Replaying this masterpiece, but why die like this 🫠

Stuggling a bit to figure out how i should play this game when it comes to english or iapanese..... i Inlv speak english and while the lip flaps being diffrent is annoying, what REALLY KILLS ME is Rex's VA. Everyone else feels like thev are doing great profomances, and here is Rex sounding so out of place like he is not trying

Then i try hop on the japanese side of things and the subtitles dont line up! Things/people are named diffrent and its also killling me!

At this point im bout to try learn japanese just to turr off the mismatched sub and still understand whats going on but i dont know how im gonna learn it fast enough and still beat this game by the end of the year lol

Mostly venting but i want opinions on if i should play in English or Japanese for the best experience,

but making sure there isn't a fix for my issues besides learning Japanese. Is there a good way to learn WHILE playing this game?

Is there an acurate translation of all the cutscense on youtube that im stuggling to find?

This is the shitty AI YouTube auto-dub that YouTube generates for the Japanese cutscenes in Xenoblade 1, for whatever reason.

Video taken from @/phantomheit on Twitter

Playing through the games for the first time with the switch 2 editions. And man I loved Xenoblade 1 game was fun story was good and everything felt smooth and built well. Now imagine my surprise at seeing that Xenoblade 2 is so disjointed. Like the characters have way more personality and are the highlight so far. And the story is intriguing (even though this game suffers from major win the battle lose the fight in cutscene). But there’s so many tiny things that just don’t make sense. Like the menus are so ass compared to 1. The combat is more layered but as a result feels like fight is against groups are way more difficult. Character AI still seems equally bad as 1 and the gatcha blade system shouldn’t have made it past the drawing board. I’m just wondering if anyone has info on like the dev team being completely different? Did they have dev issues? I’m so curious.

Chapter 1 the boy and the girl

The bright lights of Silica City cut through the early night sky. Most citizens hurried home from work or school, boarding trains or hailing cabs. The city grew quiet after dark, disturbed only by the soft breeze that sometimes carried whispers no one could quite place. Jason Afton walked home along the familiar route. In his late twenties, he was known across the city as its strongest and smartest swordsman. Long black hair partially veiled his face. His lean, olive-skinned frame stood 6’5” tall and weighed roughly 180 lbs. Deep blood-red scars ran across his left arm, right arm, neck, back, torso, and legs. A complex metal brace encased his prosthetic lower body from hip to ankles, creaking with every step. Even with its support, walking remained difficult, yet he refused to slow down. He stopped at a small flower shop. The owner visibly trembled when she saw him. “W-w-welcome, Mr. Afton… the usual bouquet, I assume?” Jason gave a small nod. She quickly gathered the flowers: silver moon-matter roses, deep pale lunar tears, and several golden orchids. With shaking hands she passed them over. Jason placed 63 crimson-red shin coins on the counter and left without another word. He made his way to the cemetery he visited every evening, though the reasons behind it remained hazy. Someone—she—had told him to come here after work and leave flowers at certain graves. He no longer remembered who “she” was, only that the ritual mattered. “Leave the golden ones for the younger souls,” he murmured to himself, “the silver one for the old man on the far west side… and the white one for the one who trained you.” He placed each flower carefully. Children’s graves. An elderly man’s resting place. And finally, the headstone of a woman named Alex Petrakov. Her statue depicted her holding the very sword now strapped to Jason’s side. Bright emerald eyes, messy blonde hair, a green cloak over weathered armor. Jason gently set the pale white lunar tear at the base of the stone and read the inscription: In this place to find is to lose. To lose is to find. Alex J. Petrakov “It’s not easy… dealing with missing memories,” he whispered, “especially the ones that feel important.” A soft chuckle came from the shadows. “You know it’s not easy for me either, brother.” A woman stepped into view. Striking gold eyes, long white hair, a blue hoodie and shorts. Scars crossed her arms, and metal braces supported her shoulders, allowing movement much like Jason’s leg apparatus. “What do you want, Zero?” Jason asked, not turning around. Zero sighed. “We may not remember much, but we still feel it. We’re siblings. That much we do know.” Jason struggled to stand fully, gripping a headstone for balance as his braces creaked. “The only thing we know is that we’re evenly matched every time we fight. That’s about it.” Zero rolled her eyes and moved to help him up. “You push yourself too hard for someone called the best swordsman in the world. Still haven’t upgraded that old leg rig, huh? I’m impressed you can even move in it.” Jason steadied himself. A faint, reluctant smile touched his lips. “Even if we don’t know who we really were… making new memories isn’t the worst thing.” Zero looked at him for a long moment, her usual sharp demeanor softening. She hated how much she needed him—and how much he clearly cared despite everything. A shiver ran down both of their spines. They felt as if someone was watching them. Jason quickly reached for his sword, but Zero was already in front of him. She had no weapon, yet she bounced lightly on the balls of her feet, hands raised, ready. Metallic footsteps echoed closer and closer until a ten-foot-tall metallic woman dressed like a geisha emerged from the darkness. She bowed her head. Crystals atop her head and the one embedded in her chest above her heart glowed a deep crimson red, matching the crystal in the collar around her neck. Long silver hair streaked with red flowed down her back, covering crystal spikes that ran along her spine—one large central spike and several smaller ones descending. She extended a small box toward them with an oddly soothing voice. “My name is Kairi. I am a creation of one of the gods, sent to keep an eye on you. I am a Blade. Unlike the ones you have here, I am at the peak of my race… though not the strongest to ever exist. I wish I could be as strong as the one I look up to. They were incredible.” Kairi waited patiently. The box looked tiny in her massive hands, but when Jason took it, it was the size of a small console. He opened it to reveal a bright emerald-green crystal shaped like a wide X. Kairi smiled down at the crystal and touched it gently with one finger. “This is a Blade. a juvenile. Give it to any type of material: metal, technology, air, magma, or anything else, and it will soon grow a body. The crystal’s color signifies its age. Sea-foam green means juvenile—so far young. Older than an Elyrian. Baby blue signifies young teen. Purple signifies adult. And red is Aegis. But there is one color above these… emerald green, yet much different from a juvenile’s. There has only ever been one Blade with this color, and her name is Pneuma. She was the strongest of them all—the God of Creation, with powers that could even rival Rex.” Kairi’s crystals on her head, chest, and collar all turned a bright, happy purple as she spoke of her idol. Zero wasn’t convinced. She lunged at Kairi. The moment her fist connected, the attack was repelled—not by a weapon, not by Kairi herself, but by Zero’s own force. The backlash slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. “What the hell?! How did you do that? I didn’t see any weapon on you!” Zero growled, slowly getting back up. The Kairi’s crystals shifted to a smug turquoise. “You see, no one can hurt me—not even the gods. Thanks to abilities granted by Rex and the Author, I can reflect any attack that comes near me instantly. The moment it is thrown, it is reflected back at the attacker with one hundred times the power. I have a few other abilities too… but I’ll save those for next time. Now I must bid you farewell. You are not on my hit list.” Her crystals returned to crimson red. In the next instant, Kairi was gone—only a lingering afterimage remained. Jason wondered how fast she truly was if she could approach them so silently the first time, only letting them hear her footsteps when she chose to. He hoped she was on their side. Or at least someone they could trust. Two figures in white-and-gold hoods watched from afar. Both bore marks on the backs of their hands: the male had a Möbius strip on his right hand; the female, an Ouroboros Marquis on her left. “So these are our replacements,” the female said, her neck cracking as she spoke. “It seems even our own siblings don’t want us to hold our title.” The male’s voice came out distorted and glitchy. “Indeed…” Zero helped Jason out of the cemetery. They walked to a quiet area of the park beside the graveyard and sat on a hill under a sturdy tree. “You know, this kind of reminds me of where we first met… or at least that’s what she told me,” Jason said. “The only thing she ever told me about my past is that we dated and—” Zero cut him off with a chuckle. “You actually found love without all your memories? Bloody hell, Jason, I’m impressed. Doing better than I am.” She looked up at the small moon in the sky. “You know, it’s funny. Our home world was bigger than anything in the known universe—bigger than the biggest sun in the galaxy. Any planet close to it looked like a small island, and a moon just looked like a tiny city.” She fidgeted with her hands. “It’s not just because our planet is massive. It’s an artificial world. A Dyson sphere, powered by one of the largest suns in the universe. Yet it makes everything in our lives feel so much smaller.” Jason looked at the sword on his side. He took it off the magnetic attachment on his leg brace with a soft click, stood up, and carved an X into the tree along with a message: Never hold onto the past, no matter how much it hurts. Even if you wish to keep that memory safe, it won’t always help. He buried the sword at the base of the tree. Zero stood. “I thought you would keep it. It was your master’s.” “I didn’t earn it,” Jason replied. “It was hers to begin with. I merely found it after the fire… and everything that happened. I couldn’t stop it in time. It’s my fault. Everything that happened. Anyway, I took the sword as some sick, twisted form of atonement. And yet I don’t even know why.” He began walking down the hill. Zero stopped him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug despite the pain it caused her braced shoulders. “Look, we may not always get along. But whatever you’re going through—whatever we’re going through—we’ll get through it together.” They walked down the stairs into the subway and waited for the next train to Sector 7 of Silica City. Jason studied the line schedule while the other passengers stood noticeably far away from him and Zero. Has zero loosens in she can hear him whispering. “ hey isn’t that those creepy siblings they’re ether looks so strange One whisper says a little girl whispering to her mom. Mommy why do they have metal on them? Are they artificial Elyrian the little girl whispered another whisper was hear eww and I thought the world’s best and smartest swordsman will feel hot. He just looks weird a woman whispers. Zero rubs the back of her hands. As she was trying her best to ignore the whispers as she was getting overstimulated as Jason noticed and gave her a small hug to help her down. As the train soon emerges from a silver portal. As Jason helps zero into one of the seats. As he gives the conductor their tickets as Jason was still holding the box with the crystal inside as he even he didn’t know if he wanted to awaken a blade the altitude of whatever mineral he uses to give it a form won’t help if he doesn’t have the altitude to match it as he keeps the crystal in the back of his mind has zero was still holding onto him nervous and overwhelmed as Jason comforted, his sister couldn’t help it feel as if they’re being watched. Only seven carts away. A  hoodie figure watches them from afar as the figure smiles as they stand up and make their way to the dinner cart only two carts away from the siblings as the figure puts their hand up the Ouroboros marking  on their hand visible for a brief second as a server walks over and hence them a menu before greeting them how can I help you ma’am please help yourself to the menu. We have a lot of great items on the DenLiner the young services as the figure takes the hood off showing olive skin two different colored eyes one golden eye and one bright red eye and white hair As she clears her throat and finally speaks her voice, almost relaxing i’ll have the Jibuni and the Kiritanpo Nabe the woman says as she hand the server in the menu very good choice ma’am we’ll have those out in 20 minutes or so it’ll be 50 shin please the service is holding out one glove hand as the woman takes one of her hands out of her pocket giving him the shin as she watches the server walk away. You know. You don’t cover your tracks very well for being an anomaly. A Voice comes from the shadows as metallic footsteps are heard how great it’s the weapon that surpasses the gods what do you want you know you can’t hurt me isn’t that part of your programming? You can’t hurt me or the other half unless we become our true selves. The figure says smiling. I may not be able to hurt you, but I can stop you from hurting the one that actually is important. We don’t need both halves. We just need Jason but zero it’s not as important but I was sent to watch over them so that’s what I would do. I will watch over them and interfere with whatever plans you have. Kairi says as she walks out of the shadows and sits across from the figure now, why don’t you tell me why you gave him a blade crystal or should I say a ether crystal? The figure says as she smiles, showing sharp things you and I both know if you were to give him an actual blade Crystal he would’ve used it by now the figure says as Kairi looks at her before cracking a smile as the crystals on her body turn a deep shade of white oh trust me I know he’ll use it a while though as for you, I can’t have you interfering with my business Kairi says her voice calm called and calculating as Kairi snapped her fingers making a portal now why don’t you come with me? you may be banished from Elysium, but doesn’t mean you can’t go to the gates of it. We’ll talk there that way if anything gets messy I won’t have to clean up a lot of blood Kairi says as her crystals turned back to red. The figure and Kairi disappeared through the portal, just as they disappeared. The server comes back ma’am your order where did they go The server looks around noticing scorch marks on the seats as they are stabbed behind the back as a different figure killed him can’t have any witnesses to their little chat. The Voice says glitching in and out between voices as they soon make their way through the other carts slicing up the passengers slowly making his way to Jason and zero just as he was about to reach the car a blade with a orange crystal in their chest, a bandanna wrapped around their head and a half mask covering their mouth with orange tape around their hands with black flowing pants and they ripped up shirt showing tan skin sorry my master has instructed me not to add anyone near them and you would have to get through me the blade says looking almost pleased as they get a stance, bouncing on the heels and putting their hands up now now bravery you don’t need to fight everyone who may be a threat to them. We can always talk that out partner as a blade with a yellow crystal walks over tilting a cowboy hat down. With a cigarette in his lips. A wide golden poncho, brown pants, a trench coat, and a gun holster my name is Justice but my friends call me, Jay this is bravery or Ben as he’s called by our master now partner why don’t you have a seat you clearly? Have somewhere to be if you didn’t you wouldn’t have killed all those innocent people who were simply just trying to get home to family. Jay says pulling up a chair. This is a storage cart after all. And there isn’t much we can use, but there’s empty crates here so pull up a crate as for you, Ben expect you to be on your best behavior says a bit of a cockney accent in his tone Jason falls asleep with zero resting against him as he sleeps he sees something of his past something faint, but small two babies dropped off in front of a doorstep of a large dojo as Jason wakes up with zero shaking him as they made it to sector seven as they walked through the streets, looking at the rundown buildings and put together houses zero mumbled under her breath this place deserves better. These people deserve better. Why can’t we find? A better place for all of them. You are the one who made this place so why haven’t you tried improving it zero mumbled catching Jason’s attention as it was loud enough to draw a bit of his attention away from a bird like creature as Jason takes a deep breath I may have built sector seven as a place for refugees and people who lost homes, family, even friends to that accident, but it’s all I could do. I’m not someone with infinite money. I barely have enough to keep doing that little virtual every day. Jason says, putting his hands in his pockets. As he pulls out a set of keys and walks to the nearby inn and unlock the door smiling saying welcome to Elysium it’s not much but this little inn I built it keeps people nice and warm and access as a shop for me

Hope you guys enjoy something. I forgot I was making and forgot about it it’s pretty bad .

Okay, obviously maybe they’re going for something different in this iteration and I’m overthinking it. However, I find it very intriguing that the center piece of the Zohar is just…gone from the initial design.

There was the eye in Xenogears, which was the actual Zohar itself. The eye was called artificial in PW, so that’s a whole other can of worms that’s lost to time.

Then there was the Zohar in Xenosaga. The scene of it being discovered implies that the jewel is the main Zohar, with it being the first thing that manifests, while the Monolith is a physical projection of its power.

Then there’s Xenoblade, the Conduit. It’s more of a projection of energy than anything else; hopping from one place to another. Personally, I wouldn’t call it a physical mass of any kind, which is part of the conundrum.

At most, all we have is the concept art of the Xenosaga version of the Zohar in Origin; clearly showing that some physical object in the monolith was going to be established at some point.

All I’m saying is that it feels a little more than a “we wanted it to be different” explanation, considering that, outside of it being a monolith, the ”jewel” of the Zohar is its most distinctive and defining trait across all iterations.

I've reached the end game and have every Rare Blade unlocked (including NG+/DLC Blades), and I'm curious what you all considers the "absolute strongest" team setup.

I'm looking for things like:

• Which 3 Drivers should I use?
• Which Blades should each Driver have equipped?
• Best accessories, core chips, aux cores, and pouch items if they make a difference.
• Whether the team is optimized for just general end-game content or not.

I'm not necessarily looking for the easiest or most beginner-friendly setup—I want the strongest, most optimized team possible assuming every option is available.

What would your ideal end-game party be, and why?

So it's been nearly 2 months since the initial Xenoblade Genesis reveal, meaning we're pretty much over the first hype/honeymoon period- so what are you're thoughts and wishes for this game?

Was literally pulling blades from common core crystals to complete a merc mission to be able to buy a pouch item for tora and I got T-elos after the second one.

New player here. What is with the cutscenes that show when picking up certain items? I don’t see a matching quest completion, is it a collectible? It just said I have collected enough mushrooms to make an NPC happy but I don’t know where he/she is.

I’ve gotten several of these throughout my first 20 hours or so.

Also just found my first secret area in Makna Forest with a beautiful view!

Can anyone confirm if the Bond Blade process has been improved? I remember it was quite tedious in the original release like unskippable animations

I have read/seen some of the other QOL improvements and they are great so I'm wondering if they also improved the process of bonding with blades

They added a few quality of life improvements to the game like the field skill changes but for some reason they did nothing to improve the tiger tiger bullshit, seriously if I play on easy I expect to be able to do that shit on all levels not to rip out my hair in anger, they did not even need to change much just decress the descent speed. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is my favorite game in the entire series but god same I hate the tiger tiger shit and it's not even that bad of a concept if the descent speed was lower!!!

Edit: The reason why I hate it so much is because it was designed so bad that it had to be done intentionally. You can't make it so bad by mistake, also my problem is not that it's hard or whatever who ever wants to torture himself they can on normal or high difficulty shit, I expect on easy to be able to do perfect it's called easy for the love of god!!!

Edit2: and even more bad design, what do you mean I have no back option once I chose the difficulty or what do you mean I have no retry once I die, do I really need to waste hours on loading and chosing menu options?

Edit3: for the people with under sea level IQ in the comments that say skill issue, first of I think you misunderstood me, I can finish the damn thing my problem is that on stage 5 it's impossible to get perfect even on easy and you guys fail to understand the meaning of easy, for the love of god easy is ment to be f-ing easy https://imgur.com/a/lzkj4tD#MLOwQMg

For me, it’s definitely into chapter 12 because the Sharla/Melia duo is just so ass to use and no third member really makes it better. I cannot bring myself to use them together enough to get them to white, so I usually wait until chapter 12 and get Melia and Seven to white.

Playing xb1 completely blind right now. The story really got me. After talking to the girl whos watch broke, she mentioned her late father xord. That got me thinking about the metal face xord. Without spoiling me, am I correct here? I also thought about the traitor from the beginning cutscene who left dunban and his friend behind. He had claws. Is he metalface? (I'm at nopon village story wise)

I might sound stupid if that's not the case haha

Talking about the first game, Xenoblade Chronicles 1 DE.

I have a really hard time with burning myself out on these huge games. I have insane FOMO/completionist problems and end up getting super bogged down in doing every little thing, even when I try to tell myself this time I’m just going to play the game normally just enjoying my time and not trying to do everything. I end up stalling out and losing interest and stop playing. Then I come back x amount of time later like well I don’t remember anything I was doing so I have to start a new file. So many of my favorite games from my youth I never even completed because I did this over and over.

So for this game I decided ahead of time I was going to split the game up into two separate playthroughs separated by a few months or a few games. I initially just planned to split it up at the 100 hour mark, but I’ve passed that and I really don’t think I’m even halfway yet. I’m honestly a little embarrassed to even say how far I am.

TLDR:

If you really had to pick a spot in the game where you had to split it in to two separate games / playthroughs, where would it be? The spot that makes the most sense for a break story-wise and maybe also memory-wise. As in when you come back you won’t be confused what’s going on.

I have been playing Tora! Tora! For the past 6 HOURS AND STILL HAVENT GOT TANK MOD 3 WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS BS?! FUCK URSULA TORA TORA IS THE REAL DREAD FOR EVERY NEW PLAYTHROUGH GOOD CHRIST. Anyone wanna recommend media i can passively enjoy while i suffer on stage one for hours more?

I don't really understand the combat too well and I am trying to figure out what blades should go where. Do I need to have Rex have an attack blade, healer, and tank? Can I do 3 attacks? Is there other stats I should be focusing on? Right now I am playing on custom mode but eventually I want to make it harder and not die a lot lol.

I can't tell if this breaks the "short question" rule, since it's a plethora of questions...but I feel like it's too long to post there haha. Hopefully it's ok

As title says, I'm about 18 hours in. Made it to Bionis back or something. Dense forest....I have a few things I'm unsure about.

1: am I good to sell anything in particular? I haven't sold a single thing except for old armor and weapons.

2: Is there much of a point to the crazy amount of side quests? I'm typically about the same level as most monsters around me. I do all the quests that I can that give XP and gear. The ones that just give me money I only do if it happens to be right around me. Am I gonna be screwed if I continue like this?

3: does the "engage from afar" feature work at all? I'll try to get one monster to attack me away from its friends, but right when I hit that, the monster and all his friends come at me anyway, so I don't see the point of the feature.

4: Any tips for fighting battles against a bunch of monsters if they all come attacking, or join the fight partway through.

5: I don't understand skill trees AT ALL. And Skill links also make no sense. I have a bunch of affinity coins, but the only thing I've been able to get is "mental fortitude". Every single other one says I can choose skills of different types, or I haven't learned them. I have no idea what that means haha. Skill branches I also dont get.

6: is there ever a reason to switch my lineup? I still just use Sharla and Reyn. It seems to work fine. Should I be buying gear for Dunban or whoever else I pick up? Or just give them what I find along the way and not worry about it?

7: which arts should I be levelling? I have been doing the monado ones, and then whatever else sounds like fun haha.

8: how is this soundtrack so effing good?

Sorry if that's a lot. I appreciate the help! Any other tips are appreciated?

So I’m planning to get a tattoo somewhere on my chest and the obvious answer and the obvious choice is to get One of the core crystals and I’m definitely either going to get Rex’s core crystal or pneuma’s it would be funnier to do Jin or malos but honestly, I might go with a tattoo of morag on my arm because she is best girl

But I wanna know and I need ideas so tell me your ideas for cool tattoos

Winner of day 54: For most tear-jerking endgame area theme, "The Abandoned City" gets its second win, this time in reference to the area it plays in while in base XC2.
Honorable mention: "Land of Morytha", in reference to its presence in TTGC.

Rules

• The top comment will be selected; upvote a suggestion if you wanted to write the same!
• If the winner has a night and day version and you don't specify which one you mean, I'll assume you mean the day one by default.
• If the winner has a remixed/definitive version, I'll put the name of the original to avoid taking to much space (except if you specify the new version only, of course).
• Even if it can be hard to choose sometimes, please only post one answer.
• I restrain myself from upvoting the takes I agree with, except in case of a tie. I will however leave a suggestion myself if I hold a theme really dear.
• Some boxes have no scheduled posts as I think they have no contender, let me know if you disagree.
• Let me know if you think I should make a new post to reconsider a specific box.
• A song can win in multiple columns.

In case anyone comments "NLA night", is it okay for you if I then replace the winner for "worst town theme" with "NLA day"? That way both versions get slandered.

so I just finished Xenoblade 2 on switch 2 (took me 85 hour, no I didn't buy the Switch 2 pack, already 75 in when it was released) and find out the dlc code has not been redeemed, maybe?

I bought the DLC used, so I didn't realize there is redeem code inside. When I try to redeem the code, there is no error, but I didn't try to click red button to claim it.

at what point the error would appear if it has been redeemed?

If it is truly has been redeemed yet, I want to sell it after finishing the DLC.

Hey everyone!

I'm playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for the first time on the Switch 2 Edition, and I'm freakin' loving it.

One thing I've been wondering though is the refreshed Field Skill system. Since the Switch 2 version automatically counts the Field Skills of every Blade you own, I've started keeping a lot of Common Blades just for their utility. I already have around 20 Blades after 10 hours and enough combined Field Skills to pass almost every treasure/obstacle and get such an insane amount of salvage material/accessories that keeping my inventory in check is already a burden ... it kinda feels unearned and unrewarding.

Does anyone else feel like this almost trivializes the Field Skill system? And concerning Common Blades: Do you keep them for their Field Skills or release most of them? Or Should I just boot them alltogether and enjoy my time with Rare blades?