Year 2017 is the year of Nintendo, this one sentence can not be denied anymore. To make sure it does not repeat the same mistake that happened in Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo managed to make the first year's release game line fantastic ending Switch. Not only bombarded with indie games who try their luck here, but also exclusive game projects with quality that can not be underestimated. More cool? This happens throughout the year. Opened with Breath of the Wild, filled with Splatoon 2, reinforced with Super Mario Odyssey, and finally closed with one of the most anticipated exclusive games for JRPG gamers - Xenoblade Chronicles 2. A game with a hum of weak popularity but provoked curiosity big.
You who have read our preview related to Xenoblade Chronicles 2 seems to have got a pretty clear picture about the game formulated by Monolith Soft this. We pay particular attention to the design of his character, especially to the seductive female protagonist figure, as well as the MMO-like battle system but with slower pacing. Trope anime cliches are scattered and felt so familiar, above a world that holds the mystery and at the same time a challenge waiting to be conquered. There are many other activities that you can pursue through a series of side missions on offer. Admittedly, this execution is not perfect. Some feel right on target, but others deserve to trigger their own criticism.
So, what is actually offered by Xenoblade Chronicles 2 this? Why do we call it an imperfect game that keeps flirting? This review will discuss it more deeply for you.
Despite getting the name "2" in it, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has no direct story links with Xenoblade Chronicles that had been released for Nintendo Wii and also Xenoblade Chronicles X which was released for Nintendo Wii U. There will be a clear red thread that links at least two series, but not significantly to force you to, taste all of them first. This is a game with a clear separate story line.
In a world called Alrest, life is no longer active and growing above ground. Almost all living things, including humans in them, live on the backs and body parts of a gigantic monster named Titan who never tires, to move over a sea of clouds. You play the role of a Scavenger named Rex, who, like his job name, is assigned to "dive" into past civilizations to explore technologies that can be sold to recepters. Rex himself lives on a Titan in a smaller size that he calls "Gramps" or grandfather.
But unfortunately, Alrest is a world headed for destruction. That like all other living things, these large Titans are living beings that can age and die. While on the other hand, civilization and the countries that are formed also do not make things better. War continues to rage and even more risky accelerate the death of these Titans. With the rest of the Titan being limited and the war going on, the hope of finding a solution to save Alrest comes to Rex's mind. Legend mentions that the only way to do this is to climb a towering giant tree located in the middle of the world - the World Tree. Reportedly, at the top of the tree lived a mysterious architect named who became the source of all kinds of life in Alrest and is believed to restore the world back to its proper form.
Rex's dream of reaching the World Tree and saving Alrest into an irrational dream becomes possible within a short time. A job that promises huge amounts of money puts it in a group containing characters like Jin, Malos, and Nia. The three new members hired Rex to take a treasure in the ancient civilization's ruins. This trip opened Rex's eyes to a technology he never knew. At the end, he saw a graceful woman locked behind a mirror. Before being able to dig further information, Jin's sword wielded his heart, and Rex was killed.
But Rex's intersection with the woman behind the glass gave rise to a second chance that sounded like a miracle. The woman who had the Pyra name turned out to be a Blade - a "living weapon" that was indeed presented in so many shapes and types. Pyra is ready to give up half his life to revive Rex, and the two will share an inseparable relationship. As a replacement? Rex had to promise to bring Pyra to the World Tree for a reason that he did not understand either. Both agree, and Rex is "reborn" as Driver - a Blade handler, which in this scenario, of course is Pyra. Both managed to beat back Jin but ended up injured and stranded on a different Titan.
But Rex's intersection with the woman behind the glass gave rise to a second chance that sounded like a miracle. The woman who had the Pyra name turned out to be a Blade - a "living weapon" that was indeed presented in so many shapes and types. Pyra is ready to give up half his life to revive Rex, and the two will share an inseparable relationship. As a replacement? Rex had to promise to bring Pyra to the World Tree for a reason that he did not understand either. Both agree, and Rex is "reborn" as Driver - a Blade handler, which in this scenario, of course is Pyra. Both managed to beat back Jin but ended up injured and stranded on a different Titan.
Save himself and find Nia as a member of the team who also defected to help Pyra in the latest conflict, a new adventure begins. Slowly but surely, Rex realizes that he has become a Driver for an unusual Blade. Blade is being pursued by everyone, Blade is mentioned to have a fantastic ability, Blade is also reportedly killed many Titan hundreds of years ago. Pyra becomes a magnet for problems.......
Approach "Anime"
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It seems that it's no secret that Nintendo Switch is not a console you can rely on to get a game with a realistic visual approach. The limitation of this performance is then tricked by creating games that have lighter visualization and cartoons, but still retain the characteristic colors, character design, to just the main theme that carried with the existing story. The same is true with Xenoblade Chronicles 2. He was born from the hands of the Japanese developers, but from all the JRPG games we've tasted over the last few years, he's probably carrying the thickest anime trope. We not only talk from the side of the story, but also the character design.
Because it's hard to admit that what you find here is a character design that not only has excessive body proportions, it also fulfills the trophies you normally meet in the Japanese animated series. You can see Pyra for example, wearing a tight suit with a large breast size, or perhaps another alter ego - Mythra that carries a similar concept with an even more open dress. Most of the other unique Blade designs also come with the same approach, although not all of them are always open. What is clear is precisely kenginan to meet the type of female characters of anime fans of various scales. From those who have unique personality traits, to specific body size and height. From the open dress, to the closed and polite. In short, you can call it a "Waifu Simulator". And as can be predicted, there is nothing special about the design of the male character that he usung.
But there is something strange about the character design of the Blade side or enemies that you face in this one game. The design of the supporting characters in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 feels like a collaboration of so many ideas and designers, rather than just one person with the same brain. Why? Because you can notice and find that there are some designs that are not consistent with each other. Example? There is one Bless named Vess for example, which is obviously inspired or designed by not the same designer who designed Pyra. This case also occurred in another Blade. The worst part? The two main antagonists joined in an organization called Torna that was blended by the brains behind the Kingdom Hearts III series - Tetsuya Nomura. Nomura always has a distinctive characteristic design identity, and when he sees his character live and side by side in the story along with Rex or Pyra, you can clearly see that both are born from different hands.
At least, there is consistency in the world's problems that you find. Unlike the X series where the existing worlds are connected to each other on an ongoing basis, this second series breaks it up as the plot on offer does mention that cities live on different Titans. Each city with Titan is of course present with different themes, with a wide area that is quite wide. As is the custom of Xenoblade, they also come with different ecosystems. Although like a typical JRPG game that often presents the same basic design of the same monster but with status, color, name, and slightly different viewing structure, this ecosystem feels alive. No matter the level of character, you will be able to find monsters that have many times the level of free movement and not impossible, pounce and kill you just as a surprise attack.
One interesting thing is how this game treats this offered environment. Not just load the variety of monsters that you can kill, it also contains a variety of other activities you can do in it. From simply eliminating special monsters that come up with a special logo and offers a more significant challenge to the variety of materials you can mine. The world will also offer two other things: a puzzle with a myriad of secrets that can be accessed by using your Blade's skill field to the need for platforming action to reach a certain area. We will discuss the two later. Some Titans living in the line of the ocean of clouds will also have accessible or inaccessible areas depending on the height of the clouds at that time. Fortunately, how to change it is quite simple, by just doing long sleep at the nearby Inn only.
So with all the trope of anime that he stretcher, there is one thing that becomes obvious consequences. That this gmae will be much more comfortable to be enjoyed by using Japanese for voice acting, compared to English. Even admittedly, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 seems to be one of the JRPG games with the worst English dubbing we've ever encountered. Handled by Nintendo Europe, you can hear the accents that still remain in some of the main characters, even Rex though. This English also failed to photograph the characterization of many trope characters, such as the little Mythra "tsundere" for example, or Pyra which although firm, but still has its own tenderness. One thing for sure, the choice to use the Japanese language will also help you better tolerate the presence of a race named PonPon which is synonymous with annoying speech. At least in Japanese, you can still find a separate ketimutan. The good news? You can download this Japanese DLC for free via Nintendo Eshop without spending a dime.
With this combination, the presentation offered by Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is inspired by many Japanese creative products, especially in manga and anime. Once you dive into an existing story, including the diverse tropes that have stretched for character, conflict, to existing solutions, the impression will be stronger. Does this make it bad? Of course not. But for those who are familiar, this line of story and characterization can always be welcomed with a more open hand.
Simple Simplicity Need a Strategy
So, what about the side of the gameplay itself? Regardless of the impression on the surface that it is an RPG action game that will consistently ask you to press a button to attack and survive, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is actually a turn-based JRPG game presented in a different user-interface. You will be provided with a normal attack button that will be executed automatically after the first attack with a definite interval. The rest? You will get the game format ala MMORPG game.
Along with regular attacks that continue to happen, the characters in a party that are limited to 3 people will gradually meet their active skills. Each regular attack will contribute one portion of cooldown to the existing skill. Once it is full, you can activate the skill to not only generate more damage, but also the opportunity to activate certain unique effects. If you press this skill button right after a regular attack, you can generate a "Cancel" effect that will drive damage to your skill attack.
As we discussed earlier, this skill does not just work to generate more damage than just normal attacks. Some of them can also produce certain status effects which of course will make it easier for you to win the battle. There are attacks that can produce small potions that if picked up will heal a little portion of your HP, there are attacks that if executed on a particular timing can make the enemy fell by experiencing the stun in a short time, until variants of other status effects that for example, can make enemies can not call companion to help them. But remember, whatever you can do to the enemy, enemy can also do to you.
One unique thing is the fact that the fight in an open area, will never be "safe". If you are just trying to kill monsters in a limited number of closed spaces, there will be no threat coming from the enemy you are trying to subdue. However once you enter the battlefield in an open area, there is one extra thing you have to look at - the neighborhood. Not on behalf of because the environment itself has a dangerous design, but it prevents you from being attacked by higher-level monsters who usually pace about ignoring you for granted. Somehow the aggro system that Monolith implements here, but not an unfamiliar sight to see the level monsters that while passing through suddenly involved in your battle action against other monsters. The result? It's not impossible that the fight becomes more tough.
Because the monsters in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 are not the type of monster you can take for granted, even though they are already in the lower level of the average Party you choose. Most of these monsters, according to their size, have a large amount of HP that can take up to minute battles to get done. You may think and ask, that should not the Party contain at least 6 people who are actively fighting every Driver in the Party always carry their own Blade? The system is not so.
The Blades who participated in the battle and accompany Drivers are not actively generating damage to the enemies encountered. They play a role like the support character at the back of which only one task - help the Driver with the ability they have. Depending on the type of Blade you carry, they can sometimes protect you with a shield blanket, helping you generate greater damage, to simply offering buffs that will make the fight easier. The Blade also will not automatically unleash their full capabilities from the start of the fight. As time goes by, the relationship between Drivers and Blades shown through a blue thread between them will slowly but surely turn into gold. When this happens, this means that coordination is happening at the most optimal level and Blade will support you Driver's action better.
Of course, given the monster that remains challenging despite being at the lower level, the Party arrangement is also becoming quite essential in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Fortunately, there is a role system here. Depending on the Blade you embed for each character, where they can use at least 3 Blades per character, you can specify an existing role. There are three main roles here - Striker for damage, Tanker for tanking, and Healer to heal. You are quite familiar with the concept of RPG does not seem familiar with the role and how the combination of all three work. One of the interesting things in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is how important it is to manage existing aggro. Since Healer and Striker do not have enough HP and defense systems out of the attack, enemies who ignore Tankers and pursue them will easily eliminate both roles and make your fight more difficult. Set Aggro to something more essential here.
So like RPG games in general, there is a chance to strengthen the character here, even if it is not at the level of the complex you imagine. This reinforcement is divided into several categories. For equipment business for example, you can embed a variety of accessories with a variety of effects to the Driver. While the Blade should be reinforced with something called Chip Core which will also affect the status of Driver and their fighting ability. Both the Driver and the Blade will also each be reinforced with a sizable skill tree that each also demands a different resource. For Driver, the resource can be obtained by eliminating the story in the main mission, just kill the monsters you meet, or complete the existing side mission. Progress for Blade's own skill or "Affinity" emphasizes the need to meet certain requirements, such as using a skill in a predetermined amount, or simply doing existing side activities.
As the level increases that will also determine your endurance and attack ability, you will be more "safe" to move on exploring every world that this Xenoblade Chronicles 2 offers. Although it must be admitted, unlike the X series that allows you to move with mecha and fight quickly with it, pacing on Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is indeed quite slow. Animation battles are slow, heavy HP enemies also make a fight against one monster can take a long time, until the fact that you have to trace everything on foot that of course, takes time. Pacing this game battle in our eyes, is indeed one of the biggest weaknesses.
Blade is the essence of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The main character or your supporting character that in fact is a Driver will not be much use if not accompanied by Blade. Given any character can use at least three Blade people, there is a unique mechanism appearing here. Although not actively used and you may end up using only one Blade, their existence in your Party will still contribute. It arises from the boost status system of the Blade election and the variety of roles he presents. If you use three Healer-type blades for example, then the passive buffs of the "Healer" role such as making the healing process more frequent and effective will appear. If you use three Blade with Striker type for example, then the damage will rise significantly. You can also combine Blades with different roles to achieve varied buffs. Want a Striker with a smaller aggro? Pair two Blade of Striker type and a Blade with Healer role, for example.
With such an important role in gameplay, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 actually injects Blade with a frustrating system. True, RNG aka Gacha, with the actual form can also be associated with lootbox. The good news? This format is not exploited with a pay scheme ala other giant games. The bad news? It also comes with all the lootbox issues that are related to the game progress problem itself.
As we know, Blade is the core game of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 itself. This game divides it into two broad categories: Common and Rare. The Common Blade will end up as a "Standard" Blade with a special look that could come with a variety of weapons and genders that would have an indirect effect (we'll talk about later), while Rare ends up as a separate "support character" also have a role. There are two ways to get a Blade: by using an item called Core that you can get randomly in a fight, or by completing a particular quest. With an approach like this, you of course want to always get a rare Blade with certain characteristics.
Not just a cool and unique name, but because their performance will be better than Blade in general. This rare blade with unique shapes and characters always has a more complex Affinity element, allowing them to bring and load field skills that you can use more optimally. Not only that, most of them also carry a higher congenital status, have more effective functions according to the role of skill-skill brought, to the fact that they look cool from the physical side. Now imagine, if there are dozens of Blades like this you can get and master, but most of them are locked behind the gacha system. So like the lootbox system in general anyway, there is no transparent information about what Blade certainty you will get, what kind of needs are worth pursuing to enlarge the possibility, or what elements are really worth noting.
Slowly but surely, all you get is a sense of frustration. The even worse part? This game does not allow you to process Core on behalf of this "RNG" instantly in large quantities. So you have to do it one by one, seeing a short 10-second animation that shows how your character unlocks each of these Core with a little temptation of a potential Blade view at the beginning. Why is this worth complaining about? Believe it or not, the unclearness of RNG makes you end up having to open every Core you get, regardless of the scarcity level written there. Not infrequently you can suddenly get lucky and get a rare Blade from the "usual" Core, or just get a common Blade from Core that have a level "Legendary". No one can guess and predict what you get at every opening of this Core. Now imagine what would happen if after going through the process of completing the side quest for example, you find about 70 Common Core, 20 Rare Core, and 2 Legendary Core, for example? True, enjoy the animation open this Core one-on-one.
Still not looking annoying in your eyes? Now imagine if this Core system also has a limitation whose design is also confusing. First, Blades obtained from Core can only be used by characters that open it. As an example? If Rex is opening a core and ends up getting Blade "Rare" for example, then it will not be transferable to another character if you do not have a rare item named "Overdrive". Only Rex can use the Blade. So logically, especially if you're a fan of JRPG, then you will automatically attempt to distribute this "rare" Blade evenly to all existing characters, or at least - for the three main characters you use in the party. Here, the gacha starts to get into trouble.
As we wrote earlier, with Overdrive items to remove the rare blade use rights and essential role-playing systems in combat, the RNG system for the Blade core is a double-edged sword. Why? Because no one knows what kind of Blade you get. It's not impossible, a rare Blade that you half-deadly get with luck just ended up in vain because it does not match the role of the character who managed to open it. As an example? We positioned a character named Morag as a "Tanker" for example. After the other two characters - Rex and Nia get each Blade rare, we use all the Common Core we get in the hands of Morag solely to balance the strengths that exist. After dozens of open cores with slow animation in each of them, Morag finally got a rare special Blade. The bad news? This blade turns out to be the role of "Healer". Your strategy to make Morag a Tanker focusing on provoking aggro enemies since the start of the game is now automatically shrinking due to something random.
But do not we just use an item called Overdrive that was mentioned earlier? The only way you know that Overdrive is essential and essential to organize a rare Blade distribution takes root from this review paper or perhaps the walkthrough you read in cyberspace. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 never underlines how important this Overdrive item is, how essential it is to your role strategy, and how you should treat it as a non-play item. Communication becomes a questionable thing in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Even "tutorials" that call the status "Luck" greatly affect what kind of Blade you get - rare or not, ends unproven. The character with the highest luck has no frequency of getting a rarer Blade higher than a character with a low Luck for example. Moreover, during the Blade maker process, you can also see other statuses such as "Bravery" or "Truth" that appear, but never explained its usefulness. On top of an already random RNG system, you are still required to grope for yourself to maximize it.
Not to mention, with the limited number of Blades you can carry with you, you will also be faced with the conditions under which the limitation will make the process of opening this "gacha" Core even more annoying. Space accommodate your Blade, rare or not, only limited to a few dozen. So when you collect and open a Common Core of 70 for example, in addition to having to "enjoy" the tedious opening animation, you must also always provide new space by removing the Blades you do not need for the new Blade. During the process of removing this Blade, you also need a fairly high observation capability. Why? Because despite the fact that they may not have an important role in combat, they may contribute significantly to your exploration process. Each of these Blades, rare or not, will have one important thing to be an indicator to remove or defend them - Field Skill.
Unlike skill in battle used for damage, Field Skill is the skill sequence needed to solve a puzzle or open a specific action when you are exploring. Each challenge will need Field Skill to vary, from variation to level. As an example? There is a new area that can be opened if you have a Blade that has a "Fire Mastery" for example. Sometimes, you will also find areas that need the same skills but on different levels, such as "Fire Mastery Lv. 3 "for example. There are two ways to solve this puzzle: creating a Blade that can reach Fire Mastery Lv.3 or cumulatively, adding the accumulative Field Skill of the Blade that has Field Skill "Fire Mastery Lv. 1 ". So? We need to combine 3 Blade with Fire Mastery Lv. 1 to get the same effect.
We just talk about a Field Skill indicator only, while this game brings in so many areas and secrets that can be accessed with a combination of Field Skill that is really difficult, both from the variations and levels. Rationally, storing as many Blade variations as possible will be advantageous on the exploration side. Moreover Xenoblade Chronicles 2 also injects a sideline mission that simply asks you to send a number of Blade according to mission needs in a real time cool time-based cooldown system with tempting rewards. The more variants you save will also simplify the needs of this mission.
But at least, apart from most of the Blade system-related designs that are counted weird and annoying, it still offers some Blade you can get for sure by completing an existing side mission. With it, at least you can manage the strategy better considering the results and rewards offered are sure and not random based again. There is a Blade you can buy with enough money, Blade you get from the main story line, until Blade who indeed need a specific side mission to be completed. Their presence became a kind of balancer between so many uncertainties.
One unique thing, in the name of variation, they also inject a different mechanism to one of Blade named Poppy who also does have an important role in the story. Instead of like Blade in general who rely heavily on "Core" to strengthen their function and ability, you can only strengthen Poppy through a mini-game that can only be played in specific places only. The mini-game will generate a resource point that can be redeemed to strengthen Poppy from all sectors, including changing its role at once. Some of you may like variations like this, but we personally, resent the effort that actually makes it end up so extra hassles to get executed.
For something so important in your game strategy, putting the Blade system behind the RNG wall in our opinion is a bad decision. If such a system should be forced to compensate for the rare amount of Blade that is a bit limited when compared to long gameplay time, at least provide an alternative way of getting any of them seems to be a rational solution. For example, by providing a store that allows you to buy any of them for a certain amount of money, but at a high price. Or any strategy that can be used as a way other than just relying on random elements. Moreover, if considering most of them have their own unique side mission to be solved.
It takes tens of hours to complete the main storyline of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. But this gameplay time can swell up to hundreds of hours if you are interested to complete a myriad of side missions that he offers. That like JRPG games in general, there will be many extra tasks that you can take by simply talking to the NPC that has the icon on it. Although it must be admitted, this side mission design can not be much praised. Nearly most of them come by asking you to kill enemies in a certain amount or just pick up and collect items in the quantity of stories. As long as we finish dozens of them, there is no side mission that really feels so special and fascinating. Everything moves within limits you can predict.
But that does not mean there is no interesting design here. One that deserves appreciation is the side mission design that is available for some of the rare Blade available, either to get them or to strengthen them after getting them. These missions themselves are designed in the format of a separate story that makes them "main actors". Although again, like an ordinary side mission, it ends up demanding you to solve a trivial problem, but finding a myriad of cut-scenes built to explain a unique Blade that has characteristics, goals, or just different motivations is certainly worth the welcome. But again, it is a bit trapped on the RNG problem we had talked about before. Due to the "luck" issue, you could end up not being able to sample all of these unique Blade side missions.
Then the extra other activities will spin on one thing that seems to have been the hallmark of "typical" Xenoblade all this time - hunting powerful monsters. You can still finish the main story and then move on after it for three purposes: finding and subduing every existing side mission, some of which do have important roles, including finding the secret Blade or unlocking the hidden power of one of the characters. Second? Of course, look for various hidden places previously protected by Field Skill that you can not break through. Or the third? Look for the strongest monsters to subdue you whose level can end up tens higher than you. For those of you who are just interested in spending more time with Xenoblade Chronicles 2, there is still plenty of space that they provide even after completing the main story though.
Although much of this content ends up being standard and not particularly special, in addition to the stories brought by some special Blades, but this myriad of extra activities will be ready to offer you more gameplay time with Xenoblade Chronicles 2. An investment that is of course, worth pursuing though You've finished the main story though.
