Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Ok so in every Xenoblade game, there's this one area that is just incredible to explore and just exist in. In XC1 for me it was the Bionis Leg, in XCX it was the upper half of Noctilum.
In XC2 it's the Leftheria Archipelago. I absolutely love this place. It has a heavenly feel, just like the Bionis Leg. I'm almost annoyed that you don't have much reason to spend time there.

Currently gaining community in Torna. Need about 5 people more to advance the story.

@Dezzy Oh there is a major late game quest there that is well worth your time. It's the end of a series of quests you would have been playing from very early in the game. The whole thing is entirely optional and I would bet that more than half of the people who've beaten the game never did it. But it's kinda awesome.

@Heavyarms55

How major can it be if it's optional?

It seems like the area just had very little story relevance, which sucked. They could've done so much more with it.

I guess that was true of the Bionis Leg too!

After beating Xenoblade 2 my SO was inspired to finish the first game. I love seeing peoples' reactions to the story twists and turns. Now he's working through 2 for the 3rd or 4th time since he kept getting sidetracked in the middle of the game. Also started Xenoblade X. I think I prefer X's art direction of all 3 games. It feels like it looks better than 2 despite the weaker/older hardware, which makes me wonder why 2 seems so sub-par in terms of graphics, art design aside

@Dezzy I say major because it is the conclusion to a long series of side quests with a big optional boss fight in the end. It also clears up some subplots. It's the end point to quests that have you running around all over the world and doing a little of everything in the game. Fetch quests, monster hunts, "go here, kill that guy" missions, etc. But it is totally optional. I don't want to say more because it would be fairly big spoilers for the subplots.

@Heavyarms55 can you give links to which one is it? Since I'm curious if I've done it or not haha

@darkfenrir It's the one where you finally finish off that secret criminal group that was sparking violence all over the world, the fight vs Don Dondon the leader of Lindwrim

Oh yeaaaaaaah that one is superb lmao. Such a long chain and very fun to do.

The mission underground in Leftheria when you return, is the most shameless padding ever. What was the point of it? It didn't even seem connected to the area at all? Just a generic dungeon area they'd created.

Ugh, the one where your blades are limited to Level I specials? That one was so tedious. At least the boss fight gave me a few easy levels because I didn't know how to beat it.

Getting close to the end I think.

Currently climbing the inside of the tree. I loved the part where you go to the Architect's home world. Very cool area.

My enjoyment of the game has continued to build more and more as it proceeds, which is a good trait for a JRPG.

I'm a bit shocked how unbelievably similar it is to XC1 actually. They're very very similar in structure and story. I still think XC1 is the superior game though, unless the ending for XC2 ends up being the best thing ever.

@PikPi

Yep that's the one. Easily one of the most boring parts of the game.

I had similar feelings when getting to the end. Everything from the fight on the cliffs of Morytha to the end of the game just gets more and more interesting

@PikPi

The Cliffs of Morytha scene felt almost identical to the fight on Prison Island in XC1.

Hmm, yeah though I didn't notice at the time. It's also the first time something from the first game is directly referenced in Malos' monado weapon

Finished! Brilliant ending. Glad I waited til the end of the credits Lol.

Also:

Final review: 8.7/10
Doesn't match XC1 for me (almost nothing does). Slightly better than XCX though (although I liked that a lot too). The 3 things it does better than XC1 are 1) the main romance, 2) better sidequests and 3) a much better ending to the story.
The things it does worse are:
1) the world doesn't feel as meaningful as XC1, where the 2 robots were crucial to the story, and linked everything together. The titans in this feel less important and kinda just an excuse for nice scenery. The 3 prettiest areas in the game Gormott, Uraya and Leftheria feel mostly pointless story-wise.
2) too much comic relief. I didn't need half of the entire party to be comedy characters, and I didn't need nopon being used as serious characters in the story.
3) none of the various villains did anything for me at all. None were particularly interesting or threatening.
4) really uneven graphically. It's really jarring moving between a beautiful landscape to an NPC with square fingers and 1 facial muscle.

After finishing Xenoblade Chronicles 2, I found that while I enjoyed parts of the story I really didn't care for the characters and definitely felt very little for the Blades. Too often I felt like I did when I played Metal Gear Solid 2 in that the cutscenes were the game.

I think my opinion might be partially due to having played the standalone Torna first (physical cart) which seemed to do a better job of focusing on the specific characters and giving each a specific purpose. I completely enjoyed (and own) XC1 and XCX, but I sold XC2 last weekend as I don't think I will go back to replay it. I did however restart XC2:Torna this week with the goal of clearing the last two community quests in the play through.

Overall, despite the imperfections, I think XCX is my favorite of the series at this point.

@Darknyht

I have the same feeling, Xenoblade Chronicles X and Xenoblade Chronicles are better than Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

XCX is the bigger in term of everything. Scale, gameplay, world, possibilities, graphics, menus etc...
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 doesn't own the magic of the first Xenoblade and the X... something is missing.

Some of the more "anime" cliche moments got me to roll my eyes, as well as some of the ridiculous character designs, but I'd say the story is up there with XC1, it just took a while to get to that point for me. I might have listed XCX as my favorite if the damn story actually felt complete.

The story for XC1 feels really crap in the final third though. I love pretty much everything until you get to Mechonis, then everything after that feels like they ran out of ideas so just came up with some generic sci-fi and metaphysical woo-woo.