Out of all the Xenoblade games, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was perhaps the most in need of a Switch 2 upgrade. As much as I love the game, its dynamic resolution scaling on the original Switch caused the game to look quite crusty or just hard to parse in certain combat scenarios. Just like the other two upgrade packs so far for X and Xenoblade DE, I think I can safely recommend getting these if you’re a Xenoblade fan or playing for the first time, though once again with some caveats.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Nintendo Switch 2 Edition bumps the game up to an upscaled 4k resolution and 60 frames per second… kinda. It’s definitely easier to see that the initial image is lower resolution here, with some remaining jaggies and such, but it still looks stunning in both docked and portable modes. I never had an issue with not being able to see what’s going on in combat or in Torigoth either, which is already a massive improvement. Though Gormott is still the most blurry area, it’s not as bad anymore. Framerate is a bit of a different story though. It’s mostly 60 fps, but occasionally (mostly in cutscenes) the game will jump back down to 30 for a second or two. It seems like if the game drops a single frame at 60, it’ll default back to its original target, which makes the drop far more noticeable. Certain animations are also still rendered at 30 fps even if everything else around them is moving at 60; it’s a really strange effect. Also, the screen flashes weirdly when bringing up the GameChat menu; it seems like a lot of games with upscaling have issues with this particular feature.
Still, I’d take these upgrades over sticking with the original any day, especially since they’re free in the standalone version of Torna the Golden Country (of course I have a physical copy, who do you think I am?). Torna only gets the framerate and resolution buffs though, not even the new UI-less screenshot option by pressing L and R at the same time. The base game, on the other hand, does have a few additions, some that are incredibly big but somehow weren’t advertised at all.
By going back to Tora’s house after adding him to your party, you can get a new rare Blade: MOMO from the Xenosaga trilogy! She’s a light/dark aspected bit ball Blade, and can swap elements just like Pyra and Mythra by pressing the button she’s assigned to while she’s equipped. She starts in light or Real MOMO mode, and can swap to Imaginary MOMO, referencing the Imaginary Number Domain from Xenosaga so I guess that’s canon now. She has some incredible abilities, like being able to add an elemental orb to an enemy without the need to complete a Blade combo (which also applies to the rest of your party), so be sure to fill out her affinity tree ASAP.
You’ll also need to do so for her Blade Quest, The Home of the Soul, which is surprisingly lengthy and has tons of voice acting. It’s both filled with Xenosaga references and a totally standalone story within the world of Xenoblade 2, and I really enjoyed it. Especially all the times Poppi made fun of Tora. Apparently Bandai Namco isn’t credited in the Switch 2 specific credits, so it’s possible Nintendo and Monolith purchased the Xenosaga property from Bamco. Xenosaga trilogy remastered when?
MOMO isn’t the only new gameplay addition here, Pyra and Mythra have gorgeous new looks you can toggle in the options menu (which are unfortunately overwritten by Core Crystal Costumes), and there’s a whole new mode with a new style of gameplay. Heading into the Merc Group menu after returning to Garfont Village after a certain point in the game will unlock Merc Assault mode, which is essentially another way to complete certain Merc Missions. Where Merc Missions are passive, just waiting for them to complete after sending a group of Blades off, Merc Assault is an action game style mode. You can only send Rare Blades on these missions, and are able to take control of them directly to fight off monsters similar to the Land of Challenge battles. You can swap between the Blades you sent on the mission at any time with the D-Pad or ZL/ZR, perform normal attacks with A, block with Y, and use Specials with X. Attacking will build up that Blade’s Special meter as well as their Role Art, used with B. Role Arts simply release some buff orbs to increase the party’s Attack, Armor, and Recharge percentages during the mission or green orbs to heal.
It’s all pretty simple in practice; just hit the bad guys more than they hit you and you win, but it’s a novel and fun mode. It doesn’t feel fantastic to actually play, with attacks feeling weightless and floaty, though I’d certainly do this over just waiting for a Merc Mission to complete… if I hadn’t already completed almost all of them in my over four playthroughs of this game. You also can’t do Merc Assault on the game’s worst grind, Ursula’s Bearing Her Soul quest, so that’s still going to take you over a dozen hours of waiting around.
Those are the two big changes, but the best part of this upgrade isn’t anywhere to be found on the eShop page and that’s Field Skills. In the original version of the game, you’d have to engage a Blade to use their Field Skill, wait for a UI animation to play out, and then wait for the action to actually complete. It was a real pain as it constantly required you to shuffle your party around to do exactly one thing then shuffle all the Blades you actually want to use back in. Now, if you have a Blade in your reserves their skills can still activate, no questions asked, and the UI animation will play at the same time as the field animation, making the process a whole lot faster and less tedious. In my testing this seems to apply only to Rare Blades, but it could simply be using Common Blade Skills in the background.
That feature alone makes me excited to go through a fifth playthrough, this time from scratch instead of New Game+. Unfortunately, there’s still only one save file and I’m sure as heck not deleting my save, so I have to make a new Switch 2 profile to play through the game again. Even so, this upgrade pack is a great addition to the game, and I highly recommend it.
