Pouch Items: If you are not using them, you're doing something wrong /blunt. Some of these items can have a tremendous effect on battles, especially when you unlock the second pouch and stack bonuses. You can't go wrong with items which regenerate your arts (almost all desserts do this), as it will allow you and your party members to use arts much more often in battle, meaning more DPS and an easier time charging special arts for combos (ie. quicker battles overall) and healing when needed.
Core Crystals: Depends. You can safely open the common ones, you will want to unlock a few common blades for some skill checks. Also, you can still get rare ones from common cores. Really, I wouldn't wait too much: just use them when you get them. Do keep in mind that the number of rare blades is finite (and not that huge from the gacha), and that they are other party members that will join you that will need rare blades, so don't overdo it. If you manage to get 2 rare blades for Rex and Nia, it is fine (unless you get tank blades for Nia: you don't want to equip any of those on her, period). Also, for reasons, do not under any circumstances pull like crazy with Rex. Really, if you want to fish for rare blades, do it with other characters. As for the effects of Luck, the jury is still out on how exactly it factors in getting rare blades. Supposedly, it helps to get rare ones. Others think it just make it less likely to pull low rarity common ones. Boosters supposedly enhances the chances to get blades from a specific element. But yeah, I don't think the code has been cracked yet.
Informants: Worst tutorial option of the game. You don't miss anything... except for two specific ones, which are needed in order to get some rare blades (3 in total). So, yeah, you will need to buy these two.
Speaking of Ursula is it worth using an Overdrive to move her to Nia(who already has Boreas and Floren). Pulled her for Morag and have her equipped until I find a 3rd Tank.
So how do the special drops work in level 5 of Tiger Tiger? I'm trying to get the master role cpus for Poppi as I grind ether crystals, but I haven't gotten anything other than one light element core. Do the master role cpus appear on easy mode?
It was only near the end of the game when I realized that the red affinity abilities on blades correspond to the specials. So I guess they all have similar base damage at the same level per element and just get modified by the abilities?
I finished it. I find it hilarious that the game hung on a black screen after the ending for almost 2 minutes before giving me a prompt to save. Then it crashed. That's one way to finish it off.
Yes, you should have something in the characters' pouches you use all the time. You can use some items which last for hours if you don't want to take care of pouches regularly. Once you unlock some deeds, you will be able to stack up more pouch items, reducing the risk of running out.
I beat the game and only ever used pouch items for blade affinity chart unlocks. Beat it just fine, it's not necessary imo. Doesn't hurt of course, though.
Fresh impression: 130 hours save when I finished the story of the game. I don't see myself returning to the game to do anything else as I greatly did not enjoy the implementation of several side systems and their impact on finishing affinity charts/blade stories. If the DLC has extra stories or new content I may check it out.
Snap Judgments-
Combat mostly good, abit too easy to get OP but that happens in all these games
Characters on a whole are better then the ones in X
Most of the rare blade stories I did were fun
The complete package was engrossing enough to have me ignore the story and do side stuff for many hours at a time
Some side content/game mechanics are just not fun and I feel actively are designed to waste the player's time
Dumplings and everything associated with them are the worst
Salvaging was extremely rewarding and the diving suit looked cool, my 2 year old loved watching me salvage and would just yell dive dive dive
After finishing the game I have a strong desire to play X again but i sold my WiiU :(
I was fully prepared to finish everything related to my core blades until I opened over 100 cores in a row and spent awhile both cooking and collecting. There are things in this game that feel straight out of a mobile game's handbook to make you spend money. They take needlessly long and seemingly only exist for the sake of propping up other game mechanics.
Story related issues concerning extra game mechanics- SPOILER below deals with a major game mechanic, its relationship to the core themes of the game, and my general feelings on this mechanic. This is a foaming rant feel free to ignore this section no joke this is a six paragraph rant.
The whole concept behind how common blades work and even the rare blades rub me the wrong way. While fishing for KOSMOS i was just feeding blade after blade to Zeke as he had my highest justice rank. I did this from time to time when I would do side stuff in between story beats. When I'm around 30+ blades on him I start releasing them. I just finish a cutscene with Jin talking about how precious memories are, Bridghit talking about memories, blades talking about tragic it is to go back in a core and possibly become a bandits blade.
Then back to Zeke and i'm releasing 30 blades back to back. Each one saying they'll cherish their memories with me, or they had fun, or they'll miss me. Thing is no they wont, they wont remember anything. This whole fishing for cores and churning and burning them is directly opposed to the major themes and story of the game. Even if you don't open them selling them is incredibly fucked up. You're slave trading at that point and who knows where those blades will go. I get that these are like weapons in other JRPGs but its far worse as the core conceit of the game is about how poorly they're treated and that they deserve better.
These cores and their blades are worthless, they're bad weapons, low damage, bad skills, or whatever justification I needed to just throw them away. Its a system that is at its core the opposite of the moral of the story. Throwing away all these blades makes everyone in the story seem like hypocrites and they only care about blades with faces or stories.
This system is also implicitly not fun. You spend extended periods of time opening boxes which at best gives you exactly what you want but at worst gives you nothing of use. It robs you of time as you can't skip anything except for the awakening video. I takes roughly 25 seconds from pushing yes on opening a core and skipping the awakening video. This wasted time that does nothing useful and you have to do it over and over and over. You can't even bulk open things when you're given bulk quantities of the boxes. 25 seconds doesn't sound like a lot but opening 100 in a row would take 41 minutes of doing nothing but menu navigation. That 41 minutes does not grantee that you'll get the rare you want or even the lowly wind knuckle blades you need for a stupid merc mission.
Putting it into perspective The last switch title I played before this was monster hunter XX. It has a system where you can scout for cat friends. These cat friends have specific skills and most of them are terrible or only useful for specific tasks. If soloing you could bring 2 cats with you so you keep an eye out for combat skills or specific fighting styles to support you. There is also something similar to merc missions in the meowster hunters where you send cats out on a mission. The fighting style of the cat changes the amount of type of rewards you get but its not required for the mission itself. Then you have a training studio where the cats can teach each other skills, grind for experience, reroll skills, change their fighting style. Cats can also be assigned to farms to ease the need of farming for materials.
Coming off that versatile and flexible system to one seemingly designed to just waste time was depressing. If you could do a merc mission in gormott that gave you X amount of low rank ores and if you matched the bonus requires (skills/element) the mission went faster and you got higher quality ore. If you could ensure getting a specific element or weapon through some means.There are so many variables that could have been done to just make the merc missions less terrible and more valuable to the player. I understand it levels blades fast but Monster hunter does the same thing without forcing you through skill trees of 5 blades you likely don't care about every merc mission, and if you happen to have a blade quest that requires you to do 10 minute merc missions over and over and over you see that stupid blade level screen far too much.
RIP Ursula, Roc, Ves, Pyra your affinity charts broke me.
/rant off
TLDR version of the above-
-Churning and burning of common blades betrays the core narrative of the game
-Opening the cores isn't fun
-Opening the cores takes too long
-Monster hunter generations/XX handles cats better then this game handles common blades in every way
-Imagine if the merc missions you sent your common blades on gave you collecting items, allowed you to change the blades skills, change the blades element, change the blades weapon. Imagine if the boosters didn't suck and you could ensure that you got the element and weapon you wanted.
Serious ending question: Do not click this includes end of game/story spoilers
They said multiple times that mythra and pyra are the same character the same person. They themselves say this a few times. Then you get to choose what you want to call them. After this the one you dont' choose still shows up multiple times. Then when a character revelation occurs and you assume they'll merge their personalities and become a complete person as opposed to two fragments. In all the cutscenes they remain in this form. Then when the game ends that form goes away and they're back to two fragments of the same person. Why?
I like going back to the affinity charts when circles get filled in and reading the comments the characters "post" about what they thought of that particular task.
I spent almost no money in this game.
If by the first part of Chapter 7 you haven't opened a bunch of cores, understood the pouch/favorites mechanic, worked on some affinity chart progress, and had at least a few successes bursting orbs, it can get a bit rough until you can catch up.
If you tend to play RPGs as a "hoarder" like I do, you'll make less progress in this game. You're really supposed to actively use much of what you pick up. I had to stop and spend a bunch of time slotting items and opening cores and looking at the affinity requirements to try and get an extra 10% damage or protection or whatever by going back and finding the species to kill to satisfy the requirements.
I also got to level 2 of the merc, but trying to get to level 3 with the amount of points each mission was rewarding took too long, so I finished the game without getting 8000 or whatever the number is.
45+ hours in just started Chapter 5. Seemed like a good place to take a break from the story for a while to work on blade affinity levels, side quests, and exploring the early areas more thoroughly. Plus I recently made the switch from Rex to
Morag's
as primary after landing Perceval and taking the time to learn their rhythm/flow has been helpful and really fun. What a beastly duo.
Serious ending question: Do not click this includes end of game/story spoilers
They said multiple times that mythra and pyra are the same character the same person. They themselves say this a few times. Then you get to choose what you want to call them. After this the one you dont' choose still shows up multiple times. Then when a character revelation occurs and you assume they'll merge their personalities and become a complete person as opposed to two fragments. In all the cutscenes they remain in this form. Then when the game ends that form goes away and they're back to two fragments of the same person. Why?
When you get the choice of what to call them it's for their fused form. They let you do this since the game hadn't revealed that forms true name "Pneuma" until you met the Architect. It's also a way for you to choose which girl you prefer and in the game's last scene the one you chose will be the one to speak to Rex when they both return. My take on Pneuma is they use it whenever they're preparing for a fight in cutscene or using it's power (healing Jin, accessing terminals in The World Tree, controlling Aion). Pyra and Mythra still get to appear in cutscenes after Pneuma's introduction because it's just treated as a transformation they can activate at will. They end up separating in the end so they can live their own lives happily. The final cutscene is called "The Last Gift" so it's likely the Architect was behind their split - one final gift before he faded away. That, and it's a cliche feel good ending thing.
Bravery, Justice ect. each represent two blade elements. Whenever you use a booster of a certain type you'll see the two elements swirling around the core crystal. The higher your level with a certain type the higher chance you'll get a blade with one of those two elements. I forget which elements are tied to which type or else I'd post them here.
So how do the special drops work in level 5 of Tiger Tiger? I'm trying to get the master role cpus for Poppi as I grind ether crystals, but I haven't gotten anything other than one light element core. Do the master role cpus appear on easy mode?
Master Ether is the only one the game would give me when I was farming it. I think I got four of those. Also dark cores. 5-6 of those and no other elements.
The highest idea stat, regardless of what it is, gives you a slightly better chance of getting a blade of one of those elements.
The raw number seems to only affect common blades. The higher the idea stats, the better the chance of getting a better common blade (more crowns by the rarity icon). Obviously the type of core crystal also matters a lot though.
I stopped playing this because the mini map is so damn bad. I really want to get back into it, but I was wondering if there are any tips on how to read it better.
The raw number seems to only affect common blades. The higher the idea stats, the better the chance of getting a better common blade (more crowns by the rarity icon). Obviously the type of core crystal also matters a lot though.
Why do you say it only affects common blades? The game states that it increases the chance of getting "stronger blades," which doesn't necessarily rule out rare blades.
I guess you're contrasting this with the tutorial where it says that luck increases the chance of awakening "special blades," right? The different wording is noticeable, but I feel like it still isn't a clear distinction.
I stopped playing this because the mini map is so damn bad. I really want to get back into it, but I was wondering if there are any tips on how to read it better.
The arrow doesn't point to where you're looking, so you need to work it out yourself. I find pressing X to open the map menu is better than the transparent zoomed in one (it's okay in some areas I guess). Another thing to note is that quest icons only appear on the map when you're on the same titan. Also note that there are other named points on the map that are not teleport locations (you have to manually move your cursor over them to read the name); this will help as the game will tell you to go this specific place, but you might not notice just browsing the teleport point names.
What's a good core/accessory/team set up here? I'm lvl 64/65
2) Also, did a lot of salvaging in Cliffs of whatever. Where do I turn all that loot to? Does another town open up late game (chp 9/10?)
3) Lastly , I need to do Allies of Justice 5 but need Godfrey at Strength 35 plus. He's at 34. What can I do to bump that number? Haven't found an aux core that bumps strength
2) Also, did a lot of salvaging in Cliffs of whatever. Where do I turn all that loot to? Does another town open up late game (chp 9/10?)
3) Lastly , I need to do Allies of Justice 5 but need Godfrey at Strength 35 plus. He's at 34. What can I do to bump that number? Haven't found an aux core that bumps strength
2) You can unlock an exchange at Cliffs of Morytha, but you have to complete the quest for the vendors in the area first (the ones at the beginning of the zone).
3) Strength increases by 1 for each affinity node you fill in the affinity chart.
What's a good core/accessory/team set up here? I'm lvl 64/65
2) Also, did a lot of salvaging in Cliffs of whatever. Where do I turn all that loot to? Does another town open up late game (chp 9/10?)
3) Lastly , I need to do Allies of Justice 5 but need Godfrey at Strength 35 plus. He's at 34. What can I do to bump that number? Haven't found an aux core that bumps strength
Serious ending question: Do not click this includes end of game/story spoilers
They said multiple times that mythra and pyra are the same character the same person. They themselves say this a few times. Then you get to choose what you want to call them. After this the one you dont' choose still shows up multiple times. Then when a character revelation occurs and you assume they'll merge their personalities and become a complete person as opposed to two fragments. In all the cutscenes they remain in this form. Then when the game ends that form goes away and they're back to two fragments of the same person. Why?
Didn't Klaus say they were tapping into the Conduit's power that whole time during the last segment? Since it disappeared, I assume that's the main reason why they reverted back to their original state at the end of the game, albeit manifesting as two people now. In any case, the game was kind of undecided throughout on whether they were two individuals, or two halves of a whole. While they are one and the same blade, they are also constantly interacting with each other and with other characters as separate people, such as during Rex's dream. By the end of the game, I guess the answer is kind of both. They are still one blade together, tied to the Pneuma core, but are also two distinct individuals.
Why do you say it only affects common blades? The game states that it increases the chance of getting "stronger blades," which doesn't necessarily rule out rare blades.
I guess you're contrasting this with the tutorial where it says that luck increases the chance of awakening "special blades," right? The different wording is noticeable, but I feel like it still isn't a clear distinction.
It makes a point to separate the two out. And if it does impact rare blades the degree it does so is significantly less than commons. With high enough idea single crown commons are nearly as rare as four crown commons even with the optimal crystal to get each. With it maxed they might be even more rare.
There's also the fact rare blades aren't inherently "stronger" than commons, but realistically you aren't getting commons better than the rare blades until you have nearly maxed idea in the post-game, and pulling one with an optimal loadout like that is probably rarer than getting your last rare blade.
It makes a point to separate the two out. And if it does impact rare blades the degree it does so is significantly less than commons. With high enough idea single crown commons are nearly as rare as four crown commons even with the optimal crystal to get each. With it maxed they might be even more rare.
There's also the fact rare blades aren't inherently "stronger" than commons, but realistically you aren't getting commons better than the rare blades until you have nearly maxed idea in the post-game, and pulling one with an optimal loadout like that is probably rarer than getting your last rare blade.
Note that rare blades are technically 5-crown blades -- I think it's quite likely that "stronger" means more crowns. Honestly, I'd lean more toward higher idea stats increasing the chance of getting higher-crown blades in general, meaning both higher-crown common blades and rare blades, and higher luck only affecting rare blades specifically. Either way, I still don't think it's clear, and I don't think having higher idea stats could hurt your chance of getting rare blades, anyway.
Note that rare blades are technically 5-crown blades -- I think it's quite likely that "stronger" means more crowns. Honestly, I'd lean more toward higher idea stats increasing the chance of getting higher-crown blades in general, meaning both higher-crown common blades and rare blades, and higher luck only affecting rare blades specifically. Either way, I still don't think it's clear, and I don't think having higher idea stats could hurt your chance of getting rare blades, anyway.
Certainly can't hurt, but it's a pain in the ass to farm for what seems like minimal improvement, if anything. FWIW (not much) I got my last rare blades without making any effort to increase idea, just luck and farming core crystals.
When you get the choice of what to call them it's for their fused form. They let you do this since the game hadn't revealed that forms true name "Pneuma" until you met the Architect. It's also a way for you to choose which girl you prefer and in the game's last scene the one you chose will be the one to speak to Rex when they both return. My take on Pneuma is they use it whenever they're preparing for a fight in cutscene or using it's power (healing Jin, accessing terminals in The World Tree, controlling Aion). Pyra and Mythra still get to appear in cutscenes after Pneuma's introduction because it's just treated as a transformation they can activate at will. They end up separating in the end so they can live their own lives happily. The final cutscene is called "The Last Gift" so it's likely the Architect was behind their split - one final gift before he faded away. That, and it's a cliche feel good ending thing.
Didn't Klaus say they were tapping into the Conduit's power that whole time during the last segment? Since it disappeared, I assume that's the main reason why they reverted back to their original state at the end of the game, albeit manifesting as two people now. In any case, the game was kind of undecided throughout on whether they were two individuals, or two halves of a whole. While they are one and the same blade, they are also constantly interacting with each other and with other characters as separate people, such as during Rex's dream. By the end of the game, I guess the answer is kind of both. They are still one blade together, tied to the Pneuma core, but are also two distinct individuals.
Throughout the game I never considered them separate people. Mythra said she made pyra to autopilot while she slept. They shared the same knowledge and seemed like opposite sides of the same coin in terms of personality. I guess I just assumed the final arc of their character was going to be them becoming whole. Klaus also called the green form Pyra when you first enter that room right? So confusing haha.
No wonder lol. And indeed, i am using Morag and Zeke right now with no healer lol. So fun seeing tons of damage flying around.^_^ a bit bad on how lacking my team element burst though.
No wonder lol. And indeed, i am using Morag and Zeke right now with no healer lol. So fun seeing tons of damage flying around.^_^ a bit bad on how lacking my team element burst though.
Lol yeah, that was my party by the end of the game, it seemed the more appropriate thing to do if I wanted to go by the story, and the game really seemed to encourage that too. Really helps that Nia's probably the the best healing blade in the game without even bringing out her dedicated healing art. (with the exception of Ursula's affinity 5 blade-switching) Battle skills, potions and specials are enough to keep the party topped up at any point in time.
