I ’ve never experience pocket-size than while playingXenoblade Chronicles X : Definitive Edition .
Part of this is owed to the game ’s high-minded sense of weighing machine on display in straggle foreign landscapes and hulking creatures that tower over me . More than that , there is a constant through melodic line about the folly of recall I , as one person , can surmount all the tasks laid in front of me . While I am the friend of the news report , much of my accomplishments are successful thanks to the avail of community body of work towards a apportion goal . It ’s chagrin for an RPG to take this approach to a heroic story , but also inspiring .
to begin with free on theWii Uin 2015,Xenoblade Chronicles Xis something of an odd duck . Nominally part of the bombastic Xenoblade Chronicles serial publication from Tetsuya Takahashi and Monolith Soft , Xis a standalone history that leans more sci - fi than fantasy . As a storey of survival on a foreign new domain , Xenoblade Chronicles Xmight lack the more grand philosophical tone of other incoming , but it makes up for it in the side story that flesh out humanity ’s struggle .
With its newDefinitive Editionreleasing on Switch , Xenoblade Chronicles Xis finally on a weapons platform people actually own . Hopefully this gives it a unexampled lease on aliveness , as histrion might be surprised by what it has to offer up . I know I was .
Something old, something new
ground is gone , and the extraterrestrial ’s who blew the matter up are still hunt humanity down . Now crashed on the planet Mira , the last remnants of humanity battle to keep the metropolis of New Los Angeles animated . That ’s where I come in , as one of the favorable survivorsXenoblade Chronicles Xtasks me with doing my part . That means venturing out into the exotic landscape and scrounging for resourcefulness , entropy , and whatever else might come in handy .
That is easy said than done , as Mira is made up of five massive continents to cut through . Learning the topography of each is a challenge in its own right . There are the rolling green hills of Primordia , which often make fashion to sudden bumpy outcroppings that block advance . This often requires me to circumvent the obstacle in a circuitous route that involve climbing a different mickle halfway across the map and walking over a series of rock candy bridges to get to my destination . It ’s almost inconvenient , but that ’s becauseXenoblade Chronicles Xdesigns its world to feel like an actual obstacle in of itself , not a musical theme green for me to toy in . These difficult journeying lead to beautiful prospect that put Mira ’s sensational scene on full show . Even when I unlocked my Skell , a giant mech that can take flight , midway through the main pursuit I found that I had n’t lost my appreciation for the intricate mathematical function design .
fall into fight is n’t a unfit thing when it feels this good .
Mira ’s wildlife is another obstruction , as most thing on the planet want to pour down me and my party . These range from massive creature the sizing of mountains to small aggressive beasts that will run up to start fighting . This can , like the confusing topography , sometimes be thwarting when a low spirit level quest bechance to put you in the route of stage 50 monsters that will kill you instantly . While this can be frustrative as a participant , it extend to prey into the larger narrative of surviving on a foreign satellite . By not having enemies flawlessly level as I enter raw arena , Mira feels more animated and real . fall into combat is n’t a defective affair when it feel this good .
Like other Xenoblade Chronicles games , Xuses anMMO - inspiredcombat system in which the political party auto attacks . During encounters , my party shouts out when I can use special abilities , called Arts , to deal great legal injury or take advantage of enemy weaknesses . There are also Soul Challenges that put a quick - time event on screen that , if successfully pressed , will promote a morale time for my political party which can burnish them and their abilities . My protagonist ’s abilities can be upgraded and changed by picking dissimilar classes and equipping novel weapons . These are just some of the many systems abide out from combat that make it more strategic and fast - step .
Not all of this plays out exactly as it did in the original Wii U loss ofXenoblade Chronicles X. While much of the remaster sees primed not to mess with what already works , there are a smattering of quality of life-time improvements . The most noticeable is the user user interface , which has consider a massive overhaul that seek to streamline the screen . This produce theDefinitive Editionmuch less littered and gentle to understand in moment - to - minute gameplay . Combat also has a newfangled Quick Cooldown mechanic that seeks to speed up encounters . Other little change include the power to vary party members at any meter in the menu and more elaborated quest tracking , including listing items needed for mission completion . The biggest change is the addition of new story content that occur after Chapter 12 , which is sure to be a goody for returning fan wanting answers to decade previous cliffhanger .
It takes a village
While the physical world ofXenoblade Chronicles X : Definitive Edition , and the ways I get to interact with it through traversal and scrap , are immaculately realized , the narrative leave something to be desire . I ’ve always been told the charm ofXenoblade gamesare their deep stories , and X does not live up to that — at least in the chief pursuit .
That ’s precisely what I want out of a remaster : the chance for an overlooked secret plan to find its audience .
From the start , my party is tasked with rescue a particular part of our ram ship call in the Lifehold Core . What follows is a lot of fight down vicious foreigner and hearing exposition . This is n’t helped by the game ’s cast who are all one - dimensional . The exception is Elma , the loss leader of New Los Angeles ’s survival effort who oftentimes seems like the literal protagonist of the story . Her strong - willed but kind behaviour is the glue that holdsXenoblade Chronicles X ’s narrative together . There are a couple fantastic twist along the way but they are n’t enough to carry a very threadbare account .
Most of my meter withXenoblade Chronicles Xwasn’t spend in these few main missions , of which there are only twelve . or else the bulk of my playthrough consisted of completing the game ’s numerous side missions . At expression time value , these non - essential objectives are your run - of - the - manufacturing plant busywork : amass a dozen of this item , deliver something to this person across the map , that form of matter . Yet inXenoblade Chronicles X , these smaller stories are the most impactful . That ’s because this is a game about community . New Los Angeles is a struggling city and everyone is doing their part to keep it alive , include me .
This is where that pettiness come into maneuver again . It is so common for a game to cast the actor as the single hero who saves the creation butXenoblade Chronicles Xpushes against that . Sure , the main pursuit reckon you recover a vital resource , but that is only one of the many things New Los Angeles needs to last . The piles of other people strand on Mira are equally vital and piquant . Their story feel essential to understanding what makes this humanity so special . In a month ’s time , I ’m not certain I ’ll recollect the details of the principal story , but I will remember finding parts for the local coffee shop wanting to bring a sense of normality to the residential district . It is a reminder that in the face of adversity and struggle , the most of import matter is to connect with those in your community for work on together but also to observe joy when there seems to be none in the humanity .
Learning to loveXenoblade Chronicles X : Definitive Editionwas a process filled with highs and lows . In a similar style to planet Mira ’s obstruction , the RPG always crusade against me with its complexness and sometimes refutable design choices . Through all of this , however , I found a raft to dearest . That is something that would have never come about without its release onNintendo Switch . That ’s exactly what I require out of a remaster : the opportunity for an overlooked game to find its audience . It took a decade , but nowXenoblade history Xgets that hazard again . It , much like New Los Angeles , is a subsister .
Xenoblade Chronicles X : Definitive Editionwas tested on Nintendo Switch .
