They are a fixed level.  You can buy level 30 and level 50 skells, but all the level 60 skells that you develop don't unlock until you beat the game...

So.... I have played this game for 233 hours... Pretty much done everything there is to do... Really annoyed there isn't a new game+... Seems like the game is built for it...

Knowing Takahashi's recent history, he's probably not exaggerating/his meaning wasn't mistranslated because that is exactly what happened here. He like sci-fi, but Xenoblade was fantasy. It doesn't matter if it had sci-fi elements. Those were end-game spoilers. 99% of the game was a fantasy RPG. There's already been interviews implying that his next game will be a Xenoblade game. In interviews, he's used direct comparisons between XC and XCX to show how he wants the next game to be different, so it's prettly clear to me that it's likely going to be another entry in the franchise, but with a completely different setting, just like the last two.

I know people want a conclusion, but I have a feeling you won't get it for a very long time. I have a theory that Mira is kind of a pocket universe connecting the other XC universes. That's why the nopon reference Homs and the Manodo. They are actually from that universe. Maybe the other races come from future universes in future games, like L's race could appear in the next XC game and no nopon at all or something. So X is like the Xenoblade crossover game, and all the other XC games are their own stories where elements are somehow pulled into Mira.

So that final boss song.

Anyone else felt like it was... out of place? I sure did.

There were scifi elements before the end game. Such as the High Entia's technology interfacing with Melia's DNA. I'd say the game's themes were 20% Scifi. While it had fantasy tropes, and a hero story, there were also science fiction themes like the role of eugenics in creating a superbeing, looking toward space exploration (Egil and Arglas' conversation about the stars) and the role of replacing a body with machine (Fiora's plotline with her Machina body.)There were also a few other things here and there which had Scifi themes. 

Can you link that particular interview? Your theory is interesting though. I can see something like that happening, and it would both resolve the issue of a sequel while allowing the next game to be mostly new and fresh. 

I thought it was ok. It's like if humanity was the missing key to beat the Ganglion.  

I reread the interview, and it turns out I was mixing information up between three similar interviews. One saying that he is working on his next game, one saying that the next game would focus on story like XC, and the most recent saying that if he ever gets the chance to work on another XC game, that it would have a strong narrative like the first. You can see where I got confused, but still it's my bad. The next game could not be a XC game at all going by the quotes. It's never directly said that his next game is a XC game, just that his next game is in developement and will be very different. Who knows.

I'm stuck trying to get to chapter 4...

How?

Any tips for Chapter 12 second phase of the first boss? Can't kill this shielded spheres which protects him.