Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Game Review

Xenoblade Chronicles 2Sometimes, a game is so special that you can feel it right away. There’s a confidence on display, and a belief that the work put forward is worth your time because you’re about to be treated to something great.It might start humbly enough: one might feature a boy simply waking from a nap while another has the eventual hero going about his daily life. From these small beginnings, a huge adventure awaits that’s almost guaranteed to make you laugh, cry, and get excited at every new revelation. It happened for many with Xenoblade Chronicles. And it happened for me with the arrival of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Fans are hoping that this sequel can somehow meet that same level of quality. Yet in many ways, it surpasses them. Let me explain. The story of Xenoblade 2 takes place in the world of Alrest, a place made up entirely of what’s known as the Cloud Sea.There are no natural continents to live on save the immense World Tree that lies in the center of Alrest. Instead, the people have to survive by living on giant creatures known as Titans, who are able to travel the ocean-like Cloud Sea, eternally circling the World Tree. But after living this way for so long, the Titans are beginning to die out and the threat of war hangs over everyone, a fight for the dwindling territory. It’s in this setting that we focus on a salvage named Rex, who makes a living recovering artifacts and technology that long ago sank into the Sea. This focus on him allows you to learn the rules of Alrest and the existence of Drivers and Blades.Blades are special beings that bond with the people capable of becoming their Drivers. The Blade grants the Driver more power, allowing them to use special abilities called Arts. But Rex’s life is soon thrown a curve when he agrees to a lucrative job and his salvaging causes him to meet Pyra, a special Blade known as the Aegis. He inadvertently becomes her Driver yet promises to take her to the World Tree where his dream of there being enough land for everyone might become possible. From there, the story takes many twists and turns as we learn about the Titans, the politics of Alrest, the World Tree, and what makes Pyra so special as an Aegis.I somehow managed to squeeze in 90 hours of playtime with Xenoblade Chronicles 2, just barely reaching the end before this review. This is a world that begs to be explored and I decided to take my time to get as much of a natural experience as I could before making that last drive to the finale. And I can say emphatically that the story is just incredible. While prior knowledge of the original game will help you get more out of it, this is still a story that anyone can enjoy. And there’s so many great moments.I would get a smile out of the silly scenes, invested in the huge action setpieces and incredible choreography, and even teared up when tragedies or low points for the characters would occur. This is a story that slowly introduces you into the world, teaching you the basics, before adding layer after layer, and creating an investment so strong that I just wanted to keeping playing for hours on end. And by the time I experienced the final revelations and conclusion, I was left in tears. It is a truly beautiful story. And the characters are a major factor of all this.There are so many people to meet, helped by the fact that nearly every major character also has a Blade with their own personality quirks, yet I never had trouble remembering any of them. They stood out thanks to the excellent writing and individual personalities. Some fall into tropes of course, but they’re still so fun or given enough of a twist that I would find myself getting pulled into this world. And best yet, every party member has an arc that made me care about them even more than before. Unlike the original, where I felt some party members got shifted to the side once their part in the story was finished, Xenoblade 2 keeps everyone involved and relevant, making it quite difficult to decide who should be in your party.Naturally, while a wonderful story and memorable characters can keep you playing a game, it’s more of a slog if it’s not actually fun. And I am happy to say that nearly every major complaint that I had about the original Xenoblade has been improved upon in this sequel, creating a battle system that is simply a joy to use and a world packed with so much to do that I feel most players could get at least 200 hours out its game play. While that might seem overwhelming, one of best improvements is simply how the game teaches you its mechanics. Not everything is available all at once and there’s enough time to really learn the previous element before expanding upon it. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 doesn’t throw you into the world and expect you to work things out on your own or read expanded manuals to really understand what you need to do.At no point did I ever feel lost in the battle system, something I couldn’t really say about either the original Xenoblade or X. Before actually playing the game, I thought combat looked slow, unwieldy, and uninteresting. It was one of my big concerns, but after experiencing it myself, it is a huge improvement over the original game. Whereas before you were mainly focused on your positioning and using Arts in the proper order, now the focus is on the flow of battle itself. The biggest change right away is that you have to stop moving in order to start attacking.And then comes the key feature. Every weapon in the game, all 14 types, has a rhythm to it. These consist of three major hits, each one gradually building up power until the cycle repeats, and that rhythm ties into your Arts. By timing the use of them just as you hit, the Art will be even more powerful, with each hit in the cycle growing in strength. So maybe you want to do the most damage so you wait for the third hit, but this isn’t always possible because of other factors so you must maximize what you can with the first or second.It made me pay attention to each battle as utilizing this strategy is incredibly helpful and even sets up other aspects of the combat. As you use Arts, they’ll gradually increase your Special meter, up to Level 4. These allow you perform powerful attacks that, while good on their own, more importantly set up Elemental combos. Every weapon has one of eight Elements and each weapon can have any element. These elements are then applied to your Arts, making them even stronger against enemies weak to that type.Using a Special begins an Elemental Combo of whatever your current weapon is imbued with. From that point, you are shown a grid of other Specials you can possibly activate to continue the combo. Of course, there’s also a time limit, but you can extend it through the use of statuses. Certain Arts will cause a Break status, leaving enemies open to harsher outcomes. Topple will make them fall to ground defenseless for a short time while there’s the new statuses of Launch and Smash.Launch leaves the enemy vulnerable in the air for even longer, while Smash does massive damage for slamming them into the ground. Pulling off an Elemental Combo also strengthens the potential of the returning Chain Attacks. They’re essentially no different from how they worked before. There are segments that fill as you battle and one segment can be used to revive a fallen party member. But if you fill all three, you can unleash a Chain Attack for even more damage.Using it normally will likely only get you one round of hits from each party member. Potent, but not as good as using it after Elemental Combos which lead to Elemental Bursts. Attacking the enemy will also strike any orbs that surround it from the Elemental Combo. This will not only cause damage but extend the Chain Attack, leading to some of the most devastating possibilities in the game. By the final boss, I performed a Chain Attack that caused nearly 2 million damage.I love this battle system so much. It is satisfying on every level yet challenging to pull off during boss fights and other tough encounters. There’s a feeling of balance to the system since it takes a lot prep to pull off the major feats. When I did though, I was always left smiling. And while it might sound like a lot to take in now all it once, Xenoblade 2 gradually feeds you this information over the course of 15 to 20 hours.You will know the ins and outs of every step before they give you the next. And even before that point, I was still having fun in combat as I learned the intricacies.  Heck, there were still small elements being introduced 80 hours in that change the way you strategic in this game. It is by far the best combat that Xenoblade has ever had. And that’s without mentioning the customization.As I said, every weapon can be any element but you get these weapons through the use of Blades. Blades come in two categories, Common and Rare, differentiated by their designs and potential, and are obtained by using Core Crystals that bond them to whoever used it. Common Core Crystals usually yield Common Blades, but there’s always the slight possibility of finding a Rare Blade. These Common Blades can be ranked 1 through 4 with the higher numbered ones having slightly different designs and more potential in battle. They’re fine for early on, and the higher ranks can hold their own, but what you’ll really want are the Rare Blades.These unique Blades can either be found in shops or during sidequests, but the easiest method is the Rare or Legendary Core Crystals, although there’s still a chance that it’ll just be a strong Common. All Rare Blades are ranked 5 and are where you’ll really get the most out of the Blade systems thanks to their Abilities and raw potential. There is a way to slightly influence your chances for a Rare Blade when bonding though. Various boosters can be used to increase the chances for a Blade of a certain element. These can obtained in treasure chests or when salvaging or for dismissing one of your Blades in the hope of getting a better one.The designs of the Rare Blades are incredible in their own right, each one with a unique personality and function, but what makes them special is the process of increasing their power. All Blades can be equipped with Core Chips that make their weapons even more powerful and even change the design. It’s the only bit of visual customization there is in the game as unlike previous titles, there’s no way to change the party’s outfits. Instead, their only equipment are the Blades they use and accessories. But Blades can be equipped with their own accessories as well, making for a lot of potential fine tuning, especially when it comes to their role.These fall into one of three classic categories: Attacker, Healer, and Tank. Attackers deal the damage, Healers keep everyone healthy, and Tanks absorb the majority of the attacks. Where it gets interesting is that these are determined by the Blades you equip. Rex is naturally fit as an Attacker, but his stats change when using a Healing or Tank Blade, making him just as viable. You could have certain characters focus solely on a single role or make each character have all three to fit any situation.Again, it goes back to the sheer amount of player choice in Xenoblade 2 and every option is viable. And as you battle, your Drivers will get stronger as well, beyond the obvious levels. Weapon Points allow you to increase the strength of the Arts in each Blade weapon. But it’s not a common pool that you decide from. Instead, the Weapon Points are earned for the weapons you actually use.So for example, the more you use a sword, the more points it’ll have. And any Blade that uses a sword will already have their Arts strengthened. It removes a lot of the clutter and keeps things simple. Then there’s Skill Points, which can be used to increase each character’s stats or offer up utilities in battle such as having an Art charged as soon as a fight begins or the ability to chain Arts together for more damage at a faster rate, at the expense of drawing a lot of aggression. Then there’s Poppi, an artificial Blade made by the Nopon, Tora.She can’t equip normal accessories like the other Blades, but she is customization personified. Ether Crystals can be earned in order to increase her potential. These range from more accessory slots to changing her element to changing her role in battle. She can be whatever you want. But to earn these Crystals, you must play an original arcade game called Tiger! Tiger! Here you control a Nopon salvager as you collect the actual Crystals and treasure chests while taking out the creatures in your way.It’s a fun game in its own right with 5 different levels, but you’ll have to play it a lot if you want to really unlock Poppi’s potential. But even as is, she can be an excellent Blade in combat. But your Blades aren’t just useful in battle. Each one has Field Skills that allow you to access new areas, unlock special treasure chests, or even open up new dialog options with the townspeople you meet. It makes this world feel so much more dense than what’s come before and encouraged me to revisit old areas.I wanted to see what else I could find as I improved those skills and obtained more Blades to augment them since they stack on top of one another. But this is where the true genius of the Blades lies. Every Blade has an Affinity Chart. There’s no affinity between your party, instead it’s between your Drivers and Blades. As the Blades gain affinity with their Driver, more abilities on the chart are opened and they can be a truly helpful prospect.They’re essentially a miniature achievement list. As you do the things listed in the chart, a latent ability or Field Skill is improved. For the Common Blades, these run the typical gamut of using certain moves or taking out particular monsters. The Rare Blades have those as well, but the difference is that every one of them has either a special Heart to Heart scene or sidequest or even both to discover. You’ll get the personality of your Blade as you use them, but it’s through these requirements that you really get a sense of what they’re like.And they are absolutely worth it, not only for building a connection but making them that more potent in battle. Ignoring this aspect of the game will leave you much weaker for the challenges you’ll face. And I loved it. It made me think of the sidequests in Xenoblade Chronicles X that really showed you what your teammates were like. While these aren’t as in depth as those, they do provide just enough to make the effort worthwhile even without the bonuses.Naturally, these Heart to Hearts and sidequests will greatly boost the affinity for your Blades as well, making them worth hunting down. Some of the requirements can be a little tedious, but that’s where the Mercenary Missions come in. At one point in the game, you’ll have access to a mercenary company where you can send out your Blades to fulfill certain missions for each location. And this is where your Common Blades come in to play. A mercenary squad can have up to 6 Blades and certain requirements must be met such as an element, a number men or women, or a kind of weapon.Other skills may be suggested as well which will shorten the amount of time that team will be away. Not only does this earn you extra money, but it builds affinity and unlocks nodes in the chart for those Blades. This applies to Rare Blades as well, making for a good way to build them up when they’re not in use. Obviously you’ll need to actually equip them to unlock some of the nodes, but it still saves time. The other boon is how it relates to town development.Each Titan you visit has a development ranking, much like the town affinity in the original Xenoblade. But here, rather than solely be focused on doing missions and talking to townspeople, it’s about giving a boost to the local economy. Buying and selling items in a town will boost its development and sometimes grant new mercenary missions that will expand the shops. This in turn provides more options for you to buy and spend more money which increases the development while lowering costs. Sidequests and talking to the townsfolk still help but it’s this buying and selling that really pushes it forward.And that’s the great thing about towns now. It feels like there’s more a purpose. Before you had to talk to everyone in the hope of finding new dialog and potentially opening up more sidequests and affinity opportunities. Now every person that you haven’t talked to is marked with a star. And even if you have talked to them, that star will return to indicate new dialog opportunities.It is a timesaver of system and so elegant when the world is this huge. Additionally, it’s actually worth buying things in towns now. Where once you could rely on enemy drops to get you what you want, now there’s a new owner system. If you buy at least one item of everything a shop sells, you can become the owner. While this doesn’t grant you any monetary gain, it does provide a permanent buff to your skillset such as increasing your default running speed and how close you have to be to draw in items.It is a brilliant way to keep me spending money because these buffs are so worthwhile. And this goes back to the mercenary missions that increase the shop inventory in the hopes of buying everything including the deed to their shop. It’s a wonderful example of how the systems in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 tie into each so naturally that it made me want to see and do it all. While the sidequests aren’t as plentiful as previous games, they’re much more substantial and there’s still a lot. Many can lead you all over multiple Titans, potentially taking you to places on those Titans that you hadn’t seen before.It’s a lot like a miniature story arc but rather than blindly trying to discover where you need to go, every sidequest is clearly marked with what you need to do. Completing all these sidequests also doesn’t carry with it the issue of being over-leveled. In the original Xenoblade Chronicles, it was possible to become too strong for the story if you went out of your way to do everything. This is solved in 2 by classifying sidequest rewards as bonus experience. By staying at an inn, you can tap into this extra experience and immediately level up your characters if you so choose.So you can go at your own pace as much as you want and if you come to an especially hard spot, return to the inn, level up your characters, and try again with no need to grind. It’s a great fix. And another wonderful improvement is to collecting materials. The process has been made much easier. Rather than individual items spread across the world, there are specific Collection Points where you can find these materials.Better yet, you can easily identify what you’ll likely get from that point. If you’re near water, you’ll get fish. Near a tree? Wood materials. Near a rock? Different minerals. And if you need bolts and screws, you can go salvaging.Collecting these items is a breeze and nearly eliminates the nightmare of finding that one particular rare material that you simply can’t locate. And better yet, some of the Field Skills and shop buffs increase how many materials are yielded by the Collection Points. I didn’t miss the exclusion of a Collectopedia at all. This system is so much better. And honestly, that’s how I feel about the gameplay in general.Everything is improved upon what came before. It’s easier, it’s faster, it’s more engaging, and the little headaches are nearly gone. The combat is also the best in the series and incredibly fun to play. That’s not to say that Xenoblade Chronicles 2 doesn’t have issues though, but they tended to be on the technical side of things in my experience. The graphics as a whole are simply gorgeous.Monolith Soft are masters of huge and beautiful worlds. Each Titan is special in its own way, and it was a treat to travel across each one. And even though I was a little unsure of the character designs at first, I pretty quickly came around after seeing them in motion. They are so expressive with little smiles and other touches that simply enchanted me and this was especially true during the comedic scenes. The animations on one character in particular are absolutely brilliant.Here’s the problem though. Fast travel returns and is still quite useful, but if you fast travel from one Titan to another, the game can take a while to catch up graphically. Almost every time, the textures are extremely low quality until the final sheen is put on while other locations has whole geometry missing for a short while. It doesn’t exactly ruin anything and could be a way of cutting down on load times, but it’s really distracting from the beauty on display. What is slightly worrying is how the game froze on two different occasions.One had a loading screen lock up on me while the other had the game crash entirely. The game doesn’t autosave either unless you’re bonding with a Blade so I was incredibly lucky that the two times this happened, I had saved not long before. Still 2 times in 80 hours is not that bad, but I would recommend saving fairly often just in case. The graphics may be wonderful overall, but they still pale in comparison to the music. Every song is an inherent joy to listen to and really punctuate some truly moving scenes.The battle music is exciting on its own but ramped up to such an awesome degree during boss fights. One of the Titan’s daytime music is so good that I guarantee it’ll be a staple in the same way as Gaur Plains. These are incredible pieces of music that I still ache to listen to as much as possible. The only issue I came across was the sound balancing during Heart to Hearts. Sometimes the music could nearly overwhelm the characters saying their lines.Thankfully this isn’t an issue during normal cut scenes. However, this is based on the default settings. I later learned that the game does allow you to customize the audio volume in all contexts and even independently adjust the vocals during game play and cut scenes. And speaking of the acting, we return to a UK voice cast that just seems to fit so well with this series. While a Japanese voice pack will be available for free, I still really enjoyed the dub.I think most of the cast does fantastic job, especially the actors for Pyra, Poppi, and Tora. Rex’s voice actor does a good job overall, but he lacked the sheer vocal power of Shulk. He just couldn’t scream like Adam Howden, always seeming to hold something back. A common problem though was the lip syncing. It can be pretty off a lot of time, but it feels like they’re still attempting to match the lip flaps.Unfortunately this creates some slightly stilted acting moments, but when these actors don’t have to worry about matching anything, they come across so much better. It feels like an unlucky Catch-22 though I eventually was able to ignore the slight awkwardness. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a marvel of an RPG. This is a game that took a hard look at what came before and made every effort to improve upon it or streamline the process. The land of the Titans is a little more linear than what we’ve seen from the series before, but the world feels more dense, more fleshed out, and there’s still tons of gameplay out there for me to encounter and experience.I repeat, the combat is the best it’s ever been, tactical and exciting, especially when you pull off the combos that you’ve been working toward. And the presentation, barring a few hiccups, is just breathtaking. The story pulled me into its world almost immediately before beginning a gradual build-up that adds layer after layer without forgetting its core characters and making all of them feel integral. There are some truly awe-inspiring moments that left me teary-eyed and excited for what came next. This is the masterful storytelling you knew and loved from Xenoblade Chronicles, just as good as it ever was.That an RPG of this caliber has landed on the Switch in its first year is incredible. What’s even crazier is that it’s my favorite game this year. I absolutely love Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and what it brings to this series. It improves upon so much while being the most accessible entry to date. If you have even the slightest curiosity, play this game.Give it the time to get its hooks in you and you won’t want to put it down. Now if you excuse me, I want get back to playing.For  sims 4 review just visit here SHARE