Xenoblade Chronicles X is sort of underrated. This is for a number of factors in my mind, and I don't think many of them have to do with its quality as a game. For example, the game was released on the Wii U, one of Nintendo's least successful home consoles. It also followed up Xenoblade Chronicles but was not as intense on the storytelling as that game was, so many fans were disappointed with how the game turned out for that reason. Those are the two big ones in my mind, and I truly think that if this game had came out after Xenoblade Chronicles 2, a lot more of the series' fans would've been more welcoming of it, and there would have been more of them
I'm curious to see what we would have gotten story-wise had Nintendo not insisted on an MMO-lite with a player avatar. Monolith knocked the world and sidequests out of the park with some of the best worldbuilding and exploration in the series. That main story is just such a letdown in comparison. It's not bad, but it pales in comparison to the other Xenos in that regard. I still want an X2 though.
@@scubajho To a degree, but I think the impact of the main story has a lot to do with perspective. I still consider, in the main story of X, to have not only 1 of the best Plot Twists in Sci Fi, and it actually utilizes the chosen style to make it hit home. Xeno is no stranger to plot twists, but X does it differently. What they have you do, as one consuming the narrative, really surprised me. And I'm trying to keep this completely spoiler free so I don't even want to mention how it does it, or even just one plot point, if people still plan on playing it. I will agree, it's the side missions that really hold a lot of great character-based story development (which may be a weakness that more of them weren't forced into the main quest line) with the main concentrating on a bigger than any one character story. It's almost a shame that one of the things, some may have seen as a turn-off, and thus lowered sales..is of such importance, an artist can really only pull that off once. I've hardly ever had a single piece of science fiction, make me experience its world with a different mindset, like X did. Especially not multiple times.
I love how human this game is. Ironically, it's the most realistic Xeno game character and story-wise. Like, both main, side story and sidequests focus on exploring human interactions and emotions, like fear, remorse, love, anxiety, rage, confusion mixed in some survival instinct, extreme situation cases when you're literaly trying to make humanity survive. And there's no turning back, Earth is gone, everyone is on a countdown and there's some batshit alien race chasing you across de galaxy for no one knows why. They got some balls making a videogame like that, you got to use your brain to understand what is actually good or bad in all of that philosophical clashes. What is you? Are we human? Do we still have what makes us... Us? What is the point in trying to survive when half of the planet's population died, including your loved ones? Who gave the right for anyone to choose who lives and dies? We still roten as a society and thus, there's no reason to proceed? You meet a lot of interesting characters, they give you hope, change your perspective, also makes you feel evil ppl will never cease to exist... It's so complete, so rich and so beautiful that I still think it's the best Xenoblade game, right beside X3. There's no """"main"""" story. Every sidequest, mission, heart to heart, character quest and the search for the Core are the real MAIN story. There are some events more relevant and important, but everything is connected. Trully a masterpiece
@@scubajho I do think the characters are also something of a weak point - not bad, but apart from Elma being rad af I don't think any of them have the staying power of party members from other games. Gameplay wise, amazing exploration, combat is fun and fast paced, but I find many problems with grinding and general accessibility. If they rerelease the game I'd really hope they fix party recruitment and cut down on how hard it is to find materials.
@@NachostheXth Of all the optional companions, Hope and Murderess stick out the most to me, Hope especially. Her affinity mission has the be one of the best sidequests out there, just in how it fleshes out not only her, but the nature of the religious culture and the survivors as a whole. Murderess is just odd as a character, and probably stands out in my mind just due to her infinite spinning in the XCX subreddit. The mission involving the water plant and the other one for Red Lobster also stand out. Boze's arc explores another interesting aspect of the surviving society and isn't something they could probably put in games today in the same respect, but it's handled very well. Ultimately, the characters exist more to flesh out the varying mindsets of the survivors, and they push the worldbuilding along very well while also establishing their characters.
Xenoblade X is definitely a very different vibe from the main trilogy. As unlike the main Xenoblade composers, Hiroyuki Sawano is mostly known as an accomplished composer in the anime industry. He pretty much went wild and did his own thing and gave us this fantastic, unique soundtrack.
The only song I hated in X was the New LA Themes... it was hell of motivation to spend as much time exploring that fantastic world and as little time in the city.
he's "interested" in the "other games"... ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!
@@saintfayde4438 He must've meant it this time cuz he's on XC2 now, don't think we'll get XC3 right after it tho think he needs a break from the series after this.
Hiroyuki Sawano was the dedicated composer for XCX. ACE+, Kenji Hiramatsu, and Miyami Kiyota were not involved in this game's soundtrack. Sawano is mostly known for anime soundtracks, including the soundtracks for Attack on Titan and Mobile Suit Gundam.
Since you brought up the world of Xenoblade and how impressively large it is: Xenoblade X is the only open world game I can think of that you can literally swim to a different continent. It's bonkers.
Monolith Soft has become Nintendo’s primary support studio for 3D games. They’ve worked on the open world Zelda games on the Switch (Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom), Splatoon, and Animal Crossing, to name a few. They have some beasts in their programming staff.
Interestingly, it's a retooled version of a track from "Musica', one of Sawano's first original albums back in 2009. So by technicality, it's not unique to the game. But I wanna see it submitted too!
Been so long since I played, is that the really cool night time theme for one of the later areas? I remember there being one that sounded just incredible at night time.
@@Malacite nah, its the song that plays during the squad selection menu when you boot up the game, the song that turns into an absolute banger if you wait like 20 secs in that menu screen
"Chronicles" is tacked onto the end of the series' name in English. In Japan its known as Xenoblade X (cross) as the player's character's default name is Cross.
I still genuinely think this series has the best music of any JRPG series. Final Fantasy has some more iconic tracks, and Persona comes close, but I can't think of a single game that has such a consistently mind-blowing OST the way Xenoblade 2 does, and the other Xenoblade games come very close to 2.
Xenoblade imo has the best video game soundtrack as a series. Not only because of the quality of the music, but because of the sheer variety of music as well. They have so many songs that can fit so many different situations. Like as great as Persona music is, they have like one sad song they use for every sad situation. Xenoblade 3 alone had like 15 sad songs.
@@ShallBePurifiedmakes me sad it didn't win music awards, and that my called me crazy when I was surprised that Elden ring kind of won over it. They sent me a bunch of songs and my argument was despite them being good they all had a samey feel to them. Xenoblade songs have wildly different styles are all over the place always upbeat super sad range that goes insane. Just completely unmatched. especially in Xenoblade 3? Absolutely goated
@@art2norrman872 I T ' S . S T I C K Y On the other hand, some parts of the lyrics go pretty hard too. "On a sea of dark matter, every minute matters, living while other lives shatter"
Hiroyuki Sawano is an amazing composer, though outside of this game you likely won't be hearing him often, if at all, as he typically is a composer for Anime and Anime movies, not video games. He is very well known within the Anime industry and community and has a very distinct "style" of music that makes it very easy to tell when a song is made by him, and he loves lyrics like the ones in this song. He is most known for doing Attack on Titan, a bunch of Gundam, and my personal favorite, the movie "Promare" (which I would highly advise anyone interested in listening to more music from this guy that is closer to the style in Xenoblade X listen to that soundtrack because it is so good and has a lot of similarities) And also, that bizarre naming convention that was mentioned isn't a Xenoblade X thing, it is a Sawano thing. He is allergic to giving his songs normal names that don't have random capital letters and symbols in them.
Fun fact: the composer for this soundtrack also did the OST for the Attack on Titan anime! He only worked on this one game in the series but I love his work
Ah, Uncontrollable. That title applies to either you or the enemy in the fights it appears. Thus, you are either amped by it playing or very much not. Hah. I'm really hoping X gets a release on the Switch soon. It would be awesome to have all of these games on one system. The wind blows hard in December....
XCX has such a unique soundtrack. There is a LOT of amazing electronic guitar rock/pop and when it hits it REALLY hits. EX 01 is my favourite by far, that combination of the violins/strings and electric guitar and drums is just fantastic and that production value, it sounds so good in headphones. It's wild Nintendo has basically left the game orphaned on the Wii U without a Switch port (whereas every other Xenoblade is now on Switch).
The scale definitely hits you very early. Seeing what looks like some alien Apatosaurus where your entire body is not even as big as a single one of their toenails.
Monolith did help with the world design for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kindom, the last two major 3D Zelda games. I'm not sure of their involvement in music and the like, but they were definitely brought in to help design and populate the world.
I absolutely adore XCX's soundtrack. If you're curious about Hiroyuki Sawano's other works, he mostly composes for mecha anime, such as Attack on Titan, Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn and Kill La Kill. I know you're more of a video game music reaction channel, but I definitely recommend checking out his other work.
Ah yes, X. Legendary composer. Famous for not having native English speakers write the lyrics....until later. This game is great. The soundtrack is BEYOND amazing. Needs a switch port. C'mon Nintendo, you know you want to.
@@scubajho As a person who has shown it to a German, it’s mainly extreme confusion followed by intensively trying to figure out what they’re even saying only to give up and look up the lyrics. Then get angry at how butchered it is on a second listen! 😆
You hit the nail on the head. We just want to share these amazing games Your playthrough has been great by the way. I'm really hoping you can find time for Xenoblade 2 in future, because in my mind the combat is even better
If anything, 1-3 are these big fantastical stories. X however is different kettle of fish, it's more than just a game, it's an experience and the music in this game is top tier and in my favourite soundtracks of all time. Much as I love the series to every single pixel and polygon, X stands out like the runt of the litter and its the reason why it's y favourite game in the franchise. Glad you're enjoying the music here Jesse. Am waiting for Black Tar now hehe.
« I don’t know, it seems to never end » is so true. It felt like XC1 was endless, every time I thought I was near the end there was like a new entire chapter behind.
There are a few tracks with vocals in the trilogy soundtracks, but they're usually reserved for ending credits, with the odd exception here and there (e.g. Drifting Soul in XC2). XCX features a lot more tracks with actual vocals, and it's consistent with Sawano's composition work for anime. Another key difference is that the lyricist for the vocal tracks in the trilogy is always Tetsuya Takahashi, who directed the entire trilogy. Takahashi penned no lyrics for the XCX soundtrack. This, among a number of different factors, also contributes to XCX feeling like a very different game to all the games in the trilogy.
Awww nooo I misses the premier on this one @_@ I've been super sick for like a week now. Finally though XCX makes it onto the channel. This and Wer Fliegen are my two favorite tracks from fhe gams. This game is also what introduced me to the legendary Sawano, yet another insane musical genius from Japan.
Uncontrollable is basically Xenoblade 1's You Will Know Our Names but for Xenoblade X. Also if I remember right, Sawano is responsible for some Attack on Titan music
This soundtrack was so difficult for me to get into. I adored the music of 1 and 2 so much and was excited to listen to X, only to find it was completely different. The composer is one I don’t necessarily like. He’s composed for a lot of anime, and although he makes good songs, his vocal songs can be hit or miss, or sound very samey, imo. The most difficult part though is the way he compiles the music and names tracks for a soundtrack release. It tends to remove all context from the tracks, which makes listening to them a struggle for me. It took me eventually splitting all the tracks and giving them proper names, and luckily someone else had done a lot of that legwork and shared it online. And now I appreciate the music a lot more. Really love the themes for the Ma-non Ship. Very catchy.
So I wont talk about X because its the one entry I haven't played (please port it monolith/Nintendo), but I will mention the composer. Sawano is a VERY popular composer in Japan and funny enough is typically known for their composition in Mecha anime. If you want to listen to more of thier works off video since it's not vgm I recommend the Gundam Unicorn OST, Gundam Narrative OST, or the Promare OST. A lot of what Sawano is known for is the fan term "Sawano Drop", as thier songs usually have a big buildup then drop in them. Genuinely up there as one of my favorite Japanese composers.
I’m holding out hope for a sequel on their next console, but a switch port would be amazing, honestly some of my favourite mech gameplay, and that’s only a small part of this massive game
Xenoblade X has some of the most unique and awesome songs in the franchise, this are my favorite songs of Xenoblade X: Wir fliegen Your Voice Uncontrollable Don't worry So nah so fern The way
Xenoblade X is so amazing man. The open world is among the best I've played, flying mechs around is euphoric and going crazy with OP augments to one-shot stuff is great fun. It's very different from the other Xenoblades, and to that I say: Good.
"I don't know what else Monolith soft is doing" Well before the Xenoblade games they made the two Baten Kaitos games for the Gamecube, which probably have my favourite game soundtrack ever. Highly recommend giving those a listen.
Now that you’ve played Xenoblade 1, you’ll get what I mean by this: No. EX01 is basically the “Engage the Enemy” of this game. They don’t pull it out as often, but when they do you know something *big* is happening. 😊
Well, XCX is separate from the numbered games and has nothing to do with them. That said, while it's a lot more sci-fi... it takes place in the near future about 30 years from now (and about 40 years from when the game 1st launched I guess). And yes, XCX takes place in our universe (it's not a spoiler, it's intro cutscene stuff).
Im glad you get to listen to more XCX, Jesse. I cant wait until you listen to "your voice" from the soundtrack. Definitely make it a fresh/novel reaction!
Can't wait to see you check out other popular tracks from this game, such as "46-ri9," "N木ig木ht木L," "The Key We've Lost," or "z5m20i12r04a28" Yes, those are all real names on the soundtrack, though they might not look like that finding them on RUclips lol.
Funfact: The lyrics of No. EX 01 is in german Translated it says: We're holding a sword in our hand We're holding a gun in our hand We believe and believe with determination Heaven is peaceful And we endure suffering
The "Chronicles" part of the titles is a localization thing. Japan knows the series simply as "Xenoblade". Monolith does a LOT of support work on other Nintendo titles in addition to Xenoblade. They've helped on Zelda, Splatoon, Pikmin and Animal Crossing even. But otherwise, they are known for Xenogears and Xenosaga. Classic, beloved extremely ambitious RPGs that sadly didn't get the same reception or sales as Xenoblade did. They also made a very good DBZ RPG and Namco X Capcom which got two sequels in the form of Project X Zone 1-2. The name fits them quite well.
since youve played a fair bit of the first Xenoblade, Uncontrollable is the theme that replaces You Will Know Our Names, basically. as you know, those are some big shoes to fill, but i think it fills em out just fine! a fantastic battle theme from a fantastic game. it may well be the weak link in the series, but thats only because the other games are truly phenomenal.
Loving your lets play of the 1st game rn. Its sometimes really funny to see you get frustrated with aspects of the game design I've never even considered someone could dislike as well. I personally LIKE when a boss isn't able to be defeated due to narrative reasons. I found it funny that you got frustrated when you couldn't reduce a bosses HP to zero. 😂
Every time you hear a XC song with lyrics, you always question if you have ever heard an XC song with lyrics before. It has to be a meme at this point! 😂 Anyway, you can say Xenoblade Chronicles X or just Xenoblade X. They are used interchangeably. In writing, the XC games are just simplified to the first letter of each. (XC1, XC2, XC:FC, etc)
I'm waiting for the day Monolith Soft gets the time and budget to combine X's exploration, gameplay and sidestory writing with mainline Xenoblade's story and characters.
so its not a game ost recommendation but a lot from the gundam unicorn OST is very much alike to No. EX 01, wich makes sense since its sawano. if you want something long and epic i would recommend MOBILE ARMOR.
Hello Xenoblade-ers does anyone know a way to play X in 2024 or do you guys think we should just wait for a remake remaster that is probably on they way? (It's the only one I haven't played yet lol)
It's best chance at a remaster is the first/second entry on whatever the next gen console is going to be. Given Monolith's current pace with XC, that might line up with a port sometime in 2025/26. But they could go literally anywhere with XC in general next, so I wouldn't bet money on a port soon. Best to emulate if you don't already have the native hardware.
I just got my Wii U set back up (had to buy a charging cord from the retro game store in my town) and I'm planning on jumping back into it again. I NEED to explore Mira again.
If i read correctly, xbcX is what defined sawano's sound from that point on. You've heard his music plenty from attack on titan. The strange title names are something he just does, like a trademark. He definitely needed better context for X though because a lot of tracks are placed oddly due to apparently having very little to go off of and probably not having say in where they went. Uncontrollable does resurface in 2 but its part of the dlc and exclusive to it.
I have a feeling that if you play this or when you play this you will be pleasantly surprised how this game fits with the main trilogy. But absolutely do keep going. As Fiora says, "let's press on and on and on!" Oh. And please DO NOT LOOK CLOSER AT THE PICTURE. IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO THE SERIES AND IT WILL MAKE YOUR BRAIN EXPLODE IF YOU SEE IT TOO EARLY. Tetsuya Takahashi is an absolute madman!
Definitely cool and interesting, a love/breakup song in a sci-fi/techno sound, some of the lyrics feel a little too on the nose however... What with the mention of December as well, Uncontrollable really reminds me of the songs Taylor Swift (used to) write(s).
Honestly xenoblade chronicles: DE is so damn good, one of the top RPGs ever, Xeno 2 is also really good and Xeno 3 with the DLC is just amazing, what a solid series with like 300+ hours of gameplay
Would be cool if you would react to "wir fliegen" from xenoblade x, the name of the song is in german and means "we fly" and is also sang in german it's just a very interresting song because it's so different
Xenoblade Chronicles X is sort of underrated. This is for a number of factors in my mind, and I don't think many of them have to do with its quality as a game. For example, the game was released on the Wii U, one of Nintendo's least successful home consoles. It also followed up Xenoblade Chronicles but was not as intense on the storytelling as that game was, so many fans were disappointed with how the game turned out for that reason. Those are the two big ones in my mind, and I truly think that if this game had came out after Xenoblade Chronicles 2, a lot more of the series' fans would've been more welcoming of it, and there would have been more of them
I'm curious to see what we would have gotten story-wise had Nintendo not insisted on an MMO-lite with a player avatar. Monolith knocked the world and sidequests out of the park with some of the best worldbuilding and exploration in the series. That main story is just such a letdown in comparison. It's not bad, but it pales in comparison to the other Xenos in that regard. I still want an X2 though.
@@scubajho To a degree, but I think the impact of the main story has a lot to do with perspective. I still consider, in the main story of X, to have not only 1 of the best Plot Twists in Sci Fi, and it actually utilizes the chosen style to make it hit home. Xeno is no stranger to plot twists, but X does it differently. What they have you do, as one consuming the narrative, really surprised me. And I'm trying to keep this completely spoiler free so I don't even want to mention how it does it, or even just one plot point, if people still plan on playing it. I will agree, it's the side missions that really hold a lot of great character-based story development (which may be a weakness that more of them weren't forced into the main quest line) with the main concentrating on a bigger than any one character story.
It's almost a shame that one of the things, some may have seen as a turn-off, and thus lowered sales..is of such importance, an artist can really only pull that off once.
I've hardly ever had a single piece of science fiction, make me experience its world with a different mindset, like X did. Especially not multiple times.
I love how human this game is. Ironically, it's the most realistic Xeno game character and story-wise.
Like, both main, side story and sidequests focus on exploring human interactions and emotions, like fear, remorse, love, anxiety, rage, confusion mixed in some survival instinct, extreme situation cases when you're literaly trying to make humanity survive.
And there's no turning back, Earth is gone, everyone is on a countdown and there's some batshit alien race chasing you across de galaxy for no one knows why.
They got some balls making a videogame like that, you got to use your brain to understand what is actually good or bad in all of that philosophical clashes. What is you? Are we human? Do we still have what makes us... Us? What is the point in trying to survive when half of the planet's population died, including your loved ones? Who gave the right for anyone to choose who lives and dies? We still roten as a society and thus, there's no reason to proceed?
You meet a lot of interesting characters, they give you hope, change your perspective, also makes you feel evil ppl will never cease to exist...
It's so complete, so rich and so beautiful that I still think it's the best Xenoblade game, right beside X3.
There's no """"main"""" story. Every sidequest, mission, heart to heart, character quest and the search for the Core are the real MAIN story. There are some events more relevant and important, but everything is connected.
Trully a masterpiece
@@scubajho I do think the characters are also something of a weak point - not bad, but apart from Elma being rad af I don't think any of them have the staying power of party members from other games.
Gameplay wise, amazing exploration, combat is fun and fast paced, but I find many problems with grinding and general accessibility.
If they rerelease the game I'd really hope they fix party recruitment and cut down on how hard it is to find materials.
@@NachostheXth Of all the optional companions, Hope and Murderess stick out the most to me, Hope especially. Her affinity mission has the be one of the best sidequests out there, just in how it fleshes out not only her, but the nature of the religious culture and the survivors as a whole. Murderess is just odd as a character, and probably stands out in my mind just due to her infinite spinning in the XCX subreddit. The mission involving the water plant and the other one for Red Lobster also stand out. Boze's arc explores another interesting aspect of the surviving society and isn't something they could probably put in games today in the same respect, but it's handled very well.
Ultimately, the characters exist more to flesh out the varying mindsets of the survivors, and they push the worldbuilding along very well while also establishing their characters.
Xenoblade X is definitely a very different vibe from the main trilogy. As unlike the main Xenoblade composers, Hiroyuki Sawano is mostly known as an accomplished composer in the anime industry. He pretty much went wild and did his own thing and gave us this fantastic, unique soundtrack.
The only song I hated in X was the New LA Themes... it was hell of motivation to spend as much time exploring that fantastic world and as little time in the city.
Black Tar also exists
he's "interested" in the "other games"...
ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!
He's "interested" in the other Yakuza games too and has yet to revisit that series so... *cries *
REYN! PLAY THE OTHER GAMES! PLEASE!
@@saintfayde4438 shhhhh let me hope.
@@PinkReaper1 OH YEAH, BABY!! YOU SEE THAT!? EH??? LEAVE IT TO REYN!!!
@@saintfayde4438 He must've meant it this time cuz he's on XC2 now, don't think we'll get XC3 right after it tho think he needs a break from the series after this.
When you're minding your own business and then accidentally aggro a unique monster and the game becomes Kill la Kill.
When you’re hunting oversized rats and accidentally scratch the 5 mile tall dinosaur
Hiroyuki Sawano was the dedicated composer for XCX. ACE+, Kenji Hiramatsu, and Miyami Kiyota were not involved in this game's soundtrack. Sawano is mostly known for anime soundtracks, including the soundtracks for Attack on Titan and Mobile Suit Gundam.
Don't forget Kill la Kill. Uncontrollable always reminds me of "Don't lose your way". Actually, they both have the same female singer iirc
@@TopCapeHis work in Kill la Kill was just amazing.
Fun fact Sawano has stated in interviews that XCX was the most influential work for him to really find and master his style.
You could basically call Hiroyuki Sawano the Japanese answer to Hans Zimmer.
I love Sawano's works, but he needs another decade of strong work. I would put forth Joe Hisaishi before Sawano for this comparison.
Moreso the style than the notoriety.
I always make this comparison it just makes so much sense to me
@@MrKlarthumsbased and nuanced take. Respect.
So much ptsd here.😂 The first 5 seconds is usually the part where you run screaming in the other direction.
Then you find out the dastardly monkey has projectiles anyway 😂
Since you brought up the world of Xenoblade and how impressively large it is: Xenoblade X is the only open world game I can think of that you can literally swim to a different continent. It's bonkers.
name a more iconic duo than Jesse and the phrase "have i heard vocals in a xenoblade song before" when reacting to a xenoblade song with vocals 😅
This might be the first Xenoblade song Jesse has heard with English vocals though (i.e. not a choir).
@@justaguy12345he's listened to drifting soul and beyond the sky
@@justaguy12345he heard drifting souls the goat
He also listened to We Are the Chosen Ones, which is vocal only
I was super mistaken, sorry y'all :)
Monolith Soft has become Nintendo’s primary support studio for 3D games. They’ve worked on the open world Zelda games on the Switch (Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom), Splatoon, and Animal Crossing, to name a few. They have some beasts in their programming staff.
One of these days someone’s gotta submit “Melancholia” for a reaction
Interestingly, it's a retooled version of a track from "Musica', one of Sawano's first original albums back in 2009. So by technicality, it's not unique to the game. But I wanna see it submitted too!
Been so long since I played, is that the really cool night time theme for one of the later areas? I remember there being one that sounded just incredible at night time.
@@Malacite nah, its the song that plays during the squad selection menu when you boot up the game, the song that turns into an absolute banger if you wait like 20 secs in that menu screen
X is definitely underrated, different in a lot of ways, but my personal favourite in the series
THEY JUST ANNOUNCED XCX for the SWITCH!!!
"Chronicles" is tacked onto the end of the series' name in English. In Japan its known as Xenoblade X (cross) as the player's character's default name is Cross.
I still genuinely think this series has the best music of any JRPG series. Final Fantasy has some more iconic tracks, and Persona comes close, but I can't think of a single game that has such a consistently mind-blowing OST the way Xenoblade 2 does, and the other Xenoblade games come very close to 2.
Xenoblade imo has the best video game soundtrack as a series. Not only because of the quality of the music, but because of the sheer variety of music as well. They have so many songs that can fit so many different situations. Like as great as Persona music is, they have like one sad song they use for every sad situation. Xenoblade 3 alone had like 15 sad songs.
Dude never played Octopath 2
@@ShallBePurifiedmakes me sad it didn't win music awards, and that my called me crazy when I was surprised that Elden ring kind of won over it. They sent me a bunch of songs and my argument was despite them being good they all had a samey feel to them. Xenoblade songs have wildly different styles are all over the place always upbeat super sad range that goes insane. Just completely unmatched. especially in Xenoblade 3? Absolutely goated
After seeing him listen to all these Xenoblade osts, I'm STILL rabidly awaiting BLACK TAR
I've put a request in for Black Tar, but only recently
That track really makes you think.
How DO you feel you gotta shoot their head? Hmm...
Hello ?? Is this thing on ??!!
Black Tar has the cheesiest lyrics out of all Xenoblade series. It's so funny to me
@@art2norrman872 I T ' S . S T I C K Y
On the other hand, some parts of the lyrics go pretty hard too.
"On a sea of dark matter, every minute matters, living while other lives shatter"
Never played this game but I recognise a "Sawano drop" from miles away!
"No.EX 01" Is a masterpiece, no questions asked.
Get in! I finally got a 'sunglasses' song!
Hiroyuki Sawano is an amazing composer, though outside of this game you likely won't be hearing him often, if at all, as he typically is a composer for Anime and Anime movies, not video games. He is very well known within the Anime industry and community and has a very distinct "style" of music that makes it very easy to tell when a song is made by him, and he loves lyrics like the ones in this song.
He is most known for doing Attack on Titan, a bunch of Gundam, and my personal favorite, the movie "Promare" (which I would highly advise anyone interested in listening to more music from this guy that is closer to the style in Xenoblade X listen to that soundtrack because it is so good and has a lot of similarities)
And also, that bizarre naming convention that was mentioned isn't a Xenoblade X thing, it is a Sawano thing. He is allergic to giving his songs normal names that don't have random capital letters and symbols in them.
maybe a few sd gundam or srw crossover titles have versions of his soundtrack
Xenoblade X deserves a second chance to shine, it's one of the best open world games
In case you haven't yet, I recommend checking out Nintendo's recent uploads~! X3
Spoilers below:
It IS GOING TO GET A SECOND CHANCE NYUHUHUH
@@elfilinamie1326 YESSSS I NOTICED TOO, FINALLY PEOPLE CAN EXPERIENCE THE GREATNESS OF XENO X, I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH MONOLITH COCKED AGAIN!
That game is very wild soundtrack wise
NLA day & night are way underrated though.
@@thenonexistinghero i will call them acquired taste, I love them nowadays so i understand totally :D
@Aiscence used to hate them, after a month of returning to NLA constantly from questing I grew to love it.
@@Aiscence I liked them from the start. Never drove me crazy.
Fun fact: the composer for this soundtrack also did the OST for the Attack on Titan anime! He only worked on this one game in the series but I love his work
Ah, Uncontrollable. That title applies to either you or the enemy in the fights it appears. Thus, you are either amped by it playing or very much not. Hah.
I'm really hoping X gets a release on the Switch soon. It would be awesome to have all of these games on one system.
The wind blows hard in December....
Well are wish has been granted
Sawano's got such a unique style. Love every single sound track he's touched.
YESSS XENOBLADE X
And it's a song I can listen to already, regarding spoilers, too, since I already know it! ;w;
Thank you, Jesse and requester! ^^
Somehow this video released the same day I one hundred-percented this game and I couldn’t be happier about it
I think Xenoblade X was my first open world game, it came out when I was 14. The music definitely helps with the scale of the game, it's impressive
XCX has such a unique soundtrack. There is a LOT of amazing electronic guitar rock/pop and when it hits it REALLY hits. EX 01 is my favourite by far, that combination of the violins/strings and electric guitar and drums is just fantastic and that production value, it sounds so good in headphones. It's wild Nintendo has basically left the game orphaned on the Wii U without a Switch port (whereas every other Xenoblade is now on Switch).
@@justaguy12345 Changing soon!
Hiroyuki Sawano also did the OST for Attack on Titan and you can really just hear his style in the xenoblade x OST
There's no experience that better define XCX then when this starts playing and you turn around and all you see is a giant foot.
the series classic staple of a level 80 UM in the starting area
@@thecodeNeko_ Compounded this time by also having a level 92 dinosaur Tyrant you can see even earlier.
The scale definitely hits you very early. Seeing what looks like some alien Apatosaurus where your entire body is not even as big as a single one of their toenails.
Hmm, I wonder if Jesse will get pulled into X next March now that it has been announced for release on Switch.
I hope so, It's my favorite game :)
Monolith did help with the world design for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kindom, the last two major 3D Zelda games. I'm not sure of their involvement in music and the like, but they were definitely brought in to help design and populate the world.
I absolutely adore XCX's soundtrack. If you're curious about Hiroyuki Sawano's other works, he mostly composes for mecha anime, such as Attack on Titan, Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn and Kill La Kill. I know you're more of a video game music reaction channel, but I definitely recommend checking out his other work.
Ah yes, X. Legendary composer. Famous for not having native English speakers write the lyrics....until later.
This game is great. The soundtrack is BEYOND amazing.
Needs a switch port. C'mon Nintendo, you know you want to.
If it gets announced in this month's direct it would be really hype
Don't forget German. I'm not sure if showing Wir Fliegen to a German would offend them or make them laugh.
I'm crossing my fingers a X port gets announced in the new direct!
I don't want to hype myself@@manupm9161
@@scubajho As a person who has shown it to a German, it’s mainly extreme confusion followed by intensively trying to figure out what they’re even saying only to give up and look up the lyrics. Then get angry at how butchered it is on a second listen! 😆
Damn I wish he did melancholia
You hit the nail on the head. We just want to share these amazing games
Your playthrough has been great by the way. I'm really hoping you can find time for Xenoblade 2 in future, because in my mind the combat is even better
XC2 has the best combat of the series for me. XC3 2nd and XC1 last.
If anything, 1-3 are these big fantastical stories. X however is different kettle of fish, it's more than just a game, it's an experience and the music in this game is top tier and in my favourite soundtracks of all time. Much as I love the series to every single pixel and polygon, X stands out like the runt of the litter and its the reason why it's y favourite game in the franchise. Glad you're enjoying the music here Jesse. Am waiting for Black Tar now hehe.
« I don’t know, it seems to never end » is so true. It felt like XC1 was endless, every time I thought I was near the end there was like a new entire chapter behind.
It took me five seconds to recognize Hiroyuki Sawano's work. The way he's able to make these huge, expansive soundscapes is truly astounding to me.
Sawano did most of the sound track for xenoblade x as wells as a lot of very big anime like attack on titan and kill la kill
Every Xenoblade X player knows that song as "Oh shoot, RUN!" 🤣
DON'T LOSE YOUR WAAAAAAY /s
Bless Hiroyuki Sawano, mpi, and Mika Kobayashi.
X = Cross, that's all I'll tell you.
19:00 this poor child. The curse of the Wii U is STRONG
a yes xenoblade x teh spiritual succesor to Xenogear
There are a few tracks with vocals in the trilogy soundtracks, but they're usually reserved for ending credits, with the odd exception here and there (e.g. Drifting Soul in XC2). XCX features a lot more tracks with actual vocals, and it's consistent with Sawano's composition work for anime. Another key difference is that the lyricist for the vocal tracks in the trilogy is always Tetsuya Takahashi, who directed the entire trilogy. Takahashi penned no lyrics for the XCX soundtrack.
This, among a number of different factors, also contributes to XCX feeling like a very different game to all the games in the trilogy.
Also, can we get him to hear "UNM Mode" and possibly another known theme from "Xenosaga"? 🤔
One song you got to listen to if you’re interested in more is Black Tar. Those that know, they will know
I too need a bigger gun
this song hits on a different level, glad you finally listened to it
Awww nooo I misses the premier on this one @_@ I've been super sick for like a week now.
Finally though XCX makes it onto the channel. This and Wer Fliegen are my two favorite tracks from fhe gams. This game is also what introduced me to the legendary Sawano, yet another insane musical genius from Japan.
Uncontrollable is basically Xenoblade 1's You Will Know Our Names but for Xenoblade X.
Also if I remember right, Sawano is responsible for some Attack on Titan music
This soundtrack was so difficult for me to get into. I adored the music of 1 and 2 so much and was excited to listen to X, only to find it was completely different. The composer is one I don’t necessarily like. He’s composed for a lot of anime, and although he makes good songs, his vocal songs can be hit or miss, or sound very samey, imo. The most difficult part though is the way he compiles the music and names tracks for a soundtrack release. It tends to remove all context from the tracks, which makes listening to them a struggle for me. It took me eventually splitting all the tracks and giving them proper names, and luckily someone else had done a lot of that legwork and shared it online. And now I appreciate the music a lot more. Really love the themes for the Ma-non Ship. Very catchy.
So I wont talk about X because its the one entry I haven't played (please port it monolith/Nintendo), but I will mention the composer. Sawano is a VERY popular composer in Japan and funny enough is typically known for their composition in Mecha anime. If you want to listen to more of thier works off video since it's not vgm I recommend the Gundam Unicorn OST, Gundam Narrative OST, or the Promare OST. A lot of what Sawano is known for is the fan term "Sawano Drop", as thier songs usually have a big buildup then drop in them. Genuinely up there as one of my favorite Japanese composers.
Uncontrollable is such a jam
Always hoping this comment ages poorly but Xenoblade X is WiiU only. One of the few titles that hasn't made the jump to switch.
I’m holding out hope for a sequel on their next console, but a switch port would be amazing, honestly some of my favourite mech gameplay, and that’s only a small part of this massive game
Well it thankfully aged poorly!
@@zerochill4096 INDEED!
Fantastic news!
@@benpeterson4673 Right? It's the only thing keeping me going these days lol
Pleasant surprise hearing The World Ends With You mentioned here.
Just wait until you hear Raokimerateresia
He already did, pretty sure
@@kumakobihe only did the Raokimera part, he hasn't done the teresia part yet
Hiroyuki Sawano likes using word puzzles, codes, anagrams and ciphers in his music titles
This song (Uncontrollable) made me buy the soundtrack. Even though I never played this entry, it still slaps.
XCX just recently announced for the switch next year March 20, 2025
I’ve been loving the Xenoblade playthrough!!! Do you have any plans to do the later games in the series?
Ah, nevermind!
Xenoblade X has some of the most unique and awesome songs in the franchise, this are my favorite songs of Xenoblade X:
Wir fliegen
Your Voice
Uncontrollable
Don't worry
So nah so fern
The way
Uncontrollable goes crazy when you're up against a perfectly challenging Tyrant, on the verge of losing but clutching it out...
Xenoblade X is so amazing man. The open world is among the best I've played, flying mechs around is euphoric and going crazy with OP augments to one-shot stuff is great fun. It's very different from the other Xenoblades, and to that I say: Good.
"I don't know what else Monolith soft is doing"
Well before the Xenoblade games they made the two Baten Kaitos games for the Gamecube, which probably have my favourite game soundtrack ever. Highly recommend giving those a listen.
I've checked out a handful of BK here 👍
Sawano made the Attack on Titan soundtrack. He did soundtrack for X but nothing for 2 and 3
Now that you’ve played Xenoblade 1, you’ll get what I mean by this:
No. EX01 is basically the “Engage the Enemy” of this game. They don’t pull it out as often, but when they do you know something *big* is happening. 😊
Zu Pharg, Nagi’s affinity quest, Ga Jiarg just to name a few.
It has a special ability to make any cutscene it plays in completely illegible.
I'd say CODENAMEZ is more or less the Engage the Enemy equivalent. No. EX01 is more of a major boss theme.
Hiroyuki Sawano's music always has impact
Well, XCX is separate from the numbered games and has nothing to do with them. That said, while it's a lot more sci-fi... it takes place in the near future about 30 years from now (and about 40 years from when the game 1st launched I guess). And yes, XCX takes place in our universe (it's not a spoiler, it's intro cutscene stuff).
This game needs a switch remaster SO BADLY. It's amazing, just no one played it because all of 7 people owned a wii U
That will never happen
@ you’re right, that’s probably why they just did
@@spiderdude2099
That definitely didn’t happen, that was a dream you had.
13:30 OMG these 60 seconds just changed my life.
Im glad you get to listen to more XCX, Jesse. I cant wait until you listen to "your voice" from the soundtrack. Definitely make it a fresh/novel reaction!
Can't wait to see you check out other popular tracks from this game, such as "46-ri9," "N木ig木ht木L," "The Key We've Lost," or "z5m20i12r04a28"
Yes, those are all real names on the soundtrack, though they might not look like that finding them on RUclips lol.
Definitely all those. Especially the fiest three.
Not sure what the fourth was, but I know for a fact the first two are:
•Sylvalum
•Noctilum
@@heheheiamderpmatter375 "z5m20i12r04a28" is Mira's theme
Funfact: The lyrics of No. EX 01 is in german
Translated it says:
We're holding a sword in our hand
We're holding a gun in our hand
We believe and believe with determination
Heaven is peaceful
And we endure suffering
I only know that "Wir fliegen" and "So nah, so fern" is sung in German (and I, as a German, can't understand a thing 😅)
@@Midna78 Yeah, it has always been like this with Hiroyuki Sawano’s music. I didn't understand anything either
The "Chronicles" part of the titles is a localization thing. Japan knows the series simply as "Xenoblade".
Monolith does a LOT of support work on other Nintendo titles in addition to Xenoblade. They've helped on Zelda, Splatoon, Pikmin and Animal Crossing even. But otherwise, they are known for Xenogears and Xenosaga. Classic, beloved extremely ambitious RPGs that sadly didn't get the same reception or sales as Xenoblade did. They also made a very good DBZ RPG and Namco X Capcom which got two sequels in the form of Project X Zone 1-2.
The name fits them quite well.
You can tell how much he likes Xenoblade from how hard he's trying not to talk about the game lol.
I am so hoping this game gets remastered and ported to the switch. Have played XC, XC2 and XC3- favorite games. Never had a Wii so … 😢
Im so happy you love EX001, its one of my favorite game songs ever. Sawano does not miss!
Dang, hitting Jesse with the Sawano flex
"Interested in the others"
Oh yeah, its all coming together 😏
that first song sounds identical in vocals and vibe to Kill la Kill's 'Don't lose your way', any relation?
Same composer & vocalists, it's pretty much "The Reluctant Heroes" (Attack on Titan) meets "Before My Body Is Dry" (Kill la Kill).
Also helps the soundtrack is that it was done by suwano at his peak.
Weird coincidence, I was thinking about this game a few minutes before I saw this...
THIS. THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR.
since youve played a fair bit of the first Xenoblade, Uncontrollable is the theme that replaces You Will Know Our Names, basically. as you know, those are some big shoes to fill, but i think it fills em out just fine! a fantastic battle theme from a fantastic game. it may well be the weak link in the series, but thats only because the other games are truly phenomenal.
Loving your lets play of the 1st game rn. Its sometimes really funny to see you get frustrated with aspects of the game design I've never even considered someone could dislike as well. I personally LIKE when a boss isn't able to be defeated due to narrative reasons. I found it funny that you got frustrated when you couldn't reduce a bosses HP to zero. 😂
Omgggg yay more X
You should hear the normal battle theme for the game lol
Stared playing the game again on Sunday. How the hell is the game that graphical on the Wii U? Which I’m grateful is still running. 😅
Every time you hear a XC song with lyrics, you always question if you have ever heard an XC song with lyrics before. It has to be a meme at this point! 😂
Anyway, you can say Xenoblade Chronicles X or just Xenoblade X. They are used interchangeably. In writing, the XC games are just simplified to the first letter of each. (XC1, XC2, XC:FC, etc)
I'm waiting for the day Monolith Soft gets the time and budget to combine X's exploration, gameplay and sidestory writing with mainline Xenoblade's story and characters.
so its not a game ost recommendation but a lot from the gundam unicorn OST is very much alike to No. EX 01, wich makes sense since its sawano. if you want something long and epic i would recommend MOBILE ARMOR.
If he plays Xenoblade X then I hope he likes it
Hello Xenoblade-ers does anyone know a way to play X in 2024 or do you guys think we should just wait for a remake remaster that is probably on they way? (It's the only one I haven't played yet lol)
It's best chance at a remaster is the first/second entry on whatever the next gen console is going to be. Given Monolith's current pace with XC, that might line up with a port sometime in 2025/26. But they could go literally anywhere with XC in general next, so I wouldn't bet money on a port soon. Best to emulate if you don't already have the native hardware.
@@4max0
Xenoblade X will be back, don’t worry.
I just got my Wii U set back up (had to buy a charging cord from the retro game store in my town) and I'm planning on jumping back into it again. I NEED to explore Mira again.
Finally the greatest game ever fashioned by mortal man has made its grand return
If i read correctly, xbcX is what defined sawano's sound from that point on. You've heard his music plenty from attack on titan. The strange title names are something he just does, like a trademark. He definitely needed better context for X though because a lot of tracks are placed oddly due to apparently having very little to go off of and probably not having say in where they went. Uncontrollable does resurface in 2 but its part of the dlc and exclusive to it.
I have a feeling that if you play this or when you play this you will be pleasantly surprised how this game fits with the main trilogy. But absolutely do keep going. As Fiora says, "let's press on and on and on!" Oh. And please DO NOT LOOK CLOSER AT THE PICTURE. IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO THE SERIES AND IT WILL MAKE YOUR BRAIN EXPLODE IF YOU SEE IT TOO EARLY. Tetsuya Takahashi is an absolute madman!
Definitely cool and interesting, a love/breakup song in a sci-fi/techno sound, some of the lyrics feel a little too on the nose however... What with the mention of December as well, Uncontrollable really reminds me of the songs Taylor Swift (used to) write(s).
Honestly xenoblade chronicles: DE is so damn good, one of the top RPGs ever, Xeno 2 is also really good and Xeno 3 with the DLC is just amazing, what a solid series with like 300+ hours of gameplay
Would be cool if you would react to "wir fliegen" from xenoblade x, the name of the song is in german and means "we fly" and is also sang in german it's just a very interresting song because it's so different