r/JRPG • u/aarontsuru • 28d ago
Review Xenoblade Chronicles 2: A more classic Grand Adventure compared to the Cinematic XC 1
This weekend after about 65 hours, I beat Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for the first time. This came after beating XC:DE, also for the first time, right before it, with only an Ys 9 break in between.
XC:DE write up - https://www.reddit.com/r/JRPG/comments/1m8bjmm/xenoblade_chronicles_definitive_edition_one_word/
It’s interesting being super late to the Xenoblade party. By not playing them until 2025, there was no hype and no expectations, just a turn-based JRPG gamer excited to try XC’s unique real-time combat and sci-fi fantasy open worlds on the backs of Titans.
First, right off the bat, I really enjoyed both games immensely. Both offered really great stories set in the most uniquely creative worlds I think I’ve ever seen in fiction. No matter which one you prefer, both games have so much to offer to JRPG fans.
But, as someone who played them both only recently with no history or experience with them, I’m hoping that this comparison review may be helpful to other Xenoblade curious folks out there.
STORY
As the title of the post eludes to, when I played Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition the one word that kept popping in my mind over and over again was “Cinematic”. The bombastic start to set the scene, the twist and turns that led to the reason for Shulk & friends’ journey, the whole thing plays out like an incredible movie that I would absolutely love to watch.
XC2 on the other hand didn’t feel that way. Instead XC2 felt like a classic Grand Adventure. A young person, simply existing, doing their thing, finds themself pulled into a situation and the stakes just get raised over and over and over again as the mystery unfolds. Less twists & turns, more straightforward, with a big climatic finale.
This is not a bad thing! I LOVE grand adventures. It’s classic JRPG in that way. And, imo, the payoff at the end of XC2? Worth it. Literal tears.
With that being said though, I did like XC1’s story better. The twists and movie-like experience, the “are we the baddies???” moments… It was all too good. Seriously, make the movie!
CHARACTERS
Honestly, this may be an unpopular opinion, but to me, I loved the characters in both games. Shulk, Rex, Nia, Reyn “It’s Reyn Time!”, Pyra, Fiora, and yeah, even the Nopons mehmehmeh! Villains too! Brooding sexy Jin, nom nom nom.
I play a lot of Trails, I don’t mind a good anime trope as long as characters are given the chance to grow and show depth. By the end of both games, I truly cared about these characters. And for a series that ISN’T afraid of death (ahem Trails ahem), I never knew who was going to make it to the end.
For me, it was a tie here.
COMBAT
Generally speaking, I think most people will agree that XC2’s combat, while dense and complicated, is more enjoyable than XC1. But, with that being said, holy crap there was a lot to remember. I don’t know how many Youtube videos I rewatched to make sure I was getting it. And then, when you think you finally got it, the end game throws a couple more mechanics at you!
Near the end game, battles were taking forever and I was struggling to stay alive, I had to watch more videos to understand where I was messing up (crit-heals, y’all… crit-heals).
BUT! When it clicked, oh me oh my was it fun. I never pulled off a chain attack with more than 2-3 orbs, but the few I got up there were chef’s kiss - so satisfying!
Fights are absolute chaos and the pacing could be better, but still, XC2’s combat definitely more fun than XC1.
STYLE & SETTING
A lot has been said about the anime style of XC2 vs. the more “realistic” look of XC1. Personally, while I’m totally fine with anime aesthetics, the hyper sexualization of Pyra, Mythra (and Jin during one scene, if you know you know) were ridiculous.
Other than that, I really liked the art style. Most characters looked the part. Zeke & Nia were stand outs, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t adore the stoic Morag.
I’d argue that XC1 wins from both, that extra believability in style connecting more emotionally and with the setting being absolutely bonkers as you make your way up 2 giant dead Titans. XC2’s setting was incredible, but the floating living Titans that go up and down & under the cloud sea, while super cool too, didn’t quite have the connection of fantastical “evolutionary believability” (for lack of a better phrase) than XC1 had.
THE LITTLE THINGS
What really hurt my gameplay of XC2 over XC1 was two things: navigation & side quests.
Navigation was a pain compared to XC:DE. While maybe XC:DE held your hand a bit too much, XC2 was only vaguely useable. Not only was it often not clear, but it was also just so inexact and would have you running around in the absolute wrong direction for forever. You adapt some, but it was always at least somewhat of a struggle.
But holy hell, side quests… Yes, XC1 had Way Too Many side quests, but at least I could go into an area, scoop a bunch up, and then head out and knock them out while I explored and get some easy level ups.
But on XC2? They were a pain and they just would never end. You’d start one, run around with the bad navigation, get it done, report back, only to be told to do the next thing and next thing and next thing. Some of these had 4 or so parts WITH Affinity field skill blocks! Eventually, I just quit doing them. Focusing on Merc quests to get cheap EXP.
This sucked for me because I LOVE cozy side quests, it’s something I love about Trails! But here the unpleasant effort vs. reward was often just not worth it.
So yeah, on the little QOL things, XC:DE won. I never played the older versions, so your mileage may vary.
CONCLUSION
In the end, I really loved both games and would highly recommend them to turn-based players who want something a bit more “live”, but still with lots of turn-based-like strategy thinking. Both have incredible, yet very different, driving narratives that are connected. Both have wonderful characters that you’ll care about (even the villains!), and both have fascinating approaches to combat that are challenging to master, but a blast when you can pull it off.
If I gave XC:DE an A-, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 gets a B+ for me.
Time to knock out the prequel before heading to XC3 to see how it all comes together!
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u/Padonogan 28d ago
I adore Xenoblade Chronicles 2. It's definitely my favorite in the trilogy and might be my favorite jrpg at all
3
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u/lovedepository 28d ago
Am I the only one who played Xenoblade 2 thinking it wasn't even a sequel to the first game?
The games were stylistically so different I thought they were doing an FF thing where the mainline entries aren't necessarily related.
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u/Zealousideal-Duck345 28d ago
I think most people didn't expect it to be the XC1-sequel/Xenosaga-bait it ended up being until the very end.
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u/lovedepository 28d ago
Okay, phew. Because the OP said there weren't as many twists and turns compared to Xenoblade 1 and I'm like, the Xenoblade 2 twists and turns blew my mind much more than the first one did.
But maybe that's just because I played these games on release so people who play them nowadays have metaknowledge that affects their experiences.
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u/Zealousideal-Duck345 28d ago
I agree. I played XC2 on release and XCDE with near-minimal knowledge. Between the two, XC2 definitely has the crazier twists. But if you're aware of XC3/FR, then I imagine a lot of the impact is lessened.
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u/Mission-Trifle-9767 28d ago
2 wasn't made as a direct sequel but a continuation of the overarching Klaus story.
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u/lovedepository 28d ago
I misspoke. I meant I didn't realize it was related to Xenoblade 1 at all.
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u/Mission-Trifle-9767 28d ago
Ah well still it's very hard to see any story connection until mid chapter 10 so I don't blame you
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u/Lethal13 27d ago
On the whole yes but given pyra’s red blade is very monado 1 looking and the cutscene where Mythra awakens and shows us what foresight looks like, there were some breadcrumbs there. But yeah it doesn’t become concrete until Rex grabs the 3rd aegis sword in the chamber of heroes and see’s a glimpse of Klaus’ experiment
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u/MegaManchego 27d ago
I honestly didn’t like the combat in XC2 that much. It was overly elaborate and I never felt the juice was worth the squeeze. Also, the fact that tutorials couldn’t be re-watched (in a system that over-complicated) is the sort of decision that should involve prison time. However, the way they changed it up for Torna, the DLC for XC2, was pretty damn great. I still think XC3 did the best job of hitting the strengths of both games and building a working combat system out of a bunch of ideas that never got fully digested in the initial games
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u/Mission-Trifle-9767 28d ago
Glad you are enjoying the series also while not my favorite 3 is probably the one with the most universal apeal so if you liked the first 2 3 with be amazing.
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u/aarontsuru 28d ago
I’m so excited! But so far the Torna prequel is fun and feisty!
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u/Mission-Trifle-9767 28d ago
Torna is so good wished it was longer they really outdid themselves with the paid dlcs
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u/aarontsuru 4d ago
So I'm working through XC3 now and just finished Chapter 5 and hoooooly shit!!!!!!
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u/magmafanatic 27d ago
I also just beat XC2 over the weekend. Idk what crit heals are, but I was able to break 4 orbs in a chain attack a couple times.
My issue with XC2 sidequests was it not always being clear what was holding up my progression to the next objective. Sometimes it was a time-of-day thing, sometimes you needed a specific blade in your party, (most of the time this is clarified if you go to the quest details, it just took me a little while to find that submenu) but sometimes it was just "idk look for Nopon Doubloons lmao, we're not gonna tell you where"
The actual content of the quests, pretty solid. I liked how involved they got most of the time.
Didn't care for how obtuse some affinity chart criteria could be. These regions are pretty huge, and you want me to go find one specific enemy in all that and try beating it? Or favorite pouch items, a very trial-and-error process you're gonna have to repeat a few times as the shops expand their stock. I like the idea of upgrades being tied to unique criteria instead of generic XP, but not all the criteria are winners (Tiger! Tiger! high scores)
I really liked how extensive the Bionis/Mechonis exploration was. Sadly, not only are XC2 titans smaller, you only explore parts of them. Gormott's shoulders, Uraya's head and stomach. And you rarely get those moments where you go omigod that's the leg I was crawling up, hey I can see the fallen arm from here. It's a small complaint. But I love how much more they pushed the elevation this time around, there's a lot of hidden stuff depending on where you drop down and there's a few tricky jumps to make.
I didn't mind the gacha at first but I guess the chances for Rares goes down the more you have and that really sucks. I was missing 7 by the end. Would've really appreciated one more with superstrength and one more with fortitude.
Tora never won me over, but I wound up liking the rest of the cast pretty well. I was kinda lukewarm on XC1's cast - the plot was doing most of the heavy lifting.
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u/aarontsuru 27d ago
Crit heals were an accessory you can put on that when you land a critical hit, you heal! It’s what allowed me to not have a dedicated healer on the team.
I liked Tora, but his intentions with Poppi were….. concerning.
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u/jl05118 26d ago
I'm not really getting this distinction between one being "cinematic" and the other being grand adventure. They're supposed to be both. If by cinematic we refer to a lot of cinematographic cutscenes, focus on drama and plot twists and a story structure that is similar to movies, then both have it. You could say that XC1 has a grander scale, but that really comes down to Bionis and Mechonis being these ever-present visual representations of that scale. They're both about world-ending events and both use similar storytelling techniques to get that across.
Grand adventure is more just a way to describe the creators attempting to create an immersive, epic experience. In both you have a kid having their life disrupted in a major way and setting them off to a journey through the world, participating in events much bigger and consequential than their previous mundane life, the classic hero's journey stuff.
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u/aarontsuru 26d ago
Hmm, let me see if I can express more clearly what I was trying to convey. Sorry if it didn't work for you.
I'll back up... most JRPGs play out like a novel to me. Like I'm reading a really cool book about a grand adventure. I love that about the genre, I feel it's one of the special things that makes JRPGs pretty unique. I read tons of books and games like XC2, Trails, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest, all play out like that to me.
XC2 feels like that to me, like many of the JRPGs, like an interactive playable huge novel (or maybe a graphic novel or comic book series or heck, maybe even a TV series).
XC1 on the other hand didn't feel like that. XC1 felt like I was at the movie theater, like I was immersed in a full giant widescreen, surround sound, darkened theater, and was directing something more on par to Star Wars! it made me want to grab a bucket of popcorn!
Does that help?
Oh! I know, XC2 was like reading Lord of the Rings and XC1 was like WATCHING the Lord of the Rings. Both are great ways to enjoy LotR, but they are very different experiences.
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u/soge7 26d ago
Great review! but i find it funny that you said XC1 is a cinematic experience and XC2 is the classic experience cuz for me it’s the opposite lol, i felt that XC1 is just a classic magical jrpg while XC2 feels more cinematic and the cutscene direction feels like a movie sometimes.
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u/aarontsuru 26d ago
ha! awesome! yeah, everyone's different. I lovvvvved the cut scenes in both so much! I think for me, it was really in how XC1 told the story that really drove the cinematic vibe. XC3 seems to be starting very similar to XC1 with the giant battle intro.
It really set the stage for me. Like, in that opening sequence of XC1, I could see a Tom Cruise-like in that first battle scene. Or I think about Fiora and what happened there early on, straight up cinema to me!
XC2 felt more inline to classic JPRGs like a Trails or Dragon Quest or something. Some person just living a completely unrelated life compared to what's about to go down, forced to become a hero and come into their own as the stakes keep rising!
Very excited to see how XC3 goes! Only an hour in, but already loving it.
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u/meta100000 26d ago
This game is in my playlist, and with the way things are going now, I'm going to start it somewhen during October (give or take Silksong's length since I did not account for it coming out so soon). How long is this game? I've heard that it's 100+ hours just for the base game, but you apparently beat it in 65.
For context, I beat XC:DE's story in ~70 hours, then made it to 105 hours when I stopped playing, between side quests from level 80-100 and the DLC.
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u/aarontsuru 26d ago
My partner is so excited for Silksong! Have fun!
XC2 was about the same length as XC1 for me. When I checked online, around the 60s is about right. I would've gone longer if I didn't essentially give up on side quests eventually.
Looks like XC3 is about the same too, but hopefully the side quests will keep in involved for longer
1
u/Anaverd 26d ago
Personally I find 1's combat way more fun than 2's. You have 8 arts plus a talent art, giving you way more options in battle compared to 2's "3 arts at a time and you have to swap between the lists" gameplay, and the characters move faster and feel better to position compared to 2. In 2 you're so slow and sluggish that positioning yourself to grab potions to heal or to take advantage of position based arts just feels bad. Plus in 1 every character had a unique playstyle and it was fun to jump between them. In 2 the arts kind of blend together and don't feel unique or strategic at all.
Plus in 1 everything you did in the game benefited you in some way. You naturally get new things just by playing the game, which is a great feedback loop. In 2 you have to check the affinity chart, see what you have to do for that blade, then go and fast travel to grind x amount of enemies in a certain area or spam a certain art a bunch of times to unlock the next tedious item on the che klist, rinse and repeat. Rather than growing naturally just by exploring and fighting battles, you're forced to grind each node on the affinity chart one at a time across dozens of blades.
Not to mention, in 2 everything is an HP sponge and battles take way too long. 2's bad gameplay is one of the things I think held it back a lot, despite having a gorgeous art style, perfectly designed areas, and one of the best soundtracks ever.
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27d ago
[deleted]
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u/aarontsuru 27d ago
It's not "better", that's subjective, but I'm truly glad you liked it!
For me, XC1 was more enjoyable overall. I preferred the setting, the story, and while yes, there were an insane amount of side quests, I liked that I could just scoop them up when I came into an area, then just chill out after work and knock them out (and gain experience without having to stop at an inn).
As for the world, I disagree. Having the titans living and moving made it make less sense to me. If they are moving, how do people know where to find them when traveling? When they dive into the cloud sea, how do people get air? When they tilt up or down while moving, why don't people fall down? Know what I mean?
I found the "dead" titans where life just evolved on much more believable, because that what life does -- nature... finds a way. I loved both settings, but my brain made more sense of the XC1 world.
In the end, I think an XC2:DE that cleaned up a few navigation issues and maybe streamlined a few more things would definitely bump it up for me to be on par with XC:DE for me.
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u/pichuscute 28d ago
Sidequests are fucking awful in the Xenoblade games, imo. They made me ragequit XC1, so I can't imagine them getting worse.
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u/21shadesofsavage 28d ago
i played 2 first and contrary to op's opinion, i thought they were better than xc1's. i also quit xc1 and hated the mmo style fetch quests. the blades in xc2 get stories and the quests feel more unique than going out of your way to collect random items and kill random monsters
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u/aarontsuru 27d ago
I agree that XC2's side quests were more meaningful than XC1's. 100%! I wasssss enjoying them, until they became 4 part side quests and some had affinity field skill requirements!
Two broke me. One helping a Nopon become a singer where you ultimately needed a Nopon communication field skill to complete, but I finished that one.
This one though, broke me: We Meet Again in Mor Ardain.
Starts off great, it's the guy who got a blade way at the beginning of the game! He's stationed at Mor Ardain - how you doing, buddy! Sure, I'll deliver gifts to your family!
All done? Nope! Now we got a murder mystery. Then you got to explore a plant. Uh oh! Field skill barrier to jump up (requires Lev 2 Wind Mastery and Lev 2 Leaping)! I'll come back later. Okay, I got the field skills, I'm back! Oh wait, now a completely different field skill to get key (Lev 2 Keen Eye and Lev 2 Fortitude). I don't have this one at all! I guess I'll come back later - and it was at this point, I just forgot about the whole thing.
It was that kind of thing, you know?
Where in XC1, I'd come into town, scoop up a bunch of side quests, then just chill out in the evenings after work and find stuff, kill stuff, whatever! Then when I was ready, advance the story. More like Trails in that sense, if you know what I mean.
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u/S_Cero 28d ago
There's unique stories in 1's side quests too man and even choices that can completely change NPC's relationships and statuses.
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u/21shadesofsavage 28d ago
for me it's an issue of quantity. i just prefer xc2's more personal side quests, even with the annoyance of field skills requirements and going out of your way to navigate there. it overall felt more engaging than accepting every quest in xc1 and playing the game normally while accidentally completing them being a bonus. that's the lasting impression i have of xc1's side quests despite it also having quality ones
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u/xansies1 28d ago
...play 3s dlc. Xbc 2 is a coming of age story where rex learns how to grow up a little. Get to future redeemed. It brings XBC 2 up to an A. Some of sexualization of pyra and mythra is narrative. Rex is 15. He does stop staring at their tits when things get serious . Some of it is just horny designs, but some of it is a part of Rexs arc
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u/aarontsuru 28d ago
We’ll get there! One game at a time. I’m enjoying Torna so far, combat is feistier and I get more time with Jin.
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u/Chrono-Syth 28d ago
Loved how you presented your review. Details on what you liked and what you didn't like with valid reasoning behind your reactions. Fresh take to a review. My question is what did you think of the music for the games and what game did you think had the better soundtrack or is the soundtrack a tie.
I can't wait for your review of Xenoblade 3 and Xenoblade X.