Topic: Xenoblade Series chat

So Torna explains different things in the game much better than the main game did, but I have a couple of questions regarding combos that I don't get. When you did the Level 1->2->3 Specials in the main game a flow chart would show up telling you which elements you could use to continue the chain, but I don't see anything similar in this. I know the tutorials say there are 16 paths that include Fire->Fire->Light, but are the other 15 just guessing/trial-and-error, or is there some better way to figure them out?

Also, the charts for the Blades to grow stronger usually include having to perform certain moves a set number of times, but they never show up. For instance, Jin needs to do some move that I can't remember the name, but his profile tells me it's his Level 2 Special. But when he builds up to Level 2, he only ever does Ice II and not the move I need him to do. Is there a way to get the characters to do specific moves and not other ones?

Thanks for any help. This is a lot of fun so far, although it seems a lot easier than the base game.

@Xyphon22 It's been a little while since I last played Torna but from what I remember I did a lot of trial and error to find the blade combos. For what it's worth though it's significantly easier to set up those elemental orbs for chain attacks compared to the base game. In the base game you used to only be able to set up 1 orb for every blade combo but in Torna you can set up 3 at a time. So if you did something like Water -> Fire -> Wind it would set up a Water, Fire, and Wind orb. However, doing this doesn't always result in an actual blade combo.

As far as your second question goes it sort of leans into the previous one. From what I remember Jins level 2 special is called "Zero Blade" (I might be wrong on name). In order to trigger it instead of "Ice II" the correct element has to be used before it.

In other words When "Ice II" appears it means it isn't an element that will result in a blade combo. When any named special appears (Gaia Crash, Flame Bolt, Zero Blade, etc.) that means it's the correct path to a blade combo.

Hopefully that makes sense! I can try to explain it better if needed. Also in case you weren't told before...Make sure you do as many side quests as you can for Torna

Edit: I just saw your post before your second one. Unfortunately I don't think there is a way to redeem the other content of the expansion pass without the download code.

@Vortexeo Thanks for the reply. That makes sense. So it is kind of trial and error, but at least there are some signs (the name of the move), even if it's not as straightforward as the flow chart in the base game. I'm not sure it matters that much if they don't get all their upgrades as, like I said, it seems a lot easier. I'm trying to do a side quest where I have to do a Level 3 combo 5 times, but the enemies always die before I can get there! It's hard to find a good middle ground where the enemies are strong enough to survive long enough but also weak enough so that I can survive long enough.

@Xyphon22 Lol yeah I do recall enemies being a lot quicker to kill compared to the base game! When I did my 100% completion playthrough of Torna I think I was only able to get those from fighting unique monsters.

If you really want to, I know in settings there is a customizable difficulty option that lets you increase or decrease things like the enemies HP, how hard they hit, etc. However I don't know if that is something that came with the download code portion of the DLC.

@Vortexeo I didn't know that, but I probably won't bother even if it is something I can do. I at least finally successfully completed the side quest of having to launch and smash an enemy like 5 times. They would usually die before I could pull that off, but I finally got enough, so I know I will for this one, too.

It's also funny trying to follow the story, because it's been awhile since I played the base game and didn't really understand everything even right after I did, so I'm not always sure how everything connects and even sometimes seems to contradict what I thought I remembered. Mostly, I'm not sure how everyone from the main game was alive back in this one. I wish I had played this right after the main game, but I was waiting to get it cheaper. Oh, well, it's fun this way, too.

@Xyphon22 Admittedly Xenoblade 2's story can be hard to follow at times so I don't blame you lol. Torna's main story does re-explain some things though, so if you still have questions after you finish it I can try and answer them

Finished up Torna. That was some really good DLC. I loved how the Community quests linked together and really all came together at the end to save Freja . That was great. It was really easy, but maybe that was just because I enjoyed the side quests so much I was quite powerful. I think all 3 Drivers were level 63 when I beat it. I got all the community people except 2 (having to defeat all the unique monsters and then all the golden ones is not happening) and I completed every Blade's Affinity chart except for a few of the crafting ones that I didn't care for trying to track down missing ingredients (and there was one blasted Level 1 ether miasma that I never found so I couldn't level Haze up past level 1 on that field skill, looked it up after I beat the game and felt like an idiot because I had to have walked right past it 20 times).

Overall, a really great game and they did an excellent job making it powerful and emotional even knowing what is going to happen. Although considering it seems to have been the whole point of the prequel DLC in the first place, I don't know why they completely omitted what happens to Lora and causes Jin to turn and how he ends up teaming up with Malos. I guess maybe they thought they went over that enough in the base game, but I don't really remember it that well, so I would have liked to have seen a new perspective on it. Really looking forward to finishing the series up with Xenoblade 3 someday now. Wish I would have gotten it on the Black Friday sale, but I didn't even have Torna yet and so didn't see the need. Oh, well. Live and learn.

@Xyphon22 Dude, Congrats on beating Torna! I'm glad you liked it!

There actually is a flashback cutscene in Chapter 8 of the base game if you'd like a quick refresher on what happens to Lora after Torna: