I guess only answer in the vaguest possible terms but do we ever get more elaboration on what exactly Amalthus's deal was? Right now he doesn't feel very fleshed out and it only seems like he turned out to be a villain because, well, look at him he's obviously going to turn out to be a villain. I get that he had a shitty outlook on the world due to his childhood and work with refugees but why did he seem to regret setting Malos loose upon the world only to then immediately turn against Torna once Mythra defeated him and left with Addam?
I guess only answer in the vaguest possible terms but do we ever get more elaboration on what exactly Amalthus's deal was? Right now he doesn't feel very fleshed out and it only seems like he turned out to be a villain because, well, look at him he's obviously going to turn out to be a villain. I get that he had a shitty outlook on the world due to his childhood and work with refugees but why did he seem to regret setting Malos loose upon the world only to then immediately turn against Torna once Mythra defeated him and left with Addam?
Finally finished the game last night after having taken a month long break. (I had to send my Switch off for repairs before Christmas not long after it came out, so I ended up stopping playing at chapter 4). I think the story was a step up from X, but sadly I feel like the gameplay kind of just regressed. Some impressions -
Positives
- I liked the cast of characters much more than I thought.
- By the end I was really engrossed in the story.
- World design was great with interesting lore.
- Glad they got rid of affinity requirements for H2Hs. The H2Hs are pretty fun, and it's nice they added them for the unique blades too.
Disappointments
- While I liked the cast, I feel like they really weren't utilised to their fullest potential. With regards to the party members, I was pretty excited to see interactions between
Zeke and Morag
for example, but they all just get relegated to H2Hs and even then there isn't many. When Nia
comes out as a Flesh-Eater
, not a great deal is really commented on about it. To cut a long story short, the main story/the Aegis etc kind of just dominates all discussion and a lot of the side characters just don't get any time at all. It's disappointing. The game needs more random discussions, "downtime" talk.
- Although I really liked the world and lore, I just didn't care at all to do much exploring or do many side quests. I did a few side quests here and there but gave up rather quickly. The quests are poor, maybe not as bad as the first game, but they're a far cry from X. The map marker was awful for getting to new places, especially when elevation is involved. The new patch has made it a bit better since when I first played it on launch but it's still meh. Further more some sections just overstay their welcome. The best example being the infamous Chapter 4 with the
thief story line containing back tracking, and then the constant going back and forth between the town and doing quests for the robot. The back and forthing is probably what causes half the trouble with people not finding the factory - if you didn't have to report back people would have seen the entrance next to those barrels easily.
Chapter 4 soured me on Mor Ardain, despite liking the story/lore of the nation. By the end of the game I was rushing through places/running past enemies, truth be told. The
World Tree
was meant to be an exciting prospect, and it was at first, until you're stuck in the same corridors and rooms for basically 2 or 3 hours (maybe more if you actually stopped to fight everything) spanning across both
chapter 8 and 9
. I finished XC2 with just under 50 hours on the clock, and I just don't think I'd spend much more time on it outside of coming back for the dlc. Which is disappointing in comparison to X in which I spent over 100 hours exploring and doing all the side quests.
- Story isn't quite as detailed as I'd have liked, some themes are picked up and then not really touched on much.
- Final boss was a pushover, in fact I think chain attacks trivialised a lot of bosses, but I expected more of a final boss.
Morag
was the real final boss for me, she at least took 3 tries, and required me to change my equip slightly to get through her lol.
Negatives
- Gacha blade system. Combined with the fact the items that allow you to give blades to other characters is a limited item, this system just frustrated me really. If you're going to do that, at least make it fairly easy to swap blades between people. Especially when this kind of shows the problems of the AI. The AI seems to swap blades based on combos over what role is needed. Consequently, you'll probably just want 3 blades of the same role on a party member, until you can get to a stage where you don't need an healer or tank etc. However getting multiple uniques of the same role on a person isn't the easiest due to the RNG nature.
- Field Skills were poorly implemented. I like the idea of secret areas and using field skills to get there in theory, it's worked very well in other games, the implementation here is not very good though. Having to constantly swap in blades just to use their field skill to progress got tiring really fast. Even worse, it can block you from story. During Chapter 9 I think it was, I was locked out of progressing because I hadn't gotten Focus up enough on Pyra/Mythra/Wulfric. So I had to break my immersion, teleport out and go around shopping for books, tea and dessert to get it up. Bearing in mind
that we're meant to be currently stuck where we are, we're in a rush to catch up to Torna, and all of the nations are in full alert because the Praetor was controlling their titans, using them in his "war"
, just so I could progress further. What is that? Of all the places to put that field skill check, that was not it.
Ah yes, that makes sense. I actually liked how you had 2 paths, one that wasn't as clear (through the abandoned factory) and one that required clever platforming and landed you in the middle of level 80 monsters.
Kind of dumb question that I had forgotten during the large pile of tutorials, but when an enemy has an element icon on their name, are you supposed to hit them with the same element, or the opposing one?
Kind of dumb question that I had forgotten during the large pile of tutorials, but when an enemy has an element icon on their name, are you supposed to hit them with the same element, or the opposing one?
That icon should be their elemental weakness. If in doubt, a lot of enemies change weakness when they get enraged, so you can listen out for the announcement of which type it's weak against.
Kind of dumb question that I had forgotten during the large pile of tutorials, but when an enemy has an element icon on their name, are you supposed to hit them with the same element, or the opposing one?
The icon is what you need to hit them with. What Gramps yells out is the companion to that element. So he says "The enemy's element is now electric!" and the Earth symbol will appear by the enemy's name, gear up with Agate, Poppi Alpha, Wulfric, etc.
I ran two additional profiles to test best way of obtaining all RNG rare blades as early as possible. The clear goal is obviously to get idea as high as possible, as luck will be capped by the relatively lower level due to the pre-req condition.
-Profile 1-
Approach: Attempted to get a rare for each character as soon as possible, and pouch item fed for trust for all commons obtained during the process to up idea.
Observation: Fairly decent idea gain by middle of ch.3 allowed for about 5 rare blades by that time. However, lack of missions at that point means a plethora of common blades are not developed, making organization a mess once ch.4 rolls around. Also a larger issue with blade distribution due to #4 and #5 not yet being available. I think going all in too early made balancing things around all characters once available a much more tedious affair than necessary.
Result: Perhaps due to approach, or perhaps due to being less lucky, the end result from this attempt was fairly similar to the first playthrough, and due to lack of organization in the beginning, there is a bit more waste in time vs progress.
-Profile 2-
Approach: Open cores only when immediately available blades have maxed out trust. Open a sizable number of common cores once missions are available to have enough of a pool for use. Open cores in large quantity only after receiving member #4.
Observation: Opening cores only when trust is full allowed for more manageable pool before missions are available. By beginning of ch.4, I only had 5 blades per each of the characters (no rares). Increased to 10 per for missions, landed first rare at this time (nanakouli/ursula). Was able to develop idea stats quickly due to good organization and lack of waste from bad affinity nodes (blades with 16 mission nodes, multiple dmg limit nodes, etc were all immediately discarded). Was able to clear rank 3 mission quest at lvl35, allowing for sufficient common blade limit for #4 to join in.
Result: Had 7-8 idea stats across all members at beginning of ch.5 (including #4 after some development) after mass core opening (+1 full krabble farm) and set at 13 rares. 48 Hours in, lvl35 (#4 at 37).
Adding another 10 hours onto profile 2, I am more or less done with Nanakouli/Ursula's affinity quest, at 18 of 20 RNG rares (missing Yaegiri/Zenobia and Tsuki/Dahila), and at lvl37-38 (with #5 at lvl40) after 1 more krabble farm and some story content. Getting Nanakouli/Ursula first was huge because that allowed for much easier affinity development of common blades for fast idea stats and a big pool of S trust commons that can be released for large quantity of boosters. At 2 RNG rares remaining, my last pool of 90+ common/rares did not yield a rare, even with a 10 Truth on Nia. I will likely try 2-3 more krabble farms (~300 common/rares), which will likely put me at lvl39. If I cannot get one or both of the remaining RNG rares by then, I will likely surrender till legendaries can be farmed.
Overall though, I think it is fairly possible to organize a plan in a way where you can have over 10+ RNG rares by the beginning of ch.5. Holding off till missions are available felt more manageable for me personally, and waiting till #4 is available made even distribution easier. The make or break really comes down to getting Nanakouli/Ursula early, as her affinity quest is by far the longest, but also the most beneficial for development of idea stats. The second most important thing is clearing rank 3 mission quest as soon as possible for sufficiently large enough common blade limit to develop #4 at the same time.
You mean the one you have to kill to hit a button to open the last gate, I think? I didn't see a 2k hit from any enemy in the factory. The only screwy damage I saw happened during the boss fight, those 2 had some "interesting" attack powers lol
Finally finished the game last night after having taken a month long break. (I had to send my Switch off for repairs before Christmas not long after it came out, so I ended up stopping playing at chapter 4). I think the story was a step up from X, but sadly I feel like the gameplay kind of just regressed. Some impressions -
Positives
- I liked the cast of characters much more than I thought.
- By the end I was really engrossed in the story.
- World design was great with interesting lore.
- Glad they got rid of affinity requirements for H2Hs. The H2Hs are pretty fun, and it's nice they added them for the unique blades too.
Disappointments
- While I liked the cast, I feel like they really weren't utilised to their fullest potential. With regards to the party members, I was pretty excited to see interactions between
Zeke and Morag
for example, but they all just get relegated to H2Hs and even then there isn't many. When Nia
comes out as a Flesh-Eater
, not a great deal is really commented on about it. To cut a long story short, the main story/the Aegis etc kind of just dominates all discussion and a lot of the side characters just don't get any time at all. It's disappointing. The game needs more random discussions, "downtime" talk.
- Although I really liked the world and lore, I just didn't care at all to do much exploring or do many side quests. I did a few side quests here and there but gave up rather quickly. The quests are poor, maybe not as bad as the first game, but they're a far cry from X. The map marker was awful for getting to new places, especially when elevation is involved. The new patch has made it a bit better since when I first played it on launch but it's still meh. Further more some sections just overstay their welcome. The best example being the infamous Chapter 4 with the
thief story line containing back tracking, and then the constant going back and forth between the town and doing quests for the robot. The back and forthing is probably what causes half the trouble with people not finding the factory - if you didn't have to report back people would have seen the entrance next to those barrels easily.
Chapter 4 soured me on Mor Ardain, despite liking the story/lore of the nation. By the end of the game I was rushing through places/running past enemies, truth be told. The
World Tree
was meant to be an exciting prospect, and it was at first, until you're stuck in the same corridors and rooms for basically 2 or 3 hours (maybe more if you actually stopped to fight everything) spanning across both
chapter 8 and 9
. I finished XC2 with just under 50 hours on the clock, and I just don't think I'd spend much more time on it outside of coming back for the dlc. Which is disappointing in comparison to X in which I spent over 100 hours exploring and doing all the side quests.
- Story isn't quite as detailed as I'd have liked, some themes are picked up and then not really touched on much.
- Final boss was a pushover, in fact I think chain attacks trivialised a lot of bosses, but I expected more of a final boss.
Morag
was the real final boss for me, she at least took 3 tries, and required me to change my equip slightly to get through her lol.
Negatives
- Gacha blade system. Combined with the fact the items that allow you to give blades to other characters is a limited item, this system just frustrated me really. If you're going to do that, at least make it fairly easy to swap blades between people. Especially when this kind of shows the problems of the AI. The AI seems to swap blades based on combos over what role is needed. Consequently, you'll probably just want 3 blades of the same role on a party member, until you can get to a stage where you don't need an healer or tank etc. However getting multiple uniques of the same role on a person isn't the easiest due to the RNG nature.
- Field Skills were poorly implemented. I like the idea of secret areas and using field skills to get there in theory, it's worked very well in other games, the implementation here is not very good though. Having to constantly swap in blades just to use their field skill to progress got tiring really fast. Even worse, it can block you from story. During Chapter 9 I think it was, I was locked out of progressing because I hadn't gotten Focus up enough on Pyra/Mythra/Wulfric. So I had to break my immersion, teleport out and go around shopping for books, tea and dessert to get it up. Bearing in mind
that we're meant to be currently stuck where we are, we're in a rush to catch up to Torna, and all of the nations are in full alert because the Praetor was controlling their titans, using them in his "war"
, just so I could progress further. What is that? Of all the places to put that field skill check, that was not it.
Haha all good, I actually already knew that (but not why), so no damage done :)
Edit: Gacha blade hunt not going so well. Meanwhile my partner who is in the exact same part of the game already has KOS-MOS and another five or so more rare blades than me. My luck is cursed!
Oh look, a boss fight where I'm expected to use a chain attack to finish it, but it's a pain to build your meter anywhere near this fight because all the nearby enemies are right next to each other.
I really like this game, but several design decisions I've encountered so far are downright infuriating to me.
Started farming legendary cores. Used 15 and got Boreas...
3 more Blades to go...
Its really boring using cores. Im getting a bit burned with that. Imo the worst part od the game. Maybe my problem for wanting all the rare blades.
. Is this a quick travel point already or do I need to continue the story? Wondering if its safe to fast travel to another area and not have to walk all the way back lol. Made that mistake earlier when I thought I had hit a fast travel point but hadnt yet.
Started farming legendary cores. Used 15 and got Boreas...
3 more Blades to go...
Its really boring using cores. Im getting a bit burned with that. Imo the worst part od the game. Maybe my problem for wanting all the rare blades.
I'm farming cores too. Had seven blades left and after using 130 legendaries I'm down to only one blade left. I'm not bothering using rare cores, just letting them sit at 99.
I am farming Reeking Douglas with smash spam. Takes me about 4 minutes per kill and usually get between 3-6 legendary cores per battle.
Beta scope for Tora and overclocking bangle in everyone.
Tora breaks I topple Zeke launches I smash with Roc. Sometimes Tora smashes with poppy and the treasure sensor item is great in her.
Farmed the vampire queen for gold chips,rare and some legendary cores Now farming the lvl 130 superboss. ( though it kills me). It gives rare and legendary cores.
I haven't salvaged much, and I am towards end of Chapter 4. Cylinders just cost so much money, then I feel like I don't get a ton out of them. Should I be buying Gold Cylinders? And any place special to salvage at repeatedly this early?
I guess only answer in the vaguest possible terms but do we ever get more elaboration on what exactly Amalthus's deal was? Right now he doesn't feel very fleshed out and it only seems like he turned out to be a villain because, well, look at him he's obviously going to turn out to be a villain. I get that he had a shitty outlook on the world due to his childhood and work with refugees but why did he seem to regret setting Malos loose upon the world only to then immediately turn against Torna once Mythra defeated him and left with Addam?
He never wanted to hurt people per se, which he knew was all that Malos would ever be good for when Malos abandoned him after he started climbing the ranks at the Praetorium. He did, however, have a very dim view of humanity after what he witnessed during and immediately after the War, with the wounded soldier who later became a bandit, and decided that he wanted to take control to stop it. Torna stood in the way there because of Addam's legacy, or because he thought they had the other Aegis and he needed to suppress her to prevent more war, even though she had already been consigned to the deeps at that point.
Spent the day grinding blade affinity charts again. I'm just about finished: i'm going to push into Ursula's 3rd level and try to get Kasandra's third level too, then get what i can out of those third levels, then at long last I'll be ready to proceed into chapter 9.
What was even the point of the whole sub plot about a bunch of kids and the bandits at the beginning of the chapter? Was it just padding? Pretty sure the only thing matters that came out of it is Rex awakening Roc because I'm already at chapter 7, and I don't think the story will ever bring it up again.
So how does salvaging work exactly?
Does the vendor in each area you sell items to just want items from that area or do you have to mix and match? And do the different salvage points in one area have different items?
Like I'm 130 hours in and have never sold an item set lol.
I haven't salvaged much, and I am towards end of Chapter 4. Cylinders just cost so much money, then I feel like I don't get a ton out of them. Should I be buying Gold Cylinders? And any place special to salvage at repeatedly this early?
Yeah, use gold cylinders. Pretty much anywhere is fine (except that shitty spot on the side of the Ardainian ship in Torigoth, fuck that spot). With gold cylinders you should be getting 1 or more chests every time and plenty of treasure. Go to the local exchange shop and you should be able to rake in a good profit. I did a lot of mine in Torigoth at the salvaging spot in the middle of town, but there are probably better places.
And after you do it for a while check your salvaging rank in Argentum.
So how does salvaging work exactly?
Does the vendor in each area you sell items to just want items from that area or do you have to mix and match? And do the different salvage points in one area have different items?
Like I'm 130 hours in and have never sold an item set lol.
