After 165h and many more to come to achieve 100%, I have finally finished XC2’s main story and as usual, it’s time for my rambling and critic about it
First of all, I absolutely adored CH9 and (not as much) CH10
They did a fantastic work writing Jin in my opinion and I’m really interested in knowing him further during Torna’s DLC
I really liked all the villains and how they were written to be honest, some had more poor writing than other but I wasn’t disappointed, characters like Akkhos or Mikhail really grew on me, even Patroka turned out better than I expected
Then we have Mahlos who I kind of understood as well because of Amalthus’ influence and stuff and I must admit Amalthus was alright as well but his backstory felt lacking and underwhelming
Now onto the protagonists, I have hated Rex even since the beginning and in spite of the huge character development he got, my opinion only went from hate to neutral. I just feel him too bland and generic to be a protagonist and I never fully warmed up to him
Then, my opinion on Pyra definitely improved and I really like her after playing the game, maybe even a bit more than Mythra but I just can’t make up my mind, they were pretty okay
Moving onto Nia, I absolutely adored her and she is just amazing for me, and I always loved her blade, Dromarch, who was an excellent companion
Then we have my absolute queen Mòrag that never fell from the status as best XC2 girl. I just completely love her, she is an incredible character in my opinion that could have probably gotten more backstory but still amazing nonetheless. Her blade, Brighid, was amazing too, I loved her firm attitude and cough, Brighid x Mòrag is the cutest and best ship in the game
Then we have Zeke and Pandoria who definitely got the most hilarious cutscenes in the game that I watched a million times. I really liked them as well and never forget Turters
I really like other minor characters such as Vandham or Fan la Norne which I’m sad that didn’t get more spotlight but I still liked them a lot… “Fight your own war…” Sob…
Now, let’s talk about the ending:
The ending felt… Weird? It was decent to likeable but I just. I don’t really have a strong opinion, I felt Pyra/Mythra’s death unnecessary just to see them alive again in the end and it felt cliché since everyone achieved a happy ending apparently even after a fucking ton of monsters fucked up every titan but okay. ALSO MY MOST IMPORTANT SHOCK THAT I COULDN’T HOLD MY EXCITEMENT WAS DURING THE PART WHERE THEY REFERENCE SHULK VS ZANZA AND GIDMGLDMLFLDLF
Also, the deaths of all Torna drivers was a huge shock for me as well and a twist I loved, I really like all of those characters and can’t wait to see more of them on Torna’s DLC in the case of Jin, Mahlos and stuff
Regarding the soundtrack, one track that has caught me is Drifting Soul. It’s a track that can be listened to during some of the most emotional or “strong” scenes and it does its job perfectly (not as perfectly as Engage the Enemy cough)
There’s also Desolation and Walking With You that could be classified as the sad themes of the game that have really caught me as well, they get the proper atmosphere with no problem
We have a ton of amazing battle tracks, to such an extent that we have 4 different default battle themes which are all awesome (specially Exploration) and many boss fights themes such as You Will Recall Our Names or Monster Surprised You that I loved as well! If we talk about places themes, I definitely loved Mor Ardain’s theme and Tantal’s theme, you could catch me going around Mor Ardain just to listen to the OST
And having OSTs such as Uncontrollable or YWKON as a bonus for Shulk and Elma blades is a nice touch that I loved, luckily I’ll be able to defeat Elma soon but I have a poor team yet
2021’s note: My thoughts on Xenoblade 2 have definitely changed over time, and I truly appreciate the game for its good points. However, it can not be denied that this game definitely took some very weird choices and turns. And there’s no doubt in my mind that XC1 is far superior in my opinion. Plus, I enjoyed Torna even more than the base game, to be honest
At least, I have been able to 100% this game from head to toe, including every single blade’s full affinity chart and everything you could think of (…except New Game Plus, fuck that, they don’t even give us multiple save files). Because of this, XC2 has become the game I have put the most hours in my entire Nintendo Switch library, sitting at 300h (and may I remind you I have 100%ed even BOTW and it took way less time).
Regardless, I enjoyed 100%ing this game a LOT and it was a very fun journey
Silvy 