Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Impressions

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a large in scale jrpg that follows a fresh set of characters despite being a sequel and brings a world of wonder. Moving within massive floating creatures you get to explore a number of entirely distinct environments. While at Pax West 2017 I was able to jump into one of these as pictured below exactly and take a look around. There wasn't much of a point in what I was doing with the tour mostly being a quick visit to get an idea of the world. My goal was to reach the top of this large city area and just sort of stop. Along the way I killed a large creature and saw others while adventuring along.

The game looked solid on the Nintendo Switch whether it was docked or undocked. I really didn't notice too much of a difference between the two versions though I will say I was impressed with the look of the game on the TV. The story follows Rex and his assortment of really odd friends. Some of these take the form of special weapons or well mostly blades and while that's strange, I supposed it's just as interesting. Their goal is to find the ultimate paradise from humans among the giant floating Titans which are the creatures I mentioned prior.


I really wasn't sure what was going on generally while playing as the guide was mostly helping me along. I was in control the entire time with mostly dialogue being spoken to me about the world and what to expect within it. This led to me walking around the large area and just taking in the vast scale. The draw distance was impressive on the level and I liked the use of lighting. It was a dark, yet bright enough with minor luminescence to see perfectly fine. Combat was definitely different as it was more hands-off and based around positioning the character. I had some abilities and everyone in my party joined in.

Battles are typically long it seems no matter what you battle and particularly if you're fighting something above where you're at in skill. The guide thought it would be fun to have me fight something that I recall was about ten levels higher as I had worked through the demo so fast. This lead to a loss, but apparently I did alright taking it down half way in health. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was certainly interesting, I've just recently been playing some jrpg over the last year and warming up to this type of game a bit more.

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