Hey all, its been a month sincee I
reviewed Kirby and the Forgotten Land and during that time I've spent 110+12 hours playing Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition, including the new after-game chapter, which gave me those last 12 hours. So how did I like it? Read on to find out.
Just as a reminder, I absolutely adore XB2 and put 200 hours into it, but hadn't played the prior two games. In that sense, I am going backwards and, in a few places, it does feel like it. The combat is simpler (a good thing?), the plot more basic and even though most of the graphics have been HD-ified or, in the case of the menus, redone completely, they definitely show their older roots.
Lots of portions also feel a little rougher. Such as, for instance the cognitive dissonance of the plot. While it doesn't get as crazy as 2's, it does stand out as "very anime" when compared to the very western setting, which 2 reverses with a "crazy western" plot against a comedy anime backdrop. It also features more playable characters, perhaps too many to actually accommodate gameplay-wise, but very little reason to change your party out of the first three (indeed, two characters pretty much had permanent slots reserved in the three person team throughout my playthrough.) Given that multiple characters also went through the exact same plot arc, maybe some consolidation would have been in order there, or a rework to the gameplay to use more of them at once (later games fixed this.)
I also had a select few issues with story presentation, to go along with their content. The game was cut-scene heavy, which is fine, but in places it does that thing where a cut-scene will end, you walk forward twenty feet, and another one will begin. Characters also had a tendency to prattle on and on, gradually reaching a point that you, the player, were way ahead of them on. Its even worse in side-quests, which don't have voice acting but do have comicbook word bubble dialogue, which, you know, just tell me to kill ten rats already, ffs.
Thats enough dogging the story, which really wasn't bad, now its time to dog on the level design which, really wasn't bad either. Except for three levels near the middle of the game. You'll know them when you get to them. All absolutely massive with long stretches of nothing in between the fast travel points. They didn't ruin the game for me but I definitely did find myself not having fun while mapping them out. The meme about Xenoblade tutorials got its start here, and yeah, you do still get them tens of hours into the game, but they aren't awful. And most of them you can ignore and come back to later if you want a combat boost (oh... so thats how Arts work...) What is unforgivable, though, and thankfully excised from the modern releases in the series, is the climbing and platforming puzzle sections. Fuck those things. They hardly ever come up but are never welcome when they do.
That all said, I did put over a hundred hours into it, and I had relatively consistent fun, and I grew to like most of the characters, and I got something like 90 percent+ completion. So....
I give Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition a 1 out of 2 and conditional recommendation that you'll enjoy it if you want a time-sink game with a JRPG plot and interesting, if budget limited, settings. FWIW I'd recommend XB2 to everyone. That gets a 2 out of 2.
And now, as a bonus, a separate review for Future Connect, the ten hour long post-log originally released here as part of Definitive Edition.
Its a more fun, light-hearted romp that teams two of your characters from the main game with two of a third character's children. No, the game does not expand the party from 3 to 4 and yes, that is a little awkward. Its also relatively light on weapons and armor and simplifies or removes some of the systems used in the first game for the sake of time.
I enjoyed the experience, with a plot that expanded on some of the dangling threads from the first game along with explaining what people ended up doing after the apocalypse that was XB1's ending. It was a very good re-use of assets. However, it was not great, merely good. As a bonus I give it a 2 out of 2 because, really, we might well have gotten nothing but got 12 hours of fun instead, but give it a 1 out of 2 as a stand-alone product due to the issues mentioned above (short length, square pegs being roughly sanded to fit in circular holes.) Also, one last thought, maybe the ending boss battle fits into X or 3 but on its own it makes zero sense. So hey, thanks for playing our game, whatever I feel like, be sure to play all of our other ones too!
