Premise
-I recently finished Xenoblade Chronicles 2 after completing it’s Torna DLC, and I would like to share my experience with it.
Graphics & Aesthetic
-The graphics are most of the time good, some environments have aged better than others.
-The lighting could have some more work done to it, although the Torna DLC fixed that issue.
-Could’ve had some more CGI cutscenes during the adventure.
-The Blade aesthetics are a gold standard in comparison to the Kingdom Hearts keyblade styles.
-The Final Boss had an awesome aesthetic, despite it feeling barebones gameplay-wise.
Worldbuilding
-The environments are mostly well laid out, with many lore aspects embedded into the environment
-Exploration is about as good as the first Xenoblade Chronicles, although a bit more tedious with needing to often go to the menu and arrange the blades needed for field skills.
Characters
-I find most of the characters bland overall, something they seemed to have fixed in the Torna DLC
-Characters are well designed, but not well characterized or performed.
-The frequent reliance of the postmodern Japanese character tropes, humor, and archetypes is cringe.
-The basis on which main protagonist’s party rests on to solidify their partnership feels incoherent at times.
-Pyra and Mythra have great designs that have reasonably spewed a lot of fan art and entrance into Smash. Although would’ve rather Pyra be Rex’s main blade and Mythra serving another role disconnected from Pyra.
-Poppi blade evolution is an interesting idea, although by the time Poppi can get her final evolution, Torna has become an obsolete character.
-Jin feels too much like a Sephiroth wannabe.
-The game’s emphasis on blades can overstay it’s welcome.
-Torna could’ve been a lot better antagonist group if they had a clear ethos, rather being completely pathological in their motivations.
Story
-I find the main story to be very weak and a far inferior narrative to the first Xenoblade Chronicles.
-The main story felt like an afterthought to the design of the game’s world.
-Motivational goals are bland, especially when Rex’s goal of climbing the World Tree has a lot more thought to it than the repetition of the dumb antagonist one of wanting to destroy the world/humans because of not being able to cope with reality.
-Characters often try to sound smarter than they actually are by often expressing philosophical statements without giving an concrete answer or significance to them.
-The Torna DLC didn’t have this issue because a lot of thought was put into it, but the main story of the base game just felt like a lot of stitched together ideas, with no clear pacing.
-Certain plot threads go unresolved.
-I would’ve rather had Xenoblade 2 not intwined it’s plot with that of Xenoblade 1’s.
Sound/Music
-I do like the music especially the sci-if tracks.
-The battle voices especially the announcer can get annoying at times.
Gameplay:
-Out of the 101 hours that took to finish the game, my finest moments playing was just enjoying the pseudo-MMORPG grind, typically while listening to a podcast.
-I find the gameplay the best part of the Xenoblade 2 experience, as you can enjoy it separately from the narrative at your own pace.
-Field skills are an interesting idea, although could’ve been optimized better. Should not required switching blades frequently.
-I intend to continue the game through New Game Plus to somewhat of a 100% completion and when I finish that, I’ll add more to these thoughts.
-I recently finished Xenoblade Chronicles 2 after completing it’s Torna DLC, and I would like to share my experience with it.
Graphics & Aesthetic
-The graphics are most of the time good, some environments have aged better than others.
-The lighting could have some more work done to it, although the Torna DLC fixed that issue.
-Could’ve had some more CGI cutscenes during the adventure.
-The Blade aesthetics are a gold standard in comparison to the Kingdom Hearts keyblade styles.
-The Final Boss had an awesome aesthetic, despite it feeling barebones gameplay-wise.
Worldbuilding
-The environments are mostly well laid out, with many lore aspects embedded into the environment
-Exploration is about as good as the first Xenoblade Chronicles, although a bit more tedious with needing to often go to the menu and arrange the blades needed for field skills.
Characters
-I find most of the characters bland overall, something they seemed to have fixed in the Torna DLC
-Characters are well designed, but not well characterized or performed.
-The frequent reliance of the postmodern Japanese character tropes, humor, and archetypes is cringe.
-The basis on which main protagonist’s party rests on to solidify their partnership feels incoherent at times.
-Pyra and Mythra have great designs that have reasonably spewed a lot of fan art and entrance into Smash. Although would’ve rather Pyra be Rex’s main blade and Mythra serving another role disconnected from Pyra.
-Poppi blade evolution is an interesting idea, although by the time Poppi can get her final evolution, Torna has become an obsolete character.
-Jin feels too much like a Sephiroth wannabe.
-The game’s emphasis on blades can overstay it’s welcome.
-Torna could’ve been a lot better antagonist group if they had a clear ethos, rather being completely pathological in their motivations.
Story
-I find the main story to be very weak and a far inferior narrative to the first Xenoblade Chronicles.
-The main story felt like an afterthought to the design of the game’s world.
-Motivational goals are bland, especially when Rex’s goal of climbing the World Tree has a lot more thought to it than the repetition of the dumb antagonist one of wanting to destroy the world/humans because of not being able to cope with reality.
-Characters often try to sound smarter than they actually are by often expressing philosophical statements without giving an concrete answer or significance to them.
-The Torna DLC didn’t have this issue because a lot of thought was put into it, but the main story of the base game just felt like a lot of stitched together ideas, with no clear pacing.
-Certain plot threads go unresolved.
-I would’ve rather had Xenoblade 2 not intwined it’s plot with that of Xenoblade 1’s.
Sound/Music
-I do like the music especially the sci-if tracks.
-The battle voices especially the announcer can get annoying at times.
Gameplay:
-Out of the 101 hours that took to finish the game, my finest moments playing was just enjoying the pseudo-MMORPG grind, typically while listening to a podcast.
-I find the gameplay the best part of the Xenoblade 2 experience, as you can enjoy it separately from the narrative at your own pace.
-Field skills are an interesting idea, although could’ve been optimized better. Should not required switching blades frequently.
-I intend to continue the game through New Game Plus to somewhat of a 100% completion and when I finish that, I’ll add more to these thoughts.