Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Nintendo Switch)

Some of the optional bosses could be a right pain in the arse, but anything that lets me listen to that boss battle music is a win in my opinion!

I always have Elma in my party for bosses so that I get Uncontrollable from X as the battle music

Ok, so I've jumped back into this after a year and a half off and I don't know what I'm doing. I've managed to bluff my way to Olethro Playhouse but now get absolutely destroyed by the boss and get nowhere in trying to defeat them.
Can anyone explain fighting and blades to me or link to a simple guide, because at the moment I just have my default ones, wait for attacks to fill up and use them. Occasionally a combo happens but I've no idea why

Hyperion wrote:Ok, so I've jumped back into this after a year and a half off and I don't know what I'm doing. I've managed to bluff my way to Olethro Playhouse but now get absolutely destroyed by the boss and get nowhere in trying to defeat them.
Can anyone explain fighting and blades to me or link to a simple guide, because at the moment I just have my default ones, wait for attacks to fill up and use them. Occasionally a combo happens but I've no idea why

Are you levelling up by resting at the Inn after you've done side quests? A lot of people can end up missing that entirely and think you only level up by grinding fights.

Rex Kramer wrote:The important part of a chain attack is getting those element orbs on the mob before initializing it. If any of this is obvious then please ignore. When auto attacking, if you trigger a blade art on b, x or y just after landing an attack then this charges the gauge on the a attack. This has three levels, I II and III. Triggering a level I attack creates the elemental tree in the top right corner (looks like an outrun map). Follow that across with a matching II and then a III puts an elemental orb on the enemy of the same sign as that attack. Triggering Fire, Fire and then Fire gives a fire orb. Once you've got 2 orbs attached then it's time to trigger a chain attack as that will give you three rounds if you destroy the orbs.

The idea then is to break one orb per round (and only one). You get to do 1x level I for each blade across all drivers. So if you've got a fire orb and a water orb then using a water elemental attack will break the fire orb. If you dont have water then you can still break a fire orb by using several fire attacks instead. After those 3 attacks have done and if you've broken an orb then a b button prompt will appear. Get that right and you'll have 1 attack with each driver at level II. Miss it and you get another round of level I. Break the other orb and same again.

Lagamorph wrote:

Hyperion wrote:Ok, so I've jumped back into this after a year and a half off and I don't know what I'm doing. I've managed to bluff my way to Olethro Playhouse but now get absolutely destroyed by the boss and get nowhere in trying to defeat them.
Can anyone explain fighting and blades to me or link to a simple guide, because at the moment I just have my default ones, wait for attacks to fill up and use them. Occasionally a combo happens but I've no idea why

Are you levelling up by resting at the Inn after you've done side quests? A lot of people can end up missing that entirely and think you only level up by grinding fights.

I was not, cheers!

Rex Kramer wrote:The important part of a chain attack is getting those element orbs on the mob before initializing it. If any of this is obvious then please ignore. When auto attacking, if you trigger a blade art on b, x or y just after landing an attack then this charges the gauge on the a attack. This has three levels, I II and III. Triggering a level I attack creates the elemental tree in the top right corner (looks like an outrun map). Follow that across with a matching II and then a III puts an elemental orb on the enemy of the same sign as that attack. Triggering Fire, Fire and then Fire gives a fire orb. Once you've got 2 orbs attached then it's time to trigger a chain attack as that will give you three rounds if you destroy the orbs.

The idea then is to break one orb per round (and only one). You get to do 1x level I for each blade across all drivers. So if you've got a fire orb and a water orb then using a water elemental attack will break the fire orb. If you dont have water then you can still break a fire orb by using several fire attacks instead. After those 3 attacks have done and if you've broken an orb then a b button prompt will appear. Get that right and you'll have 1 attack with each driver at level II. Miss it and you get another round of level I. Break the other orb and same again.

Ta, I get how to do the I, II, III attacks but I'm not sure if it's matching or how I make sure and I've no idea about the orbs

Hyperion wrote:

Rex Kramer wrote:The important part of a chain attack is getting those element orbs on the mob before initializing it. If any of this is obvious then please ignore. When auto attacking, if you trigger a blade art on b, x or y just after landing an attack then this charges the gauge on the a attack. This has three levels, I II and III. Triggering a level I attack creates the elemental tree in the top right corner (looks like an outrun map). Follow that across with a matching II and then a III puts an elemental orb on the enemy of the same sign as that attack. Triggering Fire, Fire and then Fire gives a fire orb. Once you've got 2 orbs attached then it's time to trigger a chain attack as that will give you three rounds if you destroy the orbs.

The idea then is to break one orb per round (and only one). You get to do 1x level I for each blade across all drivers. So if you've got a fire orb and a water orb then using a water elemental attack will break the fire orb. If you dont have water then you can still break a fire orb by using several fire attacks instead. After those 3 attacks have done and if you've broken an orb then a b button prompt will appear. Get that right and you'll have 1 attack with each driver at level II. Miss it and you get another round of level I. Break the other orb and same again.

Ta, I get how to do the I, II, III attacks but I'm not sure if it's matching or how I make sure and I've no idea about the orbs

there should be something in the hub indicating what element to use next, dont forget to familiarise yourself with the elements of everyones blades

I wonder if they will include any features from this in the upcoming XC DE?

Urgh, stuck on this now because I can't get past things without skills being certain levels

Hyperion wrote:Urgh, stuck on this now because I can't get past things without skills being certain levels

Something you might not know (I didn't until about 30 or 4p hours in), you can split the level requirement across multiple blades on multiple characters.
So if you need a Level 3 skill, but only have 3 blades with it all at Level 1, just equip the three blades across one or all of your characters and it'll work.

The only drawback is the blades have to be actively engaged on your characters at the time. Field skills of blades just in your inventory don't count.

ITSMILNER wrote:I wonder if they will include any features from this in the upcoming XC DE?

Would love the battle system being transplanted into it. Can't imagine they would though. The battle system in XB1 is good, although it's kind of basic in comparison to XC2's combat system.

I finished Torna last night after starting it a month or so ago. I had finished the main game earlier this year as well but don't think I posted about it.

The main game was a fantastic sequel with another wonderful world to explore but sadly hampered by the field skills checks. I also felt less engaged with the side-quests as a lot of them felt like fetch quests without the streamlining from XC1 Nonetheless, I still enjoyed exploring the world and the combat system, though it's a shame that the last tutorial is so late in the game! The links to the first game at the end were great to see and I'm very excited to find out if XC3 will take them further.

Torna felt much more focused and the limited number of blades made the field skills more manageable. I enjoyed building the community level in the world, and it reminded me of filling the Bomber's Notebook in Majora's Mask, but the side-quests did also fall into the trap of being very fetch quest heavy. I did manage to get the community to level 4 before pushing on to the final battle and ending

I'll take another break before starting Future Connected but then should be ready for XC3, or even the remake of X.

Ha, I've just seen my post about jumping back into this and not understanding anything further up the page
Ditto but for 2022! I've worked out the fighting again, but I still don't get how to 'chain attack' though.
I'm stuck at the World Tree at the moment so have just been doing some side quests

Chain attacks are triggered when you fill the party gauge (by using arts, inflicting effects on enemies, collecting potions, using combos) they basically let each driver use a special in turn to attack an enemy and can cause lots of damage. You can combine them with Blade Combos to cause even more damage by adding and bursting elemental orbs on the enemy

I get how you add the elemental orbs. How do you burst them?

Hypes wrote:I get how you add the elemental orbs. How do you burst them?

during a chain attack you pick an attack of the opposing element. each is in a pair. fire and water, light and dark, earth and lightning, wind and ice

Started this over the last few days. I've just finished chapter 2 and escaped the Warship.

I think I'm getting to grips with the mechanics ok. Some of the early battles don't really help you get to grips with things when you barely even get to charge up an art let alone start combos. I do quite like the rhythm of the combat. Timing arts with auto attacks. Waiting for the third auto attack etc. It's just very difficult to keep this going with SO MUCH STUFF happening. Does seem a lot harder to use positioning compared to 1. Also I don't know if its just me but I'm sure it use to be easier to switch targets.

I liked the initial intro but a couple of the main quests up to this point are a little slow going. Some of the humour is a bit hit and miss for me. Its trying just a little too hard and a bit like some of the character designs I'm finding it tonally jarring at points. But still enjoyable.

The world is typically amazeballs although I am finding it a little tricky to keep up with names of people and places and factions etc. Love the Laputa vibes. Barely feel like I have explored the opening plain area.

Not so keen on the other blade. I dunno if the one you get is random or scripted but it seems like a non entity. I can see how it will be useful (I assume you them to choose the elements you want for the combos later on) but having one out only for Pyra to replace it in a cut scene just adds to how "nothing" it is. Would rather Pyra just unlocked other elements/modes/states somehow. But will shall see.

Can't seem to find a way to turn the hud off for screen shots

Tora's closet

The Watching Artist wrote:Tora's closet

Meh Meh!!!

The combat does have quite a few elements to it which take a while to understand and gel together, but IMO it's a fantastic system once it all becomes clear - I've still not played a JRPG with combat that matches it.

You definitely do need to find some help outside the game to get the most out of it IMO. The game's tutorials are dire.