The Xbox One version of the game looks every bit as gorgeous as the PS4 one, and while the Switch version may not quite measure up in handheld mode, the ability to take the game on the go speaks for itself. Getting there was a journey in and of itself, requiring me to duck and weave between enemies that could kill me in just one or two hits if they noticed me. A new ‘quick cooldown’ button has been added to Definitive Edition, too, which lets you immediately use an Art without waiting for its cooldown. The Art usually won’t be as powerful in this state, but it’s a very handy thing to have if you’re clearing out a group of weaker mobs or looking to quickly reapply a debuff. As you might expect from the Xenoblade series, there’s no shortage of breathtaking vistas to discover and the sense of scale is truly unmatched. The old adage of ‘if you see it, you can go there’ is often claimed but rarely actually true.

Fortunately none of that is an issue in the FMV sequences, which still look absolutely amazing, and have been adjusted to accommodate widescreen TVs and the Vita screen. What’s surprising (and frustrating) is that you can’t skip past them. The emphasis on exploration and extensive side quests set a benchmark for open-world RPGs, encouraging developers to invest in rich, immersive environments teeming with engaging content.

However I enjoyed my time with this one and I can totally see why this is a fan favourite. I enjoyed the battle system more than the other games I’ve played in the series. Specifically the ability to switch out characters on the fly was a nice addition.

Final Fantasy X

You can now change your party anywhere, instead of finding the character’s hanging out in NLA. Every party member now levels up regardless of if they’re in your active party. The time of day can now be changed wherever you are, right in the system menu. In total, there are a lot of small sharp edges sanded off, but ultimately I think these changes only helped me finally engage in a way that didn’t overwhelm me to the point of pushing me away from the game.

However, in Xenoblade Chronicles X, you’d better believe that this is absolutely the case. Especially later in the game when you unlock the Skell, a flight-capable mech that greatly enhances your traversal options. Besides the hub of New LA, Mira is split into five distinct (and utterly massive) biomes.

New alien species started to move in and cohabitate with the initially isolated human survivors. The streets started to be filled with so many new friends of all different kinds of species. This would unlock even more side quests, as conflicts that have divided humanity played out all over again. There is a lot of effort put into its writing, but the priorities of the developers were clearly on making a sprawling open world where traversal and combat were fun first and foremost.

Final Fantasy XVI (Best for Action Combat Fans)

Puzzles don’t feature prominently in too many Final Fantasy games, but they’re a pretty important part of X. You enter a temple, and in order to get out, you have to figure out where to put these spherical objects you find along your way. I love puzzles in my video games, but these ones were pretty meh, for the most part. And yet, one the best gameplay experiences of my life, my eternal love, my all-time favorite. As with previous entries, the prerendered cutscenes in this game are gorgeous.

The Compelling Narrative of Final Fantasy X

Untold freedom that changes everything – and the ability to get into more trouble than I ever had before. The combat was always a highlight of XCX – a blessing, given you’ll be doing a lot of it – but it’s streamlined further as part of this Definitive Edition release. Arts can now be re-used before cooldown thanks to a new energy pool, while a visual cue highlights when best to use them.

Some bosses have one particular ability that can wipe you out in a single turn if you’re not prepared for it. Combine that with the unskippable cutscenes I mentioned before, and redoing these boss fights gets reeeeaaal annoying. The emotions also tend to wear off when you have to go through those motions multiple times. My playthrough of Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition lasted around 80 hours. This included the main story, most side quests, a good amount of affinity missions, and the new postgame content.

There’s a reason Final Fantasy X is lauded as one of the very best of the series, and despite being an 18-year-old game, the animation and voice acting still hold up surprisingly well too. If there’s one aspect of Final Fantasy X that’s aged exceptionally well, it’s the story, which still manages to be one of the most emotionally resonant tales in all of video games. From the opening screen, the melancholic “To Zanarkand” plays as we pick up in media res with Tidus saying this might be the last chance he has to tell his story. In that effort of doing every single Normal Mission I came across, I got to see how this was actually helping NLA flourish.

I’m not going to spend much time praising them; just by looking at screenshots you can tell what a graphical achievement FFX is. Nobuo Uematsu returns to score Final Fantasy X, but this time he has the help of two more composers. The result is a soundtrack even more diverse than FFVII or FFVIII, and that’s definitely an incredible feat. The fabled Final Fantasy series has always been a huge seller for Square. No matter the quality of game, rest assured, with the Final Fantasy name slapped on the game, it would easily sell millions and millions of copies across the world.

I eventually grew weary of the game around the halfway point and was waiting for it to be over. Around the three quarter mark, I finally felt like I had a pretty powerful crew, and that made the game more fun. The last bit of the game really stretched on, and I was ready for it to be over. And then, watching the final cutscene, I felt pretty pretty content. In a fashion that is all my own, I continue my streak of playing a Final Fantasy game, but never finishing it! To be fair, I made game guide it to the final boss fight on this one — which is much further than any other FF game I’ve played to date.

While that is a solid jumping-off point for a JRPG story, not even a terrific remaster can save Xenoblade X from its biggest foibles. Namely, the main story takes a really long time to find its footing. Sure, it sprinkles in some interesting reveals early on, enough to keep the player invested, but this is not the kind of strong, character-driven, emotional storytelling you’d find in a numbered Xenoblade game. Monolith Soft has gotten a lot better at visual presentation in the decade since this game came out on Wii U, and it shows.