#xenoblade 1 chapter 2

[liminalitycarb]

Xenoblade 2 Playthrough

Near the start of the year, I finally began playing through Xenoblade Chronicles 2. In addition, in order to let myself play at my own pace, and minimize spoiler risks, I decided to tweet my playthrough rather than Streaming it or recording it for an LP. This made it sort of like the old style Something Awful Forum LPs, only with the limitations of Twitter.

Now that Twitter is.... how it is going, I am going to try to archive what I had over here on Tumblr instead. But instead of doing one post per point like Twitter was, I'm going to try to consolidate everything over into a Chapter-by-chapter basis. These will largely just be me posting the images with the tweets that accompanied them, so I apologize if it doesn't come out well.

If you want to follow, I'll try to make sure everything has the tag of #CarbXenoblade2 (as I will likely do the same when I eventually get to Xenoblade 3 as well).

And without Further ado - Let's start things off

Xenoblade 2 - Chapter 1 - Encounters

Well this is an ominous title screen. Starting Xenoblade Chronicles 2 finally and I think I'll try to post as I go through instead of streaming it or doing a recorded LP. Experiment time!

Wasn't expecting a deep-sea salvage operation to start. (And didn't expect water beneath the clouds.)

I swear I'll slow down posting after I get further. Living boat home is my favorite! And looking forward to the combat system changes.

If anything happens to boat titan I am going to be very angry and muderous. (Also the crab became dinner)

Okay, this is giving me a waterworld vibe. Also apparently a war is about to break out? Surely Rex being called by name won't relate to that at all!

12 o'clock, all's well. Took a perfectly safe job that won't be shady at all! And we met our new co-workers. Though I was not ready for Nia's voice.

Zohars. Always Zohars. Even after being killed by the guy channeling Sephiroth.

Monado(?) acquired. AND GRANDPA BOAT FOR THE SAVE! One heck of a way to end chapter 1.

[emilianatsuki]

I really wish Xenoblade 1 let us play as Alvis during the Alcamoth and Valak Mountain sections like Xenoblade 2 let us play as Vandham for Chapter 3. It'd just make Alvis feel even more of a party member and it'd make later game more impactful personally.

[xenoblade-chronicles-brackets]

Submitted Propaganda for Counterattack

Fight! Your! War!

When the drop hits

My original favorite xeno song, half expected it to play in the scene with the big reveal in Chapter 6 of 3

Oh hell yeah this one is incredible

No submitted propaganda for Valak Mountain (Day)

[eaglefairy]

I've been anticipating it for 2 weeks but tonight we finally get to meet Ashera and it's just as amazing as I expected!

I had a realization about the pacing of 3 today: the slowdown in chapter 6 is entirely intentional and correlates with the mental states of the characters. Think about it: chapters 1-5 happen under the crushing knowledge that Mio is about to die. Chapter 6 is the first time they're out from under that time limit, so of course it's the perfect time to slow down and check in on their rebel Colony friends. 3's also unique in that the conflict with Moebius isn't as immediate as Zanza destroying the world or Amalthus trying to kill everyone

"Oh it's Alcamoth! Oh--yeah, no I should've known that. Of course it's Alcamoth."

Eunie: "What's [Ashera's] deal?" Roommate: "HER DEAL IS THAT SHE'S FUCKING HOT!"

I think this is the most fun she's had in xenoblade 3 so far

Roommate: "You know I'm sure there's a reason they want to kill her, but I don't care. I support women's right but I also--" Both of us together: "support women's wrongs!"

And now she's cooing over Lanz's celebrity crush on Ashera. The polycule continues to expand

[sturthepotofmadness]

I got a random idea for a Xenoblade Chronicles 2 au I want to throw out into the world, since I'm not too sure if I'm going to write it or not. There's technically two, but one is more of a Xenoblade 3 au and even then it's even more canon diverge-y than this one, so only the xc2 au for now.

The divergence point is a bit weird, since it would take place before Rex gets pulled into the mission to find Pyra and I'm assuming story salvager ranks works differently compared to gameplay salvager ranks (mainly that story salvager ranks go from E-D-C-B-A-S-SS in order from lowest to highest and the weird extra titles don't exist, just rank letters). Other than that, the only spoilers are the events of chapter 1, the very beginning of chapter 2, and a boss and group from chapter 3. You've been warned if you care about early game spoilers.

Anyways, time to actually talk about the au idea. Also cut after the second paragraph cuz this is long.

So let's say Rex is 14, maybe a few months out from 15 here, he's known within the Argentum salvager community, and being salvager rank C is impressive for someone so young. He's having trouble reaching a higher rank, if only because his only way to protect himself is an old sword he scraped together and getting higher ranks means salvaging at risker points, which means dealing with stronger monsters and needing a better weapon, but he doesn't want to spend what money he has on getting a better weapon.

For some reason, Vandham's Merc Group has an influx of kids that don't want to become mercenaries, so they send a group out to gather people to explain jobs to this group of kids they're taking care of. One of the groups was led by Yew since the Argentum Trade Guild can be a hot mess if you talk to the wrong person by accident and Yew is good at sorting through people. Yew sees the salvager community here and is impressed by how supportive they are of each other.

When Yew talks to one of the salvagers there and he brings up the idea of teaching some kids about salvaging. The salvager asks, "We talking Rex's age, or we talking younger?" Yew asks who Rex is and that just so happens to be the time when Rex pulls into the docks and the salvager points him out. Yew (and the mercs with him) have to process that as the salvager comments that Rex is really damn good to salvaging and probably would have a higher rank if would use his gold on getting a better weapon instead of sending it back to his home town or repairing damage to his hut on Azurda.

Yew's crew decides to speak to Rex once he's free and before he leaves, so continue talking around Argentum. They're... really unimpressed with 97% of the Nopon, with the only ones they aren't unimpressed by being Zuzu (makes those noodles all by himself) and Falala (is a chef wanting to be something greater). However, they can't really ask either of them if they want to speak to said kids because Zuzu can't leave his job due to the popularity and Falala has a full time job.

They see Rex finishing up with the stuff he wanted to do at Argentum and Yew goes over to him. Rex sees him and asks what he's up to and Yew explains he's looking for people to explain to some kids about some jobs they could do and how unimpressed he's been with everyone from Argentum except the salvager and exactly two Nopon too attached to their job. Rex comments "yea that's Nopon for you" and asks if they found what they're looking for. Yew says that one of the other salvagers suggested Rex because Rex is closer to the kid's age and might have their attention more than some random adult. Rex thinks about it, then says that he's willing to do it, but only if it's fine if he brings Gramps along. Yew doesn't know who Gramps is, assumes it's someone important to Rex, and asks if he can speak to this Gramps. Rex drags him off to Azurda, who is Gramps, which Yew has to accept that of course the kid calls this titan something else.

Gramps and Yew talk for a bit before Gramps gives his go ahead and they head off to Uraya.

One travel later and all the merc groups have the people they managed to convince to speak to the kids and meet at Uraya's capital before they all start heading down to Garfont Village. There's 6 people (including Rex) they convinced, but it's better than nothing.

Once they get close to Garfont village, Rex notices a massive spider thing with a golden glow further up the cliff, with the road splitting off there to up there and to Garfont Village. Rex asks about the giant spider thing, some of the mercs look over and promptly go "why the hell is there a giant Elder Arachno with a blade". They get to Garfont Village, throw the volunteers at the kids, then tell Vandham about the spider Rex spotted (and also admitting that they wouldn't have gave a second glance at it if Rex didn't mention it).

Vandham takes some mercs to go demolish the Elder Arachno while the six visitors talk to the kids, though they're clearly only interested in the talks given by Rex and some Driver from either Mor Ardian or Gormott.

Vandham and who he took with him return with the meat, shell, and drops of the Elder Arachno as the last lecture ends. It took so long to kill the spider since it called friends and they wanted all of that meat for rations. The visitors are free to stay for the night before heading back home or just head back now without any help from the mercs. They all decide to stick around and Vandham asks one of the mercs to pull aside who pointed out the spider.

Yew grabs Rex, mentioning the boss wants to speak to him since Rex was the one to point out the spider. Rex is confused but follows as they go over to Vandham. Vandham makes sure Rex is the one who pointed out the spider and Rex is like "yea, i saw something glowing in the distance and i saw it was coming from some sort of spider". Vandham pats his shoulder, thanks Rex for pointing it out before it could become a problem, and drops the Beastly Core Crystal in Rex's hand. Rex is confused but Vandham explained the glow was from a Blade and that's the crystal the Blade went back into and Rex is free to keep it. Rex does decide to hold onto it and Vandham shooes him off after telling him to "awaken it when it glows or do smth with it".

One night and travel time later, Rex is back in Argentum and one of the salvagers ask how the trip was. Rex says all he had to do was explain the basics of salvaging to a group of 6-10 year old kids and he got a core crystal because he pointed out some spider that ended up being dangerous kinda close to the village. The salvager is surprised Rex got gifted a core crystal and asks what he'll do it with. After a moment, Rex says he's going to hold onto it until "it glows", since the village leader mentioned awakening it once it starts glowing. The salvager says that if it does start glowing to do it in Argentum so the other salvagers can see. Rex agrees and they head their ways.

About a week or two later, the core crystal starts glowing again after Rex had to smack some crabs back into the Cloud Sea. He goes back to Argentum to turn in his haul for payment (and paying the dock person) before going over to where the salvagers are meeting up. The salvagers greet Rex and ask if anything interesting happened. He takes out the now glowing core crystal and someone asks if he's gonna try and awaken a blade. Rex thinks for a moment, then says yea. Some Nopon nearby hear that and ask to see Rexrex attempt to awaken blade. Azurda moves to get a better look at the happenings as a group starts forming to watch.

Rex holds the Beastly Core Crystal out and begins to focus on it and attempting to resonate with it. They watch as the crystal begins to glow and, after a burst of light, Rex is holding a special Megalance and Wulfric has appeared in front of him. The crowd is silent as Rex says hi to his blade and Wulfric introduces himself, causing a few members of the crowd to recoil.

Congrats, Rex, you're now a salvager driver before the main plot begins. Rex starts bonding with Wulfric so they can be stronger together and learning how to use the Megalance. He finds it come weirdly naturally to him, but whoever he's sparring with just says that weapons created by a Blade you trust feels more natural than some random wepaon. Wulfric also learns to be "softer" for the lack of a better term so he can calm people if they find him scary. Rex also starts salvaging in more dangerous locations once he feels ready with Wulfric's weapon and he begins getting higher ranks, managing to get to rank A before the main plot finally shows itself.

The only real ideas of how the main story would go once it gets kicked started are:

-the Torna crew being surprised by Wulfric not returning to his core crystal and promptly rampaging on them because Pyra yoinked Rex before he could die,

-Malos and Jin failing miserably to stop Wulfric from wrecking the shipwreck while Nia, Dromarch and Sever try and make sure none of the other people on the shipwreck aren't harmed and get off the wreck,

-Rex and Pyra have a bit of an easier time against Malos thanks to Wulfric wrecking shit but still needing to be saved by Nia and Azurda,

-and Pyra not being able to wake Rex up herself after they crash on Gormott because Wulfric is very protective of his driver that nearly died but is somehow alive thanks to this new blade that randomly decided Rex is now her driver.

Not too sure how much else the story would change, other than they would probably have to come up with something to hide both pieces of green core crystal on Rex and Pyra when they have to disguise Pyra since their original excuse in canon wouldn't work because of Wulfric (... and also Rex being more well known because of the whole salvager driver thing with a high rank).

[demon-dm-22]

The Fuck AI/Chat GPT Fanfic Commission openings!

I've never quite done this before but I'll do my best! Paypal payments only!

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Fandoms as of now that I'm aware of:

Homestuck, Zelda, Metroid, Mario, Animal Crossing, Xenoblade Chronicles 1-3, Shadow of the Collossus, Okami, Spyro, Kingdom Hearts (multiple games), Delicious in Dungeon, Final Fantasy-multiple titles, (But not 14 as I am not a player), Pokemon, many more. Please ask beforehand! I cannot write a fanfic if I'm not aware of the material!

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If works are between the amount estimates, I WILL ALWAYS CHARGE LESS FOR ACCIDENTALLY GOING OVER ON MY BEHALF. Sometimes ideas don't quite always flow into neat word counts!

Price estimates will be based on length of work requested. I will not write more than 20k at this time.

What I'm willing to write:

-**Smut, NSFW Fetish (minus a few see additional notes below)

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[semi-sketchy]

OMG IT'S REX- chapter ends

You know, the chapter end points in Xenoblade 3 never cease to be weird to me, both in base game and this DLC.

In XC1, the end points kinda felt like where an anime episode would end, if that makes sense. They were spaced, sometimes a twist happened at the end, sometimes it was right after an intense battle, it was kinda episodic.

In XC2, it would resolve the main conflict of the chapter, like Pyra's awakened and the party got away, the Mor Ardain factory was shut down, Jin's story concluded, ect. The next chapter would open doing the slower follow-up to the whole thing and moving onto the next conflict that the opening flashback eluded to, it felt organized.

XC3...I don't know what happened. You have the main conflict, a big fight, then it just lingers on for another 45 minutes doing the slow follow-up to the boss fight. It's weird because there never feels like a proper break point like there was in 1 and 2, like maybe it shouldn't have even used chapters. Heck, Torna and Future Connected didn't and that was fine.

I think Future Redeemed does do a better job with the chapters than base game, but it's still...odd? Like a weird mish-mash between XC1 and 2's chapter style. Sometimes it cuts off in the middle of a cool moment, like here, sometimes it somewhat feels like it wraps up the intense moment and deals with the aftermath next chapter, like 1 and 3, then there's the moment when you're fighting the final boss like "so when is chapter 5 gonna start?"

I think the reason chapters worked so well in 2 were because of them opening with flashbacks, which is done here, but when you have something as epic as Rex joining in a big fight, it's kind of weird to cut away to Na'el like "wouldn't it be nice if this peace could last forever." 2...didn't do that. 1 ended on big moments, but you were also thrown right back into it, no flashback. Each works on their own, but feel awkward when mashed together.

[dippydippycritiques]

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door Remake...Overhyped Much?...

So, ok, here's the deal.

I was SUPER excited for this game when it was announced. The original TTYD is hands down my favorite Mario game of all time and I was so excited to see a new generation of players try it out.

For them, it was probably a fantastic experience.

For me, however, when I beat the game...

I felt the magic the original had was just gone.

It's really hard to explain. Some things I can definitely pin point, others, I can't, but I will start with the things that absolutely kill this game for me.

That number one thing being the music.

Intelligent Systems, for god sakes man. I am so sick of you making dumb decisions. This isn't the worst thing you have done recently, but man, there is a reason I specifically put you right under Gamefreak as WORST right now.

Ok, let me explain. The NEW tracks, to which I have listened to most of it...is...not, good. It reminds me a lot of Yoshi's Island 3D soundtrack and for my first play through, I turned that shit off immediately and turned the nostalgic tunes on that switches the soundtrack back to the original game.

I would, in theory, praise IS for this...if they didn't completely fuck it up! When you turn that badge on. Firstly, not all of the original songs are present (The end of chapter 5 is a good example of this), and when that happens, the game defaults to the new track, which defeats the purpose of the nostalgic tunes badge. There is a song during the last thirty minutes of this game that is INTEGRAL to that particular scene...and it's just fucking gone! And the new song IS chose for one of the very last scenes of the game is again, 1.) terrible and 2.) defeats the purpose of the nostalgic tunes badge.

Leave it up to IS to not use common sense while making there games, speaking of which...

The 60 FPS controversy

It bothers me.

Listen, the reason we might have gotten this remake to begin with is because of Arlo's petition and for that, I am very thankful. However, we do not see eye to eye when it comes to the 60 FPS thing since 60 FPS should be THE STANDARD.

Yes, you can still have fun with the game at 30 FPS, I won't deny that, but it's 2024. Most games, I hope so anyway, should be aiming for 60. If the original TTYD could run at 60, why can't this? They didn't really add anything new to the game other than a couple of new bosses and a major upgrade to the graphics. I cannot understand why IS couldn't build this game around 60 FPS when Xenoblade Chronicles exists and blows all other excuses out of the water.

Oh, the switch can't handle it. Oh, the developers had to make these decisions to compensate for the graphics. No. It's laziness, which is what IS is known for right now as someone who has played and dissected Fire Emblem Engage TO DEATH. Probably one of if not the worst FE game they ever put out.

There is no reason why TTYDR cannot run at 60 FPS. There is no excuse and, to me, it is noticeable, but not terrible to the point that it ruins the game, but it still bothers me and it's not just an IS thing, it's a Nintendo thing.

The last thing I will say is a lot of the edge the game hand with it's writing has been changed...and ik, ik. It's the original Japanese script for the OG TTYD and is the most accurate...

I don't know. Some of the changes they made to the original game I liked more than the original Japanese script, and this is one of the VERY rare occasions that I will say that. The one good thing that came out of the OG Japanese script was that they finally got Vivian right, but outside of that. It just feels off to me, but for new players, they will probably love it and will not notice the changes, which is absolutely fine.

Outside of this, and I don't know if it's just me. I played through the game twice already and I'm just kind of done with it. It's not like the original where I could play the game on repeat. Something about this version, the magic that I described earlier, is just not there. Now that I think about it, and again, it could be just me. I think, maybe, MAYBE, the graphics also has something to do with it.

The best way I can describe it is how anime looked during the 80s, 90s, vs the present day. Take Pokemon for example. Even if the writing can be bad, I still to this day LOVE the original anime's classic look. It's very old school and it's very appealing to look at. Now if you compare that to, let's say, Pokemon Sun and Moon or Journeys, Something about the animation is just too bright and colorful for me. I dare even say the anime's looks is "too clean." I know that's a bold statement to make, but that's why I prefer watching older iterations of famous anime franchises to the newest version. I think Sailor Moon is a really good example of this.

That's the feeling I get from the TTYDR. The older style felt more in line with it's story book esthetic. When you learn the backstory of the thousand year door. The game was meant to have this ancient look to it that I feel the new version got rid of completely...but that ancient look was the point since the thousand year door was meant to be an old folks tale in this world. I completely understand if you don't agree with me, but that's just how I feel personally.

There are good things with this game. The gameplay and bosses are still great. The story, despite the changes, is still one of the best in the Mario series. I love all the characters, the villains, the chapter progression, the badge system, and so much more and despite how I feel. TTYDR is still worth a buy, only because I do want the next generation of players to experience it. It's kind of the same way I feel about Danganronpa Decadence. Yes, those games have problems...maybe a lot of problems, but it's a series I feel a new generation of young adults should experience despite its flaws.

Anyways, that's it for me! What do you think? Let me know in the comment section!

[bravenewwor1d]

I just remembered today that the challenge mode in Project X Zone 2 is a thing

This person right here, who did a playthrough of PXZ2, also did the game's challenge mode and you can find them all in this playlist, right after the final chapter and epilogue

I watched through the first 5 stages today and I'll give a short rundown of them

Stage 1 is the Xenoblade Chronicles stage, where you have to defeat the Ancient Mechon before dawn. No other enemies spawn so you only have to fight the Ancient Mechon. Pretty straightforward.

Stage 2 is the Mega Man X stage, in which you have to defeat Sigma, but there's a catch: You have to defeat him before the end of 30 turns. Yes, the player and enemies only have 30 turns for this round.

Actually, there's another catch: You can only bring ONE solo and pair unit to the battle. That's right.

For example: As seen in the video playthrough from the playlist I linked, the player only picked Reiji, Xiaomu, and Captain Commando to go through the stage.

Note: You don't need to defeat every single enemy in the map. What matters is that you must defeat Sigma.

Stage 3 is the .hack stage. The goal is to defeat every enemy, including Skeith. Honestly I forgot the goal of the stage, so I might've gotten it wrong. My apologies.

Stage 4 is the Resident Evil stage, more specifically Resident Evil 6. In there, you have to fight hordes of zombies. Near the end, Nemesis appears.

Stage 5 is just a boss rush stage. That's pretty much it.

I'll add more once I go through the rest of the challenge stages, so I'll continue them tomorrow.

[papergemstone]

I forgot just how much foreshadowing the end of Chapter 2 of Xenoblade 1 is packed with.

Shulk saying there's "two versions" of himself in his head, one telling him to listen to Dunban, the other screaming to get revenge and make the mechon pay.

The fact that Shulk's motivations are anything but heroic. Most fantasy RPG journeys start with a good and noble motivation. To save people, to protect their home. But no, Shulk is out on a revenge mission.

Then there's Dickson's smug little grin when he sees Shulk and Reyn heading off to take their revenge. Dickson knows what's going on, he knows the plan. This is exactly what he wants.

[motionpicturedemise]

myth's game writeup of 2023

i waited until the new year to finish this in case i managed to beat a game during december. i did not. ANYWAY.

this will contain new games as well as games i only got around to in 2023. light on spoilers but be warned

Octopath Traveler II (2023)

as far as i remember, this was the first new game I played this year, and god did it deliver. I've been a fan of octopath since the first one came out on switch in 2018, counting it as my favorite game of all time, so to have a sequel after all this time was thrilling. it did almost everything octopath 1 did and better. new path actions, day/night system, branching stories, fucking boats?? incredible.

my biggest gripe has to be the new hidden classes. I started with throne so getting inventor 10 minutes after my chapter one did definitely fuck up the progression a little bit. I think I preferred ot1 hidden classes. while the dungeons were underwhelming, the boss battles really make you fight for these secret techniques, something absent in 3 out of the 4 hidden classes of octopath 2.

overall: 4/5 BP.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed (2023)

xenoblade 3 as the end of the klaus trilogy really didn't sit well with me, for reasons that don't belong on my review of its dlc, but future redeemed fixed nearly every problem i had with base xc3 — both story and gameplay wise. it ties every xenoblade game and even some of gears and saga into a neat little 40 hour bow, and is truly a love letter to the entire series. I can only think of one problem I still have with it. the fucking menu music.

where do i even fucking start with this one really. relatively speaking, I'm a new xenoblade fan, having started xc1 in march 2022 during a harrowing experience with adhd meds, and since then it had kinda consumed me. I finished it in about a week, went on to watch xenoblade 2 because I had heard the gameplay wasn't great, and got my hands on xenoblade 3 day of release.

overall: 5 dance apples.

Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023)

as someone who was not immune to the hype surrounding botw, I had high hopes for the sequel. hopes that were painfully, slowly, fed into a trash compactor over my playthrough. this is another game I got on release day, lining up outside gamestop in the heat, and lets not forget that it's the only first-party switch game with a price tag of seventy bucks.

the game plays like a tech demo. I have a lot of love in my heart for it. the story was better that botw, the world was more expansive than botw, but the problem here is that everything it does is directly compared to breath of the wild. it doesn't get enough time to shine, because we're in the exact same world as 6 years ago, but instead of pinkish black malice we have blackish pink gloom. i much prefer the runes to the zonai abilities, and the sense of wonder that permeated breath of the wild is replaced by a sense of nostalgia that just doesn't appeal to me much.

all of this isn't to say it's a bad game. I think it's a great game, honestly, but a great game that wasn't meant for me. I've seen the insane shit people do with ultrahand, but it just... isn't my style.

overall: 441/1000 korok seeds

Pikmin 4 (2023)

it's pikmin. i dont have much to say about it. it was a lot of fun, loved that part where i bulborbed all over those guys. im not a gameplay reviewer, at heart i mostly talk about story, and a game like pikmin doesn't have much for me to comment on. good fun. lived up to expectations. probably wouldn't replay.

overall: 7500 sparklium

Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood (2017)

oh, stormblood... the rage you still fill my veins with. I'm not going to spend too long on this one because I have better things to do with my life than shit on an expansion everyone already hates, but let me make it clear I actually do have reasons for disliking it.

having ala mhigo built up since the very start of a realm reborn, only to have half of the ala mhigo expansion take place halfway across the star, was very disappointing. the monotony of the three areas in gyr abania compared to the three far east areas was very disappointing. the treatment of the people of the steppe and honestly that entire segment in the main story quest was very disappointing. hien, as a character, in his entirety, was very disappointing.

I will say it had strong parts. the 61-70 quests for several jobs were the strongest in their entire story (see: dark knight). the dungeons started to get more interesting. it gave us the quest Child Labor, which is hilarious and I'll never be finishing it because I want it there forever.

overall: 1/3 WHM Lillies.

Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers (2019)

ffxiv immediately got better the second 4.0 was over. even the patch quests instantly shot up in quality. it's not even funny. the lead up to shadowbringers was the most fun I had had with the game since a realm reborn, and all of the first was heartbreaking to go through even though I was spoiled on That Character's Identity.

the duty trust system (is that what it was called?) made dungeons much more fun. getting to go through hell with alphinaud alisaie and thancred made everything 10x better, even if it was a lot slower. the story, again, heartbreaking — ryne's arc in particular felt like being stabbed by thousands of little needles while trying to play. in the best way, of course. and amaurot... amaurot. getting to quote our favorite knight in there was my 8th umbral calamity.

shadowbringers also marks when a lot of your job's functionality is really unlocked, so doing the level 80 raid series was genuinely a ton of fun. and again the thousands of little needles. i cried at least 7 times during the main story.

overall: 85/100 kenki gauge.

Katana Zero (2019)

possibly my favorite game this year. the protagonist, zero (or as i like to call him, katana from zero,) ticked all the boxes for a character I'd be absolutely obsessed with. true enough, i fell in love. the fast-paced gameplay, the diegesis of gameplay elements which would typically go unquestioned, and the care that seeps through every dialogue choice all solidify katana zero as one of my favorite game experiences ever. I'll leave it at this, because I encourage everyone to at least give it a try.

overall: Yes, that should work.

Fire Emblem Engage (2023)

this is one of the few 2023 releases on this list that I didn't get on launch, because at the time I had relatively little interest in fire emblem as a series. then I made a lot of friends who enjoy it, and in october, bestie sen decided to buy it for me as an early birthday present. everyone say thank you sen.

considering this is my first fire emblem game, i have absolutely no deeper insight into how it matches up compared to the others, and plenty of people more eloquent than me have already talked about that. what I do know is that the gameplay was surprisingly fun as my first tactical rpg, and the story was passable. all the characters were appealing in one way or another, and I'm still mad I had to choose between marrying kagetsu or fogado. they're both my husbands at heart.

overall: I didn't internalize enough of this game to come up with a clever rating.

Fire Emblem Engage: Fell Xenologue (2023)

I was expecting the dlc to continue the main story, so I put it off until I had finished the base game. in hindsight, I regret it, because I'd love to have brought the winds and twins with me to fight their evil versions and alternate universe dad. the story was... alright. I really liked all the small battle interactions between fell characters and our party members which they would've known. I instantly recognized fogado in chapter 1 because I am in love with him by the way.

overall: i dont know. 1¾ dragonstones

with 2024 upon us, I'll probably be writing reviews for games as I play them. I'm trying to use tumblr more as a social platform instead of just reblogging. we'll see how that plays out. if you like any of these games (yes, even tears of the kingdom) please talk to me about them! that's all for now. look out for my mangled thoughts on SANABI and Nier: Automata next :)

[gexfan32]

About My Xenoblade 3 AU: Crystal Of Shining Justice

This Xenoblade 3 AU of my design diverges from Canon when M dies during the end of chapter 5

See, due to her soul splitting, Origin now has two pointer values for Mio, and due to the unique circumstances of her death, to avoid a null reference crash, origin’s Crash prevention system essentially initializes the “Put Mio right back where she was during the intersection” protocol, leaving a 12 year old Mio, with all memories and blade abilities intact somewhere in Erythia, where she is picked up by the lost numbers

Arc 1 of this AU features Mio Echell recounting the events in Aionios that follow on from this to her worried elder sister Glimmer, only hours after the intersection, as well as more of the immediate aftermath of Xenoblade 3, as well as bringing her best friend Miyabi, and Sena (who is miyabi’s blade) into the loop on what has happened.

Arc 2 features the Fonsett four (as Mio’s friend group is called) in being invited to Alba Cavanich to test out Tiger Tiger Kart 2: the sequelpon, and also gaining further insight on their situation from Poppi

as for the rest, that would be a bit of a spoiler, but many things that often happen in these kinds of fics turn out pretty differently.

[shayminlucario07]

Spoiler Warning! For Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed

Okay... just beat Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed, thoughts and reactions in no particular order-

1. What the FUCK was any of that actually supposed to mean?

2. What the hell was that final post-credit-scroll shot of the two planets and fusing into one and that blue spec of light coming towards the planet?

3. HOLY FUCKING BINGLE, THEY ACKNOWLEDGED X (Chapter 5′s cutscenes inside Origin- when Na’el was talking to Matthew, the radio in the background talked about the Earthlife Colonization Project, which is what created the White Whale, the ship that crashed on Mira, in X) IT’S THE SAME UNIVERSE, CONFIRMED, I WAS FUCKING *RIGHT*

4. So... Glimmer is the daughter of Rex and Pyra, right? We saw in the ending of XC3 proper that Pyra, Mythra, and Nia were all holding babies- does Glimmer have a sibling somewhere that we don’t know about? ...Is that why Matthew had an aegis crystal in his gauntlets...? Is he technically her... cousin? Is that how that would work? God why are the Pneuma girls so confusing XC2 what’s wrong with you

5. So... Nikol is the son of Shulk and Fiora, right?

6. So... Panacea is the daughter of Reyn and Sharla, right?

7. So... Linka is the daughter of Zeke and Pandoria, right? Why did they name their daughter after a type of honey?

8. Okay, what the fuck was A? Why is she named in the same format as the Moebius/Consuls? What the HELL is her deal? WHERE WAS HER CHARACTERIZATION

9. Did... Did Shulk, Rex, and A become the new Trinity Processor? Are Rex and Shulk like. The new Logos and Pneuma? Because A is Ontos. Is that the intended implication there? Because that’s DEFINITELY how I read it

10. So. Rex and Shulk like. Barely mentioned that they know/knew Nia and Melia. The Queens weren’t even in Future Redeemed. In fact, none of the other party members from 1 and 2 were ever mentioned by name- just acknowledged in passing dialogue. I said this about 3 proper and I’ll say it about Future Redeemed, too- that’s extremely fucking disappointing.

11. HOLY SHIT RIKU IS RIKI’S SON? RIKU IS KINO AND NENE’S BROTHER?

12. Why was Manana not acknowledged in Future Redeemed? And why did N show up but not M? WHY IS THE AGNIAN CAST SO NEGLECTED THIS IS DRIVING ME MAD

13. This one’s just me being ridiculous and dumb because I think it’s funny but I’m still kind of mad we didn’t get an Elma post-credits. ESPECIALLY NOW THAT X HAS BEEN ACKNOWLEDGED LIKE COME ON. They could’ve even given us KOS-MOS or T-ELOS but they didn’t! Fucking cowards.

14. So... Fogbeasts got kind of explained, finally? But why were they in Bionis’ Shoulder? And why did we never see them in Alrest? I’m very confused by this.

15. Most egregious of all- NO TYREA AGAIN. Which singlehandedly makes this trash. Justice for Tyrea. The only way this can be redeemed is if Eunie is canonically Tyrea’s daughter. There was a guy in Future Connected who had a crush on Tyrea so just fucking send it Monolith

TL;DR- Too short. Not enough of... well, not enough game, really. XC3 proper only having 7 chapters wasn’t enough for it but that honestly would’ve probably been about the perfect length for Future Redeemed, but. Alas. I can’t say I was disappointed, really, but I also don’t know that it met my expectations... much like XC3 proper, I’m very conflicted about this.

[ryuarl]

I thought, why not. Here's some advertisement for my crossover fic for a very reduced audience, Xenoblade 2 and Gungrave fans. FULL of spoilers. It heavy leans on the xenoblade side of things since I adapted the Gungraves characters to their world. Just two chapters left for it to be finished too :)

[eaglefairy]

It's been like at least a month but we're back!

Starting the game with a literal bang as we heard a huge crunching sound as soon as we loaded in and startled us both. Best guess is it was the Guldos spawning in all at once?

Oh she just got that the Guldos are people. Just very nonchalantly went "so these are humans, right? or Blades?"

Aha, my roommate's a Jin liker now. Something between Torna and his scenes now in chapter 8 convinced her

Roommate: "You know, it strikes me how modern this part of the map feels. Like it's got skyscrapers and it's built on flat ground, almost like it's on a planet. It's interesting." (For reference: this is just about Morytha. We haven't gotten to any parts of the World Tree yet.)

We just got inside the World Tree. "IT'S AN ELEVATOR? IT'S A FUCKING ELEVATOR?! IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE TELLING ME RIGHT NOW?!" ... "IT'S NOT EVEN A FUCKING TREE!"

Oh I think she's turning into a "Jin was right" truther like me, she just turned to me during Jin and Malos's conversation after Jin gets out of the pod and asked me "so what do Blades, like...get out of the relationship with humans?"

Roommate: "Huh, it's giving me Mechonis vibes...I mean, it could just be because it's metallic, but still."

The guitar solo (and the World Tree theme overall) is her new favorite part of the soundtrack, we just sat and vibed to it for a few minutes

Zipping up the World Tree and my roommate is baffled by the contradiction between Amalthus apparently wanting to destroy the world and also trying his absolute best to destroy Malos and Jin (people who are actively trying to destroy the world, which is what he wants). If anyone wanted to chime in on this to explain it better to the both of us I'd definitely appreciate it

On the topic of Amalthus though, my roommate said she can really appreciate some good old fashioned eye for an eye violence. (She draws the line at baby-chucking though.)

We just absolutely lost it at the unintentional comedic timing of the cutscene with Niall at the beginning of chapter 9 (where he and the guards realize they're at the base of the World Tree) and like. You know that one Sea of Thieves video? "CAPTAIN! LOOK!" That one? I need an animatic of that with Niall and the Ardainian soldiers yesterday

I like that Rex physically disarms Jin when he also verbally disarms him during their argument. That's some good visual storytelling right there

So uh. Hm.

We're finishing the game tonight.

I told her she wasn't going to want to sleep after seeing the cutscene that starts chapter 10 and she just hit the b button on the save screen and said "let's go"

Oh she's telling me she really hopes that they're separate universes (xenoblade 1 and 2) that can have happy endings that last. That's. hm. well, bad news for the third game

First good look at Klaus, my roommate says: "Oh, he looks like SHIIIIT..."

Ok we didn't finish today but literally the only thing left is the fight against Malos and the ending, so we finish tomorrow for sure!

[quibbs126]

Note on that last post, I went to look at Wikipedia for answers, and I saw mostly just the Chronicles and whatever the X one is

But that’s not what I’m here for, because I stumbled upon the plot section, and my question is, who the fuck is Klaus??

Where is this Klaus and Galea stuff from?? Are they Meyneth and Zanza or something?

I probably don’t know because while I own Xenoblade 1 and 2, I’ve never gotten close to finishing them. I’m probably halfway through Xenoblade 1 and I’m pretty sure I’m only on like, Chapter 1 of Xenoblade 2. This stuff is probably like, super late game

But I have an amount of understanding of the late game plot of Xenoblade 1, because I watched an EWW about it and that’s what got me into the series to start, and I’ve never heard of any of this

What game is it in? And are you telling me that these two games actually do take place in the same world? I thought it was just 1 and 3

Actually you know what, don’t tell me all the details about it, I’m already somewhat annoyed by the fact that I’m not playing Xenoblade 1 completely blind. Just tell me what game it’s in

Or that this is a complete fabrication on the Wikipedia page’s part and I’m falling for it hook line and sinker