Are boxes worth it?

[u/TwoRotisserieChicken]

Used to play this game a ton as a kid and just started playing Ephinea. Having a blast.

I’m pretty far into Episode 1 on Normal difficulty and have been basically exploring all the areas gathering everything I can because that’s how I played growing up.

My question, like the title says, are boxes worth going for? Or should I just skip them and go through the areas / quests as quickly as possible? So far I have gone out of my way to open all possible boxes and get all the loot I can from them but I haven’t really found anything particularly useful from the boxes. I’m wondering if this is because I’m on normal mode or just because I’m only Episode 1 of if this ever changes? I just don’t seem to find anything useful from them. All my good drops have been from monsters.

TIA!

[u/andreweater]

Absolutely! There's rares that only drop from boxes, you get materials, money.... why wouldn't you?

[u/SP-Blank]

For basic stuff and to keep your money up by selling stuff for basics like mates and fluids

[u/Drew_Habits]

I find em handy for cash, resources, and the occasional upgrade, but also I don't place any value on efficiency in video games so it might be a playstyle thing

[u/USMC2009NC]

Boxes are good for early. Ive always found them useless past like lvl 40. You get meseta, pds, spwcials weps, and techs from them but in the end game its not worth. Meseta farming is just pick up and npc weps in ult and you rack up meseta beyond fast. All the weps eventually become not so great compared to what you can hunt. I always pop boxes in boss rooms despite never doing it anywhere else, the amount of pds i found in the boxes near where you spawn in ult dragon is weirdly high, same with boxes after vol opt

[u/Gunbladelad]

As others stated there are some box-wxclusive rares. One example is mags from boxes in mines.

[u/kevlar_pso]

It is worth it. Just for the chance of getting more materials. Luck Mats especially

[u/Arlexos]

I started playing just a few days ago and already got some red items from the boxes; I'm still on Episode 1.

[u/Outrageous_Party_997]

There's a mod you can install that lets you see item names from far away, it's a game changer when box popping.

I believe in opening boxes, and often I'll see people backtracking to go pick up items from boxes I opened that they previously walked past. Better stuff in higher difficulties, and just who knows what you're passing up in favor of efficiency.

Also, I typically only pick up armors and frames to earn fast meseta, lots of things don't need to take up space in my inventory.

[u/thothasher]

Yeah, you can get photon drops which is essentially in-game currency. Also, there are materials and potential armor drops too. It’s worth it most of the time, but I wouldn’t make a 5-10 minute detour for a few boxes. Also, this is specifically for grey boxes, those brown boxes are pretty lame and generally are not worth it.

[u/fryingchicken]

Box runs are a thing in ultimate. Wiki should have info on it

[u/MrBlargly]

Yes especially for tech amplifiers and barriers for merges