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RttP - Xenoblade Chronicles X: Let's tweak!

Rafavert

Member
Lately I've gone back to Xenoblade Chronicles X while awaiting some releases on the Switch. I've always been fond of the game and wanted to do a second playthrough in order to pick up new details along the way.

Mind you, this game is almost two years old. I'm not going to mark spoilers because of that and because this thread is aimed mainly at those who played the game.

One thing remains true: This game has a fantastic world to explore. It's just fun to walk around and see what we find, even if it's not the first time playing.
The combate system is solid. We have plenty of classes to choose from and as we progress and unlock the weapons, we can do some mix and match. Of course the first class I mastered was the Mastermind for Secondary Acceleration, easily the best Skill in the game.
And the Skells! We can't talk about this game without talking about the Skells.
I have a serious crush on the transformation animations:

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I understand why people have a beef with the story, but I personally enjoyed it and it has some unexpected turns such as "You're a mimeosome!" and "Surprise! The Lifehold is long gone!"
We also get served a few cool cutscenes, my favourite of which is the Skell battle from Chapter 8.

Playing it, however, also highlights some of this game's shortcoming, which is why I created this thread.

Let's imagine Xenoblade Chronicles X sees a Deluxe release on the Switch. What would you like to see tweaked for a better experience? We're talking feasible tweaks, not a new OST (though I do like it), new voice acting or getting rid of Tatsu.


Improved UI
The game's UI is generally pretty bad. Most of it is so small we can barely red anything. It's especially bad when we have a Soul Voice active and almost need to squint to be able to read what the Soul Voice effect is.

Better sound mix
Who thought this was ok? Most cutscenes are drowned by the background music.

The mute protagonist
This one is just awful. The character talks a fair bit during battle. Couldn't they have reused some of those lines for simple Yes/No options rather than the cringy silent slow nod?

Recruit members
Seriously? We gotta walk all over town to gather team members? Can't we just use our comm devices to call them? It's particularly annoying when they got some affinity and happen to be at a heart-to-heart spot when you try to find them.

Loose ends
What's up with the ending? We need closure, people! Unless a sequel is in the works. I'd welcome a Xenoblade Chronicles XZ.


What would you like to see?


PS: Bozé sucks. Didn't even recruit him.
 
Non-awful story advancement. I need to raise my various levels (of which you have at least 3) to a certain rank, then I need to do a quest which the game doesn't even tell me where that is, to unlock the next chapter?
 

Rafavert

Member
Non-awful story advancement. I need to raise my various levels (of which you have at least 3) to a certain rank, then I need to do a quest which the game doesn't even tell me where that is, to unlock the next chapter?

Aren't most (all?) of the required quests Affinity quests, which are marked on the map?
 

HawthorneKitty

Sgt. 2nd Class in the Creep Battalion, Waifu Wars
A...good multiplayer.
I hesitate to say this because this would probably be impossible considering how much power you can dish out. Maybe it was okay for casual players and mindless for people scouring the internet for builds.
 

Rafavert

Member
A...good multiplayer.
I hesitate to say this because this would probably be impossible considering how much power you can dish out. Maybe it was okay for casual players and mindless for people scouring the internet for builds.

This would obviously require a lot of work, but I think XCX could work nicely as an MMO.
We have classes, we have a big open world, skells, ton of costumization (though I think the costumizable classes would have to go)
 
So many flaws in this game I don't know where should I begin.

- Camera work: Don't you love it when you accept the story mission then the camera goes into wide free-roaming camera. It feels like I'm accepting a quest from a random npc from WoW than a main quest on a console rpg.

- Affinity system: there are a lot of affinity quests spread all over NLA but no you can't initiate them because your certain characters dont have enough "hearts", which requires you to tag them along in order to increase affinity. But most of the time you only have 1 spot because Lin and Elma are required for the quest so it takes forever to gain hearts for so many characters. What a bunch of bullshit.

- Party member: why the fuck do I need to run around to find my party member? Why something as simple as adding a character into the party has to be so cryptic?

- UI: This need to be overhaul. There are too many layers to navigate just to do something as simple as changing equipment. Battle UI is even worse. To use a consumable item, I need to push the "+" button, then navigate the window to items screen with X button before I can click the item. Most of the time it's too late and my team is already wiped.

I'm sinking 180 hrs into the game, mostly AFK, and at the end of the game now. This is probably the worst game I've put this many hours into it but I'm this close to finish so might as well push through. I should have play #FE as my last WiiU game instead.
 
One of my favorite games of all time. The sense of exploration on Mira is amazing.

I really need a sequel. I wish there was someway to communicate to Nintendo and Monolith Soft how much I love this game. As a big fan of Sci-fi and not a fan of Tales I'm not that personally interested in Xenoblade 2. I like how X took a lot imagery from Xenosaga.

I liked being able to pick a voiced "personality" with battle quips but I understand it'll be better to simply have a voiced protagonist like Shepard in Mass Effect.

More structures/dungeons/underground areas that force you out of your mech. Like in pretty much any setting with giant robots why would you know spend most of your time in one? Having more interior areas gives you a reason to get out and fight as well as proceed linearly.

I also under if you have to have more of a couple focus on a "main" party. Personally I absolutely adored the large cast if party members and going to where they hanged out to put them in. It was a fun exploration game and it allowed you to figure out when there were out for their one-on-one. Once you knew their locations it was easy for me to find them again.

Also maybe have Tatsu be a 5th battle member who acts like a mage. I personally really dug the soul voice system over regularly healing as it fit the flow of combat but I understand others may not.
 

Rafavert

Member
I also under if you have to have more of a couple focus on a "main" party. Personally I absolutely adored the large cast if party members and going to where they hanged out to put them in. It was a fun exploration game and it allowed you to figure out when there were out for their one-on-one. Once you knew their locations it was easy for me to find them again.

My gripe with the cast is that there isn't a single xeno in it. I'd love to see a trigger happy Ma-non as a playable character. Maybe have him use a suit of sort to have same proportions as humans.
 

Waji

Member
This series mostly need sound options. That's THE first thing they should add.
Volumes for music, voices, sfx.
 

Skyrender10

Neo Member
This game is special. At first it was a bit dissapointing for me. But once i began to understand the mechanics and unlock story missions it has become one of my top 10 games. But still it has its flaws

- there are a lot of missions when several items are required to advance. But aside the continent, the game doesnt gives you any indicatiom of the item location. In a giant map like this one, Even highlighted area could help to reduce time

-increase the level cap for ginding porpouses. In this game the level cap is 6

- we need more voiced scenes.

- quicker affinity gaining
 
This game needs surround sound and Japanese VO.

For a sequel I would love the fights to be more arcade. The mechs and the planet were ace.
 

Unison

Member
I had a love/hate relationship with this game.

I adored it until I hit level 30 or whatever was required to get the mech license.

Once I got the mech, I didn't feel a sense of relief and freedom... instead, because of the way the mech replacement fee worked, I was absolutely terrified to use the mech at all. I ended up abandoning the game soon after getting the mech and having it blow up twice.
 

Piers

Member
Don't allow enemies to join in on the current battle unless the player provokes them. Show how difficult an enemy is going to be other than a vague Lv. and skull bone.
 

Wagram

Member
I honestly believe they have something to prove with Xenoblade Chronicles 2. X was a pretty big blunder in my opinion.

I don't see how they could really fix the story in a deluxe.
 
This game is special. At first it was a bit dissapointing for me. But once i began to understand the mechanics and unlock story missions it has become one of my top 10 games. But still it has its flaws

- there are a lot of missions when several items are required to advance. But aside the continent, the game doesnt gives you any indicatiom of the item location. In a giant map like this one, Even highlighted area could help to reduce time

-increase the level cap for ginding porpouses. In this game the level cap is 6

- we need more voiced scenes.

- quicker affinity gaining

Pretty much all of this.

Also, I'd like to add Leaked Experience. It kind of deters me from adding a character to the party when my character (along with Elma and Lin) are at level 40, but the character you want to recruit is at the same level you left him or her since the last time you use said character in a mission.
 

Dunkley

Member
I wish Multiplayer was adjusted to allow private sessions and allowed you to take on these missions after doing the requirements in SP once compared to every time you want to do them.

Setting up playing with friends was extremely tedious to do and made me really frustrated since the framework was there but beyond the big boss fights MP wasn't really that great while it had a lot of potential.

As far as the UI goes, it needs to be reworked with bigger text. Needless to say I didn't struggle with it but it goes without saying that it was too small for comfort and if I had vision only slightly worse I would've really fought with the UI since a lot of text is miniscule.

Story advancement also needed to be a lot more straightforward. I like that they want you to do the sidequests because most of them are really nicely set up and interesting, but the pacing just doesn't work the way they got it. I really liked it when it happened, but I always struggled remembering where it left off and while there were some great scenes they sadly didn't feel too connected due to the structure and I think they could have done a lot more.

Also, I agree with OP on the loose ends. If there ever is a rerelease from Xenoblade X, please tie up the plot threads laid open last second in the epilogue. It was great sequel bait since it had me hooked, but given we might never get a sequel on this story of Mira, I hope a potential rerelease might explain what the hell happens in the epilogue, even if it is a 100% reward.
 

Nose Master

Member
I have tons of problems with it, but the battle system is my biggest gripe. I just didn't like the feel of any of the trees, not enough to do.
 
I actually really enjoyed the story. A simple story that isn't particularly common that had some excellent twists that recontextualized the entire world in a more terrifying and amazing way.

Also I LOVED Tatsu. I NEVER got tired of his chemistry with Lin, they were a hysterical double act.
 

Ogodei

Member
The game really suffered from being overambitious. It did a lot right, but failed to achieve true greatness, which i feel was due to the vast scope. Story progression was definitely awkward and the level balancing for story progression was pretty annoying. Sure they had the option to lower difficulty, but they wouldn't have needed it if they smoothed the curve of the story.

Similarly skells were cool, but the game could've been designed more tightly around them.

The final boss also left a bad taste in my mouth. He had that ultimate attack when he got down into critical health that would wipe me out every time.
 
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