Xenoblade Chronicles X: Is it actually good?

[Asbsand]

For some reason I started reflecting on my experience with this game. I haven't played it since 2018 and I beat it after a long while, of getting perplexed by it, addicted and kind of endeared to it. In hindsight I don't know what to make of it.

First off, truly ambitious implementations were at play, from the massive, seamless open world to the NLA city and the Skells, the big mechas you unlock more than halfway into the game and start fighting the REALLY hard monsters.

Secondly, the story themes, aesthetics, side-quests, even some of the main quest and the Sawano BEATS - it's all pretty damn awesome once it sinks its teeth in your arm.

But I'm struggling to figure out what I think of the game as a whole. Did you play it, and if so, what did you think about Xenoblade Chronicles X?

Was it great? Do we need a port, and do we need a sequel?

 

[lucablight]

It has a lot of quality of life issues but in terms of content it has to be one of the best open world RPGs ever made. The amount of stuff they managed to pack into it is amazing.

 

[Donizetty]

Yes. One of the best games of Wii U.

 

[rhandino]

Was it great?

Click to shrink...

Yes

Do we need a port

Click to shrink...

YES!

do we need a sequel?

Click to shrink...

 

[Video Games Are Dumb]

Yeah, I'd say so. It was one of the few Wii U game I have fond memories of. It has a magnificent sense of scale and the deep robot tech mixed with natural environments is a inspired combo.
Though all I remember from the reception was the weirdo anime people screaming about censorship after the boob slider was removed for young girls.

 

[Giolon]

Yes, it is. I've never played a game that so successfully ramped up its sense of scale and power as XCX, all while painting a picture of a very interesting sci-fi universe filled with neat characters.

I'm in 200% for a sequel.

 

[Whatislove]

Yes. One of the best games of Wii U.

Click to shrink...

 

[Joedev]

I personally thought the combat was bad and a lot of the progression and systems in the game were overly complicated and tedious, but the world was very fun to explore.

 

[UnlimitedRulebook]

It's ok. Definitely deserves a Switch Port down the line.

Wish the story and characters were more compelling.

 

[Kingpin Rogers]

It's great. Though I have to say I never finished it and I do think the inclusion of the skells is part of what stopped me from doing so. The combat was less enjoyable once those were unlocked. Looking forward to picking up the eventual Switch port though.

 

[PinguThePenguin]

I enjoyed the customization and the side quests were really good. I would say the side quests gave you too much control over people's fates.

Skell's weren't too fun though. I just flew around and pressed a bunch of buttons with my flippers.

A sequel would be lovely to cover loose ends and expand on the battle. Expand online multiplayer too.

 

[Ferrio]

Matters, what is your opinion of this song?

[Music] Xenoblade Chronicles X - NLA: Day

The day theme for New Los Angeles.Proper rights to music mentioned at end of video.

www.youtube.com

Song selection drove me fucking bonkers in this game.

 

[Kyrios]

It got some taking use to but I really enjoyed my time with it and yes I would love a port.

 

[djplaeskool]

It's good, but a combination of pervasive technical hiccups, poorly gated progression, and uneven presentation hamstring the game overall, personally speaking. The soundtrack is also a strange beast. It has some amazing music, but you're actively exposed to the worst of its fare far too frequently. It's sets its sights extremely high and hits some marks, but fall flat on a slew of others.

 

[Farrac]

It was a tremendously ambitious game. They nailed some of those aspects and fell short of some others. So I guess it was pretty good overall and something worth experiencing. And yeah, a port would do wonders for it now, and the story is in dire need of a sequel to make sense of it.

Funnily enough, I am already feeling nostalgic just thinking about it.

 

[Zalman]

It's the best Xenoblade game. Arguably the most well-designed open world I've ever seen.

 

[Richietto]

I thought it was damn good. Exploring alone was just a fun ass time. Customizing your Skells and using them to access even more of the environment was really cool. There were so many builds you could go for with both your character and Skell. Really enjoyed the side quests too.

And many don't like it but I love the soundtrack.

 

[super moustique]

It's the best open world game ever released in my book.

No games I played till now comes close in terms of exploration.

 

[lucablight]

I know it's frowned upon to shit on other games to pump up another one but when you compare the sales of the Pokemon games compared to Xenoblade X and the amount of quality content both games contain it's embarrassing. I see that Monolith worked on Breath of the wild and the scale in that was incredible as well. They really are masters of their craft.

 

[lightning16]

I couldn't really get into the game when I initially tried. I plan on revisiting it at some point in the future because I really enjoyed XC1 and XC2. I think my biggest issues at the time were trying to find my way around the main hub city and figuring out how heals actually work in battle. The latter I probably would've figured out with more time in the game, but I was just getting a bit annoyed with the whole experience and dropped it.

 

[Annabel]

Still has my favorite open world.

Its not too fun to explore until the endgame however, most areas past the starter continent are filled to the brim with hidden enemies that love to ambush and stagger you, but aside from that you have so much content it's pretty crazy.

The main story may be weak, but I felt the sidequests more than made up for it.

 

[makonero]

Loved it. My favorite game in the Xenoblade series. Exploring Mira is just incredible, and the different alien factions are really interesting with lots of great sidequests that flesh them out.

 

[ILikeFeet]

it's better than Xenoblade 1 and 2. best world, best characters, best music, best everything

 

[Minions]

X has one thing most games don't, and that is VERTICALITY.

 

[Giolon]

Matters, what is your opinion of this song?

[Music] Xenoblade Chronicles X - NLA: Day

The day theme for New Los Angeles.Proper rights to music mentioned at end of video.

www.youtube.com

Song selection drove me fucking bonkers in this game.

Click to shrink...

The musical identity of this game is incredibly strong. Few games can conjure up as intense feelings of place in me as the XCX soundtrack. I think it's a combination of the sheer amount of time I spent in the game and the unique style of the tracks. Whether you like them or not, you definitely remember them.

 

[100mega]

It's far from perfect, but it's one of my absolute favorites. I pray for a port and a sequel.

Bless the music:

 

[A.M.]

I can't hear you! 🤘

 

[Donizetty]

Click to shrink...

I get the point but I just want to point Pyra is from XC2 and we are talking about XCX. Those games are a lot of different.

 

[Lyre]

It's the greatest game on the Wii U, the best ever sci-fi RPG of all time, and one of the most underrated game of all time.

It wipes the floor with XC2.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

I didn't like it

Not enough story and the create a character seemed pointless

 

[silva1991]

A bad Xenoblade game. Great combat and exploration tho.

I remember the amount of monsters in field and the aggro was insufferable.

 

[Static]

Cool fucking game. Kind of jank in parts though. Collecting world items without a clue where to find them in order to unlock a major landmark thing like your first skell or your flight pack was... Um... not the best.

Ultimately though the game rose head and shoulders above its flaws. I would be delighted if it came to Switch. I'm way more interested in that frankly than a second kick at the original Xenoblade can.

 

[The Unsent]

I don't think so, it feels like an awkward hybrid of Xenoblade and Phantasy Star Online, with none of the strengths of either. It's just boring how easy it is to end up in a over levelled area and it's not fun managing the levels of all the secondary characters.
And it takes fucking ages to unlock a robot.

People will post screenshots of some of the beautiful areas or whatever, but is it a fun game? No it's not.

 

[Raijinto]

Yes. The scope, scale and sheer size of the world alone is worth experiencing and exploring all on its own.

 

[mrmickfran]

Story is hot trash but exploring that world was amazing

 

[Whatislove]

I get the point but I just want to point Pyra is from XC2 and we are talking about XCX. Those games are a lot of different.

Click to shrink...

I know, just thought it was funny how quickly you found the thread given your avatar.

 

[Qurupeke]

Story is whatever, but overall it's much more fun than, say, Xenoblade 2.

 

[Dphex]

no, it is like an offline mmorpg...and the text makes you squint for 100 hrs

but they pulled off a real effort on the Wii U hardware with this game and X is better then XC2

Story is whatever, but overall it's much more fun than, say, Xenoblade 2.

Click to shrink...

 

[Deleted member 2328]

I loved it and I usually dont like open world games. Traversal and eventual verticality of the map were just so much fun.

The only thing that didn't sit well with me was the silent protagonist.

 

[udivision]

The story and characters and presentation of those things did the game a complete disservice.
It made me realize that I never want a create-a-character in a story driven game.

Everything else was fine though, for the most part.

 

[boris_feinbrand]

Story is hot trash but exploring that world was amazing

Click to shrink...

At least the characters aren't nearly as nails on chalkboard horrible as in the original Xenoblade. Also the world is arguably more intriguing. Story really isn't this Series's strong point.

 

[irishonion]

One of the best open worlds this generation.

The world feels alive.

 

[sredgrin]

Found it kind of slow and irritating at the start of the game, and bounced off.

I'd be down for a port though.

 

[mrmickfran]

At least the characters aren't nearly as nails on chalkboard horrible as in the original Xenoblade. Also the world is arguably more intriguing. Story really isn't this Series's strong point.

Click to shrink...

Tatsu on his own invalidates the Xenoblade X cast

 

[KarmaCow]

Overall it's pretty cumbersome. The loot is annoying to deal with and the combat is boring, especially with Overdrive being easy to break.

The one redeeming part is the open world. There's a real sense of scale and craft to the world. That said I think that falls apart once you can fly above the world with your Skell and removes all the details that makes that open world engaging.

 

[Jawmuncher]

It's good if you're the kind of person who likes to do a lot of side content in RPGs as the whole game is basically that. Thankfully, you can cheese the game and hire a high level guide that will boost your level quickly to make things go a bit quicker.

 

[Static]

Tatsu on his own invalidates the Xenoblade X cast

Click to shrink...

Tatsu is pretty bad. Lin is also kind of awful, even just on the basis of her potatsu jokes.

 

[Yuntu]

It is the best game Monolith has produced so far in every regard. It desperatly needs and deserves a sequel that only further hammers that down.

There is no Open World game even remotly as much fun to travel through and it is 1000% the reason why Monolith was more involved with BotW. You notice imo a technical decline from XCX to XC2 mainly because of that. XCX running like it does on the WiiU is pure magic to this day for me.

 

[Necromorph]

Yes, except for the character models. God, they are nasty af.

 

[Everywhere]

I didn't like how all you pick all the main and important side quests at the HQ, they should have spread those out around the city and world map. Because if I'm in the HQ and open the quest menu, I'll probably just select the story ones and move on with the game, leaving all the cool side content behind. But if you throw them on my way I'd definitely pick them up.

It's a fine game though and I'd rebuy it for sure.