Here's what I don't get; I'm up to Chapter 8 and I am only 36 hours in.
Am I rushing through it, or do the last few chapters take much longer than the first 8?

Never mind. Looks like I'm sticking with Verus/Wels. Any tips on using Verus/Wels postgame?

I spents many hours farming for "regular" cloths, completing every affinity mission I had access to, and finding frontier nav beacons to complete the continents. If you haven't been doing much of the ladder two, that will literally cut dozens of hours away. Also, the gate to the next main mission becomes a bit more grindy after 8, so there's that.

Also, anyone one saying this game is less story focused than XB is flat out wrong. The story is just not as epically paced. It's not a linear adventure story. It's still a heavily story driven game. This has been said before, but it's very similar to an episodic anime, where the affinity missions are what develops the characters and build the world while the main missions are the major events. Calling them filler isn't really accurate, either. I'd say maybe 65%-75% of the affinity missions I completed are important in fully understanding and appreciating the story.

So far, (I'm about to start Chapter 8) the issue for me is more the pacing, yeah; in the first game there was a steady stream of mysteries and new developments inticing me onwards, but in X hours of progression can pass without any meaningful advancement of the core plot. Major events are spaced far apart. In Chapter 7, for instance, nothing really happened except for finding out the Ganglion knew about the Mims and the countdown.

If it's any consolidation, 8 until the end is much better paced.

Time of day doesn't actually have any effect. What DOES matter is the amount collected and the completion of a sidequest: The second 50 don't spawn until the first 48 are collected, and the last one doesn't spawn until you finish the sidequest Definian Downfall. None of which is ever told to you, of course, because that would be silly.

So questions about the ending in retrospect. Who the hell is the "lone hero" in the beginning? I mean, the model of the Skell is clearly a white and purple Ares, but who is it? Is it Elma? Also, who is the purple alien race? Is that Elma's race? Someone else? The Samaarians? Both? Who is the Great One? Why is the Vita His "vessel?" Is He the Samaarian King? If the Samaarians are our ancestors, why did they attack the White Whale when it had already successfully escape? Those weren't Ganglion Skells. Was the "war between two alien races" a civil war between the Ganglion and the Samaarians? Why did the Samaarians attack a human ship if they knew that human DNA could be used as a weapon against the Ganglion? Are Elma and L of the same race?

So many questions.

In truth first Xenoblade was epically paced only because of "Engage the Enemy" track. If you put this music in any video (sleeping kitten, for example) it would be epic too.

And to be honest I'm kind of tired of intensity of emotions to the middle of the game:

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU MECHON!"

*10 hour later*

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU MECHON!!"

*30 hours later*

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU MECHON!!!"

Xeno X is more.. discreet. I like it.

Tons happens in the interim with XBC though. There is the mystery of the Monado's powers, the glimpses into the future, the court intrigue of the High Entia, Alvis's identity and purpose, the truth about the faced Mechon and Fiora still being alive, the discovery of the Machina, etc.