Pretty much what Wazzup said.
*spoilers for Xenoblade*
A few days ago, after realizing I have a ton of Heart-to-Hearts unavailable and exploring landmarks nets me a ton of Skill Points that don't get passed to new party members, I decided to look up how soon my next party member would come. I did get spoiled on my seventh, but I knew it would be okay to:
1) Bum rush to where I get my next one because it's at least two or three zones after where I was.
2) Learn that the timed quests of a certain place wouldn't cut off before I got my new party member
It still took me ten hours to get the character, but if I had been exploring, there's no doubt it would have taken thirty hours longer.
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"COMMUNITY is back at 8 on the 15th. I have a good feeling about those numbers." - Damon Lindelof