>Can choose any of the party members to play asThats really neat but I'm kind of torn.Idk if I should just play shulk since hes the protag or if I should play a different character thats closer to my preferred rpg class
Classic JRPG problem ngl
play as a girl to feed the agp like a normal rpg fan
Who did everyone else play when they played Xenoblade Chronicles?
>>730804338There's an incentive to play everyone, thanks to the affinity system.I love mechanics like that.
>>730804604Kek I actually am playing sharla right now just because shes basically a clericThough I just got to gaur plain and I only have the 3 of sharla reyn and shulk
>>730804338Shulk and especially Melia has dumbest AI control. Pick them by yourself or replace with someone else.
>>730804338The premonition shit really ruins the game for me. Just let me fucking play the game normally without that shit.
>>730804610Shulk-Dunban-Reyn for stunlock unga bungaMelya-Riki-Dunban for magic boomsSlot Fiora sometimes
>>730804680I'm still a little confused on the affinity system.Isnt it basically just "characters who fight together a lot will fight a bit better than others" and you get to do the heart-to-heart talks like fire emblem or persona?
>>730804338Just play the one that looks most fun at the time and swap between them when you get bored of one. This also helps you optimize their skills and arts because you understand more how each character should work
>>730805359I believe it raises the chances of chain attacks continuing.
>>730804610I've played this game so many times and you can make pretty much any party composition work. The game does a good job of making every character feel unique to play but also allowing multiple ways to play them and synergize in your team, for example you can make tanks like Reyn and Dunban into attackers, you can make Melia work as a mage or a healer or Rikki work as a tank ,healer, or attacker and so on.
>>730804610I played exclusively as Shulk until you get to that one fight in Alcamoth where he can't deal any damage to the High Entia Assassins, then I actually started swapping around.Ended up maining mostly Melia for the rest of the game.
I played as Shulk and had Reyn and Sharla in the party the whole game.
Why is changing equipment in this game such a pain in the ass? I mostly stuck with Shulk and Reyn in my party because changing things up is so damn annoying.
>>730804338Shulk is probably the 'optimal' character to play as because of his monado arts and bad AI, but it really doesn't matter that much for most fights.
>>730806918If you play a tank you can at least adjust the monster to be positioned so its back is facing Shulk. People really overblow the "bad AI" thing. The game isn't even difficult enough to need to play optimally.
Is shulks ai really that bad if you arent controlling him yourself?
>>730804610Shulk, Reyn and Sharla, they grew up a lot on me that I just couldn’t bench them at any point, the final fights were hard but anyways
>>730807630Melia is the worst offender. Cute cuck queen but broken A.I
>>730804610Started as Shulk, then Melia for a while, finished as Rikki.
>>730807630see >>730807604The main thing is he won't move to hit positionals and he has one art that halves his HP to fill his talent gauge which the AI stupidly uses at bad times but you can just remove the art off his bar when you're not controlling him to stop that. He's still perfectly fine to have in your team as AI. I think Melia is worse because her AI will just put on random buffs with no rhyme or reason. Also people don't mention it but Sharla AI is pretty bad too because she'll never hit her talent art before it fills up and stops her doing anything for a while (if you hit it early you can lower the gauge which is more time efficient). All the AI doesn't play optimally though like even Rikki AI will sometimes not be positioned to use his AoE heal to hit everyone people just don't notice it as much because it's not as egregious. Reyn, Dunban and Fiora are the "best" to have on AI because they have less arts to not use optimally.
Reyn is awesome for fast farming and doing side quests. He has that long cd nuke that you can combo with that spells to buff its dmg. It does over a half of hp of dmg to a mob.Shulk sword armor spell is imba. It reduces damage by a lot.
>OMG we need to hurry and save juju>when theres a bunch of side quests to do at the refugee camplmao get smoked kid
>>730808448Why do jarpigs always do this lol>WE MUST HURRY TO THE FIELD OF BULLSHIT TO SAVE THE PRINCESS OR SOME SHIT>35 missable sidequests just opened up
>>730808554You are supposed to not be autistic
>>730804338Its either Shulk or Melia. They have the most active battle systems and the AI doesn't know how to play either of them. Reyn, Seven and Dunban play themselves and Sharla is weirdly situational for under level monster hunting
>>730808554>muh realismThis is why western games suck
>>730804610I've played through the game 5 times, 2 of those being self imposed challenges, and each time I've always just played as Shulk.
I switched to Rikki for most of the game and swapped to Shulk for some mechon fights
OII ITS FAKKIN CHEWSDAY INNIT YOU METAL CUNT
>>730808448>>730808554>World's about to end? Not before I've had my Gwenty it's not
I love the party dynamics of this game. How everyone is constantly talking and making callouts during combat
It's really unfortunate that the AI for Shulk and Melia is absolutely fucked and so you really shouldn't ever have them in the same party. They didn't even bother to fix this in the definitive edition.
>>730804338just swap around for variety's sakeI liked to play as Reyn but also got Shulk and Fiora reps in earlyonly real bothersome character to play as is Sharla because she and she alone has a mechanic that prevents her from doing anythingplus you gotta play Melia for her to not be retarded lol
>>730805359Chain attacks, unlocks Heart to Hearts, unlocks the corresponding Affinity Slot level in the skill treesit's why it's good to swap around if you're doing quests, since your lead character WILL gain some degree of affinity with whoever's following every time you start a quest and every time you finish it
>>730806918Melia is even worse as an ai.
where the fuck are the switch 2 patches nintendo
>>730804610Everyone because I'm not a faggot. Yes, even Sharla.
>>730804338I played the entire game with Shulk, and with Rein and Dunban as companions, (well, as soon as they were avaliable), i dont know how the fuck i beat the game without a proper healer.It was only in Xeno 3 where i felt like i wanted to play as Eunie instead of Noa, because i fucking love Eunie (and managed to create a functional set up with her)
Is the MINGE cat fun to play as in XC2
>>730815779It's a really interesting experience to play as a healer in a single player video game while the AI just kills the enemies for you. I can't think of many other games like that.In Future Redeemed, before unlocking the full power of DOUBLE SPINNING EDGE, I usually just played as A
>>730815779Based Euniebro.I'd guess most people do end up playing 1 without Sharla as their healer, since you can realistically just use things like Shulk's light heal or the various auras that recover HP to survive.
>>730816195Sharla is boring but Melia is genuinely fun and strategic to play as. Shes not as straight forward a healer.
>>730816195Clerics are fun when they aren't just a pure heal bitch. They should have strong utility magic options and limited combat magic to offset mages having strong combat magic options and limited utility magic
>>730804797>awesome part of you will know our names is about to start>I SEE IT
>>730804797Idk I think its a really cool mechanic
>3 hours later>finally done with all the refugee camp side questsSee you all next year when I finish this game.Jesus its huge
>>730817756>he only made up to the refugee camp so farsee you in 2028 i guess
>>730815779>i dont know how the fuck i beat the game without a proper healerSharla is the introductory character that you're expected to use before you learn the nuances of the battle system.You eventually get builds where characters can heal self-sufficiently through effects, and tanks do a ton of the heavy lifting. Both Melia and Riki also have arts that can perform healing when necessary, whereas Sharla is primarily a healer that has the worst talent art in the game.
>>730818407I kinda understand the tradeoff of her heat venting mechanic is so she can heal herself without needing to use her hesling arts on herself so she can save them for the party.But its kinda poor on the healing part
>>730818618It feels deliberate, that they want you to look for alternatives as soon as possible, and see that everyone can be self sufficient.It's kind of not possible to make a bad party in Xenoblade, and you don't need to include Shulk in your party either.Some of the bonus challenges in Definitive Edition use preset parties that exclude Shulk, too.
>>730817756God save you when you get to X and 3. With luck you won't have gone senile by then
>>730818618what they needed to do was have her one skill that reduces the Venting time of her Talent Art to literally just like 2s AND have it apply an Arts Buff+ to Sharla so it always feels like you're getting a little more out of itAlso she needed at least 2 more combat skillsthat would've made her much betterlike Head Shaker on her is nice but HOLY FUCK her Phys Arts CDs are fucking atrociousgiving her a Red Phys bullet art that hits in a cone + a wide-shot Ether-based aoe dmg Art would've felt goodwouldn't really cut into Melia's thing, since her Elementals give some of the most busted buffs in the game, or Riki's thing since his aoe ether abilities are actually pretty fucking good(and really easy to double the damage of with Poison/Flame Plus VI Gems)
>>730804610For a long time it was Shulk, Reyn, Sharla. Then I swapped out Reyn for Dunban and Sharla for Riki. I was told Melia had bad AI so I never bothered with her, and Fiora I just ignored..
>>730815779>i dont know how the fuck i beat the game without a proper healer.Shulk is a decent healer, and arts heal gems also put in work. Damage prevention with monado shield and stuff is kingt. played the game multiple times exclusively as Shulk with Dunban and Seven as companions.
>>730808448>skipped a fuckton of sidequests because i've played the game too many times>get to the boss where you save juju>get crushed in the second phase>checkpoint is right after the first phase>leave juju up there to be mechon tentacled for a few hours while i clean up some questsalso found that hilarious. almost as bad as ff15 with its 90% sidequests and 10% IMPORTANT MAIN STORY WE NEED TO GO NOW NOW NOW
>>730819704>>730808448
>>730808448XC2 is even worse in this regard. Technically once you get to Morytha your party canonically cannot get out of there and back to the titans, but that's when lots of things open up like Poppi QT Pi
>>730804338Shulk is a staple in most parties because he is combo DPS and healer. He has just enough crowd control that you would be a fool to exclude in the mid game.Really though just swap them around constantly, every single combination can work in some way, even if you need to change out gems for other party members. A shame that Sharla is so bad though, she literally only exists so that Shulk's light heal isn't the only way to stay in the fight in the early game. Once you get other party members, you can curb her and you won't miss her.
>>730819984And XC3 is even worse about it than 2, to the point that the queens' side quests are post game only and have no place they can fit into the story.
>>730804610I mostly used Shulk, though I loved playing as Fiora. Gun Drone killed everything at high chain. I did have some nice times with Reyn when I used his spin attack and sword drive though, HUGE numbers.
>>730804338Play Reyn, he's literally a life saver
Pic related is the only Xenoblade thing that I'd consider to be mediocre. The only thing it has going for it is the novelty of playing on the bionis shoulder, otherwise it just comes off as really low-budget and boring
>>730820616Its a downgrade from torna but it was still worth it. melia gets such a cucked ending in basegame and she needed this extended cope session
>>730804610I toyed around with every character but played Melia the most. The element system is very satisfying and flexible. Doesn't help that her teammate AI is dogshit. If you want her in your party you need to control her yourself.
>>730820320https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyZM__ODkK8
>>730804610First time: Shulk, Reyn, Sharla cause it was 2011 and I was dumb young 21 year old.Second time (DE): I mained Sharla for fun lol. And basically rotated and used everyone. 100% the file, and I'm talking about the point where I crafted every type of gem at Rank 6. Redundant cause the negate Debuff one covers like half of them lol.
>>730806263I somehow managed to get through that and kept with Shulk as lead until INSULIN.
>>730804610Game is best played rotating everyone to shake up the core combat
>>730815779>i dont know how the fuck i beat the game without a proper healer.very easy to do. Light heal does a lot of heavy lifting with shulk and he can mitigate entire enemy attacks/arts with the monado. Dunban can dodge most attacks and reyn can relegate some damage as a tank himself
>>730804842> for stunlock unga bungaSwap Shulk for Melia on that. Dropkick is insanely good.
>>730815779The trick is realizing you don't need to heal if you kill things so fast they can't hurt you.
>>730804610Dunban. I literally never got tired of spamming Blossom Dance.Played everyone a bit though.
>wields the chosen ones sword even though hes not the chosen one, leading to the sword killing him over timeDunban is so cool man
>>730827248That was just Zanza using him to repel the mechonis invasion
>>730823898Melia's bad for topple lock parties, starlight kick only inflicts topple on a conditional while Shulk can have monado cyclone and shaker edge for daze.
XB1 was so good. Shame they ruined the series with 2.
>>730830194>Shame they ruined the series with 2.You mean 3.
First time player here, I've heard that there are a ton of sidequests and that you shouldn't bother doing most of them, in part cause they can get boring and that the game is pretty easy so there's no mechanically rewarding reason to do them.Is this accurate? Are there any interesting/lore relevant sidequests? Roughly what percent of sidequest completion should a person aim for to preserve enjoyment throughout the game?
>>730830231And 2
>>730830231No, I mean 2. Your shitty naro novel isn't Xeno.
>>730830753No just 3. >>730830783Your shitty SAO ripoff isn't Xeno.
>>730830729It's a mixed bag. Quests from generic npcs auto complete when you do the thing for the quest, while named npcs usually require you to go back to the npc and are sometimes part of a chain of side quests. There are some that grant extra skills to characters and they require a high affinity with the area the quest is in, which requires completing a bunch of quests to reach the required affinity. Honestly the better method of judging if you should go back and do quests or not is based on the enemy level along the main path, if you're starting to get fucked up easily go back and do some quests.
