A Dive Into Torna ~ The Golden Country

[@Gaht64]

I don't think the final Gort fight is all that great on a mechanical level, but it's not supposed to be. I think the fact that it's so pathetically easy is intentional, because that's what he was underneath all his threats and abuse; pathetic, and, while very on the nose, him becoming a literal monster at his end and being Lora's final task on her journey is kinda poetic. If in a bigger game, he probably would've been more looked into, like Gael'gar, but I think its fine to view him as nothing but a menace, because of the pain he's brought to both his family and countless others

[@MarkusVeller]

The thing about the Gort fight that made it REALLY work for me was the fact that, knowing the fate of Jin and Lora, as well as just being more interested in the other two teams made me completely and utterly neglect pretty much everything about their setup. I was heavily relying on the other two teams and the blade and driver combos I honed them to initiate. Jin's and Haze's affinity charts were in shambles, no pouch items to speak of and I think I actually stopped upgrading their skills too based on how much fun I was having constantly switching between Hugo and Aegaeon. While the fight was not mechanically difficult, I actually came WAY closer to dying on it than I did in the Malos fight - that one wasn't even a contest. I genuinely had a couple close calls waiting for the blade switch cooldown to finish. And that realization, that with Hugo, Aegaeon and Brighid gone, Minoth off to do his own thing and Mythra/Pyra thoroughly depressed, and Addam on his way to seal the two of them away... the fact that it just left those three,t he fact that the Aegis' power wasn't there for the world to rely on anymore, it called back to the main story and Jin's animosity towards Mythra in temperantia. And while Lora and co. are no pushovers, the fight against just one ruined man with the strength of a monster, the kind that would be perfected and mass produced soon enough, was a close call... It made me think what chance could these three possibly have in the face of what Indol is planning... And it just... It just gave me that horrifying sinking feeling of what's going to become of them, of how screwed they and the rest of the world are without at least Addam and Mythra there. And how easily the commning tragedy could have been averted if they'd just stuck together for a while longer. And it... It was genuinely crushing. It wasn't Gort himself that did this, but he was a great indicator of how outmatched they would be in the coming days.

[@bamboozled4912]

today xenoblade fans just keep on winning.

[@swindle6644]

We never lose

[@bamboozled4912]

@@swindle6644 Just finished 3 hours ago... It was peak. Im still feeling numb.

[@LFPman]

I have to say, your take on the aftermath of the Auresco attack is quite an interesting one. You make some valid points like in the first attack, we don’t see citizens running for their lives and you’ll only find them in the overworld if you’re looking for them, cause I sure as hell don’t remember finding any. But I think ultimately the reason why that most players don’t question it, is because your mind fills in the blanks anyway. You see 6 or so generics, Milton and Mikhail caught up in the blast. Now you could argue rule of perception, especially as many could’ve fled already, but there’s also the cutscene when you first see Milton and Mikhail aboard Hugo’s ship, with other victims as well. Sure not to the degree of shelters worth for natural disasters, but still it gives the impression that the city and its people were fucked up badly. And then there’s the ending of the Spessia camp. It’s already hinted that the remnants of Torna and/or Addam’s crew would get ambushed by Indol. So while yes, the aftermath of Auresco’s people isn’t immediate, it is there. I do agree about Milton’s death not hurting the way it should. That scene hits personally for me, as it was the first Xenoblade 2 cutscene to make me cry. Yeah, the main story was close, but I didn’t properly cry. Specifically the point where Myhtra reaches to Milton’s body, only for Mikhail to pull him away from her. That bit was brutal to me. And yeah, unfortunately it’s not because of Milton himself, it’s the characters he’s associated with. Makes me pissed as hell the writers didn’t accomodate for how little Mythra and Mikhail interact in the main story. Because the writer’s sure as hell didn’t think Mik would go that back with knowing Haze, Brighid and Aegaeon.

[@24hr-Gaming]

I think with Gort the point is that Lora is already over him by the final encounter. Even with his outside matching his inside, she is already beyond him and he can't hurt her anymore. This is a bit different than their encounter in Torigoth where she is still scared of him and he is still a threat to her and that's why Jin feels compelled to step in. The reason narratively Jin cuts off his arm is to mirror the way he protected Lora when she was a little girl. The physical threat is not the problem, Lora could take him if you just looked at sheer combat abilities. The problem is the psychological threat. When you see an abuser even if it has been a long time, if you have not gotten closure on what happened, it can feel like the same situation where you are helpless even if that's not actually the case. That's why Jin was worried and hurried back. Haze is no slouch so she was probably fine, but she was was still mentally vulnerable to Gort, especially when she was mourning her mother's death. But I can agree that it was an abrupt stopping point and I think if they included the actual journey to the Spessia camp into the dlc that part would have been more smooth. And the community level personally I would just bake some of the more important sidequests into the story. But honestly I felt the opposite. It can be kind of a drag but the picture you get from 100% the quests it's like damn all of those people are dead now. Heart to hearts I think would have been nice. Hugo the game didn't give much time into the player learning about him and I think heart to hearts could have helped there.

[@platzohar]

This and your base game video are incredible and really reminded me why this is my favorite game of all time!

[@bende6682]

Just finished watching and enjoying the video about XC2 and then went to subscribe and see this pop up "uploaded 15 minutes ago". Thanks for filling my day haha good stuff. Torna is the best DLC any game has done really and the way it enhances XC2 on replays too is insane.

[@waffleboi7487]

I honestly wish I saw your channel sooner because man I really like your content as it’s clearly well thought and edited. And waiting for the Torna video was absolutely worth it. I can’t wait for you to cover the other games in the series if you ever do and Xenoblade or not, I’ll definitely stick around

[@Boulder7685]

So just two things I wanna note in case you weren’t aware or just left them out for whatever reason, but I remember hearing that Torna’s existence was in part due to a backstory sequence they had wanted to include part-way through the main game but had to cut and repackage separately due to its (very obviously now) size and scope. In a similar vein, I believe Addam showed up with that cloak in every scene and Lora’s medal ceremony took place in a camp in the middle of nowhere because they were still putting Torna together and had yet to put together the designs of Auresco and Addam. You can also see that in the scene where Lora and Addam are sparring before they all eat outside his manor’s campgrounds as there just isn’t a manor at all present. The only thing they had really decided on that they could properly use was that his outfit would follow similarities to Jin’s due to their shared connection to Tornan culture, which is why you can see his collar underneath the cloak looking as it does.

[@BoringBrandon1]

Tronk I watched your previous Xenoblade video yesterday. You have a bright future ahead of you with these videos!

[@smoke7737]

Another excellent video. I completely agree, Torna is the best example of what DLC should be that I can think of. We’re not paying for pieces of the game that were withheld from the base game for money, we’re paying for content that adds even more to an already extremely fulfilling experience. I think you’ve helped me gain a greater appreciation for the themes that Torna both brings to the table and what it adds into the base game’s themes as well. I hope this type of DLC will become much more commonplace in games someday. I had an absolute blast listening to your 2 and Torna videos and absolutely cannot wait for your future content, you’re rocking it 👍

[@-.Oz.-]

You know how One Piece has tragic character backstories for it’s characters? That’s what Torna was to me. A One Piece style back story for Jin and Mythra that further fleshed out their characters for me and depressed the hell out of me, a feeling I know all too well

[@gormottigrebel9978]

Another masterful analysis, well worth the wait!

[@mateasnutmeg5586]

This video has been able to encapsulate my own love for this incredible game and this series in general. Amazing work. Also Moment of Eternity is the best track in the entire series imo.

[@JustJulyo]

I feel like Gort from a gameplay mechanic is meant to be weak as he is not a threat and suppose to encapsulate how pathetic he is for being an abusive person. As for the end, I really do think that they could've made it much more heart wrenching by killing people we helped along the way. Would've really driven home how much we came to care about this world and everyone in it Fantastic work! Hope this leads to more!

[@norwegianprince]

Love this video and your X2 vid. Really enjoyed your perspective on things and I'd love to see you tackle the other xeno games

[@teafordaniel809]

Excellent video man, I really enjoyed watching it!!!

[@GentlemanGamer94]

Rewatching this for the third or fourth time in about as many months as I'm playing the Xenoblade 3 post game in preparation before the expansion. Listening to your love for Torna and especially 2 has sparked in me a desire to replay both. Hopefully within the next couple of months, after the 3 DLC and Tears of the Kingdom 🙂 Thanks for these rad retrospectives. Your passion when detailing your experiences with these games has seldom failed to make my day when I come back to these videos 😊

[@soggytoast286]

I’m team Hugo everyday. “Hugo is a nice enough guy”. I felt that. Meming aside, great video as always!

[@link28469]

I can't wait to hear your thoughts on 3

[@Midna78]

No one likes Gort. But I think it was important to show him once more Since he was the very first blade-aater - even though he was a failed experiment. And after him they showed more of those failures during Amalthus's speech. To show everyone how cruel this man can be - just to get what he wants. It's ugly and gave me a new view on him in the base game. Not a positive one since I still can't stand him. And I also never liked Milton that much. But I like Mikhail. And seeing how he looks at Mythra with those empty eyes... made me love him even more. I could understand him a lot better. Torna's ending made me cry the most. I got attached to Hugo, so I weeped when he died.

[@joshualawrence4301]

Such good videos. I enjoyed listening to em so much and that part in about the community with the kazoo music killed me XD

[@ethancampbell9096]

I think the community and forced quests could've been great if they were evenly distributed throughout the game and had multiple checks along the way. But there were no checks until the very end, and 85% of quests were in auresco, which is like the 2nd to last location you visit in the entire game. If you had to have like 5 community members before going to gormott, 10 before leaving, 15 before fixing the bridge and meeting minoth, etc, I think it could've kept the pacing pretty good. But I did all the quests as soon as I could, but I still had 2-3 hours of them to do literally right before the final boss. That makes no sense. It's not even possible to avoid the poor pacing!

[@RuralSquirrelJuror]

Exactly. I was enjoying to side quests before the gate, doing as many as I could/wanted to do… only to be told I had a million more to go! I did enjoy those side quests but I would have enjoyed them more (and would have done them anyway) if they were evenly spaced out

[@JoDaEpicGuy]

First video I’ve watched from you, keep up the great work!

[@Galaxy40k]

Another banger of a video man! My favorite part of Torna is actually Addam. Specifically how he contrasts with Rex. Addam is burdened by his royal responsibilities and is filled with self doubt, which is ultimately why he fails as Mythra's driver. Rex meanwhile grew up in the secluded Fonsett away from the jaded world and retains optimistic, which is why he ultimately succeeds. I think it just really adds this nice dimension to Rex.

[@ponspectorstillwedie4579]

I absolutely love Torna. While I still think base game XC2 is the experience I prefer all things considered, TTGC is probably the best piece of DLC I've ever played. The revamped combat system works perfectly for the more compact adventure, taking away the customization options of the base game to gives us a more focused and fast pace experience. I also appreciate how the story elevates the narrative of the base game and further develops the characters and world we learnt about before without feeling mandatory. They're not locking an essential part of the narrative behind a paywall like some other games, but it still lifts the already incredible story to greater heights. The perfect example of what DLC could and should be. Aside from the poorly implemented community system and a couple of small nitpicks, the only thing I'm kinda disappointed about is that we don't get to see the story from the VERY beginning. Like, we never see Addam awakening Mythra. Instead we're just told that she was awakened about a year before the game starts. If we started at the beginning maybe we could have met Addams wife. Or have gotten more characterization for the Tornan king and Milton. And possibly witness first hand events briefly mentioned in the base game, like the fight against Malos and his Aegis' in Tantal, and so on. Of course, that would require much more effort than we should reasonably expect from any DLC campaign and I understand that. It's just that in a perfect world I feel like Torna would have been 30 hours long because of actual story content, and not because it required 10-15 hours of mandatory side-questing. Incidentally, does anyone else think a year seemed like an awful long time for Malos to be running free? Considering how quickly he can sink a continent with Siren, it makes me wonder what he was doing that whole time if only 1 or 2 Titans fell in that period. Is there some reason he can't use the full extent of Sirens power too often? A bit of a nitpick I suppose, but it's been gnawing at me since I first played. If it was just 2 or 3 months it wouldn't seem so strange. Ah well. I feel like I need to say it again after complaining like that so here goes. Torna the Golden Country is the greatest piece of DLC I've ever experienced. At the end of the day any complaints I have are insignificant in comparison to all the things it gets right. If you enjoyed XC2 in any capacity, I highly recommend checking it out if you haven't already.

[@donaldmccabe7366]

Wait but why did you expect the cheaper, side story expansion to be as long as the full game? 0.o

[@Pine2142]

Another masterpiece alongside your XC2 video.

[@bigjettts1]

Hey there. It's been a while. My first experience was with Torna after the amazing Pyra/Mythra Smash trailer, and I enjoyed it a lot (although I am not getting into the first two Xenoblades unfortunately). Your viewpoints on the series as a whole are really valid and I am so glad Xenoblade 2 has made your life more special. I look forward to the day Xenoblade 3 releases so I can finally get the full Xenoblade experience. Have a wonderful day!

[@insomniacnerd5592]

Man. I loved your videos on 2 and Torna. Very emotional, very poignant. Xenoblade 2 may have its flaws, but dammit, it’s my favorite game of all time regardless.

[@xviinaichi3793]

4:47 didn't expect you saying this lmao even tho I should've expected it

[@popotegaminggansting2947]

Are you planning to do a video about Xenoblade Chronicles 3, of course only if you liked it as much.

[@Tronk_]

I certainly do! I do want to wait until the DLC comes out before I go full-on “take 2 hours to explain why I love this game”-mode. I may make a smaller video about it… maybe. I’m kind of a mess right now so no promises, but I will 100% cover Xenoblade 3 in-full once all the pieces are together!

[@popotegaminggansting2947]

@@Tronk_ Great thanks for the response :)

[@kennethhernandez9243]

Playing through xenoblade 1, 2 and torna to get ready for 3 made me realize just how good this series is. Playing torna in between chapter 7 and 8 makes it a very interesting flashback that elevates the entire ending. Great video too man.

[@Polarcon]

A good video, tho I little bit too much nitpicking for my liking. Keep up the great work. Looking forward to the deep-dive into Xenoblde 3 ;)

[@bigredindahouse456]

11:32 what remix of incoming did you use

[@sdbzfan1]

I always tell people what ever problems they had with base Xeno 2 is fixed with Torna, not to insult 2 but Torna as a whole far is easier to digest both as a story and as a game, combat is far less annoying to deal with thanks to less options, shorter run time means plot points start and end very quickly and don't drag on like Lora finding her mothers grave is as sad as it needs to be and we move on with saving the world, Characters design the biggest issue many had with the 2 while certain characters like Mythra and Bridgid are still there aren't as important as they are in 2 and more time is put into Jin and Lora, mind I don't have any issue with their designs just that was a major talking point about 2 and JRPG as a whole, many designs are similar to Morag in terms of "this isn't blatantly female armor, Lora's outfit is standard torna soldier gear", party dynamics work very well thanks to Addam and Hugo already knowing one another for years before joining Lora making the group feel more like friends than 2 adults baby sitting or in Morags case 1 adult(I love you Zeke I'm sorry), I really liked hearing Haze and Jin interact with blades like Aegeon and Minoth and the rivalrys formed, or in Aegeon and Haze's case Shipping with Hugo the Party is far better balanced in terms of both importance and intelligence level, I love me my Zeke but he is a goof ball, that being said he's probably the most important person in the group besides Pyra/Mythra thanks to him being A. Royalty of Tantal, one of the many great capitals of Alrest, B. an envoy of Indol making him connected to Amalthus, C.a blade eater showing a parallel between him and Rex while also being opposite to Nia and the members of Torna D. a well known skilled driver and blade pair putting them on Morags level and E. a decendant of Torna, while not directly Addam he is related to Tornan royalty through Zettar who is Addams Half brother, Zeke has more reason than most of the team to help Rex, like I'm sorry I like Poppi for all the cute things but I don't give a shit about Tora, after Gormott he is not important at all, Poppi is but not him and I'm so glad Noppon are no longer mandatory Party members in 3, never cared for them, probably another reason why Iike Torna that being said Torna's biggest strength is that unlike 1 and 2 its a story where you already know the party fails, as early as ch 4 of xeno2 we know Torna not only sunk but that it happened thanks to Mythra and Malos so the entire Torna story is a tragedy waiting to happen and the writers know this so their job is to make you care before you see these characters reach their endings, i'm a sucker for depressing endings way more than happy ones because its harder to make a person like a bad ending than a good one and I've only come across 2, Conquest ending of Neptunia Mk2 and Saya no Uta though that one is cheating because that game only has bad endings

[@HibiTeamQueso]

I don't understand why KZbin hasn't showed me this vídeo before but there isn't a single long video about Xenoblade that can escape me 😈 But seriously, I was suscribed, I actively search for videos like this from time to time and still? How much more obvious could I make it?

[@Montra78]

Ayyyyy Tronk wassup. Love this video! Any thoughts on Xenoblade 3.

[@TimoNaaro]

I don't want to get spoiled. How important is the sword crafting material in the dlc? If you say how many lottery tickets I guess I have no idea if its a lot or little because I don't know the feel of the lottery system. Is it better experience to buy dlc even if you only plan on playing main story and money is not really issue here.

[@oOPrettywinxOo]

So after watching your other video on the main game and now this, I can only thank you for putting into words what I feel about this game. I first played it the base game during a very hard period of my life and it's what gave me back my will to not let hope die. Torna only made me feel more appreciative of it because it filled in the gaps of the how's and why's on the villains and Mythra's own self hatred. This game is truly something special, and something I will never forget. It's easily in my Top 3 games of all time, no questions asked. Xenoblade Chronicles 1 might have been better to some, but to me, the characters and their interactions with each other are so much stronger in this one, and ultimately, that's what makes or breaks a game for me. The original Xenoblade is great, but I personally still prefer 2 in almost every aspect. I can only hope Xenoblade Chronicles 3 lives up to it. But if there ever was a game developer I trust, it's Monolith, so I am not too worried.

[@maynardburger]

Wait, what the hell is 'element awakening'? lol I just finished Torna and had no idea there was anything like this. Anyways, amazing video again.

[@epicsena]

just finished torna for the second time a few months ago, had a similar experience in that I mostly rushed the first time and didn't enjoy that much until I took it slow recently and enjoyed it a lot more. Not many complaints outside of the new characters being very clearly underdeveloped, not getting to visit another remastered titan (I feel like with hugo in the party you REALLY should've traveled to mor ardain, maybe a more grassy lively version of it since it shouldn't be that dead yet), and HOLY FUCK the superboss design is SO bad, why the fuck didn't they chuck a few level 60-90 enemies around the map to make the grind less painful

[@theonesithtorulethemall]

Another advantsge torna has over base xenoblade, is that its last 5 regions arent hallwaysimulator 1-5 (Seriously, let me Explorer elysiuma

[@maiiau]

Regarding Gort, I believe his last form is also sort of a reference to something from Xenogears, in particular the references to being in constant pain and wanting blood to soothe it. Like yeah, it's also just creepy, but there's a plot point in Xenogears that relates to that sort of thing. I agree that the final Gort fight is in a weird place and shouldn't have been tacked on at the end like that, but that might explain a little more about why they put it in.

[@BojanNjegomir]

Yakuza 0, best prequel ever made!

[@TimoNaaro]

Omg you recommended me to skip future connected and go straight to 2 after xenoblade 1. Even if you correct me in the comments I don't accept it because saying play these games in this order 1 plus dlc for 1 and then 2 plus dlc for 2 is so plebian advice that as smart as you are you would never write in your script! :)

[@shwoopi]

too many forced side quests, not enough main story. idk how anyone could say it was better than the base game. 7/10

[@bamboozled4912]

Well, the side quests are much better than in Xenoblade 2 and the main story is better paced. No filler like Chapter 4 and it's a DLC, of ​​course it's shorter. But I agree it's worse than Xenoblade 2 because the gameplay is too easy and not as customizable. And the characters and main story are better told in 2. But i think a 7/10 is a bit harsh. I would give it an 8 or a 9 better than xenoblade 1 and FC but not better than x and 2

[@shwoopi]

​@@bamboozled4912 Absolutely no shot Torna is better than XB1. it's better than FC for sure, but there's no chance anyone prefers "Side Quests: The Game" over XB1

[@bamboozled4912]

@@shwoopi The thing is that I really like doing side quest and the requirement never really bothered me since i would have done them anyway. The problem in 1 is that the side quest are really bad besides a few selectet quests. Sure 1 probably better if you just play it casually but as a completionist its a nightmare. not because of the quantity, but because of the quality. But just because i said that doesnt mean i hate xenoblade 1. I still think its the best game on the wii and i really love it.

[@shwoopi]

@@bamboozled4912 the majority of people who play Xenoblade games aren't completionists. They play mostly because of the amazing story, not because they want to do all the side quests. Thats why I argue its more important that a Xenoblade game has a stronger main story than its side content and that 1 and 2 > Torna.

[@bamboozled4912]

@@shwoopi Yes, I get it, it's just that there isn't enough enjoyable content for me besides the main story. Xenoblade X and 2 has a lot more good side content and post game and if you play at 100% you will spend more time on side content than the main story. But if you only play the main story and not the side quests of course Xenoblade 1 is better with its story and world building. I just value the Complete package more than the main event.