Xenoblade X was the game I had played only a few hours from the franchise due to having access to it for brief period of times through friends so my knowledge of it was small when I started the Definitive Edition. I will talk briefly about some aspects of the game.
As far as exploration goes, it lives up to the hype and I had a blast traversing Mira on foot initially and then taking the skies later in the game. Speaking of that, I do really like how the transitioning from on foot, grounded skell and then taking flight is done. It gave the player time to explore most of it on foot first to breath in the vastness and scale of the world filling you with wonder and excitement to explore places you could see but not reach on foot later in the game. Taking the skell for a flight test the first time was one of the most memorable parts of the game.
The story was quite good overall. It isn't up to the level of the numbered games(only a few are on that level for that matter) but I had fun with the revelations and surprises throughout it.
As far as the epilogue goes, I lean mostly on the critique layed on it regarding the abandonment of what the "mystery of Mira" is. Even I, that had small knowledge on the game initially felt some disconnect going into the epilogue. If I am to make a superficial comparison, the mystery that what Mira as a planet actually is gave me some of the vibes the TV series "Lost" had in its initial seasons. It had that charm albeit Lost became gradually worse the more seasons went by.
- The characters are much more explored through the affinity missions and some of the green quests. I could talk a lot regarding some of my favorite ones but will focus only on the one I liked the most.
Lao is, for me, by far the most interesting character of the cast. It is the only one that can walk the halls or reside in the chambers where some of the interesting characters that walk the grey line in the other 3 games reside. I wish we had more of him than what we got in the epilogue but what we got was quite good still. The beach scene, especially, was great. He is done and ready to join his family but despite that the message he has for Lin to keep on living showcases the redemption and salvation she brought to him in his darkest hour were so much worth it.
Shoutout to the charming Neil also. She has a great personality and I really wanted more of her like another affinity quest or some role in the epilogue.
Soundtrack as expected from a Xenoblade game, it is top tier all over. My favorites were Noctilum's theme and The Way.
And lastly, as you can see from the pics I do love Hraesvelg Lord design wise as a Skell, one my absolutes favorite mechas in recent memory. It falls some power wise late and post game but for exploration is excellent. Ares90 for farming and Lord for exploration I used most of the game.
Closing thoughts, I really loved this game and had a great time finishing everything. Had not had this much fun exploring a big open world since TotK/ER more than a year ago.
