This is one of those games that should be in everyone's library if they like RPG's. Although the main story is short, the game more than makes up for that in character development, race development, and it's humongous world. It was an absolute joy to explore the world of Mira.
The combat though...is some of the best I have ever experienced. It's basically a mix of turn based combat and action. Skills go on cooldown after use, but there isn't much wait in between use. It's not a global cooldown either, each skill has its own. Monsters range from MMO meme ladybug size, to GINORMOUS. Not even kidding, there are monsters that you are the size of their toe nail. For those ones...you need the mech suit (skells). It takes a bit to unlock them, but when you do the game really opens up. You don't get a particularly good one right away, but you can go and buy some better ones pretty easily. and of course those have tons of customization also. And eventually, you get to fly with them and go anywhere.
The music, at least to me, is very good. I will say that you will either like it or hate it though. I enjoyed it. There were a few tracks that didn't really grab my attention, but to me the battle music was very enjoyable. Fighting tyrants (boss like enemies) have especially good music. Most of it I find sets the mood nicely.
Now I have to say this: the game is NOT easy. It will take getting used to the game mechanics and combat, but I found it was an enjoyable experience. Unlike most games today, the world feels dangerous and real. You can run away from enemies, but sometimes you don't make it. I died quite a few times. The boss like tyrant enemies even sport a bronze, silver, or gold crown by their name based on how many players they have killed! But that just means eventually you will get to come back and show THEM whose boss! And there is - a lot - of tyrant type enemies of all levels. So there is plenty reason to continue playing the game. Just be prepared to put some work into learning how the game works.
The game does have it's flaws though. If you liked the original Xenoblade chronicles you may not like this one. Instead of the story being the main focus, it is on side missions and the absolute insane amount of customization, and exploration. I did enjoy the main story though and was pulled into the world very quickly. Some of the other issues include the game not telling you where to find certain things, instead just telling you which continent you can find them on...which doesn't help as some items are very rare, and the continents very large. thankfully so far everything I needed to know I found online. The game does usually tell you where to go for most missions, but the ones that make you collect the little blue gems are especially bad.
My other issue is that there is no easy way to recruit members to you're team. This is more annoying than bad. They are all around new LA, and all you have to do is talk to them, once you recruit them, but it would have been much simpler to just have a menu list to just swap them in and out.
My biggest issue with the game is the affinity mechanic. Depending on how often you use certain characters, you may not be able to undertake certain affinity quests. raising a characters affinity when you barely use most members is a frustrating chore. After the game is complete there are missions you can undertake to quickly raise affinity, but it would have been more entertaining to do those quests when they were relevant. They were a little too easy by the time I was finished the game. One of the main story missions locked me out completely until I raised Lao's affinity to 1/5. Use him in your party until he gets 1/5 to avoid this. it took me 1-2 hours of grinding soul voice triggers to raise it to the appropriate level. If this system never came back to this series I wouldn't miss it.
Besides those flaws though, I absolutely love the game. The world feels real, as if I'm actually in Mira. And that's a good thing. All too often games nowadays just throw together a world that doesn't make you care about it. Thankfully that isn't the case here. Once you step outside the city walls, you're sense of exploration will kick right in. There is a TON of stuff to do in Mira, and you will easily spend 200+ hours in the game if you plan to 100% everything, if that's your thing. Even if it isn't, it's your choice to do a quest or not. Side missions are not forced on you.
I gave this game a 5 not because its flawless, because no game is, but because it does what most games today don't do...be a video game!