I don't disagree with anything you're saying about Zestiria. I just disagree that it's dramatically worse than the Xillia games. I don't find the Lilial Orb system to be particularly compelling either, especially the Xillia 2 version of it. Actually, the version in 1 commits the sin of the illusion of choice which bothers me quite a bit. You think you have control over which abilities your characters are learning, but in the end you unlock most cells on the way to unlocking what you wanted anyway.Shopping system is a means to an end. It didn't directly affect combat. Only the numbers if you bought OP weapons at the time but even then it was limited by the amt of currency you can get. In zestiria the skill system which was shit had a direct impact on your combat capability and was prevalent from beginning to end. the skill system in zesty was dogshit.