>>29895145>There's even less exploration than X/YThe railroading is bullshit, but I'm finding more things to explore in XY because the region has a lot off off-path areas. There are places I have only found by complete accident, like the underground cave that you can only access by looking through a flower patch in Melemele Meadow that has nothing to do with the path the plot tells you to go on in that area. Within mostly linear areas there are still small side sections that might have an item or berry tree that you wouldn't run into if you were following the railroad without any defiance.
When I play a JRPG I always try to go as far away from the railroad as possible at all times to see what the game will let me get away with. Early SM was fucking abhorrent with how little you could stray from the path but once I started finding all the little side paths and optional spots it made it tolerable.
The game is also harder than XY. I'm sure if I were using Exp. Share it would be boringly easy, but some fights have sincerely fucked me up and put me at risk of losing (I haven't lost a fight yet, and haven't needed to use anything stronger than a Super Potion in any battle, but forcing me to use healing items mid-battle is a lot more engaging than what we've been getting with Gen VI), like the Lurantis fight where it summoned a Castform, who used Sunny Day and simultaneously powered up its Synthesis and Solar Blade. It's still not challenging the way a non-children's JRPG is, but it's something.
Also the music is a lot better. Not every track hits it out of the park but the fact that some of them are at all makes it better than XY.
I haven't gotten to postgame and I hear it's barren, but so is Gen VI postgame so we're even there.
There are points in this game where I'm actually having fun and don't want to shut the game off to play something else, that makes it better than Gen VI. Gen VII so far doesn't seem as good as 3/4/5, but being better than 6 is not hard.
