emjhood

This game is the perfect Xenoblade experience for someone who doesn't want to put 50+ hours into a game. It has all of my favorite parts of Xenoblade 2, but none of the cheesiness or cringe. It has a lot of the best soundtracks from 2 like Those Who Stand Against Our Path and Counterattack in addition to new jazz fusion-y area and battle themes. Even though you don't get the draw dropping landscapes present in the mainline games, the areas you do explore are interesting in their own right. In addition, a lot of the mechanics people might find overwhelming in 2 are simplified or removed. There's no elemental order required to make elemental orbs, so big damage comes easy. Enemies drop aux cores that don't need to be refined like in 2, and there isn't any blade switching options. I'm pretty sure that Monolith got a little better at animating too, as the game looks noticeably better. It is worth noting that you will have to do side quests to progress the story at a certain point in the game, which is a big turnoff for many. However, after completing every side quest I can safely say that they're worth doing. NPC's stories are often connected, giving the main town a really homey feel. Long story short this game brings forth some of my favorite things about the series in an easy to manage package.