Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is worthy of its subtitle. The game looks cooler, feels better to control, and has plentiful quality-of-life improvements. It’s also got some bigger, meatier, fare that is sure to have a mighty impact on returning players while lending a more, well, definitive vibe to it all for vets and newcomers alike.
Related
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition – How To Get Pets
Spruce up your BLADE Barracks with friendly canines and felines in Xenoblade Chronicles X.
But what’s under the hood with this re-release? What makes the Definitive Edition worth the asking price, and why should you bother scooping it up on Switch if you’ve already surveyed Mira for BLADE on the Wii U? That, of course, is where this list comes in.
New Story Content
Let’s get the mammoth out of the way first, shall we? Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition features brand-new story content. This is especially poignant stuff, because the original title ended rather inconclusively.
Clearly, there were ideas for following up on the surprise final scene in X’s Wii U version, but neither Xenoblade Chronicles 2 nor 3 addressed the loose threads.
The post-game chapter closes out Xenoblade Chronicles X’s narrative, which is something that fans have waited nearly a decade to see happen. And it’s all facilitated by…
A Brand-New Region
Perhaps we were hasty in calling the new story a mammoth. It all happens courtesy of a new region to explore, and much like Xenoblade Chronicles X’s other regions, it’s vast, offering a fair number of hours’ worth of gameplay.
The original Xenoblade Chronicles X featured Primordia, Noctilum, Oblivia, Sylvalum, and Cauldros. New to Definitive Edition is Volitaris, a stunningly beautiful floating continent.
New Characters
We mentioned more characters already, but this really deserves its own section. After all, Definitive Edition has multiple new party members as a result. X already boasted a large playable cast – sixteen to be precise – but it’s now shot up to twenty.
The new party members are all pretty rad in their own right, and they slot into the existing story just fine. If you’re a new to the world of Mira, you might not even realize they’re fresh adds.
There are two new Skells as well. Skells, in case you’re new to the neighborhood, are the pilotable mecha in this game. You can’t actually hop into their cockpits until a ways into the story, but you’ll have a couple more to choose between before the end thanks to Definitive Edition.
Easy-Peasy Affinity
In Xenoblade Chronicles X, one of your side goals is to earn Affinity Points toward important allies and side characters. The game sports quite a few Affinity Quests, and many of the later ones require set Affinity Levels for specific characters.
The thing is, getting Affinity Level up could be quite a grind in the Wii U version. The system hasn’t been removed (which would be a bit silly, really), but it has been improved through a simple, welcome, tweak: Affinity Points are earned at a more rapid rate now.
BLADE Levels Begone
Veterans of Xenoblade Chronicles X will no doubt remember BLADE Levels and the related Field Skill Levels. Ranking up with these was mandatory in order to access many of the game’s treasures and more. It was a whole thing.
In Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, that whole thing is gone. BLADE Levels have been removed, and while Field Skills remain, and require unlocking they no longer involve their own leveling system. It’s a marked decrease in tedium across the board.
Related
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition – Soul Voices, Explained
Soul Voices is an important mechanic in Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition. Learn how to perform it and be successful with your party.
Quick Cooldown
Here’s a battle mechanic that did not exist previously. Behold, Quick Cooldown. By pressing the ‘Y’ button over Arts that are still on cooldown, you can, in fact, bypass that cooldown entirely.
If that sounds game-breaking, don’t worry – it isn’t. The Quick Cooldown bar has very limited charges, so you can’t just rely upon it as a rule throughout lengthier encounters.
Instead, you should use Quick Cooldown to blast through easy fights in less time, or for pivotal moments in larger battles.
Time Is On Your Side
The Xenoblade series has several staples, including a day/night system. In X, if you wanted to reach a specific time of day to fulfill a quest condition, spawn a monster, or what-have-you, you needed to either pass the time naturally or locate a rest spot and adjust it there.
Now, it’s simply a matter of accessing the main menu, where you can manually alter the time at any point. We honestly prefer to keep things more immersive with the original approach, but we’d be lying if we claimed we haven’t made use of this at all.
If you’re keen on this, be sure to seize the advantage when on quests which require waiting around for characters to show up in specific locations by switching the time to suit your needs. In the long run, this technique can save you literal hours from your final clock time in a game that is, suffice it to say, quite lengthy to 100 percent.
Survey Rate, Shared EXP, And More
The big tweaks don’t end there. Every five percent of each region that you survey nets you rewards, whereas prior to Definitive Edition, Survey Rate had very little tangible incentive. Beyond pushing through the main story’s prerequisites, completing regional surveys was merely a point of pride.
And remember how we mentioned that sixteen party members has been ramped up to twenty? Well, that’s a lot of characters to level up individually when you can only have four people in your active party. Experience points are now gained party-wide, saving us some real headaches.
Speaking of party-swapping, you can now change your active party almost anywhere. Before, you needed to head to each character’s specific hangout spot within New Los Angeles, which could really slow things down. In some cases, it could downright disincentivize us from experimenting with more characters.
You can respec Battle Points, more easily locate mission objectives and collectibles, there’s autosave functionality, the UI is clearer, and, of course…
Gorgeous Graphics And A Steady Frame Rate
Porting a Wii U game to Switch without at least some visual upgrades would have been odd, and thankfully, Monolith Soft spared no expense here. Xenoblade Chronicles X looks crisper and more detailed, and by and large, the cast looks more distinct, more expressive, and downright better.
Performance could be a hassle on the Wii U, too, leading to significant frame drops in busier areas. For the most part, Definitive Edition runs at a steady 30 frames per second. Sure, it’s not exactly 60, but it’s smooth, and as far as we’re concerned, that’s what matters most.
Next
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition – All Affinity Quests
Here’s every Affinity Quest in Xenoblade Chronicles X.