Alright will try that, but god damn some thing is getting punched and or smashed.

About 20 hours in, and only up to chapter 3.

Great game but with lots of minor annoyances that add up.

At about 15 hours in, I'm fairly certain of two things:

(1) It's my Game of the Year.

(2) But it's not quite as great as the original.

Compared to the first Xenoblade, the story is not as compelling, the pacing is less focussed, the soundtrack is less consistently great, and while the combat system has been refined in some ways, there seems to be no worthy replacement for the Monado's "see the future" mechanic.

That said, the world is breathtaking in its scope and vision, the feeling of exploring and staking claim to uncharted wilderness is awesome, many of the musical tracks are amazing, creature designs are superb, and the sheer breadth of content is impressive.

Xenoblade HD come on!

I really miss the Monado, even though in XC, they said that word a million times.  The topple combo seems better in the original than XCX.

I've just clock a little less than 21 hours.  Level 23, and in chapter 4. Didn't go back yet as I'm trying to find some probes and would set it for mining for better $$$. Haven't use the others like Irina and Doug.

I've just finished chapter 10 and yeah, the story lacks a lot in comparison with the original. But the scope of the world, a better combat system (classes, guns, more complex combat system, skells... make up for the lack of Monado's powers), way better and deeper side quests than the original... I think XCX is a better game in general terms, just not the appropiated one for the people who are looking for a great story like the first one. It's more about the world and the people who inhabit Mira and their problems, with the main story taking a second spot.

Oh, and I forgot about this, I absolutely love the soundtrack. Quite different for an RPG, but as an anime lover, the cheese and over-ridiculous vocals are fucking amazing to my ears. Listen to that Magna boss song. Fantastic: 

U will get flying ability for skell after chapter 11.

Btw i m actually glad they locked away skell at the early game. if they allow us to use skell n fly since the beggining,we cant really feel the huge size of this world .

Yeah, without the contrast between on foot and skell, the impact would be blunted. We need to feel dwarfed at the beginning so that travelling by mech later feels fast and liberated in comparison.

I will say one thing, waiting is giving me a lot of time to develop my game plan based on others' experiences :P

And that seems more important than in most games. This seems like it has a pace for which it was designed for sure, with pushing straight through the main story seems like a bad idea as you miss out on a lot. Definitely sounds like a Majora's Mask scenario where the central plot is the connecting tissue and overarching context for the rest of the game, not the definitive core content. Which I'm fine with, but it's definitely something you need to know going in or you will miss stuff.

Yeah, pretty much. Where the main story was the central core of the first Xenoblade, its more like a side dish in X.

Also, I'll give you one piece of advice for free; level up your Mechnical skill first.

Real talk I won´t travel with my skell once I get it (unless I have to in order to get somewhere), the planet is so beautiful I want to enjoy it and traveling on foot is the best way to do that