80%Nintendo Switch

Desnecessary grinding

100%Nintendo Switch

It is shorter than the main game, however, it provides the background story of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Worth to play.

80%Nintendo Switch

I enjoyed it, but I didn't find the characters or story to be very memorable as someone who didn't play through XC2. The battle system and exploration were solid, although having side quests be mandatory for progression turned me off. Music was excellent, especially the main battle theme.

80%Nintendo Switch

Gameplay and writing are better than in the base game, and the content is more "compact" so overall I think it's a better experience.

85%Nintendo Switch

It was a great game until it is just filler for about 6 hours but push threw and beat it the ending is amazing.

80%Nintendo Switch

I actually think this was a better experience than the main game by a little bit. It's more contained story helped a lot with a faster pace and less sprawling locations plus the battle mechanics feeling like it sped up combat by a bit which allowed for battles to be a bit more energetic and involved.

The limited amount of blades/characters in this expansion made for a much more enjoyable experience when learning their abilities and making sure I had the right combos set up. Getting the party ready was also significantly faster and easier due to the limited scope which allowed me to enjoy the story more without as many stops to grind for traits or move gear around.

Combat is less complex with some of the features from the main game toned down a bit which allowed for faster combat but at times it was admittedly a bit too easy compared to the main game.

The story, while mostly forshadowed in the main game, was pretty enjoyable. Seeing how some of the characters came to be who they were in the main game gave a bit more depth to their overall story.

My main complaint with this expansion is that it comes to a grinding halt at the very end when you're tasked with getting your community level to 4 before you can continue the story. This requires completing many side quests, most of which are very generic "kill x things", "collect y amount of item" or "go talk to this person" type quests. I was enjoying completing side quests as I was moving through the story but being forced to complete a certain amount to see the end of the game felt like it was just padding that wasn't necessary. Narratively, it does make sense and builds on the cast's actions later on but gameplay wise it really sucked the fun out of the game and felt like a chore.

Still an easy recommendation for fans of the main game though with the same high standard that the main game delivered for the majority of the time spent with it

80%Nintendo Switch

Too many boring side quests required for the ending.

90%Nintendo Switch

This game is great. They course-corrected most of the issues from Xenoblade 2 and playing this game was a huge payoff.

Gameplay - The battle system is so much more fluid. Your team helps you with drive combos and makes them more accessible. Being able to switch between blades to inflict a combo sequence was a great idea, and makes for interesting strategy in battles. By about the half point in the game, I was hitting elemental driver combos pretty frequently, as well as elemental bursts. As far as item economy, they trimmed the fat significantly, making item management and crafting less of a chore and thus much more fun. Another game play improvement - no gacha system! hallelujah. Game play mechanics are just really well done.

Sidequests - I'm not a huge fan of the amount of sidequests in this franchise, but they are better executed in this game. They contribute much more to world and character building and seem less pointless. That being said, my only knock on this game is that the sidequests screw with the pacing. Big plot points will be unfolding and then its like, "wait! we need to make sure the lanterns are lit around the town...". So you sidequest for a while and eventually the main story will be unlocked.

Story - If you made it through XB2 then the story of this game is a huge payoff. All I will say is that other than pacing issues, the story is well executed and I enjoyed it much more than XB2. It relies less on cringe tropes and more on just good writing.

Overall - The fact that this game was only 34 hours was a big reason it landed so well for me (short but sweet). The music is also on par with XB2 and won't disappoint. This game is a surprising recovery from XB2 and I'm really excited to start XB3.

85%Nintendo Switch

Forces sidequests to make itself longer, but better than the main game in a lot of ways

100%Nintendo Switch

Probably the best DLC ever made. I recommend playing the main game first due to massive plot spoilers for the main game in this DLC. Even with the knowledge from the main game about what will happen in this game, this game still surprises you regularly. It is a awesome ad-on to an already masterpiece and for everyone who enjoyed the main game I recommend it!

85%Nintendo Switch

DLC forces you to play stupid side quests (fetch that, collect this). Hated that.
But great story. Great characters, especially Addam and Jin.

95%Nintendo Switch

Excellent. Combat is better than XB2

85%Nintendo Switch

Base game quality with a better combat system

+ Tag system is insanely fun to use and can be exploited with equipment
+ Jin gets a lot more backstory and fleshing out
+ Lora
+ OST is consistently good like the base game
+ Final boss and ending cutscene was kino

- The community system. I get what MonolithSoft was going for but making optional content mandatory for main story progression is not cool.

85%Nintendo Switch

Gameplay 2/3 it's still xenoblade. It is definitely different which is appreciated to shake things up but the gameplay has consistently not been a highlight
Story 2.5/3 great prequel to XC2 that's worth experiencing for a fan but not needed
Visuals 2/2 happy to see new environments and new characters
Audio 2/2 outstanding music great voice acting

Reccomend completing, not 100%

95%Nintendo Switch

This is what Xenoblade Chronicles 2 should have been! I am glad that they took what they learned from the original and implemented things much better this time around. I never was interested in doing the side quests in the original game but they improved so much about navigation and how the quests are laid out in the DLC. With that said, I did complete every side quest in the game. Some people say they didn't like the block-point near the end of the game when you need Community Level 4, saying it disrupts the flow too much, but I didn't really mind it too much because of how much better the quests are this time around. This is also coming from the person who did every quest in Xenoblade Chronicles 1, which is probably the most repetitive thing ever, and I enjoyed that as well. The biggest take away is the map, though, and how much better it works. It's still not perfect, as you aren't able to see one area in it's entirety (Tornan Titan Interior, I'm looking at you), but apart from that this just works so much better than going through all the tiny menus and having to guess which one I needed. I was also much more connected with the story than I was in the actual game--maybe that's because I already know who these characters are and I was interested to see how they were 500 years ago, but I did really enjoy my time playing. The only thing I didn't do for 100% completion in my book is do all the Super-bosses, as I wasn't willing to grind all those levels for a silly screenshot for 100% community. Overall this is a great improvement from the base game and I would recommend it to everyone, you just have to get through the bit of mess of the base game to truly understand this story.

90%Nintendo Switch

Amazing DLC to an amazing game!

65%Nintendo Switch

It's fine. The combat and some other gameplay elements are more restrictive than the base game, so it's generally less fun. My main problem is that it's padded with extremely uninteresting (mandatory!) side-quests, rather than exploring the characters more. Also Aegaeon is lame.

85%Nintendo Switch

Not bad I enjoyed the combat mechanics but there was an annoying part were you are forced to do side quests at the end, felt like pure filler in order to make the game longer. Still enjoyable game but some seriously cheesy lines from the characters, maybe I am growing out of the Anime cheesiness.

100%Nintendo Switch

Better than xc2, imo.

80%Nintendo Switch

Great game. If you liked Xenoblade Chronicles 2, you will enjoy this. Combat mechanics are a bit different but I see it as an improvement. The story and characters were great and after playing XC2, it's a welcome prequel that explores the events 500 years prior. This is NOT DLC. This is a full game. Albeit, its much smaller in scope and length than XC2.

80%Nintendo Switch

A decent follow up but a lot of it was padded pretty hard by being forced to do side quests to advance the main story and I didn't feel the characters were as good in this DLC as the main game.

The gameplay was still great and they way they changed the gameplay to accommodate having fewer characters worked well.

Mostly I enjoyed it but definitely not as high quality as the main story.

80%Nintendo Switch

Personal Game of the Year 2022 - No. 7

85%Emulated

8.5

20%Nintendo Switch

They have you pick up trash.

80%Emulated

Хорошее дополнение к основной игре. Хоть это и приквел, но советую проходить уже после основной кампании.
Перед последней битвой игра заставляет гриндить почти все дополнительные задания ради 4 уровня сообщества.

100%Nintendo Switch

Torna the golden country has the best side content of any game I've played. It also takes xenoblade 2's story from great to a masterpiece.

90%Nintendo Switch

Works out many of the kinks of the base game, creating one of the most refined gaming experiences I've ever had. Ties the story of the main game together incredibly well. The "side" quests being necessary could be an issue for some, though.

85%Nintendo Switch

This game definitely should be played after Xenoblade 2. The beginning starts slowly and relies on the anticipation of upcoming events. The combat is less flexible, but I enjoyed finally being able to perform more elemental bursts. The story alone is worth the asking price.

80%Nintendo Switch

A satisfactory and not to mention fairly meaty prequel that gives much needed context to many plot devices in xenoblade 2. It has a unique battle system to make up for not having 10 million nameless blades. Instead the party you have you permanently stick with. Admittedly I'm leaving this review now despite the fact I beat this game 5 years ago but I do remember this game being really good and having a great cast. Hugo and Addam being my favorites. The lore was really the main reason to play this game as we learn the origins of Addam, Mythra, Jin, Fan and Torna as a whole. The biggest problem this game has is definitely the end game though. In order to face off against the final boss, you have no choice but to build affinity with the final town thus forcing you to do sidequests you'd otherwise never do. Aside from this admittedly shitty problem this game is well worth a playthrough.

90%Nintendo Switch

Amazing prequel to Xenoblade 2, honestly does work best played immediately after Chapter 7 due to properly setting up twists paid off in Chapter 8. More of an emotional character story than the world-spanning adventure of Xenoblade 2 and is all the better for it. Combat and field skills are vastly improved over the base game, but ultimately does feel less important to the grand scope of the series compared to Future Connected and Redeemed. The Community Level aspect also drags the game if you're not a completionist, and even if you are some of the quests are tedious. No time recorded because I actually forgot to track it before I went to NG+.

70%Nintendo Switch

Good story, too bad I know what happens to them

80%Nintendo Switch

What did I think about the ---> Story: Very Good | Gameplay: Very Good (at least it has reviewable tutorials) | Graphics: Great (yet it's not much different from the base game) | Music: Very Great | Characters: Great (as the side quests flesh them out)
Additional thoughts ---> Ending: Very Good (and emotional) | Side-Quests: Great (as it fleshes out the worldbuilding and characters) | Worldbuilding: Great

60%Nintendo Switch

Shares similar problems with xb2 story not as good as xb1 characters are worse than xb2 changes to combat made it more enjoyable but still not great

80%Nintendo Switch

The part with unnecessary sidequests before the final boss was a real slog. But I can understand that it is to make us "attached" to the people in Torna that would be annihilated. Still a very bad design idea, but it also was to increase the duration of the game...
However, gameplay has been streamlined from the main game and is now a bit simplified, but much more comprehensible. Also, big up to not relying on the Gatcha system (blades are meaningful in this story (except maybe for Minoth, who is underdeveloped).

80%Nintendo Switch

Monolithsoft pulled some BS with the complete sidequests to unlock the next part of the story BS. But, like the main game, really solid entry!

80%Nintendo Switch

Excellent sad ending with a wonderful mecha fight.

80%Nintendo Switch

Story : 7
Gameplay : 8
Graphics : 8
Animation : 8
Sound Effects : 8
Music : 8
Value : 8

90%Nintendo Switch

I thought Torna was a great addition to Xenoblade 2. As far as I'm aware, this story expansion was originally going to be a flashback chapter within the original game, but during development they saw the potential to make it large enough to be stand alone. As a result, Torna feels a bit more focused than xenoblade 2 main story because of the length, but at the same time you can feel where they padded things out a bit.

Torna changes up the already wonderful battle system from xenoblade 2 by allowing you to switch between controlling the driver directly, or controlling one of the two blades directly on the fly. As a result, it feels like the battles are faster than in the main game, and the change is welcome to bring a bit of freshness since a continuation of such a lengthy jrpg runs the risk of wearing out its welcome without the added variety. It feels great, and though your options are more limited from a lack of getting any new blades from core crystals aside from the given story characters, you do have adequate access to all the elements for implementing blade combos, and abilities that cause break, topple, launch, and smash for driver combos. The customization of your party is streamlined, but it still feels perfectly adequate.

One of the gripes I had with the main game of Xenoblade 2, was that with all the blades you can get, filling out their fan chart of development was way too padded if you wanted to get more than a few blades complete. Not quite so in Torna. The length, leveling, and everything else feel more meticulously designed to fit. When I was approaching the final fight, having done many of the side quests, I was also closing in on the end of the fan charts for each blade. The game gets very close to being well paced as far as growth is concerned. Someone at monolith did their math right.

The story of Torna moves along fairly quickly. From introduction of conflict to final showdown, there aren't a ton of key events that take place. However, there are small roadblocks along the way that get in between many of the main story points that have you doing what feel like sidequests as actual main story quests. These range from looking for a lost boy in a wide open explorable area to literally doing multiple sidequests until your reputation reaches a certain rank before heading to the final battle. The latter in context makes no sense. There is present sense of urgency in the story but you literally have to stop the story progression to do at least 2 dozen (short) sidequests before you can advance to the climactic battle. It really is the only thing that brings the game down in my opinion, but since I was planning on doing these quests anyway, It didn't affect my playthrough or enjoyment much, but it may affect yours.

What I really liked about Torna over the main game is that more time is focused on character development, and in a shorter span than the main game. Though I don't think it necessary for each character to change over the short course of the events of the game, and have an arc, the story focuses more on character interaction, and that's just more something that I like in jrpgs. I felt like the characters were better connected at the end than the characters of the main game were.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed the small differences in battle and overall systems from the main game, and think most of them were better implementations of the ideas they used originally. The story was good, but don't expect mind blowing moments like in other long games that rely on a lot of build up. If you play this, there is no real need to see and do everything. The story is the focus here and there is obvious padding so that this could be sold as a stand alone. 88/100

80%Nintendo Switch

Fun, I would've liked to see more of the outcome from the epilogue. Random mandatory quest quotas were abysmal. It would've been better if they just told you to them from the get-go.

80%Nintendo Switch

Notas: 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 8

40%Nintendo Switch

Required side quests are not good game design. Especially when the quest tracker is lacking crucial information.

90%Nintendo Switch

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1653393474
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1653393606
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1653393724
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1653393866
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1653393976
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1653394084
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1653394231

90%Nintendo Switch

Let me start by saying that imo, this game does pretty much everything Xenoblade Chronicles 2 does, but better. The combat is tighter, the characters are more appealing, and there was actual thought put into the tutorial. Right off the bat, you can string arts together and make the combat flow in a way that XC2 only got to at about the 20 hours point. I also thought that the story was much better executed.

One of my main gripes with XC2 is the fact that it felt like two separate games: the main story, and the waifu-collectathon. By the point I finally got invested into the story, it felt really weird to just suddenly drop everything I was doing to go fishing or whatever. In Torna this is handled so much better, thanks to the Community system. Yes, it could be quite annoying to realize that my only way to advance the story was to do a bunch of side-quests, but it made them feel like an actual part of the world. And anyway, it gave me an "excuse" to experience more of the game, something XC2 sadly lacked.

However, I do want to say that the conclusion of the story left me highly disappointed. Jin always felt like a really weird villain to me, so I really looked forward to seeing him in his prime, and experience the trauma that made him eventually join Malos. But it's just not here. I mean, you *COULD* say that all of the clues are here, and "can't you see all he went through??? And for 500 YEARS!!!" and all of that, but I mean, come on. I don't need to scroll through pages upon pages of people explaining why Jin is such a tragic character, fucking show me how tragic he is.

But besides my story gripes, I do think that Torna is a really great game. I would not recommend only playing it without playing XC2, as there are just too many things you need to know from that game to truly enjoy this one. And while the story at points was disappointing, it was still an enjoyable ride.

90%Nintendo Switch

Playing this expansion has reminded me of how great the original game was.

Torna's story has enchanted me. We are shown a conflict that took place many years before the story of the original game.
The characters are very good too, my favorites were Lora and Jin.

The combat system is different from what Xenoblade Chronicles 2 had. It's great that they changed it for the expansion to fit the era the game takes place in.

90%Nintendo Switch

It was more Xenoblade 2 in a short story prequel to the main game.

The game was great and only complaint was being required to grind community if you're trying to get to the end, but I understand that the people you help through questing was the point for Lora & Jin's characters.

80%Nintendo Switch

Good game honestly, very tight battle system and I like it. However, the trade between exploding the marble and having the entire party wiped out walks too fine of a line and always make me retreat to surviving VS. pull off an amazing combo.

Side quest is not too bad, but was forced to do them; which makes the game grindy and less enjoyable. But the story is still amazing, and I still love it very much.

90%Nintendo Switch

A great addition to the XC2 story. Loved it!!

70%Nintendo Switch

Le début à bien commencé, le jeu est beau les musiques très réussis et me rappelle beaucoup le 2. Mais ensuite entre les quêtes secondaire assez redondante, les zones trop démarqué dans les niveaux des monstres et un manque flagrant de composition d'équipe qui fait qu'on doit spam haze pour réussir certains combats ne m'ont pas emballé, le combat de fin est une purge ou si tu tombe sur le mauvais skill du boss t'es mort et avant d'y aller tu dois faire pleiiiins de quêtes inintéressante au possible. ça reste un xeno mais je le place assez bas par rapport au reste malheureusement.

90%Nintendo Switch

A near perfect prequel with fantastic combat and world design. The final boss is one of the best Xenoblade has to offer.

100%Nintendo Switch

the prequel to one of the best games of all time. it is best if you play both one right after the other. Torna is amazing, you must play this game.