We take an in depth look at Skells and online functionality.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/hands-on-preview/40365/xenoblade-chronicles-x-doll-lover-hands-on-preview
Over the past few weeks, I've been playing quite a lot of Xenoblade Chronicles X. At more than 50 hours into the game, I'm well over half way through and can probably finish the story section within the next dozen or so hours. Being this far in the game, I’ve had an extensive look at X’s online functionality as well as the Skells and have been left very impressed.
The journey to obtain a Doll, or Skell as they are known in English, has been one of my main goals as soon as I first started playing X. Right off the bat, I can tell you that getting one of these robotic beasts isn't as easy as walking into a hanger and picking out your favorite one. The game puts you through a complex set of tasks to obtain a Skell License. From collecting items, defeating enemies to placing data probes on the game map, there is quite a bit of running around (literally) to do. It's not super difficult, but it is definitely time consuming and sometimes tricky. For example, one of the missions had me looking for a handful of dragonflies that could be picked up by collecting the various crystals throughout the game world. After searching for probably around 30 minutes to an hour, I finally found all of the required dragonflies I needed to continue on with my quests.
After completing all of the required quests, you are given a Skell License and a Skell. While the base model for the Skell is a specific model type, there are tons of different ways you can customize it with various weapons, armor and colors. You can even edit the color of the visor on the head and the boost color that comes out of the back of the machine. Of course, as with character creation at the beginning of the game, you can spend as much or little time with customization as you want. With my first Skell, I spent a grand total of 10 minutes or so and got something half way decent looking.
Combat in the Skells is more or less identical to combat on foot. The Soul System still comes into play and using Arts still play a big part in the gameplay. Typically, the Skells can dole out more damage to enemies than what characters can on foot. The first time I fought with my Skell, I was pleased to inflict sometimes two to three times more damage (or more) than I was previously dishing out. There is also a move that allows Skells to "catch" enemies when prompted by press the ZL and ZR buttons. This temporarily prevents the enemy from moving and makes them more susceptible to taking greater amounts of damage.
Traveling on foot is already pretty fast in X, but the Skells make traversing Mira significantly quicker. Whether it be simply walking in the huge mech, or pressing in the left stick (which usually performs a dash mode while on foot) to transform into an armored car, you'll be blowing through the landscapes toward your destination in no time. Right off the bat, players have to settle with only the ability to jump while in their Skells. It is still a drastic improvement over jumping on foot and can still allow you to reach some new places to explore. When you finally do get the ability of flight, the game opens up even more. As soon as I received the flight custom upgrade on my Skell, I rose to the skies right above New Los Angles and seamlessly made my way to other areas on the planet. There were no load times or slow down, although you can clearly see finer details of locales being rendered and loaded as you got closer to them.
With it being advantageous to use Skells to get to unreachable places or to fight strong enemies, player are somewhat limited with how often and how long they can use them. Skell fuel has to be taken into consideration. Once your Skell is engaged in a battle or if you are flying through the air, your fuel begins to deplete. Things such as using super strong Art attacks or using an extra speed boost while in the air (by pressing in the left stick, similar to the dash) will deplete the fuel quicker. You can refuel by either spending an in-game resource called Miranium or exit the Skell and wait for it to refuel over time. If you go with the latter option, it can take quite awhile to replenish. However, if you turn off the game completely, the fuel comes back over time while you are away.
As many of you know, Xenoblade Chronicles X has an online component. There is an option to participate in online quests with up to four players (this is one thing I haven’t tried yet, unfortunately). However, the majority of the online features are what the development team calls a "loosely connected" online system. Upon starting the game (after completing an early part of the story), players will be connected online with up to 32 other players in what is called a Squad. The Squad is assigned a mission collectively to defeat a variety of monsters or collect items within a time limit. Even if players don't participate in the missions, they are able to see the progress in real time via a counter on the lower right hand portion of the TV screen. Completing missions can give everyone on the Squad things like experience or items, even if you do absolutely nothing.
The inclusion of the online is seamless. While playing, you will constantly see various small messages popping up letting you know information about what the other players on your squad are doing. This is mostly done by showing you what in-game awards other players are getting. Of course, other players see everything that you are doing as well. Through Squad Reports, players are able to send messages that appear in real time to all members of the squad. You're able to choose topics to headline the message and as with Miiverse, can even tag a message with spoilers. This system is well implemented and is out of the way enough so that players who are wanting to venture through the game on their own can. For myself, at the earlier parts of the game, I wasn't paying much attention to the Squad Reports. However, after I received an award for plummeting to my death down a nearly endless pit, somebody on my Squad commented on my triumph/stupidity. It just goes to show that even if you aren't interacting with other players in active ways, the loose connection can still make you feel like you aren't playing X alone. Not only that, but the Report feature can come in handy for those who are looking to get more involved in the previously mentioned Squad missions.
There are other aspects of this loose connection that can really benefit players. NPC versions of other players can be found throughout the game world. If you speak with them, you have the option to “scout” them so they can join your party. This is all done passively, so you will simply have an AI controlled version of a character on your team. The benefits to the player scouting may be obvious (have stronger characters in your party, etc), however, the scouted players also get something in return. If they are used in battles, they will get a share in the experience gained and can also receive items. You can also interact with players by giving away or selling items. This can also come in handy when things like the aforementioned dragonfly section of the Skell Licence quest come up. You can usually find and purchase items that you would need to complete collecting quests. When rare drop items from monsters are required to carry on in a quest, this can feature can be very helpful.
Even after spending over 50 hours with Xenoblade Chronicles X, I still feel like there is so much left to do and so many places left to explore. Getting a Skell really does open the game up, and even more so once you gain the ability to fly. The online functionality of the game is also surprisingly deep. It’s not perfect, but X offers one of the deepest and most robust experiences on Nintendo’s home console.
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