https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq-H_xEc8c0

A second, 30-minute Nintendo Direct was streamed yesterday, which was all about Xenoblade Chronicles X‘s combat. (You can find the first Nintendo Direct dedicated to Xenoblade Chronicles X here.)

You can watch the video of that above, and we’ve summarized the information contained in it below.

Basics

• Players’ adventuring parties can consist of up to four Blade members, and additional NPCs that can be recruited from guilds, or Unions, that the player joins; guilds mentioned in the broadcast are the Interceptor Union, the Avalanche Union, and the Path Finder Union.
• Weapons like knives, swords, and javelins are used for close range combat, while rifles, guns, launchers and the like are long range weapons.
• Positioning is important, as attacking from terrain that is higher than your opponent, or attacking them from behind, will increase your accuracy and critical hit chances. This applies both to simple attacks and to Arts (see below).
• Each enemy has an icon, which indicates its aggressiveness, as well as what will trigger its attack (sight, smell, etc.)
• Players can Taunt an opponent in order to increase the damage they do against it.
• Enemies have various parts that can be targeted and attacked. Destroying a part will reward players with uncommon items.
• There are Tension Points in this game, which players accumulate while auto-attacking. When players accumulate enough Tension, they are able to revive fallen allies.

Arts

• Arts are the name for Xenoblade Chronicle X‘s special abilities, and include Fighting Arts, Shooting Arts, Recovery Arts, and Weakening Arts. They can be freely organized at the bottom of the screen.
• Special abilities have a cooldown period. However, if you auto-attack following the use of an Art, the Art will refill and enable a Double Recast, which has a greater effect than regular Arts.
• There is also Overclocking Gear which, when activated, shortens the cooldown for Arts, allowing players to perform Arts in succession, which will result in a Triple Recast. This is even more powerful than a Double Recast. Triggering Overclocking Gear at the same time as allies will make the effects greater. Overclocking Gear is not available from the start of the game.

Combos

• Soul Voice is a combo mechanism that exists in the game, in which allies tell the player to use a certain Art. If they use it and reflect that mechanism back to the ally, various potential effects occur. For example, the party’s health is regenerated, and Arts may become more powerful.
• Players may themselves initiate a Soul Voice via a QTE. Occasionally, a circle will appear on the screen during battle, and by quickly pressing the B button, players will trigger Soul Voice in reverse.
• Soul Voice types can be set manually outside of battle.
• Attack Arts (Fighting Arts and Shooting Arts) are synergistic, and when used together they will deal increased damage.
• If an enemy collapses after you use an Art, using another Art with a tumble effect on them will make them fall to the ground, which means they won’t be able to fight back. Too, enemies will take 50% more damage in this position.

Equipment

• Each weapon and armor has its own stats.
• Players can equip one close range weapon and one long range weapon.
• There are five armor slots: head, torso, right arm, left arm, and legs.
• Various companies develop weapons in New Los Angeles, and when players use a particular company’s equipment out in the field, that company will grow thanks to the free advertising. New companies will appear over time to offer the player more choice in equipment.
• Some equipment has slots, which can be equipped with devices that provide buffs and/or special abilities.
• Equipment can be procured at shops and by defeating enemies.

Leveling

• Characters have both an Inner Level and a Class Rank.
• Inner Levels dictate what sort of equipment players can use. Higher tier equipment corresponds with a higher Inner Level. Players can increase their Inner Level through combat, and by discovering treasure boxes and unexplored areas.
• Class is basically your combat style, what type of Arts can be learned, and which weapons and abilities characters are proficient in. After ranking an initial class up, players will be able to switch out of it into other classes.

The Japanese Wii U release of the game is imminent: Xenoblade Chronicles X will be available there on April 29. There’s still no firm date for a Western release, which will be some time later this year.

Thanks Games Talk and Nintendo Life.