Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 () is a role-playing video game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo. It was released in 2017 for the Nintendo Switch.
==Playable characters==
===Drivers===
 	 	 		 	
Rex	Nia	Tora		Mòrag	Zeke
===Main Blades===
 	 	 	 	 	 	
Pyra	Mythra	Dromarch	Poppi	Roc	Brighid	Pandoria
===Guest characters===
	
	Malos
==Development==
Plans for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 started in 2014, amidst the development of Xenoblade Chronicles X. Compared to their previous installment, this next game would focus on a more story-driven design like Xenoblade Chronicles. During the pre-production stage, Monolith Soft had to work on the plans while imagining what kind of hardware the Nintendo Switch would be like. Nintendo producer Hitoshi Yamagami would later give Monolith Soft the green light for the project.https://www.siliconera.com/xenoblade-chronicles-2-devs-talk-many-female-rare-blades-super-rare/
Several key staff members from previous Xenoblade games returned for the sequel, including series creator Tetsuya Takahashi as executive director and writer, along with Yuichiro Takeda, Kazuho Hyodo, and Mamoru Ohta who helped with the script.https://web.archive.org/web/20171207180015/https://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/xenoblade-chronicles-2-behind-the-story-development/
Monolith Soft wanted to put more focus on expressive facial expressions for characters, which led to a more Japanese animation art style for the direction.https://www.gameinformer.com/games/xenoblade_chronicles_2/b/switch/archive/2017/11/07/xenoblade-chronicles-2-hands-on-feature.aspx?PostPageIndex=1/ Monolith Soft commissioned freelance artist Masatsugu Saito to design the main characters, and with permission from Nintendo and Square Enix, Tetsuya Takahashi asked Tetsuya Nomura to work on the designs for the Torna main characters.https://time.com/4848935/xenoblade-chronicles-2-interview/
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was officially revealed at the Nintendo Switch Presentation 2017. A second trailer for the game was shown at Nintendo E3 2017 with a Holiday release, along with a 40 minute gameplay Demonstration at Nintendo’s Show floor. Another gameplay demonstration was done at gamescom in August 2017. During the September 2017 Nintendo Direct, the release date was confirmed for December 1st, 2017.
===Music===
On December 9th 2014, Yasunori Mitsuda was invited by Tetsuya Takahashi to be involved in the project for Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Meetings went on many months later about the direction of music and deciding who would write which songs.https://web.archive.org/web/20171207175913/https://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/xenoblade-chronicles-2-behind-yasunori-mitsudas-music/ Mitsuda said that this is the biggest production he has been involved in.https://www.siliconera.com/xenoblade-chronicles-2-composer-says-massive-music-production-complete//
The game's soundtrack was written by composers who previously worked on Xenoblade Chronicles. Yasunori Mitsuda, Manami Kiyota, ACE (Tomori Kudo and Hiroyo "CHiCO" Yamanaka), and Kenji Hiramatsu.
==Plot==
Rex is salvaging for treasure in the Cloud Sea. When he wants to trade today's loot for money in Argentum Trade Guild, he gets called to . He introduced him to Malos, and Nia and offers him 100,000G in advance for a salvaging job on an Ancient Ship sunken deep below the Cloud Sea. He accepts and makes necessary preparations. After travelling to the site with the C.S.E.V. Maelstrom and lifting the ship above the surface, he ventures in together with Malos, Jin and Nia. They ask him to open a sealed door. Behind it, he finds a girl in a capsule, seemingly unconscious, together with a red sword. Rex is about to stretch his hand out to that sword, but Malos tells him to not get any closer. After Rex accidentally touches it anyway, Jin rushes to him and stabs him in the back. He falls dead and finds himself in a place where that girl is standing next to a lonely tree. Rex approaches her, and she tells him that she is a called Pyra and that this place is Elysium as she remembers it in her dreams. Pyra revives him by giving him half of her life force after he promises her to bring her to Elysium in the real world. They attack Malos on the deck of the Ancient Ship and escape together with Nia, who was upset about the actions of Malos and Jin, and her blade Dromarch, on the back of the Titan Azurda that Rex lives on.
==Gameplay==
:See also: Xenoblade Chronicles (series)#Gameplay
===Battle===
As is typical for the Xenoblade series, battle takes place in the overworld. It starts immediately when a character attacks the enemy or vice versa, and ends when all enemies have been defeated, all playable characters incapacitated, or if the player runs far enough away that the enemy stops targeting the party. Only one team of a Driver and s is controlled by the player; the others are controlled by , although the player can direct them to do a limited number of actions or attacks.
Combat occurs in real time; playable characters can walk around similarly to outside of battle. Attacks and similar actions typically recharge over time, by landing certain attacks, or both.
Unlike previous games in the series, only three Driver Arts are immediately available to the player. However, up to three s can be equipped to each Driver. This results in up to nine different arts available to the player during battles, in addition to s, attacks that may trigger a Blade Combo. Blade Combos happen in three stages; continuing a Blade Combo requires a Special whose level is equal to or higher than the Blade Combo's stage, and specific s are required to continue the combo depending upon the previous elements used. The combo ends at the third stage, dealing high amounts of damage and adding an additional effect during the battle, such as preventing the enemy from inflicting a specific debuff, which persists until another third stage Blade Combo is performed.
Statuses have received significant changes, with no longer being followed by . Instead it is followed by , which itself can be followed by , forming a full Driver Combo. Moreover, both Blade Combos and Driver Combos interact with each other as Fusion Combos, which give powerful additional effects; for example, inflicting a stage of a Blade Combo when a Driver Combo is active results in much greater damage.
s have also received significant changes. Much like Xenoblade Chronicles, chain attacks can be initiated after the has been fully charged. However, rather than the chain continuing another round being up to random chance, Element orbs must be shattered to continue the chain attack. These orbs appear on the enemy after completing a third stage Blade Combo, with the orb taking after the element of the last used Special.
===Field===
The game mostly takes place on multiple smaller Titans like Gormott or Uraya. s can be accepted from s that involve things like collecting items, defeating enemies, or talking to other NPCs. 
Another feature is the Blade's s. By meeting certain requirements, their skills can be leveled up. This includes s which, as the name hints, are used on the field during quests or exploration.
Some of the areas, those most populated, have a Development level, which can be increased by doing many things, such as talking to NPCs, completing quests, buying items in s or discovering s and s. Increasing the development level will lower the prices of items sold at shops.
Blades can also be sent on Merc Missions that run passively in the background, with most of them able to be shortened by sending Blades with the mission's suggested Field Skills. Many Merc Missions are given by increasing a nation's Development level, most of the time automatically, though some are given by talking to NPCs or during quests.
==Downloadable Content==
===Japanese-Voice Pack===
On the same day Xenoblade Chronicles 2 released, a free downloadable content was released that allows players to choose to play through the game with the Japanese voices. This DLC is exclusive to the international release of the game; there is no such DLC that adds English voices to the Japanese and Chinese version.
===Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Expansion Pass===
The Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Expansion Pass is a collection of paid downloadable content for Xenoblade Chronicles 2. It includes free items, new Quests, new Rare Blades, a , and Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country.
==In other languages==
==Gallery==
XC2 title screen pregame.jpg|The game's title screen on first startup
Xenobladechronicles2-key-art.jpg|Key artwork for the game
Xenobladechronicles2-special-edition-art.jpg|Artwork for the game's special edition
Xenobladechronicles2-special-edition-art-black.jpg|Alternative artwork
===Artwork===
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Nintendo Switch.jpg|An illustration celebrating the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 release date by Masatsugu Saito
==Notes==
==References==
Category:GamesCategory:Xenoblade Chronicles 2
it:Xenoblade Chronicles 2