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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- Xenoblade Chronicles X is a game I've felt very passionately about since it's initial release. The game is filled to the brim with things I love, but executed in ways that ruin the game for me. This video essay encapsulates all my thoughts on the game, and hopefully sheds some light on why my opinion is so drastically different from most peoples.
This video is a project I've worked on for a long time. Initially conceived in February 2021, I've been chipping away at this video for three years, and it's easily the biggest thing I've ever made. I hope everyone enjoys it, even if you disagree with my opinions. Like, Comment, Subscribe, all that junk.
Huge thank you to MegamanNG for letting me use some of their footage, I lost some of the earlier footage I recorded, and they were a lifesaver. Check out their channel here:
/ @megamanng
Socials:
/ clothmanz
This video reminds me of a great pee I once had, probably 10+ years ago standing outside under the stars on the wilderness of the PNW, I remember looking up at the infinite expanse that laid before me, relieving myself of a great flood. In that infinite expanse it reminded me of just how small our little planet is and how unsatisfying some of major plot lines feel. But I knew it was worth 100%ing that pee because if I didn’t a little might trickle down my leg so there I sat under the magnificent and terrifying void of stars for so long I almost forgot I was out there for a pee because by the end of it I realized just how awesome it was to get to experience those bad plots even if you get a little pee on the inside of your jeans because it really makes you appreciate the amazing pees that came before and maybe even good pees to come. Over all 10/10 best piss of my life just like this video and just like you buddy don’t let any one get you down because you are A#1
tell us more
Bro has never played a bad game before if a 8/10 game is his least favorite of all time
😂 fr
Oblivious he did if he played Xenoblade 2
@@thevoidmagician6653 lmao 2 was infinitely better than this Trash of a game, and before you say "You never played it" I still own it, bought it day 1... Its still trash but the sad thing is people want to love it to the extent that they gaslight themselves. They see the potential and will head canon the gaps.
XCX is the greatest game I've ever played after having played all the Xenoblade games.
As a game dev who absolutely loves this game to the point of considering foundational, I have to say... it was satisfying to hear an opposing perspective and refreshing to hear a deep critique of X that's more than just "it's not Xenoblade 1". I know all too well the feeling you're talking about with "conceptually everything I want but executed in a way that I hate" and "I want to love this game but I can't", and then inevitably realizing you want a fundamentally different game. Your comments about XC3 also makes me excited to play it when I finally get to it (and maybe I'll check out Ys 8 too 👀). Also, I love your accessibility slideshow, the discussion around accessibility in games is very important to me too.
There are also plenty of critiques I could levy myself despite how much I enjoy this game, mostly surrounding progression. You hit the exp/affinity grinding points already, so I'll add my frustrations with gear farming. Endgame gear farming is a nightmare just because of the sheer amount of randomness attached to it, and afaik there isn't a way to change the default augments on a gear or remove your gems or "smelt" them. The crafting system for the most part also isn't worth it (which personally I find ironic because, again, the huge push on exploration for materials) because the store-bought gear is better than most of the gear you can craft, and to me, there isn't much point in crafting gems until endgame because you can't upgrade them or your gear from what I remember. So, to me, there's no point in interacting with that system until you're level 60 in the post game. It's a problem I have with RPGs in general but especially Xenoblade and it's very prominent in X because it provides that kind of post-game content.
Long story short, yeah, I totally see why this game would set off the game designer bells and I will definitely keep this video in my pocket.
Xenoblade Chronicles (se)X
🤑YES🤑
There are a list of orders you can use in battle to influence your party to have more focus on certain things like focusing on using specific types of attacks, conserving TP ( works often enough), or activating overdrive if they have it available. There is also a side list that you can use in battle to use consumable items for health or TP which is stuff you get from division rewards.
Most enemies tend to have a rather short detection range unless they are a Zig or an insectiod hanging on the ceiling. Not too sure about superbosses. One way to run by these enemies with out trigger fights is to use the TP art Shadowrunner which Elma has or your character has from a certain weapon type from a class. Cost 1000 TP to have enemies not detect when you activate it behind them. Position yourself and activate the art thrn exit combat. The effect will last intil the diration runs out. Not efficient, but its something I used to raid strongholds.
Exploration in this game is more than just running or flying around. Its expands to battle as well, despite the poor in game tutorial. For me personally, thats where the magic was to make me a Xeno fan in general and made favor this game over the original which i got in anticipation of this game within the year of release, but never finished because of the release of X ( was at Gallahad Fortress). The e-manual and supplemental material help a little but not as much as I'd like it to. I relied an Enel's combat video and other online sources for other game mechanics.
In terms of music, I'd say Don't Worry takes time to get used to. Even without the adjustment I still wouldn't say its the worst song ever in this game. I'd give that honor to either the NLA night theme of the superboss theme. There are a few overrated and memeable tracks too, they stuck around with me for the most part. I'd say better song placement and song titles would benefit the OST. Some songs are locked to one thing like the squad selection screen or affinity missions.
Maps can be filled out more in a potential remaster. Specifically Oblivia and Sylvalum. Even NLA to an extent. I feel as though there. E more missions like the Water Filtration Plant to change and develop those areas. Granted Slyvalum is the other most foothold that the antagonist faction has aside from Cauldros. I feel as though Obilvia could have been a place to have another civilization or city located. Wrothians have a base there is one thing when doing relevant quests in the late game but I want more. Primordia and Noctilum are fine as they are as a starting area a place that encourages exploration with the twisting paths and various degrees of land elevation respectively.
As for UI other system mechanics. Increase the font size and maybe even the font style. Add the ability to read descriptions on what innate and equipable augments on gear does. Add the ability to blowup the minimap to full size to see where stuff is and layer the map to sort out the elevation levels. Even add the ability to call a potential party memeber from your ingame communication device to recriut them rather than going outof your way to find their hangout spot.
If anything a lot of the problems are a result of the limitations on the Wii U hardware. Storywise, we could have had a better game is Online functions weren't pushed for by Nintendo, not Monolith soft. Its a miracles that game even managed to run on the Wii U, yet its still a testment to open world design partly because of that fact. Seemless open world unless you fast travel or startup the game to meet loading screens. We also need audio sliders for voices and music, especially for cutscenes.
Despite any personal gripes that I may have or some of the things you stated, this is still my favorite Xeno game. Things can be fixed with a potential enhanced port. Most of its magic for me was tied to its initial release. Years later I still put up with the flaws, but I say it met its match with Xenoblade 3 with its DLC. Not overtaken, but tied for my favorites. Then there is Xenoblade 2 with its DLC and then XC1.
Haven't played Xenogears of Saga yet, I know a lot more about Xenosaga and would most likely have an easier time getting into that than gears.
I agree with both the video content and this.
I am aware of the battle commands (you can see me using them a lot if you pay attention to the footage actually), but I'll admit I forgot to talk about them. They are a good addition to the battle system.
And man no matter what I just can't get used to Don't Worry. I'll admit a lot of X's soundtrack can be an acquired taste, like the NLA theme for example, I just couldn't get into Don't Worry no matter how hard I tried.
And I'd love to see a lot of these issues addressed in a remake, but unless they're massive changes, I don't think I can see myself playing this game for a third time.
@@clothmanz I was more of a listener than a watcher due to the nature of my daytime job. Waited till I got hone to wtite a comment.
Despite everything I have an easier ti.e getti g into XCX than XC1. Xeas also the reason why i never finished 1 why is why I'm gorcing myself to finish DE or at least get past Galahad Fortress whete I originally stopped in favor of X and future Xeno games.
As an individual game, X is one of the titles that helped defined my personal taste in games despite the flaws.
Small list of games categories to define my taste.
Exploration: X
Story: Persona 3 + 5, SMT 4, XC2
Gameplay: XC3, SMT 5, Astral Chain
Honorable Mention: Shadowrun
Most of the titles had something(s) in common.
X is my favorite game of all time, but this video is excellent. I'm going to add to my thoughts as I watch.
I was never disappointed by the main story, although that's partially because I'm very biased in its favor. I love sci-fi and I love detailed worldbuilding, so I was always more interested in NLA and the sidequests than I was in the main plot. I quickly realized that the "main" plot is there to service the "side" content, contrary to typical design. And my god, the unvoiced sidequests in this game compared to every other Xenoblade are incredible. The way the status quo changes as new races arrive in the city still impresses me so much.
I also love that some areas are just wildly high level. X really feels like landing on a hostile planet and just wandering into the wilderness. I went to Sylvalum before reaching Oblivia, and crossed the ocean to sneak into Cauldros as soon as I got my Skell. Both of those experiences are so special and memorable to me. Field skills also never bothered me, instead I appreciated having something to remember and come back for later. (That probably sounds like cope, but I swear that's my genuine feeling.) Never had a problem with enemy sightlines, I've snuck by many times and I've run away many times.
Party formation really isn't that important, although on a first playthrough I understand why people would assume it is. On my second run, my character and Elma are both FMJs and shred everything. Like every other Xeno game, the best setups don't involve healing.
I completely understand all of your UI complaints. None of them caused any issues for me, but they're also either things that clearly affected your experience, or things that other games had simply done better before X came out.
For my experience, the map was occasionally inconvenient, but I could usually figure out at a glance whether the objective was on the top layer or in a cave. I also found the minimap plenty useful to make up for the gamepad map being what it is. The Follow Ball, again, it really sucks that there are no accessibility features available to you. For me, it works perfectly.
Every song in this game slaps. Every one. NLA Day. NLA Night. Black Tar. Don't Worry. Wir Fliegen. The Key We Lost. I love every lyrical track. And of course all of the continent themes and cutscene music. I do SINCERELY hope that a remaster adds the option to disable Wir Fliegen and Don't Worry for people who want that, which ain't me. (I feel the same about 3's chain attack theme.)
I adore every continent. The lakes, waterfalls, and caves of Primordia. The jungles, poison swamps, Qin Long Glades, and Divine roost of Noctilum. The giant rings, beaches, ravines, and mountains of Oblivia. The white desert, caves, Delusian Mountains, and secret areas of Sylvalum. And the lava fields, enemy bases, mining rigs, and White Phosphor Lake of Cauldros. All mesmerizing.
Fuck the Blood Lobster. I love NLA so much, I love running around on foot, I love getting info from random NPCs. I HATE the Blood Lobster.
...Oh wow. You addressed a lot of this at the end of the video anyway! Although, I also love Xenoblade and don't care at all about Monster Hunter or Warcraft. I call Xenoblade my favorite franchise of all time, and 1 and 3 are both probably in my top 20 favorite games. And X is my favorite. It really is funny how people can have such different experiences coming at the same product from a similar starting point!
Last edit: Fuck yeah, Skyward Sword love!
Glad ypu enjoyed the video! I loved reading your comment because the whole time I was like "Oh they're going to love what I have to say at the end of the video" lol
43:56 as a nativ german speaker, I did not understand anything from Wir Fliegen, without lyrics
You are just wrong sir xD
Least favorite game of all time? Sounds like sensationalism.
Bro elma being an alien is the entire reason humanity survived, she warned the world leaders of the impending threat. The story isn’t good, but not putting that together shows that you werent paying attention
I'm aware of Elma being the one to warn them. That's part of what I meant by "...doesn't really add anything outside of explaing a few lines of dialogue."
Specifically one of the lines I was referring to there was one where Nagi says something about how they owe it to Elma for getting them off Earth.
Just didn't really feel like explaining further because this was such a nothing reveal in my opinion lol
Nah bro, you’re flat out wrong…
The conclusion of the video is that Xenoblade X isn't a bad game, it's just not my thing, so are you saying I'm wrong for acknowledging that it's a fine game?
@@clothmanz Yes
@@thetechrealist you know what, fair
@@clothmanz 😂
its so funny how Xenoblade Chronicles X is my favorite game of all time and yet i agree with almost everything you said, i say that its the best game ever made and worst game ever made at the same time
my biggest disagreement however is the story, i do think its hilarious that half of the story isnt explained but i also think people focus on the wrong thing, the story is about humanity and other Xenos working together to survive at the brink of extinction, the game is mostly about the world and the people and less about the actual "main story", its a fragmented thing to show how people survive together, sometimes the lack of information and on whats going on is exactly to support the idea of being lost and scrapping to survive in an unknown planet, its not the best one at doing that either, but if the focus is only given to the main story you will always be left disappointed instead of seeing EVERYTHING, even side quests as the whole story.
edit: here is a tip, in Chapter 10 boss you actually need to attack 4-5 shields around it and not the ship itself, if you attack the ship it will be the worst battle ever, if you attack the shields and enemy spawners first the battle will take 3-4 minutes max
That's actually a really good point. The story should be viewed more as the whole experience, not just the main plot, and i think i focused a bit too much on just the issues within the main story and dkdnt look at the bigger picture.. Like as I said in the video, I think the side quests do a great job at fleshing out the world and characters, and them combined with the main story does make it a better experience.
Also tbh in the playthrough I did for this video, I didn't do that many sidequests, so they weren't really on the mind when writing about the plot oops
Oh how I wish for a Definitive Edition of this game where they improve the QoL aspects in the same way they did for XCDE. I share many of your gripes with it, although they haven't impacted my enjoyment of the overall game quite as much as it did yours. What I do 100% share though is the absolute PAIN of losing Lao without any way of getting him back even in postgame, that sucked BIG TIME :D
Yeah I undersold how PISSED I was about the first time I played the game. Because I was so tired of my fourth party member dying that I spent a good few hours grinding my party with Lao in it after Chatper 9 kicked my ass so hard. And I had some good gear on him too.
The one nice thing is that you can get Lao's gear back at the very least when you reach max affinity with Doug... but by then his gear was obsolete so it was too little too late.
Ok so, this is by far my favorite game ever, and watching your point of view is quit interesting, so thank you for this video, after all, every one have an opinion on something and it can be positive or negative, i don't agree with you for a lot of things, but i agree with some, and the only things i can say it's : not every game is perfect.
"Not every game is perfect." A valid argument, but I raise you a counterpoint. Putt Putt Saves the Zoo.
Hey! So I saw your video and username and I realized that I recognized your username, but I definitely haven’t seen your videos before, but then I realized I recognized it because I’m one of Erica’s high school friends who jumped onto your stream that one time and told you to eat bob. Anyway, I gave you a like and a sub (although I haven’t watched the video yet because I’m actually at work right now lol) Im a big Xenoblade fan but I haven’t actually played X yet, so i’m curious about your take, because I’ve only heard good things before. I’ll be sure to watch when I have the chance
Meanwhile I'm sitting over here staunchly believing its the best non Xenosaga game in the entire franchise.
Xenoblade X can't beat the all time classic that is Xenosaga Freaks
This is better than any Xbox game ever made lmao
it's funny, there are so many points where I agree with you and yet X is one of my favourite video games of all times, including XC1 btw. anyway awesome video :) (also I went beyond 100%ing this game last year and even tried to farm gear with perfect perks on it and despite putting several hundreds of hours into this task, I still went out unsuccessfully with some equipment, so there's another point you could add XD)
Glad you enjoyed the video! I was worried how some fans of the game would react to it, but its good to know there's some people who love the game who can still enjoy the video.
Also major cudos to you for even attempting getting all those perfect perks, I just said good enough when I got my survey rating to 100% and all party members to 60 lol
Say what you want about this game but it not being great is a far fetch.
You should probably watch the last 10 minutes of the video bud
It is a shame that your color blindness locked you out of overdrive, because infinite overdrive is the bread and butter that makes X fun to play. Once you know how to do it, you can set it up for just about any class and have your avatar hard carry combat to the point where the rest of your party is nearly irrelevant. In my last playthrough, I only ran party members to build affinity. Even with Elma and Lin, there was a solid 10 level gap between the party and the avatar for most of the game. I do wish that there was a way to turn off Wir Fliegen, though. I never heard The Key We've Lost in-game, I had to google that shit later.
Yeah I feel like I undersold just how much the color thing pisses me off. Color based game mechanics are THE thing that ruins games for me the most.
When I first played the game, I had someone on GameFAQs give me an art preset and instructions on what order to use them in. So I've experienced how busted infinite Overdrive can be, I just didn't bother doing that again for this playthrough.
@aBOreSSs OK buddy I'm all for constructive criticism, but I draw the line at ableism.
tbh I was gonna just leave a comment saying "this is my least favorite video of all time" cuz a lot of it is pretty frustrating, but then you mentioned the colorblindness, and it never occurred to me that Infinite Overdrive basically requires knowing the right color combinations, oh my god I'm so sorry😭😭😭
But yeah no the comparison to Ys VIII in particular is maddening to me personally because my Avatar in Xeno X is actually Adol, I love both games. I roleplay that BLADE created a J-body based off an old Esterian legend, and the reason he has no memories is because he was never from earth to begin with because he's a storybook character come to life. Bryce Papenbrook is literally one of Male Avatar voices, its too perfect. And then when Adol stops Elma from killing Lao like oh my god come ON
Idk, I just really like Xenoblade Chronicles X. The UI is cluttered and has unnecessary steps sure but it wasn't so bad that it bothered me, probably since none of it feels like it hinders game progress. I'm playing it on the Steam Deck so readability isn't an issue for me, and I don't really mind looking stuff up at all. The game is chill enough that I can listen to a podcast while playing it, yet engaging enough that I can't put it down. Not to mention how beautiful it is to look at, even on foot.
And I feel really bad that one of the best features is apparently forever locked away to you because of your disability, but Overdrive is just stupidly fun. I aggro'd an entire base of lvl40 Prones and Mechs in a corner base of Oblivia, and I must've been in overdrive or like 5-7 minutes straight as Adol Sliding Slinger>Executioner'd his way through the whole damn armada, jumping up several levels and class levels for the whole party. I haven't even started chapter 6 on my current playthrough. And on my first playthrough, I didn't even use Overdrive.
Personally tho, what I love the most about Xenoblade X are all the red question mark missions. You made vague allusions to the fact that NLA expands a little into Primordia the more missions you complete, and that you wished they did more with that. Idk, I was really satisfied how by the end of the game, NLA was flooded with Ma-non, Prone, Orphean, Wrothian catgirls, learning about all these different alien cultures and watching them mix with and brush up against the best and worst of humanity. It's just not something I've seen in any other game before or since. It's very obvious to me that most of the love went into these missions, and it's such a shame that none of the reviews of this game ever mention them.
Skells, Custom characters, Blue room Ost track? I can tell you the combat-Enemy agro system dident impress me much but I can fully appreciate a 6 wheeled car drop On occation as long as they know where its dropped.
I think Xenoblade X is a lot like Majora's Mask, if you just play the main story its gonna be disappointing, you're gonna feel unequipped half the time and your experience will be over quickly and leaving you empty. The real meat and potatoes of both X and Majora's Mask are in their side charaters/stories, the world building, the neat little nooks and crannies with secrets in them scattered throughout the world that rewards you for finding this out of place location, etc.
Its funny you mention that, because I'm actually not a huge Majora's Mask fan either, and thats because while I think the side conent is the best in the series, the main adventure is easily the worst out of the mainline Zelda games.
I do agree that X's strengths are in its side content. the only issue is X punishes you half the time when you find one of those cool nooks and crannies by saying your Field Skill isn't high enough:/
lol...its literally the best jrpg to date...nothing comes close
Great video mate. i only beat the game about a month ago and i had the exact same issues with the game you had. the "Things I like in games but done badly" part really spoke out to me in particular. i dont think you really mentioned it in the video but one of my biggest problems with the game is how enemy level ranges work, you can be killing lv 20 enemies in one part of the zone and then you walk like 10 seconds up the road and its lv 50 enemies and the whole game is like that it doesn't make sense why the game was designed this way.
Now that you mention it, that reminded me that I forgot to put talking about that back into the script 💀
Had an earlier draft where I talked about that, but took it out because I thought I could word it a lot better. It was right around when I talk about how every continent has its corner with Level 10 enemies. Similar thing happened with how I said, "I'll talk more about customization later..." I took that later part out because I decided it was a bit repetitious, but forgot to take out me saying I'll talk about it later.
Guess that's what happens when you write a script over the course of 2 and half years lol
Doesn't seemingly random level ranges happen a lot in Xenoblade games in general?
@@lpfan4491 not anywhere near as much in Xenoblade X. I'm not exaggerating when I say that the whole game is like that
@lpfan4491 This is kind of what I was talking about when saying the world design should have followed XC3's world design more. All areas HAVE higher leveled enemies, but they're in clearly defined side areas and you can see them coming up (with the occasional exception) whereas X just kind of throws a group of level 45 enemies in the same area as a group of level 30 enemies.
@@clothmanz X is an open world, quest will get you all over Mira, navigating your way around enemies isn't just an option it's a skill you have to master, you understand this as soon as chapter 5 pretty much ask you to find a way around high level enemies, Mira is not waiting for you and you don't have to wait to explore it either. I don't get how it's supposed to be bad for the game.
Heartbreaking: someone called Xenoblade X bad but they made a great video that you found yourself agreeing with.
I love Xenoblade X but I still found myself watching the video all the way through because every point you made was completely valid (or just funny), goated video!
Glad you liked it! I got more Xenoblade related videos cooking so stay tuned 👀
Someone made a great video? Where?
When I first played the game, it was a snooze fest for 10 hours. Once I read the manual and learned how things worked, it became one of the most fun gaming experiences I've ever had. It's like breath of the wild with mechs! Sure I have complaints that everyone else has, but I really got into it. Hopefully a definitive edition will be able to smooth things out...and add substantial story content
Kind of insane how we had reverse experiences lol
But I actually think your Breath of the Wild comment is interesting because it is honestly insane the amount of freedom you have with Skells both in terms of combat and exploration. Hell, Skells are the part of the game I by far have the most praise for
Your history with Operation Rainfall is very similar to my own. Lol. I supported the cause to get The Last Story. Sure, this "Xenoblade" looked interesting, but it wasn't my priority. While I did enjoy The Last Story, and I own (and haven't beaten) Pandora's Tower, Xenoblade Chronicles on Wii became my favorite game ever out of nowhere. I bought XBX hoping to recapture some of that magic, but I struggled with it. I ultimately dropped it to play XB2 and XB3 and enjoyed them immensely, so I decided to revisit XBX for one last hurrah before the servers went down. I beat it today. I... didn't really enjoy it, despite really respecting what it was trying to do. It just didn't quit hit for me.
Very good and entertaining video. I only was able to pour 60 hours into the game, got stuck at a boss battle and just watched the end on TH-cam. Overall my least favourite Xenoblade game, it just felt overall weird, but I still listen to its OST regularly :)
Excellent editing, humor and story telling. Hoping the algorithm picks this one up.
Yeah I'll never understand the decision to have Don't Worry play every single time you fly in a skell, lmao. I feel as though it would've been a really effective to just play the first time you initiate flight during the A Girl's Wings mission, giving the player a sense of freedom from being able to fly with their skell for the first time.
Yeah I've had that exact same thought.
Tbh I think the reason don't worry plays all the time might be a programming cover up. When using the mod to turn off flight music, I noticed that sometimes no music would play for a bit when switching between continents. The bus for changing the music is probably triggered at choke points between continents, so Don't Worry hides that fact. Could be wrong, I'm just going off my own game dev experience and don't feel like touching this game ever again to test it any further
I'll tell you that on PC, one of the mods removes the song, it's so much nicer
@@chronodis Yep, I've used that before on cemu. Makes flying thru Sylvalum especially an incredible experience lol
I have such weird nostalgia towards this game. Like I fully agree with almost everything here but I cant hate this game lmao. There is just a certain charm to it that I cant explain. Probably just my nostalgia for the wiiu and the time it came out but idk. I wouldnt replay this game unless it gets a remaster with a huge overall to all the systems but I kinda look back at it fondly even if its a mess. Like the world in this game is just so beautiful. You cant do much in it but the atmosphere and the music when you're running around sylvalum at night is insane. Either way definitely my least fav Xenoblade too but I respect them for trying something different even if it didnt fully work out for everyone. (Also yes the skell flight theme is my worst enemy)
wait til this man finds out about xenoblade 2
Oh just you wait. I got something cooking that's almost twice as long as this video...
This video makes me feel *seen*. I agreed with so much in this video, I think the only thing I disagreed with that I remember is how the world is often stitched together, that seems to be intentional as noted by the concept art so I think it justifies its wild contrast.
If you end up making more videos like this I'd totally watch, especially UI since you seem to be passionate about it.
Glad you enjoyed it! I got two other videos cooking right now. One shorter one might be done this month, and a longer one more akin to this video about Xenoblade 2 that will probably be out in late April or May so stay tuned!
lol xenosaga pfp. the sheer irony
It's indeed the best open world game imo. I agree that part of it is pretty much more grinding but this game is still the complete package of JRPG even with a lesser story. Even without the online function as the Wii U online is shut now, Xenoblade X remains the game to hold your Wii U from falling apart. I was hyped about the game before release but it did feel tedious the first time playing through and there were some changes done from the Japanese -> English version I didn't agree on. I know for you, you felt like you had to rush through to finish the story of this game and just not touch it again. For me, that's different, Xenoblade X is the only game I feel like I can fly through the ocean and look straight at a sunset. I don't think any other RPGs (like the one you tried to compare at the end) can give me the same feeling. For the designs and challenges of any game, there are always a roadblock somewhere that the developers would turn you away from, but I never feel like there's any roadblocks in this game, there's just so many things you can do in this game, maybe too much for some players to look into. Xenoblade X will always await you to 100% it so you you can beat every monsters without a struggle. 😉
When it comes to Xenoblade X, I also was extremely hyped for the release. I picked up xenoblade 3DS port bc I thought, "fuck it, it has the 'i'm really feeling it guy' from sm4sh in it". I didn't realize I was buying what would become one of my favorite games of all time. I was so hyped for X, I went to Nintendo NY (called nintendo world at the time) on the morning of the release with my friend to get the special edition. It must've been like 5 am and the store opened at 10 lol
When I did finally play it, I remember feeling like I was playing an upgraded version of Xenoblade. It stemmed from going from handheld to console. I truly enjoyed the game from start to finish, though a lot of your critisims of the game i felt the same way. Fuck NLA, fuck the party system and FUCK field skills.
After beating the game though, I ended up really enjoyed finding different ways to break the game using overdrive. That feeling of stomping on everything while maintaining the overtime counter was exhilerating. I also liked the way you could customize your preffered ranged and melee weapon combo. After mastering the classes of course.
My brother had his own save file where he used the sniper and knife while I settled on the minigun and photon sword. Seeing that overdrive number max out and seeing unreadable damage values gave me and my brother so many dopamine hits. The multiplayer was the perfect place to test out our latest art setups and see what other people were doing to break the game. Sadly everyone else was just defaulting to the dual machine guns and regular sword (If I have to hear Zero Zero activated one more time). I spent so many hours grinding back in the day to find the perfect combination of weapons and arts just to optimize TP gain and overdrive stacking, I loved it. Its definitely the part of the game that made it one of my favorites and have fun memories of playing it with my brother.
What you said about what other people would enjoy about the game really resonated with me, especially considering all the game review and critique content I consume. Something that you just mentioned in passing about breaking the game with overdrive ended up being one of my favorite parts about the game. Everyone should form their own opinions about the games they play bc everyone clicks with different parts of each game. Its reductive to just say "game bad" bc theres so much that goes into the making of the game. So i appreciate this video detailing your persepctive on one of my favorite games :)
Also I like the joke about Xenoblade 2 being on thin ice bc I never finished that game LOL.
I loved your comment about how a passing comment I made ended up being your favorite part of the game, because that just perfectly sums up how I feel about game criticism. Different things resonate with people in different ways. Like genuinely one thing that can make me LOVE any game is a map that is blank fills out as you explore it. That single handedly can make me enjoy a game way more. But for most people that's such an after thought.
I also like filling out a blank map, but it's just a nice thing to have for me. Kinda cool how there are different levels of appreciation for the same thing 🐧
How do you feel about the other games in the series? Have you played Xenogears or Xenosaga? Thoughts on XC2 & 3?
I've played every single Xeno game
Xenogears is one of my favorite games of all time, and rivals that XC1 for my favorite Xeno game
Xenosaga Episode 1 and 3 are great. Some of my favorite PS2 RPGs. Xenosaga Episode 2 sucks on the other hand.
Xenoblade 2 is the best 7/10 I've ever played. I absolutely love the combat, world design, and music. Don't like the story, character designs, Blade system, and some random mechanic changes. Torna the Golden Country fixes almost all my issues with base XC2 and I like it so much more.
Xenoblade 3 is fantastic. I think it has some pacing issues, a rather forgetable OST, and a few design quirks here and there that I'm not huge on. But the character writing, combat, and exploration FAR out way any gripes I have with it. I already love this game, but would you believe me if I said I like Future Redeemed even more?
@@clothmanz awesome! Funnily enough, 2 is my favorite game in the XC trilogy with 3 in the middle and 1 on the other side of the spectrum. (They’re all still fantastic.) admittedly I haven’t played X (waiting for it to get a definitive edition remaster.) I managed to get a hold of Xenogears recently, and I’m hoping Namco gives us Xenosaga remasters which looks to be more likely than ever.
As for the expansions, I didn’t really care about FC (not bad just mid.) Torna was pretty good and helped streamline a couple of mechanics from XC2 which is neat, and FR was damn near perfect IMO (only really suffering from being too short to develop some of its characters.)
@gilbertguerrero2916 oh yeah I forgot about Future Connected (that should give you a good idea of what I think of it)
I've always said, this could be my favourite game of all time.
JUST NEEDS A BIT OF POLISH AND A PORT HINT HINT WINK WINK NINTENDO
You can use battle commands to instruct the AI members to not use TP, so they conserve it and they always have TO in case the Avatar dies.
There are plenty of useful battle commands in X that unfortunately get underutilized by players. Being able to tell Elma only to get out of her skell to set up decoys for everyone else, restricting the whole party to purely melee or range to bypass partial invincibility and getting other party members to enter overdrive ahead of you to benefit from extra duration on your own from their soul voice to name just a few.
@turtersvongenbu yeah if I could go back and change one thing about the video, I'd talk about Battle Commands because I actually do like that feature, but just found it not the most user friendly thing to use.
I’m glad I gave up on this game early, this video validates my decision
good vid, i was planning on playing this for the 2d first time soon (i played it a bit during 2017, about 10 hrs, just lost interest on it... i found it too complicated and time consuming at the time) but it seems my 10hr assesment was mostly accurate. I'll just play XC1 and 3. shame, because the skell gameplay looks fun, not worth to invest 60 hrs on it tho.
Play XC1 and 3!!! They're so good!!!
play it on cemu emulator... plays on 240fps 1440p with countless mods to reduce the grind and simply enjoy the game:)
Great video Zach! I would love to see more of these kinds of vids from you!
lovely work
Yeah, this basically sums up almost every thought I've had about the game. I think what really doomed this game for me was the story though. I knew going in it ended on a cliffhanger, but thats not even an accurate statement because in order for it to be a cliffhanger, there would have to be a cliff to hang off from. It's a ledge hanger, in that there's only enough story for a ledge. X's ending would be like if Xc1 ended just before Satorl Marsh or of Xc2 ended just before chapter 4. And what little story is there is just so lackluster. For one, losing the Lifehold just doesn't make sense. not only because its just out in the open a few miles away, but also because the Lifehold in theory should have been transmitting a million remote signals to every Mimesome on Mira, so it would have been impossible to lose. The fact that it turns out to be broken only highlights how strange it is that nobody found it strange that the Mims were working despite having no signal from the lifehold. Elma being an alien being an alien is a baffling reveal because it doesn't even remotely matter. Unless you've been doing every sidequest which most people weren't and shouldn't have to do, its just a weird pointless reveal that adds nothing, because she's not enough of a character for it to matter. But my biggest gripe is with Lao, because his motivation makes no sense. Him being mad at the government is fine, but teaming up with the Ganglion is just asinine. It's like if an arsonist burned down your house, and the firefighter saved you first because you were a useful mechanic but didn't get to your family in time, so you team up with the arsonist to get revenge on the firefighter. Like being mad at the firefighter makes sense, but the arsonist literally burned down your home and killed your family.
I remember the part were in order to get to one of the last chapters, you have to do an affinity quest with one of the side characters A character I had never used, and had no idea where he was. So after finally finding him, and seeing he was thirty levels under, and I needed to raise affinity with him, despite X using Xc1's arbitrary affinity system, where theres no way to actually know how much affinity you have and how much more you need. I decided the quickest way to raise affinity was to hand in material quests with him in the party, which took hours. And then when I went to check the affinity screen, it turned out i had accidentally triggered a bug that causes the game to softlock on the affinity screen. So I had to close the game, losing hours of progress and do it all agian. all so I could do a quets for a character I didn't care about, to get to an ending that doesn't actually end, onlt ot find out I was supposed to have been buying a better Skell, because skells don't level up, so my skell would get destroyed immediately at the final boss, and the game had done such a bad job of explaining itself that I still didn't have strong enough grasp on combat to beat the final boss.
Thats when I gave up and watched the end on youtube and decided the ending wasn't worth all that effort anyway. So I have zero desire to see this game ported to switch. I want them to rebuild this game conceptually and make it into something worth playing.
The return of the king. Fantastic video dude!
I've come a long way since The Mudkip Overlord days
Yeah I agree with pretty much everything you said. I think the thing that dissapointed me the most was the story and I was already warned that the story in this game is the weakest in all of the Xenogames. And it is so frustrating bc around the end and in a few sidequest you can really feel, that they have crafted alot of story and content that didn't get the time to really shine. (I think in the Iwata-Asks Interview the team said they wrote the most story for this game than any of the games before, which is a insane statement if you compare the other Xenogames) I really hope if XCX ever gets a remake it will be closer to their original vision. Still a good 7.5 game tho
I felt the exact same way about Xenoblade X -- I played it a lot, but only once. The shallowness of its plot makes it not belong in the series in my opinion.
It's a fine enough game on its individual merits, but as a Xenoblade game, it fails in almost every way. The numbered entries all have such incredible creativity to them.
the quality of the plot of 2 and 3 should have lost them the Xenoblade title, at least X has very good gameplay
An underappreciated bit of game design in X: Since you effectively only get 1 party member choice, the developers employed character designs duller than a nerf bullet to ensure an equal sense of apathy towards them all and prevent any conflicts of interest for the player.
First
Nice video! As a fan of the series who's also massively disappointed in this game, this is a very vindicating watch. I agree that a lot of the OST is great but I can't believe you didn't mention how grating the New LA music is. That song makes me wish my eardrums would explode.
I actually flashed it on screen at 41:54 when saying a few songs don't hit
I literally made stops while flying because i couldn´t stand the anime theme song music during flight.
looking into the development of X, yeah they 100% borked the development of it. the original story idea was much better
Its fun