this game's really clicking for me, honestly. I had low/moderate expectations for how much I might dig the story or combats based on impressions I read, but they're both excellent. BLADE is really fleshed out and full of characters and dilemmas; I'm really surprised by how decent and even funny the writing/localization is. BLADE's objectives are also really sensible and it's pretty much a perfect conceit for RPG class/character mechanics (I really loved that cutscene where the divisions are broken down; I had a hard time choosing because they all seemed like things I wanted to do and equally important/interesting). everything always ties back into the world in brilliant ways, too. I love that there are so many natural setpieces in the game, which work out nicely for both missions and random exploration: it's a good feeling becoming familiar with landmarks and cool spots by randomly exploring and then seeing/traversing the place again as you go about the missions. the sense of growing familiarity with such a vast world is remarkable, and I'm just getting comfortable in noctilum, without a freaking skell. like, there are so many specific places I want to return to with flight already. it's crazy that I'm finding the urge to simply know the world so compelling.
I dunno, it's hard to articulate everything, but there's just an amazing level of overall cohesion to everything.