Xenoblade Chronicles

I wonder if the glowing reviews were made after completing this game or simply after playing it for a few hours.

This game was absolutely amazing and a wonder to behold... Up until the halfway point. The experience of playing it starts off like a breath of fresh air with a beautiful art style, engaging story, unique combat system, very Hollywood-esque voice acting, and probably the best original soundtrack you'll ever listen to (I even have the "You Will Know Our Names" chorus set as my ringtone).

But at a certain point, the experience changes, as the game gets dragged down by repetitive and empty side quests, incompetent AI compounded with a lack of control over your 2 teammates (which is crucial to most battles), and story beats with twists and turns which are more about subverting expectations than they are about making actual sense and being well-earned. And despite my years of experience playing RPGs since childhood, by the halfway point of this game, I just didn't look forward to slogging through what became a stale story with a combat difficulty spike that was simultaneously unfair and unengaging.

It's a real shame. After all the insane glowing reviews about this being one of the most overlooked games of the past 15 years, I was expecting at minimum a satisfying experience to carry me through most of the game. I haven't played the sequels so I can't comment on them, but before I do that, I'll need proof that they are games worth sinking 50+ hours into before I waste such time again.