Some of your characters and teams are mandatory in the story, but you also gather crystals to create a dizzying range of new Blades through a 'Gacha' style lucky dip. Blades also come in different types - Attack, Healer and Tank, which are self explanatory. In this case you have Blades to manage in addition to Arts - each is essentially a weapon, with their own distinct element (the likes of Fire, Ice, Electricity and more besides) and Arts to consider. Like its predecessors' combat, for example, this has a mix of auto-attacking and strategic use of 'Arts', varied moves that have cooldown periods. We also see key revisions in general controls, adapting to some new ideas while making a few welcome improvements. For a title with such depth and numerous menus there's clearly been a lot of thought put into how it's presented, which is a step up for the franchise. Having seemingly learnt from feedback on the tiny user interface and text of X on Wii U, this is a game that's far easier to navigate. We'll tackle presentation later, but those of you that do like the idea of playing this primarily as a portable title should be able to do so. Time melts away (we played into the small hours without being aware of the time on multiple occasions), making this a game for long sessions on the sofa rather than gaming on the go. On the latter Monolith Soft went all in - you can sit watching cutscenes for 10 minutes+ at a time, and some of them are truly exciting and add to the appeal. You do the small tasks to level up and earn vital resources, all the while triggering the next major battle and cinematic. Underlying that is startling depth, with layered systems and lots of menus, bringing a time consuming yet oddly compelling mix of adventure and micromanagement. The fact we've opened on the story is deliberate - this follows the Wii original in focusing on the main tale, funnelling the player from checkpoint to checkpoint. The tone and occasional humour is sometimes goofy and at times toe curling, but the broad story is another high point for Monolith Soft. While the main story is of an ancient war, God-like beings and an almighty power struggle, underneath we have a very human tale of nations in conflict, friendship or isolated from the rest of the world. The world is a collection of large 'Titans', God-like beings that float / fly in the 'cloud sea', each the home of distinct nations that have their own people, challenges and roles to play. There are also, we should add, some nods to lore that will have fans of the original purring.Īll told, the adventure is indeed memorable, which certainly matters for those wondering whether to sink a lot of hours into another Monolith Soft title. The plot is clearly a labour of love, though, with a surprisingly large cast and twists and turns galore not to mention all of the side quests and optional details that give more insight into Alrest's people and the world's intriguing history. It's a simple bildungsroman tale at its core, with the young Rex transforming from plucky scavenger to powerful hero over the course of dozens (and dozens) of hours. Rex, his Blade Pyra (plus alter-ego) and friends embark on a sweeping and almost neverending quest to reach the promised land of Elysium. On the surface, then, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 brings us back to the straight line approach - there are no faction choices here, no jobs based on loyalties in the sense we had in X.
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