After 4 months I'm finally done with
Xenoblade X: Definitive Edition. At first I told myself to just go through the main story so I could get to the new story content, but I got so wrapped up in the world that I eventually ended up going for 100% map completion again.
Here's my original thoughts for when I completed the original game on the Wii U over 8 years ago since I don't feel like retyping everyone again.
https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41328.625For the most part I still really enjoyed the game, but I would say this game doesn't hold up as well on a second play through. The biggest problem is this is by far the easiest Xenoblade game to completely break the combat once you realize what to do. This made the first part of the game more fun in Definitive Edition since I was able to take on enemies over 20 levels higher then me earlier on, but this eventually lead to my characters becoming insanely overpowered, which made the rest of the game get kind of boring much quicker. Of course because of this I was able to 100% the game much faster. The original Wii U version took over 270 hours, while I was able to 100% Definitive Edition in over 145 hours, and that includes all the new story content as well.
Speaking of the new content, it's kind of a mixed bag if you ask me. I like the actual new story content and it's great to have an actual ending to the game now with a much better emotional payoff after everything you've been through. Of course I wish they could have handled said new content better. You basically get a bunch of fetch quest on Mira to open up giant expo dumb cutscenes, and when you finally get to a brand new area to explore, the new area is kind of lame. Very small area and all the enemies are just recolored version of old enemies. Anyone expecting something like Bionis Shoulder from the Future Connected epilogue in Xenoblade: Definitive Edition like I was is going to be disappointed in that regard. I'd say this version of Xenoblade X makes it pretty clear Monolith Soft isn't going to be making an X2 anytime soon so they just wanted to give fans of the original some kind of closure after a decade of waiting. Overall I'm satisfied with the new ending but feel like it ruins some of the mystery they were setting up in the original game.
So at the end of the day Xenoblade X can still be a fun game, but I do feel on a second playthrough it's flaws become a lot more apparent, and while Definitive Edition does improve a lot of things, the overall game still had some massive issues. I used to feel this was my favorite Xenoblade, but having played all the Xenoblade games on the Switch over the last 3 years, I'd say I now consider X to be the weakest in the series. The world is still great to explore and I love how many of the side quest make NLA feel more alive than the other games. This is the single reason I was even able to still put over 100 hours in the game again because I love the world they created and love being a part of said world. But when it comes to the actual gameplay, it's lacking compared to the other games in the series.
Recent Posts
