I was really hyped to get Xenoblade Chronicles X. I’ve been wanting to play it for many, many years, but I didn’t want to waste money on a Wii U, so I just waited and waited and waited. And good things came to me, eventually. The game is great, and it’s pretty close to my ideal game with plenty of freedom and only the loosest of frameworks for what I have to do and when. My character woke up, got a job and got set free in the field to actually do her job without micromanagement. Also all my seniors defer to my judgment in the field for some reason. I bet an intern got into the text files and made a few tweaks when no one was looking.
I really like the relative freedom of XCX. I’ve played games for so long that I don’t need much hand-holding. I’ve also read so many game stories that unless either the writing or the concept is super strong, I don’t mind dispensing with a lot of it. It always boils down to “Power of friendship/humanity!” and/or “Mankind needs no gods!” anyway. Not even a spoiler, if XCX turns out to be any different, I’ll… I’ll… I won’t do anything, because it won’t turn out different, ha!
Other plusses: there are lots of sidequests, which I usually enjoy. If anything, I wish I could take more than 20 at a time. I also love having a percentage counter that goes up as I explore areas. I wish there was a Fog of War mechanic to stop me from getting lost so often, but I suppose I’ll get my bearings eventually. I’m only 10 hours in, give or take a few.
Unfortunately, despite all these positives, it’s possible for a game to do 99% of things correctly and then ruin it with the final 1% thanks to a questionable design choice. In this case, it’s the proliferation of high-level enemies everywhere you look, stopping you from exploring as much as you want. I don’t mind having the occasional Territorial Rotbart giving me jumpscares here and there, but turning the game into a stealth game in all but name by having those crazy high leveled mobs all over the place killed my excitement dead in record time.
XCX could have made the concept work for me by making it possible to work/grind/craft your way to equipment and skills strong enough to take down harder enemies. It could even get to the point where the player actively seeks out enemies with red names because they can take them on thanks to superior gear and strategy. And who knows, the game might be heading in that direction. This is very early days for me, as I said. But I have to deal with the game as it is right now, not in some hypothetical future, and right now I am ultra hating having to sneak around when I should be marching about boldly laying waste to the indigenous flora and fauna.
Don’t get me wrong: It makes 100000% percent sense from a narrative standpoint and explains why our teams are having so much difficulty making headway in exploring Mira. It will also be a lot of fun to come back and beat enemies I used to run away from before. But “makes sense” and “fun to play” are mutually exclusive right now. I’m not in the frame of mind for sneaking around at the moment – in fact, I have never ever been in the frame of mind to play stealth games, and I have quit otherwise promising games over that mechanic. Will XCX be the latest on the list? Probably not. The lure of Xenoblade is too strong. But I’ve slowed way down on playing it because I’m not having as much fun as I thought I would when I shelled out that $59.99. I should have researched the game a little more, but I’m a simple soul: I see Xenoblade and I click “Buy.”
I have a few other issues with the game, especially with my party (who should I use?!) and with the slow pace of getting new equipment. Also the equipment is ugly. Really. But I’ll stop here for today and psych myself up to play another 10 hours before getting into those issues they’re still bothering me at that point. I hope I’ll have something much more positive to write about it next time.
