Xenoblade Chronicles X
Released on the Wii U, December 4, 2015, by Nintendo, and developed by Monolith Soft
Retail: $59.99
Wii U Game Reviews Score: 8.5/10
Uh...so...it's 2019. I've had a Switch for nearly two years, and outside of last month, I haven't touched the Wii U in that span of time. I share the Wii U with my son, and for some reason, the Switch didn't strike his fancy. He's been content to stick with the Wii U...until last month, when Smash Brothers Ultimate was released. Now he cares...and thanks to Christmas, he's got Super Mario Party, and Mario Tennis Aces, too. Thankfully, someone gifted us a second Switch, and as of now, I'm back in the Switch business. However, something happened to me in December of 2018. I fell in love with the Wii U again. My first thought upon booting it up again was, "What Wii U games did I begin and never finish?" The first to come to mind was Xenoblade Chronicles X.
I first purchased Xenoblade Chronicles X several years ago, after hearing and enjoying some of its music on Youtube. Almost immediately, I found the game to be completely overwhelming. Unfathomably huge world, complex systems, and a seemingly unlimited time commitment? I blinked out before I was even a third of the way through.
However, over the last three years, the better parts of Xenoblade Chronicles X's soundtrack kept popping up in my Youtube feed. If I was going to complete an unfinished Wii U game (I've got a few to choose from), it had to be this one.
Even better: I get to resurrect this review site!
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| Wait...have you guys been standing around waiting for a new review since April of 2017? Er...my bad. |
Yeah, that was always pretty fun. Let's do that again. Especially since it seems like so many people are playing the new Xenoblade game for the Switch, without having any experience with this one. There are probably a lot of misconceptions.
Cool, because the thing I hear the most about this game is that it has the worst story of any RPG game ever, to the point that playing the game will literally kill you. Is this true?
Despite the reputation, Xenoblade Chronicles X's story is not that bad. It's simply that it does more to create the game's unique setting and vibe than it does to allow for unique, character-driven drama. The story here is that the Earth has been destroyed by a hostile alien race, and that the few remaining humans have landed on the remote planet, Mira, and are struggling for survival in a makeshift city made of the remains of their enormous escape ship. To make matters more dire, the planet is populated by aggressive, sometimes enormous indigenous animals. Also, it turns out that the humans...aren't even human--they're in synthesized bodies, being controlled from a remote location called the Lifehold. However, it seems the Lifehold has crashed in an unknown location in Mira...and its power is running out. Once the power is gone, the humans inside will die. It's now a race against the clock to save the human...race.
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| Hurry up, dude! |
Did you say mechs?
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| Yep...and you can customize them! |
First of all, Xenoblade Chronicles X basically takes the casual gamer, bashes their head against the rocks, and tells them not to come back, and it commits this shockingly violent metaphorical act within its first hour. Mira's five continents make for one of the largest overworlds ever put to disc, the game's battle system is complex, there are a million things to factor into ever moment of gameplay, a million items to collect, and seemingly a million side missions to undertake. As the game is open world, the player can immediately encounter beasts that can kill them in under a second...and that they won't even have a shot against until they've played the game longer than the amount of time it takes to watch every season of Friends. Xenoblade Chronicles X demands commitment. A hundred-plus hour game that requires my full attention is pretty much my gaming nightmare, when there are so many more awesome games to play. It says something that Xenoblade Chronicles X held my attention through to the end, even if I took a two-year break from it. But that's a compliment. Let me get back to the negatives.
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| For instance, this lake environment is too beautiful. |
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| Er...maybe I'll just keep it on the ground. |
Okay, have you gotten all the negativity out of the way?
You bet I have! I just played this game for 100+ hours, so I'd hope I have some positive things to say about it. The first might be cliche, but it's true: the true character, story, and plot of this game is Mira itself. X rewards exploration, not only with hidden treasure that benefits the player, but with one graphical marvel after another. Monolith Soft has designed a beauty here, visual material to fuel the imagination for a lifetime. Mira's beasts are not only organic to their environments, but look both marvelous in design and execution, with some of them staggering in size. As for the environments themselves: Giant rocky outcrops dart miles into the sky over grassy plains. Unfathomably large stone discs rise above the desert floor. An icy continent, centered around a manufactured, towering dome, full of jutting stone monoliths, comes alive at night with phosphorescence. Perhaps the story is left vague, and so much of Mira is left unexplained, so that the player can fill in the history and true nature of the massive, mysterious world, with their own imagination. I'm honestly not sure if a more beautiful and imaginative world has ever been presented in a video game. All that, and there's a high framerate and no overworld loading as the player either high-tails it across Mira by foot, or soars above it by mech.
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| Hey, I can see my wrecked spacecraft house from here! |
Combat is extremely fun, though it takes a while to master. The player has eight move slots that can be filled with a mix of special melee and ranged attacks, as well as buffs like shields and health restorers. It's up to the player to strategize which moves they will bring into battle, and they get to pick the moves for their party members (parties max-out at four members (there are eight to choose from outside of the player's character), as well. Each move has a cool-down period before it can be used again, and fights essentially occur in realtime, with the player having full control of their movements...you can even run far, far away. The three other party members can be given numerous commands, like whether to focus on melee (up-close) or ranged attacks, or to concentrate their fire on a particular enemy when numerous enemies are being fought. The player will also swing or shoot their weapon automatically when a special attack isn't being used. This builds up TP, which can then be used to pull off even more powerful moves. Once this is all grasped, you'll not only fight better, but know which enemies would be better to pick a fight with (enemies' levels are listed over their heads).
As the player wins fights, levels up, gains more money, and funds the game's multiple arms companies to do more research, better weapons and armor can be equipped. Like most RPG's, defeating enemies allows the player to level up, earning more hitpoints and stronger attack power, among other things.
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| Hope you like my sword in your ear. |
That's right. As the game goes on, numerous arms companies are started by newly found characters. Give them enough dough, or use enough of a particular weapon or armor set in battle, and they'll make technological breakthroughs, which allow new weapons to be purchased in the game's armory. This is where the amount of detail in the game hits insane levels, can overwhelm the casual gamer, or can overjoy the meticulous one. As the player traverses Mira, and opens up more of the game's map, they'll come across mining sites. Place a probe there, and that section of the world fills in on your map. But there's more strategy involved here. Are there precious metals in the region? Better plant a mining probe (probes are earned in missions). Is the area ripe for scientific research? Better put a research probe down. You're going to want to make as much money as possible. Mechs don't come cheap.
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| But they do look sweet. |
Oh, yeah. This game has mechs, and they are awesome. There's a reason there's one on the box cover. Mech's are one of Xenoblade Chronicles X's main selling points. True to the game, the player can't get one until about 50-hours in, but X does an excellent job of making this feel like an incredible accomplishment. I almost felt as good as I did the day I got my first car in real life.
Mechs here are called Skells. You start (again, 50-hours in) with a comparatively weak one, though it nevertheless makes the world much more easily traversable. I should also note, when you've been to particular regions, you can generally fast-travel there with a click on the Wii U gamepad's map (the Wii U additional gamepad screen is missed on the Switch!). However, nothing beats mech travel. Suddenly, the player can bound across hills like they're pebbles, and glide across the ocean's surface. A little further in, the mechs are upgraded to fly. Then, nothing in Mira is off-limits. This gives the player an even greater sense of accomplishment, and encourages yet even more exploration. It's awesome.
Skells can still be smashed in battle (and are expensive to repair!), but they beat going at it on foot, and can be equipped with up to eight different purchasable weapons (and there are a billion to choose from and purchase), much like the on-foot move-set. Nothing beats saving up for an ultra-powerful arm-cannon, then blowing a heretofore insurmountable foe away with one shot. It's even better when you get enough cash to dole out Skells to the rest of your party members, who can be commanded while they are in their Skells, as well.
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| Hey, guys, I command that we all go to Denny's. |
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| That's cool, potato thing. |
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| Who needs to sleep? |
