Xenoblade Chronicles 2

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Original title ゼ ノ ブ レ イ ド 2
transcription Xenoblade 2
Studio JapanJapan Monolith Soft
Publisher JapanJapan Nintendo Nintendo of Europe Nintendo of America
European UnionEuropean Union
United StatesUnited States
Senior Developer Koji Hayashi (Designer)
Koh Kojima (Director, Producer)
Genki Yokota (Director)
composer Yasunori Mitsuda
ACE
Kenji Hiramatsu
Manami Kiyota
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 world 1st December 2017
platform Nintendo Switch
genre JRPG
action RPG
Subject Anime, fantasy, science fiction
Game mode Single player
control Joy-Con , Nintendo Switch Pro Controller
medium Game card , download
language German , Japanese
Current version 2.0.2
Age rating
USK released from 12
PEGI recommended for ages 12 and up
PEGI content
rating
Game contains violence Game contains swear words

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is an action role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch . The game is part of the Xeno series and a sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles . It was released worldwide on December 1st, 2017.

action

Game world

The plot of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 takes place on Alrest. Alrest is surrounded by the sea of ​​clouds and consists of several titans, huge creatures on which the inhabitants of Alrest live. According to legends, Alrest was created by the architect who is in Elysium, paradise, on the top of the world tree. Humanity lived there with its Creator until he banished it to Alrest. In the time before the plot, however, more and more titans die, so that the habitat is shrinking.

The characters who live in Alrest are divided into two groups. In addition to humans, animals and monsters, there are blades. Blades are conjured up by humans from their core crystals. The people who can do this are called masters. After the death of a master, the respective blade returns to its core crystal and loses all of its memories of its previous life.

Course of action

The protagonist Rex lives on the titan Azurda, whom he calls Grandpa. Rex is a rescue diver and searches for treasure in the sea of ​​clouds. One day he receives an assignment from Bana, the Nopon chairman of Argentum AG, which is offered by a man named Jin. Together with Jin and his companions Malos, Nia and their blades, Rex discovers a sunken ship during the mission. In this you will find Pyra, the Aegis. When Rex touches Pyras sword, Jin kills him. Rex wakes up in a field. There is Pyra. She asks Rex to bring her back to Elysium and in return revives him to half of her core crystal. Azurda helps them to escape, but reverts to its larval form through injury.

They land on the titan Gormott, where Nia joins them. In Gormott, the Nopon Torah and its mechanical blade Poppi join the group. Rex defeats the inquisitor Mòrag of Mor Ardain in the Ardain base on Gormott. The group takes a boat to the World Tree, but is attacked by the instrument Ophion and swallowed by the Titan Uraya.

There they meet the mercenary group leader Vandham. In the village of Garfont, the group fights the strategist from Torna, a terrorist organization. Torna wants to go to Elysium to kill the architect and destroy the world. The group travels to Fonsa Myma, the capital of Uraya. On the way there they fight Zeke, a fighter the Aegis wants. In Fonsa Myma, Rex fights Malos, who is also an Aegis and sank several titans in the Aegis War 500 years ago. During the fight, Vandham dies and Mythra awakens, Pyras' true form.

The group travels to Mor Ardain. There they meet Muimui, Tora's father's Nopon assistant. They also come across Lila, a prototype by Poppi. Mòrag joins the group to confront Lila. On the way to an abandoned factory they defeat Zeke one more time. In the factory, the group provides both Lila and Muimui and Bana, who make weapons for Torna. Masters of Torna interrupt them, but Fan la Norne, a blade of Amalthus' saves the group. Your master requests an audience with Rex.

The group stops in the Lefther Islands, where Rex grew up. After staying with Rex's adoptive mother, the group goes to the harbor. There she meets again at Zeke, who turns out to be the Crown Prince of the nation Tantalum and is an ambassador for Indol. In Indol, Mythra talks to Amalthus, who wants to support Rex. Meanwhile, Torna occupies the dead titan Temperantia, so that the group travels there with Fan la Norne. There they fight Jin. This kills Fan la Norne.

In Indol, Mythra, Mòrag and Zeke attend a congress aimed at preventing a war between Uraya and Mor Ardain. Amalthus sends Rex to Tantalum to stop Ophion there. But before that, the group Bana stops before an attack on the Ardain Emperor Niall. In Tantal, the group is arrested by the king who wants to destroy Pyra. After Pyra is freed, they fight against Jin, who turns out to be an ogre, a blade fused with human tissue. Jin takes Pyra and leaves Tantalum.

On the Lefther Islands, Azurda tells of a third Aegis sword, which is in the Elpys soul pot. In the bottom room, Rex is attacked by Phantom Addams, Pyras' first master. Nia reveals herself to be an ogre and defeats the phantoms. The group travels to the cliffs of Morytha to save Pyra. Malos steals Pyras' memories there to restore his power. Rex can save Pyra, and Pyra and Mythra unite to form their third form, Pneuma. During the fight with Malos, the group is pushed into the sea of ​​clouds.

Rex wakes up in the sunken land of Morytha and briefly allies with Jin. In Morytha you will find the sunken titan Torna, after whom the organization is named. There it turns out that blades were originally born of titans, which in turn are very old blades. Amalthus disrupted the cycle. Jin also turns out to be an ogre. From Morytha the group climbs the world tree. Meanwhile, Amalthus attacks the World Tree with several titans to stop Torna.

Amalthus, who is the original master of Malos, wants to bring all blades and titans under his control. Shortly before the top of the world tree, the group can defeat Jin and Amalthus, who both die after the fight. Meanwhile, Malos has reached Elysium.

Rex and Pyra also reach Elysium. There they meet the architect, who says that he was a scientist named Klaus and that he created a new universe through an experiment. His body was also divided as a result. In repentance for the destruction of his world, he created new life. But Klaus knows that his other half and he too will soon die. Meanwhile, Malos attacks Alrest. The group fights Malos, who occupies the instrument Aion. You defeat Malos and he dies. But the world tree collapses. Pneuma sacrifices himself to destroy the world tree with Aion. Azurda saves the group after he regains his titan form. Before Klaus dies, he makes the sea of ​​clouds disappear and the titans unite to form a new land mass. Pyra and Mythra both now appear separate and are united with the group.

Gameplay

Like the previous games in the series, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 plays as an action role-playing game in which the player controls a main character from a group of three people. The game is based on an open world design in which players are able to navigate freely in seamlessly connected environments. The game has a day and night cycle, with the time of day often having an impact on in-game events, quests, enemy strengths and the availability of items.

development

The game is the third title in Monolith Soft's Xenoblade series after Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles X. Plans for the game began in July 2014 due to negative fan reactions to Xenoblade Chronicles X. While the original Xenoblade Chronicles followed the typical structure of a general story-driven JRPG, Chronicles X became far less story-focused and more mission-based organized that mainly focused on exploring the game's open world. The developers grew impatient when the fan base complained about the changes and began work on another, story-driven title. Since the gameplay was more of a continuation of the first title, it was decided to use the title Xenoblade Chronicles 2 . The initial work on the game was difficult because the technical specifications of the Nintendo Switch were not yet finalized or known. Compared to the previous parts, the game had a significantly shorter development time. The Monolith Soft managing director Tetsuya Takahashi named the reasons for this as the technological basis established by Xenoblade Chronicles X as a means of accelerating the development time. Another motivating factor was the agreement with Nintendo to release the game early in the Nintendo Switch lifecycle.

One of Monolith Soft's goals for the game was to give the characters a wider range of facial expressions compared to previous Xenoblade titles. The main designer of the characters was Masatsugu Saito, who was the first to design characters for a video game. The developers chose it to give the protagonists a more expressive, animated art style than earlier Xenoblade parts, which had a more realistic way of modeling and seemed too stiff. Square Enix artist Tetsuya Nomura was responsible for the characters within the Torna organization. Takahashi always wanted to work with Nomura. But since he was busy with other games at Square Enix, Takahashi reluctantly turned to the company, hoping to get him as a guest artist. To Takahashi's surprise, Square-Enix agreed. Other guest artists such as Xeno series veterans Kunihiko Tanaka and Soraya Saga, who designed some of the game's “blades,” weapon-like life forms, also contributed. Tanaka designed a blade from KOS-MOS, one of the protagonists of the Xenosaga trilogy. The story of the game was conceived by Takahashi with the assistance of screenwriters Yuichiro Takeda and Kazuho Hyodo, who worked on the even and odd chapters, respectively. Takeda, who also worked as a writer on the last two Xenoblade games, stated that the writing techniques and workflow for Chronicles 2 are similar to those of a movie. Takeda also said the story had a "Tetsuya Takahashi flair" to it. Despite being a sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles , it features a new world and a new cast of characters.

The game was announced as part of Nintendo's detailed reveal of the Nintendo Switch in January 2017, with a gameplay trailer released on the same day. Similar to the original Xenoblade , the title was announced in Japan as Xenoblade 2 , but in English-speaking countries, "Chronicles" was appended to the title. The game was also part of Nintendo's presentation at E3 2017, which confirmed its release in late 2017. Like the original Xenoblade Chronicles , Nintendo's European department took over the management of English localization, which communicated regularly with the Japanese and American departments about decisions that could prove controversial, which was previously an issue with Xenoblade Chronicles X. Due to the simultaneous worldwide release of the game, unlike the first two games, the localization process took place during development and not afterwards. The game was released worldwide on December 1, 2017.

music

The original score for the game was written by Yasunori Mitsuda, ACE (Tomori Kudo and Hiroyo "Chico" Yamanaka), Kenji Hiramatsu and Manami Kiyota. Mitsuda, who was also responsible for the audio budget, music booking, appointment management and proofreading of sheet music, was invited to the project by Takahashi for the first time in December 2014. During the following year, Mitsuda and Takahashi held numerous meetings to discuss the general direction of the music and eventually invited the music group ACE and Kenji Hiramatsu, who had also worked on the first Xenoblade Chronicles. At the meetings, the contribution of each composer to the soundtrack was determined, with ACE doing the field music and Hiramatsu the battle music. According to Mitsuda, this was done in a way that would please fans, as they didn't want to "ruin" the image that the first Xenoblade Chronicles set. With contributions from over 300 musicians and 20,000 sheet music, it was the biggest project Mitsuda had ever worked on, with files and data from Pro Tools, his music production software that was over a terabyte in size. In total, around 120 tracks were recorded for the game, around 25 of which were from Mitsuda.

The soundtrack includes performances by the Slovak Bratislava Symphony Choir and the Irish vocal ensemble Anúna. Ever wanted to work with Anúna after becoming an Anúna fan in the 1990s, Mitsuda claimed that her accomplishments for the game made him cry. Two tracks, including the ending theme written by Mitsuda, were sung by Jennifer Bird of the English acoustic duo Tomorrow Bird. Before recording, Mitsuda and Bird corresponded so that she could properly convey the characters' emotions through her singing. During the recording, Bird was able to improvise melodic elements of her singing, which Mitsuda's arrangements usually weren't for. Days before the game started, a promotional music video featuring a vocal track from Mitsuda's game, "Shadow of the Lowlands", was uploaded to Nintendo's official YouTube account. The video shows a performance by Anúna and was filmed and directed by Michael McGlynn, the group leader.

reception

Rating mirror
German-speaking area
publication Rating
4players 90%
NplusX 8.5 / 10
ntower 9/10
Nintendo-Online.de 9/10
TheSixthAxis 9/10
Switch player 4.5 / 5
Nintendo World Report 9.5 / 10
Pocket Gamer 8/10
Destructoid 8/10
CGMagazine 7.5 / 10
COGconnected 80/100
Meta-ratings
GameRankings 82.98%
Metacritic 83%

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was positively received when it was announced, with some critics calling the reveal "unexpected". USgamer's Jeremy Parish compared it to Chrono Cross . At Gamescom in August 2017, the game received early positive responses from gaming sites, who praised the sleek combat system and environments.

After the release, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 received a “generally positive” response, according to the review aggregator Metacritic . IGN praised the game, calling it "an outstanding role-playing game that manages to keep its story, battle and exploration interesting over the course of at least 70 hours of adventure through an impressively diverse and rich world," but admitted some frustrations with the game one, including a confusing minimap that sometimes led to the critic getting lost. GamingBolt called it "one of the best JRPGs of this generation", gave it a score of 9/10 and described its world as "huge and beautiful", its history as "complex and layered" and its struggle as "filigree and addicting", whereby he also noted that the game was occasionally held back by "blunt design decisions" and "a simple lack of polish".

A more negative review came from Jason Schreier of Kotaku, who described the game as "boring, boring, dull, overly complicated and careless with the waste of the player's time" and called the font "subpar". Despite his criticism, Schreier praised the game's music and environments, calling the former “spectacular”. The game was rated by Famitsu with 35/40 points.

Collector's Edition and Expansion Pass

In addition to the regular retail version , a Collectors Edition was also released. In addition to the actual game, this also includes a 220-page artbook, which was only published in French and English, the soundtrack with a selection of 11 pieces of music and a steelbook. At the same time as the release of the main game, an Expansion Pass was also released, which is available from the eShop for € 29.99. This expands the game at set intervals with bonus items, new quests / blades and an expansion of the story. The new story was first published for all Expansion Pass holders on September 14, 2018. The Expansion Pass was also released as a commercial version. This includes a game module with the history Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country , which can also be played without the main game, and a download code with the extensions for the main game. The commercial version of Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country was released worldwide on September 21, 2018 and cost € 39.99 to start. On the other hand, the Japanese audio track can be downloaded at no extra cost.

package Release date content
DLC items, package 1 1st December 2017
  • 50,000 gold
  • 3 × cream pita bread
  • 10 × silver cylinders
  • 5 × core crystals
DLC items, package 2 22nd December 2017
  • 10 × Rare Core Crystal
  • 1 × Legendary Core Crystal
  • 3 × transfer protocol
  • 30,000 ether crystals
  • 5 × Fraterni tea
  • 5 × Arda Bear figurine
DLC items, package 3 January 18, 2018
  • 10 × Rare Core Crystal
  • 1 × Legendary Core Crystal
  • 1 × transfer protocol
  • 3 × Juicy Samod
  • 3 × sparkling juice
  • 1 × auto balancer
DLC Missions Package 1 January 18, 2018

New quests:

  • "Artist suffering"
  • "Nopon missing"
  • "The Factory Experience Tour" (available from Chapter 5)
  • "Midnight snack" (available from Chapter 7)
  • "The Lonely Guardian" (available from Chapter 10)
DLC items, package 4 2nd March 2018
  • 30,000 ether crystals
  • 8 × Legendary Core Crystal
  • 3 × transfer protocol
DLC Missions, Package 2 March 30, 2018

New quests:

  • "Expensive pleasure"
  • "Presumption of innocence"
  • "Pure romance" (available from Chapter 6)
  • "Creative screwing" (available from Chapter 8)
  • "Dramatic emergency" (available from Chapter 10)
DLC blades, package 1 April 26, 2018

New blade:

  • Poppikloppi
DLC Missions, Package 3 May 25, 2018

New quests:

  • "A new hobby"
  • "Protected" (available from Chapter 5)
  • "The source of love" (available from chapter 7)
  • "Honor of a Mercenary" (available from Chapter 10)
  • "Merkuribe's monster" (available from chapter 10)
Combat exams June 13, 2018

The combat trials are a challenge mode

  • Fiora and Shulk from Xenoblade Chronicles are unlocked as blades
  • Costumes are available for certain masters and blades
New level of difficulty July 27, 2018

The level of difficulty of the game can be adjusted more precisely

  • "Ultimate MAX + α" (the highest level of difficulty)
  • "Adjust" (level of difficulty can be adjusted individually)
DLC blades, package 2 July 27, 2018

New blade:

  • Crossette
DLC Missions, Package 4 July 27, 2018

New quests:

  • "Sunken Reinforcement"
  • "Trendy confectioner" (available from Chapter 8)
  • "A high master" (available from chapter 7)
  • "A difficult lot" (available from Chapter 10)
  • "Mysterious Codes" (available from Chapter 10)
DLC blades, package 3 August 27, 2018

New blade:

  • Corvin
Combat exams, package 2 August 27, 2018

More combat trials in challenge mode

DLC items, package 5 September 14, 2018
  • 15 × Legendary Core Crystal
  • 3 × transfer protocol
  • 10 × source of love

Sales figures

The game sold nearly 98,000 copies in the first week of its release in Japan. Around 172,000 games had already been sold by mid-January. In the UK, the game placed 19th overall in its first week, 9 places higher than Xenoblade Chronicles X for the first time . As of March 31, 2019, the game had sold approximately 1.73 million times worldwide.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Klaus' other half has disappeared into the newly created universe, which is the universe of Xenoblade Chronicles .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nintendo: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Story Trailer - Nintendo Switch. In: Youtube. Nintendo, November 27, 2017, accessed April 12, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b Jeffrey Matulef: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 announced for Nintendo Switch. In: Eurogamer. January 13, 2017, accessed April 5, 2019 .
  3. ↑ https://venturebeat.com/2017/01/12/xenoblade-chronicles-2-is-first-japanese-role-playing-game-for-the-nintendo-switch/
  4. ↑ a b c d Kimberley Wallace: Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Big World, Big Battles, Big Changes . November 7, 2017. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  5. ↑ a b c d e Sato: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Devs Explain Why There Are So Many Female Rare Blades . November 28, 2017. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
  6. ↑ a b c Matt Peckham: Why 'Xenoblade Chronicles 2' Has a Character Designed by Tetsuya Nomura. In: Time. July 7, 2017, accessed April 5, 2019 .
  7. ↑ a b Sal Romano: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 announced for Switch. In: Gematsu. January 12, 2017, accessed April 5, 2019 .
  8. ↑ https://twitter.com/_saitomasatsugu
  9. ↑ http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/01/xenoblade_chronicles_2_is_currently_in_development
  10. ↑ https://gematsu.com/2017/06/tetsuya-nomura-handling-character-designs-xenoblade-chronicles-2-torna-organization
  11. ↑ http://www.siliconera.com/2017/09/18/xenoblade-chronicles-2-director-says-game-enormous-amount-quests/
  12. ↑ http://www.siliconera.com/2017/10/31/xenoblade-chronicles-2-introduces-elegant-water-type-blade-yuuou-designed-soraya-saga/
  13. ↑ http://www.siliconera.com/2017/10/23/xenoblade-chronicles-2s-blue-haired-rare-blade-tokiha-reminds-us-xenosagas-kos-mos/
  14. ↑ https://gematsu.com/2017/11/xenoblade-chronicles-2-adds-kos-mos-re-xenosaga-rare-blade
  15. ↑ Nintendo: Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Behind the story development. (No longer available online.) In: Nintendo. November 22, 2017, archived from the original on December 7, 2017 ; accessed on May 24, 2019 .
  16. ↑ http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/06/14/e3-2017-xenoblade-chronicles-2-is-more-than-a-simple-sequel
  17. ↑ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/xenoblade-chronicles-2-announced-for-nintendo-swit/1100-6446897/
  18. ↑ https://www.vg247.com/2017/01/13/xenoblade-2-is-coming-to-switch/
  19. ↑ https://www.polygon.com/2017/1/12/14260960/xenoblade-chronicles-2-nintendo-switch
  20. ↑ https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/13/15782670/xenoblade-chronicles-2-trailer-nintendo-switch-rpg-e3-2017
  21. ↑ https://kotaku.com/xenoblade-chronicles-xs-director-on-localization-change-1796157409
  22. ↑ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-switch-open-world-rpg-xenoblade-chronicle/1100-6453314/
  23. ↑ https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2017-01-13/monolith-soft-reveals-xenoblade-chronicles-2-sequel-game-for-switch/.110980
  24. ↑ a b Casey: Composer Yasunori Mitsuda Says Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Is The Largest Production He's Worked On. In: siliconera. April 7, 2017, accessed April 10, 2019 .
  25. ↑ a b Nintendo: Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Behind Yasunori Mitsuda's music. (No longer available online.) In: Nintendo. November 27, 2017, archived from the original on December 7, 2017 ; accessed on May 24, 2019 .
  26. ↑ http://www.siliconera.com/2017/08/10/xenoblade-chronicles-2-composer-says-massive-music-production-complete/
  27. ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/artist/an%c3%bana-mn0000222867
  28. ↑ http://www.siliconera.com/2017/05/03/xenoblade-chronicles-2-composer-updates-working-bratislava-symphony-choir/
  29. ↑ https://attackofthefanboy.com/news/xenoblade-chronicles-2-has-music-so-good-it-made-the-composer-cry/
  30. ↑ https://twitter.com/Tomorrow_Bird/status/889069758246735872
  31. ↑ https://twitter.com/PROCYONSTUDIO/status/888627563379081217
  32. ↑ https://twitter.com/PROCYONSTUDIO/status/888645346003263488
  33. ↑ Peter Glagowski: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 gets a hauntingly beautiful music video. In: Destructoid. November 27, 2017, accessed April 5, 2019 .
  34. ↑ Test: Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Retrieved January 19, 2018 .
  35. ↑ Test: Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Retrieved January 19, 2018 .
  36. ↑ Test of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Nintendo Switch. Retrieved January 19, 2018 .
  37. ↑ Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Retrieved January 19, 2018 .
  38. ↑ Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Review. Retrieved January 19, 2018 .
  39. ↑ Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Review. Retrieved January 19, 2018 .
  40. ↑ Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Review. Retrieved January 19, 2018 .
  41. ↑ Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Switch review - Another Switch RPG worth losing hours of your life to? Retrieved January 19, 2018 .
  42. ↑ Review: Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Retrieved January 19, 2018 .
  43. ↑ Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Review: A Blade in Need of a Whetstone. Retrieved January 19, 2018 .
  44. ↑ Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Review - Heartfelt Story Buried Under a Formidable Outer Shell. Retrieved January 19, 2018 .
  45. ↑ https://www.gamerankings.com/switch/204208-xenoblade-chronicles-2/index.html
  46. ↑ http://www.metacritic.com/game/switch/xenoblade-chronicles-2
  47. ↑ https://jpgames.de/2017/11/xenoblade-chronicles-2-season-pass-und-neue-details/
  48. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Nintendo: DLC - Xenoblade Chronicles 2. In: Nintendo. Accessed April 5, 2019 .
  49. ↑ Brian: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has sold 1.73 million copies worldwide. In: NintendoEverything. June 7, 2019, accessed June 8, 2019 .