More noticeably, Xenoblade X exhibits significant pop-in even when playing the game from a faster external drive. We've tested the game on both the Wii U's internal storage and using an external drive but in both cases, we encountered a significant amount of object pop-in. Running through the city, you'll see huge Skells and crowds of NPCs appear out of thin air just metres from the player. Thankfully, we only found this distracting while exploring New Los Angeles, the game's central hub. Once out in the wild, pop-in can still be observed but it becomes somewhat less noticeable.
Between the internal storage and external drive, we found the external solution to be the superior option here. When moving through large areas, objects and textures often appeared just a touch faster using an external solution. Of course, it's also possible that performance will vary based on the speed and quality of the external device being used with the console.
