Monolith Soft X explanation

This is based on two threads I saw, one by Socran http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/701151-x-monolith-soft-wii-u-game/68827565 that suggests that TP may be 'tension points’. There's another thread http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/701151-x-monolith-soft-wii-u-game/68823439 which raises the question of the O.C.Gear mechanic. I think the systems are related so I've had a go at figuring out just what the hell is going on. I use the translations for arts given in the GameXplain video which are in turn taken from a thread on Gamefaqs, some other observations people have made, and stuff I've figured out myself (but may already be done in the Neogaf thread or something.)

First off let's have a look at what attacks the MC uses and how much damage they do. * denotes when a damage number is highlighted by a spiky symbol, indicating the art's bonus damage condition was activated.

First, he fights the little ape.
1. Sword attack: 167
2. Rising blade: 205, miss, 247*, total damage 452
3. Burning Sword: miss, 412*, 411*, total damage 823
4. Blade cyclone: miss, 52, 52, 53, 53, 64, total damage 274
5. Aggressive mode: Attack up, defence down, aura/tension level + 1, -1000 TP
6. Sword attack: 177, TP+230
7. Minigun fire: 50-70 damage, TP+9/8 for each hit
8. Advance war: Auto-attack damage up, health regen, aura/tension level +1, -1000 TP
9. Wide missile: 252, 245, 207, 215, 219, 223, total damage 1361, heat resistance down
10. Minigun fire: 110-130, TP+9/8 for each hit, higher damage than 7. from advance war's effect.
11. Rising blade: miss, 162, 167, total damage 331
12. Burning sword: 556*, 482*, 465*, total damage 1503
13. Sword attack: 378, TP+230, again higher than usual thanks to advance war. Advance war seems to approximately double auto-attack power.
14. Minigun fire: 110-130, TP+9/8 for each hit

Mech:
Denote attacks Mi.
Meverywhere: generic machinegun fire. It seems to have a slower rate of fire than the portable minigun carried by the main character. It recovers 1 TP for each hit. It deals around 350-450 to both enemies, increasing to roughly 400-500 when shield coat is active. This confirms the two enemies have comparable defence which is important for figuring out what O.C.Gear does.
M1. Multi missile: miss, miss, 633, 653, 512, 518, total damage 2316, heat damage, torrid status.
M2. Stinger missile: 644, 640, 640, 802, 658, 644, total damage 4028, heat damage
M3. Shield coat: increases accuracy
M4. Gatling fire: 277, 273, miss, 272, 277, 267, 273, 343, 347, miss, total damage 2329, beam damage, chance of inflicting break status but doesn't in this case.
Between M4 and M5: The doll's left arm is destroyed by a powerful attack from the enemy. The art 'Shield Coat' is completely disabled, which makes sense as the doll's left arm is raised during M3. However, the shield coat aura remains active after the arm is destroyed, so part destruction is linked purely to which arts are available and not the persistent effects of buffs and debuffs.
M5. Multi missile: 682, 679, 543, 521, 530, 530, total damage 3485
Not used: H.D.Gear. Consumes all TP and has an unknown affect. Given the slow rate of auto-attack TP recharge in the Doll, this is probably difficult to activate. My guess is it is also very powerful.

Then he fights the large ape on foot:
15. Minigun fire: 45-65
16. O.C.GEAR ACTIVATE
17. Rising blade: 644*,597*,636*, total damage 1877 with green overcharge, O.C counter increases by one for each hit (+3)
18. Sword attack: 152, TP+230
19. Burning sword: 1088*, 1121*, 1170*, total damage 3379 with green overcharge, O.C counter doesn't change(???)
20. Sword attack: 196, TP+230
21. Sword attack: 155, TP+230
22. Sword attack: 188, TP+230
23. Blade cyclone: 196, 188, 200, 204, 182, total damage 970, another hit where the damage number is missing(can hear 6 hits in sound effects), O.C counter increases by one for each hit (+6)
24. Sword attack: 162, TP+230
25. Rising blade: 793, 820, 787, total damage 2400 with <b>golden</b> overcharge, O.C counter increases by one for each hit and <b>flashes red when the art is selected</b>

Based on these damage numbers and some other observations I've actually good a fairly good idea of what these mechanics do.

TP: This is essentially a mana pool. 1000 TP is expended to use auras and 3000 TP is expended to use O.C. Gear. All TP is expended to use H.D.Gear in the dolls. There are two methods of recovery:

- Hitting 'huge succeeded' with timing circles.
- Auto attacks. Each sword attack recovers 230 TP, each minigun hit recovers 8-9 TP, machinegun hits from the Doll recover 1 TP.

Timing circles: It can be seen that whenever these are 'succeeded', a small amount HP is recovered by <b>all party members</b>. When they are 'huge succeeded' both HP and TP is recovered. (Credit to Socran)

O.C.Gear: comparing(18, 20, 21, 22) with (1,6) I don’t think this affects the properties of auto attacks. CODwiiiVIP123 claims that arts using TP are sealed off when using it, but the auras clearly exhibit a golden cooldown stage, and are actually reactivated when a status symbol disappears from next to the party members. I think the aura arts are sealed because the enemy uses an aura seal attack just as O.C. Gear is activated; there were attacks like this in Xenoblade. A stylised counter appears in the center of the screen. This counter increases by one for each hit with an art attack, except burning sword for some unknown reason. All cooldown speeds are roughly quadrupled and a third stage of cooldown activates. When the O.C counter reaches 10 (credit to Socran), there is a red flash which could correspond to an increase in power of gold overcharged attacks.

Art cooldowns: There are three stages of art cooldown:

- Normal cooldown: Standard MMO-style spell cooldown. Attack cannot be used while in cooldown.
- Green cooldown: Charges about 50% faster than normal cooldown. During this cooldown, the spell can be used, but waiting for the green gauge to warm up is very rewarding. The only times a spell is used when this cooldown mode is completed are (17., 19.). Comparing to (2., 3., 12.) we see the art essentially does double damage, in fact quadruple damage for blade cyclone (compare 23. to 4.) It’s reasonable to hypothesise that it would have the same effect for wide missile. For auras, I’d guess it increases the positive effects (maybe 2x) and decreases negative effects (maybe 0.5x). Note that green cooldown for a weapon-based art is only active when the MC has the relevant weapon equipped, except during O.C.Gear when all arts charge.
- Gold cooldown: Charges at same rate as green cooldown. Only active during O.C.Gear. This is only used once for rising blade in 25. When the gold supercharged art is used, the attack does 4x base damage compared to (2., 11.). The increase in power could be related to the number on the O.C. Counter. The O.C counter also flashes red as this is used, although as Socran pointed out this is likely to be due to the O.C counter hitting a 'milestone' (10). Since the 'milestones' are emphasised, perhaps each increase in power for gold cooldown is reached in steps of 10s on the O.C counter?

Dolls: The mechs do not have extra cooldown stages for arts. Base damage for auto-attacks and arts is far higher. Parts of the mech can be permanently destroyed during battle, as evidenced when the larger ape charges at the mech and destroys its arm. The mech is not shown after the battle finishes, so it is impossible to tell if destroyed parts are automatically repaired after the party leaves combat alert status. The fuel counter in the first couple of trailers puzzled me because it seemed to run against Xenoblade’s ethos of not having depleting resources like items or magic points. Since the fuel gauge is not present here, I think it has been scrapped. Battling against small enemies with mechs probably carries an exp penalty.

HP Regen: HP is fully recovered between battles. The Dolls and characters enter the second battle with maximum HP. However, TP is evidently NOT recovered between battles as the MC enters the second battle with the same amount of TP he left the first battle with.

Weapons: The MC can freely change between the minigun and sword. When a weapon is equipped, arts which use that weapon can enter green cooldown.
- Sword: about 1-1.5 seconds between attacks in O.C.Gear , finite range
-- DPS: about 140
-- Tech points recovered per second: about 184
- Minigun: one second for about 12 hits, can be used at range
-- DPS: about 600
-- Tech points recovered per second: about 100

Aura level + 1 mentioned in aura arts: Cannot tell from this gameplay trailer.

Rank 10 and symbols next to characters: Probably a class system.

United States of America: Colonisation mission in the future. This is hinted at in all three trailers: http://i.imgur.com/HzAcUX8.jpg

Wide disparity in levels within party and between enemies: The fight is scripted.

Character portraits don’t match models that well: They want to keep plot information under wraps.

-DeepDreamer256