Before the final battle against Malos, Haze says " I couldn't imagine having to be the Blade of such a horrid man..." That's what hurt me the most in Torna.

I'm debating picking up this game but I'm torna.

Torna really made me appreciate Jin, Mythra and Haze so much more, making all the XB2 scenes involving them carry far more weight, and it also fleshed out Lora and Addam so well. By doing all that it retroactively makes Xenoblade 2 a better game, which truly is the mark of an amazing prequel.

If we can get a Xenoblade game where the driver and blade use the same weapon like base 2, but have the switch system of Torna, I’ll just cry. For real

22:10 I think that isn’t Torna sinking, it’s Adam sinking the ship in which Mythra is now imprisoned. Great video. It’s great how you appreciate all the small details in this game.

Mythra's "I just want... to save" is actually a translation error. It should've been "I just want... to BE saved", as seen in the Japanese version of the game.

19:50 Hugo's sacrifice reflects what his future successor, Niall, will do when Chairman Bana tried to suicide bomb everyone 500 years later.

Torna elevated Xenoblade 2 so much in my opinion I loved it before Torna but after Torna it’s possibly my favorite. Really enjoyed both your Xenoblade 2 videos. Subbed

The one part of this prequel that really tore at me was that Mythra barely recalls Mikhail's existence in the base game.....also Haze's tragedy really hit hard after this DLC

Revisiting Torna, I noticed that Malos comments on Addam's eyes, but also comments on Rex's eyes in the base game shortly after the very first fight with him in Chapter 1. I thought it was very interesting and definitely didn't catch it the first time.

I can’t believe that you noticed the connection with the monado shocking the driver as well

This is a beautiful prequel. I kinda wish they'd have ended the story with reshowing how Lora died.

Great job with the video. After finishing Torna, small details in the main game mean so much more than before. Jin's "Empty Moment" move makes me sad. The placement of Torigoth's flower patch 500 years later made me smile. The list goes on and on. BRAVO MONOLITH! Bravo...

Phenomenal video. Torna is easily one of my favourite video game experiences I've ever had, and I honestly haven't heard that much talk about it, so to see it getting such a thoughtful analysis like this makes me so happy. So many things, especially the narrative caused by Haze seem to have largely gone unmentioned, so it's nice to see appreciation for the little things like this that make me absolutely adore Torna.

I'm really glad that I wasn't the only one who wasn't super fond of Mythra in the base game. It's nice that I was able to experience this in my way because like you I went from tolerating her in the base game to loving her character thanks to Torna. I understand now why she was harsh, and distrustful and to an extent angry. Pyra is a form of her that's everything SHE can't be: A great cook, kind, empathetic, loving, WEAKER because she can't trust herself with her full power. Good lord her scream when she sees Milton, painfully and beautifully done. Imagine carrying a tortured and wonded soul for 500 years, even in stasis. I'm very glad Torna is the way it is because now I SEE why people like Mythra, because they were able to see what I couldn't in the base game. I'm very glad that I can say I understand and appreciate Mythra's character now after having played Torna: The Golden Country because I KNOW now why she is the way she is in the base game.

I am sure the house that Jin burns down is the one that Lora wanted to use for the orphanage I'm still crying from that ending

19:38 I absolutely adore this voice acting. This scream is fucking amazing!

Chronicles X was the "Majora's Mask" of the franchise and it gave me a smile through much of my playthrough to see them go back to that style of world building and storytelling in Torna.

Alright, but for real tho, I’d be willing to have a full series of Torna structured dlc for Xenoblade 2 based on fleshing out the world and lore of Alrest.

These videos are absolutely phenomenal and I will be showing them to all of my fellow Xenoblade lovers

I just discovered this channel yesterday and this is the third video I watched. I already subbed. Just listening to these discussions gives me *chills.*

I know it's been I while since the game came out, but I just play it again recently, and not gonna lie, it's still a pleasure. I remember the first time I play it, at the end of the game, I cried.. however I knew what the characters will encounter during their journey, like Mythra will be seal, Lora will die, Mikhail will be take by Indol, Hugo probably dying etc... but still, seeing that, the old old story of Torna, the legend of Torna if I can say, seeing it by my own eyes, encounter the people of this lost country, help them for their quest, all those guys who think they can just live in peace... untill the destruction of Torna makes me horribly sad, tearing... and the king of Torna, who stand up face to face with the destruction, he never left like a real king, like a captain who is the last to leave his ship... And for the case of Milton... he makes me empty inside, such a good boy, I want to hug him during all the game (Nia 2.0)... why Mikhail don't talk about him in the future (in the events of XC2)... After playing Torna, if you return on XC2 I can feel more the relation with the characters who lives 500 years ago, Azurda, Mahlos, Jin, Mythra, Brighid (even if she forget, all she have is her book, but still), Minoth, etc... feeling about this scar of the past who will never be forget, but Rex is here for helping the others and thinking about the future (Addam vibes). When I start XC2 for the second time, I understood a lot more about the story (because the first time it's complicated) and feel more about the characters, but It will not the same anymore after playing Torna and live this terrible life at the past, I reach the top of the sadness for everyone. The morality of the these two games, it's about the think theres no good guys or bad guys, Vandham at the end explain all the philosophy of the game.. "everyone as their fight", everyone believe on what they want, human being after all huh ?? Everyone is fighting for what they think is right. Truly a master piece, I love this game, a beautiful reflection about the humanity and their mentality.~

I loved Skye Bennet voice acting, I hope I typed her last name correctly. Torna is my fav xenoblade game of all time, and if we say XC2 as a whole with torna is one. Probably my fav of all time.

Noooo. You forgot the new gormott theme! In all seriousness though great video. Xenoblade is just such an underrated game series so the fact that people are making more xenoblade content makes me happy.

18:22 that Shock that happened to Addam and Durban just reminds me of Hulk who couldn’t hold the gauntlet in Endgame

Woot it's here! :D Aaand I'm crying again. D,:

still hard to believe that Addam have a wife and child

Malos’ theme is actually called Over Despair and Animus, referencing Beyond Despair And Hope.

The scene where Mythra sees Milton is dead makes me *so* sad because she *knows* she went out of control because she was worried about him but she *doesn't know if his death was her fault.* When Mikhail flinches away from her, shielding the corpse of the boy who is essentially her little brother from her touch, that confirms to her that *she* was the one who killed him, even if *we* know that it probably *was* Malos. I think that's a major reason why she can't stand being herself and creates Pyra to live in her stead.

I've been wanting to watch this video since you released it but I've been busy but I'm extremely happy with how it came out I'm looking forward to more of your videos you deserve far more views and subscribers

Anyone else notice the very small detail that when Mythra looks over at Mikhail and Milton, everything else around her is slightly blurred as if she has tunnel vision?

Thanks for making content! Finally finished this DLC and seeing people talk about it makes me so happy. I'm so glad I finished after so many years. Hope you keep making content and that we get another masterpiece from monolith Soft!

Fantastic video. It's always wonderful seeing that people share the same kind of love for Xenoblade that I have. XC2 is among my favourite games of all time, and I had already made that decision before Torna. Being able to see everything that happened before we knew the world to be is really quite sobering and it puts a lot of things in frame that some stories would simply leave to nuance or hearsay, much like how XC2 did for Jin and Haze, but that was probably intentional, being that they had already planned Prequel DLC. Having that resolution and understanding better some of the more complex characters is very, very welcome, especially when, as you've said, a lot of people's opinions on Mythra's character are quite sour until the later parts of the base game. Personally, I always thought she was really interesting; having housed herself within another personality because of a traumatic event that happened in what was effectively a previous life. It made you wonder exactly what happened that might have caused that split and why she's so bitter all the time. Through Torna, you begin to understand that she has always been fairly distant and mistrusting, but she obviously means well, and that she started to open up, both towards Addam and, eventually, the rest of the crew. It's subtle, but I always saw her standoffish nature as a fear of failure and commitment, she's always been hard on herself and doesn't like getting close to people for fear of disappointing them or simply because she's the Aegis, which comes with it's own set of things to be scared of. Come Torna's closing sequence, you realise that her fears were correct and everything she had worked hard to put aside came true, leading to her breakdown. Then, going into XC2, it becomes so much more clear that she's hesitant to make any sort of effort towards companionship and that she's only around initially because she needed to be, because Pyra called upon her. And like, that's just one half of one main character, briefly summed up in short term with a lot of omissions that doesn't do their character justice in the slightest. This game's character personalities are miles DEEP, man. I love Xenoblade so much, I can't wait for XC3.

I just completed this game last night. I was gutted. I know Pyra is the more emotionally mature one (but Mythra is still my favorite by a mile), but Mythra went through hell. The way her eyes search frantically while her face is frozen. I know that feeling. Of just trauma, not crying or yelling, just frozen, wondering if what’s happening is real. And she tried to self-immolate. I wouldn’t do that. But maybe if I had the Aegis’s power I would. Comment getting long. At work haha. Subscribed!

Phenomenal video man. Such an amazing well thought out analysis on this incredible game, I hope a lot more people watch this. I absolutely loved Torna and it made me appreciate the events of the main game even more. I'm glad that their's other people out their who can appreciate and love this series as much I do. Keep up the good work man!

One thing I wish happened at the end of Torna was instead of fighting Gort again, you play through spessia a very small amount, and meet up with the rest of the tornans. And then after resting at a camp or something, Indol shows up and you have to fight them off, only for Lora to be killed. Then, as "Our Paths May Never Cross" plays, you take control of a now flesh eater Jin and absolutely obliterate the Indoline force, with Gort at the head of the blade eaters, having access to all of Jin's arts/specials from the main game in an XC1 style, with them all lined up at the bottom.

That ending was amazing

Thanks for reminding me how amazing these games are, because of you I’m now gonna Buy Torna the Golden country physical even though I already have it digital 😂 it’s for collecting purposes, plus I’ll be able to let my cousins borrow it since he hasn’t had a chance to play it yet 😎 yeet

I know I'm pretty late to the video, but I beat Torna a month or two ago, and this video recently got recommended to me. I'd like to say that I liked the forced sidequests. I feel most games couldn't make it work as well as Torna does, and I'll admit that I was annoyed at first that the sidequests became mandatory for story progression. However, as I did them, I appreciated that they made us do them for a couple of reasons. For one, it added depth to the world and certainly gave me a good laugh at times. The community system helped push this further, because you see the impact you're having. You get to actually see how many people you're helping because it's all compiled into one chart. I'm not sure about everyone else, but that made me want to do these sidequests because there was a visual impact. The other reason I appreciated the mandatory sidequests is because it made the ending just that much more impactful. All of those people you helped, all of the businesses you helped to get started, it all amounted to nothing. Those people either died or they left everything behind. As depressing as it may be, it helps us realize just how much damage Malos caused when he sank Torna beneath the Cloud Sea. It all works incredibly well, ironically, because in the end it was all for naught.

Nice video! I do have a couple complaints about Torna... though. Uhh like I think wayyyy too much is wrapped up in the ending cutscenes, I thought the game should've gone on and given more closure for Jin and ESPECIALLY Mik. Mik specifically felt forced into the game... also I guess he was British as a kid? Or maybe becoming a Blade made him American? I'm not sure... but it's a shame that we never really got any more info on why Mik is the way he is in XC2, probably the thing I was looking forward to most from Torna. Oh and also I wish there wasn't such a major focus on the sidequests, it's a slog and feels like padding that should've, as you said, been left as side content. I do think Torna's average quest quality is MUCH better than base XC2, but sometimes it feels like you're locked in so you can finish enough quests to beat the game, as in, you're oftentimes making decisions but in the end you're always going to end up with the same community. A lot of the magic from XC1's and XCX's quests make you want to see them through, it feels like you have to see it through on your own and, at least for me, it feels like your decisions truly matter... err especially XCX, since there are multiple life/death situations in the sidequests. A couple more minor nitpicks about Torna : - i was crying for two hours straight after beating Torna, i think "sombre", as you described, may be sorta understated. i think we all cried during Torna. I may be over exaggerating, since I cry a lot, and even just listening to some songs like Requiem and A Moment of Eternity make me cry buckets, but still - I was irritated that noise pollution during combat is even worse than base XC2, and I have no clue how they even managed that... I was hoping that the addition of a sound mixing options menu was good for the series, but I think XCX still has the best battle cries solely because they're the only game where I can consistently hear them in the series. - extremely minor but I just want to play as more Blades in Torna, in my New Game Plus I needed up getting extremely bored of the combat due to the lack of variety. XC1 had 8 optional Arts for everyone but Shulk if I remember correctly, and the Skills, which did a surprising amount. XCX refreshed combat every now and then by simply existing as a video game that happened to also be released exclusively for the Nintendo Wii U video game entertainment device (seriously, the depth of customisation in this game is overwhelming). XC2 had Blades that could be swapped in and out, functioning slightly differently on everyone with the aptitude for them. Torna... well I don't really see that depth there. Still minor but but it irks me. Regardless, I really enjoyed this video! I hope you're enjoying making them as much as I enjoyed watching them~ also wait did I hear an XCX tease 👀 and what about these other games... hmm... Looking forward to it!

Feels

too many moments where I almost cried watching this lmao

Kid Icarus Uprising reference in a Xenoblade Chronicles 2 video. Thank you.

This video made me tear up in the best possible way, 10/10 ur videos are next level man

15:40 Actually, Amalthus's Song is The Acting God. Malos's is called Over Despair and Animus.

Nicee!! Appreciate the hardwork!

This game made me so sad Alexa play Drifting Souls

I always thought that the ending song was Mythra telling Addam to move on. Just as the song in X2 expresses the emotions of Mythra/Nia respectively, as they struggle with who they are, and if they should be who they are.

Just finished playing torna, and excellent, well put together video man. Its satisfying watching someone else rant about how good of an expansion torna. I know ittl be an experience ill never forget.

I love this world... Because xenoblade is in it.

I just discovered these videos, but god DAMN do they remind me how much I love Xenoblade 2, and how Im eternally kicking myself for playing it as late as I did

Best analysis I’ve Seen so far !😮❤😊 20:39

Torna the golden country is a unchanging tragedy we do know what we will happen at the end😢😢😢😢

Xenoblade 2 and Metal Gear solid 3, my two favorite games in the same video, this is amazing.

I think that the mandatory side quests, while cumbersome in a vacuum, are brilliant thematically. You spend so long building a community knowing that tragedy awaits at the game’s end. It’s like if you couldn’t stop the moon falling in majora’s mask.

That first sentence was an amazing joke

Great video. Just one small thing, 22:10 isn’t that the ship from chapter 1 in the main game, rather than Torna?

6:43 you forgot to include Recall Our Names here

Fun fact: Torna was actually meant to be a part of the base game played in between chapters 7 & 8, but got cut because it was too long. When Nintendo came to Monolithsoft with the request to make dlc for the game, they immediately took the opportunity to finally realize the story of Torna. In fact, Tetsuya Takahashi's intended way for people to play the game is to play chapters 1-7, then Torna, then finish the base game. I played it this way this past couple of weeks, my first time playing Xenoblade 2, and it definitely elevated the experience. It's also for this reason I'm glad they didn't show everything that happened right after the events of Torna, as it left some things for me to look forward to in the base game.

After Torna and after that rewatch Lora's death screne and Jin's becoming a Flesh Eater, I can say clearly that Drifting Soul lyrics can also be applied to Jin talking to Lora in his heart (Or rather, their heart)

A year and a half late, but thank you very much for this video. For me, as a big history buff, it really struck me how Amalthus smothered the truth and how Minoth's plays were pretty much the only thing the party was remembered by (other than Addam). To Jin, I think that must have hurt enormously.

was waiting for this video ever since i saw your amazing sequel video, cant wait to watch it

Okay, obiusly I knew this was already a great video but when I noticed in this rewatch the room reference I lost it, it make my day. Well I think that the original Xenoblade could have to a little prequel explaining the adventures of dunban mumkhar and Dickson or see the degeneration of the titan that became Zanza in prisión Island (we to don't know almost anything about the titans) and to will develop a little more Egil. Maybe in the definitive edition there's playable flashbacks or something like that. Also Sorry for commenting now in all your videos, but I'm rewatching them and we'll I fell like I need to tell how well made this things are.

I wish some of the ending scenes of Torna were the opening act scene of the base game so our opening wasn't just " fight crab lol ".

Amazing how one dlc for Xenoblade 2 is better than a lot of triple a games these days

9:58 Hugo says don't forget me and yer done as well

13:59 it’s even sadder than that. They couldn’t afford a SINGLE weapon, so they have to share Jin’s Blade weapon, which comes for free with his Core Crystal. It does beg the question of why Jin can’t spawn a second sword while the first one’s still intact, but that’s neither here nor there

That scream

I just finished the game and was crying over the ending of Torna. So what did I decide to do? Watch a video analysis of the game and cry even more. I can't express how much I love the Xenoblade games and I wish I had finished Xenoblade 2 when I got it like 2 years ago as I knew how much I loved the first one.

I would’ve personally obliterated Monolithsoft if they had directly shown the scene of Lora dying after my heart was already torn up so much

You earned a sub with the first sentence alone 😂 Territorial Rotbart sized spoilers! And yes, I’m discovering this video 2 years late I know

Man, even two years later, this is great analytic perception. I need to play through all of the switch console family.... maybe next summer...

That piano intro to Torna made me feel something I hadn't felt since the first time I heard "To Zanarkand" from Final Fantasy X. And the battle theme kinda reminds me of "Pursuing My True Self" from Persona 4 and I'm here for it. God I love this game and its music lol

Incredible video, just as the Xenoblade sequel video. You more than earned a subscription and keep going!

EXPLAIN TO ME WHY YOU HAVE SO LITTLE SUBSCRIBERS

So here's something, I played Torna first! I owned Xenoblade 2 but stopped at around chapter 3 or 4, and got Torna just last year. Playing Torna first I think, probably made a lot of moments in base game even more impactful because I was already attached to the world and stories, rather than having to revisit the base game to appreciate everything.

Great video, beautiful made!

Fantastic video, though a good part of me wishes the video could be over an hour long and you just go in-depth on everything (but that’s just me, I’m the type of person to just sit there for hours watching one in-depth video on a subject). Still hits a lot of the notes of what I love about the expansion. It also does the most important thing as DLC: it’s a full game worth the price, it builds on the main story and improves on things that weren’t as polished in the main game (the battle system and graphics, both of which have been taken to a new level).

Oh the final battle in torna was an improvement as compared to the base game.

3:07 Snake really was a fucking dork lmao

6:47 you will recall our names is also in torna, but it only plays on gormott when fighting a unique monster.

Just beat it today... My heart... Still hurts... So much

I wish we got more from this game, I love it but I just wanted more time with it, my only problem with it was the over reliance on the community board

In base game I couldn't stand mythra until chapter 6 then as the story progressed I warmed up to her seeing the nicer side of her but still being a bit annoyed by her once torna dropped I immediately loved her acting like a teenage girl most of torna and constantly being roasted then by the end holy shit did I really understand her and really understand her she became one of my favorites becauses of this and Jin he was already the best character in base game then with torna seeing what he was like with lora I finally truly understood his character and makes his question for rex so much more powerful and Rex's answer even more so torna's story alone is enough to justify the price even if its lacking in content for a xenoblade game I don't care and the gameplay was amazing my only complaint is that they wasn't as much as I was expecting but I had incredibly high expectations and even though it did meet what I thought it was it came pretty damn near close

Yes I know that Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ Golden Country is a Prequel but Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is going to Have a Epilogue or a Prequel

Yakuza 0 was an awesome prequel which helped act as a gateway to the Yakuza series for Western fans.

awesome video man

Oh shit Megaman X4 at the end, that's great

17:04 I understood that reference

Torna was perfect.

In the beginning, I HATED the quest system because I thought t was super boring. However, as I continued doing side quests I really started to love all of this quests, and even getting to max rank.

The only thing that bugged me about Torna was that Azurda was just as inexplicable there as he was in the base game. I was half hoping to see more Tornan talking Titans just to give *some* inclination why Azurda could be the only Titan capable of speech we encounter in the entire main game yet nobody seems to treat this as unusual in any way, but nope, he's just an inexplicable vaguely paternal figure to Adam, too.

Can you do a character study on Jin? I think he’s going to be a fun character to do

Minoth seems more like dunban too me, and also minoth is quite different than malos interms of the path he choose.

Great Video!

Playing through this game made me wish I played it before base XC2. It would would've made the events of that game that much more impactful. I didn't even remember it was Jin who killed Fan La Norne for example, since I didn't have any attachment to either of them.

Actually I just want to save is a bit of miss translation. In Japanese she more sorta says. "S... Save me!"

“Oh hi Mark”😂😭

Best last boss in the from the first 2 games

"and thus, boy met girl" I get that reference