After a short break, I picked XC2 back up. Definitely in chapter 2 is where the game starts to reveal itself, in contrast to the heavy tutorial based first chapter. The second chapter still has quite a lot of helpful hints and tips, but to be honest I’m pretty much ignoring them. I know everyone gets mad when a blogger or streamer skips the tutorial and has no idea how to play the game but honestly I feel like I’m not having any trouble despite not really having any idea what I’m doing.
There is still a lot of direction in Chapter 2 the player can take advantage of despite the lack of guided tutorials. However, the way the game presents its advice and tips is long-winded and while there is a bit of humor, it’s just not pleasant to read. I found myself skipping all of it and deciding to worry about it when I come to that bridge. So far, I’ve had absolutely no problems. That makes me worry a little that some of the advice will be necessary to understand later in the game. But if that’s the case, then I would say it’s poorly placed direction. Only time will tell.
And speaking of “revealing” itself, this is how we first see Pyra in Chapter 2.
Then soon after, you meet another blade.
The sexuality in this game is so ridiculous it actually makes for some good laughs. However, I think that there are plenty of people on the internet critiquing the representation of women in video games, so I’ll be leaving that topic mostly untouched on my blog. But it’s basically impossible to talk about this game and not at least mention it.
Enemies and Other Creatures
Something else I found interesting in Chapter 2 is that animals and enemies alike have a level marker above their head. Up until this point in the game, everything that had a level marker was an enemy. Many of the animals are docile and you can walk right up to them and get a better look. They’ll only engage if you do first.
I’m not sure what the game intends for with this feature and I think it’s pretty weird overall.
“Gramps”
Spoilers Ahead
I’m not sure how big this spoiler really is but I think it can ruin a little bit of the fun of the game so I’ll put up a warning just in case.
After Malos and Jin attack, your Titan, affectionately known as “Gramps”, comes to the rescue. You all wash up on a much larger titan to find Gramps mortally wounded.
He glows intensely and then fades away. It’s a pretty emotional scene, and even though the player will not have invested much in the characters yet, it still evokes a lot of sadness.
But then immediately after we hear Gramps’ voice and we see this small creature. It turns out Gramps was able to restore his form to his larval state. It’s not known if Gramps was truly saying goodbye to Rex, unaware of this ability of his, or if he was playing along the entire time. Either way, I was pretty relieved that this character was able to stick around.
Despite MANY of the game’s eccentricities, it is still an overall fun play so far. The gameplay is satisfying and the world is a lot of fun to explore. One of my favorite features is that the tides change with the time of day. The clouds will rise and fall depending on the time, meaning that many parts of the map are worth a second and even third look. The voice acting is good and the atmosphere is wonderful. This is a light-hearted game that when not taken too seriously, is a great time.
