Xenoblade Chronicles 2 -Switch- 9

September 14, 2022

I just beat Xenoblade Chronicles 2, on easy mode. Normal mode felt a bit intimidating, and I wanted to focus on the story. It still became quite challenging towards the end, and the game does force you to do a lot of side quests in order to upgrade your blade abilities. I didn’t mind. I liked the side quests, and I would like to do more in a future playthrough on normal mode. The battle system is tight, the soundtrack is beautiful, and the giant landscapes are fun to explore. Thankfully, there is a compass to keep you on track with whatever quest you’re working on, so you don’t get lost too often. Anyway, so what did I think of the story? I loved the characters, especially Pyra, Mythra, and Rex. Very endearing. The main plot also did a good job of staying focused on the goal of reaching Elysium, amidst other flashbacks and political threads. There are a lot of references to the timeline that happened 500 years in the past with the villains, and it feels like that plot thread won’t be fully fleshed out until I play “Torna: The Golden Country” expansion/prequel later. Right now, I might nudge Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s score to a 9, but I’m assuming I’ll feel more confident in that number after I play Torna. I also wish there were more connections to the first Xenoblade. It’s been 12 years since I beat that game on the Wii, and I had to look on YouTube for the loose connections the two games have at the end. Both Xenoblade 1&2 are probably worth a 9 for me. Both are terrific, but neither quite match up to the epic scope of XenoGears or the XenoSaga trilogy. If I were to rate the XenoSaga trilogy as one game, it would easily get a ten, and XenoGears is my single favorite game of all time. Anyways, soon I will play Torna, and after that, I will get working on Xenoblade Chronicles 3!

September 22, 2022

I just finished “Torna ~ The Golden County”, which is an expansion/prequel/side story for Xenoblade Chronicles 2. It only took me just under 18 hours to beat on easy mode (the base game took me 60), and half that time was doing side missions to build my community level. So I don’t really think of it as a separate game. It just enhances the overall experience for Xenoblade 2, which I rated a 9 when I beat it last week. Anyway, Torna offers more of the same quality from Xenoblade 2, but enhances the backstory a bit further. You mostly learn more about Lora and Jin, and this expansion does a good job of developing their relationship for the twists that happen later in the base game. The base game is much meatier experience, but this expansion goes nicely with it.