Due to the fact that I need to complete a long easy that is due today... I stay up ... glad that I took a nap 12 hours ago...
I saw a thread in GameFAQs where someone translate the Xenoblade 2's Famitsu review summary ... and let's just bring the elephant in the room... most their complaints basically also fits in the original Xenoblade Chronicles.
https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/204208-xenoblade-chronicles-2/76011463?page=0
Famitsu review summary
Joy
- playtime varies depending on the player
- world setting is great and characters are charming. The scenes and music help you get immersed
- the combat systems unlocking as you progress is great
- combat using different blades are fun and strategic
- the fast travel is very convenient.
Cons?
- there are lots of things to memorize for battle and is a bit complicated
- you spend lots of time looking at event scenes
- encountering too strong enemy and running away from them during exploration is troublesome
- grinding for things like money can hurt the game's play tempo
- sometimes it's hard to see the map
- a single battle can be quite long, and you wish you can enjoy more variety of battles instead.
While I have admitted a lot of times that I am a Xenoblade fanboy... but I will try my best not when reading this review summary.
The first two Joys were those typical praise for both original and X (Minus characters for X though...), combat systems unlocking is nice, but just without the need to unlock monado arts and no gem finding, I hope the combat systems unlocking can be great than original's. As for using different Blades are fun and strategic is nuff said and I will mention this again....
As for the Cons were obvious that I have problems with, but I do have to give them a benefit of the doubt that they have played the game and I don't, so I just might have the same opinion with them
About things to memorize for battle obviously are the things you will need to learn when at the start of the game, as long as the game isn't like Dark Souls or Cuphead that somewhat instantly puts you into a heard frenzy gameplay I'm fine.
I just hope the tutorial is good...
Spend lots of time looking at event scenes was also a legit complaint for X, but compare to X's dull facial expressions, I'm pretty sure those who is fin with anime facial expression will consider this a plus
I mean I can't wait to see this,
And let's neglect the "encountering too strong enemy and running away from them during exploration is troublesome", since this has been what Xenoblade is known for. It is a bit fearsome, but not troublesome... unless you need to do quest that you have to get near to a high level enemy.
Sometime hard to see the map is legit, but I need to play the game myself to see how hard it will be, I mean I play the original on my New 3DS and man the map was hard to see, so I bet XC2's map will be way better even in handheld mode.
A single battle can be quite long was indeed true when I was watching some gameplay, I just hope it won't feel dull after hours of playing, but the new topple system and chain attacks are way more better than the original. Since I did not play X I can't say if X is better or not. And hey, in the game the crews will also need to deal with Drivers as well, so there is a bit of a variety right?
Overall I do think the Cons are a bit nitpick to some extent, with that being said I still don't think XC2 deserves 35/40, I will be totally fine if it's even just 36/40. Nevertheless as I have said before, Famitsu score don't heavily affect XC2's Metacritic score.
I mean... even Fire Emblem Awakening only got 36/40, I bet the developers ad the fans were a bit scared when seeing the Famitsu scores of Awakening, but glad that it sold really well. So besides just reviews... I just hope Xenoblade Chronicles 2 will be the best selling Xenoblade game or even the best selling Xeno game ever. And it's very likely due to the fact that this time Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is selling on a popular platform and it is at its on fire period, unlike the original that was released when the Wii was about to be replaced by Wii U, and X was also released at the near end of the console life cycle as well despite it had many trailers to promote the game.