So, I finally entered chapter 10 and wow.. .they story really takes a turn I really appreciate

And...massive spoilers for the future of the franchise. 

So, I highly suppose we will get a XC3 where maybe the world of 1 and 2 will collide or another 3rd world will somehow explain more of what's going on with the dimensional gate. 

And yes, we hear the voice of Shulk fighting the other half of Klaus. That's just.. wow. 

Yea, I know there is 3 combos essentially. If I thought about, probably can figure out names, but who really cares. speakinf of this one, is there ever a safety net in regards to this. You know like higher levels or a skill that lets you do it with only 2, or you get 4 bars, ect. Something where when you click combo that you still have one left incase your main MC gets KO'd it don't go to game over. I find I never like doing this cause I like to keep bars for reviving incase I need them.

1. The super easy one to do. Just push + when the 3 bars top left are filled

2. Break, Topple, Launch, Slam

3. Special, Special 2, Special 3 (following the elements of the bracket top right of screen

Just started Chapter 8. It feels like a Megaten game now. This game has to connect with the first, I'm thinking. Will see as I finish up the next two chapters.   

I haven't touched many side-quests because the story is so good. 

Also, the party member AI during the Chapter 7 bosses made me rage a little. 

I still think the story is a perfect measured mixture of Xenogears' and Xenoblade's. The character backstories remind me quite a bit of the character backstories of Xenogears, but the lore/theme, character personalities, and pacing are much more Xenoblade-esque.

I think it is probably the best Xeno-game yet, for me. 

Mar perfectly explained the answers to your questions .

Can I suggest a spoiler free one? When I do get the other Xenoblades I will try to post here about it as well thanks .

^

A ramble of my feelings and thoughts so far with Xenoblade 2, as spoiler free as possible. For progress reference, 25 hours of play time and I assume I’m at the end of Chapter 4.

Expectations wise is meeting them, as in I wasn’t gonna like this as much as the first game or X but still find it a solid game, also not playing it everyday like I did with the first one or up to 10 hours a day with X.

Storywise is alright, hasn’t really hit me hard on much fronts, besides a moment at the end of chapter 3. I’m mostly down on it because the cutscenes drag, especially the times where you end a boss fight and the characters fight anyways in the next one for another couple of minutes, like what was the point of me fighting then. I’ll also say I hate most of the comedy attempts from the game, again it has some exceptions with one character, but I hate most of it.

I do like the characters, I dunno if is because of the English dub, but they aren’t as extreme as I expected them to be, Nia, Mórag and Jin being some of the highlights. And because I have some trust with this studio, I’m expecting to like Mythra later on? Being a generic troupe plus a boob joke isn’t the best first impression being honest, I don’t see her point of existing yet.

While I prefer the style of X, Xenogears and Saga, I like the artsyle and the characters are pretty expressive, everything pops color wise and is pleasant to look at, music wise is pretty good too, some stands outs like the mini boss theme.I don’t have much issues with the character design, besides that Ice blade, I don’t hate anyone else, is not perfect, but I do like quite a few so far.

Gameplay wise, the combat and more streamlined mechanics and inventory management are a plus, combat didn’t got fun for me till 20 hours in, but when it gets going I can see the advancement, the blade combos, elemental attacks and the like are all fun to experiment. Field effects are interesting bonuses for collectibles hunting and I do like the town developing feature (wish I could care about the sidequests and text to develop them, but oh well, is a good enough reward for me to waste some time doing it). Overall more simple and engaging would be the way I would describe the gameplay of 2.

Something I still dislike from this series is the lack of control I have for the AI, like something as simple as a strategy menu like the Tales of series would be enough for me. Like could you stop standing still on the fire circle?

I guess that is all I got in my head rn, fun time, not a blast, but I wasn’t expecting it to be, so I can’t say I have been disappointed by the game yet.

TL,DR. Mórag during the cutscenes makes everyone else look like shit and thanks for reading if you cared enough.

Yeah, I think everything about Morag feels sort of badass fron the design to the voice. Also that first fight you have with her ends with that dope cut scene.

If there is one flaw I have Xenoblade 2 besides the mishmash of designs on certain characters, it will be Rex.

Shulk, Shion, FEI or even created character from X that boy is not. The design of his outfit is bad and it never gets better thanks to the chaps. Also he is cliché without ever growing beyond it, all the other characters seem like they have more interesting pasts, if one of the healer rare blades you pick up in the story was not interesting to use and Pyra with her later abilities weren't so deliciously broken, I literally would have stopped using son completely after picking up the fifth party member.

While I don't think he's that bad, the outfit quickly grew on me, but even with how good he becomes I still dropped him once I got the 5th character (is this really a spoiler? I mean he's on the full boxart). Guess I got tired of that "power of friendship!" nonsense lel. I don't use Morag either though, Tora seems like the better tank to me, though he's also a Nopon, so I'd use him regardless hehe.

A few things I wish I knew before starting the game...

1. Ideas increase the odds of getting a certain element and rare blade. Bravery is Fire and Water elemental affinity.

Truth has a Wind and Ice affinity.  Compassion is Electric affinity and Earth affinity. Justice features a Light elemental and Dark elemental affinity. 

2. Some elements from ideas and boosters have better chances of unlocking certain classes of rare blades. This is because of the following list. *Minor Spoiler Warning* It's really just a name, class, and element list of all the rare blades. *Minor Spoiler Warning*

Finch Tank Shield Hammer Wind (Truth)

Godfrey Tank Shield Hammer Ice (Truth)

Newt Tank Chroma Katana Fire (Bravery)

Electra Tank Shield Hammer Electric (Compassion)

Perceval Tank Chroma Katana Dark (Justice)

Dagas Attacker Greataxe Fire (Bravery)

Gorg Attacker Greataxe Water (Bravery)

KOS-MOS Attacker Ether Cannon Light (Justice)

Azami Attacker Ether Cannon Dark (Justice)

Vale Attacker Megalance Dark (Justice)

Perun Attacker Megalance Ice (Truth)

Zenobia Attacker Greataxe Wind (Truth)

Agate Attacker Greataxe Earth (Compassion)

Floren Healer Bitball Earth (Compassion)

Nim Healer Knuckle Claws Earth (Compassion)

Kora Healer Knuckle Claws Electric (Compassion)

Adenine Healer Knuckle Claws Wind (Truth)

Boreas Healer Bitball Wind (Truth)

Dahlia Healer Bitball Ice (Truth)

If you look at the list you can figure out on your own which ideas, and boosters are most likely to net you a tank, or attacker too. As you can see from this list there are six random rare healers in the game. They have Earth, Electric, Wind, and Ice as elements. This means if you want a rare healer it's best to use Truth and Compassion boosters. 

3. When opening new core crystals it's best to equip two Luck modifying Pit Ball Blades, and two luck modifying items. This pushes your luck over 900 and greatly increases the odds of getting a new blade. 

4. You can farm unique bosses for rare core crystals. If you overkill them during a team attack they drop more loot, meaning more core crystals. 

5. It's best to only keep common blades that have three field skills. This is because they are the best at completing merc missions quickly. It's a HUGE boost in timesaving when doing Ursala's quest. 

6. Rex can use any blades belonging to other drivers once you beat chapter seven or eight. This means you don't have to waste overdrives on him. 

7. When doing a chain attack your party member will prioitize the highlighted orbs. Attacking with an opposing element breaks the orb faster keeping your combo going. 

8. If you can break six orbs in a single chain attack you get to do an insane amount of damage. 

9. Overkilling an enemy during a chain attack, increases the XP, WP, and SP you get after winning. It's pretty easy to get 300% drop rates. If you work for it you can get 600% drop rates. OVERKILL EVERYTHING!

10. Never level up at an inn. The bonus XP you get at an inn makes you overleveled and once you are overleveled you get less WP, SP, and XP from enemies. The inn XP is meant for people that want to blow through the game without doing any sidequests, or killing any monsters. 

11. Pouch items refill when their timer runs out. This means if you have 30 Nopon Cookies and you are using one, they will keep automatically refilling everytime the buff timer runs out. This helps a lot in increasing Blade affinity. 

12. Doing a level 4 special attack GREATLY increases affinity. 

13. Have you seen a list in blade affinity that says something like "Kill 10 creatures", "Farm 20 items", etc.? Those lists can be filled up by  sending your blade on mercenary quests. This means you don't have to go hunting down random  items or creatures just to get your affinity powers. 

14. New quests show up depending on town affinity, and what chapter you are on. Whenever you unlock a new chapter or new town affinity it's a good idea to go running around looking for new quests. 

15. You can level up town affinity easily by just buying and selling your cylinders over and over again. Gormott instantly goes to level 5 affinity if you buy the inherited core crystal for 500,000 gold. 

A fair,  comprehensive comparison between Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles X:

Okay, I am half way through chapter 10 and decided I want to do side-quests before finishing it. Anyway, the story stuff in chapter 10 is very, very, very interesting and really expands my ideas of what the Xeno-series is in terms of scope. I have so many theories going through my mind.