Oh I plan to, I've seen how important it is :P 

I find it funny though, people often say the game doesn't tell you to do that but it's right there in the tutorial text thing you get right after meeting Lao, which I believe is Chapter 4 (haven't watched hardly any story after 3 to avoid as many spoilers as possible). But then again, I got into trouble in the first game by clicking through all those blurbs to get moving so I imagine that's happening here too :P

I've just done chapter 5, about 20 hours in. I'm going to take some time now to explore more thoroughly than I have done, and to complete the 15 or so side quests I have in my log before I head to the two continents to the north of Primordia.

I'm really enjoying it but there are flaws that I'd hoped would be patched out. Having to find certain items with low drop rates can be a pain, just did a quest where an NPC asked for a part in Noctilum, they said it was near a certain landmark so I spent 30 minutes searching that area before resorting to Google and finding out the item I needed was actually in a different area. I enjoy the lack of handholding but there should be an in-game feature which tells you in what parts of which regions items are and what their drop-rates are. Increasing drop-rates for rare items when you have an active quest that requires them wouldn't hurt either.

That being said, most gathering quests I complete just by exploring, and I appreciate the fact the game highlights quest monsters even if that quest isn't active at the moment.

You've pretty much nailed it here Curl. Though I'd argue that you can't say which of the two is better because despite sharing a name, they're nothing alike.

Also I'm pretty sure the tiny text is ruining my eyesight. Who thought that was a good idea.

As for the quest mentioned above, I'm guessing that's the chopper one. Yeah, it wouldn't hurt to just give you a golden circle where you can find the collectible...

I just experienced a bug. Around 2 hours worth of game time lost...

I was going to check Laos info in the affinity chart but after I pressed X the game suddenly stop recognizing any button input. I can still use the touch screen (switching screen between the TV and Gamepad) but the buttons are not responding, the music is still playing in loop so I don't think the game crashed.

Anyway, It was right after I finished the "Renewed will" affinity quest. I was going to check Laos location so I can switch Irina with him.

I found this thread on Gfaqs

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/701151-xenoblade-chronicles-x/72957863

https://www.reddit.com/r/Xenoblade_Chronicles/comments/3vl8q6/game_breaking_bug_in_xenoblade_x/

just to be safe. Save before checking the affinity chart.

I check the affinity chart like once every 10 minutes and I never had that problem. Do you have the physical or the digital copy? Digital usually causes more problems.

So I got my Skell some earlier. I drove around and managed to drive to the endless pit in Oblivia..

How do I get my skell back? the first one is supposed to come with insurance.. I read somewhere you could find it in the Hangar but I havent been able to find it there. I can still sell the Skell from the console in the Barracks so it should be somewhere.. I just dont know where.

Any help? :>

Head back to the Barracks and use the console: this automatically repairs it the first three times (insurance). I assume this is also where you can pay to repair it later.

Just turn on that console in the barracks and that's it. You don't have to do anything special. Once you have more Skells to your party, when they break, just do the same. I know that because I fell on that pit in Oblivia too, you're not alone :P. Once I used the barracks console, I was able to play with it. 

EDIT: Oops, I'm late! :(

Yeah I did that, it took away one insurance point but it's good to go. But once I have done that I cant find the Skell anywhere. I think I have looked everywhere..