>>14671557
I'll say Divinity Original Sin 2 is a more fitting, as it is an RPG rather than an ARPG. I haven't played Xenoblade 2 sadly, so cannot really compare, but if it is similar to the other Xenoblade Chronicles then I think I could compare them. They are more similar that they would look at first glance. Both games offer a set of skills and a limited skill palette that for each character. Xeno is more strict with the number of skills, while D:OS2 let you increase the number of skills each character has, at the cost of inverting points in Memory each time you level. Both system have their pro and cons: while Xeno feels sometimes frustating a limiting, it also forces the player to combine skills in a smart way to achieve powerful combos or fit certain roles. D:OS2 in the other hand, let you experiment and break the game at your hearth content, but it feels not as well though out. Combat in both is pretty good but has their flaws. Xeno combat is fast, intense, forces you to adapt and be always on your toes and checking what the enemy and your partners are doing. Creating combos, pacing yourself and deciding what skills to use and when, checking your position, trying to guess enemies weaknesses and resistances, the combat is very well made and more deep that it look at first glance. But the fact that you only control a single character may make you feel like you are playing a single player MMO sometimes, not helped by limited skill set. It can become repetitive at times, but changing up your character builds helps to alleviate the problem. D:OS2 combat in the other hand is turn based, and let the player get very creative with the combat. Using the enviroment, changing and teleporting enemies, status effects, CC, each fight feels like a very fun puzzle or playground with many solutions. The bad thing is, it is unbalaced as fuck. Is easy to either get totally stuck or to break the game in a thousand pieces, and some skills are rather OP while other are straight up bad. The armor, damage and health scaling is also pretty bad, but atleast the developers are updating the game quite often to improve this.
Concerning writing, as I said I haven't play Xenoblade 2 yet, but 1 was pretty decent in my opinion, and X has quite a lot of potential before they fucked it up all, but I would say it is probably better than D:OS2. It is not bad, but it has a lot of weak moments and certain dialogues could be improved. Xeno handle its dramatic moment very well in general, but D:OS2 gives you a certain degree of freedom Xeno lacks. When it comes to sidequest, I'd say D:OS2 wins. It has less but better side quests, a lot of them hidden and requires certain character builds, which promotes re playability. Xenoblade 1 and specially X had some pretty good side quest, but the majority where MMO tier trash. I hear Xeno 2 improves in this aspects though, with sidequest that have interesting plots so there is that.
When it comes to graphics, both games are good, but it is more because of a very strong art direction. Here is mostly personal taste, but I think both games are just good considering the system they had been released in. Music I'll say is better in Xenoblade, but it has tons of talented artist and composer behind its soundtrack, so it was a given. D:OS2 is not slouch either, and the ost is pretty good, just not as memorable.
Overall, both of them are pretty good. I don't know if the best in the last 5 years but good.