Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Beginner's Tips (NO SPOILERS) | Blade Combos Explained, Core Crystals & More

[@Fjuczers]

This is my 3rd or 4th "combat guide", but for sure this is THE BEST!!! Simple and correct terms (others have problems even with that), red circles, zooming. Now I get Blade Combos and Driver Combos. Thank you so much! PS: Tips about "R" button and "all focus on that enemy" are mindblowing! In earlier videos before no one mentioned them at all!!!

[@corytanksley7909]

Thank you! I've beaten xbc 1 and 3. But 2 has such convoluted mechanics, I never got around to beating it, but I'm finally giving it a shot. This guide has helped me sooo much. Even by chapter 4, I didn't know some of this.

[@TwilightWolf032]

The mechanics are rather simple, the problem is that the game just SUCKS at conveying its mechanics. The tutorials only give half-asssed explanations, and they are so spaced out and locked behind story events (which you might space out even further depending on how many side content you want to tackle) that you will inevitably end up forgetting what the terms and intricacies explained even are to begin with! It takes about 2 to 3 hours for the game to finally let you Topple enemies with Rex's base art with Homura, at which point it introduces the concept of Launch and Smash, but you don't have any Blades capable of executing that combo unless you get RNG blessed. And a little further the game finally introduces the concept of the Elemental Orbs you have to accumulate and break during Chain Attacks, but your cooldowns are so long during the early game and you lack Blades to pull out the combos that you will not be making any use of it until mid game, when you finally get enough Blades to fill all slots in your party (let's just hope you don't get RNG screwed and get enough variety in the elements). The problem isn't the mechanics, they are rather simple - Driver Combos are just Break > Topple > Launch > Smash, completing this combo deals a ton of damage and grants extra items, while Blade Combos are just Special I > Special II > Special III to deal a lot of damage, debuff the enemy and create an elemental orb that you can break during Chain Attacks to extend the duration and deal more damage. What is complicated is how the game presents those mechanics to you because of the VERY STUPID Gacha system! The game can't possibly know what Blades you will have at a determined point of the story, so it can't integrate them mechanically and story wise in the main path, but the game does require the variety to properly convey its gameplay mechanics, which you are likely to only obtain many hours after you have already forgotten the half-assed tutorial!

[@blablablubb7623]

Holy shit, I watched so many guides and nobody ever told me you could put away your weapon. Thank you so much

[@xenonarine]

This is the simplest and easiest understand guide for newbies. Thanks!

[@angeloong3853]

Thank you for your tips! Of all the beginner’s guide I’ve watch, yours is the most easiest to understand. Thanks for your help!

[@thatnintendoquality]

Thank you so much! I was hoping it was easy to follow

[@tristanneal9552]

The left button to focus on an enemy is clutch, I'm on chapter 4 and don't recall any tutorial teaching that one.

[@Gamer-g2v1r]

There is one. When you first fight Vandham after getting swallowed by Uraya, you fight him, Yew and Zuo. That's where the game tells you about the button.

[@jzblue345]

That button is very important because the AI is not very good.

[@BourneFighting]

This was actually helpful! Zooming and marking screen icons was useful. A lot of other tips videos are just talking over the chaos of combat and idk what in looking at. Thanks for the upload and good luck on the channel!

[@thatnintendoquality]

Very happy to hear that!

[@misssunshine6200]

I know this is old but you got a new subscriber! As someone new to these kinds of games I am so confused but so determined because I’m not one to give up in the face of frustration lmao 😂 I’ve cried, I’ve been so stressed, I’ve been ocerwhelmed. So many things to try to learn and understand. But your video is the ONLY VIDEO that has helped me. You put it in easy to understand words and I can not thank you enough!

[@thatnintendoquality]

This is so great to hear! Thanks very much for checking out the guide and I hope you enjoy the game. I was very confused at first but it ended up being one of my favorites!

[@stripedrajang3571]

How are you doing so far with this game, misssunshine?

[@Noplayster13]

Do you know what we really need a tutorial for? How to mute Tora.

[@HenrikMyrhaug]

Definitely use pouch items, especially arts recharge! Also, do your best to always use your arts by canceling into them from another art or an auto attack. This charges up your other arts, making combat move so much faster! In order to get a successful attack cancel into an art, you need to use the art at the same time as, or slightly after the last hit of an attack. A single attack can consist of multiple hits, so make sure you only use your art on the hit that is the last in an attack. When it comes to pouch items, Narcipear Jelly is great, but if you don't have money, you can also buy the one that is slightly less expensive with 0.3 arts recharge. I also feel like most people sleep on Cream Orange Paratha and Victory Smoothie, which can be gotten in Gormott. These also give you arts recharge, allowing you to have multiple pouch items both giving you arts recharge at the same time, and you won't run out of Narcipear Jelly so fast. I just want to get across how useful the arts recharge effect is, so here is some math if you want to read: The arts recharge bonus indicate how many points your arts recharge by each second. Most arts have a recharge between 6 and 12 points, meaning it takes from 15 to 30 seconds for the pouch item with 0.4 recharge to recharge a single art. Now remember that you have three arts, and that means on average, you can use an art somewhere between every 5-10 seconds only from one pouch item recharging your arts, without ever auto- attacking. If you auto attack in addition, and chain your attack into an art with auto attack cancel, you will charge each art by 2 points every time another art is used. So when you use an art, if you used an auto attack cancel into the art, and another art becomes ready, you can cancel into that one, charging your first art by 2 points. You can then use your 3rd art with an auto attack cancel to charge your first 2 arts by 2 points each, and assuming the entire process until now has taken 5 seconds, you will have charged your first art by 6 points, and your second art by 3-4 points, meaning your first art is likely already more than half way charged by just using your arts. With 2 arts recharge pouch items, you could easily have charged every art by another 2 points in that time, meaning your first art would be charged by 8 points and your second by 5-6 points (since you ended off by using your 3rd art, it will not be charged). Keep on using pouch items and attack cancelling into your arts, and you can use arts many times faster than if you only used auto attacks to charge them up. By upgrading your arts to give them low charge times, you will eventually be able to permanently use arts, and never have to use another auto attack to charge them up, given you have two pouches with arts recharge items, and you constantly cancel arts into each other.

[@papasears1982]

another good way to figure out the combat works is to put it on AUTO and keep an eye on whats going on and the buttons that are being used to make things happen. Whos ready for Switch 2 and Xenoblade Chronicles IV?

[@Lagiacrus1996]

God thank you. There's another tutorial out there that immediately jumps into party member spoilers whilst discussing auto-attacks -.-"

[@thatnintendoquality]

Yikes! Glad my video could help. Enjoy the game

[@WetMeatWrestling]

I’m 20 hours in and new to the franchise and this is an amazingggg tutorial. Best I’ve found. Ty ty ty ❤️❤️

[@thatnintendoquality]

So great to hear that! Thank you! Enjoy the game. I love it so much

[@foalspreshow]

sooooo helpful, thank you! i know it’s gonna take me quite a bit of time to get used to blade combos but this vid makes me feel like i’m on the right track!

[@thatnintendoquality]

Glad to hear it was helpful! Oh don’t worry, Blade combos took a long time for me to understand. It was worth it in the end though :)

[@TronimusPrime]

Thanks for the help dude. I tried getting into the first xenoblade and i couldnt because it was too confusing. Im giving this one more of an honest try. If i have any trouble, ill refer back to this channel.

[@thatnintendoquality]

Thanks for watching! Enjoy the game. I like it even better than the first (although I admit it’s more confusing). And if you have any questions just reply here

[@Odder-Being]

Just started playing this game on a emulator and let me tell you if you set it up the right way graphic mods includes and the 60 Fps mod you are in for a treat. This game is a true gem absolutely awesome. And you sir did a exceptional good job explaining the game mechanics straight to the point and no useless sidetracking, well done!

[@FirstLast-yc9lq]

Thanks. The Blade Combos were the only things confusing me, I remembered reading the tutorial for it but forgot because 14 more tutorials happened after it. Gotta say while I find the gameplay loop addicting, I can’t say it is any more enjoyable than XC1 for me. A lot of this combat is more button pressing to do similar things you did quicker in XC1. I can’t say I feel it really improved on anything from XC1. I think I just preferred the quicker and streamlined interface of the first game. Also I have no evidence of this, but man, it feels like they had the Wii U Gamepad in mind for a lot of things in this game.

[@thatnintendoquality]

I do enjoy how XC2 is more timing-based. XC1 combat has less going on, but in a way, that’s its strength. I’m curious why you think it felt like the Wii U Gamepad was in mind. That’s something I never thought of. But, it’s not crazy to think XC2 might have started development as a Wii U game.

[@FirstLast-yc9lq]

@@thatnintendoquality I think it’s most noticeable with the waypoints - I spent a good hour and a half following the waypoint at the beginning of chapter 3 (I think) to leave the area and the waypoint was not even remotely close to leading me where I needed to go mostly because it only indicates the end destination rather than leading you along the path. I suspect that is where Wii U game pad came in. I also noticed the enemy targeting is a lot more clunky as well like there was meant to be a more interactive way to target enemies that was lost. Like I mentioned, I don’t have any evidence for this but there are basic mechanics in here that just seem to be missing something. Seeing as how they had the monolith soft team split between this and BOTW, I wouldn’t be surprised if that played into the lack of refining either.

[@thatnintendoquality]

@@FirstLast-yc9lq That's so interesting. Also, I know exactly the part in Chapter 3 you mean :)

[@isaiahthechristiangamer8716]

Thank you, SOO MUCH!! I was so confused on most of the mechanics. There is just a lot of things going on in this game.

[@JsAwesomeAnimations]

Congrats on getting 1k subs

[@thatnintendoquality]

Thanks :)

[@minuterice19540]

Just a minor nitpick, the way the video described blade combos is a bit off. The video implies that continuing a blade combo requires using a stronger special than the one you used in the previous step, but that's not quite it. Rather, each step of the blade combo requires a minimum special level, and the level of the special you used on the previous step doesn't matter as long as you hit that minimum. Starting a combo requires a level 1 or higher special of any element, continuing a combo requires a level 2 or higher special of the appropriate element on the tree, and finishing the combo requires a level 3 or 4 special of the appropriate element on the tree. Otherwise, good stuff to get new players started.

[@archdukegordy2189]

Thank you so much for your guide! As others have said, a lot of the other combat guides aren't as clear and have missing content. (I have a feeling that's because people were trying to crank out guides as fast as they could right after the game's release to get the most views.) But you really took your time to explain these concepts clearly, highlight areas of the screen and symbols to look at, in a simple and methodical way. I just bought my copy last week so I'm very late to jump on the bandwagon but it's been really fun so far, even if it's challenging.

[@thatnintendoquality]

Very nice, enjoy! The game is so fun I actually want to play it again soon, haha. I’m glad the guide was helpful. Tried to keep it as simple as possible and I’m glad that translated to others.

[@iamradical]

Thanks dude. A lot of good tips here.

[@thatnintendoquality]

Glad it could help

[@cvflyboy]

This is the best tips for this game.. thanks

[@thatnintendoquality]

Glad to hear it :)

[@brandonwithnell612]

thanks for this, just started 2 and the differences in combat betweeen 1 and 2 through me through a loop, just wasnt understanding the blade combo thing, and that breif moment your alone in the forest city was quite tough, my idiot self was trying to do quests or grind without a party and was getting floored, mainly just trying to get used to the timing to hit buttons now, i did learn that using a skill on the hit of the third auto attack gives the biggest boost in damage and chain progress though

[@thatnintendoquality]

Nice tip about the 3rd auto attack. I can totally relate when I first started this game. You will definitely get more used to it with time, and now I actually prefer it to 1. I’m happy the guide could help a bit

[@papapapa16]

You should also mention that touching the left stick resets your auto-attack, meaning you can just flick it to spamm the first hit and raise your arts faster, timing the arts meters to be full when the third auto-attack combo hits.

[@thatnintendoquality]

Yes, great point. Flicking the stick for auto attack is a big one. The game does not tell you this. It takes some practice to get right, but makes fights a good amount quicker.

[@markthegamerofgrima6159]

I liked that joke at the beginning! And I agree with it as well, no one explains game mechanics better than Chuggaconroy! (No offense)

[@sheeeesh253]

This been helpful thanks now i just to have to start over again to do this.(Currently im in chapter 2 but meh i will start again).

[@thatnintendoquality]

Enjoy! It’s a really fun game

[@xTheMetalTrucker]

Thank you, you answered a lot of my questions

[@thatnintendoquality]

Glad to hear it. Enjoy the game!

[@anabang1251]

Thanks for the great tips!

[@GrandpaMaxGaming]

Fantastic video! Very insightful.

[@MTH062K.O]

I wish I have fun as much as you and chuggaconroy have 😢

[@Cool-Vest]

Surprised you didn't mention chain attacks. Like sure, you don't unlock them until chapter 3, but I didn't know how to extend them until chapter 9. This video wasn't perfect, but it is great to get new players moving.

[@YUQI____]

this helped me so much thnx man

[@jaypinto9242]

Thanks so much for this video. It helps a lot man!

[@thatnintendoquality]

Thanks for watching! Glad it helped

[@oblivion2674]

If you want more aggro do more dmg. Dmg is the most important thing to gain aggro

[@ponceponte4416]

**everyone, even the enemies, speak at the same time and absolutely nothing is understood, killing the environment and giving you a headache** Rex: .......My tHoUgHtS ExAcTlY!.

[@HighSound-Studios]

Great guide 👌

[@thatnintendoquality]

Appreciate that!

[@mistergreen5300]

Wow definitely no spoilers here

[@Limit5482]

Loved and finished XC1 DE and XC3(my fav if all time now) plus all DLC I’m really trying to like this one but it’s very hard I really dislike the map with no markers and just wondering around for hours I just dot understand the map system at all I will try and give it a good go because REX made me very curious about this in Future Redeemed

[@thatnintendoquality]

Map system is a bit tough. The main quest marker will lead you where you need to go, but sometimes there are different levels to the terrain so it gets confusing (Gormott comes to mind). Sometimes it’s worth just checking a guide to see the best path. This game could have used a Follow Ball like in XCX or the navigation in XC3. But it’s worth sticking it through! I think you’ll appreciate Future Redeemed much more after too.

[@Limit5482]

@@thatnintendoquality got a tip by someone who told me about the little arrow to show if it’s above or below That helped a lot I’ll stick it out now but I’ll play it on easy I usually play these games on hard and don’t have any trouble but this one is not that fun or interesting. Battles are way too long to long with very little exp so I’ll just smoke through it with minimal side quests. I like the way it looks and it’s related to FR so I’m happy to play it for that

[@tristanneal9552]

Subbed! Great video. Two remaining questions: 1) When bonding a core crystal, what are boosters? 2) On the blade affinity menu, some unlocked abilities have a "Idea" with a weird symbol activated by pressing +. What do? I did one and it took me out the overworked and gave me some favor text...

[@thatnintendoquality]

Thank you! Those are 2 very confusing things. Boosters will increase your odds of getting a blade of a certain elemental type. For example, Bravery increases odds of Fire and Water. The other stats increase odds of other elements (the full list is online). You can use up to 5 boosters to increase the odds, if I recall correctly. On the blade affinity menu, I believe those “idea +” nodes refer to that characters base idea level (ignoring boosters). So for example, unlocking one of those will increase a characters idea beyond using 5 boosters. So, if you grind up to idea lv. 5 on a character by bonding with blades, then giving 5 boosters to that character would temporarily raise it to 10. Which would be max odds for getting a blade of one of that stat’s promoted types. When I’ve played the game I didn’t really worry about this system much and just used the blades that the game gave me. But it’s very useful if you’re trying to obtain certain rare blades.

[@tristanneal9552]

@@thatnintendoquality okay, thanks for the quick reply! That makes sense and I play the same way - probably won't worry too much about my blade draws

[@Gamer-g2v1r]

@@thatnintendoquality Also: You don't have to use the max amount of Boosters all the time. It's enough to use enough Boosters to get the idea level one point higher than the other idea levels. Like if all your idea levels are 5, you'd only need to use one Booster to get increased chances for that element since the level of that idea would now be 6, which is greater than 5. It doesn't matter if you use more Boosters than that. It just has to be one higher.

[@Alvis44]

Avoid yt shorts if you dont want spoilers guys

[@pabloa.gutierrez406]

2024 here ❤

[@AlcottAthena-f9x]

Johnston Port

[@toastofc6570]

enels gudes are superior to chugga's

[@The1Mustache3]

Couldn't get past chuggaconroy voice. Unbearable. Nails on a chalkboard.

[@iamradical]

I am so bad at this game

[@lukeItsAmeMArio]

10hours in i can say this game sucks

[@tunod-]

The cancelling had me so confused for no reason at all simply because the game explains this twice early on. First it has a tutorial that explains how to charge up the special gauge and then it explains cancelling which pretty much goes hand in hand. So I thought I was doing something wrong bc theyre literally applied the same way. 😐