Ok, time for some impressions:
- Graphics are atrocious. One one hand, you really have to marvel at the scale of the game, which rivals even the biggest, louder HD production. We're talking bigger than Mass Effect here. One the other hand, you almost feel bad for everything else: some of the technical lows of Xenoblade wouldn't pass on a first generation PS2 release. And there is a clear lack of craftsmanship in many areas - animation for example is mostly hilarious.
- Music is standard but high quality JRPG stuff. One annoying thing is how "loud" the music plays in many of the cutscenes, it's like you're having shimomura shouting "winds of emotion!" in your ear in a high pitched voice, instead of enjoying her composition. I shouldn't complain though, most of it is great stuff.
- Localization is good but not great, I think I will switch to japanese soon, the english voice overs are seemingly enthusiastic but these anime-style dramatic dialogues fit much better to japanese actors, I think.
- Story & Gameplay: I won't say much here because I still need a few hours for some conclusions, but boy, if this isn't a game with deep thinking behind it. The volume of content is INCREDIBLE, from advance battle/party mechanics to a million of sub quests and things to do and interact with in the world and cities. It's like the developers put every little thing the best JRPGS have been doing for the past five years in a single game. Still, need to make my mind about some stuff so I won't elaborate.
. Ich werde sicherlich einiges erkunden und möglichst viele Nebenquests machen - wie es sich gehört.
Bei XB haben sie einfach nen optimalen Mittelweg für die vorhandene Leistung gewählt. (LoD Modelle für verschiedene Situationen würde ich als Einwand zwar gelten lassen aber auch direkt wieder verwerfen da sie imho den Gesamteindruck zerstören weil es immer auffällt und am Ende billiger wirkt als ein weniger aufwendiges Modell für gesamte Spiel.)
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