Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna: the Golden Country is a terrific prequel to the wildly excessive Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (my review here). As a reminder, XC2 centers on the salvager Rex and his quest to bring Pyra/Mythra, the ultimate Blade (sentient weapon), back to her creator on Elysium. Rex's companions face off against Malos and Jin, two powerful Blades bent on world destruction. Torna occurs 500 years before the events of XC2, and focuses on Jin and his beloved Driver (weapon wielder), Lora, as they become embroiled in Malos' campaign against the world . Along the way, they are joined by Prince Addam of Torna and Emperor Hugo of Mor Ardain.
The standout feature of Torna is its gameplay, which is far, far superior to the bloat of its predecessor. It's as if a million voices cried out...and the developers listened. First, the combat system has been overhauled. The camera angles are now entirely reasonable, and it's possible to see when combos are happening. And this time, combos are easier to execute and they look amazing! Second, having only six Blades is a vast improvement over the ridiculous number players deal with in XC2 (28 unique Blades plus dozens of common ones). Third, Torna tells a tight story and limits it to only two locations: the kingdom of Torna and the perpetually-contested territory of Gormott. Finally, Torna eliminates the annoying Merc Missions element of XC2, instead linking side quests to the Community feature. Points two and three cut down playtime by about a million hours.
Meanwhile, Torna's characters are all endearing. Mythra, Malos' counterpart in the all-powerful Blade department, is newly awakened here, and much more standoffish and perplexed by human behavior than 500 years later. She's also wearing tights, which is sensible and slightly mitigates all that mid-boob exposure.
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| Athleisure, Aegis style. |
Mythra's Driver, Addam, is a tall, handsome prince with a constant smile, and IMO far better than Rex. In XC2, Blades keep talking about how Rex reminds them of Addam, and they're out of their minds. Addam is smart, charismatic, and always calm. Rex is emotional, reckless, and dresses like a steampunk clown. Maybe the Blades are referring to their genetic link, since Rex is a descendant of Addam?
Anyway, the other Blade-Driver relationships are great. The Jewels of Mor Ardain, Brighid and whatsisface, are back to guard yet another boy emperor, while Haze joins Jin in accompanying sweet Lora. Minoth sticks to Addam. Minothis actually also the Blade of Amalthus, the villainous long-armed smurf who awakens Malos in the first place and infects him with his hatred of humanity. Minoth avoids Amalthus as much as possible. Which begs the question: if people know that killing the Driver reduces the Blade back to his/her crystal core state, why hasn't anyone killed Amalthus??? I get it, he has rank in the Vatican-equivalent of the game, and he's pretending that Malos broke free from his control, but a truly solution-oriented hero would've stabbed him and been like, Fixed it!
Moving on: Torna is fairly light thematically, choosing to concentrate on bonds/relationships, and this is the only area where it pales compared to XC2, which explores the existential crisis of beings reborn again and again with no memory of their past. And since this is the story of how Jin turns to the dark side, it ends up being heartbreaking, with gut-wrenching post-final battle scenes that explain why Mythra consented to being sealed away for centuries. The game also ends with the ominous arrival of the group responsible for Jin's fall.
Finally, Torna's soundtrack is incredible. For example, whereas XC2 combat gives a mosh pit vibe, in Torna, fighting is accompanied by a jazzy, synth- and piano-heavy track ("Battle!"). I could listen to it on loop all day. The rest of the music is beautiful, especially mournful pieces like "Desolation" and "The Power of Jin."
Overall, Torna succeeds as a standalone game because of its compact story, setting, and characters. While it's not necessary to have played XC2 before Torna, doing so drives home the glaring weaknesses of the previous game. It's like having a too-heavy meal and then getting a dessert with balanced flavors--you appreciate the latter more for having experienced the former.
TL;DR: A baby JRPG worth playing, especially if you want to skip the main game.
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This post brought to you by jet lag!
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