Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Nintendo Switch 2 Edition has implemented a long-requested quality-of-life feature that really should've been added when the game was released almost nine years ago.
While the new ports of the Xenoblade trilogy all advertised new features, the headline acts were mostly focused on the new modes included in them, including a kart racing mode in Xenoblade Chronicles. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on the other hand got a surprise new Xenosaga cameo with Momo becoming a new Blade in the game, and a new "mercenary squad battles" mode where you control the blades themselves.
However, now that the new edition of the 2017 JRPG is out, it turns out Nintendo has been hiding one of the biggest changes all along. Posted on the Japanese Xenoblade account, it's confirmed that in the Switch 2 version of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, you no longer have to have Blades equipped to use their Field Skills.
フィールドスキル発動時に、ドライバーにブレイドを同行させていなくてもフィールドスキルを使用できるようになりました。状況に応じたブレイド編成を維持したまま、探索を進められます。#ゼノブレイド2 pic.twitter.com/UdIW0NWd3CJuly 30, 2026
For those unaware, Field Skills work somewhat like HMs do in Pokemon, that being a skill that your Blade can perform actions in the overworld. In the original Switch version, you had to have the Blades with these skills as a part of your main party in order to use them, so if you needed a certain level of a given skill to pass a skill check (the example used in the Twitter post being a leap ability that launches you into the air), you'd need to jump back into your inventory and swap blades around before you could do it.
Fans who have been suffering through this for almost nine years are celebrating the change, with one Twitter user saying it's "probably the best QoL improvement they could have made," while others ask why Nintendo didn't make this a selling point for the new version. However, on the other side of the coin, some argue this was a core part of the game, but I guess they can always not interact with the new way.
