Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

So, I kinda-sorta understand the driver combos. What I don't understand are the paths that pop up on the upper-right hand of the screen, or how I'm even supposed to control combo-ing with other drivers beyond clicking a button when a special of theirs happens to be available. How would I customize the party in such a way to set up long combos?

Also, the game keeps telling me that the link between Rex and Pyra will glow a golden color and that this helps to improve trust, but I haven't seen this happen yet. Is there a way to trigger it?

I have to say, the quicktime events in this game are MUCH more forgiving than the ones in XCX so far. Sometimes those soul voices would appear and disappear so quickly that I barely even had time to trigger them.

Oh, and while I'm generally happy with the voice acting, I have to say, Rex's screaming is the worst thing I've ever heard in my life. I hope he doesn't do that a lot.

@Ralizah I haven't got the chance to play yet (most likely not for a long, LONG time) but after watching footage:

The top-right combo list is for Blade Combos. You start off by using the Blade Art (pressing A, not sure if that's the right term but that's what I'll be saying it will be), then move onto the next one with another Driver's Blade Art. This time though, it needs to be level 2 (two orbs surrounding the Driver's icon). The next one needs to be level 3 (three orbs) to seal a specific function of your enemy.

I don't know about customization without playing for myself though.

I believe the link between Rex and Pyra turns that way by simply standing close to them? Not sure though.

@Ralizah
Btw, can i swap Pyra with someone else once i get Pyra ? Link Rex with other characters ?
I felt disturbed by her boobs actually...

@CroRock Heat evaporates water and melts ice, which is often lumped with water in JRPGs. Amphibious creatures are particularly averse to fire because it dries up the liquid on their skin that they breathe from, so whatever protection from actual burns the liquid provides is moot.

This is why almost every aquatic monster in Monster Hunter is weak to fire, in addition to the more straightforward lightning (Lagiacrus is unaffected by the latter because it has the means to generate and release it safely, and Mizutsune isn't weak to fire because it doesn't seem to need to actually stay wet to live, and actively generates it's own moisture).

How grindy is this? I thought Xenoblade X was a potentially fantastic game let down by some of the most severe grinding requirements I've ever seen outside of an MMO (and in fact, worse than in many modern MMOs). The original Xenoblade was also on the grindy side, as JRPGs go.

I'd really love to play this, but with so many other games out at the moment, I'm nervous to committing to a 140 hour game (my eventual Xenoblade X playtime), where all but around 30 of those hours are grinding.

@leslie05zaa983 I don't have XC2 yet so take this with a grain of salt. But neither XC1 nor XCX required you to grind that much for the main story. Only a little bit sometimes if you were behind, but not much. XCX was terrible with augment farming without resorting to Reward Tickets, but that's post-game so if you were only interested in a story then you really only needed to spend 50-60 hours on both XC1 and XCX.

If you're interested in post-game for XC2, I don't know the answer. But main story alone, judging from past track records from XC1 and XCX, XC2 should be just fine.

@leslie05zaa983
This is story driven.

As long as you're doing sidequests, gaining bonus levels by sleeping at inns, and generally not rushing through the game, you should be fine.

Can't say you won't need to grind at all, but I'm doing fine and have noticed it's nothing like XCX with level requirements for each chapter 5 levels above where you are.

Think you'll be fine. It's certainly not grindy like XCX was, that's for sure.

@Ralizah Others have already explained this but I'll tell it once more because things can be a bit difficult to understand. From what I've gathered, you start by using one of the specials by pressing A, ZL or ZR depending on who has their special available and who you want to use. A is your own special which is shown on the right side of screen with your arts. ZL and ZR correspond to your teammates. Once you've activated one, you'll get a meter in top right with a chart showing possible routes. Your job is to use another special that is (at least?) one level higher than the previously used move that corresponds to one of the elements shown in the chart. You need to pay attention to your characters to know when their moves are ready and also figure out a path that leads to best attack. On top of that you need to do all this before the meter runs out. I just figured all this out today after 10+ hours of gameplay while battling some bigger monsters.

As for the golden link. It only appears if the battle is long enough. Don't worry about it too much. You'll start seeing it soon.

I don't really understand the pace that I'm meant to be playing this game at, I'm just following the main story with the very occasional side quest right now but I seem to be holding my own so I'm not under levelled. I am enjoying the story, just trying to work out the gameplay loop a little better and what it expects of me.

Seems using my arts at the moment of the final strike of the auto attack boosts the regen on my other arts and combo - I think that's right?

Can I switch drivers during battle?

@Galenmereth @meleebrawler
Ok, I get your point and it has some logic to it BUT like @Late mentioned.. you have cutscene in chapter 2 that indicates fire Blade is weak against water element.

@Late @JaxonH thanks for linking image links tips!

@Anti-Matter
You can change her, of course. But why would you?! Her boobs are... I mean.. her story and her lovely, gentle Japanese voice is one of the reasons I want to finish this game. And also a reason to buy Xenoblde Pro Controller so I can feel her too 😁

Thanks guys, I won't worry about the combos too much right now. I've been activating Pyra's fire combo (level 1 and 2 specials) during most fights. I also keep activating steam bomb by using Nia's special after my own special.

And the golden link thing is nothing to worry about. Got it!

@kyleforrester87 As long as you're not underleveled, I don't think you need to worry about grinding or exploring much. Focusing on side quests is probably advisable, though, due to exp gains, affinity benefits, and whatnot.

Also, I think you can only change drivers outside of battle.

@Ralizah it doesnt have to go 1-2-3.. the next special in the combo just has to be higher than the first... so you can do 1-3-3, 2-3-4, 1-2-2... you can also chain 1-1, but that will end the combo right away.

So for anyone who trying to learn this, it goes- using your arts charges your special. If you time the use of your art right at the moment of your auto attack, your special charges must faster. You will know if you're successful because Rex will flash blue and your special meter will gain a huge chunk. In the 3 hit combo of your auto attack, its something like, if you use it on the first hit its an additional 30%, 2nd is 50% 3rd is 67% additional charge to your special build up.

So when you use your special, this will start a blade combo. Notice above the enemy HP bar they will enter a state depending on what element was used on them. This is also where you can see how long they will be in this state allowing you to continue the combo. Now using the elements, you can put them into different states.. like using water after fire will put them in Steam or some such.. using earth after fire will be volcano or something like that etc.

So once they are in one of these states, if your party members special is charged enough to continue the combo, they will show up on either the left or right side of your screen. Circling around them is the level of the special they have available.

Now, to get a level 4 special off with the badass blade/driver battle animation, you need to stay close to your blade to allow it to charge to lvl 4... As far as how do you configure your party to make a really long combo, well just diversify your blades for Rex (or whover you like to use) and swap your blades once your combo is started, using the tree in the top right corner and awareness of what element blades your other party members have.

The other thing about long combos is if you pull it off, I forget what its called but the enemy will get a orb circling around them of the last element used and now they are strong to that element but weak to everything else? and then if you work up another combo you can break that orb for huge damage... But I have not made it this far yet to understand it all so maybe somebody can explain this part.

Got my first extra blade for Rex. Then used the 5 common core crystals from the season pass to get 5 more. There were only 3 different designs I got, but with different names, voice actors and stats.

I just want KOS-MOS. But I know she's a rare blade and I probably won't get her at all until much later (If ever... I never got alot of the top skells either in XCX).

I haven’t got the season pass, but considering how much I’m enjoying the game I will get it soon. Once I pickup my new car two weeks tomorrow I’ll probably get it.
I have to wake up at 4am tomorrow to babysit my bros 3 year old, kid doesn’t wake up until 8 so I’ll have a good four hours of play time, although waking up at 4 isn’t great😂

Random question, is anyone on here user name on Switch called Krillin? Had a friend request and I presume it’s from someone in this forum.

I got my first rare blade earlier today (or maybe it was yesterday). He's some kind of ice guy called Godfrey. Got him from a common crystal. I've tried to use him but most of the time I forget to switch Blades mid-battle.

My first Blade was a Wind healer with Knuckles as weapons (Mikazuki, or something, I think?) I really like using her but I kinda feel sorry for Pyra so I mostly stick to her. Plus, I just like ... looking at her ...

As opposed to XCX, and even XC1, I really like all the main characters I‘ve met so far, with Nia being my favorite, actually.

Rain really seems to cause some frame drops, even in docked mode. Noticeable but nothing that‘d negatively affect my gaming experience.

Found some excellent guides that offer invaluable information most people probably don't even know about.

Was reading up on rare Blades because I want KOS-MOS at some point. Anyways here's a few links

Rare Blade Guide

Classes Guide

Can we change the settings on Poppi to the one we first see?

Have the same problem. I used an item of which I had 3 to test what it does.
But counterproductively it ate them all up one after another. I should have went with a single item instead.
Now I'm not using that pouch feature anymore.

@Knighty_IX

You.... already finished it?

Wow. I tip my 🎩