Xenoblade was by far my most anticipated game of 2012, and when I finally played it...

It was fantastic.

The great scope and addictive battle system were many of the reasons of why I loved it. The story was balanced and the characters interesting.... then... Fiora dies. Okay, that was really sad, and I was driven to play by one and only one thing: Revenge.

As I depart Conlony 9, I discover the massive overworld and all the damage Mechon have caused, awesome, more incentive to play.

This is the point where everything goes downhill. The battle system is at it's best when you are fighting a boss or a couple of enemies, not a dozen of Mechon, it's very irritating when you have to battle more than 3 enemies at once, the battle system was built for one in one battles. You also get to a point where 3 characters is not enough for a decent formation, and lame AI doesn't help... at all.

Now, the addictive sidequests take a nosedive too, the formerly awesome day/night system becomes a really annoying way to tackle sidequests, you are unsure whether you are done or not, the painfully slow walking doesn't help either.

Then you go to that SkyCity, by that point the battle system bores me to tears, but at least the conspiracy theories are cool enough and the story is moving forward.

EDIT: I forgot to add, why can't the Mechon just shut up? They were really cool and mysterious when they didn't talk, and then they start blabbering nonsense with their Disney villain voices.

And then they killed every bit of momentum they had by reviving Fiora. WHY? WHY? Now it feels like a cheap romance anime for teenagers, I lose all of my motivation and the story goes from excellent to abysmal in just a single cutscene.

I go to a lame mountain and turn the game off... for 2 months.

I play it today again feeling fresh... however, it sucks more than ever. The battle system is totally lame, enemies come in big numbers and the once cool battle theme gives me headaches. I don't care if it turns out to be the best game ever in the next corridor, it sucked so bad I don't even care anymore.

My second theory is the "Rayman" effect. That game was so bad it poisoned what I think of Xenoblade and rendered me unable to play it.

*End Rant*

Also, for those saying Monolith should help with Zelda's design... screw you, I don't want Zelda ruined forever. 

Months after having finished (and on the whole, quite enjoyed) that game, i can still safely say

Xord can go fuck himself with a rusty spear.

If they'd left Fiora dead she would've been nothing but a revenge motivator. By keeping her alive they get to do more with her character.

I don't see any of the problems which you see, I'm afraid...

Though the worst area was Central Factory. At least it was short...

I don't see eye to eye with you on any of those points actually. In future don't take a prolonged break from a game, it never ends well from my experience

Valak mountain is NOT lame D:

The only thing that really sucked was the dumb ending. And maybe the low difficulty level. But everything else was just fine.

Edit: The visuals where horrible :S

I don't get the ending hate. It was good, but made more sense second time through...

And the visuals were (not where) great, it was just some low-res textures and iffy character models which let it down. But the environment was great.

Guys don't spoilt the ending, thread title only says mid game spoilers. I don't think either of you were as you were obviously ambiguous..but just in case :P

It does not. It is not as bad as the first Mass Effect 3 ending but it is one of the worst endings ever.

Compared to Skyword Sword the visuals sucked big times, you can´t deny it.