Xenoblade Chronicles 2

[The DanMan]

So, before the Direct, there's something that I and a few others have noticed.

The website has updated, and along with character info for the 3 PCs + their Blades and Torna, 3 wallpapers were put up for download. The first was nothing new, but the second and third...

Second:

Third (larger due to the important parts being less prominent):

Interesting. And here's where we start digging into potential spoilers:

A couple weeks back, there was footage of the party in their late 20s/early 30s fighting in a desert area. The person was playing as Rex, who had two generic blades... and not Pyrrha, but Hikari-- who we know is called Mithra in the localization due to that footage.

Both of these wallpapers put a focus on juxtaposing Pyrra and Mithra. They also both have similar thin cross marks as well as a blockier cross-shaped core. Their designs also have a lot of other similarities without being identical. I'll just leave theorycraft out of this and say that things are certainly shaping up to be interesting.

[Armagon]

59 minutes ago, The DanMan said:

So, before the Direct, there's something that I and a few others have noticed.

The website has updated, and along with character info for the 3 PCs + their Blades and Torna, 3 wallpapers were put up for download. The first was nothing new, but the second and third...

Second:

  Hide contents

 

Third (larger due to the important parts being less prominent):

 

  Hide contents

 

Interesting. And here's where we start digging into potential spoilers:

 

  Hide contents

A couple weeks back, there was footage of the party in their late 20s/early 30s fighting in a desert area. The person was playing as Rex, who had two generic blades... and not Pyrrha, but Hikari-- who we know is called Mithra in the localization due to that footage.

Both of these wallpapers put a focus on juxtaposing Pyrra and Mithra. They also both have similar thin cross marks as well as a blockier cross-shaped core. Their designs also have a lot of other similarities without being identical. I'll just leave theorycraft out of this and say that things are certainly shaping up to be interesting.

 

Spoiler

What interested me about Mithra was the location in which she was in. The group appeared to be on Mor Ardain and they were around level 30. This could mean that Mithra will appear earlier than anticipated. And judging from what we have seen, Mor Ardain will be the third Titan visited. In the Gormott footage we've seen, the party was around Lv.10. In Uraya, they were 20. In Mor Ardain, they are at level 30. Knowing Xenoblade, i'd say Mithra appears a good 30, maybe 40 hours into the game (judging by how the Nintendo reps claimed that the Uraya demo takes place 20 hours into the game). Which is still relatively early for Xenoblade standards.

Fun fact, Hikari means light. Mithra, in Indo-Iranian mythology, is the God of light. Interesting choices of names, considering Mithra appears to be more wind-focused in the game.

Also, speaking of the website, we see the official art for a character we don't know the name of yet.

Spoiler

We don't know his name but he's definitely playable. How do we know? He appears in two of the wallpapers, alongside his Blade.

I could tell that his Blade appears in both wallpapers due to her hat.

Intrestingly enough, Tora isn't on the wallpaper here, probably due to the fact that he technically isn't a Driver and Poppi isn't a Blade (she's an artificial Blade).

 

 

Also, i think i may have figured out how many playable characters there'll be in the game.

Spoiler

On the character bar on the top right, there are five slots. Three of them are occupied. The fourth slot would belong to Mr.Eyepatch (let's call him that for now) and the fifth slot would belong to someone we haven't seen yet.

 

[The DanMan]

13 hours ago, Armagon said:

  Reveal hidden contents

What interested me about Mithra was the location in which she was in. The group appeared to be on Mor Ardain and they were around level 30. This could mean that Mithra will appear earlier than anticipated. And judging from what we have seen, Mor Ardain will be the third Titan visited. In the Gormott footage we've seen, the party was around Lv.10. In Uraya, they were 20. In Mor Ardain, they are at level 30. Knowing Xenoblade, i'd say Mithra appears a good 30, maybe 40 hours into the game (judging by how the Nintendo reps claimed that the Uraya demo takes place 20 hours into the game). Which is still relatively early for Xenoblade standards.

Fun fact, Hikari means light. Mithra, in Indo-Iranian mythology, is the God of light. Interesting choices of names, considering Mithra appears to be more wind-focused in the game.

Also, speaking of the website, we see the official art for a character we don't know the name of yet.

  Reveal hidden contents

We don't know his name but he's definitely playable. How do we know? He appears in two of the wallpapers, alongside his Blade.

I could tell that his Blade appears in both wallpapers due to her hat.

Intrestingly enough, Tora isn't on the wallpaper here, probably due to the fact that he technically isn't a Driver and Poppi isn't a Blade (she's an artificial Blade).

 

 

Also, i think i may have figured out how many playable characters there'll be in the game.

  Reveal hidden contents

On the character bar on the top right, there are five slots. Three of them are occupied. The fourth slot would belong to Mr.Eyepatch (let's call him that for now) and the fifth slot would belong to someone we haven't seen yet.

 

I knew the definition of Hikari (thank Kingdom Hearts for that), and I figured Mithra was related to light in some fashion.

Interestingly, in the lower-right corner of the 3rd wallpaper, you see a red wisp of flame... that gradually turns blue. 

I just had a thought... don't tell me we have a Fiora 2.0 deal. Where you have Pyrra for the first couple sections of the game but she ends up captured (which is heavily implied from certain shots in trailers), with it being Rex/Mithra for a good chunk of  the game.

Yeah, I saw the art of Eyepatch Guy. Hopefully we get a proper introduction to him in the Direct. My gut is making me think he may be Ex-Torna or something.

As for the 5th party member... you sure we haven't seen them yet? Miss dual-wielding rapiers has had quite a bit of focus put on her and seems to be a rival character; that, and putting her in we'll have an equal gender ensemble of Drivers (I'm not counting Tora for several reasons).  

[Armagon]

40 minutes ago, The DanMan said:

 

  Hide contents

I knew the definition of Hikari (thank Kingdom Hearts for that), and I figured Mithra was related to light in some fashion.

Interestingly, in the lower-right corner of the 3rd wallpaper, you see a red wisp of flame... that gradually turns blue. 

I just had a thought... don't tell me we have a Fiora 2.0 deal. Where you have Pyrra for the first couple sections of the game but she ends up captured (which is heavily implied from certain shots in trailers), with it being Rex/Mithra for a good chunk of  the game.

Yeah, I saw the art of Eyepatch Guy. Hopefully we get a proper introduction to him in the Direct. My gut is making me think he may be Ex-Torna or something.

As for the 5th party member... you sure we haven't seen them yet? Miss dual-wielding rapiers has had quite a bit of focus put on her and seems to be a rival character; that, and putting her in we'll have an equal gender ensemble of Drivers (I'm not counting Tora for several reasons).  

 

Spoiler

I noticed the flames too. The red flame is obviously Pyra. The blue flame most likely symbolizes Mithra, even if her color scheme is green and white. Given that they are connected, the idea that Pyra and Mithra will fuse to create an even more powerful Blade has popped into my head.

While i can see Pyra getting captured (that is one of Torna's goals after all), i don't know if she'd a Fiora 2.0 deal. With Fiora, we had her for just the first section of the game and she doesn't come back until the Fallen Arm, which is past the halfway point. With Pyra, we've seen footage (or rather, screenshots) of her in the party in the Argentum Trade Guild. If my theory is correct, the Argentum Trade Guild is visited after Mor Ardain (though whether it's directly after or much later remains to be seen). So at the very least, Pyra will be in the party up until Argentum, which would be a pretty big chunk of the game.

Unless, of course, Pyra gets captured in Mor Ardain, Rex and friends rescue her, and then they go off to Argentum (or another Titan).

Mr.Eyepatch being Ex-Torna is a possibility. I can also see him being Mor-Ardainian. 

As for the fifth party members, it could be Miss Dual-Wielding Rapiers and i'm willing to accept that she is the most likely candidate. In the third wallpaper, behind Rex, Pyra, and Mithra, the characters are divided in two. To the right are the protagonists and their Blades: Nia/Dromarch, Tora/Poppi, and Mr.Eyepatch/Hat Girl. To the left would be the antagonists (or some of them anyway, as the Torna guys aren't there and i guarantee you that Bana, the president of Argentum, is going to be a villain), those being Miss Dual-Wielding Rapiers and her Blade (i think) followed by a big guy (who i think is the guy who said "hand her over to a grown up" in the trailers) and his Blade (i think).

 

Edited November 5, 2017 by Armagon

[kingddd]

Overall the Direct was what you would pretty much expect.

A Story trailer, Combat Review from the previous sessions and demonstrations from showcases, Japanese Voices are Free DLC and Season Pass up until around August 2018.

The DLC is kind of expected considering Xenoblade X did get DLCs in Japan.  The difference was that the international Release got them all for free.

[The DanMan]

So... Pyrra is Mithra. Right when we were thinking that was too obvious, it happened.

[Shiki]

I'm looking forward to play as Seto Kaiba Zeke ... if that is possible.

[Armagon]

27 minutes ago, kingddd said:

A Story trailer, Combat Review from the previous sessions and demonstrations from showcases, Japanese Voices are Free DLC and Season Pass up until around August 2018.

Correction, it actually goes up to Fall 2018.

26 minutes ago, The DanMan said:

So... Pyrra is Mithra. Right when we were thinking that was too obvious, it happened.

I can't help but feel that was a spoiler (then again, Xenoblade trailers love putting spoilers in them).

11 minutes ago, Talandar said:

I'm looking forward to play as Seto Kaiba Zeke ... if that is possible.

It is. Rex doesn't have to leave the party. 

Anyway, i made a thread specifically dedicated to the Direct but thinking about it now, it'll probably get locked for being redundant so i'll just quote myself in case it happens.

5 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Now, i know we already have a Xenoblade Chronicles thread. However, i'm making this thread to share my thoughts about the direct and hopefully you can too. So, let's begin.

• We got some backstory on the world of Alrest. Everyone lived on Elysium but then they got banished and sent to live on the Titans. However, even the Titans don't live forever and it looks like the main objective of the game is find a way back to Elysium.
  • Living in paradise and then banished, where i have i heard this story before...
• Japanese voice pack confirmed. So, for those of you who complained about the English dub, you're saved. Personally, i lik the English dub but now there's an option for everyone.
• Story trailer. It looks very cool and there may have been a spoiler there but putting spoilers in their trailers is a Xenoblade thing appearntly. They did it with XC1, they did it with X, and now they're doing it with XC2.
  •   Reveal hidden contents

    The spoiler is that Pyra has a form called Mithra. On a gameplay standpoint, Pyra can switch between Mithra at any time, effectively giving Rex four Blades at a time (Pyra/Mithra+the other 3 Blades). Pretty cool.

• Zeke and his Blade, Pandoria are the newly revealed playable characters. Zeke definitely has my favorite design of the party. He's the black-clothed,  eyepatch guy seen in the trailers and wallpapers.
• They also showed off some of the villains.
• Whenever a unique monster is defeated, a tombstone will appear when they fell. By visiting these tombstones, you can challenge them again. I think that's a really neat touch and it's better than having to wait for the unique monster to respawn like in previous games.
• Map in your way? Art names in your way? You can customize the UI to remove these to take in more of the scenery. 
• As Poppi is an artifical Blade, she can be customized with special parts. You ca acquire these parts by playing a special retro Nopon mingame. My only worry is that Poppi will be to customization to the point where Tora never has to switch out.
• Three different types of combos: Driver Combos, Blade Combos, and Fusion Combos. I'm loving this combat system more and more.
• DLC confirmed. I can already hear the salt but i will say, it's basically following Breath of the Wild's DLC. The game will be supported with DLC all the way up to Fall of next year. It contains:
  • Some new items
  • New quests
  • New Rare Blade (i actually don't like this part)
  • New Challenge Mode
  • Brand new story.
• The brand new story has me really hyped. 
• Biggest surprise though is that on Nov.9th, Breath of the Wild will receive a free update. It contains a quest and, upon completing it, you'll recive Rex's clothes for Link to wear. This cross-promotion is really cool.

So for those of you who watched, what are your thoughts? Are you more interested in the game now? I'm personally buying this at launch and having it be supported via DLC all the way up to Fall of next year is amazing.

 

[The DanMan]

@Armagon I think we all know who that new Rare Blade is. Only one option makes sense to be a single DLC item.

[Armagon]

Just now, The DanMan said:

@Armagon I think we all know who that new Rare Blade is. Only one option makes sense to be a single DLC item.

If it's the Monado, i'll actually be hyped.

[The DanMan]

So, there were a couple of Blades in the Direct that we probably weren't meant to see. Spoilers, obviously

 

 Vandham's blade is in Rex's inventory.

EDIT: Actually, the second one was outright shown in the Japanese version and has art up on their site:

Edited November 7, 2017 by The DanMan

[LuxSpes]

25 minutes ago, The DanMan said:

So, there were a couple of Blades in the Direct that we probably weren't meant to see. Spoilers, obviously

  Reveal hidden contents

 Vandham's blade is in Rex's inventory.

 

Also:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Hi, Poppi. I see you evolved. Unsurprising considering the Alpha symbol in her localized name and term basically meaning "elementary schooler" in her Japanese name, but still a spoiler none the less.

 

 

In regards to those 2 spoilers

Spoiler

I've seen speculations about Vandham and Morag eventually joining the party ever since this drawing was released :

Apparently, Rex was already shown using Vandham's blade in a earlier footage, but it happening again in the direct seems to support that hypothesis.

And we can see a portrait of Poppi's other form when they show the affinity chart:

 

[blah the Prussian]

At this point my big concern is that the plot will be a rehash of the first game. You have your obvious bad guys, you have the potential for a plot twist that they're misunderstood, and you have a God is evil plot twist just waiting to happen. Xenoblade had an amazing story with interesting themes; I just hope this game has its own themes.

[Armagon]

The download size for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is only 13 GB. I was expecting it to be much more but i guess the Switch being cartridge based made it easy for Monolith to optimize the game so that it takes up less data. For comparison, Breath of the Wild is about the same size.

Also, here's some new art of Mithra, Zeke, Brighid, and Akhos.

Spoiler

 

 

Also, want to go back to a thing i discussed with @The DanMan earlier this week regarding the playable characters.

Spoiler

When i noticed the fifth character slot, you suggested that it could belong to miss dual-rapiers, who we know is called Morag. After watching the Direct, i fully believe that to be the case. Of all the new characters introduced, the only two who were introduced alongside their names were Zeke and Morag. 

 

[The DanMan]

47 minutes ago, Armagon said:

The download size for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is only 13 GB. I was expecting it to be much more but i guess the Switch being cartridge based made it easy for Monolith to optimize the game so that it takes up less data. For comparison, Breath of the Wild is about the same size.

Also, here's some new art of Mithra, Zeke, Brighid, and Akhos.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Also, want to go back to a thing i discussed with @The DanMan earlier this week regarding the playable characters.

  Reveal hidden contents

When i noticed the fifth character slot, you suggested that it could belong to miss dual-rapiers, who we know is called Morag. After watching the Direct, i fully believe that to be the case. Of all the new characters introduced, the only two who were introduced alongside their names were Zeke and Morag. 

 

We may actually have 6 playable characters; people have said that certain UI elements leave enough room for that many.

There's also stuff like this chart:

Edited November 7, 2017 by The DanMan

[Armagon]

17 hours ago, The DanMan said:

 

  Hide contents

We may actually have 6 playable characters; people have said that certain UI elements leave enough room for that many.

There's also stuff like this chart:

 

 

Spoiler

I'm guessing that chart came from the Japanese Xenoblade Chronicles 2 website, right? Seems Zeke was one of the people after the Aegis but judging from the trailer, he joins with the party pretty early. Oh, and thanks to the banners in the background, we can see that Vandham comes from Uraya. And Morag is from Mor Ardain but we knew that already. Then it turns out Zeke is from the Kingdom of Tantal and Rex hails from Fonestt Village in the Leftherian Archipelago. This was taken from the official website (well, Rex's origins anyway. Zeke is from Tantal because the banner behind him matches up).

 

[vanguard333]

The direct was cool, though I think (see spoiler below for the rest of the sentence).

Spoiler

the Pyra/Mythra thing and Rex getting stabbed at the beginning were things I would have wanted to wait until the game to find out. But at least we don't know why the Pyra/Mythra thing happens, or its significance.

The game looks awesome, and I don't really have a problem with the expansion pass, as at least it is all an option, and not necessarily stuff that should've been in the game already. 

By the way, I was just on the updated website. One of the pictures for the Argentum Trade Guild shows the titan "Gramps" being there at the same time as what appear to be a Mor Ardain ship, and a Torna ship. First, there's no way at all that it spells trouble for the heroes (sarcasm). Second, once again, one can see that the Torna ship does not have any titans. I wonder why.

EDIT: Also; something I've been meaning to say. The sword that Pyra powers is called the Aegis. But the name Aegis refers to a mythological shield. Why call a sword that? 

Edited November 8, 2017 by vanguard333

[LuxSpes]

2 hours ago, Armagon said:

  Reveal hidden contents

I'm guessing that chart came from the Japanese Xenoblade Chronicles 2 website, right? Seems Zeke was one of the people after the Aegis but judging from the trailer, he joins with the party pretty early. Oh, and thanks to the banners in the background, we can see that Vandham comes from Uraya. And Morag is from Mor Ardain but we knew that already. Then it turns out Zeke is from the Kingdom of Tantal and Rex hails from Fonestt Village in the Leftherian Archipelago. This was taken from the official website (well, Rex's origins anyway. Zeke is from Tantal because the banner behind him matches up).

 

 

Spoiler

In regards to Zeke and Tantal, people noticed that 2 characters' japanese names were reference to the Japanese names of the Four Symbols of Chinese mythology, with Azurda being Seiryū  and Dromarch being Byakko. Then with all the info we got yesterday, we saw that Roc is Suzaku and now Tantal's Titan is named after the remaining one, Genbu.

And Zeke coming from there seems fitting considering his full name in Japanese is apparently Zeke B Ultimate Genbu. 

[Armagon]

So something i noticed in the Direct was that there was footage of Rex accepting a quest in the Argentum Trade Guild. In it, he battles a Krabble. But here's the interesting thing: he's only Lv.4 and the party consists of just Rex (and Pyra). So, a bit of theorizing here, i'll attempt to chart the course of Rex's journey based on footage we've seen so far (both in and out of the Direct).

Spoiler

1. Argentum Trade Guild is the first stop. Mainly because a battle takes place there and Rex is only Lv.4, as well as the only member in the party. I also assume this is where Tora is recruited.
2. Imperial Province of Gormott is next on the list. In the E3 demo, the party consisted of Rex, Nia, and Tora (and their Blades) and they were around the Lv.10 mark. Given that the people of Gormott are the cat-people, this is where Nia likely comes in.
3. Kingdom of Uraya. Based on the Gamescom demo, the part here consisted as the same as above but they were at around Lv.20. There's a clip in the character trailer where Zeke and Pandoria are introduced. Part of that clip shows Pandoira in Uraya. The four playable characters are Rex, Tora, Nia, and Zeke (we don't know if Morag and Vandham will join). If this chart is correct, then it's likely that Zeke joins in Uraya.
4. Empire of Mor Ardain. We've seen little footage of this area aside from some clips. But here, the party was at around the Lv.30 mark. There is footage of Zeke in the party here so he either joins here or in Uraya.
5. Kingdom of Tantal. Same as Mor Ardain really. I suppose the two could be switched around. Though there's really only one clip for Tantal and it came out of the Direct.
6. This video here shows the party in the Lefthirian Archipelago. The group was also at around the Lv.30 mark. Except later in the video, the party is shown being in the same general area but this time at around Lv.45.
7. At the very end of that video, the party is shown fighting in Temperantia at around the same level as above. I suppose Lefhirian Achipelago and Temperantia could be swapped around. It's these two that really confused me when charting the route that Rex will take on his journey.

Of course, the levels shown could just be for demonstration purposes and actually mean nothing when compared to the actual game.

There are no footage of any battles on Indol, so i can't place that on the chart.

 

[LuxSpes]

Regarding the Seven Deadly Sins pattern we saw in the nations/factions name, we finally have Lust, with Tantal. It's obviously a reference to Tantalus from Greek Myths and the Japanese name is Luxiuria ōkoku, with Luxuria being the Latin word for Lust.

More interestingly, the two other new locations seem to be named after Virtues :

- Temperantia is obviously Temperance and is one of the Seven Heavenly Virtues

- The Leftherian Archipelago's japanese name is Liberalitas tōsho-gun (Liberalitas Islands Group). Liberalitas is not a Heavenly Virtue, but it was the virtue of giving freely in ancient Rome, which is similar to Charity, one of the Seven Virtues. Liberalitas also come from the latin word for 'free', which is why they chose Leftherian for the localized name, since it seemingly comes from the Greek word 'eleftheria', which means 'freedom' or 'free'.

[The DanMan]

Preview vids have come out. No collectepedia or customizable designs, and I'm OK with both of those changes.

 

[Quintessence]

5 hours ago, LuxSpes said:

Regarding the Seven Deadly Sins pattern we saw in the nations/factions name, we finally have Lust, with Tantal. It's obviously a reference to Tantalus from Greek Myths and the Japanese name is Luxiuria ōkoku, with Luxuria being the Latin word for Lust.

More interestingly, the two other new locations seem to be named after Virtues :

- Temperantia is obviously Temperance and is one of the Seven Heavenly Virtues

- The Leftherian Archipelago's japanese name is Liberalitas tōsho-gun (Liberalitas Islands Group). Liberalitas is not a Heavenly Virtue, but it was the virtue of giving freely in ancient Rome, which is similar to Charity, one of the Seven Virtues. Liberalitas also come from the latin word for 'free', which is why they chose Leftherian for the localized name, since it seemingly comes from the Greek word 'eleftheria', which means 'freedom' or 'free'.

Huh? The game has this theme? That's really interesting. I'd like to hear/know more of it 

Just watched the trailer and I totally love the game. I don't understand most gameplay stuff but I'll get the hang of it as soon as I play it (well, the most I know is that Drives are frontliners and Blades are support units). Can't wait to get it

and the Switch as well

[LuxSpes]

@Armagon The footage released  by Gamexplain seems to back-up your predicted path. I just started the vid and they say that they just got Tora as their second party member and that they can fast-travel to Argentum, but the gameplay all takes place in Gormott. The music sounds gorgeous too. 

30 minutes ago, Quintessence said:

Huh? The game has this theme? That's really interesting. I'd like to hear/know more of it 

Just watched the trailer and I totally love the game. I don't understand most gameplay stuff but I'll get the hang of it as soon as I play it (well, the most I know is that Drives are frontliners and Blades are support units). Can't wait to get it

and the Switch as well

Well 7 of the revealed factions/locations are named after the Seven Deadly Sins :

• Kingdom of Tantal/Luxuria ōkoku is Lust
• Imperial Province of Gormott/Gula Ryō is Gluttony (Gula is Latin for Gluttony and Gormott resembles "Gourmand", but I'm not sure of the exact origins)
• Kingdom of Uraya/Invidia Retsu ōkoku is Envy (Invidia is Latin for it and urayamashii is Japanese for envious)
• Argentum Trade Guild/Avaritia shōkai is Greed (Avaritia is Latin for it and Argentum is Latin for Silver. 'Argent', beside meaning Silver also means 'money' in French)
• Torna/Ira is Wrath (Ira is Wrath in Latin and Torna is similar to 'toorn', which is the Dutch word for anger)
• Indoline Praeotrium/Acedia Hōōchō is Sloth (Acedia is Latin for Sloth and Indoline is similar to indolence, which means lazy)
• Empire of Mor Ardain/Superbia Empire is Pride (Superbia is Latin for Pride and Mor Ardain seems to come from Scottish Gaelic, with 'mòr à' meaning 'proud' and 'àrdan' meaning 'pride' or 'arrogance'

This only leaves Temperantia and the Leftherian Archipelago as far as the area we know of and they're both named after virtues. 

And as you can see, it's really easy to figure out which nation/location is named after which sin/virtue by looking at the Japanese name since they just use the Latin word for it. 

Edited November 10, 2017 by LuxSpes

[Quintessence]

@LuxSpes That's really cool, it reminds me of Bayonetta's Cardinal Virtues (Fortitudo, Temperantia, Iustitia and Sapientia)!

[Armagon]

4 hours ago, The DanMan said:

Preview vids have come out. No collectepedia or customizable designs, and I'm OK with both of those changes.

 

The lack of customization designs bothers me very slightly but it's not a dealbreaker. Especially since i do like the designs of the characters. People can say all they want about Rex's outfit, his outfit at least serves an actual purpose to both his character and the gameplay.

As for collectepdia.....i forgot there was one. I never bothered with it in the original Xenoblade.

32 minutes ago, LuxSpes said:

@Armagon The footage released  by Gamexplain seems to back-up your predicted path. I just started the vid and they say that they just got Tora as their second party member and that they can fast-travel to Argentum, but the gameplay all takes place in Gormott. The music sounds gorgeous too.

Yeah i saw. Though i was off on one thing. I predicted that Tora would join in Argentum but turns out he actually joins in Gormott. The Gamespot footage shows the scene where Tora joins the party. It's an incredibly anime scene and i love it. Both the GameXplain and Gamespot footage give us a better look at the voices in the cutscenes.......and it's actually good. I mean, Azurda sounds a bit too quiet for my tastes but everyone else sounds pretty good. And i'm seeing plenty of comments agreeing with me on this. See people? Don't judge the voice acting on one "TAKE THIIIIIIIIS".

And yes, the music is absolutely fantastic. And speaking of the gameplay, i'm noticing so many quality-of-life improvements and it makes the game so much better. I'll definitely be having more fun handling quests in XC2 compared to XC1.