re: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Switch JRPG Official Thread (84/100 Metacritic)

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I’ve seen the negative reviews

Mostly hits it on things either people don’t like about it or efficiency (such as map) or things I just flat out like about JRPGs and some things I miss about JRPGs

So I’m not getting a good sense of things from the reviews

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What do you feel is missing?

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A lot of the good reviews are clearly just fans of series or Nintendo and the bad ones have too many reviewers that don’t like these kinds of games or things that I like about the older ones

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That's pretty fair.

Watch this review: LINK GameXplain can be Nintendo Fanboys, but this particular reviewer, while liking Xenoblade 1, saw a lot of flaws. He breaks down every major system in the game without going into Spoilers. Might be worth it.

This will make it sound complicated however, but again, you don't have to master everything.

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I like basic and melodramatic exposition, I like weird shite. I like the “world is dying” tropes

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Then you'll probably like the story. If you like Exploration, I'd almost say there's no way you won't like this game. The environments and the way they are presented even from the videos looks epic.

I'd say then it depends on how much you like Combat/Customization. There is a lot of nuanced customization in the game to drive combat, both in the setup, leveling up, Blade Affinities (opening up extra skills and stats on Blades), and in combat through the combos and statuses. If you can get into stuff like that then you'll enjoy it. This is where people say it might feel tedious. And they aren't wrong, it depends on if you like this stuff, or if its a draw.

Xenoblade sits comfortably between Final Fantasy X/XII and Disgaea in the Customization question. FWIW, I don't like the level of Customization in Disgaea, it's often just way too much. I find Xenoblade to be jut right, where most RPGs fall short. XCX was probably closer to Disgaea.

The first game did a really good job of having a complex combat system that you didn't need to master to beat it. You probably need to be relatively good at it, but you certainly don't have to min/max your way to the end. The dev team seems skilled at creating a rewarding system like this where mastery of the full scope is not required, but it's there if you want it.