Overcoming nihilism
I didn't think I would like this game at all but it's surprisingly decent despite the overall design and the gameplay quirks.
I feel like it over encumbered me with all the brand new mechanics introduced in this game compared to the first game which made the game a bit more overbearing. I do wish Blades had a slightly better chances of getting rares considering I only got 10 rares by the end of a 49 hour playthrough and my biggest grievance is the sudden requirement of Field Skills in the final quarter of the game that ruined the pace of how I was playing the story.
That said, the gameplay does shine when you get into a certain state of mind and flow. The characters were pretty decent and the designs of half of the characters are actually alright despite Rex and Pyra's designs which I don't really like as much as the other designs. The soundtrack had some decent songs and doesn't really surprise me since Xenoblade 1 had an amazing soundtrack as well. Really impressive they made these huge areas on this little device too and the story was a good journey other than the first quarter being a bit too "anime" for me.
In conclusion, this is still a decent sequel to Xenoblade that tried to do way too much in the gameplay department to the point of tedium while still nailing everything that makes a JRPG good in the first place.
Never judge a game by its cover.
I didn't think I would like this game at all but it's surprisingly decent despite the overall design and the gameplay quirks.
I feel like it over encumbered me with all the brand new mechanics introduced in this game compared to the first game which made the game a bit more overbearing. I do wish Blades had a slightly better chances of getting rares considering I only got 10 rares by the end of a 49 hour playthrough and my biggest grievance is the sudden requirement of Field Skills in the final quarter of the game that ruined the pace of how I was playing the story.
That said, the gameplay does shine when you get into a certain state of mind and flow. The characters were pretty decent and the designs of half of the characters are actually alright despite Rex and Pyra's designs which I don't really like as much as the other designs. The soundtrack had some decent songs and doesn't really surprise me since Xenoblade 1 had an amazing soundtrack as well. Really impressive they made these huge areas on this little device too and the story was a good journey other than the first quarter being a bit too "anime" for me.
In conclusion, this is still a decent sequel to Xenoblade that tried to do way too much in the gameplay department to the point of tedium while still nailing everything that makes a JRPG good in the first place.
Never judge a game by its cover.
4 Comments
I did a fair portion of it, the side stuff didn't interest me that much since I felt the rewards started to be less worth it in terms of exp. Forgot to mention the resting for levels mechanic unusual since I had no idea landmarks gave exp until I rested for the first time.
That’s fair. I think the side content is a vast improvement over the original’s game but they aren’t really that necessary rewards wise to get through the main game so I can see why they wouldn’t seem worth doing. I found the blade quests the most enjoyable personally since I enjoyed filling out the affinity charts which pretty much all of them require the quest line for each blade to be completed. Plus them being voiced like cutscenes from the main game was nice.
On the topic of the blades, I think the blade system is somewhat flawed although the side quests and exploring in general gives a fair share of core crystals with them being located in multiple chests and enemies dropping them rather frequently from my experience. While I’m not sure if it was a good idea overall due to potentially be locked out of content behind it, I at least liked how the regular core crystals made it to where the blades you get are different on a different playthrough in order to keep things fresh. Honestly, I think the system would’ve been perfectly fine if in the post game or something there was a way to get a crystal that guaranteed the chance of pulling a rare blade you don’t have to.
Again, this is a good review and I’m glad you enjoyed the game overall. This is honestly probably tied with the original Xenoblade for what I consider my favorite game ever but it is certainly not without its flaws and I can definitely understand why its tone and marketing would put some people off from the game. Kinda just wish people that didn’t play it would stop acting like they could judge the game as a whole lol.
On the topic of the blades, I think the blade system is somewhat flawed although the side quests and exploring in general gives a fair share of core crystals with them being located in multiple chests and enemies dropping them rather frequently from my experience. While I’m not sure if it was a good idea overall due to potentially be locked out of content behind it, I at least liked how the regular core crystals made it to where the blades you get are different on a different playthrough in order to keep things fresh. Honestly, I think the system would’ve been perfectly fine if in the post game or something there was a way to get a crystal that guaranteed the chance of pulling a rare blade you don’t have to.
Again, this is a good review and I’m glad you enjoyed the game overall. This is honestly probably tied with the original Xenoblade for what I consider my favorite game ever but it is certainly not without its flaws and I can definitely understand why its tone and marketing would put some people off from the game. Kinda just wish people that didn’t play it would stop acting like they could judge the game as a whole lol.
I think it's a valid take to say they did the side content here considering I really only played Xenoblade 1: Definitive Edition on Switch that improved the way they handled the quests that I enjoyed doing them and made it less tedious. I don't think I even got Pyra to max trust but then I just remembered that side quests give you trust too.
I think the blade system sorta reminds me of pokemon/shin megami tensei in a way where you can customize what element and fighting style you can have and even with boosters I found myself lacking a decent set-up for driver combos other than my team members having break and hoping they use it along with launch. I didn't get a lot of rares but I did end up getting a lot more core crystals in the end so that would've probably alleviated my problem there.
Yeah the game has been an overall surprise for me since I expected it to be below mid from seeing designs and the gameplay videos making me think I have to have a triple digit IQ to understand to make the most out of the combat. I still wish the portable mode was a bit better tuned up compared to XB1DE since the game can get blurry at times and sometimes I'd have a hard time telling the sides apart since my eye vision isn't that good.
I can definitely see this being a lot of people's favorite but I sorta prefer how Xenoblade 1 (Definitive Edition) handled the combat, side quests (the quality of life really helped it here), soundtrack and story although Xenoblade 2 is a close 2nd. I do think the first quarter of the game really gives the game a bad impression because of the limited combat and tutorials after 20 hours still introducing mechanics not to mention a fair bit of anime tropes in the first 20 hours.
I think the blade system sorta reminds me of pokemon/shin megami tensei in a way where you can customize what element and fighting style you can have and even with boosters I found myself lacking a decent set-up for driver combos other than my team members having break and hoping they use it along with launch. I didn't get a lot of rares but I did end up getting a lot more core crystals in the end so that would've probably alleviated my problem there.
Yeah the game has been an overall surprise for me since I expected it to be below mid from seeing designs and the gameplay videos making me think I have to have a triple digit IQ to understand to make the most out of the combat. I still wish the portable mode was a bit better tuned up compared to XB1DE since the game can get blurry at times and sometimes I'd have a hard time telling the sides apart since my eye vision isn't that good.
I can definitely see this being a lot of people's favorite but I sorta prefer how Xenoblade 1 (Definitive Edition) handled the combat, side quests (the quality of life really helped it here), soundtrack and story although Xenoblade 2 is a close 2nd. I do think the first quarter of the game really gives the game a bad impression because of the limited combat and tutorials after 20 hours still introducing mechanics not to mention a fair bit of anime tropes in the first 20 hours.
JackBros
3 years ago