Evergreen Nintendo Releases Hang Tough in the UK as Xenoblade Chronicles X Tumbles Out of Top 40

I think we'd have all loved for Xenoblade to have done better, but I don't think it will be seen as a disappointment. The drop off was inevitable. It's the sort of game that was meant for a small group of very hardcore fans, the vast majority of which would have got it on day 1. It was never going to be a big seller in any market, no matter how much advertising money they put behind it.

Frankly, considering it's very specific appeal to a dedicated but limited consumerbase, and the generally miniscule installbase of the Wii U, I was surprised it made the Top 40 at all. Tough as it may sound, this should probably be considered somewhat of an achievement.

Well, maybe. But I always wonder how a massive and high quality game like this can afford to fail. Was wondering this with Bayonetta 2 too (especially because it was sold that cheap).
I have no idea how expensive production was and how much money they make, but since every other 3rd party developer complains about Wii Us market being so small?
Those games seem to me much more costy than it would be to port one of the many AAA games, for example (speaking of PS3-generation games).

I'm not from the UK, but from what I've seen, the Nintendo games are not very popular in that country for any reason, so I'm not surprised at all... Let's see how the game behaves in the rest of the world, I hope it does well, it certainly deserves it. I've played "only" 60 hours, but so far I consider it already one of the best games I've ever played. It's absolutely outstanding in every sense.

@Peach64 Funny because the first game managed to sell extremely huge compared to this one.

Next to no marketing + UK's lack of care for Nintendo this generation = Not a big surprise.

I'm guessing XCX isn't going to sell much more than 100k in Europe. It will be interesting to see what kind of strategy NOE implements in the next generation to try and get back some of the market share. I think they have around 2% of the market share in Europe, and I could be being too generous.

It's sad to see excellent games like This and Tomb Raider get these type of sales but games like the yearly sports games and overhyped games get better sales that have way more problems at launch.

Maybe I'm right that gamers no longer care about quality games anymore.

Don't get me wrong I still enjoy all three companies since I always get all three consoles (five if you include the handhelds). But this gen is really toxic in terms of fanboys.

No Marketing + small Console Base + Niche consumerbase = to this

@liljmoore About Tomb Raider it was Square Enix shooting on its own foot by making it a timed exclusive on XB1, considering that the most of Tomb Raider fanbase is historically on Playstation consoles.....

@arnoldlayne83 That's no reason to wish a game to fail. Plus the sales of Tomb started to decline after the release of the PS2. If I remember correctly Angel of darkness was the only Tomb raider game to sell decently.

They say gaming is as big as ever.

But I say true gaming has never been smaller. 200+ million people who buy dedicated gaming hardware. And how many of them have any knowledge whatsoever of Xenoblade Chronicles X?

I disagree that this was "always going to be niche". The first sold over 1 million copies. And this one had the benefit of critical acclaim for its predecessor.

This game may not sell like Splatoon or Mario 3D World, but you can't tell me it's normal for a game of this magnitude to chart 28th. I mean, every Wii U owner should have bought this game. Even if they've never played JRPG's before- this is a fine time to start.

@liljmoore Who is hoping the game to fail?

My point on Tomb Raider was that it sold much more better on Ps3+Ps4 compared to Xbox360 + XB1 (by approx 1 million) , and still Square decided to give the time exclusive to the worst selling (for the brand) console (for a bag of money).

@JaxonH I see your point and I agree. XCX looks fantastic (I still have to play it but at the moment still no time to finish Witcher and Fallout....).
But please also consider that the "prequel" was sold on a console (at the end of its life-cycle) that had X10 userbase, and that on WiiU gems like XCX, TW101, Bayonetta2 all under performed.... seems a trend. The only new IP that seems selling like classic Mario and Zelda has been Splatoon so far on the system....

@arnoldlayne83

Ya, but at least 80 million of that userbase was one-time buyer casuals. We know the because the GC sold roughly 80 million less than Wii, and the Wii U is back to pre-Wii era levels, even a little worse.

And unlike Mario Galaxy or Zelda Twilight Princess, I don't think any casuals bought Xenoblade. So really, the Wii had maybe 9 million more "serious gamers" than Wii U. Which ok, perhaps that has made an impact. But I know a LOT of people who said they would buy a console just for Xenoblade X. And people like my bro who hasn't played Wii U in 2 years, but is binging out on XCX.

UK has just gone full PS4 this gen. Not a surprise.

@arnoldlayne83 You must have not been around the gaming sites since the announcement. There were plenty of people hoping the game would fail just so SE can feel stupid for betraying the so called fanbase.

@JaxonH well I think we'll have to see how it performs in the US before we draw any conclusions. The original Xenoblade only got a limited physical release over there as well as no digital. X could still sell near 1 million, unlikely but not impossible.

@liljmoore Could be.... but undoubtedly it was a wretched decision from Square Enix management as sales numbers tends to confirm. I believe they will think twice before doing something like this again. Same goes for SFV for me, 3rd parties timed exclusives just sound stupid and are a easy way to piss a fanbase....

I feel like xenoblade is going to be that game that sells poorly at first and as it hits cult status goes evergreen.

@JaxonH Yeah. It will be my first WiiU game I will play in a long time too... and judging by the list of WiiU games for 2016 will be also the lonely one till ZeldaU (if and when will come for WiiU).

I really hope it will sale better in EU and USA, cos it totally deserve some success....

@arnoldlayne83 How SE shoot themselves in the foot? And I really mean it, because in reality they actually made money thanks to Microsoft stupidity. Not only MS partially financed Tomb Raider, but also paid for TIMED exclusive, which expires next year. When that expires, it will hit PS4.PS3, because for PC it will be April. SE made good move actually and better investment than 100 mln for the previous one. Less money from SE sunk into this AND it will be everywhere next year. So where is shooting in the foot involved?

Back on topic, it was obvious from the mile away this game will bomb hard and I was surprised that it actually hit top40. Not only the game is overly and unneceserily complicated and explains itself poorly, meh VO doesn't help and it got released way, way too late in the console life cycle. If it hit the market in 2013 or even 2014, or even beginning of 2015, it could rock, because there was not that big competition. Now you have Fallout 4, Just Cause 3, Witcher 3 sales/expansion, so how this game can even compete with such heavy hitters?

@Ryu_Niiyama So like the first Xenoblade then

@Dave24 ROTR sold 1/3 at launch than its predecessor..... of course at the end only SE will know if the bargain was good or not. (better getting the Microsoft money in advance or try to reach highest selling numbers overall?). The game will be released on Ps4 next year, yes, but after Uncharted 4 and together with a tons of other Sony Exclusives. I am pretty sure this will become a "bargain bin" game for Sony userbase (considering also that part of such userbase was pissed by SE move).....

On your second point, I do not think it would have been so much better to have XCX released on 2013 or 2014, since the WiiU userbase was even smaller and there were big games like all the Marios.... It is also unfair to compare it with other AAA games from other consoles.... you should just compare it with other games on same platform or with the previous Xenoblade on Wii....

Yeah people suck.

Ridiculous that games like call of duty rack in the money every single yeah despite gamers everywhere moaning that there is no originality in games anymore. But then actually unique and damn amazing games like this get left in the dust because its "too unique" or that classically stupid line: "its too japanese". The hypocrisy and double standards of some gamers depresses me. Especially Wii U owners who moan that there are no games available for the system

I am loving Xenoblade X at the moment, it's so much fun to play - just running around and exploring is great and it feels so vast and teeming with life. art design is terrific too.
Huge shame about poor sales, deserves much more attention and isn't really that Niche a game. I have a PS4 but the wii u is always much more fun to play - there is just something special about it.

Already seen TheGameCollection list Paper Jam for £22. What a shame...

Lets wait for the digital sales. pretty sure there is where it is going to shine.

This is no surprise. I saw absolutely no advertisements for XCX. If I'm not constantly on gaming websites, then I would not have known about its release. Plus, it's not the sort of game that will appeal to everyone. However, I'm greatly enjoying Xenoblade so far.

Again, Xenoblade is a niche title, anyone expecting it to stay in the charts for long was delusional.

@Marshi
This is how gaming has been for years now, people complaining about how CoD is the same yet they go and still buy it/ enjoy it. Whining is basically part of the gaming industry, if you don't whine, you're weird now.

Come on people, make sure you buy yourself this classic game asap

Here is the problem in UK , Retail Nintendo games which are hyped never really drop in price , Most exclusives are still almost full price at most retailers and the consoles are still almost full price . The wiiu is failing because of nintendo and their spartan prices , Every time the wii u has gone on sale here in UK it has been sold out within days , People want the Wiiu but nintendo are not making it accessible to buy for a lot of people , To be honest if they won't drop the price or create a cheaper sub model then they need to kill it off quick if they wish to remain open as a console business in europe , Mobile and other competition have got nothing to do with it this is all down to Nintendos Bad decisions.

@ThrowMeBarrel Don't expect Nintendo to drop the price really. I am not sure why they won't considering how they get such a large profit on it now. Even more so when you can get the PS4 and Xbox for just a little more money... sometimes the same price or even cheaper. Nintendo is really being stubborn and stupid here if they want to remain in the market.

If XCX was a multi-plat it would be near the top.

It doesn't surprise me at all, and it's a little disappointing, but really, it doesn't matter that much, I don't think. We all know Nintendo is just waiting until it's time to release the NX (please, for the love of god, wait until 2017 and don't pull a Sega Saturn) because the Wii U will never be a big hit. In the meantime, though, we've got an AMAZING RPG that will keep all of us busy for dozens and dozens if not a couple hundred of hours.

Don't get me wrong - as a huge Nintendo fan, I'm always disappointed when their products don't sell as well as the quality deserves, but that's just the Wii U's lot in life, I'm afraid; all we can do is continue to love it and support it as best we can until its successor emerges.

A shame, but as others have said, not surprising in that landscape. Hopefully the December NPD paints a better picture because XCX is a true gem.

At the very least, I hope Nintendo and Monolith Soft see this whole thing as a success when all is said and done.

@arnoldlayne83 'if' it will come to Wii U.

And so there it is, after what must be at least half a dozen confirmations, there are people that still doubt that Zelda U will come out on Wii U. That actually made me laugh so thanks for that dude

I must admit this doesn't surprise me I brought xenoblade chronicals x and although the game is massiv and visually great the game is just two complex and doesn't flow very well compared to its predecessor. I'm playing it but very much think they just used the name to ride the success not as a continuation pitty

@ikki5 at the gamestop in the country where I live (switzerland) the cheapest ps4 (with no games) costs as much as WiiU (with splatoon).....

I really hope Nintendo will do a price cut down if they want to sell some units this Christmas, cos Xbox1 and Ps4 are already confirmed that will have their price cut down like on Black Friday for Xmas

Man wtf UK?

That "country" sucks

@JaxonH NoA fuc*ed this game when they had the amazing idea of not releasing the game with spanish or portuguese support. They once again totally ignore latin america who import games from the US and are a big part of the total sales, they dont realize that not every game sold through amazon or best buy or wallmart wont stay in the US, I almost sold two friends into getting a Wii U (and paying 600 US dollars for it, thats how much we have to pay here).. because of XCX, but when I told them there wouldn´t be spanish subtitles they decided not to get it.. theres a change.org petition for this, so im not the only one, and the european version has spanish subs..

GameStop employee asks me what I am playing. I say Xenoblade. He says "I don't understand why that game is on the Wii U. How do you play that with motion controls?" Shows how little even game store employees know about the Wii U.

Nintendo, overall, seems to be have been dead in the water in the UK for a long while now. Shame, really, as elsewhere in Europe it's not doing so badly.

@Fackeln lol, I used to work in a game shop in the UK (CEX) and a colleague of mine sold someone a Wii U game pad, thinking that it was the whole console. I wish I were joking.

Nintendo, you disgrace. This game had no advertising and it deserved so much better. I haven't seen a Wii U ad of any kind on TV for over 18 months.

@Socar Xenoblade Chronicles wasn't very popular and this game beat it in sales in Japan.

No, Xenoblade X has the potential to sell better. The reason why it's selling so poorly... Is because either Nintendo has seemingly lost the ability to market any of their significant efforts, or they're not even trying... Or both. Once again, they have dropped the ball in this 8th generation of consoles. They're setting themselves up for failure with 9th gen and NX, if they don't pick their sorry butts up and get back into form.

"We don't need to advertise because everyone who would want the game already knows about it"... What is this nonsense? What the hell is going on at Nintendo HQ these days? If any other big business outlet took that approach pretty much anywhere else, whoever was responsible for propagating that type of message and "plan" would be FIRED... out of a damn cannon.

arn't although those games mentioned, pack in titles ? Seems people are buying the consoles but then not really buying the games to go with it. Was similar with the Wii. Some people brought the console just to play Wii Sports

This game deserved to be in the top ten. Not $60 rereleases of the same game that's literally a digital version of a real game. At least now it's cult classic.

@Socar It didn't, Xenoblade X supposedly made a better debut in Europe than Xenoblade.

@FreakFerrett Spanish in particular is on it's way to becoming a common language in the US, which makes it a doubly brain dead decision to not have Spanish subtitles and text in the NA version.

@PlywoodStick Yes but what bothers me the most is that if they said that the spanish localization was expensive or something bad for the business (in the end they must make money, i get that) but already having a localization available and ready for a region, how can they not help NoE pay that and use them too?? Lately its like NoA and NoE are competening and not working together.. maybe thats their goal.. to see who is better and not make the brand as a whole better..

The sales for Xenoblade are very poor and there is no hiding from that, I don't get all this talk of it being a niche title, are JRPG's really that niche? If so someone needs to tell Sony because quite a few of them appear to be heading to the PS4. It's a shame because the game looks truly amazing and deserves much better than this, part of the issue is Nintendo won't reduce the price of the console to below £200 to at least get some numbers out there, which will benefit them long term. I really fear for the NX which is going to launch with no real loyal user base and at a time when the PS4 is going to be hitting it's prime

I'm not really enjoying xenoblade X at all, so I kinda feel like the sharp sales drop off is fair.

It's really lacking in what I like in RPGs, and I don't really value the big open world at all...

So, are people still thinking that X is a system seller?

@carlos82 True, but it's not as if they sell a lot better on PS4 anyway. They have a dedicated audience, enough fans at least to warrant more JRPGs.

I'm not surprised but it's disappointing.

@JaxonH I disagree about XCX being a good place to start JRPGs, at least for most gamers. It's possibly more complex than any other JRPG I've played--layers upon layers of complexity. Better for a neophyte to begin with Pokemon or Chrono Trigger, and build their way up to XCX.

Nintendo is, by far, the WORST at marketing their games. In any region. Even here in NA. If you didn't know (like we rabid gamers do) that this game was coming out, you wouldn't know this game was coming out. Same with Bayonetta. That Bayonetta didn't sell millions, breaks my heart. As it will be with XCX.

@Dr_Corndog
What @Yorumi said.

I know XCX has a reputation right now of being "overly complex" but honestly it's not all that difficult. I mean yes, there are many nuances that aren't explained entirely (like locking on to appendages by clicking R3), but by and large a noob could make it through the game based off nothing but the in game tutorials.

My first real RPG was Fire Emblem Awakening (before that I loathed RPG's) but I adapted to that game and all its intricate complexities in no time, and from there jumped right into Final Fantasy X, and just learned as I played.

XCX just has a lot of options and depth, but all of that will be learned naturally as the player progresses. I was worried I wouldn't understand the game since I never played more than the first hour or so of Xenoblade, but as it turns out, you pick it up faster than you think, and already I feel like a natural.

@Gen0neD You hit the nail on the head. Nintendo shafted the Wii U and it's games since before it even launched. I've only seen two advertisements for it at stupid times since it came out.

Nintendo are expecting to sell based on word of mouth and Nintendo Direct only - it's bloody ridiculous. They left the Wii to rot for a good 4 years before getting the Wii U out the door, they even stopped advertising it! Then the Wii U launched, unfinished - Nintendo went silent allowing the barrage of abuse to build and build for months without reply - they just stuck their heads in the sand.

They have an excellent product, if they cut the price to £179 for the premium model last Christmas, Wii U could've entered the impulse buy category and it would've sold really well - BUT NO!

@whodatninja I'm hoping for longer legs than that since it doesn't have printing/seller restrictions in NA like the first one did. (XC was gamestop only in NA)

Yes JRPG has become a niche genre. If you don't count the 3DS, JRPG sales are abysmal on all platforms. Maybe it will be saved by FFXV but I doubt it considering the direction the game is taking.

Not enough blood and gore, of course it's going to fail.

@Peach64 well let's just wait and see how it does everywhere else shall we. The UK is a small part of the west.

Yes I'm still waiting to get my copy as Tesco has been out of stock since launch:( they also have it listed as a wii u game which comes in a 3ds format. Idiots!
_{@Lord watch the language. (Jazzer)}

The main thing I hate about the game is how they force the tablet controller on you when you could do it all with the pro controller.

Tomorrow I'm going to buy Wii U Basic Just Dance 2014 bundle with NSMBU+Luigi, Nintendoland, Wii remote AND buying extra Xenoblade Chronicles X Limited Edition.. All for £250. It won't help UK charts because I'm not from UK but anyway. Xenoblade is a reason I'm buying Wii U. It's IGN's and similar sites fault it's not selling well. If you take other games paid scores and reviews like fallout 4 or gta v this game gets bad reputation. Not to mention COD and alike. And we all know it's all about marketing and money involved. But I'm not buying that poopitypoopoop from those sites. If game looks interesting to me - I'm in.. Even if that means buying a console

Yup, Just Dance and the Wii still kicking ass!

@Antray1984 Wii sold something like a bazillion games and as these charts show, they're still selling!

Niche game for a niche system, these numbers aren't surprising. Xenoblade deserves so much better considering it's a fantastic game and series.

Is it illegal to just post the actual top 40?

@electrolite77 well I live in Croatia and I have never ever seen any Nintendo commercial on tv or whatever in my 32 years. But I read review sites like IGN, gamespot, nintendolife etc for years. Ps4 commercials are everywhere and I played it but didn't like it. But I do like my 3ds and 15 games I own. And I'm sure I'm going to like my new Wii u with XCX even if Nintendo sucks in advertising. But modern advertising isn't commercials between cartoons on tv for 10 years kids, it's all about building a hype! And hype is built with lots of money on sites like IGN and nintendolife and so on. Results are mediocre games on all platforms with lots of DLCs. I'm not saying Nintendo isn't guilty, of course it is, but ther problem is bigger then just advertising their games. Old hardware with still high price compared to PS4 and XBONE and lack of big and quality games is greather problem. XBC is specific game for specific profile of players.. And those players are playing now their new COD, fallout and gta v on ps4. Because Nintendo failed to sell their console to adult single male players..
So, you are right.. It is Nintendo's fault IGN posted XCX review on site one week after release date and trolling us readers with Fallout 4 news and reviews for months, just like they did with gta v and destiny etc.
You get the point.
But opinions are like ass holes.. everyone has one, and so am I

Xenoblade deserves more love and respect in all regions. Sadly, JRPG isn't as strong as it used to be. Everyone wants GTA, Sports and million FPS games that gets released every year with little to no changes.

It makes my blood boil out of pure freaking rage from Nintendo being so freaking inconfident that the point where they don't even try to advertise a freaking system seller that potentially save their mess of a console.

@liljmoore
Well, in the case of Tomb Raider when you idiotically cut out the console with easily the largest userbase, which also happens to hold the biggest fanbase for the franchise, that's what happens. I know, I know 'it's just business' that's fine but sometimes a company should put the fans first. Not only did the scumbags at SE flip its largest fanbase the bird, it also did a pathetic job handling the exclusive deal. And I'm sure I'll be accused of being a fanboy but you can ask anybody who posts with me at the PushSquare or Pure Xbox, where I post more frequently, that couldn't be further from the truth. Rise of the Tomb Raider is in fact my favorite game of the year, yet there is still talk about this exclusivity deal overshadowing the game itself. The people at SE are pieces of crap who don't care about the franchise, the same goes for the suits at Crystal Dynamics (not the actual developers themselves but the scumbag head of the studio like Darrell Gallagher). At the very least they should've been up front from the start that it was timed exclusive rather than be coy about it. I love how Sony gets slammed all the time but whenever it makes a deal, it specifies whether it's full or timed by saying things like 'first to PlayStation' or 'console debut.' MS could've mitigated a lot of this but everybody's best friend Phil Spencer was leading the charge for being coy with wording and that also hurt this game's marketing. But hey, Phil Spencer is a great person and just cares about making things good for everybody right? At least that's what the pathetic MS and Nintendo corporate salves and PlayStation-haters tell me. Please...

As a fan of the Tomb Raider series I'm very disappointed Rise of the Tomb Raider hasn't sold nearly as well as it deserved. However, as somebody who hates these dealings of taking formerly multipat games and making them exclusive, I'm happy to see the deal completely blow up in MS' face, especially after the scumbag way it was handled. And this is coming from a big Xbox fan. Either front the money to make the game full exclusive (still annoying but at least t leaves no doubt as to what's going on) or if it's only timed, be up front from the start, period.

As for Xenoblade, it's just an unfortunate case of being a niche game on a very niche console. Hopefully if NX proves to be a massive mainstream success Xenoblade Chronicles X gets a 'remaster' and a real marketing campaign.

It's not surprising. It looks ace but it is niche, whatever people here say anything this distinctly Japanese is niche outside Japan. Anything that demands 80+ hours to complete is niche. Don't get me wrong I think it's fantastic they're porting th this type of game for those who are into them, but I don't think Nintendo realistically expected it to sell all that amazingly. Even if Nintendo was big in the UK, which I hope they work on rectifying. But NL reported before it had launch sales 73% up on it's predecessor so who knows, maybe it's considered a success back at NoE HQ? Seems like the kind of game they can promote again every so often to get another influx of sales, even if they're only small influxes if you can keep them going it adds up.

I might pick it up later. I don't have time for a game this size at the moment, especially not when Splatoon and Rocket League keep sucking me back in!

I went to buy XcX from best buy the day after launch, they only had 9 copies shipped none of which they could find. I ended up buying it on eshop and waiting the 3 hours for it to download lol. I wonder if the lack of physical copies shipped has anything to do with it?

Don't censor games, that just sours the deal.

@Ogbert "Anything that needs 80+ hours to complete is niche."

Glances at Witcher 3 getting advertised up the wazoo, getting tons of sales, and the half off deals recently that skyrocketed sales higher, all by a tiny company that somehow puts more resources into advertising their "niche" games than Nintendo, a big company

Fallout 4 is an RPG game that sold in the millions and was one of the most hyped games of 2015. Why? Because Bethesda went out of their way to market the hell out of that game. I don't know about the UK, but in the past month, I have seen tons of Fallout 4 ads on TV shows, including Football games.

This is despite Fallout already being a million seller franchise with two popular entries(3 and New Vegas) on the previous generation of consoles and coming off the success of Skyrim.

Bethesda did not rest on their past success and just assume the Fallout name would sell the game. They hyped the hell out of it.

To use a non video game example, look at Disney and Star Wars! Everyone knows what Star Wars is, and the movie could sell itself. But Disney has initiated a marketing blitz to get The Force Awakens out to the public.

Xenoblade Chronicles X could have been the Wii U's big holiday game. It could have been something that turned heads and made people look at the Wii U this holiday season. No, I'm not saying it would have been something that would have sold 10 million copies, but in the absence of both Zelda and Star Fox, Nintendo could have pushed this game further.

Where are the ads for Xenoblade? I can see a Fallout 4 and Star Wars Battlefront ad nearly every commercial break during football games, but Nintendo can't use some money to push this game?

For the first time since the Wii U launched, 2015 was a year where Nintendo finally gained some momentum with the success of Splatoon and Mario Maker. But rather then end the year on a high note pushing Xenoblade, they instead dump it at the end of the year to get buried under Fallout, Call of Duty, Battlefront and the other major games of the holiday season.

This is why Nintendo's games don't sell. Not everyone watches their directs. Some people don't even know about a game until they see an ad on TV or hulu!

Did Nintendo go hire marketing teams who were in charge of the N-Gage, 3DO, and Jaguar? Where did they get the people who run their marketing department?

@PlywoodStick Don't forget about Fallout 4, one of the most successful games of the year.

@Socar actually this one sold more than the first one.

@ikki5 The problem is Nintendo fans are getting older and older peeps have more priorities and need to be more sensible with money , The prices of new gen means a console is an investment into the future rather than an impulse buy and people will look into the most futureproof , feature packed console. The Wiiu needs to be affordable and / or be something so next gen that it just asks to take your money , Otherwise it's a glorifies wii and people won't see any sense in upgrading as the wii is a great console in its own right.

I just wish Nintendo would advertize their games properly. It's really pathetic.

I showed my nephew this game and now he wants a Wii U to play it(And Mario Maker). I think I'm doing a better job marketing than Nintendo right now, lol. Joking aside, they need to up their marketing campaigns. This had no business falling off the chart in only the second week.

@JaxonH
Awakening is one of the simplest strategy RPGs ever created though, so I'm not surprised that you were able to adapt to it so quickly. It was built to be newcomer friendly just like the original Famicom game.

Back on topic, I agree about XCX. At first it's a bit overwhelming with all the equipments, arts, and skills that one must wade through in order to find the perfect setup (I personally had a ton of trouble since I play on a 50 inch 1080i CRT TV; all them words are waaaaaay too tiny and the TV makes things worse by being blurry), but soon enough you'll get used to it.

@Peach64 The problem is the game is for the WiiU. People constantly say the game is niche, but that is primarily because of the people that own the system that it is on are more into family oriented games. While the genre's niche is not huge like FPSs, the RPG niche is decent-sized, and this game is in the same genre as the likes of the Witcher, Skyrim, the latter of which sold great. If the game was on the PS4 and Xboxone, it would do much better. Anyway, Nintendo published games tend to sell well over the long term (like Bayonetta 2)

@Peach64 The problem is the game is for the WiiU. People constantly say the game is niche, but that is primarily because of the people that own the system that it is on are more into family oriented games. While the genre's niche is not huge like FPSs, the RPG niche is decent-sized, and this game is in the same genre as the likes of the Witcher, Skyrim, the latter of which sold great. If the game was on the PS4 and Xboxone, it would do much better. Anyway, Nintendo published games tend to sell well over the long term (like Bayonetta 2)

@Peach64 The problem is the game is for the WiiU. People constantly say the game is niche, but that is primarily because of the people that own the system that it is on are more into family oriented games. While the genre's niche is not huge like FPSs, the RPG niche is decent-sized, and this game is in the same genre as the likes of the Witcher, Skyrim, the latter of which sold great. If the game was on the PS4 and Xboxone, it would do much better. Anyway, Nintendo published games tend to sell well over the long term (like Bayonetta 2)

@electrolite77
Well it was on the Number 1 Spot for 2 days at least xD
(On the main Online-Shopping site for games!)

But yeah, Switzerland sucks too. Only Mainstream Gamers who play the same game year over year... "We" don't have any taste when it comes to games imo. Just like the Germans.

@Caryslan That's true. I actually work near one of the Zenimax offices.

@AVahne
Awakening was about as complex an any other SRPG and I've played Stella Glow, Jeanne d'Arc, Tactics Ogre, the Luminous Arc games, Final Fantasy Tactics and every other Fire Emblem dating back to NES.

XCX definitely has a lot more to take in, but at the same time most are familiar with open world games already. So it's just a matter of learning the arts palette and how to use with soul voices, and learning all the different spots to spend money/miranium and perform upgrades (field skill in particular).

Run around fighting enemies, putz around in the menu from time to time and explore NLA, and everything else will just fall into place.

The game deserves to be on spot 1. But without advertisement it seems it can't even reach the top 40.
Common Nintendo, spam some advertisements, just to see what happen ^^

I'm not sure why this game deserves to be higher up? I haven't read any raving reviews besides NintendoLife's. I won't be buying this game because I don't like JRPG's and spending so much time with one doesn't sound like an enjoyable time at all. If the reviews were better I might be inclined to purchase the game. Most of the reviews that I read and value all say that there might be a good game there, but it's buried beneath a lot of annoyances. That's not the kind of game I want to spend a 100+ hours with. I'm glad many of you like the game, but saying it deserves better? The people have spoken.

@electrolite77 A lot of reviewers don't give scores, and are not included on Metacritic, here's a very well written one:
http://www.avclub.com/review/youll-have-fight-xenoblade-chronicles-x-get-fun-it-229086

What did it for me was, "But even with its irritatingly slow cutscenes, its immature objectification of women, and its determination to keep players away from its best moments for as long as it can..." Those are my biggest problems with JPRG's, so that's why I'm staying away from this one.

@electrolite77
84 isn't that great of a metascore this day in game.
Shu from Sony said Dragon Crown received disappointing low reviews at the PS3 game has an 82 metascore and the Vita version is at 78.

Anything score under 90 means the game is average in the eyes of gamers this day in age.

Here is how gamers interpret scores this day in age

XCX was always going to be niche due to the battle system, structure of gameplay/missions and it being a recently new franchise.

No amount of marketing would have significantly boosted the game sales in any territory.
It doesn't help that the game is heavily criticized for the "poor" game structure and "bad" UI.

Xenoblade franchise also clashes with how people view Nintendo, as in it doesn't fit the traditional kiddy/"casual" stigma of Nintendo.

The game wouldn't have done any better on PS4 either, due to it not being up to AAA blockbuster standards.

Bethesda's games would easily outsell it with the same level of marketing and retail set up (Many stores have XCX displays in NA).
Bethesda has the luxury of being the darling in gamers eyes, they can release whatever they want and still lap everyone else in sales.

To repeat XCX isn't a game that most gamers would play this day in age, let alone the mass market. It's just not that type of game that has appeal to the majority of gamers and mass market buyers.

Nintendo should be quite happy if this game sells 500k+ and even happier if it does 1M+

Xenoblade franchise probably will never become big unless it becomes a shooter or copies the gameplay and structure of the big selling AAA blockbuster games.
That's just how the gaming market is today.

@electrolite77 fair point

Xenoblade Chronicles X is a fine wine. It is a masterpiece. The more you play it, the better it gets. The more it ages, the better it gets.

Xenoblade Chronicles X is to gaming what Star Wars is to movies. It is a hidden masterpiece that cannot be fully appreciated without dedicating some time to it. But make no mistake, it WILL go down in history as one of the greatest games of this generation...perhaps of all time.

@electrolite77 Time magazine just gave it a 10/10 — perfect score. I would tend to agree with Time on this one.