u/XeviousXCI

A follow-up to my last post - https://www.reddit.com/r/XenobladeChroniclesX/s/JCkCkeToIx

Alright so, Chapter 13 in the bag and it was nice to see X have actual ending. It's still a to-be-continued ending but a better one than the original version. To me, the name for the sequel to X kinda writes itself. "Xenoblade Exodus". You can stylize it by swapping the high/lower case of the E and X to spell it like "eXodus". The 'X' can have the same shape and colour so people can tell a glance it's actually a sequel. Having a new word in the title is less confusing than something like "Xenoblade X2" since people would mix it up with the actual Xenoblade 2.

Did the story in Chapter 13 feel a little rushed? Yes, but Monolith clearly wanted to be done with Mira and move on to another world, or dimension in this case. I was never fixated on the whole "something about this planet" charade. I was more about why we only saw the Ghosts in the opening of the game and never in gameplay.

I can see the sequel opening with a summary of the story of X while they are descending to the new planet with new music like this playing - https://youtu.be/vf8AhcMdh0Q?is=iRr9QEhod1BeMGhX - ignore the title of the song, that's not why I picked it. I don't believe the new planet is actually Earth. More like an Earth-like planet similar to the opening of Xenogears, which also had a planetary ring.

As for the experience of playing Ch. 13 and not just watching the cutscenes - it was great. I limited myself to Lv50 Skells in order to make things more interesting. It was nice to have an actual endgame "dungeon" and not something you may have already explored due to the game's open world structure. I kinda wish the beginning of Volitaris lasted longer, when you are without your Skells. It's a different kind of problem solving when you are limited in what tools you can use.

More cutscenes meant more opportunities for the soundtrack to shine. It's odd when you have a composer like Sawano, who's clearly more of a TV and movie composer, do the music for a game which is the least story and cutscene heavy of all the Xeno games. It was nice to hear tracks that went unused in the original Wii U version. Tracks like "X-BT3", "PianoX3" and "LP". The same for tracks that went underutilised, like "Codename Z" and "Theme X".

As for the new music - all great, especially for both phases of the new final boss. The first phase is a clear example of modern Sawano. As opposed to 2012-13 when he wrote the rest of the OST. The battle music for Volitaris is odd since it wasn't made by Sawano. Not bad but clearly a different mood.

Liesel Affinity Missions

This was a neat little side story that fleshed out the background of how things were before the Ghosts and Ganglion arrived at Earth. The Hraesvelg Skell is fun to fly around in but it's very weak in combat as you are starting out. A lot of augments are needed in order to make it comparable to the regular Lv30/50 Skells. Nice use of the Melancholia track in the cutscene where the Skell Cruise Mode is shown off.

Neilnail Affinity Missions

They added the cut character that you could see in the art book that they released after the Wii U version. The missions added some lore to Mira and the Qlurian race. It was nice to have another Qlurian party member and see both Qlu girls together. I kinda expected them to not acknowledge that there's more than one of them now.

I will eventually go for 100% Survey Rate but I have over 200 hours on my savefile now. I feel I need a break.

I have now been playing the S2 Edition for about 130 hours and I have yet to do Chapter 11. It has been great. All the QoL adjustments are much appreciated, especially the ability to reconnect to the online servers in-game. It was such a headache having to quit out to the title screen each time it happened in the Wii U version.

I have probably done too much optional content since I have three Lv50 Skells and money for more. Ch. 12 will be a breeze since it's easy enough to be done with Lv30 Skells. (I have personally banned Support Missions since they were originally designed as Pay-2-Win boosters)

Been playing only in Docked Mode, so the upscaling drama surrounding the S2 Edition is a non-issue for me. I'm more bothered by the 30fps HUD and UI.

I'm in no rush to finish the main story since I have already watched most of Ch. 13. Only the cutscenes though, I skipped the gameplay parts. To put it short, I really liked how it all ended. And I doubt my opinion will change once I actually play it for myself. Xenoblade X turning more cutscene heavy is a positive for me since Ch. 1-12 are very thin in that regard. Don't know if it's a good comparison, but it's almost like X got its own Xenogears Disc 2 with how the gameplay/cutscene ratio changes.

I'll make another post once I have finished Ch.13 so I can talk about spoilers more freely.