I picked up Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for the Switch last week and have not been able to put it down. Yesterday on Twitter I mentioned a Reddit post that I found super helpful when it comes to the combat. Even if you’re not playing Xenoblade it’s a pretty funny read. The combat system is so completely bonkers you end up having to say shit like this while trying to explain it: Bursting 1 orb extends the Chain Attack for 1 round. You can burst multiple orbs in 1 round and that would extend the Chain Attack to the number of orbs burst.
The combat is ridiculously deep and even though I’ve got 15 hours of it, I only barely understand it. Each time I figure out a new mechanic, my enjoyment of the already great combat increases. The game does a very good job or slowly feeding you new mechanics and I actually find the tips it puts forth super helpful. The only problem is there is no way to go back and see any sort of collection of these tips and lessons. That’s where this write up over on Reddit came in handy. Honestly I am having a blast and I haven’t even seen any of the “orb bursts” or “Chain Attacks” mentioned in there.
The game is beautiful on the Switch. Personally I’ve been playing almost exclusively in handheld mode but it looks just fine on the TV as well. The music and visuals are killer and I absolutely love the hook. I was into the story within the first 30 minutes which isn’t like me at all. There’s some really cool ideas in here though and I’m having fun seeing where they take them. If you want to dive deep into a combat system and get lost in customization menus this is the game for you. I haven’t even talked about collecting different Blades which are essentially bad ass Pokemon.
I know the reviews for this game are all over the place and I understand why. I would not recommend it to everyone but if you’re interested already, I think it’s worth checking out.
-Gabe out
