I originally posted a link to this review since work was put in by others to take images for it. Plus, I wanted to get feedback on the format of posts in addition to my writing. However, since I got no comments, I have decided to simply delete the other post and put the whole review here so as to ensure I get some feedback instead of none.
***
Developer: Monolith Soft
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Switch
MSRP: $59.99
Thanks to my friends Sarah and Zypher for looking over many of my articles and motivating me to continue writing
Great titanic adventure with some issues surrounding its core experience
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a Switch exclusive I received for Christmas last year along with the buggy and now-returned Switch version of Skyrim. Having owned the Switch since launch day, the 2017 holiday season was a part of my honeymoon period for the platform in which nearly every game seemed good, or at the very least, interesting. This is not phrasing that suggests my blind pleasure hid the nonexistent truth of Xenoblade 2 being an awful or dull title. In fact, temporarily forgetting a number of noticeable issues that stick out as much as the Aegis Rex has in his pants for Pyra, this is an unforgettably great experience.
To both expound upon that last statement and offer up some clarification for phrases predating it, Rex and Pyra are the main characters of this story set within Alrest. Alrest is an exquisite blend of fantasy creatures and environments with science fiction elements in the form of appearances from steampunk and biotechnology. Sadly, this good-looking world exists on the back of ginormous organisms called Titans who are slowly dying off and just so happen to be the only available land which the last remnants of humanity can reside on. To find a permanent replacement for living space, Rex is tasked by Pyra, a legendary Blade also known as the Aegis, to venture to the center of Alrest, the World Tree, in order to reach the fabled utopia, Elysium.
Xenoblade 2’s somber yet hopeful narrative full of twists and turns aplenty is enhanced by its themes of drive, purpose, and the desperation to be remembered after we leave this plane of existence that intertwine perfectly with its excellent lore. While these themes contribute to the story being generally great, it can really drag at times with its highly slow pace in some chapters, tonal conflictions (for example, quippy banter amongst characters at urgent and serious moments), and downright nonsensical writing. Rex is a mixture of these two factors as he both improves the narrative and is its biggest detriment at certain times.
Partially excusable since it allows him to be an appropriate driving force for the tale, Rex is as energetic as a Shonen Jump protagonist (excluding Ichigo because he is always down in the dumps), advancing the effectiveness of that comparison by consistently sticking to his one clear goal as well as befriending (or attempting to) all those who he encounters on his quest. What differentiates the character from being a total carbon copy is how annoying he can be with his memorable yet all too common preachy speeches as well as his interactions with Pyra and secondary main characters and his viewpoints on the events of the world. In addition to Rex who develops throughout his journey from an ignorantly hopeful protagonist to an optimistic and mature hero, Pyra and the rest of Xenoblade 2’s colorful cast all develop in unique ways, giving players a new perspective on the world and its characters in a way that remains respectful to the core beliefs of those who develop. All the antagonists are fleshed out too, making them individuals we can wholly understand the motives of while also being motivated ourselves to actively oppose their flawed perceptions.
As previously stated, Pyra is a Blade - beings used by heroes and certain villains alike as supportive roles in combat while Drivers such as Rex get their hands bloodied up. Similar to other entries in the Xenoblade franchise, this third installment utilizes a combat system where everything takes place in real-time as allies and enemies auto-attack each other with input only being allowed for movement and the activation of a Blade’s special attacks, or arts. Special attacks differ depending on what kind of weapon a Blade has, with their element giving them additional advantages and disadvantages. Depth is added to this system by having to switch between blades and time the utilization of them and their arts to ensure victory in a number of battles. All of this is admittedly very confusing (especially due to the micromanagement involved in upgrading weapons via chips and aux cores that give blades helpful abilities, filling pouch items to enhance stats for a limited time, and spending weapon points to increase the usefulness of Blades’ weapons) and takes a good while before grasping it becomes even a slight possibility.
There are multiple times, however, where the question arises of whether or not all of this information is something worth learning, primarily because combat is sluggish and passive. This pace can lead to battles where every moment is the decider between life or death thanks in part to the game’s naturally hard difficulty (play on the still-challenging easy mode unless you get off to torturing yourself) with the slower pace acting as the deciding factor in guaranteeing these moments are super tense. Flip that same coin though, and there are conflicts that seem to drag on forever and emphasize how more activity could have been added. Scenarios such as these are not as common as the moments of tension, but they really do stick out.
A bigger issue than problems relating to combat pace is the fact that in this party-based combat system, if your character dies, the entire battle is over. Like most, if not all, other real-time party-based combat systems akin to those from titles like Rogue Galaxy, if the character you control dies, you should be able to switch to another character or the battle should be able to persist as long as other AI controlled companions still have their head in the game. Mainly causing this problem is a bar with three sections determining when intelligent yet occasionally brain-dead party members can be revived and when a group combo special can be activated. Not expecting the game to copy-paste the combat system of other JRPGs, I can accept this function, but once more, if the bar is empty, the battle should not automatically end because the character being controlled cannot be automatically revived; that is unnecessary and leads to a lot of failures at certain points.
Battling is not the only important part of the gameplay since most areas are expansive; exploration has its equal share of importance and occasional dips in framerate. Venturing through the environments on the aforementioned Titans is an element that is crucial to many side quests, usually those of the fetch variety. If used very sparingly, fetch quests in open world games or titles with expansive areas can effectively encourage journeying into different areas of a map, but if this side quest type is constantly showing up? No thanks.
After having been sent to fetch some salt to add to this annoying wound, now is a perfect time to mention how field skills - abilities used to aid in exploring areas - should have been kept to optional travels as many times during main and side quests did progress have to be halted in order to fulfill a requirement to increase a Blade’s field skill. These occasions did not entail a long grind at all, but short or not, it still ruins the immersion one may have built up. What adds further insult to injury is the fact that this grind can be heightened for some if they do not have a blade with a necessary field skill. Meaning, some poor bastards will have to go through core crystal after core crystal praying the right blade with the right skill just happens to burst out of their crystallized womb.
Side quests are not totally terrible as in the end-game, Blade quests for rare Blades are unlocked. Blade quests are side quests that flesh out the personality and background of Blades with passable writing. Disappointingly, the location of these quests needs to be actively discovered instead of the game giving you an idea of where to search or even letting you know that these quests exist with myself not even knowing they were a part of the game until a friend told me. And of course, these quests are also interrupted by the field skill blockade because no quest is safe from this epidemic of boring interruptions. Really making exploration worth it following all of this filler though, is how beautiful and smooth the game looks.
When Xenoblade 2 was first announced, I was not a fan of the chibi-style early footage and images showed, especially when the anime-influenced, realistic style of the first Xenoblade Chronicles was rough around the edges but still good-looking. Come the release of Xenoblade 2 and this visual style delves head-first into the anime aesthetic without any trace of chibi designs, making itself host to beautifully breathtaking locations (with horrible texture pop-in following any fast travels to them) ranging from industrial hellscapes to the murky insides of a Titan contrasted with the vibrancy of sparkling ether. This quality applies to character models as well except for when it comes to their awkward and stilted animations that would not be out of place in a Ju-on film. In docked mode, the smoothness of the graphical style is apparent thanks to its resolution being 720p. Handheld mode, on the other hand, loses this visual identity by using an adaptive resolution that remains around 360p - 480p, giving environments and character models a case of extreme sharpness and blurriness.
The soundtrack has little compromises as it is full of memorable songs that consist of the rock ilk during battle - echoing the Gaur Plains theme from Xenoblade Chronicles - somber scores with a piano and little accompanying noise, and negatively memorable tunes such as one with Japanese pop vocals playing during emotional moments for some reason. Voicework is not as solid entirely due to Rex. Whereas every other character can nail the deliverance of serious and lighthearted lines as well as battle grunts, Rex cannot nail the latter, ruining what should be crucial and emotional moments and diminishing all the engrossment into a scene.
Missteps like these along Xenoblade Chronicle 2’s titanic journey pushed me close to putting the game down permanently a handful of times. Tonal clashes, slow and overly automated battles, and spotty writing can all overlay into a feeling that the game is not worth the trouble. However, enduring these flaws will reward you with an amazing narrative from beginning to end rife with emotion, tense conflicts, and a presentation package that offers up an unforgettable experience that translates to Xenoblade Chronicles 2 deserving to be the title in which the Xenoblade series concludes.
*For those who may come across the review on Tumblr, all gameplay images were captured by my friend Zypher
Submitted August 08, 2018 at 02:43AM by Ultimategamer132 https://ift.tt/2M3D0kH
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