I made the original Nintendo Switch my opportunity to experience a wider breadth of the titles in the Japanese company’s repertoire; moving past simply the latest Super Mario or Legend of Zelda story and into the entries I only knew about through Super Smash Bros. Among this list of experiments was Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
My complete lack of knowledge about the first game thankfully didn’t hold me back (outside of a not overly important detail in the ending) from mastering the Blades-based combat system and finishing Rex and Pyra’s quest.
Unfortunately, the melodramatic story, staccato cutscenes, and some general tediousness to side-quests and menu management meant I exited the Xenoblade franchise; content with what I had sampled but with no desire to order a second course.
Despite that initial assessment, the series and this game specifically have re-entered my life through the Nintendo Switch 2 edition — a standalone title for newcomers, or upgrade pack for returning players — as Nintendo works to bring the Xenoblade Chronicles trilogy to its latest console.
With Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s enhanced edition comes visual updates — specifically the promise of 4K resolution and 60 frames per second (fps) in docked mode, and full-HD 60fps in handheld — plus a few minor new content treats.
The trouble is the update misses a few much-needed improvements that would turn this undeniably definitive way to play XC2 into the perfect way to experience the adventure I had hoped it would be,
Back to basics
Just like previous Switch 2 refreshes, we’ve seen the story and gameplay remain almost entirely unchanged.
As with the Switch version, protagonist Rex yet again finds himself the Driver of a powerful and sought-after blade known as the Aegis — or Pyra as she prefers to call herself — following a salvaging gig-gone-wrong. And after saving his life, the pair venture out together with the goal of reaching Elysium — a place which could hold the answers to the troubles facing the world of Alrest, such as the steady decline of its Titans.
On this quest, Rex and his allies recruit Blades (living weapons) who fight alongside them. Most are obtained through gacha-style Cores that spit out either unique rare or generic common Blades — purchased using in-game currency. You can also find rare blades through special crystals obtained through completing specific objectives meaning progress isn’t entirely luck-based.
Among these guaranteed unlocks is the Switch 2 exclusive Blade Momo. She’s a healer-class given to the player about halfway through Chapter 2 and has the special ability to change her attribute between Light and Dark. I’ve had a blast using her and her bunny ball weapon, though it seems she’s a solid starting-out ally and not a Blade that’ll carry all the way into the post-game.
Every Blade has its own weapon, attribute, role, and moveset. Finding and building a synergistic collection of Blades for each character will help massively with challenging combats, though I never found it essential to complete the main story.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s Blades combat is also much the same as it was before.
Characters and their Blade will automatically attack their target when in range while more powerful moves (known as Arts) charge up. Using Arts will then charge your Special attack, and these Special attacks can be chained in a specific order to pull off devastating combos.
There’s a few other mechanics at play on top of this, and admittedly XC2 can feel like that board game your friend swears isn’t as complex as the dozens of pages-long rule book implies — you’ll learn a lot be doing, but I feel the game’s explanations could be snappier and more effective (the tutorial can be a slog, and even on my replay I left it feeling not entirely confident until I checked out a guide online).
That said, the auto-battle nature and recharge time on Arts makes XC2’s combat feel very turn-based in gameplay while being real-time in nature. If you find fast-paced action games inaccessible but are tired of turn-based combat, I suspect the slower pace of XC2 could be a happy middle ground for you.
It’s not all old stuff gameplay-wise. The Switch 2 edition also includes the brand-new Merc Assault mode.
In the original, Merc Missions are a passive way to use your unequipped Blades to complete tasks and earn rewards. The passive option gameplay remains; however, Assault mode, once unlocked, allows you to actively control blades while they’re out on a subset of these missions.
You’ll get additional Core Crystal, EXP, Gold, and other rewards as a bonus for taking a more active part in the mission.
I’d say it’s a fun novelty and is a lot quicker than waiting the time for a passive Merc Mission to complete (assuming you’re successful), but It’s not an all-out upgrade on what came before.
Filling frustration
“Not an all-out upgrade” describes much of how I felt about the rest of the game. Because despite being the community’s most common gripe with the original, the Switch 2 update doesn’t do much to solve the general tedium present in Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
There are so many different menus and tutorial screens tied to different buttons rather than being consolidated to one or two places, and far too frequently there’s no easy way — or, in the case of Tiger! Tiger!’s menu, any way — to quickly back out of the menu if you accidentally enter it. This forces you to click through multiple screens to finally exit (or, in the worst instances, exit and then re-enter if you fall into the spiralling trap of button mashing in your frustration only to over-mash and get caught in an unending menu cycle).
Speaking of that Tiger! Tiger! minigame, much like the original, there's also no way to swiftly reset it, making the quest to complete perfect runs (which are needed for some character upgrade requirements) that little bit more laborious than it needs to be.
You can’t even mass sell items from your inventory, or mass release Blades if your collection is bursting with common duds. I’d also love the option to open Core Crystals in bulk and just choose the Blades I want to keep, releasing the rest.
I’d also have hoped something could be done to improve the flow of cutscenes, as the odd gaps between characters speaking can make conversations feel noticeably disjointed, or maybe just add voice acting to a few scenes that lack it.
What’s perhaps worst of all is it’s not like the original’s tedium hasn’t been touched at all.
Field skills have been fixed so that you no longer need the Blade actively in your party, just in your collection, for it to aid with in-world interactions like breaking into chests or harvesting more goodies from collection points.
Interacting with collection points also looks to have been sped up, letting you more quickly collect resources.
Clearly some identified issues were addressed by the update, but too many more were missed.
Quality of life changes aren’t as flashy as new characters or game modes, but when they were such a frustrating part of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on the Switch, I can’t help but feel like these small improvements would be perfect for the Switch 2 enhancement.
Not just perfect for, but expected from such an upgrade.
For new Switch 2 players, this enhanced edition is of course the one to opt for now that it’s available. As for returning players, while the update is neat, I’m not convinced it’s worth picking up unless you’re a Xenoblade diehard who has been wanting an excuse to replay the game since launch.
That’s not me. While I've experienced some slight nostalgia on this jaunt, I’m ready to leave Xenoblade behind once more.
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