It is (almost) December, the end of the year 2017 is coming closer and people are starting to look forward to the holidays. It is probably the most cosy time of the year that everybody wants to spend with their loved ones. But there is one problem that could sabotage this lovely time of the year… Xenoblade Chronicles 2, the game that will trap you for a very long time and keep you away from your friends and family.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 a realtime action RPG that has both a fantasy and science fiction setting and just like previous games from the series is heavily focused on exploring the amazing open-world-map. In my opinion the thing that makes this franchise so unique is the way the combat system works and that the player has the freedom to go where ever he wants to and explore. Except if there is a monster that has a way higher level than you it is probably best to avoid the area but more on that later.
Xenoblade Chronicles followed the story of Shulk, but although the title suggests otherwise, this story is not about the hero from the first game, instead, we follow the story of a young boy called Rex. He is a young salvage with a big heart for his family who lives in Alrest, a world covered with clouds and populated by enormous Titans that are slowly dying. When he accepts a job for a mysterious crew where he has to help them to collect an item, he comes into contact with the Aegis, a legendary weapon. Rex immediately gets drawn to it and can’t resist to touch it; but when he does he immediately gets killed by one of the members of the group he was working for.
Luckily the Aegis who is named Pyra has special healing powers that can revive our hero Rex; in return she asks him to take her to some kind of promised land Elysium. According to Pyra this is the only way they can save the slowly decaying land of Alrest and so their journey begins…
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is an RPG in its core but it sometimes feels more like an action game; this is meant in a good way. The fights are very intense and although you automatically attack with normal attacks, you have to reposition yourself a lot to avoid damage and to attack weak points of your opponent. Besides the normal attacks you have sword arts, these are powerful abilities that first must be charged with normal attacks but do a lot of damage or give your team utility. A way to improve your damage significantly is by perfectly stringing a normal attack with a sword art to gain an empowered combo attack.
People who played the first game in the series probably remember Shulk’s Monato weapon. This introduced a mechanic where you could change the ability of your weapon during a fight. This mechanic is no longer in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 but there is a new and in my opinion better mechanic called ‘Blades’. These are some kind of weapons in animal or human form that are linked to the fighters (or as they call it in the game: drivers). Blades don’t really do damage during a fight but have more of a supportive role. There are blades that buff the damage of the driver, heal them or allow them to take damage.
The cool part of this blade mechanic is that you can link multiple blades with different abilities to one driver and swap between them accordingly to fit your needs during the battle. The blades are not only changing the weapon stats but they all come with different sword arts with different elements effects that come with each blade. Performing abilities with a blade fills up a special meter. This meter has 4 levels and the higher you fill up the meter the higher you can perform a special attack. You only control one fighter at a time but you have the option to request your teammates to do a special attack. This allows you to use different elements and make special attack combos. This can be complicated in the beginning but once you understand the logic of them it becomes a very powerful tool during battle.
There are a lot of new mechanics added while you play through the game but I will not discus them all because it will get very complicated very fast. Luckily the game does a great job learning you the new mechanics at the right time without pushing too much information in a short time period. When I was over 10 hours in the game I was still learning new things which keeps the gameplay feel fresh all the time. The only problem is that sometimes you do not fully understand something but there is no way you can rewatch the tutorials or read how some things work.
The missions in this game are very versatile and did not feel repetitive and always had an impact on the story of the game. In most missions you have the option to make your own way through the land or if you had to go to a location that you have been before you can use the fast travel option. The world is very large and there is a lot to explore and that is a good thing, but I prefer a good map and navigation system which is the only thing I did not like about this game. It is very confusing and it happened a lot where I had to go back because the navigation lead me to a cliff and I had to go up but there was no way I could do that. Maybe this is a design choice where you encourage the player to walk around and explorer but it felt very frustrating after a few times I had to backtrack.
Verdict:
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is an amazing game in the already fantastic franchise. The story is so fantastically good that it made me wonder when a first Xenoblade movie will release. It has all the things I love in an RPG and adds a lot of action, that it made quite reminiscent of Breath of the Wild. The world is extremely big and alive with tons of different creatures to fight. I have spent about 20 hours into this game but it feels like I’ve just begun playing and I don’t think I will stop anytime soon. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 will definitely get a spot in my top 3 of best Switch games for 2017.
