Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

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@Pizzamorg I'm about 14/15 hours in now and have to concur with the navigation. The first one's definitive edition was already a struggle with navigation at times, but this is so much worse. The fact there's no suggested route to anything just leads to a bunch of unintended puzzling to get to places that aren't really signposted in any logical manner. I guess complaining about that is funny in the middle of the modern-day yellow paint debacle, but it's not really an excuse for poor map design. I don't see how it's logical I should be using certain crates that look like decoration to jump on roofs that then somehow lead me to another roof further away from where I can jump to where I need to be. So needlessly complicated. I can't say it has put a major damper on my experience so far, but I've only seen Gormott so far. I imagine if there's any bigger city areas, it might become a bad time as a result.

It's not even just that. The compass is barely functional and will often lead you completely the wrong way and suddenly switch to a different direction once you've made it to where it led you. The map only showing quest markers for one map at a time is inexcusable with the amount of side quests these games like to throw at you. Why do I have to go in my quest log over and over again to activate a new quest to have any idea where its next step should be? And why is there not a button for me to instantly go in my quest log? I've seen a lot of praise for the QoL changes they made to the Blade checks in exploration. Understandably so from what I heard, as I would've hated to play with the old system of endless switching blades in and out. Still, I don't see why the QoL change was exclusive to that and not to the navigation system. Especially since they iterated on it with the first game's definitive edition within the exact same engine. Would it have been such a hard ask to simply port that game's system to this one?

But again, it's not to the degree of destroying the game for me. I do find the start of it a bit hand-holdy for now with how slowly it introduces the game's system. Admittedly, I'm not sure if the first game was guilty of that as well and I simply appreciated it there more, while by the time I'm playing this I'm aware of many of the systems at play. Get to the new stuff already! I do really like that they got rid of the arbitrary ''fighting higher level enemies is practically impossible'' if they are more than three levels above you. It does make it harder to gauge which enemies I can actually stand up to and which ones not, but keeping the three level-rule in mind from the previous game has so far withheld me from running into any too difficult fights. Until yesterday anway, where my team was led into an ambush of Level 25 brogs while my characters were roughly level 19/20. In the first game, that would've been cause for me to give up on that quest for the time being, but I figured I'd try it the fight... and succeeded! I'm sure my experience with the combat system across both games helped with that, but it felt very satisfying to be able to beat a pair of higher-level enemies without getting penalised for it on a meta-level.

All that said, the start is as overwhelming as ever despite the drip-fed tutorialising. There's still so many systems in play with new huge ones introduced in this game. My time so far has mostly been spent running around Gormott like a headless chicken moving from whatever mechanic pops up in my mind to interact with to the next. That and grinding Tiger, Tiger! to get that stupid Nopon's Tank Mod III. I must've done over thirty complete runs by now and still not gotten it. I've looked it up and apparently it has a 4% drop rate, which is ridiculous with it being a prerequisite to finish this little side quest. Luckily, I can also create it later on as the internet has informed me. Guess that means I'll simply leave this quest to the wayside for now until I can finish it that way, as much as it hurts me to leave it open.

As expected however, big fan of the storytelling so far. The end of the first chapter was a truly hype moment. I loved the fight choreography in the final cutscene and the big reveals happening there. It's what I imagine Marvel fans feel when they see their favourite superhero in action on the big screen, but I feel it for these over-the-top anime figures instead apparently. The plot has understandably calmed down a bit since and become slower-paced, but what a way to get me invested for the long-haul! I'm sure I'll get a grip on the more complicated mechanics as I continue, but the story will no doubt have me pushing through that for now anyway.

I will say I'm not a big fan of the gacha element in the game. There's a reason I have never wanted to try a gacha game, and this FOMO is exactly why. I'm a completionist, so the thought I'd be missing out on entire questlines just because the game has decided I'm unlucky in unlocking blades does annoy me greatly. I hope that it won't end up being too much of an issue. With the DLC pack from the expansion pass, I've at least already been able to unlock just about a dozen or so rare blades that actually provide any narrative content. I hope I'll get enough cores either through purchasing them at traders or sheer luck in combat to keep me going as I run into wherever questlines are supposed to start for each of them! So far, so good, and that goes for the game overall despite my annoyances in certain areas. The charm and delight of it being a new Xenoblade experience for me does a lot to carry it so far!