A strange title, and very rough around the edges, but makes up for all its flaws just by being cool. The highlight is definitely the world and exploration. Monolith Soft had a heavy role with Breath of the Wild, and you can feel that design here, just less refined and hiding behind badass mechs fighting giant monsters.

The meat of the games offerings is this giant open world. Stylized with a heavy sci-fi/mecha mix, the world and set pieces are a spectacle on their own. Cool monsters, fun collectibles, and the FrontierNav system coax you out so you can get lost in the gorgeous environment. The music is similarly strange, but I love it to death. Uncontrollable, the tyrant theme, in particular is my favorite battle theme ever. The combat is complex and deeply customizable. There are almost no tutorials, so experimenting is mandatory. And once you unlock the Skell, the game gets even cooler.

The story is not great, especially juxtaposed against the other titles in the Xenoblade series. Far more work was put into the world itself, and the side content that it offers. The side quests have elaborate trees, telling substantial stories in their own right, and the game has the balls to just let you miss them, play an entire playthrough and never find them. If you want to understand huge chunks of the story and lore, doing side content is not optional. The Wrothians in particular just vanish from the main story, and if you want any closure on them you must explore and quest for them.

Great game. Strange, rough, but oozing style and charm.