Back in the Wii U days, I was interested in this one, but gave it a miss. I wasn’t entirely too confident I’d enjoy the auto-battle style of combat. The pseudo-turn-based combat, as I used to refer to it as. The same situation arose when Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was getting close to release. But I gave it a shot, and did enjoy it. So, now Xenoblade Chronicles X returns on the Switch with its Definitive Edition. And I’ve been having fun with it, too.

Found by Elma, a member of BLADE, I am awoken from a lifepod with no memory of what happened. Why I was in a lifepod to begin with. Elma fills us in as we fight our way to where the humans now live. The habitation unit that was a part of the ship White Whale. A habitation unit that is now named New Los Angeles. Once there, a few other BLADEs are met, with Lin providing a tour of NLA from an airship taking us to the BLADE Tower.

Drafted into BLADE, this second chapter introduces several important elements, such as battles against tyrants and the FrontierNav system. There are various enemies of numerous sizes that can be encountered on Mira, with some more hostile than others. Tyrants are marked, having more health than regular enemies of the same level. Thus, they are tougher battles.

For combat, there’s the long-range guns and close-range melee weapons that will auto attack. Swapping between them is as simple as a button press. Or when using an art that relates to that weapon. The arts bar shows the special attacks that can be utilised, with each having a cooldown once used. More are unlocked through levelling a particular class, though at first I start as a drifter, who does have some okay arts to use. Once that class was maxed in level, I could then choose my path.

Though I’m intent on going through and maxing all the classes, I’ve already found the path I want to focus on. The commando class uses dual weapons for both ranged and melee attacks. Dealing a lot of damage through use of the arts it learns. Of course, later in the game, I might decide to cater the rest of my party to attacking roles while I take on a major support role. Though I’d still prefer to use those dual swords.

Exploring Mira on foot, there’s a lot of terrain to deal with. And paths to decide to take. After all, the enemies co-exist no matter their level. Wandering around, it’s not uncommon to find some level 11s milling around with some level 32s close at hand. Along with the smaller enemies are also the large ones. So huge they fill up the screen. And are all a high level. Wouldn’t want to accidentally be attacking one of them. Fortunately, death just means a respawn to a named location last visited.

This diverse world makes exploring fun and tense at the same time. Though there is fast travel, I would seldom use it. Preferring instead to forge a path around enemies at a higher level than me, and hoping to outrun them if they decided on a fight. Besides, using fast travel would mean missing out on experience, even if that gain is small against enemies of a lower level than me.

Come the end of chapter three, where threats more intelligent than the indigens of the planet are discovered, Xenoblade Chronicles X opens up a lot more. Side missions, affinity missions, and more party members to take out onto the fields of Mira. But, the unlocks don’t stop there. I was hoping to get to some skell action. But the mechs that are advertised as being a major part of the game I still haven’t unlocked. It won’t be long, though.

The end of chapter three is where story missions now have requirements before they can be taken on. These requirements involve completing a side or affinity mission, along with exploring the areas of Mira. It’s easy enough to know what needs to be done, with every mission providing a recommended level along with any other information, such as party members that are unable to be used during it. Or that are needed for it.

With more than 20 hours of playtime already, I’m not slowing down with Xenoblade Chronicles X any time soon. There’s a lot to enjoy with it, with plenty of great interactions in the story. Bosses that test the setup of the party, and of you. And so, Xenoblade Chronicles X gets an easy recommendation from me.

Images Taken From:
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition | Nintendo Switch [Docked]