Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Sells Out In Japan Following Pyra and Mythra's Smash Announcement

"Everyone wants to know the Xenoblade lore, of course"
Yes... Of Course....

I play Xenoblade for the plot.

The plot: non-covid cough bobs

Worked with Fire Emblem in Melee, it's going to work here.

I'm hoping this means they'll do a reissue of the game for those of us that want the game physically. Physical copies were already difficult to find as is since covid hit, and all the listings on eBay/Amazon are going for like $90+.

The best reason to play XC2 is to make you realise just how bloody good the original is in comparison.

I can think of four reasons why.

Deserved, the XC games deserve way more attention

@CaptainTempest Interesting, at Amazon Germany the game still is being sold for 50€ (it was 60€ at release)

While I absolutely adored the first one, I hated XC2 with a passion. The whole Blade gacha system was a total turn off, couldn't get past it.

And people say that "nobody wanted this" and "who is this character"

I mean, Sephiroth finally got me to play FF7 and the Remake once he was announced. It's not surprising. I like knowing the lore of everyone in it (minus Steve). I started playing Xenoblade 2 a couple years ago, then proceeded to kinda forget about it...but now I have a huge reason to go back to it!

I hated the blade gacha a lot but generally enjoyed the gameplay.

Oh look. The Smash DLC doing its job.

@RadioHedgeFund I liked Xenoblade 2 a lot more than the first one

Dang it! I knew they were a bunch of sell outs!
I wonder how much money it took to turn them. . .

Out of the two different Xenoblade Chronicles 2 games, I must say:
One of them was pretty nice
One of them was horrendous

Hopefully anyone who buys it enjoys the non awful one.

It’s a good game despite the awful character designs

@weisske both were good , and similar for the most part , so clearly something else is horrendous.

Plugged 35 hours into this gem of a game before quitting because my nopon
Tora wouldn'tt shut up, wish I could mute him, would've probably beat the game if it weren't for the constant chatter from him 😂 like his antics are funny for an hour max

Better than Breath of the Wild. I said it. Also I remember other journalist saying "if I played this more I would have given it game of the year instead of zelda". Glad it's getting the recognition it deserves.

@Ultrasmiles what do you mean?

Hopefully Nintendo port Xenoblade Chronicles X to Switch soon. I feel that of all the Xenoblade games that one had me hook the most but sadly that one is on a system I can't take on the go.

@RadioHedgeFund That's like, your opinion...which I disagree with. XC1 is good, but I like XC2 better.

Been sold out here in australia for a while now. Been wanting a copy but cant find one under $100

Loved XC2. Even though i love the first entry, the second one is superior in many ways, and was much more enjoyable and grabbed me more!

I really adore Pyra's character design, but I couldn't stick with XC2. Something about the gameplay rubbed me the wrong way. Perhaps it was the random nature of the blade thing or the sort of hands-off battle system...I don't know. That being said, I could see myself buying her for Smash at least. And maybe I'll give the game another try someday.

I'm I the only one that wants to play the game? (And the girls) I still need to buy this whenever.

@Ghost_of_Hasashi So long as Nintendo of America is "allegedly" cockblocking it, don't get your hopes up.

Better late than never i guess. Id much rather see this top charts than that abomination of a JRPG known as pokemon. Its probably the one switch game that made me think "boy am I glad I got a switch"

That said, it's still very much one of the weaker xeno games. The 1st xenoblade is better in almost every way except the location designs. XB2 has gorgeous locations when you can actually see it through the low resolution

@Kiwi_Unlimited Nintendo are sellouts because.. they promoted a Nintendo owned IP by a Nintendo owned company..? What?

It's a really good game despite some of its character designs. I'm also usually turned off by anythign super anime-y, but somehow got through this. I think the world/combat system just really shine through.

I also ended up really like Pyra as a character. It's just her design that is a little "eh, whatever", to me.

I’ve been wanting to play it as I finished the first one for the first time on switch, but didn’t want to play them back to back. Can’t really find it anywhere in Canada which is disappointing. I want a physical copy.

I pretty much played the first one cause I wanted to find out what shulks deal was beyond smash. Same thing applies here. Backsplash!

@Judal27
Careful there. You're about to start a war in the comments section with some very angry teens with that Pokemon mention

A big reason for Nintendo to make a Season 3 for this game.

They still have a lot of their own games to promote.

Loved XC2! I do think XCDE is an easier game to get into as it's not held back by the gacha system & field skill requirements (which are pretty big knocks against XC2), but in almost every other regard I like XC2 just as much if not more.

I loved collecting rare blades, but I think had they tied them all to completion of sidequests rather than the gatcha system it'd been better.

I still need to get this game... too bad getting a hard copy now is a fool's errand.

@BloodyMurder What's NoA doing in regards to Xenoblade X?

To bad you can’t find it in the New England area. I’ve wanted it ever since I beat xenoblade DE and I can’t find it anywhere.

Come on, this is great news. I along with loads of others were gutted Rex was a costume.

Best Xenoblade game (especially if you include the fantastic DLC expansion)! Wasn't a fan of the direct overall, but this was a strong way to start it out.

I kept eyeing the physical last year. Watched it go from $60 to $70, and then $80. Pulled the trigger last month with an Amazon gift card. Kicking myself for not buying early, but glad I have a copy. With my luck, it’ll be a Nintendo Select in a couple months😂

@Pringles Those were the minorities nobodies who are mad because their favorite character didn't make the cut. They will still download the character, they will stay play the character, and they will still try to main the character until a new is reveal, and then they will complaint about that.

Fantastic game that I feel is often overlooked. Nice to see it's getting a sales boost years later.

@TheBigK I actually liked that part. You can get some really awesome rare blades that come with their own side stories.

Here I am, thinking that Direct didn’t generate any kind of excitement. Shows what I know! 😂

All the Xenoblade games are awesome in my opinion. Really like this series. I will agree that the random aspects of 2 should not come back but I still loved that game.

@RadioHedgeFund never been a fan of the first game story wise, sure the story great but for me XC2 is better.

The only thing I dislike about XC2 vs XC1 is the performance of XC2.

Can't believe this game still holds a high price tag! I want in!

XC2 and it's dlc are my favorite games from the monolith team, and that includes the games they made before becoming monolith like xenogears. Was very pleased to see a rep make it into smash.

great news for another great game on the switch.

@VIIIAxel They refuse to admit that they tanked some WiiU games(including XCX). To prove it they tanked TMS again.

@Shiro28 Yeah, and they're the same people who say complain about another "anime swordfighter", when they are the ones that keep asking for Sora and Ryu Hayabasa. Both of which are "anime swordfighters"

I really hope the next Xenoblade game doesn't share the artstyle and whatnot with XC2.
I simply could not take the game seriously.
Fingers crossed it's more along the lines of XC1 or XCX

I was hoping MinMin would have the same effect on ARMS, but never heard anything about a big sales bump.

Or they just want to get the DLC now because there's a lot of fighters now and it won't be a waste of money

@RadioHedgeFund Certainly not in the gameplay department. (Re)playing XCDE last year made me appreciate how much they improved the combat in XCX and even further in XC2. The sidequests are also pretty bad in the first one which basically all come down to collect X amount of items on the ground or slay X amount of monsters. Then there's the massive heart-to-heart event grind ... I'm not trying to talk down XC1 because it's a fantastic game and XC2 has its own issues like field skills and character design/personality but it's not such a clear case of "XC2 is trash compared to XC1" as the Internet tries to make one believe.

@Arkay XCX had a terrible art style. And Xc1 remake made it look more like XC2, so yeah. Don't get your hopes up.

@RadioHedgeFund I want to believe that, because I haven't played XBC2 and don't really plan to.

I almost bought it 🥴

XC2 is one of the best RPG experiences I have had in years BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT, I couldnt enjoy it until I switched it to Japanese with subtitles. Those English voices made me cringe. Also, I was embarrassed to play it around my girlfriend a bit as there were scantily clad women running around yelling in Japanese haha. Its just too annoying in English!

Really hope Samurai terms his attention to the west for the next 2 dlc characters.

I luckily already own XC2 but still need to play it. I'm now on the lookout for XC2 Torna since I was recently alerted that it's out of print. I was used to seeing it around, but during the pandemic I've been out to stores less (some items won't ship to my home) and didn't realize it was sneaking off shelves.

There's always digital I suppose, but I'm a stubborn physical aficionado unless the former is WAY cheaper.

Shulk getting into Smash 4 prompted me to buy Xenoblade X on Wii U. Beat it.

Bought Xenoblade 2 as my first Switch game. Beat it.

Played Torna The Golden Country as soon as it was available. Beat it.

Played Xenoblade Definitive Edition as soon as it came out. Beat it.

Now Pyra and Mythra are in Smash, bringing it full circle.

This is my favorite RPG series. And I'm glad that more people are playing it. These games are works of art.

@RadioHedgeFund I’ve played all three, the each have their pros and cons. None are perfect but all are great man. If you can overlook XC2’s anime tropes it’s actually really fun and has great music. The DLC is in a lot of ways even better.

@Diogmites I did the same thing, then played through XC definitive edition and decided to give it another go. Ended up playing all the way through. It does get better and I’m fairly certain they cleaned up a lot of the issues from launch. Also the DLC is legitimately awesome. The combat is faster and feels more refined.

Awesome game. The music, character design and the world around us are awesome. This is my favorite series of games. XC2 is amazing.
To be honest, this game was the decisive reason to buy the Nintendo Switch. Played 320 hours with the new game plus. I love this game. I want a new part.
I'm waiting amibo, preferably two + Mythra

@CBordo I think what most fans are speculating is likely the case. Kinda how melee introduced the western world to Fire Emblem, ultimate seems to be aiming to really bring Xenoblade some attention.

I’m not going to say why I’m a little ticked off that Pyra is in smash, but cheers to those who are getting into XBC2 because of her.

So what I can gather from the comments is that every Xenoblade game is the worst and best at everything.
Personally, I'm completely invested in the Xenoblade universe. When I played the first game on Dolphin about 9 years ago I was completely blown away. The setting, story, gameplay, all fantastic. The UI was my least favourite thing about it.
Xenoblade X came along and gave new meaning to the words "open world", the combat became a bit more convoluted though.
Xenoblade 2's combat is peak gameplay for me, once you get a full party and decent blades, the combat becomes this rhythmic dance. The voice acting of some characters rally brought down the mood for some scenes though, especially compared to the emotional performance of the Japanese voices.
I dislike certain aspects of each game, but the positive aspect absolutely dwarf anything negative.
Eagerly awaiting a new entry in the series and the new IP by Monolith Soft.

The price of new copies is what spurred me to buy it for $30 pre-owned over Black Friday. Came without a case unfortunately but I feel it was worth the tradeoff.

@Hinade
The title was "Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Sells Out."

I was just having fun with it.

I still need to finish Xenoblade 2 and start Torna and Xenoblade HD. But I’m trying desperately to unlock KOS-MOS first and there’s a few other Blades I want before beating the game.

@alecseus what a shame.

A great JRPG that really shined brilliantly after about 30 hours into the game. That is usually the case with most JRPGs anyway, but the story, characters , and combat system is what held my attention.

I would advise watching a YouTube tutorial on the combat system since the game doesn't really explain it very well. Once I got it down and started unlocking more mechanics, the combat was one of the most addictive and satisfying systems I've ever played in JRPG.

And now the haters have to go up against Japan and a lot of the fans in the west. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Xenoblade Chronicles, and more importantly, the Xeno series as a whole, needed more representation in Smash. I'm glad Pyra and Mythra made it into Smash.

@nimnio Did you play xenoblade chronicles 2?

glad my wafus made it in now time for doomslayer to rip and tear til its done in smash.

The Xenoblade series is so good, that it deserves Zelda levels of sales. For as much as I love Zelda, Xenoblade is even better. And I say that as someone who has been playing Zelda since the 80s.

I’m fond of XC and XCX, but didn’t purchase XC2 because I just couldn’t condone those pants on a protagonist. 😅

Honestly my second favorite game of 2017, only being beaten by Nier Automata. Liked it more than BotW, Persona 5, and Mario Odyssey. First Xenoblade is my favorite Nintendo RPG though so...biased.

Was thrilled to see Pyra/Mythra in Smash and am thrilled both Xenoblade games on Switch are getting more attention.

Everyone's discussing XC2 here, so I'll give my thoughts as well. XC2 had a smaller dev staff because many at Monolith were working hard on BOTW, and it shows a bit. The Merc Group system is very tedious and contstantly interrupts gameplay; if it could have been automated, that would have been great. Tiger Tiger is super unnecessary; why not salvaging via Rex be the way to get parts for an artificial, robotic blade? That makes so much more sense and would cut down on the amount of systems.

But my main critique of XC2 is the character designs. They're so embarrassing, to the point that if I tell someone about how much I love Xenoblade, I try to avoid any screenshots with female blades in them.

SPOILERS BEGIN HERE
XC2's narrative is good, but XC1's is better, imo. The character motives are clear and poignant in XC1. I haven't finished Torna (I need to get back to it), but Jin's motive makes no sense. His love of his life died, so he decides he wants to kill everyone else in the whole world? I mean, I guess that makes sense, but it's not that interesting nor believable. It's been done before; lol, I'm reminded of Super Paper Mario right now with Count Bleck.

Malos is also pretty weak. He's evil just because Amalthos is evil, and a driver and a blade are connected that way? It works, but it's not very relatable to us as viewers, as this evil-driver-affects-blade's-personality isn't something that happens in our own lives. Well, I guess people do have bad influences, so that is relatable there. But Malos wasn't influenced to be evil; he straight up just awoke evil because Amalthos is such such a bad person. In the real world, I think people have a bit more chance to do good. When Malos dies, I found his words very touching, as he realized he may have had a chance to do good, too.

Amalthos is a good villan, and I hate him so so so so so much, which is what a good villan can do. That said, he does once again suffer from the Count Bleck problem. "Something bad happens to me, therefore I must ruin the whole world!"... people are more nuanced than that. Many people hate the world because life's given them *****, but few would actually destroy the world for this reason. It would have been much more believeable if Amalthos just hated the speicifc country that destroyed his family, rather than just hating everyone. But I could be wrong.

On another note, I don't see the reason why Pyra exists. It doesn't really add anything to Mythra's character. I guess you could see it as a metaphor of wanting to hide behind another persona after so much trauma, but Pyra's a complete person, so that analogy doesn't exactly hold. A minor nitpick, though, as I love that both Pyra and Mythra exist, and Chapter 3's ending is sooooo epic!
SPOILERS END HERE

And that's the thing: these are all nitpicks in the sense that they are stuff I notice looking back. When playing XC2, it was an amazing ride with great gameplay and tons of twists. And even post-playing, I still love characters like Nia soooo much, as well as Morag and even Rex. But as a complete package, XC1 more effectively conveys a moving, well-designed story, and it's also the more polished game to boot, especially with definitive version.

But both games, while playing, are insanely fun, as is XCX. I recommend all three!

@AggressiveCucco Yes, of course. It's a hell of a game. One of the absolute best on Switch.

Of course plenty of losers online think it's nothing but anime fanservice without ever having played the game.

it's surprising how it continues to sell out. It was already hard to find when i picked it up back in November. I paid $135 for all 3 physical editions. Definite Edition/Torna/2

The question is why don't you already have these in your physical collections...

My brother got gamefly for a bit and I played it and then it ended so I bought the game and then got lost and underleveled and stopped but today I started playing again, and then forgot to save and lost 2 hours of progress

@RadioHedgeFund eh pass XC2 is so much better.

Maybe I should get into this series. 🤔

Xc1 habe the best story, xcx have the best overworld and is a blast to travel around, xc2 habe the best combat system and is cool to play, torna is a great expansion of xc2 and the combat is even better.

No one else noticed the Xenoblade "stan"?

@nimnio In the game you can unlock blades with different skills and rarity.

However, they are locked behind an in-game gacha system so it's difficult to get who you want.

@TheBigK there is nothing wrong with gatcha, even all monster hunter series has gatcha system and no body complain.

xc is climax story and feel like classic rpg same as ff x, xc2 has better moral story but had some technical issue

Fantastic! This is the Switch'es best exclusive!

Good! Xenoblade needs more love, although Torna, in my view, is a much better representation of the series than XC2. Everything wrong with XC2 was beautifully corrected in Torna; the removal of Gacha Blades™, a stronger focus on a smaller set of protagonists, a more mature narrative, streamlined combat, better performance, etc.

That's not to say XC2 is bad, though. It rightfully holds its place as the Switch's best (original) RPG. Torna only improved on what was already a good foundation.

I haven't been playing a whole lot of Nintendo games lately, but Pythra will drag me back into Smash for probably an embarrassing amount of time.

Fantastic game and fantastic character design

I love XC2, and I prefer it than the original. XC2 is my most played game in the switch since its release, now only overtaken by ACNH. The moment Rex mentioned Pyra had disappeared I already knew it was gonna be Smash and I was so excited. Plus amiibo incoming! Finally an affordable Pyra figure. Though I hope we get one for Mythra as well, but with Byleth getting only one I guess it's not likely.

@AggressiveCucco The "lore". It's all about....the "lore".😉

@SpiritGun7 Finally a really worthy of my time. You got the nail job the head: anime tropes.

This isn’t a complaint about boobs; it’s the clearly misogynistic way the game treats its female lead characters. Mythra in particular is not only a petulant brat but the way the camera ogles her (and some of the other ridiculous blade characters) is embarrassing, immature and outdated. I’d have been ashamed to like it when I was 14 let alone 40. I don’t want a game which clearly just wants to portray its female (and male) characters as sex objects.

The 3 female leads in XC1 are some of the best female characters ever committed to pixels. Sure, you can have sharla run around in her smalls if you like but this is entirely the choice of the player. The actual plot treats her, Melia and Fiora with respect and never with gratuity.

@Kilamanjaro I think there is

https://www.reddit.com/r/Xenoblade_Chronicles/comments/7ocz2a/xc2_question_is_there_a_way_to_disable_the/

@MSTRDM ahh 3 years too late! Would he great to turn off single character's voices as well. Didn't know about this feature, so if I pick it up again I can adjust those settings straight away, thanks!

I didn't like Rex so I am glad they chose Pyra/Mythra if they were going to chose a XC2 character

Really, really happy to hear that. Xenoblade deserves so much more recognition. Glad I own all Xenoblade games (including all the ports of the first one). Love this Franchise to death.

See Nintendo, adding a character to Smash will boost that game's sales. Now add a Sin & Punishment character!

@Kiwi_Unlimited Whooops..... my bad .-.

@RadioHedgeFund Your post may be the very first I've read on a video game forum which even half-convinced me that a recent title had anti-female attitudes (at least toward its own characters). I've not played XC2, but I do thank you for calmly and articulately explaining the problem.

Too often I read mindless, ideologically-fuelled "critiques" on this subject... like the clueless people in 2017 who were trying to define Zelda in BOTW as a helpless damsel (bahahahaha, they didn't even read a plot overview!).

What if in ten years, xenoblade will be the new fie emblem regarding presentation in smash...

I got this game at launch, and played about 10hrs into it. I really liked it, but I got distracted with other games and haven't picked it up since. I really just need to take a vacation, and spend a whole week just playing it.

@RadioHedgeFund hey.. i finished the second before.. I just started the first.. I think I have around 15 to 20 hours so far.. definitely I'm preferring the second. I hope it gets better.. the combat is not that great.. the secondary quests are boring..the main story so far is meh.. and I liked the blade system.. the pb with the second is.. with 90 hours the game continues to present you new mechanics.. but in the end, i was addicted.. I think I finished with around 120 hours..
Dont get me wrong, the first is good.. but so far way worse than the second IMO...

@Hinade

No worries. Apparently the joke went over a lot of heads, as your previous response had a few likes.

I'll have to try harder next time.

@COVIDberry As if Zelda was a helpless damsel! Unsure of herself absolutely but never a helpless maiden. This is entirely how Pyra is portrayed in XC2: at first at least a helpless woman who is being fought over by men. She eventually becomes subserviant to the main character Rex and cannot function without him. Mythra on the otherhand is the archtypal obnoxious brat character who effectively flaunts her sexuality to get what she wants.

At first glance you could argue that Aeris and Tifa are perhaps both of this archetype too, with Aeris in particular meant to be looking for a knight to rescue her which in turn makes the player 'fall' for her to make her death sting. (it worked on my when I was 14!) However they are both presented however, the game never pushes their sexuality as gratuitous. Final Fantasy is an interesting subgenre to look at because in a game like FF8, lead character Squall is effectively the damsel in distress!

In a genre that features games like XC1, Persona 4, Tales of Vesperia, Final Fantasy 8, Wild Arms etc that treat female characters with dignity, XC2 is just a shambles.

@RadioHedgeFund I understand where you are coming from and for me it kept me from playing the game for two years. I tried it was introduced to Pyra and was immediately put off by the ridiculousness of nearly every element of her design.
There isn’t really anything writing could do to resolve that mistake which is a shame because her character is ok. Not great or even on the same level of her fellow Xenoblade female characters. Elma of Xenoblade Chronicles X is a hell of a female lead by the way.
With that after playing through definitive edition I had a major Xenoblade itch and turned back to my two year dormant copy of 2. Honestly it was worth it, the game made missteps with character design and tropes can’t and won’t deny that. But combat took a step forward and the music is arguably better than 1. The story holds its own as well, although it’s hard to compete with 1’s premise, 2 does rather well.
Torna actually does an amazing job of learning from a lot of the mistakes of 2 by the way. Yes Mythra is a character but she isn’t really the protagonist. Lora and Jin hold that title and they have a synergy. Hopefully monolith models their future female leads after their better choices, Sharla, Lora, Elma and avoids fan service proportions and tropes, it would be a shame to miss out on installments of the series for such reasons given the rest of it is rather good/great.

@SpiritGun7 Elma was a great lead. Proper badass too. I often feel she was meant to be the lead character. XCX was another game let down by some utterly baffling design choices, in this case the inability to summon the world map and teleport when using a pro controller and the terrible idea of giving the player awesome mech suits to fight and travel in but having to buy insurance for them because they have permadeath. Cheers for that one, Monolith

@nimnio it was horrid. You'd have to keep farming resources just to have a CHANCE to get a blade you wanted.

Which isn't to say that the blades you get are all bad. It's just getting the exact ones you want is impossible. It's even worse if you're a collector trying to 100% the game.

@nimnio I forgot if they just used money or something else. I think it was random drops you got from enemies. A core or something would drop and then you'd used it to see what you got.

It was not very fun. Luckily, I got stuff I liked but only because I was LUCKY.

I never got everyone.

XC2 and XC2 Torna are getting extremely expensive in USA

@RadioHedgeFund I truly feel Elma is the main character, monolith just hasn’t ironed out how to make their NPC’s have that impact. I’m playing through it again and it’s clear she’s intended to push the story forward especially since she’s a mandatory party member but the writing doesn’t do her justice.
The design flaws were entirely WiiU related not game breaking. Same premise as Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, they were shoehorned in. If they were to port it over which they really should the fast travel and world map could be easily fixed. As far as the perma death goes I think it’s a 50/50, leveling is considerably easier with skells and allow players to take on normally difficult enemies but the insurance keeps players from just recklessly throwing themselves at enemies in order to fast level.
The system needs refinement no doubt but I can see why they initially came to that conclusion.

Do you think the new monolith project will be announced this year? It’s been 3 years since they began it has me curious and that also seems to be their relative cycle 4 or so between games.

@SpiritGun7 I’d be amazed if XCX DE wasn’t confirmed as a release to fill a hole this year. I’d definitely buy it. It reminded me a lot of Phantasy Star Online.

Man, I always wanted to get into PSO but I could never find a copy on GameCube. Just the card one.
XCX just makes too much sense and would be awesome in the go.

@CBordo There is a difference in being disappointed that your favorite character didn't make the cut, and getting mad at Nintendo/Sakurai for not putting the character they want. I mean I get it, I don't always get hype for a character, I was not interested in Min Min when she was announce, but that didn't gave me a reason to start hating on Nintendo or Sakurai for that matter, yet I was grateful that they provided a new character for me to play as. People either buy the character or don't, simple as that, no one is being force to buy the character