After many years of speculation about whether or not it would actually happen, Xenoblade Chronicles X has finally arrived on Switch. With the release of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition in 2020 and the overwhelming success of its two direct sequels, many would say that this was a foregone conclusion, but it is often difficult to predict what Nintendo will do until the announcement arrives, especially this close to the launch of a successor system. Even a decade after its original release on Wii U, the game stands out as an ambitious and bold step in a completely different direction from the rest of the trilogy, and the Definitive Edition enhances and expands upon that experience.
It's worth prefacing this review by saying that this isn't your typical Xenoblade Chronicles title; there is a much stronger emphasis on open-world exploration than there is on a linear narrative, which results in markedly different pacing. After an explosive and dramatic opening, the narrative unfolds through story missions, which have some prerequisites before you can undertake them (often surveying a percentage of Mira, or reaching a specified level) and this occasionally makes major plot points feel rushed, and your avatar character's lack of active involvement in dialogue can also lead to a sense of disconnect at times from what is going on. Many hours will likely pass between story missions, which pack a lot of information and drama into a relatively small space with very little active build-up.
However, where it often lacks narrative punch or cohesion when compared to the numbered titles, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition more than makes up for this with its worldbuilding, which is perfectly paced, highly varied, and consistently engaging. The world of Mira as represented on FrontierNav, your map, is neatly divided into segments. Completing activities within these segments (fulfilling sidequests, planting data probes, recovering resources, or defeating enemies) will unlock them, increasing your overall survey rating and leading to rewards, opportunities for new quests, and experience points. This constant progression extends to your recruitable party members who, as well as the customary Heart-to-Hearts that allow you to get to know them in a more light-hearted setting, each have a set of Affinity Missions. These personal quest chains form a mini character arc that acts as a more than adequate replacement for their lack of involvement in the main story, which gives most of its attention to Elma and Lin.
Those who have played Xenoblade Chronicles 2 or 3 will recognise the structure of these quests as being similar to the Blade and Hero quests respectively, and they are equally detailed, providing some much-needed character development and unlocking powerful new abilities for both that character and your avatar to use. Side Missions also contribute to this worldbuilding, requiring choices that can dramatically alter the outcome of events. Completing side missions will result in new allies joining New LA, new facilities being available, and minor characters changing their relationships with one another, or even dying if you make the wrong decision. Colonizing the planet of Mira is arguably more important than the overarching story objective of recovering the Lifehold, and you'll put far more time and effort into doing this than you will engaging with the game's antagonists.
Xenoblade Chronicles X on Switch is a significantly more accessible and enjoyable experience than on Wii U, thanks to the fantastic quality-of-life changes made to various systems that bring it up to par with the rest of the series. Alongside a UI overhaul which makes everything significantly easier to read and navigate, being able to change the time of day from the menu, add characters to your party without traipsing across the city trying to find them, and more easily track and change between quest objectives, are some of the small additions that make your time on Mira far more convenient. Inactive party members will still gain experience points so they don't fall behind your active team, and affinity raises at a notably faster rate, allowing you to view Heart-to-Hearts and undertake their Affinity Missions without excessive grinding. The game features a handful of new playable characters who are spaced out evenly for recruitment between the game's main story missions, so although the majority of the game's new content requires you to first complete the main story, there is some new content sprinkled throughout as well.
Perhaps most importantly for returning players, if like myself and many others you were disappointed by the open-ended conclusion of the original game, then the new story content included in this version will make playing it again more than worthwhile. I won't be going into any details so you can experience it for yourself with minimal spoilers, but suffice it to say that there is plenty here for long-term fans of the series to speculate over, and there is some much-needed expansion and clarification on several key points that were previously left unexplained or unresolved included in this version, alongside an entirely new area to explore.
Although improvements have been made across the board to make Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition worthy of its subtitle, there remain some design choices that make it occasionally more frustrating than it needs to be. Despite the wealth of customisation it offers in how you build your player character and party, the game's tutorials about how to best do this remain quite lacking, and are unhelpfully buried in the Gameplay Tips section of the System menu. You're given the briefest overview of its more critical systems during story progression, such as Overdrive, but left to discover the rest for yourself. Despite levels factoring into your character's overall strength, and it being fairly well balanced so that you meet the minimum requirements for where you are at in the story (if you take the time to at least do some affinity missions), it can still be extremely difficult to progress if you find yourself underpowered and lack the understanding of how the game's systems works - knowledge it doesn't organically introduce as part of normal gameplay.
If you fall in battle three times while on a Story or Affinity mission, you'll be given the option of lowering the difficulty for the rest of that mission, which reduces the enemy's levels by five. However, as an anti-frustration feature, this often doesn't go far enough, as it doesn't affect the surrounding enemies, which will remain at their default level and will happily jump in and proceed to destroy your party in place of the weakened enemies that you need to defeat to advance the mission. Grinding to the point that you would be powerful enough to tackle these enemies without an understanding of the game's supporting systems would take several hours, and for a casual player this may result in some frustrating difficulty spikes.
Xenoblade Chronicles X performs relatively well on Switch, although it doesn't quite hold up in some areas upon closer scrutiny. When exploring the world of Mira, the game rarely suffers from noticeable performance dips, even in the more built-up areas, and draw distance is both functional and impressive. In most circumstances, you will see enemies on the screen long before they would notice you, and larger enemies are visible from a significant distance away, enhancing the world's sense of scale, especially once you unlock the Skell's flight module later in the game. However, performance becomes more of an issue when exploring the districts of NLA, especially later in the game when the population of the city increases after certain story events. Pop-in becomes far more noticeable, and I would often see the speech bubble before the NPC, which was occasionally an issue when attempting to track down specific characters for quest progression. Small loading spikes when entering and exiting menus and longer loading times between cutscenes also become more commonplace. Despite the visual improvements, there is also a notable amount of blur throughout, which is especially problematic when moving the camera even slightly during story cutscenes, dissolving the scenery into an unrecognisable haze.
Xenoblade Chronicles X has always stood apart from the main trilogy as a markedly different experience, and the Definitive Edition does a fantastic job at bringing it up to par from a gameplay perspective, with the numerous quality-of-life changes addressing some of its more glaring flaws and making it a much more comfortable title to play. Occasional performance dips and obtuse gameplay mechanics notwithstanding, whether you're as familiar with the streets of New LA as your hometown or this is your first time upon Mira, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is an out of this world experience you won't want to miss.
8.5/10
A copy of Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition was provided by Nintendo UK for the purpose of this review.
