Xenoblade Chronicles X Review

I really don’t know what to say about Xenoblade Chronicles X. I liked the first game so much because it managed to remain faithful to the “old school” of Japanese RPG design while also implementing certain design changes that successfully modernized it. But with X, everything has changed and I’m not entirely convinced that it’s for the better. Or to better put it – I’m not entirely sure that X is for me anymore. If I had to choose one word to describe the experience that Xenoblade Chronicles X provides, it would be “overwhelming”. That’s not to say that it’s a bad game, however, as Xenoblade Chronicles X is worth exactly how much you’re willing to put into it.

Xenoblade Chronicles X opens in the year 2054, just as the planet Earth is destroyed by two warring alien factions. Somehow the people were forewarned of this attack and built several ships to evacuate people in time for the destruction of the planet, and to preserve the human race. Through what can only be described as poor luck, Los Angele’s ship is the only one that successfully escapes the planet. After a freak attack by an alien force, the ship crashes on a new planet and its wreckage turned into the city of “New Los Angeles”. BLADE, a special taskforce, is eventually set up to run the city and find the life hold of the ship, where sleeping humans that were lost in the crash lie.

You play as one of those humans just as they are discovered by BLADE in a story that is shorter than Xenoblade and has no real ties to it. There’s some subtle throwbacks in some of the visual designs of the characters and enemies but otherwise you don’t need any prior knowledge to enjoy Xenoblade Chronicles X. The premise is interesting, just like the previous game. Those who enjoy a self-contained story probably shouldn’t get their hopes up either as the game does end on a cliff hanger of sorts. Not necessarily one that signifies an incomplete story but rather one that sets things up for a future game. The story itself is quite engaging with a few twists along the way that I managed to not see coming.

Xenoblade Chronicles X is unapologetically nostalgic in its approach to open world game design. You’ll be chucked into a large planet with five distinct continents, each with their own unique biome and ecosystem. You can almost explore the entirety of the planet whenever you wish, as the game won’t hold your hand or aggressively send you down a path – but stumbling onto an area where enemies are clearly more powerful than you will force you to retreat. So in a sense it is linear but players who like a challenge have the option to grind or even attempt these “stronger” before they’re meant to.

There’s a few different kinds of missions that you can undertake in Xenoblade Chronicles X. The main ones further advance the story, but are commonly locked behind certain side quests which must be completed first. Some other quests may require your affinity to be a certain level with a partner before attempting them. Others may require a rather standard level cap instead. It’s these incessant restrictions that make Xenoblade Chronicles X feel like a bit of a grind to play. Grind is a bit of a dirty word when talking about an RPG and unfortunately you’ll find yourself doing a lot of it in X. Even more annoying si that singular missions cannot be dropped once accepted and once completed.

I imagine when I was younger I’d just sink hours and hours into this game to find everything it had to offer without giving any thought to any of my real life distractions – but now for me, and those who are a bit time poor, there’s definitely a struggle to overcome the immense amount of content X has on offer.

Side quests in particular are a mix of good and bad – but more impressively the completion of them seems to make the town of New Los Angeles come alive. Some of the NPCs you encounter throughout the game have their own series of side quests that have their own unique storylines and conclusions. Going into X I was dreading the typical fodder for side quests, but thankfully most of them are fun and engaging to complete. Such a design certainly lightens the crippling blow all the grinding in the game will deal to the player.

The battle system will be largely familiar to anyone who played the original. Battles themselves play out in real time, with characters attacking with a standard attack automatically if no inputs are pressed. Using buttons and inputs allows players to pull off “arts” which usually deal greater damage or give more tactical options to buff the party or debuff enemies. You’ll be able to switch between ranged and melee weapons to adding further variety to the combat.

The arts themselves are quite varied and are controlled by cooldown timers that most players of MMOs would recognize. Like any good battle system, it’s an easy system to grasp the fundamentals of but also one which has additional depth if you match up yourself with your party members’ abilities to work in synergy. Coordinating these attacks and working out the best approach against your enemies is the key to succeeding in these battles and one of the more enjoyable elements of X.

Unlike the original Xenoblade, however, X is pretty unforgiving to players who don’t put the hard yards in to learn it’s battle system as the story progresses. Testament to my comments earlier about the game being defiantly old school in its approach, not many details of the battle system are plainly explained to the player. It’s rare that I actively recommend using online guides or the official strategy guide to play a game but there’s just so many facets to X’s combat system that it’s hard not to.

Anyone who has been following the promotional schedule for Xenoblade Chronicles X will know that it’s a game where you get to pilot a mech. Called “Skells” in this world, you’ll have to put in considerable hours before you’re even allowed to get into the cockpit of one – but doing so changes the game and opens up a considerable amount of content to the player. Along with fast travel points, they offer a fun way to travel throughout the game’s very open world but they also offer a fun way to approach battles. Your Skell is fully customizable and has its own Skell Arts that are determined by the parts you attach to it. You’ll become attached to your Skell like to your first car, but just in case you prang yours on your first outing you can get them replaced for a sizeable fee.

Whereas Xenoblade used a very experience team of composers to develop its soundtrack, X is composed by a more amateur composer but despite this the soundtrack is pretty great. The hooks in the music are infectious and some of the more epic pieces have vocal arrangements to elevate tense moments to greater heights. The New Los Angeles music is irritating though, and given how much time we spent there that’s a slight concern.

The voice work is a bizarre mishmash of over enthused performances or dead and wooden performances. There’s effort gone into this localization but everyone sounds bored, which can take you out of the moment during more pertinent scenes. Still, bizarrely, I’d take this over the typical melodramatic performances we’re used to in games of this ilk.

The visuals on the other hand are absolutely breathtaking. Ironically, the city is probably the drabbest looking location of the lot – running through the open continents of Mira is truly a sight to see. All kinds of animals trawl the ground, soar through the air and go about their daily routines unless they’re interrupted. It’s a visually spectacular game with a wild amount of scope that can easily compete with games on other consoles right now.

One aspect of the game that is worth mentioning is the data packs which are an optional installation that improves the load times of the game. While we appreciate the efforts to make the experience as smooth as possible, releasing over 10GB of data to be installed on a console with only 32GB of memory so late in its life span is frustrating. The benefits are tangible, yes, but one can’t help but wonder what the point of owning a disc is with such an installation anyway. It’s an uncharacteristic move on Nintendo’s part and not a huge deal breaker but one that is worth mentioning. The improvements are definitely tangible, however, and it’ll definitely make your experience smoother.

When all is said and done, most players who are willing to put the hours into Xenoblade Chronicles X will be blown away by how much content is on offer – most typical runs will take upwards of 70 hours to complete. There’s plenty here to see and do and it definitely represents a strong value proposition even at its slightly increased recommended retail price.

Review concludes below.