I enjoyed Xenoblade Chronicles X. For the most part, it gave me the experience I was hoping for: a classic JRPG with an interesting sci-fi Space Opera spin.
Story-wise, the game seems to me as though it was written by two different people. One person wrote all of the interesting, intelligent, thought-provoking and authentic segments of the story—mostly for the main story missions. There's a lot of information to unpack there, and it's fun to do so, as the game answers lots of questions and logistics about just what humanity might need if it needed to exodus from its homeworld lickety-split. The bombs dropped during the ending are as smart and well-planned as they are shocking, so I won't spoil them here.
On the other hand, though, it seems there was another person with a "Generic Anime Trope Checklist" that went through the original story and just ticked off the boxes. "Let's see: underage girl? Check. Long-haired tortured bad boy? Check. Shonen-style action sequences? Check. Cute mascot character? Check. Repetitive drivel about "bonds", doing your best, and believing in the power of love and friendship? Check, check and freaking check. I get that sometimes you need to throw in familiar tropes and cliches to give the audience some grounding (as well as appeal to the marketing people), but like I said, it really stands in stark contrast to the more serious and thought-provoking parts of the game. And, in some cases, I'd actually argue that it hurts the overall delivery.
Gameplay-wise, the game lacks polish. The battle system, customization/crafting systems, and exploration mechanics feel like the developers tried to throw as much against the wall as they could in order to make them stick. The battle system has a number of superfluous details that aren't really explained unless you read the manual (and even then, it might take you a while to get it), and the lack of any real healing abilities just chafes.
Speaking of which, late in the game, the rest of your party becomes completely meaningless aside from just having a little extra damage, some meat shields, and Affinity farming.
Everyone has already complained about the exploration/gathering/mission design, so I won't repeat most of that here.
VideoGame At times, it feels like one game with two different stories.
I enjoyed Xenoblade Chronicles X. For the most part, it gave me the experience I was hoping for: a classic JRPG with an interesting sci-fi Space Opera spin.
Story-wise, the game seems to me as though it was written by two different people. One person wrote all of the interesting, intelligent, thought-provoking and authentic segments of the story—mostly for the main story missions. There's a lot of information to unpack there, and it's fun to do so, as the game answers lots of questions and logistics about just what humanity might need if it needed to exodus from its homeworld lickety-split. The bombs dropped during the ending are as smart and well-planned as they are shocking, so I won't spoil them here.
On the other hand, though, it seems there was another person with a "Generic Anime Trope Checklist" that went through the original story and just ticked off the boxes. "Let's see: underage girl? Check. Long-haired tortured bad boy? Check. Shonen-style action sequences? Check. Cute mascot character? Check. Repetitive drivel about "bonds", doing your best, and believing in the power of love and friendship? Check, check and freaking check. I get that sometimes you need to throw in familiar tropes and cliches to give the audience some grounding (as well as appeal to the marketing people), but like I said, it really stands in stark contrast to the more serious and thought-provoking parts of the game. And, in some cases, I'd actually argue that it hurts the overall delivery.
Gameplay-wise, the game lacks polish. The battle system, customization/crafting systems, and exploration mechanics feel like the developers tried to throw as much against the wall as they could in order to make them stick. The battle system has a number of superfluous details that aren't really explained unless you read the manual (and even then, it might take you a while to get it), and the lack of any real healing abilities just chafes. Speaking of which, late in the game, the rest of your party becomes completely meaningless aside from just having a little extra damage, some meat shields, and Affinity farming.
Everyone has already complained about the exploration/gathering/mission design, so I won't repeat most of that here.