The original Xenoblade Chronicles did quite well for itself, both in terms of sales and reviews. It was soon an inevitability that the game would receive a sequel in a few years’ time. Already a very fervent fan of the original game, I was extremely excited for another hundred-hour adventure of unforgettable proportions. By the time the first trailer dropped, I can barely contain myself (it’s a dang good trailer).
There was only one problem: The game was being released on the Wii U.
Now, I had a Wii U, so it was hardly a problem for me. Unfortunately, the Wii U performed horrendously in terms of sales. The Wii U, in its entire life span, sold only 13 million units. For comparison, the Nintendo Switch has sold 68 million, and that number is still climbing. Consequently, Xenoblade Chronicles X’s chances of scoring big were negatively skewed from the start. As one might surmise, the game did not do amazingly, through no fault of its own.
It’s a shame so few people played this masterpiece, because it’s the greatest open world game ever created. It puts all of the others to shame.
Let’s talk technical, for starters. The Wii U is a more powerful console than the original Wii, so it’s not surprise to see that Xeno X (my shorthand spelling) is a huge visual improvement over the first game. Even still, the graphics are downright jaw-dropping. The characters are well modeled, and the distinct enemy designs are memorably crafted, but it’s the intricately detailed world that steals the show in the visuals department.
Each of the game’s five core regions is breathtakingly gorgeous. The cascading waterfalls of Primordia, the lush jungle foliage of Noctilum, the sweeping sands of Oblivia, the fiery wastes of Cauldros, and the awe-inspiring frosty lands of Sylvalum. These environments are beautiful, and unmatched by almost any other game in existence. The way that the visuals, sound design, and movement are coalesce into one perfect mix has to be played to be believed.
…it’s the greatest open world game ever created. It puts all of the others to shame.
The original Xenoblade pioneered the advent of blisteringly fast loading times, and Xeno X pushes the limit even further. The entire game world is one seamless mass, meaning that as soon as you load into the world upon booting up the game, you can cross the entire vast continent without ever stumbling across a single loading screen. Not a single one! Even then, when load times occur (entering a building, fast travelling), are surprisingly short. The game does not suffer much from lag or slowdown, which is surprising considering its online multiplayer component.
Nintendo of America tackled the localization this time around, so the charmingly unique British cast of the original is gone, and a slew of talented and recognizable American actors take their place. It is a solid voice acting job, for sure. Caitlin Glass and Cassandra Lee Morris (Elma and Lin, respectively) do a solid job carrying the dramatic story forward, as does Matt Mercer as Lao (but he’s always perfect, so…). Some of the charm from the first game’s dub might be lost, but the impeccable performances are still firing on all cylinders.
Once more, the Xenoblade series blasts the competition out of the water with its soundtrack. The immensely popular and talented Hiroyuki Sawano was brought in to put together a soundtrack fitting for the last vestiges of humanity holding out hope on an alien planet. Every varied locale has its own style and theme fitting of the environment and the threats within. No two songs are the same in this eclectic mix of somber piano melodies, chilled-out grooves, and heart-stopping battle themes. If you can spare a few minutes, I’d recommend the MAIN THEME, UNCONTROLLABLE, and SYLVALUM NIGHT.
Last week, I had quite a bit to say about the first game’s gameplay. This week, I’ve got even more that I’ve been dying to share in an article. If there is any singular aspect of game design in which Xeno X is unquestionably superior, it’s in the gameplay. I’ve yet to play a game that controls quite as well as this game, that possesses quite as engaging combat as this game. The original Xenoblade is a super fun game, but man if this game isn’t even more enjoyable!
Customization is where Xeno X stands head and shoulders above the competition. Every little detail of your character and your party members can be fine-tuned to the absolute minute level, and it can frankly be overwhelming when you first start the game. If you’re willing to push yourself to learn, and eventually master, the systems at play, you’ll find a game so mechanically engrossing you’ll never want to put it down.
Your character (who you customize to your hearts content in the character creator before beginning to game), can become one of a wide variety of classes. Each class offers a wholly unique playstyle, as well as specific melee and ranged weapons to pick from. By fighting enough enemies in any given class, you master that class, and can then take its weapons and skills into another class. With enough time, you can build an unstoppable juggernaut all your own.
Your party members can’t change classes, but you do get to choose their armor, weapons, and skills. However, the most important decision of all is who you want to bring with you on your adventure. There are eighteen party members in total, but your squad can only contain four (with four in reserve you can swap in and out between battles). Each combination of party members brings its own battle dynamic, as well as unique conversations and quips while exploring the world.
Hundreds of pieces of armor and weapons exist in the world. While some can be gathered from powerful enemies or hidden chests, you’ll have to buy most. Your hub city has a slew of vendor franchises who offer goods, and the more you fight while wearing their brands, the more they’ll level up and offer higher quality clothes, guns, and swords. There are options for every character build, but the fun doesn’t stop there.
Armor and weapons can be augmented by small enhancement chips that provide their own slew of buffs. It certainly isn’t a quick process, but kitting yourself out in the best possible gear for the situation at hand is such a satisfying process. On top of this, you can give yourself armor to wear BUT ALSO give yourself a second set of non-functional “fashion gear”. What this means is that, you can wear one armor set because it’s really good but kind of ugly, but make it so that your character (and party members) appear to be wearing something more visually appealing. I’m personally a fan of decking my team out in full business suits and sunglasses.
Once you’re geared for the fight, it’s time to hunt some monsters. Combat works very similarly to the original Xenoblade. You can maneuver around the enemy in real time, and use your powerful arts whenever they’re not on cooldown. At the same time, there are about a million more layers to deal with than before, and each one serves to enhance the combat experience once you’ve wrapped your head around them.
Positioning is even more important than ever, and a handy marker keeps track of your distance from the monster. Some arts are more effective when you have your gun drawn, and some are better with your sword (you carry one melee and one ranged weapon into all battles). Party members might shout out suggestions for moves to each other during battle, and heeding their cries boost your strength and healing. Let’s also not forget TP abilities, double cooldowns, and Overdrive combos!
Then, about twenty hours into the game, you’re offered the chance to unlock an absolute gamechanger. Taking and passing an aptitude test grants you your own giant mecha: a Skell.
Skells were heavily advertised before this game’s release, and they don’t disappoint. Blasting previously annoying enemies to bits with a giant robot is exactly as amazing as it sounds, and Skells are no less customizable than your human self. You can pick from an assortment of robot models, deck them out with a swath of weapons, gadgets, and powers, and tweak their name and color scheme to whatever your little heart desires. Skells allow you to crush your foes, and take the fight to the towering behemoths the world of Mira has to offer.
It’s worth noting two other quick things: multiplayer and postgame. Atypical multiplayer exists in this game, wherein you can join online squads and tackle objectives to win prizes, but the action stays within your own world. You can also hire other player’s avatars to join your party for a short time. Xeno X also has a postgame, which means that the adventure doesn’t stop after the credits roll. Even more adventuring goodness unlocks, ensuring many more hours of customizing your crew and beating up baddies lie ahead of you. Awesome stuff!
So, the combat is great, but that doesn’t have much to do with being an open world game, does it? Well, I’m about to try my hardest to in the following paragraphs to explain just why Xeno X’s open world is so extravagantly astounding. It really is best to just experience it yourself, but here goes nothing…
Exploring is not only consistently surprisingly and breathtaking, always rewarding, and a source of endless joy, but it’s also so easy and fun to do. Your character runs at a very fast pace without ever slowing down (no stamina bar in sight), you can jump twenty feet in the air and twice as far with a single bound, and there’s NO fall damage. No matter what height you fall from, your character will simply roll and then keep on running.
This sense of total control over your movement is not something found in nearly any other open world game. You can jump up the sides of sheer mountains, fall from steep cliffs, dash through monster-filled caves, and just keep going. Nothing has to slow you down, nothing stops you from progressing in your exploration. Point of fact, from the very moment you finish the brief tutorial, you can run all the way to the final area of the entire game, with nothing to hinder you (provided you give the powerful monsters a wide berth).
Your Skell isn’t just for combat either. You’re allowed to take it with you wherever you go, and that includes exploring the vast landscape of Mira. As you might expect, your Skell tromps through the world with an imposing stride, speedily crossing every landscape in minutes, kicking small monsters aside without a care. You can also transform into a car while in your Skell for a whole new level of brisk travel. Your Skell can also jump over sixty feet in a single bound, allowing you to scale to new heights.
On the topic of heights, Xeno X has one more trick up its sleeve. Two thirds of the way through the main story, your companion Lin finally reaches a breakthrough in her new module enhancement for Skells. She attaches it to all the Skells you own, thus granting your titanic mechas the ability to fly through the sky, unimpeded.
That floating island you’ve been seeing all game? You can go up there now. In fact, you can go anywhere.
There are NO invisible walls in the entirety of Xeno X. Every last inch of the world is open for you to explore, and secrets will be waiting for you. The sense of untethered freedom that flying brings is akin to the happiest joy I’ve ever felt while playing a video game. I visited every single mountain peak, every floating island, every secret cave tucked away along the shore. I flew out to distant specks on the horizon, joyously floored to find a treasure chest or hidden boss waiting to reward me for my venture.
Two moments are forever burned into my memory. The lush jungle of Noctilum has a secluded nesting ground tucked up behind a waterfall, unreachable before flying. Venturing up there in my jet-powered mecha casts the screen in hazy purple mist, and somber music. It was like a whole new world. Then, in the frosty region of Sylvalum, a gigantic, organic orb sits at the tallest peak of the area. I flew up intending to find something special atop the orb, but instead spotted an entrance inside the orb itself. As I flew in, the screen went dark, the music cut out, and I found myself staring at a massive eldritch demon, three times my character’s level. Thankfully, she was asleep. Terrifying.
But, maybe you’re not someone who ever feels motivated to explore the world of a video game without some cause more compelling than “there might be secrets”. You’re in luck, because the side quests in Xeno X are not only plentiful, but perhaps the best I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing in a video game. If they don’t convince you to crisscross the gorgeous world of Mira to see their various storylines through to the end, then nothing will.
The side quests begin simply, mostly comprised of simple chores from your fellow human survivors. Everything changes when you run into your first peaceful alien species, befriend them, and then recruit them back to your hub city of New Los Angeles (NLA). They bring their own slew of quests, which lead to more friendly alien species, and the cycle continues. Your efforts to bridge the divide between human and alien, and forge alliances amidst the turmoil of an intergalactic war, help to flesh out NLA in an organic and exciting way. You can even recruit former enemy factions, once you prove to them that you humans aren’t so different after all.
Just like the first game, Xeno X possess an affinity system that charts out every last NPC in the game into one huge web of interconnected relationships. In another similar carryover from the first game (though more involved), your decisions in side quests have a genuine impact on both the NPCs involved and the future quests available. You can make or break alliances. Certain NPCs can be saved, and others might die.
The quests in this game are extremely dark, and frequently surprising in their violent, somber themes. None end up feeling overdramatic, however, thanks to their excellent writing and pacing. For example, a routine food delivery job goes south when you find the scout team that you’d been sent to help has been kidnapped by local aliens and tortured for information. You’re too late to most of them, but if you hurry, one member can still be rescued.
Another quest has you take down a drug trade masquerading as a miracle cure for all illnesses, before the craze destabilizes the NLA economy. Another quest has you hunt down a racist, radical human attempting to exterminate all alien immigrants in NLA. Yet another quest has you handle the outbreak of a virus spreading through water and turning its victims into mindless mutants. And then there’s a quest acting as an extended back to the future parody. That last one’s a funny one, and I point that out to say that not all quests are serious, grim affairs. Some are happy and lighthearted. Some are sad. All of them are perfectly executed.
My favorite thing about the side quests in this game has to do with the Definians. The Definians are a race of shapeshifting aliens enslaved to a merciless hive mind. Under the employ of the main villains of the story, they infiltrate NLA and wreak havoc. Definians end up being behind so many plot threads and storylines, eventually culminating in an epic battle against their synthetic supermecha. It’s as amazing as it sounds…but it’s all optional! The Definians never once appear in the main story. The level of commitment this game shows in making sure that all areas of gameplay are fulfilling and content-rich is staggering!
And, at last, this brings us to one of the only things remaining to talk about: characters and story. Those that know me know that I care first and foremost about plot and characters in any given video game. With that said, Xeno X gives a solid try on both fronts, amounting to a passably enjoyable story and pretty good, but not great, characters.
Humanity was nearly wiped out by a galactic alien war, and a tiny bastion of humanity managed to escape to Mira. In order to survive in an alien world, all human consciousness was stored in a gigantic supercomputer (the Lifehold), and humans embody humanoid shells, known as mimeosomes, instead. Unfortunately, the supercomputer broke apart from your ship when you crash landed on Mira, and so the most capable and strong humans took up arms around formed a coalition entitled BLADE, with the goal of securing a foothold on Mira, creating alliances with friendly aliens, and finding and retrieving the Lifehold.
This is a solid premise, and it gets the job done quite well. At the same time, barring some endgame revelations, what you see is what you get. The original game thrived on excellently plotted twists and shockingly epic moments. This game is no stranger to some awesome moments of drama, but it pales in comparison. It’s your typical sci-fi story, which is a tad disappointing, but not a deal-breaker.
The characters are much the same. Because you have the freedom of choosing your own party, the game has a massive roster of possible members. However, the main plot (understandably enough) can’t juggle everyone, and so the majority of the party members are relegated to only receiving character development and attention within their own mini-arcs, which take the form of optional affinity missions. These affinity missions are good, but short and sporadic. The villains are also hit-and-miss, and frequently not given enough screen time, but manage to, at the very least, be enjoyable while they last.
The core cast is very solid, no doubt. Lin is a pretty awesome plucky sidekick-type character, and Elma is easily this game’s best character. She’s the perfect hero for the survivors of humanity, but she also isn’t a flawless person. She’s willing to see the job through, to make the tough calls, no matter what. She also has some secrets of her own waiting to be discovered over the course of the game. Alongside Lin, she’s the only protagonist with a complete character arc contained within the main plot. She’s awesome.
It’s a testament to just how good this game is that it manages to reach the spot of my second favorite video game of all time, despite the middling story and characters. The gameplay is just the engaging and addictive, and the exploration is just that phenomenally spectacular. I sincerely do not believe we will ever be graced with an open world game as good as this one. It set the bar impossibly high, which of course, is an amazing thing. It just ensures this game will continue to be a sci-fi masterpiece for years to come.
But hey, that’s just my opinion!
The Contrarian Corner 