#xbc2 has nia and pyra and god i love them

[storm-driver]

seeing the tags of people reblogging that xenoblade shulk post saying they need to get into xenoblade now

[aromancy]

I Freaking Love Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Have I ever mentioned this before? I feel like I’ve only ever reblogged a few posts about it.

Well, for the record, I freaking love Xenoblade Chronicles 2. A long time ago, back in like 2014 (God, has it already been SEVEN YEARS since 2014?), I saw this one anime, Clannad, that I henceforth dubbed my second favorite anime of all time. I didn’t know what my favorite anime was (I knew it wasn’t Clannad; that show is heartbreaking, but it’s also REALLY confusing), so I just left the spot open until I found it.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is it.

Now, granted, it might be a little weird to say that a video game is my favorite anime. But screw it, those cutscenes were animated in Japan by Japanese creators, weren’t they? Besides, while the game itself is a ton of fun, anyone who loves XBC2 can testify that it’s the story that truly sells it.

Not to say the gameplay isn’t fun. It’s a little hostile to new players, and the glut of tutorials do a poor job of explaining the intricacies of combat, but once you get it it becomes a glorious, beautiful dance that flows like... like something really glorious and beautiful! A ballet dancer? A ballet dancer with an oversized cannon.

(Azami kicks ass btw. Don’t @ me.)

I’m aromantic and can’t feel true love, but I imagine the feeling of stacking eight elemental orbs on a boss monster before shattering them all with a last-minute Overkill is something akin to it.

But again, the combat, amazing as it is, isn’t what you’re there for. What you’re there for is the story. And what a story it is: what starts out as a pretty typical RPG setup (heroes have somewhere they need to go, a complex series of obstacles stands in their way) slowly morphs into a contemplation on mental health and futility. Rex’s number two and main love interest Pyra is pretty clearly suffering from some self-esteem issues that make her question if she’s even worth being loved, and Rex is eventually forced to come to terms with the fact that his lifelong dream is ultimately just that; a dream, with no chance of ever coming true.

Naturally, it’s an anime, so the ending isn’t quite such a downer and perhaps a slight Deus Ex Machina, but we get some pretty hardcore moments along the way, like the scene where all your allies turn on you and you have to fight them one-on-one and it’s actually one of the hardest fights in the game and you really start to feel Rex’s desperation as he’s forced to do one of the hardest things he’s ever had to-

Sorry, I’m sorry, I’m good. Let’s talk characters.

Technically speaking, there’s ten main characters; five Drivers (who awaken Blades) and their Blades (a sort of slave race with serious ethical ramifications we’ll get into a bit later). Our lead is Rex, a salvager (he gathers scraps from ancient tech that sank below the sea and sells them) with the most outrageous Yorkshire accent I’ve ever heard. Kid sounds like the love child of Ed Sheeran, Dame Judy Dench, and a flat cap. His main companion is Pyra, an Aegis (one of the two strongest Blades in the world) who I really wish would put on a sweater so people will stop saying I only like this game because of the outfits they put all the female characters in.

(My favorite outfit in the game: catgirl Pyra)

Joining Rex and Pyra are Nia (an actual catgirl with a Welsh accent that puts Rex’s Yorkshire one to shame) and Dromarch (her lion Blade); Morag (a badass soldier lady) and Bridghid (her equally badass fire-whip using Blade); Zeke (comic relief with a surprisingly deep backstory) and Pandoria (the most underappreciated character in the game), and... ugh... Tora and Poppi.

(Pictured: Team Tora at 99% likeability)

(Pictured: Team Tora at 100% likeability.)

Seriously, I don’t know how a piece of garbage character like Tora literally built the most interesting, engaging, and likeable character in the whole game. Poppi is fantastic, a philosophical question of can robots feel, and are they truly alive, that really gives the question its due with an ambiguous nature that lifts our spirits with a resounding yes. And Tora is a comic relief pervert.

Ah, I can’t give him too much crap. He gets better. They all do; Nia’s backstory reveal is really late in the game for how early she’s introduced, but it’s well worth the wait; Zeke and Pandoria actually have one of the most fascinating backstories in the whole game; and Morag’s there too!

She’s kinda shafted. Too bad, because what little we get of her fucking rules.

But what good are main characters without some high quality villains? There’s two major factions that stand in our way, but as talking about one would be HUGE spoilers, let’s instead look at the less spoiler-y one: Torna!

When we’re first introduced to Torna, they seem like the most obvious freaking villains in gaming history. Look at Malos in this pic and tell me he’s not the most blatantly evil dude you’ve ever seen. Even Jin’s standing behind him like “C’mon dude, you don’t have to be so obvious about it.”

Torna consists of six members intially, but Nia quickly defects when she’s charmed by Rex’s optimism, leaving only Malos, Jin, Patroka, Akhos, and Mikhail. Of the remaining members, Patroka and Akhos matter very little, and Mikhail does exactly one thing of note that I definitely wouldn’t call villainous, so let’s instead look at our headliners: Malos and Jin.

Jin is awesome. He’s a Blade who was bound to a really sweet girl named Lora. dude clearly had feelings for her, and when she got killed, he saw the evil inherent in humanity and decided to destroy them. He resents mankind for this and also basically having Blades like him by the balls; his people can only be awoken from their Core Crystals by another, a Driver, and once this is done, they’re bound to serve their Driver until the Driver dies and they revert back to their Core Crystal form, losing their memories and effectively “dying.” Jin considers this unfair and wants to show humanity that Blades are their own people, with their own wants and needs, and intends to do this by destroying human civilization and creating a society where Blades like him stay on top.

Malos is great too, but for totally different reasons. He was initally awoken by somebody with an intense hatred for humanity, and has adopted his Driver’s cynicism. He seeks nothing more or less than the total eradication of all sentient life. He believes, thanks to his Driver, that it is humanity’s nature to destroy itself; he’s just helping them along.

Malos’s Driver has a truly bone-chilling backstory, and he’s easily the most effective and believable baddie in the game. I’m gonna assume anyone who’s played knows who I’m talking about, and the rest of you will have to be content with playing it yourselves and going “oh, really? THAT guy? Huh, didn’t expect HIM to be the big bad!” when you realize who I’m referring to.

If you’re not convinced to play a game for its story and characters alone, I have one other thing to show you: the world this all takes place in.

Anyway, yeah. I freaking love Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The gameplay, the story, the characters, the art... OH RIGHT AND THE MUSIC

A few of my favorite tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aElM_uHL00E&list=PLIpqsKgkQEvMUFbngp-GbW1JwDGXnxcm9&index=8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60Ih-D49QJE&list=PLIpqsKgkQEvMUFbngp-GbW1JwDGXnxcm9&index=43

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx3AbguQZHU&list=PLIpqsKgkQEvMUFbngp-GbW1JwDGXnxcm9&index=47

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLR9BJit7pE&list=PLIpqsKgkQEvMUFbngp-GbW1JwDGXnxcm9&index=60

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4_aCdzCIKI&list=PLIpqsKgkQEvMUFbngp-GbW1JwDGXnxcm9&index=62

Go play this game if you haven’t already.