Mira is a monster of a planet. Honestly, if you never played the original on the Wii U, it’s hard to explain just how overwhelming that world felt back in 2015. You’d step out of New Los Angeles (NLA) and just see... everything. Primordia stretched out with these massive rock arches and dinosaurs the size of skyscrapers that would step on you without even noticing you were there. It was ambitious, maybe too ambitious for the hardware it was stuck on.
Now that Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition has finally landed on the Switch, a lot of people are asking the same question: is it just a glow-up?
The short answer is no. It’s way more than that.
Monolith Soft didn’t just slap a fresh coat of paint on it and call it a day. They went in and fixed the stuff that made the original a "love it or hate it" cult classic. They changed the character models so they don't look like awkward porcelain dolls anymore. They fixed the UI text so you don't need a magnifying glass to read your stats. But the biggest deal? They actually addressed that cliffhanger ending everyone has been screaming about for a decade.
What changed on the way to the Switch?
The jump from the Wii U’s 720p to a dynamic 1080p on the Switch makes a massive difference. Mira looks crisp. The lighting is more vibrant, and the draw distance—which was already insane—feels even more solid now. You’ll notice the shadows don't flicker as much when you're flying your Skell over Noctilum’s glowing forests.
But it’s the "boring" stuff that actually makes the game playable.
Remember having to run across the entire city of NLA just to find Gwin or Lin to swap them into your party? That’s gone. You can swap anyone from the menu now. It sounds like a small thing, but it saves hours of literal walking. Plus, they added shared experience points. If you leave a character on the bench for twenty hours, they don't stay at level 10 while you're level 50. They keep up. It encourages you to actually use the weird alien recruits you find.
The New Story Content
This is the part that has the hardcore fans vibrating. The original game ended on a "What the hell?" moment with Lao on a beach and a mysterious figure appearing. It felt unfinished because, frankly, it was.
The Definitive Edition adds a whole new epilogue chapter.
It’s about 8 to 10 hours of content depending on how much you dally. It’s called "The Future of Mira" (or something along those lines in your region), and it picks up right after the credits roll. You get a new playable character named Liesel, a test pilot with a very cool custom Skell called the Hraesvelg. There’s also Neilnail, a character who was actually cut from the original Wii U version but finally made it in here.
Does it solve every mystery? Not quite. But it ties the game much more closely to the main Xenoblade Chronicles trilogy. If you’ve played Xenoblade 3: Future Redeemed, some of the lore drops in this new chapter are going to make your head spin. It’s clear Monolith is setting up for whatever is coming next.
Combat Tweaks and the "Quick Cooldown"
Combat in X was always the most complex in the series. You have melee weapons, guns, Soul Voices, and the Overdrive system that basically lets you break the game if you know what you’re doing.
In the remaster, they added a Quick Cooldown mechanic.
Basically, you can press the Y button to spend some of your Tension Gauge to instantly reset an Art's cooldown. It makes the flow of battle much faster. You aren't just standing there auto-attacking while waiting for your big hits to come back online.
Also, the Overdrive system actually has a guide now. Back on the Wii U, you had to go to a Wiki to understand what the different colors on the Overdrive counter meant. Now, there’s a visual aid that tells you exactly what bonuses you’re getting. It makes the learning curve feel like a hill instead of a vertical cliff.
Dealing with the Grinding
Let's be real: the original game was a grind-fest. If you wanted a level 60 Ares Skell, you were looking at dozens of hours of farming specific enemies for rare drops.
Material Tickets (formerly Reward Tickets) are much easier to get now.
They also fixed the "Follow Ball." In the old version, the little blue light would sometimes just lead you into a wall or get stuck. Now, it actually tracks items you need for missions. If a quest asks you to find five rare vegetables in Sylvalum, the ball will lead you right to them. No more wandering around in circles for three hours hoping for a lucky RNG spawn.
The Skell Factor
The mechs—or Skells—are still the best part of the game. There’s nothing quite like the moment you finally get your flight module and the music changes to that "Don't Worry" track.
They added two new Skells:
- Hraesvelg: A high-mobility light Skell used by the new character.
- Ares Prime: An upgraded version of the legendary endgame mech.
The level cap has also been bumped up to 99. In the original, you stopped at 60, which felt weird compared to the other games. Now you can really push your build to the limit to take on the "Superbosses" like Telethia, the Endbringer.
Is it worth a double dip?
If you’re a fan of the series, yeah. It’s the best version of what many consider the "black sheep" of the franchise. It’s less of a linear story and more of a survival sim on an alien world.
The online features are back, too.
Since Nintendo shut down the Wii U servers, the original game’s "Squad Tasks" became impossible to do. The Switch version brings all that back. You’ll see other players’ avatars running around, you can join "Global Nemesis" raids, and you can trade medals for materials. It makes the world feel alive again.
The music is still polarizing. Hiroyuki Sawano’s soundtrack is full of rap, J-pop, and orchestral swells. Some people hate it; some people (like me) think it’s the soul of the game. The good news is they added sound sliders. If the lyrics in the New LA theme are driving you crazy, you can finally turn them down while keeping the sound effects up.
Moving Forward on Mira
If you’re just starting, don't rush the main story. This isn't Xenoblade 1 where you just follow the arrow. The "Definitive" way to play is to treat it like a colonization simulator. Do the Affinity Missions. Talk to the weird aliens. Build the infrastructure of the city.
The real meat of the game is seeing how NLA grows from a crashed ship into a bustling metropolis.
Start by focusing on your Field Skills. They removed the "BLADE Level" gate for these, so you can upgrade your Mechanical, Biological, and Archaeological skills through specific side quests. Get your Mechanical skill to level 4 as fast as possible so you can plant data probes everywhere. That's your primary source of income and Miranium.
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Check the mission board in the barracks often. The "Social" tab in the menu is also great for tracking which NPCs need help. The more people you help, the more the "Affinity Chart" fills out, unlocking the best gear in the game.
Mira is a beautiful, dangerous place. It’s finally great to have a version of it that doesn't feel like it's fighting against the console it's running on.