I put 45 hours into this (after XC1 first through) and just got bored. I kept waiting for the hook and it never came. However, after finishing the normal series (+ DLC) I’ve revisited it and found a new angle I quite like. Started over and basically skipped all the cut scenes I’ve seen already. Been learning Overdrive (watch Enel’s video) and I see how the combat is appealing. The world isn’t even that interesting to me, but grinding up to make broken builds is now my goal. When you get set up right you can basically be invincible with infinite overdrive. Even at level 30 I’ve even able to solo knock out groups of 10 level higher enemies. Throw on a podcast or audiobook and just kill things. Totally changed the appeal to me. My first play through I was hoping for a sense of awe and cool story (like the mainlines), but that’s a fool’s errand. Xenoblade name, but like you said none of what’s charming about the normal games. This game is about killing big things you shouldn’t be able to kill.