Xenoblade Chronicles 3

[Strafe]

2 hours ago, Parksey said:

Slightly hijacking the thread with this question, but is the physical copy of XB2 Torna rare? 

 

Going through the first game now and very early on, but have an ambition to play through the entire series. I'm away I can get Torna and the DLC digitally, but have found a physical copy for £50 on Amazon. 

 

Seems expensive, but heard that it was a small print run and quite rare, so could be a decent investment even at that price.

I remember looking around a couple of years ago when I bought XBC2 and it was more than that on eBay (and sold out at major retailers), and of those they mostly or all had German language sleeves.

 

I ended up bouncing of XBC2 so didn’t get it in the end.

 

 

[MikeBeaver]

3 hours ago, Parksey said:

Slightly hijacking the thread with this question, but is the physical copy of XB2 Torna rare? 

 

Going through the first game now and very early on, but have an ambition to play through the entire series. I'm away I can get Torna and the DLC digitally, but have found a physical copy for £50 on Amazon. 

 

Seems expensive, but heard that it was a small print run and quite rare, so could be a decent investment even at that price.

£50 might be a bit too much tbh, there was a sealed one in trading a few weeks back for £40, which someone beat me to, but we came to an agreement where I had that one and sold them my opened one for £35, it's well worth playing through though and I would recommend it, but after 100% ing it the first time, and getting another playthrough in before XC3, I knew I wasn't going back again, so opted to have a sealed version in my collection 😛

[scottcr]

My sons at level 46!!

[MikeBeaver]

30 minutes ago, scottcr said:

My sons at level 46!!

😳😲 I might not be far off if I ue up my boost XP 😛

[Stanley]

3 hours ago, scottcr said:

My sons at level 46!!

Omg! I’m level 20 - game just keeps getting better, although it’s a bit mad that at 12 hours or so it’s still introducing new systems. Keeps things fresh I suppose. 
 

I keep thinking I’ll go back look at tips and and do the VR training, but then I tinker a bit here and there, progress a bit more, and it just kind of sinks in anyway. 

[Strafe]

37 minutes ago, Stanley said:

 although it’s a bit mad that at 12 hours or so it’s still introducing new systems. . 

Oh my sweet summer child 

[MikeBeaver]

2 hours ago, Stanley said:

Omg! I’m level 20 - game just keeps getting better, although it’s a bit mad that at 12 hours or so it’s still introducing new systems. Keeps things fresh I suppose. 
 

I keep thinking I’ll go back look at tips and and do the VR training, but then I tinker a bit here and there, progress a bit more, and it just kind of sinks in anyway. 

 

1 hour ago, Strafe said:

Oh my sweet summer child 

 

 

Yep, XC2 was throwing tuts at you at around 50 hours, I'm 5 minutes shy of 33 hours now, STILL not finished Chapter 4, it's a seriously long chapter for sure, soooo much is happening, definitely seeing how people hit the 100 hour mark in this, had a tricky fight earlier, 2 og the enemies with the orange flames, OK, they were lvl 42 and I was 47.... but they still took me out first time round, had to switch things up with the party and go again 😛

[Stanley]

6 hours ago, Strafe said:

Oh my sweet summer child 

I’ve played the last one too, my memory is terrible - I don’t remember it being quite so tutorial heavy though. 

[BitterToad]

8 hours ago, Stanley said:

I’ve played the last one too, my memory is terrible - I don’t remember it being quite so tutorial heavy though. 

As someone who's playing one of these for the first time the heavy tutorialising is super helpful. I've just got to the point that I think you mentioned earlier where I've unlocked the ability to change everyone's classes and skills and arts and master arts and a mixture of that and having just gotten used to what all 6 characters do before it then swaps them all around is making my head hurt a bit!

 

I'll be jumping from character to character trying to work out who my Daze guy is now or who my healer is and it's hurting my head a bit and then the battle ends before I've quite done what I wanted. Getting there though!

[scottcr]

I usually aim to take control of the 'break' character - the AI tends to handle the combos after that pretty well.  

[Stanley]

3 minutes ago, scottcr said:

I usually aim to take control of the 'break' character - the AI tends to handle the combos after that pretty well.  

I just make sure I have all three mapped somewhere and the AI seems pretty good at taking care of it anyway. 
 

I love using break/topple/daze during a chain attack, it’s so satisfying continuing to pile on the damage 

[Alan Stock]

Yeah, about that, does it still do extra bonus damage after you Daze in a Chain Attack? Or do you not get bonus damage until after the Chain is over?

 

I'm level 27 now (nearing end of Chapter 3) and still getting new layers to the combat system. It is complex but I think its the best fun Xeno combat to date. There's a lot of decision making as to whether to save up for big attacks, what characters to manually control, and what moves to pull off. In addition to that there's a lot more second to second interactivity especially if you go for a character with fast cooldowns. It's got really nice player feedback in pulling off combos. My only gripe so far is that Chain Attacks are essential but take ages to get through, it would be nice if you could speed up the animations. On Hard difficulty you can end up doing 5 or 6 chain attacks in a boss fight because they have so much HP, and it gets very laborious.

 

One thing I'm really appreciating is that once you get more classes opened up, the character building side of things is quite in-depth. You can really start tailoring your Arts and equipment for specific fights, and you're always working towards a new upgrade or class unlock. Another thing they have nailed is that the resources needed for certain gems, upgrades and equipment comes from across the spectrum of the game. Whether that's by killing normal mobs in the overworld, finding collectables and secrets, defeating mini bosses or completing sidequests. Its a great loop that encourages and rewards you for doing everything the game has to offer instead of just mainlining the story. Its one thing I really appreciate on Hard because often bosses will be so tough you have to go off and level up, or get better gear for, which means going off exploring, or doing side content. Get stronger, get better gear, and be rewarded when you come back to kick the boss' arse.

 

Finally managed to kill the side quest boss I was stuck on, I ended up being about 4 levels above it when I got victory at last. Just because a boss is your own level doesn't mean its doable!

[MidWalian]

I'm level 46 and really enjoying this. Still on Chapter 4 (it's a long one) but from what I've read there are not many in this one. Some tough bosses but going away for a while and doing side quests usually sorts that out. Some great classes arrive a while later into the game - plenty more to come too. The best in the series for combat systems etc.

 

Oh MonolithSoft I love you. Xenoblade 2 music is better though.

[Stanley]

@Alan Stocknot sure whether the damage multiplier is applied during the chain sequence, probably not, it feels satisfying though! 

[revlob]

Is there a collectopedia in this? I'd like to hunt down some of the materials I need for gem crafting, but unless they are named after monsters and you can remember where those monsters can be found, there's no way of knowing where to start looking. My memory of the previous games is a little fuzzy, but I thought they both had item checklists broken down by area.

 

For example, I need "Quadwing's Indulgence" for one of the level 1 gems, and I know I've seen Quadwings somewhere, but a dozen hours after I've unlocked gem crafting I still haven't bumped into that enemy again. I suspect now it was in one of the areas that I currently can't travel to, but it would be handy to have a list of what can be found where.

[Alan Stock]

Hmm, I've not found a proper Collectopedia either and having the same problem. I have a bunch of gems I'm missing one ingredient for but no idea if I've just missed them or they are gated by areas I've yet to reach.

 

Spent last nights session doing side content and having a blast. It turns out that you can quickly outlevel side quests around the level 20-30 mark, so I might advise that people interested in the side content pull the reigns on story progression and get some of the early colony content done before you get overlevelled for it. Its taken me to new places in the overworld, plenty of side stories, cutscenes and big rewards. Really impressed with this stuff and I'm actually interested in the side stories. Within settlements they all tie into one another and follow little story arcs. 

 

  

[Wiper]

Unfortunately you get the opposite problem then — I'm generally side quest oriented, and going around doing side quests first meant that following the story afterwards was beyond easy. The weird experience of getting to new story areas and having no battles to fight because all of the native species are lower level than you and so shy away (I hate triggering fights against passive creatures; I'm not nearly posh/American enough to enjoy hunting animals for sport). I fear there's no happy medium for people who want to do everything but also not end up over-levelled!

[Stanley]

Such a great game to play in handheld mode. For one it looks amazing on the OLED, and it’s great to play casually whilst the telly is on or whatever - a bit of gentle grinding here (ooh err) a bit of tweaking there (madam). 

[MidWalian]

5 hours ago, revlob said:

 

 

For example, I need "Quadwing's Indulgence" for one of the level 1 gems, and I know I've seen Quadwings somewhere, but a dozen hours after I've unlocked gem crafting I still haven't bumped into that enemy again. I suspect now it was in one of the areas that I currently can't travel to, but it would be handy to have a list of what can be found where.

 

Remember that area you first found Mio and the rest of them in the Aetia Region? Place with the red grassy bit. Kill some of those Quadwings (look like owls) and you should get some after a while. 

[Alan Stock]

1 hour ago, Wiper said:

Unfortunately you get the opposite problem then — I'm generally side quest oriented, and going around doing side quests first meant that following the story afterwards was beyond easy. The weird experience of getting to new story areas and having no battles to fight because all of the native species are lower level than you and so shy away (I hate triggering fights against passive creatures; I'm not nearly posh/American enough to enjoy hunting animals for sport). I fear there's no happy medium for people who want to do everything but also not end up over-levelled!

 

Thanks for the warning. I'm currently level 29 but doing level 22-25 side quests. I guess I'll make sure not to go over the level of the next story boss to avoid the problem you've been having. Playing on Hard does help a bit, because even with me at at level 29 the elite/boss versions of mobs at level 25 or more can offer a decent challenge. I've not been using bonus EXP so the permanent XP gains in side questing have only been from big fights or from completing quests. The other benefits though are stuff like materials, gear, and class XP.

[revlob]

Is there some benefit to not using bonus XP?

[scottcr]

Jealous of my son here - I'm sitting in my room and he's been playing XC3 *all* day.  He's level 60 or something now.

[Stanley]

33 minutes ago, scottcr said:

Jealous of my son here - I'm sitting in my room and he's been playing XC3 *all* day.  He's level 60 or something now.

I’ve just got in  from work and my daughter has started her own game, she’s playing on easy (she's only 8 ) and whilst I’m delighted she likes it enough to start playing after watching me - what am I going to do 

[Alan Stock]

1 hour ago, revlob said:

Is there some benefit to not using bonus XP?

 

Aside from preventing yourself becoming overlevelled, no. It's in place to alleviate what Wiper is talking about (becoming overpowered for the story by doing side content first), though I don't know if Wiper has been using bonus XP or not. Like I said all the side content I've been doing hasn't impacted my levelling much because it mostly awards bonus XP, which I'm not using. If I did use my bonus XP now I could jump way above the story level, which I don't want to do.

 

I think its a good mechanic, not perfect though. I'd like them to have the option of dynamically raising enemy levels to match yours, even if they curbed or capped your XP to do so. That way at least enemies would be a challenge throughout the game instead of what Wiper is experiencing. But Xeno 1 did this I believe, and it got backlash for it, because for some people the grind and getting OP is half the fun for them. 

[Wiper]

I had been using the bonus experience, and I regret my decision! The daft thing was I was aware I was starting to overlevel, but I never even considered that the bonus experience was, you know, optional. I just operated on full automatic whenever I got to a rest spot and immediately levelled the party

 

But yeah, I think if you're planning on doing the main story and side quests en masse, you probably want to avoid using the bonus experience if you don't want to end up wildly above the level of most enemies. Of course, if you do want to smash your way through enemies like so much cardboard, then knock yourself out!

[Opinionated Ham Scarecrow]

Hear that Noah? Lance wants something a bit meatier is fast becoming the new Reyn time.

[Strafe]

7 hours ago, Alan Stock said:

 

Aside from preventing yourself becoming overlevelled, no. It's in place to alleviate what Wiper is talking about (becoming overpowered for the story by doing side content first), though I don't know if Wiper has been using bonus XP or not. Like I said all the side content I've been doing hasn't impacted my levelling much because it mostly awards bonus XP, which I'm not using. If I did use my bonus XP now I could jump way above the story level, which I don't want to do.

 

I think its a good mechanic, not perfect though. I'd like them to have the option of dynamically raising enemy levels to match yours, even if they curbed or capped your XP to do so. That way at least enemies would be a challenge throughout the game instead of what Wiper is experiencing. But Xeno 1 did this I believe, and it got backlash for it, because for some people the grind and getting OP is half the fun for them. 

I went and did a colony that was a few levels above me and now I’m over levelled for the story a bit. Decided to put off starting fights for a while to see if the game can catch up some.

[Strafe]

Eunie has the best advice for anyone having issues with any of the battles, by the way. I

 

Spoiler

 

(not a spoiler but just in case)

[R0b]

Without spoilers, where does this sit in the series in terms of quality for each of you? I adore 1, 2 and Torna. No interest in the battlesystems; I love the games in spite of those complex barriers to the good characters, story and landscapes. 

[Alan Stock]

At the moment I'd say its on par with 1 which I loved. The gameplay is better, the story starts off really good and now in the slow phase. If the quality continues and the story gets as good as Xeno 1 it will be the best one for me.