Xenoblade Chronicles X

[Kachiko]

A lot of people like L, and Gwin is used in some later missions, so that's also an efficient option. Until I can recruit Celica, I've just been using Gwin, since he calls ranged, and I'm currently Sniper/Photon Saber, so I can just continually chain Soul Voices, with him and Elma/Lin.

[Voyage1970]

You don't really use Gwin as a character in later missions but you do need him at 1 Heart affinity for a required quest later. Irina is probably your best bet from a pure support standpoint. Max out Last Stand, Energy Source, and Smooth Recovery and give her the Ramjet Rifle (from Alexa Affinity quest) and watch her drown you in TP for Overdrive spam or TP art spam and provide decent heals to complement Soul Voices.

Only problem is she is restricted from some later missions as well but the only people who aren't are the aforementioned L and all the optional characters minus one.

[Tomiko]

A lot of people like L, and Gwin is used in some later missions, so that's also an efficient option. Until I can recruit Celica, I've just been using Gwin, since he calls ranged, and I'm currently Sniper/Photon Saber, so I can just continually chain Soul Voices, with him and Elma/Lin.

I've been using Doug just because he was my highest level (aside from Elma and Lin) and because I don't have Celica yet (1 more mission away!).

[arioch]

dumb question (as always), but how the fuck do you use the Fuel Re-up? I read through the manual, and checked every menu... i think D: halp!

in battle press the + button, and sub menu with pop up that lets you give commands to party members, it says what button to press for items when the menu is up i think it is A, this menu will only open and be useable when your weapon is drawn and you are engaged with a enemy.

[Demosthenes]

I'm only level 22 and have done a terrible job of leveling up members other than Erma, Lin, and Lao. Is there anyone in particular I should try to focus on leveling to help end game or will I be able to catch everyone up fairly quickly?

Exp scales. Anyone you want to level will meet you in no time. You could also go demolish/one shot scirpos in whitewood. Pick a few people and stick to them. Murd was pretty much who I used as my fourth. If I was doing quests, I filled up with two other NPCs that were not Erma and Lin.
One you clear the game, affinity becomes super easy to gain, so don't stress it. That said, I miss the exp system in the first game. Everyone gained XP regardless of participation.

[Quicklet]

I've been having so much fun exploring after getting my skell license. You just feel so OP riding around in one, killing stuff 10+ levels higher than you. I'm actually having trouble finding enough storage and research probes for all the waypoints I've unlocked.

Does anyone know if affinity links between NPCs (not party members) are "missable" in the sense that you can miss some of the backstory between NPCs as the story progresses? I like talking to the different NPCs in NLA but there are so many of them that I don't want to just hold up everything else to see what they all have to say. In general the affinity chart feels a little more cumbersome to navigate compared to the first Xenoblade.

[Voyage1970]

Not sure about missables as far as progression goes but certain quests have multiple endings that alter which quests you will get later in the line. These outcomes also change what the affinity chart says about a character (especially if anyone in particular dies due to the results of a quest). Off the top of my head there is a quest where you have to find a crashed helicopter and help them repair it. If you botch the repair job one of the two people involved dies and the quest that comes after reflects this change and the Affinity links with a third party will change as well.

Pretty sure you still get the same rewards, like you won't miss out on a piece of fashion gear or a Skell Super Weapon, but it does change the world lore. Honestly the side missions are far more interesting than the main story. A lot of them get pretty dark.

[Quicklet]

Off the top of my head there is a quest where you have to find a crashed helicopter and help them repair it. If you botch the repair job one of the two people involved dies and the quest that comes after reflects this change and the Affinity links with a third party will change as well.

I may have done this one. You have to choose between a red and blue wire right? I didn't even realize you could mess that up -- I talked to the NPC before picking and she was like "I'm sure whatever you pick will be right" lol.

[Demosthenes]

Lao's heart to hearts are missable, but you don't get anything for doing them.

[Raldo]

Skell questions... I just unlocked skells and I haven't purchased a newer skell yet, so all I have is the free one they give you.

1) I am over level 30, but all the lv30 buyable skell stuff is highlighted red (which I assume means I can't equip it). Whose level is it using to determine the allowable equipment level for skells? Is the free skell limited to the lv20 stuff?
2) My first experience in a skell made me feel more durable, but WEAKER offensively than just walking around. Is this because I'm only using lv20 skell weapons (whereas I'm over lv30 on foot) and/or because some of the weapon slots were still empty?
3) Is there a good concise explanation online anywhere about what triggers certain things when you're in a skell? Hopefully something that can answer questions like...
• Why does the overdrive sometimes get extended when it hits zero?
• Is there something I'm doing that's causing the Bind prompt to come up, or is that random?
• What the hell is going on when it switches to a view inside the cockpit? Is that random? What all does it do?
• Does the home-screen menu manual cover these sorts of questions in an easily-navigable manner? I haven't consulted a game's manual in decades, but jesus this game has a ton of shit that it does not explain. I still don't understand how the on-foot overdrive works.

[Demosthenes]

1. Your level 20 Skell cannot equip level 30 items.
2. You don't have enough DPS on L20 Skell is not that great and you need more weapons to give you more arts. yes, it is because weapon slots are still empty.
3. Triggers what? Cockpit mode has a 10%(?) chance of being triggered with each art. Will all your art slots filled up, it works out to about 40-50% chance of triggering cockpit mode each time you run through all the arts.

Some arts extend it, I've found however that I'm prefer setting myself up to hit 3K tp before the over drive ends so I can just activate it again.
I believe it is stagger. When an enemy gets staggered, you get to bind them.
See first one.
Yes and no. Also while there are clickable links on the Wii U manual, I'd recommend just using the PDF manual.

[Raldo]

I surmised the initial skell might've been locked to lv20, but... where is the skell level listed? I looked for one, but I must've missed it. I assume you can't use a skell that's higher than your own level? I was going to buy one of those skells that cost over 1 million tonight, but I won't if I'm going to be cockblocked from using it.

[tenkiki]

He got most of them, but here's a basic guide on skell combat that includes the differences between each skell overdrive, and the chances at extending overdrive: http://gameswiki.net/xenoblade-chron...-combat-guide/
One thing that didn't get mentioned is while in cockpit mode, along with resetting all cool downs, you don't take any damage, although you can still be debuffed I think (maybe not debuffed, but I know you can at least get launched).

[Voyage1970]

The guide tenkiki posted pretty much covers everything but your Skell's level is the "Frame Level" statistic below HP/GP. Skells can't use equipment above their Frame Level and your characters can't use Skells with Frame Levels above their main level. The first Skell you get (URBAN) is garbage tier and any level 30 Skell you get after that will be miles better, even another Urban. The Amudias is a fan favorite having the highest HP/Fuel and Armor and it's Overdrive: KURENAI gives Fuel Absorption so you aren't running on fumes as often. The default shoulder weapon E-Scythe is also one of the better weapons for dealing damage until you get into near endgame farming, just make sure you aim for the back bonus.

[Valisk]

Question about melee/ranged combos:

Is it just stringing together melee/ranged arts back to back?

Also, is there an indicator of when you have successfully performed a combo?

[Raldo]

The Amudias is a fan favorite having the highest HP/Fuel and Armor and it's Overdrive: KURENAI gives Fuel Absorption so you aren't running on fumes as often.

I noticed the lighter ones have higher "potential" (pretty much the only thing in their favor). Does that cause the light ones to dish out significantly more damage?

The best description I've found on google basically says that potential is used to boost the damage of attacks that use TP, but that obviously doesn't apply to skells so... what does it do and/or is it worth stacking?

[Valisk]

Potential is the "multiplier" for TP based arts and also determines how much HP is recovered after successful Soul challenges (perfect/good) and probably the Soul Voice requests from your party (when they ask for an art and it starts blinking).

[Voyage1970]

Question about melee/ranged combos:

Is it just stringing together melee/ranged arts back to back?

Also, is there an indicator of when you have successfully performed a combo?

Doesn't necessarily have to be a Ranged/Melee art, just an art that uses your ranged/melee weapon. For example there are melee arts that use the Assault rifle but any Art used after that will be considered part of a ranged combo. Same thing applies to debuffs like Magnum Edge. It uses a longsword so any Art after the fact gets a melee combo bonus. Aside from noticing the increase in damage/effect I don't believe there is an indicator for a successful combo.

I noticed the lighter ones have higher "potential" (pretty much the only thing in their favor). Does that cause the light ones to dish out significantly more damage?

The best description I've found on google basically says that potential is used to boost the damage of attacks that use TP, but that obviously doesn't apply to skells so... what does it do and/or is it worth stacking?

Light Frame Skells will deal a noticeably larger amount of damage but they also have significantly less HP so for Early/Mid game your safest bet is a Heavy type. Once you get into the end game Skell building you will be using a Light for the extra Frame augment slot and higher potential since your goal is to one shot enemies at that point otherwise you'll do more damage on foot.

In general Potential raises all damage dealt but it's mostly noticeable when using TP arts as they forgo your Melee/Ranged Attack in the calculations but are massively modified by Potential. For Skells it's a bit different since all attacks use Fuel instead of GP and all attacks use both Potential and Melee/Ranged Attack for damage. As far as I'm aware it's still better to raise Potential for Skells but most of your augment slots will be taken up by Enemy Exploit augments or Attribute Damage augments anyway so a small portion of your damage will be from Potential buffs.

[Katlan]

Not sure about missables as far as progression goes but certain quests have multiple endings that alter which quests you will get later in the line. These outcomes also change what the affinity chart says about a character (especially if anyone in particular dies due to the results of a quest). Off the top of my head there is a quest where you have to find a crashed helicopter and help them repair it. If you botch the repair job one of the two people involved dies and the quest that comes after reflects this change and the Affinity links with a third party will change as well.

Pretty sure you still get the same rewards, like you won't miss out on a piece of fashion gear or a Skell Super Weapon, but it does change the world lore. Honestly the side missions are far more interesting than the main story. A lot of them get pretty dark.

Never thought about that. Curious if me sympathizing with Tatsu during Lin's affinity quest (instead of doing the extra steps) changed anything in the long run

[Kaslo]

Really got to give Monolithsoft credit for how these quests can change based on choice.

I've also heard there is a quest where a citizen had been sniped, but survived, and you are tasked with hunting the sniper down. Once choice leads to a plan that had you lure out the sniper by using the victim as bait lol.