Monolith Soft recently shared a look at Xenoblade Chronicles X’s basic and advanced battle system features. The official website has now updated with additional info on how you’ll fight monsters with Arts and other tricks.
Arts have different uses that have effects that can be used as part of combos like “increases damage when used after a Fighting Arts” or “increases damage when used after a Shooting Arts. There are different combinations and effects while using them, so you’ll want to figure out which ways will help do the most damage.
Similar to Xenoblade Chronicles, Arts can also be used to knock enemies off balance, then combined with another Art to completely knock them over, making for a nice way to keep them down while giving a good beating. Once you knock them down, all your attacks will hit, and the damage increases by x1.5.
There are also some Arts that increase damage when used against enemies that are knocked down; however, keep in mind that there are some times when there enemies won’t be knocked down even after knocking them off balance.
Attacking enemies from the back or from higher elevations will increase accuracy and critical rate. There are some Arts that get enhanced effects when used from the back of flank, so positioning will matter.
Depending on the type of monster you’re fighting, some may have parts that can be targeted and broken off. Once you break it off, they won’t be able to use those parts to do certain attacks anymore, so it’ll play a strategic element on certain monsters.
After getting to a certain point in the story, you’ll unlock the “Overclock Gear” which greatly enhances your battle capabilities for the cost of 3,000 TP. When activated, it vastly reduces your Arts’ recast time, allowing you to continuously pull off Arts one after the other.
While in Overclock Gear mode, you can even get a Triple Recast, which is basically a more powerful Double Recast, a more powerful version of an Art. TP carries over after fights, so it might be a good idea to fill up your meter before taking on tough bosses or Overeds.
- Gear Counter: is the middle number in purple, which changes colors as you use Arts.
- Gear Time: is the bar next to the Gear Counter. It decreases over time and ends the Overclock Gear when completely empty.
Here’s a rundown on how to fight while in Overclock Gear mode:
- Count-up Effect: The Gear Counter’s hit number goes up each time you use the same type of Arts consecutively, like Fighting Arts to Fighting Arts, or Shooting Arts to Shooting Arts. Depending on the number, there are effects such as “extend Gear Time,” “increased damage,” and “number of TP gained from attacks increased”.
- Color Combo: As the Gear Counter’s color order changes (such as yellow to green) there will be extra effects such as “count number increase,” “increased positional damage,” “HP recovery,” and “bonus experience points”.
- Party Chain: if other party members get 3,000 TP while you’re in Overclock Gear mode, they will also activate their own Overclock Gears. When several characters activate it at the same time, there will be a special effect.
- Reactivate: while Overclock Gear is active, filling up the TP to 3,000 will allow you to reactivate and extend the Gear Time.
Xenoblade Chronicles X will release in Japan on April 29, 2015 for Wii U. The game will also release in North America and Europe later this year.
