The official twitter for Xenoblade Chronicles X, which the staff including Director Takahashi use to share information about the game, has tweeted the following tweet. Roughly translated, it says not to worry about rushing to beat the first Xenoblade on the New 3DS, because the stories between the two are not directly related. Xenoblade for the New 3DS comes out in Japan on April 2nd. Xenoblade Chronicles X comes out in Japan on April 29th.
So there you have it. They are not directly related. I suppose it’s possible there could still be a surprise relation to Xenoblade but it’s looking less likely. It is strange though how similar the character shown in the original trailer looked to Shulk, but now it seems like it wasn’t Shulk after all.
Xenoblade Chronicles X has a target release of 2015 for the West but no specific date has been given. It can be pre-ordered now at Amazon.
2日にXenobladeを遊び始めて29日までに終わるかどうかと心配している方もおられるかも知れませんが、XenobladeXはXenobladeの続編という訳ではありませんのでどうぞ安心してプレイしてください。
— ゼノブレイド総合 (@XenobladeJP) January 15, 2015