Everybody has their gaming white whale. For me, and plenty of RPG fans, that is the Xeno series from Tetsuya Takahashi and Monolith Soft. With decades of real-world and in-game lore across multiple entries known for intimidating runtimes and complex interconnected philosophical stories, it has reached a near mythic level. So it’s only apt that my time with Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition begins with a Moby Dick reference in the form of a spaceship called the USS White Whale.
A remaster of the original 2015 Wii U game, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is set to release for the Nintendo Switch on March 20. As a standalone story, it acts as one of the best entry points to an intimidating series. For me, it might just be the one I finally roll credits on. In the opening hours of the game I’ve played so far, carefully chosen improvements to the original amplify an already exceptional open world I am eager to get lost in.
A strange new world
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition begins with the USS White Whale crash landing on the planet Mira. This strands the remnants of humanity, fleeing from an intergalactic war Earth got caught in the middle of, on an alien world with few resources. Beyond a stylish opening cinematic and some expository dialogue in the game’s opening hour, Xenoblade Chronicles X sees fit to let you lose on the world without much preamble. This is to its benefit, as feeling like a stranger in a strange land is very much the point of the story.
The player is one of the lucky survivors of the crash, and a resident of the freshly established city of New Los Angeles. The destruction of the rest of the White Whale has thrown the city into a race for survival dependent on scouring Mira for resources. After choosing my appearance, a unique feature for Xenoblade Chronicles X compared to the rest of the series, I’m sent out to do my part.
That means exploring the sprawling alien landscape and getting into plenty of trouble. Mira is a vast open-world, and Monolith Soft shows just how good it is at making the player feel the scale of things. Mountains feel huge, large plains appear to stretch out for miles, and it leaves me feeling like an ant in the grand scheme of it all. That is only enforced by the extensive flora and fauna found in Mira. As soon as I step outside the safety of New Los Angeles and into the unkempt wilds of the planet, I am met with plenty of creatures who want to kill me at first sight.
Unlike other open-world games, however, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition does a wonderful job at making the inhabitants of Mira feel like living breathing creatures, not just fodder for me to defeat. So much of the early narrative centers around trying to understand the alien planet we have found ourselves on, and some of that includes observing the wildlife. As I wander around I am being told an environmental story about how all of these creatures make use of the land. I, and the rest of humanity, are encroaching here and it adds a real sense of bringing imbalance to a delicate ecosystem.
Small, but smart, additions
Of course, I can’t take a pacifist approach with the creatures of Mira as much as I might want to — especially when Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition makes beating enemies to a pulp so delightful. Like other titles in the Xenoblade series, X uses an MMO-style combat system. This means that, rather than pressing buttons to directly land every blow on the enemy, my party auto-attacks while I press special abilities, called Arts, depending on the situation. This brings a more strategic feel to every battle, as it’s less about mindlessly slashing and more about listening to party members and triggering follow-up attacks or staggering enemies with the right Art. This will likely be second-nature if this isn’t your first Xenoblade game, but newcomers will likely face a learning curve before it feels natural.
Combat in the Definitive Edition isn’t exactly the same as the original Wii U release. The most notable addition in the remaster is Quick Cooldown. While every Art has a timer on it after activating that restricts players from spamming it, Quick Cooldown gives a new option. Pressing Y on the controller will immediately reset the cooldown timer of an Art, allowing you to activate it again. While I haven’t played the original Xenoblade Chronicles X, the speed and versatility in combat that Quick Cooldown brings feels like a smart addition to keep the player more involved in what can sometimes be lengthy fights. Quick Cooldown itself can only be activated a certain number of times during battle, though, so it didn’t get me out of every tough situation. That’s a good thing, as it means every battle still has a sense of urgency.
Like other recent double dips, such as Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and Super Mario RPG, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition makes only a handful of carefully chosen improvements over the original. Quick Cooldown is one, but by no means the only. The Follow Ball, which can guide players to mission objectives now also indicates any items needed to complete certain missions. It’s little tweaks like this, which seek to clarify any criticisms of the original release, that have the most impact on making Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition a more welcoming game to newcomers.
Getting hooked
So far my time with Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition has been relatively mundane, something I didn’t quite expect with a Xeno game. I haven’t gotten access to the game’s version of pilotable mechs, called Skells, that are so prevalent in trailers and other marketing materials, and I’m not deep in an overly philosophical story. Instead my time is best described as just vibing in the world.
Mira is a beautifully realized alien planet that I can’t stop exploring if only because I want to see all of its splendor. Sure I’m partaking in excellent combat encounters along the way, and grabbing the odd side-quest here and there but the world itself is my motivator. So often I find that open worlds feel more like theme parks with loose guide rails to encourage the player towards the “best” experiences, but Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is content to let me roam around aimlessly for hours even if nothing of great note occurs along the way. This actually makes me more invested in the survival story of New Los Angeles, since I get a real sense of the danger lurking in Mira and how it threatens the characters I am slowly growing to care about. I’m starting to think I won’t mind the dozens of hours still to come before I roll credits.
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition launches on March 20 for Nintendo Switch.