Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Part 9: My 1st Core Crystal Luck of the Draw (Abridged Summary)
6This video is titled as an "Abridged Summary" because the original version of it didn't properly process through Vegas, and I hadn't noticed that until after I got rid of the raw video file, so I couldn't just process it over again.
As such, I deliberately had to create a 3rd playthrough of this game just to reach back up to the point that I lost to try and bridge its context together with the 2nd playthrough that represents my videos of this game on YouTube.
I really hate that this happened to this Part of my playthrough, of all parts. Read on and you'll see why.
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While looking for more clues about Nia & Dromarch's whereabouts, including some info that the Ardainian troops may have them EXECUTED, Rex, Pyra, Azurda, and Tora stumble upon the Ardainian troops that were recruiting new Drivers again.
Tora suggested that Rex should try a Core Crystal and bond with a new Blade. Rex thought he didn't need one, since he already had Pyra, but both Pyra and Gramps let him know that Drivers can have several Blades at once.
Gramps then pulled out a Core Crystal of his own from... somewhere, and gave it to Rex to resonate with, just to see how that would go for him.
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And here's one of the most important, and most infamous features of this entire game!
Besides Tora, any Drivers in your party can bond with Core Crystals you collect throughout the game. These will create new Blades that will bond with that Driver and supply them with their weapon for fights.
You’ll often gain more common Blades that have a more robotic appearance, but on occasion, you will get a much more uniquely-designed Rare Blade with better stats, capabilities, and more!
But they are called "Rare" Blades for a reason. You could go through several Cores at in a row, and they all turn out Commons. Or you could get Rares and Commons back to back. It really depends on certain factors, such as your Driver's Luck stat, and also how many times you have gotten Commons without a single Rare.
Even then, the Common Blades can come in one of four different types: Male, Female, Giant, and Animal. The first 3 will use one of the basic Blade Weapons, while the Animal type will always use Twin Rings. Also, these Commons can be of any Element except for Light.
Last, but not least, besides the random RNG gacha element of getting Blades, the other reason why this is so infamous is that the game ALWAYS saves every time you use a Core, so if you didn't get something you wanted, you wouldn't be able to reverse it.
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The Unnamed Common Core you get from Gramps will always yield a Common Blade that uses Wind Knuckle Claws. The one that I got in this video retake was Female, but the one I actually got in this playthrough was a Male, though I still ended up getting the Female one later.
Pyra, Dromarch, and all other Blades can use Aux Cores to improve their stats with their Driver similarly to how Drivers can do that themselves with Accessories. However, Aux Cores must first be refined by using Collectible Items to make them into something useful.
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From there, I cut out from the gameplay and use the Theater to recreate the awakening of the other Blades I got out of my actual playthrough at this point before I lost my original video. I got more Common Blades from this, but then...
My first Rare Blade was Gorg. He’s a merman, and as such a Water Blade. He specializes in using a Greataxe, and has a penchant for food.
My second Rare Blade was Perun. She's a beautiful and elegant Ice Blade. She commands a Megalance, and has a very strong sense of justice alongside a slight penchant for pole-dancing.
Even if you don't like getting the Common Blades, they aren't completely useless. They could help fill in for weapons and elements Rex and Nia would otherwise lack if they only used Pyra and Dromarch, respectively. They will also serve a greater purpose later on...
Upon Rex awakening his first Blade, all Drivers can now have two Blades at the ready, though this will later on turn to three.
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Remember that all weapons have different Arts between each Driver.
The Weapon Classes include:
Attackers: Greataxe, Megalance, Ether Cannon.
Tanks: Shield Hammer, Chroma Katana.
Healers: Bitball, Knuckle Claws, and Twin Rings (shared with Dromarch).
All eight Blade Elements are: Fire, Water, Electric, Earth, Wind, Ice, Dark, and Light.
Consider all of these different possible combinations of weapons and elements alongside your Drivers, their stats, and Arts, and figure out different ways to make an optimal team for battle!
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Nearly every Rare Blade awakened this way has a different character designer from this game's two regulars!
Gorg was designed by Soraya Saga, a writer for Xenogears and Xenosaga, and the wife of Monolith Soft's very own Executive Director and Co-Founder Tetsuya Takahashi!
Meanwhile, Perun was designed by Takahiro Kimura, an anime character designer for series such as Code Geass.