Post Script
Why the Blades are at the heart of everything Xenoblade Chronicles 2 gets right – and wrong
There’s an uncomfortable moment when you realise something so fundamental to a game may also be what’s holding it back. Blades, the weaponised life forms of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, are undoubtedly one of the game’s greatest assets, yet it soon becomes clear that their presence is at least partly responsible for its most glaring faults.
One of the biggest problems manifests in the early stages, particularly if your Switch is undocked. The resolution hit in handheld mode is acceptable for the most part, but in some areas the environments devolve into a soupy mess, and the situation is exacerbated by combat. Monolith’s game communicates plenty via its UI, which remains crisp throughout, but with positioning so crucial to the damage you inflict with certain Arts, the fact that you can’t always properly gauge an enemy’s orientation becomes an irritant, particularly when things are getting hairy.
You mightn’t necessarily think that’s a direct result of the Blades, but their physical presence on the battlefield is undoubtedly a factor: it’s hard not to imagine that with three characters, the performance would surely be better than with six. And it’s not simply a matter of how the game runs: they add to the visual noise, making the action busier than it needs to be.
They also seem to make it harder to pick off enemies one by one, or engage smaller groups by taunting them from a safe distance. Since they hang a little way back from the action, tethered to their Driver, they’ll naturally widen the detection radius as you fight. With no way to tighten your party’s formation, you’re left hoping you can corral opponents into positions well away from patrolling monsters or troops – not least since you have no control over your other party members.
Once you’re familiar with these idiosyncrasies, you’re better able to counteract them, or at least limit the frequency with which such problems arise. And there’s a Pokémon-like compulsion to collect more Blades, which are made all the more desirable by the random way they’re accrued. Characters must resonate with special crystals to produce a Blade, prompting a sequence where they’re teasingly revealed: a process not unlike opening a loot box, albeit without having paid for the privilege. Most Blades are generic in nature, coming in a uniform colour scheme, with their form determined by the weapon they wield. There are, however, uncommon variants that are distinct in their designs, with more expansive skill trees to match their greater potential. Once you’ve got one, you’ll want more – especially as they give you a broader palette of techniques and elemental counters to choose from in battle.
That’s not always a good thing when it comes to your AI teammates, however. Giving Nia an armoured brute as an extra attacking option will recast her as a jack-of-all-trades, but as a result she may well neglect her duties as the group’s healer. Which is fine if you want to take on the mantle – not a terrible idea, in fact – but in doing so you’re limiting your own damage output.
Besides, the more the merrier doesn’t really apply when you need to keep everyone on an even footing. Though Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood- style mercenary quests let you send out unused Blades to gain experience, these missions are best reserved for any permanently-benched generic variants to earn rewards while you’re otherwise occupied.
Still, catching them all is hardly mandatory, and once you’ve accumulated a handful of rare Blades, finding the right mix of moves to produce efficient combos becomes an absorbing tactical metagame in its own right, supplementing the moment-to-moment strategies of the combat. And for those bitten by the collection bug? Well, buckle up – you’ve got a long journey ahead of you.