Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Nintendo Switch Game - Epic JRPG Adventure with Open World Exploration - Perfect for Home Gaming & Travel Entertainment

After 160 long hours of playing the game... I finally completed XB2. This is me exploring every bit of Alrest, completing as many sidequests that I came across, and clearing some Blade Quests. If I were to complete the rest of the game's quests and defeat all of the superbosses, it would easily reach over 200 hours.So how does stack up as an RPG? How does it compare to the other Xenoblade games? Rest assured, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 lives up to the quality that Monolith Soft has become known for.The storyline is still an emotional rollercoaster, their characters have the same charm, but on top of that there are a ton of quality of life and gameplay improvements in XB2. I had my fair share of concerns about the game which I will cover, but I am glad to say that after playing the game I was worried for nothing.STORYLINE: This game's world (Alrest) is covered in a cloud of sea, inhabited by giant Titans which are in turn, inhabited by people of different races and culture. The finite lifespan of these Titans is the source of conflict for resources, which makes for a very interesting geopolitical climate.At the center of this world is the World Tree, the final destination of our protagonists.XB2 successfully inserts the ordinary "boy meets girl" story into their extremely well-made and breathtaking fantasy setting. The result is a storyline perfectly intertwined with its setting, fully utilizing its history and lore. Saving the world is not the original goal as typical in RPGs but is rather a natural progression of the storyline, much like the first Xenoblade. And thrown into the mix is a province under the occupation of an Empire, who is currently on the brink of war with another country. And both of these countries are militarily supplied by a theocracy. And threatening it is the Torna organization, named after a fallen Kingdom from 500 years ago.So you have a fairly simple goal, which is Rex taking Pyra to Elysium, enveloped in this complex and interesting geopolitical climate. What I appreciate about the story is that each region that Rex comes across are mere stopping points on his journey Elysium. Although Elysium can solve the world problem of living space, the world itself is not facing immediate danger. With big RPGs, it's easy for the main goal to get lost in the distractions and problems of each stop, making it less important or forgettable. But rather than going around and trying to solve the world's problem on his own, Rex encounters conflicts in each chapter.And with each conflict, a layer of knowledge is presented to the player and Rex. Bit by bit, you learn about the truth of Alrest, its people, and the motivations of the Torna organization. This events both strengthen Rex's resolve to each Elysium and makes the end goal more important. This is the perfect way to pace a game as large as XB2 for three reasons. First, because it's too overwhelming to inform us everything about the world right off the bat. Secondly, as you learn about reach region both the characters and hopefully you the player, begin caring about this world that needs to be protected and saved. And finally, the story never loses sight of the end goal, maintaining its simplicity, consistency, and coherency.I still prefer the original Xenoblade's storyline, but only by a slight margin. They both have different emotional appeals to me, and it just so happens that my personal preference leans towards the appeal of the first one more, which has more intensity and excitement. XB2 also has its fair share of intensity, but it's more charming and tragic.The level of quality is the same for both Xenoblade games, but the direction is obviously different, which may affect what you think is better. I think they both outdo each other in different things. XB1 has more complexity which makes their twists less predictable and therefore, more impactful. XB2 is straightforward but has better lore, politics, and history which provides a stronger backstory and motivation to its villains.That's all I can go into without spoilers. In the end, they are closely matched in quality and emotional appeal, and it's up to your preference which one you like better at the of the day. I'd say XB2 did well considering the high bar that XB1 sets.CHARACTERS: A game can have a great storyline but awful characters or vice versa. So by rule of thumb, I review characters and stories separately. With that out of the way, let me say that XB2's characters are some of the most charming characters you'll come across in a JRPG.The charm with the characters is that they are quite ordinary. Rex doesn't have any special powers... he's just a village kid with a silly Salvager Code dictating his ethics. Tora is a sly technical genius who looks up to Rex. Nia is a tough girl with a soft side. Morag is the serious soldier with immense loyalty and pride to her nation. Zeke is your silly over-the-top character who everyone riffs on.But their simplicity is part of their charm. They are very straightforward with each other so the banter comes off as natural, organic, and amusing. They do however, have very interesting and unusual backstories which unfortunately, I cannot touch upon without spoiling.I will say however, that the party dynamic is very interesting. This is because each character (or Driver) is paired off with a Blade character. So you have different kinds of interactions between a Blade and their Driver, Drivers with other Drivers, and Blades with other Blades. So what you get in the end is a diversity in cast members and perspectives. It makes for very interesting and enjoyable dialogue.Beyond the main cast, you have a great set of villains whose backstories and motivations are more developed than the other Xenoblade games. And what also makes them charming is that there is a sense of camaraderie within Torna.They aren't just fellow cohorts who see each other as disposeable allies... they actually have their own amusing banter and interactions. This in turn, can also be reflected in their teamwork which makes you really appreciate them as good villains.Comparing them to XB1, I think the first game has slightly more likeable characters because of their maturity. On the other hand, XB2's characters have more development and history. Again, this is easily a tossup between the two. Another edge that XB2 has over XB1 is that Blades also count as characters. Apart from the main cast, you have Rare Blades who each have their own lengthy (and voiced) story arcs. And with over 20 Rare Blades, that's a lot of characterization.CONTENT: It's not a Xenoblade game without a monstrous amount of content. To fully enjoy Xenoblade games, you have to explore their beautifully crafted worlds and do plenty of side quests on top of the main storyline. One can easily spend over 100 hours to complete each game. This is a pleasant long-term investment rather a long grind, and one of the biggest reasons why Xenoblade games are the most anticipated RPGs of the genre.Each region you visit is vast and fully explorable. There are many pathways, hidden areas, secret treasures, and a lot of ground to explore. Different times of the days and weathers also affect the monsters that appear or the NPCs that are present in town. So even if you've been everywhere, you might want to do it again under different weather conditions.Monolith Soft vastly improved their side quest formula in XB2. The previous two games were plagued with an overabundance of sidequests which mainly amounted to monster hunting and fetching items in the field. XB2 cuts down the amount of sidequests but lengthens them, and makes them more rewarding.Apart from the gold and items you earn, sidequests increases Trust and Development. Trust is a level-progression mechanic for your characters' Blades, which upgrades their abilities. Development is a level-progression mechanic for each Titan, reaching up to 5 stars.For each new Star you earn for each Titan, you unlock more quests, lower vendor prices, and unlock more items to purchase. In a nutshell, XB2's side quest system creates a full circle between exploration, the side quests, and leveling up your characters. You can do all of it together which cuts how tedious and time-consuming they are.What's more, each of these sidequests is a mini-story of their own (and in some cases, a story that spans multiple sidequests). You might be consoling a kid on avenging his parents, helping a runaway couple make a key decision, or getting to the bottom of a murder mystery.Creating a huge environment is one thing, but incentivizing the players to explore it presents another challenge. This is what Final Fantasy XV failed to do. Monolith Soft on the other hand has been doing it since the first Xenoblade, so it's no surprise they are successful at it.GAMEPLAY: The gameplay is a vast improvement over XCX. The ability to equip up to three different Blades means that each character has more accessibility to different elements and Weapon Skills. So what does this mean?First, each character can reliably perform the Break > Topple combo on their own, which is one of the key mechanics to delivering major damage. XB2 includes Launch > Smash into this chain, making it a 4-step process but thanks to Weapon Skill diversity, you never have to worry about pulling this off consistently.Second, each character can also perform the newly introduced Blade Combos on their own, which requires different elements to perform. It's more difficult to perform Blade combos by yourself (but possible), but the game more than makes up for it by having the AI switch their Blades to the corresponding element needed to complete the next stage of the combo. On top of this, you only need to press a shoulder button to have the AI perform the Blade Art, rather than relying on luck and cooldown timers.The easiest way to complete a Blade combo is to perform the first Blade Art yourself, let the AI perform the second Blade Art while you charge up your Level 3.These two mechanics are key in delivering heavy damage in XB2, and it's great that the system allows the player more control over this rather than leaving up to luck and AI to do.Another improvement over the previous games is healing. There are several Arts that produce healing potions upon hit, which can keep your HP up if your Healer already has their healing Art on cooldown. Moreover, you can simply equip your Healer with 3 Healing Blades so that cooldowns are never an issue. In short, as long as you aren’t fighting an overpowered enemy, you never have to worry about going down in battle.There's more to the battle system like Affinity Charts, Party Gauge, etc. but everyone knows Xenoblade games have so much depth. The main points are that both the system and AI mechanics complement the combo mechanics in the game necessary for heavy damage. The system still has the depth and sophistication, but it's easier to memorize and perform.Next, I want to cover quality of life improvements because this is also a big deal in of itself. RPGs are by nature, a heavy investment in time and management. They are not easy games to play and they need to be simple enough that you can go back to it from a large break without forgetting the basics. And this is even more important for XB2, which will have scheduled DLC and a new story added next year.Collection Points: Remember the annoying side quests where you have to gather collectables in the field? Unfortunately they still exist, and there still isn't an in-game database to find something you already gathered. On the bright side, there are far fewer of these quests as most of the materials are used for crafting Aux Cores rather than sidequest submissions. Secondly and more importantly, all the collection points are consolidated into a single node.So let's say that within 30-step range, you have 1-2 Collection Points. When you examine these, it drops 3-5 collectables. The amount of drops and rarity increase when you have Blades equipped with Field Skills such as Botany, Mineralogy, etc. So you can easily get 10+ collectables with only one node. This is a far better improvement in the previous games because you can now collect 5-10 items in one location rather than at 10 different points.Fast Travel/Waypoint Navigation: Xenoblade has always done a great job at this and XB2 further improves this with respect to sidequest locations. When you have a sidequest active, all you have to do is pull up the map and it will show you where it is. The only downside is that if you're in another region, it won't show up. So if you're in Argentum and trying to teleport to a sidequest in Gormott, you have to be in Gormott first before you can see the icon. It's a minor issue and I can understand that the game needs to load a region first.The other huge advantage to using the map is finding new sidequests. In the previous two XB games, I spent so much time traveling entire cities in both day and night just to make sure I wasn't missing out on any sidequests. But in XB2, all you have to do is pull up the map of the region you're in and you'll see a blue diamond marked with a "?" You don't need to be close enough for the draw distance to load it up or anything, the icon will be there regardless.These are two things I felt that Xenoblade needed most... an easier time gathering collectables, and an easier time finding sidequests. Both of these improvements will save players a lot of time and make it more welcoming to players afraid of investing themselves into an RPG.With all the good out of the way, let's talk about the game's flaws.Rare Blades: I think everyone will complain about how hard it is to obtain Rare Blades. In this game, you have Generic Blades and Rare Blades. Rare Blades have unique stats, abilities, designs, and most importantly their own sidequests and storylines which are voiced. Needless to say, any RPG enthusiast will want to collect all the Rare Blades.Generic Blades aren't obsolete compared to Rare Blades and in some cases, they can be more useful depending on their Battle Skills. But if given the choice, most players would rather have a party fully equipped with Rare Blades.The problem is that it's entirely based on luck. There are 3 different Core Crystals you can use to obtain Blades: Common, Rare, and Legendary. Rarer core crystals yields a higher chance at obtaining a Rare Blade. Unfortunately, not even Legendary Core Crystals guarantee Rare Blades.I equipped Zeke with 2 Generic Blades with Luck Modifiers, 2 accessories that increased his luck, and used 5 Boosters. In total, his Luck stat was over 500. With this setup, I went through 6 Legendary Core Crystals. And at another point of the game, I used 8 Core Crystals. In both runs, I did not obtain any Rare Blades. A quick internet search reveals that I'm not the only one who has experienced this.Another problem with Rare Blades is the inability to swap Blades onto other characters without the elusive Overdrive Protocol. This is a problem because each of your characters is paired with a Blade that cannot be disengaged. Rex will always have Pyra (ATK), Nia will always have Dromarch (HLR), for example. This means that your characters are stuck to a single role between Attacker, Healer, and Tank. Which means that the Blades you equip to them should also have the same role.The Overdrive Protocol is an item that allows you to swap Blades onto other characters, which is great. What's not so great is that there's only about 4 that can be found in chests. You can gain more by raising the Affinity Charts of your characters to the max, but by the time you do you will have already beaten the game! If you buy the expansion pass, the December update also gives you 3 of them.Regardless, the point is that these Rare Blades are essentially useless if they are on the wrong character. You can try to have a Tank and Healer on Rex but you'll soon realize how inefficient it is, especially when facing a difficult enemy. So then why are Overdrive Protocols so far and few in number?I hope Monolith Soft patches in the following fixes to Rare Blades:1) Legendary Core Crystals should provide an 85-100% chance of obtaining Rare Blades2) OR increase the availability of Legendary Core Crystals3) Allow us to obtain more Overdrive Protocols (Salvage or Purchase)No Database/Enemy Index: So like I said before... there are sidequests that require you to exterminate monsters. In fact, all Rare Blades have Affinity requirements that involve killing a specific monster from a specific region.So why doesn’t XB2 contain a bestiary where I can look up what I killed and go find it? It has the perfect map system to showcase where the enemies are. In fact, when you have to kill sidequest monsters, the navigation system will tell you where they are even if they aren’t within drawn distance! So it’s entirely possible!What makes this harder to forgive is that XCX has an enemy index! So this isn’t something new for the series to have. A bestiary of some kind in any RPG is a basic necessity, especially for a game that requires you to hunt down specific monsters for specific purposes!And while we’re talking about indexes and databases... that’s another thing this game lacks! The game will walk you through Blade Switching, Blade Combos, Chain Attacks, etc. and you, the player... will think that this information will be stored somewhere where you can view it again. Like a tutorial database that’s in every game nowadays, right?Wrong. There isn’t a single thing like that in the game anywhere. You can purchase “advice” from vendors but this only unlocks a couple lines of dialogue which you may or may not already know about. Why should we purchase information that should be laid out in a tutorial in the first place?!Again, these in-game tutorials (complete with images) have existed in the previous two Xenoblade games. So there’s no excuse for the third installment to not have that. Thankfully, I wised up quickly and used the Switch’s native screenshot button to remedy this, but there really needs to be a database of sorts that players can refer to if they forgot the mechanics.These are the only major problems I have with XB2. Everything else is either minor, has a solution, or has been fixed via patches. As I mentioned earlier, XB2 is more modernized and solves many of the problems that previous games had.Japanese versus English Audio: This is not to complain about the casting or voices of any audio track. In fact, I think the casting for both is fantastic and I love that Nintendo gave us the option for dual audio. I was very conflicted between ENG or JP for the audio, but ultimately I ended up going with the ENG because the JP audio doesn't have subtitles for dialogue outside of cutscenes.Some voices are better in JP, and some are better in ENG. I love the amount of effort that Nintendo put into the dub. A lot of people enjoyed the accents in XB1 and their actors were emotionally intense. XB2 brings that back and you get flavor from the dub that the JP audio doesn’t provide. Their dubs of the Nopons is perfect with words like "Dad" being replaced by "Dadapon."However, I think the voice direction of the ENG track is off in certain scenes, especially with respect to Nia, Pyra, and Mythra. Their voices are fine and they match the characters, but the delivery of some of their lines don't match the feelings or emotions meant to be portrayed which made some scenes awkward, and even cringey.So for these particular characters, I very much prefer the JP audio. On the other hand, you lose out on the accents and flavorful localization from the dub. The Nopons for one, as I have pointed out earlier. And notably, older characters such as Vandham.In a future patch, I hope Monolith Soft adds subtitles to dialogue outside of cutscenes... but this is unlikely as that would take a tremendous amount of effort. An alternative would be allowing us to pick who speaks in ENG or JP, very much like what Capcom did with SFIV and SFV. This could also be a problem seeing as how this is an RPG with a ton of characters.Fortunately, you can rewatch every single cutscene in the game and change the audio. But this reminds me of another flaw... that this function includes Blade Quests, Blade Summonings... but not Heart to Heart scenes. What’s up with that?SUMMARY: So how does it stack up compared to the other Xenoblade games? It still has amazing music, breathtaking scenery, the sophisticated battle systems, and everything else we love about the Xenoblade games. I think its story/characters have a different appeal, but it's not better or worse. I'll leave that to your personal preference.If I were to sum it up, XB2 returns to the serious storytelling of XB1 while taking XCX's improvements and further modernizing the series. Executive Producer Tetsuya Takahashi and Monolith Soft still have what it takes to make quality video games, and I can only see them making an even better Xenoblade in the future.All in all, it's a well-made video game that every RPG enthusiast should try out. I think even casual audiences can also enjoy this game, given how user-friendly it is. I hope more people play this game and enjoy it because it deserves more attention and praise!