Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna -The Golden Country Review Part 1

Adam Roffel, GamesReviews.com’s editor-in-chief, asked me if I wanted to review Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna -The Golden Country for the Nintendo Switch. I said yes right away. I had played Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and liked it. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get to play Torna though because I had been busy playing other games. I have a free slot of time now and I’m more than ready to take a trip to Torna! Here is part 1 of my Torna – The Golden Country review-in-progress.

I had seen previews of the new Xenoblade Chronicles 2 prequel. The graphics, to me, looked even better than the regular game and the revamped battle system looked cool. So I was really hyped to check this game out.

And yes the graphics look awesome and yes the new battle system is pretty great, but what I like the most so far is the new band of characters that you encounter in Torna.

First of all, there’s Lora. I like Rex (the main character of Xenoblade Chronicles 2), he’s a nice guy. But Lora is so much better. Not only is she nice but she has a more interesting backstory than Rex and a very unique relationship with her blade Jin. I want to know more about both of these characters!

And then we quickly meet Addam, who is traveling with blade Mythra, who we met in Xenoblade 2, and before I knew it, Lora was surrounded by a group of characters that I like more than any other Xeno game I’ve played!

While Xenoblade Chronicles 2 took its time getting its group together, Torna doesn’t do that. Its not that there are no slow moments in this new story, there are plenty of sidequests and camping talks, but Torna has a faster pace than Xenoblade 2. Some may not like that, but I’m enjoying the pacing of the story a lot.

And while the story will definitly be a bit confusing to newbies and returing people alike, the new group of characters keep things grounded and make me want to know what’ll happen next.

As I mentioned earlier though, the story isn’t the only good thing about Torna. In tomorrow’s article, I’ll talk about the game’s revamped battle system. Its better than Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s system. Why is that?