Xenoblade Chronicles

2011-08-19 10:25:07 am

Fucking Weeaboo

Might as well get a thread open and start discussing strats and stuff, even though the game is only freshly out in Europe, it's been out for over a year in Japan, so maybe those who have played that version can point out some things.

Here's what I've got to contribute so far...not much, but it's a start.

1. Cutscenes are skippable (thank god) via Start + a (Classic Controller).
2. Fast travel is helpful, but at spots it's unusable (during Colony 9, during the invasion and when you're in control of Fiora you can't use it).
3. During the mandatory battle at Tetra Cave, I had to get up to Level 8 in order to win, and even then it was close. I was able to get to Lv 5 w/o even having to fight anything other then the mandatory battles at the beginning.
4. Be in control of the Menado during the Colony 9 sequence, regardless of who controls it. It p0wns.
5. Watch your meter for the ability to combo attack, which you need for the final fight in the Colony 9 opening sequence. Break + Topple + Beat the snot out of it. Smiley

My time though the Colony 9 opening sequence was about an hour. Granted this signifies nothing, since I may have screwed myself on equipment for later portions, or it may be high due to how much I was screwing up.

Thread title:

Might as well get a thread open and start discussing strats and stuff, even though the game is only freshly out in Europe, it's been out for over a year in Japan, so maybe those who have played that version can point out some things.

Here's what I've got to contribute so far...not much, but it's a start.

1. Cutscenes are skippable (thank god) via Start + a (Classic Controller).
2. Fast travel is helpful, but at spots it's unusable (during Colony 9, during the invasion and when you're in control of Fiora you can't use it).
3. During the mandatory battle at Tetra Cave, I had to get up to Level 8 in order to win, and even then it was close.  I was able to get to Lv 5 w/o even having to fight anything other then the mandatory battles at the beginning.
4. Be in control of the Menado during the Colony 9 sequence, regardless of who controls it.  It p0wns.
5. Watch your meter for the ability to combo attack, which you need for the final fight in the Colony 9 opening sequence.  Break + Topple + Beat the snot out of it. :)

My time though the Colony 9 opening sequence was about an hour.  Granted this signifies nothing, since I may have screwed myself on equipment for later portions, or it may be high due to how much I was screwing up.

Kuhlgamer

2011-08-19 12:18:11 pm

Where Insanity and Madness Collide

if it comes out in america im def gonna have to buy a wii and this game to play it so i could help but until that happens defintely lookign foward to where this goes

Sir VG

Edit history:

Sir VG: 2011-08-24 02:23:32 am

2011-08-21 12:45:29 am

Fucking Weeaboo

Here's what I've seen so far for mandatory fights and some necessary strats:

Opening Fights:
Dunban absolutely needs to start with Manado's Enchant, so your partners can do more then 1HP/hit. If you're fast enough, one is all you need for the entire sequence. I think I remember 2 sets of Mechon, and the 2nd set can pretty be easily wiped with the Manado's power hit, if you get them all in a line (it has long range, but the attack if straight ahead).

Colony 9:
If you can get Rayn to take the aggro, you can do back attacks for 2x damage. There's no real strat, other then to keep using techs.

Tephra Cave:
The hard part is definitely the 2 security bots at the end. I had to get up to Lv 8, though I think with some proper equipment and gems, it can be easier. (You can get a couple of gems from the gem maker if you talk to him).

Colony 9 Invasion:
Virtually all the fights are skippable, there's 3 fights that aren't. The key for the 1st is the combo meter, since all of your attacks are worthless (everything does 1HP).
After that, you need to take control of Dunban, who will easily take out the 2nd fight by himself, though using Manado Enchant is good too.
The 3rd fight is kind of a 2 parter (need to be in control of Shulk) - the first basically just let attacks happen until the cutscene happens, then build up for a combo attack then have Shulk break, Reyn topple, then hit hard with Dunban. You won't KO him, you just need to do this combo ASAP.

Tephra Cave:
The spider queen is Lv 11. There are TONS of targets around, but you only need to kill her to win. It's helpful to take out a bunch of the little spiders to reduce damage. Need to keep an eye out for visions and use the Menado Shield to stop the attacks.

Bionis' Leg:
Make sure to detour slightly to get the landmark on the way to the buggy for some free EXP.
Protect Juju: The 2 monsters are Lv 14 and hit hard. Lowering physical resistance (with Shulk's side attack) and then back attacking it is crucial. Shadow Eye (if available) is helpful as it keeps the agro off of you so you can do the attacks).
Spiral Tower Mechon: Taking out the tentacles first is almost mandatory, cause they will rip you apart. You won't KO it during the first half, as it moves up to the top of the tower. Using Manado's Enchant first of course is important, then keep the ability available strictly for the speed boost to keep your guys alive after visions.
Face Mechon: This is unwinnable. Just stay alive until the game stops the fight.

Ether Mine:
Xeon: The boss is gonna be very difficult if you're under Lv 25. Part of the problem is that he's not alone - he summons lots of friends that are also fairly high level (usually around Lv 21). Fortunately you only have to get him down to 1/2 damage to win the fight. Chains are absolutely necessary, because break is ineffective outside of them (and w/o break, topple doesn't allow you to do massage damage needed, since he's immune to Monado).

Xeon Round 2: Easy as pie. Unlike the first encounter, he's weakened, so you can just hit away and easily win the fight.

Mechon Fight: Taking Dunban really makes things easier, Dickson helps too, since he's at Lv 30 at that point and makes for a good guest character. Fight is easy though no matter who you take.

- More to come later about the fights -

Collectopaedia:
There's lots of small blue orbs around the world map, which are collectables. Pick up as many as you can w/o straying too much off the path, since completing rows of entries gives you bonus items (mostly gems, but some equipment) and they're your primary source of money when you sell them. I've figured out everything for Colony 9, most of Tephra Cave and Bionis' Leg, and a fair portion of Colony 6. While you do get a bonus item for filling the page, it may not be worth it given how many you need (especially Bionis' Leg - you need 22 items!)

Still a lot to learn, but this game is fun to play. Smiley

Here's what I've seen so far for mandatory fights and some necessary strats:

Opening Fights:
Dunban absolutely needs to start with Manado's Enchant, so your partners can do more then 1HP/hit.  If you're fast enough, one is all you need for the entire sequence.  I think I remember 2 sets of Mechon, and the 2nd set can pretty be easily wiped with the Manado's power hit, if you get them all in a line (it has long range, but the attack if straight ahead).

Colony 9:
If you can get Rayn to take the aggro, you can do back attacks for 2x damage.  There's no real strat, other then to keep using techs.

Tephra Cave:
The hard part is definitely the 2 security bots at the end.  I had to get up to Lv 8, though I think with some proper equipment and gems, it can be easier.  (You can get a couple of gems from the gem maker if you talk to him).

Colony 9 Invasion:
Virtually all the fights are skippable, there's 3 fights that aren't.  The key for the 1st is the combo meter, since all of your attacks are worthless (everything does 1HP).
After that, you need to take control of Dunban, who will easily take out the 2nd fight by himself, though using Manado Enchant is good too.
The 3rd fight is kind of a 2 parter (need to be in control of Shulk) - the first basically just let attacks happen until the cutscene happens, then build up for a combo attack then have Shulk break, Reyn topple, then hit hard with Dunban.  You won't KO him, you just need to do this combo ASAP.

Tephra Cave:
The spider queen is Lv 11.  There are TONS of targets around, but you only need to kill her to win.  It's helpful to take out a bunch of the little spiders to reduce damage.  Need to keep an eye out for visions and use the Menado Shield to stop the attacks.

Bionis' Leg:
Make sure to detour slightly to get the landmark on the way to the buggy for some free EXP.
Protect Juju: The 2 monsters are Lv 14 and hit hard.  Lowering physical resistance (with Shulk's side attack) and then back attacking it is crucial.  Shadow Eye (if available) is helpful as it keeps the agro off of you so you can do the attacks).
Spiral Tower Mechon: Taking out the tentacles first is almost mandatory, cause they will rip you apart.  You won't KO it during the first half, as it moves up to the top of the tower.  Using Manado's Enchant first of course is important, then keep the ability available strictly for the speed boost to keep your guys alive after visions.
Face Mechon: This is unwinnable.  Just stay alive until the game stops the fight.

Ether Mine:
Xeon: The boss is gonna be very difficult if you're under Lv 25.  Part of the problem is that he's not alone - he summons lots of friends that are also fairly high level (usually around Lv 21).  Fortunately you only have to get him down to 1/2 damage to win the fight.  Chains are absolutely necessary, because break is ineffective outside of them (and w/o break, topple doesn't allow you to do massage damage needed, since he's immune to Monado).

Xeon Round 2: Easy as pie.  Unlike the first encounter, he's weakened, so you can just hit away and easily win the fight.

Mechon Fight: Taking Dunban really makes things easier, Dickson helps too, since he's at Lv 30 at that point and makes for a good guest character.  Fight is easy though no matter who you take.

- More to come later about the fights -

Collectopaedia:
There's lots of small blue orbs around the world map, which are collectables.  Pick up as many as you can w/o straying too much off the path, since completing rows of entries gives you bonus items (mostly gems, but some equipment) and they're your primary source of money when you sell them.  I've figured out everything for Colony 9, most of Tephra Cave and Bionis' Leg, and a fair portion of Colony 6.  While you do get a bonus item for filling the page, it may not be worth it given how many you need (especially Bionis' Leg - you need 22 items!)

Still a lot to learn, but this game is fun to play. :)

Greedo

2011-09-26 03:03:49 pm

snakkies. giev.

I don't see potential for a speedrun here, simply because the game is very grinding intensive. You have to be about on par or at least only slightly below the enemies, or it'll be hard to hit them. Like in many MMOs, as soon as you're about 5 lvls below an opponent, his name will be displayed in red and you won't hit him at all. That goes for pretty much every enemy except maybe the final boss (his/her level is "??"), I'm not too sure about that though. The most efficient way of leveling is killing monsters that are slightly above your level, because they will award extra exp, as battle experience scales with you character level. Quests however will award the same amount of exp no matter what your level is, but they consume ridiculous amounts of time, plus there are many that only bring in money and/or equipment/gems and no exp. But generally people who boost through the game without doing quests end up being underleveled by the end of the game whereas those who try to do most of the quests before advancing in the main story end up being overpowered. I guess it is intended by the developers that you do a reasonable amount of quests because it gets hard to level up in the endgame, since the enemies in the final dungeon are about level 72 iirc, while the second to last boss is on 80 and grinding becomes hard because, from what I can say, there are only few scattered 70-80 enemies that are roaming previous areas during certain times of day, like green feris in Satorl Marsh etc.

A nice thing I found out is that you can craft gems that are a higher grade than the crystals you used. I used Shulk as shooter and Reyn as engineer, since their crafting abilities complement each other and they have a good affinity from the start. Basically, what you do is, you use crystals that have the ability you want on them. The ability should get relatively high, but it must not reach 100%. You can just bring another ability to 100% or just use enough stones to fill every single slot, since you need to do one or the other to get the crafting started. Then you craft and you choose to get an ether cylinder with the ability. After a while you should have two cylinders that, when combined, will bring the ability to near 200%. Now you just craft them again, using two characters that have a good affinity and they will easily get the gem to overheat and thus bringing it to a higher grade. This is especially nice since you can only get grade V crystals/cylinders from enemies/ether deposits, BUT you can get grade VI gems.

I don't see potential for a speedrun here, simply because the game is very grinding intensive. You have to be about on par or at least only slightly below the enemies, or it'll be hard to hit them. Like in many MMOs, as soon as you're about 5 lvls below an opponent, his name will be displayed in red and you won't hit him at all. That goes for pretty much every enemy except maybe the final boss (his/her level is "??"), I'm not too sure about that though. The most efficient way of leveling is killing monsters that are slightly above your level, because they will award extra exp, as battle experience scales with you character level. Quests however will award the same amount of exp no matter what your level is, but they consume ridiculous amounts of time, plus there are many that only bring in money and/or equipment/gems and no exp. But generally people who boost through the game without doing quests end up being underleveled by the end of the game whereas those who try to do most of the quests before advancing in the main story end up being overpowered. I guess it is intended by the developers that you do a reasonable amount of quests because it gets hard to level up in the endgame, since the enemies in the final dungeon are about level 72 iirc, while the second to last boss is on 80 and grinding becomes hard because, from what I can say, there are only few scattered 70-80 enemies that are roaming previous areas during certain times of day, like green feris in Satorl Marsh etc.

A nice thing I found out is that you can craft gems that are a higher grade than the crystals you used. I used Shulk as shooter and Reyn as engineer, since their crafting abilities complement each other and they have a good affinity from the start. Basically, what you do is, you use crystals that have the ability you want on them. The ability should get relatively high, but it must not reach 100%. You can just bring another ability to 100% or just use enough stones to fill every single slot, since you need to do one or the other to get the crafting started. Then you craft and you choose to get an ether cylinder with the ability. After a while you should have two cylinders that, when combined, will bring the ability to near 200%. Now you just craft them again, using two characters that have a good affinity and they will easily get the gem to overheat and thus bringing it to a higher grade. This is especially nice since you can only get grade V crystals/cylinders from enemies/ether deposits, BUT you can get grade VI gems.

Sir VG

2011-09-26 03:10:55 pm

Fucking Weeaboo

Levels at least carry over into NG+, so there's still potential for a run, just likely not an "Out of the Box" run. Equipment does too, so basically the best run is gonna be all setup in a normal game, then just plow though everything on NG+.

Greedo

2011-09-26 03:25:52 pm

snakkies. giev.

Yeah, a ng+ run would be possible. You could just use equipment that has the maximal amount of slots in it and stuff it with quickstep gems and other speedrun-relevant gems (like maybe fall damage down). The max running speed increase is 50% right?

Sir VG

2011-09-26 10:42:58 pm

Fucking Weeaboo

I haven't gotten to see much of NG+ and I started over from scratch recently on my game for the possible doing of a NG+ run, so it'll be a while before I make any headway thinking about running it.

Tiberius

2011-09-28 06:39:39 am

Make it so.

I've been playing this casually, picked it up a week or two ago. I've been making notes of some places where you can survive falling down cliffs at certain levels as that would obviously greatly reduce travel time. For that reason it would be best to have Reyn as the controllable character if you're not expecting a fight as with his higher HP, he can survive much higher falls without a game over.

Also, can anyone confirm whether running or jumping is quicker? They seem almost identical but in a test I got back to colony 9 from the starting point about 4 seconds faster when jumping, may have just been minute directional differences though.

Would love to see any sort of run of this though, it's a hugely enjoyable game so far. As soon as I've completed it I'll be happy to help test out any strats for NG+ etc Smiley

Sir VG

2011-09-28 06:57:35 am

Fucking Weeaboo

I think the speed of running and jumping is the same, unless you can take little shortcuts by jumping up a small cliff or something to cut corners. Otherwise, I think it's all about directions.

Greedo

2011-09-28 01:39:21 pm

snakkies. giev.

Tiberius, I'm pretty sure that fall damage is calculated in percent, so Reyns higher max HP won't matter.

Tiberius

2011-09-28 06:31:09 pm

Make it so.

Quote from Greedo:

Tiberius, I'm pretty sure that fall damage is calculated in percent, so Reyns higher max HP won't matter.

Hmm, you could well be right, I'd only noticed that when Shulk was leading the party, Reyn would often survive falls that killed Shulk and therefore caused a game-over. Although if it's just a % of the leaders HP that would make sense.

Sir VG

2011-09-28 07:03:58 pm

Fucking Weeaboo

Quote from Tiberius:

Quote from Greedo:

Tiberius, I'm pretty sure that fall damage is calculated in percent, so Reyns higher max HP won't matter.

Hmm, you could well be right, I'd only noticed that when Shulk was leading the party, Reyn would often survive falls that killed Shulk and therefore caused a game-over. Although if it's just a % of the leaders HP that would make sense.

There's probably a mechanic in the game that prevents the CPU controlled characters from dying from a fall, no matter now high it is. That's what I feel I've seen.

Greedo

Edit history:

Greedo: 2011-09-28 09:59:42 pm

2011-09-28 09:33:58 pm

snakkies. giev.

Yeah, they actually don't die from terrain damage either, but only as long as you're outside of battle.

Greedo

2011-09-29 10:49:51 am

snakkies. giev.

I'm not sure how that could help any run, but there's an awesomely efficient way of increasing your party's affinity. There is a unique lv87 Kromar "Stormy Belagon" on the higher grounds of the easternmost part of Kromar coast, south from Soltnar Seal Island, Eryth Sea. This UM has a spike effect that will put an attacker to sleep. You just need to have an NPC attack him, stand behind the NPC and mash b to wake him up every few seconds, which will increase their affinity towards each other quite a bit. I just raised Melias affinity with Shulk and Sharla from indifferent to cloudy smiley in about ten mins. Doing that by battling/questing would've taken forever.

Greedo

2011-10-09 04:00:16 pm

snakkies. giev.

So i just tried doing a NG+ test run and it took me 5-6 hours to beat the game. I used Shulk with max quickstep bonus and movement speed skill links from Riki and Nr. 7. I didn't note my exact time but at the start my timer was at ~123 hours and at 128h at the end. And I was really sloppy. Especially in Galahad Fortress and Mechonis Field I forgot some switches' locations etc. I didn't improve the other characters' movement speed in any way and you know you control them at some points in the game. (like Melia in Alcamoth) But still, 5-6 hours is pretty acceptable considering other rpg speedruns taking 7-10 hours or more. And if you know the game a little better (I did this after taking a week break or so) and use the optimal setup, I think sub 5h is more than doable. I don't see me doing it though, because the game is starting to bore me already.

Sir VG

2011-10-09 05:10:59 pm

Fucking Weeaboo

I'm still working on normal game, just beating quests and getting my skill trees done. Some of these collectables are a pain in the ass to find. Especially Forget-You-Nots. Sitting in the high 70s right now for levels, so still have plenty of setup work to do.

Greedo

Edit history:

Greedo: 2011-10-09 05:52:37 pm

2011-10-09 05:51:12 pm

snakkies. giev.

I was at around 92. Leveling to 99 will make battles faster too. You should also at least get the 4th and 5th skill trees for the characters you use.

(and yes, collectibles are a pain. searched for fossil monkey for hours.)

Sir VG

2011-10-09 10:23:30 pm

Fucking Weeaboo

I found somebody @ the village that if you overtrade them, you get it. I somehow randomly got one for my collectopedia too.

I'm using a Google Doc spreadsheet linked all over GameFAQs which has a ton of info. It's not quite everything, but damn it's nice to have.

Greedo

2011-10-09 10:47:07 pm

snakkies. giev.

Yeah, I'm using that too. In combination with split infinity's walkthrough. I'll link the spreadsheet for everyone who doesn't know it.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?hl=en_US&key=0Anx12MiCQejudHJfUWhOTGd5Wm1uS25ub2FDeE5BekE&hl=en_US&f=true&noheader=true&gid=15

Sir VG

2011-10-17 01:17:10 am

Fucking Weeaboo

Still working on leveling and getting top everything. For levels I'm around 94-96 (depending on character) and I'm down to about 45 Art Books to get. Got all the skill trees. I've actually got Riki's HP maxed out (even without gems!), nearly have Reyn's HP maxed (I think he's at 9899 w/o gems) and nearly have Dunban's Skill Trees maxed out (yes, ALL FIVE). I'm still working on getting everything done. I figure for weapons that I'll keep 2 for about every character - one that's the best overall statwise (focusing mostly on damage it deals) and one that's strictly for the Mechon, so I don't have to use the Menado Enchant skill for that.

My Collectopaedia is almost complete. Just need the trade item that requires a drop from a Lv 100+ monster.

Sir VG

2011-10-20 09:13:45 am

Fucking Weeaboo

127 hours of prep work - crushed the NG+ run in about 4:12. Still some mistakes here and there, and since it was only a test I was chatting on the stream, eating, etc. Also, I didn't have perfect Quick Step gems, though the problem with them was minor (they were 24%, 20%, and 19%, which the max you can have per gem and per character is 25%). I also could probably drop the Ether Up gems for most everybody except Melia, since her attacks are all ether based and she's alone at one point.

Main party was mainly Shulk, Reyn, and Riki once I got him. Two tanks with 9991 and 9999 HP respectively.

I don't think I made 12+ minutes of errors, though I should be able to get closer to 4:00 when I get more serious about the run.

I've recorded the run on my DVD recorder though (although since I don't have my optimal recording setup done yet, it's shrinking the video from 16:9 to 4:3, but still should look good. I'll try to get it ripped and encoded later.

Greedo

2011-10-20 05:09:13 pm

snakkies. giev.

Nice! So you can at least break it down to 4 hours. That makes the game a little more attractive. I guess I'll practice a bit and give it a shot too and see how good I can do. Can you share any speed tricks or maybe special battle strats or anything? I never really know if I'm doing the right thing in battles. I mostly spam high dmg attacks until everything is dead, or earlier i try to kill everything in one AOE attack like stream edge.

Sir VG

Edit history:

Sir VG: 2011-10-20 11:51:42 pm

2011-10-20 11:49:01 pm

Fucking Weeaboo

A lot of the early battles I could OHMKO using Stream Edge. The two best gems to give Shulk is Arts Stealth and Auto-Atk Stealth, so the enemy will focus on everybody else, so you can easily do Slit Edge and Back Slash for massive damage. And give Strength Gems to everybody - you'll have to give 2 gems to hit the cap of 150% bonus.

Outside of that it's basically memorize the route, fast travel whenever possible, and hasten your movement.

My video is processing right now on YouTube, so I'll be able to show it once that's done.

Should be viewable now:

Sir VG

Edit history:

Sir VG: 2011-10-27 09:11:06 am

2011-10-26 10:11:30 am

Fucking Weeaboo

Tweaked my skill tree links, cut out a couple of gems, and played a bit more serious this time around and managed a 4:03 (IGT). Not too many noticeable mistakes, but here's what I can think of this attempt off the top of my head:

1. Missed a landmark near the west side of Bridge 1 in Makna Forest. While trying to jump off the cliff to take a shortcut to the Pure Water Crystals, I missed the water.
2. Missed the landmark for the teleporter at Central Factory (so I can warp to the Tlodag battle).
3. Goofed a bit on the path while trying to find the best route for the 4 switches to activate that teleporter mentioned in #2.
4. Fell off the chandelier after hitting the switch to raise the floor of the colosseum at Prison Island, killing myself and warping back to the entrance.
5. Forgot to equip Riki w/ a Mechon weapon for fights in Valak Mtn and Galahad Fortress.
6. Could have equipped Reyn and Riki w/ non Mechon equipment sooner (like right after the fight at the core of the Mechonis, instead of at Prison Island).
7. Tested an alternate route to get to Digit 2 after Junks, which doesn't work.
8. Fell off the ledge at 3rd Lift Engine Room, which you can't fast travel out of the slime there.

Those are the definites, but will encode v2 and get that up on my YouTube account at some point later.

Edit: Added #7 & 8 which I remembered while watching the encode.

Tweaked my skill tree links, cut out a couple of gems, and played a bit more serious this time around and managed a 4:03 (IGT).  Not too many noticeable mistakes, but here's what I can think of this attempt off the top of my head:

1. Missed a landmark near the west side of Bridge 1 in Makna Forest.  While trying to jump off the cliff to take a shortcut to the Pure Water Crystals, I missed the water.
2. Missed the landmark for the teleporter at Central Factory (so I can warp to the Tlodag battle).
3. Goofed a bit on the path while trying to find the best route for the 4 switches to activate that teleporter mentioned in #2.
4. Fell off the chandelier after hitting the switch to raise the floor of the colosseum at Prison Island, killing myself and warping back to the entrance.
5. Forgot to equip Riki w/ a Mechon weapon for fights in Valak Mtn and Galahad Fortress.
6. Could have equipped Reyn and Riki w/ non Mechon equipment sooner (like right after the fight at the core of the Mechonis, instead of at Prison Island).
7. Tested an alternate route to get to Digit 2 after Junks, which doesn't work.
8. Fell off the ledge at 3rd Lift Engine Room, which you can't fast travel out of the slime there.

Those are the definites, but will encode v2 and get that up on my YouTube account at some point later.

Edit: Added #7 & 8 which I remembered while watching the encode.

Tiberius

2011-10-26 06:27:41 pm

Make it so.

So what is your goal currently? Judging by the mistakes you've put there it seems obvious that sub 4 hours is possible but how low do yo estimate you could get it with maximum optimisation? (or max for an SS at least).

Very much looking forward to this thumbsup