Nintendo have published new details and visuals for Monolith Soft’s open-world, sci-fi RPG sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles. Although a lot of the battle tactics described below have been covered in a live stream, the Xenoblade Chronicles X updates on the official website go a bit more in depth into the battle system than previous coverage. Find the information below. (Thanks, HiouZetsuenshou.)

Xenoblade Chronicles X will be out on the Wii U in Japan on April 29, and is due in the West some time later this year.

Check out our archives for much more on the game.

The best battle strategy

The order and timing of players’ arts usage, and characters’ relative position, can significantly impact the flow of fights. Players will be more likely to succeed if they use the techniques described below.

• Some arts increase damage if used after a Melee Art, or if used after a Ranged Art, which means players will have to pay attention to the combinations they use, and link arts together skillfully.
• Certain arts inflict the “Break” status effect on enemies. By using an art with the “Topple” effect on an enemy suffering from “Break”, you will incapacitate your opponent for a short time. While opponents are Toppled, attacks will never miss, and all damage increases by 1.5 times.
• Some arts also inflict more damage while an enemy is Toppled.
• Attacking an enemy from behind, or from above or below, increases characters’ accuracy and critical hit rates against that target. Specific arts have special effects when used from the side or back, too, so positioning is important while fighting.
• Players will be able to target different parts of an enemy. Destroying a part of an enemy means they can’t use it to attack. Players also receive extra rewards after battle for destroying parts.

Once the story progresses past a certain point, players will be able to employ “Overclock Gear”, a powerful ability that uses 3000 TP to give a character massively improved battle capabilities for a short time. While invoked, characters’ arts’ Recast time (the period it takes for an art to become usable again) is drastically reduced, allowing players to unleash one art after another. OCG also have “Triple Recasts”, with which players can charge arts for a third time. If players struggle to defeat a boss or Overed, they can prepare by gathering 3000TP beforehand, and activate Overclock Gear ahead of the battle.

The Gear Counter (left blue indicator below) changes color depending on the arts used, and Gear Time (right blue indicator below) is a countdown clock which indicates when OCG will end.

• Using arts of the same color in succession will increase the number of hits on the Gear Counter, which will give players effects like “Gear Time Extension”, “Extra Damage”, and “Gain TP While Attacking”, depending on the Count number.
• Changing the “Gear Counter” color in a certain order (for example, yellow to green), will give players effects like “Double Count Number”, “Increase Part Damage”, “Recover HP”, and “EXP Bonus”.
• If allies gather 3000 TP while the player’s Gear is invoked, they can activate their own OCG, which grants extra special effects for having multiple people overlocking gear simultaneously.
• Accumulate another 3000 TP while using Gear will re-invoke Overlocking yet again, extending Gear Time.

Luminous Forest

First revealed in a Nintendo Direct last month, some new screenshots of the Luminous Forest region have been released. Each continent always has Unexplored Regions and Superb Views (both of which grant experience if discovered), so players should look for “suspicious areas”.

The iteration of concept art