Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U) Review

The result of the long wait for Xenoblade Chronicles X is a truly massive adventure that will keep gamers occupied far into 2016, and likely beyond - even with the sometimes weird localisation changes made, such as the removal of the breast size slider that allowed female avatars to have a massive chest (shame on NoA/NoE!).

The first thing that will catch anyone's attention when starting to explore Mira, humanity's last resort, is how massive the world truly is. Miles and miles of mountains, forests, lakes, seas, beaches, and all kinds of terrain that could possibly be imagined, are all fully visible from the get-go…to the point of perhaps even being overwhelmed. The scale of the world isn't the only thing that risks leaving players feeling like this, though.

Xenoblade Chronicles X picks up where Xenoblade Chronicles finished, and does its best to be the ultimate Western RPG (WRPG)-inspired Japanese RPG (JRPG), offering the best of both styles to satisfy any fan's dreams of the ideal role-playing game. With the personal customisation options and openness of WPRGs, mixed with complex systems and the sometimes extremely difficult and strategy-demanding combat that modern JRPGs are well-known for, it results in an experience that requires a lot of attention.

It is shocking how many different things there are to do in Mira, and the ability to tackle almost anything in any order will leave its visitors overjoyed. There are a huge number of side-quests to delve into that bring everyone into the world itself, rather than being isolated events, and there is the overarching main story that explains the setting on a wider level, plus fetch quests that take adventurers all across the land, choosing even to play online with friends or strangers, fighting epic battles together.

This creates an extremely nuanced adventure that is truly the ultimate RPG experience, but, indeed, some might have trouble getting their heads around it at times. If the size of the world alone was enough to cause nausea for some, the plethora of things to do within will not help. Also, the combat system in itself is one of the more complex ones ever designed. Thankfully, the way that some attacks in the first game needed another class in the party to work at full force has been removed; instead, each class is given all the tools necessary to utilise their own abilities. More focus has been put on traditional MMO party setups, and this is mixed with the unforgiving (and sometimes unfair) difficulty of JRPGs.

Side-quests are intriguing, but seemingly randomly ranked in terms of difficulty, especially the fetch quests, which never quite match their supposed difficulty level. It is not rare to bring a team to areas where the members are under-levelled by a good 40-50 levels…just to collect items. In addition, there are not even any hints as to where the items are, except which one of the five continents they are at (and keep in mind that these continents can be of a size equal to entire worlds in most titles).

Words can't explain the frustration of finding out that a quest item is located in an area where everything is able to cause insta-death in near enough one hit, while it is also a hard to reach area, with the items in question having a rarity of about 1% gathering rate. Hours can be spent just doing one of these quests, and without the help of the Internet, it could likely take that time multiplied by at least five having to look through each and every area of the entire continent the item is said to be in.

All of this frustration aside, once past the initial issues and annoyances, the game opens up and starts to improve considerably. Behind all the complexity and massive world rests one of the best made RPGs of all time. When starting to adapt to the complex systems, it is possible to make them work to the advantage of the team. Nothing feels greater than after hours and hours of fleeing from things that kill the avatar in one hit, being able to use the game's very own systems against itself to be able to kill things far stronger than the entire party with one fell swoop.

The world also keeps growing and improving the more it is explored. Every single part of Mira / New Los Angeles is well designed and extremely well utilised in the main quest and, especially, the side-quests, and every single character comes to life, and eventually it will be impossible to remember why the game felt so daunting in the first place. This is due to the fact that beneath everything else, the biggest strength of Xenoblade Chronicles X is, ironically, also it's biggest weakness: the focus on details. The team at Monolith Soft has put its all into every single inch of the map, as well as each and every side-quest, side character, main mission, alien race… pretty much everything.

One of the most memorable parts that reflect this focus on detail, and how much it adds to the experience, is the other intelligent alien races and how they separate themselves from humanity and, most importantly, how they are, at the same time, quite similar. The well-known Nopon, for instance, makes a comeback… again, showing some highly human traits in how they act and think, but they also have very distinguishing qualities by way of their sheer cattiness and merchant attitude towards life. It is hard to not laugh when making an ally of a Nopon caravan and they demand a massive sum of money to agree to the terms. It is a clever implementation of something that is not completely unfamiliar in real life, yet not something that is seen overall as the logical way to go, but that is common to that specific race. Familiar, yet foreign.

One of the most definite traits presented of humanity is its hatred towards things different from themselves, yet their willingness to survive by adapting to the situation. This is wonderfully demonstrated throughout as the borders that separate humankind at large has been torn down by the need of survival from a greater threat. Men and women from all walks of life and socio-economical backgrounds work side by side as true equals in a beautiful, almost surreal way that most could almost only be dreamed about in this situation of utmost crisis, but underneath all of this, the darker sides of humanity still rest, which comes to life in short bursts mostly during side stories.

This is especially shown in how some humans react to the discovery of the Man-on race, which is very different both mentally and visually. People who have their help in everyday life - such as technicians - love and embrace them due to their usefulness to their own survival when the xenophobia of others seeing them as a threat (or at least not exactly as an improvement) to humanity's chance at survival shines extremely strong in its illogicality and disgrace, beautifully showing the conflict between humanity's inborn lust for survival versus its hatred towards the unknown. Many of the game's stronger parts are when these dark sides are displayed at their worst in this, on the surface, Utopian society where gender and socio-economic barriers are almost completely torn down. In this setting, the xenophobia, sexism, greed, and sometimes pure hatred shine in a beautifully eerie way thanks to the contrast given by the overall openness and acceptance people at large show one another.

Where the side-stories go into depth about the individuals living on Mira, the main tale puts more focus on the main conflict and issues faced on Mira. Not far into the adventure, it is revealed that the destruction of planet Earth wasn't a mere coincidence and that there is far more reason than to just learn about their new habitat; leaders are so eager to explore all of Mira's surface as quickly as possible, adding more urgency and backstory to the situation on Mira wonderfully, weaving a tale that might not be the deepest ever written, but is still an epic and unforgettable one, in contrast to the small, yet deeper, side-quests.

After playing a mere 100 hours of Xenoblade Chronicles X, with several hundred more to go, it is very clear that this is a game where the details are greater than the entire picture; where the beauty rests within how everything becomes connected, rather than what is being connected. It is clear why it took this long to develop considering the mass and quality of the final product. While this might very well be one of the very best RPGs ever made, it is also one of the most difficult ones to get into. The game is very punishing at the start and the complete openness into a world this massive will simply leave players overwhelmed for too long.

For those who are able to get through this, though, one of the most beautiful games ever made will unfold before their very eyes and everything seen as an annoyance at first will reveals its true beauty. Every system has its place, every character has its own backstory, and every rock has a treasure to be found underneath. It is a game that will last far into 2016 and likely beyond. A true gem that requires some work to get out.