Open world isn't necessarily the issue (though it certainly suffered from the very typical open-world bloat). Xenoblade was just bad because it had really really awful gameplay. I hated the combat system, I hated the awful side-quests, I hated the horrid UI, I hated that tacked on, terrible crafting system. I also didn't like the character designs at all, their personalities were extremely bland as well, and the story didn't even grab me (it might get better later, hell I have the patience to enjoy Trails, but I was utterly bored by Xenoblade). The only things I liked about it was the environmental art, and the soundtrack.
Huh? Are you contradicting yourself here?
No, by that very series, I mean you're going to have to look at Final Fantasy for your FF itch. If FF isn't scratching that itch, it's the only series you can reasonably take issue over for that, because Xenoblade isn't meant to scratch the FF itch.
Combat took a while for me to get used to, but after I got used to it and messed around with it more, I really started enjoying it.
Side quests and crafting I can imagine being hell if you think of them in terms of the typical 100% jrpg way. I wouldn't even want to try doing that, honestly just pick up side quests and use them to explore the area, as long as it's mostly convenient.
Character designs - hmmm, I don't know how far you got, but every character that's not Shulk outshines Shulk on some level. I like some of the later characters quite a bit, although again, not the deepest thing ever.
I don't know. Didn't Monolithsoft start with refugees from Squaresoft? And then get a bunch more from what used to be Sacnoth/Nautilus/feelplus, another band of Squaresoft alums? Given the pedigree, expecting a little Final Fantasy in there seems reasonable enough.
No, Monolith Soft had already worked on a Xenogears type game with the Xenosaga series. Xenoblade wasn't even going to have the Xeno name until it was changed in honor of its head director. Iirc, Xenoblade always always going to be a more experimental game, developers said they weren't going to focus as much on the story for it.
XCX was Monolith Soft expanding on that style, messing with it, basically a progression from what Xeoblade had done. Iirc, the next Monolith Xeno game is going to be more story focused again, if that interests you
Ya it really seems like it depends on each persons situation an how they game in general. I've very rarely put down an rpg for so long that I was lost coming back to it. I can see 10 minutes here an there at lunch being some good lil grinding time but with how I get into grinding sometimes I'd find it hard to just stop an so wouldn't pick the game up at such a time. As for playing on public transportation I could start DQ7 on the bus ride home from picking it up... but I dun got headphones so I'd prolly miss alot of good opening audio. Plus it takes focus ta get sucked into a game world on such a small screen and buses are loud an travelling in general kinda hard to mute outside distractions. Would kinda hamper first impressions of just about any game but on a second playthrough or just random general downtime in-game it may be something I could give a try!
I mean, that's more in general. Personally, I often times like having the screen close to my face, and shift my position while walking around, moving while playing (I might walk in circles to pace while playing, or shift my position on the couch so that I'm reading diagonally or am even upside down or something; this is something I do with books too). Asides from really demanding games, I'd honestly prefer playing games on my laptop than my desktop, because I can lie down with the laptop and play.
Might have alot to do with me growing up more with portables, but I play portables alot more, and I don't think it's all because I'm traveling more.
