Is anyone else struggling to understand things lol

[Kev]

I am reading the tutorials that come up and my God I am confused lol. I follow it then it goes on to say something else and I and my girlfriend both laugh and look at each other and say "EH?"

I know in these games it all makes sense as u progress but holy hell this feels more complex than the others for some reason I am having a hard time following or remembering everything.

The biggest thing is the martial arts page. I can't figure out what the diagram is telling me lol. Like which button combo does what? I am going to google it soon but did anyone else struggle here?

Also, why am I not learning any skills. I still only have 3 for Sorey :S
Is it just slow? I am 8 hours into it, just got to the 2nd village where you see a drake and I only have 3 arte skills - that normal?

Forgive me if I have forgot something as I started this game at Christmas then stopped and came back to it so I might of forgot something lol - do you learn skills randomly like you do in the other games?

[Gen]

Haha I feel the same. Every battle brings up a new tutorial, building upon what I was suppossed to learn 15 tutorial messages earlier. Im only 5 hrs in, but hoping it will all sink in sometime. Really enjoying it so far though. Xillia was the last Tales game I played, but it seemed a lot simpler.

[Kev]

Yeh I loved Xillia! (especially the first one). 2nd one was still good but some things were silly
I can do the battles fine, but I can safely say I do not understand everything so far lol.

I also find the chars and story a bit bland in this one but I am still liking it

[Simon]

Although I know the controls to this game now. But compared to other tales, it is true that it very complex and confusing. To add more complexity, there is this equipment fusing, and these x2, x3 skills and "unnamed equipments". (Although you dont need to know all these. Knowing how to battle and how to fuse is enough)

[Kev]

Oh yes, the fusing. That stuff is confusing me so much lol. I just don't bother so much and get on with the game. Glad I am not the only one confused. There seems to be too much going on at once. You try to equip something and theres a million different pieces of information to look at lol BOOM Head overload. The game just seems a bit all over the place in comparison to the others.

However I am just going to play it without worrying too much and if the game suddenly gets too hard then I will try to fuse and understand it all.

How about the A arte skills, did either of you learn many yet with Sorey?

[Simon]

I was confused about the mechanics last time. But now, I've already understood/mastered most the mechanics in this game.

For the arte-related question you are asking. Just keep leveling up and you will eventually get all the artes.

[Kev]

Originally posted by Simon:

I was confused about the mechanics last time. But now, I've already understood/mastered most the mechanics in this game.

For the arte-related question you are asking. Just keep leveling up and you will eventually get all the artes.

Cheers, just seems weird I only have a few of them. Making the combat not so fun. I need some more! I will keep playing and levelling.

[ValleyOfStories]

Honestly, I still haven't fully grasped everything and I beat the game. lol As for the martial artes page...

The leftmost column is the first arte that your character will use if you press the button displayed (can be different depeding on how you set your settings) + the control stick in the corresponding direction. Then the next column on the right of that is the selection of artes you can use after that, and the corresponding direction u need to press your control stick.

eg (just random selection, idek if this is in the leftmost column since it's been a while, and yes I am just naming random attacks I remember from all tales games, this is abt the principle XD)

leftmost column

x+control stick middle -> demon fang
x+ control stick up -> lion's howl
x+ control stick left -> sword rain
x+ control stick right -> whirlwind splash
x+ control stick down -> eagle dive


column next to it

x+control stick middle -> bloody inferno
x+ control stick up -> angel feathers
x+ control stick left -> tidal wave
x+ control stick right -> beast
x+ control stick down -> first aid





okay so let's say you have this. Then if you press x+ control stick left and then immediately after that x+ control middle your character will combo with sowrd rain and then bloody inferno. If you press x+ control stick down, then x+ control stick up the character will combo with eagle dive and then angel feathers. it's like one arte from the first column will always be your first arte, one from the second will be your secon arte etc, but you can choose which one of those and use them in any combination. The principle goes on with the third and fourth column first button selection = chooses arte from first column, second button combination chooses arte from second column, third button combination chooses arte from third column etc. Of course these only work if you press the buttons in immediate succesion, if you wait too long it will start from column 1 again. Also a combo will be cancelled if your SC are too low (blue meter). Basically use one attack = use SC, use another attack directly after = use SC... at one point your SC will be empty and the only way to refill them is being idle/dodging. So this game requires a combination of attack and dodging, you can't just use combo after combo after combo and spam infinitely.

... I hope that kind of explained it.

About the fusion system, I don't know about that, never really understood it, never made good use of it, still beat the game. So yeah. XD

[Kev]

Originally posted by ValleyOfStories:

Honestly, I still haven't fully grasped everything and I beat the game. lol As for the martial artes page...

The leftmost column is the first arte that your character will use if you press the button displayed (can be different depeding on how you set your settings) + the control stick in the corresponding direction. Then the next column on the right of that is the selection of artes you can use after that, and the corresponding direction u need to press your control stick.

eg (just random selection, idek if this is in the leftmost column since it's been a while, and yes I am just naming random attacks I remember from all tales games, this is abt the principle XD)

leftmost column

x+control stick middle -> demon fang
x+ control stick up -> lion's howl
x+ control stick left -> sword rain
x+ control stick right -> whirlwind splash
x+ control stick down -> eagle dive


column next to it

x+control stick middle -> bloody inferno
x+ control stick up -> angel feathers
x+ control stick left -> tidal wave
x+ control stick right -> beast
x+ control stick down -> first aid





okay so let's say you have this. Then if you press x+ control stick left and then immediately after that x+ control middle your character will combo with sowrd rain and then bloody inferno. If you press x+ control stick down, then x+ control stick up the character will combo with eagle dive and then angel feathers. it's like one arte from the first column will always be your first arte, one from the second will be your secon arte etc, but you can choose which one of those and use them in any combination. The principle goes on with the third and fourth column first button selection = chooses arte from first column, second button combination chooses arte from second column, third button combination chooses arte from third column etc. Of course these only work if you press the buttons in immediate succesion, if you wait too long it will start from column 1 again. Also a combo will be cancelled if your SC are too low (blue meter). Basically use one attack = use SC, use another attack directly after = use SC... at one point your SC will be empty and the only way to refill them is being idle/dodging. So this game requires a combination of attack and dodging, you can't just use combo after combo after combo and spam infinitely.

... I hope that kind of explained it.

About the fusion system, I don't know about that, never really understood it, never made good use of it, still beat the game. So yeah. XD

Interesting, will take another look later lol. That all makes sense but I had some that I didn't even have the skills for so I didn't understand what it was telling me lol, unless u can do some combos with normal attacks. My memory is hazy I will have to go on the game again and reply properly later lol

[Vandread]

Disclaimer:
I'm not that great at explaining things. Due to the nature of questions this is going to be rather long as I'm trying to cover as much ground as possible to try to take away as much confusion as I can. My apologies for not sticking to one aspect at a time and jumping back and forth, but it's rather unavoidable as explanations of a certain system requires explaining another system as well.




In Zestiria your characters all have a certain amount of actions they can perform after which a combo forcefully ends. Since you've played Xillia, I would say - imagine it as its form of AC. That was the number in the sword icon on the UI, which you could raise through Assault-skills or through performing certain actions in battle - in case you forgot.

Everything you do in quick succession, be it martial artes, hidden artes, seraphic artes or dodging, all takes 1 AC. By default, you have 4 AC (3 if armatized). This can only be increased through stacking 4 of the same skills/runes together, which would increase your count by 1, thus allowing you an additional action.


By skills/runes I mean the effects found on items, such as Atakk (+4% physical attack), Tempescht (+5% Blast Gauge when reaching 10 combo), etc. Achieving a certain amount of similar skills/runes on your gear unlocks Stack-skills. If you have skills 'side by side' in the skill window, you gain a bonus skill as well - so-called E-Union skills. If you complete a full column, you gain a G-Union skill.

All of these Stack/E-Union/G-Union skills are described in a guide on Steam already, so you don't need to go looking for them specifically. Certain gear will also give you one of those bonus skills already in its first slot (which is handy in some cases) - in example the lowest level rings, such as Void/Wind/Fire/etc rings.

Keep in mind you only get those fancy bonus skills for as long as their requirements are met - changing a piece of gear could mean your entire skilllist will look radically different!


To take away some of your worries: Fusing gear is something you really don't have to spend too much attention to in your first playthrough. Well, unless you're aiming to throttle up to the highest difficulty asap... Either way, I'll leave a very (too) short explanation on how it works regardless.

Merging 2 items together:
Item 1:
Atakk
empty
Reziss
empty

Item 2:
Atakk
Atakk
empty
empty

Result:
Atakk + Atakk = Atakk (same skill is retained)
empty + Atakk = Atakk (empty slot gets populated)
Reziss + empty = Reziss (empty slot gets populated)
empty + empty = empty (remains empty)

It gets more complex if you're merging 2 items with different skills in the same slot. A new skill gets generated based on the skills found on the original 2 weapons. There is a guide up on Steam teaching you how to 'predict' which skill will show up.

The new skill that gets generated remains in a 'locked' state, and will get unlocked as you use the item and its proficiency is leveled. Skills in a 'locked' state count as 'empty' while fusing. That aspect is something that will help a lot if you're looking for a certain combination of skills on your item.

Once an item reaches +10, you can 'sanctify' to double up on its effect in its first slot. In the above case, the first slot would become Atakk x2 (+8% physical attack). Keep in mind that this particular effect will only count as 1 stack in the skills/runes window, so it won't automatically give you the Anthem-stack skill. However, if you decide to play a NG+, there is an option in the grade shop that DOES let it count as a 2-stack.


Now for the quick run-down on the battle system:

So as an example, not to spoil anything, I'll use Sorey as a demonstration.

In terms of martial artes, if you keep a 'neutral' movement during attacking, you will end up using:
Striking Fang -> Steel Render -> Trihawk -> Starfall
(if you look in your martial artes window, this is the topmost line)

Now let's say you're holding up for the first attack, and then shift to 'neutral', you will end up using:
(up) True Fang -> (neutral) Steel Render -> Trihawk -> Starfall

You can of course also shift into up from a neutral and back:
(neutral) Striking Fang -> (up) Tiger Blade -> (neutral) Trihawk -> Starfall

If you're trying to use an martial arte that you don't know yet, the game defaults back down to the neutral position. So until you've learned a martial arte in the fourth column, Sorey will always use Starfall as the 4th martial arte.

Let's say you've just attacked a mob and then you dodge to the side, your next attack will be:
Striking Fang -> DODGE -> Trihawk -> Starfall

Assuming you dodge towards a mob in order to get into position quickly for whatever reason:
DODGE -> DODGE -> DODGE -> Starfall

Thus far I hope it makes sense.

Now let's say you're going to mix in a hidden arte, say Heavenly Torrent (this is the first one you get).
Striking Fang -> Heavenly Torrent -> DODGE -> Starfall

If you stop inputs for just a second (or run out of SC), you'll drop back to the very first slot on attacks...
Striking Fang -> Steel Render ...
Striking Fang -> Steel Render

Now let's say you achieve that 4 stack of skills I mentioned, boosting your "AC" to 5. In practice it means you're essentially on the very first slot again, since it's basically cycling through things:
Striking Fang -> Steel Render -> Trihawk -> Starfall -> Striking Fang ...

As an added bit of info here, if you're looking for endless combo's, you're going to have a pretty rough time. There is a way to get unlimited "AC", but it's not something you'll likely get on your first playthrough.

Later on you will also get something called 'Blast Chain' battle action, which takes 1 BG, restores 50 SC and resets your "slotcount" back to the very first one. You'll have to be on slot 3 to use it (slots 1 and 2 are other effects). So as an example:
Striking Fang -> Steel Render -> Trihawk -> Blast Chain -> Striking Fang -> Steel Render -> Trihawk -> Starfall

This entire explanation, with the exception of Blast Chain, also applies to Armatized forms. The only difference is that in armatized form you don't have 4 slots in terms of actions, but only 3. That much should be obvious if you look at the arte configuration windows for the armatized forms as fire in neutral state only has 3 attacks:
Vermillion Crescent -> Burning Shards -> Purgatory of Flame

The same rules apply, so dodging or casting a seraphic arte would take up a slot as well.
DODGE -> Burning Echo -> Purgatory of Flame


Keep in mind that pushing monsters hard with combos will likely make them go into hyper-armor state, in which case they don't take -any damage- at all and -dont get staggered- . This is one of the more annoying aspects of the game, especially if you're looking to unlock a certain battle action.

This wraps up the majority of things you'd need to know, I suppose.


Learning artes is almost entirely done by simply leveling up. There are a few artes that you learn through events. The most important ones are unmissable, but there are some tied to events that are not related to the story.
Your next arte you're going to get is shown in the equip screen if you select the currently equipped title. I believe the last arte you learn is somewhere up in the high 60s, possibly low 70s even. I don't recall precisely.


I hope this helps somewhat.

[Kev]

Wow Vandread, seriously you deserve a medal. Thank you for taking the time to explain that. This post should be stickied for noobies hehe.

That actually makes so much sense but where in the game this was explained I do not know. I had no idea about the whole skill system neatral thing! That confused me so much so thank you for that. I never even realise block or dodge counted towards the order. I thought you would then just start again from the first part but no. So basically if you do Striking Fang, Block/dodge the next attack you do would be the 3rd slot. in the skill.

I think I followed that correctly. Thank you so much. As I say I am still early days for a Tales of game so still learning the ropes but I am starting to like it a lot more now so I will hopefully get further soon.

[Vandread]

Originally posted by Keblin:

That actually makes so much sense but where in the game this was explained I do not know.

Most of it is explained in-game I believe. Take a look at the Library -> System Book -> Battle section. It's just that they don't have any actual examples listed, which is a bit of a downer. Still, it might be useful to take a look.

Originally posted by Keblin:

I never even realise block or dodge counted towards the order. I thought you would then just start again from the first part but no. So basically if you do Striking Fang, Block/dodge the next attack you do would be the 3rd slot. in the skill.

Dodge counts to the combo counter. Block doesn't and actually breaks your combo and thus resets you to slot 1.

I would say, try things out in a battle on some trash-monsters.

Originally posted by Keblin:

I think I followed that correctly. Thank you so much. As I say I am still early days for a Tales of game so still learning the ropes but I am starting to like it a lot more now so I will hopefully get further soon.

Yeah, it kind of took a while before a couple of things clicked for me too. Just keep at it, eventually stuff will start making a lot more sense.

[Kev]

Yeh I think the bigger problem was I started, I read all the guides and then I stopped for a month or two due to house move so then I forgot everything haha. I did read some bits again but I've clearly got confused still.

Cheers though, all makes much more sense now!