Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a late bloomer in terms of it's fun combat and story. This game is part of a collection of games that always has the phrase "just keep playing it gets better" and I felt an obligation to stick to that idea due to my enjoyment of the previous Xeno games.
I can only describe my initial playthrough as a complete total slog that felt as though it was peppered with Anime Cliché's and completely strange and baffling dialogue, translation, and overall creative direction choices. The English dub of this game lacks talent and/or better direction, where a lot of scenes sound completely ridiculous to the point of giving off a feeling of a Saturday Morning Cartoon / Anime. Poorly done battle cries and constant cacophony of voices from doing battle skills does not aid this feeling, especially when they are coming form characters much less charming, likeable, and better acted as compared to Xenoblade 1
For the battle system, much of it is left largely up to the player to figure out exactly what the main victory conditions would be and what essentially the "gimmick" is of it. Blade arts and directionals are mentioned briefly as well as auto attacking and timed button presses, however the one and most important thing that did not seem to easily connect with me until I had to read a guide was the elemental chain / attack system that corresponds with the weapon skill arts.
Despite all of these complaints, I heavily favor this combat system over the previous entry of XB1. The weaponskill chaining of arts and doing the break and full breaks along with the all out attacks is a satisfying and enjoyable rhythm of combat that once you are able to learn how it properly works, then most encounters are a breeze. However initially for a large majority of the starting playthrough you will have very little blades and upgrades to your traits and items to be able to chain attack effectively.
Character designs are somewhat hit or miss, pyra and mythra are scantily clad companions of the hero, who seem to only exist to fill tropes of the caretaker and the Tsundere mean girl. At times the dynamic is utterly ridiculous and laughable between the 3 and borderlines your typical generic and childish shounen anime, complete with bathtub hot spa scenes, accidentally waking up next to the protagonist only to slap him, the tsundere ugh you're so stupid -blush- on more than one occasion, and seems to have the protagonist attract all sorts of girls for the harem fantasy.
Nearing around Chapter 7 or so, the story begins to pick up however, and feels like the rising action of the game. Sadly I felt as though once things were getting really good, extremely interesting, and finally straying from the tropes, it was quickly over.
I'm unsure if I can recommend this game off the whim to anyone. I feel it's extremely hit or miss and while I will say I did not hate my time playing it, It most certainly wasn't a feeling of "I'm playing a Modern classic that will be remembered" like XB1. The combat became interesting and complex once I understood it and the story is childish and full of tropes but irons out to be something decent near the end. If you know what you're getting into I 100% recommend getting it since it was made with a 'target audience' in mind, however I'm unsure if I'd be hard pressed to replay this game ever again in my life.
Side Note - Torna the Golden Country DLC story seems to mitigate a lot of the above mentioned issues and was quite a treat to play through after the Base game. I really enjoyed that DLC for it's stories, chars, music, and themes, despite the obvious padding of sidequests. Give it a try if the base game wasn't your flavor.
Here is the video below that I used to help me understand the combat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEksqxaML58
Credit to Enel XB2 speedrunner
I can only describe my initial playthrough as a complete total slog that felt as though it was peppered with Anime Cliché's and completely strange and baffling dialogue, translation, and overall creative direction choices. The English dub of this game lacks talent and/or better direction, where a lot of scenes sound completely ridiculous to the point of giving off a feeling of a Saturday Morning Cartoon / Anime. Poorly done battle cries and constant cacophony of voices from doing battle skills does not aid this feeling, especially when they are coming form characters much less charming, likeable, and better acted as compared to Xenoblade 1
For the battle system, much of it is left largely up to the player to figure out exactly what the main victory conditions would be and what essentially the "gimmick" is of it. Blade arts and directionals are mentioned briefly as well as auto attacking and timed button presses, however the one and most important thing that did not seem to easily connect with me until I had to read a guide was the elemental chain / attack system that corresponds with the weapon skill arts.
Despite all of these complaints, I heavily favor this combat system over the previous entry of XB1. The weaponskill chaining of arts and doing the break and full breaks along with the all out attacks is a satisfying and enjoyable rhythm of combat that once you are able to learn how it properly works, then most encounters are a breeze. However initially for a large majority of the starting playthrough you will have very little blades and upgrades to your traits and items to be able to chain attack effectively.
Character designs are somewhat hit or miss, pyra and mythra are scantily clad companions of the hero, who seem to only exist to fill tropes of the caretaker and the Tsundere mean girl. At times the dynamic is utterly ridiculous and laughable between the 3 and borderlines your typical generic and childish shounen anime, complete with bathtub hot spa scenes, accidentally waking up next to the protagonist only to slap him, the tsundere ugh you're so stupid -blush- on more than one occasion, and seems to have the protagonist attract all sorts of girls for the harem fantasy.
Nearing around Chapter 7 or so, the story begins to pick up however, and feels like the rising action of the game. Sadly I felt as though once things were getting really good, extremely interesting, and finally straying from the tropes, it was quickly over.
I'm unsure if I can recommend this game off the whim to anyone. I feel it's extremely hit or miss and while I will say I did not hate my time playing it, It most certainly wasn't a feeling of "I'm playing a Modern classic that will be remembered" like XB1. The combat became interesting and complex once I understood it and the story is childish and full of tropes but irons out to be something decent near the end. If you know what you're getting into I 100% recommend getting it since it was made with a 'target audience' in mind, however I'm unsure if I'd be hard pressed to replay this game ever again in my life.
Side Note - Torna the Golden Country DLC story seems to mitigate a lot of the above mentioned issues and was quite a treat to play through after the Base game. I really enjoyed that DLC for it's stories, chars, music, and themes, despite the obvious padding of sidequests. Give it a try if the base game wasn't your flavor.
Here is the video below that I used to help me understand the combat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEksqxaML58
Credit to Enel XB2 speedrunner