Nintendo UK has posted a video of Xenoblade Chronicles 2‘s Executive Director Tetsuya Takahashi detailing the upcoming v1.3.0 patch, launching next week. Among the update’s additions are a New Game Plus mode, access to more rare Blades, an Easy Mode difficulty, and some granular changes to Driver levels.
The New Game Plus mode will let players restart their save after they cleared their game, all while carrying over Driver Levels, unlocked skills for Drivers and Blades, collected Blades, items and Gold, Mercenary Ranking Level, Town Development Level, Unique Monster Kills, and Cutscenes. Quests, Heart to Hearts, Skip Travel Points, and Mercenary Missions do not carry over.
In addition to the above, New Game Plus features the following enhancements:
- Torna’s Blades (Obrona, Sever, Perdido, and Cressidus) can be obtained and equipped Blades
- Torna’s Drivers (Akhos, Patroka, and Mikhail) can be obtained and equipped as Blades
- All Blades can be dispatched on Mercenary Missions
- Adds new skills to Driver skill trees
- A Driver’s level can be lowered at inns, granting more bonus EXP in battles
- Bonus EXP can be spent on items, with one allowing you to hold more accessories
Other major changes include:
- New sorting options have been added to Accessories, Assist Cores, Blade List, etc.
- Blades can be locked so they aren’t accidentally released
- The Core Crystal bonding scene can be skipped (finally)
- When the mini-map is enlarged, icons form the skip travel map will be displayed
- Players who purchased the Expansion Pass will also receive their fourth set of useful items.
If you’re a fan and recurrent player of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, this massive update is a game-changer. Developer Monolith Soft will continue to support Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in the months to come, including the two major drops in the Expansion Pass DLC. Version 1.3.0 was originally supposed to drop in January but missed out due to errors caused by 1.2.0 which made select Blades disappear. In the interim, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has sold over 1 million copies worldwide during its launch month.
