LogFAQs > #971953900

dragon504 posted...

Seems more like the first than the second one so far.

It is. Generally a darker tone (there's a very strong argument to be made that 2 ends up being darker than 1 once you finally get into the meat of it, but the early impressions definitely come across as a more light-hearted game), and less whimsical art style, and fewer hamfisted shonen tropes (including blatantly subverting the fanservice bath scene in a way that provides meaningful worldbuilding, as opposed to 2 mostly playing the trope straight). Gameplay-wise, it arguably builds more on 2's foundation than 1's, but it incorporates a lot from both.

dragon504 posted...

I'm glad the affinity chart is back. I dunno why, but I really like that feature and wish more games had it. Would be really nice in something like Elder Scrolls imo.

It is a really nifty feature. It doesn't make a huge difference to Xenoblade's gameplay (consider, for comparison, the Bomber's Notebook in Majora's Mask, which serves a similar worldbuilding purpose but also helps to track sidequest progress and guess at next steps), but it really helps to flesh out the world by establishing everyone you interact with as being somehow interconnected and meaningfully affected by the actions you take.