V – Homages to Science Fiction and Pop Culture
Despite all the doom and gloom, there are some truly humorous moments for the keen eyed and cultural savvy folks among those who venture into Mira. None of them more so than the events revolving around one Professor B., full name B°&7k%±|, who claims to be part of the peak of human evolution. After coming back in time in his time machine (that happens to be a car), he ends up stuck on Mira along with the rest of us. Unable to go "Back To The Future", Professor B. ends up setting up shop as Factory 1.21 in order to repay a massive debt… wait, 1.21!? Great Scott, that is the exact same number of gigawatts needed for the Flux Capacitor inside the DeLorean to send Marty back to the future!
Science fiction author Frank Herbert also gets sizeable nods on a couple of occasions. Once you step into Oblivia it is very likely you will accidently stumble upon the Tyrant Squallo, the Sand Mirer. This gigantic worm-like creature remains buried in the sand waiting for its prey to walk above, when it will attack anything it senses in his vicinity. Sometimes you might even catch sight of it in the distance as he rises from the sand, almost as if it is coming up for air before diving again below, leaving no traces of its presence. So you're in a desert and there is a giant sand worm about... that is without a doubt a nod to the planet Arrakis, the centerpiece of the entire award winning "Dune" saga.
If there was a doubt this was merely a coincidence, the player is presented much later in Sylvalum with another Tyrant sand worm-like creature named Atreides, the Distinguished who (if not disturbed) will playfully jump above a stone bridge. House Atreides is one of the major players in the Dune universe and will certainly be familiar if you played any of the old Dune videogames that sadly stayed away from Nintendo systems (but can both be found on Mega Drive and Mega CD). Making sure this allusion is indeed no mere coincidence, if you decide to attack Atreides he will summon his female counterpart Gesserith, the Wileworm, a clear reference to the Bene Gesserith sisterhood, another big player in the Dune universe.
Last but not least we have our pizza loving, diminutive allies: the Ma-non. In their attempt to assimilate our culture, no one actually specified what was real and what was fictional. As such the end result of their Candid & Credible Arms Manufacturer armor lineup is lifted straight from classic anime, which the Ma-non assume is what humans wear in their daily life. This is why their male armors look like they're out of your favorite classic mecha anime while female armor is lifted straight out of the Sailor scouts from "Sailor Moon". These nods are welcome and enjoyable; I hope fellow gamers spotted them as well. Feel free to point out others you have found in the comments section.
VI – Lessons On Mankind
With mankind on its very last legs, one would expect that such a cataclysmic event as the Earth blowing up would finally unite us as a species, forcing us to work together towards the common goal of survival. Poetic and ideal as that may sound, the game quickly presents you to the ugly truth: even in face of extinction, mankind remains divided and prisoner to its most selfish traits. Most science fiction masks real-life issues with high technology future worlds of tomorrow, and Xenoblade Chronicles X is no exception.
Mira is home of few apparent sapient species (the Noppon being the most notable exception) but receives many, including mankind plus many other alien ones (both friends and foes). Do you think everyone huddles up next to each other and fights side by side in a way to increase the odds of survival? No, of course not, everyone wants to fight it out for what they claim is their piece of land, their turf. It's not that every human on New Los Angeles is a cave man or cave woman, but most are understandably damaged after such a traumatic event of losing their homes, their families, their day-to-day life. You will be meeting a quite lot of characters, so be prepared to live with both the best and the worst of mankind. Selfishness, greed, politics, religion, intolerance, xenophobia… the game certainly doesn't paint a pretty, poetic picture of Mankind.
You can even find many of these traits within your own team, with kindness and naiveté ever present in Hope (which comes back to bite her in the end), the irrational hate for other species in Bozé, while others are practical and life on Mira made just turned them ruthless - like Lao. It is however impossible to discuss Lao's role in the whole game without some massive spoilers so I will avoid this issue, but I am sure people who have completed the main story will find Lao's path a very common one, filled with good intentions, delusions and eventually repentance for his actions. Much in the same way Mass Effect deals with morality, your actions and choices interacting with characters will determine the eventual outcome and resolution of the many conflicts that arise within New Los Angeles itself. Although very lightly and almost covertly, it is up to you to feed the best or the worse traits of mankind, with the city reflecting those choices. In short, you can play as the human being you want to be, with both rewards and punishments dealt accordingly.
VII – L Is The Impossibility of Reason
*CAUTION: L Spoilers Ahead*
One of the most unique characters in the game is L. It is unavoidable for you to find him during Chapter Four. L presents himself as an inventor and claims to be native to Mira, offering insight into the Noppon and the local fauna. He quickly joins the humans and aids them by eventually setting up shop in New Los Angeles while also becoming a playable character in your party. His broken English due to speedy assimilation of the data he collected is one of the game's many comic relief features. In all, L will stay with you most of the game and will go mostly unnoticed and keeps to himself outside his own missions.
Yet something doesn't quite add up: L is the only one of his species on the whole planet. Alarm bells will begin to ring when you realize his full name (L'cirufe) is none other than an anagram for the fallen angel Lucifer. The producers have this hidden in plain sight from the very first moment you meet L, and it's impossible to once again not be reminded of Goeta talking about Mira being Purgatory. The Xeno series always dealt with religion in one way or another, but I do believe that the possibility of having the Devil himself as part of the team and piloting giant robots is a first. The game doesn't really offer you any explanation for the coincidence of his name or even the fact that their physical appearance is that of a demon (even if a smiling, humorous and peaceful one), leaving it once again up to player's interpretation if this alien trickster is indeed "in" on the whole mystery of Mira, if he is a guide, a nuisance or just another test the planet throws at you. So… what do YOU think about L? Comments below!
VIII – Final Thoughts And The Future
Xenoblade Chronicles X, despite what its name might induce you into believing, it is not a sequel to the delightful Xenoblade Chronicles (you can read my experience with it here). It shares some game mechanics, the Noppons, the epic scale, but nothing else. As such I often find it unfair to compare both games since I found their experience to be very different, so don't expect me to take sides when asked to join either camp. It offers those who stick with the game an incredible and huge playground to explore, while slowly helping Mankind survive and adapt to the impossible odds it faces. I am sure most people will simply be scared off by the complexity the game presents to the player, but I never found myself overwhelmed, mostly because I was patient. It has excellent tutorials and I did not expect to get everything on my first try. Perhaps this comes with age, for I am sure that nowadays most developers would not like to subject the player to such ordeals, instead opting to instantly reward the player as fast as possible in order to keep him happily glued to the game.
Because of this I am well aware that not as many people enjoyed this game as they did the original Xenoblade Chronicles on Wii and 3DS, two of the most widely successful video game systems of all time. Monolith Soft does not even wrap up the whole plot tidily in order to give players closure on the adventures in Mira, leaving them to speculate on several subjects; I presented mine in the points above. It was a bold move and it not only kept me playing all the way to the end, it keeps me wanting to play a direct sequel. Monolith is no stranger to revisiting worlds it creates (notice "Baten Kaitos" and its prequel on GameCube) and the rumour machines have been on an all time high ever since the Switch was presented. Assuming that a port is indeed heading out on Nintendo's next hardware, it will give another chance for this game to be discovered by a whole new audience.
We also know Monolith has been helping out Nintendo in crafting the vast open world of "Breath of the Wild", but what other secrets does the Japanese RPG developer have up its sleeve? We will have to be patient, a quality needed for any that play Xenoblade Chronicles X. I would certainly not pass on further adventures on Mira should they land on Switch.
Until that time comes, and since "Breath of the Wild" is still some way off, what better time than now to keep exploring this colossal video game achievement from Monolith Soft? Perhaps you will even find it to become a source of inspiration. I look forward to reading your comments below about your experience with the game.
Comments 145
I hope this game is ported to the Switch. I'm playing the original, and I was going to get this for Christmas, but I have so much on my backlog, I can't worry about it right now. Is it worth getting though?
This is my favourite game and for all the reasons listed above and so many more. Soundtrack, setting, incredible gameplay, story, visuals. I bought it on a whim, the limited edition which I believe was £50 at launch (or maybe £60). Just as an xmas gift whim from my Mother.
The posters are on my wall now. The game is my most played on the system and if it gets a Switch port I will never do anything else in my life.
I ended up not buying this game. The downloadable datapacks and the Wii U's limited storage space scared me off. I didn't want to have to buy the game AND an external hard drive. I will probably get it if it makes its way to the Switch as a remaster
I love this game! I just started playing this a few months ago, and I'm loving every minute of it! I'm getting towards the end (chapter 12 anytime)! I already know the ending though, but I still can't wait to do it myself!
This game has already turned out to be one of my favorite games of all time, for many reasons; all the lessons it has like described in the article, the story is great, the soundtrack is amazing, and I love the wide cast of characters and the many different environments to explore. The developers really made Mira feel completely unique, and super fun to explore.
As much as I love this game, though, I probably won't get it on the Switch (unless there's a lot of new content!). With a game this massive, playing it over again would take a long time! Also, I really don't want to go back to running everywhere after I got my Skell and the flight module! XD
Shame it was NoA who localised this one.
One of the best Wii U game. More people need to play this masterpiece.
I even let my friend borrow my Wii U for months so they can fully enjoy Xenoblade Chronicles X.
It wouldn't be a Xeno game if there wasn't some crazy religious stuff hidden in there somewhere. At least it's gotten less brazen than Xenogears, with all the ranting in that game about the "Slayer of God."
Can anyone explain the ending to me? I LOVED it but I was so confused.
@Miles_Edgeworth What is your interpretation of it? The developers didn't give us closure on purpose.
An addenun to "V – Homages to Science Fiction and Pop Culture":
There is a short but very in your face nod to Ridley Scott's "Alien" and James Cameron "Aliens", a sequence of missions in the power plant. I urge you to go find them if you haven't already.
I loved the game, but It wasn't an easy game to get into. The battle system was way too complex from the start to attract beginners, the map was downright confusing especially the city (which made you search repeatedly just to form your team), there were millions of customisation options and mini games which needed far more explaining than what we got, and there were a lot of subtle in jokes that you wouldn't get if you didn't have an in depth knowledge of Japanese gaming culture and world mythology. It was a game for a very tiny niche, which made it great for lovers of cult Japanese RPG's, but just an obscurity for everyone else.
But I liked it.
Great game.
I have to be honest: I don't like this game very much. The characters I found unlikable, the story cliche (how much I'd rather have seen Earth be destroyed due to humanity's greed in resources so when we arrive on Mira, the local civilzation fears we take away all of their resources (which the main antagonist does plan on doing) and then have the player choose between fighting for humanity or the aliens which would lead to different endings and so on), I hate a mute for a main protagonist in a rpg but that's just me and the overworld was just ... too big. Having a world this size simply distracts me from the story, which I value above all else in rpgs, an issue I also have with the original Xenoblade and FF15. But unlike Chronicles X, these two shine because of their likable characters. When I love hanging out with these guys, I could go miles and not get bored or overwhelmed, but without, I simply don't feel invested.
@Shiryu Do you think perhaps they were instead leaving it open for a sequel?
They never did anything about the built-in motion blur, right? Incredibly tiny text combined with that meant that I am physically unable to play this, I was getting horrid migraines after 30 minutes. Hopefully they'll knock that crap off, or at least put in an option, in a future game.
The tiny text really took me out of this game
@Miles_Edgeworth As I have written in the last paragraph, I feel there are more stories to be told in this world. Up to Monolith to follow trough or just leave it as is.
Lovely game, but the battle system could be 100% real time.
@BensonUii You may want to grab this old album I made back in 2008.
https://youtu.be/URcTq56wt70
It's a pretty fun Wii U game to get lost in, but the characters didn't have the same dynamic as the original. I listen to a few songs off the soundtrack now and then, but even then some tracks sound... well, not really for me 🤔
I much preferred the sweeping rock-orchestra soundtrack of the original, personally! Overall, it's definitely not a bad game and it had its moments, but as a huge fan of the original, it left me a bit confused and upset. It's like everytime the game did something awesome, it did something pretty awful in return. (F*#@ the Ma-Non's voices, it's like a chorus of dog whistles).
Also no cheeky English dub? That like made Reyn's personality for me 😗
XCX is best game on the Wii U hands down. Nothing else comes close to the sheer size and quality the game holds. I will definitely be getting a Switch port and a Switch sequel if they happen.
I still haven't done the latest chapter. Still one of the wii u greatest games.
My son and I have been playing this game for the last year and was at over 500+hours when my son decided to start over as every titan and blueprint had been found (I think). I have not even put 100 hours into a game in the last 5 years, which with my lack of free time means that this game actually sucked me in. Hope for a sequel on the Switch as well.
A very interesting article. I have have far too many good things to say about this game. I clocked several hours on it myself. I think it's the best gaming experience on the Wii U. So much fun to be had simply exploring the games world without doing any side/story missions.
Not sure I'd play through it all over again if ported to the Switch, but would love a sequel.
This is on my back log. Looking forward to giving it the attention it deserves.
Still playing it. I've played around 70 hours and intend to finish it to as close to completion as possible.
This game was my biggest disappointment on the Wii U. Not the worst game, not by far, but after the predecessor was GOTG quality, this felt like such a let down. I think Japanese developers still haven't got their head around the open world. They feel like PS2 era attempts. MGSV made me feel the same, although not quite to the degree this did, and I get the same worrying feeling when I look at how empty Breath of the Wild seems to be compared to something like Skyrim where the developers have been doing that sort of world for well over 10 years.
It's a decent game, though I occasionally found it to be rather frustrating at times. Too often, large super tough monsters would come along and wipe out my entire team while I'm trying to defeat something else. Plus, it was too much of a grindfest for me, and it's annoying that you can't cancel a mission after you've started if you find out that you're too weak to beat it. Also, there were plenty of other stupid decisions like the removal of the boob slider.
However, the game is still very enjoyable. The scenery looks gorgeous, I liked the characters and, it had some cool music, skells were fun, and I liked the story. I liked how the story isn't always positive, and that it can be easy to accidentally mess up and do a bad outcome of side missions even if you're trying to be good.
Just finished this last week, great game. Took me nearly 300hrs to get my fill and I'll probably be my last RPG of this type I'll ever play. At 32 I simply can't commit to another massive game like this again, all good but too much for me tbh 🤕
It is one of my favorite game, a huge and beautifull world where you can lose yourself, many things to discover and more of everything it has one of the most rewarding grinding system, i'm at over 200 hours and the more i play the stronger i became (actually i can defeat most of the tyrant on foot).
The story is actually too short for such a game and the cooperative multiplayer should have been far bigger and the group missions from the terminal should have a story like dungeon in all mmorpg (fighting the global nemesis without a single cutscene that explain why you had to fight such a titanic creature and from where it comes is a bit frustrating).
Also loved this game a lot. I was around 115 hours in and for some reason just stopped. I think I'm on the second to last chapter or something. I should try and finish it even though it would be quite a challenge to remember what I was doing and how everything works.
@RainbowGazelle What's that supposed to mean? At least Ubisoft didn't do it.
@ULTRA-64 I am in the same spot, man. Love massive RPGs but at 31 myself, wife and 3 kids, full-time job, a writing career, and martial arts training, I barely have time to shower, let alone dump 300 hours into a game. BotW will be the exception though.......hehe
This is such a great a piece! I want to get this even more now but as another commenter said, the size of the file and the need for me to buy a hard drive scares me off...
Maybe I'll just get physical version but the eshop has that sale on it with nintendo points...
I also know I probably won't finish this — but wow it looks and sounds so good to play!
Thanks for the article , I'm back on the prowl now for this...
@ULTRA-64 @invictus4000 I used to think the same thing but I found that if you just take one day at a time... things add up and you end up with a 4000 word feature published on Nintendo Life. The trick is not to dread too far ahead and play as much as your life lets you afford every day.
I've spent 90 hours in this game and only completed 40%... Probably gonna play the game again for the Switch port.. Really don't feel like going back into the game again cuz there are tons of 3DS games that I still need to play
This game if one of the best I've ever played they nailed on the open world enviroment and gameplay but failed story wise...
I DON'T WANNA RESTART THE GAME ON SWITCH BUT WHAT IF IT HAS NEW CONTENT UGH! BUT I DON'T WANT TO GET BACK INTO THE GAME RIGHT NOW..
268 hours of gameplay level 61 All gone because of the WiiU external hard drives suck.
@Dakt Easily!
@liljmoore I used a 64GB flash drive lol and its still good to this day... Well my data is gonna be gone maybe in 2 years !
@TerrapinJess Amazon is selling it for $48. They were selling it for $38 during Black Friday.
One of the best Wii U games, but compared to the first Xenoblade, it's doing a lot of things worse. Chronicles on Wii have plenty interesting characters, in X we have like... one? I've got Elma on my mind of course. Protagonist is one of the poorest in jRPG genre, he/she even says nothing, only nods - who pushed this idea after Shulk in predecessor?
Story is just... ok. First Xeno have brilliant, emotional plot with many twists (even if they were predictible sometimes, they were just in the right place), which kept me playing and playing.
I also think that game became weaker after getting Skells. Yep, controversial opinion, but exploration on foot was more interesting, world seemed bigger and more dangerous. I also find combat system too complicated, Overdrive was just a mess compared to Chain Link, especially during mechs battles.
Summarizing, Xeno X took too many elements from MMO games, and I'm not fan of this type of games. I can forgive a lot when I get addictive story (and i forgave a lot of first Xeno because of this), which this game, sadly, did not have, partially because of too many additional elements, mechanics etc., which distracted me from the main story. But first Xeno is presumably best game I've played in all my life, so I'm extremeley subcjective here
I think this game is like Marmite, you either love it or you hate it.
After 36 hours of gameplay and finally getting a Skell, I still felt intensely frustrated and underwhelmed by this overambitious and bland game, and exchanged it for Captain Toad Treasure Tracker! Still don't regret it.
Part of my issue was how gameified everything seems. I was wowed by the flying whales in the trailer, but seeing them in-game flying in a straight line, stopping, rotating 45 degrees and flying in a straight line again was a disappointment. It wasn't what I wanted!
I still haven't gotten the game because the playable character is an avatar. Xenoblade Chronicles is one of my favorite games because of the tight-nit story and in-depth characters while still giving you quite a bit of freedom in terms of gameplay and party structure.
That's not the only reason I don't want the game (because if it mattered that much I wouldn't have Sun/Moon), but it's what broke the camel's back big time.
@invictus4000 Same boat here. I haven't even sniffed XCX for these same reasons. But Zelda is a different monster. I have too much affection invested in the series to ignore it, no matter how time consuming it is (I'm hoping not too much over 100+ hours)
This game is so much better than FFXV. It deserved a lot more attention.
Is no one else going to mention the Guran Lagann reference with Kamina's glasses? I busted a gut when Tetsu turned around and said these were his dad's glasses. The entire sidequest was worth it just for that scene. Combine that with conversations that his dad was chosen to be that year's Heropon to slay a God, all I can see now is Riki piloting a giant skell and yelling "Just who in the hell do you think I am!"
I felt the writing/localization was on point. Outside of the more dramatic scenes, everyone talks like they would do today. One of my favorite exchanges was when trying to explain love to a Ma-non. You could either give him some dry cut info that we humans use to describe it or explain to him you don't understand love either because you're dead on the inside. I thought that was freaking hilarious and I love how it gives some semblance of a character even if it's just for the player's sake. It's way better then just making a yes/no or confirm/deny option and calling it day. The writers took that extra time to make responses interesting and unique and they get crapped on because some of the older folks playing lack modern day humor and would prefer it to be taken more seriously then it is.
As for the characters I can see why people have an issue with the playable ones. Outside of 7 of the playable cast, none of the other characters don't have any interactions with the main plot so unless you're spending the time to take up their affinity quests they'll come off as bland as cardboard. When you take the time to do these quests the characters are well developed and have personalities, flaws, and goals that they achieve to aspire to. They're not meant to be spotlights that try to outshine each other with super in depth backstories or unique abilities. As the writer thoughtfully wrote, they're normal human beings just like you and they're trying a new world habitable for their species.
The only thing I can really harp on is the sound mixing. Jesus Christ the sound mixing in this game is bad. It's not the tracks that are bad, it's that they drown out the dialogue every time! Like last night I was doing Hope's affinity quest and the character was explaining why they were doing what they were doing while this super loud dramatic rock song is drowning out their monologue. Then the other night it was the commander talking to the crew in his office. Everyone is using quiet inside voices while the singer is yelling at the top of her lungs about the hope and destiny of human kind.
Outside of that the game is fantastic.
Fantastic game. I had nearly 400 hours working on full map completion but ended up moving on at some point. I do plan on going back to it.
Really hope there is a follow up to this game on the Switch. So many questions to be answered.
Overall it was a great game and I enjoyed the 150+ hours into it.. @Peach64 I think your assessment is a little bias. X and Skyrim are two different games all together and the only similarities they share is that of being an open world rpg. Maybe compare X to a FInal Fantasy game?
I love this freaking game.
I haven't picked up XCX yet, but it's on my Christmas list! It looks like a very fun (albeit lengthy) game, and the article and comments are helping reinforce that.
Xenoblade Chronicles X is amazing, but the first game was even better. Owning and playing both is the only sane option.
I enjoyed it, but was a little disappointed with it. The story never really interested me. I thought it was pretty poorly paced with many chapters not really doing anything. There were too many party members with so few of them fleshed out. You had the recruitment mission and then two pretty short affinity missions and that was it. Not enough time for most to get much development. I can't even remember the names of most of them.
Then there was a bunch of little stuff that started to bug me more and more the longer I played. The awful sound mixing during some cutscenes (loud music with English lyrics blaring over English voice acting was a horrendous idea), recruiting party members being so inconvenient (having to go and find them in NLA every time), the collectopedia and beastiary not showing you the locations of collectables/items once you've already found them meaning I always played the game with the wiki open next to me.
Still, the combat and exploration was great. Xenoblade is one of my favourite games ever. X is nowhere near, but is still a very good game.
@UmbreonsPapa Couldn't have said it better myself!
@Shiryu Great advice!
@Shiryu Yeh I agree. I hope they do carry it on- I really want to know more!
I beat this game, but not Xenoblade Chronicles 3D.
When I started the game, I thought there was no way I would finish. But I was hooked. I just kept on playing, never thinking about when I would reach the end. Before I knew it, I was on Chapter 12.
I really love this game, it's my favorite Wii U game by far.
@Aaron09 @invictus4000 @MasterWario @Tyranexx @TerrapinJess
I wholeheartedly recommend you all play this game. Yes, it's worth getting. I've been playing video games for about 25 years, and no game has ever made me feel the way this game did. The sheer scope and wonder and beauty of the world is unrivaled by any video game I've ever played. It instills a sense of awe that words really can't describe.
I hear a lot of people say they don't have the time for a game like this, but neither do I and I managed to put in 600 hours. The trick is to not worry about when you're going to finish it. If you're going to play video games you're going to be playing something anyways, so it might as well be the best game on Wii U. Just take it one day at a time and enjoy each gaming session for what it is. If it takes you a year to finish it then so be it, but I don't think how long it takes to beat it is important, only how much you enjoy it when you are playing it.
I hear a lot of people also complaining about the avatar or the story or what have you. There are all kinds of different games- some focus on specific characters and others let you be the character. There's no right or wrong way. I think if you simply go with the flow and enjoy the game the way it's meant to be enjoyed, you'll be surprised at how quickly you fall in love with this game.
As for the story, it's incredible... I've played a lot of JRPG's with good stories including greats like Final Fantasy. This is a game where you do get a truly engaging and intriguing story, but it's spread out over the course of the 12 chapters which will take 100 or more hours to complete. So the gameplay loop kind of goes like this: explore the beautiful open world, level up, and then you're rewarded with some cut scenes. You sit back, relax, and enjoy as a treat. Can you go back out into the world and explore further and level up some more, and then you're rewarded with some more cut scenes. It works beautifully and gives you incentive to progress because you're always looking to find out what happens next, but at the same time you're always looking to find out what lies beyond the next horizon of the world as well.
Sometimes you love a game so much that you just want everyone in the world to experience the joy you experienced when you played the game, that's exactly how I feel about Xenoblade Chronicles X. There are a lot of complaints people can level against this game but at the end of the day, having completed it and feeling as much love and adoration towards this game as I do... then what do those complaints really matter in the bigger scheme of things
edit
Btw, you can just stick a 32gb USB drive in the back of your Wii U for the data packs or digital copy of the game. They cost $5-10 and most people probably already have a box full of USB drives at home anyways.
https://www.amazon.com/PNY-Compact-Attaché-Flash-Drive/dp/B007XVRDYA/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1480882203&sr=8-13&keywords=32gb+USB+drive
@JaxonH Although I admit to being a lesser man for saying this aloud, I'm actually jealous of people who will experience it the first time on Switch.
@Shiryu
I understand completely. I really do. And on that note I'd say that goes for people who will experience it for the first time period, be it Wii U or Switch.
I got it for Christmas last year and lovingly played it whenever I could squeeze it into my schedule. I was going to finish the story and then quit, and then I thought, well maybe I should get an 100% survey rate. When I finally beat Telethia the Endbringer getting 100% I immediately started going for all of the achievements which I completed around mid November after playing for almost exactly 350 hours (I think I was 3 minutes short). Every time I told my wife I was almost done playing it she rightfully didn't believe me since I think I started saying it in July.
I'm not sure how, but I still haven't finished this. Up to around chapter 10, and about 100 hours in.
But i have to be straight about this: the game was a major disappointment to me.
I played it's predecessor on the 3ds and it quickly became one of my favorite RPGs ever. And I have played a lot of RPGs. So I had seriously high hopes for this game.. The potential was enormous.
I'm on my phone, so I'll summarise my key points of contention.
1/ story: the story to date (chapter 10, 100 hours?) has been very weak, unlike XC... Strong right from the start.
2/ Characters: the play style for every character on XC was different, which was an amazing feat. In XCX everyone feels the same to me, except for minor differences. Doesn't help that you can play as so many different people well.
3/ Items: Item and equipment progression in XC worked well, although the micromanagement was a pain. This got much worse in XCX... Except for major jumps in gear based on level, there was almost no point to upgrade.
4/ World: the real Candy in XC was the areas. I kept playing to see every new area, explore every secret. This was extended by story driven events which changed the areas. Every area had a unique style, and it was great. The biggest problem in XCX was lack of variety in the world's. Sure they were huge and looked great.. but it was all the same.
5/ skills: in XC finding and completing events which increased the bond between characters was essential. This is because it tied back into the skill tree... And getting a new skill, allowed you to rejig how your entire combat worked. This was lost in XCX for various reasons. Early on I found the bond between my main characters was already maxed out... Which was a major disappointment. I started swapping characters out more, but it just didn't really matter.
And to clarify, I still love XCX and want to get back to it... It's a total time sink. But it's not the 10/10 that XC was in my books. I hope Monolith gets to address some of these issues in their next game.
@JaxonH I am so glad you wrote this and even happier I read it. I absolutely take your word for it and will be picking this up... I see it was on sale for $10 less than its going for right now.. I don't care I'm getting it.
Thank you and this is going to sound ridiculous but I had no idea you could use a thumb drive for storage--- I thought it had to be a hard drive with dedicated AC adapter/power source!
EDIT: NOW I remember... a USB stick isnt designed for the wear/tear that will take place over time using it as such... in any case I'm shelling out the money for the external. When I do that I can then get all the other games I've put off for lack of onboard storage! Very excited...
This was such an experience, I also fully completed it ❤️
Wish you could have more save files, I've been meaning to replay it but I don't wanna delete
@TerrapinJess
Ya having an external drive is kind of a must nowadays. I keep a 500gb drive in my Wii U. If you do go with an external drive, make sure you buy a Y-cable. The Wii U is low power output, meaning it takes 2 USB ports to power an external drive (alternatively, just one if your drive plugs into an outlet, but who wants to deal with that).
You'd be surprised how long a USB flash drive will last though. Years and years. Yes there's limited write cycles, but honestly by the time you reached that limit it probably would be the same amount of time until an external hard drive would fail anyways...
If you go with an external HDD, here's the same Y-cable I bought. Keep in mind the kind of port on the end of it- it has to match your external HDD, but all the ones I know of have this kind of port. Seems standard nowadays. 500gb drives cost the same amount as 1TB drives now so may as well just get a 1TB. A lot of models don't even offer less than 1TB anyways now.
Y-cable
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DDNXLFW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Matching External HDD
1TB Western Digital
https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Portable-External-Drive-WDBUZG0010BBK-EESN/dp/B00CRZ2PRM/ref=sr_1_7?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1480885020&sr=1-7&keywords=External+HDD
1TB Toshiba
https://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Basics-Portable-Drive/dp/B00N2S6ZUQ/ref=pd_sbs_147_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00N2S6ZUQ&pd_rd_r=H0VYXHAW1TREDQ07VMG8&pd_rd_w=YgL0G&pd_rd_wg=9V5f3&psc=1&refRID=H0VYXHAW1TREDQ07VMG8
32gb PNY USB drive
https://www.amazon.com/PNY-Attache-Flash-Drive-P-FD32GATT03-GE/dp/B003YCOMG4/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1480885397&sr=1-1&keywords=32gb+USB+drive&refinements=p_n_size_browse-bin%3A1259716011
I hate it, but I ended up pretty disappointed with the game. I played it for around 200 hours and enjoyed it to a degree, but I didn't have nearly as much fun as a I did with Xenoblade. I feel like, more than anything, it was impossible for the game to live up to my expectations after almost three full years of waiting. They absolutely should have waited to reveal the game for a lot longer than they did. However, I still thought the story was painfully weak (both the plot and the characters), the pacing was poor, the world design was frustrating, and the combat was weaker. I still got a reasonably enjoyable 200 hours out of the game, so the game was worthwhile, but I feel like there were some mistakes that were made that weakened to game in comparison to its predecessor.
I do disagree with this article's assertion that the avatar was "just an average person" though. I distinctly remember the game making your character (and your squad with Elma and Lin) basically being portrayed as the absolute best soldier/squad to ever grace B.L.A.D.E.. I mean, it seems like you get sent out for every important mission, you're involved in seemingly everything significant (or at least which needs to be solved). It honestly just seemed like the Avatar/Lin/Elma squad was the only thing that could prevent psychotics, religious extremists, and an entire alien army from utterly destroying NLA. And then there are scenes like this. It's a good article otherwise, but I think that first point is pretty off the mark.
@Zebetite I remember getting horrific headaches playing this game for longer than twenty minutes at a time. The text was so tiny I was constantly straining just to see what skill I had selected. The fact that they never patched it to be adjustable is a HUGE source of frustration for me. It was the only time I'd ever felt so physically ill just playing a game
I liked XCX overall. The main plot is a little disappointing especially considering that two of the chapters are basically just boss fights with no other gameplay. There being a main villain with a grand plan felt unnecessary because there's already a "countdown" supplying tension and the main plot isn't long enough for it to make a huge amount of sense. What was really nice though was the side content about the integration of new alien species into NLA. There was a lot of good story development there. I think it would have been better if instead of having a villain, you had to unite all the aliens instead.
Loved my experience, I will agree with most it's not as great as the first, but it's still pretty awesome. I can't tell you how satisfying getting to and beating that final boss. My party was wiped, my skell was drained I had lowered his health to 1/4 he did his ohko hit me twice the only reason I survived was my laser buffs, I had 200hp the third time I knew I was going to die, so I jumped in my skell and it blew up but I survived, stunned by his attack I used the only attack I had left that plus my buffs killed him in one hit.
Great game, that final chapter was a dozey it made me cry twice
@antipop621 make sure you got those buffs I wanted to finish under 90 but ended with 120 due to leveling reasons and stupid skell add ons
@Elanczewski
You saved me the time to write ecactly this - thanks!
Also, the soundtrackas are miles apart. As much as I like the game, I can't get my head around some of the choices made coming off the first game. XC is on my top five all time. Absolutely love it.
@JaxonH Thanks for responding! Maybe I'll play it when I'm done playing all the games in currently playing.
@JaxonH: Thanks for that! I've always been intrigued by the game and had actually planned on buying it physically earlier this year, but a slightly cheaper price on Hyrule Warriors won out. It's now on my Christmas list, but if I don't get it then I'll probably end up buying it myself sometime this next year.
The only thing that's always been a bit off-putting to me with XCX is the sheer length; I love RPGs, but I don't believe I've ever spent more than 80 hours on one. Back in the day this wasn't a problem, but with a busy schedule and other hobbies besides gaming, it can be a little hard to squeeze in some gaming time. When I do play the game, it'll likely be in the winter when I tend to have a little more time after the holidays end.
Love the game! I'm about 89.90% through it and am getting close to getting it done!
@Aaron09 @Tyranexx
I don't think either of you will regret it. I wouldn't vouch so strongly for a mediocre game. As a multiconsole owner I play the best the industry has to offer across the board, and this JRPG is up there with all the timeless classics.
We're talking Lost Odyssey, The Last Story, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XV and the original Xenoblade Chronicles. Definitely on the short list of greatest JRPG's of all time. And of all those priceless games, none has wowed me the way Xenoblade Chronicles X did. The awe and wonder you feel as you fly across Sylvalum, such a strange and foreign (but beautiful) continent. Or the amazement of laying eyes on Noctilum for the first time which is like Pandora from Avatar times 100, or standing on the cliffs on the shore of Primordia staring out at the unknown continent you can't yet reach across the ocean...
TRASH TALK!
Time has passed, but I still can't understand the love for this game. It has some terrible flaws.
1/ the music is an awkward choice and the overall composition doesn't make much sense to me. Ok, it's a mater of taste. But still, the music is way too loud! So loud it covers the VA! Why does this game have like 35 options for camera, but none for audio?
2/ performance was bad, even with the data packs. It happened often to me to run into an object before it was even visible.
3/ Cross is uninteresting, and Lin and Elma (def the best character) are pretty much mandatory for progress. Which leaves only 1 slot for another character, all the other will lag behind in experience. And you have to remember where they are and go there yourself to switch them in and out of the group. Great design choices!
4/ combat was just the same as in XC, without the chain attack and with more eye candy onscreen. And mechs. That's it.
5/ COHESION! Mankind is at the age of extinction, but it's cool. We still have a mall and a fast food downtown and nice cars to drive around. And swimming pools. I could never take NLA seriously.
6/ I might not have a very good memory of this, but aren't nearly all of the alien races (with the exception of Furballs) just humanoids with green/grey/brown skin? I can't remember any of their names. I just could not bother.
7/ Lin, her annoying voice and her comments. The skinny 14 yo is the tank, the chief engineer and the cook, of course. I bet she also cleanse the bathroom and waters the crops. And her endless running gag about eating Tatsu! I still make nightmares about that "Did you pick tonight's menu, Lin?" battle quote that keeps coming back.
Yes, I'm done. Sorry about that.
Nice article, Shyryu. You make valid points there thought this game didn't touch my heart as Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii but a great game nevertheless.
...E parabéns pelo artigo um abraço
@Peach64 Agreed, though the size and explpration was actually what did it for me. Sure the visuals were lovely too and there were stuff worth enjoying but every time I sat down to play I kept thinking of giving the original a go again. And again, the music while bearable (NLA excepted) is nowhere near the brilliant composing of XC.
It took 680hrs to read this article
@Player4 Make another Wii U profile. That's What I did.
@dsparil I honestly thought that was the direction it was going, technically you did, all of the tech used in weapons and skells was designed by all the races in NLA for the intent to stop the big bad, did you stop the whole organization? No but that's a thing for the sequel, who's going to pay for all this enemy skell damage?
Great article. This game is argueably one of the top 5 reasons to own a Wii U - get it before it becomes a rarity! prepare to set aside some major time to really enjoy it!
I've always wanted to play this game. Unfortunately I just don't have the time for an epic this long. It also doesn't help that the wii u gamepad battery died on me and haven't gotten around to replacing it yet. Maybe one day, possibly on the switch if it's ported on it.
I had such a hard time getting into Xenoblade X. I was pretty much waiting for it on Wii-U and put in about 20 hours but was very frustrated most of the time. I ended up trading my Wii-U and that was that. If it comes out on Switch im sure I will give it another chance.
My only niggle with Xenoblade X is that the main story only focused on a small handful of the playable characters, making the others appear unimportant outside their own storylines. I understand that being a rather tight, normal community is the point of it all.
Still a truly wonderful game!
Easily one of the best games I've ever played. Certainly in my top 10, no doubt about it. I've spent at least 300 hours in Xenoblade Chronicles X and have loved every bit of it. It has its faults, some more glaring than others, but the pros vastly outweighs the cons, and the game is incredibly addictive. If the rumour of it being ported to the Switch is true, I shall purchase it the day it releases.
An absolute must have for any Wii U owner or JRPG fan.
@JaxonH I'm in love with the original! It's so amazing! The world, the characters, the story, the combat, seeing that XCX only approves upon most of those, is a good sign. I'm still going to wait until Jan12th for a possible announcement of a Switch port. If not I guess I'll get it on the Wii U
The game was fantastic and port too the NS would be awesome with afew things ironed out but a sequel definitely would be amazing.
The game is pretty good minus the stupidly small text and an obtuse and hard-to-understand battle system
It's a great game, but I find the first "Xenoblade Chronicles" to clearly be the better game. While the customizable avatar is a nice addition, there are some mechanical improvements, and the world is even bigger and more open, there are also quite a few flaws.
The story isn't anywhere near as good, the text is too small, the poorly designed terrain alongside the inability to tell where you've already been makes on-foot exploration an absolute chore, fighting giant monsters on-foot is very awkward, and there's just too much micro-management for most players' comfort level. Hopefully, Monolith Soft will fix some of these issues if they ever make a direct sequel.
I love this game so much. I've played through it three times, and gotten frontiernav to 100% completion twice. I am in high hopes that a sequel is announced soon, because I want to figure out what is up with this friggin' planet already!
"The gravity also seems to be all over the place, with entire landmasses impossibly (but lovingly) suspended high in the air"
This has nothing to do with the planet's gravity. This is explained by a nopon npc named Mogugu who shows up next to Mujiji in Oblivia's Dorian caravan at night. He has different dialogue during different parts of the game, and states later in the game that these floating islands and the wreckage all around Oblivia were remnants of a highly advanced ancient floating civilization on Mira. He says they blew themselves up, and earlier mentions that the giant rings were weapons used to attack the other native peoples, greatly hinting at a civil war on the planet that wiped all these civilizations out. Going by the state of the ruins across the planet, it is obvious before you even talk to Mogugu that some major conflict happened here may years ago. I really want to know more about Mira's history.
Edit: Typo'd planet as plant, lol. Mira is a sentient giant plant confirmed.
Had alot of fun playing it- beat it and moved on. Wasnt into doing much after level 60. Hoarded everything and made it by with one skell until final battle. Lots n lots of mindless customization, like a number game itself. Just wish finding characters around NLA was easier. Awsome game tho. Good story.
I'm so glad this article got made, when I finished the storyline of XCX it was the same feeling like when I used to finish a game when I was a child, extremely rewarding and the ending was awesome, I also wish there was no cliffhanger, but it set in motion so many parts of my brain that are overthinking "But, what is all this then? " Truly an amazing experience. Everyone seems to favor the "original" on Wii, but I couldn't get into that one, have tried multiple times. My girlfriend bought me XCX ( I was hesitant to buy it because RPG's are not my thing really, but I had told her it looked awesome from the trailers ) In retrospect it is one of the best gifts ever as I have played it over 150 hours (probably the first time i spent +100 hours in a non party game.)
I was so impressed when i finished the story and then went hunting for an Ares 90, just such a superb game. I hope to be able to play a game like that again some day. Glad to see some people have enjoyed the same way I have.
Just thinking about it makes me feel little and humble again like in the game.
Was an alright game. Could've been better if they had a better sound design and if it had an action RPG battle system rather than the drab auto-battle system inspired by old, tired MMORPGs. Also if it didn't have unnecessary censorship and a text scaling option; way too hard to read anything.
I would've much preferred an open world The Last Story 2 though. Really hope Sakaguchi will be getting back into console development soon.
Still haven't finished it; 200+ hours in
@Sapphire - you still should still give the game a go. I bought a 'fast' but cheap 64 GB Sandisk thumbrive which I strictly use for the Wii U and this was more than adequate for handling the 10 GB of data packs for this game. Think it was like $13 or so last year.
Unfortunately, Xenoblade Chronicles X (along with MGSV) was my biggest disappointment of this generation.
For all the great stuff, my experience was plagued by the innumerable idiotic and baffling design decisions - decisions that were a direct step backwards from its predecessor.
Being forced to level up your 18 characters individually.
Levels capped at 60.
Obnoxious, horribly designed quests that had me spending more time Googling than actually playing.
Ridiculously small text.
Only one save file.
Have to go back to the title screen just to reload or reconnect online.
Terrible learning curve that fails to explain many things (lol just read the manual lol).
Not to mention the stylistic choices, like the horrific New LA theme, stupid plot holes, and nasty graphical pop-in. And the Nopons. God how much I hate the Nopons.
Still, there were some good things. Mira itself was wonderfully designed, and the tech powering the game was seriously impressive. The localisation too, was incredibly well done - sorry weebs, no BAAAAAW CENCORSHIPZ!!1!1 from me. I actually know the difference between legitimate complaints and petulant crying.
@Equinox Nintendo shouldn't publish Nintendo games? Really brilliant stuff. Just when I thought I'd read it all.
Great game... still playing it from time to time to complete the huge range of things to do, but I think this article overlooks (or perhaps missed entirely) a few things that present explanations for a few of the mysteries, while others only raise more questions that weren't mentioned, which Monolithsoft are almost certainly planning to answer in another instalment in the series.
Also, just because XCX is not a sequel to XC does not mean the two stories are not connected... if you look hard enough, both have gaps in the information they give you (names, explanations, etc.) that could be filled with information provided by the other... and the fact that some of these details were missing from XCX actually suggests that this was intentional.
@mikegamer It's a shame we didn't get a superior localisation from NoE.
@DatFunkySmell Good idea, I should try that once the holidays start, thanks
I really enjoyed this game. However, it is more technical demo than game at times, and it shows in the characters and the completely broken battle system. Sword Arts pretty much allow you to destroy the game, and I picked that on my first playthrough not knowing it. I started a second playthrough using the assault rifle + knife (as in a real soldier's weaons) and discovered that it was like turning hardcore mode on.
That said, it is still as loved as the original for allowing me to play a MMORPG in single-player mode.
@Desy64 São jogos muito diferentes. Este é especial por motivos diferentes que fazem o "Xenoblade" original especial. Ambos são um luxo.
@Crimzonlogic I never saw those dialogues! Thanks for the heads up.
It is nice to once in a while read a write-up about XCX coming from a person who actually dedicated themselves to the game as intended, and enjoyed it in the way it was meant to.
As someone who dedicated 308 hours to complete everything (all achievements, not just the '100%' exploration) and is even completing the game again at a much quicker pace because someone lost my data, I definitely appreciate this read on what is clearly the game I've put the most effort, enthusiasm and care in a long while.
@Kage_88 "stupid plot holes"
Like what? I don't know of any plot holes in it, and I've played the game three times and thought a lot about the story. There's just some storylines left unfinished, as in that major cliffhanger business in chapter 12. Cliffhangers or "to-be-continued" situations aren't plot holes, though they do irk me. We need a story continuation, be it a game, novel, or animated series, that's for sure.
Wow! I thought I was doing well with 500 hours of Splatoon. I only have 230 hours on this game. I'll have to get back to it.
I love this game, is definitively one of my favourite games on the Wii U, the other being Bayo 2.
I think I'm in the minority, but I loved having a customisable avatar that wasn't the main focus of the story. The "chosen one and special snowflake" plot is way too overdone, and for me XC suffers a bit in that aspect. While here, you participate but you aren't the focus of everything. You can contribute to humanity's survival but you aren't the main piece.
I loved watching the others characters development in their affinity quests and just exploring the world. While sometimes getting killed by an overlevel monster in the middle of nowhere was annoying, it gave me incentive to get better and to level up so I could eventually defeat it.
It isn't perfect, yeah. The story feels a bit disconnected due to the chapter structure, but for me, it sets the plot for a sequel, so I can forgive it.
All in all, a great game. If it comes to the NS with extra content, I think I may double dip.
I just realized there is a page 2 on this...I'm dumb.
L is my favorite character in the whole game. He's funny, charming, polite, kind, quite vain and proud(in a good way I think, not insufferable like HB) and is my favorite party support in battle. Astral protection, two topple arts and arts that inflict blaze and slow debuffs just plain ROCK. He is one of the only characters who stays standing very long in difficult post-story battles, the dude's tanky! I want to play as him in the lead a bit if I play the game a fourth time. I will definitely try to take down big post-game tyrants with him sometime...I've been meaning to get to that.
A thing to think about regarding L is indeed his name, an obvious connection to "Lucifer"...But which Lucifer? Not the evil christian version, I think. The Xeno series is no stranger to incorporating influences or references to a religion called gnosticism, in which the one true god figure is called the Monad. (Sound familiar? The Monado in the previous Xenoblade was named after this being!) In gnostic belief, one of the big servants of Monad is none other than Lucifer. Lucifer is not an evil devil trickster in gnostic belief. He wants to guide humanity to enlightenment, truth and knowledge, away from the Demiurge's(the false god that you should NOT worship in gnostic belief) twisted, harmful ways. Pretty chill dude, that gnostic Lucifer.
Perhaps this means L will play some big mystical part in guiding humans to a better way of living come the sequel. Or perhaps the name is just a reference, as L is very curious and is always on the hunt for more knowledge to soak up. It could be he is just a straggler of an extinct species that was wiped out in that big Miran civil war and is just there trying to survive alongside everyone else. I think it may be that last one. There is an npc who says this if you approach them near the Rosemoss restaurant:
"We humans are lucky there's so many of us. I wonder what it feels like to be the last member of your race. That's gotta be lonely."
This dialogue hits hard, and feels significant. It surely was put there for a reason, and I believe it is this: One of our characters is the last of their kind, and that is a lonely, terrible thing to be no matter how you slice it. If this isn't hinting toward L, then who? The other big candidate is Elma. Maybe even both of them? Either way, I think this will be explored in the sequel, and I will cry, since I love both of them and it will hurt to see if they have tragic backstories.
I have the collector's edition and I'm very proud of it.
The collector's edition is still sitting in my room waiting for me to finish XC for Wii in order for me to open it up and play it...
I put this next to Chrono Trigger and Earthbound as one of the best RPGs of all time.
I hope, that the answer to these mysteries, are answered in a sequel, Or even a prequel. Heck, I'd play a XCX game in the same Mira before the White Whale crash.
Darn, Because of this article I feel the need to play again.
EDIT: I just wanted to point out the similarities of the battle system to FFXV. Because I, at least, wanted to give the FF series another chance at redeeming the game like the old days (IMHO). I've watched a few vids and XCX's battle system is putting FFXV's to shame (Again IMO).
Many people didn't play it to completion because it required you to play around outside the story in order to unlock the requirements for the story chapters. And the size of the game and the world, it isn't a quick thing to do. But those who decided to focus on the side quests and not the story found it much more enjoyable.
@Aaron09 this game is a must have for any rpg fan. the world is so incredible there were times where I just wanted to explore and get lost in its vastness. its suppose to take u about 20-30hrs to get ur skell but I didn't get my for over 70hrs since I wandered around so much just gaining xp haha.
The original Xenoblade followed through and hit home on these 4 points better than Xenoblade X did. Xenoblade X was inferior from a narrative perspective in every way compared to the original.
Even though the original's characters seemed more "special", that's just because their personalities stood out more. They all had problems which they overcame in spite of themselves to become something greater, despite their diminutive size. Whereas in X, none of the characters ever reach those heights, and the main character in particular is as bland as possible. They're not even an interesting silent protagonist like the heroes of Dragon Quest, or Crono/Serge from Chrono Trigger/Cross.
The "world" of the Bionis was itself the main character of sorts, which came alive despite the Wii's limitations. The Wii U made good use of the Skells in it's significantly larger environments, yet the world didn't feel like a living and breathing entity, like the Bionis literally was. There were a lot of great backdrops in X, but the landmarks were not as significant in X compared to the original. There was never a "first time in Gaur Plains" moment in X.
The themes of the circle of life, and it's fragility, come together beautifully in the original Xenoblade, with existentialism clouding thoughts of one's own true identity and purpose. X doesn't really touch on this theme so consistently, and the characters are so juvenile or simplistic (with the exception of maybe a couple characters, especially Elma, who really should have been the main character) that there's rarely ever any real sense of tension in response to events, or to differences of opinion within the group. The conflict of survival in a harsh new land against relatively unintelligent but powerful beasts, while charging around feeling powerful in huge machines, is superseceded by the conflict of running around like bugs trying to survive on the body of a much larger being, with highly intelligent mortal enemies always being a threat that could potentially wipe out biological civilization at any given time. There are no big machines to protect you if you're biological in the original- in fact, they are often your enemy! The original gives you a better feeling of a seemingly hopeless situation that the main characters are trying to overcome.
As for customization, sometimes less is more. The original has you creating gems to match your character's builds depending on the situation, and every build has a synergy with certain other characters' builds. Figuring that out on the fly made for a more natural progression of customization, without getting too complicated. Certain character combos in the crafting system were also useful depending on the desired quality/quantity of gems. Whereas in X, maintaining your mech feels like a burden, and ironically slows down the journey. Having to maintain customization on two fronts, with a higher number of playable characters, bogs down the pace of customization. Not to mention, just like the original, there will eventually be "best in slot" findings, which overrides the greater semblance of customization in X.
Overall, the original Xenoblade is the better game, especially from a story/narrative perspective. It's also more concise from a gameplay perspective. Xenoblade X is still good, despite all of this, but it's not excellent like the original.
@derty how much Time did you spend AFTER you got your skell? Lol
@Aaron09 Absolutely! It's one of the best games the console has to offer and one of the best games I've ever played on any system (I did't really play the predecessor).
@Sapphire: Wait, you don't have an external harddrive?! How else do you play games on the Wii U? A long time ago, I bought a 128GB USB stick so that I would have enough storage for all games that I want to buy (I'm a digital-only guy).
I would generally advise against a harddrive and for buying a USB stick instead. Because it basically disappears in the console's USB port and harddrives are also more sensitive. But you should definitely get an external drive.
Otherwise you're missing out on so many games for no reason. Buying an external drive is a must for any console and it shouldn't be the reason for not buying a specific game.
And the 25GB shouldn't scare you off anyway. It's a good thing this game is so big, because it has the biggest open world of all time (on all systems). And a really great story too.
Besides, the Switch version will be highly inferior thanks to the missing second screen. You will definitely need that for this game. OIh and also, if you want to get the remake on the Switch, you probably will still have to buy an external drive.
Really hope it comes to Switch. If not, I may buy a used Wii U to experience it. Currently working on the original on 3DS.
@shani The biggest open world in a JRPG, yes, but not of all time...
@PlywoodStick Are you sure? Which game was bigger?
If I remember correctly, when the game was released, they said it was bigger than GTA V, Witcher 3 and Watchdogs(?) combined.
I havent read it, because I still havent played it and I want to be surprised in any possible way by this game but i noticed...
680+ hours? Is that possible in this game?
@Crimzonlogic Ah yes, I fear most people are not even aware of page two sadly...
XCX was definitely a love-hate thing for me. Unlike some of the above commenters, I found the story seriously lacking, and in particular playing an avatar who never says a thing during cut scenes but won't shut up during battle was a huge step down from playing as Shulk/Reyn/Riki/etc. in the first Xenoblade. And while it's huge relative to most other games, these five "continents" put together add up to about the real-life size of Martha's Vineyard, a small island off the coast of Massachusetts that I used to circumnavigate on a bicycle in a single day and get back in time for the last ferry home. "Continents", in this case, is a pretty bald marketing-ism to me rather than an accurate description of those five little islands.
Then there's the play style. Love the Skells, but really hate that my reward for building party tension is now to speed things up with Overdrive (which I found all but useless in Skells, okay on foot) rather than executing a turn-based chain attack with enemies not getting a turn. Between that and Fallout 4's vanilla VATS no longer working as a pause screen, my wife and I were really lamenting the death of carefully thought-out strategic moments amid the fog of war. (FO4 is her game, and since she's a member of the PCMR, she's since modded VATS to be proper again. No such luck for me in the foreseeable future, I guess.)
Oh yeah, and I'll take British voice actors over American ones every single time, and if that weren't enough, hearing Clara from Doctor Who every time Melia showed up in the first one made it impossible for XCX's actors to live up to that experience. Sorry, Treehouse crew. (At least I got my Adam Howden fix in battle.)
Yet I probably put in 300-400 hours into Xenoblade, while my playtime on XCX registers north of 4,000 hours. A lot of that was me leaving the Wii U on overnight either out of forgetfulness or deliberate miranium/gold farming, but even so, there's no doubt I spent much more than 400 hours on Mira. Part of it is due to the "multiplayer where you never have to talk to other players" mode that it sticks you with by default; I loathe multiplayer games, but being able to do online missions with my own party to farm rare materials (and contribute to my division's likelihood of getting a daily Skell salvage ticket) was too tempting to ignore. I even ended up buying a replacement Wii U gamepad on ebay when the wireless on my original one died, such was my XCX addiction.
I finally left Mira behind in early October, with 99.87% map completion. I was going for 100%, but no matter how I tricked myself out, I couldn't kill Telethia the Endbringer before it wiped my party and sent me back home to salvage our Skells. The urge to return there has already returned, but nowhere near as strong as the urge to revisit Bionis (I'd just finished my third Xenoblade playthrough, on the New 3DS after playing it previously on the Wii and then Dolphin, before XCX's release). But I'm still frustrated at not hitting 100%, and there were unplayed Zelda games to get through before the Switch comes out, so I switched things up with Guacamelee: STCE and am now halfway through A Link Between Worlds.
Long story short, XCX was more addictive and was certainly worth whatever I paid for my collector's edition preorder, but XC was far more enjoyable for me.
I look forward to the Monolith touch on Zelda: BOTW, already apparent from some of the crafting stuff I could see in the trailers released so far. But if they were going to continue a Xeno story for the first time, I'd rather it be Shulk and Fiora's than that of an unnamed protagonist and a seemingly sentient planet without a lot to say.
One day I will beat this game...one day.
@shani According to Bethesda, The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall covers almost 161,000 sq km. Most of that is procedurally generated upon a new game, and it's for PC, but it came out in 1996, so that is an amazing accomplishment for the time period
In addition, Xenoblade X was revealed through Famitsu to be about 5 times bigger than the original (according to Monolith Soft) before release. And, well, according to at least one test done by a user on the size of the original Xenoblade:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/960564-xenoblade-chronicles/70123373
The original Xenoblade covered about 30.5 sq km. Which would make Xenoblade X's world somewhere around 152.5 sq km. Some have exaggerated the size as being 400 sq km, or even the size of Japan, but the 152.5 sq km estimate is likely the most accurate number.
This makes it bigger than vanilla Witcher 3 without it's expansions, which sits close to 136 sq km, or GTA V, which is around 81 sq km, but certainly nowhere near bigger than Witcher 3, GTA V, and Watch Dogs combined. When both expansions are applied to Witcher 3, it is increased to just above the size of Xenoblade X.
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/50240/20150502/the-witcher-3-is-how-big-we-break-down-the-size-of-cd-projekt-reds-ambitious-rpg.htm
It's also noteworthy that there's a lot more going on in general in Witcher 3 than Xenoblade X, so even with a smaller overall map size in vanilla, Witcher 3's is more densely populated, with more actions going on.
Xenoblade Chronicles X is bae and no one is going to tell me otherwise, that and Murderess love her so much
Analysis in point 1 is way off. You are the best, the one everyone turns to to solve all their problems. Nothing ever happens without your intervention. The only way you're different is that you're mute and completely free of any personality.
But the article is right that Mira really is the main character, along with its inhabitants. The beauty of the game is in exploring fantastical landscapes and building up the relationships between the many peoples that come to inhabit NLA. This is actually why I hated Skells, especially Skell flight--finding long winding paths around Mira is fun, but just flying directly to your point kills that.
@PlywoodStick Ah okay, I didn't know that.
And my previous post was inacurrate anyway, the article back then stated that it was bigger than Skyrim, Fallout 4 and Witcher 3 (without expansions) combined: http://www.gamezone.com/news/xenoblade-chronicles-x-s-map-is-bigger-than-skyrim-fallout-4-and-the-witcher-3-s-maps-combined-3427561
But as you already pointed out, it's not the biggest open world game ever (only the biggest I've personally played so far ^^).
@riki_sidekicks Its funny everyone keeps referring our character is mute (during plot development at least) but keep forgetting that he / she as a voice as denoted by his many emotes that are accompanied with speech (like "Nice!", "That was epic!", etc).
I have this game on the Wii U and died in like the first hour. The combat seem to be very unclear. I'm wondering if I should play this on the Wii U or just buy the Switch version.
@Aaron09 I literally stopped that day lol so I may have played 30mins with the skell and called it quits. But I've been craving a return to complete the story
Is it rational that I would struggle to give a game I played for more than 160 hours more than an 8/10? This game just had too many strange, annoying issues. The issue of finding team mates for affinity grinding. The issue of finding rare blue reagents off the coast in a specific 20 meter search radius. The issue of having to use the only mission launcher with AI team mates to grind for specific commodities to create skells. The issue of enemies tracking you in caverns through walls. The tiny user interface text. The fact that load times were such that you would sometimes be searching for an ally and fail to see him because you moved too quickly and the person hadn't loaded in. I won't even touch the dumb comic relief or lame open ended ending, as those are maybe matters of taste. I won't touch on how you could really get screwed over on your save file in the last boss fight. Or even that, in my opnion, the skell flight and combat in some ways makes the combat much worse. I could go on.
@shani Of course, the Wii U has a lot more limitations than the XB1 and PS4, so Xenoblade X is an incredible accomplishment, make no mistake. A lot of people can operate under higher head room, but it takes true mastery to efficiently work within a lower spec setting and produce a massive game. Monolith Soft puts even grizzled veterans to shame in this regard.
@Shiryu Ultimately, though, even a silent protagonist like Link, despite only "saying" his trademark "Hah!" "Yah!" "Heyaaaaah!" noises, still has way more personality than Xenoblade X's main character ever had.
This game was amazing. However at times playing it felt more like work than an adventure, it seemed to be more complicated than it needed to be and the story did not feel like it flowed as you where often doing a lot of other things at the same time. That said it is one of the coolest worlds I have ever explored and well worth the effort
Oh, I just noticed there's a page 2... Well, in the case of L, they just amount to a watered down version of "Louis Cypher" (hmm, I wonder who that could be) from Shin Megami Tensei 1, 2, and 3. In particular, SMT3 makes "L" into a moral foil for the main character, pushing them along right from the beginning, always watching, plotting their next move. Blending in with the populace, like in Xenoblade X, is a more amateurish approach for one with such power. It doesn't really mesh well with what he represents, compared to the creepy, foreboding stalker behavior "L" has in other titles.
Maybe after playing Xenogears and Xenosaga, I've just become rather biased... Their narratives just completely blows Xenoblade X's away, there's no comparison. The original Xenoblade wisely steered clear of the direct gnosticism references and heady philosophical musings, in favor of questioning through existentialism, which really fit in more with it's narrative. The religious references in Xenoblade X feel really out of place, as if they're just there because Monolith Soft has a reputation to upkeep. The narrative clearly took a heavy backseat to the world assets.
meh, It wasn't really my thing. Xenoblade Chronicles was amazing, this was just... overwhelming. Also, the music straight up sucked in comparison to the first game. (Really disappointing how terrible the music was IMO)
I loved Xenoblade Chronicles X. While it had certainly had some flaws, the world was gorgeous, each different areas environments were distinct and the creatures were all so unique. Sometimes I would just stop to stare at beautiful vista and watch the huge alien dinosaurs walk by. Mira was definitely the star of the game. I do feel that releasing the game so late last year hurt it's sales. I almost think waiting to release in the spring might have helped it get some more attention. Ultimately, the end of the WiiU was looking pretty obvious by the time this game came out, so I am glad to hear that this will likely find a second life on the Switch. I loved the world and was so happy when I finally earned my mech. I need to get back to Mira and finish the story. I agree with others that the music was annoyingly repetitive music. Hopefully, they can fix some of the flaws for the Switch version.
@PlywoodStick I am beginning to notice that people are either skiping completely reading page 1 and missing out on page 2 entirely. A lesson learned for future features I write...
It's definitely my favourite game for the past decade or so. Probably my most-played ever, too... Maybe I've played Smash Melee more, but I can't be sure. It's just a gloriously epic, beautiful and totally engrossing game. Monolith created a truly living and breathing world. Astounding, and I can't recommend it enough.
this NEEDS to be ported to the switch. no, it needs an entirely new version. massively overlooked game, plagued by the wiiu's limitations. easy GOTY for me, and it will thrive if the switch is the new wii.
I've only played for 10 and a half hours since I got it at launch as I have so very little time to game, and what I have accomplished in 10 and a half hours I am pretty sure that 95% of you guys here if not more would have accomplished in 1-2 hours. I am truly awful at this game and have literally no idea what I am doing in it lol. I am on the last section of mission 3 and I have been looking for whatever the heck it is I am supposed to be looking for for literally hours lol. So much so that I eventually bumped into some lost dude called Conner and I am doing his side missions just so I have something to do. Right now he has asked me to go kill some huge dinosaur thingy, of which I cannot do as I keep getting killed repeatedly. This may have something to with the fact that a) I suck, and b) I don't really get the combat system so am probably making things a lot harder for myself than is needed. Thing is though, through all my suckiness at the game, and very limited time, I do actually very much enjoy it. I think it impresses me that a game so beautiful, big and vast was put out for the Wii U which is supposedly sooooooooo underpowered compared to the competition. I think if XCX was just "another game" that was released for all consoles and had a huge install base etc, I very much doubt I would keep it; I probably would have traded it in by now. But knowing that it is unique to the Wii U, and is so impressive in scale, it makes it very special and makes me want to keep going back to it every now and then, because it is highly unlikely that you will be able to pick it up for cheap years down the line, on the contrary, much like most Wii U games, I think it will become a big rarity to collectors.
@Aaron09 Yes. In fact, if you like FFXV you will love XCX because that game has some clear inspiration from XCX.
I loved this game. I think its one of the best CRPGs ever made up there with Baldur's Gate, Fallout 1 and 2 and Planescape: Torment. I spent 120 hours with the game and only about 40~50 hours in the main story and sidequests. The rest was the loot-run for monster killing upgrade cycle.
I eventually managed to kill all the superbosses except one - that worm in the volcano. Mostly because my mech build was fire heavy which made it useless against that particuler boss, but, by that stage I was done with XCX.
If the port to the SWITCH includes anything new/extra will be willing to buy it again. The game is that good. It's a shame it didn't get moire limelight.
While I adored XCX, I found the end-game really troublesome. It's just a massive grindfest for Skell parts and other things you need to clear out the optional bosses. XCX doesn't handle grinding too well as the drop rates tend to be all over the place and you usually need quite a few drops to fashion anything.
The community is also garbage with almost every online player copying the same build done by a Japanese player. There's far more ways to build your character than just that, so it makes the community reek of unoriginality and sheep mentality. This is on top of having ridiculouly bad side-quests that really need a guide to complete due to bad design. The plot was okay, but I was always annoyed by how the story basically retcons itself.
That said, I think it's the best JRPG on the Wii U... not that it has a lot of competition. This game kept me going for hours. Mira is an immersive world and so well designed, it's hard not to appreciate it. The exploration is also top notch and the Skells were a nice addition, even if they did kind of take over the game.
This game was boring. Last time I buy a game because of hype.
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