all games are not created equal

Both of these games are hash and slash style games.  You run around and kill everything on the screen as quickly as possible.  They also have a lot of things in common, such as the guns and swords gameplay and the shop system for new abilities.  However, for all the things they have in common, DMC4 is the one that makes everything work together.

The combo system in DMC4 is pretty cool and can make you feel pretty awesome when you're playing.  It's fun to chain attacks together and it definitely looks pretty awesome too.  X-Blades doesn't have a combo system and on top of that, it never has any of those moments though where you felt like you were doing something cool.  More often than not, the battles in X-Blades felt extremely repetitive.  It's actually pretty amazing how boring the battling is right from the start.

Both games do have a potentially annoying main character though.  X-B main character Ayumi is just a little more annoying to me though than Nero from DMC4.  She's just a little too much of the "I'm so carefree and chill, but I'm such a badass too".  Her outfit though wins in many ways over Nero's =P

If for some reason you are looking to buy X-Blades after all this, you shouldn't.  Instead, you should turn your eyes to the far superior Devil May Cry 4.

Both these games have gun-blades.  What's a gun-blade?  Why, it's a blade with a gun as the hilt.  That way you can slice things and then shoot them with the same thing too!

Other than that, these games are totally different.  Looking at them as complete products though, X-Blades just feels like it was never actually finished.  The scenery, gameplay and enemies are all very repetitive and the game doesn't get any more interesting as you continue playing.  At first glance, X-Blades' gameplay looks like a crappy game they show in the game development school commercials.  That's not a good thing.

FFVIII is a game that is carefully crafted with every line of dialogue and every location.  As you play, you become more and more engrossed in the game.  Gameplay can be repetitive with the constant battling, but as you gain new weapons and spells, the way you fight your battles changes.