Xenoblade Chronicles X: website update (April 9) – Arts, Soul, images, and videos (w. translations)

Just like every Thursday for the past few weeks, Monolith Software has updated the official website for Xenoblade Chronicles X with some additional details about Arts, Soul Voice, as well as new screenshots / artworks and 2 videos!

Arts

As explained several times before, you use two kinds of attacks during battles: auto-attacks and Arts. Just like in Xenoblade Chronicles, you can chose up to 8 Arts to put on your Arts palette, and deciding the order in which you’ll use them is key. To learn new Arts, you have to rank up your classes; you can even strengthen your favorite Arts (allowing you to reduce the waiting time for Recast).

When you use an Art, you have to wait a few seconds for it to reload: that period is called “Recast”, and its duration varies depending on the Art used. You can continue to charge the Art even after it has reloaded: it’s called Double Recast, and makes the Art even more effective. Actually, you can even go up to a Triple Recast, though only when using OverClock Gear.

The website then gives us several example of Arts (the initial Arts of several classes):

1) Drifter
– Assault Hammer: allows you to deal physical damage by striking the foe with the gunstock. Causes Topple. (Assault Riffle, Rank 1);
– Fire Grenade: you inflict heat damage by firing a grenade at the enemy. Causes Blaze. Damage is increased if the enemy is suffering from Topple (Assault Riffle, Rank 1);
– Chrome Armor: reduces physical damage taken by one ally. (Knife, Rank 2).

2) Assault
– Rising Blade: you slash the enemy three times, inflicting damage based on the element of your weapon. Damage is increased if the enemy is targeting you (Longsword, Rank 1);
– Protection Mode (Tension Art): you use 1000TP in order to activate a special aura, granting you the “Received Damage Down,” “Recover HP Over Time,” and “Melee Attack Power Down” effects for a limited time. (Longsword, Rank 2);
– Powered Dive: grants “Bullet Charge” (which doubles the amount of damage for your next attack), and also allows you to evade all enemy attacks during its use. (Assault Rifle, Rank 3).

3) Command
– Back Slash: you attack the enemy with a back slash, dealing damage based on the element of your weapon. As it name implies, you deal more damage when you attack from behind. (Dual Swords, Rank 1);
– Early Count (Tension Art): you use 1000TP in order to activate a special aura, granting you the “Crit Bonuses”, “Critical Rate Up,” and “Evasion Up” effects for a limited time. (Dual Guns, Rank 1);
– Stream Edge (Tension Art): you use 1000TP to unleash a series of five whirling attacks inflicting damage based on the element of your weapon. You can deal more damage if you use it after a Ranged Art. (Dual Swords, Rank 2).

4) Forcer
– Beam Blast: you fire a large laser, inflicting damage based on the element of your weapon. Damage is increased if you’re under the effects of an aura. (Raygun, Rank 1);
– Maintenance: allows you to get rif of all debuffs and heal one ally. (Knife, Rank 1)
– Splash Blast: you fire a laser that inflicts damage based on the element of your weapon. It also causes “Black Sight” (lowers enemy Accuracy and Evasion rates, and reduces damage done by their Ranged attacks) (Raygun, Rank 5).

Here’s a video showcasing the Arts:

Soul

During battles, you and your teammates will communicate with each other, which allows you to get bonuses like HP Recovery or Damage Increase. There’s two types of interactions:

– Soul Voice: when teammate shouts things like “It’s unprepared! Break it with a Melee Art!” or “It’s in the bag! Cover fire, please!”, some Arts will be highlighted on your Arts palette. When you use them, you and the characters that shouted get some HP back, the Art becomes more effective, and the ties between those two characters are strengthened.

– Soul Challenge: when you meet certain conditions (such as “Begin battle with a Melee weapon equipped” or “HP drops below 30%”, an orange circle appears on the screen and you have to press B right when it enter the blue circle (and before it disappears). Doing so will allow you to get special effects such as: “Restore HP to All Members” and “Soul Stage Up 1 Level”. If you get a “Huge Succeed” (Perfect), you also get bonus TP.

One important aspect of Soul Challenges, you can actually customise the effect associated with them. For example, you can chose between “Damage +100%,” “Adds Break,” or “Recover 200 TP per Hit” for the “Begin battle with a Melee weapon equipped” condition. Finally, there’s Soul Stages: when you complete a Soul Challenge, the stage rises by 1, and you get special effects such as “Soul Voice Activation Rate Up” and “Increased Bonus TP for Huge Success”.

Here’s a video showcasing the Soul feature:

Screenshots

Here’s some new screenshots, showing various environments, the team finding a secret area, and more:

Concept-art

Here’s some concept-art by Mr. Yanase, for the Dolls:

Short Story

And finally, the 4th part of the B.L.A.D.E. short story, which can be found there. Here’s the English version of Part 3 of 24 Hours Happy People translated in English.

Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U) comes out on April 29th in Japan, and later this year in Europe and North America. Don’t forget tomorrow’s live presentation, dedicated to Dolls and Network features!

Source: Xenoblade Chronicles X
Translation: Gessenkou