Hidden stuff: too much work to find

[Jer]

Ok, Love the game, but hunting stuff down gets really irritating.
I've cleared map 2, but I don't want to leave until I've helped the good-guy-aliens. I've been across the map twice, and I can not find the 2nd friendly zone.

Hunting stuff down, like hidden zones and lost crew members, is a serious pain. Two major things: Having to sit through the animations each time you change zones when all you're doing is checking for hidden stuff, and having to wait for the Aegis' jump engins to recharge when there isn't an enemy or asteroid in site.

Maybe I'm just whining. I still don't plan to stop playing.

[Poo Bear]

The Xenarch are initially hidden, you only find them by killing larger enemy ships and picking up the dropped intelligence pods. If you kill all the enemy units in a zone without picking a pod up then you can never find the Xenarch. Once you have uncovered their location a unique node marker appears on the navigation screen, so you don't have to search for them as they stand out.

Remember though, the game can be finished without finding all the Xenarch outposts and without rescuing all the missing crew.

[DaiShiva]

There is only 2 xenarch zones in the first zone. Every other zone has one xenarch outpost and one area with survivors to pick up (bringing the total # of survivors to 30)

[be_andrew]

To offer my words:
I think the 'hidden stuff' (by which I mean the crew ships, as the Xenarch quests were all well documented and easily accessible) was well enough placed, and fine enough to find, but I must say the process was at times a bit tedious based on the length of time it took the jump engines to charge. The crew were usually the last thing I'd attend to in a zone, as while the boss was still alive I'd be too busy blowing things up to poke around looking for them. What that meant was that by the time I did want to find them, it was somewhat tedious, having to warp into a sector only to find them not present, and then wait around with nothing happening until I had to repeat the process. It might have been neat if there was some kind of a sector or node scan, that even could be 'jammed' by the boss, so that when the level was clear of enemies, it would be easier to clean up loose ends and move on to blowing up badder bad guys!

But it's all tit for tat. No game is without its nits, and these are minor concerns. If anything, I've often found it the mark of better games that called for such nitpicking. There are no gaping flaws, so all that exist to be target for criticism are the little bits.

[Inzoum]

wouldn't the game be a little short if killing a boss would reveal all secrets on the level?

Here's a tip to exploring all nodes... make sure you kill the mining barges early in the zone, so they don't mine ressources too much and mess up your plans, then visit a node with full ressources, if it's not where the survivors are, mine a little and leave when the jump enine is ready, having mined a little, the mass indicator next to the node on the grid map will be less full, so you can use that to mark visited areas, and systematically cover the whole grid... it didn't take me *that* long to do...

As for the Xenarch on Zone 1, correct me if I'm wrong, but (spoiler):
Spoiler (highlight to read):

You find the first Xenarch outpost by picking up a data capsule from one of the capitol ships, which reveals a pink node on the left part of the map, and visiting that node, the Xenarch will explain their deal and they will reveal the 2nd Xenarch outpost's node, which conveniently enough is directly above the first. The Xenarch outpost there is destroyed and you must rescue the survivors.

-Inzoum
"Do the Dew!"

[grayrest]

I never kill mining ships until I go to fight the boss.
Spoiler (highlight to read):

If you kill the mining ships then all the worms come out. While the worms aren't hard to kill, enemy ships are far easier and more fun.

[be_andrew]

[Jer]

Ok, I guess my problem is a little different now that I beat the thrid map.

I DID find the Xenarch outpost in the 2nd map, but I was expecting a second outpost, just like the first. I must have skipped throught he second Xenarch quest description too fast, and assumed it would be the same deal as the first. Now that I've passed it, there is no way to get the Xenarch to remind me what the quest is.

Maybe returning to the Xenarch outpost without completing the quest should initate a reminder of what needs to get done?

[Inzoum]

I agree, but here's the answer:

Zone 1
Spoiler (highlight to read):

Visit the 2nd Xenarch outpost and save all survivors with the gravity beam, return to the first outpost and receive a new tecnology

Zone 2, 3, 4
Spoiler (highlight to read):

Visit the Xenarch outpost with the Aegis's supplies half full of every element, they will take that from you and use it in their war against the Archnid, you receive a new technology each time

Zone 5
Spoiler (highlight to read):

Free tech! w00t!

-Inzoum
"The hat is back, but is the man?"

[CidHighwindFF7]

I dont think Greyrest is right, as the snakes only come out if you get the enemies down to about 4 mid-sized groups THEN the Snakes com out. Becuase killing all the barges didnt do anything for me.