Xenoblade Chronicles is a very interesting franchise. It came to the Wii in Japan, but then was demanded by fans in the west. It came over and became a cult hit. Then, Xenoblade Chronicles X came to the Wii U and went on to be one of its best games. Now, the Nintendo Switch is set to be the home of the third game in the franchise, Xenoblade Chronicles 2. And based on what we saw in the Nintendo Treehouse, it’s going to be amazing.
Right off the bat, the game looks amazing. It clearly takes cues from both the original and X, yet adds a lot of anime style mystique to it. And much like an anime, there’s some very special story elements and gameplay styles. For example, your “weapons” in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 are actually characters. Pyrrha for example is a literal flaming sword. Now, what makes this even more interesting is that you see the characters in battle with you. And you can unlock new characters that given you new weapons in battle.
This also applies to your actual teammates in battle who have special character weapons of their own. There are three classes in the game: Warrior, Tank, and Healer, and each of them have special Arts to be used in battle.
There’s a lot of depth and nuance in the battle system that will lead to special combos if you’re strategic enough. In the Treehouse Event, the team did a massive combo that led to 4000+ damage. And you’ll be able to swap weapons on the fly with no massive menu struggles.
That’s the other thing that makes Xenoblade Chronicles 2 so special, the team took lessons from the original and X and made adjustments to make the game even more special. The game is more streamlined in menus and actions so you can focus on the game and not having to go through countless menus with only a few exceptions.
Moving onto the world, the game definitely has the detail and size of X, but with the style of the original in regards to you living on actual beings known as Titans. The twist is that there are multiple Titans that you can visit, and each one has different environments, enemies, villages, and more.
That’s another big difference, unlike X, there are a lot of villages and places you can go to, and there’s apparently a LOT of things to do in these villages. The team noted that the polish they’re applying to the game right now will ensure that there’s even more coming.
As a fan of the Xenoblade Chronicles games, I can’t wait for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 to arrive this holiday.
