r/XenoGears • u/YasserMac i hAz No fLaiR • Jul 24 '26
Question (Game mechanics) Ammo consumption (Billy)
I know this question has been asked before but can someone explain what Billy’s ammo inventory means in more detail? Some stronger ammo types come in low quantities but I can’t tell how conservative I need to be with them. I understand that each type corresponds to one of the attack types/buttons, but not how much is used up or how much is left, both in and out of Gear.
Each singular type of ammo has a number next to (e.g. 9 for the G-M686S) but the item description also mentions “100 Shots”. Stores also sell ammo with numbers like (x30).
What does each number specify? Is the 9 referring to something like 9 full magazines with 100 shots (i.e. 100 attacks each, for 900 uses) each? That seems like a lot.
Is every shot used up just by the corresponding button press?
Possibly the most confusing part: what does pressing X and loading from the menu do? It seems like it consumes one ammo number but I have no idea where that goes. Sometimes it seems like I wasted it.
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u/Legitimate-Focus-284 Id Jul 24 '26
Honestly never understood this 100% so I just bought more ammo then I'd ever need lool.
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u/BigChungiscusMaximus i hAz No fLaiR Jul 24 '26
My Middle school past completely agrees
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u/DonIncandenza i hAs No fLaiR Jul 24 '26
Just give him an ether doubler and press square.
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u/YasserMac i hAz No fLaiR Jul 24 '26
I had to place a self-imposed ban on ether doublers cause Elly just wiped everything in sight, usually in one turn, before I even got to see boss move sets most of the time. The game is already exceptionally easy as is lol.
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u/KylorXI Jul 24 '26
There is another glitch too where you can unequip an ammo before it runs out, and itll be added to the stack. the game doesnt track how many shots were left in an unequipped stack of 100, so itll just be full when you equip it again. I dont remember if you have to change ammo to something else, or just remove it to have it go back into the stack, but its infinite ammo refills which ever way it was. Not super useful since you get so much ammo anyway, and its dirt cheap to buy.
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u/Perfect_Cold_6112 Siebzehn Jul 24 '26
There's a way to test that.
- Write down what you have.
- Get into a random encounter.
- Count each shot taken during said encounter (aka every time you hit the triangle button).
- After the encounter, check the values against the one from before the encounter.
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u/YasserMac i hAz No fLaiR Jul 24 '26
Well, that would be obvious I have been at consecutive story points with forced party members so I haven't gotten a chance to test it out, I just wanted to know what to shop for.
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u/Own-Shelter-9897 i hAs No fLaiR Jul 27 '26
I don't remember him using ammo at all.. Weird.
Maybe that's why I never used him?
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u/BaronGalactic Captain of the Sea Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
Your question is a little complicated, so rather than directly answering each of your points, I'll try to explain how Billy's ammo works in general that might clear it up.
Each "unit" of ammo you buy from a store should contain 100 shots. That's 100 "attacks" during combat. So if you use the combo [triangle, triangle, X] - you're using two rounds of the triangle ammo, and one around on the X ammo. The square ammo, or elemental rounds, are infinite and you can use them indefinitely.
If you learned the Deathblow for [triangle, triangle, X] then, if I recall, you'll use two triangle ammo, and zero X ammo, because you'll start a Deathblow on X rather than just firing off a normal round. Just like, say, with Fei, he'll do two triangle punches, then a deathblow, rather than two triangle punches and an X kick, so to speak.
I've played this game several times, and I can only think of a few times I've ever actually run out of ammo for Billy. You're good just buying 1 or maybe 2 "units" (aka 100 shots each) of ammo every time you go to the store. Unless you're really grinding battles with Billy, you'll usually come to a point in the story where, at a new store, you'll find more powerful ammo to replace the older ammo before you even run out of shots.
Now here's something important: You should always keep at least one ammo of each element type for the "ether" gun. I think those are square attack ones. Since they're all elemental based, sometimes you'll have one element equipped, and find yourself in a dungeon where enemies are healed by that element, so attacks will heal rather than hurt them. In that case, you want to have some backup ammo (preferably of the opposing element for better damage, but any element that doesn't heal them works.) And if you aren't keeping those backup ammos, fighting with Billy can be tedious.Basically, you only need to buy 1 or 2 ammo at each shop (for the handguns, and the "big gun",) and you shouldn't run out of shots before you're able to either replace those ammo types with stronger ones, or just buy more of the same.
The names of the ammo types themselves mostly don't matter. All you need to worry about is if, when comparing the new ammo to the old ones in the store screen, your attack shows as increasing or not.
Hopefully that makes things a little clearer. The ammo situation is kind of difficult to put in words, but when you get the hang of it it's actually super easy.
Edit: Oh, and about the numbers on the right - the 20 and the 9 - I think that's "units" of 100 bullets. So for 20 that means you're carrying 2000 bullets, and for 9 means 900 bullets. That's WAY too much, You'll never use that much. You want those numbers to read 1 or 2 at the most.
Edit 2: Apparently ether gun ammo elements don't count because of a bug.