5 Xenoblade Chronicles Tips and Tricks for Newcomers
Last Updated on: 13th February 2023, 11:31 am
While Xenoblade Chronicles is an over decade-old game, we thought it was maybe time to explore some more Xenoblade Chronicles Tips and Tricks.
Nintendo released an updated remaster for the Switch, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, and if you’re a JRPG fan, this one is an absolute must-buy. With the holidays having recently passed, now is a great time to grab it and jump in!
The game can be a daunting one that could last a player well over 100 hours if playing to full completion, and while a very well-crafted game, some things aren’t explained perfectly or in enough depth. That said, here are five Xenoblade Chronicles Tips and Tricks that can help out any new entrant into the massive world of Xenoblade!
Xenoblade Chronicles Tips and Tricks – 1: Search EVERYWHERE
One of the claims to fame of the Xenoblade Chronicles franchise is its huge worlds for the JRPG genre. Personally, I always try to look around wherever the game lets me like in an open world, but the game incentivizes you to do so as well. Every time one stumbles upon a new segment of the map, the player is rewarded with EXP, AP, and SP, useful resources for upgrading your characters.
More secluded areas offer higher yields, and each area within a map houses Unique Monsters one can fight for new weapons and armor to nab up. Later in the game, one may even find treasure chests containing some of the best weapons and armor in the game!
Xenoblade Chronicles Tips and Tricks – 2. Grab Quests in Bulk
Xenoblade Chronicles is a game filled to the brim with content, and quests are quite a big portion of it. Over 400 quests exist in the game, and factoring out branching paths there are still about 380 to complete. A good half of these quests simply ask the player to kill enemies, grab items, or report to other NPCs, and even the more story-dense quests’ objectives tend to boil down to these categories.
Whenever entering a new area, scan it over once in the daytime hours and once at night to try and scoop up every quest you possibly can before continuing with the main story. One update made by the new release is marking quest objectives related to enemies and random map drops marked on the overworld map, and as such, it’s easier to optimize your time than ever before. Trust me, this approach will cut down a ton on running back and forth from the main hubs and surrounding areas.
READ MORE: Xenoblade Chronicles Complete Character Guide
Xenoblade Chronicles Tips and Tricks – 3. Read The Tooltips!
This is an issue that plagues many early MMORPG players and is one that is crucial to mastering Xenoblade Chronicles’ combat as well. Every character in the game has a total of 16 different Arts or techniques they can use in battle. However, aside from the protagonist, Shulk, each character may only equip half of these Arts at once.
As such, you have the decision to make on which techniques will make their way into battle. Carefully read what each move does, and what other moves it may or may not synergize with, and decide which moves will be on the chopping block. Near every move does have some sort of use, but leveling up Arts requires AP which can be a chore to grind so it’ll help to plan out which moves you plan to use and level up as you progress through the game.
Xenoblade Chronicles Tips and Tricks – 4. Utilize Gem Crafting Often
Many pieces of armor contain gem slots, which are fairly similar to Final Fantasy VII’s material or accessories in other games. These allow you to boost a character’s raw stats or give them passive effects like chances to attack twice, recover more HP, resist status effects, and a plethora of other effects as well.
About 25% into the game a quest rewards you a portable gem crafter, which allows you the ability to craft gems anywhere in the world. To do this, two characters must be paired off (preferably with high affinity) and ether crystals must be selected.
As soon as one effect reaches over 100%, a small crafting minigame will begin. In the end, you will receive gems for all those effects that passed 100% and crystals for those which didn’t. There’s a good bit of depth to this mechanic, enough to write an entire guide really. For the purposes of this, though, I’ll just say to keep an eye on your ether crystals and make gems whenever you see they can outpace gems you already own.
Xenoblade Chronicles Tips and Tricks – 5. Remember Trading Exists
While not extremely useful as a feature, named NPCs in Xenoblade Chronicles can be offered to trade items, such as collectibles and weapons or armor. These NPCs’ trade item lists change as you get closer to the inhabitants of the world, and can sometimes net you good gear or items with low drop rates in small portions of the overworld.
Likely, you won’t find yourself trading too much, but attempting to trade with NPCs to check what they have may save you some time running around the overworld looking for that one. Gosh. Danged. ITEM!
Remembering these five Xenoblade Chronicles tips and tricks will help any new player get accustomed to the massive world this game offers and streamline their time in the game.
Hope you enjoy your time with this wonderful game! If you feel I left out anything important, leave a comment and help teach new players some Xenoblade Chronicles tips and tricks!
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