Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition

Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition was provided by Nintendo for review. Thank you!

All screenshots below are from handheld mode.

When I got my Nintendo Switch, there were a couple of games I was so excited for and played to death. Of course, Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey were at the top of the list, but the other was Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (XC2). I love JRPGs, and XC2 hit all the right notes for me. I dove into the series, playing through the 3rd entry and the definitive edition of the first, and it became one of my favorite JRPG series. However, I never had a chance to try the entry that came out exclusively on the Wii U, Xenoblade Chronicles X, but with Nintendo bringing it back for the Switch, I had the chance to try it for myself!

Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition is somewhat like a swan song for the Switch. It's one of the last huge games to release for it before the Switch 2 releases, and the team decided to go out with a bang. This was regarded as one of the best open-world JRPGs, and after playing it for myself, I can see why. It's expansive, beautiful, filled with tons of content, has great gameplay systems, and has a solid story. Even with some minor gripes I found here and there, it's hard to deny just how amazing this game is, and how it has become one of my favorite JRPGs I have ever played.

This was my first time experiencing the game, but the changes in the Definitive Edition may convince veteran players to dive in again. There is brand-new story content, new characters to add to your party new skells, Quick Cooldowns, and a multitude of gameplay mechanic changes like Surveying giving extra rewards, affinity points being easier to obtain, BLADE levels have been erased, you can swap party members at a menu, and Battle Points can be reset. There are also some major UI changes to make Quests and Materials easier to track and increase UI clarity. And, of course, we can't forget the visual changes for better draw distance, lighting, character models, textures, and resolution.

The Xenoblade Chronicles series has always been characterized by complex and wonderfully told stories, and Xenoblade Chronicles X continues this tradition. On Earth, humanity was attacked by aliens, which forced them to leave the planet and find a new one to settle on. Now, you awaken and come to this new planet, Mira, where you have to scout the world, develop your new home, and find the Lifehold, which has the last remnants of humans hibernating in it. You play as a created and fully customizable character, which has a solid amount of options to customize, and team up with Elma, Lin, and others to save humanity.

You also don't have to play any of the other games in the series to enjoy this one. There are loose themes, gameplay mechanics, and alien races that are similar, like the Nopon, but this game is largely its own story and world that aren't connected to the other games.

As with other games in the series, it has a lot of exposition to detail the world and what is going on, and I love it. As a fan of the Kingdom Hearts series, I enjoy the long-winded details and complex scenarios that dictate the narrative. I would say Xenoblade Chronicles X is much easier to understand, but there are still lots of elements that contribute to the tale, like the aliens you meet, the tech you will use, and the world itself.

Even still, the story is wonderful and so interesting. There were a bunch of twists I didn't expect, along with some I did, and it airs more on the dramatic side with some good pockets of humor. The dynamic of your core team members is pretty well balanced, and I always enjoyed the playful teasing from Lin and Tatsu. I had a blast learning about what happened to start the events of the game, and I was hooked all the way through.

While Xenoblade Chronicles X's campaign is captivating, there is also a ton of side content and affinity missions, which can deepen your relationship with your teammates. It's a nice way to learn more about them. The number of side quests and affinity can topple into the hundreds, and it not only feels like there's always something to do, but there are ways to continue learning more about the story and the world.

If I had to make one critique, it would probably be the large number of cutscenes present. There are tons of them, including moments when you start a quest and are stuck in a conversation where you can't move. I found myself wanting to skip cutscenes and get to the exploring and fighting faster, the longer I played, but I would be missing out on dialogue and story building. Main campaign cutscenes weren't as bad, but the small dialogues for side content where I couldn't move weren't as enjoyable.

Along with the story, the visuals also keep up nicely. It's shocking that a game like this looks so great and runs as well as it does. It's shocking not only to see how great the game looks and the biomes of each region differ from each other, but also to see that it can all be explored with no loading screens, which is insane. A game of this scale and open world, running decently on a Nintendo Switch, is beyond me. Developer Monolift Soft continues to astound me with their optimization skills, and it's clear as day here.

I did notice some slight motion blur at the bottom of the screen when running around, and moving the camera around in close quarters areas and caves became floaty and obnoxious, but these issues are small and the game shines in the grand scheme.

With how open the world is, that also means there are enemies around that are way too powerful to take on. Since combat happens in the open, avoiding them will be imperative to get further in the land, but some are near-unavoidable and will kill you in one hit. I don't personally mind it, I like the open nature of the game, but I can see it being quite annoying for some if they are level 12 and they run into a level 51 enemy that targets them. Some enemies are easier to sneak by, but others can see or hear you, so you have to take that into account as you try to sneak by them.

Xenoblade Chronicles X's Combat is quite similar to the rest of the series and has multiple interwoven systems that make the longer fights more enjoyable and a bit shorter. In combat, you and your 3 AI teammates will automatically attack with a basic attack and have special abilities called Arts to activate on command. The Arts can range from dealing heavy damage, affecting the enemy in different ways, like toppling them when they are staggered or debuffing them, to healing or buffing your team. Some powerful Arts need a special resource you generate called TP to activate, but they can help turn the tide.

It may feel like the combat is slow initially, but with all of the mechanics, it feels much more engaging than it seems. Needing to pick and choose which Arts to use to deal the most damage, manage your TP, and swap between your melee and ranged weapons accordingly keeps everything engaging throughout longer battles. I appreciate that you have one of each and can switch them out with the press of a button whenever you want. There are also other mechanics like Soul Voices and Soul Challenges that can give you TP and extra buffs throughout the battle, and Quick Cooldowns to allow you to use Arts again really quick, but even with so much to think about, it never feels overwhelming or out of place.

Progression systems can be a little complex at first glance, but they give a lot of freedom in how you want to build out your abilities and which weapons to use. When you defeat enemies or complete missions, you will get experience to both level up your character and your class, which can increase your health and unlock new Arts to equip. Classes are more unique and have specific weapons and Arts that they can use, but if you level them up fully, you will be able to use those Arts and weapons with any of the 16 other classes. You will also unlock new passive skills that can augment your playstyle, and both Skills and Arts can be further enhanced individually.

We also have a bunch of equipment that we can gather, equip, craft, and customize. We can't upgrade the stats of each directly, but we can augment it with other passive improvements like increasing melee attack, critical hits against specific types of enemies, or even recovering health every time you use an Art. This, combined with the Arts, Skills, and Class system, there are a lot of ways to build out your character the way you want to, and I love it.

Outside of combat, you will go around the world and find treasure and unlock nodes. These nodes are used for fast travel and can have specific Probes attached to them that can give you materials to use for crafting. Some of these crafted weapons are awesome, so getting the crafting materials for them will be very beneficial.

However, there is one aspect of equipment that I wish weren't there. Specifically, I don't like the Item Level mechanic. Each item has a level associated with it, noting how powerful its base stats are. However, to use any item as equipment, you have to be either the same level or higher. I found so many higher-level gear that was perfect for my melee-focused build, but I needed to grind and level up 5-6 more times to use it. I don't mind grinding in JRPGs, but forced grinding to use specific gear isn't that enjoyable for me.

Speaking of forced grinding, I'm also not a big fan of forced progression goalposts for the main missions. To go through the next story mission, you will have to progress in some way, whether it be exploring a specific percentage of a biome or completing certain side quests and affinity missions. There is a level recommendation as well, which I do appreciate, but I wish I could just play through at my own desire instead of being forced to do certain quests or explore more of a biome. With how open the game is, the forced progression locks feel out of place.

And yes, you will be able to unlock a mech you can fight, fly around, and customize later on. It's essentially the same combat-wise, but it there is a special, exciting feeling going around the world in your own mech. These are called Skells, and while it takes a little time to get one, the wait is worth it.

There is also online multiplayer where you can squad up and explore the world together. There are options to just auto-assign you a group or create a private squad to just play with friends, as well as Global Nemesis Battles to have everyone work together to fight enormous enemies. These all give nice rewards, and while it isn't something I felt was necessary, I love having the option.

パフォーマンス

For full transparency, I do not have any programs set up to watch and record framerate, though it is something I am working on. This evaluation of performance is based on pure eyesight, which is sensitive to framerate changes.

Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition is an enigma to me. The game looks great, and is extremely open world with no loading screens, but it somehow runs really well. In handheld, it uses dynamic resolution between 540p and 720p, but even still, it never looks awful. I didn't encounter any moments where it looked too blurry. It also holds 30 FPS quite well, though I did notice some hitches and slight framerate drops when going into caves and running around New LA.

Docked mode is a bit better in this regard. The dynamic resolution ranges between 760p and 1080p and holds 30 FPS more often, according to my testing. I didn't feel like I was losing much playing handheld vs docked, and with both performing around the same and the biggest visible difference being a resolution bump, I much preferred playing on my Switch OLED.

結論

Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition is another fantastic game from Monolith Soft and one I found hard to put down. The story is exciting, the world is beautiful and open with no loading screens, the combat is engaging, the progression is deep enough to customize our playstyle how we want, and there's a ton of content to play through. The progression locks for equipment and story missions are a little jarring when combined with how open the game is, but it doesn't do enough to detract from how great the game is.

Regardless of whether you are using a Switch or a Switch 2, this is a fantastic game to add to your Switch library.

Our review is based on the Nintendo Switch version of this game.

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