X-Men Legends 2: Rise Of Apocalypse - Strategy Guide (Page 02)

Below are the cheat codes, hints and help for X-Men Legends 2: Rise Of Apocalypse - Strategy Guide (Page 02).

To switch to a different character while the character screens are open, 
press Call Allies (Left Shoulder button) or Use Powers (Right Shoulder 
button).


B.02.a) Stats
-------------
At the top of the stats screens are listed your four abilities as well as 
stats based on those abilities. Underneath is detail information about the 
currently selected stat. All information displayed on this screen includes 
bonuses from skills and equipped items. Your four ability scores are:

BODY
Increases your health points (HP) and chance for double health from 
potions. Next to your current Body score are your current and max HP. To 
add a point to Body, select it and press Attack (Btn 1). To remove a point 
from Body that has been added during this session, select it and press Use 
(Btn 3).

Health is calculated as: 25 + 5 per level + 3 per Body

Body also affects your natural resistances. Your resistances are listed on 
the right side of the screen. In order they are:
  Energy resistance
  Mental resistance
  Radiation resistance
  Elemental resistance


FOCUS
Increases your energy points (EP), energy regeneration, melee mental 
damage, and chance for double energy from potions. Next to your Focus score 
are your current and max EP. To add a point to Focus, select it and press 
Attack (Btn 1). To remove a point from Focus that has been added during 
this session, select it and press Use (Btn 3).

Energy is calculated as: 30 + 4 per level + 2 per Focus


STRIKE
Increases the damage you do with melee attacks. Next to your Strike score 
is shown your melee damage. The range before the slash is standard Attack 
damage. The range after the slash is Smash attack damage. You get a damage 
bonus of +2% per Strike. To add a point to Strike, select it and press 
Attack (Btn 1). To remove a point from Strike that has been added during 
this session, select it and press Use (Btn 3).


SPEED
Increases your attack rating (ATK) and defense rating (DEF). Next to your 
Speed score are your ATK and DEF.

ATK: Increases the chance to hit with melee attacks (5 per Speed - 35)
DEF: Increases your ability to dodge incoming melee attacks (3 per Speed)

To add a point to Speed, select it and press Attack (Btn 1). To remove a 
point from Speed that has been added during this session, select it and 
press Use (Btn 3).


B.02.b) Skills
--------------
If you played XML1, this will be the biggest change as characters have a 
greater selection of powers. One big change is two Xtreme powers per 
character (most characters, anyway) rather than one. Also, the Xtreme 
powers have ranks just like all the other powers. There's also been some 
shuffling of roles (Storm no longer has Leadership), and more reasonable 
allocation of skills (only melee-focused characters get Critical Strike).

Unlocked skills show a series of boxes representing the ranks available. 
Like so:

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Ranks you have bought are colored in, ranks available to be bought are 
highlighted in white. All powers show 20 ranks; however, some powers don't 
allow 20 ranks. These powers show "locked" boxes on the left:

[/][/][/][/][/][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

Why did the developer team do this? Especially when some skills with fewer 
than 20 ranks simply show fewer than 20 boxes? The world may never know.

To view information about a skill, select it and press Use Energy Pack 
(RT). To add a rank to a skill, select it and press Attack (Btn 1). 
Available points are shown at the bottom of the skills page. All ranks cost 
one skill point. To subtract a rank bought in this session, press Use (Btn 
3).

Once you Accept the changes (by exiting the team management screens), you 
can't subtract the points. There doesn't appear to be any kind of Cancel 
command, so if you want to delete your changes, you'll have to do it 
manually before pressing Start/Pause.

To assign a power to a power key (Attack, Smash, Use or Jump) select the 
power, press Use Health Pack (LT), then press the appropriate button. 
Remember, only non-Xtreme offensive powers on Attack and Smash; only non-
Xtreme boost or debuff powers on Use and only Xtreme powers on Jump.


B.02.c) Gear
------------
At the top of the Gear screen are your ability scores and related stats (as 
shown on the Stats screen). This allows you to examine the effects of 
equipping and unequipping items. Below your stats are your three equipment 
slots and whatever items you currently have in those slots: belts, gloves 
and armor. Below that is the current inventory of unequipped items.

To remove an equipped item, select it and press Use (Btn 3).

To equip an item to a slot, select the slot, press Attack (Btn 1) to move 
to the inventory list, select the item you want to equip and press Attack 
(Btn 1). If you already had an item equipped in that slot, it will be 
swapped with the new item. To leave the inventory list without equipping a 
new item, press Smash (Btn 2).

To drop an item on the ground either from your gear slot or from the 
inventory list, press Use Health Pack (LT).


B.02.d) AI
----------
The AI screen shows the current settings for this character when controlled 
by the computer. To change any of these settings, select it and press 
Attack (Btn 1) until the proper setting is displayed.


AI HEAL WHEN FULL
If set to Yes, when walking over a health pack and any current team member 
needs health (no matter how small) and you have a full complement of health 
packs, your characters will use health packs and pick up the new one. Set 
this to Yes. This setting applies to the whole team.


AI HEAL
Governs how the AI uses health packs. This rule applies to the whole team. 
There are four rules:

  Never: the AI never uses health packs

  < 20%: the AI uses a health pack if the character's health falls below
         20 per cent of maximum and there are more than two health packs
         in inventory

  < 40%: the AI uses a health pack when the character's health falls below
         40 per cent of maximum and there are more than two health packs
         in inventory

  < 80%: the AI uses a health pack when the character's health falls below
         80 per cent of maximum and there are more than two health packs
         in inventory

The recommended settings are 40% and 80%. Never is not a good idea unless 
you intend to rapidly switch characters while in combat in order to use 
health packs. Less than 20% can cause a character to die from massive 
damage before getting low enough to use a health pack. Less than 40% is a 
good all-around rule that will keep your teammates alive while saving on 
your store of health packs. Less than 80% will cause the AI to use health 
packs far too rapidly in the early game; but, you can switch to it once you 
are able to hold 20 or more health packs (at level 20).


AI MODE
Sets how the character should react in combat, especially when you call for 
help. There are three levels of AI for each character.

  Aggressive: the character responds immediately to attack

  Normal:     the character waits for an opportunity before attacking

  Defensive:  the character only attacks if he or she is attacked

There's little use in this game for Defensive AI. Melee characters should 
be set to Aggressive, the remaining characters can be set to Normal.


AI SKILL
This is the mutant power the AI will use when you call for an attack using 
the Call Allies button. See the individual character listings in Section D 
for recommendations.


AI AUTO-TRAIT, AI AUTO-SKILL, AI AUTO-EQUIP
Controls whether the AI will automatically level up stats or skills and 
automatically equip characters with new equipment.

Here's the quick rundown:

You can set everything to Auto and beat the game.

If you want to beat the game easily, you will turn Auto-Skill off.

If you want to pwn* the game, you will handle everything yourself.

The game does all right auto-leveling and auto-equipping characters; 
however, it spreads stat and skill points too thin and tends to equip items 
based on their level requirement rather than their actual stat boosts. 
Plus, it doesn't necessarily equip items based on usefulness; for example, 
putting a +Strike item on Magneto is worthless, but would be a big help on 
Wolverine.

If you really want to power-game through XML2, you'll want to stick with a 
single team and level them up and equip them yourself.

* A "gamer-ism" that is a deliberate typo of "own" and means to so
  thoroughly and completely understand the game that you can breeze
  through Hard mode without breaking a sweat.


==============
B.03: Combat
==============
Combat, and lots of it, is the name of the game in X-Men Legends II. Each 
character has two primary melee attacks: Attack and Smash. By hitting an 
opponent with different sequences, you can perform a special attack that 
does more damage. Some of the special attacks are:

 - Triple Hit: Attack, Attack, Attack
 - Knockback: Attack, Smash, Smash, Smash
 - Stun: Smash, Attack, Smash, Smash

While some characters can be effective just unloading melee attacks on the 
bad guys, the best way to win fights is to use your mutant powers. There 
are also power combos: two mutant powers hitting an enemy at the same time. 
In XML2, power combos are harder to execute and are not as useful anyway 
because there is no damage bonus for hitting a combo. There is an XP bonus 
for using a combo, and that can be exploited (a little) for faster 
leveling.

Hitting combos in multiplayer requires communication between the players 
and a good sense of the timing of each mutant power being used. Wolverine's 
Feral Slash, for example, is much faster than Storm's Lightning Strike. If 
a player controlling Wolverine wants to hit a combo with a player 
controlling Storm, the Wolverine player must watch the timing of the LS and 
initiate the Slash immediately before the lightning hits.

In single player, hitting combos is part luck and part skill. In combat, 
you spam the Call Allies button to have them attack your opponent with 
their mutant powers. Again, timing is an issue, but you don't have much 
control over when the computer AI will actually unleash its power(s). 
Experiment to find different teams that work well for hitting combos.
 
Make sure you always have a character with Leadership on the team. This 
skill adds bonus experience points earned from an enemy on whom you used a 
combo, and it increases the critical strike chance for the entire team. You 
do not have to actually defeat the enemy with the combo. As long as you 
used a combo on that enemy at some point, you get the bonus XP.
 
You can also score combos even if you are just fighting hand-to-hand; just 
keep pressing Call Allies while you're punching to keep your teammates 
blasting away with their powers. There's even a "Batter Up!" combo that is 
scored when one character hits with a strike sequence at the same time 
another character hits with another strike sequence. You can also score 
Batter Up! combos by picking an enemy up (by hand or with powers) and 
flinging the foe into the rest of the team.

There is a small window of opportunity surrounding each power when you can 
cause a combo. Powers that temporarily stun your opponents are especially 
good for combos as you can hit with the second power any time while the foe 
is stunned. Area-of-effect powers also give good chances for hitting combos 
as multiple enemies are affected. Finally, multiple-attack powers (e.g. 
Nightcrawler's Teleport Frenzy or Gambit's Staff Assault) give you more 
opportunities for hitting combos.

Once you get to level 15 and purchase Xtreme powers for your X-Men, you can 
use these powers by pressing Use Powers + Jump. You can hit super power 
combos by hitting a combo with one or two Xtreme powers. Xtreme powers 
require Xtreme icons, which will display at the bottom center of the 
screen. In order to fill these icons, you need to collect Xtreme tokens the 
same way you collect health packs, etc. Each token fills one-quarter of an 
icon, so you must collect four tokens to get one full icon and use an 
Xtreme power once.

The Xtreme power icons are shared by all X-Men. Thus, if you have one icon 
filled, and Bishop uses Big Bang, Deadpool cannot then immediately follow 
with Nitrogen Blast until you pick up more tokens. At level 15, you can 
have one filled Xtreme icon. At level 20, you can have two filled icons. At 
level 25, you can have three; at level 30, you can have four; and, at level 
35 and after, you can have five filled icons.

Xtreme powers are most useful for crowd control. Try to avoid using Xtreme 
powers against bosses, as most Xtreme powers are large area-of-effect 
powers that are intended to damage multiple enemies. Against a single 
enemy, they're a lot less powerful. (With one or two exceptions as noted in 
Section D.) Use focused, single-opponent powers and combos against bosses.

Another method of dealing with your enemies is to throw things at them. A 
character with the Might skill can pick up and throw cars, trucks and other 
really heavy things--as can Jean and Magneto if you buy enough ranks in 
their special powers (Telekinesis and Levitation, respectively). Any 
character can throw barrels or crates.

You can even pick up and throw enemies; and, a character with Might can 
pick up and throw Wolverine (Fastball Special). Though, for the most part, 
throwing is not a normal method of dealing with mobs.
 
As you attack enemies, keep an eye on the enemy status bar in the top 
center of the screen. This shows your opponent's health status and any 
damage resistances possessed by the enemy. For example, some enemies are 
physical resistant. This means attacks causing physical damage are less 
effective. Team up on the foe with energy and mental attacks. The same goes 
for opponents listed as mental resistant, etc.

Finally, if you can, avoid combat on bridges (especially bridges built by 
an X-Man) or near ledges. The computer AI is just stupid enough to 
occasionally send your teammates jumping into the abyss after enemies that 
have fallen over the edge. That's a bad thing.

Combat in XML2 is fast, furious and goes on forever; so, you'll get plenty 
of practice in taking care of the bad guys. If, for some strange reason, 
you can't get enough combat, try the Danger Room.


=====================
B.04: Item Collecting
=====================

Your primary task in X-Men Legends II is defeating the bad guys. Your 
secondary task is scrounging for loot...that is, collecting valuable 
equipment. You get most of your swag from drops by your enemies; however, 
you can also get a lot of loot from destroying the scenery.

Most of the items you will collect are health packs, energy packs and tech 
bits. Tech bits are the XML2 equivalent of money. You use tech bits to buy 
equipment from Forge and Beast and revive fallen mutants-in-arms. Once you 
hit 15th level and can use Xtreme powers, you'll start picking up the 
Xtreme tokens you need to fill your Xtreme power icons.

You'll also pick up a lot of gear that improve stats. All allies share the 
inventory, so any hero can equip anything that's been picked up, unless 
another character is already wearing the item. There is a limit of 20 
unequipped items that can be held in inventory. If you try to pick 
something up and get the message "Inventory is full", you have three 
options:

1) Ignore the item on the ground because it is underpowered for your
   current level;

2) Return to base and sell unused items to Forge or Beast or put them
   in the hero stash; or,

3) Drop some of your current inventory on the ground.

In order to keep your inventory from filling up, re-evaluate your equipment 
and sell unneeded items at least every other Xtraction point.

*NOTE* There's a game-stopping bug related to memory dumps and the number 
of items in your hero stash. Keep your hero stash at 30 items or less!

There are also many bonus items that are hidden throughout the game. If you 
thought there were lots of hidden items in XML, wait until you get a load 
of XML2. Here's the quick hit list:

Comic books: there are 15 of them. They don't confer any stat bonuses, 
alas, but they are still cool to look at.

Sketch books: there are 16 sketch books, each unlocks 3 pieces of concept 
art. If you collect all 16, you will get a boatload of additional concept 
art.

Tech stations: like the skill/stat point bonuses from XML, although there 
are more of them. Each tech station gives a bonus to the one character that 
uses the station. They provide permanent stat boosts, health and energy 
increases, etc. There are 30 tech stations scattered throughout the game.

Weapon cache: XML2's version of the uber-loot-producing treasure chest. 
Each weapon cache contains tech bits, health and energy packs and rare or 
unique equipment.

Danger Room Discs: as in XML1, you have to find these in order to play the 
scenarios. Find them all (and beat all the scenarios) and Professor X is 
yours to manipulate to your will...

Data discs: Collect four data discs and you get a bonus to your health or 
energy pack carrying capacity. There are twenty discs in all.
* +2 energy packs for the first set of four data discs
* +2 health packs for the second set of four data discs
* +4 energy packs for the third set of four data discs
* +4 health packs for the fourth set of four data discs
* +6 health and +6 energy packs for the fifth set of four data discs

Section E of this guide will fill you in on all the locations of these 
goodies. You can also find the location of all the Danger Room Discs in 
Section F.

And, there are load screens and cinematics that can be unlocked through 
normal gameplay.

Finally, beating the game once entitles you to start a new game+, which 
gives you all characters (including unlocked characters) at their endgame 
level. If you beat the game on Normal difficulty, you can play at the Hard 
difficulty.


===================
B.05: Using the Map
===================

The map is an essential part of success in XML2. Without the map, stages 
can become confusing and impossible to navigate. With the map, you can 
always see in which direction your next objective lies. The stages are very 
linear, but some of them can twist around enough to leave you confused 
unless you can see where you are and where you are going on your map.

The map contains a number of useful markers to help you find your way 
through each stage:

A blue X in a circle marks an Xtraction point.

A red X marks a stage objective. It might be a control panel that needs to 
be operated, a person who needs to be rescued or a device that needs to be 
destroyed. Your primary goal in each stage is to go to each red X and do 
whatever needs to be done. Then you head for the exit and the next stage.

A yellow double-arrow in a half-circle marks the exits from the area. Once 
all objectives have been cleared, find and use the exit.

A yellow exclamation mark identifies an NPC you need to talk to.

Red arrows show the direction of objectives too far away to display on the 
map. Yellow arrows show the direction of NPCs too far away to display on 
the map.

The map comes in two sizes: large and small. It can also be hidden. Unlike 
XML1, the large map shows no more area than the small map--it just shows 
the same area overlaid on the entire screen. Thus, on the PC, at least, the 
small map works just fine. The small map is the default when you start the 
game. To change the map size, use the Map toggle key or the Map option in 
the game menu.

There's also an auto-map, available from the game menu. This is a map of 
the area and can be scrolled and rotated around the screen (the game is 
paused while the auto-map is on). Use this to get a better idea of the 
direction in which you need to go to reach your objectives.


==========================
B.06: Hints, Tips & Tricks
==========================

Always have on your team a bridge builder, a flier, a teleporter and a 
character with Might. (There's no need, as in XML1, to have a welder.) 
Magneto and Jean Grey double as both fliers and bridge builders; if you 
level up Levitation or Telekinesis (respectively), they can also function 
as the Mighty character. This will allow your team to overcome any obstacle 
encountered during the game.

Make sure your party is well-balanced in types of damage used. This way you 
always have counters to resistances of enemies. For example, if you're 
loaded up on physical damage (e.g. Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Deadpool and 
Colossus), you're going to have a tough time with physical resistant 
enemies.

Don't forget about the Blink Portal. It effectively allows you to make your 
own Xtraction point in almost any area of the game (boss arenas and the 
Perimeter Platforms area of Act 4 are notable exceptions).

The amount of experience gained by inactive characters is much less than it 
was in XML1. If you constantly switch teams around, your characters are 
going to begin to lag badly behind the mobs as you progress through the 
game. You can still beat the game, even if your characters are only in the 
Level 37 to 38 range by the final fight; however, you'll be using energy 
and health (mostly energy) packs like water. Not that this is a problem; 
you'll have plenty of tech bits to restock from Forge every few minutes. 
Still, if you want to make things easier on yourself, stick with one team 
through most of the game--you'll finish at least 10 levels higher than if 
you play musical mutants.

Have one (or more) characters with Leadership on your team to increase the 
experience gained. Magneto (who can also fly, build bridges and Levitate 
massive objects) has Leadership, as does Cyclops and Professor X (once he's 
unlocked).

You can buy, from Forge or Beast, the ability to redistribute skill points. 
For any single character, this costs 10,000 tech bits the first time; 
100,000 tech bits the second time and 1,000,000 tech bits the third time. 
So, effectively, you could, one time, redistribute skill points for all 
your main characters. Take advantage of this option (you'll have plenty of 
tech bits). Let the computer auto-level skill points for a while until you 
have a good idea how the characters play, then redistribute the skill 
points as you like and turn off the Auto-Skill AI.

As in XML1, mutant powers are king. Straight-up melee works fine in Acts 1 
and 2, and even for a little while in Act 3. But you will soon find 
yourself relying more and more on powers, even for your tanks. Thus, Focus 
is the prime stat, just as it was in XML1. For ranged characters, prefer 
Focus over Body, Body over Speed and Speed over Strike. For melee 
characters, prefer Focus over Strike, Strike over Speed and Speed over 
Body. If the character's primary powers involve a percentage increase in 
melee damage (e.g. Colossus, Wolverine, etc.), then keep Focus and Strike 
roughly equal.

On the other hand...

The best defense is a good offense. There's not a whole lot of use for Body 
or Speed in this game. You can get huge bonuses to ATK and DEF from 
equipped items and boost powers, so you don't need to spend a lot on Speed. 
Body only helps you take a beating, which you can avoid by one-hit killing 
your opponents. To do that you need a lot of Focus (for power use) and 
Strike (if your powers' damage is a percentage of your base melee damage--
e.g. Wolverine's Feral Slash). For example, you could put every one of 
Magneto's stat points into Focus and he will be no worse for wear--in fact, 
he will be considerably better as he can spam his mutant attacks over and 
over. And Nightcrawler will be enormously strong if you evenly split all 
his stat points between Focus and Strike. So pump just Focus or Focus and 
Strike and don't worry about the other two stats.

Some very generalized comments on powers:
* Press-and-hold powers are a big waste of energy. (Storm's Chain Lightning
  is a notable exception.) Unless there is some sort of auto-targeting
  mechanism (like Chain Lightning), you spend a large amount of energy
  hitting nothing.
* Multiple-strike powers are the strongest. If you can focus all strikes on
  one target, you do far more damage than any other attack. On the other
  hand, you can also use the power for crowd control or clearing a path.
  (Nightcrawler's Divine Blades and Teleport Frenzy are two notable
  examples of such attacks.)
* No flier needs more than one rank of Flight
* Other good skills: traps, blasts and projectiles.
* Other not-so-good skills: radials, beams and damage-over-time powers.
Obviously there will be exceptions to these rules-of-thumb, which will be 
gradually filled in as the Allies list is completed.

Once you start getting the unique equipment from the Challenge courses in 
the Danger Room, turn off Auto-Equip AI or be prepared to constantly re-
equip the special items to your characters. The Auto-Equip AI prefers 
lower-stat equipment with a higher level requirement to the special 
equipment given as a reward for a Challenge course.

The Fastball Special where a character with Might throws Wolverine into a 
group of mobs is present in XML2 as it was in XML1. It's just as much of a 
toy, but you can do it if you want (though it means having two tanks on 
your team, which reduces the variety).

Teammates will automatically "jump" to your location if you leave them 
behind. This means you can teleport through walls or fly over pits, and 
your teammates--even if they can't teleport or fly--will just show up.


==========================================
B.07: Exploits (It's not cheating! Really!)
==========================================

* Iceman's Ice Gloves power consumes no energy

* Nightcrawler's Teleport Frenzy consumes no energy provided you have not
  put any points into Teleport Attack

* Equipping Nightcrawler with an item that provides a bonus to the Teleport
  skill (i.e. +1 Teleport) increases the skill ranks of *all* teleport-
  related skills (i.e. Attack, Frenzy, Leap of Faith, etc.)

* Iron Man's Motion Amplifier increases damage from all Iron Man's attacks
  (not just melee)--only confirmed for XBox, but PC version is direct port,
  so...


=====================
B.08: Glitches & Bugs
=====================

The following are glitches and bugs that have been encountered in the game. 
These appear to affect all versions of the game (PS2, XBox, Gamecube and 
PC):

* Constant crashing when you reach Act 4. This is caused by a memory dump
  because the game holds recent maps and all items stored in inventory
  and the hero stash in memory. The maps in Act 4 are huge, so a lot more
  memory is needed. You can avoid this bug by keeping your hero stash at
  30 items or less.


* Statues in the crystal room of the Temple of Anubis are not destructible.
  
The cause of this glitch is probably as follows:

When you enter the crystal room, you get a conversation pop-up that says, 
essentially, "We have to figure out how to move the crystal into the 
light." When you press ENTER to end the conversation, a script runs that 
sets the first statue destructible and marks it (with a red arrow hovering 
over the statue and a red X on your map).

If you are attacked while that conversation is open and it closes before 
you press ENTER, the script DOES NOT RUN and the statues are not set as 
destructible. To make things more interesting, there are is an Anubite 
Warrior right outside each door, disguised as a statue. So it is easy to 
run right by it, into the room, and then have it attack you while the 
conversation is open.

To AVOID the glitch, don't step into the crystal room until you are sure 
all enemies are clear. Advance slowly, so warriors disguised as statues 
come to life and attack before you enter the room.

To SOLVE the problem after being hit by the glitch, you must reset the map. 
To reset the map, you must load a sufficient number of maps into memory so 
the Temple of Anubis map is pushed out. Return to the Ancient Labyrinth and 
Xtract back to any map in a previous Act. You don't have to do anything, 
just keep Xtracting to old maps until you've visited six old areas. Xtract 
back to the Ancient Labyrinth and re-enter the Temple of Anubis. If the map 
is hidden and enemies are once more in the corridors, then the map is reset 
and you can fight your way back to the crystal room and finish the 
objective. (Remember to clear all enemies before entering the final room or 
you'll be hit by the glitch again.)

ALWAYS ROTATE MULTIPLE SAVES--AT LEAST THREE--IN CASE YOU GET HIT BY ONE OF 
THESE BUGS.


     /
 \  /--MEN LEGENDS II-----------------------------------------------------
  \/
  /\---Section C. WALKTHROUGH----------------------------------------------
 /  \
/

==============
C.01: Overview
==============

Here are some things to watch out for while moving through each stage:

C.01.a) Obstacles
-----------------
You will frequently find your path blocked by some obstacle. There are 
usually several ways around the obstacle, some more efficient than others.

GAPS
Broken bridges, catwalks and deep chasms will occasionally dot your path. 
There's a variety of methods to get around these. The easiest way is to 
build a bridge. Iceman (Slow Beam/Freeze Blast), Jean Grey (Telekinesis) 
and Magneto (Levitation) can all build bridges. Just target the blue X at 
the gap and unleash the appropriate power.

FORCE FIELDS
You will occasionally find your way blocked by energy force fields. Some 
force fields have a control panel nearby that can turn them off. If that is 
the case, have Nightcrawler (or Deadpool) teleport through the field and 
turn it off; otherwise, you have to go around it--typically by stepping 
into a side room and bashing your way through the wall. Some force fields 
remain up until you complete your objectives in the area.

BIG STUFF
Sometimes your way will just be blocked by big...well, blocks. A character 
with Might (or Magneto/Jean) can push this stuff out of the way; but, only 
if the object is marked with a blue X.

Other, unique, obstacles will be covered in the walkthrough.


C.01.b) Traps
-------------
There are machines in various stages that sap your mutant energy or hit you 
with a Slow effect. Some of these traps are not destructible, which means 
you have to stay out of the area that triggers the trap and draw enemies to 
you with ranged attacks. The traps only trigger if an active character gets 
close, so another option is to hang back and simply let your AI teammates 
handle the problem.


C.01.c) "Secret" Areas
----------------------
The auto-map (mostly) prevents there being any truly hidden rooms or 
platforms in the game (there are a small number of areas that do not appear 
on the map); however, some are only accessible if you have a flier or 
teleporter in your party. Some are just out of the way and you might run 
right by them on your way to an objective. Keep an eye out for "unfinished" 
areas on your map and make sure you explore each stage to its edges.


C.01.d) Make-a-Door
-------------------
Sometimes the only way to progress is to blow a hole in the wall. Almost 
any character can do this (though some are better at it than others), so if 
a room seems otherwise inaccessible or the path seems to have reached a 
dead end, try knocking down the wall.


C.01.e) Special Enemy Abilities
-------------------------------
As you play, you'll frequently run into mobs with special abilities. Some 
of these abilities include:

* Health Regeneration: the mob regenerates health (rather rapidly), take
  it out with your strongest powers to overcome the regeneration.

* Irradiated: the mob releases radiation from its body, any melee attacks
  cause the attacker to take radiation damage, concentrate ranged fire on
  these mobs.

* Energy Sap: the mob drains your energy points whenever you get too close,
  take it out from range or use standard melee attacks.

* Invulnerable: the mob is completely impervious until you hit it with a
  specific melee combo, such as Stun or Pop-up. Check the mob's status bar
  in the top center of the screen to see what will take out its shield and
  use that attack against it. They typically go down quickly once you get
  rid of their invulnerability.

* Resistance: lots of mobs, even common ones, will be resistant to some
  type of damage. For example, Sentinels are resistant to mental damage,
  Morlock Brutes are resistant to physical damage. Concentrate other types
  of damage against these enemies.


===========================
C.02: Special Conversations
===========================
Unlike XML1, XML2 has different conversation paths depending on whom is in 
your party and who is the current active (player-controlled) character. In 
some cases, having the right person on your team or as the active character 
results in a fully voice-acted conversation--almost a cutscene. The 
following are known conversation pairs:

C.02.a) Act 1
-------------
* Toad and Blink: Full VO conversation, when you rescue Blink at the
  end of the first mission. Toad does not need to be active.

* Grizzly and Iceman: Full VO conversation, Iceman must be the active
  character when you encounter Grizzly.

* Grizzly and Jean Grey: Full VO conversation, first encounter with
  Grizzly only, Jean does not have to be active.

* Zealot and Magneto: Full VO conversation, before the fight against
  Zealot (not for the two previous meetings with him). Magneto does not
  have to be the active character when you encounter Zealot

* Blob and Brotherhood: Blob has two different conversations depending on
  whether an X-Man or Brotherhood mutant is the active character when
  you speak to him (no VO for player's character)

* Lady Deathstrike and Wolverine: Full VO conversation, Wolverine must be
  the active character when you encounter Deathstrike

* Lady Deathstrike and Brotherhood: Optional conversation allowing you to
  bribe Deathstrike to leave you alone, Brotherhood mutant must be the
  active character when you talk to Deathstrike (no VO for player's
  character)

* Pyro and Gambit: Full VO conversation when you rescue Pyro, Gambit does
  not have to be the active character

* Pyro and Sunfire: Full VO conversation, this takes place when you are
  about to enter the Genosha Council for the boss fight against Abyss,
  Sunfire does not have to be the active character

* Mr. Sinister and Nightcrawler: Full VO conversation, Nightcrawler must
  does not have to be the active character when you meet Mr. Sinister in
  the Northern Plaza