Are you not supposed to explore early Act 3?

[TheRaienryuu]

I'm a bit confused here on the start of Act 3, are you supposed to instantly follow the objective marker and go do that? I wanted to explore as I always do first when unlocking new stuff, but everywhere I go I get annihilated.

Are you supposed to skip exploration finish the objective and THEN explore the new stuff? Or have I managed to just cherry pick exactly those fights that supposed to be done much later/after Act 3?

EDIT: Thanks for the replies, I got a bit confused as my usual exploration only got me one-shot in every new thing I found/tried to fight. I'll continue with the story and get back to other stuff later :)

[GameBuild]

Originally posted by TheRaienryuu:

I'm a bit confused here on the start of Act 3, are you supposed to instantly follow the objective marker and go do that? I wanted to explore as I always do first when unlocking new stuff, but everywhere I go I get annihilated.

Are you supposed to skip exploration finish the objective and THEN explore the new stuff? Or have I managed to just cherry pick exactly those fights that supposed to be done much later/after Act 3?

You can explore other areas before the final ACt 3, or the contrary, finish the main story and come back to explore everything. You will also be able to start a new game plus from any expedition flag at any time after the finale.

[Widgit]

First things to do in act 3: Go back to camp. Talk to everyone. Get their side missions. Work on getting everyone to Rank 7 relationship. When that's done, visit the endless tower (you can't miss it). Do a few levels of that. Upgrade your weapons a bit. Then you can start exploring certain areas, but most of the big bads will still annihilate you. It's a bit of a grind. You want to start focusing on your builds, swapping out your pictos for better ones and upgrading your weapons. Come up with a truly cohesive and synergistic team with solid skill builds. From this point, at any given time, you can go finish the final main story mission... and it won't instantly kick you into NG+. Instead, after credits roll, the next time you load, you'll be back in the final mission before the final fight, from which you can continue to explore the open world (there's an expedition flag right next to you), or choose to switch over to NG+. There will still be plenty to conquer throughout the map before you switch to NG+ if you so choose, but you will need to continue to increase your power in order to succeed. Hope this helps.

[thoma5nator]

Yeah, Endless Tower and Chosen Path are the next couple things you should do.

If you need a source of Lumina, (Dessendre family spoilers) Renoir's Drafts has endlessly repeatable mobs that are guaranteed to drop Colour of Lumina on death. You can even fight the merchant repeatedly if you so choose. Bear in mind, it has some real Elite Mooks.

[parent child bowl]

Originally posted by Widgit:

First things to do in act 3: Go back to camp. Talk to everyone. Get their side missions. Work on getting everyone to Rank 7 relationship. When that's done, visit the endless tower (you can't miss it). Do a few levels of that. Upgrade your weapons a bit. Then you can start exploring certain areas, but most of the big bads will still annihilate you. It's a bit of a grind. You want to start focusing on your builds, swapping out your pictos for better ones and upgrading your weapons. Come up with a truly cohesive and synergistic team with solid skill builds. From this point, at any given time, you can go finish the final main story mission... and it won't instantly kick you into NG+. Instead, after credits roll, the next time you load, you'll be back in the final mission before the final fight, from which you can continue to explore the open world (there's an expedition flag right next to you), or choose to switch over to NG+. There will still be plenty to conquer throughout the map before you switch to NG+ if you so choose, but you will need to continue to increase your power in order to succeed. Hope this helps.

Ignore all of that and just finish the story first. If you do side content before that, you will trivialize the combat of the story.

[Widgit]

Originally posted by parent child bowl:

Ignore all of that and just finish the story first. If you do side content before that, you will trivialize the combat of the story.

This is also a valid opinion. It doesn't completely trivialize it unless you wait way too long to finish the story. I wouldn't go grinding the open world to level 99 or anything first. Definitely complete the story before that. But I'd say at least get yourself a couple weapons to level 23+ and refine your party/builds a bit first.