My experience with the original Xenoblade Chronicles was eye-opening, to say the least.
Before playing it, I thought I’d burned out on Japanese role-playing games. Then Xenoblade Chronicles came around and I found that, no, I’d simply burned out on the formula that had been repeated since the 1990s: move from box to box, loot chests, get to know the same well-worn character archetypes, experience the same story tropes, regain the hero’s lost memories, lay the smackdown on a god figure, roll credits.
That’s not to say Xenoblade Chronicles doesn’t feature the above—it does in spades. Still, play enough of these types of games and you can tell which ones are cynically running the formula’s numbers and which are actually enjoying and reveling in what they are. Xenoblade Chronicles is most certainly the latter—it’s practically a Greatest Hits of RPG formula mainstays, but its presentation and attention to detail across the whole production meant I didn’t care and thought the game was actually better for it. Craft was what elevated that game above its peers.
It ended up being one of those rare games that I played for hundreds upon hundreds of hours without getting tired of it. Exploring, battling, and getting to know my party members and the world’s inhabitants proved to be invigorating rather than tiring.
Xenoblade Chronicles X repeats the magic by way of an entirely different approach. Instead of following the adventures of a small merry band of characters across two giant land masses, I instead played as a character of my own design as I explored—and several times got lost in—an entire world.
And as I explored this world, I amassed a small army of allies behind me to take on the army that lay in front of me. By the end of the game, I knew these folks better than I knew myself—no small feat given the size of this game’s cast.
All this is to say: Congrats on buying Xenoblade Chronicles X and for picking up this guide! I can personally guarantee that with both in your possession, you’re in for a good time. This guide is here to make your experience on planet Mira as smooth as we are capable of making it. There will be times when you want the pace of this game to be leisurely, as well as times when you want to speed things up because you’re invested in a character or a world. When either time comes, this book will be here, ever ready and waiting as your ultimate reference.
We’ve done the hard work so you don’t have to. All you have to do now is sit back and enjoy an entire world unfolding.
Welcome to planet Mira.
— Geson Hatchett