Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Combat - is it really that bad?

The combat in xenoblade chronicles 2 is one of the best gameplay mechanics out there. It is brilliant.

@Yorumi This thread is starting to get quite adversarial, so I'll pipe up by saying that, on your last point, I completely agree. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is steeped, from (heavily endowed) top to tail, in shonen cliches. The storyline, art, battle animations, sound samples and all the rest are all hoary old anime conventions. If you, presumably an adult, do not like the genre, then XC2 is simply not for you. If you came in expecting Planescape Torment, then you were always going to be sadly disappointed.

However, at the risk of hammering home a point several others have already made in this thread, someone telling you why they like shonen manga/anime - and by extension Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - isn't going to change your opinion, no matter how eloquent they may be. Personally, despite all the faults in the writing you have outlined, I love the sheer bombast, the melodrama and the kitsch, tied to a sweeping soundtrack and that intrinsic RPG satisfaction of developing my characters into ultimate badasses.

I also happen to like the combat, as the timing aspect, combination constructions and positional importance give a more dynamic feel to traditional turn-based systems. If you think of it as a flashier, more interactive version of the ATB system of mid-series Final Fantasy, with a sprinkling of Tales and, perhaps, Lunar, you will perhaps appreciate it more. If you were expecting or hoping for a true ARPG, then, again, you were always going to be disappointed.

In the end, I don't know what your expectations were, or whether they were met. For me, this is simply a quintessential JRPG, with emphasis on the J. It's like an interactive shonen anime, and admittedly with all the faults that entails. The fact that it also looks and sounds great is simply a bonus. I'm only somewhere in Chapter 3, and coming up to 25 hours, but I'd already rank this my second favourite Switch game after Zelda BotW, ahead of Super Mario Odyssey.

Actually that is sometimes the best way to learn the controls especially if your not used to this kinda controls. I am on easy to learn how to use such controls since I am more familiar with BoTW controls. Combos in X2 just drives me nuts using them. I like to do a learning curve before getting knee deep. Dying constantly doesn't help one learn the controls buttons.

@SwitchForce Never said that it did. My comment was due to the fact that OP had heard that the combat was simplistic to to point of not requiring user input. Did you actually read my entire post or just react to the first thing I said?

I have my issues with the story despite really enjoying it (namely some of the lost potential where some plotpoints are dropped too quickly for my liking), but honestly the gameplay is pretty damn refined and solid. One of the better RPG combat systems out there. People forget that Xenoblade X also had a slow start, too. Everyone seems to forget you were stuck with awful knife/assault rifle Arts, Soul Voices barely meant anything, appendages couldn't even be broken, and more. Only when you get to Chapter 5 things got way more interesting with Overdrive, then a bit later on Skells are introduced to really make things fun. Still fun, and to be fair to Xenoblade X lets you upgrade your classes pretty quickly so you weren't a Drifter for long.

Anyways, @Krull your comment about comparing it to ATB is spot-on. Xenoblade combat (not just Xenoblade 2) is very much the natural evolution of ATB mixing in more real-time elements, while also incorporating MMO combat mechanics like cooldowns on attacks. It mixes quite well, honestly.

@Ryu_Niiyama , really you said that and now your backing off it? Just admitted you posted that on the first line. Never said it was bad just stating sometimes that is the best way to learn a game before getting hardcore into it. But then again you didn't read what I said in support of just going easy to figure out the gameplay if that is too much for you then you obviously reading between the lines and made a critical mistake.

I actually find the character is far more developed than I expected they would be...

Each of them have their own motives, and throughout it all, they all grew and become all the better for it (especially the main character)

And yes, I do agree that there's a lot of weak moments that left off some bad taste, but I feel that the positives outweight the bad-

I especially like Morag, she's definitely my favorite character out of everyone in the game. Reasonable authorithy figure, trying to fit in even awkwardly, her past, how her relationship is with Niall... I actually was quite surprised there wasn't some other secret plot at Mor Ardain Overall I love the character, even Zeke!

Zeke is really great too, his jokes are great and damn, all those slapstick humor must toughen him up like crazy.

This is so true! This is endemic of all shonen, though, not just XC2. Even the very best shonen stuff, such as Hunter x Hunter, for example, mixes all these elements, and tonal misfires are pretty common, unless it's a very short, tightly scripted story (which is not typical of shonen or JRPGs). You either wholly embrace it and dig the kitsch, or you are, understandably, turned off by it.

I don't know how many other JRPGs you have played, let alone enjoyed, but they tend to fall into two camps (pun not intended). There's a sizeable niche of po-faced melodrama, such as in Vagrant Story, but the more common variant usually combines campy comedy moments with "serious" showdown battles and scenes of hammy sentimentalism (eg Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, etc). Much as I love these games, and do enjoy the stories, I would argue most of the plotlines, in isolation from the gameplay, would make lousy anime.

I would agree, but you picked the wrong examples. It wasn't until the 2000s that JRPGs started to be lousy anime, before that, they at least tried to be their own thing.

@SwitchForce I didn't back off of anything. I literally summed up what followed the rest of the one line that you quoted and tried to run off into a tangent with which had nothing to do with what I said. You made an erroneous assumption and I corrected it. Again. Did actually read what I posted originally? Have a nice day.

To stay on topic: OP I would also recommend looking at videos as well. (It wont explain the combat but it will give you an overview of the aspects I mentioned)

@Ryu_Niiyama I’m about 17 hours in. Taking my time with side quests and all that.

I disagree with virtually every criticism I’d heard prior to purchase, combat and otherwise. I really like this game.

@Ryzaerian I’m very glad to hear that. I think most of the NL community has enjoyed it as well. Pop over to the game thread if you get stuck or want to talk about your adventures. I’m done temporarily until all the dlc comes out. Trying to beat back the backlog.

Also now that I recognize your username I shall accept your friend request. (So many people just spam load friend codes that I try only to accept those from people I recognize. I’m American and I keep odd hours so I’ll likely be useless at multiplayer stuff at the moment.

The game is just amazing. I was really skeptical at first when I bought it, but I couldn't put the game down. I played at least 4 hours every day until I beat it. It's definitely in my top 5 games of all time.
It also has superb japanese voice acting, which is a major draw in for me. The combat system is actually really good. It took me some time to get used to it, though.

I didn't like it. I'd actually say it's probably the worst game I've played so far on the Switch.

@Torpian You can't have played many games on the switch then, because this is a master piece compared to most of them.

@Thoburned Please don’t reopen a dead thread. This topic has been inactive since April.

Personally I think it's the best and deepest battle system ever created but I think it depends on where your coming from. If you only play action games etc you might not like it. But if you are a JRPG fan you will likely love it and wonder why not all JRPG:s are built like Xenoblade Chronicles.
The Xenoblade battle system is an evolution of turned based combat and is a deep and complex battle system that is used in real time but where skills etc are set on cooldown after they are used.
It also uses an auto attack system that removes this cool down with each attack.
It also got various ways to do combos that gets deeper and deeper over time where you likely towards the end of the game will do around 1 Million HP worth of damage on a single enemy.
It's actually really satisfying to use and get better at throughout the game.

Believe me, the combat and the game in general are both a real masterpiece of the jrpg genre (if you like the genre of course).
Pd BeatEmUps is a noob.