Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country

Torna – The Golden Country expands on Xenoblade Chronicles 2 by introducing a new combat system.^[1] The battle system and other gameplay systems were changed from the base game because Tetsuya Takahashi had a strong desire to make it easy for players to engage with the game. Since the game was designed as a separate DLC experience, the team incorporated as many new gameplay elements as possible to go along with its story and characters.^[2]

In comparison to the base game, Torna – The Golden Country made improvements to the user interface and tutorials. One such example is the ability to switch characters and entire teams with a single button when out in the field. The collectible items in the field are now sorted into categories to make them easier to collect. Monolith Soft also added a "Tips" section to the game, allowing players to review previous tutorials. Regarding the battle system, there are three members in a team, and a maximum of three teams, making the total amount of playable characters at nine. When in battle, only one team can be in direct control while the other teams are controlled by the CPU. The battle composition for the active team includes the Vanguard and the Rear Guard. The character in the frontline and rear line is represented by the Vanguard and Rear Guard respectively. Unlike in the main game, the Rear Guard is an active participator in the battle. The way that Blade combos and chain attacks work have also been revamped.

The team streamlined the sidequests, implementing a new "Community" system. "Community" is a more straightforward version of the "Affinity Chart" in Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles X. Compared to the base game, there is more of an emphasis on how the sidequest characters relate to the main characters. Monolith Soft integrated a new system called "Camping", which is an amalgamation of the main game's crafting, Inn, and Heart-to-Hearts.^[3]

Discover more about Gameplay related topics

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a 2017 action role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. Released on December 1, it is the third installment in Xenoblade Chronicles and the seventh main entry in the Xeno series. Plans for the game began shortly before the launch of Xenoblade Chronicles X in 2014. Key developers from previous games returned, including franchise creator Tetsuya Takahashi, and directors Koh Kojima and Genki Yokota. The team wanted to develop a story-driven game in the style of the original Xenoblade Chronicles. The game was announced in 2017 with a worldwide release date planned for the same year. As with Xenoblade Chronicles, the game was localized by Nintendo of Europe.

Tetsuya Takahashi

Tetsuya Takahashi

Tetsuya Takahashi is a Japanese video game designer and director. Takahashi worked at Square, in the 90s as a graphic designer and director, participating on some of their most well-received titles such as Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger. In 1999, he left Square to co-found Monolith Soft, Inc., where he would produce the Xenogears (Square), Xenosaga and Xenoblade Chronicles series, his most notable works. He is married to Soraya Saga, who also worked with him at Square Enix, as well as on Xenogears, Xenosaga, and Soma Bringer.

User interface

User interface

In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine from the human end, while the machine simultaneously feeds back information that aids the operators' decision-making process. Examples of this broad concept of user interfaces include the interactive aspects of computer operating systems, hand tools, heavy machinery operator controls and process controls. The design considerations applicable when creating user interfaces are related to, or involve such disciplines as, ergonomics and psychology.

Xenoblade Chronicles (video game)

Xenoblade Chronicles (video game)

Xenoblade Chronicles is an action role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Wii. Initially released in Japan in 2010, it was later released in the PAL regions in 2011 and then in North America in 2012. A port for the New Nintendo 3DS was released in 2015, and a remaster for the Nintendo Switch was released in May 2020. Xenoblade Chronicles is the first entry in the Xenoblade Chronicles series, a subseries which forms part of the larger Xeno metaseries. Although no direct narrative connections exist to previous Xeno games, it incorporates aesthetic and narrative elements from both fantasy and science fiction. The game features navigation through an open world split into zones, side-quests tied to party members' affinity, and a real-time action-based battle system which incorporates the main character's ability to see brief glimpses of the future.

Xenoblade Chronicles X

Xenoblade Chronicles X

Xenoblade Chronicles X is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Wii U console. Xenoblade Chronicles X forms part of the Xeno metaseries, being a spiritual successor to Xenoblade Chronicles without any narrative connections to prior Xeno titles. Carrying over several gameplay elements from Xenoblade Chronicles, players explore the open world planet Mira, completing a variety of quests and unlocking new regions to explore and gather resources from across Mira's five continents.

Setting and characters

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country features a brand-new story and environments, taking place 494 years before the events of Xenoblade Chronicles 2.^[4][5] It explores the pasts of several main characters from the base game, such as Jin, Mythra, Malos, and Praetor Amalthus, and introduces characters such as Lora and Addam as playable party members.^[6][7]

Plot

494 years prior to the events of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, the Aegis Malos has been awakened by the misanthropic Quaestor Amalthus of Indol and embarked on a campaign of destruction. The mercenary Lora and her trusted partner Jin are recruited by Addam Origo, fourth prince of Torna and Driver of Malos' counterpart Mythra, to battle Malos. Together with Addam's young attendant Milton, the group detours to Gormott to track down Lora's mother, who has perished in a bandit attack. In Gormott, the group is joined by Emperor Hugo Ardanach of Mor Ardain and attacked by Gort, Lora's abusive stepfather who stole Jin's Core Crystal from the Tornan royal family and tried to kill her when she bonded to it 17 years prior. Lora defeats Gort, who unbeknownst to her is captured by Amalthus' men. The party returns to Torna, and learn that Malos is targeting the Tornan capital Auresco. When they arrive in Auresco, Malos besieges the city and declares his intention to overload the Tornan titan with ether energy and cause it to explode. The party pursues Malos to the Titan's core and battles him, but Malos launches an attack on Auresco that kills Milton. A distraught and enraged Mythra unleashes her full power to drive off Malos, but loses control and accidentally kills Hugo and destroys Torna. Devastated over the destruction that she caused fighting Malos, Mythra retreats into a split personality named Pyra. Addam departs for Leftheria to seal Pyra away, while Jin takes Lora and the others to a militia camp in Spessia to meet up with Tornan survivors. In Spessia, Lora is again attacked by Gort, who has been transformed by Amalthus into a monstrous Blade Eater, and is forced to kill him in self-defense. Amalthus launches a coup to take control of Indol. Some time later, after Lora has been killed in an attack on the Tornan survivors by Amalthus and Jin has consumed her heart to become a Flesh Eater, Jin burns the remnants of his old life and embarks on a quest for revenge against Amalthus. In a post-credits scene, Rex discovers the room where Pyra was sealed by Addam, leading into the events of the main game.

In 2015, Torna – The Golden Country was one of the potential story candidates in the initial prototype for Xenoblade Chronicles 2. According to series creator Tetsuya Takahashi, Monolith Soft quickly decided against showing the prototype to Nintendo because they knew it would significantly inflate the budget and development time of the main game. As a result, they shelved the concept and stored it on Takahashi's computer hard drive. Later on, they went back and revived the scenario as a story expansion pass.^[1] Additionally, the story was originally planned to be in between chapters seven and eight of the base game's story, but they opted to keep them separate so that they could expand the scope of the story. The game boasts a new rendering engine which is slightly graphically enhanced compared to the base game. Takahashi specifically pointed out the difference between the fields of Gormott between both games.^[8]

According to Takahashi, they received a ton of feedback from new players regarding the gameplay systems in general. He noted that a lot of new players found the base game's battle system to be a bit intimidating. As a result, Monolith Soft designed this entry to be easier to pick up for the first time. There are more tutorials in the early stages to explain some of the more complex aspects of battle and character development, and the map had been streamlined so they are easier to understand. For Takahashi, who is used to working on games lasting at 80 hours at minimum, he said that the biggest challenge the development team faced was balancing the actual game work and flow in a way that felt right into a 20-hour-long RPG.^[9]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country was released digitally as a part of the game's expansion pass on September 14, 2018, and physically at retail on September 21.^[10]

Music

Yasunori Mitsuda and the other music composers returned to write music, a total of eleven new tracks, for the DLC.^[8] According to Takahashi, the arrangers deliberately used acoustic instruments to match the more somber and mature tones of the story.^[1] Jen Bird also returned to perform the ending theme, titled "A Moment of Eternity".^[11] A digital soundtrack was released on December 14, 2018.^[12]

Release

The game was released on September 14, 2018. It was available digitally as part of the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 DLC season pass and can be accessed through the in-game menu after purchasing and downloading the expansion. One week later, on September 21, 2018, it was also released as a standalone physical Nintendo Switch game cartridge. The physical edition also included a code for the original game's DLC season pass, which included "Helpful Items Pack", "New Quest Pack", "New Rare Blade Pack", and "New Challenge Mode Pack".

Reception and sales

Upon its announcement, Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country was positively received, with some critics expressing enthusiasm for the story expansion.^[20][21] Others cited endearing, relatable characters, interesting story, and an improved battle system.^[22][23] The game holds an 80/100 rating on Metacritic, a video game review aggregator, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[13]

The game was nominated for the G.A.N.G. / MAGFEST People's Choice Award at the 2019 G.A.N.G. Awards.^[24]

As of November 2020, combined sales of the original game and Torna – The Golden Country had exceeded 2.05 million. Monolith Software's executive director Tetsuya Takahashi stated that "It's still early days for the Torna DLC, but from what we've seen in Japan, the sales of the Torna DLC are exceeding our expectations as well."^[25]

Discover more about Development related topics

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a 2017 action role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. Released on December 1, it is the third installment in Xenoblade Chronicles and the seventh main entry in the Xeno series. Plans for the game began shortly before the launch of Xenoblade Chronicles X in 2014. Key developers from previous games returned, including franchise creator Tetsuya Takahashi, and directors Koh Kojima and Genki Yokota. The team wanted to develop a story-driven game in the style of the original Xenoblade Chronicles. The game was announced in 2017 with a worldwide release date planned for the same year. As with Xenoblade Chronicles, the game was localized by Nintendo of Europe.

Tetsuya Takahashi

Tetsuya Takahashi

Tetsuya Takahashi is a Japanese video game designer and director. Takahashi worked at Square, in the 90s as a graphic designer and director, participating on some of their most well-received titles such as Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger. In 1999, he left Square to co-found Monolith Soft, Inc., where he would produce the Xenogears (Square), Xenosaga and Xenoblade Chronicles series, his most notable works. He is married to Soraya Saga, who also worked with him at Square Enix, as well as on Xenogears, Xenosaga, and Soma Bringer.

Monolith Soft

Monolith Soft

Monolith Software Inc., trading as Monolith Soft, is a Japanese video game development studio originally owned by Namco until being bought out by Nintendo in 2007. The company was founded in 1999 by Tetsuya Takahashi with the support and cooperation of Masaya Nakamura, the founder of Namco. Their first project was the Xenosaga series, a spiritual successor to the Square-developed Xenogears. Multiple Square staff would join Takahashi at Monolith Soft including Hirohide Sugiura and Yasuyuki Honne.

Nintendo

Nintendo

Nintendo Co., Ltd. is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops and releases both video games and video game consoles.

Yasunori Mitsuda

Yasunori Mitsuda

Yasunori Mitsuda is a Japanese composer, musician, and sound producer. He is best known for his work in video games, primarily for the Chrono, Xeno, Shadow Hearts, and Inazuma Eleven franchises, among various others. Mitsuda began composing music for his own games in high school, later attending a music college in Tokyo. While still a student, he was granted an intern position at the game development studio Wolf Team.

Metacritic

Metacritic

Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged. Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts in 1999, and is owned by Fandom, Inc. as of 2023.

Destructoid

Destructoid

Destructoid is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022.

Famitsu

Famitsu

Famitsu, formerly Famicom Tsūshin, is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage, a subsidiary of Kadokawa. Famitsu is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the form of special topical issues devoted to only one console, video game company, or other theme. Shūkan Famitsū, the original Famitsu publication, is considered the most widely read and respected video game news magazine in Japan. From October 28, 2011, the company began releasing the digital version of the magazine exclusively on BookWalker weekly.

Game Informer

Game Informer

Game Informer is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. It debuted in August 1991 when video game retailer FuncoLand started publishing an in-house newsletter. The publication is now owned and published by GameStop, who bought FuncoLand in 2000. Due to this, a large amount of promotion is done in-store, which has contributed to the success of the magazine. As of June 2017, it is the 5th most popular magazine by copies circulated.

Pocket Gamer

Pocket Gamer

Pocket Gamer is a video game website that focuses on mobile, portable and handheld games. The site launched in 2005 and is published and owned by UK company Steel Media Ltd. The site covers all major portable and mobile gaming formats, including iPhone, iPod, iPad, MacBook, Pokémon GO Plus, Android, Nintendo Switch and others. It was one of the first to cover the iPhone gaming market. The publication also hands out awards for handheld games to recognize them in several categories. The British newspaper The Guardian at one time syndicated a list of recommended mobile games from Pocket Gamer, especially the list of recommended games for each month. In the years since launch, Steel Media Ltd has created many brand spin-offs, including the industry-facing PocketGamer.biz site and a series of conferences called Pocket Gamer Connects.

Review aggregator

Review aggregator

A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services. This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users can view the reviews, selling information to third parties about consumer tendencies, and creating databases for companies to learn about their actual and potential customers. The system enables users to easily compare many different reviews of the same work. Many of these systems calculate an approximate average assessment, usually based on assigning a numeric value to each review related to its degree of positive rating of the work.