Xenoblade Chronicles 3D

1 Important Information

Basic Information

2 About amiibo

3 Parental Controls

Getting Started

4 Prologue

5 Characters

6 Beginning the Game

7 Save Data Management

Playing the Game

8 Controls

9 Exploring the Field

10 Selecting Targets

11 Menus

Battles

12 Combat Basics

13 Party Affinity

14 Art Icons

15 Buffs

16 Debuffs

17 What Do I Do...? (FAQ)

StreetPass and amiibo

18 Collection Mode

Support Information

19 How to Contact Us

1 Important Information

IMPORTANT

Important information about yourhealth and safety is available in theHealth and Safety Informationapplication on the HOME Menu.You should also thoroughly read theOperations Manual, especially the"Health and Safety Information"section, before using Nintendo 3DSsoftware.

Please read this manual carefullybefore using this software. If thesoftware is to be used by youngchildren, the manual should be readand explained to them by an adult.

♦ Unless stated otherwise, anyreferences to "Nintendo 3DS" or"New Nintendo 3DS" in thismanualapply to the NewNintendo 3DS™/3DS XL systems.

♦ This software can only be playedon New Nintendo 3DS/3DS XLsystems.

The in-game language depends onthe one that is set on the system.This title supports five differentlanguages: English, German, French,Spanish and Italian.If your Nintendo 3DS systemlanguage is set to one of these, thesame language will be displayed in

Language Selection

the software. If your Nintendo 3DSsystem is set to another language,the in-game default language will beEnglish.For instructions about how to changethe system language, please refer tothe System Settings electronicmanual.

♦ In-game screenshots in thismanual are of the English versionof the software.

♦ Where necessary to clarify whichpart of a screenshot is beingreferred to, references to on-screen text in these screenshotswill include the English text in[square brackets].

For age rating information for thisand other software, please consultthe relevant website for the agerating system in your region.

www.pegi.infoPEGI (Europe):

USK (Germany):www.usk.de

Classification Operations Branch(Australia):www.classification.gov.au

OFLC (New Zealand):www.classificationoffice.govt.nz

Age Rating Information

Russia:minsvyaz.ru/ru/doc/index.php?id_4=883

Advisories

This software (including any digitalcontent or documentation youdownload or use in connection withthis software) is licensed byNintendo only for personal andnon-commercial use on yourNintendo 3DS system. Your use ofany network services of thissoftware is subject to theNintendo 3DS Service UserAgreement and Privacy Policy,which includes the Nintendo 3DSCode of Conduct.

Unauthorised reproduction or use isprohibited.This software contains copyprotection technology to preventreproduction and copying ofcontent.Your Nintendo 3DS system andsoftware are not designed for usewith any existing or futureunauthorised technical modificationof the hardware or software or theuse of any unauthorised device inconnection with your Nintendo 3DSsystem.After the Nintendo 3DS system orany software is updated, anyexisting or future unauthorisedtechnical modification of thehardware or software of yourNintendo 3DS system, or the use ofany unauthorised device inconnection with your Nintendo 3DSsystem, may render your

Nintendo 3DS system permanentlyunplayable. Content deriving fromthe unauthorised technicalmodification of the hardware orsoftware of your Nintendo 3DSsystem may be removed.

This software, instruction manualand other written materialsaccompanying the software areprotected by domestic andinternational intellectual propertylaws.

Trademarks are property of theirrespective owners. Nintendo 3DS isa trademark of Nintendo.

© 2010-2015 Nintendo Co., Ltd. /MONOLITHSOFT

KTR-P-CAFP-00

2 About amiibo

This software suppor .You can use compatible amiibo™accessories by touching them to theTouch Screen of a NewNintendo 3DS/3DS XL system.

♦ An amiibo can be read by multiplecompatible software titles.

♦ If the data on your amiibobecomes corrupted and cannot berestored, go to the HOME Menu

⇒ amiibo Settings andreset the data.

Your amiibo aren't just for show. Youcan use NFC (near-fieldcommunication) to connect them tocompatible software and play withthem in the game. For moreinformation, visit:http://amiibo.nintendo.eu/

IMPORTANTA light touch on the Touch Screen isenough for the system to detectyour amiibo. Do not press the amiibo

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into the screen or forcefully drag itacross the screen.

3 Parental Controls

You can use the following ParentalControls to restrict certain featuresof this software.

♦ For more information aboutParental Controls, refer to theOperations Manual.

● StreetPassRestricts the earning of tokens(p. 18) via StreetPass™.

4 Prologue

This is a story from another dimension,from another time – from one of amultitude of other universes. In thisworld, all that existed was a boundlesstranquil sea, and a sky without end.One day, this world changed.

The Bionis and the Mechonis, the twogreat titans, appeared in this world assuddenly as a bubble bursting, lockedin single combat with their veryexistence at stake.The clash of their monumental bladesechoed wide across the waters, untilthe very air shook...Eventually, both titans poured their allinto one strike and – in that moment,everything fell silent.

Eons passed.

A race of humans called the Homs,who call the Bionis' remains theirhome, found themselves fighting forsurvival.The sudden invasion came from theMechonis.Their enemy was the Mechon – anunstoppable force of warrior machinesclad in armour of gleaming steel. Theunflinching Mechon gave no quarter intheir relentless campaign, as if hell-bent on claiming the lives of every lastHoms man, woman and child.

But the Homs would not die on theirknees.

For in their hands was the Monado – alegendary sword that had broughtabout the Mechonis' end ages before.The Homs hero Dunban raced acrossthe battlefield, the Monado firmly inhand, single-handedly laying waste toentire swathes of Mechon troops.Yet even Dunban himself did notescape unscathed, as the boundlessenergy overflowing the Monadognawed at his flesh.Feeling his body failing, Dunbanspurred himself on to one last effort.The Monado struck and, with a torrentof light rushing from the blade,obliterated all Mechon caught in theblast.

A year has now passed since the Homsstood victorious at their last stand. Awhole new creation myth is about tounfold.

5 Characters

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6 Beginning the Game

♦ To change the settings for a game

already in progress, sele(System) from the in-game MenuPalette.

Adjust the settings of your newgame.

Continue from a previously-savedgame.

Earn tokens and collect charactermodels and music tracks through araffle. (p. 18)

Open this electronic manual.

Start a new game.

Use to select a menu item, thenpress to confirm.

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7 Save Data Management

Sele (Save) in t (System)section of the Menu Palette to saveyour progress.

♦ You can keep up to three separatesave game files.

♦ You may not be able to save incertain in-game locations.

Sele (Load) in th (System)section of the Menu Palette to loada previously-saved game.

♦ Take care when erasing save data, asdata cannot be recovered onceerased.

You can pres while selectingdata to erase the selected data.Alternatively, you can hold down+++ while the game loads(after the Nintendo 3DS logodisappears, until the title screen isshown) to erase all save data.

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● Do not turn the power off,reset the system or removeGame Cards/SD cards whilesaving. Make sure not to getdirt in the terminals. Theseactions could result inpermanent data loss.

● Do not use externalaccessories or software tomodify your save data, as thiscan lead to an inability toprogress or loss of save data.Any modification is permanent,so be careful.

8 Controls

Select

Move party leader

Pause during eventscene

Confirm

Back/Cancel

Move camera

Zoom camera out +

Zoom camera in +

Reset camera +

Talk/Examine

Jump

Trade

Target /

Open Menu Palette

Open area map

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¹ Pre +/ to target the monsternearest to you instead.

♦ As you progress through thestory, new tutorials will continueto be added.

You can always sele(Tutorials) in th (Other)section of the Menu Palette formore information on the controlsand other aspects of the game.

Party command: Focusattacks! +

Switch targets /¹

Party command:Engage at will! +

Party command: Cometo me! +

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9 Exploring the Field

Displayed on the lower screen, itshows your current position andimmediate surroundings.

The destination is inanother area. Trychecking the storymemo if you're lost!

You're in the middle ofa story quest.

♦ Sometimes the below icons may beshown instead.

If your destination is located inthe current area, this marker willshow you its direction anddistance.

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As time passes, day turns intonight, and back again.

You can manually change the in-game time by going t(Change Time) in th (Other)section of the Menu Palette.

Current position and bearing

Destination

Monster

Camera direction

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10 Selecting Targets

This shows the monster's leveland sense type, if any. Thewindow's colour corresponds tothe monster's danger level.

Pressing / will automaticallytarget the nearest monster, anddisplay various information about it.Pressing / again lets you changewhich monster is targeted.

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Sense Types

Sound

Attacks yourparty when ithears yourfootstepsclose by.

Visual Attacks yourparty on sight.

SpeciesLoyalty

Attacks if amember of itsspecies(kindredmonster) is incombat withyour party.

Ether

Attacks yourparty whenether is usednear it.

GroupLoyalty

Attacks if amember of itsgroup is incombat withyour party.

Danger Level

Equal

Easy

Weak

Strong

Danger

♦ Monsters considered "easy" willnot attack you unless they areunique monsters. Unique monstersare adversaries powerful enough tohave their own name.

♦ During battle, the Flee and ChainAttack options become available.

Use to switch the icon, thenpress to activate.

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11 Menus

The lower screen shows a list ofyour items, while the top screencontains detailed information aboutthe selected item. You can use thetabs to switch between differentcategories of items. Press tochange how the items are sorted.Select an item and press to useor discard it.

You can use the various gamemenus to access information usefulwhen roaming the field, or adjustsettings relevant to battles.

Press whilin the field tbring it upSelect menitems with then press tconfirm.

Access this menu to check yourinventory or craft ether gems fromether crystals.

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Item with slots for ethergems

Equipped item

Unique item with fixed ethergems

Select a party member and press to be able to change theirequipment. You can add ether gemsto equipment wi (slots).

♦ When an item is selected, the statsshown in blue will be raised byequipping the item, while stats shownin red will be lowered.

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"Ether" is a special type ofenergy that exists in this world.One of the ways the Ether statcan be raised is by adding ethergems to equipment.

Character Stats

StrengthAffects the powerof auto-attacks andPhysical Arts.

Auto-AttackDamage

The attack powerof auto-attacks.

AgilityAffects attackaccuracy and abilityto evade attacks.

Ether Affects the powerof Ether Arts.

12 Combat Basics

This represents the party's teamspirit. It will appear as youprogress through the game.

If a character's HP is reduced to0, they will become Incapacitated.

Select an Art with , then press to use it.

Displayed on the lower screen, itprovides various information aboutyour party members.

All characters will attack regularly(auto-attack) without beinginstructed to, but you can alsounleash Arts to fight even moreeffectively.

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When outside of battle, theparty's HP will slowly replenish.Incapacitated characters will alsorecover.

A new skill will be learnt eachtime this is filled.

When this fills up, the character

Each character has five levels ofTension (very low→low→normal→high→very high), which representstheir individual morale. If acharacter's Tension is high, theyhave a higher chance of scoringcritical hits and less chance ofmissing with attacks.

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will level up.

13 Party Affinity

During battleyou can helout partmembers whare sufferinfrom loTension or certain debuffs (p. 16),or have been Incapacitated. To doso, rush to their side and press when prompted.

Carry out thesactions whethe battlbegins anduring battle pressing when prompted. Try to press thebutton exactly when the red andblue circles are aligned.

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♦ The five affinity levels, fro

weakest to strongest, ar ,

an . You cancheck the affinity between youparty characters by selectin

(Affinity Chart) in th (Journal)submenu.

Party members with strongaffinity can perform extra attacksin battle, help their friends snapout of a Daze, and much more.You can increase the affinitybetween party members byperforming Affinity Cries andAffinity Actions, or by makingthem give gifts by selectincollectable items from th(Collectables) tab of theinventory (p. 11).

Affinity

The party will receive EXP, AP andSP for defeating a monster. If atreasure chest appears, open it topick up items.

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AP Use these points to levelup character Arts.

EXP ♦ You may also earn AffinityCoins or learn new Artswhen levelling up.

Earn EXP to level up acharacter.

SP Earn these to learn newskills.

14 Art Icons

♦ In addition to the colour of an Art'sicon, its background also containsinformation about its effects. Forexample, note the horizontal bar in

the background – this indicatesit's an Ether Art.

Art that inflictsToppleGree

Art that heals orgrants buffsBlu

Physical ArtRe

Art that inflicts BreakPin

Art that inflicts DazeYello

Aura ArtOrang

Art that inflictsdebuffs on a monsterPurpl

♦ Using Arts of the same colour byconsecutive party members willincrease the length of the chain andimprove the damage dealt or healthrecovered.

Sele wheyour partmembers arlinked by a bluline to initiate chain attackenabling the party to attackcontinuously with Arts until the chainattack is complete.

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Each character's Talent Art,found in the middle of theirBattle Palette, is unique to thatcharacter, and can be chainedwith Arts of any colour.

Talent Arts

15 Buffs

♦ If you set "Buff/Debuff Info" to "Every

Time" i (Options), you will beable to pre during battleto display an explanation of the givenstatus.

Some of your party members' Artsor enemy attacks have a chance ofimparting effects that affect thatcharacter's stats. These effectsdisappear with the end of the battle,or after some time has passed.

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PhysicalProtect

Reduces physicaldamage taken bya certainpercentage.

Strength Up Raises theStrength stat.

Ether Up Raises the Etherstat.

EtherProtect

Reduces etherdamage taken bya certainpercentage.

Agility Up Raises the Agilitystat.

Regen-erate

Restores HPover time.

DamageHeal

Restores HPwhen takingdamage.

DamageImmunity

Nullifies a certainamount ofdamage taken.

DebuffImmunity

Makes itimpossible toafflict characterwith debuffs.

PhysicalArts Plus

Increasesdamage dealtwith PhysicalArts.

HasteShortens timebetween auto-attacks.

ReflectionReflects allattacks apartfrom Talent Arts.

Aura

Surroundscharacter with anaura that grantsvarious buffs.

Shield

Deflectsmonsters' TalentArts.

♦ If monster Artlevel is nohigher thanShield level.

Enchant

Makes attackseffective againstMechon andincreasesdamage dealt.

Armour

Increasesphysical andether defenceand reducesdamage taken bya certainpercentage.

Speed Greatly increasesevasion rate.

16 Debuffs

Topple

Evasion drops tozero, and criticaldamage taken isincreased. Artscan be used toinflict Daze.

Break Arts can be usedto inflict Topple.

Daze

Critical damagetaken isincreased, andAwakening andany other Aurasare removed.While a monsteris Dazed, itsaggro will notincrease.

Sleep

Disables auto-attacks and Arts,and all damagetaken becomescritical.

Confuse

Makes targetstop fighting andrun aroundaimlesslyinstead.

BleedDeals damageover time.

Poison Deals damageover time.

Blaze Deals damageover time.

Chill Deals damageover time.

Slow

Lengthens timebetween auto-attacks andreducesmovementspeed.

Paralysis

Confers a certainpercentagechance thatauto-attacks willfail. Disablesdouble attacksand counter-attacks.

Bind

Preventsmovement (buttargets withinrange can still beattacked).

Lock-On

Makes itimpossible toswitch to adifferent target.

HP Down Reducesmaximum HP.

StrengthDown

Lowers theStrength stat.

Getting too close to, orattacking, monsters with theSpike ability may causecharacters to take damage orsuffer various debuff effects.

Spike

Arts SealPrevents use ofany Arts, apartfrom Talent Arts.

Physical DefDown

Increasesphysical damagetaken.

Ether Down Lowers the Etherstat.

Ether DefDown

Increases etherdamage taken.

AgilityDown

Lowers theAgility stat.

Pierce

Physical andether defencebecomeineffective.

Aura Seal

Prevents anyAura-relatedeffects fromactivating.

17 What Do I Do...? (FAQ)

You can use th (Enchant)Monado Art to let your partymembers damage Mechon enemies.

attack the Mechon?

♦ The effects of Enchant are onlytemporary and will expire after awhile.

When your party members areconnected with a blue line, select

to initiate a chain attack (p. 14).You may need to inflict Break, andthen Topple, on certain enemies inorder to attack them effectively.

What do I do when theMonado's attacks don'twork?

♦ The higher the affinity between yourparty members, the easier it becomesto perform chain attacks.

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You could try equipping items thatraise auto-attack damage or theStrength stat (p. 11), or levelling upyour Arts by going to th (Artsand Skills) section of the MenuPalette and selectin (Arts).Going back and trying to level upyour party members is also a goodway. Once you're three levelshigher than your opponents, youshould find the fights a lot easier.

Why do I keep losingfights...?

First things first. Open the MenuPalette, then go t (Arts andSkills), followed (Skill Trees).From there, you can select the SkillBranch (trait) whose skills you wouldlike each character to learn.Additionally, you can use AffinityCoins (p. 13) to let party membersuse other party members' skillsthrough Skill Links.

How do I set up skills again?

♦ For example, learning Reyn's "BattleCharacter" skill will increase theattack power of his equipped weapon,while Shulk's "Healing Wisdom" willimprove the healing power of hisHealing Arts.

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The Party Gauge will increase a lotquicker if you try to trigger thebonus effects of your characters'Arts, for example by using Shulk's"Back Slash" to attack monstersfrom behind and deal extra damage.

My Party Gauge isn't reallygoing up... What gives?

♦ The conditions for triggering an Art'sbonus effect are written in red in theArt's description on the BattlePalette.

♦ Another way to increase the PartyGauge is by successfully achievin

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18 Collection Mode

If you have activated StreetPass forXenoblade Chronicles 3D, you willreceive 2 tokens every time youmeet another player via StreetPass.

Earning tokens throughStreetPa

You can exchange 5 Play Coins for 1token. Play Coins are earned bywalking around with yourNew Nintendo 3DS system.

Earning tokens for Play Coins

You can expand your collection bytaking part in the Model Raffle andthe Music Raffle. To do this, you willneed to use tokens.

Collectiomode lets yocollect 3models ovarious in-gamcharacters awell as music tracks from the game.

♦ If you have headphones plugged in,you will be able to listen to the musictracks even with the system closed.

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If you have a Shulk amiibo, you canuse it once per day to receive 3tokens.

Earning tokens using amiibo

♦ StreetPass functionality for thisgame can be deactivated in thesame way.

You can activate StreetPass byselecting "Manage StreetPass"from the Collection menu.

Activating StreetPass

19 How to Contact Us

For product information, please visitthe Nintendo website at:www.nintendo.com

For technical support andtroubleshooting, please refer to theOperations Manual for yourNintendo 3DS system or visit:support.nintendo.com