Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition

 Switch
User Score
8.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1336 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,179 out of 1336
  2. Mixed: 58 out of 1336
  3. Negative: 99 out of 1336
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  1. Reed618
    Jun 10, 2020
    7
    I went in with extremely high expectations but can't help feeling some disappointment. This game initially released in the west in 2011 during a time when jrpgs were going through a lull. There was a shift towards more linear action focused jrpgs so receiving a big game which allowed so much freedom was a blessing at the time. Does the game hold up? In some ways but it's definitely aged.I went in with extremely high expectations but can't help feeling some disappointment. This game initially released in the west in 2011 during a time when jrpgs were going through a lull. There was a shift towards more linear action focused jrpgs so receiving a big game which allowed so much freedom was a blessing at the time. Does the game hold up? In some ways but it's definitely aged.

    It's very nice to see a classic jrpg get so much love but you should keep in mind that the ridiculous number of 10 out of 10 reviews here were posted on May 29th, the day the game released. Most of these people did not actually play through this 80 hour game in such a short timespan and from what I've seen on YouTube the fanbase for this game... they might be looking at this game with rose tinted glasses... there's a very real chance you'll play this and realize it doesn't live up to the hype.

    Pros:
    Large world with an excellent concept. Exploring enormous dead creatures and seeing a giant sword in the distance is very cool.
    The story is well written (although it's a shame that people post spoilers in youtube game review videos)
    The gameplay is a lot of fun.
    Updated UI.
    Quest tracking has been added
    I haven't tried it yet but it's nice they added new story content
    Rebuilding colony 6 takes a lot of time but it's fun seeing it develop.

    Cons:
    The environments have received an update but not a significant one. Most of the places you'll visit are nice but they don't have that wow factor.
    Some of the characters don't receive enough development.
    The voice acting is ok but could be much better. You can tell the actors were recorded separately. It doesn't feel like they're actually talking to each other.
    Riki is very annoying (most jrpgs have an annoying character like this but he's one of the worse examples I've seen).
    Sometimes after a cutscene your party has been changed for no reason so you might run into a fight and realize you don't have a healer anymore.
    The sidequests are dull repetitive fetch quests or kill quests. There are no cutscenes and there's no story here. Unfortunately completing them is really important for levelling and gaining new gear.
    The game is very grindy.
    RNG is pretty frustrating at times. A lot of quests require you to gather items but every item appears as a blue orb so there's a random chance of getting the item you need. Or sometimes you need to fight a monster but they only appear during thunderstorms... have fun changing the time in the menu for the next ten to fifteen minutes while you hope for a thunderstorm.
    The secret areas don't have any secrets. There's no cool weapon or armor piece just more blue orbs and some xp.

    Overall I think this game deserves a 7 for its combat and story. You should keep in mind that this game released in Japan in 2010. It's a decade old game and it was a new IP so there are flaws. Don't let blind fanaticism convince you it's perfect. This is a long padded jrpg which looks dated even with the visual upgrade. However, the story is worth experiencing even if it does get a bit silly at times.

    I have an enormous amount of respect for the creator. Moving from xenogears to xenosaga and now the xenoblade series he's been making quality games for a very long time. Personally I think Xenoblade chronicles 2 is a much stronger entry though and that makes me really excited for what's coming next.    … Expand
  2. roychen
    Jun 13, 2020
    7
    Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a great game, but Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive edition is an even better one! The plot, the gameplay, the tutorial, the map, this edition is like an improved version of Xenoblade2. A must-have for JRPG fans, and a feast for whoever wants to try JRPG.

    Well after 30+ hours in, I changed my score from 10 to 7.. The game could be better polished. The main    Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a great game, but Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive edition is an even better one! The plot, the gameplay, the tutorial, the map, this edition is like an improved version of Xenoblade2. A must-have for JRPG fans, and a feast for whoever wants to try JRPG.

    Well after 30+ hours in, I changed my score from 10 to 7.. The game could be better polished. The main quests are okay, but the side quests suck. The side quests are repetitive and non-exciting, and the navigation is a huge pain.    … Expand
  3. dr0nzer
    May 30, 2020
    7
    Been wanting to play this for a while but never owned previous consoles it came out on, after owning it on the switch, I’d say it lived up to expectations, story is great, sound is excellent and remaster feels good. The only things that annoyed me was the sheer about of side quests, you get bombarded with them left, right, sideways, up, down and all over!! and the combat system can becomeBeen wanting to play this for a while but never owned previous consoles it came out on, after owning it on the switch, I’d say it lived up to expectations, story is great, sound is excellent and remaster feels good. The only things that annoyed me was the sheer about of side quests, you get bombarded with them left, right, sideways, up, down and all over!! and the combat system can become over complicated, after spending many hours the game feels like it suffers from too much from quantity over quality and this breaks the pacing and structure, this is why it hit a 7 for me. I’m after quality and whilst it doesn’t suffer from it, it does get diluted and the more you play the more it happens.… Expand
  4. rebisdee
    Jun 10, 2020
    7
    I'm just gonna say it, this game has flaws. I've played about 12 hours of it, and like it. But it's full of fetch quests and other aging design conventions, along with a bloated combat system. It seems like a great game, and I'll probably finish it. It's no 9 out of 10 but at least it isn't a standard turn based affair. The environments are really pretty and look okay in terms ofI'm just gonna say it, this game has flaws. I've played about 12 hours of it, and like it. But it's full of fetch quests and other aging design conventions, along with a bloated combat system. It seems like a great game, and I'll probably finish it. It's no 9 out of 10 but at least it isn't a standard turn based affair. The environments are really pretty and look okay in terms of resolution, but the Switch shows it's lack of power for sure. Story seems *fine*

    Overall, I 'd say this is a solid addition to the Switch's RPG library. It's possible that I might revise this with a higher or lower rating if I keep playing.    … Expand
  5. DreamCore
    Jun 1, 2020
    7
    (+)
    * Good graphics
    * Good story * Good music * Very good remaster (-) * Friendly AI is stupid and will get you killed * Littered with the most generic copy-pasted fetch quests imaginable * Feels very grindy * Gem crafting systems sucks Verdict: They did a very good job remastering this game and put a very high bar for how to do a proper remaster that other developers    (+)
    * Good graphics
    * Good story
    * Good music
    * Very good remaster

    (-)
    * Friendly AI is stupid and will get you killed
    * Littered with the most generic copy-pasted fetch quests imaginable
    * Feels very grindy
    * Gem crafting systems sucks

    Verdict:

    They did a very good job remastering this game and put a very high bar for how to do a proper remaster that other developers should learn from. The story is slow in the beginning but is good in general. However the original is very old and it shows in the various mechanics of the game. Because of the lack of any "real" side quests the game feels very grindy. Inventory and gem management is also a chore. One of the most annoying things is how stupid the friendly AI is. The healer sometimes prefers you dying instead of healing, and when you break an enemy, they refuse to follow up with a topple, and every now and then they will just die because you have zero control over what they're doing. Overall the game is decent, especially so if you consider its age, but there are many modern RPGs which have equally good story, but far superior gameplay.    … Expand
  6. Neyb
    May 31, 2020
    6
    If you don't have 50 hours to waste (like me) you won't be able to play the game. And the beginning iss just bad. I don't care of the rest...
  7. sefrabu
    Jul 8, 2020
    7
    I thoroughly enjoyed Xenoblade Chronicles 2, even if with a hiccup here and there, the biggest of which was the character design which, although great, was too much on the freaky-anime side for me (I'm talking about you, girls looking 12 and having early Pamela's boobs). When I saw the design for XC1 DE was a bit more on a "realistic side" (can't believe I said that about design whereI thoroughly enjoyed Xenoblade Chronicles 2, even if with a hiccup here and there, the biggest of which was the character design which, although great, was too much on the freaky-anime side for me (I'm talking about you, girls looking 12 and having early Pamela's boobs). When I saw the design for XC1 DE was a bit more on a "realistic side" (can't believe I said that about design where people have eyes the side of tennis balls), I was on board. 60 hours later I came out a bit disappointed, but still generally entertained.

    To get the obvious out of the way, I haven't played the original Wii/DS version, so I'm at the (dis)advantage of not seeing how much the game has improved, or how I could have experience it 10 years ago, and so I have to take it at face value, AD 2020, and I have to admit, save for the character design, XC1 is a bit inferior experience to its younger sibling is basically every aspect. The character progression, the exploration, the combat, almost everything gameplay-wise makes it obvious that XC1 is an older game. But since it’s not that much of an issue (I still had fun with the game’s mechanics), I’ll give it a pass.

    What I can’t give a pass to is the story, or, to be more precise, its direction.

    Which is as much anime as it gets, with constant revelations of an unimaginable significance every 15 minutes, deus ex machina exploited ad nauseam, the power of friendship and love overcoming literally everything, and heroes and villains shouting "Could it be...?! But it's impossible...!" interchangeably at explosions of light every other cutscene. You can tell that a given villain is not actually a villain the moment you meet them just on the basis of their voice tone, and all the female characters will have huge boobs, skimpy clothes, and the sole purpose of their existence will be to sacrifice themselves for their man, be it a boyfriend, brother, or father, in between cooking for them and doing other housewife stuff. The final revelations regarding the actual nature of the world and what actually is/was going on is actual deep (if not convoluted) philosophical and morally provocative gold (for a video game), but the way to it is filled with so much teenage drama and evil laughter that a gamer over the age of 16 will be reacting to the cutscenes with a smirk and a frown at best. Which, to be honest, seems to be quite typical for a jRPG - to make a game with incredibly deep lore, a head scratching story, complex and multi-layered gameplay, and fill it up with characters who talk and act like they are in a pre-teen school play.

    What is unquestionably good in the game is the visuals and the score. The remastered character design is fantastic, most of the locales are beautiful and their exploration is pure joy, especially when paired with great music. This combo works so good that I found myself sightseeing only for the sake of sightseeing, with no particular purpose, just to see stuff and enjoy the atmosphere. The game, in fact, gets much better when you complete the story and do all the side stuff, and feels like a very good MMO (whether it’s an advantage or disadvantage depends on your personal preference).

    I also need to commed the collector’s edition, which includes a nice steelbook, a beautiful fat artbook, and a vinyl record (there’s also a poster and some stuff to download), and the quality-content-price ratio is really good (this being said by a person who also bought the collector's edition of FFVII Remake which is total garbage). If it’s your thing to get a collector’s edition of a game now and then, this would be a good choice.

    All in all, if you are a jRPG fan, you will have a lot of fun (add 3 points to the score). If you are not, you will not, and possibly you won’t manage to go through the first 10 hours of the game (subtract 2 points from the score). As a person who is somewhat more of a jRPG enthusiast rather than a fan, those 60 hours with the game was generally a time well -spent. But not a minute more.    … Expand
  8. naiper
    Jul 13, 2020
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The world is too empty. There are no runnings or vehicles, which makes traveling a waste of time. The battle system is fun but the sense of attack is too terrible and after too many battles I feel very repetitive. The story is terrible. The motivation of the MC is ridiculous when he chose to forgive all enemies who destroyed his hometown and killed a lot of people but keep killing the monsters that was transferred from humans but could possibly become human beings once more. Overall, an overrated mediocre game.… Expand
  9. Rei_matarael
    Jun 20, 2020
    5
    Remastered traditional J-RPG. but still UI and UX is not followed these days.
    Especially, side quests were bored, not related with main quest flow and forced repeat play (save & load). There is nothing befored happen Un-expected(reversal) story to predicting that. It is worse point in this game.
  10. annual_ring
    Jun 21, 2020
    7
    a ok game
    a good jrpg
    a good story
    i like the original Xenoblade
    better than Xenoblade2
  11. Valientinita
    Jul 17, 2020
    7
    En resumen hubo algunos detalles en la jugabilidad que no me gustaron del todo, el resto encuentro que está muy bien
  12. OldAndCynical
    Nov 30, 2020
    6
    There are JRPGs that age well, and then there are those that don't. Xenoblade is one of the latter.
    This game might have been mighty impressive on Wii, and pretty neat on WiiU.
    But its well past its prime on Switch. The tired level design, the lack of interesting detail, the endless fetch quests that give no real rewards and so on. Its all just too PS2 era, and not in a good way. And    There are JRPGs that age well, and then there are those that don't. Xenoblade is one of the latter.
    This game might have been mighty impressive on Wii, and pretty neat on WiiU.
    But its well past its prime on Switch. The tired level design, the lack of interesting detail, the endless fetch quests that give no real rewards and so on. Its all just too PS2 era, and not in a good way.
    And the 'acclaimed' music is pretty horrid, and far cry from the great soundtrack Baten Kaitos had. And the remastered soundtrack manages to be even worse!
    But I think the worst bit is the lack of atmosphere in the game world, and the unconvincing, cliche'd characters that lack depth.
    This is one of those 'essential' JRPGs that you can safely pass without having missed anything essential.    … Expand
  13. CompleteIdiot
    Dec 7, 2021
    7
    I think the game was overhyped for me. I played the second instalment first, and when this was announced as a remake I had a lot of excitement for it. While the visuals and world design is fantastic, I did find the combat and characters rather lacking. Some story plot points were definitely inspired, but overall it felt like a much weaker game than the second one. If anything, afterI think the game was overhyped for me. I played the second instalment first, and when this was announced as a remake I had a lot of excitement for it. While the visuals and world design is fantastic, I did find the combat and characters rather lacking. Some story plot points were definitely inspired, but overall it felt like a much weaker game than the second one. If anything, after playing this one it has made me want to replay the sequel even more! I still haven't fully finished it (have like 2 more hours based on what I read on wiki) but its so hard to pick it up as the core gameplay loop simply is not as enjoyable as it was in the sequel.… Expand
  14. Anatoma
    Jul 16, 2021
    5
    Was great at the beginning but got boring later .Didn't like the combat mechanic which is very complicated. Sometimes complicated fighting mechanics get good later on in the game but not in this case.common cliches like power of friendship, gods, not killing any enemy really got on my nerves
  15. Xemnios
    Mar 29, 2021
    5
    One of the best story in videogame history in a terrible and boring game...
  16. RCAVHS
    Sep 1, 2021
    5
    I saw lot of people suggesting playing this after BOTW to get another epic adventure but with RPG mechanics. I wanted a better story since BOTW is lacking in that area, and obviously this game gets high praise for its story. I generally enjoy RPGs and recently played FF XII: The Zodiac Age and it really grew on me, so I was open to this more MMO-type battle system.

    I was impressed by    I saw lot of people suggesting playing this after BOTW to get another epic adventure but with RPG mechanics. I wanted a better story since BOTW is lacking in that area, and obviously this game gets high praise for its story. I generally enjoy RPGs and recently played FF XII: The Zodiac Age and it really grew on me, so I was open to this more MMO-type battle system.

    I was impressed by the world, and the strategy of the combat intrigued me. The voice acting and cutscenes were pretty impressive, and the story seemed quite interesting. Unfortunately, on my second session of playing the game, I found myself dozing off while playing. I figured I was just tired, but then it happened during another session, and then another.

    I still haven't figured out what was so boring about this game. The quests just feel like running from checkpoint to checkpoint on your map. There is no rewarding feeling of discovery from the quests or in the items you get. I would get new weapons/armor and it would make me stronger but there was nothing exciting about getting a new weapon. Sometimes it felt like they were too OP. One weird thing for me right away was that I couldn't use a potion or anything to heal myself in or after battle like a typical game. Your health just restores completely about 5 seconds after battle. So the game seems to be less about using resources to surviving your journey, but rather just about surviving each individual battle encounter. I don't know, this was just weird to me and took away a lot of the challenge.

    I put this game down about 15-20 hours in. I know people say that you have to give certain games more time than that, but I just didn't have the patience. Nothing hooked me.    … Expand
  17. vc21223
    Aug 25, 2020
    6
    The story is pretty good but the gameplay is pretty bad. It doesn't feel satisfying at all and when you finally whittle down a hp bar, the cutscene jarringly steps in and it doesn't even feel like a proper win. The characters repeat the same couple of lines during combat and that gets irritating after a couple of hours. The camera auto focuses in an annoying way where it will often zoom inThe story is pretty good but the gameplay is pretty bad. It doesn't feel satisfying at all and when you finally whittle down a hp bar, the cutscene jarringly steps in and it doesn't even feel like a proper win. The characters repeat the same couple of lines during combat and that gets irritating after a couple of hours. The camera auto focuses in an annoying way where it will often zoom in way too close into the characters when I've set it at max zoom out.… Expand
  18. SirPunk
    Jun 17, 2022
    7
    After playing a little bit of Xenoblade 2 a few years ago I always wanted to play the first game. Especially with Xenoblade 3 coming out next month and loving what I’m seeing from the trailers I finally decided to play the first Xenoblade. I did kind of rush through it so take what I’m about to say with a grain of salt. I thought the story overall was good BUT I felt for the better half ofAfter playing a little bit of Xenoblade 2 a few years ago I always wanted to play the first game. Especially with Xenoblade 3 coming out next month and loving what I’m seeing from the trailers I finally decided to play the first Xenoblade. I did kind of rush through it so take what I’m about to say with a grain of salt. I thought the story overall was good BUT I felt for the better half of 10 hours in the middle of the game the story just kind of falls flat. The beginning is really good and the ending is really good but the middle portion just felt like a chore. I did not even do many side quest because I wanted to quickly get this game done so I could go and try to beat Xenoblade 2 and Xenoblade 2: Torna before the release of Xenoblade 3. (Side note: I started playing Xenoblade 1 at the beginning of May.) The combat is really fun and rewarding but in the middle I just got so sick of it because that’s all I was focusing on because the story wasn’t doing it for me. So by the end of the game I was kind of sick of the combat. It’s a fun game just don’t try to rush through it like I did because I think that is what ruined it for me. There was a moment at the end where I thought maybe this game in my opinion could be an 8/10. If it was up to me and I hate doing this I would consider it a 7.5/10.… Expand
  19. Tikur
    Sep 9, 2022
    7
    This game is good and yes, if you want to try out Xenoblade Chronicles this is truly the definitive version to do so.

    Although the original is now twelve years old, it offers still a gorgeous and beautiful soundtrack, a organic and visual astonishing environment and a deep characterdevelopement. Furthermore the characters of your party itself have all their own relationships between    This game is good and yes, if you want to try out Xenoblade Chronicles this is truly the definitive version to do so.

    Although the original is now twelve years old, it offers still a gorgeous and beautiful soundtrack, a organic and visual astonishing environment and a deep characterdevelopement. Furthermore the characters of your party itself have all their own relationships between each other. Some of them and the way how it will develop are quite obvious, but nevertheless interesting to watch.

    The battle system is complex, intuitive and most importantly offers a great variety of interactions, so that will feel directly involved.

    In this categories it still holds up great against modern games.

    It would get 9 out of 10 rating from me, if there was not be one big flaw in the game and its structure.

    This game is overloaded with, repetitive and mostly boring side quests. This alone would not be that much of a problem, because the story is what really counts. However to make progress in the main story and go further in the games plot, you have to complete a lot of these side quest. If you don't you will sooner or later come to a point where you have to grind a certain amount of levels to be strong enough.

    Unfortunately, there are only four types of them. Killing a special monster, killing a bunch of monsters, collect one ore more specific Items, or search one specific Quest Item like a key.

    The plot itself is at the beginning full of questions which is easily the most exciting part in the story. Sadly the final plot twist and the explaination behind all this, is however absolutley ridiculous.

    All in all a great game with outdated and boring side quests, which you unfortunately have to make use of it.    … Expand
  20. SuperSonicJunus
    Sep 9, 2023
    7
    Solid RPG I completed at work on my downtime. This game falls just short of being special. I was at a point in the game when I thought the game was about to end, and just the story went on another 10 hours. Plenty to do in this one. None of the NPCs are memorable. Shulk, on the other hand, is a good character that I’m glad was represented in Smash.

Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Best Switch Game of 2020
3
#3 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
89

Generally favorable reviews - based on 92 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 88 out of 92
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 92
  3. Negative: 0 out of 92
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Oct 26, 2020
    100
    This has been a delight in a dark time in humanity's history. [Issue #48 – September/October 2020, p. 74]
  2. GameMAG
    Sep 14, 2020
    90
    Xenoblade Chronicles is still one of the best games of the genre, which 10 years later continues to delight and surprise with a unique world, luxurious epic landscapes, an incredible sense of freedom, beautiful music and a really interesting story. Of course, it is a pity that the Definitive Edition has a technical limitation in terms of resolution, which does not allow the image to really shine in 2020, but otherwise it is a chic project that every fan of the genre of adventure and Japanese role-playing games should play.
    Read full review
  3. App Trigger
    Jul 20, 2020
    95
    It’s hard to believe this is a game that released in 2012 and not more recently. Though there are some dated and heavy systems, the atmosphere and a combat system that gives freedom and depth make Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition an RPG for the ages.
    Read full review
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