Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Review (Old)
Well, it's time. My Review on the First Party RPG Switch title known as Xenobade Chronicles 2. Funny, I haven't even completed the first Xenoblade Chronicles yet (which I have on the 3DS) and yet I've beaten the other 2 (Yes, I've beaten Xenoblade Chronicles X, even getting the Ares 90). This review will be longer than my other ones, as there's SO much to cover, and it will be in segments. Without further ado, let me begin my review. WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS, BOTH MINOR AND HEAVY. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!
Edit: I will update this later to match to today's standards, but this wad made before any of the DLC was released. This current review is unedited.
Story:
Somewhat similar to the first Xenoblade, Xenobade 2's setting takes place on the world of Alrest, a world covered by the Cloud Sea inhabited by Titans, whom the people native to the planet have long since made their home either on the back of or even inside these truly colossal beings long ago. At the center of Alrest is the World Tree, which has rumors of a Paradise at the very top known as Elysium, which was aso known to be created by a man known as the Architect (cue Matrix references). The story centers around the adventure of Rex, a young boy who's well-known for salvaging valuable objects at the bottom of the Cloud Sea, assisted by his "Gramps" Azurda, a rather small, but old Titan. As of late, some of the titans are coming close to the end of their lifespans, and Rex would like to do something about it. He's then recruited by Nopon Chairman Bana of the Argentum Trade Guild to help with an important salvaging mission along with 3 other people, Nia, Jin, and Malos and their Blades (I'll explain Blades later on). They uncover a ship, take a look inside, and find a Red Sword resting in a pedestal at the center, with a sleeping girl in some kind of container behind it. Rex touches the sword out of curiosity, and it glows, despite Malos telling him not to. As a result, Jin swiftly murders Rex with his sword, destroys the Red Sword, and takes the container with the girl with Malos' help, leaving Nia and her Blade Dromarch completely shocked. In a dream-like sequence, Rex meets the girl in the container atop a hill, who introduces herself as Pyra. She explains that they are currently at Elysium, which amazes Rex at how nice it seems, but she also tells him that he was killed by Jin. In exchange for sharing half of her life force with Rex to bring him back to life, he must take her to Elysium in the real world. Rex agrees, and he becomes the Driver of what's known as the Aegis, AKA Pyra. After a fierce battle between Malos and the newly-revived Rex, Nia helps out Rex and with Azurda's help, they manage to escape from Malos and Jin. Thus, the game begins its loooooooooong story.
Towards the middle of the game, we awaken Pyra's alternate self/sister, Mythra, who can wield the true power of the Aegis.
Close to the beginning, it turns out Malos is also an Aegis like Pyra, just bent on killing everything because it's just his natural instinct.
Close to the end of the game, Rex finds and awakens the power of a Third Aegis sword, giving Pyra (and Mythra, to that extent) and overpowered new form.
I'm not gonna pretend that I don't know how Xenoblade Chronicles 1 ends. Near the end of the game, the game cleverly connects with the first game by revealing that the Architect is none other the Klaus, the one who basically jumpstarted the Xenoblade games in the first place through an artifact known as The Conduit. Half of his body is stuck in another dimension. That dimension happens to be Shulks world, and the other half of Klaus' body turns out to be the evil Zanza. Hell, the other half of Klaus' body is literally nothing but a spiraling black void, and in a cutscene whle you're facing the Final Boss, you can clearly hear Shulks' quote from when he gains the Monado 3 from theat void, where he says "Today, we will use this power to fell a God, and seize our destiny!". Anyways, Alrest turns out to be the remains of Earth after Kalus' experiment with the Conduit, so to atone for his sins, he created the Cloud Sea, the Blades, the Titans, and so on. Afterward, Rex and the gang have to stop Malos from using a gigantic Gundamn Artifice called "Aion", which has the power to destroy the world, and also serves as the Final Boss. Afterwards, Zanza is killed by Shulk, so Klaus brings one last gift to Alrest before he passes away and the Conduit disappears, and after a cliche done so many times, the Cloud Sea disperses, revealing many large islands that the Titans begin docking to and an actual sea of water. Rex then realizes that Elysium wasn't up on the World Tree, but was beneath them the entire time. Thus, the game ends.
Opinions on story:
The game's story is quite a one to behold, with epic cutscenes, memorable characters, and an overall captivating narrative that got me hooked from beginning to end. The tone shifts just right with ever scene. The scenes range from epic and intense, to sad and somber, to chill, or to just being goofy when the game feels obligated to do so. That's another thing: this game is WAY more anime-like than the first Xenoblade. For instance, there's a scene after Chapter 4 where Rex falls asleep and wakes up with Mythra on the bed with him. She soon after wakes up, gets flustered, then jumps up and starts throwing random shit at him and calling him and interloper until he tells her that this is the boys room, where she realizes that she was sleepwalking "again". She then accuses him of looking at her cleavage while she was in the bed with him and calls him a pervert before angrily leaving. Another scene has Nia holding on to Pyra for warmth when they reach the Kingdom of Tantal's snowy outskirts inside the Titan Genbu. Still, I do actually enjoy the story's narrative, though I wish some things were explained better. For instance, why did Jin keep Lora's frozen body? Why was Torna saving up all those Core Crystals? To make more Flesh Eaters? Speaking of which, I really wished we learned more about Flesh Eaters other than "they're Blades fused with Human Cells." What the fuck exactly was Almathus trying to do? Details! They are important.
Characters:
RPG games are usually known for their gigantic cast of characters, and this game is no exception. The main character is Rex, a young Salvager who's goal is to take Pyra to Elysium. For a generic hero character like him, though, he's pretty cool. He stands out more, but not by a large margin like Shulk. He's pretty reckless, but learns the Arts of Battle (PUNS! QUIPS! JOKES!) as the story goes on. Pyra, on the other hand... you know how I said I would marry Hex Maniac if i had the chance? Pyra gives Hex a run for her money. good lord, she's almost perfect. Thick? Check. Beautiful? Check (I feel somewhat weird saying that). Nice and kind? Check. Cute? Check. Can cook amazing food? Check. Has fire powers? Check. Is a badass when needs to be? Check. Lets you lie on her lap for rest? Check. Has an overpowered alternate form? Check. Has the voice of an angel?... Debatable (If were talking Japanese Voices, though, then Check). I wish she were real, sometimes (which also sounds weird to say.) Mythra, Pyra's alternate self who's also a completely different person despite being the same (just think "Two sides of the same coin", except this is literal since they share a body) is also a pretty great character, despite being a little less likeable than Pyra. Nia is a pretty cool companion, as well as her Tiger/Lion (whatever the hell animal he's supposed to look like) Blade Dromarch, who is the definition of gentleman. Later on, she is revealed to be a Blade in disguise, and I can't tell which version of Nia I like better. Tora is different from his Nopon Cousins Riki and Tatsu from Xenoblade 1 and X respectively. He is goofy like those two, but does know how to get serious and actually has a kinda tragic backstory. His Blade, Poppi, is unlike other Blades, as she is artificially created by the work of Tora himself, his Father, and his Grandpa (though I think they were slightly more focused on building a fucking sex robot than an actual working Artificial Blade, if you look at the Heart-To-Hearts and other info regarding Poppi and Tora. Who the fuck spends entire nights making a cat suit and trying to perfect it's "Tail Wiggle" function?) Poppi herself is cute and lovable, and like many of the characters, can be a total badass when she needs to be. She gets two more alternate forms later in the game: One as part of the main story involving Tora's past, and the other as part of an optional sidequest later on in the game. You later on in the story gain two more party members with their own signature Blades: Morag, the Special Inquisitor of the Ardainian Empire alongside with her Blade Brighid, "The Flamebringer." They appear as enemies early in the game (even being fought as bosses twice [3 times, if you count the boss fight against Brighid]), but later after special circumstances, becomes your allies. Morag is one of the least-interesting characters, however, but that doesn't make her unwelcome in my book. I can't really say the same for Brighid, as she's one of the more interesting characters, especially considering her past. You later on make one more permanent ally in the form of a man known as Zeke, and his Blade Pandoria. They're comical at first, but they aren't slouches in battle either. Their luck is just horrid. The first time you fight them (In the Kingdom of Uraya), after defeating them, Zeke unleashes his ultimate attack; Ultra Lightning Flash Strike (Or ULFS Attack, for short). All it does is collapse the ground underneath them and they comically fall down. The second time (This time at the Empire of Mor Ardain AKA Morag's home) , they try again with their ultimate attack, only for a boulder to chase them down before comically knocking them away Team Rocket style. They're fought one last time at the Leftherian Archipelago, except things are different. Nia mocks Zeke by wondering which one will get him first: the small rocky hill to his left, the tree to his right, or the Cloud Sea behind him. He then suddenly goes from Cool Character with horrid luck to El Senior Badass in 3 seconds by launching a, pun-ily enough, lightning fast attack that sends Rex's entire group flying, causing them to take Zeke and Pandoria seriously this time. Morag even sits the battle out since he is actually a well-known swordsman known as Thunderbolt Zeke, and is actually the Prince of the Kingdom of Tantal. Atfer you fight him, he reveals that his true intentions (To test the might of the Driver of the Aegis, Rex), and takes the group to the Indol Praetorium, where once you leave for Tempermantia, he becomes your permanent ally. Although this is not before he falls into the Cloud Sea after some railing he was leaning on broke, though he somehow made it out.
Other characters are also memorable, such as Vandham, a mercenary who teaches Rex more about what it means to be a true Driver, as well as how to be a true Driver. He was basically his mentor before sacrificing his life to save Rex, which is what awakened Mythra in the first place. He passed down his own Blade, a bird-like dude named Roc who unfortunately has an ambiguous gender, despite blades usually having definable genders, to Rex. There's also Torna, a terrorist group who serves as the main enemy of the game, though the characters don't get spotlighed for very long. also, I'm not fond of Almathus, the Praetor of Indol. He's the one who awakened Malos 500 years prior to the events of the game, which would start the Aegis war when Mythra was awakened by a dude named Addam to stop him from ravaging Alrest. Jin was a complex character. he was really just angry at the world for taking everything he held so dear to him. Also, he's a Blade too with a Final Fantasy-like Ultimate Form (Some of the characters were actually designed by people who do art for Final Fantasy, so this shouldn't really come off as a surprise). Akhos was kind of an overall letdown, Patroka was almost needless, but at least Mikhail amounted to something by literally transforming the Torna battleship into a Gundam before dying. Chairman Bana is a scumbag, but he did go out with a bang. Literally. And Malos, while being an okay villain, is kinda disappointing. He's literally evil just because. He has no drive or motive for wanting to destroy the world. He wants to simply because it's his natural instinct. There's SOOOOO many other characters, including the Rare Blades (which I have yet to get all of, thanks to my abysmal rates now), to go over, but that would make this review longer than it already is, so I'll just skip on to the next segment.
The World of Alrest:
If you can count on Xenoblade games for one thing, it's having stupidly big worlds to explore. But is it me, or does Xenoblade 2's worlds feel a little bit smaller than the previous games? Not to mention a little more linear? At least the environments are varied. from Gormott Province's vast lands of greenery, the Indoline Praetorium's angelic-like city structure, to the Leftherian Achipelago's numerous floating islands and the Empire of Mor Ardain's large wastelands and factories. Yet these areas seem rather small, especially Mor Ardain, who's city, Alba Cavanich, is my favorite city to go to mostly because of the music. Even the Cliffs and Land of Morytha feel small even if you could put them together (Quick story fact: The Land of Morytha is whats left over of Earth after Klaus used the Conduit. It's also the grave of the Tornian Titan, which was struck down by the Indoline Praetorium during the Aegis War). Still, the worlds do indeed feel big, even if it is smaller than the previous 2 games. The World Tree, though, is frigging gigantic. But the Spirit Crucible Elpys... I'll share my rant about that hellhole later. Anyways, I like the environments in the game very much.
Blades:
Blades are one of the core aspects of the entire game. In fact, any of the game's events would be impossible were it not for these Blades. Blades are always found in their most natural state: whats called a Core Crystals In the lore of the game, people can try to resonate with Core Crystals to summon Blades. However, it depends on one's "Aptitude." If you don't have the aptitude for it, you'll most likely end up with side effects, be it minor or absolutely horrendous, as you see early on in the game. That's also the reason why Tora made Poppi; he cannot resonate with a Core Crystal. His side effect was a nosebleed for 3 whole days. They same can be said for his Father and Grandpa. The first (and only) time we actually see disastrous consequences is near the beginning of the game, where a due tries to resonate with one, only to get seemingly killed. Meanwhile a kid he pushed over earlier for it resonated with it and it worked, making him a Driver. people who are already Drivers literally have n reason to fail resonating with other Core Crystals, as a single operator can resonate with multiple Blades, but can only use one at a time.
Drivers are people who own Blades, and Blades are born from Core Crystals. Blades usually take on a humanoid or beast-like appearance, and are loyal to the one who awakened them, and grants them their one and only weapon to use. They have awesome regenerative capabilities, and provide support to their Drivers during battle. Because it's near impossible to take on Blades separately, you can only target the Drivers. Defeat the Driver and the Blade is defeated as well. Blades in general, though, are basically immortal. But when a Driver outright dies or if a Blade is actually dealt a fatal blow, however, the the Blades that the Driver owns return to their forms as Core Crystals. They can be reawakened later on, but all memories of their past life will be wiped clean. Because of this, some Blades will try to preserve their past lives memories, though usually to no avail. Brighid, however, is fortunate, as she is recorded inthe Mor Ardainian Archives and has even kept a Diary through her past lives.
Core Crystals themselves can be found as items all over the place, be it in Treasure Chests, from enemies, etc. However, they are slightly rarer than other items. Here's were things become a bit disappointing: they come in rarities. They come in Common, Rare, and Legendary, which means its Nintendo's own form of Loot Boxes, except you only get one thing, but at least you can't buy them, and there are ways to farm them as early as Chapter 4. Usually, the tougher an enemy is, the higher rarity of a Core Crystal they'll drop. When you resonate with a Core Crystal, you will awaken a randomly selected Blade. a lot of these Blades are common, but there are also Rare Blades, which are far more superior than the common ones you'll get. There are many Rare Blades, and I myself have a good majority of them, and that's where it starts to get frustrating. You see, because you have no Rare Blades at the start, the chances of you actually getting one from even a Common Cyrystal is pretty high. However, the more you get, the more abysmal your pull rates become. I have 4 Rare Blades left to acquire and I've sat through so many Core Crystals trying to get these last 4, one of them being, unsurprisingly, KOS-MOS from the Xenogears/Xenosaga games. There are, however, some Special Core Crystals you can get through special sidequests or the main story that's guaranteed to give you a Rare Blade. The usual downside is that you can't use these Crystals for a while until they're ready.
Music:
the Music is really good in this game. I can't tell if its the same quality as Xenoblade 1 or better. Though some times the scenes have some unfitting ost pieces, which weirds me out sometimes. Still its pretty coo to listen to. My favorite battle theme is probably when you're in the World Tree, and my favorite Town theme is certainly Alba Cavanich in both the Day and Night. I don't really have much else to say. It's just good. Not bad, not overly good, but good nonetheless.
Now for the most important parts of the game
Gameplay:
Like it's predecessors, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 features a real-time combat style that allows you to use Battle Arts, or just Arts for short. However, many things have been tweaked. Auto Attacks can no longer be used while moving. You MUST stop if you want to use them, which is kind of a pain. Each of the playable characters has a Blade, and can select up to 3 Blades to nintendo switch between in a battle. Each Blade has a different weapon, therefore different methods of attacking. Some may have the default 3-hit combo. Others may have a 5 or 4-hit combo. The weapon you wield depends of the weapon you use. Each Blade has 4 Arts to choose from, but you can only equip 3. These Arts, instead of waiting for them to refill, are charged via Auto Attacking. Once full, press the corresponding button on the Right Joy-Con to use said art. You can cause effects like topple and break, but instead of how they usually are, they're part of Driver Combo's. These can only be preformed in one way: First, you Break the enemy, then you Topple it, then you Launch it, and then you Smash it into the ground. These Driver Combo's can drop extra loot and also deal a LOT of damage if fully executed correctly. Blade Specials can be used by using arts. Once the special gauge has at least 1 charge, you can unleash a Blade Special, which can lead into a Blade Combo should another Driver have a lvl 2 charge special. Blade Combo's have different paths depending on what Element you used. Using a corresponding Element will continue the path, but the charge level must be higher than the charge of the previous Blade Special. These can lead to debuffs on the enemy if you complete a path, such as preventing them from calling reinforcements or preventing them from healing. These Seals can then be broken to deal even more damage by initiating a Chain Attack when the Party Gauge is full. I'm not gonna go any further than that, since it just bloats up even more.
However, over the course of the game, Rex is basically a must-have character, as after Chapter 7, he can temporarily become the Driver of any Blade thanks to the power of the 3rd Aegis Sword, even if the Blade is resonated with another Driver, which is freaking nuts. Also thanks to the power of the 3rd Aegis Sword, Pyra/Mythra gains a new, overpowered as FUCK form. While the downside is that every enemy attacking directs their aggro towards you, the upside is, as I've said, your new form is stupid OP. So OP, in fact, that it can only be used for a short time per-battle. You can only go into this form when you have Max Affinity in battle with Pyra/Mythra (though sometimes, it annoyingly doesn't work all the time). Your health gets fully restored, your other stats basically double, I think your attack stat triples, your Blade Special meter gets shot up to lvl 3 immediately (and those specials all have AOE attacks. Even the lvl 1 Blade Special deals crazy damage), and your specials can be any element you select it to be. to top it all off, when you have Nia as an Equipped Blade alongside Pyra/Mythra, and use your lvl4 special (which can be reached via Max Affinity in battle) Rex can use a special Blade Special. Jeez, they gave him EVERYTHING!
The combat, while there is a lot to remember, is actually, yet deep, and if you play your cards right, you'll have victory in your grasp soon enough. Plus, it begins to feel more natural as you play through the game more. You'll then be dealing out swaths of ruin against powerful foes. It feels so satisfying to completely obliterate a foe more powerful than myself. However, there are some issues. For instance, trying to pull a Driver Combo. I find it best to equip Blades that have Launch and Smash Arts, as it's better than whatever the hell the AI tries to do. Plus, when you switch between Blades, there's a cooldown before you can switch back, unfortunately. Still, just play your cards right and you will have victory.
Difficulty:
THANK FUCKING GOD, THE DIFFICULTY IS MORE CONSISTENT! Seriously, after Playing through most of Xenoblade 1 and finishing X, I am so glad the difficulty curve is much more smoother. Sure, the game has echoes from the earlier games (sending huge hordes of enemies at you, having enemies [sometimes even a Named Monster] jump out at you from anywhere, having a Named Monster be accompanied by other monsters, having groups of powerful enemies completely blocking your path, etc.) but it doesn't happen as much as it does in Xenoblade 1 and X. Xenoblade 1 threw this at you and expected you to handle all of it. Hell no. X was even worse, because later enemies in that game are almost impossible to kill without a heavily customized Skell. Level progression in this game is smooth most of the way, though it does get rocky at some points, like at the beginning of the World Tree and ... Spirit Crucible Elpys. I will get to that soon. The difficulty spikes were bad in the first game, and the ones in X were atrocious, but its a breath of fresh air I thought I would never breathe in this series. Sometimes, though, I wondered if I was doing something wrong in Xenoblade 1 and X. Probably. Anyways, the sidequests don't really help you level up, though if you find yourself against a tough enemy, go to an Inn and rest to use your Bonus XP. That's saved me so many times before. This game has a set difficulty, as there is no way to change it, so if something seems difficult, you're either probably doing something wrong or it actually is difficult. Most likely the latter. Still, the game paced quite nicely, even though there were some bumps in the road, like when Malos regains his power and becomes a freaking MONADO BOI, screaming Monado Arts every 15 freaking seconds, making him annoying to play against. He has Monado Cyclone, Monado Eater, Monado Armor, Monado Buster, and an original one called Monado Jail, all of which are annoying asf. Still, I do thoroughly enjoy the less harsh difficulty curve and admire consistency.
now... WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE ABOUT THE GAME.
VOICE ACTING:
The English voice acting makes me groan so much. How the hell did you downgrade in quality of voice actors and direction? I'm usually one to tolerate dubs if I know I can get used to it later on, but this game almost had my ears bleeding within the FIRST GODDAMN CHAPTER! Even worse, most of the characters have British/English accents probably because the first one did, so the developers felt obligated to do the same thing. In Xenoblade 1, as far as I have played, the voice acting is near-perfect, and I could honest-to-God listen to their voices for hours, if not days, especially Shulk, Rein, Dunban, and Melia. The other characters are fine to listen to as well. Whenever I hear Rex open his, mouth, it feels like my ears are grating at times when he starts yelling. Pyra's English voice is... okay. t's tolerable, but she sounds so dull and lifeless at times. Azurda, Jin and Malos are okay, but Nia. Nia is what murdered my hope for the voices. To me, her voice just doesn't fit AT ALL. I hear her voice, I immediately thought "Nope. Nuh uh. I ain't doin' this anymore." Fortunately, there's a free Japanese Voice pack to download, to I downloaded it, and after Chapter 1, enabled Japanese Voice acting, and kept it like that for the rest of the game. I don't even know what a majority of the English Voices for the other characters sound like, and I really don't intend to anytime soon. Probably when I have morbid curiosity.
now... it's time...
SPIRIT. CRUCIBLE. ELPYS.:
Who. In their right mind. Thought that this. This god-forsaken area. Was a good choice. of game design? Answer: A FUCKING SADIST WHO ENJOYS KNOWING THEY'VE CAUSE PAIN AND SUFFERING!!! Fuck this entire segment in the story!!! This almost ruined my will to play the game any further!!! the enemies are WAY high at this point, and where you fight them, as well as how many, is ABYSMAL! Not even metioning the named enemies that actually pop up out of nowhere AND how easy it is to get knocked off a platform and take extra fall damage, or even worse: INTO A BOTTOMLESS PIT, RESULTING IN INSTANT DEATH! And the goddamn scorpions as well as these despicable things called Rodneya's, come in droves. Oh yeah, and they have Bats. As if the situation couldn't get any more annoying. This are also has a total of 5 NAMED ENEMIES, and those always immediately attack you on sight, no matter your level! Some of which COME OUT OF NOWHERE! At one point, you come into a spider nest, where you gotta kill the creepy crawlies or avoid them. then you gotta face a stronger, Blade-less Spider Monster than from the Kingdom of Uraya during the main story. After you defeat it, guess what? AN EVEN BIGGER, NAMED VARIANT CRAWLS DOWN TO FIGHT YOU! WHAT THE ABSOLUTE HELL IS THIS GAME RIGHT NOW!!? Oh wait, I just answered my question: Absolute Hell. You encounter 3 more on your way there, and the game expects you to beat them. You might be thinking "git gud, m8" or just kill the monsters and level up. That's the problem, you are higher leveled than some of the monsters, but they gang up on you (be it all at once or they happened upon you battling another monster), and the scorpions and Rodneya's have this bs attack that can shred your health easily, and the Rodneya's ALWAYS attack in groups. But What really puts the nail in your coffin is the condition of this large and dumb area. Thanks to the particles draining the area of Ether, you can ONLY use lvl 1 Blade Specials, meaning you can't use Blade Combos. That, and healing arts are less effective than normal. The ONLY characters not affected by these rules is Tora his Blade Poppi. So not only are the enemies in here complete bs, the game also pulls a dick move by stripping you to the bare minimum of your survival tools and expects you do fine. HELL. FUCKING. NO! The Final Boss of the dungeon isn't even hard or over-leveled. It's just super annoying to battle. You basically have to fight Phantom versions of the hero Addam. They aren't very strong, but they spawn seemingly INFINITELY, meaning you have to defeat all of them at onec to end the fight early (which is nearly impossible) or just survive until they finally stop spawning constantly. After that, you finally get a reward for going through that hellhole AFTER you get to the Final Boss of the chapter, which is Pyra/Mythra's overpowered as FUCK form. At least in the time in between, you get to use Nia as a Blade, who has AMAZING healing capabilities (Seriously, complete her Affinity Chart and you basically cannot die). Overall, though, FUCK CHAPTER 7!!!
THE VERDICT:
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is overall a great game. Not amazing, but extremely far from bad. It has deep combat, an interesting narrative, memorable characters, awesome music, gigantic worlds, and an overall good presentation. Sure, it has some flaws, like the Blade RNG, the English Voice acting, and Chapter 7 as a whole, but I still found extreme enjoyment in it from beginning to end, despite a lack of post game content. Too bad we have to wait until the end of THIS YEAR to get something like that, but this month, we should get an update that includes a New Game+, which I'm down for.
I will give this game an 8.5/10. While the story and environments are great, and the characters and combat are equally great, it has several flaws that it suffers from that kinda bog down the experience for me, especially Chapter 7. FUCK Chapter 7.
And if you've read from beginning to this ending sentence, then I thank you for your time for reading this review.
Edit: I will update this later to match to today's standards, but this wad made before any of the DLC was released. This current review is unedited.
Story:
Somewhat similar to the first Xenoblade, Xenobade 2's setting takes place on the world of Alrest, a world covered by the Cloud Sea inhabited by Titans, whom the people native to the planet have long since made their home either on the back of or even inside these truly colossal beings long ago. At the center of Alrest is the World Tree, which has rumors of a Paradise at the very top known as Elysium, which was aso known to be created by a man known as the Architect (cue Matrix references). The story centers around the adventure of Rex, a young boy who's well-known for salvaging valuable objects at the bottom of the Cloud Sea, assisted by his "Gramps" Azurda, a rather small, but old Titan. As of late, some of the titans are coming close to the end of their lifespans, and Rex would like to do something about it. He's then recruited by Nopon Chairman Bana of the Argentum Trade Guild to help with an important salvaging mission along with 3 other people, Nia, Jin, and Malos and their Blades (I'll explain Blades later on). They uncover a ship, take a look inside, and find a Red Sword resting in a pedestal at the center, with a sleeping girl in some kind of container behind it. Rex touches the sword out of curiosity, and it glows, despite Malos telling him not to. As a result, Jin swiftly murders Rex with his sword, destroys the Red Sword, and takes the container with the girl with Malos' help, leaving Nia and her Blade Dromarch completely shocked. In a dream-like sequence, Rex meets the girl in the container atop a hill, who introduces herself as Pyra. She explains that they are currently at Elysium, which amazes Rex at how nice it seems, but she also tells him that he was killed by Jin. In exchange for sharing half of her life force with Rex to bring him back to life, he must take her to Elysium in the real world. Rex agrees, and he becomes the Driver of what's known as the Aegis, AKA Pyra. After a fierce battle between Malos and the newly-revived Rex, Nia helps out Rex and with Azurda's help, they manage to escape from Malos and Jin. Thus, the game begins its loooooooooong story.
Towards the middle of the game, we awaken Pyra's alternate self/sister, Mythra, who can wield the true power of the Aegis.
Close to the beginning, it turns out Malos is also an Aegis like Pyra, just bent on killing everything because it's just his natural instinct.
Close to the end of the game, Rex finds and awakens the power of a Third Aegis sword, giving Pyra (and Mythra, to that extent) and overpowered new form.
I'm not gonna pretend that I don't know how Xenoblade Chronicles 1 ends. Near the end of the game, the game cleverly connects with the first game by revealing that the Architect is none other the Klaus, the one who basically jumpstarted the Xenoblade games in the first place through an artifact known as The Conduit. Half of his body is stuck in another dimension. That dimension happens to be Shulks world, and the other half of Klaus' body turns out to be the evil Zanza. Hell, the other half of Klaus' body is literally nothing but a spiraling black void, and in a cutscene whle you're facing the Final Boss, you can clearly hear Shulks' quote from when he gains the Monado 3 from theat void, where he says "Today, we will use this power to fell a God, and seize our destiny!". Anyways, Alrest turns out to be the remains of Earth after Kalus' experiment with the Conduit, so to atone for his sins, he created the Cloud Sea, the Blades, the Titans, and so on. Afterward, Rex and the gang have to stop Malos from using a gigantic Gundamn Artifice called "Aion", which has the power to destroy the world, and also serves as the Final Boss. Afterwards, Zanza is killed by Shulk, so Klaus brings one last gift to Alrest before he passes away and the Conduit disappears, and after a cliche done so many times, the Cloud Sea disperses, revealing many large islands that the Titans begin docking to and an actual sea of water. Rex then realizes that Elysium wasn't up on the World Tree, but was beneath them the entire time. Thus, the game ends.
Opinions on story:
The game's story is quite a one to behold, with epic cutscenes, memorable characters, and an overall captivating narrative that got me hooked from beginning to end. The tone shifts just right with ever scene. The scenes range from epic and intense, to sad and somber, to chill, or to just being goofy when the game feels obligated to do so. That's another thing: this game is WAY more anime-like than the first Xenoblade. For instance, there's a scene after Chapter 4 where Rex falls asleep and wakes up with Mythra on the bed with him. She soon after wakes up, gets flustered, then jumps up and starts throwing random shit at him and calling him and interloper until he tells her that this is the boys room, where she realizes that she was sleepwalking "again". She then accuses him of looking at her cleavage while she was in the bed with him and calls him a pervert before angrily leaving. Another scene has Nia holding on to Pyra for warmth when they reach the Kingdom of Tantal's snowy outskirts inside the Titan Genbu. Still, I do actually enjoy the story's narrative, though I wish some things were explained better. For instance, why did Jin keep Lora's frozen body? Why was Torna saving up all those Core Crystals? To make more Flesh Eaters? Speaking of which, I really wished we learned more about Flesh Eaters other than "they're Blades fused with Human Cells." What the fuck exactly was Almathus trying to do? Details! They are important.
Characters:
RPG games are usually known for their gigantic cast of characters, and this game is no exception. The main character is Rex, a young Salvager who's goal is to take Pyra to Elysium. For a generic hero character like him, though, he's pretty cool. He stands out more, but not by a large margin like Shulk. He's pretty reckless, but learns the Arts of Battle (PUNS! QUIPS! JOKES!) as the story goes on. Pyra, on the other hand... you know how I said I would marry Hex Maniac if i had the chance? Pyra gives Hex a run for her money. good lord, she's almost perfect. Thick? Check. Beautiful? Check (I feel somewhat weird saying that). Nice and kind? Check. Cute? Check. Can cook amazing food? Check. Has fire powers? Check. Is a badass when needs to be? Check. Lets you lie on her lap for rest? Check. Has an overpowered alternate form? Check. Has the voice of an angel?... Debatable (If were talking Japanese Voices, though, then Check). I wish she were real, sometimes (which also sounds weird to say.) Mythra, Pyra's alternate self who's also a completely different person despite being the same (just think "Two sides of the same coin", except this is literal since they share a body) is also a pretty great character, despite being a little less likeable than Pyra. Nia is a pretty cool companion, as well as her Tiger/Lion (whatever the hell animal he's supposed to look like) Blade Dromarch, who is the definition of gentleman. Later on, she is revealed to be a Blade in disguise, and I can't tell which version of Nia I like better. Tora is different from his Nopon Cousins Riki and Tatsu from Xenoblade 1 and X respectively. He is goofy like those two, but does know how to get serious and actually has a kinda tragic backstory. His Blade, Poppi, is unlike other Blades, as she is artificially created by the work of Tora himself, his Father, and his Grandpa (though I think they were slightly more focused on building a fucking sex robot than an actual working Artificial Blade, if you look at the Heart-To-Hearts and other info regarding Poppi and Tora. Who the fuck spends entire nights making a cat suit and trying to perfect it's "Tail Wiggle" function?) Poppi herself is cute and lovable, and like many of the characters, can be a total badass when she needs to be. She gets two more alternate forms later in the game: One as part of the main story involving Tora's past, and the other as part of an optional sidequest later on in the game. You later on in the story gain two more party members with their own signature Blades: Morag, the Special Inquisitor of the Ardainian Empire alongside with her Blade Brighid, "The Flamebringer." They appear as enemies early in the game (even being fought as bosses twice [3 times, if you count the boss fight against Brighid]), but later after special circumstances, becomes your allies. Morag is one of the least-interesting characters, however, but that doesn't make her unwelcome in my book. I can't really say the same for Brighid, as she's one of the more interesting characters, especially considering her past. You later on make one more permanent ally in the form of a man known as Zeke, and his Blade Pandoria. They're comical at first, but they aren't slouches in battle either. Their luck is just horrid. The first time you fight them (In the Kingdom of Uraya), after defeating them, Zeke unleashes his ultimate attack; Ultra Lightning Flash Strike (Or ULFS Attack, for short). All it does is collapse the ground underneath them and they comically fall down. The second time (This time at the Empire of Mor Ardain AKA Morag's home) , they try again with their ultimate attack, only for a boulder to chase them down before comically knocking them away Team Rocket style. They're fought one last time at the Leftherian Archipelago, except things are different. Nia mocks Zeke by wondering which one will get him first: the small rocky hill to his left, the tree to his right, or the Cloud Sea behind him. He then suddenly goes from Cool Character with horrid luck to El Senior Badass in 3 seconds by launching a, pun-ily enough, lightning fast attack that sends Rex's entire group flying, causing them to take Zeke and Pandoria seriously this time. Morag even sits the battle out since he is actually a well-known swordsman known as Thunderbolt Zeke, and is actually the Prince of the Kingdom of Tantal. Atfer you fight him, he reveals that his true intentions (To test the might of the Driver of the Aegis, Rex), and takes the group to the Indol Praetorium, where once you leave for Tempermantia, he becomes your permanent ally. Although this is not before he falls into the Cloud Sea after some railing he was leaning on broke, though he somehow made it out.
Other characters are also memorable, such as Vandham, a mercenary who teaches Rex more about what it means to be a true Driver, as well as how to be a true Driver. He was basically his mentor before sacrificing his life to save Rex, which is what awakened Mythra in the first place. He passed down his own Blade, a bird-like dude named Roc who unfortunately has an ambiguous gender, despite blades usually having definable genders, to Rex. There's also Torna, a terrorist group who serves as the main enemy of the game, though the characters don't get spotlighed for very long. also, I'm not fond of Almathus, the Praetor of Indol. He's the one who awakened Malos 500 years prior to the events of the game, which would start the Aegis war when Mythra was awakened by a dude named Addam to stop him from ravaging Alrest. Jin was a complex character. he was really just angry at the world for taking everything he held so dear to him. Also, he's a Blade too with a Final Fantasy-like Ultimate Form (Some of the characters were actually designed by people who do art for Final Fantasy, so this shouldn't really come off as a surprise). Akhos was kind of an overall letdown, Patroka was almost needless, but at least Mikhail amounted to something by literally transforming the Torna battleship into a Gundam before dying. Chairman Bana is a scumbag, but he did go out with a bang. Literally. And Malos, while being an okay villain, is kinda disappointing. He's literally evil just because. He has no drive or motive for wanting to destroy the world. He wants to simply because it's his natural instinct. There's SOOOOO many other characters, including the Rare Blades (which I have yet to get all of, thanks to my abysmal rates now), to go over, but that would make this review longer than it already is, so I'll just skip on to the next segment.
The World of Alrest:
If you can count on Xenoblade games for one thing, it's having stupidly big worlds to explore. But is it me, or does Xenoblade 2's worlds feel a little bit smaller than the previous games? Not to mention a little more linear? At least the environments are varied. from Gormott Province's vast lands of greenery, the Indoline Praetorium's angelic-like city structure, to the Leftherian Achipelago's numerous floating islands and the Empire of Mor Ardain's large wastelands and factories. Yet these areas seem rather small, especially Mor Ardain, who's city, Alba Cavanich, is my favorite city to go to mostly because of the music. Even the Cliffs and Land of Morytha feel small even if you could put them together (Quick story fact: The Land of Morytha is whats left over of Earth after Klaus used the Conduit. It's also the grave of the Tornian Titan, which was struck down by the Indoline Praetorium during the Aegis War). Still, the worlds do indeed feel big, even if it is smaller than the previous 2 games. The World Tree, though, is frigging gigantic. But the Spirit Crucible Elpys... I'll share my rant about that hellhole later. Anyways, I like the environments in the game very much.
Blades:
Blades are one of the core aspects of the entire game. In fact, any of the game's events would be impossible were it not for these Blades. Blades are always found in their most natural state: whats called a Core Crystals In the lore of the game, people can try to resonate with Core Crystals to summon Blades. However, it depends on one's "Aptitude." If you don't have the aptitude for it, you'll most likely end up with side effects, be it minor or absolutely horrendous, as you see early on in the game. That's also the reason why Tora made Poppi; he cannot resonate with a Core Crystal. His side effect was a nosebleed for 3 whole days. They same can be said for his Father and Grandpa. The first (and only) time we actually see disastrous consequences is near the beginning of the game, where a due tries to resonate with one, only to get seemingly killed. Meanwhile a kid he pushed over earlier for it resonated with it and it worked, making him a Driver. people who are already Drivers literally have n reason to fail resonating with other Core Crystals, as a single operator can resonate with multiple Blades, but can only use one at a time.
Drivers are people who own Blades, and Blades are born from Core Crystals. Blades usually take on a humanoid or beast-like appearance, and are loyal to the one who awakened them, and grants them their one and only weapon to use. They have awesome regenerative capabilities, and provide support to their Drivers during battle. Because it's near impossible to take on Blades separately, you can only target the Drivers. Defeat the Driver and the Blade is defeated as well. Blades in general, though, are basically immortal. But when a Driver outright dies or if a Blade is actually dealt a fatal blow, however, the the Blades that the Driver owns return to their forms as Core Crystals. They can be reawakened later on, but all memories of their past life will be wiped clean. Because of this, some Blades will try to preserve their past lives memories, though usually to no avail. Brighid, however, is fortunate, as she is recorded inthe Mor Ardainian Archives and has even kept a Diary through her past lives.
Core Crystals themselves can be found as items all over the place, be it in Treasure Chests, from enemies, etc. However, they are slightly rarer than other items. Here's were things become a bit disappointing: they come in rarities. They come in Common, Rare, and Legendary, which means its Nintendo's own form of Loot Boxes, except you only get one thing, but at least you can't buy them, and there are ways to farm them as early as Chapter 4. Usually, the tougher an enemy is, the higher rarity of a Core Crystal they'll drop. When you resonate with a Core Crystal, you will awaken a randomly selected Blade. a lot of these Blades are common, but there are also Rare Blades, which are far more superior than the common ones you'll get. There are many Rare Blades, and I myself have a good majority of them, and that's where it starts to get frustrating. You see, because you have no Rare Blades at the start, the chances of you actually getting one from even a Common Cyrystal is pretty high. However, the more you get, the more abysmal your pull rates become. I have 4 Rare Blades left to acquire and I've sat through so many Core Crystals trying to get these last 4, one of them being, unsurprisingly, KOS-MOS from the Xenogears/Xenosaga games. There are, however, some Special Core Crystals you can get through special sidequests or the main story that's guaranteed to give you a Rare Blade. The usual downside is that you can't use these Crystals for a while until they're ready.
Music:
the Music is really good in this game. I can't tell if its the same quality as Xenoblade 1 or better. Though some times the scenes have some unfitting ost pieces, which weirds me out sometimes. Still its pretty coo to listen to. My favorite battle theme is probably when you're in the World Tree, and my favorite Town theme is certainly Alba Cavanich in both the Day and Night. I don't really have much else to say. It's just good. Not bad, not overly good, but good nonetheless.
Now for the most important parts of the game
Gameplay:
Like it's predecessors, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 features a real-time combat style that allows you to use Battle Arts, or just Arts for short. However, many things have been tweaked. Auto Attacks can no longer be used while moving. You MUST stop if you want to use them, which is kind of a pain. Each of the playable characters has a Blade, and can select up to 3 Blades to nintendo switch between in a battle. Each Blade has a different weapon, therefore different methods of attacking. Some may have the default 3-hit combo. Others may have a 5 or 4-hit combo. The weapon you wield depends of the weapon you use. Each Blade has 4 Arts to choose from, but you can only equip 3. These Arts, instead of waiting for them to refill, are charged via Auto Attacking. Once full, press the corresponding button on the Right Joy-Con to use said art. You can cause effects like topple and break, but instead of how they usually are, they're part of Driver Combo's. These can only be preformed in one way: First, you Break the enemy, then you Topple it, then you Launch it, and then you Smash it into the ground. These Driver Combo's can drop extra loot and also deal a LOT of damage if fully executed correctly. Blade Specials can be used by using arts. Once the special gauge has at least 1 charge, you can unleash a Blade Special, which can lead into a Blade Combo should another Driver have a lvl 2 charge special. Blade Combo's have different paths depending on what Element you used. Using a corresponding Element will continue the path, but the charge level must be higher than the charge of the previous Blade Special. These can lead to debuffs on the enemy if you complete a path, such as preventing them from calling reinforcements or preventing them from healing. These Seals can then be broken to deal even more damage by initiating a Chain Attack when the Party Gauge is full. I'm not gonna go any further than that, since it just bloats up even more.
However, over the course of the game, Rex is basically a must-have character, as after Chapter 7, he can temporarily become the Driver of any Blade thanks to the power of the 3rd Aegis Sword, even if the Blade is resonated with another Driver, which is freaking nuts. Also thanks to the power of the 3rd Aegis Sword, Pyra/Mythra gains a new, overpowered as FUCK form. While the downside is that every enemy attacking directs their aggro towards you, the upside is, as I've said, your new form is stupid OP. So OP, in fact, that it can only be used for a short time per-battle. You can only go into this form when you have Max Affinity in battle with Pyra/Mythra (though sometimes, it annoyingly doesn't work all the time). Your health gets fully restored, your other stats basically double, I think your attack stat triples, your Blade Special meter gets shot up to lvl 3 immediately (and those specials all have AOE attacks. Even the lvl 1 Blade Special deals crazy damage), and your specials can be any element you select it to be. to top it all off, when you have Nia as an Equipped Blade alongside Pyra/Mythra, and use your lvl4 special (which can be reached via Max Affinity in battle) Rex can use a special Blade Special. Jeez, they gave him EVERYTHING!
The combat, while there is a lot to remember, is actually, yet deep, and if you play your cards right, you'll have victory in your grasp soon enough. Plus, it begins to feel more natural as you play through the game more. You'll then be dealing out swaths of ruin against powerful foes. It feels so satisfying to completely obliterate a foe more powerful than myself. However, there are some issues. For instance, trying to pull a Driver Combo. I find it best to equip Blades that have Launch and Smash Arts, as it's better than whatever the hell the AI tries to do. Plus, when you switch between Blades, there's a cooldown before you can switch back, unfortunately. Still, just play your cards right and you will have victory.
Difficulty:
THANK FUCKING GOD, THE DIFFICULTY IS MORE CONSISTENT! Seriously, after Playing through most of Xenoblade 1 and finishing X, I am so glad the difficulty curve is much more smoother. Sure, the game has echoes from the earlier games (sending huge hordes of enemies at you, having enemies [sometimes even a Named Monster] jump out at you from anywhere, having a Named Monster be accompanied by other monsters, having groups of powerful enemies completely blocking your path, etc.) but it doesn't happen as much as it does in Xenoblade 1 and X. Xenoblade 1 threw this at you and expected you to handle all of it. Hell no. X was even worse, because later enemies in that game are almost impossible to kill without a heavily customized Skell. Level progression in this game is smooth most of the way, though it does get rocky at some points, like at the beginning of the World Tree and ... Spirit Crucible Elpys. I will get to that soon. The difficulty spikes were bad in the first game, and the ones in X were atrocious, but its a breath of fresh air I thought I would never breathe in this series. Sometimes, though, I wondered if I was doing something wrong in Xenoblade 1 and X. Probably. Anyways, the sidequests don't really help you level up, though if you find yourself against a tough enemy, go to an Inn and rest to use your Bonus XP. That's saved me so many times before. This game has a set difficulty, as there is no way to change it, so if something seems difficult, you're either probably doing something wrong or it actually is difficult. Most likely the latter. Still, the game paced quite nicely, even though there were some bumps in the road, like when Malos regains his power and becomes a freaking MONADO BOI, screaming Monado Arts every 15 freaking seconds, making him annoying to play against. He has Monado Cyclone, Monado Eater, Monado Armor, Monado Buster, and an original one called Monado Jail, all of which are annoying asf. Still, I do thoroughly enjoy the less harsh difficulty curve and admire consistency.
now... WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE ABOUT THE GAME.
VOICE ACTING:
The English voice acting makes me groan so much. How the hell did you downgrade in quality of voice actors and direction? I'm usually one to tolerate dubs if I know I can get used to it later on, but this game almost had my ears bleeding within the FIRST GODDAMN CHAPTER! Even worse, most of the characters have British/English accents probably because the first one did, so the developers felt obligated to do the same thing. In Xenoblade 1, as far as I have played, the voice acting is near-perfect, and I could honest-to-God listen to their voices for hours, if not days, especially Shulk, Rein, Dunban, and Melia. The other characters are fine to listen to as well. Whenever I hear Rex open his, mouth, it feels like my ears are grating at times when he starts yelling. Pyra's English voice is... okay. t's tolerable, but she sounds so dull and lifeless at times. Azurda, Jin and Malos are okay, but Nia. Nia is what murdered my hope for the voices. To me, her voice just doesn't fit AT ALL. I hear her voice, I immediately thought "Nope. Nuh uh. I ain't doin' this anymore." Fortunately, there's a free Japanese Voice pack to download, to I downloaded it, and after Chapter 1, enabled Japanese Voice acting, and kept it like that for the rest of the game. I don't even know what a majority of the English Voices for the other characters sound like, and I really don't intend to anytime soon. Probably when I have morbid curiosity.
now... it's time...
SPIRIT. CRUCIBLE. ELPYS.:
Who. In their right mind. Thought that this. This god-forsaken area. Was a good choice. of game design? Answer: A FUCKING SADIST WHO ENJOYS KNOWING THEY'VE CAUSE PAIN AND SUFFERING!!! Fuck this entire segment in the story!!! This almost ruined my will to play the game any further!!! the enemies are WAY high at this point, and where you fight them, as well as how many, is ABYSMAL! Not even metioning the named enemies that actually pop up out of nowhere AND how easy it is to get knocked off a platform and take extra fall damage, or even worse: INTO A BOTTOMLESS PIT, RESULTING IN INSTANT DEATH! And the goddamn scorpions as well as these despicable things called Rodneya's, come in droves. Oh yeah, and they have Bats. As if the situation couldn't get any more annoying. This are also has a total of 5 NAMED ENEMIES, and those always immediately attack you on sight, no matter your level! Some of which COME OUT OF NOWHERE! At one point, you come into a spider nest, where you gotta kill the creepy crawlies or avoid them. then you gotta face a stronger, Blade-less Spider Monster than from the Kingdom of Uraya during the main story. After you defeat it, guess what? AN EVEN BIGGER, NAMED VARIANT CRAWLS DOWN TO FIGHT YOU! WHAT THE ABSOLUTE HELL IS THIS GAME RIGHT NOW!!? Oh wait, I just answered my question: Absolute Hell. You encounter 3 more on your way there, and the game expects you to beat them. You might be thinking "git gud, m8" or just kill the monsters and level up. That's the problem, you are higher leveled than some of the monsters, but they gang up on you (be it all at once or they happened upon you battling another monster), and the scorpions and Rodneya's have this bs attack that can shred your health easily, and the Rodneya's ALWAYS attack in groups. But What really puts the nail in your coffin is the condition of this large and dumb area. Thanks to the particles draining the area of Ether, you can ONLY use lvl 1 Blade Specials, meaning you can't use Blade Combos. That, and healing arts are less effective than normal. The ONLY characters not affected by these rules is Tora his Blade Poppi. So not only are the enemies in here complete bs, the game also pulls a dick move by stripping you to the bare minimum of your survival tools and expects you do fine. HELL. FUCKING. NO! The Final Boss of the dungeon isn't even hard or over-leveled. It's just super annoying to battle. You basically have to fight Phantom versions of the hero Addam. They aren't very strong, but they spawn seemingly INFINITELY, meaning you have to defeat all of them at onec to end the fight early (which is nearly impossible) or just survive until they finally stop spawning constantly. After that, you finally get a reward for going through that hellhole AFTER you get to the Final Boss of the chapter, which is Pyra/Mythra's overpowered as FUCK form. At least in the time in between, you get to use Nia as a Blade, who has AMAZING healing capabilities (Seriously, complete her Affinity Chart and you basically cannot die). Overall, though, FUCK CHAPTER 7!!!
THE VERDICT:
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is overall a great game. Not amazing, but extremely far from bad. It has deep combat, an interesting narrative, memorable characters, awesome music, gigantic worlds, and an overall good presentation. Sure, it has some flaws, like the Blade RNG, the English Voice acting, and Chapter 7 as a whole, but I still found extreme enjoyment in it from beginning to end, despite a lack of post game content. Too bad we have to wait until the end of THIS YEAR to get something like that, but this month, we should get an update that includes a New Game+, which I'm down for.
I will give this game an 8.5/10. While the story and environments are great, and the characters and combat are equally great, it has several flaws that it suffers from that kinda bog down the experience for me, especially Chapter 7. FUCK Chapter 7.
And if you've read from beginning to this ending sentence, then I thank you for your time for reading this review.
angry gran toss
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