Xenoblade Chronicles 2

.story

Xenoblade 2 takes place at the same time of Xenoblade 1 but in different universes. Worry not, the storyline will explain everything and will make perfect sense. Takahashi is the writer behind it so expect great plot twists and religious references. Where XB1 was a story about revenge in XB2 we go deeper in the emotional spectrum and the main theme is way more adult despite being sold in a shonen coat. The plot is about finding a place in this world, a meaning and someone to create memories with and, in the end, departure without remorses. This concept makes XB2 and his DLC, Torna The Golden Company, Monolith's biggest scope plot since Xenogears. Rex is the main character this time around, a kind-hearted boy that will find himself in a conflict between Aegises, entities with great powers, capable of destroying entire Titans. Yes, because in XB2 there is no more earth to step in...something that will be revealed during the story and people need to live on Titans...much more generic ones than the Mechonis and the Bionis from XB1. Each member of the cast has a peculiar anime personality. This on the outside...because the more you know them in the hours of cut-scenes and their now notorious heart-to-heart system the more you will realize that they are in fact complex characters with well written backstories. There is also plenty of anime humour and harem kind of content between Rex and the many sexualized female characters and seems like they tried to use this factor as secondary selling point and I don't find it a bad choice as XB1's design scared plenty of people and they changed it in the remake. XB2 story will be more impactful based on your age and maturity as some references and subjects will be basically ignored by a younger audience that will probably try to rush through the over 50 hours of gameplay just for the main campaign.

.gameplay

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 changed completely his gameplay from the first interaction. This is what I have heard from other reviews and forums. Truth is that it's a simplified version of the first two Xenoblades...oh, you can't exploit the chain attacks anymore like everyone did in 1 and X. Monolith removed most of the buffs/debuffs system; every weapon is free and we pay just for the material upgrade, the same for every kind of weapon; accessories are our only gear and we have 2 of them; we also went from 8 arts to 3 blade arts and 1 special art for a total of 4. In XB2 our party members are accompanied from a maximum of 3 Blades, characters with elemental type and combat style (Attacker, Healer and Tank) and it works in a way similar to Persona but with fixed arts. We can open core cristals to find new Blades using a classic gacha system to find common and Rare ones, these have unique design, arts and abilities. I'm not contrary to this system if not for the fact that the game auto-saves right before opening these cristals which is something so evil from the developers I still don't understand the reason. Each Blade has his own field skill which is needed to jump or open various doors in the game world. They are upgraded trough a grid system that is pretty addictive with various tasks to complete, all easy to do but hugely time-consuming. Chain attacks are back but the system is simplified from XBX. In all honesty the tutorial is so bad explained it doesn't even let you test the stuff properly and you cannot read it again anywhere...so I had to watch online how to do and works amazingly. We just chain different elemental skills and the last combo of each set gives the enemy a corresponding elemental sphere. Once we press the chain attack button our whole party can attack for as many spheres we have. The damage we can deal is insane even without prep.

.sound

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is not at the same level as X but knows how to excite the player thanks to his shonen epic scenes and the OST is so fitting with his heroic themes. Some easy examples are Counterattack and Incoming!. I can't say the same about the dubbing. I live in UK and I actually like their british accent but something about Rex's voice actor just doesn't work and kills the mood in more than one scene. Despite this most of the other actors did a pretty good job and the humour scenes are quite fun and well acted in english.

.graphics

XB2 is probably a step back from both XB1 and XBX. It doesn't have many big areas like 1 did and it's clearly not open world like X. There are loads of corridors which are locked by different field skills especially in the advanced areas so I suggest to grind a bit. For the first time in the series I haven't found the art direction particularly inspired. It is a very generic fantasy JRPG.

.Torna ~ The Golden Country / dlc content

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 did something many more JRPG should do instead of selling just sexy skins. Do you have a spectacular cast of secondary characters? Do a 20 hours spin-off set 500 years before the main game! Torna is set during the Aegis War between Malos and Mythra. The main characters are Lora and Jin and their dialogues are so well written that this DLC easily outclasses the main games in storytelling because of how dense the events are. Lora, Jin, Addam, Mythra are all astonishing characters anyway and I guess it was pretty easy to make a grand emotional and epic conclusion to the Xenoblade 2 storyline. Gameplay-wise it is also more interesting and dynamic thanks to an healing system based on swapping Driver and Blade together with less Blades to choose from and an even easier system to chain attacks.

.verdict

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 did it again...and if the main campain doesn't quite get there...they do one year later thanks to the release of Torna, the prequel DLC. Monolith nailed it and shows again they are top class developers for the genre. The anime design might not be for everyone but under it these characters have a grown and deep soul that have lot to say. If you like dramatic and intense tones that elaborates on themes such as existentialism, the value of our memories and the bond we connect with mankind...then Xenoblade 2 will touch your heart.