlevelled. I'd recommend only bothering to check for bonus XP if you start feeling underlevelled.
  3. It's rarity. The higher it is, the more expansive the blade's skill tree (I think). I also heard you never want to discard a common blade with the highest rarity, as there's something you can do or get by maxxing out their skill tree.
  4. I was wondering how my playtime got so high! I think mine was saying I was at 120 hours when I probably was only at 15-20.
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

Post by Zaxxon »

Mine has been accurate. 8t definitely doesn't count time when the Switch is asleep, or even on the home screen (home has a separate counter you can see if you've enabled parental controls).

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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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A question on building Blade teams with Drivers. Should I be going for a unique role with each Driver? (I.E. Make Nia a healer with three Healer blades. make Rex a DPS with three Attack Blades, make Poppy a Tank with her core function). Or should I be doing a combination of roles on each person? (I.E. One Attack, one Healer, and one Tank Blade on both Rex and Nia, then use Poppy as a Tank).

Not really sure what the best setup is, and I hate to keep wasting cores to try and get different roles if I don't need to. Thoughts?
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

Post by Zaxxon »

I think the AIs will switch to appropriate role as needed, so I don't think, for example, that you have to pin Nia as a healer with all drivers just cause she has Dromarch. IMO it's much more important to ensure that you have all elements covered in your party so you don't gimp your combo capability.
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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I try to have at least 2 of the 3 blades be specific to the role I want the driver to play. They do switch blades as needed, but they also try to always switch to whatever is needed next for an elemental combo. For instance, I might need healing from Nia but she could be locked onto an ice ATK blade I have on her just because ice happens to be the next element in the combo string. If 2 out of 3 are the role type I want the person to be, odds are better that they'll be doing what I want them to

That said, right now my tank character is 'jack of all trades' class with one blade of each class and I don't seem to be having any problems with that person losing aggro.

Aside from the abilities specific to the blades you equip on a driver, don't forget that the combo of blades sets the class of your driver ("elite healer", "knight", etc.) with various benefits for each.
This guide covers the combinations pretty well.

Another thing to consider when choosing your blades is to try and make sure you have an assortment of weapon types across your characters that will let you do the break > topple > launch > smash combination.
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

Post by Skinypupy »

Super helpful, thanks. Is there a way to see the combo "map" (i.e. starting with fire gives options X or Y) outside of battle? Would be helpful as I set different blades.
wonderpug wrote: Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:33 am Aside from the abilities specific to the blades you equip on a driver, don't forget that the combo of blades sets the class of your driver ("elite healer", "knight", etc.) with various benefits for each.
This guide covers the combinations pretty well.
I saw my title change, but had no idea there were additional benefits from it. Drives me nuts that the game makes this info so hard to find.
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

Post by wonderpug »

Here's some guide stuff I've bookmarked (mostly all from the same site):

Combat System Explained in One Image

Tiger! Tiger! Guide

How Boosters Work

Combat Guide
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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God, how I hate Tiger! Tiger! :grund:
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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Just crossed the 40 hour mark, finished up Chapter 4. Still thoroughly enjoying this one, far more than I ever expected to. The story is very interesting, the characters are cool, and the music is simply superb. Combat is coming together, and I've got a nice a rhythm now with how it all works. I've really only a few gripes:

1. The environment can be a real bitch during combat sometimes. You or an enemy can fall of cliffs or over ledges, but the game doesn't disengage combat so you end up running around like an idiot trying to figure out how to get far enough away for combat to automatically stop, or how to actually reach the mob in their new position. I've also had enemies that were able to hit me through the floor when they're on another level. That wasn't cool.
2. The indoor camera suuuuuuuucks. Really, really awful.
3. I really don't like the random gatcha pulls for cores. I've bonded probably 50-60 cores at this point, and have only gotten 2 rares. The rest are usable, but most of them are simply junk. It ends up being a ton of just...clutter.
4. There's a section at the end of Chapter 4 (the bit robot warehouse) that is simply terrible. It's super confusing, there's little direction on where to go or what to do, and the multiple levels means you see lots of environment issues during combat (see point #1). It was my least favorite 2 hours of the game so far. Thankfully, things open back up once you get past it.

Other than those issues, I really love this game. Funny how there was such a dearth of good JRPG's, and now I've played two excellent ones right in a row (this and Y's VIII).
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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I finished the game up over the weekend. It clocked in at just under 100 hours for me and I pretty much gave up on side quests after about the 4th or 5th chapter. It's a long game but it kept my interest the entire time.

I will say this about the ending
Spoiler:
I really did not predict that the World Tree is actually a Space Tether for a space station. The last two chapters actually felt really out of place compared to the rest of the game.

I did like that they left the door open for a sequel with the dimensional stuff that the architect was talking about.
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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Indoor areas that require you to fight mobs on ledges or narrow walkways can go DIAF. Nearly every time, one of my party members falls off a ledge, and ends up dead somewhere below me where I can’t revive them.

There’s a long dungeon in Chapter 7 (Sprit Crucible Elpys) that is totally confusing and requires multiple battles on ledges like this. It’s utterly infuriating and has ground my progress to a halt as I have to replay the same sections over and over again when my party keeps falling off cliffs. :evil:
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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Skinypupy wrote: Tue Jan 23, 2018 8:01 am Indoor areas that require you to fight mobs on ledges or narrow walkways can go DIAF. Nearly every time, one of my party members falls off a ledge, and ends up dead somewhere below me where I can’t revive them.

There’s a long dungeon in Chapter 7 (Sprit Crucible Elpys) that is totally confusing and requires multiple battles on ledges like this. It’s utterly infuriating and has ground my progress to a halt as I have to replay the same sections over and over again when my party keeps falling off cliffs. :evil:
This game is extremely forgiving when it comes to running from mobs. I don't remember having a problem with that section in spirit crucible so my guess is that i simply ran right past the mobs. The only time this can backfire is if there's a button you have to push and the mab is still aggroed on you.
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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That’s been my go-to strategy for most of the dungeon. I either try to run past them entirely, or at least get them to a spot that’s not so precarious. I’ve had some bad luck with multiple mobs knocking me out while I’m running though, as well as getting pushed off ledges that I couldn’t see because the camera was going nuts. It’s jot a deal breaker, just super annoying.

And if I draw one more goddamn water-based Blade on Nia...
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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Just finished Chapter 7. While I really love these characters, the whole story progression in this game is incredibly silly.

- Witness the Ultimate power!
- Just kidding, this is the Ultimate Power
- Kidding again, this one is the true, actual ultimate power
- Did I say that last one was the ultimate? My bad...allow me to show you my true form!
- Oh geez, I totally forgot about this other ultimate power that I had hidden in my back pocket. Well, here goes!
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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 [Switch]

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:lol: :lol:

I finally threw in the towel when I was around 80 hours in, and realized that I had at least another 30 hours to go before finishing.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a very, very good game...that is at least 30-40 hours too long. Had they just gotten on with the story and wrapped it all up at the 50, 60, or even 70 hour mark, I would have been perfectly fine. As is, the game simply overstays its welcome.
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