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Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Discussion (Nintendo Switch) [game]
 
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on the Switch
9.25/10 from 6 user ratings

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The sequel to the highly praised Xenoblade Chronicles.
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11/30/17, 15:00   Edit:  11/30/17, 15:01
 
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I got this game on sale.

I'm scared to start it.

I'm still a little confused about the DLC, since its labelled a prequel. Does that make it better to play it first?
12/23/18, 20:57
@Mop it up
I think it's better to play the main game first, otherwise you'll get the twists and turns of the plot spoiled and a lot of the mystery surrounding various characters and locations will be gone. The Torna DLC is probably better as a bonus for people who like the main game and want more of the lore.
12/23/18, 23:47
Beat Torna: The Golden Country. Very happy with it!

It may only be a bite sized adventure compared to the main game, but it's still a great package with lots of content and almost everything I'd want out of a Xenoblade experience. Starting out I didn't feel all that much for the characters, but by the end things did feel a bit emotional even though (or perhaps because) I knew what was going to happen to most of them.

Lots of good stuff in here anyway, Auresco, the capital of Torna, is a great town that totally compares to towns in the main game, the entire continent of Torna is pretty and it's interesting to revisit/previsit Gormott. The battle system works fine, it's similar enough to the base game that it's easy to get into but at the same time gives you enough new takes on mechanics to make things interesting, the side quests are good even though I wished the community feature would have been closer to the affinity system of the first game, and the plot makes me appreciate certain characters from the main game even more. Also, it's got the creepiest monster design in any Xenoblade game. Gort in his Blade Eater form is nightmare fuel. Could just as well have been an enemy design from Doom Eternal or something.

I will say that the end of the DLC has some problems with making things artificially longer though. Forcing the player to do a ton of sidequests before the final confrontation with Malos doesn't sit right with me from a design standpoint or a plot standpoint considering the urgency of the whole situation. It didn't have much of an effect on me personally since I'm the type of guy who would round up all the sidequests I can before beating the game anyway, and the sidequests are fairly high quality and all, but making things mandatory like that is bad design, IMO.

Also, the end game could have done without as many fights where new enemies keep spawning, especially since the final boss fight is one of those multiple phase deals with tons of cinematics and drama. They could have cut back on some of that and made the Gort fight something more involved and the DLC would basically have been perfect, I think.
12/29/18, 15:19
@r_hjort

Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Reading your little review (spoiler free) made me actually interested in giving it a shot. No money for the DLC at the moment, but maybe by the time they announce (hopefully announce!) the next XB game there will be a few more coffers in the bank and Torna can hold me over until a new full adventure in that world. I love these games, it has quickly become one of my all-time favorite series.
12/29/18, 17:17
@J.K. Riki
After the success of XC2 I can't see them not making another one. While I'm all about the XC and XC2 style, at the moment I feel like I'd actually want a sequel to XCX. Maybe I've just had too much fantasy lore in my games lately or something, but some giant mech exploration action sounds like it'd be neat, despite me thinking XCX is the worst in the series.

But yeah, playing through Torna would be a great way to spend your time leading up to the next release. Twenty-thirty hours or so.
12/30/18, 20:21
@r_hjort

Whoa, didn't realize it was so long! Nice.

I agree about being open to another XBX game, so long as they didn't have the "make your own character" stuff and it had the solid story of the others. The only bit I really didn't enjoy about X was that the story wasn't as strong, nor the characters. I will remember the XB and XB2 characters forever (It's Reyn Time!), but as for X I only have a vague memory of some girl... who was maybe a robot... See I can't even quite remember. Everyone got mad at her in the end, I recall, and then were like "Oh nevermind we aren't mad anymore" which I thought was dumb because their point was valid. I think. Been too long, ha ha.
12/31/18, 00:08
@J.K. Riki
Yeah, that sums up the ending pretty good I think. I think you're referring to Elma there, and after that little bit in the end I didn't care for here one bit. I have somewhat fond memories of Lin and Tatsu, though. Their banter was likeable, I thought. Oh, btw, wasn't the plot that literally everyone was a robot but that Elma was an alien in a robot shell looking like a human? I'm starting to forget parts of it myself.

Btw, Torna DLC being 20-30 hours is just based on my play style. I think my final time was 20 or 21 hours, but I didn't end up doing all of the sidequests, so I'm just guesstimating how much more time I would have needed to complete everything. Either way it's a respectable size. It's like a 16-bit RPG or something.
12/31/18, 00:29
@r_hjort

Yeah, that sounds about right. All I know is they lied to everyone pretty much the whole time, and when someone brought that fact up the response was "Yeah, but it's cool." Very strange ending.

And I didn't even mind the CONCEPT, I just didn't like the execution.
12/31/18, 17:07
@J.K. Riki
Yeah, I agree. It could have been an interesting conflict and idea to wrestle with (especially given the very militaristic nature of the human civilization in the game) if introduced earlier, like 2/3 into the game, but as it stands it just felt like abuse of trust and power that everyone just decided to brush off and we're expected to do the same.
12/31/18, 17:37
I would be all over a Xenoblade X2 if it were a proper multiplayer game next time. To me, this series has always seemed well-suited for multiplayer and that's the number one thing I want in a sequel.
12/31/18, 20:34
@Mop it up
What type of multiplayer features do you want out of it more specifically?
12/31/18, 20:37
@r_hjort In Xenoblade 1 and 2, allowing other players to control the other party members. There could be options for both local and online play.

Xenoblade X though, already feels like it's set up for full online multiplayer. Have other players join your world, or join someone else's world, to explore, fight beasts, complete quests, etc. The reason why the game has less story and a generic character as the protagonist was entirely because of the multiplayer features they did add to the game, so it seems odd to me they would go through all that trouble but make the "multiplayer" so passive and limited.
12/31/18, 21:00
I've been chipping away at this one slowly and I'm really enjoying it. The Blade/Driver system is quite interesting, and the story is decent enough (if a bit predictable at times). It is utterly gorgeous and sounds wonderful, but the English dub is just all right.

I just started Chapter 7. Methinks I still have a ways to go...
05/24/19, 21:37
Just got the Torna expansion/prequel/thing in from the library, so guess I need to find time to play that before it's due back. I wasn't going to play it, but I feel like enough time has passed that it will feel fresh. And who knows how long it will be before we'll get our much-hoped-for Xenoblade Chronicles 3!

... WILL we get a XBC3...?
06/24/19, 15:13
There is a Japanese interview with Xenoblade director Takahashi, where the translations appear to make it sound like his ideas are shot down and Nintendo wants only more Xenoblade. So XBC3 will probably happen.
06/24/19, 21:33
I finished this last week. Good game, though the ending left me with a couple of questions...mainly revolving around three characters: Poppi, Pyra, and Mythra (and Pneuma I guess). So what exactly did Pneuma tell Poppi? That she was going to die and not to let Rex stop him, or did Poppi know that The Architect was going to restore Pyra and Mythra when the time was right?

Good game overall, and I would like to go through a New Game+ on a higher difficulty sooner rather than later. Before that, I need to start on the Torna expansion. I heard it's relatively short, so I may do that soon.
06/25/19, 23:22
@ludist210

Oh good, it's short? I hadn't heard the length. Didn't get to start it yet because the Women's World Cup has been consuming time like a basset hound in a hotdog factory.
06/26/19, 04:27
@J.K. Riki

I've heard it is. HLTB says it's about 17 hours for just the main game. Around 40 hours if you want to do everything.
06/26/19, 18:15
I've also just finished Xenoblade 2. Took me some time since I took two months-long breaks in the middle of it. Then I sprinted to the end, which was a mistake: was getting Xeno fatigue, and the main story's resolution I didn't find satisfying.

I'm still playing however, 15 hours after beating the game: the side quests are giving me more what I want from this game than the main path did. The Blade missions reveal some fun backstory and flesh out the world. I do want to move on to Torna, but I'm not seeing an end to the main game right now.
06/30/19, 22:14
Everyone finishing this game and I just finally started it. Not sure why I held off for so long... the first Xenoblade Chronicles is one of my favorite games ever and I actually enjoyed X a fair amount as well. I guess I was just concerned about diminishing returns or something. And I also wasn't sure if I was ready for another 100+ hour game after a string of long games over the last few years that kind of drained me, heh.

But I like it so far! It definitely has a WAY more interesting story than X (which like... barely had a story) and the world and everything seems neat. Music is great as always.

Curious though... it feels pretty linear so far (I'm about 3-4 hours in, just met up with the other team member after we got split up after the big betrayal / fight on the ship), I assume it opens up a lot more later on? The thing I loved about both of the other games was exploring huge worlds.
07/01/19, 12:31   Edit:  07/01/19, 12:31
 
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