Guess New New York doesn’t roll off the mouth as easily and New Tokyo is kind of overdone. I find it curious that these remnants of humanity decided to seek inspiration from Los Angeles when creating their new city, New L.A. Humans are a resourceful bunch, however, and quickly set shop in one corner of Mira. Needless to say, the human race ends up as collateral damage with some folks finding themselves stranded in this new planet. Granted, you can still do whatever you want in the field regardless of what affiliation you choose but you do get bonuses for doing actions that best matches your chosen calling.įraming your adventures in Mira is a tale about humanity’s last stand after finding itself caught between the war of two advanced alien races. Do you want to specialize in hunting down tough monsters or discovering new areas and planting beacons? There’s an app, er, group for that. Um, oops? It’s important to note that you do in the open world also ties into whatever division you choose once you join the military. Heaven knows how many times I found myself smacking various foes like a bad, bad man, only to wander into an area populated by higher level monsters and get my bad self killed in one swipe. As someone who plays the Japanese version of the Phantasy Star Online 2 MMO, this is probably the closest we’ll get to a Phantasy Star-style RPG for some time.Īs with many temptations, however, you have to be cautious of the accompanying dangers that comes with gallivanting around an unexplored world.
“Ooh, I wonder what’s over there?” I catch myself thinking many a time.Įven with the obvious graphic limitations of the Wii U hardware compared to its rival consoles from Sony and Microsoft, Monolith has managed to craft a beautiful world that squeezes the most out of the system. Xenoblade Chronicles X’s large maps, on the other hand, are a sugary temptation. Some open worlds are badly designed topographic filler.
Mira’s grand sweeping vistas and impressive bestiary of unique-looking creatures both petite and ginormous is akin to a grand invitation for exploration, encouraging you to poke around and check things out while your main quests remain ignored and time steadily wastes away. This is in large part due to the wonderfully large world that the game puts on your table. For all the trudging and running around you have to do, it essentially ends up as more of a good thing. Then again, having oodles of content isn’t a bad thing when it comes to Xenoblade Chronicles X.