Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Xenoblade Chronicles 2
"Forgiving isn't that easy. But that's just the world we live in! We need to find a way forward, within that world!" — Rex
Protagonist(s): Rex (Human) Pyra/Mythra (Blade) Jin (Torna~The Golden Country) Genre(s): Action role-playing Platform(s): Nintendo Switch Release Date: December 1, 2017 (Xenoblade Chronicles 2) September 14, 2018 (Torna~The Golden Country) Developer(s): Monolith Soft Publisher(s): Nintendo Country: Japan Series: Xenoblade Predecessor: Xenoblade Chronicles (chronologically) Xenoblade Chronicles X (by release date) Successor: Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is an open-world action role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the direct sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles, and the third game in the Xenoblade series overall (but the second chronologically).

A prequel story, Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country, was released on September 14, 2018, and is set several years before the main game. It saw a release as both DLC to the base game and a standalone release both physically and digitally.

Why It Shows Us a Thing or Three

1. Very beautiful and colorful graphics, thanks in part to the incredible art direction from a variety of artists such as Tetsuya Nomura (of Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy fame). This makes the environments interesting and detailed as well.
2. Good acting for a majority of characters in Japanese and sometimes English. While the English dub does suffer from poor voice direction, it isn't terrible, as there are still some good voices (such as Al Weaver (Rex), Catrin-Mai Huw (Nia), David Menkin (Malos) and Skye Bennett (Pyra/Mythra/Pneuma)), and at times decent acting.
   • The English acting does improve later on in the game, and is even better in Torna~The Golden Country, especially from Paul Thornley (Addam), Skye Bennett (Mythra), John Schwab (whose Jin voice
   • The use of various accents in the English version is a nice concept to portray nationalities, including American accents for Blades and Indoline, Welsh accents for Gormotti (as well as the Flesh Eater Blade Nia), Australian accents for Urayans and Gort, Scottish accents for Ardainians, Northern English accents for Leftherians, Southern English accents for Tornans and Tantalese and Nopons, and Cockney accents for Tirkins.
3. Solid, responsive controls.
4. The game's primary mechanic, Blade Resonance, is a unique idea: Drivers (the human characters) can resonate with Core Crystals to awaken new Blades and increase their possibilities. Drivers can also bond with multiple Blades and use up to three of them during battle, being able to swap them in order for more interesting Blade Combos and fighting styles.
   • Certain Core Crystals obtained during the main story (such as Roc's) or through completing sidequests (such as Praxis and Theory) always awaken Rare/Legendary Blades; however, some of them cannot be Resonated for a while after obtaining them.
5. The cutscenes are full of action and humor, and sometimes even have emotional moments (e.g. Rex feels depressed after Pyra has been captured by Malos, and later when her memories are absorbed and she becomes nothing more than an empty husk).
6. The settings of Alrest are all well-handled; they take place on top of or inside giant beasts called Titans, which fly above the endless Cloud Sea covering the land below.
   • Argentum is home to the Argentum Trading Guild that Rex works for and serves as the tutorial area of the game.
   • Gormott is the grassland/forest location of the game, and where one learns the basics of combat. It also returns in TTGC as the only other Titan you are able to visit.
   • Uraya is full of aquatic caves from inside the Titan, and is where the party commands the Garfront Mercenaries.
   • Mor Ardain is primarily desert with the Empire's capital serving as a trade center, and several industrialized areas that produce Artificial Blades.
   • The Indoline Praetorium is a giant city atop a winged Titan, and they eventually become an antagonistic faction in Chapter 9.
   • While Temperantia is mostly a wasteland full of rocky areas and poisonous pools, there are several tough foes to fight here.
   • The Leftherian Archipelago is a series of smaller Titans that make tropical islands in the Cloud Sea.
     • It is also home to Spirit Crucible Elpys, a series of caverns that is home to the third Aegis Addam hid. Here, you are unable to use Blade Specials past Level I.
   • Tantal, located inside Genbu, is full of snowy mountains and ruins, and is where Pyra gets captured.
   • Below the Cloud Sea of Alrest is the Land of Morytha, which resembles a post-apocalyptic city and leads to the World Tree.
   • The World Tree itself is a technologically-advanced building leading up to the abandoned land of Elysium where the Architect (Klaus) is residing.
   • Torna, only appearing in the prequel story, is rich in environments, including a forest (Lasaria Woodland), a desert (Dannagh Desert) and some underground caverns (Tornan Titan Interior).
7. The story is quite long, taking about 100 hours to complete.
8. Amazing soundtrack composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, Kanji Hiramatsu and Manami Kioyta.
9. Many fun bosses in both the main game and Torna: The Golden Country.
   • In the main game, standout bosses include Praetor Amalthus, Jin (especially his Flesh Eater form in Chapter 9), Malos and of course, Artifice Aion (the final boss).
   • Torna~The Golden Country includes Malos, Gort (a weaponized Blade Eater and a former mentor to Lora who serves as the true final boss), and even Addam and Mythra!
10. Lots of awesome characters, especially the main characters Rex and Pyra/Mythra/Pneuma. Others include Nia, Mòrag, Brighid, Zeke, Pandoria, Tora, Poppi, Jin, Malos, Praetor Amalthus (the main antagonist of the main game), etc.
    • Pyra and Mythra portray a split personality thoughtfully and respectfully, on top of their attractive designs. Their original self, Pneuma, is also a member of the Trinity Processor alongside Logos (Malos) and Ontos (Alvis from XC1).
    • Torna~The Golden Country properly introduces us to Addam Origo (Mythra's original Driver and King of Torna) and Lora (Jin's girlfriend and the deuteragonist of the prequel story), alongside the previous Ardainian emperor, Hugo, and Cole's original Blade form, Minoth.
11. There is a lot of fun DLC that adds new mechanics to keep things enjoyable, especially the Land of Challenges (where you can actually unlock Shulk, Fiora and Elma as Blades) and the previously-mentioned prequel story Torna~The Golden Country.
12. The Garfront Mercenary Group, unlocked in Chapter 4, is an engaging way to level up Blades' Affinities and are sometimes required to progress quests.

Bad Qualities

1. Poor tutorial, as it doesn't do a very good job of explaining things.
2. Often times, the English acting is hit-or-miss due to the poor voice direction, the most infamous example being Rex's scream. This thankfully improved later in the game and in Torna: The Golden Country.
   • On top of that, sometimes dialogue can sound awkward, likely due to the use of millennial slang.
3. The mini-map can be hard to navigate at times. Thankfully, you can click the left stick to enlarge or shrink it.
4. The combat system can get boring. As a matter of fact, compared to the previous game, you are unable to Auto-Attack while moving!
5. Some bosses are fought multiple times with buffs, making them repetitive. The biggest examples of this are Malos, Akhos and Patroka.
6. As with all Xenoblade games, enemy placement can be unfair due to higher-level enemies mixing with lower-level ones.
7. Some unlikable characters, such as Akhos, Patroka, Chairman Bana, Gort, etc.
8. Rare and Legendary Blades can be hard to collect due to the Blade Resonance mechanics gacha system (meaning it is randomized as to which Blade you get), meaning you can still get Common Blades from Rare or Legendary Core Crystals.
9. The main game's Growth system, as well as the Community system in Torna: The Golden Country, suffers from the same problems as the previous game's Affinity system.

Reception

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 received generally positive reception, scoring 83/100 on Metacritic and 9/10 on Nintendo Life. The game's story, complex battle system, soundtrack, large amount of content and environments were praised, with some considering that it takes the best elements from the first game and mixed them with ones from Xenoblade Chronicles X to make them more fun.

Torna~The Golden Country was positively-received upon its reveal, with praise being directed at its story expansion and improved battle system. The story holds an 80/100 on Metacritic.

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