I loved this game so much. I'd honestly never heard of it, until considering buying a Wii U a few months ago. Spotted this out in the city, picked it up and tried it out.

Xenoblade X is such a beautiful game. From the enemies, the characters and their personality to the world you're set to explore, I loved every second of it.

I didn't do much beyond the main story, but I do hope to go back. Now, with the Wii U online services shut down, there will be quite some experiences you're missing; but know that I had no idea how to set up online and loved this game all the same.

If you can find it, I wholeheartedly recommend this game.

Gameplay
The highlight of this Xenoblade entry. In the endgame you are given so many options to create your own builds, it's actually quite daunting. The game doesn't do a particularly fantastic job of teaching any of its intricacies, so I had help from friends who taught me about good builds and what things like colour combos were. Once I got the hang of it, initiating Overdrive, chaining certain arts together, doing aerial combos were some of the most fun I've had out of a Xenoblade game's combat system. One annoying thing though are the huge (B) prompts that can interrupt gameplay, and the trouble is they're vital as its one of the best ways to regain health 😑
As for the Skells, they're okay. Flying and just the general feel of them is super fun, that's true. However, in battle these Skells feel so slow and "eh". Given that I had a grasp of Overdrive long before getting Skells, I would often just leave my Skell to take on enemies on foot. The one thing about Skells is that you can create a build using Disk Bombs that'll result in you annihilating enemies in seconds, or even less. That's goofy and helps with high level monsters but yet again not as fun as on-foot combat.
One other aspect of this game I'm not a big fan of is how grindy it becomes late-game. Need money? Grind enemies. Need affinity? Grind enemies. Need resources? Grind enemies. Want to just buy the resources? Use Reward Tickets. How do you get those? Grind enemies...

Visuals
I forgot how good this game looks, especially for a Wii U game. The environments look stunning, as has become expected of the series. I agree with the criticism I've read that characters' faces look plastic and stiff to move, meaning they aren't as expressive as they can be. But honestly that's the only thing I can think of at the moment, otherwise this is a great looking game.

Music
Having vocals in the battle theme when first playing years ago was a surprise but it's something I've grown to really enjoy. However, unfortunately you very rarely hear any battle theme outside of the "Wier fliegen" when you get a full grasp of Overdrive gameplay; it becomes so much better and more fun to use Overdrive on enemies that you'll never hear the regular enemy and boss themes. "Wir fliegen" is an amazing track, but it does make it monotonous. Otherwise Hiroyuki Sawano's music fits amazingly and it's all bangers (yes, I even find the NLA themes kinda charming now).

Story
Sadly the one thing this game lacks, that all the other games on the Xenoblade series are known for. This is more than made up for by this game's gameplay, exploration and surprisingly very interesting and entertaining side quests. Seriously, some of the stories in these side quests are so much fun and are worthy of replacing even one or two of the main story's chapters. Back to the main story though, it's very stripped down and basic. The plot twist pertaining to mims caught me off-guard when I first played the game in 2015, and the revelations towards the end are fascinating; the lore behind Xenoblade X's world is also a highlight. It's simply a shame it goes nowhere and is merely a shell of itself, knowing that MSI had a major change of plans midway through development is written all over its final story. I only wish they were more confident in their initial plan for the game and created both these amazing gameplay elements and an amazing story that would be up there with the other games. Had they achieved that this very well could've been my favourite of the series.

Conclusion
While its story is average to perhaps below average, it fills these gaps with plenty of other aspects that are even better than the games that came after it. It's super ebpic 😎 (I only hope it isn't left to rot on the Wii U, I hope it comes back in some form at some point).

What this game lacks with the Xeno series traditionally amazing narrative, has been made up for in SPADES with possibly the best open world exploration and world design I have ever seen. Every single continent in this game was a treat to explore, giant mechs to explore them with was amazing, and a much farther lean into the MMO style gameplay the Xenoblade has was incredibly fun, if not a bit under explained.

This truly is how it feels to be stuck on a whole different planet, and you should absolutely play this when it gets ported to the Switch.

my personal favorite game of all time. an extremely fun title that’s both so visually stunning and captivating. fast paced combat that still allows the player to feel a sense of freedom with an excellent soundtrack alongside it makes this game outstanding in my eyes. gorgeous landscapes with vibrant plants and creatures and a cast of characters that’ll have you engaged from the very beginning. this is in my opinion the best xenoblade game and always will be. underrated title that definitely deserves more love.

1. Awful as it is, I doubt I could have finished without the shutdown deadline. Xenoblade X took me 180 hours over two years - 30 with COVID in 2022, and 150 to get ahead of the shutdown in 2024. Maybe it was a good thing!!

2. I got really stuck in Chapter 10. I felt I had intuited combat, so I looked online for some advice. I realised I had absolutely no idea how the self-healing mechanic worked. It's easy to be annoyed when you have a moment like that, but I like it.
I don't understand why I win encounters, because the game doesn't want to tell me that. What I do understand is what to do to win, which is what the game actually taught me. Because I never managed to kill Xenoblade X, it feels more alive. Fights could always go either way, so I try my best to survive with the tools I have. I think that feeling is perfect for this game. I definitely think it's why I kept feeling tense in fights for 180 hours.

3. I was disappointed that after your mech starts flying about 120 hours in, the area themes all get replaced by a jaunty Sawano track. But I realise now that the Skell flying theme was actually a valiant, self-sacrificing hero, protecting the area themes from being zoned out by the player after 180 hours. Thank you, Monolith. Thank you, Sawano.

4. It's fascinating how good the side missions & affinity missions are. Xenoblade X's narrative is about a merc exploring a whole different planet, taking on the wildest sicko-inclined jobs, and spending time with their cool friends while nasty things happen to them. Xenoblade X is not about the main story, which is about 5% of the runtime. The moment you realise and appreciate that, you recognise how great it is to be engaging in X-Files nightmares through the cockpit of your giant mech.

5. Worth noting you only enter that cockpit after spending 60 hours on the ground earning your license. This is the true face of pinnacle.

This is incredible. The biggest issue with this game is it's stuck on a system not many people have. It has a lot of flaws for sure, the story is weak with bland characters, it has tons of dull grinding with annoying monster types. But none of that is enough to detract from one of the best open world experiences. This is one of the rare games where you have total freedom to explore the vertical and horizontal space on the map: Not only is everything on the surface explorable, but the entire skybox, thanks to your flying Skell, has enemies, locations and secrets to find. The soundtrack seems weird at first, but you'll grow to love it. It is so out there and unique. This also has wonderful side-quests with interesting stories and Branching Paths! Way more than any of the other games. Gameplay is layered and engaging thanks to on the ground combat mixed with the Skell flying combat.

Just so much to love with this one. If it gets onto Switch, day 1 buy. This is leagues better than 2.