Before you get to the meat of the game, first follow the story. Get some advice about speeding up your experience, getting rich and filling up the affinity on the town. Also help with the relationships between the main characters.
Calm before the Storm[edit]
One year later you get to meet Shulk and Reyn at the Mechon Wreckage Site. This time Shulk will be the party leader starting at Level 1. After the cutscene, the party will be facing off against a Colony Krabble using Mechon Armor as a shell. Once you defeated the monster, a mix of Level 1-2 monsters, mostly Little Bunnits and Little Skeeters, will spawn in the vicinity but they won't be hostile unless you attack them.
Follow the instructions and take out as many monsters as you can to increase your level. New players, especially those new to JRPGs, should practice using Chance Art because it is one of the key mechanics to winning fights. A Chance Art is any Art that deals bonus damage when certain conditions are met such as being behind an enemy. There will be a blue box with an exclamation on the Art when it becomes a Chance Art. While you're in the area, look out for floating blue orbs to fill up your Collectapedia to unlock upgrades.
Follow the minimap's dotted lines to a village called Colony 9 where upon arrival Reyn will leave your party. Don't talk to anyone at the moment. Go to Central Square to the Weapons Development Lab located where the Military District is on the left side. You meet Dickson before he lets you off to Outlook Park.
Trio Trouble[edit]
Dunban is unable to move because he overused the Monado with his right arm. You control Fiora at the moment. Go to Outlook Park to find Shulk. Whatever you wear affects the cutscenes. When the cutscene is finished, party affinity and heart-to-heart is unlocked. Heart-to-heart can be goofy but it's important in improving relationship as it's possible to finish the whole game with every main character getting along with each other well.
Heart-to-heart is like Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love's mechanic, but Xenoblade Chronicles is about building up party affinity relationships, which plays a role in the in the chain attack. For example, in Outlook Park, choose "You and Dunban" and "Kind of" to up the relationship by nine hearts, the opposite is "I invited you" and "You wanted to marry me?!" to bring down eight hearts but add one heart up at the end. In situations like this, it's best to save often so you can experiment with the results of the dialogue choices. Find out which gives a positive response and it will save you the trouble later on.
After Outlook Park, go to Weapon's Development Lab to find Reyn touching the Monado as it goes haywire and almost slices Fiora! After the first part of the conversation, Shulk sees visions of the future for the first time with people you will meet later on.
You control Shulk and Reyn as you're going to Tephra Cave. From the entrance, go to the far forkleft of the path until you reach the cave. Fiora joins you and it's a good time to pile up and complete as many quests as possible. As you go along, don't forget to level up your arts, even though you can't link up just yet.
This is a perfect time to build up more of your party affinity relationship through battles, sidequests and through gifts as well as filling up your collectapedia. Your going to need it to make your chain attacks longer, to help with your chances in taking down more tougher monsters as the game does slowly gets harder. Perhaps it's worth noting there's no random encounters and when it comes to a boss, you won't have to watch the cutscene again.
- How to use Shulk, Reyn and Fiora
- Shulk doesn't have a lot of arts, but after the Mechon attack, Shulk will have access to the Monado to make up for the lack of arts.
- Reyn is like a tank. His arts are for keeping the monster heavily distracted and to help the team defeat it more easily.
- Fiora in human form has only four arts. Even at level 75, with all her arts maxed out, she's stuck using her four arts with no way of healing so both Shulk and Reyn has to help her in this early section.
Mechon Strikes Again[edit]
To keep it brief, Tephra Cave is very limited in the exploration. Apart from Caterpillar Nest and Mag Well Ruins, you can't go in the locked red door just yet which is located near the exit. When you're done with the sidequests (or not depending on your choice) exit the cave at the other end.
After collecting Ether Cylinders, your town's in danger. Jump into the lake and hurry back to town. You'll control Shulka and Reyn at the moment as Fiora check's on Dunban. All you can do is break and topple. Once Fiora comes back, hurry back to the weapons lab to find that it's blocked off. Also it's the last time you'll see Fiora in human form. Go to the central as you'll control Shulk and Reyn with Dunban joining the party for a brief period of time.
Shulk with the Monado for the first time[edit]
With the Residential District blocked off, go through to the entrance where the Monado change hands. Well, there will be a cutscene showing for the last time Dunban using the Monado. You'll see the future again. For now, you can use enchant and mechon damage strike. You'll meet Metal Face with claws I might add. A cutscene seeing Fiora using the mobile machine before she gets her just dessert. Or so we thought. Attacking Metal Face once more. In the end, this sets off Shulk's revenge with Reyn tagging along while Dunban stays behind for his body to heal itself. Dunban will join your team permanently far later on.
Special advice: As soon as Shulk, Ryen and Fiora comes together, do as many sidequests as you can. The reason is simple. Enemies can be as tough as you think. You'll get tons of experience and money to help you get better clothes and weapons. In particular, Shulk is the only one who can't sell his weapon selection at all.
If you're playing the second time, the highest level for Fiora if you repeatedly attack the birds in Air-Battery 3 on a small platform is level 75 if you want to max out her four arts. It's time consuming but it works anyway.
You can only use the Gem Man's Stall to create gems after the Mechon attack. To create gems anywhere, as soon as you reach the end of Sartorl Marsh and help Otharon get the refugees over. Then get Colony 6 to level one to get the Ultra Small Reactor, bring it to the man and you get the item.