mark cerqueira well-rounded nerd

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Torna The Golden Country

30 Sep 2018

I typically find myself not engaging in DLC content that releases after I’ve completed a game. But Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has bucked that trend repeatedly. A major story expansion that covers events 500 years before the story in the original game recently came out: Torna The Golden Country Review. 20 hours later, I’m happy to report this DLC expansion was awesome.

  • Getting Blades is a lot simpler. Three characters that over the course of the story acquire two blades each. That’s all. No gacha-style Blade acquisition here!

  • The battle system is easier. The battle system changes up from the original: Drivers and Blades are essentially equals and swap in-and-out during battle. What makes the system easier is that given fixed characters and Blades Driver Combos (i.e. Break, Topple, Launch, Smash) happen much more frequently. In the original game it required some careful coordination to even have your party capable of performing a full combo.

  • The music is jazzy goodness. The original game had an amazing soundtrack and this expansion adds onto goodness, giving us some new jazzy tunes and some revamped originals like the Gormott theme.

  • The cast is likeable. Say what you will about Rex, Lora is a lot easier to like. Hugo and Addam are also affable. The campire fire scenes, reminiscent of Final Fantasy XV where characters chit chat with each other, were always enjoyable.

  • The final battle with Malos is amazing. The usage of Siren mecha in the battle against Malos was awesome. It made the battle feel bigger and more epic than the usual battles in the game.

  • The story arc of Blade Eater research and Gort feels tacked on. These two story arcs were presented but either didn’t contribute much to the story in the case of Gort or didn’t get wrapped up nicely in the case of the Blade Eater research. I would’ve preferred seeing Gort show up more frequently during Lora’s travels instead of randomly popping up at the end.

  • The Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Season Pass was a great investment. For $30 the Monolith Soft team delivered a bunch of additional quests, a New Game Plus mode, a Battle Challenge Mode, and the Torna The Golden Country expansion.

I think I can finally say I’m done with Xenoblade Chronicles 2. What an enjoyable – and grindy – ride! I can’t wait for the next gem from team Monolith Soft.