Xenoblade Chronicles X

Xenoblade Chronicles X
European box art
Developer	Monolith Soft
Publisher	Nintendo
Platform	Wii U
Release date	29 April 2015 4 December 2015 4 December 2015 5 December 2015

Xenoblade Chronicles X (ゼノブレイドクロス, written as Xenoblade X but pronounced as Xenoblade Cross) is a role-playing video game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo. It was released in 2015 for the Wii U. An enhanced remake of the game has been released in 2025 for the Nintendo Switch as Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition.

Playable characters

Main playable characters

Cross	Elma	Lin	Doug	Gwin	Irina	Lao	L

Optional recruitable characters

Nagi	Celica	Yelv	H.B.	Phog	Frye	Hope	Bozé	Alexa	Mia	Murderess

Development

Conceptualization

Following the release of Xenoblade The Secret File MONADO Archives in late 2010, Tetsuya Takahashi began gathering feedback from Japanese fans regarding Xenoblade Chronicles. Much to his surprise, he encountered very little negative criticism. However, he actually wished there had been more critical feedback, as he believed it could have served as both motivation and a personal driving force. One piece of feedback that stood out to him was the perceived importance of creating characters that strongly appeal to players, an idea he kept in mind during the development of later projects. In this context, "appealing" did not simply refer to physical attractiveness. Rather, Takahashi described it as the challenge of designing characters capable of making a strong and positive first impression, especially in online environments where reactions tend to be immediate and decisive. According to him, audiences often judge character designs almost instantly, forming opinions based on whether they appear "cool," "cute," or otherwise visually engaging. As a result, during the early stages of development for Xenoblade Chronicles X, the team spent significant time refining character designs with a focus on their immediate impact and resonance with players upon first glance. According to Satoru Iwata, another common comment was about the lack of mechas in the original Xenoblade, so Takahashi decided to make mechas a central gameplay mechanic of the game. Around this period, December 2010 - January 2011, Takahashi approached Nintendo producer Hitoshi Yamagami, the group manager of Nintendo's EPD Production Group 1, to propose the development of a new Xenoblade title set in a science fiction setting, rather than a traditional fantasy one.One of the main reasons for this preference stemmed from game design considerations. Takahashi noted that photorealistic games tend to impose stricter creative limitations, as players are more likely to criticize elements that do not align with real-world expectations, for example, questioning unrealistic details such as "robots don't fly like in Xenoblade X".

Yamagami approved the proposal, giving Takahashi the opportunity to move forward with the project. He aimed to fully take advantage of the Wii U's upcoming HD capabilities in the development of this new title.

For 6 months during the first half of 2011, the game's producers and directors held extensive discussions about how to create a fully open-world experience that would take advantage of HD resolution and the capabilities of the Wii U. The core leadership team included Tetsuya Takahashi as executive director, Genki Yokota as a director, and Hitoshi Yamagami as a producer, both representing Nintendo, as well as Koh Kojima as a director and Shingo Kawabata as a producer, both from Monolith Soft. During these discussions, Takahashi expressed his desire for the project to function as something closer to a new series that still carried the "Xeno" identity, rather than serving as a direct sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles. The initial goal was to release the game during the early life cycle of the Wii U, roughly between late 2013 and early 2014.

Start of development

At around June of 2011, once the discussions finished, Takahashi and Yuichiro Takeda, who previously worked on Xenosaga Outer File, Xenosaga I & II and Xenosaga The Animation, began writing the game's scenario. At this stage, the planned story was already substantially larger than that of the original Xenoblade Chronicles. To help manage the scale of the narrative, Takeda brought in Kazuho Hyodo, whom he had previously worked with on the Gundam series, to assist with the script. Since Hyodo had previous experience writing science fiction anime, Takahashi felt confident entrusting him with much of the scenario work, despite it being Hyodo's first project in the video game industry. Hyodo focused primarily on writing a number of young female characters with significant roles in the story, reflecting his personal writing preferences. Takeda, meanwhile, concentrated on middle-aged male characters, since that's what he's better at. Takahashi left the work to Takeda and Hyodo so he could focus on other aspects of the development, while still supervising, writing the initial concept and giving the main ideas to the game scenario. He focused on the settlement, the gameplay flowchart, and the music direction.

The beginning of full development can likely be traced to late June 2011 under the codename SpaceTravel. This timing corresponds with the end of the initial conceptual discussions and aligns with Monolith Soft's job advertisements seeking new staff, including programmers, planners, artists, and specialized roles such as motion designers for event and battle scenes

During this early phase of development, the team initially planned for players to explore multiple planets. However, the idea was quickly abandoned because it would have spread the game's content across several planets, reducing the depth of each one. Therefore, the team chose to concentrate the entire experience on a single planet: Mira. Since the game's scenario was still incomplete and development remained in its early stages, the team experimented with a much larger number of continents than those that appear in the final game. Internal data references as many as eighteen locations with names such as "Lunar Surface," "Sargasso," "Rose Garden," "Spire," and "Origin," among others. Their exact roles within the early versions of the story remain unknown, but many of them were referred to in Xenoblade X The Secret File Art of MIRA, meaning that, at least, they were planned to appear in the story and were part of the game's scenario. After calculating the amount of content planned for each region and the development schedule, the team ultimately decided on five continents for the final game: Noctilum, Primordia, Oblivia, Cauldros and Sylvalum, abandoning the other 13 continents. As an additional note, this piece of concept art appears to depict several of these discarded continents alongside alongside two additional human-made cities, which supports and aligns with Takahashi's desires to add New Tokyo and New Paris. Before New Los Angeles was finalized as the primary human settlement, the American city was originally planned to be New New York. However, the idea was abandoned because recreating its dense skyscraper skyline would have been technically difficult and could have delayed the project. Takahashi then recalled Los Angeles, the city where E3 was held. Combined with his personal fondness for the location, this led to New Los Angeles being chosen as the main settlement for humanity. In order to have good references of Los Angeles for the textures, cityscape and walls, the map modeling team traveled to the city to take reference pictures. In early sketches, NLA didn't have the iced-spikes that surround the city. The idea came because a designer said that future spaceships will probably have a material that acts as a cushion during a crash landing. So everyone started discussing what would happen if the gel-like material used on the ship were to fall off while the White Whale crashed into the planet Mira (in fact, the iced-spikes cannot be seen in the Wii U - Monolith Soft Trailer, but they can in the E3 2013 trailer, meaning the discussion and the change were made in the first half of 2013). The designers also offered a vending machine located in NLA that would sell an unicycle-like vehicle. The idea was approved, but didn't make it to the final game.

In early 2012, once the team had produced enough world assets and, Takahashi insisted on bringing Hiroyuki Sawano as the game composer, as he was a long-time admirer of the music Sawano had composed for various anime series. After Sawano agreed to participate in the project, Takahashi met with him and presented a concept video showcasing Noctilum and the world of Mira, which ultimately served as the primary source of inspiration for Sawano's work on the soundtrack. As a result, the first track he composed for the game (excluding melancholia, which was originally composed in 2009 for Sawano's musica album) was z5m20i12r04a28, was recorded on April 28, 2012. Because z5m20i12r04a28 can be interpreted as the musical theme of Mira, and N木ig木ht木L (Noctilum's theme) is essentially a remix of that track, it is very likely that Noctilum was originally conceived as the first area of the game. However, this role was ultimately assigned to Primordia instead, for reasons that remain unknown. According to Sawano, the first step of the process was creating recording demos on his PC using digital sounds that simulate real instruments. Once he was satisfied with the result, he wrote the musical score for each track based on those demos, while also adding performance details by hand, such as staccatos or legatos. Lastly, he asked a copyist to prepare the individual scores for each instrument. After finishing the pre-production process, the music was recorded in the studio with a large orchestra. Sawano states that he produced the over 90 tracks over three different periods, which aligns with the names of his tracks: around April - May of 2012, around September of 2012, and finally around January of 2013. Since this was Sawano's first time working for a video game, he gave ideas that were uncommon for the video game industry, like adding vocals to the normal battle theme, or adding an above-average number of vocal tracks, Takahashi thought it'd be fun, so he approved and left total freedom to Sawano. As a result, Xenoblade X was, at that moment, the project with the most vocal tracks Sawano has ever worked on.

For several decades, Takahashi and Kojima had dreamed of building a game in which humans characters and large mechs lived and fought in the same environment. In Xenogears or Xenosaga Episode II, boarding a Gear or an E.S. allowed the player to walk around areas where was previously impossible on foot. In Xenoblade Chronicles X, however, Takahashi and his team succeeded in building a world that was equally explorable both on foot and while piloting Skells. The Skell Insurance mechanic was added because the team thought it was a bit unfair an Skell can get one-shotted and destroyed while fighting a strong enemy after saving a lot of Credits (which they made Skells expensive on purpose so the experience of buying one can feel like buying a car in real life). In addition to the Skell Insurance, Makoto Shimamoto, the lead battle designer, added what he calls an "insurance on insurance" without Kojima's consent. This "insurance on insurance" consists of a quick-time event that, if prompted correctly, will fix the Skell without using one of the Skell Insurances.

As an additional note from Norihiro Takami, the primary reference used when designing the Skells was the Gundam series. Takami also explained that designing Mira's wildlife was challenging too, since the team had to take combat situations into account; there had to be battles with enemies more comparable to human sizes, as well as more giant creatures to allow for epic fights either on foot or in Skells. Also, to give Mira's alien feeling when exploring it, they wanted to aim for enemy designs that would be slightly familiar in some ways but exotic at the same time, in a way that hopefully is a little bit unsettling.

One of Takahashi's aims on this project was pushing the JRPGs into its next evolution, as well as designing the game to the hardcore JRPGs instead of being accessible to newcomers like many other franchises do. Consequently, a top priority was creating a complex game with a convoluted combat flowchart, introducing additional elements and mechanics into an already established structure. One example of this design philosophy is the Soul Voice system. Takahashi explained that players can quickly grow tired of the traditional healer role in RPGs, to address this, the team replaced the conventional healer with the Soul Voice mechanic, which allows players to heal the party while actively performing offensive actions. The combat system itself retains the basics of the one from Xenoblade Chronicles, but with an increased sense of speed. This was done to give battles a stronger sense of action and dynamism.

The entirety of 2012 consisted of the developers completely finishing the map and working on gameplay mechanics; Takeda and Hyodo fully finishing the script (both the main story and all the side quests); Kunihiko Tanaka, who was hired back as the main character designer to bring the Xeno essence, doing the character designs; and Sawano finishing the game's soundtrack. Monolith Soft created a new in-house game engine for Xenoblade Chronicles X, which would later be used for the Xenoblade games that released on Nintendo Switch. The team likely started the development of the game in a prototype of this engine and, when the development of the new game engine finished, they imported the game to the finished game engine.

Addition of online features and substraction of story

Many concepts that had been discarded during the development of the original Xenoblade Chronicles were revisited and incorporated into this project. Among these ideas were the creation of a massive open world without loading times and the inclusion of a betrayal by a member of the party. During the second half of 2012, around the midpoint of the development, the team felt that playing all alone in such a vast open-world environment might feel lonely. As a result, they once again revisited an idea that had originally been discarded during the development of the first Xenoblade Chronicles: online functionality. This decision led to a significant restructuring of the project, something Genki Yokota later described as a "mass construction." One of the most notable outcomes of this restructuring was the creation of Cross (unofficial name), a fully customizable player avatar. The introduction of this avatar resulted in the removal of the previously planned main protagonist (which may have been either a character known as "The Protagonist", very likely the prototype for Al, and, by extension, the Lone Hero, or Reina Sakuraba. "The Protagonist" was described as a young man in his twenties who, in contrast to Cross, possessed a strong and distinctive personality. Reina Sakuraba, meanwhile, was depicted as a young woman described as a hero and associated with Sakuraba Industries. Both characters were illustrated by Kunihiko Tanaka). Because of this large-scale restructuring, a significant portion of the development schedule was redirected toward implementing the game’s online features. As a consequence, several other aspects of the project were either abandoned or significantly reduced in scope. A few examples are the Black Knight, Neilnail, Emily (the U.S. president's daughter) the Ghosts, The Great One, a purple tar-like substance coming out from Mira (which is referenced in Black tar)... At the same time, some previously planned elements were repurposed rather than discarded entirely. One example is "The Protagonist" or "Lone Hero", who had originally been intended as the game's main protagonist but was later reworked into a character who had been lost in space.

When designing the online elements, the team considered there might be players who are scared to communicate with other players, while a small number of players who enjoy harassing other people. To address these concerns, they decided to focus on creating an online experience where players would be "loosely connected", rather than directly interacting with one another. The result of this design philosophy resulted in the creation the Squad Tasks systems, which can give an experience of shared online participation of other people playing the same game while maintaining a safe and low-pressure environment for players.

While Monolith Soft was adding the game's online functionalities and fully working on the gameplay mechanics, Satoru Iwata briefly mentioned that Monolith was developing a game for the Wii U during a Japan-exclusive Nintendo Direct focused on the Wii U on the 13th of September, 2012. A few months later, on the 23rd of January, 2013, Nintendo released the very first teaser of the game to the public. This teaser already depicted a largely completed world and settlement, although several elements were still clearly unfinished. The user interface differed significantly from the final version, the character animations were early and incomplete, and the footage included a game chat between three different players, indicating that the online functionality had already been implemented, albeit in a very early stage of development. However, since the developers at Monolith Soft had no experience working with online features, the initial implementation relied on very basic technology. To assist them, Nintendo's Software Planning & Development Group No. 2 helped them to refine and complete the online systems, including the integration of Nintendo Network.

Public reveal

On the 11th of June, 2013, a new trailer was shown during the E3, presenting more polished and detailed animations while also confirming a planned release window of 2014. Following this announcement, no further updates were provided until 2014. By comparing the trailers shown at the E3 2013 trailer with the E3 2014 trailer, along with the gameplay demonstrations gameplay demonstrations presented immediately afterward, it is possible to infer the work completed during this one-year period. During that time, the developers finalized the game's user interface so that it matched the version seen in the final release, recorded the Japanese voice acting, completed the gameplay and combat systems, and selected the game's final title: Xenoblade X. as well as making the decision of delaying the game to 2015. Before the E3 2014 trailer, the project was internally referred to as "Space Travel" in the game's files and audition sessions, and publicly known as "Project X," probably being a reference to the provisional name once used for Xenosaga Episode I. The title Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was intentionally avoided because the project was conceived not as a direct sequel but as a spiritual successor. According to the developers, the "X" in the title stands for "Cross" in the Japanese version, which reflects both the idea of multiple races crossing paths on the same planet and the concept of connecting players across the world. On the other hand, the "X" in the International version stands for the mathematical symbol used for an unknown factor, representing the multiple unknown alien life and exploring an unknown planet.

According to Kojima, while the original Xenoblade Chronicles had around 3000 battle lines, this number was increased to 11.000 in Xenoblade Chronicles X, to the point where the Japanese voice actors lost their voices during the recording. When Kojima saw the invoice for Mario Club's testing fees, he froze because the number was way higher than he expected. Shingo Kawabata stated that the development team barely managed to fit the game onto a single Wii U disc, which has a storage capacity of 25 GB. In order to avoid using multiple discs, the developers deliberately slowed down the loading speeds during gameplay. This adjustment allowed them to decrease the total data size from approximately 32–35 GB to 22.7 GB, making it possible to fit the game onto a single 25 GB disc. The remaining data was later made available through optional downloadable content in the form of the High-Speed Data Loading Packs. These packs allowed players to restore faster loading speeds by installing additional game data. However, because the Wii U had a maximum internal storage capacity of 32 GB, the packs must be installed on an external hard drive rather than the system's internal memory.

After revealing the name at the E3 2014, fans asked why it's called Xenoblade X and not Xenoblade 2. At the Nintendo Treehouse, Rich Amtower, from Nintendo of America and Localization Producer of the game, answered this question explaining that it's an spiritual successor and doesn't touch Xenoblade's storyline. Monolith Soft also became aware that the Wii U was performing poorly in the market after roughly a year and a half on the market. As a result, Monolith Soft decided to start the planning of their next project, which would be a sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles to answer the criticism of Xenoblade X's lack of connection to the previous game. Although they did not yet know the full specifications, they knew that Nintendo was already developing its next console, the Nintendo Switch. As a result, the studio began planning Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in July 2014, while still completing development of Xenoblade Chronicles X, meaning that the development cycle would be slightly slowed down. By this stage, however, the game was almost nearing completion. After being showcased in a Nintendo Direct on the 5th of November, 2015, a website dedicated entirely to Xenoblade Chronicles X was launched. On this site, Monolith Soft stated that the game had entered the final stages of development. Interestingly, the website itself was developed entirely by Monolith Soft. Nintendo had originally informed the studio that the official website they were preparing would require additional time before it could be released. As a response, Monolith went ahead and made the website on their own. The developers at Monolith Soft initially feared that they might get in trouble for acting independently after being told to wait. However, Nintendo simply responded by telling them to "go ahead," allowing the site to remain online.

During a Nintendo Direct on the 14th of January, 2015, the game received an "Exploration Trailer." This trailer showed almost no noticeable differences compared to the final version of the game and officially confirmed the Japanese release date as the 29th of April, 2015. By late January 2015, Takahashi had already spent approximately 300 hours playtesting the game, suggesting that the project likely reached gold status sometime between January and February 2015. Between February and April of 2015, the game was heavily promoted throughout Japan through tweets, dedicated Nintendo Direct presentations, trailers, and updates on the official website. These updates included the short stories Forging BLADE and 24 Hour Happy People. Five days before the Japanese release, an American Nintendo Direct dedicated to Xenoblade Chronicles X was also broadcast, presenting additional gameplay information. After approximately four years of development, the game was finally released in Japan on the 29th of April, 2015. One week later, on 8th of May, 2015, four additional characters were released as paid DLC. It is unknown on why they were released one week later, despite being developed concurrently with the main game.

Localization

On the 16th of June, 2015, during E3 2015, the game received its North American and European release date: 4 December 2015. The trailer shown at the event also revealed that the game had already been partially translated into English, a localization effort handled by the translation company 8-4.. In early August 2015, during Gamescom, a gameplay presentation was shown using a nearly finalized translated build that included several English voice clips. This suggests that recording for the English dub had likely begun around July 2015. This aligns with Cassandra Lee Morris's sentence "I spent half of my summer recording lines" during her Meet Lin's Voice Actor in Xenoblade Chronicles X! YouTube video. While doing the English dubbing, the voice actors didn't know they were working on a Xenoblade game, the project was referred to as "Space Travel", like in the game's files. The recording sessions consisted on Wendee Lee, the voice direction; Danni Hunt, the voice engineer; John Ricciardi, the main translator from 8-4 and voice supervisor; and finally the voice actor. Lee Morris also revealed Lin had over 1600 - 1800 voice lines, and she sounds older in the U.S. version because they thought it would sound better; a young voice over the course of a very long RPG "might have sounded grating on the western player's ears." Upon revealing the removal of Lin's bikinis or the breast customization for the avatar, there was some criticism, as it was considered censorship. Both Takahashi and Lee Morris say that the localization changes in Xenoblade Chronicles X don't bother him because he believes that adapting the content to each culture helps more players enjoy the game.

Aside from a small number of trailers, videos, and a presentation at PAX Prime 2015, the marketing campaign for the Western release of Xenoblade Chronicles X was almost non-existent. According to Dianne Segovia, marketing manager at Nintendo of Latin America, Xenoblade Chronicles X didn't receive a marketing campaign as big as Splatoon or Super Mario Maker because it's an RPG. The target audience, that being fans of RPGs and the Xeno- series, was already aware of the game’s existence and already attentive to its release. The game was ultimately released in North America and Europe on the 4th of December, 2015, followed by Australia on the 5th of December, 2015. At launch, the game only included English, German, and Italian translations. Spanish and French localizations were added later through the 1.0.2 update, which effectively marked the final stage of development for Xenoblade Chronicles X.

Music

Main article: Music of Xenoblade Chronicles X

The music of Xenoblade Chronicles X was composed entirely by a newcomer to the series, Hiroyuki Sawano, widely known for his work on Attack On Titan, Nanatsu no Taizai, Kill la Kill and Solo Leveling. For this reason, the music of Xenoblade Chronicles X is very different than that of the rest of the Xeno- series. In contrast to the more classical and orchestral themes of the other games, it is heavy and industrial, with a strong emphasis on percussion and intelligible vocals, which some of these vocals are samples.. Since Sawano and Takahashi agreed on featuring a large number of vocal songs, Sawano asked singers that worked with him on previous projects to work with him again. These singers include: Aimee Blackschleger, Cyua, Yumiko Inoue, Mika Kobayashi, mpi, Sayulee and David Whitaker; while the lyrics were written by mpi, Whitaker and Rie. Some tracks are named using Sawano's personal system of almost entirely gibberish titles with a secret encoded meaning, resulting in songs like z15f20i12e09l14d, no5=KAKU-WEST*→▲★★KAI or 亡KEI却KOKU心.

Reception

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	84/100
OpenCritic	86%
Publication	Score
Destructoid	9/10
Eurogamer	Essential
Famitsu	34/40
Game Informer	7.25/10
GamesRadar+	70/100
GameSpot	8/10
IGN	8.2/10
MMORPG.com	8.8/10
Nintendo Life	9/10
Nintendo World Report	9.5/10
RPGamer	4.5/5
Polygon	7/10

Xenoblade Chronicles X received overall positive reviews, with an average of 84/100, placing it around the top 50 highest-rated games of 2015. This score aligns it with other entries in the Xeno- series like Xenogears, Xenosaga Episode I, Xenosaga Episode III and Xenoblade Chronicles 2, which all fall within the 81 – 84 range. However, it still lags behind its predecessor, Xenoblade Chronicles, which holds a score of 92. Critics widely praised game's open-world design, exploration, enemy variety, combat mechanics, Skells, class system and graphics. aspects such as the music and the inclusion of a customizable avatar received more mixed opinions. On the other hand, the story was often described as "flat and forgettable," with a slow pacing and mostly unremarkable characters. Other disliked elements were the small and confusing UI and poor tutorials. In general, while the game had its flaws, the biggest one being the lack of a more complex story, Xenoblade Chronicles X was generally well-received and praised by reviewers.

During the Treehouse 2014, when Rich Amtower confirmed that Xenoblade Chronicles X's story was independent from that of Xenoblade Chronicles, some fans expressed early disappointment. This sentiment persisted through the Western release, as part of the fanbase felt that Xenoblade Chronicles X was too disconnected from the original Xenoblade Chronicles. Among the most common criticisms were the very small HUD text, the bad pacing (especially at the start), gameplay mechanics being too complex and no tutorials, some fans feeling a lack of incentives to explore the world, and the biggest one being the absence of a more developed, narrative-driven story comparable to that of the original Xenoblade Chronicles. Despite these criticisms, the game still managed to establish a very small dedicated niche community, particularly on platforms such as Miiverse. Additionally, after Monolith Soft released Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and the fans got the direct sequel to the original Xenoblade Chronicles that they wanted, the negativism on Xenoblade Chronicles X gradually began to decline. Even so, Xenoblade Chronicles X is considered the "black" sheep of the Xenoblade series, at least until the release of its Definitive Edition came out.

A Japan-exclusive survey conducted by Famitsu, with approximately 1,200 participants, resulted in an average score of 74/100. In this survey, the exploration and the Skells were regarded as the strongest elements of the game, while the HUD and the storyline were considered its weakest aspects.

Xenoblade Chronicles X was nominated for the Best Role Playing Game at The Game Awards 2016 and the NAVGTR Awards 2015. Additionally, Chris Cason's performance as Tatsu was nominated for the "Performance in a Comedy, Supporting" category at the NAVGTR Awards 2015.

Sales

In Japan, Xenoblade Chronicles X sold around 85,000 physical copies during its opening week. In its second week, sales dropped significantly by 87%, with around 11,000 physical copies sold. Such a sharp decline suggests that the majority of purchases were made immediately by existing fans of the Xeno- series and JRPG enthusiasts, who had been anticipating the game's release. During the third and fourth weeks, the game sold 4,236 and 2,626 physical copies, respectively. In May, the game also sold 22,805 digital copies, making it the most downloaded title on the Japanese eShop during that month. By the end of 2015, the game had sold 118,613 physical copies in Japan. Throughout 2016, it sold an additional 8,753 physical copies, bringing the total number of physical units sold in Japan to 150,171.

In North America, the game sold over 200,000 copies by the end of 2015, that is, in its opening month. It is unknown if this number includes specials editions or digital downloads. The number of copies sold in Europe and Australia are unknown. However, in the United Kingdom, Xenoblade Chronicles X ranked 28th across all platforms and 3rd among Wii U titles during its launch week. Additionally, its launch sales were 73% higher than those of Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii.

Given that Xenoblade Chronicles X is not present in Nintendo's Earnings Release for Fiscal Year Ended March 2016, it is known that the game didn't get to sell 1 million copies. The estimated sales are around 650,000 and 840,000, meaning that around 5% - 6% of Wii U owners purchased the game.

Plot

Main article: Plot summary of Xenoblade Chronicles X

In 2054 A.D., planet Earth is attacked by two armies of aliens (referred to as Xenoforms in the game). As part of the Project Exodus, humanity escapes the planet before its destruction aboard interstellar arks launched from all over the planet. Many of the ships that fled the planet were destroyed, except for the White Whale which drifted through space after fleeing the conflict as the Earth was destroyed. Two years later, the ship came under enemy fire yet again, and crashed on a planet they called Mira.

Two months after its crash landing, Elma finds the player (commonly called Cross) in a capsule not far from New Los Angeles, the city that was transported on the White Whale. They return to the city and Elma registers them for the military organization BLADE. Cross quickly becomes part of her and Lin's team to protect the city from the xenoforms that destroyed Earth and work toward the ultimate goal: Secure the Lifehold and save humanity before time runs out.

Gameplay

See also: Xenoblade Chronicles (series) § Gameplay

Battles

Main article: Combat (XCX)

The gameplay is similar to that of the first Xenoblade Chronicles. During battles, the player can select between one of up to eight Battle Arts. In this game, however, melee and ranged weapons determine the usable arts.

During the course of the game, the player can earn a Skell License which allows them to operate Skells. They are very powerful in battles, but consume fuel and, once destroyed, are expensive to restore. Skells also allow for more freedom in exploration and can eventually gain the ability to fly.

The Arts any character can learn and use are determined by which of the 6 melee and 6 ranged weapon types are equipped. Whereas the player can choose, advance and change the player character's Class with its corresponding weapons, other playable characters have predetermined classes and weapons (e.g. Elma is a Full Metal Jaguar who uses Dual Swords and Dual Guns). New arts are learned by increasing the Class Rank through Class EXP and upgraded with Battle Points (BP).

In combat, each party member earns Tension Points (TP) through the use of auto attacks and some Arts. TP can be used to perform powerful Tension Arts for 1000 TP, revive a fallen party member for 3000 TP, or activate Overdrive for 3000 TP, which greatly enhances the character's combat abilities.

During combat, when certain conditions are met, a party member may call out a Soul Voice, requesting another party member to use a certain type of Art. When the player uses an Art of that type, the Soul Voice is successful. This grants positive effects in battle, recovers HP of the party members who contributed to the Soul Voice, and raises Affinity with the party member who called out the Soul Voice. In order for the player controlled character to call out a Soul Voice, the player needs to successfully complete a Soul Challenge, by correctly timing a B press with the gauge on screen. This also recovers HP to all party members, earns TP, and increases the party's morale level by one. As the morale level rises, party members will activate Soul Voices more often and the amount of bonus TP earned for completing a Soul Challenge will increase.

Combat in Skells works similarly. However, the Skell Arts equipped are directly determined by the Skell weapons equipped. Additionally, their Overdrives give a static set of boosts while active, depending on the frame type.

Field

Unlike the first Xenoblade Chronicles, the world is entirely open world, which means no loading screens appear when travelling anywhere (except for the BLADE Barracks). The game takes place on planet Mira with its five regions: the grasslands of Primordia, the forests of Noctilum, the desert of Oblivia, the alien landscape of Sylvalum and the volcanic Cauldros, as well as humanity's home base - New Los Angeles.

Exploring Mira is an essential part of the gameplay. At its most basic, it involves discovering landmarks and installing Data Probes for FrontierNav. This uncovers additional tasks for the surrounding areas to further survey Mira. These include completing Missions and Affinity Missions, defeating Tyrants, and recovering Treasure Boxes. The survey of NLA includes Character Hangouts, missions, and situation resolution with its citizens instead of Tyrants.

The player can accept Missions from the Mission Control or directly from NPCs. Objectives include talking to NPCs, defeating enemies, collecting items, or using FrontierNav. Once Probes are installed for FrontierNav, they periodically generate Credits (which are used to buy weapons, armor, and Skells), Miranium (which is used to level up Arms Manufacturers and refuel skells, among other things), and Precious Resources.

Online

New to the series are a number of online functions. The player chooses or is assigned to a Squad when starting the game. The players in a squad do not meet directly, but can work together to complete Squad Tasks which reward all squad members with Reward Tickets. For those who wish to actively play with other players, Squad Missions can be accepted at the Network Console or by accepting other player's invitations. Additionally, unneeded weapons, armor, and augments dropped from enemies can be offered as a Treasure Deal to other players.

As of April 8, 2024, the Nintendo Network was shut down, meaning that players are no longer able to log into the game. However, it was still possible for players that were online before the shutdown to continue playing online given that they didn't leave the game or disconnect from the Internet.

Downloadable Content

Main article: List of DLC for Xenoblade Chronicles X

Xenoblade Chronicles X is the first game in the series to offer downloadable content. Free high-speed data loading packs were released alongside the game to decrease load times for physical copies. Additionally, the Japanese version of the game received seven paid DLC packs, including new playable characters, Missions, and more - the contents of these packs were included for free in international releases of the game.

Update History

North American version

This is a list of updates for the North American version of the game.

Ver. 1.0.2 (Released 20 January 2016)

• Spanish and French subtitles have been added.

Ver. 1.0.1 (Released 20 January 2016)

• Minor in-game text updates have been made.

Japanese version

This is a list of updates for the Japanese version of the game.

Ver. 1.0.2 (Released 16 September 2015)

• Fixed an issue where only one Division Point at a time could be received when playing offline.

Ver. 1.0.1 (Released 15 July 2015)

• Ordering of Ground Gear and Skell gear has been changed for ease of use.
• Divisogram calculation has been changed so that the total number of division members does not influence the value.
• Other issues have been fixed for a more pleasant gameplay experience.

In other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
English	Xenoblade Chronicles X	—
Japanese	ゼノブレイドクロス	Xenoblade Cross
French	Xenoblade Chronicles X	—
German	Xenoblade Chronicles X	—
Spanish	Xenoblade Chronicles X	—
Italian	Xenoblade Chronicles X	—

External Links

• Official website (Japanese)
• European website (no longer available)
• North American website (Archived)
• Official Twitter account (now used for the Xenoblade series as a whole)

Gallery

On other wikis

NWiki

Xenoblade Chronicles X

Strategy Wiki

Xenoblade Chronicles X

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  The game's title screen.