Am I alone in thinking the voice acting isn't that bad? I could listen to that guy say meh-meh-meh over and over again. I’m only 3 hours in though!

It’s turned into Chronicles 2

Djornson wrote:

Which game is thread about? I got Xenoblade Chronicles X (WII U) for xmas

Secret of Mana I think.

I recently abandoned XC2 after about ten hours of play. Loved XC and XCX, but this one just wasn’t doing it for me.

I'm not ready for it. I'm grinding all over the place atm, affinity, towns & powering up blades. Still not finished it as my youngest is following the main story so play time becomes an issue hence ze grind.

Game is packed with focus, more than any Mono game before, felt overwhelmed at times, which I love btw & it's a great epic that is soooooo solid in the combat. Loving it, just need it put to bed in some form before next Fri.

Fucked up with...Chapter 8 story spoiler.

I’m really, really struggling to get into XC2. Believe me, I’ve tried quite a few times. I like the art style, and I quite like the voice acting, despite myself, but I’m finding it all a bit much. It felt like the start of the game was just having baffling, nonsensical information fired at me. When you thribblty-throng your doohickey, always time your wotsitsname to coincide with the special doohickey, or your flange won’t work. Wait, what? Can I do that a few times so I can make sense of it? No! Now your going to learn this entirely different gameplay element! But I never learned what was going on with that last bit. Can we go back to that? Funny you should mention it, we are going back to it, but we’re going to assume you took it all in, so we’re going to add in stacking your thimgmybobs for extra whatgemecallit.

I’m a short way into chapter 2, and I don’t think I’ve got a real grasp of anything. I don’t see that I’m making any progress whatsoever in improving my character, or the blades. I don’t really know where I’m going wrong with salvaging, which seems to be more pot-luck than having anything to do with the QTE that precedes it, and if I do get a decent haul, the monsters that come with it are way too powerful for me to stand a chance of keeping it.

I don’t really know what good buying the deeds to a vendor did me. I don’t understand the use or value of anything any of the vendors are selling. The only quests available to me seem to involve facing beasts about 8 times more powerful than I can handle, or are on in a bit of a building I have got no idea how to get to.

I tried looking up guides to see if I could find out some way to penetrate the game and get into it. I found this:

You can start with Special Attack to initiate the Blade Combo, but after that you need to make sure you’re selecting the correct element and that the attack meets the minimum level requirement. You won’t always move from level one to level two and onward with each new Special Attack. All you need to do is make sure you’re using the correct element, and that whatever Special Attack you’re using is at least the level of the active Blade Combo. For example, if you’re at a level two Blade Combo, you can use a Special Attack that’s level two or higher, but you can’t use a Special Attack below level two.

Some of you are probably reading that and nodding. I don’t have a fucking clue. I think I know what the special attacks are, but I had no idea they were element based, and even less idea how I would pick an element.

I just... I dunno. Maybe it helps if you’re already versed in JRPG stuff, but I can see me trading this in.

The biggest issue is how everything is named. What is an 'arts'? It's easier if you just think about it in steps....

1. Your character is going to auto-attack and that fills up a meter (the white around the boxes to the bottom right).

2. When the meter is full, you can press the corresponding button on the right joy-con to do an 'art' - just think of it as a special move (step 1) . It'll say alongside the move's picture what makes it special. You want to be pulling HP flasks regularly.

3. After you've done step 1, you may be able to chain the special moves - providing that 1 of your other party members has a special ready to use. You cannot do this with the meter full just once (the meter filled by auto attacks), it'll need to be filled to level 2, then 3, etc to keep chaining.

You'll get a prompt to press either trigger, or A if you're the one with the special queued. If you manage to do this, you'll see the diagram in the top-right change. That's step 2.

4. Each special has 2 features - an element and an action. The diagram in the top right tells you which element you want to be aiming for next. You want to chain the specials (3 of them is max, I believe) so that you draw the element from the enemy into an orb that's circling them.

5. In terms of actions, you want to use the specials in the order that breaks the enemy, then topples them, then launches them, then smashes them. The game doesn't teach you this until later, but I think it should. Your party members can help do this, but they need to have the specials that do these actions.

6. Once you've got the orb(s) flying around the enemy, you can do a party combo. You'll need the guage in the top left filled to do that and then press +. One of the things the game doesn't explain well is the party guage is really a life system and each section represents an opportunity to revive a fallen member - therefore if you fill it and then do a party combo, you're briefly exposing yourself to no revives.

I don't know if this will help. Once it clicks you'll get it more and hopefully appreciate it.

In the early parts, just focus on drawing HP flasks and, where possible, doing the odd special. That should be enough to progress.

That’s a great write up Syph, been wanting to go back in and didn’t know half that stuff.

Andy wrote:

Yeah, a lot of that detail seems further down the road. I’m on my own right now, so there’s nobody else fighting.

I’ve decided to trade it. I feel bad that you took the time to write that up, sorry. Thanks, though.

No probs. Whatever I've said may help some others. There's no point in pushing on in vain, if there's something else that's out there you'd rather play.

I did leave out one other detail, which can complicate things further for others...

The specials have a little rhythm action mini-game about them. If you use an art/special, do it on the third hit of the auto-attack if you can. Doing this gives a little visual feedback to confirm you've got the timing right and the effect/damage will be increased. You also get a little boost on the auto filling gauges.

Up to you. I'm saving it for my Ngp run

A Xequel?

Dinostar77 wrote:

This is a tenner in cex now btw

Is it?? Excellent

Managed a couple of hours on this over the weekend. Feeling like I’m getting back into it. I’ve only just had the tutorial for toppling and element orbs so Syph’s post makes more sense.

Whenever you get stuck just concentrate on pulling healing items whenever you can and make sure your team can do the same. It's quite easy to put together a team without realising they can't heal.

I was really close to just sacking this off completely. Wasn’t having trouble with enemies individually but was finding that others were joining in mid fight and I was getting overwhelmed. Nearly threw the towel in after spending five minutes fighting some blade dude on the way up to Fonsa Myma only for some little shit bags to join in and wipe me out.

Anyway, I’m past the worst now, gained a few levels at an inn and I’ve managed to boost a few skills. Starting to click with the elemental part of the combat system, although the break, topple, launch, smash thing seems to be a bit random.