Started playing today after a week or so with session. Feels way too easy in comparison, like it's hard to actually bail (I can see some people would prefer that) but the tricks feel less rewarding to me. I like XLs revert system and the spins feel more responsive. The fact you can style tricks is great too but I think I prefer session overall.
I agree with this, i am literally a better skater IRL then i am on session and just landing a kickflip back tail took me 30 minutes and i was stoked, i hopped on skater xl and my very first try i accidentally did a 360 hardflip back tail 360 shove out, then did the kickflip back tail in a couple more tries.
Now that i've mastered skater xl it's basically just Ea skate and the only way i struggle for tricks or feel any real joy is when i'm doing stuff like 360 flip to hurricane popping into to a switch front feeble and switch 360 flipping out.
Not to mention the grinds, in session they've really mastered the pinch with all grinds, on skater xl the crook pinch is really good but i prefer session for the rest.
Sounds/graphics and how the board moves during manuals is all better on session as well imo:
With all this said i still enjoy skater xl more purely because it's more polished and it's frustrating playing a super hard game like session when it still has glitches, super hard games shine once there are no glitches and all mistakes are user error.