Xenoblade Chronicles X Review (Does Contain spoilers)

Xenoblade Chronicles introduced a fresh story and setting, combined with a unique combat system, but was borderline too much. Xenoblade Chronicles X isn’t borderline, it is “too much.” It overcomplicates things that were already too complicated in the first game and then multiplies it by two (your skell gear/arts/skills/skell level/etc). I can’t tell you how many times I died only to find out (from reading online) that you have to do certain things or get certain gear/level gear to be able to achieve things. The game retained many of the frustrating elements of the first game (random insanely powerful monsters, this time with more range in their roaming patterns, who will absolutely slaughter you out of nowhere when you’re fighting others). The game is beautiful and a blast to explore at times, especially when you gain the ability to fly, but prior to flying and often even after it, exploring can be a pain. Just when you get out of the range of one high level enemy (when you’re running away) you aggro and run into a whole bunch of other ones. In the end, the game feels massive and beautiful but you can never truly appreciate the view because you have to be so mindful of all the enemies 10-20 feet away at all times.

The story was surprisingly good. The first game had an amazing story, so I figured this would be a letdown (how can you beat a story in which a mad scientist turns himself into a god, only to be killed by his own creation and the computer?). Similarly to the first game, this game requires quite a bit of grinding in order to beat. Thankfully, they allow you to go into fights in an easier mode if you die 3 times in a row. Because I had already played this game over 80 hours, I was just wanting to beat it and not grind more levels, so I went in and beat it at level 47 (my first attempt was 42 and I was slaughtered even on easy mode, so I had to do like 5 hours of grinding money and experience, which was stupid). Maybe this is just a flaw of JRPGs, but if I do a typical amount of side quests and all the missions, I shouldn’t have to grind in order to beat a game, let alone many bosses beforehand; it makes the game less enjoyable. I know I’ve complained a lot in this review (which I don’t often do), but it’s because the game is so amazing in some ways and so very bad in other ways. I loved the ending and am still curious what it all means. This is probably the most rambled review I’ve done, but I just want to start Chronicles 2 and be done with this game so there ya go.

Originality: 12 /20

Graphics:  9 /10

Art Style:  10 /15

Story:       25 /30

Music:       3 /5

Controls     3 /5

Is it fun?   8 /15

Total –

70 / 100

Non story– 64 / 100

1. Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition – 100
2. Warhammer: Total War = 98
3. Zelda Skyward Sword-98
4. Mario Rabbids Kingdom Battle - 96
5. Shovel Knight – 95
6. Shadow of Mordor = 95
7. Zelda Breath of the Wild - 94
8. Hyrule Warriors – 93
9. Batman: Arkham Asylum - 93
10. Zelda Minish Cap – 92
11. Bayonetta 2 = 91 NR 
12. Bayonetta (Wii U) – 91 NR 
13. Zelda Oracle of Ages – 91
14. Metroid Fusion – 91
15. Paper Mario – 90
16. Overwatch – 90
17. Zelda Twilight Princess – 90
18. Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon - 90
19. Guildwars 2 – 89
20. Mario and Luigi: Dream Team – 89
21. Shadow of War - 88
22. Pokemon X – 88
23. Kid Icarus Uprising – 88
24. Darksiders 2 - 88
25. Fire Emblem Awakening – 88
26. Portal 2 – 87
27. Portal – 87
28. Assassin’s Creed 4 Wii U – 86
29. Zelda Windwaker HD – 86 
30. Mario and Luigi: Bowsers Inside Story – 86 
31. Mass Effect - 84
32. Super Mario Maker = 84
33. Dishonored - 84
34. Animal Crossing New Leaf – 84
35. Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark - 84
36. Paper Mario Sticker Star – 83
37. Rome 2: Total War - 83
38. Zelda: A Link Between Worlds-83
39. Mario and Luigi Paper Jam - 82
40. Batman Arkham Knight - 81
41. Batman: Arkham Origins – 81
42. Mario and Luigi: Super Star Saga – 80
43. Trine – 80
44. Zelda: A Link to the Past – 78
45. Civilization 6 – 77
46. Mass Effect 3 – 77
47. Xenoblade Chronicles 3ds - 76
48. Mass Effect 2 – 76
49. Mr. Shifty - 74
50. Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D – 74
51. Black Ops 2 - 74
52. Rome: Total War-74
53. Yoshie’s Wooly World – 73
54. Super Mario 3d land – 72
55. Diablo 3 – 72
56. Just Cause - 71
57. Paper Monster Uncut (Wii U) - 70
58. Red Alert 3 – 70
59. Xenoblade Chronicles X - 70
60. Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze - 68
61. Snake pass - 66
62. New Super Mario Bros. U – 66
63. New Super Mario Bros.Wii – 57
64. Assassins Creed 3 – 57 NR
65. Player Unknown Battlegrounds – 53
66. Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition – 53
67. Mighty Gunvolt Burst - 47
68. Puzzles and Dragons Z: Mario Edition - 46
69. Kirby Squeak Squad – 43
70. Donkey Kong Country Returns 3d – 42
71. Yoshi’s New Island - 27
72. Project X Zone - 18

NR means Not Recommended based on inappropriateness.

Yeah, this game is very good.I woud personally rate it around the score of 8.5, and it would honestly be higher if it had a better overall story, with better chrachters, narrative and overall pacing.

I just beat it yesterday, and still have a lot of side content I want to do.

I give it a 9/10. It was almost a 10, but there were too many instances of annoying parts. I really enjoyed how it tied into the original game, which I didn't even notice right away until I thought about it.

.....It dosent tie to the original game....

You should of warned us about that spoiler.

It has a good bunch of issues but overall it's still a good game (thus why I'm quite surprised that 2 turned out to be just a little worse). It's my favorite title of the last 10 years, though, that's for sure.

For me Xenoblade Chronicles X did quite a few things better than Xenoblade Chronicles:

1. Exploration was enhanced by the map and probe system.

2. Combat and gear was more complex and interesting.

3. Side quests were great.

4. End-game is a lot of fun.

5. More real-world character themes and philosophy in the story, rather than the abstractness of Xenoblade Chronicle's gnosticism. Not necessarily better, but different. As far as science fiction goes, Xenoblade Chronicles X is just harder scifi than Xenoblade Chronicles.

I just wished the story didn't fade into the background so much, and that they had confirmed any intentions to make a sequel, having known how the story ends. The pacing of story content was a big negative for me. The cut-scenes until the last chapter were pretty bland and too dialogue-based. I also wish there were more centralized settlements and towns to explore. Otherwise I'd say a solid 8.5/10 due to the deep and interesting game-mechanics, exploration, and side-quests.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2, in comparison, improved on many things (particularly story presentation, some combat mechanics, and towns), but also was even less polished as far as Quality of Life and UI are concerned, and regressed in terms of side-quests and endgame content. I'd give Xenoblade 2 a 9/10, mostly for its story, handcrafted villages/locations, and the blade system.

Xenoblade Chronicles was very polished, but was also a less ambitious of a game than Xenoblade Chronicles X and Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I'd give it a 9.5/10, which is probably the best for any Xeno-game (including Xenogears.) It excelled at many things, was good at most things, but I can't say it was bad at anything really, unlike other Xeno games.

If I were to rank all Xeno games, it would be as so:

(Xenoblade Chronicles >= Xenogears )> (Xenosaga: Episode III >= Xenoblade Chronicles 2) > Xenoblade Chronicles X > Xenosaga Episode I > Xenosaga Episode II.

Xenoblade Chronicles gets a 9.5, while Xenosaga Episode II gets a 6.5.

The story certainly wasn't as strong as the first game. I hate how we went from voice acting all the time (in 1) to mostly text box gameplay (in X). The main character (you) feels like a 3rd person not actually involved in the story, whereas in Chronicles you WERE the main character. I felt kind of awkward througout this games story lol

I've heard people doing the side stuff in this game can easily spend 300+ hours, which is just insane to me. I also am still curious how it all ties together. I've read quite a few theories about this topic, even ones suggesting it shares the same universe as xenogears and the other series. 

Ah, I haven't even loaded 2 yet. I have it, but I have a backlog and just spent December beating Chronicles and X, so I figured I may take a break and do Fire Emblem Warriors next prior to starting XC 2.