Xenoblade Chronicles Basics- Introduction to Arts, Part Two: Development and Customization

Arts are varied and powerful- but you’re also going to want to make them stronger.  And which Arts you want to empower depends on how you use your characters and what you find yourself needing in combat.  Again, this is an opportunity to adjust the way Xenoblade Chronicles plays to fit the way you play- and it’s a well-used one.

Completely aside from the expected experience points and resulting level gain that you get from fighting monsters, Xenoblade Chronicles also gives you Art Points.  Art Points are won when you succeed in battle only- characters who are not with the party do not gain them like they do experience points- and can be saved and spent to improve your Arts.

As you level your Arts up, they will get more expensive to improve- so it’s up to you whether you save big to make your favorite Art strong, or make lots of small improvements to all of your Arts.  Because of the variety of Arts available to each character, this has a very strong effect on combat in the game and can be used to replay the game differently if you like.

Each Art has ten levels, indicated with roman numerals- reaching from I to X.  As you improve an Art, its damage will increase (if it is a damaging Art), its healing will increase (if it is a healing Art) and usually its cooldown time will decrease.  Some arts never change their cooldown time, though, instead increasing the duration of whatever they do.  It pays to keep track of which kind of Art is which, since a player who likes to fire off constant techniques will want lots of low-recharge Arts by comparison to the player who prefers waiting for ‘the right moment’.

Arts also come in two major varieties- Physical Arts and Ether Arts.  Physical Arts that deal damage will be affected by the weapon you have equipped in addition to anything else that alters your Art damage.  Ether Arts, however, will only be affected by changes to your Ether rating.

Not all Arts deal damage, and you may find your combat suffering if you neglect these.  Stay alert enough to notice which Arts you are using even if they don’t make numbers pop up over anybody’s head- and which Arts your teammates are using.