Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition differs from the game’s original release in several significant ways, and players will encounter a variety of quality-of-life improvements, and even some new content, as they explore Mira. One change that has been made affects Fashion Gear, a system that allows players to change how their equipped armor looks, and it is now much easier to customize characters. That said, Xenoblade Chronicles X: DE‘s Fashion Gear system may still leave players wanting, as it does not allow for a ceratain type of customization.
Specifically, while Xenoblade Chronicles X players can use the Fashion Gear system to alter the look of every piece of their characters’ equipped armor, they cannot change what their equipped weapons look like. Indeed, the only way that a player can see their characters wielding weapons with their preferred design is to equip them with those specific weapons. Since the best weapon that a character can equip will not always be the most visually appealing, situations can arise where a player must decide between fashion and battle power, and those situations could have been completely avoided if the Fashion Gear system had been extended to weapons.
Related
Xenoblade Chronicles X’s Combat is Way Better With This Targeting Setting
Players who are struggling with the targeting system in Xenoblade Chronicles X should consider adjusting the game’s Enemy Targeting setting.
How Fashion Gear Works in Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition
Every time a player receives a piece of armor in Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, they will unlock that item as a piece of Fashion Gear. Players can then use the Fashion Gear menu to assign that item’s design to the associated slot (head, torso, etc.), which will make it appear as though the character is wearing the selected item even when they are not. This allows players to upgrade their armor any time they receive a better piece without compromising the overall appearance of their characters, and it is a great system for players who like to play around with fashion but do not want to diminish their characters’ efficacy in battle.
While the Fashion Gear system did appear in the original release of Xenoblade Chronicles X, the Definitive Edition improves it in one major way. Specifically, only items that were in the player’s inventory could be equipped as Fashion Gear in the original version, while any item that has passed through a player’s inventory can be equipped in DE. This means that Definitive Edition players are free to sell any piece of armor that does not provide desirable stats without losing access to it as Fashion Gear.
Xenoblade Chronicles X DE’s Fashion Gear Only Works With Armor
Many players were excited to hear that this improvement to Fashion Gear would be made in the Definitive Edition, and some hoped that it would be coupled with another noteworthy change: an extension of the system to include weapons. Indeed, the idea of being able to have some control over the design of a character’s equipped weapons is an exciting one, as it would give players even more opportunities to customize their party members in Xenoblade Chronicles X and zero in on styles that they really love. However, such an extension was not pursued for the Definite Edition, and Fashion Gear continues to be a tool that can only be used to select armor designs.
While the absence of weapon transmogrification prevents the Fashion Gear system from being fully satisfying, it is understandable. Indeed, weapons in Xenoblade Chronicles X are more complicated than armor, with each weapon type having fundamental differences and their own animations. This means that there would likely need to be restrictions placed on how Fashion Gear is applied to weapons, as allowing players to change the design of a weapon to the design of a weapon of an entirely different type could cause issues. For example, applying a dual sword skin to a dual gun weapon would, undoubtedly, make combat look quite strange.
That said, some players would be happy to have a restricted Fashion Gear system for weapons rather than no system at all. This system could simply allow players to only select weapons of the equipped weapons type when setting Fashion Gear, and it seems like that approach would avoid most animation-related issues. That said, this approach would require players to adjust their Fashion Gear every time they change to a class in Xenoblade Chronicles X that uses different types of weapons, and perhaps there are further design challenges that are not even being considered.
- Released
-
March 20, 2025
- ESRB
-
Teen // Animated Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence
- Publisher(s)
-
Nintendo