7.5
the setting of xc1 is instantly compelling, with a unique setting and cast of characters. i would say, both story and combat wise, the weakest part of the game is the first 5 hours, but its not bad. from there, the story and gameplay improve massively as you unlock more party members.
shulk is a great protagonist, with an interesting backstory that you slowly learn more about. the rest of the characters are also quite good, and most of the heart to hearts really help flesh out everyones relationship with one another. i would consider this game more character driven, as shulk is in the center of most of the things in the plot, but it also lends itself to a grand story. these aspects of the game are probably the best part about it, and there really aren’t long stretches of the story dragging itself. that being said, i think the worst part of this game are how the women in the story are written. they all felt tied to one or more men and felt like accessories more than anything else.
there is a sweet spot gameplaywise, once you master break/topple, the game feels pretty good! but a lack of deeper mechanics, means that once you hit the 35+ hour mark, the game can feel really stale. there were a handful of harder boss fights, but most of the time i barely died to bosses. personally, i would switch between multiple party members to both max affinity and change up my playstyle time to time. grinding also isn’t really required to play this game, which is nice.
the semi-open world was also fun to explore, there were lots of big maps that felt amazing to play on switch. i've never had this game crash, and the framerate was stable most of the time. biggest complaint here was a lack of fast travel points, so i spent a lot of time walking. this was especially annoying for doing quests. i would not recommend doing every quest available to you, at least on a first playthrough. for the first 80% of the game, i made sure i had as many quests as i could completed. i don’t recommend this, as by the last 20% i felt pretty burnt out. many of the quests are item fetches with no real story/world building and not worth it. feel free to do the ones that interest you, but don’t as many as you can on a first playthrough.
graphics wise, this game does look decent, even compared to more recent titles on the switch! there were also pretty good lighting effects, frontier village is one of my favorite examples of this. again, i had no issues with crashing. the ost is pretty good too, though i don’t think as memorable as it could’ve been, some tracks do stand out a lot more than others. the english voice acting was good too, especially for being a 2010 game.

tldr xenoblade chronicles definitive edition is very much a character driven game with a compelling story and setting. lack of depth in combat can make it feel stale after a while, but the world is fun to explore if you like messing around. don’t do every side quest on a first playthrough.

this game you have to be in the right mindset in to fully enjoy. if youre looking for a sweeping, multifaceted political tale that is thoughtfully built, you have found your game. it isnt very character driven, which is somewhat unusual for the modern switch tactic/strategy games, but more than makes up for it with how enveloped the story gets.
my first playthrough was about 35 hours, which i completed in a period of 3 days. it was easy to get lost playing the game. the first 3 chapters are story heavy, but most of it is voiced and is used to setup story points to be used later. there is also supplemental material if you wish to read more about the world.
of the four main characters, frederica stands out by far. there is an element of fantasy racism here, though i argue it is one of square enix's better attempts at it. shes also one of the best voiced characters in the game. the voice acting can be all over the place, but it was nice to see that emma balentine do such a great job with the most compelling character in the story.
the branching path element is also a welcome edition. i know it isn't the best game to compare it to, but it did a LOT better than three houses in terms of branching story and replayability. the maps, characters you get, and story reflects the decisions you make which is very refreshing. the choices are also hard to make, there isnt an obvious good and bad paths. this also extends to the main endings. i made what i thought was the best choice on my first playthrough, but i still felt awful about how some things turned out at the end. and thats great! war is complicated and not everything will turn out great.
as for gameplay, i think the difficulty settings are great, it doesnt feel like theres a huge jump from easy to hard. it is harder than a typical strategy game, but there are ample settings. replayability gameplay wise is great, as you keep your levels/items/characters you got from your previous playthrough in ng+, and its easier to see where your alignment is at any given time.
the HD-2D graphics are perfect for this game, with gorgeous lighting effects. the soundtrack is also amazing, especially the rosellan themes ones.
the only complaints i really have is the at times lackluster voice acting, especially with serenoa. there can also be a bit of clunk with the camera controls in battle, but these are really minor compared to the game as a whole.
tldr great game great story, just play it with the expectation that youre going to get less character stuff
adding half a star for having a woman with pink hair