A couple notes on XC2 so far:
Combat
[LIST]
[][COLOR=rgb(238, 21, 21)]Very slow in the initial stages as Arts are no longer available from the get-go and work more akin to the Talent Arts in XC1 which places a higher emphasis on auto-attacking until you’ve hit an enemy enough to make an Art useable[/COLOR]
[][COLOR=rgb(238, 21, 21)]Lead to moments where an enemy is inflicted with Break but I haven’t hit said enemy with enough AAs to make my Topple Art available[/COLOR]
[][COLOR=rgb(238, 21, 21)]Break > Topple > Smash/Launch Combo is explained very late into the game where first time players/veterans would’ve already picked up on how the combo works. Tutorials in general aren’t properly explained to the player.[/COLOR]
[][COLOR=rgb(2, 239, 238)]Speeds up significantly after Chapter 4 as you get access to more Blade slots and can switch to a different Blade if the current one doesn’t have an Art available to use[/COLOR]
[][COLOR=rgb(2, 239, 238)]Drivers can unlock passives which allow them to use Arts mapped to X, Y and A buttons immediately which mitigates the issue of Arts not working by cooldowns anymore.[/COLOR]
[][COLOR=rgb(2, 239, 238)]Combat starts to feel more kinetic as you have Arts that are available from the get-go and more Blades to utilize which makes it really fun to pull off Break > Topple > Smash/Launch Combos in tandem with Blade Combos[/COLOR]
[/LIST]
Gameplay & General Stuff
[LIST]
[*][COLOR=rgb(238, 21, 21)]Shops except the weapon chips and gem crafting ones feel useless for the most part as they’re not really explained all that well unless you read up on the Wiki.[/COLOR]
[/LIST]
[LIST]
[*][COLOR=rgb(238, 21, 21)]Also it’s a bit of an obvious one but Xenoblade games as a whole need to be played with the Wiki if you plan on doing everything in a single save file. [COLOR=rgb(147, 101, 184)]SIDENOTE:[/COLOR] [COLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]Huge thanks to all the people who contribute to the Wiki such as letting other players know where to find certain items and how to get the best routes for the numerous sidequests[/COLOR][/COLOR]
[/LIST]
[LIST]
[*][COLOR=rgb(238, 21, 21)]Pyra’s VA tends to sound very monotone in most of the scenes she appears in compared to every other character. Stuff like this is 100% the voice director’s fault as VAs just work with what they’re given. [/COLOR]
[/LIST]
[LIST]
[][COLOR=rgb(238, 21, 21)]Field Skills suck ass to an extent. It forces you to switch to Blades you normally wouldn’t use as they’re really only just useful for their field skill.[/COLOR] [COLOR=rgb(2, 239, 238)]What stops them from being a god-awful mechanic is the fact that they stack so you don’t need to spend time levelling a single Blade’s field skills. [/COLOR]
[][COLOR=rgb(2, 239, 238)]Another positive is that they add some interactivity with the environments in the game as they can lead to some extra dialogue with certain NPCs like Phonexes, can open up shortcuts, yield a larger quantity of items from gathering spots and can take you to certain areas with extra treasure chests.[/COLOR]
[/LIST]