Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Has Exceeded Expectations Following Strong Sales Outside Of Japan

"Did you pick up Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on release? "

Not Yet !
I even haven't finished yet Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

I still haven't bought it, but I might after I finish Octopath Traveller. It's great to see it sell more than they expected though. More AAA JRPGs on Switch can't be a bad thing

JRPGs doing great on Switch! Love it

Excellent game, the expansion offers way more than it's supposed to. Well worth the high sales imo.

I'm glad that Monolith is a second party to Nintendo! Imagine it was a Sony exclusive and we had to buy ps consoles all the time to play these games...

I received Xenoblade 2 a week ago and even though I've barely scratched the surface, I'm loving it so far! It's exceeded my expectations too! I'm looking forward to more greatness in the future.

I'm still on the fence as to whether or not to buy the original XBC2. I've been torn between getting this, or octopath, or maybe I am setsuna/lost sphear on a big sale.

Bought both Expansion Pass and physical release for Torna. Can't wait for a new game!

Good. XC2 is one of the best JRPGs I've played in recent memory. Have yet to start Torna, but I've only heard good things. Really looking forward to what the studio manages to pull off with their next title!

@aznable Get Xenoblade and it's expansion. You won't regret it.

Playing the dlc right now. Xenoblade 2 is such a great game

This is really good to hear! I love it when games exceed expectations, especially games that they never thought would do quite as well as they end up doing in the West.

I haven't bought either Xenoblade Chronicles 2 nor the expansion. There is just too many other games I need to play and finish first. You would think being portable, playing and finishing games would be easier. But nope, just means I buy more because I think I can finish them easier.

I remember when the expansion pass was announced and people called it a ripoff.

Good times.

Anyway I'm up for either a return to X or a new direction. Let's leave the fantasy stuff behind.

Excellent game gets excellent expansion.

Playing the base game now, like it alot so far, but the verticality has got me a bit confused.

I greatly enjoyed XC2. Even more than XC1 and way more than XCX. Currently I have no time for Torna, but I will surely revisit it later.

As for XC3, I’m hoping that they’ll choose to do something completely different in order to keep things fresh.

Loved XC2 and I hope they’ll port the other ones to the Switch soon.

"Did you pick up Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on release?" I preordered the Special edition, the sound track and the pro-controller as soon as I could! This is STILL my favorite and most played game on the Switch. I love nearly everything about it. There are just a small minority of blade designs I don't care for.

The only thing I don't like about this game are all the haters. I felt like, and sometimes still feel like, you can't even talk about this game without someone jumping on you and saying "the boobs are too big!" or "the character design sucks!" or "The resolution is too low in portable!" or "Only perverts like this game!" and on and on.

I want Xenoblade X to get a port to Switch and an eventual sequel. And I'd absolutely hope we get another main series title too. I don't mind at all if they mix it up a bit again, so long as we keep the core of what makes it so great. The deep lore, vast worlds, strategic combat and awesome story telling. The Xenoblade series is shaping up to be like Final Fantasy in the sense that the games really aren't and don't need to be directly story related, while the Xenoblade X "not-yet-a-series" kinda seems like it would be like Final Fantasy 10 and 10-2 kind of thing.

Whilst I loved XC2, I feel it was the weakest of the 3 so far. The areas seemed a bit smaller compared to the others and the story had potential but kinda slipped up and ended up a bit of a rehash of the original’s. I still loved my time with it. Own the Torna Expansion but yet to play it as still on Octopath and recently gave Shining Resonance a start. Also very tempted to pick up Valkyria Chronicles 4 soon.

@pitstain9 I think we have just been trained by other companies to get used to smaller, less satisfying DLC content. That might be why Monolith decided to call it an "expansion" rather than a DLC. It alludes to the old days of additional content, when PC games sold physical discs that were major content expansions of existing games. They had to be major to justify selling it because it was physical and back then no one would ever spend 20 bucks for a 3-5 hour add-on.

@Heavyarms55 That's pretty much how I feel. My biggest complaint about this game is that I don't have nearly enough free time to dedicate to it. That may or may not be Monolith's fault. I have dreams about a sequel or continuation of Xenoblade X that continues the story and lets you explore more of that world (and/or all those moons) and raises the level cap to 99. Personally, though, I would really like to see a series where no matter how different the games are, they all take place in the same universe (which may be what you're saying but I was a little confused by how you worded it). That was always my biggest complaint about the Final Fantasy series.

@Heavyarms55 I guess that's one way to put it. Either way, I commend them for the effort went into this. An "add-on" done right.

I beat and loved Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I have Torna but can’t play it yet because I’m in the process of moving cries

Bring on Xenoblade Chronicles 3!

@pitstain9 I agree 110%. By far one of the best expansions to a game I have ever enjoyed.

I didant buy the game on release because to be honest I never even liked the look of the Xenoblade series but eventually I decided i wanted a meaty rpg to try so gave it a go...and so glad I did!The game is a blast and I'm loving all the characters and gameplay style.The only trouble is I never imagined it would be THAT meaty of an rpg...I still have yet to start Octopath Traveller,Ys VIII and continue Shining Resonance!

Xenogears HD, Xenosaga 1-3 HD, Xenoblade 1 HD, Xenoblade X for switch when then?

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is such a great game.

But amazingly, I think Torna might even be better than the base game. It's that good.

It's the first game in the series I've played and absolutely loved it. I didn't even know I liked games in this genre.

@Doggedfrog you do realise the Switch doesn’t need a TV? 😉

@RadioHedgeFund Yeah but I would prefer to play it on a tv so I am waiting not so patiently lol.

If they port XCX to the Switch I could unhook the Wii U's external hard drive and just use it as a Virtual Console machine and that would be just great. Also please make it run at 60fps thanks.

@nkarafo if you don't have a PS youre missing out. They have some ridiculously good exclusives too. No reason you can't support both companies!

@tameshiyaku you'll get past that. I remember running around for about an hour trying to find a quest marker before I got pissed and quit. The next day I looked it up online and was like...oh... It was right up that little bridge thing.

One thing I'd recommend though is learning how to take advantage of topple, launch, smash etc early on. It's not explained too well, and makes the battle system even more fun than it already is.

@SlippingBack I have a PS4 but it's the first time that I have bought a ps console. I like more Nintendo consoles than Sony.. I have some games on ps4 too but I am trying to support Nintendo, e.g. I will wait and buy Moonlighter to Switch than to ps4. I will probably though buy Assassin's Creed Odyssey because it isn't in Switch (except the cloud version in Japan).

I'm glad it's selling well. Hopefully with xc3 they'll tone down the waifu bair and have a more cohesive art direction. It's a bit distracting having a game in which so many characters look like they were designed for completely different games. Also I'm fine with fanservice in games but a lot of the character designs in xc2 felt a bit pandering in their designs

Bought Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country the other day. I haven't played a Xenoblade game before.

Played a couple of hours so far; It's looks good, learning the battle system, but there are a lot of cut scenes and dialogue I'm not so keen on and I can't see a way to speed up or skip them.

@aznable

If you have a choice between Xenoblade Chronicles 2 or either I am Setsuna or Lost Sphere, choose XBC2. The other two attempt to pay homage to old school JRPGs but the end results were merely shallow and pale imitations. XBC2 on the other hand was an amazing ride and I look forward to having time to tackle the DLC.
Octopath I haven't gotten to pick up yet, but I am optimistic based on what I've read/watched and the bit of time I spent on the demo.

I also got the Special Edition of Xenoblade 2 on release day. It's a nice package overall, but I didn't like the game and stopped after playing it for 20 hours. Couldn't stand that annoying Nopon and Rex as a main character. I loved Xenoblade 1 on Wii though. It's one of my all-time-favourite JRPGs.

I should try out Torna, since the cast of characters seems more appealing for my taste. Jin is awesome. ^^

@SlippingBack thanks man, I'll be sure to check it out. Eventhough I've played many RPGs/jrpgs I'm quite overwhelmed with all the mechanics in xenoblade2. Maybe it's the small form factor on switch since I'm used to home console.

Awesome news! We know Xeno2 is a million plus seller. Wish more concrete numbers for Torna than "exceeded expectation" soon. 5K first week in Japan for physical. But sure most were bought digital.

NinoKuni2, DQXI, Torna, VAlky4... Good times in 2018 🙂

XC2 (or XC1 for that matter) have absolutely nothing in common with Octopath besides both being considered "JRPG"s. It is as similar to Octopath as much as BOTW is similar to Octopath. The games won't appeal to the same gamers, so comparing sales figures of both is moot.

XC2 is unique. I never played anything remotely close, and it defies genre conventions. In many ways it's closer to, say, Divinity Original Sin 2 than anything else, and I'll be hard pressed to find a remotely similar combat system anywhere really, the closest being Bioware's Baldur's gate, Dragon age, or I even stretch it and say that the Mass Effect battle system is closer to XC2 than any Octopath Or FFXX.
XC2 is a JRPG because it's from Japan, and the characters, the presentation style, and the Anime cliche's are definitely present. But gameplay-wise it's not even close to your typical JRPG.

You may have already guessed that I love this game, and consider it a true masterpiece. First and foremost (and that's another Bioware trait in their hayday) Monolith consider the gamer INTELLIGENT. So much so that many people (and reviewers!) don't like XC2 because it's really demanding and extremely complex. In this day and age that's a prerogative only indy games sometimes risk, but Triple A titles- I haven't seen such a game since... well... Divinity 2. Coming to think of it, Divinity 2 is in fact indi. So the last triple A game so demanding must be, indeed, the old Bioware classics.

I admit the game took me totally by surprise. I purchased the Switch to play BOTW and Mario Odyssey. If Nintendo as a publisher would have released these games on PC or any other platform, I wouldn't buy a switch. Same was a while back with the Wii. I bought these consoles for the Nintendo IP's , which I hold best in the buisiness. Smartly but annoyingly Nintendo always ties its ip's to its hardware, so there goes.

A year later, THE game for me on the switch is XC2. If I had known, I would have bought the switch only for that game. Now I do, and whatever platform the next Monolith game runs on, I'm getting it.

The game is That good. for me, it's GOTY 2018, because when it was released late in 2017 nobody could appreciate it for what it is. It took everyone I know, including proffesional reviewers, more than two months (or six months for some) to truly grasp what XC2 IS. Show me another (modern) game with such breadth. You can't. There aren't any.

XC2 can't be recommended for everyone. The gamer has to be "deep", as in appreciating Wagner's music, or reading high literature. If you are this kind of person- you are into one of the best (artistic!) treats in your life.

I do hope we get a game explaining the conduit. I mean I know it's the zohar but still I want the in universe explanation.

@zool hold + and than A to skip

I LOVED the story of Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii) but I hated everything else. I am wondering if they have fixed some of the issues on the sequels. I mean the chaotic battles with awful camera, big numbers mixed with command prompts, unstable frame rates, cheap deaths because of the environment-battle-camera, etc.

Favorite RPG saga on Switch thus far, even more so than Octopath. How I would love a fully remastered/reimagined Xenosaga compilation on Switch with all 6 original planned episodes and scenarios by Soraya Saga and Tetsuya Takahashi. Bamco should just sell the rights to Ninty and Squeenix should let go of Xenogears too. If they ever remade that game I would literally be in RPG heaven. I can’t stand that they do nothing with such amazing IP.

Lord I really want to get into these games so, so much, but I suffer from two problems, number one being my attention span for these sorts of games, and number two being the main factor, with that being time. I simply don't have the time or dedication to put a hundred hours or more into a game like this like a lot of people do. If this had come out 25-30 years ago I'd be laughing.

@aznable definitely get Octopath or XC2 before the other two.

We’ve come a long way from Operation Rainfall... remember?

We wouldn’t have this if it wasn’t for those fans

hopefully they make a sequel to X since the first one was left in a big cliffhanger and find out whos really behind the horrible events that lead to earth destruction and keeping people from leaving the new planet which i have a feeling a dark entity/god is behind it all especially since elma might know something about it.

Just finished torna and i am now tented to start a new game plus. This is a freaking awesome jrpg!

Eh, I rather see a linear XC than a nonlinear. I don't know, but I really didn't like X that much and I tried many times to give it another shot and finally finish it, but they never succeeded.

Good news for me. Similarly to Takahashi, I enjoy that each main game so far has felt different from the last, while still establishing a sort of identity for the series.

@aznable It’s worth it. It me gave arguably even more content BOTW and Odyssey. It’s one of my favorite games on the Switch.

@skaynan 👍

I am glad the series is getting the appreciation it deserves. All 3 games in the series have been solid JRPGs. I am hoping things don't change in a bad way. As long as Monolith Soft does not make a change based on what other mainstream games are doing that makes the series less unique.

I picked it up shortly after release. Beat it. Have done very little new game plus.

Am in the first half of Torna (like level 37). It’s a blast.

I’d like a third game. But honestly before that, I think porting Chronicles X over from Wii U with a better UI should be considered. I’m not going to double dip, but a lot of people who played XC2 never played X and would probably be up for it.

Plus if we get this, 3D world, #FE, and Mario maker... I will have a lot more trouble thinking of Wii U games they could port over.

Maybe this some cultural difference, but this sounds idiotic to even suggest to me.

Talking about Xenoblade Chronicles, literally the series in which a Nintendo employee told fans to stop begging for Japanese games to get localized because the original Xenoblade Chronicles localization supposedly wasn't profitable... And that a game exceeds expectations they suggest taking the series in a different direction?

Xenoblade 2 and X are great games I cannot wait for Xenoblade 3 and also X needs to be ported to Switch!

1st person.

Contender for favourite game on the Switch along with BOTW. I finished Torna the other day and it is an excellent expansion but I felt like I wanted more, or a future expansion - covered all the known story in an excellent way but there are still some mysteries that I would have liked to be delved into.

@greengecko007 Xenoblade X and Xenoblade 2 are already very different from Xenoblade 1 forging their own path, so this isn't anything new. They all have wildly varying gameplay, stories/characters, and worlds. The only thing they have in common are religious/philosophical connections as well as the same basic story beats and concepts from Xenogears.

@Refurin @BlueKnight07 @aznable Get XC2 over octopath. Octopath is fun, but the minimal story is weak. Pretty much the combat is why anyone cares about the game. That and it came out during a game drought.

Yep I preordered XC2. I bought the expansion after a day or two of playing it because I knew this game was something else. My first JPRG and my favorite.

This game deserves it.

Really good news! Can't wait for what they will come up with next!

@BlueOcean It plays much better. Trust me. Some Xenoblade fans trashed it at launch just because it didn’t have the ugly faces on the character models. Lol This game is an upgrade.

I’ve picked up the base game but not the expansion yet. I will probably pick if up after Christmas.

@NIN10DOXD Yeah the faces in the first one are ugly and they all have the same nose and eyes, they look like Raymond from Disaster Day of Crisis (a cool game).

Arguably the best current JRPG series (except maybe Persona but those don't come often). Hoping for an X port, or better a sequel.

Its always great to hear "niche" Japanese games succeed in the West. It gives Nintendo, Square, Atlus, etc less available excuses to claim why they don't localize games

@Kai_ One of the best for me too. Though Persona is far and away at the top for me, and I really liked FFXV too. Then there's Kingdom Hearts as well I would probably place above it

@Kimyonaakuma Monolith doesn't even consider themselves AAA, strangly

The thing I don't like about Torna is that you are basically forced to do quests.

I’m on hour 53 of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and I am so into it I just bought Torna physically so I’m ready when XB2 finishes. Love this series! I’m

Don't worry, we'll be back to red mechanical swords and giant grassy hills on the back of a large creature before long. It's the Xenoblade way.

@EvilLucario I'll admit, I've never played any of the Xenoblade games because I don't like the type of gameplay.

But... I've never played them because they all seem to have the same type of gameplay that I don't like (specifically the auto combat), so while I'm sure each game in the series (and X spinoff) is different, they look mostly similar. Perhaps taking the series in a different direction could be in more subtle or superficial ways that don't actually change much.

cant wait to see monolith new rpg proect for switch.

I mean, the story of XBC2 pretty much wraps up the story of the game's world quite well. I can't speak to X on the WiiU since I didn't own the console or how it does or doesn't fit into the series.

So I wouldn't expect more of the same because it is all over and wrapped up quite nicely, and forcing anything else in would probably not go over well. All is well in the end I'd say. So while I don't mind reusing Xenoblade's name just for publicity, I don't want it to be ruining the story already told since there is nowhere left to go.

That being said, I'd even from just a gameplay perspective love to see what they do next. Both games had interesting combat that while having similar elements were distinct and didn't feel recycled in any way.

I've become a huge fan of Monolith from these two games. I do think a port job for X would be the smartest business move. Mule the job out to another studio that can do it well, and that money can help fuel a new game and extend Monolith's time for development of the title.

Though I have to say that my guilty pleasure would be to see more of Shulk and friends again somehow.

@hirokun x is basically in another universe but ending of it left a big cliffhanger which monolith needs to conclude it on a sequel to it.

For those who hadn't play Xenoblade Chronicles 2 yet, just get
Torna: The Golden Country first and then jump to the base game later as Torna is the prequel so you can follow the story better.

I’ve bought both of them as physicals, and I’m yet to play either 🤷🏼‍♂️ ... I do plan on starting them, but given I’ve even finished BotW yet (and yes I bought it Day 1) it might be some time lol

@greengecko007 Autoattacking is only a small facet of the games. By midgame if you need to use autoattacks very often, there's something wrong you're doing.

And it's not like other games like Ys VIII and Final Fantasy XV aren't mindless at times where you just spam the same attack button.

Hoping we get a port of X and a HD version of 1 soon enough. X3

The first Xenoblade Chronicles was one of the best RPGs I've ever played, and I was fine with Xenoblade Chronicles X going a different direction. Series could probably use a fresh new direction after XC2 and Torna, so I'm down with whatever they choose to do...so long as it focuses enough on exploration to hold my interest, and doesn't go overboard with moe pandering and common Tales tropes like XC2 did.

@EvilLucario Never played any of the Ys series and as much as I like Final Fantasy, I was never interested in 15 thematically so I can't speak for either of those.

But yeah, not a fan of the combat where the characters do basic attacks automatically and you pick when to do skills.

I bought my special edition day 1 and never regret doing so. I have Octopath special traveler edition as well. Love both of them.

@Knuckles-Fajita people on the internet love reacting with little or no information. It makes the time go by faster.

Still waiting for the XCX port. I unfortunately have the disc, and not enough space to download the data packs, so the loading times are horrible

Purchased The Golden Country as my first XBC game, and I gotta say that I like it right now.

The only thing I'm not thrilled with is the bad VA and akward cutscenes.

Hope this means we can get a port of the first game on Switch.

Can we have Chronicles X on Switch please. I sold the dying WiiU just before it was released as I knew it waa doing so. It looks amazing.

A third option? Xenoblade Chronicles Y!

Couldn't help but love the voice acting ,know a lot of people hated but it's a small nit picky thing when you consider how great this game is !!!

@FX102A Xenoblade 2 isn't really a rehash of Xenoblade 1, the overall story and motivations are separate. But do you know what Xenoblade 1 is a ripoff of? Xenogears. The entire endgame of Xenoblade 1 is literally Xenogears endgame with very similar villain motivations and sequence of events but massively simplified. Xenoblade 2 also rips off of Xenogears, but less on characters and more on background details like the World Tree compared to the Eldridge.

That what happens when you make a good, story driven, full game, with no mirco-transactions. You get results.

I loved XC1 but I've been on the fence about getting this game since I heard it's terrible in handheld mode, and that's how I'll be playing this 90% of the time. Can anyone advise whether it's worth it?

@zool too many dialogues or cut-scenes for you??... i'm sorry but i'd say this game is definetly not for you, you're not supposed to skip them, honestly if you don't enjoy an RPG's story, characters and dialogues, why bother playing?

@TheFongz it looks a bit blurry at times, not so bad since it still looks beautiful though

@WinterIceFox Thanks, I might give it a dip then.

@WinterIceFox why bother playing? I will assume that was not a retorical question. Fire Emblem is a collection of battles on a board with cut scenes showing the actions. Both the cut scenes and dialogue can be skipped and the game is fine. Most of the stories are on the childish side.

With Xenoblade Chronicles 2 tarna; if I had to start a section over I did not want to have to relive the long cut scenes and dialogue again. Well I don't have to thanks to the tip I got from another Xenoblade gamer.

YES! Please finally take on an ACTION-RPG approach in the next Xenoblade and bring back the fun exploration movement and customizeable.mechs! Xenoblade X exploration was so amazing! Combat was really good on Xeno 2 though!

@EvilLucario I would not even call them a rip-off considering the director of Xenogears is the same as the Xenoblade series. It is more like he enjoys reusing ideas and re-shaping them in new ways. Xenosaga re-used a lot of ideas from Xenogears as well, but that does not make it a lesser of Xenogears (especially Xenosaga III) for it. I call it Takahashi's calling card. I mean he did have much more ambitious plans for both Xenogears & Xenosaga than what we got in the the end, so maybe the Xenoblade series is his chance to finally flesh-out those ideas he had all the way back in the mid-90's.

@Wexter Oh absolutely. Rip-off is the wrong word to use. It's just that Xenoblade and Xenosaga still took ideas from Xenogears and you can't really get around that. But I still agree in the end, it's really interesting to see how Xeno takes the same basic concepts and story structure (rise of humanity, hubris leading to humanity's destruction, repeat and the Gnosticism elements) applied in different ways.

@EvilLucario What I love about Takahashi's work is that he likes leaving breadcrumbs for fans to follow and how they tie back into each other. Even though the Xeno-series can loosely be considered as such thanks to Klaus, the Zohar/Conduit we can finally piece the series into a timeline. Or more accurately a multiverse of games that span a series of publishers, studios and consoles. Even though Monolith cannot say it themselves we know what they were hinting at with Xenoblade 2.

Which is funny considering the first Xenoblade had nothing to do with Gears/Saga except basic themes and concepts.

@Wexter Yeah Xenoblade 1 didn't have the Zohar/Conduit at all, though it makes sense since it wasn't intended as a Xeno game at first. It still has some Xeno archetypes like Zanza = Deus, but the Zohar didn't appear until Xenoblade X with the Lifehold.

I'm excited to see what this'll mean for future Xeno lore.

For those who want a XCX Switch port, don't get your hopes up. The game relies too much on the Wii U's dual screen mechanic to ever have a satisfactory port to another system. Could they rework it? Sure, but it would be an awkward way to play with how often you'd be required to switch back and forth between the map and the main gameplay on a single screen, not to mention that TV play would be even more awkward without a touchscreen to properly use the map in a timely manner.

A direct sequel that's less reliant on map functions would be great, though.

@EvilLucario I really enjoyed those connections. Going back to Xenoblade 1 and realizing just how important it is in grand scheme of things due to Klaus.

That and I loved the Zanza connection to Deus. The only difference was that Zanza was the creator rather than the creation playing God.

Arguably my favorite RPG of all time.

And I almost didn’t get it cause BeatEmUps gave it a trash review. Haven’t taken that guy seriously since. He was wrong about pretty much every aspect of the game.