Xenoblade 2 thoughts (no spoilers)

[Cerebralbore101]

bigtakilla said:

Nuvendil said:

I would say the degree to which X was or was not grindy heavily depended on your approach.  If you wanted to push main story stuff, the grind could be very real.  But if you broadened your approach earlier, like I did, you pick up enough extra XP and gear to not mind it.  X was a paradox of design in that it was built so you could approach it in any way but clearly designed to be approached a certain way.  Nothing wrong with that except you get very little warning.  

As for useless features, I could see some not liking the probes for example.  I did, but not everyone will feel that was a worthwhile mechanic and may be annoyed that it is mandatory in several sidequests.

I think you hit it on the head though. You easily get enough gear and XP to not require grinding. It's only a conscious decision of wanting things that the game makes you work for it. If you want the best skell, you're going to have to work for it, but you readily get skells,  hell you even get a free one. You can master a class tree or two easily, but if you want to master them all you gotta work for it. You'll easily pick up adequate armor and weapons, if you want the best though, ect.

 

As for the probes, it's not like they didn't serve a function (fast travel). They also served other functions like miranium mining, and revenue which again only really effects the player if they want to get those sweet extras. Is it so much to ask someone to tap A when setting up a fast travel spot? This is super nitpicky if you ask me.

Exactly. I didn't like having to work twice as hard as I did in Xenoblade 1, in order to get all the best equipment in XCX. If you just wanted to finish the game it's not grindy at all. But if you want to kill every boss monster, and upgrade your party to the maximum you're putting in twice as many hours to do it, as you had to in X1.