Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna the Golden Country discussion

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Bluie
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For those of us who have Xenoblade Chronicles 2's expansion pass, Torna the Golden Country is now available through XC2's 2.0.0 update. Once installed, you have access to the DLC story via the menu screen on XC2.

For those buying the seperate version via eShop or physical, your copies will be available on September 21.

Please keep in mind that this is both a standalone story and a prequel to Xenoblade Chronicles 2, so any and all spoilers should be in tags.

Without further ado, it's finally out! I've only put 3 hours into it so far but I love it. More XC2 is exactly what I wanted.
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Kikki
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I know Torna is supposed to be playable first, so they had to do it, but I've only played the start, and there's a lot of tutorials I have no need for since I've already played XC2.

Otherwise, it's very nice...the scenery in this one area feels quite different than anything else, and I'm noticing the music more than I ever did in XC2. Dunno if that means it's more distinct, or if I just like it better. I really like the 'community' function, too, that feels more like XC1 and XCX in a small way. Also...I get to spend so much time with my favourite XC2 character, whee. :)

But about a certain character's voice (I'm still in about the first hour):
Spoiler:
I hate Addam's voice.
The voice itself is fine if I'm just listening, but it looks completely wrong coming out of that character...to me they just completely don't go together. Every time I watch him while he talks, I have a complete mental disconnect from the situation.
Also, this is just a note that I think there's something different about collection points, but...
Spoiler:
There are gold ones, now. Do collection points be gold when the character you're controlling is an expert in that type? (Like mineralogy, ectomology, etc.) Or is it denoting a spot with rare items in it?
Having trouble with what should be a minor side quest, too.
Spoiler:
You have to break and then topple 5 enemies. For it to count, you must inflict Topple with the character you're controlling. As far as I can tell, only one of my drivers CAN inflict Topple so I am playing as them right now, and I've done that twice...but neither added to my total. I don't get it. EDIT: Nope. Someone else is stealing the opportunity to Topple before I can get to it, even though I do it right away. But none of the other drivers have Topple listed as an effect on any of their attacks! Really confused...
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Bluie
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For the sidequest:
Spoiler:
Play as Lora, break and then switch to Jin who can topple as soon as he's active. I completed this quest on the group of three enemies close to the airship on Torna. By the time you get to the 3rd enemy, Addam/Mythra have exhausted their skills and you can topple away with no interruptions.
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Kikki
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Bluie wrote:For the sidequest:
Spoiler:
Play as Lora, break and then switch to Jin who can topple as soon as he's active. I completed this quest on the group of three enemies close to the airship on Torna. By the time you get to the 3rd enemy, Addam/Mythra have exhausted their skills and you can topple away with no interruptions.
Ah, thanks. :)
Spoiler:
I managed to get 3/5 done by controlling Hugo (dang Jin is fast with Topple if you have those guys under 'concentrate on physical attacks'). I'm confused though...they're specifically Driver arts, so why is Jin, a Blade, the one doing it? Oh well, the why doesn't matter, I guess, as long as it gets done.
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Mikodesu
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Only played a couple of hours so far, but it's nice to be back in this world. :) Really enjoying it!

If anyone finding this thread is considering getting the Torna story BEFORE playing the main game, personally I wouldn't recommend it. :? Spoilers aside, the pacing of the Torna story really feels set up for DLC, not an introduction to this world and its conventions.

@Kikki: About the collection points,
Spoiler:
I took note as I started playing - before field skills came into play - and all I really noticed is that gold collection spots guarantee rare drops.
Main game story spoiler...
Spoiler:
It's nice to see Addam is exactly as expected, after the whole mention of him being similar in personality to Rex. Listening to the Japanese VAs and I like his voice actor too...
I was surprised to see so many side quests pop up so early. Even if the game ends up shorter than advertised, it seems like it'll end up filling out pretty nicely. *fingers crossed*
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Holy huge difficulty spike, Batman. :shock:

I won't comment much until I get all the way through the game. I *must* be at least half way through at this point. Probably not a spoiler, but just in case...
Spoiler:
Recently had to turn my game to Easy after 12+ hours on Normal as I was outleveling my enemy by 5 and still getting wiped in one blow at a certain point...I couldn't even figure it out, so after 3 attempts at the same enemy, I decided to just switch it to Easy so I could get on with the story since it was at what I consider to be a big pick up in events. This felt like the first true 'boss battle' of the game, and...well I won't say why the difficulty spike was so insane, but OUCH.
I'll put more of my thoughts up when I'm totally done. I love Jin and Lora. I am probably not prepared to continue, lol...
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I really like all the QoL improvements they've done with this DLC. If they could add them to the base game that'd be great. Things like:
Spoiler:
Seeing what the nodes are for (veggies, wood, ect)
Being able to toggle off enemy aggro right away (except the unique monsters)
Adding new blade combo finishers to stand in for stronger ones
There's probably more i've missed, but those are the standout ones for me.
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Kikki
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In regards to the game's systems, it feels like they got everything right. The only complaint I have is collectibles...if you're missing some (I am ALWAYS missing most of what I need even though I collect like crazy) all it tells you is that you can find it in 'Torna' or in 'Gormott'. That is WAAAAAAY too broad. Its like searching an entire country for a lost penny. :/ And I can never remember where I found the 'machine' type points, so finding any of those bits takes me hours even if they're not uncommon.

Otherwise, it's going great. I'm cleaning up a bunch more side quests right now. Nice way to get extra levels.

Oh but, if you're looking for machine collectibles I can remember two spots that were useful to me.
Spoiler:
You can warp right to Hoary Weald Campsite...there's a point there...I got exactly what I was looking for from that spot. There's also one sort of beneathe that, but you'll have to do some walking...it's near a field skill point..some miasma...that has some rare stuff in it.
Also, about side quests being 'optional'. (No story details revealed but if you don't know what I mean by 'optional' then this may be a...I don't know what to call it. A mechanic spoiler?)
Spoiler:
EDIT: There also exists in the game a thing that means that side-quests really are not optional. You've got to do most of them...possibly even all. (Won't know about 'all' until I reach the end, of course.)
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The main artist of the game released this drawing of the main cast (Torna and XC2). Very major spoilers for XC2 characters, but not Torna:
Spoiler:
Image
I love that
Spoiler:
Nia is there twice, Nial and Hugo are interacting, annnnd seeing Vandham makes me sad again.
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Kikki
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I just finished. Without giving any details or references or anything, my end impression is that I didn't see the story I was expecting to see. I saw some of it, but not most of it.

I think you could play this pre-XC2 just fine, but then, very few of XC2's plot twists actually surprised me, so I'm not sure how many would feel the same. I find Rex a very lacklustre hero compared to Jin, though, so there's that. But then, even during XC2, Jin was my favourite, lol.

Now I feel kind of melancholy. It does really make you want to start up XC2 right away, but I'd have a hard time rooting for anyone but Jin at this point, which makes me think replaying XC2 might actually be kind of torturous, now. Though I was biased that way from the beginning anyway. Not that I was planning to replay right away anyway. I still have loads of blade quests to do in my original (XC2) game.
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Geez, Kiki, did you maraton it? lol.

Eh, i'm working a ton atm, only playing a bit in the morning and evening. I haven't even gotten the final party member yet (I feel like i'm about to though).
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I basically haven't moved in two days from the new temporary meds making me ick in various places, plus the issue they're treating is still acting up, so I didn't have anything else to do. (Well, I could have read or something else that doesn't involve movement, but since I had the game, it seemed a waste not to play it.) I finished at 21 hours because I was starting to feel disconnected from the main story by all the questing and affinity-raising I was doing. I would have needed 25-30 to finish if I had done the last 20-25% of the quests I skipped and maxed everybody out in their affinity charts.

Btw, I don't know if anyone wants to know this, but if you do, here is some technical info about what happens after the end of the game. (No story details, just stuff about save options and so on.)
Spoiler:
Basically it's the same as XC2, and every Xenoblade game. You can save before the 'point of no return' and go back and finish things cuz it warns you when you get there if you still have things you want to do. But even if you don't, no biggie, because it also does the standard 'reset before the point of no return' thing after the credits roll, so either way, you don't have to worry about whether you finished everything or not...you'll get plenty of chance if you want to rush the main story and then go back and do the rest later, if that's how you like it. A lot of stuff carries over to NG+, too, but I won't say what unless asked. Both for potential spoilers and because it's a really long list, lol.
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Sorry about the med issues, Kiki. Hope it works itself out soon!

I'm about 10 hours into it. I'm exploring every nook and cranny and trying to get everyone's affinity charts filled. I'm really enjoying it so far. The party has a nice dynamic to it completely different from the party in vanilla XC2. I like playing as Lora and Aegaeon the most. I'm really not ready to
Spoiler:
Watch all of these characters suffer and inevitably die. I'm getting attached! D:
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Thanks :)

I'm about to turn my XC2 cartridge over to my sister and I am not sure whether to recommend she play Torna first, or just go straight for the main game and try Torna after. Even though I've finished both.

I'm really used to the way Xenoblade works and not much about XC2 surprised me, so I'm very insensitive to spoilers for it. To me, Torna didn't really feel like it spoiled anything, it just introduced it differently and shuffled what the key interesting points were without ruining anything. But like I said...insensitive. So I'm not sure what to tell her when I give her the game.

I'd recommend Torna first with only that one caveat...that for me it would have made me even more discontent with Rex as the protagonist. But that's just me, so otherwise I WOULD recommend Torna first. But I don't know if that's advice that's only good for people with very a very niche perspective...
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Mikodesu
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Still haven't completed Torna - maybe this weekend - but I've thought several times that it's kind of nice that Torna is so short. I'd only recommend playing it first to someone who doesn't have time/energy for an 80 hour RPG - I don't think I'll succeed but I actually have a couple friends I want to play Torna for that reason. Maybe after the fortieth complaint about missing games. It kind of makes me want a developer to work on shorter or more episodic RPGs.

As for spoilers I think it spoils a LOT. It depends on how much that matters to an individual, of course, but...
Spoiler:
I don't remember when it's revealed that Jin/Malos are blades but in the beginning they're assumed drivers (Malos even has a blade he fights with).

If I remember right, Brighid's reveal was big because she was the first blade we saw fighting without a driver?

And it was a huge cinematic moment when Jin's mask fell off for the first time. Personally I really prefer the way Amalthus is revealed in the main game too...
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