4.5/5 ★ – xeothe19th's review of Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

System Played(s): PC, Nintendo Switch Tagline: I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't all of this, and more. Overview: I will probably have a lot of comparisons here to XC1. They are completely different games, but since this is a direct sequel, I feel like the comparisons are warranted. The strongest part about XC1 was the story, and the sense of adventure that accompanies it. There is a sense of urgency throughout in the first game. The Mechon drove humanity near extinction. Shulk found the power to fight. Because of this, being lost in the vast open maps of XC1 always felt like a new adventure. In XC2, the same urgency is there, but is not as noticeable. At some point, all the titans that the world lived on would die, and humanity would be lost to the Cloud Sea, yet the game 'feels' lighthearted, and fun. I think the cheerful banter of the cast, along with the opportunity to lose the plot in all the extra content, is the main culprit. The feeling of rushing to save the world was hardly ever there, and I think maybe, I prefer it this way? This is how JRPGs of old felt. Things were not as serious, and there was always an opportunity to have a good time with the supporting cast along the way. Gameplay (9.5/10): At first, I was completely lost. Enemies felt like sponges, and my auto attacks and abilities hardly scraped their health bars. But as I understood the depth of the combat system (and holy, there's a lot of things here.: chain attacks, affinity, blade combos, driver combos, fusion combos, blade switching, auto cancelling, auto-attack into art cancellation, art into art cancellation and much more, for real), I started to think to myself "This is the kind of combat system I was looking for". It was setup in such a way that every fight required thinking until the very late game, where lower level enemies could die to your max level party in two to three arts. The more I got to know about battle system, the more I enjoyed it. It never felt like it dragged, like some JRPGs in the end game (using the same op abilities over and over again just to get to the next fight). The areas were varied enough to be interesting, though most were less inspired than XC1. Uraya and Tantal felt much of the same. Gormott and Argentum were interesting (love the easter egg of what was powering the Argentum Trade Guild). There were some areas per map that felt unique, and there was so much left to explore by the time I finished XC2. My ending clock for the game as of this writing is 137 hrs. And theres still much more left to do. In fact, this game review does not include the Torna expansion, which I might also play at some point (probably will, while juggling the game with Hollow Knight Silksong). Still, I have the super bosses to beat, and some challenge mode fights, along with Shulk and Fiora's (surprise cameo blades) affinity charts to max on Morag, without even mentioning NG+ which genuinely seems like it will be interesting to play for this game. I could go on and on about why the gameplay (exploration/combat/general tomfoolery) of XC2 is stellar, but I think I've conveyed that enough. If this game was based on these systems alone, it would have been an easy 10/10 But unfortunately, it's not. The story, though there were many endearing moments, and the lighthearted elements carried the lack of a more cohesive plot, which honestly felt a little flat. The twists were not shocking. The way they linked this game's story to XC2 felt like an afterthought (but a good afterthought, I just wish there was more to it). The struggles between some blades and humans felt unexplored. Blade Eaters vs Flesh Eaters were a weird concept, but I understand they needed it to fill plot holes. Rex could be very annoying as protagonist sometimes, in a way that Shulk was not. The UI experience was horrendous (why was fast travel on X and Menu screen was on Start with no way to rebind? I never got used to that, even until the end. I felt like this should have been flipped.) Viewing Merc missions, and rebuilding teams to send to merc missions felt like absolute busy work for no reason. Maxing affinity trees felt like a chore, rather than natural progression. Same complaint from XC1, but quests felt unimportant, save for a few (blade affinity quests). Building blade affinity was painful until Love Sources became a thing. Some of the sidequests for upgrades were absolutely tiresome (TIger Tiger and Pyra's cooking sidequest, I'm looking at you). Despite that tirade, this game is so good, I only took off .5. A good game is never perfect, it just makes you willing to put up with its imperfections. Graphics + Performance (8.5/10): On the Switch, this plays well. I hardly noticed that Dynamic Resolution scaling and 30fps in handheld, which was my preferred way to play. On a big tv, this doesnt look too bad either. It's on my small 27" monitor, docked, where it looks awful. I ended up emulating this on Eden at 2x with Lossless scaling. It made the game beautiful, and ran really well for the most part (especially after I bought a new pc, this was one of the reasons, I loved this game that much). I would still play this on handheld switch for hours on end with no complaints though. The character art and overall art style was amazing. An earlier criticism I had in the overview was that a lot of places felt same-y. I'm thinking of the endless sky bridges in the Leftherian Archipelago, the blue grey caves in Uraya, the endless forests in Gormott, the barren wastelands of Mor-Ardain. The landscapes in XC2 could not hold a candle to Colony 9 and the surrounding caves and beaches, the ice slides in Valak Mountain, the traces of ancient civilzations on the Fallen Arm, and the majesty and seclusion of Alcamoth. But did I enjoy exploring them? Of course, especially with the decent enemy variety and the incentives I had to interact with them along the way. The cutscenes were also masterfully done. Soundtrack (8.5/10): I enjoyed the soundtrack of this game a lot more than XC1. My litmus test? As I'm writing this soundtrack section, do I hear a theme in my head? Yes, I can hear the Togrioth theme playing back, happy sunlit days of feeding an infant ardun and watching it grow, on a farm right outside a military base. I can hear the hymns playing softly in Indol and Tantal. This game had a great soundtrack. Hollow Knight levels? Absolutely not, but definitely very good. Replayability (9.5/10): Oh boy. I thought to myself, while playing this game, if only I had the time. If only I were a kid again. I would play this over and over and over again. I felt a tinge of sadness, that I could never experience XC2 as a kid. And that told me all I needed to know about the score I would put in this section. Being an adult sucks sometimes. Conclusion (9/10): There are so many JRPGs on my list. This is one of the few where I started playing, and I was instantly hooked, and it again reminded me of why I love this genre of games above all others, and perhaps, why I will always love it. In the future, when I'm (hopefully) retired, and comfortable, I will come back to this game, and I will play it from one sunrise to the next.