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).
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).