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Xenoblade Chronicles X’s Influence Is Bigger Than You Think

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Xenoblade Chronicles X may have challenged expectations, but it still managed to both take aspects of the original Xenoblade and improve them and also influence many aspects of the series’ future games — Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Torna – The Golden Country, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 — in different ways.

The world is your oyster

Noctilum Xenoblade X
Image: Nintendo / Monolith Soft

This is a game that’s all about the unknown — from new races, locations, and people, every turn may have something dangerous lurking behind it.

I’ve emphasised this enough, but Mira really is the reason you’re playing Xenoblade Chronicles X. This planet is an unexplored treasure trove to both you and your character, and your goal is to scout it as part of BLADE (Builders of the Legacy After the Destruction of Earth, because it wouldn’t be an RPG without an unnecessarily over-the-top acronym) for resources for New Los Angeles (NLA), and find the missing passengers from the ark, the White Whale.

The Bionis and Mechonis in the original Xenoblade was just the start of Monolith Soft’s worldbuilding magic. From Gaur Plains, you could see Sword Valley and the Mechonis stretching out towards you, and from Eryth Sea, you could spot Valak Mountain towering above. But each area was segmented, split by loading screens or tucked away as you traversed through the Bionis’ intestines to reach the next place. But often in X, you have to explore or go off the beaten path just to open up the next chapter — not necessarily just move to the next appointed location.

That means that you can go absolutely anywhere in Xenoblade Chronicles X at any time — as long as you have the tools to get there. Primordia, the first continent, is where you’ll likely want to stay for the first few hours, but, if you really want to, you can stumble into Sylvalum whenever you want, and approach this weirdly barren, insipid continent with alien trees and unusual lights. The lava-filed lands of Cauldros have really yet to be replicated in the series, but Torna’s Dannagh Region, and Xenoblade 3’s Eagus Wilderness and Dannagh Desert (despite those Fallen Arm and Torna connections) both take heavy inspiration from Oblivia, the sprawling mass of arid land and dangerous plateaus.

In fact, Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s Aionios, despite being a mishmash of all things Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2, is actually much closer in scope and layout to X’s Mira. Aionios is round, and the locations are given ‘continent names’ rather than being known as Maktha Wildwood or Great Gotte Falls on the map; instead, it’s the Pentelas Region or the Cadensia Region. 3’s world is also absolutely massive — sailing across the Erythia Sea definitely evoked memories of the ocean in X, which you could also use to get to other continents.

For those who’ve played all previous Xenoblade games, there’s definitely something a bit alien about seeing things from 1, 2, and Torna throughout Aionios, but couple this with the land’s scale and continuity, it manages to capture what makes Mira so great.

Skell Xenoblade X
Hey, Monolith Soft, where are our Skells? — Image: Nintendo / Monolith Soft

A Home is a hub

Xenoblade Chronicles X is the only game in the series where you really have a hub — a place you keep coming back to. You’re not someone progressing through a world — you need to explore it, and as such, you need somewhere to keep coming back to.

New Los Angeles
Image: via Xenoblade Wiki / Nintendo / Monolith Soft

NLA is that hub, a home amidst the confounding landscape of Mira. It’s a huge city, and it only gets bigger and more populated as you progress through the game. This is where all of the friends you make reside, where all of the races you befriend populate, and where allies make homes and take up arms. Most of your cutscenes with Elma, Lin, and Tatsu take place here, and it’s where some of the lighter moments and relief come.

That safe space in future games is Inns in Xenoblade 2, and camps in Torna and Xenoblade 3. Moments where you can bond, and places where you can gather thoughts, talk about the world, and progress the story. A city and a campfire can’t really be compared, sure, but these feel like a natural progression of that ‘safe space’ that NLA acts as for future games — where you’re constantly on the run from something rather than trying to make a home. Some of Xenoblade 3’s campfire scenes are the best in the game — where Eunie and Taion share a cup of tea; where Noah and Mio talk about an Off-Seer’s duty. And in Torna, where you have no home, camp is a place of respite.

Torna Campsite
Image: via Twitter / Nintendo / Monolith Soft

Populating cities has always been a thing (Colony 6, anyone?), and NLA can also be compared to Garfont Village, an Urayan town in 2 where all of your Blades hang out. This is where you send your Blades out to do missions, which help unlock their Affinity Charts and — as a result — sidequests. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 also has a late-game Colony buildings sidequest that, while smaller in scope, still keep in mind the idea of home and community building.

But will we ever get anything like NLA in a future Xenoblade game? Cities are a thing of the past in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (save one obvious example in the second half of the game), and there’s something very particular about X’s interpretation and celebration of a hub that hasn’t fully been recaptured in the games since. For now, setting up camp and getting some sleep is all our weary JRPG teenagers can do to bond, craft, and keep safe.

Sumptuous story sidequests

Speaking of recruitment quests and Colony building, Xenoblade’s reputation for sidequests precedes it. And, if there’s one thing lots of Xenoblade fans agree on, it’s that the sidequests in the original Xenoblade are often tedious. Even when the writing is brilliant, and even when they focus on community, worldbuilding, and relationships, there are so many of them that it’s overwhelming.

In Xenoblade Chronicles X, the sidequests are something of a misnomer, as they are essential. There are multiple times where you have to do sidequests to progress the game, such as recruiting characters, but for understanding the people of NLA, your mission, and — most importantly — Mira, yes, the sidequests are essential.

Celica Xenoblade X
Celica, a Qlurian and a recruitable character. — Image: Nintendo / Monolith Soft

Some questlines bring entire alien races to NLA — the Ma-non are one such race. Not native to Mira, these small aliens are peaceful and are experts in mechanical engineering, but they truly love pizza. There’s an entire quest around their love of pizza, resulting in a murder mystery that can culminate in you exposing the truth or losing a friend. Yes, NPCs die in Xenoblade Chronicles X, and sometimes, you can influence that. Every quest you undertake has an effect on the world around you, and if you ignore the quests, then you’re missing out on some valuable tidbits on Mira and the characters, and it makes the world feel a bit flatter.

This isn’t really a new thing, but lots of people don’t realise that Xenoblade X has some of the best sidequests in the series. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 owes a lot to this game for that reason. I think it’s doing something similar to X in that the quests feel vital; key people certainly don’t die as often, but in terms of unifying different races (or, in this case, Agnus and Keves), forming relationships, and fleshing out the world and its laws throughout (which we won’t spoil here), it’s clear Xenoblade X’s worldbuilding sidequests have had a strong influence on the latest game in the series.

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