I don't get why to be mad for a 84 (that will probably be a 85 at the end going by the amount of high scores is getting lately), it's a good score and that's all that matters, metacritic is not a bible, is just a recomplilation of scores, and more than half of those scores are 9 or more than 9, wich means a ton of critics think the game is wonderfull, and out of 36 scores just 4 are mixed and none of them under 7 so I mean... this is a very good reception overall, Fallout 4 has an 84 on PC (and 86 combining the 3 systems), and the game is considered to be great and I don't think people is mad about it.

I just want to leave this here:
Games do not start at 10/10 and then get points reduced. A game can be a 7/10 without any actual flaws simply because the game is not better than a 7/10...

Edit: In reverse games can have (pretty big) flaws but still get a 10/10 because they are that friggin good.

One of the main reasons why Nintendo Directs and Iwata Asks were introduced was the constant misrepresentation of the most basic informations in the "professional videogame journalism". Something to keep in mind is that bribery for great coverage is a very common thing, to make things worse some magazines and sites are part of big conglomerates, with ties to publishers and even some console manufacturers. Polygon for example is known for having ties with Microsoft. And about bias, the whole Wii and DS generation was a constant bad-mouthing contest for the whole generation, and especially DS was almost hidden when it comes to the coverage compared to its actual relevance in the market.

A lot things to do and a big world are not always fun to play.
Including them in a game doesn't mean that a game has to be good.

Metacritic still shows 84 but it's standing at 85.94 right now...

The score is just what I expected

Xenoblade Chronicles set the bar too high

You definetly didnt read the reviews, the points LuckyTrouble highlighted are in fact the main critsism the game is getting, and its happening enought times to bring the games average score down, its not 1 or 2 reviewers that think this way. Of course the reviews that are very positive dont find those things to be problems (or only think a few of them are) but if youre only reading the positive reviews youre doing it wrong, youre suposed to read a sample of the bad and the good to come to your own conclusion otherwise youre just having a biased sample (for good or for bad).

Its hard to discuss the soundtrack tough as liking a tune or not is super personal. However the emotions a certain tune evokes is not personal at all, a sound activates a specific part of the brain and that generates a specific emotional response, thats why action movie/games songs have a certain beat, horror songs have another, sad songs are mostly slow and high pitched etc. With so many ppl thinking the soundtrack doesnt fit its very likely that it actualy doesnt fit but those who like how it sounds are just ignoring the fact that the wrong emotions are being evoked because they like how the song sounds.

It's not a matter of bias. Metacritic is a mechanism that favors the uniformation of tastes.
Xenoblade X is clearly a game designed for specific tastes, for JRPG lovers who like slow exploration and step-by-step game progression. These are not features everyone likes, hence this game never stood a chance on metacrtic against the average western linear-action game.

84 is a solid score indicating a good to great game. Bitching about reviewers surely can go too far. If a solid game would be downranked for some stupid shit into the 60s, complaining might be justified, but as it is it sounds a lot like bitching. That said I'm totally hyped for XCX.

Now that I think about it, that was one of the reasons why I gave up on Just Cause 2 after ~40%. The world gets boring pretty fast.

However, since Xenoblade Chronicles is an RPG with lots of characters, quests, story, and action, I think the bigger the better.