Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition: Beginner’s Tips & Tricks

No matter how proficient you are with JRPGs, discovering everything Xenoblade Chronicles X offers is daunting.

The game is massive and packed with countless systems, from combat to exploration and various other features. While there is an in-game tutorial teaching you the ropes, who actually reads tutorials besides me, right?

To make your journey through Mira smoother and more rewarding, I’ve put together some beginner’s tips and tricks for Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition.

This enhanced version added some quality-of-life improvements that refined a few elements from the base version. Still, things can get confusing pretty fast if you don’t understand what’s going on.

10 Your Choices Matter—ish

At Least For Party Member Relationships

First things first, the main story will give you some dialogue options for our highly expressive protagonist from the moment you start the game.

These choices don’t change anything in the campaign. There’s only one narrative, and that’s the one we’ll follow. However, they do have a minor influence on side activities.

Dialogue choices will pop up as you proceed with missions or heart-to-heart interactions with party members. Depending on what you choose, you can earn affinity points with a specific party member.

So, if you want to get close to a certain character, I recommend adding them to your party before tackling side content. Then, pick the response you believe they’d like best, and voilà. Before you know it, you’ll be off on a romantic cruise together.

9 Don’t Fret Over Divisions

There Are No Differences Between Them

As soon as you join BLADE, Vandham will allow you to choose one of eight divisions within the group, each with its specialty.

In the original Wii U game, divisions played a vital gameplay role. Depending on which one you chose, you had to complete related activities to earn Division Points and increase your BLADE Level.

However, this feature was scrapped in the Xeno X: Definitive Edition and is now more of a flavor mechanic than anything else. There are no BLADE or Field Skill levels in this version.

That said, you can pick any division that makes sense to your roleplay. And if you ever change your mind, there’s a Customization PC in the Barracks that lets you switch divisions at any time.

8 Grab Every Basic Mission Possible

Complete Them While Exploring

Once you officially join BLADE, you can take on all kinds of missions. They’re divided into four categories: normal, basic, affinity, and story missions.

Story and Affinity missions are a commitment. You can only do one at a time and can’t grab them simultaneously. However, the other ones are free-for-all.

Normal missions are ordinary JRPG sidequests. You can track them on the map, and completing some contributes to an area’s survey rate. Basic missions are accessible through the Mission Control console outside the BLADE Barracks.

You should grab every Basic Mission that is available every single time. Some require you to kill monsters, others ask you to find collectibles and a few have specific objectives, but nothing too complicated. You can hold up to 20 at a time.

If you already have a collectible needed for a basic mission, it will be completed instantly after you accept it. Also, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition has markers for everything, so you can complete most tasks while exploring the planet.

Support Missions are also available in the Network Console at the Barracks, along with online missions. These are repeatable missions that grant experience, resources, and other bonuses. A perfect spot for farming, that is.

7 Play Online Whenever Possible

Though It Requires a Nintendo Subscription

Once you reach Chapter 4, the online squad feature unlocks. It works similarly to Monster Hunter hubs, where everyone plays separately but can join Online Missions together now and then.

Online Missions are similar to Support Missions; they are quick, set in a concentrated area, and reward you with experience, money, and battle points. Plus, they give material tickets, the exclusive online currency.

Because of these material tickets, I recommend staying online whenever possible. Even if you don’t plan on doing Online Missions, just being in a Squad lets you participate in Squad Tasks.

These tasks vary from finding collectibles to hunting monsters. However, if you don’t want to tackle them, your Squad members might, and you’ll still get the rewards in the form of material tickets. Tickets can be exchanged for materials to craft new augments and gear.

6 Miranium Has A Storage Limit

Increase Storage or Spend the Material

Xenoblade Chronicles X has two main resources: credits and miranium. Credits are money, while miranium is a special material found throughout Mira to sponsor arms manufacturers, create new augments, or complete missions.

There are several ways to get miranium, but the best method is placing mining probes in FrontierNav to earn it passively. However, pay attention because there’s a miranium storage limit.

The initial cap is only 6,000, which is way too low. To avoid wasting miranium, you can either invest the material or increase the limit by placing Storage Probes. I do a bit of both, so I don’t have to micromanage the resource constantly.

5 Equip Your Augments

The Game Forgot This Lesson

Xenoblade Chronicles X doesn’t take long to introduce augments, items that can be slotted into gear to provide extra effects and power up your characters.

The problem is that the game explains what they are but not how to actually equip them. Well, that’s why I’m here.

Go to your Ground Gear menu and take a look at your equipment. By pressing ZL, you can check Additional Effects. Some gear has an open slot that, when clicked, allows you to fit an augment.

There’s no downside to equipping and removing augments, so stack them up on all your gear. You can acquire them from missions or by crafting at the Arms Manufacturer console.

4 Upgrade Arts and Skills

You Can Reset Them Anytime

As a class levels up, you’ll learn new Arts and Skills. You can spend Battle Points to upgrade them, significantly boosting their effects.

I don’t know about you, but I always hesitate to spend resources early on in RPG featuring classes, afraid I’ll regret it later. But here in Xenoblade Chronicles X, you can respec for a measly amount of credits, so don’t be afraid to upgrade your Arts.

As always, the best approach is to level up the Arts and Skills that match your build. You can spread them thin and become a jack-of-all-trades, but you won’t be hitting as hard as a specialist.

You earn Battle Points by leveling up, collecting items for the Collectopedia, opening treasure boxes, or completing missions—especially Support Missions. Don’t hoard BP for the future; spend it all today.

3 Don’t Focus Solely on TP Arts

Equip Arts According to Your Build

Combat in Xenoblade Chronicles feels a lot like an MMO. Characters auto-attack the enemy while you select abilities that recharge in real time.

Most Arts are free to use, but the strongest ones require Tension Points, a valuable yet tricky resource to build up and even harder to manage.

You gain TP through auto-attacks, determined by your weapon’s TP Gain Value attribute, or through specific Arts. The base Max TP is 3000, but it can be increased.

Tension Arts consume 1000 TP per cast, which is a lot. If you overload your toolkit with TP-consuming Arts, you’ll either waste space in your palette or struggle to keep your TP high.

My recommendation is to build around a specific playstyle. For example, there are buffs for melee, so only equip Tension Auras that boost melee damage. However, if you intend to focus on TP Arts, weapons with high TP Gain Value are your best friends.

2 Prepare Before a Nasty Fight

Fight That Tyrant With a Full TP Bar

As mentioned earlier, some Arts consume TP. The good news is that TP carries over between battles, and by now, I bet you know where I’m going with this.

Before fighting a boss or a Tyrant, wipe out a few weak indigens nearby. This way, you can fill up your TP bar and enter that tough fight with a serious advantage.

A fast way to recharge TP is to spam Arts like the Commando’s Sliding Slinger, which restores TP on use. With the Quick Cooldown feature, you can use the Art repeatedly on puny monsters and build up TP in no time.

Another way to gain TP is by landing a Perfect during a Soul Challenge, which triggers when you meet the conditions for a Soul Voice. It’s a confusing mechanic, but once you master it, the game is yours for the taking.

TP is also required to revive a party member. It costs 3000 TP—the base minimum—to bring someone back. If you die and an AI party member has 3000 TP, they will revive you.

However, the AI usually spends TP like maniacs, so if you want them to save it, you need to change their strategy to “keep your tension up” by pressing + or holding L in battle.

1 Exploration Is Never Too Much

Enjoy the Sprawling World of Mira

Director Tetsuya Takahashi said that the main focus of Xenoblade Chronicles X was to offer a vast world for players to explore—and he meant it.

Don’t be afraid to venture beyond the mission markers. The Definitive Edition added countless pointers to help modern players, but sometimes, it pays off to just wander about.

You might stumble upon hidden landmarks, regions, treasures, and whatnot, collecting extra loot and increasing your survey rate for even more added bonuses.

Crystal-shaped items found worldwide are easy to collect and are meant for the Collectopedia, an interface found inside the Intel menu. Registering these items there earns you extra Battle Points.

Placing new probes helps you gather more funds and miranium, which in turn lets you buy stronger gear. Not to mention, probes unlock fast travel to optimize exploration and reveal side content.

Ultimately, it’s your experience, and you play however you like. But allow yourself to explore, enjoy Xenoblade Chronicles X, and rebel against the markers from time to time. You might be surprised by what you find.