Yeah, that opening scene for 10 is a major *MIND BLOWN* moment.  

Which for me is one of the best things the series, those epic twists. So glad XBC2 continues the tradition.

just finish the story, it sends you back to a specific point (game prompts you at this point) but it unlocks a bunch of new side quest and stuff. 

There are some super bosses to take on post game, and grinding affinity charts can be fun too.

I expect a lot of cutscenes, but I also hope the pacing is better. I'm about 15 hours in and there have been some instances where I go too long without having control or I move a few feet after a cutscene and another starts. The pacing is s drag.

It's a great game though. I think it is a step ahead of the last one in almost all areas, but a few steps behind the first in story, characters, costume design, voice acting and dialog. I like anime a little, but it's a little too much for me, but that is subjective. The costumes are pretty dumb looking even for this genre. I really can't connect with Rex. I think he's a douche. I'm not a fan of not seeing new armor either.

Combat and art direction is superb though. Travel isn't nearly as obtuse as XCX. It's a gorgeous game. 8/10 so far.

The humor and dialogue are more anime-like only in the beggining.Once things get going, the overall dialogue and narrative feels much like the first game.

Why. Why does this game insist on being fucking annoying.

Whoever thought of having Rex fight one-on-one against his party members should have his skull caved in with a hammer. Again, some of the most stupid, annoying game design I have experienced in my life. Without a party, the combat system turns to complete shit. 

Just had to erase an hour of progress because it broke my file as I couldn't beat Morag and without a party I couldn't even do any leveling to compensate.

Question: do the phantom party members stay the same level regardless of your actual party level? I think I'm going to just go to level 80 so I can crush the rest of the game through sheer force.

I think the level of the phantoms is the level of your party, they also keep the equipment so you could take all the accessories and cores from other party members.

If you want to break Morag, because I had the same problem, make her get stuck on the rail, since she follows you, if you are on the other side of it she will keep running towards you, then hit her with a long range blade like the blitz ball and you won't get hit.

Tora and Zeke aren't tought tho, is just Morag that gave me problems so hopefully this helps.

Just pick aux cores for your blades that counter-act their blades. Anything that restores HP works for most of them if you don't have element-specific defense cores. 

Okay, can anyone confirm that taking away the party members chip/cores/etc carries through to when you fight them, or are they at a fixed state?

They are identical to your actual party members.  And boosting your level will not help much m  ore than likely.  You are plenty high enough level, the flaw is almost certainly in your tactics or your blade affinities.  Unless you have in some way unballanced your party to make your team members vastly superior to you, you should be able to get through this.  Rex's Master Driver status is the key, you can give him any kind of blade setup you wish.  So experiment with setups.  A healer blade with a good healing art may not go amiss.  Certain tank blades can do wonders too.  The big flaw here though, imo, is you can't chose your blades for the first run.  However, after being able to pick my blades, I was fine.  Without a party, switching blades becomes more important and less of a concern from an agro point of view.  It is the fastest way to lay down constant damage, charge your special, and obviously pull off blade combos.  Also, when you fight Zeke and Tora, focus on dropping Zeke as he brings the heavier DPS and has lower HP.