X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse (USA Playstation 2 version) Advanced Tactics / Odds and Ends guide version 1.2 By Maj Website: http://sonichurricane.com E-mail: [email protected] _______________________________________________________________________________ Introduction This is not a full walkthrough guide. By now there are plenty of those out there. Just about all of the major stuff has already been covered, and the game itself is not difficult by any means. This is not a character guide. Some characters, some skills, and some team builds are better than others, but any team can get through the game. Most people will just pick their favorites and that really is the best approach. This is just a collection of random peripheral information that tends to arise during extended discussions regarding the XML2 game system. Since this guide is so open-ended, it will probably take a few updates before it is completed. If you have anything to add, just drop me an e-mail. If whatever you have to say is new to me and you're the first person to bring it up, i'll make sure to give you proper credit. If you want to use any of the information below, just give me due credit. Maybe include a link to this document. Whatever, you know the drill. Thanks. _______________________________________________________________________________ Updates 02/19/2006 - XML2 Advanced Tactics / Odds and Ends guide version 1.2 Introduced an efficient stat maxing method Explored several alternative Tower Apex strategies Appended missing text for Orb of Chaos Revealed free mutant powers exploit 12/19/2005 - XML2 Advanced Tactics / Odds and Ends guide version 1.1 Added updates section Deduced experience modifiers rule Acquired stat point caps chart Split item hunting locations into alternating and standalone groups Completed known green equipment list Made several slight clarifications 11/19/2005 - XML2 Odds and Ends guide version 1.0 Established project groundwork covering strategy, tricks, and item lists _______________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents I. Experience Accumulation Strategies II. Experience Reward Reduction Rule III. Maximum Base Stat Point Chart IV. Alternating Item Hunting Locations V. Standalone Item Hunting Locations VI. Unique (Green) Equipment List VII. Miscellaneous Gameplay Tricks VIII. Game Crash Bugs and Nuisances _______________________________________________________________________________ I. Experience Accumulation Strategies Each method listed below has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Choose the method that best suits your goals, but keep these general guidelines in mind. Only a fraction of experience gained in battle trickles down to inactive characters. However, sticking with a limited roster makes it much easier to keep up with increasing enemy levels from mission to mission. It's certainly much quicker to concentrate on maxing out the powerhouse characters first. Once Iron Man, Gambit, Bishop, Scarlet Witch, or Jean Grey have their critical skills maxed, it's fairly painless to throw in one or two weaker characters to benefit from the free experience. Each dominant character can lead an entire team of weaker characters through the game. Cyclops, Magneto, and Professor Xavier all have the Leadership skill, which grants up to 92% extra experience to each character involved in a combo attack against a defeated enemy. Leadership bonuses do stack, so having all three of these characters will yield 276% extra experience per kill involving a combo. Nightcrawler's DISAPPEARING ACT Xtreme Boost provides 50% extra experience to every active character on every kill for up to 45 seconds. Cyclops' FLAWLESS TACTICS Xtreme Boost doubles the experience on every kill for up to 45 seconds. Neither of these two affects the Leadership combo bonus, but both of these skills are easily worth the Xtreme token cost in crowded areas. A team consisting of all four of these characters with all of these skills active can receive up to 426% extra experience per kill involving a combo. Of course, nearly half of this bonus is due to Cyclops alone, so it pays to keep him on the team even if you aren't interested in any of these characters. -Full Game Runthroughs- Obviously, one way to go about building up character levels is to fight through the entire game over and over. When starting a new game, you have the option of using upgraded team rosters with all worn, carried, and stashed equipment intact. Unfortunately, the Beast/Forge Training menu prices for purchasing extra character levels, skill points, and redistribution privileges do not reset at the start of a new game. Since skill point prices are based on character level, it's a good idea to buy them as soon as possible. Advantages: Repeated uses of Tech Stations and Danger Room missions will put characters ahead of the normal power-leveling curve. Reaching any given level through this method will yield a stronger character than reaching that same level by any other method. In addition, the constant change of scenery may prove more interesting than killing the same enemies repeatedly. Disadvantages: Despite the plentiful mission-based bonus experience, this method is the least efficient approach to power-leveling. Far too much time is wasted on loading screens, mission objectives, dialogue, and running around. -Danger Room Mission Swarms- Once obtained, Danger Room missions are always available for replay. Missions containing a secondary objective that can be ignored indefinitely make the best experience engines. Assault 303 stands out because there's no time limit and staying in the main room is an easy way to avoid accidentally completing the secondary barrel destruction objective. When you've had enough, end the course using the game menu or just jump into the pool at the center of the room. As long as the mission is left incomplete, enemies will continue dropping Potions and Tech Bits when killed. If you can afford to go without those item drops, Survival 504 is another excellent option. Advantages: No harm comes from dying during DR missions. Enemy mobs respawn with gradually increasing frequently, constantly keeping the room full. Disadvantages: No equipment drops during DR missions. No Potions or Tech Bits drop during repeats of completed DR missions. Generic DR henchmen tend to be at lower levels than enemies populating the latter acts of the game. -Holding Pens Respawn Point- Inside the Holding Pens stage of Act IV, there is one room with two adjacent enemy spawning pads that never expire. Minute after minute, hour after hour, generic enemy thugs will just keep teleporting in to die. Endowing Iron Man with either Jean Grey's Mental Vortex or Scarlet Witch's Probability Syphon, casting Motion Amplifier, pointing him at a wall, and firing off nonstop Gamma Bolts creates an extremely potent deathtrap for the henchmen lineup. They die as soon as they set foot in the arena. Adding one of the experience boosting characters to the party speeds things up considerably. Of course, Iron Man will not be available for use on your first playthrough, but it's better just to wait until Hard difficulty Holding Pens anyway. For alternative character pairing ideas, check out Zibanzo's superb Character Guide. Advantages: With optimal team combinations, the Holding Pens location is arguably the fastest experience generator available. On Hard difficulty, the lvl88 enemies provide excellent quality Rare (gold) equipment. Certain team combinations will go through enemies so quickly, that there's even a decent chance of scoring a Unique (green) item every couple of hours. Disadvantages: Inventory management can slow things down. Ignoring item drops is not an option because after a while the game will simply crash. On Hard difficulty, the junk items are valuable enough to make trips back to base worthwhile, but having to sell eighty Potions every time is a hassle. -Danger Room Bonus Stat Rewards- Completing the game enables the option to carry over character builds and items into a new game. Rescue Professor X at the beginning of the story to get into Sanctuary and save at the Xtraction Point. Talk to Beast and use the Grab Bag until it yields the Cyclops Challenge Disc. If it doesn't appear in the first few attempts, simply load back to the Xtraction Point and try again to avoid wasting too many Tech Bits. All Freshman Grade Courses become available for purchase once the Cyclops Challenge Disc is obtained. Buy and complete all Freshman Courses, along with the first two Sophomore Courses (they appear automatically). Then simply save at the Xtraction Point, start a new game, and repeat this process as desired. Advantages: After reaching the 250 point maximums for each stat, this method provides the fastest and safest means of cultivating extra stat points. Disadvantages: Apart from the tediousness of repeating the easiest missions in the game, this method also lacks any opportunity to obtain desirable equipment. Furthermore, at least 20 million Tech Bits must be saved up beforehand to cover the considerable monetary cost of this strategy. The Tower Apex tactic described below is the fastest way to accumulate Tech Bits. [contributed by: KuramaJP] _______________________________________________________________________________ II. Experience Reward Reduction Rule Experience earned from killing an enemy is reduced in proportion to the difference between the enemy's level (listed in parentheses following his/her/its name) and the average character level on your active team. Not much can be done to account for this issue. During the first playthrough on Normal difficulty, you can successfully keep your character levels very close to progressing enemy levels. However, the enemy level increments on Hard difficulty are simply too difficult to match. When your active team average level is within one point of an enemy's level, you earn the full experience value of that opponent. For every whole point of difference between your active team average and the enemy, 10% is deducted from the base experience reward assigned to the enemy. Therefore, a team of four characters killing the same enemy type over and over will have their experience reward adjusted once every four level promotions. The absolute minimum experience gained from an enemy is 30% of that opponent's base value. For example, the respawning Master Rifleman in Holding Pens is lvl88 on Hard difficulty. When your active team average is from lvl87.25 to lvl88.75, each kill earns 1840 XP. When your active team average is from lvl86.25 to lvl87 or from lvl89 to lvl89.75, each kill earns 1656 XP (90% of the base value). When your active team average is from lvl85.25 to lvl86 or from lvl90 to lvl90.75, each kill earns 1472 XP (80% of the base value). When your active team average is from lvl84.25 to lvl85 or from lvl91 to lvl91.75, each kill earns 1288 XP (70% of the base value). When your active team average is from lvl83.25 to lvl84 or from lvl92 to lvl92.75, each kill earns 1104 XP (60% of the base value). When your active team average is from lvl82.25 to lvl83 or from lvl93 to lvl93.75, each kill earns 920 XP (50% of the base value). When your active team average is from lvl81.25 to lvl82 or from lvl94 to lvl94.75, each kill earns 736 XP (40% of the base value). When your active team average is lvl81 or below, each kill earns 552 XP (30% of the base value). Likewise, when your active team average is lvl95 or above, each kill earns 552 XP (30% of the base value). _______________________________________________________________________________ III. Maximum Base Stat Point Chart All four stats have 250 point ceilings and there is no way to take back assigned stat points. At every level increase, several bonus points are automatically allocated to predetermined areas. Melee-oriented characters typically receive regular Strike upgrades while spell-caster characters end up with frequent Focus boosts. Thus, reaching the 250 point cap for any one stat before hitting the lvl99 maximum equates to wasted stat points. Observing how each character receives automatic bonuses can help avoid this redundancy and save stat points for otherwise neglected categories. PapaGamer's outstanding FAQ/Walkthrough provides a complete list of each character's natural stat point development. Only Tech Stations and Danger Room missions can provide permanent increases past the 250 point limit. However, stats have been known to reset if pushed above their hidden preset maximums, making unplanned Tech Station usage risky. Luckily, Danger Room mission bonuses have no effect on maxed out stats. Use Tech Stations to swiftly approach a desired stat limit, then switch over to Danger Room missions the rest of the way. The following table catalogues every stat point cap in the game, taking the guesswork out of the Tech Station gamble. Equipment enhancements are not bounded by these limits. Bishop: Body 284 | Focus 322 | Strike 274 | Speed 298 Colossus: Body 304 | Focus 250 | Strike 310 | Speed 274 Cyclops: Body 274 | Focus 316 | Strike 274 | Speed 304 Deadpool: Body 298 | Focus 274 | Strike 312 | Speed 274 Gambit: Body 274 | Focus 310 | Strike 280 | Speed 304 Iceman: Body 274 | Focus 334 | Strike 274 | Speed 298 Iron Man: Body 274 | Focus 310 | Strike 274 | Speed 298 Juggernaut: Body 298 | Focus 250 | Strike 314 | Speed 274 Magneto: Body 274 | Focus 310 | Strike 274 | Speed 298 Nightcrawler: Body 298 | Focus 272 | Strike 342 | Speed 284 Jean Grey: Body 274 | Focus 316 | Strike 250 | Speed 298 Professor X: Body 272 | Focus 336 | Strike 272 | Speed 294 Rogue: Body 298 | Focus 255 | Strike 310 | Speed 274 Scarlet Witch: Body 274 | Focus 314 | Strike 250 | Speed 298 Storm: Body 274 | Focus 316 | Strike 250 | Speed 298 Sunfire: Body 274 | Focus 312 | Strike 274 | Speed 308 Toad: Body 298 | Focus 284 | Strike 336 | Speed 274 Wolverine: Body 298 | Focus 250 | Strike 322 | Speed 290 [contributed by: KuramaJP] _______________________________________________________________________________ IV. Alternating Item Hunting Locations After reaching lvl99 with your favorite characters and bringing the others up to satisfactory levels, the Holding Pens location becomes far less profitable. Apart from being extremely tedious, the problem with Holding Pens is that a vast majority of the items dropped are worthless basic junk. The efficient solution is to pursue leader-class enemies with names written in gold font. They never drop anything less than Enhanced (blue) equipment, with roughly 10%-20% chance of leaving Rare (gold) equipment instead. Some stages have a disproportionately large number of such leader-class opponents, making it easy to walk away with one or two Rare items per cycle. The best areas are free from reoccurring puzzles and lengthy cinematic sequences. In fact, Holding Pens would be a good item run spot if not for three painfully slow automated cinematic sequences accompanying two puzzles. Fortunately, the game only holds about half a dozen maps in memory. The trick is to run through a large enough set of successive stages so that by the time the last stage in the cycle is accessed, the first stage resets. Once you've played through each of your chosen area loop a few times, you'll know exactly how to locate the important prey without wasting time on generic goons. Needless to say, doing item runs on anything other than Hard difficulty is pointless. That time would be much better spent getting through Hard mode to go after the best items instead of compromising for whatever mediocre stuff Normal difficulty provides. Keep in mind that Weapon Caches are restocked when a map resets. The character-specific items inside tend to be useless at higher levels, but there's no harm in looking. Some people have discovered Unique items this way. When in need of Tech Bits, activate Gambit's PRINCE OF THIEVES or Toad's PLUNDER before demolishing large collections of barrels/crates/boxes. Paying two Xtreme tokens for seven times the income is easily worth it in dense areas. -Core Reactor- Easily one of the best treasure hunting areas in the game, this location houses a dozen lvl74-lvl75 leader-class opponents. If only it took place during Act V with higher enemy levels, Core Reactor would be flawless. -Madri Antechamber and Madri Conclave- An otherwise great little spot containing five lvl80 leader-class enemies, Madri Antechamber suffers from the lack of an Xtraction Point. Madri Conclave is a mediocre oversized map which happens to be the most efficient way into Madri Antechamber. The ideal plan is to beat up one or two lvl81 leader-class opponents on the way from the Madri Conclave Xtraction Point to the Madri Antechamber portal, clear the Madri Antechamber, and head to the Weapon X Facility using the Recall Beacon. You'll have to visit Forge at least once per map rotation anyway, so with a little bit of foresight, the extra steps in this route won't be such a waste of time. -New York South Side- With seven lvl87 leader-class opponents, this easy-to-navigate medium-sized map is clearly a good candidate to tack onto any item run routine. As an added bonus, characters with Might get to throw cars around. -Sinister's Lab- Three lvl94 leader-class opponents and a Weapon Cache positioned in close quarters make Sinister's Lab an easy choice. With Gambit and/or Toad around, it may also be worthwhile to use the Tower Apex teleporter and smash all of the containers on the platform for Tech Bits. -Ancient Labyrinth- Direct access via Xtraction Point makes Ancient Labyrinth an easy choice for treasure hunting. Teleporting around with Nightcrawler or Deadpool saves a lot of time in this long, winding maze. Three lvl96 leader-class opponents are scattered throughout the stage. Two more lvl96 leader-class opponents stand frozen as statues atop a flight of stairs in the corner room next to the hallway where a Tech Station Energy is located. Opening the Sarcophagus between the statues animates them. Sadly, the pair of lvl96 leader-class guardians summoned by retrieving the Homing Beacon appear only once. -Temple of Anubis- As the last viable equipment hunting ground before the final battles against Living Monolith and Apocalypse, Temple of Anubis is the place to go for the finest quality items. The lack of an Xtraction Point is not a major obstacle since this location is adjacent to Ancient Labyrinth, another preferred spot. A pair of lvl97 leader-class opponents and another pair of lvl99 leader-class opponents reside within this stage, along with a Weapon Cache in plain sight. _______________________________________________________________________________ V. Standalone Item Hunting Locations While high-level leader-class opponents drop the best Rare (gold) equipment, there are faster ways to collect Unique (green) equipment. In fact, it seems as though leader-class enemies have the same slim chances of leaving behind Unique equipment as generic peons. Waiting through lengthy loading times to seek out small numbers of leader-class enemies is obviously not an efficient way to rack up the kind of kill volume needed for green item drops. Since it all comes down to numbers, there are three suitable options for actively seeking out Unique equipment. Of course, the most direct option is to throw an obscene amount of money at the shopkeeper's Grab Bag. The odds are absolutely abysmal and it takes forever, but Tech Bits become worthless after a certain point anyway. Just be careful to avoid the Grab Bag crash glitch explained further down. The remaining alternatives are Holding Pens and Tower Apex. -Holding Pens- A small map with three lvl88 leader-class opponents and two Weapon Caches would normally make a decent stop for item hunting. Unfortunately, Holding Pens also comes with up to five annoying cinematic panning sequences that slow things down considerably. All that wasted time simply can't be justified. On the other hand, the endless enemy respawn point provides the highest possible kill rate outside of the Danger Room. To avoid game crashes, pick up every single item on the floor. Whenever inventory space runs out, head back to base and sell it all. -Tower Apex- Sinister's Lab houses the teleporter to the platform where the Archangel boss battle takes place at the end of Act IV. The energy column at the center of Teleport Chamber also provides entry into Tower Apex. Once Archangel has been defeated, Tower Apex becomes a lifeless stage filled with crates and barrels. Exiting the level by returning to Sinister's Lab, continuing on to Teleport Chamber, or using a Blink Portal instantly restocks the platform with breakable objects. Gambit's Energy Form coupled with Toad's Secretion will make Gambit the fastest-moving character in the game. Both powers should be maxed out and both should be active at all times. One skill point in Gambit's Staff Slam will keep EP cost low while providing enough Radial damage to smash all objects near him. The goal is break as many barrels/crates/boxes as possible within the 55 second duration of Energy Form. Ignore all items except those enveloped by green or gold swirls. Once both Boost effects expire, head down to Sinister's Lab and come back up to reload the map for another lap. Furthermore, Tower Apex is the best location for amassing large quantities of Tech Bits. Of course, Gambit's PRINCE OF THIEVES and Toad's PLUNDER are the most important abilities for this purpose. However, any fast-moving character with a Radial attack can get the job done if neither Gambit nor Toad has the necessary skill allocations. Despite its painfully slow movement speed, Magneto's Magnetic Grasp is a noteworthy alternative due to its added benefit of causing everything to fall near the group. Only collect Tech Bits if you need them for a specific goal. Their usefulness is extremely limited. [contributed by: grunt3 / YtsejaM] _______________________________________________________________________________ VI. Unique (Green) Equipment List The first reward for completing any Danger Room Challenge course is that character's specialized green item. Every character has one, except for the three hidden unlockable heroes who don't have DR Challenge missions. Apart from the 15 character-specific green items, there exists another set of Unique equipment free of user limitations. These unrestricted green items are further distinguished by the word "Unique" written in parentheses after the artifact name. All enemies and destructible containers have a very slim chance of producing a Unique item. Most people find between one to three Unique items per playthrough, and the game difficulty setting appears to have no impact on this probability. Unfortunately, character-specific green items may also be found during the course of normal gameplay. This effectively halves the occurrence of useful Unique items. Strangely enough, character-specific green items discovered in battle have the same exact specifications as their DR Challenge counterparts, just listed in random shuffled order. No complete official list of Unique equipment was ever released. Due to the extreme rarity of green item drops and the regrettable design decision to generate DR Challenge items outside DR Challenge courses, quite a few Unique items may still remain undiscovered. If you have an unlisted Unique item and want to help out, e-mail me its name, type, and properties exactly as they appear in the game. -Danger Room Challenge Rewards- Accelerated Visor 250 ATK. +9% Move Rate. +25 Damage (Cyclops) [equipment type: Gloves] Advanced Magneto Helmet 50 ATK. 600 DEF. +75% Mental Resistance (Magneto) [equipment type: Armor] Amphibian Scales 50 ATK. 500 DEF. +50% Knockback. +9% Move Rate (Toad) [equipment type: Armor] Cryogenic Booster 100 ATK. 300 DEF. Double Cold Dmg. +25 Body (Iceman) [equipment type: Belt] Cyttorak Enhancer 200 ATK. 200 DEF. Immune to Slow. +9% Move Rate (Juggernaut) [equipment type: Belt] Essence of the Corona 50 ATK. 200 DEF. +50% Radiation Resistance. +60 Radiation Dmg over 5 seconds (Sunfire) [equipment type: Belt] Fists of Weapon X 250 ATK. 125 DEF. +10 Striking. +50% to Physical Dmg (Wolverine) [equipment type: Gloves] Goddess Mantle 600 DEF. +75% Elemental Resistance. +50 Electricity Dmg (Storm) [equipment type: Armor] Nanocore Staff 250 ATK. 100 DEF. +50% Energy Resistance. +25 Energy Dmg (Gambit) [equipment type: Gloves] Orb of Chaos 100 ATK. +25% chance of a critical melee hit. Absorbs 29% of Damage and turns it into EP. +14% All Resistances (Scarlet Witch) [equipment type: Gloves] [scroll down using right analog stick to reveal Scarlet Witch's name] [contributed by: Q Q] Phase Pistol 225 ATK. 125 DEF. +50 Damage (Bishop) [equipment type: Gloves] Quantum Swords 175 ATK. 125 DEF. +9% Move Rate (Nightcrawler) [equipment type: Gloves] Regenerative Plating 700 DEF. +15 Body. +5 HP Regeneration. +25% All Resistances (Colossus) [equipment type: Armor] Touch of Death 125 ATK. 100 DEF. +8 EP per Knockout (Rogue) [equipment type: Gloves] Touch of the Phoenix 250 ATK. +25 Focus. +50% Mental Resistance. +8 EP per Knockout (Jean Grey) [equipment type: Gloves] -Unrestricted Unique Equipment- Apocalypse's Bane (Unique) 75 ATK. 125 DEF. +9% Mental Resistance. +9% Energy Resistance. +9% Elemental Resistance. +9% Radiation Resistance (Level 25) [equipment type: Belt] Belt of Unus (Unique) 100 ATK. 175 DEF. +10 Electricity Dmg. Imune to Slow (Level 30) [equipment tyle: Belt] [contributed by: skyllo / cameron] Eric the Red's Armor (Unique) 500 DEF. +30% Energy Resistance. +30% Elemental Resistance (Level 30) [equipment type: Armor] [contributed by: Stalin Man of Steel] Exodus Cloak (Unique) 50 ATK. 400 DEF. +60 Radiation Dmg over 5 seconds (Level 25) [equipment type: Armor] [contributed by: jamesmayn] Hammer of Nimrod (Unique) 250 ATK. 50 DEF. +50%% Bleed Damage over 5 seconds. Double Physical Dmg (Level 35) [equipment type: Gloves] [redundant % typo appears in-game] Vindicator's Guantlets (Unique) 150 ATK. 50 DEF. +50%% Physical Dmg. +25 Max Dmg (Level 25) [equipment type: Gloves] [redundant % typo appears in-game] [contributed by: truking] Webslinger (Unique) 225 DEF. +20 Speed. +10 Striking (Level 35) [equipment type: Belt] [contributed by: timbolicious] Wendigo's Fist (Unique) 200 ATK. 100 DEF. +15 Body. +5 HP Regeneration (Level 30) [equipment type: Gloves] [contributed by: Chibi_Flash] Xavier's Dream (Unique) 700 DEF. +29% to Mental Dmg. +5 EP per Knockout (Level 30) [equipment type: Armor] _______________________________________________________________________________ VII. Miscellaneous Gameplay Tricks Looking for some entertaining tricks to spice things up? Tired of going through endless cannon fodder while searching for that perfect piece of equipment? Think you've seen everything there is to do in this game? Look no further - this section is for you ... -Accelerated Mobility- Increasing movement speed saves a lot of time, especially during repeated playthroughs and equipment hunts. Whenever possible, use Boost skills such as Gambit's Energy Form and Toad's Secretion to traverse long distances in hostile environments. If neither character is on the team, use any available Flight skill for a slightly less pronounced movement rate increase. Other party members will automatically increase their movement speed to keep up. Only getting lost or trapped will cause them to fall behind. Putting enough distance between the active character and the computer-controlled characters will eventually make them reappear onscreen. Take advantage of these user-friendly considerations to minimize downtime between battles. Bishop's Power Trip and Professor X's Clairvoyance are especially potent as Passive skills because they affect movement speed both on the battlefield and within each base of operations. Some Unique equipment can produce similar effects, but to a more modest degree. Always use the fastest moving active character available to run errands and backtrack through cleared terrain. -Multiple Boost Assignments- Some characters need constant access to two or three Boost skills. Since they are automatically assigned to the Square button, multiple simultaneous Boost skill allocation is normally impossible. To get around this irritating limitation, assign a Boost skill to Square and an undesired non-Boost skill to either X or Circle. Next, assign that same undesired non-Boost skill to Square. This will swap the locations of the Boost assigned to Square and the undesired non-Boost skill. Then just assign another Boost skill to Square and two Boost skills will be concurrently accessible. Repeat with a second undesired non-Boost skill to have three Boost skills available at once. For example, highlight Sunfire's Boost skill Ion Shield and press R2 to assign it to Square. Next, assign Sunfire's Blast skill Ignite to Circle. Once that's done, reassign Ignite to Square. This will automatically move Ion Shield to Circle. Then highlight Sunfire's Boost skill Flaming Fury and press R2 to assign it to Square, replacing Ignite. Now Flaming Fury is mapped to Square and Ion Shield is mapped to Circle - both available side by side. -Skill Assignment Removal- Since mapping a skill to a different button performs a location swap of the two skills involved, there's no built-in method for clearing assigned skills. If you wish to leave an empty slot for whatever reason, you can add one point to a new skill, assign that skill to a button, then subtract the point from the skill. The button assignment will then be automatically removed. -Unrestrained Gambling- Want to binge out on Grab Bag trials? Fear of losing a fortune on junk holding you back? The good news is that you can save your progress right before handing all your Tech Bits to Beast/Forge. If you're unhappy with your winnings, simply reload the game and your bankroll is restored. The bad news is that the Grab Bag in XML2 is entirely useless. Nearly every item generated is basic garbage with zero enhancements. Trying to get anything half-decent takes forever. It's just not worth the time, especially when you factor in load times and potential program crashes. The best time to try your luck is when you decide to save your progress to turn the game off for the night. Once you've saved, head over to Beast/Forge and make ten to twenty Grab Bag attempts depending on how much money you can afford to lose for one good item. If you manage to get a good Rare (gold) item, save your game again. If not, just quit the game without saving. -Wolverine's Fastball Special- Colossus, Juggernaut, and Rogue can help Wolverine re-enact his famous "Fastball Special" comic book maneuver. While controlling one of those three heavy lifters, stand right next to Wolverine and press Square. They will actually pick Wolverine up and throw him in whatever direction they are facing. It is difficult to aim consistently and does relatively little damage, but can be entertaining. On a team with no bridge-builders or fliers, this move actually gets Wolverine across large chasms. Of course, it's far more likely to get him killed, but extra options are never a bad thing. -Scarlet Witch's Miniaturization Spell- For whatever reason, Scarlet Witch's Popup attack (Punch, Punch, Smash) shrinks enemies to around 20% of their usual size for about two seconds. Nobody else has anything similar and none of her other attack strings produce unusual effects. It's worth a try just to see it in action. For even more crazy hijinks, try blasting one of the minimized opponents with Iron Man's Gamma Bolts at close range. Since he automatically aims directly at his target, the Gamma Bolts will shoot straight down to the floor and bounce vertically upward toward the ceiling. -Enemy Shield Bypass- Some leader-class enemies are equipped with invulnerable shields that must be removed using specified combo attacks before the wearer can be harmed. It turns out that Scarlet Witch's Hex Bolt, Reality Shift, and Hex Locked skills circumvent these barriers and damage shielded opponents regardless. [contributed by: Selene_BlkQueen] -Zero Cost Skills- While select skills deduct EP cost as soon as the button is pressed, most Boost skills have a fairly lengthy startup period. In such cases, it can take up to half a second before the EP drain occurs. Due to a programming oversight, it's possible to avoid paying this EP cost entirely. Simply switch to a different character immediately after activating the skill, before the EP requirement gets deducted. Most attack skills drain the required EP at the very beginning, making it nearly impossible to switch characters in time. It's also quite inconvenient switching back and forth between characters mid-battle, and it usually isn't worth it for the little bit of EP saved. On the other hand, Boost skills tend to have a huge startup period and typically cost a lot of EP, so it's easier and also more worthwhile with them. This trick will only work if the required EP amount for a skill is available beforehand. Otherwise, performing the button command for any given skill will result in the usual EP shortage error message. [contributed by: PatrickRThomas] _______________________________________________________________________________ VIII. Game Crash Bugs and Nuisances Several helpful glitches have already been discovered and posted all over the internet. Most deal with faulty damage calculations or the use of select few skills without EP cost. However, some strictly detrimental bugs made it through to the final product and this chapter provides means of avoiding them. -Unequipped Item Limit- It seems as though inventory items, hero stash items, and items on the ground all share the same memory space during gameplay. Having too many items between these three locations can cause the system to hang unexpectedly. To avoid suddenly losing progress due to this bug, try to keep the hero stash equipment quantity under 30 items. Don't hesitate to sell second-rate items because equipment gradually improves as you progress through the game anyway. Luckily, worn gear appears to be exempt from this mess, so feel free to throw some of that extra equipment on dormant characters. -Grab Bag Limit- Purchasing too many Grab Bag items and then selling them back to Beast/Forge can make their inventory list really long. After some invisible memory limit is reached, buying one more item causes the game to freeze with the cursor still on the "Grab Bag" prompt. -Intangible Items/Enemies- Killing too many respawning enemies too quickly can lead to inaccessible item drops. This problem will usually occurs in Holding Pens, starting with a couple of Potions or Tech Bits that can't be picked up. Before long, it will become impossible to retrieve equipment drops as well - standing over them will not bring up the input prompt to pick up the item. If ignored long enough, one of the two thugs may become intangible and unkillable too. Fortunately, it's possible to restore normal functionality by using an Xtraction Point or a Blink Portal to visit the X-Mansion. Everything should be back to normal and all items should become accessible once again upon returning to the battleground. -Unbreakable Statues- One of the essential Act V mission objectives is the destruction of four specially marked statues in the Temple of Anubis. Since they only become breakable once the room entrance dialogue is completed, any interruption suffered during the speech will render the objective forever incomplete. A handful of hidden enemies stationed near the room entrance make this problem a surprisingly common occurrence. The most straightforward solution is to draw out these opponents before passing through the crystal room entrance. If you've missed this opportunity and the glitch is now in effect, you have two choices. One approach is to visit about half a dozen other stages to run the system out of memory and force the Temple of Anubis map to reset, allowing you to simply try again. The other method is to bring out Storm, jump on top of each unbreakable statue, and cast Whirlwind until they crumble. _______________________________________________________________________________ Conclusion All in all, XML2 is an enjoyable game. So maybe it isn't as polished or engaging as something like GOD OF WAR, but it accomplishes most of what it sets out to do. Some particularly nice touches: Sunfire's AoA costume, Iceman's Ice Slide, Gambit's Detonation, Juggernaut's Crimson Rage, Magneto's Magnetic Grasp, Colossus' Trip attack, Deadpool's Trip attack, Iron Man's Trip attack, Rogue's Popup attack, Storm's Stun attack, Scarlet Witch's entire fighting style, and throwing cars around. Let's all hope the next title in the series is called "Marvel Legends" because it's such a waste to ignore so many awesome non-mutant Marvel Universe characters. Probably the biggest reason i even bought this game was the reported inclusion of Iron Man. Who wouldn't pick Captain America over Cyclops for the Leadership bonus? Colossus and Juggernaut are cool, but the only tank character with enough offensive versatility to warrant a spot on the team is Thor. Scarlet Witch was an interesting novelty character, but Dr. Strange has way more options. And is there anyone who would use Toad rather than Spider-Man? With a little luck, Galactus might even make his way into the next game - and for once portrayed as a cosmic force of nature instead of another token villain. So i've just about covered everything. Time to wrap up. Hopefully you found this guide informative and walked away with some useful new strategies. One last thing ... If you're into fighting games, be sure to check out my website and download a few combo videos: http://sonichurricane.com
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