Final Fantasy XIII had an auto battle system that ruined it, all other issues aside.

Metroid Other M I cannot speak for, but it is one of the weakeat links from what I hear.

Paper Mario Color Splash was ok, but a shell of what it should have been.

DmC was a decent hack and slash, but should have been a new IP instead of a unwanted reboot.

Meanwhile Xenoblade 2 had a deep battle system, stayed true to the franchise it belonged to, had a story that really pulls you in once it starts going, fantastic character development by anyone's standards, and a ton of interesting content.

Xenoblade is in a completely different league than those games, period.  If you do not like it, it does not take away from the quality of the game.

Example I am not a fan of GTA5, yet I can still acknowledge that it is one of the best games released during its time.  I guess some people cannot see quality beyond their own personal taste.  Does not change the facts though.

The guy who voices Rex (Al Weaver) was in the Doom movie with Dwain Johnson. He played the character "The kid"

After about 20 hours in and still feeling like it's a darn tutorial the game has really lost me... haven't played it in a few days and am having a hard time getting back to it.

It's a shame as I feel if the thing wasn't so insanely linear and took some more queues from Monster Hunter it'd be a heck of a title.

There's a saying that kept popping into my head while playing which, while harsher than is fair, I think sums up my view of the combat and such thus far: "Wide as a lake, shallow as a puddle". Every time I learn of a new combat mechanic, slot, or what have you I'm immediately disappointed to see that it's remarkably limited. Rather than making the mechanics deep and interesting, they seem to have favored quantity to provide the illusion of depth. Perhaps there's still more to be revealed in time but, seriously, fucking tell me everything so that I can finally play this game properly after a couple dozen hours of time invested.

Still, I'm decently early in the game by virtue of taking every opportunity to go salvaging and hunting on my own so that I can, you know, actually play them damn thing, so maybe it gets better... I'm just not sure I can force myself back to it. For a game that I actually rather like most of the characters, voice acting, and aesthetics in, that's quite a rarity.

I do love the Nopon though, and generally I'm someone who's not that interested in cutesy people. Dang they're cute and funny.

I just remembered one of my biggest gripes: Thus far I have, in nearly every scripted battle, mopped the floor with the enemy only to have it cut away to what feels like a full-length episode of anime where the person I just wrecked is actually completely fine and kicking my ass. This wasn't a one time thing, but instead it seems to happen almost every single time. That is one of the most maddening dang things I've ever encountered, and makes you feel as if there was no point to playing.

At least in most other RPGs and JRPGs when you beat a boss they want to stick around they show him struggling and fleeing the scene, making you both frustrated and satisfied. Having everything you do in the actual game amount to nothing and instead rely on cutscenes for the consequential fighting to occur has just killed this experience for me.

I don't know if this is something others have experienced often, but this is one of those rare titles that I initially liked and still feel I would like if the game would just get the heck out of the way and let me play it.

Oh boy, your tastes sure are horrible.

Oh yes, a truly outstanding rpg.

Is it weird to say that I have put 15-20 hours into the game and I haven’t quite figured out how to do a combo beyond level 1 Flame Nova? The tutorials are helpful at times but when it came to starting combos, i didn’t really get a good idea of how and when to set it up. Not sure if my timing is off or I have to upgrade Flame Nova to level 3 or what. Otherwise I’m enjoying the game and I don’t mind the grind.

20 hours is barely even a blink in the game, as long as you're still in chapter 1-3 expect the game to keep trying to teach you mechanics because the is a tonne of them for combat and chapter 4 onward is when you're by yourself and a number of players start struggling because they don't know how to approach certain battles especially the fight at the end of C3 where many players get taken to school.

From what I recall I think I'm almost to the point you're mentioning. I've certainly had some trouble staying interested in JRPGs in the past as a lot of them do take their sweet time allowing you to get to the meat of the game.

I think both approaches have their strengths and weaknesses, but I've always strongly preferred having everything thrown at me in the first hour or so and experimenting with it from there. I understand that many people feel overwhelmed and lose interest, but to me that approach is preferable to what has amounted (in this instance) to a 20 hour tutorial (I've admittedly taken my time, but that's because I want to explore the game and not just blitz through it). It's very frustrating, as I feel I've been pretty darn patient thus far.

Do we eventually start encountering enemies that can actually be defeated on the spot, btw? This whole arrangement where I defeat boss after boss only to have a cutscene show moments later that I actually got my ass kicked has grown extremely stale lol

I'll probably get back to it this evening... maybe I'll just bum rush my way through the narrative until it finally opens up and takes off the training wheels.

I assume this is specific to the story bosses? I don't recall too many of these after Chapter 3...but maybe I'm forgetting because there's so much to the game. I think the arrangement is mostly used to convey how desperately powerful the enemy is supposed to be, while the game lets you get strong at your own pace, so the level of your characters won't always align with how strong the story wants them to be. Sometimes this is annoying, sometimes it's done well. Without spoiling too much, the climaxes of Chapters 3 and 7 both do this to show how outclassed you are, only to add a new mechanic that completely flips the table on the previous fight by the end of it.

The tutorial also is largely over after chapter 3...though the game still adds more mechanics later. I remember laughing when the tutorial popped up at around 80 hours in to show how to use a new power. That's more than exception than the rule at that point, but it's still amusing.

lol after every "tutorial" conversation it almost always says something along the lines of "then there's ____, but we'll discuss that later". I just wanna grab that dude by the ear and insist he tell me everything.

Seriously, I'm a great listener and note taker... just lay it on me man.

I was indeed referring to the story bosses, though, where they almost always just kick your ass in the cutscene moments after you whoop them heh. I understand they want you to see how powerful certain enemies are, but have them actually beat me then or save them for later! It's just jarring to have the combat and gameplay so out of sync with the cutscene narratives.