Xenoblade 2 thoughts (no spoilers)

[Jumpin]

Asriel said:

Yeah, I'm about 27 hours in and finding it completely uneven. At times I love it, but I find the only consistently brilliant thing is the soundtrack. The battle-system can work brilliantly but is hampered by poor tutorials and frustrating enemy placement (getting rushed by large groups is frustrating, especially when they are deliberately placed near side-quest objectives), the map/quick travel system is almost incomprehensibly useless and particularly disappointing after how well X's map was integrated into the gameplay. It just feels messier than either X or Chronicles, and I do wonder if that's down to a shortened development cycle; though ostensibly X took ages because of the demands of adjusting to HD development and because of the decision to incorporate online features. It lacks the staggering ambition of X or the refinement and pacing of the first game.

That said, when it comes together, it's excellent. Large stretches of the story have been quite basic so far (go from point A to point B for reason C), but it works well enough and Monolith Soft design fantastical worlds unlike any other developer. The two cities I've been to so far are particularly inspired, if a little confusing in terms of lay-out. I just feel like next time Monolith Soft need to reign themselves in - stop throwing every single mechanic and idea at the wall and seeing what sticks, and actually develop a handful of mechanics while ensuring they're accessible. It'd be good to see something different from them, too; especially between the 5 and 20 hour mark, I couldn't help but compare this negatively to the original game. While many found X's story disappointing (and I agree it's a weak part of that game), I found the emphasis on exploration-driven gameplay refreshing after the narrative thrust of Chronicles. 2 returns to that narrative thrust but with less focus.

I don't mean to sound overwhelmingly negative because I will continue with this game. The Xenoblade series is unlike anything in contemporary game design, but this time that feels like as much of a curse as it is a blessing. Maybe that'll change as I get into the middle and later stages.

Just a note on the battle system - it gets a lot better once you complete chapter 7 - but it can also be heavily improved by unlocking all three skills that fill your ARTs for the beginning of the battle. The devs didn’t seem to have much focus on polishing the gameplay experience for players who are under 40 or so hours in; the battle system is slow and not very fun during that stage. I had a lot of fun with it in the later chapters though.

As for story, it takes a bit of a turn during chapter 7, and becomes a very different sort of a game. In fact, from chapter 7 onward it is easily the strongest that story telling has been in Xenoblade, and is reminiscent of the higher points of the Xenosaga games. The first 6 chapters are a series of loosely linked scenarios with a very light approach to them - but are mostly character development; the later portions are, as I said, more of a serious Xenosaga style.

Despite Xenoblade Chronicles X not having a linear plot driven story, it did end up having about twice the number of cut scenes as Xenoblade Chronicles, even though the absolute must view cutscenes amount to a lower amount (8 hours on XCX vs 10 hours on XC). I am not sure the amount of time of the cutscenes in XC2, but it seems to be a lot higher than XC.