.>Dash button
Press the L button to move around in combat faster. Mostly used for positioning, such as getting out of AoE range of enemies, or into range of allies buffs.
.>Fusion arts
Get to know your allies better to be able to change into their class. Get class EXP to learn their arts. When the arts on the left Pallet are filled, press the ZR button to bring up the fusion menu, which lets you use both arts at once. Increases Interlink level.
.>Interlink
Fuse with your partner to create a giant. Depending on Interlink level, the power will be different and certain arts get more effects at more levels
That is pretty much everything new gameplay wise. They will have a gameplay showcase on June 14th as well as the final trailer, which will explain more systems, like Riku's weapon and armor augmentation and Manana's cooking.
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.>Riku's weapon and armor augmentation and Manana's cooking.
Figured I would just go ahead and explain these. No one will believe me anyway.
Riku is going to have a gem crafter, the portable version that got made in 1. You won't be able to do crafting like in 1, you'll instead give Riku unrefined gems and various catalysts. Riku will turn them into refined gems that you'll be able to socket into your weapons and armor to increase your stats. You'll get 3 pieces of armor, pants, chest and head, they don't change your appearance. Armor not only gives you stats such as agility, strength or more HP, but will also give you unique augments, like increased crit damage or crit heal. Essentially a combination of 1 and 2's systems.
Manana's cooking acts like 2's pouch items, but for the whole party. You can prepare a dish with 3 ingredients, they must be different. Ingredients are things like, meat, fish, plants. Buffs do things like increase your running speed, opening art damage or even damage against certain enemy types.
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Q Are there alternate/bonus costumes and stuff? Or is the outfit tied strictly to the classes?
A Just tied to classes. I don't know if there will be any DLC like 2 to change outfits, though I can guess they might since they specifically made it 'armor' instead of accessories.
Q How do you even know this? Have I missed some reveal? If this is true it sounds awful, I had the impression that Monolith learned from their past fuckups and had an understanding of what does and doesn't work, but maybe not. If I have to grind out affinity I'll probably pick a party setup and never change it afterwards so I don't have to deal with this shit. XC3 really isn't looking like the game I was hoping it would be.
A I'll let you take a guess how I know these. It shouldn't honestly be surprising. The grind won't be as bad as you imagine. Because the entire party is 'active', every quest increases your affinity gain with everyone and h2h are still a thing. Aside from that, when you are at camp you can select 2 characters to do an activity with each other. These include things like gathering supplies, which will get you a random set of collectables from the area you are camping in as well as keeping first watch. Certain characters are better then others at the tasks, so you have to choose between being efficient and increasing your affinity.
Q Riku and Manana seem too involved to not be controllable.
With the word choices with Ouroboros pairs, it seems like you are implying we have more than three Ouroboross.
I guess some characters like Malos are able to perform Ouroboros on their own from some special circumstances or have alternatives.
A Sorry, but I'm saying that you will only have 6 controllable characters. Monolith realized that having you get your full party up front was a little silly and so they are giving you a 7th bonus character every few chapters. Valdi is the next one you get after Riku and Manana and they are in charge of your vehicles. The place where you see Valdi being attacked is a Keves dock, you are there to steal a boat to be able to get out of the Wasteland.
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I suppose it's safe to say, not like they would be able to pick me out of the group. It was QA testing. We get like 2 hours to play the game, starting from the Wasteland. I ignored most of the stuff in there to try and advance the story as fast as I could. I was suppose to skip cutscenes, but sometimes they wouldn't be paying attention and I could watch.
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ABOUT ARTS MAPPED TO D-PAD
Back, didn't think people would actually care. Those are "linked" arts. They are arts that you can gain by leveling up your class. The first ones you'll see are the default ones for your characters class. If you switch classes, they will be available to use. You start with only 1 slot and unlock more as you level up the class you are using. You can press the buttons on the Dpad to use the art, but they don't recharge by hitting enemies like the one on the right, they recharge with time. You can also use them together with the corresponding art on the right with the fusion button to create a fusion art. So say that Noah has leveled up Mio's class and gained Wide Slash. He can press Up on the dpad to use it and it will go on cooldown. Or he can press ZR and X, which will use let's say, Ground Beat and Wide Slash at the same time. The two arts will combine all effects. This means that not only will you evade, but both Ground Beat and Wide Slash will hit all enemies in range. Arts used in fusion combos take longer to charge, but they increase interlink levels. You can only use a Linked art from the opposite type. So circle arts, which come from Keves classes and diamond arts, which are Agnus classes.
Fusion arts are mad powerful, they allow you to do shit like inflicting Bleed on all enemies if you have an AoE art to Link to.
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It has dips a lot, yes, but it runs smoother than I was expecting. Most of the time battles keep up just fine, which is much better then 2's constant dips down to 10fps. I would say it's pretty consistently at 30, even during big specials from the Ouroboros.
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ABOUT LANZ
He's easy going and laid back for the most part. He tells Eunie that if the group had wanted to kill them, they would have done it in their sleep. He takes to Sena pretty fast as she's constantly challenging him to strength competitions. You see them in camp almost constantly doing things like pushups, sit ups. weight lifting. Lanz is a gentleman though and worries that Sena looks so delicate and that he's going to break her. It's hard to tell if he's feeling romantic interest in Sena, or if it's an overprotective big brother thing. Overall, he feels like Reyn 2.0.
QUICK RUNDOWN OF THE CHARACTERS' PERSONALITIES
Sure. Noah is the dependable leader. He feels competent, like he's been a soldier for a while. He is quick to delegate tasks for everyone. I guess you could say he feels like a younger Dunban.
Mio is totally the mother/big sis of the group. She's constantly looking out for everyone, but doesn't like to let others know about her problems. When Noah asks her about her diary, she quickly changes the subject. I think they want the group to be shocked about how much time she has left.
Sena is the little sis, she's overly exuberant in everything she does. Is always hanging off of Mio and wanting her attention and is always looking for ways to prove herself. If someone, like Lanz offers to carry something, she's there offering to carry that and 2 more.
Taion is a bit of an ass. He feels like Ahkos a lot, but less psycho. He's always trying to make sure everyone sticks to the plans he makes, even when the plan is no longer relevant. If you get surprised by an enemy, he will call out for a full retreat so he can make a new plan.
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NOAH AND LANZ
Pretty bro from what I saw. Though Noah is always asking Lanz to stop babying him. Lanz's number one concern always seems to be Noah and it seems to stem from something in their past that happened, but I wasn't able to view the scene, they made me skip it. You do find out about it really early though, at the Wasteland camp before meeting up with Riku and Manana again. The two have an after battle banter about which of them did the most damage and Eunie having to get them to refocus.
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ABOUT VEHICLES
The tutorial hints that there will be more than just the boat and lists Valdi's 'job' as pilot. I'm just assuming that there will be more. The world is pretty huge and I wouldn't doubt that they are going to give us an airship of some kind. 2 was originally supposed to have an airship for getting around to the various Titans, but they dropped it in early dev. So I think most of the dropped ideas are making a return.
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ABOUT THE WORLD
It feels like X, there are no loading screens, but you'll be constantly moved around by cutscenes. There are tons of fast travel points because a lot of them are camp sites. You'll want to keep a look out for them, because camping gets you a lot of cool stuff, like a free way to gather up materials from gathering points. It is also the only place where Manana can cook.
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PERSONAL OPINION ON COMBAT
VERY good, the best in the series. You move so fast and the fusion arts open up so many combinations.
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