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skylermadness · 1 year

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Full Interlink (Guernica Vandham TF/MC/AP)

(Original Date of Upload: February 4, 2023)

Guess I'm uploading my stuff to Tumblr now! I've been writing on DeviantArt and FurAffinity for a good two and a half years now, and felt like maybe testing the waters to see how things will do on Tumblr.

Original Description:

I have written two TFs of the Vandham variety and both of them are Mature. I wonder what this means for me. Anyway, this was an idea I've actually had swirling around my head for a few months now. I wanted to try something based on one of the early game cutscenes, and I kind of went with something that might be considered possession in the least? I don't know. Anyway, this was a really fun story to write! I was trying to go more of an angle of self-exploration and pleasuring during the transformation, something I didn't really explore with many TFs before (except maybe the Thor one from last year). I'm quite proud of how it turned out though, might be among my favorite works! ...I say that with everything I upload, damn. I also wrote this story as a soft sequel to my earlier Xenoblade 3 story "Gray Matter". It's not really vital you read that one first, I just thought it'd be a nice connection to end things on.

Smoke was quickly consuming the valley's battlefield with each passing second, the only sound heard being that of a grueling fight. Six people fighting against a gigantic, monstrous creature of an unknown Origin.

Farther away from the fight there's the sound of metal clanging, and energy pulsating shortly after. An egg-shaped object sits on the ground, splitting open evenly as a piston within it arises and blue motes of light escape its internals. The shell of the object glows a bright green. An eighth person is on this battlefield as well: a burly, bearded man who was currently mortally wounded. Still, he was attempting to do something despite his life-threatening injury.

As the object appears to power up, this man lets out a laugh of triumph. "That's what I'm talking about… looks like it wasn't all for nothing!"

And for a second, the TV screen flickers.

In truth, all of what had just occurred was merely a part of a cutscene. One that belonged to the game Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

Sitting on the living room couch, a young man named Mike eagerly watches the scene unfold. He had originally spent a while procrastinating on even beginning to play this game, but once he started he found himself hooked. The characters interested him, and what little plot he's been given at this point in the story had interested him.

And considering Mike's fixated gaze towards the TV screen. He was captivated.

The fight still continues in front of him. The mysterious giant manages to knock one of the fighters off her feet. But before he gets a chance to land a finishing blow, someone else comes and uses their sword to divert the giant's attack. The swordfighter isn't able to get both he and the girl beside him away from the giant fast enough, and things already are quickly beginning to look dire.

But then a voice yells out in the distance; deep, aged, accented. "It's not over yet!!"

Mike stares at the face of the man. Guernica Vandham. Admittedly he looked like an altered version of the Vandham from the second Xenoblade game, but that didn't make him any less interesting. Considering Mike's ardor towards the original, the copy was just about as good in his eyes.

The older face, the thick beard, the Australian accent. Heck, the jumpsuit looked perfect on the guy! It was enough to make him unconsciously think about just being the guy. Having his face, his hair, his muscles, his voice…

In almost an instant, Guernica pushes down the piston and a massive pulse of energy spills from the object. Spirits of the fighters appear to be ejected from their own bodies.

This includes the spirit of Guernica Vandham himself.

Time seems to slow, and…

Mike barely gets a chance to react as the burly man's spirit almost seems to get expelled from the screen of his TV and descend onto his own body. His physical form and Guernica's spectral form seem to overlap each other for just a millisecond, then the hulking apparition disappears as if it were never there to begin with.

At the same time his television seems to flicker, the power of it short circuiting as his Switch emits a worrying noise of electric crackling. Something builds up, then snaps as the TV forces itself off. The console beside it does the exact same thing as well.

The sensation that pushes everything out of the weird slow feeling state of time was the electrical crepitation of the very controller in his hand, the object seemingly mimicking the actions of all the other electronics in the room. A massive shock entered Mike's hands and arms, the young man hissing in pain as he flung the object onto the table in front of him.

"What the hell was that-" Mike said, his eyes wide as he took in the sudden change of state in his surroundings. His limbs tingle from the sudden shock of electricity, and his palms seemed a little red, likely due to the heat.

His gaze wandered around. Towards the controller, which now appeared fine. Then to the television, whose screen was black and pictureless with no sound coming from its stereos. He then took a glance at the Switch, seemingly inactive as well. But there seems to be something faint, and Mike squints to see what it was.

"Is that… smoke?"

He couldn't fully tell, but a barely noticeable stream of smoke seemed to be escaping the docked console's vent. "Aw crap, did it overheat??"

He stood up from the couch and took a step forward, but was suddenly stopped when he felt a sudden spasm course across his entire body. "Agh, what…?"

The tingling in his hands seemed to increase dramatically, feeling a new, strange sensation. It felt as if he submerged his hand in pure TV static. He looked downwards at his hands to check for any changes, and… he indeed found some.

"Wha…"

Mike's mind blanked, the young man dumbfounded at what he was witnessing. Both of his hands appeared to be growing. Both palms stretched, size increasing with each passing second. They swelled with a thick meatiness entering them. His fingers lengthened to fit the new proportions of his hands, and a significant thickness entered them as well while the tips of each finger blunted.

The discomforting tingling in his hands slowly subsided, the cause being another change that seemed to settle in his hands. As his palms enlarged, the skin upon them grew harder and dense with thick calluses etching upon them. The skin on the back of his hands began to weather, aging rapidly as it gained an almost leathery texture to it.

Mike flipped his hands over a few times in a panic, eyes wide at the sight of them. “What’s happening??”

This strange occurrence then started to move upwards. The rapid aging of his skin cascaded upwards like some kind of reverse waterfall. Alongside that came a substantial amount of bulk in the affected limbs. Bulk that was a result of an increase in muscle mass. It started in his lower arms, the areas heating up as an almost instantaneous workout was forced upon them, their musculature increasing greatly in mere seconds. All the while, the bones in his arms extended, stretching to a larger length than they once were.

Things rapidly reached his forearms next, his muscles growing in that area as well. Biceps began to bulge, triceps magnifying alongside them. The sleeves of his shirt strained against this growth, easily becoming sizes smaller in comparison to his thickening forearms. This was quickly exacerbated once his delts started to gain mass as well, practically ballooning in size. From there the changes jumped to his torso, etching into his shoulders and beginning to broaden them.

The sound of the fabric of his sleeves tearing pierced the air of the room, Mike groaning while sweat started to bead from his forehead. The odd tingling had remained as a searing heat that reverberated around his form, and now that it reached his torso it was steadily plunging both downwards and rising upwards.

He blinked a few times, placing a massive hand at the side of his head. “Hot…” was the first word he could muster, the burgeoning heat messing with his train of thought and leaving his mind hazy.

“Ugh, something’s wrong…”

Although, something about that very statement felt incorrect. His earlier panic was dying down rapidly, easily being replaced with a dazed disposition. Confusion was setting in; that of why this is happening, what is even happening. There was also a state of curiosity as well.

His eyes slowly edged to a side, staring at a muscular arm and thick hand. “So… old and…” his cheeks flushed, “big…”

At the sound of that very simple word, something else began to well up inside him. Heat surged within the man’s core, his bodily frame now starting to widen and slowly pull at the buttons of his shirt as his size grew in width. The strain on his shirt's split persisted, his chest swelling as his pectorals expanded. It wasn't long until their growth exceeded his shirt's limit; a button breaking an eyelet while another one just simply popped off. His pecs continued growing, thickening into two meaty slabs.

It was at this point that Mike's attention had drawn downwards, his mind in a hazy stupor. The site of his newly massive pecs felt satisfying to him. There was also something enjoyable about feeling his shirt continue to rip itself open, more and more buttons breaking against his wide form and thickening muscles. His stomach churned at the feeling of his abdominal muscles beginning to bubble from his skin. Buttons strained, a few simply breaking off, as a six-pack sequentially rippled from the top of his abdomen down.

Mike smiled goofily at the sight, lifting a hand and dipping a finger into the cleavage of his pectorals. "U-urgh… this feels… nice…"

His breathing shuddered. Did his voice crack? It sounded… deeper. And like an accent was beginning to creep in. But those thoughts quickly dashed out his mind as he moved a finger downwards, slowly trailing the midline of his new abdominal muscles.

"Y-yeah… warm 'nd… big…" he said, voice quiet but getting noticeably deeper with each word.

His back straightened, pressure wracking the vertebrae of his spinal cord. The floor was beginning to move further away, the hem of his shirt riding upwards. A sign that his height was increasing.

The sensuality of the experience seemed to increase substantially as he felt hairs prickling from his skin. His eyes widened slightly at the sudden sight of dark hairs emerging from his skin. At first it was just a mild dusting trailing across his chest and the middle of his abs, but it quickly grew beyond that. The fuzz lining his midline thickened into a nice treasure trail, that blossoming of thick hairs seeming to move upwards until it reached his pecs. From there it formed a forest of fur, a sight that greatly contrasted the hairlessness of his arms. Even more peculiar, all this hair had a dusty gray color to it.

He didn't have a lot of time to dwell on that thought though, his hand moving back to his pecs and rubbing them a little. Feeling the bush of fur beneath his calloused skin, watching the hairs break through from between his fingers. His cheeks flushed again, the man feeling so… warm…

He could feel this intense warmth running downwards in more ways than one. The button of his jeans struggled against his widening waist, that region being the next to expand.

It started off simply at first. His thighs started bulging, mimicking the changes in the rest of his body as the muscles within them expanded. Ridges formed within the denim of his jeans quickly as they outlined the increasing size of his hamstrings and his quads. But things quickly got out of his, Mike beginning to feel his rear swell in size. The seat of his pants filled, his glutes growing. His ass was getting round, firm, and thick. So much so that it was evident through the back of his pants.

Of course, the front wasn't left unscathed. He could practically feel the blood shooting downwards, the man blushing in a mix of embarrassment and euphoria. His groin stirred with activity, the zipper of his jeans breaking from his new girth. A bulge had formed, Mike letting out a deep, husky groan at the feeling. He couldn't help but move his hand down to the area and squeeze it for just a moment of pleasure.

Meanwhile, more of his changes transitioned past his knees. His bones pressurized as they bulked beneath his new weight. They lengthened as well, the legs of his jeans moving upwards as his height increased some more. The denim also began to split at the sides, muscles continuing to bulge in size. The crus of his legs practically felt like they set ablaze as his calves swelled. His legs were effectively twice the size of what they used to be, although the same could be said for the rest of his body.

The only piece of his clothing that wasn't torn up was his shoes, but judging by the increasing discomfort in that area it was easy to tell that wouldn't last long. With his footwear, his feet were steadily expanding. Stretching out to get larger, getting meatier as well. His toes grew as well, each one getting thicker. As the size increased, the toecap of his shoes started bulging, his toes pushing up against the leather. The seams holding his shoes together were quickly beginning to undo itself, the strings fraying and splitting apart over the bridge. His heel dug into the back, ankles into the sides. Then, in mere seconds, his shoes split open to reveal his massive feet, which continued to grow larger until they were in proportion with the rest of his body.

Mike was practically growling now, slowly trying to get over his sudden erotic euphoria. "Everythin's so sparkin'... hot, urgh…"

He swallowed, feeling the lump in his throat swelling as his neck got larger. Thicker, swelling out into a trunk. His voice continued to deepen, his vocal cords altering it as they changed within his neck.

"Somethin' ain't right…" he spoke. His vocal mannerisms were shifting. His very accent was changing, becoming more and more Australian sounding.

He felt so confused. So many emotions and feelings were firing in his brain at once, his senses being overridden with other feelings every second. Confusion, euphoria, warmth, haziness, erotic bliss, pleasurable desires, it was so much.

"Grrgh, ain't never felt like this before…"

His body swayed, the man unhanding his groin and pressing it onto a nearby flat surface (a table, he'd assume if he could think properly anymore).

He started looking around. "The heck am I… this ain't Alfetto…"

A-Alfetto? That's not… is it? He was in that valley, a fight was going on… or, or was that just… a game? N-no, it was real, right?

"What's goin' on…"

He placed his unoccupied hand on his head. His mind felt scrambled. Memories twisting and shifting, identity in turbulence. Where was he? Who was he? He should know this goddammit!

"Can't let your age get to ya' now, M… Mi-... Urgh-"

His head ached. Shit, what was his name again? How the hell could he forget that…

He groaned again, aches beginning to reverberate across his entire skull. The structure of it was increasing in size; lengthening, widening. His jawline resculpted itself, hardening and chiseling itself out into something more wide and blunted. His head's shape was looking more rectangular by the second. Structures on his face were next to change. His eyes were getting slightly smaller, his eyebrows getting more curved. His nose probably underwent the largest restructuring as it grew bigger, rounder, and slightly bulbous.

Shortly after, hairs started to prickle across his face. Dark at first, but quickly shifting to a gray coloration. Stubbly fuzz running down the sides of his head, across his chin, around and above his lips. It soon began to grow, however. It was slow at first, but the pace soon changed as it quickly bloomed into a short beard. Short, well-kept, gray…

His entire body had aged at this point, his face was about ready to catch up. His younger features faded rapidly; wrinkles etching themselves at the ends of his mouth, the edges of his eyes. His skin was getting a tough, weathered look to it. Older and older he got; early 20s, mid 30s, late 40s, mid 50s. More and more age was sleeping into his skin, alongside a massive X-shaped scar that slit itself across his face and scarred over in a millisecond.

As he aged, his once brown hair was graying as well. Starting where it met his beard, quickly extending to the rest of his scalp in the blink of an eye. His hairline was even beginning to recede a bit, granting the man a widow's peak in seconds. The curly, messiness it possessed was probably what changed the most though. Follicles were realigning as they pushed out his head, getting longer and longer. From the sides and from the back it became quite long, moving past the nape of his neck and reaching his upper back. As for the top of his head, it extended, but also styled itself, growing and aligning into a perfectly groomed pompadour-style.

A soft green glow illuminated his eyes for a moment before subsiding. "Sparks, is this what death feels like-"

He placed a hand on his chest. His… bare chest. A part of him reflexively squeezed a pec, the man shivering in response. "Wh-what am I doing…"

His mind was still in a confusing mess. Parts of him that didn't feel like him were being subsumed, his identity trying to supplant itself firmly in his mind. Turmoil and chaos was trying to settle itself, pieces falling into place as he was trying to determine what the hell he was doing here-

Alfetto Valley, Ouroboros Stone, Mœbius, those kids…

He squeezed his chest again. Why wasn't his hand wet? He could've sworn he was shot straight through there…

He tried to reorient himself, to look around, although he felt woozy and disoriented. He'd make a joke about being drunk right now if he was in his right mind.

The final changes occurred as he stumbled; that being the shifts of his ill-fitting clothing. From an outside perspective, these changes were almost instantaneous. His button-up shirt fused with his jeans, the material of both articles of clothing seeming to harden into leather. Whatever buttons remained got consumed by the leather, the combined split growing a metallic zipper to compensate before beginning to zip itself up. The sleeves of his shirt seemed to almost disconnect, leaving the newly forming jumpsuit sleeveless. The disconnected sleeves formed a second layer of grayish-teal cloth that went across his chest to form a t-shirt. His jumpsuit continued to change, the material finally changing color to a plain gray while the size of it enlarged to perfectly fit his body. The collar of it unfurled and lengthened, almost going so high that it would graze his face.

Additional bits were being added. Slits formed in the abdominal region of the material becoming welt-side pockets, meanwhile a pair of gusset pockets bulged from the thigh region. A belt materialized and snaked itself around his waist, adorned with pouches and a weapon holster. While his t-shirt formed, the part that touched his hand seemed to cause another sudden appearance of a new material, black leather encasing his hand and lower arm while a metallic goo emerged and solidified into an arm guard. A similar accessory seemed to appear on his other hand shortly after.

The last changes reached the remains of what could barely be called his shoes anymore. The simple fragmented cloth and rubber that composed of the footwear's entirety expanded, the once-solid consistency seeming almost liquid as it consumed his foot and moved upwards and around the crus of his legs. It then shaped itself, molding into what appeared to be boots, garnering a leathery black texture while this occurred. Metal plating then emerged from that leather, a pair of guards strapping themselves around his lower legs.

A boot practically stomped on the ground under his weight, the older man slowly regaining proper mobility absentmindedly. He didn't even notice an eye patch appearing out of thin air and strapping itself to his head, his mind registering it as having always been there.

"C'mon, Guernica, ya know you haven't had anything…"

Guernica! That's his name!

He squeezed a pec again, the mindless self-indulgence seeming to have faded. He could barely even recall what had happened in those last minutes, only recalling flashes of pleasure from one side of his mind while having flashes of war from the other. He let out a deep sigh. His chest didn't hurt anymore, and unhanding it he saw it was… fine. As if nothing was there.

Looking up, he peered around the room he was in. Living room of some kind, pretty well furnished too. Although it doesn't feel like anything he's seen in the City.

As he thinks that, his eye catched a glance of a nearby window. It's noticeably dark out, but he can definitely see the night sky, the outside.

"This definitely ain't the City…"

So where did that leave him?

Part of him wondered if this was one of those fabled upper realms like those he's heard the City researchers talk about in passing. Elysium? Or perhaps the divine upper plane beyond two giants?

Agh, whatever. He didn't listen to them long enough to know. He doubts this is some kind of post-death paradise anyway. Especially since the last thing he could recall was activating that Ouroboros Stone, and feeling like his very soul was pummeled from its body.

Did he even get a chance to die?

He growled to himself. "Don't go thinking those thoughts to yourself."

He feels alive. He has to be. He's just in some… unknown world.

"Hm. If this ain't Aionios…"

This could be a big risk, but…

He lifts up a hand and grasps a notch on his eyepatch's strap, squishing it around to undo it. It takes a few moments, but he manages to do so and remove the patch.

He blinks his eyes. "Sparks, that thing gets hot…"

He then feels something within his Iris. Crap, he hopes it ain't a Mœbius signal-

But after a few moments, he registers the signal. It's familiar. It's…

"Gray…?"

#character tf #transformation #human tf #age progression #tf

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semi-sketchy · 1 year

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In case anyone is wondering how I took that new Xenoblade trailer...

Yeah I didn't cope well.

The day after I finally finish recording all my audio for this video essay about Xenoblade 3, they hit me with "the DLC is coming out 8 months early, we're about to make your video irrelevant before it's even finished." It's...kind of a shot in the arm, to be honest.

Don't get me wrong, it's genuinely great they're able to get it out so quickly and I'm not upset at anyone but myself. This project has been a lot of work and an overall lack of focus and interest in other things kept me pushing it aside. I'm salty because I really thought I had more time.

I seriously don't want this project to make me unjustly bitter at the game. Right now, I don't even know if I'll be able to play it at launch because I'm just so swamped with editing. (I still haven't bought the DLC because I've been holding out for a physical version like we got with Torna.)

Considering this whole thing started on Tumblr, I'm thinking I'll release the written version of this essay early so at least some of it is relevant for a period.

I wanted it to coincide with the video, but this is seeming like the best option right now as even though I've kicked production into overdrive, there's no way I can finish this in a week. The YouTube processing time alone would be longer than that, anyways.

And hey, a lot of my issues with the narrative are still unique to the game. The extra story isn't going to change the ending of chapter 6 or suddenly fix the pacing issues. Even if we get explanations for everything in the DLC (which some major ones certainly look like they're gonna be addressed) my point about not needing to purchase additional content to understand key elements still stands. That might be the lens to look at it through. I just hope it doesn't make the video unbearable to watch.

I might not be able to get this out before the DLC drops, but this time I can make sure it's not too long after.

Anyways, the trailer itself? Looks cool! I'll admit, after XC3 I'm already a tad skeptical about how they're going to handle these characters, but it looks good. I didn't really want it to be a prequel, but considering how many holes that needed to be filled on Aionios, it makes sense.

I'll just leave this with some screaming over a few characters.

#xc3 #xenoblade chronicles 3 #just me rambling #future redeemed #if melia says ''this is truly is the future redeemed'' i'm gonna lose it #guess this is kinda a vent #yeah it's gotten me down and i'll admit i have been so productive out of spite #again not really angry at anyone #i'm the only one to blame #just overall salty at the situation

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vyrim · 1 year

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Finally went back to xenoblade 3 and finished it, definitely an "only ever play it once" kinda game.

Its such a weird game because it has the clear foundation for good plot and gameplay mechanics, but the end product is just sorta fighting the player the entire time. The only thing that stood out in the end was the main group of characters who felt charming and detailed.

Don't click the read more unless youre prepared cause its a doozy.

The main idea of the story is that living your life afraid of dying instead of simply living it to the fullest isn't much of a life at all, and that works even when the plot gets really crazy by having the crazy giant orb in the sky ultimately becoming the manifested mass fears of wondering what lies in the future rather than the now. It also shows how messed up the stagnation of living in a perpetual, infinite cycle where life and death no longer has meaning.

The problem is they were shit at writing it.

Early on it isnt a problem, these guys are basically ten year olds who don't even know what parents are so learning about this stuff and thinking "wow thats fucked up" now makes sense. The issue lies in the fact that throughout the game they don't stop being surprised, and when the entirety of your more serious cutscenes are the protags spouting cheesy lines over and over it stops being interesting. The dialogue became so oversaturated with cliche that I was actually worried that my eyes were going to roll out of my head.

The antags are the worse offenders, boiling down to being "I'm so evil, look at this evil thing I'm doing, doesn't that make you think I'm sooo evil?" Every single one of them does this, and when you get to the main game and start freeing colonies, these guys pop up and die like flies. There are only two major instances where antags show any dimension to them, and the way its just vomited exposition completely dilutes any interest I would have in them. Then they immediately die to really hammer the nail into the coffin. The biggest failures, X and Y who are basically the biggest baddies before the main antag Z barely show up, and are the only two antags who die without any form of cutscene after beating them in battle, simply spouting some lines and dying. Moebius sucks, they're so painfully one dimensional that there is no substance to them being the major problem for the protags aside from being the ones running the show and conveniently showing up to remind the player just how "evil" they are.

Retconning character deaths is another big issue, something that shouldn't be one given the whole "life and death don't matter" aspect of the plot. The issue is that characters who are dead are constantly flashbacked to despite their small amount of screentime presence, and then because the enemy is so "evil" we get a shock value surprise that they've been reborn and now have to fight their old allies because their now reset puppets. Except they're not, turns out they still have all their memories deep down and now that they've been freed they're good as new. This is even worse when some of these dead characters become Moebius which is its own writing crime scene stated above. Death doesn't matter, but not in a fun or interesting way, which completely muddles the whole fucked up aspect of world's state. I couldn't keep caring after people would drop and then get back up like it was the latest trend.

Gameplay was bizarre, with a system that was cool and interesting at the start but then slowly devolved into the most boring shit. The major idea is that each character can equip any class and by leveling those classes up you can use them still when swapping to other classes, allowing for flexible mixing and matching that only gets more expansive as you progress the story and unlock more classes. Classes need cp to unlock and level though, which turns out is tied to your level versus the things youre fighting, with characters obtaining less cp when fighting lower level enemies compared to higher ones. This means that exploring the world, fighting enemies for materials, and just playing the fucking game will ultimately overlevel you compared to the environment, meaning that for most of the game you won't be getting enough cp outside of quest completion to actually get or grow classes. The game is designed to actively punish the player for simply playing and I can only assume was meant to pad out playtime by forcing later grinding.

Skills are seperated into different kinds: buffs, debuffs, aoe fields, etc. The biggest category is attacks which perform various things like debuffing, evading, bonus damage positionals, and combos. Combos are the bread and butter of doing significant damage because if a character is dazed or launched into the air they cant block or dodge attacks, and you can then finish the three move combo (break>topple>daze/launch) with a finisher that either does major damage or drops a bunch of loot.

The problem is that the combo system stops mattering once you start doing serious fights or fighting unique monsters because of the resist mechanic. Any attack that debuffs or starts the combo is at risk of being resisted, and big bosses love resisting everything because otherwise they'd be stun locked for the entire fight. Thing is theres no substance outside of the combo system, its just basic combat where the goal is to simply do ass tons of damage and hope that the tanks can keep aggro so dps doesnt get popped.

You are also, once again, punished for simply playing the game by design. Tanks cannot hold aggro compared to the dps thats generated, and their aggro generating skills can be completely nullified by missing the target which will happen with unique monsters alot. Characters have to stay close together to take advantage of any kind of heals or support skills meaning that any character with positionals is either screwed or endangering the healers who have to go out of position to heal. Most enemies also have massive cone attacks meaning that tanks have to be away from the healing or risk murdering the whole team by pointing the enemies at them, leading them to not getting any support just from doing their job.

This all compounds to the biggest issue with combat being that the AI is perhaps the dumbest I have ever seen. Healers will waste healing skills, and drop everything theyre doing to revive dead teammates. Tanks will not position enemies away from the team and will actively ignore trying to aggro enemies that aren't their main target. Dps will go so far as jumping off cliffs to use their positional skills properly, and never retreat to the healers when they're getting damaged. The game demands you play every character at the same time, otherwise basically telling the player to watch as the team runs around like headless chickens.

These are only a fraction of the issues the game has without even touching on the sheer amount of braindead side quests, the gem grind, or the fact that games need to stop being on the switch so they can have an actual stable fps and graphics that dont give characters weird half face shadows all the time. Its insane, and I can only assume that people continue to play these games because they love the dynamics of the protags.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 doesn't make me want to play any of its predecessors, and Im sure as hell not buying any dlc, which is a shame because theres clearly a good game in there.

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veebs-hates-video-games · 3 years

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So I finally finished the first Xenoblade Chronicles. I should probably write down my thoughts on this one before too much more time goes by.

I probably had one of the weirder experiences playing through it. By the time it came out my Wii had already been acting funny for a couple years and I'd stopped playing games on it, so I didn't get to it right away. I finally gave it a shot a few years later in Dolphin and it was great. This was around 2016, and I found a HD texture pack for it that made it look better in some ways than the Switch version (and less in others, mostly because of the limitations of the original engine). I spent like 65 hours on it doing every side quest and all the little things that came up as they happened because I was enjoying it so much that I didn't want to miss any of it.

...and then my computer broke. Luckily I had a friend who was able to just give me a replacemnt CPU for free (I seem to know a lot of people willing to help me out like that, who I would not have survived as long as I have without), but it wasn't as good as the one that died. I wasn't able to upgrade or replace anything in my computer until early 2020, so I didn't really have a good way to keep playing and kind of forgot about it, and it wasn't until this year that I managed to dig up my old saves and the texture pack from my old drive, a year after XCDE was already out.

Once I finally started playing again I was sucked right back into it though. Well ok, after a 6600 word summary of the first half of the game, then spending an hour rereading all the tutorials, and a few more hours relearning how to actually play the game, but after that...

It's just such a neat game that does a lot of stuff well. The characters are fun, it's very pretty, the music is good, there's enough going on mechanically to have still been interesting 140 hours later, and the world/story/general concept are absolutely bonkers in the kind of way that Squenix has repeately tried to pull off with the Final Fantasy games but never succeeded like this did. The only two RPGs I've play in a while that have grabbed me like that and made me want to do everything just because I'm curious and invested and want more are this and The Witcher 3 (which I'm still working on because I also didn't start that until after new computer time), and they're definitely my two favorites I've played in a long time and contenders for two of my favorites ever.

There are plenty of games that don't manage to be as compelling at any point in their entire run as XC does just setting up the initial premise: the entire in-game world exists on the corpses of two gods who fought each other to death, and the inhabitants of each are now fighting each other for some reason. They go in a lot of interesting directions from there which I can't say too much about without spoiling a lot of stuff, but despite having as many twists and turns as the most convoluted of the FF games it still manages to be a coherent story that all fits together. True to form as the people who made the previous Xeno games (Xenogears/Xenosaga) it gets into plenty of philosophy and religion along the way, with fate vs. free will, if/how morality would apply to gods, and other shenanigans like that, all wrapped in a lightly anime-flavored shell. Lots of the power of friendship, and there are times you'll walk into a boss fight and the soundtrack just feels exactly like a typical anime showdown. It's fun.

(I'm like two chapters into XC2, and it leans more heavily into the anime side of things, for better and worse. Aesthetically it uses it well, and the tone works well for some stuff too...but then it'll intermittently break that with some weird dubbing decisions that do the same stuff that tends to annoy me about a lot of dubbed anime (although 95% of the time the voice acting has been good), and it's always a bad sign when a character pops up on screen and I can hear the implied "goshujin-sama" before they even pan over to the maid outfits...and also let the female characters wear actual clothes please?)

Anyway, I rather enjoyed it and am looking forward to when the plot of the second one picks up, and also to eventually playing XCX. I liked it enough to grab a copy of XCDE and play through the epilogue, and I'm really curious what Monolith is going to do next...

#xenoblade chronicles #xenoblade series #xeno series #mentioned:#final fantasy series #the witcher 3 #xenoblade chronicles 2

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superjennysunshine · 4 years

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Day 10: Formatting

I really love this song and The Smashing Pumpkins. Too bad the lead singer is a massive sack of shit

We’re doing a different format for day 10 because I got up really early and was like why not make it like a diary sorta thing so...

8:00 AM - Earlier today I discovered a bunch of chip bags in my moms room and I know it’s because they’re hiding them from me because I eat chips really fast. That made me feel super awful and definitely just yanked my whole day. But looking on the bright side it’s the early morning so I can just improve it from here hopefully. I’m gonna take a shower and shave and stuff and then see what the rest of the morning looks like.

8:46 AM - I don’t feel much better but I’ve decided I’m gonna try and do a little bit of cleaning today. It would be a big boost to my confidence if I could clean my bathroom a little. Gonna wait until my phone charged completely before I do so I can play music and stuff while I’m doing it.

9:40 AM - I’m looking into ordering some stuff for my room. Some lights and stuff similar. Something to spice it up.

1:23 PM - I cleaned my bathroom. Not entirely, I still have the chemical cleaning to do on the toilet, sink, and shower. But I’m saving those for another day because I made progress today and I don’t want to push myself and burn out. I also ordered a fancy lamp that has a bunch of different color and brightness settings, and a new phone case that’s clear cause i always thought those were neat. I’m taking a break right now, I’ll probably play more Xenoblade soon.

2:32 PM - my bathroom door hasn’t had a doorknob on it for like 2 years because it fell off and I was too lazy to put a new one on. But I just did it! It made me feel good!

3:20 PM - I tried to ride the high and be a little social but it spiked my anxiety super fast and I almost cried so I’m just listening to music and eating a sub roll now. It honestly super sucks to have felt a lot better but just come crashing back down so fast. I’m gonna try to improve it though.

3:54 PM - I’m still anxious but this picture of Willie Nelson from the cover of Pancho and Lefty makes me feel a little better when I look at it.

He looks so nice. Like a western, weed smoking Uncle Iroh.

4:53 PM - My anxiety has calmed down. I’m a little tired so idk if I’ll actually play Xenoblade today but we’ll see I’m just gonna do random stuff in the meantime.

6:30 I wrote some stuff about a trans woman I saw that was really pretty and it made me dysphoric earlier but that got deleted somehow? Bu yeah that happened, I felt nasty for a while but it passed eventually. I just finished this box of animal crackers I had so it looks like it’s ramen, deli rolls with nothing in them, and off brand Oreos until a store run happens. We’ll see.

I’m not gonna go to bed yet but this is where I’m gonna end it. If I have any important developments I’ll just reblog and add them, but I’m not gonna play Xenoblade or do anything really worth talking about for the rest of the evening so no point in waiting to post it. Overall the day was pretty good, it was nice to get some of the bathroom work done and even though after that it kinda tanked the tank was pretty self contained over like 3 hours and that’s not too bad. Tomorrow though it’s Xenoblade time for sure I gotta go get my final party member.

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zaptap · 3 years

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heres my full thoughts on the nintendo direct since ive only posted reactions mostly

splatoon 3 having salmon run is kind of confusing due to the story (the story mode definitely seems ANTI salmon run and grizz). not sure how that works but ok. it’s my favorite mode from splatoon 2 so i have no complaints in terms of gameplay. wish they showed more of the game though. definitely getting a splatoon 3 direct later. also i called the release window. may was splatoon 1, june was octo expansion, july was splatoon 2... maybe august is splatoon 3?

never played wii sports (i dont even think i tried the demo they automatically downloaded onto everyones wii u’s) so i dont really have an opinion about switch sports. im relieved whenever i see new games i dont care about at this point

ive wanted mario kart 8 deluxe dlc for years but that was mainly along the lines of bringing in new characters (such as octoling or pauline) than courses. theyd better add waluigi pinball though, ive wanted that since 2014

i love xenoblade, but the games are so huge and take so long to digest that lately i’d kind of been thinking that after i eventually finish xcx and eventually EVENTUALLY play and finish xc2 (and probably its dlc) then i might just leave it at that and pass on whatever comes later. but... xc3 looks really good. like really really good. looking forward to playing it hopefully within the next decade

in august 2011 i visited my cousins and they introduced me to portal (and minecraft and atla incidentally). i played it for a bit but struggled with one of the early puzzles, even when they told me what i had to do. im better at video games now so maybe i could try it again once it hits switch? idk

kirby’s mouthful mode just makes me concerned for his health tbh. why are things getting stuck in his mouth? i need to play the game so i can take him to see a doctor

im glad theyve finally added the only nes game i care about and one of the few snes games i care about to the switch. got too many games i havent played before to play instead though. and as ive said i dont think i care if they localize mother 3 anymore, for one thing they should change “ma***sies” to something that doesnt include a slur and i dont think most people would even realize it needs to be changed currently so i dont see nintendo doing anything about it unless that changes

as ive said, metroid dread easy mode wouldve been nice before id cheated my way through. also i dont even know if it wouldve helped since it specifies boss damage and not overall damage. and that doesnt even cover the issues dealing with emmi (being able to cheat to autocounter made those sections much less stressful)

fire emblem warriors is another game im relieved to not have to care about! something weird i’ve noticed about warriors games is i’ll play them and they’ll be fun and then suddenly i dont want to play them at all. happened with hyrule warriors on wii u and then again on age of calamity. i wouldnt really call it getting burned out, feels different. happened in the postgame both times, so maybe the postgame gameplay just isnt as rewarding to me? idk. anyway i cant even begin to care about three hopes as i’m still working through my first route of three houses after 2 years. hate the calendar. you give me control over the passage of time and expect me to move it forward at a reasonable rate? this was your mistake. i’ll spend 2 hours figuring out how to best use the month i’m on and when i get to the next month and have to do it all over again i quit for a few more real life months. the battles are fun though

live a live sounds like it might be good but good luck getting me to play anything else new in 2022. maybe eventually though

weird how they released a version of kingdom hearts specifically “for cloud.” does he even have a switch? i havent played final fantasy vii

#nintendo direct

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supercunninglinguist · 3 years

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Super Speculation Brothers: Ultimate Prediction

Speculation on the Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Fighters Pass is my new favourite example of how complex statistical predictions can get, especially because I've been out of the Super Smash news loop since ~2008.

There were all sorts of requests for characters during the lifetime of SSBM (Super Smash Brothers Melee), and for the original on the Nintendo 64. and almost all of the most popular requests (that fall in line with M. Sakurai's only 2 genuine rules: it has to be a video game character, and there has to be a possible moveset) have been fulfilled. Sonic, Snake, Diddy Kong, Megaman, Bayonetta, Ridley, Cloud, and Ryu were all highly requested by fans, and all have made it into the roster. More recently, Sephiroth, Steve & Alex, and Banjo & Kazooie got in, and were also long-requested characters.

so, when it comes to predicting who will get into the Super Smash Ultimate roster, fan-requests and popularity are by far the most important metric.

But the accuracy of predictions depends on how broad or narrow your claim is (of course its easy to make trivial broad predictions, e.g. "tomorrow night the moon will be in sky"). For example, Min Min is the fighter from ARMS, and an ARMS fighter on the roster was already highly-requested and highly-predicted. There were few true predictions for Min Min's inclusion, but there were a lot of predictions for the ARMS series. on the other hand, Joker from Persona5 was a highly unpredictable inclusion. and out in the middle of prediction, everybody was predicting a character from Xenoblade Chronicles, but a majority of predictions appeared to be for Rex (& Pyra), not the Pyra\Mythra duo. and I haven't even gotten to the fact that true details were sometimes leaked out early, that "inclusion" into SSBU is itself pretty broad (fighters aren't the only way to include characters or a video game series), and the whole shotgun effect because there are so many people predicting who will be included into Smash Ultimate - inevitably some number of those predictions will be correct, even if its only the medium-level predictions of, say, which series will get in under any category, rather than naming an individual character for an individual slot on the Fighters Pass.

Current popular speculations for Fighters Pass 2: Crash Bandicoot from Crash, Master Chief from Halo, Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden, Lloyd Irving from Tales Of Symphonia, and Dr. Eggman\Robotnik from Sonic.

Personally, I want Shantae, and Rayman, from their respective eponymous series. or a character from Golden Sun: The Lost Age, maybe Felix? But who do I actually predict? I'm gonna have to go with Lloyd Irving, Crash Bandicoot, or Master Chief for at least one slot, because these 3 are the most-requested characters from Japan, Europe, and the USA. also I do think it's likely that there will be a 3rd Fighters Pass later, or possibly a few individual fighters.

As an adult, I don't really suffer from the whole Fear-Of-Missing-Out because I've just got too much other stuff to attend to.. but I can't deny that it feels pretty awesome to get back into Smash and see the new fighters release, even if I only jumped in right after Byleth was announced, finishing Fighters Pass 1.

#super smash ultimate #shantae #Shantae for Smash!#In high school I was a local top Super Smash Melee player #Me and a few other guys in my Boy Scout troop set up a a regional smash tournament that's still going on today.#Rayman for Smash!#all the fighters pass characters have already been decided since launch #fighters pass 2 #predictions #Super Smash speculation #Super Smash Brothers is a complex nonlinear multidimensional system so its difficult to accurately predict future events #the only other game I've been playing lately is Kenshi

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smashingatsonicspeed · 6 years

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Returning Franchise/Groups Thoughts

Before I start talking potential newcomers (Though I will at least touch on it a little here) it’s time I give my thoughts on what could happen with each of the series that were in Smash 4 and if anything changes in representation. I’ve said before that I don’t expect too many cuts so most of this is mainly that franchises are keeping where they are but I’ll still try to make a special note with each one

Mario

I don’t really expect anyone in the Mario series to get cut. They’ve pretty much nailed the representation for the most part with the original characters they’ve gotten. Maybe Dr. Mario has a shot at being demoted to alt, but depending just how much ported over the roster ends up. He might stay anyway.

I also suspect that unless Captain Toad (Or any variation of Toad) is a Newcomer in this Smash. We won’t be getting any more Mario characters. No offense to supporters of Waluigi, Paper Mario, or Daisy. But I don’t think it’s time for them.

Yoshi

Yoshi’s probably going to remain solo. The only candidates that could feasibly be a 2nd Yoshi rep is the Baby Mario Bros. and Kamek. Neither of which I think are that popular really

Wario

I also think Wario’s going to remain solo. There’s going to be some hope for Ashley thanks to Warioware Gold. But realistically I think the only chance Wario gets a 2nd rep is if they decide to cheat the system a little and count Waluigi as a Wario rep.

Donkey Kong

Obviously both DK and Diddy will return. And this is also one of the franchises I suspect will just have to get a rep in this game. Whether it be King K. Rool, Dixie Kong, or even both

Retro (That is Mr. Game & Watch, Duck Hunt, and ROB)

I assume all 3 retro characters will return. With a good chance the Ice Climbers take their long awaited return assuming 8 Player Smash doesn’t cause trouble with them. As for any new retros, who knows. They seem to pop up one each new game. So maybe Takamaru will get to join this time around or something. But who knows what Sakurai will have in mind here

Zelda

Everyone from the previous game should return here. Only questions is if Shiek will return to being a transformation or not. Link is obviously going to be BOTW styled but will that mean any moveset changes? We won’t know until we see actual footage of Link. Zelda will probably also be BOTW styled. Though Ganondorf didn’t have his Gerudo form in BOTW. So either they stay with his Smash 4/Twilight Princess design, make a What If BOTW styled Ganondorf, or even make him in Hyrule Warriors style. As for any new characters, I think by now any chances of a character that isn’t some alternate version of the trio isn’t going to get playable. Those hoping for any of the guardians will probably get the same disappointment that those people hoping for Skill Kid, Midna, or Impa got.

Metroid

Samus and Zero Suit Samus will obviously return. Though like Shiek the question is if they remain separate characters. But of course what is always going to be a big topic discussion is if anyone’s joining. Obviously Ridley’s going to be debated once again. But I think a dark horse (no pun intended) could be Dark Samus given Metroid Prime 4 is coming. Dark Samus would definitely be much better received then Dark Pit was. Even if Dark Samus turned out to be somewhat cloned from Samus. It’d at least be something. Even if it’s not the big bone that Ridley would be.

Kid Icarus

I don’t think they’ll be adding more. Much like Dr. Mario, maybe Dark Pit gets demoted to Alt. But as much as I’d like that there’s an equal chance they’ll keep him around anyway. I suppose another question would be about Palutena’s Custom Moves. We don’t know if Custom Moves will return. Given the DLC characters were not given any, that may be a sign they’re on their way out. And if Palutena’s stuck with her default Smash 4 moveset? That’ll suck for Palutena players, because some of her actual good moves are hidden in those.

Fire Emblem

Ah yes the franchise almost everybody complains about their representation. I think for the most part everyone in the previous game will return. Yes even Lucina, Roy, and Corrin. If Dr. Mario and Dark Pit get demoted maybe Lucina does too but I just don’t know. Lucia’s actually kinda popular. And they bothered to bring back Roy from Melee so I don’t know why they’d leave him out again. And I feel Corrin’s a bit of an early bird. He/she would of probably been a newcomer for this game, but instead he got into Smash earlier then we thought he/she would. I think that because I suspect everybody comes back, we may get no more additional Fire Emblem characters this time just to give it a break. Maybe the next Fire Emblem’s protagonist gets in through DLC but otherwise I don’t expect any new Fire Emblem characters from the get go.

Kirby

All Kirby Characters should return being Sakurai’s pride and joy. Don’t know if it’ll get a 4th character or if it’s even necessary to have one, but if they do. It’s probably Bandana Waddle Dee

Punch-Out!!

Little Mac will likely remain solo. Don’t see them suddenly adding another. That is unless… Mike Tyson enters the ring O: (Nah, I’m kidding. Though it would be hilarious)

Star Fox

This one’s going to be a little difficult to figure out. I think both Fox and Falco are safe. But the question is if Wolf will finally make his come back after missing out on Smash 4. Star Fox Zero didn’t do as well as some hoped, so there’s ground for maybe Star Fox remaining where it is. That said maybe they’d save Wolf for DLC to have that hype return like Mewtwo and Lucas was for many. Any other choices likely already missed their chance. Including Krystal.

Pokemon

Pokemon is the franchise that has historically had the most cuts within Smash. So this is incredibly hard to predict. The Pokemon company has been said to be actually a little difficult for Sakurai to deal with. For now I think everyone that was in Smash 4 should return. With the likeliest newcomer being Decidueye to complete the fire-grass-water trio that has left a hole ever since Pokemon Trainer being cut down to just Charizard. Possibly a Gen 8 newcomer for DLC.

Earthbound

Ness and Lucas should be here to stay. Don’t think there need to be any additions from here on out

F-Zero

Captain Falcon without any new games still will remain the only F-Zero character. And that’s just fine.

Animal Crossing

I think Villager stays solo. Though a small chance that maybe Tom Nook, Isabelle, or even Mr. Restti comes into the picture.

Pikmin

If there was any chance Pikmin was going to grow beyond Olimar. It’s too late as Alph is simply an alt. So other then maybe other Pikmin characters also being Alts. Olimar will be solo. Though the real question is how many Pikmin will he have this time. He could have only three at a time in Smash 4. But up to 6 in Brawl

Wii Fit

If there’s any chance at all that for the first time a new series is cut for a reason other then 3rd party issues (Metal Gear) and technical problems (Ice Climbers) then Wii Fit would probably be first on the chopping block. But I doubt they cut her out as much as some will probably be clamoring for it.

Xenoblade

I highly expect Shulk to make it back. And a good chance he’s joined in with Rex from Xenoblade 2. Shulk will likely be the Marth of the Xenoblade franchise I feel.

Miis

I think they are more likely to return in some way. Though admittedly custom moves at least leaves them a little bit in Limbo. But I just don’t see why they’d cut them. The Miis allowed for those who are young (or young at heart) to include real-life characters, impossible ones, or extremely unlikely ones to at least kinda satisfy them. It’d be kind of disappointed to go to this game without that option to create your fighter. Even if Custom Moves is largely removed, I hope the Mii Fighters still return and maybe they’re the only characters with Custom Moves. Even if that comes into conflict with Palutena.

3rd Parties

Now this is the interesting part. I think Sonic, Megaman, and Bayonetta are absolutely safe. All 3 of them have had significant releases or upcoming releases on the Switch. Plus they’d all risk alienating the fanbase should either of them be dropped because they were all included by fan demand of some sort. I think Pac-Man and Ryu are in the middle in they probably will return. I think even if Namco isn’t helping out as much as they did with the last one Pac-Man may stay anyway and if they get Megaman might as well get Ryu again too but they have some degree of doubt compared to the 3 I already mentioned. Cloud’s probably the most likely 3rd Party to leave only because I heard Square can be stingy (I mean we did only get two songs for Final Fantasy. Which is kinda ridiculous). But given that Square isn’t at odds with Nintendo right now and the Switch is selling well. I don’t see why Square wouldn’t love the free promotion for Cloud whether or not the FF7 Remake comes to the Switch. While the risk is always there, I think we’re slightly more likely to actually keep everyone along only because 3rd Parties have gotten huge. Heck, I wouldn’t even be surprised if by the time development has finished and all the DLC released. We have 10 or more 3rd Party characters playable. As for likely newcomers? I think the most likely BASE GAME 3rd party is probably Rayman. While Crash Bandicoot might be a strong DLC candidate.

And that’s all for now, if there’s something that’s announced that leaves some evaluation I may do another post like this. Probably at least a post based on this when the base game’s roster has been revealed when we know who’s returned for the base game and who didn’t. Coming next I will start covering potential newcomers and/or veterans that weren’t in Smash 4 in posts of their own soon enough.

#Super Smash Bros.#Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo Switch #super smash bros. switch #Smash Veterans

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doktorpeace · 7 years

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Xenoblade Chronicles 2: An In Depth Review

I recently finished Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and I’ve got a lot of mixed thoughts on the game as a whole. I’m going to break these down in three ways and they’ll be of varying lengths. First I’ll discuss the Gameplay and its mechanics, then the game’s aesthetics, and then the game’s story and characters. I’ll give a general overview of each and then they will be broken down into Pros, Neutrals, and Cons. I’ve made it a point to try and avoid making references to direct spoilers, but there’s still a few in here, so bear that in mind. This is also by far the longest post I’ve ever made on tumblr, so buckle in. There’s sure to be a bit of overlap in each section, but I’ll try to stay focused. At the end of it all I’ll give overall closing thoughts. Alright, let’s start.

Gameplay:

Once fully realized to the player Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has a very enjoyable, flexible, and meaningfully expressive gameplay style, traits which are not often seen in combination with one another in JRPGs. The combat is fun, fluid, and has just a ton of customizability more or less from the moment you’re able to obtain blades. Racking up extremely large damage numbers is fun, trying out different gameplay styles is easy and satisfying, and the game maintains a good pace in terms of combat through the whole game. However, this isn’t without its drawbacks, the game has a few noteworthy bugs and mechanics that simply feel like afterthoughts. The game is also much much too slow in opening up to the player. The fact that I had a gameplay element introduced to me for the first time an hour before the final boss when it could have been present for almost a full third of the game is mind boggling as a decision. Overall, I consider the gameplay to be the strongest point of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 as in spite of its issues it’s a lot of fun, a real blast to play from start to finish in spite of its length. Pros: + Extremely customizable, any party member can be built to fit any role you need or want them to no matter how specific. + All of the game’s weapons are fun to use, with extremely satisfying hitsounds, animations, and gameplay differences. The fact they they control differently from character to character is also a great touch, allowing for further expression of each character’s strengths as some will naturally be a bit better or worse than others with certain weapons. + Expressiveness is a big part of this game’s combat, there’s no one correct way to play and the player is free to express themselves in a wide variety of battle strategies and styles, whether that be focusing on getting huge chain attacks, setting up combos that absolutely crush enemies but have tight timing, and exploiting weaknesses, there’s far more options as well and players are free to explore as many as they like. The game even encourages the player to try and cheese out enemies that give them trouble, with Blowdown and Knockback effects allowing players to knock enemies down from high places for huge damage or an outright kill. + Fun environments to explore with a reasonable amount of depth to them. The existence of field skills allows the game to make sure that most areas in the game give the player reason to come back to them for further exploration down the line. That said, the game’s environments are weaker than other Monolithsoft games having less depth and intrigue than either previous Chronicles game or Breath of the Wild, but they are enjoyable nonetheless. + With each Rare Blade having their own affinity chart to progress upon and unlock to make them stronger, the game has a good and consistent feeling of getting more powerful and progression even aside from the story. In my whole playthrough I only maxed out a couple Blades, but was always seeking out strengthening the ones I liked. + The player is free to use any combination of party members for the vast majority of the game, meaning if the player doesn’t like certain party members they are free to not use them anytime there are four or more party members available, which is most of the game. This includes the final boss fight, meaning players can play their way all the way to the end. + The game’s easier core mechanics mean that any combination of Blades, no matter how unfocused they may be thematically together, can clear any content the game throws at the player, meaning there’s never any pressure to simply play what’s best. Neutrals: [] While field skills allow the game to carefully piece content over time to the player to make sure they never get equipment too powerful or trip into enemies way beyond their depth (mostly), it also causes the game to lose a lot of the organic feeling of exploration both Xenoblade Chronicles and X had. Oftentimes I was excited that I had managed to find or get to a new area only for the game to effectively tell me to come back later which was always disappointing. This more rigid feeling was a negative for me, but could help players who are generally uncomfortable with open world/semi open world games’ lack of direction. [] While expressive and fun, the game’s core combat mechanics are deeply simplified from the previous two games. This makes the game as a whole much much easier. When paired with how quest experience works now it’s far too easy to get ahead of the game’s intended level. Regardless of even that the game’s strongest foe, a level 130 Boss, can be bested at level 75-80 out of a possible 99, which is a sad step down from the deep and complex postgame challenges the previous games offered players. Some players may find this easier gameplay preferable, while others might not.

[] The game opens up obscenely slow to the player. I am not exaggerating that in a 125 hour playthrough I had mechanics introduced to me at hour 100 and 124. Out of the game’s 10 chapters it takes almost half of the game to simply give the player access to the full set of basic mechanics, putting aside more niche or advanced ones. While this can help players often overwhelmed by deeper RPGs the rate is so slow that it could turn many players off, especially those who don’t like handholding. [] Almost every enemy in the game has about 20% too much health for their own good. It makes combat encounters near the middle of the game drag on much longer than they should, though early and late this isn’t an issue. Some players may not mind this but I often found it irritating. [] The load times are extremely fast across the board. While this can mean there’s a bit of pop in of the game finishing loading in textures for a bit after each load time between major locations I personally didn’t mind that. I consider the fast load times far more of a positive than the pop in is a bit of a negative, but I know some people might think differently.

Cons: - The existence of a Gachapon system in a singleplayer RPG is absolute inexcusable. 20/36 of the game’s playable Rare Blades, which form the core of the gameplay experience, are obtained randomly and there is no meaningful way to improve your ability to get them. In spite of the game’s claims that the Luck stat, Idea Stats (which are on a scale of 1-15), and Core Crystal rarity all affect the chances of getting Rare Blades, it never meaningfully mattered to me. There were at least a dozen times where I used a highest tier rarity Core Crystal, maxed out an idea stat for the type of Rare Blade I wanted, and had a good luck stat only to get a common blade with no point in being used. In my 125 hour run, in which I did a lot of the game’s optional content, I only obtained 18 of the 20 lottery based Rare Blades. While they came fairly easily for the first 10 or so, it slowed down severely after that, to the point where when only 3 are left I pulled well over 500 cores and only got one of the remaining Rare Blades I was missing. This is inexcusable and player unfriendly. The fact that there is no other way to obtain these Blades is obscene and frankly one of the worst parts of this game mechanically. - The above point, combined with the fact that the ability to reassign Blades to different party members is essentially limited to 3 for the average player means that if the player has consistently bad luck gettings Rare Blades that fit well on certain party members they may be stuck running strategies or layouts that they don’t find as fun or optimal. This is punishing the player for having bad luck, and is also pretty inexcusable. The Overdrive Protocol item should be rare, but not only 3 assured ones in a whole run rare. - The Salvaging, Cloud Sea Level, and Merc Mission mechanics are entirely unnecessary and only bog down the game. Salvaging is a way to make money quickly, but this game’s economy is so broken in favor of the player that there is no point in making use of salvaging except to obtain one Rare Blade which can only be gotten through it. Merc Missions meanwhile exist only to power up the blades Roc and Ursula, and is used by the Blade Wulfric to upgrade a field skill. They’re slow, require far too much menuing, and are not fun to do. All they are are busywork. Oftentimes the game will inject Merc Missions into the sidequests completely unnecessarily, which brings them to a grinding halt while you wait for an in game timer to countdown for anywhere between 5 and 30 minutes just to progress the sidequest you were on. This happens far too often and is entirely unnecessary and poorly designed. This is especially clear with the Rare Blade Ursula, whose entire progress is based on repeatedly performing 3 different merc missions literally dozens of times a piece, interrupting the player’s gameplay experience every 5-10 minutes ad infinitum if you wish to make her worth using. Given Urusla, Roc, and Wulfric are three of the game’s strongest blades it simply feels unfriendly for me to have to waste so much time on menuing busywork rather than exploration or combat to make them stronger. - For as tutorial heavy as the game is, there is no way to view tutorials after you’re shown them the one time which is frankly ridiculous because Xenoblade Chronicles 1 showed the player next to no tutorials but kept an entire booklet’s worth of them, including pictures, available from the menu at any time. - The lack of a bestiary is similarly weird and entirely a negative since Xenoblade Chronicles X had one, so it’s simply a step backwards to not have one this time. - The lack of an NPC affinity web means I as a player simply felt no need to talk to nearly any NPCs in this game. Most of their dialogue is pointless fluff anyway, since there was no mechanical incentive to relate the characters to others in the world like there was in the previous two games. Simply put there is no actual reason to talk to NPCs in this game, except ones that progress stories or sidequests, because the game doesn’t give you any reason to do so, nor does it meaningfully reward you with fun or interesting dialogue or lore. - The lack of a collectopedia, a staple of this series until now, negates the main reason for players to gather collectibles. Yes, they’re used elsewhere like in Pyra’s cooking or in refining Aux Cores, but those are largely extremely lenient and the player will likely never be without anyway. The existence of a collectopedia would go a long way to help this game’s collectibles actually feeling meaningful. - Rex is flat out broken compared to the other characters, I have not seen a main character in a game this poorly balanced since Robin in Fire Emblem: Awakening. Rex is not only objectively the best party member thanks to receiving an unnecessarily large number of special and unique traits, but by the end of the game using him is a crutch and I felt incentivized to not use him, not because I didn’t like him, but simply because he trivialized the gameplay experience. - Poppiswap is a very cute and fun idea in concept but horrifically executed to the point where there is simply no reason to ever use Tora over other party members, who do what he could do but better and with enormously less effort on the part of the player. - A few times I had Chain Attacks simply stop happening for no reason in the middle of choosing a move. This seemed to happen because a driver and blade got too far away from each other somehow, but the game should be able to account for and correct that. It’s a minor bug, but still extremely annoying when it came up. - I had the game straight up crash on me once. I’ve heard from other sources it happened to them more, but still keep that in mind and save fairly frequently. While this may seem like a lot more negatives than positives, I am entirely serious that the gameplay is overall much more good than bad and a lot of fun. The negatives are mostly just a lot of little things that are each worth noting rather than anything major individually, the Gachapon mechanic aside. Additionally, I praise the customizability of the game, but simply put the easier gameplay mechanics and customizability of each character feels more like compensating for the entirely luck based Gachapon mechanic than something meaningfully sought after. However, the end product is fun to play and for many that’s all that matters.

Aesthetics:

It’s no secret that this game’s visual style has come under fire and frankly I think it deserves that. This game’s very generic, moe adjacent anime art style is simply ugly to look at, and in spite of claims that it helps the characters be ‘expressive’ it entirely loses out on allowing the characters a more subtle and human level of expression present in the previous games. The characters faces often warp, unintentionally comedically, between expressions in very ugly and machinelike ways for instance. Even without getting into the nitty gritty of specific character designs being better or worse than others, the clash of Tetsuya Nomura’s fairly detailed characters who are stylized with a mix of realism and a more ‘anime’ look alongside characters like Rex and Pyra who simply look like they walked out of an anime like Love Live or Lucky Star is jarring to say the least, and it never gets better. On the other hand the game’s dubbing has come under fire for being low quality and feeling rushed, and while it is certainly not the best dub I have heard, a good many of the voice actors do very good work, though they aren’t all stars. However, the game’s sound design is simply amazing, while I personally don’t prefer this game’s soundtrack to the previous to it has some absolute stars and its sound effects for character’s attacks and special effects are similarly very good. Pros: + The soundtrack is astoundingly good, really it’s an absolute banger through and through with only a few weak tracks in the mix. This is to be expected of Monolithsoft, but they really delivered on this. + Particle effects are extremely good and diverse. Every single blade brings not only a unique body but also a unique combat aesthetic, with some like Dagas and Azami in particular being memorable and great to see in action. +The game’s animations in terms of its gameplay are very good. Monster, Humans, and Blades alike are all very expressive with diverse and meaningful movements that often convey not just an attack, but what its properties will have as well. It’s very addicting to see some of the bigger attack animations go off because of just how crisp and well done they are. + The environments are very beautiful, each area is completely unique from one another and they’re all pretty memorable, the only one I’d throw under the bus personally is Gormott for being a bit too generic grass world-y, but even it’s still very pretty. Really, all of this game’s environments and maps are very well realized visually. + Because of the clean particle effects and animations combat is conveyed very smoothly to the player, very little can catch you off guard and attack’s hitboxes are well sycned with their animations almost entirely across the board. Neutrals:

[] I would in fact say this game has more good and memorable character designs than bad ones, all things considered, it’s just that the bad ones are so unrepentantly bad that they massively overshadow what good ones there are. Designs like Mòrag, Zeke, Vandham, Roc, Brighid, Pandoria, and more are extremely memorable and fun designs but the fact that they share a stage with designs like Rex, Pyra, Zenobia, and Dahlia is an absolute shame. All memes and controversy aside there is simply no excusing character designs like Dahlia, not because this is a Nintendo game, but because she is visually repulsive to anyone with an iota of taste developed outside of the sphere of bad anime and fetish hentai. [] The camera in this game is very good and has a wide variety of options for players to make use of, however, it can still mess up and focus on the wrong thing during cinematic attacks or have simple clipping errors. This is minor and never bugged me, in fact it lead to some hilarious moments for me, but I know this could bother some people.

Cons: - Its aesthetics are unfocused. The visual design, sound design, and even its UI are oftentimes clashing and ugly. Comparing a game like this to one like Wind Waker like I have seen some do is frankly laughable. The reason Wind Waker has aged so immaculately is because of how focused and well realized its one single aesthetic is! This game cannot compare by any stretch of the imagination. - The english dub is held back by Rex, Pyra, and Malos being extremely weak, uninteresting, and poorly acted. In spite of being the main characters and the main villain we’re never given a good performance by any of them. They’re all boring and are by far some of the worst parts of the game’s dub. Other characters like Patroka stick out as well for never giving off the tone or emotion the situation calls for. Further, the dub is almost constantly out of sync with the character’s lips where this is not a problem with the previous games. It is clear this part of the game’s localization was rushed. However, all in all, many other dub voice actors are extremely good, but the fact that they are not the main characters means they are simply overshadowed by the poor performance of a few critical characters. Were Rex, Pyra, and Malos minor side characters this would not be a noteworthy negative, but it is definitely worth bringing up given they are who the plot revolves around for its entirety. - In terms of the game’s cutscenes, of which there are an overabundance, the character’s facial expressions often laughably jump from one expression to another when attempting to convey emotion. They also often move in a way I would more expect out of a PS2 era game, very stiffly and without any real weight. This is most noticeable when characters shift their head from one side to another or hang their head down in sadness, it’s robotic and unbelievable. Any alleged advantage this art style could have given in expressiveness and conveyance of emotion is entirely lost as many of the character’s featureless, blobby faces snap around in machinelike ways, making them come across more like automatons than actual people. This isn’t nearly as bad or prevalent with adult characters like Mòrag and Zeke, or anyone designed by Tetsuya Nomura, but it still crops up from time to time with them. However it’s nigh ever present with children or characters in the art style of Masatsugu Saito. Simply put, because of the poor animation and expresion the characters have this game lacks pathos in many cases. - It bears special mention that Rex’s voice actor is laughably bad at yelling or shouting. His attempts are screams made me laugh in moments that were meant to be serious and do not improve at all throughout the game. For how many screams he had to do you’d think he’d eventually get one out that was not worth making fun of but he just never hits the mark. - The game’s native sound balance is absolutely horrible. While the game does graciously allow for the player to customize it they shouldn’t be required to just to hear characters speak during cutscenes. - Including a combat narrator was a mistake and only detracts from one’s ability to become immersed in the game’s world and even its gameplay. Having a disembodied voice shout ‘Cool’ and ‘Blade Combo Level 3’ at you constantly is an extremely out of nowhere inclusion. Again, thankfully, the player is allowed to turn this feature off entirely but the fact of the matter is this Arcade Era feature has no place in a single player RPG in the year 2017. Simply put this game’s got a fairly large number of aesthetic issues, many more than I would expect out of any AAA game but especially out of Nintendo and Monolithsoft, though a lot of them simply come down to a lack of polish. Were this game delayed by 6 months to a year none of these besides the game’s primary art direction in regards to a few character designs would exist I bet. However, it’s clear this game was rushed to make it out within the Switch’s first year and it suffers for it. Compared to the polish of other major AAA games released this year, especially the absolutely immaculate Persona 5 which is the big JRPG this game needs to measure up to, this game is poorly realized aesthetically in basically every way except for its sound design which is a shame. Frankly, I expect better of Monolithsoft and this is unprecedented from them. When I can get more genuine emotion and investment and a better conveyance of real world expressions and movement out of the Wii era models in Xenoblade Chronicles than I can out of this game that’s a problem. I really, truly believe with another 6 months to a year of polish all around this game could have really had some great presentation but unfortunately right now that potential is held just out of reach.

Story, Writing, and Characters: I will say flatly and simply that this game’s story is by far the worst that Monolithsoft has ever produced. It’s boring, uninspired, hard to be invested in, poorly sequenced, and stars some of the absolute most plain jane characters I’ve ever seen in a major title. Extremely little is resolved in a meaningful way, the game is rife with cheap, C-List Shonen Anime tropes we’ve all seen a hundred times before, it’s cliched with no attempts at spicing itself up, simply put it’s bad and the only way to enjoy it is to not think about it or to somehow have not seen any of its tired tropes before. Even Xenoblade Chronicles X, for all of its story based shortcomings, presents a far better conflict and main protagonist than 2 could ever hope. That said, the writing is not all bad. Most of the game’s Heart to Hearts are lovely, they’re fun and great at developing the party members dynamics and them all as a cohesive unit. It’s a nice return to form more like Xenoblade Chronicles’ Heart to Hearts and a big improvement over Xenoblade X’s fairly barebones ones. The sidequests are mostly fairly mediocre however, which is sad given that’s something both previous games absolutely excelled at. I’ve mentioned Rex, Pyra, and Malos a few times in this review already, but it bears reiterating that they are all simply awful, uninspired, and boring characters and they are three of the biggest detriments this game has. Had this game starred Nia, Mòrag, or Zeke with Jin as its sole antagonist it would have been far better for it. More or less this game’s entire playable party aside from Rex and Pyra are strong, likeable characters, though all of the antagonists aside from Jin are transparent and laughable in their attempts to be taken seriously. With no depth at all and no development from any of them, how could anyone really care about this conflict? It’s truly a travesty because the world of Alrest is interesting and each of its Titans have enough intrigue and history and personality that I would have loved to have discovered more about them, however that’s not the case.

Pros: + Morag, Brighid, Nia, Dromarch, Poppi, Zeke, and Pandoria are consistently enjoyable characters which is good since you’ll see them all a lot. They are good enough to be worth pushing through this game’s otherwise generally horrible writing to see more of, because at least these characters are fun and interesting in the moment, and seeing them interact with one another in optional content is one of the best things this game has to offer outside of its core gameplay. + Heart to Hearts regain their depth from the first game and are almost all very fun and enjoyable. + Chapter 4 breaks away from the rest of the plot’s undeserved, overly self-serious, dreariness to present a more comical minor conflict that’s actually fun to follow and based reasonably in a conflict one can get invested in. Neutrals: [] Most of Chapter 3 is also quite good and revolves around Vandham, one of the best characters in the game, however the ending of the chapter is perhaps the single worst part of this entire game and I don’t say that lightly. The ending sequence of chapter 3 is a grand display of everything wrong with this game all in one extremely hard to get through sequence. [] The fact that some of the game’s writing issues could be solved with simple sequence changes shows there’s a bit more life to this plot than what one might think, but that’s not the product we received. [] Though perhaps not intentionally, Jin is an antagonist who is compelling because he is actually in the right of it compared to the main party for most of the game. However, his story arc is left completely unresolved and with almost all questions about him unanswered making one’s investment in him largely pointless. [] Many characters like Addam and Lora exist as set dressing for this world and are integral to the game’s story in some ways, but are ultimately fairly pointless as they are dropped without ceremony partway through the game with no resolution to their inclusion whatsoever. I wouldn’t even call this entirely a negative because at least the parts of the plot focusing on them in the past are far more gripping than anything happening in the present even though they are given to the player in fragments. [] Every single Rare Blade is given both a sidequest and a heart to heart dedicated to just them. While great in concept, the result is many of them just being weak or uninteresting. Most of the heart to hearts are good, but the vast majority of their side quests drag on too long, are poorly acted, and just don’t give a good look at the character in question anyway. It’s a very mixed bag.

Cons: - This is the case across the game’s map designs as well as its story elements, but all too often it simply does things to try and harken back to Xenoblade Chronicles 1. So many times I found myself thinking ‘Oh, just like in Xenoblade Chronicles’ while seeing things happen throughout this game. Rather than forge its own unique path and identity it merely takes beats from its predecessor, often sloppily and without realizing what made those things work in the first place. The result is a lot of flaccid attempts to seem cool or memorable that simply fall flat. - The game only takes time one or two times to develop Pyra and Rex one on one, together as a pair of partners and friends and elsewise relies on the player believing they have some unique, special, and immediately intimate relationship based simply on her being a Aegis and him being her Driver, something not present for any other Blade/Driver pairing nor for the other Aegis/Driver pairing in the game, rather than anything actually present in the game. The end result is them having no real chemistry for the entirety of the game, and then the player being expected to believe they’re in love at the very end out of nowhere in spite of them being little more than strangers in terms of how much they know about each other, even after this journey. Genuinely the player gets better chemistry and dynamics out of Nia and Zeke and Brighid and Tora, as well as several other sets of characters who are not the main focus of the plot. Each of these sets of characters have easily definable and fun dynamics between them, where Pyra and Rex are simply The Protagonist and The Nice Girl Who You Have To Protect. Even amongst the game’s heart to hearts, of which there are a great multitude and I performed several dozen, Rex and Pyra only get a single one that focuses primarily on them. Pyra has a stronger, more identifiable dynamic with Nia and Mòrag than she does with Rex and that’s pitiful. For comparison you frankly get a stronger dynamic between Shulk and Reyn or Elma and Lin in Xenoblade Chronicles and X within just a few hours than Pyra and Rex have all game, in spite of being the equivalent of those pairs. - In almost every single boss fight the game will interrupt the player’s progress to assault them with an unnecessary, overly long cutscene to explain why they’re actually losing this fight and every single one of them falls flat because of the horrible weakness of the villains and the corny, over the top shonen anime acting and set pieces. Once the phrase ‘My power allows me to move at the speed of light’ is genuinely and unironically used completely out of nowhere as an excuse for the player to lose even though you have at this point beaten this enemy before and if that isn’t by itself a display of bad writing I don’t know what is. Seriously, I cannot stress enough how much these story cutscenes during boss battles watch like shitty, bottom of the barrel anime rather than an actual video game. - The game’s attempts at humor almost universally are miss rather than hit, with three noteworthy exceptions being the Zeke Boss Fight segments in Uraya, Mor Ardain, and Leftheria. These moments were genuinely charming and got me to laugh, and really stuck out amongst the games otherwise poor attempts at comedy. The jokes almost all amount to ‘Haha, Anime am I right?’ with no substance and poor execution. Moments meant to be funny are often instead cringeworthy and make you want to turn the game off. - The game often kills off characters in a weak attempt at drama, attempting to add pathos to the story, however it only once gives you a reason to actually care about the character being killed. In that case, though, the character’s death is utterly pointless, and could easily have been avoided by the main protagonist simply using a power they had about 20 seconds sooner or a secondary protagonist using a power they had access to all the time, and simply didn’t use until two thirds of the way through. Every other death of a character falls entirely flat because the game simply offers no reason to care about the character who died, or because the character’s death is too sudden, or because the character's death resolves or advances nothing, or even because the character is plainly unlikable, and is often an excuse to avoid finishing character’s plotlines. This is best summarized in the fact that two characters exist in a single cutscene and bossfight and die by the end of it, though they are presented as significant for their brief existence. - In tandem with the previous point the game skips over a lot of very easy opportunities for meaningful character development in favor of nothing at all or conversations that ultimately aren’t significant. Two big examples that stick out to me are skipping Fan La Norne’s funeral and the Nightmare Sequences everyone experienced at the end besides Rex’s. - The story relies extremely heavily on the idea that withholding information from the player is a good way to generate interest and intrigue and the end result is a conflict that one cannot be invested in simply because they do not know anything that actually matters. Pyra, in spite of being introduced within the first hour of the game, has nothing of significance about her revealed to the player until the beginning of chapter 4, which will be between 25 and 40 hours later for a typical player. This means players have no actual ability to be invested in Pyra besides that she is who the player is playing as which is absolutely unacceptable. - Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is far too transparent for its own good in the broad strokes, with every single major plot event being easily predictable from hours in advance. In spite of it going out of its way to tell the player next to nothing at any given time, the plot is still easily predictable. It is horrible at hiding information from the player meaningfully. Anybody who you think will be a villain will be. Anyone who you think will be a party member is one. Anything you expect to happen absolutely will, unless it’s the actually interesting stuff. While this may seem antithetical to the idea that it leaves the player knowing nothing important for most of its plot, it is merely a testament to how uninspired the story is that the plot can be guessed so easily in spite of trying to keep the player in the dark as much as possible. - The game sets up a myriad of plot elements that simply go nowhere or are never brought up again, like the Urayan/Ardanian politics and conflict. Even some extremely important questions such as ‘Why did Pyra still have a body rather than just being a core crystal’, ‘Who is Addam’ and other, opting instead to handwave off many things that actually could use explanation with ‘That’s just how it is’. One of the most glaring is the existence of the Artifices, which the player is simply expected to accept are things that exist when they have no reason to whatsoever until literally the last hour of the game. While the game has an extraordinarily long exposition dump right before the final boss to explain the world of Alrest in truth it does next to nothing to explain the finer details of how anything in the setting works, leaving the player to simply have to accept that’s just how it is. Truly a far cry from Xenoblade Chronicles 1 which gave the player the ability to intimately understand the history, characters, quirks, relations between races and individuals, politics, and more of its setting. - The game’s final two chapters rely entirely on the player having played Xenoblade Chronicles 1 to get any significant connection to the story at this point, which is out of nowhere given the rest of the game has no such connection. This alienates player who have not experienced the first game entirely, and leaves veteran players wishing these connections were meaningful. This is because the game’s connections to Xenoblade Chronicles 1 are entirely lip service and serve no point other than to reference Xenoblade Chronicles 1. Nothing about any of these plot elements are intrinsically related to that game, and could easily be substituted for original content to help the game’s consistency. - This is a nitpick but the game extremely often uses very particular phrasing to refer to things. “This is my True Primal Power.” is an example that sticks out to me even now, yet none of these phrases actually are meaningful, nor are they ever used again. They are attempts to baselessly sound cool in a very juvenile way and are pointless, cluttering the plot with buzzwords that are truly meaningless. I genuinely and truly cannot stress enough at how bad this game’s plot is. It’s easily one of the worst plots in any game I’ve actually completed before and that deeply and truly saddens me to say. I wish I had more good to say about this game’s plot, I really do, but there’s just not really anything good to say. Some of the characters really and truly are worth it though. I adore Mòrag and Zeke and their existences are really all that let me push through this game. At the end of all of this, I guess all I really have to say is that even though I had fun with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Zeke and Mòrag and a few others are among my favorite characters in the franchise now, it has left me profoundly disappointed in a way no other game before has. Xenoblade Chronicles 1 is my absolute all time favorite video game, and although this game was not nearly as bad as I was worried it might be it still was far worse than I had hoped it would have been. Having beaten the game and feeling the way I do now I feel that giving it a numerical score feels too cheap. If really pressed for one I might give this game like a 2 or 3 at best on a 10 point scale but that is far too simplified compared to how I feel. Nonetheless, I do have hope that the DLC campaign slated for fall 2018 is good. I think this game still has a spark of life and potential in it, and maybe that DLC campaign can deliver and make all of this worthwhile, but until then I cannot in my right mind recommend Xenoblade Chronicles 2 to anyone. To be a bit rude, the new anime art style this game has taken is deeply indicative of its quality. If you like shitty anime games like Senran Kagura, Disgaea, or Nitro+ Blasterz maybe this game will have something for you, but if you’re actually discerning in the quality of media you consume do not bother. Anyone calling this game a masterpiece is fooling themselves and committing a deep disservice to games actually deserving that title.

#Xenoblade Adventures 2 #I'm only tagging this for my personal documentation but it'll end up in the game's tag anyway since that's how tumblr works #I had far too many thoughts about this game and really I only did this to get them out of my brain so I can move on

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brigade-claire-opinions · 4 years

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2020 games of the year: Runners-Up

This year has been brutal, but there was no shortage of new games to play. In total, I purchased or was gifted 13 new games, but I only played three of them to completion.

Here are the other 7 games that I would have liked to rank. With the exception of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - which I received as a Christmas gift - I have started up each of the games facing outward, but have not finished them. I cannot in good conscience give an opinion on a piece of media that I have not consumed, so these are sorted by platform and release date, not in any sort of actual ranked order.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore - This is an updated port of a Wii U game. The Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem series are two of my favorite franchises, so this crossover is one I was looking forward to forever. Unfortunately, I never played much of the original Wii U release, and the Switch port doesn't quite have me deviating from that track record. Hopefully someday...

Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition - This is a full HD remake of the original Xenoblade Chronicles on Nintendo Wii. I loved the idea of the original Wii version, but I could not get past the character models, which looked like they were ripped directly from the early PS2 era. This Switch remake, in contrast, is absolutely gorgeous to look at, and I cannot wait to sink my teeth into it when I have more time.

Paper Mario: The Origami King - I've never been a mega fan of the Paper Mario franchise. I enjoyed the first three, sure, but as a JRPG buff, they were never my favorite JRPGs. I absolutely adore the writing in these games, and as far as I've gotten in this game, it looks to be no exception. This is another one for me to enjoy when I have more bandwidth.

DOOM Eternal - I only played a tiny bit of the first chapter in this one, as I have not yet finished DOOM 2016. This one seems to be more visceral than its predecessor, so I'm pretty excited. DOOM 2016 is great so far too, don't get me wrong, but I'm probably gonna bum rush the rest of it so I can dive into this one.

Ghost of Tsushima - This is an absolutely massive and beautiful game, and the plot so far is as gut-wrenching as I'd expect a Samurai story to be. I actually really wanted to finish this one by the year's end and give it an official ranking, but it unfortunately turned out to not yet be in the cards. Soon, though...

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - Like I said, I haven't even started up this one yet. I've heard amazing things about it, and now that my boyfriend has bought it for me as a Christmas gift (and, unrelated, my first gaming PC! Thanks, cutie!), I'm pretty excited to give it a shot. Probably after Tsushima.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales - Believe me, I am just as surprised as you are that I haven't finished this one yet. Spider-Man PS4 is one of my favorite games on the platform and is my favorite superhero game of all time, so I thought this one would be a no-brainer for this list. Unfortunately, though, it came out at a time when I had several other games going on, so I haven't been able to devote the time it deserves. This is the game I've put the most time into out of everything on the list, and I've heard it's pretty short and sweet, so maybe I will finish it by the end of the year. For now, though, it waits.

So, you might be wondering what I *did* play this year, and what my ranking is going to look like. Hell, if you know me, I bet you have a guess for the number one slot. Well, starting tomorrow, I'll be counting down the 3 new games I actually played through start to finish this year, so stay tuned!

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radicaldreamer017 · 7 years

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Finished chapter 3 and in the middle of chapter 4 (and things are getting spoilery) :

- found a few more heart to heart. It was quite funny to have Tora laments on feeling useless in battle after I benched him. Guess the game does expect you to bench him for the new character.

- I noticed how these scenes are voiced and involve several characters. In XB1, the scenes are silent and involves only two characters bonding. The voice acting is cool but I think they should have kept the two character bonding thing (group stuff is nice too… but so far, Tora has been starring in all of them… i’m afraid the game may push some characters forward more than others in these heart to heart).

- so, met Zeke (it’s Zek in french apparently) and his blade twice. He’s so over the top lol… i saw people comparing him with Bart from Xenogears, but Bart was down to earth next to him (then again, the over the top shonen humor in XB2 is quite new to Xeno… except maybe when it comes to mascot characters). Bart also had a heavy backstory and duty. That said, eye patch thing, trying to snatch your « weapon » upon the first meeting… I can see why comparaisons are made. I’m waiting to see who Zeke is beyond “comic relief guy” though.

- I don’t know if it’s just me but enemies feel quite spongey compared to previous XB games. In the first game, it was quicker and easier to beat a group of enemies. Not so much here (in fact, I’m dying a lot... and chapter 4 is pissing me off a bit because of this... too many enemies ganging up on you, all spongey... the most annoying thing is getting teleported way back and all enemies getting revived). In the first XB game, I was already going against uniques in the first 10 hours. I never bothered to beat a single one in this one and i’m past 30 hours in. Then again, I was battling uniques in XB1 because it was part of the quests and I knew they were giving capacity points too.

- I really like Uraya overall. The town gives me Skyrim (Solitude) vibe coupled with Baten Kaitos maybe (with a touch of Zora village from Breath of the Wild) ?

- speaking of this town… i’m still clueless where their king or queen even is… where’s the palace ?

- i’m starting to understand maybe why people feel frustrated when exploring in this game. It took me way too much time to understand how to get to Uraya’s main town (and I just quit yesterday playing chapter 4 because a piece of bridge fell while i was walking on it and the only path towards the next main story point I can see is blocked by blade skills i don’t have... that said, maybe this bridge will be whole again when I’ll return to the game... otherwise, that would be bullshit). I also understand why it can feel frustrating to have exploration blocked by requirements that are entirely linked to the blades you managed to get based on pure luck. But I can only encourage Monolith to explore player/environment interactions further. Maybe Zelda’s success will make their next Xeno/jrpg game a lot better on this front (I have lots of gripes about the new Zelda sure… but the way we could interact with the environment, using elements and all, wasn’t one of them).

- so far, town music is definitively more memorable/better than in XB1 (Mitsuda composed them, didn’t he ?).

- while I like towns better in this than XB1, i think it really was a mistake to take the social network thing away. It just makes townies a lot less endearing. It takes away the sense of communities the first two Xenoblade games had. It was really one of Xenoblade’s biggest strength imo.

- returning to Argentum made me realize how nice this place is. A callback to the Thames from Xenogears but with warm Ghibli aesthetics too (love the interior in the upper floors).

- the more I play Tiger Tiger, the more I like it... Dunno if it’s because I was craving for some actual mini games in the modern Xeno games (sick of the hunt/fetch routine) or because the mini game is legit nice. But locking Poppi’s entire upgrade system behind a single mini game probably sucks for anyone who hates playing it.

- I can send blades to expeditions now… between this and the pull to get blades system, the game feels very mobile gacha inspired (by the way, got a rainbow in FFBE the same day I got KOS-MOS). Not that the expedition system was invented by mobile games. It was in FF Tactics on PS1 after all. But the way the characters are sent to missions just remind me of FFBE.

- Also, people sure don’t mind giving command of their military force to a kid they just met lol (old person speaking uhuh).

- this theater thing was nice (and very Baten Kaitos looking).

- the last bosses were brutal… even being higher leveled than them… until I just switched Vandham for Tora (well see, perverted furball… you’re more useful than the big guy with the giant bird after all… crazy).

- speaking of them… I find them quite obnoxious. Maybe it’s the Nomura aesthetics… or the fact they kept wrecking my party… I did feel a bit sorry for Akhos (?) in the end though.

- Malos, or the Sephiroth school of villainy… wearing Gaignun Kukai’s face.

- Giant robot flashback… and a bonus Zohar with a pissy Mithra in it. I love how i’m trying to enjoy this game without comparing it too much to its heavy successors story wise… but the game won’t let me. Oh well…

- hi Mythra… it amused me how she went « fuck off ! I didn’t want to wake up ! I’m out ! » just after being introduced. Also, one of her lines was straight out of Xenosaga 3. As a Xenogears fan, her behavior also reminded me of the « coward ».

- Vandham’s death. I did like the character... but not enough to feel much during this scene apparently (losing the wind bird though... rude... but you get it back quickly anyway). People are not going to feel much when a character they just met dies (unless they’re known to have a close bond with the main character from the get go maybe... which is why killing Alice in Xenogears or Fiora in Xenoblade 1 felt more brutal despite happening very early... because they were introduced as the “childhood friend character/love interest/sister”). Especially if the character is a big bulky guy and the death quite cliché for this kind of character.

- also... did... did they bury him in a freaking concrete/stone ground ?

- I only just remembered Poppi broke at the end of the chapter. But she wasn’t that broken, it seems. They really didn’t make a big fuss about it.

- first time in forever since a character shared a bed with his obvious love interest in a Xeno game. But let’s not expect anything mature here. Mythra was just sleepwalking and happened to end up in Rex’s bed. So, yeah... the whole scene was an entire “you stupid pervert” joke you often see in harem animes (with “omg boobs in front of my face” reaction from Rex). That said, this darn hat that Dromach wears is a thing of glory. Highlight of the scene lol... Ah, and they also acknowledge Mythra/Pyra’s clothing being ridiculous in this scene.

- the whole “thievery” plotline was kind of filler. But still, I guess I’m glad those kids have a place to belong now. Guess I can see the Oliver Twist inspiration here (Takahashi said it was one of the works that made him want to make XB2). And now, the bird is back and Rex can have another 5 stars blade (though, I also managed to get Perceval for him, with a common core crystal).

- Speaking of new rare blade, I also got Boreas for Nia. But controlling Nia with him as her main blade kinda sucks. Boreas is so big that he almost takes the whole screen. But he’s a healer. That’s cool. That’s Nia’s main job.

- Muimui... I’m so glad you’re not the playable mascot character (really, even considering Tora). Seriously, this little guy is like... a nopon version of Peter Pettigrew from Harry Potter (maybe it’s appriopriate, he seems shaddy). But higher pitched. And his name sounds kinda dumb, spoken out loud.

- I like Mor Ardain’s city. Reminds me of Nortune from Xenogears (too bad Mor Ardain’s Titan is a brown wasteland though... but hey, it is dying, after all).

- I really liked the cutscene introducing Mor Ardain’s “emperor”. The music was perfect, Morag and Brighid were there, I generally like child emperor/empress (like say, Larsa from FF12)... and I guess Morag is of royal blood now ?

- Tora’s background story unvealed... and I’m sure it was dramatic... but holy shit, I just wanted to laugh when seeing this small nopon holding a huge gun. Tora is like... Maria Balthasar as a male perverted Chuchu. It’s weird. Now, off to retrieve his giant rob... I mean, gothic lolita robot.

- Hot spring naked time... with convenient censor fog. I knew something like this was in ever since the first trailer. Some people managed to spot a keyword for a bath scene or something. Sigh... What should I say ? I like Persona and they did much worse with this kind of stuff. But it’s still pandering. I don’t even remember what the heck the girls were talking about (expect Poppi maybe... something about being waterproof ?).

- Second battle transition against Zeke was kind of funny. Rex gets bitchslapped by Mythra and the screen breaks, FF10 style.

#xenoblade 2 #thoughts in progress #currently playing

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solidandsound · 7 years

Text

My goal for 2017 was to beat 50 games. Unless I finish anything else over the next couple of days (doubtful), my actual number is 46, which I’m still quite happy with.

Some of these were games I’d already started before 2017 (e.g. Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, which I played most of throughout 2016 and finished in January). Many were small indie games, some only a few minutes long (e.g. Secrets Agent, which is maybe ten minutes). Some were more middling offerings (e.g. Aerannis, which I clocked 8 hours in), and some were the big, exciting games that 2017 is coming to be known for. There are also many games I played significant amounts of this year that do not count towards the above number because I haven’t finished them (like World of Final Fantasy, which I got for Christmas last year but still haven’t finished despite returning to it every couple of months).

DLC also makes calculating that number a little more difficult, especially the way DLC is more frequently being handled. Final Fantasy XV was released towards the end of 2016, and I ‘finished’ it, at the latest, in early 2017. But that was only the main story. There are a few DLC episodes out now (I’ve played two of them) as well as story improvements and a bigger DLC campaign. I could finish those, but the developers have stated that there’s going to be even more DLC in 2018, which is bizarre for a game that’s a year old, but less bizarre now than it used to be. Breath of the Wild’s DLC took a while to be released (also not part of the above number for that reason), and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 looks to be releasing DLC until at least autumn 2018. For a person who likes his games to be one and done, this trend is frustrating. Companies want their games to last longer, to remain fresh in our minds so we can give them more money. This is largely antithetical to the pursuit of games as an art form, and it’s also annoying. I like finishing things. Not knowing when the DLC is gonna stop robs me of the satisfaction of saying a game is complete, of adding it to my end of year count.

The best game I played that came out this year is almost certainly Persona 5. For all its failings, it is a solid, polished RPG that at least tries to tackle social inequality. Most of the games I really loved that I played this year are actually from years prior, however. I’m glad I finished Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne this year, because it made me appreciate Persona 5 even more.

I dove into two older series I’ve always loved this year. One is Breath of Fire. The only BoF game I’d completed before was IV, but I’d played a lot of III as well. I went through I, II, and III in 2017, finishing the entire main series (Dragon Quarter notwithstanding). IV remains my favourite in the series, but all the games are oozing with charm and personality. Very few games manage to feel as original as BoF, even though they are, at the series’ core, standard JRPGs.

The other series I dove into is Xenosaga. Last year I replayed Xenosaga Episode I. This year I replayed Episode II and then finally, finally finished Episode III. I’ve long considered I to be one of my favourite games of all time, but III is a masterpiece that manages to surpass it. Its only faults are in the spaces where you can tell the series was supposed to have more titles in it before it was cancelled prematurely, and maybe one annoying sidequest. And the fanservice. Otherwise it is nearly perfect, and ends the series beautifully. The KOS-MOS showdown near the end has got to be one of my favourite gaming moments ever.

On the indie side of things I loved Read Only Memories, the queer sci-fi I’ve always wanted; Curtain, an artful representation of abusive relationships; Even the Ocean, a mindful environmental fable with impeccable mechanics; We Know the Devil, one of the most poetically written visual novels I’ve ever played; Lieve Oma, a touching tribute to memory; and Strange Flesh, a bizarre gay sex beat-em-up. I also loved Longest Night and Longest Night: Lost Constellation, two free side games for Night in the Woods, which is definitely on my list of games to play for 2018. If you were curious but not sold on NitW, play those two games and they will sell you on it.

Which brings me to the games I’m looking forward to playing (and/or beating) in 2018. Night in the Woods is up there, and they just released a fancy new expanded edition, so it seems like the perfect time to finally jump in. The new Steven Universe game, Save the Light, is out now as well, and given how good Attack the Light is, I would be a fool not to play this one. Blue Reflection also has me curious, as a Persona-lite game with magical girls, even though it’s gotta be a fanservicey mess. And I can’t forget about Tacoma for more queer sci-fi.

I plan on doing a deeper dive into the Shin Megami Tensei series as well. I’m already playing Persona Q and Tokyo Mirage Sessions, and 2018 is the year I finish both of them. Once those are off my plate, I can jump into Digital Devil Saga, which was gifted to me this year, and then more of the core series, maybe starting with the first Shin Megami Tensei on iOS. Who knows when SMT V on the Switch will be out, but I want to burn through more of the series before it gets here.

I’m also playing and plan on finishing Atelier Sophie (might check out more Atelier after), Beat Sneak Bandit (and I still have Bumpy Road to play to finish my Simogo backlog before they announce their new game), Bravely Second (the devs keep hinting at a Bravely Third), Fire Emblem Fates (it’s just Revelations left, and I wanna beat it before getting to Echoes which was a Christmas gift), Valkyria Chronicles II (stoked for VC 4!), and as I’ve already mentioned, World of FF and Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

In my backlog to be hopefully played this year are Horizon Zero Dawn (I’ve been wanting to play this since it was announced!), I Am Setsuna, Kentucky Route Zero, Lost Dimension, Mass Effect 3, Muramasa, Nights of Azure, Owlboy, and lots, lots more.

Some games coming out in 2018 I’m looking forward to are Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Hacker’s Memory, Radiant Historia Perfect Chronology, Alliance Alive, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Ooblets, Heart Forth Alicia, The Last of Us 2, and Kingdom Hearts III (not sure about 2018 for those last two though).

Shout-out to Splatoon 2, the only multiplayer game to keep me playing even though it doesn’t satisfy my craving for endings because it never fucking ends. It’s just that good.

I hope 2018 is relatively slow for new game releases, so I can do some much needed catch-up. 2018 also looks like it could be a good year for my writing career, as long as I focus enough, so I’m only planning on beating a modest 40 games. If you’ve read this far, feel free to chat me up about what games you’ve played this year. As evidenced here, I can go on forever about video games.

#quiet reminder at the end of this wall of text that video games would improve drastically under socialism #removing the profit incentive will end predatory DLC practices and open up game dev to those who can't afford it #people only making games for money will fuck off and people making them for passion will get the fuck to work #anyways thanks for reading #this is me signing out of 2017 #ugh okay i keep thinking about this and remembering more games i could have talked about #not gonna add anything else though or it'll never end #just know that there are so many games #so many...

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