So bought the game on Friday and am now putting it down. Just not enjoying it.
1) ok character designs are still cringe-worthy. The NPCs have more normalish proportions and then you have this anime mutant makn character. With assless chaps and a bizarre outfit. And he's supposed to be what 12? (Guessing by his height) with a mature voice? Whatever.
2) anime tropes are so heavy and cringeworthy. I guess I kind of liked the tone of the previous Xenoblade games and this one is just hard to take seriously. I guess the camera can't take it seriously since it keeps panning over to gawk at Pyra's bewbs.
3) the battle system feels like it takes a step backwards. Arts only charge if you attack and you attack only if you stand still? No stategic placing since you're not attacking and the enemy moves just as fast... can't dodge even though the attack clearly doesn't touch your sprite. And then all these different types of combos and cancelling attacks and such? And healing sucks (see posts above about potions spawning waaaaaaaaay over there...)
4) map? It's terrible. Unforgivable in a game that is supposed to have a lot of exploration.
5) the physics are really off too. The jumping is very floaty, and the swimming floatier. It just further takes me out of immersion.
At least the settings are pretty?
1. MC's bad, but he's not the worst. Not when masked Sephiroth is out-Uzuki'ing the rest of the cast.
2. Sadly, the anime is thick with this one. One of your future party members is literally FE:Awakening's Owain. Frankly, it feels like someone stapled a Tales of Plot onto Xenoblade gameplay (but then, given the Xenowhatever track record thus far, this is essentially par for the course (Xenogears was basically a bunch of old skool Giant Robot anime plots glued together with theological philosophy 541); XBC1 was just better at hiding it (and it also took its main conceit fairly seriously which helped immensely as foresight is a hell of a plot device to run with when not bullshitting with it)).
3. I'm half way through Chapter 3 and I've only just now unlocked Chain Attacks. I appreciate the game taking its time to explain shit this time around, but its also kinda moving rather slowly (and yeah, the gameplay sucks out loud with only one party member; and you don't get a full party until mid way through Chapter 2). That said, the battle system starts earning its bread once you have Blade Combos and Art/Blade Canceling, its just unfortunate that the battle system takes so long to get there.
4. Its clunky as hell and the Directional Main Quest Marker sometimes pointing at something beyond the map you're currently on, but those are its only critical flaws. Sidequests, the Main Quest marker and NPCs all show up on the mini-map, while the Map Screen gives you far greater detail.
5. The physics were even floatier in XBCs 1 & X.
I should also mention at this point that the game is reminding me more of Baiten Katos than XBCs 1 or X.