The sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles makes its way to Nintendo Switch! But are we really feeling it? Better ask Alex. Check out our full site ■ www.nintendolif... Like us on Facebook ■ / nintendolife Follow us on Twitter ■ / nintendolife
John James Rambo the same reviewers that gave a High score to other games like persona v or ffxii Zodiac age . Those are great games but i don't feel this game less than the other two
If you read, watched and understood them there wouldn't be a problem. Maybe it actually deserves a 7/10 given Nintendo Life's penchant for giving high reviews for most games they review because Nintendo hype can't take a rest this year and if they review a game too low then Nintendo fanboys will jump down their throats like they did to Jim Sterling when he gave Breath of the Wild a 7/10.
What? What sort of traction are you talking about? There's nothing Jim Sterling gains from giving Breath of the Wild a 7- he didn't give it a score so butthurt Nintendo fanboys flood his page if that's what you're saying. And when is a 7 a low score? Comparatively lower than most critics yes, but have you read the review in full? If you haven't there's nothing to talk about.
An amazing game. I'm a huge fan of the original, and X, and this has not disappointed me once; in fact, it's surpassed my expectations at nearly every turn.
Finished my first playthrough recently and about to start a new game plus and I'm loving it so far despite how grindy it can be. My only gripe is just the huge gaping plot hole that is Amalthus. Everyone knows he's Malo's Driver so why in that actual fuck is he still alive? Back during the Aegis War did nobody once have the thought "Oh hey rather than sending thousands to their deaths trying to fight this literal weapon of God himself why don't we go to his more vulnerable and completely mortal Driver and stick a knife in his neck so he can choke to death on his own blood". Is being the only person to get to Elysium such a prestigious title that his life outweighs entire countries?
It is not a plot hole. Amalthus status is unrelated to Malos's. That is pointed out by both Malos himself in the cutscene where he tells Amalthus that he leaves him. But also we see Malos existing after Amalthus' demise. The Aeges can be active even after the death of the driver. Amalthus death would have prevented a lot of terrible things, but it couldn't have stopped Malos.
That final boss in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was a test of my patience for sure. I have no issues with any bosses…until the final one. But that 15 minute ending cutscene was so worth it
you know what I dont Like about xenoblade games, characters seems like they are not really walking, I dont know how to explain it, it looks a bit cheap
So this may be a minor gripe so far I hate the fact that the characters are anime shaded and everything else seems more realisticly shaded. It just seems really out of place
theburntcrumpet I’ve been playing it and it looks surprisingly good. Does it get a bit fuzzy at times, yes and does it have low res textures, sure especially when loading in but when everything clicks you’ll forget the resolution is kinda bad. This is only from handheld. I don’t think I’ve played any game docked so if that’s your thing idk how it looks
MonsterKat I wasn't to be honest, I'll still probably pick this up as the gameplay looks fun. Don't get me wrong, I thought it looked really nice at points in the video
Is it just me that finds it strange they gave splatoon 2 a 10 after it added almost nothing on the first game, but xenoblade a 9 even though it added and changed so much. I find the negative points were also in splatoon, as it could get a little fuzzy at times. Everyone's allowed an opinion, but I still find it strange.
Animation has always anime every since the first Xenoblade Chronicles. Of course you’ll have the guys dressing all weird and stuff... that seems to be an RPG norm.
Even though I don't care much for JRPGs these days, I was interested in picking this one up, so I tried to play the one on the 3DS a few weeks ago, but found the combat so awful I ditched it after a few minutes. So pass on this as well. Shame Nintendon't have a demo policy on the e-shop, might have changed my mind -- maybe this one plays better than the one I tried on the 3DS?. Oh well, that me saving 60 euros.
Adal Alexander Agreed 1st game's combat system was shit, but you actually do something in this one so it's mildly better. 1st game is better watched. 2nd game is a so and so situation.
I'm not sure if you would enjoy X2 battle system as in my opinion it's similar to X1 and still as complex. BUT once you get past the complexity, it becomes a lot of fun. It actually took me 3 tries with X1 playing from the beginning to understand how it works, and it definitely helped me understand X2's system.
The thing is, after like 2-3 hours of playing the 1st Xenoblade you will have enough attacks to attack manually all the time. At this point you also can't just rely on auto-attacks, since they're super weak compared to other attacks available to you.
My problem with the combat wasn't it's so called complexity (although I didn't experience anything like that, having played just a couple of minutes) but with the fact that there weren't enough actions for the player as your character was auto attacking -- kinda like in those shitty games on mobile - and thus found it extremely boring. And that's why I'm weary with XC2, as from the videos it seems different but I can't tell if that awful auto attack is still there or if the player is attacking. On a scale from Ys to Tales of Vesperia, I can't tell by the trailers where this falls... Either way I'd rather wait for Battle Chasers than dive into XC2 hoping I'll enjoy it and end up being disappointed -- again, Nintendo really should have released a Demo.
Also im still hoping that xenoblade chronicles will be a franchise with two main series: the main fantasy one and the “X” series which is more sci-fi. It would be cool imo
Sayzar94 that’s a good idea. I think that would be great if they did that. It’s kind of great that it’s like a new final fantasy line. But as it’s being developed by monolith, the style is totally unique to them
Definitely, X was so good, but I hated how it ended on a Cliffhanger. If there's ever an XCX2, I hope it follows the story, and still manages to bring new locations to the game.
Lougikiro i'm sure that's easy to do, we know for a fact that Mira isn't just those five (arguably one) continents. That and wasn't there post game stuff about other colony ships having crashed elsewhere on the planet?
Im still trying to figure out what haters of are talking with "no games" I guess since the switch dont have too many FPS' gives it that? I still need to get myself mario and this title. I am currently playing Fire emblem warriors to keep me busy until I the DLC of zelda is announced..
I've been playing it since this morning, and I'm in love with it! It has charismatic characters, beautiful landscapes, a complex and rich battle system, an engaging story and the music is truly wonderful! Our first encounter with Pyra is one of the most breathtaking moments I've seen in a game! If you are a fan of JRPGs, get this game right now!
Darkfyraproductions I’m 30 hours into the game and I still am discovering new things on how battle works, how to create combo, and thus how I should build my available Blades, etc.
Exactly my man/woman. Using the feature at the main menu I’ve re-watched it multiple times. Also the scene with Pyras “other half” don’t wanna ruin it for anyone when she wakes up in the bed with Rex is hilarious. Such an amazing story and game. I’m late to the party just hit chapter 8 but I started playing years ago. Over 300 hours I’m massive OCD. Have basically done everything possible the game has to offer all side content maxing out all rare blades etc. Just finishing up the story so I can start Torna. I also have Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition which I’ve never played the first one. So soon as I finish this and Torna I have that game to experience for the first time ever. Love this series so much. Was massive fan of Xenoblade on PS1 and PS2, and despite what some people say I also enjoyed Xenoblade Chronicles X.
Monolith Soft are masters of atmosphere, both visually and emotionally. Somehow they managed to make the environments in XCX look next gen by how damn accurate they were with visually representing atmosphere. And then they go add that into the story too? you are hooked into their long ass game, and you love it even when it introduces something annoying.
MonsterKat The handheld mode isn't the limiting factor in this really. They could port X and get Wii U level performance in handheld. What causes the issues is the agressive Temporal AA which causes blurring issues with the 720p resolution. On a technical level, it far eclipses X, with more physically accurate and detailed materials, improved lighting (godrays and an approximation of ambient light/global illumination being stand out additions), higher quality shadows, much more robust collision detection, far more dense and much more detailed folliage (notably transitioning from single-plane billboards for grass to proper, multi-plane meshes), volumetric cloud simulation for both the cloud sea and the clouds in the sky, ambient occlusion, per-object motion blur, screenspace reflections, much more detailed water shaders, and a nice use of particle effects here and there. The TAA is also a major addition but due to the 720p resolution and some flaws in implementation, it causes image quality issues. And the game was not well optimized for handheld, causing the dynamic resolution scaler - which is inactive in dock - to go postal. The region that shows the 2 engine off the best is Leftheria, with Uraya a close second. They suffer the least from image quality issues and show off the improvements the best. Especially Leftheria.
gonna pick this and fire emblem warriors up today, when my wife gets home anyways. got no car seat in my truck and the law frowns on strapping your toddler to the hood.
If anybody reads this 3 years later and wonders if this game or the switch itself is worth it : yes it is. the switch remains the strangest console, yes the graphics are.. well, not ps5 level eh :P or even ps4, though the incredible ease of play and even the cartridges (if you dont go digital only which has pro and cons) add a certain weird personal feeling to it all. Even the way nintendo keeps you appraised of discounts, news, your progress in games, it feels very personal. Its hard to put it into a simple way to be honest, but its really surprising. Similar to graphics, yes on 1080p it can actually look worse (never ugly though) than on handheld mode, due to the relatively small screen that yes limits the ease of viewing all the action (imho) but it looks really sharp and the 2019 switch really can pump out 4 o 5 hours of battery life. (uses about ~10% every 30 minutes on breath of the wild, so do the math) Its quite nice to watch these videos of nintendo games from around the release of the switch.
I am lol! I’ve been going back and forth on this game for years and I can’t decide! There is just a lot of junk on the screen and I’m not sure how the battle system really works! Am I attacking with face buttons or does the character attack for me and I just manage other stuff?
Just got XC2 2 hours ago, Im 1 hour in and made it to this flying harbour and just met my new team with this little girl, the tiger and those 2 dope fighters. Holy crap the music, the graphic style, the presentation, the combat ( ye Ive only done one fight so far lol, but still ) etc. are pretty amazing. Ye, I know Im only 1 hour in, but I got a feeling this game is gonna be amazing and prob. one of these few games that can actually be on the same overall experience lvl of a FF7 or Shenmue. Most of the time I just walked around on this flying harbour looking at things,
Trevor Robinette same. Idk why they suddenly started sucking at delivering stuff out on time for me at least. I hope it still gets here for both of us tho. 🙏🏼
Trevor Robinette UPDATE: the package arrived but the damn receptionist at my apt complex never tells people they have packages waiting for them so now I have to wait to pick it up tomorrow cuz theyre closed. 🙄
Playing into the small hours? Check. I was up till 4am trying to get through a story bit, didn't realize it was that far into the morning. Really loving it so far.
Here I am, four years later. I’ve played DE, but I’m wanting to get more into Xenoblade with the third being out now. I’d like to play the second before the third if I can. It’s disappointing to hear about handheld mode not being great because I play 98% of my games in handheld.
Good choice opening the review with Counterattack and waiting before talking. Roaming the Wasteland is a track so good, it doesn't deserve to be a simple overworld theme.
I know im gonna get hell for saying this but i like x2 more than breath of the wild and I really loved zelda. Just so much more to do doesn’t fill as empty as zelda. Its crazy the switch getting all these great games its first year. I cant wait for a true fire emblem game or metroid on the switch. I just love long jrpg’s and xc2 is that for sure. Its amazing i can play games like this or skyrim on the go.
Bought the game and brouth ik back. The optimalisation is really bad ... lot of fps drops and pop up, also the UI is so demanding.. when you walk in a town the only thing that you see are the icons of the several shops, for me this really takes away from my immersion, also the graphics of Xenoblade X on WiiU looked strangely enough better then this title. I can see that this game can be a good game but for me the technical problems are too much in front of that... the game feels rushed tbh, I will buy it again in a few months when Monolith has optimized it more. For now it not worth my 60 bucks... In this state i give this game a 7.0..
Who’s gonna be that one person who says that the only reason this video was good was because you could hear Counterattack playing in various parts of the video?
Just got my Switch 2 weeks ago with Breath of the Wild and Stardew Valley I’ve put so many hours into them in those 2 weeks! I just got paid today so I’m thinking of getting this game now and Skyrim. Any other recommendations?
I mean it's good that they made a sequel but I would have preferred it as a direct continuation of the story from the first game.seems like these games are very similar to final fantasy and the fact that each is its own self-contained story and world
Well at least 1 and 2 are directly connected, seen the most through the new XB1 content and stuff like the final boss of XB2. Wouldn’t be surprised if the next game goes into these connections even more, maybe even bringing the casts together
Trevor Robinette this is the first game I played on the switch where the game looks worse in handheld mode. I hope there's a update coming to fix that because I was shocked to see that
TheHolyDerp it's not rly related to the other 2 games. You can enjoy it without any problem, you just get a little fanservice here and there if u have played the first 2 games.
Yeah, I agree with both of you. I hate their look (seriously, wtf is up with their inflated thighs?), but I could get over it pretty quick. The game looks fantastic. I’m still enjoying the hell out of Doom. I have 2 very long road trips coming up around Christmas... not sure if I want Skyrim or Xenoblade for those trips... I still want both, eventually.
It has NONE to the original Xenoblade. Xeno games stand for themselves. What Alex meant is that it are more of little easter eggs that we the Xenofans can see ^^
Daniel D yeah... it definitely does tie in. Don't know where you can read about it though. Maybe the comment section under the cutscenes of the last chapter?
I don♥t have docked mode in my switch lite, and will no doubt not miss it. Found XC1 on wii too boring just before the spider boss. Won't complete it but it will still be fun.
XCX spoiled me. The continents are technically bigger than (or at least on par with) XCX but FEEL much smaller because they are so closed off. Like the tunnel/bottleneck landscapes of the Zelda franchise pre-BotW. Tiny little jumps, can’t climb anything, can get aerial views... just really disappointed with the “size.”
One problem I have with docked (and this has nothing to do with the Switch, mostly) is my TV is old fashioned without an HDMI input, meaning I can't even play docked mode without a new TV. And said TV is of the big and inconvenient to move verity, so I don't want to move it out of the way to replace it with a plasma screen. Disgaea 5 and Splatoon 2 in handheld mode is good enough. I really don't like the sound of tedious arbitrary and gridy tasks being made necessary to progress. If I have to google search how to best find a blade with a second ability and the RNG ends up taking a dump on me with extra hours of searching for it, it makes it seem undesirable. It'd be like a Pokemon game that expects you to find a female Slandit or Combee, a less then 12% chance in addition to the odds of encountering something else. No thanks, keep necessary chore like tasks simpler and less RNG heavy.
Duffy Dood Watching it, I definitely was getting a TV series vibe. If there was one, it could potentially have the greatest CGI of any TV show ever if they polished up the cutscene graphics and made the show in that format.
Duffy Dood For the 1st game that is a definite yes battle system was shit. This time around, I'd prefer a movie but you do a bit more than the 1st game so it's a give or take.
imo, I'd say a game like this is perfect as a game alone. Sure, TV series can be more polished visually but the story route is always A-Z; whereas in games you're the one in the adventure experiencing it, and there are multiple optional things to do with objectives and exploring etc (so it's more so A-B-G-L-Z etc depending on how you play if you get me?). Exploring in xenoblade is rewarded with experience and stunning viewpoints and that won't really be captured in a TV series setting as it will be more centralised on plot and the main story route of the game. I feel that the sense of involvement is lost in comparison to the video game, and a lot of things people enjoy in game won't be/aren't present in the film/series counterpart. Same can be said for most games tbh, hence why the respective movie or series adaptations are lackluster and/or suck. This is my opinion though and people enjoy different things so some may disagree. Just thought I'd share my view on something like this!
How?? How is the lowly switch able to "do" these astounding games??? Ive had my switch for about a month and altho ive only got zelda...iam totally hooked on my switch!! My ps4pro has hardly been touched these last few weeks...the switch is just so much fun to pick up and play!! So this xenochronicles 2 looks like nothing ive seen before.
I didn't like how this review was an adaption from an article. I could tell this wasn't from Alex or whoever normally writes the videos, and it got hard to understand and uninteresting.
I think the UI and fighting is a step down from XB1.. The gameplay of XBC1 feels like a more refined version of XBC2 which is the opposite of what should happen. I feel like they changed it just to change it.. not because they had a better idea.. they perfected it at the start, XBCX visual style made it look more complicated but still was great and then this just devolved :/
I've put in about 10 hours so far, in chapter 3 and I am enjoying it, thought the battles can feel *WAY* too drawn out (5+ minutes for a group of regular enemies), though the bosses I have fought so far were really fun. Regular enemies feel like boss fights, but the actual bosses are insane (10+ minutes).
I just ordered Xenoblade 2, astral chain, bayonetta 2 (with B1 code included) marvel ultimate alliance 3, fire emblem warriors and mario odyssey. also got children of morta and monster hunter from the nintendo online shop. lots of games to play in the coming months. ha ha.
If anyone is curious, the 3 games he is talking about that came out on the wii were (obviously) Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower.
Honestly I'd say that Monlithsoft is easily in my top three for best game development studio, They are up their with Intelligent Systems and even Nintendo's in house Mario and Zelda teams. Its amazing that the Switch can begin its life with one of the best open world games ever made (BOTW) and then end its first calendar year with another amazing open world JRPG.
