Overview
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo, released in 2017. I played it on Nintendo Switch.
What I love about the Xenoblade series has always been the story. I've always struggled a bit with the gameplay: I mainly play it for the story.
Story and world
The game takes place in Alrest, a world covered by a sea of clouds, where humans live on the backs of giant Titans. You follow Rex, a young salvager who, during a mission, meets Pyra, a legendary Blade. He promises to take her to Elysium, the promised land said to lie at the top of the World Tree.
The characters are endearing.
In this series, skipping a DLC means missing a big part of the lore. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 actually gets a story expansion, Torna – The Golden Country, which tells events that took place 500 years before the game.
Gameplay
Combat relies on the pairing between Drivers and their Blades: each Driver can equip several Blades, which determine their weapon, role and arts. Battles take place in real time, with auto-attacks and combos to chain.
One of the things I liked least is the Blade gacha system: you obtain Blades through a lottery system by activating Core Crystals.
As usual, the longevity is incredibly high.
Graphics and music
The music is incredible, to the point that you listen to it even outside the game ("Counterattack", for example, is a masterclass). The soundtrack is by Yasunori Mitsuda, with ACE+, Kenji Hiramatsu and Manami Kiyota.
Verdict
As always with Xenoblade, the story, the endearing characters and the incredible music are all there, and the game is incredibly long. What I like less is the gameplay, which I always struggle with a bit, and the Blade gacha system.