Narumi Nitpicks: Xenoblade 2 DLC Ougon no Kuni Iira/Torna the Golden Country

Ougon no Kuni Iira/Torna the Golden Country Review

[Author's disclaimer: Of course, its nature as a story expansion means the entire plot to Xenoblade 2 will be spoiled in this review. Also, owing to various conditions I ended up playing the entire expansion in Portable Mode. It was not a pretty sight...]

After liking the main campaign of Xenoblade 2 a lot, purchasing the DLC Expansion was almost a no brainer decision for me. At about 2000 yen, what does Ougon no Kuni Iira offer in terms of gameplay and story? As it turns out, not much apparently.

The DLC is ostensibly about the Aegis War from the main campaign, a flashback of sorts depicting what actually happened during the time Hikari and Metsu sunk several titans, Iira included. The answer is...not much. A lot of what happened can be gathered from the flashbacks presented in the main campaign itself, and as such the DLC offers very little in expanding this backstory or its new cast. Owing to its short length, the main focus of the DLC is with Laura and Shin's relationship and how Shin eventually became a nihilist villain in the main game. I do think they got this aspect well even though the short length meant it was somewhat rushed. We also get to see how Hikari was in the DLC. I liked Hikari a lot so it was a joy to see her also getting some focus especially towards the end with her confrontation with Metsu. However, apart from these three, no one else in the main cast is developed, they just exist. Which is pretty bad when one of them bites it at the end and I'm sitting there struggling to remember what effect he had on the overall plot. Even the pivotal moment of Laura's death isn't shown. I did like how it ended, Drifting Soul playing over all of the horrible moments is some fine dissonance, but it works. 

While the story may be lackluster in terms of overall plot and characters, the combat system does receive some form of improvement to make it more enjoyable overall. Being able to play as the individual Blades themselves does open up some new elements of strategy and provides more options compared to the main game in terms of combat choices. Having a fixed cast also means you will always have what you need at your disposal, which is fine for the 30 or so hours you'll spend in the game.

You get two maps to explore in the DLC, Iira and a pared down version of Gula. Gula isn't all that exiting and only exists for a brief story moment, but Iira is somewhat fun to move around in. Compared to the main game, I'd say it ranks somewhere around the middle. The secrets aren't as commonplace as the main game, nor is the verticality that pronounced, but the world is rather massive and provides some interesting things to discover. And as with the main game, running along rooftops of Auresco is very much fun. 

The sidequests aren't particularly interesting this time round, with some exceptions. There is a pseudo NPC affinity chart system like in Xeno 1 only simplified heavily. It occasionally factors into the quests as NPCs get mad at you or what not which does make for some interesting situations. However the majority of what you'll actually be doing still amounts to boring fetch/kill quests that aren't disguised that well. Still, doing all (well most) of the quests leads to some positive character development for Hikari, so I did all of them anyway. 

Playing the game in Portable Mode was painful on the eyes. Everything is perpetually low res and the framerate just dies at some points. I played the main game in Docked Mode which was beautiful, but in Portable Mode every visual feedback just became noise. 

Overall I don't think the DLC is a necessary purchase. While I did enjoy my time with it, it doesn't offer enough in terms of story revelations or gameplay to justify its price tag. Most of what you'll want to know is already there in the main game itself, and what's added is incredibly shallow. 

6/10