So I just got past the start of Chapter 10, and I'm told the final boss is within a decent level range of me, so I expect I'll finish this tonight after a bit of a marathon sesh. ~60 hours all-in, and that was pretty much following "path of least resistance" from start to end, so I've done very few sidequests.
All told, if you were to ask me if I'd enjoyed it, I'd certainly say "yes", and if you're a JRPG fan I'd recommend it.
That being said, it has a few issues, so I think I'll talk about those here, then do a really positive post once I've finished it.
When I think about locations from it, I think of a few awesome, interesting places... But so many more irritating ones. At times it's a real slog. I think it's because in most JRPGs you can sleepwalk through the combat once you reach a certain point, but in XB2, you have to practically double the opponent's level before you can do that. I'm not sure whether that's a good or bad thing. I mean on the one hand, a game which plays itself is a bit dull, but on the other hand, it means you have to care about every battle, even when fighting enemies for whom you are obviously going to defeat.
And you do a lot of combat. That comes with the territory but it's true nonetheless. At least you can sneak around some of it.
The game's a bit system-heavy, to its detriment, also. There are just so many things; the blade gacha, pouch items, character items, core chips (which have to be found then "refined" too), Trust, Affinity, Fusion Combos, Blade Combos... There's a lot going on, and I'm not convinced all of it was really necessary. There are obvious side effects to this; for instance how some of the characters have moves that are redundant even by the time you first unlock them, e.g.
...because combos completely wreck the damage that they do, with none of the investment. This is a shame because in the big battles, you get some really awesome strategic moments with the combat... But I'll save that for the positive post.
Also, I think the blade gacha is just a bad idea. Simply put, I don't think it improves the game much at all, and I think the game would be better off without it. I've spent the entire game with generic Blades on Nia, because I just never unlocked better ones which were of the healer class, despite spending many cores on her. Later on, this gets a bit better as the rules of the game change (a bit), but still, I strongly feel that characters should've been able to exchange blades between them more easily, and that they should've been unlocked mainly by quests. Basically those "generic" blades? I don't think they should be in the game.
Also, the inability to disengage some Blades is a problem...
There are other things too. For instance, I strongly disliked the way in which some progress is gated by the "skill checks" for the Blades. This halted my progress three times during the game, while I put "saving the world" on hold because one door, or a tiny gap I couldn't jump meant I had to go to a town, force-feed a blade a ton of food, find and kill a random frog... I think I get what they were going for, trying to make you keep all the systems running in parity, like juggling, instead of just forging forward in the story, but this needed to be done in smaller bits, rather than just "putting the brakes on" at three very specific points in the game (which, judging by Google search, seem to be pretty universal).
EDIT: While I'm at it, a few little irritances:
Still, that's the negative out of the way. The next post will be more positive, I promise!
All told, if you were to ask me if I'd enjoyed it, I'd certainly say "yes", and if you're a JRPG fan I'd recommend it.
That being said, it has a few issues, so I think I'll talk about those here, then do a really positive post once I've finished it.
When I think about locations from it, I think of a few awesome, interesting places... But so many more irritating ones. At times it's a real slog. I think it's because in most JRPGs you can sleepwalk through the combat once you reach a certain point, but in XB2, you have to practically double the opponent's level before you can do that. I'm not sure whether that's a good or bad thing. I mean on the one hand, a game which plays itself is a bit dull, but on the other hand, it means you have to care about every battle, even when fighting enemies for whom you are obviously going to defeat.
And you do a lot of combat. That comes with the territory but it's true nonetheless. At least you can sneak around some of it.
The game's a bit system-heavy, to its detriment, also. There are just so many things; the blade gacha, pouch items, character items, core chips (which have to be found then "refined" too), Trust, Affinity, Fusion Combos, Blade Combos... There's a lot going on, and I'm not convinced all of it was really necessary. There are obvious side effects to this; for instance how some of the characters have moves that are redundant even by the time you first unlock them, e.g.
...because combos completely wreck the damage that they do, with none of the investment. This is a shame because in the big battles, you get some really awesome strategic moments with the combat... But I'll save that for the positive post.
Also, I think the blade gacha is just a bad idea. Simply put, I don't think it improves the game much at all, and I think the game would be better off without it. I've spent the entire game with generic Blades on Nia, because I just never unlocked better ones which were of the healer class, despite spending many cores on her. Later on, this gets a bit better as the rules of the game change (a bit), but still, I strongly feel that characters should've been able to exchange blades between them more easily, and that they should've been unlocked mainly by quests. Basically those "generic" blades? I don't think they should be in the game.
Also, the inability to disengage some Blades is a problem...
There are other things too. For instance, I strongly disliked the way in which some progress is gated by the "skill checks" for the Blades. This halted my progress three times during the game, while I put "saving the world" on hold because one door, or a tiny gap I couldn't jump meant I had to go to a town, force-feed a blade a ton of food, find and kill a random frog... I think I get what they were going for, trying to make you keep all the systems running in parity, like juggling, instead of just forging forward in the story, but this needed to be done in smaller bits, rather than just "putting the brakes on" at three very specific points in the game (which, judging by Google search, seem to be pretty universal).
EDIT: While I'm at it, a few little irritances:
- Why is the map on a face button but the menu on pause? Unlike every other console JRPG ever. 60 hours now and every time I want to open the menu; EVERY SINGLE TIME, I open the map by accident.
- Too many battles where you have to kill a boss, only for the following cutscene to have that character alive and well. It just seems weird considering that there are bosses which end when you get them down to a percentage of health.
Still, that's the negative out of the way. The next post will be more positive, I promise!
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