Xenoblade Chronicles 2

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, Talandar said:

Like X is even more easy because Overdrive is basically gg in every battle.

From what i hear, the harder part is figuring out how the hell Overdrive works in the first place because one of X's main criticisms is how it doesn't teach you anything.

 

20 minutes ago, kingddd said:

2 as a whole if you go by regular playthrough is not really difficult

I wouldn't say 2 is hard but i wouldn't say it's easy either. As Talandar said, there are some challenging Superbosses out there and in general, i found the Unique Monsters more challenging compared to 1. And some bosses in the main story did give me trouble as well, such as Jin and Malos at the end of Ch.7 (but it was mostly Malos).

I'd argue 1 is the easier game because it was super easy to set up Break>Topple>Daze combos. The only thing that would occasionally prevent this was Spike Damage and Lorithia. 2's combos require more planning and later bosses (including the final boss) and Superbosses would want you to stack three, four or more orbs on them before unleashing a Chain Attack, which isn't always easy because setting up those orbs gives them plenty of time to kill you, which would cost one Party Gauge bar which means no Chain Attack.

 

[kingddd]

47 minutes ago, Armagon said:

From what i hear, the harder part is figuring out how the hell Overdrive works in the first place because one of X's main criticisms is how it doesn't teach you anything.

 

I wouldn't say 2 is hard but i wouldn't say it's easy either. As Talandar said, there are some challenging Superbosses out there and in general, i found the Unique Monsters more challenging compared to 1. And some bosses in the main story did give me trouble as well, such as Jin and Malos at the end of Ch.7 (but it was mostly Malos).

I'd argue 1 is the easier game because it was super easy to set up Break>Topple>Daze combos. The only thing that would occasionally prevent this was Spike Damage and Lorithia. 2's combos require more planning and later bosses (including the final boss) and Superbosses would want you to stack three, four or more orbs on them before unleashing a Chain Attack, which isn't always easy because setting up those orbs gives them plenty of time to kill you, which would cost one Party Gauge bar which means no Chain Attack.

 

The OD part is more or less explained in the manual.  yes reading the Xenoblade X manual actually helps you in that game.

I definitely feel from personal experience I died more from 1 and X way more than 2 in most cases.  You can play 2 completely fine without ever pulling off break, topple, launch and smash and blade combos easily for majority of the game whereas in 1 if you don't do those, you'll fall pretty easily.

[Armagon]

16 minutes ago, kingddd said:

I definitely feel from personal experience I died more from 1 and X way more than 2 in most cases.

It was personally the opposite for me. Ch.3 had a pretty big difficulty spike. I was dying left and right. Ch.7 was pretty difficult as well because

Spoiler

Pyra/Mythra is gone for the chapter and Rex ends up kinda sucking because of it.

 

[kingddd]

36 minutes ago, Armagon said:

It was personally the opposite for me. Ch.3 had a pretty big difficulty spike. I was dying left and right. Ch.7 was pretty difficult as well because

  Hide contents

Pyra/Mythra is gone for the chapter and Rex ends up kinda sucking because of it.

 

 

Ch3 was a breeze for me.  Never had any significant issues. I had some blades with me at the time and was trained enough with some arts, so it wasn't an issue for me.  I was able to manage without pyra.  Ch7 did have a pretty big spike but it really wasn't as bad as most people were really claiming it to be. It took about maybe 4 or so tries for me and I was able to pass it without any problems. Especially considering you get Nia as a blade she's there to help you compensate for the lack of Pyra/Mythra.

Edited December 21, 2017 by kingddd

[Etrurian emperor]

Does anyone else think the Xenoblade artist took a really good look at the Fire emblem character designs?

There are some subtle examples like Jin carrying some resemblance to Zihark since he's a white haired Katana wielder with a white/purplish longcoat or Ageon stealing Ryoma's robes. 

But some characters have resemblances that go much further. 

Jin's girlfriend is practically Hinoka with the only difference between their designs being that she's auburn haired and Hinoka red haired. But aside from that they got the exact same armor and hairstyle and are both on the short side.

Emperor Nail is also clearly the spitting image of male Morgan with his short stature and that particular style of blue hair. TVtropes says he resembles Alphonse too. 

Edited December 21, 2017 by Etrurian emperor

[Armagon]

1 hour ago, kingddd said:

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Ch3 was a breeze for me.  Never had any significant issues. I had some blades with me at the time and was trained enough with some arts, so it wasn't an issue for me.  I was able to manage without pyra.  Ch7 did have a pretty big spike but it really wasn't as bad as most people were really claiming it to be. It took about maybe 4 or so tries for me and I was able to pass it without any problems. Especially considering you get Nia as a blade she's there to help you compensate for the lack of Pyra/Mythra.

Spoiler

Ch.3 did get easier about halfway through. It's just that i was a bit underleveled when i arrived in Uraya so a lot of things killed me. Especially those plant monsters. How i managed to beat Vandham and his crew, i have no idea. 

Blade!Nia did help a lot in Ch.7 but you get her after Spirit Crucible Elpys, which is halfway through. Though even with Blade!Nia, dealing with Jin and Malos at the same time was a pain in the ass, until you get Pneuma. Trying to stack orbs on Malos was easier said than done because of Monado Eater and Jail.

 

33 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Does anyone else think the Xenoblade artist took a really good look at the Fire emblem character designs?

I mean, they did have Kozaki on the team, so it's possible. Kozaki was responsible for Aegeon and Agate.

I think there was also some inspiration from X as well since Akhos looks like H.B.

   

 

[Armagon]

Galeforce'd.

 

Edited December 21, 2017 by Armagon

[The DanMan]

EDIT: Crap. The spoiler tags messed up. They always do this for me since the site re-design.

I feel like I may as well throw my thoughts into the ring:

Story:

 

It's shonen with a bit of self awareness, for better and for worse. It plays tropes largely straight, has it's filler (he-llo Chapter 4 and early Chapter 6), and even has its share of alternate/more powerful forms for characters (long with the much-loathed anime tropes that I really couldn't be more neutral on one way or another). At the end of the day though, I walked away liking it-- personally moreso than the first.

That's not to say it's perfect-- indeed, even the first game edges it out in at least one regard: secondary villains. Torna ended up feeling too underdeveloped; there's too much exposition dumping done too late that it really robs them of any intended sympathy because it's all at once and yet not enough. Egil, on the other hand, ended up far more 3-dimensional and was a better executed character; probably due to their being only one of Egil compared to multiple members of Torna. Jin worked, but having several other characters who you try to rush in development and backstory for at the last moment doesn't really work.

Conversely, while Egil doesn't pop in until the first game's Act 2, Torna is a consistent threat throughout the game. This is a point where 2 one-ups 1; while the original was pretty much 3 individual arcs with its own side characters and developments per arc, 2 feels like a fare more concise story. There's no man behind the man twist, or big change in objective; the goal from early in the game is to reach Elysium and to stop Malos, and the game ends with Malos being stopped and Elysium being reached. 1 goes from a revenge-driven rage against the Mechon to "let's uncover the truth and end this conflict" to "now we're dealing with gods". Less predictable, certainly, but parts of the story also felt a bit more detached.

Torna needed more fleshing out and a potential motives change (at least for everyone besides Jin and Malos), and it bothers me that the Noppon nonsense is a thing in the story when those situations could've been used to better establish Torna. Establishing the villains earlier on instead of dumping rapid-fire flashbacks in the last 30% of the game would've been the far better option. Chapter 3 escalates the stakes and shows how brutal and determined they are-- so going right from that to filler in Chapter 4 was quite awkward.

Also, little nitpick: Vandham is never mentioned again after he's dead and buried, with his death being flashbacked to once. It made his death feel too artificial; any direct recognition of his sacrifice later in the game would've been fine.

Certain aspects also needed better explaining-- how are Pyra and Mythra still alive after Malos "drained" them in Chapter 7? And why do both come back in the ending? Both examples feel like they could've at least been handwaved as "by the power of the Aegis" but aren't addressed whatsoever. (Personally, I would've had it that Pyrra's shell reclaims the part of her core she gave Rex at the end of Chapter 7, while the ending would've gone in a far more bittersweet route of "only the one you chose comes back, and without memories"-- which would fit the final chapter's title better ("And thus, boy met girl"). But Poppi hugging Pyra and Mythra at the same time was cute enough to almost make me not take issue with it.).

At the end of the day though, I get what they were going for. The focus characters are people who've all seen how crappy the world can be. While the antagonists give in and just want to reset/destroy everything due to experiencing its flaws, the protagonists remain optimistic and are aiming for the ultimate fix to everything. The antagonist's side, unfortunately, just fell a bit flat and the ending skewed a bit too far to the "cheesy and optimistic" side. 

I was going to write about individual party members but I decided that would make this post way too long.

As for gameplay, I'll generally avoid making comparisons to its predecessors due to not being the most well equipped to do so (having only played through the original once years ago and my experience with X being a couple hours of hands-on time/watching footage).

>Field Skills... actually were never an issue for me. It was a bit tedious stacking common Blades for some stuff, but I never had to go back and grind to earn them. Not the best gameplay feature, certainly, but as long as ever Driver has a decent stock of common blades I don't see how this could be much of an issue. It wasn't a good idea, but I'd say it's more of a minor annoyance than anything.

>I love how much more interactive the combat is. The first game basically just boiled down to you running around while you waited for your arts to charge up, and then unleashing them (with a side of topple locking). Making positioning far more of a deal and implementing cancelling were great decisions. Blade combos also further add to the depth, on top of Blade swapping... it feels like there's always something going on to keep you engaged, while there were lulls in the first were the game more or less played itself.

>Though the map was a step up from the 1st game's overall, one area it felt like a step back in was the lack of showing different elevations. This threw me off and caused me to get lost at a couple points. If they's just included that, it would've been perfect.

>I found most of the bosses pretty fair. For the common annoying ones:

 

Addam's shadows/guardians of the third sword: this was actually pretty straightforward once I started actually thinking about it.

Malos solo fight in Chapter 7: upon my first defeat, I noticed something was up: he didn't immediately aggro if you didn't draw your weapons. After being defeated again, I decided to engage him as far away from the pit as possible. And what do you know? He became far more managable.

Chapter 9 Jin: Yeah, he sucks. Way too many tools and high evasion to boot. He walled me for the better part of 2 days.

Final Boss: Honestly kind of a pushover. Beat him first try; I knew what was coming and actually managed to kill him with a million damage+ chain attack.

Now, for some semi-random musings of mine:

 

>At the bottom of the World Tree is a ruined city that ends up keying players into the fact that the game takes place in a far-flung post-apocalyptic future of Earth: Xenoblade 2 or Etrian Odyssey 1?

>So if a Blade that ingests human flesh becomes a Flesh Eater and if a human that gets a Blade's core grafted onto them becomes a Blade Eater, would that make Shulk a God Eater? Sorry I'm not sorry 

>The first female playable character in every Xenoblade game so far has had an alternate form. Wonder if that's going to keep being a thing.

> I'm pretty sure that Ontos Alvis will be one of the DLC Blades for the game

52 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Does anyone else think the Xenoblade artist took a really good look at the Fire emblem character designs?

There are some subtle examples like Jin carrying some resemblance to Zihark since he's a white haired Katana wielder with a white/purplish longcoat or Ageon stealing Ryoma's robes. 

But some characters have resemblances that go much further. 

Jin's girlfriend is practically Hinoka with the only difference between their designs being that she's auburn haired and Hinoka red haired. But aside from that they got the exact same armor and hairstyle and are both on the short side.

Emperor Nail is also clearly the spitting image of male Morgan with his short stature and that particular style of blue hair. TVtropes says he resembles Alphonse too. 

Jin and Zihark both draw from the same "edgy swordsman" archetype. Aegeon, however, was designed by Yusuke Kozaki-- of everything you listed, that seems like the most probable one that could've been influenced by FE.

 

Though yeah, Jin's driver does look scarily like Hinoka. 

Edited December 21, 2017 by The DanMan

[kingddd]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

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Ch.3 did get easier about halfway through. It's just that i was a bit underleveled when i arrived in Uraya so a lot of things killed me. Especially those plant monsters. How i managed to beat Vandham and his crew, i have no idea. 

Blade!Nia did help a lot in Ch.7 but you get her after Spirit Crucible Elpys, which is halfway through. Though even with Blade!Nia, dealing with Jin and Malos at the same time was a pain in the ass, until you get Pneuma. Trying to stack orbs on Malos was easier said than done because of Monado Eater and Jail.

 

I mean, they did have Kozaki on the team, so it's possible. Kozaki was responsible for Aegeon and Agate.

I think there was also some inspiration from X as well since Akhos looks like H.B.

   

 

There is a lot of nice callbacks and the usual Xeno reusing old characters with sometimes occasional changes.  Notably every single Xeno game has to have a Vand in every game.

Vanderkam in Xenogears
Vanderkam in Xenosaga
Xenoblade 1 had Vangarre but his Japanese name was Vandham
Xenoblade X had Vandham with the same exact name in the Japanese one.  Elma even made fun of him calling him "Colonel Squaretache" a reference to Xenoblade 1.
And now we have Vandham in Xenoblade 2.

Edited December 22, 2017 by kingddd

[Armagon]

1 hour ago, The DanMan said:

 

Spoiler

Final Boss: Honestly kind of a pushover. 

The first female playable character in every Xenoblade game so far has had an alternate form. Wonder if that's going to keep being a thing.

I'm pretty sure that Ontos Alvis will be one of the DLC Blades for the game

 

Spoiler

I will agree that the Final Boss is a pushover. I did die to it once though because it did that thing where it goes to the back of the room and then it uses Siren Buster after like a minute and i died to it. The Final Boss theme also pales in comparison to "Zanza", which is the only time i found a song from Xenoblade 1 to be better than Xenoblade 2. Other than that, Xenoblade 2's music blows the original out of the water and it nukes X's music.

It's likely. It also seems like the whole thing of "the main character's sword is red" will also be a thing, at least for the more story-focused Xenoblade games.

As for Ontos, i don't know if it's actually Alvis. Alvis doesn't have the Core Crystal on his chest and he stated that he was the administrative computer whereas Malos and Pyra/Mythra are part of a "trinity processor" computer. They could retcon it though. Xenoblade 1 said that Klaus destroyed the universe and created a new one. Xenoblade 2 retconned it by saying that Klaus created a new universe but the old one was never destroyed, instead, basically everything was transported across different dimensions. Speaking of...

From my understanding, the Conduit is very similar to the Zohar. Not only do they both have dimensional powers, but they're both have the same appearance and color. Xenoblade 2 established the multi-verse in the series so it'd be really cool if the Zohar and the Conduit are in fact, the same thing and the Xeno games are all connected through the multiverse, as the Zohar also appears in Xenogears, albeit, with a different purpose. That would require getting the rights though and while Namco may comply (hell, they let Monolith use KOS-MOS for Xenoblade 2), i don't know if Square Enix would let Monolith use the rights for Xenogears.

 

[The DanMan]

5 minutes ago, Armagon said:

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I will agree that the Final Boss is a pushover. I did die to it once though because it did that thing where it goes to the back of the room and then it uses Siren Buster after like a minute and i died to it. The Final Boss theme also pales in comparison to "Zanza", which is the only time i found a song from Xenoblade 1 to be better than Xenoblade 2. Other than that, Xenoblade 2's music blows the original out of the water and it nukes X's music.

It's likely. It also seems like the whole thing of "the main character's sword is red" will also be a thing, at least for the more story-focused Xenoblade games.

As for Ontos, i don't know if it's actually Alvis. Alvis doesn't have the Core Crystal on his chest and he stated that he was the administrative computer whereas Malos and Pyra/Mythra are part of a "trinity processor" computer. They could retcon it though. Xenoblade 1 said that Klaus destroyed the universe and created a new one. Xenoblade 2 retconned it by saying that Klaus created a new universe but the old one was never destroyed, instead, basically everything was transported across different dimensions. Speaking of...

From my understanding, the Conduit is very similar to the Zohar. Not only do they both have dimensional powers, but they're both have the same appearance and color. Xenoblade 2 established the multi-verse in the series so it'd be really cool if the Zohar and the Conduit are in fact, the same thing and the Xeno games are all connected through the multiverse, as the Zohar also appears in Xenogears, albeit, with a different purpose. That would require getting the rights though and while Namco may comply (hell, they let Monolith use KOS-MOS for Xenoblade 2), i don't know if Square Enix would let Monolith use the rights for Xenogears.

 

Yep. It tried to go the atmospheric route and ended up being really eh. What's annoying is that you think the build-up is over after a minute in and there starts to be a really great payoff... only to go back downhill. 

For the numbered/story-based titles, maybe. Hopefully they branch out and at least not make them outright "Monados by another name". I was fine with 2 tying back into 1, but hopefully they don't stick Klaus and the experiment into every other installment.

We don't know he doesn't have the core crystal; it could be under his clothes; he could be deliberately hiding it; it could be because it's a different universe; we really just don't know for certain, but I (and pretty much everybody else) think the implication is that Ontos = Alvis. 

I can't really comment about the Zohar; if anything, I'd personally like the notion of Gears/Saga/Blade being one series to go away, due to there being far more differences than similarities.

[Armagon]

12 minutes ago, The DanMan said:

 

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Yep. It tried to go the atmospheric route and ended up being really eh. What's annoying is that you think the build-up is over after a minute in and there starts to be a really great payoff... only to go back downhill. 

For the numbered/story-based titles, maybe. Hopefully they branch out and at least not make them outright "Monados by another name". I was fine with 2 tying back into 1, but hopefully they don't stick Klaus and the experiment into every other installment.

We don't know he doesn't have the core crystal; it could be under his clothes; he could be deliberately hiding it; it could be because it's a different universe; we really just don't know for certain, but I (and pretty much everybody else) think the implication is that Ontos = Alvis. 

I can't really comment about the Zohar; if anything, I'd personally like the notion of Gears/Saga/Blade being one series to go away, due to there being far more differences than similarities.

 

Spoiler

Pretty much. Though, and maybe i'm alone on this, but i did like it a little bit more than God-Slaying Sword. If i had to rank the Final Boss themes, it'd be: Zanza>The Key We've Lost>>>Artifice Aion (or whatever Xenoblade 2's final boss theme is called)>God-Slaying Sword.

Yeah, i would hope that from the potential Xenoblade 3. I am glad that the Aegis wasn't just another Monado, even though it did share it's signature trait of Foresight, and even then, Rex's visions worked differently than Shulk's visions. I do think Takahashi is smart enough to not stick Klaus into every Xenoblade game after this one The way Xenoblade 2 ties into 1 is done in a way where you don't need to play 1 to understand the game, but the final chapter is much more appreciated if you did. Xenoblade games are long and Takahashi knows that, which is why, despite being connected to 1, you don't need to play 1 to understand 2. So i do think that the potential Xenoblade 3 will actually be completely separate from 1 and 2, with the only things it carries over will be simple nods, certain enemies (*cough* Territorial Rotbart *cough*) and of course, the Nopon, seeing as how they are the series mascot. Though the multi-verse has been established and if Ontos is indeed Alvis, then that means it's possible that we may see some dimension-hopping shenanigans in the series' future. I do trust Takahashi to get that right though.

On a side note, that does make me worry about the eventual X2. We know X2 will happen, X's ending was obvious sequel-bait. I just hope that X2 properly summarizes X so that people who missed X don't have to go back and play a 100+ hour game just to understand X2.

I did think Ontos is Alvis when he was first mentioned and it's probably the case. If it isn't though, i can see it as Takahashi subtly foreshadowing Xenoblade 3.

Tbh, i've never actually played Gears or Saga. I just know that bit about the Zohar and seeing the Conduit have basically the same abilities and appearance, i thought it would be a cool theory to try to connect the three series. It wouldn't surprise me if the Conduit was just a reference. I do think we'll see the Conduit again but realistically, Gears, Saga, and Blade aren't connected.

 

[The DanMan]

22 hours ago, Armagon said:

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Pretty much. Though, and maybe i'm alone on this, but i did like it a little bit more than God-Slaying Sword. If i had to rank the Final Boss themes, it'd be: Zanza>The Key We've Lost>>>Artifice Aion (or whatever Xenoblade 2's final boss theme is called)>God-Slaying Sword.

Yeah, i would hope that from the potential Xenoblade 3. I am glad that the Aegis wasn't just another Monado, even though it did share it's signature trait of Foresight, and even then, Rex's visions worked differently than Shulk's visions. I do think Takahashi is smart enough to not stick Klaus into every Xenoblade game after this one The way Xenoblade 2 ties into 1 is done in a way where you don't need to play 1 to understand the game, but the final chapter is much more appreciated if you did. Xenoblade games are long and Takahashi knows that, which is why, despite being connected to 1, you don't need to play 1 to understand 2. So i do think that the potential Xenoblade 3 will actually be completely separate from 1 and 2, with the only things it carries over will be simple nods, certain enemies (*cough* Territorial Rotbart *cough*) and of course, the Nopon, seeing as how they are the series mascot. Though the multi-verse has been established and if Ontos is indeed Alvis, then that means it's possible that we may see some dimension-hopping shenanigans in the series' future. I do trust Takahashi to get that right though.

On a side note, that does make me worry about the eventual X2. We know X2 will happen, X's ending was obvious sequel-bait. I just hope that X2 properly summarizes X so that people who missed X don't have to go back and play a 100+ hour game just to understand X2.

I did think Ontos is Alvis when he was first mentioned and it's probably the case. If it isn't though, i can see it as Takahashi subtly foreshadowing Xenoblade 3.

Tbh, i've never actually played Gears or Saga. I just know that bit about the Zohar and seeing the Conduit have basically the same abilities and appearance, i thought it would be a cool theory to try to connect the three series. It wouldn't surprise me if the Conduit was just a reference. I do think we'll see the Conduit again but realistically, Gears, Saga, and Blade aren't connected.

 

 

This is going to sound very weird, but I feel The Key We've Lost fits Xenoblade 2 more than X.

"Let's find the key we've lost/As all the people cry in vain"

Find Elysium while everybody else points fingers and starts wars rather rather than trying to actually fix things.

"Just try to live your life/The endless sky where I can fly/Tell me what you think/Tell me what's your way"

Aiming to live out your life in peace while also giving off an intimate feeling... suiting Rex and Pyra. Mention of the "endless sky" also feels like a reference to the Cloud Sea.

"The end is always here/This world locked up in a war"

Turbulent political situation, war is on the horizon, the only solid landmass in the world is dying off... yeah.

The second verse is a lot more generic/vague, but it still kinda applies. It's something I noticed that's very weird. Maybe I'm just overanalyzing. Anyways...

For all intents and purposes, the Aegises were Monados. And yeah, I'd agree that I hope future Xenoblade games do their own thing; 2 had the blatant callbacks to 1, but all three games in the series have their own distinct direction and identity.

Monolith did have concept art and job listings for their next project back in the summer. What can be gathered is that it's high fantasy, more actiony, has online elements, and is outright stated to "be different from what Monolith has previously worked on". So, not X2.

Edited December 23, 2017 by The DanMan

[Shiki]

Spoiler

On 22.12.2017 at 12:15 AM, The DanMan said:

Torna ended up feeling too underdeveloped; there's too much exposition dumping done too late that it really robs them of any intended sympathy because it's all at once and yet not enough.

I think it would have helped if they cut one of the 3 sidekicks and re-distribute the story bits among the other 2. This would have helped in terms of development since they would have more screentime in and between Chapters.
Mikhail seems a bit superflous overall since he is not a Flesh Eater and kinda overlaps with Akhos being the 'intellectual one'. We don't see the latter do anything at the finale while Mikhail steals the spotlight with his artifical Blades and Torna mech.

While that would leave Patroka solo they could have just make her much stronger which was initially implied in Chapter 4. She is the one that ends up neglected the most because of her short screentime.

Doing Postgame stuff now.

Spoiler

Namely grinding the Blade quests and Hearts-to-Hearts. Holy crap, some of them are tedious.

Not in the actual narrative content, mind you (Dagas' being an exception) but the requirements to unlock and finish them are brutal. Best example is Ursula.
I finally finished her's and as much as I like her design- and character-wise I'm not doing her quest again. What were they thinking when they designed this sidequest?
Or reaching 9800 points of Trust. That requirement is on most Blades for either one and if the only way to raise that stat is to mindlessly push the A button in your pouch inventory, something probably went wrong during development.

Still have Newt, Kora, Finch, Vale and Theory to go and all of them require the Trust requirement.

Edited December 25, 2017 by Talandar

[Armagon]

Nintendo stop, my wallet can only take so much.

This is gonna be Japan-exclusive, probably.

4 hours ago, Talandar said:

Or reaching 9800 points of Trust. That requirement is on most Blades for either one and if the only way to raise that stat is to mindlessly push the A button in your pouch inventory, something probably went wrong during development.

You can increase Trust just by doing things. Fighting, quests. Giving Blades items is another way, yes, but it's not the only way. I've had several of my Blades gain Trust and unlocking a new section of their Affinity Chart upon completing a quest or killing a Unique. 

Though yeah, Ursula's is probably the worst one when it comes to her Quest. I wish they did it like they did with Zenobia's, where doing the Merc Missions unlock her quest, not the other way around. 

Edit: Agate's quest also sucks because it has you going to various different places to use her Prospecting Skill but only some of them work at Lv.1. To increase Prospecting, you have to get the minerals she finds with that Skill analyzed at Argentum. Easier said than done though. 

 

Edited December 25, 2017 by Armagon

[Shiki]

28 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Fighting, quests.

Fighting only gives around ~20 points at best (I check everytime after I kill a Super boss) so it's actually less efficient and consistent than pouch items (I'm spamming Noponcho which give 22 points each). Nobody really knows what actually affects the Trust build-up (max. affinity? Blade combos? Elemental Bursts? anything?).

Quests are a bit difficult if you have already done all the Quests you came across. I'm pretty sure I did all the Quests (minus the missing Blade quests).

The only other method are Merc Missions which give meager 10 points each. It's good for normal Blades (especially the 4* ones since you want to max them out) but for the rare Blades it's a water drop in a empty bucket.

Also, let's not talk about S+ trust ...
I think, I'm going to build an mechanical arm from leftover parts and let it do the job.

[Armagon]

Alright, i now understand why Ursula's quest is so bad. I thought it was just "do each level of a category once to advance to the next level". NOPE! It's "do each category 9 times to reach Lv.4. Do it 99 times for max Affinity". Jesus Christ, this quest was a mistake. The worse part is that it doesn't even tell you about the fact that you have to do each category 9 times. That was some Xenoblade 1 levels of vague.

[blah the Prussian]

So I just beat THAT boss at the end of chapter five. I think I have an easier way than what was discussed in the thread.

Get the chord thing down until you start taking spike damage, then immediately switch to attacking the robot. Build towards a chain attack, switch back, release the attack, then immediately switch back to the robot, building up another chain attack. Repeat until victorious.

[Etrurian emperor]

There's a new interview with the developers. 

Apparently some pretty sizable DLC is in the works and Rex is 15 years old. I pegged him at 14 but its close enough. 

http://nintendoeverything.com/xenoblade-chronicles-2-director-on-development-inspiration-for-the-world-and-setting-upcoming-dlc-more/

Edited January 1, 2018 by Etrurian emperor

[Armagon]

20 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

There's a new interview with the developers. 

Apparently some pretty sizable DLC is in the works and Rex is 15 years old. I pegged him at 14 but its close enough. 

http://nintendoeverything.com/xenoblade-chronicles-2-director-on-development-inspiration-for-the-world-and-setting-upcoming-dlc-more/

I read that. Interesting on how their planning on new Rare Blades to be given out in updates instead of the DLC. If i remember correctly, the DLC said that there'd be a Rare Blade, as in singular. I want to know the difference between the DLC one and the ones they're planning to give out in updates.

Spoiler

The DLC Blade is probably Ontos.

Rex ended up being younger than i thought. I thought he was 16 but i was off by one year. Nice to have a confirmed age for Rex though. Before the interview, only three characters had a confirmed age, those being Zeke, who is 25 and Pyra/Mythra who is approximately 500.

[Shiki]

Spoiler

What about the Torna Blades?
Obrona and Sever are back to their Core Crystals, so technically they should be available for bonding (since they didn't seem to be retrieved by their Drivers and Jin generally opposes the bonding between Flesh Eater and Blade).
Patroka and Mikhail have unique Blades as well.

Not sure if Ontos aka Alvis is going to be a thing. It could be since 1 is tied with 2 but with the whole parallel word concept that's awfully thin ice there. Like you would need to explain how he can just come back to the world of 2 while being almost necessary for 1.
I would rather see something else from the other Xeno games kinda like KOS-MOS did.

 

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, Talandar said:

  Hide contents

What about the Torna Blades?
Obrona and Sever are back to their Core Crystals, so technically they should be available for bonding (since they didn't seem to be retrieved by their Drivers and Jin generally opposes the bonding between Flesh Eater and Blade).
Patroka and Mikhail have unique Blades as well.

Not sure if Ontos aka Alvis is going to be a thing. It could be since 1 is tied with 2 but with the whole parallel word concept that's awfully thin ice there. Like you would need to explain how he can just come back to the world of 2 while being almost necessary for 1.
I would rather see something else from the other Xeno games kinda like KOS-MOS did.

 

Spoiler

Obrona, Sever, and Patroka and Mikhail's Blades are dead. In the last cutscene of Ch.3, when Obrona and Sever return to their Cores, you can see that Obrona's is cracked. The same likely happened to Sever and the rest.

That said, since Torna's Blades really don't have an impact in the story, it wouldn't be hard to retcon their deaths. A lot of people speculate that Torna's Blades are "those Blades" that you'll be able to obtain in the New Game+ in the next update. Some are speculating Fan la Norne as well but i don't see that happening since she has a much more important role.

And yeah, it could be possible that the DLC Blade is someone from another Xeno game. Though they really only have Xenosaga to pull from in that case, unless they got permission from Square Enix to use Xenogears characters but we all know how protective Square Enix is of their franchises, even if Square Enix isn't doing anything with Xenogears.....yet.

 

 

[Etrurian emperor]

Its weird how the last normal enemies are a bigger threat than the final boss. It always goes so well against the final boss but every time he summons 2 giant robots it always end with either those two somehow decimating my two party members which drains my chain gate to much to hold out, or they just hold out long enough for the final boss to return to the fray so they can all gang up on me. 

[Armagon]

3 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Its weird how the last normal enemies are a bigger threat than the final boss. It always goes so well against the final boss but every time he summons 2 giant robots it always end with either those two somehow decimating my two party members which drains my chain gate to much to hold out, or they just hold out long enough for the final boss to return to the fray so they can all gang up on me. 

First: Who is in your party and what levels are they? I imagine Rex is there. Who are the other two?

Second: I recommend sealing the final boss' reinforcements. A Dark > Dark > Dark Blade Combo will do that.

[Etrurian emperor]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

First: Who is in your party and what levels are they? I imagine Rex is there. Who are the other two?

Second: I recommend sealing the final boss' reinforcements. A Dark > Dark > Dark Blade Combo will do that.

Aside from Rex there are Morag and Nia. All are about early level 70's.

The blade awakenings haven't actually been very good at me when it comes to dark blades. I got Azami and that's it. And some extremely weak generic blades but even those came in low supply when it came to the dark element.