Torna - The Golden Country takes the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 formula and keeps the core, essential parts, then adds its own touches and twists, and finally packs it together and squeezes it into this additional adventure. The whole thing feels very ambitious and that applies to pretty much every aspect of the game.
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We know it's a smaller offering and not a full release, but sometimes it breaks up the tempo. It might be understandable for important events, and for example, when the game is explaining how terrible a cook Mythra is, as the dev just wants to add some humanity to one of the most powerful beings in the world. While we're on the subject of pacing, what we quite disliked was how some sequences connect to each other, chaining in a way that can feel very frustrating as you complete one, walk two steps, enter the next one.
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It's very Xenoblade, so to speak, and either the developer was determined to keep the same style, or they just don't know how to do it differently.
That said, we don't mean to imply that this is utterly wrong, nor that it prevents you from connecting with some of the heroes.Īctually, it's ok as long as you're used to the Japanese idiosyncrasies in this regard, and the same happens to the cutscenes pacing (at times terribly slow, other times just hectic). Torna follows the Japanese stereotypes by the book as you meet the whole cast of characters. Characters are clichéd, such as the rude and solitary huntress, the ice-cold, silent type, the kind but brave heroine.
Specific events aside, narrative-wise the game has the same pros and cons you could find in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 every now and then. We won't spoil anything else here, but for those who are a bit in the know, just know that it all revolves around the Aegis War, both in terms of precedents, how things unfold, and the outcome. Here, the action is split between Lora, Addam, and Hugo, though we could say the weight of the plot is born by the former, its blade Jin, and Mahlos, the antagonist from the main game. This episode's events happen 500 years before Rex's story. A double-edged sword, maybe, as this means you'll know how things end up right from minute one.
In other words, Torna's puzzle can be solved without the base game pieces, but for maximum enjoyment of both adventures, we recommend you follow the order in which they were released and play this prequel after the main game. Even though having played the 2017 original means going in with a richer knowledge, you'll be perfectly fine even if you don't know who Pyra, Mythra, Rex, Addam or Jim are. It really is standalone story-wise as well, as you don't need the base game to understand what's going on. It might pale in comparison in terms of numbers, as the lasting appeal isn't there to the same extent and there are fewer places to visit, but despite the obvious constraints and the smaller number of activities to involve yourself in, locales to find, characters to meet, or the shorter duration of the narrative itself, the whole manages to achieve something much more impactful than Rex's story. Torna - The Golden Country not only reaches Xenoblade Chronicles 2's level - it actually surpasses it. Monolith has been ambitious and has approached this chapter with no punches being pulled, going all out, and the good thing is that, instead of a complete mess, the result is in a beautiful harmony that's even better than the source material that spawned it. That being said, you can rest assured that the story of the golden country really is worth its weight in gold. It's an extra, totally standalone chapter, launched pretty much like a whole new game but keeping in mind the content on offer balanced against the pricing. Torna - The Golden Country is a farewell by the Japanese studio to the world of Alrest, and what a farewell it is.Īvailable in both digital and physical versions, this expansion, which might as well be called a sequel, releases in a very unexpected way when it comes to DLC, at least for a Nintendo game. is coming full circle with the final expansion. After sprinkling smaller drops of content for several months to feed the RPG that released for the Nintendo Switch a year ago, Monolith Soft.
The icing on the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Season Pass is here.