MOD EDIT: An OT is meant to cover a wide variety of topics: level design, music, combat, battle system, story, voice acting, framerate, etc. This is not possible when one subject overwhelms all others. While it's okay to mention your thoughts on the controversial character designs of the Blades, this is not the place to have at-length discussions on that one single subject. If that is all you want to discuss, there are existing threads where that discussion has been happening for a long time (for example: This One), or you may create your own thread.
Composers: Yasunori Mitsuda, ACE, Kenji Hiramatsu, Manami Kyiota
Genre: 200-Hour-Eraser [NSFW] x Awesome Music Player
Multiplayer: None
Motion Controls: No
Pro Controller Compatible: Yes
Potato Mode aka Split Joy-Con: Yes?
HD Rumble: No?
amiibo: No
Video Recording: No
eShop Download Size: 13978.57 MB
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish (PAL/NA) | Japanese, (trad.+simpl.) Chinese (JP)
Global SKU: No, split into Japanese SKU (HAC-ADENA) and Western (PAL+NA) SKU (HAC-ADENB)
Game Download/Official Site: Europe | North America | Japan
DLC: Japanese VO (817MB, free) | Expansion Pass (see below for pricing & content info)
Reviews: Here
Discussion Threads:RARE Blade Compilation | Cast of Characters
Spoiler Thread: Here
Combat Guide Thread: Here
XenoEra Community Thread: Here
The world of Alrest lies in the Cloud Sea, with people living on living Titans eternally circling the World Tree. But the Titans are dying and the inhabitants living on them are beginning to fight over territory in order to ensure their own survival.
Enter Rex, a young lad getting by salvaging artifacts and ancient tech from below the Cloud Sea. This is how he meets Pyra, a special Blade called the Aegis. Blades are physical representations of weapons, they form bond with their Driver which enhances their combined power. Rex becomes Pyra's Driver and as she dreams of going to the fabled paradise of Elysium, where there might just be a solution to the problem of enough room for everybody, Rex decides to help her get there and possibly save the people of Alrest.
And then, Takahashi happens. You know the drill. :)
COMBAT
One thing upfront: The intricacies of the combat system are carefully taught to you throughout the game, you don't have to know or master everything at once. You'll not be overwhelmed.
I based this write-up mostly on NOE's very elaborate rundown from gamescom. Give it a look, if you wish.
Further battle breakdowns from NOA's Treehouse Log. Check them out here.
Here's a ~5 minute combat walkthrough (contains party member spoilers [late game party member]) from GameXplain.
CHAIN ATTACKS:
DRIVER COMBOS:
BLADE COMBOS:
TIP:
BLADES
There are two types: Common and Rare
Rare Blades are what you want to hunt for, as they can be heavily upgraded and customized. The way you customize a Blade can greatly influence its Drivers attributes which in turn might affect how their gameplay role is classified (Tank, Healer, Attacker). The way you combine Blades heavily plays into this. There is a lot to play around with.
Blades also have various field skills that let you access new areas or affect NPC conversations. With every Blade (Common and Rare) comes an Affinity Chart. Unlike previous games, Affinity Charts don't exist between the Drivers but between the Drives and their Blades. These again tie into sidequests and Heart-to-Heart events (which are all voiced this time!).
MERCENARY MISSIONS/TOWNS
There are many many more nuances, some of which are covered really well in this spoiler-free GameXplain review.
Character Idea Stats
Do I need to have played Xenoblade 1 or Xenoblade X before I play this?
No. As usual, the games are entirely standalone with some thematic connections and nods hidden throughout that appreciate but first-timers will not be expected to bring any prior knowledge into this.
Is this more linear like Xenoblade or more open-world-go-anywhere-anytime-with-anyone like X?
More the former than the latter but the spaces you explore are larger. This one is plot-focused and has a clear structure that it is built around, unlike X.
What even is this game?
Exploration, huge jaw droppingly gorgeous areas, deep combat, incredible music, lots of customization and systems to dig into, LONG, story that usually goes places, LONG, Nopon, big focus on convenience, easy to pick up and get back in despite outward complexity. LONG. Xenoblade.
WTF is with the UI and combat, is this not an Action RPG?
Xenoblade-combat is very easy to get into but always looks super intimidating or boring from afar. It's very easy to pick up and just vibe along, see what happens.
So this is like Pokémon with these random Rare Blades or are there *gasp* Loot Boxes?
None of this. No lootboxmicrotransactionbullshitgtfo in this. You can influence what type of Blade you get from crystals. There'll for sure be a guide soon which I will link here.
Combat, I don't get it. Help?! What are Blade Combos? What is anything?
Read the Combat section of the OP. Lots of guides in there by your fellow Era members.
I HAVE NEEDS, IS THERE ANY CENSORSHIP OMG I'M STARTING A PETITION JUST TO BE SAFE
Have you seen some of these ... stfu.
Can I change outfits/character apperance?
No, the only visual customization comes from the different Blades you equip (some characters change their appearance/outfit based on story progression but nothing you can control)
Death penalties, what's up with them?
As usual, when you die in battle or by the power of your own clumsiness, you just respawn at the nearest landmark without any penalties. Note: FALL DAMAGE RETURNS!
This is a JRPG, is there grinding? Can I end up being super overleveled again?
The way sidequests and XP work has been adapted by funneling sidequest XP into a sort of XP-bank that you can tap into by going to an inn. This means, you can't easily overlevel yourself and just "withdraw" some of that saved up XP should you find yourself in need of some higher level party action.
X had pretty bad audio options, any improvements?
Yes, actually! The audio options for Xenoblade 2 have been greatly expanded! You can change cutscene audio levels separately, for example. Something that X sorely needed. You have volume options for cutscene voices, game background music, game sound effects, game voices, battle narration, environment volume, & system volume.
Does this have NewGame+?
Will be added as part of an update (for all players, with or without Expansion Pass) in January 2018. It'll let you bond with certain Blades and more.
Will this game come out in 2017? That seems unrealistic.
It'll for sure get delayed, just you wait! Any second now.
I don't read OPs. Do you still love me, TheMoon?
No, please go away. I'm yelling at you right now.
Why is the OT subtitle so bad?
X Gon' Give it to Ya
Potato jokes?
*stomach grumbles*
Pricing: £26.99 / €29.99 / US$29.99 / CA$38.69 / $45AU / $49.50NZ / ¥2,778
This is the stuff you get right away when buying it now:
Interview with Yuichiro Takeda about the story writing process
Interview with Yasunori Mitsuda about the music
Interview with Masatsugo Saito about the character designs (part one)
Message/Production Notes from Tetsuya Takahashi
Takahashi on the first update and upcoming content for the first Expansion Pass release in January 2018
Interview with Masatsugu Saito about the character designs (part two) (new)
NintendoUK 30min Let's Play (Nov 30)
GameXplain 50min Let's Play with Demetrius Boggs from NOA Treehouse (Nov 9)
NOE gamescom gameplay demo with detailed combat explanation
NOA's Treehouse Live from E3 2017 gameplay demo with Tetsuya Takahashi (Executive Director/Writer, MonolithSoft) & Genki Yokota (Director, Nintendo EPD)
The World of Alrest Trailer
Character Trailer
Story Trailer (Spoiler-heavy!!!)
Launch Trailer
A spreadsheet by Ishaan collecting various quotes from Takahashi about game design related to Xenoblade 2
This post was edited by a moderator.
ALSO: TAG YOUR SPOILERS! BE CONSIDERATE!
BONUS: READ THE OP, please! It often has the exact question you're going to ask already answered. No (untagged) spoilers in here. It's meant as a helpful resource of info, so please use it! :)Composers: Yasunori Mitsuda, ACE, Kenji Hiramatsu, Manami Kyiota
Genre: 200-Hour-Eraser [NSFW] x Awesome Music Player
Multiplayer: None
Motion Controls: No
Pro Controller Compatible: Yes
Potato Mode aka Split Joy-Con: Yes?
HD Rumble: No?
amiibo: No
Video Recording: No
eShop Download Size: 13978.57 MB
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish (PAL/NA) | Japanese, (trad.+simpl.) Chinese (JP)
Global SKU: No, split into Japanese SKU (HAC-ADENA) and Western (PAL+NA) SKU (HAC-ADENB)
Game Download/Official Site: Europe | North America | Japan
DLC: Japanese VO (817MB, free) | Expansion Pass (see below for pricing & content info)
Reviews: Here
Discussion Threads:RARE Blade Compilation | Cast of Characters
Spoiler Thread: Here
Combat Guide Thread: Here
XenoEra Community Thread: Here
The world of Alrest lies in the Cloud Sea, with people living on living Titans eternally circling the World Tree. But the Titans are dying and the inhabitants living on them are beginning to fight over territory in order to ensure their own survival.
Enter Rex, a young lad getting by salvaging artifacts and ancient tech from below the Cloud Sea. This is how he meets Pyra, a special Blade called the Aegis. Blades are physical representations of weapons, they form bond with their Driver which enhances their combined power. Rex becomes Pyra's Driver and as she dreams of going to the fabled paradise of Elysium, where there might just be a solution to the problem of enough room for everybody, Rex decides to help her get there and possibly save the people of Alrest.
And then, Takahashi happens. You know the drill. :)
COMBAT
One thing upfront: The intricacies of the combat system are carefully taught to you throughout the game, you don't have to know or master everything at once. You'll not be overwhelmed.
- The combat starts with Auto Attacks in cycles of 3 with each consecutive swing doing more damage (various later situations might give reason to not let it go through all three). When you move you cannot perform Auto Attacks.
- Healing is done via Arts that have Healing Effects, which essentially "pull potions" out of enemies that you then have to physically pick up mid-battle.
- The combat UI is split up into four quadrants with the focus being the bottom left and bottom right: Arts on the right, Blade selection on the left.
- Auto Attacks charge Normal Arts
- Normal Arts charge Elemental Arts
- There are four levels of Elemental Arts to charge up
- Charged Elemental Arts can "Seal" the Arts from an enemy, basically blocking them from using a certain Art against you
- In turn, using charged Elemental Arts will trigger a Elemental Resistance orb on the enemy for the corresponding element which will lower dmg inflicted with the same element again as long as it is active
- ER Orbs can be broken with a successful Chain Attack
- Each charged Chain Attack segment can also be used to revive a fall party member
- Switch between three Blades associated with various elements
- Arts are tied to the selected Blade, so switching Blades also switches out Arts
- Arts inflict Status Effects
- Same system of combining SE to maximize damage
- Blades can be switched during to continue the SE combo with another Blade's Arts
I based this write-up mostly on NOE's very elaborate rundown from gamescom. Give it a look, if you wish.
Further battle breakdowns from NOA's Treehouse Log. Check them out here.
Here's a ~5 minute combat walkthrough (contains party member spoilers [late game party member]) from GameXplain.
Screenshot collection of the in-game tutorial pop-ups(thx choog )
(that you can't review in-game for some damn reason!)
(that you can't review in-game for some damn reason!)
Detailed Combat Guide By Various Era Members:
(dedicated combat guide thread here)
(dedicated combat guide thread here)
CHAIN ATTACKS:
DRIVER COMBOS:
As I recall Kain-Nosgoth had also requested an explanation I made one with pictures. My quick summary was a bit messy for the driver combo so maybe you wana take a look again too Mars .
I tried to keep the spoilers to a minimum, sadly I needed a stronger monster as driver combos need to build up and my drivers are growing stronger too. Also couldnt hide the blades this time, due to the monster indeed being a challenge.
Over the monster name on the right side we can see the bar for the blade combo that we have read about before, next to it appears another one. In this example it states Break. This bar is for driver combos. (It's very fast so quick acting is recommended.)
Driver combos can be solely caused by driver arts, hence the name. This also means they could take place without the blade combo bar being active. They go in a chain, if you link them up quickly enough: Break (we have seen that here), topple, launch sends the enemy off their feet flying through the air.
Whether your driver's arts are capable of causing a driver combo effect you can tell by the symbols. The two wave symbol, the small green symbol in Anchor Shot etc.
Fusion Combo?
Now, as you can see in that picture above, it will happen that driver and blade art are used simultaneously. That just happens in battle flow, and that's good. That's what is called "fusion combo", as you fuse the driver and the blades combos. As simple as that.
This is how it'll look.
BLADE COMBOS:
I took some pictures to illustrate, I kept them as spoiler free as possible (removing blade display etc.).
To be honest, the bar drops ridiculous fast at the beginning. There are ways to slow it down so you gain more time to consider options.
Here you start off at the tree with two branches possible.
Branch one would be blade combo 2 light followed by the option of blade combo 3 lightning or nothing.
Branch two would be blade combo 2 shadow followed by the option of blade combo 3 earth or again shadow.
By the way: You should note the 3 orbs around nias picture, it means her blade combo is level 3.
This picture shows an advanced tree, I already entered the second branch and am left with the wind option (for which neither my mates nor myself carry a blade with me).
TIP:
#################################### Combat Guide Over ####################################
BLADES
There are two types: Common and Rare
Rare Blades are what you want to hunt for, as they can be heavily upgraded and customized. The way you customize a Blade can greatly influence its Drivers attributes which in turn might affect how their gameplay role is classified (Tank, Healer, Attacker). The way you combine Blades heavily plays into this. There is a lot to play around with.
Blades also have various field skills that let you access new areas or affect NPC conversations. With every Blade (Common and Rare) comes an Affinity Chart. Unlike previous games, Affinity Charts don't exist between the Drivers but between the Drives and their Blades. These again tie into sidequests and Heart-to-Heart events (which are all voiced this time!).
MERCENARY MISSIONS/TOWNS
With Mercenary Missions you send out some of your Blades to complete missions for the various towns, which is where you can effective use of your Common Blades to fulfill the specific requirements. These missions, while earning you cash, also build affinity and unlock nodes on the chart.
Towns can again be expanded/developed further by doing numerous things such as buying stuff or doing Mercenary Missions, both of which feed back into each other, enabling you to support the economy and grow the town.
There are many many more nuances, some of which are covered really well in this spoiler-free GameXplain review.
Character Idea Stats
Do I need to have played Xenoblade 1 or Xenoblade X before I play this?
No. As usual, the games are entirely standalone with some thematic connections and nods hidden throughout that appreciate but first-timers will not be expected to bring any prior knowledge into this.
Is this more linear like Xenoblade or more open-world-go-anywhere-anytime-with-anyone like X?
More the former than the latter but the spaces you explore are larger. This one is plot-focused and has a clear structure that it is built around, unlike X.
What even is this game?
Exploration, huge jaw droppingly gorgeous areas, deep combat, incredible music, lots of customization and systems to dig into, LONG, story that usually goes places, LONG, Nopon, big focus on convenience, easy to pick up and get back in despite outward complexity. LONG. Xenoblade.
WTF is with the UI and combat, is this not an Action RPG?
Xenoblade-combat is very easy to get into but always looks super intimidating or boring from afar. It's very easy to pick up and just vibe along, see what happens.
So this is like Pokémon with these random Rare Blades or are there *gasp* Loot Boxes?
None of this. No lootboxmicrotransactionbullshitgtfo in this. You can influence what type of Blade you get from crystals. There'll for sure be a guide soon which I will link here.
Combat, I don't get it. Help?! What are Blade Combos? What is anything?
Read the Combat section of the OP. Lots of guides in there by your fellow Era members.
I HAVE NEEDS, IS THERE ANY CENSORSHIP OMG I'M STARTING A PETITION JUST TO BE SAFE
Have you seen some of these ... stfu.
Can I change outfits/character apperance?
No, the only visual customization comes from the different Blades you equip (some characters change their appearance/outfit based on story progression but nothing you can control)
Death penalties, what's up with them?
As usual, when you die in battle or by the power of your own clumsiness, you just respawn at the nearest landmark without any penalties. Note: FALL DAMAGE RETURNS!
This is a JRPG, is there grinding? Can I end up being super overleveled again?
The way sidequests and XP work has been adapted by funneling sidequest XP into a sort of XP-bank that you can tap into by going to an inn. This means, you can't easily overlevel yourself and just "withdraw" some of that saved up XP should you find yourself in need of some higher level party action.
X had pretty bad audio options, any improvements?
Yes, actually! The audio options for Xenoblade 2 have been greatly expanded! You can change cutscene audio levels separately, for example. Something that X sorely needed. You have volume options for cutscene voices, game background music, game sound effects, game voices, battle narration, environment volume, & system volume.
Does this have NewGame+?
Will be added as part of an update (for all players, with or without Expansion Pass) in January 2018. It'll let you bond with certain Blades and more.
Will this game come out in 2017? That seems unrealistic.
It'll for sure get delayed, just you wait! Any second now.
I don't read OPs. Do you still love me, TheMoon?
No, please go away. I'm yelling at you right now.
Why is the OT subtitle so bad?
X Gon' Give it to Ya
"Beyond the Sky" is the name of the ending theme from Xenoblade which was the sole track composed by Mitsuda for the first game. Get over it.
Potato jokes?
*stomach grumbles*
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO POST SUGGESTIONS WITH WHICH THE FAQ MIGHT BE EXPANDED
Pricing: £26.99 / €29.99 / US$29.99 / CA$38.69 / $45AU / $49.50NZ / ¥2,778
This is the stuff you get right away when buying it now:
Interview with Yuichiro Takeda about the story writing process
Interview with Yasunori Mitsuda about the music
Interview with Masatsugo Saito about the character designs (part one)
Message/Production Notes from Tetsuya Takahashi
Takahashi on the first update and upcoming content for the first Expansion Pass release in January 2018
Interview with Masatsugu Saito about the character designs (part two) (new)
NintendoUK 30min Let's Play (Nov 30)
GameXplain 50min Let's Play with Demetrius Boggs from NOA Treehouse (Nov 9)
NOE gamescom gameplay demo with detailed combat explanation
NOA's Treehouse Live from E3 2017 gameplay demo with Tetsuya Takahashi (Executive Director/Writer, MonolithSoft) & Genki Yokota (Director, Nintendo EPD)
The World of Alrest Trailer
Character Trailer
Story Trailer (Spoiler-heavy!!!)
Launch Trailer
A spreadsheet by Ishaan collecting various quotes from Takahashi about game design related to Xenoblade 2
This post was edited by a moderator.
Last edited:
