The differences in the Xenoblade games, summed up by how you get to a new area during the main campaign
Xenoblade 1: Most places are connected by land. If you just follow along the story, it eventually sees you walking into the next area. A few times you’ll get cutscened into a place.
Xenoblade 2: Youalmostexclusivelyget to a new titan via story means. Someone shows up with a boat in a cutscene to take you somewhere. At least twice you must complete a story quest where you need to negotiate getting your party onto a boat to the next area.
Xenoblade X:“YesI did say ‘swim across the ocean to the next continent yourself’, you think this is a joke?”
honestly a big indicator of a good game for me is the ability to just chill in it. if you can enjoy yourself just stopping to take in the scenery and listen to the music and ambience, or hanging out on the title screen, or ignoring the main gameplay to go off and screw around picking flowers, or even just mousing over all the menu options for the tactile feedback, chances are it’s a good fucking game