Xenoblade Chronicles X

TL;DR: skip to my recommendation

It’s the year 2056, and the Earth has been destroyed in a battle between two alien forces, everything gone in a blaze of light... Some humans managed to escape by ark ships. One such ship, the White Whale, is attacked again after erring through space for two years, and crashes on the planet Mira. They survive the crash and found a city.

Unfortunately, humans are far from the only living creatures on Mira... and the aliens who destroyed the Earth seem to have it out for them, as well.

Welcome to Mira!

Plot:

You (yes, you, the avatar you create) is found, amnesiac, in an escape pod and brought back their city, New Los Angeles, by a soldier named Elma. There, you will join the military organization BLADE, pick a division, and get to work exploring Mira, fighting wildlife, collecting scraps from the crash, decorating your room, doing sick tricks in your mech, etc etc

However, there's something strange about Mira, a bunch of different aliens seem to be out for humanity for some specific mysterious reason, and your comrades at BLADE have problems of their own...

also there's a very urgent (to put it mildly) deadline for the humans to find a part which broke off the ship in the crash: the Lifehold, which could be literally anywhere on Mira...

NOW ON SWITCH!

That's right, there is now a Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, which might be the only way you've heard of this game. Just know that for ten years this game was trapped solely on the Wii U (which was a fine enough console, but anyway).

So there's Xenoblade Chronicles X (2015) for the Wii U, and Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition (with added content and an epilogue!) for the Switch

This is the closest thing we'll get to a Xenoblade MMORPG, probably. It's NOT one though, let's be clear.

Is this game connected to the other Xenoblade games? Not exactly. There are some references, but here, they are truly just references. If you are very deeply into the Xeno-lore you may argue otherwise. This game is bit different from the other Xenoblade games, in ways I will outline below:

Features

we start with humans from real-life Earth, as you might suspect from the city being named 'New Los Angeles', instead of a fantasy world
American voice-acting in English version
you play as an avatar you create
the focus lies on customization, exploration, side-quests and other 'optional' stuff rather than on the main plot
this extends to the party, too. Elma and Lin are needed for a few missions, but other than that, just pick whoever you like for your party (including recruiting other real-life players)
Online play. Going on missions with other players, there are leaderboards for the divisions, also trading for stuff online (rather, using tickets from this) is easiest way to get rare materials... very optional though! You don't need any online features, but if you want/have the option, it can be fun.

there are Nopon though, proving that some things are truly universal!

Meet some of the cast:

Elma: used to be a colonel, now insists that ranks don't matter, but everyone really respects her. Much about her is a mystery - she saves you and lets you join her team, and only later you find out her previous teammates died, how strongly she feels about human-alien cooperation, just how far she'd go for humanity... She's kind but firm.

Lin: only thirteen, child genius and soldier too, she starts gushing to you about fanfiction like 20 minutes after meeting you. And she is an orphan. And she has the world on her shoulders. And her parents' legacy and the lives of her friends...
And she really likes huge robots.

Lao: aloof, cool-guy Pathfinder, old friend of old friends of Elma... and being kind of flaky lately, disappearing on his teammates. His wife and daughter died with the Earth. Is there really any point in trying to make a new life on Mira, huh?

Gwin: he's such a oh-gosh-golly good old American boy scout, in his own words. Looks up to Irina so much.
Irina: cool older sister type, can be pretty bitter and rude. We've all lost people, haven't we?
Doug: Lin's test-dummy. Good-natured, would be great to shoot the breeze with, friends with Lao.
Tatsu: Nopon, first friendly alien you meet. Thirteen like Lin, besties with Lin (they have a really annoying bit together). Always thinks about snacking or napping.
L: jolly, cheerful, one of a kind. taught himself English by reading Library of Congress texts from a piece of wreckage. Misunderstands many things.

Epilogue, you say?

so what's new? 4 new playable characters + quests for 3 of them, a playable epilogue with a small new area and some more lore, more skells and weapons, a couple new superbosses... and a lot of quality of life improvements! everything is smoother now, it's easier to 100% the game (for example: it used to be punishingly slow to form affinity, now it's not), also the game got a new coat of paint... very shiny.

The epilogue does not... really answer the questions left open by the original XCX. It's not bad, just, hmm. But overall the Definitive Edition is easier/smoother, and whether you think the original version or DE looks better depends on your taste. More detailed thoughts below.

I have played XCX before tell me about the changes

The epilogue is definitely not as beefy as TTGC or Future Redeemed.

There are some new playable characters! One of them just used to be unplayable, three are actually new. As fun as they are, they are not a huge chunk of content on their own.

So, here's the new area:

looks cool, but there's really not much to it. At all. And the trade-off for going there really isn't worth it. Anyway, playing the epilogue won't ruin your save or anything... it exists. Again, it's not bad, but the fact that it is attached to XCX makes it a letdown (to me! actually I've seen some big fans of it though - depends on what themes you like, I guess? Like if I was playing this version as my first playthrough I could see myself loving it). It doesn't ruin the game or the previous story no but it does feel bittersweet. The sequel that was never to be made in 2015/16 is never going to happen, y'know? Ah well.

that said I did absolutely have a blast playing XCX:DE - finally playing XCX on the switch? with the QoL upgrades too? Amazing.

When I replay XCX next time, it's definitely gonna be this version.

I don't care about spoilers/my thoughts

ok so the fact that base game seems to set up to exploring the mysteries of Mira, we're all going to be living here together now - and then the epilogue immediately throws that in the toilet? this sucks so bad... like it actually hurts a bit. But it actually hurts for the characters, too, so in a way the player and cast are really feeling the same thing here.

Ok back up: what's the epilogue? It's a few very short chapters, starting with adding black holes to the world map, essentially. Mira is going to be destroyed, uh-oh. Also, there's the original Ares skell suddenly swooping in, didn't the pilot die?

so the pilot, Al, is the big focus of the epilogue. Everyone knows him - he used to fill Your role, kinda, except he's a bigshot hero. Anyway, if you find him funny and endearing, or obnoxious and cheesy is really going to determine how you feel about the epilogue.

We get more lore for Elma! Also for how Elma, Lin, Doug, Gwin, Irina etc knew each other back before you came into the picture. And just getting MORE, NEW interactions between everyone? Not gonna lie I was hyped staring to play this.

There's definitely a story that can be told about constantly having to move, flee to another place, uproot your life again and again... it just doesn't really feel like what XCX was building. It feels unfair. Again, you could argue that that's the point, but also, they've made a bunch of other Xenoblade games before getting back to this, and you can tell. Like ok, Noah & Mio reference, I don't care. I'm an og XCX-head, I don't care. Not everything needs to be in the same universe, okay?!

my final verdict is, essentially: but this isn't what I wanted, still I kind of like it - actually a lot but then again - eh.

Recommendation

+this used to be my favorite Xenoblade game - nay, favorite video game. period. for several years. It's just so much fun!!!

if you're put-off by this seemingly not being much like the other Xenoblade games, then I'm going to say that it still treats similar themes and is made by the same people, and the combat and general structure of the game is similar too. Just give new things a chance!

and if you're put-off by thinking this is too similar to the other Xenoblade games, then honestly, depending on what games you're into, you might still like this. If it's the convoluted plots and long cutscenes or anime style which scares you off, well, this game doesn't have much of that (comparatively)

+but there's still plenty of lore to sink your teeth into! This game's sidequests and exploration are good. Mira is huge, five continents and nothing to hold you back from going where you aren't supposed to and getting your ass handed to you! The world is gorgeous and danger and treasures lurk in every corner. god i love getting ambushed

+in terms of actually playing the game, this one is definitely the best/smoothest imo. There are no tedious sections, there's always something to do, and with the QoL improvements in Definitive Edition there's very little to slow you down in progressing

-admittedly the combat and intricacies of customizing your gear can be complex.

+Good thing is you don't actually need most of that unless you're serious about hunting superbosses, so you can just auto-equip the strongest things you've got and then dress up the cast in what looks cool with fashion gear

+and if you know what you're doing you can do crazy stuff re: customization. anything is one-shot-able if you just believe