artworksFootageNintendoscreencapsscreenshotsSwitch

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: official website launched (NA), details (world, Titans, battle system), pictures

Earlier today, Nintendo announced that the next Nintendo Direct presentation would take place next week, and that it would be all about Xenoblade Chronicles 2. But ahead of the presentation, the company also opened the full website, providing us with various details (nothing really new) but also some pictures, and even some gameplay footage.

Let’s start with the various videos from the website:

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 – Story

The game takes place in a world called Alrest, located in a sea of clouds, where entire civilisations live on the backs of colossal beasts known as Titans. The thing is, those very Titans are marching towards death, and the only way to save the world is for Red and Pyra (a living weapon, known as Blade) to find Elysium: a fabled paradise.

Naturally, Rex will not be on his own on his grand journey to find Elysium. Here’s some of the major characters appearing in the game:

  • Rex: the main character, and a young scavenger whi makes a loving from treasure salvaged from the cloud ocean. He lives on the back of a Titan called Azurda, that Rex nicknamed “Gramps”. And yes, meeting Pyra is pretty much a life-changing event for him!
  • Pyra: a Blade who commands the power of fire. She’s looking for Elysium, and asks Rex to help her reach that elusive and mythical place;
  • Nia: a Driver who can be a bit prickly, but ends up growing pretty fond of Rex and the rest of the party;
  • Dromarch: Nia’s Blade;
  • Tora: a young Nopon inventor, who has one big dream… becoming a Driver;
  • Poppi: a clockwork (artificial) Blade, created by Tora with the help of Rex and Pyra;

During his journey, Rex and co. will cross path with Torna, a dangerous and mysterious organisation, who want to capture and use Pyra to further their goals. Two key members of that organisations are:

  • Jin: the leader. A pretty mysterious and deadly individual;
  • Malos: Torna’s second-in-command. He’s also quite the dangerous individual.

A quick note about Blades: those are born from Core Crystals, that you can either find in the world or buy. Blades allow their Driver access to special weapons and powers, which is why it’s recommended to get as many as possible. What’s more, the types of Driver Art you have access to depend on the combination of Driver + Blade, so it’s hihgly recommended to experiment with as many combinations as possible.

When using a Core Crystal, there’s no way to known what type of Blade you will get: everything is randomised, down to the very name. There’s one exception, though: Rare Blades, who all have a special design, name, abilities, etc.. You need Rare Core Crystals for those, and as you can imagine, they’re much harder to get by than regular Core Crystals.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 – Explore

As mentioned above, Alrest is the world where the game takes place. It’s an endless ocean of clouds, that surrounds the World Tree: the very place where life is said to have begun. The last remnants of civilisation live atop massive beasts known as Titans. Those are basically worlds, with their own towns, wildlife, weather patterns, and of course treasures.

Here’s what those Titans are:

  • Gormott, and the Imperial Province of Gormott: home to the Gormotti people, who mostly live in the town of Torigoth. It is under the control of Mor Ardain. This Titan is covered in lush plains and forest. The movements of the Cloud Sea determine which areas are accessible;
  • Uraya, and The Kingdom of Uraya: a cave-like region, with bio-luminescent plants, and clear sacs that let some light in. Its inhabitants live in the very stomach of the Titan;
  • Mor Ardain, and the Empire of Mor Ardain: a Titan with literally no plant life, and much more barren than the others. Using technology, the Empire expand its territory in order to claim resources;
  • Argentum, and The Argentum Trade Guild: a rather small Titan, which is only large enough to hold the manmade structures of the city, and where no wildlife is to be found. A trading hub, home to a wide variety of people… Nopon, for the most part. There, many salvage and trading shops can be found. The Titan is not affected by the Cloud Sea;
  • Indol, and the The Indoline Praetorium:  a Titan that is home to many refugees feeling dying Titans and wars. That’s where the Praetorium can be found: all Blade in Alrest are officially tracked and controlled from there. The Praetor also happens to be the ruler of the people living on the Titan.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 – Battle

Blade and Drivers share a pretty special and powerful bound. As mentioned above, the weapons and Driver Arts you can use in battle depend on the Blade you choose (or rather, the combination of Driver + Blade). Each Driver can equip up to 3 Blades at a time, allowing you to customise your combat style.

But what’s Arts, exactly? Well, if you’ve already played previous Xenoblade Chronicles, you already know they’re basically special skills you can use in battle, and one of the key components of the battle system.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has two types of Arts:

  • Regular Arts: as you auto-attack enemies, the Arts power up. When in a powered-up state, Art can deal more damage, cause special effects, and more;
  • Special Arts: powerful attacks that you can only use once they’ve been charged up, which is something that can be done by using Regular Arts. If you can chain several Special Arts, you can deal massive damage to enemies with rather impressive-looking Combos.

Here’s what the battle screen looks like:

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Battle

  1. Party Gauge: increases as Drivers work together in battle. Once fileld up, you can use the bars to either ressurect fallen characters (uses one bar) or launch a Chain attack (all party members attack in succession with one of their Blades, uses all bars);
  2. Party: info about your party members (names, levels, HP);
  3. Blades: the Blades at your disposal. They’re each mapped to the corresponding buttons on the left Joy-Con;
  4. Arts Palette: the various Arts at your disposal. Just like Blades, they’re each mapped to the corresponding buttons on the Joy-Con, but the right one this time;
  5. Special Art Effect: a timer that indicates the duration of the effects of a Special Art on the enemy. When the effect is still going, you can use other Special Arts for Blade Combos;
  6. Blade Combo Tree: the list of Special Arts you can chain together to keep the Blade Combo going;
  7. Enemy Info: info about the enemy you’re currently targetting (name, level, HP, and elemental weaknesses);
  8. Available Elemental Arts: in the picture above, Nia is using a Water Blade. She can keep the Blade Combo going with Venom Water, and you can tell her to use it by pressing the right button (once it’s charged).

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Switch) comes out on December 1st, worldwide.

Lite_Agent

Founder and main writer for Perfectly Nintendo. Tried really hard to find something funny and witty to put here, but had to admit defeat.

Leave a Reply