This is my favorite Xenoblade Chronicles games, sadly it also comes with some flaws.

The field skills are poorly executed, I still remember the amount of times I couldn't progress because I was lacking a few levels totally cutting off that freedom of exploring.

Some of the female blades design's are straight up terrible and overlysexualized, I'm glad I could play this alone because some moments are embarrasing.

The gacha is terrible. Never do this again please.

Beyond that, the overall plot, the soundtrack and the battle mechanics are INCREDIBLE and if you can tolerate what I said above then this game is very worth your time.

This is probably the single most disappointing game I have ever played, considering the prior two entries in this franchise were masterpieces and arguably two of the best games ever made. Never has a game felt more like a chore to complete than this one. In fact I had to invent a new word "Anti-Quality-of-Life" in order to properly convey why I don't like this game. Unfortunately this one of those cases where I have so many complaints that I would have to make a video on the game to properly explain them all.

This game was one I had put off many, many, MANY, times. From the very beginning I knew this game was not for me and it certainly was not on the level of the previous Xenoblade Chronicles. Sure it had its faults but the first Xenoblade Chronicles is an experience I hold near and dear to my heart. When the press release footage and trailers got shown of this game I was just simply confused at everything I was seeing. What is this shift in art direction? Why is everyone look more anime than usual? Is that girls boobs bigger than her entire head? What in the actual hell is this voice acting. Questions that just formed in my head as I was watching, but you know, it's not good to judge a book by its cover. So I decided i'd pick up the game and see if maybe those thoughts of mine will change. I popped it in my switch the morning of December 25th 2017 and...
I put it down like 3 hours into the game. I just couldn't accept these changes, the protagonist literally looked like every other brown haired protag in any game and combined with the awful voice acting and character designs I just couldn't do it. I made it to the fake-out scene where Gramps "dies" and that was the end of it. Guess the Xenoblade Series isn't what I thought it was.

Fast forward to 2023, I had just finished going through Xenoblade 3, which in my opinion is still the greatest game in the series, but knowing this game had many references to 2 made me feel curious, and then I remembered I only put 3 hours into Xenoblade Chronicles 2 so maybe I should actually give it a real chance rather than passing it off as anime cringe. I told my friends about this and they proceeded to tell me if I were to ever go through it I should stream it so they can help me understand more about the game because this games tutorials flat out lie to the player and are just horrible in general, there's no way to view them again. Here we are, years later since my first playthrough, and now that I've finally gotten through the entire thing, what do I think of it? ...eh. It's ok, but let me explain myself. This review will be split into sections because with a big ass jrpg like this I have a lot to say.

Story:
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 no matter how you slice it is going for a completely different crowd in its writing and interaction. The story itself can be classified as a "Xenoblade" story but you only see that after Chapter 5 and then from there the game cuts the bullshit and actually tries to deliver a story worth telling. In my opinion the first 4 chapters are the biggest hurdles you have to go through in order to experience a semblance of interesting storytelling because those 30+ hours were miserable. Chapter 4 has to be the worst chapter in all of Xenoblade history, there's nothing of worth here and it's all pointless anime filler that amounts to nothing. You could remove this from the game and it would change nothing, that's how bad it is. Also it's stupid ass Tora focused and if you know anything about Tora, he's a huge creep who makes little girl robots in his basement like the 50 year old weirdo he is. Absolutely one of the worst characters in the game by far and every time he was on the screen I wish he wasn't. Poppi is ok tho, I feel like if she had to be in the game remove Tora and let her be her own character. But we'll get the characters soon enough.

Gameplay:
The combat in the beginning is so slow and boring, enemies are giant hp sponges and it takes way too long for you to actually start doing interesting things in combat. Ignore what anyone tells you, gacha is and will always be required to progress throughout the story and in the combat itself, it's not simply an optional thing like I was told, its a crucial mechanic you will need to learn and take advantage of in the game. If you don't like gacha in video games then i'm sorry this game will not make you change your mind. One of its biggest flaws is having to be so reliant on it, it locks behind story progression because there are certain field skills you will need to have to bypass areas just to progress the story. Your characters without any blades are useless as they need them to stand a chance to the enemy sponges and perform blade combos. If this doesn't sound fun to you then that's perfectly ok, I just gritted my teeth and just endured the amount of RNG bullshit this game had to be at times. I would have fun during a section and then boom field skills locking out my progression. It's pointless, it's annoying, and quite honestly killed off a lot of my enjoyment of the game. However, the more you progress and the more you go through the game you start to pick up on how it plays and then from there it starts to click, for me, it started to click when I was around level 75. ...which is like at the very near end of the game. jesus christ. Yeah overall the combat is NOT better than 1's in my honest opinion, it's overly simplified and also unnecessarily complex with the gacha management. I didn't even touch upon the poppi system and I don't want to because screw Tora. I didn't find it fun to just farm enemies and rather I did it out of a necessity. If you find this combat fun good for you man, more power to you. (Xenoblade 3 clears tho)

Characters:
Rex is so lame. From the very beginning he's just the same character until the end, he doesn't go through any growth, he doesn't experience anything life changing, he's just the same cardboard cutout protag we've seen done countless times. Except everyone in this game is attracted to him for some reason even though he has no redeeming qualities only other than the fact that he's an optimist. That's it. You cannot tell me straight in the eyes that Rex cares about anyone other than Pyra and Mythra because other than maybe Gramps he's shown no appreciation over his group of comrades he earns throughout the course of the story. In Xenoblade Chronicles 1 you felt like this group know each other, are close friends, have been through a lot, some don't even like each other when they first meet like Reyn and Riki. But as a JRPG group they're believable and everyone has chemistry with each other no matter how you slice it. In this game nobody feels like they know each other and the ones that do know each other are not in the spotlight anyways. Zeke, Morag, and Nia are the definite highlights of this entire game. If you go through the game and don't like these characters then you must not like good writing because man are they the only reasons I kept going. They easily stand out of the main cast and even the antagonists Jin and Malos were just a joy from start to end. That's one thing I will give XC2 credit, it has the BEST villains in all of the series, they're just so much fun to see on screen and someone like Jin has so much personality and story that further adds to his character. Screw it lets do a lightning round on these characters.

Rex: Boring, uninteresting, completely overhyped by his defenders. Is only interesting in Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed (play that one)
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Pyra: The weakest of the female blades and has nothing going for her other than she's nice, if you remove Pyra from the game nothing would change i'm sorry to say. I wish they did more with her. Also has the worst design in the game.
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Mythra: Easily the more interesting aegis and has history with people other than Rex which makes her more nuanced. Would've liked her more if she wasn't forced to fall in love with Rex because of how the game is structured but eh, you can't win them all. Good character tho.
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Nia: Amazing character from start to finish, definitely carried the beginning half of the game. Rex really fumbled with this one, but even as i'm saying this you know he actually didn't.
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Dromarch: A solid character too, no complaints here. I like him :)
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Tora: The worst character in the series, I wish he died somewhere in the story.
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Poppi: Ok, not bad but I hate how she's Toras blade and overly relies on him, even calling him master and that weird shit.
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Morag: YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH BEST GIRL BEST DRIVER WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Amazing design, badass character, should've been the protagonist.
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Brighid: Delightful. I love how much she gasses up her girlfriend, I love them so much.
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Zeke: The REAL protagonist of Zekeblade Chronicles 2, i'm sorry but if you don't think that you're objectively wrong in every single way. He does more than Rex ever does in the story, and actually talks to his companions and isn't just somebody who sits and watches from the sidelines. He carried the show for me, he's got a silly side but he knows when to be serious and his relationship with Pandoria is adorable.
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Pandoria: Pyra done right.
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Jin: The best anti-hero of the game, was really captivated through his own story and I got attached to his character as the story went on. Phenomenal.
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Malos: BEST. VILLIAN. EVER. Malos is a joy to watch from start to finish, there is not a single time where he's on screen and i'm bored he absolutely makes every scene he's in and you can tell with how his voice actor is giving in 100% to really sell us on this character driven by hatred. Peak. Enough said.

Music:
It's Xenoblade man what do you expect me to say, it's peak. Monolift Soft don't miss with these games osts.

Overall Thoughts:
While i'm glad I got to see everything this game had to offer I will admit it was still a mixed bag as I thought it'd be, there were many times where I wanted to quit because the game wasn't engaging enough or the characters were being stupid and annoying. If you really want to see what this game has going for it, and you're willing to put up with more bullshit than you can count. Then go for it, there's stuff here that's actually worth going for but overall I had a mid experience and I don't think i'll ever revisit this one sadly.

This is a very flawed game in most aspects. The combat is a boring slog, and while it's very rewarding once you understand the blade combo/elemental orb/chain attack system it still never feels particularly fun. It has slow movement and attack speed making it feel like a step down compared to XC1 and XCX, with the systems especially being terrible compared to XCX's class, overdrive, and soul arts systems which are a blast whether you have a full grasp on them or not. The downgrade on the combat combined with your blades being obtained through a gacha system just makes the whole combat experience disappointing.

The gameplay isn't any better outside of combat, if anything it's worse. Field skills slow down the pace of the game and make you micromanage your blades to get just what you need, and that's assuming the gacha element has even allowed you to receive the field skills you need or not. I can't think of a single memorable side quest plot or gameplay wise, none of them are particularly fun or rewarding to go through. The different titans and maps don't provide much reason to explore as doing so will almost always lead you to the games boring combat and negligible rewards. Fortunately most combat in the game can be skipped just by running away, but I'd much rather have a game where the combat is fun enough that I chose to engage with it.

The story is... frustrating. It's got some high highs for sure, especially at the end where it almost starts feeling like the final acts of Matrix Reloaded or Neon Genesis Evangelion, but there are a lot of low lows throughout the game, especially in the first half. The high highs, to me, make it worth going through the game, and if you're a fan of XC1 I think it's absolutely worth seeing it through. The story was the reason I kept playing and finished the game, so I think that's worth something in spite of it's problems.

Characters are in a similar lane as the story, with some great ones and plenty of not so good ones. Nia's arc was done pretty well, Morag and most of Torna are enjoyable the whole way through, and other characters have their own nice moments. Tora sucks though, I'm cool with having a nopon party member but they didn't need to make them a creep. Rex and Pyra/Mythra have nice moments together and also really weird and bad moments together. The core characters for the most part are fun, but the scene to scene moments these characters can have is really really wonky and poorly done, especially Pyra and Mythra.

Overall the game is just fine, it's a rollercoaster ride in terms of quality but it's best moments are good enough that I can't personally give it a negative rating. It's hard to say whether I would recommend this game or not to someone, so instead I'll use my final words to shill for Xenobalde Chronicles X instead. It is easily my favorite in the series from the 3 games I've played and I hope more Xenoblade fans give it a shot.

First of all: I'm still playing it. So this is not a final rating.
BUT there are some things I just have to write down because they are so bad I don't understand why so many people like XB2.

- The dialogue with NPCs aside from the main quests are awful! Rex repeats the same sentence again and again. They don't add anything to the world, the people or the overall feeling.
- side quests don't respect your time! Neither are they interesting nor varied. There are three types of side quests: Fetch Quests, Kill Quests and Talking Quest. All of them are like this: Go somewhere, fetch/kill/talk, get back, get ANOTHER quest, go there, fetch/kill/talk, get back, get your reward.
- Enemies are tanks / "bullet sponges". If you fight 1-2 enemies that are ~ your level you will fight them for several minutes. EVERY ENEMY takes about 1-2 mins to kill. And you get almost nothing for fighting them. 40 exp when you need 4000 exp to level up. Let's assume 100 fights take about say 2min per fight. That makes 3 hours to level up. Sounds fun? Sure not. To be honest you get a lot more exp if you complete missions (yeah.. these "fun" side missions,too.). But should fighting enemies not be rewarding too?
- The Map is garbage. OMG is the map bad. It basically shows you nothing. How to get to your next quest marker? Find it out by yourself. The map flat, non texturized and way to small.
- The overall game menu is complicated in a bad way. Find your Missions in the Missionlog. But they are not shown on the map because first you have to activate the mission, then go to the map menu, scroll through all your map pages (yeah.. it has several pages) to find the correct one. Why isn't there ONE detailed map you can open by the push of a button? One that you can zoom in and out. A map so many other game did so much better.

I just can not understand why this game has so many fans. The gameplay flaws are so HUGE. I will wait for the story to unfold and i will finish it (i think...). Maybe i will have a clue then. Maybe the story is worth it. Maybe gameplay will feel better or maybe i will get used to all this stuff. Maybe..