Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

@edhe Dark seal is when a dark art is used as the final stage of a blade combo. As for that area, the enemies are kind of tough, don't forget you can draw enemies toward you by throwing a stone at them, it's easier to pick them off one at a time. And if all else fails it's actually pretty easy to just run past everything lol

@kyleforrester87

I'm not aware of those effects - I'll look in to that. Am I to assume the other elements inflict different effects? Wind for example (my most commonly used finisher) inflicts blowback unless the enemy resists it.
There's so much to take in during the battle, I'd probably missed any such effect - although to be fair, I seldom finish a blade combo with dark anyway.

I'd recently sussed out driver combos though, and when combined with blade combos, they're handy for filling up the gauges.

@edhe when you start a combo it might say "seal" or some other word, I actually didn't know it worked like the other poster said but I'm assuming what he's saying is if you end a seal combo with a dark art it'll have that effect

Do try and lead single enemies to you with the stone throw if possible to make it easier though.

@kyleforrester87

I think I'm on the brink of understanding every mechanic now. The only thing that confuses me is, during a party combo, how your party choose different seals to target. Sometimes, I've hit a seal twice, then the last party member goes and targets the undamaged seal. Again, with the chapter 8/9 mechanic, breaking seals is now a lot easier (provided you make the preparations), but many a time, I've fudged it up by not thinking ahead.
At least the seals keep their condition for the next attempt.

As for the lure command, I use it whenever I can, although there are some situations where a whole group aggros when you hit one of them.

@edhe The blade you pick for the chain attack always goes for the opposite orb if there is one, so:

• Water blade targets Fire orb
• Fire blade targets Water orb
• Electric blade targets Earth orb
• Earth blade targets Electric orb
• Light blade targets Dark orb
• Dark blade targets Light orb
• Ice blade targets Wind orb
• Wind blade targets Ice orb

Even if there's an orb with only 1 attack needed to break, undamaged orbs will be targeted if they're the opposite element. There's only 1 exception to this rule, a certain blade you've already met that targets all orbs.

@Grumblevolcano

I knew that much (elemental weaknesses and the blade that targets all seals), but there are instances where you don't have an engaged blade of a relevant opposing element, whereby, they seem to target at random. In any case, at the beginning of each turn of the party combo, I've noticed even before you've picked the blade to attack, the seal they ultimately target flashes, so I assume in the result of a stalemate, they target the flashing seal (based on their original blade).

But again, the blade that targets all of the seals really simplifies things - provided you can break at least one seal by the end of the first round, you're home free.

Regarding seal effects, I finally sussed it out. I'd never actually read the text at the end of the branches, but I know what to aim for with certain enemies. I'd fought a unique monster that would detonate twice, knocking large amounts of HP off each time, but it turns out there's a seal effect that can prevent that - providing you don't shatter it.

Now 102 hours in, and still learning...

@Tsurii @edhe Yeah it's not a quest, apologies. There is a process though and at the end she's guaranteed.

Finally got my final RNG Rare Blade (KOS-MOS) after 160 hours! Now to finish up the rest of the sidequests and build trust to S+!

@Grumblevolcano And to add to that, there is an Aux Core that let you instantly destroy Orbs if you use the appropriate element. If you manage to destroy three Orbs within one turn using them, you can get a Full Burst instantly and melt enemies. Yet another Aux Core exists that lets you simply target damaged Orbs if you're not using any specific element.

So I found that the recent update did not actually make "Riddle on the Wall" completable regardless of story progress. The last part, obtained in a certain late game location from an enemy - said enemy will still not spawn until after you enter the following area.

This could be because I had started the quest before the update however. Either way, all I had to do was enter the next area and then double back and the enemy was chilling right where he was supposed to be, despite having not been there before, with the only difference being that I entered the new area.

The switching blades affinity chart task for Pyra is really annoying, I only started switching blades in battle quite late into the main story (I only really starting using it when I understood the orb system) so by the time I had completed the main story I was only at around 2000/4000 as a result of my other party members being the main source of switching. Pretty sure she would be at S+ by now if not for that preventing S rank.

@Tsurii Ehh, a couple levels. But most named enemies are. The update said it made the quest completable regardless of story progress. But the enemy would not spawn until after I progressed the story.

So I just did Electra's heart to heart and something went very wrong with Pyra's model. Really not sure how else to describe it: it broke and then d out hard core. Shaking like crazy from the waist up. In 212 hours of gameplay this is the only time I have seen such a glitch. It was honestly pretty funny, but I hope it doesn't pop up again. Has anyone else seen anything like this?

@Heavyarms55 no, i just get alot of crotch shots during specials

I got caught up in raising the dev level in torigoth and I got my first game crash...I so wish I had saved...

@Ryu_Niiyama 212 hours and I never had a crash, what were you doing when it happened???

@Heavyarms55 I've had one crash before and that was after the credits which made me think a system like Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time was implemented where you have to close the game after completion to go back into the game.

@AlternateButtons Keep an eye out for those attacks and evade/block them with an appropriate Art. For example, Rex has Roc with Wild Scythes and Morag has Brighid with Azure II: Judgement that grants them complete evasion during their Art. Tora also has Rigid Shield that increases his block chance.

This section is a bit useless in hindsight since you're apparently getting one-shot, but you can also elect to play more defensively and attach a healer/tank Blade to Rex. Or play some Tiger Tiger to make Poppi better to create some Mods that would really help. For example, Teamheal RAM that heals your party for x% of damage on your Special Art is really good (depending on the rank), or Flank Force RAM that can do 100%-150% extra damage per Special Art if you attack from the side, or flat out extra damage with max Affinity as a passive skill (when you have a gold connection between your Blade and Driver, also allows you to build up to level 4 Special Arts).

Chain Attacks can only one-shot bosses if you burst enough orbs. For that boss, I recommend getting two orbs on, then Chain Attack to burst at maybe 33%-50% health.

Alternatively, if you're not above using exploits, finishing a Blade Combo or using a level 4 Special Art or Chain Attack gives you invincibility frames that lets your entire party survive/block hits during the animation.

@Grumblevolcano Well I haven't finished the main story yet, so I haven't seen the credits. If it happens to me I will let you know.

wow, after all the hours you put in...lol I thought you had finished the main part? Of course, I am planning to try to farm for all the rare blades and then build their affinity skills before dealing with the end...whenever I get there...still in chapter 3...wondering around.

https://i.imgur.com/NpCmjB2.jpg

Does anyone have idea on how to get to that ? place? I'm at Chapter 9 at Gormott, and it's just... I tried from the left or the right and both have no way to get up... I tried to get down to the lake and still nothing @_@ I have no idea anymore.

Edit: Nevermind, got answered in another forum. Glad I'll manage to reach this questgiver yay!