Xenoblade Chronicles 2

 Switch
User Score
8.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 2500 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,077 out of 2500
  2. Mixed: 183 out of 2500
  3. Negative: 240 out of 2500
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  1. Risax
    Jan 13, 2018
    7
    I got Xenoblade Chronicles 2 because I heard good things about the first Xenoblade Chronicles and felt bad about never getting it on my own Wii. Overall, this is the first game in the Xeno series I got. Mainly because I don't think Xenogears and the Xenosaga games ever got released in Europe.

    Anyway, on to the review. I got Xenoblade Chronicles 2 about a day before release, and I    I got Xenoblade Chronicles 2 because I heard good things about the first Xenoblade Chronicles and felt bad about never getting it on my own Wii. Overall, this is the first game in the Xeno series I got. Mainly because I don't think Xenogears and the Xenosaga games ever got released in Europe.

    Anyway, on to the review.

    I got Xenoblade Chronicles 2 about a day before release, and I don't think I played for more than an hour. The English voice acting got on my nerves too quickly. The voices didn't seem to fit most of the characters and their shouts during battle sounded flat and easily started to grate on me. It also felt like I was watching an old Kung-Fu flick dubbed in English with how badly the movements of the mouths of characters synced up with what they were saying, but when the patch for Japanese audio was released the next day I found that it was still kind of "iffy"

    Speaking of combat, throughout the game whenever I had to fight I was just...bored. You had to slowly move over to an enemy with you drawn weapon before you could attack, since your character wouldn't swing his weapon while moving. While auto-attacking you do load up skills that can give benefits if you attack at certain times or from positions, but combat never really got exciting. Even when your Blades performed certain moves. Usually that was just a mess of QTEs. Not that your skill level at handling any of this really mattered, because the difference in level between you and your enemy usually determined how easily you would win or lose anyway.

    As for the Blades I mentioned, they are what made me interested in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in the first place. Now, I have a weakness for sentient weapons. Whether they can talk to their wielder, or have some sort of body of their own like in this game. I just really like it. And I was not disappointed. Aside from the Blades you get through the main story, you can also gain new ones through Core Crystals. And each Rare Blade has a personality, quest lines and Heart-to-Heart scenes of their own.

    Unfortunately, GETTING said Rare Blades is a mess that determines heavily on RNG. I've wasted plenty of Rare and Legendary Crystals, that supposedly up your chances of getting Rare Blades, to get nothing of importance.

    And raising the affinity of said Rare Blades and gaining better skills and actually getting to their quests can be a pain in the ass too. Expect a LOT of slay x amount of monsters in y place. Gather this amount of wood. Deal that amount of damage in one hit. And so on and so forth.

    Aside from the Blades the parts of the game I loved where the music and the areas you got to explore, which all looked beautiful in their own way. Exploring and gathering stuff could be a bit annoying with the way you had to organize your Blades, however. As they can only use their Field Skills when equipped, but it's something you have to deal with.

    Now, I'll try not to spoil much of the story but honestly I thought it kind of dull. If you played RPGs before, the plot and characters probably feel rather clichéd with the all-loving hero that only sees the good in everything and wants to save everyone. The Tsundere chick that keeps tagging along for some reason. The cute mascot character. The serious one and the comic relief. I did like some of the party members and Blades, but honestly I don't think I really ever grew attached to anyone.

    That being said, there are some fairly good twists and darker parts that caught my attention, but those didn't happen until I'd gone about half way through. It also isn't really necessary to play the first Xenoblade Chronicles, but there were some damn important things related to at the endgame that I had to look up. So I probably spoiled myself a little on Xenoblade Chronicles should I want to play it. But that's my own fault.

    Anyway, I've rambled for a while so I'll leave some PROS and CONS before giving my verdict and ending this review.

    PROS:
    +Amazing music
    +Beautiful areas to explore
    +Some good lore and world building
    +Blades

    CONS:
    -Bad English voice acting
    -Boring combat
    -Uninteresting characters and plot
    -GETTING Rare Blades
    -Raising the affinity of Rare Blades

    Overall, Xenoblade Chronicles isn't a bad game. Unfortunately, it isn't great either. I had fun with it, don't get me wrong. I'm sure I easily spent over a 100 hours playing it. But I don't see it sticking in my memory as a game I should pick up again some time to play for the beginning.

    I'd say, get it on sale if you're a big fan of JRPGs and don't have anything else to play.

    Final verdict: 7/7.5    … Expand
  2. SaintJames012
    Jan 22, 2018
    7
    Xenoblade Chronicles is a good game riddled with issues and problems. As a JRPG on the Switch, it is a definite recommendation for anyone who wants a solid game; however against other JRPGs across multiple platforms, it falls flat in its appeal. The issue with XC2 is in the game outside of the main story. The side quests are either laughably bad or frustratingly boring. They consist of oneXenoblade Chronicles is a good game riddled with issues and problems. As a JRPG on the Switch, it is a definite recommendation for anyone who wants a solid game; however against other JRPGs across multiple platforms, it falls flat in its appeal. The issue with XC2 is in the game outside of the main story. The side quests are either laughably bad or frustratingly boring. They consist of one of two different formulas, the first is either a glorified scenic route in which you are required to go to point A only to be told to go to point B then C, or it is a boring fetch quest that requires you to either get ingredients or get loot. What makes the fetch quests especially boring is the game won't tell you where some of them are, so you will end up running in circles trying to find the drop spot for these items. The voice acting for the English setting is pretty bad, as the actors must not have known what emotions were supposed to go with what scene. This is especially a problem for the character Nia, who in some scenes will be animated as hysterical or animated, but the voice actor will deliver the lines in a calm demeanor, undermining the entire point of the scene or otherwise diminishing the emotions that were supposed to occur. The game does boast some pretty fun characters and is smart enough to have them evolve both emotionally and combat-wise over time. The chemistry between the characters is also fairly strong, as cutscenes and dialogue between the many party members is always fun to listen and watch. Combat-wise, the game separates classes into 3 basic types: Attack, Tank, and Healer. These are the baseline for all party members. Added on are elements that allow for combos not only among individuals, but the initiated between the party as a whole. The sense of scale and the world are extremely fun to explore, although there are moments where the game does feel a little unfair. A great example is in a world a couple hours into the game, most of the creatures are fairly low level (about 4-17 for range), but included is a freaking bird that is a level 75. Mind you this is a starting location as soon as the game starts teaching you the more complex aspects of its mechanics. This dumb ass bird moves across most of the map, and if it spots you will attack indiscriminately. Since this is the location for many story and side quests, there are moments where you are stuck, since the bird can kill you one shot, and you cannot run away. This is not the only issue. Combat against creatures can also draw in others in the vicinity. While this does cause many fun brawls and struggles for survival, the enemies will never target each other even if they would do so by the world building standard. If mercenaries attack you on the road, and a herd of big buffalo type creatures join in, the buffalo will not attack the mercenaries as well. Rather everyone ends up attacking you. There are plenty of instances in other titles where the use of the environment and its habitat can be used to your advantage, but in XC2, this does not exist. Sometimes getting from town A to town B is a monotonous, frustrating endeavor because if a single enemy spots you, then you will end up fighting the entire colony of rogue death bees or hungry wolves. Still the game is not all problems. It is still a fun adventure to partake in, and the characters are for the most part likable and interesting enough to carry the story. While the side quests are a drag and grinding is going to be an issue, it can still hold itself as a competent JRPG. The problem is is it not a 10 by any means. If we are being completely honest, this game benefits from being on the switch. If it were to be on the Playstation for instance, it would not hold up against titles like Final Fantasy or Persona. This game is fun, but it is a 7 at best.… Expand
  3. DreamCore
    Jan 8, 2018
    7
    + Great story
    + Interesting combat system
    + Beautiful environments and level design - The map is utterly useless, worst I've ever seen. - Side quests suck and are all the same (gather resources or salvage) but with different "story". Unfortunately you have to do them unless you want to grind. - Enemies has way too much hp. Killing regular enemies with the same or even lower level    + Great story
    + Interesting combat system
    + Beautiful environments and level design

    - The map is utterly useless, worst I've ever seen.
    - Side quests suck and are all the same (gather resources or salvage) but with different "story". Unfortunately you have to do them unless you want to grind.
    - Enemies has way too much hp. Killing regular enemies with the same or even lower level can take up to 5 minues which is the reason why this game is so long. Enemies aren't hard but just takes forever to kill even when using Specials, Blade Combos etc. Three characters beating on a tiny little lizard 5 lvls lower for 5 minutes is just ridiculous.    … Expand
  4. Fenriswolf
    Dec 25, 2017
    7
    At this point the game is so unpolished I can't give it the Rating it could have.
    Hope they will fix it.
  5. Kaprawiec
    Dec 11, 2017
    7
    Update - was 10 now its 7 from me. Great/ now ok RPG.
    Ill leave that its like playing Ghibli Studio animated movie. Idea behind this world is so good that the only thing I can say is that I just love it.
    Now on to what changed my mind - boring, bad designed combat! Its basicall just same combat system as the one in Final Fantasy 12. You run around, and the combat pretty much is getting    Update - was 10 now its 7 from me. Great/ now ok RPG.
    Ill leave that its like playing Ghibli Studio animated movie. Idea behind this world is so good that the only thing I can say is that I just love it.
    Now on to what changed my mind - boring, bad designed combat! Its basicall just same combat system as the one in Final Fantasy 12. You run around, and the combat pretty much is getting done by it self. Im usually not even looking on the screen, because it really doesnt matter in most of fights, they are either to easy or just imposibble to win. Oftenly they also piss me off with stupid crap - example:
    Im on lvl 10, fight with couple of lvl 5 bunnies (hitting them with ridiculously big swords obviously made from cardboard because 1 hit takes 5 lvl lower than me rabbit 5% of its health so the fight drags on forever) and then out of nowhere flies a bird or runs some gorilla on lvl 78 (!?) and one shot kills me. FUN...not... really wtf.
    I was hyped, after reading so much praise about the combat system, but really its bad for me atm. You cant just git gud when enemies oneshot you out of nowhere, and its not like I could run away either, because even when I try they will kill me from mile away.

    Ill update this when I finish the game, but hell, this game doesnt deserve 10.
    And for this stupid Tora character which I really start to hate with all my heart and this dumb infantile "mememe" or what the hell hes yelling all the time when fighting I would rate this even lower, but the game is actually good.    … Expand
  6. Kvr
    Dec 2, 2017
    7
    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    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..    … Expand
  7. moothemagiccow
    Aug 29, 2020
    7
    =OVERWHELMING.=
    I loved Xenoblade 1 and Xenoblade X but this game is overwhelming. If there was a player's guide, it would be the size of an encyclopedia. There are too many options, too many items, too many things to upgrade, too many menus to manage.
    Even watching the battles is overwhelming. You control one character, who has a partner character ("Blade"), and you're on a team with    =OVERWHELMING.=
    I loved Xenoblade 1 and Xenoblade X but this game is overwhelming. If there was a player's guide, it would be the size of an encyclopedia. There are too many options, too many items, too many things to upgrade, too many menus to manage.

    Even watching the battles is overwhelming. You control one character, who has a partner character ("Blade"), and you're on a team with two other people who also have partners. Often the people you are battling also have these partners. It's a mess to watch.

    Each of these characters and each of these partner Blades have items/weapons you can equip, with skill trees that you upgrade.

    You don't just get those items from beating enemies or doing quests. After you get them from enemies or quests, you have to find spots around the map, press the buttons right on time, and dig up materials that activate the items you can equip. To dig up materials, you have to buy a kind of digging license. You can sell excess materials at a specific shop, but there's no real way to remember which materials are important.

    You can upgrade your skill trees by simply playing the game, or you can do discrete tasks like "go talk to people" or "collect and use this kind of potion."

    You can also use multiple "Blades" in the same battle, and there are more Blades than you can realistically manage. You get them in a kind of lottery system that is similar to micro-transaction RPGs (which does NOT cost real money, just in-game items). One goal is to get "rare" blades rather than throwaway, weaker blades. The lottery is another dimension to the game that no one really understands.

    There is a lot more - quests, where you collect items or talk to characters or go places or kill things, then Mercenary Quests where you deploy your blades for 10-45 minutes at a time and can't use them, pouch items that give you temporary upgrades, and I'm sure I'm forgetting like five things!

    =NO EXPLANATIONS=
    I have no idea how much all of this effort actually has on playing the game, because the game is so overwhelming that no player really understands what they're doing. Is this weapon better than the other? Is this skill more worthwhile? It's often too complicated to figure out. When I look something up on google, I see contradictory answers in the same thread. That means people who think they know how to play and are giving advice don't actually know.

    This is because the game RARELY EXPLAINS what is happening or how to play. In the first ten or so hours of the game, you're bombarded with new systems, and the tutorials don't really give you a baseline understanding of what you're doing. Even some of the terms have really similar names. A skill with a Smash effect has a particular effect on enemies, but many skills are called "Quick Smash" etc without having the Smash effect. There are Blade Arts and Blade Combos and Arts Combos and I can't remember which is which.

    =MISSTEPS=
    What's strange is that the game is lacking in a few basic areas. You can't control the rest of your party (much different than previous Xenoblade games) and their AI is stupid. They will, for example, walk off a cliff and die in the middle of a battle. When enemies drop items, sometimes the items will fall off a cliff or fall onto a spot that you can't jump to because you're still fighting. The map is a total mess, and the great little arrow from Xenoblade 1 is replaced with a kind of countdown radar that I regularly get lost with. The big map when you hit X is also really bad. It's very small and has no real detail on it.

    =FUN=
    Despite all this, I like the game! It's fun, I like watching the numbers go up and pretending I know what I'm doing. I play it on Normal and it's actually not that hard! My characters die with some regularity, but it's not often frustrating. I would say among the Xenoblade games, this is my least favorite. It seems to ignore a lot of the steps forward in playability that Xenoblade X took (e.g. the quest menu and map is worse now), and the story is very awkward, dull, and cringeworthy.

    If you have nothing to do during, say, a pandemic, and nowhere to go, you could easily lose yourself inside this game. You could probably play this for 4 hours a day for years. I am baffled that there is DLC because there is so much to do. I don't know what they would add.    … Expand
  8. Cougargames
    Nov 1, 2019
    7
    Overall a good game with a beautifull world and a somewhat good combat espacially the chain attacks
    (even thoe the tutorials are never ending and dont really teach you the mechanics that well)
    a good soundtrack and a somewhat emotionall ending. The bad part bad: writing is non beliavable
    and characters which is espacially bad considering this game is a long game that focuses mainly on story.
  9. freshtodhef
    Feb 23, 2019
    7
    While the game design can be frustrating at times, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a must own for any JRPG fan.
  10. Siggy88
    Mar 2, 2018
    7
    +0- Little brother to Xenoblade (Wii), playing XC first is recommended, but not vital -0+

    A game that feels closer in style to XC than XCX. The game offers an original universe: a sea of clouds on which titans live (some of them are only a few meters, some others are literally organic continents on which people live!). There are several species (humans, Nopons...) living on titans, but    +0- Little brother to Xenoblade (Wii), playing XC first is recommended, but not vital -0+

    A game that feels closer in style to XC than XCX.
    The game offers an original universe: a sea of clouds on which titans live (some of them are only a few meters, some others are literally organic continents on which people live!). There are several species (humans, Nopons...) living on titans, but there are also Blades. They are immortal beings that other living creatures can summon for help.

    +++Good+++

    + good story, although with more clichés
    + team consist of up to 3 characters and one Blade each. You can assign 3 Blades at a time for each char and switch them during battle to adapt your strategy
    + superb OST
    + several amazing characters
    + great variety in environment. Although each individual titan feels a bit useless outside of one or two story-related places (mostly one main city per titan)
    + convenient cutscenes viewer, but you need to restart the game to use it
    + the game gives you the same sense of wonder and curiosity as XC. Every new titan, every new character, every new chapter is a discovery.

    000Meh...000

    0 many QTE and some button mashing in battle. Sometimes even a mix of the two. Erk!
    0 combat system kind of discourages you from moving. You will spend a lot of time in battle just standing around waiting for skills to charge up
    0 devs took good note of all the praise they got for the British VA in XC and decided to do that again. Sadly the cast in unequal in skill and some chars have very thick accents.
    0 oversexualized female characters, you like it or you hate it. Poor Pyra can't even see her feet :'(
    0 a character whose role is so cliché that he complains about it himself (RIP 4th wall) and another character complains about wasting time right after a padding section of the game. That's a bit frustrating.
    0 the game keeps receiving patches, but clearly it has been released a couple months too early for Christmas
    0 tutorials are not great and can only be seen once
    0 the game keeps giving you low tier stuff (lowest level cores for the Blades, notably) nearly until the end. Drops and chest feel underwhelming too often.
    0 resolution is low in handheld mode, but AA is surprisingly good
    0 a lot of menu navigation

    ---Bad---

    - if you don't like games where everyone keeps shouting for no reason this game is not for you. (chars comment on practically everything: sunrise, sunset, fast travel, opening a chest...)
    - the fighting mechanics seem to have been designed with complexity in mind, rather than depth (slow, hard to learn, messy GUI...)
    - a RPG that tries way to hard to be a platformer at times. The jumps are terrible and the collisions are sometimes treacherous.
    - likewise, physics applies to loot too! Items can fall off cliffs and be lost for ever (WTF?)
    - AI is probably as good as in other games in the series, but the more complex geometry of the levels will make your team mates run around, get stuck or jump over cliff often. It gets old real fast.
    - padding!
    - bosses are big bags of HP, fights take forever
    - ridiculous difficulty spikes on some story bosses that will halt your progress and force you to level-up. Then you will tear through everything for the next 3 hours...
    - the way you unlock new Blades is a disaster. It is a GATCHA! And a very bad one. You will have to collect cores in fights and from chests. Using one leads to an unskippable cutscene (nearly 40 seconds total!). To be fixed soon apparently?
    - most of the time you will get a basic Blade from your gatcha. Good luck collecting all the unique ones!
    - upgrades for one of the Blade are locked behind a 8bit minigame. It is not fun, but since it's mandatory...
    - the game spoils many things due to poor design and oversights. For example, you can tell which enemies will become allies later on by looking at the silhouettes in the Blades menu.
    - some cutscenes are just too long
    - inconsistent names of main chars between Japanese and English localization. You can have JP VA with EN subs if you want, but it will be hard to follow.
    - I can tell that at least the French localization tends to be very inconsistent with the English one at times. Overall quality of translation is sometimes amateurish.
    - some weird design decisions: just like in the other games, you heal automatically out of fights, but now there are inns. Their only real purpose is to level-up chars, instead of doing so immediately on the field. Ins feel shoe-horned in the game.
    - very predictable lines of dialogue and many classic character archetypes
    - the game keeps introducing new rules for the universe, but it never takes very long until a new character arrives to brake that rule before you even had time to get used to it
    - ended sooner than expected. I was expecting the game to pull a "Ha! You thought it was over, but there's 15 more hours to go!". It did not.
    - some cryptic things to do to unlock some rare blades...    … Expand
  11. ImperialKnight
    Dec 7, 2017
    7
    This is a very classic JRPG with an "open world" shoe horned in. It's not bad, it's just average. And what's worst, it comes out AFTER Breath of the Wild. It contrasts how well BotW was designed with the world in mind and how in Xenoblade, it's an after thought. The minor irritations within Xenoblade slowly adds up, and eventually you just want to tear through the main campaign and forgetThis is a very classic JRPG with an "open world" shoe horned in. It's not bad, it's just average. And what's worst, it comes out AFTER Breath of the Wild. It contrasts how well BotW was designed with the world in mind and how in Xenoblade, it's an after thought. The minor irritations within Xenoblade slowly adds up, and eventually you just want to tear through the main campaign and forget about the rest of the game.

    The battle system is over complicated. It throw dozens of mechanics at you, but ultimately none of them really makes much of a difference. The mechanics don't allow you to take out much higher level enemies and in the end, it's still a classic JRPG grind for levels to match the enemies    … Expand
  12. LocustOfChiron
    Dec 4, 2017
    7
    This game feels like it's one step forward, two steps back. The changes to Xenoblade Gameplay we've come to love over 2 games are interesting, Specials comboing with the now expanded Topple mechanics are provide nice bursts of extra damage and extend CC, but enemies have huge amounts of HP past a relatively early point in the game and the extra duration really only breaks even with pastThis game feels like it's one step forward, two steps back. The changes to Xenoblade Gameplay we've come to love over 2 games are interesting, Specials comboing with the now expanded Topple mechanics are provide nice bursts of extra damage and extend CC, but enemies have huge amounts of HP past a relatively early point in the game and the extra duration really only breaks even with past stuff like daze. Cool ultra customizable party member, but actually getting the stuff you want to customize him as you want means grinding a minigame until the RNG gives you the thing you want, the list goes on and on. All in all this game is a let down as a member of the Xenoblade family. It's still good enough by it's own merit to be worth a purchase for a JRPG fan, but by bearing the Xenoblade name it'll inevitably have to be compared to the original Chronicles as well as X, and in that regard, it comes up short.… Expand
  13. SuperDylan
    May 2, 2018
    7
    I feel like i am fairly qualified to review this game. I've got every rarer blade. beat the game twice. and i feel as if i have experienced the game with everything it has to offer. so do i recommend it. thats tough
    for a average person who hasn't played that many JRPG's this is a fairly good entry. it as a descent, but cliche story. and the story is probably the worst out of the series.    I feel like i am fairly qualified to review this game. I've got every rarer blade. beat the game twice. and i feel as if i have experienced the game with everything it has to offer. so do i recommend it. thats tough
    for a average person who hasn't played that many JRPG's this is a fairly good entry. it as a descent, but cliche story. and the story is probably the worst out of the series. But it is still an amazing story and it has pretty good characters.

    one of the biggest turn offs for people is that the game has a lot of fan-service. many of the character designs are skimpy and the girls are overly exposed, besides Mia. There is also a lot of **** moments in the game design department. These flaws are the reason why this game is a 7 and not a 10. let me list all of the bs aspects of this game at the end.

    The music in this game is nowhere near xenogears, or xenoblade 1. It sounds pretty forgettable. also the voice acting is borderline tolerable for a lot of characters. while that could be attributed to having boring cringie dialog, there are some really good voice actors such as Pyra, Mythra, sometimes Rex, Zeke, Mia, and the villeins. everything else seams flat and boring. Tora is especially annoying.

    1. there is a level 80 monster that can one shot you in the opening field. this is not only one time. this is many times and over level monsters are a reacureine appearance in this game. in fact Mor Ardain is crawling with level 80 monsters

    2. some of the boss's are bs as well and require shear luck to beat.

    3. the mini game Tiger Tiger is to tedious and boring. this game is used to level up and get new skills for a couple of new party member's (poppi, I'm not naming this a spoiler because its so early in the game. Its in chapter 1)

    4. Some rare blades (like KOS-MOS) require an obserd amount of grindeing, If you want to get every rare blade its going to be tough.

    5. Mercenary missions are boring and they should have had a mini game for them instead of a real time timer.

    in the end i do recommend this game, but it will sometimes test your patience, and durability, take brakes with it, and have a fun time.    … Expand
  14. vince14_evil
    Jan 16, 2018
    7
    How can I say ? It is not a game of the year like Zelda but I had good time played it.
    If you want a kinda like solo-mmorpg, it's the game for you!

    The graphic and the presentation are very disappointing comparing of the first X.
  15. Brentinitis
    Jan 24, 2019
    7
    An overall pretty good but disappointing game. I've been playing these games all the way from Xenogears till now and this is definitely my least favorite of all the games in this franchise. I will say I did enjoy the Story despite a few criticisms I have for it and I like all the main characters... except Rex that is. Unfortunately this game suffers from a lot of really bad game design.An overall pretty good but disappointing game. I've been playing these games all the way from Xenogears till now and this is definitely my least favorite of all the games in this franchise. I will say I did enjoy the Story despite a few criticisms I have for it and I like all the main characters... except Rex that is. Unfortunately this game suffers from a lot of really bad game design. Convenient and streamlined features that were in previous games are just gone with no reason or explanation. For example the loot system was improved going from Xenoblade 1 to Xenoblade X, but in this game they took more than a few steps backward with that. When an enemy drops items and money they fly everywhere and more often than not land somewhere unreachable. This means you could end up spending a long time trying to get an enemy to drop a specific item only to have it fall off a cliff once it finally drops; this is incredibly frustrating and is a problem for the entire game. I could write a book on all the problems I have with this game but I'm deciding to look at the positives. The story is pretty good, I like the characters, I like the music, and the gameplay is fun sometimes. Overall 7/10, if you liked the first one give it a try.… Expand
  16. RdeRuben
    May 1, 2019
    7
    Nice game.
    Best: Combat system
    Worst: Sexist with the female sex.
    Infinite Movie Scenes
    It's an easy game but when it wants it becomes in a wall and u must search guides to continues.
    About 80 hours finish it.
  17. Dazar
    Dec 6, 2019
    7
    Honestly, this game does improve from the last two in many ways, but its gatcha mechanic is horrible. The combat is also pretty stale. Once you can get 8 orbs on the boss and you have Pyra's final form, you win. No question. You win. This applies to even the Superbosses. I know that the orbs do something individually when they are rotating around the boss, but I don't know exactly and itHonestly, this game does improve from the last two in many ways, but its gatcha mechanic is horrible. The combat is also pretty stale. Once you can get 8 orbs on the boss and you have Pyra's final form, you win. No question. You win. This applies to even the Superbosses. I know that the orbs do something individually when they are rotating around the boss, but I don't know exactly and it doesn't matter. Cause you win. I do like that there is a healing, tank, and DPS roles. That is not everybody's cup of tea, but I do like that it is an option. Pity it doesn't matter much due to the orb thing. Honestly, I didn't pick the blades for their specials or passives at one point because you really don't need them, because the orb breaking is so overpowered compared to everything else.

    The characters themselves are pretty good and enjoyable as is the story. The ice rabbit annoyed me but not for the reason other people didn't like her... Her feet, hands, and ears bothered me. Her very fake southern accent was also irritating and didn't fit the design anyway. Music was also good but I liked X more.

    Overall, I would give this game around 6.5, but given how metacritic works I will bump it to a 7.    … Expand
  18. mattlarrubia
    Sep 24, 2020
    7
    Delete Rex and the game would be really great. The gameplay is one of the best in the genre.
  19. MazrimTaim14
    Oct 15, 2019
    7
    Great battle mechanic although it took a long long while for it to come to fruition. Doing battles without access to combos at the start of the game made battles tedious.

    Voice acting could do better. Storywise not that too memorable and a gatcha system in a single player game? the only redeeming quality of it is they at the very least didnt made money out of it by selling cores thru    Great battle mechanic although it took a long long while for it to come to fruition. Doing battles without access to combos at the start of the game made battles tedious.

    Voice acting could do better. Storywise not that too memorable and a gatcha system in a single player game? the only redeeming quality of it is they at the very least didnt made money out of it by selling cores thru microtransactions.

    Map navigation was hell. made looking for the mission spots hard and grueling.

    A nice experience though and a great addition to the library of Switch    … Expand
  20. Poochingus
    Nov 14, 2019
    7
    I love xenoblade games. So why a 7? Well, I'm a realistic person, I don't rate everything a 10 just because I like it.

    Xenoblade 2 is a great game with a lot of rough edges. The most difficult part is the English voiceover. The main character "Rex" has the most embarrassing fake yelling I've ever heard. I have no idea how the director didn't storm into the booth, slap him in the face    I love xenoblade games. So why a 7? Well, I'm a realistic person, I don't rate everything a 10 just because I like it.

    Xenoblade 2 is a great game with a lot of rough edges. The most difficult part is the English voiceover. The main character "Rex" has the most embarrassing fake yelling I've ever heard. I have no idea how the director didn't storm into the booth, slap him in the face and when he yells "ow" tell him, good, now yell like that. He isn't the only one who gives a lackluster performance, "Gramps" the dragon looking creature and animal familiar of the party is just some old guy who reads his lines in a voice. That is it.

    The game's graphics are honestly really good, but like breath of the wild, probably pushes the graphics to the limits of the console. I wish I could have lowered some settings to get fewer frame drops in some cases. I would love to see this game on PC for this reason, so I could max out the settings and see it in its full beauty.

    Storywise this game is quite compelling thankfully, so it can make up for some of the poor acting. Not much else to be said without major spoilers.

    The depth of the RPG elements is what will make you want to play or not want to play this game. If you like complexity, you will enjoy this. If you want a simple straightforward system, you might want to skip this. It has lots of stuff that you will probably forget about.

    In terms of characters, the catcha system is what KILLS the game's fun. You have to open silly little crystals to get new characters to use, and getting good ones is almost impossible. Worse still, each one is bound the party member you open it on. This means you might open a great tank character on your healer party member. It feels bad. Only Rex, the main character is able to use any character you open, which you won't want to do anyhow, because he by default has the objectively best character anyhow.

    Getting over that slog, the ability to chain together elements and combo into huge amounts of damage is even more satisfying than xenoblade 1's chain attacks which were already fun to pull off at the right time. The combat early on may seem slow and boring, but that is to give you time to warm into it, which is good for players who aren't deep RPG players. Once you get a full loadout and party, you will find yourself being mindful in hard fights of when to change, attack, and use combos. With the right line up you can create some really powerful and engrossing parties.

    In the end, I was sad that it ended, and sadly this is one of those games with no post game content like the old days where you load back to the last save before you beat the game. But considering this game was such an early title for the console I can forgive that along with the already large amount of content.    … Expand
  21. TrustedReviews
    Feb 4, 2020
    7
    Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is an excellent addition to any JRPG fan's library, albeit one that has some severe problems holding it back from true greatness. Released globally on December 1st 2017 for the Nintendo Switch system, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is the latest entry in Monolith Soft's perceived expanded Xeno series, a sequel to the original Xenoblade Chronicles and a spiritual successor toXenoblade Chronicles 2 is an excellent addition to any JRPG fan's library, albeit one that has some severe problems holding it back from true greatness. Released globally on December 1st 2017 for the Nintendo Switch system, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is the latest entry in Monolith Soft's perceived expanded Xeno series, a sequel to the original Xenoblade Chronicles and a spiritual successor to the earlier Xenosaga and Xenogears games.
    Starting off with the game's positives; The soundtrack is soaring and immersive, its wonderful and vibrant and lends considerable strength to establishing atmosphere in the title's many visit-able locales. The characters, although very tropey, are still enjoyable, and over the long course of the game (80 hours for our play-through), you should come to have really bonded with them and their exploits, and enjoy their presence... hopefully. The story, although nothing really special on a surface level, really picks up in the closing chapters, which we will avoid mentioning for the sake of spoilers.
    The exploration and combat is also very solid, if not poorly mismanaged. With this, our gripes with the game must be brought to light.
    The combat is complicated and introduces a lot of mechanics not at all standard in JRPG's, and expects you to learn them quickly, but then offers you no in-game means of double checking the tutorials, an inexcusable feat of incompetence in game design. This was fixed in the expansion, Torna - The Golden Country, but was never fixed in the base game.
    The first explorable area of the game, Gormott, in an area where you're expected to be anywhere between about Level 3 and Level 7, there is a Level 84 monster running around that will one shot you and shoot you back to whence you came upon respawn. This is just not good game design.
    This title is split into chapters, and although we enjoyed our time with the first 50 or so hours of the game, the quality of the title gameplay-wise takes a nose dive off a cliff after that time, although this is the part where the story really picks up. Chapters 7-10 are a nightmarish slog, one that seriously makes us reconsider ever wanting to go and do a New Game +. Bosses are broken, there's a huge difficulty spike seemingly out of nowhere and the crawl through "dungeon-like areas" never, ever seems to end. Needless to say, it's a mess.
    Despite that, in those horrendous boss fights, if you switch the difficulty to Easy (added in an update), you might actually be able to have fun in them. Graphics are serviceable, but blurry in handheld mode.
    Overall, a solid game that any Switch JRPG fan should consider having in their library, but one that falls short from being called a must-own in our books.
    7/10    … Expand
  22. abYss123
    Jan 27, 2021
    7
    This is one of or the best arpg on the switch. The characters are fun and well developed. Get this game now! You won’t regret it! The voice actors in English aren't the best and the nopons are super annoying.
  23. sergio123456
    Feb 19, 2020
    7
    El juego es bueno, gráficamente es espectacular, es muy intuitivo a la hora de llevarte por el mapa, pero el problema es su sistema de combate extremadamente complejo, eso le hace bajar bastante mi forma de verlo.
  24. sarakyuuri
    Mar 12, 2020
    7
    The game mechanics and the RPG action is quite fun. However there are quite some holes in the story telling and it kept bothered me. For example, when characters had ability to fly in one part of the scene then right after they just suddenly falls down from sky in the next scene. I tried to ignore these plot holes but ultimately there were multiple minor things in the story that was justThe game mechanics and the RPG action is quite fun. However there are quite some holes in the story telling and it kept bothered me. For example, when characters had ability to fly in one part of the scene then right after they just suddenly falls down from sky in the next scene. I tried to ignore these plot holes but ultimately there were multiple minor things in the story that was just like this. It is still a good game if you can ignore unreasonable story telling plots.… Expand
  25. Mistoltean
    May 14, 2020
    7
    The open-world, MMORPG-like offline game, and gacha that you can get with grinding or in-game currency. XC2 looks ambitious and promising, but the execution is kind of awkward. The following issues are
    1. Mobs can unfairly overlevel and kill you without being provoked. Some can fly and no way to run from it consistently.
    2. Battle system is innovative but lacks proper tutorial and    The open-world, MMORPG-like offline game, and gacha that you can get with grinding or in-game currency. XC2 looks ambitious and promising, but the execution is kind of awkward. The following issues are
    1. Mobs can unfairly overlevel and kill you without being provoked. Some can fly and no way to run from it consistently.
    2. Battle system is innovative but lacks proper tutorial and cannot look back again. PPl who don't want to rely on external help might be turned off.
    3. The field skill relies on Blade, which relies on gacha and luck. The other annoying thing is you can equip only 3 blades then have to swap them around to get the needed skill to unlock or obtain the items from the field. Kind of clumsy, unpolished system.
    4. The story is dropped down for the sake of open worldness.

    In conclusion, the new ideas in the game are promising, but it lacks polishment and unfriendly to newcomers of rpg and non-hardcore players. I feel they are keeping it for a remake or definitive version. If you are into MMORPG, you can check this out. If not then might wait for the remake with quality of life improvement.    … Expand
  26. Mhaaad
    Aug 25, 2020
    7
    I played this game right after finishing XC;DE (which is a fantastic game. 10/10) , this game's like an MMORPG but for single player, same as the first game,
    I would have given it a 9 if not for the sheer number of unnecessary hindrance and inconveniences this game has, it's like the developers thought: this game is too good, we can't let that happen, let's shackle the players and piss    I played this game right after finishing XC;DE (which is a fantastic game. 10/10) , this game's like an MMORPG but for single player, same as the first game,
    I would have given it a 9 if not for the sheer number of unnecessary hindrance and inconveniences this game has, it's like the developers thought: this game is too good, we can't let that happen, let's shackle the players and piss them off!!
    here are the cons:
    - helpful tips that teach you how to fight and interact with the game are displayed once only, you don't have access to a menu to check if you are stuck later or need a reminder, you have to look it up on google.
    - enemies will detect/fight you unless you are 10 levels higher, it makes exploring sucks.
    - fighting system is too complicated, refined but complicated. (remember, no HELP menu)
    - [[[[ Ursula's side quest, you send her on missions to collect 99 pieces of each three different key items, these missions range from 1 through 5, mission 1 gives you 1 piece of key item, mission 2 gives you 1 piece key item, missions 3 and 4 gives 2 key items , mission 5 gives 3 key item ,,,,, WHY?!!! why doesn't mission 5 give 5! (Ursula isn't even worth it! she's a nightmare to completionists and a proof of developers being bullies!) ]]]]
    - Tiger! Tiger! , a mean mini game.
    - some of the requirements to increase a skill are displayed as question marks [??????] the game won't tell me how and no NPC will tell me what do they want! google everything.
    - no guide to tell you what collectable are where and nothing to keep record of what you collected and what not, just walk in the dark, if an NPC asks you to collect something, go to every region in the game and hope you find it soon by chance, or google it.
    - the menu controls are all over the place, I finished the game and still not used to it.

    I said I would give XC2 a 9 if the above mentioned problems are not present in the game, that's because some problems can't be fixed,
    - music tracks and sound editing in this game is not good. (a region named Tantal has the most intense music ever (day music) it's like you are facing the last boss), (some environmental sounds are just annoying and not immersive (Spirit Crucible Elpys), (sound effects when summoning a blade).
    - voice acting is not the best, weird accents and sometimes it's hard to understand what the pronounced word is (the game Ni No Kuni had different accents but was amazing).

    that's the cons, now let's do the pros:
    - Vast open world to explore (like the first game but better because treasure chests and secret areas)
    - Great detailed world building, you would know how this world came to be when you finish the game.
    - blades are designed by different game designers, cool designs (except Nim).
    - Nopons are hilarious in this game more that the first game, especially their dialogue in side quests.
    - the Gacha system is fun in this game.    … Expand
  27. Gramscci
    Jun 22, 2021
    7
    Un juego que de inicio me dio la impresión de ser un doble AA; sin embargo nadie me había calladonla boca tan rápido y contundentemente, es una delicia poder perderse en un mundo tan grande como el que ofrece este juego, respecto al sistema de combate en realidad no es tan complicado como muchos analistas se quejan, aunque efectivamente pudo explicarse de mejor forma, sobre quieres perderUn juego que de inicio me dio la impresión de ser un doble AA; sin embargo nadie me había calladonla boca tan rápido y contundentemente, es una delicia poder perderse en un mundo tan grande como el que ofrece este juego, respecto al sistema de combate en realidad no es tan complicado como muchos analistas se quejan, aunque efectivamente pudo explicarse de mejor forma, sobre quieres perder en una historia genia y disfrutar de un juegazo no lo dudes y prueba está joya.… Expand
  28. RenXCDE
    May 31, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. As someone who loves the original Xenoblade Chronicles, this game is somewhat of a disappointment. It takes a lot of steps back in my opinion, and has problems that weren't even present in the original.

    To start off, I don't find the combat to be all that fun. Xenoblade 2 is a lot more auto attack centered than the first game, which I don't really like. Most of the time, I was just auto attack cancelling for my arts to fill up so I could use them just to do the same thing again, and after that do a blade or driver combo. The game's combat is really repetitive, and gets incredibly dull, and boring.

    The story is also something that's a huge step down from the first Xenoblade. The first few chapters are really boring, nearly nothing happens in them that's really exciting or fun (aside from the awakening of Mythra). The late game isn't much better either, the story by then gets really cool and interesting, yeah but you're stuck in this really lame and generic space station, with generic robot enemies, far from being unique like the Mechon from Xenoblade 1. I think the final area genuinely killed some of my excitement I had going in to fight the final boss. Most Xenoblade 2 areas are really cool, but again, they're brought down by just being worse than the original Xenoblade's areas. The original had much better and memorable areas, on top of just being a whole lot more unique than Xenoblade 2's in my opinion.

    Xenoblade 2 has really cool characters, that's a bit of a given seeing its a Xenoblade game. The party in Xenoblade 2 is really awesome, and their interactions are really cute, and charming. Heart to Hearts in this game are really good, just like in Xenoblade 1, but this time they have Heart to Hearts voiced, which is a huge plus. I think my favorite characters were Zeke and Pandoria, they are really funny, awesome, and have a unique charm. Rex gets way too much hate, by the end of the game, he's changed a lot, and I really like him then. Mòrag kind of reminds me of Jotaro just a bit from the outfit, she's just as badass as Jotaro. Nia is cute and always had me laughing. Tora was my least favorite, and honestly kind of irritating sometimes, but I adore Nopon, and he had some good lines.

    I think this game doesn't live up to Xenoblade 1 at all, but that doesn't mean it's a bad game. It had a lot of expectations to live up to, and it just didn't meet those expectations to me. If you're a fan of JRPGs or RPGs in general, I recommend just buying Xenoblade Definitive Edition first, and then playing Xenoblade 2.    … Expand
  29. Zethor
    May 25, 2021
    7
    Xenoblade 2 retains many of its predecessor's great traits, such as a beautiful open world to explore, and a (mostly) fantastic soundtrack. The combat remains strong, with some major improvements to things such as auto attacks, and major downgrades such as the time-wasting, irritating chain attacks. The mechanic also comes with a great perk in the new overkill feature, which curbsXenoblade 2 retains many of its predecessor's great traits, such as a beautiful open world to explore, and a (mostly) fantastic soundtrack. The combat remains strong, with some major improvements to things such as auto attacks, and major downgrades such as the time-wasting, irritating chain attacks. The mechanic also comes with a great perk in the new overkill feature, which curbs xenoblade chronicles' 1's only notable flaw in forcing exploration for the sake of not having to grind, but also makes the game a bit on the easy side. Overall, I see this as a bit of a sidegrade, and the series retains a similar level of quality here to before.

    However, the game falls flat on its face in the story, a core element of JRPGs, and delivers a story I'd expect to see out of only the most horrendous anime the world has to offer. It truly feels as though you're playing through something like Sword Art Online, and I detest most of what this story has to offer. There are still some enjoyable characters, but just as many irritating, annoying ones on top of it. Overall, I understand the shift in style, but I feel it to be a bit of a betrayal to those who fell in love with the well-crafted story and incredible characters of the first game. The game's still enjoyable despite this, thankfully, but it serves as a major hit to the game's quality.    … Expand
  30. LuckyMeybFan
    Dec 10, 2021
    7
    After 150 hours of gameplay, I figured it's time to write a review for Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

    Sadly, XC2's story failed to amaze me. It was a good emotional ride; there were goosebumps here and there but there was nothing that made me think that the story is exceptional. The pace was not good in my opinion, and the overall tone of the game is a bit inconsistent with the narrative.    After 150 hours of gameplay, I figured it's time to write a review for Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

    Sadly, XC2's story failed to amaze me. It was a good emotional ride; there were goosebumps here and there but there was nothing that made me think that the story is exceptional. The pace was not good in my opinion, and the overall tone of the game is a bit inconsistent with the narrative.

    The world was very good, but it's not as good as the world of XC1 which was incredible.

    Most of the characters have enough quirks to be memorable... but I didn't appreciate the anime character archetypes that were a bit too cheesy at times.

    I don't like Rex as much as I like Shulk from XC1. To me, Rex is a stale, typical Shonen protagonist fighting against the odds with the power of friendship, recklessness, stubbornness, naivety, and optimism. There is a sweet spot in every character that lies between ideal and flawed. Rex is a character more skewed towards the former, which I didn't like simply because I couldn't connect with his struggle. His struggles were only ever fleshed out whenever the "boy meets girl" theme comes into place. I loved how Shulk reacted to the things around him the same way me and other people normally would; Rex lacked that authenticity. Also... Shulk's growth with the monado is incorporated in the gameplay which I think is very cool.

    I love the music! I really hated the background music for two locations but aside from that, the music in this game are EARGASMIC.

    The gameplay is nice. I just hate the grind because some of my experience with it are ridiculous... jump from a high point, jump 6,000 times, walk a lot. What the heck, game? Can't you think of something else to do? (I grinded hours to unlocked all blades, except for the ones you can get from new game plus.)

    Overall, I think the game is mediocre because of the emotional but average Shonen story and the main character BUT...
    The sheer amount of work put into this game is amazing. There is a ton of side content in the base game, and I am looking forward to playing the DLC. If you love JRPGs, you should not miss this one. It's great, but it's far from being a masterpiece. I don't hate the game, I was just a tad disappointed with the main character, the grind, and the story; the most important RPG elements to me... I felt like they could've been executed a lot better.

    I thought the English dub was horrible in general... but Japanese voice DLC fixed it for me, at least there's that.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

25
#25 Best Switch Game of 2017
3
#3 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2017
3
#3 Most Shared Switch Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 92 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 78 out of 92
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 92
  3. Negative: 1 out of 92
  1. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Mar 2, 2018
    73
    A fight with an ordinary enemy whose level is slightly higher can drag on for minutes, especially if you’re fighting it alone. The combat itself is also rife with problems: sometimes main character even fails to draw his weapon, or locks onto a far-off enemy, while another already is eviscerating him in close combat. [Issue#226, p.64]
  2. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Feb 26, 2018
    80
    Despite some rough patches, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a worthy addition to any Switch owner's library, especially if you have a predilection for RPGs and enjoyed either of the previous entries in the series. [Issue #32 – March/April 2018, p. 75]
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Feb 16, 2018
    80
    Extensive and massive JRPG. Although with a rather cliché story and characters, it comes with a beautiful world and a fighting system growing more and more complex with every hour played. [Issue#282]
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