A lot of these questions are never answered, and are pretty much left to the sequel(s).

For whatever this speculation is worth, the skell in the beginning has two pilots, per a missable NPC conversation, and Elma was one of the pilots. The PC was probably the other pilot, seeing as how everyone is tripping over themselves to get you to join BLADE in the beginning, but I haven't actually found anything concrete about the PC or the other pilot, so it's just a hunch. They do eventually show the skell she landed on Mira with, but I forgot what the opening skell looks like, so I can't say if it's the same one or not.

Also, to add a question: what the hell is Mira in the first place?

I honestly don't think that has anything to do with it. The battle themes in XBX was far more intense and epic than anything in XB. That's Sawano's entire MO.

Ugh. That's buns. I like XBX, but I'm done with Mira. I hate it when "open world" translates to "outside only" in games like these with no (inportant or significant) caves or interiors, and I wasn't a fan of having only one hub town, despite how fleshed out and homey it became by the end.

It's weird because the director specifically said that their next game would be very different, meaning XCX likely won't get a direct sequel for quite some time. That's so annoying.

Where do they show her Skell?

Honestly, Xenoblade Chronicles X took all the worst things of Xenoblade Chronicles and built an entire game out of it. The predecessor is simply a far better game as it doesn't force you to do tedious sidequests or arbitrary exploration. The story is much better as well.

As is the combat, the monado and the power to see glimpes of the future added a nice layer of depth to the combat that is non-existant in the sequel.

Wait, can we not buy the soundtrack to this game on iTunes? What a misstep.

Yeah, that does suck, although just because the next one won't be in the same format doesn't mean the story isn't going to continue.

But, I do hope they come back to another game with this style, whether or not it is Mira or some other location, there is a ton of improvement that can be done, especially since most interviews, they admit most of XCX was experimentation with HD development and this style of game world. If this is a test fire, I would love to see what a more refined attempt at building such a open world game, which doesn't even have to be as large as XCX could bring.

And on the story, I am still playing through it, but I find it great so far. The big key is that the main story is actually Elma's and the rest of her fellow BLADE members. But if you only do what is required all you really get is story about Elma, a little bit of Lin and Lao. The player by taking on additional/most of the time optional affinity and other quests flesh out the remainder of the stories for the other BLADE members. Helping them grow or stay static depends on whether you take the time to assist them or not.

It comes down to a line I read in a article before the game's release that XCX was less of a sequel to the original Xenoblade Chronicles and something of seperate spin off, which I hope is the case because I think there is room for both these styles in the future on any number of potential Nintendo consoles.

It's part of the post-game quest Then And Now. In addition, that quest is pretty much the story's brief epilogue; you'll know what I mean when you beat it.

The way I read it suggests that every Xenoblade will be as different from the last as XCX was from XB. I hope that's the case. I'd rather that then a sequel tying up loose ends to a story that wasn't very spectacular anyway. And again, i'd rather not have another game with only one town and no dungeons.

Interview with Lin's voice actor, Cassandra Morris:

Can we talk about how Lin stole the show in this game, though? Because she did, even with the annoying Tatsu banter and cooking gimmick. We get it, Lin. You like to cook. We get it. Still, you're by far the best character in the game.