Review: Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition

Developer – Monolith Soft

Publisher – Nintendo

Platforms – Nintendo Switch (Reviewed)

Xenoblade Chronicles X was a spinoff title from the popular Monolith Soft-developed Xenoblade series that was exclusive to the Wii U. The history of the Xenoblade games is long and convoluted, starting all the way back with Xenogears in 1998, but I digress. After almost 10 years, Xenoblade Chronicles X is seeing an unexpected remaster in the form of a Definitive Edition, and it lands on the Nintendo Switch for the first time ever. 

The game presents a compelling science fiction narrative set in the year 2054. The story begins when Earth is caught in the crossfire of an intergalactic war between two alien races, forcing humanity to flee aboard massive spaceships called arks. The White Whale, one of the few ships that manages to escape Earth’s destruction, is attacked two years after launch and crash-lands on the mysterious planet Mira.

You control a customizable avatar who awakens from a life pod with amnesia and is rescued by Elma, a key character who leads BLADE (Builders of the Legacy After the Destruction of Earth). You then join BLADE alongside Elma and Lin Lee Koo, a genius engineer who maintains the mechanical Skell suits, to recover more lifepods and search for the missing Lifehold. The Definitive Edition expands upon the original’s cliffhanger ending with new story content that addresses unresolved plot threads, but as a whole Chronicles X still has the weakest story out of the entire franchise.

Xenoblade Chronicles X features a complex and engaging combat system that blends auto-attacks with strategic skill usage. It uses an auto-attack system where your party members automatically perform basic melee or ranged attacks, while you are tasked with executing more powerful abilities called Arts that have cooldown periods after use. Combat essentially becomes a balance of interweaving Arts strategically between automated attacks and waiting for cooldowns to refresh. The Definitive Edition introduces the Quick Cooldown bar, a significant new feature that fills up during battle as you use auto-attacks. By spending a portion of this bar, you can completely bypass the cooldown period of any Art and use it immediately, turning the tide of battle in critical moments.

Soul Voice is another unique combat mechanic where characters shout specific phrases suggesting certain actions during battle. Typical JRPG am I right? Following these suggestions activates a Soul Voice, providing extra bonuses such as making enemies more susceptible to status effects. Positioning also plays an important role in combat, as certain Arts gain bonuses when used from specific angles, such as attacking an enemy from behind or from the side. Lastly, there’s the overdrive mechanic, which speeds up the use of Arts in a short time frame, allowing you to create some devastating combos.

Exploration is obviously a cornerstone of gameplay in this open-world RPG, with five massive continents of the planet Mira to discover. The world features impressive verticality and distinct biomes with unique creatures, landscapes, and music. A day-and-night cycle with dynamic weather changes, including damaging lightning storms, makes the world feel alive, with some enemies only appearing at certain times. Transformable mechs called Skells dramatically change both exploration and combat, and come in a bipedal walking mode and a vehicle driving mode. That being said, the sheer scale of the game can be overwhelming for new players.

The game’s progression system includes multiple types of experience points, with standard EXP raising general statistics and Class EXP raising a character’s assigned Class. You can adopt different roles within BLADE, each granting different advantages, such as Pathfinders, who open up new locations, or Harriers, who actively seek hostile lifeforms.

Keep in mind that the original Xenoblade Chronicles X released nearly a decade ago. The newly packaged Definitive Edition brings numerous improvements and additions, including technical improvements, quality-of-life updates, and new content! 

In terms of graphical upgrades, there’s improved resolution with the game running at a higher fidelity on the Switch. Character models have been completely reworked, and the lighting system has been enhanced with entire background elements being redone in some areas. Cutscenes are also rendered at a higher resolution, creating a better visual experience overall.

There are also numerous player-friendly features, such as being able to change the time directly from the main menu instead of at specific locations. Party members can be switched on the fly without needing to return to New Los Angeles. The game now offers three save slots instead of one, along with an autosave feature. Everyone in your party gains experience points, even when not actively in the battle party, and you can now respect your Battle Points. There are plenty more, but these are just to name a few of the big ones.

You can’t call something the Definitive Edition without new content! Two new protagonists, Neilnail and Leisel, are introduced, bringing the total to a whopping 22 playable characters. There’s an entirely new zone: floating content designed specifically for flying your Skell mechs around, along with new story elements and monsters! Oh, and there’s a new mech called the Hraesvelg as well that uses a badass sword. Of course, the aforementioned content above is accompanied by new missions as well. Expect to spend hundreds of hours in this game if you are a completionist.

Let’s talk about technical performance now. We all know how limited and weak the Switch’s hardware is, but the overall performance of Xenoblade Chronicles X on it is actually decent, especially considering the game’s massive open-world structure. The game runs at 1080p resolution when docked, with dynamic resolution scaling that can drop to around 760p under heavy load, while handheld mode operates at 720p with potential drops to 540p. 

Frame rates are generally solid at a steady 30 fps, but there are occasional stutters and drops. It would be nice if the game ran at 60 fps, though. Data miners have actually discovered an incomplete 60 fps mode in the game’s code. So maybe it’ll have another performance upgrade on the Switch 2!  The game features significantly reduced pop-in for geometry and textures compared to the Wii U version, though close distance pop-in remains noticeable in populated areas like New Los Angeles.

The soundtrack and audio design of Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition remain largely unchanged from the original Wii U release, but they continue to be a significant aspect of the game’s experience. The soundtrack, composed by Hiroyuki Sawano, is known for its unique blend of orchestral elements, electronic sounds, and vocal tracks. The audio design in the Definitive Edition has seen some improvements. Dialogue is now easier to hear, addressing an issue in the original where music sometimes overpowered character voices. 

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition on the Nintendo Switch is a masterful blend of expansive exploration, engaging narrative themes, and refined gameplay mechanics, and it’s about time it made its way onto the Nintendo Switch.