A more refined Xenoblade 2 experience that I wish was of similar scope to the mainline games that ultimately ends up tripping itself by asking the bold question “what if we made 6+ hours worth of optional content mandatory at the eleventh hour?”.

I fully get from a ludonarrative standpoint asto why they made side quests a crucial element of the writing, but given the urgency of the story at that point, that’s not something that should suddenly be of importance to get to the end and I wish that element was incorporated into the game in a way that doesn’t outright kill its momentum in order to inflate playtime. Still a more consistent experience compared to the base game and a good time with some great OSTs, but it did leave me wanting more out of what we got with its characters and writing.