Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition review for Nintendo Switch
Posted on 8 months ago by Ethan in Reviews, Switch | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: March 20, 2025
Developer: Monolith Soft
Publisher: Nintendo
The Xenoblade Chronicles series has had a fantastic resurgence on Nintendo Switch. What was once a singular underrated JRPG on Wii is now a complete trilogy with critical acclaim and even Super Smash Bros. representatives. Xenoblade Chronicles X is the only game in the series that isn’t part of the numbered trilogy, so it’s often seen as the odd one out. For the longest time, fans weren’t sure if we’d ever see the game again – but Monolith Soft has cooked up an excellent remaster and it’s one absolutely packed to the brim with content. If you’ve never played a Xenoblade Chronicles game and are looking to get into the series for the first time, this is a good place to start – for the most part, Xenoblade Chronicles X is unconnected to the other games in the series.
Analyzing the art style of every Smash Bros. game
Posted on 8 months ago by Ethan in 3DS, Features, GameCube, Switch, Wii U | 0 comments
It’s been many years since the original release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in 2018. There’s been no official announcement for a new game at the time of writing, but the wait between Ultimate and its eventual sequel is already setting a record. Indeed, the time between new Smash Bros. games has never been greater. But that leaves us with plenty of time to appreciate the titles we already have, and one aspect of them that often goes undiscussed is their art styles.
Despite being fairly similar to each other on a gameplay level, each Super Smash Bros. game winds up feeling distinct because of its art style. 64, Melee, Brawl, 3DS, Wii U, and Ultimate are all visually distinct from one another, and this is a trend we can expect to see when the next entry eventually does come out. In the meantime, today we’re analyzing the individual art style of each entry in the series and going over what makes each one charming.
More: highlight, Super Smash Bros., top
Xenoblade Chronicles X Desdemona, the Subterranean side quest guide
Posted on 8 months ago by Ethan in Guides, Switch | 0 comments
Today, we’re continuing our early-game guide coverage for Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition with a guide for Desdemona, the Subterranean side quest. It features a fairly easy battle, but it’s actually surprisingly difficult to get to if you’re still early on in the game. Before you follow our guide, you will want to set this side quest on your tracker – that way, an icon will pop up in the overworld that will help you navigate our instructions better.
The most and least useful amiibo figures ever released
Posted on 8 months ago by Ethan in Features, General Nintendo, Switch | 0 comments
With confirmation that the Nintendo Switch 2 is backwards compatible with Switch software, it’s safe to assume that includes amiibo – and if that’s true, then it’s also safe to assume that Nintendo’s signature lineup of toys-to-life figurines isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. That being said, there are hundreds of amiibo figures to choose from, and that’s not even including amiibo cards. So today, we’re analyzing which specific figures are the most useful across many Nintendo games. And although we did look at eight of the most useless amiibo almost a year ago, we’ll also be determining the definitive most useless amiibo today.
Steer clear of Xenoblade Chronicles X’s worst affinity quest
Posted on 8 months ago by Ethan in News, Switch | 0 comments
Earlier this week, Reddit user NeverGonnaGetBanned shared an extremely helpful tip on the Xenoblade Chronicles subreddit aimed at those playing Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition for the first time. And it’s so helpful that we figured we’d share the tip here for visibility – it concerns Xenoblade Chronicles X’s affinity quests. You can only accept one of these at a time, and once you’ve accepted one, you must finish it before you start another affinity quest or a main story quest.
Xenoblade Chronicles X Welcome Back, Conner side quest guide
Posted on 8 months ago by Ethan in Guides, Switch | 0 comments
For those playing Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, we have a new guide up for the Welcome Back, Conner side quest.
In the game, the story progress is tied to your survey rate, which you can increase by placing probes and completing side quests. The Welcome Back, Conner side quest is for the most part just as straightforward as the other early-game side quests. You’ll find an NPC in Primordia (we finished this quest in Chapter 3) who asks you to find a missing BLADE team member. By this point, you may have the Follow Ball item that clearly shows you where to go, so you’ll want to follow that trail for the most part until you find the missing member on a cliff. Where this quest gets a bit tricky is the next part – you need to retrieve a comms device that’s surrounded by very high-level enemies.
How long it takes to beat Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition
Posted on 8 months ago by Ethan in Guides, Switch | 0 comments
Now that Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition has officially launched (at least in some regions), some players might be curious on how long it takes to beat the game.
As you might expect, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is in line with other entries in the series as an incredibly long RPG adventure. Compared to the numbered trilogy, X focuses a bit less on story and more so on exploration with plenty of side quests to offer, too. For that reason, our time estimates differ depending on if you’re fast-tracking to the final boss or if you’re taking your time with all of the side content. Compared to the original version, the game does feature new content and story points, but unlike Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, this new content isn’t available until the end of the game. In other words, it isn’t a separate campaign you can access from the title screen right after you boot up the game for the first time.
4 ways the next Animal Crossing could improve multiplayer
Posted on 8 months ago by Ethan in Features, General Nintendo, Switch | 0 comments
One of the most highly-criticized features of Animal Crossing: New Horizons is its multiplayer system. Strangely enough, though, multiplayer was also one of the reasons the game became such a runaway success. It released during the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, which played a big part in why New Horizons sold almost 50 million units. Players were able to use Animal Crossing as something of a communication medium during this time – where people couldn’t meet up and hang out in real life, they still could in Animal Crossing to an extent. That being said, once players actually visited each others’ islands, they found that there wasn’t all that much to do. You could take others on a quick tour of your island, but that wouldn’t take much time After that, all that’s left is to walk around and look at things. Animal Crossing’s multiplayer has always been like this, to an extent, but its shallowness kind of hit a peak with New Horizons.
So today, we’re looking at multiplayer in the Animal Crossing series and how Nintendo could improve it for the next game in the series. There’s real potential for something great here, and we have some ideas on how to make it much better.
Comparing all three Splatoon games against each other – series comparison
Posted on 8 months ago by Ethan in Features, Switch, Wii U | 0 comments
For the most part, the Splatoon series is iterative – each new game that releases is intended to replace the previous one. Even though Splatoon 3 is currently the most recent entry in the series, there are still reasons – albeit small ones – to go back to the original title on Wii U plus Splatoon 2 on Nintendo Switch, which still has semi-active servers in Turf War and the like. Most of these reasons boil down to the unique story modes available in both games, which have unique levels and lore that Splatoon 3’s story mode doesn’t. Also, even though Splatoon 3 is essentially meant to replace both Splatoon and Splatoon 2, there are still reasons to love these two games above all else. Today, we’re going through all three Splatoon games and the unique features they have over the others and asking you: what’s your favorite of the three?
More: highlight, Splatoon, Splatoon 2, Splatoon 3, top
One way Xenoblade Chronicles X can connect to the numbered trilogy
Posted on 8 months ago by Ethan in Features, Switch | 0 comments
It’s no secret that Xenoblade Chronicles X is much, much different than the numbered games. It’s also no secret that when Monolith Soft was making Xenoblade Chronicles X in 2015, they didn’t plan for it to connect to future games in the series. But things have changed, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s Future Redeemed DLC has us thinking that the studio may or may not try to connect Xenoblade Chronicles X to the numbered trilogy. We’re no lore experts, but today, we’re going over some possible ways that it could be retconned to connect to Xenoblade 1, 2, and 3. We do have to cover spoilers from those games in order to properly speculate, so you might want to come back later if you’re trying to avoid plot details. There are also spoilers for Xenoblade Chronicles X itself here, so keep that in mind too.
