PixlBit

My same old complaints again. 

Despite my love of MMOs, they really dont offer as much freedom as some might think. Well, it depends on the MMO of course, but I enjoy the linear theme-parked RPG type MMOs that you can solo, like Neverwinter  which is free on PS4 right now or The Secret World,. Although there is some multi-player involved when it comes to raids and dungeons which I don't mind.  

(Atelier)

Part of this happened, my love of MMOs, when new RPGs or JRPGS basically dried up on console despite the plethora of generic anime JRPGs that seemed to flood PS3 at the end of it's lifecycle. And a few of these end of life JRPGs weren't too bad. Atelier series is a new series for me that I enjoy on PSVITA and console as well. Tales of Zesteria was colorful, light and fun too. Neptunia is ok too. The other reason is cost. A lot of MMOs went Free To Play, where a lot of imported or new JRPGs are very pricey, not really knowing if they are going to be good or not, while MMOs have stuck to formulas that work for the most part, although its become an old formula.

Anyway, I don't particularly enjoy open world games with exception of just a few. But Xenoblade Chronicles X has turned me around on this. I don't have a lot of time to play games like I used to, so generally I try to avoid long ass RPGs in favor of more, shorter experiences. There are some I make exceptions for like Dragon Age, Mass Effect, for story continuity purposes and new Xenoblade? Sign me up!

I've put over 20 hours in xenoblade x and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface even though I've completed half of the story missions, there are 12 apparently and I've done like 6, I still haven't unlocked 2 of 5 massive continents or finished fully exploring the first one and have yet to unlock Robot suits, yet. Still, I can't stop picking up the controller and chipping away at all of it. My only real issue with the game so far is the story isn't as compelling as the first, but this game is more focused on open world exploration and grinding which is fine since it does it so well. I can pick up missions and complete them in any order I like and can ignore them all together and just run around and explore. I suppose the beautiful art design of the world and creatures and plentiful customization and weapons options keeps me very busy. I spent an evening just trying out fashion gear and have everyone running around in shorts and bikini tops, appropriate for 100+ degree weather.

As open world go, I think the lack of story here might make me appreciate games like Inquistion, Fallout more since I feel story is worth the time investment. We'll see. I still have a lot of Xeno to go. 

-asreal