Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

@NEStalgia I find just stocking up every thing that can be put into pouch is very excellent way to do this since it's very not hard to get money xD (I think just 2-3 hours of grinding nets me 3-5m in game money)

And it's ok that she's tied to Rex, I used her on Rex, and I actually use Rex as a mix of DPS/Healer all the time Mythra maxed is also a beast, so you might want to use her a ton (Pyra is also good for the occasional fire, but Mythra, with raising crit chance and raising crit damage is a beast since she lets you just spamming arts)

I usually use Rex with Mythra + Ursula + cough, a certain Rare Blade in chapter 7. Then I build everyone else with that in mind (Tora is awesome Tank with Poppi qtpi as his DPS, with Morag as my evasion tank). Really demolish the story personally ;D

Oh yeah, once you have the Titans on max level and buying everything, don't forget to go and get every deeds, they are great.

@darkfenrir I have like 350,000 money in chapter 9. I've spent MAYBE 25,000 in the game. I've bought almost nothing at all except for mandatory items for affinities (2 of Wolfrics stupid $7500 boardgame), cylinders (only about 40 of them) etc. I get basically no money. Where are you finding all that cash?! Granted I've pretty much sold nothing because I never know what I need for some aux core refinement or quest or some such that requires some obscure random drop or class of item. So I buy nothing, I sell nothing, I effectively don't use the stores at all unless I have to or need cylinders

I still can't figure out why one would choose to use that ch7 rare blade like that....it kind of takes a critical element away choosing that. It makes a more interesting anime harem, but gameplay wise that just seems strange that they didn't have another character that could fill in a crucial role if going that route. It's one of those neat story things that kind of breaks some gameplay. Aeris all over again with the exception that you can swap back. JRPG lesson learned. Never ever rely on the healer.

@Tsurii while there's not even the remotest chance of me using that mode, I'm kind of sad that I'll be done the game by the time I finally get the DLC (waiting on physical) and thus probably not even play the features it adds.

@NEStalgia Lmao, I just constantly salvage and trade everything. It always ends up with profits (and sometimes I even search up specific sets that give around 150k-500k per trade groups). There's already a ton of spreadsheets helping you for this so... yeah. But if you want to farm common cores, just keep salvaging at mor ardain, trade up the things you got for money + boosters, then sell the extras, then just keep doing it. SHould get money easily there too.

Buying everything is actually not a bad idea too... it's just too easy to get money in this game I just use the downtime I have (like watching anime or something) to farm stuff.

And I find that using ch7 Blade like that is actually best way for me because the fact the Affinities are all AWESOME. Constant heals per hit, heals when hitting enemies etc? Dreams come true. I never can trust AI for heals, so being my own healer and DPS and putting AI to be "tank" is my only strat.

The Chapter 7 Blade is meh because you don't gain WP or SP, only EXP. So I never use them. AI healers are good enough anyway, but you can play without a healer starting Chapter 6 and still win everything as long as you play your cards right.

Xenoblade combat as a whole really shines when you ditch the healer, honestly.

@darkfenrir Spreadsheets.....sigh, when did JRPGs become Sins of a Solar Empire and Master of Orion?

Interesting idea about that healer strat. I may try it after I beat the story for some of those harder monsters. I'm just hoping I don't lose any characters/blades as part of the story. I hate when they do that. And locations.....can a Xeno game ever leave all locations accessible after the fact?

@NEStalgia Xenoblade X and 2 are good with that. Only 1 has multiple points of no return.

@NEStalgia Spreadsheets are only if you are lazy since thankfully ctrl+f exist in computer and you don't need to comb it through carefully.

Just farm at your downtime while watching or reading or even just talking. It's not a bad fun to be had lol

@EvilLucario There is a gated location in 2, Indol .

@Tsurii Oh, I see. Well, at that point in the story, I certainly didn't want to go there, with all of the revealings of a certain character. I think it should've been done like Alcamoth in Xenoblade Chronicles 1, whereby the place is still there, but a hostile territory, however the refugees in Indol are neutral, as they give you the quests, so you can still complete them. It was more obvious with Alcamoth in XC1 because every quest was a timed quest, though the actual moment of gating is quite sudden compared to XC2.

@NinjaAceTrainer At least in XC2 none of the quests will ever be gone though, so I actually don't mind it (even though then again... I always finish as much side quests as I can before continuing story lol)

@Tsurii Wow, sounds like you really hate it. I didn't think it was bad, I just didn't like the huge level jump in the endgame and how many endgame sidequests made you go there, effectively halting your progress.

@Tsurii Ow that's too bad. I never played XC1 so I can't really sympathize but ow... that must be boring.

Although I enjoyed going through Indol because the awesome music though haha.

Argos have got this at £29.99. Got my copy this morning.

@Tsurii Don't forget about the awful draw distance and pop-in that can make you miss NPCs, especially wandering ones. Alcamoth is by far the worst city in Xeno from a gameplay standpoint.

But nothing in the series beats the Ether Mines in Xenoblade 1. Good god, that is annoying, uneventful, and dull.

In terms of story though, I'd say the game really only dips during the Juju arc, which is just bad to the point of making people quit before the good stuff starting in Satorl Marsh and beyond. Everything else is serviceable to excellent.

I mean Juju himself is not a character worth caring about, but the rest of the story is solid enough around that point. If anything, the parts after that feel like a bunch of random tangents that take a long while to actually lead anywhere (which does it them better in hindsight but less compelling at the time). "How long can we avoid going to Prison Island?"

Damn, I managed to beat all the unique monsters up until this point (excluding challenge mode) but Nameless Sentinel is ridiculous. Its Enchant Sword attack pretty much kills everyone in one hit.

EDIT: I decided just to briefly go to easy difficulty and that was a fairer fight.

@Tsurii lol yeah that area in xc1 was horrendous. Let's take I've of the most important areas if the entire game and just fill it with level 100 monsters in the middle of the game! Not a shining moment in game design.

Meanwhile in tantal my first time though, it had lv90 monsters including massive squid things on the rocks on the lower level. I just went back and none of that is there and levels are all in the 40s... Huh?

Also xc2 has its worst nightmare quests though. A quest with a chest to open that requires lv4 nopon wisdom. Poppi only gets to 3. I have to look online to see who else does. Only 2 rares. Only one that's not random. To get that one you need another rare that has lv4 affinity and have to go to a particular town. To get the requisite rare you need to complete another quest. To get that quest you need to walk in a certain spot in a certain town while holding at least 10 crystals and an item bought from a specific informant in another specific turn. How would ANYONE figure that out without the internet?

@NEStalgia If Tantal is having ice storm or something like that, the monsters there become lv90 and such. Only that weather though.

@Tsurii is it not Theory you need? Whuch you need praxis with lv4 affinity to get? What i described is how you get prax and theory

@NEStalgia Theory has Nopon Wisdom, but there's another no-RNG Blade with Kasandra, which you can get in Chapter 4. The informants sell info that a famed Driver was eaten near Chansagh Wastes, and you can spawn the enemy by salvaging at that place. Then you get Kasandra, who has Nopon Wisdom.

@Tsurii Theory does have Nopon Wisdom. Don't ask me why, she just does.